🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 612, 2023

🎗️Day 612 that 55 of our hostages are still 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

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Funerals held for 4 soldiers killed in Gaza building blast

Soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of IDF Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at the Sde Warburg cemetery in central Israel, on June 8, 2025. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

The funerals of four soldiers killed in Friday’s building explosion in the southern Gaza Strip are held throughout the country.

Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, one of four soldiers, is buried at the Sde Warburg Cemetery.

In his eulogy, Lior Raver, Yoav’s father, says his son taught him “humility, love, brotherhood, and friendship.”

“I asked you if you weren’t afraid, you said you were afraid, but that you were professional. You set out with your head held high on a noble mission — to bring information about the hostages or to bring them back themselves,” he says.

Separately, hundreds of people join a funeral procession for Staff Sgt. Uri Yhonatan Cohen, who is buried in Neve Yarak Cemetery.

The funerals of Sgt. First Class Tom Rotstein and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Chen Gross are held by loved ones in private.

Hostage Updates

Until the last hostage

Kuperstein at Likud HQ: 'Bar helped wounded despite chance to escape inferno'

Tal Kuperstein, father of Bar Kuperstein who is being held captive in Gaza, spoke at a protest rally outside Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv. He said: "On October 7, Bar helped the wounded, he could have escaped, but he chose to return to the inferno. He took weapons from dead police officers and fought the terrorists. Even when his hands and feet were bound with a rope around his neck, Bar shouted his name to the terrorists and asked them to take care of the wounded Elkana Buchbut. That's Bar, always caring for others before himself".

Einav Tzengauker at Likud HQ: '612 days Matan in hell, suffering muscle atrophy and excruciating pain'
Einav Tzengauker, mother of Matan who is held hostage in Gaza, addressed a rally of hostages' families outside Likud headquarters (Metzudat Ze'ev) in Tel Aviv. "612 days my beloved son Matan has been held in hell as Hamas' captive," she said, "612 days I haven't breathed, eaten or slept. He's dealing with muscle atrophy in captivity, suffering excruciating pain and cannot stand on his feet."

Ilana Gritzevsky, Matan's partner, said: "I would never have believed that after 18 months I would still be fighting for you, Matan, and for all the hostages we left behind."

Wife of hostage Omri Miran: 'I explain to my daughter every day that I hope someone will help us'

Lishi Miran Lavi, wife of Omri Miran who is held hostage in Gaza, played a recording at the Constitution Committee of a conversation with her daughters where they ask 'When will dad come back?' She then said: 'A four-year-old child is starting to despair and asks me 'Why are you traveling?' After all, no one is helping us, and I have to explain to her every day that I hope someone will help us. Why do I need to fly around the world asking for help? This is your responsibility. This parliament currently only serves the chairs you're sitting on.'
Rothman walks out of Knesset committee meeting after being chided by wife of hostage
MK Simcha Rothman adjourns a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and walks out after being accused by the wife of a hostage of helping perpetuate his captivity.
Lishay Miran-Lavie, the wife of Hamas-held hostage Omri Miran, displays a picture of her two young daughters holding a poster of their captive father before the committee.
“This is how the girls are taking a picture with their dad,” says Miran-Lavie. “Until when will they wait for their father, when will their father return from Gaza?”
She also chides Rothman, the committee chairman, for checking his phone in the middle of her speech. “This discussion is very deep and interesting, but it really should not be held during wartime,” she says bitterly.
She accuses Rothman of keeping her husband hostage in Gaza, prompting the right-wing lawmaker to call a recess and leave the room.
The committee was convened to discuss a bill that aims to bring the Department of Internal Police Investigations, which probes police officers suspected of committing crimes, under the direct control of Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
Critics have called the bill the latest step in a coalition-led campaign to wrest power from professional legal bodies and subjugate them to political interests. link. Rothman is one of the more disgusting Likud Knesset members who is also the head of one of the most important Knesset committees of Constitution, Law and Justice which is the committee formulating the laws to take over the Israeli Judiciary and make it subservient to the government. Rothstein has repeatedly berated and yelled at hostage family members, had them silenced and removed from his committee room and has never accepted any of the responsibility of being in the ruling government when October 7 occurred. For him, it is nothing more than a blip in time and forced him to hold back for some time his judicial overthrow laws. For him, the hostage families that attend his committee meetings are nothing more than a nuisance and he doesn't want to hear from him. A disgraceful excuse for a Knesset member and a human being.

'My head and heart are stuck there': Gaza hostage's mother fights for her youngest son after other son released
Ruth Strom pleads for unity amid son's 612 days in captivity and urges Israel to prioritize rescue over infighting; continues fight for Eitan after son Iair was released in previous deal
Ruth Strom, mother of hostage Eitan Horn and released captive Iair Horn from Kibbutz Nir Oz, spoke to Ynet on Monday, urging Israeli leaders to focus solely on returning the hostages.

