π️Lonny's War Update- October 311, 2023 - August 12, 2024 π️
π️Day 311 that 115 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!!!”
We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#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
*7:25pm yesterday - north - rockets - Arab al Aramsha*1:45am- north- rockets- Neve Ziv, Sheikh Danon, Ben Ami, Gesher Haziv, Saar, Nahariya, Kabri - around 30 rockets launched from Lebanon with no casualties
*1:30pm - south - rockets - Ein Hashlosha
*7:15pm - north - rockets - Hanita
**It was announced that Yonatan Deutsch, 23 from Beit Shean was the man who was killed in the terror attack today. Deutsch studied at the high school yeshiva in Beit She'an, was a youth leader in Bnei Akiva, and volunteered extensively in the city. A few weeks ago, he was discharged from combat service as a fighter in the Maglan unit. He left behind parents, four brothers and one sister. Dozens of friends, neighbors and family members arrived at the family home on Hanegev Street in Beit She'an, trying to support the parents in their difficult time.
May his memory forever be a blessing
An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces.
He is named as Sgt. Omer Ginzburg, 19, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, from Kiryat Tivon.
Ginzburg was killed in a Hamas-claimed sniper attack in Khan Younis. His death brings Israel’s death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 332.
May his memory forever be a blessing
*1:30pm - south - rockets - Ein Hashlosha
*7:15pm - north - rockets - Hanita
An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces.
He is named as Sgt. Omer Ginzburg, 19, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, from Kiryat Tivon.
Ginzburg was killed in a Hamas-claimed sniper attack in Khan Younis. His death brings Israel’s death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 332.
May his memory forever be a blessing
Hostage Updates
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wants a ceasefire deal — at least, that’s the message Egyptian and Qatari mediators have conveyed to Israeli officials in recent days ahead of a critical summit later this week, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said.
Whether the Israeli prime minister wants one remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Netanyahu’s allies have told journalists and other government officials that the Israeli prime minister is ready to make a deal, regardless of the impact on his governing coalition, two Israeli sources said. But the Israeli security establishment remains considerably more skeptical of Netanyahu’s willingness to strike a deal given fierce opposition from far-right ministers in his coalition.
“Nobody knows what Bibi wants,” one Israeli source said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
What is clear is that Netanyahu is going to face a mountain of pressure this week from the United States to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
US officials have made clear to their Israeli counterparts they believe the time to reach a ceasefire deal is now in order to avoid a wider regional war, the Israeli source said.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a powerful voice in Israel, has also called on Israel and Hamas to finalize a hostage and ceasefire deal.
”A deal is the only path to bring all hostages home. Time is running out. The hostages have no more to spare. A deal must be signed now!”, the forum said in a statement on Thursday.
At the same time, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have made it clear they do not want Israel to strike a deal with Hamas.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the proposed ceasefire deal a “surrender deal” on Friday. Writing on social media platform X he said: “I call on the Prime Minister not to fall into this trap and not to agree to a shift, even the slightest, from the red lines he set just recently, and they are also very problematic.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby rebuked Smotrich’s comments, saying “his arguments are dead wrong.”
However, Netanyahu’s political future largely depends on his coalition partners – several of whom have already threatening to leave the government and cause its collapse if he agrees to the deal.
The Knesset (Israeli parliament) is currently out of session for its summer recess, which would make it harder – although not impossible – for Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to collapse the current government. And Israeli sources indicated that Netanyahu may call for elections if a ceasefire deal is reached, which would allow him to control the timing of such elections. full article What everyone knows is that Netanyahu wants whatever will keep him Prime Minister, so if a deal will cause his government to fall, he doesn't want it. He has 2 ministers and their parties who have clearly stated that they will leave the government if he makes any deal that will end the war. Unfortunately, there is no a single minister with the moral conscience and the backbone to state that if he doesn't make a deal, they will leave the government. The reason for that is that all of these ministers care more about what they are gaining personally and for their parties (positions, jobs, money) that they are not willing to give up for the lives of the hostages or the good of the country. They should be ashamed of themselves, every single one of them but the problem is that they have no shame whatsoever.
As opposed to the above report:
My brother’s post: Part of the official Hamas answer regarding renewed negotiations:
In light of this, and out of concern and responsibility towards our people and their interests, the movement calls on the mediators to submit a plan to implement what they presented to the movement and approved on 7/2/2024, based on Biden’s vision and the Security Council resolution, and to oblige the occupation to do so, instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and give it more time to perpetuate the war of genocide against our people.
My brother's post: On the negotiations:
There is no negotiating summit and never has been. Since September - October 2011, delegations of Hamas and Israel have not sat in the same place. In 2011, they were together at the Egyptian intelligence base in Cairo, in seperate rooms, they never met in the same room. What is important now is that Sinwar has once again officially appointed Khalil Al-Hia (his deputy) to be in charge of negotiations and to lead the talks with the mediators and authorized him to make decisions. Ghazi Hamed was before and remains a member of the negotiating team. In the Hamas announcement it was clear that Hamas is ready to accept the proposal that is already on the table. In my assessment, the negotiations are already underway even before Thursday. There are discussions between Israel and Egypt on the sealing of the Philidephi corridor on the Egyptian side, on the Rafah crossing and its management, and more. I also believe that the mediators are talking to Hamas about the prisoner issue (on which Hamas said they would be flexible), about the timetable, logistics, and other details. If a regional war does not break out in the coming days, I believe that the Israeli team and the mediators will arrive in Doha, Hamas members are already present there. (Gershon Baskin, 12.8.2024)
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held hostage in Gaza since October 7, says that the prime minister’s statement earlier today accusing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of harming Israel’s chances of a hostage deal indicates that Netanyahu will torpedo upcoming talks planned for later this week.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, speaks to Channel 12 News on August 12, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)“I expect the prime minister to stop targeting his defense minister and the negotiating team,” she tells Channel 12. “I expect the prime minister to show leadership and to bring my son home after 10 months, and to bring back all of the hostages, alive and dead, every last one.”
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israel will send a negotiating team to the August 15 talks “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework.” Hamas says it is not sending a delegation to the talks.
“I demand that the prime minister… find a diplomatic solution [to bring the hostages home], to talk about postwar plans for Gaza. All of the country’s security chiefs say that the barriers to a deal have been removed. That means we can proceed to a deal,” she says.
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hostage Updates
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wants a ceasefire deal — at least, that’s the message Egyptian and Qatari mediators have conveyed to Israeli officials in recent days ahead of a critical summit later this week, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said.
