Operation Iron Swords - Day 225 - 18 May 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

Member of the Israeli "war cabinet", Benny Gantz, threatens to resign from the government, considering that whoever controls "the Israeli ship today is leading it towards a wall of rocks," and a storm of responses reveals the truth of the vertical division that has been interacting since the beginning of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" saga. Gantz, confirmed that “Israel has been waging an existential war and a major battle since October 7, 2023, which has revealed the suffering that the Israelis are experiencing after the great failure.”

Gantz saw, in a press conference on Saturday evening, that no vital decisions had been taken, or the required measures taken to ensure the achievement of the war’s goals, and that “a small minority controls the leadership of the Israeli ship and is leading it towards a wall of rocks.” Gantz warned that “the war can only be won through a clear and realistic strategic compass,” and that “there is a need for immediate change,” stressing that “we will not leave things as they are.” Gantz explained his threat, addressing Netanyahu, saying, “If you choose the path of fanatics, we will be forced to resign from the government and make amendments,” adding, “Netanyahu must choose between division and unity, and between victory and disaster.”

Gantz stressed that "unity cannot be a fig leaf that covers the stalemate in the battle." Israeli Channel 12 revealed that Gantz held secret meetings in several Arab capitals before holding his press conference.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that 800,000 people have been “forced to flee” from Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli military operations in the city this month. Philippe Lazzarini said on the X platform, “Nearly half of Rafah’s population, or 800,000 people, are on the road, having been forced to flee since Israeli forces began the military operation in the area on May 6.” The United Nations had warned of a "major" catastrophe if Israel launched a direct attack on the city, where about 1.4 million people are crowded, the majority of whom are displaced.

The body of the abducted Ron Binyamin was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet. According to verified intelligence information, the late Ron Binyamin was murdered during the brutal terrorist attack on October 7 in the Mefalim siege, and his body was kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas terrorists. His body was recovered along with the bodies of the abductees Yitzhak Gelranter, Shani Lock and Amit Buskila, the late, during a joint operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, based on information that also emerged in the Shin Bet's investigations of terrorists arrested in the Gaza Strip and on the intelligence guidance of the Captives and Missing Persons Command in the intelligence department. After an identification procedure carried out by medical officials at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, IDF representatives notified the family during the day.

War Termination

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken proposed the idea during his visit to Saudi Arabia to participate in the World Economic Forum, and he also discussed it during his meetings with what is known as the Arab Six Party in order to mobilize Arab support for the plan.

Implementation of the American plan will be in two stages. The first phase includes a ceasefire in Gaza, and the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal between the resistance and the occupation, followed by the occupation government’s acceptance of the return of the Palestinian Authority to rule the Gaza Strip, and the formation of a technocratic government for the reconstruction of Gaza with Arab participation, and this is accompanied by providing the conditions required for international recognition. A Palestinian state without clarifying the structure and components of this state.

The second phase of the American plan includes initiating the process of normalization between the occupying entity and Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, and working to integrate the entity into the region, in parallel with relaunching the course of negotiations in the context of the two-state solution, in order to resolve the issues of refugees, Jerusalem, and the settlements.

In conjunction with this, work would be underway to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Gaza Strip, and to reactivate the Palestine Liberation Organization to ensure the completion of reconciliation, the disarmament of the resistance factions, and the integration of the resistance movements into the Liberation Organization. However, the most difficult knot in the American plan lies in disarming the resistance , which means dissolving Hamas and the other factions, which cannot happen in light of the facts of the war and the Israeli failure to strike the resistance’s infrastructure, in addition to the American recognition that Hamas cannot be eliminated. And it will remain in place even after the ceasefire.

The Washington Post revealed the final plan of the Israeli occupation entity for "the day after", as the newspaper said that Israel is working to fortify a “strategic corridor” that divides Gaza into two parts. According to a report published by the newspaper, Satellite images and visual evidence show the construction of bases, the seizure of civilian buildings, and the destruction of homes, in what military analysts and Israeli experts tell the newspaper that it is “part of a large-scale project to reshape the Strip and consolidate the military presence of the Israeli occupation there.”

The Israeli fortifications are concentrated in the Netzarim axis, a road more than six kilometers long, south of Gaza and extending from the east of the Strip to its west, starting from the Israeli border all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. During the past few months, three operational bases have been established since last March in the Netzarim axis, according to what satellite images show, while the end of this road meets the sea, where a point of less than three kilometers was established as a new unloading point for the floating dock, through which the states seek to introduce more Of aid to Gaza.

