Update Nov 17th (Day 42)

UPDATES ON THE WAR – Day 42 (Nov 17^th):

*We are one Day 42 (Nov 17^th). Rocket fire and suffering continues on both sides.

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

OUCH:

• From the perspective of Yahya Sinwar (Hamas leader), this is only one more obstacle to be overcome on the long road to Jerusalem. Sinwar envisages a future religious-ideological victory, though he himself doesn’t know if he will be around to see it.
• Iranian proxy have attacked US forces continue to rise are now at 57: FOX News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on the growing number of attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East and the USS Thomas Hudner shooting down a drone from Yemen on ‘Your World’.
• Many experts believe that Hamas Has Massacred the Palestinian Dream of an Independent State: The two-state solution was on terminal life support long before Hamas’s attack, but the October 7 attack may well be the final nail in its coffin of the two-state solution. That’s a tragedy for both Israeli and Palestinian national aspirations. Time will tell and the post war Palestinian territories including Gaza will be critical with the leadership that is allowed to rule. There are SO MANY questions to be answered…
• What does Israel do with this ruined city (Gaza City)? Will there be a plan at some point to allow its residents to return and rebuild, or will the far right continue to entertain its dream of replacing them with settlements? Will Israel seek to visit the same level of destruction on the other Gazan cities, or is this a one-off? Is this now the price tag for atrocities against Israelis? What will it mean to the world when it sees what happened? Will the international community and public opinion continue to be split between those who accepted that Israel had no choice but to strike hard at Hamas following the atrocities of October 7 and those who will always see Israel in any scenario as an evil aggressor? Or will the destruction of Gaza City seem overly disproportionate also to those who are prepared to hear Israel’s case? Will the Arab world take up Gaza’s cause belatedly and reverse its “normalization” efforts with Israel? Or will it be to the Arab nations just another of those cities destroyed in not-too-distant history, like Hama, Homs and Aleppo in Syria, and Fallujah and Mosul in Iraq – the price of doing business in the region? After all, the Arab League just invited Syrian President Bashar Assad, the butcher of Homs and Aleppo, son of the butcher of Hama, to its emergency summit on Gaza last week. Most crucially, what will it mean to the Palestinians? Will it fuel more generations of hatred of Israel, or will it ultimately be Hamas that is blamed for forcing this response from Israel? One of the biggest Palestinian communities, that of Israeli Palestinians, has not erupted in any way and is showing instead – at least according to surveys – high levels of solidarity with the rest of Israeli society. Is this a real change in how they engage with Israel and themselves, or will the anger erupt at some point? This war is far from over, and none of these questions have answers for now. But in the same way October 7 changed everything, the destruction of Gaza City is another event that has irrevocably changed reality in ways we cannot yet predict.
• At first the international consensus seemed solid: Israel has the right to fight back after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped 239 others into Gaza. But five weeks later, Israel’s military is facing criticism worldwide, including allegations that it is committing war crimes. Most Israeli legal experts interviewed for this article believe that the military is adhering to international law, and they are unanimous in that the Supreme Court’s independence is vital in protecting Israeli soldiers, political leaders and defense chiefs from prosecution abroad after the war.
• Two weeks ago the Foreign Ministry released a document crafted by the Justice Ministry and military prosecutors that rejects the international criticism and seeks to persuade the world that the Israel Defense Forces’ war on Hamas is fully legitimate. Their conclusion: Hamas has displayed unimaginable cruelty and disregard for human life – whether Israelis or Palestinians – and Israel is adhering to international principals of the laws of war.
• Hamas operates out of residential areas, hospitals and schools, and also tries to prevent civilians from leaving combat zones. This makes it difficult for the IDF to comply with the international laws of war, whose main goal is to avoid harm to civilians.
• 30 Years Later, Palestinians Feel All That Remains of the Oslo Accords Are Its Mistakes: Jerusalem is cut off, the settlements expanded, the international community has abandoned them, and the internal disputes have grown. Only the Palestinian Authority is still there, like a living monument to an agreement that remains forever in an interim stage
• Gaza in Ruins: The Largest Palestinian City in the World Will Soon Be Uninhabitable :The IDF now sits on top of a mound of ruins that was once Gaza City. The saga around Al-Shifa Hospital will soon be over and the last of the civilians still in the city will make their way south. The implications of what has happened will finally sink in.