Whether the Israeli prime minister wants one remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Netanyahu’s allies have told journalists and other government officials that the Israeli prime minister is ready to make a deal, regardless of the impact on his governing coalition, two Israeli sources said. But the Israeli security establishment remains considerably more skeptical of Netanyahu’s willingness to strike a deal given fierce opposition from far-right ministers in his coalition.
“Nobody knows what Bibi wants,” one Israeli source said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
What is clear is that Netanyahu is going to face a mountain of pressure this week from the United States to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
US officials have made clear to their Israeli counterparts they believe the time to reach a ceasefire deal is now in order to avoid a wider regional war, the Israeli source said.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a powerful voice in Israel, has also called on Israel and Hamas to finalize a hostage and ceasefire deal.
”A deal is the only path to bring all hostages home. Time is running out. The hostages have no more to spare. A deal must be signed now!”, the forum said in a statement on Thursday.
At the same time, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have made it clear they do not want Israel to strike a deal with Hamas.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the proposed ceasefire deal a “surrender deal” on Friday. Writing on social media platform X he said: “I call on the Prime Minister not to fall into this trap and not to agree to a shift, even the slightest, from the red lines he set just recently, and they are also very problematic.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby rebuked Smotrich’s comments, saying “his arguments are dead wrong.”
However, Netanyahu’s political future largely depends on his coalition partners – several of whom have already threatening to leave the government and cause its collapse if he agrees to the deal.
The Knesset (Israeli parliament) is currently out of session for its summer recess, which would make it harder – although not impossible – for Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to collapse the current government. And Israeli sources indicated that Netanyahu may call for elections if a ceasefire deal is reached, which would allow him to control the timing of such elections. full article What everyone knows is that Netanyahu wants whatever will keep him Prime Minister, so if a deal will cause his government to fall, he doesn't want it. He has 2 ministers and their parties who have clearly stated that they will leave the government if he makes any deal that will end the war. Unfortunately, there is no a single minister with the moral conscience and the backbone to state that if he doesn't make a deal, they will leave the government. The reason for that is that all of these ministers care more about what they are gaining personally and for their parties (positions, jobs, money) that they are not willing to give up for the lives of the hostages or the good of the country. They should be ashamed of themselves, every single one of them but the problem is that they have no shame whatsoever.
As opposed to the above report:
My brother’s post: Part of the official Hamas answer regarding renewed negotiations:
In light of this, and out of concern and responsibility towards our people and their interests, the movement calls on the mediators to submit a plan to implement what they presented to the movement and approved on 7/2/2024, based on Biden’s vision and the Security Council resolution, and to oblige the occupation to do so, instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and give it more time to perpetuate the war of genocide against our people.
My brother's post: On the negotiations:
There is no negotiating summit and never has been. Since September - October 2011, delegations of Hamas and Israel have not sat in the same place. In 2011, they were together at the Egyptian intelligence base in Cairo, in seperate rooms, they never met in the same room. What is important now is that Sinwar has once again officially appointed Khalil Al-Hia (his deputy) to be in charge of negotiations and to lead the talks with the mediators and authorized him to make decisions. Ghazi Hamed was before and remains a member of the negotiating team. In the Hamas announcement it was clear that Hamas is ready to accept the proposal that is already on the table. In my assessment, the negotiations are already underway even before Thursday. There are discussions between Israel and Egypt on the sealing of the Philidephi corridor on the Egyptian side, on the Rafah crossing and its management, and more. I also believe that the mediators are talking to Hamas about the prisoner issue (on which Hamas said they would be flexible), about the timetable, logistics, and other details. If a regional war does not break out in the coming days, I believe that the Israeli team and the mediators will arrive in Doha, Hamas members are already present there. (Gershon Baskin, 12.8.2024)Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held hostage in Gaza since October 7, says that the prime minister’s statement earlier today accusing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of harming Israel’s chances of a hostage deal indicates that Netanyahu will torpedo upcoming talks planned for later this week.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, speaks to Channel 12 News on August 12, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)“I expect the prime minister to stop targeting his defense minister and the negotiating team,” she tells Channel 12. “I expect the prime minister to show leadership and to bring my son home after 10 months, and to bring back all of the hostages, alive and dead, every last one.”
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israel will send a negotiating team to the August 15 talks “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework.” Hamas says it is not sending a delegation to the talks.
“I demand that the prime minister… find a diplomatic solution [to bring the hostages home], to talk about postwar plans for Gaza. All of the country’s security chiefs say that the barriers to a deal have been removed. That means we can proceed to a deal,” she says.
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Gaza
IDF, Shin Bet name another 12
Hamas, Islamic Jihad operatives killed in strike at Gaza school, bringing total
to 31
This infographic released by the IDF on August 12, 2024, shows terror operatives it says it killed in an airstrike on a Hamas-Islamic Jihad command room at a school complex in Gaza City. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli military and Shin Bet
security agency say they have now verified the deaths of 31 Hamas and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in Saturday’s airstrike on a school in
Gaza City.
Hours after the
strike, the IDF named 19 Palestinians it
said were terror operatives killed in the attack against an “active” Hamas and
Islamic Jihad command room, based out of a mosque in the al-Taba’een school
complex, in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood.
The IDF now
releases the names and pictures of another 12 Palestinians it says were killed
in the strike and were terror operatives.
More than 100
people were killed in the strike, according to Hamas authorities. The IDF
expressed heavy skepticism over the claim, saying the numbers appeared to have
been inflated.
Hamas's "civilian" governance and the black market: This is what daily life looks like for Gazans in the humanitarian zone
According to estimates, about 1.5 million Gazans are crowded in Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, which was recently reduced due to rocket fire • The tents they hauled from place to place, the improvised laundry facility, and conflicts with clans • In the background, evacuation continues - and this is how the voices sound: "We no longer know where to go"
In recent months, about 1.5 million Gazans have been staying in the humanitarian area, Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, which has been filling up since the beginning of the operation in Rafah. Hamas rules the area almost secretly, with a low profile. A cash crisis has emerged, conflicts between clans are intensifying - and even schools have moved to shelters. This is what daily life looks like in the Gaza Strip.
What do Gazans take with them?
* During the war, tents became one of the most sought-after products in humanitarian spaces due to the need for temporary shelter for family members.
* Tents were obtained in several ways: receiving tents or entering compounds set up by local and international aid organizations, purchasing them privately from merchants - with some stolen from private residents and organizations.
