Lonny's War Update- October 221, 2023 - May 14, 2024
Day 221 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
The Alternative Independence Day Ceremony by the Families of Hostages
There were about 1000 people from all over the country who came to this special event not knowing exactly what the program was other than 'extinguishing' the torches. For many, including me, we thought the idea was to be opposite of the official Indepedence Ceremony where 12 people are honored for their contributions to Israel and society. Each one speaks briefly in a pre-approved speech and then light the torch and say "for the glory of the State of Israel".
Dafna Shefet, a psychiatrist in public service; Lior and Amos Alon, residents of Bari and survivors of the massacre; Tamir Reichert, founder of the rescue command center and initiator of the captives' discs; Liat Kovrigero and Noa Zemberg Krasik, co-founders of the civilian command center; Doron Shabtai, a social worker from Sderot and Shir Shabtai, a lawyer from Sderot; Brig. Gen. (res.) David Agmon, who fought battles in the Gaza periphery; Jasmine Porat, survivor of the Hanover party and the tank fire incident in Bari; Michal Lehav, evacuated from her home in the north for 7 months; and Yael Alon, a bereaved daughter and mother. Link
I attended the ceremony with my daughter, Shai, my brother and my sister-in-law and were joined by 2 couple friends on my brother and his wife. All eight of us cried throughout the entire ceremony and we were not alone. I have never been to anything like this; it was the most difficult, heart wrenching, emotionally draining and most important event that I have ever attended. I, like everyone else in attendance have felt that every single one of the hostages is not a stranger, not someone else's daughter, son, father, mother, grandfather. They are ours and we are all the families of hostages. That feeling was not limited to last night and not limited to the 1000 attendees. October 7 changes many things in Israel and traumatized a nation who is still in the midst of that trauma. And the trauma cannot end until the hostages are home. Last night, 100,000 people attended the Independence Day demonstration at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. The sentiments were the same as the ceremony I attended. I'm sure that many of you who read my updates skip to the news below the poem at the top. I have no doubt that everyone has read it and many have posted it as well. I will repeat it here, too because this is the feeling that all of the people who support the return on the hostages and demand a deal now have. We are all hostage families.
“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."
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*11:40pm last night - IDF Spokesman: Air Force fighter jets successfully intercepted an unmanned aircraft that made its way to Israeli territory from the east. The vehicle was being monitored by IDF forces, did not cross into the country's territory, and no warnings were activated in accordance with policy. There were no casualties and no damage was caused.
*8:15am- south- rockets- Ashkelon, Moshav Mavkim, Kibbutzim Zikim and Carmia1:00pm- north- rockets Arab al-Aramsha, Idmit
*2:05- south- rockets Sderot, Kibbutzim Ibim and Nir Am
Red alert in the Gaza border area during a march in favor of Jewish Settlement in Gaza
Hostage Updates
The IDF’s military operation in Rafah has “set us backward” in negotiations with Hamas, mediator Qatar says, adding that talks are at “almost a stalemate.”
“Unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward,” Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani tells the Qatar Economic Forum.
Al-Thani says that Qatar is and will continue to pursue negotiations, and that while doing so, Hamas’s office in Doha will remain open. He also points out that Hamas and Israel have a “fundamental difference” on their approach to the talks and the continuation of the war. link - The Rafah operation is continuing and soldiers are going into many more areas. Netanyahu's claim that we had to go into Rafah to defeat the 4 remaining Hamas battalions, find the Hamas terrorist leaders (Sinwar and Deif) and get to our hostages who were believed to be in the tunnels under Rafah. However, the Americans and the IDF both agree that Sinwar, Deif and probably many of the hostages are, in fact not in Rafah but in Khan Younis and also that most of the 4 Hamas battalion terrorists fights have left the Rafah area. The continued operation in Rafah now doesn't serve any of the declared reasons for going into Rafah, yet our continued operation there endangers our diplomatic relations with Egypt and the US as well as others. Continuing the operations in Rafah does not help the hostage negotiations at all, in actuality, it is hurting them entirely. Another Netanyahu blunder and the hostages and their families are paying the price.
Red alert in the Gaza border area during a march in favor of Jewish Settlement in Gaza
Hostage Updates
The IDF’s military operation in Rafah has “set us backward” in negotiations with Hamas, mediator Qatar says, adding that talks are at “almost a stalemate.”
“Unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward,” Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani tells the Qatar Economic Forum.
