🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 257, 2023 - June 19, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 257 that 120 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

*9:30pm last night- north - rockets/ missiles Beit Hillel, Kiryat Shemona

*10:00pm last night - north - rockets/missiles Kibbutz Sasa, Western Galilee

*6:10am- south- hostile aircraft Sufa, Nir Yitzhak, Gaza border communities - first time since November 2023

*7:35am- north- hostile aircraft Western Galilee, Golan

*8:00am- north- hostile aircraft Western Galilee, Golan

*9:30am- north- rockets/missiles- Batzet, Shlomi

*10:30am - south- rockets Kerem Shalom, Gaza Border communities

*11:10am- south - rockets Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Gaza Border Communities

*2:00pm - north- rockets/missiles -Tel Hai, Margaliot, Kiryat Shemona    

*2:00pm- south - rockets - Kerem Shalom

*2:05pm- north - rockets/missiles - Kiryat Shemona, Tel Hai, Kfar Giladi, Misgav Am

*2:30pm- north - rockets/missiles- Kiryat Shemona, Margaliot

Hostage Updates 

• I am furious, frustrated and horrified that there is not a single article in any of the Israeli news platforms about the hostages. Nothing about a deal, the latest 'Netanyahu' proposal/Biden proposal. Nothing about negotiations, the negotiating teams, the negotiating partners: Egypt and Qatar, nothing about sending any teams to meet anywhere. Nothing, nothing, nothing! The news has been taken up with Netanyahu's coalition crisis (one of many that he constantly has) due to his desire to appease yet another coalition partner with 100's of public jobs, costing millions of shekels per year and reducing the strength of local mayor and council heads. And it has nothing to do with the war or the hostages but that is what he has been dedicating his time and energy to. Nothing about the hostages from anyone!

• Arrived with a T-shirt about abductees at the court - the security guard banned him from entering: "It's propaganda" Ofek was not allowed to enter the Supreme Court hearing with a shirt that said "Bring Them All Back Now" • The security guard demanded that he turn his shirt inside out • Ofek to N12: "A poisonous campaign turned the abductees into a political issue"

  Ofek Balmeker arrived yesterday (Tuesday) at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem to watch the hearing on the petition against the "Ben Gvir Law." However, the security guard at the entrance did not allow him to enter the hall, claiming that he was wearing a "propaganda shirt." In order to enter the hearing, Balmeker was forced to turn his shirt inside out so that the inscription on it, "Bring Them All Back Now," would not appear.

  "The first guard didn't make any problems, but the second guard told me 'you can't come in with propaganda materials,'" Balmeker recounted in a conversation with N12. "I answered him: The Knesset Guard allows entry with this. He replied 'we're not the Knesset Guard' and I was required to turn the shirt inside out." Balmeker added: "The fact that he turned it into a political issue, that under a poisonous campaign - the hostages became a political issue, that's the saddest thing there is. How did bringing back the abductees become the propaganda of one side? An absurd situation." No response was received from the court administration.  link This has been a deliberate and directed campaign by the extreme right and not a few Likud Knesset members/ministers and functionaries. They view the pressure from the demonstrations and the families of Hostages as negative to their political goals and Netanyahu, so they turned the issue political and the supporters of the hostages' families and demands for a deal to get the hostages home have become traitors in their eyes. After years of Netanyahu using the term 'leftist' as a derogatory term, a curse word in their vocabulary and equating leftists as 'them', the traitors, they now equate the families and supporters as leftists. It's hard to get more disgusting than that. They are the ones who are responsible for the failure and massacre of October 7. They abandoned the southern border communities and have continued to do so since and add insult to injury with their statements, behavior and actions against the hostages' families. To see that it has reached the Supreme Court is an outrage.

• If the Captive Before the UN Investigating Committee: "You Ignored the Sexual Assaults in Captivity"

  A week after the UN's independent international commission of inquiry accused Israel of sexual violence during the war, Romi's mother, Miriam Leshem Gonen, spoke at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "Released hostages bravely shared what they went through," the mother said. "Their testimonies should have been the basis for an investigation and confirmation of their occurrence."

