[IMPORTANT] Hamas launches foot assault against settlements.

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Thank you ASpartofme..for keeping WP up to date on the happenings on the Ground in this conflict/ War .

The IDF will change its combat tactics in the Gaza tunnels following the murder of the six hostages, KAN News reported Friday, citing military sources.

The IDF has become more concerned that as troops enter and operate within the tunnels, any hostages held within will be killed.

The IDF will assume that in any area where the IDF has not yet operated, there are hostages. “The murder of the hostages is a direct operational message from Hamas – 'stop operating underground,’” military officials told KAN.

KAN reported that according to the military sources, fighting has become more difficult and complex due to the message that was sent with the murder of the hostages that, if the IDF continues to operate underground, more hostages will be killed. “The IDF will continue to reach the hostages without endangering them,” the military source said.

After the rescue operation of Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) in Operation Arnon, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida said that Hamas ordered its hostage guards to kill the hostages as soon as they received reports that the IDF was getting close to them.

IDF investigation of the murder of the six hostages
An initial IDF investigation revealed that the lookouts stationed outside the tunnel spotted IDF soldiers approaching them, which most likely prompted them to kill the hostages and leave the scene.

The IDF found signs that Hamas lookouts had been monitoring IDF soldiers after locating the bodies. The IDF attempted to make sure to avoid locations where there was intelligence about living hostages, which is information constantly provided to soldiers as they operate in Gaza.

A former senior officer in the Israel Defence Forces has criticised the ongoing war against the Palestinians in Gaza, arguing that the current strategy is leading Israel towards a potential collapse rather than victory. Retired Major General Yitzhak Brik made his comments in a recent opinion piece published in Haaretz.

According to the retired officer, the war is causing significant harm to the IDF and Israel’s broader stability. He also challenged the idea among Israeli political and military leaders that withdrawing forces from Gaza after a hostage deal with Hamas would signify defeat. Brik described this as a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the situation, arguing that it is being used to justify a continued and ultimately ineffective war effort.

The current strategy, he wrote, including repeated raids on Gaza, has not achieved its goals. He warned that the IDF is growing weaker and that continued operations are exacerbating the situation. “If we continue fighting in Gaza by raiding and re-raiding the same targets, not only won’t we bring Hamas to collapse, but we’ll collapse ourselves.

The retired general also highlighted the strain on Israel’s military, economy and its broader societal impacts. “IDF reservists are already voting through action, with many no longer consenting to be redrafted again and again,” he noted. “The war’s goals — ‘bringing Hamas to collapse’ and ‘freeing all hostages by military pressure’ — have not been achieved.”

Brik argued further that the IDF’s inability to control Gaza fully, including the underground tunnel network used by Hamas, signifies the futility of the current military approach. “The number of tunnels the IDF destroyed amounts to just a few per cent,” he pointed out, emphasising that the IDF’s efforts have been largely ineffective. He proposed that Israel should negotiate a deal for the release of hostages and end military operations in Gaza.

Calling for a complete overhaul of the current political and military leadership, which he described as being complicit in the ongoing failures, Brik stated, “We must stop the war in Gaza, which may very well also bring about a cessation of fighting with Hezbollah, as well as reducing chances for a multifront regional war, for which we are entirely unprepared.”

In conclusion, he said that this approach is the only viable way forward to ensure Israel’s long-term security and stability.

Quote from above:
"The argument for the Israel will lose the war notes that Israel is in far worse shape the America was. It is much smaller. As the author noted because it is a small country they are relying on reservists who are constantly away from their families and jobs for unprecedented amount of which is doing a number on the economy. The economy is further being hurt by a combination of BDS and tourism having cratered. They are very vulnerable to arms boycotts."

The line about vulnerabity of arms boycotts causes me to wonder , then How was the IMI Israeli Military Institute ?
managing to sell ( export)Soo many of their firearms overseas for over the past 20 years + ..UZI became world popular
so much that various countries copied it .......but that is just the tip of the list , Desert Eagle, etc...came in multiple calibres.
as I learned from various firearm collectors , that my late hubby knew .

IDF to change its combat tactics in Gaza tunnels to prevent murder of hostages

[...]

It is not Hamas that is collapsing, but Israel, says retired Israeli general

[...]

