Operation Iron Swords - Day 178 - 01 April 2024

“At any point, Hamas could have ended this burgeoning tragedy to
surrender and release every hostage. …
Hamas instigated and owns this humanitarian catastrophe.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)

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

The HAMAS Home Front in the Gaza Strip announced the infiltration of officers and soldiers affiliated with the General Intelligence Service in Ramallah on an official mission under direct orders from the head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, Major General Majid Faraj , in what it described as an intelligence operation that took place last Saturday night, which an official Palestinian source denied to "Wafa" news agency. He confirmed that the security services in Gaza dealt with these elements, arresting 10 of them and foiling the plan for which they came.

He said that their goal was to create a state of confusion and chaos among the ranks of the home front, and that they infiltrated with security from the Israeli Shin Bet and the enemy army after an agreement was reached between the two parties in their meeting in one of the Arab capitals last week. The Home Front in the Gaza Strip stressed that “everyone who dares to play in a box that only serves the occupation will be struck with an iron fist.”

On the other hand, the Palestinian Wafa Agency quoted an official Palestinian source as saying that the statement of the so-called Hamas Interior Ministry regarding the entry of aid into Gaza yesterday was baseless. The official source said, "We will continue to provide everything necessary to provide relief to our people, and we will not be drawn into frenzied media campaigns that cover up the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip and the killing, displacement, and starvation they are subjected to."

Earlier, an official at the Ministry of Interior in Gaza said that a suspicious security force entered - yesterday, Saturday - with Egyptian Red Crescent trucks in coordination with the Israeli occupation. The official explained that the head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, Major General Majid Faraj, managed the force’s work in a deceptive security manner, misleading the factions and tribes.

He confirmed that the Interior Ministry forces in Rafah arrested 6 of the suspected force leaders and continue to arrest more. The official added that the Egyptian side informed the crossings authority that it was not aware of the force that received the Egyptian trucks. He said that they received instructions from the resistance faction room to deal with any security force that does not enter Gaza through the resistance.

The official Israeli Broadcasting Authority (KAN) said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant proposed that Palestinian Authority Intelligence Chief Majid Faraj take over the administration of the Gaza Strip temporarily after the end of the war. The commission said that Israel is considering using Faraj to build an alternative to the rule of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) the day after the war. The proposal stipulates that Majid Faraj will take over the administration of Gaza with the help of figures, not including a member of the Hamas movement.

The Israeli media focused its discussions on the issues that prevent reaching a prisoner exchange deal at this stage, and on a French proposal in the Security Council for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip , and an American proposal regarding Rafah. According to Suleiman Maswad, political affairs correspondent for Kan 11, the issues in dispute with the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) relate to the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, the terms of the exchange of prisoners whose criteria have not been determined, increasing the amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and also providing guarantees to stop the the war. He indicates that the heads of the Israeli intelligence service ( Mossad ) and the Israeli internal security service ( Shin Bet ) will join the negotiations, which means that there is progress in the negotiations.

As for Israel Hasson, former deputy head of the Shin Bet, he asked in a discussion session on Channel 12, saying: “Will Israel give up the northern Gaza Strip as a future bargaining chip?”, indicating that Israel has actually given up the northern Gaza Strip. Regarding France’s proposal to the UN Security Council for a ceasefire in Gaza, Moria Asraf Wallberg, political affairs correspondent for Channel 13, said that this proposal will lead to new tension between Israel and the United States of America in the coming days. She stated that the French project includes a call for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, but it does not link the ceasefire to the release of prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance. She added that Israel is not satisfied with the wording of the French draft.

For his part, Ofer Shelah, a senior researcher at the National Security Institute at Tel Aviv University, believed that “Israel needs a prisoner exchange deal in order to build the mechanism that will end the war,” stressing that this war, at its current pace, will lead to a defeat that will reverberate for years, and that the beneficiary Of the current situation is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added - in a discussion on Channel 12 - "Israel stands on the threshold of a historic strategic defeat, because the axis of resistance is watching and sees that we will soon be facing it alone, without the United States and without a regional alliance."

Regarding the issue of Rafah , Itai Blumenthal, military affairs correspondent on Kan 11, revealed that the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, this week presented a proposal to Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, which he expects the Israeli army to implement. The American proposal includes "the use of advanced technology on the border with Egypt, closing the border with technological surveillance that includes cameras and sensors, isolating Rafah and besieging it by Israeli army forces by land and sea, focused army raids based on intelligence information, and establishing a joint intelligence room for operations in the south of the Gaza Strip."

War Termination

A leader in the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) told Al Jazeera that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to buy time and absorb the anger of the families of the prisoners, but he is creating obstacles to reaching an agreement. He added that the Israeli delegation does not have the authority to reach an agreement, stressing the movement’s position on the necessity of stopping the aggression, withdrawing the occupation forces, returning the displaced, and intensifying relief and reconstruction.

Sources told Al Jazeera that the Cairo meeting between the mediators and the Israeli delegation did not result in anything new in the path to reaching a ceasefire. The sources indicated that the Israeli delegation once again put forward a proposal for the gradual return of a specific number of displaced persons from the south of the Gaza Strip to its north, as the proposal includes the return of no more than 60,000 displaced persons at a rate of 2,000 displaced persons per day two weeks after the start of the agreement. It added that Israel insists that the displaced do not return to their homes and areas, but rather to tents that are built to shelter them.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan confirmed in an interview with Al Jazeera yesterday, Sunday, that there is no talk yet about any new round of negotiations, after news of an Israeli delegation visiting Cairo yesterday, Sunday, to discuss the exchange deal. He added that the occupation did not make any commitments in its responses, and its answers were an attempt to procrastinate with regard to the basic points that Hamas wants answers to, which are stopping the aggression, withdrawing from Gaza, the return of the displaced to the north, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Hamdan expressed his appreciation for the role of the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, noting that Israel's continued "intransigence" means that the mediators' efforts will face a dead end, as he put it. He said that Israel only wants to recover its prisoners and continue the aggression in an open manner, stressing that the American position contributes to covering up Israeli "intransigence."

Israeli Channel 12 reported that a delegation including representatives of Mossad, intelligence, and Shin Bet would leave for Cairo to discuss the exchange deal with Hamas.

Hamas said that the basic principles underlying its vision of the negotiation file, which it presented to the mediators in Egypt and Qatar, are based on five main points: a ceasefire, an unconditional return of the displaced, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza, the entry of aid and relief materials, and reconstruction.

Israel rejected Hamas's proposal, and also rejected the movement's request to release 30 life sentencers for every female soldier, and in return, it offered to release only 5 to be determined by it. Israel presented a detailed proposal to release the detainees, calling for the release in the first stage of 40 alive Israeli detainees of all categories. he last round of negotiations in Doha lasted for about two weeks to reach a deal between Hamas and Israel, without producing results despite Washington expressing its optimism about the talks. It was planned to complete the negotiations in Cairo this week.