  Miriam Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi (23) who has been held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 257 days, harshly attacked the UN's independent international commission of inquiry today (Wednesday), which accused Israel, among other things, of sexual violence during the war. "I am here today not only as a mother, but also as a voice for women who have suffered inconceivable suffering and whose pain is not recognized," Leshem Gonen said. "When women's bodies serve as a political tool, when their dignity is cast aside because they are not on the 'right side', it is a mark of shame for all of us."

  The commission of inquiry convened at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to present its report accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including, as mentioned, sexual offenses. Israel usually tends to ignore the council's biased discussions against it, but this time it was decided to take advantage of the response time to the report through a speech by the hostage's mother. This is the first time a representative of a hostage's family has spoken at a formal UN discussion for an extended period of five minutes.

  At the beginning of her remarks, Leshem Gonen recounted the day of her daughter's abduction on October 7: "Romi was abducted by Hamas terrorists. In an attempt to flee from their murderous hands, she was shot while riding in a car with three other youths. As the sole survivor, she was cruelly dragged by her long, beautiful hair from the car, along the road. I witnessed this reality in real-time as I spoke to her on the phone, hearing her helplessness and frustration without being able to help my little girl."

  Later in her speech, the hostage's mother addressed the report's disregard for sexual violence against women held hostage by Hamas: "Since October 7, the world has been grappling with the grim reality of the sexual violence that occurred on the day of the attack and during the captivity. Yet, despite horrifying testimonies from survivors, a comprehensive report by the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, and allegations of sexual violence and rape in international courts, the report of the commission of inquiry failed to properly address these allegations.

  "The latest report of the commission of inquiry diminishes the gravity of the sexual violence experienced by women in captivity by reducing their suffering to merely 'parading women as prizes'. The oversimplification and dismissive attitude towards their suffering is not only deeply insensitive but also indicative of a broader problem: an unwillingness to confront uncomfortable truths and a shocking decision to avert one's gaze and refuse to lend a hand to the helpless."

  Leshem Gonen went on to say: "Released hostages like Amit Sosner, Agam Goldstein Almog, and Aviva Segal bravely shared what they endured. Their first-hand testimonies should have been the basis for an investigation and confirmation of their occurrence. Instead, the report ignored their words. The international community must not allow political considerations to override our core human values."  

  "Energy and resources must be directed toward ensuring the release of captives and the rehabilitation of victims. We owe it to all the hostages still held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza to do everything in our power to secure their immediate release. I owe this to Romi – and so does the international community. Romi has a father, two sisters, and two brothers who have dedicated their entire lives over the past 257 days to her release. This holds true for all 120 hostages still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, without any proper information about their conditions, health, or status."

  The hostage's mother added: "The forced disappearances of hostages by Hamas constitute cruel and inhuman treatment towards both the hostages and their families – this reality was completely ignored by the commission of inquiry. I remember that last conversation with Romi on that fateful morning – she was distraught, and I felt utterly helpless as I listened to her suffering. 23-year-old girls should not be abducted. No one should.

  "We need to be on the same side – the side that fights against taking captives, we must never allow the use of young women as a bargaining tool. I hope my Romi still believes in the free world, still believes in us, and still believes that together we will bring an end to the nightmare she finds herself in. I believe we can do more for them. We can do better for them. The hostages need us, the world needs them. Please help me hug my daughter again."  link

Gaza 

• A UN official says the agency responsible for most of the aid distribution in Gaza is still unable to use a route introduced by the IDF to help humanitarian goods flow into the Strip.

The official says the agency, known as UNRWA, tried to send a convoy of aid trucks down the route today after canceling its convoy yesterday because of what it termed as persistent law and order concerns. However, Palestinians took goods from most of the trucks along the way and today’s convoy had to stand down, the official says, speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to discuss with the media the movement of aid along the newly declared route.

The UN official also disputes an Israeli claim that aid groups no longer need to coordinate their use of the route, asserting that coordination is still necessary because the area remains an active combat zone.

