Operation Iron Swords - Day 102 - 16 January 2024
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NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages |
The resistance also launched a large batch of missiles from the Gaza Strip towards about 19 towns in the Gaza Strip and the western Negev, and a building in the city of Netivot was directly hit. This comes at a time when Israel withdrew part of its forces in preparation for reducing its military operations in the Gaza Strip, after more than 100 days during which it suffered heavy losses in life and equipment. The New York Times published a report talking about the American-Israeli “astonishment” at the size, depth, and sophistication of the tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.
Iran deployed its new Kheibar-Shekan (lit. ‘Castle Buster’ or ‘Fortress Buster’) medium-range ballistic missile during Monday night’s strikes against terror targets in Syria, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh has revealed. A total of four Kheibar-Shekan missiles were fired from Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, Hajizadeh indicated during talks with IRGC Chief Hossein Salami.
That means the missiles traveled at least 1,230 km to reach jihadist-controlled Idlib province in Syria. First unveiled in 2022, the Kheibar-Shekan is a 4.5 ton, 10.5 meter long ballistic missile with a 1,450 km range – enough to strike any point in Israel – Iran’s main regional rival, as well as most US military bases across the Middle East. The missile has a 500-kilogram conventional high-explosive warhead.
The missiles’ were used in Syria on Monday night to target facilities used by terrorists as part of the IRGC’s response to deadly terror attacks against the Iranian cities of Rask and Kerman in mid-December and early January. Sources told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen news channel that the missile attack targeted “training camps, logistical support headquarters, and a medical point for militants of the Turkestan Islamic Party*, an al-Qaeda*-linked terror group” reportedly engaged in the training of IS* offshoot ISIS-Khorasan* to conduct terror attacks inside Iran.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that an army assessment showed that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) is capable of continuing to fire rockets towards Israel for at least a few more months. This came at a time when the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades , the military wing of the Hamas movement, on Tuesday bombed the city of Netivot in the western Negev with a large batch of rockets, causing a direct hit in one of the buildings, after more than 100 days of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
The municipality of Netivot said that about 50 rockets were fired towards the city, while Israeli sources indicated that the rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip, although the Israeli army confirms that it succeeded in dismantling Hamas’ capabilities there. On January 8, Al-Qassam renewed its bombing of the so-called Greater Tel Aviv area, despite the passage of 3 months into the war.
On the other hand, the Israeli army believes - according to what was reported by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation - that without discussing “the day after the war,” it will be difficult to preserve “accomplishments.” It is noteworthy that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still reluctant to discuss the issue of the day after the war under pressure from his partners from the far right, who see - unlike other ministers in the war government - that delving into this aspect would be tantamount to the end of military operations and an admission of failure to achieve the goals of the war.
Netanyahu says that the war aims to eliminate the Hamas movement, return the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza, and ensure that the attack of last October 7 is not repeated. Israeli Army Radio reported at the end of last month that the army's estimates indicate that the war will not succeed in completely eliminating Hamas' capabilities to launch rockets towards Israel, especially short-range missiles. A senior officer told the radio that even after two years, residents of the "Gaza envelope" may hear sirens.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), said that its fighters targeted Israeli occupation vehicles and engaged in zero-range clashes with its soldiers, while the Israeli army acknowledged the killing of an officer and a soldier and the wounding of 26 others in the Gaza Strip battles within 24 hours. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that they targeted two Israeli tanks and a military bulldozer, and that they clashed from zero distance with an infantry force south of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
Shortly before that, the Brigades said that it had bombed with mortar shells a gathering of Israeli occupation vehicles and soldiers in Khan Yunis as well. For its part, the Al- Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - said that its fighters targeted with mortar shells a position of occupation soldiers and vehicles in the vicinity of the College of Science and Technology, south of Khan Yunis.
The Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast scenes of shelling carried out with mortar shells by the Al-Quds Brigades on the foot occupation forces in the northern Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters targeted an Israeli vehicle with an “ Al-Yassin 105 ” shell, west of Tal Al-Hawa in Gaza City. They also clashed with an infantry force with machine guns and grenades, causing deaths and injuries.
The Al-Qassam Brigades also targeted an Israeli troop carrier with a “Shawaz” device and an “Al-Yassin 105” shell, north of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City. The Al-Qassam Brigades published scenes of an Israeli drone that its fighters took control of in the northern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the bombing of Netivot in the western Negev with a rocket salvo. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that a large number of rockets fired from Gaza fell in the city of Netivot in the Western Negev, and in Gevaolim and Sdot Negev as part of the final batch towards the Western Negev. He also reported that a building was directly hit in Netivot and that severe material damage occurred to the building and cars. Sirens sounded in all the towns surrounding Gaza and the western Negev.
The municipality of Netivot said that about 50 rockets were fired towards the city. Israeli sources said that the missiles were launched from the northern Gaza Strip, targeting about 19 towns in the Gaza Strip and the western Negev. The Israeli army is intensively bombing the sites from which rockets were launched towards the western Negev.
The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it had targeted the Israeli "Liman" military barracks in the Western Galilee, on the southern border of Lebanon, with a missile attack. The Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement: “The Al-Qassam Brigades bombed the Liman military barracks in the Western Galilee in northern occupied Palestine with a volley of 20 missiles from southern Lebanon in the context of responding to the Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip and the assassination of the martyred leaders and their brothers in the southern suburbs of Lebanon.” The Lebanese "Hezbollah" announced the targeting of a number of Israeli military sites and concentrations on the Lebanese border, confirming that direct hits were achieved there. The Israeli army also stated that, since this morning, it had attacked infrastructure and military buildings belonging to Hezbollah in the Houla region in southern Lebanon.
Maps
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All maps are lies. “Not only is it easy to lie with maps, it is essential,” wrote cartographer Mark Monmoneir in his book How to Lie with Maps. He showed that condensing complex, three-dimensional spaces onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper is bound to be reductive. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. The first characteristic of guerrilla warfare is the loss of a front line. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. These processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. |
Bystanders
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Qatari mediation succeeded in reaching an agreement between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel, to bring medicines and humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The Qatari Foreign Ministry added that the agreement includes the introduction of medicines and aid to civilians in Gaza, in exchange for the delivery of medicines needed by Israeli detainees.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday criticized Western countries for ignoring and continuing their silence regarding the atrocities committed by Israel in Palestine since October 7, 2023. Ibrahim said - in a statement on the X platform - that “Western countries continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Israel, becoming effectively complicit in the malicious acts of crimes against humanity in Palestine.” He added that Israel killed more than 24,000 innocent souls in Gaza, with complete impunity, even though the vast majority of the international community condemned its despicable acts and genocide.
The war in the Gaza Strip sent a flood of critical questions and intellectual reviews on the Arab and international horizons, including what was related to behavior that was considered shocking in some ways, on the part of Western democracies towards the "ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people".
The nations that have emerged on world platforms in a position of professorial value in defending human rights, freedom, and dignity, their leaders, elites, and media outlets have been seen "blatantly slipping into the trenches of the extermination army, which is committing brutal massacres transmitted around the clock via live broadcast, practicing blatant denial of what is happening, and anticipating restrictions. On freedom of expression to the point of banning public activities and mass events and banning phrases and symbols calling for freedom for Palestine , even in academic spaces".
This war gave an opportunity to rediscover the modern world and the reality of Western democracies, and two books recently published in conjunction with the outbreak of this war, without agreement, would help to take a close and balanced anatomical look from the inside at the crisis of Western democracies, and at the modern human society that allows the repetition of genocide. Collectivism, ethnic cleansing and horrific war crimes like that.
