🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 353, 2023 - September 23, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 352 that 101 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!!!”

"Mom, I'm paralyzed with fear."
That was the final message Omer Wenkert managed to send, before being abducted to Gaza by Hamas terrorist organization.
Omer and his childhood friend Kim Damti were attending the Nova Music Festival when Kim was murdered during the Hamas attack.
Suffering from chronic colitis, Omer requires consistent medical care.
On the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) – Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis International Awareness Day (May 9), we shed light on Omer's condition, deprived of the necessary treatment while he remains held captive in Gaza.
It's imperative to bring him back for the proper medical attention and comprehensive rehabilitation he urgently needs.
Bring him back. Now!

#wewillnotstopuntiltheyareallback
#bringthemhomenow

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

There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!

‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

There is a new section at the end -Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages - A collection of short essays by influential people in Israel today - by the Forum for Life - Saving Israeli Hostages

Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements

*6:55pm yesterday - north - rockets - Metulla

*9:15pm yesterday - north - hostile aircraft - Metzer
*9:20pm yesterday - north - hostile aircraft - Hamat Geder
*9:30pm yesterday - hostile aircraft - Beit Alpha, Beit Hashita, Biet Yosef, Beit Shean, Gesher, Havat Eden, Mandia, Tirat Zvi, Yardena, Kfar Gimila Malchishua, Kfar Rupin, Moledet, Merav, Mesilot, Maoz Haim, Maaleh Gilboa, Neve Eitan, Nir David, Ein Hanatziv, Rehov, Reshafim, Sde Eliayahu, Revia
*4:45am - north - hostile aircraft - Ramat Magshimim
*4:50am - north - Hostile aircraft - Metzer
*4:55am - north - hostile aircraft - Hamat Geder
*6:30am north - rockets -Netua, Sasa
*8:25am - north -hostile aircraft - Hoshen, Kfar Veredim, Maora, Mailia, Maalot Tarshiha
*9:35am- north - hostile aircraft - Margaliot, Misgav Am, Kiryat Shemona, Tel Hai, Beit Hillel, Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval, Metulla, Manara, Maayan Baruch
*11:30am - north - rockets - Ramat Dalton, Gush Halav, Keren Ben Zimra, Kadita
*12:20pm - north - rockets - Elkush, Abirim, Kahal, Hokok, Acbara, Biryia, Ramat Dalton, Dalton, Amuka, Nof Hakineret, Rosh Pina, Hatzor haglilit, Kadrim, Fasuta
*12:25pm - north - hostile aricraft - Dovev, Matat, Sasa, Avirim, Alkush, Netua
*12:25pm - north - rockets - Vered hagalil, Amiad, Kfar Nahum
*12:45pm - north - Lavie, Kfar Nahar Hayarden, Elnia, Golani Memorial, Sde Ilan, Givat Avni, Hodiot, Rihanieh, Turan, Mitzpe Netufa, Kfar Kama, Neve Shu'av,, Boeina, Ilbun, Masad

The IDF informed that in the recent alarms that were activated in Safed and the Kinneret area, about 25 rockets were launched from Lebanon, some were intercepted and some exploded in open areas.

In the alarms that were activated in the Lower Galilee, 10 rockets crossed from Lebanon, and "several falls were detected", the army said. It was also reported that in the alarm that was activated in the settlement of Alkosh in the Western Galilee, one rocket exploded in an open area.

In the meantime, seven firefighting teams are working to control fires that broke out in several locations in open areas near Kibbutz Amiad in the Upper Galilee, following the rocket fire from Lebanon.

*1:15pm - north= rockets - Horfeish
*1:25pm - north - rockets - Beit Hillel

2:30pm - north - rockets - Lev Hahula, Dishon, Avirim, Alkush, Netua, Fasuta, Yiftach, Malkia, Mevo'ot Hermon, Ramot Naftali

*3:25pm - north - rockets - Margaliot

*5:20pm - north - rockets - Kfar Zeitim, Yokneam, ALonim, Beit Zair Basmat Tivon, Nofit, Hwald, Ramat Yishai, Kfar Yehoshua, Sde Yaacov, Aloni Aba, Beit Lehem Haglilit, Hajajara, Cabia Tabaash, Kfar Tabaash, Beit Shearim, Nofit, Kiryat Tivon, Basmat TivonKfar Baruch, Shaar Haemakim, Kishon Prison, Ramat David, oranim, Daliat el Carmel, Kfar Tikvah, Menshit Aabda, Nahala, Asfia, Gevet, Ras Ali, Zarzir
*5:40pm - north - rockets - Yagur, Kfar Hasidim, Asfia, Tel Regev Cemetery, Kishon Prison, Shaar haemakim, Rechasim, Ras Ali, Kiryat Tivon, Oranim, Aivtin, Alonim, Basmat Tivon, Kfar Tikvah, Nofit, Hwald, Usha, Haifa Bay, Kfar Hamacabi, Kiryat Ata, Ramat Yohanan, Nesher, Daliat el Carmel, Yokneam, Givat Wolfson, Sde Yaacov, Damon Prison, Kfar Yehoshua Train station, Shfaram
*6:05pm - north - rockets - Alone Aba, Alonim, Basmat Tivon, Kiryat TIvon, Sde Yaacov, Suwaad Hamira, Harduf, Cabia, Nofit, Ras Ali, Hwald, Alon Hagalil, Bir Almacasor, Oranim, Beit Shaarim, Gabet, Zarzir, Kfar Tabaash, Kfar Tikva, Nahalal, Ramat David, Shaar Haemakim, Kishon Prison, Kfar Baruch, Kfar Yehoshua Train Station, Beit lehem Haglilit, Hajajara, Yokneam, Menshit Zabra, Ramat Yishai

The IDF says that some 165 rockets have been launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at Israel today. Most of the rocket fire has targeted areas deep in northern Israel, including the Haifa area. At least 10 long-range projectiles were fired toward West Bank settlements, more than 100 kilometers from the Lebanon border.

