Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[gipper]

Study of videos, satellite imagery, photos and expert opinion finds ‘most likely scenario’: ‘A rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight’ caused deadly blast in parking lot​

The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.

A lack of forensic evidence and the difficulty of gathering that material on the ground in the middle of a war means there is no definitive proof the break-up of the rocket and the explosion at the hospital are linked. However, AP’s assessment is supported by a range of experts with specialties in open-source intelligence, geolocation and rocketry.

“In the absence of additional evidence, the most likely scenario would be that it was a rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight and that it mistakenly hit the hospital,” said Henry Schlottman, a former US Army intelligence analyst and open-source intelligence expert.

(full article online)

AP analysis: Rocket from Gaza appeared to go astray, likely caused hospital explosion

Study of of videos, satellite imagery, photos and expert opinion finds 'most likely scenario': 'A rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight' caused deadly blast in parking lot

www.timesofisrael.com

Palestinian children? Any concerns for them?

 

[Sixties Fan]

For the past week, my colleagues and I at NGO Monitor have carefully examined the output of NGOs that claim human rights agendas, many funded by European governments, and analyzed their claims and argumentation. We have identified a three-staged process by which NGOs work to erase the heinousness of Hamas crimes and fuel the international demonization of Israel.

Justifying and celebrating attacks​

The first stage is open justification and celebration of the attacks as “resistance” against a “settler-colonial state.” For example, the 150-member Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) “saluted this honorable image that our people are sketching,” having faced, “for more than 75 years, a racist, fascist occupation,” and stated that “the Palestinian people… are resisting this with all valor and sacrifice.” BADIL, a Palestinian “return” NGO, wrote, “resistance is the most human and legitimate act” because “the Palestinian people have been suffering for 75 years of colonial-apartheid regime, ethnic cleansing, forcible transfer/displacement.”

Similarly, an advocacy officer from Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) referred to “Palestinians resisting Israeli colonization & trying to take back their land.”

These and other examples demonstrate how the initial NGO responsescelebrated the “accomplishments” of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist groups, i.e. the mass killing, abduction, and other heinous crimes against thousands of civilians.

Whataboutism and shifting focus​

Next, NGOs moved on to stage two: trying to shift media and political focus by inventing Israeli atrocities that are similar to the actual brutality of Hamas. Palestinian NGOs have always delegitimized Israel’s right to self-defense and denied the existence of Palestinian terrorism, which they invariably decorate as “resistance.”

Israel’s military response targeting terror infrastructure in Gaza provided another opportunity to accuse Israel of committing the worst crimes. For example, a joint statement from the PFLP’s NGO network – Al-Mezan, Bisan, Al-Haq, DCI-P, Addameer, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committes (UPWC), and others – demanded that the EU “fully denounce Israel’s indiscriminate military reprisals…and intervene to protect the Palestinian people against Israel’s incitement to genocide.”

----

Denying Israel's claims as honest​

This third stage is particularly pernicious, since it is often accompanied by the notion – sometimes explicitly, sometimes implied – that Israel orchestrated the deception to fool the world into a permissive attitude towards war crimes in Gaza.

These three stages might be familiar. They are the same tactics used by antisemites who deny the Holocaust and its magnitude, e.g., claiming that only “a few hundred thousand were killed.” Or by those who suggest that Jews were persecuted because of their economic status, because “they engaged is usury,” or for their “social behavior.” And then there are conspiracy theorists like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who declare that Zionists cooperated with the Nazis or that Jews were behind the Holocaust.

The NGO propaganda playbook is not unique to the political dimension in the war to eliminate Israel or even to centuries of antisemitism against the Jewish people. But now, it a central front in a deadly conflict involving a heinously brutal terrorist group. It is incumbent that the audiences for NGO propaganda – diplomats, UN officials, journalists, academics and the government allies and funders of these NGOs – firmly reject their lies and fictitious human rights claims.


(full article online)

Antisemitic NGOs justify terror in three stages - opinion

It is incumbent that the audiences for NGO propaganda – diplomats, UN officials, journalists, academics and the government allies and funders of these NGOs – firmly reject lies and fictitious claims.

www.jpost.com

 

[Unkotare]

#StandUpToJewishHate 🟦 - Uniting to Combat Antisemitism

Fight against antisemitism by supporting our mission to educate, raise awareness, and empower individuals to stand up to Jewish hate. Get involved now!

www.standuptojewishhate.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

And here is the key point. “It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and state systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, I’ll tell you what you are guilty of.”