Aid groups contend that Israeli inspections, ongoing fighting and desperate residents taking cargo has paralyzed aid delivery to Gaza’s south. Israel blames the UN and other aid agencies for not ramping up their ability to deliver the backlog of aid.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of facilitating aid into the territory, has said 62 commercial trucks used the designated corridor yesterday. The commercial trucks are operated separately from UN-run aid convoys. COGAT has declined to say who is handling the commercial trucking operations.  -- Israel as the army occupying Gaza is the body that is responsible for the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. If we had put in place an alternative Palestinian governing body, they could have borne responsibility, but Netanyahu refused.

• Egyptian source pushes back at ‘completely untrue’ report that Cairo could deploy troops to Gaza

  A “high-ranking” Egyptian source pushes back on an earlier report that Cairo is willing to send troops to the Gaza Strip for a limited period of time after a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. The source tells the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet that the reports are “totally and completely untrue.”  Egypt’s position is to not send any troops to Gaza in any form, stresses the high-ranking source, and will remain so in the future.

  The previous report in the newspaper had indicated that Egyptian Army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Osama Askar told his Israeli counterpart and the US Central Command head that Egyptian troops operating under the UN would secure the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing as well as the other crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel and some points along the Gazan coast, but would not be present inside cities and residential areas. 

• A senior military official told The Washington Post that the IDF operates extensively on the Philadelphia route and since the beginning of May there has been no smugglings from Egypt, but according to estimates, about 20 tunnels remain. According to him, Egypt is informed before any activity on the axis, and the fighting is conducted "at a high intensity " - after Hamas "studied the IDF for months". —I have a real problem accepting the statement that there is no smuggling when, in his next statement he tells that about 20 tunnels have still not been found  if they estimate 20 tunnels, there are probably more. Prior to the war, Egypt had claimed to destroying about 1500 tunnels. If we assume that this was true, I find it hard to believe that only about 20 tunnels remain. Even if we give the benefit of the doubt, if there are are still around 20 tunnels, how can there be any certainty that there is no smuggling  
  
  

• Cairo reportedly announced its willingness to deploy its forces in the Gaza Strip for a limited period of time after a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces at the end of Israel’s war with Hamas, according to Egyptian sources quoted by the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper.

  Egyptian troops operating under the UN would secure the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing as well as the other crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel and some points along the Gazan coast, but would not be present inside cities and residential areas, the report specifies.

  Their deployment would cover the transitional phase between the full withdrawal of Israeli forces and the establishment of a Palestinian administration in the Strip. Cairo’s military presence in postwar Gaza is said to have been discussed on the sidelines of a meeting that was reportedly convened in Bahrain last week between IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and senior generals from several Arab countries under the auspices of US CENTCOM.

  According to a Western diplomatic source quoted by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a tripartite meeting was held between Halevi, Egyptian Army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Osama Askar, and the commander of the US Central Command, Michael Kurilla.

  The three main topics of discussion at the wider meeting, according to the Qatari outlet, were the need for a speedy halt to the war in Gaza; the activation of an early warning system against drones and ballistic missiles fired by Iran and its regional proxies; and securing maritime trade in the Red Sea from the Houthis.

  Regarding the first point, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quotes an Egyptian source saying that the Israeli army and the US administration have expressed a common goal to wrap up the war as soon as possible, even if political decision-makers in Israel do not agree.

  As for the Iranian threat, Cairo has reportedly decided to stay out of a regional military alliance to counter Tehran, in light of ongoing consultations for a possible diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries.

• Families of IDF surveillance soldiers killed on the Nahal Oz military base during the October 7 Hamas terror assault announce that they have established a joint forum to expose the military failures that led to their children’s deaths.

  In a statement to the press, the forum, which has named itself “Their Voice – the surveillance soldier families forum,” pledges to fight for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into October 7, insisting that those behind the failures that led to the largest terror attack in Israel’s history to be brought to justice.

  Sixty-six soldiers were killed in the Nahal Oz base, of whom 15 were surveillance soldiers — a position held almost exclusively by women. Five surveillance soldiers are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

  The forum says it is demanding “that the neglect at the Nahal Oz outpost, which led to their deaths, be specifically investigated by the commission of inquiry that will be established,” and warns that the families “will not agree that resigning absolves those responsible.”

