Operation Iron Swords - Day 131 - 14 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 |
The Israeli Kan channel reported that “the White House informed Israel that it would not object to carrying out the ground operation in Rafah before Ramadan and quickly, and to refrain from carrying it out during the month of Ramadan in order to avoid a regional escalation.”
Itay Blumenthal, military affairs correspondent for Kan 11, pointed out that “there are Egyptian fears of a very violent ground operation by the Israeli army in Rafah , and according to the Egyptians, this may lead to many Gazans infiltrating its areas within the borders.” He revealed that "Israel made clear to the Egyptians that the military operation in Rafah would begin to be implemented after completing two conditions: the evacuation of the Gazan population from Rafah, and after reaching an agreement with Egypt on the issue of dealing with the smuggling axis under the Philadelphia axis."
The Israeli army said that the Air Force began a series of raids on Lebanon. Israeli media said that the attack was the most dangerous since the outbreak of the war on the northern front. An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that an Israeli air bombardment targeted the vicinity of the town of Adshit in southern Lebanon. Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir considered the launching of rockets from southern Lebanon to be a "war" against Israel. He said in a post on the X platform, “These are not drops, this is war. It is time to get out of this concept in the north as well.”
War Termination
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Wednesday, "Israel has not received in Cairo any new proposal from Hamas to release our kidnappers." Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that Israel "will not submit to Hamas's imaginary demands. A change in Hamas' positions will allow progress in the negotiations."
The Prime Minister's Office statement came after Israeli media reported that Netanyahu decided not to respond to the Egyptian mediator's request to return the Israeli negotiating delegation to Cairo on Thursday. Identical sources reported that Netanyahu does not intend to send an Israeli delegation to Cairo again, to complete the talks hosted by Cairo in the presence of an American regarding a possible deal to release hostages held by Hamas.
The sources stated that "the Israeli negotiating delegation returned from Cairo on Tuesday and presented Netanyahu with an Egyptian proposal calling for further talks." The sources indicated, "Netanyahu did not agree to send the delegation to Cairo, under the pretext that there is no point in the talks until Hamas agrees to soften its position regarding the number of prisoners it demands to be released as part of a possible deal."
Axios quoted an Israeli source as saying that the Cairo talks between Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt regarding an exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) ended without achieving tangible progress, adding that the gap that prevents the transition to more serious negotiations is the number of prisoners demanded. Hamas releases them against every Israeli detainee, especially against captured soldiers.
The website added - quoting the source, whose identity was not revealed - that the only progress that has been made is understanding the gaps that must be filled to enter into negotiations that may lead to an agreement, noting that the Egyptian and Qatari mediators will hold talks with Hamas in the coming days to understand whether it is ready to reduce its demands from Hamas. In order to enter into serious negotiations, as he put it.
In turn, the New York Times quoted officials it described as informed that “the two parties are still far from releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for every Israeli kidnapped,” but the content of the talks was good despite the lack of some progress. Regarding the fate of the negotiations after the Israeli delegation left Cairo, the officials said that they would continue through lower-ranking officials, without clarifying further details.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the United States is working with Egypt and Qatar on a proposal that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. He added that Washington is doing everything it can to return all the "kidnapped" to their families.
The Associated Press also quoted informed officials as saying that Israel and Hamas had made progress toward an agreement aimed at reaching a ceasefire and releasing the hostages. She added that the duration of the agreement is up to 6 weeks, and that it is on the table, but more work is still needed to agree on it.
Israeli media reported on Tuesday evening that the Israeli delegation left Cairo without any indication of progress, while a leading Hamas source told Al Jazeera that there is no delegation from the movement in Cairo currently. The source added that the movement is still awaiting the results of the Cairo meetings, and that contacts are continuing with the mediators.
American officials also confirmed that two-thirds of Biden's call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focused on the issue of the exchange deal, and making real progress during the past few weeks regarding the framework of an agreement to release prisoners from Gaza. As for the Israeli position, it did not reject the responses, but saw them as exaggerated.
According to available information, the Hamas delegation - headed by leader Khalil Al-Hayya - discussed with Egyptian intelligence in Cairo the movement’s responses to the Parisian Framework Agreement, and some minor amendments were made in the response and submitted to the entity that is supposed to discuss them with the mediators in Cairo.
