Operation Iron Swords - Day 187 - 10 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 UPDATED - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - By the Numbers

The HAMAS Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip estimated the number of bodies of martyrs stuck under the rubble in the Gaza Strip at about 20,000, including 10,000 in the northern Strip. This is double the number previouly reported. Mustafa Barghouti reported 09 April 2024 "The total number of Palestinians killed by Israel since October 7th is 33,360 in addition to 7000 missing under the rubble."

The head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), Ismail Haniyeh, received the news of the martyrdom of 3 of his sons and two granddaughters, while visiting the wounded in Gaza, with patience and composure. The moment he heard the news, he said, “May God make it easy for them.” Ismail Haniyeh said, in an interview with Al Jazeera, “I thank God for this honor with which he bestowed upon us the martyrdom of my three sons and some grandchildren... With this pain and blood, we create hopes, a future, and freedom for our people, our cause, and our nation.” He added, "The occupation believes that by targeting the sons of leaders, it will break the resolve of our people. We tell them that this blood will only make us more steadfast in our principles and adherence to our land."

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel will respond in kind should Iran launch a direct attack against it. “If Iran attacks from its territory—Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” tweeted Katz. The minister tagged Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the X post. The London-based Arabic newspaper Elaph cited a Western official as saying Israel has conducted secret air force training in recent days, involving long-distance flights and rehearsals of strikes on sensitive sites in Iran that may be tied to that country’s nuclear project. Elaph reported that Israel will strike targets in Iran if the Islamic Republic retaliates for the targeted killing of an Iranian general in Syria on April 1 which Tehran has blamed on Israel.

Sources in Jerusalem believe that the IDF withdrawal from Khan Yunis and the flood of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip have hurt the chances that Hamas will agree to a hostage release deal, Ynet reported on Wednesday. The Israeli officials say that the terrorist group won’t compromise in regards to the American temporary ceasefire proposal on the table at talks in Cairo after receiving so much for free. “We gave up our strong cards for nothing,” Ynet quotes the Israeli sources as saying. “Hamas is digging in with its demands for an end to the war and a troop withdrawal, and is determined to play tricks with the mediators,” the sources continued.

President Joe Biden said the ball is now in Hamas’s court to accept a proposal on the table for a six-week truce that would see some of the hostages released from Gaza. “It’s now up to Hamas. They need to move on the proposal that has been made [so we can] get these hostages home where they belong,” Biden says during a press conference. “It also brings back a six-week ceasefire that we need now.”

“I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” President Joe Biden told Univision, a US-based, Spanish-language television networ when asked whether Netanyahu was putting his own political survival before national interests. “So what I’m calling for is the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, a total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” he said, adding that other countries were ready to help as well. “I’ve spoken to everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move this food in. There’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and food needs of those people. It should be done now.”

Biden at press conference: "We also want to address the Iranian threat to launch a significant--they're threatening to launch a significant attack in Israel. As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is iron clad. Let me say it again, iron clad - all we can to protect Israel's security."

Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei considered that Israel made a mistake by attacking its consulate in Damascus, vowing to punish it, while Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz warned that any attack would be met with a response inside Iran. He said during the Eid al-Fitr prayer sermon in Tehran that it will be punished for that, adding, “When they attacked our consulate, this means that they are attacking our land... This is considered international norms in the world. The malicious entity committed a mistake in this matter and must be punished for that... and it will be punished.”

On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz threatened that Israel would respond within Iran if the latter attacked Israel from its territory. This came in a post in Persian that Katz published on the “X” platform in response to Iran’s threats to respond to the bombing of its consulate in Damascus.

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy confirmed in recent days that Israel is ready on both the defense and offensive levels to confront any possible Iranian strike. For his part, Jay Davidson, commander of the Israeli Air Force base in Hatzerim in the Negev Desert, said that he does not rule out that the Air Force will have to deal with a multi-front regional war that includes Gaza, Lebanon, and even Iran. Channel 12 quoted Davidson as saying that the situation could deteriorate.

These statements come at a time when the Israeli Air Force has been placed on maximum alert in preparation for the possibility of Iran responding militarily to Israel following its accusation of assassinating Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior officer of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, along with a number of his aides in the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week. Israeli air defense systems have also been placed on a high level of alert to confront any missile threats.

War Termination

The Israeli Kan channel reported, citing press reports, that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) rejected the American proposal for a ceasefire, and intends to present its own proposal to end the war. The channel quoted a senior political source in Israel as saying that if Hamas presents an alternative proposal to advance the talks, the two sides will be able to enter into serious negotiations. In this context, the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh , told Al Jazeera that "what the enemy failed to extract through killing, destruction, and annihilation, he will not take in the negotiations."

