π️Lonny's War Update- October 285, 2023 - July 17, 2024 π️
π️Day 285 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!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*3:50pm yesterday - south - rockets Shlomit*6:55pm yesterday - north - rockets Misgav Am, Mrgaliot, Kiryat Shemona, Kfar Giladi, Tel Hai
*7:00pm yesterday - north - rockets - Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Manara, Margaliot, Kiryat Shemona, Tel Hai, Metulla, Maayan Baruch*7:25pm yesterday - north - rockets Beit Hillel7:55pm yesterday - north - rockets Tel Hai, Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Maayan Baruch, Misfav Am*10:25pm yesterday - north - Rockets Yaara, Kabri, Admit, Avdon, Neve Ziv, Arab al Aramsha*10:45pm yesterday - north - rockets Dovev, Sasa, Matat*2:25am - north - rockets Batzet, Shlomi, Leeman, Gesher Haziv, Haharia, Saar, Achziv Milo'ot, Metzuba, Ben Ami - more than 80 rockets were launched at the Western Galilee and beyond last night and in the early morning hours*10:50pm - south - rockets Kerem Shalom
*7:00pm yesterday - north - rockets - Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Manara, Margaliot, Kiryat Shemona, Tel Hai, Metulla, Maayan Baruch
Hostage Updates
The hostage families’ tent outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem has been subject to repeated acts of vandalism over the past few weeks, according to the Jerusalem branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Ofek Lugasi, an activist who often spends his nights in the encampment, tells The Times of Israel that he discovered last night that the air conditioning pipe had been cut through.
“This isn’t the first time that this has happened. There was another morning that we woke up and had to call the air conditioning repairman, as we did today,” he says.
“We feel that violence against the work of bringing back the hostages is escalating further and further,” says Tom Barkai, who heads the Forum’s Jerusalem branch. She adds that the lock to the families’ warehouse next to the tent was also broken last night.
Barkai notes that two weeks ago during a Saturday night hostages rally, someone cut the group’s loudspeaker cables, making it impossible for many participants to hear speeches by those onstage.
“It is important for us to point out that our struggle for the return of the hostages is the most important issue in our view, especially in these critical moments,” she continues. link This is a direct result of the politicization of the hostage issue by the right wing politicians who have made great efforts to present the hostages' families and supporters as left wing enemies. It is hard to get lower than this.
"The deal is good for Israel's security - despite its costs"
In addition to the fact that a hostage deal is a moral and existential imperative for the cohesion of Israeli society, it also has an important strategic contribution to our security and political status - in a way that justifies its heavy price. In the face of attempts by Netanyahu and ministers to undermine the negotiations, we must look reality in the eye and refute the arguments against a deal, one by one.
If Mohammed Deif was indeed eliminated in a targeted strike carried out by Israel near Khan Yunis, it is a significant achievement that deals Hamas a severe blow on a moral and military level. Still, the assassination does not solve the strategic challenges facing us. The operational achievement may allow for more flexibility in realizing a hostage deal, which beyond being a supreme moral duty, is also the right and necessary strategic move.
On October 7th, Israel abandoned its citizens' security to Hamas atrocities, in a searing intelligence and military failure, under leadership that tore the nation apart and damaged Israeli deterrence. As the hostages languish and are tortured in Gaza tunnels for over nine months, and time is running out for those of them who are still alive, the Jewish state faces a supreme moral imperative to bring about their release as soon as possible. Israeli citizens well understand the moral aspect and the life-saving nature of a hostage deal, as well as the costs involved, which will be difficult and painful. Nevertheless, they overwhelmingly support a deal (67% versus 15% who oppose).
In any case, a systematic analysis of the effects of the Biden-Netanyahu deal on the table shows that it serves our strategic goals in a way that justifies its costs. All senior defense officials, the Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the head of the Shin Bet agree that under current conditions, a deal that does not allow Hamas to negotiate indefinitely while holding the hostages - is within reach and is the main goal to strive for. This is due to Hamas's willingness to be flexible under sustained military pressure and the organization's understanding that Israel will not withdraw and that Gaza will remain a ruined and stricken area as long as hostages are held within it.
A deal is the order of the day not only on the supreme moral level of the state's commitment to its kidnapped citizens but also in terms of Israel's broader security and political interests. On the other hand, "dilution" or sabotage of the deal by the Prime Minister and the continuation of fighting without achievable goals and objectives, while wasting military achievements - will be much more than another abandonment of the hostages, and a deep break in the mutual responsibility of the people and the state's duty to protect its residents.
In the absence of a deal, fighting in the north will continue and the evacuation of evacuees from their homes will be prolonged; and the risks of a multi-front war of attrition will increase, risking a full-scale war with Hezbollah at a problematic timing, entanglement in a regional campaign involving Iran, and further damage to Israel's regional and international standing.
National resilience and internal cohesion
"Absolute victory" will not be achieved as long as there are hostages in Gaza. Israel is a strong country and the long campaign it has imposed on Hamas will eventually lead to its eradication. But as long as the hostages have not returned home, Israel will be accompanied by a heavy shadow, which will overshadow its ability to overcome the trauma of October 7th and restore social cohesion and national resilience.
Many find it difficult, and rightly so, with the fact that a hostage deal involves the release of murderers. But in the same breath, willingness to pay the price will convey a very important message to young people living here, to IDF soldiers and reservists, that Israel will make every effort, military and political, to free them if they fall into captivity. This is a vital message for security and motivation to enlist and serve the country. In addition, a pause and further reduction in reserve forces will allow accelerating the return of the economy and the market to functioning. On the other hand, the prolongation of the state of war in Gaza, despite the fact that it is essentially low-intensity military activity, will lead to severe damage to economic resilience - which is a critical component in readiness for a truly large war that may be imposed on Israel.
Finally, it is clear that the continuation of the war without end serves as a political excuse to avoid a variety of measures essential for national recovery and exit from the crisis pit: the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, changes in positions in the security and political system, and returning the mandate to the people following the failure.
A regional event, not a Gaza one
Some argue that the war must not be stopped before achieving the "absolute victory" promised by the Prime Minister. In reality, the IDF has greatly reduced its forces in Gaza compared to the beginning of the war, and the intense military activity in Rafah is facing conclusion in the absence of significant additional objectives and against the background of Hamas terrorist operatives choosing to avoid fighting and blend into the population.
The IDF's achievements in fighting, in one of the most complex arenas in the world, are impressive by all accounts. They have denied Hamas the ability to repeat the events of October 7th and allow dealing with the residual threat from the Strip through strong defense and attack. But the need for the army to return to Shuja'iyya and other neighborhoods in Gaza City: to Shati, Zeitoun, and even Shifa Hospital, to hit Hamas operating there to rebuild its forces, has again illustrated that the "absolute victory" supposedly waiting around the corner is an empty slogan, a false promise and throwing sand in the eyes. In practice, it is clear that Israel is facing many more years of fighting Hamas, mainly outside of Gaza inwards, through raids and standoff fire, but possibly also through another large-scale campaign. This is in parallel with vital efforts to gradually build an alternative to the organization within the Strip.
Moreover, the events in the north and against Iran in April illustrated that it is no longer an isolated Gaza event but a multi-arena regional campaign. In a complete view of the war arena, Gaza is only one part of the enemy system fighting us, with Iran at its head and alongside it Hezbollah and a variety of terrorist armies and militias from seven arenas. In these circumstances, a stop in the fighting in Gaza is needed for Israel to organize, debrief, replenish stocks and prepare for continued fighting in various arenas.
In addition, the deal allows reaching agreements with Egypt and the United States on closing smuggling routes from Sinai to the Strip on the Philadelphia Axis - a subject that is already, according to reports, in intensive discussions being held by the Shin Bet and IDF in Cairo, contrary to the denials of the Prime Minister's Office. It is important to agree in advance with the United States (in side understandings) and the regional system that preventing Hamas's build-up is a vital goal, that disarming the Strip is a non-negotiable condition for its rehabilitation, and that continued Hamas build-up will constitute a legitimate cause for Israel's return to fighting in Gaza.
And those worried that following the deal we will not be able to renew fire in the Strip in the future can "relax". As mentioned, Israel is facing a campaign of many more years to eradicate Hamas and terrorist organizations in the Strip, which sooner, rather than later, are expected to provide us with a variety of reasons to renew the fight against them, such as rocket launches, build-up and organization for attacks. In general, any Israeli concession within the framework of the deal - from prisoners, through re-entry into corridors and ending with the renewal of fighting - is reversible, in case Hamas does not stand by the agreed conditions. If and when the war against Hamas is renewed, we will be able to strike it in a more lethal and broader manner, when the hostages are no longer in the Strip.
Escaping the "escalation spiral"
Israel is paying a heavy price on the northern border for a relatively low-intensity conflict in Gaza (defined as war). Both Israel and Hezbollah are not interested in war now, but the military friction between them intensifies as time passes and the potential for deterioration into it as a result of miscalculation (mis-calculation) increases. The ongoing war in Gaza also inflames the West Bank, "fueled" with weapons and money from Iran, and nationalist crime and Jewish terror exacerbate the potential for escalation. An outbreak in the West Bank and Jerusalem will turn the war into a conflict with all Palestinians, not just Hamas, will require re-mobilizing reserves to protect Israeli residents in the West Bank and provide Nasrallah with freedom of action, which could deteriorate into a flare-up in the north.
A pause in the fighting in Gaza, as part of a deal, will have a cooling effect on the entire system, and it will reduce the risk of coalescence of arenas currently at low intensity, into an intense multi-arena war. In the north, the pause will provide an opportunity for U.S. efforts to advance a political arrangement that will return residents to their homes, and especially allow the IDF to refresh and better prepare for the possibility of war with Hezbollah, if diplomatic efforts fail.
It is certainly possible that in the end there will be no escape from an intense confrontation with Hezbollah, but it is very worthwhile for this to happen at optimal timing and readiness from Israel's perspective, after refilling warehouses and coordination with the United States, and not as a result of unplanned deterioration and escalation. Close coordination with the United States will also be required against Iran, and especially around moves to stop it if it decides to break out to nuclear capabilities.
Escaping the international spiral
Israel's standing in world public opinion and its relations even with staunch friends have fallen into a dangerous diplomatic spiral. At the same time, its image has been severely damaged against the background of its enemies' efforts to present it as a "leper" state committing war crimes. This is a drama whose severity is not sufficiently understood in our places. We face severe damage to international legitimacy and a growing legal threat, and may deteriorate to the point of a military embargo and severe restrictions on our operational and political freedom of action, but also on our scientific and technological strength, which relies on academic cooperation, and on our place in the global economy.
The decline in international support for Israel is a searing failure, certainly after the horrors of October 7th. But a hostage deal has the potential to change the trend. Pictures of released hostages will affect the media agenda in the world (focused on the false "hunger narrative" and harsh images from Gaza) and remind the international community what Israel is fighting for. No less importantly, a hostage deal will allow starting to address the unprecedented rift in our relations with the United States, and return to promoting normalization moves in the region. Preserving the special relationship with the United States is a supreme Israeli interest. The war and our current situation demonstrate in the most obvious way that we have no substitute for the American superpower support, certainly not Russia and China who have turned their backs on us and support Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
The United States repeatedly clarifies that Gulf countries are interested in ties with Israel, although it is not clear whether the normalization move is still on the table in the shadow of the heated elections and dramatic events in the United States. In any case, stopping the fighting in Gaza is a condition for the ability of a regional anti-Iranian camp to begin organizing and consolidating. The potential is very large, and its vitality was well illustrated in the regional preparation for blocking and thwarting the Iranian missile attack in April.
Wars are not won only on the battlefield
Wars are not won by a collection of tactical victories on the battlefield, impressive as they may be, without a political move that builds an improved reality from them. A hostage deal is not only the appropriate political act, but the only one in the immediate term, which is expected to open the door to additional political moves and expand the range of options, political and military, available to Israel. On the other hand, continuing the war in Gaza based on maximum objectives that are not achievable may expand into a broad regional conflict at a problematic timing.
A hostage deal is the order of the day not only from an ethical and moral standpoint, but also on a strategic level. A government that again "dilutes" and does not implement it - despite the "wall-to-wall" support of professional ranks, in discussion rooms and in public, and the ability to receive side guarantees from the United States for renewing the fighting if Hamas violates the terms of the deal - will be recorded in history as one that sentenced the hostages to death, and abandoned, once again, for political survival considerations, Israel's security and national resilience.
**>>> Major General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin is former head of Military Intelligence, President and Founder of MIND ISRAEL**
**>>> Colonel (Ret.) Udi Evental is an expert in strategy and policy planning, MIND ISRAEL** link Everything in this article is spot on. The problem is Netanyahu. Since November, the last and only hostage release deal, he has done everything to scuttle every possible deal while allowing hostages to die. He has no strategy for the war whatsoever and no political plans other than to remain in power by holding together the worst coalition government in Israel's history, prevent/delay the inevitable State Commission of Inquiry about October 7 and all that led up to it, and continue to avoid taking any responsibility for October while placing all blame on the security forces.
