Israel Weekly War Summary January 14-20, 2024

Account of the main events in the Israel-Hamas war and hostilities by the Iranian Axis

Overview

• After reports of a phone call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which Netanyahu allegedly agreed in principle to a demilitarized Palestinian State, Netanyahu clarified his intentions by stating that “Israel needs security control [over] all territory west of the Jordan [River] and that contradicts the notion of a Palestinian state,” denying reports of his agreeing to “Palestinian Sovereignty.”
• Qatar facilitated a deal that would deliver medications for the Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for providing medications to Gaza civilians.
• Israeli Defense Minister Gallant officially announced that the IDF is transitioning towards the next stage in the war plan in northern Gaza, with the expectation that the intensive fighting in central and southern Gaza will transition shortly to the next stage as well.
• IDF downsizes forces in Gaza to 3 Divisions, removing Division 36 after the IDF said that it gained operational control over the north.

• In Khan Younis, the IDF found a tunnel in which the hostages were held. The IDF found drawings by children who were held captive.
• Israel underestimated the size of the Hamas tunnel network initially believing that its length was merely 400 km, while current estimates are between 560-720 km, including 5700 tunnel openings – 1500 of which have been destroyed.
• The IDF conducted a 45-hour long anti-terror operation in Tulkarm, Samaria which resulted in the capture of dozens of terrorists and over 400 IEDs. Hundreds of suspects were captured and interrogated providing valuable intelligence. The IDF discovered 5 weapons production labs which were destroyed.

• The IDF killed with a targeted airstrike the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade commander in Balata, Nablus who planned to carry out an imminent large attack. The terror cell received instructions and guidance from Iran.
• In Ra’anana two terrorists, aged 24 and 44 (a nephew and uncle), who traveled to Israel illegally and carried out an attack killing one civilian and injuring 18 others.
• Hezbollah shot an antitank missile into Kfar Yuval killing 2 Israelis, a mother and her son.
• The IDF conducted its largest attack on a single area in Lebanon since the beginning of the war. The IDF pounded Salouki Wadi with artillery shells and aerial bombardment.

• The IDF conducted a series of aerial strikes in Damascus and killed 5 advisors from the IRGC’s Quds Force, including the IRGC’s Syrian Secretary General.
• After being taken off the terrorist list in 2021 by the Biden administration, the US put the Houthis back in the list which includes imposing sanctions on the group.
• Iran attacked in Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan and Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated and attacked Iran. Both countries attack Balochi rebels and made sure to finish the escalation quickly.
• The Houthis attacked American ships 3 times this week, an escalation in their direct confrontation with the US.
• A new organization under the name of “Al Farouk Brigades- Sinai” confronted IDF soldiers on the Egyptian border and called for Jihad against Israel.

International

• After reports of a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu in which Netanyahu allegedly agreed in principle to a demilitarized Palestinian State, Netanyahu clarified his intentions by stating that “Israel needs security control [over] all territory west of the Jordan [River], and that contradicts the notions of a Palestinian state,” denying reports of his agreeing to “Palestinian Sovereignty.” Establishing a Palestinian state in the 1967 lines will not satisfy the Palestinian leadership’s aspirations to “liberate Palestine” as mentioned by a host of senior Fatah, Hamas, and PA officials and according to opinion polls, and will seriously undermine Israel’s national security as a real potential for recreating Hamas’ Gaza terror state in Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”) as well.
• The EU Parliament passed an important resolution calling for a ceasefire conditioned to the release of all Israeli hostages and the dismantlement of Hamas.

• Italian Foreign Minister said in a TV interview that since October 7^th Italy stopped supplying arms to Israel.
• Slovenia joined South Africa in its ICJ case against Israel.
• US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Security Minister Gallant, asking him to taper down the intensity of the attacks and increase the humanitarian supplies to Gaza to lower the number of civilian casualties.
• The US Senate rejected Senator Bernie Sanders resolution that would have mandated the State Department investigate Israel for potential war crimes, and could have led to a cutoff of U.S. aid to Israel was soundly rejected, garnering only 11 votes out of 100.

