By Jonathan Saul

Israeli forces are moving slowly in their ground offensive in Gaza in part to keep open the possibility of drawing Hamas militants to negotiate the release of more than 200 hostages, military specialists consulted by Reuters said. The relative caution with which Israeli troops have taken and secured slices of territory in the first days of sustained ground incursions in Gaza stands in contrast to the past three weeks of unrelenting air strikes on the Mediterranean enclave, as well as to Israel's previous land offensives there.

Not going directly into Gaza's most built up areas with the full force of Israel's ground troops is simultaneously aimed at wearing Hamas' leadership down with a long campaign, while leaving space for a possible deal over those held as hostages, according to the assessment of three Israeli security sources. For a graphic and map of the ground assault click here. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that recovering the hostages was an "integral" part of the military's goal in Gaza. Hamas, an armed Islamist group that governs Gaza, has so far released four civilians among the 239 believed to be held, many in a deep network of tunnels.

By moving slowly, the army also hoped to secure Israeli forces' flanks and bait Hamas fighters to come out of the tunnels or denser urban areas and engage Israeli forces in open areas where they could be more easily killed, said a former senior commander who declined to be named.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on details of the offensive, citing sensitivity with the issue."It's inch by inch, meter by meter, trying to avoid casualties and trying to kill as much as possible Hamas terrorists," Amos Yadlin, former chief of Israel's defense intelligence, told reporters. 

Israel's heavy response was prompted after Hamas fighters burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in the deadliest day of the nation's 75-year history. Israel says 239 people were taken as hostages into Gaza, where they are believed to be held in Hamas' extensive tunnel network.

In the three weeks since the Hamas attack, Israeli air strikes have pulverized large swathes of Gaza, killing more than 8,000 people including more than 3,000 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and cutting off supplies of food, medicine and fuel.

Hamas leaders have said that a ceasefire is required in order to release civilian hostages, who Israel says include people with passports from 25 different countries. In 2011, Hamas negotiated the release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel in return for one Israeli soldier. 

Growing international distress at the conditions in Gaza led major powers last week to call on Israel to allow "humanitarian pauses" to get aid in and hostages out. Saying any lull in fighting would benefit Hamas, Israel rejected the calls, in the first public split between Israel and its allies since Oct. 7.On Saturday, Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who is now in Netanyahu's war cabinet, said "in this war there is no diplomatic ticking clock". 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war would be long and Israel was striking Hamas "above and underground – from the air, land and sea". Netanyahu on Saturday stopped short of calling the ground incursion a full scale invasion. After amassing hundreds of thousands of soldiers, including reservists, on its border with Gaza, Israel made the first sustained ground incursions of the offensive on Friday. 

The government has given the Israeli military two objectives - to dismantle Hamas, including its infrastructure and operational capabilities, and to bring home the hostages, chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. Backed by helicopters and drones, tanks and armored personnel carriers have pushed into the semi-rural area to the north of Gaza City, the enclave's main urban center. 

Forces have also entered south of the city, threatening Salah Al Deen Road, the main transport artery that runs the length of the 40-km long strip, local residents and the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency said on Monday. The tanks met resistance on the road, according to fighters and residents. The Israeli military said it would not detail the positions of their forces. Abu Ahmad, a senior spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant movement allied to Hamas, said Israeli forces had failed to make any sustained breakthrough, apart from pushing into open areas. 

Hagari said more infantry and armored forces backed by artillery and combat engineers had been sent in and were manoeuvring on the ground and engaging Hamas fighters. He declined to confirm any troop locations. "The offensive activity will continue with determination and intensify according to the phases of the war and its goals," he told a regular briefing on Monday. 

Hamas' deep network of Gaza tunnels has been described by security sources as an underground city that includes rocket launching sites, command centers and attack paths targeting Israel forces. Omri Attar, a reserve major in a special operations brigade, said ground troops were also trained to locate air vents and escape hatches leading to tunnel openings and to place explosives inside to seal them off. He said other special units within the Combat Engineering Corps, which in the past have used robots and dogs, would deal with any fighting inside the tunnels. 

"It is a very complicated situation, and I'm not talking about the number of dead or number of kidnapped, namely the infrastructure of the lower city, of the tunnels, is a very delicate situation," he said.

On Oct 29, Israeli forces operating adjacent to the Erez crossing "identified a number of terrorists exiting the shaft of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip". "Following the identification, the soldiers confronted the terrorists, killing and injuring them," the Israeli military said. The approach so far is different from previous offensives on Gaza, a mostly urban strip of land home to 2.3 million people subjected to Israeli assaults in 2008, 2014 and in 2021 against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have sworn Israel's destruction.

In 2008, Israeli military forces entered built-up areas with massive strength, prompting Hamas to pull back and engage periodically. Israeli military forces are aware of the dangers with heavily built up areas in Gaza and the dangers of sending in broad forces.

Underscoring the risks, in 2008, Israel lost nine soldiers during its incursion. In 2014, the number killed soared to 66.Since Oct. 7, 315 Israeli soldiers have been killed, most of them in the initial Hamas attacks, according to the latest data released by the Israeli military.

Ben Milch, who was a commander in 2014 with the Combat Engineering Corps and tasked with destroying tunnels, said their mission was not to go more than two kilometers into the network at the time. "Where we only had to take out tens of tunnels, today's challenge is going to be hundreds of tunnels and kilometers upon kilometers, and a real underground fortress that Hamas has built," he told Reuters. 

Clearing tunnels was also beset with other difficulties including hostages held as well as making decisions on whether to shut off ventilation shafts. "In my opinion, that's why the IDF (Israeli military) is taking a methodical, slower approach to make sure that they're covering all their bases and making sure that they eliminate the tunnels as they go, so they're not going to be ambushed from behind, from the side and so on," Milch said. 

"We don't want to lose soldiers, so we're going to go slow, and we're going to make sure that we minimize casualties as best as possible."

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to convince European leaders to put pressure on Egypt into accepting refugees from Gaza, according to people briefed on the discussions. The idea, which he put forward in meetings with European officials last week, was floated by countries including the Czech Republic and Austria in private discussions that led up to a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday, those people told the Financial Times. 

However, key European countries, notably France, Germany and the UK, have dismissed the proposal as unrealistic, pointing to Egyptian officials’ consistent resistance to the idea of accepting refugees from Gaza, even on a temporary basis. Cairo has vociferously expressed its concerns that Israel would seek to use the crisis to force its problems with the Palestinians on to Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said this month that his country rejected “any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region”. 

Egypt’s potential role was discussed in the EU summit, people briefed on the leaders’ discussions told the FT. But leaders ultimately agreed that Egypt should play a role in providing broad humanitarian assistance to Gaza, but not be pressured to accept refugees. “Netanyahu pushed quite hard that the solution was for Egyptians to take Gazans at least during the conflict,” said a western diplomat. “But we didn’t take it very seriously because the Egyptian position is and has always been very clear and they just won’t do it.” 

A second western diplomat said they believed the pressure of a continued Israeli assault on Gaza could yet lead to a shift in stance. “That’s the only thing that can be done . . . so now the time is to put increased pressure on the Egyptians to agree,” they said. More than 1mn Gazans have been displaced inside the territory since Israel began bombarding the coastal enclave three weeks ago in response to a devastating assault by Hamas militants on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials, in the deadliest ever attack on Israeli soil. Israeli counterstrikes on Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and aid groups have warned that humanitarian conditions in the strip, where Israel has also severely restricted supplies of electricity, water, fuel and food, are catastrophic. 

A joint declaration agreed by EU leaders released after last week’s summit called for “continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs”.  “The European Union will work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, ensuring that such assistance is not abused by terrorist organizations,” EU leaders said in the declaration. 

Israel-Hamas war Read more Latest news Analysis The tactics behind Israel’s ground offensive Surgery without anesthetic: a Gaza hospital on the brink Explainer Israel’s war cabinet: the men planning next move against Hamas The Israel-Hamas conflict in maps two other people familiar with the situation said that, separately, talks were also ongoing about bringing injured people from Gaza to Egypt, but that there was no certainty that a deal would be reached. 

The Rafah crossing into Egypt’s Sinai region is the only entry and exit point from Gaza not controlled by Israel and currently the only route for aid to enter the territory. “The Turks have offered to establish a field hospital if necessary. We’re not planning to move field hospitals to [north Sinai] but offering to provide technical support to strengthen a referral pathway from Gaza to Egypt,” one of the people said. “The Egyptians established a triage facility at Rafah, and we’re still in discussions about that.” Egypt has taken in injured Palestinians for treatment during previous conflicts in Gaza and the authorities have been ensuring that hospitals in north Sinai have the necessary resources if wounded Gazans are allowed in. 

The US state department said Washington supported safe passage for civilians wishing to leave Gaza, but did not support “any forced relocation of Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip”.

At dawn on Tuesday, the Israeli army launched air strikes against Hezbollah facilities and sites in southern Lebanon, with military skirmishes continuing between the two sides for three weeks due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation army claimed in a statement published on the “X” platform that “Air Force fighter planes recently attacked the infrastructure of the Hezbollah organization on Lebanese territory.”

According to the occupation army’s statement, “Among the infrastructure that was attacked, weapons, sites and places used by the organization were destroyed,” it claimed.

The border area in southern Lebanon has witnessed mutual bombardment between the Israeli army on the one hand and Hezbollah and Palestinian factions on the other hand, since the start of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7.

Hezbollah missiles on Israeli sites

From the town of Ibl al-Saqi in southern Lebanon, Al-Arabi’s correspondent, Muhammad al-Haji, said that sources of fire from “Hezbollah” were launched from Lebanon towards the occupied territories, and Israel responded by bombing its sites.

Al-Hajji reports that during yesterday's hours, Hezbollah bombed several Israeli sites, including Jal al-Alam, with guided missiles, which resulted in the destruction of its espionage and technical equipment.

In addition, the Israeli site of Ras Naqoura and the Pranit barracks were the target of Hezbollah missiles that destroyed a number of observation towers and thermal cameras, in addition to targeting the Metulla settlement, which is very close to the border with Lebanon, according to our correspondent.

On the other hand, the Israeli occupation responded by launching missiles at Aita al-Shaab, and launching incendiary missiles at an area near Al-Adisa, specifically at the olive groves, so that Israel has been intending for days to target the olive crops and intimidate the workers there, according to Al-Hajji.

The areas between Naqoura and Labouneh were the target of more than 50 Israeli shells, in addition to the occupation bombing a number of other Lebanese areas, including Aita al-Shaab and Shebaa Farms.

Political developments

Politically, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed yesterday, Monday, that he is working with the Arab brothers to “spar Lebanon from entering a major and comprehensive war.”

Lebanese and Palestinian parties are scheduled to organize a massive demonstration today, Tuesday, in front of the French embassy in Beirut in response to the French position that identifies with Israel.

The Arab Television Network correspondent added: “This week will also witness a visit by the US Secretary of State, and we are all waiting for what political messages she may have in store for Lebanese officials.”

As for the awaited event this week, it is the expected speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, as this will be his first speech since the start of the resistance operation in Palestine.

BY Avraham Shama 

Regardless of how the Gaza war unfolds, Israel has already lost, Hamas has won and the U.S. has emerged as the only sane global leader capable of moderating the flammable situation. There is a glimmer of hope that cease-fire, and possibly peace talks, between Israel and the Palestinians could emerge from the devastation.

The surprise Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed more than 1,300 Israelis, wounded 3,000 and abducted more than 222 people. Relative to the size of the population, the number of Israelis killed amounts to about 40,000 Americans.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in the north and the south, moving to the relatively secure center of the country. Many go to sleep in their safe rooms or public shelters, or wake up in the middle of the night to watch the latest news. Schools are out, employees work part time or not at all, and the economy is limping. 

But Israelis have suffered another kind of loss — deep, profound and long-lasting. This one injured their psyche, their sense of collective self and well-being. You can hear it in their voices, note it in their choice of tentative words and see it on their faces — the feeling of “we have been had.”

