Operation Iron Swords - Day 125 - 08 February 2024

Contents

NEW - War Termination NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages

The Washington Post reported that American intelligence officials informed Congress that the Israeli occupation is not close to eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ).

NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated "as we’ve all said consistently, we don’t want to negotiate this thing in public. Hamas did come back with a response. We’re working our way through that.... we want to have success here. And the less said about it, the better. "

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Netanyahu failed to agree on conditions for a ceasefire set by the Palestinian Resistance. Blinken stated that Hamas's response to a comprehensive proposal "creates space" for a final agreement, although there are still various aspects to negotiate, including the duration of the ceasefire, the number of captives to be released from Gaza, and the total number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, said it would be "delusional" to accept Hamas' concessions, and vowed to continue the fight until the resistance is eliminated. While Washington does not dismiss such a goal, it has urged the regime to take further measures to prevent civilian casualties.

Today about 15,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem and the occupied interior led to Al-Aqsa Mosque , in commemoration of the Night Journey. At the same time, the occupation police closed the Mughrabi Gate in the face of settler incursions. While it restricted the entry of Palestinians to Al-Aqsa Mosque over a period of 5 days in December last year, it allowed more than 1,300 settlers to storm it to commemorate the Jewish Festival of Lights, in a clear embodiment of the temporal division in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The terms "temporal division" and "spatial division" were used to warn against the consequences of their application in Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the last decade revealed a gradual forced application of temporal division in particular, which consists of allocating specific days or times for Muslims to pray in Al-Aqsa, and others for Jews to pray there. Although the restrictions on the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque have intensified in an unprecedented manner since the seventh of last October, the temporal division existed before that.

However, if an Islamic religious event intersected with a Jewish one, the police would allow the intrusion and provide maximum protection to the settlers in exchange for suppressing the worshipers, as happened during the last ten days of Ramadan in 2021. The situation has now reached the point of performing the entire “biblical ritual” publicly in the courtyards of the mosque during the course of the raids.

These provocations not only ignited Al-Aqsa Square and Jerusalem, but many popular uprisings erupted because of them, and the Gaza Strip and the West Bank caught fire because of them, until the Hamas movement called the current battle “ the Al-Aqsa flood ,” sending a message - in the first hour of its launch - of the necessity of the occupation lifting its hand from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

War Termination

The Hamas movement announced that a delegation from it had arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to complete ceasefire talks with Israel. This comes at a time when regional and international efforts continue to conclude a prisoner exchange deal between the Israeli government and Hamas.

Yesterday, Netanyahu rejected Hamas's demands for a ceasefire as part of a truce agreement, and pledged to expand military operations to include Rafah (south), where more than a million Palestinians were displaced. On Tuesday, the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) announced that it had delivered its response to Qatar and Egypt regarding the prisoner exchange and ceasefire proposal, and the Israeli mini-ministerial council discussed the Hamas’ response.

Analysts said that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) provided an intelligent response to the ceasefire proposal, and that the ball is now in the court of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who was counting on the resistance’s rejection of any agreement so that he could move forward in continuing his war. During an interview on Al Jazeera, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, said that Hamas’ response was expected and threw the ball in Israel’s court, which failed to achieve any of its goals.

Barghouti added, "The resistance provided a response that combines an absolute cessation of aggression and taking into account the needs of the residents of the Gaza Strip, that is, it combines the political and the humanitarian." He said that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken 's speech from Doha confirms the clear bias towards Israel, because he "did not mention a single word about the aggression, occupation, settlement, or Palestinian rights."

Barghouti pointed out that Blinken "tried to transform what was going on from a battle between the Palestinians and the occupation into a battle between the United States and the rest of the world and Iran, as if Iran was the problem and not Israel." Barghouti believes that the US Secretary of State is "determined to ignore the main disease represented by aggression and focus on the symptoms that resulted from it in order to absolve Israel from bearing responsibility for its crimes."

In addition, Blinken has returned to talking about immediate normalization with Israel in exchange for an unspecified time path to establish a Palestinian state without sovereignty, as Al-Barghouti says, who believes that the United States is “trying to impose a new Oslo, and all its focus is on using this path to achieve normalization at the expense of the Palestinians.” . In the end, Israel failed and was eventually forced to negotiate with the resistance, which it vowed to eliminate, even though there are dangerous trends inside Israel, according to Barghouti.

In turn, political analyst Dr. Muhammad Halsa said, “The resistance returned the ball of fire to the feet of Netanyahu, who was waiting for Hamas’ rejection of the agreement proposal in order to move forward with his war.” Halasa believes that Netanyahu "will market to the Israeli street that the resistance's positive response, which the State of Qatar said called for optimism, is a rejection and that accepting it means Israel's defeat and surrender." Halasa believes that Netanyahu “will increase the internal division and disagreement with America, which offers him a major gift by normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.”

As for former US State Department official William Lawrence, he said that Netanyahu leans toward the extreme right, but at the same time he believes that Washington is “tired of these games and wants to end the matter.” Also, in Lawrence's opinion, the Qataris and Egyptians played an important role in recovering the "hostages" (prisoners), which became part of the American strategy, as he put it. Lawrence believes that the focus on the internal Israeli position is “excessive,” because ending the fighting - in his opinion - depends on America telling Israel that continuing the war is harmful to its interests. Washington is also talking seriously about a Palestinian state, and this is happening for the first time in decades, which means there may be an interest in establishing this state that the Israelis do not want, according to Lawrence.

For his part, political analyst Iyad Al-Qara said that Hamas had overcome the pressures exerted on it during the last period, and responded intelligently after it thwarted the most important goal of the war, which was to crush the resistance after 4 months of devastating war, adding, “We are in a stage of biting fingers and Hamas has given the mediators a greater opportunity to move."