* Improvised tents were also set up using fabrics, plastic, nylon sheets, and galvanized sheets. Displaced people who evacuated more than once loaded their tent to the new destination.
An average Gazan family holds personal equipment that they dragged from the moment of the first evacuation. It includes: basic kitchen utensils, rugs, blankets, pillows, mattresses, buckets, and assets of both material and emotional value.
Medical services
* The humanitarian area includes clinics and hospitals that also operate in field format.
* The decision on where to treat is based on two main considerations: proximity of the medical institution and the nature of the required treatment.
* If it's a complex treatment or severe injury, the preference will be for the central hospital closest to the area.
* Pregnant women usually give birth in nearby medical institutions - clinics or hospitals.
* Essential dental treatments are usually performed in dedicated clinics that are still active or at private dentists who have set up improvised clinics inside tents.
* Treatment of more complex patients such as cancer - is mainly based on drug treatment in central hospitals in the area, according to existing inventory. Medications can be purchased from improvised pharmacies and received from various aid organizations.
Food
* Access to food is mainly based on international and local aid organizations, primarily the Red Crescent and UNRWA - along with purchasing food products from regulated markets and improvised stalls that are also stocked with groceries, mainly canned goods.
* Aid is usually distributed through vouchers according to the number of people in the family.
* Secondary source: Utilization of natural resources found nearby, such as the sea for fishing, agricultural areas for vegetables, fruits and spices, alongside self-cultivation.
* Self-cooking is done using gas cylinders, according to accessibility, burning wood chips and other combustible materials. Many families built improvised ovens from various materials for baking purposes.
* The variety of available food mainly includes staples: flour, sugar, salt, rice, canned goods and packaged food products, including: vegetables, meat and poultry, cheese dishes, preserved fish. Additional supplements can be found in markets whose merchandise is based on the private sector and on aid that was partially stolen or looted.
Water
* Networks are flooded with documentation of residents standing in long lines to receive water through water tankers, large water containers and mineral water from aid organizations and local authorities. Water is also supplied from regulated water lines, water wells and desalination facilities mainly maintained by the water authority and municipalities.
Electricity and communication
* Main reliance on solar energy and to a lesser extent on private batteries or generators. Except for occasional malfunctions, communication is available in the humanitarian area.
* Charging stations for phones and laptops connected to solar panels or batteries are in high demand. Some residents have portable chargers.
* Improvised cafes also offer this service. In one menu: Internet and phone charging for a full hour - costs 5 shekels, Internet and laptop charging for an hour - costs 6 shekels.
* Essential activities such as laundry are mainly performed manually, including using buckets and improvised devices that are also manually operated.
Privacy
* Overcrowding poses a challenge regarding privacy, so improvised toilets were set up, mainly "shooting holes".
* Showers are taken sparingly, usually not daily - using water containers and jerry cans in areas with dedicated partitions, in the tents themselves or by bathing in the sea.
Finances
* The cessation of bank activity in the Strip due to the war created a severe liquidity crisis for cash. As a result, Gazans use money saved before the war by the family head, turn to money changers and withdraw cash through apps, primarily Jawwal.
Conflicts with clans, prostitution phenomenon
* Overcrowding in the humanitarian space led to increased conflicts between residents and clans, and sometimes between permanent residents and displaced persons.
* According to sources in Gaza, a phenomenon of prostitution of young women in Gaza has developed in exchange for money.
Hamas's governance "in disguise"
* The sense of personal security of many Gazans has been damaged and there are those who walk around with self-defense tools. The motive for this is mainly due to the absence of Hamas police activists in official uniforms and the inability to identify them, as they operate with a low profile, in civilian clothes.
* During the war, efforts by local authorities to demonstrate presence, perform various actions and provide services under their responsibility increased. For example: water distribution, garbage collection, sewage disposal and more.
Evacuation from Khan Yunis continues
* Due to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the IDF continues to call on Gazans to evacuate from Khan Yunis areas and adjusts the humanitarian space.
* A recorded Gazan woman said: "We don't know where we'll go. It's hard for us to move from place to place, enough with the terror".
* A Gazan who evacuated from the Hamad neighborhood: "I no longer have the strength to be uprooted, I've been uprooted six times already. We no longer know where to go."
This infographic released by the IDF on August 12, 2024, shows terror operatives it says it killed in an airstrike on a Hamas-Islamic Jihad command room at a school complex in Gaza City. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli military and Shin Bet
security agency say they have now verified the deaths of 31 Hamas and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in Saturday’s airstrike on a school in
Gaza City.
Hours after the
strike, the IDF named 19 Palestinians it
said were terror operatives killed in the attack against an “active” Hamas and
Islamic Jihad command room, based out of a mosque in the al-Taba’een school
complex, in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood.
The IDF now
releases the names and pictures of another 12 Palestinians it says were killed
in the strike and were terror operatives.
More than 100 people were killed in the strike, according to Hamas authorities. The IDF expressed heavy skepticism over the claim, saying the numbers appeared to have been inflated.
Hamas's "civilian" governance and the black market: This is what daily life looks like for Gazans in the humanitarian zone
According to estimates, about 1.5 million Gazans are crowded in Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, which was recently reduced due to rocket fire • The tents they hauled from place to place, the improvised laundry facility, and conflicts with clans • In the background, evacuation continues - and this is how the voices sound: "We no longer know where to go"
In recent months, about 1.5 million Gazans have been staying in the humanitarian area, Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, which has been filling up since the beginning of the operation in Rafah. Hamas rules the area almost secretly, with a low profile. A cash crisis has emerged, conflicts between clans are intensifying - and even schools have moved to shelters. This is what daily life looks like in the Gaza Strip.
What do Gazans take with them?
* During the war, tents became one of the most sought-after products in humanitarian spaces due to the need for temporary shelter for family members.
* Tents were obtained in several ways: receiving tents or entering compounds set up by local and international aid organizations, purchasing them privately from merchants - with some stolen from private residents and organizations.
* Improvised tents were also set up using fabrics, plastic, nylon sheets, and galvanized sheets. Displaced people who evacuated more than once loaded their tent to the new destination.
An average Gazan family holds personal equipment that they dragged from the moment of the first evacuation. It includes: basic kitchen utensils, rugs, blankets, pillows, mattresses, buckets, and assets of both material and emotional value.
Medical services
* The humanitarian area includes clinics and hospitals that also operate in field format.
* The decision on where to treat is based on two main considerations: proximity of the medical institution and the nature of the required treatment.
* If it's a complex treatment or severe injury, the preference will be for the central hospital closest to the area.