“I’m not a politician. I’m a mother—and my son is a hostage,” she said. “I wish people would stop talking politics and start doing something—move everything, bring them all back. And then we’ll see.”

Strom declined to criticize Israel’s political or military leadership, saying she’s motivated solely by the quiet, relentless pain that’s consumed her for 612 days. “This isn’t the time for elections,” she said. “First, deal with the hostages. Then you can fight. Right now—bring our children back.”

Iair, her middle son, was released in the second hostage deal in February. Her eldest, Amos, wasn’t taken on October 7. But her youngest, Eitan, remains in Hamas captivity in Gaza. “Even though Iair is back, I never left October 7,” she said. “I’m still there. My head and heart are stuck there. I keep imagining what they’re going through. I hear the testimonies—it’s unbearable. I can hardly sleep. And when I wake up, I can’t believe we’re still in this reality. How have they not brought everyone back yet?” She knows very little about Eitan’s condition. Iair has told her only fragments. “The conditions are inhumane,” she said. “Eitan has a chronic skin condition. He needs fresh air, showers, clean water—all things he doesn’t have. I know his condition flared up. I saw the clothing they returned from captivity. No one had to tell me it was his. I saw it. I felt it.”

Eitan and Iair Horn from a Hamas psychological terror video

She often speaks of her sons as one unit. “Iair, Eitan and Amos—they’re a force. The fact that Iair and Eitan were together gave them strength. Now Eitan's alone. Of course I worry. But I believe he’ll come back. I know he’s strong. He’ll come back.

“Each day is harder than the one before. Every moment I’m trying to understand what’s happening to them—moment by moment, day by day. Sometimes I feel like I can’t go on. But I find strength, from somewhere, because I have to—for them.” She described the emotional impact of Iair’s return. “Being with him—it’s wonderful. I’m with him and he’s with me. But we won’t truly start healing until Eitan is here too. Then we’ll be able to recover. All of us. Even Iair. I’m doing everything I can to make sure Eitan comes back—so we’re not left alone again.”

Despite everything, she holds on to hope. “When Eitan returns, he’ll get everything he needs—every kind of care. We’ll heal together. Once he’s here, it’ll be easier for all of us, even for Iair. I’m holding on to hope that this is coming soon. Enough. It’s time—for the families, for the hostages, for the whole nation—to begin to heal.”

After Colorado attack, several hundred rally for hostages in NYC

A rally for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in Central Park, New York City, June 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
Several hundred demonstrators rally in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza in New York City’s Central Park, after a firebombing of a hostage rally in Boulder, Colorado, last weekend.
The Central Park rally takes place every Sunday. Today’s demonstration appears to draw a larger crowd than usual.
Speakers repeatedly bring up the attack.
“We know that there are those who try to silence us,” says Eric Goldstein, the head of the UJA Federation of New York.”
“They were not silenced, they’re back again this week,” he says of the protest group in Boulder. “We cannot be silenced. We must come back stronger.”
Some in the crowd cry as the mother of Matan Lior, killed at the Supernova party, describes his final moments.
The crowd chants, “Seal the deal,” and “You are not alone.”
Organizers say they have increased security at the event. The crowd gives a round of applause for the police and the security company protecting the rally.

Hundreds turn out for hostage walk in Boulder week after attack

Several hundred people turn out in Boulder, Colorado, for a walk in support of hostages held in Gaza that typically draws only a couple dozen. Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper and other dignitaries are among the participants.

Demonstrators hold signs that read “End Jew Hatred” and hand out stickers stamped with “611,” representing the 611 days since the first Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas.

On a stage near the site of the attack, hundreds gather to listen to speakers and songs. Vendors sell traditional Jewish and Israeli cuisine. In tents marked “Hostage Square,” rows of chairs sit empty save for photos of the hostages and the exhortation “Bring them home now!”

Moshe Lavi, whose brother-in-law Omri Miran is among the hostages, thanks local demonstrators for their bravery in advocating for his family. He describes Miran as a gentle and loving gardener, husband and father to two young children.

The event takes place as part of a Jewish cultural festival, which was reimagined this year to highlight the stories of Israeli hostages after a man who yelled “Free Palestine” threw Molotov cocktails at marchers a week ago, injuring 15 people.

In pre-recorded videos, hostages’ families thank festival goers. One of Miran’s children says in Hebrew, “When daddy comes back from Gaza, he’ll take me to kindergarten.”