Before the Hamas attack, Israelis exuded confidence and bravado. They believed that a surprise war, like the 1973 Yom Kippur War, could not happen again, and that, if it did, their army would nip it in the bud. Then came the Hamas attack, almost exactly 50 years later, sending the nation into a deep trauma, the way Japan’s surprise attack on U.S. warships in Pearl Harbor instantly changed the American mindset.

On the other side, Hamas has won the war despite the loss of more than 8,000 Palestinians — some unknown combination of fighters and ordinary Gazans. Hamas — a terrorist organization of about 20,000 members — was able to invade a country of more than 9 million people with a powerful army, kill indiscriminately, create chaos, shatter the Israeli psyche and bring the Palestinian fight for statehood to the global fore.

But the war between Israelis and Palestinians has been going on-and-off ever since Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, when most Palestinians living in what had become Israel fled to the Gaza Strip and to the West Bank. Since then, new generations have emerged and a national Palestinian identity has evolved. Palestinians want a state of their own, the way the desire of the Jewish population before 1948 turned into the independent state of Israel.

Now the Israeli government, and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seems determined to avenge the blood of their fellow citizens seemingly without having a clear idea what it wants to achieve beyond that. But obliterating Gaza with indiscriminate killing is no way for the prime minister to redeem himself from his abject failure to perform his most important job: to keep Israel safe.

Fortunately, the U.S. and several Western European states are having a moderating effect on Israel. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and many others have engaged in around-the-clock shuttle diplomacy to temper Israel’s plan for a massive ground war in Gaza, while still assisting it militarily. 

Biden has emerged from this crisis as the world’s sage statesman who can moderate Netanyahu’s need for disproportional response; help to open the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt to allow some food, water, and medical supplies flow to Gazans; and who sent carrier ships to the east Mediterranean to signal to other countries not to intervene. Such actions left Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping to lick their diplomatic wounds of defeat as they watched their roles on the world stage diminish. 

Hamas’s unimaginable atrocities have brought the Palestinian struggle for statehood to the world stage. Perhaps this time, Israelis and Palestinians — having both already suffered devastating losses — with the help of global leaders, can finally realize and accept that a peaceful solution is better than killing each other and setting the world on fire. While this is a very complicated route, the alternative may have become unacceptable. 

The League of Arab States submitted its written response to the Registry of the International Court of Justice in the Hague in accordance with the timings set by the Court, in the case it is examining regarding Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and the legal consequences arising from its continued issuance of its advisory opinion thereon.

The Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Sector of the Arab League said in its statement, today, Tuesday, that the General Secretariat submitted its written submission last July in accordance with the procedures followed in this regard, which it prepared with the knowledge of legal experts at the highest level and with direct follow-up from Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit. .

The statement added that the evidence and reasons included what the Palestinian people, their land, and their capabilities are being exposed to as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation, the implementation of the apartheid regime, and other ongoing violations and crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Palestine Sector confirmed that this step comes within the framework of the League of Arab States’ continued support for the Palestinian position and in implementation of the decisions of the League Council at its various levels in supporting efforts and endeavors to bring justice to the Palestinian people as a result of the current and historical injustice that has targeted them and to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes committed against them through international justice mechanisms.

It is noteworthy that the court decided to hold hearings in the case starting on February 19, 2024

Today, Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces arrested five Jerusalemite citizens, including two teenagers.

The Prisoners' Affairs Authority in Jerusalem reported that the occupation forces arrested the two children, Amir Salaymeh and Nimr Shweiki, from Shuafat Camp, northeast of Jerusalem, and Dawoud Abdullah Sharaf from the Ras al-Amud neighborhood in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Yaqoub Abu Assab, and Mahmoud Jasser Abu al-Hawa.

By Thomas L. Friedman

I am watching the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza today and thinking about one of the world leaders I’ve most admired: Manmohan Singh. He was India’s prime minister in late November 2008 when 10 Pakistani jihadist militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, widely believed to be linked to Pakistan’s military intelligence, infiltrated India and killed more than 160 people in Mumbai, including 61 at two luxury hotels. What was Singh’s military response to India’s Sept. 11?

He did nothing.

Singh never retaliated militarily against the nation of Pakistan or Lashkar camps in Pakistan. It was a remarkable act of restraint. What was the logic? In his book “Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy,” India’s foreign minister at the time, Shivshankar Menon, explained, making these key points:

“I myself pressed at that time for immediate visible retaliation” against the jihadist bases or against Pakistani military intelligence, “which was clearly complicit,” Menon wrote. “To have done so would have been emotionally satisfying and gone some way toward erasing the shame of the incompetence that India’s police and security agencies displayed.”

He continued, “But on sober reflection and in hindsight, I now believe that the decision not to retaliate militarily and to concentrate on diplomatic, covert and other means was the right one for that time and place.”

Chief among the reasons, Menon said, was that any military response would have quickly obscured just how outrageous and terrible the raid on Indian civilians and tourists was; “the fact of a terrorist attack from Pakistan on India with official involvement on the Pakistan side” would have been lost. Once India retaliated, the world would immediately have had what Menon called a “ho-hum reaction.” Just another Pakistani-Indian dust-up — nothing unusual here.

Moreover, Menon wrote, “an Indian attack on Pakistan would have united Pakistan behind the Pakistan Army, which was in increasing domestic disrepute,” and “an attack on Pakistan would also have weakened the civilian government in Pakistan, which had just been elected to power and which sought a much better relationship with India than the Pakistan Army was willing to consider.” He continued, “A war scare, and maybe even a war itself, was exactly what the Pakistan Army wanted to buttress its internal position.”

In addition, he wrote, “a war, even a successful war, would have imposed costs and set back the progress of the Indian economy just when the world economy in November 2008 was in an unprecedented financial crisis.”

In conclusion, said Menon, “by not attacking Pakistan, India was free to pursue all legal and covert means to achieve its goals of bringing the perpetrators to justice, uniting the international community to force consequences on Pakistan for its behavior and to strengthen the likelihood that such an attack would not take place again.”

I understand that Israel is not India — a country of 1.4 billion people, covering a massive territory. The loss of more than 160 people in Mumbai, some of them tourists, was not felt in every home and hamlet, as were Hamas’s killing of roughly 1,400 Israelis, the maiming of countless others and the kidnapping of more than 200 people. Pakistan also has nuclear weapons to deter retaliation.

Nevertheless, it is instructive to reflect on the contrast between India’s response to the Mumbai terrorist attack and Israel’s response to the Hamas slaughter.

After the initial horror at the sheer barbarism of the Hamas onslaught on Israeli children, older adults and a dance party, what happened? The narrative quickly shifted to the brutality of the Israeli counterattack on Gazan civilians, among whom Hamas has embedded itself. The massive Israeli counterstrike overshadowed Hamas’s terrorism and instead made the organization a hero to some. It has also forced Israel’s new Arab allies in the Abraham Accords to distance themselves from the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, with some 360,000 reservists called up, Israel’s economy will almost certainly be depressed if Israel’s ouster of Hamas from Gaza takes months, as predicted. The economy is already expected to shrink more than 10 percent on an annualized basis for the last three months of the year. This after being ranked by The Economist as the fourth-best-performing economy among O.E.C.D. countries in 2022.

On a personal level, I am appalled by the reaction of those students and progressives who sided with Hamas against Israel — in some cases, even before Israel retaliated — as if the Jewish people were not entitled to either self-determination or self-defense in any part of their ancestral homeland. This backlash also fails to take into account that Israel, for all its faults, is a multicultural society where almost half of graduating doctors today are Arabs or Druze. Or that Hamas is a militant, Islamist organization that does not tolerate dissent or L.G.B.T.Q. individuals and has been dedicated to wiping the Jewish state off the face of the earth.

So I have sympathy for the terrible choices that Israel’s government faced after the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. But it was precisely because I closely followed Singh’s unique reaction to the Mumbai terrorist attack that I immediately advocated a much more targeted, fully thought-through response by Israel. It should have called this Operation Save Our Hostages and focused on capturing and killing the kidnappers of children and grandparents. Every parent could understand that.

Instead, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government immediately raced into a plan to, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put it, “wipe out” Hamas “from the face of the earth.” And in three weeks Israel has inflicted easily more than triple the number of civilian casualties and caused far more destruction in Gaza than Israel suffered, while committing itself to taking military control of Gaza — an operation, on a relative population basis, that is roughly equivalent to the United States deciding almost overnight to occupy half of Mexico. The Israeli plan, according to Netanyahu, will be a “long and difficult” battle to “destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home.”

As I said, Israel is not India, and there is no way that it could be expected to turn the other cheek — not in that neighborhood. But what is Netanyahu’s plan? The Israeli officials I speak with tell me they know two things for sure: Hamas will never again govern Gaza, and Israel will not govern a post-Hamas Gaza. They suggest that they will set up an arrangement similarly seen in parts of the West Bank today, with Palestinians in Gaza administering day-to-day life and Israeli military and Shin Bet security teams providing the muscle behind the scenes.

This is a half-baked plan. Who are these Palestinians who will be enlisted to govern Gaza on Israel’s behalf? What happens the morning after a Palestinian working for Israel in Gaza is found murdered in an alley with a note pinned to his chest: “Traitor,’’ signed “the Hamas underground.”

Moreover, who is going to pay for Israel’s control of, health care for and education of Gaza’s 2.2 million people? Please raise your hand if you think the European Union, the Gulf Arab states or the substantial progressive caucus in the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives will fund an indefinite Israeli oversight of Gaza — while Netanyahu and his band of Jewish supremacists are pledged to annex the West Bank without equal rights for the Palestinians there. The cost of occupying Gaza could overstretch the Israeli military and economy for years to come.

On top of it all, how is Israel going to manage such a complex operation when there is — for good reason — scant trust in Netanyahu? Just on Saturday he pointed to the heads of Israeli military intelligence and Shin Bet as responsible for missing the Hamas surprise attack while excusing himself of any blame. A day later, an outraged Israeli public forced the prime minister to retract his wartime recriminations against his colleagues. But the damage was done.

Netanyahu does not have a team of rivals supporting him. He has a team of people being asked to make excruciating long-term choices while knowing their prime minister is a person of such low character that he will blame them for everything that goes wrong and hog all credit for anything that goes right.

In sum, dear reader, I understand why Israel believes it needs to destroy Hamas and thereby deter others in the neighborhood from ever contemplating such a thing. But the view from Washington is that Israel’s leadership does not have a viable plan to win or a leader who can navigate the stresses and complexity of this crisis. Israel needs to know that the tolerance of its American ally for massive civilian casualties in Gaza in an open-ended military operation is not unlimited. In fact, we may soon be approaching the limit.

Israel should keep the door open for a humanitarian cease-fire and prisoner exchange that will also allow Israel to pause and reflect on exactly where it is going with its rushed Gaza military operation — and the price it could pay over the long haul.

That is why I raise the Indian example. Because targeted use of force with limited, achievable goals may serve Israel’s long-term security and prosperity more than an open-ended war to eradicate Hamas. I hope Israel is stress-testing the costs and benefits of both approaches.

A pause could also allow the people of Gaza to take stock of what Hamas’s attack on Israel — and Israel’s totally predictable response — has done to their lives, families, homes and businesses. What exactly did Hamas think it would accomplish with this war for the people of Gaza, thousands of whom were traveling to work in Israel every day or exporting agricultural products and other goods across the Gaza-Israel border just a few weeks ago? Hamas has gotten way too much understanding and not enough hard questions.

I want to see Hamas’s leaders come out from their tunnels under hospitals and look their people, and the world’s media, in the eye and tell everyone why they thought it was such a great idea to mutilate and kidnap Israeli children and grandmothers and trigger this terrible blowback on the children and grandmothers of their Gaza neighbors — not to mention their own.

I have always believed that you can reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the early 1900s to one line: conflict, timeout, conflict, timeout, conflict, timeout, conflict, timeout, conflict and timeout. The most important difference between the parties is what they each did during the timeouts.

