🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 379, 2023 - October 19, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 379 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!!!”

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

 The two sections at the end, personal stories and Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages are very important to read, as important or more than the news of the day.

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

*7:00pm yesterday - Haifa, Acre and areas around - rockets/missiles

This picture taken in northern Israel, along the border with Lebanon, shows a barrage of rockets fired from a position near the southern Lebanese village of Khiam toward Israel on October 18, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

*7:20pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*10:30pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*11:45pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles

*12:10am- north-A barrage of some 20 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Safed are a short while ago.

According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted and the rest struck open areas, causing no injuries.
*12:30am -north - rockets/missiles
*1:15am - north - rockets/missiles
*3:35am - north - hostile aircraft - Merom Golan, Odem, El Rom
*6:20am - center north - hostile aircraft - Gan Yasia, Alosh, Ametz, Bat Hefer, Yad Hana - rockets/missiles
*6:55am - north - hostile aircraft - Gesher Haziv, Naharia, Saar, Ben Ami, Mizra'a, Avdon, Regba - rockets/missiles
*7:00am - north , Acre and Haifa areas- hostile aircraft - Nes Amim, Acre, Bustan Hagalil, Jadida Macher, Haifa  - rockets/missiles
*7:05am - Haifa and around -Hostile aircraft - Kfar Bialik, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat yam, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Ata, Kfar Maccabi, Ivtin, Rechasim - rockets/missiles -The alarms in the Western Galilee and Kiryat: 3 drones penetrated from Lebanon into Israeli territory, at least one of them is intercepted
*7:20am - around Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)  - rockets/missiles
*8:00am - north - rockets/missiles
*8:00am - The IDF spokesman concludes - 3 drones penetrated from Lebanon into Israel in the last hour
*8:00am -Police say a loud explosion was heard in the seaside town of Caesarea amid an apparent drone attack. Police say sappers are inspecting a possible impact site. There are no immediate reports of injuries. Warning sirens were not activated in Caesarea, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a home. - One of the drones fired at Israel from Lebanon earlier this morning targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea, according to an unsourced report from Saudi outlet Al-Hadath. Posts on social media also claim that the building that was hit in the attack was part of Netanyahu’s house. No injuries were reported in the attack, and it was unclear if the prime minister was home at the time.

*8:05am - Haifa and areas around - rockets/missiles 
*8:05am -  The IDF says that sirens that sounded in the Tel Aviv area were due to a drone infiltration in the Glilot area. The IDF does not say if the drone was intercepted or impacted. The area is home to a major IDF intelligence base and the Mossad headquarters. The IDF also says that the explosion in Caesarea was apparently caused by a drone impact. The IDF says it is investigating both incidents.

*8:50am - north - rockets/missiles
*10:00am - north - rockets/missiles

*10:10am - north - rockets/missiles
*10:20am - north - rockets/missiles
*10:25am - Haifa and areas around - rockets/missiles
*10:35am - north - rockets/missiles -Some 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel in the past hour, the IDF says, after sirens were activated in several cities and towns across the Upper, Western and Central Galilee areas. Some of the rockets were intercepted, while others landed in open areas, the military adds. Hebrew media says two people were lightly injured near Haifa in the barrage.

At least nine people are wounded in rocket impacts in northern Israel amid a Hezbollah attack on the Haifa area and Western Galilee this morning.

In a direct impact on a home in Kiryat Ata, a 28-year-old is listed in light-to-moderate condition after being hit by shrapnel, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

Also at the scene, MDA says it treated a man and a woman in their 40s who were lightly hurt by the blast.

Five others were treated for acute anxiety, MDA adds.

In a separate rocket impact on a road in the Western Galilee, MDA says four people were wounded, including a man in his 30s in moderate condition after being hit by shrapnel, and three others who were lightly hurt by the blast.

The IDF said that some 55 rockets were fired in the barrage, including 20 at the Haifa area. Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack.

