🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 533, 2023 - March 22, 2025 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 533 that 59 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

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

*10:30pm last night- Jerusalem area and Gush Dan area including Tel Aviv - ballistic missile from Yemen for the third straight day - intercepted outside of Israel's borders

*7:32am- North - 5 rockets launched at Metula- 3 intercepted, 2 land in open areas- no reported injuries

Hostage Updates 

• Israeli source: Dermer-Witkoff approach failed, PM aimlessly drawing out hostage talks

  

  Protesters demand the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

  An Israeli source familiar with the hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas tells Channel 12 that the approach led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff has failed.

  The pair sought to advance an extension to phase one, amid Israel’s refusal to begin implementing phase two. Hamas refused to accept this, leading Israel to resume fighting this week with the Trump administration’s backing.

  The military pressure over the past year led Hamas to agree to a hostage deal in January but Israel’s approach since then has led to the erosion of those military achievements, the source tells Channel 12.

  The source says Dermer is not keeping up with the speed at which the previous Israeli negotiating chiefs worked and is instead flying to Washington next week with National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to discuss other issues.

  Things are again being dragged, the source laments. “If there is no agreement very soon, we will slide into a full return to war. Instead of dedicating time to intensive negotiations and reaching agreements, [Israel] is stringing the talks along aimlessly.”

• ‘Israel choosing endless war’: 40 released hostages demand gov’t halt fighting, return to talks
  

  

  Friends and relatives of Israeli hostages held captive by terrorists in Gaza stand behind a banner bearing their portraits during a demonstration urging their release, in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on March 11, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

  Forty survivors of Hamas captivity and 250 family members of hostages in Gaza have signed onto a letter calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to halt Israel’s renewed military activities and return to the negotiating table with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages.

  “This letter was written in blood and tears. It was drafted by our friends and families whose loved ones were killed and murdered in captivity and who are crying out: ‘Stop the fighting. Return to the negotiating table and fully complete an agreement that will return all of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the war. The military pressure is endangering them and there is nothing more urgent than returning all hostages,'” the letter states.

  “Military pressure kills hostages and disappears bodies. This is not a slogan, this is reality. 41 kidnapped people paid for it with their lives, we, their families, paid. They could have returned to embrace and rehabilitate, and they will not return.

  “The Israeli government is choosing an endless war over rescuing and returning hostages, thereby sacrificing them to their deaths. This policy is criminal. You have no mandate to sacrifice 59 hostages.”

  “We, families who have reluctantly and against our will paid the heaviest price of all, raise a red flag and warn: returning to fighting will cost additional hostages their lives and increase the risk of additional Ron Arads,” the families writes, referring to the former IDF airman who was captured in 1986 in Syria, never returned and whose fate remains a mystery.

  “We must stop the fighting and immediately return to the negotiating table to reach a comprehensive agreement for the hostages’ return: All of the hostages in exchange for ending the war and finding a solution for the day after. If you do not do this, the blood of the next hostage and the fate of all the hostages will be on your hands,” the letter adds.

  Signatories include former hostages Gadi Mozes, Keith Siegel, Ofer Calderon, Eliya Cohen, Liri Elbag, Sagi Dekel-Chen, Agam Berger, Karina Ariev, Ohad Ben Ami, Raz Ben Ami, Arbel Yehud, Ada Sagi, Shani Goren, Nili Margalit, Gabriela Leimberg, Yaffa Adar, Ditza Heiman, Ofir Engel, Amit Soussana, Keren Munder, Ruti Munder, Liam Or, Adina Moshe, Hannah Perry, Raaya Rotem, Liat Beinin Atzili, Noga Weiss, Shiri Weiss, Margalit Mozes, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, Sharon Alony Cunio, Danielle Aloni, Ilana Gritzewsky, Karina Engelbert, Noralin Babadilla, Meirav Tal, Jimmy Pacheco, Amit Shani, Agam Goldstein, Sahar Calderon, Erez Calderon, Shoshan Haran, Fernando Marman, Ofelia Roitman, Clara Marman and Raz Ben Ami.

  Netanyahu ordered the resumption of fighting in Gaza overnight Monday-Tuesday, saying talks moving forward would be held under fire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend phase one of the ceasefire.

  Hamas has insisted on sticking to the terms of the deal signed by Netanyahu in January, which required the sides to begin holding talks on phase two in early February. Israel largely refused to do so.

  Phase two envisions the release of all remaining living hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Netanyahu signed on to a framework that included these stipulations but has also insisted that Israel will not leave Gaza until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled.

  
  

Gaza and the South

• IDF says it hit launcher in north Gaza used to fire 2 rockets at Ashkelon earlier today

   

  

  An IDF infographic shows the location of a rocket launcher used to fire two projectiles at Ashkelon on March 21, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

  The IDF says it struck a rocket launcher in the northern Gaza Strip used to fire two projectiles at Ashkelon earlier today.

  According to the military, the launcher was placed next to a humanitarian shelter in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

  The IDF says it made efforts to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including by using precision munition and aerial surveillance.

  The two rockets fired at Ashkelon were intercepted by air defenses.

• IDF says it killed Hamas south Gaza military intel chief in Thursday strike
  

  The chief of Hamas’s military intelligence in the southern Gaza Strip was killed in an Israeli airstrike yesterday, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.

  Osama Tabash, according to the IDF, also served as the head of Hamas’s surveillance and targets unit, in addition to heading the southern Gaza intelligence unit.

  

  Tabash was a veteran member of Hamas and considered a “significant source of knowledge” in the terror group, serving in many key roles, including a battalion commander in Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, the joint IDF and Shin Bet statement says.