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and War Council Minister Benny Gantz, in two separate meetings. He also met with the military commander and member of the war government, Gabi Eisenkot, the day after Prime Minister Benjamin’s refusal of the demands of Hamas.

He added that many lives have been lost, the hostages (Israelis in Gaza) are still being held far from their loved ones, and civilians (in Gaza) are still suffering as a result of this conflict, as he put it. Blinken stressed that we must continue to work on finding solutions while keeping these challenges in mind. Blinken seemed optimistic about the negotiations and the possibility of improving the agreement and securing the release of detainees.

For his part, Gantz assured Blinken that "the most urgent issue, of course, is finding ways to return the hostages." He added, "If this is done, many things can be achieved." In turn, Lapid said during his meeting with Blinken - in reference to the efforts of the American minister and American officials, "It is good to see the extent of commitment... towards the hostages, resolving the situation and finding ways to promote peace and prosperity and, if possible, calm."

Blinken's visit to Israel came as part of a tour that also led him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian territories, and Israel, as part of discussing a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.

An opinion poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute showed that 51% of Israelis believe that the recovery of Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip should be the main goal of the war, in light of ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange. According to the poll, 36%, who are from the extreme right, said that the goal of the war should be to destroy the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) in the Gaza Strip.

The poll revealed that 71% of Israelis believe that general elections should be held in the country before the scheduled date of November 2026. A public opinion poll conducted by the Israeli newspaper Maariv published last December showed that 67% of Israelis support a new deal to release prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire, while 22% objected and 11% answered I do not know.

The results of that poll indicated that only 33% of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is most suitable for the position of prime minister, compared to 46% who said that Minister in the Military Council, Benny Gantz , is most suitable for this position, and 20% did not give a specific answer.

Operational Update

The biblical holidays for the Jews this year intersect with the second week of Ramadan and Tarawih prayers, which may open the door to a new battle in Al-Aqsa Mosque. Ramadan is celebrated Mar 10, 2024 – Apr 9, 2024. Tarawih, also known as Taraweeh, is a voluntary (nafl) night prayer performed by Muslims during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Tarawih prayers are a sunnah of the Prophet, which means that it was his practice to perform them. Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the survival of the Jewish people from annihilation in the 5th century BCE. The story is told in the Book of Esther and is known as the Feast of Lots. Purim dates are March 23–24, 2024.

The Israeli army announced the withdrawal of the 271st Battalion of the Combat Engineering Unit after weeks of fighting in Khan Yunis , south of the Gaza Strip, and admitted the killing of one of its soldiers, while the Al -Qassam Brigades , the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), broadcast scenes of its sniping of an Israeli officer west of Gaza City, and announced with its brigades Jerusalem , the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. An Israeli force killed and wounded someone who entered a house in Khan Yunis.

During the recent period, the IDF gradually withdrew some of its forces, withdrawing the 36th Division, which includes the Golani Brigade and brigades of armor, artillery, infantry, and other forces. The Fifth Brigade was also withdrawn from the Gaza Strip late last month, which operated in the northern region of the Gaza Strip on the beach axis, in addition to the withdrawal of the Fourth Reserve Brigade, known as Kiryati, from Khan Yunis after weeks of military operations in the north and east of the governorate. The brigade also withdrew 55 reserve paratroopers who operated in the Khan Yunis area.

After months of operations in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army withdrew Battalion 7107, which belongs to the Nahal Brigade.

In other field developments, the Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast scenes of what it said was the sniper operation of an Israeli officer during the battles in the Al-Jami'a area, west of Gaza City. The Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades also announced that they had caused deaths and injuries among an Israeli special force consisting of 10 soldiers who clashed with it when it was holed up inside a house west of the city of Khan Yunis.

In Gaza City, the Al-Qassam Brigades said that its fighters were also able to snipe an Israeli soldier near the Al-Sinaa Junction, and targeted an Israeli Merkava 4 tank with a Tandom shell west of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. The Al-Qassam Brigades added that they bombed with mortar shells the concentrations of the occupation forces penetrating into the Al-Katiba area, west of Gaza City.

The Al-Quds Brigades also broadcast images of missile salvos targeting Israeli military positions and concentrations on the axes of its advance in the Gaza Strip.

One day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to continue the war against Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries, until “complete victory” in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces bombed the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, raising fears of an imminent ground attack. Officials and specialists who spoke to Al-Hurra website reveal the extent of the possibility of Israel expanding its ground military operation to include Rafah, and they talk about the repercussions of this on Egyptian-Israeli relations.

During the recent period, Israel focused its operations on Khan Yunis, the main city in the southern Gaza Strip, but last week it said that it would expand it to include Rafah, where about half of the Strip’s population of 2.3 million people were displaced. Israeli forces bombed areas in the border city of Rafah, a day after Netanyahu rejected a proposal to end the war in the Strip. Israeli aircraft bombed areas in Rafah on Thursday morning, killing at least 11 people due to raids on two homes, and tanks also bombed some areas east of Rafah, while the Israeli army did not announce this.

In statements to the Al-Hurra website, the Israeli army spokesman for the Arab media, Avichay Adraee, says: “We are not talking about the next stage or the other areas in which we will work and the method of work.” In a related context, the Israeli Army Spokesmen's Unit indicates that the Israeli forces "continue to dismantle the Hamas terrorist organization."

Regarding preparations for an expected operation in Rafah and how to avoid harm among civilians, the Israeli army spokesmen’s unit said in statements to the “Al-Hurra” website: “The war continues, and we are unable to answer specific practical questions at this time.” Hamas has “integrated itself into the civilian infrastructure and operates throughout the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli army is determined to end these attacks, and as such we will strike Hamas wherever necessary,” according to the unit. The Israeli Army Spokesmen's Unit indicates that "Hamas continues to attack Israel from various parts of the Gaza Strip."

