Operation Iron Swords - Day 127 - 10 February 2024
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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 |
Israel wants to launch a military operation in the city, after destroying all aspects of life in the northern and central Gaza Strip. According to a report prepared by Salam Khader, satellite images show the displaced people gathering in a very small area of the city, which Israel designated as a safe zone, and then bombed many of its areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his army to prepare for a land incursion into the city located on the Egyptian-Palestinian border, which strengthens the hypothesis of the forcible displacement of displaced people towards the Sinai Peninsula. The United Nations warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and serious regional repercussions as a result of Israel moving forward with its plans regarding Rafah.
The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials told Congress this week that Israel had weakened the fighting capabilities of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), but was no closer to eliminating the movement. The newspaper revealed that the session of intelligence officials in Congress, which took place behind closed doors, did not address estimates related to human losses among the movement’s fighters.
American intelligence officials pointed out that estimates of Hamas' casualties are neither accurate nor meaningful, and do not give an indication of whether the Israeli military presence in the Gaza Strip has addressed the fundamental issues for which Israel launched the war. The Israeli occupation government announced at the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip that eliminating Hamas was one of the main goals of the war, but American and Israeli officials doubted its ability to do so.
Last November, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal quoted an informed source as saying that the American intelligence community doubts Israel’s ability to achieve its declared military goal of eliminating the Hamas movement. The source added that the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip could harm Hamas and its infrastructure, but it would not be able to eliminate it.
Hamas is still capable of bombing Israeli cities and towns, and reports in recent days regarding renewed fighting in Gaza City and the northern regions of the Strip indicate that Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian factions have It renewed its ability to move in those areas over which the occupation army had declared its tight control.
Israeli Army Radio had said that the Israeli forces are still far from achieving their goal of eliminating Hamas’s missile capabilities, stressing that this requires, according to estimates, between one and two years. The radio reported that many of the rocket launching pads in the Gaza Strip are buried underground, which makes it difficult for Israeli forces to find them. Army Radio said that the missile batch that targeted the city of Tel Aviv early at the end of last January was launched from platforms in Khan Yunis that were only 20 and 30 meters away from Israeli army forces.
War Termination
Iran has information that the Palestinians have developed political initiatives for the post-war era as the developments in the Gaza Strip herald a political settlement of the crisis, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said. The top Iranian diplomat, who has traveled to Beirut in the first leg of a regional tour, met with Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Reaffirming Iran’s support for Gaza and describing Palestinians as the true owners of Palestine, Amirabdollahian said only they are entitled to decide their fate. “We have been informed that they (Palestinians) have political plans and initiatives for the post-war stage,” the Iranian minister said. He noted that while the developments in Gaza are moving towards a political solution, the Israeli prime minister still sees his survival in war.
Amirabdollahian stressed the need for collective efforts to finalize a political solution and end the Israeli regime’s military onslaught and war crimes against Palestinians as soon as possible.
Tel Aviv delivered Israel's response to Hamas' paper on the prisoner exchange deal to Qatar, Egypt and the United States. After the Israeli War Council discussed Hamas' response for several hours, talks took place between senior Israeli officials and their counterparts in Qatar, Egypt and America, during which Israeli messages were conveyed.
The correspondent of Alalam News Network. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, said that the occupation expressed to the mediators its rejection of the ratio set by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners versus Israeli prisoners. The occupation also expressed to the mediators in Qatar and Egypt its rejection of the demands of the Palestinian resistance, regarding Al-Aqsa Mosque and the status of Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, and said that they are unacceptable and have no connection to the current deal.
Israel refused to discuss the issue of lifting the siege on Gaza during prisoner exchange negotiations, and Israel will not accept the withdrawal of its forces from the center of the Gaza Strip and the return of the displaced to the north in the first stage, but at the same time the occupation is ready to withdraw from the city centers in the Strip.
Israel told the mediators that it opposes Hamas' request to add the phrase "permanently" to the clause that stipulates indirect negotiations regarding a return to peace in the first phase of the deal. The reason for this is Israel's refusal to commit to ending the war after completing the implementation of the hostage release deal.
Israel also made clear to the mediators in Qatar and Egypt that it is not prepared to discuss, within the framework of negotiations on the hostage deal, Hamas’ condition for lifting the siege on Gaza. Israel assured the mediators that the key to releasing Palestinian prisoners that Hamas presented in its answer was unreasonable.
A source in the administration of US President Joe Biden confirmed to Al Hurra on Friday that the director of the US CIA will visit Egypt in the coming days to participate in negotiations related to an agreement to release Hamas hostages. A source in the Biden administration told Al Hurra: “The CIA director is visiting Cairo on Tuesday to participate in Egyptian-Qatari meetings regarding the prisoner exchange deal.” On Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken concluded his fifth regional tour since the outbreak of the war, during which he sought to push for a long truce that would allow the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and the delivery of more aid. Washington continues to work to reach an agreement formula in cooperation with Doha and Cairo.
An informed source in the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) told Al Jazeera Net that the movement is in open contact with mediators in Qatar and Egypt to receive a clear Israeli response regarding the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners. He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is maneuvering in the media to avoid pressure from Israeli society and the families of Israeli prisoners, as well as international pressure to end the aggression, and he is not serious about moving towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.
The Hamas source added, "There is no meaning to any agreement that does not achieve security, shelter, relief, reconstruction, and a decent life for our people. The continuation of the military aggression cannot be accepted under any circumstances, nor the continuation of the siege on the Gaza Strip ." He explained that the Israeli occupation must realize that its failure in the military field does not qualify it for success in media, diplomatic or negotiating maneuvers. Yesterday, Friday, the Hamas delegation concluded a visit to Cairo, during which it held, over two days, tripartite meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, during which they discussed Hamas’ response to the proposal that was prepared in Paris for a ceasefire.
On the other hand - and according to the American website Axios - Israel is scheduled to send a delegation to Cairo next Tuesday to meet with the Director of the American Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ), William Burns, the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and the Qatari Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, to discuss efforts to reach a deal with Hamas in Gaza.
Earlier, the Walla website reported that Israel had delivered its response to Qatar and Egypt, indicating that Israel had rejected many of Hamas’ demands and expressed its readiness to negotiate on the basis of the original Paris proposal. According to the Israeli website, Tel Aviv rejected a number of points in Hamas’ response to the proposals, indicating that it informed the mediators of its refusal to commit to ending the war or lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip after completing the implementation of the deal.
Operational Update
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and other Israeli officials announced in recent days that “the Israeli army will expand its ground operation to Rafah to dismantle the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement, in the city of Rafah,” according to their claim. The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation "Kan" reported that Tel Aviv informed a number of countries in the region and the United States that it was preparing for a military operation in the Rafah area.
According to what Israeli Channel 12 reported, Netanyahu and the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevy, had discussed a few days ago the continuation of the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The channel pointed out that a dispute broke out between the two, regarding Netanyahu’s instructions to prepare to begin an operation in Rafah, as Netanyahu urged the Israeli army to “find quick solutions to this issue,” while Halevy stressed that the army has a plan, but “favorable conditions are needed.” During their discussion, Netanyahu pointed out that time is short, and that the dismantling of the Hamas brigades in Rafah must be completed before the next month of Ramadan .
Halevy responded that the army is “preparing a plan,” and pointed out the details that are still incomplete, namely the necessity of evacuating Gazans who were evacuated to Rafah, and the understandings with Cairo regarding the Philadelphia axis. According to Channel 12, Netanyahu had indicated in his meeting with US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, that the operation in the region would begin within two weeks.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the plan for the ground operation in the city of Rafah , adjacent to the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip, was prepared about 3 weeks ago. This comes as Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday, Friday, that he had instructed the security level and the Israeli army to prepare a plan to carry out a military operation in Rafah.
