Operation Iron Swords - Day 166 - 20 March 2024

Contents

NEW - War Termination NEW - Operations NEW - Operations - Gaza NEW - Operations - Judea-Samaria NEW - Operations - Lebanon NEW - Operations - Syria / Iraq NEW - Operations - Yemen NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - By the Numbers

Without Biden, Netanyahu cannot claim that he is being restricted, that he has no partner and that he would have moved forward with more "right-wing" policy measures but the White House prevents him. Trump was furious when Netanyahu (belatedly) congratulated Biden on his victory in the elections in the United States. Trump told Barak Ravid in an interview for his book "Trump's Peace" - "I was disappointed in Bibi even on a personal level. When we have elections that were 'fixed in advance', like elections in a third world country , I think it's a terrible personal betrayal. I haven't spoken to him since. Fuck him."

War Termination

Hebrew Channel 14 reported that instructions were issued to the negotiating team in Qatar not to agree to a ceasefire as part of an exchange deal with Hamas that is being discussed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Mossad chief David Barnea returned to Qatar on Tuesday night after briefing the war council on the current first-round discussions with Hamas in Doha.

The proposed proposal includes a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of about 40 Israeli prisoners. Hebrew Channel 14 explains that the sensitive topic currently in the discussions is a ceasefire, stressing that the first proposal presented by Hamas to the mediators included a condition of a ceasefire in exchange for the release of “civilian prisoners.” The channel confirmed that the clear instructions given to the Israeli negotiating team in Doha were not to agree to any scenario to end the war.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan confirmed on Wednesday that the mediators conveyed Israel's position on the proposal submitted by the movement last week, indicating that the response was generally negative . Israeli Channel 12 reported that senior officials in the Council of Ministers confirmed that Hamas had conceded on the terms of the ceasefire and the prisoner deal , and said, “Hamas needs to retreat a little more so that we can reach an agreement. There are good chances... after Hamas retreats from its position to end the war.” .

Operational Update

From Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, the strikes targeting Israel are becoming more ferocious in response to the latter's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. In Iraq, the factions there announced that they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport, southeast of Tel Aviv, with drones. They also showed scenes of their targeting of an air base for Israeli army drones in the occupied Golan. In the same vein, Hezbollah strikes on the southern Lebanon front, announcing that it has targeted the sites of Al-Malikiyah, Birkat Risha, Baranit, and Ruwaisat Al-Alam with missile weapons, in addition to targeting a military vehicle in Tallet Al-Tihat with a guided missile. This comes as the Israeli army announced that a winged missile that was coming from the direction of the Red Sea fell. In an open area north of Eilat.

The unprecedented war on the Gaza Strip prompted the Israeli army to greatly conserve ammunition in anticipation of an escalation in the north, but this was at the expense of performance and caused great confusion. According to a report by the Haaretz newspaper, based on the testimonies of soldiers and reserve officers, entitled “A Massive Chaos,” the army used ammunition in Gaza dating back to 1953 and shells intended only for training.

Haaretz said that the mobilization of reserve soldiers in the first months of the war was large, and the army was able to fill the shortage of personnel, but it had to economize on ammunition to the point of resorting to shells dating back to the Korean War that had almost expired, and that the fluctuation in the supply of equipment was a logistical and operational headache that greatly increased the rate of spoilage of the bullets. And shooting errors.

The newspaper adds that the ammunition problem is most evident in the artillery weapon, as it is believed that the cannons purchased from the US Army in the 1970s have reached the maximum limit of their mechanical efficiency. Haaretz quoted a reserve soldier working in an artillery battery in the north as saying on condition of anonymity: “The shortage of equipment was severe and the available tools were working at half their efficiency,” before adding that they were relying on “a prehistoric technique: a small hammer and some oil.”

The Ukraine war raised the cost of weapons, as the price of a 155 mm artillery shell used in Ukraine, NATO countries, and Israel doubled four times to reach $8,400 two years after the invasion. Last year, the Israeli Ministry of Defense signed an order for $68 million with the Israeli company Elbit Systems to supply this missile, of which the United States plans to produce 80,000 per month. However, the pace of its manufacture remains far from meeting the urgent need for it, as Ukraine alone needs 200,000 of it. monthly.

With the Russian invasion, the United States transferred thousands of these missiles from its emergency stockpile in Israel to Ukraine, and they later formed an essential part of the ammunition that it returned to supply to its Israeli ally with the start of the Gaza war, in an unprecedented air and sea bridge.

Haaretz says that the army leadership clearly explained to the forces the importance of saving ammunition allocations in anticipation of an escalation with Hezbollah. It added that Israel has become accustomed to short combat rounds in recent decades in which ground forces are used in crowded residential areas such as Gaza, which greatly reduces the use of artillery, but the situation has changed with the current war, as artillery accompanies the fighting on the northern front and in Gaza, and it sometimes had to enter the Strip to provide support to the forces. And not just bombing from behind the separation wall.

Haaretz reviewed one of the aspects of complexity in the artillery weapon, as the reflex shots in rifles or tank guns are not uniform, not to mention that the shooters cannot see the target. According to what soldiers told the newspaper, part of the problem stems from the desire to save ammunition in anticipation of an escalation in the north. A reserve officer said that “the allocations were almost non-existent sometimes,” and they resorted to firing a smaller number of shells than required and covered this up when submitting reports.

But in other cases, artillery forces had to use ammunition sparingly to support forces facing a difficult situation, for example. The scarcity of ammunition forced the forces to fend for themselves, and this caused “tremendous chaos.” The shipments were not received regularly, arriving sometimes every day and sometimes once a week or two, a situation that reserve soldiers, even those who participated in the Second Lebanon War, had never known, not to mention that Each charge needs to adjust the cannon assigned to it by firing two or three shells into an open space to verify accuracy.

The transfer of ammunition, even at the battalion level, takes entire days, according to what Haaretz quoted a reserve soldier who said that due to the lack of a certain type of cannons, they were sometimes asked to approach the separation wall and other times to stay away from it, depending on the nature of the shells and cannons available. This soldier added that the situation had become so bad that the units used shells intended for “training only.”

The chaos reached its peak with the use of what is called in Israel “Indian stores” (the exact origin of the name is not known, but one story says that it is ammunition originating from American emergency stocks in India), which are 70-year-old shells, some of which left the factory in 1953, that is, a decade before Manufacture of the first M109 missile. The US Army estimates the storage life of such shells at 40 years in ideal conditions, and this has had a price in the current war. 20% of them were disposed of because the bags they were packed in were torn, according to what a reserve soldier said, while the percentage of damage resulting from use is supposed to be 1. %.

Other soldiers recounted how the bags emit a foul odor and how the shells, after being used, cause thick clouds of smoke that make them cough and force them to slow down the pace of bombing, not to mention increase the pace of cleaning the pipe. A reserve soldier working in a regular battalion summed up the situation by saying, "We entered a war that took us by surprise, and we fired as many missiles as all the previous wars combined."

