Yom Shabbat
Saturday
19 Kislev 5784
December 2 2023
UPDATE 10:00 PM
*Israeli tanks are now in southern Gaza.
*The IDF spokesman has just confirmed that we eliminated the HamISIS commander of the Shejayah Battalion. Shejayeh is the neighborhood directly across the border from Nahal Oz and has been the origin of hundreds of mortars fired at civilians and soldiers there.
The Abominable UNRWA
We all know that The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (aka UNRWA) is one of the most despicable entities on the planet.
We have seen through the years how, under the guise of running Palestinian schools, it has done little except incite murderous hatred of Israel among Palestinian children. Since 2007, UNRWA members have been intimately involved with HamISIS in Gaza, and in fact, many UNRWA workers are HamISIS terrorists.
We don’t have to look very far to verify this. Already we have reports from a released hostage that she was held hostage by an UNRWA staff member. Today we have these photos of what our soldiers discovered in Gaza yesterday:
An UNRWA facility which is missile warehouse. If you look closely, you can see UNRWA printed on the boxes.
And Grad missiles in the same place:
UNRWA is a terrorist front.
UPDATE 5:00 PM
Missile Attacks Since Our Last Update
Zikim, Ashkelon (16:35); Kissufim (16:18); Ashdod, Rehovot, Gadera (16:00); Kissufim (15:50); Kissufim (15:45); Nir Oz (15:10); Ashkelon (15:00); Sderot (14:31); Mivtahim, Yesha (13:58); Magen (13:30).
A personal note: as you can see from the above, here in Ashdod was hit at 16:00. Apparently our neighborhood was not targeted according to the Iron Dome system so other neighborhoods in Ashdod had warning sirens, and we had none. All we had were explosions overhead which sent us running to our bomb shelter: the missiles going to the other neighborhoods were shot down directly over our house.
Negotiating Team Recalled
The Mossad negotiating team has been recalled from Qatar by PM Netanyahu. HamISIS indicated that it would not release the last 17 women and children in its underground prisons, and Israel indicated that this was a red line. Congratulations to the government for sticking to its principles.
“Me Too, Unless You’re a Jew”
This disturbing demonstration in Canada was repeated outside the U.N. in New York this past week. The demonstration replicates how murdered women were found–raped with their hands tied behind their backs– in the Gaza border communities on October 7. The only difference is that the women in the photo are clothed.
Israeli women (and men) have been appalled at the silence of women’s organizations around the world to what happened to their mothers, sisters, and daughters.
For more than 55 days, the U.N. Women’s Organization was silent about the atrocities committed against Israeli women on October 7th (not to mention the raping going on in the Gaza tunnels).
Finally after being shamed by around one hundred protesters who stood in front of the U.N. with “blood” in their groin areas next to photos of the victims–and with many who had “Me too, unless you’re a Jew” written on their shirts–the organization has come forward with a tepid statement condemning what happened.
Palliwood Returns
The Palestinians have long been known for their fraudulent “movie” productions, and this war in Gaza is no exception. We have already seen rows of sheet-covered “corpses” beside Shifa Hospital which were actually sheet-covered children off the street who were using their cellphones while wrapped up.
Yesterday, we had another video. This one was of a supposed grandfather wailing over his dead granddaughter which he was cradling in his arms.
However, there was no dead baby in his arms; it was a doll with face makeup—which he tossed on the ground when they stopped making the video.
Palliwood comes to Gaza. HamISIS will do anything for propaganda. Note how no one in the background is paying any attention.
UPDATE 1:00 PM
On the Ground in the South
Missile and Mortar Fire From Gaza So Far Today:
Nir Oz, Ein Hashlosha (12:45), Nir Oz, Magen (12:30), Kissufim (10:54), Holit, Sufa (07:49)
According to a Senior IDF official This Morning
*Beginning at 06:30 yesterday, following the HamISIS missile attack, the IDF launched an extensive attack on more than 400 terrorist targets “with Air Force planes, artillery batteries, missile ships and special units.”
*The IDF is now in control of 40% of above ground Gaza. The tunnels under that 40% remain a problem.
*The IDF controls 70% of HamISIS assets.
*When the IDF controls both Gaza City and Khan Younis, pressure will increase on HamISIS concerning the hostages.
*Last night the IDF completed preparations for ground operations in southern Gaza.
On the Ground in the North
*The IDF has been attacking along the Lebanese border with artillery fire directed toward the Alma a-Shaab Forest, Yarin, Tir Kharfa, Nakura, Maroon al-Ras, Lida, and Ramya–places where missile fire from Lebanon came yesterday.
*The IAF fired 3 missiles at a terrorist target near Al-Kusa.
*The IDF has issued warnings to Israeli residents of the Lebanese border communities not to be on roads and to remain close to fortified places in the coming hours.
*Meanwhile, Iranian leader Khamenei stated yesterday that expects Hezbollah to become “more active” now that the ceasefire in Gaza has ended.
UPDATE 9:00 AM
The morning here in Ashdod has begun with a continuation of what we heard all night long: the steady roar of IAF aircraft overhead heading to Gaza, and from Gaza the sounds of continuous bombing.
In the past hour, one commentator on Israeli TV has remarked that “This morning, Gaza does not look the same as it did last night.”
On the Ground Last Night
*Numerous terror squads that attempted ambush our soldiers were spotted by IDF observers and eliminated by concentrated fire from the air and ground.
*Directed by the 215th and 454th Fire Brigades, the IAF eliminated two groups of terrorists who were responsible for firing the mortars yesterday that wounded our soldiers. Already at 07:49 this morning, there has been more mortar fire at Holit and Sufa.
Other targets last night included anti-tank missile launch sites, tunnel shafts, and HamISIS headquarters in Jabaliya and Khan Younis.
An Ominously Disturbing Quote Yesterday
“They were severely abused both psychologically and in other ways. When they start telling what happened to them, none of us will be able to sleep at night.”
Dr. Itay Pesach, Head of the Children’s Hospital in Tel Aviv, who treated 12 of the child hostages returned to Israel.
We shudder to think what these children have endured.
And not just children. There are already reports of how some young women who have emerged from underground almost like zombies were repeatedly raped in the tunnels. Again, time will reveal their horrific stories.
The IDF Hostage Statement
Last night, the IDF spokesman said that “HamISIS still holds 136 hostages including 17 women and children.” We need to remember that the 136 includes the two soldiers whose body parts were never returned after the 2014 war and who knows how many other dead who were carted to Gaza on October 7th or who died in Gaza during the last 57 days.
It also includes the 3 mentally disturbed Israelis who voluntarily entered Gaza over the years and were “captured” by HamISIS.
Overnight in Syria
IAF aircraft once again hit Iranian proxies in Syria, this time in the A-Sayida Zainab neighborhood of southern Damascus.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.