*12:10pm - north - rockets/missiles
*12:20pm - north - rockets/missiles
*12:25pm - Acre and areas around Haifa - A man in his 50s has been pronounced dead from critical injuries sustained in a rocket attack near Acre, medics announce. The IDF says some 60 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel a short while ago, 30 rockets at the Upper Galilee, and a short while later, another 30 at the Haifa Bay area. Some of the rockets were intercepted, the military says. Since this morning, more than 100 rockets have been fired from Lebanon at northern Israel.

*12:25 pm - north - rockets/missiles
*1:35pm - north - rockets/missiles- The IDF publishes footage of serious damage to a house in the northern border town of Shlomi which was hit by a Hezbollah rocket earlier today. “Hezbollah fires rockets indiscriminately, and this is the result,” the military writes in a post on X. The Lebanon-based terror group has fired at least 100 rockets at northern Israel today, killing a man in his 50s near Acre and injuring at least ten people.

*3:40pm - north - hostile aircraft - Batzet, Metzuba, Shlomi, Leeman, Milo'ot
*4:25pm - north- rockets/missiles
*4:35pm - north- rockets/missiles
*4:55pm - north- rockets/missiles
*5:40pm -north- rockets/missiles

Hostage Updates 

• Interview with my brother on EWTN News
  

  Israel and Hamas both say they are no closer to ending the war in Gaza, with Hamas adding that following the death of its leader on Thursday, the terror group will not release more hostages until there is a ceasefire. Yahya Sinwar was the architect of the October 7th terror attack on Israel. His killing by Israeli forces offers a potential window to shift the dynamic in the war in Gaza, but both Hamas and Hezbollah consider Sinwar a martyr. And Hezbollah is vowing a new phase of fighting against Israel. Middle East Peace Negotiator and expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Gershon Baskin, joins to share where the death of Yahya Sinwar leaves Hamas and whether there is a succession plan in place. Baskin takes us inside the Israeli camp and how the killing of Sinwar changes things for them. On another note, Baskin was part of a delegation of Israelis and Palestinians who met with Pope Francis on Thursday. Baskin tells us how that meeting came about and what it was like being a part of it.  Interview with Gershon Baskin
  
  
• Confirming Sinwar’s death, Hamas insists hostages won’t be freed unless war ends

  As terror group warns it won’t soften its stance on a deal, Netanyahu consults on campaign’s future; Israel ‘cautiously optimistic,’ but White House says talks yet to restart
  

  
  Hamas on Friday confirmed that its leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday.

  At the same time, it sought to pour cold water on Israeli hopes of an easier path to a hostage release deal now that the terror leader is gone, saying the 101 hostages still held in Gaza would not be freed until the war ends and Israel fully withdraws from the enclave.

  Both Jerusalem and Washington, meanwhile, expressed cautious optimism that Sinwar’s death could yet hasten the release of the hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported by Hebrew media outlets to be holding consultations Friday on the future of the Gaza war in the wake of the demise of Sinwar.
  

  At the same time, the White House said long-stalled truce-hostage talks had yet to be renewed.

  An Israeli official also warned that Sinwar’s brother and possible successor Muhammad was no less of a hardliner than the slain terror chief, and suggested Israel could pursue smaller hostage deals with disparate Hamas factions if no central leadership emerges quickly.

  Also on Friday, the army released footage of a tank firing at the building where Sinwar was hiding. One of the tank’s shells killed Sinwar, who had been spotted moving through the neighborhood with two bodyguards. tank firing on building in which Sinwar was hiding

• Weekly protests to demand Israel leverage Sinwar killing for hostage deal 
  Tel Aviv rally to resume at Hostages Square as Home Front Command eases restrictions; Families Forum: turn ‘military achievement into a diplomatic achievement’"We will be measured by the amount of hostages we bring home, not by the amount of terrorists we kill" - Carmel Gat's Family

  Several thousand Israelis are expected to take to the streets Saturday night to call for the release of the hostages held in Gaza, as the families have demanded the government take advantage of the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar to secure their loved one’s release.

