Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day”. PM Netanyahu stated “On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy.”
It is the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war, as the Palestinian resistance killed more than 1,200, wounded more than 5,132 others, and captured more than 250, most of them military personnel, some of whom were high-ranking officers in the army.
Butcher’s Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
The HAMAS government media office in Gaza announced that with the number of casualties increasing daily in the Strip, the statistics departments were unable to complete an accurate and final statistic of the martyrs and wounded. The office usually issues almost daily updates on the toll of martyrs and wounded.
More than 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza Press Office said. The Hamas-run government said 3,300 women were among the dead, with 30,000 more people wounded. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza said the number of missing people had risen to more than 3,750, including 1,800 children still under the rubble. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced, this Friday evening, that the number of martyrs has risen to 11,675 martyrs, and the wounded to about 32,000 wounded,
According to a UN official, there have been “likely much more” casualties in “Israel’s” war on Gaza than the previously reported total of over 11,000, because there have been insufficient updates since the area’s communication networks collapsed. Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator expressed during a General Assembly meeting that as casualty numbers continue to climb, “The actual total, however, is likely much higher as figures have not been updated for five days due to a collapse of communication networks in Gaza.”
Israel revised down the death toll from the October Hamas attacks in southern Israel from 1,400 to 1,200. IDF had said previously it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists, a total that now would increas to about 1,700.
The Israeli army had reported the death of 375 soldiers and officers, 58 of them were killed since the start of the ground operation in the besieged Gaza Strip. At least 7,771 Israelis were injured. The IDF previously announced that more than 260 soldiers had been injured since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, including 100 in serious condition.
Israeli army (IDF) announced 18 November 2023 the death of six of its soldiers during ground battles in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of casualties since October 7th to 378. The Israeli forces wrote in a statement that “six soldiers of the Israeli army were killed in the past 24 hours of the ground operation in Gaza.” In addition to the six deaths, Israeli media reported that eight soldiers were injured as a result of ground battles in Gaza.
Al-Mayadeen recently published a list of the names of Israeli soldiers whose families were notified of their deaths since the start of the resistance operation. The list obtained by Al-Mayadeen includes the names of 368 soldiers and officers who served in various units of the IDF.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry released its first official casualty numbers in fighting, saying 77 people were killed and 251 wounded since the start of the war on Gaza.
Hostages
Some 240 hostages are being held by HAMAS in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said 03 November 2023. About 40 Israelis remained missing.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas’ telegram account that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israel hostages were trapped under the rubble. “It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza,” he said.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) – announced the loss of contact with a number of groups charged with protecting Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip. He added that the fate of the prisoners and captives is still unknown after contact was lost.
On the ninth of this month, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the killing of a female conscript and the wounding of a captured soldier in an Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip. The Brigades reported – in a statement published on Telegram – that the female prisoner conscript named Faul Azai Mark Asiani (19 years old) from the Modi’in settlement was killed, and that a captured soldier was moderately injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Gaza Strip.
The Al-Qassam Brigades warned several times that the bombing of the Gaza Strip would cause the death and injury of Israeli prisoners in its custody, and it previously announced that 60 prisoners in its custody were killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli army raids on the Gaza Strip.
Hamas previously announced that the number of prisoners it held was between 200 and 250 Israelis, and others of other nationalities, during the “ Al-Aqsa Flood ” battle launched by the Al-Qassam Brigades on the 7th of last October. Hamas indicated that among the detainees were “high-ranking military personnel” and that it wanted to exchange them for more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, in Israeli prisons, but Tel Aviv did not show seriousness in concluding such a deal. The movement released 4 female prisoners “for humanitarian reasons”, two women holding American citizenship, in response to Qatari mediation efforts, and two Israelis, with Egyptian-Qatari mediation.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club announced on Friday that the Israeli army arrested 47 Palestinians, bringing the total number of detainees in the occupied West Bank to 2,800 since last October 7, including 1,050 activists from Hamas.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 18 November 2023 the Israeli occupation was holding 10,000 Palestinians hostage and calls for their release. “Israel is holding about 10,000 Palestinians hostage. Let Germany take steps to free these people, and then we will make efforts to free those held by Hamas. But they [Germany] did not agree to this,” Erdogan emphasized in his speech.
