Operation Iron Swords - Day 133 - 16 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 |
Minister in the Israeli Military Council, Benny Gantz, threatened on Friday to continue the war on Gaza even during the holy month of Ramadan and expand it to the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, if the Israeli detainees do not return from the Gaza Strip. Gantz said in a recorded video message that he posted on the X platform, “We will not stop until the detainees are returned by all means. There will not be a ceasefire even for one day without their return.”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced on Friday his intention to expand the policy of allowing Israelis to arm themselves. Ben Gvir stated - in a press conference - that one of the Israelis who were at the scene of the shooting attack in Kiryat Malachi opened fire on the perpetrator, which led to his death. He added, "Weapons save people's lives, and I will expand and increase the policy of allowing citizens to arm themselves." At the beginning of the war on Gaza in October, Ben Gvir launched a policy of arming the Israelis, especially the settlers in the West Bank and around the Gaza Strip and near the Lebanese border.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (official) announced that two Israelis were killed and 4 were moderately and seriously injured, following a shooting attack at a bus station, north of the city of Kiryat Malachi. Regarding the attack, the authority explained that the attacker fired a gun, and a soldier who was there shot him, killing him.
As for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he vowed to continue fighting. He claimed in a written statement, "This attack reminds us that the entire country is on the front line and that the killers, who do not just come from Gaza, want to kill us all." He added, "We will continue the struggle until complete victory, with all our strength, on every front and in every place, until we restore security and calm for all citizens of Israel."
United Nations Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that the Hamas movement is not a terrorist organization as classified by Washington and some European countries, and that the United Nations classifies it as a political movement. He added - in a television interview - that it would be difficult to end the conflict without recognizing the views of Hamas, explaining that dialogue is the solution, and that it is not possible to reach a negotiated solution that does not include the aspirations of the movement.
The report published by the New York Times on the role of Muhammad Dahlan in participating in the discussion of the future of Gaza after the war, brought back the spotlight on the prominent Palestinian leader who, despite being away from the Palestinian political scene for years, his name was not completely absent and became more prominent after October 7, 2023.
Dahlan, who resides in the UAE, revealed in the report a plan that Arab leaders are discussing “secretly” for the future of the Gaza Strip after the war, according to which power in Gaza will be handed over to a new, independent Palestinian leader who can rebuild the Strip under the protection of an Arab peacekeeping force.
The new Palestinian leader will also assume responsibility for parts of the West Bank currently administered by the Palestinian Authority, said Dahlan, who currently does not have any official status in the Palestinian territories.
Dahlan (62 years old) said that this new leader, whose identity was not revealed, will replace the current President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who is 88 years old, and who will retain a ceremonial role. For years, Dahlan has been among the potential candidates to succeed Abbas, an old friend and current rival, in the Palestinian Authority, even as he moved into exile in Abu Dhabi since 2011.
Dahlan, who rarely gives interviews to the Western press, gave an interview with the American magazine " Time " a little more than a month after the outbreak of the war, which said that he had become "flirting with the media." In his recent interview with the New York Times, Dahlan, who has a political career full of controversial moments, renewed his assertions that he is not interested in assuming an official leadership position in any future Palestinian government.
However, he said in his interview with Time magazine last November: “But I will help if there is an opportunity to rebuild the Palestinian political system.”
War Termination
Israel has repeatedly announced three goals for the war on Gaza, which are to overthrow Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip, eliminate its military capabilities, return Israeli prisoners from Gaza, and ensure the presence of an administration in Gaza that does not pose a threat to Israel, but it did not achieve any of these goals despite the war entering its fifth month.
In late January, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Prime Minister of Qatar, and the head of Egyptian intelligence would hold a meeting with the heads of the Israeli intelligence agencies Mossad and Shin Bet in a European capital to advance a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza. The Israeli channel emphasized that the Israeli occupation leadership considers this meeting crucial, clarifying that its goal is to unify the path of Qatari and Egyptian mediation in order to exert joint pressure on the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas.