Hamas' response included a set of demands related to aid and relief, the return of displaced persons to northern Gaza, and the release of Palestinian civilians, as well as 1,500 Palestinians with high sentences in occupation prisons, in exchange for Hamas' release of 35 Israeli civilians, including women, children, the elderly, and the sick. According to the information also available, Hamas stipulated a ceasefire before implementing the first phase - which the framework agreement ignored - to be followed by a comprehensive ceasefire for a period of 45 days in the first phase, so that the negotiations could take place in calm and without pressure from the field.
Hamas mobilized the first phase with a number of demands that would alleviate people’s suffering as quickly as possible, because it did not want to lose its popular base under the weight of hunger and siege, as well as for fear of Israel’s lack of commitment to implementing the second and third phases. It also wanted to confirm the goals of the Al-Aqsa flood, so the response included a demand to stop settlers’ attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israel rejected.
Israel's most important objection was the ceasefire and the return of the displaced, as well as the failure to accept that the third phase would lead to a comprehensive ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. It also expressed its refusal to withdraw its forces to buffer zones on the outskirts of the fighting in the first phase, and sought to reduce Hamas’ demands regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners who will be released in the first phase.
This came in light of the escalating pressure from the families of the prisoners detained in Gaza, who were joined by other groups, and in light of the internal disputes in the government, and the demand of the head of the camp party, Benny Gantz, former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, former prime ministers, writers and opinion-makers to put the exchange process ahead of the war as long as it is possible. To continue it after its completion, as stated in light of the escalating pressures of the Biden administration to reduce the targeting of civilians and enter into an exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners and the expansion of the entry of aid into Gaza.
Hamas's positive response to the framework agreement reached by the mediators embarrassed Israel, as Tel Aviv would have relied on Hamas' rejection of it in order to resume its aggression and expand it to Rafah, as previously planned. The Israeli position, which insisted on attacking Rafah, clashed with the American position, which seeks to reduce the scope of the conflict and stop targeting civilians. There is no doubt that the Netanyahu government cannot ignore these demands, provided that this does not lead to a comprehensive ceasefire that would result in Netanyahu being taken to court on charges of corruption and failure to anticipate the October 7 attack.
Therefore, the Israeli government worked in two directions: the first was to launch the ground attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, which includes about 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom were displaced from the north and center of the Gaza Strip, and the second was the decision to send an Israeli delegation to Cairo to discuss responses to the framework agreement.
Hamas may refrain from negotiating if the campaign against Rafah intensifies, the negotiations will be difficult between give and take, and may take weeks until a specific agreement is reached. As a result of the divergence of positions, the negotiations may result in agreement on one stage and fragmentation of the agreement on the remaining difficult stages. But the equation of the agreement will be determined by the conditions on the ground and the nature of the pressures that Israel may be exposed to, especially with the deepening of its failure to achieve any achievement and the development of its internal interactions.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) to expedite the completion of the prisoner exchange deal with Israel, while Western reports indicated that the discussions that took place regarding the deal in Cairo yesterday, Tuesday, did not achieve tangible progress, but they may continue.
Abbas said, "We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete the prisoner deal to spare our Palestinian people the scourge of another catastrophe with ominous consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948, and to avoid the occupation attack on the city of Rafah, which will lead to thousands of victims, suffering and displacement for our people." According to statements reported by the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa). Abbas also called on "the American administration and the Arab brothers to work seriously to complete the prisoner deal as quickly as possible, in order to spare the Palestinian people the scourge of this devastating war."
On the other hand, the Axios news website quoted an Israeli source as saying that the Cairo talks regarding a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel ended without achieving tangible progress. The source said that the main gap is the "large number" of prisoners that Hamas demands to be released for every Israeli detainee.
The discussions were held in Cairo yesterday, Tuesday, to discuss the truce in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners, with the participation of CIA Director William Burns, Mossad Chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and Egyptian officials.
Israeli media said that the Israeli delegation would leave Cairo without achieving progress, pointing to disagreements that preceded the delegation’s departure to the Egyptian capital, between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the security officials in charge of negotiating. However, the American New York Times quoted informed officials as saying that lower-ranking Israeli officials will continue the talks after the delegation leaves.
