We must make the light of Chanukah shine through the terrible blackness that we find ourselves trapped in. A modern day miracle during Chanukah would help to lift the darkness.
At this time it is thought that 138 hostages remain in Gaza, The estimated numbers change daily as the forensic experts shift through the charred remains of the October 7th attack, and some thought kidnapped are declared dead. The condition of the hostages remains unknown, as the Red Cross were unable to see them despite that being a condition of last week’s ceasefire.
The Red Cross are coming in for some very harsh criticism as they have not managed to access the hostages in the 62 days since war broke out. Of course, one must realise that the captors are hardened terrorists who do not abide by any international laws or humanitarian norms, but the Red Cross have been much too quiet about the situation and stand accused of failing to do their job.
The fighting continued as soon as the ceasefire ended, and now the IDF have encircled Khan Yunis, but at a cost of the lives of more IDF soldiers. 89 soldiers have now fallen since the ground invasion, including the 25 year old son of the IDF former Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot.
Military service in Israel is mandatory and most of the soldiers are young people, and at this time, their service is treacherous and dangerous. This is a defensive war that was forced upon Israel, The country, both the left and the right, now understand they are fighting for the very survival of the state and the lives of its citizens.
Khan Yunis is the home of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas. He was incarcerated for 22 years on four counts of murder but released in the Gilad Shalit deal of 2011. Israel released over 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the one soldier who had been held hostage for five years. Sinwar who was serving 4 life sentences was greeted as a hero when he arrived back to Gaza.
Sinwar’s plan to lure Israel into a permanent state of war was successful on October 7th. Previous attempts to spark all out war failed as Israel did not wish to occupy Gaza despite the obvious failure of the Oslo Accords 1(993) and Israel’s evacuation of Gaza in 2005.
Sinwar was quite sure that the October 7th attack would be enough to make Israel enter Gaza and eventually bring world wide condemnation. Even the potential total destruction of Gaza and a heavy civilian death toll was not sufficient to deter him from his plan, that had been a long time in the making and not really any secret ( if anyone was listening ).
UNWRA are looking complicit as all the Hamas infrastructure is built under civilian facilities, such as schools, hospitals (which they run and fund ) and mosques. It is impossible that they didn’t know they were hiding military installations and tunnels. They knew as little as the Germans and the Red Cross, who know nothing of the death camps !
Hundreds of rockets have been launched from Gaza this week and missiles are also been launched from Syria and Lebanon. A sixty year old man was killed when a missile struck his car near the Lebanese border.
Eilat continues to have a few sirens triggered by fire from Yemen. For the first time a ballistic missile fired by the Iran backed Houthi was destroyed by the Arrow 3 Defence System outside of the earths atmosphere, marking the world’s first known space battle.
The US has asked Israel not to respond to the fire from Yemen. The Red Sea shipping route is coming under more attacks from the Houthi and perhaps the US are planning on their own response to the piracy.
It is thought Israel is considering flooding the vast network of underground tunnels in Gaza. The environmental impact could be devastating for future agricultural development and they must weigh up the damage against the gain. It is also possible that the flooding would harm the hostages, so while they are preparing the equipment, it is not yet reported that wide spread flooding has been initiated. Already, though some Hamas terrorists are starting to surrender and are being taken prisoner of war by Israel.
Israel needs to re-think this policy of holding Palestinian prisoners and then being forced to release them in a deal of anything up 1,000 to 1 . It has set a dangerous precedent as hostages are now viewed as valuable currency and those released from prison have committed atrocities once and are clearly happy to re-offend. Despite their vile crimes they are welcomed back as heroes by the people.
May the light of Chanukah shine bright and lift our all souls.