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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWe visited hostage square in Tel Aviv this week. A place that has been set up so that the plight of the hostages stays at the forefront of people\u2019s minds.With its huge clock that shows the days, minutes and seconds since they were kidnapped. It is a very sad and sobering place of solidarity to just to walk around , away from the bustle of the city. On Day 111, 136 hostages are still unaccounted for and there has been no update on their condition .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we think of the human condition and our basic needs to just stay alive, it is very distressing to think about the hostages who have spent 111 days most probably in underground tunnels.Eight days have passed since the IDF sent medical supplies into Gaza but the Red Cross have not confirmed any delivery of medication as yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IDF have yet to locate the places where they are held, but as they have destroyed hundreds of tunnels it is hoped they are closing in. Contrary to news reports there is no real proposal for the release of the hostages. Israel put forward an initiative which has been rejected. Further talks are underway together with Egypt who are very keen to see a containment of the war, as they fear that Gazans may enter Egypt and resurrect the Muslim Brotherhood who are affiliated to Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IDF\u2019s task of destroying Hamas conflicts heavily with the task of bringing the hostages home alive. We hear calls for a ceasefire but we must take into account that \u201cSenior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal has dismissed the possibility of a two-state solution and said that his terror group\u2019s devastating October 7 assault on Israel proved that liberating Palestine \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d is a realistic idea.\u201c Therefore, Israel understands that any ceasefire will only be used to re-group and re-arm in order to attack Israel again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same applies to all the loose talk swirling around the EU stating that the only solution is a Palestinian state. They refuse to recognise that a Palestinian state is not a 2 state solution but a huge step towards a one state solution which would see all Jewish Israelis massacred and driven from their homes. Hamas have stated that October 7th was just a rehearsal and there will be a repeat attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others propose that the PA, as a moderate alternative, would be able to take charge of a Palestinian state but they should remember that in 2013 President Abbas said \"In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands\u201d. As their \u201clands\u201d are in their distorted minds from the \u201criver to the sea\u201d, we must question what they intend to do with the seven and half million Jews that presently reside in Israel. Perhaps he was misquoted and meant \u201cfinal solution\u201d rather than \u201cfinal resolution\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only reason that more of the Arabs in the West Bank under the PA have not been able to fully back and support their brothers in Gaza is that the security in those areas have been under Israeli control. Make no mistake Israel is fighting for the lives and survival of their citizens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idle nonsense chatter from around the world is not helping at all. In a totally upside down world Israel has been delivering aid to Gaza, which is misappropriated by Hamas. Qatar who have sponsored Hamas and are known to sponsor world wide terrorism are the chief negotiators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The families of the hostages are rightly blocking roads to prevent the aid from entering Gaza. 10,000 trucks of aid have already been delivered into Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week was the deadliest week for the IDF with 21 soldiers killed in one day, when a building full of explosives collapsed, just after 3 soldiers had fallen the day before. Despite all the efforts and the destructions of hundreds of rocket launchers Hamas continue to fire rockets into Israel, but the numbers are much less this week. Since October 7th around 13,000 rockets have been launched into Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IDF expect the search for hidden weapons to go on for months, as Hamas have hidden weapons everywhere and there is not a school, mosque or hospital that has not been utilised for terrorist activities. Fierce fighting is being reported from Khan Younis and the IDF are successfully eliminating scores of terrorists and large numbers are reported to be surrendering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The northern border remains volatile with Hezbollah having sent suicide drones towards the Iron Dome at Kfar Blum. No damage was reported, Hezbollah has 20,000 missiles pointed towards Tel Aviv and 150,000 threatening the north. The deadline of February 1st for Hezbollah to move back to the Litani River is looming and there is no indication that Hezbollah have taken this ultimatum seriously. The IDF continue to attack Hezbollah locations in Lebanon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 200,000 Israelis are displaced from their homes and despite the overseas media hinting at an imminent end to the war; until the hostages are returned and those displaced are safe to return home, there seems little chance of Israel feeling secure enough to withdraw and start the much needed diplomatic solution towards the \u201cday after\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shabbat Shalom <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We visited hostage square in Tel Aviv this week. A place that has been set up so that the plight of the hostages stays at the forefront of people\u2019s minds.With its huge clock that shows the days, minutes and seconds since they were kidnapped. It is a very sad and sobering place of solidarity to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-from-israel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3087,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions\/3087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}