Negotiations continue, with Qatari-American mediation, to release about 50 detainees, in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, Israel’s release of some Palestinian women and children from its prisons, and an increase in the amounts of humanitarian aid it allows to enter Gaza.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government informed the Qatari mediators of its refusal to complete a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, according to which 50 Israeli detainees would be released. Tel Aviv adheres to not separating families held in captivity, and to release all children and mothers, while Hamas has offered to release 50 detainees without classifying or giving “Israel” the freedom to choose names.
According to the newspaper, the occupation “expressed its willingness to be flexible regarding the duration of the ceasefire days in order to allow the release of more hostages,” as it put it. It also stated that the Israeli War Council took a decision to reject the exchange deal as proposed, as Netanyahu agreed with the position of Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who was also supported by Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar to reject the deal. The War Council decided to “continue increasing military pressure on Hamas, considering that this would enhance the chances of reaching an agreement.”
US President Joe Biden’s main adviser on the Middle East said there would be a “significant pause” in the Israeli-Hamas war if hostages held by Hamas jihadists in Gaza are freed. “The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause… will come when hostages are released,” Brett McGurk told a security conference in Bahrain. Release of a large number of hostages would result in “a significant pause… and a massive surge of humanitarian relief,” he said.
Israel does not trust political negotiations because they do not achieve credible achievements, and considers that any type of negotiation before obtaining prisoners conflicts with its security interests. Gallant’s statement, which came as a reaction to the American initiative, expresses Israel’s position on this side. The Minister of War said: “Hamas must be defeated, otherwise Israel will not exist in the current geographical location.”
Saadallah Zarei wrote for Alalam News Network. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: “From the Israeli point of view, if this war stops with the prisoners remaining in the hands of Hamas, this means that Hamas has defeated Israel. Hamas’s victory in this war will tilt the military balance in its favor at Israel’s expense, and will encourage Hamas to formulate a bigger war, a war in which the Palestinians will take to the field in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem with higher morale and greater strength and accomplish the mission.”
Operational Update
The New York Times reported that Israel will carry out clearing operations in the northern Gaza Strip for several weeks and then move to the southern part of the Strip. The newspaper reported, quoting American military officials: “Israeli colleagues informed us that clearing northern Gaza will take several more weeks, and then Tel Aviv will prepare a separate initiative to expand its attack in southern Gaza.”
American officials believe that the occupation’s hasty decision to launch an operation in the Gaza Strip did not leave the leaders enough time to plan, in terms of reducing the number of civilian casualties. The newspaper pointed out that the effectiveness of the Israeli strategy is uncertain.
In a recent situation assessment at the Northern Command, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated Israel’s unwavering commitment to an active defense policy aimed at ensuring the safety of residents in the northern region. The meeting, held during the Shabbat, involved key military figures, including Major General Uri Gordin and Major General (Ret.) Yitzhak (Jerry) Gershon, emphasizing the gravity of the security situation.
The Defense Minister received a comprehensive overview of the ongoing efforts to protect settlements and mitigate potential threats along the border. Galant stressed the importance of maintaining a proactive defense stance, signaling a robust response to any attempts by Hezbollah to harm Israeli citizens or IDF forces.
“At this time, the IDF forces are operating in the south, in an attack, with great success, in a precise, deadly manner, and are carrying out their missions. Here in the north, we follow a policy of active defense, exacting a price against every threat – both from the air and from the land, with a lot of strength and great power,” stated Defense Minister Gallant during the assessment.
The active defense policy involves a multifaceted approach, combining immediate responses to attack attempts with pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah’s offensive infrastructures. Gallant emphasized that Hezbollah continues to pay a heavy price for its actions, and Israel remains prepared for any future developments.
Following the initial report regarding sirens sounding in northern Israel, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon toward an IDF UAV. The sirens sounded due to the launched interceptors, the missile was not identified crossing into Israeli territory.
IDF fighter jets and tanks destroyed several targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanese territory, among the targets attacked, a terrorist position and military compounds. At the same time, a manned aircraft remotely attacked a squad of terrorists from the terrorist organization.