Vietnam War Deja Vu
I am old enough to have that sense. As much as America's defeat by Vietnam is credited/blamed on anti-war protesters it was the collapsing American military that forced us to give up. Just like the IDF in Gaza American troops would take and often destroy a village, withdraw from the village. The Vietcong then like Hamas now would retake the village forcing the Americans to retake the village and the cycle would repeat over and over again. This destroyed American morale and discipline both on the battlefield and at home. Specifically drug use and fragging became common place among American troops. Fragging was the practice of troops killing their commanders if they thought the commanders were being reckless with their lives.

Even the chants of the protesters lately have a familiar ring. Protesters have been chanting at zionists “How many kids did you kill”. This harkens back to “Hey Hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today”(LBJ was short hand for President Lyndon Baines Johnson). Pro Palestinian demonstrators in the New York area have begun chanting “Bring the war home” which comes directly from the anti-Vietnam war protesters.

But Israel today is not the same as America then.
The argument against the same result goes like this. America was fighting a war thousands of miles away in a strange land, with unfamiliar customs. Israel’s enemies are right on their borders. Americans have no endless history of being systematically persecuted so no baked in feeling of every threat being existential or the beginning of a slippery slope of becoming an existential threat.

The argument for the Israel will lose the war notes that Israel is in far worse shape the America was. It is much smaller. As the author noted because it is a small country they are relying on reservists who are constantly away from their families and jobs for unprecedented amount of which is doing a number on the economy. The economy is further being hurt by a combination of BDS and tourism having cratered. They are very vulnerable to arms boycotts.

A crowd said to number in the hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv to rally for the release of hostages in Gaza Saturday night, amid ballooning protests demanding the government strike a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group to secure the release of captives abducted exactly 11 months earlier.

With masses seething over the recent execution of six hostages who might have been freed in an exchange, and with the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre swiftly approaching, masses gathered in cities around the country to demonstrate against the government and press their case for a hostage deal.

Protest organizers estimated that 500,000 people attended the flagship rally in Tel Aviv, organized by the Hostage Families Forum — an estimate they claimed was confirmed by police. They said another 250,000 demonstrated in other areas around the country.

If true, the Tel Aviv rally would mark the largest-ever demonstration in Israel’s history.

Police announced that they detained five protesters at the Tel Aviv rally, but did not comment on crowd size.

Simultaneous protests were held in cities and at major intersections around the country, including Jerusalem, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Beersheba, Netanya and elsewhere, with organizers claiming tens of thousands in some places.

The protests, massive by any account, capped a week that saw major nightly demonstrations following the recovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

As with previous protests, the demonstration in Tel Aviv was marked by scuffles with police and attempts by activists to block major roads, including the Ayalon freeway.

Despite widespread criticism for not making more concessions in pursuit of a deal, Netanyahu has dug in on his position that Israel maintain an ongoing security presence on the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border — reportedly a major sticking point in the ongoing negotiations with Hamas.

The large crowd size was partly the result of a decision by the Hostage Families Forum to merge its weekly Saturday night rally with anti-government protests held in parallel outside Defense Ministry headquarters for months. It was the first time the rallies formally joined together, as families fumed over what critics have said is government abandonment.

“I think even those who were maybe reluctant to go out, who are not used to protest, who are sad but prefer to be in private space within their sadness, understood our voice must join together to one huge scream: Bring the hostages with a deal. Do not risk their lives,” said one protester in Tel Aviv, Efrat Machikawa, niece of hostage Gadi Moses.

At the hostage Hostage Families Forum rally, Shay Dickmann told the crowd her cousin, Gat, “was so close” to being released as part of a deal put on the table in July. “But Netanyahu said no,” Dickmann said.

“[Last] Thursday, Carmel was alive. A terrorist put a Kalashnikov to her head, and when he felt the military pressure, he pulled the trigger. Military pressure led to her death,” Dickmann said, pushing back against the claim by Netanyahu and allies that military pressure is more effective than concessions.

Former hostage Danielle Aloni took aim at Netanyahu for recent gaffes in which he referred to the October 7 attacks as “the 9th of October” and “November 7.”

“Let me remind the prime minister, today is September 7, and today we mark exactly 11 months since the awful disaster. Who would believe that eleven months later, the hostages still wouldn’t be here,” she told the rally, according to the Ynet news site.

