October 256, 2023, "The War"
My 201st post on The War
Today’s Image
Today’s image is of former IDF reservist Eliran Mizrahi (Z’’L) who committed suicide last week after serving in the field engineering corp for 78 days in Gaza. He is survived by a wife and four children. After returning from his time in Gaza he, along with all released soldiers (active duty and reserve) undergo a mandatory debriefing with psychologists and social workers in an effort to reduce the incidence of PTSD. The country has a shortage of social workers at the moment because many, many are being deployed for this purpose. Apparently, Eliran had met with his commander and an additional soldier in preparation for his being called up again to serve. Later that day he committed suicide. His family launched an effort to have him declared an IDF casualty that succeeded. He was not on active duty at the time of death, but the IDF extended the benefits due to the circumstances. He is being buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which is an honor. Ordinarily, according to Jewish Law suicide victims are not buried in a normal cemetery, but in specially reserved areas at the perimeter.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets were fired from Gaza and crossed the Israeli border in the past 96 hours.
Casualties
No IDF casualties were reported in the past 24 hours resulting from operations in either Gaza or Lebanon.
Gaza Operations
IDF operations now are focused on the southern area of Rafah and the center of Gaza along what is called the Netzarim Corridor, a road traversing East to West by the IDF to enable them to easily move troops and equipment throughout Gaza on an as needed bases. In Rafah, troops engaged in close quarters combat with Hamas combatants killing them and destroying the buildings from where they were storing arms and equipment. More than 30 Hamas facilities were destroyed in the last day in the Rafah area including tunnel entrances/exits, rocket launching facilities and arms storage facilities. The IDF typically destroys tunnel entrances and maps them for later full investigation. By destroying them it forces any Hamas combatants below ground to use other entrances/exits so they can get a better full map of the underground operations. Then later a specialty force comes in to probe and destroy. Along the Netzarim Corridor, troops engaged with combatants protecting arms storage facilities, destroying them and the combatants.
This morning fighting between IDF troops and Hamas combatants erupted in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The IDF had not previously reported on active operations there as they had evacuated that neighborhood about a month ago. But, again this is going to be a “whack a mole” set of operations for months to come. We, the Israeli public, have expected this to be the case since the onset of the war.
Lebanon Operations
Hezbollah launched more than 215 rockets, in addition to anti-tank missiles and drones into northern Israel today. It is the largest barrage of armaments thrown by the Iranian proxy since October 7. This follows an attack on Wednesday including more than 90 rockets hitting as far south as the Israeli city of Tiberias along and another 70 fired towards Meron. Ordinarily this would be a clear Act of War that no country in the world would permit without an all out attack on the military terrorist organization. The rockets initiated a series of more fires in the Galil. Twenty five fire fighting teams are actively working to put out the fires, while they are being fired upon by more rockets. There have been no injuries resulting from this huge attack. Those objects that risked hitting civilian or military facilities were neutralized in mid air by Iron Dome anti-air missiles. Sirens went off warning residents in much of the north to take cover as there were concerns about injuries that might be caused due to falling shrapnel from these inbound rockets, etc. As of 21:15 this evening, Wednesday, the Israeli Fire and Rescue Organization publicly stated that the fires were under control.
When one of these terror groups behaves like this, you can generally assume that Israel must have done something good. In fact, Tuesday night the IDF killed one of Hezbollah’s top commanders, Taleb Abdullah. He and three is his staff members were killed in a well planned assassination using a missile fired from an IDF fighter jet. He was killed in the southern Lebanese town of Jouaiyya, 15 km north of the Israeli border. To date Abdullah is the highest ranking member of the military wing of the terrorist organization. Earlier, in January, the IDF assassinated the deputy head of the Hezbollah Radwan force which was active in the Syrian Civil War and is considered one of its best trained infantry units. Abdullah appears to be among the top 3-5 military leaders in Hezbollah. Hours before he was killed Abdullah ordered multiple rocket strikes on the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. This time the assassination was not on a moving vehicle but on a building where the terror leaders was meeting with his subordinates. You can get more details here.