Operational Update - Gaza

The American " Axios " website, citing American officials, revealed that President Joe Biden's administration is studying "several alternatives" to the ground military operation that Israel wants to implement in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced. The website explained that the Biden administration will propose these alternatives to a high-level Israeli delegation, scheduled to visit Washington next week.

The Biden administration opposes the Israeli military operation in Rafah, and said it is concerned about the lack of an implementable plan that would protect the Palestinians. The White House said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to Biden's request to send a delegation of high-ranking Israeli officials to Washington to discuss this attack and a possible "alternative approach." White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday, “The operation could prevent the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid from Egypt into Gaza, isolate Israel internationally, and harm the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.”

Axios quoted American and Israeli officials as saying, “Biden surprised Netanyahu when he suggested, during their phone call on Monday, that he send a delegation to Washington to talk about the Rafah operation.” Two American officials said, "The idea was discussed within the administration for several days, as a way to move toward a more positive path with the Israelis." The White House did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Former US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, proposed evacuating the displaced Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt or the Negev Desert in southern Israel, until the Israeli army ends its military operations in Rafah.

In recent days, the US administration discussed “several alternatives” to the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, according to Axios. American officials said that one of the proposals “revolves around postponing the military operation in the city and focusing on stabilizing the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza,” where famine is “imminent,” according to a UN-backed report issued Monday.

This plan will also include “building shelters for civilians who will be evacuated from Rafah,” according to the American website. One official said the goal would be to "reduce the possibility of significant civilian casualties during the invasion."

American officials say that there is “another idea” that focuses, in the first stage, on securing the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, as part of a joint plan between the United States, Egypt, and Israel, by destroying the tunnels under the border and creating infrastructure to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the country.

Netanyahu insists on carrying out a military operation in Rafah to “eliminate Hamas,” as he said on Tuesday: “There is no way to destroy Hamas except through a ground invasion of the border city in the southern Gaza Strip.” Netanyahu added, in a statement to lawmakers, that he revealed “very clearly” during his call with Biden, his intention to complete the process of eliminating these (Hamas) brigades in Rafah, and “there is no way to do this except by proceeding on the ground.”

In a related context, Axios reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant is expected to travel to Washington separately next week to hold talks with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other senior officials regarding the war in Gaza.

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy conducted an assessment of the situation in Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the forces are achieving good results, but the target is senior Palestinian officials in Gaza. The Israeli Chief of Staff from the Al-Shifa Complex: We are targeting senior officials in order to serve pressure in the negotiationsThe Israeli army announces the killing of one of its soldiers in the Al-Shifa Complex operation in Gaza (photo) Halevy conducted an assessment of the security situation from within the Shifa Medical Complex as part of a field tour during which he inspected the Golani Brigade forces in the northern Gaza Strip, with the participation of the Commander of the Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, the Commander of the 162nd Division, Itzik Cohen, and the Commander of the “Shayetet 13” unit (an elite unit in the Israeli naval commandos). , Colonel ("A").

The Chief of Staff said: “So far the results are good, but we are targeting senior officials,” referring to Marwan Issa, whose killing the army announced about two weeks ago and a series of arrests led by senior officials such as Muhammad al-Qawasmi and Khaled al-Batsh, although the arrest of the latter has not been confirmed. He added: "It is very important to put pressure on Hamas, and this is also important for the negotiations. We are serving two things here: causing great harm to Hamas and dismantling it, killing the military leadership, harming the civilian leadership, and harming activists."

He continued: "We also aim not to allow such a place to exercise control and kill those who fight, but we prefer to capture them because that allows us to investigate them, and in addition to that, we serve to intensify pressure in the context of negotiations." Halevy pointed out that "the forces were able to achieve a sudden arrival within a few minutes and a good closure and control of the Shifa Medical Complex." He stressed that "the forces, despite the presence of medical teams, patients and displaced persons, entered and fought in the hospital complex and exchanged fire there with about 20 terrorists and killed them upon entering. This is a level of combat performance and a very precise mission in the first phase."

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced on Wednesday that its fighters killed and wounded an Israeli force by blowing up a tunnel opening in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis. In the video: Al-Qassam fighters confront Israeli army forces penetrating the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex. Al-Qassam said in a statement on its Telegram channel: “After their return from the battle lines, our mujahideen confirmed that a tunnel opening in a Zionist force had been blown up and its members were killed and wounded in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis.” Shortly before that, the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video clip showing its fighters confronting Israeli army forces penetrating the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

Operational Update - Judea-Samaria

The Israeli security forces are operating in a divisional operation in Nur a-Shams in the Menasha division. During the operation, an aircraft attacked two terrorists who posed an immediate danger to Israeli forces. As part of a joint operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, an Air Force aircraft attacked a vehicle carrying two senior GAP terrorists in the Jenin region. In the attack, Ahmed Barkhat, who carried out the shooting attack in Hormesh in May 2023, was killed, in which the late Meir Tamri was murdered and Muhammad Hawashin, the commander of the terrorist infrastructure of the GAP in Jenin, was also attacked, along with two other terrorists.

The two terrorists who were attacked were also promoting significant terrorist acts and attacks against the citizens of Israel these days. The two were behind the attempt to insert a hazard into the heart of Israel, which was thwarted on 3/11, and directed the bomb attack that was carried out against IDF forces on 3/8, during which seven soldiers were injured in the Chomash Junction area.

The IDF and the Shin Bet will continue to work to remove any threat and thwart terrorist infrastructures that work to carry out murderous attacks and will also take into account those that will harm the citizens of Israel. An aircraft attacked terrorist operatives in the Jenin area.

During the night, the IDF arrested 34 wanted persons throughout Judea and Samaria and in the Bekaa and Emekim Brigade.In the village of Anta in the Binyamin division, a wanted man was arrested along with a confiscated rifle. In an operation in Kfar Ezaria, the forces arrested five wanted persons and confiscated terrorist funds. In Tulkarm in the Menashe division and in the city of Nablus in the Samaria division, the soldiers arrested seven more wanted men. At Omer's house, the forces confiscated weapons. The wanted persons who were arrested and the means of warfare that were confiscated were transferred to the security forces for further treatment, there are no casualties to Israeli forces.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced on Wednesday that its fighters killed and wounded an Israeli force by blowing up a tunnel opening in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis. In the video: Al-Qassam fighters confront Israeli army forces penetrating the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex. Al-Qassam said in a statement on its Telegram channel: “After their return from the battle lines, our mujahideen confirmed that a tunnel opening in a Zionist force had been blown up and its members were killed and wounded in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis.” Shortly before that, the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video clip showing its fighters confronting Israeli army forces penetrating the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

The Al-Qassam Brigade showed scenes of its fighters confronting the Israeli army forces penetrating the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City. Al-Qassam military media published a video clip showing “Al-Qassam Brigades fighters confronting enemy forces penetrating the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.” The “Al-Qassam” Brigades announced that they “targeted 7 Zionist vehicles with “Al-Yassin 105” shells in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City,” adding: “The Al-Qassam Mujahideen were able to target a group of occupation soldiers with a “TBG” shell, leaving them dead and wounded in the vicinity of a hospital. They continued in a statement: “After their return from the battle lines, our mujahideen confirmed that a Zionist troop carrier was targeted by an Al-Yassin 105 shell in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis.”

