The government media office in Gaza said that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression on Gaza reached 20,000 dead, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, while the number of wounded rose to 52,600.

The office stated that more than 60% (approximately 280 thousand housing units) were destroyed in the Gaza Strip, completely or partially, noting that the final number of destroyed units and buildings is not available due to the continuing Israeli bombing.

17 Swedish lawyers wrote an opinion article in the newspaper “Dagens Euridik,” which specializes in legal issues, in which they described the complaint against Israel before the International Criminal Court as a result of the Gaza events as “historic.”

The Swedish lawyers are part of a collective effort in the complaint filed by 160 non-governmental organizations and 600 lawyers from different countries.

The complaint stated that Israel's actions in the Gaza war constitute "genocide," according to the legal definition that includes actions taken with the aim of the complete or partial annihilation of a particular ethnic group.

The lawyers said, “Israel claimed that it had the right to defend itself after the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (…) but this right is conditional,” speaking of “Israel’s killing since October 7 of at least 20,000 Palestinian civilians, 70 percent of whom are Palestinians.” Women and children, in addition to the displacement of more than 1.9 million Palestinians, and the human suffering in the Gaza Strip.”

The grounds for complaint highlight, among other things, the complete Israeli blockade of Gaza, including water and electricity cuts, restrictions on access to medical care, forced displacement, inhumane statements made by Israeli political and military officials, and indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas such as Hospitals, schools and religious buildings.

The lawyers pointed out that the support for the lawsuit against Israel is historic and includes a request from the International Criminal Court to investigate whether genocide and other crimes against humanity were committed against the Palestinian population. It also calls for an international arrest warrant to be issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The lawyers stressed the importance of subjecting Israel's actions against the Palestinian population to judicial review by the International Criminal Court.

They stressed that lawyers have a special obligation, in accordance with the rules of legal ethics, to work to preserve human rights and freedoms, and that participating in the complaint before the International Criminal Court forms part of this obligation.

“We lawyers have a special place in the legal community and must dare to stand up and resist, even when it is uncomfortable. Human rights always apply unconditionally and to all people,” they concluded.

Source: Alkompis website

By Myron Isaacson

Politicians and commentators these days talk a lot about our need for an image of victory in this fateful war in Gaza, and about the differences regarding the characteristics of that image, and I want here to propose, as an independent addition to this dialogue, the issue of the image of moral victory for Israeli society, which will herald the presence of buds. The internal revolution, which we hope will end successfully, and without loss of life.

We can call this picture “the end of the era of mutually assured annihilation,” a term whose origins go back to the terrifying arms race that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union. Four years after dropping the atomic bomb on Japan in the summer of 1945, the Soviet Union conducted a nuclear test, and since then the two superpowers have been subject to a constant balance of terror: the assumption and hope were that one would not launch a nuclear attack on the other, because that would mean a response. A counterattack will destroy everyone.

In contrast, Israeli society, which witnessed polarized processes over the past years, deteriorated in the last months before the Gaza war, into a psychological state similar to what happened between the Russians and the Americans. The conscious and unconscious assumption of both Israeli camps was that the other side intended to erase them. Neither changing it, nor reforming it, but erasing its basic values. I do not know whether this destructive process will stop, even if we are still at a stage that allows us to “return the missiles to their resting places.” Therefore, the picture of victory for the post-war phase in Gaza must be the absolute opposite of the potential explosion that I spoke about.

What would that image be? It is understood that our ambition for unity is not enough, as there are those who are terrified that their existential interests will be harmed simply by calling for unity. It seems to me that the matter must be related to some people abandoning their obsessive attachment to power. Many people felt that they fit into any official position available. Some of them, even those who are overflowing with self-confidence, have learned from their personal experiences how difficult it is to be able to reach a rational and balanced position in complex national situations.

The unlimited pursuit of power and control can receive a certain balance from the central political figure of recent decades in Israel, namely Prime Minister Netanyahu. The method that Netanyahu will choose to end his role in public life will have the greatest impact on the new social image that will replace the vision of mutual annihilation. He is the one who must stop the process of destruction, even if he believes he is right.

This man will have to overcome his desires and draw his own boundaries between legitimate political ambitions and treating office as the highest value. In order to take such a step, he must be assisted by all judicial and political bodies who will be required to act with composure and responsibility. Netanyahu must announce that he will regularly pass the leadership of the government to a Likud member who is chosen for this position, so that he can assume the position of prime minister until an agreed upon date for early elections in the Knesset. Then all judicial files directed against the outgoing Prime Minister must be closed, and Netanyahu announces, in a written message, that out of concern for his people and his country, he will resign from political life without returning, and in doing so he seeks to mark the beginning of a new era of leadership priorities and responsibility.

I realize that many people will deal with such an announcement with a lot of sarcasm and criticism, and unfortunately, they have something to base their sarcasm and criticism on. But we are all now required to exercise extraordinary restraint, which must express, even if only a little, our appreciation for the IDF soldiers who sacrifice their lives in the war. In this war, in this founding event in our history, we can achieve an image of our victory over processes of internal destruction, and perhaps in its aftermath, we can see a second image of victory represented by broad national consensus on the fundamental issues over which Israeli society is divided, such as issues of religion. The state, the Palestinian issue, recruitment to the army, and the judicial system.

A report published by the Israeli newspaper "Jerusalem Post" says that the "disaster" of the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7 caused a radical shift in the political landscape of Israel.

Report author Herb Kennon explained that common sense dictates this conclusion, historical precedent confirms it, and opinion polls show its inevitability.

He added that Israel on December 20 is not Israel on October 6, and everyone realizes that. Israel's confidence in itself and in its political and military leaders has been damaged, and its sense of security has declined.

He stressed that Israel is currently gripped by anxiety and anger, and there is burning hatred towards Hamas, and there is intense anger towards the government, and he wondered: How can Israel fail so miserably?

Indications of anger

He pointed out that one of the indicators of anger is the reluctance of government ministers and members of the Knesset (Parliament) to appear in public, and the small number of prominent politicians who visit the wounded in hospitals or even attend funerals these days, which were common courtesy in the past, due to concern about the reactions they will receive.

The writer recalled a precedent that he said would help make it likely that an earthquake would occur in the political scene after the war, saying that in October 1973, Israel faced a similar disaster, the Yom Kippur War, which turned society and the political scene upside down which caused intense anger, frustration, and thousands of victims, and caused the left to lose its dominance over politics since the founding of Israel, and brought the right (starting with Menachem Begin) to dominate for most of the next 50 years.

He added that it is certain that the October 7 attack will not push Israel to the left, in any way similar to the October War of 1973, but it will lead to something different. The political constellation in the country will change, even if the balance between the right and the left is unlikely to change significantly. There will be dramatic shifts within the blocs (right, left, and center), although there will be few significant changes between them.

The expected political map

He explained that what is likely is that the National Unity Bloc, led by Benny Gantz, will advance by a large margin over any of the current parties in the Knesset, and that Likud and Yesh Atid will fall sharply, as will the Religious Zionist Party, while Yisrael Beytenu will add seats, and the “Jewish Greatness” party and the Arab parties will remain. The Haredi parties are fairly stable.

He also said that there will be other parties. Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen may lead a party, and Yair Golan may lead the Meretz party, whose stock rose significantly after his “brave” actions during the Hamas attack, a unified left-wing party. There is also talk of forming a party from the leaders of the anti-judicial reform protest movement.

In general, the parties competing in the upcoming elections will be completely different from the formation last time.

The writer concluded his report by saying that opinion polls indicate that much of the public will not allow the Israeli political scene to return to what it was before after the war.

Source: Aljazeera+ Jerusalem Post

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that work is underway to reach a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip similar to the previous truce, adding that Israel welcomes the return to a humanitarian truce in Gaza and the release of hostages, and “the problem is in the position of the Hamas movement.”

Blinken stated, in a press conference in Washington, that “many countries are calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza, but no one is demanding the disarmament of Hamas or the dismantling of its capabilities,” explaining that “if Hamas surrenders its weapons, the crisis in Gaza will end immediately.”

The US Secretary of State stressed that "it would be good to have a strong international voice pressuring Hamas to surrender," highlighting that the United States "still believes that Israel is obligated to eliminate Hamas and reduce civilian casualties in Gaza."

He stressed that Washington “will help Israel ensure that what happened on October 7 will not happen again,” explaining that his country expects and desires to see a shift towards more specific operations by Israel, and stated that “with this shift occurring, you will witness a significant reduction in the damage caused.” "With civilians."

Regarding humanitarian aid, he said that the measures taken, including the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing, would increase the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Blinken also expressed his hope that a positive result would be reached on a UN Security Council resolution regarding the war on Gaza, after the United States had previously used its veto in this regard. He said: "We worked on this intensively. I hope that we will be able to reach satisfactory results."

In turn, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed today, Wednesday, that the ongoing talks regarding a possible new truce in Gaza are “very serious,” and that humanitarian aid can cross into Gaza from Jordan.

