Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces prevented citizens from picking olives in Husan, west of Bethlehem.

According to local sources, these forces prevented a number of citizens from reaching their lands in the areas of Wadi Qadis and the center of the Beitar Illit settlement, which is located on citizens’ lands, to pick olives.

It is noteworthy that the occupation forces and their settlers have escalated their attacks against citizens in Husan and other villages in the governorate, by preventing them from reaching their lands and picking olives.

The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that a health disaster is looming over the Negev prison, where thousands of prisoners are being held, due to the spread of scabies - or what is known as scabies - among hundreds of prisoners, causing them to suffer from difficult and complex health symptoms, while the prison administration continues to deliberately consolidate the basic causes that led to its spread, as well as deliberately depriving prisoners of treatment, and using it as a tool to torture them physically and psychologically.

The Commission and the Club continued that through several visits conducted by the Commission and the Club’s lawyers recently to (35) prisoners and detainees in the Negev Prison from October 27-30, the prisoners’ testimonies reflected the tragic detention conditions that degrade human dignity in which they live, which confirms once again that the prison system seeks to kill prisoners by any possible means, including contributing to the spread of diseases among them, in addition to a series of systematic crimes, the basis of which are torture crimes and medical crimes, especially since there are hundreds of prisoners in the aforementioned prison who are sick and have chronic and difficult health conditions.

The Commission and the Club pointed out that the prison administration has recently deliberately transferred many sick prisoners to the Negev prison, which has been and continues to be a site for crimes of torture, sexual assault, and the spread of diseases, specifically scabies, with the aim of killing them. Among the (35) prisoners who were visited in the Negev prison, there were (25) prisoners who were infected with scabies.

In this context, the Commission and the Club confirm that this is a small sample of hundreds of injured prisoners who are subjected to systematic medical crimes and torture around the clock, through the prison administration’s use of illness as a tool to torture them. The prisoners’ testimonies included all very harsh details about their suffering from the disease without receiving any kind of treatment, and without the prison administration attempting to address the causes that contributed and contribute to the continued spread of the disease, the most prominent of which are:

(Lack of cleaning materials, prisoners’ inability to shower regularly, lack of clean clothes, as most prisoners only have one change of clothes, lack of washing machines, as prisoners are forced to wash their clothes by hand, and the prison administration prevents them from hanging them out to dry, so they remain damp, which has contributed greatly to the spread of skin diseases among prisoners. The prison administration also does not respond to prisoners’ repeated requests to provide treatment or even take them to the clinic).

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces delivered two notices to stop construction and demolish two houses in the New Nablus area.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces stormed the New Nablus area, southwest of the city, and delivered two notices to two houses under construction belonging to the Hamama and Antar families, on the pretext of building without a permit.

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces raided Al-Maleh Elementary School in the northern Jordan Valley, and forced the teaching staff to leave it.

Local sources said that the occupation forces raided the school, forced the teaching staff to leave it, and photographed the school rooms and its facilities, which caused panic and fear among the students, amid fears of its demolition in the future.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced, on Monday evening, that the death toll from the Israeli occupation's aggression on Gaza has risen to 43,374 dead and 102,261 wounded, since October 7, 2023.

It added that the occupation forces committed 3 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, resulting in the death of 33 citizens and the injury of 156 others.

It pointed out that thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.

Yedioth Ahronoth revealed the seriousness of the acute crisis facing the Israeli army in recruiting a sufficient number of elements to join its ranks, in light of its involvement in wars on multiple fronts.

The Israeli newspaper highlighted the refusal of the Orthodox Jewish (Haredim) group to perform military service, and attempts to enact a new law in the Knesset that would enshrine their exemption from it, in addition to the increasing extent of evasion and medical exemptions granted to candidates for it.

The newspaper's military affairs analyst, Yossi Yehoshua, confirmed that military estimates indicate that the army urgently needs 7,000 soldiers, but it finds it very difficult to reach this number.

He pointed out that "the army has been seeking to recruit about 3,000 Haredim (religiously ultra-Orthodox Jews) since last August, but actual statistics reveal that these plans are facing clear obstacles."

Yehoshua goes on to detail the reality of the crisis facing the army, saying, “The data shows that the target number may not be easily achieved, as last year only 1,200 Haredim were recruited out of about 13,000 candidates for military service.”

Categories and excuses

“With the demand for additional forces increasing, the army issued 3,000 draft calls to the Haredim last summer, distributed among several age groups. The calls were divided into the following categories: About half were directed to Haredim under the age of 21, while 40% of the calls were directed to recipients up to the age of 23, and the rest to those eligible up to the age of exemption from military service. However, only 240 individuals showed up for the draft, which is equivalent to only about 8% of those called up,” the military analyst added.

But the statistics on a broader scale are even more alarming, according to Yehoshua. “The data is clear: In recent years, 33%, or one in three of those required to enlist (excluding the Arab public), did not make it to military service, 15% dropped out during their service and never entered the reserve group, while the number of beneficiaries of medical and mental health exemptions jumped from 4% to 8%. During service, this excuse is the most common in cases of discharge from service.”

The military affairs analyst also highlighted another angle to the Israeli army's crisis, which is the evasion of reserve soldiers - who constitute the army's backup force - from service.

Yehoshua cited statistics that said there were 18,000 combat reserve soldiers who did not show up when called up. He quoted Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor as saying, “These were serial evaders who could not be brought in by force,” and recommended “a radical change in the pay and recognition programs for those who serve, significant benefits for those who serve more, and a loss of rights for those who do not serve at all.”

In addition to the above, Yehoshua recalled a report by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth stating that “the Israeli combat system has suffered further erosion due to the significant decline in the qualifications of the men who are recruited,” noting that “every year in recent years there has been an average decrease of 1% of all those who are recruited.”

The army fails to achieve its goals

The military affairs analyst concluded that the army would not be able to achieve its recruitment goals based on these numbers, "since recruiting 9,000 Haredim as planned may not be possible with continued low attendance rates."

To overcome this challenge, the military leadership recommended increasing the target quota for the Haredim to several thousand more. However, this recommendation requires the approval of the political leadership and instructions from the Minister of Defense.

Therefore, Yehoshua believes that “increasing the number of fighters recruited for compulsory service is a very important element in filling the ranks, in light of the number of dead and wounded in the war, and of course easing the burden on the outdated and nervous reserve system.”

Therefore, he calls for "the creation of a new regular battalion, which can provide an average of 12 months of operational work for reserve battalions, especially when you see fighters serving a triple-digit number of reserve days per year, it is necessary for them to breathe air."

“This issue could lead to tensions in the political leadership, as it has become clear that Defense Minister Yoav Galant could find himself replaced, especially if he is unable to gain sufficient support for the new recruitment policies,” Yehoshua says.

He concludes his article by saying, “Analysts expect that a new defense minister will be chosen who is more compatible with the requirements of the ruling coalition, without Israel witnessing large numbers of Haredim joining the military service.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed on Monday that his country does not fear military war, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry stressed that Tehran did not seek war, but is ready to defend its territory.

The Iranian president added that those he described as "Iran's enemies" know that a military war will not defeat his country, but they are waging an economic war, pointing to Tehran's efforts to overcome it.

Pezeshkian said that Iran has turned to manufacturing missiles as part of a deterrence policy, so that enemies, including Israel, cannot bomb any place at any time, according to his description.

In a press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that Tehran had warned the international community and regional players of the consequences of any disaster in the region.

destabilization

He stressed that his country avoided military confrontation and did not want war, but he confirmed that Iran would respond forcefully to any aggression from Israel.

He also criticized what he described as the "destabilizing" presence of the United States after it sent B-52 bombers to the region.

He pointed out that sending American bombers to the region will not deter Iran from defending itself, according to his expression.

Two days ago, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that enemies, including the United States and Israel, “will receive a firm response to what they do against Iran and the resistance.”

This comes in light of Iran's vow to respond to the Israeli attack that targeted military sites in three Iranian cities on October 26.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Israel's actions against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as one of the most brutal acts of genocide in the 21st century.

This came in a speech he delivered at the opening of the 40th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) on Monday in Istanbul.

The Turkish President pointed out that the geography of the Islamic world has become synonymous with blood, pain, tears and violence as never before in its history.

Erdogan said: "The Zionist regime and its supporters have committed all kinds of massacres and injustice for 13 months, but they have not been able to bring our Palestinian brothers to their knees."

Regarding relief aid, he explained, "We have so far delivered more than 85,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza, facilitated by the Egyptian authorities."

He considered that the best response to the "Zionist aggression" in Gaza and Lebanon is for more countries in the world to recognize the State of Palestine.

The Turkish President stressed the importance of the Islamic world supporting the just struggle of the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, and putting aside its differences.

The Turkish President pointed out that 50,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 100,000 were injured as a result of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

He pointed out that two-thirds of the dead and injured in Gaza were women and children.

The Turkish President pointed to the lack of conscience towards what Israel is doing in Gaza and later in Lebanon, which brings to mind the extermination camps that were established in Central Europe during World War II.

