Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 05-06/2023
IAF strikes Hezbollah terror sites in Lebanon
Lebanese army says one soldier killed in Israeli shelling in south Lebanon
Qatari envoy expected in Beirut this week
Report: French intelligence chief in Beirut along with 5 officials
A war beyond compare for media deaths in Gaza, Lebanon
One soldier killed, three wounded by Israeli shelling in Odaisseh
Mikati says UN-backed talks planned to bring 'stability' to south Lebanon
Israeli army spokesman lauds Bassil's 'manly' stance on Hamas statement
UNIFIL: Violence along the Blue Line could lead to severe consequences
Israeli airstrike hits residential house in Mays al-Jabal, sparking fire and minor injuries
Israeli airstrike hits residential house in Mays al-Jabal, sparking fire and minor injuries
Hamas and Hezbollah dynamics: Hamas in Lebanon retreats on Al-Aqsa Vanguard statement
GCC Summit addresses Lebanon in a recent statement
Lebanon's Christians feel heat of climate change in sacred forest and valley
Israel identifies Hezbollah’s Ibrahim Aqil as head of the deadly Radwan unit/Seth J. Frantzman/The Jerusalem Post/December 05/2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 05-06/2023
US announces restrictions against Israeli, Palestinian ‘extremists’
Israel weighs plan to flood Hamas tunnel network
As fighting resumes, U.N. calls on Israel to avoid worsening 'catastrophic situation' in Gaza
Israeli Forces Storm Khan Younis in South Gaza, Killing Scores of Palestinians
Israel strikes in and around Gaza's second-largest city in a bloody new phase of the war
Qatar emir calls on U.N. to force Israel into talks to end Hamas war
Qatar emir slams 'shameful' inaction on Gaza war
Israel strikes in and around Khan Younis in already bloody new phase of war
US official arrives in Egypt with aid for Gaza
Israel military says 2 civilians killed for every Hamas militant is a ‘tremendously positive’ ratio given combat challenges
Israel expects difficult new stage in Gaza, sticks to war aims - spokesperson
'We are officially hostages.' How the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz embodied Hamas hostage strategy
Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim
Putin to discuss Israel-Hamas war during 1-day trip to KSA and UAE
Putin Is Visiting Saudi, UAE for Israel-Hamas War Talks. Here's What to Know
Turkey warns Israel not to target Hamas members on Turkish soil

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 05-06/2023
Can the Palestinian Authority Be 'Revitalized'? Can the Cat Guard the Cream?/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/December 5, 2023
How the IDF is reducing civilian casualties in Gaza/Yaakov Lappin/JNS/December 5, 2023
Saudi choices in a polarised world/Haitham El-Zobaidi/The Arab Weekly/December 05/2023
Israelis Are Angry at Netanyahu, but Chances of His Ouster Are Slim/Sheera Frenkel/The New York Times/December 05/2023
What is Washington’s Position on Gaza's Future/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 05/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 05-06/2023
IAF strikes Hezbollah terror sites in Lebanon
JNS/December 5, 2023
Israel Air Force fighter jets struck on Tuesday assets belonging to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, in response to repeated attacks. The strikes targeted observation posts, weapons depots and other sites used by Hezbollah terrorists. Shortly thereafter, a “hostile” drone that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon crashed near Moshav Margaliot. Israeli forces converged on the site to recover the UAV, and sappers were examining the device. There were no injuries in the incident, said the IDF. On Tuesday afternoon, air-raid sirens sounded in numerous communities along Israel’s northern border, including Kiryat Shmona, Tel Hai, Kfar Giladi, Margaliot, Beit Hillel, Manara, Adamit and Arab al-Aramshe. No injuries were reported. Earlier on Tuesday, several rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel. The projectiles hit open areas, causing no injuries or damage, according to the military. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks on Tuesday targeting Israeli military positions along the border. Three IDF soldiers were lightly wounded overnight Sunday by mortar shells fired from Lebanon towards Israeli military posts in the area of Moshav Shtula. On Monday morning, mortar shells were fired from Lebanon at an IDF post in the area of Kibbutz Yiftah. Several launches were also identified Monday afternoon towards the Har Dov region, striking in open areas, and another launch towards Kibbutz Misgav Am. In response, the IDF struck the sources of the fire. In addition, the military said on Monday afternoon it targeted an operational headquarters and other terror infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Later in the day, the IDF destroyed a Hezbollah weapons depot after mortar shells were fired towards a military post on the border. On Sunday, Ziv Medical Center in Safed admitted 12 people who had been wounded by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon. One woman and 11 men between the ages of 20 and 65 were lightly wounded, the hospital said.

Lebanese army says one soldier killed in Israeli shelling in south Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters)/December 5, 2023
Lebanon's army said one of its soldiers was killed and three wounded when Israeli shelling hit near a village in south Lebanon near the Israeli border, in the first deadly incident for the Lebanese army since the Gaza war began on Oct 7.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israeli forces and militants from Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border on a daily basis since Friday, when a truce collapsed between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel. Just over 100 people in south Lebanon - some 200 km (124 miles) from the Gaza Strip - have been killed during the hostilities, just over 80 of them Hezbollah fighters. Tens of thousands of people have fled from both sides of the border.

Qatari envoy expected in Beirut this week
Naharnet/December 5, 2023
A Qatari envoy is expected to arrive in Beirut this week, political sources told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday. The five-nation group for Lebanon -- the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, Egypt and Qatar -- has been intensifying its efforts to help break the presidential impasse and keep Lebanon out of the Gaza war. Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging daily cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflagration. French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian had left Beirut left week after meeting with key Lebanese players. His visit focused on Lebanon’s presidential vacuum and the situation in south Lebanon. Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year, and its government has been running in a limited caretaker capacity. In a letter to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the presidential vacancy might weigh on the country's ability to prevent a security deterioration related to the war in Gaza.
Macron said that the involvement of Lebanon in the Hamas-Israel war would have "serious repercussions for the country."

Report: French intelligence chief in Beirut along with 5 officials
Naharnet/December 5, 2023
Bernard Émié -- the Director of France’s General Directorate for External Security, France's main external intelligence agency -- is in Beirut along with five French officials on a secret visit, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. “They will leave today and it is not known why they came and whether they have met with security, diplomatic or political officials, but it is likely that Émié’s mission is a continuation of (French envoy Jean-Yves) Le Drian’s tour,” prominent sources told the daily. “The sources believe that the man came carrying the same message (of Le Drian), especially that Israeli media outlets had revealed days ago that Tel Aviv has recruited Paris to work against Hezbollah,” al-Akhbar added. “Le Drian came (to Lebanon) as a representative of the quintet (the U.S., France, Egypt, Qatar and KSA) in addition to Israel, carrying the demands of implementing Resolution 1701 and creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon between the Litani River and the Blue Line, in order to reassure of the residents of the northern settlements in occupied Palestine, who fear returning to their settlements due to Hezbollah’s presence on the border,” the newspaper said. The sources added that Émié’s visit is part of “the accumulation of pressures on Lebanon and the resistance to rearrange the situation of the border area, whose return to the pre-October 7 situation will be difficult.”

A war beyond compare for media deaths in Gaza, Lebanon
Naharnet/December 5, 2023
With a journalist or media worker killed every day on average in the Israel-Hamas war, the head of the global organization representing the profession said that it has become a conflict beyond compare. About 60 have been killed since the Oct. 7 start of the war, already close to the same number of journalists killed during the entire Vietnam War half a century ago. Other brutal wars in the Middle East have not come close to the intensity of the current one. Al-Mayadeen TV correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari were killed last month by an Israeli strike as they covered military activity along Lebanon's border with Israel. Also in November, reporters from al-Mayadeen, MTV, al-Manar, al-Jadeed, al-Jazeera and other outlets gathered in Yaroun to cover an earlier strike on a house in the town, got targeted twice by a drone. In October, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed near the village of Alma al-Shaab while covering an exchange of fire. Six journalists from Reuters, AFP and al-Jazeera were wounded, although the journalists were clearly identified as press. A member of a journalist team was also killed in October after Israeli forces "cornered" a group of civilians, including journalists in Houla. "In a war, you know, a classical war, I can say that in Syria, in Iraq, in ex-Yugoslavia, we didn't see this kind of massacre," Anthony Bellanger, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, told The Associated Press. And since the end of the weeklong cease-fire in Gaza on Friday, the misery has continued, he said: "Unfortunately, we received the bad news this weekend — after the end of this cease-fire — and at least three or four were killed."Bellanger said they are mourning around 60 journalists, including at least 51 Palestinian ones and three Lebanese. Most were killed during Israel's bombardment in the Gaza Strip. He said those numbers are based on all available sources that the federation uses for its annual report. Along with the human toll, the premises of many media organizations in Gaza have been destroyed, he said. He estimated there were about 1,000 journalists and media workers in Gaza before the conflict and said that now, no one can get out. And yet amid the rubble, local journalists continue to do their job, said Nasser Abu Baker, president of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate. "They lost their families and they continue their work," he said. "They are without houses and they continue their work. ... Without food, without the security for them, without their families. Also, if their families are still alive, they are not with their families because they are living or sleeping in the hospitals." In October, an Israeli strike killed the wife, son and young daughter of Al-Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh. “They take vengeance on us through our children” he sobbed, as he weeped over his son’s corpse on a hospital floor. Bellanger said Israeli authorities were not responsive. "I called the Israeli government, but they didn't reply. And when I went to Palestine a few days ago, I proposed to the government press office to have a meeting, just to have a follow-up about this call. But nobody replies," he said. The IFJ and Reporters Without Borders have called on International Criminal Court prosecutors to investigate the deaths of journalists and media workers, and ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan has visited the area.
The ICC's prosecution office is already investigating the actions of Israeli and Palestinian authorities dating back to the Israel-Hamas war in 2014. The probe can also consider allegations of crimes committed during the current war. Khan has called on Israel to respect international law but stopped short of accusing the country of war crimes. He called Hamas' Oct. 7 attack a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Israel argues the ICC has no jurisdiction in the conflict because the Palestinian territories are not an independent sovereign state. Israel isn't a party to the treaty that underpins the ICC and is not one of its 123 member states. Bellanger didn't see sudden change on the ground coming soon but said that as the chief of the global journalism network, "I don't have the right to be pessimistic."

One soldier killed, three wounded by Israeli shelling in Odaisseh
Agence France Presse/December 5, 2023
A Lebanese soldier was killed Tuesday and three others were injured by Israeli shelling that targeted their position on the al-Awayda Hill in the southern town of Odaisseh, as Hezbollah and Israel traded cross-border fire. "An army military position in the Odaisseh area was bombarded by the Israeli enemy, leaving one soldier martyred and three others injured," the Lebanese army said in a statement. The soldier's death by Israeli fire is the first such death since cross-border hostilities began in October. The cross-border exchanges have killed 109 people in Lebanon, at least 77 of them Hezbollah fighters and 14 civilians. On Tuesday, Hezbollah targeted several Israeli posts including al-Assi post and groups of soldiers in al-Taihat and Khallet Warde. The group also targeted Bayyad Blida, Dhaira, Jal al-Alam, and the Zebdine post in the occupied Shebaa farms. Hezbollah said all targets were direct hits and inflicted casualties. The group later announced that it attacked the Metulla Israeli post with an attack drone as Israeli reports said several rockets landed in the Kiryat Shmona settlement. The Israeli army for its part bombed several border towns in south Lebanon including Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Houla, Mhaibib, Aitaroun, Aita al-Shaab, al-Naqoura, Ramia, Tayr Harfa, Alma al-Shaab, Kfarkela and al-Jebbayn. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, but also Palestinian groups, raising fears of a broader conflagration.
A week-long cease-fire that ended Friday brought a temporary halt to the daily exchanges of fire but clashes renewed in south Lebanon after the truce between Israel and Hamas ended. More than 110 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters and more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally, since fighting began in October. On October 9, Israeli shelling slightly injured a Lebanese officer. On the Israeli side, six soldiers and three civilians have been killed, Israeli authorities have said. The United Nations peacekeeping mission says its headquarters in Lebanon's south has been hit by shelling several times. Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence on Lebanon's southern border since the end of a 2006 conflict with Israel, but says it resumed activities in support of Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7. U.N. peacekeepers are present on the border as part of the U.N. Security Council Resolution which ended the 2006 war.