Commenting on the martyrdom of his sons and a number of his grandchildren, Haniyeh said, “Our demands are clear and specific and will not be conceded. If the enemy believes that targeting my sons at the height of the negotiations and before the movement’s response arrives, that this will push Hamas to change its position, then he is delusional.” He stressed that the movement will not yield to "the blackmail practiced by the occupation, as peoples who surrender will not be spared," stressing, "We will not concede and we will not neglect, no matter how great our sacrifices are."

Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli source as saying that there are fears that Hamas will disrupt the hostage deal after the assassination of Haniyeh’s sons. In a related context, Reuters quoted Israeli officials as saying that Benjamin Netanyahu's government agreed, during talks in Egypt about a ceasefire in Gaza, to concessions related to the return of Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip, but it believes that Hamas does not want to reach an agreement.

The two officials familiar with the talks said that under a US truce proposal, Israel would allow 150,000 Palestinians to return to northern Gaza without security checks. They added that in return, Hamas will be asked to provide a list of names of women, elderly and sick prisoners held by the resistance who are still alive.

The Hamas movement said yesterday, Tuesday, that the latest proposal it received from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators did not meet the demands, but that it would study it more deeply before responding. Hamas demands an end to the Israeli aggression, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip , and allowing the displaced Palestinians to return to their homes without conditions.

Operational Update

Operational Update - Gaza

Aid which entered Gaza today (April 10): 306 aid trucks inspected and transferred to Gaza; 390 packages carrying hundreds of thousands of meals airdropped over northern Gaza; and 41 aid trucks to northern Gaza (30 private sector trucks and 11 WFP trucks).

The 162nd Division, led by the Nahal TDF fighters, continue to operate in the Netzer Corridor that separates the north and south of the Gaza Strip, embarking on targeted operations and raids on terrorist infrastructure in the region. The Nahal Brigade's combat team continues to operate in the center of the Gaza Strip and eliminated a number of terrorists in the last day. During the operation, the fighters eliminated a terrorist squad that endangered the forces in a face-to-face encounter.

During the last day, fighter jets and aircraft of the Air Force attacked dozens of targets in several areas in the Gaza Strip, including military sites, launchers, tunnel shafts and other terrorist infrastructures in the Gaza Strip. In one of the attacks, an Air Force aircraft attacked a squad of Hamas terrorists who were threatening Israeli forces. Air Force aircraft attacked today (Wednesday) with the intelligence guidance of the Amman and the Shin Bet, three military operatives of the terrorist organization Hamas on their way to carry out terrorist activities in the central area of the Gaza Strip. The three activists who were attacked are Amir Haniya, a squad commander in the military arm of Hamas, Muhammad Haniya, a military operative in the terrorist organization and Hazem Haniya, another military operative in the terrorist organization. The IDF confirms that the activists are three of the children of Ismail Haniya, the head of the political bureau of Hamas.

The air defense fighters intercepted yesterday (Tuesday), one launch that was fired from the Jabalia region towards Gaza village. In closing a circle, a fighter jet attacked the building and destroyed the launcher from which the launch was made. The fighters of the Nahal Brigade continue to operate in the center of the Gaza Strip; military buildings were attacked, including launchers from which launches were made towards our forces and over Israeli territory. In addition, a number of launches were identified towards our forces that operated in a targeted manner in the Sha'gaiya area in the north of the Gaza Strip. In a rapid closing of the circle, a fighter jet attacked the launcher from it The launches were made.

The commander of the Central Command, General Yehuda Fox, met today (Wednesday) with the heads of the incoming and continuing authorities and councils in Judea and Samaria and the Bekaa and Valleys Division. As part of the meeting, the main points of the assessment of the situation were presented and an open dialogue was held with the heads of the authorities and councils. The general emphasized that the security of the settlements and the residents and the relationship between the IDF and the local leadership and the settlement is of great importance and is at the heart of the actions of the Central Command.

"This meeting is very important to us, and I wish you all success," said the commander of the Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fox, "Since the beginning of the war, we have switched to the offensive in the entire command sector, and at the same time there is an effort to strengthen all the elements of the defense and cooperation with the HA. The security and command with the heads of the settlement is a significant element in improving the security of the residents. Our policy in command is clear - anything that can improve the security of the residents, we will do as much as we can promote."

The military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi, commented on the statement of Israeli War Council member Benny Gantz , in which he said that Israeli forces will enter Rafah , south of the Gaza Strip , and will return to Khan Yunis. He said that military commanders in the occupation army announced that the army’s presence in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, would mean depleting its military capabilities. It was likely that the withdrawal would be for the purpose of going to Rafah, with the occupation forces returning to Khan Yunis again in later periods.

According to the analysis of the military and strategic expert on Al Jazeera, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants his army to remain in Khan Yunis, because he does not want to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that there is a difference in visions between Netanyahu and the extreme right and the army leadership, represented by the General Staff, and some of those who previously held positions in the Ministry of Defense, including Gantz.