The book “Rethinking Democracy” and the book “Critique of the World - Rethinking the Modern Human Reality”, written by media consultant and researcher in European and international affairs Hossam Shaker, who resides in Vienna, explore the topics of discussion with an insightful critical perspective, and the reader of both books will not be surprised by the lack of understanding the behavior of the leading countries. Globalism, and explaining the contradictions in its policies and the unruliness of some of its positions, as is observed in the ongoing war and elsewhere.
The two books were published as part of an expanded series of critical pamphlets by researcher Hossam Shaker, totaling 20 issues, containing approximately 3,000 small-sized pages that allow easy access for readers. They are published by the “Arab Family Foundation,” which is based in Istanbul. In his book, “Rethinking Democracy,” Hossam Shaker gives the reader unusual views of democracy and the reality of its applications in its European and Western strongholds, and begins to rethink it, starting by reviewing conceptual foundations such as “Is democracy the rule of the people by the people?”
The nearly 200-page book presents small excerpts of relevant issues; Such as developing democracy and rationalizing good governance, observing dilemmas, crises and symptoms of shortcomings in the reality of democratic experiences. Such as: political fluidity, the crisis of representative democracy, paths of elite selection, and the concentration of influence in Western democracies.
It is also exposed to the phenomenon of “exception to democracy,” which literally makes democracy “only for some of the population,” who alone have the privilege of voting in ballot rounds. Because of the nationality or citizenship factor that not everyone possesses, even a large portion of the population of voting age in some European capitals is excluded from democracy for this reason, and this level is expected to increase in the coming years.
The book stops at the paradox that some ancient democracies fear the rise of democratic rule in other countries, the dilemma of the absence of “democratization” from foreign policies, and the fact that these policies lie on the borders of democracy or are isolated from it in reality, which contributes - for example - to explaining the positions of Western countries from the ongoing war of annihilation in Gaza, as if the book published in conjunction with it anticipated these consequences and paved the way for the public to understand and absorb them.
Perhaps one of the most interesting chapters of the book deals with freedom of expression in European democracies, where the author shows, through diligent exploration, an impasse that besets this freedom and restricts it in certain ways, or uses this freedom in a way that undermines other values ??and principles. The book then examines the deterioration of some democratic environments into a culture of prohibition through a series of measures of restriction, prevention, and the erosion of gains that were previously available to the general public, in addition to the spread of authoritarian tendencies and censorship systems in some democracies.
Despite the critical estimates and conclusions made by the book; The author warns against slipping into a ready-made conclusion that states that there is no possibility of “proposing reform alternatives,” at least partially, from within democracy itself, and that “the alternative does not lie in naive options of totalitarian authoritarian control, or in recourse to models of authorities hidden from view.” Under the pretext of giving the masses power,” he asserted.
However, the author warns that reformist approaches should not ignore “the ability of capitalism to fill some of the voids left by the state, and that it is able to establish its presence even from the sites of civil society and non-governmental organizations, through the forms of establishment, financing, co-optation, guidance, and others.”
As for the book “Criticism of the World,” which is approximately 180 pages long, it opens up horizons for rethinking modern human reality, through treatments that place aspects of modernity and what comes after it in the morgue of criticism and scrutiny, which seeks to discover contradictions, point out failures, explore mysteries, and diagnose what is hidden.
In this book, researcher Hossam Shaker questions the modern human reality, or sets out to examine some of its experiences and manifestations, through a combination of social, historical, philosophical, cultural and psychological views, without burdening the language of the book or making its texts difficult for the reader, who may be motivated by this work to re-understand the world. From new faces.
One of the topics related to the current event, that is, the ongoing war of annihilation against Gaza, is what is happening “outside the field of vision” available to the audience of modern nations. The scope of vision is still insufficient to enable nations that declare their loyalty to modernity to comprehend the generality of the scene and be aware of its dimensions, circumstances, and heavy costs, realistically and morally.