The parents of the kidnapped female observers revealed new footage of them from Hamas captivity
In the footage, the soldiers are seen being held in a house in Gaza two days after their abduction, with a picture of Haniyeh in the background • Naama was held alone for a very long period, so she is photographed separately from her four friends • Her mother Ayelet to Netanyahu: "This is not the time for show trips but for closing a deal" • Daniella's mother cried out in tears: "For more than 9 months they have been humiliated and abused" • Liri's father felt unwell and was evacuated from the place
The parents of the five female observers kidnapped in Gaza for 284 days held a press conference this evening (Tuesday), where they revealed new footage of their daughters Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy from Hamas captivity, two days after the kidnapping. In the photos received by the families a few months ago, the hostages are seen being held on mattresses in an apartment in Gaza, bruised on their faces and heads, dressed in Gazan clothes they were made to wear, and in the background - a picture of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh. The photos are taken from a video that the IDF presented to the families, in which a Hamas terrorist demands that the hostages say their names and where they were kidnapped from, and even forces them to raise a thumb to make it look like they are doing well. Naama was held alone for a very long period, so her photo is separate from her four friends.
Ayelet Levy, her mother, said in a statement: "Prime Minister Netanyahu asked me to join him on a trip abroad. I explained to him that I couldn't join until I see that the contacts for Naama's release are reaching the finish line. As the deal progresses, I can come - even with her to the delegation he leads. I ask you - look her in the eyes. This is my daughter. Netanyahu. Meet with us so we can make her voice heard. We are waiting for an urgent meeting with you. This is not the time for show trips but for closing a deal."
Naama LevyOrly, Daniella's mother, cried out in tears: "I ask - until when? Even after 284 days I am still the mother of a hostage. For more than 9 months they have been held, humiliated, beaten and subjected to constant abuse by Hamas terrorists. According to army estimates, Daniella is being held in tunnels. I ask you, Netanyahu, to demand in your speech in Washington to return all the hostages."
Daniella Gilboa
Shira, Liri's mother, added: "Gallant told us that now there is a possibility for a deal, that it's closer than ever. We are here to ensure that the current opportunity is not missed again. This is the time to sign, to bring back my Liri and everyone. Netanyahu, I turn to you - you promised us in personal meetings and this is also the time to fulfill. First a deal - then a flight. Every day is critical for our daughters. We need you here, available to the negotiating team, to respond and sign a deal now." While Shira was speaking, Eli, Liri's father, felt unwell and was evacuated from the place.
Liri Elbag
Later, in an interview with the "Central Edition", Eli spoke about his condition: "Even iron breaks sometimes". Liri's parents said they were told that an opportunity for a deal was missed in May: "A leak came out from the expanded cabinet and we want to know who leaked the information. This is a criminal investigation because it was done maliciously."
Liri's father
Shlomi Berger, Agam's father, also addressed the Prime Minister: "A leader needs to make this deal close. First close a deal. This is not the time for trips."
Agam Berger
Albert Ariev, Karina's father, said at the press conference: "You can see in the picture that Karina is suffering from edema in her hands, at the base of her palm you can see that she was shackled for a long time. The agreement currently on the table is the most tangible ever, closer than ever. The conditions have been achieved, matured. The page is waiting for the words 'yes to the deal'."
Karina ArievThe Families Headquarters for the Return of the Hostages stated upon the publication of the new photos of the soldiers from Hamas captivity: "The brave decision of the parents of the female observers to reveal the photos was intended to bring their embrace with the girls closer, which is within signing distance of Netanyahu's deal that will bring all 120 hostages home - the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in their country. We demand from the Israeli government and especially from its head to look these girls in the eyes, try to imagine what they and all the hostages have been going through for 284 days and do everything to bring them all home."
Earlier today, PM Benjamin Netanyahu met in his office in Jerusalem with the parents of the female observers who were killed at the Nahal Oz post on October 7. "The meeting was long, almost three hours," said Eyal Eshel, father of Sergeant Roni Eshel z"l, who fell on October 7 in battle against the terrorists at the post. "We demand the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the disaster of the female observers. If it is not established - these failures will never be corrected."
Erez Price, father of Sergeant Noa Price z"l, who also fell in the battle for the post, said that the PM "heard the stories of the girls and got to know them. He understands that one of the most significant events on October 7 happened in Nahal Oz. Unfortunately, Netanyahu did not approve the establishment of a state commission of inquiry - at least not at this time. On the most important thing for us - the establishment of a commission of inquiry - we did not receive good news. This is what the Prime Minister is not willing to examine at this time. We will not agree to this."
About two months ago, the parents of the five kidnapped female soldiers revealed footage of their daughters' abduction, as documented by the body cameras of Hamas terrorists on October 7. In the video, you can see the shackled soldiers, begging for their lives, surrounded by dozens of armed terrorists - moments before their abduction to the Strip. The video, which is three minutes and ten seconds long, was edited and censored. In the footage, shot in the base's shelter, the five female observers who are still in captivity are seen bleeding and being brutally tied to the ground, as hundreds of terrorists take over the base, while their friends are murdered before their eyes. At another point in the video, one of the terrorists is heard saying: "These can be made pregnant". Another armed terrorist said to the terrified Karina Ariev: "You are so beautiful". link
Hostage Updates
The hostage families’ tent outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem has been subject to repeated acts of vandalism over the past few weeks, according to the Jerusalem branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Ofek Lugasi, an activist who often spends his nights in the encampment, tells The Times of Israel that he discovered last night that the air conditioning pipe had been cut through.
“This isn’t the first time that this has happened. There was another morning that we woke up and had to call the air conditioning repairman, as we did today,” he says.
“We feel that violence against the work of bringing back the hostages is escalating further and further,” says Tom Barkai, who heads the Forum’s Jerusalem branch. She adds that the lock to the families’ warehouse next to the tent was also broken last night.
Barkai notes that two weeks ago during a Saturday night hostages rally, someone cut the group’s loudspeaker cables, making it impossible for many participants to hear speeches by those onstage.
“It is important for us to point out that our struggle for the return of the hostages is the most important issue in our view, especially in these critical moments,” she continues. link This is a direct result of the politicization of the hostage issue by the right wing politicians who have made great efforts to present the hostages' families and supporters as left wing enemies. It is hard to get lower than this.
"The deal is good for Israel's security - despite its costs"
In addition to the fact that a hostage deal is a moral and existential imperative for the cohesion of Israeli society, it also has an important strategic contribution to our security and political status - in a way that justifies its heavy price. In the face of attempts by Netanyahu and ministers to undermine the negotiations, we must look reality in the eye and refute the arguments against a deal, one by one.
If Mohammed Deif was indeed eliminated in a targeted strike carried out by Israel near Khan Yunis, it is a significant achievement that deals Hamas a severe blow on a moral and military level. Still, the assassination does not solve the strategic challenges facing us. The operational achievement may allow for more flexibility in realizing a hostage deal, which beyond being a supreme moral duty, is also the right and necessary strategic move.
On October 7th, Israel abandoned its citizens' security to Hamas atrocities, in a searing intelligence and military failure, under leadership that tore the nation apart and damaged Israeli deterrence. As the hostages languish and are tortured in Gaza tunnels for over nine months, and time is running out for those of them who are still alive, the Jewish state faces a supreme moral imperative to bring about their release as soon as possible. Israeli citizens well understand the moral aspect and the life-saving nature of a hostage deal, as well as the costs involved, which will be difficult and painful. Nevertheless, they overwhelmingly support a deal (67% versus 15% who oppose).
In any case, a systematic analysis of the effects of the Biden-Netanyahu deal on the table shows that it serves our strategic goals in a way that justifies its costs. All senior defense officials, the Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the head of the Shin Bet agree that under current conditions, a deal that does not allow Hamas to negotiate indefinitely while holding the hostages - is within reach and is the main goal to strive for. This is due to Hamas's willingness to be flexible under sustained military pressure and the organization's understanding that Israel will not withdraw and that Gaza will remain a ruined and stricken area as long as hostages are held within it.
A deal is the order of the day not only on the supreme moral level of the state's commitment to its kidnapped citizens but also in terms of Israel's broader security and political interests. On the other hand, "dilution" or sabotage of the deal by the Prime Minister and the continuation of fighting without achievable goals and objectives, while wasting military achievements - will be much more than another abandonment of the hostages, and a deep break in the mutual responsibility of the people and the state's duty to protect its residents.
In the absence of a deal, fighting in the north will continue and the evacuation of evacuees from their homes will be prolonged; and the risks of a multi-front war of attrition will increase, risking a full-scale war with Hezbollah at a problematic timing, entanglement in a regional campaign involving Iran, and further damage to Israel's regional and international standing.
National resilience and internal cohesion
"Absolute victory" will not be achieved as long as there are hostages in Gaza. Israel is a strong country and the long campaign it has imposed on Hamas will eventually lead to its eradication. But as long as the hostages have not returned home, Israel will be accompanied by a heavy shadow, which will overshadow its ability to overcome the trauma of October 7th and restore social cohesion and national resilience.
Many find it difficult, and rightly so, with the fact that a hostage deal involves the release of murderers. But in the same breath, willingness to pay the price will convey a very important message to young people living here, to IDF soldiers and reservists, that Israel will make every effort, military and political, to free them if they fall into captivity. This is a vital message for security and motivation to enlist and serve the country. In addition, a pause and further reduction in reserve forces will allow accelerating the return of the economy and the market to functioning. On the other hand, the prolongation of the state of war in Gaza, despite the fact that it is essentially low-intensity military activity, will lead to severe damage to economic resilience - which is a critical component in readiness for a truly large war that may be imposed on Israel.
Finally, it is clear that the continuation of the war without end serves as a political excuse to avoid a variety of measures essential for national recovery and exit from the crisis pit: the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, changes in positions in the security and political system, and returning the mandate to the people following the failure.
A regional event, not a Gaza one
Some argue that the war must not be stopped before achieving the "absolute victory" promised by the Prime Minister. In reality, the IDF has greatly reduced its forces in Gaza compared to the beginning of the war, and the intense military activity in Rafah is facing conclusion in the absence of significant additional objectives and against the background of Hamas terrorist operatives choosing to avoid fighting and blend into the population.
The IDF's achievements in fighting, in one of the most complex arenas in the world, are impressive by all accounts. They have denied Hamas the ability to repeat the events of October 7th and allow dealing with the residual threat from the Strip through strong defense and attack. But the need for the army to return to Shuja'iyya and other neighborhoods in Gaza City: to Shati, Zeitoun, and even Shifa Hospital, to hit Hamas operating there to rebuild its forces, has again illustrated that the "absolute victory" supposedly waiting around the corner is an empty slogan, a false promise and throwing sand in the eyes. In practice, it is clear that Israel is facing many more years of fighting Hamas, mainly outside of Gaza inwards, through raids and standoff fire, but possibly also through another large-scale campaign. This is in parallel with vital efforts to gradually build an alternative to the organization within the Strip.
Moreover, the events in the north and against Iran in April illustrated that it is no longer an isolated Gaza event but a multi-arena regional campaign. In a complete view of the war arena, Gaza is only one part of the enemy system fighting us, with Iran at its head and alongside it Hezbollah and a variety of terrorist armies and militias from seven arenas. In these circumstances, a stop in the fighting in Gaza is needed for Israel to organize, debrief, replenish stocks and prepare for continued fighting in various arenas.
In addition, the deal allows reaching agreements with Egypt and the United States on closing smuggling routes from Sinai to the Strip on the Philadelphia Axis - a subject that is already, according to reports, in intensive discussions being held by the Shin Bet and IDF in Cairo, contrary to the denials of the Prime Minister's Office. It is important to agree in advance with the United States (in side understandings) and the regional system that preventing Hamas's build-up is a vital goal, that disarming the Strip is a non-negotiable condition for its rehabilitation, and that continued Hamas build-up will constitute a legitimate cause for Israel's return to fighting in Gaza.
And those worried that following the deal we will not be able to renew fire in the Strip in the future can "relax". As mentioned, Israel is facing a campaign of many more years to eradicate Hamas and terrorist organizations in the Strip, which sooner, rather than later, are expected to provide us with a variety of reasons to renew the fight against them, such as rocket launches, build-up and organization for attacks. In general, any Israeli concession within the framework of the deal - from prisoners, through re-entry into corridors and ending with the renewal of fighting - is reversible, in case Hamas does not stand by the agreed conditions. If and when the war against Hamas is renewed, we will be able to strike it in a more lethal and broader manner, when the hostages are no longer in the Strip.
Escaping the "escalation spiral"
Israel is paying a heavy price on the northern border for a relatively low-intensity conflict in Gaza (defined as war). Both Israel and Hezbollah are not interested in war now, but the military friction between them intensifies as time passes and the potential for deterioration into it as a result of miscalculation (mis-calculation) increases. The ongoing war in Gaza also inflames the West Bank, "fueled" with weapons and money from Iran, and nationalist crime and Jewish terror exacerbate the potential for escalation. An outbreak in the West Bank and Jerusalem will turn the war into a conflict with all Palestinians, not just Hamas, will require re-mobilizing reserves to protect Israeli residents in the West Bank and provide Nasrallah with freedom of action, which could deteriorate into a flare-up in the north.