• Witkoff: Hamas isn’t ideologically intractable, Gaza conflict can end through dialogue
  In candid interview, top Trump aide indicates renewed IDF strikes may be necessary after Hamas intransigence, says PM ‘going up against Israeli public opinion that wants hostages back’
  

  US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said Friday that he doesn’t believe Hamas is “ideologically intractable” and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “well-motivated” but operating against Israeli public opinion that prioritizes freeing the remaining hostages from Gaza over the destruction of Hamas.

  In an hour-and-a-half-long interview chocked-full of headlines, Witkoff discussed the motivations of Israel, Hamas and Qatar in the ongoing Gaza war; offered an assertive defense of Doha against critics questioning the Islamist country’s motivations; acknowledged his concern about the Gaza war’s potential for destabilizing countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia; suggested that Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa could be a changed man since his days in Al-Qaeda; revealed new details about his successful January brokering of the current Gaza ceasefire’s first phase; and insisted that the Iranian nuclear threat can be solved diplomatically.

  Witkoff held the conversation with Tucker Carlson, a conservative talk show host who has come under fire in pro-Israel circles for hosting guests accused of antisemitism, though he is also known to enjoy a very large fan base, particularly of Trump supporters.
  

  The interview began with US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy explaining that his job requires him to understand the motivations of the various players with whom he engages.

  “What does Hamas want? I think they want to stay there till the end of time. They want to rule Gaza, and that’s unacceptable. We had to know that… What they want is unacceptable,” Witkoff said.

  “What’s acceptable to us is [that] they need to demilitarize. Then maybe they could stay there a little bit… be involved politically,” he continued.
  

  “But… we can’t have a terrorist organization running Gaza because that won’t be acceptable to Israel. Then we’ll just have the same exact experiences that every five, 10, 15 years we’re going to have another October 7.”

  Pressed on what it’s like negotiating with Hamas, Witkoff acknowledged that he’s not talking to the terror group directly and that he uses Qatar as a mediator.

  The US envoy did sign off on Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler holding secret direct talks with Hamas officials earlier this year. However, Washington abandoned those talks after they were leaked by Israel, which learned about them after the fact and fumed over Boehler negotiating on its behalf, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel earlier this month.

  Hamas’s motivations

  While he has worked to understand Hamas through the negotiations, Witkoff said he was also informed by the footage compilation of the terror group’s October 7 onslaught that Israeli authorities screened for him during his first visit to Israel upon taking the position.

  “It was horrific. It is about mass rapes. There were pictures of Hamas people cutting the head off of an Israeli soldier… It’s beyond what I’ve ever seen,” he recalled.
  “It can taint the way you’re going to feel about [Hamas]. Sometimes as a negotiator, you have to be dispassionate,” Witkoff continued. “It’s not easy to make decisions if you’re going to [watch the film], but I had to see [it]… We can’t ignore the reality of what happened on October 7. They would tell you that they’ve got justification, but there’s no justification… for what happened that day.”
  

  Still, Witkoff went back to the importance of understanding Hamas’s motivations.

  “You have to know what Hamas wants… and then you’ve got to figure out what you can give them that allows them to walk out because that’s what’s needed here,” he said.

  “What we heard in the beginning of this conflict is Hamas is ideological, that they’re prepared to die for a whole variety of reasons. I personally — and I talk to the president about this… I said to him, ‘I don’t think that they are as ideologically locked in. They’re not ideologically intractable. I never believed that,” Witkoff maintained. “They strap the suicide vest onto young kids who don’t know what they’re doing… They tell them a story.”

  “Once you understand that [Hamas] wanted to live, then you were able to talk to them in a more effective way,” he argued.

  Pressed on how he reached this conclusion about Hamas, Witkoff said he has read lots of US intelligence reports and also felt “the rhythm and the cadence of the negotiation.”

  “That’s when I came to the conclusion that they wanted alternatives,” he said.
  The comments rationalizing Hamas were somewhat similar to ones made by Boehler in a series of interviews with American and Israeli press on March 9 that infuriated Netanyahu and his inner circle. The premier’s top aide, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer went on to lobby Trump officials to sideline Boehler after those interviews, a US official told The Times of Israel earlier this month.
  

  Regardless, Hamas has yet to move from its stance in the negotiations as Witkoff had hoped.

  The terror group snubbed a bridge proposal he submitted last week that would have seen phase one of the ceasefire extended through next month’s Passover holiday along with the release of five live hostages and a large number of Palestinian security prisoners.

  Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the deal Witkoff helped ink in January, which should have seen phase two begin at the beginning of March. But Israel has refused to proceed with this phase as in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages, Jerusalem is required to fully withdraw its troops from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war.

  While Netanyahu signed on to these terms, he has also insisted that he will not agree to end the war before Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled. The US accepted the Israeli stance and worked to extend the first phase, rather than proceeding with the second.

  Hamas didn’t accept the approach and instead offered to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander along with the bodies of four other hostages with US citizenship — an offer that was based on the discussions that the terror group held with Boehler earlier this month, the senior Arab diplomat said. But the Trump administration had already moved on from those direct talks, and Witkoff on March 16 called the Hamas proposal a “non-starter.”

  Two days later, Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza for the first time in two months under orders from Netanyahu, who cited the terror group’s “repeated refusal” to release hostages.
  

  Ceasefire can still be restored

  Still, Witkoff maintained Friday that he was hopeful the ceasefire could be restored. “There have been signs,” he said.
  

  “The Israelis going in [to Gaza] is in some respects unfortunate, and in some respects falls into the ‘had to be’ bucket.”