“As someone who was there in the tunnels, I can testify that they’re not just suffering, they’re also dying, very much dying,” Aloni added, referring to leaked comments in which Netanyahu reportedly told his cabinet that the hostages were merely suffering.

Also addressing the crowd was Andrey Kozlov, who was freed from Hamas captivity in June along with three other hostages in an Israeli rescue operation.

“I don’t know why, but I am blessed, I am here. Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Ori, Almog and Alex are not,” Kozlov said.

After the rallies merged, demonstrators marched on Begin Street, where they lit a bonfire that was repeatedly extinguished by police and then rekindled.

Protesters also blocked the Ayalon Highway, a regular occurrence at large protests in Tel Aviv, as well as the junction of Namir and Pinkas streets.

Police said the fires and roadblocks were the work of a “small cadre of protesters” after most demonstrators dispersed, accusing them of fighting with cops.

Among those arrested was a minor who crossed the street after police said to clear off of it. The minor’s friend began arguing with the officer, and was shoved aside by other officers. In another instance, police appeared to choke a detainee.

Officers who dragged detainees toward the nearby Azrieli Towers were frequently followed by angry protesters chanting: “Officer! Officer! Whom are you protecting?”

Police also stepped in to break up scuffles between demonstrators and a group of far-right youth holding a counter-protest. Many right-wing groups have lined up behind Netanyahu, arguing that Israel should press its offensive aimed at destroying the Hamas terror group rather than try to free the hostages via a ceasefire agreement.

Police in Haifa, where thousands demonstrated for a deal, were accused of using excessive force as they cleared activists blocking Frued Street, with video showing protesters being thrown into a barbed wire placed near the road.

At least two protesters reportedly sought medical attention due to injuries allegedly caused by police.

In Caesarea, anti-government protesters gathered near one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residences, calling for his ouster.

In Jerusalem, demonstrators gathered outside the prime minister’s residence in the capital, carrying yellow flags representing the movement for the release of the hostages.

Chanting “the regime’s lies won’t bring about security,” protesters in Jerusalem called for an end to the war, the downfall of the government, and another general strike to build up economic pressure for a deal.

Gal Goren, whose parents Avner and Maya Goren were killed by Hamas, blamed Netanyahu for the hostages remaining in captivity. He called on demonstrators to continue the struggle for a hostage deal so that “we can reach October 8.”

The audience gave a long round of applause for Moshe Shapira, whose son Aner Shapira was killed at the Supernova rave on October 7 after fending off grenades thrown by terrorists. Shapira’s heroics saved some of those seeking shelter around him, including his friend Goldberg-Polin, who lost his arm but managed to survive over 11 months in Gaza until he was executed as Israeli troops closed in late last month.

At a protest in Carmei Gat, former hostage Adina Moshe, who was released in the November truce, said she told the Shin Bet official who debriefed her that troops were condemning hostages by trying to rescue them.

“When the IDF enters those tunnels, it is impossible to save the hostages,” she recalled saying, because Hamas “will kill them right away.”

“All my friends who were together with me in captivity in that tunnel were murdered — murdered by Hamas because the IDF approached,” she said.

An Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp in a Gaza humanitarian zone Tuesday killed at least 19 people and injured 60 others, officials in the Palestinian enclave said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it had confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in the strike, and that the toll may rise as more bodies were recovered. The Civil Defense first responders had earlier said that at least 40 people were killed.

The Israeli military said it targeted “senior” Hamas militants and disputed the death toll.

Images from the site showed craters left by the strike reached meters deep, while videos geolocated by NBC News showed emergency responders sifting through the sand with bare hands and shovels to search for survivors using flashlights.

Entire families were wiped out as the strike hit an area full of displaced Palestinians from all over Gaza, said Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense first responders.

“Great panic among the residents of the surrounding area after they were asleep and believed that they were safe,” he said, adding that the strike came without warning and destroyed at least 20 tents, leaving behind three large craters.

A number of martyrs were buried in the ground and the ambulance and civil defense crews are facing great difficulty in retrieving the martyrs amidst the lack of capabilities and the absence of a source of light,” Basal said.