Meanwhile, Amos Harel, a military analyst for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, believed that reaching a deal to return the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza was not a priority for Netanyahu, despite the demonstrations of their families and their demands to complete the deal. Harel said that the Mossad chief had obtained government approval at the last minute to go to Cairo, "but the mandate granted to the Israeli delegation is very narrow, and Israel described the conditions of Hamas - which is not a direct party in the talks - as unacceptable."
The Israeli analyst believed that Netanyahu is taking "a publicly aggressive stance. He does not intend to surrender to Hamas' demands. Israel will continue to use force to try to rescue the hostages. Military pressure will continue on Hamas in Khan Yunis, and the army is preparing to invade Rafah." Harel said that talk of an imminent attack on Rafah appears to be aimed at putting pressure on Arab countries in the hope that they will be able to persuade Hamas to begin searching for a way to end the war, as he put it.
A leadership source in the Hamas movement told Al Jazeera yesterday, Tuesday, that there is currently no delegation from the movement in Cairo, and that the movement is still awaiting the results of the Cairo meetings, and communications are continuing with the mediators.
While the United States talks about efforts to reach a truce for at least 6 weeks between Hamas and Israel, sources indicate that there is a disagreement regarding the duration and nature of the potential truce and the number of prisoners to be exchanged.
Operational Update
More than 4 months after the HAMAS attack on 07 October, Israel has not accomplished its mission in the north, where the resistance is still active and has even regained its civilian presence, while the resistance brigades are still inflicting heavy losses on the IDF, which admits that it has not yet accomplished its mission there. Therefore, expanding the operation to include Rafah risks exhausting the Israeli army, which was forced to withdraw some of its priorities from Gaza, while it faced exhaustion along the northern front with Hezbollah, and the time window in front of it is narrowing, while its operations continue to stir up world public opinion and increase the embarrassment of its supporters. It threatens to expand the scope of the war regionally, which is what the Biden administration seeks to avoid.
Religion began to take its place in the army since the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, as Rene Bachmann says in an article published in 2021 entitled “The Israeli Army... in the Service of God or the State?” Yagil Levy, an Israeli sociologist who specializes in military issues, says, “The shortage of personnel and the entry of middle-class recruits with dreams other than combat made the General Staff try to attract religious youth, by multiplying deals with rabbis and specific arrangements aimed at facilitating the recruitment of religious people.”
Thus the Hesder Yeshiva was born, which are religious academies that allow future recruits to continue for 5 years in Talmudic studies and military training in parallel and then active service. Among the most famous of them is the Bnei David School, which was established in 1988 in the Eli settlement, in the heart of the West Bank between Jerusalem and Nablus. Since its inception, it has trained about 2,000 young men, most of whom serve in elite units, combat units, and the reserves.
The evacuation of the settlements in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005 was a shock to the ideological settlers of the right and extreme right, and today their slogan has become clear and unambiguous: “We are returning home.” Today, there are many religious Zionists in the highest positions in the army, and Rene Bachmann quotes Yagel Levy that of the 29 operational military training schools, there are 16 religious schools, 8 mixed schools and 5 secular schools, and the percentage of religious officers increased from 2.5% in the mid-1990s to more than 25% in the mid-first decade of the 21st century.
The Media Part website summarized an extensive report 14 February 2924 by Gwennael Lenoir in which she tried to show that the war in the ruins of the Gaza Strip is strange, because the soldiers photograph the battlefield, film themselves with their comrades and broadcast the videos on social networks, presenting a disturbing and disturbing image of the Israeli army. Its soldiers are exclusively male, and are inhabited by a Messianic tendency.
Eyal Sivan, who has been collecting this type of video clips since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza, and is a director and producer known for his leftist commitment, explains - decoding some of the videos for the site - that one of the clips was filmed “in Khan Yunis, and it shows how the apartment of the Palestinians who were... They live there in a synagogue, where soldiers, all Orthodox and religious Zionists, celebrate.”