Kirby said, in a press conference: “These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope they will bear fruit,” adding: “It is something we have been working on since the end of the previous pause.” He explained that it was now possible for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip from Jordan.

In this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the occupying State announced, today, Wednesday, Israel’s desire to “accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid” to Gaza via a maritime axis from Cyprus “to enhance balance in the region.”

Eli Cohen said that Israeli and Cypriot technical teams will spend Wednesday and Thursday determining the details of the initiative so that humanitarian aid shipments can begin from the port of Larnaca, 240 kilometers from Gaza, as soon as possible.

He added, after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos: “Cyprus and Israel, along with other partners in the region, are promoting a safe shipping corridor initiative to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza in an organized manner and subject to good inspection.”

Cohen reported details of the initiative during a visit to the Zenon Joint Relief Coordination Center in Larnaca that will serve as an operating center for aid shipments. He personally inspected storage facilities and security arrangements in the port of Larnaca.

Cyprus presented the idea after the Israeli aggression on Gaza following the October 7 attack. The war destroyed most of northern Gaza, and the occupation forces killed about 20,000 Palestinians and expelled about 1.9 million people from their homes, in acts described as widespread and retaliatory war crimes.

Source: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Reuters, Associated Press

Israeli writer and journalist Yossi Melman said, “75 days have passed since the war, and the end is not in sight, especially if it depends on Bibi and Gallant, and in fact Gantz as well.”

He added in a post on the “X” platform: “Yesterday, Captain Lior Sion was killed in the battle in the southern Gaza Strip, and about 140 soldiers were killed since the ground entry.”

Criticism of Netanyahu has recently escalated significantly among the occupation circles, especially after repeated incidents of killing occupation prisoners by bombing.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Hebrew Channel 13 revealed that wounded Israeli soldiers refused to attend a meeting with Occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his visit to the hospital where they are being treated.

The channel said that Netanyahu arrived on a visit to the rehabilitation department at Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital, to meet soldiers wounded in the ground battle in the Gaza Strip, but some patients refused to meet him.

The channel continued, "Army representatives and officials in the Prime Minister's Office gathered the wounded who agreed to meet the Prime Minister in a separate and isolated part of the department."

While Netanyahu's office said in a statement, "The Prime Minister visited the War Victims Rehabilitation Center on Tuesday at Sheba Medical Hospital, where he met civilians who were injured on October 7 and soldiers who were injured during the fighting in Gaza."

On the 10th of this month, the Hebrew newspaper “Maariv” said, “Hope cannot grow in the bed of corruption and extreme nationalism of the current government... Benjamin Netanyahu must resign now.”

This came in an article by Israeli writer Yair Golan, who said that "the prime minister has no idea how to get out of the abyss for which he is responsible."

Golan added, "With the exception of statements that lack actual content regarding the elimination of Hamas, the government has neither a policy nor a military strategy to continue the battle."

He added, "In these difficult days, when the citizens of Israel find it difficult to imagine the future and live in a state of extreme uncertainty, there is a need for leadership in Israel that speaks to the people."

The writer continued: "The world of thousands of citizens has been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands do not live in their homes, isolated from their daily routine, and without any hope for a normal routine."

Source: Sama News

A human rights observatory revealed, on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, that the Israeli occupation army committed field executions against Palestinian civilians in front of their families in Gaza City, in its ongoing 75-day aggression against the Strip.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said, in a statement, that it had received testimonies about Israeli army forces raiding a house for the Anan family in central Gaza City, on the evening of Tuesday, December 19, 2023, and they opened direct fire at the young men inside the house, without any justification, and without any resistance. They gathered the women in one of the rooms, then threw a number of missiles at them which led to injuries among their ranks.

It confirmed that the initial informationit received indicated that 13 people from the Anan family and the Al-Ashi and Al-Sharafa families, who are in-laws of the family and who were displaced with them, were liquidated by bullets, and there are another number who are still suffering from serious wounds. The soldiers also took an elderly man whose fate is unknown.

The Human Rights Observatory indicated that a number of injured women, including 27 women and children trapped in the house, including cases suffering from serious wounds and amputations, appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to coordinate their transfer from the place to save their lives.

The Observatory quoted one of the victims’ relatives as saying that his sister informed him that “an Israeli force raided the house and executed the young men. There were 13 people who were killed by bullets, and there were others seriously wounded. Then the force’s soldiers threw missiles at the women who were detained in one of the rooms, and currently my mother, sister, and wife my brother and others are injured as well. They could die at any moment if they are not rescued quickly.”

Euro-Med confirmed that it had received repeated testimonies about humanitarian atrocities committed by Israeli forces in the areas they penetrate, including physical liquidations and field executions of civilians for which there is no justification, indicating that the testimonies show that when soldiers raid a house, they blow up the gates and then begin firing heavy gunfire inside the house. Despite the absence of any resistance, and despite screams and calls from the residents of the house.

It pointed out that, in many cases, the occupation soldiers deliberately shoot and physically kill young civilians, while women and children are subjected to humiliating abuse.

It confirmed that he had observed an increase in field executions when there was talk of attacks carried out by Palestinian factions against Israeli vehicles, which indicates that what is happening is part of revenge operations against civilians that violate international humanitarian law.

It pointed out that Israeli forces stationed in vehicles or high buildings are continuing sniper operations against Palestinian civilians, whether inside their homes or while they are trying to move in their residential areas, despite the absence of vehicles close to those homes, indicating that he documented the killing of Sami Jabr Kahil by an Israeli sniper’s bullets in Gaza City, Monday, December 18, 2023.

It said: We received testimonies of killings of dozens of civilians in the streets and homes by Israeli army sniper bullets, or by Israeli artillery shelling, and their bodies were dumped in the streets, and days passed without them being recovered.

It stressed that these field killings and executions are one of the types of horrific violations practiced by Israeli forces in areas of incursion, which include looting, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and widespread destruction without any necessity or proportionality.

The Red Cross does not respond to residents' appeals under the pretext of occupation

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to shoulder its responsibilities and respond to the appeals it receives to evacuate the wounded and victims from areas witnessing Israeli incursions.

The Observatory highlighted that it has received widespread complaints that the International Committee does not respond to the appeals and reports it receives from the Palestinian population, under the pretext that the Israeli army does not allow this, at a time when it was able, in very limited cases, to coordinate the arrival of wounded, victims and residents to evacuate them after a delay of many hours. This happened in the case of the injury of journalist Samer Abu Daqqa, who recovered a lifeless body along with three civil defense workers 5 hours after they were targeted in Khan Yunis.

It also indicated that It had received complaints that crews from the International Committee of the Red Cross refused to respond to assist displaced people, including women, in dangerous areas and late at night, even by simply allowing them to make a phone call, which requires opening an investigation into this failure and abandoning the performance of their humanitarian duty.

Euro-Med stressed that the International Committee is required to fulfill the international mandate granted to it and its badge after submitting to the Israeli refusal, and insisting on carrying out its humanitarian role to the fullest, and in the event of refusal, to raise its voice in this regard and mobilize the international community to put pressure on Israel to achieve this, something it has not done so far.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory called for an urgent international investigation to be opened into the horrific crimes committed by the Israeli army in areas of its land incursions into the Gaza Strip, including field executions, torture, and threats to rape women, according to testimonies it collected from released civilians.

It also called on the international community to oblige Israel to guarantee the freedom of movement of ambulance and civil defense crews to respond to reports of targeting and injuries, stressing that Israeli forces, as the occupying power, bear responsibility for providing medical and relief assistance to people in the areas they control.

It stressed that under international humanitarian law, Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians, and ensure their ability to provide satisfactory conditions for safety and shelter, while emphasizing that civilians who choose to remain

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Moscow is receiving many messages indicating that the West, led by Washington, has recently been engaged in “hidden” projects to obstruct the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Lavrov said during a press conference following the meeting of the “Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum”: “Unfortunately, today we hear a lot of rumors, and we receive reports from anonymous sources that our Western colleagues, led by the United States, are once again devising some kind of special project, the goal of which is to calm the situation.” The situation, one way or another, is to prevent unification between Gaza and the West Bank.”

He pointed out that "therefore, in essence, the goal is to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and postpone all of this until a later time."

The Russian Foreign Minister added: “The main conclusion from the current situation on the world stage, which we share with our friends from the Arab League, is that this amounts to an invitation to create another crisis, another conflict.”

Yesterday, the American police arrested 60 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who organized an unauthorized demonstration inside the American Legislative Council to demand a ceasefire and the cessation of military aid to Israel.

For its part, Russia called for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution, which includes the call to declare humanitarian truce periods in the Gaza Strip.

Clashes continue between the Palestinian factions and the Israeli forces penetrating the Gaza Strip on the 75th day of the war, at a time when the Security Council fails again to issue a ceasefire resolution and bring in aid.

Today, Wednesday, the French newspaper Le Monde published details of a Saudi document submitted to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, containing a plan to end the war in Gaza, which stipulates the transfer of Hamas’ military and security leaders to the Algerian capital.