“Just seeing them speaking to us, here, with all they’re going through, their supporting us is kind of mind blowing,” says Merav Tsubely, an Israeli-American who came to the festival from a city north of Boulder. “It just reminds us how connected we all are.”

The Boulder Police Department and the FBI coordinated to provide increased security at the festival as well as local synagogues and the Boulder Jewish Community Center. Officers guard the event’s entrances, and police Chief Stephen Redfearn said some plainclothes officers would be present in the crowd. On a rooftop near the stage, three hold rifles and use binoculars to monitor the crowd as drones buzzed overhead.

Matan Gold-Edelstein’s father was present last weekend and helped douse the fire that burned an older woman. Gold-Edelstein, a 19-year-old college student, says the well-attended festival was a great show of humanity, regardless of religion or politics.

“We’re not here to be in support of a war,” he says. “We’re here in support of our religion, in support of our people and in support of the innocent people who are still being held hostage.”

Gaza and the South

Documents found in Gaza show Hamas-Qatar coordination against Trump peace plan

Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R), in a meeting with Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh (L) and official Khaled Mashal in Doha, Qatar, October 17, 2016. (Qatar government handout)

Channel 12 reports that documents found during the army’s operations in Gaza show a close effort between Qatar and Hamas to thwart US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians and efforts for Arab countries to normalize relations with the Jewish state.
The report contends, citing the documents, that Qatar’s relationship was crucial to the Hamas terror group’s survival over the years, and its ability to carry out the October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.
In an emergency June 2019 meeting, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani met with Hamas leaders regarding concerns over Trump’s plans for peace and for Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel.
Al Thani noted that countries such as Saudi Arabia may agree to ties with Israel, the report says.
Khaled Mashaal reportedly told Al Thani, “We need to cooperate in order to resist the deal of the century and thwart it.”
In December 2019, at a meeting with Qatar’s then-foreign minister, now Prime Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, then-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reportedly said, “The Qatari grants are Hamas’s main artery,” referring to the cash given by Doha to the terror group.
Later in 2020, Trump officially unveiled a peace plan that he framed as a “realistic” two-state solution. The “deal of the century,” formally entitled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People,” offered the Palestinians a state on roughly 70% of the West Bank that wouldn’t include Israel’s settlements, as well as a chunk of the Negev desert and a hefty economic aid package.
Documents reported by Channel 12 also show correspondence demonstrating that Hamas worked to remove Egypt’s diplomatic influence in Gaza’s affairs, and to replace it with Qatar’s.
Then Gaza’s ruler, Yahya Sinwar, reportedly wrote to Haniyeh in May 2021 after the terror group’s 11-day clash with Israel: “The Egyptians were attempting to restrain the escalation, and we caused them to leave the picture with empty hands. In their place, the Qataris came, and we gave them an opportunity to dictate the fruits of diplomacy.”

IDF: Troops in Gaza destroyed mile-long tunnel, dozens of booby-trapped buildings

Weapons found by troops in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout photo published June 9, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

During recent operations of the Paratroopers Brigade and Yahalom combat engineering unit in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the military says it located and demolished a kilometer-and-a-half-long tunnel (1 mile).
The tunnel was used by Hamas operatives as a hideout, and dozens of weapons were found inside, the IDF says.
Additionally, the troops, with support from the Israeli Air Force, destroyed dozens of buildings that had been booby-trapped by Hamas, and a weapons depot, the army says.
“The buildings were rigged with numerous explosives weighing some five tons,” the IDF says. video of blowing up the tunnel

IDF says it ‘almost certainly’ found Muhammad Sinwar’s body in Khan Younis tunnel

IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin speaks in Khan Younis, June 8, 2025. (Screenshot/IDF Spokesperson)

One of the bodies the IDF pulled out of a tunnel in Khan Younis over the weekend is “almost certainly” Hamas military leader Muhammad Sinwar, says IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.

The IDF extracted 4 other bodies from a tunnel under Khan Younis’s European Hospital, including — the military believes — Rafah brigade commander Muhammed Shabaneh.

IDF troops remove the body of a Hamas operative from a tunnel running underneath the European Hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, June 7, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Times of Israel toured the tunnel earlier today.

Muhammad Sinwar was the younger brother of the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. The younger Sinwar was killed in an Israeli strike on the tunnel system on May 13.

Israeli hostages were likely held in the tunnel as well at some point, says Maj. N., a company commander in the Golani Brigade’s elite reconnaissance company.

“This was one of the command and control centers that Hamas used to carry out the October 7 attacks on the Gaza border communities, the slaughter and the murder,” says Defrin, addressing Israeli military reporters above an entrance to the tunnel.

