Israel Update 5.12.24

HOSTAGES : DIFFICULT NEWS

 

Gladys Siegel, 97, the mother of American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel 65, passed away this week,  424 days after her son was kidnapped from his Kfar Aza home. Keith’s daughter Elan wrote “My father’s mother passed away, and my father couldn’t say goodbye to her because he has been a hostage of Hamas for over a year.

My father was taken from his home by 20-year-old terrorists and is in dark tunnels, [facing] severe hunger and emotional and physical abuse…”Reports hereand here 

 

 

The IDF said Monday that Omer Maxim Neutra 21 an American-Israeli citizen and IDF tank platoon commander  who was previously believed to be alive and held hostage in Gaza, was killed during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. His body is still being held hostage in Gaza. Report here

 

 

The body of Itai Svirsky, who was taken hostage on October 7 from Kibbbutz Be’eri  was recovered by the IDF in a joint operation with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the military announced on Wednesday.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, “Returning Itai’s body for proper burial in Israel provides crucial closure for his family. However, families are still waiting for their loved ones after 425 days in captivity. Many hostages remain alive but in grave danger, requiring immediate release for urgent medical care and rehabilitation. The others must be returned for a dignified burial. The time has come to bring all 100 hostages home.”Report here

 

 

A comprehensive IDF probe has concluded that the military did not kill six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Khan Yunis on August 20 after having been kidnapped by Hamas. There were signs of gunfire on all six hostages’ bodies, indicating that they were killed by their Hamas guards. These six hostages are different from a group of six hostages who were killed by Hamas in Tel Sultan, Rafah  at a later date. Report here

 

Footnote: 

 

The family of Yonatan Samerano, whose body has been held by Hamas since October 7, filed a landmark lawsuit on Monday against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. (UNWRA) The lawsuit comes in response to Samerano’s murder and abduction, which occurred at the entrance to Kibbutz Be’eri after he fled from the Nova music festival. Intelligence gathered during the war indicates that Samerano’s body was taken by Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, a Hamas terrorist who was employed by UNRWA in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, and remains in captivity to this day.

The lawsuit was also filed against  Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, and other agency officials who bear responsibility for employing terrorists who participated in the massacre.Report here

 

 

HIZBULLAH INVASION THWARTED LAST YEAR

 

 

 A surprise attack was planned on Israel’s northern border in the days following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks with 3,000 terrorists stationed across southern Lebanon within 3 km. of the Israeli border, ready to invade upon receiving orders. What prevented a co-ordinated invasion was the IDF’s rapid deployment of four brigades to Israel’s northern border.
Now, the IDF reportedly opposes the rebuilding of  homes in southern Lebanese villages, from the border up to three km. into Lebanon.
“We will not rely on Hizbullah respecting agreements or solely on intelligence warnings. The security of northern residents is based on the presence of IDF soldiers on the ground.” Report here

 

 

 

HIZBULLAH CEASEFIRE UPDATES

 

 

The IDF sees Hizbullah as significantly weakened but not destroyed, as it still maintains about half of its basic capabilities. Report here

 

 

Last Thursday the IDF carried out two airstrikes on Hizbullah assets in southern Lebanon, less than two days into a fragile ceasefire. In the first strike, fighter jets struck a Hezbollah facility used to hold medium-range rockets after identifying activity there. In the second, the IDF carried out a strike against two Hizbullah operatives who entered a site in southern Lebanon used to fire dozens of rockets at Israel.

The incidents and several others throughout the day violated the ceasefire agreement,

The IDF also fired warning shots in several areas of southern Lebanon to disperse Hezbollah operatives, some in vehicles, attempting to reach no-go zones near the border, which constitutes a ceasefire violation.

Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel reserves the right to strike Hizbullah if it violates the terms of the truce.Report here

 

 

 

An Iranian flight suspected to be ferrying arms to Hizbullah was blocked by the Israeli Air Force over Syria on Saturday night. The interception of the flight is part of Israel’s efforts to prevent Iranian weapons from reaching Hizbullah during the ceasefire.Report here

 

 

 

On Monday, a Hizbullah mortar attack on Israeli territory led to retaliatory IDF strikes on southern Lebanon. Subsequently, Israel warned that if the recently implemented ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, the state of Lebanon will no longer be exempt from blame for attacks, and Israel’s military responses will not distinguish between the terror group and the country where it is based. Report here

 

 

 

The IDF reported Saturday that it had struck multiple Hizbullah targets in Lebanon, citing violations of the ceasefire agreement. In one instance, the IDF said armed operatives were observed loading a vehicle with RPGs, ammunition and other military equipment. Near Sidon, Israeli aircraft targeted rocket launchers at a Hizbullah facility. Earlier in the day, IDF troops in southern Lebanon discovered Hizbullah arms and munitions hidden inside a mosque. The military also confirmed airstrikes along the Syria-Lebanon border to disrupt the transfer of weapons intended for Hizbullah.Report here

 

 

 

While French diplomatic sources contend that Israel’s use of UAVs in Lebanese airspace constitutes a violation of the ceasefire agreement, official Israeli sources emphasized that the country will maintain its monitoring operations over Lebanon to prevent Hizbullah’s weapons buildup. Report here/

 

 

Senior IDF officials believe that failing to eliminate Hizbullah’s terror infrastructure would allow it to quickly rebuild its capabilities. as  Hizbullah is working to save weapons, technologies, and military equipment by transferring them to the north.
“The moment the IDF is no longer present in southern Lebanon, we rely solely on ourselves – not on UNIFIL or the Lebanese army, even when U.S. oversight arrives. Facing this threat, deterrence is key. Any armed Hizbullah activity in the area must be attacked, even at the cost of escalation,” a Northern Command reservist officer said.
IDF engineering work has recently begun along the Lebanese border, focusing on building a new fence, a triple-layered barrier, sensors, and observation systems. Outposts and bases damaged by rockets are set to be renovated and restored. Article here

 

 

GAZA

 

Intense fighting continues.

 

An IDF soldier Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20 was killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, bringing the IDF’s death toll in the ground operation in and around Gaza to 382. Another soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident,

Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force on Saturday struck a rocket launching site within the Strip’s Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, where armed launchers were primed for an attack on southern Israel.Report here

 

 

The IDF raided a large school complex in Jabalia in Gaza last Wednesday. The operation resulted in the arrest of about 100 Hamas terrorists and the elimination of 40 others – 22 in close-range encounters and another 18 via airstrikes – without no Israeli casualties.Report here

 

 

On Tuesday the IDF announced that seven Hamas terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre were killed. Also in several targeted raids, the IDF dismantled Hamas military terror sites, including military structures, observation posts, and sniper positions while numerous weapons were located and dismantled.Report here

 

 

The Givati Brigade has been fighting in Gaza for over a year. Their commander Col. Liron Batito explains, “Now the terrorists are waging urban guerrilla warfare against us, mostly in small groups of two or three. But when we entered here, there were thousands. We’ve eliminated 1,000 and captured another 1,000, but a few hundred remain. Most are fanatics, Islamist jihadists….They won’t surrender.”     Tzabar Battalion commander Lt.-Col. Matan Elgraby says  “The public should understand the fighting is slow because we are uprooting terrorist cells in an urban area, much of which had been levelled, where terrorists move stealthily from house to house. It may take another week or another month, but Jabalia will fall….Anyone who saw what we did [on Oct. 7] won’t forget and will fight to the end to ensure it never happens again.” Report here

 

 

SOUTHERN FRONT

 

 

 

A ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defences on Sunday. Sirens were triggered across large areas of  central Israel at around 6:30 a.m.  Four people were lightly injured as they ran for shelter.Report here

 

 

EASTERN FRONT

 

 

Three Hamas gunmen who were planning an “imminent terror attack” were killed in an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday  in the Jordan Valley. The IDF seized four weapons.Report here

 

 

 

INCLUSIVITY

 

 

The IDF has established a first-ever Israeli Air Force technicians’ unit for young men from the ultra-Orthodox community, allowing them to maintain their religious lifestyle while serving in the army. On Tuesday, 26 Haredi soldiers completed their training and are now certified “level A” technicians for the F-16. Report here

 

SOLIDARITY VISIT

 

 

American actor Kevin Spacey made a surprise trip to Israel on Friday, visiting  Gaza border communities,  meeting lone soldiers, and holding a two-hour acting masterclass in Tel Aviv.Report here

 

 

 

AMNESTY

 

 

Amnesty Israel, the local branch of the Amnesty International organization, rejected a report released Thursday by its parent group that accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, with some members accusing the report’s authors of reaching a “predetermined conclusion”.