IN THE SOUTH (EILAT):

• A U.S. Navy warship shot down a drone launched from Yemen towards Israel in the Red Sea on Wednesday, according to two U.S. officials.

IN THE SOUTH (GAZA):

• Israel is allowing 2 fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza via the Rafah border for UN use
• Israeli defense minister says Hamas has lost control of Gaza
• The IDF says it has overrun the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and has blown up the building that once served as Gaza’s parliament
• UNRWA chief: Entire operation now on the verge of collapse: “Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse,” UNRWA chief Phillips Lazzarini said, adding that “By the end of today, around 70 percent of the population in #Gaza won’t have access to clean water.”

Al-Shifa Hospital:

• IDF spokesman: Army operating in part of Al-Shifa Hospital, ‘eliminated’ terrorists, explosives before entering. “The IDF remains committed to upholding its moral and professional responsibilities to distinguish between civilians and Hamas terrorists,” the military spokesperson said. “The IDF is willing to work with any reliable mediating party to ensure the transfer of the incubators.”
• Lives of 36 babies in Gaza hospital at risk despite Israeli incubator offer, according to medical staff there who said there was no clear mechanism to move them despite an Israeli effort to supply incubators for an evacuation.
• Three of the original 39 premature babies have already died since Gaza’s biggest hospital ran out of fuel at the weekend to power generators that had kept their incubators going.
• Israeli army: Hamas HQ, weapons found in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital: IDF says it found Hamas terror headquaters, weapons, and technological equipment in the MRI building at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. The IDF continues its operations.
• The IDF continued its overnight operation in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital into Wednesday, described by the IDF as a “precise and targeted” operation. An eyewitness at Al-Shifa told the BBC that the IDF was in “complete control” and that no shooting was taking place inside the compound.
• Israel Defense Forces said yesterday they had confirmed the presence of a Hamas command center inside northern Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, a revelation which came after soldiers carried out an overnight raid into the building. The facility had become a flashpoint in the war—at least 43 patients had died in the past week amid fighting outside, with more than 1,500 people trapped inside
• Israeli officials said they had recovered materials suggesting the site was home to significant Hamas operations. As of this writing, the Israeli forces had published photos of some weapons recovered from the facility, saying that more evidence would be released shortly.
• The WHO decried Israel’s targeted raid of Al-Shifa as “totally unacceptable,” noting that it has lost contact with health workers at the hospital. Jordan also condemned the entry of Israeli forces as a violation of international law.
• Palestinian reports: IDF reenters Al-Shifa hospital, carries out excavations in its southern entrance

POST WAR GAZA:

• Israel wants security duty in Gaza after the war, but not occupation or administration responsibilities and is not confident with the Palestinian Authority doing it either. The governing body in Gaza will require some finesse.
• Blinken to ABC News: U.S. to told Netanyahu that Israel cannot reoccupy Gaza

IN THE NORTH (LEBANON):

• Rocket sirens sounded in both northern and southern Israel throughout Wednesday. No casualties were reported. The IDF said it attacked Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanese territory in retaliation for rocket strikes.
• Air raid sirens sound in Acre, Kiryat Bialik, other northern towns as well as other smaller towns in the Galilee. The cause isn’t immediately clear. The Lebanon border has flared up, with a missile causing civilian casualties in Israel earlier today.

IN THE EAST (SYRIA):

• S. Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria, Pentagon Confirms; Nine Killed, Report Says
• US Air Strike on facility in Maydin, Syria
• US carries out two more airstrikes in eastern Syria

IN THE WEST (TEL AVIV):

• Rockets from Gaza target central Israel for the first time since Friday.
• An explosives laboratory was destroyed in Tulkarm overnight (just north of Tel Aviv). The conflict lasted 15 hours and destroyed dozens of ready-to-use explosive devices.
• Rocket sirens activated in central Israel and Tel Aviv

WEST BANK:

• While public attention in Israel is gripped by the fighting in the Gaza Strip and the rising tensions along the Lebanese border, the reality in the West Bank is also changing: defense sources say that settlers are having their way, often breaking the law. West Bank settlers are exploiting the war to invade private lands, attack Palestinians and arm themselves with military weapons
• Since October 7, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israelis across the West Bank. This includes suspected terrorists killed by security forces. The Shin Bet is aware of four cases in which the settlers shot and killed Palestinians, but estimates put settler violence at a far larger number.
• According to the Shin Bet, there have been 120 hate crimes committed by Jews in the West Bank since the war broke out. So far, no charges have been brought in any of these cases. “In [the West Bank] there is no law, it’s an area where anarchy exists and the state turns a blind eye,” a senior Israeli government source told an Israeli news source.
• In accordance with updating assessments, and in order to provide security for all residents of the area, so far they have been reinforced by about 8,000 weapons, as has been done throughout the State of Israel. These weapons were given to the reserve soldiers in the Area Defense Squads and to the Community Defense Squads.
• 80% of the Israeli men in Judea and Samaria are recruited to defend the state on the northern and southern fronts

