Hundreds of families of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas continue to demonstrate in the capital, Tel Aviv, to demand the release of those kidnapped in Gaza and the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they accuse of “a miserable failure.”

Hundreds of families of Israeli hostages demonstrated last night (Saturday) in front of the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, carrying pictures of their relatives who were kidnapped by members of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the attack they launched on areas surrounding Gaza on October 7 of this year.

Since the sudden attack, dozens of Israelis have carried out an ongoing sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, pledging to continue their movement until Netanyahu’s resignation, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.

An Israeli army spokesman said today (Sunday) that Israel has confirmed that 212 hostages are being held in Gaza.

The demonstrators carried banners reading, “Free the hostages...Stop shooting,” and chanted slogans calling for the hostages to be freed.

The Israeli Prime Minister had stated that his government would use any means to locate the kidnapped people and return them to their country, while the Israeli National Security Advisor, Tzachi Haneghebi, said that the hostage issue would be the core of any discussion to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Last Friday, Hamas released two American hostages, a mother and her daughter, through Qatari mediation. Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida said in an audio message earlier that the number of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip ranges between 200 and 250, and he indicated that 22 prisoners lost their lives in Israeli raids.

Palestine TV reported on Sunday that 32 people, including a journalist, had been killed in Israeli raids on Jabalia, Rafah and Gaza City, according to what was reported by the Arab World News Agency.

Israel has been violently bombing the Gaza Strip since Saturday/Sunday night, after announcing the intensification of its strikes in preparation for a ground operation, with the war between the Hamas movement and the Hebrew state entering its third week, following an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement on Israel on the seventh of October. .

Yesterday, Saturday, Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hajari called on Gaza residents to move south, away from the bombing. He said in a briefing to Israeli journalists, addressing the residents of Gaza: “For your safety, move south... We will continue the attack in the Gaza City area and increase the attacks.”

Israel imposed an “absolute siege” on the Gaza Strip after the attack carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian factions on Israeli towns in the Gaza envelope area on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people in an attack that shocked Israel.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) confirmed on Sunday that 120 newborns placed in incubators are at risk due to the severe shortage of fuel needed to operate electricity generators in hospitals.

More than 1,750 children were killed out of 4,385 martyrs in the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

The Israeli bombing comes in response to an unprecedented attack in the history of the Hebrew state, carried out by the Hamas movement, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians.

After the attack, Israel tightened the siege originally imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007, and prevented supplies of fuel, water, food, and water.

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are suffering from a severe shortage of fuel, water and medicines.

UNICEF spokesman Jonathan Krekes told AFP, "We currently have 120 newborns in incubators, including 70 on ventilators. Of course, this makes us very concerned."

Children's and maternity departments in the Gaza Strip need energy as a primary source for treating children in incubators and helping them breathe to ensure their survival in light of their incomplete growth in the mother's womb.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that hospitals had run out of fuel to operate generators.

The international organization indicated that 1,000 dialysis cases in the Gaza Strip are also at risk if the generators stop working.

"death danger"

Twenty aid trucks crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, carrying food, water and medicine, but none of them carried fuel.

"Twenty trucks are a drop in the ocean of need right now in Gaza," said Michael Ryan, director of emergencies at the World Health Organization.

Officials confirm that the limited energy sources in the Gaza Strip are being preserved for use in operating generators for medical equipment.

"If infants are placed in incubators and connected to artificial respirators as is standard practice, the power outage makes us worry about their lives," the UNICEF spokesman said.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday that the lives of 130 children were “at risk of death” due to running out of fuel.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, Gaza witnesses about 160 births every day, noting that there are 50,000 pregnant women in the Strip, which has a population of 2.4 million people.

Although Israel says that its raids target targets belonging to the Hamas movement, the percentage of children killed in Israeli bombing is very high.

The Israeli bombing also caused the death of entire families, in addition to pregnant women.

According to a doctor working at Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, an attempt took place last Thursday to save a fetus whose mother died in an Israeli bombing of the family home, while she was in the seventh month of pregnancy.

The doctor said that the baby was born dead. Hours earlier, eight children were killed while sleeping in a house in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The families of detainees in Israeli occupation prisons sent a message to the international community, in which they expressed their concern for the fate of their children and their fear of the occupation singling them out and doubling its systematic crimes against them in an unprecedented manner.

In a press conference held in Al-Manara Square in the city of Ramallah, today, Sunday, the families of the detainees confirmed that since the seventh of this October, the occupation authorities have announced a series of retaliatory measures against the detainees, which included depriving them of their remaining rights and achievements that they have accumulated over decades of detention. The struggle, the simplest of which is the right to visit and provide treatment.

The letter stated: “Hence, we inform the world that, within about two weeks, the occupation prisons were transformed into Guantánamo prison. The occupation deprives our children of visits, lawyers and legal teams, stops treatment, and cuts off water and electricity. Today, our children face hunger after The occupation withdrew food supplies from them and reduced their meals.”

The families of the detainees noted that since the seventh of this month, their children have been subjected to severe beatings inside their sections, while the occupation prison administration has doubled the abuse and torture against them, while the international community is content with talking about the hostages held for two weeks in the Gaza Strip, and the world has never seen thousands of detainees in prisons. The occupation, for whom they were and still are, are mere numbers.

The families of the detainees stressed that their demand is the freedom of their children, especially female detainees, children, and the sick. They called on the international community and its human rights institutions to work immediately to achieve the justice they sing of, from which the Palestinians are excluded.

The families called on human rights institutions, led by the International Committee of the Red Cross, to act immediately and reveal the fate of the detainees, in light of the cessation of visits, and the failure to disclose the fate of the detainees and their places of detention, and for work to be done to release the Gazan workers who were prevented from returning to the Strip and were detained. In occupation army camps.

The more enemies fight, and the longer the war continues between them, the more similar and identified they become with each other. War usually begins, and each of the combatants has its own strategy and approach that is different from the other. Usually, the parties' goals are high at the beginning of the war. But the actual experience in the theater of war, as well as action and reaction, requires adaptation from the tactical to the strategic level.

Because of this process, and the efforts of each party to adapt to the other’s plans, the process of what is called biology (Symbiosis) appears. The war begins from non-convergence, and progresses until it reaches the line of contact, which is called the “stalemate.” At this stage, mutual exhaustion begins, and the war stops, but only after everyone realizes that victory has become impossible, and that the cost of the war has become so great that it exceeds the profits that were expected.

The origin of the word “symbiosis” is from the Greek language, which means “living together.” Do wars mean “living together”? It is possible, but in a bloody way, and under the rules of engagement that change with changing circumstances and changing generations. Therefore, it can be said that most wars usually occur between geographically neighboring powers. Does the degree and intensity of friction increase the shorter the distances? Do war and its causes have a direct relationship to distance? What about virtual digital distances?

Today, there is an internecine war between Russia and Ukraine, which are close together in geography, history, culture and civilization. Today, battles are also taking place in Palestine due to geographical and demographic proximity, and competition and conflict over the same geographical area.

Awareness of geographical distance differs between great powers and ordinary powers in the world. The reason for this difference is that the great powers have the ability and means to be present in any geographical location. It has interests in all parts of the globe. Hence its political, economic and military presence, as events threaten its supreme interests.