The US Army announced on Friday that the first load of humanitarian aid allocated to Gaza via the floating port established by Washington had been unloaded and trucks had begun transporting it towards the besieged Palestinian Strip. Israel claims that it does not intend to reoccupy Gaza permanently, as its forces had controlled it for about four decades before its withdrawal in 2005, but the construction of roads, bases and buffer zones in recent months indicates an increasing role for the Israeli occupation army within an "alternative" vision for Gaza. After the war,” according to the newspaper.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, issued few directions for the “day after” the war in Gaza, and repeatedly pledged security control “indefinitely” in addition to launching future raids from abroad, and his lack of plans for the day after the war was publicly criticized by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

The pictures reveal the destruction of at least 750 buildings in what appears to be a broad effort to create a "buffer zone," while another 250 buildings were destroyed in the American Pier area, according to an analysis conducted by Adi Bin Noun, a researcher specializing in geographic data. At the Hebrew University, according to the newspaper. The Israeli army rejected the Washington Post's request for comment, saying that it "cannot answer questions related to operations in the ongoing war."

The newspaper quoted military experts as saying that this "large-scale and long-term operation" reminds "of previous Israeli plans to divide Gaza into easily controllable cantons." The newspaper explains that relying on the “Netzarim axis” represents the “second finger” within the “five fingers” strategy adopted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, so that Gaza is divided into parts that are easy to control for security reasons.

That is why controlling the Netzarim axis was among the first goals of the Israeli forces after they began their invasion of the Strip to divide it into two parts, in response to the attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli settlements on October 7. The Israeli army said that this corridor “allows military vehicles to travel from one side of the Strip to the other in seven minutes, allowing quick and unhindered access to northern and central Gaza.” The newspaper quoted an Israeli military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that this axis "was used as an operations base for Israeli occupation army attacks in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in northern Gaza."

The American website Axios quoted two unnamed sources as saying that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told foreign ambassadors that “Hamas has withdrawn from the truce talks, hoping to increase pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza.” Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas regarding a possible truce leading to a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages stopped more than a week ago, after several days of talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Israel said that the proposal presented by Qatari and Egyptian mediators included “unacceptable” provisions. On the other hand, Hamas, which had accepted the proposal earlier, said that “Israel’s rejection... brought things back to square one.” The movement had announced its acceptance of a ceasefire proposal in Gaza, presented by Egypt and Qatar. However, the US State Department later stated that Hamas did not accept the ceasefire proposal, “but rather its response included several proposals, which are not equivalent to acceptance.”

Axios quoted the two sources as saying, “Sullivan informed the ambassadors of 17 countries that have citizens detained by Hamas that American officials have concluded that Hamas has already withdrawn from the talks because the movement’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, does not want to reach an agreement now.” Sullivan said that the United States believes that "Sinwar made the decision to withdraw from the talks in the hope that this would lead to increased international pressure on Israel to end the war." He added, according to the two sources, that there is “a need for more pressure on Hamas,” stressing that “military pressure is not enough,” and urging the ambassadors to put more pressure on the movement to return to negotiations and accept the hostage deal.

In the same context, "Axios" revealed that "US President Joe Biden's senior advisor for Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk, secretly visited the Qatari capital, Doha, on Wednesday, where he met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, to discuss the resumption of hostage talks." , according to two sources familiar with the meeting. Last week, the Qatari Prime Minister said that the talks “reached a dead end” and that “the Rafah process took things back.” He added, according to Reuters, "In the past few weeks, we have witnessed some increasing momentum, but unfortunately things have not moved in the right direction and we are now almost in a state of stagnation. Of course what happened in Rafah set us back."

US President Joe Biden announced that a ceasefire is possible "tomorrow" in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas if the Palestinian movement releases the hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip. It is noteworthy that Sullivan is scheduled to visit Israel, on Sunday, to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is expected that the hostage talks will be among the main issues they will discuss, according to Axios.

Ephraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and the head of the strategy, diplomacy and security studies program at the Shalem Academic Center, argued that "Although President Biden initially saw the war against Hamas as a struggle of Western culture against evil, during the war he changed his taste. Electoral considerations and ideological impulses of the WOKE culture in the Democratic Party led to a policy designed to narrow Israel's steps and prevent the defeat of Hamas, an Islamist organization hostile to Western culture and the United States. The American attempt to stop the war certainly does not add to the fragile trust of moderate Arab countries in the United States, which are interested in an Israeli victory....

"Hamas, an ally of Iran, has a good chance of taking over the country that the Americans so want to establish as part of an anti-Iranian alliance. This country will be a Trojan horse. Furthermore, the chance of a fundamental change in Palestinian politics towards the establishment of a political entity with a monopoly on the use of force and the absence of armed groups is slim. Can the Palestinian state be different from Iraq, Syria, Libya, or Yemen, all of which are in civil war? Can the Palestinian state, in our generation, be freed from the charges of hatred for Jews and Israel? On this subject the Americans are deluded by dangerous delusions....

"Washington needs Israel's blessing to secure the necessary majority in the Senate (two-thirds) for a defense alliance and the deal the Saudis want. It includes the transfer of technology to enrich uranium on the territory of the kingdom, as Iran has. If this happens, the nuclear arms race in the Middle East will increase and Turkey and Egypt will also take part in it."

