Operation Iron Swords - Day 123 - 06 February 2024
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NEW - War Termination NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages |
The Hebrew newspaper "Israel Hayom" reported that Israel is considering evacuating the residents of Rafah to the northern Gaza Strip before a possible attack on the city, but the newspaper said, citing sources, that such a step will not take place before March. "Israel Hayom" reported that Egypt "recently sent strong messages to Israel stating that the passage of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to Sinai will jeopardize the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Egypt has made clear that it will not agree to the passage of refugees from Sinai to its territory."
The newspaper says that the Egyptian concern “is the transfer of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai and their remaining there. This is also why Egypt made clear to Israel that it strongly opposes the expansion of the fighting to Rafah, and Israel’s seizure of the Philadelphia axis.” About 1.4 million of the Gaza Strip's population of about 2.2 million are currently concentrated in Rafah, and Egypt fears that an Israeli operation in the city will lead to a mass flight to Sinai. Since Israel prevents Palestinians from returning to their homes in the northern part of the Strip, it will in fact leave them no choice but to flee south, according to the newspaper.
Two Israeli sources said that “the firm messages sent by Egypt, with a mixture of anger and anxiety, resulted from various statements by Israeli officials that recommended removing the Palestinians from Gaza as a possible solution to the problem.”
The Israeli Minister of Intelligence, Gila Gamliel, recommended in an official paper she published that the Palestinians be removed from Gaza to Sinai, and in recent weeks several similar statements were issued by ministers and members of the Knesset, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who repeated the same matter on several occasions.
The newspaper says that the reason for Egyptian concern has two main motives: First, that the Palestinians will try to leave Gaza against the backdrop of the unstable humanitarian situation in the Strip. Second, the Palestinians will try to escape for fear of being harmed in the war.
On the 123rd day, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced that it had submitted its response to the framework agreement, after consulting with the resistance factions. Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani described Hamas's response as positive, and that they had some observations. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he would discuss Hamas’ response with the Israeli government.
An official Hamas source said that the national consultations introduced amendments to the Paris proposal with clear timetables related to a ceasefire, reconstruction, the return of the displaced, providing urgent shelter, removing the wounded, and lifting the siege.
Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad said that the movement has “a tendency to release the largest possible number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.” In statements to Reuters, Ghazi Hamad explained that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to make everyone believe that he has achieved or will achieve a victory to preserve his government coalition. Hamad continued: “Many of the issues in the framework agreement were not clear and ambiguous, so it took us time to respond to them.”
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated: "Hamas's reply has been conveyed by the Qatari mediator to the Mossad. Its details are being thoroughly evaluated by the officials involved in the negotiations."
"This is the essence of our policy – total victory over Hamas. "Total victory is essential because it ensures the security of Israel. Total victory is the only way in which we can ensure additional historic peace agreements, which await. Total victory will strike a mortal blow against the axis of evil: Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis and – of course – Hamas. Therefore, there is no substitute for total victory. One need only to think of what would happen without total victory: The displaced will not return, the next massacre will only be a matter of time and Iran, Hezbollah and others will simply celebrate here and destroy the Middle East; therefore, there is no substitute for total victory." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, addressing soldiers at Latrun 05 February 2024.
During a meeting between Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah, with representatives of the families of the Israelis killed during the war on Gaza, where he told them: “I am focusing on one main thing, which is achieving complete victory, and this victory is on the way, and we have progressed towards achieving it and are constantly moving towards it. Our heroes did not fall in vain.” He added, "We are on the way to achieving complete victory and we will not stop until we achieve it. This position represents the overwhelming majority of the people. It is important for me that you know that this is within reach."
Colin P. Clarke, a Senior Fellow in the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that the Israeli army, which intends to withdraw brigades consisting of several thousand of its soldiers from Gaza, instead of signaling the end of the fighting, threatens to enter a new phase of the conflict, in which what began as a conventional war may turn into something completely different, which is The so-called counter-insurgency campaign.
In an article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Clark that the counterinsurgency approach depends on special operations forces, precision strikes and targeted raids, and “for the Israeli army to retain the territory after clearing it of Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) fighters,” in accordance with the advice of American General David Petraeus. Retired and former director of the CIA .
