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Amid Escalating Threats, Here’s What’s Been Happening in Gaza
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Over the past few weeks, fighting in the Gaza Strip has continued at the same reduced pace, and with the same methods on both sides.
The IDF is slowly combing through the Rafah area against pinprick ambushes and raids by Hamas and other groups. Apparently, most of the Palestinian terrorists fled along with the civilians when the IDF provided evacuation notices to the latter, and are now trickling back to fight. Preventing the flight of terrorists with the civilians would have required the IDF to first conduct a rapid attack through the area north of Rafah to cut off access between it and Khan Yunis and the designated safe haven, but that would have increased civilian casualties and so was not viable.
The latest IDF raid into eastern Khan Yunis lasted two weeks. During that raid, IDF soldiers found the bodies of five more Israelis who were killed on October 7, and then had their bodies abducted. They were hidden inside a tunnel behind a false wall. According to one report, the information enabling their recovery was acquired from a captured Hamas terrorist. The IDF reported that during this raid, 150 terrorists were killed. The population that had been evacuated from the area of the raid prior to its start was allowed to return.
Below is a piece of Fatah propaganda against Hamas (provided by Israeli blogger Abu Ali Express from Palestinian social media): It says that in July 1994 Arafat entered Gaza following the Oslo Accords; In July 2024 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu entered Gaza. The message: We, Fatah, liberated Gaza, and you, Hamas, destroyed it.
The population of the northern area of Nusayrat and Burayj (south of the IDF cordon separating northern Gaza from the rest of the Gaza Strip) was told to evacuate, and airstrikes and small raids have been conducted there.
The IDF conducts airstrikes in areas where its ground troops are not operating. These strikes are based on intelligence, and last-minute evacuation orders are provided to civilians living in or very near the target. Hamas and the other groups have been using UNRWA facilities, schools, and other “sensitive” locations to protect their personnel; the IDF locates them, monitors them, and then strikes them. Each time this occurs, Hamas claims that all the casualties incurred were civilians. The IDF provides information that they were mostly terrorists, though unfortunately some civilians have been hit too.
Hamas fired rockets from inside the safe haven area, so a portion of it was declared a combat zone and the population there told to evacuate. Some of the rockets fell inside Gaza, including on an UNWRA school in Khan Yunis, causing Palestinian casualties.
During the fighting in Gaza, three Israeli soldiers have been killed since my last update and a few dozen wounded (a few severely but most of them only lightly).
Below is a Palestinian “civilian” medic in action, also from a video posted on Palestinian social media, provided by Abu Ali Express.
Judea and Samaria:
The fighting in Judea and Samaria continues. Each IDF entry into Palestinian towns faces varying intensities of resistance, including bombs dug under roads (cleared by having bulldozers tear up the asphalt), rifles, machine guns, grenades, and improvised hand-thrown bombs as well as petrol bombs.
Since my last report there have been a couple of hundred more Palestinian attacks in or emanating from Judea and Samaria, bringing the total number of Palestinian attacks since October 7, 2023, to approximately 4,000. Several Israeli civilians and soldiers were wounded but none killed.
The Palestinians claim that more than 9,855 people have been arrested, but the official Israeli number is approximately 4,250 (no official update since my last report, but partial reporting adds a few dozen arrested all told) of whom approximately 50% belong to Hamas and the others to other groups. The discrepancy is apparently explained by the fact that the Palestinians count anyone who was detained, even if they were released after questioning.
Occasional skirmishes continue between the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad cells. In at least two cases, these have included the detonating of bombs targeting Palestinian Authority security patrols inside the Authority’s sovereign controlled territory. At least one security officer was wounded. In another case, Palestinian Authority security personnel entered a hospital in Tulkarem to arrest a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander wounded in a skirmish with Palestinian Authority security forces (a bomb he tried to hurl at them exploded prematurely), but he managed to escape with the help of civilians in the hospital and other armed members of his faction. His escape was afterwards feted by a street celebration. This suggests the relative popularity among the local population of Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, and its rivals.
During their skirmishes, the factions often cooperate to attack Israelis. Symbolic of this occasional cooperation is that during the funeral of a killed terrorist, his body was draped in the flags of Fatah-affiliated organizations while being carried to the grave and then in Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags at the grave itself.
Dr. Eado Hecht, a senior research fellow at the BESA Center, is a military analyst focusing mainly on the relationship between military theory, military doctrine, and military practice. He teaches courses on military theory and military history at Bar-Ilan University, Haifa University, and Reichman University and in a variety of courses in the Israel Defense Forces. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
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