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have seen this. And never more than in the past fortnight.

Look at the protests against Israel that have erupted across Europe since the Hamas massacres two weeks ago today. There were no mass rallies in solidarity with the Jews who had been gunned down at a music festival, shot in the head at a bus stop, or decapitated in front of their parents.

Weirdly enough across Britain, Europe and the wider West, almost nobody had time for any such public expressions of sympathy. We did at the highest political levels. But on the streets? No.




(full article online)

The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel has exposed the West’s moral collapse

The protests we are seeing have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with problems here at home

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Coyote]

Still not a siege. For the following reasons:
1. Israel does not control the Gaza territory as there is a corridor through Egypt for egress and aide
2. no sovereign nation is required to admit foreign nationals into its borders (let alone during wartime)
3. no sovereign nation is obligated to provide water, electricity, fuel, medical supplies, food to foreign nationals (let alone during wartime)*

I disagree.

1. Israel and Egypt completely control all access and egress from Gaza, with Egypt controlling one Border crossing and Israel controlling two of the three border crossings as well as Gaza’s territorial waters and airspace.

The fact that two nations are involved in a siege against another entity doesn’t make it any less a siege. Now I’ll go along with a blockaide prior to recent events, but there is no question what is happening now is both a siege and collective punishment.

You also say Israel does not control Gaza Territory. Yet it controls Gaza’s territorial airspace. It controls Gaza’s territorial waters.

2. Absolutely agree.

3.

no sovereign nation is obligated to provide water, electricity, fuel, medical supplies, food to foreign nationals (let alone during wartime)*

No one is obligating Israel to provide anything other than access those things to be transported in, whether provided by aid agencies or normal economic trade. You can claim that Israel and Egypt have no obligation to allow through their borders, but Israel control’s GAZA’s airspace and territorial waters so they are unable to bring in anything that way. That is no longer a matter of Israel’s borders.

Water and water rights are much more complicated, especially in arid water scarce areas where rivers cross multiple state and national boundaries and water is scarce. Water is gold and rights matters of intense conflict. Gaza depends on a desalination plants and an aquifer that is now dangerously inundated with saltwater and sewage and 96% unfit to drink. In addition Gaza’s infrastructure is essentially non-existent due to repeated bombings and Hamas.. Electricity is needed to operate desalinization plants and wells and fuel is needed to run generators.

Gaza’s water supply has been precarious for some time now, it is now in free fall in a dense area of 2.3 million people.


Sometimes it is good to look at definitions…because if you do, the shoe fits:

Siege: a military blockade of a city or fortified place to compel it to surrender.​

​

Siege: the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.​

​

What there WAS was a limited blockade in an attempt to keep weapons, and items which could be converted to weapons, (and, yes, sometimes luxury items) out of a hostile territory actively committing war crimes against you. This is an entirely reasonable, even restrained response.

A limited blockade…ok. I can see the necessity of that given Hamas’ activity in conjunction with Iran’s complicity.

But how limited was it? When does a blockade cross the line into becoming a war crime (and this applies to both Egypt and Israel)?

Additionally, the government of a governed people has an absolute, unconditional, obligation to protect its civilian population by ensuring, to the best of its ability, such necessities as adequate clean water, electricity, fuel, food, medical supplies. A government which fails to do so is fully responsible for the outcome. You can't make another nation responsible for the failures of your government.

I disagree in part. I agree with what you say about a government’s obligations and by all measures Hamas has failed their obligations to their people. BUT, Hamas was not alone in creating the problems. Hamas, the U.S., Israel and Fatah all contributed to the failures. What if the results of the election had been allowed to stand with Hamas taking the seats it had won without external interference and punitive actions to force Hamas to vacate? At that time the political wing was leaning to more moderate, and the majority of Palestinians supported a peace agreement with Israel and a two-state solution. It might have just as easily ended up with Hamas being voted out in the next election. We will never know, but it certainly set things off on a bad footing right from the start. I’m not defending Hamas by any means, but I feel it’s only fair to point out the considerable amount of interference by other parties predetermined it’s failure.

