Today’s Image
This is a screen shot from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s briefing and press conference last night. The title says “Gaza after the Disengagement”, then “The Pipeline for Hamas’s Oxygen”. He is making the case for why Israel must hold on to guarding the Philadelphi corridor as it is the main conduit for arms and military equipment flowing into Gaza. You can read more about all this below.
Gaza Rockets
No rockets fired from Gaza crossed into Israel over the last 5 days.
Casualties
There were no casualties reported in the past 3 days.
Gaza Operations
The IDF continues its operations in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in southern Gaza. On a daily basis the troops are uncovering long range rockets, launchers and large caches of weapons. Although the operations continue, it seems that the level is on a slow ramp downwards. The focus is still on uncovering the many, many underground tunnels. It was in one of those tunnels in the Tel Sultan neighborhood where the IDF found the six murdered hostages. You can see videos of ongoing operations here.
Today the IDF presented more details and images from the tunnel where they recovered the bodies of the six hostages murdered by Hamas. They show the entrance from a children’s room with images of Disney characters painted on the walls. Check it out here.
Lebanon Operations
Hezbollah launched 5 rockets at an Israeli border community this afternoon. No casualties or damage was reported. This followed an Israeli fighter jet mission that took out several facilities used to launch rockets earlier in the day. This morning Hezbollah fired 65 rockets into the northern section of Israel. Some damage resulted but no injuries.
Tonight as I was writing this post, Hezbollah fired 30 rockets and missiles into the Galilee Panhandle igniting serious fires there. The Israeli Air Force located the launch sites and fired artillery on those positions.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq
In a very unusual turn of events, a lone suspect approached the border fence from Syria along the border with Israel. Warning shots were fired and the suspect continued until one shot struck the suspect. After that he was rushed to the hospital on the Syrian side.
A drone approached Israeli airspace from the direction of Iraq but was eliminated by defense systems before entering Israeli air space. An organization called the Islamic Resistance (backed by Iran) took responsibility.
Egypt’s President Sissi travelled to Turkiye for a state visit. Just a year ago the two countries were publicly arguing over maritime borders and gas fields. I guess that now it is time to kiss and make up.
Aid
Three days into the Polio Vaccination Campaign, nearly 200,000 children have been vaccinated. Even if this pace recedes a bit, the campaign should be completed sometime next week.
Hostages/Ceasefire
As I remarked in my Monday evening post, Prime Minister Netanyahu went on national TV last night providing a statement of his own, followed by taking questions from the press and then his responses. You can hear Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements from last night, the questions from the press and his responses here. A “simultaneous” English translation is provided. He did this in response to the Security Cabinet decision from last week when he put to a vote whether to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor or not. This vote was a surprise to many of the ministers in the room and it infuriated several of the leaders including Deputy Prime Minister Aryeh Deri (leader of one of the ultra-orthodox parties) and Defense Minister Gallant. And it triggered large demonstrations along with a general strike across the country that took place on Monday. It now appears that there are negotiations going on regarding this issue and leaks coming from multiple sources on just what this means. Details regarding the previous proposals and the Rafah crossings are cloudy. The US argues that Israel had agreed to evacuate it during Phase 1. The government says that originally discussions were based on Israeli withdrawal only from populated areas. And it was fine with that as part of its concessions. That meant that it could remain in the Philadelphi Corridor since it was not a populated area. But then additional concessions were made about evacuating all of Gaza during that period. And then the issue gets murky as the government argues that it did not consider the Corridor a part of those discussions. Without being there it is not clear who said what.
Now the US negotiators are saying that Israel had agreed to evacuating sections of the Philadelphi corridor. Again, I do not know what that means.
Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, said today that it might be possible to consider an IDF withdrawal in the second phase of the hostage/ceasefire deal. In an interview on Bloomberg TV he said:
In phase one, Israel is going to stay on that line until we have a practical solution on the ground that can convince the people of Israel… that what happened on October 7 will not happen again. And that Hamas will not rearm.
Then he went on to say:
If Hamas doesn’t pay a heavy price for killing the six hostages, they’re going to start killing hostages, thinking that if you kill hostages you get concessions.
You can watch the interview here.
Now, Egypt is saying that such an idea might be acceptable as long as there is a commitment to withdraw troops ultimately from the border crossing. Egypt also went on to say that leaving troops there was a violation of the Peace Agreement with Israel, which is not true. Egypt reports that the map that Prime Minister Netanyahu presented during his Press Conference violated the Peace Agreement between the two countries as it showed a military presence on the border. Again, not true. You can read more here.
Meanwhile, besides Defense Minister Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has hinted that he also favors consummating a hostage/ceasefire deal now with the ability to return to Gaza if necessary. During a visit today in central Gaza he said:
We must not give up on any of the war goals. The IDF is continuing to defeat the military wing of Hamas and is doing everything possible to bring the hostages back alive. Every hostage we return alive now will have many more years of life, and every terrorist will ultimately be eliminated.
Politics/Protests
A poll was released today by the Israel Democracy Institute. I used to be a benefactor of the organization. In the political spectrum, I would say that it says slightly left of center. They polled 600 respondents representing the population of the country. When asked to assess their view on the probability of a hostage/ceasefire deal, 73% said they were pessimistic and 21% optimistic. When they were asked if they viewed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position on the Philadelphi Corridor was based on military/strategic considerations, 51% agreed and 39% believe that his position is intended to prevent a deal from being reached. Amongst the Jewish population it was 58.5% believed that the position was based on military strategic positions. Amongst the Arab population 66.5% believe that he is just trying to prevent an agreement.
These polls are important to keep in mind. The anti-government protests held nightly get a lot of attention in the foreign press as they do here in Israel. So one needs to distinguish between what is a loud minority and the rest of the country.
Hamas released several videos of the last moments of the six hostages before they murdered them. This is just like ISIS used to do, remember? . But here is an article and interview with his mother. And here is the video and background info. When you understand from his mother how he views life you realize that Hamas clearly is using this for its own propaganda. No one hear buys into any of it.
Our National Security Minister announced publicly today that he is working to end the hostage talks with Hamas. This is Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of the extreme right wing party in the government.
International
The Swiss Government has approved a draft law banning Hamas and labeling it a “terrorist organization”. Duh…
Yesterday, in my opinion piece, I described how Egypt became a part of the arms smuggling problem rather than a part of the solution. I wrote that this is not talked about a lot because no one wants to offend Egypt. But, during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “Press Conference” last night he mentioned that Egypt failed to keep Hamas from smuggling weapons. That has prompted a sharp rebuke from the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates who expressed the country’s:
full solidarity with the Arab Republic of Egypt in the face of Israeli allegations and claims regarding the Philadelphi crossing, and strongly condemns and denounces the offensive Israeli statements in this regard, which threaten stability and exacerbate the situation in the region.
President Isaac Herzog is flying to Serbia and Albania next week in a quickly announced report. I suspect something is up. CIA Director Bill Burns was in Serbia late August and spent time discussing Israel’s security situation.
The US Justice Department announced that criminal charges against Hamas leader Sinwar and five others will be filed in federal court in New York City. Half of the people on the list have been assassinated by Israel already.
Saudi Arabia’s government issued a statement this morning condemning Israel’s comments on the Philadelphi Corridor. In the statement it affirmed its solidarity and support for Egypt.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave an interview earlier on the US TV Network ABC earlier today. It is my opinion that his views reflect those of many, not all, Israelis.