Day Fifty-Nine Of Swords Of Iron

10:00 am

The Guardian newspaper provided the following summary of today's events:

Dozens of Israeli tanks have entered the southern part of the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis on Monday, witnesses have told AFP. Armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were also seen. Moaz Mohammed, 34, said Israeli tanks were on the southern part of Salah al-Din road. “They are holding Salah al-Din road on both sides and are now cutting it between Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area,” he said.

Israel’s military has issued a situational update, in which it claims that “ground troops are continuing to operate in the Gaza Strip in parallel to Israeli air force strikes on approximately 200 Hamas terror targets”. Local reporters have described “a very deadly and bloody night for the Palestinians” with many believed killed.

In videos posted on X, Unicef spokesperson James Elder reported “another intense evening of attacks here in Khan Younis” late Sunday. It was the “worst bombardment of the war right now in southern Gaza”, he said. “I feel like I am running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here,” he said. “I feel like I’m almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here.”

Gaza’s health ministry has issued new casualty figures, saying that 15,899 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip, says that 70% of those who have been killed are women and children. It does not distinguish in the figures between civilians and combatants. The number of deaths is likely under-counted, as the collapse of the health system in Gaza has made it difficult for statistics to be gathered, and there are more than 6,000 Palestinians considered missing within the territory.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has described the suffering in Gaza as “intolerable” while visiting the territory. Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said: “The level of human suffering is intolerable. It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza”.

Telecomms company PalTel has said that Gaza is facing a telecoms blackout, with all telecom services (landline, cellular and internet) in Gaza City and north Gaza Strip have been lost due to the disconnection of main elements of our network in light of the ongoing aggression.

Israel’s military has again said it has fired into Lebanon at the site of launches it claimed were directed into Israel. It said “a number of launches from Lebanon” had occurred, and that they had fallen in open areas, with no casualties as a result. Earlier on Monday it said that three soldiers had been “slightly injured” by fire from Lebanon at an Israeli military site.

Six hostages from Thailand kidnapped and held for weeks in the Gaza Strip by Hamas will arrive back in the kingdom on Monday. Israel believes that Hamas still holds about 137 people hostage in Gaza.

At least 60 Palestinians were arrested in the occupied West Bank overnight, Al Jazeera reported, with Israeli forces carrying out raids in the cities of Qalqilya, Jericho, Jenin and Tulkarem. At least 30 armoured vehicles were deployed in Jenin following a dawn raid, the broadcaster reported.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually be tried as a war criminal over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A court hearing in the Netherlands challenging the export of fighter jet parts to Israel that could be used in attacks on Gaza has begun.
Benjamin Netanyahu has invited Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei to Israel, and thanked him for his stated intention to move the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem.
 

9:41 am

Today, Israel's National Security Council warned Israelis against travelling to dozens of countries, amid rising antisemitism around the world as Israel fights the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany and other European countries were on the list. In addition, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and Russia were placed in Level 2, which recommends that Israelis take additional precautions while there. South Africa, Eritrea, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, were raised to Level 3, which recommends postponing nonessential travel. The Israeli government agency reiterated that Israelis should reconsider all travel abroad and called on those who do need to travel overseas to avoid outward displays of their Jewish and Israeli identities. “Since the beginning of the war there have been increased efforts identified from Iran and its affiliates, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to target Israelis and Jews around the world,” the National Security Council said in a statement. “On this basis, along with the rising levels of incitement, attempted attacks and antisemitism around the world, the National Security Council has reiterated its recommendation for Israelis to reconsider any nonessential travel at this time,”

The man who stabbed a tourist to death near the Eiffel Tower in Paris swore allegiance to the Islamic State group in a video posted to social media, French anti-terrorist prosecutors said Dec. 3. The French citizen of Iranian origin was known the authorities as a radicalized Islamist who had social media connections to perpetrators of other recent attacks in France, such as the jihadi who beheaded a French schoolteacher, and had been under close psychological surveillance for mental health issues, senior prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said. The murderer's mother had reported concerns about her son in October, but there was insufficient proof at the time to take legal action.

9:10 am

Gaza City is being attacked by the IDF from three sides: from the north side, west side, and east-to-west, and covered with heavy artillery fire.   Palestinians on social media report that maneuvering forces of the IDF have arrived on A-Sakha Street in the Shejaiya neighborhood.”  That’s the east-to-west.  Belt of Fire attacks in the "Madinat Hamad" area in Khan Yunis (south Gaza).

An annual ecumenical festival in Williamsburg VA has cancelled an already scheduled menorah lighting ceremony. The local Jewish community released a statement, saying in part: "The Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula is shocked and alarmed at LoveLight Placemaking’s decision to cancel a menorah lighting scheduled for the Second Sundays Art and Music Festival on Dec 10 in Williamsburg – claiming it did not want to appear to choose sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict. To be clear, the menorah lighting, which was to be led by a local community rabbi, had nothing to do with Israel or the conflict." The statement said that blaming Jews collectively for the actions of the Israeli government is antisemitic. "We should be very clear: it is antisemitic to hold Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s policies and actions, and to require a political litmus test for Jews’ participation in community events that have nothing to do with Israel. Those standards would never be applied to another community."  