• The World Bank released a report detailing the potential effects of the belligerency in the Red Sea by the Houthis, mentioning that a prolonged escalation has the potential to create inflationary bottlenecks, causing a rise in prices of energy and commodities and disrupting global supply chains.
• The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that there must be a careful investigation of the reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7^th. He called for the immediate release of the hostages and that nothing could justify the kidnapping of innocents or shooting rockets at civilian centers. As opposed to his measured tone concerning Hamas’ well-documented crimes, Guterres was unequivocal in his criticism of Israel, saying that nothing could justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and that he is very concerned of grave violations of international law.
• The EU added Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar to their terrorist list which will freeze all of his European assets.
• Mexico and Chile have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate potential crimes against civilians in Gaza and the Hamas attack on October 7^th. Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute that created the ICC which means it has no jurisdiction in Israel. Despite this, the lead prosecutor Karim Khan has said that investigation of crimes by Israel and Hamas is a top priority.
• EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell claimed that Israel strengthened Hamas over the years and even funded it. He also said that the international community should impose a solution on the Israelis and Palestinians in view of their inability to reach agreements, saying that “the actors are too opposed to be able to reach an agreement autonomously… If everyone is in favor of this solution, the international community will have to impose it.”
• A Hamas delegation landed in Russia and met the Deputy Foreign Minister. The Russians stressed the need to release the 3 hostages with Russian citizenship. Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk responded that Hamas does not differentiate between civilians with different passports.

Gaza Strip

Diplomatic

• Qatar facilitated a deal that would bring medications for the hostages in Gaza in exchange for transferring medications to Gaza civilians. This deal came under scrutiny as there is no mechanism to make sure that the hostages are receiving the medical aid they need. Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk outlined the Hamas guidelines for the medications and demanded 1,000 boxes of medication for Gaza civilians in exchange for each box of medicine that the hostages receive as well as increased humanitarian aid and food. He said that the vetting of the medicine would not be conducted by the IDF and the medicine would be supplied to 4 different hospitals across the Gaza Strip. France initially requested to be the interlocutor that would supply the medicine but due to Hamas’ mistrust of France as too supportive of Israel they were rejected in lieu of Qatar which was is sufficiently trusted by Hamas. Abu Marzouk insisted that Hamas – not Netanyahu – will determine the quantity and identity of the intermediary and the mechanism of delivery. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed that the deliveries will go through Israeli verification.

• The Wall Street Journal reports that the US offered Israel a comprehensive deal that would include the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian State with security guarantees in exchange for normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia that would take part in the reconstruction of Gaza. According the to the reports Israel refused the offer.
• The article claimed that the IDF’s decision to recall Division 36 from the fighting in Gaza came after American pressure to see less intense fighting with lower number of casualties.
• Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashael who stays in Qatar gave an interview to a Kuwaiti podcast. He made several points:

1. Hamas fighters would not have entered a war with Israel if they had not believed that they would win. He said that they were surprised by the so-called disintegration of the IDF and Hamas’s attack brought Israel back 75 years. He is sure that the operation marks the start of the fall of Israel with the world starting to support the Palestinian cause over the “Zionist narrative.”
2. The preparations for the war were executed exclusively by Hamas and were coordinated between Hamas’ military and political wings. The fighters were informed of the attack the night before and they were allowed to refuse to participate although no one did as they demonstrated a fighting spirit. He claimed that they have detailed maps of up to 40 KM into Israeli territory as well as pictures of numerous IDF brigade commanders.
3. Hezbollah started their coordination with Hamas only after October 7^th. He called on the rest of the Muslim “Ummah” (nation) to take part in their Islamic duty and join the fight – including Turkey and Iran who supported Hamas. Mashael expressed appreciation for their support and requested that they increase it.

Operational

• Defense Minister Yoav Gallant officially announced that the IDF is transitioning towards the next stage in the war plan in northern Gaza with the expectation that the intensive fighting in central and southern Gaza will transition shortly to the next stage as well.

• There are reports that Hamas is reconstructing its damaged brigades in Northern Gaza, an area controlled by the IDF. This indicates that even in the area in which the IDF operated for the longest time, did not manage to completely destroy Hamas’ military command structure, as is claimed by the IDF.
• In Khan Younis the IDF found a tunnel in which the hostages were held. The IDF found drawings by children who were held captive including Emilia Aloni.
• Saturday was the fifth consecutive day where the northern Gaza city of Jabalia was the scene of continuous fighting despite the IDF’s efforts to dismantle the remaining pockets of resistance. It was the first time of intense fighting there since the end of December.
• IDF located over 100 rocket launchers in Bet Lahia in northern Gaza.
• The IDF estimates that 16,000 Hamas terrorists were injured, half of which cannot go back to fighting.
• After pockets of resistance emerged in northern Gaza, Brigade 5 joined the fighting in the north after they finished conquering Khuza’a on the outskirts of Khan Younis, the IDF’s major offensive effort. This was after the IDF had downsized its forces in Gaza to 3 Divisions, releasing Division 36 after the IDF said that it gained operational control over the North. The IDF’s decision to move the brigade to the north rather than continuing to conquer the Khan Younis envelope is an indication that the north has not been cleared and the IDF wants to focus its efforts on clearing conquered territory before it conquers new areas.
• IDF Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said in a briefing at Southern Command that some of the reserve troops who were dismissed would be called back to Gaza.
• Brigade 7 conquered a Hamas training center in Kahn Younis which contained weapons, rocket launchers ready to launch, tunnel openings, and tank models with other AFV models to train against IDF attacks.
• Brigade 55, a paratrooper’s unit, is close to completing its mission of dismantling the eastern Hamas battalion of Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s 5 battalions there.
• The center of Hamas’ industrial area was conquered and destroyed in central Gaza. This center included subterranean facilities which contained factories for the mass production of arms including a chemical division, a rocketry division as well as Hamas offices and financial centers. These divisions were connected to a vast array of tunnels. The Al Bureij and Al Marazi ‘refugee camps’ fell while the IDF is close to finishing its campaign in Central Gaza with only the Nuseirat camp remaining, which is surrounded by the IDF which is slowly advancing in pincer movement. The only remaining city in central Gaza that the IDF will have to conquer is Dir El Balah.
• The IDF killed the Hamas head of collaborator interrogation directorate and the PIJ’s head of the media wing.
• A rocket launch was identified toward IDF troops operating in northern Khan Yunis. IDF systems demonstrated that the launch was carried out from within the Nasser Hospital.
• An unverified source quoting a security official stated that Israel underestimated the size of the Hamas tunnel network initially believing that its length was merely 400 km while current estimates are closer to 560-720 km including 5700 tunnel openings – of which 1500 have been destroyed.