Amnesty Israel said that its own analysis did not find that Israel’s actions met the definition of genocide, and that it had not been  involved in any way with the report.  Allegations of genocide had not been “sufficiently substantiated.”Reports hereand here

 

 

 

NEW NATIONAL PARKS

 

 

The antiquities-studded waters off the coast of Caesarea will become Israel’s first offshore National Park one of five new nature and heritage preservation areas. The new national marine park is intended to protect the antiquities of the ancient Caesarea port located underwater. “The uniqueness of the new marine national park is that for the first time in Israel, heritage and natural values ​​located under the sea will be accessible to the general public”.  Article here

 

WAVE POWER

 

 

Israel’s first wave energy power plant is being inaugurated on Thursday at Jaffa Port, in a push for renewable energy. For the first time, electricity generated from sea waves will power Israel’s national grid—a historic milestone in the country’s march toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing sustainable energy. Israel’s first wave energy power plant is being inaugurated today 5 Dec. The project was jointly developed by Eco Wave Power Ltd.—a Swedish company founded in Tel Aviv in 2011—and the Herzliya-based EDF Renewables Israel energy company, with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the municipal development company Atarim. Article here

 

 

 

THE UK

 

Israel has responded frostily to a tweet from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy that followed a letter from Britain, France and Germany about the “unacceptable humanitarian situation in Gaza.”  In a sternly-worded reply, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Israel is “facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and does not impose any restrictions on the quantity of aid entering the Strip. However, within the Gaza Strip, international organizations are failing to distribute the aid due to looting by Hamas, among other reasons.”… He added that, “as U.S. Secretary of State Blinken recently noted, Israel has responded positively to the majority of issues raised by the United States regarding humanitarian concerns.” Report here

 

Footnote: 

According to the Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), 780 truckloads of aid were awaiting pickup on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza on Tuesday, after just 43 were picked up the previous day by international organizations. On Sunday, UNRWA said it was pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom because of looting by armed gangs in Gaza.Report here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

Hizbullah/Lebanon

 

Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari:

Like many from Lebanon’s Shia community in 1985, I joined Hizbullah as a young man, inspired by the revolutionary fervour radiating out of Iran that called for our people to take up arms against Israel and the West. But after seeing Lebanon go through decades of conflict, corruption and spiralling poverty, my vision for my community and country have evolved.

As an imam of the Shia community in Lebanon, I say that the biggest threat to Lebanon and the Middle East is the radical ideology of Iran’s regime. The only way to secure a long-term peace in Lebanon is to actively roll back the Iranian regime’s control of our country. Our hopes have been subverted by an ideology that is dedicated to violence and the suppression of freedoms.

During a visit to Tehran, I heard from Iranian Shia themselves about the lack of freedom and equality in their society, the nepotism and privileges granted to the relatives of the regime and those close to it.

The revolution has forsaken the people it claimed to represent, and it has dragged its society back into the Dark Ages. In Lebanon, too, Hizbullah has turned what was a beautiful country into a mafia state.