Maariv newspaper quoted the Israeli Negev Development Minister, Isaac Wasserlauf, as saying, “We must enter Rafah and dissolve the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) brigades,” noting that complete victory is the return of settlement to the Gaza Strip. Wasserlauf - from the far-right "Jewish Power" party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir - added that the settlement in Gaza is the punishment they should receive for what they did on October 7. He added, "Without the Jewish settlement in Gaza, our soldiers would have been in vain."

Wasserlav's controversial statements are similar to those of extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich , as he previously called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, considering that the Palestinians of the Strip should be "encouraged" to immigrate to other countries. Last January, the “Jewish Power” party organized a conference entitled “Victory Conference” to promote the restoration of settlement in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank , in response to the events of October 7 , with the participation of ministers and representatives of the Knesset (Parliament), and about 20 Israeli ministers, some of them from the ruling Likud Party led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

On more than one occasion, Netanyahu stated that re-settlement in the Gaza Strip at the present time is unrealistic. In the June 1967 war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, then withdrew from it and dismantled its settlements there in 2005. The United Nations considers Israeli settlement in the occupied territories illegal, and calls on Israel to end it to no avail, warning that it undermines the chances of addressing the conflict in accordance with the principle of a two-state solution, Palestinian and Israeli.

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said on Monday that the Palestinian Authority wants the United Nations Security Council to vote this month on full membership in the international organization, a step that could be blocked by the United States, an ally of Israel. Mansour - who has permanent observer status at the United Nations - announced the Palestinian plans as the war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip approaches the completion of its sixth month and the expansion of Israel’s settlement activity in the occupied West Bank .

Mansour told Reuters that the goal is for the Security Council to take a decision at a ministerial meeting scheduled to be held on April 18 regarding the Middle East, but a date for voting on it has not yet been set. He stated that the Palestinian application submitted in 2011 for full membership is still pending, because the Council - consisting of 15 members - has not taken an official decision. He added that the goal is to put the request to a vote in the Security Council this month.

Operational Update

Jeremy Corbyn , a member of the British Parliament and former leader of the Labor Party, stressed that the British government's continued sale of weapons to Israel makes it complicit in what he called the crime committed against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He said that a number of members of the British Parliament called on the Foreign Ministry to reveal and publish the legal advice confirming that Israel is violating international law in its war on Gaza.

The Observer newspaper, citing Alicia Cairns, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the British House of Commons, revealed that the British government did not publish the legal advice it received, and continued to supply weapons to Israel. According to Corbyn, the British government - if what was published by the Observer is true - violated international law by selling weapons to Israel, and also by exchanging intelligence information with Israel. He referred to a statement by British Foreign Minister David Cameron - a member of the British House of Lords - in which he said that stopping intelligence cooperation between his country and Israel would make the matter difficult for both parties, and he - that is, Cameron - suggested that the British government take an illegal path, as Corbyn said.

In the same context, the guest of the episode (3/31/2024) of the program “Gaza...What Next?” With the behavior of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said that he was told that Britain going to invade Iraq was not legal, but he did not adhere to that, indicating that what is happening now with the current government in light of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip is a repetition of what happened in the case of the invasion of Iraq, He added that the violation of the law in the case of Gaza is more clear. The former Labor Party leader points out that Britain's interests lie in its respect for international law, but it violates it as it continues to provide weapons to Israel, thus enabling it to carry out actions that lead to what he called genocide, which he said led to the killing of more than 30,000 people and the starvation of those who remained residents of Gaza.

As Corbyn emphasizes, Britain is a signatory to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, and therefore Britain may be held accountable for not respecting the decisions of this court. On the other hand, Corbyn said that Cameron and US President Joe Biden are shedding crocodile tears for the people of Gaza, but they continue their close relationship with Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .

For his part, the senior researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Dr. Liqaa Makki, said that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wanted to conceal the legal advice on Gaza and hide it from British public opinion and the House of Commons, with the aim of not stopping the supply of weapons to Israel. He described this consultation as mandatory and would cause a problem. To the British government. But Makki ruled out that a decision would be taken within the British House of Commons to stop supplying weapons to Israel, pointing out the possibility of evasion by using mechanisms that say that Israel is under threat from southern Lebanon.

He pointed out that the United States and other Western countries - especially Germany - are still supplying weapons to Israel, indicating that the Americans share the same goals of the war on Gaza with Israel, but they differ with it in methods, and they are now proposing more sinister approaches, as Makki said, who explained that after the decision The recent UN Security Council demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Washington spoke of specific operations in Rafah targeting the leaders of the Islamic Resistance (Hamas) to avoid entering into a large-scale operation.

Operational Update - Gaza

The IDF completely withdrew from inside the Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings after an operation that lasted about two weeks, while fierce battles took place between the resistance and the occupation army in the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis, and the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that they had targeted an Israeli troop carrier.

The IDF and Shin Bet forces completed the operation this morning in the area of Shifa Hospital. The forces of Sheitat 13, the combat team of the 401st Brigade and the Nahal Patrol under the command of Division 162 left the area of the hospital. In the last two weeks, the IDF and Shin Bet forces, led by Division 162, together with the TKS 401 forces, Sheitat 13, the Nahal TKS and the Dovdavan unit carried out a targeted operation at Shifa Hospital , the terror headquarters of the northern Gaza Strip. 200 Terrorists were eliminated, over 500 terrorists associated with terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were arrested, including senior officials and knowledge centers of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation army completely withdrew at dawn on Monday from inside the Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings, west of Gaza City, after a two-week storming and siege operation, while hundreds of bodies were found inside the complex and in the surrounding area. The occupation forces headed south, where there was a camp where tanks and bulldozers were stationed in the area between the Sheikh Ajlin and Tal Al-Hawa neighborhoods. According to what Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported from eyewitnesses, the withdrawal was sudden and coincided with gunfire and the firing of tank shells towards residential buildings in the vicinity of the medical complex.

The withdrawal comes after an Israeli attack on the complex and its surroundings for two weeks, which led to the death, injury, and arrest of hundreds of Palestinians. Israeli Army Radio said that the army killed 200, arrested 500 others, and detained about 900 for investigation during its operation in the medical complex and its surroundings.

Scenes from Al Jazeera showed the spread of charred bodies of martyrs in the streets and roads surrounding the Shifa Medical Complex, while medical sources reported that hundreds of bodies of martyrs were found in the complex and the streets surrounding it following the withdrawal of the occupation forces.

The sources said that the occupation forces burned the buildings of the medical complex and caused it to be completely out of service, stressing that the extent of the destruction in the complex and surrounding buildings was very large. Hundreds of Palestinians flocked to inspect the destruction in the complex's buildings, and some families rushed to evacuate injured and sick people who were trapped inside the hospital.

