Lonny's War Update- October 217, 2023

Day 217 (cont) that 132 of our hostages in Hamas captivity-

There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!

“I’ve never met them,
But I miss them.
I’ve never met them,
but I think of them every second.
I’ve never met them,
but they are my family.
BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”

There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!
‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks

*5:30pm- north- rockets Yiftach , Upper Galilee

*5:35pm- south- Hatzerim, Beersheva, Dudaim, Lakia - first rocket attack to Beersheva area in 6 months

*5:40pm- north- rockets Kiryat Shemona -35 rockets launched to Kiryat Shemona - 15 were shot down

*5:45pm-north throughout the upper Galilee region

*6:30pm - north- rockets Kiryat Shemona, Kibbutz Margaliot - direct hit in Kiryat Shemona

*7:15pm- south -Hatzerim, Beersheva, Dudaim, Lakia— the rockets to the south are being launched from Eastern Rafah - 14 rockets launched at Beersheva, one woman lightly injured from shrapnel, one rocket hit directly on a playground and damage to a house next door. Fortunately, the children playing in the playground went to a safe room in time. A large fire broke out in open area near Kiryat Shemona. 10 Fire squads are trying to put out the fire.

* the army announced the deaths of 4 soldiers killed in battle in Gaza. I’m the same explosion an officer and another soldier were seriously wounded. They were on their way to a school where Hamas terrorists were in hiding and an IED exploded in the alley way they were going through. By

-Sergeant Itai Livni, 19 from Ramat Hasharon

-Sergeant Yosef Dassa, 19 from Kiryat Bialik

-Sergeant Armius Marcurio, 19 from Beersheva

-Sergeant Daniel Levy, 19 from Kiryat Motzkin

May their memories be a blessing

Yosef Dassa and Daniel Levy studied in the same class at the ORT Kiryat Mozkin high school. Together they were drafted into the Nahal Brigade, went through the training track, finished basic training a month ago, and were killed together today.

Hostage Updates

Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said in a statement on Friday that Israel's effective rejection of a ceasefire proposal put by mediators, via the amendments it made to it, has brought things back to square one.
Hamas added that it will hold consultations with Palestinian factions to review its negotiation strategy.

Hamas announced that the leadership of the terror organization "will hold consultations with the factions of the resistance in order to reconsider our negotiation strategy. Israel's rejection of the mediators' proposal through its amendments has taken things back to square one. Netanyahu and his 'extremist' government are using the negotiations as a cover for the attack on Rafah and the conquest of the crossing, and they bear full responsibility for preventing an agreement from being reached." -- Hamas factions of the resistance constitute Hamas terrorist leaders in the diaspora (Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon) , terrorist leaders in Gaza, and Hamas terrorists in Israeli prisons. Due to the situation that other terror groups in Gaza are also holding our hostages, they may choose to consult with them as well.

Gaza Fighting

Israeli tanks advanced on a main road dividing the eastern and western halves of southern Gaza’s Rafah today, Reuters reports.
The IDF had said that it captured part of the Salah a-Din road when it launched its operation on eastern Rafah late Monday.
It appears that tanks have pushed further along the road, although still within a zone that the IDF ordered to be evacuated. Residents described almost constant explosions and gunfire east and northeast of the city, with intense fighting between Israeli forces and operatives of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups.
Hamas claimed to have ambushed Israeli tanks near a mosque in the east of the city, a sign the IDF had penetrated several kilometers from the east to the outskirts of the built-up area of the city.
Israel ordered civilians out of the eastern outskirts of Rafah earlier this week. The military has estimated that around 150,000 Palestinians in the east Rafah area have evacuated already.
Around a million more Palestinians, who fled other parts of the enclave during the war, remain in the city itself, and they have not been called to evacuate yet. link

The IDF said troops of the Nahal Brigade and the 2nd Brigade carried out activities in Zeitoun in the center of the Strip. Soldiers destroyed terror infrastructure and eliminated terrorists in the area. In addition to the ground activities, the military stated fighter jets had struck terrorists and Hamas terror targets. Of particular note was a booby-trapped building in which many weapons. Throughout the Gaza Strip, fighter jets also struck Hamas targets, such as buildings used for anti-tank fire and tunnel shafts.
In the center of the strip, IDF troops identified a terror squad exiting a weapon warehouse and moving toward them. The squad was subsequently attacked by an aircraft. However, shortly after, the storage facility and an additional terrorist from the squad were attacked by fighter jets and helicopters.
The IDF said that in total, in the past day, IAF jets and aircraft struck and destroyed some 40 terror targets throughout the Strip. The targets included military buildings, terror squads, observing positions, and additional military infrastructure. link