*You could make the argument that while a nation is not required to provide humanitarian aide during wartime to its enemies, it should not be permitted to prevent humanitarian aide from reaching refugees, and I would agree with you.


Yes, let's not call it that. Its a civilian population governed by organized, governing jihadis. Israel, Egypt, and pretty much the entire Arab world is (with notable exceptions) are ... disinclined ... to make peace with jihadis. If you want to be invited to the global party, if you want people to stop locking the doors and shutting the blinds when you walk up the driveway, you have to stop the murderous rampage.

It is STILL a CIVILIAN population.

This one is complicated. I vehemently disagree that "collective punishment" is the correct language. It's a weasel word. However, we are dealing with "collectives" in this discussion: Jews, Israelis, Gazans, Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, Christians, "settlers", indigenous, civilians, combatants, innocents. Let me pause and "collect" (grin) my thoughts on this one before I answer, if you will give me that grace.

Of course!

100.

Yeah, hard nope on this one. Gaza had a glorious opportunity. Israel (informally) ceded the territory and all control to the people of Gaza. They could have done anything with it. They chose, within a few days, to commit war crimes on the civilians of Israel. They have been committing war crimes ever since. Israel has been VERY restrained. (That has all changed now. The world of the before times is gone.)

Not all control. Now, I will agree Israel has largely been restrained.

What do you think might have happened if the people of Gaza had chosen peace in 2005, in 2006, in 2007, in all the years up until 2023? No rockets. No incursions. No intifadas. No suicide bombers. No stabbings. No car attacks. No incendiary balloons. No paragliders. No savage, unspeakable torture, slaughter, kidnapping, rape. What do you think might have happened?

Be honest.

Well…it’s a bit like my question above…what if Israel and others, had not chosen to interfere in that election?

Your question is a tough one. What if they had chosen a Martin Luther King or Mahatma Ghandi approach? What I think is this….they could have done so much more with the opportunity than they did.

Thank you. That is kind of you to say.

 

[Coyote]

And here is the key point. “It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and state systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, I’ll tell you what you are guilty of.”

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have seen this. And never more than in the past fortnight.

Look at the protests against Israel that have erupted across Europe since the Hamas massacres two weeks ago today. There were no mass rallies in solidarity with the Jews who had been gunned down at a music festival, shot in the head at a bus stop, or decapitated in front of their parents.

Weirdly enough across Britain, Europe and the wider West, almost nobody had time for any such public expressions of sympathy. We did at the highest political levels. But on the streets? No.




(full article online)

The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel has exposed the West’s moral collapse

The protests we are seeing have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with problems here at home

www.telegraph.co.uk

“The protests we are seeing have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with problems here at home”

Can’t access the article, but that I agree with. It has opened up the cracks and fissures in us, and isn’t pretty.

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Shusha]

The fact that two nations are involved in a siege against another entity doesn’t make it any less a siege. Now I’ll go along with a blockaide prior to recent events, but there is no question what is happening now is both a siege and collective punishment.

Fair point. I concede that Israel is currently conducting a siege against Gaza. As is Egypt. The point I think I was trying to make is that Gaza cannot be UNDER a siege without TWO nations conducting a siege. It is entirely reasonable for Israel, in times of war, to place a siege on Gaza. (You really gotta ask yourself what's up with Egypt, though. *Noting that humanitarian aide entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing just today.)

I don't think it can fairly be called collective punishment though. Israel is at war (and rightly so!) against a foreign governing entity. Israel, as a result of war brought against her, is responding to that state of war. The state of war involves two governments. The state of war exists, and people are affected. It sucks, but it is. There is a necessary distinction here. Example: displacement of Arabs and Jews during the Israeli war of independence is a direct result of war and conflict between two warring factions. The expulsion of the Jewish people from all Arab countries was collective punishment on Jews for being Jews.

You also say Israel does not control Gaza Territory. Yet it controls Gaza’s territorial airspace. It controls Gaza’s territorial waters.

Israel blockades Gaza's territorial waters. It doesn't control them. And the airspace is sort of a moot point. (Not that it isn't important, but that the conversation is already so huge, I feel as though we can come back to this.)