What is strange - according to Eyal Sivan - is that these videos, which were filmed and broadcast outside the official military framework, do not provoke any negative reaction from the General Staff. “They began to be broadcast on Israeli television as elements of the prevailing atmosphere among the soldiers in Gaza, which indicates We do not find it shocking or inappropriate for Israeli army soldiers to bless the Torah scrolls and turn Palestinian homes into Jewish temples.”
The writer wondered what happened in the Israeli army, which the founder of the state, David Ben-Gurion , wanted to be dedicated to it, without connections to religious authorities or political parties loyal to the government, to respond that this was in the first decades of the state, before the weight of the religious people increased, especially the ideological settlers who were called They are the religious Zionists in the Israeli political camp, and then in the armed forces.
Although the religious Jews rejected military service, the invocation of religion is evident at every turn of the ruins of the Gaza Strip, and in the short video clips filmed by the soldiers, there are countless religious sermons addressed to the soldiers, and if they are not the work of the officers, they take place before their eyes. Such as the appearance of a soldier wearing the large Jewish yarmulke worn by settlers, blessing his comrades before heading into battle, saying, “We are all holy soldiers.”
“The army is divided into two parts,” says Shir Hever, an economist and coordinator of the campaign to boycott the military embargo on Israel. “On the one hand, there are the intelligence, marching and aviation services, which use high-tech tools more than others, and on the other hand, there are infantry and armored vehicles, where there are a lot of The religious soldiers are supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich , and they are the ones who maintain the occupation and guard checkpoints in the West Bank.
Eyal Sivan explains that “South Africa cited a video in The Hague” that shows that soldiers fighting are transmitting the speeches of politicians, and it also shows the extent to which religious imagination has penetrated the army. The clip shows soldiers singing in a circle while holding each other’s shoulders, “We will hit Hezbollah on the head, and in "We will wipe out the descendants of the Amalekites from Gaza, because there are no innocents."
Some units are composed entirely of religious Zionists, as is the case with the Kfir Brigade, which deployed for the first time in the Gaza Strip during the current war, and the Netzah Yehuda Battalion has been integrated into it. Both have a proven and recurring history of violence against Palestinians, and the violence usually goes unpunished.
In the Israeli army today there are two types of soldiers: the older ones who have been called up and have discipline, and the others who do what they want, and they consider the Gaza Strip a playground in which they do whatever they want, such as looting or killing civilians who do not pose any threat, and Yagil Levy believes that this represents A challenge to the employees, because these actions carried out by religious Zionist soldiers of all ranks, represent a form of disobedience and the desire to impose their law on the highest military and political leadership.
“What is most disturbing - as Yagil Levy sees it - is the collapse of the army hierarchy, so that the chief of staff hears calls for revenge, sees violations of discipline, and a humiliating attitude towards the firing rules, but he does almost nothing because he is under right-wing terrorism.”
Levy, a sociology expert, wrote in an article in Haaretz newspaper, “The Israeli army can exploit the emotions of soldiers and their leaders to instill a fighting spirit in them, but after the war, an effort must be made to rehabilitate the ground forces so that some or all of them do not turn into gangs.”
While the Israeli forces continued their daily night raids on cities and villages in the West Bank , armed clashes broke out tonight between Palestinian resistance fighters and members of the Palestinian security services in the city of Tubas, located in the northern West Bank. Local sources reported that resistance fighters took to the streets of the city in preparation for an expected storming of the city by the occupation forces after spotting an Israeli military force in the area. The resistance fighters were surprised to be pursued by members of the Palestinian security forces, which led to the outbreak of clashes between them.
Israeli forces stormed a number of cities in the West Bank during the past hours, as Qalqilya was stormed, and the occupation soldiers, supported by military vehicles, stormed the city of Nablus from the Al-Murabba checkpoint located in the southwest. IDF stormed the city of Dura tonight, south of Hebron, and before that, the Ain Arab area in the center of Hebron, where the occupation forces conducted their patrols in the area and set up a military checkpoint.
Meanwhile, settlers attacked farmers and shepherds in the village of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and prevented them from reaching their lands. Israeli forces also stormed the Al-Dhahr area in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and raided and searched citizens’ homes. The occupation forces surrounded the vicinity of the Palestine Medical Complex in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, then withdrew after an attempt to raid a nearby store.