The newspaper reported that the document was prepared by a Saudi research center, and the text was developed after a meeting held on November 19 in Riyadh with Anne Greux, head of the North Africa and Middle East Department at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before it was transferred to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Le Monde pointed out that the evacuation of Hamas leaders to Algeria most likely refers to the leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Al-Deif, and the movement’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Al-Sinwar.

The choice fell on Algeria as a potential exile for the movement’s leaders, because of the former’s good relationship with Qatar and Iran, the main supporters of the Hamas movement, and because of its security capabilities that allow it to control their activities, according to the French newspaper.

Le Monde reported that it had contacted the Algerian ambassador in Paris, but he did not wish to comment on the matter.

The newspaper talked about other points raised in the draft Saudi plan, including the deployment of Arab peacekeeping forces in Gaza, under a United Nations mandate, and the establishment of a “joint transitional council,” which includes the main parties in Gaza (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah), which will be responsible for managing the sector for a period of four years, and organizing presidential and parliamentary elections.

The newspaper wondered whether this plan had been approved by the Saudi authorities. According to Le Monde, the document stated: “It appears that the search for a Saudi-French consensus could contribute to the crystallization of a common vision acceptable to all parties, and have an impact on the decision to end the war.”

Since last October 7, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, which has led to the death of nearly 20,000 people, the wounding of more than 52,000, the destruction of the Strip’s infrastructure and health facilities, and the putting of a large number of hospitals out of service.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin inspected the US aircraft carrier USS Ford, which was sent to the eastern Mediterranean following the October 7 attacks.

According to the agency, Austin considered during the visit that “Israel’s transition from major military operations in the Gaza Strip to more precise operations may ease the regional tension that required keeping the carrier in the region.”

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, carrying more than four thousand people and eight squadrons of aircraft, has become a strong symbol of the American determination to support Israel by pushing it to become closer to its ally after the bloody October attack.

The United States extended the period of Ford's deployment in the region three times, with the aim of deterring Iran and groups allied with it, especially Lebanese Hezbollah, so that they exercise caution before engaging in fighting against Israel, according to the agency.

The Minister of Defense praised the efforts made by the Ford carrier's crew, especially in monitoring the tension between Israel and Hezbollah.

“This carrier and its crew are making history,” Austin said. “Our greatest accomplishments are sometimes the bad things we prevent from happening.”

He added, "At a moment of intense tension in the region, you were all an essential pillar in preventing a broader regional conflict."

He went on to say, "One of our goals is to ensure that the crisis in Gaza does not spill over into a regional conflict. I think we have done a good job in managing that."

Austin made his inspection visit to the aircraft carrier at the conclusion of a Middle Eastern tour that took him to Bahrain, Israel and Qatar.

On the 75th day of the aggression against Gaza, Israeli occupation aircraft and artillery continued to bomb various areas in the Gaza Strip, focusing at dawn on Wednesday on Jabalia and Khan Yunis in the north and center of the Strip.

Press sources reported that the bodies of about 70 dead were recovered in the Al-Thalatheni area in Gaza City after the withdrawal of the occupation forces.

Local and journalistic sources in the Gaza Strip said that heavy Israeli bombardment targeted Jabaliya, north of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death and injury of dozens of citizens, most of them children and women.

The bombing on Jabalia comes after 16 citizens were killed and more than 70 others were injured yesterday evening, Tuesday, in a bombing that targeted the town and Jabalia camp.

Protection and health sources in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the occupation forces executed more than 13 people in the Anan family home, in front of the eyes of children and women in northern Gaza.

The occupation warplanes launched a series of raids on the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with violent Israeli artillery shelling.

Press sources reported that a child was killed and a number of others were wounded in a bombing that targeted a house in the Japanese neighborhood, west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and that injuries occurred as a result of an Israeli raid on the city’s Al-Amal neighborhood.

The occupation aircraft bombed a house in the middle of the Shaboura camp in the center of the city of Rafah, resulting in the death and injury of many citizens.

Yesterday evening, Tuesday, 13 citizens were killed and others were injured when the Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Also, 15 citizens were killed and others were injured when the occupation aircraft bombed a house for the Hamdan family, west of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The occupation artillery bombed the neighborhoods of Al-Tuffah, Al-Daraj and Al-Shuja'iya, east of Gaza City. The occupation aircraft also bombed a house near Sheikh Radwan Pool in the city.

Medical sources reported that about 100 killed and hundreds of wounded arrived at hospitals during the last hours of yesterday evening, as a result of the massacres committed by the occupation forces throughout the Gaza Strip.

The number of dead since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on the seventh of last October has risen to more than 19,650 Palestinians, in addition to about 52,600 wounded, and thousands of missing people, in an infinite toll.

Al Jazeera learned from sources close to the prisoner exchange negotiations between Israel and Hamas that the latter informed the mediators that it is not prepared to discuss any humanitarian or comprehensive deal without a ceasefire.

The sources also confirmed that the current visit of the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to Cairo does not fall within the framework of prisoner negotiations, but rather within the framework of seeking to lift the siege on Gaza and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid, especially since Ghazi Hamad, who is responsible for the crossings in the Gaza Strip, is among the delegation.

This comes after CIA Director William Burns traveled to the Polish capital, Warsaw, yesterday, Monday, to meet with David Barnea, director of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad), and the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, according to American and Egyptian officials.

An American official said that the meetings are an attempt to resume discussions about the prisoners.

Yesterday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog confirmed that the Mossad chief had been sent twice to Europe to reactivate the humanitarian truce to free the prisoners. Israeli Channel 12 also reported that important, serious and in-depth talks are taking place regarding the details of the hostage deal, but the agreement is not imminent, while Israeli Channel 13 quoted an informed official, saying that the costs of the new deal are likely to be high for Israel.

On the other hand, Reuters quoted the US White House as saying that the discussions regarding a humanitarian truce and the release of the hostages are very serious, and that it has become possible for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip from Jordan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his government will continue the war on the Gaza Strip "until the end."

Netanyahu's statements came in the wake of Israeli reports talking about the possibility of reaching new humanitarian truces in Gaza within the framework of prisoner exchanges with Palestinian factions.

Netanyahu said in a statement: “We will continue the war until the end. The war will continue until the elimination of Hamas, until victory is achieved,” as he put it.

He added: "Those who believe that we will stop are delusional and have no relation to reality. We will not stop the fighting until we achieve all the goals that we have set: eliminating Hamas, releasing our kidnappers, and removing the threat posed by Gaza."

Referring to the leaders of the Hamas movement, Netanyahu considered that “they have only two options: surrender or death.”

As of 15:40 (UTG), Hamas had not issued a comment on Netanyahu’s statements.

Israeli reports indicated contacts to explore opportunities to reach an agreement for a new humanitarian truce, including an exchange for the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

A temporary truce that lasted for a week between Israel and Hamas ended in early December, during which prisoners and detainees were exchanged between the two parties, and a small amount of relief aid and limited quantities of fuel were brought into the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian teenager died as a result of his critical injuries, this Wednesday evening, after he was hit by live bullets fired by the Israeli occupation army towards him in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem.

According to security and medical sources, Mahmoud Muhammad Issa Zaoul (16 years old) was dead after being hit by a bullet in the neck, during the occupation army’s storming of the Al-Muteena area at the eastern entrance to the village, where confrontations subsequently broke out, during which soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas canisters. Which led to the martyrdom of the child Zaoul.

The Arab-Russian Cooperation Forum condemned, on Wednesday, Israel's "aggressive" war on Gaza, warning of its intention to "forced displacement of the Palestinian people."

This came in a joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the one-day forum in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

The forum called for "restoring life to normal in the Gaza Strip, and lifting the Israeli siege on Palestinian cities, villages and camps."

He warned against "Israel committing the forced displacement of Palestinians outside the occupied Palestinian territory."

He condemned "the targeting of civilians, hospitals, schools, mosques and infrastructure, which constitute serious violations under international humanitarian law."

American voters widely disapprove of the way President Joe Biden is handling Israel's aggression in the Gaza Strip, and a New York Times/Siena College poll found that younger Americans are far more critical than older voters of both "Israel's behavior and the administration's response." for the war in Gaza.

American voters are also sending mixed signals about the direction American policy-making should take as the war in Gaza enters its third month, and the Joe Biden administration attempts to pressure the occupation to “reduce the military campaign.”

The poll stated that almost as many Americans want Israel to continue its military campaign as much as they want it to stop now to avoid more civilian casualties.

This division appears to leave the US president, according to the New York Times, “few politically acceptable options.”

The results of the Times/Siena poll carry signals not only for Joe Biden as he enters re-election in 2024, but also for the long-term relations between the occupation and its most powerful benefactor, the United States.

The divided American views among traditional Democratic voter groups demonstrate Biden's continuing difficulty in holding together the coalition he built in 2020, a challenge that is likely to continue even as positive economic indicators increase and legal problems swirl around his expected nominee, former President Donald Trump.