• The IDF publishes footage showing a strike on a group of gunmen gathered outside what it says is a humanitarian aid warehouse in southern Gaza's Rafah. The gunmen were spotted by troops operating under the Negev Brigade, who then called in an airstrike, the army says. video

• Islamic Jihad sniper cell commander eliminated in IDF strike, Gaza operational activities continue

  The IDF has eliminated insurgents and carried out precision strikes on armed terrorists over the last day. An IDF fighter jet, operating at the direction of troops on the ground, eliminated the commander of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper cell, the IDF said on Tuesday morning.

  Ground troops also identified and eliminated a terrorist cell advancing on their position. Separately, in the Rafah area, IDF soldiers continued operational activities, eliminating terrorists in several close-quarters engagements, the IDF added. In one such encounter, the military reported that Israeli troops identified two terrorists with an explosive device. An aircraft subsequently targeted and killed the insurgents. In Tel al-Sultan, fighters of the 401st Brigade's combat team encountered three armed terrorists. After liaising with the Israeli Air Force, a jet successfully struck the terrorists and eliminated them, the IDF added.

  Immediately after, the forces entered the buildings the terrorists had come from and cleared them. Separately, fighters eliminated terrorists who fired rockets and mortar bombs at the troops, and discovered an arsenal of grenades, weapons and short-range anti-tank missiles in the area. link 

  

• "The Largest Number of Tunnels I've Seen": A Ynet Reporter with the Fighters, in Hamas' Last Stronghold

  
  

  Since 2005, there have been no Israeli journalists in Rafah, but the IDF understands that the legitimacy to continue depends also on public perception. The Nahal Brigade commander, Col. Yair Zuckerman, leads the tour, exposes detected tunnels, explains that there is no way around staying in the Philadelphi corridor, and talks about the challenge of fortified houses. As the son of a rabbi, he has something to say about the issue of equality in the burden as well.

  
  

  The meeting with the Nahal Brigade commander takes place in the NPK neighborhood in Rafah, which was conquered by the IDF above and below ground. This neighborhood contains the most complex tunnel route uncovered so far in the Strip.  

  
  

  On the walls of the house, veteran fighters have drawn calendars with markers, counting the days since they began fighting until their expected release, if it comes, of course, as Order 8 (emergency call-up) is always an option these days of manpower distress. The brigade commander, Col. Yair Zuckerman – who began the war as the deputy commander of the 162nd Armored Division and stepped into the shoes of the late Col. Yehonatan Steinberg, who fell in battles around Gaza on October 7 – does not need a calendar to remember how long he has been in the field: since leaving his home in Ramat HaGolan on that fateful Saturday and rushing into battle – he has not returned. It is doubtful that he will see it again soon. He saw his family last weekend at an IDF base near the border. Col. Zuckerman was chosen to lead the first entry of Israeli journalists into Rafah, 42 days after the start of the operation in Hamas' last stronghold. Since 2005, the year of the Disengagement, there have been no reporters here with blue (Israeli) identification cards. It is no coincidence that Zuckerman was given a window in his tight mission schedule for this purpose: the IDF understands that the ability to continue the war in its current format also depends on public perception: to expose the achievements so far in order to deal with criticism. Our entry there was intended to show what has been done, what still needs to be done, and also what can wait until after achieving an agreement for the return of the hostages.

  

  
  

  
  

  The entry into Rafah is carried out from Kerem Shalom, on the IDF's new and light APC, which has been integrated into the Nahal Brigade. The wheels give it speed and advanced technology. The air conditioning is excellent, a fact that the fighters are very pleased with in the Rafah heat wave. The direct encounter with them, without commanders or IDF Spokesperson representatives, is encouraging and heartwarming: their motivation is still high. It is based on a deep understanding of the importance of the missions: the return of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas.

