The whole nation of Israel is traumatised since the events of October 7th. Somehow, despite this attack being inevitable, both the people and government had somehow sleep walked into an illusion that Israel could control the ever increasing violent situation. Despite more than 4 months of all out war , utilising much of Israel’s military strength, against Hamas the situation is still not fully under control and the situation in the north deteriorates daily.
Two families this week had their prayers answered when the IDF, under intense fire, managed to rescue two hostages. However, other families including those of six soldiers have had their worst nightmares come true. 233 soldiers have fallen in Gaza, 6 in the North and 3 in the West Bank. Over 8,000 are injured.
Civilians have been injured in Sfad, which is about eight miles from the border with Lebanon and one person was killed in a rocket attack. A young female soldier was killed and eleven injured when eleven rockets slammed into the city, just missing the Ziv hospital, but hitting an army base. In a previous incident , a car with a mother and child, was also hit this week by fire from Hezbollah.
Israel is returning fire and trying to target the Hezbollah infrastructure and have killed a senior Hezbollah commander and his deputy. In relatiation, Thursday night has seen heavy rocket fire on Kiryat Shmona, Tel Chai and Kibbutz` Menara.
It was thought that neither Israel or Hezbollah were looking for all out war at this time, however, if the fire continues to increase from Lebanon, the IDF will need to reassess the situation which is so unstable and dangerous that many residents remain displaced.
The IDF have raided the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, South Gaza as they have credible intelligence that the hostages were held there, and there is a possibility that they may recover the bodies of some of the slain hostages.It is thought that 29 of the hostages are no longer alive.
Several suspects have been detained and thousands who were sheltering in the hospital have moved through a designated corridor set up by the IDF to a safer area.
Under international law hospitals should be off limits for military actions, but as the IDF have indisputable evidence that the hospitals are used as terror facilities they are legitimate enemy targets. The IDF are endeavouring to ensure that the Nasser hospital can continue its work of treating the patients during this difficult and complicated operation. Israeli doctors and Arabic speakers are on the ground to assist in the running of the hospital.
It is understandable that people outside of Israel that are only seeing the news that Hamas is reporting, are feeling very distressed by the high number of Gazan civilian casualties being reported. It is indeed a horrific situation. All civilian deaths are tragic, but the civilian deaths in Gaza are not being caused by Israel as reported, but by Hamas who are holding the population as human shields.
The sorry story of the young six year old Gazan girl calling for help broke the hearts of many, but the reason she was not safe is because Hamas are sitting underground protecting themselves after starting an unprovoked war, while leaving their civilians in a war zone. The private tunnel of the Hamas leader, Sinwar, was discovered this week. It included bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens for the comfort of him and his family as they hid like rats underground with their stash of Israeli shekels stolen from all the Gaza aid money.
Israel cannot protect her own civilians if Hamas are not totally destroyed and the job the Israeli soldiers are being forced to carry out for the defence of the nation , is truly heartbreaking and horrific. The calls for an immediate ceasefire should be directed to Hamas, who only need to surrender their arms and free the hostages in order for the hostilities to immediate cease.
Israel is not going to release thousands of convicted murderers as demanded, as their return to their terrorist cells is a certain death sentence for Israeli civilians. Absolutely nothing has changed in the Hamas charter to kill the Jews and destroy the whole of the Jewish State. We cannot and will not agree to the death of another 6 million people.
The unelected, self appointed leader of the PA has stated he is ready to take charge of Gaza to prevent a second “Nakba”. As he and his predecessor Yassaf Arafat have enjoyed decades of supporting the terror attacks on Israel while amassing great fortunes, he is certainly not a trustworthy or safe pair of hands. The way to avoid a second Nakba is to stop attacking Israel. The Arabs only need cast their minds back to their previous attempts in 1948, 67 and 73 to see that attacking Israel never ends well and the only path forward is peace and co-existence.
Shabbat Shalom