Also, an IDF remotely piloted aircraft made an emergency landing early in the morning in an open area in the north of the country. A preliminary investigation of the incident shows that the aircraft was not hit by enemy fire. No injuries, the circumstances are being investigated.
The Southern Command continues to expand its offensive activity to additional neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip and raided the areas of Zeytun and Jabaliya with the aim of hitting terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza reported that intense confrontations ensued between resistance fighters and the IOF in Beit Hanoun, which has become a war zone with resistance operations carried out from point-blank range. The correspondent confirmed that the Resistance fighters were capable of hunting down several IOF soldiers in Beit Hanoun, noting that the occupation forces were surprised to have underestimated the Resistance’s firepower, especially along the north-western axis. The correspondent also reported that the Resistance fighters aren’t only engaging the occupation forces from inside the cities but are also fighting from behind enemy lines along the borders of Gaza and even from within IOF formations.
On the 43rd day of the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, the IDF army evacuated the Shifa Medical Complex of most of the wounded, sick, displaced people and doctors after giving them one hour, as they began to head towards the south on foot in a tragic scene, according to the testimonies of those who left the complex.
At the same time, the IDF forces, through the Directorate of Coordination and Liaison to Gaza, delivered during the night over 6,000 liters of water and over 2,300 kg of food rations including fish, canned goods, bread, spreads and dates to Shifa Hospital. This operation was done at the same time as the IDF’s activity to locate and thwart terrorism in the hospital.
The director of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, Muhammad Abu Salamiya, announced today, Saturday, that evacuations from the hospital began following the deadline given by the Israeli army to evacuate the sick, wounded, displaced, and medical staff. Abu Salmiya said that after the evacuation, 5 members of the medical staff remained in the hospital, and about 120 patients who were unable to walk due to their foot injuries.
Regarding the storming of Al-Shifa Hospital, what the occupation achieved is reminiscent of images of false victory in previous battles, which caused disappointment among the Zionists. Upon reading this, Hassan Hijazi, who follows Israeli affairs for Iran from Beirut, confirmed that there is a major exaggeration, as this issue was preceded by a media campaign that the army spokesman worked on. The Israeli occupation and the Zionist media appear as if there is a city, a major command, staff, and operating rooms under Al-Shifa Hospital, and there are large numbers of prisoners and resistance leaders. The Zionist army enters Al-Shifa Hospital and comes out with nothing, except for some rifles that may belong to some of the guards in the hospital, as they did not. After all that campaign, this army finds no evidence of the existence of leaders or tunnels.
Hijazi pointed out the complete collapse of the Zionist narrative, and it seems that the occupation was seeking to cause another harm under the pretext that there are leaders under this hospital, which is to put the hospital out of work because it contains many wounded and contains a heavy population there, as thousands of displaced people entered it in Part of the plan to completely remove the Palestinians from these area
The Israeli bombing also continued on various areas in Gaza, as the occupation army committed a new “horrific” massacre in Al-Fakhoura School and another in Tal Al-Zaatar in the northern Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of people, including martyrs and wounded.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) said that since this morning, Al-Qassam fighters have destroyed 17 Zionist vehicles in northwest and south Gaza, in addition to ambushing an Israeli foot force and detonating an explosive device in it.
Jordan’s chief diplomat expressed skepticism on Saturday regarding Israel’s declared aim to eliminate the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, with whom it is engaged in conflict in Gaza. “Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There’s a lot of military people here, I just don’t understand how this objective can be realized,” Ayman Safadi remarked at the IISS Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.
Bystanders
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country, along with more than two thousand lawyers, will file a complaint with the relevant authorities against the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip , indicating that his country will seek to reconstruct Gaza if a ceasefire is achieved. Erdogan added that during his visit to Germany, he saw “that the entire Western world and the Crusader imperialist entity are united in one trench.”
He explained, “Israel has about 10,000 (Palestinian) hostages. Let Germany work to release them, and we, in turn, will work to ensure the release of those detained by Hamas .” Erdogan said that Israel is trying to legitimize its occupation through many lies, and is also “trying to cover up the war crimes it committed in Gaza with fabricated excuses.” He pointed out that it is storming hospitals with cannons and tanks, and is still searching for a tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital, and “it turns out that all of those tunnels are just lies.”