  
  

  Operationally, it is evident that the intensity of the fighting is lower than what we have seen on other occasions, for example in the activity of the Givati Brigade in Gaza City, near Shifa Hospital. Accordingly, the level of destruction in the Rafah neighborhoods is smaller. Col. Zuckerman admits that the extent of ammunition use has decreased compared to the first two months of the war, but emphasizes that this is no evidence that anyone is making life easier for the terrorists. "It's okay to manage ammunition consumption and it's also professionally correct," he says, "but let it be clear: there has not been a case where I requested air support and did not receive it, and there is no platoon commander who needs to fire a shell at a house and does not do so. True, we are not employing all our firepower, but what I need – I get."

  

  
  

  
  

  From the outset, the operation in Rafah has been slower than planned because the maneuver is being carried out by only one division instead of the two that were supposed to be here according to the original plan. American pressure to act cautiously toward the civilian population led to only the 162nd Division carrying out the Rafah mission, while the 98th Division was diverted to other channels – such as the critical assistance in the success of the operation to release the four captives in the Nuseirat camp. Four brigades – Nahal, Givati, 401st, and the Commando Brigade – are operating while maintaining a rotation among the battalions, "in order to maintain endurance," according to Zuckerman. He notes the caution along the Egyptian border: apart from an exchange of fire between an Egyptian policeman and IDF soldiers, no unusual incidents were recorded.

  
  

  Along with the limitations imposed by the political echelon, the pace of the operation is dictated by the tunnel problem. In Rafah, it becomes clear how much we did not understand the magnitude of the event. "The number of tunnels in this area is the largest I have seen in the Strip," says Zuckerman. "It is not right to skip over them. We need to deal with them now, while we are here. Hamas is waging a battle above and below ground with cameras they planted inside houses and explosives they smuggled into rooms." The latest charge the forces encountered was hidden inside a shoe cabinet. It was very difficult to locate.

  
  

  Another threat is booby trapped houses, which were prepared in advance for the entry of forces. Hamas, contrary to the image that some officers try to portray, is an organization that learns even under the immense pressure of the IDF's war machine. The house booby traps seem to be part of the lessons learned from the IDF's activity in other parts of the Strip. Nevertheless, the army claims that out of the four famous Rafah battalions, only two remain, and dismantling them is expected to take several weeks. The current estimates are that many of the militants who were embedded here have abandoned their positions and moved towards Khan Yunis. Some fled to the humanitarian shelters near the sea.

  
  

  We arrive at the Philadelphi corridor, a critical point in the struggle against Hamas and a trauma-filled arena for the IDF. The fighters are here again to cut off Hamas' oxygen supply, namely the smuggling route from Egypt to the Strip. "In Gaza, they don't manufacture Kalashnikovs, and standard TNT is also not available in the Strip, so it's clear that it came through the tunnels," says Zuckerman. So far, 22 tunnel shafts have been located, and the investigation continues into how far they reached on the Egyptian side. At the top of the IDF, they believe there is no choice but to continue holding the Philadelphi corridor, both as leverage on Hamas and to prevent smuggling. "It can't be done only from the air," says Zuckerman, "we need to sit along the corridor in one configuration or another." According to him, nothing less than a brigade is required for this. In the meantime, Zuckerman is required not only to deal with the weather challenges, which he is addressing by installing a fan in every house and distributing ice, but also the unprecedented mental challenges of the fighters. He says he brought a forward mental health officer into the brigade to provide real-time assistance and minimize as much as possible any mental injuries that could turn into scars that won't heal. He is also pleased with the percentage of wounded who have returned to fight side by side with their comrades.

  
  

  But it turns out that the issue of equality in the burden does not stop at the Gaza border: the brigade commander, the son of Rabbi Yehoshua Zuckerman, believes that ultra-Orthodox men who do not study in yeshiva should be drafted. "Without addressing the political issue," he says, "I grew up in a home of Torah, which saw the connection to the Zionist idea and military service as an opportunity, not a contradiction. We were raised on the need for self-sacrifice for the continuity of the people of Israel in its land. Without detracting from the importance of Torah study, it is appropriate that anyone living in the state should be a full partner and see military service as a right."

