Operation Iron Swords - Day 7 - 13 October 2023
Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day".
The Israeli military had notified 120 families that their loved ones are being held captive in Gaza, spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Hamas earlier said 13 captives had been killed in Israeli strikes. Since 7 October, over 1,500 people had been killed and more than 6,600 injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza according to the ministry of health in Gaza. By another count, as many as 1,799 Palestinians, including 583 children and 351 women, had been martyred and more than 7,000 others injured. The real number of fatalities is expected to be much higher, with families struggling to recover bodies from under the rubble. The horrifying attack by Hamas killed at least 1,229 people and injuring 3,436, according to Israel’s ministry of health. Many of the most extreme claims have since been retracted, including that Hamas militants slit the throats of Jewish babies and that they raped Jewish women in the border settlements. The military rabbinate accompanies the process of identification and burial. So far, notices have been given to 258 families of IDF martyrs.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. US Secretary of Defense Austin: "We're with you, Mr. Prime Minister. As the President said, we have your back. And it's an awful week. Disgusting acts by this terrorist group. And as you know, I was the guy that initially put the ISIS campaign together. And I know a lot about ISIS, and this is worse than what I saw with ISIS. We do stand with you, Mr. Prime Minister."
“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” Netanyahu said. “I emphasise that this is only the beginning.” The Israeli prime minister did not elaborate on the statement, which he made during a brief address.
With the help of aerial intelligence, Air Force aircraft attacked dozens of emergency positions of the terrorist organization Hamas to launch hostile drones, which were built inside and on the roofs of the houses of residents of the Gaza Strip. Hamas placed the emergency positions for launching the hostile drones on their roofs and inside the homes of civilians in the Gaza Strip. This is another example of how the terrorist organization Hamas uses the citizens of the Gaza Strip as a human shield. Air Force aircraft destroyed dozens of positions, the IDF will continue its intense offensive activity and will work to destroy the Hamas UAV systems.
The IDF forces carried out local raids in the territory of the Gaza Strip to complete the effort to cleanse the area of ??terrorists and weapons. In these operations, an effort was also made to locate the missing. Infantry and armored forces searched and collected the area for findings that may help in the effort to locate the missing and thwarted Terrorist infrastructures and terrorist cells found in the area, including a cell of the terrorist organization Hamas fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli territory.
The IDF continued to vigorously attack terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip and attacked about 750 military targets throughout the Gaza Strip tonight, including Hamas underground tunnels, military compounds and outposts, senior officials' houses that were used as military headquarters, IML warehouses, communication rooms and eliminated operatives in the terrorist organizations. During the attacks, dozens of IDF warplanes attacked many military targets of Hamas throughout the Strip, including 12 high-rise buildings where the terrorist organization's military infrastructure was established. The 12 buildings were attacked in full synchronization between the warplanes, in just one minute.
IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari, stated: "The IDF is not fighting civilians in Gaza. The IDF is fighting the terrorist organization Hamas, which has brought disaster upon them and built its entire operational logic in a way that puts its citizens in danger of life and will shout to the world that civilians are being harmed. We cannot live with Hamas-ISIS rule near our borders. The IDF has the responsibility for Israel's security. "If Hamas prevents the residents of Gaza from evacuating, the responsibility will be on them - wherever there are Hamas infrastructures, they are attacked. There have been no incidents in the Otef in the last few hours. We will continue scanning, the area is still threatened and a closed military area, requests to obey the instructions and not take unnecessary risks. We have sent messages to the families of 120 abductees, many efforts are concentrated on this matter. The Home Front Command is located and prepared throughout the country from the north to Eilat."
The IDF spokesman conveyed the IDF's message to the residents of Gaza City: "The IDF calls on all residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes, move south for their protection and settle in the area south of the Gaza River. The terrorist organization Hamas started a war against the State of Israel, Gaza City is an area where military activity takes place. This evacuation is for your personal safety. It will be possible to return to Gaza City only after a notification confirming this. Do not approach the fence area with the State of Israel.
"Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City in tunnels under houses in Gaza City, and inside many buildings are innocent civilians. Residents of Gaza moved south for your personal safety and the safety of your families, distance yourself from the Hamas terrorists who are using you as a human shield. The IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City in the coming days, and wishes to avoid harming civilians."
