Latest news with #Gideon'sChariots
Gulf Insider
6 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Netanyahu Reportedly Opted For Permanent Military Occupation
Israel's Channel 12 broadcaster is reporting that the Israeli government has made the decision to occupy the Gaza Strip on a permanent basis. Correspondent Amit Segal reports Monday, 'Senior official in Netanyahu's office: The decision has been made — we're going to occupy Gaza.' The top official has been further quoted as saying: 'If we do not act now, hostages will die of starvation and Gaza will remain under Hamas control.' But the last days have seen conflicting reports over the status and future of the ground operation, dubbed 'Gideon's Chariots'. What has become clear in the last week is that negotiations are off, as Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered an expanded ground incursion in central Gaza. With much of the Strip already decimated, and inhabitants on the verge of mass starvation, a big question has remained for Netanyahu: what's next? Hardline politicians in his own cabinet have called for the total removal of the Palestinian population, after President Trump months ago talked about turning the enclave into the 'Rivera of the Mediterranean'. Indeed a key question remains, will Trump back a plan of permanent Israeli military occupation? This would certainly open up the likelihood of eventual annexation of the territory. ⚡️ Israel decides to 'OCCUPY' Gaza — Channel 12Top official: 'If we do not act now, hostages will DIE of starvation and Gaza will remain under Hamas control'Will Trump support this? — RT (@RT_com) August 4, 2025 But without doubt, a Hamas insurgency will remain active for the time being. But the race will be on to save the remaining hostages, who have been filmed in starving and extreme conditions by their Hamas and Islamic Jihad captors. Also on Monday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson travelled to the Israeli occupation settlement of Ariel in the West Bank, declaring while there that the Palestinian territory is the 'rightful property' of the Jewish people. mike johnson, who literally shut down the house last week to block the release of the epstein files, is now praying at the western wall in a yarmulke… — Jon Miller (@MillerStream) August 3, 2025 In response, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry (PA) condemned his visit and 'inflammatory statements on the annexation of the West Bank.' It further said, 'The ministry considers this a blatant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and the Arab and American efforts to stop the war, halt the cycle of violence, and achieve calm.'Also read: End Game: Netanyahu Now Plans To Annex Gaza, Bowing To Extremist Members Of Coalition
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How many men has Hamas continued to recruit in a year?
Even though Hamas was supposedly defeated and down to one brigade and a few battalions, it suddenly was able to re-appear in northern Gaza with thousands of fighters. The Israel Defense Forces have been fighting Hamas as part ofOperation Gideon's Chariots since mid-May. The operation was approved in early May as part of the response to the ceasefire not being renewed in March. Now it appears that the IDF has retaken around seventy-five percent of Gaza. However, it should be recalled that the IDF believed it had largely defeated Hamas last year as well. Now the IDF has once again defeated several Hamas brigades in Gaza. Yossi Yehoshua, writing at Ynet, noted that 'fighting eliminates senior Hamas terrorists, three brigades, destroys terror infrastructure, reshaping Gaza's battlefield, yet the war's end remains elusive.' The reference to three brigades is interesting. After the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, it was believed that Hamas had around 30,000 fighters, organized in five brigades. These included 24 battalions or 140 companies of fighters. The brigades include the Rafah Brigade, the Khan Younis Brigade, the Central Camps Brigade, and two brigades in northern Gaza. Now let's unpack some math. By late November 2023, the IDF was already saying that it had defeated the Hamas battalions in northern Gaza. These included at least 10 battalions. By mid-January 2024, the IDF estimated it had eliminated 9,000 Hamas fighters, which included two brigade commanders killed, 19 battalion commanders, and 50 company commanders. The IDF kept up this rosy assessment in the spring of 2024. The Washington Post reported in late March 2024 that 20 of the Hamas 24 battalions had been dismantled. By April , as the report noted, 'Israeli officials have said that 18 of Hamas's 24 original battalions in the Gaza Strip have been dismantled, meaning they do not function as an organized military unit, although smaller cells still exist.' The IDF went into Rafah in May and defeated more Hamas units. By late May 2024, the Rafah Hamas brigade and battalions were defeated; 'IDF says terrorists near defeat in Rafah, fighting now limited to one neighborhood,' The Times of Israel reported. Even though Hamas was supposedly defeated and down