  This week marks the resumption of the central rally in Tel Aviv, which was put on hold in late September due to the IDF Home Command’s restrictions following the escalation in Lebanon.

  The Home Command is now allowing public gatherings in Tel Aviv of 2,000 people, up from 1,000 in recent weeks. Amid the restriction, the rally will take place on Hostages Square, rather than the larger Begin Street, where weekend rallies in recent months have drawn tens of thousands of protesters, many of them from anti-government groups.
  

  Hailing the security forces for killing Sinwar, the Forum said the families “express deep concern for their loved ones who have been held for over a year in Hamas captivity, and call on the government to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic achievement — a deal to bring back the 101 hostages” still held by Hamas in Gaza.

  Sinwar, who was seen as a major obstacle to a hostage deal, was killed Wednesday in a chance encounter with IDF troops operating in southern Gaza’s Rafah. His death has sparked hopes of a renewed opportunity to revitalize the long-stalled negotiations.

  The Hostages Square rally is set to feature speeches from Meirav Tal, who was released from Hamas captivity in a November ceasefire and whose partner Yair Yaakov‘s body is still in Gaza; Eli Shtivi, father of hostage Idan Shtivi, whose death the army announced on October 7; Shelly Shem-Tov, mother of hostage Omer Shem-Tov; Simona Steinbrecher, mother of hostage Doron Steinbrecher; and Yaela David, sister of hostage Eviatar David.

  

  Other large regular rallies will also be held in Kiryat Gat, the southern Shaar HaNegev junction, and near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, and smaller rallies will be held in interchanges across the country.

  CNN on Friday cited Israeli officials as saying Jerusalem could use the terror chief’s body, which is being held in a secret location in Israel, as a “bargaining chip” in the talks. On Thursday, in a video statement on the killing, Netanyahu said Israel would spare the lives of Hamas operatives who laid down their arms and released their captives.
  

  However, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that talks are yet to restart, and Channel 12 cited an Israeli official saying they would likely remain so until Hamas settled on new leadership.
  

  Sinwar was the architect of Hamas’s thousands-strong assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.

  It is believed that 97 of those hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

  Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the army as they escaped their captors.

  Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

• Demonstrators gather at a number of sites across Israel to call for an agreement to free the hostages held by Hamas, ahead of this evening’s rallies.

  In Tel Aviv, supporters of hostage Naama Levy don black shirts and bloodstained sweatpants similar to the ones she had on in a now infamous clip of a Palestinian terrorist dragging her from a jeep after she was abducted to Gaza.

  

  

  
  
  This handout photo from protest organizers shows a woman dressed like hostage Naama Levy standing in a display meant to resemble the Hamas tunnels in Gaza, October 19, 2024. (Lior Segev/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

• Hostages' Relatives in Statement Outside Military Headquarters: "Time to Put Forward Initiative, Conditions for Their Return Have Been Met"

  

  Einav Tzangauker, mother of hostage Matan Tzangauker, said in a statement delivered with other hostages' relatives outside the Kirya in Tel Aviv that "everyone understands the hostages are in real danger. The war's objective - creating conditions for the hostages' return - has been achieved. Netanyahu, no more excuses. Sinwar has been eliminated. After a whole year of you torpedoing the return of my Matan and all the hostages, this is the moment to put forward a new Israeli initiative. Only a deal can bring everyone back. Instead of bringing our loved ones back from Gaza, your partners are promoting settlements in Gaza after Hamas and its leadership are eliminated. What else is there to do in Gaza? It's time to stop being afraid of Ben Gvir and Smotrich."

  Yehuda Cohen, father of captured soldier Nimrod Cohen, said: "My son was taken alive from the tank and now there is a rare window of opportunity that must not be missed. Now more than ever, they are in real danger. If we miss this window of opportunity now, we'll have 101 Ron Arads. Only a deal can bring everyone back. Stop selling delusions and spin to the public. The only thing needed is to put a realistic deal on the table."

• An adviser to Al-Qaeda’s likely current leader is calling for Hamas to release its Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to an American jihadist monitoring organization, SITE.