Dr. Hassan Marhej: The Iranian response is inevitable and will be a wake-up call for the new US administration

Fares Sarfandi: Iran is obligated to respond to maintain its deterrent power after the end of the strategic patience phase

Ismail Al-Muslimmani: The arrival of B-52 bombers to the region is part of American efforts to protect Israel and send a warning to Iran

Dr. Abdullah Nehme: The increasing military escalation is a result of targeting one of the fuel components in the Iranian nuclear reactor

The chances of a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel have recently increased after media reports revealed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei instructed the Supreme National Security Council to prepare to attack Israel, while reports indicate statements by Israeli officials that Israel is prepared to launch more direct attacks on Iran, if necessary. Meanwhile, fears of the region slipping into an open war are heightened by the arrival of American B-52 bombers, which can carry nuclear warheads and travel long distances without needing to refuel, reflecting an unusual American readiness for a confrontation that could be comprehensive.

The New York Times quoted three Iranian officials as saying that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his instructions after reviewing a detailed report from senior military commanders on the extent of the damage to Iran’s missile production capabilities, air defense systems around Tehran, vital energy infrastructure, and a major port in the south.

“The scope of the Israeli attack, as well as the number of casualties, was so great that it could not be ignored, and not responding would mean admitting defeat,” the New York Times quoted Iranian officials as saying. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “military leaders were preparing a list of dozens of military targets inside Israel, but the attacks were likely to occur after the U.S. election, because Iran was concerned that another wave of tension and chaos in the region could benefit Republican Party candidate Donald Trump.”

Writers and analysts who spoke to "I" believe that the Iranian response is inevitable and will be a wake-up call for the new US administration, as Iran is obligated to respond to the Israeli attack to maintain its deterrent power after the end of the strategic patience phase. They also pointed out that the arrival of US B-52 bombers to the region increases the chances of an imminent confrontation, while others believe that the arrival of these bombers carries two messages: the first to Israel that America is committed to protecting it and that it is unable to protect itself without US support, and the second is a stern warning to Iran, and therefore America is not seeking to slide into an open and comprehensive war.

Iranian response scenarios

Dr. Hassan Marhej, an expert in Middle Eastern affairs, said: First, it must be noted that the Israeli targeting of Iran was clear from the beginning that Iran would respond, as part of establishing the equation of deterrence and counter-deterrence, and then came the statements of the Iranian leader to confirm that Tehran is preparing to respond to Israel, and this opens the door to interpretations of the response scenarios, which can be summarized in four scenarios.

As for the first scenario, according to Marhej, it can be said that Tehran’s announcement of closing its airspace before the US elections may be a preparation for a direct and major response against Israel. Here, too, it can be said that Tehran is directly saying that any future US president will have no influence on Iran’s future options. In the same context, it is a message to pressure the United States in order to force Israel to stop the war in Lebanon, Palestine, and the region in general.

The second scenario is that the Iranian response could come on the eve of the US elections, and the White House administration and the US military establishment are busy securing the elections, and thus we may witness an Iranian response to Israel at this time.

Regarding the third scenario, Marhej says: I believe that Iran’s response could be after the end of the US elections and knowing the winner, whether it is Trump or Harris. Iran’s response after knowing the winner includes political messages that it will not remain silent about any violation of its sovereignty under any international circumstances, and militarily to say that Iran has the military capabilities that enable it to respond to any regional or international power, and that it enjoys broad and influential influence and that the US should not provoke Iran further, and that any targeting will be responded to strongly and influentially.

As for the fourth scenario, Marhej points out that it can be said, regardless of the above, that the Iranian response will be of the same level as the Iranian response in April and October, and Iran realizes that its response will restore the deterrence equation to its correct place. Accordingly, and within the above givens, the Iranian response will be a political and military means to restore the concepts of deterrence. Whether Trump or Harris wins, what awaits them is Iran and its political and military ability to control the concepts of conflict.

Dr. Marhej stressed that the Iranian response is inevitable, whether before or after the American elections, but the response will be a wake-up call for the new American administration, and it must deal with Iran on the principle of equals.

The response is a means of confirming Iran's continued military cohesion.

In turn, the journalist specializing in Iranian affairs, Fares Sarfandi, confirmed that the Islamic Republic of Iran is now obligated to respond to any Israeli attacks, as it is keen to maintain its deterrent power after announcing the end of the phase of strategic patience.

Sarfandi pointed out that following the Iranian response to the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran explicitly declared that any future Israeli aggression would be met with a stronger response.

He said that Iran sees the response as a way to confirm its continued military cohesion, especially after Israel recently announced that it was able to disable Iranian air defenses, including the Russian S-300 system, which requires Iran to send a clear message reaffirming that its military power is still cohesive.

Regarding the American position, Sarfandi stated that the United States sending bombers to the region and deploying this force carries a double message: the first to Iran as a warning, and the second to Israel, clarifying its inability to protect itself without American material and moral support.

The United States is not interested in open war.

Sarfandi pointed out that the most important question is: Will the United States intervene in the war? Expressing his belief that the United States is not interested in an open war with Iran.

He said that the deployment of US forces in the region aims to create a balance, not to prepare for an open war with Iran, as Washington realizes that such a scenario could lead to a comprehensive confrontation, as Iran could target US bases in the Gulf, which threatens to cross red lines, confirming what the Deputy Chairman of the Russian National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said two days ago, about the possibility of a third world war.

Unusual readiness for a confrontation that may be comprehensive

Ismail Al-Muslimani, an expert on Israeli affairs, spoke about the escalating tensions in the Middle East following the arrival of American B-52 bombers to the region at dawn on Sunday.

Muslimani pointed out that this move comes within the clear American efforts to protect Israel, in addition to being a strict warning to Iran, describing the bombers as terrifying, as they can carry nuclear warheads and travel long distances without the need to refuel, which reflects an unusual readiness for a confrontation that may be comprehensive.

The region is clearly approaching the possibility of a regional war, especially with the Iranian threats that followed the statements of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Musalmani added. In a speech he gave to students at a university last Saturday, Khamenei stressed that Iran will respond to the recent Israeli attacks, which included bombing Iranian bases and led to the deaths of four Iranians.

Iran wants to deal a painful blow to America and Israel

Muslimani pointed out that this escalation suggests that Iran wants to deal a painful blow to America and Israel in response to what it described as ongoing attacks.

However, Tehran left the door open, stressing that it is not interested in expanding the scope of the regional war, but the expected response comes within the framework of the United Nations Charter, which grants countries the right to self-defense according to Article 51.

Muslimani touched on the clear contradiction in the Israeli strategy, as many analysts believe that Israel wants to preempt an Iranian strike, especially with the statements of the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, who confirmed that previous attacks on Iran did not have a sufficient impact, and that Israel may resort to launching a more decisive strike before the US elections.

Muslimani added: The current scenario is frightening, as American B-52 bombers and other aircraft are now deployed in the region, indicating that the United States and Israel are preparing for escalating reactions that could lead to a regional clash, especially in light of Israel's continued targeting of the resistance in Gaza and Lebanon.

Iran's Options and the Future of the Region

Moslemani pointed out that Iran, which had relied on a policy of "strategic patience," now sees that this patience is running out, especially after a series of assassinations and strikes targeting Iranian sites. With the arrival of B-52 bombers, first used in World War II and improved in the 1950s, the region seems very close to a major explosion.

Muslimmani believes that the current situation puts the region on the brink of a comprehensive confrontation that may change the features of the conflict and put an end to settlement attempts, in light of mutual threats between Iran and Israel that put everyone on the brink of the abyss.

Israeli attack prompts Iran to escalate

Dr. Abdullah Nehme, a political analyst and strategic researcher in international relations, explained that the increasing military escalation in the Middle East region is a direct result of the Israeli army targeting one of the fuel components in the Iranian nuclear reactor, in a move aimed at stopping the Iranian nuclear program and obstructing its ambitions for several years.

He pointed out that this Israeli attack prompted Iran to escalate, as it declared its intention to eliminate Israel from existence and "make it pay the price" decisively.

Nehme added: Israel is preparing militarily and logistically to confront an expected Iranian response, while the United States has intensified its support for Israel by sending B-52 bombers and adding two nuclear submarines to the American fleet in the Mediterranean, in addition to large shipments of weapons that have recently arrived to strengthen the Israeli army.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to limit Iran's influence

In the context of regional tensions, Nehme pointed out that the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah is part of the broader move to limit Iran's influence in the region, noting that Hezbollah, which is Iran's strongest arm in the Middle East, represents a strategic target for Israel and the United States, which seek to isolate Iran and weaken its allies.

Dr. Nehme stated that there is an international trend that may be represented in pressuring Lebanon to force it to comply with the American and Israeli conditions.

Regarding the general situation in the region, Nehme said: The American role in the region is not limited to monitoring, but rather constitutes the most prominent factor in reorganizing the Middle East according to a new vision, starting with what is currently happening in Lebanon.