The Israeli newspaper explained, on its website, that the army has practically approved its plan that it prepared for the military operation in Rafah, which also includes the evacuation of the population from there, pointing out that the instructions that Netanyahu spoke about for the occupation of Rafah may be understood as a kind of political games, In order to highlight a tough leadership line on his part.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement in which he said, “The goal of the war, which is to destroy Hamas, cannot be achieved while 4 Hamas-affiliated brigades are maintained in Rafah. It is clear that an intensified military operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat areas. Therefore, the Prime Minister instructed "The army and the security establishment must submit a dual plan to the cabinet, focusing on evacuating the population and destroying the Hamas brigades." In recent days, Israeli officials have indicated that there are Israeli preparations for a military operation in Rafah, to “exert more pressure on the Hamas movement,” in conjunction with the mediators’ efforts to reach a deal that leads to the release of the “hostages.”
Although Netanyahu's office tried to reduce talk of a dispute between Netanyahu and Halevy, informed sources told the channel that Netanyahu expected the Chief of Staff to implement the plan, before the Israeli occupation was forced to make decisive political decisions that would affect the military operation.
A stormy discussion took place during the government session, and opinions were calling for more military action in Gaza and cutting off aid. Minister Miri Regev said: “This is the right time for stronger military pressure, to make Sinwar chase us, not that we will chase him.” The extremist minister added: “This is our opportunity, more pressure right before Ramadan, and just as they attacked us during Simchat Torah, it is certain that in Ramadan we should not be more kind and merciful to them.”
Despite international warnings regarding the imminent Israeli attack on Rafah ; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the army to prepare a plan to evacuate residents from Rafah and begin an operation there, according to a statement issued by his office on Friday. This is what the Palestinian presidency stressed as a real threat and a dangerous prelude to the implementation of the rejected Israeli policy that aims to displace the Palestinian people from their land.
The Kan report stated that after the request of both Egypt and the United States, the ground operation in Rafah would begin only after two conditions:
- A massive evacuation of residents from Rafah and its environs.
- An agreement between the Israeli occupation entity and Egypt on Israeli military activity against the tunnels in the “Philadelphia” axis (Salah al-Din Axis).
The report added that Israel had prepared a detailed plan, with an experimental model, that allows the return of tens of thousands of Gazans to northern Gaza, which is as follows:
- First, complexes will be set up in clinics and schools with bakeries.
- Later, a tent city will be set up nearby.
- After that, food, water and humanitarian equipment will be brought in continuously from the Erez and Karni crossings in northern Gaza.
- Then responsibility for the region will be transferred to local officials in Gaza, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories will participate in implementing this step.
It was noted that “the Israeli security apparatus has begun preparing a plan to evacuate residents from Rafah and is studying both possibilities:
- Evacuating citizens to Khan Yunis, north of Rafah, or
- allowing the return of a large number of Gazans to specific locations in northern Gaza.
The Israeli forces intensified their targeting in the southern Gaza Strip, especially in the city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians were displaced to the region as a result of the Israeli military operation in the Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also informed the War Council of the date of completion of the Israeli occupation army’s operation in Rafah by the beginning of the month of Ramadan, corresponding to March 10, according to an Israeli official told CNN.
The HAMAS government media office in Gaza warned of "a global catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands dead and wounded if Rafah Governorate is invaded by the Israeli army."
According to military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, Netanyahu asked Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy for two separate operations, because the situation in Rafah is different from the rest of the Palestinian areas. The Chief of Staff spoke about the evacuation process, which will be forced and not voluntary, and Al-Duwairi said that the destination - according to the Israelis - will be through three options:
- that the Palestinians be evacuated to the north, which the occupation demands to be a buffer zone.
- The second option is for them to be evacuated to the Al-Mawasi area extending to the west of Khan Yunis and the outskirts of Rafah.
- The third option is to deport them to the Egyptian Sinai . “But, doesn’t Egypt have sovereignty over its land?” Al-Duwairi asked.
According to Al-Duwairi, the Israelis want to displace the Palestinians from Rafah to Sinai, and if they fail to do so, they will try to control the Philadelphia Corridor , but the military expert explained that the Israeli position is still ambiguous about the next step, especially in light of the differences between Netanyahu and the Chief of Staff regarding the implementation mechanism. Al-Duwairi also suggested that the Israeli threat and threat were merely a pressure card on the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) to make concessions.
The official Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that the military operation in Rafah would begin after the completion of a large-scale evacuation of civilians from the city and its suburbs. Before that, the Prime Minister’s Office announced - yesterday, Friday - that it had asked the army to develop a plan “to evacuate the population and destroy 4 battalions affiliated with the Hamas movement,” which it said were deployed in Rafah.
Regarding field developments in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Al-Duwairi spoke about the occupation forces’ siege of hospitals and streets by snipers. He said that there are streets in the area that he called “Street of Death,” stressing that clashes are still continuing in that area between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation forces.
Regarding the decline of the occupation forces and their withdrawal from the southwestern Gaza area, Al-Duwairi said - in his daily military analysis on Al Jazeera - that the resistance videos shown yesterday and the day before yesterday confirm that fierce fighting is still taking place between the resistance and the occupation army forces.
On Thursday, the United States said that it “will not support any Israeli military operation in Rafah that does not take into account the plight of civilians,” at a time when US President Joe Biden described the Israeli military response following the attack by Hamas (listed on US terrorist lists) on the 7th. From October it was "exceeded". While the spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephane Dujarric, said on Friday that civilians in Rafah must be protected, “and there must not be any mass forced displacement,” and added: “We are very concerned about the fate of civilians in Rafah.”
For its part, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Saturday in which it warned of the “extremely dangerous repercussions of the storming and targeting of the city of Rafah” by Israeli forces, also declaring its “categorical rejection” of any forced deportation of civilians. It said that the border city of Rafah with Egypt is “the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians who were forced to flee by the brutal Israeli aggression,” as more than a million displaced people fleeing destruction and battles are gathering in the rest of the besieged areas of the Strip.
For his part, the Israeli analyst, Eli Nissan, considered that “Egypt’s movement of tanks and armored vehicles is not aimed at confrontation with Israel, but rather to prevent attempts to cross the border from Rafah to Sinai.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian military expert, Nasr Salem, considered that any military operation, whether Palestinian civilians were evacuated from Rafah beforehand or not, “would be disastrous, and the international community, led by the United States, must stand against it.” Speaking to Al-Hurra website, he considered that “Egypt is acting within the limits of the peace agreement concluded with Israel,” noting that “Egypt is responsible for its borders...and its borders are a red line, and the state rejects forced displacement or any operations that touch the international border line.” He continued: "Egypt's movements are within the framework of defending and preserving its borders."
Following Israel's announcement of its intention to carry out a military operation in Rafah, the Palestinian presidency said in a statement on Friday that Netanyahu's goal is to "displace the Palestinian people from their land." The statement said, "The occupation's taking this step threatens security and peace in the region and the world, and it crosses all red lines."
For its part, Reuters quoted an Israeli official, who requested to remain anonymous, that his country will work to "organize the movement of the displaced in Rafah to the north, after they fled from it previously, before any military operation." Speaking to Al-Hurra, Sayed Ghoneim, a visiting professor at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, said that there are “Israeli fears regarding the operation in Rafah, related to “the losses among Palestinian civilians in light of international pressure, in addition to the issue of displacement to Egypt, and fears of Cairo’s position.” He added that Israel "does not want to provoke the Egyptian side, which has an uncompromising position, which is not to displace the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip."
Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday that the Israeli army launched raids in the vicinity of Rafah during the past hours, while the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip indicated that 25 people were killed last night as a result of Israeli raids in the border city with Egypt. The agency also monitored Hamas' warning, on Saturday, of a "massacre" taking place in Rafah, which has become the last refuge for more than a million displaced people.