Mikati says UN-backed talks planned to bring 'stability' to south Lebanon
Agence France Presse/December 5, 2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that U.N.-sponsored talks are planned in the coming months to bring "greater stability" to Lebanon's clashes-hit southern border region. The talks will aim at "reaching an agreement, via the U.N., about contested points along the border with the Israeli enemy," Mikati told a delegation from Lebanon's consular corps. "We hope that in the next three months we will reach a stage of total stability on our borders," he added.

Israeli army spokesman lauds Bassil's 'manly' stance on Hamas statement
Naharnet/December 5, 2023
Israeli army Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee has hailed Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s rejection of a Hamas statement that announced the establishment in Lebanon of a division called al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards and called on Palestinian youths to join it. “Honestly, this is a manly stance that is rare in the current State of Lebanon amid the presence of the State of Iran Land. A reminder: Hamas Land is a mere extension of what you called a national resistance. How is it possible, Jebran? How can you make a lie and believe it? Which national resistance are you talking about?” Adraee said in a post on the X platform. “Hezbollah and Hamas are two faces of the same coin and the proof is what is currently happening in the South,” Adraee added. Bassil has totally rejected Hamas’ statement, warning that “any armed action using Lebanese territory as a launchpad is an attack on national sovereignty.”
“Lebanon has rights and its ‘national resistance’ against Israel empowers it to defend itself, but the creation of a Hamas Land in the South weakens it,” Bassil said in a post on X. Hamas meanwhile said that its statement was misinterpreted and that the new division is a popular and not a military organization, after the announcement sparked a storm of outrage in Lebanon.

UNIFIL: Violence along the Blue Line could lead to severe consequences
LBCI/December 05/2023
The Lebanese army confirmed the death of one soldier and the injury of three others in an attack carried out by the Israeli army on their base, according to an announcement by UNIFIL. UNIFIL announced in a statement, "This marks the first time a soldier from the Lebanese army has been killed during this critical period."The statement pointed out that the Lebanese army has not engaged in the war with Israel. The press release clarified that in recent days, "We have witnessed a rapid and alarming increase in acts of violence." It urged those involved in gunfire exchanges along the Blue Line to end the cycle of violence, "which could have severe consequences for people on both sides of the Blue Line."

Israeli airstrike hits residential house in Mays al-Jabal, sparking fire and minor injuries
LBCI/December 05/2023
An Israeli airstrike targeted a residential property in the town of Mays al-Jabal on Tuesday, resulting in a fire outbreak and causing minor injuries.

Israeli airstrike hits residential house in Mays al-Jabal, sparking fire and minor injuries
LBCI/December 05/2023
An Israeli airstrike targeted a residential property in the town of Mays al-Jabal on Tuesday, resulting in a fire outbreak and causing minor injuries.

Hamas and Hezbollah dynamics: Hamas in Lebanon retreats on Al-Aqsa Vanguard statement
LBCI/December 05/2023
In a dramatic turn of events, the leadership of the Hamas movement in Lebanon backtracked on the content of its statement declaring the establishment of the Al-Aqsa Vanguard, citing a misunderstanding of its intentions. Hamas' reversal specifically pertained to the call for Palestinian youth, wherever they are, to join this vanguard for the liberation of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque through resistance. According to LBCI's sources, Hamas did not coordinate with Hezbollah regarding the announcement of the Al-Aqsa Vanguard. Substantial communications were recorded between the leaderships of both Hezbollah and Hamas after the announcement. Hamas' statement is seen as a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty. The Lebanese Armed Forces did not respond, considering that any response should come from the political authority, which maintained silence on the matter, appearing indifferent to the developments.
Whether the retreat was at the request of Hezbollah or a decision by Hamas, the crucial point is that Hamas reversed its stance, particularly in the face of Lebanese reactions that strongly condemned the attempt to return Palestinians to the era of Fatah.

GCC Summit addresses Lebanon in a recent statement
LBCI/December 05/2023
The statement issued during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit addressed the Lebanese situation, emphasizing the crucial need for Lebanon not to become a "launchpad for terrorists or a hub for drug trafficking and other criminal activities that threaten the security and stability of the region." The statement underlined the importance of the Lebanese government asserting control over its territory and implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions and the Taif Agreement. The aim is to prevent any authority other than the legitimate government from holding power in order to safeguard regional security and stability.

Lebanon's Christians feel heat of climate change in sacred forest and valley
Associated Press/December 5, 2023
Majestic cedar trees towered over dozens of Lebanese Christians gathered outside a small mid-19th century chapel hidden in a mountain forest to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, the miracle where Jesus Christ, on a mountaintop, shined with light before his disciples. The sunset's yellow light coming through the cedar branches bathed the leader of Lebanon's Maronite Church, Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, as he stood at a wooden podium and delivered a sermon. Then the gathering sang hymns in Arabic and the Aramaic language. For Lebanon's Christians, the cedars are sacred, these tough evergreen trees that survive the mountain's harsh snowy winters. They point out with pride that Lebanon's cedars are mentioned 103 times in the Bible. The trees are a symbol of Lebanon, pictured at the center of the national flag. The iconic trees in the country's north are far from the clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border in recent weeks against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. The Lebanese government says Israel's use of white phosphorus and other incendiary weapons has burned tens of thousands of olive trees and other crops in the border area, and impoverished Lebanese farmers fear the shells have contaminated their soil. But the long-term survival of the cedar forests is in doubt for another reason, as rising temperatures due to climate change threaten to wipe out biodiversity and scar one of the country's most iconic heritage sites for its Christians. The lush Cedars of God Forest, some 2000 meters (6,560 feet) above sea level near the northern town of Bcharre, is part of a landscape cherished by Christians. The preserve overlooks the Kadisha Valley -- Aramaic for "sacred" – where many Christians took refuge from persecution over Lebanon's tumultuous history. One of the world's largest collections of monasteries remains hidden among the thick trees, caves and rocky outcroppings along the deep, 35-kilometer (22-mile) valley. The United Nations' culture agency UNESCO in 1998 listed both the cedar forest and the valley as World Heritage Sites. They've become popular destinations for hikers and environmentalists from around the world. A growing number of Lebanese of all faiths visit as well, seeking fresh air away from the cities. "People from all religions visit here, not just Christians … even Muslims and atheists," said Hani Tawk, a Maronite Christian priest, as he showed a crowd of tourists around the Saint Elisha monastery. "But we as Christians, this reminds us of all the saints who lived here, and we come to experience being in this sacred dimension."
Environmentalists and residents say the effects of climate change, exacerbated by government mismanagement, pose a threat to the ecosystem of the valley and the cedar forest. "Thirty or 40 years from now, it's quite possible to see the Kadisha Valley's biodiversity, which is one of the richest worldwide, become much poorer," Charbel Tawk, an environmental engineer and activist in Bcharre – unrelated to Hani Tawk -- told The Associated Pressز Lebanon for years has felt the heat of climate change, with farmers decrying lack of rain, and forest fires wreaking havoc on pine forests north of the country, similar to blazes that scorched forests in neighboring Syria and nearby Greece. Residents across much of the country, struggling with rampant electricity cuts, could barely handle the summer's soaring heat. Temperatures have been above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in Bcharre, not uncommon along Lebanon's coastal cities but unusual for the mountainous northern town. Nuns in the medieval Qannoubin Monastery, perched on the side of a hill in the Kadisha Valley, fanned themselves and drank water in the shade of the monastery's courtyard. They reminisced about when they could sleep comfortably on summer nights without needing much electricity. Already, there are worrying signs of the impact on the cedars and Kadisha. Warmer temperatures have brought larger colonies of aphids that feed on the bark of cedar trees and leave a secretion that can cause mold, Charbel Tawk said. Bees normally remove the secretion, but they have become less active. Aphids and other pests also are lasting longer in the season and reach higher altitudes because of warmer weather. Such pests threaten to stunt or damage cedar growth. Tawk worries that if temperatures continue to change like this, cedars at lower altitudes might not be able to survive. Fires are becoming more of a potential danger. Cedar trees usually grow at an altitude from 700 up to 1,800 meters above sea level. Tawk's organization has planted some 200,000 cedars over the years at higher altitudes and in areas where they were not present. Some 180,000 survived.
"Is it climate change or whatever it is happening in nature that these cedars are able to survive at 2,100 to 2,400 meters?" Tawk asked, while checking on a grove of cedars on a remote hilltop. Local priests and environmental activists have urged Lebanon's government to work with universities to do a wide-ranging study on temperature changes and the impact on biodiversity.
But Lebanon has been in the throes of a crippling economic crisis for years. State coffers are dried up, and many of the country's top experts are rapidly seeking work opportunities abroad. "There is nothing today called the state … The relevant ministries, even with the best intentions, don't have the financial capabilities anymore," Bcharre Mayor Freddy Keyrouz said. He said he and mayors of nearby towns have asked residents to help with conservation initiatives and Lebanese diaspora abroad to help with funding. The Maronite Church has strict rules to protect the Cedars of God forest, including keeping development out of it. Kiosks, tourist shops and a large parking lot have been set far away from the forest. "We don't allow anything that is combustible to be brought into the sacred forest," said Charbel Makhlouf, a priest at Bcharre's Saint Saba Cathedral. The Friends of the Cedar Forest Committee, to which Tawk belongs, has been looking after the cedar trees for almost three decades, with the church's support. It has installed sensors on cedar trees to measure temperature, wind, and humidity, watching for worsening conditions that could risk forest fires.
Below the forest in the Kadisha Valley, Tawk points to other concerns.
In particular, the spread of cypress trees threatens to crowd out other species, "breaking this equilibrium that we had in the valley," he said. "We've seen them increase and tower over other species, whether it's taking sunlight, wind, or expanding their roots," he said. "It will impact other plants, birds, insects, and all the reptile species down there."Steps to protect the valley have actually hurt its biodiversity by removing human practices that had been beneficial, Tawk said. In the past, herders grazing their goats and other livestock in the valley helped prevent the spread of invasive species. Their grazing also reduced fire hazards, as did local families collecting deadwood to burn in the winter. But residents left the valley when it became a heritage site and the Lebanese government implemented strict regulations. Few live there now other than a handful of priests and nuns. "Trees have overtaken places where people lived and farmed," Tawk said. "Now a fire could move from one end of the valley to the other."Sitting in a cave near the Qannoubine Monastery, Father Hani Tawk listened to the variety of birds chirping in the valley. He said he believes in the community's faith and awareness of nature, engrained since their ancestors took refuge here. "When you violate that tree, you're intruding on a long history, and possibly the future of your children," he said.