During the period of the Israeli attack, some martyrs were recovered, while many bodies remained lying on the ground around the complex and residential buildings, whether in the Al-Nasr neighborhood or Al-Wahda Street, as well as in the southern beach and the western sands, areas that were besieged by the occupation forces.

In the center of the strip, a combat helicopter attacked a Hamas military structure and a cohesive structure directed by Nahal fighters from where the terrorists were observing the forces. Over the past day, Air Force aircraft have eliminated terrorists who posed an immediate threat to the maneuvering forces, including a sniper who was eliminated by a combat helicopter.

In Khan Yunis, the forces of the commando formation are operating in the Al-Amal area. The fighters eliminated terrorists at close range, raided terrorist infrastructures and arrested several terrorists. During the searches, the fighters located many weapons, including explosives. The combat team of the Givati Brigade eliminated a number of terrorists in face-to-face encounters that threatened Israeli forces.

The Air Force, in cooperation with the 7th Brigade's combat team, carried out several attacks in the Khan Yunis area in the last day. The fighters located a truck driving towards them and a vehicle containing several terrorists who posed a threat to the force. An aircraft attacked them.

The Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) said that what was revealed by the Israeli media regarding the occupation army’s establishment of “execution zones” along the Gaza Strip in which anyone who moves in them is killed without any discrimination is a brutal war crime. The movement added in a statement that these Israeli practices represent “a violation of all customs and laws of war by targeting unarmed civilians in ongoing incidents, some of which were revealed in video clips previously broadcast by Al Jazeera.”

Last Wednesday, Al Jazeera broadcast a video clip showing Israeli soldiers executing two Palestinian civilians in cold blood as they attempted to return to the northern Gaza Strip. This clip is added to other video clips that were recently revealed showing deliberate Israeli killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Hamas called on the United Nations and international judicial institutions - led by the International Criminal Court - to begin an immediate investigation into these heinous crimes and other scandalous violations that occur in audio and video in front of the entire world. It also called for the prosecution of the Nazi occupation leaders, work to stop the ongoing massacre and war of extermination waged against defenseless civilians, and protect the values of humanity trampled by the occupation with a cover and a green light from the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Israeli officers and soldiers said that the majority of those killed, whom the army classified as terrorists during its current war on the Gaza Strip, were in fact unarmed civilians. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz collected testimonies from these officers and soldiers who fought in Gaza during the war that has been ongoing since October 7, 2023. The newspaper quoted those officers and soldiers as saying that the army classified about 9,000 dead Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists, but in reality the majority of them were civilians and did not pose any threat, and their only sin (these victims) was crossing an imaginary line drawn by the army, which if crossed gives the forces permission to fire on them.

One of the soldiers told the newspaper, "We were specifically told that even if a suspect flees into a building, the building will be shot at, even if this leads to the injury of civilians." According to the testimonies of officers and soldiers, the Israeli army shoots anyone who enters the extermination zone it has designated, whether militants or civilians. A reserve officer said, "In short, a terrorist for the army is any person killed by forces inside the combat zone with the military force (Palestinian faction fighters)," noting that it is not possible to say with certainty who the terrorist is and who was targeted because he entered the combat zone for one reason or another.

In a report published on Sunday, Haaretz newspaper highlighted the so-called “killing zones” that Israel established in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The Israeli army says that nine thousand fighters in Gaza have been killed since the start of the war with Hamas, but defense officials and soldiers told the Israeli newspaper that these are often civilians, and their only crime was crossing the invisible line drawn by the Israeli army for “killing zones.”

The newspaper reported that more than a week ago, video clips appeared of four men walking in silence along a wide road in the Khan Yunis area of ??Gaza, wearing civilian clothes, before the silence was broken by a horrific explosion, as a result of which two of them were killed and two others were injured as they tried to continue walking. “They may have thought they had survived, but seconds later, another bomb was dropped on one of them. You could then see the other one fall to his knees, and then you hear a bang with fire and smoke.”

A senior officer in the Israel Defense Forces told the newspaper, "This was a very serious incident. They were unarmed, and did not endanger our forces in the area in which they were marching." In addition, an intelligence officer says it is not at all certain that they were involved in launching any missiles, as the IDF said.

On the other hand, the first officer said, speaking about the two dead, “They were simply the people closest to the launch site,” although he did not deny the possibility that they were armed, but he also said, “It is also possible that they were civilians who were searching for food.” The newspaper commented on this, “This story is only one example of the way in which Palestinians are killed by Israeli army fire in the Gaza Strip.”

In response, an IDF spokesman told the newspaper, “The area documented in the footage is an active combat zone in Khan Yunis, where a large evacuation of the civilian population occurred. He added, "Our forces there witnessed many confrontations with terrorists who fight and move in combat zones, wearing civilian clothes, and camouflaging combat equipment in buildings and property that appear to be civilian."

The death toll among Gazans is now estimated at more than 32,000, and the army claims that about 9,000 of them are “terrorists,” according to the Israeli army. But army reserve commanders dispute the claim that all of them (nine thousand) were all armed. Some of them told the newspaper that the definition of a terrorist is open to a wide range of interpretations, and it is "very likely" that Palestinians who never carried a weapon in their lives would have been labeled "terrorists" posthumously, at least by the Israeli military.

Usually, one, two or even three armed men are hiding inside a building, but those who discover them are fighters with special equipment or drones, according to one of the officers. One of this officer's roles was to inform the command of the number of fighters who had been "neutralized" in the area where he and his men operated. In particular, he stressed, "We do not invent bodies, but no one can determine with certainty who the terrorist is, and who was injured after entering the combat zone."

In response to the newspaper’s questions, an Israeli army spokesman said that with regard to the classification of those killed as a result of Israeli army fire in Gaza and the number of terrorists killed, “the Israeli army is in the midst of a war against a terrorist organization and is working to thwart all threats.” He added that the Israeli army asked He urged civilians to continue to evacuate areas of intense fighting and made efforts to allow them to evacuate as safely as "possible."

In fact, - says Haaretz - there is no written order regarding the killing zone in the Israeli army rule book. “But this does not mean that the concept is unknown to the soldiers, and evidence of this is the investigation into the incident in which three Israeli hostages were killed . Last December, the Israeli army announced that 3 Israeli hostages who were being held in Gaza were killed by friendly fire.

A “kill zone” is a term that refers to an area where Israeli army forces are stationed, usually in an abandoned house, with the surrounding area becoming a closed military zone, but without clear signs of it. The “kill zone” refers to the red lines that no one - not from the Israeli army - is allowed to cross, so that our forces in the area are not exposed to bombing. The boundaries of these killing areas were not determined in advance, nor was the distance separating them from the house where the forces were stationed. Each army force has observation centers inside and outside the Gaza Strip, and its soldiers are responsible for identifying danger. But ultimately, the boundaries of these areas and the exact operation procedures are subject to the interpretation of the commanders in that specific area.

