News Digest — 8/30/24
Ministers Vote To Back PM’s Stance In Favor Of IDF Staying In Philadelphi Corridor
The Israeli security cabinet voted overwhelmingly Thursday night (29th) to back Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position in favor of maintaining Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal still being negotiated, a senior official in the premier’s office said.
The top panel of ministers was asked to approve a series of maps that the IDF has drawn up showing how Israel plans to maintain its troops presence in the nine-mile narrow stretch along the Gaza-Egypt border. These maps have already been adopted by the US, the official said, apparently referencing the bridging proposal submitted earlier this month by the Biden Administration.
Netanyahu turned the continued IDF deployment in the Philadelphi Corridor into a new demand in the hostage negotiations last month, insisting that it was essential for preventing continued weapons smuggling, which would allow for the revival of Hamas after the war.
In last night’s security cabinet meeting, eight ministers voted in favor of Netanyahu’s position regarding the Corridor, while only Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voted against it, reflecting the security establishment’s push for more flexibility on the issue, fearing Netanyahu’s stance will further drag out the talks, risking the lives of the hostages.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir cast the vote’s lone abstention, ostensibly arguing that Netanyahu’s stance wasn’t hawkish enough.
During the meeting, Netanyahu told ministers that Hamas had been able to carry out its October 7 onslaught because Israel didn’t have control over the Philadelphi Corridor, the senior Israeli official said in a statement to reporters.
Netanyahu stressed that by maintaining control over the Corridor, Israel will prevent another attack of that nature from unfolding since Hamas won’t be able to re-arm itself.
He also argued that this stance will actually make a hostage deal more likely because Hamas will see that it has no other choice but to compromise on this issue, just as it did when it agreed to forgo its demand for a permanent end to the war.
During last night’s security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu went after the defense establishment, claiming they had wrongly supported Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
“Security officials claimed that they would know how to deal with the first rocket (from Gaza) , but this did not happen after Hamas began raining fire on Israel,” Netanyahu told the ministers, according to the statement from an official in his office. Hamas had been launching rockets at Israel before the disengagement.
“Security officials also believed that they would know how to deal with the withdrawal from Lebanon and before that with the import of terrorist elements into Judea and Samaria (West Bank) as part of the Oslo Accords. These estimates were also wrong,” Netanyahu told the ministers.
Separately, during last night’s meeting, the security cabinet was presented with the preliminary results of an IDF review that found that most of the no-longer alive hostages were killed during the first six months of the war, closer to the October 7 onslaught and not in recent months, the Israeli official said.
‘Return To Martyrdom:’ Hamas Official Instructs Palestinian Terrorists To Return To Suicide Bombing
Hamas official Khaled Mashaal called on Wednesday (28th) for suicide bombing in Israel and the West Bank to be resumed, while delivering a speech at a conference in Turkey, according to CNN Arabic.
The same Hamas official called for the whole Arab world to join Hamas in attacking Israel only days after October 7.
“Resistance operations in the West Bank are escalating despite the harsh conditions.” Mashaal told the conference.
“We want to return to martyrdom operations. This is a situation that can only be addressed by open conflict. They are fighting us with open conflict, and we are confronting them with open conflict,” he continued.
“The enemy has opened the conflict on all fronts, seeking us all, whether we fight or not. The enemy says ‘I am crazy,’ and it is up to the nation to assume its responsibilities. I reiterate my call for everyone to participate on multiple fronts in the actual resistance against the Zionist entity.”
Mashaal also slammed the United States efforts at reaching a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, accusing the US of supplying Israel with “weapons of destruction.”
“America abandoned the July 2 paper [US President Joe Biden‘s Gaza ceasefire proposal] then blamed Hamas, knowing that the one who disrupted the agreement was [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, who has a personal agenda, in addition to the Zionist agenda that America and some Western countries unfortunately support,” he said.
Marshall’s address came as the IDF announced it was conducting the most extensive counterterrorism operations in the West Bank in recent months.
The operations have been planned in response to an attempted suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv. The military believed the attack was planned in the Tulkarm area in the West Bank.
In recent searches, the IDF has found a number of hidden laboratories for the manufacturing of explosives, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Balata Camp Terrorists Turned Themselves In TO PA Over Fear Of IDF Operation
Islamic Jihad terrorists operating in the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus have surrendered their weapons and turned themselves in to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, fearing an imminent Israeli military operation, a security official revealed on Thursday (29th).
“There is significant public pressure on these terrorists, especially after seeing the recent military operations. Since Wednesday (28th), they began reaching out and have started to surrender,” the official said, estimating that around 15 terrorists have done so.
The IDF’s operation in the West Bank continues in Jenin and Tulkarm, with the army focusing on the threat posed by explosive devices, The IDF reported that powerful explosives, similar to those used in the recent Tel Aviv attack, have been discovered.
Meanwhile, IDF and Shin Bet forces completed an operation in the Far’a refugee camp in the Jordan Valley. The operation, which lasted about 30 hours, aimed to eliminate terrorists and uncover terrorist infrastructure in the camp. Paratroopers were airlifted to the area by Israeli Air Force helicopters and surrounded the camp. During the operation, an airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying terrorists.
In the midst of the operation, undercover Duvdevan soldiers, guided by Shin Bet intelligence, used a drone to locate an explosives lab and an operations room inside a mosque in the camp. Inside the mosque, they found ready-to-use explosives intended for attacks against Israeli forces, along with a large cache of weapons.,
During the first day of military operations in the West Bank and Jordan Valley, at least 12 terrorists were killed, more than 10 wanted individuals were arrested, and dozens of explosive devices and other weapons were destroyed. Among those killed was Mohammad Jaber, who was the leader of a terrorist organization in the Nur Shams camp. During the operation, an IDF soldier was moderately injured, and a member of the elite Yamam unit was lightly wounded.
Hamas Revealed To Falsify Public Opinion Polls From Palestinian Survey Research Institute
The IDF uncovered documents revealing a systematic effort by the Hamas terror organization to falsify public opinion polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), Israel’s military said on Thursday evening (29th).
The documents were uncovered from Hamas’ General Security Apparatus and obtained during operations in the Gaza Strip. Images released included a comparison of the original and falsified PSR poll results from March 2024, illustrating the extent of the tampering.
“These falsified results are designed to portray a misleading image of broad public support for Hamas and its leadership, particularly in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre,” the IDF explained.
According to the findings, the altered survey results were particularly aimed at bolstering the image of senior Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and creating an illusion of widespread approval for the October 7 attacks and other acts of terror.
Furthermore, the IDF added that the documents had exposed a deliberate strategy by Hamas to mask the organization’s declining public support and to manipulate perceptions both within the Palestinian territories and in the international arena.
However, the IDF also emphasized that there was no evidence of direct collaboration between Hamas and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. Instead the terror organization manipulated the results through on-the-ground influence.
“These findings underscore the importance Hamas places on public opinion, as it attempts to falsely and project widespread support among Gazans,” the IDF added.
IDF Destroyed 80% Of Hamas’ Tunnels In Rafah,, Military Sources Claim
The military has destroyed 80% of the tunnels in the Rafah area, IDF sources claimed on Thursday (29th), while also confirming defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s announcement on August 21 that Hamas’ last battalion there had been taken apart.
Despite that claim, other senior IDF sources told The Jerusalem Post in late June it could take six months to fully chart all of the tunnels in Rafah and years to destroy them. However, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stood by the 80% claim.
In addition, even in northern Gaza, which the IDF entered six months before it deployed in Rafah, there has been no indication that the army has reached anywhere near destroying 80% of the tunnels, with estimates ranging from 50% to just over 50%.
On August 21, Gallant said the IDF had destroyed 150 tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor alone, which makes up only a small part of the Rafah area.
One possible resolution of the seeming contradiction is that the IDF has destroyed 80% of strategic tunnels – which includes those that are more critical to communications, intelligence, and weapons storage – but not all tunnels, including more minor ones.
Another possibility is that 80% of all known tunnels to date in the area have been destroyed, but many more have not yet been explored or found.
Yet a third possibility is that the IDF really has destroyed 80% of all tunnels in Rafah – far more than in northern Gaza or than estimated in June – due to having invested more resources in destroying tunnels in Rafah than anywhere else, and this move was unknown by commanders in June.
The Rafah tunnels and the Philadelphi Corridor tunnels in particular, are viewed as having the greatest strategic importance to Hamas because they allow it to smuggle in weapons from Egypt.
Ancient Seal With Winged ‘Genie,’ Inscribed Jewish Name Found In Jerusalem
A stone seal from the Jewish First Temple Period, about 2,700 years ago, was discovered near the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported in a press release on Thursday morning (29th).
The “extremely rare and unusual stone seal…bearing a name inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script and a winged figure” is made of black stone and considered “one of the most beautiful ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem,” excavation directors Dr. Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom said.
The seal was used as an amulet, as well as a tool to sign documents and certificates. The figure featured in its center is depicted in profile and sports a set of wings. The figure is wearing a striped shirt and a hat or crown, and the paleo-hebrew script on the seal says, “LeYeho’ezer ben Hosh’ayahu,” which translates “For Yeho’ezer son of Hosh’ayahu.’
“This is an extremely rare and unusual discovery. This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’ – a protective magical figure – has been found in Israel and regional archaeology.
Researchers believe that the seal, used as an amulet, was first worn by the latter name of the two, who “held a senior position in the Kingdom of Judah’s administration.” The amulet, which embodies a symbol of authority, was made by a Judahite “at a very high artistic level,” explained Archaeologist and Assyriologist Dr. Filip Yukosavovic.
The name “Yeho’ezer” appears in the Bible in its abbreviated form as “Yo’ezer.” who was one of King David’s warriors. Additionally, a similar name, “Azariah ben Hosh’aya,” is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah and describes events from the First Temple era, around 2,700 years ago.
The seal’s name is structured with the two parts of the first name in reverse order compared to the biblical text, and the second name appears in its abbreviated form, a writing style typical for the time period.
The discovery of the ancient seal provides a new understanding of the influence of the Assyrian Empire on Judah, particularly in Jerusalem, during the First Temple period. The seal featuring an Assyrian entity and insignia, reflects this influence, while the Hebrew script used for the owner’s name, Yeho’ezer, highlights the connection to local Judahite culture. Archaeological evidence, especially from the City of David and the Temple Mount, showcases the extent of Assyrian cultural impact in the region.
Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu welcomed the find, noting its significance in demonstrating Jerusalem’s importance and centrality 2,700 years ago.