  Witkoff recalled warning Arab leaders during a gathering in Doha last week that Hamas’s “completely inappropriate” response to the bridge proposal “was going to result in some sort of military action.”

  “I did not know before the Israelis went in,” he clarified, appearing to contradict claims by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier this week that Israel had consulted the US before ending the Gaza ceasefire.

  Nonetheless, Witkoff insisted that “We may be able to use this to get Hamas to be a whole lot more reasonable.”

  The Trump envoy later revealed that the sides “are talking again” since the Israeli strikes.

  “We’re in a negotiation right now to maybe stop some of these Israeli strikes and maybe finish this conflict with dialogue,” he said. If I don’t have a feeling that we can accomplish that, why would I waste my time?”

  For his part, the senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that the talks have been stuck since the IDF renewed airstrikes.

  

  Palestinians use a donkey-pulled cart to transport their belongings as they flee Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 21, 2025. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

Netanyahu vs. public opinion on the hostages

The question that Witkoff appeared to have a harder time answering focused on the Israeli government’s plan for Gaza after the war.

Carlson reflected on his conversations with officials throughout the region who were all equally perplexed as to what Israel views as its end game and he asked Witkoff if he understood it.

“Well, I think that’s complicated,” the US envoy said before shifting his answer to praise Netanyahu for Israel’s military achievements against Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.

“That Iranian crescent… that everybody thought was going to be effective, it’s been largely eliminated.”

Netanyahu has “done an exceptional job with that. But the rap he gets is that he’s more concerned about the fight than he is about the hostages,” Witkoff explained.

“I understand how people make that assessment, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. He does want to get hostages home — if he can — but he believes that pressuring Hamas is the only way to do it.”

US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff (second from right) meets with four IDF soldiers freed from Gaza captivity, at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, January 30, 2025. (Screenshot/ US Embassy)

“I think Bibi feels that he’s doing the right thing. [But] I think he goes up against public opinion… because public opinion there wants those hostages home,” he said.

Indeed, repeated polls over recent weeks indicate a sizable majority of the public backs ending the war in exchange for securing the release of the remaining 59 hostages.

Witkoff recalled his visit to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square during his time in Israel. “It was spiritual.”

Witkoff said that the loss of his son to a drug overdose has given him a “sensitivity or empathy” that has allowed him to relate to hostage families with whom he is in daily contact. “That’s been a big help for them, but interestingly enough, it’s been a big help for me.”

The hostage crisis has “fractured Israel,” Witkoff maintained. “It’s like a seam cutting right through the soul of the country.”

“We’ve got to get these people back. I talked to Bibi about it, I talked to [Strategic Affairs Minister Ron] Dermer about it, but they also have a view strategically about Hamas,” he continued.

“There are times that we agree with each other, there are times we slightly disagree, but I think they’re well motivated,” Witkoff clarified.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff (3rd R) and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz (3rd L) , accompanied by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (2nd R), National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi (2nd L), Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (R), and Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman (L) and military secretary Roman Gofman (bottom C) in Washington on February 4, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Does Israel have a plan?

Pressed again on what Israel’s plan for Gaza, Witkoff seemed to avoid responding directly.

“I understand that we have to be outcome-oriented,” he said before pivoting to how solving Iran’s destabilizing regional activities could lead to unprecedented regional cooperation

Carlson then tries to frame the question in terms of the map, asking how much territory Israel is looking to conquer after reaching deep into Lebanon and Syria. “What’s the goal?” he asks.

“The goal begins with how do we deal with Iran. That’s the biggie,” Witkoff responded. “We can never allow someone to have a nuclear weapon and have outsized influence.”

Carlson tried to steer the conversation back to Gaza, asking if the US could articulate Israel’s approach.

“I think so,” Witkoff said.

Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza and hold a press statement outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“First of all, President Trump’s approach to Gaza has engendered a lot of lively discussion about different ways to deal with Gaza,” he said, referring to Trump’s February proposal for the US to take over the Strip and relocate Palestinians elsewhere.

“We’re now seeing an Egyptian plan, we’re seeing the Saudis put together a white paper,” Witkoff said in what appears to be the first official mention of a separate Saudi plan for Gaza in the works.

The Egyptian proposal was a counter to Trump’s call to relocate Gazans, instead envisioning Palestinians being able to remain in the enclave while it is being rebuilt and managed by a temporary committee of Palestinian technocrats who would hand over control over the Strip to the Palestinian Authority after six months.

While it hinted at it, the plan didn’t explicitly address the demilitarization of Hamas, and Washington’s response has accordingly been lukewarm, at best.

Wiktoff made no mention of Israel’s plan for Gaza, but insisted that “what we’re going to do with Gaza is going to become much more apparent over the next six to 12 months.”

The lack of an Israeli plan for the post-war management of Gaza has long exposed Netanyahu to criticism. From the first weeks of the war, the previous US administration pleaded with the premier to put together a plan for the post-war management of Gaza, arguing that failure to advance a viable alternative to Hamas would lead to the IDF being bogged down in the Strip indefinitely.

Smoke billows behind a cemetery during Israeli strikes near Gaza City on March 18, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Netanyahu pushed back on those calls by arguing that such planning was futile so long as Hamas remains in the picture. Months later, he said his government was working on plans to wrestle control of humanitarian aid from Hamas but they have yet to be implemented.

Finally, after Trump announced his Gaza takeover proposal, Netanyahu quickly adopted it as Israel’s new plan for the “day after” in Gaza. But while Jerusalem has engaged in talks with the Trump administration aimed at identifying countries that will take Gazans, no such volunteers have emerged.

Carlson noted Friday that despite the mounting military victories Jerusalem has achieved over the past year, Israelis he engages with still give off the impression that they’re under threat.