Nehme stressed that the potential escalation in Lebanon could be a gateway to more tension in the Middle East, while any development in the situation remains dependent on the nature of the Iranian response and its repercussions on the international arena.

Settlers continue their attacks on citizens and their property in various areas of the West Bank.

In Hebron, settlers attacked olive pickers in the Birin area, and the occupation army prevented farmers from picking olives in the Umm Nir area east of the town of Yatta.

According to local sources, the settler gangs assaulted and stoned the olive pickers from the Burqan family, namely Fayez Burqan and Bahjat Burqan, and tried to steal the vehicle of citizen Saud Al-Faqir while they were picking olives in the Birin area east of Yatta.

She added that the occupation forces forced farmers from the Al-Jabarin and Al-Habour families in the Umm Nir area to leave their lands and prevented them from picking olives.

He pointed to daily attacks by settlers and the occupation army on farmers, olive pickers and their property in Masafer Yatta, with the aim of seizing citizens' lands for the benefit of the settlement project.

In Ramallah, dozens of armed settlers stormed the village of Burqa from three axes: the Al-Hadab area, Wadi Al-Shami, and the tribal area, and set fire to citizens’ lands and three homes.

The settlers gathered near the boys' elementary school, in an attempt to storm it.

The residents appealed to the civil defense teams and citizens from the neighboring villages to confront the attack and put out the fires.

The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that the occupation army, which has been continuing for a whole month with the "crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide" in the northern Gaza Strip, has so far led to the martyrdom of 1,800 citizens, the injury of 4,000 others, and hundreds of missing persons, in addition to the destruction of hospitals and infrastructure.

He added that the situation in the northern Gaza Strip is unprecedentedly tragic, due to the occupation's targeting of civilians who refused to leave, and its tightening of the siege on them.

On October 5, the occupation army began an unprecedented bombardment of areas in the northern Gaza Strip, before invading them, with a tight siege that put the hospitals in the northern governorate out of service, and halted civil defense services and Red Crescent ambulances.

The Israeli occupation also destroyed all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip governorate, putting them out of service, while targeting civil defense crews, arresting some of them and putting them out of service as well, in addition to destroying the infrastructure, water networks, sewage networks, road networks and streets, which made the northern Gaza Strip governorate a disaster-stricken governorate in every sense of the word.

The occupation army used the weapon of starving and depriving civilians of water, preventing the arrival of 3,800 trucks of aid and goods to the northern Gaza Strip governorate, and deliberately starving nearly 400,000 people, including more than 100,000 children. It also destroyed dozens of displacement and shelter centers that house tens of thousands of displaced people who fled their homes in search of safety and security.

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by military bulldozers, stormed the Wadi al-Saber area between the towns of Qaraweh Bani Hassan and Sarta, west of Salfit.

Local sources said that the occupation forces stormed the area - which is a barren land - with the aim of leveling it, as its owner, citizen Waddah Aziz Asi, had previously leveled it, and he was notified at the time to stop work and construction on the pretext that it is Area C, and construction is prohibited there.

The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and Liberated Prisoners said on Monday that "11,500 male and female prisoners are suffering from the severe cold in the occupation prisons," noting that the Israeli occupation has been preventing the entry of heating devices and warm winter clothes since October 7 of last year.

The Commission added in a statement: “The prisoners do not have winter blankets and are deprived of bringing in new, warm clothes to protect them from the cold of winter, which has entered the harshest period of detention that the prisoners have experienced in many years, as the bitter cold eats away at their bodies, especially the sick and elderly among them. What made the situation worse is that the occupation prison administration removed all the windows of the prisoners’ rooms, which greatly increased the suffering of the prisoners and their feeling of cold, which increased the chances of many of them contracting seasonal diseases and almost permanent pain in the bones, joints and stomach as a result of the cold in the early morning and at night.”

She explained that most of the prisoners are worried about the onset of winter, especially in the occupation prisons located in the desert areas, which are coldest during the night and early morning. Most of them complained to the Authority’s lawyer about the lack of response from the prison administration to bring in clothes and blankets, calling on all human rights organizations to pressure the prison administration to bring in woolen clothes, blankets and winter mattresses, given that they only have one change of summer clothes after the occupation prevented the prisoners from their most basic rights to wear clean clothes after October 7, and prevented the entry of bathing and cleaning materials for the prisoners who were ravaged by the “scabies” disease.

The authority said: "The jailers confiscate heating equipment, if any, and any blankets that help keep the winter frost away from their emaciated bodies due to the poor quality and quantity of food, as meals are served cold and raw."

She added: "The question remains: what will the Palestinian prisoner do who owns one summer outfit that he spent the entire summer wearing, coinciding with the onset of winter, without clothes, blankets, or windows to prevent the entry of winter rains and cold weather, which allows any prisoner who has not been ravaged by scabies to turn into a sick prisoner due to the cold weather and harsh winter?"

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces notified the demolition of a mosque in Jabal al-Mukaber, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.

Local sources reported that the residents found a demolition notice that the occupation soldiers had stuck on the gate of Al-Shiyah Mosque in the town of Jabal al-Mukaber, within 5 days, noting that it had been there for 20 years.

Large forces of the occupation army also stormed several neighborhoods in the town of Silwan, and raided several homes there.

In a related context, the occupation forces prevented the residents of Qalandia village from picking olives, after closing the iron gate in the racist separation and expansion wall, which prevents the residents from reaching their lands.

Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Sunday evening and Monday morning that it had attacked several military bases and settlements in northern Israel, in response to the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and in support of the Gaza Strip.

Since September 23, Israel has been launching an aggression against Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and thousands of wounded, and has also begun a ground invasion in the south.

In return, Hezbollah responds daily by launching missiles, drones and artillery shells targeting military sites, intelligence headquarters, military gatherings and Israeli settlements.

Hezbollah bombs Israeli bases and settlements

The party said that it targeted the settlements of Eilet Hashahar, Sha'al, Hatzor and Dalton with rocket barrages at midnight on Sunday-Monday.

In another statement, the party added that its members targeted "the air control unit at the Meron base with a missile salvo."

In a previous series of statements via the Telegram platform, the party said: “For the first time, we bombed the Haifa Technical Base (which belongs to the Israeli Air Force and contains a training college for preparing Air Force technicians) in the occupied city of Haifa with a batch of qualitative missiles.”

Hezbollah fighters launched a squadron of drones at the Elyakim base (which contains training camps affiliated with the Northern Command) south of Haifa and "hit their targets accurately," according to the party's statement.

They also fired a barrage of rockets at the Beit Lid base, which belongs to the Central Command (which contains training camps for the Nahal Brigade and the Paratroopers Brigade) east of the city of Netanya, and "hit its targets accurately," according to a statement.

According to its statements, the party targeted the Zevulon military industries base north of Haifa with three missiles, a gathering of Israeli forces at the Israeli Al-Baghdadi military site, and a gathering at the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade command in the Yara barracks.

Its elements also fired a guided missile at a "command room in the settlement of Matala, hitting its target accurately, killing and wounding those inside."

Hezbollah also said that its fighters targeted "a Merkava tank at the gate of Metula (a military site in northern Israel) with a guided missile, which led to it burning and its crew being killed and wounded."

Read also: Its most famous units are the Radwan Force.. Here is the military structure of Hezbollah

They also fired rockets at gatherings of soldiers in the Khallet al-Bardoshe area near the Manara settlement and the settlements of Sa'ar, Metulla (twice), Shlomi (twice), Rosh Hanikra, Kedem Zvi, Shamir, Baram, Metsova, Even, Shomera and Zer'it.

They also bombed the settlements of Netova Nimra and Katzrin with two rounds of rockets.

Hezbollah fighters targeted Israeli forces on the eastern outskirts of the town of Mays al-Jabal in southern Lebanon three times with barrages of rockets.

The party stressed, in its statements, that these attacks come "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people."

On Sunday, three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Harat Saida in southern Lebanon, while two others were killed in a raid on the town of Jabal al-Batm in the Tyre district (south).

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had detected two missiles launched from southern Lebanon towards the northern city of Haifa, while two drones crossed the border before one of them crashed and the other was intercepted.

This morning, Monday, the Palestinian presidency called on the world to take serious and tangible steps on the ground against Israel and oblige it to abide by all signed agreements.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Dina said, "The Israeli occupation government, by officially informing the United Nations of the severing of relations with UNRWA, is ignoring all international norms, charters, resolutions and international humanitarian law."

He added: "Israel is continuing to target UNRWA, with the aim of liquidating the refugee issue, eliminating the right of return, and obstructing its activities and role. The world must take serious and tangible steps on the ground against Israel, holding the occupation government fully responsible for the serious repercussions of this decision."

Abu Rudeineh also condemned the settlers’ attack at dawn today on the city of Al-Bireh, and the burning of about 20 citizens’ vehicles, stressing that these attacks and crimes by the terrorist settler militias are nothing but a result of the continued war of extermination waged by the Israeli occupation state against our people, their holy sites and their property, and that the occupation government and the United States bear responsibility for it alike.