TKS 401 together with Sheitat 13, Dovdvan unit fighters and Shin Bet forces under the command of Division 162 continue the raid at Shifa Hospital. As part of the scans in the hospital, the forces located 11 million shekels in dollars and Jordanian dinars which were earmarked for terrorism. During the activity, approximately 3,700 Gazans passed through the checkpoint near the hospital and from there moved south, of which over 300 were arrested. Among them are dozens of senior terrorists and those with key positions. Last night, the IDF forces and the Directorate of Coordination and Liaison to Gaza at the Israel Defense Forces coordinated and brought in a diesel truck and a humanitarian aid truck to the civilian population, including about 1800 liters of water and food, which is about 3.8 tons of food in total.

IDF and Shin Bet forces are fighting in the Shifa Hospital area. The forces of the 13th Fleet and the combat team of the 401st Brigade led by the 162nd Division, in the last day eliminated terrorists and located weapons, while avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment in the area of the hospital. The fighters haf so far eliminated about 90 terrorists, and over 300 suspects were interrogated in the compound by Unit 504 investigators in the Intelligence Division and Shin Bet coordinators. Over 160 suspects were taken for further investigation in the territory of the country.

Detection of weapons and arrests of approximately 350 suspects: the raid by the IDF and Shin Bet forces on the Shifa Hospital led by Division 162 and special forces. It was allowed to be published that as part of an activity by the Shin Bet and the IDF at Shifaa Hospital, Mahmoud Qawasma, a senior Hamas official who was one of the planners and financiers of the infrastructure that carried out the kidnapping and murder attack of the three boys Naftali Frankel, Gil-ed Shaar and Eyal Yafarah, was arrested today (Wednesday) in June 2014.

Qawasma was deported to the Gaza Strip as part of the "Shalit Deal" and from there he was involved in directing terrorist activities of Hamas in the Iosh territories, including a number of shooting attacks carried out in recent years. Quasma was handed over for further investigation by the Shin Bet in Israel.

Under the intelligence guidance of the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet, Air Force fighter jets attacked on Tuesday (Monday), senior members of the Hamas emergency committees in the Rafah area, who helped the terrorist organization's military arm establish continued control and activity in the area. In the attack, Syed Katab Al-Hashash, Osama Hamed Chahir and Muhammad Uz Al-Malalhi, the heads of the emergency committees in the north and east of Rafah, were attacked. Along with them, Hadi Abu Elros, who was the operations officer of the emergency committees, was also eliminated.

The seniors were the emissaries of the Hamas leadership in Rafah, worked for the concentration of Hamas's organizational activity in humanitarian areas and were responsible for all the activities of the movement and the relationship with the organization's operatives in the field. Their assassination joins the assassination of Nachal El-Eid who was attacked last week and who served as the chairman of the emergency committees in the Rafah district, and even managed all the movement activities of the district.

Yesterday, a launch was detected from the north of the Gaza Strip to the Sderot area, which fell in the Gaza Strip, an Air Force aircraft in response attacked a Hamas operational shaft in the launch area. The Nahal Brigade's combat team continues to operate in the center of the Gaza Strip. In one of the attacks, the ground forces identified a terrorist in the area and killed him with sniper fire. In Jabaliya, an air force aircraft attacked and killed six terrorists, this at the direction of the 215th fire brigade. The 98th Division continues to fight Khan Yunis. Fighters of the 7th Brigade Combat Team eliminated two terrorists and attacked military buildings in El Carrara in Khan Yunis. An Air Force aircraft was attacked by a terrorist who was loading weapons.

Operational Update - Lebanon

Hezbollah in Lebanon carried out several operations against sites belonging to the Israeli occupation army in northern occupied Palestine. The resistance targeted an occupation forces deployment in the Birkat Risha site and its surroundings with missiles, hitting it directly. He also targeted a gathering of occupation soldiers inside the Al-Malikiyah site and the Branit site In the vicinity of Tallet Al-Tayhat , the resistance targeted the occupation forces with missiles and artillery shells, and an Israeli military logistical vehicle bombed a group of soldiers inside and around it, causing deaths and injuries among their ranks. Hezbollah confirmed that the attacks come in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and in support of their resistance.

The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah targeted the Zionist Fortress of Honen and the sites of Ruwaisat Al-Alam and Zabdin. The Islamic Resistance said in a statement: “In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance, this afternoon, Wednesday, targeted Hunin Castle with missile weapons and hit it directly.

In another statement, the Resistance said: In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance this afternoon targeted the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shuba with missile weapons and directly hit it.

It continued in a third statement: In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza Strip, and in support of its brave and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance this afternoon targeted the Zabdin site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with missile weapons and hit it directly.

Hezbollah places its production infrastructure in the heart of civilian populations in southern Lebanon, in the Bekaa and in the capitals, and uses the Lebanese people as a human shield. As can be seen in the documentation, the size of the attacks, the number of secondary explosions and the duration of the fire at the property constitute further proof of Hezbollah's method of operation in which it stores explosives and dangerous chemical substances in civilian villages.

Air Force fighter jets attacked a Hezbollah military structure in the Khula area and observation posts in the Kfar Kila area and the Yaron area. Earlier today, the IDF attacked a military structure in the Kantara area, which housed a terrorist operative, alongside another military structure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the Andoriya area. During the day, a number of launches were detected in the areas of Yaraon, Har Dov, Meshgav Am and Margaliot, IDF forces attacked the sources of the shooting.

Operational Update - Syria / Iraq

The Ben Gurion Airport came under drone attacks by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq twice in one week. In a statement on 19 March 2024, the Iraqi Resistance confirmed the attack against Israel which waged a genocidal war against the people of Gaza. “The fighters of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, at dawn today, Tuesday, 20-3-2024, targeted Ben-Gurion airport in the Zionist depth using drones,” the resistance statement said. The resistance also affirmed its commitment to strike the enemies' strongholds, as part of the second phase of operations in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

In response to the Israeli massacres against innocent Palestinian civilians, the second phase of the Resistance's operations has started which include the enforcement of a blockade on Israeli maritime navigation in the Mediterranean and putting Israeli ports out of service. The resistance also attacked the same airport on March 12 using drones.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it will continue its attacks on Israeli targets until the regime stops its genocide in Gaza. It has also struck major American military bases in Syria and Iraq amid anger over the US support for Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq also claimed responsibility for the attack in late January on Jordan’s border with Syria that left three US soldiers dead.