Some 80 rockets were launched from Lebanon at Israel and the West Bank in the past hour, according to the IDF. Some 25 rockets were launched at the northern Golan Heights at 4:45 p.m., followed by another 15 rockets at the Haifa Bay area at 5 p.m., the military says.

Many of the rockets were shot down by air defenses, while others impacted, the military says. Not long after, at 5:13 p.m., a barrage of 10 rockets was fired at the West Bank, setting off sirens in several settlements near Ariel, east of Tel Aviv. According to the IDF, the rockets struck open areas.

At 5:20 p.m., another 30 rockets were launched at the Lower Galilee, the military adds. There were no reports of injuries in the attacks.

Hostage Updates 

Today is Eitan Horn's 38th birthday 

Eitan Horn was abducted from his brother Yair’s Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7, as Hamas terrorists swarmed through the kibbutz, killing or kidnapping one in four of the community’s residents.

Eitan had come from his home in Kfar Saba to visit his older brother, Yair, 45, for the holiday weekend.

The family immigrated from Argentina years ago, and when sirens began sounding, warning of incoming rockets, their father Itzik messaged his two sons.

Eitan answered, writing, “Did you forget that in Yair’s kibbutz the missiles always pass overhead?”

That was the last communication received by the Horn family.

When father Itzik Horn heard that terrorists were attacking Kibbutz Nirim, he understood that Nir Oz would be next in line, given its location.

A Nir Oz friend later confirmed that the brothers were together at the time of the Hamas incursion into the kibbutz.

Eitan is an informal educator who has long worked with different youth movements and served as an emissary in Peru.

He and Yair are also very involved uncles, according to their father, Itzik, often taking their nephews to Hapoel Beersheba soccer games.

Ruty Strum has been living her Zionist dream for 20 years, having emigrated from her native Argentina to Israel. For Ruty as for many idealistic olim, it was not an easy journey, but she was determined to live her life in the Jewish homeland.

She first immigrated to Israel in 1977 – where her eldest son, Yair, now 45, was born – before reluctantly returning to Argentina shortly afterward. Raising her three sons, Yair, Amos (42), and Eitan (37) Horn, in Argentina’s close-knit Jewish community, Ruty knew that there was something missing from her life and was determined to build herself a home in the Jewish homeland, returning in 2003, a few years after Amos and Eitan. Finally, in 2014, just a few days before the outbreak of Operation Protective Edge, Yair returned to Israel, planting roots in the Gaza border kibbutz of Nir Oz, and Ruty was reunited with all three of her boys, finally achieving her lifelong dream of making aliyah as a family. 

“We’re Zionists, this is where we belong. When Yair called me from Argentina in 2014 to tell me he was coming to Israel, I thought ‘Wonderful,” Ruty recalls, not realizing at the time that he intended to join her in making aliyah.

“It was incredible. Suddenly, the entire family was together again – me, my boys, my brother, nieces and nephews, and parents.” But that dream has now been shattered, as Ruty’s sons Yair and Eitan are being held hostage in Gaza since the morning of October 7.

The loss of two sons held hostage in Gaza

Ruty gazes somberly out of the window of her home in Kfar Saba, staring at the silhouettes of her two jovial sons beaming from the banner outside of her building. The deafening silence is a far cry from the warm and inviting household that her boys had always known. 

“My home was always open for my sons and their friends growing up in Argentina. I would do whatever I could to provide for them, it was just natural for me,” Ruty explains, having given her whole heart to raising her boys as a single mother.

EITAN (L) & YAIR HORN (R); brother Amos, who was not captured, at C. (credit: Bring Them Home Now)

“I raised them to be very united, to enjoy being together. Whether it was their shared love for Hapoel Be’er Sheva and the Rolling Stones, or the trips they would take together abroad, they are always together. Even when we are not together physically, we are still together.” 

It is that intrinsic, intangible connection that has given Ruty the strength to persevere each day. And while it could be a struggle to raise three boys, Ruty instilled in each a sense of caring and love that they have carried with them as they built their own lives in Israel.

Beneath their burly stature, all three boys share a heart of gold that has left an indelible impact within their communities in the Jewish homeland. Bushy-bearded Eitan, the youngest, who lives with Ruty in Kfar Saba, studied informal education, most recently working with the Mahanot HaOlim Youth Movement, aimed to better Israeli society through the promotion of social equality. 

Growing up in a proud Zionist household in the Diaspora, Eitan takes the lessons from his own youth to give back and inspire the next generation. 

“It doesn’t matter where Eitan worked, whether it was at Mahanot HaOlim or at the retail stores, at each place he left his mark,” Ruty says proudly. “Wherever he works, he does it with pride and respect for his workplace and the people he works with.”

Yair, the eldest Horn brother and the last to immigrate to Israel, chose to pursue the life of a pioneer, joining the community of Kibbutz Nir Oz, which welcomed the relative newcomer with open arms, and where the children would affectionately refer to him as the uncle of the kibbutz. Although he is not yet a full kibbutz member, Yair has become a valued and respected member of the community, leaving his own unique mark on the once little slice of paradise in the Western Negev desert. 