As raids and arrest campaigns continued in various areas, the occupation forces killed a young Palestinian man in Qalqilya and shot another in Bethlehem for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack.
At least 4 people were killed and 11 others were injured in two Israeli raids on the towns of Al-Sawwanah and Adshit in southern Lebanon. Israel also launched another raid on the Jabal Al-Rayhan area, following a missile strike from the Lebanese side that targeted Israeli military bases in the vicinity of the city of Safed, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding 8 soldiers, some of them In critical condition. The Lebanese Civil Defense said that a woman and her two children were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in the town of Al-Sowaneh in southern Lebanon , and a Lebanese man was also killed and nine wounded in another raid that targeted the town of Adshit in the Nabatieh district.
Israeli fighters carried out a series of air strikes on Al-Sawwanah, Adshit, Al-Shehabiya, and the Basalia area in Jabal Al-Rayhan in Iqlim Al-Tuffah, southern Lebanon. Israeli artillery also bombed the vicinity of several border towns. The IDF confirmed that it attacked the source of the missile launches that targeted the Northern Command, the air base in Meron, and a military base in Safed. The number of these missiles reached 8, according to Israeli media, which also said that the attack was the most dangerous since the outbreak of the war on the northern front.
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
Western media reported - unnamed - Egyptian officials threatening to suspend the implementation of the "Camp David" peace agreement , if the Israeli occupation army carries out a military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah , adjacent to the Egyptian border. This is the first time that the threat has been made to suspend the agreement signed since 1978. This comes as the occupation authorities approved a military plan to storm the city, with the aim of eliminating 4 battalions affiliated with the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) based in Rafah, according to statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Previous official Egyptian positions emphasized that Israel bears responsibility for the conditions and fates of the Palestinians in Gaza, and also expressed its concern about the influx of hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the attacks on Rafah, which threatens the security situation in Egypt. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement published on its Facebook page that it “rejects statements issued by high-level officials in the Israeli government regarding the Israeli forces’ intention to launch a military operation in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip , warning of the dire consequences of such action.”
While the statement did not mention the fate of the agreement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in press statements, “There is a peace agreement between his country and Israel that has been in effect for 40 years, and it will remain in place,” which observers of the statements saw as an attempt to hold Israel responsible for preserving the agreement in a joint way.
Observers believe that Cairo's political options are limited in the face of the Israeli insistence on storming Rafah. The peace agreement signed between the two parties prohibits one party from moving in border areas without the approval of the other party. In return, it gives Israel the same right when Egypt moves its forces in the border areas in Sinai .
Years ago, Israel had allowed the movement of the Egyptian army in the eastern Sinai border areas, where the agreement prohibits the army from operating, when Egypt needed to pursue Sinai Province militants, which could be used as a justification for Israel’s pursuit of the Palestinian resistance in Rafah. In this context, questions arise about Egypt's ability to prevent the occupation from carrying out a military operation in Rafah, and about the options that Cairo has to impose this, as some observers believe that the main goal of the anticipated Rafah operation is "displacing the Palestinians to Sinai."
Former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister and former Ambassador Hani Khallaf believes that “Egypt has many cards to prevent Israel from carrying out a military operation in Rafah, the most important of which are:
- The possibility of withdrawing the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv, and announcing that Egypt will stop mediation efforts to conclude a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian resistance.
- Freezing a number of agreements regarding economic cooperation.
- Sending a message to the international community that Israel has violated the peace agreement with Egypt, and that Cairo is free from it.
Khalaf stressed the need for Egypt to launch an international and regional coalition against Israel’s military operation in Rafah, taking advantage of the international rejection of this dangerous operation. The spokesman stressed to Al Jazeera Net that “the Palestinians displaced from northern to southern Gaza have no choice but to enter Egyptian territory, and this is what Egypt must confront forcefully and with announced steps, and take strong positions reflected in official statements and movements on the ground, to prevent the scenario of forced displacement of Palestinians to Sinai.”