Regarding the ongoing ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks, Palestinian sources disclosed to Al Mayadeen Israel's response to the Resistance's ceasefire proposal, which involves a three-stage plan with requests for several concessions but does not include the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The first stage, according to the sources, will comprise a 35-day-long ceasefire and will have the possibility of being extended for an additional seven days. The second stage could last 30 days, the sources added, noting that the third stage does not have a specified timeframe. Concerning the clause on troop withdrawal, the sources stated that Israel requested substituting the word "populated" with "heavily populated" to indicate that the troops would remain stationed in uninhabited areas They further said that Israel rectified a clause about rehabilitating hospitals but not rebuilding them. Moreover, they agreed to suspend flights over Gaza for only six hours each day.
Discussions that took place in Cairo regarding a captive-prisoner exchange deal between the Palestinian Resistance and the occupation entity were "positive", but no breakthrough was achieved, Israeli media reported. In a similar context, an Al Mayadeen source part of the Palestinian Resistance revealed that the Israeli occupation is attempting to nullify the Paris proposal while focusing instead on getting back its captives without having to conform to any conditions by Hamas. Our source affirmed that as much as the Resistance wants and is careful about achieving its goal, it will not allow the Israeli occupation to accomplish any of its aims noting its miserable failure across all battle axes.
Operational Update
Israeli Army Radio reported that the army withdrew the 646th Paratroopers Brigade from Khan Yunis. The Israeli army had gradually withdrawn some of its forces during the recent period, withdrawing the 36th Division, which includes the Golani Brigade and brigades of armor, artillery, infantry, and other forces. It also withdrew the Fifth Brigade from the Gaza Strip late last month, in addition to withdrawing the Fourth Reserve Brigade known as “Kiryati”. The Israeli army ended the mission of the “7107” Battalion of the “Nahel” Brigade, and also withdrew the “271” Battalion of the Combat Engineering Unit.
Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press showed Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned Israeli attack targeting the border city of Rafah. Satellite images, taken by Maxar Technologies on Thursday, show the continuation of construction work on the wall, which is located along the Sheikh Zuweid-Rafah road, about 3.5 kilometers west of the border with Gaza. The photos also show cranes, trucks, and what appear to be pre-fabricated concrete barriers placed along the road.
These satellite images are consistent with what was stated in a video clip released by the London-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights on February 12. The video clip shows a crane lifting the concrete walls into place along the road. Also nearby, construction crews appear to be leveling the ground for an unknown purpose. This can also be seen in images taken from Planet Labs PLC in the area.
One satellite image from Maxar Technologies showed the construction of a house in Rafah, Egypt, on December 15… The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous Egyptian officials, described a “20 square kilometer fence” being built in the area that could accommodate more than 100,000 people. The newspaper said that Egypt is preparing a fenced camp in the Sinai Peninsula in anticipation of the possibility of receiving Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip, which is besieged and bombed relentlessly by Israel.
The newspaper added that the Egyptian authorities are preparing a “walled area with an area of eight square miles” on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, noting that the walled area is part of “emergency plans” and can accommodate “more than 100,000 people.” In turn, Agence France-Presse reported that it had seen satellite images of the North Sinai region on Thursday, showing mechanisms building a wall along the border between Egypt and Gaza.
The agency said that the Egyptian authorities impose strict security control on this area, which is closed to journalists. The agency quoted North Sinai Governor Mohamed Shusha denying that Egypt was preparing an “isolated area in Sinai” to receive refugees.
However, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said that it spoke to local contractors who said that construction companies had been commissioned “to create an area surrounded by fences 7 meters high.”
Egypt, which has not publicly recognized the construction, has repeatedly warned Israel of the consequences of forcibly expelling more than a million Palestinians now displaced in Rafah to its territory while it has been fighting the armed Hamas movement for the fifth month. However, preparations on the Egyptian side of the border in the Sinai Peninsula indicate that Cairo is preparing for this scenario, one that could threaten its 1979 peace agreement with Israel that served as a linchpin for regional security, according to the Associated Press.
On February 11, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement warning Israel of its possible attack on Rafah and its “displacement of the Palestinian people.” Hard-line officials within the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have raised the possibility of removing the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, something strongly opposed by the United States, Israel's main ally. The Palestinians hope to obtain the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank to establish their future state.