As the author mentions, he adds, “This field of vision is often determined by the scope of the sense of the collective self “we,” and the emotionally reprehensible “other” is isolated in a way that is no longer included in the privileges of the collective self.” It is as if the author is anticipating what happened simultaneously with the publication of the book during the Gaza War when he recounts, for example, “Regimes declaring their loyalty to modernity - and what comes after it - are continuing their efforts to confine the field of vision and prevent it from spreading beyond desired ranges. They are keen to exclude the sensitive person of their civilization from keeping up with what It takes place in the field of brutal behavior reserved for the parties.”
As he dives into the depths of the “modernist imagination,” Hossam Shaker notes dilemmas that have plagued some modernist discourses. Such as: “It neglects the balance of values, by selectively calling up a specific value, or specific values, and giving it priority, independent of its circumstances and without ensuring that it is disciplined by other values related to objective contexts. This would lead to disordered perceptions, biased judgments, and unruly practices.”
The author says, “This turmoil was greatly reflected in the modernist imagination in a way that tempted the ease of issuing unjust judgments and justifying rogue practices while wrapping them in values and principles, which interacts at the levels of the individual, society, the state and above.”
He adds that "the modernist imagination, as it draws from its favorite slogans, goes beyond the fact that principles do not work in reality at all, and that they are rather subject to restrictions and controls that may grant some of them a privilege of use that undermines the operation of the slogan in some areas of reality for reasons dictated by interests, complicities, and estimates related to the limits of the possible and its consequences (...) The functional roles offered by imagination and its ability to mobilize against specific destinations if interpretive pretexts are created for it.”
Hossam Shaker opens the file “Modern Savagery,” which is a qualitative argument that draws the distinguishing methodological features between traditional and modern models of brutality. In this regard, the author states, for example, that “modern savagery is keen to find a bridge between the starting point and the targeting point. It may operate through a technical intermediary (...) or through a human intermediary provided by a proxy war, in which third parties achieve the interests sought by the sponsors of war who avoid appearing.” In the field scene.
On this basis, “modern savagery does not operate according to the first-class equation accustomed to the traditions of primitive savagery, or traditional systems of savagery (…) Modern savagery resorts to complex equations and to the distribution of roles while manipulating the constant and directing the variable, seizing the available opportunities and variables of the international system, and the priorities of its discourse to serve intended purposes.”
Then the book reveals an unnoticed facet of “modern savagery” represented by “reluctance to act.” Although the behavior of traditional brutality is known for being “active and proactive, its effect in terms of lethality and pain may not be comparable to some aspects of modern brutality that are based on failure to do what is dictated by principled obligations and moral responsibilities.”
Perhaps this idea in particular gains double weight in the re-evaluation of Western policies regarding the position on the war of extermination in Gaza, for even if they did not collude with this war; It did not use its proven influence in the international community, which qualifies it to curb the war and stop it immediately.
The writer summarizes the presentation of this type of “negative savagery” in the following example, which is suitable for measuring broader policies and attitudes: “If a ship sailing at sea does not intervene to save a boat that is about to sink, simply because it is carrying a crowd of the wretched of the earth who sailed toward an imaginary earthly paradise; The piles of corpses that will be thrown by the waves onto the shore will remain a witness to the negative effect of this brutality, which does its heinous acts through reluctance, not boldness.”
Axis of Resistance
Allied for Democracy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip may continue until 2025. Hebrew media reported that Benjamin Netanyahu's statements came during a meeting of members of the war cabinet with the heads of local councils, which was held at the headquarters of the Israeli army's southern command in Beersheba. The Prime Minister reportedly told local council heads from communities near Gaza that he expects the war against Hamas to extend into 2025.According to a Channel 12 report, Netanyahu revealed the assessment in the context of a discussion in which he reportedly also agreed to review the current Defense Ministry framework that provides financial assistance to Israelis willing to return to evacuated areas 4/7 kilometers from the Gaza border. The Hebrew channel indicated that the heads of the local councils told Netanyahu that most of the residents of the Gaza envelope do not want to return at this stage due to the continued launching of rockets from Gaza and other security concerns.
