π️Lonny's War Update- October 294, 2023 - July 26, 2024 π️
π️Day 294 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!!!”
Eliya Danzig Lichtman, the granddaughter of Alex Dancyg, who is held hostage, writes to him – “Summer holiday in Nir Oz. All the grandchildren who don’t live here crash at grandma and grandpa’s house for at least 2 weeks. The perfect vacation – a pool, “all you can eat” service, popsicles, a dining room with lots of schnitzels, cold drinks, and just lying down on the grassy lawn, because time means nothing to us. I learned how to ride my bicycle and felt like a racing driver when grandma asked me to go buy eggs for her. There’s nothing better than a vacation in Nir Oz. Now, no more vacations. No more Nir Oz. So many grandparents were murdered on that Saturday, and so many icons and legendary people with the kindest hearts were killed on that “black Sabbath." Many grandparents were abducted and taken into Gaza. Grandparents of peace and love were abducted into dark tunnels. Some of the grandparents are already back home, thank God, and thanks to the previous deal. Some are still there. My beloved grandfather, Alex, is still there, and his granddaughters miss him terribly. They cry out loud, from the bottom of their hearts, asking him to come back. This summer holiday is the time for him to return. For him and for all the other grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, children, and babies. They are all being held captive for 9 months of their lives. It’s time for their rebirth, it’s time for them to come back to life. They need a vacation. They need to come home. Now!” (3 days ago, Alex was declared by the army to have been killed during captivity)
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
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
*5:10pm yesterday - north - hostile aircraft - Arab asl Arabsha, Admit, Eilon, Goren, Gordot Hagalil, Hanita, Ya'ara, Manot, Neve Ziv, Avdon, Shlomi, Metuba*5:20pm yesterday - north- hostile aircraft Neve Ziv, Avdon, Manot, Arab al Aramsha, Eilon, Goren, Gordont Hagalil, Hanita, Ya'ara
*5:25pm yesterday - south - rockets Kerem Shalom
*3:00am - south - rockets - Yated
*10:40am - south - rockets Nahal Oz
*1:05pm - north - rockets Dafna, Sha'ar Hayeshuv, Kibbutz Dan, Netua, Shtula
**A soldier died and two more were seriously hurt overnight in a non-combat incident in the southern Gaza Strip that is under Military Police investigation, the IDF announces.
*5:25pm yesterday - south - rockets Kerem Shalom
*3:00am - south - rockets - Yated
*10:40am - south - rockets Nahal Oz
*1:05pm - north - rockets Dafna, Sha'ar Hayeshuv, Kibbutz Dan, Netua, Shtula
The soldier is named as Staff Sgt. Noam Douek, 19, of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 9th Battalion, from Kiryat Motzkin. Two more soldiers of the 9th Battalion are listed in serious condition. The military suspects that Douek was killed and the other soldiers were hurt by toxic fumes from a generator in the room they were sleeping in overnight. Further details are under investigation by the Military Police
The slain soldier was named by the Israel Defense Forces as Reserve Corporal Moti Rave, 37, from the community of Shani, also known as Livne, which straddles the southern West Bank border. Rave served as an engineering vehicle operator in the Givati Infantry Brigade. According to an initial probe, Rave was killed by anti-tank fire that hit a D9 armored bulldozer he was operating in Rafah. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
May their memories forever be a blessing and may the other soldiers recover.
Hostage Updates
Following the announcement that hostage Maya Goren’s body was recovered from Gaza, along with four others, a photo has emerged online showing Goren feeding Kfir Bibas, a baby who was kidnapped to Gaza with his mother and older brother, and whose fate remains unknown.
The photo is undated but was taken at Kibbutz Nir Oz before October 7.
Goren was a preschool and nursery teacher at the kibbutz.
The Bibas family were all kidnapped from the kibbutz on October 7. Shiri and Yarden and redheaded children Ariel (4) and Kfir (9-months old at the time of the kidnapping) have become a symbol of the hostages’ plight, with video widely circulated of a terrified Shiri holding her children as they were taken from their home by terrorists.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby enters the press briefing room wearing a dog tag that he received from one of the American hostage families.
He says US President Joe Biden is conveying in his ongoing Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly he president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire — at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
Kirby reiterates that gaps remain, but that they’re bridgeable if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort.
“Today is the 293rd day that these hostages have been held captive by Hamas and you just have to assume that it is in the most horrific of circumstances,” the White House spokesperson laments.
He says the two leaders are also discussing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and trying to prevent the opening of a full-blown war.
Kirby adds that Biden is also raising the “critical need for stability in the West Bank.”
“We’re still seeing violence in the West Bank that the president has been absolutely steadfast calling out as unacceptable,” he says, apparently referring to settler violence. Biden has levied a series of sanctions at those behind attacks amid little Israeli action.
The White House spokesperson clarifies that the US still maintains an “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security and to helping it combat threats from Iran and its proxies.
After their meeting with their teams, Biden and Netanyahu will meet with the families of some of the eight American-Israelis being held by Hamas. This will be Biden’s second meeting with those families. link I have said countless times that Biden has and continues to do more to resolve the hostage issue than our own prime minister and, unfortunately that hasn't changed. Netanyahu feels he can take his sweet time. After all, according to him, the hostages are only 'suffering, they're not dying', showing his callousness and total denial of facts. Yes, they are suffering, they are being tortured, raped, starved, medically neglected and yes, they are dying. They are dying, they are dying. Open your goddamn eyes, Netanyahu. You have proved that you don't have a heart, but open your eyes to your denials and lies and get the hostages home. A deal is dependent on one person at this point, as it has been since November. It is dependent on Netanyahu!
Six relatives of hostages who were detained yesterday for wearing protest shirts during Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress have been summoned to a US court hearing in mid-August, Channel 12 reports.
Standing the gallery, the six wore bright yellow shirts on which was written: “Seal the deal NOW.” They are planning to fly back to Israel imminently and are attempting to sort the matter so they are not forced to present themselves to the court in person.
Channel 12 says the Israeli Embassy is also trying to assist the six in the matter.
Relatives of hostages held by Hamas pictured in Washington, DC, during the July 24, 2024, visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: From right to left: Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy; Alon Gat, brother of Carmel Gat; Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat; Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of Elad Katzir who was murdered in captivity; and Leat Corinne, aunt of hostage Omer Shem Tov. (Courtesy: Dana Zvicra)The six are Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy; Alon Gat and Gil Dickman, brother and cousin of hostage Carmel Gat; Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of slain hostage Elad Katzir; Leat Corinne, aunt of hostage Omer Shem-Tov; and Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder. link It was uncalled for to remove them for unveiling their shirts that say "seal the deal NOW" during Netanyahu's speech to congress, but it is absolutely adding insult to injury to be summoned to a US court. At least, for now, the Israeli embassy is attempting to assist in the matter. I may be a skeptic, but I believe that once Netanyahu hears about it, he will instruct the embassy to refrain from all assistance. I hope I'm wrong.
Noa Argamani, who was rescued from Gaza last month, has written an Instagram post honoring Arnon Zmora, the special forces soldier who was killed during her rescue.
Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, who was killed in a mission to rescue hostages held in the Gaza Strip, June 8, 2024. (Israel Police)“I didn’t have the opportunity to know or see you, but I obviously could not have been writing these lines if you had not put your life on the line in the heroic operation to free Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir Jan and me.
“I asked about you,” she writes. “I was told you were a moral person, charming, loved, pure, a family man, an amazing partner and perfect dad.”
She thanks him “from the bottom of my heart for not thinking twice and setting out on the rescue… I promise you I will always remember you.”
The bodies of five Israeli hostages brought back to Israel yesterday were recovered from a tunnel located in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF ahead of the operation in Khan Younis adjusted the zone and ordered Palestinian civilians in the part where the tunnel was located to temporarily evacuate.
In the operation yesterday, the bodies of Ravid Katz, 51, Oren Goldin, 33, Maya Goren, 56, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, 19, and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20 — all of whom were killed on October 7 — were recovered.
The IDF says that in recent weeks it obtained intelligence, including from Shin Bet interrogations of detained terrorists in Gaza, on the location of the tunnel where Hamas was holding the bodies of the hostages.
The tunnel was 200 meters long and about 20 meters deep, and featured several rooms where the bodies were being held, according to the military.