After Israel asked about half of the population of the Gaza Strip to quickly evacuate ahead of a possible ground attack, groups of people riding in multi-use vehicles, and others on foot, headed to the south of the Gaza Strip. Israeli army missiles attacked a convoy of displaced people in the Gaza Strip, killing 70 Palestinians and wounding more than 200 others.
Israel’s order for 1.1 million civilians in the Gaza Strip to relocate from the north to the south created an atmosphere of confusion and fear in the besieged enclave on the seventh day of Israel’s bombardment. The directive came on Friday 13th Octob3r 2023 as Israel was expected to launch a ground invasion of the densely populated territory following last week’s unprecedented attack carried out on southern Israel by Hamas, the armed group that ruled Gaza.
Dr. Kevin Barrett, an Islamic scholar and former American academic who is now based in Morocco, said Palestinians would resist the Israeli regime’s ground invasion, as they have nothing to lose and are ready to die for their cause, unlike Israelis who can move to other countries and live a comfortable life. “The Palestinians have long since reached the point where they really have nothing to lose. Like Putin, who says ‘What’s the point of a world without Russia;’ they see no point in living in a world without Palestine. And of course, Muslims will never accept a world without al-Aqsa. So the Palestinians and their supporters are fully prepared to die for their cause,” he stated. “Not so the Zionists. Most have dual citizenship and can live quite comfortably in Western or Eastern Europe, Russia, North America, or even South America,” he explained.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he rejects the forced displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip, and warned of a "second Nakba." The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during their meeting in Amman “the necessity of immediately stopping the Israeli aggression against our people, protecting them, and completely rejecting the displacement of our people from the Gaza Strip.” Because that would be a second nakba for our people.” Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh confirmed that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Secretary-General of the League of Arab States , Ahmed Aboul Gheit , said that Israel’s demand for residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move to its south constitutes a new war crime, stressing that the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupation from forcibly transferring residents. Aboul Gheit stressed, according to what the university published on the “X” platform, in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, that “the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupying power from directly forcibly transferring populations.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced Israel's request for residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes, saying that it was unacceptable in any way. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel's cutting off water, electricity and food to two million people trapped in an area of 360 square kilometers contradicts the most basic human rights.
A statement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the Kingdom’s categorical rejection of calls for the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and its condemnation of the continued targeting of defenseless civilians there. “Saudi Arabia is putting US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice,” two sources familiar with Riyadh's thinking told Reuters, as war escalated between Israel and Palestinian resistance movements. “The conflict has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Iran,” the sources added, stressing that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.
The escalation of the conflict between the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and Israel after the “ Al-Aqsa Flood ” operation renewed talk about the occupation’s attempt to forcibly displace the residents of the Gaza Strip towards Egyptian territory as it is their only outlet in light of Israel’s preparedness for a possible ground incursion that may begin at any moment, which is Something that puts Cairo in front of a major dilemma. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed in a speech that the people of Gaza should remain “steadfast and present on their land.” He called on both sides of the conflict to immediately return to the negotiating track and exercise restraint, stressing that his country's national security is its "primary responsibility."
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned against the Israeli army’s call for more than a million residents of the Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head south, and said in a statement that this measure would constitute “a grave violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, and will expose the lives of more than a million Palestinian citizens and their families to dangers.” Staying out in the open without shelter, facing dangerous humanitarian and security conditions.
In Cairo, media figures denied that Egypt would allow the resettlement of residents of the Gaza Strip in Sinai, and via Egyptian official television, journalist Youssef Al-Husseini said, “No excess or negligence,” referring to what is being circulated about pushing the Palestinians to the Egyptian peninsula. Al-Azhar in Egypt extended in a statement “its salute to the steadfastness of the people of dear Palestine, and its appreciation for their clinging to their precious land, and their adherence to remaining on its soil, whatever the cost and sacrifices.” It continued, addressing the Palestinians, "It is better for you to die on your land as knights, heroes, and martyrs... and know that leaving your lands is the death of your cause and our cause and its disappearance forever."