The council heads demanded that the return process be postponed or extended until the summer and the beginning of the new academic year, and that Tel Aviv continue to fund their stay in temporary housing until then. She explained that Netanyahu accepted their request and promised that the financial assistance would be applicable at that time as well, indicating that he had issued instructions to the relevant officials to establish the necessary framework.
Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu, in public statements at the beginning of the meeting, said: “We are determined to rehabilitate the kibbutzim and communities in what is known as the Gaza envelope area, return residents to their homes, and ensure the region’s prosperity and growth much more than it was before the war.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that disagreements among members of the Israeli war cabinet "have started to leak into the public," posing a threat to undermine the military strategy adopted by the regime, especially at a "crucial stage" of the war. The group of decision-makers involved in wartime decisions, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Yoav Gallant, and former head of the Israeli military Benny Gantz, are publicly diverging on the two significant challenges they confront: whether "Israel" should engage in negotiations to end the war on Gaza and secure the release of remaining captives, and decide who will come to rule the devastated region in the aftermath of the war.
Under the pressure exerted by the families of captives, opposition leader Benny Gantz along with his deputy, Gadi Eisenkot, is actively advocating to initiate negotiations with the resistance. The objective is to secure the release of approximately 130 captives, as reported by Israeli media and widely discussed among political analysts.
Meanwhile, according to the reports, both Netanyahu and Gallant contend that exerting continued pressure on the resistance will compel them to make concessions. "There’s clearly a distinction here between the two sides," analyst Reuven Hazan told the newspapers. "If it was up to Gantz and Eisenkot, and tomorrow Hamas made an offer of ending the conflict in exchange for releasing all of the hostages, they would go for it. Netanyahu would say no."
Mairav Zonszein, the senior analyst for Israel at the International Crisis Group, expressed that the fractures within the Israeli war cabinet are inducing a form of paralysis, hindering the regime from implementing a successful strategy. Zonszein added that Gallant is likely motivated by a blend of political and military considerations when openly challenging Netanyahu for his reluctance to engage in discussions about plans for the day after. "I think he feels a responsibility toward sending 20-year-olds on a mission that is clearly failing," she said.
It is worth noting that the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported earlier that Israel is about to experience a 'national shock' as its emergency government heads toward an "already known" end, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledges clearly. Bloomberg previously indicated that Gantz and several other representatives plan to exit the emergency government cabinet, a move considered to be the first nail in Netanyahu's coffin, as the PM finds himself on the way to being ousted. Israeli Channel 14 also released a recorded clip of Israeli writer Haim Bar, accusing Netanyahu of disregarding settlements since October 7. The writer can be heard calling for the Netanyahus' punishment and death, a parallel to the story of an Israeli king who was served the death penalty alongside his wife.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that the transfer of medicines to Israeli prisoners in Gaza will begin starting tomorrow, Wednesday. Netanyahu said that the return of residents to the towns and settlements around the Gaza Strip is not possible before achieving what he called victory over the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), in conjunction with criticism from Israeli ministers of the withdrawal of forces from the Gaza Strip.
This came during Netanyahu's meeting with the heads of the municipal councils of the towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, in the presence of members of the war council, to discuss the issue of residents returning to their homes. In this context, the Financial Times newspaper published that Netanyahu faces strong opposition because of his strategy towards Israeli prisoners held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The British newspaper indicated that opposition leaders, some members of the war council, and many Israelis are calling on Netanyahu to rethink the war on Hamas.
For his part, Gideon Saar - the minister in the security mini-ministerial council from the State Camp party led by Benny Gantz - said that Israel is still far from undermining the Hamas movement, and that withdrawing forces from Gaza in light of the continuing war was a wrong decision. He added - in a statement carried by Israeli Army Radio - that if there is someone who believes that an alternative authority to Hamas will arise in the Gaza Strip while it is standing on its feet - as he put it - then that will not happen.