  The online declaration was made yesterday by Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri, who is the father-in-law of Saif al-Adel, the man widely believed to now head Al-Qaeda, according to SITE.

  In it, Hamid claims the attention given to recovering the Israeli hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2023, both dead and alive, is overshadowing the fate of Palestinian security prisoners being held by Israel.

  He also hails Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the massacre that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, who was killed by Israel this week.

  Hamas must now “immediately” return the hostages and their bodies, and “this file must be closed and not opened again, as we know its consequences,” according to the statement.

  “No one cares about the Palestinian prisoners, neither in the media, in negotiations, nor in demonstrations,” it adds.

  Several experts consulted by AFP say Hamid is close to higher-ups in the core Al-Qaeda organization.

  The group, which has spawned regional affiliates in Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Mali, has little leverage over Hamas, which is backed by Iran.

• Demonstration for Hostages' Release Outside Herzog's House: "Protesting His Silence" 

  Several dozen people demonstrated outside President Isaac Herzog's private residence in Tel Aviv marking more than a year since October 7, protesting what they call "the abandonment of the hostages by the Prime Minister and the President's silence." The protesters placed six model coffins at the site with the inscription "The beautiful six," and called on Herzog to use his influence following Sinwar's elimination. Among the protesters was Yehuda Cohen, father of captured soldier Nimrod Cohen.

  

  Simultaneously, protesters also gathered at the Science Park junction in Rehovot and at the Beit Yanai interchange in Emek Hefer above the coastal highway to protest for the release of hostages.

  
  
  

Gaza 

•  The IDF says hundreds of Palestinian civilians have begun to evacuate from northern Gaza’s Jabaliya as troops continue to operate there against Hamas.

  “During the activity, the IDF allowed civilians to evacuate safely from the area, through organized routes. So far, hundreds of people have evacuated,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, says on X.

  

  He says that the army and COGAT are in contact with the international community and health authorities in Gaza to “maintain the ongoing functioning of the emergency systems of the hospitals, through the transfer of medical equipment and the supply of fuel subject to the operational situation, along with the evacuation of staff [and] patients.”

  Adraee also says troops have also detained several terror operatives in the area.

  In the past day, the IDF says troops with the 162nd Division have killed dozens of Hamas operatives and seized many weapons during the ongoing operation in Jabaliya.

  
  

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the number of aid trucks entering Gaza be increased to 250 a day, according to the Kan public broadcaster, following the US threat to withhold some arms shipments from Israel if it doesn’t address the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

  The broadcaster also reports that ministers are expected to deliberate whether to enlist a private security contractor to distribute humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip when they convene Sunday for the weekly cabinet meeting.

• "The Young Yazidi Woman: 'I Was Forced to Eat Infant Meat in Iraq. Hamas is No Different from ISIS'"
  

  The abuse she endured over the past decade and life under Hamas and ISIS militants. "All the hospitals in Gaza served as Hamas bases. Everyone had weapons," recounted Fauzia Amin Sido (21), the Yazidi young woman who was kidnapped from her home in Iraq in 2014 when she was 11 years old and was rescued from Gaza about two weeks ago. She told the British Sun about her life since the abduction, the starvation, abuse, and rape she suffered.

  Sido recalled the moment everything happened a decade ago when she and dozens of Yazidi women and girls were dragged to Tal Afar, where they were starved for four days before the militants finally gave them something to eat upon arriving in northwestern Iraq.
  
  Warning: Disturbing content.

  "They cooked rice and meat and gave it to us to eat. We were so hungry that we immediately ate everything on the table," Sido recounted. "We knew something was wrong because the taste was strange, but we were starving. After we finished, we all had stomach pains and felt unwell. Then they told us that the meat we had eaten was from babies." According to her, one of the women had a heart attack and died on the spot. "They showed us pictures of babies with their heads cut off and said, 'These are the children you ate.' It was very hard, but it wasn’t our fault. They forced it on us. It wasn't in our hands," she said.

