Operation Iron Swords - December 2024
Wars generally end with one side accepting that it has lost. So long as neither side gives up, then the war goes on.
Israeli politicians have made striking and conflicting statements about the war in Gaza and what Benjamin Netanyahu's government should do in the future in the Strip. These statements came as the occupation continues to fail to recover its prisoners from the Gaza Strip, and days after the International Criminal Court issued two arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Galant .
Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon considered that what the occupation army is currently doing in the Gaza Strip is merely ethnic cleansing and not a war for a legitimate goal. Despite being criticized, Ya'alon said, "I do not retract what I said, that they are carrying out war crimes in northern Gaza. What I said about ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, I based it on what officers there told me."
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for an end to the war in Gaza and a prisoner exchange deal to return the Israeli prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance. In the same context, the families of the Israeli prisoners said that the way to return their sons in Gaza is through ending the war there as part of a deal.
The Prisoners' Families Authority added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich want to establish settlements on the heads of Israeli prisoners in Gaza. The Authority pointed out that Netanyahu is the one who is obstructing and rejecting the exchange deal.
US President-elect Donald Trump said that if the detainees in the Gaza Strip are not released before his inauguration on January 20, there will be "hell" in the Middle East. “Those responsible will be hit harder than anyone in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on social media. “Release the prisoners now.” Trump added, "Everyone talks about the hostages in a brutal, inhumane way and against the will of the world, but it's just talk and no action."
The Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) announced that 33 Israeli prisoners held by it had been killed since October 2023, and confirmed that most of them had been killed by the Israeli army's bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip. The movement said - in a video clip posted on its Telegram page - that some of these people had disappeared due to "the criminal (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his intransigence." The movement warned that "the continuation of the (Israeli) aggression will raise the death toll of enemy prisoners." Israel estimates that there are 101 prisoners being held in the Gaza Strip.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation in the Gaza Strip as "horrific and catastrophic," warning that the conditions Palestinians are living in the Strip may amount to "the most serious international crimes ." In a speech delivered 02 December 2024 by his assistant Amina Mohammed during the "Strengthening the Humanitarian Response in the Gaza Strip" conference, held in Cairo on Monday, Guterres urged the international community to "build the foundations for sustainable peace in Gaza and across the Middle East."
"Malnutrition is rampant... famine is imminent. Meanwhile, the health system has collapsed," Guterres said. He added that Gaza now has "the largest per capita number of amputee children in the world," with "many losing limbs and undergoing surgery without even anesthesia." The Secretary-General also criticised the severe restrictions on the delivery of aid, saying that the blockade of Gaza was “not a crisis of logistical issues”, but “a crisis of political will and respect for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”.
International aid agencies have repeatedly expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, noting that aid shipments currently reaching the Strip are at their lowest level since the outbreak of the war in October 2023. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA ) said that all its attempts to deliver aid to northern Gaza were either blocked or obstructed between October 6 and November 25.
An Israeli military source revealed to Alhurra website 04 December 2024 the details of the military operation that the army has been carrying out in the northern Gaza Strip for about two months, stressing that its goal is to eliminate Hamas elements in the area. The source, who requested anonymity, said that the operation includes the infrastructure in northern Gaza, including Jabalia and Beit Lahia, with the aim of eliminating the Northern Gaza Brigade of Hamas. He added that the operation focused on targeting militants and military leaders, and so far the leaders of the battalions have been eliminated, and the remaining scattered elements or cells have mostly been eliminated.
Ismail Thawabteh, head of the government media office in Gaza, said that the operation in the north had resulted in the killing of more than 3,700 citizens, while others were missing, and more than 10,000 were injured, especially in Beit Lahia, Jabalia and the surrounding areas. Thawabteh added, "Until this moment, the Israeli army has arrested more than 1,750 Palestinian civilians, and we do not know their fate or even the circumstances of their arrest." In turn, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense Authority in Gaza, explained that more than 70% of the dead are still under the rubble.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is ready to do a deal,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said 12 December 2024. “I got the sense today from the prime minister he’s ready to do a deal. And when I go to Doha and Cairo, my goal will be to put us in a position to be able to close this deal this month, not later. “There is more optimism in the air, shall we say,” adds Sullivan. “I wouldn’t be here today if I thought this thing was just waiting until after January 20,” Sullivan said. Arab mediators told The Wall Street Journal’s Summer Said 12 December 2024 that Hamas had agreed to two of Israel’s main demands for a cease-fire deal in Gaza, including a provision that would keep Israeli troops in the territory.
Yaniv Kubovich writing for Haaretz reported that after Brig. Gen. Yehuda Vach took control of the in the Netzarim corridor, "every dead Palestinian is counted as a terrorist. ... other accounts from soldiers reveal that the brigade's lack of discipline and the way it operates under an alternative set of laws went beyond that, with additional consequences. In early December, Vach convened the division's top officers for a review of their four months of combat in the Netzarim corridor. 'We didn't achieve our goal,' he said at the start of his remarks, according to officers who attended. The goal, they said, was to forcibly displace some 250,000 Palestinian residents who are still living in northern Gaza. In fact, only a few hundred Palestinians crossed the Netzarim corridor into southern Gaza".
"As long as the hostages are in Gaza, Israel can continue to fight, tighten its grip on the northern Strip and hope for American approval to strike Iran. For this reason, Netanyahu is offering Hamas an alternative deal: The organization can continue to hold some of the hostages and maintain its control over southern Gaza, in exchange for the loss of the territory from the Netzarim corridor northward, which will remain in Israel's hands. Hamas will have to protect and take care of the remaining hostages, its last remaining assets, in order to survive. For now, the organization is rejecting the offer" – Aluf Benn stated 29 December 2024. Both Israel and Hamas are trading blame for the lack of progress towards a cease-fire/hostage deal, but negotiations have not collapsed.
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