🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 227, 2023 - May 20, 2024 (cont)🎗️

   

🎗️Day 227 (cont) that 128 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 and Death Announcements

*3:20pm- north- hostile aircraft intrusion- Tamot Naftali, Dishon, Yiftach, Malkia- Upper Galilee 

*9:15pm- North- rockets Kibbutz Misgav Am

*9:55pm- north- rockets kibbutz Malkis

Hostage Updates 

• The four bodies returned to Israel from Gaza were retrieved from a tunnel in Jabaliya:

  The bodies of the hostages Shani Louk, Ron Binyamin, Yitzhak Gelranter and Amit Buskila, who were returned to Israel from Gaza this weekend, were rescued in an operation by the fighters of the 202nd paratrooper battalion after intelligence received from the Shin Bet and Army Intelligence from an underground compound in Jabaliya. Full story below
  

  
  

  
  

• Clashes between protesters and police in Jerusalem, undercover officers arrested protest leader: Thousands of protesters against the government and in favor of a prisoner exchange deal arrived in Jerusalem, and after the protest in front of the Knesset they began marching through the city. Hundreds ran to different points and the police are using riot control measures with stun grenades to disperse the protesters. 

  
  

  Thousands of protesters arrived in the afternoon (Monday) for a demonstration in front of the Knesset building in Jerusalem, calling for elections to be held. The struggle incorporates a series of protests calling for the resignation of the government, stopping the war and returning the hostages from Gaza, returning the evacuees in the north and south to their homes, and opposing the conscription law. After the demonstration, the activists marched towards the home of Prime Minister Netanyahu on Gaza Street. Some of them deviated from the march route and began running in different directions, with mounted police officers chasing after them, using stun grenades and trying to prevent them from dispersing through the streets. In one case, undercover officers jumped out from among the crowd of protesters and arrested protest activists.

  
  

  Yaakov Godo, who lost his son Tom who was murdered in Kiryat Arba, said at the demonstration: "He doesn't want a Hamastan, he doesn't want a Fatahstan, and we don't want a Bibistan or a Smotrichistan or a Ben Gvir-istan. We, the civil, liberal society, the one that bears the burden of all the ills of the State of Israel, have had enough of the regime called the government of Israel, which is really a crime organization. The current government of Israel is the greatest enemy of the State of Israel, and for the past year and a half it has been gnawing, dividing and tearing apart the civil fabric of the state. A government that undermines all the foundations on which the state was established and has existed for 76 years has no right to exist and is illegitimate! A prime minister who denies the supreme moral imperative that exists in Judaism, the redemption of hostages, and prefers his own political survival."

  
  

  Ila Metzger, daughter-in-law of captive Yoram Metzger, attacked the government: "227 days that Yoram, Haim, Matan, Avraham, Shiri, Arbel, Sasha and many others have been in hell in Gaza. So much time that the numbers have already lost their meaning! It's already been 227 days that we've been living in ignorance about the fate of our family members, with constant fear that something bad might be happening to them right now, fear for their lives and fear of the unknown that awaits us in the future. On October 7, a hole opened up in my heart, and since then, instead of starting to heal and close, it has only grown and grown. Fear has been joined by helplessness, frustration and terrible anger. For a long time it wasn't clear to me who to direct the anger at. Who is the address for the dire straits we find ourselves in? The IDF, the cabinet, the prime minister, the Knesset, the government of Israel? For seven months now, we've been in contact with every possible entity. We've met empathy and tears, but also brick walls, deafness and lies. At some point, when we started demanding answers, we also started getting hit with poison attacks, defamation, and lately there's also been police violence against us, the families of the hostages and victims.

  
  

  For seven months they dragged their feet, chose not to decide, ignored the problem, turned us, the families of the hostages, into the problem, postponed, blamed everyone else and did not initiate or take responsibility for the event and manage it properly. I came here today to shout to the members of the Knesset and ministers - enough! That's it! You do not have the mandate to continue wasting time, to continue playing with our lives and the lives of our loved ones in such a negligent and criminal way. Act now - or their blood will be on your hands too."