“He gives everything he has to the kibbutz, just like a veteran member. He organizes all the holidays and celebrations,” embodying the same Zionist ideals that drove his mother to move to Israel for the first time more than 40 years ago.

“He even does stand-up, radio broadcasting, and manages the local pub at Nir Oz, making a mobile pub on wheels during COVID-19, going house to house to bring his neighbors and friends drinks,” Ruty says. 

Last Purim, Yair wrote a song with all the names of the kibbutz members. It recently aired on the IDF radio station, Galgalatz, in commemoration of the Oct. 7 massacre. Ruty tearfully relays this information with sorrow and immense pride. She knows that Yair would have loved to be able to hear his song played on the radio.

A true Renaissance man, Yair has embedded himself in the pioneering spirit that the State of Israel was founded upon, raising the spirits of everyone around him, a quality he and his brothers deeply share. For Eitan, celebrating holidays and visiting his brother in his warm and vibrant community of Nir Oz was always something he looked forward to. 

When he had time to spend the latter half of Sukkot with his big brother, he excitedly seized the opportunity. Like the rest of the country, their celebration quickly turned to tragedy as armed terrorists infiltrated the tranquil oasis, just a few kilometers from the border with Gaza.

AS SOON as the first sirens wailed in the early hours of the morning of Oct. 7, Ruty tried to contact her youngest son before calling Yair.

“I asked if they were in the ma’amad [shelter], to which he replied ‘Yes.’ ‘Did you lock the door?’ ‘Yes.’ So I said, ‘Well at least this time you aren’t alone,” Ruty recounts, almost by rote, as this is a scenario she has undoubtedly played over and over in her head in the agonizing days, weeks, and now months since that harrowing morning. 

“At this point, we only thought it was a rocket attack. They were calm and safe; we were in communication with them until 8:30 a.m.”  and then complete radio silence. That was the last time Ruty heard from either of her boys. 

Remaining calm and collected, she continued to send messages asking that they call her when they got cellphone service or electricity. 

Shortly thereafter, the world began to understand the horrors that had unfolded, and Ruty could do nothing but follow the news from the television. Only by 4 or 5 p.m. did the IDF reach the kibbutz, going house to house to check for survivors, notifying Ruty that her sons were not home, but providing no other information other than there was no sign of blood or gunshots. 

“At first we thought they may have escaped and will return,” explains Ruty, holding on to those lingering hopes she had that they were safe.

“That whole time, I felt in my heart that they were still alive and will come back, a feeling that I continue to hold today, but there is a difference between what I feel and the evidence collected that has not provided me with any clear indication of their status.”

For weeks, Ruty continued to believe that Eitan and Yair were alive and held in Gaza, but with no information to support it, that optimism that she would see her sons again quickly began to fade. 

“I didn’t see any videos, no photos, nothing. At some point, the authorities started to tell me that they were declared missing, likely taken hostage, but we still cannot be sure.” It was not until November 25 that Ruty received a message from the IDF liaison to the families of the hostages, confirming reports from several released hostages that Yair and Eitan were being held in Gaza.

“We did not talk to the hostages directly. We were told that they [Yair and Eitan] are still alive, and that’s enough for me,” Ruty says, cautiously optimistic and even cracking a smile. “I was so happy to see the other families reunited. This is what we all needed, but I never imagined we would still be waiting so long for the rest of the hostages to return. I am strong alone, but the entire nation is with me. It is what gives me that strength, embraces me, and this is why I can push forward.”

Despite the fact that for over 120 days Ruty has been living every mother’s worst nightmare, she continues to persevere and is confident that both Yair and Eitan will return home. 

Looking toward the future, she cannot fathom what will be the “day after,” but she knows the first thing she will do is make them their favorite dish, empanadas.

• Netanyahu told MKs half of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are alive. 
  

  In a closed meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told lawmakers that only half of the 97 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 are alive.

  “According to the information we have, half of the hostages in Gaza are alive,” he is quoted as saying by Army Radio.

  According to earlier leaks from the same meeting, Netanyahu also denied standing in the way of a hostage deal, blaming Hamas for demanding numerous revisions to the proposed ceasefire outline.

• White House National Security spokesman John Kirby blames Hamas for the stalling of talks to close a hostage-ceasefire deal, while also calling for a diplomatic solution amid heightening cross-border tensions between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group.

  “It doesn’t appear that Mr. Sinwar is prepared at all to keep negotiating in good faith, especially after he murdered six hostages in a tunnel, execution style,” Kirby says on ABC’s “This Week.”

  The IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages abducted alive by Hamas on October 7 from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah at the beginning of this month, just days after they were murdered by terrorists.

  “It doesn’t appear as if he’s willing to move this forward.”
  

  In the interview, Kirby also says that a regional military escalation isn’t in Israel’s “best interest,” adding that the United States was “saying this directly to our Israeli counterparts.”

  “The tensions are much higher now than they were even just a few days ago,” Kirby says, though he adds, “We still believe that there can be time and space for a diplomatic solution here and that’s what we’re working on.”

  The overnight rocket fire reached Kiryat Bialik on the edge of north Israel’s biggest city Haifa, leaving a building in flames, another pockmarked with shrapnel, and vehicles incinerated.

  “We’ve been working since the beginning of this conflict, October 8th and on, to try to prevent an escalation, to prevent a broadening of this conflict there in and around Israel, but also in the region,” Kirby says in the ABC interview.

  Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to return residents of northern Israel displaced by nearly a year of fighting near their homes.

  An escalating war is “certainly not going to be in the best interest of all those people that Prime Minister Netanyahu says he wants to be able to send back home,” Kirby says.