Other

• Hamas released a video showing the bodies of 2 murdered hostages, Yossi Sharabi and Istay Sverski. The IDF confirmed that the 2 were dead. Hamas also released a video of Noa Argamani as part of its psychological warfare.
• Shin Bet released an interrogation of a PIJ commander who admitted that he was sent along with other terrorists to training in Iran by the IRGC forces.

 

 

Lebanon

Operational

• IDF reported to have targeted 750 targets in Lebanon since the beginning of the war.
• The IDF intercepted two UAVs launched by Hezbollah targeting the Israelis cities of Haifa and Kiryat Shmona.
• Hezbollah shot an antitank missile into Kfar Yuval which killed 2 Israelis, a mother and her son in their home.
• The IDF conducted its largest attack on a single area in Lebanon since the beginning of the war. The IDF pounded Salouki Wadi with artillery shells and aerial bombardment.

Diplomatic

• The Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Davos and discussed the situation in south Lebanon and Gaza. The Prime Minister called for the implementation of a ceasefire and asked countries that are involved to pressure Israel to stop its aggression and international violations of Lebanese sovereignty. He repeated his commitment to the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 but said that Israel needs to be pressured to comply with the resolution.

Judea and Samaria

• Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has detained 2,700 terror operatives, 1,300 of which are affiliated with Hamas.
• The IDF conducted a 45-hour anti-terror operation in Tulkarm, Samaria which resulted in the capture of dozens of terrorists and over 400 IEDs. Hundreds of suspects were captured and interrogated providing valuable intelligence. The IDF discovered five weapons production labs which were destroyed.
• The IDF arrested 8 Hamas operatives in a Hamas cell in Al Najah University in Nablus.
• In Qalqilya, illegal homes of Hamas operatives were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of NIS for terror funds were confiscated.
• The IDF killed the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade commander in Balata, Nablus who planned to carry out a large imminent attack. The terror cell received instructions and guidance from Iran.
• PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, met with the Australian Foreign Minister and called for a ceasefire and for the international community to put words into actions. He reiterated his call for a boycott and sanctions against Israel.
• In Ra’anana two terrorists, aged 24 and 44 (a nephew and uncle), who traveled to Israel illegally carried out an attack which killed one civilian and injured 18 others.
• Hamas posted propaganda posters that suggested that attacks like the one in Ra’anana are only the “tip of the iceberg”.

Iraq and Syria

• The IDF conducted a series of aerial strikes in Damascus and killed 5 advisors from the IRGC’s Quds Force. One of the killed advisors was the IRGC’s secretary general in Syria.
• The Iraqi pro-Iranian militias continued their attacks against American bases in the country and claimed to have shot down an American drone, MQ9 which costs $32 Million.
• Jordan continued its campaign of airstrikes against Iranian backed groups and other criminal organizations in Southern Syria that are trying to smuggle drugs into the country and arms to Palestinian militias in Judea and Samaria. In the last attack 13 people were killed.
• During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Al Sudani met with NATO’s Secretary General and emphasized his willingness to maintain a good relationship with the alliance. He said he wanted to buy arms and conduct joint exercises and even suggested that NATO troops could replace the American troops in fighting ISIS in his country. This shows Al Sudani’s difficult position- on the one hand he has a vested interest in maintaining a Western military force to protect Iraq from radical elements, yet on the other hand he is reliant on the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq that hold military and political influence over the country.