Water and water rights are much more complicated, especially in arid water scarce areas where rivers cross multiple state and national boundaries and water is scarce. Water is gold and rights matters of intense conflict. Gaza depends on a desalination plants and an aquifer that is now dangerously inundated with saltwater and sewage and 96% unfit to drink. In addition Gaza’s infrastructure is essentially non-existent due to repeated bombings and Hamas.. Electricity is needed to operate desalinization plants and wells and fuel is needed to run generators.

We agree that Gaza needs water, and fuel, and electricity. My point is that Israel is not obligated to provide it. Or even to provide access to it, especially during wartime. We fundamentally seem to disagree on where to place the responsibility. Hamas, as governing body, has a responsibility to its citizens. A responsibility to prevent emptying the aquifer, to prevent sewage from contaminating the aquifer, to ensure water infrastructure is not dug up to make rockets, and to ensure that vital resources and humanitarian aide is not diverted from infrastructure projects to impotent jihadi projects.

And honestly, it does a disservice to the people of Gaza to claim that they are incapable of (eventual) self-determination and self-sufficiency. They are capable of it. They just need to turn the resources they have, the resources they are given, towards self-sufficiency instead of towards the slaughter of Jews.

When does a blockade cross the line into becoming a war crime (and this applies to both Egypt and Israel)?

Last I checked Egypt was not at war with Gaza. Any blockade of Gaza by Egypt is an act of war. Why would Egypt initiate an act of war against Gaza?

I disagree in part. I agree with what you say about a government’s obligations and by all measures Hamas has failed their obligations to their people. BUT, Hamas was not alone in creating the problems. Hamas, the U.S., Israel and Fatah all contributed to the failures. What if the results of the election had been allowed to stand with Hamas taking the seats it had won without external interference and punitive actions to force Hamas to vacate? At that time the political wing was leaning to more moderate, and the majority of Palestinians supported a peace agreement with Israel and a two-state solution. It might have just as easily ended up with Hamas being voted out in the next election. We will never know, but it certainly set things off on a bad footing right from the start. I’m not defending Hamas by any means, but I feel it’s only fair to point out the considerable amount of interference by other parties predetermined it’s failure.

All sorts of things might have been. Yeah, many groups did things and it affected the outcome. Who knows how it might have turned out had any one group made different choices. Shrug. It's a big, complex problem. The one group you've left out of the responsibility pile here is the people of Gaza. They also bear a responsibility.

Not all control. Now, I will agree Israel has largely been restrained.

Well, let's talk specifically, if you don't mind, about the period between the disengagement from Gaza by Israel in September of 2005 and the rockets fired from Gaza, if memory serves, 12 days later. During that time period, what control - what opportunities - did Gaza not have? You say that Gaza did not have control. What did they not have control over?

Your question is a tough one. What if they had chosen a Martin Luther King or Mahatma Ghandi approach? What I think is this….they could have done so much more with the opportunity than they did.

My question shouldn't be a tough one. (With all due respect). What might have happened had Gaza chosen peace in 2005, and again in all the years from then until now? Given that one shift in parameters, what are some of the possibilities?

 

[Shusha]

And here is the key point. “It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and state systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, I’ll tell you what you are guilty of.”

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have seen this. And never more than in the past fortnight.

Look at the protests against Israel that have erupted across Europe since the Hamas massacres two weeks ago today. There were no mass rallies in solidarity with the Jews who had been gunned down at a music festival, shot in the head at a bus stop, or decapitated in front of their parents.

Weirdly enough across Britain, Europe and the wider West, almost nobody had time for any such public expressions of sympathy. We did at the highest political levels. But on the streets? No.




(full article online)

The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel has exposed the West’s moral collapse

The protests we are seeing have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with problems here at home

www.telegraph.co.uk

I can't access the article either, but never in my lifetime would I have imagined that the slaughter of Jews would receive such an outcry of various versions "they deserved it", let alone "gas the Jews". Time to read "Hitler's Willing Executioners" again.

 

[Sixties Fan]

I can't access the article either, but never in my lifetime would I have imagined that the slaughter of Jews would receive such an outcry of various versions "they deserved it", let alone "gas the Jews". Time to read "Hitler's Willing Executioners" again.

Posting link again,

The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel has exposed the West’s moral collapse

The protests we are seeing have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with problems here at home

www.telegraph.co.uk

Or go to telegraph.co.uk. The article should be there.
"The Aftermath of Hamas attacks on Israel".