For his part, the Israeli analyst Nisan told Al-Hurra that the decision to start the military operation in Rafah “will be postponed until coordination with Egypt and the evacuation of more civilians in Rafah and Khan Yunis,” saying that “Rafah is considered the main artery for smuggling weapons from Sinai to Gaza.”
Egypt denied such accusations last month, and said in a statement to the State Information Service, “Marketing these lies is an attempt to create legitimacy for its quest to occupy the Philadelphia Corridor or the Salah al-Din Corridor, in the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt, in violation of the signed security agreements and protocols.” "Between it and Egypt, here it must be strictly emphasized that any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious and serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations."
Nissan pointed out that these movements "are being carried out in coordination with America and Egypt, so that the approach of the forces to Rafah does not cause thousands to move towards Egypt, because Israel does not want to create tension with Cairo, which rejected the issue of the displacement of Palestinians to Sinai."
He also pointed out that Israel is under American pressure "for internal reasons, to reduce the intensity of operations due to their negative repercussions on (US President Joe) Biden before the elections scheduled for November." He added: "There is a desire to end the process before the month of Ramadan," which begins in less than a month.
Ghoneim explained that Israel is likely to use the same combat tactics that it implements in Khan Yunis, and not as was the situation in the northern Gaza Strip at the beginning of the military operation. US President Joe Biden confirmed that he is pushing hard to reach a sustainable truce in Gaza, noting that "military behavior has gone beyond the limit."
The visiting professor at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels pointed out that the Israeli army "used large conventional force and a large concentration of fire, whether artillery, air or naval, as the goal was to seize the land and hold on to it." He explained, "The matter was different in the battles in the south due to the large population concentration and the availability of greater information, which made him reduce his forces, use special forces, and launch raids or sweep operations on specific sites," pointing out that this would likely be the form of any operation in Rafah.
Reuters reported, citing two Egyptian security sources, that Cairo sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai in the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to enhance security on its border with the Gaza Strip. The forces were deployed before the occupation expanded its military operations to include the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, to which most of the residents of the Gaza Strip were displaced in search of a safe haven, which exacerbated Egypt’s fears of the possibility of forcing the Palestinians to leave the Gaza en masse.
Last month, the Egyptian State Information Service reported details of some of the measures taken by Egypt on its borders in response to Israeli insinuations that Hamas had obtained weapons smuggled from Egypt. The authority added that three rows of barriers make it impossible to smuggle anything from above or below the ground. Photos from the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an independent group, showed what appeared to be the construction of the wall in December, with several sand barriers behind it.
Later photos, which the group said were taken in early February, show what appears to be three layers, one on top of another, of barbed wire draped over the wall. Reuters was unable to independently verify the images. Satellite images taken in January and December showed some new construction along the 13-kilometre border near Rafah, and the wall extending to the edge of the sea on the northern end of the border.
Reuters quoted an Israeli official that a regular discussion is taking place between Tel Aviv and Cairo about restructuring security on the border, which he said still has a small number of tunnels. The official added that Israel will try to organize the movement of displaced Palestinians towards northern Gaza, before any military operation there. Egyptian security sources downplayed any discussions and said they were giving priority to efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. The Egyptian State Information Service described the smuggling accusations as “lies” aimed at covering up Israel’s desire to occupy the buffer border zone, known as the Philadelphia Corridor.
The HAMAS mayor of Rafah said, "Any military action in the city crowded with more than 1.4 million Palestinians will lead to a massacre and a bloodbath, and we turn to the international community and every living conscience to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people." The HAMAS government media office in Gaza warned of “a global catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands dead and wounded if Rafah Governorate is invaded by the Israeli army .”
The media office said in a statement : “The Israeli occupation media reported on the intention and threats of the occupation army to attack and invade Rafah Governorate (south of the Gaza Strip ), which includes more than 1,400,000 Palestinian citizens, including 1,300,000 displaced people from other governorates, which threatens the occurrence of a global catastrophe and massacre that may result.” Tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded."
The statement added: “We hold the American administration, the international community, and the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the catastrophe and global massacre that the occupation threatens to commit, which may occur at any time in conjunction with its committing thousands of massacres in the governorates of the Gaza Strip over the course of the genocidal war .”
The statement continued: “We call on the UN Security Council to convene immediately and urgently and take a decision that ensures that the Israeli occupation is obligated to stop the genocidal war it is committing against civilians, children and women in the Gaza Strip, as well as to stop the deliberate killing against tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and to stop the occupation’s continuing threats against the Rafah Governorate and other Governorates."
Maps
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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.
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Bystanders
Israel announced on Saturday the discovery of a tunnel in Gaza City, which it said was dug by Hamas under the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The UN agency, which Israel accuses of being “completely infiltrated” by the movement, confirmed that the building had been evacuated on October 12.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry warned in a statement on Saturday of “the extremely dangerous repercussions of storming and targeting the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which is the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians who were forced to flee by the brutal Israeli aggression.” It considered that "this continued violation of international law and international humanitarian law confirms the necessity of convening the UN Security Council urgently to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe for which everyone who supports the aggression bears responsibility."
Pressure on Egypt is escalating in conjunction with Israel's intention to expand its military operations to include the city of Rafah, south of Gaza, to which most of the Gaza Strip's residents were displaced in search of a safe haven, which has increased Cairo's fears of the possibility of forcing the Palestinians to leave en masse from the Gaza Strip towards Sinai.
Two reports by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal stated that Egypt warned that any Israeli scenario that would lead to an influx of Gazans into its territory could jeopardize the Camp David Peace Treaty that the two countries signed in 1979. The New York Times quoted a senior Western diplomat in Cairo as saying that Egyptian officials urged their Western counterparts to inform Israel that they would consider any move to force Gazans to cross into Sinai as a violation that would effectively suspend the 1979 peace treaty.
Another senior Western official, a US official and an Israeli official said the message was more direct, with Egypt threatening to suspend the treaty if the Israeli army pushed Gaza residents into Egypt. In turn, the Israeli official said that the Egyptian government conveyed this warning to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday, when he was on a visit to Cairo during which he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The American official confirmed that Egypt has made clear that it is ready to deploy more of its forces on the border, including tanks, if Israel pushes the Palestinians into Sinai. Two Egyptian security sources said that Cairo sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai in the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to enhance security on its border with the Gaza Strip.
In the same context, the Wall Street Journal indicates that the relationship between Egypt and Israel is moving from a state of tension to the point of collapse. The newspaper notes that Egyptian officials and others familiar with the situation say that relations between the two countries are at their lowest levels during at least the past two decades. The newspaper reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have not spoken at all in recent weeks.
It quoted Egyptian officials as saying that Sisi had rejected several calls from the Israeli leader in the recent period. Egypt says Israel must be responsible for the fate of the civilian population in the territories it occupies, and is also concerned that Hamas and other militants may enter the country with civilians fleeing the war, threatening the security situation in Egypt.
However, the newspaper says that Netanyahu has continued to pressure Egypt to accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees, according to Egyptian officials. Egyptian officials confirmed that Sisi and the country's military leaders were concerned about talk by Israeli politicians and media in November about the necessity of forcibly transferring Gaza residents to Egypt.
Egyptian military intelligence found no evidence of a plan to expel the Palestinians, but Israeli statements convinced the Egyptian government of the existence of such a secret Israeli program, according to Egyptian officials. Egypt said that any attempt to transfer millions of displaced Palestinians would “tear apart” relations between the two countries, Egyptian officials said, which was the first warning of this kind, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper says that in recent weeks, Israel has tried to push Egypt to accept launching a military operation to secure control of the Egyptian border with Gaza, after it accused Cairo of failing to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into Gaza. Egypt refuted this accusation, and Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian State Information Service, said, “It must be strictly emphasized that any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations.”