Iraq has the potential to become a full Iranian proxy if Al Sudani complies with his pledge and demands that the American forces leave his country. The parliament has the authority to demand the departure of the American forces and has been working over the past weeks on drafting a resolution calling for their departure. Al Sudani gave an interview to the WSJ and said he wants a good relationship with Washington and to maintain military cooperation including training of Iraqi forces and purchasing advanced weapons.

• The leader of Iraqi militia, Khatib Hezbollah announced that every attack on the Houthis would be considered by him as an attack on his organization.

Yemen

• The Houthis attacked American ships 3 times this week, an escalation in their direct confrontation with the US. They missed the ships twice and caused minor damage to the ship they managed to hit. They continue to blame the US for the escalation as they claim their attacks are retaliation for the IDF’s attack in Gaza.
• According to estimates, the US and UK eliminated 20-30% of the Houthis offensive capabilities in a series of aerial attacks.
• It was published that on January 11^th 2 Navy SEALs are MIA during a raid on an Iranian arms shipment to the Houthis.
• The passage of cargo ships through the Suez went down by 60% in December compared with the previous year.
• A member of the Houthi Political Bureau has said they rejected an American offer to recognize the Houthi Government in exchange for the stopping hostilities in the Red Sea. The Houthis said they are at war with the US, UK and Israel and will not abandon their Palestinian brothers.
• After being removed from the US Federal Terrorist Organization list in 2021 by the Biden administration, the State Department designated the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, (SDGT) which is short of the FTO designation and significantly, does not prevent the Houthis from receiving international financial assistance.   The sense is that the US held back on the FTO designation to induce the Houthis to moderate their behavior.  Secretary Blinken is known to be one of the most forceful supporters of the removal of the FTO designation in January 2021, and appears reluctant to reinstate the legacy Trump policy which appears to have been vindicated over the past few weeks.
• After an American attack against Houthi targets, the EU agreed to participate in a naval taskforce to protect ships in the Red Sea.
• The Houthis started mounting new positions of Ground-to-Ground missiles in preparation to a long war with the US. They retrieved missiles from storage and placed them in battle-ready locations in Northern Yemen including at the Hodeida port.

Iran

• Iran announced that it launched its military satellite “Sorayya” as part of the IRGC’s space plan. The satellite was launched to an orbit of 750 km demonstrating Iran’s ballistic capabilities.
• Iran attacked targets in Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Pakistan. The first two were in retaliation for the ISIS attack in Kerman earlier this month. One of the attacks was against an alleged “Mossad” compound in Kurdistan. The attack against Pakistan was directed against Baloch rebels that Iran views as terrorists. Their organization is called “The Army of Justice” and they are opposed to the Iranian regime because of its oppression of Sunni Muslims. The organization took credit for the killing of an IRGC colonel in Baluchistan.

Pakistan, a nuclear armed country, retaliated with missile strikes in the Balochistan dominated region of Southeastern Iran. Pakistan made sure to strike targets that would be deemed “legitimate” by Tehran in order not to escalate the situation. The Iranian media made sure to downplay the attack by Pakistan to keep the “temperature low.” Initially, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan who had been in Iran at the time of the attack was asked not to return. A few days later Iran and Pakistan “renormalized” relations.

 

The Video released by the organization. In the background is the Egyptian Soldier that shot and killed IDF soldiers earlier in 2023 | Source: https://www.watanserb.com/

 

• After hitting Syria with ballistic missiles, Iran threatened to shoot at Israel which is nearly the same distance from Iran.
• India has asked Iran to ensure that its naval ships would not be attacked in the Port of Oman or the Persian Gulf and has said that it would use its navy to accompany its ships.

 

Global Jihad

• The UK outlawed the Hizb Al Tahrir The move was spearheaded by Home Secretary, James Cleverly who served as Foreign Minister until November when he replaced outgoing Home Secretary, Suella Braverman. The Hizb Al Tahir global Islamist movement that has been associated with the Muslim brotherhood and has branches all over the world. It seeks to create an Islamic caliphate in adherence to Sharia Law. The movement has been freely operating in the UK, with one of its members even appearing on Piers Morgan’s Show, openly praising Hamas and denying their atrocities against Israelis. The movement has been a hub for terrorists who have been radicalized under their auspices, many of whom later joined Al Qaeda and ISIS.
• ISIS continues its campaign against Jews globally calling Muslims to kill and harm Jews and Christians as vengeance for what is happening in Gaza. The hashtag that they use is #KillThemWhereverYouFindThem.

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• 20 terror suspects attempted to cross into Israel from the Sinai (Egypt) at the Nitzana border crossing. Many of whom were armed and a fire fight started with the IDF in which one soldier was wounded. The group is a new organization under the name of “Al Farouk Brigades- Sinai.” This organization released a video calling on the countries neighboring Israel to join the fight and support the resistance. The origins and background of the organization is still under investigation.