Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 72?
IDF exposes massive tunnel system in Gaza built by Sinwar's brother • No further hostage talks until Israel ceases aggression, Hamas official says
IDF finds killed Gaza hostages' SOS sign, chief says incident was avoidable
After the incident, IDF troops discovered the hostages had written "help" and "SOS" in Hebrew and English inside the building in case they were found.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi held a situational assessment on the ground in Gaza on Sunday during a visit to troops of the 99th Division.
Addressing the soldiers, Halevi referred to the accidental shooting on Friday of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, saying, "This was a very difficult and painful incident, but one that could very easily have not happened.
"We have set three goals: to dismantle Hamas, to restore security to the residents of the Gaza border area, and the third mission is to recover the hostages."
Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka were all killed by IDF soldiers who opened fire as the hostages approached them as they exited the building where they were kept hostages.
The three were stripped to the waist, with raised hands and waving a white flag. The hostages also shouted out "help" in Hebrew but were misidentified as a threat and shot. 
After the incident, IDF troops discovered the hostages had written "help" and "SOS" in Hebrew and English inside the building in case they were found.
"Three people walked out during this incident," Halevi said. "They took into account that they were taking a risk approaching IDF troops and, to reduce the risk, they really thought about [what to do.] They took off their shirts so that no one would think they had explosives, and they held a white cloth on a pole to identify themselves. They spoke in Hebrew. They called for help."
Go to the full article >>Netanyahu suggest changing name of 'Operation Swords of Iron' war
According to government sources, Netanyahu addressed the issue in the Cabinet meeting today, stating, "‘Swords of Iron’ is the name of an operation, not the name of a war."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering changing the name of Operation Swords of Iron to another name.
According to government sources, Netanyahu addressed the issue today in the Cabinet meeting, arguing that "‘Swords of Iron’ is the name of an operation, not the name of a war."
Among other options, according to a report by Michael Shemesh on Kan 11, Netanyahu is considering names such as the Gaza War, the Simchat Torah War, and the Genesis War.
נתניהו מעוניין לשנות את שם המלחמה, לדבריו ״חרבות ברזל זה שם של מבצע, לא של מלחמה״.
— מיכאל שמש Michael Shemesh (@shemeshmicha) December 17, 2023
בין השמות הנבחנים: ׳מלחמת בראשית׳, ׳מלחמת עזה׳ ו׳מלחמת שמחת תורה׳.נתניהו אהב את השם ׳מלחמת בראשית׳ ‘the genesis war’. https://t.co/eWJewlsQMx
Sources close to Netanyahu confirmed that "he is interested in a name that will catch on publicly and internationally, and that the war will be remembered as a significant war, and not just as an operation."
Name changes have occured in the past
It should be noted that changing the name from an operation to a war is not necessarily an unusual move. The Galilee Peace Operation in 1982 turned into the Lebanon War and is known by that name today.
Similarly, the Second Lebanon War in 2006 initially began as "Operation Just Remission" and was later renamed "Operation Change of Direction" before ultimately being officially named the Second Lebanon War at its conclusion.
Go to the full article >>IDF jet strikes Hezbollah terror cell in Lebanon, Hagari affirms Israel will defend itself
“Since the Hamas massacre of October 7, Hezbollah has been increasing its attacks against Israel," IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
An IDF jet struck Hezbollah terror infrastructure in Lebanese territory, the IDF said on Sunday.
The jet also targeted a terrorist cell in Lebanon that had attempted to fire an anti-tank missile into Israel.
In an English press statement on Sunday, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari reiterated the IDF will continue to take the necessary measures to protect Israeli citizens from Hezbollah.
"Hezbollah attacks have killed and displaced tens of thousands of Israelis"
“Since the Hamas massacre of October 7th, Hezbollah has been increasing its attacks against Israel: firing rockets, missiles, and drones; killing Israeli civilians and soldiers; and displacing over 80,000 Israelis from their homes in
the north," Hagari said.
He went on to describe how Israel's response to these attacks has been to strike at Hezbollah targets inside Lebanese territory.
He continued to add that the actions of the Iranian proxy in Lebanon are dragging its entire country into a war that would have serious and underserved repercussions for the Lebanese people.
"When it comes to existential threats, we regard every day as though it’s October 6, so that the Hamas massacre of October 7th never happens again — on any one of our borders," he continued.
The IDF spokesperson concluded by stating that "Until and unless a diplomatic solution is found and implemented (to the Hezbollah problem), [the IDF] will continue making the necessary preparations to remove the threat from our border.”
Hagari's comments come in the wake of a Friday CNN report that found Israel had struck the US-backed Lebanese Armed Forces, rather than Lebanon-based terror groups, 34 times since the Gaza War began.