Gaza events

Despite the Baptist Hospital massacre in Gaza, President Joe Biden has not canceled his visit to Israel. He seems determined to provide absolute support for Israel. He adopted the Israeli version of the cause of the hospital disaster, which blames it on a missile fired by the “Islamic Jihad” organization from an area adjacent to the hospital.

Biden had previously ordered the deployment of two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. This is in addition to the mobilization of 2,000 Marines, and the preparation of special forces units from the “Delta” or “Team Seal-6” squad, which are forces specialized in special operations to liberate hostages. At the same time, the Commander of the Central Region, General Michael Corella, is coordinating with the Israeli military leadership on how to control the military situation, so that it does not get out of control, and to work seriously to activate deterrence, and even how to deal with it if all fronts are opened.

In return, Iran threatens a pre-emptive response. It warns of the war expanding to include the entire region. The Lebanese front has also heated up to an unusual degree since 2006, but without reaching the point of war, at least not yet. Groups linked to Iran also appear to be launching attacks on American sites in Iraq and Syria, as part of a warning to the United States against continuing to support Israel in its current war against Gaza. Thus, the management of the war has moved from the hands of local players, that is, from the strategic level, to the higher-ranking geopolitical level.

South Lebanon

Hezbollah is heating up the Lebanese front, in parallel with heating up the Gaza front. Thus, the rules of engagement have become variable and fluid, in a way that it can be said that there are no rules of engagement currently in place. What is the current state of the northern front?

* Bombing and counter-bombing by both teams. Evacuating the population from the Israeli side at a depth of 2 km inside occupied Palestine, in anticipation of any ground operation by Hezbollah.

* Israel also seeks to create a buffer zone inside Lebanese territory approximately 5 km deep, but with firepower. There is no massive Lebanese exodus from deep within the Lebanese front.

What if the Israeli ground operation begins in Gaza? Will he go to open the Lebanon front? If the front opens, how will President Biden implement his promise? What will the image of the front be like compared to the July 2006 war?

Talking about Israel fighting on two fronts is not correct now. It did not actually fight on two fronts except in the October War of 1973, on the Golan and Sinai at the same time. In the Six-Day War, Israel adopted the following principle: stabilizing one front, which is the Golan, and focusing the main effort on another front, which is the Sinai. After completing the Sinai front, Israel moved to fight on the Syrian front.

Current field facts indicate the following:

* Israel deployed most of its reserve forces on the Lebanese front. These forces were supported by armored forces, but of the third generation.

* But it deployed the most important armored forces (with the latest tanks), capable of maneuvering and striking, on the Gaza fronts in the north and east.

* Israel is preparing the ground for a ground operation that may be similar to the 2009 operation (Cast Lead), through heavy bombardment of the axes of the expected attack, which are divided into five axes as follows: from the north, through Beit Lahia and the Erez crossing. From the east, through Jabalia and Gaza City. From the far south, through the Rafah crossing.

*As for the southern Lebanese front, it will be as follows:

1. - No ground operation similar to the July 2006 war. This makes Hezbollah lose the advantage of territory and its awareness of the place.
2. 
   
3. - Accommodating Hezbollah’s bombing by responding in kind not only to its centers but also to all of Lebanon.
4. 
   
5. - Disturbing everything in the area of operations to deprive Hezbollah of using drones.
6. 
   
7. - Preventing the party from carrying out a ground operation, which would be preferred, after emptying the area of residents, and preparing in advance for the worst scenario, especially since the factor of surprise was in Gaza and not on the Lebanese front.
8. 
   
9. - But the greatest uncertainty remains about how the American forces (aircraft carriers) will behave if the Lebanese front is opened. Will it be limited to intelligence support, electronic warfare, and providing ammunition, or will there be direct intervention? In the event of direct American intervention, how will Iran respond?

Source: Al Sharq Al awsat

The United Nations said today (Sunday) that at least 42 percent of all housing units in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged as a result of Israel’s ongoing raids for the 16th day.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in a statement, a copy of which was received by Xinhua News Agency, that 15,100 housing units were destroyed, and 10,656 housing units were rendered uninhabitable.

The statement explained that another 139,000 housing units were subjected to minor to moderate damage, pointing to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, especially in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Al-Shujaiya, the area between Gaza and the Beach refugee camp, and Abasan Al-Kabira in Khan Yunis.

According to the statement, an assessment of the North Gaza Governorate area, conducted by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT), identified 927 destroyed buildings and 4,337 buildings that suffered moderate to severe damage, equivalent to about 15 percent of all buildings in that area.

The evaluation was based on comparing images collected on October 15, 2023 with those collected on May 1, 2023.

The statement highlighted the continuation of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip "unabated" at a time when the cumulative death toll has reached 4,385 Palestinians, of whom 62% are children and women, while more than 1,000 Palestinian people have been reported missing and are presumed to be trapped or died under the rubble.

He pointed out that according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 98 Palestinian families lost ten or more members, 95 Palestinian families lost between 6 and 9 members; 357 families lost between two and five members.

He stated that the number of deaths reported in Gaza in the current round of fighting is about 84 percent higher than the total number of deaths during the 50-day round of fighting in the summer of 2014 (2,251 Palestinian deaths).

The statement estimated the number of internally displaced people in Gaza at about 14 million people, with about 566,000 people living in 148 emergency shelters designated for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) under increasingly poor conditions.

According to the statement, health partners discovered cases of smallpox, scabies and diarrhea, which were attributed to poor sanitation conditions and consumption of water from unsafe sources.

He stated that infection rates of these diseases are expected to rise unless water and sanitation facilities are provided with electricity or fuel to resume their operations.

Overcrowding is increasing in UNRWA halls in the central and southern regions, with a severe shortage of basic resources such as water, food and medicine.

It is estimated that more than 15% of internally displaced people suffer from disabilities, but most shelters are not adequately equipped to meet their needs.

According to the UN statement, the shelters lack the necessary mattresses and medical beds, which causes ulcers and other medical problems that cannot be treated in non-sterile conditions, and the food distributed does not meet the needs of people who suffer from swallowing difficulties.

The total Palestinian death toll exceeded four thousand, and more than 13,000 were injured with various injuries in the Gaza Strip, as Israel's attacks on the Strip continued since October 7.

For its part, the Israeli army recently announced that it has so far notified 307 families of those killed and the families of 210 kidnapped people in Gaza, while the death toll in Israel since the beginning of the round of fighting with Hamas is about 1,400 people.

Multiple investigations debunk the Israeli army’s claims regarding the massive explosion that struck the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children.

On Tuesday, October 17, a massive airstrike hit the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians.

Initially, a top aide for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hananya Naftali, took responsibility for the attack, stating in a tweet:

“Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead. It’s heartbreaking that Hamas is launching rockets from hospitals, Mosques, schools and using civilians as human shields.”

The tweet was quickly deleted, however, and a new Israeli version emerged.

In the following hours, Israel said that the mass killing of Palestinians in Al-Ahli was a result of a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad.

Since then, many attempted to answer the question: who bombed the Christian medical center?

Below, are the summaries of three different investigations that refuted the Israeli version of events. They also prove that the Israeli narrative on the unprecedented massacre of civilians was, in fact, fabricated.

1. Forensic Architecture

A joint analysis conducted by the independent university-based research agency, Forensic Architecture, Al-Haq and Earshot.ngo “casts significant doubt” on the Israeli account. 