The ministers of the Security Cabinet and the Political-Security Cabinet approved today (Friday) to intensify the operation in Rafah, which the IDF began a few days ago. However, the ministers were told that this is a "limited" operation, as defined in the IDF Spokesperson's statement when the operation was launched on Monday night.
Against the backdrop of threats from the Biden administration to hold up weapons shipments to Israel due to the operation in Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified last night: "If we need to stand alone - we will stand alone. I already said that if need be - we will fight with our nails. But we have much more than nails, and with that same determination, with God's help, together we will prevail." In an interview with Dr. Phil, the Prime Minister addressed the tensions in his relationship with Biden: "I have known the President for over 40 years. We had agreements and disagreements that we managed to overcome. I hope that will be the case now as well. Nevertheless, we will do what we need to do to protect our country and our future - which means defeating Hamas, including in Rafah. We have no other choice."
Defense Minister Benny Gantz also addressed the warnings from the U.S., saying: "I believe the vital weapons shipments will continue. Beyond the security need, it sends an important political message about the continued stance of the U.S. standing by Israel's side. Israel has a security and moral obligation to continue fighting to return our captives and remove the threat of Hamas from the south of the country, and the U.S. has a moral and strategic obligation to provide Israel with the tools needed for this mission." And White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby addressed the U.S. decision last night to freeze the transfer of weapons shipments to Israel. "The U.S. will continue to provide Israel with everything it needs to defend itself, but not specific weapons for a specific mission," he clarified. "Our message about a major operation in Rafah has been conveyed, Israel will not receive specific weapons - and will have to choose."
Two days ago, U.S. President Biden made clear in an interview with CNN: "If the operation in Rafah expands - Israel will not receive weapons and munitions." However, Biden added that "the U.S. will continue to ensure Israel is secure in its ability to respond to attacks, such as those that have come from the Middle East recently." link

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah

An Israeli strike on a village in south Lebanon killed a Lebanese technician contracted by a telecoms company to fix a phone tower, Lebanon’s telecoms minister says.
The same strike also killed a medic from a civilian rescue force affiliated with the Amal Movement, an ally of the Hezbollah terror group, the minister and security sources said.
Today’s strike on the village of Teir Harfa hit a team of technicians contracted by Lebanese telecoms company Touch as they were attempting to repair the power generator at a telecoms tower, telecoms minister Johnny Corm tells Reuters. They were accompanied by medics and Lebanese army soldiers. Separate strikes on southern Lebanon on Friday killed a fighter from Hezbollah as well as two Palestinian fighters, security sources tell Reuters. Several Palestinian terror groups have armed elements based in Lebanon and have fired rockets at Israel from there. link
* The IDF announced that the ticket launchers used to shoot Rockets to Beersheva tonight were destroyed
The Air Force has completed a wave of strikes on terror targets in the areas of Al-Adaysah, Al-Hiyam, Rab Al-Thalatheen, Deir Sirin, Ayta al-Shaab and Mahaybib in southern Lebanon. This was announced by the IDF Spokesperson, who added that as part of the strikes, fighter jets of the Air Force destroyed five military buildings belonging to Hezbollah, in addition to another military position used by the organization, from which launches toward northern Israel were carried out.