Regarding the Palestinian resistance’s targeting of the “Netzarim” corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the center and south, the military and strategic expert said that this corridor will be vulnerable to bombing throughout the coming period. He pointed out that the occupation army is trying to protect itself in the region by erecting dirt berms at specific heights, and has established 3 main bases in the east, west and centre.

He also said that the occupation army wants to establish an operational foothold in Netzarim, especially if it wants to penetrate the region again. Regarding the return of Israeli bombing to the city of Abasan, east of Khan Yunis, Colonel Hatem Al-Falahi said that the goal is to prevent any advance by the resistance factions towards the forces present in this area.

Minister in the Israeli Military Council and head of the "National Camp" coalition, Benny Gantz, confirmed that the Israeli army will enter the city of Rafah , and at the same time called for the formation of an American-led regional coalition against Iran. Gantz said, during a press conference in the Sderot settlement in the Gaza Strip, today, Wednesday, that the occupation army will enter the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip , and that it will return to the city of Khan Yunis in the center of the Strip, where the occupation army had announced its withdrawal from it a few days ago. In the context of reassuring the home front in Israel, Gantz indicated that fighting is continuing in the Gaza Strip to varying degrees according to necessity and need, according to him.

Operational Update - Judea-Samaria

The IDF, the Shin Bet and the Security Forces operated tonight to arrest nine wanted persons throughout Judea and Samaria. In an operation in the Qalandiya area of the Binyamin Brigade, the fighters arrested three wanted men and confiscated two M-16 type rifles alongside three pistols. In Tulkarm in the Menashe Brigade and in the area of the Samaria Brigade, the fighters arrested six wanted persons and interrogated additional suspects. In Adana, in the Yehuda Brigade, the forces located and confiscated the weapons they found, in the city of Hebron, terrorist funds were confiscated. 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 Israeli occupation forces continued incursions and raids into cities and towns in the West Bank on the night of Eid al-Fitr. Early on Wednesday morning, the occupation forces arrested a young man from the village of Beit Imrin, west of Nablus. Local sources reported to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) that the occupation forces stormed the village and arrested the young man, Abdel Rahman Reda Samara. The sources added that the occupation forces stormed the area between the villages of Tal Wasra, west of Nablus, and the village of Qablan, to the south, and raided a number of homes and searched them. A young man was also injured by live bullets last night during confrontations with Israeli forces in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus.

The occupation forces arrested a young man from the town of Idna, west of Hebron, stormed the town of Bani Naim (east), and delivered a notice to demolish a house in the town of Bani Naim. Israeli forces entered the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. Local sources reported that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the town and raided several neighborhoods, and that violent confrontations broke out between citizens and the occupation forces, who fired live bullets and poison tear gas bombs, without any injuries or arrests being reported.

The Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah . Local sources reported to Wafa Agency that the occupation forces stormed the town with several vehicles, deployed a foot force, and stationed themselves near the health center in the town. In the Jenin Governorate, Israeli forces launched a massive combing and inspection campaign after raiding the neighborhoods of several villages in the governorate in provocative steps, and set up mobile military checkpoints, without any arrests being reported. Israeli forces stormed the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, and local sources reported that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the town from its northern entrance, raided several neighborhoods, and deployed foot teams in several places, amid a low flight of reconnaissance aircraft.

Operational Update - Lebanon

Fighter jets of the Air Force attacked a military structure in the Eyta al-Sha'ab region where terrorists from the terrorist organization Hezbollah were staying alongside another terrorist infrastructure in the al-Khyam region in southern Lebanon. Earlier, the IDF fired to remove a threat in the A-Nakura area.

Operational Update - Syria / Iraq

"The IDF holds the Syrian regime accountable for all activities which take place within its territory and will not allow for any attempted actions which could lead to the entrenchment of Hezbollah on the Syrian front." he Israel Defense Forces stated.

Operational Update - Yemen

Houthis claimed they targeted four ships in Gulf of Aden, including a US destroyer. There are no reports of damage to vessels as Iran-backed Yemeni rebels continue to upend Red Sea commerce. The group's spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a televised statement that targeting the four ships was a victory for the Palestinian people and a response to the American-British operations against Yemen, noting that one of the targeted ships was an American warship. Saree added, "Israeli and American ships were targeted with a number of naval missiles and drones," and stressed that Houthi operations in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean will continue until the end of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

US Central Command said that it destroyed an anti-ship ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden that was targeting the US ship "Yorktown". It added that no casualties or damage were reported by American, coalition, or commercial ships.