However, this is easier said than done - according to the author - as research conducted on previous counterinsurgency campaigns indicates that such an approach in Gaza would lead to a quagmire that could extend for many years, as Hamas adapts to its new reality by relying on... Its network of underground tunnels, and the use of destroyed infrastructure to its advantage, making it easier to target Israeli soldiers conducting foot patrols.
The writer believes that implementing Petraeus' vision for combating the insurgency in Gaza would be a disaster for the Israeli army, and the Palestinians and others would accuse Israel of reoccupying the lands, and the raids and checkpoints would increase the extremism of civilians, thus marginalizing moderate Palestinian voices, inspiring a far-reaching uprising and motivating the axis of resistance to launch attacks. On targets in Israel and elsewhere, that is, a counterinsurgency campaign in Gaza would, rather than end the violence, produce endless war.
The Israeli endgame in Gaza remains unknown, but an extended occupation coupled with a counterinsurgency approach could be the next chapter in the conflict, as evidenced by statements by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the war on Hamas will not end until Israel achieves all of its goals. Defense Minister Yoav Galant said the military campaign “will continue as long as necessary,” and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said the war in Gaza would continue “for several months,” but if Israel adopts a counterinsurgency approach, months could easily turn into years.
According to the writer, even without deliberately making this choice, Israel may find itself in it, as happened to the United States in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, where the expansion of missions allowed limited goals to give way to more ambiguous and more ambitious goals. In Afghanistan, for example, the war began with the intention of destroying Al-Qaeda , but Washington eventually found itself trying to build the state, and in the end failed to achieve both tasks.
Therefore, the quagmire facing Israel in Gaza today - as the author sees it - could end in a manner similar to what it faced in southern Lebanon, where it withdrew after two decades without removing the threat from the Palestinian Liberation Movement fighters, and even with the emergence of a new enemy represented by Hezbollah. But Netanyahu - as the writer says - has a personal incentive to prolong the war after it became clear that many Israelis want a new political leadership, and therefore he announced that the basic requirements for peace between Israel and the Palestinians are summed up in “the necessity of destroying Hamas, disarming Gaza, and eradicating extremism in Palestinian society.” These are goals, the achievement of which requires years of fighting, and success is not guaranteed in the end.
Four months into the war, some members of the Israeli military leadership are beginning to lose patience with the lack of a coherent political end. Gallant expressed frustration at the lack of a plan for what the conflict would look like other than “destroying Hamas,” saying, “It is the duty of the cabinet and the government to discuss the plan and determine the goal".
If the Israeli army adopts a counter-insurgency approach in Gaza, it will be in direct conflict with the political recommendations of the administration of US President Joe Biden , which has warned against occupying Gaza after the war, and is pressing to reduce the military campaign due to the killing of more than 27 thousand Palestinians, many of whom are women and children. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, "In this type of combat, the center of gravity is the civilian population. If you push them into the arms of the enemy, you are trading tactical victory for strategic defeat."
The writer pointed out that Israel does not have a specific political strategy for what will happen after the war, especially since Netanyahu opposes the idea of the Palestinian Authority regaining control of Gaza, in contrast to the position of the Biden administration. It is likely that Israel will end up patrolling in Gaza, while Hamas and other Palestinian groups prepare for a long-term, low-intensity conflict, during which Israel will face hit-and-run attacks, deadly ambushes, and snipers operating from under the rubble of demolished buildings.
It appears that Israel has no intention of winning “hearts and minds,” and that officials, especially Netanyahu and his far-right allies, are ignoring the political aspects of this conflict, presenting Hamas with an opportunity to fill the power vacuum and consolidate and entrench itself in Gaza. However, if the Israeli army occupies Gaza and moves to the counter-insurgency mission, this will be in the interest of Hamas - as the writer believes - and Hamas’ strategy will be to try to slowly wear down the army until the Israeli public demands withdrawal, and at that point Hamas will declare victory, as happened with the United States. United States in Afghanistan.