The academic and expert on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Muhammad Seif al-Dawla, identified steps that Egypt must take to prevent the occupation from carrying out a ground operation in Rafah, most notably freezing Article 4 of the peace agreement, and sending large numbers of forces, equipment, and weapons near the border in Sinai, to confront... The Israeli plan for forced displacement, which is the most important goal of the ground operation in Rafah.
He also pointed out the possibility of stopping participation in the siege of Gaza, canceling the Philadelphia Agreement, which gives Israel the right to veto everything related to the Rafah crossing, and opening the crossing to bring in humanitarian aid against its will and without waiting for its permission, in addition to the necessity of stopping security coordination with Israel, while closing embassies and withdrawing The ambassadors were expelled.
Saif al-Dawla added, “It is required to expedite the return of the people of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, who were deported from their cities in recent years in order to establish a buffer border zone, as they are a barrier against any expected Israeli violations, while reopening the tunnels and digging more of them to supply the Palestinians with their basic life needs.” In the face of the war of starvation and thirst on both the economic and human levels.”
The expert confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that “Egypt can also threaten to stop the gas import deal from Israel, freeze its membership in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, and freeze the QIZ agreement that requires Egyptian manufacturers to choose an Israeli partner if they want to export their products to the United States, in addition to reviewing all contracts with Major American and European companies, with the threat of their cancellation.
Ahmed Fouad Anwar, professor of Israeli studies at the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University, also expressed his confidence in “Egypt’s ability to prevent Israel from carrying out a military operation in Rafah,” noting that “Egypt has several cards to force the occupation to back down, including its threat to stop implementing the peace agreement.”
He added that there is an urgent need for Israel to support Egypt in the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, and that Israel will not be able to cross Egypt’s red lines. He pointed out in his interview with Al Jazeera Net “the keenness of the Arab countries to continue the peace model with Egypt, and not to prejudice the peace agreement.” He also stressed that Egypt's ability to thwart Netanyahu's efforts to displace Palestinians to Sinai, stressing Israel's need to obtain Egypt's approval to carry out the operation, which Cairo will not tolerate.
In turn, the head of the Arab Foundation for Strategic Studies, Brigadier General Samir Ragheb, said in his intervention on one of the satellite channels, that “the Camp David Accords say that any operations or movements of Israeli soldiers in Area D, at a depth of 11 kilometers from the Philadelphia Corridor into the Gaza Strip, must take place.” With the approval of Egypt, and if the Israeli side violates this, it exposes the Camp David Accords to a violation, and opens the gates of hell,” as he put it.
Axis of Resistance
Allied for Democracy
New disagreements arose between the political parties in Israel regarding the exchange deal file, as opposition leader Yair Lapid said that “it is unreasonable for foreign parties to make greater efforts than the Israelis to recover the prisoners,” adding that “the government cannot go to the Cairo negotiations.” "Only to listen, and for political reasons refuses to present its position."
On the other hand, the Likud Party - led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - criticized Lapid's statements, and the Broadcasting Corporation quoted a right-wing party official as saying that "Lapid cannot continue to act irresponsibly and harm negotiations whose details he does not know."
Channel 13 quoted an Israeli official as saying that their delegation’s participation in the Cairo talks was a “courtesy,” in response to the request of US President Joe Biden. The same channel also reported that major disagreements preceded the Israeli delegation’s departure to the Egyptian capital, due to the head of the Mossad and the person responsible for the detainees’ file, General Reserve Nitzan Alon, putting forward the idea of submitting new proposals, which was opposed by Netanyahu, his Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff, according to the channel.
The official Israeli television channel, Kan, also reported that Netanyahu rejected a proposal, prepared by Mossad and Shin Bet leaders, to exchange prisoners with Hamas. In this regard as well, Israeli Radio said that Netanyahu sent his personal secretary with the Israeli delegation to Cairo “to ensure that the head of the Mossad adheres to his mandate.”
For its part, the Wall Street Journal reported from informed officials that Israel's decision to send a team for the talks came after pressure from President Biden. She explained that Israel and Hamas differ regarding the duration of the truce, as Israel wants it to be temporary while Hamas wants it to be permanent. The newspaper added that Israel rejects Hamas's demands for the complete withdrawal of its military forces from Gaza.