  
  

  The police responded: "In recent hours, the police have acted to secure the thousands of protesters near the Knesset and allow them to exercise their right to freedom of expression and protest legally. In the evening hours, after the protest ended, a march began, during which hundreds of protesters broke off from it and began blocking major routes throughout Jerusalem in a manner that deviated from the outline coordinated with the police, and by blocking routes in violation of the law. The officers are acting to restrain those violating public order and maintain order in Jerusalem, using riot control measures. So far, two violators of public order have been arrested."

  
  

  70-year-old protester attacked by young man

  
  

  Upon the protesters' arrival in Jerusalem, the police arrested a suspect who attacked a 70-year-old man who had come to the protest event. At the gas station at the entrance to the city, the suspect (19) approached the protester and demanded the flag that was in his vehicle. After refusing his demand, the suspect attacked the victim with the flagpole, hitting him in the head and lightly injuring him. A police medic on the scene provided him with medical assistance including bandaging. The suspect was arrested and taken for questioning at the Lev HaBira police station on suspicion of assaulting an elderly person.

  
  

  In another incident at Agron Square in the city, a protester positioned himself in front of the protesters and called out to them using a megaphone: "Go to Rafah, that's your home. Tel Aviv is on fire. Look at that, Tel Aviv is on fire. Leftist traitors, you leftist traitors. Go away you leftists. Oh, how they screwed you over. Look how because of you we got 7/10, only because of you. You are traitors to the state, you are traitors to the state. You are traitors to the state. Bibi, go Bibi, Ben Gvir is the cure for you." The protester made these statements undisturbed by the officers who were present.  

  
  

  The police stated: "We view violence of any kind with utmost severity, whether directed at protesters or anyone else. We will continue to act against anyone who behaves violently and thuggishly."

  
  

  Meanwhile, there were also verbal clashes inside the Knesset building between the families of the captives and Likud MKs. Ila Metzger, daughter-in-law of captive Yoram Metzger, lashed out at the MKs: "You should be ashamed, their blood is on your hands. Where else can I speak? To the wall? What more can I say and do to shake your heart?"

  
  

  Einav Tzengeauker, mother of captive Matan, spoke with Defense Minister Gantz and told him: "You need to bring the captives home. It's impossible, you know as well as I do the intelligence picture, that the number of them alive is dwindling. We can't wait until they all die. I won't accept that Matan was captured alive, alive in the Strip in captivity, and you abandon him to die. So I support you on the brave step you said about the prime minister and the conduct in the cabinet, but I need more than that. There's no time for these political shenanigans. How much longer do we wait, Minister Gantz? Years? Prepare me, prepare me as Matan's mother, how long do I need to endure this torment, how long until I get to hug Matan in my arms? How long? I'm begging for my child's life and I'm not willing for the government of Israel, which has abandoned him and he is still abandoned with other hostages in captivity, not to come home. It is inconceivable that you want to crush Rafah, to conquer Rafah, what have you done for three months? Depleted forces? Why?"

  
  

  Gantz replied to her: "I am trying to make every effort and I will say it again, every effort, in every forum. I cannot talk about everything but I am committed to this mission."  link  

  

• IDF and Shin Bet reveal: How the bodies of the abducted were rescued from a tunnel in Jabaliya: More details on the daring operation: A combat team from Battalion 202 fought for three days. After the tunnel shaft was located, Yahalom fighters entered it in a night operation, engaged in combat - and rescued the bodies of Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin and Yitzchak Galarenter from an underground compound in Jabaliya, in an operation by the IDF and Shin Bet under the command of Brigade 98. 
  
  The bodies were rescued during a night operation involving a combat team from Battalion 202, Yahalom fighters and Unit 504. According to the IDF and Shin Bet, "The intelligence and collection effort was led by the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the Prisoners and MIAs Department of the Intelligence Directorate together with other IDF units. The effort lasted several months and included intelligence collection and analysis of intelligence indications into a single picture."
  