 

[Sixties Fan]

"Forensic Architecture" tries to say hospital explosion wasn't a terror rocket, creating a conspiracy theory​

We've already proven in the past that Forensic Architecture is an anti-Israel group that partners with media and human rights NGOs to pretend to use cutting edge 3-D modeling to prove its lies.

They helped create the Amnesty International "Gaza Platform" that is filled with data that is provably wrong to reach conclusions that are obviously wrong.

In 2021, using their signature 3D modeling, they claimed that a Palestinian car ramming attack at a checkpoint was really a simple car accident whose driver was executed for no reason. Yet the video clearly shows both the car accelerating towards the soldiers - and that the driver jumped out of the car to attack them less than a second after the crash, something a stunned victim of an accident would never do.

In 2022, they teamed up with Al Haq and falsely accused Israel of targeting "cultural heritage sites" in Gaza. Not only were they wrong - Israel was shooting at rocket launchers on top of the site - but their own video proved that Hamas was building right on top of those old Roman ruins!

Later that year the two groups accused Israel is purposefully trying to create an ecological disaster in Gaza - using the worst possible munition for that purpose.

Now, Forensics Architecture is pretending that the explosion near the Al Ahli hospital was really from Israel:

Preliminary analysis by FA, @alhaq_org & @earshot_ngo into the #AlAhli hospital blast in Gaza casts significant doubt on IOF claims that the source of the deadly explosion was a Palestinian-fired rocket travelling west to east.


3D analysis shows patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast. Such patterns indicate a likely projectile trajectory with northeast origins.

In reviewing our analysis, investigator & explosive weapons expert @CobbSmith agrees the fragmentation patterns may indicate the projectile came from the northeast—the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter—and not from the west, as claimed by the IOF.

Our/@CobbSmith’s analysis of the crater size suggests a munition larger than eg a Spike or Hellfire missile commonly used by IOF drones. It is more consistent w/ the impact marks from an artillery shell—but w/o additional material evidence, we cannot make a definitive assessment.

@earshot_ngo analysed the recording released by IOF officials of an alleged exchange between members of Hamas implicating the Islamic Jihad in the attack. They found that the recording was manipulated and therefore not a credible source of evidence:

...A conclusive investigation into this attack requires full access to the site and munition fragments, as well as witness interviews. We continue our work on this case, and reaffirm our solidarity with Palestinian people under attack, including our friends & colleagues.

This is 9/11 Truther conspiracy theory level stuff. All evidence that shows it was Islamic Jihad, such as multiple videos of the rocket being shot from the same location as a salvo of other Gaza rockets, or how the rocket fuel would explain a huge fireball but no artillery shell would, is ignored.



The videos clearly show a rocket that fell apart in mid-air. Any analysis of direction after a mid-air breakup is useless - chances are the part that hit the parking lot of the hospital was corkscrewing towards the ground as it has probably lost its tailfins. Assuming their debris analysis is correct, it probably simply hit the ground while facing a southwest direction. (After I wrote this, I see that CNN's experts agree: "If the projectile malfunctioned and broke apart in the air, as CNN’s analysis suggests, the direction of impact reflected by the crater would not be a reliable finding.")

Interestingly, CNN interviewed the same Chris Cobb-Smith and he said something nearly the opposite than what Forensic Architecture says he said:

Cobb-Smith said that the conflagration following the blast was inconsistent with an artillery strike, but that it could not be entirely ruled out.

AP's analysis agrees with CNN and the IDF.
Of course the IDF manipulated the audio. They edited out information that was sensitive. As far as the two audio channels, chances are that they were wiretapping both ends of the conversation separately and combined them, and chose to use stereo to make it easier to understand.

But the most obvious proof that Forensic Architecture cannot be trusted - besides its track record of lying, that is - is that its own language calling the IDF the "IOF" ("Israel Occupation Forces," meaning that all of Israel is "occupied territory") and their statement of solidarity with Palestinians. They are admitting their agenda, proving that they are not even close to objective. They are only interesting in supporting their biases, not the truth.

The question is why any organization would pay them for consulting services, unless they want manipulated and biased results to begin with.