Meanwhile, Israel's legal team at the International Court of Justice, where it is defending the country against a charge of genocide, said Cairo is responsible for the failure to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. The Wall Street Journal shows that senior Egyptian intelligence and security officials called for a meeting on the same day to discuss withdrawing the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv in response to these comments. But after nearly five hours of discussions, they decided it would be better instead to issue a statement denying the allegations, leading some who are familiar with the thinking of both sides to conclude that there is still room for de-escalation between the two countries.
Palestinians have long felt haunted by memories of the Nakba and surrounded by the ghosts of the expulsion of 700,000 from their homes with the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Many of them were expelled or fled to neighboring Arab countries, including Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and many of them or their descendants still live in refugee camps in these countries, and some of them went to Gaza. Israel disputes the narrative that they were expelled from their homes.
The conflict that has erupted between Israel and Hamas since October 7 has witnessed unprecedented Israeli bombing and ground offensive in Gaza, devastating urban areas across the Strip. Palestinians and UN officials say there are no longer any safe areas inside Gaza in which to take shelter. There has never been a war of this ferocity in Gaza before, and in the conflicts and clashes with Israel in the past few years, there has been no mass flight from Gaza across the border.
But there were incidents in which Gaza's border with Egypt was breached, even though the number of crossings was in the hundreds or thousands, and these people were not looking for shelter or wanting to stay. More than a million people, displaced south after four months of Israeli bombing, are crowded into Rafah and its surrounding areas on the border of the coastal strip with Egypt, which has strengthened security measures for fear of a mass exodus.
Egypt sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai during the past two weeks, as part of its moves to enhance security on its border with the Gaza Strip, according to Reuters. Speaking to Al-Hurra website, military and political analysts considered that the Egyptian move “does not aim to pave the way for a clash with Israel, but rather to secure the Egyptian borders, in light of Egypt considering the issue of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai a red line whose crossing constitutes a threat to national security and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”
Reuters said, on Friday, that with the outbreak of war in Gaza since October 7, Egypt worked to strengthen its borders by building a concrete wall topped with barbed wire with Gaza, in light of fears that the Palestinians might be forced to leave the Strip en masse. What increased these fears was the arrival of more than 1.4 displaced Palestinians near the Egyptian border. The agency quoted two Egyptian security sources as saying that Cairo “established sand barriers and strengthened surveillance at border posts, in addition to transporting tanks and armored vehicles.”
Two Egyptian security sources said that Cairo sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai in the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to enhance security on its border with the Gaza Strip. Regarding this move, Sayed Ghoneim, a visiting professor at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, said that the move is considered “a response consistent with the Egyptian political goal, and it is a defensive mission to respond in the event of any escalation.” Ghoneim explained in statements to Al-Hurra: “This does not mean that the goal is to fight, but rather if there are actually forces there, they will be ready to carry out a combat mission if necessary.” Regarding the scenarios related to the possibility of the Israeli military operation in Rafah causing Palestinians to head towards the Egyptian border, he said: “I do not expect Egypt to use force against civilians.”
The American magazine Foreign Affairs published a long article dealing with the impact of the Gaza war on the Islamic and Arab worlds, saying that this war created a new Islamic front that may be the greatest challenge facing America. The article written by Toby Matthiessen, a senior lecturer in global religious studies at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, explained that the Gaza war is no longer limited to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas ) and Israel.
He pointed to the extension of this war and the participation of the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Iran , Lebanon , Syria , Iraq , and Yemen , in it, and that it has surpassed that until now, 4 months after its beginning, it has become a strong unifying force for Sunnis and Shiites and has awakened a comprehensive Islamic front that includes the Sunni Arab masses. , which overwhelmingly opposes Arab normalization.
The article added that for the United States and its partners, this development constitutes a strategic challenge that goes far beyond confronting the Iraqi factions and the Houthis with targeted strikes. By bringing together a region long divided, the war in Gaza threatens to further undermine American influence and, in the long term, could make many American military missions untenable.
He said that this new rapprochement also raises major obstacles to any US-led efforts to impose a top-down peace agreement that excludes Palestinian Islamists. The writer reported that Arab opinion polls and social media show great Arab support for the Hamas movement and its strategy of armed resistance, and a significant decline in support for the United States and the regimes closely associated with it.
The same opinion polls now show, according to the article, that an overwhelming percentage of the population - more than 90% - opposes establishing relations with Israel, adding that the Arab Opinion Index for last January, a survey conducted in Doha that included 16 Arab countries, shows agreement. More than 3 quarters of respondents said their views of the United States had become more negative since the war began.
Matthiessen advised the pro-Western Arab countries to seek to bridge the widening gap between their policies and the sympathy of their citizens, saying that after years of neglect, these masses will urgently press for a just solution to the Palestinian issue, which threatens to spark a new wave of Arab uprisings.
He stressed that it is increasingly clear that it will be impossible for Washington to stop the regional escalation unless it is able to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, end the occupation, and finally establish a viable Palestinian state, adding that in the absence of concrete, credible steps in this direction, the pressure will continue. Popular influence on governments in the region.
Matthiessen concluded his article by emphasizing that without a just and broad solution to the Palestinian issue, the Middle East will never achieve lasting peace or the kind of political and economic cooperation that many have long dreamed of, indicating that the alternative is an endless cycle of violence, the decline of Western influence, and the integration of the region. In a way that is completely different from what the West wants, and even fundamentally hostile to it.
Axis of Resistance
The Secretary General of Hezbollah, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, upon receiving Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation, affirmed that there is no doubt about the inevitability of the Palestinian people’s victory and resistance, and stressed that the wise, frank and capable stance of His Eminence the Leader of the Islamic Revolution regarding the current events in Gaza and the West Bank is unique in its kind.
This is Emir Abdullahian’s third visit to Beirut during the past four months, and he is accompanied by the Deputy Minister and Director of the West Asia and North Africa Department at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Mehdi Shushtari, the Foreign Minister’s Senior Advisor for Political Affairs, Ali Asghar Khaji, and the Iranian Ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani.
Sayyed Nasrallah thanked the support shown by His Eminence Imam Khamenei, the President of the Islamic Republic, the government and the Iranian people to the oppressed and powerful Palestinian people, and touched on the high capabilities of the resistance and the ongoing coordination between the resistance movements in order to support Palestine and Gaza, saying, “The Zionist enemy is now experiencing a crisis and a strategic impasse and has not achieved any of its goals.” His goals on the field.” Sayyed Nasrallah considered the resistance an important element in the region’s equations, stressing, “There is no doubt that the victory of the Palestinian people and the resistance is inevitable.”
For his part, Amir Abdullahian stressed during this meeting that accepting the resistance to be a major party in the proposed political initiatives shows the role and status of the resistance in Palestine and the region. He stressed that the performance of the Palestinian resistance in resistance and steadfastness, as well as in the political solution, was characterized by wisdom and ability, and that any political initiative must take into account the role of the Palestinian people and the consensus of the leaders of the resistance factions as a basic issue.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said in a press conference in Beirut that the end of the war means the end of Netanyahu and the extremist government of the false occupation entity, and our impression is that Netanyahu is trying to keep the White House hostage so that he may remain in power for a few more months.
During a press conference at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the conclusion of his visit to Lebanon, the first leg of his regional tour, which also takes him to Syria and Qatar, Abdullahian reviewed the consultations that took place with the Lebanese authorities, and answered journalists’ questions. In response to a question about the results of his consultations with the Lebanese authorities, he said: I held very important and constructive discussions with senior officials in friendly and brotherly Lebanon.
Amir Abdullahian added that bilateral relations between Iran and Lebanon are at their best in all areas of common interest, and we held important discussions about ways to expand cooperation and help Lebanon progress and develop.
The Foreign Minister said in response to a question about whether there are signs of stopping the war in Gaza or not? With regard to regional issues, there are common views between Iran and Lebanon. Despite Netanyahu and the Zionist entity's interest in continuing the war, perceptions indicate that the region is moving toward stability, security, and a political solution.