to one brigade and a few battalions, it suddenly was able to re-appear in northern Gaza with thousands of fighters. The IDF went back into Jabaliya and northern Gaza between October and December 2024. Hamas was, once again, defeated there after some 70,000 civilians had to leave. Hamas had strengthened in August 2024, CNN reported. It rebuilt brigades and returned to some areas. It recruited more people. From January to March 2025, there was a ceasefire in Gaza. The IDF resumed limited operations in March and April 2025, returning to a border buffer zone, parts of the Netzarim corridor, and also Khan Younis. The Morag corridor was created in southern Gaza. By mid-May, the IDF was ready to launch a much larger operation against Hamas with elements of five IDF divisions. When this Gideon's Chariots operation began, the IDF also began enabling humanitarian aid again. On May 26, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began delivering food as well. Nevertheless, the IDF has had to redefeat Hamas units. First, it had to defeat them in Rafah again. After having eliminated some 900 Hamas fighters in the spring and summer of 2024, it seems that Hamas returned. Or perhaps Hamas never left. 'The offensive in Gaza has reached its stated goals and - unless the government decides to expand it - as it awaits a new Hamas response to the efforts of mediators to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal, the IDF will hold the lines assigned to them,' Yehoshua wrote on July 29. He noted that 41 IDF soldiers have been killed since mid-May. "They died in a war to defeat three Hamas brigades and in the effort to free the hostages,' a commander was quoted as saying by Yehoshua. He also noted that Mohammed Sinwar was killed in the last several months, depriving Hamas of yet another commander. In addition, the Rafah brigade commander, Mohammad Shabana, was killed. Another 8 battalion commanders and 39 Hamas company commanders were killed. Many of these units have already replaced their commanders once or twice during the war. Rafah no longer exists Yehoshua adds, 'The Gaza Strip has been transformed: Rafah no longer exists, neither above nor below ground, with the IDF destroying all terror infrastructure and tunnels in the city. Much of Khan Younis, except for a sensitive area and a humanitarian zone, has met a similar fate. In northern Gaza, from Beit Hanoun through Beit Lahia and Al-Atatra to the outskirts of Gaza City, little remains. This was not a series of raids and withdrawals but a methodical, systematic operation, albeit slow.' Hamas appears to continue to recruit. Its forces are mostly confined to the 25 percent of Gaza that Hamas continues to control. It controls the Central Camps area: Deir al-Balah, Maghazi, Nuseirat, and Bureij. It also has forces in Gaza City. The rest of Gaza is ostensibly controlled by the IDF. Around two million Gazans have been evacuated to the areas that Hamas controls, as well as the Mawasi humanitarian area near Deir al-Balah in southern Gaza. As such, Hamas can draw on these 2 million people for recruits. Most Gazans are young, with many under the age of 25. This means Hamas just needs to recruit a few percent, and it has many forces. Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer posted on July 28 a clip on X where he speaks with former US Ambassador David Friedman. This was apparently from a segment that was posted on July 24 as part of the One Jewish State podcast. 'No outside force will be able to take control of Gaza if there are still 20,000 Hamas terrorists running around the territory. No investor will rebuild Gaza if Hamas remains, and things could flare up again. This is our opportunity to put Gaza on a different track and ensure security for decades to come,' Dermer noted in his July 28 post. If Hamas still has 20,000 men, that would appear to indicate that it has made up for many of its losses in 2023 and 2024. It has lost many brigades and battalions, but continues to refill the ranks. The new recruits may not be able to replace the hardened terrorists who planned October 7. Nevertheless, Hamas has not collapsed. Solve the daily Crossword
AU Financial Review
23-07-2025
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
On Israel and Gaza, a question of intent
Operation Gideon's Chariots, Israel's latest assault on Gaza, began on the night of May 16. Sometimes the names of military operations carry a message. Gideon was the biblical liberator of Israel from its oppressors, who led a small force of 300 men to defeat the mighty host of the Midianites. 'Gideon's Chariots' expresses the traditional narrative that Israel is the underdog fighting for survival. It is a myth. Israel is one of the most highly militarised and technically advanced states in the world. In terms of GDP per head, it is also one of the richest. It is an undeclared nuclear power. At $US37 billion ($57 billion), its defence budget is by far the biggest in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia's. Its security is implicitly guaranteed by the United States, which contributes more than $US3 billion a year to its defence.