Israel identifies Hezbollah’s Ibrahim Aqil as head of the deadly Radwan unit
Seth J. Frantzman/The Jerusalem Post/December 05/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124962/124962/
The Alma Research and Education Center noted on November 29 that “Hezbollah’s Radwan unit is capable of invading the Galilee at any given moment.”Over the weekend, KAN News identified the man responsible for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force – Ibrahim Aqil, a Hezbollah terrorist who has been sanctioned in the past by the US. The report noted that the Radwan Force includes many of Hezbollah’s elite fighters, and has suffered casualties in the last 60 days of tension with Israel in the North. More than 100 Hezbollah fighters have been wounded or killed since October 7, when the Lebanese-based terrorist group began to launch rockets, drones, and mortars at the Jewish state to support Hamas. The report said that Aqil is “also the one who is largely responsible over the last two years for the movement of Radwan personnel toward Israel’s northern border.” The report noted that under Aqil’s leadership, the elite force has seen several operational failures. “Dozens of failed launches of anti-tank missiles have led to casualties and damages to property on the Lebanese side,” it said, adding that “following the [pause in fighting on November 24], the presence of the Radwan Force in the border area has decreased, compared to the period before October 8, when Hezbollah joined the fighting… Since the firing was renewed yesterday in the North, Aqil continues to conduct his war effort, despite the many failures and deaths in the first round.”
Hezbollah has failed but real threats persist
The main gist of this discussion is to highlight the fact that this known Hezbollah terrorist has failed. Nevertheless, the Radwan Force, and Hezbollah in general, remain a major threat. Alma’s Research and Education Center noted last week that “Hezbollah’s Radwan unit is capable of invading the Galilee at any given moment.”That report noted that Hezbollah has had to shift some of its posture in the wake of October 7.
“Even if most of the Radwan operatives have distanced themselves from the border since the beginning of the war, in our assessment, this does not neutralize their ability to fulfill their main objective. We assess that the Radwan unit is continuing to collect intelligence near the border, and is making adjustments to its operational plans.”It further stated that “as of this writing, around 90 Hezbollah operatives have been killed since October 7. It seems that some of those killed were operatives and commanders in the Radwan unit. The number of operatives killed has no bearing on Hezbollah’s overall competence or that of the Radwan unit in particular.”Aqil is a central figure in Hezbollah, having played a role in the terrorist group’s involvement in the Syrian civil war after 2011, according to a July 2021 article by Matthew Levitt at the Washington Institute. Also, Aqil was a member of the group’s “Jihad Council,” and was sanctioned by the US, which offered a reward to the tune of up to $7 million as of this past April. The reward noted that Aqil, “also known as Tahsin, serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council.”Back in the 1980’s, Aqil was a principal member of the Islamic Jihad – Hezbollah’s terrorist cell – that claimed the bombings of both the US Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and the US Marine barracks a few months later in October, which killed 241 US personnel. The report further highlighted that the US Department of the Treasury associated Aqil to a hostage-taking situation on July 21, 2015, and that he was added to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2019. The overall trajectory of Aqil and his role in Israel’s current tensions with Hezbollah remains unclear. Whether Hezbollah has failed in Lebanon and this failure has led to losses for the group, or whether the group sees this as a success, will take time to determine. Because, since it has a lot of military hardware and numerous fighters, Hezbollah continues to pose for a threatening presence, despite having suffered losses.
*Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 05-06/2023
US announces restrictions against Israeli, Palestinian ‘extremists’
JNS/December 5, 2023
“Violence in the West Bank this year is at levels not seen since the Second Intifada, and in recent weeks, an alarming surge in violent acts has driven this unwelcome record even higher,” said Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department spokesman, at the department’s press briefing on Tuesday. “This includes unprecedented levels of violence by Israeli extremist settlers targeting Palestinians and their property, displacing entire communities,” he said. “As well as violence by Palestinian extremist militants against Israeli civilians.” On Tuesday, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, announced “a new visa restriction policy” under which Washington will restrict visas of those who undermine “peace, security or stability in the West Bank.” It may also restrict the visas of immediate family members of offenders, Miller said. “We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken stated. “They are happening today,” Miller said of the bans, in response to a question from Associated Press diplomatic writer Matt Lee. “Any Israeli citizen who currently has a visa to enter the United States will be notified that that visa has been revoked.” “Hold on. Not any Israeli. Any Israeli implicated, targeted,” Lee said. Miller nodded. “In this program,” he said. “I was speaking about this program. I thought that was evident.”“Any other Israeli citizen, who is designated as a result of this program but does not currently have a visa, will not be notified,” Miller said. “If they want to travel to the United States and they apply through ESTA, which is the way it works if you’re currently a Visa Waiver Program country, that application will be rejected.”“They then are able to go and apply for a visa, and if they have been designated as a part of this program, that visa application will be rejected,” he added. Miller added that this is separate from the Visa Waiver Program and doesn’t have implications for Israel’s participation in the program. U.S. officials said the Biden administration “concluded that the current Israeli government is not seriously attempting to stop and prevent the attacks against Palestinians,” Axios reported. The State Department’s announcement comes as a leaked Israeli document suggests that anti-Arab violence in Judea and Samaria has been dropping.

Israel weighs plan to flood Hamas tunnel network
JNS/December 5, 2023
Israel is considering a plan to pump seawater into Hamas’s tunnel system underneath the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi suggested on Tuesday. “Any means which give us an advantage over the enemy, deprives it of this asset, is a means that we are evaluating using. This is a good idea, but I won’t comment on its specifics,” stated Halevi. “We have various ways [to destroy the tunnels] … they include explosives to destroy, and other means to prevent Hamas operatives from using the tunnels to harm our soldiers,” the military chief added. Earlier on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the IDF had already assembled five large seawater pumps capable of transferring thousands of cubic meters of water per hour from the Mediterranean Sea into the tunnels. Work was reportedly completed on the pumps around the middle of November. They are located roughly one mile north of the Al-Shati Camp along northern Gaza’s coastline. Israel first informed the Biden administration of the idea in early November, officials said, with discussions on the effectiveness of such an operation and the potential environmental impact, including on the Strip’s water supply. The officials said the reaction in Washington was mixed, with some supporting it and others privately expressing concerns, although “there wasn’t necessarily any U.S. opposition to the plan.”U.S. officials said they didn’t know how close Israel was to carrying out the plans, with a final decision on whether to proceed still pending. Israel has discovered some 800 tunnels so far during the Gaza ground operation that began on Oct. 27, with 500 of them destroyed or sealed. The IDF has also destroyed hundreds of miles of tunnels, in addition to the shafts. Hamas kidnapped more than 200 people during the Oct. 7 massacre, with 137 still being held hostage. A source familiar with the plan said that a flooding process over weeks would allow for Hamas terrorists and potentially hostages to move out. “We are not sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them,” the source said. “It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before.”

As fighting resumes, U.N. calls on Israel to avoid worsening 'catastrophic situation' in Gaza
Darryl Coote/UPI/December 5, 2023
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Top United Nations officials are calling on Israel to avoid taking actions that would worsen "the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza," after it widened evacuation orders and expanded ground operations in the besieged Palestinian enclave. United Nations and other international and humanitarian agencies have been warning about the worsening conditions in Gaza since the war began Oct. 7. But their warnings on Monday come following the collapse Friday of a weeklong truce between Hamas and Israel and inflamed fears of a deepening conflict.
That scenario appeared to be unfolding over the weekend as the Israeli military expanded ground operations and ordered residents near the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis to evacuate. Lynn Hastings, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said some 700 Palestinians have been killed since Friday."If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond," Hastings said in a statement. According to a Monday statement from spokesman Stephane Dujarric, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "extremely alarmed" by the resumption of fighting and ground operations by the Israeli forces, He called on Israeli forces to "avoid exacerbating the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to spare civilians from more suffering". "Civilians -- including health workers, journalists and U.N. personnel -- and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times," Dujarric said on behalf of Guterres. At a press conference Dujarric told reporters that the U.N.'s office for humanitarian affairs is warning that "the current situation" was preventing its personnel from addressing the needs of the people in Gaza. While there were "limited aid distributions" in the Rafah governorate in southern Gaza, in nearby Khan Younis, "aid distribution had largely stopped due to the intensity of hostilities," he said. Other "grave" concerns include the spread of waterborne diseases due to the consumption of unsafe water, especially in northern Gaza where the water desalination plants and pipelines from Israel have been shut down, Dujarric explained. "There has been almost no improvement in the access of residents in the north to water for drinking and domestic purposes for weeks," he said. "And the World Food Program warns that, eight weeks into the war, there is a big risk of famine for all of Gaza's people, especially for those with chronic diseases, older persons, children and people living with disabilities." World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that he has been informed by Israeli Defense Forces that they have 24 hours to remove supplies from their southern Gaza medical warehouse before "ground operations will put it beyond use.""We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities," he said in a statement. In the strongest words from a U.N. official on Monday, head U.N. emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths demanded that the fighting stop, describing the situation in Gaza as a "blatant disregard for basic humanity.""Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in Gaza, they do," he said in a statement. "People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another. NOWHERE IS SAFE IN GAZA," he continued. "Not hospitals, not shelters, not refugee camps. No one is safe. Not children. Not health workers. Not humanitarians."
Some 1,200 Israelis were killed Oct. 7 when Hamas launched a surprise and bloody attack on the south of the country. In response, Israeli forces have launched seemingly incessant airstrikes on Gaza and a ground invasion that preceded the evacuation of northern Gazans to the southern half of the enclave. Some 1.8 million Gazans, representing nearly 80% of the enclave's entire population, have been internally displaced, according to U.N. estimates, while the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Healthy Ministry said Monday that the death toll had reached nearly 16,000, with 70% of the victims being women and children.

Israeli Forces Storm Khan Younis in South Gaza, Killing Scores of Palestinians
Asharq Al Awsat/December 05/2023
Israeli forces stormed southern Gaza's main city on Tuesday in what they called the most intense day of combat in five weeks of ground operations against Hamas militants, and hospitals struggled to cope with scores of Palestinian dead and wounded.
In what appeared to be the biggest ground assault in Gaza since a truce with Hamas unraveled last week, Israel said its forces - which were backed by warplanes - had reached the heart of Khan Younis. "We are in the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation," the commander of the Israeli military's Southern Command, General Yaron Finkelman, said in Jerusalem. He said Israeli forces were also fighting in Jabalia, a large urban refugee camp and Hamas stronghold in northern Gaza next to Gaza City, and in Shuja'iyya, east of the city. "We are in the heart of Jabalia, in the heart of Shuja'iyya, and now also in the heart of Khan Younis," he said. Khan Younis residents said Israeli troops and tanks had crossed through the Israeli border fence enclosing the coastal Gaza Strip and closed in on the city from the east. After days of ordering residents to flee the area, Israeli forces dropped new leaflets on Tuesday with instructions to stay inside shelters during the assault. "For your safety, stay in the shelters and the hospitals where you are. Don’t get out. Going out is dangerous. You have been warned," said the leaflets, addressed to residents of six districts amounting to around a quarter of Khan Younis. The Israelis, who largely seized Gaza's northern half last month before pausing for the week-long truce, say they are now extending their ground offensive to the south. They believe Hamas commanders they aim to eliminate are holed up in part of a vast tunnel network in the territory.
"We're moving ahead with the second stage now. A second stage that is going to be difficult militarily," Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said. Israel, he added, is open to "constructive feedback" on reducing harm to civilians as long as the advice is consistent with its aim of destroying Gaza's ruling Islamist movement.
Rising death toll
Palestinian health officials said large numbers of people had been killed in a strike on houses in Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Younis. Dr Eyad Al-Jabri, head of the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital there, told Reuters at least 45 people had been killed. Reuters was unable to reach the area or confirm the toll. Israel launched its campaign in retribution for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters who rampaged through Israeli towns, killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages, according to Israel's tally. According to Gaza health officials, more than 15,900 Palestinians are confirmed to have been killed by Israeli air and strikes and other actions, with thousands more missing and feared buried under rubble. Israeli bombardments have driven 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents from their homes, most fleeing south. Crowded southern areas are now sheltering triple their usual population. At Khan Younis' main Nasser hospital, the wounded arrived by ambulance, car, flatbed truck and donkey cart after what survivors described as a strike on a school being used as a shelter for the displaced. Inside a ward, almost every inch of floor space was taken up by the wounded, medics hurrying from patient to patient while relatives wailed. A doctor carried the small limp body of a dead boy in a tracksuit and placed him in a corner, arms splayed across the blood-smeared tile. On the floor nearby, surrounded by discarded bandages and rubber gloves, lay a wounded boy and girl, their limbs tangled with the stands holding IV drips in their arms. Two young girls were being treated, still covered in dust from the collapse of the house that had buried their family. "My parents are under the rubble," sobbed one. "I want my mum, I want my mum, I want my family."Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashra al-Qidra said at least 43 corpses had already reached Nasser hospital that morning and that hospitals in southern Gaza Strip were "totally collapsing".Washington urges less harm to civilians. The United States has urged close ally Israel to do more to reduce harm to civilians in the war's next phase. Israel says the blame falls on Hamas fighters for operating among civilians, including from underground tunnels that can be destroyed only with huge bombs. Hamas denies using human shields.Since the truce collapsed, Israel has been posting an online map to tell Gazans which parts of the enclave to evacuate. Khan Younis' eastern quarter was marked on Monday, home to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom took flight on foot. Gazans say there is no safe place, with remaining towns and shelters already overwhelmed, and Israel continuing to bomb the areas where it is telling people to go.
James Elder, spokesperson for UN children's agency UNICEF, said the few small areas designated "safe" by Israel were merely "tiny patches of barren land", street corners, sidewalks or half-built buildings unsuitable for the hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need of shelter.