Voters between the ages of 18 and 29, traditionally a predominantly Democratic demographic, are jumping in, and nearly three-quarters of them disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling the war in Gaza.

"I don't want to vote for someone who is not in line with my personal values, as Biden has shown he is not when it comes to Gaza," one voter told the New York Times. But he wondered: Should I vote for Biden or not vote at all? "This is really hard, because if I don't vote for Biden, I'm opening up the possibility of Trump winning, and I really don't want that."

Most young voters answered one question after another, according to the New York Times, with answers that show that they see the worst in “Israel.” Few of them believe that the Israelis are serious about peace with the Palestinians. Nearly half say that Israel intentionally kills civilians, while nearly three-quarters of respondents say that Israel does not take sufficient precautions to avoid civilian casualties, and a majority opposes providing additional economic and military aid to the occupation.

In contrast, the broader electorate holds a more pro-Israel view, suggesting that Israel's image and reputation problems in the eyes of American voters are more acute on the political horizon than they are at present.

However, 48% of all voters surveyed said they believe Israel is not taking adequate precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip called on human rights organizations to open an urgent investigation into the massacre committed by occupation soldiers at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Ministry stressed that the Israeli army took a statement consistent with its account from the hospital director, Ahmed Al-Kahlot, under intimidation and torture.

It confirmed that the children in Kamal Adwan Hospital were trapped without water, food, or electricity for several days, which ended with the bombing of the hospital.

The occupation forces withdrew from Kamal Adwan Hospital last Saturday after a siege that lasted for 5 days, during which they arrested displaced people, ran over their tents with tanks while they were in them, and buried them alive.

Today, Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces seized 10 vehicles and stormed 15 homes in the Al-Laban Al-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus.

Local sources said that 15 military vehicles, accompanied by 5 soldier buses and two military bulldozers, stormed the village for more than seven hours, stormed 15 houses, wreaked havoc in them, broke their doors, and destroyed property with various types of iron tools that the soldiers had in their possession, and also seized 10 vehicles. .

It added that more than 300 soldiers stormed the village from one in the morning until eight in the morning, and set up four checkpoints inside the village in all directions, completely preventing movement.

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations said that achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is the most important priority at the present time.

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said at a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, especially the Palestinian issue, “First, achieving a ceasefire remains an absolute necessity. It will not prevent further human casualties among civilians, from "Including the hostages, except for achieving a ceasefire. Only achieving a ceasefire is what will prevent the regional conflict from spiraling out of control. Only achieving a ceasefire is what will prevent any possibility of completely eliminating the political settlement."

He said that the international community has often and strongly called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, continuing by saying, "However, Israel continues to bomb and bomb, repeatedly targeting schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and refugee camps in military operations."

He continued, "We urge Israel to immediately reverse its actions and stop its indiscriminate military attacks and policy of collective punishment against the residents of the Gaza Strip."

Regarding the West Bank, Zhang stressed the need to make every effort to prevent the situation in the West Bank from getting out of control.

"While the eyes of the international community are focused on Gaza, violence by the Israeli army and settlers has increased in the West Bank. Searches, arrests and attacks against Palestinians are taking place on a daily basis with an appalling pace and intensity, resulting in a huge number of Palestinian deaths and injuries," the envoy said.

Regarding the two-state solution, Zhang said this approach must be revived with the utmost political determination.

He added, "The two-state solution is the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It is also widely agreed upon in the international community."

"China calls for an international peace conference that is larger in size, scope and impact, and to formulate a timetable and roadmap so that the two-state solution can actually be achieved," Zhang said.

Zhang touched on the new Security Council draft resolution aimed at removing obstacles to humanitarian access and alleviating the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, saying, “We believe that no country should fail, for any reason, with regard to this draft resolution. We urge the relevant Council members to do so.” We call on members to adopt a constructive approach and support the Council in taking meaningful, life-saving and immediate action.”

“In the face of the protracted conflict in Gaza and the escalation in the West Bank, the Council must continue to play its due role and take measures to achieve a ceasefire and end the fighting early, restore regional peace, and uphold integrity and justice,” the envoy said.

The Palestinian Telecommunications Company announced today, Wednesday, the complete cessation of all communications and Internet services with the Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing Israeli aggression.

Executive Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Laith Daraghmeh, explained that the occupation mechanisms bulldozed the generators feeding the main division in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Daraghmeh explained that the occupation aircraft bombed the fiber network, the main Internet feeder in the Gaza Strip, after it was bombed two days ago, and it took 10 continuous hours to repair it, due to the difficulty of accessing it, due to the occupation’s bulldozing of the roads leading to it.

Ooredoo also announced, in a brief statement, the cessation of its services in the center and south of the Strip, and its partial continuation in the north.

Ooredoo said in a brief statement: “With the continuation of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, the main lines feeding telecommunications and Internet companies were repeatedly interrupted, which led to the cessation of our services in the center and south of the Strip, and their continuation in a partial and limited manner in the north of the Gaza Strip.”

This is the sixth time that the occupation forces have cut off communications and the Internet from the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, by severing international lines.

The most recent was on December 14, when the occupation cut off communications and the Internet from the Gaza Strip. The interruption lasted four days, the longest, before the Internet was partially restored, with a limited return of communications in some cities in the Strip.

The interruption of communications and the Internet is accompanied by an escalation in the massacres committed by the occupation forces against our people in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the disruption of efforts to rescue and treat citizens, as the number of martyrs since the beginning of the aggression has risen to more than 19,650 martyrs, in addition to about 52,600 wounded, and thousands of missing persons, in the toll. Not final.

By Iman Shams

“A ceasefire and holding Palestinian elections that grant legitimacy to the establishment of a Palestinian entity to administer the Gaza Strip... is the framework within which the extreme Israeli right can be confronted, which wants, from Gaza, to establish a new Nakba regime like the Nakba of 1948.” This is the opinion of the Israeli researcher and university professor Menachem Klein, who was an advisor to the Israeli delegation in the negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization in 2000, and one of the sponsors of the Geneva Initiative in 2003.

Klein, a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, believes that “the agreement between Fatah and Hamas in 2021 to hold elections for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority and its Legislative Council, and Hamas’ accession to the Palestine Liberation Organization, provided and continues to provide an acceptable political horizon towards resolving the conflict. The elections were scheduled to be held in accordance with the Oslo Accords, which included a commitment to respect international law, establish a state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate and exclusive framework, conduct a peaceful popular struggle, and transfer the separate government in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

It was not Netanyahu alone who formulated Israeli policy, Klein notes. Rather, the leaders of the political and security institutions in Israel participated in formulating and implementing the approach that has now collapsed.

However, the cancellation of the elections, after intense pressure from Israel and the United States and the surrender of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to them, led, as Klein believes, to the “Unity Intifada,” and with it the “Saif al-Quds” operation carried out by Hamas, and the Israeli “Wall Guard” operation, and at the same time almost to the conception and planning of the deadly attack on October 7. He believes that if the elections had not been cancelled, a popular, democratic leader would have emerged, but we would likely have witnessed a completely different political reality. But Israel was blinded by success, just as it had happened before the 1973 war.

Israeli arrogance

In Klein’s opinion, “there are many similarities between the October 7 attack and the surprise attack on Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Operationally, in both 1973 and 2023, Israeli intelligence leaders did not pay sufficient attention to the military movements of their enemies on the ground. Strategically, a neighboring Arab country sent a warning to Israel that was not taken seriously:

- In 1973, King Hussein was the king of Jordan.

- And in 2023, Egyptian Intelligence.

In both cases, the Israeli establishment has arrogantly relied on the mistaken belief that its military victories have succeeded in deterring its enemies.

He continues: “As happened in 1973, the main failure of October 7 was political. Two years before that war, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat proposed a partial arrangement with Israel, and he almost agreed with the ideas of Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan at the time. But the Prime Minister Golda Meir did not trust Sadat, and for her there was no difference between him and his predecessor, the Arab nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser, as both of them simply wanted to destroy Israel. So she stuck to her position. It was a terrible war, in which more than 2,600 Israelis were killed and 300 soldiers were captured, after which Israel signed an armistice agreement with Egypt in 1974, and its conditions intersected to a large extent with Sadat’s proposal in 1971.”

In the writer’s opinion, “When Meir rejected Sadat’s initiatives in 1971, she believed, as did a large section of the Israeli establishment after the Six-Day War, that the country’s situation was better than ever before.” This was the slogan of the ruling party ahead of the elections that were supposed to be held in late 1973. 

This same arrogance was evident in 2021, when Israel opposed the Palestinian elections and pressured Abbas to abandon his relationship with Hamas. Netanyahu, like Meir, believed that the government's policies were working, and that allowing elections and reorganizing the Palestinian political leadership would destroy everything Israel had built.

The cancellation of the elections, after intense pressure from Israel and the United States and the surrender of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to it, led, as Klein believes, to the “Unity Intifada,” along with the “Saif al-Quds” operation carried out by Hamas, and the Israeli “Wall Guard” operation.