"Forensic Architecture" tries to say hospital explosion wasn't a terror rocket, creating a conspiracy theory

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Although all of Israel is under fire from Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah rockets, all of those who have had to relocate have found refuge with others or via the government.
I do not see the same happening in Gaza with the 500,000 people who have moved south. Is it because so many rockets fall inside Gaza? Are some people being taken in in other towns, villages? We do know that Hamas has not built bunkers for the wider population but only for themselves, 300 miles of tunnels which the population cannot hide in. The lack of respect for a life is astounding.

Israel Strong !!!! ]



During the harrowing days since over 2,500 Hamas terrorists poured into Israel to slaughter 1,400 people, injure thousands, commit barbaric acts of atrocity against people of all ages and kidnap more than 200 to Gaza, civil society has quickly mobilized to an almost overwhelming degree.

Around 15,000 Israelis have answered the clarion call of movements that metamorphosed overnight from activists against the government’s divisive judicial reform proposals to coordinators of a massive infrastructure to rescue and support fellow citizens in distress.

That infrastructure, based at the Expo Tel Aviv International Convention Center since the day after the massacres, subsequently evacuated 3,000 citizens from the Gaza border communities, 200 of them under fire.

As of Thursday morning, when this reporter visited the convention center, it had distributed nearly two-thirds of 12,526 items of civilian equipment donated, found accommodation for nearly 8,000 displaced families, distributed 120,000 food portions and 200 packs of medical supplies, transported 8,000 civilians and soldiers, provided more than 1,000 activities for evacuated children, and sent out 150 sets of shiva (seven-day mourning period) equipment — gazebos, plastic tables and chairs, fans, water heaters and refreshments. It had even rescued 120 pets.

For months, anti-overhaul organizations such as Brothers in Arms (made up of military reserve soldiers), Building an Alternative (a women’s group founded by Moran Zer Katzenstein), and the tech worker, student and lawyer protest groups, were castigated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his ministers and much of the right-wing as leftist traitors who wanted to bring Israeli democracy and the country down.

But as the government scrambled to react to the Hamas invasion that it and Israel’s security establishment had failed to foresee, these groups were able to utilize their nationwide networks and organizational skills to step into the breach.

At the massive situation hub in Tel Aviv, volunteers organize everything from medical supplies, psychological support, and clothing and equipment for evacuees from the Gaza border area — many of whom left just with the clothes on their backs — to a system that unites families with their pets.

“From 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 7, we began to get lots of messages from places like Kfar Aza,” explained anti-judicial reform activist Tamir Reicher. More than 70 kibbutz members were murdered by the terrorists that day, including many children and babies, with testimony that some of them were beheaded.

Initially working from their homes, a group of friends quickly established a situation room at Kama Junction in southern Israel, which is still operating, and by 11 a.m. they were dispatching volunteers, not all of them armed, to rescue people under terrorist siege.


(full article online)

In stunning response, 15,000 volunteers fill leadership vacuum to help victims of Hamas

Movements set up to oppose government's judicial overhaul bid metamorphose overnight to coordinate unprecedented civilian rescue and relief effort

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Israel to evacuate 14 more communities on Lebanon border amid Hezbollah attacks

IDF strikes terror cells carrying out new missile attacks; military spokesman says Iran-backed group risks 'dragging Lebanon into a war'

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Rescue and Resilience: United Hatzalah’s Heroes in Operation Iron Swords | United with Israel

Eli Beer, the founder and president of United Hatzalah, sheds light on their incredible work and dedication during this challenging time.

unitedwithisrael.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Come on UK, time to root out the terrorists amongst you ]

Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, a Hamas terrorist who ran operations in the West Bank, has been enjoying life in a British, state-funded home in the Londonborough of Barnet, The Sunday Times has reported. Barnet also houses one-fifth of all British Jews.

Sawalha recently purchased his council property, after living there since 2003, with a £112,000 discount (approximately NIS 552,500) with the help of the UK’s right-to-buy scheme.

The two-story property, which comes with a garden and a garage, is located only a 10-minute drive from the nearest synagogue.

The terrorist entered Britain through the use of a relative’s passport in the 1990s and has since claimed British citizenship, the Times reported.

Hamas is a recognized terrorist organization in the United Kingdom and supporting Hamas can lead to a 14-year prison sentence under the Terrorism Act.