The Turkish President considered that, “If every terrorist component will kill people as it pleases, strengthening countries such as the United States and Europe, this means that the global order has been completely corrupted.” He pointed out that if a Muslim country had committed the war crimes committed by Israel, international justice would have intervened immediately without the need for special efforts.
Erdogan pledged that Turkey would make efforts to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure, hospitals, schools, water and energy facilities in Gaza if a ceasefire is reached. He added, when a ceasefire is reached, we will do everything necessary for Israel to pay compensation for the destruction it caused. He said that his country “is seeking to evacuate patients in need of surgical operations in Gaza as soon as possible, and our discussions with Egypt are continuing in this regard.”
On another topic, the “Eh Haber” channel wrote on its website, quoting Erdogan, who was speaking on board his plane returning from a visit to Germany, that Turkey is also calling for inspection of nuclear weapons in Israel so that there is no room for doubt regarding this matter. Last week, Erdogan called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel possesses nuclear weapons, and he mentioned the matter again in his speech to reporters – today, Saturday – stressing the need to conduct inspections of nuclear weapons there.
He stressed that “Israeli nuclear weapons must be inspected beyond a reasonable doubt before it is too late,” pledging to follow up on the matter. He added that the families of the Israelis detained by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) sent him a letter asking him to intervene to release them. He said that instructions were issued to Turkish intelligence to look into this matter, and it is currently conducting the necessary investigations and working to obtain a result.
During his visit to Germany, Erdogan said that Germany supports Israel in its war on Gaza out of a sense of guilt over the Nazi Holocausts, in contrast to Turkey, which he said is “capable of speaking without bias.” He said – during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz before they held private talks – “The Israeli-Palestinian war should not be evaluated with a psychological sense of indebtedness. I speak freely, because we do not owe anything to Israel.”
Erdogan’s comments in Berlin touched a sensitive nerve at the core of Germany’s identity in the post-war era, an identity based on a deep sense of making reparations for the Nazi Holocausts. Schulz did not respond directly to Erdogan’s comments, but reiterated Germany’s commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself.
Axis of Resistance
Palestinian fighters are fighting at point-blank and from positions the heavily armored Israeli occupation army did not anticipate, General Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps IRGC, Major General Hossein Salami said. Addressing a large rally in support of Gaza in Tehran, the IRGC chief added that the Palestinian youth are engaged in a covert war and are inflicting significant losses on the occupation.”
“The recent Al-Aqsa Flood operation, a sudden and unique operation, was a response to a century-long injustice perpetrated by the UK, the United States, and the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people who were displaced from their homes 75 years ago.” Salami also condemned the ongoing massacres and genocide against innocents and civilians for over 40 days but stressed that the Palestinian Resistance would emerge victorias from this battle.
Major-Genral Salami added: “What is important is that the Palestinians never accepted to be humiliated and captured by the policies of the US and the Zionist regime, thus heroic resistance evolved.” The chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps added: What happened in the al-Aqsa flood operation as the most exceptional and surprising operation is a reflection of the hundred-year-old atrocities of Britain, America, France and the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people, who have been deprived of their homeland and displaced for 75 years.
“Victory will be for the Palestinian Resistance, who is fighting day and night against Zionists. The land belongs to the Resistors who are capable of destroying the occupation’s tanks,” he said. “The walls behind which the occupation’s soldiers hide will not help them, and the Resistors are preparing many surprises for them.” The top General emphasized that the United States and the Israeli entity would not see victory in this war.
Iran would fiercely respond to any US acts of aggression against its forces in Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the Financial Times. Amir-Abdollahian revealed that according to his information, no Iranian forces suffered any casualties thus far. However, he emphasized that “if that happens, the response will be severe.”
When asked about the factions within the Axis of Resistance, the Iranian minister clarified that these factions, such as Hezbollah, Ansar Allah, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, are resistance movements in the region against Israeli occupation. He highlighted that they have an “independent identity” and stated that they “do not receive orders from Iran but have good relations with it.” He added, “Israel represents the United States by proxy, but we do not have any group representing us by proxy in the region.”