An Israeli Intelligence Ministry report, drafted just six days after the October 7 Hamas attack on the Gaza Strip that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, included a proposal to move Gaza's civilian population to tent cities in northern Sinai. Then build permanent cities and an indefinite humanitarian corridor.
Palestinian resistance operations against the Israeli occupation forces continued, and varied between launching rockets and field clashes, while Israel threatened to continue the war on Gaza even in the holy month of Ramadan and expand it to the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the resistance launched a batch of missiles from the northern Gaza Strip towards the surrounding settlements.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said , "We bombed the city of Ashkelon and the Gaza Strip with missile attacks in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our people." Israeli media said that 8 rockets were launched from the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip and landed in Ashkelon.
For its part, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), said that its fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli occupation forces penetrating the areas of the city of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza. Al-Qassam confirmed the continued targeting of Israeli forces and their vehicles with “Al-Yassin 105” shells, “TBG” shells, and explosive devices.
The Israeli army said that it had arrested 20 people “suspected of participating” in the October 7 attacks, who were present at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said in a statement, “Commando forces and special units continue their work against the Hamas terrorist organization inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, as the operation is based on intelligence information indicating the presence of Hamas terrorist activities inside the hospital.”
During combing operations in the hospital area, Maglan fighters found “mortar shells, hand grenades, and other combat means belonging to the Hamas movement,” according to the Israeli statement. The army said that it "will continue to act in accordance with international law against the Hamas terrorist organization, which operates systematically from within hospitals and civilian infrastructure."
This comes at a time when the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) announced on Friday the death of 4 patients in the Nasser Medical Complex, after oxygen stopped due to a power outage, in a continuation of the deteriorating conditions in the hospital, which witnessed an Israeli raid and “scenes of chaos and gunfire.” It added that the Israeli army "forced the administration of the Nasser Medical Complex to place 95 health personnel, 11 of their families, 191 patients, 165 companions, and the displaced in harsh and frightening conditions, without food or baby formula, and an acute water shortage."
Al-Hurra's correspondent in Gaza indicated that the Israeli army continues "artillery shelling in the vicinity of the Nasser complex", in light of a series of air strikes in the center of the city of Khan Yunis, pointing to the continued operations of the Israeli forces "by bulldozing, digging, and searching inside the hospital departments and courtyards."
For its part, the World Health Organization said that it was “trying to reach” the largest hospital still operating in the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital, after the Israeli operation. The organization's spokesman, Tarik Yasarevic, said: "There are still patients and seriously injured people inside the hospital." He added: "There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to ensure the continued provision of life-saving services. We are trying to reach out because the people who are still in the Nasser Medical Complex need help."
Arab political analysts believe that the Kiryat Malachi operation, which resulted in the killing of two Israelis and the wounding of four, confirms the unity of the Palestinian fronts, and proves the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to provide security for the Israelis. A shooting attack occurred at a bus station, north of the city of Kiryat Malachi, east of Ashdod. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas ) said - in a statement - that “the commando operation in Kiryat Malachi is a natural response to the war of extermination committed by the occupation army against the Palestinian people, and the continuation of its crimes and the crimes of the settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem."
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, said that the guerrilla operation comes after the increase in killing and criminality committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank , in addition to the siege and starvation of people in the Strip. Al-Barghouti added - in his interview with the program “Gaza...what next?” The genocide carried out by the occupation against the Palestinians has provoked everyone's feelings, and the Kiryat Malachi operation is a message to Netanyahu and his army that the West Bank may also catch fire, and therefore they must stop their barbaric war in Gaza.
He said that the policy practiced by the occupation, including crime, siege, starvation, and depriving people of treatment, will not discourage the Palestinians from continuing their resistance and steadfastness. Barghouti noted that Israel does not want a compromise solution and does not want a Palestinian state to be established, stressing the importance of international legal action to pressure it to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people.