IDF troops are seen at the entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza's Khan Younis where the bodies of five Israeli hostages were held, July 24, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
The information obtained in
the investigation, the ruse and the evacuation of the citizens: behind the
recovery of the bodies of the five abductees
The initial information came
already about 3 months ago in the investigation of terrorists caught in the
Strip, but was cross-referenced only two weeks ago • After the targeted
information is received, Division 98 enters the area - during an operation
designed to harm Hamas's reconstruction attempts in the area • In the photo
published by the Shin Bet, a terrorist is seen wearing an army uniform near the
tunnel from which the hostages were rescued
The story of the operation in Khan Yunis that led to the
rescue of the bodies of the abductees Mia Goren, Ravid Katz, Oren Goldin,
Sergeant Tomer Achimas and the late Sergeant Kirill Brodsky began almost three
months ago, when three terrorists were arrested in Khan Yunis and poured pieces of information into
their investigation by Shin Bet agents in cooperation with the Directorate of Prisoners and
Missing Persons, begins to collect more and more information.
About two weeks ago, the exact information arrives, stating
the location of the tunnel and the fact that there are five bodies inside. All
five were already murdered on October 7, Hamas moved the bodies from place to place,
and only a short time ago they were transferred to the same tunnel. It is
possible that Hamas thought that the IDF would not get there. Today (Thursday)
the Shin Bet published a document from Gaza in which a member of the Shin Bet
is seen with a handcuffed terrorist sitting next to him wearing an IDF uniform
and wearing blue shoes. The photo was taken near the tunnel from which the
bodies of the hostages were recovered.
A terrorist next to Shin Bet agent during the operation to rescue the hostages' bodies
After the targeted information is received, Division 98
re-enters the area, both to damage Hamas's reconstruction attempts in this
area, but also to reach that tunnel - which is inside the humanitarian zone,
and therefore the population needs to be evacuated from there and get to the
place by trickery and trickery.
In going down to the depth of the tunnel, the Shin Bet's
operational unit, Yehalam and Agoz also participate - and for 12 hours the
forces scan the space of the tunnel - about 200 meters long and about 20 meters
deep. The forces find the bodies buried in the side of the tunnel, and from
there they take the bodies for burial in Israel. During the last operations,
they managed to rescue 7 abductees alive and 21 bodies of hostages who were
murdered during captivity or were kidnapped dead to the Gaza Strip.
The intelligence that included information about the
hostages and the missing, actually included information about the presence of
hostages in the area, resulted in the IDF returning to action in Khan Yunis.
Even before the operation, the army took care of the evacuation of residents
from the parts east of Mawasi, and then it began to operate and damage the
infrastructure of Hamas. In addition, it operated The IDF above and below the
ground, and according to the information received from interrogated detainees,
the bodies of the hostages were located in the tunnel.
Today, the Shin Bet also published documents from the
operation. B, the Shin Bet man who participated in the operation, said:
"It is difficult to describe in words what an operation of this type feels
like. The sense of responsibility, the size of the hour, the understanding of
the importance of the mission - everything boils down to one moment when you
realize that you have arrived at the scene That's right. I know that hundreds
of people are behind the 12 digits of the search we are reaching - researchers,
coordinators, field and operations personnel, desk officers, producers,
intelligence personnel, IDF forces and others. To return the hostages, the
spaces and the lives, this is the mission of our lives." link
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it is time to nail down a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas as families of hostages held by the terror expressed rare optimism that an agreement could finally come together.
“There has been hopeful movement” in talks for a deal to end the war in Gaza and release hostages after over nine months,” Harris said following what she said was “a frank and constructive meeting” with Netanyahu.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, ‘it is time to get this deal done,’” she added. Netanyahu met with Harris after sitting down with Biden at the White House for the first time since the president took office in 2021. Netanyahu and Biden later met again together with the families of eight US citizens being held by Hamas.
Relatives of captives said they left that meeting more hopeful than since the last hostage-for-prisoners deal saw 105 civilians freed in November.
“After asking a series of difficult questions and getting answers to all of them… we feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November,” hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father Jonathan Dekel-Chen told reporters outside the White House, adding that their meeting was “productive and honest.” “We got absolute commitments from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now to waste no time in completing this deal as it currently stands with as little change as humanly possible,” he said claiming the US government, Congress and the Israeli leadership were all in lockstep.
The families said they had been told Israel would submit an updated deal proposal to Hamas within days. “As a result of the conversations between the leaders and their staffs [before we met them], they are working as we speak to put together an updated Israeli proposal that will be sent back to Hamas. It is all within the framework of that three-stage proposed deal that the President announced at the end of May,” Dekel-Chen told The Times of Israel.
During their White House meeting earlier Thursday, Biden told Netanyahu that “we need to get this deal over the line,” according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We’ve been working on it for some time,” Miller said. “It’s been a tough negotiation. We’ve made progress. We’ve got a framework for an agreement done. We now need to bridge the final differences and get a deal in place so we can all move forward.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, wearing a dog tag that he received from one of the American hostage families, told reporters that Biden conveyed to Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly the president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire — at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
Kirby reiterated that gaps remain, but that they’re bridgeable if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort.
“Today is the 293rd day that these hostages have been held captive by Hamas and you just have to assume that it is in the most horrific of circumstances,” the White House spokesman lamented. In a readout of the meeting, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the hostage talks in detail, and that the president “expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza.”
Biden also pressed Netanyahu on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the flow of aid into the enclave.
The president “reaffirmed the US ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” according to the readout.
During her remarks, Harris made a point of reading out the names of all eight American-Israel hostages still held captive by Hamas — something no US official has done in this manner. There are thought to be 111 hostages in Gaza, including the remains of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF, out of the 251 people abducted during the Hamas onslaught nearly 300 days ago.
But Harris also spoke forcefully about the devastation in Gaza after nearly 10 months of war, saying she pressed Netanyahu about the scale of human suffering in Gaza.
Now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Harris’s remarks on the war were subject to extra scrutiny, with some sensing in her comments a shift in the administration’s tone toward Israel and Gaza. US officials have dismissed the narrative that Harris’s stance on Israel differs from Biden’s or that she played a “bad cop” role in the administration vis-a-vis Israel.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.” “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris said. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.” In her statement after the Netanyahu meeting, Harris stressed that she remains “committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.
“I know right now, it is hard to conceive of that prospect,” she continued. “But a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state, and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom security and prosperity that they rightly deserve.” Harris also highlighted her long history with the state of Israel, recalling how she raised money as a child to plant trees in the Jewish state. Earlier in the day, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Netanyahu will meet Friday in Florida, said at a rally in North Carolina the vice president was “totally against the Jewish people.”
“From when I was a young girl, collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I’ve had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel,” Harris said.
Earlier Thursday, Harris blasted the “despicable acts and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” by “unpatriotic” anti-Israel demonstrators who rioted outside the Capitol on Wednesday in protest of Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress. Relatives of hostages had also expressed dismay with Netanyahu’s address to Congress for failing to include comments fully backing the US-led hostage deal proposal. But many were more sanguine following the sitdown with Netanyahu and Biden.
Hostage Itay Chen’s father Ruby told reporters walking out of the White House that Biden gave the American hostage families hope that “something will happen in the coming days.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon noted that there was currently “a rare moment where the current president of the United States and anybody who might become president of the United States — both vice president Harris and Donald Trump — are all aligned in saying this deal must get done now.”
“Anybody on any side who makes the mistaken political calculus that there’s benefit in waiting will find out that that logic is wrong,” Polin said sternly.
Talks for a hostage deal had initially been due to resume in Qatar Thursday, but hours before his speech to Congress Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office announced that the departure of Israel’s hostage negotiating team would be delayed until after Thursday’s meetings in Washington. link to full article There is optimism and pressure from everyone in the American Administration as well as the Republican side of the map for a deal to be made. Netanyahu's statement saying that they are working to put together an 'updated Israeli proposal' causes me to shiver with trepidation as every 'updated' proposal that comes from Netanyahu is virtually guaranteed to scuttle any deal. His updates put new, not agreed on parameters that the negotiators know will prevent them from closing any deal. Although we will have to wait to see what this update contains, but based on every other attempt that was destroyed by Netanyahu's demands, I am very skeptical which makes me very nervous.
