Today’s Image
A creative IDF soldier with artistic talents painted this on a wall at an IDF base in the south. Many believe now that Sinwar is above ground hopping from place to place, disguised as a woman. See more below.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets fired from Gaza crossed into Israel in the past day.
Casualties
No casualties were reported in the past day.
Gaza Operations
During the course of operations in Deir al-Balah, one of the last two remaining strongholds of Hamas, the IDF uncovered a 700 meter long tunnel. Today it was demolished by the IDF Corp of Engineers. Finding and destroying the tunnels in and around Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat are very important as they will put a “noose” around the operations of the remaining Hamas combatants operating there. The IDF troops, today, also found large arms storage facilities in residences in the Deir al-Balah area, including in a bedroom with a baby crib. We all knew that Hamas trained and recruited at a young age, but this must set a record. Over the last day it has been reported that dozens of Hamas terrorists have been killed in closed quarters fighting in and around Deir al-Balah. You can see more here, including the photos of the room with arms and the crib.
And in Khan Younis and IDF drone fired a missile and destroyed the rocket launch facility and tunnel opening from which yesterday’s single long range rocket was fired. Likewise operations in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood continue with several dozen Hamas combatants killed in the last day.
And this story from the UK’s Daily Express quotes several Israeli Intelligence sources saying that Sinwar is now above ground and hiding within the civilian population dressed as a woman. I found it interesting that the IDF believes that he is no longer below ground. The article also describes several instances where IDF troops were within minutes of capturing him.
Lebanon Operations
This afternoon Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah operations facilities in southern Lebanon.
This morning an IDF drone fired two missiles at moving vehicle near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. The successful operation killed a Nidal Hleihil, a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon. This was after three drones entered Israeli air space and were neutralized by air defenses. Then this evening Hezbollah launched several more drones. There were no reports of damage or injuries. Israel then responded with artillery fired at those locations from which the drones were launched.
While we are at a very brief lull in the cross border attacks in our north, I want to use this opportunity to explain to all my readers about a few simple facts regarding Lebanon, Hezbollah and our norther border. Those of you following me for some time have read this before, so you are most welcome to skip. Israel and Lebanon have no border disputes or disputes regarding land. At this point we have no Lebanese prisoners in our jails and they have no Israelis being held in Lebanon. So, if things were normal there would be no basis for a dispute between the countries. But this is the Middle East and Iran is active everywhere. As I wrote yesterday, Hezbollah by UNSC agreement was supposed to evacuate the south of Lebanon, leaving it in the control of the Lebanese army. Hezbollah is a paramilitary organization operating within a failed state. It is a failed state, largely because it is held hostage by Iran and Hezbollah. On October 8, Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones across the border into Israel with the intent to kill and destroy. This attack was unprovoked. By the rules of International Law, Israel had every right to go into southern Lebanon and send Hezbollah to “kingdom come”. But, the Biden Administration did everything it could to stop it. No one in the world gives a damn. No one demands that Hezbollah abide by the Security Council resolution. No one joins in trying to block arms reaching this paramilitary organization. Instead all the Western Powers, with the exception of the USA, are blaming Israel for the conflagration across the border, questioning why we launch raids into Lebanon. Our citizens in the north had to evacuate their homes. About 70,000 people have been living in hotel rooms for the past 11 months. Their children did not attend school. Their businesses went bankrupt because the towns were all ghost towns. Even if there were a hostage/ceasefire agreement with Hamas, our citizens can’t return because Hezbollah, at the flip of a switch, can bring thousands of rockets raining down on our civilians. The only solution is that Hezbollah must move north of the Litani River out of rocket range of Israel. Our government and the IDF pay lip service to starting an operation to move Hezbollah back by force, but no one believes them anymore and the USA is doing everything they can to prevent such a thing from happening. This OP-ED from the editorial staff at The Wall Street Journal does a great job reinforcing my thoughts here. What the world does not realize nor appreciate is that the IDF’s actions early Sunday morning probably went a long way to avert a larger battle since it prevented Hezbollah from striking deep inside Israel. Had that happened and given the poor accuracy of their drones/missiles, it is likely that they would have struck a civilian population. Had that happened the IDF would have launched missiles at Hezbollah positions in Beirut and elsewhere.
Yemen Operations
The British United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) operating in the Red Sea received a distress beacon from a ship 62 nautical miles southeast of the tip of Yemen. Little is known at this point. That Greek oil tanker hit by the Houthis and evacuated is still burning in the Red Sea releasing untold smoke into the air. You can see the ship on fire here.