He stressed that the legalization of colonial outposts in the West Bank, and the promotion of plans to build new colonial units, comes within the framework of the comprehensive war waged by the Israeli occupation state against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites.

Today, Monday, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz published a report entitled: “A Siege Within a Siege”... The Israeli army is withholding humanitarian aid from tens of thousands remaining in the northern Gaza Strip.

The newspaper says, on October 18, a building in Al-Faluja in Jabalia camp was bombed, and inside it were 32 Palestinians, some of whom barely escaped and asked for help for those under the rubble. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) intervened and tried to enter the place, but its request was completely rejected, as happened with dozens of requests submitted last month.

The Israeli army was informing the UN that there was no longer any point in going to the place because the possibility of any of the trapped people surviving was zero.

The newspaper says: To this day, the Israeli army has not published the reason for attacking the building in Fallujah, and has not claimed that any of the victims of the attack were members of Hamas.

Giorgos Petrolios, the UN official in Gaza, says: There is a major humanitarian disaster in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army refuses to allow aid in and bombs on a daily basis. Dozens of people are killed every day and for 3 weeks now the attacks have not stopped every day. There is a clear use of humanitarian aid as a weapon against civilians there.

Haaretz says: Indeed, today there are three circles of siege in the Gaza Strip subject to different restrictions: First: The entire Strip is besieged, and no one enters or leaves it except with the permission of the army.. Another siege is imposed on the entire northern Gaza Strip from the Gaza Valley area to the north, including Gaza City, the refugee camps and other areas.. Early last month, the army imposed another and more severe siege in the northern Gaza Strip, specifically in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.. A senior UN official described it as "a siege within a siege within a siege."

The newspaper added: There are between 75 and 90 thousand citizens remaining in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun who are unable or unwilling to leave despite the Israeli army’s demand to move south.

“When the rest are asked why they stay, they answer: It is difficult to live here and it is difficult to live there (south of the blockade), but at least here I am not living in tents,” says Petropoulos. “It does not mean that the houses in the area are intact, but in the Rafah area people sleep under nylon in harsh conditions.”

“We would rather die in Jabalya than live in tents and be humiliated,” a resident of the besieged area who refuses to leave told Haaretz. “There were difficult discussions about what to do with the children and whether to separate them, but we will stay together and die with dignity. Also, who will guarantee that we will not be bombed or shot at as soon as we leave? There is no safe place in Gaza. All the statements about a safe passage or a humanitarian zone are lies. People do not understand how dangerous it is to move from one place to another within the Strip.”

Haaretz published testimonies from many citizens about what is happening in the northern Gaza Strip with them from the stifling siege and the attempt to force them to move south, but they insist on staying there.

The newspaper says: The only entry permit to the isolated area was reserved for ambulances that arrived to transport seriously ill patients from the hospitals there to the hospital in Gaza City. This transfer requires complex coordination with the headquarters of the Israeli government’s coordination of activities. After that, a convoy goes to the hospitals, loads the patients into the ambulances and returns south, where it is asked to stop for inspection. The paramedics are asked to remove each injured person from the ambulance and walk with him for a distance of 50 meters and present him to the soldiers.

“One time when we were transporting the wounded, the officer asked us why we weren’t taking the wounded out of the ambulance,” Petropoulos says. “I said, ‘Come and see, this is a seven-year-old girl with a wound on her head where you can see her brain,’ but apparently the only way not to be a terrorist in Gaza is to be a child.” We were delayed for three hours during the examination, and all the while the paramedic continued to give the girl oxygen. We took her to the hospital in Gaza, but I don’t know if she survived.

In addition to allowing ambulances to enter, the Israeli military last month allowed food, medical equipment, fuel and blood transfusions to be transferred to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, but not all requests for that hospital in the besieged area have been granted. The area has a kidney dialysis department that treats about 65 patients.

The dialysis machines depend on the hospital's diesel to operate, and according to Petropoulos, when the fuel runs out, which could happen soon, all the patients in the ward will die.

The same applies to other chronic patients. The hospital also has an intensive care and respiratory department, but since there are no ambulances with ventilators in the Strip, they cannot be transferred to other hospitals. “They will live or die in Kamal Adwan, you cannot get them out of there,” Petropoulos explains.

He pointed out that during his visits to the hospital, he encountered cases of post-traumatic stress and psychological injuries that no one was able to treat.

The newspaper refers to the large numbers of Palestinian victims in the northern Gaza Strip, whom no medical or civil defense teams can help.

Regarding the Israeli skepticism about the number of victims, Petropoulos says: “In any case, there are dozens of deaths every day. If there are not 100 deaths but only 50, is that good? Is the killing of 50 people proportional to the killing of one person? There was a brutal attack on October 7, but the brutality has continued every day since then, and not only against the people, but also against the place where they live, the landscape, the buildings, the roads.”

About six months ago, Petropoulos witnessed an attack in Khan Younis that targeted a senior Hamas official. “It looked like Nagasaki,” he recalled. “They counted the bodies, but there were 70 people who just evaporated. When they bombed Moasi on September 10, I jumped out of bed, and there were also 10 or 20 people killed. I was in the tents before the attack and they just disappeared. I was also in the hospital after the bombing, and it looked like a slaughterhouse, there was blood everywhere.”

Petropoulos, a Greek national who lives with his family in Jordan, has been working in humanitarian aid around the world for about 20 years, 14 of them through the United Nations. He has visited Darfur, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and other countries. He has been in the Strip since January, staying there for four or five days a month. According to him, the difference between other war zones in the world and Gaza is that there is no safe place in Gaza.

He stresses: There is no such thing as a humanitarian zone in Gaza. Every place can be exposed to gunfire from any direction all the time. People here are exposed to attacks everywhere, even in areas that are described as safe. This makes everything very tragic. You have to imagine what would happen if 60 civilians were killed in Ukraine every day.

He pointed out that the Israeli army treats UN employees in humiliating ways, and makes them wait for hours for coordination in order to enter, even though they obtain prior coordination.

Petropoulos says the whole sector smells of rotting corpses coming from the rubble people are buried under, wild dogs roam with human organs in their mouths, and we collect bodies of people killed from the roads we pass that no one can reach and hand them over to the Red Cross.

Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it is severing ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a move that is expected to lead to reduced aid distribution across the war-torn Gaza Strip, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

Israel's UN envoy, Danny Danon, confirmed that Tel Aviv had notified the UN of the cessation of work with UNRWA, and claimed that Hamas controlled it.

Danon said, "Tel Aviv continues to work with humanitarian organizations, but not with organizations that serve terrorism," as he put it.

Last Monday, the Israeli Knesset finally approved, by a majority of 92 votes out of 120, a ban on UNRWA activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, in a move condemned by European and Western countries and international organizations.

According to the law, “UNRWA’s activity in East Jerusalem will cease, and its powers will be transferred to the responsibility and control of Israel.” The 1967 agreement that allowed UNRWA to operate in Israel will also be cancelled, and the agency’s activities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories will cease, and any contact between Israeli officials and its employees will be prohibited.

Israel claims that UNRWA employees contributed to the October 7, 2023, “Al-Aqsa Intifada” attack, and that “the agency’s education system supports terrorism and hatred,” which has been proven false.

UNRWA denied Israel's allegations, and the United Nations confirmed that the agency is neutral and focuses exclusively on supporting refugees.

UNRWA supports Palestine refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, as well as in neighbouring countries.

Concerns

On Sunday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini commented on the Israeli law banning the agency's work, saying, "The focus should be on reaching an agreement to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip, rather than on banning the agency or finding alternatives to it."

Lazzarini added, in a statement published on his account on the X platform, that "dismantling UNRWA, in the absence of a viable alternative, will deprive Palestinian children of education."

“Why are children and their education not mentioned in any discussions when experts or politicians talk about banning or replacing UNRWA?” he asked.

He stressed that "the children of Gaza are now losing a second year of education," and pointed out that "UNRWA is the only UN agency that provides education directly in its schools. In the West Bank, about 50,000 children receive education in these schools."

As of October 2023, UNRWA provided education to more than 300,000 boys and girls in Gaza, which represents about half of the total school children in the Strip, according to Lazzarini.

It is a day that passes like any other day, even if it bears the title of “Super Tuesday,” to magnify the overflowing spectacle, the hopes pinned on it by voters, and the fears and apprehensions that afflict observers, politicians and ordinary people. This is because the new occupant of the White House determines the outcomes of global policies and the destinies of peoples in the four corners of the globe. He is able to loosen the rope of Israeli arrogance, or curb its excesses, and control the rhythm of the counter-strikes to the tunes of his melodies and timings, so that they do not exceed his specific standards and specifications.

Tomorrow is another day, but it will not be the same in Gaza, where the rubble is rising, the cemeteries are too small for the bodies, the hospitals are too small for the sick and injured, and the bakeries are unable to satisfy the hunger of the hungry.