As for the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir , he sharply criticized the decision to withdraw the army from the northern Gaza Strip, and called for the occupation of the Strip. The leader of the far-right Jewish Power party said - in a post on the X platform - “The cabinet (mini-ministerial council) makes wrong decisions over and over again, which leads to damage.” Ben Gvir added, "The decision to withdraw the Israeli army from Hamas centers in the Gaza Strip is a grave and dangerous mistake that will cost human lives."
He continued, "The barrage of rockets that were fired this morning at Netivot from an area that Israeli army forces left only yesterday proves once again that the occupation of the Gaza Strip is necessary to achieve combat objectives." Ben Gvir considered that the continuation of the war and the overreach of the political and security government through the small government (the War Ministerial Council) was “unacceptable to the Jewish power,” as he put it.
On the other hand, the mayor of Sderot (southern Israel), Alon Davidi, called for wiping out the neighborhoods from which rockets are launched in the Gaza Strip towards the settlements. "The entire area must be an extermination zone, and we must work systematically," Davidi said. He continued, "If they launch rockets from a certain area, the entire neighborhood must be wiped out."
The Council of the European Union included the head of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) in Gaza , Yahya Sinwar , on the EU’s terrorist list, in addition to imposing sanctions on him. While the Israeli Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision, a Hamas leader described it as bias towards the occupation and a ridiculous decision. The Council of the European Union said - in a statement on its website - "The Council decided today to add one individual to the Union's terrorist list, namely Yahya Sinwar, the political leader of the Hamas movement," becoming the third leader of the movement included on the same list.
This came after the European Union announced last December that two of the movement’s leaders had been included on the list: Muhammad al-Deif , chief of staff of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Marwan Issa , al-Deif’s deputy. The EU explained that the decision is part of its response to what it called “the threat posed by Hamas and its attacks, which it describes as terrorist and indiscriminate, in Israel on October 7, after it launched Operation Al- Aqsa Flood in response to the Israeli occupation’s attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz welcomed the European Union’s decision and described it as “just and moral,” saying - via the ", according to his blog post. For his part, Taher Al-Nono, media advisor to the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh , accused the European Union of bias, calling for an end to the “policy of double standards,” saying - to Reuters - that “these sanctions are ridiculous and ridiculous, and everyone knows that Sinwar does not have any financial accounts.” In Palestine or outside it. Al-Nono added, "Such a decision will have no value against Hamas, but the idea of imposing sanctions on the leaders of the resistance and Hamas that resist the occupation as a right guaranteed by international law is bias towards the occupation."
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Ede said - in an interview with him at the World Economic Forum in Davos - that a number of European and Arab countries and the United States are working on developing a vision for forming a unified Palestinian government that can attract funds for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. He continued that Norway believes that the Palestinian territories should be administered by the Palestinian Authority, and the authority that governs the Palestinian territories must be what the Palestinians want. He pointed out that working on a two-state solution has become urgent with the spread of the conflict in the region, but only the United States and the Israeli people are able to influence Israel’s position, as he put it. The White House said that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani efforts to release all remaining Israeli detainees held by Hamas. The White House added that the two sides also discussed ongoing initiatives to facilitate humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
The White House said that Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's senior advisor for Middle East affairs, focused during his talks in Qatar on the release of American detainees in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, Washington announced that McGurk arrived in Doha to discuss a possible prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Washington's vision for the day after the war in the Gaza Strip includes regional normalization and security for Israel and a state for the Palestinians. Sullivan added - in a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos - that Israel must respect international laws during its military campaign in Gaza. Sullivan stressed that the United States will continue to work with the rest of the countries to release the prisoners and ensure that the Palestinians have access to the water, food, medicine, and safety they need and deserve. The US National Security Advisor indicated that the United States seeks to "de-escalate" in the Middle East, despite its strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. He believed that the course of the conflict with the Houthis depends on "those who enjoy influence in Tehran and in other capitals in the Middle East." Sullivan explained that the United States sees a “way” to prevent the expansion of the war in the Gaza Strip regionally. He continued, "We are working hard with our partners in various countries in the region to try to find a path to stop the expansion of the conflict, but in the meantime we must be careful not to be on the path to further escalation."