  "During the fighting of the Paratroopers Brigade's combat team in the heart of Jabaliya, fighters from Battalion 202's combat team fought in the area of the search for three days of intense combat. In a joint operation, paratroopers and Shin Bet fighters scanned a suspicious building where the tunnel shaft was located. After finding the shaft, Yahalom fighters entered the underground route in a night operation and engaged in combat inside, neutralized barricades and located ammunition and several combat means while using unique technologies. During the progress of the fighting, Yahalom fighters together with Shin Bet forces and Unit 504 located the bodies of the hostages and rescued them from the underground compound." 
  
  "Alongside the operational effort, the Prisoners and MIAs team in the Manpower Directorate, which is responsible for accompanying the families of the hostages, worked together with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police to identify the abducted and deliver the notifications to the families. The IDF and security forces will continue to act for the return of the abducted and bring them home."
  
  Battalion 202 Commander Lt. Col. Almog said: "During the attack, one of the battalion's companies, whose area it was, found a shaft inside a building and after the arrival of special forces who entered inside to investigate the shaft, they actually found four bodies of abducted people, whom we brought home for burial. We are so proud to carry out the mission and bring those abducted for burial in Israel."
  
  The Yahalom force commander who rescued the bodies of the hostages, Major A., said that "on the night of Saturday we led a special operation to rescue the four bodies of the hostages. From the moment the shaft was located in the field, the force neutralized the explosives scene by detection and entered combat in the tunnel route. During the underground fighting, thorough scanning, advanced terrain analysis and the force's operational experience, we had the privilege of locating, rescuing and leading the removal of the bodies for proper burial on the soil of the State of Israel."
  
  Lieutenant H., head of a research team in the Prisoners and MIAs Department of the Intelligence Directorate, described the work of gathering information: "For months, we at the Prisoners Headquarters have been collecting intelligence and analyzing countless indications into a single picture. After the complex intelligence work, we maintained continuous and close communication with the IDF forces maneuvering in Gaza to direct them to the precise location that the intelligence and analysis revealed."
  
  Brig. Gen. (res.) Magi Noiberg, commander of the Prisoners and MIAs Command Center, said: "Each family is accompanied closely by a liaison officer. At the end of the week, upon receiving the update on the initial identification, we acted in full cooperation with the entire command center team together with the Israel Police and the Institute of Forensic Medicine in preparing and briefing the teams to update the families. The mission was to be the first to arrive at the doorsteps of the family members with the most official and reliable information."
  
  The four were murdered on October 7, and their bodies were abducted and held by Hamas. On Friday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagri announced the return of three bodies, and the day before yesterday he updated that another body had been returned - that of the hostage Ron Benjamin. link
  
  

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday rejected proposals by Israeli negotiators for renewing indirect talks with Hamas for a hostage release deal, according to reports by major Israeli networks on Sunday.

  The reports on Kan and Channels 12 and 13 said Netanyahu shot down the suggestions and upbraided the negotiating team, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and IDF general Nitzan Alon, telling them “this is not how to run negotiations.”

  Channel 12 reported that negotiators suggested drafting a new offer to present to the terror group that would address its desire for “sustained calm” in any deal. According to Kan, Netanyahu said: “All these proposals will lead to an end to the war. We tried and made significant overtures. Hamas rejected everything.”

  Channel 12 quoted war cabinet minister Benny Gantz as retorting: “It is apparent you are unhappy with [the negotiators’] work. If that is so, replace them and bring someone you trust and believe in.”

  When Netanyahu responded that he “will not agree to any proposal that ends the war,” Gantz’s fellow party member, minister Gadi Eisenkot, was quoted as saying: “No one here wants to stop the war, but your position does not allow us to bring back the hostages. You’re not leaving the team with any possible path toward reaching a deal.”

