🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 685, 2023

🎗️Day 685 that 50 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

Exactly 1 year ago today on August 20, 2024 the bodies of six hostages were retrieved from Gaza:

Alex Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger and Chaim Peri - from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yagev Buchshtab and Nadav Popplewell from Kibbutz Nirim.

The IDF confirmed they were all shot dead by Hamas terrorists, following an airstrike nearby.

Military pressure puts hostages at risk and too many have been killed as a result.

The government is moving forward with the plan to “fully occupy” the Gaza strip - knowing that the remaining hostages may be killed as a result.

Hostage families are calling for an end to the war and a deal to return ALL hostages. It feels impossible to breathe, our hearts are completely shattered.

Post by Sharone Lifshitz, daughter of Oded Lifshitz who was killed by Hamas terrorists while in captivity

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

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Hostage Updates

Until the last hostage

Dermer meets Qataris as Israel reportedly decides not to respond for now to proposed deal

By JACOB MAGID

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met yesterday in Paris with a delegation of senior Qatari officials to discuss the ongoing hostage-release and ceasefire negotiations, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

During the meeting, Dermer reiterated the Israeli stance that it is only interested in a comprehensive deal in which Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Jerusalem’s terms for its surrender from power, the Arab diplomat says, confirming a Channel 12 report.

The network also says that Israel for the time being has decided to avoid responding at all to the phased hostage release deal proposal approved on Monday by Hamas.

No security cabinet meeting has been scheduled to even discuss the proposal, which is nearly identical to the one crafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and approved by Israel last month.

Instead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the IDF to speed up plans to take over Gaza City.

Egypt urges Israel to respond to Hamas-accepted Gaza truce outline
By JACOB MAGID
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stresses the importance of Israel responding to the Arab mediators’ ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas on Monday during a phone call with US special envoy Steve Witkoff earlier today, according to an Egyptian readout.
Israel has yet to respond to the phased hostage release proposal, which is nearly identical to the one crafted by Witkoff in May, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t even announced the convening of a security cabinet meeting to discuss it as Jerusalem appears intent on advancing plan to take over Gaza, asserting that it will only agree to end the war if Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Israel’s surrender terms.
In his call with Witkoff, Abdelatty updated the US envoy on the latest developments in the ceasefire talks, stressing the need to “seize the current opportunity” to bring about an end to the war, the Egyptian readout says.

'Hamas had no choice but to bend': Egypt races to diplomatic solution in Gaza while Israel steps up war

Egypt isolates Hamas in Cairo talks, pressing it to drop its demand for a full ceasefire; with Arab factions united behind a partial deal and no regional cover left, Cairo signals that Gaza’s future—and Hamas’ fate—now hangs in the balance

Egypt forced Hamas into a corner, telling the terrorist group bluntly in Cairo that its demand for a comprehensive “end of war” deal was impossible under Israeli conditions. With Washington and Doha already aligned behind a partial arrangement, Egypt made clear there would be no outside cover for Hamas to hold out.

To drive the point home, Cairo convened Palestinian factions and staged a show of unity. Every group but Hamas backed the partial deal, leaving it isolated in the very room where it once claimed leadership. The Palestinian Reform Stream, backed by exiled Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, went further: Its leader was recorded saying Hamas should accept the deal “even without reading it” because Gaza’s people needed the war to end.

State Information Service chief Diaa Rashwan declared that the factions had accepted the text “without objections,” signaling that Egypt considered the matter closed and that Hamas' political isolation was nearly total.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed the urgency, telling local media that Qatari and Palestinian delegations were “working on Egyptian soil” to apply maximum pressure for a breakthrough. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi publicly welcomed the deal, called for faster humanitarian relief through Rafah, and reiterated Egypt’s rejection of both Israeli reoccupation and mass Palestinian displacement.

This is Cairo’s primary concern. Egyptian officials have repeatedly said that mass displacement of Palestinians into Sinai is a non-negotiable “red line.” They argue such a move would erase the Palestinian national cause and destabilize Egypt by upsetting the delicate balance of the peninsula, where northern clans coexist uneasily with the Sawarka, Rumaylat, Tarabin and Tiyaha tribes.

North Sinai, spanning some 10,650 square miles, has a population of only 450,000 to 500,000. An influx of even 200,000 Gazans would nearly double El Arish’s size overnight, overwhelming services, inflaming tribal rivalries and threatening Egyptian sovereignty in a region already marked by fragile control.