The head of the Iranian diplomatic corps continued that since the beginning of the Gaza crisis, we announced that war will never be the solution, and it is clear to everyone that the end of the war means the end of Netanyahu and the extremist government of the false occupation entity . Our impression is that Netanyahu is trying to make the White House a hostage so that he can remain in power for a few more months at the head of the Israeli occupation entity, and that the White House is the one that must choose between remaining a hostage of “Israel” or focusing on the political solution and ending the war.
Amir Abdullahian said in response to Al-Mayadeen correspondent’s question about reaching a political solution in Gaza, and what is the basis for his words? Today is the 127th day of the aggression and genocide practiced by the Zionist entity in Gaza and its crimes in the West Bank. We have all seen that during this relatively long period, the Israeli entity has not achieved any of its declared goals, and therefore, the allies of this entity believe that they must focus on the political solution.
He said: Despite the catastrophic destruction and killing in Gaza, the resistance and Hamas acted wisely and responsibly, whether in the field of resistance or in the field of political solutions. The head of the diplomatic corps said: The political ideas recently put forward in the name of Hamas are part of the wise and realistic interest of the Palestinian resistance to focus on the political solution and stopping the genocide in Gaza. He added that our assessment is that the Zionist entity will never be able to fight on two fronts. The strength of the resistance enjoyed by Lebanon and Hezbollah is unimaginable for the Israeli entity. In the Gaza War, Hezbollah was able to protect the territorial integrity of Palestine and its oppressed and powerful people and, in coordination between the Lebanese government and the army, provided a strong response to the aggressive ideas of the Zionist entity in southern Lebanon and northern occupied territories.
The Foreign Minister said: We are well aware of the high ability to resist Lebanon. The head of the diplomatic corps said: Any move by the Zionist entity to launch a large-scale attack on Lebanon will determine the end of Netanyahu and the end of the current situation in the region. Amir Abdullahian pointed out that the resistance, the army, and the resistance fighters in Lebanon will prevent the realization of such ideas. Netanyahu is struggling to get out of the Gaza quagmire.
The head of the diplomatic corps said about a question about the plans of Iran and the countries of the Axis of Resistance to legally prosecute the crimes of the Zionist entity: In the past four months, during the crisis and war in Gaza, academics, lawyers and legal experts in Iran and the world held meetings to address the legal and international aspects of war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli entity in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Foreign Minister continued: We strongly support the action taken by the South African government to file a complaint against the Zionist entity in the International Court of Justice. Iran, along with other Islamic countries and the region, will continue its strong efforts in this direction to prosecute war criminals affiliated with the Israeli entity.
In response to a question about the fact that some in Lebanon say that Iran has linked Lebanon to the axis of resistance and consider this interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, Amir Abdullahian said: Lebanon’s history shows that Lebanon is in the first trench of the axis of resistance, and therefore Iran has always wanted nothing but the best for Lebanon in Within the framework of the axis of resistance and within the framework of friendly relations with the country of Lebanon. The world knows Lebanon for its resistance, and there is no need for Iran to announce this. If it were not for the Lebanese resistance, Lebanon would not exist today. This is what the history of Lebanon mentions, not the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In response to a question about what is said about Iran’s support for Hamas as a partner in the destruction of Gaza, he also said: The Al-Aqsa Flood operation was a purely Palestinian decision and within the framework of the liberation movement based on international law. The root of what is happening in Gaza today is not October 7 and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, but rather the occupation of the Zionist occupation entity for more than 75 years. In my last meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, I told him to allow the Palestinian people, for once after nearly 75 years, to decide their own fate.
In Beirut, the Iranian and Lebanese foreign ministers held a press conference that addressed the issues discussed by the two sides and regional developments. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the Palestinian resistance carried out its work accurately and wisely at the field and political levels. He added: It is clear that after more than four months have passed since this war , the Zionist entity and its supporters have not achieved any tangible achievement.
He continued that Tehran is not seeking to expand the scope of the war in the region, noting that developments in Gaza are moving towards a political solution, but Netanyahu wants war. He added: We affirm that war is not the solution and we did not welcome the expansion of war in the region. We believe that the Palestinian resistance and Hamas acted rationally while standing up to the crimes of the Zionist entity and during the political process.
Amir Abdullahian said : We say clearly that if America is looking for peace in the region, the solution is to stop the war and genocide in Gaza. He added: We received promising reports from senior Lebanese officials and the minister regarding internal developments in Lebanon. Iran only wants what is best for Lebanon.
In turn, the Lebanese Foreign Minister said there was talk about the necessity of implementing Resolution 1701, which was issued regarding the stability of Lebanon, as well as stopping the crimes of the Zionist entity, withdrawing from all Lebanese territory, and strengthening the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces to enable them to carry out their responsibilities. He also stressed the need for all countries to make efforts to stop the war and send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media confirm that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is considered the mastermind of the October 7 attack, has been “lost in contact” for ten days, as he has not made any contact with the Qatari or Egyptian mediators. The Times of Israel quoted Channel 12 as saying that “the reason for his disconnection is unclear,” noting that there are several scenarios for the reasons, as it may be because he is “on the run... or a tactical trick, or simply unable to make contact due to problems.” Continuing communications in Gaza. The channel notes that "Hamas has taken several decisions in the past few days without him (Sinwar)," but "the decisions are not necessarily related to the hostage deal."
The Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the Israeli security establishment's assessments reported that "Sinwar had nothing to do with the issuance of Hamas' response to the Qatari mediator's hostage deal earlier this week." Hamas' response included a stipulation that the deal must be "subject to the approval of the Hamas leadership in Gaza." A senior Israeli officer said that the army believes that Sinwar is hiding in Khan Yunis, his hometown, according to a Reuters report.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq confirmed that the opportunity of the past days revealed with certainty to the Iraqi people, friends and responsible parties that the occupying enemy does not abandon its meanness and treachery and does not understand anything other than the language of weapons.
In a statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq added , “The American occupation increased its crimes by assassinating the senior leader Abu Baqir al-Saadi in Baghdad, thus violating all the rules of engagement,” and pointed out that “American crimes will not increase the Islamic Resistance with its declared factions unless it adheres to its responsibilities towards its people.” And her country and nation under any circumstances.” The statement concluded, "We call on our brothers in jihad to join the ranks of the resistance and to be determined to participate effectively in expelling the occupation at this historical stage in Iraq and the region."
This is the text of the statement:
In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful
(Until, when the Hour came to them suddenly, they said, “How unfortunate we are for what we neglected in it.”)
What the Islamic Resistance gave today, the opportunity for the occupation forces to leave the Holy Land as a lifeline, was not obtained yesterday, despite their mediations and pleas before they were decisively defeated in 2011. At that time, the resistance mujahideen were driving the occupation soldiers to the price of fire, and turning its bases into ruins and rubble.
The opportunity of the past few days has revealed with certainty to the Iraqi people, friends, and responsible parties that the occupying enemy does not abandon its meanness and treachery, and does not understand anything other than the language of weapons. This is clearly demonstrated in its recent targeting of the Mujahideen of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Al-Qaim, Akashat, and other locations. His assassination of the senior leader increased his crimes. Abu Baqir al-Saadi in Baghdad, thereby violating all the rules of engagement, which increases the Islamic resistance with its declared factions except in adhering to its responsibilities towards its people, country and nation under any circumstances.
At a time when we look to those we trust to excuse us, as we know better than others about the malice of our enemy, the fields of confronting him, and the mechanism of subduing him, with painful strikes and broad attacks, so that he is forced to submit and be defeated in order to serve the interests of our people and the issues of our nation, we call on our brothers in jihad to join the ranks of the resistance. That they resolve to participate effectively in expelling the occupation at this historical stage in Iraq and the region.