Hezbollah has entered into the stage of war with the Israeli occupation, the Iranian top diplomat said, confirming that the messages sent by the US to Hezbollah “have a counterproductive effect”, as not only will they not deter it but will make it more resolute in its decisions. Regarding the deployment of US aircraft carriers in the region, Amir Abdollahian explained that according to military experts, the arrival of US ships in the Mediterranean was not in Washington’s interest because it increased the possibility of attacks on its fleets.
“Over the past fourty days, messages have been exchanged between Iran and the US via the US Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, indicating that Tehran does not want the war to escalate.” Any possibility should be considered due to the approach followed by the United States and “Israel” in the region and the ongoing crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank, Amir-Abdollahian said, and “if the crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank are not stopped, any possibility could be considered, and a wider conflict could prove inevitable.”
The Palestinian resistance in Gaza “never asked Iran to enter the war,” he said. “They have everything; they produce rockets and drones themselves, and they can produce the military equipment they need inside Palestine.”
Some Iranians believe that if the Gaza war expanded, Israel could have pressured Azerbaijan to activate the Karabakh front and target Iran from there. Therefore, after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian’s first regional tour with the beginning of the war, Tehran hastened to hold a meeting in which it gathered Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Turkey, and discussed, among the axes, peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in order to be reassured of Baku’s lack of cooperation with Tel Aviv.
Concerning whether these developments represent a real Iranian-Azerbaijani rapprochement that could be reflected in Iran’s calculations in the Gaza war, Israeli affairs expert Mansour Barati believes that the approval of the new law in the US Congress and the announcement of a ban on arms exports to Baku will push the Republic of Azerbaijan to follow a policy of “rapprochement.” From Iran” and “freezing relations with Israel” in the short term.
Given the deep relations between Tel Aviv and Baku in the strategic fields, especially military and security, it is unlikely that Azerbaijan will move towards options such as severing political relations or even reducing energy exports to Israel, but a rapprochement with Tehran is possible in the short term to put pressure on Washington.
In an interview with Iran’s Al-Alam News Channel, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement Haitham Abu Al-Ghazlan confirmed that the Palestinian resistance has trained itself in a long-term battle in the Gaza Strip, and is capable of continuing this battle to its natural end. Haitham Abu al-Ghazlan is the secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Lebanon. He stressed that the scenes of the resistance and its infliction of human and material losses on the enemy are strong evidence of the continuity of the resistance on the one hand, and on the other hand the continuity of launching missiles.
He stressed that the continued launching of missiles is clear evidence that the Zionist enemy did not reach the missiles, their factories, or their launching pads. He concluded by saying that today it has become almost impossible to achieve Zionist goals, stressing that: All this continuity gives a clear indication that the resistance has prepared itself for a long battle on the one hand, and on the other hand that it has a clear vision that it will achieve victory.
The leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), Osama Hamdan, strongly criticized the American administration’s position on what is happening in Gaza , stressing that what is happening metaphorically would not have happened without US President Joe Biden, his administration, and international silence. In a press conference held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Hamdan’s most prominent statements were as follows:
“We hold the American administration fully responsible for the crimes in the Gaza Strip. What happened in the Gaza Strip would not have happened without US President Joe Biden, his administration, and international silence. International silence will push matters into something that no one expects and cannot be controlled.
“Sal-Qassam Brigades inflict heavy losses on the occupation army, inflicting losses on its members, officers, and equipment. 43% of the martyrs are in the south of the Gaza Strip, and the occupation does not differentiate between the north and south of the Strip. By bombing hospitals, the occupation violates the most sacred humanitarian profession. The killing and destruction in Gaza includes everything including medicines and medical equipment. What happened in Al-Shifa Hospital is an episode of crime, and the occupation is waging a campaign of lies and turning Al-Shifa Complex into a military headquarters.
“The massacres, extermination, starvation, and bombing of hospitals come in the context of plans to displace our people from northern Gaza. Our Mujahideen risked their personal safety to provide treatment to the prisoners. We work according to our morals, not according to the jungle morals adopted by the enemy.