It added, 

“In reviewing our analysis, investigator & explosive weapons expert @CobbSmith  agrees the fragmentation patterns may indicate the projectile came from the northeast—the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter—and not from the west, as claimed by the IOF.”

According to Forensic Architecture, the “analysis of the crater size suggests a munition larger than eg a Spike or Hellfire missile commonly used by IOF drones.”

The Israeli army’s claim that the missile that hit the hospital came from the south-west was also refuted by Earshot.ngo, which performed independent audio analysis. 

Earshot also analyzed the recording released by the Israeli army of an alleged exchange between members of Hamas implicating the Islamic Jihad in the attack. According to Earshot, “this recording was manipulated and cannot be used as a credible source of evidence”.

Another investigation, carried out by Sanad Agency, found out that all the rockets launched toward Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip before the attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome system.

“The investigation reveals that Israeli statements seem to have misinterpreted the evidence to build a story that one of the flashes recorded by several sources was a rocket misfire,” Al Jazeera reported, adding:

“Based on a detailed review of all videos, Sanad’s analysts conclude that the flash Israel attributed to a misfire was in fact consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a missile fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it in mid-air.” 

3. Ammunition Specialist

In an interview with the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper, retired military officer and ammunition specialist Engin Yiğit said that,

“Bombs with proximity fuses or proximity sensors may not create craters where they explode.”

This was a response to the Israeli army’s imagery, claiming that the explosion could not have been the result of an airstrike, due to the absence of visible deep craters. 

“The hospital attack in Gaza may have been similar. How high the bomb explodes can be set by the user,” Yiğit noted.

Yiğit went as far as providing an early hypothesis, suggesting that it is strongly possible that the attack was carried out with an MK-84 guided bomb.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus announced on Sunday that Israel will confront Hamas "above and below the ground."

Conricus added, in statements he made in an interview with Fox News and published on the “X” platform: “We have prepared the necessary measures to get rid of it (Hamas),” according to the Arab World News Agency.

The Israeli army also confirmed that 212 hostages had been confirmed in Gaza, and added that the strikes carried out by Israel last night killed dozens of Palestinian resistance fighters, including the deputy commander of the Hamas missile forces.

On the northern front, spokesman Daniel Hajari said in a press briefing that Israel continues to attack militants trying to launch missiles across the Lebanese border, and that it bombed a site in Lebanon from which a missile was fired at an Israeli plane.

Yesterday, Saturday, Hamas confirmed the killing of a member of its political bureau in Gaza, Osama Al-Muzaini “Abu Hammam,” during the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Britain, Hossam Zomlot, said he still believes that Israel is responsible for the bloody attack on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, which killed at least 500 people.

Zomlot added to the British "Sky News" network that the Baptist Hospital incident "is not the only thing that the press should focus on," pointing out that the St. Porphyrius Church was targeted one day after the hospital was targeted.

The diplomat considered, "The Palestinians feel invisible. There is massacre and horror everywhere, and the situation is unprecedented."

In his speech, Zomlot touched on the Hamas attacks that claimed the lives of Israeli civilians, offering condolences to the families of the victims, but he went on to say: “While the Palestinian authorities condemned the killing of Israeli civilians, he did not hear the same from Israel regarding the Palestinian victims.”

He added: "Our lives matter. All human beings are equal."

The National Arab Baptist Hospital, located in Gaza City, witnessed a bloody attack on Tuesday, sparking a widespread wave of condemnation.

While Hamas held Israel responsible for the attack, which the Palestinian Ministry of Health says led to the killing of hundreds of civilians, the Israeli army rejects this claim, claiming that the explosion resulted from a “failed missile launch” by Jihad movement activists.

Western reports also supported the Israeli story, accusing Palestinian factions of being behind the tragedy.

Source: Sky News

An analysis published on Axios focused on President Biden's dual-track approach to the Gaza crisis - with Biden standing firmly alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in public while trying to stymie him in private.

According to Axios, the big picture is that the United States supports Israel but does not want to be drawn into another large or long-term military operation in the Middle East. Dealing with this needle is the biggest challenge facing the Biden administration at the present time.

Zooming out: Biden set the tone for the American response in his speech on October 10, when he compared Hamas to ISIS.

Axios added that the speech was broadcast during prime time in Israel, and was one of the most watched television events in Israel's history.

According to Axios, former US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides told Axios that the matter was well received among Israeli political leaders and the Israeli public, which gave Biden credibility at the beginning of the crisis.

“If you love Biden or hate Biden, you can't complain about his commitment to Israel,” Nides said.

ِAxios added that Biden used this credibility carefully. He and Netanyahu have a fraught history, but during their calls — which happen nearly every day — Biden avoided direct pressure on the prime minister, according to US officials. Instead, ask questions, which is a gentler way to raise the same concerns.

The Latest: About 20 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza today after Biden successfully lobbied Egypt and Israel to agree to allow aid in during his visit to Israel.

Axios emphasized that one of Biden's main goals is to prevent the conflict in Gaza from turning into a regional war. Sending aircraft carriers to the region is part of this effort, as are the messages the United States has sent to Iran and Hezbollah — both publicly and secretly.

Axios emphasized that US officials said that Biden asked Netanyahu several times about his plans to avoid escalation that would push Hezbollah into war.

Biden said he asked Netanyahu and other Israeli officials about alternatives to a ground invasion of Gaza and whether they had a plan for what to do in Gaza after the dismantling of Hamas.

They told him they didn't have one yet.

Axios reported that an American official told said that Biden tried, from a position of love and friendship, to tell the Israelis: “Think in the long term and do not make the same mistakes we made after September 11.”

Axios continued, regarding the current situation: Biden took this strategy to the next level with his trip to Israel. The visit was an unprecedented show of support on the ground in a time of war — and gave Biden a chance to reach out privately to the Israelis to get them to take the steps the United States wanted.

Israeli and American officials said that Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the Israelis that it was in Israel's interest to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. They said doing so would help maintain international support for the Israeli operation against Hamas.

The Israelis agreed. A senior Israeli official told Axios that after supporting Biden, in word and deed, they were unable to refuse.

Behind the scenes: Biden himself is the driving force behind much of this strategy, say people familiar with the process.

His Oct. 10 speech “was all Joe Biden,” according to a source familiar with the speech-writing process, who said Biden shot down his aides’ attempts to soften the language or balance the messaging.

Biden told reporters aboard Air Force One that many people on the president's team did not want him to go to Israel, but he decided to do so.

Between the lines: Biden is dusting off the same playbook he used to broker an 11-day ceasefire during the May 2021 Gaza war, two US officials said.

But this time the public-private sector strategy will take more time to implement. Biden's senior advisers know there will be no ceasefire anytime soon. And they don't pay for one. The direct goal is to influence Israel's movements on the ground.

What's next: Biden will not be able to stop the war, but he will likely continue to use his popularity and credibility among Israelis to influence its course.

"There's a reason there are posters of Joe Biden all over Israel," Axios concluded. "Biden has managed to take the moral high ground when it comes to the Israeli people and the Jewish community in the United States, and he will use them as he sees fit." As Nides said.

Al-Asad base in Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, where American forces are located, was subjected to a missile attack today (Sunday).

An officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi army, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Xinhua News Agency that at least two missiles fell at the Ain al-Asad base in the town of al-Baghdadi in Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, at dawn today, resulting in minor material losses.

This is the second attack on the base. Last Thursday, it was subjected to a missile attack claimed by an armed group calling itself (Islamic Resistance in Iraq).

After the events in Gaza, the Iraqi bases where American forces were present as advisors and trainers were attacked by missiles and drones. These are the Al-Baghdadi bases in Anbar, the Victory bases near Baghdad International Airport, and the Harir bases in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

The American website "Axios" said today that the Israeli army "found a USB key containing instructions for producing a cyanide dispersal device on the body of a Hamas activist who participated in the October 7 attack, according to Israeli officials and a copy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Israeli secret.

According to Axios, it is unclear whether Hamas has any serious or operational plan to use crude chemical weapons, or whether the movement has attempted to produce them.

The American website reported that the “Preventing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” department in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent, on Thursday, a secret telegram to Israeli embassies in dozens of capitals around the world, including Washington, under the title: “Hamas intends to use chemical weapons.”

Axios said it was unable to independently confirm the veracity of the Hamas file, but Israeli officials have previously said they “will not share information with allies if they do not believe it is true and reliable.”

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on Axios' questions, while a Hamas spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in the cable that Israeli intelligence traced the origin of the document to an Al-Qaeda guide issued in 2003.

“This conclusion indicates Hamas’s intention to use chemical weapons as part of its terrorist attack against civilians,” the cable claims.

The State Department sent the original file with a description in English to its embassies and in the telegram asked them to transmit it privately to the governments hosting the embassies and not to use it publicly in any way.

In the cable, the Israeli Foreign Ministry asked its diplomats to tell their counterparts that Hamas wants to “launch attacks in the same way that ISIS tried to do.”

Israel has privately and publicly shared documents it says it has found about dead Hamas attackers since October 7, including information that provided more insight into the group's planning.

According to the website, it is alleged that many of these documents, which Hamas classified as “top secret,” included operational plans to attack Israeli villages and military bases near the border with explicit orders to kill the largest possible number of people and take hostages to Gaza.

Source: Axios

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published a circulated letter signed by more than 400 American officials, both Muslims and Jews, criticizing the Biden administration for “neglecting to support the Palestinians.”

“Millions of lives are threatened,” the letter says. “Our families, our histories, and our religious traditions are deeply rooted in Jerusalem, Israel, and Palestine. As children of survivors of slavery, the Holocaust, colonialism, war, and oppression, we feel compelled to raise our voices at this moment.”

The letter continued: “We join members of Congress and the international community in condemning the horrific war crimes committed by Hamas, but at the same time we mourn the Palestinian civilians who are experiencing catastrophic suffering at the hands of the Israeli government.”

She added: “As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reviving generational fear of genocide and ethnic cleansing. We are tired of leaders who push us to blame each other, and to exploit our pain and history to set political agendas and justify violence.”

The letter also stated: “If there is bleeding, can we direct our efforts to put an end to the status quo of occupation and violence, and find ways to achieve a sustainable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians?”

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the officials signed the letter without revealing their identity “out of concern for our personal safety, and for fear of the risk of violence and the impact on our professional credibility.”

These words are also echoed in the Senate, where 30 of its members wrote to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to express their support for the administration’s steps to eliminate Hamas so far, but also to “urge him to work for a ceasefire because the solution will not be achieved by military means.”

Source: Annahar al Araby + Yedioth Ahronoth

Last night, settlers uprooted 30 olive trees and grapes, destroyed water tanks, cut off solar energy extensions, and stole other equipment, near the Shaab al-Buttam area in Masafer Yatta, south of the city of Hebron.

According to local sources, settlers from the "Avigal" settlement stormed the Bedouin community of "Umm Tarit" near Sha'ab al-Buttam, and attacked the citizens' property. They also contaminated water wells owned by the citizen Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Jabarin.

The sources indicated that the settlers threatened the citizens of Khirbet Maghayir al-Ubaid with deportation and death, after they searched caves and homes and terrorized children.

Settlers also destroyed a number of olive trees belonging to the citizen Farid Hamamda, in the Fatih Sidra area of Musafer Yatta.

Today, Sunday, Israeli occupation forces attacked citizens and their property in the West Bank.

In Nablus, the occupation forces assaulted and beat a citizen while he was picking olives in the Al-Mantara area in the village of Kafr Qalil, south of the city.

The same sources added that the citizen suffered a broken foot and bruises in various parts of his body as a result of the attack.

In Salfit, the occupation bulldozers bulldozed dozens of dunams west of the town, in order to build a colonial road.

Meanwhile, the occupation soldiers stationed in the military tower located on the outskirts of the “Arael” settlement opened fire and forced the farmers and olive pickers to leave their lands.

A Syrian civilian worker was killed today (Sunday) as a result of an Israeli air strike that targeted Damascus and Aleppo airports, causing them to be out of service, according to what Syrian official media reported.

The Syrian News Agency (SANA) quoted a military source as saying, “At approximately 5:25 a.m. today, the Israeli enemy simultaneously carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, and from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the international airports of Damascus and Aleppo, which led to It led to the martyrdom of a civilian worker at Damascus Airport, the injury of another worker, and the material damage to the two airports’ runways, which led to them being out of service.”

Al-Mayadeen TV had previously reported that an Israeli missile bombardment targeted the airports of the capital, Damascus, and the city of Aleppo in northern Syria early today (Sunday).

The report stated that Syrian air defenses repelled the Israeli missile attack on both airports.

Today (Sunday) is the third attack targeting Aleppo Airport and the second targeting Damascus Airport this month. This comes amid escalating tension in the region in light of the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Israel reportedly rejected an offer by the Al-Qassam Brigades Resistance group to release two Israeli women “with no compensation”. But why?

Hours after the release of two American hostages held in Gaza by the Al-Qassam Brigades Resistance group, Al-Qassam offered to release two Israeli women, “with no compensation” – meaning without demanding any Israeli concession, for example allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

Israel, according to Al-Qassam, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, has rejected the offer. Why?

On Friday, October 20, Israel released two US citizens, Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Raanan. Al-Qassam, then, said in a statement that their release was a ‘humanitarian gesture’ to prove ‘the deceit’ of the Joe Biden Administration.

That reference was specifically made to tell Biden that the Resistance in Gaza are not bloodthirsty killers as the US administration and many in the mainstream media have painted it. 

Consistent with their earlier action, Al-Qassam, the following day, released this statement: 

“We informed our Qatari brothers yesterday evening that we would release all of the following: Nurit Yitzhak Card No. 001145416 (and) Yocheved Lifshitz Card No. 005236955, For compelling humanitarian reasons and without compensation; However, the occupation government refused to receive them.”

Two Questions

First, why did Israel refuse the release of the two Israelis but allowed the release of two Americans?

The release of the two US citizens simply happened because Israel could not afford the repercussions, in terms of US-Western public opinion, of refusing to save the lives of two Americans.

However, releasing two Israelis is quite problematic for the official Israeli propaganda, which is predicated on the idea that the current deadly Israeli war on Gaza is necessary to save the lives of over 200 prisoners and hostages. 

Therefore, if civilian hostages are released, one of the main pretenses of the Israeli war will lose its appeal. 