For his part, academic and expert in Israeli affairs, Dr. Muhannad Mustafa, believes that the commando operation in Kiryat Malachi demonstrated the failure of Netanyahu and his government to achieve the goals that were set, especially providing security for the Israelis. According to Mustafa, Israeli society is living in a real dilemma, given that whoever rules it does not provide it with security, indicating that there is a trend towards overthrowing the Netanyahu government, which a poll in the Maariv newspaper concluded that it will not be able to complete its rule if elections are held.
The Kiryat Malachi operation also confirms the unity of the Palestinian fronts, and that the Palestinians share their pain, dreams and ambitions. On the other hand, the academic and expert in Israeli affairs pointed out the existence of a racist tendency among Israelis, where the Palestinian is absent and dehumanized, and this appears even in their educational curricula.
But despite this racism, which has worsened under the right-wing and extremist orientation of the Netanyahu government, there are intellectual currents led by some historians and academics, calling for the necessity of Israel moving to the post-Zionist stage, and in order to be part of the region, it must recognize the historical rights of the Palestinian people and grant them the right to self-determination.
This movement also calls for Israel to become a civil, democratic state for all its citizens. The academic and expert on Israeli affairs says that this movement was strong and had a voice in the 1990s, but today it has become marginalized.
The occupation forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem , and surrounded the house of the perpetrator of the shooting attack in Kiryat Malachi, which resulted in the death of two Israelis and the wounding of four. While the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) considered the operation a “natural response to genocide” in Gaza , Tel Aviv vowed By fighting and arming the Israelis.
Confrontations broke out with the occupation forces in the vicinity of the house of the perpetrator of the attack, called Fadi Jamjoom, which led to cases of tear gas suffocation. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation forces stormed the Jamjoum family's home in the Ras Khamis area of ??Shuafat Camp, and began conducting a field investigation into his family.
For its part, the Hamas movement said - in a statement - that "the commando operation in Kiryat Malachi is a natural response to the war of extermination committed by the occupation army against the Palestinian people, and the continuation of its crimes and the crimes of terrorist settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem." Hamas called on the Palestinian people to “expand the circle of engagement with this enemy, which only understands the language of force,” according to the movement’s statement, which affirmed that it and the stationed Palestinian people will continue the struggle and resistance until the liberation of the land and the holy sites, and the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Israeli army confirmed that it had killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, Ali Al-Debs, and two other of his aides a day earlier in Lebanon. The army said in a statement, "Yesterday evening, the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan forces, Ali Muhammad al-Debs, his deputy Ibrahim Issa, and another terrorist were killed." The Israeli army statement explained that Al-Debs was killed in a "precision air strike carried out by an army plane on a Hezbollah military facility in Nabatieh." Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee announced through his account on the “X” website that the army “eliminated a central commander in the Radwan Force, along with his deputy and another element inside Lebanon.”
According to what the official National News Agency reported, an Israeli drone targeted, with a “guided missile,” on Wednesday night a three-story building in the city of Nabatieh, which is relatively far from the border with Israel, and which has so far remained immune from the escalation between the Hebrew state and Hezbollah since the outbreak of the war in Gaza strip. The security source said that seven civilians from one family were killed in the raid, which also killed three Hezbollah members who were present in the basement of the building.
For its part, Hezbollah announced the killing of three of its members, including Debs. According to the agency, the Israeli strike in Nabatieh caused “severe damage to the three-story building,” one of the floors of which the Berjawi family lives.
What is happening in Lebanon in recent days is a “worrying shift,” as Andrea Tenenti, the official spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL), described it, “including targeting areas far from the Blue Line,” which separates Lebanon and Israel. It was established by the United Nations on July 7, 2000, but it is not considered an international border.
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including those targeting Nabatieh, left a total of 15 dead, ten civilians and five Hezbollah members, according to official media, Hezbollah, and a security source. This death toll is the highest in one day since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging cross-border bombing on October 8, in the wake of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
The burning front between Hezbollah and Israel has become increasingly heated in an unprecedented way since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, as its geographical area and destructive power have expanded, increasing with it the wave of displacement from southern Lebanon, in search of a safe place from the ring of fire.