The Al -Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) - said that its members were able to ensnare an Israeli force in a complex ambush, after targeting a troop carrier with an “Al-Yassin 105” missile, and targeting a group of 7 soldiers in the same place with another missile, in the downtown area in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. Al-Qassam confirmed that its forces clashed with heavy weapons with the rescue force that arrived to rescue the soldiers, and all its members were killed or wounded. The Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast scenes of mortar shelling of Israeli forces that were penetrating the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza. They also announced the sniping of a soldier and the targeting of a tank in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood.

For its part, the Al- Quds Brigades - the military arm of the Islamic Jihad movement - broadcast scenes of its fighters targeting a military vehicle and bombing Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Shifa complex, west of Gaza City.

On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that 8 soldiers were injured in the battles in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, and it also announced that a soldier from the 77th Battalion was killed during the battles taking place in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Army Radio reported that a soldier died from wounds he sustained two days ago in the southern Gaza Strip, bringing the number of soldiers killed to 3 in the past 24 hours, and to 600 dead since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, including 264 among them. An officer and a soldier since the start of the ground operation on the 26th of the same month, and 90 killed since the beginning of this year, according to official figures.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), broadcast scenes of its fighters targeting the Israeli forces in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City , with mortar shells. The scenes - dating back to March 30 - showed Al-Qassam fighters preparing to carry out the operation and setting up mortar detachments and photographic cameras. During the video, an image appeared reading “ Al- Aqsa Flood Battle , Ramadan 20th - anniversary of the conquest of Mecca,” with the signature “Al-Qassam Brigades, March 30, 2024.”

One of the Qassam fighters sent a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, "If Netanyahu believes that by killing our children and starving our children, we will deviate from the path, then he has been disappointed and disgraced... and God is great, and praise be to God." Al-Qassam has been documenting its operations against the forces and vehicles of the occupation army in various combat axes since the start of the Israeli ground operation late last October, using anti-personnel, armor and fortifications shells, in addition to precise ambushes and precise sniper operations.

Operational Update - Judea-Samaria

The soldiers of the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Security Guard arrested nine wanted persons throughout Judea and Samaria tonight. The forces operated in the house of the terrorist who carried out the attack last night in Gan Yavne, in the village of Dora in the Yehuda Division. The forces interrogated suspects and carried out searches in the area. In the village of Sabah El Khir in the Menashe Brigade, the fighters arrested a wanted man and as part of searches in the area, the fighters located and confiscated weapons.

The wanted persons who were arrested and the means of warfare that were aggravated were transferred to the security forces for further treatment, there are no casualties to our forces. So far, since the beginning of the war, approximately 3,600 wanted persons have been arrested in the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Emekim Division, approximately 1,600 of whom are affiliated with Hamas.

The occupation army withdrew from the city of Tulkarm in the West Bank at dawn on Monday after storming the home of freed prisoner Alaa Shreiteh. Its forces also carried out demolition operations of facilities in the town of Hizma, north of occupied Jerusalem. The occupation forces accuse Alaa Shreiteh of being behind the Beit Lid operation early last November, which led to the death of an Israeli soldier. The occupation forces pushed military vehicles from the Taiba checkpoint, southwest of Tulkarm, towards Al-Haddadeen Street, the city center, and the Shweika roundabout.

In occupied Jerusalem, bulldozers belonging to the occupation municipality began demolishing facilities and shops in the town of Hizma, north of the city, under the pretext of not having a license. Eyewitnesses from the town's residents reported that members of the occupation municipality stormed the town at dawn today, under the protection of police and army forces, imposed a security cordon at its entrance, and began demolition operations.

The occupation forces continue to escalate their attacks against the Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, coinciding with their war on the Gaza Strip .

Since Israel began its war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attack on the settlements surrounding Gaza, Israeli settlers’ attacks on Palestinians have become so violent that Palestinian farmers were forced to leave the land he inherited from fathers and grandfathers. More than 1,200 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have been forced from their homes since the fighting began, according to human rights groups and the United Nations. Data collected by activists and verified using satellite images by the island’s verification unit, Sanad, shows that between October 2023 and January 2024, settlers in the occupied West Bank built at least 15 outposts. settlement and 18 roads, which is illegal under Israeli and international law. In addition, settlers built hundreds of meters of barbed wire and double road barriers, further restricting the movement of Palestinians.

This hitherto unprecedented displacement has led to the disintegration of at least 15 Palestinian communities, with Israeli settlers rapidly expanding their presence. Experts say their goal is to reshape the demographics of the West Bank while breaking the backbone of the lands designated for a future Palestinian state. “When there is a war, the settlers take advantage and try to establish as many outposts as possible,” said Mauricio Lapchick, an activist with Peace Now, an Israeli organization that documents settlement activities. Note that a similar increase in illegal settlement outposts was recorded during the years of the Second Intifada in the early first decade of this century.

Settlement outposts are usually temporary camps ranging in size from a few caravans to a few prefabricated buildings erected in rural Palestinian areas. These outposts were built by members of the broader Israeli settlement movement, which seeks to impose an Israeli presence on the illegally occupied territories. The outpost builders are often motivated by an extremely hard-line ideology that demands that Jews fill all Palestinian lands and force the Palestinians to leave.

Like settlements, these outposts are considered illegal under international law. Although Israel considers them illegal, claiming that they were established without government approval, it nevertheless often retroactively approves them as settlements, and the army, for its part, connects the outposts and temporary caravans to water and electricity, and the settlers impose them as a fait accompli.

Connecting to electricity and water constitutes one of the most important stages of transforming these settlement outposts into permanent ones, when they become viable for settler families, after initially being limited to the “hilltop youth” who carry out the initial takeover process, and then the state and army provide them with the necessities for survival and expansion. Satellite images show settlement sites built in the first four months of the war spread across the occupied West Bank, indicating that Israeli settlers are becoming bolder and expanding their presence beyond areas close to the existing settlements.

Operational Update - Lebanon

The Chief of Staff today (Monday) approved plans at the Northern Command together with the Commander of the Northern Command and members of the General Staff Forum. As part of them, he approved plans for the continuation of the fighting and held a situation assessment.

IDF Spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari: "At the end of an intense operational activity, the IDF and the Shin Bet today completed the operation targeting Shifa Hospital. Hamas destroyed and destroyed the hospital, after turning it into its headquarters - there are more terrorists than patients in the hospital We are in a complex war on several fronts, IDF forces are deployed and operating in all sectors. We must continue to obey the directives of the Home Front Command and remain vigilant. 134 abductees and abductees are being held in Gaza. Their return is our compass. It is important for the public to know that the IDF and the security organizations are making every effort to bring the abductees home. This is our mission."

Air force fighter jets attacked a Hezbollah military structure in the Hanin region of southern Lebanon. During the day, IDF forces attacked a building where weapons were stored alongside other terrorist targets in the areas of Jebel Hammis and Aita al-Sha'ab in southern Lebanon. Also, in the last few hours, a number of launches were detected that crossed from Lebanese territory to the areas of Har Dov and Manara. IDF forces attacked The sources of the shooting.