A pause in the fighting in Gaza, as part of a deal, will have a cooling effect on the entire system, and it will reduce the risk of coalescence of arenas currently at low intensity, into an intense multi-arena war. In the north, the pause will provide an opportunity for U.S. efforts to advance a political arrangement that will return residents to their homes, and especially allow the IDF to refresh and better prepare for the possibility of war with Hezbollah, if diplomatic efforts fail.
It is certainly possible that in the end there will be no escape from an intense confrontation with Hezbollah, but it is very worthwhile for this to happen at optimal timing and readiness from Israel's perspective, after refilling warehouses and coordination with the United States, and not as a result of unplanned deterioration and escalation. Close coordination with the United States will also be required against Iran, and especially around moves to stop it if it decides to break out to nuclear capabilities.
Escaping the international spiral
Israel's standing in world public opinion and its relations even with staunch friends have fallen into a dangerous diplomatic spiral. At the same time, its image has been severely damaged against the background of its enemies' efforts to present it as a "leper" state committing war crimes. This is a drama whose severity is not sufficiently understood in our places. We face severe damage to international legitimacy and a growing legal threat, and may deteriorate to the point of a military embargo and severe restrictions on our operational and political freedom of action, but also on our scientific and technological strength, which relies on academic cooperation, and on our place in the global economy.
The decline in international support for Israel is a searing failure, certainly after the horrors of October 7th. But a hostage deal has the potential to change the trend. Pictures of released hostages will affect the media agenda in the world (focused on the false "hunger narrative" and harsh images from Gaza) and remind the international community what Israel is fighting for. No less importantly, a hostage deal will allow starting to address the unprecedented rift in our relations with the United States, and return to promoting normalization moves in the region. Preserving the special relationship with the United States is a supreme Israeli interest. The war and our current situation demonstrate in the most obvious way that we have no substitute for the American superpower support, certainly not Russia and China who have turned their backs on us and support Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
The United States repeatedly clarifies that Gulf countries are interested in ties with Israel, although it is not clear whether the normalization move is still on the table in the shadow of the heated elections and dramatic events in the United States. In any case, stopping the fighting in Gaza is a condition for the ability of a regional anti-Iranian camp to begin organizing and consolidating. The potential is very large, and its vitality was well illustrated in the regional preparation for blocking and thwarting the Iranian missile attack in April.
Wars are not won only on the battlefield
Wars are not won by a collection of tactical victories on the battlefield, impressive as they may be, without a political move that builds an improved reality from them. A hostage deal is not only the appropriate political act, but the only one in the immediate term, which is expected to open the door to additional political moves and expand the range of options, political and military, available to Israel. On the other hand, continuing the war in Gaza based on maximum objectives that are not achievable may expand into a broad regional conflict at a problematic timing.
A hostage deal is the order of the day not only from an ethical and moral standpoint, but also on a strategic level. A government that again "dilutes" and does not implement it - despite the "wall-to-wall" support of professional ranks, in discussion rooms and in public, and the ability to receive side guarantees from the United States for renewing the fighting if Hamas violates the terms of the deal - will be recorded in history as one that sentenced the hostages to death, and abandoned, once again, for political survival considerations, Israel's security and national resilience.
**>>> Major General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin is former head of Military Intelligence, President and Founder of MIND ISRAEL**
**>>> Colonel (Ret.) Udi Evental is an expert in strategy and policy planning, MIND ISRAEL** link Everything in this article is spot on. The problem is Netanyahu. Since November, the last and only hostage release deal, he has done everything to scuttle every possible deal while allowing hostages to die. He has no strategy for the war whatsoever and no political plans other than to remain in power by holding together the worst coalition government in Israel's history, prevent/delay the inevitable State Commission of Inquiry about October 7 and all that led up to it, and continue to avoid taking any responsibility for October while placing all blame on the security forces.
The parents of the kidnapped female observers revealed new footage of them from Hamas captivity
In the footage, the soldiers are seen being held in a house in Gaza two days after their abduction, with a picture of Haniyeh in the background • Naama was held alone for a very long period, so she is photographed separately from her four friends • Her mother Ayelet to Netanyahu: "This is not the time for show trips but for closing a deal" • Daniella's mother cried out in tears: "For more than 9 months they have been humiliated and abused" • Liri's father felt unwell and was evacuated from the place
The parents of the five female observers kidnapped in Gaza for 284 days held a press conference this evening (Tuesday), where they revealed new footage of their daughters Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy from Hamas captivity, two days after the kidnapping. In the photos received by the families a few months ago, the hostages are seen being held on mattresses in an apartment in Gaza, bruised on their faces and heads, dressed in Gazan clothes they were made to wear, and in the background - a picture of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh. The photos are taken from a video that the IDF presented to the families, in which a Hamas terrorist demands that the hostages say their names and where they were kidnapped from, and even forces them to raise a thumb to make it look like they are doing well. Naama was held alone for a very long period, so her photo is separate from her four friends.
Ayelet Levy, her mother, said in a statement: "Prime Minister Netanyahu asked me to join him on a trip abroad. I explained to him that I couldn't join until I see that the contacts for Naama's release are reaching the finish line. As the deal progresses, I can come - even with her to the delegation he leads. I ask you - look her in the eyes. This is my daughter. Netanyahu. Meet with us so we can make her voice heard. We are waiting for an urgent meeting with you. This is not the time for show trips but for closing a deal."
Orly, Daniella's mother, cried out in tears: "I ask - until when? Even after 284 days I am still the mother of a hostage. For more than 9 months they have been held, humiliated, beaten and subjected to constant abuse by Hamas terrorists. According to army estimates, Daniella is being held in tunnels. I ask you, Netanyahu, to demand in your speech in Washington to return all the hostages."
Shira, Liri's mother, added: "Gallant told us that now there is a possibility for a deal, that it's closer than ever. We are here to ensure that the current opportunity is not missed again. This is the time to sign, to bring back my Liri and everyone. Netanyahu, I turn to you - you promised us in personal meetings and this is also the time to fulfill. First a deal - then a flight. Every day is critical for our daughters. We need you here, available to the negotiating team, to respond and sign a deal now." While Shira was speaking, Eli, Liri's father, felt unwell and was evacuated from the place.
Later, in an interview with the "Central Edition", Eli spoke about his condition: "Even iron breaks sometimes". Liri's parents said they were told that an opportunity for a deal was missed in May: "A leak came out from the expanded cabinet and we want to know who leaked the information. This is a criminal investigation because it was done maliciously."
Shlomi Berger, Agam's father, also addressed the Prime Minister: "A leader needs to make this deal close. First close a deal. This is not the time for trips."
Albert Ariev, Karina's father, said at the press conference: "You can see in the picture that Karina is suffering from edema in her hands, at the base of her palm you can see that she was shackled for a long time. The agreement currently on the table is the most tangible ever, closer than ever. The conditions have been achieved, matured. The page is waiting for the words 'yes to the deal'."The Families Headquarters for the Return of the Hostages stated upon the publication of the new photos of the soldiers from Hamas captivity: "The brave decision of the parents of the female observers to reveal the photos was intended to bring their embrace with the girls closer, which is within signing distance of Netanyahu's deal that will bring all 120 hostages home - the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in their country. We demand from the Israeli government and especially from its head to look these girls in the eyes, try to imagine what they and all the hostages have been going through for 284 days and do everything to bring them all home."
Earlier today, PM Benjamin Netanyahu met in his office in Jerusalem with the parents of the female observers who were killed at the Nahal Oz post on October 7. "The meeting was long, almost three hours," said Eyal Eshel, father of Sergeant Roni Eshel z"l, who fell on October 7 in battle against the terrorists at the post. "We demand the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the disaster of the female observers. If it is not established - these failures will never be corrected."
Erez Price, father of Sergeant Noa Price z"l, who also fell in the battle for the post, said that the PM "heard the stories of the girls and got to know them. He understands that one of the most significant events on October 7 happened in Nahal Oz. Unfortunately, Netanyahu did not approve the establishment of a state commission of inquiry - at least not at this time. On the most important thing for us - the establishment of a commission of inquiry - we did not receive good news. This is what the Prime Minister is not willing to examine at this time. We will not agree to this."
About two months ago, the parents of the five kidnapped female soldiers revealed footage of their daughters' abduction, as documented by the body cameras of Hamas terrorists on October 7. In the video, you can see the shackled soldiers, begging for their lives, surrounded by dozens of armed terrorists - moments before their abduction to the Strip. The video, which is three minutes and ten seconds long, was edited and censored. In the footage, shot in the base's shelter, the five female observers who are still in captivity are seen bleeding and being brutally tied to the ground, as hundreds of terrorists take over the base, while their friends are murdered before their eyes. At another point in the video, one of the terrorists is heard saying: "These can be made pregnant". Another armed terrorist said to the terrified Karina Ariev: "You are so beautiful". link
Netanyahu slammed for reportedly saying 'hostages are suffering but they're not dying': Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws fierce criticism from families of Gaza hostages following a report that during last night’s security cabinet meeting he dismissed the danger to those being held in Gaza.
According to the Ynet news site, Netanyahu said during a discussion about the ceasefire and hostage deal being negotiated with Hamas that “we shouldn’t be stressed. Hamas is the one that should be stressed. The hostages are suffering but they are not dying.”
In a statement, the Hostages Families Forum calls on Netanyahu to “immediately explain” his statement.
“The prime minister’s remarks are not only deeply hurtful to the hostages’ families but also factually inaccurate and dangerously irresponsible. The grim reality is undeniable: hostages have already been murdered in captivity. More hostages may be losing their lives at this very moment,” the group says, adding that the negotiations “have reached a critical juncture” and that the current proposal “represents the only viable path to secure the release of all hostages.”
“It is imperative that the entire Israeli government, led by the prime minister, do everything in its power to expedite the signing of this deal, rather than creating obstacles,” the forum declares.
It remains unclear how many hostages are still alive in Gaza, with a Hamas official telling CNN last month that “no one has any idea about this.”
The full text of the Israeli hostage release-ceasefire proposal seems to acknowledge this, stating that if “the number of living Israeli hostages to be released” at a certain stage does not reach the number agreed, “the difference will be completed through the release of a corresponding number of human remains.” It is believed that 120 hostages are being held by terrorists in Gaza. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of them. link This is a new low for someone who has gone so low already. It is perhaps the most disgusting, callous and insensitive statements Netanyahu has ever made. Not only are the hostages suffering daily, they are being tortured physically and mentally, brutalized and raped, as well as dying and being killed. It is already known that tens of the hostages who were alive at the time of their kidnapping on October 7, are now dead. How dare he say they are not dying? Their blood is on his hands.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu either announce his acceptance of a hostage deal during his July 24 speech to the US Congress, or cancel his upcoming trip to Washington.
“Mr. Prime Minister, are you going to announce next week on the rostrum in Congress that you accept the hostage deal?” Lapid asks during a heated debate in the Knesset plenum. “If that’s what you will say, go in peace with our blessings. It is the right and moral thing to do. If that’s not your plan, don’t go to Washington.”
There are people within Netanyahu’s own bureau “who think and say that you should announce in a speech to Congress that you accept the hostage deal. Not in a twisty wording, not with conditions that would screw it up again,” Lapid continues, calling on Netanyahu to otherwise not “give a speech in the air-conditioning of Washington while the hostages are dying of suffocation in the tunnels of Gaza.”
Lapid also reiterates his prior criticism of Netanyahu for spending two hours discussing incitement against him during Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting rather than focusing on the fate of those suffering because of the war, saying the premier had “not said a word about the hostages.”
“You said that in the Middle East, only the strong are valued. If this is true, why did Hamas invade the territory of the State of Israel on your watch [and] kill 1,200 citizens? Did it not occur to them that there was someone strong before them that they should be afraid of? It’s because they knew something about you,” Lapid accuses.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said in recent closed meetings that if a hostage and ceasefire deal isn’t reached in the next two weeks, the hostages’ fate will have been “sealed,” the Ynet news site reports, without citing sources.
The outlet says Gallant believes conditions have ripened for a deal with Hamas, but says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hindering progress in order to not lose the support of far-right elements of the coalition.
The report says the negotiating team believed a deal could have been signed even a week ago, citing a breakthrough, but adds that new conditions since announced by Netanyahu are threatening negotiations.
The heads of the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad all believe agreements are unlikely to be reached that meet Netanyahu’s demands that Israel remain on the Gaza-Egypt border and physically inspect anyone returning to Gaza’s north. All three have reportedly told Netanyahu there is no security impediment to approving a deal that doesn’t include those demands. link This is another of Galant's direct public messages to Netanyahu to make the deal. If he doesn't, they are all being sacrificed. It took a long time for Galant to reach this point. he had been pushing military pressure for most of the war but finally reached the point of recognition that getting the hostages home is the highest priority and everything else can wait. Unfortunately, he is speaking these words to a Prime Minister who cares more of his political career than he does about the fate of the hostages and the good of the country.
Netanyahu slammed for reportedly saying 'hostages are suffering but they're not dying': Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws fierce criticism from families of Gaza hostages following a report that during last night’s security cabinet meeting he dismissed the danger to those being held in Gaza.
According to the Ynet news site, Netanyahu said during a discussion about the ceasefire and hostage deal being negotiated with Hamas that “we shouldn’t be stressed. Hamas is the one that should be stressed. The hostages are suffering but they are not dying.”
