No rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel in the past nine days. The IDF reports no casualties in the past 48 hours from the fighting in Gaza.
A friend of mine from Palo Alto came to visit Israel with her husband, volunteering in the agricultural fields that are short of foreign workers. She asked me how she might help the Lone Soldiers so I set her up with the staff at the Lone Soldier Center to prepare a meal for the soldiers. Here they are, in the kitchen, busy. Thank you Sue and Ron Maltiel for coming to volunteer and help us at “our hour of need”.
IDF military operations continue throughout Khan Younis and central Gaza. Fighting continued in the Khan Younis neighborhoods of al-Karara and Absanim. Several tunnels and arms depots were founds during the course of these operations. Also, terrorists were killed. You can see a video of the operation here. The IDF insists that it also found documents bearing significant value regarding the whereabouts of other operatives.
Fallout from the terrible accident yesterday continues. UN aid agencies in Gaza announced that they would temporarily cease operating at night as it was at night when the airborne missiles struck the World Central Kitchen convoy. The President and Founder of the WCK, Jose Andres, wrote an invited op-ed in an Israeli newspaper with the second largest circulation in the country. It is a thoughtful op-ed written by a a well meaning human being. You can read it here. The IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi delivered a public and personal apology for the tragedy. You can listen to it in Hebrew here . There are English subtitles.
More details are emerging from the meeting between government officials from the USA and Israel regarding the proposed Rafah Operation. Apparently, the USA insists it will take more than four months to evacuate the civilians from Rafah and Israel allocated, in its plan, something like four weeks. It took about 2 ½ to 3 weeks to affect the evacuation of Gaza City back in October. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan maintains that it is possible that the UN backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification organization could issue a famine declaration regarding Gaza. The Israeli officials dispute the assessment. A couple days ago I posted an article quoting Arab merchants in and around Rafah reporting the prices in the market fell by 50% because of the glut in food aid being sold there. COGAT, the IDF’s division responsible for civil administration in Judea/Samaria (West Bank) and now Gaza, has a fabulous web site showing real time data for aid supplies making their way to Gaza. Since this division is responsible for the truck inspections prior to entry in Gaza, they know. You can check it out here for yourself here . Here are the supplies that UNRWA tracks on their web site . I do not believe that UNWRA tracks ALL the aid, but only the aid that they handle. There are other aid groups.
The nightly protests organized by the hostage families have now been fully overtaken by anti-government protestors so there is no longer a distinction. And last night they turned very violent in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I arrived by public transportation yesterday evening from Jerusalem and protestors were carrying gasoline (or diesel) lit torches along the major thoroughfare in Tel Aviv, blocking 100% of the traffic. Things were much worse in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, some of those torches were thrown at police and police vehicles. Physical threats are being made against government officials. Unfortunately, this has created a backlash against the demonstrators across the country. Leaders of one of the opposition parties, Yair Lapid, is speaking at these protests, which is another reason why the hostage family protests have morphed into violent anti-government protests.
Benny Gantz, the leader of the “National Unity” party who stepped in to join the government for the duration of the war back in October, gave a speech this afternoon saying that this violence should not be a part of the national discourse. He also said that the “political system” should agree to hold elections in September, one year after the beginning of the war. I am not sure what “political system” means. I do not see the Netanyahu Government volunteering to step down and hold new elections. It is possible that the ultra-orthodox draft exemption might be enough to bring down the government. Regardless, it is my opinion that September is a bit early to expect the war to reach a reasonable point to afford a lame duck government. I think that the end of the calendar year, December, is a much more likely time frame. But we will have to see how this issue unfolds. In his speech he also said that the IDF will be fighting Hamas for years to come. I firmly believe this to be true and agree with this assessment. And finally he said that a peace deal with Saudi Arabia is within reach. I believe that too. As I have said before, it is my opinion that Saudi Arabis needs Israel more than Israel needs Saudi Arabia. The USA has shown nothing but weakness in the Middle East in recent years. The Gulf states can no longer rely on it.