  In a chilling description, Sido added that mothers of the babies cried and screamed at that moment because they realized why they had been separated from their children. "One of them even recognized her son in the pictures they showed her," she added. 
  

  In early 2015, Fawzia was transferred to Raqqa, Syria, where she was imprisoned underground for nine months in degrading conditions with approximately 200 other women. "We were in darkness all the time, never seeing sunlight," she said. "We did nothing, we couldn't go outside. We drank dirty water, and some girls died. It was a very difficult time."

  She recounted that men would sometimes enter their holding area, "and if they liked a girl, they would take her with them." Fawzia herself was bought and sold five times by ISIS militants during her years in captivity in Syria. The fifth man who bought her was a Palestinian ISIS militant who was ten years older than her. He used drugs to rape her when she was 14 and he was 24.

  "At first, I would hide in the bathroom while he slept because I didn't know what he wanted from me," she said. "I was scared and didn't want him to do anything. When he noticed I was hiding, he gave me drugs to sedate me, and then he raped me." He abused her until she was 15, and she bore him a son and a daughter.

  In 2018, when ISIS was ousted from power in Syria, she lost contact with the militant who held her. She was then sent to the notorious Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, which was home to ruthless ISIS militants and their families - including Muslims from Western countries who had joined them. "The ISIS wives were very cruel to me and forced me to work for them," she recounted. "I always did what they told me because I was so young and scared."
  

  Eight months later, she received word that her Palestinian captor was in prison in Idlib, Syria. Concerned for her children's future, she traveled to Gaza to live with his family. She was taken there through Turkey and Egypt with a forged passport, eventually arriving in 2020. Along the way, she passed through an underground tunnel in Idlib, where some people died from lack of oxygen - and then walked for 31 hours to reach the next destination in Turkey.

  Sido hoped that her husband's family in Gaza would treat her with respect, since she was the mother of his children - but there too she was subjected to degrading treatment. She was regularly beaten, and under Hamas rule was effectively imprisoned in her home. Meanwhile, she was informed that her husband had been killed. According to her, contrary to reports, she did not remarry her dead husband's brother, but she clarified: "I was never free to do what I wanted in Gaza. If I had been, I would have left Gaza earlier. I couldn't do that, I always had to remain under their control. Once Hamas members put a gun to my head when I went outside with a friend. They said it was forbidden."
  

  She explained that Hamas actually treated her as a slave. After the October 7 massacre, she was sent to serve as a slave in a hospital as well - and explained to "The Sun" that "all hospitals served as Hamas bases. Everyone had weapons. There were weapons everywhere." It wasn't until October 1 this year that she was finally freed from Gaza, after months of diplomatic negotiations between the U.S., Iraq, and Israel, while risking her life.

  After her release, Hamas claimed that she had lived in Gaza voluntarily and only wanted to leave because of the war. "That's an absolute lie," she said. "I was never free there. I was forced to stay at home. When I was in Israel and knew there was no more Hamas, I was very happy. I could breathe again. They are very evil, they killed people and forced me to be there. Why would I want to stay there? They say the things I describe didn't happen to me - they should have been there in my place. There is no difference between Hamas and ISIS. I didn't believe I would survive until it actually happened."
  
  Fawzia refuses to talk about her children, now aged five and six, whom she hasn't seen for several months. According to her lawyer, "We don't talk much about her children, they were taken from her long before she left Gaza. Not taking them with her was not her choice. She had no option to reunite with them. She hopes to build a new life - but she doesn't want to do that in Iraq, where she is still afraid. What she describes is only 15-20% of everything she went through. She needs much more time." link

• Leaflets purportedly dropped by Israel Defense Forces planes in southern Gaza show a picture of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, with the message “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza,” echoing language used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

  “Yahya Sinwar has ruined your lives. He hid in a dark tunnel and was eliminated when he attempted to flee in panic. Whoever lays down their weapons and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace,” the leaflet, written in Arabic, reads, according to residents of the southern city of Khan Younis and images circulating online.
  