Adding to Cairo’s anxiety is what diplomats call the “African dimension.” Israel recently sent medical kits, water systems and hygiene supplies to South Sudan through its development agency MASHAV and the NGO IsraAID, describing the shipment as purely humanitarian. Yet reports of confidential talks about relocating Palestinians there have swirled. Juba has denied them — “These claims are baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan,” its foreign ministry told Reuters — but the idea alone alarms Cairo, which sees any population transfer, whether in Sinai or Africa, as demographic engineering and a breach of its firmest red line.

That unease is sharpened by Egypt’s deep ties with Juba. Cairo was among the first to recognize South Sudan’s independence in 2011 and has since cultivated close political and security relations. South Sudanese officers train in Egyptian academies, intelligence cooperation has grown as both governments monitor Sudan’s civil war and Cairo views Juba as a partner in Nile Basin politics and a counterweight to Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam. Against this backdrop, even speculative talk of resettling Palestinians in South Sudan touches the core of a partnership Egypt considers essential to regional stability and its own security.

Meanwhile in Gaza, the focus remains squarely on Hamas' next move. “There’s no question that Hamas is under immense pressure,” Mansour Abo Kareem, a Gaza-based political affairs researcher, said. “Israel is threatening a deeper invasion of Gaza City, while civil society leaders are urging Hamas to put the people’s interests first, rather than prolonging negotiations as the destruction continues.”

That pressure is felt most acutely by ordinary Gazans, who see their survival bound up in the outcome of the talks. “I believe this may be the last chance to reach an agreement that opens the door to a permanent end to the war,” Mohammed Shaheen, 38, a teacher from Deir al-Balah, said.

“Civilians in Gaza are being killed every day before the eyes of the world. Hamas must put the lives of the Palestinian people above everything else and reconsider its positions in a way that serves the public interest. Staying in the political arena without making concessions — especially on weapons — only benefits Netanyahu and his extremist government, which wants to keep the war going. The priority must be to end the bloodshed and protect civilian lives.”

The proposal unfolds on two key fronts: a swap and a pullback. Hamas would release half of the Israeli hostages. In return, Israel would free a set number of Palestinian prisoners, including some serving long or life sentences. During the 60-day pause, Israeli troops would pull back from parts of Gaza’s cities and redeploy closer to the border. That partial withdrawal is meant to make it easier for humanitarian groups to work.

Aid deliveries — fuel, water, medical supplies and equipment to repair hospitals and bakeries — would increase under the supervision of the United Nations, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Red Crescent and other international agencies. While Israel highlights daily aid convoys from Egypt, Arab and Islamic nations call the blockade a “weapon of genocide,” underscoring the gulf between Israeli claims and regional perceptions.

Yet Hamas’ leadership continues to worry that Netanyahu will restart the war after 60 days unless the United States provides ironclad guarantees. U.S. intermediaries have told Hamas that continued American support depends on two conditions: that Hamas feed and provide medical care for the remaining hostages, and that a new non-Hamas Palestinian governing body be operational in Gaza before the ceasefire expires. Without meeting those terms, Hamas risks losing what little leverage remains.

Families of the remaining hostages have intensified their protests, pressing the government to take decisive action. Approximately 50 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, with Israeli officials estimating that about 20 of them are alive. Trump’s envoy, New York developer Steve Witkoff, has been shuttling between Cairo, Doha and European capitals to keep the deal alive. Witkoff has not engaged Hamas directly — messages have been relayed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators and, at times, by Palestinian American academic and former Harvard scholar Bishara Bahbah, who has served as an informal go-between.

“A temporary truce could open the door to wider discussions — about who governs Gaza, how security is managed and whether the Palestinian Authority or an interim body will take the lead, supported by Arab and international forces,” Abo Kareem said.

Palestinian analyst Mkhaimar Abusada said that Hamas has treated hostages as its central bargaining tool. “Netanyahu does not want to end the war now, and that is why the deal now is half the hostages,” he said. Abusada noted that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' late Gaza leader, pushed early for a swap to secure the release of jailed terrorists, but Israel has held firm that any agreement must begin with the return of all hostages.

That hard line stresses what critics of Hamas also contend — that the group is less focused on ending the war than on protecting its own position as an armed Islamist movement. “Ultimately, Hamas is not pushing for a comprehensive settlement,” Abo Kareem said. “What it seeks is a partial agreement that buys time, lets it recalibrate its strategy and positions itself for a role in Gaza’s future governance.”

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has also flatly rejected renewed calls for a two-state solution after Oct. 7, warning that granting Palestinian statehood now would hand Hamas a “prize” for the massacre and serve as a “platform for our destruction.” That ambiguity lets hard-liners hear “eradication” while security officials mean “dismantle and prevent,” turning “destroy Hamas” into a political horizon instead of a clear finish line.