The Israeli security and strategic expert, Avi Melamed, points out that there is “no accurate information about the expansion of the Israeli ground military operation towards Rafah.” However, in the event of a “large-scale military operation towards Rafah,” there will be prior Israeli arrangements to preserve as much as possible the lives of civilians residing in the region, according to Melamed’s statement to Al-Hurra website.

Regarding the consequences of this, Israeli political analyst, Joab Stern, describes the upcoming Israeli ground military operation in Rafah as “a sensitive issue that requires action.” Speaking to Al-Hurra website, the Israeli political analyst believes that “Israel intends to advance by land towards Rafah, but this will be done with the knowledge of the Egyptian authorities.”

There are contacts between the Israeli authorities and their Egyptian counterparts and mutual visits to discuss the issue, in light of Cairo’s official position “opposing the entry of the Israeli army close to the Egyptian border according to the peace agreement between the two countries,” according to Stern. He talks about "restrictions on Israel's movements in the border area," which requires "coordination with the Egyptian side in the event of any expanded movements."

The Israeli political analyst stresses that "Israel respects Egyptian national interests, and does not aim to worsen relations with Egypt, but it will not allow the existence of safe areas for Hamas just because they are close to the Egyptian border," and therefore "this dilemma must be resolved." Egypt is the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, a year after the signing of the Camp David Accords. Under the peace treaty, Cairo was able to recover the Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt fought a war to regain it in 1973.

The Egyptian military expert, Major General Al-Sayyed Al-Jabri, points out that Egypt and Israel signed 3 joint agreements, which are “Camp David Treaty, Peace Treaty, and Crossings Treaty.” The peace treaty between Egypt and Israel divided the Sinai into three areas: “A - B - C”, and included the presence of “D” area, 4 kilometers deep, on the other side, according to what the former major general in the Egyptian army told the Al-Hurra website. Al-Jabri asserts that “there cannot be more than 4,000 Israeli soldiers in Area D, with only mechanical infantry, without the presence of armor, artillery, or aviation.”

Therefore, any entry of “armored, artillery, or crawler forces into the area is a clear Israeli violation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the Camp David Treaty, and the crossings agreement,” according to the military expert. He believes that "at that time, Egypt has the right to take all measures to protect Egyptian national security."

In a related context, the Egyptian strategic expert, Saad Al-Zant, confirms that “Egypt refuses to touch its borders or ignite fires and provoke crises near them, especially when it comes to one of its most important strategic directions and the most dangerous issues of Arab national security.” Speaking to Al-Hurra website, he pointed out that “Israel is in a dilemma between taking revenge on Hamas after the October 7 attack on the one hand, and violating the peace agreement it signed with Egypt in 1979 on the other hand.”

He believes that Netanyahu's statements and his insistence on expanding the scope of the military operation to Rafah means "forcibly removing the people of Gaza into Egyptian territory." He talks about “the Egyptian army taking early measures since October 7, to protect the entire eastern strategic direction and being fully prepared to deal with any threat to Egypt’s national security.”

Al-Hurra website contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lior Hayat, to clarify the means of Israeli diplomatic dealings with the Egyptian side regarding the possible operation in Rafah, but he refused to comment.

For his part, Melamed talks about “a point of tension between Egypt and Israel regarding the possible military operation in Rafah,” but he believes that there is “American mediation between the two sides to achieve prior understandings on the issue.” The Israeli strategic expert confirms that Israel's military deployment in Rafah will be as needed, but that does not mean "permanent presence" and the Egyptian side understands that.

If the operation takes place in Rafah, there will be “a dialogue between Israel and Egypt, mediated by America, to form clear understandings about the size of the Israeli presence and the period during which Israeli forces will deploy in Rafah,” according to Melamed. He talks about "pathways for dialogue that ensure that we do not slide into a severe crisis or sever relations between the two sides." The Israeli strategic expert does not believe that the possible operation in Rafah will be “a cause for a public Israeli-Egyptian conflict,” even in light of “the difference of opinions and contradiction of positions between the two sides.” The operation does not necessarily lead to “a severing of relations between Israel and Egypt or a severe crisis between the two sides,” according to Melamed.

But Stern believes that Egypt will protest, condemn, and take “practical steps toward Israel,” but in the long run, relations will return to normal. The practical steps will be to reduce diplomatic representation between the two sides, issue “condemnations” of the Israeli moves, and escalate the Egyptian authorities’ rhetoric towards their Israeli counterpart, according to Stern’s analysis. The Israeli political analyst says that Egypt knows that "Israel does not want to harm Egyptian interests or harm the country's national security."

There is an Egyptian interest in “containing the crisis in Gaza and returning to normal life, given the negative effects of what is happening in the Gaza Strip on Cairo,” Stern points out. He confirms that what the Israeli authorities are doing is not directed against Egypt and says, "The target is not Egypt, and Israel is not concerned with anything that affects Egyptian interests."

On the other hand, Al-Hurra website contacted the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zaid, to clarify the Egyptian diplomatic steps in the event that Israel expands its operation towards Rafah, but he said that he was “busy” and did not comment. For his part, former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister, Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, points out that the expected Israeli ground operation in Rafah “will negatively affect the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.” He confirms to Al-Hurra website, “Israel and Egypt are committed to not having military forces on their border, but only police forces.”

The former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister asks, “Will Israel risk violating the peace agreement?” But he believes that there are "Egyptian contacts with Israel and the Palestinian factions to prevent any possible escalation."

