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Update Dec 27th (Day 82)

By December 27, 2023No Comments

UPDATES ON THE WAR – Day 82 (Dec 27th):

*We are one Day 82 (Dec 27th). PEACE PROPOSAL ON THE TABLE as FIGHTING CONTINUES.

[We have created categories to make our summaries easier to read and understand.]

Headlines:

  • Top Israeli officials are reviewing a draft peace proposal crafted by neighboring Egypt to end fighting in the Gaza Strip, focusing on initial steps including renewed hostage and prisoner swaps, according to reports yesterday. The role of Hamas in a postwar governing structure—a nonstarter for Israel, say experts—remains a key hurdle. Hamas and partner militant group Islamic Jihad were said to have quickly dismissed Egypt’s plan.
  • Attacks on Israel’s North Intensify as IDF Pushes Deeper Into Gaza’s Khan Yunis

OUCH:

  • BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The typically bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost town Sunday after Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off due to the Israel-Hamas war. The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists and jubilant youth marching bands that gather in the West Bank town each year to mark the holiday. Dozens of Palestinian security forces patrolled the empty square.
  • The cancellation of Christmas festivities was a severe blow to the town’s economy. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s income — almost all of that during the Christmas season.
  • With many major airlines canceling flights to Israel, few foreigners are visiting. Local officials say over 70 hotels in Bethlehem were forced to close, leaving thousands of people unemployed
  • About 90% of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are regularly without adequate food, according to the UN World Food Program.
  • Thousands have been killed on both sides. 🙁

YEAH:

  • Roughly 5,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Oct. 7.

IN THE SOUTH (RED SEA / EILAT):

  • Iran threatened Saturday (Dec 23rd) that the Mediterranean Sea could be “closed” if the U.S. and Israel continued “crimes” in Gaza, state media reported, according to Reuters. It is unclear how Iran would follow through on such a threat, as the country has no direct access to the Mediterranean Sea and no major naval presence outside the Persian Gulf.
  • Naqdi referenced attacks on Gibraltar would be an escalation of Red Sea attacks on shipping from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Iran-backed rebel group launched attacks on cargo ships and U.S. warships near the Horn of Africa last week, stepping up operations in the years-long Yemeni Civil War.
  • The Biden administration has faced pressure to strike back at the Yemeni group over the attacks. A Navy taskforce will be deployed to the region to protect shipping, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Monday.
  • DUBAI, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Explosions in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen were reported on Tuesday after sightings of unmanned aircraft and missiles in two separate incidents, a British maritime authority said. Two unmanned aircraft were observed before two explosions occurred 5 nautical miles from a vessel located 50 nautical miles west of Hodeidah on Yemen’s west coast, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations authority said in an advisory.
  • Tansim reported that an Iran-backed group in Iraq attacked an Israeli natural gas facility off the coast of Israel earlier this week.US Navy fights off barrage of 14 drones in Red Sea fired from Yemen as ‘global trade problem’ looms.
  • WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Denmark’s Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) is preparing to resume shipping operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the company said on Sunday, citing the deployment of a U.S.-led military operation designed to ensure the safety of commerce in the area. The shipping giant paused sending vessels through the Bab el-Mandeb strait earlier in December due to attacks against its ships. That rendered the Suez Canal, which is key to global commerce, unusable for most routes.
  • The United States said on Tuesday (Dec 26th) it was launching a multinational operation to protect commerce in the Red Sea from Iran-backed Yemeni militants, who have been firing drones and missiles at international vessels since last month in what they say is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
  • The U.S. and nine other nations will send naval warships to the southern Red Sea to repel attacks on merchant carriers by Houthi rebels in Yemen, U.S. defense officials said Monday. Operation Prosperity Guardian, announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is an effort by the multinational coalition to blunt a rise in missile and drone attacks on commercial traffic near the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The strait is a chokepoint between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
  • Connected by the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, the Red Sea is an essential trade route for about 12% of the world’s shipping traffic between Europe and Asia. An estimated 50 merchant vessels use it daily. The majority of the Persian Gulf’s natural gas and petroleum exports to Europe and North America go through several chokepoints, including the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb, and the Suez Canal.
  • In response to the Houthi attacks, several commercial carriers are forsaking the Red Sea and are rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. That adds about 10 days and $1 million more in fuel for ships traveling from Asia to northern Europe, Reuters reported. It may take additional time for some ships, depending on size and speed.

IN THE SOUTH (GAZA):

  • Israeli newspapers reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops in Gaza earlier Monday and said in a meeting with members of the Likud political party that the war “is not close to being over.” According to the Israeli military, 17 soldiers were killed in Gaza this past weekend, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the war to 156.
  • Israeli military said it had expanded operations into urban refugee centers in central Gaza, where Hamas leaders claim at least 70 people were killed in an airstrike at the al-Maghazi camp. Israel said it was reviewing the incident.

POST WAR GAZA:

IN THE NORTH (LEBANON):

  • A barrage of rockets was fired toward northern Israel from Lebanon a short time ago (Dec 22nd). Initial reports indicate some 20 rockets or more may have been fired. There are no reports of injuries or damage so far.
  • Over ten rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona: Home suffers direct hit, damage caused to kindergarten, no casualties (Dec 27th)
  • The Israeli army said that three aircraft crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon and fell near Mount Dov in northern Israel, and that several additional launches fell in open areas across northern Israel. The IDF also said that they responded by attacking the sources of fire, and additional areas in Lebanon. The army also said that the air force attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

IN THE EAST (SYRIA):

  • An Israeli airstrike yesterday (Dec 26th) killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a high-ranking official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Iran and Syria.