Hezbollah has now vowed publicly to increase its attacks on Israel. It is estimated that Hezbollah possesses more than 150,000 rockets, missiles and drones. I have seen estimates suggesting that to day they have used up less than 5%d of their arsenal.
This afternoon Israeli fighter jets destroyed several rocket launchers and sites from where today’s barrage originated.
Yemen Operations
After successfully attacking two merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden over the past few days, the Houthis appear to have successfully struck a third merchant ship about 58 nautical miles off the Houthi port city of Hodeida. It appears to be a British Company owned container ship, no more details are given. One of the two boats attacked earlier in the week was owned by a Swiss Company and the other German. None have anything to do with Israel, so it should be abundantly clear to everyone that the Houthis and their puppet masters, the Iranians, do not care whether their attacks are on Israel, the West, Russia or anyone. This is pure Piracy.
US CENTCOM said today that it destroyed two anti-ship cruise missiles launched by the Houthis that were targeting US forces.
Aid
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says that many people in Gaza were facing:
“catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions. A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions. Despite reports of increased delivery of food, there is currently no evidence that those who need it most are receiving sufficient quantity and quality of food.
On Wednesday 193 aid trucks were transferred into Gaza. Those trucks arrived from Egypt through the Kerem Shalom border crossing and via the Israeli port of Ashdod through the Erez border crossing in the north. Meantime, aid sitting on pallets amounting to more than 1,000 trucks worth are sitting on the Gaza side of these border crossings waiting for these Aid Agencies to F**KING DO THEIR JOB and distribute the aid. So according to one of Eric’s Laws…. Never believe what you hear from a paid UN Director. They are financially incentivized to attack Israel.
On the other hand the independent aid agency, the World Central Kitchen aid organization said it has ongoing communications with COGAT and that it has succeeded in supplying its numerous kitchens in Gaza with aid brought in through the crossings which it has managed to deliver to its operation centers. As you may remember staff from the WCK died in a tragic IDF mistake that resulted in the death of seven of its aid workers back in early April.
Hostages/Ceasefire
A report today in the Hebrew Press stated that IDF officials are pessimistic about the situation of the hostages, estimating that perhaps only 20 remain alive. It was not clear from the article what evidence provided such a pessimistic view.
Hamas has formally responded to the US/Israel Proposal. Before today, there were many conflicting reports on what was going on. Hamas had made modifications to the proposal and delivered them to the USA and Israel through the Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE PROPOSAL WAS 100% COPY OF A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY HAMAS ITSELF IN EARLY MAY TO THE MEDIATORS. Of course, anyone is entitled to change their positions but everyone should recognize that this proposal was basically echoed back by Israel to Hamas.
According to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan:
Many of the proposed changes are minor and not unanticipated. Others differ more substantially from what was outlined in the UN Security Council resolution.
Here are comments from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Press Conference held in Doha, Qatar:
Hamas could have answered with a single word: Yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that it had previously taken and accepted.
Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table… Some of the changes are workable, some are not
A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6 — a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted.
At some point in a negotiation — and this has gone back and forth for a long time — you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes on things that they had already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.
It’s time for the haggling to stop and a ceasefire to start.
In response, Hamas official Osam Hamdan in an interview on Al-Araby TV said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was “part of the problem, not the solution” in the Gaza conflict. He also denied that Hamas put forward any “new ideas”.
Meantime Qatari officials, including its Prime Minister, announced that Israel’s steps in Rafah over the past month interfered with efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. These guys are useless. All they really want is Hamas to be left intact so their aims for the Moslem Brotherhood, which they financially support, can be achieved. This is there way to deflect blame.