Two days ago, rockets fired from Lebanon reached Safad, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding other soldiers. The Israeli response came by bombing a 3-story building in the southern city of Nabatieh, resulting in a large number of civilian deaths and injuries, including 7 people from Berjawi family. So far, 11 dead and 7 wounded have been recovered from the Nabatieh building, as the mayor of the city, Ahmed Kahil, told the Al-Hurra website, while the Israeli army confirmed that a central commander in Hezbollah’s “Radwan Force,” Ali, was killed in the raid. Muhammad Al-Debs with his deputy, Hassan Ibrahim Issa, and another member.
Hours before the building was targeted, 3 members of the family of citizen Jalal Hussein Mohsen were killed in the town of Al-Sawana, after their house was targeted by two missiles: his son, his wife (Syrian), and their infant. Amidst the mutual bombing, and the death of the largest number of civilians in Lebanon in one day since October 7, the two sides raised their warnings to each other, while continuing to escalate on the ground.
The exodus movement from southern Lebanon began since Hezbollah opened the front with Israel on the eighth of last October, under the pretext of “supporting Gaza,” as it announced, and it continued to rise day after day, with the expansion of the bombing. On Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced in the cumulative emergency report that the number of displaced people had reached 87,161.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration reported on 05 January 2024 that more than 76,000 people were displaced in Lebanon as a result of the military escalation, only two percent of whom reside in 14 collective shelter centers in the south of the country, especially in the city of Tyre. Coastal (south) and Hasbaya (southeast). As for the rest, they rented apartments, or moved to live in other homes they owned in areas farther from the tense border areas, according to the organization.
The escalation also pushed more than 80,000 Israelis to flee their homes in the northern region, according to the authorities.
A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicated that at least 39 civilians were killed in southern Lebanon during the past four months, and more than 88,000 people were displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration. The report explained that the United Nations and its partners continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those who have fled their homes, in complement to the initiatives led by the government. This includes food, health care, cash assistance, educational support, and legal protection services for displaced families, as well as support in maintaining water and wastewater treatment systems.
Meanwhile, OCHA estimates that around 60,000 people remain in border villages severely affected by the crossfire. The capacity of the humanitarian community to provide life-saving support to people in these areas remains limited, due to security constraints and difficulties in access and funding. A few days ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in the caretaker government, Abdullah Bou Habib, confirmed during his meeting with the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Kate Forbes, that “We have about one hundred thousand displaced people from the south as a result of the recent events, and they are in dire need.” "For care and assistance, all possible assistance from the International Red Cross is welcomed."
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
Egypt announced its “categorical” denial of what some Western media reported regarding its participation in the process of displacing Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai, saying that this matter is “completely rejected.” The head of Egypt's State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said in a statement that his country "categorically denies what was circulated by some international media regarding Egypt preparing to build units to shelter our Palestinian brothers in the area adjacent to the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip."
Rashwan added that Egypt's position "stipulates a complete and irreversible rejection of any forced or voluntary displacement of Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip to outside it, especially to Egyptian lands, as this constitutes a certain liquidation of the Palestinian cause and a direct threat to Egyptian sovereignty and national security."
Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Friday showed Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned Israeli attack targeting the border city of Rafah. Rashwan stressed that this matter is "a red line and that Cairo has the means to deal with it immediately and effectively." The Egyptian official added that Cairo believes that an attempt to displace Palestinians is “a grave war crime condemned by international humanitarian law, and Egypt cannot be a party to it,” indicating that Egypt “will take everything that must be done to stop it and prevent those who seek to commit it from carrying it out.”
The head of the State Information Service also touched upon some media outlets circulating the issue of Egypt establishing a separation wall on its border with the Gaza Strip, explaining that “Egypt already has, and for a long time before the outbreak of the current crisis, a buffer zone and fences in this region, and these are the procedures and measures it is taking.” Any country in the world to maintain the security of its borders and sovereignty over its territories.”
The Egyptian official's statements came at a time when the Wall Street Journal recently published a report in which it said that Egypt is preparing a fenced camp in the Sinai Peninsula in anticipation of the possibility of receiving Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip, which Israel is besieging and bombing relentlessly. The newspaper reported that the Egyptian authorities are preparing a “walled area with an area of eight square miles” on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, noting that the walled area is part of “emergency plans” and can accommodate “more than 100,000 people.”
Israel is preparing to launch an attack on Rafah, and sources tell Reuters that contingency plans are currently being drawn up in Egypt to accommodate the Palestinians if the situation becomes critical. Concern has loomed among Palestinians and Arabs about the possibility of Palestinians being forced to leave the Gaza Strip, since Israel launched a military operation in response to the Hamas movement’s attack on Israeli towns on October 7.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said on Friday that Israel does not intend to deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and that it will coordinate with Egypt regarding the fate of hundreds of thousands of “refugees” currently in the city of Rafah. Western officials and aid agencies warn that forcing refugees to head to Egypt would be disastrous. Katz seemed to reduce the possibility of this happening and said that Israel is currently discussing ways to evacuate refugees with the United States in addition to coordinating it with Egypt.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant equates UNRWA's humanitarian lifeline in Gaza with a war against Israel. Gallant told a delegation of UN ambassadors that UNRWA is " Hamas with a facelift." Israeli efforts to undermine UNRWA are not a recent development and are not necessarily linked to the current war on Gaza. For years, Israel has pressured various US administrations to stop funding the United Nations agency.
Writer Jamal Kanj, in a report published by the American “Counter Punch” website, said "International leaders who lined up to pledge their support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the largest open-air prison break on October 7, 2023 had paved the way for the ensued Israeli war of genocide. Now, the suspension of funding to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for the Palestinian refugees, complements Netanyahu’s physical genocide by exacerbating the looming Israeli-made famine and the hardship for the 2.3 million civilians."
He added that the hasty freeze of financial aid by the United States and other donor countries without conducting independent investigations into the validity of the Israeli allegations against UNRWA employees increases the Israeli blockade and deepens the suffering of civilians in Gaza. The writer pointed out that Britain's Sky News - which reviewed the Israeli file about the alleged "evidence" against UNRWA employees - said that it "did not see evidence of that, and many of the allegations, even if true, do not directly implicate UNRWA." However, the agency's commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, summarily dismissed the defendants, without due process, perhaps hoping to avoid an exaggerated reaction from donor countries.
The writer added that the unwise decision to stop funding the largest and oldest United Nations agency serving the Palestinians is likely to lead to malnutrition of young children, and this decision will also hinder UNRWA’s ability to provide crucial humanitarian assistance to two million displaced civilians, including 17,000 children. Unaccompanied or separated from their parents as a result of the Israeli massacre in Gaza.
He explained that the Israeli claims against UNRWA employees may be either exaggerated or unfounded, and the matter will not be different from the exposed Israeli misinformation regarding decapitated children, rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women that was published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in the wake of the events of October 7.
Even if the Israeli allegations against a number of low-ranking individuals have some validity, why should UNRWA be held responsible for behavior carried out by employees outside their working hours, and not related to their work duties? On the other hand, Kanj confirmed that UNRWA lost 152 employees during more than 100 days of Israeli massacres, which is 1,300% more than the number of accused employees. With this in mind, one must wonder whether donor countries and the UNRWA Commissioner considered the possibility that these allegations were an Israeli maneuver to divert attention from its responsibility for the killing of 152 UNRWA employees.
With the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting on rejecting the two-state solution and recognizing a Palestinian state, international emphasis on the two-state solution as a means of achieving peace in the region and establishing a post-war phase in the Gaza Strip is increasing
For his part, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - in a phone call with Netanyahu - reiterated his emphasis that the two-state solution is the best way to achieve peace and stability in the region, stressing the need to avoid inflaming tensions in the West Bank. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo also told Al Jazeera - at the Munich Security Conference - that there is a need to begin peace talks in the region that would lead to the implementation of the two-state solution. In an interview with Al Jazeera - on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference - the Portuguese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs stressed that the region needs to work towards a two-state solution.
Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed to Netanyahu - in a phone call - his support for the two-state solution and his rejection of Israeli statements calling for the displacement of the Palestinians.
In the Arab world, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh reiterated his assertion that the region will not enjoy security except through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
For his part, Kishida stressed Japan's support for the two-state solution, to ensure security and stability in the region, pointing out the need to improve the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and calm the situation as soon as possible.