The writer concluded that these are the lessons that Israel was expected to have learned from its experience in Lebanon, and from its previous occupation of Gaza, but the extreme right-wing elements in the Israeli government, which currently enjoy enormous influence, are pushing Netanyahu to consider occupying Gaza indefinitely under the pretext of the absence of an appropriate Palestinian government.
Clark concluded that if Israel adopts this strategy, it must prepare for a long-term war, and he explained that research he conducted in cooperation with a number of researchers at the RAND Corporation, on all 71 rebellious movements since the end of World War II until 2009, Show that the average length of these conflicts is 10 years, especially with a state sponsor of the insurgency.
In their research on counterinsurgency, the author and his colleagues found that militaries that adopted an “iron fist” approach to counterinsurgency by focusing almost exclusively on killing insurgents were successful in less than a third of the cases analyzed, which is less successful than approaches that also focused on mitigating Grievances of the civilian population.
Counterinsurgency seems to be an attractive option for Israel, because it allows the country’s leaders to postpone difficult political decisions and focus instead on short-term military victories, but one of the reasons that put Israel in its current predicament - according to the writer - is that Israeli politicians, led by Netanyahu, constantly delay and refuse any negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
Fierce ground battles continue between Palestinian resistance factions and the Israeli occupation army in most of the fighting fronts in the Gaza Strip, as the war continued for the 123rd day. In this context, the military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, says that the combat pattern in the northern Gaza Strip is limited to the western region of Gaza City through operations that are structured in location and strength.
During his analysis of Al Jazeera, he explains that the hot spots of clashes are taking place in the neighborhoods of Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin, and Al-Rimal Al-Janoubi, as well as the University and Passports Square, all the way to the extension of Al-Nasr Street. It appears that the concentration of operations in these areas comes in light of Israeli reports talking about the presence of a “precious catch,” in reference to prominent leaders in the Al- Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), especially the commander of the Gaza Brigade, in addition to the search for a major tunnel network.
As for the Central Governorate, the military expert says that the pace of fighting decreased significantly in its camps after Israeli military vehicles failed to enter them and retreated near the border fence and in the Wadi Gaza area. To the south, the occupation was unable to achieve any field achievement in the eastern region of the city of Khan Yunis - an area that represents the majority of the city's area - while fighting continues in the western region, where satellite images broadcast by Al Jazeera showed great destruction in the city's camp.
Al-Duwairi adds that the occupation has begun implementing fire belts between Khan Yunis and the northern outskirts of Rafah, which he said has a special and complex situation due to the large number of displaced people there, and launching any military operation raises the question of where they will go, in addition to the fact that it is a border city with Egypt.
He pointed out that coordination between the resistance factions appears to be great in the south due to the presence of elite forces of the rest of the factions in Khan Yunis, which helps in carrying out joint offensive operations. He mocked the statements of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant that the Battle of Khan Yunis would be resolved within a week, recalling his previous statements about resolving the Battle of the North, before he returned to fighting in it again.
Three days ago, violent clashes returned to Gaza City and areas in the northern Gaza Strip, coinciding with the ongoing battles in Khan Yunis in the south. The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed dozens of Palestinian militants and arrested dozens during operations across the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, while describing the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Strip as “the current focus of fighting.” He stated that about 80 suspects were arrested in Khan Yunis, including some accused of participating in the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) attack on October 7th.
The forces of the 98th Division continue to fight in the west of Khan Yunis, to clear new areas above and below the ground and encounter Hamas terrorists who are moving in civilian clothes and are preparing to attack our forces in the area. After the terrorists opened fire on the Givati Task force from inside a building, the fighters aimed at the area of a combat helicopter, whose pilots noticed the shooting being carried out from the first floor of the building. In direct contact of the helicopter with the forces on the ground, they attacked the point from which the shooting was carried out in the building and eliminated the terrorists in a closing circle fast.
Snipers of the Givati TDF eliminated more than 15 terrorists. TDF 646 fighters identified and eliminated an observation point that was hiding inside a building. During the raids, the paratroopers and Agoz located weapons including grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, RPG missiles, "Schwaz" charges and cartridges.