NEGOTIATIONS – HOSTAGE RELEASE – CEASE FIRE:

• Qatar seeking Israel-Hamas deal to release 50 hostages and 3-day truce, sources say
• Qatar-mediated hostage-release talks have run into crisis. According to the sources, the bone of contention was Hamas’ demand for a five-day cease-fire, while Israel agreed to a maximum of three days. Another dispute concerned Hamas’s demand that Israel stop flying drones over the Gaza Strip during the cease-fire days, in order to prevent the disclosure of the location of the hostages. Another issue on which no agreement was reached was Hamas’s request to allow freedom of movement between the south of the Gaza Strip and the north. Israel strongly opposed these demands, and Hamas refused to compromise for fear of revealing their operation methods and intelligence about the place where the hostages are being held.
• UN Security Council Calls for ‘Urgent’ Pauses in Gaza Fighting, Release of Israeli Hostages

GLOBAL RESPONSE & INVOLVEMENT:

• Netanyahu meets Biden’s special envoy to the Middle East in Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with the U.S. President’s special envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, in Kirya in Tel Aviv. The Prime Minister’s Office reported that Netanyahu told McGurk that “the release of Shifa Hospital from the control of the terrorist organization Hamas indicates Israel’s ability and determination to reach everywhere until the complete eradication of Hamas.”
• UNRWA said it received around 23,000 liters of fuel via Egypt, 9 percent of what the organization’s director says it needs to sustain daily life-saving activities.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “terror state” that is committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, and said PM Netanyahu was a “goner.” He reiterated his assertion that Hamas was a political party that had been elected by Palestinians. Israel’s FM Eli Cohen responded that those who “host arch-terrorists and encourage terrorist groups,” referring to Turkey, cannot preach to Israel.
• The UN humanitarian agency released a 10-point plan aimed at alleviating the Gaza humanitarian crisis, warning, “the carnage in Gaza cannot be allowed to continue.”
• Israel’s National Security Ministry said an average of 1,700 weapons licenses are being issued to Israelis every day amid the Israel-Hamas war, a dramatic increase compared to previous years.
• The BBC apologized for reporting earlier Wednesday that “medical teams and Arab [sic] speakers were being targeted” by the IDF at Al-Shifa. The broadcaster said it should have stated “IDF forces [participating in the raid] included medical teams and Arabic speakers.”
• 24 House Democrats urge Biden to end ‘children’s rights violations’ by advocating for cease-fire in Gaza: WASHINGTON — 24 House Democrats — led by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Betty McCollum and Mark Pocan — urged U.S. President Joe Biden to end “grave violations of children’s rights” by advocating for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

SUMMARY OF LOSSES & RESPONSES:

• At least 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas massacre on October 7,
• 241 hostages held in Gaza and 40 unaccounted for
• Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza: Over 11,000 killed

FOOD FOR THOUGHT / PROPHETIC QUOTES:

What is the best solution and resolution?

The following is a snippet from a talk given in Oct 2023 by the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Russell M. Nelson who is esteemed by his followers as a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator:

“As you think celestial, you will find yourself avoiding anything that robs you of your agency. Any addiction—be it gaming, gambling, debt, drugs, alcohol, anger, pornography, sex, or even food—offends God. Why? Because your obsession becomes your god. You look to it rather than to Him for solace. If you struggle with an addiction, seek the spiritual and professional help you need. Please do not let an obsession rob you of your freedom to follow God’s fabulous plan.

Thinking celestial will also help you obey the law of chastity. Few things will complicate your life more quickly than violating this divine law. For those who have made covenants with God, immorality is one of the quickest ways to lose your testimony.” (“Think Celestial!” By President Russell M. Nelson, Oct 2023)

*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:

Holy Land Scripture Series

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What should Israel do in order to illuminate the Hamas leaders and hostages?  

What should Hamas do to get needed support and help? 

*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