New Statesman
16-07-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
A question of intent
'Operation 'Gideon's Chariots', Israel's latest assault on Gaza, began on the night of 16 May 2025. Sometimes the names of military operations carry a message. Gideon was the biblical liberator of Israel from its oppressors, who led a small force of 300 men to defeat the mighty host of the Midianites. 'Gideon's Chariots' expresses the traditional narrative that Israel is the underdog fighting for survival. It is a myth. Israel is one of the most highly militarised and technically advanced states in the world. In terms of GDP per head it is also one of the richest. It is an undeclared nuclear power. At $37bn, its defence budget is by far the biggest in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia's. Its security is implicitly guaranteed by the United States, which contributes over $3bn a year to its defence. By comparison, Gaza was one of the world's poorest territories even before the destruction recently visited upon it. It has no armed forces apart from Hamas terrorists and a handful of other local militias. It is virtually defenceless against tanks and aircraft. Israel is in a position to do whatever it likes to Gaza, and it does. Hamas's professed ambition may be to eliminate the state of Israel, but it has no more chance of achieving it than a gnat has of killing an elephant. Israel once enjoyed a great deal of moral capital. The Holocaust and the long Jewish experience of persecution aroused sympathy across the West. The idealism surrounding the foundation of the Israeli state and the remarkable social, intellectual and economic achievements of Israel since then were rightly admired. This soft power was politically valuable to Israel. It masked the historic injustice inflicted on the indigenous population of Palestine at the foundation of Israel, when they were cleared out in order to make way for a Jewish state. That moral capital has now been largely dissipated. International hostility to Israel is particularly strong among the world's young, who will dominate its international outlook in the next generation. Anti-Semitism exists, but it is not the main reason for this significant shift of opinion. It has happened because of the way in which Israel has chosen to deploy its overwhelming strength against the vulnerable population of Gaza. This has already provoked the issue of arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court, which is a serious and impartial court whatever the US government may say. Serious criticisms have been made of Israel's conduct in Gaza by the United Nations, and countries such as Britain, France, South Africa, Australia and Canada. Many countries have imposed total or partial arms embargoes. There is a strong case that Israel is guilty of war crimes. As a matter of international law, Israel has a right to defend itself, but the methods which it uses are circumscribed by treaty. Israel has signed up to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The Fourth Convention contains extensive protections for civilian populations caught in a war zone. It forbids attacks on hospitals in any circumstances, unless the hospitals are themselves being used to commit acts of war (articles 18 and 19). It forbids the destruction of private property except where this is 'rendered absolutely necessary by military operations' (article 53). As an occupying power in relation to most of Gaza, Israel is bound to ensure that food and medical supplies are provided to the population (article 55). The permanent displacement of the population is strictly forbidden (article 49). These provisions have been supplemented by a substantial body of binding customary law. International humanitarian law, the generic name given to this body of law, has been codified by the International Committee of the Red Cross in a way that is generally regarded as impartial and authoritative. Military operations must not be directed against civilian targets. This includes towns, cities and villages, residential areas and specific installations such as hospitals, water processing facilities, power plants and other facilities essential to the survival of the civilian population. Indiscriminate attacks are forbidden, including area bombardment and the use of weapons whose effects are uncontrollable. Starvation is specifically banned as a method of warfare. All forms of ethnic cleansing are ruled out. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Of all the rules of international humanitarian law the most important is the rule which requires proportionality in warfare. The International Committee of the Red Cross expresses it as follows: 'Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.' This means that some military operations are unacceptable although they may have an important military purpose and bring real military advantages, because the civilian casualties would simply be too high. It is easy to dismiss these principles as the dreams of unworldly professors and the misplaced idealism of lawyers. But that would be a serious mistake. They are included in the military manuals of most civilised states, including Israel's. They are based on a realistic assessment that war is unavoidable but can be at least partly humanised. This is a major achievement of our world and marks a significant advance in the regulation of warfare, drawing on the catastrophic experiences of the Second World War. We cannot really want to return to the barbarism of the area bombing of cities, the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the deliberate mass starvation of populations and the vast forced population transfers which characterised that conflict. We cannot without hypocrisy criticise the wholesale violation of civilised standards by Russia in Ukraine, and tacitly endorse them when practised by Israel in Gaza. At the outset, the declared object of Israeli military operations in Gaza was to destroy Hamas. The problem with this has always been that although much of the leadership of Hamas and some of its installations are identifiable, Hamas is not an organised and disciplined combatant force like a uniformed army. It is a paramilitary movement dispersed among the civilian population like needles in a haystack. It can be destroyed, if at all, only