“There’s a feeling with some of, ‘When does the violence end? At what point have we had enough of it? That’s the issue,” Witkoff responded.

“I don’t think anyone has a feeling that you can just kill off Hamas. It’s an idea… [but] we just can’t have an October 7 ever again. October 7 was like 9/11 in the United States.”

Israelis attend a rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, and calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The meaning of ‘two-state’

Witkoff argued that the key to getting the Abraham Accords normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors back on track is “stability on Gaza.”

“Stability on Gaza could mean some people come back, it could mean some people don’t come back,” he said of Palestinians.

While Trump initially said that Gaza’s entire population would be permanently relocated, he clarified earlier this month that no Palestinians will be forcibly evicted.

“We’re going to attempt to ascertain different development plans for Gaza. They could involve the word two-state (solution). [It] could not,” Witkoff revealed.

“I use the word, [and] I could be attacked for it. To me, it’s just a word. What two-state to me means is how do we have a better living prescription for Palestinians who are living in Gaza?” he said.

“But it’s not just about housing. Maybe it’s about AI coming there. Maybe it’s about hyper-scale data centers being seeded into that area… Maybe it’s about blockchain and robotics coming there. Maybe it’s about pharmaceutical manufacturing coming there,” Witkoff continued. “We can’t rebuild Gaza [for it to again become] a welfare system.”

“We need real elections in Gaza… We need a real security force there… If Israel thinks they’re going to have a problem in Gaza because Hamas is going to be there long-term, this is never going to end,” he said.

Palestinians carry their belongings while traveling from Beit Hanoun to Jabaliya, a day after Israel’s renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Potential for regional spill-over

Alongside his aspirations for Gaza are also concerns for regional destabilization if the war there drags on.

“King Abdullah in Jordan has done an amazing job figuring out how to how to deal with that instability, but in some respects, he’s been lucky,” Witkoff said.

He warned that the recent rollback of Iranian proxies in Syria and Lebanon “could all be reversed if we lose Egypt.”

Pointing to Egypt’s high youth unemployment, Witkoff said, “A country can’t exist like that. They’re largely broke. They need a lot of help.”

Notably, the Trump aide made no mention of Egypt’s role in mediating between Israel and Hamas — as he has in the past — focusing solely on Qatar.

The concern even extends to Saudi Arabia where “people are worried about [the] young population and how they’re looking at [the Gaza war], which is why we’ve got to solve Gaza,” the Trump envoy argued.

“If we solve Gaza… then Saudi can normalize,” Wiktoff said.

A man hoists a sign reading ‘No to displacement’ at a demonstration against US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza, on the Egyptian side of the Strip’s Rafah Border Crossing, January 31, 2025. (Kerolos Salah / AFP)

Riyadh has repeatedly insisted, though, that it will not normalize relations with Israel absent Jerusalem agreeing to a credible, irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has long rejected.

Still, Witkoff said, “We’re going to be announcing several new countries who are joining” and separately claimed that Lebanon and Syria are potential candidates.

“The indications are that Jolani is a different person than he once was,” he argued, referring to Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa by the nom de guerre he held as a senior al-Qaeda operative.

“People do change. You at 55 are completely different than how you were at 35… I’m a different person today at 68 years old,” Witkoff said. “So maybe Jolani in Syria is a different guy. They’ve driven Iran out.”

As for Turkey — which is currently rocked by its unrest following the regime’s arrest of Istanbul’s mayor and a prominent rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — Witkoff appeared similarly optimistic.

Trump “had a great conversation with Erdogan a couple of days ago — really transformational,” he continued. “There’s a lot of positive news coming out of Turkey right now as a result of that conversation. You’ll see that in the reporting in the coming days.”

Then-US President Donald Trump (L) and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) leave the stage after the ‘family photo’ at the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London, December 4, 2019. (Peter Nicholls/Pool/AFP)

In defense of Qatar

Witkoff was also given the opportunity to address criticism over his warm relations with Qatar, which began before he entered the Trump administration when he was a real estate investor.

Qatar has been accused of supporting Hamas and other extremist factions in the region. Doha has countered that its hosting of Hamas officials was at the request of Israel and the US. Jerusalem and Washington also urged the Gulf kingdom to funnel large amounts of aid to Gaza, which has come under renewed scrutiny since October 7, with critics arguing that it allowed Hamas to amass its military arsenal.

“The Qataris… are criticized for not being well motivated. It’s preposterous. They are well motivated,” Witkoff said, using the same term he used to characterize Israel’s leadership.

“They’re good, decent people. What they want is a mediation that’s effective [and] that gets to a peace goal… Because they’re a small nation, and they want to be acknowledged as a peacemaker,” he asserted. “If they had a different agenda, it would be fine, as long as we weren’t operating blind.”

He dismissed as “preposterous” the criticism that the Qataris operate as agents of Iran.

“They’re a Muslim nation. In the past, they’ve had some views that are a little bit more radical from an Islamist standpoint than they are today, but [Qatar] has moderated quite a bit. There’s no doubt that they’re an ally of the United States,” he said, highlighting the US military base that Doha hosts. “They fund everything, [and] they don’t ask for much.”

Witkoff said he was initially criticized for being a “pro-Qatari sympathizer.”

“They’re a mediator… No different than the Swiss and the Norwegians. They’ve mediated in Russia. They’ve mediated in Afghanistan… they’re good at it,” he continued. “If I’m not collaborating with the mediator, I’m bound to be ineffective.”

