Update Dec 12th (Day 67)

UPDATES ON THE WAR – Day 67 (Dec 12^th):

*We are one Day 67 (Dec 12^th). FIGHTING CONTINUES.

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

OUCH:

• Thousands have been killed on both sides. 🙁
• More than 1.87 million Palestinians—roughly 80% of Gaza’s population—have been displaced from their homes so far, according to the UN. The death toll in Gaza has risen to at least 15,800, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry; the death toll in Israel stands near 1,400. At least 137 of the more than 240 hostages Hamas abducted in its Oct. 7 attack remain captive.
• Nearly 40,000 buildings or about 18% of all pre-conflict structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on Oct. 7
• The attack of Hamas on Israeli citizens included several sexual crimes against their victims.

IN THE SOUTH (EILAT):

• Yemen’s Houthis said the group launched several ballistic missiles at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat and vowed to continue to do the same to any vessel on the Red Sea heading towards Israel.

IN THE SOUTH (GAZA):

• Nearly 40,000 buildings or about 18% of all pre-conflict structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on Oct. 7, a U.N. assessment showed on Tuesday.
• Israeli forces have entered Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis as Israel’s ground offensive expands into the south. Officials say the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas has been the most intense since the war began two months ago as Israel seeks to dismantle what it says is Hamas’ last major stronghold.
• Israel reportedly has made preparations to flood Gaza’s tunnels with seawater as part of efforts to destroy an underground tunnel system used by Hamas.
• Israel officials said its forces had advanced into the center of Khan Younis, the largest city in the southern Gaza Strip. As of yesterday evening, troops had encircled the home of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas within Gaza who helped plan the Oct. 7 attack. It was unclear whether Sinwar remains in the home or had escaped to Hamas’ intricate underground tunnel network. While Sinwar oversees operations on the ground, Hamas is led by two others—military head Mohammed Deif (whereabouts unknown) and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar.
• The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman released a barely comprehensible map with garbled place names that Gazans were to use to make life-or-death decisions; human rights groups report that the places of sanctuary on the maps are already collapsing under the crush of people and lack of necessities
• Israel intensifies search for Hamas leadership as terror group threatens to kill remaining hostages: Israeli Defense Forces ramped up attacks on Hamas’ remaining strongholds in southern Gaza on Monday (Dec 11^th). Israel is searching for senior Hamas leadership, specifically Yahya Sinwar. Meanwhile, Hamas has threatened to kill all of the remaining hostages in its custody if Israel does not comply with its demands for more aid, among other things.
• Netanyahu said the world is seeing “the beginning of the end” for Hamas and its leader, Yahya Sinwar. “They lay down their weapons and surrender themselves to our heroic warriors,” Netanyahu said in a video broadcast. “It will take more time, the war is in full swing, (but) I say to the Hamas terrorists it is over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender − now.”
• Hamas issued a statement saying Israel was detaining unarmed civilians and surrounding them with weapons in a “desperate and transparent ploy” to give the appearance that the resolve of the militants was fading. Netanyahu’s bold prediction came two days after the U.N. Security Council’s latest, historic resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire was vetoed by the U.S. Israel and its most supportive ally are finding fewer global backers as the Palestinian death toll continues to rise.
• On Sunday, the U.N. General Assembly scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday (Dec 12th) to vote on a draft resolution expected to be similar to the one the U.S. vetoed. General Assembly resolutions can’t be vetoed but aren’t legally binding either.

POST WAR GAZA:

• U.S. President Joe Biden has combined unwavering support for Israel and its right to self-defense, with repeated calls for a two-state solution, once the fighting ends. Several Israeli governments supported the two-states solution – albeit not the right-wing ones of the last decade – and made dramatic proposals for peace on that basis.
• These proposals would have given the Palestinians a state on 100% of Gaza and more than 90% of the West Bank, an unlimited return of refugees to the Palestinian state and a capital in east Jerusalem.
• Let’s assume that Israel can successfully achieve its increasingly ambitious objectives of both destroying Hamas as a coherent fighting force and toppling it as the governing body in Gaza. In that case, some other government would have to be instated and ways found to ensure that it was not rapidly overthrown by Hamas remnants, or some other organization. The logical candidate to replace Hamas is the PA, which Hamas itself brutally overthrew in 2007, and which remains the internationally recognized Palestinian governing body. The PA, however, has never been an effective governing body even in the West Bank, and its ability to undertake this exceedingly difficult role is questionable. Moreover, the PA has already announced that it will only resume control over Gaza if this is part of a comprehensive two-state solution, something the current Israeli government is politically incapable of accepting. At a bare minimum, it would be necessary to wait until the political earthquake that could overturn this government takes place in Israel after the war ends actually materializes and a more centrist government emerges. But the problem is actually far deeper…
• Let’s take a leap of faith and assume that the PA, or some Palestinian strongman, maybe even one of the painfully few Palestinian leaders of integrity and capability, such as Salam Fayyad, can be successfully instated in Gaza. We will then need some international force capable of keeping the new leader alive and the governing body in power. Logically, it would be an international force composed of Arab states at peace with Israel, as well as Western and other states that both Israel and the Palestinians find acceptable. This, however, is distinctly not a task for another feckless international monitoring force, but for a force that will actually have to fight to keep the new leader and government in power and to prevent terrorism against Israel. International peace keeping forces are usually entirely incapable of conducting effective peace enforcement operations. It requires an admirable streak of optimism to believe that many states will volunteer for this thankless task and send soldiers directly into harm’s way.
• The Palestinians have failed the three tests on which the entire Oslo peace process was predicated: their ability to govern effectively, put an end to terrorism, and live in peace alongside Israel. Instead, they have established a corrupt dictatorship in the West Bank and a genocidal theocracy in Gaza, and conducted endless terrorism. Israel shares the blame for Oslo’s failure. In these circumstances, the most realistic way forward is a proposal for civil separation that has been suggested by various Israeli security experts in recent years. This proposal has two primary parts. First, settlement would cease in those parts of the West Bank that a moderate Israeli government would not wish to keep in a final peace agreement – an area of over 90 percent of the territory. Settlers in this area would be gradually moved back to Israel proper. Second, the Israeli army would remain fully deployed throughout the West Bank, as necessary for security purposes. In implementing this proposal, Israel would ensure both its long-term future as a predominantly Jewish and democratic state, and its security. It would also leave open the prospects for a two-state settlement in the future, should the conditions arise.
• The Palestinians will have to accept, as will the international community, that the most they stand to gain, at least for a long time to come, is heightened autonomy, not a fully independent state. There is a price to be paid for over a century of saying no to every peace proposal and endless terrorism. In reality, many believe that Hamas has massacred the Palestinian dream of an independent state.
• Palestinian PM: Working With U.S. on ‘Day After’ Plan, Which Must Include Hamas: Mohammad Shtayyeh told Bloomberg that his vision includes PA control with international support and Hamas participation. Netanyahu has not only declared his intention to destroy Hamas but also opposes the PA returning to govern Gaza after the war: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told Bloomberg that dismantling Hamas is unrealistic. He also said he believes that Hamas should take part after the war in building a new independent Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
• Shtayyeh said that U.S. officials visited him this week to discuss a day-after plan in Gaza. They agreed that Israel shouldn’t reconquer Gaza, establish a security zone there or exile Palestinian residents. “We’re not going to go there on an Israeli military plan,” Shtayyeh said. “Our people are there. We need to put together a mechanism, something we’re working on with the international community. There will be huge needs in terms of relief and reconstruction to remedy the wounds.” Shtayyeh is expected to fly to Qatar this weekend in a bid to convince Doha to economically support the PA, and not Hamas. Shtayyeh’s proposal, by which Hamas would take part in ruling the PA, is optimistic at best. Hamas pushed the PA out of Gaza in 2007, and a number of agreements between the two sides signed since then have never been implemented.
• Shtayyeh’s proposal also runs counter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans. Netanyahu has not only declared his intention to destroy Hamas but also opposes the PA returning to govern Gaza after the war. Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials have expressed anger that Shtayyeh and other PA officials never condemned the Hamas attack on October 7. Shtayyeh refused to condemn it during his Bloomberg interview, too. He said the conflict didn’t start on October 7, and moreover Israel has refused to condemn violent acts by Israelis against Palestinians. “What Israel is doing in Gaza is an act of revenge,” he told Bloomberg. “This is not going to take them anywhere.”
• TEL AVIV—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday (Dec 12^th) rejected the Biden administration’s postwar plan to have the Palestinian Authority take over Gaza, the sharpest sign of his pushback against the U.S. blueprint for administering the enclave after the invasion ends. “After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism” Netanyahu stated [Wall Street Journal Tuesday Dec 12^th]

IN THE NORTH (LEBANON):

• The Israeli Air Force is carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese media. Footage posted to social media shows massive blasts in the area. The bombing comes amid rocket and drone sirens sounding in the Western Galilee. It isn’t immediately clear whether they preceded the alarms or are a response to them.

IN THE EAST (SYRIA):

IN THE WEST (TEL AVIV):

• Heavy Rocket Barrage Fired From Gaza at Tel Aviv, Central Israel.

WEST BANK:

NEGOTIATIONS – HOSTAGE RELEASE – CEASE FIRE:

• U.S. Blocks UN Security Council Demand for Humanitarian Cease-fire in Gaza: In the four previous tries, a Brazil-drafted resolution was vetoed by the United States, a U.S.-drafted resolution was vetoed by Russia and China, and two Russian-drafted resolutions failed to get the minimum nine ‘yes’ voted needed for adoption. The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, diplomatically isolating Washington as it shields its ally. Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of a brief draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained. The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the 15-member council of a global threat from the two-month-long war. Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council earlier on Friday that there was a ceasefire that had been broken by Hamas on Oct. 7. “The irony is that regional stability and the security of both Israelis and Gazans can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated, not one minute before,” Erdan said. “So the true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel’s mission – absolutely not to call for a ceasefire.”

GLOBAL RESPONSE & INVOLVEMENT:

• American support for Israel’s operations seems to be contingent upon supplying humanitarian aid

FOOD FOR THOUGHT / PROPHETIC QUOTES:

What is the best solution and resolution for this conflict?

The following is a snippet from a talk given in Oct 2023 by Sister Amy A. Wright entitled, “Abide the Day in Christ”. She is the First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”4

President Dallin H. Oaks posed the following thought-provoking questions in relation to the coming of the Bridegroom:5 “What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow—through our premature death or through His unexpected coming—what would we do today?”6

I have learned from personal experience that spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord is not only essential but the only way to find true peace and happiness.”

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