No rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel in the past 24 hours. And no IDF casualties have been reported in the past 96 hours.
The photos you see embedded in this post were taken by me this evening. I realize that it might look like a scene out of the 1940 Battle of Britain, but in fact it is a light show staged over the city of Jerusalem. Laser systems were set up through various sites in the City. Then every hour one can view the show from the Haas Promenade which is only a 15 minute walk from our home. The lights are synchronized across the city and set to Middle Eastern music played on speakers set up at the promenade. I do not know if this will become a permanent exhibit or not.
In Gaza the IDF reported today that it blew up three major tunnels in the vicinity of Khan Younis. One of them extended into Israeli territory and was constructed to be an attack tunnel. Apparently the IDF knew of this tunnel for several years and was monitoring it. Late last week the IDF identified that Akram Abd al-Rahman Husein Salama was killed during one of their ongoing operations. Salama was in charge of Internal Security as well as organizing terrorist attacks on Israeli soil. Also during operations in the al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis the IDF came across a very large armory in a residential area. They founds tons of explosive materials used in fabricating rockets and IEDs. During the operation of uncovering the armory, the IDF eliminated many terrorists dispatched to protect the facility.
For a second time since the start of the war there has been an incident on the Jordanian-Israeli border. Yesterday armed gunmen crossed the border in the north, near the Beit Shean border crossing, and started firing on IDF troops. They fled back into Jordan immediately after shooting.
There are now reports coming from many parts of Israel of disruption of GPS service. Even people in Jerusalem are seeing issues. A friend told me that yesterday their phone said they were in Beirut, while they were in Jerusalem. This is due to the fact that the IDF is screening the satellite signals to prevent Hezbollah’s guided missiles from navigating.
This tactic seems to be working as several missile barrages launched during the day by Hezbollah caused neither damage not injury. Yesterday Hezbollah fired several rounds of anti-tank missiles into several northern Israeli towns without causing damage or injury.
The IDF released the results of its probe into the World Central Kitchen tragedy from last week. Essentially the procedure that the IDF normally uses to approve such air strikes, typically there are 3-4 layers of approval required, was violated in this case. The incident happened at 22:00. The WCK staff had just finished supervising the unloading of its second aid boat that originated in Cyprus. The IDF had cooperated with the aid operation. The boat had brought in 300 tons of WCK aid. After unloading, a convoy of trucks started moving to a warehouse where the supplies were to be stored. The IDF was observing the operation from the air. Soon after unloading the IDF saw a gunman on top of one of the aid trucks firing an automatic weapon from the top of the truck. Once the convoy reached the warehouse the gunman jumped off the truck. At that point the IDF division commander tried to contact the WCK, but the charity’s security officer there could not communicate with the WCK team on the ground. The IDF officer was trying to get an assessment from the aid workers directly as to what was going on. At the warehouse, there were 15-20 people outside and at least two were identified as armed. One of the IDF officers in the chain of command concluded that they were Hamas operatives, but his superiors denied him the ability to strike because they were too close to the aid convoy. At 23:00 the aid was unloaded and stored, and the set of pickup trucks began to drive away. Just before the three pickup trucks began driving back to the coast one of the IDF commanders mistakenly thought he saw a Hamas operative enter one of the pickup trucks armed. In review of the video footage it was found that the person was not armed. At this point the IDF observers could not positively identify the trucks as being associated with the WCK. The order was issued to strike the vehicles because of this mistake but was done in a way that violated the standing procedures that such strikes must follow in order to get approval. You can get details here.
Two of the IDF security officers involved in the chain of command, that approved the strike, were dismissed for disobeying standard procedures. The two officers dismissed included a ranking Colonel. In addition three other officers were called in for a reprimand. The IDF reviewed its normal procedures and argues that they are sufficient for preventing tragedies like this if they are followed properly. It has ordered a thorough review with the appropriate staff of the standard approval procedures for these operations. Meantime the WCK insists that an independent body should investigate the incident.
The Israeli Cabinet announced that it will open the Erez Border Crossing for aid shipments using the Israeli city of Ashdod (which was continually subjected to Palestinian terrorist rocket fire) as a port of entry. This border crossing was the main crossing for aid until the war started. This should greatly change the landscape of aid entering Gaza, particularly in the northern section of Gaza. This is a smart move for all concerned as once the IDF starts its operation in Rafah it is likely to disrupt the aid trucks crossing the border from Egypt. The Cabinet vote on the issue was taken before one of the right wing ministers showed up for the vote, Ben Gvir, probably as a maneuver to deny him the opportunity to interfere with the vote.
We are now in the last week of Ramadan. So far there have been many terrorist attack attempts. Most were foiled, but over the course of the three week period there were only 2-3 that were successful. At prayers tonight on the Temple Mount police had to arrest about 16 people attending dawn prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque. Some of those arrested fired fireworks at nearby police. Most were young teenagers accused of inciting violence. Most likely, they will all be released within 24 hours. For the most part, this has been a “normal” Ramadan as we typically experience terrorist attacks of this type during the period.
Based on intelligence gleaned from arrested terrorists during operations in Gaza the IDF learned that one of the hostages, Elad Katzir, was killed by his captors during captivity with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The information identified where Katzir was buried. Yesterday the IDF exhumed the body and he was positively identified by forensics here in Israel.
Protests seem to be picking up pace. Estimates range up to 70-80 thousand demonstrators at the weekly protests in Tel Aviv tonight. So far there are no reports of violence. There were much smaller protests elsewhere in the country. These are now anti-government protests, mostly claiming that Netanyahu’s government should meet whatever demands Hamas is making in order to get the hostages back. Hamas leaders must be grinning ear to ear.
In the meantime Hamas announced that it will not reach a hostage deal unless Israel agrees to a permanent cease fire, a complete pullout of troops from within Gaza and permit Hamas to return to ruling the strip. So I fail to see what these protestors think they will accomplish regarding the hostages. And protests like these only embolden Hamas more.
ADDENDUM: I wanted to follow up from my last post where I described why it is that those of you living outside of Israel see some things and not other things. First, it would not be right if I did not mention that we, in Israel, also see only “some” things. Unless we go online or tune in to a US cable new network, we do not see the images of children in Gaza being pulled from the rubble of a destroyed building. We see images of the damage done to the buildings in Gaza, but we are not shown the images of the human part of the tragedy. Our media is NOT government controlled so I do not have an adequate explanation as to why. And I would rather not guess. We do see the images but only from foreign press broadcasts. And the other item I wish to return to is that in essence what you see coming from Gaza is what Hamas and the Palestinian Authority want you to see. They either employ, threaten or payoff those runners who supply the images and videos to the foreign press in Israel.