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

Axis of Resistance

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning of retribution against the Zionist regime, promising severe punishment for its atrocities, emphasizing the sanctity of consulates and embassies as extensions of sovereign territory in any nation. "The Zionist regime has killed over thirty thousand defenseless people in these six months," the Leader said during a speech at Imam Khomeini’s Grand Mosalla in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Wednesday after leading the Eid al-Fitr prayers, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"Consulates and embassy apparatus in any country are considered as the soil of that country," the Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, reaffirming the principle of consular sovereignty. "The malicious regime made a mistake and must be punished, and it will be punished," declared the Leader, underscoring the determination to seek retribution for Israeli crimes, after it demolished the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus in an airstrike.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said that the Israel regime’s months-long war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip shows the evil and wicked nature of the Western civilization. “In this year's events, Western governments exposed the evil nature of Western civilizations. During the last six months in Gaza, the Western governments, themselves, put on display this evil nature before the eyes of the world. Their strength does not match that of the resistance fighters, so they claim the lives of children and the oppressed and killed more than thirty thousand innocent people,” the Leader said. “Where are those whose cacophonous voice on human rights deafen the ears of the world? Are these not human beings? Don’t they have any rights?” he added.

Allied for Democracy

Head of the "National Camp" coalition, Benny Gantz, who is ahead of Netanyahu in opinion polls if elections are held, also touched on the problem facing the residents of northern Israel, as they abandoned their homes after the start of bombing operations between Hezbollah and the occupation army in the wake of the Al-Aqsa flood on October 7, where he stressed that The government will return "the citizens of the North to their homes, whatever the cost."

Israeli media channels discussed the role that the United States is playing in the negotiations between the occupation and the Palestinian resistance. Analysts spoke about the chances of reaching a deal and called for keeping expectations low. They also pointed out that half a year had passed without Israel achieving any of its goals.

Channel 13 reported that the United States took the lead and exerted great pressure on the mediators, stressing that “the American offer that was put forward is broad in scope and includes a very broad mandate and includes all elements: moving army forces and the return of Gazans to the northern Gaza Strip.” According to the same channel, Israel will receive - as it has requested for weeks - a list of the names of living prisoners who will be released in the deal, and in return it will show great flexibility in the issue of the return of Gazans to the northern Gaza Strip .

Tamir Hayman, head of the Institute for National Security Studies, suggests that Israel keep the ceiling of expectations low, adding, “According to the enthusiasm of the mediators, the American proposal requires broad concessions from Israel,” and he said that the United States was involved in this issue with its full weight. Regarding the threats of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security and Itamar Ben Gvir , Mikhai Sheams, political affairs correspondent for Kan 11, said that Ben Gvir had previously threatened, perhaps 3,000 times, to dismantle the government if a deal was reached, and he wondered whether it was Smotrich who supported the previous deal. It will support the current deal.

In Sheams' opinion, the chances of reaching a deal are very weak, "because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to clash with many parties on the right."

On the other hand, Dan Murdor, a former minister from the Likud Party, believes that “the real problem of this government is the war that it is managing very poorly,” noting that Israel set goals and after half a year has not achieved them, as it has not recovered the detainees and has not undermined the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), and acknowledged that Israel “failed in deterrence, early warning, and attack.”

In the same context, Zvika Yehezkeli, Channel 13’s Palestinian affairs correspondent, said, “Going to a phased deal means that military pressure has perhaps completely failed to influence Hamas.” In the view of Ronen Kanellis, a former spokesman for the Israeli army, Israel is abandoning all pressure tools.

Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers

• 1,900,000 IDPs in Gaza
• 75,993 Gazans injured, 28% adult male
• 70,000 tons of explosives dropped on Gaza
• 70,000 housing units completely destroyed
• 70,000 Israeli IDPs from Lebanon border
• 45,000 bombs dropped in Gaza
• 43,000 Gazans killed, including buried under rubble
• 33,000 Gaza targets attacked
• 33,360 Gazans martyred
• 20,528 Palestinians in Israeli prisons [Haaretz, 20 Mar 2024]
• 15,000 rocket launched from Gaza
• 14,793 Israelis injured [i24 TV]
• 14,520 Gazan children martyred
• 13,000 HAMAS combatants killed [N12]
• 13,000 HAMAS combatants killed [IDF]
• 11,000 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank in 2023
• 10,000 Gazans missing under the rubble
• 9,920 Gazan women martyred
• 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons
• 9,000 IDF needing psychological assistance
• 8,365 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank since Oct.7th
• 6,800 IDF officers and soldiers injured [Channel 12]
• 6,000 HAMAS combatants killed [HAMAS]
• 5,500 IDF wounded [reports]
• 4,750 West Bank Palestinians wounded
• 4,700 sites targetted in Lebanon
• 3,484 administrative detainees
• 3,700 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria
• 3,188 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
• 604 Israeli officers and soldiers killed since the start of the war
• 456 West Bank Palestinians martyred
• 343 people [including fighters] killed in Lebanon
• 260 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.