Fighter jets attacked at the same time about 10 Hezbollah targets in the Rashia al-Fuhar region, including an Amaleh warehouse, launching positions and terrorist infrastructure.

Operational Update - Syria / Iraq

A Building between the Iranian and Canadian Embassy in the Syrian Capital of Damascus was targeted and Totally Destroyed this morning by an Israeli Airstrike, with the Building reported to possibly contain High-Ranking Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Brigadier Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, one of the #IRGC Quds Force commanders, is among the high ranking military officials of the Iran's Islamic Regime eliminated during the airstrike of the Israel Air Force at consulate building of Iran in Damascus.

Iran confirms that its consulate in Damascus was targeted by six missiles launched by F-35 fighter jets.

Iran confirmed that it reserves the right to respond after the attack, which it said was Israeli and targeted its consulate headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing people, including a leader and members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, on Monday.

Official Iranian media quoted the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that Iran “reserves the right to respond to the Israeli attack,” adding that it will determine “the type of response and punishment against the aggressor.” It also quoted the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, as saying in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal al-Miqdad, that Tehran holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack on its consulate in Damascus. Amir Abdullahian added that the attack on the consulate building constitutes a “violation of all international conventions,” while Al-Miqdad strongly condemned “this heinous terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus...”

Israel did not immediately comment on the attack, which came amid escalating tensions against the backdrop of its war in Gaza against Hamas and Iranian-backed organizations in the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that eight people were killed when “Israeli missiles destroyed (...) the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy on the Mezzeh Highway in the capital, Damascus.”

The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hussein Akbari, confirmed that his country would “respond decisively” to the bombing while speaking about a lower death toll, saying, “At least five people were killed in the attack carried out by F-35 fighter jets.” Iranian state television reported that the prominent leader of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was killed in the attack, along with five other figures in the Revolutionary Guard. The Observatory later reported that it had confirmed “the killing of a high-ranking leader who served as commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, as well as Iranian advisors and 5 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”

Monday's bombing of Damascus is the fifth time Syria has been bombed in eight days.

Following this attack, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced: At around 17:00 this evening, the Israeli enemy targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus from the side of the occupied Syrian Golan. This attack led to the destruction of the entire building and martyred and injured all the people inside. The work to remove the bodies of the martyrs, treat the injured and remove the debris continues.

Hossein Akbari, Iran's ambassador in Damascus, said: "This building was attacked by F- 35 fighters and 6 missiles. "I was at my workplace in the embassy." Stating that the Zionist regime has committed many crimes against diplomats, he added: "After all these crimes against the Palestinian people in the past 6 months, today they committed this crime against Iran. A number of Iranian advisers were in the building and were martyred. This action will result in our decisive response." Akbari clarified: "So far, the complete excavation has not been done and between 5 and 7 people were martyred, and the exact statistics will be published later. Two policemen were also martyred. "We cannot announce the names at this time."

Despite the fact that the names of the martyrs were not announced by the Iranian ambassador, Al-Mayadeen wrote that General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the commanders of the Quds Force, was martyred in an air attack on Damascus an hour before the Zionists. Some media have also reported the martyrdom of "Sardar Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi" Deputy General Zahedi in this attack. Sardar Mohammad Reza Zahedi was one of the middle commanders of the IRGC during the imposed war and was in charge of the 44th Qamar Bani Hashem Brigade from 1362 to 1365. He was the commander of the 14th division of Imam Hossein (a.s.) between 1365 and 1370 and the commander of the IRGC ground forces between 1384 and 1387 . From 1384 to 1385, he also became the commander of the Tharollah base, and from 1395 to 1398, he was also the deputy of IRGC operations. Sardar Zahedi was the commander of the Syrian and Lebanese Corps in the Quds Force from 2007 to 2015.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad , together with the governor of Damascus, visited the Iranian embassy building and the adjacent building that was the target of the Zionist regime's attack and talked with the Iranian ambassador. During this visit, the Syrian Foreign Minister said: "We strongly condemn this attack by the Israeli regime and say that this regime can never affect the relations between Syria and Iran." He also condemned the recent crime of the Zionist regime in a conversation with Hossein Amirabdollahian , the foreign minister of our country, from the Iranian embassy in Damascus. Also, following the brutal invasion of the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus by the Zionist regime this evening, the Syrian Foreign Minister contacted Amir Abdollahian .

Amir Abdullahian announced that Netanyahu has completely lost his mental balance due to the successive defeats of the Israeli regime in Gaza and not achieving the ambitious goals of the Zionists. Amir Abdollahian considered the attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus to be a violation of all international obligations and conventions and blamed the consequences of this action on the Zionist regime.

On the other hand, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, strongly condemned the attack of the aggressor Zionist regime on the building of the consular section of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus. Kanani considered this malicious attack as a gross violation of international regulations , especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and added: "This action should be condemned in the strongest terms by the international community and the United Nations, and necessary action should be taken against the aggressor."

Kanani emphasized: The dimensions of this hateful attack are being investigated and the responsibility for its consequences lies with the aggressor Zionist regime. Kanani stated: The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, decides on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor.

Rasha Todi, in a report from today's explosion site in Damascus, announced that the Zionist regime has carried out a new aggression against Damascus, targeting the building adjacent to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus. According to this report, the available information shows that this building has been completely destroyed and smoke is still rising from the ruins of this building. Reporter Rasha Todi announced that the explosion took place in an area that was a diplomatic and protected area.

Stephen Dujarric , the spokesman of the United Nations, expressed his concern in response to the air attack of the Israeli army on the Iranian consulate in the vicinity of the Islamic Republic of Iran's embassy in Damascus. In response to the news of the attack by the Zionist regime on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, the White House spokesman said that Washington is collecting reports about the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus by Israel and is evaluating the issue. This American government official tried to avoid any comments about this attack. Sky News, citing an American official, reported that Tel Aviv informed Washington about the attack.

The public relations of the IRGC announced the martyrdom of generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi and five of their companions in the terrorist crime of the Zionist regime in the missile attack on the consulate building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus. "in the name of God "And those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead , but they are resurrected with their Lord."" (Al-Imran 169) With the wish of acceptance of obedience, prayers and condolences on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Ali, peace be upon him, he brings to the awareness of the honorable and heroic nation of Iran:

Following the irreparable defeats of the Zionist wolf regime against the Palestinian resistance and the resistance of the people of Gaza and the defeat of the steel will of the fighters of the Islamic Resistance Front in the region, a few hours ago (the evening of Monday, April 13, 1403), the planes of this fake regime in a new crime of the consulate building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus was targeted by a missile attack, as a result of this crime, General Rashid, the defender of the shrine, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, commanders, veterans and veterans of the Holy Defense and Iran's senior military advisers in Syria and 5 Some of the advisors and officers with them attained the grace of martyrdom..."