Israel launched the strike before the break of dawn on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces said its aerial forces were targeting a number of senior Hamas militants who it said were operating a “command and control center” inside a humanitarian area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The militants targeted, it said, were directly involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas- led terror attacks. It named some of those it said were targeted and killed, including who it said was the head of Hamas’ Aerial Unit in Gaza.

It appeared to be among the deadliest strikes yet in Mawasi, which was designated a humanitarian zone for Gaza residents to evacuate to as the Israeli military launched its ground assault on the enclave.

The thin strip of land along Gaza's coast has become a site sprawling with tents and housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from across Gaza.

The IDF said the death toll numbers provided by local officials “do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike."

NBC News has not independently verified the death toll.

Mostly children and women were killed in the Israeli strike, Hamas said in a statement, which also denied Israeli claims that its members were present in the area or using it as a base for operations.

In a later statement, the civil defense said it had recovered a large number of dead and wounded, including amputation cases. “Our crews are still searching for missing persons among the tents of the displaced,” the statement added.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it was “highly likely” that its forces killed an American woman during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week. The United States said the shooting was “unprovoked and unjustified” and called for “fundamental changes” to Israel’s conduct, a rare direct rebuke of its close ally.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a brief statement Tuesday that an initial inquiry found it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire, which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator” of the protest.

The IDF said earlier that it had responded with fire toward a “main instigator” who was alleged to have been throwing rocks.

The IDF on Tuesday described the demonstration as a “violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks toward security forces at the Beita Junction.”

Eygi’s family said she had been peacefully demonstrating when she was killed and that video showed the bullet appeared to come from an Israeli military shooter.

The family called for an independent U.S.-ordered investigation and said an Israeli investigation would not be enough.

Calling Eygi’s killing “deeply concerning,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that that U.S. had noted that the IDF had “found they were at fault,” following a preliminary investigation and had now “called for now a criminal investigation.”

“We know that’s an unusual step for the IDF. That’s not something that they do typically,” he said. “We’ll be watching this investigation very closely,” he added.

His comments came after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the IDF inquiry “seems to show what eyewitnesses have said and made clear that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified.”

Speaking during a trip to London, he added that “in our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank” and said Washington would be “making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”

It was not clear whether there were any plans for a U.S.-led investigation.

The IDF added that “following the incident, an investigation was launched by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID). The findings will be submitted for review by the Military Advocate General’s Corps upon its conclusion.”

Israel has now submitted a request to carry out an autopsy, the IDF said, adding that it “expresses its deepest regret” over Eygi’s death.


An FBI probe into the 2022 killing of another American in the West Bank, veteran Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, remains ongoing.

Israel had initially blamed Palestinian gunmen for the deadly shooting, but later admitted it was most likely that an Israeli soldier accidentally shot the journalist while she was covering Israeli raids in the territory.

Israel refused to cooperate with the FBI’s investigation and to date no one in the Israeli military has been prosecuted

It was once home to an estimated 1.4 million people, over half of the population of Gaza, many of them displaced from the north of the enclave after Israel launched its military offensive following Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Today, Rafah is uninhabitable, its buildings crumbled and blackened. Mounds of concrete and bent metal are all that remain. The destruction is absolute.

When NBC News was invited into Gaza's southernmost city by the Israel Defense Forces on Friday, there were no civilians to be seen, just a few cats. Sporadic gunfire and the odd drone overhead punctuated the eery silence.

The Israeli military says the reason for so much destruction is that all of Rafah is honeycombed with Hamas tunnels, some of which sit on top of each other and some are more than 160 feet deep. The drills they use to find open spaces beneath the earth's surface lie several feet apart.

Calling the destruction a “tragedy,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hamas created a “very, very sophisticated” tunnel system underneath the city and the military has tried to demolish it “with minimum damage to the city.”

He added that some of the buildings had been booby-trapped with explosives and some of the destruction had been caused in battles with Hamas.

In the Tal Al Sultan neighborhood lies the tunnel where the bodies of six hostages including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, were found late last month.

The IDF made some videos of the structure public on Tuesday. They said it showed how the tunnel was dug below a child’s bedroom that had paintings of Mickey Mouse and Snow White on the walls.