  Though attributed to the IDF by Reuters, the leaflets are designed differently to notices from the Israeli military circulated in both Gaza and more recently in southern Lebanon, which are often also published on social media.

  The leaflet’s wording is similar to a statement made by Netanyahu on Thursday after Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers operating in Rafah, in the south near the Egyptian border, the previous day.

  
  

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• Lebanon’s health ministry says at least two people were killed in an alleged strike on a car in Jounieh, north of Beirut, in what would be the first attack on the area by the Israel Defense Forces.

  Unverified videos posted to social media purport to show the site of the apparent drone strike.

  Strikes in the Lebanese capital since Israel began its campaign against Hezbollah last month have focused on the terror group’s Dahiyeh stronghold in southern Beirut.

  There is no immediate IDF comment on the strike.

  
  

• The IDF says fighter jets yesterday targeted and killed a Hezbollah deputy commander responsible for the in the southern Lebanese Bint Jbeil district.

  In an operational update, the IDF says Nasser Abd Elaziz Rashid was responsible for rocket fire on Israel originating from several towns in southern Lebanon.

  The strikes come as operations against Hezbollah continue in southern Lebanon, the IDF says, adding that in the past 24 hours troops located and destroyed many weapons, including a Kornet anti-tank missile launcher primed for launch towards northern Israeli communities.

  The military releases footage of the strikes. video of attack

• Troops of the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade located a cache of weapons and several Hezbollah tunnels in a school in southern Lebanon, the military says.

  

  The IDF says Hezbollah embedded itself within the school in a village in southern Lebanon.

  “At the complex, several tunnel shafts and caches of weapons were located and destroyed,” the military adds.

  
  
  

• The IDF says it has demolished the deepest underground Hezbollah command center found to date during operations in southern Lebanon.

  Troops with the 98th Division raided the Hezbollah site, which the military says included surveillance equipment that observed Israeli towns in the Galilee Panhandle.

  Soldiers also found explosive devices, weapons, and intelligence materials in the command center, the IDF adds.

  The military does not disclose where exactly in southern Lebanon the command center was located, or other details about it.

• IDF says it destroyed a key tunnel in southern Lebanon used by elite Hezbollah force
  
  
  A tunnel in southern Lebanon that the IDF says belonged to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force was recently demolished by combat engineers.
  
  
  The military describes the underground passage as one of Radwan’s central tunnels in Lebanon, which included a command center, a weapons depot, rooms to reside in, scooter bikes, and other equipment.
  
  
  Next to the tunnel, the IDF says troops also located dozens of weapons and equipment belonging to Hezbollah.
  
  
  Additionally, more than 50 other tunnel shafts and three other major tunnels were demolished by combat engineers under the 91st Division in southern Lebanon, the IDF says.
  
  
  According to the IDF, more than 100 tons of explosives were used to demolish the four tunnels. video blowing up the tunnel
  
  

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•   A Palestinian man crashes his car into Israeli security forces stationed at the entrance to the northern West Bank settlement of Ofra, in what appears to be an attempted terror attack.

  The IDF says no troops were injured in the attempted attack and that the incident is being investigated.

  The driver was killed in the crash. The Kan broadcaster publishes footage of the incident on social media.  video of the crash - terror attack

• The terrorist who attempted the ramming attack near Ofra in Samaria is a 27-year-old resident of Nablus. This was updated by the police, who noted that he hit a police patrol car and an armored police vehicle - and was killed as a result of the collision. The police officers at the scene were not injured, and numerous forces, including YASAM (Special Patrol Unit) fighters and IDF forces, are at the scene. Route 60 from Ofra Junction in both directions has been intermittently opened to traffic.

  

  
  

  District Commander Chief Superintendent Moshe Pinchi said in a situational assessment to the district command staff that "this was an attack that fortunately ended without deaths or injuries. The terrorist died in the collision, we will study the incident and draw lessons. A terrorist who doesn't encounter police officers or soldiers on the routes will encounter civilians, and that's our job - to increase checks, vigilance, to protect the civilians who live here." The District Commander added: "The police officers serve as a shield for civilians, and everything must be done to maintain residents' security."

• Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza claim IDF troops surrounded and shelled the Indonesian Hospital in the Strip’s northern town of Beit Lahia at dawn.

  “Israeli tanks have completely surrounded the hospital, cut off electricity and shelled the hospital, targeting the second and third floors with artillery,” says the facility’s director, Marwan Sultan.

  “There are serious risks to medical staff and patients.”

  There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the reported strike.

  Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

  In a statement, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza also says Israel targeted the upper floors, adding there were “more than 40 patients and wounded in addition to the medical staff” present.

  “Heavy gunfire” towards the hospital and its courtyard had sparked a “state of great panic” among patients and staff, the Hamas statement adds.

  Israel launched a new offensive in northern Gaza earlier this month targeting Hamas fighters who it said were regrouping there.

• Settlers set fire to houses, poultry farm, fields in West Bank village — Palestinian media
  Palestinian media reports that extremist settlers have set fire to three houses, a poultry farm, and several agricultural fields in the central West Bank village of Jalud, near Nablus.
  Jalud council head Raed Haj Muhammad tells the Palestinian news agency Wafa that several families who were picking olives in the area were unable to return home as a result of the fires.
  Gunfire can also be heard in unverified videos of the blaze posted to social media.  video of the fires

  
  

Politics and the War (general news)

•  Hamas succeeded in forcing Israelis to confront the fallacy of basing its policies via-a-via the Palestinians on military force. October 7 will live with Israelis for generations.  Hamas also succeeded in putting the cause of Palestine back on the international agenda.  It won’t be long before it is also part of the Israeli agenda.  Hamas is also responsible for bringing about the destruction of Gaza and a Nakba more horrible than 1948 as well as the atrocities it committed against Israelis. For Palestinians the lessons learned must first and foremost be that there should no longer be an armed struggle as part of their liberation strategy - right or wrong- the armed struggle primarily brings death and destruction. Israel killed tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians. Israel’s actions in Gaza were entirely disproportionate and unjustified by any military or moral scale.  Both sides have committed war crimes. Non- violent political Islam is legitimate.  Armed Palestinian militia should disappear from the Palestinian struggle.  Israelis also must understand that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The Gaza war must be the last Israeli Palestinian war.  We simply cannot continue to do this.  Every person living between the River and the Sea must have the same right to the same rights.  From that principle we can move forward.  Freedom, self-determination, security, and dignity for all. (Gershon Baskin, October 19, 2024)
  
  
  

• Israel has requested that the US send a second THAAD battery to protect the country in case of an Iranian reaction to an expected Israeli reprisal attack, Channel 12 reports.

  The Pentagon on Sunday confirmed that Washington will send one advanced air defense battery to Israel, along with American soldiers to operate it.

  The THAAD is considered a complimentary system to the Patriot system but can defend a wider area, capable of hitting targets at ranges of 150-200 kilometers (93-124 miles).

  Each battery consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, radio and radar equipment, and requires 95 soldiers to operate.

  Iran has been bracing for an Israeli retaliation after its October 1 attack, which it said came in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon last month that killed the top leadership of the Hezbollah terror group, an Iranian proxy, and a July blast in Tehran that killed Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh.

  
  

The Region and the World

•    Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq stormed and ransacked the offices of a Saudi television channel in Baghdad early Saturday, a security source says, after the broadcaster aired a report referring to Iran-backed commanders as “terrorists.”

  Between 400 and 500 people attacked the Baghdad studios of Saudi broadcaster MBC after midnight. “They wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers, and set fire to a part of the building,” the interior ministry source tells AFP on condition of anonymity, adding the fire had been extinguished and the crowd dispersed by police.

  
  

• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held talks with representatives of Hamas and expresses condolences over the death of the Palestinian terror group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, the Turkish Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

  During the meeting, Fidan said that Turkey will “use all diplomatic means to mobilize the international community against the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the ministry says.
  