• Egypt’s foreign minister warns of the risk of an all-out regional war as fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensified, saying the escalation has “negatively impacted” Gaza hostage-truce talks.

  “There is great concern about… the possibility of an escalation in the region leading to an all-out regional war,” Badr Abdelatty tells AFP at UN headquarters ahead of an annual gathering of world leaders.

  “But Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has complete determination and commitment to continue” efforts to broker a truce agreement, he says

  Qatar, Egypt and the United States have for months tried to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, which diplomats have repeatedly said would help calm regional tensions.

  “All the components of the deal are ready,” Abdelatty says. “The problem is the lack of political will on the Israeli side,” he adds.

  Abdelatty also blames Israel’s “provocative policies” for the intensified fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been attacking Israel since October 8 in what it says is a campaign to support Palestinians in Gaza.

• Hamas has reportedly rejected the latest US draft offer for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Israel, saying that it is only willing to discuss the outline presented by US President Joe Biden on May 31.

  Citing American and Israeli officials, Channel 12 reports that the terror group insists it will not consider any changes to that three-stage proposal for a hostage deal and ceasefire to end the Gaza war, which Biden said was approved by Jerusalem at the time.

  In practice, the report notes, the message from Hamas chief Yayha Sinwar is a rejection of the latest US efforts to secure a diplomatic solution on the ongoing fighting, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

• An Israeli official says that the Biden administration recently sent the draft text of a new hostage-release and ceasefire proposal to Israel, confirming a Channel 12 report.

  The official says that Israel is still reviewing the proposal and has not yet responded.

  Unlike the proposal that the Biden administration had been pushing since May, this one is not separated into three phases, the Israeli official says.

  Earlier this month, government hostage point man Gal Hirsch offered to US officials a proposal that would see all the hostages released at once, and an end to war after Hamas’s leaders go into exile. But Hirsch is not part of Israel’s hostage negotiating team, which has said his offer is not known to them. link There is a great likelihood that this proposal is based on my brother's proposal of all hostages released together (or within 1 week) with the end of the war and Israel leaving Gaza.

Gaza 

•  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells lawmakers that he is weighing the so-called Generals’ Plan to lay siege to northern Gaza, promoted by a group of senior IDF reservists.

  Speaking to members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in a closed session, Netanyahu indicates that the plan is one of several being examined and brought to the cabinet for further discussion in the coming days.

  Addressing the committee last week, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland said that the plan, which is not backed by the United States, would “change the reality” on the ground in Gaza.
  

  “We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone; [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory. A siege is not only an effective military tactic; it is also compliant with international law. What matters to Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this maneuver, you take away both land and dignity,” Eiland explained at the time.

  According sources familiar with the discussion, Netanyahu declines to address MK Gideon Sa’ar’s announcement yesterday that he had declined the prime minister’s offer of Yoav Gallant’s post as defense minister amid the significant escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

  Netanyahu also denies standing in the way of a hostage deal, insisting that Hamas demanded 29 revisions to a proposed ceasefire outline.

  What will be the fate of the Gaza Strip? "The Generals' Plan" that Netanyahu has begun to discuss

  The Prime Minister said in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that discussions have begun on Giora Eiland's "Generals' Plan" which includes two phases • At the core of the plan: humanitarian aid will serve as a strategic lever for returning hostages and defeating Hamas • The plan claims that evacuating the population from northern Gaza and imposing a siege will damage Hamas's ability to rebuild itself • Here are the details of the plan

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today (Sunday) in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that discussions have begun on the "Generals' Plan" and that there are other plans and additional ideas that have come up in discussions regarding the Gaza Strip. According to Netanyahu, everything will go through control of humanitarian aid, as this is a central component.

  During the discussion, the PM said about the possibility of military rule in Gaza: "This is not the goal from my perspective, it's a means and not an end. We don't want to control the territory or hold onto it, nor annex it. We will not annex Gaza. I think the benefits of the Palestinian Authority still outweigh the disadvantages. They don't need to be in Gaza, but it's not right for us to act to collapse it in the West Bank."

  So what is this "Generals' Plan" that the PM referred to in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee discussion? It's an initiative by retired Major General Giora Eiland, joined by other former generals, according to which humanitarian aid will serve as a strategic lever for returning hostages and defeating Hamas.

  During the war, the IDF severely damaged Hamas's military capabilities and succeeded in killing many terrorists and senior members of the terrorist organization. However, the plan notes that while Hamas has been hurt by IDF actions, the terrorist organization manages to rebuild itself, whether through recruiting new terrorists to its ranks, or through successfully obtaining weapons, effectively controlling food distribution to residents, and re-taking control of any place the IDF leaves.

  "The only way to damage Hamas's ability to rebuild itself is to create a hit on one or more of the four elements (money, ability to recruit fighters, supply, and motivation) that enable its long-term survival," the generals claim in their plan. According to them, action should be taken in two phases: evacuating the population from northern Gaza, and siege.

  Phase A - Evacuating the population from northern Gaza

  * The IDF needs to warn in advance and demand the evacuation and exit of all civilians remaining in northern Gaza towards the south.

  * According to the Generals' Plan, this involves about 300,000 people staying in the area, who should be evacuated within a week.

  * At the end of this time, it will be declared that the northern Gaza Strip area is a closed military zone.

  Phase B - Siege

  * In a situation where northern Gaza is defined as a "closed military zone," a full and tight siege can be imposed.

  * A full siege includes preventing movement to and from it, preventing the entry of supplies, including food, fuel, and water.