To the south of Rafah, another tunnel lay near the border area with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land just under 9 miles in length and around 100 yards wide that runs along the Gaza side of the coastal enclave’s border with Egypt.

Wide enough for a car, it had been used for smuggling and to fire rockets into Israel, the IDF said. Hamas placed it there, believing that Israel would not strike back for fear of hitting Egyptian territory.

The Philadelphi corridor has emerged as a sticking point in the cease-fire deal that would end the monthslong war in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages still held in the enclave.

The Israeli military said in a statement Thursday that it had “dismantled” Hamas’ brigade in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and killed more than 2,000 of its fighters in the process. It added that it had destroyed around 8 miles of “underground tunnel routes” used by the militant group and was continuing to demolish more of them.

But asked Friday whether Israel would leave the city, which had a prewar population of around 250,000, Hagari said Israel “had several plans for the war,” but the decision would be made by the Israeli government.

The IDF has previously re-entered parts of Gaza after Hamas regrouped in areas it said it had cleared.

The Prime Minister’s Office announces that the security cabinet has updated its official goals for the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza to include a fourth objective: “The safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”

“Israel will continue to act to achieve this goal,” it says.

The motion comes more than eleven months after tens of thousands of northern residents were displaced from their homes following Hamas’s October 7 attack, when Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel on a near-daily basis.

Until now, the official war goals have been the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the return of all the hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that only military action against Hezbollah will enable the return of tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis to their homes, as rockets and drones continued to pound northern Israel.

Speaking to visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein, Gallant said, “The possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict,” according to a statement from his office. “Therefore, the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes, will be via military action.”

Hochstein, who has been working for months to find a diplomatic solution to the fighting over the Israel-Lebanon border, met earlier in the day with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.

Hochstein warned Gallant during their meeting that a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah would not lead to the return of the evacuated northern residents to their homes. Instead, it would raise the risk of a prolonged regional war, a source familiar with the matter told reporters

He told Gallant that the US supports a diplomatic solution to Hezbollah tensions, be it through a Gaza ceasefire or another path, the source said.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, told Hochstein in their meeting that it would not be possible for Israel to return its 60,00 evacuated residents to their homes in the north “without a fundamental change in the security situation” there, his office said.

Netanyahu “also said that Israel appreciates and respects the support of the United States, but in the end will do what is necessary to maintain its security and to return the residents of the north to their homes safely,” the readout said.

Hours earlier, Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that the time for a diplomatic solution to clashes with Hezbollah on the northern border was passing.

In a phone conversation overnight, Gallant told Austin that “the possibility of a settlement in the north is passing. Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas — the direction is clear,” the defense minister’s office said in a statement.

Gallant is believed to oppose a major military operation in Lebanon at this time, according to reports in Hebrew language media, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared to favor an operation.

In light of the long-fraught relationship between the two, Netanyahu is preparing to fire Gallant and is considering appointing opposition New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar as his replacement, Hebrew media reported Monday.

Rumors that Netanyahu would replace Gallant have been circulating for months, with Sa’ar denying in July that he had received an offer to return to the coalition.

Right now is the closest Israel has been to a full war with Hezbollah since October 7.

This is true even in comparison to the period between July 30 and August 25, probably the second most dangerous period between both sides.

How do we know that the coming days, weeks, and month or two before winter are potentially explosive?

It is not just Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Monday, that the possibility for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah in the North is running out.

It is not just the rumors that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to replace Gallant with Gideon Sa’ar as defense minister in order to have greater support for a major operation against Hezbollah.

It is not even that Netanyahu’s main political opposition, Benny Gantz, continues to call out the prime minister for being too scared to risk a major battle in the North, which has left the 60,000 evacuated northern residents abandoned for nearly a year.

Confidence for major Hezbollah operation
These are the open and obvious signs. And, frankly, much of Israel’s political and military class has been threatening to send Hezbollah back to the stone age since early spring.

The Jerusalem Post has received indications behind the scenes, at both the political and military levels, from sources who, although beforehand were pouring cold water on the public statements, are now signaling that these statements are serious.

Their reasons highlight how realities have changed a lot over the course of the war.

Throughout, the main reason not to enter into war with Hezbollah was to avoid distractions that might handicap the IDF from its goal of taking apart all 24 of Hamas’s battalions in Gaza.