“The Israeli army is the largest terrorist and Nazi organization in the world. The food supplies that enter Gaza do not meet more than 10% of the Strip’s needs, and the occupation continues its policy of starvation against children and defenseless civilians. International, Islamic and Arab institutions must bear their responsibilities in stopping the crimes of the occupation.
“Our people have not and will not accept guardianship from anyone. They will decide their own fate and we will not leave the field, no matter how terroristic the occupier is. Our covenant with God, our people, and our nation is that we will not back down until the aspirations of our people for freedom and sovereignty over their land are achieved. We stand as an impenetrable barrier to the occupation’s plans. There will be no immigration after today, but only liberation and return. We call for the continuation of demonstrations and the activation of the economic boycott in the face of the occupation.”
Allied for Democracy
Thomas Portes, the French MP for the Proud France party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon , said that Israel is waging a “colonial war” to eliminate the Palestinians. Portis pointed out that attacks carried out by Jewish settlers against civilians in the West Bank are increasing.
The latest published polling, from a survey over a month ago, showed that 50 percent chose National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, as the most suitable politician for the role of Israeli prime minister. Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, only received the support of 29 percent of the survey’s respondents. In addition, the Likud party, which he heads, would lose half of its mandates if elections were held today. Whereas the National Unity party would rise to a staggering 42 mandates, from its current 12, which is even 10 more than the Likud currently holds as the largest party in the government coalition.
Deputy speaker of the Knesset and member of the legislature’s foreign affairs and security committee, Nissim Vaturi, explicitly called for completely burning down Gaza and underlined that “Israel” must refrain from allowing aid into the Strip until all captives are released. After over a month of a total Israeli ban on the entry of fuel into Gaza, subsequently causing a collapse in the health sector among other survival requirements for 2.2 million Palestinians, the Israeli occupation allowed the entry of fuel into Gaza three days ago but prohibited its delivery to hospitals.
Vaturi said he believes that “Israel” has been “too humane” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet gave in to international pressure to allow the entry of two trucks of fuel daily into Gaza. “All of this preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane. Burn Gaza now, nothing less!” he posted in a post on X.
Israeli Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman says the Israeli government lost the war in the north as settlers continue to flee the homes they had occupied for years. “Hezbollah will continue to use the northern front until it sees a change in the Gaza Strip,” Channel 13 Arab affairs commentator Hizki Simanto said.
“There is no change in Gaza, and Yahya Sinwar has not been eliminated, and Israel is not stepping up to the task of completely eliminating Hamas,” the Israeli journalist said. “The danger of eliminating Hamas, solving it, and removing it from the axis of Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria is not on the agenda,” Semantov added. He also warned that “what is happening on the northern borders and in the towns along the confrontation line and the northern towns is an intolerable situation; no one lives there, and no one wants to return there. This is an achievement for Hezbollah.”
Additionally, Israeli Likud Knesset member Tali Gottlieb said: “Hezbollah is not deterred; it mocks us and attacks us whenever it deems appropriate.”
Israeli journalist Ben Caspit says that Israel, “after its war against the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ),” has three main options for managing Gaza , all of which face notable obstacles. Caspit pointed out – in a report on the American Al-Monitor news website – that Israel is far from knowing what to do about Gaza after eliminating, in theory, Hamas. He said that a former security source told him – on condition of anonymity – that the three options before Israel: “The first is excellent, the second is bad, and the third is not bad, but it is unrealistic.”
The first option , which enjoys the greatest support among Israeli decision-makers, is for Egypt to control the Gaza Strip in exchange for complete forgiveness of its huge foreign debt. The writer said that when the Israelis and Egyptians were negotiating the Camp David Treaty in the late 1970s, the Israelis begged the then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to restore Gaza, which was administered by Egypt until 1967, but Sadat refused. After more than four decades, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi also rejected all requests, pleas and temptations presented to him.
The writer quoted the former security source as saying that the Americans and Israelis, as well as some Gulf states, have not yet abandoned the Egyptian option, and efforts are still being made to convince the parties concerned. The proposals in this option include rebuilding Gaza south of its current location instead of rebuilding in areas of devastation left by Israeli bombs, transferring some of its residents to Arab countries or other countries, and leaving the rest in rebuilt Gaza.