An Air Force remotely piloted aircraft flew over a force of paratroopers in the Khan Yunis area. The operators identified a Hamas terrorist who was moving towards the fighters who were in the area and posed a threat to the force. The operators of the aircraft alerted the fighters of his proximity to them. The terrorist entered the building tens of meters away from the forces, and after leaving it, was attacked and killed by the aircraft.
The 401st Divisional Combat Team eliminated over 15 terrorists in encounters and, in cooperation with the Air Force, destroyed a building used by terrorists to shoot at the troops and in which explosive devices were stored.
IDF Observers from Unit 414 identified four terrorists who tried to place observation devices in the Beit Hanon area with the intention of returning to service the collection system of the terrorist organizations in the northern Gaza Strip. A combat helicopter attacked and eliminated the squad. As part of the activities of the forces of Division 162 in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, the Nahal TDF eliminated many terrorists in the last day in raids and ambushes in the field.
A missile ship identified a terrorist squad in the area where the fighters of the Nahal Brigade's combat team operate in the center of the Gaza Strip. In a joint activity of the brigade's fighters, the brigade's fire complex, vessels and aircraft, the squad was attacked and some of the terrorists were eliminated.
Al Jazeera's correspondent said that violent clashes were taking place between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation forces, coinciding with air strikes and artillery shelling in the western neighborhoods of Gaza City. Violent explosions and varying amounts of gunfire were heard in the western and southern areas of Gaza City, according to eyewitnesses.
The Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - announced that it had destroyed an Israeli D-9 bulldozer with a shock device west of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. In turn, the Al- Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - said that they were engaged in fierce clashes with the occupation soldiers and vehicles using machine guns and missiles in the center, west and south of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli forces launch continuous raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip, resulting in more martyrs, while the western areas of Gaza City and Khan Yunis witnessed clashes between Palestinian resistance factions and the occupation army penetrating the two areas. 16:00 | The fighters of the Agoz unit of the commando formation fighting in the west of Khan Yunis carried out raids on terrorist infrastructures, destroyed them and eliminated many terrorists in face-to-face encounters.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that an Israeli bombing targeted a residential apartment in Hamad Town, northwest of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, leaving 6 martyrs and a number of injured. He added that the Israeli occupation forces intensively bombed the western neighborhoods of Gaza City, and fired dozens of smoke bombs in the vicinity of the Al-Nasr, Al-Shifaa and Al-Saraya areas west of the city. They also arrested dozens of Palestinians from the vicinity of the university area.
Palestinian media said that Israeli occupation aircraft launched violent raids on various areas in the northern Gaza Strip and the eastern areas of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Strip. A Palestinian medical source stated that medical teams and citizens recovered a number of Palestinian bodies from the streets and homes of citizens in the city of Khan Yunis and the central areas of the Gaza Strip.
Anadolu Agency quoted eyewitnesses that a number of martyrs and wounded fell after the areas of Al-Saraya, Al-Rimal, Al-Sabra, Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin, and the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex were subjected to violent bombardment by Israeli aircraft. Witnesses pointed out the difficulty for citizens and ambulances to reach the locations of the victims, due to the targeting of everyone who moves in the streets by Israeli snipers stationed in residential buildings, in addition to the aircraft that fire live bullets.
The Israeli army also opened fire on a gathering of Palestinians who were waiting for aid to arrive east of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, wounding a number of them. Since January 22, the occupation army has been carrying out intensive raids on Khan Yunis and around its hospitals, with its vehicles penetrating the southern and western areas of the city, prompting thousands of Palestinians to flee again to the far south of the Strip.
The IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, completed a situation assessment with the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip. 18:01 | At the end of a situation assessment, it was decided that starting today (Tuesday) at 18:00 a change will be made in the defense policy in the areas defined by the green policy, with the exception of the cities of Ashkelon and Nativut. As part of the change, a gathering of 30,000 people will be allowed in all the green areas, except in the cities of Ashkelon and Nativ where a limit of 15,000 people remains.