by burning the entire haystack. Yet every sprig of straw in the haystack is a human life. The destruction of Hamas is probably unachievable by any amount of violence, but it is certainly unachievable without a grossly disproportionate effect on human life. Hamas's attacks on 7 October 2023 killed 1,195 people. According to the Gaza health authorities (part of the Hamas administration) 57,645 Palestinians have so far been killed in Israeli military operations. In addition, over 180 journalists are reported to have died and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, 179 of them employees of the United Nations' relief organisation UNWRA, which Israel will no longer allow to operate in Gaza. These figures do not include indirect casualties from preventable disease and malnutrition caused by war. Most of the victims have been identified by name. A proportion of them are no doubt Hamas fighters. Assessments are necessarily conjectural, but plausible estimates suggest that Hamas may account for 20 per cent of the casualties. United Nations agencies estimate that about 70 per cent have been women and children. The casualties include those caused by grotesque acts of violence such as the bombing of hospitals full of patients, many of whom cannot be moved, because there are said to be Hamas command centres underneath them; or the destruction by bombing of entire apartment blocks whose residents are said to include some Hamas operatives. As of January 2025, more than nine-tenths of residential buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or badly damaged. These figures may be criticised at the margins, but they have been verified by reputable academic studies and responsible agencies of the United Nations. They are not just propaganda or figments of anti-Semitic imaginations. The total blockade of Gaza announced by Netanyahu on 2 March 2025 began to cause famine within a fortnight. It was thought likely to lead ultimately to the most extreme case of man-made famine since the Second World War. The defence minister, Israel Katz, explained in April 2025: 'Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population.' It would be hard to imagine a clearer statement that starvation was being used as a weapon of war. In May, Israel qualified the policy by setting up a system of food distribution from militarised 'hubs' organised by its own tame organisation, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That system has largely broken down and was never capable of feeding more than part of the population. Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Agency has recorded nearly 800 Palestinians killed while gathering at distribution hubs, hoping for food. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently reported, on the basis of interviews with soldiers, that this has been done on the express orders of senior officers of the Israel Defence Forces. I have no ideological position on this conflict. I approach it simply as lawyer and a historian. But I sometimes wonder what Israel's defenders would regard as unacceptable, if the current level of Israeli violence in Gaza is not enough. It is impossible for any decent person to be unmoved by the scale of arbitrarily imposed human suffering, or the spectacle of a powerful army brutally assaulting a population already on its knees. This is not self-defence. It is not even the kind of collateral damage which can be unavoidable in war. It is collective punishment, in other words revenge, visited not just on Hamas but on an entire population. It is, in short, a war crime. Is it also genocide? That is a more difficult question. Genocide is defined by the Genocide Convention of 1951 (to which Israel is party) as acting with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, by killing its members, causing them serious bodily or mental harm or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part. Because genocide depends on intent, there will always be room for argument about whether it is happening. Recently, a new war aim has emerged alongside the original plan to destroy Hamas. This is nothing less than the wholesale displacement of the population of Gaza to third countries. The Israeli minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is a long-standing advocate of ethnic cleansing. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is another. He announced at a public press conference on 6 May 2025, shortly after the decision to launch Operation Gideon's Chariots, that 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed.' He went on to explain that Palestinians would be herded into a Hamas-free zone, and from there would leave 'in great numbers' to third countries. These two men were recently sanctioned by Britain and four other countries 'in their personal capacity'. But they were not speaking in their personal capacity, and cannot so easily be distinguished from the rest of the Israeli government. Both of them are leaders of minor far-right parties in the Knesset belonging to Netanyahu's coalition. They have the rest of the cabinet over a barrel, because Netanyahu's coalition government has a small majority, and without their support it will fall. So the government cannot afford to depart too far from their policy positions. A week after Smotrich's remarks, Netanyahu, giving evidence to a Knesset committee, reported that Israel was destroying more and more housing so that the population would have nowhere to return to and would have to leave Gaza. More recently, on 7 July, the defence minister, Israel Katz, briefed Israeli media that it was proposed to incarcerate Palestinians in a vast camp to be built on the ruins of Rafah, pending their departure for other countries. Statements like these from the prime minister and senior ministers in his cabinet have to be considered together with the sheer scale of the human casualties and the indiscriminate physical destruction inflicted on their orders. The most plausible explanation of current Israeli policy is that its object is to induce Palestinians as an ethnic group to leave the Gaza Strip for other countries by bombing, shooting and starving them if they remain. A court would be likely to regard that as genocide. One of the main barriers to clear thinking about Gaza is the fact that debate is muffled by two dangerous