9:00 am

Two companies of troops from the IDF’s Commando Brigade, which had been deployed to the Gaza border in September and October, were sent to the West Bank just two days before Hamas’s October 7 massacre. 100+ soldiers were deployed to the West Bank’s Huwara area following a shooting attack there against an Israeli family. The Operations Directorate had deployed the Brigade to the Gaza border, and were not part of the regular forces securing the border, according to Kan broadcaster. Previously, the IDF claimed that troops had not been diverted away from the Gaza border to the West Bank ahead of the October 7 attacks. Troops had been operating in the West Bank amid a rise in terror over the past two years. The IDF is investigating. 

Israeli opposition Leader Yair Lapid said he that the Palestinian Authority should be part of Gaza’s post-war management, but should be de-radicalized. “I said that the Palestinian Authority needs to be part of the civilian management of Gaza,” Lapid clarified, adding that it “needs to go through a de-radicalization process.” Regarding debate in the Knesset over Israel's wartime government budget, he attacked plans to 30 billion shekels ($8 billion) for wartime needs because it permits funding non-wartime political priorities. “The [coalition] funds are a national disgrace,” Lapid said. He accused PM Netanyahu of hypocrisy, saying that if their political roles were reversed, that Netanyahu would have asked for Lapid’s “head on a platter.” “He who has failed in this way can’t continue,” Lapid says, adding that the current government, under whose watch Hamas killed over 1,200 people in Israel on October 7 and triggered the current war, “should go.”

The IDF announced a new humanitarian corridor in southern Gaza while it advances on Khan Younis. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee posted on X, saying that the north-south Salah ad-Din highway in areas northeast of Khan Younis is a “battle zone.” “The fighting and military advance of the IDF in the Khan Younis area does not allow the movement of civilians through the Salah ad-Din axis in the areas north and east of the city,” he said. The IDF will facilitate the movement of civilians via a bypass route to the west of Khan Younis, he said. “Passage from the Rafah and Khan Younis areas toward Deir al-Balah and the camps of central Gaza will be available through the following routes: al-Rashid coastal road and al-Shuhada Street in Deir al-Balah,” he said.

Dr. Yael Mozer-Glassberg, who is treating freed hostages at Schneider Children’s Medical Center, said that reports claiming they were returned in good condition to Israel are not true.

Pediatrician Mozer-Glassberg said that the 26 former hostages her hospital received — 19 of them children — had lost 10-15 percent of their body weight because of malnutrition. They also exhibited odd eating habits when reintroduced to proper nutrition. She said that in general the hostages returned with skin rashes and lice bites on their bodies. “They returned with extremely low hygiene. I have never seen hygiene this bad,” Mozer-Glassberg says. “Their headlice was the worst I have ever seen. Even with five or six treatments, the lice were not gone.” They came home with infected wounds that had not been properly cared for while in captivity.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israeli PM Netanyahu will eventually be tried for war crimes just like former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. He referred to Netanyahu once again as the “butcher of Gaza.” “Netanyahu, the butcher of Gaza, is not only a war criminal but he will definitely be tried as the butcher of Gaza, just like Milosevic was tried,” Erdogan told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul. 

Erdogan also renewed his criticism of the United Nations system, accusing the five permanent members of the UN Security Council of blocking efforts to end the violence. “On the one side, there are 121 countries that say ‘stop the war’ and ‘no more bloodshed,’ and on the other side, there are three or five countries that give carte blanche to Israel’s attacks,” Erdogan says.

IDF jets and drone struck a Hezbollah command center and other sites in Lebanon belonging to the terrorists in response to attacks on northern Israel today. 

A short while ago, rockets were also fired at the northern community of Mattat in Israel, landing in open areas. The IDF responded with artillery.

Dozens of Israeli tanks entered southern Gaza near Khan Younis today as the IDF conducts a ground offensive in the area. Armored personnel carriers and bulldozers were also seen as Israel expands its operations against Hamas. One witness said he saw the vehicles 1.2 miles (2 km) inside Gaza in Al-Qarara village near Khan Yunis. Another witness saw tanks on the southern part of Salah al-Din road which runs from the north to the south of Gaza.

The IDF does not comment on specific troop movements but confirmed yesterday that it had expanded its ground offensive into southern Gaza.

Warning sirens sound in Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv area and at Kiryat Ono, Yehud-Monosson, Savyon and Or Yehuda, which are near Ben Gurion International Airport, in response to rocket barrages. Sirens also sounded in Pri Gan, Nir Itzhak and Sufa on the Gaza border, as well as Shfela, Hemed, Dan, Magshimim, Kiryat Ono, Ramat Gan, Yehud-Monosson, Savyon, Or Yehuda.