Israel built an impressive society and economy, even if flawed, and Hamas took nearly all of its resources and built attack tunnels.

Please, Israel, don’t get lost in those tunnels.

Patients in Gaza are facing another war on top of the Israeli war, as the young woman Afnan Haboub, a resident of the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, is forced to face death twice a week when her mother, Samira, is transferred to the dialysis department in Al-Shifa Hospital, on a round-trip under non-stop bombardment, and the number of Her suffering in the hospital, which is busy beyond its capacity to treat and rescue the wounded.

After public transportation offices stopped, and ambulances were no longer able to meet the needs of ordinary patients, Haboob drives one of her relatives’ car to the hospital, and explains how she and her mother spend the way reciting the Shahada, while the level of anxiety rises with every raid, explosion, and sound.

The suffering of Haboob, along with thousands of other patients in Gaza, worsened, after many medical services in general stopped, in hospitals, dispensaries and clinics, with the unprecedented preoccupation with treating the wounded from the Israeli bombing, a situation that prompted the Ministry of Health in Gaza to allow every staff member who holds a medical or nursing degree, By working and providing assistance even without having practiced the profession.

Until recently, the Ministry of Health in Gaza, with the support of Arab and international institutions, often provided vehicles to transport kidney patients to hospitals for dialysis, twice a week for each patient, but all of that has stopped now, forcing the patients’ families to look for other difficult alternatives. With the almost complete absence of public transportation.

Haboob told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We must go early and return before dark. It is a complex suffering, an arduous journey through a minefield. We say goodbye to the family every time as if we will never return. But we can't help it, because it's also not possible for us not to go. “Our mere arrival to Al-Shifa Hospital feels like a new life was written for us, and our return home is the beginning of another new life.”

But the suffering of kidney patients does not stop at reaching the hospital, as everyone here is busy transporting and treating the wounded, a situation that complicates access to a nurse and makes time extremely long. Haboub said: “We do not find them and we find it difficult to find them, and if we find them we are ashamed of them and the wounded.” Gaza's hospitals are suffering from occupancy exceeding 150 percent of their capacity, and a severe shortage of medical staff exhausted by the Israeli war.

Clinics turn into shelters

Pill is one of the thousands of patients who need treatment, and if she finds it with all these difficulties, the others do not find it.

In the first days of the war, displaced person Mervat Al-Hajj, a resident of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, was receiving her diabetes and blood pressure medications from UNRWA teams who were arriving at the homes of the elderly with the aim of providing treatment to them, but later the clinics were closed and some of them were turned into shelters housing the displaced. She started searching for medicines everywhere, any open pharmacy, any pharmacist, any doctor, any neighbor.

After Al-Hajj (57 years old) was forced to flee from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip to Nuseirat in the center of the Strip, she was forced to buy some alternative medicines, but the medicine is not always available, and its price is also not always available. Al-Hajj told Asharq Al-Awsat: “UNRWA does not always have medicines. Diabetes and blood pressure are always there (high readings), sometimes I take the medicine one day, and another day I don’t.”

While UNRWA says that its crews are suffering from difficult conditions and cannot provide all the needs of refugees in the Gaza Strip, especially those displaced to shelter schools, the Hamas government’s government media office accuses the UN organization of shirking its various responsibilities and closing the medical clinics it supervises. .

Painkillers instead of a doctor

Asharq Al-Awsat monitored many patients who resort to painkillers in cases that require a visit to the doctor, but in Gaza this has become a kind of luxury. Citizens said that amidst all this death, they no longer care about their ordinary diseases, such as infections, fever, influenza, and asthma, and they will not venture to go to crowded hospitals. But dialysis patients, cancer patients, and other seriously ill patients cannot wait.

The Ministry of Health announced that the Turkish Friendship Hospital, the only hospital for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, was damaged after it was targeted by the Israeli army. Dr. Sobhi Skaik, General Director of the hospital, said on Facebook, “A state of panic struck cancer patients and medical staff as a result of the demolition of the only Turkish Friendship Hospital for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip and the infliction of severe damage to it, as a result of its surroundings being repeatedly targeted.”

He added: “The occupation not only increased the suffering and pain of cancer and deprived them of medicines and travel for treatment abroad, but it now endangered their lives by targeting the hospital’s surroundings.”

Before that, Israel bombed the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, leaving 500 dead. It also bombed the vicinity of other hospitals, demanding a complete evacuation.

Health Minister Mai Kayla said that hospitals cannot be evacuated, as they are full of sick and injured people, in addition to thousands of displaced people who found a safe haven in the hospital courtyards. In addition to treating thousands of wounded people, kidney diseases, and cancers, there are departments that cannot close their doors. Such as maternity and pediatric departments and intensive care rooms.

Necessary services

The Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that since the start of the war, hundreds of cases have been dealt with, some of which were incurable. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the hospitals that are still able to operate are providing necessary and urgent services to patients despite dealing with thousands of wounded people daily, and despite the acute and severe shortage in the availability of medical supplies.

He added: “There are hundreds of patients at risk of death, including dialysis patients, newborn children, and those in care departments. We cannot stop and we cannot evacuate the hospitals.” The Gaza Strip's hospitals began monitoring epidemic cases in primary care centers, due to the lack of water and healthy food and the destruction of the health and medical infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

by Evan Dyer

Israelis don't agree on much, especially lately, but polling shows they mostly agree that Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is to blame for leaving Israel unprepared for Hamas's onslaught on October 7.

The accusations aimed at Netanyahu go beyond merely failing to foresee or prevent the Hamas attack of October 7, however. Many accuse him of deliberately empowering the group for decades as part of a strategy to sabotage a two-state solution based on the principle of land for peace.

"There's been a lot of criticism of Netanyahu in Israel for instating a policy for many years of strengthening Hamas and keeping Gaza on the brink while weakening the Palestinian Authority," said Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group. "And we've seen that happening very clearly on the ground."

"(Hamas and Netanyahu) are mutually reinforcing, in the sense that they provide each other with a way to continue to use force and rejectionism as opposed to making sacrifices and compromises in order to reach some kind of resolution," Zonszein told CBC News from Tel Aviv.

'Keep Hamas alive and kicking'

This symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Hamas has been remarked on for years, by both friends and enemies, hawks and doves.

Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that "if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas's strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister."

In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu's "strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah."

The logic underlying this strategy, Barak said, is that "it's easier with Hamas to explain to Israelis that there is no one to sit with and no one to talk to."

Netanyahu's critics say that Hamas — with its bloodthirsty rhetoric, open antisemitism and stated intention never to share the land — played into the hands of a prime minister who also wanted to be able to tell western governments that Israel has "no partner" for peace.

Supporting Hamas rule in Gaza, those critics say, allowed Netanyahu to confine the Palestinian Authority to the West Bank and weaken it, dividing the Palestinians into two mutually antagonistic blocs.

Hamas puts its finger on the scales 

Netanyahu first came to power in the 1996 election that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords.

Early polls showed Rabin's successor Shimon Peres comfortably ahead.

Determined to sabotage Oslo, Hamas embarked on a ruthless suicide bombing campaign that helped Netanyahu pull ahead of Peres and win the election on May 29, 1996.

Today, some of the same extremists who called for Rabin's death hold power in Netanyahu's government.

Just two weeks before Rabin's assassination, a young settler extremist posed for the cameras with a Cadillac hood ornament he said he had stolen from Rabin's car. "Just like we got to this emblem," he said, "we could get to Rabin."

Today, that young man, Itamar Ben Gvir, is 45 years old and has eight Israeli criminal convictions — including convictions for supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism. Once he was rejected by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for his extremist views. Now, Israel's police must answer to him as Benjamin Netanyahu's minister of national security.

Many analysts believe one of the main goals of the Hamas attack on Israel was to derail the normalization talks underway between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which would have left the Palestinians on the sidelines.

In a remarkable speech last week in Houston, Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal unleashed on Hamas for its atrocities and obstructionism. But he also had words for Israel.

"I condemn Hamas for further undermining the Palestinian Authority, as Israel has been doing," said the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the U.S. "I condemn Hamas for sabotaging the attempt of Saudi Arabia to reach a peaceful resolution to the plight of the Palestinian people.

"I condemn Israel for funneling Qatari money to Hamas."

Prince Turki was referring to money that the Qatar royal family has been sending to Gaza for years, to the tune of about a billion U.S. dollars.

'Hamas is an asset'

Netanyahu's hawkish defense minister Avigdor Liberman was the first to report in 2020 that Bibi had dispatched Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and the IDF's officer in charge of Gaza, Herzi Halevi, to Doha to "beg" the Qataris to continue to send money to Hamas.

"Both Egypt and Qatar are angry with Hamas and planned to cut ties with them. Suddenly Netanyahu appears as the defender of Hamas," the right-wing leader complained.

A year later, Netanyahu was further embarrassed when photos of suitcases full of cash going to Hamas became public. Liberman finally resigned in protest over Netanyahu's Hamas policy which, he said, marked "the first time Israel is funding terrorism against itself."

Netanyahu's education minister Naftali Bennett also denounced the payments, and also quit.

The Palestinian Authority's Ahmed Majdalani accused the Qatari envoy of carrying money to Hamas "like a gangster."

"The PLO did not agree to the deal facilitating the money to Hamas that way," he said.

After both Bennett and Liberman fell out with Netanyahu, he was defeated by a new government that stopped the cash deliveries to Hamas. 

But that government lasted just 18 months. Then Netanyahu returned to power with new, more extreme partners who backed the policy of fostering Hamas to prevent a negotiated peace settlement.

Netanyahu's current finance minister, West Bank settler Belazel Smotrich, explained the approach to Israel's Knesset channel in 2015: "Hamas is an asset, and (Palestinian Authority leader) Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is a burden."

Paying Hamas to weaken Oslo

On March 12, 2019, Netanyahu defended the Hamas payments to his Likud Party caucus on the grounds that they weakened the pro-Oslo Palestinian Authority, according to the Jerusalem Post:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel's regular allowing of Qatari funds to be transferred into Gaza, saying it is part of a broader strategy to keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority separate, a source in Monday's Likud faction meeting said," the Post reported.

"The prime minister also said that 'whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for' transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Netanyahu insisted that neither the money nor the construction material given to Hamas would be diverted to military purposes. But today, the IDF finds itself showing how Hamas has done exactly that — by diverting and converting civilian funds and materials to warlike purposes.

The military tried to warn him at the time, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Ma'ariv newspaper. He said Netanyahu acted "in total opposition to the national assessment of the National Security Council, which determined that there was a need to disconnect from the Palestinians and establish two states."

"We Gaza border residents are paying the price for the lack of policy and the arrogance in facing terror," said Labor Party Knesset member Haim Jelin in 2019.

Those words would prove to be terribly prescient four years later.

Catch-22 for two-state solution

Mustafa Barghouti, a physician and member of the PLO Central Council, was a key figure in talks between Hamas and Fatah that sought to unify the Palestinians in a single bloc that could negotiate a two-state peace.

"Each time we moved toward unity, Netanyahu would launch a campaign claiming that (Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud) Abbas is cooperating with terrorists," Barghouti told CBC News from Ramallah in the West Bank.

"But each time Netanyahu was asked, 'Why don't you negotiate with Abbas,' he would say, 'I can't negotiate with a Palestinian Authority that doesn't represent all Palestinians.' And so he would use Hamas and this division to justify his absolute objection to any negotiated peace agreement."

Barghouti said the current war has ended U.S. and Israeli hopes of Israel normalizing relations with neighboring countries without first resolving the Palestinian issue.

"One of the main results of what has happened is to show that normalization between Israel and some Arab countries does not solve the problem," he said. "It re-established the Palestinian issue as the central issue in this whole knot."

"Most of the world thought that it could sideline this issue," said Zonszein. "Certainly the U.S. thought that. But now it's clear that it is the key to stability in the region as a whole."

Biden: U.S. wants two states

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israel to stop attacks by Israeli settlers — a key part of Netanyahu's coalition — on Palestinian civilians. Attacks have spiked this year.