It has been 39 days since the IDF struck Yemen’s port of Al-Hodeidah, and without any missiles fired from Yemen towards Israel.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq
Very early this morning a drone entered Israeli air space from Syria. It was detected and neutralized without damage or injuries.
The Iranian Military Chief of Staff announced today that Iran’s response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh is “inevitable”. Similar statements came from the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps yesterday.
Both US Pentagon spokespersons and IDF spokespersons were clear today in saying that danger of an Iranian attack remains. Although many here in Israel expect Iran to act on Israeli personnel abroad, such as those in the diplomatic corp. They have attacked Israeli Embassies in the past.
Aid
A senior UN official based in Gaza announced today that:
We’re unable to deliver today with the conditions that we’re in. We’re not leaving (Gaza) because the people need us there. We’re trying to balance the need of the population with the need for safety and security of the UN personnel.
Without doubt conditions are challenging because Hamas continuously enters humanitarian zones in order to fire rockets and stage attacks on IDF troops. But this sounds more like an expression of frustration rather than a threat.
Hostages/Ceasefire
The Israeli negotiating team returned home and there appears to be no progress on any kind of agreement. The prevailing opinion is that there is, at the moment, no terms that can meet Israel’s requirements and that of Yahya Sinwar, who is the sole arbiter on Hamas’s positions. With the issue of the Rafah border being the major impasse.
In the meantime there is talk of a ceasefire for several days that would enable the aid organizations to administer the polio vaccines recently shipped from Israel.
Politics/Protests
There are calls now coming from within the coalition government calling for the Prime Minister to rein in National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. His conduct is being called irresponsible, extreme and endangering the state. A letter from on Likud Member of Knesset MK Eli Dallal to Prime Minister Netanyahu was made public. To quote:
His belligerent behavior and provocative statements together with his delegitimization campaign and attacks on the Shin Bet weaken our ability to deal with real threats and have crossed all reasonable lines. You must make it clear to him unequivocally: these actions and statements cannot continue.
Similar public criticisms were coming from other parts of the coalition along with the entire opposition. Yesterday, Ben Gvir returned to the Temple Mount and proclaimed that the “status quo” has changed and Jewish Prayer there is fully permitted. Moreover, he “announced” plans to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount. The Prime Minister immediately issued a contradictory statements saying that the government policies have NOT changed. All this infuriates the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with whom Israel has an agreement permitting them to oversee the holy sites on the Temple Mount, or as the Moslems prefer to call it, The Harem al-Sharif.
Defense Minister Gallant, no friend of Ben Gvir, said today that Ben Gvir is endangering Israel by raising the prospect of allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, a move that would upend a longstanding status quo agreement and spark widespread anger in the Muslim world.
The Minister of Justice in this government, Yariv Levin, has been deliberately holding up the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court because he wants to change how the President is appointed. Remember, Levin is the jerk that launched the Judicial Reform legislation that was so disastrous in 2023. He has a problem with this because the normal procedure is to appoint the sitting Justice with the most seniority. But Levin doesn’t like that now because he disagrees with the rulings of Justice Amit, the logical candidate. So Levin has been holding up this appointment now for about 15 months, leaving the court in a difficult position to move forward, appointing other judges to inferior courts. Levin is proposing all kinds of weird compromises which are just ludicrous.
The Chair of the main northern regional council tore into the government today. Most of the leaders of these communities, with the exception of the kibbutzim (kibbutzes), are generally strong Likud supporters, the main party in this government. But they are all livid claiming that when the center of the country is threatened the IDF launches an aggressive campaign to take out Hezbollah’s launching capabilities, but when the northern communities are attacked nothing of the sort is done. They have a point as I noted above in my comments about Lebanon.
International
Defense Minister Gallant and Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi met today, at length, with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. According to public announcements, the discussions focused on Iran and its rapidly increasing belligerence.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
If you have the time, it is about a 15 minute read, this article does a nice job describing how the Western Media has failed to accurately report the news from the Middle East, only repeating slogans it hears from the Palestinians without spending the needed time to investigate the truth.
And here is something you won’t see every day. A Syrian woman coming from a Lebanese Shi’ite home describes her long journey in learning the truth about her heritage, the Middle East and the truth.
While I disagree with the fundamental premise put forward by this author, Major General (ret.) Gershon Hacohen makes a compelling case on why Israel’s evacuation of Gaza in 2005 was a mistake.