Axis of Resistance
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia weighed plans for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to address the heinous crimes the Zionist regime is committing against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In a telephone conversation on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud called for concerted efforts to end the Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
Pointing to his diplomatic efforts, including his recent negotiations with the secretary general of the OIC, Amirabdollahian said he has proposed the idea of holding an emergency meeting of the OIC foreign ministers to address the Gaza crisis. The top Saudi diplomat welcomed the proposal for the emergency meeting on plans to stop the Israeli regime’s genocidal crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. The two sides agreed to hold further consultations with the other foreign ministers about the issue.
The Iranian foreign minister then lashed out at the US for sponsoring the Zionist crimes in Gaza and giving Israel the green light for strikes on Rafah. “We do not regard war as the solution, but if a political solution is not found immediately, the negative consequences of continuation of acts of genocide by the Israeli regime for regional security and stability will be inevitable,” Amirabdollahian warned.
Allied for Democracy
The Washington Post newspaper quoted American and Arab officials as saying that the administration of President Joe Biden and some of its partners in the Middle East are working on developing a comprehensive plan to establish lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but ministers in Netanyahu’s government renewed their rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state. The newspaper said that the peace plan includes a timetable for establishing a Palestinian state that can be announced as soon as possible.
In what appeared to be a direct response to the Washington Post report, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that he would in no way agree to a two-state solution, adding that the Palestinian state constitutes an existential threat to Israel, as he put it. For his part, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said that the world wants to give the Palestinians a state and that this will not happen, he said. The Times of Israel newspaper quoted Diaspora Minister Amichai Shikli as saying that Israel must resist the American plan and threaten to take unilateral steps, such as canceling the Oslo Accords.
The American website Axios quoted Israeli officials yesterday as saying that Netanyahu informed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last week of his dissatisfaction with Washington’s choice to recognize a Palestinian state, adding that its recognition harms the Biden administration’s efforts in the peace and normalization plan, according to his description.
Israeli War Cabinet members former Security Minister Benny Gantz and former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot threatened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the dissolution of the War Cabinet on Friday evening. According to public Israeli broadcaster KAN, Gantz and Eisenkot issued their threat during a meeting held on Thursday, where they informed Netanyahu of their stance if he continues to make significant decisions without consulting them regarding the Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip.
They expressed their displeasure with Netanyahu's decision not to send another delegation to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the prisoner swap negotiations, emphasizing that in this case, "the War Cabinet is becoming unnecessary." The Israeli channel also reported that Security Minister Yoav Galant, a member of the War Cabinet, "also expressed his displeasure with Netanyahu following his decision not to send the delegation to Cairo without consulting him."
The War Cabinet within the Israeli emergency government consists of three main members: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Yoav Galant, and Benny Gantz, in addition to two observing ministers, Gadi Eisenkot and Roben Dermer. KAN revealed that Netanyahu decided on Wednesday not to send the Israeli delegation again to Cairo, while his office stated that no new proposal from Hamas for a prisoner exchange agreement had been presented, and there was no benefit in sending the delegation.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said that there will be no peace or security for Palestinians and Israelis alike without implementing the principle of the two-state solution. Harris stressed - in a press conference at the 60th Munich Security Conference - the necessity of Israel not occupying the Gaza Strip, and changing its geographical nature after the end of the war, in a way that also ensures that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) does not pose any future threat, as she put it.
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other armed groups present in the Gaza Strip carried out an attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 persons, injuring thousands and abducting some 240 people, many of whom continue to be held hostage. It was the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war. Palestinian armed groups launched thousands of missiles at Israel Following this attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea.
The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant considered 05 February 2024 that half the number of Hamas militants were killed or seriously injured by Israeli army forces.
The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 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 202 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 572 since the start of the war on October 7, including 241 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.
Haaretz newspaper quoted the Israeli Ministry of Defense as saying that the Medical Rehabilitation Department has treated more than 5,500 wounded since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7. Israeli Army Radio reported that the Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense is preparing to receive 20,000 wounded this year, compared to 5,500 wounded received last year since the start of the war. 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 Strip. 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 was 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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