In a statement, the Hostages Families Forum calls on Netanyahu to “immediately explain” his statement.
“The prime minister’s remarks are not only deeply hurtful to the hostages’ families but also factually inaccurate and dangerously irresponsible. The grim reality is undeniable: hostages have already been murdered in captivity. More hostages may be losing their lives at this very moment,” the group says, adding that the negotiations “have reached a critical juncture” and that the current proposal “represents the only viable path to secure the release of all hostages.”
“It is imperative that the entire Israeli government, led by the prime minister, do everything in its power to expedite the signing of this deal, rather than creating obstacles,” the forum declares.
It remains unclear how many hostages are still alive in Gaza, with a Hamas official telling CNN last month that “no one has any idea about this.”
The full text of the Israeli hostage release-ceasefire proposal seems to acknowledge this, stating that if “the number of living Israeli hostages to be released” at a certain stage does not reach the number agreed, “the difference will be completed through the release of a corresponding number of human remains.” It is believed that 120 hostages are being held by terrorists in Gaza. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of them. link This is a new low for someone who has gone so low already. It is perhaps the most disgusting, callous and insensitive statements Netanyahu has ever made. Not only are the hostages suffering daily, they are being tortured physically and mentally, brutalized and raped, as well as dying and being killed. It is already known that tens of the hostages who were alive at the time of their kidnapping on October 7, are now dead. How dare he say they are not dying? Their blood is on his hands.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu either announce his acceptance of a hostage deal during his July 24 speech to the US Congress, or cancel his upcoming trip to Washington.
“Mr. Prime Minister, are you going to announce next week on the rostrum in Congress that you accept the hostage deal?” Lapid asks during a heated debate in the Knesset plenum. “If that’s what you will say, go in peace with our blessings. It is the right and moral thing to do. If that’s not your plan, don’t go to Washington.”
There are people within Netanyahu’s own bureau “who think and say that you should announce in a speech to Congress that you accept the hostage deal. Not in a twisty wording, not with conditions that would screw it up again,” Lapid continues, calling on Netanyahu to otherwise not “give a speech in the air-conditioning of Washington while the hostages are dying of suffocation in the tunnels of Gaza.”
Lapid also reiterates his prior criticism of Netanyahu for spending two hours discussing incitement against him during Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting rather than focusing on the fate of those suffering because of the war, saying the premier had “not said a word about the hostages.”
“You said that in the Middle East, only the strong are valued. If this is true, why did Hamas invade the territory of the State of Israel on your watch [and] kill 1,200 citizens? Did it not occur to them that there was someone strong before them that they should be afraid of? It’s because they knew something about you,” Lapid accuses.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said in recent closed meetings that if a hostage and ceasefire deal isn’t reached in the next two weeks, the hostages’ fate will have been “sealed,” the Ynet news site reports, without citing sources.
The outlet says Gallant believes conditions have ripened for a deal with Hamas, but says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hindering progress in order to not lose the support of far-right elements of the coalition.
The report says the negotiating team believed a deal could have been signed even a week ago, citing a breakthrough, but adds that new conditions since announced by Netanyahu are threatening negotiations.
The heads of the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad all believe agreements are unlikely to be reached that meet Netanyahu’s demands that Israel remain on the Gaza-Egypt border and physically inspect anyone returning to Gaza’s north. All three have reportedly told Netanyahu there is no security impediment to approving a deal that doesn’t include those demands. link This is another of Galant's direct public messages to Netanyahu to make the deal. If he doesn't, they are all being sacrificed. It took a long time for Galant to reach this point. he had been pushing military pressure for most of the war but finally reached the point of recognition that getting the hostages home is the highest priority and everything else can wait. Unfortunately, he is speaking these words to a Prime Minister who cares more of his political career than he does about the fate of the hostages and the good of the country.
Gaza
- CIA director Bill Burns told a closed-door conference over the weekend that the agency assesses Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is under increasing pressure from the terror group’s commanders to accept a hostage-ceasefire deal, CNN reports.
The report is based on the account of an individual who was present at the discussion at the annual Allen & Company summer retreat in Sun Valley on Saturday.
The CIA declines to comment, CNN says. Burns is playing a key role in the ongoing efforts to reach a potential hostage-ceasefire deal.
Israel has entered into a third stage in its war against Hamas in Gaza, focusing on airstrikes targeting top terror leaders based on intelligence information, according to an Arab media report.
An anonymous source cited by the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet says the IDF has its sights set on “not only well-known leaders, but also elements who participated in the October 7 attack, others involved in clashes, launching rockets and shells, and others, and even elements who pay the salaries of activists from Hamas, Qassam, Islamic Jihad, and other factions.”
The source adds that recent evacuation orders issued by the IDF indicate “a desire to incite the residents of Gaza against Hamas,” without giving details.
The report comes after the IDF targeted Muhammad Deif, the elusive commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Rafa’a Salameh, another top commander in the terror group, in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend. Salameh has been confirmed dead, while Deif’s fate is still unclear. US officials have reportedly told their Israeli counterparts that the Biden administration supports limited operations that prioritize “high-value” Hamas targets over large-scale offensives.
"More than half of Hamas terrorists still alive, IDF intensifies tunnel destruction | Combat footage"
Extensive situation report from Gaza: IDF estimates 14,000 out of 30,000 Hamas terrorists have been eliminated or arrested, the terror organization still has rockets for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and maneuvers against three of its battalions have not yet been conducted. However, the military marks achievements alongside accelerating the pace of fighting: "There are significant signs of breaking among them". Also: New details on the attempt to assassinate Mohammed Deif.
More than nine months since the outbreak of war, the IDF estimates that Hamas still has long-range rockets for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, at least three battalions that have not yet been conquered by army forces, and more than half of the terror army's manpower is still alive:
Data published tonight (Tuesday) shows that the military estimates that 14,000 terrorists have been eliminated or arrested since October 7 out of about 30,000 Hamas terrorists, and several thousand more from Islamic Jihad and other organizations. "Hamas is managing ammunition and managing armed personnel," the IDF said today.
In addition, most Hamas battalions were severely hit in the ground maneuver and subsequent raids that are still recurring, but against three Hamas battalions the IDF has not yet maneuvered and their level of functioning is considered high: This refers to a battalion between southern Khan Yunis and Rafah, as well as the battalions in Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat. The IDF may maneuver against these three battalions later.
According to army data, among those eliminated are six terrorists at the brigade commander level, more than 20 terrorists at the battalion commander level, and about 150 terrorists at the company commander level. The four battalions in Rafah have not yet been eliminated - but the ground operations against them, which have been ongoing for about two months, have greatly weakened their ability to function as a battalion framework. The IDF is currently focusing its effort in the divisional operation in Rafah on the Tel al-Sultan battalion, the last of the four being dealt with.
"In Rafah, we initially found entire streets chained with explosive devices and then we identified that these were actually booby-trapped quarters," said the IDF. "Less than 30,000 Gazans remain in all of Rafah." The intense operation of Division 162 in Rafah is expected to end soon, and there too the model of recurring raids, planned to be carried out over the coming years, will continue.
These raids yield, according to the IDF, a dramatic deepening in hitting Hamas capabilities: For example, according to army data, out of 1,235 terrorists in Hamas's strong front battalion in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood on the eve of the war, only 435 terrorists remained after the ground maneuver in November and December, and similar decreases of 60 to 80% were also recorded in the amounts of weaponry of that battalion.
Against these "remnants," the raid of Division 98 with Brigades 7 and the Paratroopers went out in the last month. In this raid, seven approach tunnels to the fence were also destroyed, as the engineering department of the Southern Command has upgraded and improved beyond recognition in recent months the rates and capabilities of detecting and destroying Hamas's underground terrorist bases in the Strip.
With the help of drilling robots developed ad hoc for the forces by Israeli experts from industry and academia, and with the assistance of trucks and engineering tools borrowed from civilian bodies, the IDF is currently managing to destroy an average kilometer of tunnel with a thousand mines or with 12 tons of explosives, and within 10 hours, in an operation that could have taken days at the beginning of the maneuver.
"Those who count kilometers of tunnels don't understand the story and are not in the event - these are weapon production factories and command centers and comfortable offices of commanders and passages between villages and warehouses - all underground," explained the IDF. "We still have work against a terrorist army that has dug itself in for 20 years. But there are significant signs of breaking because it's hard and wet and hot to be stuck underground for nine months."
The army also said: "Hamas has returned to producing weapons, including explosive drones, and re-establishing itself in displaced persons shelters and there too we are attacking frequently using methods we've developed, in precise raids and hunting of firing squads. Hamas's mortar firing level has dropped to what we saw in 2007, with a few terrorists hastily opening tripods in open areas and firing, and within a short time we eliminate them. The day before yesterday terrorists tried to fire mortars at our forces in the Netzarim corridor from a school with displaced persons but they are the ones who stopped them with blows.
"There are displaced persons shelters where Hamas has opened weapon production halls and classrooms converted to interrogation and torture rooms for Gazans. Some of these displaced persons shelters we attacked five and seven times repeatedly in the last month, and in one of these attacks in Nuseirat we eliminated 40 terrorists, half of whom were planning a large attack on IDF forces in the Strip. There are many more knowledge and development centers of Hamas in these shelters that we continue to hunt and eliminate. In the last two weeks, a total of about a thousand terrorists were eliminated in the Gaza Strip, alongside operations of four divisions."
Meanwhile, more details are emerging about the assassination attempt on Mohammed Deif on Saturday, about which there is a little more optimism in the IDF: The attack was carried out with heavy hail bombs at exactly 10:29 towards a secure ground house of about 150 square meters. "The military pressure allowed this opportunity," the IDF clarified. "The war goals can be achieved, it's not endless. It's not 'the day after' but Gaza after and Hamas will not be in it - not militarily and not governmentally. There are alternatives being examined."
In addition, new data was also revealed about "Operation Arnon" in Nuseirat to rescue the four hostages about a month ago: 73 munitions were dropped from fighter jets, 2,702 shells were fired, 87 missiles were launched from UAVs and also 13 Hellfire missiles from Apache helicopters.
Regarding the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, the army clarifies that it is not correct to look at it only as a narrow strip of land along its 14 kilometers: "We are treating and dealing with the area as a system, there are underground infrastructures inside Rafah that are relevant to Philadelphi in terms of smuggling and they are being dealt with. The operation in Rafah is not over - it's just changing shape." As for the buffer zone being established on the Gaza side of the border, the army clarified today that they will not give up on the large engineering plan that is in advanced stages of implementation.
**"About 37,000 targets were attacked from the air"**
The IDF spokesperson reported following the data summaries after more than nine months of fighting: "Thanks to precise and intense intelligence and operational effort, half of the leadership of Hamas's military wing has been eliminated at this stage of the war in a series of attacks and thwartings. The IDF continues the important mission of pursuing the top senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization as part of the goal of dismantling its capabilities. So far, the IDF has attacked about 37,000 targets from the air in the Gaza Strip area, and more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructures and launch sites.
"Alongside this, the IDF is focusing efforts on locating terrorists who position and establish themselves at sensitive sites throughout the Strip, including hospitals, schools and humanitarian shelters. These are cynically exploited by terrorists who try to use them as hiding places and terrorist bases. The attacks against these infrastructures are carried out in accordance with international law and their purpose is to prevent the rehabilitation of terrorist organizations' capabilities."
The IDF spokesperson added: "The Intelligence Division and the intelligence array of the Southern Command produce quality intelligence that enables and supports the fighting of the maneuvering forces throughout the Strip. This intelligence enables the execution of a series of initiated operations and focused raids against terrorist infrastructures and concentrations of terrorists, based on precise intelligence indications.
"The forces on the ground are fighting simultaneously above ground and underground. The engineering array of the Southern Command has produced an action plan against Hamas's underground system and continues to map and destroy it thoroughly. So far, IDF forces have destroyed dozens of production sites and lathes, offensive and strategic underground routes of the organization. link This article is astounding in detailing what Netanyahu, the army and Shin Bet ignored for years. 62000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in this small area called the Gaza Strip. Due to Netanyahu's theory and actions of 'deterrence': thinking that he could buy Hamas' abstinence from hostilities with Monthly injections of major money from Qatar would buy quiet and deter major attacks from Gaza while allowing 'drips and drops' of rocket attacks every so often on the Gaza Envelope communities and some terror attacks here and there. Netanyahu sold his theory of deterrence to everyone but the Gaza communities and the few who actually knew better, such as the women army observers, the balloon observers, non commissioned senior and junior intelligence officers and my brother. They all knew that things were happening in Gaza and knew that the money was not buying deterrence. As so far, the security heads, intelligence officers and some senior officers have taken responsibility for their roles leading up to October 7 and some have already resigned. But the one most responsible, Netanyahu refuses to take responsibility and is doing all he can to remain in his position at the expense of the hostages' lives and the soldiers fighting and dying in a war that has no strategy.
The report is based on the account of an individual who was present at the discussion at the annual Allen & Company summer retreat in Sun Valley on Saturday.
The CIA declines to comment, CNN says. Burns is playing a key role in the ongoing efforts to reach a potential hostage-ceasefire deal.
Israel has entered into a third stage in its war against Hamas in Gaza, focusing on airstrikes targeting top terror leaders based on intelligence information, according to an Arab media report.
An anonymous source cited by the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet says the IDF has its sights set on “not only well-known leaders, but also elements who participated in the October 7 attack, others involved in clashes, launching rockets and shells, and others, and even elements who pay the salaries of activists from Hamas, Qassam, Islamic Jihad, and other factions.”
The source adds that recent evacuation orders issued by the IDF indicate “a desire to incite the residents of Gaza against Hamas,” without giving details.
The report comes after the IDF targeted Muhammad Deif, the elusive commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Rafa’a Salameh, another top commander in the terror group, in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend. Salameh has been confirmed dead, while Deif’s fate is still unclear. US officials have reportedly told their Israeli counterparts that the Biden administration supports limited operations that prioritize “high-value” Hamas targets over large-scale offensives.
"More than half of Hamas terrorists still alive, IDF intensifies tunnel destruction | Combat footage"
Extensive situation report from Gaza: IDF estimates 14,000 out of 30,000 Hamas terrorists have been eliminated or arrested, the terror organization still has rockets for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and maneuvers against three of its battalions have not yet been conducted. However, the military marks achievements alongside accelerating the pace of fighting: "There are significant signs of breaking among them". Also: New details on the attempt to assassinate Mohammed Deif.
More than nine months since the outbreak of war, the IDF estimates that Hamas still has long-range rockets for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, at least three battalions that have not yet been conquered by army forces, and more than half of the terror army's manpower is still alive:
Data published tonight (Tuesday) shows that the military estimates that 14,000 terrorists have been eliminated or arrested since October 7 out of about 30,000 Hamas terrorists, and several thousand more from Islamic Jihad and other organizations. "Hamas is managing ammunition and managing armed personnel," the IDF said today.
In addition, most Hamas battalions were severely hit in the ground maneuver and subsequent raids that are still recurring, but against three Hamas battalions the IDF has not yet maneuvered and their level of functioning is considered high: This refers to a battalion between southern Khan Yunis and Rafah, as well as the battalions in Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat. The IDF may maneuver against these three battalions later.
According to army data, among those eliminated are six terrorists at the brigade commander level, more than 20 terrorists at the battalion commander level, and about 150 terrorists at the company commander level. The four battalions in Rafah have not yet been eliminated - but the ground operations against them, which have been ongoing for about two months, have greatly weakened their ability to function as a battalion framework. The IDF is currently focusing its effort in the divisional operation in Rafah on the Tel al-Sultan battalion, the last of the four being dealt with.
"In Rafah, we initially found entire streets chained with explosive devices and then we identified that these were actually booby-trapped quarters," said the IDF. "Less than 30,000 Gazans remain in all of Rafah." The intense operation of Division 162 in Rafah is expected to end soon, and there too the model of recurring raids, planned to be carried out over the coming years, will continue.
These raids yield, according to the IDF, a dramatic deepening in hitting Hamas capabilities: For example, according to army data, out of 1,235 terrorists in Hamas's strong front battalion in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood on the eve of the war, only 435 terrorists remained after the ground maneuver in November and December, and similar decreases of 60 to 80% were also recorded in the amounts of weaponry of that battalion.
Against these "remnants," the raid of Division 98 with Brigades 7 and the Paratroopers went out in the last month. In this raid, seven approach tunnels to the fence were also destroyed, as the engineering department of the Southern Command has upgraded and improved beyond recognition in recent months the rates and capabilities of detecting and destroying Hamas's underground terrorist bases in the Strip.
With the help of drilling robots developed ad hoc for the forces by Israeli experts from industry and academia, and with the assistance of trucks and engineering tools borrowed from civilian bodies, the IDF is currently managing to destroy an average kilometer of tunnel with a thousand mines or with 12 tons of explosives, and within 10 hours, in an operation that could have taken days at the beginning of the maneuver.
"Those who count kilometers of tunnels don't understand the story and are not in the event - these are weapon production factories and command centers and comfortable offices of commanders and passages between villages and warehouses - all underground," explained the IDF. "We still have work against a terrorist army that has dug itself in for 20 years. But there are significant signs of breaking because it's hard and wet and hot to be stuck underground for nine months."
The army also said: "Hamas has returned to producing weapons, including explosive drones, and re-establishing itself in displaced persons shelters and there too we are attacking frequently using methods we've developed, in precise raids and hunting of firing squads. Hamas's mortar firing level has dropped to what we saw in 2007, with a few terrorists hastily opening tripods in open areas and firing, and within a short time we eliminate them. The day before yesterday terrorists tried to fire mortars at our forces in the Netzarim corridor from a school with displaced persons but they are the ones who stopped them with blows.
"There are displaced persons shelters where Hamas has opened weapon production halls and classrooms converted to interrogation and torture rooms for Gazans. Some of these displaced persons shelters we attacked five and seven times repeatedly in the last month, and in one of these attacks in Nuseirat we eliminated 40 terrorists, half of whom were planning a large attack on IDF forces in the Strip. There are many more knowledge and development centers of Hamas in these shelters that we continue to hunt and eliminate. In the last two weeks, a total of about a thousand terrorists were eliminated in the Gaza Strip, alongside operations of four divisions."
Meanwhile, more details are emerging about the assassination attempt on Mohammed Deif on Saturday, about which there is a little more optimism in the IDF: The attack was carried out with heavy hail bombs at exactly 10:29 towards a secure ground house of about 150 square meters. "The military pressure allowed this opportunity," the IDF clarified. "The war goals can be achieved, it's not endless. It's not 'the day after' but Gaza after and Hamas will not be in it - not militarily and not governmentally. There are alternatives being examined."
In addition, new data was also revealed about "Operation Arnon" in Nuseirat to rescue the four hostages about a month ago: 73 munitions were dropped from fighter jets, 2,702 shells were fired, 87 missiles were launched from UAVs and also 13 Hellfire missiles from Apache helicopters.
Regarding the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, the army clarifies that it is not correct to look at it only as a narrow strip of land along its 14 kilometers: "We are treating and dealing with the area as a system, there are underground infrastructures inside Rafah that are relevant to Philadelphi in terms of smuggling and they are being dealt with. The operation in Rafah is not over - it's just changing shape." As for the buffer zone being established on the Gaza side of the border, the army clarified today that they will not give up on the large engineering plan that is in advanced stages of implementation.
**"About 37,000 targets were attacked from the air"**
The IDF spokesperson reported following the data summaries after more than nine months of fighting: "Thanks to precise and intense intelligence and operational effort, half of the leadership of Hamas's military wing has been eliminated at this stage of the war in a series of attacks and thwartings. The IDF continues the important mission of pursuing the top senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization as part of the goal of dismantling its capabilities. So far, the IDF has attacked about 37,000 targets from the air in the Gaza Strip area, and more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructures and launch sites.
"Alongside this, the IDF is focusing efforts on locating terrorists who position and establish themselves at sensitive sites throughout the Strip, including hospitals, schools and humanitarian shelters. These are cynically exploited by terrorists who try to use them as hiding places and terrorist bases. The attacks against these infrastructures are carried out in accordance with international law and their purpose is to prevent the rehabilitation of terrorist organizations' capabilities."
The IDF spokesperson added: "The Intelligence Division and the intelligence array of the Southern Command produce quality intelligence that enables and supports the fighting of the maneuvering forces throughout the Strip. This intelligence enables the execution of a series of initiated operations and focused raids against terrorist infrastructures and concentrations of terrorists, based on precise intelligence indications.
"The forces on the ground are fighting simultaneously above ground and underground. The engineering array of the Southern Command has produced an action plan against Hamas's underground system and continues to map and destroy it thoroughly. So far, IDF forces have destroyed dozens of production sites and lathes, offensive and strategic underground routes of the organization. link This article is astounding in detailing what Netanyahu, the army and Shin Bet ignored for years. 62000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in this small area called the Gaza Strip. Due to Netanyahu's theory and actions of 'deterrence': thinking that he could buy Hamas' abstinence from hostilities with Monthly injections of major money from Qatar would buy quiet and deter major attacks from Gaza while allowing 'drips and drops' of rocket attacks every so often on the Gaza Envelope communities and some terror attacks here and there. Netanyahu sold his theory of deterrence to everyone but the Gaza communities and the few who actually knew better, such as the women army observers, the balloon observers, non commissioned senior and junior intelligence officers and my brother. They all knew that things were happening in Gaza and knew that the money was not buying deterrence. As so far, the security heads, intelligence officers and some senior officers have taken responsibility for their roles leading up to October 7 and some have already resigned. But the one most responsible, Netanyahu refuses to take responsibility and is doing all he can to remain in his position at the expense of the hostages' lives and the soldiers fighting and dying in a war that has no strategy.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
Hezbollah releases a statement claiming responsibility for the barrage on the north, saying it fired Katyusha rockets at the Western Galilee kibbutzim of Sa’ar and Gesher Haziv in response to an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that reportedly killed five Syrians, including three children.
There have been no reports of injuries or damage in Israel following the rocket salvo, part of which was intercepted.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield met earlier today with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to discuss efforts to deescalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, with the aim of enabling displaced people on both sides of the Blue Line to return to their homes.
“Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed the important role the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon continues to play in the region,” a US readout says
Hezbollah releases a statement claiming responsibility for the barrage on the north, saying it fired Katyusha rockets at the Western Galilee kibbutzim of Sa’ar and Gesher Haziv in response to an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that reportedly killed five Syrians, including three children.
There have been no reports of injuries or damage in Israel following the rocket salvo, part of which was intercepted.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield met earlier today with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to discuss efforts to deescalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, with the aim of enabling displaced people on both sides of the Blue Line to return to their homes.
“Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed the important role the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon continues to play in the region,” a US readout says
West Bank and Jerusalem
- A suspected Palestinian terrorist tried overnight to enter the settlement of Telem in the southern West Bank, before managing to flee, the military says.
According to the IDF, local security officers reached one of the entrances to the settlement after the Palestinian was spotted there, and fired shots in the air. The suspect then fled the scene.
The Kan public broadcaster reports that the man breached the fence and was inside the settlement’s perimeter for 14 minutes.
The IDF says the officers found “various items” apparently belonging to the suspect at the scene. The Hatzalah ambulance service says one of these items was a knife.
“IDF troops continue searches and pursuing the terrorist,” the military says.
There are no injuries in the incident.
According to the IDF, local security officers reached one of the entrances to the settlement after the Palestinian was spotted there, and fired shots in the air. The suspect then fled the scene.
The Kan public broadcaster reports that the man breached the fence and was inside the settlement’s perimeter for 14 minutes.
The IDF says the officers found “various items” apparently belonging to the suspect at the scene. The Hatzalah ambulance service says one of these items was a knife.
“IDF troops continue searches and pursuing the terrorist,” the military says.
There are no injuries in the incident.Politics and the War (general news)
- The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee votes to send a bill prohibiting the Public Defender’s Office’s from providing legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants for its first reading in the Knesset plenum.
According to the text of the bill, the legal bills for anyone suspected or accused of terrorism following October 7 will be paid for from frozen Palestinian Authority tax funds held by Israel rather than from the state budget.
Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both harshly condemned the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Their comments came after it emerged that courts dealing with Palestinian detainees captured during the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza ruled that the prisoners needed legal representation when appearing before them.
Since the Public Defender’s Office has refused to represent these detainees, the courts ordered that they be given private counsel in accordance with Israeli law, which also stipulates that funding for such legal representation come from the state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that security consultation and cabinet discussions held in the underground operations center of military headquarters in the first days of the war were not recorded, Haaretz reports.
The outlet says the Israel Defense Forces complied with the premier’s directive to stop the automatic recording equipment in the days following October 7.
The report says the order from the Prime Minister’s Office was received by the office of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, which in turn transferred the directive to the Operations Directorate of the military.
Haaretz says that Netanyahu preferred to hold discussions in his own office at the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv so that he was not reliant on military recordings.
In response, the PMO tells Haaretz that “in accordance with the provisions of the regulations for the work of the government, all government meetings and ministerial committees have recordings and transcriptions made by the Prime Minister’s Office stenographers only.”
Last week, two other Hebrew media outlets suggested Netanyahu has been attempting to leave his conversations regarding the management of the war in Gaza untraceable.
According to the Ynet news site, senior figures in the security establishment fear that efforts are being made to edit the minutes of wartime discussions held with Netanyahu after discovering discrepancies between transcripts of the meetings and what the figures had heard in real time.
Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office reportedly approached Netanyahu’s former military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, to warn him that people from the premier’s inner circle were attempting to tinker with the meeting records. The report said one of the meetings, whose records were tampered with, dealt with “sensitive preparations for a significant political event,” but it did not elaborate further.
Gil later sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara expressing his concerns on the matter.
Senior political sources told Ynet they could not be assured that the audio was recorded for meetings held at Netanyahu’s offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Netanyahu has been holding sensitive discussions on the war via phone calls on the WhatsApp app, which does not allow conversations to be recorded. link this is clearly a man who has a lot to hide. He doesn't want any records of his total failures that led to October 7 or his total mishandling of the war and the hostage issue
Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock threatens to bring down the government if the IDF withdraws from two important security corridors in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking during a visit to the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Gaza border, the far-right minister says that her Religious Zionism party is “pressuring within the government, in the strongest way a party can pressure.”