It is a day that passes in the lives of Americans, loyalists and opponents, Democrats and Republicans, but it will determine their lifestyle in the issues that occupied their attention, during the only debate that took place between the former attorney general, the vice president and the lady of laws, and the truck driver and potato seller who is fond of business, making profitable deals and reckless driving.

In a cold reading of the poll results, the narrow differences between the two rivals appear in a way that places expectations in the category of wishes, as the polls are not free from the dominance of agendas that do not reveal the true orientations of voters, at the moment of awakening conscience before the ballot boxes.

Netanyahu succeeded in playing the long distance of the US election date, and exploiting it to blackmail Democrats and Republicans alike. He continued to evade by spreading false hopes about a deal being concluded soon in Gaza and Lebanon, and succeeded in extending the tongues of fire to Isfahan, under the auspices of the current administration for revenge, to be a winning card that it counts for it, while it counted his evasions and reneging on his promises as an advance bribe, if Trump wins, who will find himself indebted to Netanyahu, who did not offer that gift to his predecessor, to be a factor in his victory, to collect its price later when he ascends to the throne.

Stop the war of extermination now..!

Vice President Kamala Harris focused her efforts on the Rust Belt yesterday, while her rival Donald Trump headed to three major battleground states; in a last-ditch effort to win votes, 24 hours before the date of the election, which is witnessing a historically close election. Seventy-five million people have voted early before the general election, tomorrow (Tuesday), at a time when polls show the results of the candidates are at an unprecedented level of equality at this stage.

A recent New York Times/Siena poll released yesterday indicated some gradual changes in key swing states, but the results from all seven remained within the margin of error. Harris, who is seeking support in the Great Lakes states, spent yesterday in Michigan. Trump’s agenda focuses on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, all of which are crucial wins.

1. The Associated Press report on Israel’s deliberate attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip, without providing any evidence of military activity inside them, reveals organized Israeli crimes that are destroying the entire health sector and spreading fear among medical teams and patients, as happened yesterday with an Israeli bombardment of children’s rooms in Kamal Adwan Hospital.
2. 
   
3. The agency's report is based on investigations that lasted several months, and accounts were obtained from eyewitnesses, and a number of doctors and medical and humanitarian workers in Al-Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan hospitals, all of which refute Israeli claims that its attacks on hospitals are due to military necessity because they are used as command and control bases for planning attacks by Hamas. All of what the Israeli army spokesman presented was not based on facts or evidence.
4. 
   
5. Certainly, the aim of attacking hospitals is to complete the series of destruction of infrastructure, to tighten the noose on citizens, and increase the difficulties facing them, as the Israeli attacks have previously affected seven hospitals, although they should be protected under international law, but Israel, which is accustomed to violations, did not respect the sanctity of hospitals, and destroyed them completely.
6. 
   
7. The occupation’s practices against the health sector have crossed all humanitarian barriers and red lines. The army deliberately launched shells, missiles and bombardment from the air, used bulldozers and heavy machinery to storm and destroy hospitals and health centers, arrested medical teams, their staff and workers, crushed the tents of the displaced inside the hospitals, and humiliated patients and workers.
8. 
   
9. What happened yesterday in Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, when the occupation bombed the children’s floor, the nursery, and the water tanks in the hospital, turning it into a state of near-total collapse, injuring a number of patients, being subjected to heavy Israeli bombardment during a visit by a delegation from the World Health Organization, and not having a single ambulance in the northern Gaza Strip, confirms that these Israeli measures against hospitals are part of a policy of collective punishment against the Palestinians in the Strip. There is no better evidence of what we have presented than the conclusions of international reports issued by official institutions, bodies, and media outlets, most notably the Associated Press, which said that Israel implemented a coordinated policy to destroy the health care system in Gaza.
10. 
    
11. The entire Palestinian health sector is calling on the world to intervene to protect hospitals from continued Israeli targeting. Is there anyone who will respond?

The US presidential elections on the fifth of this month, and the outcome of the victory of the Democratic candidate Harris or the Republican candidate Trump, what will change for the region and for us? We realize that Trump raised the slogan of America First, and reducing intervention in wars or not provoking new wars, but what we found in his first term, which came on the back of his victory over the Democratic candidate Obama, and the war was raging in Syria, is that he continued to intervene in the war on Syria, and postponed the withdrawal of his forces from it twice. On the Palestinian level, he is more extreme than the Democrats, but on the level of blind adoption of Israeli positions and political support, what can he add? The Democrats have provided Israel with everything, and unprecedented support, military, political, material, logistical, intelligence, political and legal protection in international institutions, to the point of threatening the President and judges of the International Court of Justice, and blackmailing them on a personal and financial level, and threatening South Africa, which dared to file a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide. It has not left any bullying method unused in the service of Israel. It has prevented four times the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the aggression on the Gaza Strip, and it has also prevented the issuance of a resolution by the same council to grant Palestine full membership in the United Nations. It said that the establishment of a Palestinian state must necessarily be with Israeli approval, and as an Israeli protectorate, it does not possess the components of a state, nor political or economic independence, nor sovereignty. All that remains is for its armies to participate in the battles directly, not in secret ways. Direct intervention in wars with direct American military participation during the era of Democrats or Republicans is not expected to be done. Trump was president when Iran shot down the latest American spy plane, the Global Hawk, in 2019, and he did not respond to Iran militarily. What Trump will add in his victory will not go beyond a moral charge, which will not have an impact on a major change in American foreign policy. We must not be deceived by any tactical and urgent disagreement between the Israeli government and the American administration. These disagreements take place under the roof of a Zionist America, and Israel is the advanced base in the region that serves American and Western interests in the region. Therefore, we find that the American, German and British administrations in particular are more Zionist than the Israeli governments themselves. This is not what we saw from Blinken’s pride in his Jewishness, nor Biden’s Zionism, nor the rest of the American and Western European choir, such as US Secretary of State Annalena Gerbiok and her boss, Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They all raise the same slogan and saying, “Israel’s right to defend itself.” The impudence reaches the German Foreign Minister. To say that "Israel has the right to bomb hospitals and schools, if there are "terrorists" to protect itself, and Musaylimah the Liar Blinken, the American Secretary of State who is proud of his Jewishness, said that the Israeli army did not kill a single civilian in the Gaza Strip, but rather aliens are the ones killing them. It is the American and Western colonial "prostitution" that has no limits, and which sees us, Arabs, Muslims and Africans, as backward peoples who are not susceptible to Western "civilization", and in order for security and stability to prevail in the world, those peoples must be eliminated. The racist and brutal capitalist theories formulated by the theorists of what is known as American and Western civilization, which were revealed in a rude and blatant manner and fell at the gates of Gaza, Beirut and the southern suburb, killing, blood, hunger, siege, expulsion and displacement, they are the theories of the end of history by "Fukuyama" and the clash of civilizations by "Hemington".

In order for our readings of the US presidential elections to be correct, we must realize that both the Republican and Democratic parties are competing in their love for and flirtation with Israel, and that its security, stability, and military and security superiority in the region are above all considerations. Even the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing it is waging in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, both parties find justification for these crimes by claiming “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Therefore, the two parties exchange accusations about which of them is more loyal to Israel and its Zionist project. Trump, in the debate that brought him together with the Democratic candidate Harris, and because she did not attend the meeting with Netanyahu during his last visit to Washington, in the “house of American slander,” Congress, accused her of not loving Israel. We must realize that the American military, financial, and security machine is led by a deep state, behind which stand huge military, financial, and economic cartels and monopolies, the Pentagon and the CIA form its arms and mind, and it is distributed between the two parties and the camps of the candidates, and its vision stems from the deep interests of the imperial project. American colonialist.

As for the impact of these elections, their results and repercussions on Iran, Iran realizes that it will remain in the circle of American targeting from both parties, Republican and Democratic, targeting its role and regional position, targeting its military and armament capabilities, targeting its nuclear program and facilities and its programs for ballistic missiles and suicide drones, and therefore sanctions on Tehran will be tightened. Beyond that, Iran realizes that the American-Israeli project has moved from the stage of defense to the stage of attack, and it goes beyond geographical maps and the aggressive war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to a war that aims to create what is known as the New Middle East, a new Middle East in which the maps of the region are being changed and reformulated anew, in a way that ensures the region remains within the framework of American hegemony for the coming decades and under Israeli leadership and American administration, through security and military blocs and alliances between Israel and the countries of the collapsed official Arab system, whose greatest wish and concern is to launch the broadest normalization process with the occupying state, deluding itself that a state that is unable to provide security and protection for its society is able to protect this official Arab system. And his thrones.