And here are the reported updates demanded by Netanyahu:
Officials speaking to Reuters say changes to a hostage deal proposal demanded by Israel have complicated efforts to reach a final deal to halt nine months of combat and free over 100 hostages held in Gaza since October 7 or longer.
According to a Western official and a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources, Israel wants displaced Palestinians to be screened as they return to the enclave’s north when a ceasefire begins, retreating from an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home.
Israeli negotiators “want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support” Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there, the Western official says.
Hamas has rejected the Israeli demand, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian sources.
Another sticking point, Egyptian sources say, is over Israel’s demand to retain control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Cairo says is also outside the contours of what the sides have agreed to.
The Israel Defense Forces says the nine-mile (14 km) strip of land, referred to as the Philadelphi corridor, hosts smuggling tunnels through which Hamas has received weapons and other supplies. Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
The last several days have seen efforts to “work around” that issue, either through an Israeli withdrawal “or there could be some understanding about how that is managed,” says the Western official, who does not elaborate.
Israel has long demanded the deal include a mechanism to control access to Gaza’s north, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for weeks insisted that he will not agree to withdraw troops from the Philadelphi corridor.
Relatives of hostages who met with Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden Thursday said they had been told that an updated Israeli proposal was slated to be sent to Hamas within days.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri also rejects the assertion from a senior Biden administration official who said Wednesday that Hamas had yet to detail “the hostages who are going to come out” in the first phase of a deal.
“The US administration is trying to cover up for Netanyahu’s undermining of the deal by saying there are things demanded from the two sides. This isn’t true,” he says.
October 7 Survivor
Hostage Updates
Following the announcement that hostage Maya Goren’s body was recovered from Gaza, along with four others, a photo has emerged online showing Goren feeding Kfir Bibas, a baby who was kidnapped to Gaza with his mother and older brother, and whose fate remains unknown.
The photo is undated but was taken at Kibbutz Nir Oz before October 7.
Goren was a preschool and nursery teacher at the kibbutz.
The Bibas family were all kidnapped from the kibbutz on October 7. Shiri and Yarden and redheaded children Ariel (4) and Kfir (9-months old at the time of the kidnapping) have become a symbol of the hostages’ plight, with video widely circulated of a terrified Shiri holding her children as they were taken from their home by terrorists.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby enters the press briefing room wearing a dog tag that he received from one of the American hostage families.
He says US President Joe Biden is conveying in his ongoing Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly he president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire — at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
Kirby reiterates that gaps remain, but that they’re bridgeable if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort.
“Today is the 293rd day that these hostages have been held captive by Hamas and you just have to assume that it is in the most horrific of circumstances,” the White House spokesperson laments.
He says the two leaders are also discussing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and trying to prevent the opening of a full-blown war.
Kirby adds that Biden is also raising the “critical need for stability in the West Bank.”
“We’re still seeing violence in the West Bank that the president has been absolutely steadfast calling out as unacceptable,” he says, apparently referring to settler violence. Biden has levied a series of sanctions at those behind attacks amid little Israeli action.
The White House spokesperson clarifies that the US still maintains an “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security and to helping it combat threats from Iran and its proxies.
After their meeting with their teams, Biden and Netanyahu will meet with the families of some of the eight American-Israelis being held by Hamas. This will be Biden’s second meeting with those families. link I have said countless times that Biden has and continues to do more to resolve the hostage issue than our own prime minister and, unfortunately that hasn't changed. Netanyahu feels he can take his sweet time. After all, according to him, the hostages are only 'suffering, they're not dying', showing his callousness and total denial of facts. Yes, they are suffering, they are being tortured, raped, starved, medically neglected and yes, they are dying. They are dying, they are dying. Open your goddamn eyes, Netanyahu. You have proved that you don't have a heart, but open your eyes to your denials and lies and get the hostages home. A deal is dependent on one person at this point, as it has been since November. It is dependent on Netanyahu!
Six relatives of hostages who were detained yesterday for wearing protest shirts during Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress have been summoned to a US court hearing in mid-August, Channel 12 reports.
Standing the gallery, the six wore bright yellow shirts on which was written: “Seal the deal NOW.” They are planning to fly back to Israel imminently and are attempting to sort the matter so they are not forced to present themselves to the court in person.
Channel 12 says the Israeli Embassy is also trying to assist the six in the matter.
Relatives of hostages held by Hamas pictured in Washington, DC, during the July 24, 2024, visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: From right to left: Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy; Alon Gat, brother of Carmel Gat; Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat; Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of Elad Katzir who was murdered in captivity; and Leat Corinne, aunt of hostage Omer Shem Tov. (Courtesy: Dana Zvicra)The six are Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy; Alon Gat and Gil Dickman, brother and cousin of hostage Carmel Gat; Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of slain hostage Elad Katzir; Leat Corinne, aunt of hostage Omer Shem-Tov; and Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder. link It was uncalled for to remove them for unveiling their shirts that say "seal the deal NOW" during Netanyahu's speech to congress, but it is absolutely adding insult to injury to be summoned to a US court. At least, for now, the Israeli embassy is attempting to assist in the matter. I may be a skeptic, but I believe that once Netanyahu hears about it, he will instruct the embassy to refrain from all assistance. I hope I'm wrong.
Noa Argamani, who was rescued from Gaza last month, has written an Instagram post honoring Arnon Zmora, the special forces soldier who was killed during her rescue.
Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora, who was killed in a mission to rescue hostages held in the Gaza Strip, June 8, 2024. (Israel Police)“I didn’t have the opportunity to know or see you, but I obviously could not have been writing these lines if you had not put your life on the line in the heroic operation to free Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir Jan and me.
“I asked about you,” she writes. “I was told you were a moral person, charming, loved, pure, a family man, an amazing partner and perfect dad.”
She thanks him “from the bottom of my heart for not thinking twice and setting out on the rescue… I promise you I will always remember you.”
The bodies of five Israeli hostages brought back to Israel yesterday were recovered from a tunnel located in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF ahead of the operation in Khan Younis adjusted the zone and ordered Palestinian civilians in the part where the tunnel was located to temporarily evacuate.
In the operation yesterday, the bodies of Ravid Katz, 51, Oren Goldin, 33, Maya Goren, 56, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, 19, and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20 — all of whom were killed on October 7 — were recovered.
The IDF says that in recent weeks it obtained intelligence, including from Shin Bet interrogations of detained terrorists in Gaza, on the location of the tunnel where Hamas was holding the bodies of the hostages.
The tunnel was 200 meters long and about 20 meters deep, and featured several rooms where the bodies were being held, according to the military.
IDF troops are seen at the entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza's Khan Younis where the bodies of five Israeli hostages were held, July 24, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)The information obtained in the investigation, the ruse and the evacuation of the citizens: behind the recovery of the bodies of the five abductees
The initial information came already about 3 months ago in the investigation of terrorists caught in the Strip, but was cross-referenced only two weeks ago • After the targeted information is received, Division 98 enters the area - during an operation designed to harm Hamas's reconstruction attempts in the area • In the photo published by the Shin Bet, a terrorist is seen wearing an army uniform near the tunnel from which the hostages were rescued
The story of the operation in Khan Yunis that led to the rescue of the bodies of the abductees Mia Goren, Ravid Katz, Oren Goldin, Sergeant Tomer Achimas and the late Sergeant Kirill Brodsky began almost three months ago, when three terrorists were arrested in Khan Yunis and poured pieces of information into their investigation by Shin Bet agents in cooperation with the Directorate of Prisoners and Missing Persons, begins to collect more and more information.
About two weeks ago, the exact information arrives, stating the location of the tunnel and the fact that there are five bodies inside. All five were already murdered on October 7, Hamas moved the bodies from place to place, and only a short time ago they were transferred to the same tunnel. It is possible that Hamas thought that the IDF would not get there. Today (Thursday) the Shin Bet published a document from Gaza in which a member of the Shin Bet is seen with a handcuffed terrorist sitting next to him wearing an IDF uniform and wearing blue shoes. The photo was taken near the tunnel from which the bodies of the hostages were recovered.
A terrorist next to Shin Bet agent during the operation to rescue the hostages' bodiesAfter the targeted information is received, Division 98 re-enters the area, both to damage Hamas's reconstruction attempts in this area, but also to reach that tunnel - which is inside the humanitarian zone, and therefore the population needs to be evacuated from there and get to the place by trickery and trickery.
