Yom Shabbat
Saturday
13 Av 5784
August 17 2024
The Quote of the Day and Where We Stand Now
“We believe an agreement can be reached, but there are more concessions that need to be made.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby discussing the ceasefire/hostage talks that just concluded in Doha.
Of course, the concessions that he is referring to are “Israeli concessions” inasmuch as HamISIS has thus far conceded nothing.
So where do we stand this morning?
1. American officials have now explicitly tied the ceasefire/hostage “deal” with the deterrence of an Iranian/Hezbollah attack on Israel. The obvious strategy is to put more pressure on Israel to make concessions.
2. Yesterday, the U.S. presented yet another “bridging proposal”–the details of which were not publicized except to say that deals with “the list of hostages who are to be released, the order according to which they will be released, and the list of Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for each hostage.”
3. Senior Israeli officials are optimistic that a deal can be reached and noted that most progress was made between Israel and the mediators (the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar).
4. Senior HamISIS spokesman Razi Hamad who is supposedly close to Yahya Sinwar said after the talks concluded that no progress had been made. As for Sinwar himself, he has not been heard from in some time.
5. “Working level” teams from Israel, Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. are still in Doha working on “some issues.”
6. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will arrive in Israel on Sunday to discuss matters with PM Netanyahu (this is after he chickened out of going to Lebanon last week because of the fear that a war would begin).
7. Also tomorrow, “experts from Israel, the USA and Egypt will meet in Cairo to try to reach an agreement on the security arrangements along the Philadelphia axis on the Gaza-Egypt border and the reopening of the Rafah crossing.”
8. Supposedly, by Thursday or Friday, another “negotiation summit” will take place in Cairo with the goal of signing a final agreement.
Once again this morning a HamISIS spokesman has declared that it absolutely rejects the elements of the deal discussed in Doha.
So where do we stand?
Who knows?
The Photos of the Day
On Thursday, the IAF practiced the refueling of F35i’s, F-15s, and 707’s in the airspace over Israel. Here are two photographs released by the IAF:
The message was meant for Iran.
And:
The view from overhead.
UPDATE 9:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
On the Ground in Gaza
From the IDF Spokesman:
“Rockets were launched from Khan Yunis toward the area of Kissufim. IDF artillery struck the area from which the launches were fired. In addition, IDF troops conducted a targeted raid on a structure in the area and located weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and explosives.
Furthermore, the IAF struck and eliminated a number of terrorists, including drone operators and terrorists who have fired toward Israeli territory and IDF troops throughout the war.
Israeli Naval forces struck and eliminated a number of terrorists who posed a threat to IDF troops operating in central Gaza. Moreover, in a combined ground and aerial activity, the IAF struck and eliminated a Hamas terrorist who has been responsible for carrying out attacks against IDF troops throughout the war.
Over the past day, IDF ground troops located tunnel shafts and eliminated by drone a number of terrorists who were operating near the troops in central Gaza.
Additionally, over the past day, the IAF struck over 30 terror targets in Gaza.”
A second announcement:
“Due to significant acts of terrorism, the exploitation of the Humanitarian Area for terrorist activities, and the firing of rockets and mortars toward the State of Israel in the north of Khan Yunis, remaining in this area has become dangerous. Therefore, at this time the Humanitarian Area will be adjusted. The adjustment is being made following accurate intelligence information according to which the Hamas terrorist organization has established terrorist infrastructure in an area defined as a Humanitarian Area.
The advance warning to civilians is being issued in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone. The IDF will act against the terrorist organizations in the area, and therefore calls on the remaining population in northern Khan Yunis and eastern Deir al Balah to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area.
The calls for the evacuation are being communicated to residents through flyers, SMS messages, recorded voice messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic.”
On the Ground in the North
**There were 8 barrages of Hezbollah missiles and drones that struck northern Israel yesterday targeting Shear Yeshuv, Metullam, Kfar Blum, Neot Mordechai, Kela, Sha’al, Avivim and Shlomi.
In the western Galilee alone, there were 10 attacks–some of which were intercepted and some of which exploded in “open spaces”.
**In response according to the IDF spokesman, the “IAF struck Hezbollah military structures in the areas of Hanine and Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon. Additionally, overnight, a Hezbollah weapons storage facility was struck in the area of Nabatieh. IDF artillery struck to remove threats in the areas of Rmaych, Labbouneh, Kfarchouba and Ayta ash-Shab in southern Lebanon.
**In the meantime, Hezbollah published a remarkable video yesterday of its “Emad-4” long range missile facility which is burrowed deep underground. The facility is huge with paved roadways large enough to handle two-way semi-truck traffic. According to Iran, Emad-4 is one of 4 such facilities–some of which it claims reach into Israel.
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
IDF soldiers came under heavy fire today east of Qalqilya near Azzun.
In addition, Palestinian terrrorists opened fire on homes in Avni Hefetz.
Thankfully, no Israelis were wounded in either attack.
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.