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends the 163rd GCC Ministerial Council meeting with Egypt in Mecca on March 6, 2025. (Amer HILABI / AFP)

Intimidating the parties

Carlson asked Witkoff about reports — including in The Times of Israel — that he managed to sway Netanyahu more in one fateful January meeting than Biden did in countless interactions aimed at wrapping up the war.

“President Trump sets the table. This whole ‘Peace through strength’ thing — it’s not just a slogan. It actually works. When he dispatches you to go to the Middle East, people are almost a little bit intimidated before you get there,” Witkoff reflected.

He said Israel, Hamas and Qatar all didn’t want to defy Trump by refusing to accept the ceasefire. “It was the president’s overarching personality, and letting everybody know that success was not an option. It had to be.”

“The story was that you just kind of rolled in and said, ‘Here’s what we’re doing. Here’s what the president wants,” Carlson primed.

“Well, that’s what [Trump] would do. So that’s what I did,” responded a smiling Witkoff.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) meets then-US president-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, at his office in Jerusalem, January 11, 2025. (Prime Minister’s Office Spokesperson)

What was in Trump’s letter to Khamenei

Closing the interview on Iran, Witkoff argued that a diplomatic resolution to mounting US tensions with the Islamic Republic is possible.

He revealed the general message in the letter Trump sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei earlier this month.

“It roughly said, ‘I’m a president of peace. That’s what I want. There’s no reason for us to do this militarily. We should talk. We should we should clear up misconceptions. We should create a verification program so that nobody worries about weaponization of your nuclear material, and I’d like to get us to that place because the alternative is not a very good alternative,'” Witkoff said.

He revealed that Tehran has since responded to the US through intermediaries, without going into specifics.

“The president… doesn’t want to go to war, and he’ll use military action to stop a war. That’s when he actually wants to use military action. In this particular case. Hopefully, it won’t be necessary,” Witkoff added, expressing his hope that he or another Trump aide would be able to travel to Tehran for talks aimed at a detente.  link

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• IDF bombs pair of airbases in central Syria, reportedly wounding 2 defense personnel

  Military sources describe the strikes at Palmyra and T-4 as ‘extensive’; attacks come after air force intel recently monitored weapons and other strategic capabilities at the sites
  

  
  The Israel Defense Forces said it bombed a pair of airbases in central Syria on Friday night, the latest strikes targeting military sites linked to the former Assad regime since it was toppled by Islamist-led rebels.

  According to the IDF, the airstrikes targeted “remaining strategic military capabilities” at the Palmyra military airport and the nearby T-4 airbase.

  Two Syrian defense personnel were wounded in the strike at Palmyra, local media reported.
  

  The airstrikes were launched after the Israeli Air Intelligence Group — the Israeli Air Force’s intel unit — had been monitoring weapons and other strategic capabilities at the two military sites in central Syria over the recent period.

  The strikes carried out by IAF fighter jets at both Palmyra and T-4 were described by military sources as “extensive,” taking out capabilities that would ensure the preservation of Israel’s aerial superiority in the region.

  Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, Israel has vowed to destroy weapons in Syria it fears could fall into the hands of “hostile forces” that may seek to attack Israel.
  

  While Assad’s fall brought an end to the country’s more than decade-long civil war, a renewed wave of sectarian violence sparked fears that the new government would not be able to effectively keep the peace in Syria.

  Israeli leaders have consistently stated that they do not trust the country’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom Defense Minister Israel Katz has called an “extreme Islamic leader.” Sharaa, who previously used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, headed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which began as the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda though he has since sought to distance himself from the jihadist terror group.

  Sharaa has dismissed Israel’s threats and Katz’s comments as “nonsense,” and his government has denounced Israel’s continued strikes in the country, as well as the IDF’s presence in a buffer zone in southern Syria.

  The IDF describes its presence in the buffer zone, which was manned by UN peacekeepers until the Assad regime’s ouster in December, as a temporary and defensive measure, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that troops would remain there for “an unlimited period of time” to maintain Israel’s security.

• IDF strikes Hezbollah facilities in eastern Lebanon amid ceasefire
  Military says targets include site for storing rocket launchers, underground infrastructure; no casualties reported

  

  Pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain former leader of Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah, and other killed fighters displayed amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Lebanon's southern village of Khiam, near Israel's border on March 15, 2025. (Rabih Daher / AFP)

  The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said it carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, after identifying activity by the terror group there amid the ongoing ceasefire.

  
  

  One site included underground infrastructure, and another was used to store rocket launchers, according to the military.

  
  

  Lebanese state media on Thursday reported Israeli strikes on the country’s south and east.

  
  

  The state-run National News Agency said “enemy aircraft” struck “the eastern slopes of the mountain range within the town of Janta in the Bekaa,” as well as “the outskirts of the town of Taraya, west of Baalbek,” also in the east.

  
  

  Four missiles were fired in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon, NNA said. No casualties were immediately reported.

  
  A Red Cross worker walks toward a burning car after it was hit by an Israeli strike in a southern Lebanese village on March 15, 2025, in which one person was reportedly killed. (Rabih Daher / AFP)

  
  

  A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The fighting came after the terror group attacked Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of its ally Hamas, which invaded from Gaza a day earlier. The persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.

  
  

  Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the truce agreement took effect, saying it is acting against Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire.

  
  

  Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except from five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and threatening Israel.

  
  

  The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
  
  
• Lebanese media says person killed, 3 wounded in Israeli strike
  

  One person was killed and three wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a village in south Lebanon, Lebanese state TV reports as Israel struck Hezbollah targets in response to a cross-border rocket salvo.

  It is not immediately clear if the casualties are civilians or combatants.