In going down to the depth of the tunnel, the Shin Bet's operational unit, Yehalam and Agoz also participate - and for 12 hours the forces scan the space of the tunnel - about 200 meters long and about 20 meters deep. The forces find the bodies buried in the side of the tunnel, and from there they take the bodies for burial in Israel. During the last operations, they managed to rescue 7 abductees alive and 21 bodies of hostages who were murdered during captivity or were kidnapped dead to the Gaza Strip.
The intelligence that included information about the hostages and the missing, actually included information about the presence of hostages in the area, resulted in the IDF returning to action in Khan Yunis. Even before the operation, the army took care of the evacuation of residents from the parts east of Mawasi, and then it began to operate and damage the infrastructure of Hamas. In addition, it operated The IDF above and below the ground, and according to the information received from interrogated detainees, the bodies of the hostages were located in the tunnel.
Today, the Shin Bet also published documents from the operation. B, the Shin Bet man who participated in the operation, said: "It is difficult to describe in words what an operation of this type feels like. The sense of responsibility, the size of the hour, the understanding of the importance of the mission - everything boils down to one moment when you realize that you have arrived at the scene That's right. I know that hundreds of people are behind the 12 digits of the search we are reaching - researchers, coordinators, field and operations personnel, desk officers, producers, intelligence personnel, IDF forces and others. To return the hostages, the spaces and the lives, this is the mission of our lives." link
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it is time to nail down a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas as families of hostages held by the terror expressed rare optimism that an agreement could finally come together.
“There has been hopeful movement” in talks for a deal to end the war in Gaza and release hostages after over nine months,” Harris said following what she said was “a frank and constructive meeting” with Netanyahu.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, ‘it is time to get this deal done,’” she added. Netanyahu met with Harris after sitting down with Biden at the White House for the first time since the president took office in 2021. Netanyahu and Biden later met again together with the families of eight US citizens being held by Hamas.
Relatives of captives said they left that meeting more hopeful than since the last hostage-for-prisoners deal saw 105 civilians freed in November.
“After asking a series of difficult questions and getting answers to all of them… we feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November,” hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father Jonathan Dekel-Chen told reporters outside the White House, adding that their meeting was “productive and honest.” “We got absolute commitments from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now to waste no time in completing this deal as it currently stands with as little change as humanly possible,” he said claiming the US government, Congress and the Israeli leadership were all in lockstep.
The families said they had been told Israel would submit an updated deal proposal to Hamas within days. “As a result of the conversations between the leaders and their staffs [before we met them], they are working as we speak to put together an updated Israeli proposal that will be sent back to Hamas. It is all within the framework of that three-stage proposed deal that the President announced at the end of May,” Dekel-Chen told The Times of Israel.
During their White House meeting earlier Thursday, Biden told Netanyahu that “we need to get this deal over the line,” according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We’ve been working on it for some time,” Miller said. “It’s been a tough negotiation. We’ve made progress. We’ve got a framework for an agreement done. We now need to bridge the final differences and get a deal in place so we can all move forward.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, wearing a dog tag that he received from one of the American hostage families, told reporters that Biden conveyed to Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly the president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire — at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
Kirby reiterated that gaps remain, but that they’re bridgeable if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort.
“Today is the 293rd day that these hostages have been held captive by Hamas and you just have to assume that it is in the most horrific of circumstances,” the White House spokesman lamented. In a readout of the meeting, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the hostage talks in detail, and that the president “expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza.”
Biden also pressed Netanyahu on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the flow of aid into the enclave.
The president “reaffirmed the US ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” according to the readout.
During her remarks, Harris made a point of reading out the names of all eight American-Israel hostages still held captive by Hamas — something no US official has done in this manner. There are thought to be 111 hostages in Gaza, including the remains of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF, out of the 251 people abducted during the Hamas onslaught nearly 300 days ago.
But Harris also spoke forcefully about the devastation in Gaza after nearly 10 months of war, saying she pressed Netanyahu about the scale of human suffering in Gaza.
Now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Harris’s remarks on the war were subject to extra scrutiny, with some sensing in her comments a shift in the administration’s tone toward Israel and Gaza. US officials have dismissed the narrative that Harris’s stance on Israel differs from Biden’s or that she played a “bad cop” role in the administration vis-a-vis Israel.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.” “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris said. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.” In her statement after the Netanyahu meeting, Harris stressed that she remains “committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.
“I know right now, it is hard to conceive of that prospect,” she continued. “But a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state, and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom security and prosperity that they rightly deserve.” Harris also highlighted her long history with the state of Israel, recalling how she raised money as a child to plant trees in the Jewish state. Earlier in the day, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Netanyahu will meet Friday in Florida, said at a rally in North Carolina the vice president was “totally against the Jewish people.”
“From when I was a young girl, collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I’ve had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel,” Harris said.
Earlier Thursday, Harris blasted the “despicable acts and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” by “unpatriotic” anti-Israel demonstrators who rioted outside the Capitol on Wednesday in protest of Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress. Relatives of hostages had also expressed dismay with Netanyahu’s address to Congress for failing to include comments fully backing the US-led hostage deal proposal. But many were more sanguine following the sitdown with Netanyahu and Biden.
Hostage Itay Chen’s father Ruby told reporters walking out of the White House that Biden gave the American hostage families hope that “something will happen in the coming days.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon noted that there was currently “a rare moment where the current president of the United States and anybody who might become president of the United States — both vice president Harris and Donald Trump — are all aligned in saying this deal must get done now.”
“Anybody on any side who makes the mistaken political calculus that there’s benefit in waiting will find out that that logic is wrong,” Polin said sternly.
Talks for a hostage deal had initially been due to resume in Qatar Thursday, but hours before his speech to Congress Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office announced that the departure of Israel’s hostage negotiating team would be delayed until after Thursday’s meetings in Washington. link to full article There is optimism and pressure from everyone in the American Administration as well as the Republican side of the map for a deal to be made. Netanyahu's statement saying that they are working to put together an 'updated Israeli proposal' causes me to shiver with trepidation as every 'updated' proposal that comes from Netanyahu is virtually guaranteed to scuttle any deal. His updates put new, not agreed on parameters that the negotiators know will prevent them from closing any deal. Although we will have to wait to see what this update contains, but based on every other attempt that was destroyed by Netanyahu's demands, I am very skeptical which makes me very nervous.
And here are the reported updates demanded by Netanyahu:
Officials speaking to Reuters say changes to a hostage deal proposal demanded by Israel have complicated efforts to reach a final deal to halt nine months of combat and free over 100 hostages held in Gaza since October 7 or longer.
According to a Western official and a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources, Israel wants displaced Palestinians to be screened as they return to the enclave’s north when a ceasefire begins, retreating from an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home.
Israeli negotiators “want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support” Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there, the Western official says.
Hamas has rejected the Israeli demand, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian sources.
Another sticking point, Egyptian sources say, is over Israel’s demand to retain control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Cairo says is also outside the contours of what the sides have agreed to.
The Israel Defense Forces says the nine-mile (14 km) strip of land, referred to as the Philadelphi corridor, hosts smuggling tunnels through which Hamas has received weapons and other supplies. Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
The last several days have seen efforts to “work around” that issue, either through an Israeli withdrawal “or there could be some understanding about how that is managed,” says the Western official, who does not elaborate.
Israel has long demanded the deal include a mechanism to control access to Gaza’s north, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for weeks insisted that he will not agree to withdraw troops from the Philadelphi corridor.
Relatives of hostages who met with Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden Thursday said they had been told that an updated Israeli proposal was slated to be sent to Hamas within days.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri also rejects the assertion from a senior Biden administration official who said Wednesday that Hamas had yet to detail “the hostages who are going to come out” in the first phase of a deal.
“The US administration is trying to cover up for Netanyahu’s undermining of the deal by saying there are things demanded from the two sides. This isn’t true,” he says.
October 7 Survivor
In first, male October 7 survivor recounts rape at hands of Hamas terrorists: ‘They pin you to the ground, you try to resist, they take off your clothes, laugh at you, humiliate you, spit at you,’ survivor says, recounting ‘very difficult’ assault
A survivor of the Hamas massacre
at the Supernova music festival on October 7 said he was raped by terrorists
attacking the rave, the first time a male victim has come forward to publicly
detail sexual offenses during the brutal assault.