For his part, Al-Zant believes that the possible Israeli operation in Rafah means “overthrowing international norms and laws and undermining the peace agreement with Egypt,” and therefore “the Egyptian authorities completely reject that step.” He says: "If Israel expands the military operation to include Rafah, Egypt will be in a difficult position, but it will not hesitate to take all measures that secure the borders of national security, and will not allow the geography of the Palestinian state to dissolve, as it has always done by being careful about its history."

There are intense diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that has been ongoing for four and a half months before a possible Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than a million people currently reside, many of whom live in temporary tents and lack food and medicine. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Israel to “give priority to civilians in the city of Rafah.” Blinken told reporters that any "military operation undertaken by Israel must take civilians into account, first and foremost."

Relief agencies warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel carried out its threat to storm one of the last remaining areas that its forces did not enter during its ground attack on the Gaza Strip. Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said that he was deeply concerned about reports that the Israeli army intends to focus on Rafah in southern Gaza in the next phase of its attack on the Palestinian Strip.

Speaking to Al-Hurra website, the former Minister of Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs, Ashraf Al-Ajrami, confirms that the Israeli army’s entry into Rafah will cause a “massacre among civilians.” It is clear that Israel wants to reach every place in the Gaza Strip, amid talk about the presence of 4 Al-Qassam brigades in Rafah, and the Israeli army wants to eliminate them, according to Al-Ajrami. He says: "If the Israeli army enters Rafah in the presence of 1,400,000 citizens, there is a great possibility that a 'big and bloody massacre' will occur."

The former Minister of Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs indicates that American pressure not to harm Palestinian citizens will push Israel to "evacuate the city of Rafah and evacuate the population towards the northern Gaza Strip." Israel may resort to transferring Palestinian citizens from Rafah to northern Gaza, to reduce tension and confrontations in the region, according to Al-Ajrami. He believes that the Israeli army may place electronic gates that examine every person who passes from the south to the north to ensure that “Hamas fighters do not merge with civilians,” and then carry out a ground military operation in Rafah.

For his part, Melamed expects that "the Israeli army will evacuate the residents of Rafah and move them to safe areas." He says: "If there is a large-scale military operation, safe places may be prepared to accommodate civilians who will be transferred from Rafah to other areas." Civilians will be transferred to potential safe areas in northern, central or eastern Gaza, as well as the entire coast, especially Al-Mawasi in the southwest of the Strip, according to the Israeli strategic expert.

There may be "safe corridors" for civilians, as happened previously in previous stages of the war. Stern agrees with him, who expects Palestinian citizens to be transferred to "other points", in light of Egypt's fears of their presence beyond the Egyptian border into Sinai. He confirms that "there is a possibility of transferring Palestinian citizens from Rafah to the west or north, away from the Egyptian border," describing this as "a major challenge facing Israel."

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon announced afternoon that it launched several operations against the Israeli occupation forces, namely targeting the "Ma'aleh Golan" barracks with a Falaq heavy rocket. Additionally, the resistance targeted a building in the settlement of "Metula" where occupation soldiers are stationed, as well as the radar site in the occupied Shebaa Farms, confirming direct hits.

Israeli media reported that two houses were directly hit in the settlements of "Metula" and "Shtula" in western al-Jalil, and several missiles were launched toward the surroundings of the Israeli Hadb al-Bustan site. Israeli media also mentioned that air raid sirens were sounded in "Zar'it", "Shomera", and Arab al-Aramsha in the western al-Jalil, with several missiles falling in open areas in northern al-Jalil. Simultaneously, Israeli media reported that "3 soldiers from the Israeli army were wounded, one of whom suffered serious injuries, due to the missiles launched by Hezbollah this morning on Kiryat Shmona and Biranit."

Earlier in the day, the Resistance targeted the headquarters of the Eastern Brigade 769, affiliated with the northern region's Division 91, in the "Kiryat Shmona" barracks and the "Biranit" barracks.

The mayor of Kiryat Shmona, Avihai Stern, announced that around 20 apartments were directly hit in northern settlements, with 100,000 settlers being displaced from these settlements. Stern confirmed that "Israelis will be prevented from entering Kiryat Shmona until the Radwan force is removed from [the border area]." Hezbollah's operations since October have led hundreds of thousands of settlers to flee border settlements, warning their government that they would not return unless the Resistance's "threat" is resolved and calling out their authorities for failing to protect them or provide them with the needed security.

Having succeeded with its plans to place huge pressure on "Tel Aviv" in response to its brutal war on Gaza, Hezbollah has conditioned ending the aggression on the Strip to end its operations against Israeli forces. Falling under unprecedented crises and seeking to return Israelis to their settlements, the occupation entity warned that border calm would be restored either through diplomatic means or through a military operation.

Contradicting all previous media reports, the source told Axios that "Israel" did not plan to launch a war on Lebanon in January. However, the outlet said, citing sources, that "Tel Aviv" was concerned that the Resistance in Lebanon would be the party initiating an operation, adding that it took time for the Israeli Security Minister to convince Hochstein that the entity was truly interested in a diplomatic solution.

Maps

All maps are lies. “Not only is it easy to lie with maps, it is essential,” wrote cartographer Mark Monmoneir in his book How to Lie with Maps. He showed that condensing complex, three-dimensional spaces onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper [in old days] is bound to be reductive. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. The first characteristic of guerrilla warfare is the loss of a front line. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. These processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Indeed, by late January 2024 mappers were rather less exuberant in their depictions of IDF advances. While by the end of 2023 maps suggested that it was "mission accomplished" in North Gaza which was depicted as entirely pacified, by late January 2024 enclaves of IDF elements were depicted at the margins of Gaza City, much of North Gaza was now depticted as either HAMAS-controlled, or "contested". Another noteworthy cartographic ambiguity was found to the south of Khan Yunis in the stretch of Salah Al-Deen avenue running north from Al-Nasr through al-Fukhari to the vicinity of Tawhid Mosque in the environs of Khan Yunis proper. By the end of 2023 some cartographers indicated that a large swath of territory centered on this avenue had been liberated by the IDF, while other cartographers professed no knowlege of an IDF presence in that part of the Strip. By late January 2024 there are suggestions that while the avenue itself was an IDF permissive corridor for nearly the full length of the Strip, much of adjacent territory was not. By 29 January 2024 Al-Jazeera had finally come around to some of the cartographic conventions of other mappers, indicating "occupied areas", and even providing a map of IDF ORBAT in the Strip.