• Lebanese army says it found 3 rocket launchers used in morning attack
  

  The Lebanese army says it located three makeshift rocket launchers between the south Lebanon towns of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, which were used in this morning’s attack on Metula.

  In a statement, the Lebanese Armed Forces says it dismantled the launchers.

  “Military units continue to take the necessary measures to control the situation in the south,” the LAF adds.

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

• ‘Bad Samaritan’ report says Israeli settlers used grazing to grab swathes of West Bank land
  
  

  Settlers filmed hurling stones at Palestinians after raiding their village in Susya on December 21, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

  A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years.

  In their report, “The Bad Samaritan,” Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was “taken under the guise of grazing activities.”

  Settlers in the West Bank use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report.

  To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, “with the backing of the Israeli government and military,” the watchdogs says.

  “Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately — they have nothing to protect themselves,” says Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs.

  “People get very worried about their families and their safety,” and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she tells AFP.

  Meanwhile, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that “Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities.”

  That same week, between March 11 and 17, “two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles, and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized” in incidents involving settlers.

  More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report adds.

  These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank’s Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.

  “The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions,” the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.

  
  
  

Politics and the War (general news)

• Liberman: ‘The prime minister of October 7 is a threat to Israel’s security’
  

  Opposition Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “threat to Israel’s security” after a day of rocket fire from three fronts.

  “Rockets from Gaza, Yemen, and Lebanon within a day. The prime minister of October 7 is a threat to Israel’s security,” he writes on X.

• Metula mayor says IDF, government trying ‘to normalize’ rocket fire after morning attack
  

  Metula Mayor David Azoulai accuses the government and the IDF Northern Command of trying “to normalize” a situation of occasional rocket fire from the north, after launches from Lebanon this morning.

  “We won’t allow them to normalize this. I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and of course IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin to act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities,” he tells the Ynet news site.

  “This is a failure, this is exactly the policy of containment of October 7. Instead of dealing with nonsense, start providing security to the country’s residents,” he says.

•  Poll: Majority of Israelis fear for future of Israel’s democracy after dismissal of Shin Bet chief
  

  The majority of Israelis fear for the future of the country’s democracy, according to a new poll from Channel 12 aired a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government voted to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

  Sixty-three percent of respondents said they fear for the future of the country’s democracy, compared to just 33% who are not concerned and 4% who are unsure.

  Even among coalition voters, 37% of respondents said they’re concerned about the future of Israel’s democracy, compared to 60% who said they were not.

  
  

The Region and the World

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Personal Stories

  

The commanders of the massacre went underground and "disappeared" until a golden piece of intelligence arrived.  

A piece of intelligence about a hideout in Jabalia revealed two Nukhba officers who commanded the massacre and abduction at the Mefalsim intersection. This is how Brigade 215, the firepower of the Southern Command's spearhead division, which rained 70,000 shells on Gaza, became an efficient machine for eliminating the terrorists of October 7: "Our table filled up—we hit hundreds of raiders throughout the fighting."

Hamas terrorists set up an ambush at the "Mefalsim intersection," positioned vehicles to block the road near the kibbutz fences, and waited with heavy machine guns for their victims. When the trapped civilians arrived, the terrorists took advantage of the slowing cars at the intersection and mercilessly opened fire. Most of the vehicles carried partygoers fleeing the Nova festival. According to various testimonies, the terrorists shot civilians, executed them, raped, and burned them.  

In one day, on October 7, about 50 Israelis were murdered here, and some were abducted to the Strip. Since that day, the main perpetrators of the atrocities—Jihad Kahlout and Muhammad Aqel, two Nukhba company commanders—have been on the IDF and Shin Bet's target list. For 13 months, they switched hideouts and roamed the vast tunnel networks of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  

Then, the security system managed to precisely locate the hideout where the two were staying, near a hospital in the Jabalia area in the northern Strip. The Shin Bet passed the information to Firing Brigade 215, which activated its attack system. After a quick assessment, and in coordination with the Air Force, a precise bomb was dropped on the building. The brigade successfully eliminated the planned targets, and more: alongside the two Nukhba commanders, 11 additional terrorists in the hideout were killed, some of whom were other October 7 massacre perpetrators for whom there was no prior information.  

The operation was carried out in an accelerated process, "in a short loop," when an opportunity was identified. "This is an attack where you say 'wow,' a golden piece of intelligence came in, and we attacked the target in a short time," says Colonel A, the brigade commander. "People who did what they did on October 7 shouldn’t be alive. It’s not from a place of revenge, but when you close such a circle, you know you’ve done something significant—not just security-wise, but morally."

"The fire power in this war is something else."  

Thirteen years have passed since Colonel A served as a battery commander in the Second Lebanon War, where he first understood the true meaning of the phrase every artillery recruit memorizes: "Artillery—the queen of battle." On the eve of Hamas's surprise attack, the fire brigade was deployed with one battalion in the north and another in the Judea and Samaria area. In the years leading up to the war, artillery batteries were not routinely stationed on the Gaza border.  

With the outbreak of war, the two battalions began moving south on their tracks, a journey of about 70 kilometers. By October 8, they were already firing shells at targets in the Strip, positioning themselves on the border and carrying out various firing missions—firing at terrorists, destroying booby-trapped houses, responding to emerging incidents and encounters in the field, and attacking rocket launch sites within minutes of rockets being fired at Israel. In A's eyes, the fire power in this war is "something completely different from previous wars": since then, and for 15 months, the firing hasn’t stopped—and this week it resumed with an intensity that will likely only increase.

