DAY 114 OF THE GAZA WAR: Hostage Negotiations, The Day After, Khan Younis, Attack by Iranian Supported Militia Kills 3 US Soldiers

Tel Aviv Diary, January 28, 2024

Today, a group comprising of both families of hostages and families of soldiers made another attempt to block the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Their objections are two-fold. Firstly, they challenge the rationale behind sending aid to Gaza while their loved ones remain captive— with no updates on their well-being. Secondly, the families raise concerns regarding the way humanitarian aid is distributed, which only serves to strengthen Hamas's rule in Gaza.

Last week, the police, under the control of the Minister of National Security, did not intervene to disperse the demonstrators. In response, today the IDF declared the area a closed military zone, giving them the Army authority to halt the demonstrators. However, they were not entirely successful in stopping the protests. There is reported anger within the Army towards the police, since, it is typically the responsibility of the police, not the army, to block demonstrators from disturbing essential commerce within Israel. Over the past three days, demonstrators have effectively cut the number of trucks entering Gaza by half.

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS

A meeting was held in Paris, bringing together the leaders of the Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet, with the head of the CIA, and their counterparts from Egypt and Qatar. The primary objective of this gathering was to negotiate an agreement aimed at securing the release of the hostages. Unfortunately, despite the best intentions, and all of the high-powered people in the room, the chance of reaching an agreement is not high.

The major stumbling block remains the demand of Hamas for a permanent end of the war, while allowing them to remain in power, a stipulation Israel is not willing to accept. Efforts are being made to devise phrasing that could appease both parties, but doing so will be extremely difficult. Allegedly, some progress was made today. There is cautious optimism that Hamas will accept a shorter term agreement as the military pressure intensifies in Khan Younis.

THE DAY AFTER

NBC has reported that the US Administration is contemplating the reduction of arms deliveries to Israel, as a strategy to exert pressure on Netanyahu. The Biden administration clarified that there has been no change in policy, countering the implications of the NBC report. The US Administration is becoming increasingly frustrated by Netanyahu’s government's inability to devise a plan for the day after.

Frustration with Netanyahu’s government is not limited to the American government. Last Thursday night, the Security Cabinet met, with the plan for the day after in Gaza on the agenda. Unfortunately, the Cabinet refused to discuss the matter, claiming it was “too early, as we are not at the day after, yet”. The Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was reportedly furious at the decision not to discuss the future of Gaza. Halevi insisted that the Army must know the plan, to avoid jeopardizing the achievements made in Gaza so far. Regrettably, with figures like Ben Gvir, Smotritch, and some members of the Likud party advocating for the Jewish resettlement of Gaza, it's not feasible for this government to deliberate about post-conflict strategies.

A conference was held today in Jerusalem, called “Conference for the Victory of Israel – Settlement Brings Security: Returning to the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria,” which thousands, including Likud Minister Haim Katz attended. Minister of Finance Smotritch, Minister of Special Projects Strock, and Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir also attended. At the conference, Ben-Gvir declared:

If we don't want another October 7, we need to go back home and control [Gaza]. We need to find a legal way to voluntarily emigrate [Palestinians] and impose death sentences on terrorists.

Given such statements, how can the current government realistically devise an effective post-conflict plan for Gaza when key ministers hold views similar to those expressed by Ben-Gvir?

PRO-IRANIAN MILITIAS ATTACK US FORCES

A Pro-Iranian militia, called “Tower 22,” attacked an American base on the Jordanian-Syrian border using suicide drones. None of their previous attacks had caused serious casualties. This time, however, three US servicemen were killed and 30 wounded. President Biden blamed the Iranian-controlled militia and promised that the US would respond at a time and place of its choosing. Sami Abu Zahiri, a senior Hamas member, told Reuters the death of the three US servicemen is a message to the American Administration that if the killing in Gaza does not stop, the Americans will continue to suffer casualties.

GAZA

The fighting in Gaza was once again concentrated in Khan Younis. Thousand of Gazans are leaving the area each day. Many of them blame Hamas for the dire circumstances they find themselves in. A significant number of Hamas operatives are being captured daily, either as they emerge from tunnels or while attempting to escape from Khan Younis disguised as civilians

.

Two disturbing articles appeared in US newspapers today. The first article, published in The Wall Street Journal, suggests that Israel has succeeded in demolishing only about 20-30% of Hamas' tunnels. This information, initially released by foreign media, was later corroborated by Israeli media. They cited army sources who described the task of destroying all the tunnels as an unprecedented engineering challenge expected to take many months.

The second article, this one appeared in The New York Times, explores how Hamas managed to amass such an extensive arsenal. A notable revelation from the article is that a significant portion of the explosives used by Hamas originated from undetonated Israeli missiles and shells. The report highlights that on average, at least 10% of bombs and missiles fail to detonate. Over the years, Israel has fired an immense quantity of weapons at Gaza. Hamas has been able to retrieve these weapons, extract explosives from these unexploded ordnances, and repurpose them for their own rockets.

LEBANON

Today marked another day of exchange of fire on the Lebanese border. As the day concluded, two missiles were fired at Sasa, and another two at Shomera, at midnight.

UNRWA FUNDS FROZEN

Several additional countries, including France, have announced their intention to withhold funding from UNRWA due to the involvement of some of its employees in the October 7th massacre. There is no question that UNRWA needs to replaced. However, at the moment, they remain the only organization, other than Hamas, present in Gaza for distributing aid and providing resources.

UNRWA was born in sin. During the War of Independence, the United Nations established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to assist those displaced by the conflict. UNRWA’s mission encompassed providing employment, direct relief, education, and healthcare. In contrast to the UNHCR, established in 1950 with a mandate to resettle refugees in new nations, UNRWA does not engage in resettlement activities. Efforts by UNRWA to develop resettlement strategies for the refugees were consistently hindered by the Arab host countries.

UNRWA is unique as the world’s only refugee agency in history to grant hereditary refugee status, resulting in five successive generations of refugees. Currently, these individuals — or more accurately their descendants — are located in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza. Staffed predominantly by Palestinians, UNRWA primarily concentrates on maintaining the refugee status of its members rather than addressing and resolving their circumstances. Clearly, UNRWA is part of the problem, but identifying a viable alternative for the organization will not be an easy task.

BUSINESS

Prompt Security, a startup developing a security and privacy platform for the use of Generative AI tools, announces a $5 million seed-funding round. The round was led by Chetz Ventures, with participation from Four Rivers, CyberFuture, and private investors including information security managers from companies like Elastic, Dolby, and others.

Prompt Security provides organizations with a platform for the development and safe use of Gen AI services. This includes employees using organizational AI applications or developers building Gen AI services. The solution is based on innovative technology and LLMs (Large Language Models) developed by Prompt Security, combined with context-based natural language analysis. The system uses a dynamic approach to detect artificial intelligence tools and usage patterns, identifying thousands of different AI tools, including those recently released.