The collapse of the Israeli approach in Gaza

Klein points out that Israel's policy towards the Palestinians since 2006 revolves around three main axes, supported by the United States and European countries:

First, complete control over the Gaza Strip from the outside, the physical, legal and political separation of Gaza from the West Bank, maintaining the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas and trying to tame the latter.

Secondly, managing the conflict with the Palestinians instead of resolving it. In addition to the expansion of West Bank settlements, Israel created a unique system that gives it sovereignty between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and turned the Palestinian Authority into its contractor that controls the Palestinians on its behalf.

Third, reducing the broader Israeli-Arab conflict by concluding normalization agreements with Arab countries and leaving the Palestinians isolated and weak at the mercy of Israel.

But Netanyahu was not the only one who formulated Israeli policy, Klein notes. Rather, the leaders of the political and security institutions in Israel participated in formulating and implementing the approach that has now collapsed. Many of them still do not realize the extent to which Hamas's bloody attack requires a radical change in course. Instead, they are seeking to return to previous principles and find a contractor from within to manage the Gaza Strip on behalf of Israel, whether it is a local entity, Abbas’s authority, or an international body.

Back to the 2021 planner

But no such entity can operate without the legitimacy granted to it by the Palestinian elections. Otherwise, he will be viewed as an illegitimate collaborator with the occupier, asserts Klein, who believes that “it is necessary to return to the political plan that was rejected in 2021 in order to create a new reality, and work, in addition to the ceasefire, to hold Palestinian elections as a means to change... The rules of the game and the ability to establish an independent Palestine on all the territories occupied in 1967, instead of reproducing the failed regime imposed by Israel in the West Bank.”

He concludes, “This is the framework that must be put in place to confront the extreme Israeli right that wants to establish a new, harsh regime consistent with the Nakba regime in 1948, starting with the Gaza Strip: exiling the largest possible number of Palestinians from Gaza, and building settlement cities, including rebuilding cities which were evacuated in 2005, and then the same plan was implemented in the West Bank with the same ferocity.” 

He says: “This terrible path was avoided in the past when Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, prevented Israel in 1973 and 1974 from resuming fighting with Egypt once there was a ceasefire, and supervised the signing of the two temporary agreements between Israel and Egypt that paved the way for Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in 1977, and reaching a peace settlement mediated by President Jimmy Carter in 1978-1979. 

But is there now anyone in America who has the same weight and willpower to do the same thing between Israel and the Palestinians?

* +972 Magazine: It is an independent electronic magazine that, according to its location, does not represent any external organization, political party or agenda, and is managed by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists. It was established in 2010. Its name recalls the international telephone code for calling throughout Israel and Palestine.

* The Geneva Document: An unofficial document, signed on December 1, 2003, between some Palestinian politicians and some Israelis from the left, stipulating Israel’s withdrawal from most of the lands occupied in the 1967 war, demarcating the borders between the two parties, and ending the conflict. Palestinian-Israeli, but it was opposed by the Israeli right and some Palestinian national and Islamic parties.

Source: 972mag + Assas Media

When following what analysts in Israel are commenting on the results of the war on the Gaza Strip, with its 74th day ending yesterday, Tuesday, it is possible to extrapolate conclusions that would reflect what happened, regardless of the intentions of those analysts who were mostly mobilized on the side of the war, and through a commitment Strict with what the text reveals. 

I am not interested in focusing on exposing most of these Israeli lies that are agreed upon that the time factor is not important, as it has become an open secret, but rather on what Israel faced in the midst of its war, which reflects, albeit implicitly, the capabilities of the resistance. To the extent space permits here, I will focus on two issues:

The first relates to the so-called ground maneuver plan, which has been the subject of internal disputes for more than two decades. Perhaps the most important thing that was confirmed about it was what came from the former head of the Military Intelligence Division (AMAN) and the current director of the Israeli National Security Research Institute, Major General (res.) Tamir Hayman, who acknowledged, a few days ago, that in battles that take place face-to-face, the relative superiority of the Israeli army in confronting Hamas diminishes. This is also acknowledged by the military analyst for Haaretz newspaper, Amos Harel, who wrote that during a long presence in the field, the Israeli military force becomes exposed and vulnerable to attack, is deprived of the relative superiority resulting from movements at a high pace, and ambiguity dominates the picture of the fighting. Both of them, as well as the military analyst for the newspaper Maariv Tal Lev Ram, and the political analyst for the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Nadav Eyal, confirm that the issue of strategic tunnels was one of the most prominent surprises. The latter is quoted by a member of the Israeli “War Cabinet” as saying that there is not yet a definitive answer or combat theory for dealing with these tunnels, and that “as long as there is no solution yet, we are in a dilemma.” Lev Ram chose to point out that there is no truth to the Israeli claim that military pressure is affecting the Hamas movement, especially with regard to the issue of prisoners and hostages. This pressure is not tangible at all, neither in the behavior of the movement’s leaders, nor in everything related to the progress of the issue of releasing the kidnapped persons. He thought to add that the main centers of gravity of the resistance are in Khan Yunis and the southern Gaza Strip in general. Despite this, the majority of Israeli army units are still fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.

The second issue is the duration of the war, and the frequency of controversy over it, despite the announcement by senior political and security officials of the US administration that they have no intention of dictating a timetable to Israel. 

On the other hand, more than one Israeli official or former military commander is pointing out to the United States that it took three years to confront ISIS in Raqqa. According to what is being reported by Israeli sources who can be considered informed, the intensive ground military operation that Israel says it is currently carrying out in the northern Gaza Strip and Khan Yunis, and will gradually move further south, still requires no less than three months at a minimum, to be followed by another phase, less intense in terms of the number of forces and shooting operations, according to what Reserve Major General Yaakov Amidror, former head of the National Security Council and one of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military advisors, confirms. This stage will continue, in his opinion, until the end of next year 2024, “the hour of the end of the war.”

What is certain is that the capabilities of the resistance in the Gaza Strip will remain a primary concern for more Israeli analysts, as it “made it challenge the most powerful country in the Middle East without showing signs of surrender,” as the aforementioned Amidror said. 

The truth is that the resistance was like this in the past as well, and it made a number of those analysts repeat that since the first confrontation between the two sides, the same problem has continued to arise: we know how to start, but we do not know how to get out!

By Nayef Zidani

The political level and the security establishment in the Israeli occupation state are increasingly aware that the war in the Gaza Strip may move into its third phase (after the air phase and the ground operation phase) during the next month, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political calculations and plans may change that.

The Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz" reported on Wednesday that, according to the United States' recommendation, the change in the form of fighting includes moving to establishing a buffer zone on the borders of the Gaza Strip (and perhaps also between the north and south of the Strip), and reducing part of the reserve forces in the Israeli occupation army and switching to the method of raids through army brigades, instead of the four military divisions that currently continue to carry out a large-scale, slow and fierce ground operation in a large part of the territory of the Gaza Strip.

The debate in the Israeli occupation state is focused on the issue of when it is best to begin implementing this change, in mid-January or shortly before its end, but there is a major obstacle to the transitional process, which is the political situation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fears the collapse of his coalition under the pressure and resentment from the right.

The newspaper pointed out that the US administration, the Pentagon and representatives of the US Army’s Central Command had long recommended that Israel change the form of the operation, but the Americans did not put much pressure in this context, “and they show an unusual understanding to justify the Israeli war in the face of the massacre committed by Hamas around the Gaza Strip.” They give it enormous military and political support and maintain surprising patience given the repeated provocations by Netanyahu and some members of the right wing of his government.

Haaretz added: "But on the other hand, they are disturbed by the mass killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and as President Joe Biden commented last week, they expect Israel to curb air strikes in order to reduce the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip."

The newspaper's military commentator, Amos Harel, pointed out that there are other factors that may play a role in the next direction of the war, including "the unprecedented pressure on the reserve forces (in the occupation army) and its long-term effects on the economy."

The writer praised the fighting spirit of the soldiers, “but hundreds of thousands of them have been in service for about two and a half months in a row, and therefore the resulting projections for families, businesses, and education are increasing. It seems that it will be necessary to take this into account and make changes in January.” 

The United States is not complaining about Israel's desire to deepen the operation in Khan Yunis, which Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant said yesterday was its main goal to target the leadership of Hamas.

The United States is not complaining about Israel's desire to deepen the operation in Khan Yunis

Harel pointed out that the operation there is progressing slowly and cautiously, due to the fear of more deaths among the ranks of the occupation army, and to avoid harming more Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip, while Israel assumes that Hamas prefers to keep them near its leaders, as a guarantee.

The Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupation army, Herzi Halevy, said in the Cabinet sessions last Monday that it took ten years for the United States to assassinate Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, adding in his speech to the ministers that Israel would need less than that to kill Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Halevy thus hinted that the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip might take another, less severe form before achieving its goals, a statement that did not please many members of the cabinet.

The Cabinet's concerns are increasing about reducing the war in the Gaza Strip before achieving its declared goals, which are eliminating Hamas, restoring Israeli detainees, and creating a new security situation that allows the residents of the Gaza Strip to return to their homes.