  
  

  "But," he adds, "I believe that partnership with the ultra-Orthodox, or with other populations that do not serve, will only come from choice, willingness, and internal unity. Not by force. To swear allegiance means to give trust, and this is a mutual matter. You give trust and receive trust, and from that, you are a part. Belonging is a choice."

  
  

  At the end of the conversation, we leave the house and get on an open Hummer. If ten years ago you had told Zuckerman that the moment would come when an Israeli journalist would ride in the lightest vehicle the IDF has towards the Gaza sea, without heavy vehicles in front and behind, he would have sent you for an urgent evaluation. In the background, the echoes of distant explosions are heard, with buildings bearing inscriptions of IDF units around. A pleasant afternoon breeze blows between the borders of Israel, Egypt, and Gaza. On the horizon, we see ships of the Egyptian and Israeli navies, facing each other. A number of plastic chairs are scattered on the beach. One of the officers says that a commanders' meeting took place here at night. Only a guitar is missing.  link

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah

• 43% of the residents of Kiryat Shemona have stated that they will not be returning to the city once the government/army allows residents to return. This is a set back of 40 years to the northern city.
  
  

• Hezbollah took responsibility for "launching a swarm of attack UAVs towards Metula", after the head of the council, David Azoulai, reported earlier on injuries and damage caused to vehicles. According to the terrorist organization, this is a response to the "Israeli aggression in Al-Bergalia" from yesterday.
  The head of the Metulla Council, David Azoulai, was informed about the infiltration of hostile aircraft Western Galilee that "three UAVs fell in Metulla". According to him, "there is damage to the vehicles, there are no casualties".

• A Syrian officer was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike this morning in southern Syria, the state-run SANA news agency reports.

  Citing a military source, SANA says two Syrian military sites in Quneitra and Daraa were targeted by Israeli drones. The strikes also caused “material losses,” the report adds. There is no comment from the IDF on the alleged strike. 

• Overnight, a drone strike was carried out against a Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Yaroun, where the military says it identified a cell of operatives. At the same time, another strike was carried out against infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Baraachit, the IDF adds.

  Meanwhile, the military says an explosive-laden drone launched from Lebanon struck the Metula area this morning, causing no injuries. The IDF says another suspected drone was shot down by air defenses over the northern town of Sde Eliezer. No sirens sounded “according to protocol,” the military says. video

• Some 15 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Kiryat Shmona area earlier today, the military says. Hezbollah has taken responsibility for the attack.

  The IDF says some of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses, and it shelled the launch sites with artillery. Some of the rockets caused damage to property and sparked fires in Kiryat Shmona, authorities have said.

  Meanwhile, the IDF confirms carrying out a strike against a building in the Tyre area earlier today. According to the IDF , Hezbollah used the building in the coastal town of Borgholiyeh.  The IDF publishes footage footage of the strike.

• Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launching position in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab earlier today, the military says.  Jets also struck a building used by the terror group and infrastructure in Odaisseh and Ayta ash-Shab, the IDF add

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatens that if Israel opens a “total war” against the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon, the Jewish state must prepare for attacks from the ground, the air and the sea, and the “situation in the Mediterranean will change completely.”

  “No place” in Israel would be spared from the group’s weapons in case of a full-blown war, Nasrallah warns, saying Hezbollah will fight with “no rules” and “no ceilings” and adding: “The enemy knows well that we have prepared ourselves for the worst… and that no place… will be spared our rockets.”

  Nasrallah also threatens Cyprus for the first time, saying Hezbollah could consider it “a part of the war” and hit targets there if it allows the IDF to use logistical infrastructure in the country in case of a war.

  “Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” he says.

  Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate slain Hezbollah senior commander Taleb Abdullah, killed last week in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, Nasrallah threatens: “The enemy wants to intimidate us, but they are the ones who should be afraid.”

  “We will continue to support Gaza and we are ready for anything. We are not afraid. Our demand is clear: A complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” Nasrallah continues, arguing that the ceasefire agreement recently presented by US President Joe Biden to Hamas does not stipulate that the halt in fighting should be permanent.

  “However, every day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes out and says that a ceasefire is impossible,” Nasrallah claims. He takes a swipe at Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich, predicting that they will “drag the enemy [Israel] into the abyss.”