The Israeli Government has been noticeable quiet during all this interchange. Yesterday, in advance of the public statements from Qatar, the USA, Hamas.. Israeli officials have been leaking to the press here that Hamas rejected the proposal. This article provides more details, but the responses are totally unofficial. Positions deemed unacceptable to Israel, and are brand new demands, include:
Hamas opposed giving Israel veto power over the release of high-profile prisoners in exchange for abducted soldiers, even though Israel agreed to compromise by retaining veto power over only half of the 200 high-profile prisoners expected to be included in the deal,
Hamas demanded to advance the timeline for Gaza's reconstruction from phase three of the agreement to phase one,
Hamas insisted on the immediate removal of the Israeli-established Netzarim Corridor,
Hamas firmly rejected Israel's demand to deport freed Palestinian prisoners, insisting they be released to their places of origin, including the West Bank,
Hamas also demanded guarantees from China, Russia and Turkey for ending the conflict, in addition to U.S. assurances,
And there were many more….
And the Russians have finally started to show signs of movement. As you might recall, one of the rescued hostages from last Saturday’s Operation Arnon was a dual Russian-Israeli citizen. Today Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner issued a fresh appeal to senior UN and other officials to take action to secure the release of Russian nationals still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Don’t you just sympathize? Russia appealing to the UN to help recover hostages from Hamas??
IDF General
It appears that IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi met with his Arab counterparts from Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt in Manama Bahrain on Monday. This was organized and sponsored by US General Michel “Erik” Kurilla, commander of US CENTCOM. This was reported here, in Axios. No statement from the IDF nor CENTCOM was issued in response. One of you, my subscribers, alerted me to the article before it was cited in the Israeli Press. But it makes sense since Kurilla arrived in Israel shortly after the meeting had ended. All this follows in the successful operation organized by Kurilla with cooperation from these armies in response to the Iranian Massive Missile launch against Israel in mid-April. This is a very constructive effort by the USA on behalf of the region.
And US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, by phone today congratulating Gallant on the incredible Operation Arnon mission. They also spoke about the situation with the ceasefire proposal and the escalations along the Lebanese border. This took place before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his statements in Doha.
Day After
US Secretary of State Antony, in his press conference in Doha, also said that the USA and partners will present proposed plans for post-war Gaza in the coming weeks. Most likely these plans will be drafted without involvement from Israel.
International
A United Nations investigation claims that Israel had committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of “extermination.” This purely “objective and thorough” investigation which involved absolutely no interviews with any of the principles involved was led by Navi Pillay, the chair of the Commission of Inquiry. I am sure that she is now entitled to a major bonus. Her committee claims:
The crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed.
And Israel is also responsible for sexual violence allegedly committed by soldiers during the war.
I am surprised that they didn’t demand an accompanying UN Security Council Resolution to endorse this highly detailed, thorough and objective report… (not!). This is so much fiction it is pathetic.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Here is an article written by a friend, Daniel Pipes, the founder and lead editor of the Middle East Forum. Daniel is brilliant and has an incredible understanding of the Middle East and how it works. Here he writes on his views of the “Day After” or in his words, “Building a Decent Gaza”.
And if for no other reason than to give you a laugh, here is an interview between a BBC reporter and an Israeli spokesperson regarding the Operation Arnon hostage rescue. In it the BBC reporter asks why Israel did not give advance notice to the hostage captors before the operation. At one time, years ago, the BBC was the most respected news outlet in the Western World. Today, it is the laughing stock.
And here is an Op-Ed from Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary Magazine, about what he calls “4 Clarifying Moments” from news this past weekend. Advanced Political Warning: he castigates the Biden Administrations over its handling of this Gaza War. Like me, he is a big fan of the UN and, in particular, UN “Special Rapporteur” Francesca Albanese. In his words,
a person (I hesitate even to call her a person) whose views on Israel might cause Josef Goebbels to say, “Well, now you go a little far.”
Excellent.
Such complexity in Israel, even in a single day ! But here’s the report for the day, I look forward to with sources, in trying to understand the Gaza war .