Second, why did Al-Qassam make the announcement?

Since the Resistance attack on southern Israel on October 7, Israeli society has been divided into two camps, a large one that wants to go to war for the sake of revenge, and a small one that felt compelled by the desire to free prisoners and captives, currently held by the Resistance in Gaza. 

By releasing information about the rejection by Israel of Al-Qassam’s offer, the Palestinian group wanted to deepen the divide in Israeli society, and place the focus on the release of the hostages, not the war for the sake of war.

Another reason is a strategic one: The Palestinian Resistance is aware of the massive coverage the Israeli war on Gaza is receiving on international media. 

Every time a hostage is released, the media worldwide will be compelled to cover it, thus incrementally fortifying the original message of the Resistance, that the ISIS-like image created by Israel and its allies of those fighting in Gaza is completely wrong, because ISIS did not release hostages, and certainly did not treat them humanely. 

The following statement was released by Zaher Jabareen, Hamas official in charge of the prisoners’ file, after the writing of this brief analysis. It reads as follows:

“Our offer to release the two female prisoners comes in accordance with the ethics of the resistance.“ Thousands of Palestinians are detained in Israeli prisons without charge or trial. “We are in contact with our brothers inside the prisons; more than 6000 prisoners had all their achievements withdrawn, and they are being abused.“ Civilians are not a bargaining chip, and when field conditions are available, we will release them.”

Source: The Palestine Chronicle

Considering the existing fears that some Middle East nations might reduce, or even cut oil supplies to the West, al-Sudani’s statement on energy supplies received particular attention in western media. 

The Iraqi leader reportedly warned that supplies of Middle East oil to international markets could be disrupted if the war between Israel and Palestinian Resistance in Gaza escalates to the point of involving other countries in the region.

The conflict will “impact global security, escalate regional conflict, jeopardize energy supplies, exacerbate economic crises, and invite further conflicts,” the Associated Press quoted al-Sudani as saying on Saturday in Cairo.

Al-Sudani called for an immediate cease-fire and a prisoner swap to bring an end to the bloodshed. He argued against displacing Palestinian civilians out of the Gaza Strip, saying, “the Palestinians have no other place but their land.”

His position is consistent with the position of all important political actors in the region, namely Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. 

The Iraqi Prime Minister said that the current crisis could have been averted if United Nations Security Council resolutions against Israel’s illegal settlement policies in the occupied Palestinian territory had been respected. 

Al-Sudani’s warning comes amid western concerns that Middle East countries could cut off oil exports to the West in response to a possible Israeli ground offensive in besieged Gaza. 

I was shocked when I read the headline in Haaretz. It quoted Sari Nusseibeh as saying "There is no Room for Two", meaning two states between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan.

What? Has Nusseibeh abandoned his support for a solution based on coexistence between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine?

I read his long interview with Akiva Eldar and calmed down. Calmed down and immediately got angry. Because the heading was a gross distortion. It had no bearing on what was said in the interview. And since many people read only the heading and do not bother to study the text underneath, this is a deception.

How do such things happen? In Haaretz, as in most other newspapers, the rule is that the headings are not composed by the writers, but by the page editor. This may lead to utterly misleading headings – either through ignorance, negligence, or malice.

This time the matter and the person are too important to pass over in silence.

Fair disclosure: I like Sari Nusseibeh very much. We once walked arm in arm at the head of a demonstration in the Old City of Jerusalem. We shared a peace prize in Germany (the Lev Kopelev Prize of 2003, named after the exiled Russian human rights activist.)

I knew his father, Anwar Nusseibeh, a true Palestinian aristocrat, who served during the Jordanian occupation as a Jordanian Minister of Defense and ambassador to the Court of St. James. Soon after the start of the Israeli occupation, I asked him in confidence whether he would prefer to go back to Jordanian rule or have an independent Palestinian state. He told me in no uncertain terms that he preferred the latter.

Sari enjoyed a British education along with the Palestinian. Some people see him as aloof, even overbearing, but I know him as a sensitive, modest person. He is very courageous, both morally and physically, frequently voicing very unpopular views. As a result he has been beaten up several times.

Five years ago, in cooperation with the Israeli Admiral (and current minister without portfolio) Ami Ayalon, he published an unambiguous peace plan, envisioning the establishment of a Palestinian state side by side with Israel, with the border based on the Green Line and with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The plan was not very different from the earlier Gush Shalom peace plan or the later Geneva Initiative.

Therefore I was shocked when I saw the headline. Could it be that Nusseibeh has forsaken the central plank of his outlook?

In the interview, Nusseibeh says something entirely different. Not only does he not say that "there is no room for two", but on the contrary: he lauds the Two-State Solution as the best practical solution. However, he adds a warning to the Israelis: because of the rapid expansion of the settlements, time for the realization of this solution is running out. He even fixes a time limit: the end of 2008.

This amounts to an ultimatum: If the Israelis miss this opportunity, which is still there, and if they continue to accelerate the settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Palestinians will turn their backs on this solution. Instead, they will accept the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories to Israel, i.e. Israeli rule over the entire country between the sea and the river, and struggle for equal civil rights within this state. He calls this a "default alternative".

Nusseibeh is holding the demographic pistol against the temple of the Israeli public. He is telling them, in effect: the Palestinians will be a large minority in such a state. Their struggle for equality will compel Israel, in the end, to accord them full citizenship. Within a few years the Arab citizens will constitute the majority. Exit the Zionist dream. Exit the Jewish State. (Tzipi Livni, by the way, is saying much the same thing.)

Nusseibeh knows the Israelis well. He knows that the demographic obsession drives them mad. The demographic demon pursues them in their dreams. The frantic discussion of this subject dominates the Israeli discourse. He believes, therefore, that this threat will compel the Israelis to hurry and agree to the Two-State Solution. That is the main objective of the interview.

With all due respect and friendship for Nusseibeh, I believe that this tactic of his is unwise. Very unwise.

In his eyes, and in the eyes of some intellectuals on both sides, there are only two possibilities: the "Two-State Solution" or the "One-State Solution". A Palestinian state alongside Israel or a bi-national State, where equality between all the citizens, Jews and Arabs, is assured.

That is a dangerous misconception.

The "One-State Solution" is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. The One-State idea is not a solution, but an anti-solution. It is a recipe for an ongoing bloody conflict. Not a dream, but a nightmare.

There is no chance at all that the Jewish public will agree, in this generation or the next, to live as a minority in a state dominated by an Arab majority. 99.99% of the Jewish population will fight against this tooth and nail. The demography will not stop haunting them, but on the contrary, it will push them to do things which are unthinkable today. Ethnic cleansing will become a practical agenda. Even moderate Israelis will be driven into the arms of the fascist right-wing. All means of oppression will become acceptable when the Jewish majority adopts the aim of causing the Arabs to leave the country before they have a chance of becoming the majority.

True believers in the bi-national state idea will say: OK, let it be. We shall have one or two generations of bloodshed, of a state of civil war, but in the end we shall persuade or compel the Jews to accord the Palestinians citizenship and equality. But what normal people would take such a risk?

The real choice is, therefore: the "Two-State Solution" or the "Ethnic Cleansing Solution".

In the best case, the bi-national state is impractical. I assume that Nusseibeh, too, knows this. In his eyes, the threat is a tactical move. He goes even further and suggests carrying out the threat at once in Jerusalem.