The testimony by the victim,
whose comments to Channel 12 news were aired without revealing his identity,
add to a growing body of evidence that terrorists who stormed into Israel on
October 7 sexually assaulted their victims, both male and female.
Firsthand testimony of such acts
has been fairly rare, as most of the victims were killed, a fact that some
Israel critics have used to sow doubts about the allegations.
The victim was with hundreds others fleeing terrorists who descended upon the
festival near Kibbutz Re’im early on October 7, when he said he was caught by
forces from Hamas’s elite Nukhba unit.
“They pin you to the ground, you
try to resist, they take off your clothes, laugh at you, humiliate you, spit at
you,” he said, his face blurred and his voice distorted to avoid recognition.
“They touched [private] parts, they rape you.”
“There is a circle, [people]
laugh, and you don’t know what to do in the moment, whether you should resist
or let it pass, how to deal with the situation. There was a very difficult
rape. At some point more people arrived and called for them and so they had to
stop,” added the man, who was identified by the Hebrew initial Dalet.
“It’s a very tough moment.
Weakness in the entire body. As if your blood is cheap. They were wildly
intoxicated, celebrating, laughing with their pistols, with their knives. You
disassociate yourself from the situation, but on the other hand experience it
very strongly. Very difficult,” he said.
Dalet eventually managed to
escape, the report said, with the help of Israeli forces that showed up. Asked
how he has been coping with the experience, Dalet replied, “It wasn’t simple in
the beginning. I was very closed off.” He also reported an obsessive fixation
on cleanliness in the aftermath of the attack. “A lot, a lot of showers, to get
all that energy off me, everything that happened.”
Dalet’s testimony has been handed
to a police unit investigating sexual crimes committed by the terrorists on
October 7, after he filed a complaint, the report said.
Aware that some are casting doubt
on testimony of sexual violence on October 7, Dalet has presented various
sources with medical opinions that testify to the harm done to him, as well as
sitting for a polygraph test.
His testimony is also included in
a major lawsuit filed by more than 100 survivors of the Supernova festival
against the State of Israel, demanding more than NIS 500 million ($137 million)
in government support.
“Many of them aren’t able to
return to work, and aren’t able to return to their lives— to address [the case
of] Dalet specifically, of course it’s impossible, at this stage, to return to
normal life after what happened,” said Einat Ginzburg, one of the lawyers
representing the massacre survivors. Israeli police have been collecting
survivor testimony, physical evidence, and confessions of sexual assault by
terrorists on October 7 since the immediate aftermath of the attack, when
thousands of terrorists burst into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing
some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.
A February report by the United
Nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict found that “there are
reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred
during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across the Gaza periphery,
including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.”
The report also testified to
“clear and convincing” evidence that hostages were raped while being held in
Gaza, and that those currently held captive are still facing such abuse.
Further evidence was made public
in April by the release of a one-hour documentary on the topic directed by
former Meta CEO Sheryl Sandberg, called “Screams Before Silence,” which is free
to watch online.
Amit Soussana, an Israeli hostage
who was released during a weeklong truce in November, was the first to speak
publicly about being sexually abused in captivity, recounting being marched at
gunpoint to the bedroom of her captor, where he forced her to “commit a sexual
act on him.”
Teenager Agam Goldstein-Almog,
also released in the November deal, reported having been groped by captors and
being constantly afraid she would be raped. “Half of the girls and young women
I met in captivity told me they experienced sexual or physical abuse or both.
They are still living there with their rapists,” she said at the time.
Gaza
- The top US general says Israel still has not shared much of its “day after” planning for Gaza once the war with Hamas ends.
The remarks by Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, follows the speech to Congress by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that sketched only a vague outline for a “deradicalized” post-war Gaza.
“There’s not a lot of detail that I’ve been able to see from a plan from them,” Brown tells a Pentagon press conference. “This is something that we’ll continue to work with them on.”
For months, Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to craft a realistic post-war plan for Gaza and warned that the absence of it could trigger lawlessness and chaos as well as a comeback by Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
“As far as the day after, we have talked to the Israelis about this, how to make a transition. We’ve talked to them a number of times,” Brown says. link Unfortunately, there is no surprise here. Netanyahu has fought tooth and nail against developing any kind of post war plan. His insistence has always been that we will deal with the day after the day after. For an intelligent man who claims to know history, he hasn't let that stand in his way of being obtuse. He has refused to have any strategy to the war or for after the war, with the former causing major damage and loss of lives of Gazan civilians as well as our soldiers, and of course, continued suffering of our hostages and more dying all the time, and the latter which will be the cause of endless problems for years and decades to come.
Reacting to reports he is being considered as a possible leader in the Gaza Strip after the war, Mohammad Dahlan writes on X: “We will not support any choice that has not been reached based on Palestinian national understandings.”
This, he says, must be based on rebuilding Palestinian politics through a democratic process and a plan for “the creation of [an] independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
He adds that “I have repeatedly refused to accept any security, governmental or executive role.”
In the meantime, he says, he is focused on providing relief to Gaza “throughout this ongoing dirty genocide.” link Dahlan is one of the people who can play a very central and positive role in the rebuilding of Gaza, taking on a major role in a day after government and being a partner of peace to end the Israel/Palestinian conflict. He has the background, knowledge and is a known entity in the post Oslo days as working strenuously to make peace and security a reality for Palestinians and Israelis. He disappeared from the area when he became personna non grata among Abu Mazen's continued PA leadership but now, with the needs and demands of reforming the PA, he is someone who can help lead the way forward.
Rockets launched by Hamas on Wednesday from the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip struck a United Nations-run school in Khan Younis, killing and wounding Palestinians, the IDF said.
According to the IDF, it received reports from international aid organizations that two civilians were killed and several more were wounded after the rockets struck UNRWA’s Al-Qarara school.
The IDF said the rockets were fired by Hamas from the humanitarian zone, but failed to cross the border into Israel, falling short on the school in Khan Younis. In a move coordinated by COGAT and the World Health Organization, the wounded Palestinians were taken to a field hospital run by the International Medical Corps in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, the IDF added.
The remarks by Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, follows the speech to Congress by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that sketched only a vague outline for a “deradicalized” post-war Gaza.
“There’s not a lot of detail that I’ve been able to see from a plan from them,” Brown tells a Pentagon press conference. “This is something that we’ll continue to work with them on.”
For months, Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to craft a realistic post-war plan for Gaza and warned that the absence of it could trigger lawlessness and chaos as well as a comeback by Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
“As far as the day after, we have talked to the Israelis about this, how to make a transition. We’ve talked to them a number of times,” Brown says. link Unfortunately, there is no surprise here. Netanyahu has fought tooth and nail against developing any kind of post war plan. His insistence has always been that we will deal with the day after the day after. For an intelligent man who claims to know history, he hasn't let that stand in his way of being obtuse. He has refused to have any strategy to the war or for after the war, with the former causing major damage and loss of lives of Gazan civilians as well as our soldiers, and of course, continued suffering of our hostages and more dying all the time, and the latter which will be the cause of endless problems for years and decades to come.
Reacting to reports he is being considered as a possible leader in the Gaza Strip after the war, Mohammad Dahlan writes on X: “We will not support any choice that has not been reached based on Palestinian national understandings.”
This, he says, must be based on rebuilding Palestinian politics through a democratic process and a plan for “the creation of [an] independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
He adds that “I have repeatedly refused to accept any security, governmental or executive role.”
In the meantime, he says, he is focused on providing relief to Gaza “throughout this ongoing dirty genocide.” link Dahlan is one of the people who can play a very central and positive role in the rebuilding of Gaza, taking on a major role in a day after government and being a partner of peace to end the Israel/Palestinian conflict. He has the background, knowledge and is a known entity in the post Oslo days as working strenuously to make peace and security a reality for Palestinians and Israelis. He disappeared from the area when he became personna non grata among Abu Mazen's continued PA leadership but now, with the needs and demands of reforming the PA, he is someone who can help lead the way forward.
Rockets launched by Hamas on Wednesday from the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip struck a United Nations-run school in Khan Younis, killing and wounding Palestinians, the IDF said.
According to the IDF, it received reports from international aid organizations that two civilians were killed and several more were wounded after the rockets struck UNRWA’s Al-Qarara school.