An 18-year-old Palestinian youth was martyred by occupation bullets at the Beit Furik checkpoint at the entrance to Nablus in the occupied West Bank, allegedly attempting to carry out an operation, while clashes took place between resistance fighters and the Israeli army northwest of Jenin. 15:11 | An armed terrorist arrived at a military position near Nablus in the Samaria Division, an IDF force from the 8109 Reserve Battalion that was guarding the position rowed into contact and opened fire at the terrorist, who was killed. There were no casualties.
The occupation also demolished the home of a Palestinian family north of Jericho. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching the young man after he was shot. Israeli media said that a military force opened fire on an armed Palestinian who arrived at a checkpoint near Nablus and opened fire, without any casualties among the Israeli soldiers. Yesterday, the occupation forces also shot a Palestinian boy (14 years old) for attempting to carry out a stabbing attack at a military checkpoint near the entrance to the town of Al-Eizariya, east of occupied Jerusalem .
The occupation forces stormed several villages in the vicinity of Jenin, amid continuing their military campaigns on the cities and villages of the West Bank. Local sources indicated that clashes took place between resistance fighters and occupation forces on the road between the towns of Al-Yamoun and Silat Al-Harithiya, northwest of Jenin. The Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Kafr Qaddum, east of the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank.
Fighter jets attacked an observation post and terrorist infrastructure used by Hezbollah in the areas of Lebanon, Jabal Blat and the village of Khula in southern Lebanon. Also, a number of launches were detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon towards the north of the country, there were no casualties. The IDF attacked the sources of the fire with artillery. Following the warning about the infiltration of a hostile aircraft in the north of the country a short time ago, this was a false identification.
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 [in old days] 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. Indeed, by late January 2024 mappers were rather less exuberant in their depictions of IDF advances. While by the end of 2023 maps suggested that it was "mission accomplished" in North Gaza which was depicted as entirely pacified, by late January 2024 enclaves of IDF elements were depicted at the margins of Gaza City, much of North Gaza was now depticted as either HAMAS-controlled, or "contested". Another noteworthy cartographic ambiguity was found to the south of Khan Yunis in the stretch of Salah Al-Deen avenue running north from Al-Nasr through al-Fukhari to the vicinity of Tawhid Mosque in the environs of Khan Yunis proper. By the end of 2023 some cartographers indicated that a large swath of territory centered on this avenue had been liberated by the IDF, while other cartographers professed no knowlege of an IDF presence in that part of the Strip. By late January 2024 there are suggestions that while the avenue itself was an IDF permissive corridor for nearly the full length of the Strip, much of adjacent territory was not. By 29 January 2024 Al-Jazeera had finally come around to some of the cartographic conventions of other mappers, indicating "occupied areas", and even providing a map of IDF ORBAT in the Strip.
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Bystanders
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Saudi Arabia still has a “strong interest” in normalizing relations with Israel, but made clear that the war in Gaza must end and is the path to establishing a Palestinian state. In the details, Anthony Blinken indicated that Saudi Arabia still has a “strong interest” in normalizing relations with Israel, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it clear that the war in Gaza must end and there must be “a clear, credible, and time-bound path to establishing... A Palestinian state.”
Blinken met with bin Salman for more than two hours on Monday in Riyadh, and the US Secretary of State was scheduled to meet with senior Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. On this trip and during his recent tour in the region, Blinken stressed that the Israeli government must make “difficult” decisions and move towards a two-state solution if it wants to achieve normalization with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and if it wants to support its allies among its Arab neighbors for security and reconstruction in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly rejected the idea of a Palestinian state, also pointing out that the war in Gaza would continue for many months.
Rafah currently hosts more than half of Gaza's population who were displaced by the Israeli war, and the displaced live in harsh humanitarian conditions in camps that lack the most basic necessities of life. A video clip published by Palestinian media showed pools of sewage gathering among the tents of displaced Palestinians in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Israel continues to obstruct most aid from reaching the northern Gaza Strip. Dujarric pointed out that only 10 aid operations reached northern Gaza out of 61 operations last January, and added that aid missions to hospitals and health institutions are often prevented.