Despite the warnings he heard, Netanyahu insisted on pledging these “ambitious” goals from the beginning of the war, which began to clash with reality.

The military analyst reviewed what he considered to be the achievements of the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip, but at the same time pointed out that they did not lead to the collapse of Hamas’ systems, nor did they extinguish the fighting spirit of the resistance fighters. He pointed to the heavy loss of life suffered by the Israeli army.

Netanyahu's most important concern: staying in power

Harel says that Netanyahu is well aware of what is happening, “but what seems to matter to him and what is going on in his head is to remain in power, and therefore, he may choose to manage an artificial confrontation with the Americans in order to keep the right-wing parties with him.”

In this case, the ball will move to the ministers of “Hamaneh Hamalakhti (the official camp), so that its leader, Benny Gantz, and Minister Gadi Eisenkot, will have to decide on the timing and controversial points that will push them to dismantle the coalition that they agreed to join in the wake of the events of last October 7, in the first week of the war. 

Source: Alaraby Aljadeed

The Planning and Building Committee in the occupation municipality approved a plan considered the largest in East Jerusalem on the lands of Jabal Abu Ghneim, to build 326 settlement units, including schools, kindergartens, and a synagogue, in preparation for transforming this settlement into a settlement city and raising the construction rate in it to rates that exceed all settlements inside and outside the occupied city.

Land and settlement expert Khalil Al-Tafakji told Al-Quds that this is the second project approved by the Israeli municipality within a week in southeastern occupied Jerusalem. Last Friday, it approved a large settlement project on the lands of Sur Baher and Umm Tuba, and a few days before that it approved a similar settlement project, “The Lower Canal.” ", in Beit Safafa in an unprecedented settlement fever.

He added that the municipality and the Ministry of Settlement Affairs are working to advance settlement projects with a clear vision aimed at striking the two-state solution and preventing any possibility of withdrawal or division of Jerusalem according to the borders of June 4, 1967, by linking, surrounding and merging the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem with West Jerusalem and linking the city to its two parts with a wide and complex network of Overlapping roads that prevent its re-separation to become the capital of the Palestinian state.

Al-Tufakji explained that the plans approved in the last two years depend on building a wall of settlement units and forming settlement cities on the Green Line in an attempt to obliterate it. This is represented by expanding the “Gilo” settlement with its branches, expanding the Jabal Abu Ghneim settlement, and building settlement neighborhoods in a straight line from west to east in the south. East Jerusalem to separate occupied East Jerusalem from the cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour.

Al-Tufakji pointed out that the so-called (lower canal) project was approved last week on the Green Line of Shatba, on the lands of Sur Baher, with 1,800 settlement units, and this is also related to what was approved in the “Gilo” settlement to expand it and build 282 settlement units by building 3 towers with 17 floors on top, lands confiscated since 1970 from Beit Jala lands.

The land and settlement expert said that the occupation established a settlement wall from the southeast of the city of Jerusalem to the southwest of the city, separating the villages of Sur Baher, Umm Tuba, and Sharafat from the Palestinian cities in the south, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, and Bethlehem, and controlling the roads connecting these cities and villages, in addition to the settlement road. Known as (American Street), a part of which was cut and opened, linking these settlements to the colonies located outside the city limits, for which a budget of "500" million dollars was allocated after the formation of the current right-wing government, pointing to the approval of the construction of the "Kadmat Sion" settlement outpost on the lands of Abu Dis to connect these outposts to existing settlements, part of which is located within the municipal boundaries and the second part outside them.

He added that these projects complement each other and are interconnected in the final stage, through the construction of the highest and longest bridge deep into the Palestinian territories on Wadi al-Nar, with the opening of two tunnels in the Mount of Olives and Abu Dis areas, within the vision of the extreme right for what is called the “Fabric of Life Street,” which establishes a network of racist roads for Palestinians to separate them from the network of settlement bypass roads that connect the East Jerusalem settlements to the neighborhoods in West Jerusalem and the Valley settlements. Note that this project includes opening a series of tunnels, part of which was opened, and next year they will be completed and the rest will be opened to connect the settlements in East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem and connect the city tightly in order to connect and integrate the neighborhoods of the two parts of the city.

He said, "The occupation municipality revealed that the project in Jabal Abu Ghneim is an investment to achieve economic profits for the developers."

According to the municipality, the plan, which covers an area of 12.7 dunums, includes areas for huge settlement construction, commercial and labor buildings, and an open public space, with the construction of 3 residential towers with a height of 31 floors (and 37 floors), where 326 settlement units will be built.
The municipality said that the plan includes a large area of about 3.5 dunums to build a new school, sports and youth uses, parks and other facilities, and 3 kindergartens, each with a building area of 130 square meters, a yard of 175 square meters for the kindergarten, and a synagogue with an area of 175 square meters.

The occupation municipality said, "The new buildings are for the benefit of families and young couples in the settlement and those who would like to move to live in Jerusalem."

Al-Tafakji pointed out that the area targeted by the new settlement neighborhood is located in the middle of the town of Sur Baher, on an area of 12 dunums, and is bordered to the south by the Jabal Abu Ghneim settlement, to the north by the Talpiot neighborhood, to the west by West Jerusalem, and to the east by the American Street. He said that with this project, the encirclement of this town with settlement streets and colonies will be completed, and its separation from the neighboring Jerusalem towns, such as Jabal Mukaber and Beit Safafa, to become isolated from them.

He said, "The town of Shuafat was cordoned off from the eastern side by the Pisgat Ze'ev settlement and from the western side by the Ramat Shlomo settlement, and it was surrounded by Bypass Road 21, and today there is a project to build settlement outposts for Deputy Mayor Aryeh King in its west," referring to the religious settlement concentration in the town of Silwan, where the number of outposts, ranging from a room to a building, in Silwan is 34, a large number of which are concentrated in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, close to the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He concluded by saying: “The reports of the occupation municipality and the Ministry of Settlement Affairs have shown that settlement construction in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank has doubled and set new records since the formation of the current Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Since the beginning of the year 2023, the government has approved the establishment of more than 13 thousand units, compared to 10 Thousands of units approved in 2020.

The Israeli occupation forces arrested at least 25 citizens from yesterday evening until Wednesday dawn in the West Bank, including a woman and children.

The Commission and the Club said that the arrest operations were distributed among the governorates of Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Hebron, Salfit, and Tubas, accompanied by widespread acts of abuse, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread acts of sabotage and destruction of homes. Citizens, and holding citizens hostage.

Thus, the total number of arrests after the seventh of last October rose to (4,630), and this total includes those who were arrested from homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.

The continuing arrest campaigns come within the framework of the comprehensive aggression against our people and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, after October 7th.

Christmas is just a few days away, and the country is draped in black to mourn the souls of the victims and martyrs.
The signs of decoration and joy were absent from the markets of Bethlehem Governorate, the cradle of the celebrations and the meeting place for Christian pilgrims from various parts of the world, and the atmosphere turned to a sad one filled with grief, despair and grief due to the brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip. 

The lights disappeared, and the churches announced the cancellation of celebrations for the first time since the year 1994 and that the important occasion was limited to commemorations and Religious rituals. 
This wise decision taken by the churches and institutions, in addition to the decision of the municipalities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, not to light the Christmas tree this year, but rather not to have it at all, is a true and elegant embodiment of the meanings of unity, mutual support and solidarity among the Palestinian people, Muslims and Christians, and it is a wonderful expression of the message of Jesus Christ. The message of love and peace that the world must appreciate and intervene to end the aggression, bring affection and peace to the land of peace, and bring security and harmony to Gaza and its people.

The Christian brothers were right in their statements when they repeatedly said that the people of Gaza are our blood and flesh, and whatever happens to them happens to us, and Gaza’s bleeding is our bleeding and its wound is our wound, so we read in these statements the authenticity and depth of belonging to one history, struggle, and destiny.
The city of Bethlehem sent invitations to 104 sister cities to attend the religious Christmas event as an opportunity to learn about the situation in Palestine. Some insisted on disguising themselves and not showing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Therefore, reconsidering the relationship with these cities that supported the aggression against the Gaza Strip is considered an important step by the municipality. Bethlehem must withdraw from all other institutions to determine the position of the countries, entities, parties and institutions that stood in solidarity with Israel in its brutal war on the Gaza Strip while it watched the killing and destruction without doing anything.

A former colonel in the French army predicted the imminent demise of the State of Israel in light of the events that Gaza has been experiencing since the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, 2023.

Retired French Army Colonel Alain Corvez said in a video clip on social media, “The tragic events taking place now in Palestine are the beginning of the end of Israel. The inhumane massacre to uproot the population of Gaza and even in the West Bank “It indicates that this state, which has been outlawed since its founding, has no future.”

He added, "Not only that, but its end is now very near, because it is clear that after world public opinion shifted from supporting Israel to supporting Palestine, the demand for establishing a Palestinian state has become unbearable for postponement, and that this Palestinian state cannot exist adjacent to the State of Israel." "Coexistence between two states on these lands is now completely impossible."