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) issued a strong statement on Monday night and announced : We condemn the Zionist regime's terrorist attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran's consulate in Damascus and consider it a gross violation of international law and an encroachment on the sovereignty of Iran and Syria. Hamas movement expressed solidarity with Iran and Syria regarding this aggression by stating that this attack is a dangerous tension and said: We ask the Security Council to take action to create deterrence against Israel and its criminal leaders, so that their attacks on The Gaza Strip and the region should be stopped.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement condemned the terrorist attack in Damascus and assessed it as Israel's attempt to escape from the defeat in Gaza. It should be noted that Syrian TV announced this evening about the Zionist regime's new attack on Iran's diplomatic building in Damascus, in Al-Mazza area located in Damascus. Iran's ambassador in Damascus, Hossein Akbari, while explaining the details of this terrorist attack, said that this building was attacked with 6 missiles launched by the F-35 fighters of the Zionist regime. Mr. Akbari continued that probably between 5 and 7 people were martyred in this attack and the exact statistics will be published after the complete removal of the debris.

This attack led to the destruction of the entire building and martyred and injured all the people inside. The work to remove the bodies of the martyrs, treat the injured and remove the debris continues. Al-Mayadin reporter reported the martyrdom of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria, in the Zionist regime's attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Referring to the attack of the Zionist regime on the Iranian consulate in Syria, Saadullah Zarei, an expert on international affairs, said: The attack of the Zionist regime on the consulate building of our country, which is considered a diplomatic building, shows that the usurping regime does not follow any political red line. He does not consider himself legal, moral, military and security and commits crimes without fear. He continued: The Zionist regime sees itself in an emergency because it does not break the rules if it does not feel an emergency. A military force does unconventional things when faced with a very difficult situation.

Referring to the crimes of the usurping regime in Gaza, the expert on international issues said: The fake Israeli regime has been committing the worst crimes against women, men and defenseless children in Gaza for 6 months, but according to their own admission, it has not been able to achieve its goals. to achieve Gaza, which shows the desperation of the army and the military force of this regime.

Zarei added: Israel's fake regime considers the axis of resistance as the reason for its failures and it knows that Yemen, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon are standing by the cause of Palestine and therefore, to save themselves, they commit such crimes in Syria. He stated: The action of the usurping regime against Iran in Syria not only does not solve the troubles of the usurping regime, but basically creates a new situation against this regime.

The international affairs expert stated that after the attack on the Iranian consulate, any action of any intensity and at any point by the Syrian government, the axis of resistance and Iran, is considered 100% justified and this action has been accepted as legitimate in the world, he added: The fake Israeli regime, ignorantly, has opened the hand of the resistance front to increase the pressure on its throat and has made it possible for a very big event to happen against this regime in the region.

Seyyed Ammar Hakim, head of Iraq's national wisdom stream, in a message, strongly condemned the Zionist regime's attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which resulted in the martyrdom of a number of employees and advisers. Ammar Hakim rejected the attack on the diplomatic places of the countries. He asked the international community to take immediate action to stop the repeated violation of the sovereignty of other countries by the Zionist regime.

The head of Iraq's national wisdom stream emphasized that this attack is a clear violation of all international customs and treaties, according to which embassies and diplomatic places are safe havens and no party has the right to involve them in conflicts. In the end, the head of Iraq's national wisdom movement asked God for mercy for the martyrs and speedy recovery for the wounded.

It should be noted that Syrian TV announced this evening about the Zionist regime's new attack on Iran's diplomatic building in Damascus, in Al-Mazza area located in Damascus. Iran's ambassador in Damascus, Hossein Akbari, while explaining the details of this terrorist attack, said that this building was attacked with 6 missiles launched by the F- 35 fighters of the Zionist regime. Mr. Akbari continued that probably between 5 and 7 people were martyred in this attack and the exact statistics will be published after the complete removal of the debris.

This attack led to the destruction of the entire building and martyred and injured all the people inside. The work to remove the bodies of the martyrs, treat the injured and remove the debris continues. Al-Mayadin reporter reported the martyrdom of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria, in the Zionist regime's attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Abu Ali Al-Askari, the security official of Hezbollah Brigades, issued a threatening statement, in which he threatens both Jordan and Israel, stating that Iraqi militias are ready to send and support over 12,000 fighters inside Jordan. "We offer our condolences to the Islamic nation, Al-Hujjah bin Al-Hassan (peace be upon him), and all the believers and mujahideen, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (peace be upon him), who did not stop his struggle and resistance to raise the word of God on earth and establish the values of goodness and justice. We also offer our condolences to Mr. Leader Khamenei. (May his shadow last) and the great authorities and brothers in the Revolutionary Guard with the martyrdom of the brother, the great commander, Muhammad Reza Zahedi, as a result of the Zionist-American criminal attack.

At the Consulate of the Islamic Republic in Damascus. We would like to point out the following: First: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has prepared its equipment to equip our brothers, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Jordan, with what will meet the needs of 12,000 fighters with light and medium weapons, anti-armor launchers, tactical missiles, millions of ammunition, and tons of explosives, so that we can be one hand to defend our Palestinian brothers, and avenge the honor of Muslims that have been committed. Violated by the children of apes and pigs. Second: We are ready to start preparing, and the Turkish mujahideen from Hamas or Islamic Jihad are sufficient for that. Let us begin first by cutting off the land road that reaches the Zionist entity.

Following the announcement of a suspicious aerial target that fell in the area of the Eilat Bay last night (Monday), the target fell at the IDF base in Eilat. There were no casualties and minor damage was caused to the building. The incident is being investigated. Further to the warning of the infiltration of a hostile aircraft in the city of Eilat and in the Eilot region, the IDF forces identified a suspicious aerial target that crossed from the east towards the territory of the State of Israel, the target fell in the area of the Gulf of Eilat, there were no casualties and minor damage was caused to the structure.

Meanwhile, the " Islamic Resistance in Iraq " said that it bombed "a vital target in the occupied territories with appropriate weapons," at dawn on Monday. It explained in a statement that this bombing comes "as a continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, supporting our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women and the elderly."

On Monday, the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" claimed responsibility for an attack that earlier targeted the Israeli city of Eilat. The Israeli army said that an air attack targeted - today, Monday - the city of Eilat overlooking the Red Sea , without causing any casualties. An army statement said that a flying object was launched from the eastern direction of Israel and hit a building in Eilat. The statement did not specify the type of object that was launched towards Eilat. He stated that this launch caused warning sirens to sound, but was not intercepted by Israeli air defenses.