Operational Update

The expert on Israeli affairs, Amer Khalil, said that the spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, confirmed through his speech that the war of attrition is in the other direction and not in the resistance, and that he will be confronted with greater force than before, stressing that all the deceptive American statements regarding... The occupation is primarily linked to improving Biden's opportunities at the American domestic level.

In an interview with Al-Alam News Channel for the “With the Event” program, Amer Khalil pointed out that Abu Ubaida’s speech indicates self-confidence and that the resistance ’s command and control room works well and reads the scene not only military but also political, and sends its political messages to the enemy.

He stressed that if the enemy was betting on the surrender of the Palestinian people and their resistance, he would be disappointed in that, as Abu Ubaida confirms through his speech that the war of attrition is in the other direction and not in the resistance, and that the enemy will be confronted with greater force than it was before, and that is what is actually existing on the ground. The field is recognized by the occupation. Regarding the veiled American statements and threats to the occupying entity and what Biden said regarding the issue of suspending weapons , Amer Khalil said: I do not think that the American position has a significant impact on the Israeli occupation entity , but even the deceptive verbal position has clearly retreated from it.

He added: I do not think that the United States can take firmer positions against the Israeli occupation entity on the issue of Rafah, especially since the American elections have begun in earnest and Biden cannot risk a clash with the Israeli occupation on issues related to Israel, which are important to the American political and military establishment. Strategic ally. He concluded by saying that all the American deceptions and statements, whether issued by Sullivan, Blinken, or Biden, are all fundamentally linked to improving Biden’s chances at the American internal level.

Political researcher Ammar Khader confirmed that the progress of the resistance’s plans on the ground has become the most credible and dangerous for the occupying entity, stressing that Abu Ubaida’s words and the videos issued by the resistance show the extent of the resistance’s readiness for a long war of attrition.

In an interview with Al-Alam News Channel for the “With the Event” program, Ammar Khader pointed out that what Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida said adds fuel to the fire regarding the internal disputes in the entity and the apparent confusion of the Israeli military and security establishment in dealing with the Gaza Strip, especially since the political framework in The occupying state does not offer a vision for what comes after this war.

He stressed that the Gaza Strip has become a state of exhaustion for the occupation entity , adding: Through the statements of Abu Ubaida and the videos issued by the resistance and the steadfastness that we saw from our people in the Strip, we see that the progress of the resistance plan on the ground is the most credible and dangerous, especially since we see the results and confusion of the occupation and the statements. Conflicting with what is happening in the sector now.

He noted that through the public video appearance of Abu Ubaida and the videos of the operations that took place, whether in the Zaytoun neighborhood, Jabalia, or Rafah, they all show the extent of the resistance’s readiness for a long war of attrition.

Operational Update - Gaza

A member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the occupation Knesset, Amit Halevy, revealed a scandal involving the occupation leaders, related to their claims of eliminating the brigades of the military wing of the Hamas movement throughout Gaza. Halevy said , in an interview with the Hebrew Channel 14, that all the Qassam brigades are still active in Gaza , contrary to what Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant claim, and I say this information with full knowledge and full responsibility. He added: "All Hamas brigades are active and present above and below the ground, and they are beating and crushing our soldiers." Halevy said: "The brigades are present even in the places from which we withdrew, and Gallant claimed to have been eliminated. There is no truth to what Netanyahu said that there are 4 brigades in Rafah. The brigades did not disappear at all." The occupation's political and military leaders made statements months ago to eliminate three-quarters of the Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, and to significantly destroy their military capabilities.

But American intelligence officials questioned the numbers and data announced by the occupation regarding the destruction of the resistance capabilities in Gaza, and one American intelligence report went on to indicate that only 30 percent of the tunnels were damaged, and the rest are still operating effectively. What demonstrates the falsity of the occupation’s claims regarding the destruction and elimination of the resistance’s capabilities is that it returned more than once to launch attacks on areas it entered and completely destroyed, then returned to them months later, claiming that the resistance had reshaped their ranks. The occupation suffered major strikes and losses during the past week, in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, which it stormed twice over the past eight months, in addition to major losses in the ongoing battles in Jabalia and its camp.

The White House denied reports that the floating port was considered a base for combat operations or to seize the area. These statements come at a time when warnings are rising of Israeli trickery to reoccupy parts of the Gaza Strip by displacing Palestinians or establishing a buffer zone. At a time when the Israeli Channel 11 revealed the arrival of the first shipment of ammunition that the US administration had frozen to the occupying entity, Washington announced the inauguration of a temporary dock in the Gaza Strip whose function is to speed up the entry of aid.

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas confirmed its rejection of any military presence on the Palestinian territories and stressed that the sea pier is not an alternative to opening land crossings under Palestinian supervision. It also reaffirmed, alongside all Palestinian resistance factions, the right of the Palestinian people to receive all the assistance they need in light of the humanitarian catastrophe created by the occupation with its aggression against the Gaza Strip.