"They're attacking Palestinians in places that they're entitled to be, and it has to stop," Biden said. "They have to be held accountable."

Biden also spoke about what the U.S. wants to see after the war.

"When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next," he said. "And in our view, it has to be a two-state solution."

Neither Hamas nor Netanyahu share that vision.

As Netanyahu has pointed out, Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist and lays claim to all of the land "from the river to the sea."

And just twelve days before the Hamas massacres in southern Israel, Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly, holding a map of what he called "The New Middle East" that showed all of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights, as parts of an enlarged Israel, with no Palestinian state in sight.

Damage likely to be lasting

There is a widespread feeling in Israel that Netanyahu's career is finally ending. A trial on serious corruption charges looms in his future.

"He's finished. It's over," said Barghouti. "The problem is that the alternatives are no different from him when it comes to any Palestinian issue. They differ with him on other matters, but when it comes to Palestinians, I don't see any peace camp in Israel."

Hamas and Netanyahu may both prove harder to eliminate than their enemies hope. But even if they leave the scene, the damage to the two-state solution is not easily undone and the current war likely will make things worse, said Zonszein.

"I'm concerned that the fear and the trauma and shock of what happened is only going to make Israelis more scared of Palestinians, and Palestinians more scared of Israelis," she said. "And you see a lot of Israelis who are arming themselves now with personal firearms because they don't trust that the army and police will be there for them."

Nor will Gazans be easily reconciled to the restoration of a corrupt Palestinian Authority, especially one seen to be riding back to power on an Israeli tank.

"It's already lost most of its legitimacy and credibility on the street in the West Bank," said Zonszein. "There haven't been elections in 16 years and they don't have the ability to govern even the West Bank, so why would anyone think they have the ability to govern Gaza?"

Barghouti agreed the current Palestinian Authority and its leadership are at a dead end.

"No Palestinian leader will ever have legitimacy without free, democratic elections, and that is true whether he governs Gaza or not," he said.

"But in my opinion, Israel is not interested in a Palestinian government of Gaza."

Nazeer Magali

The Prime Minister and army commanders warned in 2016 of a war being prepared by Hamas.

After the publication of the document prepared by Avigdor Lieberman, when he was Defense Minister in 2016, in which he clearly warned of the danger of an attack that might be launched by the Hamas movement, just as happened on October 7, 3 weeks ago, the demands for the resignation or dismissal of the Prime Minister expanded. , Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lieberman said that this document should be “the last exhausting blow to the prime minister, who is reeling with weakened forces.” But Netanyahu does not give up so easily, and is also seeking to overcome this crisis. Officials, experts, and the press are heading to his party (Likud) to recruit 5 representatives who agree to overthrow him.

Lieberman had chosen the appropriate timing (Monday) for his part, and said: “We failed to overthrow him when a corruption indictment was brought against him in 2020, and we failed during the past ten months after he came up with a coup plan against the ruling system and the judiciary, and we failed even when it swept ( Hamas) Israel, occupied 22 villages and 11 military barracks, and it is inconceivable that we will also fail this time.”

A demonstration raising the slogan of Israeli democracy in Tel Aviv last June (Reuters)

The man (i.e. Netanyahu) proves that “what worries him is not the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been conscripted into the reserve, nor the prisoners held by (Hamas), nor the millions of Israelis and Jews who are worried about their relatives and loved ones. Rather, he is busy exonerating himself from the charge of failing to confront the (Hamas) attack.” “And how will he be able to keep the fire away from his face and direct it to others, and not care about directing arrows towards the heads of the army and intelligence, while they are fighting in Gaza,” according to Lieberman, who considers this an unforgivable crime? Therefore, he revealed the document related to Hamas’ war plans.

According to the document, which was classified as “top secret,” Lieberman, when he was defense minister in Netanyahu’s government, addressed him with an 11-page detailed memorandum explaining in detail that “Hamas” had become an ambitious military force planning an attack whose goal was “to eliminate Israel until 2022.” And liberate all the lands of Palestine.”

The document, published by Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday, states that “Hamas intends to transfer the upcoming confrontation to Israeli territory, by pumping large and well-trained forces, such as elite forces, into Israeli territory, and occupying an Israeli town, and perhaps several towns.” “In addition to targeting them physically, this will lead to a severe targeting of the awareness and morale of the citizens of Israel.”

Eliminate Israel

The document stated that “Hamas has set for itself an explicit goal, which is to eliminate Israel until 2022.” During a series of deliberations within the framework of the movement’s (Executive Committee) meetings that were held in Qatar on September 25-27, 2016, it explained that it needed a “calm-down period” in order to complete building its strength and readiness.”

According to the document dating back to 2016, “Hamas is interested in making the next war against Israel multi-front, by building other fronts in addition to the Gaza Strip - Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Sinai - and even against Jewish targets around the world.” She added that “Hamas is seeking to expand the ranks of its fighters to 40,000 activists by 2020, and strengthening its strength will be in the ground combat system,” and that “in the wake of its growing economic distress, the movement has requested assistance from Iran in the amount of 50-60 million dollars.”

Lieberman’s document stated, “The defensive obstacle that the Israeli army is building along the border with Gaza, and with all its means and capabilities, is an important element in the current security strategy vis-à-vis Gaza, but it cannot constitute a strategy in and of itself. Contemporary history and past precedents – the Maginot Line, the Mannerheim Line and the Bar Lev Line – have proven that walls and fortifications do not prevent war and are no guarantee of tranquility and security.” The document continued: “If Israel waits until it achieves intelligence control and erects a security wall, all of this superiority will be completely reduced in exchange for the increase in the strength of (Hamas) during this period.”

A demonstration raising the slogan of Israeli democracy in Tel Aviv last June (Reuters)

The document concluded that “not taking an Israeli initiative until mid-2017 would be a serious mistake that would lead Israel into a difficult strategic situation, and that would lead to an unplanned deterioration, and while in a scenario like this Israel would not be able to assassinate the leadership of the arm.” militarily for (Hamas), or worse - for (Hamas) to open a confrontation at a time convenient for it.” “I believe that the consequences of such an operation by (Hamas) would be far-reaching, and in certain respects the consequences would be more severe than the results of the Yom Kippur War (October 1973),” Lieberman wrote in the memo.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said, “It is quite clear that Lieberman predicted the Hamas attack on October 7, and based this on accurate information, he developed a scenario that was proven to be amazingly correct,” but “Netanyahu failed and did not take the warning seriously, and instead He began to run a policy that granted Hamas all the necessary time and money worth hundreds of millions of dollars to implement its plan.”

Netanyahu during a visit to the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip border this month (his account on the X platform)

The newspaper added, “None of the officials who saw this document treated it seriously, including the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army at the time, Gadi Eisenkot, but it placed the primary responsibility on Netanyahu in his capacity as Prime Minister, which in Israel is considered the Supreme Commander.” For the army, it is above and more important than the Chief of Staff.”

The Hebrew newspaper pointed out that “Lieberman resigned from his position as Minister of Defense at the end of 2018, and justified this by Israel’s agreement to a ceasefire with Hamas, and to bring financial aid from Qatar to the Gaza Strip in the amount of $15 million per month.”

The document put Netanyahu in the dock as someone who bears first responsibility before everyone else and more than anyone else for the Hamas attack. She commented: “In a normal state, Netanyahu would have appeared in public and announced his resignation. But Israel is not that country, and Netanyahu is not that responsible leader; Firstly, he remained silent and neither he nor his office commented on Lieberman’s document. Therefore, the newspaper launched a call for him to resign or be fired. Is this possible?

Chances of dismissing Netanyahu

The Israeli Prime Minister currently enjoys a majority of 64 seats in the Knesset out of a total of 120. The only way to get rid of him, if he does not become independent himself, is for 5 representatives from the coalition to decide to drop him in a no-confidence motion. The greatest scope for such development is for those from the Likud Party, as the “Religious Zionism” bloc led by Bezalil Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir will not take such a step, nor will other religious parties such as the Haredim.

In Likud, there are 32 deputies, most of whom are loyal to Netanyahu personally, but there are more than 5 deputies among them who oppose Netanyahu’s policy, and are under pressure from some public and political circles to take such a step, but they are still hesitating. They know that Netanyahu is ready to massacre them, especially since if elections are held soon, the right will lose power, will receive a devastating blow, and will be considered traitors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Knesset session last March (AP)

But political circles are trying to convince them of a road map that opens up hope for saving Likud, and they say: “You dismiss Netanyahu and hand over power to one of your leaders by choice, and this will be an opportunity to get rid of Netanyahu’s burden without losing power. Such as an interim leader being elected, who runs the war and then announces an investigation committee into the failures, and after 6 months, 9 months, or a year, elections are held and you are in a better position.”

The proposal is that the Minister of Energy, Israel Katz, or the Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, assume the presidency of the government instead of Netanyahu, but Katz does not accept Barkat and Barkat does not accept Katz, so they propose that Yoav Galant, the Minister of Defense, assume the presidency of the government now, and be his deputy and minister. For defense, Benny Gantz, in order to preserve unity, and Lieberman will join the coalition and become Minister of National Security or even Defense, and Yair Lapid will be Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The important thing is that revealing the document opens the door more to pressure for Netanyahu’s resignation or dismissal, as he is today in the worst position in his political history, and is seen as a weak and flabby prime minister who considers his chair a sacred icon more important than anything. However, the problem is that no one from his camp yet dares to challenge this, and war does not help in waging a political battle like this, and the hope among his opponents is that many circles on the right have begun to put forward the idea of getting rid of him and consider it a good start.

Source: Agencies

Yesterday (Monday), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the ceasefire with Hamas in a speech he delivered to journalists, according to the German News Agency.

Netanyahu said: “Just as the United States did not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack on 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with (Hamas) after the horrific attacks on October 7.”

Netanyahu explained, “Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, surrender to terrorism, and surrender to barbarism. That won't happen... The Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war. “This is the time of war, the war for a common future.”

Netanyahu called on all civilized countries to stand with Israel in demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages and to draw a dividing line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism. He added, "It is time for everyone to decide where they stand."

Today, Tuesday, Israeli occupation bulldozers uprooted 12 olive trees and continued to bulldoze hundreds of acres of agricultural land in the village of Farkha, southwest of Salfit.

According to local sources, the occupation bulldozers uprooted 12 olive trees owned by Suleiman Rizkallah from the village of Farkha, while they continued to bulldoze hundreds of dunums of village land.

The head of the Farkha Village Council, Mustafa Hammad, explained that Israeli bulldozers from the “Al-Ras” colonial outpost are continuing the bulldozing work for the third day in a row to implement a colonial plan and build a new road in the “Al-Batin” area to connect it to the “Al-Matwi” area northwest of the village, with the aim of facilitating the colonists’ access to these areas. From the colonies surrounding the area.

He pointed out that the construction of the road aims to seize and control hundreds of dunams for the benefit of establishing colonial projects, calling on the competent local, international and legal institutions to protect the region and support their efforts to preserve it from seizure.

Hammad stated that the area of the area being bulldozed and seized by the occupation is approximately 1,400 dunams, and there is a water spring in it, covering 25-30% of the village’s water needs. A number of Bedouin families live in the area, and the colonists are constantly pursuing them in an attempt to remove them from the place.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called for the necessity of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, during his meeting on Tuesday with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the White House.

According to the Saudi News Agency (SPA), the Saudi minister also stressed “the necessity of protecting civilians, stopping forced displacement, and allowing humanitarian aid to enter without obstacles.”

He also stressed the need to "work to restore the path of peace, to ensure that the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights, and to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, to ensure the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace."

On the 18th of this month, the Saudi city of Jeddah hosted an emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to discuss the war on Gaza launched by the Israeli occupation army in response to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on the 7th of this October.

For 25 days, the occupation army has launched intensive raids on residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 8,306 people - including 3,457 children - and wounding about 21,048 Palestinians, according to official data.

In the West Bank, 122 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, and the Israeli army is launching a massive arrest campaign that has affected about two thousand Palestinians, according to official Palestinian sources.