But the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement that it attacked a “vital target” in Israel using “appropriate weapons.” No further details were provided. Israeli media reported that a drone crossed the airspace coming from the direction of Jordan and hit a military base in the Gulf of Eilat, where columns of smoke rose. Eilat is subjected to repeated attacks with missiles and drones from the Houthis , a victory for Gaza , which has been subjected to continuous Israeli aggression since last October 7, which led to the death of about 33 thousand martyrs, most of whom were women and children.

Operational Update - Yemen

The Israeli army announced that a drone had penetrated the airspace and hit a building in the city of Eilat in the far south, while Israeli media reports stated that the drone had hit a naval military base in the city. The Israeli army said in a statement at dawn on Monday that the drone came from the east and fell on a building in Eilat, causing material damage but no casualties. For its part, Israeli media said that the drone crossed the airspace coming from the direction of Jordan and hit a military base in the Gulf of Eilat, where columns of smoke rose. Sirens sounded in Eilat, and ambulances rushed to the site of the drone crash.

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

French Jewish thinker Bernard-Henri Levy sparked a storm of anger on French social media platforms, following his recent repeated appearances in support of the Israeli army and justifying its ongoing operatin in the Gaza Strip. Levy claimed - in an interview with the local French newspaper "Nice-Matin" - that the Israeli response to the Al-Aqsa flood was "proportionate," considering the fall of tens of thousands of civilian casualties "a natural and inevitable matter in any war." Levy compared the Israeli response to the response of the international coalition to the ISIS attacks in Iraq, saying, "The Israeli response was not disproportionate, but rather it was similar to the response of the international coalition in Mosul, where the city was almost destroyed, and the number of civilian casualties was very large."

Levy's statements were met with a wide wave of criticism from activists who considered that he justified the crimes of genocide in Gaza, while specialists believed that the Israeli response was disastrous for Palestine and for the future of the State of Israel

Activist Rafael Iván sharpened his tone towards the newspaper Nice Matin, writing on the X platform that “supporting war crimes from this notorious newspaper is shameful. Sooner or later, history will remember those who supported genocide.”

It is noteworthy that since the beginning of the Israeli operatin in the Gaza Strip, Levy has been appearing in defense of the Israeli army and its actions, especially through his book “The Isolation of Israel,” which he dedicated to the families of Israeli prisoners. He also described what happened on the seventh of last October as “the most sadistic attack in history". The British newspaper "The Guardian" reported that Israel had submitted a proposal to the United Nations to dismantle its United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees ( UNRWA ) and transfer its employees to an alternative agency to provide large-scale food shipments to Gaza. The newspaper quoted UN sources as saying that the proposal was presented late last week by Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to UN officials in Israel , who referred it to the organization’s Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres , on Saturday.

UNRWA did not participate in the talks to hand over the proposal, because the Israeli army has refused to deal with it since last week with justifications that have not yet been proven, regarding the affiliations of some of the agency’s employees to the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) or Islamic Jihad. Israel insists that it is prepared to allow large amounts of aid into Gaza, and its decision not to cooperate with UNRWA severely affects that ability.

Under the terms offered by Israel, between 300 and 400 staff from the agency will initially be transferred either to another UN agency, such as the World Food Programme , or to a new organization created specifically to distribute food aid in Gaza. More UNRWA staff may be transferred at later stages, and the agency's assets will also be transferred. Details were vague about who would run any new agency under the scheme, or who would provide security for its delivery.

UNRWA, which has supported the Palestinians since 1950, was excluded from talks about its future presence, despite it being the largest humanitarian actor in the region. The organization's Director of External Relations, Tamara Al-Rifai, said, "UNRWA was not systematically informed of the talks related to the coordination of humanitarian aid in Gaza." Some UN officials believe that Israel is trying to frame the international organization as unwilling to cooperate to stave off the famine that humanitarian organizations have warned is imminent. The International Court of Justice , which is examining genocide charges against Israel, had ordered the Israeli government to take “all necessary and effective measures” to ensure the widespread delivery of aid to Gaza “in full cooperation with the United Nations.”

Others within the United Nations, other relief agencies and human rights groups also see the Israeli proposal as the culmination of a long Israeli campaign to destroy UNRWA. Al-Rifai said that the small size of the proposed new entity to distribute aid would hinder its ability to effectively deliver aid in Gaza at a time of greatest need, adding, “What you are saying is not a criticism of the World Food Programme, but if they start distributing food in Gaza tomorrow, they will use UNRWA trucks and bring "The food goes to UNRWA warehouses, and then they distribute the food in or around UNRWA shelters, so they will need at least the same infrastructure that we have, including human resources."

The Guardian reported that the United States behind the scenes supported Israeli efforts to annex UNRWA functions to other agencies, but diplomats in New York said that this effort has so far been met with resistance from other donors and Guterres, who has so far provided his full support to the agency. The newspaper pointed out that UNRWA derives its mandate from the United Nations General Assembly , which in theory alone can decide the agency’s fate. It quoted some UN relief officials as saying that only UNRWA has the resources and trust of ordinary Palestinians to deliver food aid to Gaza, and that attempting to re-establish a relief organization for political reasons in response to Israeli demands, in the midst of bombing and the beginning of famine, will have dire consequences.

Former UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunns said it was outrageous that UN agencies such as the World Food Program and senior UN officials were involved in discussions about dismantling the agency. “It is the General Assembly that gives UNRWA its mandate, and only the General Assembly can change it, not the Secretary-General and certainly "Not any member state."

Axis of Resistance

Allied for Democracy

Biden Administration is reportedly in the final stages of making a decision regarding a sale of $18 Billion worth of military equipment to Israel, which includes over 50 F-15IA Eagle ll Multirole Strike Fighters [double the 25 intially eported], AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Kits for MK-84/83/82 Bombs. The Sale if approved won’t arrive in Israel for years, however the Israeli Government is attempting to expedite the delivery in case any kind of escalation in the region occurs.

The American news website Axios quoted 4 Israeli and American sources as saying that a remote meeting is expected to be held between the United States and Israel today, Monday, regarding the supposed military operation in Rafah. The website stated that the meeting will discuss alternative proposals by the administration of US President Joe Biden to the Israeli military invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials interpreted resorting to an online meeting as a way for Netanyahu to save face after he prevented a delegation from heading to Washington for the same reason. Another Israeli official spoke of a direct meeting between the two delegations by next week. Both the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office refused to comment on what was reported by Axios. 04:04

The meeting - which was supposed to be held last week - became a contentious issue between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden , after the United States last week refrained from using its veto against the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages. Netanyahu announced that he canceled the visit of an Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss the planned attack on Rafah in protest against the American position.

Military experts have warned that the US President's administration's plan to establish a floating dock off the coast of Gaza as part of a wide-ranging international initiative to deliver aid to the starving Palestinians in the Strip would expose the American service members who will build, operate and defend the dock from attack to "danger," according to The Washington Post reported . American officials say that these efforts could provide up to two million meals a day to the residents of the Strip, which is threatened by famine, while humanitarian aid, which is subject to Israeli control, enters in small quantities.