  * The lifting of the siege will only be possible if the enemy trapped in the area (about 5,000 terrorists) lays down its weapons and surrenders.

  * After the enemy surrenders, it will be possible to enter and clear the Gaza City area almost without an enemy.

  According to the plan, such a big step of evacuating the population from northern Gaza and imposing a siege will bring Hamas's surrender closer, but even if Sinwar prefers to continue fighting, such a plan can be implemented in other areas like Rafah and the central camps. In addition, the generals assume that leverage through control of supplies will bring a hostage deal closer and allow it to be carried out under more favorable conditions for Israel.

  Despite concerns about international law, the "Generals' Plan" claims that imposing a siege on a besieged enemy is legitimate and permitted under even the strictest international law. "The condition required for implementing the siege is giving civilians a reasonable opportunity to leave the area through safe corridors before imposing it," the plan states. "Siege is the most effective way to end wars quickly while reducing the number of casualties both on our side and among civilians on the other side."

  The plan claims that the U.S. Department of Defense's war manual and a conference on siege held at Harvard University in 2022 unequivocally determined: "Siege is a legitimate and permitted war tactic, including starving the enemy to death, as long as the necessary steps are taken in parallel to assist non-combatants, preferably by evacuating them from the besieged area."  link I don't care how many generals were involved in this plan. They may understand troops, weapons, attacks, etc. but it is obvious that they don't understand Hamas and this, after nearly a year of war with them, is absurd as they have learned or chosen to learn very little. Yes, these steps of the plan will continue to damage Hamas' military structure and we will kill more terrorists, but they have already shifted to guerilla warfare and have recruited thousands of replacements and are already in training. Hamas is very agile, adapting to everything that we have thrown at them. The major, actually the most important aspect that is missing from this plan is having a replacement governing body that is Palestinian, specifically a reformed Palestinian Authority. Hamas is more than just a terrorist organization. They are an authoritarian government, an ideology that actually has very little local support in Gaza, but when the young people see no other option, no future, no possibility for change and a better future, we are assisting Hamas to continue to recruit fighters and we will have to continue to fight for years to come with continuing casualties on both sides. Any plan that doesn't include an alternative to Hamas means that we will continue to send our soldiers to fight and die, we will continue to kill non combatants in Gaza, we will be an occupying force and have to fulfill the international requirements of occupation (health, education, security/policing, municipal operations (garbage collection, rebuilding roads and infrastructure, etc), humanitarian aid and the list goes on and on. This is a disaster for Israel, let alone for Gaza.

  
  
  

• A new field hospital is opened in the Gaza Strip by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) organization, in coordination with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COCGAT) unit of the Defense Ministry and the IDF, COGAT says.

  

  The agency says the new field hospital, located in the central city of Deir al-Balah, is the 13th such facility to be established since the outbreak of war in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 invasion and massacres.

  According to COGAT, the hospital is expected to expand from a capacity of 20 beds to some 110 beds and will include an emergency room, a maternity ward, and a surgical ward.

  COGAT says the humanitarian mission to establish the field hospital was “coordinated under the direction and approval of Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.”

  The new MSF field hospital is the second such facility it has opened in less than a month, having established one also in Deir Balah at the end of August.

  The organization, which is highly critical of Israel, said that at the time that “field hospitals are not a solution, only a last resort,” and that they are designed to support larger, permanent hospitals, many of which have ceased operations in Gaza due to the fighting.

  “Without an immediate and sustained ceasefire there can be no meaningful humanitarian response,” MSF said at the end of August.

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• The Israel Defense Forces on Monday morning said it launched “widespread” waves of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as it warned civilians to swiftly move away from homes used by the Iran-backed terror group to store weapons.

  The military said it had identified Hezbollah operatives preparing to carry out rocket attacks on Israel.

  Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attended an assessment on the readiness of the home front amid widening fighting, saying, “Ahead of us are days when the public will have to show composure, discipline, and full obedience” to instructions by the Home Front Command.

  As of 12:30 a.m., the Israeli Air Force had struck more than 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the IDF said.

  According to the military, dozens of fighter jets from all of the IAF’s squadrons participated in the strikes.

  Alongside the update, the army published an image of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approving the wave of airstrikes from the military’s underground command room at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
  

  The official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said that the strikes in the eastern Beqaa Valley region killed a “civilian” shepherd, “and wounded two members of his family” and four others.

  NNA reported that “enemy warplanes launched… more than 80 airstrikes in half an hour,” targeting south Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh district. It also reported strikes in the Tyre area.
  

  At the same time, the NNA reported “intense raids in the Beqaa” Valley in the east, deep inside Lebanon near the Syrian border, including in the vicinity of Baalbek and the outskirts of Hermel.

  AFP correspondents in the south and east reported the sound of heavy strikes.
  

  A Hezbollah source, requesting anonymity, said strikes in the Beqaa Valley targeted the area from east to west.

  IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said earlier that strikes on houses in Lebanon in which Hezbollah was hiding weapons were “imminent.”
  Lebanese civilians were warned to immediately distance themselves from sites used by the Iran-backed terror group to store weapons. The IDF said it sent text messages to residents, as well as phoning them from a Lebanese phone number
  

  “Hezbollah is lying to you and sacrificing you,” Adraee said in an Arabic message to Lebanese civilians. “Its missiles and drones are more valuable and important to it than you are.”