Back in Cairo, Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya is bargaining over the basics — who is released first, how far troops pull back, how many aid trucks cross each day. Against that backdrop, Abo Kareem said that Israel’s objectives have been consistent since Oct. 7: dismantling Hamas' rule, neutralizing its military capabilities and reshaping Gaza’s security landscape.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has begun sketching a transitional role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza. He told Sky News Arabia he has set up a six-month technocratic committee to handle basic administration “as soon as conditions permit,” describing it as a bridge for the PA’s return rather than a rival structure. Touring Rafah and El Arish hospitals with Egypt’s foreign minister, Mustafa thanked Egyptian medical teams and argued there is “no justification” for blocking the PA from resuming its responsibilities.

Yet his technocratic vision collides with Israel’s military calculus. The Israeli army said it was preparing to relocate Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza ahead of an offensive on Gaza City. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, announced that tents and shelter supplies would be brought in through Kerem Shalom with UN coordination.

It has become a race between Israel’s battlefield timetable and Egypt’s diplomatic calendar. If Cairo secures verifiable troop movements, an immediate aid surge and substantial early releases on both lists, the 60-day pause could open space for broader talks. Egypt is already preparing an international conference on Gaza’s early recovery and reconstruction to convene once a ceasefire is reached. As Rashwan noted, Palestinian factions accepted the plan “without any objections.” The Dahlan-backed Reform Stream drove the point home more bluntly: Hamas had no choice but to bend. Link

Israel and Iran

Gaza and the South

IDF says it has killed over 2,100 terror operatives since resuming Gaza fighting in March

By EMANUEL FABIAN
This picture taken from a position at Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli troops deployed in the area on August 19, 2025 (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Since resuming fighting in the Gaza Strip in March, the IDF says it has eliminated over 2,100 terror operatives, including many senior Hamas commanders and other leaders in the terror group.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 10,576 Palestinians have been killed in that time, without differentiating between combatants and civilians. Neither figure can be independently verified.
Over 10,000 terror targets were struck by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, helicopters and drones, as well as Navy vessels, since March 18, the military says.
The IDF says it has “operational control” over 75% of the Strip’s territory, which was achieved during the army’s latest offensive.
“The operational control in the area enabled the IDF to significantly expand its activity, thereby causing blows to the capabilities and terror infrastructure of the Hamas terror organization and disrupting its chain of command,” the military says.
The most significant strike carried out since March was the elimination of Mohammed Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and brother of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whom Israel killed last year; Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade; and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.
The three, along with other operatives, were killed on May 13 while hiding in a tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
The IDF says it has also killed several Hamas government leaders, internal security officers, six top commanders in the terror group’s naval commando forces, and dozens of terrorists who invaded Israel during its October 7, 2023, onslaught.
According to the IDF, its offensive against Hamas in recent months “led to a blow to the combat and command capabilities of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip” and “created favorable operational conditions for intensifying the pressure on the Hamas terror organization and causing blows to its remaining capabilities.”
“These achievements constitute the basis for the next moves of the IDF in the Gaza Strip,” the military says, referring to the upcoming offensive in Gaza City.

IDF moves to encircle Hamas in first stage of Gaza City assault

Israeli forces start encircling Gaza City in preparation for major offensive, with tens of thousands of reservists called up and Hamas described as 'battered guerrilla force'; operation comes amid new ceasefire proposal and heavy fighting near Khan Younis

The IDF has taken the first steps of a planned operation to take over Gaza City, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Wednesday.

Following a clash with Hamas south of Khan Younis on Wednesday, he said: "We will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organization."

Defrin said troops had already begun circling the outskirts of Gaza City and Hamas was now a "battered and bruised" guerrilla force.

"We have begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that he has ordered a reduction in timelines for taking control of Hamas strongholds and defeating the terrorist group. The statement did not specify the new timelines.

The IDF called up tens of thousands of reservists on Wednesday in preparation for the expected assault on Gaza City, as the Israeli government considered a new proposal for a ceasefire after nearly two years of war.

The call-up signals Israel is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza's biggest urban center despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians.

But a military official briefing reporters said reserve soldiers would not report for duty until September, an interval that gives mediators some time to bridge gaps between Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and Israel over truce terms.

Israeli troops clashed on Wednesday with more than 15 Hamas terrorists who emerged from tunnel shafts and attacked with gunfire and anti-tank missiles near Khan Younis, south of Gaza City, severely wounding one soldier and lightly wounding two others, an IDF official said.