Observers fear that Palestinian anger due to the rapprochement and American support for Israel may make this port a “potential target” for attacks. While the Pentagon confirms that no American forces will be deployed in Gaza, it has revealed little about how long the construction process can continue and how the safety of participants can be ensured, which has raised concerns among some in Congress and other critics of the president’s plan, according to the American newspaper.

Military officials refused to answer questions from The Washington Post about where the pier will be located, and what security measures will be taken, indicating that they do not want to talk about the plans. The newspaper's report was based on interviews with eight current and former US national security officials familiar with the ongoing planning and complex coordination required to safely conduct humanitarian missions of this scale.

Those who reject the measure believe that the proximity of the Americans to the combat zones and the intense anger at the United States for its support of Israel will make the dock a tempting target for Hamas or other armed groups in the region, many of which receive weapons and military guidance from Iran. They added that launching missiles, attack drones, divers or speedboats transporting explosives would all pose a threat.

Paul Kennedy, a retired Marine general who led major humanitarian operations after natural disasters in Nepal and the Philippines, called it a "worthy goal" for the United States to alleviate the suffering of civilians in Gaza, but questioned whether the US military was the appropriate entity to participate. “If a bomb exploded at that site, the American public would wonder: What were they doing there in the first place?” he said.

John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that assembling and operating the pier will provide relief to many Gazans, which is an important mission and will make a difference. “But we know that such missions are never without risks,” Kirby said. “This is especially the case in a war zone like Gaza,” and stressed that “there will be no American forces on the ground, and we know that our military leaders will do their best to ensure their safety during the war.” They built and operated this pier.”

Defenders of the US administration's plan say that the danger remains "real", but it can be controlled. But on the other hand, other analysts cited the deadly terrorist bombings in Beirut in 1983, as well as the terrorist operation that targeted Kabul Airport during the US evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021, as examples of the enormous difficulty in protecting American service members during extended periods of stay in dangerous conditions. The first incident left 241 American service members dead. The latter killed 13 American soldiers, along with about 170 Afghans, and the latest incident remains a setback for the Biden administration and the focus of ongoing investigations in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

President Biden announced the plan to establish a dock in Gaza during his State of the Union address on March 7, saying it would allow for a "tremendous increase" in humanitarian aid. During the past weeks, the United States and other countries dropped air aid into Gaza, but these efforts are not enough in the face of the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the Strip.

The idea of the dock was met with mixed reactions, as the International Rescue Committee and other relief organizations said that the United States should use its influence to pressure Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to enter by land, as Israeli officials refused to open the northern crossing into Gaza, citing security concerns. While arduous inspections in the south limited the amount of aid entering the Strip.

Israel accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is responsible for distributing most aid within the Strip, of diverting supplies to Hamas, and said that the delay resulted from logistical problems between relief organizations, including a shortage of drivers.

The Army-led pier construction operation will include about 1,000 US troops and four Army ships, and launched from southeastern Virginia on March 12. After the ships' expected arrival on April 12, soldiers are expected to begin construction of the floating steel, 1,800-foot, two-lane structure and bridge. All deliveries will be organized and inspected in Cyprus before being loaded onto ships to the dock. Defense officials said that American personnel would transport supplies to the bridge, but would not leave it. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant expressed his support for the naval plan, saying that Israeli forces would ensure that aid reaches where it needs to go.

Gen. Charles Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Biden's top military adviser, told reporters last week that troop safety is "the top priority anytime we put our forces anywhere at risk." He added that the United States will take measures to protect the soldiers, and Israel and other countries are expected to help provide security. He did not go into details. According to Brown, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the No. 2 officer in US Central Command, which coordinates all US military operations in the Middle East, held meetings in the region to determine security conditions and other requirements for the pier to function as envisioned. Brown said that he received assurances from his Israeli counterpart, General Herzi Halevy, that aid coming through the pier would not be subject to obstacles.

Commander-in-Chief of US Central Command, Michael Corella, also sought to reassure lawmakers about the operation, in congressional hearings earlier in March.

But Senator Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other GOP senators indicated in a letter to Biden last week that “strong reservations remain” about the operation. “We are deeply concerned that the Department of Defense has given little attention to the possibility that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other organizations designated as terrorist by the United States could attack American personnel deployed on this mission,” they wrote to the White House.

But on the other hand, James Stavridis, a retired admiral and former Supreme Commander of NATO, described the risk as “modest,” saying that he believed the mission was “reasonable and achievable.” Stavridis said that if US forces were attacked, it would likely be by air, arguing that the close positioning of a Navy warship equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system should be sufficient to protect personnel on or near the floating dock.

American sailors have used this system off Yemen repeatedly to shoot down missiles and attack drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi militants, who since November have been launching attacks on commercial and military ships crossing the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, which they say are Israeli or destined for Israel. To protect against manned and unmanned surface ships that could pose threats, commanders could place Navy SEALs or other armed personnel in small, high-speed boats, with Israeli security forces providing protection on land, Stavridis said.

For his part, Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general who led Central Command from 1997 to 2000, said that a number of adversaries could target the pier, including Hamas. Zinni cited the 2000 attack on the American destroyer USS Cole in a port in Yemen, where Al-Qaeda members drove a speedboat filled with explosives into the destroyer, killing 17 sailors and wounding dozens of others. Zinni expected that the pier would have security guards with the participation of Israeli and American forces, considering that the mission seemed reasonable, whether to alleviate suffering or send a message that the United States cares about Palestinian civilians.

Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers

Israeli Channel 12 reported that more than 6,800 officers and soldiers had been injured since the beginning of the war, including 4,716 soldiers from the reserve forces.

• 75,298 Gazans injured, 28% adult male
• 45,000 bombs dropped in Gaza
• 40,000 Gazans killed, including buried under rubble
• 33,000 Gaza targets attacked
• 32,782 Gazans martyred
• 20,528 Palestinians in Israeli prisons [Haaretz, 20 Mar 2024]
• 15,000 rocket launched from Gaza
• 14,793 Israelis were injured [i24 TV]
• 13,750 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
• 9,920 Gazan women martyred
• 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons
• 9,000 IDF psychological assistance
• 8,000 Gazans missing under the rubble
• 7,895 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank since Oct.7th
• 6,000 HAMAS combatants killed [HAMAS]
• 5,500 IDF wounded [reports]
• 4,750 West Bank Palestinians wounded
• 3,484 administrative detainees
• 3,600 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria
• 3,079 IDF wounded [IDF]
• 2,100 Gazan women are missing
• 1,609 terrorists killed on the first day
• 1,600 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria affiliated with Hamas
• 1,160 Israelis killed on the first day
• 595 Israeli officers and soldiers killed
• 453 West Bank Palestinians martyred
• 255 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

Not every number is reported every day, so sudden jumps generally reflect reporting artifacts rather than actual upticks. 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.