The writer explained that the Egyptians responded angrily to these ideas. The Israeli government commissioned former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to find a way to move the Egyptians in the desired direction. Cohen activated his many relationships, visited countries in the region and formulated proposals, but to no avail. The Egyptians remain firm in their position. Caspit quoted a senior Israeli political source as saying that the Egyptians believe that adding more than 2 million Palestinians to Egypt’s population will awaken the Muslim Brotherhood and may cause a revolution in Egypt. “They would rather bankrupt Egypt than be exposed to that.”
The second option , the writer says, is the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, which many Israeli decision-makers consider a bad idea, because it undermines the government’s ultimate goal of severing all ties between it and Gaza: “No Palestinian workers in Israel, and no Israeli water supplies to Gaza.” “No electricity, no fuel, no trade, nothing. After what they did to us. They can forget us.” Caspit explained that there are “many political interests at play here.” The Israeli political right strongly opposes the Palestinian Authority’s control of Gaza, for fear of uniting the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank under a common leadership, because this would put an end to the Palestinian division , and It could revive the possibility of holding political negotiations on a Palestinian state.
The Israeli writer commented that the political right has good reason to be concerned. After the attack of last October 7 , there is a rare popular consensus in Israel that the disengagement from Gaza, which was initiated by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, must be completed, and that the rule of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza will not end the relationship between Israel and the Gaza Strip, but may even strengthen it.
The third option – according to Ben Caspit – is to hand over the keys to an international coalition consisting of Arab countries, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ), the European Union , the United Nations, or all of them. A senior Israeli political source told the writer that this option seems romantic, but it is difficult to achieve, as those who run Gaza must participate in its management and have a real interest, not just be guests.
One of the solutions that Ben Caspit described as creative, and which is being proposed within the third option, is the establishment of a huge artificial island off the coast of Gaza. A former senior security official told the site that this would be cheaper and faster than rebuilding the Gaza Strip, as the technology, means and money are there, “and the people of Gaza will get new land with effective infrastructure. There will be no land borders between Israel and Gaza.” The source warned that “any attempt to rebuild Gaza is doomed to failure, given the huge network of underground tunnels in which everything could collapse,” and believed that the idea of “this island may be a good solution.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that only the Palestinian Authority can manage the Gaza Strip after the end of the current war. Borrell stated during his participation in the “Manama Dialogue” conference that ” Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) cannot manage Gaza anymore.” He continued, “So, who will manage Gaza? I believe that the Palestinian Authority is the only one who can.”
Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the Hamas movement has repeatedly affirmed that Gaza will only be governed by its people, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who vowed to eliminate the movement following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7 – said that Israel will not give up full security control. In Gaza after the war, as he put it.
American press reports have indicated an escalating dispute between the administration of President Joe Biden and the Netanyahu government regarding the war plans for Gaza and their perceptions of the future of the Strip, assuming that Hamas’s control over it ends. The American side requested clarification from Israel following Netanyahu’s talk about security control over Gaza, in light of the assurances of American officials – led by Biden – that “it is a mistake to reoccupy the Strip.”
US President Joe Biden outlined how he views the future governance of the Palestinian territories in the wake of the recent Israeli war on Gaza. In an Op-ed on The Washington Post, Biden expressed his belief that the Palestinian Authority should be the governing body for both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, despite the fact that the last elections were held in 2006, where Hamas won the majority, and since then the occupation entity has prevented any such elections fearing a new win to fore Resistance parties.
Additionally, Biden addressed concerns regarding the ongoing Israeli escalations in the West Bank. He stated that the US government is prepared to take measures against settler violence targeting Palestinians in the region. His statement comes as the Israeli attacks on the region have been increasing for the past years, and since October 7, over 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces across the occupied area.
Biden asked, “What will our world look like after these conflicts?” He continued, “Will we deprive Hamas of the ability to commit evil? Will Israelis and Palestinians one day live side by side in peace, with two states for two peoples?” Then he added, “Do we hold Vladimir Putin responsible for his aggression, so that the people of Ukraine can live freely and Europe remains an anchor for global peace and security?”
“The overarching question,” according to Biden, is “will we continue to see the future positively, or will we allow those who do not share our values to drag the world into a more dangerous and divided place?”
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