According to CNN, citing American officials, the Biden administration told Israel that such strikes are unacceptable.
Hamas, Israel spar over terms of Gaza ceasefire, hostage releases - Egypt
Mossad Chief David Barnea met Friday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe, and according to some media reports is expected to hold a second meeting this week.
Israel and Hamas are both open to a hostage deal, although disagreements remain on how to implement it, two Egyptian sources told Reuters as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was slated to arrive in Israel on Monday.
Austin, who was in Kuwait and Bahrain, is also expected to visit Qatar, which along with Egypt is attempting to mediate a deal for the return of the more than 120 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Mossad Director David Barnea met Friday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe, and according to some media reports, he is expected to hold a second meeting with him this week.
The deal is expected to be more complex than the one in November for mostly women, children, and foreigners. It might include an Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners responsible for killing Israelis in past terrorist attacks, KAN News reported.
Hamas is insisting on setting the list of hostages to be released unilaterally and demanding that Israeli forces withdraw behind predetermined lines, the sources told Reuters.
PM Netanyahu under pressure for another hostage deal
While Israel has agreed on Hamas setting the list, the sources said it demanded a timeline and to see the list before setting the time and duration of the ceasefire.
Israel refuses to withdraw, the sources added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have been under pressure to conclude a deal to free all the hostages. Hamas has publicly said it would only consider a deal that includes an agreement to end the IDF’s military campaign in Gaza.
Israel has insisted that it plans to proceed with its military campaign to destroy Hamas, irrespective of any hostage deal. The past deal included an agreement to temporarily have a pause in fighting, and a new agreement is expected to do so as well.
As part of its efforts to negotiate a deal, and in a nod to its understanding with the United States, Israel over the weekend agreed to open its main commercial crossing into Gaza at Kerem Shalom for humanitarian aid for the first time since the start of the war.
“Israel is committed to continue working with our partners to facilitate large amounts of aid to the people of Gaza,” said Col. Moshe Tetro, head of COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration to Gaza.
The opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing would allow Israel to “abide by the terms of our agreement with the United States,” he said.
It will also “increase the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip, where it will continue to be met by international aid organizations that will deliver it to the people of Gaza,” he added.
“Our war is not with the people of Gaza,” Tetro said. “Our war is with Hamas.”
Israel had only allowed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah crossing, a move that has been fraught with difficulty given that the passageway is not designed for the high-level flow of goods.
The US had promised to renovate the Rafah crossing, and Kerem Shalom would be used only as an interim crossing, Netanyahu said Saturday.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday is set to debate a resolution calling for the opening of all land, air, and sea routes into Gaza, although at present, there are only land crossings. Israel has long had a military blockage against air and sea routes into Gaza for security purposes.
The resolution also calls on the UN to establish a monitoring mechanism for the goods that enter Gaza. It also calls for the release of the hostages and a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who visited Israel on Sunday, called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting, which she hoped would lead to a permanent ceasefire.
According to Hamas, 19,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza war-related violence with Israel, and about 7,000 of the fatalities were combatants. Hamas killed 1,200 people and seized about 250 captives when it attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the war.
Pope Francis on Sunday again suggested Israel was using “terrorism” tactics in Gaza, deploring the reported killing by the IDF of two Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex.
At his weekly blessing, he referred to a statement about an incident on Saturday by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the Holy Land.
An IDF “sniper” had killed the two women, Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, as they walked to a convent of nuns in the compound of the Holy Family Parish, he said.
The Patriarchate statement said seven other people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others.
“I continue to receive very grave and painful news from Gaza,” Francis said. “Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns.”
Francis said they were killed by “snipers” and also referred to the Patriarchate’s statement that a convent of nuns of the order founded by Mother Teresa was damaged by Israeli tank fire.
“Some would say, ‘It is war. It is terrorism.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry said the incident was still under review, and it had no immediate comment on the pope’s words.
It was the second time in less than a month that the pope used the word “terrorism” while speaking about events in Gaza.
On November 22, after meeting separately with Israeli relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza, he said: “This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.”
Later that day, a messy dispute broke out about whether he used the word “genocide” to describe events in Gaza, with Palestinians who met him insisting that he did and the Vatican saying he did not.
Jewish groups criticized the pope for last month’s “terrorism” comments.
Go to the full article >>Hamas leaders hold secret meeting in Turkey - report
Turkey was deliberately chosen as the site of the meeting, as it was deemed safe enough for the leaders to meet there.
Senior Hamas officials held a secret meeting last week in Turkey, Israel's national broadcaster KAN revealed on Sunday night.
At the head of the meeting were Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri, who attended from his residence in Beirut, and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, who lives in the Qatari capital, Doha. Several other senior Hamas officials attended, according to KAN.
