2023-12-17 14:30:08
Israel: Raid on Sinwar's vacation home
Israeli troops raided the headquarters of the Khan Yunis battalion and the vacation homes of many high-ranking Hamas officials, including that of the leader of the Islamic faction, Yahya Sinwar, who has not been heard from for some time. The military spokesman announced this, adding that “weapons and tunnels were found in these houses.” The army then confirmed that troops were fighting Hamas in the Khan Yunis area in northern Gaza, considered a stronghold of the Palestinian faction. The soldiers – he continued – also reached the main square of Bani Suheila, not far from Khan Yunis. During the operations, he explained, the soldiers “killed many terrorists” and discovered the entrances to around 30 tunnels as well as intelligence material.
2023-12-17 09:41:39
French diplomat dead in Gaza
A French diplomat has been injured in a bomb attack on the house where he was taking refuge in Rafah, Gaza. The Paris Foreign Ministry made the announcement by condemning “the bombing of a residential building that caused the deaths of many other civilians” and calling on Israel to provide a full investigation. The man “along with two other colleagues and numerous family members had found refuge in the house of a colleague at the French consulate.” The house was hit by an Israeli bomb attack on Wednesday evening, seriously injuring our agent and claiming around ten lives.”
2023-12-17 09:41:15
London and Berlin are calling for a permanent ceasefire
London and Berlin are calling for a “permanent ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip. The request comes from British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock assumes that there is an “urgent need” for a “permanent ceasefire”. “We must do everything we can to pave the way for a lasting ceasefire,” said a joint statement in the Sunday Times, leading to lasting peace. The sooner the better, the need is urgent. Too many civilians have been killed.” However, they add: “We do not believe that calling for a general and immediate ceasefire now in the hope that it will become permanent one way or another is the right way forward.” This would be tantamount to “ignoring the reason Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas has barbarically attacked Israel and continues to fire rockets every day to kill Israeli citizens. Hamas must lay down its arms.”
2023-12-17 09:40:47
Two more soldiers killed in Gaza
The Israeli army announced the deaths of two more soldiers killed in combat, one in the north and the other in the south of Gaza. They are Joseph Avner Doran (26 years old) and Shalev Zaltsman (24 years old). Official estimates now put the number of soldiers killed in combat since the ground operation in Gaza began at 121.
War Israel – today's live broadcast, Sunday, December 17th.
by Mauro Evangelisti
“Help, help” screams in Hebrew the young hostage who, after seventy days in hell, a prisoner of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saw the soldiers of his country who were supposed to free him shoot him.
They also met two other hostages who were with him and were holding a white flag. They killed her. He calls again: “Help, help,” again in Hebrew, from the building where he has taken refuge. The commander of the battalion of IDF (Israeli Army) soldiers, about ten of them, all very young, realizes that a mistake has been made and orders: “Don't shoot.” Reassured, the hostage leaves, convinced that they are in Safety is brought. Instead, another shot rings out for no reason. A soldier shoots. And the third young man kidnapped by Hamas also falls lifeless to the ground. The IDF leaders' reconstruction of the events of Friday, one of the darkest days in the history of the Jewish army, has shocked the country.
INSIGHTS
MISTAKE
Netanyahu: “What happened is unbearable. This breaks my heart.” Last night he held a press conference together with Ministers Gallant and Gantz. He did not give an inch: “These are painful days, we will learn the lesson, but we will continue until we eliminate Hamas and brought the hostages home.” Criticism of him because he had not personally announced the killing of the hostages the evening before. The Israeli Chief of General Staff, General Herzi Halevi, took responsibility for what happened. The victims are Yotam Haim (28 years old , heavy metal drummer), kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza; Samar Fouad Talalka (22 years old, worked in a garden center in Kibbutz Nir Am, where he was kidnapped); Alon Shamriz (26 years old, computer science student, from Kfar Aza). Israel has announced another death: Inbar Haiman, 27, was kidnapped at the Supernova festival on October 7th and killed by Hamas in Gaza. Inbar was an art student, and a few days after the kidnapping she went into hiding with a bloody face a video. The Paris Foreign Ministry also reports that a “French diplomatic agent” was killed in a bomb attack on the house where he was taking refuge in Rafah.
But back to the deaths of the three hostages, who were accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers. A former Shin Bet agent tells TV I24News: “In a battle, in a hell like Gaza, in the face of an enemy like Hamas deceiving our troops, there can be bad decisions.” But here there were clear violations of that Rules of engagement that could have prevented these deaths.” It could have been a day of celebration for Israel: if the battalion that arrived just a few hundred meters from the three hostages – perhaps escaped, perhaps left behind by the kidnappers – this double, tragic If he hadn't made a mistake, we would be talking about something else. Instead, as the battalion advances between the half-destroyed houses of Gaza, it seems to ignore the two inscriptions on the walls: one reads “SOS” and the other “Help the three hostages.” Of course, it could have been a trap like the one Hamas set up in another area using puppets and recorded voices to trick the military into thinking there were children there. However, the three Israelis came out with their hands raised and bare-chested to demonstrate that they had no explosives or weapons. One had a stick with a white flag. However, the soldiers didn't have the nerve, one shouted: “They're terrorists.” They fired. The first two hostages died, the third was injured and escaped inside the building, but the epilogue to this story was, as already mentioned, dramatic.
Precedents
Pierre Klochendler, I24news correspondent: “Three days ago, 9 IDF soldiers were killed in a sophisticated Hamas trap. They encountered unarmed suicide bombers. For this reason, doubts are on everyone's lips. And even if those who surrender are not shot, the military shoots because of this doubt.” It is not the first episode that casts a shadow over the army: on November 30, two Palestinian terrorists shot dead in Jerusalem a crowd at a bus stop, killing three people and injuring 16. The damage could have been greater without the intervention of Yuval Castleman, 37 years old, a civilian, a hero because he confronted the terrorists with a weapon. An IDF soldier mistook him for a Hamas member. And even though the man had thrown the gun and was lying on the ground, the soldier shot him. Castleman's family called it “an execution.”