IN THE WEST (TEL AVIV):

WEST BANK:

NEGOTIATIONS – HOSTAGE RELEASE – CEASE FIRE:

  • Egyptian officials have proposed a preliminary, multiphase plan to end the war in Gaza, according to the Associated Press and other regional news reports. The proposal, worked out with Qatar, has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments, the AP reported. No parties have agreed to move forward with the plan just yet, but it comes after one of the deadliest weekends in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hit a refugee camp in the central part of the strip that killed over 100 Palestinians.
  • According to Israeli and Egyptian news reports, the plan calls for a weeklong cease-fire. Hamas would release about 40 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for about 120 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Another phase would lead to the exchange of the bodies of Israelis and Palestinians killed during the war. A third phase would lead to a permanent cease-fire and include the exchange of any remaining Israeli hostages for all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli detention. A new governing body of Palestinians would be put in place to oversee the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. That leadership would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and possible future elections to create a unified Palestinian government. The plan is the first to be led by Egypt rather than Qatar, which helped broker the first weeklong cease-fire of this war in November.
  • However, according to Reuters, both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have rejected the Egyptian plan’s call for ceding their power in Gaza. The two groups are open to a pause in fighting, release of hostages in exchange for prisoners, and increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to the report.
  • Israeli newspapers reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops in Gaza earlier Monday and said in a meeting with members of the Likud political party that the war “is not close to being over.” According to the Israeli military, 17 soldiers were killed in Gaza this past weekend, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the war to 156.

GLOBAL RESPONSE & INVOLVEMENT:

  • The UN Security Council yesterday (Dec 22nd) adopted a resolution for more humanitarian aid in Gaza, stopping short of calling for a full pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas. The legally binding resolution passed by a 13-0 vote; the US and Russia abstained. The resolution directs the UN secretary-general to appoint someone to coordinate, monitor, and verify deliveries of aid into Gaza as well as establish a mechanism for faster deliveries. The resolution’s passage culminated weeklong diplomatic negotiations over the language, intended to make sure the US wouldn’t block the measure. The US had previously vetoed resolutions from the UN Security Council that had called for a cease-fire. The US and Israel (which is not part of the Security Council) oppose a cease-fire, believing it would only benefit Hamas.
  • Recently, because of its Coalition Army, Lip is now about to jump into a direct Israel-Hamas war. Because currently the US, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the Seychelles, and the United Kingdom have launched a major military operation against Yemen, to protect global ships, exports, and goods from the Red Sea. Recently, there has been a very big agreement from the Houthis of Yemen that now they can send other Houthi fighters to Gaza where there can be a big deal with Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian resistance, and Houthi against Israel. Recently, big news has come from Yemen inside the politics bureau of Yemen that Houthi and Israel are being attacked in Gaza, the Red Sea, and the West Bank. Due to the actions of Israel and Hezbollah, Houthi has also fallen in the middle of all this.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the Turkish president’s comments where he said Netanyahu is no different from Hitler, and said: “Erdogan is committing genocide of the Kurds, has broken the world record for imprisoning journalists who critique his government, and is the last person who can morally lecture us.” Netanyahu added in a press release that the Israeli army is battling the terror organization Hamas while Erdogan is “praising them and hosting their senior officials.”
  • Erdogan said earlier that Netanyahu is not different from the Nazi Adolph Hitler, and compared the Israeli attacks in Gaza to the way the Nazis treated Jews during the Holocaust.
  • Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi said after a summit in Cairo on Wednesday that they rejected any Israeli move to expel Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, state media reported. In a statement, both leaders also said the international community should pressure Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire and allow enough aid into war-torn Gaza to ease the “tragic plight” of over two million people under siege there.

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT / PROPHETIC QUOTES:

What is the best solution and resolution for this conflict?

The following is a snippet from an address given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles at a Church Educational System fireside address given on September 12, 2004:

“Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ —that is the first principle of the gospel. We must go forward. God expects you to have enough faith, determination, and trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. He expects you not simply to face the future; He expects you to embrace and shape the future —to love it, rejoice in it, and delight in your opportunities. God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.”

(“This, the Greatest of All Dispensations” By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, From a Church Educational System fireside address given on September 12, 2004).

 

Holy Land Scripture Series

*If you would like to gain more understanding of the history of this country and conflict from a scriptural standpoint we recommend you take our Holy Land Scripture Course created to accompany our Virtual Tour of the Holy Land. Link below:

 

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What should Israel do in order to secure peaceful borders and relations with the Palestinians and other Arab neighbors as well as facilitate the release the hostages still being held in Gaza?   

What should Hamas do to get needed support and help? (They are land-locked and restricted and are experiencing extreme economic conditions)

*We know the questions are MANY and the issues deep and complex. We hope the information shared on this blog will help you process all the information and issues.

 

*If you would like to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications when new posts are made please email Dr. Clark Anderson at clark@andersontours.com

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