During his participation in a talk show, a clip of which was published on the TikTok platform early last November, Corvez said, “Israeli propaganda tried from the beginning to present Hamas as a terrorist movement.”

He added: "I do not want to return to the details, but I say that this is a reversal of the facts because the terrorists are the Israelis, and this has been their practice since 1947. We know the details of their behavior and treatment since they settled in the lands that the United Nations gave them. They have not stopped imposing their control, oppressing and killing the Palestinians."

He continued: "As a specialist in geopolitical thinking, I say that the heroic resistance of the Palestinians against the fascist Israeli Nazi regime is a catalyst that will allow the cards to be shuffled across the world. With this new conflict, we will enter into a multipolar world that will end the world that was controlled by the United States and the Zionists in Tel Aviv."

Corvez denounced the dominance of the Israeli and American narrative in the current conflict in all European media, saying: “If the Western world today is pathetic, it is because it has been occupied and controlled by the Zionist and American powers for some time.”

He added: “I am convinced today that the Palestinians’ fight to lift the injustice they have been subjected to for 75 years is a fundamental factor that will push other oppressed peoples, albeit to a much lesser extent than the Palestinians, from governments installed by a technocratic elite rich with billions of dollars and controlling all media, to the degree to which French and other European channels began repeating one refrain, which is that Israel has the right to self-defense.”

He stressed, "We must therefore confront this injustice practiced by the European media and governments, which distort the truth in favor of America and Israel. Not only am I afraid, but I know that Israel, with its behavior since 1948, can reach the point of complete annihilation, and they will not stop, regardless of the international reactions."

The general concluded his speech by saying: “The United States is losing its control over the world, and they know this, and they will go to great lengths to maintain their control, and so will the Israelis in Palestine.”

Source: Al Jazeera + social networking sites

Today, Wednesday, the Settlement and Wall File Department in Qalqilya Governorate revealed a new colonial plan to seize 104 dunams of land located behind the separation and apartheid wall south of Qalqilya.

The department reported that the occupation aims through this plan to seize lands planted with olives from the villages of Seniriya and Masha, south of Qalqilya, in order to build about 250 colonial units for the “Etzafraim” colony, which is located on the lands of Qalqilya and Salfit.

The Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7 was an impressive tactical success for Hamas, as described by the American magazine The Foreign Policy, but with Israel’s military operation in Gaza exceeding two months, and after the brutal destruction it inflicted, who was able to achieve its goals, Hamas or Israel, and will Hamas’ successes continue? In the end, who will win?

Now the Israeli occupation forces are trying to increase their control over Gaza, leaving a large part of it in ruins, and about 19,000 Palestinians dead. The American magazine wonders: What can Hamas say it has achieved?

The magazine says, "It is useful to think about what Hamas has accomplished, and where it has failed? Through a study from three different dimensions: Hamas' struggle against Israel, the internal Palestinian arena, and the movement's international position."

Hamas' successes against Israel as seen by the American magazine

The Hamas attack brought pain to Israel and shattered its sense of security – both goals of Hamas. The attack exposed the Israeli government's long-standing belief that Hamas lacks the intent and capabilities necessary to launch a large-scale attack on Israeli territory. This assumption, despite evidence to the contrary, left Israel unprepared for Hamas' devastating invasion. The resulting intelligence failure, and the scale of the attack, which was said to have been more successful than even Hamas planners expected, will leave deep psychological scars on Israeli citizens, and force Israel to reevaluate its approach to security.

From the settlements to Al-Aqsa... Israel was slowly killing the Palestinian cause

Until October 7, Israelis could largely ignore Hamas and the Palestinians in general, except for sporadic rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, most of which were handled by Israeli missile defenses. When occasional crises erupted, as they did every few years, the two sides eventually agreed to resort to some version of the status quo ante. But from Hamas's perspective, this situation was slowly stifling the Palestinian cause, with Israel winning on the ground. As year after year passed, settlements were expanding in the West Bank, while Gaza was at best suffering from stagnation, with diminishing hope for its people, (and violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque reached an unprecedented level, threatening to divide it or even seize it, or even destroy it).

But now Israelis must look at the unending conflict with the Palestinians rather than ignore it.

Israel's response could strengthen the Palestinian movement

Israel's response could also strengthen Hamas. Hamas has succeeded in bringing the Palestinian issue back to the forefront of international news, and the Israeli war on Gaza - with the heavy costs incurred by civilians in Gaza - will work to keep Hamas there, according to the American magazine.

The Israeli ground attack serves Hamas' narrative of Israeli aggression, isolates Israel from the Arab countries with which it was looking to normalize, and exacerbates regional tensions. In the long term, the conflict will foster a new generation of Gazans with grievances against Israel, which could bolster support for Hamas in the future.

Hamas returned to leading the Palestinian resistance after it almost turned into Israel's special policeman

Hamas has regained what can be said to be its credentials as a resistance movement among the Palestinian people. After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, it found itself facing the daily demands of the Gaza administration. This often required avoiding conflict with Israel to ensure that the already significant economic pressures on Gaza were not increased and that Israel did not launch devastating military strikes.

This in turn prompted Hamas to limit its attacks, and at times to stay away from the fighting while Israel bombed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. As a result, Hamas found itself in the position of an Israeli police officer rather than its sworn enemy, which angered its military wing and led to criticism from what the magazine describes as extremist circles, that the movement was slowly abandoning the armed struggle.

Hamas successes

Effective Hamas attacks increased support for the resistance in general and restored the credentials of Hamas specifically. Although robust polling for the post-October period is not yet available, limited opinion polls of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as anecdotal reports covering October 7, indicate strong support for Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and indicate the Israeli response in both Gaza and the West Bank angered many Palestinians who are not Hamas supporters. In addition, the West Bank welcomed Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas as heroes – a clear victory for Hamas, which could argue that its attacks, not the negotiations conducted by the rival Palestinian Authority; what led to the release of prisoners.

All of this comes at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, which by not fighting and even suppressing anti-Israel demonstrations has appeared cowardly compared to Hamas. In addition, the Israeli response provoked by Hamas also distorts the credibility of those who claim that Israel can be a partner for peace.

The Al-Aqsa flood brought the Palestinian issue back to the forefront of the world’s concerns

For many years, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict seemed to be at the back of the world's attention. The United States has focused on containing China and the Russia-Ukraine war, while Arab governments have been content to largely ignore the issue despite some occasional rhetoric. Now the Palestinian issue has become at the forefront and at the heart of the global agenda.

Israel's response strengthens its voice as an occupying power that brutally oppresses Palestinians, and the continued conflict and subsequent humanitarian crisis in Gaza undermine Israel's image in the region and strengthen support for those who oppose it.

Although Iran denies its direct involvement in the attack, the success of the operation may encourage Tehran to enhance its investment in the “Axis of Resistance,” a regional network of armed groups that aims to destabilize Israel and its allies.

In addition, the Israeli war on Gaza temporarily halted US-backed normalization talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia. If Riyadh recognizes Israel, it will lay the foundations for other Arab countries to do the same. This would leave Hamas increasingly isolated and with few partners to defend the Palestinian cause. But after the attack, Saudi leaders distanced themselves from Israel and issued statements supporting the Palestinians. These measures were largely aimed at placating the country's overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian population, and this indicates that Riyadh's wariness of normalization, which existed before the crisis, is now much higher.

Beyond the Middle East, the war generated a great deal of support for the Palestinian cause. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place across Europe. With few exceptions, the Global South sees the war as that of a powerful state attacking a defenseless population and deplores what many see as the hypocrisy of the West, which defends Ukraine while ignoring the rights of Palestinians.

Even in the United States, it has become a topic of discussion

Hamas can declare some victories in the United States. Although most Republicans and US President Joe Biden embrace Israel, the broader Democratic Party is divided.

Young Democrats in particular are critical of Israel. Although none of them support Hamas, some Democratic lawmakers have called for a ceasefire, restrictions on US military aid, and other steps inconsistent with Israeli policies.

It is widely believed that a large segment of American youth has become supportive of the Palestinian cause.

Data from a new study conducted on 2,035 people indicated that the longer the fighting in Gaza lasted, the more public opinion among American youth moved in favor of Hamas and the Palestinians.

The study, published by Harris Insights and Analytics and the Center for American Policy Studies at Harvard University, showed surprising results, namely that two-thirds of young Americans (67%) between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that Jews are an oppressor class (that oppresses Palestinians) and that they (the Jews) should be treated as such, according to the “Euroneur” website in Arabic.

According to the opinion poll, 51% of this age group in the United States believe that the just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “the end of Israel and the handing over of the country to Hamas and the Palestinians.”

The same percentage also supported Hamas in the current war in the Gaza Strip.

Professor Yossi Shin of Tel Aviv University and Georgetown University considered that, “In all American universities, there has been for decades a very strong activity of pro-Palestinian and leftist organizations that confirm that Israel is an occupying state that commits crimes against the Palestinians,” pointing out that “these numbers are disturbing”, as he put it.