In the past weeks, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq intensified its operations against Israeli targets inside occupied Palestinian territory. The Iraqi Resistance targeted Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) airbase in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights using drones.

Akram al-Kaabi, the Secretary General of the al-Nujaba Movement, said on February 25 that will not stop attacking Israeli targets in occupied Palestine. "We will not abandon" the goal of "liberating Iraq" from US presence and supporting Palestine by striking the Israeli occupation, al-Kaabi underlined.

Operational Update - Yemen

The port of Eilat, which is located at the northernmost point in the Red Sea, was one of the first ports to be affected by Yemeni attacks in response to the attacks of the Zionist army in Gaza, as shipping companies divert their ships to this port to avoid Ansarullah attacks. The port of Eilat has been completely closed for 4 months as a result of Yemeni operations against ships bound for the occupied territories to support Gaza.

The Zionist Workers' Union announced that half of the workers at Eilat port are at risk of losing their jobs after severe financial damage to this sea port due to the crisis in the shipping lines of the Red Sea. According to the announcement of the Zionist Labor Union, which covers hundreds of thousands of workers in the public sector, Eilat port management plans to fire half of its 120 employees. For this reason, dock workers will hold a protest on Wednesday.

Eilat, which mainly imports cars and exports potash from the Dead Sea, is less important compared to the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Ashdod, which handle almost all of Israel's trade, Reuters reported. But due to its proximity to the Jordanian border, it offers the occupied territories a gateway to the east without the need to move through the Suez Canal.

The executive director of the port of Eilat told Reuters in December that since Yemen's Ansarullah began attacking ships in the Red Sea, they have seen an 85 percent drop in activity at the port. He said at the time that they may have to lay off workers if the crisis continues. Israeli officials say that to replace this route in the Red Sea, they would have to carry out shipping at the southern tip of Africa, which would extend Mediterranean voyages by two to three weeks, thereby creating additional costs for the line.

Maps

All maps are lies. “Not only is it easy to lie with maps, it is essential,” wrote cartographer Mark Monmoneir in his book How to Lie with Maps. He showed that condensing complex, three-dimensional spaces onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper [in old days] is bound to be reductive. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. The first characteristic of guerrilla warfare is the loss of a front line. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. These processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness.

Bystanders

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that more than one million people are threatened by famine in the Gaza Strip and action must be taken immediately before the situation worsens. Guterres added in a statement that the residents of Gaza are threatened with starvation and action must be taken to save them, and we must make every effort to stop the killing in the Strip and ensure the release of the “hostages” without conditions. He continued: Nothing justifies the collective punishment practiced by “Israel” against the Palestinians in Gaza. We are going through dark moments in the world as the war in Gaza continues.

The United States would decrease money for UNRWA as part of a budget agreement that is expected to become law soon, sources familiar reported to The New York Times. The ban, which is part of a major budget plan negotiated by legislators and the White House and anticipated to pass Congress this weekend, would result in a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars for UNRWA.

UNRWA offers educational, healthcare, and humanitarian assistance to approximately 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. The United States, "Israel's" staunch ally and its main backer in the genocide in Gaza, has been the largest contributor to UNRWA's $1.4 billion annual budget. The decision would also further put Washington at odds with its Western partners over how to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The ban on funding is expected until March 2025 with familiar sources citing that the discussions included efforts to impose a longer-term financing freeze.

The ban is likely to move smoothly through Congress. Canada, Spain, and Sweden recently announced they will resume funding for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) more than a month after suspending it in line with about 15 other countries, following unverified Israeli claims about a dozen UNRWA employees allegedly taking part in the Palestinian Resistance's operation on October 7.

Following weeks of a nonstop Israeli targeted campaign against the UN agency, UNRWA said in an unpublished report that some of its staffers were coerced into falsely stating that they had ties with the Palestinian Resistance movement - Hamas - and that they took part in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 last year, Reuters reported on Saturday. Israel alleged in January that 12 of the 12,000 UNRWA members in Gaza participated in the October operation.

According to the news agency, UNRWA's report dated February said that its workers were subjected "to threats and coercion" by the Israeli authorities "while in detention and pressured to make false statements against the Agency," including that it has affiliations with Hamas and that "UNRWA staff members took part" in the Resistance operation in October 2023.

Juliette Touma, the communications director for UNRWA, stated that the agency intended to provide the information contained in the report to organizations both within and outside the UN, who are specialized in documenting potential human rights violations. "When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights," Touma said.

The UNRWA report said that the agency's staffers were subjected to waterboarding, beatings, dog attacks, and sexual violence, in addition to the death of some detainees under interrogation after being denied medical care. Meanwhile, Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has reiterated that "Israel" provided no evidence against the accused agency employees, pointing out that it was "a deliberate and concerted campaign" to end the agency and its work. In an attempt to get operations running again, UNRWA fired the staff members accused by "Israel" to maintain the agency's ability to facilitate and deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza. An independent internal UN probe was later launched as well.

Human Rights Watch and Oxfam called on the administration of US President Joe Biden to comply with US laws and immediately stop arms transfers to Israel. The two organizations said that they had submitted a joint memorandum to the US government regarding Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, including the use of American weapons and the prevention of humanitarian aid funded by the United States.

The two organizations point out in a statement that their memorandum submitted to the US government “summarizes a wide range of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, the denial of services vital to the survival of the civilian population, and the arbitrary deprivation and restrictions imposed on humanitarian assistance since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7.” the past".

The two organizations highlighted a number of these cases in which they said that American weapons were used in Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, including the use of white phosphorus, and the implementation of random or disproportionate raids on or near several major hospitals between October 7 and November 7, in addition to a raid on A marked ambulance, killing 15 people and wounding 60 others.

The Israeli government submitted a memorandum to the US State Department on March 15 denying arbitrarily blocking US humanitarian aid or violating international humanitarian law as part of its compliance with US National Security Memorandum No. 20. This memorandum stipulates that foreign security partners such as Israel provide assurances to the Departments of State and Defense that they are not arbitrarily blocking US humanitarian aid and are not violating international humanitarian law. The Secretaries of State and Defense must then determine whether these assurances are credible.

“There are good reasons why US law prohibits arms support for governments that withhold life-saving aid or violate international law with US weapons,” said Sarah Yager, director of Human Rights Watch’s Washington office. “Given the ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is fulfilling According to American legal requirements, it is not credible.”

Oxfam's Assistant Director for Peace and Security, Scott Ball, urged the Biden administration to end lethal weapons sales to Israel and cease fire in Gaza. “We have clearly stated to the Biden administration why any assurances from Israel that it has not delayed, restricted or obstructed aid to Gaza cannot be relied upon,” Paul said. “Despite this, the United States has continued to supply lethal weapons to Israel.”