Gallant declared Hamas’s last battalion in Rafah defeated on August 21, nearly a month ago.

Despite Netanyahu’s publicly threatening words and tone, another major reason that war has not broken out is that the prime minister was privately terrified of how many Israelis might die from an estimated Hezbollah onslaught of 6,000-8,000 rockets per day.

August 25 is when all of that changed – radically.

On that day, Hezbollah planned to launch several hundred, possibly up to 1,000 rockets on Israel, including on critical intelligence headquarters bases north of Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu and the war cabinet instructed the IDF not to launch a full preemptive war on Hezbollah because, among other reasons, the prime minister was still worried about its impact on the Israeli home front.
ources have indicated that, behind closed doors, he was initially hesitant for each of the three invasions of Gaza; northern Gaza in late October, Khan Yunis in December, and Rafah in May.

Yet, on August 25, the IDF did not just beat Hezbollah – it cleaned house.

Despite substantive military victories over Hamas and small tactical victories against Hezbollah, this was the first time the IDF won a major and complex strategic victory over Hezbollah since the start of the war.

The military blew up the vast majority of the rockets and drones with which Hezbollah had intended to attack Israel before these threats could even be launched.

In this particular attack, Hezbollah neither killed nor damaged anyone or anything of significance, while the IDF destroyed thousands of rockets.

Suddenly, Netanyahu has a newfound confidence: that he actually can afford a major operation against Hezbollah – with much fewer losses to the home front than he had expected.

So, what if – instead of 5,000-10,000 dead Israelis from tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets over several weeks – he could hit Hezbollah harder than it’s ever been hit before and destroy so many of its rocket launchers on the ground that Israeli casualties might not be just smaller but exponentially smaller?

Another factor was that until now, there was a good chance that Hamas would agree to a ceasefire and that such a deal would lead Hezbollah to unilaterally stop attacking Israel, just as it did during the November 23-30 deal.

While this is not impossible, the chances of a ceasefire with Hamas are now lower than they have been in several months, after both sides have dug in on various issues after having seemingly navigated around 90% of the obstacles.

All along, the only other option that has been discussed – if diplomacy failed – was a major operation.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is still furious about the killing of his military chief, Fuad Shukr by the IDF on July 30. With this in mind, no one views him as being more flexible now than before.

Finally, the winter factor comes into play.

Sources have told the Post that if more than 4-6 weeks pass without an operation, it may be impossible – or much harder – to carry out such an operation until Spring 2025.

This would mean condemning the northern residents to another 6 months outside of their homes, something becoming increasingly untenable domestically in Israel.

None of this means that a new broader war with Hezbollah is certain; it would still be a risky proposition for Israel, Hezbollah, and also for the sides’ sponsors: the US and Iran.

The US could be drawn into a regional war – or at least be seen as having failed to prevent a larger one – after a year of diplomacy, which could impact the presidential election race.

Iran could lose Hezbollah as its major potential threat against Israel should the Jewish state dare to think of attacking the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. Hezbollah would undoubtedly remain the main player in Lebanon but might lose many of its most feared capabilities.

This is the riskiest time in the North since October 7.

Israeli settlers attacked and beat several Palestinians and Israeli activists in the Palestinian hamlet of Mu’arrajat East, in the southern Jordan valley region on Monday morning, injuring several of them during the incident.

Footage of the attack taken by activists from the Looking the Occupation in the Eyes organization showed settlers beating activists and Palestinians. According to one activist who was present during the incident, five Palestinians were injured along with four activists, including himself.

The attack in Mu’arrajat East followed an alleged assault against a settler shepherd in the area earlier Monday morning.

Two Palestinians were arrested over that incident by the Israel Defense Forces, with police saying there have not been any arrests yet of Israelis.

Mu’arrajat East has been the target of repeated attacks by settlers in recent months. Last week, dozens of goats and several dogs belonging to villagers were poisoned and died, with Looking the Occupation in the Eyes and other activists alleging that they were poisoned by settlers

Video footage from Looking the Occupation in the Eyes shows three of the settlers armed with clubs beating Palestinians and the anti-occupation activists inside a school in the village, apparently while looking for the perpetrators of the attack on the Israeli herder.