Israel strikes in and around Gaza's second-largest city in a bloody new phase of the war
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)/December 5, 2023
Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza's second-largest city early Tuesday, sending ambulances and private cars racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war. Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north — but Palestinians say there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory's 2.3 million people from their homes — and new orders to evacuate areas around Khan Younis are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas of the already tiny coastal strip. At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, ambulances brought dozens of wounded people in. At one point, a car pulled up and a man emerged carrying a young boy in a bloody shirt, whose hand had been blown off. “What’s happening here is unimaginable,” said Hamza al-Bursh, who lives in the neighborhood of Maan, one of several in and around the city where Israel has ordered civilians to leave. “They strike indiscriminately.”
Residents said troops had advanced following heavy airstrikes to Bani Suheila, a town just east of Khan Younis. Halima Abdel-Rahman, who fled to the town earlier in the war from her home in the north, said they could hear explosions through the night. “They are very close,” she said. “It’s the same scenario we saw in the north.” Satellite photos from Sunday showed around 150 Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles just under 6 kilometers (4 miles) north of the heart of the city.
FEWER PLACES TO GO
Israel ordered the full-scale evacuation of northern Gaza in the early days of the war and has barred people who left from returning. In the south, it has ordered people out of nearly two dozen neighborhoods in and around Khan Younis. That further reduced the area where civilians can seek refuge in central and southern Gaza by more than a quarter. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza, and there is nowhere left to go,” Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said Monday. “The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold.”Israel says it must dismantle Hamas' extensive military infrastructure and remove it from power in order to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war. The surprise assault through the border fence saw Hamas and other Palestinian militants kill about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capture some 240 men, women and children. The military says it makes every effort to spare civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields as the militants fight in dense residential areas, where they have labyrinths of tunnels, bunkers, rocket launchers and sniper nests.
Hamas is deeply rooted in Palestinian society, and its determination to end decades of open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians is shared by the vast majority, even those opposed to its ideology and its attacks on Israeli civilians. That will complicate any effort to eliminate Hamas without causing massive casualties and further displacement. Even after weeks of unrelenting bombardment, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, was able to conduct complex cease-fire negotiations and orchestrate the release of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners last week. Palestinian militants have also kept up their rocket fire into Israel, both before and after the truce.
AN UNPRECEDENTED TOLL
The fighting has meanwhile brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal strip. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the death toll in the territory since Oct. 7 has surpassed 15,890 people — 70% of them women and children — with more than 42,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. It says hundreds have been killed or wounded since the cease-fire’s end, and many still are trapped under rubble. An Israeli army official provided a similar figure for the death toll in Gaza on Monday, after weeks in which Israeli officials had cast doubt on the ministry's count. The official said at least 15,000 people have been killed, including 5,000 militants, without saying how the military arrived at its figures. The military says 86 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that it was too soon to pass judgment on Israeli operations, but that it was unusual for a modern military to identify precise areas of expected ground maneuvers and ask people to move out, as Israel has done in Khan Younis. “These are the kinds of steps that we have asked them to undertake,” he said.
Leaflets dropped by the Israeli military over Khan Younis in recent days warn people to head farther south toward the border with Egypt, but they are unable to leave Gaza, as both Israel and neighboring Egypt have refused to accept any refugees.The area that Israel ordered evacuated was home to some 117,000 people, and now it also houses more than 50,000 people displaced from the north, living in 21 shelters, the U.N. said. It was not known how many were fleeing.

Qatar emir calls on U.N. to force Israel into talks to end Hamas war
Smoke rises above Gaza as seen from southern Israel
DOHA (Reuters)December 5, 2023
Qatar's emir on Tuesday called on the U.N. Security Council to force Israel to return to the negotiating table over the war in Gaza, saying the inaction by the international community in halting the conflict was "shameful". "It is shameful for the international community to allow this heinous crime to continue for nearly two months, during which the systematic and deliberate killing of innocent civilians continues, including women and children," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said in a speech to Gulf leaders gathered in he Qatari capital Doha for a regional summit. Qatar, where several political leaders of Hamas are based, has been leading negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. Those talks led to a truce that ultimately lasted for seven days before hostilities resumed on Friday. During the truce, Hamas released dozens of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and Israel allowed humanitarian aid to flow into the coastal strip. Sheikh Tamim said Qatar was working with both sides to repair the deal. "We are constantly working to renew (the truce) and to alleviate the burden of our people in the Gaza Strip, but truces are not an alternative for a comprehensive ceasefire," he said. Israel launched its assault to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for an Oct. 7 cross-border attack when militants killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In eight weeks of warfare, the Gaza health ministry said at least 15,899 Palestinians, 70% of them women or under 18s, have been killed. In November, the 15-member UN security council overcame an impasse and called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas for a "sufficient number of days" to allow aid access.

Qatar emir slams 'shameful' inaction on Gaza war
Agence France Presse/December 5, 2023
Qatar's ruler hit out at "shameful" international inaction over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as he opened a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Doha on Tuesday. "It is shameful for the international community to allow this heinous crime to continue for nearly two months, during which the systematic and deliberate killing of innocent civilians continues, including women and children," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said. Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli figures, in an unprecedented attack on October 7. The Israeli offensive has killed nearly 15,900 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, around 70 percent of them women and children. Qatar was a key mediator in negotiations that resulted in a seven-day truce, which saw scores of Israeli hostages exchanged for Palestinians prisoners and humanitarian aid, until it ended on Friday. Qatar's ruler said his country was "constantly working to renew" the truce, but added this was "not an alternative to a permanent ceasefire".He called for "an international investigation into the massacres committed by Israel" and for the Security Council "to assume its legal responsibility and act to end this barbaric war, and compel Israel to return to credible negotiations to achieve a just solution to the Palestinian issue".
'Blatant aggression' -
Some members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have moved towards closer ties with Israel in recent years. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalised ties with Israel in 2020, and Saudi Arabia was seen as close to following suit. But the war has put a halt to these diplomatic efforts. In a joint statement, the GCC expressed "deep concern" with what it called "blatant Israeli aggression" in Gaza. The council praised the efforts of Qatar, Egypt and the United States in negotiating the humanitarian pause, urging a fresh truce "immediately" to "achieve a complete and sustainable ceasefire". Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the session and accused Israel of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity in Gaza", which he said "should not be left unanswered”. Both Turkey and Qatar have been vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause and have opened channels of communication with Hamas. Qatar, a US ally which hosts a large US military base, hosts a Hamas office which doubles as the residence of its self-exiled leader, Ismail Haniyeh. The wealthy Gulf state has defended the presence of Hamas, established with Washington's blessing, as a channel for conflict-resolution.

Israel strikes in and around Khan Younis in already bloody new phase of war
Associated Press/December 5, 2023
Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza's second largest city early Tuesday, as ambulances and private cars came racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war in Gaza. Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory's 2.3 million people from their homes. At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, ambulances brought dozens of wounded people in throughout the night. At one point, a car pulled up and man emerged carrying a young boy in a bloody shirt and whose hand had been blown off. "Where is the Red Cross? … where is the United Nations?" a woman screamed outside the emergency department. "My children, since 10 p.m., are still under the rubble."Satellite photos taken Sunday showed tanks and troops massing outside Khan Younis, the latest target of the offensive, which was home to more than 400,000 people before the war. Israel has ordered people out of nearly two dozen neighborhoods instead of the entire region, as it did in the north. But with most of Gaza's population already packed into the south, cramming U.N. shelters and family homes, there are few places left to go. Israel has barred people who fled the north earlier in the war from returning. Palestinians say that as Israel continues to strike across the besieged territory, there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return.
THE QUEST TO ELIMINATE HAMAS
Israel says it must dismantle Hamas' extensive military infrastructure and remove it from power in order to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war. Israel said during the surprise assault through the border fence Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and captured some 240 men, women and children. The Israeli military says it makes every effort to spare civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields as it fights in dense residential areas, where it has a labyrinth of tunnels, bunkers, rocket launchers and sniper nests. But the militant group is deeply rooted in Palestinian society, and its determination to end decades of open-ended Israeli military rule is shared by most Palestinians, even those opposed to its ideology and its attacks on Israeli civilians. That will complicate any effort to eliminate Hamas without causing massive casualties and displacement. Even after weeks of unrelenting bombardment, Hamas' leaders in Gaza were able to conduct complex cease-fire negotiations and orchestrate the release of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners last week. Palestinian militants have also kept up their rocket fire into Israel, both before and after the truce. The fighting has meanwhile brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal strip. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the death toll in the territory since Oct. 7 has surpassed 15,890 people – 70% of them women and children — with more than 42,000 wounded. Hundreds have been killed or wounded since the cease-fire's end, and many still are trapped under rubble. An Israeli army official provided a similar figure for the death toll in Gaza on Monday, after weeks in which Israeli officials had cast doubt on the ministry's count. The official said at least 15,000 people have been killed, including 5,000 militants, without saying how the military arrived at its figures. The military says 84 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that it was too soon to pass judgment on Israeli operations, but that it was unusual for a modern military to identify precise areas of expected ground maneuvers and ask people to move out, as Israel has done in Khan Younis. "These are the kinds of steps that we have asked them to undertake." he said. "These are the conversations we're having day in, day out."
The U.S. has pledged unwavering support to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack, including rushing weapons and other aid to the country. Airstrikes and the ground offensive in northern Gaza have reduced large swaths of Gaza City and nearby areas to a rubble-filled wasteland. Hundreds of thousands of residents fled south during the assault. Now around 2 million people — most of the territory's population — are crowded into the 230 square kilometers (90 square miles) of southern and central Gaza. Since the truce's collapse, the military has ordered the population out of an area of about 62 square kilometers (24 square miles) in and near Khan Younis, according to the evacuation maps issued by the Israeli military.That further reduces the space available for Palestinians by more than a quarter.
KHAN YOUNIS IN THE CROSSHAIRS
Satellite photos from Sunday, analyzed by The Associated Press early Tuesday, show around 150 Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles just under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the heart of Khan Younis. The army did not respond to a request for comment and rarely publicizes troop deployments. Constant bombardment on the edge of Khan Younis lit up the sky over the town Monday evening. Over the past few days, Israeli strikes have been "on a ferocious scale," said Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, an aid worker with the group Medical Aid for Palestinians in Khan Younis. He said neighborhoods and shelters were emptying as people fled. Leaflets dropped by the Israeli military warn people to go south toward the border with Egypt, but they are unable to leave Gaza, as both Israel and neighboring Egypt have refused to accept any refugees. Adding to the chaos, phone and internet networks across Gaza collapsed again Monday evening, the Palestinian telecom provider PalTel said. It was the latest of several outages that have complicated rescue efforts. Communications were restored hours later. The area that Israel ordered evacuated covers about a fifth of Khan Younis. Before the war, that area was home to some 117,000 people, and now it also houses more than 50,000 people displaced from the north, living in 21 shelters, the U.N. said. It was not known how many were fleeing. Israeli media also reported intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants in northern Gaza — in the Jabaliya refugee camp, a built-up urban area, and in the Gaza City district of Shijaiya, both of which have seen intense bombardment and battles in recent weeks.