* Pregnant women usually give birth in nearby medical institutions - clinics or hospitals.
* Essential dental treatments are usually performed in dedicated clinics that are still active or at private dentists who have set up improvised clinics inside tents.
* Treatment of more complex patients such as cancer - is mainly based on drug treatment in central hospitals in the area, according to existing inventory. Medications can be purchased from improvised pharmacies and received from various aid organizations.
Food
* Access to food is mainly based on international and local aid organizations, primarily the Red Crescent and UNRWA - along with purchasing food products from regulated markets and improvised stalls that are also stocked with groceries, mainly canned goods.
* Aid is usually distributed through vouchers according to the number of people in the family.
* Secondary source: Utilization of natural resources found nearby, such as the sea for fishing, agricultural areas for vegetables, fruits and spices, alongside self-cultivation.
* Self-cooking is done using gas cylinders, according to accessibility, burning wood chips and other combustible materials. Many families built improvised ovens from various materials for baking purposes.
* The variety of available food mainly includes staples: flour, sugar, salt, rice, canned goods and packaged food products, including: vegetables, meat and poultry, cheese dishes, preserved fish. Additional supplements can be found in markets whose merchandise is based on the private sector and on aid that was partially stolen or looted.
Water
* Networks are flooded with documentation of residents standing in long lines to receive water through water tankers, large water containers and mineral water from aid organizations and local authorities. Water is also supplied from regulated water lines, water wells and desalination facilities mainly maintained by the water authority and municipalities.
Electricity and communication
* Main reliance on solar energy and to a lesser extent on private batteries or generators. Except for occasional malfunctions, communication is available in the humanitarian area.
* Charging stations for phones and laptops connected to solar panels or batteries are in high demand. Some residents have portable chargers.
* Improvised cafes also offer this service. In one menu: Internet and phone charging for a full hour - costs 5 shekels, Internet and laptop charging for an hour - costs 6 shekels.
* Essential activities such as laundry are mainly performed manually, including using buckets and improvised devices that are also manually operated.
Privacy
* Overcrowding poses a challenge regarding privacy, so improvised toilets were set up, mainly "shooting holes".
* Showers are taken sparingly, usually not daily - using water containers and jerry cans in areas with dedicated partitions, in the tents themselves or by bathing in the sea.
Finances
* The cessation of bank activity in the Strip due to the war created a severe liquidity crisis for cash. As a result, Gazans use money saved before the war by the family head, turn to money changers and withdraw cash through apps, primarily Jawwal.
Conflicts with clans, prostitution phenomenon
* Overcrowding in the humanitarian space led to increased conflicts between residents and clans, and sometimes between permanent residents and displaced persons.
* According to sources in Gaza, a phenomenon of prostitution of young women in Gaza has developed in exchange for money.
Hamas's governance "in disguise"
* The sense of personal security of many Gazans has been damaged and there are those who walk around with self-defense tools. The motive for this is mainly due to the absence of Hamas police activists in official uniforms and the inability to identify them, as they operate with a low profile, in civilian clothes.
* During the war, efforts by local authorities to demonstrate presence, perform various actions and provide services under their responsibility increased. For example: water distribution, garbage collection, sewage disposal and more.
Evacuation from Khan Yunis continues
* Due to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the IDF continues to call on Gazans to evacuate from Khan Yunis areas and adjusts the humanitarian space.
* A recorded Gazan woman said: "We don't know where we'll go. It's hard for us to move from place to place, enough with the terror".
* A Gazan who evacuated from the Hamad neighborhood: "I no longer have the strength to be uprooted, I've been uprooted six times already. We no longer know where to go."
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
A Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Wardiyeh was destroyed in an airstrike earlier today, the Israeli military says.
The IDF says it also struck several buildings used by Hezbollah in Chihine and Jebbayn today.
Several rockets and missiles were fired by Hezbollah at northern Israel today, including the Ramim Ridge area, Metula, and Mount Dov. The IDF says there were no injuries in the attacks. video
Billboards crop up across Lebanon to demand an end to Hezbollah’s military campaign against Israel. The posters, which read “Enough, we are fed up” and “We don’t want war” have appeared in regions dominated by opposition parties and in some parts of Beirut, the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
No specific party or civil society organization has claimed responsibility for the campaign, but an unnamed leading member of the Lebanese opposition tells the Saudi paper that the billboards reflect the position of the “vast majority of the people, regardless of their sect and affiliations,” and that those who have died in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon “are sacrificed at the altar of the Iranian agenda, not the liberation of Jerusalem or defense of Palestine.”
Even the Shiite community in southern Lebanon, “which used to forgive all of Hezbollah’s mistakes,” is now showing signs of discontent after the terror group’s actions have led to their displacement and the destruction of their homes, the opposition figure says.
A Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Wardiyeh was destroyed in an airstrike earlier today, the Israeli military says.
The IDF says it also struck several buildings used by Hezbollah in Chihine and Jebbayn today.
Several rockets and missiles were fired by Hezbollah at northern Israel today, including the Ramim Ridge area, Metula, and Mount Dov. The IDF says there were no injuries in the attacks. video
Billboards crop up across Lebanon to demand an end to Hezbollah’s military campaign against Israel. The posters, which read “Enough, we are fed up” and “We don’t want war” have appeared in regions dominated by opposition parties and in some parts of Beirut, the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
No specific party or civil society organization has claimed responsibility for the campaign, but an unnamed leading member of the Lebanese opposition tells the Saudi paper that the billboards reflect the position of the “vast majority of the people, regardless of their sect and affiliations,” and that those who have died in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon “are sacrificed at the altar of the Iranian agenda, not the liberation of Jerusalem or defense of Palestine.”
Even the Shiite community in southern Lebanon, “which used to forgive all of Hezbollah’s mistakes,” is now showing signs of discontent after the terror group’s actions have led to their displacement and the destruction of their homes, the opposition figure says.
West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel
- "Combat units" in the Jenin model: The new terror
hub in northern Samaria
The security system identifies attempts by terrorist
organizations to establish infrastructures in northeastern Samaria • The
terrorist who carried out yesterday's attack apparently roamed the area for hours
- and took advantage of a traffic jam to shoot at cars moving slowly or
stopping at the side • This is how the IDF operates to eradicate terrorism in
northern Samaria
**Mowing the lawn in Samaria - and the attack in the Jordan
Valley:** IDF forces continue this morning (Monday) in pursuit of the terrorist
or terrorists who shot and killed Yehonatan Deutsch in an attack near Mehola
Junction in the Jordan Valley, and lightly to moderately wounded Anas Jaramna,
32, from Muqeible. The security system is checking if the attackers came from
the village of Tubas in northern Samaria, and many actions are being taken and
various findings have been found that can end the manhunt.