Islamic Resistance in Iraq
Friday - Rajab 28 - 1445 AH
Palestinian academic and dramatist Walid Seif believes that modern means of communication have made a great contribution to “breaking the barriers of the Zionist media and Zionists, reaching a broad base that was hidden from the facts and the Palestinian narrative, and governed by misleading stereotypes.” The critic and writer - who is considered one of the most prominent authors of historical drama in the Arab world, with his great works “The Palestinian Westernization,” “Omar,” “Al-Khansa,” “Salah al-Din,” “Rabi’ of Cordoba,” “Saqr Quraish,” and others—believes that the modern communications revolution It has broken the barrier of the media and official monopoly on narratives, but we should, in his opinion, “build on this change with popular institutional work.” In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Saif rejects the comparison between historical blogging and literary blogging, but at the same time he believes that if the literary text rises to the desired global level, its impact is deeper and more lasting, then dialogue:
Does the Al-Aqsa operation represent a continuation of the Nakba and the alienation of Palestine or a change in its course, and how do you read the future of the Palestinian issue?
Since the Nakba, the Palestinian cause has been subjected to many fluctuations at the political and military levels, but what is certain is that the Palestinian people as a whole have not forgotten their cause, as the leaders of the Zionist movement bet, and their struggle and tireless moral and practical rejection of all attempts aimed at liquidating the cause and obliterating identity have not stopped.
Rather, he is now, 75 years after the Nakba, more committed to his legitimate national rights and more willing to sacrifice and fight for them and to develop tools of struggle and resistance.
The second constant, on the other hand, is the escalation of Zionist violence and extremism in political trends. The Palestinian response is commensurate with the escalation of the Zionist challenge.
The third constant is the official Western colonial complicity and unconditional strategic support for the Zionist entity.
The fourth constant is the continued official Arab impotence, which ranges between inaction and complicity. However, the recent barbaric aggression on Gaza has brought about an unprecedented change in the level of international popular sympathy for Palestinian national rights, and may have extended to some official bodies that have realized that aggressive Zionist policies have a high cost. On the international community, and on regional and international security together.
It also contributed greatly to breaking the monopoly of the biased Western media on the Zionist narrative, which led to expanding public awareness of the facts of the issue and the grave injustices to which the Palestinian people have been exposed over 75 years, and placing current events in their long historical context.
In addition, this barbaric and brutal aggression has returned the issue to its central position at the regional and international levels, and all of these are real gains that should not be underestimated.
If we invest and develop it well, it can lead to positive changes in the interest of the cause. In light of these considerations and readings, the issue has only one path, regardless of the minor fluctuations, and it is the path that leads to achieving justice and national and human rights for the Palestinian people.
What made the Palestinian novel break through the barriers of prevention and danger in the Arab and West? Is it because the Palestinian people were victims of global control or because they are resistant to it?
There is no doubt that modern means of communication have made a great contribution to breaking the barriers of the Zionist media and Zionists. It reached a broad base that was hidden from the facts and from the Palestinian narrative, and governed by misleading stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims in general and about the Palestinian people and their cause in particular.
In my opinion, the resulting picture truly combines the sufferings of the victim and the steadfastness of the resistance together in the face of the worst forms of Zionist violence. What calls a people to make all these costly sacrifices other than the set of sieges and injustices that leave them no choice but resistance: freedom, or death? Man, by nature, does not explode in resistance and sacrifice in the way the world witnessed except when he realizes that he has nothing to lose yet.
There is an Arab popular passion for the symbols of the Al-Aqsa Flood, which is matched by government movements in the West before the Arab world against this passion and spread. Can security and media control make the people forget the Al-Aqsa Flood and its effects?
As I mentioned earlier, the modern communications revolution has broken the barrier of the media and official monopoly on narratives, but we should, in my opinion, build on this change with popular institutional work that cuts across the boundaries of societies to maintain the momentum of popular support and develop it into an effective political force that accumulates pressure on the official institution as it grows. Awareness that Zionist policies also threaten the strategic and security interests of the entire world, and that the Western peoples themselves pay an important part of their material, political and security costs. In any case, the struggle of the Palestinian people since the Nakba until now is enough to ignite memory so that the world will not forget until we forget, and we will not forget.
What has caught your attention about the flood process so far, and that you think should be written about and preserved? All of it encourages thinking, contemplation, activity, interaction, and writing on the emotional, human, political, and even philosophical levels as well. The position does not allow here to review all of them, but one of the important matters related to the topic is to raise awareness and thinking about the entirety of Western civilization and its vision of the different other, and the violent tendencies it entails and the duality between declared universal human principles and values and practical practices, and the idea of ??Western centrality that sees the other as less governed. Humanity of white European man.
Whereas these were philosophical intellectual questions limited to the cultural and intellectual elites, the scope of thinking about them, criticizing them, and deconstructing them has now expanded. It led to the embarrassment of a large segment of the neoliberal class in our Arab world, who are the Westernizers who have seized the Western center and who promote subordination to it and the embodiment of its social culture as a condition for progress.
If the current events have expanded awareness of the Palestinian issue and the rights of its people, they have also expanded awareness of the Western colonial reality, its discourses, and the conditional relationship between it and the Zionist entity, which it sees as an extension of it in a different civilizational space accused of backwardness, terrorism, and hostility to Western civilizational values, to which the Western center places an absolute universal value. On the other hand, recent events have also highlighted the conditional relationship between the demand for Palestinian liberation and the demand for Arab liberation and advancement, and thus the idea of ??the Arab-Islamic depth of the Palestinian issue has been re-established as the central issue upon which other Arab demands are united.
I repeat here what I said in more than one place, occasion, and text: The tyrants were always the police of the invaders, and the one who tied the hands of the Palestinian people during the Nakba and its aftermath is the one who tied the hands of the Arabs, and has continued to bind them ever since. This is not an abstract intellectual slogan, but rather a fact confirmed by history. The issue and the modern history of the Arabs in the era of direct colonialism and beyond, but it must be noted that the West is not a single entity. There are intellectual elites and popular forces on its side who side with human rights, and constitute a true ally of the oppressed, the oppressed, and the marginalized inside and outside their societies. We should not be led away by Western positions. Official and public relations have so far led to slipping into the idea of ??a clash of civilizations, an idea that the official West is working on to camouflage the legal aspects of the conflict.
If you were to write a script for a Western film about what happened during the months of the Al-Aqsa Flood, what would you convey to the Western viewer? Which eyes are more influential and lasting in conveying what happened: the historian’s eye or the writer’s eye?
The Palestinian issue is an inexhaustible source of literary and dramatic works in which sophisticated treatment can move from the specific circumstantial to the general humanitarian, touching on the human condition in different places and times. This is a distinctive feature of arts and literature, and I cannot make specific choices. In literature and the arts, the dimensions and aspects are intertwined between the deep emotional that touches the human conscience, the intellectual, the political, and the historical, and at its center is the human being himself.
As for the comparison between historical blogging and literary blogging, I do not see it as appropriate. Each has conditions, goals, and functions, even if they are intertwined in many aspects, but I can say that if a literary text rises to the desired global level, it has a deeper and more lasting impact, and addresses a broader base of recipients. It addresses the mind, conscience, and artistic taste together, and is more capable of inserting the recipient into his inner world. It would transform dry historical material into personalized human material.
The history of conflicts is not just history, numbers, and general incidents, but rather translates into human tragedies, into human beings of flesh and blood, dreams, hopes, pain, existential questions, and varying responses between despair, hope, withdrawal, and resistance, and all of these may come together in the biography of a single person.
Will you be showing dramatic works during the coming month of Ramadan or the following?
I have completed writing a dramatic text, and I am now working on another text that will be a huge historical work, God willing. I hope to work on implementing them so that they will be presented during Ramadan the following year.