“We explicitly said that if the IDF leaves the Netzarim Corridor and the Philadelphi Corridor… we will not be in the government, we are dismantling the government,” she says.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office rejected a Reuters report that Israel is considering the option of withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border as part of a potential ceasefire deal, calling it “complete fake news.”
In recent remarks, the prime minister laid down what he said were nonnegotiable terms for a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas, one of which concerns maintaining Israeli control of the the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Egypt-Gaza border. He has also seemed to indicate that the IDF will maintain control of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which currently splits the Strip in two and prevents the return of gunmen to the northern part.
However, the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors are not specified as locations where Israeli troops will be allowed to remain, according to the text of the proposed deal recently published in full by The Times of Israel.
In fact, the document calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards away from densely populated areas along the borders in all areas of the Gaza Strip including Gaza valley (Netzarim axis and Kuwait roundabout)…”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heckled by bereaved parents on Tuesday during a state ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 2014 Gaza war, as they sought to hold him accountable for what they said was his failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, despite their sons’ sacrifices.
During the ceremony, held at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, bereaved father Shahar Yaori, whose son Amit died fighting in Gaza in 2014, interrupted President Isaac Herzog’s speech with a cry directed at Netanyahu.
“You’re guilty, you’re guilty!” Yaori could be heard shouting in a video of the incident. “It’s shameful that you’re here — 1,800 dead, 120 hostages, and you’re worried about layoffs, and about your son who insults IDF soldiers,” he said, to applause from some and a request for quiet from others.
“You are guilty,” Yaori repeated. “You are responsible for all the fallen soldiers, and you insult them.”
After the outburst, Herzog paused his speech, left the stage in order to speak quietly with Yaori, and returned once he had calmed down. Following Herzog’s speech, Netanyahu took to the stage.
“There is a saying: ‘New wars erase old wars,'” he said, linking the events of October 7 and the ongoing war in Gaza to the 2014 Gaza war. “I don’t accept that. Even after a decade, even in the midst of a war, we do not forget, and we remember everyone. We salute their heroism and seek to preserve their lofty stories.”
Hadar Goldin’s brother walked out of the room mid-speech, declaring the prime minister a “prattler” as he did. Goldin was killed in battle in 2014, and his body has been held by Hamas in Gaza ever since.
“On the morning of Simchat Torah, in view of the reports of the horrifying massacre on the Gaza border, I declared that we were at war,” Netanyahu said. “It was clear to me that what happened previously would not happen this time. In previous operations, we inflicted very severe blows on Hamas, we eliminated thousands of terrorists, killed commanders and destroyed tunnels.
“But this time, in light of the extreme circumstances, there were the conditions and necessity for a ‘root canal treatment,'” he continued. “This time, the internal and external legitimacy came together to allow us not only to exact a heavy price from our attackers but to go all the way. To destroy Hamas once and for all, to return our hostages and to remove any future threat from Gaza. When I say ‘absolute victory,’ this is what I mean.”
Hamas is under growing pressure, the premier pledged, “because Israel is striking it, eliminating its senior commanders, taking out thousands of terrorists. It is under pressure because we stand firm on our just demands in the face of all pressure. “We will increase the pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said, “and we will bring them all back, the hostages from October 7, and Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.” The bodies of Shaul and Goldin were captured in the 2014 war, while Mengistu and al-Sayed, civilians who suffer from mental illness, entered of their own accord at around the same time and are believed to be alive.
Israel, Netanyahu said, has “no intention of losing this conflict.”
“We will continue to repel the attempts to harm us by Iran and its proxies,” he said. “We will continue to strike with uncompromising force at those who rise up to destroy us. We will reckon with all the perpetrators of the terrorist attack until the last one. We will overthrow the evil rule of Hamas. We will thwart any future threat from Gaza to the State of Israel. And we will bring all our hostages home.”
After his speech, Netanyahu was again interrupted by a father who charged that it was his responsibility “to make sure that the soldiers of ‘Operation Protective Edge’ or the soldiers of ‘Swords of Iron’ did not fall in vain.”
Israel must investigate, “at an operational level and at the decision-making level, the conditions that led to the buildup of Hamas’s power in the decade between Protective Edge and Swords of Iron,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, pledging that trust in the IDF would be restored.
Focusing his speech on the urgent need for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages, Gallant vowed that doing so would not interfere with the country’s stated goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
“We are on the brink of a change that will lead to the collapse of Hamas,” he said. “The determined actions of IDF soldiers and the security forces have brought us to this decisive point,” he said. “Thanks to military pressure…a limited window of opportunity to bring home the hostages has been created. This is a fleeting opportunity. The State of Israel has a moral, ethical and national obligation to bring home the hostages.”
“The IDF and other security agencies have the ability and complete freedom of action to return to strong military operations following any deal, in any place and at any time,” he said. The defense minister addressed the families of Goldin and Shaul and promised that Israel had not forgotten its duty to return them home for a dignified burial.
At the end of the ceremony, Ayelet Goldin, Hadar’s sister, confronted Netanyahu as he departed the hall, and demanded his attention.
“Look us all in the eye, Prime Minister,” she shouted from her position in the audience. “Stand up and look me in the eye. My Hadar is the symbol of abandonment, the symbol of complete failure…you abandoned the fallen and the wounded.”
“We are one step away from complete failure,” Goldin charged, mocking Netanyahu’s repeated assurances that Israel is “a step away from victory” against Hamas. Goldin’s parents did not attend the memorial event, choosing instead to hold an alternative event at the entrance to the cemetery.
“Until Hadar is returned, we cannot enter the ceremony,” Simcha Goldin said. “What began with Protective Edge continued on Simchat Torah and continues to this day,” he said.
“Not returning our children is out of the question,” Leah Goldin added. “We are at a historic juncture, between a step from victory and a step from failure. We are returning them all, and now.” link
'A devious prime minister': 500 Israeli academics ask
Netanyahu be disinvited from US Congress
The 500 academics signed a letter claiming that Netanyahu's
invitation to Congress was "a dangerous political and diplomatic gesture
that endangers not only Israel, but the entire free world."
Some 500 Israeli academics wrote on
Tuesday to US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to
request that Congress rescind its invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is a dangerous political and
diplomatic gesture that endangers not only Israel, but the entire free world,”
the letter claimed.
“It gives support and a significant
platform to a leader who has abandoned his people and refuses to take
responsibility for the greatest disaster that has befallen the Jewish people
since the Holocaust,” the letter added, in reference to the October 7 massacre
Hamas carried out on southern Israel.
The letter went on to accuse
Netanyahu of “instigat[ing] conflict and pits Israeli citizens against each
other for his own political and personal gains. His only interest is preserving
his own power and transforming a democratic Israel into a new dictatorship.”
Speaking on the ongoing war against
Hamas, the letter added “Netanyahu has demonstrated his indifference to the
ongoing hell endured by the hostages held captive by Hamas. He has caused
severe deterioration in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has harmed US
interests in the Middle East while he continues to pursue the ongoing
disaster.”
The government has been criticized
by families of hostages, and their allies, for failing to reach an agreement
with Hamas to release the remaining 120 people held captive in Gaza. Recently,
a strike which may have killed Hamas leader Mohammed Deif was feared to have
put current talks at risk, only days after US President Joe Biden announced
that Hamas and Israel had reached an agreement on a framework for a
ceasefire-release deal. “He will promote
the fantasies he shares with his messianic partners in Israel’s government (who
are openly celebrating the opportunities provided by the war, in Gaza and in
the West Bank), all in perfectly fluent English aimed at manipulating members
of Congress and the American public,” the letter further charged in reference
to Israel’s religious government. “Does the United States Congress wish to
support such a model of cynical and manipulative leadership in these times? Do
its members wish to hear the acrobatic and deceptive speech of a prime minister
who fails to adhere to most of his promises or signed agreements?”
The authors of the letter condemned
the US’s decision “to invite a devious prime minister who continues to pursue,
under cover of war, a judicial coup, hoping no one is watching, with the aim of
establishing a new dictatorship under the guise of law, is to accelerate this
erosion in the entire free world.”
Netanyahu’s government pursued
a judicial reform which would, many argued,
threaten the checks and balances in Israeli lawmaking. Additionally, the
government attempted to pass the Deri Law. Both legislative attempts were met
with protests in Israel and international condemnation - including condemnation
from the West.
The authors went on to agree with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's push
for new elections in Israel - claiming “according to the majority of the
Israeli public, Netanyahu's government is illegitimate, and it’s modus vivendi
involves actions that clearly endanger both American and Israeli interests in
the region.
“A clear majority of Israeli
citizens, across a broad political spectrum, believes that Israel should hold
elections now. The Israeli public should be able to decide its future – a
choice between Netanyahu and his messianic partners' path of war and
destruction or a regional arrangement that includes normalization with Saudi
Arabia and other moderate Arab and Muslims states, coupled with an alignment
with the democratic world and the United States of America as its leader. We
urge you to stand behind this message.
“Until the people of Israel are
given the opportunity to speak out through a democratic election process,
Netanyahu and his government must reach a deal based on the most recent
proposed outline – the gradual release of the hostages in exchange for a
ceasefire.”
Throughout the letter, the authors
repeat their fear that Netanyahu’s invitation may endanger the hostage deal.
The signatories of the letter
included Prof. Niv Ahitov, Prof. Eva Iloz, Ruthi Alon, Prof. Yehuda Alfer,
Prof. Nitza Ben-Dov, Prof. Michal Ben Naftali, Dr. Yitzhak Binyamini, Dr. Galia
Bar-Or, Prof. Micha Berkoz, Esti G. Haim, Naomi Givon, Dr. Ze'ev Dagani, Prof.
Yuval Dor, Dr. Tamar Hess, Dr. Nicole Hochner, Prof. Yoram Harpaz, Prof. Rafi
Weichert, Prof. Gal Ventura , Dr. Raphael Zaguri-Orli, Prof. Noam Zahar, Prof.
Assaf Hasson, Prof. Alon Hasid, Prof. Hagi Canaan, Prof. Margalit Cohen, Yair
Lev, Prof. Vared Lev-Kanaan, Lilach Lachman, Emily Moati, Einat Mittal, Prof.
Iris Milner, Ahinoam Nini, Maozia Segal, Prof. Penia Oz-Salzberger, Dr. Ronit
Peleg, Prof. Ilana Pardes, Prof. Ehud Fridgot, Prof. Ruth Halperin Kadri, Prof.
Miki Kretzman, Prof. Moshe Ron, Prof. Tova Rosen, Zeev Raz, Prof. Dimitri
Shumsky, Ilan Sheinfeld, Tzarua Shalev, Julie Shalez and more from Israel and
the rest of the world.
Academics
echo the concerns of hostage families
Hostages’ family members announced on Tuesday that
they had launched a funding campaign to enable them to fly to the US at the
same time as Netanyahu - citing similar criticisms of the prime minister as the
academics.
Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of
hostage Yoram Metzger, said in a video, “Representatives of the Begin Group are
going to the US this coming Saturday. We will not let Netanyahu set his false
narrative in the international media. We must make our voice heard, be a
counter there against him, and remind him that there is a need to sign a deal,
stop the war, and return the hostages home.” link
According to the text of the bill, the legal bills for anyone suspected or accused of terrorism following October 7 will be paid for from frozen Palestinian Authority tax funds held by Israel rather than from the state budget.
Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both harshly condemned the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Their comments came after it emerged that courts dealing with Palestinian detainees captured during the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza ruled that the prisoners needed legal representation when appearing before them.
Since the Public Defender’s Office has refused to represent these detainees, the courts ordered that they be given private counsel in accordance with Israeli law, which also stipulates that funding for such legal representation come from the state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that security consultation and cabinet discussions held in the underground operations center of military headquarters in the first days of the war were not recorded, Haaretz reports.
The outlet says the Israel Defense Forces complied with the premier’s directive to stop the automatic recording equipment in the days following October 7.
The report says the order from the Prime Minister’s Office was received by the office of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, which in turn transferred the directive to the Operations Directorate of the military.
Haaretz says that Netanyahu preferred to hold discussions in his own office at the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv so that he was not reliant on military recordings.
In response, the PMO tells Haaretz that “in accordance with the provisions of the regulations for the work of the government, all government meetings and ministerial committees have recordings and transcriptions made by the Prime Minister’s Office stenographers only.”
Last week, two other Hebrew media outlets suggested Netanyahu has been attempting to leave his conversations regarding the management of the war in Gaza untraceable.
According to the Ynet news site, senior figures in the security establishment fear that efforts are being made to edit the minutes of wartime discussions held with Netanyahu after discovering discrepancies between transcripts of the meetings and what the figures had heard in real time.
Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office reportedly approached Netanyahu’s former military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, to warn him that people from the premier’s inner circle were attempting to tinker with the meeting records. The report said one of the meetings, whose records were tampered with, dealt with “sensitive preparations for a significant political event,” but it did not elaborate further.
Gil later sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara expressing his concerns on the matter.
Senior political sources told Ynet they could not be assured that the audio was recorded for meetings held at Netanyahu’s offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Netanyahu has been holding sensitive discussions on the war via phone calls on the WhatsApp app, which does not allow conversations to be recorded. link this is clearly a man who has a lot to hide. He doesn't want any records of his total failures that led to October 7 or his total mishandling of the war and the hostage issue
Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock threatens to bring down the government if the IDF withdraws from two important security corridors in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking during a visit to the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Gaza border, the far-right minister says that her Religious Zionism party is “pressuring within the government, in the strongest way a party can pressure.”
“We explicitly said that if the IDF leaves the Netzarim Corridor and the Philadelphi Corridor… we will not be in the government, we are dismantling the government,” she says.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office rejected a Reuters report that Israel is considering the option of withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border as part of a potential ceasefire deal, calling it “complete fake news.”
In recent remarks, the prime minister laid down what he said were nonnegotiable terms for a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas, one of which concerns maintaining Israeli control of the the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Egypt-Gaza border. He has also seemed to indicate that the IDF will maintain control of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which currently splits the Strip in two and prevents the return of gunmen to the northern part.
However, the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors are not specified as locations where Israeli troops will be allowed to remain, according to the text of the proposed deal recently published in full by The Times of Israel.
In fact, the document calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards away from densely populated areas along the borders in all areas of the Gaza Strip including Gaza valley (Netzarim axis and Kuwait roundabout)…”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heckled by bereaved parents on Tuesday during a state ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 2014 Gaza war, as they sought to hold him accountable for what they said was his failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, despite their sons’ sacrifices.
During the ceremony, held at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, bereaved father Shahar Yaori, whose son Amit died fighting in Gaza in 2014, interrupted President Isaac Herzog’s speech with a cry directed at Netanyahu.
“You’re guilty, you’re guilty!” Yaori could be heard shouting in a video of the incident. “It’s shameful that you’re here — 1,800 dead, 120 hostages, and you’re worried about layoffs, and about your son who insults IDF soldiers,” he said, to applause from some and a request for quiet from others.
“You are guilty,” Yaori repeated. “You are responsible for all the fallen soldiers, and you insult them.”
After the outburst, Herzog paused his speech, left the stage in order to speak quietly with Yaori, and returned once he had calmed down. Following Herzog’s speech, Netanyahu took to the stage.
“There is a saying: ‘New wars erase old wars,'” he said, linking the events of October 7 and the ongoing war in Gaza to the 2014 Gaza war. “I don’t accept that. Even after a decade, even in the midst of a war, we do not forget, and we remember everyone. We salute their heroism and seek to preserve their lofty stories.”
Hadar Goldin’s brother walked out of the room mid-speech, declaring the prime minister a “prattler” as he did. Goldin was killed in battle in 2014, and his body has been held by Hamas in Gaza ever since.
“On the morning of Simchat Torah, in view of the reports of the horrifying massacre on the Gaza border, I declared that we were at war,” Netanyahu said. “It was clear to me that what happened previously would not happen this time. In previous operations, we inflicted very severe blows on Hamas, we eliminated thousands of terrorists, killed commanders and destroyed tunnels.
“But this time, in light of the extreme circumstances, there were the conditions and necessity for a ‘root canal treatment,'” he continued. “This time, the internal and external legitimacy came together to allow us not only to exact a heavy price from our attackers but to go all the way. To destroy Hamas once and for all, to return our hostages and to remove any future threat from Gaza. When I say ‘absolute victory,’ this is what I mean.”
Hamas is under growing pressure, the premier pledged, “because Israel is striking it, eliminating its senior commanders, taking out thousands of terrorists. It is under pressure because we stand firm on our just demands in the face of all pressure. “We will increase the pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said, “and we will bring them all back, the hostages from October 7, and Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.” The bodies of Shaul and Goldin were captured in the 2014 war, while Mengistu and al-Sayed, civilians who suffer from mental illness, entered of their own accord at around the same time and are believed to be alive.
Israel, Netanyahu said, has “no intention of losing this conflict.”
“We will continue to repel the attempts to harm us by Iran and its proxies,” he said. “We will continue to strike with uncompromising force at those who rise up to destroy us. We will reckon with all the perpetrators of the terrorist attack until the last one. We will overthrow the evil rule of Hamas. We will thwart any future threat from Gaza to the State of Israel. And we will bring all our hostages home.”
After his speech, Netanyahu was again interrupted by a father who charged that it was his responsibility “to make sure that the soldiers of ‘Operation Protective Edge’ or the soldiers of ‘Swords of Iron’ did not fall in vain.”
Israel must investigate, “at an operational level and at the decision-making level, the conditions that led to the buildup of Hamas’s power in the decade between Protective Edge and Swords of Iron,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, pledging that trust in the IDF would be restored.
Focusing his speech on the urgent need for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages, Gallant vowed that doing so would not interfere with the country’s stated goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
“We are on the brink of a change that will lead to the collapse of Hamas,” he said. “The determined actions of IDF soldiers and the security forces have brought us to this decisive point,” he said. “Thanks to military pressure…a limited window of opportunity to bring home the hostages has been created. This is a fleeting opportunity. The State of Israel has a moral, ethical and national obligation to bring home the hostages.”
“The IDF and other security agencies have the ability and complete freedom of action to return to strong military operations following any deal, in any place and at any time,” he said. The defense minister addressed the families of Goldin and Shaul and promised that Israel had not forgotten its duty to return them home for a dignified burial.
At the end of the ceremony, Ayelet Goldin, Hadar’s sister, confronted Netanyahu as he departed the hall, and demanded his attention.
“Look us all in the eye, Prime Minister,” she shouted from her position in the audience. “Stand up and look me in the eye. My Hadar is the symbol of abandonment, the symbol of complete failure…you abandoned the fallen and the wounded.”
“We are one step away from complete failure,” Goldin charged, mocking Netanyahu’s repeated assurances that Israel is “a step away from victory” against Hamas. Goldin’s parents did not attend the memorial event, choosing instead to hold an alternative event at the entrance to the cemetery.
“Until Hadar is returned, we cannot enter the ceremony,” Simcha Goldin said. “What began with Protective Edge continued on Simchat Torah and continues to this day,” he said.
“Not returning our children is out of the question,” Leah Goldin added. “We are at a historic juncture, between a step from victory and a step from failure. We are returning them all, and now.” link
'A devious prime minister': 500 Israeli academics ask
Netanyahu be disinvited from US Congress
The 500 academics signed a letter claiming that Netanyahu's
invitation to Congress was "a dangerous political and diplomatic gesture
that endangers not only Israel, but the entire free world."
Some 500 Israeli academics wrote on
Tuesday to US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to
request that Congress rescind its invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is a dangerous political and
diplomatic gesture that endangers not only Israel, but the entire free world,”
the letter claimed.
“It gives support and a significant
platform to a leader who has abandoned his people and refuses to take
responsibility for the greatest disaster that has befallen the Jewish people
since the Holocaust,” the letter added, in reference to the October 7 massacre
Hamas carried out on southern Israel.
The letter went on to accuse
Netanyahu of “instigat[ing] conflict and pits Israeli citizens against each
other for his own political and personal gains. His only interest is preserving
his own power and transforming a democratic Israel into a new dictatorship.”
Speaking on the ongoing war against
Hamas, the letter added “Netanyahu has demonstrated his indifference to the
ongoing hell endured by the hostages held captive by Hamas. He has caused
severe deterioration in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has harmed US
interests in the Middle East while he continues to pursue the ongoing
disaster.”
The government has been criticized
by families of hostages, and their allies, for failing to reach an agreement
with Hamas to release the remaining 120 people held captive in Gaza. Recently,
a strike which may have killed Hamas leader Mohammed Deif was feared to have
put current talks at risk, only days after US President Joe Biden announced
that Hamas and Israel had reached an agreement on a framework for a
ceasefire-release deal. “He will promote
the fantasies he shares with his messianic partners in Israel’s government (who
are openly celebrating the opportunities provided by the war, in Gaza and in
the West Bank), all in perfectly fluent English aimed at manipulating members
of Congress and the American public,” the letter further charged in reference
to Israel’s religious government. “Does the United States Congress wish to
support such a model of cynical and manipulative leadership in these times? Do
its members wish to hear the acrobatic and deceptive speech of a prime minister
who fails to adhere to most of his promises or signed agreements?”
The authors of the letter condemned
the US’s decision “to invite a devious prime minister who continues to pursue,
under cover of war, a judicial coup, hoping no one is watching, with the aim of
establishing a new dictatorship under the guise of law, is to accelerate this
erosion in the entire free world.”
Netanyahu’s government pursued
a judicial reform which would, many argued,
threaten the checks and balances in Israeli lawmaking. Additionally, the
government attempted to pass the Deri Law. Both legislative attempts were met
with protests in Israel and international condemnation - including condemnation
from the West.
The authors went on to agree with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's push
for new elections in Israel - claiming “according to the majority of the
Israeli public, Netanyahu's government is illegitimate, and it’s modus vivendi
involves actions that clearly endanger both American and Israeli interests in
the region.
“A clear majority of Israeli
citizens, across a broad political spectrum, believes that Israel should hold
elections now. The Israeli public should be able to decide its future – a
choice between Netanyahu and his messianic partners' path of war and
destruction or a regional arrangement that includes normalization with Saudi
Arabia and other moderate Arab and Muslims states, coupled with an alignment
with the democratic world and the United States of America as its leader. We
urge you to stand behind this message.
“Until the people of Israel are
given the opportunity to speak out through a democratic election process,
Netanyahu and his government must reach a deal based on the most recent
proposed outline – the gradual release of the hostages in exchange for a
ceasefire.”
Throughout the letter, the authors
repeat their fear that Netanyahu’s invitation may endanger the hostage deal.
The signatories of the letter
included Prof. Niv Ahitov, Prof. Eva Iloz, Ruthi Alon, Prof. Yehuda Alfer,
Prof. Nitza Ben-Dov, Prof. Michal Ben Naftali, Dr. Yitzhak Binyamini, Dr. Galia
Bar-Or, Prof. Micha Berkoz, Esti G. Haim, Naomi Givon, Dr. Ze'ev Dagani, Prof.
Yuval Dor, Dr. Tamar Hess, Dr. Nicole Hochner, Prof. Yoram Harpaz, Prof. Rafi
Weichert, Prof. Gal Ventura , Dr. Raphael Zaguri-Orli, Prof. Noam Zahar, Prof.
Assaf Hasson, Prof. Alon Hasid, Prof. Hagi Canaan, Prof. Margalit Cohen, Yair
Lev, Prof. Vared Lev-Kanaan, Lilach Lachman, Emily Moati, Einat Mittal, Prof.
Iris Milner, Ahinoam Nini, Maozia Segal, Prof. Penia Oz-Salzberger, Dr. Ronit
Peleg, Prof. Ilana Pardes, Prof. Ehud Fridgot, Prof. Ruth Halperin Kadri, Prof.
Miki Kretzman, Prof. Moshe Ron, Prof. Tova Rosen, Zeev Raz, Prof. Dimitri
Shumsky, Ilan Sheinfeld, Tzarua Shalev, Julie Shalez and more from Israel and
the rest of the world.
Academics
echo the concerns of hostage families
Hostages’ family members announced on Tuesday that
they had launched a funding campaign to enable them to fly to the US at the
same time as Netanyahu - citing similar criticisms of the prime minister as the
academics.
Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of
hostage Yoram Metzger, said in a video, “Representatives of the Begin Group are
going to the US this coming Saturday. We will not let Netanyahu set his false
narrative in the international media. We must make our voice heard, be a
counter there against him, and remind him that there is a need to sign a deal,
stop the war, and return the hostages home.” link
The Region and the World
- Islamic State claims responsibility for an attack at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Oman, where at least six people, including a policeman, were killed and 28 wounded, in a rare terror operation in one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, the jihadist group says in a statement on Telegram.
Personal Stories
Three weeks ago, on his 54th birthday, Oren Smadja lost his son Omer, a Golani soldier who fell in battle in Gaza. Since then, we have been accompanying him, his wife Liat, and their children Rom and Rotem: in the emotional meeting with the soldiers who were with Omer in his final moments, with the parents of Saadia Yaakov Deri who fell with him - and also when Oren returned for the first time to the judo national team training. This week, for the first time since his son fell in Gaza, Oren Smadja returned to the judo hall at the Wingate Institute. "No applause, regular training, I don't want anything, let's go," he requested before entering the hall - and before being surrounded by trainees hugging and comforting him from all sides. Three weeks have passed since the terrible knock on the door, and Smadja, the national judo team coach, is trying in small and hesitant steps to return to activity. But even a super-athlete like Smadja, who on this mat has fallen and gotten up and fallen again and gotten up again, knows that the ippon he took from life is unlike anything else - that this time it will be much harder.
To his trainees, he shows the tattoo he got in memory of his son Omer: "To dare and not be afraid to fail" - and proudly says: "This is his handwriting." In 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, Smadja made history and became the first Israeli man to win a medal. Since then, he has been a familiar face in every home. When he spoke over the grave of his son Omer, who fell in Gaza, it seemed the whole country cried with him and his wife Liat and their children Rom and Rotem.
"Yesterday we were still texting, and you even managed to send Dad a happy birthday wish," Liat eulogized tearfully. And Oren added: "From this place, I say to you soldiers, lift your heads, continue as strong as possible. We started strong, keep intensifying, don't stop, don't stop until we win, that's my message to anyone who messes with us - the people of Israel live."
"Learning to walk anew every day"I've known Oren for many years, a kind of brotherhood of southerners: he's from Ofakim and I'm from Be'er Sheva. Since Omer was killed, we've been accompanying the family. We were with them when they first met the parents of Saadia Yaakov Deri who fell beside him in Jabalia; we were there when they went together to tattoo a memento of Omer on their bodies; we accompanied Oren in the difficult dilemma of whether to travel to the Olympics in Paris that will open in two weeks, just a month after his son's death; we were with them when they met Omer's friends from the army, those who were with him in his final moments - and also when Liat discovered the song that Omer dedicated to her every morning in Gaza.
**How are you?**Liat: "Wow, that's a complex question."**The question is simple, the answer is complex.**Liat: "We're learning to walk anew every day, really, step by step. Two weeks have passed and I'm waiting every moment for him to come through the door. Now we're sitting and talking nicely and it could be that in an hour it will be bitter crying and some song I hear or I enter the settlement and see his picture and my heart just breaks. But with that, I'm so proud of my child, I'm about to start crying now."Oren: "Cry."Liat: "I'm so proud of him."Oren: "There's life before and life after. We're starting to see different and other lives, at least from what I was used to."
**I say that everything is a small world and everything connects, because you trained my son in judo when he was a child and you were in the same class in Ofakim with Orit Simchi (mother of Guy Simchi z"l, who fell in Re'im on 10/7).**Oren: "Yes, she was a very close neighbor and when the war broke out, we're all in the same year - '88, in a WhatsApp group, friends who meet once in a while and share experiences, and suddenly 'fuck', death. You understand who it is. Then another message and another message, there were three-four messages in our group about sons of, very close-close, and yes, it really approached us in steps and arrived."
"It was imprinted in the soul"More than 680 soldiers have been killed since the war began and they come from all over the country. From north and south and center, religious and secular. In the incident where 25-year-old Omer, who lived with his parents in Ganot Hadar near Netanya, fell, 27-year-old Saadia Yaakov Deri, who grew up in Eli, also fell. Hours earlier, the two had taken a photo together.
"They just connected and think - we're secular and they're religious and everyone comes from different ends," explains Liat. "It's amazing these connections that happen in the army." When Lali Deri, Saadia's mother, arrives, Liat stops everything and runs to hug her: "This is the most important thing." And Deri adds: "Really when you say about Omer that he was all 'hyper' and that, Saadia was the stability. We called him 'the quiet force'. They said 'Here I am' when they charged both on Simchat Torah and now when they were called for the second time without thinking, because it was imprinted in their souls."
Omer Smadja not only fought for the country, but also managed to save lives even before that. "One day I get a phone call - your son is found to be suitable to be a bone marrow donor," Oren recalls. "He did what he did and it turned out he really saved lives in his lifetime."
"I understood that Omer absorbed it for us"Not only in his life did Omer save lives but also in his death: On June 20th in the morning, he and his friends from the reserve platoon were in an operational activity inside a building in Jabalia. Hamas terrorists identified the force and fired mortars at them that began exploding around them. The platoon sergeant, Reserve Master Sergeant Sapir Geshma, recounted: "The first landing was 50-100 meters from us so it immediately put us on alert that it was probably going to reach us - we put on helmets, lay down each one and at the moment of impact I remember it was a hysterical boom, because it actually landed on us. We were at distances of a meter, half a meter from each other, 18 people. The first we really heard was Noam shouting 'I'm wounded'."
Sergeant Matan Klangel said: "I remember a black cloud covering the whole area and we heard guys who were wounded and shouting 'we're wounded'." And his friend Sergeant Noam David, who was wounded and is now in a wheelchair, said: "Omer was on my left side, and all the shrapnel and all the damage on the left side of my body, I was wounded, I shouted 'I'm wounded'. Omer was really close, half a meter." And Sergeant Geshma added: "When I ran to Noam I saw Omer, I understood that Omer z"l absorbed it for us. That's how Omer was, would absorb everything for everyone and ready to take it upon himself."
"On Monday when he left the house I knew he wasn't coming back," Liat admits in our conversation. "On Sunday night I helped him prepare his medic's kit, at one-two in the morning, I hugged him and he left the house on Monday morning and I knew he wasn't coming back. I even went to the doctor on Wednesday and said 'Listen, there's a tsunami - my son is in Gaza, give me something' and I don't take anything."
Oren also says he behaved differently: "I find myself in the three days before that, sleeping here in his room for some reason. Anyone who understands what it's like when children are in the army, where the head and heart are - you walk around half a corpse, you try to function normally."
"There was deliberation about who would notify me"Thursday, June 20, Oren celebrates his 54th birthday. He goes out with the family to a restaurant and even before receives a greeting from Omer, from Gaza. This will become the last message he receives from his son. "And then he sends a message in the family WhatsApp. Wished me good luck and really, you know, something I had to get from him - good luck and also good luck to his little sister who just finished her studies. We're celebrating and the happiest, we're at the peak of happiness and we get a call from the army, I don't know what they said to her, but I think Liat already..." And Lali Deri asks: "What, they told you on the phone?" And Liat replies: "They called to tell me that they're speaking from the army that we should come home."
**You're a casualty officer. You're one of those who knock on the door. Did you think you'd be on the other side?**Liat: "I don't think there's a mother in Israel who doesn't fear this. From the day a son is born, everyone fears. Today also daughters. With a knock on the door you change people's entire lives. And when they came and delivered the news to me, they had a deliberation about who would notify me because everyone knows me."
**At the funeral you gave such a speech that everyone talked about. Was it intended that you want to convey a message?**Oren: "No, really really not. We decided that the lioness of the house (would speak)." Liat then said over the grave with a choked throat: "A nature child, unique and special with a heart of gold, you challenged us to the fullest but always with an innocent face and so so beautiful. Over your grave I ask you for forgiveness." And Oren recalls: "Liat just broke me apart. And in the middle I see a soldier shaking, about to fall into the pit. And I get up and wash his face, I tell him, what are you doing? Like be strong, I know they came for the funeral from the fighting and tomorrow they're supposed to go back. So I say to the rabbi, he tells me: 'Wait, a second' - and I got up and the words just came out."
"I'm not strong, I'm telling you, really really not," he declares. "You can't define what strength is, what weakness is. You asked if I cry, believe me we cry here, no one understands how much. I can, as Liat says, smile, talk - and I'm just sitting here on the couch, and sometimes I can't manage to lift myself up and certainly not talk. You try to find within all this blackness and darkness some spark, you must stay strong. If we fall into all these pits and don't get up, we've lost the war." During the conversation, son Rom leaves the house to return to the army. "Text me when you arrive," says Liat, and Oren adds: "Omer.. ah Rom, take water." Quite a few parents sometimes confuse their children's names but this mistake of Oren's breaks the heart. In the Smadja family, you've surely already understood, they don't give up on themselves - and so, two weeks after losing his brother, Rom returns to the army.
**Where is he going?**Liat: "Rom is returning to his base, he's now a course commander in intelligence. Let him return to routine, we encourage returning to routine, and this is also his choice - he's a grown child, he knows how to express what he feels."
The message to the people of Israel and the meeting with NetanyahuIn the meeting with the soldiers who were there with Omer and Saadia, in their last moments in Gaza, Saadia's mother said: "During the shiva, the head of the Personnel Directorate, Yaniv Asur, came to us. And we asked him 'How can it be that they fired a mortar from Jabalia? After all, we paid a blood price of soldiers, of heroes, to liberate Jabalia. So what happened that there are abominable terrorists there, who fire a mortar that kills our son?' And he said 'We were forced to leave Jabalia and then they entered.' So I said 'Why did you leave?' And then he said there aren't enough forces."
And she looks straight at the camera, beside Omer's parents, and says: "My brothers, there are all kinds of pressures from all kinds of directions not to enlist in the IDF from all kinds of places, not necessarily in the ultra-Orthodox public but also. The people of Israel need you. We need you. It's not possible that we receive such an answer that there isn't enough manpower, there aren't enough people, there aren't enough soldiers. I love you, I know how hard it is. But please understand, this is the time to come, to stand up, to put aside all other considerations. Please, in memory of all the fallen heroes and for all these heroes, in their honor. They said 'Here I am', say 'Here I am'. We are a people who knows how to say 'Here I am'."
**You talk a lot about unity.**Oren: "Only unity."
**And it really caught the ear that you talk about all of us here together. But I must tell you that a son of a friend of mine was killed, there wasn't even someone to place the wreath from the government. Netanyahu came to you.**"You want to comfort? Welcome."
**From the politicians.**"Everyone who was there, from the politicians. The house was open to anyone who wanted. I wanted the Prime Minister to hear the things we're saying, and when I spoke I didn't even give a political position, the words were mainly to the soldiers, because I heard the soldiers here, that they have nowhere to return to - they have no livelihood, no money, who strengthens their families? And to let them run even further forward, and not stop from time to time - to do everything necessary to win. Our people are simply torn to shreds - we're all brothers, we all want the same goal."
**How much do you draw strength from judo, which is your whole life? There too they do an ippon on you and you get up.**Oren: "The more you sink lower you won't be able to rise. And your goal is to get up from this fall as quickly as possible. And that's what happened to the State of Israel - we took a fall that we're not managing to rise from." And Liat adds: "But after an ippon (judo term) you always get up on your feet, there's no such thing." Oren declares: "If I'm not at the Olympics, I've taken the ippon of my life."
"Nothing will break us"One question hovers over all our conversations with Smadja: Will he march with his trainees, with the Israeli delegation, at the opening of the Olympics in Paris on July 26th. "I so appreciate that he's here, with all the difficulty, with everything he's experienced recently," says medalist Sagi Muki. "He lifts up the team, by coming here, I can tell you that it strengthens me personally, and all the athletes, especially in this period, because it's hard and I really hope we'll make him proud at the Olympics."
**Sagi, is there a chance Oren won't travel with you to Paris?**"I know in my heart what I think will happen, but that's something Oren will answer. Oren is one who completes missions."
In the deliberation whether to travel to the Olympics, Oren also shares with his good friend Guy Suskin, who is also the team psychologist. "It's a question that only Oren can really feel. There's no textbook that says, I don't think a textbook has been written, we can write it maybe after the Olympics of what happens in such a situation," replies Suskin. "To know for a moment to feel what's right - I think that's the way."
"On my birthday I take my boom and I'm supposed to, you know, be in mourning and feel the greatest pain I'm experiencing - and people are talking to me about the Olympics. Like what Olympics? I can't stand on my feet," Oren shares painfully.
**What do you think he should do?**Liat: "So we had a family conversation, both I and the children told him that we give him our blessing, especially to show that nothing breaks us. Nothing will break our spirit. I know that standing at the Olympic event requires a lot, and it's really Oren's decision but he has support from home."
**What do you think he'll decide?**"I believe he'll decide yes, as I know him."
"Omer simply sent me a message"
The connection between Miri Mesika and the Smadja family began at Omer's shiva. Someone told Miri that a fallen soldier listened every morning in Gaza to one of her songs, "You Have Yourself". Mesika recounts: "I receive three messages from three different people - 'There's a guy who...' Wait, a guy? I've really heard about lookouts, hostages, women, but a guy not yet - he listened to it every morning. They asked him, why do you listen to this song every morning? He said 'I think about my mom' which killed me. He sang it to his mom, as if in some knowledge that she would need it."
Liat agrees: "He simply sent me a message. I cry at night. I cry at night, a lot." And Mesika responds: "I don't know how you do it, really. Our people are very, very strong. We need to be worthy of them, and worthy of these soldiers."
The "Acharai" organization prepares boys and girls for meaningful and combat service in the IDF. Omer joined the movement in 11th grade and immediately stood out as an outstanding, dedicated trainee. After the shiva, Oren shows up for a meeting with the "Acharai" staff and trainees. One of the instructors says to Oren: "This is how Omer would enter, with the smile, always like this, exactly the same, one to one." And Oren says to the trainees: "I so salute you, I so appreciate you." After they set out and shout "For Omer", his father Oren joins them on a journey carrying a stretcher.
When leaving Liat and Oren's house, it's hard not to think about that Israeli clichΓ© of "I came to strengthen, I left strengthened." What wonderful people there are in this country. Are we worthy of them? Of Omer, of Saadia, of Liat and Oren, of Lali and Haim Deri, of the Alexandroni fighters, of the boys and girls who are determined even now to enlist in combat roles, of the athletes preparing for the Olympics - they and we deserve to see the Israeli flag waving in Paris, to the sounds of "Hatikvah". Let the whole world see, because especially this year for this people, certainly for the Smadja family, a medal is deserved.
"I had a father here who sat here and tells me, listen, they knocked on my door the first time when my son was kidnapped, they knocked on my door the second time when my son was killed. I'm waiting for the third knock, when they return the body," Oren recounts. "These are stories you can't contain. You know, we received an atomic bomb and we received a shockwave, like this. And we see the shockwave, and it's really important for us to tell them, we will rise. We will survive, we will not give up, we will continue forward, onward, and only this way we will win. Only this way we will win. With love we can win. Only with love." link
Acronyms and Glossary
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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