“For young Americans, it has become cool to be against the brutal Israeli occupier,” Sheen noted.

One of the statistics in the new poll showed that 60% of young people believe that the killing of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 others on October 7 during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood can be justified in light of the injustice befalling the Palestinians.

The success tax paid by Hamas is similar to that paid by resistance movements throughout history

Whatever gains Hamas has achieved, they come at a high cost, according to a report by the American magazine The Foreign Policy.

The report said that Hamas's leadership and military apparatus are likely to deteriorate due to the Israeli war. Israel claims to have killed dozens of leaders and more than 7,000 Hamas fighters. Moreover, Israel will likely continue its assassination campaign against Hamas leaders for years or even decades to come.

But there are great doubts about the accuracy of the numbers announced by Israel, even by Western analysts, and it has not provided evidence for its claims.

Of course, ordinary people in Gaza will pay the highest price. Many of the dead, who have so far reached about 20,000, are children, and the devastation inflicted on the Gaza Strip and the displacement of a large portion of its population will create a permanent crisis even if the shooting stops soon. Gazans will need to rebuild the Strip, with international assistance that will be limited, if any.

However, despite the magnitude of the losses that are unprecedented in the history of the Palestinian people, it must be noted that most of the national liberation movements always achieved their greatest successes after carrying out a military escalation followed by large human losses inflicted mainly on civilians, as happened to the Vietnamese with the Americans (especially after the Tet Offensive), where the human losses of the Vietnamese reached about 3 million according to some estimates, and the same thing was repeated with the Algerian people’s revolution against France, which gave the country the title of the country of a million and a half martyrs.

What has Israel achieved as the war enters its third month? The goal of dismantling Hamas seems unattainable

On the other hand, the magazine did not address the outcome of Israel’s gains and losses from the war, and whether it has achieved its goals or not so far.

But it can be noted that since the launch of the Israeli military operation in response to the Al-Aqsa flood, Israel has set two goals: the first is the elimination of Hamas, and the second is the recovery of its prisoners.

As the war on Gaza enters its third month, Israel seems far from the goal of dismantling Hamas. Here it is, more than two months after the ground invasion, revealing the first huge tunnel from the long network of tunnels that is believed to be 500 km long, a tunnel that appears to be no longer in use, and the discovery did not include displaying any prisoners or bodies, as if it was more propaganda for Hamas than an attack on it.

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and other resistance groups continue to target Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles at a rate exceeding the beginning of the war, and Israel’s losses are worsening amid indications that the occupation army is not fully announcing them, as Israeli reports have shown.

Hamas continues to show live videos, showing realistic targeting of occupation soldiers and vehicles, unlike Israeli army videos, which only show Israeli soldiers shooting without showing counter targets.

Israel did not arrest any senior Hamas leader, such as Yahya Al-Sinwar, whose assassination it made a central goal, or Muhammad Al-Deif, commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, nor did it announce the assassination of a number of prominent leaders, knowing that historically senior Hamas leaders were subjected to widespread assassination campaigns, such as the movement’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and prominent leaders such as Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, Salah Shehadeh, and Yahya Ayyash, and the movement was not affected, but rather grew stronger.

Although Hamas forces are fighting in a decentralized manner, there are no signs of a crisis in the leadership structure, and they continue to bombard Israel with missiles, even if at a lesser rate.

On the other hand, life in Israel is almost paralyzed; the settlers of the surrounding areas near Gaza Strip refuse to return to their homes, for fear of Hamas attacks, and the settlers of the north left their homes for fear of Hezbollah attacks, while most of the residents of southern Lebanon did not leave their homes.

Most international airlines boycotted Israeli airports, and the Israel Airports Authority even furloughed 600 workers. It reduced its expenses by 75% regarding another thousand workers.

In addition, the Israeli tourism sector is paralyzed, while the call-up of about 360,000 reserve soldiers is putting pressure on the country’s economy, especially the technology companies sector, which depends on young people, and agriculture is suffering as a result of stopping the flow of Palestinian labor and the flight of Asian workers.

The port of Eilat has become almost halted after the Houthis targeted ships heading to Israel, and insurance prices for Israel have risen due to the attacks. It is believed that shipping prices in the entire region are likely to rise with the rise in insurance prices and many shipping lines diverting their ships away from the Red Sea.

It did not release a single prisoner, but killed dozens

Regarding the goal of releasing Israeli prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance, all the prisoners who were released were done through a deal with Hamas.

While Israel was not able to liberate even one of the prisoners, it killed dozens of them, the last of whom were the three who were killed in an occupation army shooting, which sparked an internal crisis that is likely to worsen and has become a factor of division within Israeli society, and a factor of mounting pressure on the government to stop the war.

Netanyahu and his extremist allies are the biggest losers, and Gantz is the biggest winner

Netanyahu and his extremist allies are also considered the biggest losers from the Al-Aqsa flood, as his popularity has fallen to rock bottom, and his rival, Benny Gantz, former Defense Minister and member of the War Council, is expected to win any election over him by a large margin, and his party may outperform the mighty Likud.

A poll, broadcast by Channel 12, showed that the parties in Netanyahu’s coalition will win only 44 seats in the Knesset, compared to the 64 seats they won in the November 2022 elections, while the supposed future coalition bloc consisting of the parties that were defeated in 2022 will win 71 seats. In the elections for the 120-member Knesset, which means the possibility of forming a government without the participation of Likud, the party that has dominated Israeli politics for decades.

The biggest loser is the Religious Zionism Party, led by extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is expected, according to the poll, to fail in obtaining any seats in the Israeli Knesset.

This is a great gain for the Palestinian cause. Because weakening Smotrich and his partner, the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, would ease settlements  plans and seizing Al-Aqsa mosque that they are leading.

Netanyahu's dreams of ruling Gaza and undermining the two-state solution are met with international opposition

On the other hand, the subsidiary goals that Netanyahu pledged to implement after the war, including direct Israeli rule of Gaza and the elimination of the two-state solution, were met with significant Western opposition, especially American opposition. On the contrary, calls escalated in the West, especially by Spain and Belgium, to hold an international peace conference. Rather, Belgium announced its intention to prevent extremist settlers from entering its territory, which means besieging Netanyahu's strongest allies, at a time when many Israelis have begun to insinuate that these extremists are responsible for the crisis.

His talk about the situation in Gaza after Hamas seems like a fantasy in light of the continuing resistance and the clarity of the difficulty of achieving the goal of dismantling Hamas. On the other hand, the President of the Palestinian Authority asked the Fatah leader Azzam Al-Ahmad to communicate with the Hamas movement, indicating the need for all factions to be within the framework of Palestinian Liberation Organization. 

Source: Arabic Post

The American website "Axios" revealed, on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, that the Israeli occupation is offering to stop the fighting in Gaza for at least one week, in exchange for the release of more than thirty hostages, as part of a new deal, while the Israeli Walla website said that Tel Aviv The Qatari mediation informed that it was prepared to grant calm for a week, in exchange for the release of 40 prisoners from Gaza.

The American website, citing Israeli officials and “another informed source,” said that this proposal is the first presented by Israel since the collapse of the agreement last month, which led to a seven-day ceasefire and the release of more than 100 hostages.

Resistance condition for resuming negotiations

The newspaper, citing Israeli officials, indicates that the proposal shows that Israel is determined to relaunch serious negotiations in order to release more hostages, while the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has stipulated a complete cessation of the war in order to resume negotiations with the occupation.

The Israeli occupation proposes that the new deal include the remaining group of women held by Hamas, men over the age of 60, and other sick or seriously injured hostages who need urgent medical care.

In return, Israel also suggested that it might release Palestinian prisoners convicted of more serious attacks on Israel than those released in the previous deal.

Occupation crimes in Gaza

This comes at a time when the Israeli occupation forces continue to launch intense raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip for the 75th day in a row, causing the death and injury of dozens of Palestinians in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday, December 20, 2023, while the occupation announced the killing of an officer in clashes with the resistance in the south of the sector.

The Israeli occupation aircraft continued to target the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip with fire belts, and targeted various areas in Deir al-Balah in the central Strip. The occupation aircraft also carried out violent raids targeting the center and west of the city of Khan Yunis, where a child was killed and others were wounded.

While Palestinian reports stated that the resistance is engaged in violent clashes with the occupation forces in the Al-Mughraqa area, north of Al-Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, they also revealed fierce clashes between members of the Palestinian resistance and the occupation army in the center of Khan Yunis.

While the Israeli occupation army announced, on Wednesday, the killing of an officer with the rank of captain in clashes in the southern Gaza Strip, bringing the announced number of soldiers and officers killed to 465, since last October 7, and 133 since the start of the occupation’s ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Since October 27, Last October, the Israeli occupation army launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, which began in the northern region before expanding to the center and south of the Strip, amid fierce resistance from Hamas and the Palestinian factions, and an admission by Israeli officials that their army is paying a “heavy price” in Gaza.

Source: Arabic Post