"The fire in this war is something completely different from previous wars" | Photo: Micha Brickman  

Fire Brigade 215 of the Artillery Corps, established on the basis of Artillery Group 215, is a unique entity in the IDF. In routine times, it includes two regular artillery battalions operating self-propelled guns (SPGs), the small UAV unit "Sky Rider," and three reserve battalions—two artillery and one rocket battalion nicknamed "The Crusher."  

But the secret to Brigade 215's strength isn’t just in artillery shelling or launching "Spear" rockets. In this war, the brigade became the firepower of the entire 162nd Division—a super division encompassing the Nahal, Givati, and 401st brigades. While the ground forces moved, the brigade planned the division's aerial and artillery attacks in coordination with the Southern Command's fire system, in close collaboration with the Air Force and Navy. The coordination and planning work was done through the fire support officers—the brigade's fire officers—who acted as a single nerve center.

"It’s not from a place of revenge, but when you close such a circle, you know you’ve done something significant." Activity in Jabalia | Photo: Micha Brickman  

The mission: Hunt the Nukhba.  

During the war, the brigade was tasked with two main missions: to provide fire support to maneuvering forces and to conduct targeted hunts for terrorists, with a special emphasis on those who participated in the massacre and fled back to the Strip. "We pursued the October 7 raiders and eliminated quite a few of them," emphasizes A, who also maintained a detailed table of those murderers. "For some, we didn’t know their exact names, but in many cases, we could identify exactly who the terrorists were and what their role was." According to him, many names on the table have already been marked with an X.  

Often, the brigade received more detailed information about the terrorists' involvement in the raid, particularly the communities they attacked. In many cases, the IDF knew exactly which community the terrorists raided—Be'eri, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Mefalsim, or other communities attacked during the Simchat Torah massacre. Operational documentation showed the terrorists' infiltration routes, their operation times, and in some cases, the types of attacks they carried out. However, there wasn’t always information about the specific actions they took, only about their "area of operation" on the day of the massacre.

"We pursued the October 7 raiders and eliminated quite a few of them." Commander of Fire Brigade 215 alongside "Dozer" cannons | Photo: Micha Brickman  

Intelligence officials in the brigade avoided exposure to gruesome details irrelevant to fulfilling the operational mission, especially given the atrocities committed on that Black Saturday. The brigade maintained a professional approach—knowing what was operationally necessary and not gathering information about atrocities unless it had real operational value—also out of an understanding of the high sensitivity involved in such information.

The killers who disappeared under the radar.  

The challenge of locating and eliminating the October 7 terrorists was particularly great. From the start of the war, it was clear to those murderers that they were a preferred target for elimination, following statements by the political and military echelons. They maintained strict escape discipline and simply "disappeared under the radar," as they define it in the brigade. They positioned themselves in places with civilian cover, always stayed with family members, and hid in refugee camps, hospitals, and sensitive sites in the humanitarian space.  

The Shin Bet played a central role in locating the raiding terrorists and established a special organization, NILI (Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker), to find them and centralize all information about them. The information was passed to field units, including the fire brigade, according to areas of responsibility. Within the brigade, a dedicated intelligence system operated to locate them, using advanced technologies and cooperation with Unit 8200.

The missions assigned to the unit: provide fire support to maneuvering forces and conduct targeted hunts for terrorists | Photo: Micha Brickman  

Even when they located those terrorists, it wasn’t always possible to attack. The IDF's fire policy clearly defined the rules, who was authorized to approve an attack. Attacks were not approved if the risk of harming uninvolved civilians was high. Another consideration was ammunition allocation: commanders had to ensure there were enough attack means for all missions. Often, they also waited for intelligence to mature to reach a higher level of certainty about the target's location, rather than acting immediately on partial information.  

The challenge was even greater when terrorists hid in humanitarian areas: in such cases, approval from the Southern Command chief and the Chief of Staff was required. Often, they had to forgo an attack if it didn’t meet orders and international law, and instead continued surveillance and waited for a more suitable opportunity. The brigade emphasizes that they acted out of operational considerations, not revenge. The main focus was protecting the maneuvering forces, so the hunt focused on terrorists in areas where the brigade operated, not across the entire Strip simultaneously.

Looking the sniper in the eye.  

Before any entry of forces into a new area in combat, extensive fire operations were carried out, including artillery and aerial strikes. The data speaks for itself: from the start of the war until last week, the brigade fired 69,681 artillery shells and conducted 11,467 aerial strikes, 75% of which were carried out by fighter jets. According to IDF estimates, the brigade is responsible for the elimination of 6,470 terrorists.

From the start of the war, the brigade fired 69,681 artillery shells. Self-propelled gun of the "Dozer" type in combat in Jabalia | Photo: Micha Brickman  

One of the greatest threats the fire brigade faced was Hamas sniper cells—those who position themselves in hiding spots, ensure they aren’t exposed, and look for the weak points of forces in the field. Major D, the fire officer of the Givati Brigade, was there when the terrorist organization managed to hit soldiers with snipers across the Gaza Strip, and even documented and produced awareness videos that were distributed. He was also there when the fire brigade launched a concentrated operation to hunt and eliminate Hamas snipers in the northern Strip—as happened in several successful attempts.  

"On one occasion, a team from the brigade's observation company managed to identify a sniper cell positioned in a building window, aiming at our soldiers with certainty, from a range of about 700 meters," recalls D. The brigade's fire system understood this wasn’t a "typical identification" and immediately sprang into action: a quick connection between the observation company and the brigade, and from there to the Air Force.  

"We faced a dilemma," the officer recounts, detailing: "Whether to call in an airstrike and risk that during the wait the sniper would have time to shoot and hit a soldier, or to immediately launch a UAV missile that would only hit two out of four or five terrorists." In the end, the decision was made to act immediately: a missile was launched into the window, eliminating the sniper and his spotter. The threat to the soldiers was reduced.