The Arab residents of East Jerusalem are not Israeli citizens and cannot take part in Knesset elections. However, they have the right to vote in municipal elections. Until now they have boycotted these elections, because participating would imply recognition of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

Nusseibeh raises the possibility of the Arab residents ending the boycott and putting up an election list of their own. They amount to roughly a third of the city’s population, and the Jewish majority is divided between the orthodox and the secular, so the Arabs would be able to decide who would be the next mayor. Nusseibeh does not reject the idea of running for the job himself. He believes that this would frighten the Jews out of their wits.

The real danger inherent in this tactic is not that it would convert people into accepting the bi-national state idea. The danger is far greater and much more immediate.

The main danger is this: If the whole country is about to become a bi-national state anyway, there is no further reason to restrict Jewish settlement anywhere at all.

Nusseibeh argues that time for the Two-State Solution is running out because of Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank, and especially in East Jerusalem. But it is precisely the One-State idea that opens the floodgates to unrestricted Jewish settlement. In theory, it also allows the Palestinians to adopt this option – but even mentioning this possibility reveals its absurdity.

The real struggle today is about the settlements. It is being waged all over the country, for every settlement, every "outpost", every by-pass road, every housing project. It is a titanic struggle that is being fought out everywhere, from the "Har Homa" settlement in Jerusalem to the "Separation Wall’ (which is nothing but a means for enlarging the settlements, as even the Israeli Supreme Court now admits.)

The Nusseibeh tactic pulls the rug out from under all those of us who fight against the land grab and settlements – from the courageous activists who are daily demonstrating and being injured in the struggle against the Wall, to our friends abroad, who address public opinion in their own countries.

The "vision" of the bi-national state belongs to the far future, but the immediate result of campaigning for it is to remove all obstacles to the settlement effort.

This is also the objective which Ehud Olmert, with his devious maneuvering, has in mind. He proclaims loudly that he is in favor of the Two-State Solution, but only a fool would take him seriously, considering what he is doing on the ground.

Two weeks ago, his people leaked the peace plan which he is submitting to the Palestinian Authority. An innocent, even positive plan.

Its main ingredients: Israel will return all the occupied territories to the Palestinian state, except 7% of the area, where the settlement blocs are located. In return, Israel will turn over to the Palestinians areas of Israel proper, equal to 5.5% of the West Bank. In addition, Israel will allow the Palestinians the use of a passage to be opened between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. That will make up for the difference between the areas of the land swap.

So where is the sting? The devil, as the saying goes, is hiding in the small details. The accord would be a "shelf agreement". It will be implemented in the future. When? Ah, well…

The occupied territories in the West Bank will be returned to the Palestinians when the Palestinian Authority proves that it is able to control them. Who will decide? We, of course.

The Israeli areas that are to be turned over to the Palestinians, in return for the areas which will be annexed to Israel, are located alongside the Gaza Strip. When will they be turned over? After the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip has been overthrown and the Palestinian Authority asserts itself there. The same applies to the Gaza-West Bank passage. When will that happen? As the ancient Romans said: "ad calendas graecas", on the Greek Calends. (In the Roman calendar, the Calends were the first days of the month – the Greek calendar had no Calends.)

The real sting became apparent when Olmert’s "confidants" explained that immediately after the acceptance of the "shelf agreement" by the Palestinians, Israel will start to accelerate the settlement activities, since – according to the agreement – the settlement blocs will in any case become part of Israel. Even the Americans could not object to that, after the Palestinians themselves have agreed to the annexation of these areas to Israel.

Simply put: all these agreements are empty words, and only one thing is practical and immediate: the settlements will be ceaselessly expanded.

In Christian mythology, the devil has a cloven hoof. Sometimes this hoof shows under his long robe, giving him away.

Our devil’s hoof is the settlements. While scrutinizing any idea or plan, one should lift the hem of the robe and see what it is standing on.

-Uri Avnery, an Israeli writer and peace activist, founded the Gush Shalom movement. He had served three terms as an MP at the Knesset. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

It is agreed that liquidating the Palestinian cause is impossible, and the evidence for this is demonstrated by the facts of a century of unequal power conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, as proven by all Arab-Israeli wars and settlements.

What is not agreed upon - until now - is that the impossibility of liquidation automatically leads to a settlement, which is why the terms no war, no peace, the stagnation of the political path, the absence of a horizon, and other terms that lead to the same meaning have appeared in many eras.
The current stage that is dated, with the wars on the southern and northern Lebanese fronts, the wars in Gaza and the West Bank, and what is usually described as the blockage of the horizon for settlement, especially after the collapse of Oslo, and the inability of the new normalization to open the horizon for settlement through negotiations.

The current stage has witnessed significant developments that have brought back to the picture the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at its peak, in parallel with the return of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with different titles, contents, and mechanisms, such as the possibilities of opening the northern front, leading to a regional war. If it does not ignite comprehensively, it is ignited by threats. As for the countries that have normalized ties with Israel, the most important of which in this regard are Egypt and Jordan, an existential threat has been imposed on them through mass displacement, which does not only change maps but also changes societies, and if even some of it occurs, it will not lead to just a crisis but rather to war.

The Arab Middle East has become an arena of conflict, perhaps having a stronger impact on the world than any war taking place on another arena, such as Ukraine. This is why the Mediterranean is crowded with American aircraft carriers and their satellites, and what distinguishes the Middle East is that it has one country that is an essential member of NATO - Turkey - while Israel, even if it is not a member, enjoys more privileges than that. In the Middle East as well, there is an old issue that fades for a while only to flare up again, and the “pragmatic and superficial” world did not believe us when we said that the Palestinian issue, if it remains unresolved, is the permanent reactor for producing wars, and it is also the producer of the motives for local, regional and international polarization, which if it calms down militarily, it will not calm down Politically and tactically, this made the entire region feel like wildfire lit by a match.

The impossibility of liquidating the Palestinian issue, and the failure of all settlement attempts has many reasons. In the matter of liquidation, there is no way to achieve it, with the presence of more than fifteen million Palestinians without a political identity and without a state, and in the matter of settlement, America and those within its orbit played the central, direct role in not achieving it. It continues to insist on remaining the godmother of the effort made for it, while at the same time it continues to sponsor the Israeli rejection of it, in a two-way performance that has so far only produced a series of wars for which Israel has not escaped paying.

We are now on the verge of the third week of the Gaza war, which Israel calls “Iron Swords,” confirming the Hebrew state’s embrace of the sword. On the other hand, we are facing American announcements that talk about the two-state solution being the surest recipe for removing the region from a state of turmoil and permanent combustion, and what not America realizes that talking a lot about solutions without actively and sincerely striving to achieve them is nothing but adding fuel to the fire and giving the Hebrew-speaking American power a wide range of movement to continue its wars against the Palestinians and those with them, because the Palestinians and all Arabs are no longer interchangeable. An ineffective currency, stamped with the term “two-state solution,” which, as President Biden once said, will not be achieved in the long or longer term.

And all the Arabs... the normalizers and the abstainers do not accept that their countries are islands of individual or collective displacement of the Palestinian people, which requires America to replace the word “farthest” with “closest,” as the luxury of time makes it difficult today and impossible tomorrow.

