When we placed the first flowers here in our home city of Brighton & Hove we could never ever have imagined that nearly 2 years later this nightmare, not only continues but has expanded into an 8 front war and the death toll and suffering which was not only shocking on day 1, increased daily and is completely unbearable .
Today marks 700 days since that Black Shabbat .
Israel has fought a long lonely and slow battle with her hands tied by the need to protect the hostages and to try not to harm the civilians in Gaza , many who are minors and many who are just Hamas in disguise as Doctors , Journalists and aid workers .
48 hostages remain, but it is understood that only 20 are barely alive in diabolical conditions hidden in Hamas labyrinth of tunnels .
The released hostages had been starved , beaten and abused .
Bibi threatens to destroy Hamas and bring the remaining hostages home, but in nearly 2 years and with so much superior fire power Israel has yet to reach her war aims.
60,000 additional troops were drafted this week so once again we must wait to see if there is grand plan .
The IDF according to their spokesman, now control 40% of Gaza city, crushing many buildings, hoping that the people give up their loyalty to Hamas and get on board the vision for a new future .
Ovet 300 trucks of aid enter the strip daily and millions of meals are distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation directly to the people .
Most aid delivered by the UN falls into the hands of Hamas and is resold to finance their activities .
Now the strip is flooded with food and aid, the prices have stabilised.
Israel at long last is setting up a PR department to counter the lies that have flooded western media and opened up another front by putting diaspora Jews undefended in a dangerous and vulnerable position .
A good step forward was the elimination of Abu Obeida, the mastermind of the Hamas propaganda machine, which includes the Pallywood filming of starving children and dead bleeding children who appear time and time again in the same clips at different locations only to be found alive and well later .
This week a child called Aboud was rescued by the IDF who had been accused of killing him in July under the name Amir.
Hamas had been searching for the child to kill him to give the false story credence, so the mother knowing the ways of Hamas hid him, but he is now safe , alive and well .
The Houthi in Yemen have joined Hamas and Hezbollah in the fight to destroy Israel.
All three terror organisations have been very much weakened, but not yet totally destroyed .
Lebanon are confronting Hezbollah who are trying to re-establish themselves .
Israel knocked out most of the Houthi leadership last week, but they continue to launch missiles, including cluster bombs at Israel .
The centre had sirens this week sending millions into shelters . Mostly, they fail to reach their destination.
This is the week a few countries including France and the UK ( supposedly allies of Israel ) are slated to recognise a Palestinian State .
They can’t say where the borders will be or who will lead it and the threat of rewarding Hamas for the massacre of October 7th, has sent the far right elements in the Knesset into overdrive . In turn they are proposing annexing Judea and Samaria . This talk of a two state solution at this time is counter productive .
Macron of France, who is very anti Israel had found he is not welcome to visit .
Hamas does not want a two state solution but remains committed to one state Judenfrei.
Israel doesn’t want another hostile Arab state on her border, so recognising something that none of the players want, and that doesn’t even exist is child’s play .
Meanwhile , Iran who is the sponsor of all this chaos , sits swinging her legs smiling, as the they watch the Western world rip its self apart .
The world has forgotten what starts with the Jews never end with the Jews and by not supporting Israel , they have in fact made the plight of the hostages much much worse by strengthening Hamas.
All the spurious crazed accusations of genocide and famine fed the hopes of Hamas that Israel would fall under the external pressure . Hamas never felt isolated or defeated but watched with delight as the west marched in support of terror tsfuing vuctory within their grasp .
This war could have ended in one month if the western allies had jumped to Israel’s defence, and it can end tomorrow if Hamas release the hostages and surrender.