Turning to the new US- and Israeli-backed humanitarian aid effort in Gaza, Defrin says that Israel, “as opposed to Hamas, is feeding the population, and we will do everything to open these distribution sites.”

“We are giving out tens of thousands of boxes of food a day, which have reached millions of people already,” he continues. “It works and we will continue to do it. It undermines Hamas’s rule, it pulls the rug out from under its feet, and it’s working.”

The purpose of the ongoing ground operation, says Defrin, “is bringing back the hostages and bringing down Hamas’s rule.”

GHF says it delivered food to Gazan community leaders for distribution as part of pilot program

A Palestinian picks up aid at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center on June 8, 2025. (GHF)

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation reports that it distributed another 17,000 boxes of food at three sites in Rafah and central Gaza today, a day after it said it was forced to shutter operations due to threats against its staff by Hamas operatives.

GHF says it also delivered 11 trucks’ worth of aid to community leaders for distribution in northern Rafah, as part of a pilot program that will see supplies delivered directly to Gazans, rather than forcing them to walk long distances and cross IDF lines in order to receive aid.

“We will be reviewing the operations and determining if this is a viable option moving forward,” it says.

Amid escalating tensions, the GHF reports it successfully delivered thousands of food boxes across Gaza “without incident” today, despite claims of IDF shooting near aid sites and explicit threats from Hamas against its staff.

“GHF is actively testing and adapting its distribution model to safely deliver the maximum amount of aid to the greatest number of people. We remain flexible and will continue to adapt distributions based on conditions on the ground, including road access, crowd pressure, and safety considerations,” continues the update, adding that the foundation is planning to open additional sites in northern Gaza.

John Acree, GHF’s interim executive director, adds, “Recently, we have started a women’s and children only lane to ensure they receive aid and today we piloted a direct-to-community delivery.”

Asked about the logistics behind the new delivery method, a GHF spokesman tells reporters that trucks delivered food “in population hubs outside of [the three aid centers], in order to reduce pressure on the main centers.” The spokesman specifies that “boxes are being distributed directly to people” as opposed to warehouses, to bypass Hamas operatives.

GHF said earlier today that it would open just one aid distribution site in central Gaza, after keeping the three sites closed yesterday over what it said were threats from the Hamas terror group against its staff members. The spokesman shares an Arabic-language threat from Hamas he says was received by GHF staff members: “This is your final warning: We are fully aware of everything you are doing, and all your movements are being monitored with extreme precision. You will not be forgiven for getting involved in projects that harm the dignity of our people and serve suspicious agendas under the guise of humanitarian work. Continuing down this path will have serious consequences, and you will bear full responsibility for the results of your actions. Stop now, or else.”

Addressing safety and security at the sites, GHF says, “Aid distribution at all three sites proceeded without incident.”

For multiple days in a row last week, and again this morning, there have been unverified reports of deadly shootings by IDF troops at and near the aid sites run by the Israel- and US-backed organization.

Hamas sends threatening texts to Gaza aid workers: ‘You will be held responsible’

Message to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation workers warns: 'We are fully aware of what you are doing… You will bear full responsibility for the consequences of your actions'
A day after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced it would suspend operations at its distribution centers in Gaza due to a series of Hamas threats against local drivers and staff.

One of the texts that was obtained from a GHF employee said: “Continuing on this path will lead to severe consequences.”

“We are fully aware of what you are doing, and your every move is being closely monitored,” the threatening message continued. “We will not forgive your involvement in projects that damage the dignity of our people and serve suspicious agendas under the guise of humanitarian work. You will bear full responsibility for the consequences of your actions.”

The aid foundation, which distributes prepackaged meals, hygiene kits and medical supplies through special centers coordinated with Israel, said Saturday that Hamas had made “direct threats” against its teams, rendering continued operations too dangerous. As a result, the centers remained closed that day.

Despite the threats, GHF resumed operations on Sunday, reporting that it had distributed a total of 1,157,760 meals at its designated sites—including, for the first time, through direct delivery to local communities. Eleven food trucks were dispatched for distribution to community leaders and merchants north of Rafah, carrying 10,560 boxes containing approximately 609,840 meals. “We are continuing to adapt and improve our operations to ensure the safety of the people we serve," Acting GHF CEO John Acree said. "We recently opened a dedicated line for women and children to guarantee they also receive assistance, and today we piloted our first direct-to-community distribution. Every day, we look for new ways to improve and deliver aid to those who need it most.” GHF has faced significant challenges since launching its operations in Gaza. According to the organization, Hamas has been attempting to regain control over aid distribution systems it previously exploited to advance its own objectives, at the expense of the local population. The threats, the foundation says, were “the reason hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans were not fed” the day the aid sites were shut. Still, the foundation emphasized: “We will not be deterred. We remain committed to safe, secure, and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay."