The IDF said the rockets were fired by Hamas from the humanitarian zone, but failed to cross the border into Israel, falling short on the school in Khan Younis. In a move coordinated by COGAT and the World Health Organization, the wounded Palestinians were taken to a field hospital run by the International Medical Corps in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, the IDF added.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
Lebanese media report that Hezbollah fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli fighter jets over southern Lebanon a short while ago.
It marks the second night in a row that Hezbollah is firing on Israeli jets. There have been no reports of Israeli aircraft being hit in the incidents.
Several apparent drones launched from Lebanon struck northern Israel in the past hour. The IDF says it fired interceptor missiles at the suspected drones, but failed to down them. Several fires were sparked in the Galilee as a result of shrapnel from the interceptor missiles, the IDF says. There are no reports of injuries in the incident.
Anti-government protesters on Thursday rallied in the northern town of Karmiel, demanding the restoration of security to areas under daily attacks by Hezbollah, early elections, and a deal to free hostages held in Gaza.
Protesters blocked Route 85 at the Karmiel Junction, with permission from the police, waving Israeli and Druze flags, and carrying banners accusing the government of “abandoning” the north.
Hebrew media reported that thousands of activists attended the demonstration, including northern residents and their supporters from across the country. Activists in the north have called on the government to take action — either military or diplomatic — to bring an end to Hezbollah attacks on northern communities in recent months that have left them displaced from their homes.
Eyal Eshel, the father of Roni Eshel, a soldier slain on October 7, expressed his disbelief that 10 months had passed since he had seen his daughter, in an address to protesters.
“From here, I say here and I promise, we will not rest and we will not be silent on the failure, the contempt, and the abandonment. We will fight until the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to learn what to repair. To dismiss those we should,” he said, referencing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to establish a state inquiry into the October 7 massacre, despite calls from the opposition and his own defense minister to do so. “We will not abandon anyone, not the residents of the north, not the residents of the south, not the hostage families, and not the families of the fallen. Because we are one nation,” Eshel added.
Pro-democracy protest leader Prof. Shikma Bressler told the crowd that the abandonment of the hostages and the north was “consistent with the bigoted, racist worldview that has taken over the Israeli government and is leading us all to destruction.” “We are not members of Congress, we are residents of the land, its loyal lovers,” Dr. Amir Khnifess, chair of the Druze Movement for Democracy and Equality told the crowd, appearing to reference Netanyahu’s warm reception when he spoke to US representatives Wednesday.
Khnifess said that protesters understood how a “prosperous country” could be turned into an “orphaned child of the Middle East.”
“We will not name a square or building after you, not even a chicken coop. Your place in history will be remembered as the one who destroyed the north and its settlements, its agriculture, and the development of the most beautiful area of Israel,” he said.
Reut Forstner Avraham, a farm owner and protest leader from Kibbutz Amiad, claimed the government had “neglected” the north for years, but since October 7, it has been “completely abandoned.”
“This government has proven in its countless actions and failures that it simply does not count the north. Zero actions to implement its own decisions for the rehabilitation and development of the north,” she said.
Lebanese media report that Hezbollah fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli fighter jets over southern Lebanon a short while ago.
It marks the second night in a row that Hezbollah is firing on Israeli jets. There have been no reports of Israeli aircraft being hit in the incidents.
Several apparent drones launched from Lebanon struck northern Israel in the past hour. The IDF says it fired interceptor missiles at the suspected drones, but failed to down them. Several fires were sparked in the Galilee as a result of shrapnel from the interceptor missiles, the IDF says. There are no reports of injuries in the incident.
Anti-government protesters on Thursday rallied in the northern town of Karmiel, demanding the restoration of security to areas under daily attacks by Hezbollah, early elections, and a deal to free hostages held in Gaza.
Protesters blocked Route 85 at the Karmiel Junction, with permission from the police, waving Israeli and Druze flags, and carrying banners accusing the government of “abandoning” the north.
Hebrew media reported that thousands of activists attended the demonstration, including northern residents and their supporters from across the country. Activists in the north have called on the government to take action — either military or diplomatic — to bring an end to Hezbollah attacks on northern communities in recent months that have left them displaced from their homes.
Eyal Eshel, the father of Roni Eshel, a soldier slain on October 7, expressed his disbelief that 10 months had passed since he had seen his daughter, in an address to protesters.
“From here, I say here and I promise, we will not rest and we will not be silent on the failure, the contempt, and the abandonment. We will fight until the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to learn what to repair. To dismiss those we should,” he said, referencing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to establish a state inquiry into the October 7 massacre, despite calls from the opposition and his own defense minister to do so. “We will not abandon anyone, not the residents of the north, not the residents of the south, not the hostage families, and not the families of the fallen. Because we are one nation,” Eshel added.
Pro-democracy protest leader Prof. Shikma Bressler told the crowd that the abandonment of the hostages and the north was “consistent with the bigoted, racist worldview that has taken over the Israeli government and is leading us all to destruction.” “We are not members of Congress, we are residents of the land, its loyal lovers,” Dr. Amir Khnifess, chair of the Druze Movement for Democracy and Equality told the crowd, appearing to reference Netanyahu’s warm reception when he spoke to US representatives Wednesday.
Khnifess said that protesters understood how a “prosperous country” could be turned into an “orphaned child of the Middle East.”
“We will not name a square or building after you, not even a chicken coop. Your place in history will be remembered as the one who destroyed the north and its settlements, its agriculture, and the development of the most beautiful area of Israel,” he said.
Reut Forstner Avraham, a farm owner and protest leader from Kibbutz Amiad, claimed the government had “neglected” the north for years, but since October 7, it has been “completely abandoned.”
“This government has proven in its countless actions and failures that it simply does not count the north. Zero actions to implement its own decisions for the rehabilitation and development of the north,” she said.
West Bank and Jerusalem
- Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a drive-by shooting attack on the Route 55 highway in the West Bank on Thursday morning, the Israel Defense Forces and medics said.
According to an initial IDF probe, reservist soldiers carrying out a patrol on the highway near the Palestinian village of Nabi Ilyas came under fire from a passing vehicle. The vehicle with the gunman fled the scene.
One of the soldiers, aged 25, was moderately wounded, while the second reservist, aged 34, was listed in good condition, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said. The pair were taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba for treatment. MDA said a third soldier was treated at the scene for very minor injuries not directly caused by the gunfire, and did not require hospitalization.
The IDF said it was searching for the assailants, bolstering forces in the area, and encircling nearby Palestinian towns.
According to an initial IDF probe, reservist soldiers carrying out a patrol on the highway near the Palestinian village of Nabi Ilyas came under fire from a passing vehicle. The vehicle with the gunman fled the scene.
One of the soldiers, aged 25, was moderately wounded, while the second reservist, aged 34, was listed in good condition, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said. The pair were taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba for treatment. MDA said a third soldier was treated at the scene for very minor injuries not directly caused by the gunfire, and did not require hospitalization.
The IDF said it was searching for the assailants, bolstering forces in the area, and encircling nearby Palestinian towns.
Politics and the War (general news)
- Excellent interview with a Palestinian peace activist outside of congress yesterday "I spoke to CNN today from the Capitol grounds in Washington DC after attending pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, and pro-peace demonstrations during Netanyahu's visit and speech to Congress." interview on CNN
Netanyahu's speech: when
rhetoric and action do not meet
Netanyahu should understand
that he is neither the minister of information nor the minister of foreign
affairs - he is the prime minister, and on his watch Israel has fallen into a
deep strategic hole • Words and speeches will not get us out of there, but decisions
in six areas - most of which he chooses to ignore • Amos Yadlin, Commentary
In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu eloquently and
impressively presented Israel's "case": the atrocities on October 7 and the fact that since then Israel has been defending itself against the
attacks of the radical axis in the Middle East, led by Iran. In certain
sections of the speech, among others when he introduced the IDF soldiers who
fought bravely, the throat choked and tears filled the eyes.
Precisely the perfect rhetoric highlighted what was not in
the speech - a connection between the words and the required actions .
Netanyahu is neither the minister of information nor the minister of foreign
affairs, he is a prime minister under whose watch Israel has fallen into the
deepest strategic hole in its history. Words are not enough to get her out of
there, practical decisions are also required that are essential to promote.