  

Personal Stories

  Taken captive: Ofer Calderon, initially escaped through window

Children Sahar Calderon, 16, and Erez Calderon, 12, were released on November 27

Ofer Calderon, 53, was taken captive on Saturday, October 7, with two of his children, when Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz, killing over 100 residents and some 15 foreign agricultural workers, and taking about 80 hostages.

Ofer Calderon, along with Erez and Sahar, two of his four children, initially escaped from their shelter through the window during the Hamas onslaught, into the fields of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they were later taken hostage.

Sahar Calderon, 16, and Erez Calderon, 12, were released on November 27 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel. Ofer Calderon remains a hostage in Gaza.

Hadas Calderon, Ofer’s ex-wife, was in the sealed room of her home on the kibbutz, holding the door handle against the terrorists. Their elder son, Rotem, 19, also survived in the safe room of his apartment, in the kibbutz area for young adults, while his older sister Gaya, 21, was in Tel Aviv.

Grandmother Carmela Dan was at her house down the street with Hadas Calderon’s niece, Noya Dan. Their bodies were found on October 19.

At a press conference held in the aftermath of the Hamas massacres in Israel’s south, Gaya Calderon wept, saying, “My dad brought me up, he’s my best friend, I have no one to talk to.”

Hadas Calderon stood in front of the Defense Ministry for days before her two children were released, and extended members of the family are continuing to rally for Ofer Calderon’s release.

Ofer marked his 53rd birthday in captivity in Gaza.

Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages

One Day

Judith Rotem

Author

One day, many years ago, when he was serving as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, I saw Benjamin Netanyahu on TV. I don’t remember what the speech was about or why I happened to watch it (I was an ultra-Orthodox woman at the time, and having a television in our home was absolutely forbidden), but I do recall his authoritative voice, his polished English, and his impressive demeanor. I felt a sense of pride knowing we had an envoy we could rely on.

Even though I was never counted as one of his fans and admirers, I felt a certain respect for him, the kind one feels toward a ruling authority. I, who never once agreed to serve on a parents׳ committee when my children were in school, and who proved to be an abject failure during my short stint on the tenants’ committee, have great respect and gratitude for those who undertake public service of any kind, for the common good and the country. But as time went by, to our great misfortune, Netanyahu became an individual who does with the country whatever he likes. In recent years, and all the more so during this calamitous past year, his private self has extinguished his public self, entirely, down to the last drop.

A short time after the war broke out, it struck me that everything Netanyahu does is meant to serve his own personal interests, including this pointless war. This thought was so frightening, so terrifying, that I didn’t dare to put it into words for quite some time.

In my despair, I try to draw inspiration from our sages. On the cryptic passage, “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth,” (Ecclesiastes, 7:1) they offer the following interpretation:

A large crowd gathers on a pier to see off a ship that is about to set sail. Everyone is clapping, waving goodbye, cheering, and blowing kisses. One wise man stands to the side alone, scoffing.

“You fools, what does this mirth accomplish?” he asks. “Do you know what awaits this ship at sea? Perhaps it will capsize in a storm. Perhaps it will collide with an iceberg. Perhaps pirates will seize it, kill its passengers, and pillage its cargo. Wait until it returns from its journey, and then cheer and rejoice as much as you like.”

Consider this parallel: Everyone is overjoyed when a baby is born, but we don’t know how his life will unfold. Perhaps his life will be bleak and full of misery. Perhaps he will behave wickedly to those who surround him, and shame those who love him. But when a man leaves this world with a good reputation and good deeds, he leaves behind a fine and unforgettable legacy for generations to come.

Netanyahu isn’t a child gone rogue, but a leader who has grown wild. We have known for some time about the skeletons in his closet, but the Israeli People, with their historical memory, will judge him by this endless war that is devouring its warriors; by the hostages who are being wasted away, abandoned in their captivity; by their withering families; by the people uprooted from their homes; by the desolate communities; by the young who are losing a future here.

Were it not for the risk of being called naïve, I would cry out to him, “Recant, while you’re still in your right mind!” 

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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