West Bank

Politics and the Region

Despite Biden’s pause, billions of dollars in US arms for Israel still in pipeline::
Billions of dollars worth of US weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which says it’s concerned the Israel Defense Forces could use them in densely populated Rafah, as is has in other parts of Gaza.
A senior US official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over one million civilians have sought refuge, and as a result paused a shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs to Israel.
Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel started the war in Gaza. The issue has become a major point of contention between Biden and Netanyahu, who insists a ground offensive into Rafah is necessary to fulfill the war goal of removing Hamas from power following the October 7 massacre. Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition partners have demanded that the offensive go ahead, threatening to bolt the government should it instead prioritize a truce agreement freeing hostages and halting the fighting.
Congressional aides estimated the delayed bomb shipment’s value as “tens of millions” of US dollars. A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons; and tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters. Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should be, noting some had been in the works since December, while assistance for Israel more typically sails through the review process within weeks.
Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the US would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces make a major invasion of Rafah.
Separately, Representative Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, is holding up an $18 billion arms transfer of package for Israel that would include dozens of Boeing Co. F-15 aircraft while he awaits more information about how Israel would use them, though the fighter jets are not slated to be delivered for several years.
“It’s enough of the indiscriminate bombing,” Meeks charged last month. “I don’t want the kinds of weapons Israel has to be utilized to have more death. I want to make sure humanitarian aid gets in, and I don’t want people starving to death.”
Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability for the president, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fueled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in Democratic primaries and has driven anti-Israel protests at US universities, though a recent poll showed over 70 percent of Americans overall believe Israel should launch an offensive in Rafah to defeat Hamas. None of those weapons agreements are part of a spending package Biden signed last month that included about $26 billion to support Israel and provide humanitarian aid.

Risch and Meeks are two of the four US lawmakers – the chair and ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations and chair and ranking member on House Foreign Affairs – who review major foreign weapons deals. link
Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman joins a host of reactions to US President Joe Biden’s decision earlier this week to hold up delivery of high payload munitions to Israel, cautioning fellow politicians to “shut their mouths.”
“There have been disputes with the US in the past, and we have never turned them into a public and publicized fight,” he writes on X, formerly Twitter.
He adds that Israel’s relationship with the US is “much more complex than the supply of ammunition, which can also be produced in Israel within a few months.”
“As such, the dialogue with our strategic ally must be conducted behind closed doors and away from the spotlight,” Liberman says.
The comments came after far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir tweeted yesterday “Hamas [loves] Biden,” drawing a flood of criticism from Israeli lawmakers.
Washington’s decision to delay the shipment of bombs came amid concerns over Israel’s plans to carry out an offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah that the Biden administration opposes without new civilian safeguards. link
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization says it has received a report of a failed hijacking attempt of a vessel 195 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden.
The vessel’s master reports being approached by a small craft carrying five or six armed people with ladders.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched drone and missile attacks on shipping in and around the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to show support for the Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack. Maritime sources say pirates may be encouraged by a relaxation of security or may be taking advantage of the chaos caused by attacks on shipping by the Houthis.
After firing on the vessel, the people in the small craft were forced to abort their approach when the security team on the vessel returned fire, the UKMTO reports.
The vessel and its crew are reported to be safe, and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call, it says. link
The United Nations General Assembly votes to back a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member — a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state — after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month.
The assembly adopted a resolution on Friday with 143 votes in favor and nine against, including the US and Israel, while 25 countries abstained. It does not give the Palestinians full UN membership, but simply recognizes them as qualified to join. The General Assembly resolution “determines that the State of Palestine…should therefore be admitted to membership” and it “recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably.”
An application to become a full UN member first needs to be approved by the 15-member Security Council and then the General Assembly. If the measure is again voted on by the council it is likely to face the same fate: a US veto.
The General Assembly resolution adopted on Friday does give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 — like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall — but they will not be granted a vote in the body.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012. link
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a report to Congress as early as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that criticizes the IDF’s conduct but stops short of concluding it has violated international law, according to a report presented by Axios on Thursday.
The report from US news site Axios Friday, citing three officials, claimed that the submission will include cases in which international humanitarian law was suspected of being broken, describing them using “very critical terms.”
However, the report will not conclude that Israel took actions that could disqualify it from US military aid, as required by a directive issued by US President Joe Biden in February requiring that Congress be notified if arms recipients are violating international humanitarian law.  The report was due to be filed by May 8; the State Department has insisted the submission is imminent even as it has blown the deadline.
A national security memorandum, NSM-20, issued by Biden in February, required the department to report to Congress by May 8 on the credibility of Israel’s written assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law, and that the provision of humanitarian aid is not being obstructed.  According to Axios, the State Department is also reviewing the use of weapons by six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts under the directive.  The order does not place any tangible new conditions on foreign assistance, given that recipients have always been required to use the aid in a manner consistent with the laws of war; the White House has acknowledged that the memo was the result of pressure from progressive lawmakers who believe Israel might not be abiding by these terms.
The three unnamed officials told Axios the State Department report would note that some of the suspected violations in Gaza were still being probed, but would not conclude that Israel is in breach of international law. It will also reportedly adopt findings sent to Blinken in recent weeks from Gaza humanitarian envoy David Satterfield and US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew confirming that Israel is not violating international law in its war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre.
The two officials recommended in their memo to Blinken that he confirm Israel is not intentionally hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has brewed amid the ongoing fighting, Axios reported. The memo noted that Israel had been hamstringing aid, but made changes following a call between Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April.  Blinken’s report is set to come hot on the heels of a White House decision to delay the transfer of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs over concerns that the IDF could use them in densely populated Rafah, as it has in other parts of Gaza. On Wednesday, Biden threatened that more arms shipments would be frozen if Israel launched a planned offensive in the Strip’s southernmost city.
Israel says it must enter Rafah in order to eliminate the remaining Hamas battalions in the city.
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7 when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 252.
The ensuing Israeli offensive against Hamas has killed over 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. This figure cannot be independently verified and does not differentiate between civilians and members of terror groups. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas operatives within Gaza since the beginning of the war and 1,000 in Israeli territory on October 7. Link
Gallant blasts Smotrich for mid-war holdup of fighter jet procurement::
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant slammed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Friday for continuing to hold up approving the purchase of two fighter jet squadrons for the Israeli Air Force amid the war.