US official arrives in Egypt with aid for Gaza
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/December 5, 2023
U.S. aid chief Samantha Power arrived in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, where she is expected to announce more than $21 million in additional assistance for the Palestinian people, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spokesperson told Reuters. USAID Administrator Power arrived in Al Arish with a delivery of 36,000 pounds of food assistance and medical supplies airlifted by the Department of Defense from Jordan and intended for Gaza, USAID spokesperson Jessica Jennings said. The additional assistance that Power will announce on Tuesday will support the provision of hygiene and shelter supplies, food and other assistance for residents of Gaza and the West Bank affected by the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The funds will also support psychosocial care and critical health services along with the establishment of a NGO-operated field hospital in Gaza that will provide in-patient care. Only a fraction of Gaza's hospitals remain operational due to Israeli bombing and a lack of fuel, and those still functioning are increasingly overwhelmed by a new wave of wounded arriving. The Gaza health ministry has said that at least 15,899 Palestinians, 70% of them women or under 18s, have now been killed in Israeli bombardments of the Hamas-ruled enclave in eight weeks of warfare. Thousands more are missing and feared buried in rubble. Israel launched its assault to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen who killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies - the deadliest single day in Israel's 75-year history. Intense Israeli air strikes hit the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, including in areas where Israel had told people to seek shelter, residents and journalists on the ground said. While in Al Arish, Power will meet with officials and Egyptian and international humanitarian organizations working to speed up assistance into Gaza. She will raise Washington's commitment to the protection of civilians and the need for humanitarian supplies to exceed the levels reached during the humanitarian pause. Fighting between Israel and the Hamas Palestinian militant group resumed on Friday after a seven-day pause to exchange hostages and prisoners and deliver humanitarian aid. U.S. officials, in public and private, have repeatedly urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties in southern Gaza because of the high toll incurred in northern Gaza military operations.

Israel military says 2 civilians killed for every Hamas militant is a ‘tremendously positive’ ratio given combat challenges
Mitchell McCluskey and Richard Allen Greene, CNN/December 5, 2023
Israel believes that it has killed two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas militant in its intense campaign to eliminate the armed group from the Gaza Strip, a ratio an IDF spokesperson described to CNN Monday as “tremendously positive.”The AFP news agency first reported the Israeli assessment on Monday, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials. Asked about reports that about 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed since October 7, one of the officials replied, according to AFP: “The numbers are more or less right.”Asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett about the details that emerged in the briefing, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said: “I can confirm the report.” Conricus cited the challenges of fighting in a densely populated area. According to figures compiled by the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, almost 16,000 people have died since October 7. The ministry’s figures don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Conricus’ statement implied that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the conflict. Conricus added: “I can say that if that is true – and I think that our numbers will be corroborated – if you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shields, and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive, and perhaps unique in the world.”Contacted later by CNN, Conricus sought to clarify his remarks, saying that the IDF could not confirm the numbers cited by AFP and had only meant to say that he had seen the news agency’s report. “I confirmed that I saw the report. I didn’t confirm the numbers yet,” Conricus told CNN on Tuesday.
According to the AFP report, an unidentified Israeli official said that it was hoped the ratio will be “much lower” in the next phase of the war. “I’m not saying it’s not bad that we have a ratio of two to one,” the official was quoted as saying.
The IDF estimates that Hamas was comprised of around 30,000 fighters before October 7, when it launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostage. In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate the group once and for all. Barak Ravid, a CNN political and foreign policy analyst, said Conricus’ comments about the “positive” ratio of civilian-to-militant casualties may not have been a good choice of words. “I don’t think the fact that 10,000 civilians (were killed)… is positive in any way,” Ravid told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, adding that, “Israel was facing a dilemma in the last 24 hours” with regards to increasing pressure from the United States and its call for more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists during a press conference on Saturday that the military has killed “thousands of terrorists.” The Israeli military has not officially published any estimates of those killed. AFP reported that the Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed, replied: “The numbers are more or less right.”
Conricus said the IDF aims ultimately to obtain accurate numbers of civilians and combatants killed, and said he thought the figures would be known before the end of the war. He clarified the definition of Hamas militants, saying that when the Israeli military reported how many fighters it had killed, it was referring to combatants. “Our definition is combatants, people who are fighting,” he said. In Gaza, thousands of residents are employed in Hamas-run administrative agencies but carry out civilian duties. More people have died in the current war than in any of Israel’s past conflicts with either Hamas or other Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip.During the 50 days of hostilities in Gaza in 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed, of whom 1,462 were believed to be civilians, according to the United Nations. That equates to a ratio of 1.8 civilians for every non-civilian. A top US State Department official told Congress last month that while it was difficult to assess casualty figures while conflict was ongoing, she believed that the true death toll could be even higher than what is being publicly discussed. “It is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” said Barbara Leaf, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. “We think they’re very high, frankly. And it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited. We’ll know only after the guns fall silent.”The US is piling pressure on Israel to limit civilian casualties as outrage about the death toll grows globally and at home in the US. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday emphasized that the protection of civilians in Gaza is crucial to Israel’s long-term success against Hamas. “In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population,” he said. “And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”Austin’s comments came the day after Israel resumed its combat operations against Hamas in Gaza. Austin added that he has “personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties” and “shun irresponsible rhetoric” while expanding access to humanitarian aid.

Israel expects difficult new stage in Gaza, sticks to war aims - spokesperson
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/Tue, December 5, 2023
Israel expects difficult fighting in the new phase of its war in Gaza but is open to "constructive feedback" on reducing harm to civilians as long as the advice is consistent with its aim of destroying Hamas, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday. "We're moving ahead with the second stage now. A second stage that is going to be difficult militarily," spokesperson Eylon Levy told reporters. Israeli forces have begun operating in the southern area of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where the population has been swollen by around 1 million refugees from northern areas and has faced heavy international pressure, including from Washington, to limit civilian casualties. "Any constructive feedback that we get, any serious military strategic advice about how to target Hamas while minimizing harm to civilians, we will of course mention," Levy said. But he said the advice had to be in line with the aim of destroying the Palestinians militant group. "We are going to continue with our campaign to destroy Hamas, a campaign that the United States sees eye to eye with us about the strategic objectives of this war, that this war cannot end with Hamas still standing," he said. Levy said Israel was making many efforts to reduce harm to civilians. "We didn't pick the battlefield, Hamas picked the battlefield," he said.

'We are officially hostages.' How the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz embodied Hamas hostage strategy
NIR OZ, Israel (AP)/December 5, 2023
The engineer and his family cowered in the safe room, dark except for a red remote-control light because they feared the gunmen outside his door would notice anything brighter. Eyal Barad had just reconfigured the settings on a homemade traffic camera from his cell phone to monitor the Hamas attack unfolding outside his door in the kibbutz of Nir Oz. But his 6-year-old autistic daughter — hiding in the room with him, her mother and her two siblings — could not understand that their lives depended upon silence. Her cries were building into near-screams. Barad wrapped his arms around the girl, covered her mouth tightly, and looked over her head to his wife. His whispered, agonized question: Should he cut her airflow long enough to knock her unconscious, to keep everybody alive? But he couldn’t risk killing her. He resolved: “We all go, or we all survive.”
Eight weeks into the Israel-Gaza war, the recent release of dozens of Israeli hostages – with as many still in captivity – is bringing new focus on what Hamas did on Oct. 7, the day its fighters rounded them up from communities across southern Israel. The kibbutz of Nir Oz is perhaps the best place to understand Hamas’ hostage strategy, an operation that was unprecedented both in scope and execution. For Israelis, Nir Oz stands out as the embodiment of their country’s vulnerability that day, with the absence of Israeli soldiers, the capture of unprotected civilians, their deaths and disappearance into Gaza, and their subsequent exchange for Palestinians. More than 100 Palestinian militants left Nir Oz with some 80 of its roughly 400 residents. That means people from the kibbutz made up a third of the 240 hostages taken in all and nearly half of the Israelis released, with more than 30 still believed to be in Gaza.
Around 20 Nir Oz residents were killed on Oct. 7, and news of deaths in Gaza has started to trickle in. Those seized from the kibbutz ranged in age from 9 months to 85 years. All were civilians, and more than half were women and children. All 13 Israeli hostages released in the first exchange on Nov. 24 were from Nir Oz, and they bought the freedom of 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israel. A review of hundreds of messages among Nir Oz residents shared exclusively with The Associated Press, direct interviews with 17 and accounts from many more, security camera footage and Hamas’ own instructions manuals suggests that the group planned well ahead of time to target civilians. Four experts in hostage situations agreed that Hamas’ actions, both the day of the attack and afterwards, indicated a plan to seize civilians to prepare for the war to come. Danielle Gilbert, a political scientist at Northwestern University who researches hostage-taking, said Hamas and other armed groups generally use hostages as human shields or as currency to negotiate an exchange. But the difference here, she said, is that most armed groups take able-bodied adult men. “It is extremely rare for armed groups to kidnap children, to kidnap women, to kidnap the elderly and people who are otherwise vulnerable,” she said. “The hostage taker needs to make sure that their hostage can survive captivity.” Gilbert feared Hamas would see the strategy as as relatively successful, at least in the short term, and potentially worth repeating.
“As much as I hate to say it,” she added, “hostage taking works.”Hamas has hinted at capturing hostages, but has been vague in public statements about whether it planned to kidnap a maximum of civilians.
“We were shocked by this colossal collapse. We had expected, planned to win, enter the settlements and get what we wanted and take hostages for exchange. But this army was a paper tiger,” Ali Barakeh, a Hamas official in Beirut, told The Associated Press on Oct. 9.
Deliberate intent is also laid out in a manual entitled “How to take Captives,” which the Israeli army said it found among dead Hamas militants in another kibbutz attacked on Oct. 7: “Separate and isolate (women and children/men). Kill the difficult ones and those who pose a threat.”
WE ARE OFFICIALLY HOSTAGES
Hamas’ attack on Nir Oz started a little after 6:30 a.m. and lasted 9 long hours.
The first word that something was wrong came at 6:35 a.m. on the kibbutz chat app: “Heavy gunfire has been fired at the council’s communities and other communities throughout the country. Stay in protected spaces or the most protected there is until further notice.”
Two cars then streamed past the Nir Oz security cameras into the kibbutz, followed by five gunmen, including one who fired a volley into the empty guard post, according to footage seen by AP. The footage is timestamped 6:49 a.m.
Sagui Dekel-Chen was tinkering in the kibbutz machine shop when he saw the armed intruders and raced to a rooftop for a better look. His voice message to the community WhatsApp group was tense: “I believe there are gunshots inside the kibbutz. Everybody: Lock your doors and whoever has a weapon arm yourself.”Dekel-Chen, an Israeli-American, ran home, helped his pregnant wife and their two daughters into the safe room end rigged the door so it couldn’t be opened from the outside. Then the 35-year-old father borrowed a gun and prepared to defend the kibbutz with the rest of the community security volunteers, according to his father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen. By then, almost everyone was in their safe rooms. Nearly every Israeli household has one of these rooms, which are designed as shelters against Hamas rockets. But in communities near Gaza, like Nir Oz, they are stocked with particular care, often with beds, food, water and spare batteries, and residents use them routinely. Few have locks. Inside her darkened room with her adult daughter and dog, Irit Lahav was messaging with her brother, who was in his own saferoom in another kibbutz. He warned her to find a way to block her door as quickly as possible.
A jewelry designer, Lahav has an eye for seeing the potential in unusual objects. She combined an oar, a vacuum cleaner hose and a long leather cord to block the handle, yanking on the cord from time to time if she saw slack. She watched messages, each one more fearful than the last, flash across her screen to the sound of gunshots outside.“I keep thinking that the army will come at any minute,” she said.
Four hours passed. Five.
A journalist who accompanied Hamas stood on the front lawn of Ada Sagi, the kibbutz Arabic teacher, and excitedly narrated as gunmen raced around him. A stream of Palestinian men, women and children followed, according to Hamas videos and witnesses. Many Palestinians in Gaza see the kibbutzim as illegal settlements on historic lands that they had never set foot in before that day. “After an hour or more of walking, we were able to enter a kibbutz; the most important kibbutz of the occupation,” he said, according to the video widely streamed on Palestinian news sites. “Here is a scene from the heart of the settlement.”The men who shot out the guard post were the first of about seven groups of armed fighters. In all, the Israeli military and kibbutz residents estimate as many as 150 men arrived in cars and pickups nearly simultaneously from different directions, armed to the teeth. The messages flew back and forth on the kibbutz chat and various residents’ WhatsApp groups.
9:16 a.m. “How do you lock the safe room?????”
10:15 a.m. “We are officially hostages.”
10:19 a.m. “They are threatening to blow up the house if we don’t open up.”
One by one, people dropped out of the flow of messages. Some would later appear in Hamas videos.
One terrified mother clutches her two redheaded toddlers as they’re led away in a blanket, her eyes huge with fear. A boy is hauled away by his armpits. An elderly woman is pulled to her feet after tumbling off a motorcycle.
The quality of images from Barad’s traffic camera was grainy, because it was intended originally just to capture speeding vehicles. A white pickup truck pulled in front of his house, and armed men jumped off and walked off-screen. For about half an hour, the screen filled with the movement of motorcycles, bicycles, stolen farm machinery and gunmen.
Then one attacker emerged from the left, firmly pulling a clearly reluctant unarmed man by the hands. A few minutes later, a motorcycle drove past carrying three people. A cap covered the face of the person trapped in the middle, much smaller than the two others. From the house across the road, a gunman took position near the closed safe window. A second man yanked open the metal shutter and pulled out a woman. They covered her face and head with a white cloth.
Barad recorded the images of the gunmen taking her, because it was the only thing he could do. He would replay the scene in his head for weeks.
“It looked very rehearsed,” Barad said. “It looked like this was the plan.”
DON’T TAKE ME. I’M TOO YOUNG.
As the Barad family’s safe room filled with smoke, two adolescent brothers were frantically messaging their mother in a nearby kibbutz. It was dawn after a rare night out for Renana Gome Yaacov, who trusted her 16-year-old son to be responsible for his 12-year-old brother.
Her ex-husband and his girlfriend lived within a few hundred meters (yards), she reasoned, so the boys could get help if an emergency arose. Then the alarms sounded across the area.
Around 8:10 a.m., one of the boys called in a whisper: The gunmen were in the house. A few minutes later, another call: Their father had been shot.
Still on the open phone line, she heard the safe room door burst open, with voices shouting in Arabic, which she does not understand. Her younger son tried to reason with the men.
“I could hear him say to them, ‘Don’t take me. I’m too young,’” she recalled. Then the line went dead.
Yaacov was bitterly aware that in one cruel way she was lucky.
“Some people will probably never know what happened to their dear ones," she said, reflecting on the overheard conversation. “I heard it live.”
More messages followed between residents.
12:07 p.m. “I have a gunshot wound in my leg. A bullet went through the door”
12:09 p.m. “Press a cloth as hard as you can on the wound. Tie it”
12:37 p.m. “Is there a chance they’re in the house while it’s burning? I do not know if I should remove my hand”
12:38 p.m. “Do NOT remove your hand. Just switch hands every so often.
Still no Israeli soldiers.
A Hamas video shot under midafternoon light shows a relatively orderly procession of stolen cars, motorcycles and farm equipment headed across the fields back to Gaza. They carried with them one in every five residents of Nir Oz.
Batsheva Yaalomi was captured along with her husband and their three children. They were separated, and she was placed on a motorcycle with her 10-year-old daughter and the baby. At some point, they managed to scramble off in the fields. She held the baby tight, and they crawled her way through the furrows until after nightfall and escaped. Finally, sometime around 3:30 p.m., Israeli soldiers arrived. All the Hamas fighters had already left Nir Oz. It took hours longer for the soldiers to confirm that none of the houses was booby-trapped and escort residents from their safe rooms.
Yaalomi's son, 12-year-old son Eitan, was among those freed during the recent truce, as were both Yaacov boys. Also freed were Ada Sagi, the teacher whose front lawn took center stage in a militant propaganda video; and Yafa Adar, the 85-year-old grandmother who was among the first hostages released by Hamas.
But the fathers of Eitan and the Yaacov brothers are still among the missing, as is Sagui Dekel-Chen, who sounded the first alarm.
The two youngest hostages, the redheads from Nir Oz – a 4-year-old and his 10-month-old brother – also remain missing, along with their mother. Hamas has said they were killed. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Sagui’s father and a historian by profession, has methodically gathered accounts from throughout the community to piece together what happened. The Israeli military said no dead Hamas militants were found.
“This was not an attempt to conquer territory,” Dekel-Chen said. “This was not an attempt at any kind of liberation. This mission or massacre was extremely well-organized — it must have taken months if not years, cost a fortune.”
Hamas went into the kibbutz knowing Judaism’s historical preoccupation with hostages, said Étienne Dignat, a French expert on international hostage situations. The Talmud, a set of commentaries on the Torah, specifically condones ransoming of hostages as a communal responsibility, and many ancient scholars considered being hostage a fate worse than death. But the scholars warned against paying too high a price to avoid endangering Jews in the future.
“They knew they were going to have the opportunity to enter kibbutzim, which had never happened before,” Dignat said. “And obviously, afterwards, they knew the particular Israeli sensitivity to the fate of women and children.”
In all, 240 Palestinian women and teenage prisoners were freed by Israel during the truce and militants released 105 hostages — 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners.
Israel has a long history of agreeing to lopsided exchanges. Hamas’ 2006 seizure of a sole young conscript, Gilad Shalit, consumed Israeli society for five years, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately ordered the release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his freedom. Netanyahu’s own brother, Yonatan, led an elite commando squad that successfully rescued 98 hostages from an airplane hijacking in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976. Yonatan Netanyahu and four hostages were killed.
One of the first hostages to be freed, Yocheved Lifshitz, told a news conference that their first destination was a large room, where about 25 captives were gathered. Then she and four others from Nir Oz, including an injured man, were taken to another room. A few days in – and in another sign of their significance – Hamas leader Yehya Sinwa met with the Nir Oz hostages, she later told Israeli media. A doctor came every few days to check on them and take care of the injured man.
When she was freed, Lifshitz shook the hand of the captor who handed her over. Why?
“They were kind to us. Our needs were supplied,” she answered. “They prepared for this. They were prepared for a very long time.”

Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim
DUBAI (Reuters)/December 5, 2023
Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said his country has not been involved in any actions or attacks against U.S. military forces, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday. The United States has blamed Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi group for a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7. Iran-backed militias have also been carrying out attacks targeting U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. In a briefing with reporters on Monday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington has "every reason to believe that these attacks, while they were launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran". This week, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters in the southern Red Sea. The Houthis acknowledged launching drone and missile attacks against what they said were two Israeli vessels in the area.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani also dismissed as "baseless and unconstructive" remarks by the British government that said Iran was responsible for any attacks by the militant groups it supports. "As we have clearly stated before, resistance groups are not taking orders from Tehran to confront the war crimes and genocide committed by Israel," Kanaani added.

Putin to discuss Israel-Hamas war during 1-day trip to KSA and UAE
Associated Press/December 5, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a one-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the Israeli-Hamas war and host the Iranian president in Moscow this week, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Putin will make working visits to both countries on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The talks will focus on bilateral relations, the war between Israel and Hamas and other international issues, Peskov said. Issues related to oil price caps under OPEC+ will also be on the agenda, he added. Putin's trip was first announced on Monday by his foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who didn't give a date for the visits when he spoke to the Russian news outlet Life. "I hope that these will be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important," Ushakov was quoted as saying by Life. Putin will make the visit at a time when Russia wants to advance its role as a power broker in the conflict in the Middle East. Putin will host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the Kremlin on Thursday, Peskov added. The Russian president visited China in October and recently made several trips to former Soviet nations. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Since the warrant was issued, Putin chose not to attend a BRICS summit in South Africa because the country would be obliged to arrest Putin upon arrival as it is a signatory to the international court's treaty. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have signed the ICC's founding treaty. The notice against Putin in March was the first time the global court issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The ICC said in a statement that Putin is accused of the war crime of " unlawful deportation " of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

Putin Is Visiting Saudi, UAE for Israel-Hamas War Talks. Here's What to Know
Anna Gordon/Time/December 5, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be making a one-day trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Wednesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, the Kremlin said. Later in the week, Putin will host his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, in Moscow. Putin has sought to increase Russia’s influence in the Middle East, and experts say he is emboldened by growing international criticism of Israel amid its bombardment of Gaza, which has left at least 15,500 people dead. "Russia does not have the same loyalties as the U.S. does with Israel, which allows it to express sympathy for both Israel and Palestine in ways many Western countries, not least America, struggle to,” wrote James Nixey and Nikolay Kozhanov for Chatham House. In the past, Russia has tried to maintain positive relations with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But Putin has taken a different approach in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people in Israel. He waited three days before commenting on the attack, then blamed Washington. "I think that many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy in the Middle East of the United States, which tried to monopolize the settlement process," Putin told Iraq's Prime Minister. Putin subsequently invited a Hamas delegation—the militant group is backed by Russian ally Tehran—to Moscow on Oct. 26, which prompted anger from Israeli officials. “Israel's main ally is the United States, Russia's main enemy right now. And Hamas' ally is Iran, an ally of Russia," Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, wrote in his blog, according to Reuters. The meetings are also expected to discuss oil prices. Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are all members of OPEC+, a group of oil producing countries. Last week, members of OPEC+ voluntarily agreed to cut their output, to help drive up prices. Putin will first land in the UAE before stopping in Saudi Arabia for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader. "I hope that these will be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important," Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely traveled abroad. The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest in March 2023 over the forced deportation of Ukranian children to Russia. His last trip outside the borders of the former Soviet Union was to China in October.
Putin declined to attend a BRICS summit in South Africa in August because the country would be obliged to arrest him in light of the ICC arrest warrant.

Turkey warns Israel not to target Hamas members on Turkish soil
Associated Press/December 5, 2023
Turkey’s state-run news agency said that Turkish intelligence officials have warned their Israeli counterparts of “serious consequences” if they attempt to target members of Hamas on Turkish soil. The warning, reported by the Anadolu Agency late Monday, came after Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, said in an audio recording that his organization is prepared to destroy Hamas “in every place,” including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar. Anadolu Agency, quoting unnamed Turkish intelligence officials, said “necessary warnings were made” to Israeli officials who were told their actions would “have serious consequences.” The agency also quoted the officials as saying that Turkey had prevented “illegal activities” by foreign operatives in the past and that no foreign intelligence agency would be allowed to carry out operations on Turkish territory. Israel’s Mossad spy agency has been accused of involvement in a series of assassinations overseas of Palestinian militants and Iranian nuclear scientists over the years. Turkey has hosted Hamas officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his government considers Hamas to be a liberation organization, not a terrorist group.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 05-06/2023
Can the Palestinian Authority Be 'Revitalized'? Can the Cat Guard the Cream?
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/December 5, 2023
Many of the officials managing the Palestinian Authority (PA) are the same ones who helped establish it in 1994 and were responsible for its rampant corruption. This corruption is one of the main reasons why Hamas won the PA parliamentary election in 2006, when the Islamist movement ran under the banner of "Change and Reform."
Mahmoud Abbas and senior PA officials have been stirring up bloodlust for Israel both before and after Hamas's October 7 massacre. Palestinians hear these messages and vote for Hamas when given the opportunity, as we saw in the recent student council elections at a number of Palestinian universities in the West Bank. This is exactly what Abbas feared when he cancelled the PA's presidential and parliamentary elections that were slated to take place in 2021.
The assumption that, three decades later, the Palestinian Authority is going to embark on any serious reforms is a mirage. Abbas and the PA leadership will not change unless they are pressured to do so... One thing is clear: the Palestinian Authority is in no way, shape or form up to this job.
The Biden administration is continuing to promote the idea of having a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority (PA) govern the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war. If the PA is permitted to take over the Gaza Strip, its anti-Israel rhetoric, which has escalated since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, will only result in another generation of radicals.
The Biden administration is continuing to promote the idea of having a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority (PA) govern the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war. US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the phrase "revitalized Palestinian Authority" to express support for placing the Gaza Strip, currently ruled by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, under the control of the PA, headed by Mahmoud Abbas. On December 2, Vice President Kamala Harris became the latest official to promote the idea that "we have to revitalize the Palestinian Authority" to prepare it for ruling the Gaza Strip after the war.
The White House has further suggested that Palestinians "should be the determining voice" in who governs them.
The Palestinians already had a determining voice. They elected Hamas. According to public opinion polls, even in the West Bank, under the supposedly moderate Palestinian Authority that pays people to murder Jews, Palestinians would elect a terrorist regime once again.
The hush-hush secret of the Middle East is that the Palestinians, even more than they want a state -- which they have been offered several times and rejected without even a counteroffer -- want to obliterate Israel. The Hamas Charter is centered on it; sadly the Palestinian Authority promotes the identical goal (here, here, here and here). Also, according to the PLO's 1974 "Ten Point Plan" of phases, any land the Palestinians acquire is to be used to get the rest.
The Biden administration has yet to explain what exactly it means when it talks about a "revitalized Palestinian Authority." Is it referring to the need to implement massive financial and administrative reforms in the PA? Or is it talking about the need to get rid of the current leadership of the PA, including the 87-year-old Abbas, who is now in the 18th year of a four-year term in office? Or, perhaps, the Biden administration has in mind dismantling the PA, which currently rules over parts of the West Bank, and establishing a new governing body?
Before discussing whether the Palestinian Authority can, or is willing, to return to the Gaza Strip from where it was expelled in 2007 by Hamas, it is crucial to ask: If the Biden administration believes that the PA should be "revitalized," why didn't Biden and Blinken demand that from Abbas and the Palestinian leaders a long time ago? If the PA needs to be revamped, in one way of another, why have Biden administration officials been holding regular meetings with PA leaders? Moreover, if the Biden administration believes that the PA, in its current structure, is incompetent, why has it been urging Israel to strengthen Abbas and his cohorts?
By acknowledging that the Palestinian Authority needs to be "revitalized," the Biden administration is actually admitting that, for the past three years, it has been dealing with inept Palestinian leaders who have essentially zero credibility among their own people.
Had the Biden administration seen the public opinion polls published by a number of Palestinian organizations, including the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, it would have understood that most Palestinians already know what Biden and Blinken evidently do not want to see – that the Palestinian Authority is so outrageously corrupt that 80% of Abbas' people want him to resign.
The latest poll, published in September, showed that 78% of the Palestinians demand the resignation of Abbas, while only 19% want him to stay in office. The poll, in addition, showed that 87% of the Palestinian public believes corruption exists in PA institutions.
Then there is the question of whether the PA, notwithstanding any potential "revitalization," can be part of a solution in the post-Hamas era in the Gaza Strip. The answer is a resounding "no."
First, since its inception in 1994 (after the signing of the Oslo Accord), the Palestinian Authority has barely changed, especially regarding financial and administrative corruption.
According to World Bank data, the use of favoritism and nepotism is considered the most frequent form of corruption in the PA public sector. Other forms of corruption allegedly occurring in the public sector include conflicts of interest, unauthorized personal use of resources, and large-scale corruption (such as stealing money and public property). Many of the officials managing the PA are the same ones who helped establish it in 1994 and were responsible for its rampant corruption. This corruption is one of the main reasons why Hamas won the PA parliamentary election in 2006, when the Islamist movement ran under the banner of "Change and Reform."
The assumption that, three decades later, the Palestinian Authority is going to embark on any serious reforms is a mirage. Abbas and the PA leadership will not change unless they are pressured to do so by Western donors, including the US and European Union. Dumping a corruption-riddled PA in the Gaza Strip will do nothing to improve conditions for the Palestinians living there, especially regarding efforts to rebuild the enclave. As far as many Palestinians are concerned, entrusting the PA with rebuilding the Gaza Strip is like asking the cat to guard the cream.
Second, the Palestinian Authority, both under Yasser Arafat and Abbas, ruled the Gaza Strip between 1994 and 2007. These were the years when Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip became strong and popular. The PA security forces did almost nothing to stop terrorist groups from smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip or launching terror attacks against Israelis. The assumption that the PA security forces would stop these terror groups – which have meanwhile grown far stronger – is entirely baseless.
Third, the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank are doing almost nothing to combat terrorism there. In fact, in the past three years, several new armed groups have emerged under the watchful eyes of the PA. These relatively small groups, which include the Jenin Battalion and the Lions' Den, have been responsible for merciless terrorist attacks. Since the PA does act against these small groups in the West Bank, what reason is there to believe that they would prevent Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from rearming and regrouping in the Gaza Strip after the current war?
Fourth, the Palestinian Authority's anti-Israel rhetoric is one of the reasons extremist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are so popular. The PA has long been inciting its people against Israel, accusing it unjustly of committing "war crimes, "ethnic cleansing," and "massacres." Abbas and senior PA officials have been stirring up bloodlust for Israel both before and after Hamas's October 7 massacre. Palestinians hear these messages and vote for Hamas when given the opportunity, as we saw in the recent student council elections at a number of Palestinian universities in the West Bank. This is exactly what Abbas feared when he cancelled the PA's presidential and parliamentary elections that were slated to take place in 2021.
Abbas, in other words, is aware that his anti-Israel rhetoric has driven many Palestinians into the arms of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is the same Abbas who has failed to condemn the October 7 Hamas massacre. Abbas is trying to prove to the Palestinians that he is more Hamas than Hamas, and the best way to do so is by stepping up incitement against Israel. If Abbas or any of his lieutenants ever returned to the Gaza Strip, who in their right minds would think that they would embark on any process to de-radicalize Palestinians? On the contrary, Palestinian Authority leaders will continue to whip up anti-Israeli sentiments through the education system, mosques and public statements. If the PA is permitted to take over the Gaza Strip, its anti-Israel rhetoric, which has escalated since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, will only result in another generation of radicals.
Fifth, the Palestinian Authority leadership is showing no signs of change, especially regarding its rhetoric and policy toward Israel. On the contrary, Abbas and many PA officials are talking about the need to step up the campaign to isolate Israel in the international arena and initiate legal proceedings against many Israelis as "war criminals." The PA is hardly likely to drop these plans upon returning to the Gaza Strip.
No "revitalization" of the Palestinian Authority is going to effect a meaningful change in the rhetoric and actions of PA leaders. The Biden administration is also making a fatal error in thinking that the PA will transform into a democratic regime any time in the foreseeable future. Discussion of post-Hamas governing of Gaza is highly premature. Only after Hamas is defeated should discussion on governing the Gaza Strip -- perhaps by an interested Arab country or a local leadership -- be initiated. One thing is clear: the Palestinian Authority is in no way, shape or form up to this job.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

How the IDF is reducing civilian casualties in Gaza
Yaakov Lappin/JNS/December 5, 2023
Israeli operations in the strip are guided by a smart map updated in real time via a range of data sources, from cell phones to aid groups.
The Israel Defense Forces is making great efforts to limit civilian casualties in its war against Hamas, despite the terror group’s core strategy of embedding itself in the heart of civilian areas and sites.
According to a senior IDF official, the military’s approach is comprehensive, integrating advanced technologies, strategic planning and international humanitarian law.
Central to this strategy is the use of a sophisticated control center in the IDF Southern Command to monitor and evaluate the situation in Gaza in real time. The system divides Gaza into 623 blocks, or polygons, each featuring detailed data on civilian presence, in a continuously updating smart map.
The information is made available to air, ground and naval units, and can have a decisive influence on the IDF’s actions.
No less importantly, the source said, this information is crucial for controlling and analyzing the evacuation of Gazan civilians and understanding the distribution of the Strip’s civilian population.
The control center primarily serves a humanitarian purpose, and is designed to enable IDF commanders, before launching any kind of strike or maneuver, to evaluate how “clean” a given sector is.
According to the official’s assessment, over 5,000 terrorists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, while the civilian death toll may be as high as 10,000, which would mean a combatant to civilian casualty ratio of 2:1.
“The IDF puts a lot of effort in … to make sure that civilians won’t be on the battlefield. Unfortunately, we are facing an enemy whose core strategy is to do exactly the opposite. While we are trying to do everything in our power… like evacuating the civilian population from the battlefield to safer areas, what Hamas actually does is counter our efforts by putting [up] roadblocks, and [employing] other means” to keep them from leaving, said the source.
The IDF has been able to evacuate over a million people from northern Gaza, including 850,000 from Gaza City and nearly the entire population of areas like Shejaiya.
In southern Gaza, it has sent local evacuation orders with which some 400,000 Gazans have complied, and has encouraged civilians to move into “humanitarian belts” in Al Mawasi, west of Khan Younis and Rafah, according to the source.
To monitor the status of each sector in Gaza, the control center uses a plethora of data, including cell phone data and input from international aid organizations, to feed real-time information into the monitoring systems.
A key aspect of the IDF’s strategy is the issuance of early warnings to civilians in combat zones, the source explained. However, Hamas’s strategy involves the use of civilians as human shields, complicating the IDF’s war efforts. The terror group launches rockets and anti-tank missiles from schools, mosques, hospitals and other such sites.
To counter these efforts, the control room is equipped to communicate not only with various IDF units but also Palestinian civilians, especially concerning evacuations and humanitarian aid coordination.
The IDF’s efforts have also been extensive in terms of infrastructure. For example, the military facilitated the construction of new pipelines in Gaza to ensure water access in areas like Khan Yunis and Dir Al-Balah, according to the official.
Moreover, the military has coordinated the entrance of two field hospitals and the evacuation of injured civilians to these facilities, demonstrating a commitment to addressing the immediate humanitarian needs arising from the conflict.
The IDF’s strategy also extends to the detailed understanding of the Gaza terrain. A number of officers in the control room are well versed in the local geography, enabling precise and informed decision-making.
Still, the challenges of conducting warfare in such a densely populated area remain formidable.
As the IDF focuses on the next stage of its ground offensive in southern Gaza, its approach to minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza will continue to be marked by a combination of technological sophistication, strategic evacuation planning, close monitoring of civilian movements and adherence to international laws.
These efforts reflect a concerted attempt to balance the military imperative of dismantling the Hamas terror army in Gaza against the need to minimize collateral damage as much as possible