Tehran realizes that the American-Israeli project, in its strategic attack through the assassination of Nasrallah, is an entry point to overthrow the Lebanese resistance experience represented by Hezbollah, which represents the surplus power of the resistance axis and its spearhead. Therefore, the goal is to impose new deterrence equations that “dwarf” Iran’s regional role and allow America and Israel to make geostrategic changes. Therefore, within the framework of the battle over deterrence, which has become the issue, Iran will not abandon the confrontation with Israel and America, within the framework of its defense of its regional position. Therefore, Supreme Leader Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards Commander Ismail Salami, and the strategic level official for foreign policy Kamal Kharrazi, confirmed that the Iranian response is coming, and it is more severe, broader, and more painful than the response in “True Promise 2.”

While it must be remembered that if Trump wins, he will continue the policy of financial “milking” of the Gulf states, in a more blatant and impudent manner, and will also expand the normalization alliances between the occupying state and the Arab and Islamic states.

Since the start of his devastating war after October 7 of last year, Benjamin Netanyahu has promoted two contradictory ideas: First, that Israel is fighting an existential war in which it is defending its survival, and he exaggerated this to the point of describing the Israeli losses in the Al-Aqsa flood as the largest since the Holocaust. The fundamental goal of this idea is to portray Israel as the victim, and even to monopolize the title of victim in general. Netanyahu and his supporters from the West and East did not mind that Israel occupies the land of another people and is practicing the worst oppression and war crimes of our time.

The second idea was that Israel was all-powerful and all-powerful, and would redraw the map of the entire Middle East for the next fifty years, something that had not happened since the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement.

There is no need for us to refute the first idea, as it has no credibility, because the real existential danger is the conspiracies and crimes that the Palestinian people are facing to liquidate their national cause and their right to freedom and self-determination, although it is necessary to hint at the validity of the belief of some Israelis that their entity is entering, at an unusual speed in the path of states, into a phase of decline that may reach the point of demise, if the current fascist approach of the Zionist movement continues with all its components.

What concerns us is the second idea that Israel is all-powerful and will redraw the map of the Middle East. This idea contradicts a series of events and facts that have been revealed over the course of the war that has been going on for more than a year.

First, after more than a full year of the longest war in the history of the Israeli entity, it seems unable to complete or achieve its military objectives in the Gaza Strip, despite the huge difference in capabilities, capacities, weapons and number of soldiers, as the Israeli army, which is considered among the strongest armies in the world, faces a resistance force that has been besieged for seventeen years, and yet it has failed to uproot the resistance, failed to impose its military control, failed to recover its prisoners, and failed to achieve the ethnic cleansing that was its main goal. This army finds nothing to compensate for its failure except the brutal brutality of civilians, especially women and children.

The second fact is that the Israeli army, before opening the Lebanese front, was unable to confront the Palestinian resistance in Gaza without an American air bridge, and support in the form of weapons and intelligence services from a significant number of European countries, including Germany and Britain. It even needed the American fleet to flow into the region’s seas in order to be able to focus on its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The third fact was that the “mighty Israeli army!!” was unable to confront the Iranian missile and drone attack without full defensive air support from NATO, the US Central Command, and a number of Western bases and armies deployed in the region. Despite all that support, Israeli military bases were seriously damaged in that attack, and the United States was forced to send its most advanced air defense system (THAAD) with its American military operators to Israel.

The fourth fact was Israel’s inability to confront the marches coming from Lebanon, the failure of the Israeli army to carry out a large-scale ground invasion of southern and central Lebanon as it had planned, and its inability to capitalize on its intelligence success and assassinate a significant number of Hezbollah’s leadership to achieve the complete collapse of the party that it had dreamed of.

The fifth fact is that the rise of fascism in Israel could not protect it from escalating internal disintegration due to the length of the war, the increasing human losses, the deepening of the economic crisis resulting from unexpected losses, and the flight of hundreds of thousands in search of security and safety, after all of Palestine became an open arena of confrontation.

The irony is that all this failure is taking place in the shadow of regional and global opportunities that Israel has not had in the past, and will not have in the future. It launched its war in the shadow of the complicity of a number of regional countries, and those who want to increase it can refer to Bob Woodward’s new book entitled “War”, and in the shadow of an unparalleled weakness at the level of governments in Arab and Islamic solidarity with the Palestinian people, in contrast to the positions of the peoples, of course, who are the ones who are defeated.

On the international level, Israel received absolute support in terms of weapons, money, and political support, and even direct military participation from the US Army and a number of Western armies. It also enjoyed financial support of up to $40 billion from the Biden administration, and protection that reached the point of insolence in the Security Council and the corridors of the United Nations. In this confrontation, the Palestinians did not have a pole parallel to the American and Western pole globally, as was the case in the Cold War, in light of the American-Soviet competition at the time. There is, of course, a difference between support with political statements and positions, and material support with weapons, money, and even soldiers and officers.

Despite all these huge differences in capabilities, resources and sources of support, Israel failed to achieve its goals, and continued to stagnate, finding nothing but the brutality of defenceless civilians as a means to vent its anger and sense of failure.

It is not our intention here to diminish the extent of the human and material losses caused by the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, especially in the Gaza Strip. These are enormous human losses whose horror cannot be described in words.

However, all these losses did not achieve a strategic victory for Israel, nor did they even bring about the strategic transformation it sought.

With the beginning of the decline that Netanyahu and his government leaders are facing, it seems clear that the image of strategic might that he tried to promote has evaporated, and this will have an impact on the behavior of many governments in the region that were hoping that Netanyahu would fulfill their dreams of getting rid of what they consider, unjustly, to be their enemies.

Netanyahu will have to confront his strategic failure and the personal difficulties that haunt him, in light of the exposure of the facts of the ongoing conflict, especially among the components of the Palestinian people after the illusions of compromise solutions and reliance on the United States as a mediator have disappeared, and after entire generations of Palestinians have become deeply convinced that what they are facing is not only the effects of the first Nakba, from ethnic cleansing, the longest occupation in modern history, and the worst system of racial discrimination (apartheid), but rather they are facing the same system of settler colonialism that has escalated to become fascist in every sense of the word, and how clear this was in the vote of the Knesset, with its ruling and opposition parties, to prevent the work of the International Relief Agency, in what embodied the greater truth, that Israel is trying unsuccessfully to escape from its past, its crimes, and its short history.

One day separates us from the American elections, to decide the results and know who will sit in the White House for the next four years, and who will win the elections that are witnessing a close race according to opinion polls, and the votes counted between the Democratic and Republican candidates, and until the date of announcing the official results, the speculations and expectations sometimes give the lead to Donald Trump and other times to Kamala Harris, and while these elections take a different form, whether in the size of the threat and intimidation by Trump in the event of his loss, and the waving of chaos in the American states, on the other hand, it is counted on to stop the war of extermination in Gaza and stop the war on Lebanon and restore calm to the region, as it will be strong and supported by the electoral vote, and it is at the peak of its beginning, not like this period that is flabby with the weakness of the ends and the last days.

Some believe that Trump's return may open the door again to restructuring the region according to the "Deal of the Century", which is rejected in form and substance. Others believe that Harris' victory will be a continuation of the bloodshed in the region, especially the war of extermination in Gaza. However, American policy towards the region cannot be viewed as changing, but rather as fixed in its bias towards Israel through all successive presidents in the White House. As for the rest of the other files, it may be flexible and not as fixed as it is towards Israel, and this explains the lack of reliance on the success of either candidate.

One day before the US elections, the world is watching the election results, while no one in Palestine is counting on what these elections might produce, because the abhorrent experience with all successive administrations and the constant bias in favor of Israel, made both parties and their candidates two sides of the same coin, and even their recent statements during the election campaign, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, pushed a torrent of support and endorsement for Israel, as the first began talking about the necessity of expanding the map of Israel east and west and in every direction, and the second continued Biden's lies about the necessity of finding a peaceful solution and calming the situation, while he continued to provide Israel with equipment and weapons, and provide it with cover in all international forums, and opened all weapons stores for it and sent battleships, planes, experts and soldiers, so looking at both parties in their vision and bias, there is no difference, and therefore counting on the victory of either of them is a grave mistake.

Under the pretext of waiting for the US elections, the war of extermination in Gaza continued, and the occupation government continued to jump from one front to another. It will try to take advantage of the vacuum that follows the election results, from this November until the inauguration of the new president next January, while the people of Gaza will continue to live in hunger, thirst, siege and war, and are exposed to death and killing at every moment in massacres and mass slaughters. Israel will continue to commit its crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide unless it finds a real international deterrent. Shame, shame on humanity, will remain as long as this genocide continues.

The United States warned Iran against touching the Israeli colony, and monitored and brought in ground defenses, warplanes, and aircraft carriers to protect the colony and preserve its superiority and capabilities, despite the fact that it occupies the lands of three Arab countries: Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, and bombs and deliberately kills civilians until it excelled in obtaining the description of practicing genocide and ethnic cleansing, in a blatant, clear, provocative manner, not only in a way that contradicts the laws of international legitimacy and human rights, but even in a way that contradicts American values and laws that have been bypassed and disregarded, and Washington’s will has withdrawn from them and fallen into immoral, inhumane, and illegal quagmires, with its silence and inaction on the crimes of the colony.