Return the kidnapped
Beyond the slogans that "we will bring them all
back", Netanyahu refrained from referring to the hostage deal at hand and
expressing a real willingness to promote it. Moreover, he is delaying the
departure of the Israeli negotiating delegation to Cairo, and contrary to the
position of all the heads of the security system, he has complicated the
ability to conclude the deal. This, by placing new conditions that were not in
the original deal, the one that the cabinet led by him approved and that was
adopted by the Biden administration and the Security Council.
The "day after" in Gaza
Nine months late, Netanyahu remembered to talk about a
Palestinian civil administration. He did not back up this idea with actions.
Not only did he hold back for months the discussion about "the day
after", but the government under his leadership did not take advantage of
the severe military damage to Hamas to strengthen alternative forces, in Gaza
and outside, in a way that would have created an alternative to Hamas and more
importantly harnessed all the moderate Arab states to this goal.
The escalation in the north
Netanyahu treated the issue laconically, and did not offer
any practical plan or strategy for returning the residents of the north to
their homes. Such a strategy goes through a hostage deal and a ceasefire in the
war in Gaza, which will allow the IDF to research, refresh and prepare for the
main campaign against Hezbollah. This, in the event that diplomatic efforts for
a political settlement that will return life in the north to normal fail.
Iran
Netanyahu refrained from mentioning in his speech that
Iran's nuclear program is currently at the most advanced stage in its history,
and surprisingly never called for it to be stopped. The Iranian progress was
made possible following President Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear
agreement, at the urging of Netanyahu, who, as you recall, came out against the
agreement in his previous speech to Congress in 2015. Instead of striving to
reach bilateral understandings with the United States, which would translate
into a strategic and operative plan the statements of four American presidents
that they would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, Netanyahu claimed,
quite strangely, that when Israel works to prevent Iran from developing nuclear
weapons, it is also protecting America.
A multi-aspect conflict
Against the background of the exchange of blows with the
Houthis, Netanyahu threatened that all our enemies will pay a heavy price if
they attack us. But, he did not offer a way to prevent the coalescence process
of arenas and enemies working against us. Israel has no interest in operational
fragmentation and the splitting of its military efforts across seven conflict
arenas in which it is involved, and it is better for it not to get caught up in
a multi-arena war of attrition that could also degenerate into a full-scale war
in the North and East.
Normalization and "Abraham's Covenant"
On this issue as well, Netanyahu spouted slogans, but forgot
to say what needed to be done for normalization to happen, that is, to agree to
strive for a future political horizon to settle the conflict with the
Palestinians. Ben Gvir and Smotrich do not let him utter this commitment
The thinker Hannah Arendt once said that "power is
realized only when words and deeds meet". In Netanyahu's speech last night
(Wednesday) on Capitol Hill, the gap between them cannot be bridged. The
hostage deal that is on the table is the main moral and strategic move that can
get Israel out of the strait it has found itself in. But it seems that
Netanyahu is not guided by the moral compass and the value of ransoming the
captives, nor by the strategic compass, which can lead Israel to normalization,
prevent multi-arena escalation and promote regional and international
organization in the face of Iran crawling towards a nuclear bomb.
Unfortunately, it is quite clear that the only compass that guides his conduct
is the political compass of his personal survival.
>>> Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin is the former head of
Military Intelligence, president and founder of MIND ISRAEL
in Tel Aviv, thousands attended the “March for Peace and Life” from Habima Square to Dizengoff Square, calling for a deal to end the war and return the hostages, as well as a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Demonstrators carried signs reading “yes to peace,” chanted “only peace will lead to security,” and “both in Gaza and Sderot, girls want to live.”
The demonstration was organized by Israel’s prominent left-wing movements, including Standing Together, Women Wage Peace, Peace Now, and Breaking the Silence, among others. During the gathering at Habima Square, a woman was photographed being arrested for carrying a picture of a watermelon. The watermelon has been used to symbolize the Palestinian flag, which shares its colors, amid a police crackdown on protesters carrying the actual flag.
Rula Daood, the co-director of Standing Together, told protesters that “Gaza is a disaster area,” decrying the suffering of innocent civilians and the deaths of children in the conflict.
“Can someone in the world tell me that those children are guilty of something? Can someone in this world tell me that they deserve it?” she asked the crowd.
“I am here because I demand and struggle for a better future, free for Palestinians, but also for Israelis. I am here because I know that our fates are tied to one another and that this land is a land for all of us. I choose truth, and this is the truth: in this land, two nations live, and neither one is going anywhere,” she said.
Israel’s left has been in sharp decline for years now, and its struggle to regain prominence in the political sphere has only become more difficult since since the start of the war on October 7, when the Hamas terror group stormed southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza.
Earlier this month, the bloc convened in Tel Aviv to reaffirm its basic premise following October 7 — only a negotiated political resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that ensures equality for both peoples can prevent another massacre.
- Excellent interview with a Palestinian peace activist outside of congress yesterday "I spoke to CNN today from the Capitol grounds in Washington DC after attending pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, and pro-peace demonstrations during Netanyahu's visit and speech to Congress." interview on CNN
Netanyahu's speech: when rhetoric and action do not meet
Netanyahu should understand that he is neither the minister of information nor the minister of foreign affairs - he is the prime minister, and on his watch Israel has fallen into a deep strategic hole • Words and speeches will not get us out of there, but decisions in six areas - most of which he chooses to ignore • Amos Yadlin, Commentary
In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu eloquently and impressively presented Israel's "case": the atrocities on October 7 and the fact that since then Israel has been defending itself against the attacks of the radical axis in the Middle East, led by Iran. In certain sections of the speech, among others when he introduced the IDF soldiers who fought bravely, the throat choked and tears filled the eyes.
Precisely the perfect rhetoric highlighted what was not in the speech - a connection between the words and the required actions . Netanyahu is neither the minister of information nor the minister of foreign affairs, he is a prime minister under whose watch Israel has fallen into the deepest strategic hole in its history. Words are not enough to get her out of there, practical decisions are also required that are essential to promote.
Return the kidnapped
Beyond the slogans that "we will bring them all back", Netanyahu refrained from referring to the hostage deal at hand and expressing a real willingness to promote it. Moreover, he is delaying the departure of the Israeli negotiating delegation to Cairo, and contrary to the position of all the heads of the security system, he has complicated the ability to conclude the deal. This, by placing new conditions that were not in the original deal, the one that the cabinet led by him approved and that was adopted by the Biden administration and the Security Council.
The "day after" in Gaza
Nine months late, Netanyahu remembered to talk about a Palestinian civil administration. He did not back up this idea with actions. Not only did he hold back for months the discussion about "the day after", but the government under his leadership did not take advantage of the severe military damage to Hamas to strengthen alternative forces, in Gaza and outside, in a way that would have created an alternative to Hamas and more importantly harnessed all the moderate Arab states to this goal.
The escalation in the north
Netanyahu treated the issue laconically, and did not offer any practical plan or strategy for returning the residents of the north to their homes. Such a strategy goes through a hostage deal and a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, which will allow the IDF to research, refresh and prepare for the main campaign against Hezbollah. This, in the event that diplomatic efforts for a political settlement that will return life in the north to normal fail.
Iran
Netanyahu refrained from mentioning in his speech that Iran's nuclear program is currently at the most advanced stage in its history, and surprisingly never called for it to be stopped. The Iranian progress was made possible following President Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, at the urging of Netanyahu, who, as you recall, came out against the agreement in his previous speech to Congress in 2015. Instead of striving to reach bilateral understandings with the United States, which would translate into a strategic and operative plan the statements of four American presidents that they would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, Netanyahu claimed, quite strangely, that when Israel works to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it is also protecting America.
A multi-aspect conflict
Against the background of the exchange of blows with the Houthis, Netanyahu threatened that all our enemies will pay a heavy price if they attack us. But, he did not offer a way to prevent the coalescence process of arenas and enemies working against us. Israel has no interest in operational fragmentation and the splitting of its military efforts across seven conflict arenas in which it is involved, and it is better for it not to get caught up in a multi-arena war of attrition that could also degenerate into a full-scale war in the North and East.