Two Palestinian citizens, including teenager, were killed today, Tuesday, by bullets from the Israeli occupation forces, in the occupied West Bank.

The Ministry of Health announced the death of ta teenager, Muhammad Abdel Qader Kharaz (14 years old), as a result of critical injuries sustained by live bullets from the occupation forces in the village of Zawata, Nablus district.

Medical sources reported that the child, Al-Kharaz, died as a result of being hit by live bullets in the pelvic area.

Later, the Ministry of Health announced: The elderly man, Rawhi Rashid Sawafta (70 years old), was killed after being hit by occupation bullets in the face during the storming of Tubas.

Local sources reported that special forces in the occupation army, undercover "Musta'arabin,” stormed the city, followed by military reinforcements from the Tayaseer military checkpoint, which led to the outbreak of confrontations, which led to one death and 7 injuries.

With the death of the two Palestinians, the death toll in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since October 7th rises to 123 dead.

The head of the Shin Bet secretly visited Qatar and the UAE as part of Doha’s mediation efforts in the file of prisoners held by resistance factions in the Gaza Strip. The visit confirms that Israel is seeking to exhaust the diplomatic track in parallel with the occupation's ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Authority (“Kan 11”) said on Monday that the private Israeli plane that had landed in Qatar yesterday, last Sunday, was carrying the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, who also secretly visited the UAE, as part of the ongoing talks. As part of mediation efforts in an attempt to reach an agreement to release the prisoners.

"Kan 11" reported that the head of the Mossad made a "secret visit to Qatar over the weekend as part of efforts and communications to release the hostages." Reports had revealed, last night, that a private plane, which had previously been used for flights of senior Israeli officials, had returned to Israel. Coming from Qatar.

Kan 11 pointed out the central role played by Qatar in the issue of Israeli prisoners held by the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, and the channel considered that the Mossad chief’s secret visit to Doha confirms the continuation of negotiations on the prisoners’ file, in parallel with the occupation’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Walla website, citing two informed sources, reported that Barnea “discussed with senior officials in Doha the file of negotiations to release those kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza.” The website reported that Washington is also making efforts to meet the Qatari authorities regarding the prisoners’ file, “given that many Some of them hold American citizenship.”

Two high-ranking Israeli officials said that the Israeli "war cabinet" took a decision last Thursday to begin ground operations in the Gaza Strip in light of the failure to achieve any breakthrough in the ongoing Qatari mediation talks regarding the file of prisoners held by the resistance factions in Gaza.

The report stated that the Israeli decision came in the wake of the Hamas movement’s rejection of Israel’s request to hand over, through the Qatari mediator, a list of the names of the prisoners held by the movement. According to Israeli officials, “Hamas informed the Qataris that it is still in the process of knowing the whereabouts of all the kidnapped people, verifying their identities, and collecting their names.” ".

The report said, “Hamas’ response created a feeling in Israel that Hamas was pursuing a tactic to delay the ground incursion of the occupation forces into the Gaza Strip.” Walla explained that the Mossad chief’s visit to Qatar came after the start of the ground operation, and came to renew communications with the Qatari mediator.

The website quoted informed sources as saying that the talks held by Barnea witnessed progress but did not achieve a real breakthrough.

In a press conference held this evening with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, refused to answer whether his government was ready to exchange Israeli prisoners for Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons.

He said: “I will not go into issues related to the negotiations to return the hostages, but I will say that our assessment is that the escalation of the military operation over the past two days contributes to achieving both goals, which are eliminating Hamas and its military machine and achieving our goal in Gaza, and also advancing the chances of an agreement on the hostages, and I cannot say more.” So".

Regarding the possibility of a prisoner exchange agreement, Dermer said: “These decisions are not taken by the Military Ministerial Council (the War Cabinet). They are taken in the Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs (the Expanded Cabinet) and then presented to the full Israeli government, which must vote on any decision.”

Qatari-American discussions

Earlier today, the Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim, discussed with his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, developments in the Gaza Strip and “mediation to release prisoners.” This came in a phone call received by the Qatari Foreign Minister from Blinken, according to what was reported by the Qatar News Agency, QNA.

During the call, they "reviewed the seriousness of the escalation of confrontations in the Gaza Strip, and the necessity of an immediate ceasefire." The two sides also discussed "the latest developments in the mediation to release prisoners." During the call, Qatar's Foreign Minister stressed "the necessity of opening the Rafah crossing permanently to ensure the flow of relief convoys and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian brothers trapped under the bombing."

This comes in light of the Israeli allegations about the “liberation” of an Israeli female soldier who was being held by the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, during the ground operations carried out by the occupation army in the besieged Strip, last night, hours after the “Al-Qassam Brigades” broadcast a video that includes 3 Israeli female prisoners in which they hold Netanyahu responsible for their captivity, and demand that he free all Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

There are more than 239 Israelis who were captured by the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, during the attack carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, on Israeli military sites and towns in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip, on October 7, including high-ranking military personnel, and the Hamas movement is seeking to replace them with Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, including children and women.

In a related context, the US State Department claimed today that Hamas made a number of demands before allowing people to leave Gaza, while Washington is working to ensure safe passage for Americans who want to leave, and to secure the release of prisoners held by resistance factions in Gaza.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller claimed, “Hamas has put forward a number of demands before it allows people to leave Gaza... Just as we believe they should release all the hostages they are holding, we believe they should... allow all American citizens to leave.” and other citizens.”

Today, Tuesday, dozens of settlers stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of the Israeli occupation police.

According to local sources, the settlers stormed the mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, wandered around its courtyard, and performed Talmudic rituals in the vicinity of the Mercy Chapel.

In the same context, the occupation police tightened their military measures in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, stopping students at the doors of the mosque and searching them, and obstructing their access to schools inside the mosque.

At dawn on Tuesday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested 52 citizens from several areas in the West Bank.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces arrested 17 citizens, namely: Jihad Maali, Hisham Arafa, Wissam Arafa, Muhammad Arafa, Ali Abu Joudeh, Amir Abu Akar, Yasser Shamroukh and his son Youssef, Amir Lutfi Saad, Muhammad Khaled Mazhar, Basil Nasser Al-Laham, and Wissam. Sidqi Khamis from Dheisheh Camp, Fatah Movement Secretary Khader Lutfi Daamsa, Muhammad Omar Qawwar from Aida Camp, the two brothers Ahmed and Ibrahim Al-Adwin from Al-Azza Camp, and Uday Faqoussa from the town of Doha.

From Hebron, the occupation forces arrested 11 citizens, namely: the young man Khaldoun Al-Mahareq from the town of Al-Samou’, and from the city of Hebron, Jawaid Abdel Halim Da’na, Abdullah, Muwafaq, Ali Al-Rajabi, Yazan, Majd Al-Islam Taha Abu Sneineh, and the student at the Polytechnic University, Ahmed Muhammad Hijazi Al-Qawasmeh. , and Suleiman Arif Al-Dweik. It also arrested the student at Hebron University, Shadi Salem Al-Rajoub, after storming his family’s home in the village of Al-Koum, west of Hebron. From the town of Ithna, the citizen Aisha Abu Asaad was arrested, under the pretext of pressuring her children to surrender themselves.

As for Nablus, these forces arrested 11 citizens, namely: citizen Abdel Fattah Al-Aghbar from Street 16 in the city, Anwar Effendi from the Al-Makhfiya area, citizens Yassin Taha Hamza, and Ahmed Qarunfla from Al-Najah Street, Muhammad Humaidan from Ain Beit Al-Maa camp west of the city, and the young man Islam. Lolah from the village of Zawata, Saed Ismail from the village of Beit Iba, Amir Araysha, Zaki Murad Halabi, from Roujib, Wassim Firas Mansour, and Amr Murad Najjar from Burin.

From Jenin, the occupation arrested six citizens from Qabatiya: Iyad Basem Assaf, Ibrahim Muhammad Abu Al-Rub, Khalil Youssef Damanhouri, Firas Suleiman Kamil, Riyad Abu Al-Rub, and Fakhri Nazzal.

From Tulkarm, the occupation forces arrested editor Alaa al-Din Hamdan (30 years old), editor Fadi Munther Raddad (42 years old), from the town of Sidon in the north, and Ahmed Nasser and Iyad Abu al-Hassan from the Shweika suburb.

As for Ramallah, these forces arrested the citizen Fadi Saeed Abu Fakhida, from the village of Ras Karkar, Ayman Al-Atshan from the village of Arora, northwest of Ramallah, and the citizen Nasser Abdel Jawad after storming his house in the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit.

The crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces and herds of settlers are no longer limited to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, even though what is happening in the Gaza Strip is a war of extermination in front of the eyes of the world, part of which is hypocritical, at the forefront of which is the United States of America and the colonial countries of Europe that support the occupying state and participate in it. In the sinful aggression against Gaza.

These crimes also affected prisoners of freedom and the arrests that affected hundreds of our people in the West Bank, along with more than four thousand Gazan workers who were working in the occupying state with work permits from this state that knows no limits to killing, arresting, and issuing laws against our people and our prisoners.

Since the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, the occupying state has put hundreds in its prisons under inhumane detention conditions alongside those it killed in cold blood under the guise of heart attacks, which are in fact the result of torture aimed at killing these people, especially those who belong to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.

It also isolated all new and old prisoners in miserable conditions and prevented the prisoners’ families from visiting them. It carried out extensive movements within the prisons, assaulted and assaulted the captive movement and new detainees, and transferred dozens to administrative detention, which has been obsolete since the British colonization of Palestine.

The attacks and crimes also included the bombing of sites in Syria and southern Lebanon under the guise of preventing organizations in these two countries from supporting Gaza and opening new fronts against the aggression on the Gaza Strip to mitigate the impact of this aggression that knows no borders and contradicts all international laws and norms.

These attacks and crimes will not discourage our people from continuing their struggle until they fully achieve their goals of freedom and independence. Rather, they will increase the state of hostility and tension. They say that the families of the martyrs or those remaining alive will forget these crimes and the war of genocide. Rather, it will push them to take revenge later, and the bloodbath will continue. As long as the occupation protected by America and the West persists in its error, and as long as he sees himself as above international laws and norms.

Time, no matter how long it takes, does not work in favor of this brutal occupier, who believes that through his destructive war he can achieve his goals of liquidating the cause of our people. On the contrary, his master, America, which is considered one of the most powerful countries in the world, has failed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and before in Vietnam and Cambodia .

Will this occupier learn or will he continue with his arrogance, and thus it will be a disaster for him?

Analysts: Israel cannot achieve the two goals of its war on Gaza: eliminating the Hamas movement and its rule and returning the prisoners detained in Gaza. They are contradictory. “How will hundreds of thousands of soldiers rely on their commander-in-chief, Netanyahu, and how will the families of the kidnapped trust him?”

Analyzes published in Israeli newspapers today, Monday, considered that Israel cannot achieve the two goals of its war on Gaza: eliminating the Hamas movement and its rule and returning the prisoners detained in Gaza. In parallel, analyzes accused the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of having become incompetent and losing control over his words and actions following the tweet he published, before dawn yesterday, in which he wrote that the leaders of the security services, especially the head of the Shin Bet and the head of the Military Intelligence Division (Aman), did not warn From the Hamas attack on October 7th.

Channel 13 TV political analyst, Raviv Drucker, said in his article in Haaretz newspaper, “There is no way to achieve the two goals, as they are contradictory. Hamas will agree to a plan to liberate (prisoners) only if it learns that Israel has abandoned its intention to eliminate the prisoners.” "And after Hamas wastes more time, Israel will eventually lose national legitimacy and the burdens on its economy will be very great."

He added that an idea is currently being pushed that would allow for a major prisoner exchange deal, “all for all,” and then begin a war to destroy Hamas. But Drucker described this idea as "delusion." He considered that “Hamas’ prisoners are important to it, but this is not the highest goal. It is forbidden to compare the current situation with deals of the past. Their highest goal now is to survive and maintain their rule. But a comprehensive deal will not be concluded until they are certain that we will not be able to enter into a large-scale ground military operation.” To eliminate them."