In this context, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby announced that the United States had sent messages indirectly to Hamas regarding the naval pier in which it explained its nature and method of operation, denying reports that this pier is a base for combat operations or for seizing the region. While many questions are raised about the feasibility of this dock and its cost, the United Nations downplayed its importance, stressing that delivering aid by land is more effective in terms of cost and quantity. While observers believe that this platform will reduce Egypt's role in the Palestinian file and serve an Israeli plan to reduce its presence in supervising the Rafah crossing.

Between the Netzarim axis to establish a buffer zone in Gaza and the establishment of a seaport in the Strip, plans to reoccupy parts of Gaza continue, especially since attempts to study possible geographical locations to establish a port in Gaza began in the year 2016, according to the Middle East Institute for Studies. A port described by the Begin-Sadat Institute for Strategic Studies as the port of no return , a name given to transit points on the shores of Africa, which were used in the transatlantic slave trade.

The Israeli military on Saturday continued its precise operations against terrorist operatives and infrastructure in Rafah and other areas of Gaza. The troops conducted targeted raids on terror targets, finding more weapons, explosive devices, missiles and RPGs.

The fighters of the 401st brigade combat team under the command of the 162nd division are deepening the raid in East Rafah. The fighters began targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure and buildings from which Hamas terrorists fired at our forces. During this activity, the fighters eliminated about 50 terrorists and located dozens of tunnel shafts which are currently in the process of exploration and destruction. So far, hundreds of terrorist infrastructures have been destroyed, including weapons production sites and launch sites ready to fire.

"We started the attack on the Rafah Brigade, the purpose of which is to eliminate and dismantle the brigade from its capabilities," said Maj. Gen. 52, Lt. Col. Daniel, "we are currently in the first stage - the destruction of the underground. We will do whatever task is required of us in order to destroy the brigade, We are doing everything to create the conditions for the return of the abductees and the abductees home."

The fighters of the 460th Brigade Combat Team fight on the outskirts of the city of Jabaliya and carry out raids on terrorist infrastructure and combat compounds. During their fighting, the fighters located a combat compound with a shaft destroyed from the air, encountered terrorist squads, pushed for contact and eliminated them using tank fire, close range fire and airstrikes. During the raids, the fighters located and destroyed a lathe for the production of weapons and long-range rockets, grenades, explosive bombs, telephones, computers and more. "We are operating here under the 460th Brigade with the 98th Division in the Jabaliya area," said Maj. Gen. 6828, Lt. Col. Itamar, "During the last day we carried out attacks in the area, we encountered the enemy, we destroyed submachine gun infrastructure, means of production and we found an anti-tank weapon."

The battle team of the Givati Brigade has been operating for several weeks in East Rafah. The fighters eliminated more than 80 terrorists in the area. In targeted raids soldiers of the Sabar Battalion located many weapons including dozens of rifles, grenades and cartridges. Also, soldiers of the Givat patrol located significant underground infrastructures in the area. During an attack by the 9th Battalion, the troops located a large number of anti-aircraft guns. The brigade fire complex in cooperation with the maneuvering forces and the Air Force destroyed dozens of terrorist infrastructures.

The forces of the paratrooper brigade's combat team are fighting in the heart of the city of Jablia in neighborhoods where the IDF has not previously operated. The forces are raiding terrorist targets in a dense area and fighting between and inside buildings and fortified combat complexes, destroying them. During the offensive battles and the advance of the forces, the paratroopers conduct dozens of battles with terrorists and eliminate them and locate many weapons, charges, weapons and mortar bombs. IDF documentation showed the elimination of a terrorist squad after clashes inside buildings that the forces managed with them. The terrorists fled to the roof of the building and shot at the troops. The fighters surrounded the building where they were hiding and eliminated the terrorist squad while managing an exchange of fire. There are no casualties to Israel forces in this encounter.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced on Saturday that its fighters targeted a house east of the city of Rafah, in which a large number of Israeli soldiers were holed up, and killed 15 of them. Al-Qassam said in a statement: “Al-Qassam mujahideen were able to finish off 15 Zionist soldiers after a Qassam group targeted a house in which a large number of soldiers were barricaded with a “thunder” anti-personnel device. She added: "Then our mujahideen stormed the house and clashed with the remaining soldiers from zero distance with light machine guns and hand grenades in the Al-Tanour neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip."

In two other separate statements, she said: “We targeted a Zionist Merkvah 4 tank with an Al-Yassin 105 shell in the Al-Tanour neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.” She continued: “Al-Qassam is destroying the enemy forces present inside the Rafah land crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip with mortar shells .” In the past few days, Al-Qassam announced that it was carrying out operations against the Israeli army in the city of Rafah, south of Gaza, which included targeting military vehicles, equipment, and Israeli soldiers.

Operational Update - Judea-Samaria

A fighter jet and a combat helicopter, under the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet, attacked a building that was used as an operations headquarters of the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin. A number of key terrorists were hiding in the building, among them terrorists who were involved in carrying out shooting attacks in the Jenin sector, and were planning to carry out additional attacks in the near future. The attack killed Aslam Hamaisa, a key wanted man in the Jenin camp who is responsible for a series of attacks in the area, including a shooting attack carried out in Harmesh in May 2023 in which the late Meir Tamri was murdered, and another attack in the Zero Junction in June 2023 in which Israelis were injured. This is a dangerous terrorist infrastructure whose defeat is intended to remove an immediate threat posed by the activists who were engaged in promoting terrorist attacks in the Jenin sector and within the territories of Israel.

Operational Update - Lebanon

During the night, warplanes attacked a Hezbollah launcher and military buildings in the areas of Konin and Al-Khyam in southern Lebanon. Earlier today, the IDF attacked with artillery fire to remove a threat in the Chenin area in southern Lebanon. Also, two launches were detected this morning towards the Birnit area, there were no casualties and no damage was caused. Fighter jets attacked terrorist infrastructures and military buildings of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the areas of Aita al-Sha'ab, Al Adisa, Eitaron and Ramiah in southern Lebanon. Following the warning about the infiltration of a hostile aircraft in the north of the country, the events ended, no casualties or damage were reported. In addition, an explosive UAV fell in the Yaftach area earlier today, no casualties. Following the warnings in the north of the country, several launches were detected, some of them fell in open areas, there were no Israeli casualties.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon carried out 12 operations in support of Gaza and its resistance, targeting the occupation sites, the gatherings of its soldiers and its spy equipment, achieving direct casualties in all operations. On Saturday, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon carried out a series of operations targeting various targets of the Israeli occupation on the border with occupied Palestine and its north, in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and in support of their resistance.

The resistance confirmed that it targeted the headquarters of the "Liman" battalion of the occupation "army" with artillery shells, noting that they directly hit the headquarters. The resistance also targeted Al-Baghdadi's position, with artillery shells, and hit him directly. Hours before this targeting, the resistance had targeted, with an attack helicopter, a position of Israeli soldiers in the same location.

The resistance also targeted another position of occupation "army" soldiers inside a room in the "Rameem" barracks, with a pounce attack that directly hit the gathering. The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon claimed responsibility for targeting a deployment of occupation “army” soldiers west of the Raheb site with missile weapons, and with weapons of the same type it targeted the Al-Samaqa site in the Lebanese Kfar Shuba hills, noting that the Israeli site was directly hit.

The resistance announced that it targeted the newly developed spy equipment in the Pranit barracks and the spy equipment in the Ramta site, with appropriate weapons that hit the targets and led to their destruction in the two Israeli sites. It also targeted the newly developed spy equipment raised on a crane at the Israeli site of Hadab Yarin, which led to its injury and destruction. It also targeted and destroyed the technical systems and spy equipment at the Israeli monk site. The Islamic Resistance’s military media published scenes documenting its targeting of spy sites and equipment belonging to the occupation “army” on the southern Lebanese border with occupied Palestine.

Earlier, the resistance announced that its mujahideen targeted a gathering of occupation soldiers in the vicinity of the “Branit” barracks with missile weapons, confirming that a direct hit had been achieved. While the resistance continues its operations in support of Gaza, with the Israeli aggression continuing for about 8 months, Israeli media spoke about Hezbollah expanding its offensive capabilities since the beginning of the war. She explained that expanding capabilities comes at two levels: the first is expanding the scope it reaches, and the second is regarding the tools it uses.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon targeted two positions of Israeli occupation soldiers at the Al-Baghdadi site and at the Ramim barracks in northern occupied Palestine, causing confirmed casualties in them. The resistance also targeted with artillery and rocket shells the headquarters of the Liman Battalion and a gathering of occupation soldiers in the vicinity of the Baranit barracks and the Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba, and they were directly hit.

In response to the occupation's attacks on villages and towns in southern Lebanon and on a civilian fisherman in Ras al-Naqoura, the Islamic Resistance targeted the Ras al-Naqoura marine site with artillery shells. It also targeted, with appropriate weapons, the technical systems and espionage equipment of the occupation entity in the sites of Hadab Yarin, Al-Rahib, and Ramta, and caused direct hits. While the resistance published successive videos and documentary scenes of its qualitative operations and goals on the northern front, not the least of which is targeting the Tsnobar base in the occupied Syrian Golan, the occupation entity continues to issue warnings and fears about Hezbollah’s missiles and marches and its growing and escalating capabilities. The military correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Avi Ashkenazi, considered it the first time that Israel was waging a war in the lands it occupied on the northern border and in front of the homes of its settlers, in complete contradiction to what he called the Israeli security doctrine. Ashkenazi acknowledged that this is not only a tactical problem, but rather that it reveals the weakness of his entity and sets a dangerous precedent for the future.

While the newspaper "Maariv" confirmed that Hezbollah is moving to achieve strategic goals, the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" warned that the party's commando unit has not lost its capabilities and may invade the lands occupied by the entity, according to its Israeli expression. While the occupation media agreed that the war in the north is affecting everything and that shooting continues at Israeli positions, the Hebrew website Hadashot Bazman published a picture accompanied by a comment saying that when the ship sinks, the rats will escape first...