Al-Thani says that Qatar is and will continue to pursue negotiations, and that while doing so, Hamas’s office in Doha will remain open. He also points out that Hamas and Israel have a “fundamental difference” on their approach to the talks and the continuation of the war. link - The Rafah operation is continuing and soldiers are going into many more areas. Netanyahu's claim that we had to go into Rafah to defeat the 4 remaining Hamas battalions, find the Hamas terrorist leaders (Sinwar and Deif) and get to our hostages who were believed to be in the tunnels under Rafah. However, the Americans and the IDF both agree that Sinwar, Deif and probably many of the hostages are, in fact not in Rafah but in Khan Younis and also that most of the 4 Hamas battalion terrorists fights have left the Rafah area. The continued operation in Rafah now doesn't serve any of the declared reasons for going into Rafah, yet our continued operation there endangers our diplomatic relations with Egypt and the US as well as others. Continuing the operations in Rafah does not help the hostage negotiations at all, in actuality, it is hurting them entirely. Another Netanyahu blunder and the hostages and their families are paying the price.
Ahead of the traditional Independence Day ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem honoring exceptional soldiers, 132 shirts representing 132 hostages being held in Gaza are displayed outside the building.
The president’s office says in a statement that each yellow shirt represents a hostage, and this way “everyone who enters the President’s Residence will pass them and stop to think and learn a little about the people behind the names.”
Gaza Fighting
Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri that Egypt reopen the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, in order to bring supplies into the Strip. The State Department's announcement stated that "the minister confirmed again that the US does not support a major ground operation in Rafah, and reiterated the US's rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza." It was also reported that "the secretary and the foreign minister discussed steps to expand access to humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, including reopening the Rafah border crossing and making maximum use of Kerem Shalom."
- The UN worker killed in Gaza is of Indian origin, and the injured is Jordanian. The UN has not yet placed responsibility for the incident on Israel or Hamas, and is waiting for the completion of the initial investigation by the IDF. Sources familiar with the details say that the UN is pressing to complete the investigation this evening and transfer it to them.
- IDF says more than 100 targets struck across Gaza over past day
Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri that Egypt reopen the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, in order to bring supplies into the Strip. The State Department's announcement stated that "the minister confirmed again that the US does not support a major ground operation in Rafah, and reiterated the US's rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza." It was also reported that "the secretary and the foreign minister discussed steps to expand access to humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, including reopening the Rafah border crossing and making maximum use of Kerem Shalom."
More than 100 targets were struck by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, drones and helicopters across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says, as fighting continues in Rafah, Zeitoun and Jabaliya.
The IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and Givati Infantry Brigade, under the 162nd Division, killed several cells of gunmen in close-quarters combat in eastern Rafah, as well as located weapons.
In Jabaliya, the military says the 98th Division expanded its operations in the area, raiding Hamas sites in the city in northern Gaza. Over the past day, troops of the Paratroopers, 460th and 7th brigades killed dozens of gunmen in Jabaliya, according to the IDF. link to video
- IDF Tanks Spotted Deeper Inside Rafah According to a report by the Reuters news agency, IDF tanks were spotted at the westernmost point since entering Rafah, the southern city in the Gaza Strip. "The tanks are on the streets inside the built-up area," said one resident. Videos of tanks in Rafah have been uploaded to social media.
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- The International Red Cross says it is opening a field hospital in southern Gaza today to try to meet what it describes as “overwhelming” demand for health services in the city.
Some health clinics have suspended activities while patients and medics have fled from a major hospital as Israel has stepped up its operations in the southernmost Gazan city, where hundreds of thousands have sought refuge.
The ICRC says that staff at the new facility will be able to treat around 200 people a day and can provide emergency surgical care and manage mass casualties as well as provide pediatric and other services.
“Medical staff are faced with people arriving with severe injuries, increasing communicable diseases which could lead to potential outbreaks, and complication related to chronic diseases untreated that should have been treated days earlier,” it says. Link The US believes that Israel has enough troops just outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah to launch a full ground operation soon, according to a CNN report.
The report, citing two senior US administration officials, says the Biden administration is nevertheless not sure if Israel has made the decision to move ahead with a full ground invasion of the city, following President Joe Biden’s warning last week that such a move would prompt the US to withhold some additional weapons shipments.
Israel has urged residents of some neighborhoods in the city, which the IDF has called the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza, to evacuate over the past week, and estimates indicate that more than 350,000 have left, but hundreds of thousands are believed to remain. link
- UNRWA: Nearly half a million Gazans left Rafah since the IDF's entry into the area. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees reported that since the IDF entered Rafah, around 450,000 people have left the area. According to estimates, between 100,000 and 200,000 Palestinians were evacuated from the area before the IDF's entry into it.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah
An anti-tank missile hit a private house in Metula late last night- no casualties are known
- IDF says it struck several Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight
An anti-tank missile hit a private house in Metula late last night- no casualties are known
- IDF says it struck several Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight
The IDF says it struck several Hebzollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
A site in Odaisseh was hit after a Hezbollah terrorists was spotted by the military, the IDF says. In addition, Israeli Air Force planes struck military buildings tied to Hezbollah in Khiam and Kafr Kila.