The understanding in the security system is that various
organizations are trying to create new terror infrastructures in a model
similar to the "combat units" they established in Jenin. The IDF and
Shin Bet have been operating in recent months to thwart the plans of terrorist
organizations, as they did in Jenin and Nablus. In recent months, since the
beginning of the war and even before, security forces have been operating
almost every night to arrest and eliminate terrorists, especially the
commanders of those terror cells. In recent weeks, the IDF has been operating
in the refugee camps in Tulkarem, where command centers, explosives
laboratories, and hiding apartments were established. Recently, the Air Force
has also entered the picture and attacks terror cells from the air, and even
eliminated the commanders of the military wing of Hamas and Fatah in Tulkarem
at the end of July - along with five other terrorists.
Now terrorist organizations are trying to copy the Jenin and
Nablus model to Tubas in northeastern Samaria. Therefore, the IDF decided to
increase the quantity and quality of activity to eradicate terrorism in the
area. The security system explains that the goal is to "mow the lawn"
in those areas, in order to prevent local terror infrastructures from raising
their heads. Those terror infrastructures receive guidance and funding from
Hamas abroad and Iran, which is also trying to help by smuggling advanced and
non-advanced weapons to the northern Samaria and Jordan Valley area. The
village of Tubas is located on the axis between the Jordan Valley and northern
Samaria where the most central terror nests are located, especially in the
refugee camps in Jenin.
One killed and one moderately wounded: This is how the
attack unfolded
The security system identifies attempts by terrorist
organizations to establish infrastructures in northeastern Samaria • The
terrorist who carried out yesterday's attack apparently roamed the area for hours
- and took advantage of a traffic jam to shoot at cars moving slowly or
stopping at the side • This is how the IDF operates to eradicate terrorism in
northern Samaria
**Mowing the lawn in Samaria - and the attack in the Jordan
Valley:** IDF forces continue this morning (Monday) in pursuit of the terrorist
or terrorists who shot and killed Yehonatan Deutsch in an attack near Mehola
Junction in the Jordan Valley, and lightly to moderately wounded Anas Jaramna,
32, from Muqeible. The security system is checking if the attackers came from
the village of Tubas in northern Samaria, and many actions are being taken and
various findings have been found that can end the manhunt.
The understanding in the security system is that various
organizations are trying to create new terror infrastructures in a model
similar to the "combat units" they established in Jenin. The IDF and
Shin Bet have been operating in recent months to thwart the plans of terrorist
organizations, as they did in Jenin and Nablus. In recent months, since the
beginning of the war and even before, security forces have been operating
almost every night to arrest and eliminate terrorists, especially the
commanders of those terror cells. In recent weeks, the IDF has been operating
in the refugee camps in Tulkarem, where command centers, explosives
laboratories, and hiding apartments were established. Recently, the Air Force
has also entered the picture and attacks terror cells from the air, and even
eliminated the commanders of the military wing of Hamas and Fatah in Tulkarem
at the end of July - along with five other terrorists.
Now terrorist organizations are trying to copy the Jenin and
Nablus model to Tubas in northeastern Samaria. Therefore, the IDF decided to
increase the quantity and quality of activity to eradicate terrorism in the
area. The security system explains that the goal is to "mow the lawn"
in those areas, in order to prevent local terror infrastructures from raising
their heads. Those terror infrastructures receive guidance and funding from
Hamas abroad and Iran, which is also trying to help by smuggling advanced and
non-advanced weapons to the northern Samaria and Jordan Valley area. The
village of Tubas is located on the axis between the Jordan Valley and northern
Samaria where the most central terror nests are located, especially in the
refugee camps in Jenin.
One killed and one moderately wounded: This is how the
attack unfolded
The security system identifies attempts by terrorist organizations to establish infrastructures in northeastern Samaria • The terrorist who carried out yesterday's attack apparently roamed the area for hours - and took advantage of a traffic jam to shoot at cars moving slowly or stopping at the side • This is how the IDF operates to eradicate terrorism in northern Samaria
**Mowing the lawn in Samaria - and the attack in the Jordan Valley:** IDF forces continue this morning (Monday) in pursuit of the terrorist or terrorists who shot and killed Yehonatan Deutsch in an attack near Mehola Junction in the Jordan Valley, and lightly to moderately wounded Anas Jaramna, 32, from Muqeible. The security system is checking if the attackers came from the village of Tubas in northern Samaria, and many actions are being taken and various findings have been found that can end the manhunt.
The understanding in the security system is that various organizations are trying to create new terror infrastructures in a model similar to the "combat units" they established in Jenin. The IDF and Shin Bet have been operating in recent months to thwart the plans of terrorist organizations, as they did in Jenin and Nablus. In recent months, since the beginning of the war and even before, security forces have been operating almost every night to arrest and eliminate terrorists, especially the commanders of those terror cells. In recent weeks, the IDF has been operating in the refugee camps in Tulkarem, where command centers, explosives laboratories, and hiding apartments were established. Recently, the Air Force has also entered the picture and attacks terror cells from the air, and even eliminated the commanders of the military wing of Hamas and Fatah in Tulkarem at the end of July - along with five other terrorists.
Now terrorist organizations are trying to copy the Jenin and Nablus model to Tubas in northeastern Samaria. Therefore, the IDF decided to increase the quantity and quality of activity to eradicate terrorism in the area. The security system explains that the goal is to "mow the lawn" in those areas, in order to prevent local terror infrastructures from raising their heads. Those terror infrastructures receive guidance and funding from Hamas abroad and Iran, which is also trying to help by smuggling advanced and non-advanced weapons to the northern Samaria and Jordan Valley area. The village of Tubas is located on the axis between the Jordan Valley and northern Samaria where the most central terror nests are located, especially in the refugee camps in Jenin.
One killed and one moderately wounded: This is how the attack unfolded
A vehicle with the terrorist arrived at Road 578, near Mehola Junction • There was a traffic jam on the road and cars were standing before the junction • An Israeli vehicle with Yehonatan stopped before the junction, next to a bus stop • The terrorist stopped his vehicle on the other side - and opened accurate fire towards Yehonatan's vehicle • The terrorist fired at another vehicle, about 100 meters away • After the shooting, the terrorist fled in his vehicle link
Police detained two Israeli settlers suspected of assaulting four Arab Israeli women and a three-year-old girl in the West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen on Friday.