The Arabs have once again become involved in the danger resulting from the war, and they must use all the pressure cards available to them, which are many and heavy, not to annihilate anyone, but to achieve justice that is supported by international legitimacy and its decisions... Thus, it will be difficult for America to hold truth and falsehood in one grip. .

Today, Sunday, dozens of settlers stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, while the Israeli occupation police prevented students studying inside Al-Aqsa schools from reaching them.

According to local sources, the settlers carried out provocative tours in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa and performed Talmudic rituals.

These sources added that the occupation forces have been refusing since the morning hours to allow students to enter the Riad Al-Aqsa schools located inside the courtyards of the mosque, and have searched them and tortured a number of them.

This coincides with dozens of settlers storming the courtyards of the mosque, in conjunction with tightening procedures at its doors, preventing worshipers from entering, and allowing only the elderly to do so.

Last night and at dawn on Sunday, the occupation forces arrested at least 65 citizens of the West Bank, including former prisoners, as part of the comprehensive aggression against our people and systematic mass revenge operations.

The arrests were concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah, Hebron, and Jerusalem, while the rest of the arrests were distributed in the governorates of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Tubas, and Salfit.

In Jenin, on Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested four young men from the town of Kafr Rai, south of the city.

Thus, the number of arrest cases since the seventh of October of this year has risen to more than (1,130) cases, and this statistic does not include workers or detainees from Gaza, as institutions have not been able to date to reach accurate and clear numbers of detained workers, as well as detainees from Gaza.

A young man was martyred and several others were injured, at dawn on Sunday, after occupation aircraft targeted a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp.

The director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, reported that a young man, whose identity is not yet known, was killed, and 3 citizens were injured, one of them with shrapnel, after Israeli occupation aircraft targeted Al-Ansar Mosque in Al-Damj neighborhood in the camp.

A young man was killed by occupation bullets during the storming of the town of Qabatiya on Sunday morning.

In Nablus, a young man was killed, at dawn on Sunday, by Israeli occupation forces’ bullets, while seven others were injured, during confrontations that broke out in the town of Tammoun, northeast of Nablus, and in the neighboring town of Tubas.

Eyewitnesses reported that the townspeople confronted an occupation army force that stormed the town of Tammoun, amid heavy firing of live bullets, which led to the young man Adnan Abu Helmi (20 years old) being wounded by a bullet in the head, as a result of which he became a martyr.

The witnesses added that seven other young men were injured of varying degrees in clashes that broke out in the town of Tubas.

Mosques in Tubas Governorate mourned over loudspeakers the martyr Abu Helmi, and announced a strike and the closure of schools there to mourn the martyr.

The young man, Malik Jamil Sharqawi (26 years old), was killed by a bullet in the heart, this Sunday morning, and three others were injured by live bullets, during the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of the Askar camp, east of Nablus.

Local sources reported that violent confrontations broke out after the storming of the camp, which led to three others being injured by bullets, and their wounds were described as stable.

The same sources added that the occupation forces arrested the citizen, Muhammad Masimi, after they raided and searched his house during the storming of the camp.

In Jenin camp, the occupation forces threatened to assassinate the Commander-in-Chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Muhammad Abu Al-Baha, if he did not surrender himself immediately.

His father stated in an interview with the correspondent of “Al-Quds” He complies with the instructions of the army that attempted to assassinate him a month ago in an operation in the Jenin camp that resulted in the death of three Palestinians.

Abu Al-Baha, 34 years old, from Jenin camp, is a liberated prisoner who spent several years in the occupation prisons, and who assassinated his brother Muhammad, the leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, during the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

For the 16th day in a row, Israel continued to bomb residential buildings and mosques in the Gaza Strip without any regard to international and humanitarian laws that criminalize the killing of civilians. On Saturday alone, about 200 Palestinians  were killed and more than 400 other Palestinians were injured.

Medical sources said that the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip last night led to the death of more than 50 Palestinians.

The occupation warns Gazans to leave the northern Strip

On Saturday, the Israeli occupation army delivered a message via drones to residents of northern Gaza warning them to leave their areas and head south of the Strip, warning that whoever does not comply with these orders will be considered “an accomplice of terrorists, and may be killed.”

The warning was titled: “Urgent Warning,” and indicated that “anyone who chooses to remain in the northern Gaza Strip, and not go to the south in accordance with the evacuation order, will be considered an accomplice to the terrorists, and may be killed.”

Al-Qassam: Israel refused to receive two female prisoners without compensation

The Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman said: “We informed the Qataris, yesterday evening, that we would release two Israeli female prisoners for compelling humanitarian reasons and without compensation, but the occupation government refused to receive them.”

By Hani Al Masri

The shock of the Israelis caused by the “Al-Aqsa Flood” military operation on October 7, 2023, at the hands of the Palestinian resistance movements, is still reverberating in the diplomacy of the Israeli government.

This appeared in an attempt to impose a scenario of displacement and wage a demographic war by the occupying entity on the Palestinians, specifically in Gaza and the West Bank.

On October 8, the occupation army spokesman, Colonel Richard Hecht, called for the opening of safe corridors for civilians in Gaza towards the Egyptian Sinai.

But the most blatant call came on October 13 when the Israeli occupation army issued a statement asking all residents of Gaza to evacuate their homes and head south (towards the Egyptian border).

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by completely rejecting the displacement of the people of Gaza, as a consistent position of Cairo, which considered the conquest of Sinai tantamount to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

The question that arises is why Israel wants to displace the people of Gaza to Sinai? As well as the displacement of the people of the West Bank to Jordan, as reported by Hebrew media.

Are the displacement plans a product of the moment after the Al-Aqsa flood operation? Or has it been present for a long time?

“The devil of demography”

Plans to displace Palestinians, specifically in Gaza, the West Bank, and even the Old City of Jerusalem, have been in place for a long time, and are repeated by Israeli politicians and media figures on more than one occasion.

Even on May 7, 1971, the Jordanian newspaper Al-Dustour published a headline, “The Gaza Strip has begun to be emptied of its population,” and talked about an Israeli plan to transfer 300,000 residents of the Strip to Sinai.

Especially since the Gaza Strip represents a Palestinian population bomb in the face of the occupying state, and over time it has become a security and political concern for Israel.

In a famous quote, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1992-1995) said: “I hope to wake up one day and find that the sea has swallowed Gaza.”

Palestinian Statistics stated that today Palestinians are estimated at about 14 million and 300 thousand, including about 6 million and 400 thousand refugees.

Regarding the locations of the Palestinians, the agency reported that about half of them (7 million and 100 thousand people) are in historical Palestine, including about 1 million and 700 thousand in the territories of 1948.

What is dangerous about these data is that the Palestinian people now constitute 50.1 percent of the population residing in historic Palestine, while the Jews constitute 49.9 percent of the Jews.

The loss of Israel

These data prompted the Hebrew Reichman University in Herzliya to describe this demographic change as a “Coup”

She indicated in a research paper that the Palestinians will achieve an overwhelming majority in the future, due to their high birth rates (27.7) per thousand people compared to (19.3) in Israel, according to the United Nations.

In addition to the high death rate among Israelis, 5.3 per thousand, compared to 3.4 per thousand among Palestinians, due to the large average age of the population in Israel.

It went further when it stated that “this equation indicates that the State of Israel is heading towards a reality that may undermine its project and the entire Zionist project.”