  A minister in the war cabinet told Kan, “After yesterday’s meeting it has become clearer that Netanyahu doesn’t want a deal” while others present said, “We saw the despair in the eyes of Nitzan Alon and his senior aide after the meeting. They seem to have come to a final realization that there will be no deal.”  link  -- Gadi Eisenkot said what I have been saying as well as so many others, Netanyahu has refused to enable the negotiating team to reach a deal. The only way to get the hostages home is with a deal and Hamas will not make any deal that does not include an end to the war. Netanyahu knows that but won't risk his coalition and the hostages will pay with their lives. 

Gaza 

• The IDF spokesman said that the forces of the 98th Division are fighting vigorously in Jabaliya, along with the combat teams of the 7th, 460th Brigades and paratroopers who are participating in the divisional attack. According to the army, so far more than 200 terrorists have been eliminated and terrorist infrastructure and underground tunnels have been destroyed from the ground and from the air.

  
  

  The IDF also stated that in the center of the Gaza Strip, Division 99 forces are conducting targeted raids on enemy infrastructure. At the same time, they are operating in a defensive battle in the area of ​​the central Gaza corridor, this after completing a divisional operation in the Zeyton area last week in which they eliminated terrorists in face-to-face encounters.

  
  

  In Rafah, the forces of Division 162 deepen the fighting in the space above and below the ground. The fighters of the Givati, 401, Commando and 12th Brigades raid terrorist infrastructures, locate many weapons including launchers and explosives, and eliminate terrorists in the area. According to IDF data, so far the forces have eliminated over 130 terrorists there. The army estimates that approximately 950,000 Gaza residents have already evacuated from Rafah to Moasi, to shelters in the sea area and to the central camps.

  
  

• The Central Stage of the Operation: The IDF Prepares to Take Control of Rafah:
  The IDF is preparing to take control of the southern city and deal with Hamas' headquarters and tunnels. Among the tunnels: those under the city of Rafah – and those that crossed into the Sinai Peninsula. The goal of dealing with the tunnels: Stopping Hamas' lifeline. In parallel, fighting continues in several hotspots in the Strip - hundreds of militants have been eliminated. The operation to retrieve the bodies of the captives last week: Intelligence information led the forces to the underground transit area, where 4 bodies were located.
  The IDF's advance into Rafah continues today (Monday), and within a short time, although it's not clear exactly when, it will face the central and final stage - taking control of the city of Rafah. The goal of taking control - dealing with Hamas' headquarters and tunnels.
  The IDF intends to reach all of Hamas' headquarters and all of the terror organization's positions. In effect, the army is set to deal with Hamas' headquarters and tunnels, both those under the city - and those that crossed into the Sinai Peninsula. The expectation is that when the IDF controls the Rafah crossing, together with dealing with the tunnels, this will lead to stopping Hamas' oxygen supply.  Controlling the Rafah crossing and dealing with the tunnels are meant to constitute an important component in the military pressure to try and advance a deal for the release of captives, and the assessment is that this will take a few weeks. So far, about 950,000 residents have left Rafah, and this figure was also presented to Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor of the United States who is visiting Israel. Presenting the data also assists in explaining the Israeli position on the necessity of the operation in Rafah to the Americans. 
  Against the backdrop of continued activity in Rafah and the central camps, it was reported this evening that behind last week's operation to locate the bodies of the hostages was primarily intelligence information and very precise terrain analysis. The information led the forces to the underground transit area and indicated that there were bodies of hostages at the site.
  In addition, an IDF spokesperson updated this morning that in a joint activity of the IDF and Shin Bet, Hamas military operatives who also served as senior officials in the terror organization's police force were eliminated. Yesterday, using an aircraft from the Air Force, the militant Zaher Huli, known as "Abu Hamas", who served as a senior official in Hamas' police in the central camps, was eliminated. Zaher maintained contacts with other militants from the organization - and promoted terror plots against the Israeli home front. link

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah

• Cell of militants, weapons cache and launch site: Video of attacks on Hezbollah terror targets. The IDF struck a cell of Hezbollah militants in Mais al-Jabal - the militants were at a launch site from which launches towards Israel were identified in recent days. Earlier today, the Air Force struck a cache of weapons and a military compound belonging to the organization in Anqoura in southern Lebanon. 