Bystanders

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that the situation is getting worse in Gaza , and that famine and disease are harming the Palestinians, in addition to death and destruction. Guterres expressed concern about reports that the Israeli army intends to focus on Rafah in southern Gaza in the next phase of its attack on the Palestinian Strip. "Such a measure would exacerbate what is already a humanitarian nightmare, and would have untold regional consequences," he told the 193-member UN General Assembly .

The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that the situation in Gaza is a festering wound in our collective conscience and threatens the entire region, and that half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah, with nowhere to go, no homes, and no hope. He stressed that nothing justifies what he described as the horrific terrorist attacks launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7, just as there is no justification for collective punishment of the Palestinian people. However, Israeli military operations resulted in destruction and deaths in Gaza on a scale and speed unparalleled since To become Secretary General. The UN official once again called for an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds and the unconditional release of detainees in Gaza. "It is time for an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds and for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. This must quickly lead to irreversible measures towards a two-state solution based on UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements," he added.

A number of Western media outlets have come forward to say that the 'evidence' provided to them by "Israel" regarding UNRWA being affiliated with Hamas and partaking in Operation Al Aqsa Flood on October 7 contains no real evidence that implicates the UN agency.

On January 26, "Israel" accused 12 UNRWA staffers of directly and indirectly aiding the Resistance during Operation Al Aqsa Flood. As a result, several Western countries led a movement, kickstarted by the United States, to defund the organization until an investigation reveals the accuracy or falsity of the claims, with more countries following.

"Israel" prepared a six-page dossier, which was shared with the Canadian government to back Israel's claims of UNRWA's affiliation with the October 7 operation. The government, however, found no evidence of any ties linking UNRWA to Hamas. Sources told CBC News that the occupation reiterated its claim, but provided zero evidence to factually prove it.

The United Kingdom's Channel Four also reviewed the file, which was initially sent to the British government after it had also opted to defund UNRWA, and drew the same conclusion: Israel provided no evidence to back its accusations. Channel 4's Lindsey Hilsum presented a broadcast addressing the contradiction, and took to X to voice her thoughts, saying, "We got hold of Israel’s dossier against UNRWA - why did the donors including the UK withdraw funding on such flimsy unproven allegations before an investigation?"

The UK's Sky News joined in on the consensus, saying, "The Israeli intelligence documents make several claims that Sky News has not seen proof of, and many of the claims, even if true, do not directly implicate UNRWA." France 24, a French public broadcaster, also remarked on the suspicious nature of the Israeli report, calling it a "dodgy dossier" for its lack of authenticity and actuality.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA's director of communications, gave an interview to Channel 4 and revealed that UNRWA cannot operate without Israeli approval. She clarified that every year, UNRWA sends the Israeli authorities a file containing all members who will be working with the organization in Gaza for approval. Touma also revealed that this past May, Israel approved all UNRWA workers operating in the Gaza Strip.

As countries rushed to defund UNRWA almost immediately after the allegations had been made, Touma defended the organization's commissioner general's decision to fire the staffers, saying the move was done for UNRWA's best interest "due to the huge risks both to the reputation of the agency and also the largest humanitarian operation in response to the war in Gaza."

She also expressed how the immediate action taken by these nations paralyzed relief operations had not been anticipated, especially when knowledge of the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis is well known. In this context, Touma said aid workers will be forced to make extremely tough decisions if funding is not restored.

UNRWA’s Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, said during an interview for the Financial Times that "Israel" has not furnished evidence to support its accusations that approximately twelve UNRWA staff members were implicated in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7. The Financial Times, having reviewed the intelligence assessment, reported that Israel offered no proof for the accusations, including the claim of a staff member kidnapping a woman.

As of now, UNRWA is due to be underfunded by a whopping $65 million by the end of this month as a result of the suspension of payments by many countries, leaving humanitarian workers, Palestinians relying on aid, and Gaza, under the possibility of a catastrophic humanitarian collapse.

Axis of Resistance

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei described the crimes against Gaza as a calamity for all humanity, saying the Zionist atrocities, backed by the US, the UK and Europe, reveal that the current world order is invalid and doomed to extinction. A group of officials and ambassadors from Islamic countries had a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran on Thursday, on the anniversary of Eid al-Mab'ath, the day on which Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was appointed to prophethood.

In remarks at the meeting, the Leader pointed to the tragic incidents in Gaza and the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime, saying, “The tragedy of Gaza is the tragedy of humanity and it proves that the current world order is completely wrong, and that it will not last and will be destroyed".

Ayatollah Khamenei also congratulated the nation of Iran and all Muslims on the occasion of Eid al-Mab’ath, and called it the most auspicious and greatest event in the history of mankind. "With the appointment of the great Prophet to prophethood, a complete, final and permanent version of the worldly and hereafter happiness of mankind was presented," he said, Khamenei.ir reported. The Leader described the Bi’tha (the appointment of Prophet Muhammad to prophethood) as an extraordinary event which took place right in the middle of the dark era filled with crookedness and deviation and when signs of deviation and collapse were becoming visible in great civilizations of the time.