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
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". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."
It is the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war, as the Palestinian resistance killed more than 1,200, wounded more than 5,132 others, and captured more than 250, most of them military personnel, some of whom were high-ranking officers in the army.
The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to about 23,968 dead, and the killing of nearly 10,000 Palestinian children and 6,600 women killed. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The number wounded was 60,582. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said much earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 7,500, including including 4,700 children and women, and this number had not changes in recent weeks.
The IDF intensified its military operations in the West Bank, and increased the pace of incursions and raids into cities, towns, and camps, resulting in the martyrdom of 342 Palestinians, the injury of about 3,950, and the arrest of 5,780, according to official HAMAS sources.
More than 130 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Lebanon during exchanges of bombing operations with Israel.
Israel revised down the death toll from the October Hamas attacks in southern Israel from 1,400 to 1,200. IDF had said previously it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists, a total that now would increas to about 1,700.
The officially announced number of deaths among the Israeli army since the start of the ground incursion on October 27th to 193, and 522 deaths since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on the 7th of the same month. Among them are 56 with the rank of platoon commander, 43 with the rank of company commander, 9 with the rank of battalion commander, and 5 with the rank of brigade commander. These officers constitute 23% of the total deaths of the Israeli army in the war on Gaza.
Israeli media reported that 27% of the Israeli military casualties in the war were officers. In detail, the media highlighted that three brigade commanders, four battalion commanders, and other senior officers have been killed in the war so far.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that 29 of the army's deaths were caused by "friendly fire" and operational incidents since the start of the ground war in Gaza, late last October. The Israeli authority explained that "18 army soldiers were killed by friendly fire, two were killed as a result of gunfire (without explanation), and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed in ammunition, weapons, or run-over accidents." The Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed that 15 soldiers were killed in the Strip without their bodies being found.
According to some reports statistics indicate that 20% of the Israeli losses were due to friendly fire. Because the nature of the battle has become completely different from what was expected, and it lacks a front line.
According to the latest data published by the army, the number of wounded soldiers and officers has risen to 1,042 since the start of its ground attack on Gaza on October 27, including 228 seriously wounded, while the total number has reached 2,523 wounded since the outbreak of the war on the 7th of October.
The Israeli army reported that 2,438 soldiers - including 355 seriously injured - have been injured since the beginning of the war on Gaza, including earlier reports of 576 moderate, and 1,161 minor. The number of wounded since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip on October 27 had risen to 1,042.
At least 12,957 Israelis were injured, according to i24 TV.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper had reported that 5,000 soldiers had been wounded since the beginning of the war on October 7, and that the Ministry of Defense had recognized 2,000 soldiers as disabled so far.
An estimate by the Israeli Ministry of Defense expected that the number of soldiers with disabilities in the war taking place in the Gaza Strip since October 7 of last year would reach 12,500 soldiers. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Soldiers' Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense has dealt with 3,400 soldiers who were classified as disabled in the army since last October 7.
The Israeli army revealed that about 9,000 of its soldiers have received “psychological assistance” since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, and about a quarter of them have not returned to combat. This came according to a new statement revealed by the Army Medical Corps, according to Channel 12 and the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. According to the statement, nearly 9,000 soldiers have applied for psychological assistance since the beginning of the war, and approximately a quarter of them have not returned to combat.
The statement continued, "In total, about 13,000 regular and reserve soldiers required accompaniment or medical treatment at some level during the fighting, and thousands of them were injured in the battles."