falsehoods. One is the idea that this story began with the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023; the other is that any attack on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is anti-Semitic. A fortnight after the attack, António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, pointed out in the Security Council that it 'did not happen in a vacuum'. It followed 56 years in which the Palestinians in Gaza had suffered 'suffocating occupation… their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence, their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished.' He was expressing the self-evident truth that if you persistently treat people like that, hatred, violence and terrorism will eventually be the response. The Israeli ambassador objected to his attempt to 'understand' terrorism and demanded his resignation on the ground that his words were an anti-Semitic blood libel. This neatly encapsulated both falsehoods. The tragedy is that what Israel is doing in Gaza is not even in its own interest, although it may be in the personal interest of Netanyahu if it helps him to stay in power. Hamas is, among other things, an idea. It is an idea which will not disappear and which Israel will have to live with, for it will never have peace until it learns to recognise and accommodate the natural attachment of Palestinians as well as Israelis to their land. That will involve considerable concessions by Israel, but the alternative will be worse. The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 was unforgivable, and it is sometimes said that to understand it is tantamount to justifying it. 'Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner,' says Princess Bolkonsky in War and Peace. I would put it the other way round. That which we cannot forgive, we have a duty to understand. Otherwise we will get more of it. Related
Saba Yemen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Israel and Palestinian Blood in Gaza: A Relentless Chain of Crimes and Massacres
Israel and Palestinian Blood in Gaza: A Relentless Chain of Crimes and Massacres A 60-day ceasefire Release of 10 live Israeli hostages and 18 bodies Partial Israeli military withdrawal to a buffer zone on the Gaza border Increased flow of humanitarian aid Crowded shelters and displacement camps Public rest areas Families in their homes Markets and public gatherings Civilians seeking food Clinics and health centers Alleged 'safe zones' like Al-Mawasi Aid recipients near the so-called 'death trap' centers Facebook Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [Thu, 10 Jul 2025 17:03:27 +0300]Sanaa – SABA :From Iron Swords and Judgment Day to Generals' Plan and Gideon's Chariots, and now the newly launched operation 'Upright Lion', Israel continues its unrelenting campaign of genocide, starvation, and destruction in the Gaza Strip. Each military phase signals a new chapter in Israel's ongoing assault on Palestinian Israeli military believes it is asserting dominance through 'Upright Lion' after the previous 'Gideon's Chariots' operation brought death, destruction, and displacement to Gaza. That operation ended with no clear objectives met, only to be followed by a new wave of violence. As usual, Israel conceals the true goals of its campaigns, targeting innocent civilians—including women, children, and the elderly—while resistance operations, such as the recent Khan Younis ambush by Al-Qassam Brigades, continue to deal damaging blows to Israeli actions come as talks of a potential ceasefire deal circulate. However, the launch of this new operation raises doubts about Israel's intentions—whether it's genuine in seeking peace, or simply using military pressure to force concessions from Hamas at the negotiation to Reuters, the first round of indirect ceasefire negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas ended Monday without progress, due to what Palestinian sources described as Israel's lack of a sufficient negotiating mandate. The talks precede Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington, his third since Donald Trump's return to from New Jersey, Trump claimed, 'There's a good chance we'll get a deal with Hamas this week,' suggesting the negotiations are 'on track.' But Israeli sources contradicted that, describing the deal as 'still far from complete,' despite Hamas's initial approval of a Qatari proposal that includes:Meanwhile, the outcome of 'Gideon's Chariots', which lasted nearly two months, was more bloodshed than military success. Israel failed to achieve the stated goal of evacuating Gaza residents from combat zones. Instead, the resistance's counterattacks exposed Israel's vulnerability, while the occupation army razed countless buildings, expanded the so-called buffer zone, and killed scores of civilians—especially those seeking aid and pave the way for 'Upright Lion,' Israel redeployed its 98th Division and Nahal Brigade, supported by airstrikes and special forces. Over recent days, Israeli forces intensified attacks on civilians, killing over 100 people in a single night—mostly from targeted strikes on displacement camps and Government Media Office in Gaza reported on Monday that Israel committed 59 massacres in just 100 hours, killing 288 civilians, including 99 aid-seekers. These individuals were gunned down near so-called 'American-Israeli aid centers', now dubbed 'death traps', where thousands gather daily in desperation for food amid total blockade and starvation policies imposed on Gaza's 2.4 million report detailed Israel's systematic targeting of:According to the office, the majority of victims were women, children, and the elderly—unarmed civilians, highlighting Israel's deliberate targeting of the most the 48 hours prior, Israeli forces committed 26 additional massacres, killing over 300 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more. These attacks further confirm the use of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and deliberate extermination Israeli strikes target aid lines and waiting civilians, transforming every food distribution site into a kill zone. Despite the scale and visibility of these crimes, they continue under U.S. and European protection, without of Tuesday, July 8, the ongoing Israeli assault has killed 57,575 Palestinians and injured 136,879 since October 7, 2023.