“The event of Bi’tha (means) opening the way for communication of the mankind that is besieged in a narrow material framework toward the world of the Unseen and Divine, that is, faith and then tazkiya (purification of the soul) of mankind, which in turn means elevating and raising him through removing the defects, obscenities, evils and falsehoods,” the Leader stated.

Allied for Democracy

The Israeli army announced its intention to extend military service in the future with the aim of increasing the number of reserve soldiers, according to what Israeli media reported. Commenting on the announcement, Avigdor Lieberman , head of the Yisrael Our Home party, said that publishing the draft conscription law is “a message that divides the people and harms the soldiers and national security.”

Bloomberg reported that the "disconnect" between "Israel" and the rest of the world is widening over the genocide in Gaza and post-war plans for the territory which are visibly clashing with those suggested by Washington. The rift between the White House and "Tel Aviv" got further pronounced after Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that US President Joe Biden did not do enough to support Israel in its campaign. He noted that if Trump were to be President instead of Biden, he would have approached the matter differently. "Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas," Ben-Gvir told the newspaper. "If (former US president Donald) Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich likewise criticized the Biden administration for imposing sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing it as "anti-Semitic." Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to pipe down extremists' remarks by thanking Biden for US support, he "refused to criticize his hardline ministers, whose parties are part of the ruling coalition and key to his political survival," the report notes.

The report concludes by stating that the current Israeli leadership, the most extremist in the regime's history, diverges significantly from the desires of both the US and Arab states, which prioritize a swift conclusion to the war and seek decisive progress towards an independent Palestinian state. Amid these challenges, the divide is growing wider, Bloomberg says. Within the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which consists of 31 ministers, there are 16 who are classified as the “Temple Groups” bloc. Because they adopt its principles and work to achieve them. This means that these ministers support the construction of the alleged “ temple ” in the place of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and are doing everything they can to transform it from a purely Islamic holy place into a shared one, while employing all the state’s military, political and economic capabilities and the security to achieve this.

The first representative of this movement was Meir Kahane , who entered the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) in 1984, and when he decided to run for elections in 1988, a special law was enacted to prevent him from doing so, and there was an agreement to criminalize the idea of “religious Zionism” and keep it outside the political scene. Then this movement returned and regained its ability to enter the Knesset in 2002 through the National Religious Party, and since then the presence of “temple groups” has increased in successive governments.

"Religious Zionism" is a political faction that tends not to participate in the government, but rather to form militias that impose their views, using the state as a cover for them. But specifically with regard to the idea of establishing the “temple,” the groups tried to penetrate society and political systems through licensed official organizations, according to Ziad. The dispersed organizations and movements formed the “Union of Temple Organizations” in 2013, and its number reached 24 institutions that year. Today, 47 institutions fall under the umbrella of the Union, which confirms the gradual rise of the system of “structure” institutions, in terms of number, organization, cohesion, and ability to mobilize funding, in conjunction with the ability to ascend parliamentary and governmental positions.

In response to the large deficit in Israeli treasury revenues, which exceeded 33 billion shekels ($8.9 billion) against the backdrop of the war in Gaza , the Israeli government launched a package of measures, including raising taxes and increasing utilities, to fill the gap. Analysts attribute this shortage to the expected decline in corporate and real estate tax revenues, in addition to the expected slowdown in private consumption. This leads to a decrease in value-added tax and import taxes, according to the specialized Israeli newspaper Globes.

According to the newspaper, the Israeli government's strategy to address the revenue deficit involves imposing higher taxes and increasing the costs of basic services. The prices of various goods and services, including electricity and fuel, have already seen significant increases, affecting families across Israel . The newspaper adds that the government's reversal of previous decisions represents an additional challenge to the public, as gasoline prices rose after the government retracted the reduction of selective taxes that it had previously implemented.

This decision - which aims to compensate for revenue losses from the previous year - led to an increase in fuel prices to their highest level in 18 months. At the same time, electricity prices rose by 2.6% on February 1, and the increase was attributed to factors such as the consumer price index, interest rates, and the development of the electricity sector. Water prices also saw a recent increase of 0.7%, completing a two-year jump of 5.9%.

These increases - which are determined by a formula that includes production costs and various water sources - contribute to the overall financial pressure on Israeli families, according to the newspaper. Local taxes rose by 2.7% in 2024, after rising by 1.4% in 2023. This upward trend is expected to continue until 2025, affecting the population due to agreements in the public sector and persistent inflation .

According to the newspaper, government health insurance costs are also set to rise, as the health insurance tax is expected to rise from 3.1% to 3.25% for the low-income group and from 5% to 5.15% for those with the highest income, which means imposing an additional income tax of 0.15% on salaries. .

With all this increase, the Israeli government decided to postpone what the Globes newspaper called the most important “economic blow,” which is increasing the value-added tax from 17% to 18%, until 2025, to avoid raising the rates of population discontent to undesirable levels. According to figures seen by Globes, these current tax increases and amendments are insufficient to cover the widening gap in state revenues.

The Ministry of Finance's revised forecasts for 2024 indicate a decrease in revenues, amounting to 417.4 billion shekels, compared to 450.4 billion shekels in initial expectations. As the government struggles to confront a deep fiscal gap, the looming value-added tax increase in 2025 is seen as a crucial source of revenue, and is expected to generate NIS 7.5 billion, according to forecasts.

Israel is suffering continuous losses as a result of the aggression it launches against the Gaza Strip. The expected losses, according to governmental and non-governmental sources, range between 100 and 125 billion dollars, as direct and indirect losses. Most of these losses are related to increased military spending in the war. While the Israeli economy finds itself in an unprecedented predicament, the percentage of losses in some sectors has reached 80%, especially the tourism sector.