  People in south Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley received text messages with warnings from Israel, Lebanon’s NNA confirmed. Lebanese media reported that the warning messages were also broadcast on radio stations. full article

• Escalation in the North: Key Updates

  • IDF launched extensive waves of attacks in Lebanon aimed at neutralizing Hezbollah's response capabilities
  • Government offices located in Beirut targeted: Ministers in Lebanon received notices to evacuate them
  • Defense Minister Gallant: This is a new phase in the fighting, the public will need to show composure in the coming days
  • Exceptionally: IDF sent SMS messages to residents of southern Lebanon - asking them to evacuate their homes
  • IDF spokesperson revealed in an animation video the "secret rooms" in Lebanese civilian homes that have become weapons warehouses
    
    

• Lebanon: 100 killed and more than 400 injured in Israeli attacks, residents fleeing en masse

  Hundreds of fighter jets attacked 400 Hezbollah targets since morning, including deep inside Lebanon | Impacts in the Sea of Galilee area and Lower Galilee, a man lightly injured and a house directly hit after a barrage of dozens of rockets from Lebanon | After messages from Israel to civilians and takeover of radio frequencies: Dramatic images of mass displacement from the Sidon area

  

  

  
  
  
  

• Hezbollah deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem says that the terror group has entered a new phase of its battle with Israel, speaking during a funeral for a top commander killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday.

  The fight with Israel is now an “open-ended battle of reckoning,” he says.

  Photos and videos from the funeral for Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s military operations and acting commander of the Radwan Force, show thousands of attendees, many wearing uniforms and carrying flags of the terror group.

  
  

• Lebanese media outlets report an exodus of thousands of Lebanese residents, mostly from the south, fleeing the area as Israeli bombardments intensify.

  Photos and videos on social media show traffic jams and chaos on the country’s highways as people head north.

  The National Committee for Crisis Response set up hotlines to direct people to the nearest available shelter in four parts of the country: the south, Beirut, the Beqaa valley, and Mount Lebanon, according to the national press agency NNA. So far, about 40 shelters have been established, mostly in schools, NNA reports.

  Traffic jams have been reported in the coastal city of Sidon and around Beirut as people drive in from the south. Meanwhile, schools in these cities have closed early to prepare for the influx of displaced people, asking parents to pick up their children and adding to the chaos on the streets, “This is Beirut” reports.

  Various social media users express criticism of those fleeing southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s birthplace and stronghold, saying that they are the ones who helped Hezbollah come to power and should face the consequences.

  Meanwhile, the Lebanese education ministry announces that classes tomorrow in all schools throughout the country are canceled.

• The security assessment is that Hezbollah will try to reach areas even deeper into Israel, after the terror group fired rockets earlier this morning at the Haifa and Jezreel Valley areas, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the border with Lebanon, according to a television news report.

  Without citing sources, the Channel 12 news report says that more rockets could be launched at Israel in the coming hours, noting that some 1.5 million Israelis are now in Hezbollah’s line of fire.

  Hezbollah claimed that the rocket fire this morning targeted a Rafael defense firm facility in the Haifa area and the Israeli Air Force’s Ramat David Airbase near Yokneam in the Jezreel Valley.

  The Channel 12 report also says that Hezbollah has not yet used the precision missiles in its arsenal, out of fears that it could lead to all-out war with Israel, after 11 months of cross-border attacks that the group says are support of Gaza amid the ongoing war there.

  Quoting an anonymous source, the report further says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF chief Herzi Halevi are in agreement on the gradual raising of pressure against Hezbollah, which has its risks but avoids sparking a full-scale war.

  Other voices in the room, according to the report, have called for a ground offensive in Lebanon and more bombings in Beirut in order to restore security to the northern border.

• Israeli fighter jets are carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media.

  Al-Manar says that the strikes are taking place in Taybeh in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese report comes amid heightened tensions on the northern border, after Hezbollah fired around 150 rockets at Israel this morning, and the IDF carried out several airstrikes on terror targets in Lebanon in recent days. video

• The "Sky News" network in the Arabic language reported from sources that the senior Hezbollah official Ali Aburia was killed in one of the IDF strikes in Lebanon.

  According to a report in the Lebanese "Younews", Lebanon received more than 80,000 calls, "suspected to be Israeli", asking people to evacuate their homes.

  In the meantime, the Lebanese "Al-Mayadeen" network, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that Israeli drones set fires in forested areas in southern Lebanon, at the same time as fighter jets attacked the area.

• After the IDF warned civilians in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley to flee from buildings where Hezbollah has stored weapons, Lebanese media report strikes in the area.

  The strikes are reported in Nabi Chit and Saraaine, deep in Lebanon.
  

  In recent hours, residents in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley and southern Beirut have reportedly been receiving text messages and phone calls from the IDF urging them to evacuate their homes.

  The Qatari-owned Al-Araby al-Jadeed paper shares a screenshot of one of these text messages, which reads: “If you are in a building in which Hezbollah weapons are stored, evacuate your village until further notice.”

  The paper further reports that Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary received a phone call with a recorded audio message from the IDF requesting that he evacuate the building he was in.

  Videos circulating on social media show a similar message from the IDF being broadcast on a radio station in southern Lebanon.

• The IAF is currently targeting Hezbollah’s long-range missiles — an arsenal built up over the past 18 years, most of which is located in Lebanon’s Beqaa, veteran Middle East analyst Ehud Ya’ari says on Channel 12. “The air force won’t be able to destroy every missile,” he says, but the goal is to broadly neutralize that threat.

  He says this presents Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah — and his Iranian backers — with a dilemma of how to respond, and says there are voices in Iran that are opposing a major Hezbollah response and even urging that Hezbollah stop firing at Israel.