Al Jazeera military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi expressed his conviction that the numbers of dead and wounded announced by Israel “cannot represent the truth,” due to a discrepancy between the Israeli army’s data and the Walla website, which is close to the army itself.
Hostages
Al-Qassam Brigades publishes a video clip of Israeli prisoners and hostages: “Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.” In the clip, the prisoners called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the war in order to return them to their families. An Israeli prisoner said in the clip: “Stop this madness and return us to our families.”
Earlier, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said in an audio recording, “The fate of many of the enemy’s prisoners and detainees has become unknown in recent weeks, but the rest have all entered the tunnel of the unknown due to the Zionist aggression.” He added, "Most likely, many of them will have been killed recently, while the rest are still in imminent and great danger every hour, and the enemy's leadership and army bear full responsibility."
Abu Ubaida continued, "We were informed from several parties on the resistance fronts that they are seeking to expand their strikes against the enemy in the coming days in light of the continued aggression against Gaza." He declared, "After a hundred days of battle, confrontation, and confrontation of aggression, this is the enemy's leadership swallowing pain and wading through the mire of failure and failure."
Israel had previously estimated there were 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody. Israel declared 20 out of 136 people in Gaza captivity dead in absentia, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages. By another count, 132 of them are still being held in Gaza, and 25 of them have been confirmed dead. Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy earlier had told reporters that Hamas still held 137 captives. The resistance released 10 Israeli detainees, 4 Thais and 2 Russian women, who were released outside the agreement. Over the course of 6 days, Israel has received 102 detainees, women and children, including 78 Israelis, in exchange for the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, women and children.
Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, told reporters 01 December 2023:
- Hamas still held 137 hostages from the October attacks, in addition to four others who went missing before the war
- The hostages include two children aged four and 10 months, who, Hamas now claims, are dead
- 117 male hostages are still kept in Gaza, including the two children, as well as 20 females
- 126 hostages are Israelis, and 11 others are foreign nationals
- Foreign nationals are eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one French Mexican citizen
- Ten of the remaining hostages are 75 and older.
- There are seven missing people since the October 7 attack
- Hamas had released 110 hostages so far – 86 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals.
Some of the rest are soldiers, seized when Hamas raided military bases in Israel. They may end up being held the longest. The Israeli military had not specified how many soldiers were captured, nor their ranks.
According to some estimates, Hamas was initially holding nearly 210 of the 240 hostages, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad was holding the remaining 30. About 40 Israelis remained missing. More than 40 hostages taken from Israel into Gaza on October 7th are not currently in the custody of Hamas, the group responsible for the attack, according to a CNN report based on a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations, CNN's prior reports had indicated that an estimated 40 to 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other unidentified groups or individuals.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas’ telegram account that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israel hostages were trapped under the rubble. “It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza,” he said.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club revealed that about 11,000 arrests were carried out by the Israeli army during the year 2023 in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, in addition to arrests from the Gaza Strip before the seventh of last October. The total number of prisoners in Israeli prisons is 8,800, as documented by the club until the end of December 2023. The Prisoners' Club explained that arrests after the 7th of October amounted to more than 5,975, in contrast to the detainees in Gaza after the 7th of the same month. The Prisoners' Club stated that cases of arrest among women amounted to (300), and this toll includes women from the occupied interior detained after October 7, while the number of cases of children reached 1,085. The arrest campaigns affected all groups, including women and children, as the number of women who were arrested reached about 200, while the number of arrests among children until the end of last December exceeded 355 children. The number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons reached more than 3,290, which is the highest percentage since the years of the 1987 Intifada.
Israel said on 14 January 2024 that, since the beginning of the war, approximately 2,650 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, approximately 1,300 of whom are affiliated with Hamas. On 08 January 2024 it was reported that more than 1,350 wanted persons had been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, more than 870 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas.
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