According to press reports, the people of northern Gaza are starving, and they are trying to feed their children by using the remaining animal fodder they have on hand. The occupation forces have used hunger as a weapon since the beginning of their war on the Gaza Strip. They cut off electricity and water, and bulldozed most of the agricultural lands. The occupation forces also bombed stores, bakeries, and humanitarian aid convoys, and imposed severe restrictions on the entry of all trucks carrying food supplies to the people of the Gaza Strip.
Director of the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA ) in Lebanon, Dorothy Klaus, said on Tuesday that the agency expects to issue its initial report on the Israeli accusations against 12 of its employees by early March, while the Arab League called on the countries that suspended funding for UNRWA to review their decision.
Klaus reported that the agency believes that the donors who stopped funding UNRWA after Israeli accusations that 12 employees in Gaza out of 30,000 participated in the attack on October 7 last year will review their decisions again. Klaus said - in a press conference in Beirut - that 19 donors stopped their funding after the Israeli accusations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Germany.
UNRWA announced that it was investigating the Israeli allegations as soon as they were issued, and the United Nations formed an independent committee to evaluate UNRWA’s work and the extent of its commitment to neutrality.
In a related development, the Arab League called on all countries that suspended funding for UNRWA to review their decision, saying that this decision is “wrong, dangerous and morally flawed.” Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said that the decision of the countries to cut funding for UNRWA reflects a lack of understanding of the nature of the role played by UNRWA towards about 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as the Gaza Strip.
Nisreen Malik’s article in The Guardian newspaper focused on what she described as “the war on women in Gaza ,” asking, “Will the West really ignore it, because they are not like us?” The author pointed out that sometimes the disaster is so great that it obscures its details. In addition to the number of deaths and displacement in Gaza, the conflict has been even harsher on women and girls.
There are about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, and 40% of pregnancies are classified as high-risk, with the number of women giving birth reaching 180 per day, while the health care infrastructure is destroyed. According to the Charitable Care Organization, “There is no doctor, midwife or nurse to support women during labor. There are no painkillers, anesthesia or sterilization materials when women give birth.”
She explained that babies are born on the ground in the open, and the umbilical cord is cut with any sharp tool at hand, while any tin can is filled with hot water to keep the baby warm. Caesarean sections, which are painful even with the availability of medications, are performed by surgeons without any anesthesia at all and in the absence of water to wash their hands, let alone sterilize them, and there are no antibiotics for any resulting infections. In some cases, according to reports from The Washington Post, women had caesarean sections performed after they died.
The writer denounced the West’s indifference to what is happening to the women of Gaza, while the main concern of the mainstream feminist discourse over the past few weeks revolved around the nominations of Barbie films for the Oscars, and she interpreted this matter as simply human nature, as our contexts and culture dictate our immediate priorities.
She added that there are other motives, which are uncomfortable to think about, but difficult to ignore, and which detract from the focus on the inhumane and particularly urgent situation when it comes to women and girls in Gaza.
The “Flood of the Nation” festival was launched as part of the activities of the fourth edition of International Jerusalem Week via the virtual “Zoom” platform, with the participation of a number of intellectual, political and religious elites and representatives of popular movements from various Arab and Islamic countries. International Jerusalem Week represents an open global initiative led by the Association of Palestine Scholars and civil society organizations working for Palestine, aiming to designate the last week of the month of Rajab every year, which coincides with the Isra and Mi’raj anniversary , and the anniversary of Saladin al-Ayyubi’s liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque , as a global week, through... Reviving them with various programs and events in various countries.
The fourth edition of International Jerusalem Week, which coincided with the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip , aims to activate the nation’s role in the battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood to support the Palestinian people in Palestine, by reviving the issue in various countries of the world and pushing towards creating popular pressure on Arab regimes and peoples that leads to stopping the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Axis of Resistance
IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari stated: "Tonight we are publishing some of the intelligence information that our forces found there - which indicates a direct "connection" of Iran to Hamas and even more so - to Yahya Sinwar. We found official documents of Hamas from 2020 including a breakdown of the funds transferred by Iran in the period between 2014 and 2020 to Hamas and Sinwar. More than one hundred and fifty million dollars were transferred from Iran to Hamas. This is another example of how Iran exports terrorism throughout the Middle East."