Turkey was deliberately chosen as the site of the meeting, as it was deemed safe enough for the leaders to meet there. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has continually used anti-Israel rhetoric since the start of the Israel-Hamas War, declaring Israel guilty of war crimes.
The meeting was held to coordinate Hamas's next steps in the current conflict with Israel, which began on October 7 after hundreds of Hamas terrorists broke through the border and went on a murderous rampage across IDF bases and Israeli border communities, killing 1,200 and kidnapping almost 250 people.
Go to the full article >>Economic harm from war with Hezbollah would be staggering, says expert
A full-scale war with Hezbollah is outlined, projecting a month-long freeze of most activities in the North, resulting in a 70% drop in employment.
Further escalation in hostilities could result in staggering economic losses amounting to up to NIS 30 billion, according to Reichman University’s Aaron Institute for Economic Policy and MIND Israel.
The report highlighted an urgent need for decisive action from policymakers to mitigate the potential fallout.
The Aaron Institute’s research delves into two potential conflict scenarios: one involving Gaza, and the other envisioning a full-scale war with Hezbollah. In the former, the economic forecast for 2023 anticipates a growth rate of 1.5%, significantly below the pre-war estimate of 3.0% by the Bank of Israel.
In 2024, the institute predicts a growth rate ranging between 0% and 1%, potentially causing a decline of 1-2% in per capita income.
The cost of fighting on another front
In the latter scenario, a full-scale war with Hezbollah is outlined, projecting a month-long freeze of most activities in the North, resulting in a 70% drop in employment.
Go to the full article >>Israel's crimes in Gaza more heinous than ISIS, Iranian FM claims
Pope Francis, today, also expressed concerns over the morality of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Israel commits crimes more heinous than those of ISIS, according to an article by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA.)
The minister went on to say that Israel should pay compensation for the acts he deemed criminal.
“Hamas was not destroyed after 70 days; The resistance was not disarmed; Zionist military prisoners were not released through war; The plan of forced evacuation of Gaza residents was not successful,” IRNA cites Amirabdollahian as having said.
Having listed the above, the minister declared, “Palestine is now the definitive winner of this unequal field.”
Adding to the accusations, Amirabdollahian claimed that war crimes had been specifically commited against Palestinian women and children in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has claimed that Israeli forces have killed nearly 19,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Go to the full article >>Israel's political, security cabinets to convene on Monday
The political and security cabinets will meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Did the IDF win on territory and Hamas win on hostages? - analysis
To the extent the IDF prioritizes the hostages, it has a difficult uphill battle.
It is a bizarre and paradoxical dichotomy, but it seems the IDF may be winning against Hamas on controlling Gaza territory, while the terrorist group is winning on the hostage issue.
All of this could change in an instant – if Israel’s spies and special forces pull off some kind of miraculous operation to assassinate Hamas’s top leaders and save the hostages in one fell swoop.
But absent that miracle, these two contrary trends seem to be coming to the fore.
The IDF’s winning territory has been somewhat obvious since mid-November. By then, it had routed Hamas in most of northern Gaza, taking control of Gaza City and multiple equivalents of Hamas’s capital sites of governing.
Anywhere Hamas terrorists tried to fight, the IDF defeated them, given enough time and the use of joint attacks from the IAF, tanks, and artillery.
Put simply, Hamas was too outgunned to win any head-to-head battles with the IDF.
Go to the full article >>Gaza hostages' tragic deaths the result of IDF soldiers' October 7 trauma
What happened is the type of incident that can demoralize the nation and the army, the type of incident – if left unchecked – that could start to sway public opinion against continuing the fighting.
At 72 days, the Israel-Hamas war is already one of the longest the country has ever experienced.
Founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion realized that Israel was not built for long-term wars, and developed a security concept based on short wars and bringing the battle to the enemy.
Such was the case in the 1956 100-hour Sinai Campaign, during which Israel lost 231 soldiers. So, too, was the case in the Six-Day War, where Israel lost 796 defenders.
This war has far outlasted the Yom Kippur War (19 days), the Second Lebanon War (34 days), and Operation Protective Edge (50 days). Only the 1948-1949 War of Independence, the 1967-1970 War of Attrition, and the 1982-1985 First Lebanon War went on longer.
Ben-Gurion knew that a country of Israel’s size, with the army heavily dependent on reserves and with its sensitivity to casualties, would have difficulty withstanding long, protracted wars. The steady drumbeat of bad news would wear down the population, and the economy could not weather months on end of productive civilians in the reserves.
Israel’s founding security concept was based on the imperative to take the battle to the enemy and win quickly.
Go to the full article >>Israel-Hamas war: What you need to know
- Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza
- Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 in the Re'im music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities