Update Sept 30th (Day 360)

UPDATES ON THE WAR – Day 360 (Sept 30^th):

*We are one Day 360 (Sept 30^th).

*BIG NEWS and developments in the conflict (see below)…here is a preview…

“An Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, over the weekend. The strike involved 80 tons of bunker-buster bombs, killing Nasrallah at a meeting of senior leaders below residential buildings south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut. The 64-year-old Nasrallah helmed the group, designated a terrorist organization by the US, for more than 30 years. During that time, he was seen as a spiritual leader for Hezbollah’s supporters (up to roughly one-third of Lebanon’s population) and a pivotal player in the Iranian proxy group’s transformation into a regional power”

*Anderson Tours has some exciting news in the works including a new customer interface and also a potential merge with another travel company (stay tuned).

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* We will now be updating this blog monthly due to our busy touring season. Below is a summary below of the last several week’s important points.

Headlines:

• The IDF announced on Sunday morning (Sept 1^st) that it has found the bodies of six hostages kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza on October 7: IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the six were killed by Hamas shortly before the army arrived at their location (shot in the head), adding that the bodies were found in a tunnel in Rafah.
• In response to the 6 hostages: Mass protests calling to secure a hostage deal are being held across Israel, with Israelis rallying in city centers and blocking intersections across the country. The chairman of the Histadrut labor federation, which represents organized labor in Israel, announced a general strike across Israel on Monday. Many businesses and venues across Israel closed that day in protest. [Side note: Anderson Tours group was visiting on this day and was informed of the shut down and weren’t sure they would be able to visit Caesarea as planned, but the doors were open even though there were no official workers taking tickets that day]
• Netanyahu attacked the Histadrut labor federation’s chairman, Arnon Bar David, at a cabinet meeting, according to sources present, saying that the decision to shut down the economy amounted to telling Hamas’ “Sinwar – after you murdered six hostages, we support you.”
• Three Israeli employees were killed at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan after a Jordanian man who arrived by truck opened fire on the crossing’s cargo terminal. The assailant was shot dead on scene by security forces.. Israel closed all its border crossings with Jordan until further notice following the attack. [Side note: Anderson Tours group was crossing the southern border from Petra, Jordan back into Israel this day and got stuck at the border and spent an extra night in Aqaba. The border opened the next morning and didn’t divert us very much at all]
• Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented a document he said was written by the commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis brigade, Rafa Salama, who was killed by the IDF, which says that 70 percent of the organization’s weapons have been destroyed, including 95 percent of the rockets in its possession, and that 50 percent of the Hamas’ armed operatives have been killed or wounded, and many other fighters have fled.
• Around 2,800 people were seriously wounded and eight were killed when pagers in Beirut and across southern Lebanon exploded simultaneously, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Security sources told Reuters that dozens of the wounded are Hezbollah members. [Saberin News, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, reported that seven people were killed in Syria from exploding devices in the Seyedah Zeinab neighborhood, a Shia stronghold in Damascus.]
• At least 11 people were killed and close to 4,000 were injured yesterday (Sept 17^th) after hundreds of communication devices simultaneously detonated across Lebanon. Hezbollah officials claimed the incident was a coordinated Israeli attack on the militant group’s members, with Lebanon’s foreign minister promising retaliation.
• Media outlets in Lebanon reported a second wave of communication device explosions on Wednesday (Sept 18^th) in Beirut, Tyre and other parts of southern Lebanon including three people killed in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, according to state media. A security source told Reuters that hundreds of people were wounded in Wednesday’s explosions.
• Many Israelis received intimidating text messages overnight into Thursday (Sept 19^th), some with links to malware. One such message read, “Say goodbye to your loved ones; but don’t worry. You’ll hug them in hell in a few hours.” The purported sender was “SyHaNasrala,” an apparent reference to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Other messages posing as originating from Israel’s Home Front Command instructed recipients to immediately seek a bomb shelter or protected space.
• An Israeli strike on a building in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut killed Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s head of operations and acting head of the elite Radwan Force, two security sources told Reuters. The IDF later confirmed Aqil was killed in the strike. Lebanese reports said Dahiya was hit four times, adding that one of the targets was a building known to be used by Hezbollah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said nine people were killed and 59 wounded in the strike.
• Following the strikes, rocket sirens blared in numerous northern Israeli communities. Hezbollah later claimed it successfully hit an IDF base in northern Israel. Earlier on Friday (Sept 20^th), the IDF said about 200 rockets were fired from Lebanon at Israel’s north, causing several fires.
• Late Thursday night (Sept 19th), Israeli fighter jets attacked 100 Hezbollah missile launchers, some of which were primed and ready to fire at Israel, the IDF said.
• Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah exchanged hundreds of cross-border missile and rocket attacks Sunday (Sept 22^nd), with leaders signaling the nearly yearlong conflict has entered a new stage.
• Shafaq News/ Recent reports indicate that approximately 40,000 fighters from Iraq, Yemen, and Syria have arrived in the Golan Heights, preparing to engage in combat against Israel. “The Israeli army is closely monitoring the influx of these fighters, who are reportedly awaiting a call from Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to join the fight.”
• The tone was set Tuesday (Sept 24^th) in the hall of the United Nations in New York City after the General Assembly reacted by applause to Secretary-General António Guterres’ contempt for Israel’s attacks in Gaza, but sat silent during his condemnation of Hamas’ near-year-long capture of Israeli hostages.
• U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron proposed an immediate 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah, alongside support for a cease-fire in Gaza. The proposed cease-fire was endorsed by Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
• Israel rejected global calls on Thursday (Sept 26^th) for a ceasefire with the Hezbollah movement, defying its biggest ally in Washington and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war. Despite Israel’s stance, the U.S. and France sought to keep prospects alive for an immediate 21-day truce they proposed on Wednesday, and said negotiations continued, including on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York.
• The IDF said it killed the head of Hezbollah’s air force unit in a “targeted” strike in Beirut, as well as attacked infrastructure on Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons, and struck around 75 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight into Thursday.
• The IDF said that some 150 rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon on Thursday Sept 26^th). Rockets landed in open areas in the northern city of Safed and started fires, but caused no casualties.
• Hamas’ military wing has been defeated and is currently operating as a guerrilla organization in the Gaza Strip, IDF sources report.
• NETANYAHU AT THE UN: In his speech before the UN General Assembly on Friday (Sept 27^th), which prompted some delegations to walk out, Netanyahu said that “that Israel’s war on Hamas and Hezbollah will continue unabated,” adding that Israel does not “seek to resettle Gaza, we seek a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza. All Hamas needs to do is surrender, lay down its arms, and release the hostages.“
• Netanyahu said Israel was “ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in Gaza committed to peaceful coexistence,” while insisting Hamas can have no role in post-war Gaza.
• Netanyahu insisted that Israel has “no choice and every right” to strike Lebanon and warned Israel “will continue degrading Hezbollah until all objectives are met. We won’t rest until our citizens can return safely to their homes. We will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border.”
• Hassan Nasrallah, longtime Hezbollah chief and one of Israel’s most formidable enemies, was killed in Friday’s massive Israeli airstrike on Beirut, Hezbollah and Israel confirmed on Saturday (Sept 28^th). Israel said that the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, the commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards deputy commander were also among the senior officials killed in Lebanon. [Following Nasrallah’s assassination, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly transferred to a safe location with increased security.]
• On Saturday (Sept 28^th), Biden said that the assassination of Nasrallah was “a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians,” adding that it is time to reach cease-fire deals in Lebanon and Gaza.
• Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called the strike “one of the most important assassinations in the history of the State of Israel.” IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi said the IDF is prepared on all fronts, and “whoever threatens the State of Israel, we’ll know how to get to him: in the north, in the south and in further afield.”
• NBC News – citing Ayatollah Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, Iran’s deputy for international affairs – reported that Iran will approve sending troops to Lebanon in the coming days.
• The IDF said its fighter jets killed the “head of Hamas infrastructure in southern Syria,” Ahmed Muhammad Fahd, in an intelligence-based attack. The IDF also said it attacked “Hezbollah production sites and smuggling routes on the Syrian border” on Saturday.
• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Friday that “the choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine which path this region is on, with profound consequences for its people – now, and possibly for years to come.”
• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned during a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East that “war in Lebanon could lead to further escalation involving outside powers” and that “we must avoid a regional war at all costs.”
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been “deeply shaken” by Nasrallah’s death, four Iranian officials told the New York Times, adding that to date, Khamenei’s remarks may suggest he currently lacks an effective way to respond to the Israeli attack.

OUCH:

• The autopsies of the six hostages indicate that they had all been shot in the head, adding that had they not been shot, they would have survived. The source added that no other signs of physical trauma were found on the bodies. It is estimated that the hostages were killed 48 to 72 hours before their bodies were examined.
• U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will hold a virtual meeting with the families of the U.S. hostages still being held in Gaza later Sunday, a U.S. official said. Four of the eight American citizens, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, are now confirmed dead.
• Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
• Rescued Israeli hostage Kaid Farhan al-Qadi said that he was held with another hostage, Arye Zalmanovich, 86, from Nir Oz, and saw him die after not receiving necessary medical care.
• Hamas released an undated video of Israeli hostage Eden Yerushalmi, who was murdered by Hamas and her body returned from Gaza on Sunday, in which she says to her family: “I want to address my dear family, that I love and miss so much. Mom, Dad, Shani, May – I love you so much and I miss you.”
• The humanitarian situation in Gaza is “beyond catastrophic,” and more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in August in southern and central Gaza through humanitarian means, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
• Hamas official Izzat Al-Risheq said that “if pressure is not put on [PM] Netanyahu to implement what was agreed on in [U.S. President Joe] Biden’s proposal, the hostages won’t see the light of day,”
• Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that the pager blasts could be called “a declaration of war,” and that Israel had “crossed all red lines,” while dealing the organization an “unprecedented blow in its history.”
• The death toll from Wednesday’s walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon rose to 25, the country’s health minister Firass Abiad said, adding that 608 were wounded.
• A video published Thursday shows three IDF soldiers dragging a body and throwing it off a roof during a raid in Qabatiya. Another video appears to show an IDF bulldozer picking up the bodies from the scene. In response to the video, the IDF said that “this is a serious incident that does not conform to the values of the IDF and what is expected of IDF soldiers. The incident is under investigation.”

YEAH:

• The Israeli army said that a U.S. ship unloaded 3,577 humanitarian aid packages bound for residents of Gaza on Thursday (Aug 29^th) at a port in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.
• The World Health Organization said that it was ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza, and had inoculated about a quarter of children under 10 (Sept 3^rd).
• Kaid Farhan Elkadi, kidnapped from southern Israel by Hamas on October 7 and held in a tunnel in Gaza, managed to escape his captors before being rescued by the IDF (Aug 27^th). Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel reported that Elkadi is fully conscious and that his general condition is good. He was also interviewed by the Shin Bet security service.
• Approximately 90 percent of children under 10 in Gaza have been vaccinated against polio in a campaign that concluded on Saturday (Sept 14^th), according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and UNRWA.

JERUSALEM:

• The Israel Police forcefully dismantled protest tents set up in Jerusalem’s Independence Park by activists calling for a hostage deal overnight into Monday. The officers returned to the park on Monday morning and evicted the remaining protestors who slept there.
• Netanyahu said that ministers must not enter the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa compound without his approval, asserting that no changes will be made to the site’s status quo. This comes after several visits by Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who claimed he had lifted the ban on Jewish prayer at the site.

IN THE NORTH (LEBANON):

• The Air Force killed a senior Islamic Jihad member Fras Qasem near the Syrian-Lebanese border, the IDF said, adding that several other Islamic Jihad members were killed on their way to Lebanon from Syria (Aug 28^th).
• The Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed that it targeted Haifa Port in northern Israel using drones, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen reported.
• Two anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon hit the Metula area of northern Israel (Sept 6^th), the head of the Metula Regional Council said, adding that one hit a hotel in the town, with no casualties. The IDF said that fighter jets attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
• The Israeli army said that the air force struck over 15 Hezbollah launch sites and infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Friday (Sept 6^th).
• The IDF announced that about 50 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee and Kiryat Shmona overnight into Sunday (Sept 8^th), adding that most were intercepted and there were no casualties. The Air Force attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, and intercepted an aerial target that had crossed into northern Israel.
• The Israeli army said a barrage of around 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday morning (Sept 14^th), sparking fires in the north and triggering sirens in the Galilee. The IDF said its fighter jets attacked rocket launch sites in southern Lebanon, and also that Israeli forces struck several areas there with artillery fire.
• The IDF said that fighter jets struck a Hamas command center in Beit Hanoun set up in an area that previously served as a school, adding that “prior to the strike, numerous measures were taken to minimize the risk of civilian casualties, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”
• Fires erupted in northern Israel following rocket fire from Lebanon, according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service. The IDF said that 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon. A drone launched from Lebanon fell near the northern Israeli town of Metula.
• PM Netanyahu said during Sunday’s cabinet meeting that the situation in Israel’s northern border “can’t go on” and that it “requires a shift in the balance of powers,” adding that Israel will do “whatever it takes” to return its residents safely to their homes.
• Several drones crossed into Israel from Lebanese territory (Sept 17th), some were intercepted while others fell in the Upper Galilee region, the IDF said, adding that fighter jets killed three Hezbollah operatives in Blida in southern Lebanon.
• The Prime Minister’s Office said that the security cabinet had updated Israel’s official war aims to include the return of some 60,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes in the north due to attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
• Israel struck near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.
• A source familiar with the matter told CNN the IDF is moving the elite 98th Division from Gaza to northern Israel. “The center of gravity is moving north,” Gallant said. “The meaning is that we are diverting forces, resources, energy towards the north.”
• The IDF said that its fighter jets attacked 180 targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday (Sept 21^st), striking thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers. The IDF said 65 rockets were fired at northern Israel in multiple barrages during the day.
• A rocket barrage launched from Lebanon sparked fires in northern Israel. A building in Safed and a home in Kadita were struck in northern Israel, with no casualties reported.
• IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi said the military “has been waiting for years for this opportunity to attack Hezbollah,” and is “constantly working to reach achievements and continues to attack the organization in every region of Lebanon.”
• The prospect of an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon is looming by the hour. The Israel Defense Forces has called up two reserve infantry brigades to join the 98th Paratroopers Division, whose units were moved north last week, and the plans are clearly in place.
• The IDF said it carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s central headquarters, located under a residential building in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh, amid reports that a series of powerful explosions rattled the Lebanese capital. The IDF said the target of the strike was Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who according to a source close to the group survived the assassination attempt.
• The IDF that the strike that killed Hezbollah’s missile unit head, Ibrahim Qubaisi on Tuesday also killed his deputy, Abbas Ibrahim Sharaf Al-Din, as well as another senior operative in the group’s missile unit, Hussein Hani. [The head of Hezbollah’s air defense system, Mohammed Surur – killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Thursday – returned to Lebanon from Yemen three days ago, and was responsible for the launching of missiles and drones by Houthi forces, Al-Arabiya reported.]
• Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, as well as rocket launch sites used to target the northern Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, the IDF said.
• More than 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency said.
• In the Israeli attack that killed Hassan Nasrallah, at least four buildings collapsed, under which Hezbollah’s main command center was located. Later, six additional buildings in southern Beirut were attacked, where missiles and other equipment were hidden. Israeli defense officials estimated that about 300 people were killed in Friday’s Beirut strike, including those in nearby buildings.
• Lebanese media reported that Israel hacked into the control tower at Beirut’s international airport and warned an inbound Iranian passenger plane not to land there. Lebanese authorities then reportedly prevented the plane from entering the country’s airspace.
• The IDF said that since Friday night, it has attacked over 140 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The Israeli army said that it launched attacks on Hezbollah weapons stored under civilian buildings in Beirut and on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
• Hundreds of rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel throughout Friday and Saturday, sparking fires and damaging buildings and vehicles, with sirens also sounding across the northern West Bank.
• The IDF said it conducted a “precise strike” in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood, as well as striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. Nabil Qaouk, the commander of Hezbollah’s internal security unit and a member of Hezbollah’s executive council, was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on Saturday.
• The IDF believes that operations in Lebanon should continue, and that a ground offensive is the only way for residents of northern Israel to return to their homes, defense officials said, adding that there is a short window of opportunity for such a maneuver that would be lost if Hezbollah manages to recover and regroup.
• Friday’s strike on Hezbollah HQ (Sept 27^th) also killed more than 20 Hezbollah operatives who were in the underground compound, the IDF said, among them the head of Nasrallah’s security unit, Ibrahim Hussein Jazini; Nasrallah’s adviser Samir Tofik Div; the head of Hezbollah’s recruitment bureau Abdel Amir Muhammad Sablini; and head of fire management Ali Naaf Ayyub.

GAZA (NORTH/CENTRAL):

• A convoy of families of hostages traveled from Tel Aviv to the Israel-Gaza border near Kibbutz Nirim to share messages to their loved ones projected through speakers facing Gaza. Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is still in Hamas captivity, said “we continue to fight both for the deal and against our government that is delaying a deal. No excuse will help. We want to bring everyone home with the deal and end this nightmare.”
• The IDF said it attacked a school in Gaza City that was acting as a Hamas command and control center, adding that precautions were taken prior to the strike in order to minimize harm to civilians, including using precise weapons.
• The IDF said it destroyed a kilometer-long (0.6 mile) tunnel that stretches under the Beit Lahia area in northern Gaza. The Shin Bet and the IDF said they killed a Hamas commander responsible for the massacre in the Israeli community of Netiv Ha’asara on October 7, Ahmed Fuzi Nasser Mohammed Wadia and seven other Hamas militants.
• The IDF said it assassinated the commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis brigade rocket unit, Ra’af Omar Salman Abu Sha’ab.
• Sources in Gaza sources reported that the deputy commander of the Palestinian Civil Defense in northern Gaza was killed in an attack on his home in Jabalya.
• The IDF called on residents of northwestern Gaza to evacuate their homes following rocket fire from the area into Israel, warning them that “terrorist organizations are returning and carrying out rocket fire and terror activities directed at Israel,” and that the area is a “dangerous combat zone.”

GAZA (SOUTH):

• 2 million vaccine doses have already been delivered to Gaza ahead of a September 1 campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, adding that 400,000 additional doses are en route.
• The IDF said that forces operating in Gaza’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood killed over 200 militants in recent weeks, uncovered a significant cache of weapons and discovered an underground bunker where Hamas militants were hiding.
• Local medics in Gaza told Reuters that Israeli army strikes across the Strip killed at least 61 people over a period of 48 hours (Sept 7^th).
• Two Israeli soldiers, Sergeant Major (res.) Daniel Alloush, 37, and Sergeant Major (res.) Tom Ish-Shalom, 38, were killed and four were seriously wounded in a helicopter crash overnight into Wednesday in Rafah during an operation to evacuate a wounded soldier.
• The IDF said it killed Ahmed Aish Salama Al-Hashash, who was responsible for Islamic Jihad’s rocket unit, in a humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis.

POST WAR GAZA:

• This is still a very complex unanswered question and hotly debated topic by all.
• PALESTINIAN STATE: Following reports that the United Arab Emirates is prepared to participate in the creation of an Arab force in Gaza for an interim period after the war, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan wrote on X that the UAE will not take part in a plan for the ‘day after’ in Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
• Saudi Arabia has formed a global alliance to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the country’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The alliance includes a number of Arab and Muslim countries and European partners,

IN THE SOUTH (RED SEA):

• A surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen hit an open area in central Israel early on Sunday morning (Sept 15^th) after sirens blared in communities throughout the area, the IDF said.
• Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for launching what it called a “new hypersonic ballistic missile” toward an Israeli military target and that the IDF’s aerial defense systems failed to intercept it, adding that the missile managed to cross 2,040 kilometers (1267 miles) in 11 minutes.
• The IDF said the interceptor deployed against the missile hit it, but did not destroy it, adding that the missile apparently fell apart midair and was not hypersonic, as claimed by the Houthis.
• The U.S. offered to recognize the Houthi government in Sanaa in a bid to stop the Yemeni rebel group’s attacks in the Red Sea, a senior Houthi official said. A U.S. official denied the claim.
• A surface-to-surface missile fired at Tel Aviv and central Israel from Yemen overnight into Friday (Sept 27^th) was intercepted by the Arrow aerial defense system outside the country’s airspace, the IDF said.
• The IDF said that a missile launched from Yemen triggered sirens in Tel Aviv and central Israel (Sept 28^th), and that the missile was intercepted outside Israeli territory.
• The IDF announced that the air force attacked power stations and a port used by the Iran-backed Houthis in Hodeidah and Bas Isa in Yemen, adding that the strike was carried out in response to Houthi attacks on Israel in recent days.

WEST BANK:

• Israeli settlers shot and killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in Bethlehem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said earlier on Tuesday (Aug 27). The IDF said it was investigating the incident.
• Israel launched airstrikes and raids in multiple cities in the West Bank yesterday (Aug 28^th), killing at least 10 Hamas militants, per Hamas and Israeli figures, and arresting other suspects. The operation was believed to be the country’s largest there in 20 years.
• Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Israel has conducted near-daily raids in the West Bank. Israel says it seeks to counter a rise in militant activity there; at least 19 Israelis have been killed in recent months, per Israeli figures.
• Israeli settlements in the West Bank have meanwhile expanded, and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have been on the rise. Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
• Addressing Israeli settler violence, the Biden administration yesterday imposed sanctions on an Israeli security official and security company operating in the West Bank.
• The IDF, Israel Police and the Shin Bet security service said that five terrorists who were hiding in a mosque were killed in an operation in the city of Tulkarm. One of those killed was identified as Mohammad Jaber, an Islamic Jihad commander, who was involved in the attack last June in Qalqilya in which an Israeli man, Aaron Muchtar, was killed.
• Aiding and abetting Jewish settler terror: Will there now be real consequences? The Israeli army’s top brass is acknowledging settler violence, and calling it what it is: an act of terrorism. Now, it must bring the penalties for soldiers who allow and abet these crimes in line with those for civilians.
• The IDF announced that Israeli forces killed the head of Hamas’ operations in the city of Jenin, Wassam Hazem, and two other terrorists, Misra Masharka and Arafat Amer. Hazem was killed in an exchange of fire with the forces, while a military aircraft killed the other two, according to the IDF.
• The IDF said two Hamas-affiliated militants were killed in a clash in the Jenin refugee camp during the IDF’s ongoing West Bank operation, which started on Wednesday (Aug 28^th).
• Israeli forces have withdrawn from the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm after a 10-day operation, the Palestine news agency reported. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, 21 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Jenin since August 28.
• U.S. President Joe Biden said that Israel must do more to prevent incidents like the fatal shooting of American-Turkish activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank, calling her death “totally unacceptable,” adding that “the violence in the West Bank has been going on for too long…I will continue to support policies that hold all extremists – Israelis and Palestinians alike – accountable for stoking violence and serving as obstacles to peace.”

NEGOTIATIONS – HOSTAGE RELEASE – CEASE FIRE:

• Israel’s negotiating team returned to Israel after a summit in Qatar with mediators to reach a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas (Aug 30^th), with sources saying that there have been no breakthroughs thus far regarding the red lines set by PM Netanyahu, including on the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors and the manning of the Rafah crossing.
• The Biden administration has been discussing with Egypt and Qatar a final “take it or leave it” proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which it plans to present to the negotiating parties in the coming weeks, the Washington Post reported, adding that if the two sides don’t accept the new offer, it could mark the end of the U.S.-led negotiations, citing a senior administration official who said: “You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point.”
• The press conference held on Monday evening by PM Netanyahu, in which he argued that Israel will never leave the Philadelphi corridor, has “torpedoed” mediators’ attempts to renew cease-fire/hostage deal negotiations, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.
• On Monday, Mossad chief David Barnea told mediators in talks with Hamas that Israel was prepared to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor in the second stage of a hostage release deal, mere hours before PM Netanyahu publicly declared he would refuse to do so, foreign sources familiar with the negotiations told Haaretz. Barnea, who urgently traveled to Qatar, said that Israel stood behind its agreement to pull all its forces from the area in line with the Biden administration’s plan, as long as its operational demands were met.
• 73 percent of Israelis do not believe that the government will successfully reach a deal that will bring home the hostages, according to an Israel Democracy Institute survey.
• Netanyahu is “seeking to run out the clock until the American election” to make a deal to release the hostages, several U.S. officials who spoke to the New York Times believe.
• U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that “the biggest obstacle to a deal is Hamas, no question about it.”
• Hamas said that Netanyahu’s refusal to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor aims to thwart an agreement to end the war and secure the release of the hostages.
• Hamas published a video of murdered Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in which he calls on “President Biden, Antony Blinken and all my fellow American citizens to do everything in their power to stop the war, stop this madness, and bring me home now.” Hersh’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, issued a statement saying that the video “must serve as an immediate wake-up call to the world to take action today to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages before it is too late.”
• German newspaper Bild reported that a document detailing Hamas’ strategy for cease-fire negotiations and the war was allegedly found on a computer belonging to the organization’s leader Yahya Sinwar. The document, dated to spring 2024, shows that Hamas has been weakened militarily, but that its main goal is to weaken Israel internationally and leverage the hostages against the Israeli government internally, through pressure on the hostages’ families and the Israeli public.
• Two American officials told The New York Times that Hamas recently added new demands for a hostage release deal that include asking for more Palestinian prisoners to be released in the first phase of any agreement (Sept 7^th).
• Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet at 9 P.M. Sunday (Sept 8^th) to discuss the possibility of a hostage deal. Another source said, “Our impression is that it would be possible to execute a deal, but it will only happen when both sides decide they are interested in it. That is not the case at the moment. There are logical solutions to most disputes. As soon as Netanyahu and Sinwar signal that they are interested, it will be possible to move forward.”
• Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshal told the New York Times that “Hamas has the upper hand” in its war against Israel, and is not rushing to make a cease-fire deal if it doesn’t include an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal. Meshal said he believes that Hamas will play a central role in Gaza once the war is over. “All their illusions about filling the vacuum are behind us,” he said, calling it a “mistaken assumption.”
• Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said in a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting Cairo to discuss efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza, that Egypt will not accept any changes to pre-October 7 rules for security on its border with Gaza and the operation of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side.
• The government official responsible for hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, has submitted a new proposal to the Biden administration for a deal with Hamas in which all hostages held in Gaza would be released in one phase in exchange for ending the war and allowing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, his family and thousands of operatives of his choice to leave Gaza for a third country.
• Senior U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that they don’t expect Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire/hostage deal before President Joe Biden’s term in office ends.
• Hamas has stopped responding to cease-fire proposals relayed by countries mediating truce talks in recent weeks, a diplomatic source told Haaretz, adding that “we have no information suggesting that Yahya Sinwar is dead, but he has been out of contact for at least a few weeks. In fact, we are not receiving any communication from Hamas, but we cannot determine if this is related to Sinwar.”
• Netanyahu said that Nasrallah’s killing will promote the release of hostages in Gaza, claiming that “the more Sinwar realizes that Hezbollah will no longer come to his aid, the greater the likelihood that our hostages will return.”

GLOBAL RESPONSE & INVOLVEMENT:

• U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN in her first interview as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee that she would not alter the Biden administration’s policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Gaza war, stressing the need to secure a cease-fire/hostage deal.
• The U.K. government has decided to suspend a series of arms shipments to Israel against the background of the war in Gaza and the fear of widespread harm to civilians and a violation of international law, British Foreign Minister David Lammy announced.
• Protests and vigils were held across North America in solidarity with the general strike in Israel and to advocate for a hostage deal.
• The U.S. Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against six Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, in connection with the October 7 massacre, the first criminal step taken by the Justice Department to hold individuals accountable for the assault.
• Norway’s $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest from companies that violate the fund watchdog’s new, tougher ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
• IRAN: The head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy agency Richard Moore said he believed that Iran was still planning to retaliate for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which it blames on Israel, adding: “We won’t be able to let our guard down.”
• TURKEY: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.
• U.S.: During Tuesday’s Harris-Trump presidential debate, Harris said Israel has the right to defend itself, but “how it does so matters, because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately. We need a cease-fire deal, we need the hostages out, and so we will continue to work around the clock on that,” adding that “we must chart a course for a two state solution.” Harris noted that “there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel, and an equal measure for the Palestinians. But I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself.”
• Trump reiterated his claim that Hamas’ October 7 massacre would never have happened if he were president, adding that if Harris is elected “Israel will not exist within two years from now… She hates Israel. At the same time she hates the Arab population, because the whole place is going to get blown up. Arabs, Jewish people, Israel will be gone. It would have never happened.”
• The U.S. is withdrawing the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier from the Middle East, U.S. officials told the Washington Post, after it was stationed there alongside the USS Abraham Lincoln for several weeks following Israel’s killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which Hezbollah and Iran vowed to avenge.
• The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within a year, withdraw its military forces and evacuate all settlers. The resolution was a response to a ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end. The U.S., Israel, Argentina, Hungary and a handful of smaller states voted against the resolution.
• SAUDI ARABIA: In a conversation reported in The Atlantic with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about potential Israel-Saudi normalization not long after the October 7 attack, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, “Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this [Israeli commitment to a future Palestinian state] is meaningful.” A Saudi official described this account as “”

TEL AVIV/SOUTHERN ISRAEL:

• Unique opposition to National Memorial Service for Oct 7^th: About 100 hostages who returned from Hamas captivity and the families of hostages who have returned or remain in captivity wrote to Transportation Minister Miri Regev that they would not agree to “the cynical use of the names of the hostages that the state has abandoned for nearly a year” as part of the national memorial ceremony marking October 7, asking that the ceremony be reconsidered and calling for it to focus on returning the hostages.
• Family members of Israeli hostages were joined by hundreds of Israelis as they marched in Tel Aviv (Sept 5^th), carrying coffins to symbolize those killed in captivity. The march marks the fifth consecutive day of demonstrations demanding a comprehensive deal to return all hostages.
• Dozens of protesters calling for a hostage deal blocked a main highway in Tel Aviv (Sept 13^th).

IN THE EAST (JORDAN/IRAQ/SYRIA):

• The IDF said it shot down a drone launched from Iraq toward northern Israel overnight into Wednesday (Sept 18^th).
• SYRIA: Five Syrian soldiers were killed and one wounded in an Israeli strike on military targets in Kfer Yaboos, near Damascus on the Syrian-Lebanese border, Syrian state news reported.
• IRAN: Israel’s killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Deputy Commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Lebanon “will not go unanswered,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said that resistance groups will continue to confront Israel with the help of Iran, according to Iranian state media.

OPINTIONS/THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

• “Public opinion is what will determine whether one of the darkest chapters in the history of Israel will end with Israelis being abandoned by their leaders and with the heartbreak of the hostage families, or whether the voice of reason and fairness will prevail, devoid of political affiliation or tribal loyalty, and lead to the rescue of those who can be rescued and bringing them home” – Ravit Hecht
• Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that “ending the war is in Israel’s interest, a security, economic and political interest,” adding that “as long as this government exists, the war will continue…This government prefers war because it frees it from having to deal with the challenges. It’s time to change the government and end the war.”
• “The killing of Nasrallah has a significant impact on morale, reaching far beyond its military and political implications. It spans countries and communities throughout the Arab and Islamic world, not only among Hezbollah members and institutions. The assassination symbolizes a blow to the ‘resistance’ for entire generations” – Jack Khoury

 

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?   

Who Should Lead the Palestinians after the Gaza War, and How?

*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.

 

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