Humanitarian aid distribution in Rafah (Photo: AP/ Abdel Kareem Hana)

The shutdown of the aid centers stemmed from direct Hamas threats not only toward GHF field workers but also toward Gazan civilians who sought to receive assistance. These included cases of gunfire and fatalities caused by Hamas operatives. Meanwhile, around 400 aid trucks remain stalled on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, as the United Nations currently refuses to coordinate their transfer.

On Friday night, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department is considering a $500 million aid package to GHF “at Israel’s request.” According to sources cited in the report, the funding would be channeled through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is currently being integrated into the State Department. However, several senior U.S. officials have reportedly expressed opposition to the plan, citing incidents of gunfire near distribution centers and doubts about GHF’s operational capacity. link

Palestinian media reports several large airstrikes in Jabalia, no IDF comment yet

Palestinian media reports several large airstrikes in northern Gaza’s Jabalia a short while ago.

There are no immediate reports of casualties in the strikes, and the IDF has not yet commented.

The IDF has warned several times in recent weeks that the Jabalia area is a combat zone, instructing civilians to evacuate. Video

Hamas police chief who attacked Nova festival on Oct. 7 killed in strike a week ago, IDF says

The abandoned site of the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Re'im, where Hamas terrorists murdered and abducted numerous partygoers, October 12, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Kibbutz Re’im and attacked the nearby Nova festival during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike just over a week ago, the military says.

Arafat Dhiab was a member of Hamas’s Sheikh Radwan Battalion, known in the Israel Defense Forces as the al-Furqan Battalion, and also the chief of a Hamas-run police station in the Strip, according to the IDF.

Dhiab, who attacked Re’im and the Nova party on October 7, 2023, was killed on May 31, the IDF says.

Separately, the IDF says dozens of Hamas operatives were targeted in airstrikes directed by the 98th Division during operations in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis yesterday.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, a strike carried out by the 282nd Artillery Regiment eliminated several operatives at a command center, the IDF says, attaching a video of the incident.

Dozens more targets, including weapon depots, tunnels, and operatives, were hit in airstrikes in the past day, the military adds. Video

Inside the Gaza militia armed by Israel: A history of terror, ISIS ties and attacks on IDF

‘No Fatahstan’? PA sources say they pay Yasser Abu Shabab, ex-drug trafficker whose men have fired rockets at Israel and have links to ISIS; accused of looting aid, he survived a Hamas hit in Khan Younis; associates claim he enjoys broad support

After Israel confirmed it was arming a Palestinian militia operating against Hamas in southern Gaza, led by Rafah resident Yasser Abu Shabab, disturbing details have emerged about its members, past and current activities and ties to extremist terror groups.

Abu Shabab, a man in his 30s from a poor Bedouin family in eastern Rafah, founded what is known locally as “the Popular Forces.” According to sources familiar with the militia who spoke with Ynet, the group is not merely engaged in fighting Hamas. It is a heavily armed organization with a track record of terrorist activity against Israel, links to ISIS and a criminal past.

Abu Shabab

Criminal past—military present

According to sources close to the militia leader, Abu Shabab dropped out of school at an early age and became involved in drug trafficking—primarily dealing in hashish and psychoactive pills. He later took up work “guarding humanitarian aid trucks” entering Gaza, a role he reportedly exploited to steal goods and engage in systematic looting.

Abu Shabab reportedly provided “security services” for aid convoys operated by the Red Cross, UNRWA and the United Nations—but in practice, is alleged to have sold off goods he received through those roles. A UN source told Ynet that his name appeared in an internal memo identifying him as responsible for large-scale looting of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip.