The colony is committing massacres and crimes against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and the American administration, instead of reprimanding it and deterring it from continuing to deliberately target civilians, provides it with protection, care and support for its occupation, colonization, racism and crimes, to the point that it almost becomes a partner with it, and it is, not only in confronting Iran and warning it, but in supporting and partnering in confronting Hamas and Hezbollah, assassinating their leaders and praising the flagrant crimes they committed in the assassinations and physical liquidations, accompanied by the killing of civilians during the bombing operations, which is an illegal, illegitimate and inhumane procedure, absolutely.

The United States seeks to maintain its uniqueness in managing international politics after the end of the Cold War in 1990, just as it seeks to impose Israeli hegemony over the Arab East region. For this reason, it works to end any role, any country, any party, or any side that rejects Israeli hegemony, domination, and colonialism over our Arab region.

The name Middle East and North Africa is not innocent of not acknowledging or respecting our Arab nation, our national identity, and our Islamic and Christian religions. The name is intended to eliminate the Arab national identity from the lands, areas, and extensions of the Arab world. Many people fail to realize the motives behind this misleading name, which is to erase the identity and history of the region, so that the colony becomes part of it, and even dominates it. This is what it is doing in Palestine, first of all, by rejecting its name and replacing it, erasing its history and identity, dissipating its people and their cohesion, and working to liquidate them through killing and displacement.

What the criminal murderer Netanyahu says about changing the situation in the region, its form and content is the intention, the work and the goal, and those who remain silent or keep quiet will not be innocent of collusion and paying the price, and this is what we will see later.

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported today, Monday, that estimates in Israel indicate that the administration of US President Joe Biden will pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza after the US presidential elections.

According to the Hebrew newspaper, the prevailing assessment in Israel is that Biden will take real steps in an attempt to push forward towards the end of the war, including making decisions that have so far been avoided, including in international forums, or regarding harming the American arms supplies on which Israel depends.

This assessment is based, among other things, on the letter sent to Israel by the Biden administration’s defense and state secretaries, Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, last month, in which they warned that if Israel did not significantly improve its procedures regarding the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip within 30 days, this could lead to the cessation of American support, including in the field of weapons.

The deadline set by the Israeli government in the letter expires the week following the elections, and so far there has been no significant increase in the amount of aid provided to the population of Gaza.

The administration also warned Israel in the letter against harming UNRWA's activities in the Gaza Strip, which currently plays a major role in distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, but the Knesset approved two laws last week that could make its work in Gaza more difficult.

Senior Israeli officials estimate that the legislation will force the Biden administration to declare that Israel is making it more difficult to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza, and that this policy will require the administration to take practical steps in response.

Three Western diplomats who spoke to Haaretz said the amount of aid provided was insufficient.

One of them pointed out that "the Americans demanded that Israel bring in more than 400 trucks a day, and Israel is not even close to meeting that number."

According to him, the Israeli explanations are not convincing, and there is growing suspicion that Israel is trying to carry out a mass deportation of the Palestinian population from the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation forces launched a wide-scale campaign of arrests and raids in the West Bank at dawn and on Monday morning.

According to local sources, the occupation forces arrested 5 citizens from the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.

Sakher Ayed Qawqas Akhlil (45 years old), Muhammad Wahid Hamdi Abu Maria (23 years old), Baha Bassam Hamad Al-Alami (22 years old), and the child Muhammad Bassem Muhammad Saeed Attia (14 years old) were arrested after raiding their homes, searching them, and tampering with their contents.

The occupation forces also raided several homes in the town and ransacked their contents. The occupation soldiers deliberately threw sound bombs into the home of prisoner Wahid Hamdi Abu Maria, and assaulted a number of citizens in the town and seized four vehicles.

The occupation forces also arrested the young man Ashraf Asfour from Hadab Al-Fawar, south of Hebron.

The occupation forces also set up several military checkpoints at the entrances to Hebron, its towns, villages and camps, and closed a number of main and secondary roads with iron gates, cement blocks and earthen barriers.

The occupation forces arrested two young men from Qalqilya Governorate, Ahmed Salmi and Mashhour Yamin, after raiding and searching their homes.

Meanwhile, the young man, Ahmed Shabita, was arrested after storming a residential building in the Al-Makhfiya neighborhood in Nablus.

The Balfour Declaration, in which most of the colonial Western countries participated 107 years ago, in writing and translation, support, protection and nourishment, is still the same with its intentions and directions, in support, protection and nourishment. Therefore, Balfour was nothing but the spearhead of the colonial West in transforming the theological into the colonial, and in transforming the colonial into a political entity that now has teeth and claws, and with it and through it it threatens or embarrasses Britain itself. What I want to say here, 107 years after this ugly and criminal promise that covered up the theft, killing, displacement and dismantling of the Palestinian people group until now, and deprived them of establishing their state and society on their land, is the clearest and most explicit image of the meaning of colonialism, racism and the corrupt and sick ideology that does not see the division of peoples and the theft of their lands and wealth as a hateful or unacceptable act. This criminal promise is nothing but a moral, political and civilizational exposure of the entire colonial West that does us a favor and always boasts about morality, democracy and the rest of those lies. The Balfour Declaration is actual proof of moral, human and civilized immorality, and it has not yet been corrected or apologized for. On the contrary, the British Prime Minister boasted several years ago that Britain established Israel, in a brazen challenge to everything that is humane, Arab and Islamic.

The important thing is that after 107 years have passed since this criminal promise, the Palestinian people have found themselves facing an unparalleled predicament. They have faced what was not expected or have fallen into the most dangerous thing that a group can fall into, which is occupation, denial, erasure, transgression, dismantling, killing, displacement, homelessness, and prevention of the means of a decent life. This promise meant that the Palestinian would carry his stick and travel under every planet that suffers from neglect, siege, impoverishment, killing, exile and apprehension. He had to keep the ember of longing in his heart and dig in the rock in order to return to his paradise from which he was expelled. Over these long decades, the world and people have changed, goals and challenges have changed, priorities and leaderships have changed. Therefore, in every era, the Palestinian had to provide definitions for parts of his heart and intimate organs. He had to choose between the homeland as he dreams of it and the homeland that politics allows, between his state and his revolution, between his absolute and his relative, between his people and his audience. In every era, the Palestinian had to redefine his definitions, as if he were redefining or confirming his sonship to his mother and his land. During these decades, the Palestinian had to provide - forced - another definition for everything he loves due to balances, settlements, pressures or global changes. What is the Palestinian homeland now, between that which is in his heart and that which is on the political map, and what is the definition of his people, that which he sings to morning and evening, and that people distributed in the spaces and squares?

The Palestinian - throughout this long and bitter period - has not yet been able to regain his rights or build his state. On the contrary, he is now forced to humble himself, make concessions and accept humiliating settlements under the pressure of fire, threats and sieges, as the colonial countries that signed the Balfour Declaration have become more wicked and impudent. Therefore, although the Balfour Declaration established an entity for the Zionists, it certainly did not guarantee them security, stability or perhaps survival. The Balfour Declaration certainly offended the Palestinian people, but it also harmed the Jewish communities that were safe and secure in their country, and caused the greatest harm to the security and stability of the Arab and Islamic region, and it certainly threatens world peace. This is what Balfour and his promise and everyone who helped him did, and then they come crying over world peace... It is not only a lie but an abomination!!

Several Palestinians were killed and injured during the hours of last night and Monday morning, as a result of a series of continuous Israeli raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip.

According to the Civil Defense, a group of martyrs were recovered after the bombing of the Batsh family home near Dar Al-Arqam School, east of Gaza City.

This morning, Israeli aircraft bombed unknown targets in Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip, amid artillery shelling of the two areas.

Two citizens were killed in a bombing in the vicinity of Street 8, east of Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

Some areas were subjected to aerial and artillery bombardment.

The following are axioms:

• The war in Gaza will not end until all of the Israeli and foreign hostages are freed from Gaza.
• The war will not end as long as Hamas continues to rule Gaza.
• Hamas may be willing to give up civil governmental control over Gaza to a professional, non-partisan, technocratic government, but it will not voluntarily give up its weapons.
• The war will not end without a significant release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
• Hamas wants the war to end and for all Israeli forces to withdrawal from Gaza.
• Hamas will not end the war until all Israeli forces leave Gaza.
• The Sunni Arab states around Israel want a unified Palestinian government which is not Hamas to rule the West Bank and Gaza, but not the current Palestinian Authority leadership.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu does not want to end the war.

I am in regular contact with the people responsible for negotiations in Israel, Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Hamas. I have 18 years of experience negotiating with Hamas. I believe that I am the Israeli citizen with the most hours of discussions with Hamas leaders, except perhaps Israeli prison guards and prison authorities and their discussions with Hamas people are entirely different than mine. From what I have been told by several Hamas leaders over the past two months I believe that Hamas’s primary goal now is to end the war in Gaza and for Israel to withdraw all of its troops from the Strip. Hamas will not make any agreement with Israel to release hostages held in Gaza without the end of the war and the Israeli withdrawal.  Hamas will also demand a significant release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel, especially those serving life sentences for killing Israelis. Hamas is will to have their control over Gaza transferred to a professional, technocratic Palestinian government which is not composed of members of the various political factions, including Hamas and Fatah.  Although Hamas has stated that they are willing to turn over all aspects of government to the new non-Hamas government, including security and control of border passages, several Arab intelligence agencies have stated that they do not believe that Hamas will surrender their weapons to the new government.