In Jordan - the country that hosts two million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations - King Abdullah II warned during a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken against “any attempt to displace Palestinians from all Palestinian territories or cause their displacement,” stressing “not to transfer the crisis to Neighboring countries and exacerbating the refugee issue.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the United States must “rein in” Israel if it wants to avoid a regional war, adding that Washington wants to give Israel an opportunity to destroy Gaza, and this is a “fatal American mistake.” Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian said the region's resistance groups are ready for all scenarios in the face of the Israeli regime, which has brought the Gaza Strip under an all-out and indiscriminate war. The top Iranian diplomat made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mekdad in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Amnesty International said Israel’s order for civilians to leave the northern Gaza Strip “cannot be considered an effective warning”. It added the action may constitute “forced displacement of the civilian population, a violation of international humanitarian law... Regardless of timeframe, Israel cannot treat northern Gaza as an open-fire zone based on having issued this order. Their forces have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians wherever they are in Gaza." But Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, reflective of customary law, provides that no displacement shall be ordered for reasons related to ae conflict, unless civilians must move for their own security or a clear military imperative.
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell described Israel’s directive as “utterly unrealistic”.
The UN chief has called for humanitarian access to Gaza but has come short of calling for a ceasefire. “Moving more than 1 million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water or accommodation when the entire territory is under siege is extremely dangerous and in some cases simply not possible,” Guterres said during brief statements at UN headquarters in New York. Already, at least 423,000 people – nearly one in five Gazans – have been forced from their homes by Israeli air strikes, the UN said on 12 October 2023. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it would be impossible to stage such a massive evacuation without “devastating humanitarian consequences”. He called on Israel to rescind any such orders, saying they could “transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said time was running out to prevent humanitarian catastrophe in besieged enclave. Israel’s evacuation order for Gaza amounted to a “death sentence” for vulnerable hospital patients, the World Health Organization warned. “There are severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life support, such as mechanical ventilators,” Jasarevic said. “So moving those people is a death sentence. Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel.”
Hamas rejected the Israeli threat for 1.1 million people in Gaza to leave the northern area within 24 hours to “save themselves”. For many Palestinians, the order is reminiscent of the mass exodus known as the “nakba”, or catastrophe, during Israel’s creation in 1948. “We adamantly reject to be expelled from our homes once again,” said a statement from Izzat Al Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau. “We will resist Israel’s attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Israel has publicly declared its plan to commit genocide against Palestinians. What the Zionists are doing is inhumane, it is unprecedented. We will either live standing tall or we will die fighting.”
While many Palestinians in northern Gaza were trying to flee, others have told Amnesty International that they are choosing to stay for fear this could become a “second Nakba” as the generational trauma of displacement is etched in the collective memories of many Gazans. “Our parents were expelled from their homes in 1948 during the Nakba. We lost our house which was destroyed in the August 2022 offensive; our rebuilt house was destroyed again…all our lives we have known nothing but a series of displacements,” Munir Radwan a university professor told Amnesty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin likened the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip to Nazi Germany's siege of the Russian city of Leningrad during World War II, and called for a solution to the conflict through mediation. He added that we must think about the Palestinian citizens who are suffering from the Israeli military escalation, warning that Israel launching a ground operation in Gaza will lead to an increase in civilian casualties.
Russia distributed a draft resolution to Council members, calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza , while its representative to the United Nations accused Washington of promoting “lies” in support of Israel. The Russian draft resolution - which was distributed during a closed session of the Security Council on the escalation in the Palestinian territories - expresses deep concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and calls for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the safe evacuation of civilians who need it.
The text emphasizes the necessity of protecting the Israeli and Palestinian civilian populations. The Russian project condemns “all acts of violence against civilians and terrorist acts,” and calls for the release of “all hostages,” in reference to the Israelis who were captured by the Palestinian resistance in the first hours of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation.
The Russian delegate to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said that the indiscriminate bombing of residential areas in Gaza is unacceptable. Nebenzia added that cutting off water and electricity from Gaza brings to mind the memory of the siege of the Russian city of Leningrad by Nazi forces during World War II. The Russian delegate continued that the escalation is very worrying and the region is on the verge of a comprehensive and unprecedented war, accusing Washington of promoting what he described as lies in support of Israel against the Palestinians, without finding a solution.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