Axis of Resistance

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, confirmed that the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the Islamic resistance factions, but the movements and decisions belong to those factions. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution received a crowd of different segments of the people of the capital, Tehran, in the Husseiniyah of Imam Khomeini (may God be pleased with him) on the occasion of the Iranian New Year.

In a speech by His Eminence at the ceremony, Ayatollah Khamenei said: The Gaza issue showed the extent of injustice against the Palestinian people, as there are more than 30,000 martyrs in a short period and civilized society stands idly by. His Eminence pointed out that thousands of Palestinians were killed and displaced from their homes in front of the world in the Gaza Strip, but the civilized world did not just stand idly by regarding Gaza, but rather sent weapons to the Israeli entity.

His Eminence said that the Palestine issue highlighted the right to form a resistance front in West Asia, stressing the necessity of strengthening this front. He continued: Some said what is the benefit of forming an axis of resistance, and today Gaza has proven the importance of this axis, so it must be strengthened more and more. Ayatollah Khamenei added: Everyone must think about resistance to confront injustice, and this axis is to fight Zionist crimes against the Palestinian people, noting that the resistance front demonstrated its true nature and capabilities during the recent Israeli attack on Gaza.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution continued : Look at the resistance of Hamas and the resistance factions in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. It has revealed its capabilities and confused America, saying: The Americans were seeking to control Syria and Iraq, but their calculations are wrong and they cannot remain in the region. His Eminence added that America has taken the worst decisions regarding Gaza and that they have become unacceptable at the world level, considering that the entry of the Zionist entity into Gaza has plunged it into a quagmire from which it cannot emerge, and if it does, it will emerge defeated.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution affirmed: We support the Islamic resistance factions , but the movements and decisions belong to those factions.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called on the Nowruz-celebrating nations to take serious and practical steps to force the Israeli regime to stop its brutal onslaught on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian president congratulated the heads of state and people of the countries that celebrate Nowruz, which marks the beginning of the Persian New Year, as a civilizational tradition. The message of Nowruz is peace and peaceful coexistence and it symbolizes connection and rapprochement, Raisi said.

He noted that the Nowruz-celebrating nations are commemorating the beginning of spring while the oppressed, yet strong, people of Gaza are suffering from the Zionist regime’s brutal military strikes, have been deprived of sustenance and health facilities, and are exposed to starvation and famine. “This is our humanitarian duty to employ our capabilities to take serious practical steps to stop the Zionist regime’s attacks and deliver humanitarian aid to the oppressed people of Gaza,” the Iranian president underlined.

Leader of the Hamas movement, Osama Hamdan, confirmed that the Israeli entity escalates its crimes against the Palestinian people with every round of negotiations. He also appreciated the role of the Yemeni armed forces, Hezbollah, and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and Iraq for their positions of support for the people of Gaza, and he saluted the families and tribes of Gaza for their responsible national position of refusing to respond. With malicious occupation plans.

Osama Hamdan said in a televised statement: The movement seeks to end the aggressive war against our people and is intensifying its efforts to bring in aid. The movement presented its vision regarding the prisoner exchange file and showed positivity and high flexibility. Hamdan added: We are following the course of negotiations through the mediator brothers in Egypt and Qatar, and we have presented a comprehensive vision that achieves the aspirations of our people, and the aggression must stop targeting those who try to provide aid to our people or attempt to invade Rafah.

He continued: The occupation's response was negative to Hamas's proposal and does not respond to the demands of our people. The occupation escalates its crimes against our people with every round of negotiations, and Netanyahu and his terrorist government and those who support him bear responsibility for obstructing efforts to save the exchange deal. Hamdan considered the continued Zionist aggression against Al-Shifa Hospital to be an attempt to cover up its military failure, noting that the occupation admitted to executing more than 50 Palestinians inside Al-Shifa Hospital and arresting 200, including journalists and media professionals.

He said that the world must answer a basic question: Isn't it time to put this rogue entity on trial? He added, “We warn the Nazi enemy of its continued violations and crimes against the Gaza Strip, and we hold it responsible for the lives of our people.” He considered that the "cowardly" assassination of Major General Al-Mabhouh in Al-Shifa Hospital was a Zionist crime to prevent the arrival of aid, noting that the occupation had withdrawn from the approvals it had previously provided to the mediators in order to procrastinate further, which could lead the negotiations to a dead end.

Hamdan saluted the families and clans of Gaza for their responsible national stance in refusing to respond to the occupation’s malicious plans, stressing the support of the tribes and families in their stance in support of the resistance, the government and its security services. He said: Washington must stop sending equipment and weapons to the occupation if it is truly serious about stopping the genocide in Gaza, and we hold the Biden administration responsible for the continued massacres of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip, which it commits with American weapons and support.

Hamdan stressed that there is no alternative to completely opening the crossings, ending the siege, and introducing aid convoys to all areas of the Gaza Strip, blaming the occupation for targeting aid convoys and their protection and security crews, led by UNRWA. He said: We will not allow the occupation to compensate for its military losses using political games, and called for the continuation of crowds in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque, renewing the call for the International Court of Justice to take emergency measures requiring the occupation to bring in aid to stop the famine.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan appreciated the role of the Yemeni armed forces and "our brothers in Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq for supporting our people."

Islamic Jihad spokesman Muhammad Hajj Musa confirmed that the Palestinian resistance did not send a negotiating delegation to Doha for the truce in Gaza. Hajj Musa told Al-Alam News Channel during the “With the Event” program that the position of the Palestinian resistance regarding the truce in Gaza has not changed, and that it is still insisting on its conditions, including a ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the displaced, the liberation of prisoners, and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces penetrating the Strip.

The spokesman for the Islamic Jihad movement stressed that the Palestinian resistance knows that failure to implement its conditions on the ground by the occupying entity makes the Palestinian people live in more difficult conditions than they are now, and that the occupation will continue its genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Hajj Musa confirmed that the Palestinian resistance did not send a negotiating delegation to Doha for the truce negotiations in Gaza, but rather sent a set of clear demands through mediators, explaining that negotiations are now taking place between the United States of America and the Israeli occupation entity.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman pointed out that the Palestinian resistance can show flexibility on the issue of the stages of the truce, but it is strict and firm on the issue of the depth of the conditions and basic details of the truce. Hajj Musa explained that when Netanyahu made the decision to launch a military operation in Rafah, he opened fire on the negotiations, as he did in previous times, as every time the resistance offered flexibility and positivity, and the mediators announced the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza, he hastened to take a step. He undermines all of this, because he wants to continue committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

The Islamic Jihad spokesman pointed out that the United States of America is somewhat concerned with reaching a truce in Gaza for several reasons, including that it knows that there is a very big problem in the occupation entity’s management of the aggression in Gaza, as the occupation entity has not yet been able to achieve this on the ground. Any of his alleged targets, as well as the United States facing decisive presidential elections, as well as several other circumstances...

In the ninth Ramadan lecture by the leader of the revolution, Mr. Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, Ramadan 10, 1445 AH / March 20, 2024 AD, he stated: "We find, for example, at the military level: How does the West do with military capabilities? A means of brutality, tyranny, and injustice. What we are seeing in what is happening in Gaza is a huge and very enormous potential at the military level, from American weapons, from bombs that have a great ability to destroy and lethal, but they are used to kill innocents, to kill children and women, to exterminate an oppressed people.

"And so are many of the means that the West exploits, due to its separation from maturity, from values, from morals, from divine principles and divine instructions, which it exploits to harm human societies, or to corrupt, to spread corruption on earth: spreading immoral corruption, spreading corruption and destroying values, the values ??of chastity and purity, How many huge and advanced means and capabilities are harnessed for this.

"Without guidance, man harnesses his scientific progress and his material and cultural capabilities, in large part, towards what harms and corrupts. But with guidance, there can be a sophisticated, mature, distinguished civilization, exploited for the benefit of mankind, protecting and defending people, exploited for what is good for them, exploited for their interests. The negatives in Western reality are very great. There are certain benefits that accrue to people, and there are great harms and evils alongside that. It was the duty of Muslims to build a civilization based on the two pillars: (knowledge and guidance), and to provide a model that represents hope for human society and a noble role model, and this is also one of the important lessons....

"Unfortunately, in the reality of the Islamic nation, there is a complex of contempt for the entire nation and its reality, a lack of hope towards the nation, and a great fascination with enemies. Some - for example - are so fascinated by the West that they completely despise their nation, and have no hope for it in the possibility of changing its reality. They look with contempt, as if the situation with regard to - for example - Muslims and Arabs has become a state in their formation, that they have no ability to change. Their reality, nor to improve their reality, and this is a very dangerous state. For some, this complex represents an obstacle to moving with hope to change reality. It is a dangerous state, and it is not true at all....

"The Jewish lobby seeks to falsify the facts about human existence, the origin of humans, and human existence. For a very dangerous goal: killing the sense of dignity in humans. The Zionist Jews want man to never feel dignity, and to look at his origin with a look of contempt, a vile and bad look devoid of honor, instead of what God has mentioned to us about the origin of our creation and formation, that God, “Glory be to Him, the Most High,” created man starting from clay, and not as a branch of an animal. Another, rather, from clay, a creation created by God, “Glory be to Him, the Most High,” and with honor, and to which the angels prostrate, trying to present a false image, their goal: to kill the sense of dignity in human society; To be receptive to insult, receptive to enslavement, receptive to triviality, receptive to corruption, meanness, and lowliness; Because they want to humiliate him and enslave him."

Allied for Democracy

The opinions of the analysts of the Al-Jazeera program "Gaza.. What's Next" - in its episode dated (3/19/2024) - varied regarding the success of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in twisting the arm of the administration of US President Joe Biden , and his exploitation of Washington's escalating criticism against him.

Professor of Political Science at An-Najah University in Palestine, Dr. Hassan Ayoub, said that what is currently happening is a negotiation between the Biden administration and Netanyahu on what is permissible and what is not permissible, revealing 3 topics that are being negotiated, and he considered the matter in itself a victory for the Israeli Prime Minister.

Ayoub explained that there is complete agreement between the two sides regarding negotiations to release prisoners detained in Gaza, during a temporary truce and not a permanent ceasefire, in addition to the American perception of the post-war arrangements, as Washington wants a role for the Palestinian Authority or regional parties while Tel Aviv refuses.

The third point - which is the largest disagreement between the two parties - concerns the Palestinian part within the regional arrangements that America wants, within the framework of restoring the path of Arab-Israeli normalization so that it is political for the Palestinians and security for Israel, according to Ayoub.

In turn, former US State Department official William Lawrence does not believe that Netanyahu has succeeded in twisting Washington's arm, indicating that the latter is unhappy and prefers a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, but realizes its inability to achieve that. He pointed out that the dilemma lies in the fact that Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) have returned to their starting point and their red lines, pointing out the lack of consensus between Washington and Tel Aviv regarding the invasion of Rafah .

The Washington Post newspaper had quoted US administration officials as saying that Biden’s strategy regarding Israel was “heading towards failure,” and that the US President found himself, after more than 5 months, “deeply involved in a war he did not want.”

Regarding the United States’ options, Dr. Ayoub stressed that Washington is trying to circumvent what is happening by distinguishing between Israel as an occupying state and a settler-colonial power, and the Netanyahu government and putting pressure to replace it.

But he saw the difficulty of this because Netanyahu holds the strings of the game well, especially after Gideon Sa'ar's defection from the bloc of Minister of the War Council, Benny Gantz, and his exploitation of the attack by the Ministers of National Security and Finance, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, against the military establishment.

In an attempt to read the expected scenario for Netanyahu's succession, Ayoub said that no Israeli political leader, whether Gantz or anyone else, will be able to form a government except in a coalition, often with the right-wing bloc, including the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Lawrence agrees with the Palestinian academic that there is a distinction in Washington between Netanyahu and support for Israel, while Biden is trying to convince the Jews of the necessity of putting more pressure on Israel, and he is also seeking to please the Arabs before the next presidential elections. It is believed that Netanyahu succeeded in limiting Gantz's role as he is no longer an attractive American card, but at the same time he stressed that the latter is still ahead in the opinion polls, explaining that the biggest mistake America commits is trying to persuade Israel to resolve the situation instead of imposing it on it.

He warned of the necessity of changing American policy with a new Palestinian government and another Israeli government that will emerge from the upcoming elections, while stressing that the United States needs to deal with the existing Israeli government and the military establishment, even though the Netanyahu government - according to Biden - is doing the opposite of what Israel needs, and everything it is doing is wrong.

He pointed out that Netanyahu is losing American support daily, as he is freely criticized in the Senate, and he is the most historically criticized Israeli official in Washington, believing that Biden will continue to escalate and try to convince the Jews and Israelis of the necessity of not entering Rafah and ending the humanitarian crisis.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that "the year 2024 will be a year of war and also a year of victory," at a ministerial planning conference for this year. Gallant said Israel must face its challenges "for everyone" at the conference, attended by the ministry's Director-General Major General (Ret.) Eyal Zamir and the heads of the ministry's divisions. "We will need all our soldiers - regular and reserve, each in turn," he said.

"We will need a mobilization of all parts of the nation and all parts of society to go 'under the stretcher,'" he added, amid the government's calls for broader enlistment. The ultra-Orthodox sector, currently exempt from military service due to Torah study, has come under sharper scrutiny amid the Israel-Hamas war. Tens of thousands of potential soldiers are skipped over if they study in Yeshivot, or schools of Jewish learning.