In April, Ynet news reported that Smotrich decided to veto the approval of the procurement of new F-15 and F-35 jets until a Knesset committee tasked with looking at the defense budget was convened.

Smotrich said at the time that he wouldn’t approve “strategic and long-term future force build-up” until after the committee publishes recommendations on the defense budget, claiming that “doing the same thing over and over again without learning from past mistakes will bring us a disaster.” The two fighter jet squadrons, 25 F35i stealth fighter jets and 25 F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX — were to be financed by US military aid to Israel, and not state funds.

“The Israeli perception that it is possible to provide increased security with less money, in the face of threats that are only increasing along with additional combat arenas, is a wrong perception that needs to change,” said Gallant to reporters on Friday. Gallant said Israel’s defense budget needed to be doubled, citing the recent Iranian missile and drone attack on the country. “The exchange of fire with Iran, and the international security situation, will lead to a global arms race, which forces us to accelerate the pace of military force build-up and procurement,” he said.

“If we do not complete the process of purchasing the squadrons from the US within a month, the planes will be delayed for three years, and will increase the price for the State of Israel by an additional billion NIS,” Gallant said, referring to the fact that another customer will take Israel’s place if it does not complete the deal soon. “The delay in procurement is a blow to Israel’s security, and at a time when we are fighting a multi-front war, the implications are clear,” he added.

There was no immediate timeline for the delivery of the fighter jets, and previous such deals have taken several years for the first aircraft to be shipped. Israel is expected to push for faster delivery.

Gallant’s statement was issued to reporters under an embargo.

During that time, Smotrich’s office got wind of the criticism and issued a statement of its own, saying the finance minister had requested that the cabinet secretary bring a resolution to the upcoming cabinet meeting to establish a committee that would examine Israel’s defense budget.

The statement said the committee will be established per the agreement of the prime minister and national security advisor.

“Israel’s security is not a game. The delay in the establishment of the committee results in a delay in procurement important to the force build-up of the IDF and the rest of the defense establishment,” Smotrich’s office said. Israel had previously agreed to purchase 50 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. They are being delivered in batches of twos and threes until 2024.

The military is also looking to both add to and upgrade its existing fleet of F-15s, which can carry the kind of heavy weapons Israel would need to penetrate Iran’s nuclear sites, most of which are buried deep underground.
South Africa has petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague demanding new orders against Israel following the IDF's operation in Rafah.
In February, the Hague court rejected South Africa's request to impose additional provisional measures against Israel that would prevent an operation in Rafah. The court noted that "the grave situation requires the immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures already ordered. It does not require additional provisional measures." The Hague court further added that "Israel must fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, and ensure the protection and security of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

A month earlier, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued six orders imposed on Israel, calling on it, among other things, to allow an increase in humanitarian aid to the Strip, prevent incitement to genocide and punish those who call for committing it. Another order stipulates that Israel must submit a follow-up report to the court within a month on the implementation of the orders. Previously, the court had determined that it has jurisdiction to consider whether genocide is being committed in Gaza, noting that there is some merit to South Africa's demand to protect Gaza's civilians.

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