Looking the Occupation in the Eyes said that school pupils and the school principal were assaulted by the settlers during the incident, along with its activists.

Daniel DeMalach, one of the Israeli activists present during the attack who recorded the incident, said that he and other activists went to the school at approximately 9:30 a.m., to confront the settlers.

Speaking to The Times of Israel, he said he saw the settlers going room to room in the school searching for the assailant who attacked the shepherd, and that when DeMalach followed them, recording the incident with his phone as he went, they turned around and beat him repeatedly.

DeMalach, who can be seen in the footage being attacked by the settlers, sustained injuries to his back. Another activist had her arm broken, DeMalach said.


A Jewish Israeli shepherd from the illegal settlement outpost of Zohar’s Farm with a head wound sustained in an alleged assault by Palestinians close to the Palestinian hamlet of Mu’arrajat, September 16, 2024. (Courtesy, Hilltop Settlements group)
Although only three settlers were initially involved in the attack, a pickup truck with some ten more, who turned up in the village to back them up soon after, he said.

“They have been trying to uproot these people from Mu’arrajat for nearly a year now, and it’s gotten really bad in the last week,” he said following the incident.

“There is an organized, systematic effort to intimidate the community and get them to leave,” he added.

DeMalach said that herders from Mu’arrajat were too frightened to take their sheep out to graze for fear of attack by the settlers and have been forced to buy animal feed as a result.

“Upon reports [of the incident], IDF and police forces went to the spot, dealt with the clash, and arrested several suspects at the site,” the military said in response to the incident. It said that two Palestinians were arrested over the alleged assault against the settler shepherd.

A police spokesperson said no Israelis had been arrested for the attack in Mu’arrajat East, but added that an investigation was underway.

Mu’arrajat East is a Palestinian hamlet north of Jericho that does not have construction or zoning permits and is therefore illegal. Obtaining such permits is extremely difficult for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full security and civilian control.

Three Israelis indicted for August attack on Palestinians
Separately, three Israelis — one adult and two minors — were indicted on Monday for conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism over an incident in which they violently attacked Palestinians in their cars in the northern West Bank in August.

Such acts of terrorism are punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the 2016 Law for the Fight Against Terrorism.

The attacks took place in the early hours of August 9, between midnight and 4 a.m. in an area close to the Palestinian villages of Burin and Awarta in the northern West Bank.

The militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday that pagers belonging to its members had blown up across Lebanon, killing at least eight and injuring more than 2,700, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Iran-backed Hezbollah pinned the blame for the widespread and seemingly simultaneous blasts on Israel, without providing evidence for its claim. Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the accusations and the pager explosions.

More than 200 people were in critical condition after the blasts, Public Health Minister Dr. Firas Abiad told reporters.

Amid what was developing into a nationwide health emergency, Lebanese officials ordered the public to avoid using handheld communication devices.

Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, was among those injured, according to the country’s embassy. In an post on X, it described his injuries as “superficial,” and added that Amani was in a good condition.

Hezbollah said in its own statement that explosions had killed "a girl and two brothers."

It added that the blasts had come from pagers belonging to “employees in various Hezbollah units and institutions.”

“The ministry requests all citizens who own wireless communication devices to stay away from them until the truth of what is happening is revealed,” the National News Agency quoted the Health Ministry as saying.

It was unclear whether the explosions were part of a coordinated attack, which would represent a significant security breach for Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Red Cross said it deployed 130 ambulances to respond to explosion injuries, with an additional 170 vehicles on standby. The country's civil emergency authority urged citizens to donate blood at hospitals "as soon as possible," state news reported.

The news agency Reuters reported that dozens of Hezbollah members were seriously wounded in Lebanon’s south and in the southern suburbs of the country’s capital, Beirut.

A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the agency said. It was unclear how many civilians had been affected.

As of late Tuesday afternoon local time, no one had taken responsibility for the explosions, some of which appeared to have been captured on CCTV video and shared on social media.

In a second statement, Hezbollah said it had reviewed “all the facts” and information and held Israel responsible for the explosions, which occurred a day after Israel announced a new war objective, fueling fears of a new military offensive in Lebanon.

Seven people have been killed in Syria as Hezbollah members’ electronic pagers exploded in a coordinated attack, according to Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Saberin News.