Even though enlistment in the IDF saw a significant boost from the sector after the October 7 attack against Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews are still greatly underrepresented in the military. "This is true militarily, security-wise, socially and politically, for all reasons," Gallant explained. "We will have to ensure our qualitative advantage as well as our quantitative advantage."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened up to the Israeli public about his disagreements with US President Joe Biden. While thanking Biden for support, he added that, "In the end, we always did what was essential for our safety, and we will do so this time as well." "At the very beginning, we agreed that Hamas should be eliminated. But during the war, it's no secret, we had differences of opinion about the best way to achieve this goal," Netanyahu said. "I told the president: Hamas cannot be defeated without the IDF entering the Gaza Strip," he said. "In our last conversation I told him: it is impossible to complete the victory without the IDF entering Rafah, and this in order to eliminate the rest of the Hamas battalions. We will do the same this time."

Bloomberg said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a conversation with Republican members of the Senate on Wednesday, less than a week after the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, called for new elections in Israel and considered that Netanyahu constitutes an “obstacle to peace.” The agency quoted a spokesman for the Chairman of the Republican Party Conference in the Senate, John Barrasso, as saying that the senator invited Netanyahu to speak with Republican members, on Wednesday, via video call. The agency reported that Netanyahu was originally scheduled to address Republican senators last Wednesday, according to Barrasso's spokesman.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish figure in the American legislative branch, said during a speech on Thursday that the government coalition “led by Netanyahu no longer meets Israel’s needs after October 7,” the date of the outbreak of the war with Hamas. He added, "Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way, putting his political continuity ahead of Israel's best interests."

Schumer considered that Israel stands "at a pivotal intersection" after five months of war, stressing that holding "new elections is the only way to pave the way for a sound and open decision-making process regarding Israel's future, at a time when many Israelis have lost confidence in their government's vision and management." Schumer, who also called for the resignation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in office since 2005, accused Netanyahu of having "shown too much willingness to tolerate civilian casualties in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel around the world to historic lows."

These statements sparked a quick reaction from Republicans, whose strong support for Israel has not diminished. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell described Schumer's comments as "ridiculous and hypocritical," saying that Israel "deserves an ally that acts like an ally." In turn, Republican Senator Tom Cotton said, "The last thing Israel needs is the kind of 'foreign interference in elections' that Democrats in the United States often criticize."

The death toll resulting from the Israeli campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has angered many Democrats. In the state of Michigan, which is expected to be decisive in the US presidential elections scheduled for November, many Democrats, a large percentage of whom are Arab, are threatening not to vote for President Joe Biden in his expected confrontation with Republican Donald Trump, who in turn strongly supports Israel. Biden praised Schumer's "good speech," stressing that many Americans are concerned about Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza.

On the other hand, Netanyahu denounced the invitation of the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, describing this matter as “completely inappropriate.” “We are not a banana republic,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN, commenting on Schumer’s statements.

“I would not have been able to look at myself in the mirror if I had not done that.” This is how the Democratic Majority Leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, commented on the exciting speech he gave recently, in which he called for early elections in Israel. In his first interview after that speech, which was praised by US President Joe Biden and criticized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Schumer told the American New York Times that his main goal “was to say that you can still love Israel and feel strongly about it, and it is different.” Completely with Bibi (Netanyahu) and Israel's policies."

In his speech on the floor of the US Senate, Schumer described Netanyahu as a "major obstacle to peace" in the Middle East. Schumer - the highest-ranking Jewish politician elected in the United States - spoke in his interview with the New York Times on Sunday to explain how his upbringing in the Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn, in light of the Holocaust, prompted him to deliver a politically risky speech that led to a watershed moment in American-Israeli relations.

Schumer remembers that it was here inside the massive red-brick James Madison High School in South Brooklyn, where he picked up the radio as a 16-year-old to hear news about Israel's 1967 war. The 73-year-old prominent American senator did not want to push for changes in Israeli policy related to the war on Gaza, without criticizing Netanyahu, whom he described as "the source of problems." On the other hand, Schumer was not surprised by the reaction to his speech, saying: “I knew I would be in a whirlpool.”

Schumer said on Thursday that Israel must make “major course corrections” to achieve lasting peace with the Palestinians.

At a time when President Biden praised the “good speech” delivered by the Democratic leader after he “expressed a serious concern that not only he but also many Americans felt,” Netanyahu strongly criticized the speech in an interview with the American CNN network.

In his interview with the New York Times, Schumer said: “I wrestled with myself – maybe I should have said that Bibi should step down.” But he quickly concluded that this would go too far, considering that “this would mean telling Israel what it should do, while it is in the middle of a war,” he said. He later added that when the idea of ??calling for resignation was raised, “I always said no.”

Instead, Schumer said in his speech: “At this critical intersection, I believe that new elections are the only way to make way for a sound and open decision-making process about Israel’s future, at a time when many Israelis have lost confidence in their government’s vision and management,” considering that “ A coalition led by Netanyahu no longer meets Israel’s needs after October 7.”

He added that Netanyahu has surrounded himself with right-wing extremists and "has shown great willingness to tolerate civilian casualties in Gaza, pushing support for Israel around the world to historic lows." He continued: "Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah."

Schumer revealed to the New York Times that he spent two months preparing for this speech after writing 10 drafts, pointing out that he informed the White House of its details one day before, to ensure that he would not interfere in the negotiations to free the hostages in Gaza.

Negative reactions to the speech from Republicans were rapid and persistent, after former President Donald Trump cited it on Monday, saying that “any Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates his religion.” He continued: "They hate everything related to Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves, because Israel will be destroyed."

On the other hand, Schumer defended himself even before Trump's statements and insisted that "his deep Jewish faith, and the moral necessity he feels to defend Jews and Israel, are what prompted him to speak out against Netanyahu." Schumer said he still thinks his fellow Republicans like Israel, "but some of them like to bash Democrats more."

Following Trump's comments, Schumer wrote on social media: "Making Israel a partisan issue only hurts Israel and the US-Israeli relationship," describing the former president's reaction to his speech as "abhorrent." Schumer also said that he spent hours after his speech speaking with conservative Jewish circles whose members were angry.

On Tuesday, Schumer held a virtual meeting with executives from major American Jewish organizations to defend the speech he delivered last week, according to the Times of Israel . An executive of an American Jewish organization who attended the meeting, but whose identity was not revealed by the Israeli newspaper, said: “There was a basic question about whether he would retreat or defend himself, and he defended himself very clearly.” The executive added that during the virtual meeting, Schumer emphasized that most of his 45-minute speech focused on criticizing Hamas, and expressed his regret that media reports focused only on his call for early elections.