- Hezbollah Announced One of Its Militants Killed in Strike on Meys al-Jabal. Since the start of the war, the terror organization has announced 298 of its militants killed. The IDF believes this number to be considerably higher, but has no way of knowing.
West Bank
Politics and the Region
- As a result of the Rafah operation and repeated warnings by Egypt, Egypt is seriously considering downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel and recalling its ambassador. The situation was exacerbated for Egypt with the IDF taking over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing This is a very serious situation, although I have no doubt that there will be enough useful idiots in the government who will say that it's no big deal. It is a big deal. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with us. Although, on a people to people basis, it is a cold peace but government to government, it is a very important and crucial peace. Since the peace treaty, both countries security bodies have worked closely in the war against ISIS in Sinai (as per the peace treaty, Egypt is only allowed a certain amount of military forces in Sinai. Israel gave the OK for attack helicopters and additional forces to fight ISIS), smuggling of weapons and drugs, and terrorism. We have trade agreements in many fields, such as exports of natural gas of over $1 billion and growing. And most importantly, Egypt has been our partner in reaching the rest of the Arab world, not to mention all of their efforts and good will in negotiations during Gilad Schalit's captivity by Hamas and now in the hostage crisis. They have been a much more honest partner in the negotiations than Qatar who still supports Hamas, The Muslim Brotherhood and terrorism. Downgrading of relations with Egypt could conceivably have a domino effect with the other Arab countries that we have agreements with and would definitely impact talks with Saudi Arabia on normalization.
Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not attend a ceremony at the President’s Residence honoring outstanding soldiers this morning, and he also skips today’s annual Bible Quiz.
Instead Netanyahu sends a prerecorded message to the quiz participants, noting that “the roots of our identity lie in the Bible, as does our right to the land of Israel.”
The prime minister also did not attend last night’s official state ceremony marking the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day, instead also sending a prerecorded message, as celebrations this year are muted amid the ongoing war. --Netanyahu is a coward. He is afraid of all of the heckling and boos that are sure to accompany him anywhere he goes in public. He refuses to be interviewed by the Israeli press because they won't let him get away with not providing answers to the hard questions he has been avoiding for over 7 months: why won't you take responsibility for October 7? Why won't you prepare a strategic plan for the future of Gaza? and when he claims to have a plan (the army will continue to provide security inside and out of Gaza)? He will be told that's not a plan. He will be asked about early elections and his answer will be that there is a date for elections-2026. And so many other questions that he refuses to even be asked. This is not a leader. This is a weak excuse for a desperate politician trying to hold on to power at the expense of everything but himself. link
Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, releases a video message endorsing an Independence Day march demanding renewed Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip.
“It is very important to identify with this march and afterwards to take part in the mass gathering in Sderot,” he says.
According to organizers, buses bringing participants will come from all over the country for the demonstration, which has also been endorsed by far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, who has said she will be attending with her family.
Unusually for an ultra-Orthodox politician, Goldknopf has lately been an outspoken advocate for resettling Gaza, whose 21 settlements were dismantled in 2005 during the Disengagement. This January, he was one of 11 government ministers and 15 coalition lawmakers who attended a mass conference advocating the rebuilding of Jewish Israeli settlements in the heart of the Gaza Strip. link This is the same hypocritical piece of garbage Minister who was the government representative at the Rehovot Military Cemetery on Memorial Day where I was in attendance. There, he hypocritically spoke about a united Israel where everyone has done everything possible for the war effort and especially on October 7 but in the Knesset he is on the forefront of the push for the law to exempt all Haredi men from being drafted into the army. He is a parasite who also said that "what does the war have to do with us in the Knesset?" His joining the calls for settlements in Gaza will most likely join the evidence presented in the International courts in the Hague in the cases against Israel.
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeals to the ultra-Orthodox community in a speech marking Independence Day, saying that military service and religious life are not contradictory.
Addressing the 120 outstanding soldiers honored at the President’s Residence ceremony, Halevi says that their stories “are the stories of the diverse Israeli society, the story of the IDF as the people’s army. Among you are city dwellers and village residents, those born in Israel and immigrants from six continents, representatives of all religions and backgrounds, and also those who grew up in the Haredi community and serve in the IDF.”