Police and the Shin Bet say in a joint statement that during the “grave attack,” the suspects hurled stones at the victims, made threats with weapons, and set fire to their car.
The two suspects were detained earlier today, and are currently being questioned.
Tomorrow, police say, they will request to extend their detention amid the investigation.
The victims, residents of the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, were on their way to the West Bank city of Nablus.
They had accidentally driven into the outpost, in an area that has seen repeated clashes between extremist settlers and Palestinians.
The five were taken to Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva after being attacked by the settlers.
Politics and the War (general news)
Gallant calls Netanyahu’s
‘absolute victory’ slogan ‘gibberish’; PM says defense minister adopting
‘anti-Israel narrative’
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
appears to take a swing at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset
committee discussion about Israel’s response to ongoing cross-border tensions
with the Hezbollah terror group.
“I hear all the
heroes with the war drums, the ‘absolute victory’ and this gibberish,” he says
during a meeting of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
His remark
reportedly follows his answer to a question on why Israel has not initiated war
against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in which Gallant says: “The conditions today for
war in Lebanon are unlike those at the beginning of the war [last October].”
Firebrand Likud
MK Tally Gotliv jumps to Netanyahu’s defense in the discussion and later posts a
call on X for the premier to fire his defense minister.
A short while
later the Prime Minister’s Office releases a statement titled, “Gallant is
bound by ‘absolute victory,’ too.”
“When Gallant
adopts an anti-Israel narrative, he hurts the chances of reaching a hostage
deal,” the statement reads.
“He should have
attacked [Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar], who refuses to send a delegation to
negotiations, and who was and remains the only obstacle to the hostage deal.” link It's 10 months late but it's still good that Galant is finally calling our Netanyahu's bullshit (just as Biden did 2 weeks ago). There is no 'absolute victory' and never could have been. On October 7, we already lost and since then, the Gazans have lost. This is a war of losses and losers and there cannot be any absolute victory. The only victory we can truly hope for is a return of the hostages as soon as possible. That is a victory for the people and for us to begin to heal. Netanyahu's 'absolute victory' is just his way to continue the war and stay in power.
- Almost two weeks after ultranationalist mobs and several elected officials broke into two military bases to disrupt legal proceedings against reservist soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian terrorist detainees, authorities said Saturday evening for the first time that an investigation had been opened into the matter.
The Israel Police and the Criminal Investigations Division of the military police both confirmed that the police-led probe had been launched into those who on July 29 broke into the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid bases, who included two MKs and a government minister, Hebrew media said Saturday.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed, speaking to Channel 14, that the Shin Bet had pressured Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to order the police investigation. Sources in the Shin Bet were cited by the Walla news site as denying the minister’s claim.
No arrests have been made yet and no suspects have been summoned for questioning in the politically fraught saga.
Several appeals had been made to Baharav-Miara and the police shortly after the incident to begin criminal proceedings.
Any decision regarding whether to prosecute the minister and the MKs involved in the incident will have to be brought to the attorney general for a decision.
Dozens of activists broke into the Sde Teiman military base on July 29 after military police arrived at the site to detain 10 IDF reservist soldiers suspected of committing severe abuse against Palestinian security prisoners held at the detention center on the base.
Among those to enter the base without authorization were MK Nissim Vaturi of the ruling Likud and MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party, along with National Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit. Around 1,200 activists turned up a short while later at the Beit Lid military base, where the 10 reservist soldiers had been brought for a remand hearing at a military court. Of them, five have since been released from custody.
Video footage showed the protesters confronting and attacking soldiers while inside the base. Requests to open criminal proceedings against the protesters, including the public officials, came immediately.
Labor MK Efrat Rayten requested that same day that the attorney general open an investigation into Vaturi and Sukkot for breaking into Sde Teiman.
Later that week, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), a watchdog group, sent a letter to Baharav-Miara, Israel Police Acting Commissioner Avshalom Peled, and the head of the police investigations and intelligence department, demanding that criminal proceedings be brought against the coalition and government officials, along with other protesters who broke into the military bases. full article Unbelievably, it took 2 weeks for the police to even begin to investigate this national crime of armed extremists including extreme army Knesset members and ministers breaking into 2 army bases. This is what happens when we have an extremist criminal police minister who is enabled by a weakling prime minister who only cares for his ability to stay in his position.
Last November, I asked this question: why didn’t Benjamin Netanyahu keep his 2009 campaign promise to topple Hamas? I found at least part of the answer in his 2022 memoir, Bibi: My Story.
In that account, Netanyahu explained, first, that “the cost in blood and treasure was not worth it.” Overthrowing Hamas would involve the loss of “many hundreds [of soldiers] on the Israeli side,” burden Israel with governing Gaza “for an indefinite period,” and result in “the wholesale destruction of Gaza, with tens of thousands of civilian deaths.” Second, it wasn’t a priority. “Did I really want to tie down the IDF in Gaza for years,” he wrote, “when we had to deal with Iran and a possible Syrian front? The answer was categorically no. I had bigger fish to fry.”
In a new interview with TIME, conducted by Eric Cortellessa, Netanyahu preempts the question before it is asked. After rationalizing the Qatari funding of Gaza, he explains that before October 7, he had conducted “three full-fledged military campaigns against Hamas in which we killed thousands of terrorists, eliminated some of their top military leadership, and sought to prevent them from having the capacity to attack us.” But he adds this:
One thing we didn’t do was we didn’t come out to eradicate Hamas completely, because that would require a full-scale ground invasion for which we had no internal legitimacy or international legitimacy. Look at the problem we have with legitimacy now, after they conducted the worst terror onslaught on the Jewish people since the Holocaust…. We sort of cut the weeds, but we didn’t come in to uproot them completely until October 7th. October 7th showed that those who said that Hamas was deterred were wrong. If anything, I didn’t challenge enough the assumption that was common to all the security agencies.
The interviewer said he would “come back to that in a second,” and when he did, he formulated the question in his own pointed way: “Why didn’t you take out Hamas earlier? You could have gone all the way in 2014.” Netanyahu responded:
No I couldn’t. I don’t think there was—there wasn’t a consensus. There was, in fact, a consensus among the military that we shouldn’t do it. But more importantly, you can overrule the military, but you can’t act in a vacuum. There was no public, no domestic support for such an action. There was certainly no international support for such an action, and you need both or at least one of them in order to take such an action. I think that became evident right after the October 7th massacre.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appears to take a swing at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset committee discussion about Israel’s response to ongoing cross-border tensions with the Hezbollah terror group.