  Says Ya’ari: “Nasrallah has to decide whether to fire on Tel Aviv, when he knows that the [Israeli] reply will be [to target] Beirut, and certainly the Dahieh neighborhood” — Hezbollah’s stronghold.

• The IDF releases footage of secondary blasts seen following an Israeli airstrike on a building in southern Lebanon’s Jabal al-Botm, which it says was used by Hezbollah to store weapons.

  The strike was one of more than 300 in Lebanon today, which the IDF says have targeted homes and other civilian buildings where the Iran-backed terror group has been storing rockets, missiles, drones, and other weapons. video of the blast and secondary blasts
  

  The IDF warned civilians in advance to flee from areas where Hezbollah has placed weapons. It has also announced that it will carry out strikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley later today.

  Another dramatic video published by Lebanese media shows Israeli airstrikes in the town of Aanqoun, in the Sidon District.

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•     

Politics and the War (general news)

• Ending the war now in Gaza, which will also end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, is in the hands of Netanyahu. There is a solid offer from Hamas on the table to end it all within 3 weeks and to return all of the Israeli hostages.  But we know with 100% certainty that Netanyahu refuses to end the war, as I have been told by one of the three Israeli chief negotiators. So, now, we have to understand that ending these wars and bringing the hostages home is essentially in the hands of President Biden. He is the only force on this planet that can impose on Netanyahu a decision to end these wars and to bring the hostages home. I think that Biden has been an excellent US President, but if he does not force Netanyahu to end these wars, the “Biden Legacy” will be that of the US President who fueled the war in Gaza, rather than the US President who brought an end to the wars. The person who can most influence President Biden to make the right decision is CIA Director Bill Burns – that is what I have been told by more than one senior White House officials involved with the hostage issue.  I am trying to reach him directly, but it is not so simple to reach the head of the CIA.

   

  Regarding issues such as Philidelpi corridor, it must be sealed on the Egyptian side with US and other international observers and verifiers. I believe that a short successful Egyptian-US negotiation on this is not very complicated. Not one Israeli soldier needs to remain in Gaza.  The Israeli army needs to protect Israel from the border, where they should have been on October 7.  It is not the Russian army on the other side of the border.  Regarding Hamas remaining in power in Gaza, with Hamas in Gaza not one dollar of money will flow into Gaza for reconstruction if Hamas remains in power. Everyone knows this, including Hamas.  The people of Gaza don’t want Hamas and as far as I know, Hamas is prepared to turn over governing to a legitimate council of professionals headed by a legitimate Palestinian public figure (I know who I think it should be but it is not my decision), the governing council would not include representatives of political factions and would serve for a limited period until full Palestinians elections could be held (West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem).  The head of the Gaza Council needs to be appointed by Mahmoud Abbas, but with that ends the direct link and control of Ramallah over the Council.  There are many more issues which need to be discussed, but this is not the place.  This is a call for us to all pressure Biden to force Netanyahu to bring these wars to an end.  (Gershon Baskin, September 23, 2024)

  
  
•  Addressing a closed session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu states that Hamas does not currently want a ceasefire deal and argues that putting pressure on Hezbollah in the north could help force Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to the table, Channel 12 reports.

  Netanyahu also reportedly denies standing in the way of a hostage deal, blaming Hamas for demanding numerous revisions to the proposed ceasefire outline. According to Hebrew press reports, the prime minister slams “fake reports” that he was responsible for preventing an agreement with the terrorist organization that would have freed Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Instead, Hamas declined all American proposals, which he accepted, he asserts.

  In addition, he says that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is likely to soon issue arrest warrants for him and for Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hebrew media reports. link I don't know if it's unbelievable, surreal, or just willingly stupid on the part of all those in the Knesset committee. We have been fighting a horrible war in Gaza and the north of almost a year now and if there is one thing that should be clear to everyone involved is that more military pressure, whether in Gaza or in Lebanon, doesn't move Sinwar and force him to the table. Netanyahu truly believes that he can fool all of the people all of the time, or at least everyone in his coalition as they choose to be fooled by this dangerous person. Instead of making a deal and bringing home all the hostages and ending the war in Gaza, he chooses to let them all die, escalate the situation in the north that can easily turn into a regional conflict. He is the most dangerous person in Israel today as well as being soulless with no moral compass.

  Hamas hails the massive rocket barrages launched by Hezbollah this morning, praising the Shiite group’s “steadfastness and courage in confronting the Zionist war machine and its determination to continue fighting in support of the Palestinian people.”

  In a statement, Hamas further stresses that Hezbollah’s attacks testify to the failure of the Israeli plan to isolate Gaza from the Lebanese war front, and increases the number of displaced Israelis from the north, in contrast to the recently added war objective of returning northern evacuees to their homes.

  Hamas also praises the support of Iran-backed “resistance” groups in Iraq and Yemen.

  Hezbollah launched some 100 rockets from Lebanon at the Haifa area this morning, following overnight launches at the Jezreel Valley, the terror group’s deepest rocket fire into Israel since the beginning of the war in October.

  
  Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, September 22, 2024. (Baz Ratner/AP)

  Two men in their 70s and a 16-year-old girl, the granddaughter of one of the men, were injured in the Haifa attacks.

  The IDF said it intercepted two cruise missiles and two drones fired from Iraq, none of which hit Israeli territory. A group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias claimed responsibility for the attacks. link This doesn't exactly sound like Sinwar feeling any pressure. On the contrary, Netanyahu is giving Sinwar exactly what he has wanted since October 7, a multi front war. Netanyahu is working more in Sinwar's interest than in Israel's, Unfortunately, that is not anything that is new. Netanyahu has been doing that for years by enabling billions of dollars to come into Hamas, keeping them strong while weakening the Palestinian Authority, not allowing the Shin Bet or the IDF to kill Sinwar on 5 different occasions, and in so many other ways.