Remote work for Hamas​

While living in the UK, 62-year-old Sawalha was able to continue his work for Hamas remotely, through helping the terrorist organization launder money, the Times reported while citing a US Department of Justice indictment.

The Hamas terrorist took part in a 2019 visit to Moscow in an official capacity, where he served as Hamas’s politburo representative between 2013 and 2017.

How are British officials reacting?​

The council’s leader, Barry Rawlings, told the Times that he was “horrified to think [Sawalha] could be living in our midst” and said he had launched a review.

“We will liaise with other stakeholders including the police and the government in reviewing the full history of this case and will take all appropriate action," he said.

“This has emerged at a time when communities locally are in desperate need of reassurance following the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and we have a responsibility as the council to ensure we can give that reassurance.”

UK Lawyers for Israel reported on Sawalha’s background in 2020 and informed counterterrorism police. Now, an investigation is being launched on whether the tenancy violated sanctions.

Hamas fugitive living in UK-funded London home, The Sunday Times finds

The two-story property comes with a garden and a garage, and is located only a 10 minute drive from the nearest synagogue.

www.jpost.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) eliminated a senior member of Hamas's general artillery corps, the Israeli organizations announced in a joint statement.

Muhammad Katmash, reportedly the deputy in charge of Hamas's artillery, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. He was responsible for the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel.

Thanks to his powerful position, Katamash was a significant member of the planning and execution of Hamas's attacks against Israel.

(full article online)

IDF, Shin Bet kill Hamas deputy in charge of artillery

Muhammad Katamash, responsible for the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

www.jpost.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Approximately 750,000 Gazan residents are moving to safer grounds in southern Gaza, amid indications that Hamas's control over the northern and central regions of the territory is waning, according to N12. The IDF has been dropping leaflets advising residents not to get caught up in the conflict and to leave for safer areas.

Human shields are a growing concern for Israel, with reports stating that Hamas plans to use the remaining 350,000 residents in the northern part of Gaza as shields, in a bid to forestall a ground invasion and offset ongoing air raids.
Preparations for a potential ground invasion are underway, with IDF forces targeting strategic Hamas infrastructure. High-rises, suspected to house command centers, have been demolished, necessitating additional precautions against sniper threats from elevated positions.

(full article online)

IDF: Hamas is losing control of northern, central Gaza Strip

Some 750,000 Gazans have left the northern and central regions for safer areas in the south of the Strip.

www.jpost.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Israeli forces entered al-Arouri's home in the village of Arura north of Ramallah at dawn, and arrested more than 20 people, including one of his brothers and nine of his nephews, according to AFP.

Israeli forces reportedly thereafter raised a banner over the home showing al-Arouri on the backdrop of an Israeli flag and captioned: "This was the house of Saleh al-Arouri and has become the headquarters of Abu al-Nimer – Israeli intelligence."


(full article online)

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/10/22/idf-raids-samaria-home-of-hamas-second-in-command/

 

[Sixties Fan]

https://honestreporting.ca/after-hrc-exposed-cbcs-referring-to-islamic-jihad-as-an-outfit-corrective-action-saw-coverage-describe-palestinian-militants-rocket-behind-gaza-h/

 

[Sixties Fan]

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says in Jerusalem that there is no reason to assume Israel was behind the October 17 blast at an Anglican Hospital in Gaza City, and that spreading false accusations about Israeli complicity is a “blood libel.”

“Don’t assume it’s Israel,” Welby says to The Times of Israel. “You have no proof.”

“Do not start propagating another blood libel,” he says to those blaming Israel.

The Anglican leader is on a solidarity visit after the blast at the Anglican hospital.

Israel has produced evidence showing the explosion was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire. The United States, also citing its own data, has endorsed the Israeli account.

However, the local Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem issued a statement blaming “the loss of hundreds of innocent civilians” on Israeli airstrikes.

Welby would not back that figure, saying only “I have no idea how many civilians there were, I’ve heard so many different numbers.”

Welby makes the comments after meeting with the family of slain 22-year-old IDF soldier of British descent, Sgt. First Class Yosef Malachi Guedalia, and with members of the Haran family from Kibbutz Be’eri, eight of whom are missing or taken captive, and two of whom were killed on October 7.

Archbishop of Canterbury: False accusations of Israel involvement in Gaza hospital blast are ‘blood libel’

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www.timesofisrael.com