The “Flood of the Nation” festival was launched as part of the activities of the fourth edition of International Jerusalem Week via the virtual “Zoom” platform. Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), praised the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip despite the scarcity of food, drink, and basic needs. Abu Marzouk said: “Gaza is not only fighting Israel, but it is in a battle with 80% of the world’s military power, and yet it has proven its ability to win. Also, the pain of the Zionists is greater, and the divisions in the Israeli street are great, and the nations have become aware of the danger of this project and all people have stood up.” With the people of Gaza.
Abu Marzouk said that its situation on the ground is in the best condition, and the mujahideen are capable of confronting all forms of aggression. He pointed out that more than 300,000 Israeli soldiers in Gaza cannot be stationed in a specific place, and that Beit Hanoun, which the occupation forces entered at the beginning of the war, withdrew from it after more than 3 months of fighting, “in clear evidence of the strength of the resistance ranks.”
Deputy Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement , Muhammad al-Hindi, confirmed that the war on the Gaza Strip has become considered a comprehensive battle for the entire nation. He also considered all human rights and humanitarian claims as a mask for the West through which it is trying to hide its flaws and justify its policies.
He pointed out that the war on Gaza has become a war without futility, a clear horizon, or goals that can be achieved for the Israeli occupation, while he denied that the recent Paris meeting had discussed ways to stop the aggression for the benefit of the Palestinians, but rather came to search for a way out for Israel and pressure to withdraw. Prisoners' paper from the resistance. Al-Hindi stressed that the Paris proposal did not include guarantees for a comprehensive ceasefire, the reconstruction of Gaza and breaking the siege, or the enemy’s withdrawal from all areas of the Strip, stressing that this is the consistent position of the resistance towards any ceasefire initiative.
Allied for Democracy
Netanyahu asked the Chief of Staff to provide alternatives for UNRWA to transport aid to Gaza by the end of the week. For its part, the United States announced that it may transfer support allocated to UNRWA to other institutions. This came in a press conference by Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department, where he confirmed the validity of the Senate’s preparation of a draft law to prevent aid provided to UNRWA, due to allegations that some of its members are linked to the Hamas movement . He added that the United Nations has opened an investigation in this regard.
Patel pointed out that the funding granted to UNRWA could be directed to other partners to provide aid to the Gaza Strip, such as the World Food Program , the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ), and other civil organizations. The American official stressed that they attach importance to the rapid completion of the investigation, indicating that they know how important UNRWA's work is.
The governments of Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Norway issued separate statements announcing their continued financial support for UNRWA, while stressing the importance of investigating the allegations.
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other armed groups present in the Gaza Strip carried out an attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 persons, injuring thousands and abducting some 240 people, many of whom continue to be held hostage. It was the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war. Palestinian armed groups launched thousands of missiles at Israel Following this attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea.
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."
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant considered 05 February 2024 that half the number of Hamas militants were killed or seriously injured by Israeli army forces. The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 27,585 martyrs, 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 66,978. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said much earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 8,000, including including 4,700 children and women, amid expectations that the toll will be double thi figures.
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 380 Palestinians, the injury of about 3,950, and the arrest of 5,780, according to official HAMAS sources. As of 17 January 2023, the Israeli escalation in the West Bank led to the death of 360 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 2,200, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the arrest of about 6,000, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
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 total number of Israeli deaths had risen to 563 [557?] since the start of the war on October 7, including 233 [220?] killed since the ground invasion as a result of the ongoing clashes with the Palestinian resistance. Among them were at least 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.
It was announced that soldiers wounded in the Gaza Strip battles numbered to 2,815 since the beginning of the war, including 1,296 who had been wounded since the start of the ground attack on October 27, 2023.
The Israeli army reported that 407 who are still receiving treatment for their injuries in the Gaza battles, and the condition of 48 of them is serious. The number of injured among the Israeli army since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip on October 27 included 602 minor cases, 430 moderate cases, and 264 critical cases.