For their part, the families of the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza - in statements reported by the Israeli Channel 12 - demanded that the heads of the Shin Bet and Mossad not return from Cairo without concluding a deal that guarantees the return of all hostages, living and dead, as they put it.
It is noteworthy that this position came after a series of leaks that confirmed the depth of the differences between Biden and Netanyahu, including what was reported that the Israeli response in Gaza had “exceeded the limit.” The American newspaper The Washington Post also quoted sources as saying, “The Biden administration no longer views Netanyahu as a partner who can be influenced,” and MBC reported that Biden called on Netanyahu in closed conversations between them, describing him as a “fool.”
Politico newspaper quoted 3 American officials as saying that the administration of US President Joe Biden will not punish Israel if it launches a military campaign in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without providing protection for civilians in the city. The newspaper said that the three officials - who preferred to remain anonymous - told it that Washington does not plan to rebuke Israel, which means that Israeli forces can enter Rafah and harm civilians in the city without suffering any consequences from the United States of America.
Observers believe that this information represents a green light from the American administration for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with his plan to invade the city, which is considered the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people, despite international condemnation and mounting warnings of the resulting massacres of innocent civilians.
Statements issued by senior officials in the US administration indicate that the imminent Israeli invasion of the city, which is crowded with 1,400,000 people, will not affect American support for Israel, despite the Biden administration’s announcement that it wants Israel to develop a plan to protect civilians before the invasion begins.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, in response to a question during a press conference whether the US President had threatened to stop military aid to Israel if it went ahead with its plan to invade the city, that Washington will continue to support Israel, and added, “We will continue to ensure that they obtain the necessary tools and capabilities to do that".
Yesterday, Tuesday, the US Senate, controlled by Democrats, approved an aid package worth $95.34 billion for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, amid doubts about its approval in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Commenting on the approval, Biden said, “The aid package approved by the Senate responds to our national security priorities in the Middle East, and includes significant support for our soldiers there who are facing attacks by Iranian-backed militias.” He stressed that the aid "provides Israel with what it needs to protect its people from terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and others." The draft law with the aid package must be approved by the US Congress, with its Senate and House of Representatives, before Biden can sign it into law.
Israeli media channels - in their daily discussions - highlighted the tension between the administration of US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Channel 13 revealed that Biden told Netanyahu during a 45-minute conversation with him, “Humanitarian support for Gaza is being delayed, and your responsibility is to ensure that this does not happen. You are unable to commit to this goal that you coordinated with us regarding, and I ask you to strengthen efforts.”
The channel's political affairs correspondent, Moria Asraf Wallberg, said that Biden's words came against the backdrop of Israeli demonstrations at the Kerem Shalom crossing, which impede the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip . The correspondent revealed that a report was published in the United States stating that Biden said in closed conversations that Netanyahu is an obstacle, and called him a fool, noting that this is not the first time that the American media has mentioned that Biden gave many nicknames to the Prime Minister of Israel during the war on Gaza.
The American newspaper “The Nation” published an article that “reveals that the American and British press are systematically publishing the illusion that US President Joe Biden is on the verge of a final break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the latter’s policy towards the Palestinians, while the real reality belies that.” Blatantly.
The article - written by Jack Merkinson - stated that the Western press has recently been promoting a story saying that “Biden is really upset with Israel behind the scenes,” and this story is being circulated over and over again. Merkinson cited many examples from newspapers and channels, such as “The Washington Post,” “The New York Times,” “The Guardian,” “NBC News,” “CNN,” “Axios,” and “The Hill.” ", "The Times" and others that promoted such a story.
He also provided headlines for the same story in various forms, such as: “The relationship between Biden and Netanyahu is horrific,” “Biden is increasingly at odds with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” “Tensions are rising behind the scenes,” and “Things are becoming increasingly tense between the two countries.”
He added that these stories always and regularly strike, with the same rhythm, and bring a variety of anonymous officials as sources for what they claim, such as “multiple administrative officials,” “senior American and Israeli officials,” “4 American officials with direct knowledge of the case,” and “19 senior officials.” Management officials and external consultants.