“I hear all the heroes with the war drums, the ‘absolute victory’ and this gibberish,” he says during a meeting of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
His remark reportedly follows his answer to a question on why Israel has not initiated war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in which Gallant says: “The conditions today for war in Lebanon are unlike those at the beginning of the war [last October].”
Firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv jumps to Netanyahu’s defense in the discussion and later posts a call on X for the premier to fire his defense minister.
A short while later the Prime Minister’s Office releases a statement titled, “Gallant is bound by ‘absolute victory,’ too.”
“When Gallant adopts an anti-Israel narrative, he hurts the chances of reaching a hostage deal,” the statement reads.
“He should have attacked [Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar], who refuses to send a delegation to negotiations, and who was and remains the only obstacle to the hostage deal.” link It's 10 months late but it's still good that Galant is finally calling our Netanyahu's bullshit (just as Biden did 2 weeks ago). There is no 'absolute victory' and never could have been. On October 7, we already lost and since then, the Gazans have lost. This is a war of losses and losers and there cannot be any absolute victory. The only victory we can truly hope for is a return of the hostages as soon as possible. That is a victory for the people and for us to begin to heal. Netanyahu's 'absolute victory' is just his way to continue the war and stay in power.
- Almost two weeks after ultranationalist mobs and several elected officials broke into two military bases to disrupt legal proceedings against reservist soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian terrorist detainees, authorities said Saturday evening for the first time that an investigation had been opened into the matter.
The Israel Police and the Criminal Investigations Division of the military police both confirmed that the police-led probe had been launched into those who on July 29 broke into the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid bases, who included two MKs and a government minister, Hebrew media said Saturday.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed, speaking to Channel 14, that the Shin Bet had pressured Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to order the police investigation. Sources in the Shin Bet were cited by the Walla news site as denying the minister’s claim.
No arrests have been made yet and no suspects have been summoned for questioning in the politically fraught saga.
Several appeals had been made to Baharav-Miara and the police shortly after the incident to begin criminal proceedings.
Any decision regarding whether to prosecute the minister and the MKs involved in the incident will have to be brought to the attorney general for a decision.
Dozens of activists broke into the Sde Teiman military base on July 29 after military police arrived at the site to detain 10 IDF reservist soldiers suspected of committing severe abuse against Palestinian security prisoners held at the detention center on the base.
Among those to enter the base without authorization were MK Nissim Vaturi of the ruling Likud and MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party, along with National Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit. Around 1,200 activists turned up a short while later at the Beit Lid military base, where the 10 reservist soldiers had been brought for a remand hearing at a military court. Of them, five have since been released from custody.
Video footage showed the protesters confronting and attacking soldiers while inside the base. Requests to open criminal proceedings against the protesters, including the public officials, came immediately.
Labor MK Efrat Rayten requested that same day that the attorney general open an investigation into Vaturi and Sukkot for breaking into Sde Teiman.
Later that week, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), a watchdog group, sent a letter to Baharav-Miara, Israel Police Acting Commissioner Avshalom Peled, and the head of the police investigations and intelligence department, demanding that criminal proceedings be brought against the coalition and government officials, along with other protesters who broke into the military bases. full article Unbelievably, it took 2 weeks for the police to even begin to investigate this national crime of armed extremists including extreme army Knesset members and ministers breaking into 2 army bases. This is what happens when we have an extremist criminal police minister who is enabled by a weakling prime minister who only cares for his ability to stay in his position.
Last November, I asked this question: why didn’t Benjamin Netanyahu keep his 2009 campaign promise to topple Hamas? I found at least part of the answer in his 2022 memoir, Bibi: My Story.
In that account, Netanyahu explained, first, that “the cost in blood and treasure was not worth it.” Overthrowing Hamas would involve the loss of “many hundreds [of soldiers] on the Israeli side,” burden Israel with governing Gaza “for an indefinite period,” and result in “the wholesale destruction of Gaza, with tens of thousands of civilian deaths.” Second, it wasn’t a priority. “Did I really want to tie down the IDF in Gaza for years,” he wrote, “when we had to deal with Iran and a possible Syrian front? The answer was categorically no. I had bigger fish to fry.”
In a new interview with TIME, conducted by Eric Cortellessa, Netanyahu preempts the question before it is asked. After rationalizing the Qatari funding of Gaza, he explains that before October 7, he had conducted “three full-fledged military campaigns against Hamas in which we killed thousands of terrorists, eliminated some of their top military leadership, and sought to prevent them from having the capacity to attack us.” But he adds this:
One thing we didn’t do was we didn’t come out to eradicate Hamas completely, because that would require a full-scale ground invasion for which we had no internal legitimacy or international legitimacy. Look at the problem we have with legitimacy now, after they conducted the worst terror onslaught on the Jewish people since the Holocaust…. We sort of cut the weeds, but we didn’t come in to uproot them completely until October 7th. October 7th showed that those who said that Hamas was deterred were wrong. If anything, I didn’t challenge enough the assumption that was common to all the security agencies.
The interviewer said he would “come back to that in a second,” and when he did, he formulated the question in his own pointed way: “Why didn’t you take out Hamas earlier? You could have gone all the way in 2014.” Netanyahu responded:
No I couldn’t. I don’t think there was—there wasn’t a consensus. There was, in fact, a consensus among the military that we shouldn’t do it. But more importantly, you can overrule the military, but you can’t act in a vacuum. There was no public, no domestic support for such an action. There was certainly no international support for such an action, and you need both or at least one of them in order to take such an action. I think that became evident right after the October 7th massacre.
“I decided”
These explanations differ significantly from the rationales Netanyahu provided in his memoir. There, it isn’t the public that lacks “consensus” over toppling Hamas; rather, “The public invariably expects the government to continue the battle and ‘flatten Gaza,’ believing that with enough punishment the Hamas regime would collapse.” In his memoir, Netanyahu credited himself with tempering this unrealistic expectation, which was fueled by political rivals who would “irresponsibly take contrarian positions which they know are wrong.” The final decision he claimed for himself alone: “I decided against a full-scale ground invasion.”
As for the need for “international” (largely American) legitimacy, Netanyahu made no mention of it in his memoir. While he obviously faced constraints during the eight years of Barack Obama, everything changed during his four-year partnership with Donald Trump. A centerpiece of the memoir is Netanyahu’s exploitation of Trump’s unprecedented support, from enhancing the Israeli status of Jerusalem and the Golan to rolling back the Iran nuclear deal. There is no evidence that Netanyahu prioritized Gaza.
