Today’s Image
I did not know this before, but Israel has a special forces IDF naval unit that conducts missions deep underwater. Here is an article describing what they do, or at least what the press is allowed to disclose. There is a different special forces unit called Shayetet, consisting of specially trained naval forces that combine diving as well as land based special operations. Great leaders come from that unit, including Defense Minister Gallant and one of my favorite politicians, Yoaz Handel. Handel was a minister in the Bennett government and served as Minister of Communications. When The War broke out, he voluntarily enlisted to serve and is still serving as an officer until now.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets fired from Gaza crossed into Israel in the past 48 hours.
Casualties
No IDF casualties have been reported in the past twelve days.
Gaza Operations
Yesterday, I reported that the IDF sent flyers over Beit Hanoun asking those few civilians to move to another location as there was an impending ground operation in order to eliminate rocket launchers used in recent attacks on Israel and the underground tunnel facilities associated with them. Very few civilians remain in this northern town in Gaza. We should hear more about this in the coming days. And today, IDF has started a third ground operation in Khan Younis after distributing a similar flyers informing the few residents there to move to an humanitarian zone. Khan Younis was the major stronghold for Hamas leadership prior to the war and has the most dense and extensive terrorist infrastructure within Gaza. It is also believed that this is where Sinwar is hiding along with the hostages being kept in captivity.
And during operations in Rafah, IDF infantry has uncovered and destroyed several rocket launchers located next to Gaza’s largest fuel storage depot. The troops had to be careful not to set off the explosions in a way that could cause shrapnel from hitting one of the tanks and causing a massive explosion. You might recall that something like that happened a month ago when a missile was fired at a Hamas operations center, and shrapnel from the explosion caused a small storage tank to explode and set fire to some improvised temporary housing for Gazans nearby. In other activity in Rafah, troops entered several booby trapped homes in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah destroying Hamas infrastructure and killing several combatants that attempted to attack the troops. Here you can see a map of the area here along with a video showing some of the '“hidden rooms” that the IDF is finding in some of the booby trapped homes.
The IDF conducted an aerial missile strike in two neighborhoods of Gaza City where Hamas combatants were meeting in improvised command and control facilities they set up inside two schools - Abdel Fattah Hamoud and al-Zahraa schools. Based on intelligence reports 12-15 combatants were killed and the arms stored in the schools were destroyed by the missiles. There were no civilians in either facility at the time. Here you can read more and see a video of the missile strikes.
A report this evening from Israel’s Channel 12 TV station describes information its correspondents received regarding inside machinations within Hamas leadership. One cannot take these too seriously. Nonetheless, the reports suggest that Yahya Sinwar sent a message to Hamas leaders in Qatar that they should pursue an hostage/ceasefire deal without waiting for Iran’s impending attack on Israel. Moreover, he informed them that no one is to interfere with the hostage talks other than his second in command, Khalil al-Hayya (residing in Qatar) and Ghazi Hamad (currently in Lebanon). The report also suggested that Sinwar is facing considerable pressure from his military subordinates to seek a ceasefire. Based on what I know, I believe that these reports make sense. The report continues to claim that Sinwar is not happy having been appointed as head of Hamas’s Politburo, replacing Ismail Haniyeh. It appears that politics are in play and that he is being trapped to carry out duties requiring travel and daily communications, while he is sitting in an underground bunker somewhere in Khan Younis. Who knows if there is any substance to this last item.
Lebanon Operations
This afternoon IDF fighter jets struck several Hezbollah buildings in southern Lebanon including rocket launchers and arms storage warehouses. During the operation they must hit several Hezbollah combatants in or near these facilities. Hezbollah announced the death of another one of its members. No name provided.
And this afternoon, Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into the northern coastal area of Israel triggering sirens in a few communities there that are nearly completely evacuated of residents. They then launched another barrage of 15 rockets this evening. Nearly all fell in open areas. No damage nor injuries reported.
This morning an Israeli drone struck another moving vehicle, killing its occupants. No announcement was made of who the assassination target might have been.
The rumors circulating now are that Hezbollah will try to target a senior Israeli government official as part of its response to Israel’s assassination of Fuad Shukr.
In Haifa, one on Israel’s major ports and a major commercial center in the north, the mayor was interviewed on TV today. He said that they have been preparing their residents for the possibility that they will have to remain in bomb shelters as long as 5-6 days and should secure enough food and water to last that period. He pointed out that they expect as many as 4,000 missiles a day to rain down on their city if/when war breaks out with Hezbollah.
Yemen Operations
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Agency reports that it received a broadcast request for assistance from a commercial ship about 45 nautical miles off the southern coast of Yemen. No more details were provided.
The Houthis announced that they are actively coordinating with Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” in its response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Syria/Iraq/Egypt/Jordan/Turkiye/Iran
It appears that Iraqi forces have pursued the perpetrators of the Katyusha rocket attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase that caused seven US soldiers to be rushed to the hospital. Arrests were made of five suspects. There are roughly a total of 2,000 US troops still in Iraq.