American and French diplomats should know that the Shia community deserves and desires peace, and to live free from the influence of foreign regimes that force us into an endless and pointless conflict. My call to choose peace over Iran has almost cost me my life on several occasions at the hands of Hizbullah.Article here

 

 

 

ISW: Destroying Hizbullah’s military organization – which is the only military objective that would prevent all attacks into Israel permanently – was never the stated objective of Israeli military operations. A ceasefire deal, however, will prevent attacks into Israel through diplomatic means.
Hizbullah and Iran can recover from this setback if the U.S. and Israel fail to prevent them from doing so. Hizbullah will almost certainly attempt to reoccupy southern Lebanon.  Article here

 

 

Stuart E. Eizenstat and Dennis Ross: Israel’s use of force set the stage for the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah, brokered by the U.S. The Israel Defense Forces and Mossad acted decisively to decapitate Hizbullah’s leadership; disrupt its command, control, and communications; destroy 80% of its rocket forces; and dismantle its weapons stocks and infrastructure – below- and aboveground…
The Israelis understood that they could not eliminate Hizbullah; instead, they aimed to ensure that Hizbullah could have no forces south of the Litani River and could not easily rearm there. The U.S. will also provide intelligence to monitor implementation of the agreement, and will chair the committee through which any violation will be immediately addressed. Israel has reportedly received assurances from the U.S. that, if violations are not reversed, it can act militarily. Article here

 

 

Gil Troy: As Israel’s wary ceasefire with Hezbollah continues, there is only one path to success. Israel must break its pattern of indulgence, allowing diplomatic agreements to die amid a thousand infractions, as each little attack seems not worth triggering international opprobrium…

It happened during Oslo. It happened after America promised that the Gaza Disengagement would include a zero-tolerance policy for any violence from anywhere in the Strip. And it happened after the 2006 Hezbollah War. UN Security Council 1701 supposedly guaranteed peace in Southern Lebanon, with no armed forces other than the Lebanese Army rearming. Yet the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah, chipped away at the agreements, and Israel kept indulging them – until disaster struck (on Oct 7)…..Article here

 

 

Gaza

 

 

Michael Starr (an IDF reservist infantryman, recently returned from a 2^nd tour of duty in Gaza):
Whole neighbourhoods have been levelled during direct combat and the search and destruction of tunnels and booby traps. Many of the houses, apartments, and villas that we cleared had a decent and even opulent quality of life. All the homes we saw had televisions, computers, refrigerators, decorations, and stores of food similar to an Israeli suburb.
The purpose of our operations was not geared toward the elimination of Gazan civilians. There were never orders to kill civilians wantonly, and there were debates on whether we had enough information to use deadly force and when it was legitimate to open fire. Civilians were allowed to pass by our positions along humanitarian corridors unmolested.
Reservists want a resolution to the problems that led to Oct. 7; they don’t want this war to become yet another round in an ongoing conflict. While we will continue to fight for Israel, we don’t want to have to come back to Gaza and Lebanon in a few years’ time. Article here

 

 

Maj. (ret.) John Spencer (U.S. Military Academy): Israel’s New Approach to Tunnels: A Paradigm Shift in Underground Warfare.           They turned tunnels from obstacles controlled by the defending enemy into manoeuver corridors for the attacker.                                          The lessons learned by the IDF will save the lives of other soldiers in other battlefields. Article here

 

 

 

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)

 

 

Sir Michael Ellis (former Attorney General for England and Wales):Any country which is not a member of the court is simply not bound by it. Israel and the U.S. have never ratified it, ironically largely because they feared bias. But by issuing this warrant the court has chosen to ignore that inconvenient fact as far as Israel is concerned…Even a country which has signed up to the Court can only be pursued by the ICC if that country is unable or unwilling to deal with any credible allegations itself. Israel has a robust and fair legal system, whose courts regularly strike down their own government’s decisions. An Arab Israeli Supreme Court judge has even sat in judgment on the country’s Jewish prime minister. But the ICC has refused to accept this inconvenient truth as well.
Another problem the ICC has ignored is about a Head of Government like PM Netanyahu having diplomatic immunity, a principle that has been in existence in British statute law since 1709.
There are many individuals, in Iran and Syria for example, who deserve the attentions of international law, but a democratically-elected Israeli Prime Minister defending his country from consistent attack from multiple quarters is not one of them.Article here (paywall)

 

 

Syria

 

 

The Institute for National Security Studies: The Rebel Offensive in Syria: Risks and Implications for Israel. Article here