Germany urgeed Israel to guarantee “realistic” protection to civilians in Gaza during Israel's renewed offensive in southern Gaza. "Something we expect from Israel is that they not only urge civilians to leave the danger zone, but that they are in a realistic position to find safe shelter elsewhere,” foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said. “Too many civilians have already been killed in this war,” he says.

Hamas may have tried to profit off its October 7 assault on Israel, using advance knowledge of the attack to short sell Israeli companies in the days leading up to the massacre.  Robert J. Jackson, Jr. from the New York University School of Law and Joshua Mitts of Columbia Law School published a rerport finding traders with such advance knowledge made billions of dollars. “We document a significant spike in short selling in the principal Israeli-company ETF days before the October 7 Hamas attack,” the paper says. “The short selling that day far exceeded the short selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis, including the recession following the financial crisis, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, we identify increases in short selling before the attack in dozens of Israeli companies traded in Tel Aviv,” it notes. Short selling is when a trader borrows shares in a specific company and then sells them, hoping the price will fall after so they can buy them back for a lower price.

“For one Israeli company alone, 4.43 million new shares sold short over the September 14 to October 5 period yielded profits (or avoided losses) of 3.2 billion NIS ($740 million) on that additional short selling,” the paper says. “Although we see no aggregate increase in shorting of Israeli companies on US exchanges, we do identify a sharp and unusual increase, just before the attacks, in trading in risky short-dated options on these companies expiring just after the attacks,” it added.

8:20 am

Police arrested two migrant teenagers suspected of planning to "burn infidels" and drive a truck into a Christmas market in Cologne. The pair also planned to attack a synagogue. They are currently under arrest.

Summary of the day provided by The Guardian:

Israel’s military has issued a situational update, in which it claims that “ground troops are continuing to operate in the Gaza Strip in parallel to Israeli air force strikes on approximately 200 Hamas terror targets”. Local reporters have described “a very deadly and bloody night for the Palestinians” with many believed killed.

In videos posted on X, Unicef spokesman James Elder reported “another intense evening of attacks here in Khan Younis” late Sunday. It was the “worst bombardment of the war right now in southern Gaza”, he said. “I feel like I am running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here,” he said. “I feel like I’m almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here.”

Dozens of Israeli tanks have entered the southern part of the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis on Monday, witnesses have told AFP. Armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were also seen. Moaz Mohammed, 34, said Israeli tanks were on the southern part of Salah al-Din road. “They are holding Salah al-Din road on both sides and are now cutting it between Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area,” he said.

Israel’s military has denied claims that it is attempting to permanently remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said “We are not trying to displace anyone, we are not trying to move anybody from anywhere permanently.” Israel’s military has issued a grid map of Gaza and is insisting residents evacuate to areas it specifies. Rohan Talbot, advocacy director at the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, has described the Israeli move as “akin to a macabre game of Battleships in which terrified civilians will be left guessing which square will save their life.”

In its latest estimate, the UN’s OCHA said about 1.8 million people in Gaza, roughly 75% of the population, had been displaced, many to overcrowded and unsanitary shelters. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, with more than 6,000 people missing.

Israel’s military has again said it has fired into Lebanon at the site of launches it claimed were directed into Israel. It said “a number of launches from Lebanon” had occurred, and that they had fallen in open areas, with no casualties as a result. Earlier on Monday it said that three soldiers had been “slightly injured” by fire from Lebanon at an Israeli military site.

Six hostages from Thailand kidnapped and held for weeks in the Gaza Strip by Hamas will arrive back in the kingdom on Monday. Israel believes that Hamas still holds 137 people hostage in Gaza.

Haaretz is reporting that a meeting between families of those being held hostage in Gaza and Israel’s war cabinet is being scheduled as a result of the families’ threat to escalate their protests. Earlier on Monday at a press conference some of the families of those held in Gaza threatened to stage a permanent sit-in at Israel’s army headquarters, telling the government: “Your indifference towards us is a disgrace.”

At least 60 Palestinians were arrested in the occupied West Bank overnight, Al Jazeera reported, with Israeli forces carrying out raids in the cities of Qalqilya, Jericho, Jenin and Tulkarem. At least 30 armoured vehicles were deployed in Jenin following a dawn raid, the broadcaster reported.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually be tried as a war criminal over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

A court hearing in the Netherlands challenging the export of fighter jet parts to Israel that could be used in attacks on Gaza has begun.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank have lost their jobs or had their salaries frozen after the Israeli authorities cancelled their work permits and imposed severe restrictions on crossings after the 7 October attacks. Approximately 182,000 Gaza residents who work in Israel and the settlements had their employment terminated, initial estimates by the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggest.

December 4, 2023