Drucker pointed out, “There are two realistic options. The first possibility is to go to a deal based on the realization that there will be no ground military operation. This has costs in terms of deterrence and the ability to return the residents of the Gaza envelope to their homes. The deal will last for several months, and within its framework, most of what will be returned.” Maybe the kidnapped ones. Then we will begin to prepare for the war to eliminate Hamas, which will begin at Israel’s initiative after half a year or a year, and perhaps with the presence of another leadership, which will have greater confidence than a prime minister who tweets at one o’clock at night against the leaders of the security apparatus. If Netanyahu had a certain ability to not think only about himself, he would have announced that he would resign at the end of the war. Another leadership can pose a credible threat to Hamas.”

He added, "The second possibility is to begin the comprehensive ground attack planned from the beginning, until the goal is achieved: eliminating Hamas, destroying the metro (tunnels), removing Hamas from the position of power in Gaza and remaining in the Strip, in one way or another, until it is possible to rise." Another judgment, if we are able to do such a thing at all. However, part of the price is that we will no longer apparently see most of the kidnapped people, and perhaps all of them. They may die in battle or in a revenge campaign carried out by Hamas.”

He continued, "The biggest question in this option is whether the Israeli army is even capable of carrying out the mission. The worst scenario is to launch a comprehensive attack, absorbing the terrible social-human damage that will befall the families of the kidnapped and befall all of us, and that we will ultimately be stuck like the Russian army in Ukraine."

According to Drucker, "The leadership in Israel is aware of this analysis. No one is deluding themselves here. Therefore, its original decision was clear: to destroy Hamas. Netanyahu also briefed reporters and said that the kidnapped people would not be a consideration in the war, unless we knew their specific location."

Drucker considered that “the Israeli attack was delayed, and now in the wake of the centrality of the families of the kidnapped in public discourse, the war cabinet has taken a step back. They decided to bet on half the load: a ground invasion first - perhaps Hamas will feel the pressure, and perhaps the kidnapped will be returned despite everything. I wish I was wrong.” But it is possible that at the end of this hybrid path we will get a bad result in all worlds: neither causing the collapse of Hamas nor recovering the kidnapped people.”

“Netanyahu is not qualified and has lost control of his words and actions.”

The former minister in Netanyahu's governments, Limor Livnat, wrote in an article published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, “The Prime Minister is the commander-in-chief of the army and for hundreds of thousands of soldiers who are now fighting or waiting to enter the Gaza Strip, how will they now be able to rely on you, Benjamin Netanyahu? And how will the family members of the kidnapped depend on you?”

She added, "This terrible tweet, in which you yourself, on your Twitter account, accused the head of the Shin Bet, the head of Aman, and the leaders of the security forces of not warning you about war intentions on the part of Hamas, was the culmination of your campaign to distance yourself from any responsibility for the terrible failure" On October 7th.

Livnat continued: “Bibi, I have known you for many years. I was the head of your media staff when you were elected to head the government for the first time in 1996, and I held the position of minister in three governments that you formed, until 2015. I opposed you and voted against some of your decisions in the government, along with Other Likud ministers, unlike today’s Likud ministers, who know that you have lost your abilities but are silent like fish.”

According to her, “Your supporters are following you like following the leader of a religious sect. They refuse to see that Netanyahu, who was so wise in the past, the most intelligent ambassador of Israel to the United Nations, and the successful minister of finance in the past... has evaporated. In his place here is an incapable prime minister.” He incites, sows internal discord, dismantles state institutions and the guards of the shrine by appointing unworthy people. No, Bibi, you cannot be relied upon. You are not qualified. Give back the keys. Now.”

For his part, party affairs analyst in the newspaper "Haaretz", Yossi Verter, believed that Netanyahu should resign immediately because this is an Israeli interest. And in the wake of his tweet yesterday, “The big fear is that Netanyahu is not responsible for his actions and does not control his words, and in the difficult period that Israel is going through, he is controlled by someone who is controlled by someone,” referring to Netanyahu’s wife and their son, Yair.

When the current crisis began, on October 7, 2023, only two years had passed since the Corona virus pandemic, which led to the first economic contraction affecting the Israeli economy since the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000...

At a time when attention is focused on the military, political and security repercussions of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which was launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” against Israeli military sites and settlements in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli aggression against this. Gaza Strip, the effects of the economic war are increasing, especially for Israel. The confrontation caused severe damage to its economy during the emerging Corona Virus (Covid-19) pandemic crisis, so much so that its leaders boast that its economy was one of the most successful economies in confronting the pandemic through direct state intervention.

The Israeli economy before the crisis

When the current crisis began, on October 7, 2023, only two years had passed since the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the first economic contraction affecting the Israeli economy since the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000. The government launched a set of economic recovery packages at a cost of about $50 billion; This led to a record deficit in its budget, and an increase in its debt to about three-quarters of the size of its total economy[1]. With limited government intervention, the Israeli economy was able during the following two years (2021-2022) to restore its balance in view of the noticeable growth in domestic demand, both consumer and investment, and to achieve economic growth of about 8.6 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, which are generally high rates. , compared to any other economy in this period[2]. Accordingly, the government’s public finances recovered and its indicators began to improve, especially the size of public debt relative to domestic product, which returned to stability at levels close to those before the pandemic. In contrast, estimates of the Israeli economy during the current and next years, according to pre-war data, indicate that it will return to growth according to its natural path, in the range of 3 percent annually.

How did the Israeli economy receive the shock of October 7?

The Israeli economy is considered a structurally solid economy and is classified among the advanced economies in the region. This economy has a service base, a large industrial base, and an agricultural base on a smaller scale, all of which rely on advanced technology. Despite the structural strength on the one hand, and the great support that Israel received from the Western camp, led by the United States of America and its European allies on the other hand, after the painful military strike on October 7, these two factors did not prevent the global credit rating agencies from adjusting the future outlook. to the Israeli economy from “stable” to “negative.” Standard & Poor’s Global expected the Israeli economy to contract by about five percentage points in the last quarter of this year[3], and Moody’s and Fitch both announced... Placing Israel's domestic and international credit ratings under review leading to downgrade[4]. These reviews represent only a preliminary forecast of the impact of the shock that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood directed on the Israeli economy. Therefore, more severe negative assessments may follow if Israel fails to contain the economic repercussions of the conflict, and the state of tension on the northern front continues and escalates into stronger and broader military confrontations. However, if the conflict expands further and turns into a regional confrontation, which is still a weak possibility according to current estimates, the results will inevitably be disastrous for the Israeli economy.

The Israeli currency (the shekel), which was under pressure related to the “judicial reforms” crisis and the protests that followed it since the beginning of this year, was the most affected by the October 7 attack. Since the outbreak of the crisis, the shekel has lost more than 5 percent of its dollar value, reaching its lowest levels in eight years, despite the direct intervention of the Bank of Israel (the central bank) and its pumping of about $30 billion to contain the growing demand for the dollar and prevent a further deterioration of the shekel exchange rate.[ 5]. It appears that the central bank chose to sacrifice part of its foreign currency reserves in order to avoid increasing interest rates. So that the potential decline in domestic consumer and investment spending does not deepen, and to prevent the economy from sliding into a deeper recession, which allows it to be said that the Al-Aqsa Flood operation shook the Israeli economy as much as it shook the security, military, and political establishment, and placed the economic policies of the Israeli government before difficult challenges. A rapid decline in the shekel exchange rate would create additional inflationary pressures in addition to the shock received by the production chain and the resulting increase in the cost of shipping and insurance on imports. If the Israeli authorities fail to contain inflation, livelihood imbalances may result. Which, in addition to security pressures, may destabilize Israeli public opinion’s support for the government’s military and political agenda.

The effects of the war on the Israeli financial market were no less bad; The stock market lost about 9 percent of its nominal value during the first week of Operation Al-Aqsa, which is the largest weekly loss that the index has suffered over the past ten years[6]. This market's losses continued in subsequent weeks, reaching more than 22 percent, driven by foreign investors selling their shares, especially banking sector shares. The share prices of the five largest banks fell by 20 percent, which is the largest percentage of decline since the Corona pandemic. Thus, capital losses in the stock market since the outbreak of confrontations in Gaza are estimated at more than $20 billion[7]. These losses were driven by the increasing severity of potential future risks and the growing state of uncertainty related to the security and economic conditions in Israel.

From financial challenges to broader ramifications

It is clear that the Israeli government, in an effort to restore the prestige of deterrence, is throwing all its military weight into its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip, not caring about its financial cost. It is aware that its failure to restore its image will have more serious repercussions. Not only related to security aspects, but also politically, socially and economically. According to the Israeli Minister of Finance, the financial cost of the military operation carried out by Israel against the Gaza Strip is close to 250 million US dollars per day, or about 1.75 billion dollars per week, and about 7.5 billion dollars per month. That is, about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product[8]. The United States, aware of the nature of the financial challenges facing its ally Israel, was quick to announce an urgent aid package to enable it to move forward with its military operation against the Gaza Strip. US President Joe Biden submitted to Congress an urgent financing project for Israel worth $14.3 billion, as part of a broader financing package that also includes Ukraine and Taiwan[9]. This is in addition to the costs that the United States itself will bear, as a result of the direct military support it provides to Israel in its aggression against Gaza, including sending two aircraft carriers with its battle groups to the region[10]. Most likely, the large amount of financial support mobilized for this aggression will not be sufficient to ensure the ability of the Israeli public treasury to cope with the requirements of the military campaign, including the cost associated with calling up about 360,000 reserve soldiers, and the programs that are likely to be launched to compensate for the losses of large companies and institutions. Small and medium enterprises also suffered from the cessation of their work and a decrease in their incomes as a result of the field consequences of the military operation and other adaptive programmes.

The consequences of the war will not be limited to its direct financial burdens, but will also extend to domestic demand, both consumption and investment, which is expected to witness a noticeable decline. Because of fear, consumer and investor confidence declines. The evidence that appears, through the reactions of Israeli society and the severe state of confusion it is experiencing, leads to the conclusion that the Israeli economy is heading towards a deep crisis. The repercussions of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 on the Israeli economy can be inferred to estimate the repercussions of what is happening today, even if the shock is more severe this time. The same applies to external demand, whose sources quickly began to comply with the facts of the war. Tourism and its related services, which are considered an important tributary of the Israeli economy and its general budget with a total output of about 7.7 billion dollars, have been subjected to complete paralysis[11], as the data indicate that almost all reservations in hotels and tourist establishments have been cancelled, while Half of its capacity has been used so far to shelter families evacuated from areas and settlements close to the border with Gaza, and it is likely to reach three-quarters of this capacity in light of the plan to evacuate residents of cities and towns on the Lebanese border. These are additional costs that will be borne by the budget of the occupying state. This will contribute to the widening of its financing gap. The situation is not much different for the transportation sector, and air transportation in particular. A group of international airlines announced the suspension of their flights to Israel, and the role of civil air transport became limited to evacuating foreign nationals and Israelis fleeing the war. As a result, the share price of El Al Airlines declined by 19 percent since the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation[12].

It is expected, albeit less severely, that merchandise exports will decline, and the Israeli trade deficit will worsen due to logistical bottlenecks imposed by the field data of the war, as well as competitive pressures resulting from the high cost of exports driven by the high cost of shipping, insurance, and fuel. The world price of oil rose by about 5 percent in the first week of the Israeli aggression, and its prices fluctuate day after day, higher than the level they were at before the aggression on Gaza.

The supply side will not be immune to these effects; The exceptional call-up of all reserve forces will empty the driving sectors of the Israeli economy of their operators, and the state of fear surrounding foreign workers and their flight outside Israel, and the cessation of the use of Palestinian workers, will cause major paralysis in support services.

The deeper effects have yet to occur

The economic costs that Israel will bear as a result of its continued aggression against the Gaza Strip will be huge. Not only for the government and its general budget, but also for companies, institutions and the general population who ultimately bear these costs. In order for these repercussions to be addressed objectively, guided by previous experiences, the strength of the Israeli economy and its ability to contain the consequences of such crises must not be overlooked, even if that comes at the expense of its growth and development process over many years.