The Region and the World

•    

Personal Stories

  

"I still have a way to go to live completely at peace with myself"

Uri Magidish served as an observer at the Nahal Oz outpost on the Gaza border. She was kidnapped along with her friends to the Gaza Strip and was rescued in an IDF and Shin Bet operation at the end of October. This is the first time Uri has been interviewed since the rescue.

"For me, October 7th is a nightmare. But when I come to my senses and realize that the event happened, I feel like it was just yesterday. I find it hard to believe that a year has passed. I remember the last night in the war room, I sat with the girls, we sang and celebrated one of the girls' release. Outside the war room was a huge sign with the phrase 'Last Disco'. If only we had known it was our last evening together. In my heart, I wake up every morning for another shift at Nahal Oz."

In a conversation with American donors in February, Magidish talked about the last hours before the kidnapping: "There were female soldiers in the fortified position who protected us with their weapons, but it wasn't enough. There were 20 fighters and only four weapons. From the grenades thrown by the terrorists, I was injured in the head, legs, and chest. There was a moment of silence and then they entered and fired into the fortified position. Out of 20 girls, only seven survived the shooting, and I was one of them. Then we waited there for another four hours. We didn't know where the army was, but we still waited for someone to come and save us. Nothing happened, so they simply kidnapped us."

After 23 days in captivity, Uri was rescued from Hamas captivity in a military operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip. "In general, since returning, I have undoubtedly matured," she tells "7 Days". "Nothing is taken for granted. My love and appreciation for family, friends, and life in general have intensified. I feel like I'm a different person, but strengthened and seeing life from a different perspective. I still have a way to go to cope with and understand everything I've been through and to live completely at peace with myself."

You returned to service in the IDF, even though you weren't obligated to.

"I always wanted to do meaningful service in the army, and even today I think that being an observer is one of the most meaningful and responsible roles for anyone who enlists. It was a framework with incredible satisfaction for me and for each of my friends in the war room. We loved the role and the responsibility on our shoulders, getting up for shifts, working weekends, and being the eyes of the country. On a personal note, returning to service is my private victory." link

Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages

History and Israeli Society Will Never Forgive Netanyahu

Prof. Eran Halperin

Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University, and the Founding Chairman of the "Accord" Center.

Empathy is one of the most basic human experiences, on both the personal and the societal level. The ability to "step into the other's shoes," to understand other people’s thoughts, feel their pain, and try to help them deal with their pain, is a primary human power, which enables societies to survive, function, and thrive. The empathic abilities of a society are especially called for in the face of difficult challenges and national traumas. In such situations, the willingness of its citizens to take action for the sake of the "other," even when that other is not a family member, is the basis of social resilience, and of mechanisms for coping – both individually and collectively - with the hardships, the suffering, and the trauma. Thus, empathy is the glue, the engine, and a key indicator of a society’s ability to recover from national trauma, look forward with hope, and build a collective future.

Most of us, I believe, wish to regard ourselves as empathetic people.

Moreover, most of us would like to believe that our empathy is not limited to those close to us, and that we would know how to see, feel, and act in the face of the suffering of people who belong to our socio-national group, even when we don’t know them personally. Interestingly, however, recent research in social psychology actually shows that when we come face to face with the suffering of another person, the levels of empathy we feel will depend on the extent to which that other person belongs to "our" group, as opposed to the “other” group. This phenomenon is called the “intergroup empathy bias,” and though it might seem natural, it is not easy to look in the mirror and realize that people who belong, politically, to the left (or to the right) feel more empathy towards the suffering of a child who belongs to their own political group, and less empathy towards a child from the other political group. That is the case when we have no previous personal acquaintance with either child; and that same tendency is even stronger when it comes to religious and national divides. Given these human biases, what distinguishes human societies with stronger social resilience from those with limited social resilience is the ability to feel empathy for hardship and suffering across ideological, political, religious, or ethnic barriers.

Sadly, I believe that one of the greatest damages Benjamin Netanyahu will be remembered for in the annals of Israeli history is precisely the weakening of that capacity for empathy. Netanyahu is the one who instigated the shift in Israeli society toward the normalization of the extremists and messianic fanatics. He is the one who has turned every question concerning values – at either the personal or the national level -into a political question (and one that divides society into different groups). He is the one who has erected the high dam that does not allow the flow of simple human empathy from one political and ideological side to the other. Politics is doubtlessly a game of power relations between groups, and it therefore stands to reason that political leaders play that game (too). But a true leader is also responsible for creating and maintaining the infrastructure for the social resilience of his society, primarily by breaking down the barriers to empathy. Netanyahu has not only failed at that role, but over the years his words, deeds, and political maneuvers set up an intricate network of empathy - blocking walls within Israeli society. It is that network that presently does not allow us as a society to stand by the families of the hostages, and act as one body for their return. The abandonment of the hostages is only the tip of the iceberg in the collapse of barriers-crossing empathy in Israeli society, a collapse for which Netanyahu is personally responsible.

‘Abandonment’ has connotations of passivity, but I’m afraid that the empathy-blocking walls that have led to this current abandonment were built with considerable planning, and the active utilization of several interrelated systems. And for that, history and Israeli society will never forgive Netanyahu.

Acronyms and Glossary

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague

IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague

MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp

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

PMO- Prime Minister's Office

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

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