And that brings us to the most important difference in Netanyahu’s latest apologia. It makes no mention of his earlier view of the relative threat posed by Hamas. According to Netanyahu’s own strategic priorities, a final showdown with Hamas would have been a trap: “After destroying the Hamas regime, Israel would have to govern two million Gazans for an indefinite period. I had no intention of doing that, especially since I had my gaze fixed on Iran, a much greater threat.”
Netanyahu, then, wasn’t simply aligning with the “consensus” of “security agencies” and the public when he held back on Hamas. Clearly, he calculated his priorities and took a decision that ended a policy debate. The TIME interview is disappointing for not quoting his memoir. Bibi: My Story offers the most comprehensive statement of his pre-October 7 strategy.
Another question remains unlikely to be answered: Did Hamas leaders who read the relevant passages of his memoir in 2022 conclude that Netanyahu, should he return to power, would be preoccupied elsewhere? Did they believe that as long as Netanyahu ruled, they enjoyed immunity from destruction? And did this belief embolden them to implement their plan, assuming he would stop short of toppling them? The mere possibility serves as a warning to all leaders: one should never publish one’s most closely held strategic thoughts before stepping down for good.
Bibi: My Story sold well. In November 2022, it spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It remains the most reliable starting point for understanding the events leading up to October 7. Link as is clear in this article and in basically everything that Netanyahu says about what led up to October 7, is filled with lies that he uses to redirect blame and responsibility for the massacre and for Hamas' buildup in Gaza throughout Netanyahu's premierships.
- Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Be Gvir denounced the notion of continued talks to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza, saying Sunday that it would amount to surrender to the terror group.
In an interview with Radio 103 FM, Ben Gvir also called for cutting off humanitarian aid to the Strip, something Israel’s allies have repeatedly said would cross a red line and cost Israel their support.
His criticism came after last Thursday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said an Israeli delegation will attend ceasefire-for-hostage talks with Hamas on August 15 to negotiate for the release of hostages abducted by the Palestinian terror group and held in the Gaza Strip for over 10 months.
“We are crushing Hamas,” Ben Gvir said, claiming that he has been going into the field to receive briefings from local commanders, in addition to cabinet updates.
“So, now we should go to a conference and surrender?” he asked. “This is a serious mistake by the prime minister.”
“It’s a mistake to sit with Hamas, which raped, murdered, and burned babies — and we are going to surrender to them?” he said referring to atrocities committed by the 3,000 terrorists who attacked Israel.
Ben Gvir reiterated his calls to cut off fuel supply and aid to Gaza.
“If we cut off their fuel, within a week they would be on their knees. And if we stop the [aid] trucks, within two weeks they would be on their knees. So why are we going to do a deal, especially such an irresponsible deal?” he said.
Last week Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich drew international condemnation for suggesting that starving the entire population of Gaza could be justified in order to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich lead two far-right parties in the government, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, respectively. Both ministers have threatened to bring down the government if it accepts a ceasefire deal that ends the war before Israel achieves its declared goal of “destroying” Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Full article Both of these extremist have no problem committing international crimes and causing major irretrievable damage to the State of Israel. They are in favor of starving 2 million refugees, 'voluntary' transfer of the refugees away from Gaza and Israel, Jewish Settlement and annexation of Gaza, and the list goes on. And Netanyahu remains silent throughout.
The Region and the World
- Iran and its proxies in the Middle East could launch an attack on Israel within the next 24 hours, unnamed sources in the region tell Fox News.
“Officials [in the Middle East] believe we are reaching hour zero,” Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports.
Iran has threatened a major attack against Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not taken responsibility for the assassination.
Israel is also bracing for a reprisal attack from Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, for the assassination of the terror group’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut, hours before Haniyeh was killed.
The Axios news site reported yesterday that while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wants to avoid a harsh response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is pushing to launch a larger attack than it did on April 13-14, when hundreds of drones and missiles were launched in Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel. Almost all the projectiles and UAVs were intercepted during that attack.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region, the Pentagon says, taking the rare step of announcing the movements of a submarine.
The guided-missile submarine USS Georgia transits the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, December 21, 2020. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Indra Beaufort/US Navy via AP)In a statement, the Pentagon adds that Austin has also ordered the Abraham Lincoln strike group to accelerate its deployment to the region.
The European Union foreign policy chief says the bloc should consider sanctioning far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for comments he says constitute “incitement to war crimes.”
Writing on X, Josep Borrell condemns Ben Gvir for once again urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut all aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip.
He also slams Smotrich’s “sinister statements” and says he supports UN rights chief Volker Turk in his condemnations — appearing to refer to the finance minister’s recent remark that starving 2 million Gazans in order to get the Hamas hostages back might be “justified and moral,” which Turk condemned.
“Sanctions must be on our EU agenda,” Borrell writes.
“I urge the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from these incitements to commit war crimes,” he says, adding that Jerusalem must show “good faith” in talks for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Personal Stories
“Officials [in the Middle East] believe we are reaching hour zero,” Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports.
Iran has threatened a major attack against Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not taken responsibility for the assassination.
Israel is also bracing for a reprisal attack from Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, for the assassination of the terror group’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut, hours before Haniyeh was killed.
The Axios news site reported yesterday that while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wants to avoid a harsh response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is pushing to launch a larger attack than it did on April 13-14, when hundreds of drones and missiles were launched in Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel. Almost all the projectiles and UAVs were intercepted during that attack.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region, the Pentagon says, taking the rare step of announcing the movements of a submarine.
The guided-missile submarine USS Georgia transits the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, December 21, 2020. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Indra Beaufort/US Navy via AP)
In a statement, the Pentagon adds that Austin has also ordered the Abraham Lincoln strike group to accelerate its deployment to the region.
The European Union foreign policy chief says the bloc should consider sanctioning far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for comments he says constitute “incitement to war crimes.”
Writing on X, Josep Borrell condemns Ben Gvir for once again urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut all aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip.
He also slams Smotrich’s “sinister statements” and says he supports UN rights chief Volker Turk in his condemnations — appearing to refer to the finance minister’s recent remark that starving 2 million Gazans in order to get the Hamas hostages back might be “justified and moral,” which Turk condemned.
“Sanctions must be on our EU agenda,” Borrell writes.
“I urge the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from these incitements to commit war crimes,” he says, adding that Jerusalem must show “good faith” in talks for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
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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