Normalization and "Abraham's Covenant"
On this issue as well, Netanyahu spouted slogans, but forgot to say what needed to be done for normalization to happen, that is, to agree to strive for a future political horizon to settle the conflict with the Palestinians. Ben Gvir and Smotrich do not let him utter this commitment
The thinker Hannah Arendt once said that "power is realized only when words and deeds meet". In Netanyahu's speech last night (Wednesday) on Capitol Hill, the gap between them cannot be bridged. The hostage deal that is on the table is the main moral and strategic move that can get Israel out of the strait it has found itself in. But it seems that Netanyahu is not guided by the moral compass and the value of ransoming the captives, nor by the strategic compass, which can lead Israel to normalization, prevent multi-arena escalation and promote regional and international organization in the face of Iran crawling towards a nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, it is quite clear that the only compass that guides his conduct is the political compass of his personal survival.
>>> Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin is the former head of Military Intelligence, president and founder of MIND ISRAEL
in Tel Aviv, thousands attended the “March for Peace and Life” from Habima Square to Dizengoff Square, calling for a deal to end the war and return the hostages, as well as a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Demonstrators carried signs reading “yes to peace,” chanted “only peace will lead to security,” and “both in Gaza and Sderot, girls want to live.”
The demonstration was organized by Israel’s prominent left-wing movements, including Standing Together, Women Wage Peace, Peace Now, and Breaking the Silence, among others. During the gathering at Habima Square, a woman was photographed being arrested for carrying a picture of a watermelon. The watermelon has been used to symbolize the Palestinian flag, which shares its colors, amid a police crackdown on protesters carrying the actual flag.
Rula Daood, the co-director of Standing Together, told protesters that “Gaza is a disaster area,” decrying the suffering of innocent civilians and the deaths of children in the conflict.
“Can someone in the world tell me that those children are guilty of something? Can someone in this world tell me that they deserve it?” she asked the crowd.
“I am here because I demand and struggle for a better future, free for Palestinians, but also for Israelis. I am here because I know that our fates are tied to one another and that this land is a land for all of us. I choose truth, and this is the truth: in this land, two nations live, and neither one is going anywhere,” she said.
Israel’s left has been in sharp decline for years now, and its struggle to regain prominence in the political sphere has only become more difficult since since the start of the war on October 7, when the Hamas terror group stormed southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza.
Earlier this month, the bloc convened in Tel Aviv to reaffirm its basic premise following October 7 — only a negotiated political resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that ensures equality for both peoples can prevent another massacre.
The Region and the World
- The new UK government, led by the Labour party, is reportedly expected to back away from the last government’s objections to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.
Citing “two people briefed on the government’s deliberations,” the New York Times reports that the decision by new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is likely to come by the end of this week.
Last week London announced that it will resume funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after the government under Rishi Sunak had frozen it in the wake of Israeli allegations that agency staffers took part in Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller urges participants in yesterday’s anti-Israel protests in Washington to consider what would happen if they tried to protest Hamas in Gaza.
The charge is used frequently by Israeli officials but does not seem to have been used before by a Biden administration official.
“We’ve seen in the past when people have protested Hamas’s rule in Gaza how Hamas has responded. They’ve responded with a brutal crackdown, with arrests, with violent repression,” Miller says during a press briefing.
An anti-Israel, antisemitic protester holds up a Hamas flag and a sign invoking the "Final Solution" at Union Station near the US Capitol, July 24, 2024. (ADL on X) The State Department spokesperson clarifies that the administration supports Americans’ right to protest, particularly against the government’s policies.
“Something is seriously wrong when we see people marching through the streets of Washington carrying Hamas banners, carrying Hamas flags, spray-painting on the fountains that ‘Hamas is coming,’ displaying signs calling for the death of Jews and burning American flags,” Miller says.
“It’s despicable, hateful and contrary to values of this country,” he says, while acknowledging that the vast majority of the thousands of protested are patriotic Americans. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby issues his own condemnation. “When [protests] turn violent, and when you burn an American flag… that’s just absolutely unacceptable, and, obviously, we condemn all of that,” he says. link Most of the anti Israel/Pro Gaza protesters are useful idiots who are supposedly protesting for the innocent Gazan civilians who are truly suffering a major humanitarian crisis. Most of them have absolutely no idea about anything beyond the big popular slogans. But anyone who is protesting in favor of Hamas is beyond a useful idiot. They are promoting mass murder, rape, torture of women, children, elderly, civilians and the total destruction of Israel, even if it means killing every Israeli. They are no different than any of the neo Nazis and KKK, even worse and they are dangerous to all western societies. The money behind them and their leadership know exact what they are promoting. The useful idiots have no idea but that ignorance is no excuse, They are enabling and leading the charge. video of the useful idiots burning a US flag while parading around with a Hamas flag
Personal Stories
Citing “two people briefed on the government’s deliberations,” the New York Times reports that the decision by new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is likely to come by the end of this week.
Last week London announced that it will resume funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after the government under Rishi Sunak had frozen it in the wake of Israeli allegations that agency staffers took part in Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller urges participants in yesterday’s anti-Israel protests in Washington to consider what would happen if they tried to protest Hamas in Gaza.
The charge is used frequently by Israeli officials but does not seem to have been used before by a Biden administration official.
“We’ve seen in the past when people have protested Hamas’s rule in Gaza how Hamas has responded. They’ve responded with a brutal crackdown, with arrests, with violent repression,” Miller says during a press briefing.
An anti-Israel, antisemitic protester holds up a Hamas flag and a sign invoking the "Final Solution" at Union Station near the US Capitol, July 24, 2024. (ADL on X)
The State Department spokesperson clarifies that the administration supports Americans’ right to protest, particularly against the government’s policies.
“Something is seriously wrong when we see people marching through the streets of Washington carrying Hamas banners, carrying Hamas flags, spray-painting on the fountains that ‘Hamas is coming,’ displaying signs calling for the death of Jews and burning American flags,” Miller says.
“It’s despicable, hateful and contrary to values of this country,” he says, while acknowledging that the vast majority of the thousands of protested are patriotic Americans. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby issues his own condemnation. “When [protests] turn violent, and when you burn an American flag… that’s just absolutely unacceptable, and, obviously, we condemn all of that,” he says. link Most of the anti Israel/Pro Gaza protesters are useful idiots who are supposedly protesting for the innocent Gazan civilians who are truly suffering a major humanitarian crisis. Most of them have absolutely no idea about anything beyond the big popular slogans. But anyone who is protesting in favor of Hamas is beyond a useful idiot. They are promoting mass murder, rape, torture of women, children, elderly, civilians and the total destruction of Israel, even if it means killing every Israeli. They are no different than any of the neo Nazis and KKK, even worse and they are dangerous to all western societies. The money behind them and their leadership know exact what they are promoting. The useful idiots have no idea but that ignorance is no excuse, They are enabling and leading the charge. video of the useful idiots burning a US flag while parading around with a Hamas flag
Taken captive: Hamza Ziyadne, Rahat resident working in Kibbutz Holit
Abducted on October 7 by Hamas terrorists; still in Gaza after two siblings released November 30
Hamza Ziyadne, 22, was taken captive to Gaza, along with his father, Youssef Ziyadne, 53, and two other siblings, Bilal Ziyadne, 18, and Aisha Ziyadne, 17, while working in Kibbutz Holit.
Bilal and Aisha were released on November 30 after more than 50 days in Hamas captivity; their father and other brother remain hostages in Gaza.
Hamza, married and a father of two, was working with his father, Youssef, in the Holit cow shed, along with his brother Bilal, and his sister, Aisha, who had joined them for the morning.
The family lives in Rahat, in the Ziyadne neighborhood, named for their extensive family clan.
Following their release, Bilal said the terrorists kidnapped him and his family members even though they knew they were Arabs, as he struggled to describe his experiences in an interview.
Bilal said the four of them were kept together, and they were brought enough food to not be hungry, “normal food. Bread, beans, tomatoes, falafel, things like that.”
They did not know there were other hostages outside of the four members of their family and were unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
“We didn’t think the war would take that long. It felt like such a long time, we prayed to be freed,” said Bilal.
Bilal said that all four of them were provided with “a mattress, pillow, blanket,” unlike many of the other freed hostages who said they slept on the bare ground and were given barely enough food to survive.
The terrorists also gave them a Quran, he said.
The released teen said he felt afraid of the Israeli airstrikes he would hear, but not of Hamas: “I’m scared for those who are still there… I feel and I know what they’re going through.”
Those We Are Missing
The hostages and victims
taken on October 7, 2023, whose fate is still unknown Link to all the stories of Those We Are Missing
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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