But we must not overlook the difference between the current confrontation and all that preceded it between the occupation and the Palestinian people. The surprise attack on October 7 was not only a tactical shock to Israel, but also a practical test of its security and defense system and a living witness to its failures. The real problem that Israel will face after the war stops will be the state of uncertainty surrounding its defense system and the myths it has created about its military and intelligence capabilities. Economically, this deep state of uncertainty is expected to discourage investment, reduce consumption levels, and hit the tourism, transportation and other services sectors. This situation will also affect the attractiveness of the Israeli economy to foreign workers. Which means that he will face a series of wage increases due to a shortage in labor supply, especially if this situation leads to reverse migration out of Israel.

It is expected that the state of uncertainty will have noticeable negative effects on the location of the settlements and their settler residents, and investments in their various forms, in the southern regions adjacent to the Gaza Strip and the northern regions adjacent to the border with Lebanon. Which leads to the population being concentrated in the centre, exacerbating the real estate and population crisis and increasing their costs. The government will find itself forced to provide broad incentive packages to persuade investors and individuals to reside and invest in the border areas, which will result in long-term pressure on its general budget.

After Israel's defeat on October 7, confidence in its military industries, which top the list of its exports, is likely to decline, after its intelligence and defense system failed to prevent the attack that surprised it using homemade Palestinian attack techniques.

Conclusion

The Al-Aqsa flood operation will have profound repercussions on the Israeli economy. Not only because of the direct financial cost associated with financing military operations, but also, and more severely, because of the extended and ripple effects that will make the Israeli economy unbalanced for a period of time. But these effects, their depth, and their temporal extension will all depend more on the state of uncertainty after the major collapse that the Israeli security and military system suffered on October 7. The impact of the surprise, and the brutal crimes committed by Israel against the residents of the Gaza Strip in response, will remain among the concerns present in the minds of Israelis, investors and visitors, which means that the economic crisis will be longer and have a deeper impact than ever before.

The Journalists Syndicate said that many Western media outlets were involved in broadcasting blatant lies on behalf of the Israeli occupation government, and helped it justify its aggression and murders against the Palestinian people, specifically in the Gaza Strip.

A report issued by the union stated, “There are major and serious violations committed by major Western media outlets without verification or intentionally, and they are the ones that claim professionalism and have every possibility of verification and did not do so, which indicates that they did so intentionally.”

The union stated that some of those media outlets retracted their false narrative after their lies were exposed and apologized, while others did not retract or apologize despite the exposure of the falsity and deception.

It pointed to some examples of major media violations and failures in the media, including news reports on the Israeli “I24” channel, where its correspondent, “Nicole Zedek,” indicated the presence of a number of infants who were found beheaded in the “Kfar Ezza” settlement, where the news was even reported by The American president adopted the story and repeated it, before the reporter herself retracted her allegations.

Oren Zaev, an Israeli journalist, revealed through his page on social media the falsehood of what happened, indicating that he participated in the media tour, denying the existence of any evidence of Hamas killing infants, and saying, “The Israeli officers did not mention any such incident.”

The American newspaper "PBS" also reported allegations that later turned out to be false, promoted by occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about cases of rape and burning among women who were captured. It later became clear that this story was false, and the occupation army spokesman retracted what his prime minister had said.

As for the British newspaper, The Mirror, it claimed that an artist was killed by what it described as terrorists. Her mother came out and spoke to the British newspaper, The Independent, saying that her daughter was alive in a hospital in Gaza.

The BBC had more than one fall in siding with the Israeli narrative, which during its coverage of the war used the word “died” to refer to those killed in Gaza, and “killed” to describe the Israeli dead.

On October 12, CNN also published “the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, through his account on the X platform (formerly Twitter), 3 pictures, saying that they were “horrific pictures of children killed and burned.” Later, American journalist Jackson Hinkle exposed the lie using artificial intelligence. He said it was a photo of a dog in a veterinary clinic that had been faked using technology.

The most widely circulated newspaper in the United States of America, the Los Angeles Times, published unsubstantiated news about rapes of women, and the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported false news about an Israeli channel correspondent that Israeli officials said “they found the bodies of forty infants with their heads cut off in a settlement.” Kfar Ezza,” without scrutiny from the British newspaper, which is also what the British newspaper “The Times” did, and an investigation conducted by the independent American website “The Gray Zone” revealed that the claim of beheading Israeli children came from an Israeli soldier named David Ben Zion, and it was identified During an interview conducted with him by the Israeli "I24" in his capacity as an "extremist settler leader," the investigation indicated that media outlets and journalists retracted initial reports in this regard after it was not possible to prove the allegation of beheading children, including the British newspaper The Independent and the American channel CNN. .

A report on the News Point Arabic website quoted that in 2015, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) published an investigative report dealing with the complex financial and institutional support system behind the efforts of those organizations supporting Zionism to suppress any international and global activity in support of Palestine, such as manipulating various media outlets and influencing opinion. Year and targeting institutions, and from 2009 to 2012, this network pumped more than $300 million into media propaganda and espionage.

The Journalists Syndicate said that these false reports contribute to creating a climate of support for the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which caused the fall of more than 8,000 thousand victims, which makes these false media outlets an accomplice in the killing of victims, and they deliberately lied to humanize Baroud and the crimes of the Israeli occupation and demonize the victims. Palestinian children, women and the elderly.

The union vowed to prosecute these media outlets in accordance with international laws and international federations working in the field.

On Tuesday morning, the occupation forces blew up the house of the Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Saleh Al-Arouri, in the town of Arora, near Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Confrontations and clashes: arrests in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the occupation blows up Saleh Al-Arouri’s house

An escalation in the rate of bombing Palestinian homes and facilities in the West Bank (Getty Images)

At dawn and Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of raids and incursions into the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, including dozens of Palestinians, while confrontations and clashes broke out in some areas, resulting in injuries and cases of suffocation.

This comes as the occupation forces blew up, on Tuesday morning, the house of the Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, in the town of Aroura, near Ramallah in the West Bank.

Institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs reported that the occupation forces arrested dozens of Palestinians, and they were transferred for investigation by the occupation security services under the pretext of involvement in armed resistance.

In Nablus Governorate, the occupation forces arrested a number of Palestinians, as occupation military vehicles stormed several neighborhoods of the city of Nablus from several directions, raided a house on Street 16 and arrested Abdel Fattah Al-Agbar and Ahmed Qronfol from Al-Najah Street.

They also arrested the young man Islam Lawlah, after they raided and searched his home in the village of Zawata, and the young man Saed Ismail from his home in the village of Beit Iba.

The occupation forces prevented the Palestinian Red Crescent Society crews from providing treatment to two young men before arresting them.

The occupation forces assaulted the ambulance crew while transporting him to the hospital, suffering from panic, and forced him to get out of the vehicle to confirm the identity of the injured person.

The Red Crescent explained that an elderly man suffered from a lack of oxygen due to panic, which required his transfer to the hospital.

The occupation forces stormed the municipality suburb area in the city of Hebron. The occupation forces arrested MP Nasser Abdel Jawad from the town of Deirblout, west of Salfit, after raiding his house.

The occupation forces also stormed towns in Tulkarm Governorate and the Shuafat camp, north of occupied Jerusalem.

The occupation forces arrested the freed prisoner, Alaa El-Din Hamdan, after they raided his home in the town of Sidon, north of Tulkarm, and searched him. The forces also stormed the Shweika suburb.

The occupation forces stormed the town of Qabatiya, south of the city of Jenin, while violent armed clashes were reported to have broken out between Palestinian militants and the occupation forces that stormed the town.

The confrontations resulted in the injury of a young man by occupation bullets.

Armed men opened fire towards the Bat Hefer settlement near Tulkarm, while the occupation forces threw flares.

Today, Tuesday, the Israeli war machine committed heinous massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of citizens, most of them children and women, in the ongoing aggression for the twenty-fifth day in a row.

Local sources, citing Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, reported that there were children killed and a number of injuries after Israeli warplanes targeted a house for the Hijazi family, west of the city.

Israeli warplanes destroyed a four-story residential building from above its residents belonging to the Habib family at the Habib Junction in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, amid appeals for ambulances to quickly arrive due to the presence of a large number of martyrs and wounded, the majority of whom were children, women, and the elderly, lying under the rubble.

13 citizens, all of them women and children, were martyred after Israeli occupation warplanes targeted a house in the Al-Zawaida area in the central Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes bombed the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, causing casualties among citizens.

A number of citizens were injured after Israeli warplanes bombed a house for the Al-Raqab family in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation artillery violently bombed the neighborhoods of Al-Zaytoun, Al-Shuja'iya, and Al-Tuffah, east of Gaza City, and east of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Sheikh Zuweid, north of the Gaza Strip, with dozens of rocket shells, which fell on citizens' homes, causing martyrs and wounded.

Israeli warplanes bombed with missiles the residential towers area in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City, causing injuries among citizens.

Paramedics and citizens recovered 18 martyrs and a number of wounded after the occupation warplanes bombed a house for the Abu Shamala family in the Al-Zawaida area in the central Gaza Strip. They were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the neighboring city of Deir Al-Balah.

The Israeli war machine continues its fierce aggression against residential neighbourhoods, property and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip for the twenty-fifth day in a row, claiming the lives of citizens and causing massive destruction of homes, buildings, towers and apartments.

He added, "They want chaos to continue in the Middle East, and therefore the United States is doing its utmost to discredit those countries that insist on an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and stop the bloodshed, and that stand ready to make a real contribution to resolving the crisis."

Russian President Vladimir Putin held the West responsible for the crisis in the Gaza Strip, as Israel is waging a war on Gaza, and accused the United States of wanting to spread chaos in the Middle East.

In a television statement before a meeting of members of the Russian Security Council, the government and heads of law enforcement agencies, Putin said that “the ruling elites in the United States” and “those in their orbit” were behind the killing of Palestinians in Gaza and behind the events in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria.

He added, "They want chaos to continue in the Middle East, and therefore the United States is doing its utmost to discredit those countries that insist on an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and stop the bloodshed, and that stand ready to make a real contribution to resolving the crisis."

Russia supports an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and it supports the two-state solution. Moscow angered Israel by receiving a delegation from the Hamas movement.

Putin said that the key to resolving the conflict lies in establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, hinting that this is not Washington's stated goal.

He also accused Western intelligence services and Ukraine of helping to foment unrest in Dagestan, where last night a crowd of people tried to block passengers who had arrived at Makhachkala airport on a flight from Israel.

Author Amos Harel

The Israeli army is significantly expanding the size of its forces and the area of territory in which it operates in the northern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian resistance was limited in terms of shooting, but it is clear that the more the operation expanded, the more the military clash between the two sides increased. At the same time, it is likely that attempts will soon be made to reach a deal to exchange kidnapped persons, when Hamas feels increasing military pressure on it.

From Lebanon, Hezbollah and Palestinian organizations are intensifying their attacks and, for the first time, have begun firing rockets towards civilians in settlements a little further away.

Israel continues to maintain secrecy about the nature of the operation in the Strip, except for general statements regarding its expansion, and that it will take a long time. Home Front Commander Avi Miloa said that the fighting could continue for months, and there would be a need to conduct a "contingency routine" on the Home Front. Yesterday witnessed several clashes with Hamas members, during which dozens of “terrorists” were killed, according to Israeli estimates. An Israeli force killed gunmen who emerged from one of the tunnels at the Erez crossing inside the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman spoke about the injury of some Israeli soldiers.

The Air Force continues to use unprecedented force to defend forces operating on the ground. A noticeable improvement was recorded in the Internet and cell phone service in the Gaza Strip, after it was completely interrupted on Saturday, at the beginning of the operation. In the southern Gaza Strip, thousands of residents flocked to UNRWA warehouses and stole food and other goods from them, while more than 750,000 Palestinians left the battle zone and moved to the Gaza Strip in the south.