Saudi choices in a polarised world
Haitham El-Zobaidi/The Arab Weekly/December 05/2023
It remains for Riyadh to make a choice by answering the question: “whether my friend’s enemy is my enemy or is instead my friend”.All things considered, it is not possible to rely on global coincidences and fortuitous crises that force the United States to open a new chapter with Saudi Arabia.
It was worrying to find Saudi Arabia placed in the rankings of a research institution such as the UK’s Capital Economics, in a position closer to China than to the United States.
The “leading provider of independent economic insight” divided the world into five categories. At one end of the spectrum, there are the United States, Western Europe (except Hungary), the Anglo-Saxon West (Canada and Australia) and Japan.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are China and its Russian and Iranian allies. Between the West and the middle non-aligned category, there are countries leaning towards the United States, such as India, Morocco, Turkey and South Korea. The most important state in the middle category is Brazil. Between the non-aligned middle category and the category of China and its allies, there is a group of countries that leans towards China, which includes Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Capital Economics did not limit itself to the rankings it established as it devoted separate surveys that outlined Saudi Arabia’s position in today’s increasingly polarised world. From this consultancy’s point of view, the Saudi inclination towards China is increasing significantly.
One does not know exactly whether polarisation is a Chinese strategic choice. But what is certain is that such polarisation has become a fundamental determinant of American strategy, based on a new version of the “with me or against me” principle. This version was preceded by two post-World War II versions: one, which during the Cold War, divided the world into East and West, NATO and Warsaw Pact, or liberalism and communism. Then there was the period of confrontation with the Islamic world, during which the choice was between being with terrorism or against it, being with America’s wars or against them.
It is not surprising that these five groups of polarisation-based rankings will soon be reduced to three: those with the West, non-aligned countries and those with China.
Capital Economics is a research institution specialising in economic and political analysis. It is offering its take on a fractured world rearranging itself. Seen in conjunction with a number of recent US decisions, this take reflects Washington’s policies toward Saudi Arabia and the state of its relationship with the West.
One can look in this regard at a decision taken by the US administration last week. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that President Joe Biden’s administration forced a Saudi Aramco venture capital fund to sell its shares in Rain Neuromorphics Inc, a Silicon Valley AI chip start-up backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The agency quoted informed sources as saying that Aramco’s Prosperity7, a lead investor in Rain AI, sold its shares in the start-up after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the main American body which monitors deals with national security implications.
This move was related to a more significant decision by the US administration to block the export of certain types of processors produced by the US company NVIDIA for China and used in supercomputers that operate artificial intelligence algorithms. The US decision is the toughest measure taken by the Biden administration against Beijing as it sets a technical ceiling to China’s efforts to develop artificial intelligence. The American message was simply: “Do not buy from us and then outbid us in sale transactions”. In other terms, it is out of the question to use advanced US technologies to beat the United States in any competition.
Washington’s decision to force the Saudi company to sell its shares in the chip development firm has to do less with the capabilities of the Saudis to develop artificial intelligence than with the capabilities of the Chinese on whom Riyadh relied to create an AI research centre. The decision, from the point of view of US national security officials, aims to close a back door through which the Chinese could infiltrate the manufacturing of this important type of semiconductor.
Making the chips that power artificial intelligence supercomputers is one of the most sensitive industries in the world. There are only two American companies that produce this type of component: Nvidia and AMD. Building a factory for these chips takes many years and is very expensive. The task is so complex that even the world’s leading chip maker, US company Intel, is still out of the race. This illustrates the danger of the Chinese backdoor in Riyadh, and puts it under the spotlight of US national security bodies.
This is how Washington sees the Saudi-Chinese relationship. Is there an overreaction on the part of the US? It is difficult to tell. But signs of American discomfort with the Saudi-Chinese rapprochement are not the result of one single incident. Furthermore, such signs point to looming risks.
The Biden administration did not start off its relationship with Riyadh on the right footing. Its position was shaped by the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul by Saudi intelligence officers. The political and propaganda positions around this incident evolved due to many variables, including the decision of Doha to give up its instigating role after the normalisation of the Saudi-Qatari relationship, and then the outbreak of the Ukraine war, which forced Washington to move closer to Riyadh considering its position as the leading world source of oil exports.
But the accumulation of American hostile positions towards Saudi Arabia, because of its relationship with China, is something else. The perception, should it ever take root, of Riyadh as a backdoor for the theft of advanced US technologies and passing them to Beijing could sway the American deep state. If Saudi Arabia were to be considered a suspect nation in terms of purchases of equipment and technology, it would be placed in a category that is closer to being an enemy than a friend. Unlike the category of human rights violations or that related to the killing of a journalist, this category is difficult to evade. The worst part of this suspicion is that it comes at a time when Washington is tightening its pressures on China with every review of the relationship and meeting between the leaders of the two superpowers.
There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia has many political and commercial cards it could play as it faces Washington’s hostility. But it will not always be able to take advantage of a Ukrainian war that shakes the energy and food markets allowing it to find a way out from American political pressures. A best-case scenario would be for Riyadh to reach a peace agreement with Israel. But such a deal, can be clinched only once. For the time being it is dissipating or at least being put on hold for the foreseeable future because of the war in Gaza. All things considered, it is not possible to rely on global coincidences and fortuitous crises that force the United States to open a new chapter with Saudi Arabia.
No one knows if the United States has blocked the supply of advanced processors for the supercomputer that the Chinese are building in the Artificial Intelligence Department at King Abdullah University. Purchasing processors and installing them in this supercomputer is one thing, and passing on the technologies for building processors, which the United States prevented by forcing Aramco to sell shares in the US company, is another. But what is certain is that both sides, the Americans and Saudis, are concerned about the direction which their relationship could take.
There are many incentives underlying the links between Saudi Arabia and China. It could be said that until a few years ago it was possible to find a Saudi political position that balanced relations with Washington and Beijing. But the type of Capital Economics rankings which seem to drive US positions, has narrowed any margin of manoeuvre and made polarisation the basis of politics. It remains for Riyadh to make a choice by answering the question of whether “My friend’s enemy is my enemy or is instead my friend”.
**Dr Haitham El-Zobaidi is the executive editor of Al Arab Publishing Group.

Israelis Are Angry at Netanyahu, but Chances of His Ouster Are Slim
Sheera Frenkel/The New York Times/December 05/2023
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has weathered many controversies, including accusations of corruption and allegations this year that a contentious overhaul of the country’s judiciary was a poorly disguised power grab.
But he now faces the greatest crisis of his political career. The backlash to his government’s failures to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage, and criticism of his handling of the war in Gaza, are steadily growing.
People both inside Netanyahu’s government and those who hope to see him replaced agree that his standing has never been so low with the Israeli public.
And yet — owing to the complexities of Israel’s parliamentary system and the vagaries of war — few paths exist for Netanyahu to be ousted soon from office. His long-term political prospects and his legacy, however, rest largely on how he handles the coming days, analysts said.
In recent days and weeks, vigils for slain Israelis have turned into protests over Netanyahu’s leadership. Calls for him to take responsibility for the intelligence failures that preceded the Hamas attack have morphed into a campaign seeking his resignation.
A far-right member of his governing coalition, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has threatened to topple the government. Members of Netanyahu’s own Likud party have talked about defecting, according to two senior party members.
And the United States, Israel’s closest and most important ally, has begun pushing the prime minister to limit the number of civilian deaths in Gaza.
As the war entered a new phase on Friday after the collapse of a seven-day truce and the start of a renewed Israeli air campaign, Netanyahu is searching for a solution — including the potential assassination of Hamas’s top leader in Gaza — that could appease his coalition, silence his critics and satisfy a population desperate for him to both bring home the remaining hostages from Gaza and defeat Hamas.
There is strong support for the war across the political spectrum, and one opposition party has joined Netanyahu’s coalition to form an emergency unity government and war cabinet. The move of unity was widely celebrated by the Israeli public as a sign that politicians were cutting through red tape to manage the war effort. But Netanyahu still must manage differences in the leadership over the hostage talks, humanitarian aid and the conduct of the war. Ben-Gvir, for example, had threatened during the cease-fire to bring down the government if the war did not resume.
In a statement to reporters on Friday, Netanyahu said that he was committed to “destroying Hamas.” Privately, he has told aides that he is pushing for the military to assassinate the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, according to a current Israeli official and a former one who have spoken with the prime minister in recent days.Netanyahu believes, the officials said, that the assassination of Sinwar, the presumed mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, would be enough to convince the Israeli public that a major victory had been won against Hamas and the war can end.
“If the Israeli military succeeded in assassinating a major Hamas figure, I expect Netanyahu would seek to take credit,” said Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for Haaretz newspaper, and the author of “Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Pfeffer added that despite the many past scandals that have rocked Netanyahu’s reputation, he has always managed to save his political skin.
In a Sept. 7 poll by Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, 75 percent of respondents said that they believed that Netanyahu’s government was “not functioning well.”
But in the weeks since the start of the war, Netanyahu’s numbers have steadily dropped. In a poll released on Friday by the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv, 30 percent of respondents said that Netanyahu was best fit to serve as prime minister, while 49 percent preferred his closest political rival, Benny Gantz, a former defense minister.
In Israel, governments are formed through a multiparty system based on which party can cobble together a majority of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Parliament.
Netanyahu’s coalition currently holds 74 seats. To topple him, at least 13 members of Parliament would need to leave his coalition or a no-confidence vote would have to be held in the legislature with another candidate selected to replace Netanyahu.
Aviv Bushinsky, a former political adviser to Netanyahu, said that neither scenario was likely. “Almost everyone you speak to today will tell you the same thing — that Netanyahu must step down from office — he cannot continue to lead this country,” said Bushinsky. “And yet, at the same time, there is a very real scenario in which he remains prime minister despite his unpopularity because of the difficulty in replacing or removing him.”
Bushinsky said that some members of Netanyahu’s Likud party had spoken about splintering to form their own party, but they were unlikely to do so in the midst of a war.
Israeli political sentiment, he added, has shifted to the right since Oct. 7. Any future election, he predicted, could be won only by a right-wing candidate who was seen as a strong military leader.
Many of the Israelis who gathered on Friday afternoon in Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostage Square agreed with Bushinsky. The large area outside the Tel Aviv Art Museum has become a regular site of protest, mourning and celebration for the families of those abducted from Israel and taken to Gaza on Oct. 7.
On Thursday, Moran Gal, 24, and her boyfriend came to the square to cheer and celebrate the return of eight Israeli hostages. But by Friday, with the cease-fire ended and reports trickling out that some of the oldest hostages held by Hamas had been killed, Gal had tears on her face.
“This is all Bibi’s fault,” said Gal, a student, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “How come he hasn’t apologized? How come he hasn’t admitted he failed us?”
In Jerusalem, where almost-daily protests have been held in front of Parliament calling for Netanyahu’s resignation, hundreds gathered on Thursday night to listen to Eran Litman, whose daughter was killed on Oct. 7.
Litman accused the Israeli prime minister of failing to protect his daughter and of returning to war in Gaza instead of saving the lives of additional Israeli hostages.
“He only thinks about himself, not about his country,” said Litman.
“Shame,” a crowd of hundreds thundered each time he mentioned Netanyahu’s name.

What is Washington’s Position on Gaza's Future
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 05/2023
Although those who do not like to face facts had been optimistic about a miracle preventing the resumption of violence in a post-miracle era, the collapse of the temporary truce in Gaza was predictable.
Indeed, it had been patently obvious from the beginning that both sides of the unbalanced war needed to "catch their breath,” as both parties sought to claim tactical victories, reformulate their psychological attacks, enhance logistical mobilization, and capitalize on the changes imposed on the ground...to say nothing about wanting to give moderation a chance ensure the release of prisoners and detainees.
Israel, which has always been adept at portraying itself as the victim, undoubtedly succeeded in winning the battle to shape political decision-making in the most influential countries. This success was amplified by Israel winning the war of financial and social media extortion. Nothing illustrates this success more clearly than the billionaire Elon Musk humiliating himself and submitting to Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel after several major companies decided to boycott advertising on the "X" (formerly Twitter), which he owns.
On the other hand, we have seen an explosion of mass movements demanding an end to the Gaza war in reaction to the ferocity of the bombardment and the horror of the tragedies. They did not mobilize because Hamas managed the "public relations" battle to shape the narrative about the events of October 7 and its aftermath adeptly. Some statements by Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders were disastrous, both in terms of their haughty response to the humanitarian catastrophe across the Gaza Strip and their ignorance of the war's background and details.
In contrast, the Israeli propaganda "machine" has taken to shifting its objective goal of eliminating "Hamas" and changing it to the implementation of its longstanding strategy to displace all the Palestinian people, liquidating a cause that can only be eradicated through the annihilation of its people. Even before the fall of the temporary truce, we Israeli officials and their cyber army race to share threats, hyperbole, provocations, lies, and schadenfreude.
Even as prisoners and detainees were being exchanged, the plans for uprooting and displacement remained an "open secret." There was no room for doubt about whether this had been a temporary pause given the "advice" to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip and head south as the south was also being targeted. The statements of Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant - and there is no need to dwell on those of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich - have been unambiguous. Although the Arab states remain patient and continue to bet on the US mitigating Likud's worst impulses, the actions and positions of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are not reassuring. He has consistently affirmed that, despite its inclination to reserve judgment about the outcome and consequences of the Israeli war, Washington is fully behind Netanyahu and his government.
Certainly, the readily available US pretexts for condemning Hamas began with the attack of October 7 and continued with Hamas keeping several hostages who could not be released during the first truce... which could also be the last. Of course, Hamas claiming responsibility for lone-wolf attacks in the West Bank contributed to the US pledging total support for Netanyahu. Nonetheless, aside from timid condemnations of the excesses of armed settlers, Washington ignored Israel’s repeated violations of the temporary truce, who continued to kill and arrest more in various areas of the West Bank. A larger number of Palestinians were detained, killed, and injured during the truce than were released from prison.
Accordingly, what we are seeing is that Washington continues to nurture, support, and sponsor Israel’s plan. The US seems determined to follow through with it to the end. It openly supports how Israel is "dealing with" the residents of Gaza now, and perhaps the residents of the West Bank in the future, disregarding the concerns of most of its friends in the region.
As an Arab politician and diplomat who worked on Israeli-Arab relations has noted, Washington is either oblivious to or deliberately overlooking the fact that the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank have been living, for about 20 years, in a large prison surrounded by Israel, left to suffer with no political solution on the horizon. This state of affairs should have signaled that a dangerous explosion was imminent.
Furthermore, Washington remains adamant about maintaining its monopoly in mediating Israeli-Arab relations, even though it completely abandoned peace initiatives in 2014, when John Kerry was Secretary of State. By not making any serious political effort to ensure peace, the US has turned the notion of a "two-state solution" into a farce. Instead of working on and reinforcing politically credible approaches to peace, it has misled the region with the illusion of the “Abrahamic Accords," which have only benefitted one side.