Roughly 300 armed Gazans, some of them former inmates released from Hamas-run prisons, are now affiliated with Abu Shabab’s force. Around 30 families in eastern Rafah are considered his supporters. For now, they enjoy relative protection: the IDF operates in the area, limiting the likelihood of airstrikes and their presence also shields the families from potential Hamas retaliation.
Though the militia is portrayed as opposing Hamas, its members have reportedly taken part in rocket fire against Israel and maintain contacts with ISIS affiliates. A close associate of Abu Shabab told Ynet, “We’re counting on the masses to rise up against Hamas. We have broad support. Abu Shabab is seen as a hero who fears no one.”
ISIS links and Shalit abduction accomplices
Among the more prominent figures in the armed militia is Issam Nabahin, 33, from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, who previously fought with ISIS in Sinai against the Egyptian army. Nabahin returned to Gaza shortly before the war began on October 7, 2023, and was documented launching rockets at Israel without Hamas coordination. According to sources, he was sentenced to death but managed to escape prison on the first day of the war.
Issam Nabahin   
Another militia member, Ghassan al-Dheini—the brother of Walid al-Dheini, an ISIS operative killed by Hamas—was involved in the 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and now operates within the new militia, despite officially being affiliated with Fatah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said there will be no "Fatahstan" in Gaza. However, Palestinian Authority sources report that Abu Shabab’s militia receives salaries through the PA, under the personal patronage of senior Gaza-based intelligence official Bahaa Balusha. The sources added that tensions exist between Balusha and General Intelligence chief Majed Faraj over the extent of support for the militia. According to sources familiar with the matter, two additional militias are expected to become active soon—one in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and another in central Gaza.
Ghassan al-Dheini
“In practice, this is an armed force simultaneously backed by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and former senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, while openly operating against Hamas,” a senior Palestinian security official told Ynet.
Though Abu Shabab’s family is publicly opposed to Hamas and perceived as aligned with Fatah, it was involved in the deadly 2004 attack in Rafah known as part of the "APC disaster," a pair of assaults in which 13 IDF soldiers were killed, including seven in Rafah.
Yasser Abu Shabab
In November 2024, Abu Shabab survived an assassination attempt at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Two of his associates, his brother Fathi Abu Shabab and Majed Abu Dakkar, were killed in a Hamas ambush, but he managed to escape.

Israel’s arming of Abu Shabab’s militia was first revealed last week by Yisrael Beitenu Party Chairman Avigdor Liberman. Following the report, military censors cleared for publication some of the information. 
Prime Minister Netanyahu later addressed the issue, confirming the move had been taken on the advice of security officials. “What’s wrong with it?” Netanyahu said. “It’s a good thing. It saves IDF soldiers’ lives.” He criticized Liberman’s disclosure, saying it “only helped Hamas” and calling it “a very serious matter.”  Link 

Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

Lebanese army reportedly searching for Hezbollah arms in Dahiyeh
The Lebanese army is searching for weapons and military equipment in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, a stronghold of the Hezbollah terror group, the Lebanese TV network Aljadeed reports.

It comes days after Israel struck underground drone manufacturing sites in the neighborhood.

This was happening, the military said, “despite the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” as laid out in a November ceasefire agreement that halted more than a year of fighting along Israel’s northern border.

“This activity is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The Hezbollah terror organization creates challenges for the Lebanese state and thus impairs the implementation of the understandings,” the IDF asserted.

An image circulating on social media appeared to show Lebanese troops searching Dahiyeh, apparently for weapons.

West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks

Politics and the War and General News

Hamas documents reportedly show deep ties, coordination between Qatar, terror group
Papers apparently seized in Gaza show Hamas political chief told Doha its funds were the group’s ‘main artery’ and Sinwar wanted more supportive Qatar to take leading role in mediation

Documents seized in Gaza over the course of the war against Hamas and published by an Israeli TV channel Sunday night purport to shine a light on Qatar’s intensive collaboration with the terror group spanning a number of years, including attempts to thwart regional peace efforts by the US, marginalize Egyptian influence on Gaza, and bolster the roles of Turkey and Iran.

The documents appear to contradict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent characterization of Qatar as a “complicated state, but not an enemy state,” and his attempts to downplay years of Qatari cash infusions of millions of dollars a month to Hamas in Gaza, which he recently claimed didn’t play a significant role in allowing the terror group to prepare for, and execute, its ongoing war against the Jewish state, which erupted with the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel.

According to Channel 12 news, the documents show that the payments, which were transferred with Israel’s blessing, were significant enough that in December 2019, then-Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh told Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani that the Gulf state’s cash to Gaza was “Hamas’s main artery.”

In May 2021, immediately after the conclusion of an 11-day mini war between Israel and Hamas, Haniyeh told the terror group’s leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar that Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani had privately “agreed on discreet financial support” for the group’s “resistance” efforts, according to the report.
“He agreed in principle to supply the resistance discreetly, but he does not want anyone in the world to know. Until now, $11 million dollars have been raised from the emir for the leadership of the movement,” Haniyeh reportedly wrote.
Hamas’s then-Gaza chief Yahya Al-Sinwar (R) and then-leader Ismail Haniyeh (L) take part in the funeral of senior terrorist Mazen Fuqaha in Gaza City March 25, 2017 (Wissam Nassar/Flash90). Both were killed by Israel, in separate killings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, in 2024.