Currently, it is expected that Hamas will conduct a pulse-checking operation in order to resume negotiations regarding the kidnapped persons, with Qatari mediation. In Israel, public interest in the suffering of the families of the kidnapped is increasing. Former high-ranking security officials, including Defense Minister and former Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, expressed their support for the “all-for-all” deal, in which all the kidnapped persons are released, in exchange for the release of Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Israel has shown flexibility so far, but what is meant is an unprecedented concession, and it is not clear whether it can be achieved with international guarantees. In such a case, the war will end with a major achievement for Hamas, and this seems unacceptable from the point of view of the Israeli leadership.

Those who insist on turning this harsh confrontation into a Gog and Magog war are the extremist settlers in the West Bank. Not a day goes by without incidents of violence initiated by them against Palestinians, in addition to violent friction between Palestinians and Israeli forces. There is an impression that there is a party seeking an additional war similar to the 1948 war, and the expulsion of the Arab population from their homes. This news is bad and dangerous, and the government and security forces must address it as soon as possible. It is not only the Shin Bet that is concerned, but also the American administration, which warns Israel daily about what is happening in the West Bank.

In Lebanon, yesterday there was a change in Hezbollah's policy of fire. In addition to launching shells and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli army positions near the border, missiles were launched, some of which reached the Rosh Pina area [which is 14 km from the Lebanese border]. There were no casualties, but this is considered an indication that the fire was directed at civilians on a line further south. Israel is also currently attacking Hezbollah camps in areas far from the border. 

A Palestinian organization has claimed responsibility for firing rockets into the Galilee. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has been silent since the beginning of the war in Gaza, in contrast to his approach in the Second Lebanon War [the July 2006 war], and in previous battles between Hamas and Israel. He promised to give a speech next Friday.

According to reports by foreign journalists from Beirut, the Lebanese government and other parliamentary blocs are calling on Hezbollah and its representatives in Parliament to refrain from committing a mistake that would drag the country into a war similar to the 2006 war. They say that Lebanon cannot bear the kind of destruction caused by Israel, against the backdrop of the serious and ongoing economic crisis it is suffering from. The country is responsible for it.

Author Amira Hass

Under the guise of collective shock and horror due to the Hamas “massacre” on October 7, and under the guise of mourning, pain and fear for the fate of the kidnapped, settler militias are accelerating and expanding their attacks on Palestinian sheepherders’ communities in large areas of the West Bank, and are pushing Farmers were forced to leave their lands and farms, which happened more than once, with the support of the army. A gradual process that has been going on for almost 30 years, and is intensifying at this time: displacement in broad daylight, with the aim of completely “cleansing” about 60% of the West Bank lands from their original inhabitants.

“Individual” settlers arrive at every house, tent, and road that the discriminatory “Civil Administration” bureaucracy did not succeed in demolishing, and to every place where army orders did not succeed in preventing people from staying, where their villages existed before 1948, and they achieve this official goal: expanding areas of life. The Jews at the expense of the Palestinians.

On Saturday morning, a settler (soldier on leave) shot Bilal Saleh (40 years old), killing him, while he was out with his children to pick olives on their lands in the village of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus. Two hours earlier, settlers expelled Palestinians who had gone out to pick olives in the villages of Jalud and Qasra, east of Al-Sawiya, and beat one of them. When I began writing the article on Saturday afternoon, the residents of the old village of Zanotta gathered their belongings and left the caves in which they live in the southwest of the Hebron Mountains. Inconveniences, threats, and denial of access to their grazing lands, as well as dwindling herds of livestock, have reached a peak over the past weeks. Now, the threats are more direct than necessary.

Last Saturday, additional news reached me: settlers and their livestock stormed the village of Al-Qawawis in the south in the morning hours, and the frightened women and children fled. In the afternoon hours, settlers and soldiers stormed the village of Janba in Masafer Yatta, climbed onto the roof of the mosque, and destroyed the speakers. Settlers also attacked families living in areas between the “Metzudat Yehuda” checkpoint and the “Green Line,” and confiscated their mobile phones, which led to a 16-year-old young woman’s hand being broken. After that, three of those who were attacked were arrested. Did the army arrest them? Or the settlers? Not yet known.

At around 10 p.m., it was noticed that settlers were cutting down olive trees south of Nablus. At the same time, soldiers and settlers confiscated surveillance cameras from inside a chicken farm in Qusra. In nearby Jalud, a group of Israeli-Jews, some armed, danced and sang near houses. At approximately 11 o'clock on Saturday night, they stormed Susya, assaulted the families, and gave them 24 hours to leave their homes. In the village of Tuba, settlers, some of them armed, stormed residents' homes and vandalized what was inside them, after they overturned the furniture and disappeared private items. At approximately one o'clock in the morning, the Israeli Jews loaded 6 sheep belonging to a widowed woman in a southern village, in addition to gas and a telephone, and stole them. This is only a partial list, because there is no precise documentation.

This is not about “natural revenge,” or about defense against “rioters allied with Hamas,” as the settlers’ lawyers would have you believe: this is an organized, thoughtful, and very well-financed plan that has a pattern that reveals its existence. The police did not search for the attackers, close the files, or conduct investigations. The army stood aside at first, and then, its soldiers began to participate. The Public Prosecution did not care, and the ministers visited with a smile. This has been the behavior of the authorities since the 1970s, and there is no reason to change it today.

Thousands of residents of the region are alone exposed to the violence of this conspiracy. Militia members close the roads leading to the gatherings, destroy water tanks using four-wheel drive vehicles, and storm and threaten the residents of tents and caves at night, clearly demanding that they leave. In addition, they beat, destroy property, and are even arrested on their own initiative. They also destroy solar panels and agricultural buildings, time after time, if the first message does not arrive.

Everything they did, gradually, in secret, became more and more public, and without disturbance, over decades, is now being multiplied by 100. Our army was sent to defend the settlers, so the towns of the “Gaza envelope” were left behind. Its soldiers have been accompanying the settlers in recent weeks during their attacks and, on occasion, completing the mission: they also block roads, demolish buildings and destroy crops, threaten, shoot, wound and kill. The settlement project - which was founded from the beginning on systematically harming human rights and Palestinians, and treating them as inferior and unnecessary - is now celebrating its astonishing success, amid days of mourning and mourning.

Will the settlement expansion process that took place under the cover of the Oslo Agreement and the displacement process from Area C to the heart of Areas A and B slide? Or is the right question when? When will armed settler militias begin penetrating villages and municipal neighborhoods (not just Nablus, Awarta, or the outskirts of Al-Bireh) and threatening residents?

Amira Hass is an Israeli journalist and author, mostly known for her columns in the daily newspaper Haaretz covering Palestinian affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, where she has lived for almost thirty years

The World Bank said on Monday that it expects the average global oil price to reach $90 per barrel in the last quarter of 2023, and that the average price will fall to $81 during the year as a whole with a slowdown in demand. However, it warned that the escalation of the aggression against Gaza and the expansion of its area would push Prices skyrocket.

The latest report issued by the bank on commodity market expectations indicated that oil prices have risen by only 6% since the start of the aggression on Gaza, while the prices of agricultural commodities and most metals and other commodities “have moved only slightly.”

The Palestinian resistance, led by the “Izz al-Din al-Qassam” Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) - launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, in response to the aggression of the occupation forces and Israeli settlers against the Palestinians, and the continued raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque. Blessed.

This operation was followed by Israel launching a war on Gaza, which has entered its 24th day.

As the massacres against civilians continued, the toll of the aggression rose to more than 8,000 martyrs, including 3,347 children and 2,136 women, in addition to approximately 21,000 wounded, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

3 possibilities

The World Bank report indicates three possibilities for risks, based on conflicts in the region since the 1970s, with a gradual increase in risks and their consequences:

Possibility of slight disruption

The potential for “minor disruption” could push oil prices into a range of $93-$102 per barrel in the fourth quarter. The impact of this possibility is equivalent to the decrease in oil production that occurred during the war in Libya in 2011, ranging between 500 thousand and two million barrels per day.

Moderate disturbance probability

The potential for "moderate disruption" - roughly equivalent to the impact of the 2003 Iraq War - would reduce global oil supplies by between 3 million and 5 million barrels per day, pushing prices up to between $109 and $121 per barrel.

High potential for disruption

The potential for “major disruption” is similar to the impact of the Arab oil embargo in 1973, which led to a decline in global oil supplies, ranging between 6 million and 8 million barrels per day.

This would initially lead to prices rising to between $140 and $157 per barrel, a jump of up to 75%.

Scenarios of the economic impacts of the Israeli conflict and the Palestinian resistance

“If oil prices continue to rise, this will inevitably mean higher food prices,” said Ayhan Kosi, deputy chief economist at the World Bank.

He continued, "If there was a severe shock in oil prices, this would lead to the growth of food inflation, which has already risen in many developing countries," according to what Reuters reported.

A Bloomberg report also drew 3 possibilities for the impact of Israel's war on Gaza on the global economy, in terms of growth rates, inflation, and oil prices.

The report talked about the possibility that this war would push prices to rise between $3 to $4 if the war in Gaza subsides, and a 10% increase if the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian-backed factions in Syria enter the line, while prices may reach $150 if a war occurs. Direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.

Oil prices fell by about 3% - today, Monday - as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting and manufacturing data in China this week, the impact of which outweighed the support derived from tension in the Middle East.

In evening trading, Brent crude futures fell 2.8% to about $86.7 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.3% to $82.7 per barrel.

The Occupation Prisons Service said, “Young security prisoners in Megiddo Prison were transferred to solitary confinement after they attempted to lower the flag of the State of Israel raised on the section.”

Regarding the details of the event, the Prison Service indicated that the prisoners in the yoouth section of Megiddo Prison attempted to lower the Israeli flag, which was raised above the section, while they were leaving to shower.

The statement added that prison guards stormed the department and dragged the prisoners who participated in the event to solitary confinement, while talking about his intention to open a case against them.

Today, Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called on all international and international bodies to quickly intervene to stop the crimes of genocide against Palestinian civilians.

The Ministry affirmed, in a statement, that the absence of an international force that guarantees the enforcement of the law and obligates the perpetrators of crimes to immediately stop committing them, would turn the international justice that must be followed into mere appeals and begging the executioner, and this is considered a systematic failure of the international will for peace and the powers of the Security Council with regard to the protection of civilians wherever they may be. they were.

The Ministry condemned in the strongest terms all forms of incitement practiced by the Israeli occupation state and its various tools that attempt to demonize the Palestinian people and call for revenge without humanitarian or moral limits, or as a deterrent of law or conscience, and without giving any consideration to the lives of defenseless Palestinian civilians, and considered it an extension of the same colonialist, arrogant mentality that The Palestinian people have always suffered from it, wherever they are, and it has dealt with them as population groups that have no political, civil, or humanitarian rights, as the basis on which the occupational Israeli colonialism was based, which allowed itself to seize the land of the Palestinian, and then allowed him to be killed and facilitate his shooting by the occupation soldiers. And the colonizers and permissible his life, or expelling and displacing him.

In this context, the Ministry confirmed that the slogans and statements of Netanyahu, his ruling council, and his military staff are nothing more than justifications for killing more civilians and a license to bomb and destroy everything in the Gaza Strip, including a license to bomb hospitals, shelter centers, and schools for the displaced, under false pretexts and pretexts.

On Monday evening, the Israeli occupation forces set up military checkpoints at the intersection of the town of Arraba, Wadi Daouk and the entrance to the village of Jalboun, and intensified their presence south of Jenin.

According to local sources, the occupation soldiers stopped citizens’ vehicles, searched them, and checked their occupants’ cards at a military checkpoint that was set up at the Arraba town junction, and another on the Jenin-Nablus Road at the Fahma junction, and at the entrance to the village of Jalboun, northeast of Jenin.

The sources added that the occupation forces stormed the town of Ya'bad, raided a house for the Abu Qweider family, interrogated its residents, and also stormed the village of Jalboun.