The fatalities were reportedly in the Damascus neighborhood of Seyedah Zeinab, a Shiite stronghold.

The Shin Bet foiled a recent attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior Israeli security official using a remotely detonated explosive device, the security agency announced on Tuesday.

The attack was intended to have been carried out in the coming days, according to the Shin Bet.

The agency said that the Hezbollah network behind the attempted attack was also responsible for a bombing in Tel Aviv last year.

The Shin Bet said it uncovered a Claymore-style anti-personnel mine, known to be in possession of Hezbollah, which was intended to have been used to target the former official.

The bomb had a remote detonation system, including a camera and a cellular connection, which would have allowed Hezbollah to activate it from Lebanon.

The former official, who was not named, was notified by security officials of the incident. Further details were not immediately permitted for publication.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution Wednesday demanding that Israel entirely pull out of Palestinian areas within a year, and called for an embargo on arms that Israel might use in those areas.

The resolution called for Israel to “end without delay its unlawful presence” in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months, including all soldiers and civilians.

The resolution welcomed a July ruling by the International Court of Justice that said Israel’s control of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn.

The advisory by the highest United Nations court, also known as the World Court, said this should be done “as rapidly as possible,” while the General Assembly resolution imposed a 12-month deadline.

The UN also called on states to “take steps towards ceasing the importation of any products originating in the Israeli settlements, as well as the provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel… where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The resolution was sponsored by the “State of Palestine” and 29 other countries, mostly Muslim nations.

Some 124 countries supported the measure, 14 opposed it, and 43 abstained. Israel, the US, Czechia, and Argentina were the largest countries opposing, along with Pacific island nations. Paraguay and Malawi also opposed the measure.

Many European nations abstained, including Ukraine, the UK, Germany, and Italy, as did Canada and Australia.

Israeli television on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently acted since December to “torpedo” a possible hostage deal with Hamas for political reasons, in a report that was forcefully denied by the premier’s office.

At the same time, Channel 12 news blamed Hamas, not Netanyahu, for the collapse of the seven-day ceasefire deal that included the release of 81 Israeli hostages and 24 foreign nationals in late November.

The deal fell apart when instead of the ten living hostages it was supposed to release, Hamas offered to return seven bodies of women and three living captives. Israel was certain those seven hostages — including Noa Argamani, who was later freed during a rescue operation in Gaza — were alive, and senior security officials stressed that if Israel accepted Hamas’s new offer, the terror group would simply shoot the seven living hostages.

A senior cabinet minister told the network that “coalition threats” from far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich dominated cabinet discussions about finding a way to continue the release of hostages despite Hamas’s games.

“That was the biggest missed opportunity. It would have been right to see the process through to the end, and move to the next category [of hostages]. It was possible to bring the old men who died later in captivity, it was possible to bring Yarden Bibas home on humanitarian grounds,” the unnamed minister was quoted as saying.

The report laid out Netanyahu’s decision to turn down an Egyptian proposal on December 24 and prevent Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from holding a discussion with Mossad chief David Barnea the next day.

There was also the potential for a breakthrough in January with a summit in Paris, said the report, but after Ben Gvir threatened to bring down the government, Netanyahu stressed five times over the next four days that there were obstacles in the talks.

Netanyahu continued along that line in March, refusing to expand the negotiators’ mandate. The report cited a former associate of Netanyahu, who argued that when the premier wants a deal, he doesn’t speak publicly about his red lines, as he has done repeatedly since US President Joe Biden presented Israel’s proposal on May 31. Channel 12 also said the top security officials were surprised by Netanyahu’s announcement in June laying out his red lines, including around the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Netanyahu’s office later issued a statement denouncing the TV report, saying the “false claims” in the media “echo the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas.”

The Prime Minister’s Office argued that Netanyahu accepted all of the US proposals, which “completely refutes the claim that he sabotaged any deal for political reasons.”

It noted that Netanyahu sent a proposal on April 27 that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “very generous”; that he agreed to US President Joe Biden’s proposal on May 31; and that, on August 16, he accepted the US “final bridging proposal,” all of which were turned down by Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office also pointed out that US officials have said repeatedly that there is no deal because of Hamas — though they have also put some of the blame on Israel at certain times