It described the current situation as a sweeping disregard for Palestinian demographic superiority, especially with other factors such as the migration of secular Israeli citizens out of the country.

It pointed out that if the matter continues at this pace, it will cause the loss of the Galilee (north), Jerusalem (center), and the Negev (south), and the result could be the complete loss of Israel. It ended up being that Muslim Arabs became the majority over time.

And stated, “With time, the Arabs will become the majority across the entire spectrum that follows the occupation, if we surrender and there are no developments that accelerate that process, which is what Israel has been well prepared for decades.”

It explained: “The current plan is to empty Gaza and the West Bank of Palestinians, part towards Jordan and part in Sinai. As for the Jerusalemites, they will be expelled from the Old City outside the walls, and they will dissolve with the rest of the other minorities, and sovereignty will remain for the Jewish majority.”

The researcher in Hebrew affairs states that the occupation laws allow the Israelis to demand the return of property in East Jerusalem that they claim was theirs before 1948.

The rise of demography

One of the main reasons for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 was the overwhelming “demographic” superiority of the Palestinians there.

On December 27, 2021, Israeli political analyst Yoni Ben Menachem said, “The decision of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip was correct.”

He added to the Turkish Anatolia Agency: “There are now two million Palestinians, and after years the number could rise to 3 or 4 million. As for the situation in the West Bank, it is different. In the view of the right, it is the Land of Israel and cannot be dispensed with.”

He pointed out that the Israeli left and center consider that demographic concerns impose an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders so that Israel remains a purely Jewish state with other minorities.

Source: Aqlam Hora

By Kadir Üstün

In President Biden's visit to Israel on Wednesday, it wouldn't be surprising if he reiterates his 'unconditional' support while also placing veiled conditions on the Gaza operation. Statements by Secretary of State Blinken during his shuttle diplomacy in the region highlighted how uncomfortable regional countries are with Israel's attacks. Biden's meetings with King Abdullah of Jordan, President Sisi of Egypt, and Palestinian leader indicate his reluctance to provide Israel with unwavering, unconditional support and his consideration of regional dynamics. Despite his initial statement of unconditional support for Israel, it could be argued that he insists on the condition that it does not escalate into a regional conflict.

THE OCCUPATION OF GAZA WOULD BE A ‘MISTAKE’

The Biden administration, which sent an aircraft carrier to the region immediately after the Hamas attack, was forced to issue a warning against Israel’s Gazza operation that left no choice for civilians. Protests in major U.S. cities were the reflections of the reaction created by Israel’s operations worldwide. Biden faced criticism from Republicans due to the lack of strong support for Israel domestically and from the progressive left within his own party for providing unconditional support. Biden, who has yet to achieve results in the evacuation of around 500-600 American citizens from Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, voiced concerns about Israel’s operations by stating that the occupation of Gaza would be a ‘mistake.’

The delay in Israel’s ground operation in Gaza, in addition to tactical and strategic reasons, is also influenced by U.S. pressure. It is not far-fetched for the Israeli army to suffer heavy losses in Gaza and to be stuck for a long time. If it focuses its energy on this region, it may face difficulties if Hezbollah opens a second front from the north. When looking at the statements revealed by Secretary of State Blinken’s meetings, it is understood that the United States is insistent on setting clear strategic objectives for the Gaza operation and does not want to engage in a conflict due to an Israel operation with unclear objectives.

POSSIBILITY OF REGIONAL CONFLICT AND GLOBAL POWER STRUGGLE

A regional conflict that would eventually involve Hezbollah and Iran would be a nightmare scenario for Biden, who is entering an election year. The possibility of the United States being dragged into a conflict where its goals in the Middle East are not self-determined and it is practically forced into it will also strain relations between Washington and Israel. 

In this respect, keeping Netanyahu away from an adventure that would harm U.S.-Israel relations appears to be a priority for Biden. Biden has been trying to send the message for a while that Iran and Hezbollah should not take advantage of the $6 billion given as part of the prisoner exchange. Iran, holding the cards of Hezbollah and regional conflict after Hamas’s victory, is in a position to benefit from the escalation of the conflict. Despite pressure from Republicans who are in favor of a tough response to Iran, Biden is forced to exert pressure on Israel to keep the situation under control.

The fact that major powers like Russia and China are trying to benefit from the current situation intensifies the efforts of the Biden administration. Russia has submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, which is clearly aimed at recording the U.S. support for Israel. China is also trying to show that Western support for Israel is waning by stating that Israel’s operations go beyond legitimate defense. 

Russia and China are glad to see that the Ukrainian and Taiwanese issues are being pushed into the background due to Biden’s attention to Gaza. Despite their differences, Russia, China, and Iran can be said to be on the same page in thwarting Western policies led by the United States. For these three countries, the prospect of the United States being dragged into military conflict in the Middle East is a strategic gain. It is essential to remember that these global power struggles also place critical constraints on Biden’s support for Israel.

President Biden will likely reiterate the rhetoric of unconditional support during his visit to Israel, but it is important to note that this support will largely remain in the realm of rhetoric and fall behind Trump’s Israel-centered Middle East policy. 

Biden is not enthusiastic about showing commitment to Netanyahu’s promised goal of a ‘new Middle East.’ He is well aware that his support for Israel is inevitably conditional due to domestic political balances, pressure from regional allies, and the strategic moves of global powers.

Source: Turkish SETA Center for Studies

Sputnik news agency reported that Russia will request a new Security Council meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The agency quoted Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dmiter Polyansky, as saying: "We will certainly hold a new session of the Security Council."

Last Tuesday, the Security Council failed to pass a Russian draft resolution that called for a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, after America, Britain, and France used their veto power against the draft.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said today (Sunday) that tow persons was killed in an Israeli bombing of a mosque in the Jenin camp in the northern West Bank.

The Arab World News Agency quoted medical sources as saying that the attack resulted in five wounded.

An Israeli army spokesman said that Israeli aircraft destroyed an underground tunnel in Al-Ansar Mosque that included a joint cell of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, indicating that it planned to carry out an attack.

Avichay Adraee added, through his account on the “X” platform, that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad cell, which was targeted by a joint operation of the army and the General Security Service (Shin Bet), carried out an attack on an Israeli military force in the security fence area on October 14 of this year.

This is at least the second raid of its kind to bomb targets in the West Bank since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on Octobe

An Israeli army spokesman warned the residents of Gaza City against staying there, saying that you live “above a barrel of explosives prepared by (Hamas),” and advised them to head to the south of the Strip.

Spokesman Avichai Adraee said on his account on the “X” platform that whoever, a resident of the neighborhoods of Al-Daraj, Nasser, Sheikh Radwan, the Old City, and Al-Zaytoun, decides to stay in his home “at his own risk, and will expose himself and his family members to danger.”

Adraee advised residents to head to the south of Wadi Gaza “for your safety.”

Earlier today, Israeli media said that the War Council concluded its meeting at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheba, in preparation for launching the expected ground attack on the Strip.

A young Palestinian died this Saturday evening as a result of being shot by the Israeli occupation forces in Tulkarm.

According to the Ministry of Health, the young man, Qassam Farouk Muhammad Haj Ahmed (19 years old), died from critical injuries sustained by live occupation bullets in the head about a week ago in Tulkarm.