The political leader asked Sinwar to “write a letter, in which you will focus on the military campaign, your urgent needs —and dedicate the victory [in the war] to His Highness.”
In addition to Doha’s cash, Qatari intelligence officials reportedly met with a Hamas representative at one point — the report did not provide a date — to discuss supervising special training units for Hamas fighters on military bases in Qatar and Turkey, and for the integration of Syrian Palestinians who fled to Lebanon amid the Syrian civil war into Hamas’s Lebanese battalions.

That meeting was recorded, according to Channel 12, in a classified document belonging to the Palestinian Authority.
Qatar’s role in supporting Hamas, including years of monthly cash grants officially earmarked for fuel purchases intended to help keep a lid on economic pressures in the beleaguered Strip, have become a major issue in Israel in recent months as critics examine its role in the ongoing war. The questions have been compounded by an active criminal investigation into alleged illicit ties between members of Netanyahu’s staff and Doha.

Both Haniyeh and Sinwar have since been killed amid the ongoing war — Haniyeh while visiting Iran, in an assassination that Israel later took credit for, and Sinwar by Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in the southern Gaza Strip.

Deal of the Century
Several of the documents cited by Channel 12 covered Hamas and Qatar’s response to US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century” in 2020 for a permanent resolution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, and the American leader’s efforts to forge normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries in the Middle East.
Trump’s plan, framed as a “realistic” two-state solution, offered the Palestinians a state on roughly 70 percent of the West Bank that wouldn’t include Israel’s settlements, as well as a chunk of the Negev desert and a hefty economic aid package. It was rejected by the PA and has since largely been discarded.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rails against then-US president Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Deal of the Century,’ as he speaks in the West Bank’s Ramallah on September 3, 2020, by video conference with representatives of Palestinian factions including Hamas gathered at the Palestinian embassy in Beirut. (Alaa BADARNEH / POOL / AFP)

In June 2019, over a year before the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to normalize relations with Israel in August 2020, Qatari Emir Al Thani told Hamas leaders that Oman was signaling an openness to forging ties with Jerusalem.
“With respect to Palestine — Oman is on one side and we are on the other side,” he reportedly told them during the emergency meeting.

At the meeting, Khaled Mashaal told the emir: “We must work together to oppose the Deal of the Century and eliminate it.”
Some six months later, a Hamas delegation traveled to Iran for the funeral of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in an American airstrike in Iraq in early January 2020. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh thanked the Qataris for flying the delegation to Iran, according to the papers.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks at the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, January 6, 2020. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader)

When Hamas, internally, considered what would happen if Qatar itself were to normalize relations with Israel, it determined such a deal would mean “the elimination of the Palestinian national project,” according to Channel 12, citing a secret brief from the terror group.

Boosting Qatar, marginalizing Egypt
In another document — parts of which were previously reported by Channel 12 — Sinwar told Haniyeh that Hamas should push for Qatar to have a larger role in mediating to end flare-ups with Israel rather than Egypt, describing Doha as more loyal to the group than Cairo.
“We can help with this and open big doors for them, as happened around the escalation of the incendiary balloons in August 2020,” the Gaza leader wrote, referring to a months-long campaign in which the terror group and others in Gaza sent daily arson balloons into Israel, sparking damaging fires and drawing reprisal Israeli airstrikes.
“The Egyptians were attempting to restrain the escalation, and we caused them to leave the picture with empty hands. In their place, the Qataris came, and we gave them an opportunity to dictate the fruits of diplomacy,” wrote Sinwar, who went on to mastermind the October 7, 2023, attack.
View of a fire near kibbutz Be’eri, caused by incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip, on August 13, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Amid the ongoing war sparked by the 2023 attack — in which some 5,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 captives — both Qatar and Egypt have functioned as mediators amid ceasefire-hostage negotiations between Israel and the terror group.

Two of Netanyahu’s senior aides are currently suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters, in order to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator.
A judge in the case — known in Israel as “Qatargate” — said that Qatar also wanted one of the aides, the premier’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, to spread negative messaging about Egypt’s role in the negotiations.
Qatar has denied making moves aimed at marginalizing Egypt.