"Suddenly you hear on the comms: We’ve been hit."  

When IDF forces entered the Jabalia area on October 6, 2024, the fire brigade unleashed its wrath on the refugee camp. Heavy airstrikes, artillery batteries raining fire non-stop, tank shells, and D9 bulldozers worked together as a massive war machine to systematically dismantle Hamas's resistance in the area and create unprecedented freedom of action for ground forces. The results could be seen on the faces of the Gazan refugees, who returned to destruction and couldn’t believe their eyes.  

"Jabalia doesn’t look like it did before," declares Colonel A. "In my eyes, it’s not fit for human habitation after the IDF carried out a significant maneuver there." The brigade, which developed unique capabilities for "hunting" terrorists hiding among civilians and in underground tunnels, proved its indispensability in the campaign. The strategy of "peeling" fortified systems through precise fire became an effective combat model.

Much of the activity in the refugee camp relied on intelligence obtained from prisoner interrogations, but often early information was lacking. This was the case in a serious incident that occurred about three months ago: three soldiers from the Givati Brigade's Shahak Battalion were killed by an anti-tank missile fired at a "magen" (a walled and sandbanked compound) where they were staying. The hit occurred exactly as the soldiers were preparing to board an armored truck on their way out of the Strip. "This was the largest magen attack of the war," describes the fire officer of Brigade 401. "A force of 18 to 20 terrorists attacked our forces during the rotation of brigade combat teams in the magens."  

The fire system immediately sprang into action when the urgent call came over the comms. "Suddenly we heard on the comms the company commander saying 'We’ve been hit,' that an anti-tank missile was fired at them, that there were wounded, and that they needed fire support as quickly as possible," recalls the fire officer. "We activated significant firepower—a combination of statistical and precise fire, artillery, airstrikes by fighter jets, helicopter strikes, and UAV attacks."  

In the massive response, our forces managed to eliminate 13 of the terrorists, while the rest managed to escape. "It’s a difficult event, but the brigade regrouped, and about an hour and a half after the incident began, it launched a brigade-level attack to repel the enemy and eliminate terrorists. The same brigade that was attacked returned to fight, and they fought like lions. I won’t forget that event."

Many circles have closed, but the activity isn’t over. The artillerymen in Jabalia | Photo: Micha Brickman  

The artillery breakthrough.  

One of the most notable innovations in the fighting was the use of direct-fire artillery, making its first comeback since the First Lebanon War in 1982. "We brought back some of the old practices," admits the brigade commander. Artillerymen entered Shejaiya with self-propelled "Dozer" guns for this exact purpose. The buildings shelled suffered much more devastating damage than tank fire and at a much lower cost compared to Air Force munitions. "Instead of sending forces to sweep a suspicious building—we hit it with an artillery shell. It does 'nice' damage to the floor."  

One of the greatest complexities fire brigade officers face is the personal familiarity with the commanders and soldiers in the field. Dealing with difficult events, like the death of Colonel Ahsan Daksa, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, in an explosion in Jabalia, requires emotional detachment, a capability without which it’s doubtful one could function.  

"We quickly understood what happened," recalls the brigade's fire officer. Despite the high adrenaline in such moments, which could lead to impulsive and uncontrolled fire, they had to remain calm and choose the most effective targets to provide optimal cover for the forces in the field. "When the event ended, suddenly all the tension dropped. I remember the people in the system, in the forward positions—everyone suddenly fell silent. There were a few minutes of complete silence. We tried to process what exactly happened, and suddenly it clicked for everyone."

"No matter where they send us—as a brigade, as a fire system, or as a maneuvering force—we’ll do whatever is required" | Photo: Micha Brickman  

At the same time, tightening the bond between the brigade and the brigade commanders and battalion commanders also strengthened their trust in each other. "The ability to fire a shell 50 to 200 meters from our forces—that’s a matter of professional courage," emphasizes the brigade commander. "A small mistake by a soldier in the gun or the firing process could result in hitting our own forces. The operational processes we developed were incredibly precise, and the people understood the importance of the mission. The maneuvering commanders trusted us blindly. It’s a trust we built and deepened over the past months."

Plans on the table.  

Just before the ceasefire collapsed, at the brigade headquarters, it was noticeable that the pace of work had slowed. There was no commotion, and perhaps that’s why the fire officers had a little time to talk. When asked about it, they clarify that no one in the brigade rests on their laurels at any stage.  

"We don’t stop investigating, generating targets, and deepening intelligence in every possible sector, to be ready for any operation required, no matter where," says Major Y, the fire officer of the Nahal Brigade. "Our commitment and responsibility as fire officers is to provide an accurate picture, identify targets, and conduct intelligence deepening—and that’s in all sectors, not just the Gaza Strip. No matter where they send us—as a brigade, as a fire system, or as a maneuvering force—we’ll do whatever is required."

The brigade completed its mission in the Strip on the 500th day of the war, in mid-February. Now, with the resumption of fighting, it may soon be activated again, as part of the overall effort to apply "increasing military pressure," as defined by the political echelon.  

Meanwhile, one SPG battalion has moved north, and another will begin operational activity in Judea and Samaria in the coming weeks. The targets continue to be updated, intelligence flows, and so do the kill lists. "We live in full readiness every day," describes Colonel A. "My schedule, and the brigade's daily planning, are based on the assumption that tomorrow we return to war. That’s exactly what’s expected from an army. I suggest the enemy not meet us again, but if we have to—we’ll come with force."  

All details in the article were approved for publication by the military censor.  link

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

IPS - Israel Prison System

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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