However, the Senate Majority Leader reiterated his belief that Netanyahu “poses a danger to Israel,” especially in terms of empowering far-right leaders such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, the executive recalled in the virtual meeting. During that meeting, Schumer explained that he "did not tell the Israelis who to vote for," and that he was pushing for "only elections" when the war in Gaza begins to wind down.

Several people asked Schumer why he included Hamas and Netanyahu as two of the four obstacles to peace laid out in his speech, saying the comparison was unwarranted. Schumer responded, according to one participant's remarks, saying: “It is impossible for me to suggest that Netanyahu belongs to the same category.” He added, "The speech makes it clear that Hamas is the main problem."

Over a third of the US Senate Democrats urged President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday to take "bold" steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's objections. The letter to Biden followed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's recent speech, where he criticized Netanyahu's handling of the aggression on Gaza and called for new Israeli elections, causing significant impact.

Nineteen Democratic Senators, led by Tom Carper from Delaware, a close ally of Biden, stated in the letter that the situation in the Middle East had reached a critical juncture, necessitating more actions that extend beyond facilitating talks. "As such, we request the Biden administration promptly establish a bold, public framework outlining the steps necessary" to establish a Palestinian state over both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Senators wrote.

The Senators proposed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state that would be "non-militarized," a term previously used by former President Bill Clinton two decades ago. Any such state would be required to recognize "Israel" and renounce Hamas. Additionally, the Senators advocated for a "regional peace initiative" that would involve integrating "Israel", hinting at ongoing efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with "Israel". This initiative was highlighted during Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to the Kingdom.

Biden and Blinken have consistently expressed backing for a two-state solution but made limited progress in promoting it before the current aggression on Gaza, allegedly recognizing Netanyahu and his hard-right government's staunch opposition to the concept. The Senators expressed their disappointment with Netanyahu's reluctance to pursue a path toward a Palestinian state. They emphasized the significance of the diplomatic efforts undertaken by Biden and his administration thus far while urging them to intensify their actions in this regard.

The letter also garnered signatures from notable Democrats such as Dick Durbin, the party's second-in-command, and Chris Coons, Delaware's other senator and a close advisor to Biden. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not sign the letter, he expressed his endorsement for a two-state solution during his address.

Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the occupation committed 10 massacres in the Strip within 24 hours, killing 104 martyrs and 162 injured, according to what was reported by the Al Jazeera news network. The Ministry reported that the death toll from the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip had risen to 31,923 martyrs.

IDF and Shin Bet forces are fighting in the Shifa Hospital area. The forces of the 13th Fleet and the combat team of the 401st Brigade led by the 162nd Division, in the last day eliminated terrorists and located weapons, while avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment in the area of the hospital. The fighters had so far eliminated about 90 terrorists, and over 300 suspects were interrogated in the compound by Unit 504 investigators in the Intelligence Division and Shin Bet coordinators. Thee two sets of numbre ae inconsistent.

• 73,934 Gazans injured, 28% adult male
• 40,000 Gazans killed, including buried under rubble
• 33,000 Gaza targets attacked
• 31,819 Gazans martyred
• 15,000 rocket launched from Gaza
• 14,793 Israelis were injured [i24 TV]
• 13,430 Gazan children martyred
• 13,000 HAMAS combatants killed [N12]
• 12,000 HAMAS combatants killed [IDF]
• 11,000 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank in 2023
• 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons
• 9,000 IDF psychological assistance
• 9,000 Gazan women martyred
• 8,000 Gazans missing under the rubble
• 7,500 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank since Oct.7th
• 6,000 HAMAS combatants killed [HAMAS]
• 5,500 IDF wounded [reports]
• 4,700 West Bank Palestinians wounded
• 3,484 administrative detainees
• 3,400 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria
• 3,079 IDF wounded [IDF]
• 1,609 terrorists killed on the first day
• 1,500 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria affiliated with Hamas
• 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day
• 591 Israeli officers and soldiers killed
• 433 West Bank Palestinians martyred
• 249 Israeli officers and soldiers killed in Gaza
• 222 Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon
• 126 people recovered, including 91 Israelis, 11 bodies, and 24 foreign workers
• 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody
• 50 civilians killed in Lebanon
• 29 IDF deaths were caused by "friendly fire"
• 15 Israelis killed in the West Bank and Israel

Many of these numbers fluctate, up and down, with no apparent explanation. This list records the highest number reliably reported for each matter, under the theory that reality with catch up with reports, as is relentlessly the case.

The Palestinian resistance says that the losses of the Israeli forces are much greater than what is announced. 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."

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.

Abraham Wyner, Professor of Statistics and Data Science at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, reported 06 March 2024 that : "While the evidence is not dispositive, it is highly suggestive that a process unconnected or loosely connected to reality was used to report the numbers.... Another red flag, raised by Salo Aizenberg and written about extensively, is that if 70% of the casualties are women and children and 25% of the population is adult male, then either Israel is not successfully eliminating Hamas fighters or adult male casualty counts are extremely low. This by itself strongly suggests that the numbers are at a minimum grossly inaccurate and quite probably outright faked.... Taken together, Hamas is reporting not only that 70% of casualties are women and children but also that 20% are fighters. This is not possible unless Israel is somehow not killing noncombatant men, or else Hamas is claiming that almost all the men in Gaza are Hamas fighters....

"Israel estimates that at least 12,000 fighters have been killed. If that number proves to be even reasonably accurate, then the ratio of noncombatant casualties to combatants is remarkably low: at most 1.4 to 1 and perhaps as low as 1 to 1. By historical standards of urban warfare, where combatants are embedded above and below into civilian population centers, this is a remarkable and successful effort to prevent unnecessary loss of life while fighting an implacable enemy that protects itself with civilians."

This makes perfect sense under a third possibility, namely that the IDF doing a really good job of targeting male combatants, most of whom are in proximity to their families. There are no HAMAS barracks, so everyone lives at home, en famille. Co-habiting extended families are common [hence reports of dozens of family members killed in a single strike]. The HAMAS battalions are organized by neighborhoods, so it would not be surprising that multiple HAMAS combatants live in a single building. So casualties structured as one male combatant, one female cohabitant, and two children are approximately consistent with both expectations and reports.

Lord Roberts of Belgravia (Con) stated 08 February 2024 "My Lords, even if we were to take as accurate Hamas’s statistics and the 27,500 figure — there is no reason why we should; we do not do that with Putin or ISIS — if one subtracts the number of Gazans who have been killed by the quarter or so of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas rockets that fall short, one is left with a less than 2:1 ratio of civilians to Hamas terrorists killed, of whom there have been more than 9,000 so far. War is hell, and every individual civilian death is a tragedy, but — I speak as a military historian — less than 2:1 is an astonishingly low ratio for modern urban warfare where the terrorists routinely use civilians as human shields. It is a testament to the professionalism, ethics and values of the Israel Defense Forces."