In a statement, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed carrying out a raid on Israeli troops southeast of Khan Younis and engaging Israeli troops at point-blank range. It said one fighter blew himself up among the soldiers, causing casualties, during an attack that lasted several hours. Link Netanyahu is moving up the time schedule that was announced previously. I have no doubt that the motivation behind it is to kill any more discussion on an interim deal that he pushed for and lately abandoned without explanation. My assumption is that he changed his entire mode of hostage negotiations to buy more time so it fits in with his political survival time table. That time table was at great risk before his last trip to Washington when all believed that Trump would force him to end the war. He was again able to twist Trump to his viewpoint and gave him the green light to do as he wishes. This gave him the breathing room he so dearly feels he needs to solidify his political position before the next elections. He wants them to happen as late as possible and if possible, only to be held at the scheduled date in October 2026. However, he is extremely politically pragmatic and recognizes that he may not be able to hold his government together till then so he is preparing for early elections in the first quarter of 2026 at the earliest. Any earlier is seen as a political risk to him, so he needs to stretch everything out till the time he would announce early elections, not before October of November of 2025 which would bring elections 3 months later. By bringing forward the expansion of the war and occupying Gaza, he knows that this is creating huge pressure in the Arab world and also in Hamas, which needs to control their last major stronghold and be able to regroup its position, but their flexibility in negotiations is limited and that makes Egypt especially nervous. As far as Netanyahu goes, everything is fair and no price too high for him to achieve his political survival goals: sacrificing the hostages is acceptable to him as is the deaths and maiming of more soldiers. All prices to be paid by the Israeli public on the altar of Netanyahu's future to stay prime minister.

Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks

Politics and the War and General News

State comptroller accuses IDF of not cooperating with Oct. 7 investigation

By JEREMY SHARON

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman attends a Knesset Finance Committee meeting in Jerusalem, January 6, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman sent a letter to IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir yesterday to complain about what he said was the army’s failure to cooperate with his investigation into the failures leading up to and on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists perpetrated a massacre in southern Israel, Englman’s spokesperson confirms.

Englman has long complained that the IDF has failed to cooperate with his investigation, and the army has indeed resisted the probe, claiming it would interfere with its prosecution of the war.

In his letter to Zamir, Englman objected to what he said was the IDF’s failure to cooperate with his investigation, including difficulties his office has had obtaining relevant documentation from the army, and senior military officers who have not made themselves available for meetings with State Comptroller officials.

Englman said the IDF’s actions are in violation of an agreement reached with the State Comptroller’s Office under the auspices of the High Court of Justice in November 2024.

Earlier this week, the director general of the State Comptroller’s Office, Yishai Vaknin, made similar comments, saying that the investigation was not proceeding at the pace and in the manner agreed via the High Court.

Critics of the government, including members of the opposition and several government watchdog groups, have expressed concern that the probe by Englman, who has no legal background and was appointed to his position under a Netanyahu-led government, could seek to minimize political responsibility for the October 7 onslaught.

Smotrich: If Netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire, I will resign from the government

We can only hope that it happens. Smotrich and Ben Gvir pride themselves for being the main people for preventing multiple hostage deals that did, infect fall apart due to Netanyahu’s cowardice and weakness. He let these extremist tails wag his dog just so he will stay in power. If not for the two messianics and Netanyahu allowing them to control what happens in the country, we still have 50 hostages in captivity for 685 days. They care nothing about the hostages, their families or the welfare of the country. They should never have been given positions of power ever. They, especially Ben Gvir were fringe elements in the Israeli political makeup but Netanyahu, in his sick narcissistic need to continue to be prime minister was willing to do whatever is necessary to put together a government including normalizing the worst of the worst. Ben Gvir is a convicted criminal for belonging to and supporting a terrorist organization and spent his entire legal career defending Jewish terrorists. The army wouldn't take him because they viewed him as too dangerous and with an army issued weapon, he could create a real threat to Palestinians.
Smotrich did all he could to avoid army service and even succeeded in learning and getting his law degree while hiding from military conscription. When the army finally caught up with him at the age of 30, he served as a clerk in IDF headquarters for a few months. Both of them should never have been elected to the Knesset, and the idea of them as senior ministers is appalling, yet Netanyahu normalized them and continues to bolster their positions so that because he will need them in the next elections to get enough votes to help him build a coalition and remain prime minister. We all must prevent all of that from happening ever again and relegate them all to a bad time in our history.

The Region and the World

Countries that 'don't prevent the Gaza genocide are complicit with Israel', activist says

Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen about the destruction of the Gaza strip, Israeli columnist and activist Gershon Baskin says that 'the countries of the world that have relations with Israel and that don't use their leverage to stop the Gaza genocide [...] are complicit in it'. Interview with Dr. Gershon Baskin

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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