Allied for Democracy
The recent visit of US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, revealed the depth of the discrepancy between the two countries, according to a newspaper report. Financial Times. After a day of meetings between American and Israeli officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blinken held a separate press conference, which may reveal a discrepancy between the two parties on issues related primarily to the next phase of the war in Gaza and how to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas. In the sector, according to the newspaper’s estimate.
The newspaper quoted a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation, Aaron David Miller, as saying in this regard: Blinken’s visit reflected how difficult the entire diplomatic process was. Miller, who was also previously a State Department official, also said, “While the United States has been, and continues to play, an important role, I think we have to be very vigilant about assessing the degree to which Washington can change the course of this crisis.” Essentially, the crisis.”
In another sign of the gap between the two allies, US President Joe Biden, on Thursday, directed a rare implicit criticism of Israel. He said during a press conference, “The response in Gaza... is excessive,” stressing that he had made efforts since the beginning of the war to lessen its impact on civilians.
In addition, the United States, Israel's most prominent political and military supporter in the war, warned of a "disaster" in Rafah. US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that Washington “has not yet seen any evidence of serious planning for such an operation,” warning that “carrying out a similar operation now, without planning and with little thought in an area” where a million people have been displaced, “would be a disaster.”
Returning to Israel, “the contrast was stark,” according to the newspaper’s words, between Blinken and Netanyahu in their assessment of the recent conditions offered by Hamas as part of the hostage release proposal, as nearly 130 hostages remain with Hamas. Blinken said that while the proposal - which called for a 135-day cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, and the release of at least 1,500 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons - was difficult to achieve, it nonetheless offered "space to reach an agreement."
But Netanyahu rejected these proposals, describing them as "fake." Instead, he insisted that the only way to free the kidnapped people was “total victory” over Hamas. He added that to achieve this, Israel will expand its military operations to include the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than a million displaced people live in miserable conditions.
“This, in turn, contradicts the efforts made by American officials over the past few months to persuade Israel to reduce the intensity of the fighting,” according to the newspaper. In another reference to what the newspaper describes as the Biden administration’s “growing frustration” with Netanyahu and far-right members of his coalition, such as ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Blinken also said he raised “our deep concerns about actions and rhetoric that inflame tensions and undermine international support.” To Israel, including government officials.
Israel was not the only stop on Blinken's tour, which included four countries in the Middle East, which highlighted the challenges facing American diplomacy, according to the Financial Times. There were also "indications" that Saudi Arabia - which Blinken visited on Monday - wanted to verify positive messages from the United States about the Kingdom's chances of normalizing its relations with Israel.
The Biden administration is using Israel's ambition to normalize with Saudi Arabia as part of its efforts to broker a "just and lasting peace" agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis, which would eventually include the creation of an independent Palestinian state — something Netanyahu has long resisted. In response to American comments that Washington “received positive reactions from both sides,” Riyadh issued a statement in which it said that “there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders.”
In a clear message to the United States and its Western allies, Riyadh also called on all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to “accelerate the recognition of the Palestinian state.” The Saudi statement was issued after Blinken held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The statement stressed that while Riyadh is ready to discuss diplomatic relations with Israel as part of a broader peace plan, it also wants to make clear that Israel and Western powers will have to make significant concessions to the Palestinians.
Commenting on this, Sanam Vakil, head of the Middle East Program at Chatham House, said that the US minister’s tour shows that the United States is not yet exerting sufficient pressure on Netanyahu, as she put it. "Perhaps the strategy should be more international and multilateral," she added.
However, American officials believe that Washington's diplomacy has had an impact. Blinken insisted on Wednesday that US pressure had prompted Israel to allow more aid into Gaza - although aid organizations say that is still far short of what civilians in the besieged enclave need.
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that despite Netanyahu’s rejection of Hamas’ conditions, Israeli officials continue to participate in meetings about the next steps toward a possible deal. An Israeli official, whose identity was not mentioned by the newspaper, said: “Netanyahu may have closed the door on the idea proposed by Hamas, but that does not mean that he closes the door on a deal of any kind.”
For his part, Jonathan Reinhold, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, said that the United States has also succeeded in dissuading Israel from being drawn into a broader conflict with other enemies in the region, such as Lebanese Hezbollah, whose militants have been exchanging fire across the border with Israeli forces since October.
Meanwhile, observers warn that the window for achieving breakthroughs on the hostage deal, let alone reaching a broader solution to the conflict, “is receding.” The US presidential election campaign began to accelerate, and Miller said, “Once it began in earnest, the Biden administration’s appetite to invest its political capital in long-term attempts to broker a peace agreement increased and diminished.”
Biden issued a National Security Memorandum requiring recipients of US military aid - including Israel - to issue certificates. Written that they will comply with international humanitarian law, and that they will cooperate with US humanitarian assistance efforts. While the memorandum did not refer to Israel specifically, it is widely seen as directed against Israeli military operations in Gaza, and immediately after the memorandum was issued, the major Jewish lobby organizations in the United States attacked President Joe Biden.
In his speech at the White House, Biden criticized the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. He said: “I believe, as you know, that the response in the Gaza Strip was exaggerated,” at a time when the Biden administration is avoiding demanding a ceasefire, or placing any conditions or restrictions on US military aid to Israel, despite pressure from some progressive lawmakers. The issuance of the Memorandum comes at a time when the White House is pressuring Congress to pass legislation providing additional military aid to Israel worth $14 billion.
The new memorandum requires the US Secretary of State to obtain “credible assurances” from countries receiving military aid that they will use the aid in accordance with international humanitarian law. It will not “arbitrarily deny, restrict, or obstruct, directly or indirectly,” U.S.-supported humanitarian assistance efforts. The memorandum requires all countries, including Israel, to provide written guarantees within 45 days, or aid will be suspended.
If the Secretary of State or Defense later assesses that there is reason to question these assurances, they must submit a plan, within 45 days, to “assess and correct” the situation, including requesting new assurances or cutting off defense aid. This memorandum sparked immediate criticism from leaders of a number of the most powerful American Jewish organizations. Sam Markstein, spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, described the memo as “yet another part of the Biden administration that is unfairly pressuring Israel.” He criticized Biden's statements about the Israeli aggression against Gaza, describing them as "ridiculous."
Merton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America, attacked Biden's statements in which he considered that Israel's response in Gaza was exaggerated, and described them as "absolutely outrageous." Klein stressed that "Biden's condemnation of Israel's just and necessary response to the United States' ally does not take into account the fact that Israel strictly adheres to human rights laws and is making unprecedented efforts to protect civilians and fight terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad , which pledge to repeat the October 7 massacres." /October repeatedly, until Israel is annihilated.”
Klein criticized Biden, and said: “We cannot forget that Biden pushed for a premature ceasefire in May 2021, before Israel could complete the task of defeating Hamas. If he had not pressured Israel to end its response to the Hamas attacks in May 2021, for what happened on October 7. It is disgusting that Biden is pressuring Israel to subject Israeli citizens to Hamas terrorism again.”
AIPAC , the largest Israeli lobby organization in the United States, considered the arms transfer memorandum “an unnecessary directive that imposes an additional burden on Israel.” She stressed the need to support Israel in its war against Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies. AIPAC's statement added, "The Israeli army is a moral army fighting on a complex and unprecedented urban battlefield in accordance with international law. It is confronting a terrorist group that deliberately and despicably uses innocent Palestinians as human shields, hides among and under civilians, and continues to hold 136 hostages, including 8 Americans."
Dylan Williams, vice president of the Center for International Policy, tweeted a comment on AIPAC's statement, describing it as "opposition to the Biden administration's modest move to support humanitarian law." He considered that AIPAC's position means "refusing to apply American law and the law of war to Israel," and allowing it to violate them at the expense of American taxpayers.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been pushing in the Senate to pass similar policies, described the new memorandum as placing new “conditions” on aid that could give the United States more leverage toward Israel. Although the new regulations apply to all countries receiving American weapons, they come amid increasing friction that has recently emerged between the Biden administration and Israel regarding the nature of its military operations in Gaza, as he put it.