  After his speech, he addresses the families of fallen Hezbollah operatives and Lebanese citizens displaced from the country’s south, saying that the terror group has been conducting the “largest battle since 1948.”
  
  

  Following Hezbollah’s publication yesterday of footage allegedly filmed from one of its reconnaissance drones flying over northern Israel, its leader Hassan Nasrallah claims that the terror group has hours of such footage and of information about sensitive military targets inside Israel, including some that are located far from the northern border.

  Among such targets are military bases and headquarters located deep inside Israeli territory, some of which have been camouflaged but were uncovered by Hezbollah’s Hudhud (Hoopoe) drones, Nasrallah claims.

  The terror leader claims that Israeli military leaders have known since October 8 that some of these locations would be targeted, and yet not all of them have been evacuated.

  Among such targets, Nasrallah mentions the Mount Meron air traffic control base, which in his words represented an “aspirational target” in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and today is fully within reach of Hezbollah’s projectiles.

  He further claims that the terror group has developed and keeps manufacturing new missiles and drones, and that its human and military resources are larger than they have ever been.
  
  

  After Hezbollah aired drone footage over northern Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military “possess powerful capabilities that the enemy knows only a little about.”

  “Yesterday, Hezbollah released a video with a capability that we are familiar with, and we are preparing and building solutions to deal with such capabilities and other capabilities,” Halevi tells troops at an Iron Dome air defense battery in northern Israel.

  “We of course possess infinitely more powerful capabilities, which I think the enemy knows only a little about, and it will meet them when necessary at the right time,” he adds.

West Bank

•   Olive groves set alight on outskirts of Palestinian town in alleged settler attack

  Video footage of fires allegedly set by extremist settlers in the Palestinian town of Burin is published by the anti-settlement group Yesh Din. The footage shows smoke rising from olive groves on the outskirts of Burin as well as a car gutted by a still-burning fire inside the village.

  According to Yesh Din, 20 settlers left the Yitzhar settlement in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, entered Burin and set fire to the agricultural land and the car, and wounded several Palestinian residents while carrying out their attack.

  A police spokesperson for the northern West Bank region said she was unaware of the incident.  video Yitzhar, for years has been one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank. They have continually and relentlessly harassed and attacked Palestinian villages in the area. They have sent many people to the hospital and killed Palestinians residents of the villages. When the army or border police do come, they have been known to attack our security forces as well and civil rights volunteers from Israel and abroad who have been on site to protect the Palestinian farmers from the violent attacks by Yitzhar settlers. These attacks have also included attacks on Rabbis who have come to protect the farmers. It is a rare, if not unheard of situation that any of the settlers are arrested and it is even worse now that Ben Gvir is Minister of Internal Security and he has given instructions to the police to turn a blind eye to the settlers' violence.

Politics 

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited relatives of hostages killed in Gaza to a meeting at his home, several families tell AFP.

  “I was invited to meet the prime minister,” says Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

  In February, the army told Sharabi that his brother Yossi had been killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas. He says he will accept the invite.

  But a family member of a hostage who died in captivity tells AFP on condition of anonymity that she had declined the invitation.

  “He remembered a little late to invite us,” she says.

  Some of the dead captives’ families have previously accused Netanyahu of a lack of empathy towards them, whereas he rushed to meet hostages released by the army in an operation earlier this month, hailing their return and congratulating security forces.

  He will receive some of the mourning families on Thursday and another group on Sunday, the families say.  link If it wasn't for all the negative press, Netanyahu would continue to ignore the bereaved families. He only does the things that are politically worthy in his eyes.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responds to Netanyahu’s claim that the Biden administration is withholding weapons and ammunition transfers, insisting that only one shipment of heavy bombs has been withheld and that all remaining transfers are continuing.

  Earlier today, Netanyahu released an English-language video statement in which he called the US move “inconceivable” and revealed that Blinken had assured him in their meeting last week that the administration was working to remove these “bottlenecks.”

  Appearing at a Washington press conference alongside visiting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken is asked whether Netanyahu’s account was accurate.