Assuming that Hamas is willing for a new Palestinian government to be established, most of the Arab states involved, along with the United States would like to see a reunification of Palestinian government, with one authority governing both the West Bank and Gaza. All parties concerned do not see the viability of the current Palestinian Authority, including its latest Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa as having the legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinian street, in the West Bank and Gaza in order to actually govern Gaza post-Hamas. Most of the parties involved would like to see President Mahmoud Abbas appointing a new Prime Minister with much greater independence than Mr. Mustafa has and that the new Prime Minister be granted by Abbas the real powers to govern. Mr. Abbas would remain President, but he would be more ceremonial than what he is today which is in charge of executive, legislative, judicial powers as well as controlling the money and the security.  The newly appointed Prime Minister should be granted the powers to independently appoint a governing council for Gaza (at least) with real executive powers and the ability to invite an Arab-led international peace keeping force to Gaza. If President Abbas refuses to give up power and to appoint a truly independent Prime Minister, then the Arab states, the US and the EU should pressure Abbas to at least appoint a head for a Gaza governing council that would be independent to establish the non-partisan technocrat professional governing council. According to the leaders and people involved in negotiations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has no plan for post Hamas Gaza and has voiced opposition to every plan put forward by the Arab mediators and by the United States.

Hamas has agreed that in a deal to end the war and for Israel to withdraw all of its forces from Gaza, it is willing to release all of the hostages held in Gaza.  Hamas has said that they require 3-5 days of cull ceasefire including no Israeli fly-overs to locate all of the hostages and to know what is their condition. Hamas claims that they do now have that information now, and I believe them.  They don’t have freedom and ability to move around Gaza and their chain of command is quite broken and destroyed. There are hostages that might be held by non-Hamas groups, such as Islamic Jihad or the Popular Front. There might be hostages being held by non-affiliated civilians. There are also likely to be hostages who are buried underneath the rubble of buildings bombed by Israel along with thousands of Gazans who status is “missing”.  It may be that all 101 hostages held in Gaza cannot be returned. When a deal is made, the first test of Hamas’s ability to implement the deal will have to be to produce a list of all of the hostages and their status and that list needs to be given to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators.   It will be difficult for Hamas to lie to the mediators and therefore, the list that they produce will be as accurate as possible.

Israel has legitimate security concerns regarding leaving Gaza. Even if a new Palestinian non-Hamas government is established, as I have heard in Egypt and in Qatar, Hamas will not turn over their weapons to the new government. Turning Gaza into a non-militarized zone is a process that will take time.

First, Israel (and Egypt) must agree that any Hamas civilian or military personnel that want to leave Gaza to a third country that would accept them, should be granted safe passage out of Gaza – most likely through Egypt.

The Hamas or Islamic military people that would choose to leave, would do so, of course without their weapons. The new government in Gaza will form a professional security force. Hamas police and other security or military personnel remaining in Gaza should be encouraged to join the new security force with the enticement of receiving double the salary that they were receiving before.  The new Palestinian non-Hamas government would have to be committed to a non-aggression policy towards Israel, otherwise it will not be supported by the Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and maybe others) and will receive no funding from these countries or from the USA or the EU or other donor nations. Even if the majority of remaining Hamas military people join the new governing security force, or leave Gaza, there will remain more radical armed militants willing to continue their attacks against Israel.  This will be a challenge for Israel, for the Palestinian government in Gaza and for the Arab-led international peace keeping force, but it is not a reason for Israel to not withdraw from Gaza. In fact, the longer Israeli forces remain in Gaza, the longer the war will continue, more Israeli soldiers will be killed and armed insurgency will be supported by the general Palestinian public in Gaza, of whom today a large majority simply want the war to end. Israel will not be facing the Russian army and the forces that remain in Gaza have little access to more weapons, no ability to produce new weapons and severely damaged military command and control capabilities.  Israel forces need to be deployed on the Israeli-Gaza border so that there is a zero chance of another attack such as October 7. Egypt needs to continue to guarantee that the Egypt-Gaza border will be sealed and that the legal crossing point at Rafah will be controlled against smuggling by Egypt from the Egyptian side on the Gaza side, it is advisable that international observers be stationed there, perhaps from the Arab-led international peacekeeping force.

The economic blockade on Gaza must come to an end and Gazans must be reintegrated into the world with the right for movement and access, just like any other people in the world.   The continuation of the economic blockade on Gaza cannot be justified in anyway. Obviously, security systems need to be put in place to ensure the safe passage of people and goods in and out of Gaza.

Israel will have to release Palestinian prisoners in order for Hamas to agree to release hostages in Gaza. This is the price to be paid to retrieve the hostages. Before October 7, 2023 there were 559 Palestinian prisoners serving life-sentences for killing Israelis. Some of them are serving multiple life-sentences for killing many Israelis. Some of these prisoners are considered the symbols of Palestinian terrorism by Israel and these will be the most difficult for Israel to release. As such, they will be the prisoners that Hamas is most anxious to release. Israel will probably not have a choice and Hamas will not agree to an Israeli veto on the names of Palestinian prisoners. One solution might be for the most dangerous (as considered by Israel) of the prisoners to be granted safe passage to a third country (perhaps Algeria, Turkey, Iran, maybe some others). They would not be allowed to return to Palestine according to the agreement.   This was done partially in the Schalit deal of 2011. My advice to the Israeli side would be to allow all other West Bank prisoners to return to their homes in the West Bank. All prisoners released have historically been required to sign an undertaking that they will not return to acts of violence against Israel.  The main reason for this document to be used is that it provides the legal pretext for re-arresting those who violate the terms of their release, as was done in 2014 when 68 prisoners released in 2011 were re-arrested by Israel. By allowing them to remain in the West Bank there is greater ability for Israel to monitor them and to re-arrest them if need be.

The end of the war in Gaza needs to be the beginning of a genuine new regional based peace process to enable the Palestinian people to establish their own independent state next to Israel in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. I won’t go into the contours of what that peace should be.  I will only state that this war in Gaza must be the last Israeli-Palestinian war, but if the occupation over the Palestinian people continues, it will not be the last Israeli-Palestinian war.

Almost everything that I have written above is opposed to by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. I have heard from very senior sources in Qatar, Egypt, the EU and the United States that the primary obstacle to ending the war today is Prime Minister Netanyahu.   In all honesty, the United States is also opposed to ending the war as long as Hamas continue to control Gaza. But there is a way out. What I have heard from Qatar, Egypt and the USA is that with Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to any possible day-after scenario for Gaza, the mediators are stuck and don’t know how to move forward. To me this is shocking. The formulation of a non-Hamas professional technocratic government for Gaza is a Palestinian issue over which Israel should not be granted a veto. Israel should not be asked or consulted on this matter.  Both Egypt and Qatar have the ability to work with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and other independent Palestinian personalities in order to come up with a solution that enables the legitimate creation of a Palestinian government that can take Gaza forward into reconstruction. This is not a matter on which Israel should even have the right to decide. As long as Egypt and Qatar are satisfied that the new government in Gaza will not be Hamas and will not provoke new attacks against Israel, they should support it and enable the international community to begin to assist in the reconstruction of Gaza.

The President of the United States Biden has said that the war must end. US officials have said that President Biden wants the war to end by the end of his term in office on January 20, 2025.  There are 75 days between Election Day and the day that the new President is sworn into office. That is sufficient time for the US to use its enormous leverage on Israel to even force Netanyahu to accept a deal – assuming that Hamas does not continue to control Gaza after the war ends. If Hamas is willing to release all of the hostages and to give up control over Gaza, then Biden needs to use the full weight of the Office of the President to even force the deal on Netanyahu. There are so many points of US leverage over Israel, I am not even referring to the doomsday leverage of withholding military support and weapons. There is leverage behind closed doors which can be very effective, but there is also the kind of leverage which is used openly and announced publicly and that has proven, in the past to be even more effective on changing Israeli public opinion.

Lastly, the Israeli public is very divided on the issue of ending the war. The division derives from the belief that Hamas will never release all of the hostages and that Hamas will never give up control over Gaza. This is clearly part of the narrative of the Israeli government and it has penetrated deeply into Israeli public opinion. But if it is turns out that Hamas is ready to release all of the hostages and that Hamas is prepared to give up control over Gaza, the overwhelming majority of Israelis would support the deal to end the war and to withdraw from Gaza.  This is what must happen now to bring this war to an end, to return the hostages to Israel, to free Palestinian prisoners and to enable the millions in Gaza to begin the process of reconstruction.