US Senator Bernie Sanders criticized the Senate's intention to provide military aid to Israel and said that the Senate "is considering granting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu $14 billion to continue the indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip ." US Senator Sanders denounced the matter, wondering how the Senate could seriously criticize “ Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine ” while ignoring the killing of 27,000 Palestinian children.

Last month, Sanders accused the United States of being complicit in "the nightmare that the Palestinian people are experiencing." In a speech before the Senate, Sanders stressed that he finds it difficult to understand why Congress does not act to stop the suffering of the Palestinians and address the humanitarian catastrophe they face in Gaza.

For her part, Senator Elizabeth Warren explained that there is a need to resume the ceasefire and advance peace through the two-state solution, stressing that there are no more blank checks for Netanyahu, she said. Warren pointed out that Netanyahu and his right-wing government failed to free the hostages and killed about 30,000 Palestinians. A month ago, Warren described Netanyahu's refusal to establish a Palestinian state within any post-war arrangements as "dangerous," noting that this refusal contradicts American policy.

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, of Palestinian origin, expressed her astonishment yesterday at some of her colleagues in Congress , who were whispering to her that they did not like Netanyahu, but at the same time they voted to approve the financial support that Washington provides to Israel. Rashida said during a congressional session yesterday, Wednesday, “We are doing it again. Sending 17 billion and 600 million dollars in American tax money without conditions to Netanyahu’s extremist government means dropping more bombs on innocent Palestinians. The Israeli government has so far killed 27 thousand people, "Including 11,500 children."

Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs

On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other armed groups present in the Gaza Strip carried out an attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 persons, injuring thousands and abducting some 240 people, many of whom continue to be held hostage. It was the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war. Palestinian armed groups launched thousands of missiles at Israel Following this attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea.

The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant considered 05 February 2024 that half the number of Hamas militants were killed or seriously injured by Israeli army forces.

The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 27,840 martyrs, and the killing of nearly 10,000 Palestinian children and 6,600 women killed. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The number wounded was 67,317. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said much earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 8,000, including including 4,700 children and women, amid expectations that the toll will be double thi figures.

The IDF intensified its military operations in the West Bank, and increased the pace of incursions and raids into cities, towns, and camps, resulting in the martyrdom of 380 Palestinians, the injury of about 3,950, and the arrest of 5,780, according to official HAMAS sources. As of 17 January 2023, the Israeli escalation in the West Bank led to the death of 360 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 2,200, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the arrest of about 6,000, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

More than 130 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Lebanon during exchanges of bombing operations with Israel.

Israel revised down the death toll from the October Hamas attacks in southern Israel from 1,400 to 1,200. IDF had said previously it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists, a total that now would increas to about 1,700.

The total announced number of Israeli officers and soldiers killed had risen to 564 since the start of the war on October 7, including 234 killed since the ground invasion as a result of the ongoing clashes with the Palestinian resistance. Among them were at least 56 with the rank of platoon commander, 43 with the rank of company commander, 9 with the rank of battalion commander, and 5 with the rank of brigade commander. These officers constitute 23% of the total deaths of the Israeli army in the war on Gaza.

Israeli media reported that 27% of the Israeli military casualties in the war were officers. In detail, the media highlighted that three brigade commanders, four battalion commanders, and other senior officers have been killed in the war so far.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that 29 of the army's deaths were caused by "friendly fire" and operational incidents since the start of the ground war in Gaza, late last October. The Israeli authority explained that "18 army soldiers were killed by friendly fire, two were killed as a result of gunfire (without explanation), and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed in ammunition, weapons, or run-over accidents." The Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed that 15 soldiers were killed in the Strip without their bodies being found.

According to some reports statistics indicate that 20% of the Israeli losses were due to friendly fire. Because the nature of the battle has become completely different from what was expected, and it lacks a front line.

It was announced that soldiers wounded in the Gaza Strip battles numbered to 2,815 since the beginning of the war, including 1,296 who had been wounded since the start of the ground attack on October 27, 2023.

The Israeli army reported that 407 who are still receiving treatment for their injuries in the Gaza battles, and the condition of 48 of them is serious. The number of injured among the Israeli army since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip on October 27 included 602 minor cases, 430 moderate cases, and 264 critical cases.

The Israeli army published new data about those wounded in the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army announces that 540 soldiers were injured in the Gaza StripThe Gaza government announces that the Israeli army committed a “horrific massacre” in an area it claimed was safe According to army data, 540 soldiers, including 27 seriously injured, were injured in operational incidents since the start of the bombing of the Gaza Strip. There were also 21 accidental shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip, 54 bilateral shooting incidents and 31 traffic accidents. In addition, 388 incidents occurred, including ramming anti-tank rifles, anti-aircraft guns, weapons and machine guns.

At least 13,794 Israelis were injured, according to i24 TV.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper had reported that 5,000 soldiers had been wounded since the beginning of the war on October 7, and that the Ministry of Defense had recognized 2,000 soldiers as disabled so far.

An estimate by the Israeli Ministry of Defense expected that the number of soldiers with disabilities in the war taking place in the Gaza Strip since October 7 of last year would reach 12,500 soldiers. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Soldiers' Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense has dealt with 3,400 soldiers who were classified as disabled in the army since last October 7.

The Israeli army revealed that about 9,000 of its soldiers have received “psychological assistance” since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, and about a quarter of them have not returned to combat. This came according to a new statement revealed by the Army Medical Corps, according to Channel 12 and the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. According to the statement, nearly 9,000 soldiers have applied for psychological assistance since the beginning of the war, and approximately a quarter of them have not returned to combat.

The statement continued, "In total, about 13,000 regular and reserve soldiers required accompaniment or medical treatment at some level during the fighting, and thousands of them were injured in the battles."

Al Jazeera military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi expressed his conviction that the numbers of dead and wounded announced by Israel “cannot represent the truth,” due to a discrepancy between the Israeli army’s data and the Walla website, which is close to the army itself.