The Israeli army published new data about those wounded in the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army announces that 540 soldiers were injured in the Gaza StripThe Gaza government announces that the Israeli army committed a “horrific massacre” in an area it claimed was safe According to army data, 540 soldiers, including 27 seriously injured, were injured in operational incidents since the start of the bombing of the Gaza Strip. There were also 21 accidental shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip, 54 bilateral shooting incidents and 31 traffic accidents. In addition, 388 incidents occurred, including ramming anti-tank rifles, anti-aircraft guns, weapons and machine guns.
At least 13,794 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.
In an interview with RT, Military strategist retired Tunisian Brigadier General Tawfiq Didi said that the number of Israeli army deaths in the Gaza battles is much greater than what Israel announces. Didi explained in an interview with the “Best Saying” program on RT channel, “The number of people killed in battles can be easily known, as the equation in wars is that for every 3 wounded there is a dead person, and the numbers now in Israel hover around 12,500 wounded and disabled people, and when we divide by Three, we find that the death toll exceeds 4,000, especially after eliminating more than a thousand tanks and armored vehicles, and I know what happens when Kornet missiles hit a tank. Its ammunition explodes and no one is left alive.”
He added, "The Israelis announce their dead only of those of Jewish origin and of the first race, meaning all Arabs, Falash, and those who are among them. They are not counted because they are of the second category. So I am sure that the number exceeds 4 thousand dead, and this is a very easy military calculation."
He pointed out, "The Palestinian resistance documented everything it did, unlike the Israelis. The resistance documented shooting at tanks and armored vehicles and destroying the houses in which the Israeli soldiers were holed up, and we saw them being killed... We saw the Kornet hitting the tanks, we saw Al-Yassin 105, so the difference is clear."
Hostages
Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have been held as hostages in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, respectively. Unlike the roughly 240 people kidnapped in the Hamas October 7 terrorist attacks, the campaign for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed has received little publicity. Mengistu is known to suffer from what HRW deemed "serious" mental health issues. "Avera crossed one of the safest borders in the world, under the eyes of the security services," recalled Gil Elias, a relative. "We're talking about a mentally ill person who got lost." The calls for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed have been barely audible during the many years they have been held captive in Gaza.
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 number of people arrested by the Israelis in the West Bank since that date has exceeded 6,870. The total number of prisoners in Israeli prisons is 8,800, as documented by the club until the end of December 2023. Palestinian prisoner institutions said more than 3,290 administrative detainees, which is the highest percentage since the years of the 1987 Intifada, and 661 who were classified as “unlawful combatants” from Gaza, and this is the number available only as a clear given. 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.
Israel said on 14 January 2024 that, since the beginning of the war, over 2,960 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, over 1,350 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.
The institutions added in the statement that “the occupation arrested 210 women during the aforementioned period, and this statistic includes women who were arrested from the territories in 1948, and more than 355 children,” pointing out that “the outcome of the arrest campaigns includes all those who were arrested from homes, and through military checkpoints, Those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were detained.” It explained that "the number of arrests among journalists reached 50, of whom 35 remain in detention, and 20 of them were transferred to administrative detention."
The announced numbers of detainees do not include those who were arrested from Gaza since the start of the operation in the Gaza Strip, as there is no accurate census of these numbers.
Israel has rejected international legal adaptations since 1967, and has treated the Palestinians as criminals, and tried them before military courts and not as prisoners of war. Because the POW is not tried, but is released when the war stops, or as a result of a political agreement.
But international humanitarian law sets clear conditions relating to the Palestinians, whether as prisoners of war or organized groups with one leadership and carrying a unified slogan, and these conditions apply to Palestinian resistance fighters, specifically armed groups. International law, through the Third Geneva Conventions, which relate to prisoners of war and armed conflicts, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which relates to civilians under occupation; Provide full protection to Palestinian prisoners and groups, including resistance factions.
The obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities became very different after the seventh of last October. They decided to cancel all trials in order to double the sentences issued against detainees, and now The scope of arguments before lawyers is very limited, due to military orders, and not according to legal data.
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