Today, Hezbollah fired several rounds of missiles and rockets on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. The IAF fighter jets located at the launching sites and destroyed them later in the day. In a related story, today the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization announced that one of its commanders in southern Lebanon was killed in an Israeli raid, Muhammed And al-Aziz al-Rantisi. And Hezbollah also reported its 267th loss with the killing of Hasan Ibrahim May due to an Israeli air attack yesterday.
Some of you may recall that about one week ago I reported that several UNIFIL observers on the Lebanese border were injured while driving in an automobile in southern Lebanon. Of course, the UN and Hezbollah accused the IDF for the attack. Today it was confirmed that they drove nearby a land mine area created by Hezbollah and one of the explosives were triggered.
Draft call up notices were sent by the IDF to some of the eligible ultra-orthodox students of draft age that previously had exemptions. In Hebrew this is called Tzav Rishon - first notice. I will continue following this story for two reasons. Firstly, it is my opinion that it is THE defining issue of our period. Secondly, because it is my belief that this is the only issue which has a possibility of bringing down this government. Otherwise, I do not see how/what will cause this government to fall.
Another drone crossing Jordan entered Israeli air space near Eilat. An interceptor was fired by the IDF. At this point it is not certain what happened and is being investigated. No injuries or damage reported.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special “rapporteur”, made another brilliant accusation today. She accused Israel of deliberately, in an assassination like operation, killing the WKC aid workers. I probably need to remind you that she insisted that the October 7 massacre was not antisemitic in nature.
I promised you that I would follow up on the arrest of Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the sister of Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh. Ismail lives in a 5 start hotel in Qatar. After hearing the prosecution’s case today the judge ruled, in a preliminary hearing, that there is enough evidence to constitute a case against her and it will go to trial. She will remain in jail until her court case. In the meantime, the police used a search warrant and went through the entirety of her home where they found over $270M in currency and gold. What a racket….
Speaking of Haniyeh, today he issued a statement saying that Hamas is sticking by its position that there will be no hostage deal until Israel agrees to withdraw the IDF completely from Gaza. Discussions are apparently continuing between the parties using intermediaries on the hostage/ceasefire negotiations. At this point I don’t have much more to report as everything being reported in the press is sheer rumor.
In a rather unusual announcement, the leaders of Fatah today accused Iran of trying to spread chaos throughout the West Bank (Judea/Samaria) and generally causing many disruptions in their society. Fatah is the faction controlling the Palestinian Authority.
It is not entirely clear how to interpret this but Russia announces that its military police stationed in Syria will be dispatched to southern Syria for the purpose of de-escalating tensions between elements of the Syrian opposition and the Syrian government. This has happened in the past and there may be nothing more to it. But, it comes on the heels of the successful mysterious fighter jet operation that took out senior IRGC commanders in Damascus. There is a communications hot line between the IDF and the leadership of Russian forces in Syria to defuse items like this. I believe that as more and more of these mysterious operations are successful in Syria it is possible that those groups opposed to the tyrannical Syrian government might be emboldened to act.
I leave you with a well thought through article I found on The Free Press. You can read it here. As you know, I do not always post things that I agree with. And this is one of them. I think that the author is VERY wrong when he states that the Gaza War and the killing of the IRGC Commanders in Syria will lead to “The Death of Israeli-Sunni Normalization”. I contend that the reality is that it will lead the opposite. All the Gulf leaders want to see an end to Hamas, Iran’s hegemony and other Jihadis who threaten their governments. Also, the “Weakness of the USA” he cites will also cause those Gulf states to come to an understanding with Israel. As for “Israel Getting Bogged Down in Gaza” I think that it is irrelevant. We have been bogged down in Gaza and Judea/Samaria (West Bank) for years and I see no forces or events that will change this in the years to come. In fact, prior to 2005 you could say we were much more “bogged down”. But, read it and you decide.