The writer continued to present how the Western press is promoting the story, saying that the sources claimed by this press always ask to remain anonymous, and tell stories about the Biden administration’s disappointment with Netanyahu, and perhaps add some comments about Israel reducing the number of civilian deaths: “We are concerned.” Although they are not doing everything possible to limit civilian casualties, “US leaders warn that high levels of civilian casualties ensure that extremist populations will live alongside Israel for decades to come.”
They all tell us that frustration is rising and tensions are becoming more tense, Merkinson said. He commented that if we judge, based on these accounts, Biden must now have reached the limits beyond the utmost frustration, disappointment and patience, but reality says otherwise, and it appears that the press has been misled or is deliberately misleading people.
Then the writer went on to mention what was happening in what he called the real world, to say that the Israeli massacre continued unabated, and Biden and his legislative partners continued to arm Israel, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate brought members to vote on a bill that would, in addition to rearming Ukraine , send 14.1 Another billion dollars to Israel for what is euphemistically called “security assistance.”
In the real world - as Merkinson says - Biden blocked moves for a permanent ceasefire at the United Nations and refused to put any public pressure on Israel to help implement it, and his aides refused - in a meeting designed specifically to ease tensions between the White House and the Arab-American community in Michigan - To say whether they have advised or will advise the President to call for a ceasefire, which is what the audience requested.
Also in the real world, Biden has refused to place any conditions on military aid to Israel, and last week, he issued a presidential order that “authorizes a rapid cutoff of military aid to countries that violate international protection of civilians,” as the Associated Press put it. Democrats raced to describe this as historic and powerful, and said, “This is a radical change in how American military aid is dealt with and its impact on civilians.”
But Biden's press secretary immediately rushed to say that this did not mean suspending aid to Israel, and that the United States "is not imposing new standards for military aid," and that Israel assured the White House that it is committed to protecting civilians.
The writer pointed out that there is no field other than the media in which a person who supplies weapons that he knows will be used to commit mass violence would be taken seriously if he told reporters that he was not particularly satisfied with the whole matter, but only American foreign policy gets this kind. From scrolling. He added that even Biden's statement, in which he said that he holds countries that import weapons responsible for the violence in which these weapons are used, does not seem to be enough to limit the promotion of this narrative by Western newspapers.
Merkinson explained: Now, as Netanyahu plans what must be a disastrous ground invasion of Rafah, Biden is once again signaling his displeasure while doing nothing to prevent the Israeli death machine. He concluded that there will be many opportunities for journalists to abandon the idea that Biden is exercising any kind of meaningful censorship over Israel. He called on journalists that, if they really want to hold Biden accountable, rather than help the White House promote the same hollow fantasy over and over again, they should start now.
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
The American CNN network quoted a senior official in President Joe Biden's administration as saying that the rescue operation of two Israeli detainees in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip , Sunday, may have led to the death of about 100 Palestinians, "and we are concerned about it." The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that Tel Aviv informed Cairo during the liberation of the two detainees in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and assured it that the matter was an isolated event, and not the beginning of a comprehensive process.
For its part, the White House expressed its happiness with the success of the Israeli army in releasing the two Israeli detainees, and added that the crisis will not end in the Gaza Strip until the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas ) releases all detainees. The White House confirmed that US President Joe Biden and members of his team continue to work around the clock to ensure and secure the release of detainees. "We cannot confirm the killing of civilians in Rafah, but we do not want to see any civilian deaths, whether Palestinians or Israelis, and President Biden was clear about this. We want the war in Gaza to stop, and the first steps for that are an extended truce, the release of all detainees, and the entry of aid."
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 28,4730 martyrs, "including 12,300 dead children, 8,400 women, 340 medical personnel, 46 civil defense, and 124 journalists." He pointed out that "7,000 people are missing, 70% of whom are children and women, The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The number wounded was 68,146. 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 394 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 569 since the start of the war on October 7, including 236 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 2,864 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 14,070 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
Israel announced 12 February 2024 that the total number of prisoners that the army was able to recover in exchange deals and through military operations is 126 people, including 91 Israelis, 11 bodies, and 24 foreign workers.
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 Al-Qassam Brigades announced on 11 February 2024 that the continuous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip during the past 96 hours led to the death of 2 prisoners and the serious injury of 8 others.
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 7,000. 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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