The military chief adds that it would be praiseworthy if “in a few years even more of [Haredi society’s] sons would sit in the rows of the outstanding soldiers, and prove that you can maintain a religious identity and a religious way of life and at the same time excel in military service on behalf of the people and the state… this is a clear national-security need.” - - This clearly goes against the Haredim parties in the government who are calling for a full exemption for all Haredi men from the draft. They refuse to serve and, as a community get violent about it in protests and whenever the police or military police come to get Haredi draftees. They refuse to acknowledge Jewish history where religious Jews were always involved in battles going back thousands of years. links
After the announcement of the IDF spokesman last night - the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claimed to have attacked a "vital target" in Eilat using two UAVs
- As a result of the Rafah operation and repeated warnings by Egypt, Egypt is seriously considering downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel and recalling its ambassador. The situation was exacerbated for Egypt with the IDF taking over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing This is a very serious situation, although I have no doubt that there will be enough useful idiots in the government who will say that it's no big deal. It is a big deal. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with us. Although, on a people to people basis, it is a cold peace but government to government, it is a very important and crucial peace. Since the peace treaty, both countries security bodies have worked closely in the war against ISIS in Sinai (as per the peace treaty, Egypt is only allowed a certain amount of military forces in Sinai. Israel gave the OK for attack helicopters and additional forces to fight ISIS), smuggling of weapons and drugs, and terrorism. We have trade agreements in many fields, such as exports of natural gas of over $1 billion and growing. And most importantly, Egypt has been our partner in reaching the rest of the Arab world, not to mention all of their efforts and good will in negotiations during Gilad Schalit's captivity by Hamas and now in the hostage crisis. They have been a much more honest partner in the negotiations than Qatar who still supports Hamas, The Muslim Brotherhood and terrorism. Downgrading of relations with Egypt could conceivably have a domino effect with the other Arab countries that we have agreements with and would definitely impact talks with Saudi Arabia on normalization.
Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not attend a ceremony at the President’s Residence honoring outstanding soldiers this morning, and he also skips today’s annual Bible Quiz.
Instead Netanyahu sends a prerecorded message to the quiz participants, noting that “the roots of our identity lie in the Bible, as does our right to the land of Israel.”
The prime minister also did not attend last night’s official state ceremony marking the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day, instead also sending a prerecorded message, as celebrations this year are muted amid the ongoing war. --Netanyahu is a coward. He is afraid of all of the heckling and boos that are sure to accompany him anywhere he goes in public. He refuses to be interviewed by the Israeli press because they won't let him get away with not providing answers to the hard questions he has been avoiding for over 7 months: why won't you take responsibility for October 7? Why won't you prepare a strategic plan for the future of Gaza? and when he claims to have a plan (the army will continue to provide security inside and out of Gaza)? He will be told that's not a plan. He will be asked about early elections and his answer will be that there is a date for elections-2026. And so many other questions that he refuses to even be asked. This is not a leader. This is a weak excuse for a desperate politician trying to hold on to power at the expense of everything but himself. link Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, releases a video message endorsing an Independence Day march demanding renewed Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip.
“It is very important to identify with this march and afterwards to take part in the mass gathering in Sderot,” he says.
According to organizers, buses bringing participants will come from all over the country for the demonstration, which has also been endorsed by far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, who has said she will be attending with her family.
Unusually for an ultra-Orthodox politician, Goldknopf has lately been an outspoken advocate for resettling Gaza, whose 21 settlements were dismantled in 2005 during the Disengagement. This January, he was one of 11 government ministers and 15 coalition lawmakers who attended a mass conference advocating the rebuilding of Jewish Israeli settlements in the heart of the Gaza Strip. link This is the same hypocritical piece of garbage Minister who was the government representative at the Rehovot Military Cemetery on Memorial Day where I was in attendance. There, he hypocritically spoke about a united Israel where everyone has done everything possible for the war effort and especially on October 7 but in the Knesset he is on the forefront of the push for the law to exempt all Haredi men from being drafted into the army. He is a parasite who also said that "what does the war have to do with us in the Knesset?" His joining the calls for settlements in Gaza will most likely join the evidence presented in the International courts in the Hague in the cases against Israel.
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeals to the ultra-Orthodox community in a speech marking Independence Day, saying that military service and religious life are not contradictory.
Addressing the 120 outstanding soldiers honored at the President’s Residence ceremony, Halevi says that their stories “are the stories of the diverse Israeli society, the story of the IDF as the people’s army. Among you are city dwellers and village residents, those born in Israel and immigrants from six continents, representatives of all religions and backgrounds, and also those who grew up in the Haredi community and serve in the IDF.”
The military chief adds that it would be praiseworthy if “in a few years even more of [Haredi society’s] sons would sit in the rows of the outstanding soldiers, and prove that you can maintain a religious identity and a religious way of life and at the same time excel in military service on behalf of the people and the state… this is a clear national-security need.” - - This clearly goes against the Haredim parties in the government who are calling for a full exemption for all Haredi men from the draft. They refuse to serve and, as a community get violent about it in protests and whenever the police or military police come to get Haredi draftees. They refuse to acknowledge Jewish history where religious Jews were always involved in battles going back thousands of years. links
After the announcement of the IDF spokesman last night - the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claimed to have attacked a "vital target" in Eilat using two UAVs
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