Reports have emerged that Iran’s new president has appealed to the Supreme Leader to not follow through with the attack on Israel. According to these reports, he is worried about the impact such an attack would have on an already crippled economy. I have been asked by some why Israel is compelled to respond to attacks on its soil and population. Why can’t Israel just “turn the other cheek”? If only it were so simple. As I had reported back in late July, after the IDF fighter jets blew up a large part of the Houthi’s port in Al Hodeidah, such an operation demonstrates that anyone who launches an attack on Israel, in this case killing a citizen, can expect to pay a price. In that case, the IDF blew up their port and oil storage facilities, disrupting not only the ability to import weapons from Iran but to export oil. The images from that attack and the burning storage tanks appeared on the front page of nearly all Arab newspapers in the region. My guess is that it must have made the headlines in Iran as well. Could you imagine the implications of a similar attack on Iran’s oil storage/export facilities? Or on its nuclear facilities?? It is my strong belief that this is what is worrying the Iranian president, and he has good reason to worry. Deterrence is necessary and it does work.
And apparently Iran’s acting Foreign Minister (the previous one died in a helicopter crash two months ago) said at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) emergency meeting called by Iran that:
The act that the Zionists carried out in Tehran was a strategic mistake because it will cost them gravely… The Zionists are in no position to start a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. They neither have the capacity nor the strength.
There are rumors that Iran, due to international pressure, is reconsidering its announced retaliation against Israel. I do not believe these rumors.
And just as I was wrapping up this post, this came in…. Syrian news media reports that explosions were heard near the Syrian Army’s air base in Homs. It is used a lot by Iran to bring in arms shipments for Hezbollah.
General Mood - Israel
The Bank of Israel announced today that Israel’s fiscal deficit widened to 8.1% of GDP as of July (covering the previous 12 month period. A large part of this is due to the costs of The War, but also this government is granting all kinds of financial benefits to the cronies supporting the political parties within the coalition.
IDF General
For the second time in a week, US General Michael Kurilla, commander of US CENTCOM forces in the Middle East, arrived in Israel to meet with Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant. The two are coordinating responses to the impending attack on Israel from Iran and its proxies.
The five soldiers accused of abuse of the imprisoned Hamas commander remain in custody. Today a report was filed by a physician from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital showing evidence that the injuries sustained by the prisoner were self inflicted. You can read more details here and a fairly good analysis of what is known so far.
The Security Cabinet met today in its specially provisioned underground bunker in Jerusalem to discuss the IDF plans for dealing with the expected attack from Iran. There are some elements in the government, the extreme right wing parties, insisting on a preemptive strike against Iran. To me, that seems reckless in light of the possibility that there may not even be an attack from Iran.
Aid
Yesterday, a spokesman for the World Central Kitchen said that one of their locally hired workers was killed in the Deer al-Balah area of central Gaza. The spokesman did not assign blame to any specific organization. Today, after making an initial investigation, the IDF announced that there was no known incident resulting from their actions that could have killed the off duty worker. As you might remember, the IDF accidentally killed seven of the WCK members in a mistaken operation back in early April.
Yesterday 271 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza and were placed in the staging areas. Aid organizations picked up and distributed about 155 trucks worth of aid during the day.
Hostages/Ceasefire
No news.
International
Today, Israel revoked the diplomatic status of Norway’s diplomatic corp that was sent to set up their Embassy in Ramallah, after the country recognized a “Palestinian State”. Norway is not happy. It will make it very difficult for the diplomats to operate. And Spain, which also announced the recognition of a “Palestinian State” is having a hard time recruiting diplomats willing to live and work inside Ramallah. They tried to transfer some members of their staff in Tel Aviv, but they refused for fear of terror/violence there. You can read more here.
The Biden Administration issued a statement through the State Department today saying:
We are appalled by these comments and reiterate that this rhetoric is harmful and disturbing.
I am also appalled by the ridiculous statement made by the Israeli Finance Minster and leader of one of the far right extremist parties in this government when he said:
We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned. Humanitarianism in exchange for humanitarianism is morally justified — but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war.
This guy is not only incapable of running his ministry properly, he says many reckless things that accomplish nothing other than appeasing a small minority of extremists making up his constituency.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Today, Time Magazine published an interview they conducted with Prime Minister Netanyahu. During the course of the interview, he issued apologies for the catastrophe of October 7. You should read this for yourself.
And in recent developments a group of top military officials from several Western nations has appealed to the International Criminal Court NOT to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant. They insist that there the allegations claiming that Israel was intentionally killing civilians and starving the population are baseless.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/everything-is-collapsing-israeli-reservists-confront-toll-of-protracted-war-430811e4?mod=hp_lead_pos6
https://www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/Article-1122575
https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/08/04/deep-dive-into-israels-elite-underwater-unit-reveals-rare-photos/