Operational Update - Syria / Iraq

Operational Update - Yemen

US Central Command said that Houthi forces targeted an oil tanker with an anti-ship ballistic missile in the Red Sea. The Central Command stated in a statement on the “X” platform that the targeted tanker is “MT Wind”, which flies the Panama flag and is owned and operated by Greece. The statement added that the ship recently docked in Russia, where it was heading to China. The anti-ship ballistic missile caused a flood inside the tanker, leading to the loss of propulsion and steering, without any casualties being recorded, according to the Central Command statement, which indicated that the ship “resumed its sailing course under its own capabilities.”

The statement described the Iranian-backed Houthi attack as "disgraceful and reckless behavior that threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of sailors in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden." Earlier, the British maritime security company Ambrey said that an oil tanker flying the Panama flag was attacked near the Yemeni city of Mokha on the Red Sea. Embry stated that a radio call indicated that the ship had been hit by a missile and that a fire had broken out on board 10 nautical miles southwest of Mokha. Ambre added later that the tanker had received assistance and that one of the ship's guidance units was working, according to information she received, without giving further details.

The incident comes in light of attacks launched by the Houthis in Yemen since November against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The Houthis say that the attacks come in solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Strip. To try to deter them and “protect” maritime navigation, American and British forces have been launching strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen since January 12. The US Army alone carries out strikes from time to time on missiles that it says are prepared for launch. The attacks and tension in the Red Sea prompted many major shipping companies to divert their ships to the Cape of Good Hope in the far south of Africa.

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

The UN's undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, underscored that the harrowing forecasts of a Gaza crisis are unfolding as feared, signaling grave consequences ahead. Griffiths said all predictions about the catastrophic consequences of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah are “coming true”. In a post on social media, Griffiths, who has long warned of the fallout should Rafah’s population of displaced people face an Israeli military onslaught, said there is “almost no food left and humanitarian efforts are stuck.”

“The world has lost its way and needs to return to the norms we created,” he said. In an interview with Reuters, Griffiths said famine in Gaza was an “immediate, clear and present danger”. “Facts on the ground tell us we don’t need to be scientists to see the consequence of the removal of food,” he said.

Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children International, said the official number of children who have died of malnutrition amid a growing famine in Gaza likely under-represents the true scale of the tragedy. “Back in March, the UN warned that famine was looming in Gaza. Over the last couple of months, we have not seen aid agencies granted humanitarian access to stave off that famine,” Saieh told Al Jazeera.

“We’ve seen at least 28 children die of malnutrition and disease, and we know that is probably the tip of the iceberg. These are the children that managed to get to medical facilities,” Saieh said. “The hospital system in Gaza has all but collapsed. We have pediatricians in field hospitals in Gaza who said that they are seeing cases of malnutrition. They are seeing hepatitis, jaundice, gastroenteritis. These are horrific challenges facing children. And we just do not have supplies or enough personnel to deal with this.” The newly operational dock on Gaza’s coast offers a valuable alternative route for aid, but reopening land routes remains crucial to meet the humanitarian needs in the Palestinian enclave, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated. “Efforts to create a sea corridor will help mitigate the severity of the conflict on people. However, it isn’t a substitute for the land transportation, [which is] the most efficient and reliable way,” said Hisham Muhanna, ICRC spokesman.

Axis of Resistance

The military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, said that the leadership of the Zionist enemy is throwing its soldiers into the alleys of Gaza to return in coffins in order to search for the remains of some Zionist prisoners. Abu Ubaida said in a statement today, Saturday, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would rather have his soldiers killed while searching for remains than go for a prisoner exchange that does not serve his political and personal interests.

He added that the enemy leadership is throwing its soldiers into the alleys of Gaza to return in coffins in order to search for the remains of some of the prisoners it had previously deliberately targeted and killed. In a previous statement, this morning, the Al-Qassam Brigades said: “Our mujahideen were able to finish off 15 Zionist soldiers after a Qassam group targeted a house in which a large number of soldiers were barricaded with a thunderbolt anti-personnel device.”

On a daily basis, resistance factions announce the killing and wounding of Israeli soldiers and the destruction of military vehicles, and broadcast video clips documenting some of their operations in several areas in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades also announced on Friday that they were able “within 10 days to target 100 different Israeli military vehicles, including tanks, tankers, and bulldozers, on all fronts of the fighting.”

Allied for Democracy

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, which indicated that the dissolution of the Ministerial Council seems closer than ever before, and that the tense relations within the War Council are not only between members of the political echelon themselves, but also between them and the military leadership as well. What the broadcaster mentioned came after the disagreements came to light, between the coalition of war generals, which includes the two ministers in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot , Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and the army chief of staff , Herzi Halevy, on the one hand, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , And his allies on the extreme right, most notably Ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich on the other hand.

The issue of "the day after" the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip was the straw that broke the camel's back. The alliance of Gantz, Eisenkot, Gallant, and Halevy believes that Netanyahu has brought the Israeli entity to a strategic impasse by refusing to address the day after the war in the Gaza Strip before he claims to eliminate the Hamas movement. The Hebrew Walla website quoted sources as saying that a confrontation took place during the last meeting of the mini-ministerial council, when a member of the war council , Gadi Eisenkot, addressed Netanyahu by saying that “no decisions have been taken for months,” indicating that the latter is deliberately prolonging the war.

Confrontations then took place between Eisenkot and Itamar Ben Gvir, and between Netanyahu himself and Ben Gvir, according to confirmation by the “ Israeli Broadcasting Corporation ,” which quoted the latter as saying that Gallant left a session during his speech, which made him direct his speech to Netanyahu and demand that he dismiss the Minister of Defense, pointing out that whenever Speaking, Gallant left the room. In the same direction, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Benny Gantz to announce his resignation tonight from the worst government in the history of his entity, as he described it, and said that Gantz should say that he will no longer help Netanyahu remain in power, demanding elections immediately.

Israeli War Council member and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz threatened to resign from Benjamin Netanyahu's government if a post-war plan for Gaza is not approved by June 8. In a speech Gantz delivered this evening (Saturday), he said that “a small minority took control of Israel’s decision and is leading the country into the unknown,” accusing some Israeli politicians of thinking only about their future, which means that “there is a need for immediate change,” according to what was reported by the agency. Arab world news. In his speech, Gantz set 6 goals to work on before June 8th. These include returning the kidnapped people, undermining the rule of the Hamas movement, disarming the Gaza Strip, establishing a European-Arab coalition to manage the Strip that does not include Hamas or the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah led by Mahmoud Abbas, returning the residents of the north, and ensuring that all Israelis serve in the army.

Gantz said in his speech: “We are in a war for survival. We are in an existential war, and we will overcome our enemies to ensure the future of the State of Israel.” He added: “We entered the government and the coalition to serve the State of Israel and did not ask for positions, but no vital decisions were taken, and a small minority controlled Israel’s decision and led it to the abyss.” Gantz indicated that there is a need for “immediate change,” and that things will not be left as they are, and pledged to work to ensure that Israel obtains what he described as a “real victory.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced last Wednesday that he would not agree to Israeli military rule in Gaza after the end of the war and the elimination of Hamas. He added that an Israeli security presence in Gaza after the war would lead to “unnecessary loss of Israeli lives.” He said that he requested the formation of an alternative governing body for Hamas, but did not receive a response.

For his part, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on Saturday, attacked Gantz, describing him as a “hypocrite and a liar” and working to dismantle the government. "Benny Gantz is a small leader and a big eye-catcher, who from the first moment of joining the government, was mainly involved in attempts to dismantle it. His trips to Washington for talks against the Prime Minister's position (and following the talks the administration became hostile) were only a small part of his subversion. The man who hosted Abu Mazen in his home, brought in workers from Gaza, led the gas surrender agreement with Lebanon, removed essential security barriers in the US, and endangered Golani's soldiers "out of concern for the Palestinians", is the last one who can offer security alternatives. Whoever offered the ultra-Orthodox consensus on a conscription law in exchange for the dissolution of the government and now chants slogans about responsibility, is a hypocrite and a liar. The time has come to dismantle the cabinet in its current sense, and change policy to a determined, powerful and decisive one."

Netanyahu said (Wednesday) in a speech: “There is no point in talking about arrangements for the day after the war, as long as Hamas is in power in Gaza.” Last Sunday, Israeli media revealed the existence of disagreements and verbal confrontations between Netanyahu and Gallant after the latter decided to hold discussions with senior army and military commanders on the issue of the “day after” the war in Gaza and the operation in Rafah, without Netanyahu’s presence.

The leader of the Israeli opposition and head of the “There is a Future” party, Yair Lapid, said, addressing Gantz and member of the “war cabinet,” Gadi Eisenkot: “Enough, get out of the war cabinet, enough press conferences,” adding that “if you had not been sitting in the government, we would have passed.” The era of Netanyahu and Ben Gvir.” Likewise, the Minister of Communications in the occupation government, Shlomo Karei, responded to Gantz, suggesting that he “resign tomorrow instead of waiting until July 8,” noting that “the war government has become leftist for a long time, and is a means to weaken the prime minister and the right-wing government.”

In turn, the “Prisoners’ Families Forum” responded to Gantz, saying: “The time for talking is over,” indicating that “time is running out for the prisoners, and negotiations must be renewed.” The Israeli Channel 12 reported that more than 100,000 people participated in a huge gathering in Tel Aviv to demand an exchange deal, at the invitation of the Prisoners' Families Forum, and closed the Ayalon Road towards the north.

Commenting on the ongoing skirmishes between members of the Cabinet, the head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, Avigdor Lieberman, said in an interview with the Israeli Channel 12 that there is “stagnation in Gaza, and in the north, surrender and blackmail, and the only war being waged is between Cabinet ministers.” The war between the prime minister and the security minister and vice versa, and between Gantz and the prime minister and vice versa. Lieberman believed that "the ones who must resign are the three losers, the first being the prime minister," the second the security minister, and the third the chief of staff, adding that "they cannot continue."

Lieberman said: “I look at what is happening in the north, and I hear the chief of staff saying that in the north we are engaged in an offensive defense,” adding, “The offensive defense is like Hamas being a deterrent.”

Netanyahu responded to Gantz by saying: “Gantz chose to give me a deadline instead of Hamas,” asking him to answer three questions if he favors the interests of “Israel” and is not looking for an excuse to topple the government. The questions are: “Is he ready to complete the Rafah operation to destroy Hamas?”, “Does he oppose the Palestinian Authority’s civilian control of Gaza?”, and “Is he ready to accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank as part of the normalization process with Saudi Arabia?” He added: "If that is the case, how could he threaten to dismantle the emergency government in the middle of the process?"

Netanyahu stressed that the conditions set by Gantz mean "the end of the war, the defeat of Israel, the release of the prisoners, keeping Hamas intact as it is, and the establishment of a Palestinian state." Israeli media reported that the families of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip called on the Minister of Security in the occupation government, Yoav Galant, and other officials to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power. The families of the prisoners believed, in a statement, that Netanyahu had thwarted reaching an exchange deal, and that he must be prevented from making the decision alone, and immediately removed from power “because he left our children to face death.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Israel against launching a possible comprehensive attack in the city of Rafah, located in the far south of the Palestinian Gaza Strip. He called for increased aid to the Palestinian population. This came during an electoral event held by Schulz's Social Democratic Party in the city of Karlsruhe, today (Saturday), within the framework of the European Parliament elections scheduled to be held in Germany on the ninth of next June. Schulz said, according to the German News Agency, “We agree in Germany and Europe, as well as in the American government, that it is irresponsible to think about launching an attack now on Rafah, where millions of refugees have taken refuge without protection. "This cannot end well."

Schulz also called for the need to deliver sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was accompanied by loud chants from dozens of protesters against the Gaza war. “500 trucks per day is the minimum,” Schulz said. Whoever wages war also bears responsibility for the humanitarian aspect and the civilian population who are victims of war.” It is noteworthy that, despite strict international warnings, the Israeli army advanced from the east to the city of Rafah in the besieged Strip more than a week ago, and Israel announced today the resumption of its operations in Rafah and the center and north of the Strip.

Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers

In a recent interview on the Call Me Back podcast with Dan Senor, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed startling statistics regarding the casualties in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu stated that the ratio of Hamas combatants to Gazan civilians killed is approximately one to one, with around 14,000 Hamas combatants and an estimated 16,000 civilians having lost their lives.

• 1,900,000 IDPs in Gaza
• 79,141 Gazans injured, 28% adult male
• 70,000 tons of explosives dropped on Gaza
• 70,000 Gaza housing units completely destroyed
• 70,000 Israeli IDPs from Lebanon border
• 45,000 bombs dropped in Gaza
• 45,000 Gazans killed, including buried under rubble
• 35,386 Gazans martyred
• 33,000 Gaza targets attacked
• 20,528 Palestinians in Israeli prisons [Haaretz, 20 Mar 2024]
• 15,140 Israelis injured [i24 TV]
• 15,000 terror operatives killed in Gaza [Israeli officials]
• 15,000 rockets launched from Gaza
• 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
• 9,400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons
• 9,000 IDF needing psychological assistance
• 8,665 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank since Oct.7th
• 7,209 IDF injured admitted to rehabilitation [IDF]
• 6,800 IDF officers and soldiers injured [Channel 12]
• 6,000 HAMAS combatants killed [HAMAS]
• 5,500 IDF wounded [reports]
• 4,800 West Bank Palestinians wounded
• 4,700 sites targetted in Lebanon
• 3,850 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria
• 3,600 administrative detainees
• 3,188 IDF wounded [IDF]
• 2,100 Gazan women are missing
• 1,609 terrorists killed on the first day
• 1,650 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria affiliated with Hamas
• 1,160 Israelis killed on the first day
• 620 Israeli officers and soldiers killed since the start of the war
• 468 West Bank Palestinians martyred
• 364 people [including fighters] killed in Lebanon
• 274 Israeli officers and soldiers killed in Gaza
• 240 Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon
• 126 people recovered, including 91 Israelis, 11 bodies, and 24 foreign workers
• 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody
• 70 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.

Some reports claimed that the UN cut in half its earlier estimates of women and children killed in Gaza. Initially, they reported 9,500 women and 14,500 children killed, but later revised it to 4,959 women and 7,797 children on 08 May 2024. The UN acknowledged its inability to independently verify casualty figures. The seeming discrepancy is that HAMAS had about 10K KIA bodies on hand for which they do not have positive ID. It is possible to report the gender and approximate age [ie, juvenile] without knowing the name of the deceased.