Lead-up to October 7
In May 2022 — some 17 months before the surprise invasion of Israel that sparked the ongoing war, and as US-backed normalization efforts between Israel and Arab states continued — Sinwar wrote to Haniyeh that Turkey, which has ties with Israel, should also take a leading role in efforts against Israel.
“It is on you all to begin to prepare the campaign,” he wrote to the political chief of the terror group. “We must begin immediately with our allies — Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. Qatari and Turkish diplomacy must be in a leading role. Our role is to make it hard for the occupation to breathe and ensure the severing of international actors’ diplomatic ties with them.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and then-Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, shake hands during their meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, April 20, 2024. (Turkish Presidency via AP)

Likewise, when a Hamas delegation was visiting Iran — in another incident whose date was unclear from the report — the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s strategic policy office told the terror group officials, “We are happy about the Qatari-Turkish support for you.”
Seven months before the October 2023 attack, Sinwar spoke with Haniyeh about Iran’s opposition to the drive for normalization, which was largely centered on bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords.
At the time, Iran had just agreed to a China-brokered rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, ending years of strained relations between the countries. According to the documents cited by Channel 12, Sinwar told Haniyeh that Tehran had no interest in Hamas also reaching out to countries in the Saudi sphere of influence.
“They don’t want calm or agreements,” he said of the Iranians. “They don’t want us to establish relations with their rivals or enemies, countries that are establishing normalization with America and the Zionist enemy. But they are ready for ties with Qatar and Turkey.” link

The Region and the World

Israel confirms it took control of Gaza-bound boat, activists to be sent home
The activist boat headed for Gaza, Madleen, is being towed by the Israeli Navy to Israel after troops boarded the vessel a short while ago, Israel confirms.
“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry says in a statement.
There are no reports of injuries after soldiers boarded the boat carrying 12 pro-Palestinian activists, who said they were sailing for Gaza to raise awareness and deliver aid. It is unclear where they are being held.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the boat, says contact has been lost. On Telegram, it publishes a series of pre-recorded videos of those aboard asking for help from their home countries.
The ministry says Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and the others aboard Madleen “attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity.”
The boat was carrying “less than a single truckload of aid,” it says, noting that “more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.”
“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies. The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the ‘celebrities’ will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels,” the ministry adds.
The Israeli military has not commented on the incident, instead referring reporters to the ministry’s announcement.

Katz says detained activists to be forced to watch video of Hamas atrocities
Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to screen a video showing atrocities committed on October 7, 2023, to detained activists who had attempted to challenge Israel’s blockade on Gaza, his office says in a statement.

The harrowing 43-minute video produced by the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson’s office shows shows uncensored, difficult-to-watch footage of people being massacred and bodies mutilated during the onslaught, much of it taken from terrorists’ bodycams.
“It’s appropriate that Greta the antisemite and her Hamas-supporting friends should see exactly who is the terror group Hamas that they support and act on behalf of, what atrocious acts they carried out on women, the elderly and kids, and who Israel is fighting for its defense against,” Katz says in the statement, referring to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, the most famous of the 12 activists aboard the boat.
He orders that the video be screened for the group once they arrive at Ashdod, where their boat is being towed to after soldiers took control of the ship as it neared the Gaza coast overnight.
Katz praises the soldiers for their swift takeover of the ship. Footage from before soldiers boarded shows that the activists planned to make a show of not putting up resistance.
Israel has shown the atrocities video, titled “Bearing Witness,” to journalists and public figures in limited screenings around the world as part of its efforts to rally support for its war on Hamas, though its use of the footage has occasionally garnered controversy.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry posts a picture of Thunberg, in a signature frog hat, smiling as she is offered a sandwich from a soldier. link There is very little that Katz does or says that I agree with, but here is an exception. I think the decision to show these 'activists' the Hamas atrocities video is a good one. It's about time that people like Thunberg get an understanding of what the Hamas barbarians did on October 7. She, in particular was an early useful idiot of Hamas propaganda and she bought into their narrative without any hesitation.
This government has failed in basically everything they have done since October 7 and one of the glaring failures with regards to the world press and information was the total absence of 'hasbara', publicity information about anything and everything going on starting with the massacre of October 7. Israel used to have a well oiled 'hasbara' machine. The Foreign Ministry together with the Jewish Agency were the great publicists of Israel for decades. And almost every government office, embassy and consulate had people working on Hasbara/Information. It was not just a reactionary operation, it was constant and worked in many countries around the world. There were constant press releases, emissaries meeting with audiences large and small and press, and when there was a major event, such as a war or terror attack or even the Israel Day Parade in NY, the Hasbara machine was fast at work. Netanyahu and his consecutive governments killed almost all of the funding that went into Hasbara. Except for our self serving politicians, with Netanyahu always taking the spotlight, the famous Hasbara operations of Israel was a thing of the past.
It seems that Hamas learned a great deal from us and was well funded by Qatar and Iran to build up their well oiled PR machine and we saw it in full swing starting on October 7. Despite their live sharing and subsequent vidoes of the massacre and torture, they became the stars and Israel, though our government's permanent coma went from being the victim of such horror to the major oppressor and perpetrator of genocide. So, showing the atrocity video to these activists is important. It is 20 months late, but it still has importance for them to see the barbarism of the terror organization they identify with.

Personal Stories

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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