DAY 102 OF THE GAZA WAR: Coping Emotionally With War, Israel Attacks Hezbollah Target, 2023 in Hi-Tech

Tel Aviv Diary January, 16, 2024

THERE WILL BE A ZOOM BRIEFING ON SUNDAY JANUARY 21ST 6PM ISRAEL TIME , 11 AM EST

Yesterday, one of my readers asked if I could write about how we in Israel, and to some extent Jews in the diaspora, are mentally and emotionally handling the events of the past three months. Initially, I thought to myself — I cannot answer that question, I have no idea how we are coping. Various studies indicate a high percentage of us suffer from depression, anxiety, and other clinically significant psychological conditions. Personally, my emotions fluctuate greatly. Some days I am overwhelmed with tears, other days I am filled with rage.

I know that a sense of sadness has descended upon us all. While our individual lives may be fine, and we and our children may be healthy, it's evident to everyone that the days, months (and perhaps even years) ahead will not be as smooth and carefree for our country and our people as we would have imagined just three short months ago.

As I've mentioned, my emotions swing based on the news. Today was predominantly a day of frustration — not sadness or happiness — but sheer frustration. Today it became apparent that the optimistic predictions about the course of this war were not materializing. It was a day when questions, previously discussed only in private, began to surface publicly. This shift began yesterday, when a barrage of rockets were launched at Sderot originating from a region in northern Gaza; a region from which we had previously withdrawn. Today, a massive barrage of rockets were launched at the city of Netivot. An estimated 25 rockets were fired. The salvo originated from one of the refugee camps in Central Gaza, a location from which we had just withdrawn our troops yesterday.

People are beginning to question what we accomplishing. We pulled our troops out of Central Gaza, not because we completed the mission, but because the soldiers themselves have reached a point of exhaustion, and need to be pulled out to rest and re-equip. We are doing that even though two full brigades of Hamas fighters still remain in Central Gaza.

Adding to the frustration, is the fact that part of the reason it has taken us so long to conquer the portions of Gaza is both due to the fact there are civilians and, we believe, hostages in these very areas. The reality is that, it turns out, our army is too small to simultaneously conquer and maintain control over all of Gaza while also having sufficient forces in the West Bank and a substantial contingent of troops on the Northern border for defense and possible offensive operations.

We are focusing the majority of our efforts in Gaza on Khan Younis, driven by what I consider a misguided expectation that we will either locate the leadership of Hamas, or find the hostages.  However, we have been fighting in Khan Younis with a very large army for 42 days. Despite deploying a large military force in Khan Younis for 42 days – a city comparable in size to a New York City suburb (like New Rochelle) — we have yet to achieve full control of the city.

Rather than heeding the overly optimistic politicians, we should have paid more attention to the military leaders who warned of a prolonged and difficult operation, and those who repeatedly stated that 2024 would be a year of conflict — It will take that long to defeat Hamas in Gaza fully. That being said, I am not a resident of the region around Gaza. I live in my reasonably spacious apartment in Tel Aviv, and not in a hotel room. I am not waiting to return home; a home to which I have no intention of going back to until it is safe, and there are no more rockets.

They say you fight a war with the Army you have, and not the Army you wish you had. That is the unfortunate truth. Many parts of our Army are the best in the world. But the IDF is still a small Army. One of the many misconceptions that will be examined after the war is the belief that Israel could maintain a small-scale, yet very lethal Army.

It has become apparent that we need a large-scale, and very lethal Army. Building a large Army takes years, and while we're planning one for the future, today we have to do the best we can with what we have. Fortunately, the best we have is, in fact, really very good. These past three months in Gaza, the IDF has fought intense urban warfare with very limited casualties— and, despite what the world says, relatively light civilian casualties. Despite the frustrations, every day that goes by the Army continues to destroy more tunnels, kill more terrorists, and further disrupt Hamas’s infrastructure and its ability to fight

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TODAY IN GAZA

Army engineers destroyed a central North-South Tunnel used by Hamas. Unfortunately, as an article in today's New York Times stated, the tunnel network was substantially larger and stronger than Israeli intelligence expected. Fighting continues in Khan Younis, as Israeli troops move into additional areas of the town.

According to the IDF spokesman:

Fighters from the Maglan Unit and the Egoz Unit raided the offices of senior commanders of the Southern Battalion of the Khan Younis Brigade; among them, the office of the battalion commander where many combat materials were found, including weapons, ammunition, and grenades. Additionally, the fighters identified Hamas surveillance cameras in the area, which they destroyed.

LEBANON

During a clash with Hezbollah, the Air Force and the Artillery units jointly conducted a large number of attacks on Hezbollah positions in Wadi Salouki. The attacks, notable for the unprecedented number of targets hit in a short period, were a response to the killing of Barak and Miri Ayalon on Sunday. Because the strike was viewed as retaliation, the attack is not expected to escalate tensions further. Hezbollah responded with a concentrated missile barrage on a community along Israel’s border.

HOSTAGES

Both the Qatari Foreign Minister and Israel’s office of the Prime Minister have confirmed that an agreement has been reached to deliver medicine to the hostages. That deal will result in two Qatari planes departing Paris tomorrow with medicine that has been purchased both for the hostages and for Gazans. It’s unclear how they plan to prove the medication reaches the hostages, but let's hope the medicines reach them successfully.

Tonight it was confirmed that hostages Yossi Sharabi (53) and Itay Svirsky (38), from Kibbutz Be’eri were killed in Gaza

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OTHER PARTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

The Houthis clearly have not gotten the message from the US. Over the course of the last two days the Houthis have attacked several merchant vessels. Tonight, US and British forces once again attacked Houthis positions in Yemen. It was also disclosed that Navy Seals intercepted a ship carrying advanced arms from Iran to the Houthis.

Iran fired Ballistic missiles at Northern Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan last night.  The Iranians claimed that the missiles were aimed at terrorists who have been attacking Iran. In the case of Northern Iraq, the Iranians claimed that they had struck the headquarters of the Mossad in Iraq.

BUSINESS

Finally, some positive news: The IVC Leumi Tech annual report is out. In the coming days I will excerpt from some interesting data in the report, but here is a summary of some of the highlights:

• The Israeli high-tech capital raising median has shown stability over the year.

• Early-stage amounts totaled $220 million, relatively high compared to the figures from the past few years due to two large deals in seed rounds.

• The war in Gaza did not scare off foreign investors, and their participation share in funding Israeli tech companies has increased.

• Nine Cyber Security funding rounds succeeded in attracting $1.85b. Five companies with deals over $100m each accounted for the lion’s share of the funding for 2023, leading 2023 funding efforts.