  
  

• "Unbearable reality": Escalation on the northern border - hundreds of sirens since the start of the operation in Rafah
  In the two weeks since the IDF began operating in Rafah, about 800 sirens have sounded in northern communities - 5 times more than in the period before that. The escalation has peaked in recent days, with about 130 sirens sounding per day. The line of conflict in the north is the area where the most sirens have been heard since the outbreak of the war. "The war against Hezbollah is intensifying week by week," said the head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council.
  
  In recent days, there has been a significant escalation on the northern border, and in the last 4 days about 450 sirens have sounded following Hezbollah activity - a jump of hundreds of percent compared to the months before. The escalation began about two weeks ago, with the start of the operation in Rafah, and peaked in recent days. "The reality in the north is unbearable. A reality of sirens, missiles, interceptions and fires," Giora Zaltz, head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, told N12.
  
  Since the start of the operation in Rafah, 845 sirens have sounded in northern communities - an average of 60 sirens per day. In the two weeks prior, an average of 14 sirens per day were heard, and in the month before that about 25 sirens per day. In recent days, the number of sirens in the area of the line of conflict in the north has surpassed the number of sirens in the Gaza vicinity since the start of the war, thus becoming the area where the most sirens have been heard in the country. Since the start of the war, 3,533 sirens have sounded in the north, and 3,289 in the Gaza vicinity.
  
  "The war against Hezbollah is intensifying week by week in terms of the scope of ammunition and its type, and the distance from the border where the attacks are taking place, in direct relation to the IDF's activity in the south and north," Zaltz said. "The population in the north is living within a combat zone. In our council there are 5 schools and 80 kindergartens that are active, and most do not have proper fortification. Children lie on the floor and cover their heads with their hands." link
  

West Bank

• Security forces arrested 15 wanted suspects for terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria overnight.  Since the start of the war, around 4,000 wanted suspects have been arrested throughout Judea and Samaria and in the Beka'a and Valleys Brigade, around 1,700 of them affiliated with Hamas.

Politics and the Region

• Today with the announcement by the head prosecutor of the ICC in the Hague that he plans to request arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant, Netanyahu went in front of the cameras for the news in a statement attacking the arrest warrants. He has refused to go in front of the Israeli news cameras for a few months to talk about the war, the hostages or his responsibility for the war but when it comes to something that happens to him personally, he doesn't hesitate.
  
  

• US President Joe Biden calls the decision by International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Kahn to pursue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “outrageous.”

  Kahn also asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.

  “Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” Biden says in a statement.  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration “fundamentally rejects” Khan’s decision. “We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” Blinken says in his own statement. The secretary of state reiterates the long-held US stance that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in no small part due to the fact that Israel — and the US — are not members of the court.

  “The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here, amid the prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants, rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed,” Blinken says.  “In other situations, the prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel,” he continues.  “There are also deeply troubling process questions,” Blinken says.

  “Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the prosecutor. In fact, the prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli government. The prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges.”

  “These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.”  “Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly,” Blinken warns.  link  Neither the US or Israel are members of the ICC and Israel does not recognize their authority over Israel, the West Bank or Gaza. However, 124 countries are members and if arrest warrants are issued, which means that Netanyahu and Galant would not be able to travel to any of those countries as they would be arrested and extradited to the Hague to stand trial. Diplomatic Immunity plays no role for ICC arrest warrants and trials.  The ICC prosecutor was supposed to send an investigation team to Israel and were going to arrive in Israel today. At the last minute, their travel was cancelled and the prosecutor made his announcements today. There are many who are saying that there is a competition between the ICC and ICJ which is supposed to rule on the Gaza war any now and may put out a non-binding order for Israel to stop the war immediately.  Those talking about the competition see the prosecutor's announcement as beathing out the IJC ruling. 

    

Acronyms and Glossary

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague

IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague

UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission

PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen

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