Van Hollen said, "The memorandum was modeled on his demands in the Senate to impose conditions on the provision of aid, and included all the main and necessary elements." Hollin added that the memorandum "will give the Biden administration much greater leverage to get the Netanyahu government to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza and overcome the political obstacles placed in the way of providing humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Howlin praised the memo for avoiding a vote on his draft resolution, which was likely to be opposed by Republicans , and which would likely divide Democrats , some of whom strongly oppose placing conditions on American aid to Israel. Senator Hollin's amendment was also unsubstantiated in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The White House confirmed on Friday that the United States had briefed Israel on a new memorandum related to American national security that reminds countries that receive weapons from Washington to abide by international law. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press conference on Friday: “We informed the Israelis about the National Security Memorandum and they expressed to us their intention to provide written guarantees regarding the use of American weapons in accordance with the law of war,” according to what Al-Hurra’s correspondent reported.
"They reaffirmed their willingness to provide this type of guarantee," she added. She stated that "the National Security Memorandum does not impose new standards on military aid to foreign countries."
In response to a question about the US President’s statements on Thursday, in which he said that the Israeli response in Gaza to the October 7 attack was “exaggerated,” she said: “Biden’s description of the Israeli military operations in Gaza as exaggerated does not represent a change in his position or his messages.” She reaffirmed that "there is no change in our policy regarding providing military support to Israel."
She explained, "There are no new standards in this memorandum. We are not imposing new standards for military assistance. Instead, we are publicly clarifying existing standards under international law, including the law of armed conflict." Jean-Pierre stressed that the memorandum came as a result of discussions with American lawmakers.
A US official told Reuters that other countries that use US weapons had also been notified, declining to mention those countries by name. The memorandum is a statement of the administration's policy and was sent, Thursday, from the White House to senior Cabinet officials responsible for national security to ensure the implementation of its goals, according to what Reuters reported. The memorandum does not impose new conditions on how US military equipment can be used, but it requires the Biden administration to send a report to Congress annually on whether countries meet the requirements, according to Reuters.
Washington provides annual military aid worth $3.8 billion to Israel, its old ally. Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration's support for Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity. One section of the memo reminds recipients of US military aid to “respect their obligations under international law and reduce the risk of harm to civilians.”
The conflict between Israel and Hamas falls within the framework of a complex international justice system that has emerged since World War II, much of which aims to protect civilians. Even if countries say they are acting in self-defense, international rules regarding armed conflict apply to all participants in the war, according to Reuters.
US President Joe Biden faced criticism at home saying that he should call for a permanent ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza, while the US administration confirms that it supports Israel's right to self-defense, and criticized the toll of civilian casualties as a result of Israeli operations in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank.
The New York Times revealed the details of a closed meeting between Americans of Arab origin and a senior aide to US President Joe Biden, during which he admitted to making “mistakes” in the administration’s response in Washington to the Gaza war. The American newspaper noted that Biden's aide and deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer, met with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, and said that he did not have "any amount of confidence" that the current Israeli government is ready to take "meaningful steps" toward establishing a Palestinian state.
The New York Times considered that Finer's statements during the meeting were "one of the (US) administration's clearest expressions of regret" for what it considered "mistakes" committed since the start of the war, following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. On Thursday, Biden said that the Israeli military response to the October 7 attack in Gaza “went too far.” He told reporters at the White House: “I see, as you know, that the response behavior in the Gaza Strip has gone beyond the limit.” Biden continued: “I am now pressing hard for this ceasefire related to the hostages. There are many innocent people who are starving, and many innocent people who are living in distress and dying, and this must stop.”
The remarks, one of his harshest criticism yet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, come at a time when the Democratic president is under increasing domestic pressure to pressure Israel to stop the fighting.
American lawmakers welcomed a new directive issued by President Joe Biden, which appeared to ease the division among Democrats over the aid package for Israel that is being approved in Congress. The new directive calls for cutting off military aid to countries that violate international protection for civilians, according to what the Associated Press reported.
During the meeting with Arab American political leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, Finer said: “We are well aware that we have made mistakes in our response to this crisis since October 7,” according to recordings of the meetings obtained by the New York Times, whose authenticity was confirmed by a Security Council official. American nationalist. Finer continued his speech: “We left a very devastating impression,” referring to the extent to which “the president, the administration, and the state value the lives of the Palestinians.”
The New York Times indicated that Biden's advisor's statements provide a glimpse into what is going on behind the scenes of the administration's attempts to rally support in the crucial state of Michigan, which includes a large number of Americans of Arab origin, before the presidential elections this year. The Mayor of Dearborn, Abdullah Hammoud, had refused, along with several local officials, to meet with Biden campaign officials, and said in a later statement that he “would like to speak with decision-makers,” before the administration arranged a closed meeting on Thursday, according to the newspaper.
Biden's latest directive on Israel's military aid package had immediate effect, giving Secretary of State Antony Blinken 45 days to obtain "credible and reliable written assurances" from foreign recipients of US military aid who are engaged in conflicts on the ground, including Israel and Ukraine, that they use US military assistance in accordance with international humanitarian law, human rights law, and other standards.
The US House of Representatives had rejected a bill submitted by Republicans to provide $17.6 billion to Israel. Foreign governments that fail to provide these guarantees on time will have their military aid temporarily halted. The US administration also has the option of suspending military assistance, if it deems that a foreign government is not truly complying with humanitarian law and protecting civilians, even if it claims to do so.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted sources confirming that the United States is preparing to impose sanctions on Israeli army soldiers working in the West Bank due to the lack of law enforcement against settler violence against Palestinians. An internal report by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that if the US government does not provide answers regarding a series of accusations against soldiers and units of the Israeli army operating in the West Bank within 60 days, the United States will impose sanctions on the soldiers, in addition to army leaders. The broadcasting corporation reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden warned Israel several times against not enforcing the law against settler violence against Palestinians, but Tel Aviv's response was not satisfactory.
According to the broadcaster, Israel takes the Biden administration's threats seriously, as the government prepares for the possibility of expanding sanctions to include army officials, members of the Knesset , and ministers. A ministerial discussion on this issue is expected to be held in cooperation with the Military Prosecutor’s Office to find out how to avoid expanding the matter, according to the official body.
On January 1, Biden signed an executive order allowing the imposition of sanctions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as well as blacklisting 4 of them. The executive order authorizes the issuance of financial sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals found to have attacked or terrorized Palestinians or seized their property.
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
The Israeli army concluded in an investigation that “it is possible that hostage Yossi Sharaabi was killed unintentionally, as a result of an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip,” according to the “ Times of Israel ” newspaper. The Israeli army presented the results of the investigation to the family of hostage Sharaabi (53 years old), who was killed in mid-January, according to what the newspaper quoted Israeli officials as saying.
Sharabi is believed to have been in a building that collapsed after the Israeli army bombed a nearby building. The investigation concluded that the building that was bombed “was struck in accordance with the protocols” of the Israeli army. However, the army's investigation concluded that "the possibility that Sharaabi was killed by his kidnappers cannot be ruled out."
The investigation said that the Israeli army had “intelligence information indicating that an attack was being planned against the forces, from the building that was bombed,” according to the “Times of Israel.” In the same building where Sharaabi was killed, Hamas also held two hostages, Itay Svirsky (38 years old) and Noa Argamani (26 years old). The Israeli army still believes that Svirsky was later killed by Hamas militants, and did not die in another raid as the Palestinian movement claimed. The Israeli army believes Argamani is alive. The bodies of Sharabi and Svirsky are still in the Gaza Strip.
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 28,064 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 67,611. 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.
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