In an interview with RT, Military strategist retired Tunisian Brigadier General Tawfiq Didi said that the number of Israeli army deaths in the Gaza battles is much greater than what Israel announces. Didi explained in an interview with the “Best Saying” program on RT channel, “The number of people killed in battles can be easily known, as the equation in wars is that for every 3 wounded there is a dead person, and the numbers now in Israel hover around 12,500 wounded and disabled people, and when we divide by Three, we find that the death toll exceeds 4,000, especially after eliminating more than a thousand tanks and armored vehicles, and I know what happens when Kornet missiles hit a tank. Its ammunition explodes and no one is left alive.”

He added, "The Israelis announce their dead only of those of Jewish origin and of the first race, meaning all Arabs, Falash, and those who are among them. They are not counted because they are of the second category. So I am sure that the number exceeds 4 thousand dead, and this is a very easy military calculation."

He pointed out, "The Palestinian resistance documented everything it did, unlike the Israelis. The resistance documented shooting at tanks and armored vehicles and destroying the houses in which the Israeli soldiers were holed up, and we saw them being killed... We saw the Kornet hitting the tanks, we saw Al-Yassin 105, so the difference is clear."

Hostages

Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have been held as hostages in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, respectively. Unlike the roughly 240 people kidnapped in the Hamas October 7 terrorist attacks, the campaign for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed has received little publicity. Mengistu is known to suffer from what HRW deemed "serious" mental health issues. "Avera crossed one of the safest borders in the world, under the eyes of the security services," recalled Gil Elias, a relative. "We're talking about a mentally ill person who got lost." The calls for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed have been barely audible during the many years they have been held captive in Gaza.

Israel had previously estimated there were 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody. Israel declared 20 out of 136 people in Gaza captivity dead in absentia, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages. By another count, 132 of them are still being held in Gaza, and 25 of them have been confirmed dead. Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy earlier had told reporters that Hamas still held 137 captives. The resistance released 10 Israeli detainees, 4 Thais and 2 Russian women, who were released outside the agreement. Over the course of 6 days, Israel has received 102 detainees, women and children, including 78 Israelis, in exchange for the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, women and children.

Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, told reporters 01 December 2023:

• Hamas still held 137 hostages from the October attacks, in addition to four others who went missing before the war
• The hostages include two children aged four and 10 months, who, Hamas now claims, are dead
• 117 male hostages are still kept in Gaza, including the two children, as well as 20 females
• 126 hostages are Israelis, and 11 others are foreign nationals
• Foreign nationals are eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one French Mexican citizen
• Ten of the remaining hostages are 75 and older.
• There are seven missing people since the October 7 attack
• Hamas had released 110 hostages so far – 86 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals.

Some of the rest are soldiers, seized when Hamas raided military bases in Israel. They may end up being held the longest. The Israeli military had not specified how many soldiers were captured, nor their ranks.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced on 07 February 2024 that 31 hostages detained in Gaza had died. He added in a press conference, "We informed 31 families that their detained relatives had died, and thus we announce their deaths."

According to some estimates, Hamas was initially holding nearly 210 of the 240 hostages, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad was holding the remaining 30. About 40 Israelis remained missing. More than 40 hostages taken from Israel into Gaza on October 7th are not currently in the custody of Hamas, the group responsible for the attack, according to a CNN report based on a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations, CNN's prior reports had indicated that an estimated 40 to 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other unidentified groups or individuals.

Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas’ telegram account that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israel hostages were trapped under the rubble. “It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza,” he said.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club revealed that about 11,000 arrests were carried out by the Israeli army during the year 2023 in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, in addition to arrests from the Gaza Strip before the seventh of last October. The number of people arrested by the Israelis in the West Bank since that date has exceeded 6,870. The total number of prisoners in Israeli prisons exceeds 9,000 Palestinians. Palestinian prisoner institutions said 661 were classified as “unlawful combatants” from Gaza, and this is the number available only as a clear given.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that there has been a significant increase in the number of Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli prisons since October 7, with 3,484 detainees recorded, including children and women. The club added in a statement that "this number was not actually recorded even during the years of the 1987 uprising."

Israel said on 14 January 2024 that, since the beginning of the war, over 2,960 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, over 1,350 of whom are affiliated with Hamas. On 08 January 2024 it was reported that more than 1,350 wanted persons had been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, more than 870 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas.

The institutions added in the statement that “the occupation arrested 210 women during the aforementioned period, and this statistic includes women who were arrested from the territories in 1948, and more than 355 children,” pointing out that “the outcome of the arrest campaigns includes all those who were arrested from homes, and through military checkpoints, Those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were detained.” It explained that "the number of arrests among journalists reached 50, of whom 35 remain in detention, and 20 of them were transferred to administrative detention."

The announced numbers of detainees do not include those who were detained from Gaza since the start of the operation in the Gaza Strip, as there is no accurate census of these numbers.

Israel has rejected international legal adaptations since 1967, and has treated the Palestinians as criminals, and tried them before military courts and not as prisoners of war. Because the POW is not tried, but is released when the war stops, or as a result of a political agreement.

But international humanitarian law sets clear conditions relating to the Palestinians, whether as prisoners of war or organized groups with one leadership and carrying a unified slogan, and these conditions apply to Palestinian resistance fighters, specifically armed groups. International law, through the Third Geneva Conventions, which relate to prisoners of war and armed conflicts, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which relates to civilians under occupation; Provide full protection to Palestinian prisoners and groups, including resistance factions.

The obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities became very different after the seventh of last October. They decided to cancel all trials in order to double the sentences issued against detainees, and now The scope of arguments before lawyers is very limited, due to military orders, and not according to legal data.