  “We are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah. That remains under review,” Blinken responds. “But everything else is moving as it normally would move… with the perspective of making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity of challenges [it faces].”

  Pressed again to answer whether Netanyahu was telling the truth, Blinken responds, “I’m not going to talk about what we said in diplomatic conversations.”

• White House axes meeting with Israeli officials after Netanyahu claimed US withheld weapons – report

The White House has canceled a meeting with high-level Israeli officials that was scheduled to take place Thursday, Axios reports, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the US was withholding weapons shipments from Israel.

According to the report, the meeting was set to be a strategic dialogue on Iran, and would have been attended by officials from the Pentagon, the US State Department and intelligence agencies, along with their Israeli counterparts.

Following Netanyahu’s accusation that the US was “withholding weapons and ammunition” amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and the border skirmishes with Hezbollah in the north, however, the White House canceled the meeting.

Speaking to Axios, an unnamed US official said “This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts.”

The report adds that a planned meeting between Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan will go ahead unchanged, as will a visit to the US by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant next week.  -- It's about time that the US Administration lets Netanyahu know when his BS has gone too far (which should have been a very long time ago). Netanyahu thinks that he is teflon and because of the strong Republican support that he has curried at the expense of turning the support for Israel into a partisan issue when it had also had multi partisan support.  

• The White House denies a report that it canceled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials in protest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that Washington has been withholding weapons shipments from Israel.

  “As we said in the briefing yesterday, we have no idea what the prime minister is talking about, but that’s not a reason for rescheduling a meeting,” a White House official tells The Times of Israel.

  “We have been working to find a time to schedule the next SDG that accounts for the travel and availability of principals, but have not yet fully finalized the details so nothing has been canceled,” the official continues.

  “In the meantime, meetings with Israeli officials are being held throughout the week at expert and senior levels on a range of topics,” the official adds. 
  link There is no end to Netanyahu's politics. He is in the middle of a coalition crisis having nothing to do with the war or the US, so he looks for opportunities to divert attention
  
  

• US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts joins the growing list of Democratic lawmakers boycotting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s July 24 address to a joint session of Congress.

  Explaining her decision not to attend, Warren tells reporters that Netanyahu “has created a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

  “He has also made clear that he does not support US policy for a two-state solution that will let the people of Israel and Palestinians develop their own nation self-determination, live with dignity,” she adds, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

  Representative Ro Khanna, Representative Jim Clyburn and Senator Bernie Sanders have said in recent days that they would not be attending Netanyahu’s speech and they are expected to be joined by dozens of other progressive lawmakers.

https://www.ynet.co.il/blogs/gazawar257day#s1pmwjgur

The Region

• The US military says it has destroyed eight Houthi drones in Yemen and one over the Gulf of Aden in the past 24 hours. US Central Command says on the social media site X that there were no injuries or damage reported to US, coalition or merchant vessels in the incident.

• Ship sinks in Red Sea after being struck by Houthis in deadly attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A bulk carrier sank days after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels believed to have killed one mariner on board, authorities say, the second-such ship to be sunk in the rebel campaign.

The sinking of the Tutor in the Red Sea marks what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign targeting shipping through the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The attack comes despite a months-long US-led campaign in the region that has seen the Navy face its most-intense maritime fighting since World War II, with near-daily attacks targeting commercial vessels and warship.

The Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned-and-operated Tutor sank in the Red Sea, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center says in a warning to sailors in the region.

“Military authorities report maritime debris and oil sighted in the last reported location,” the UKMTO says. “The vessel is believed to have sunk.”

The Houthis do not immediately acknowledge the sinking. The US military as well does not immediately acknowledge the sinking.

The Tutor came under attack a week ago by a bomb-carrying Houthi drone boat in the Red Sea. John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Monday that the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.” The Philippines has yet to acknowledge the death, but the man who had been aboard the Tutor has been missing for over a week in the Red Sea, which faces intense summertime heat.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killing four sailors. They’ve seized one vessel and sunk two since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carried a load of fertilizer sank in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.

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

MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp

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

PMO- Prime Minister's Office

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

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