Day 43 of Gaza War:Five Soldiers Killed, Hostage Families Protest,Poll Shows Majority of Palestinians Support Hamas

Tel Aviv Diary November 18, 2023

DAY 43 OF THE GAZA WAR

Today is another especially sad day in Israel. As Shabbat ended, it was announced we had lost another six soldiers in Gaza.

The army has expanded its control in northern Gaza, moving into Zeitoun and Jabaliya, two areas they had not entered until now. Both towns are on the east side of Gaza. At the moment, Israel has the advantage of entering from the west, i.e., not from the side of the border where Hamas had defenses. Hamas is said to have four divisions in the area of Zeitoun and Jabaliya, and the goal is to destroy the Hamas terrorists there. Once that is accomplished, it's estimated that 50-60% of Hamas's forces will have been destroyed.

IDF forces are still working in five Gaza hospitals. The Director of Shifa requested permission from the IDF for most of the people who remained in Shifa to leave. The army provided a protected corridor for them to exit. There are an estimated few hundred patients and staff left in Shifa, for which the IDF has delivered both water and food for the patients. The army continues to explore the underground tunnels below Shifa, and the IDF spokesman has promised additional photos in the next day or two, as more of the tunnels are carefully explored.

Yesterday, the Tanzanian government announced that the IDF had found the body of a Tanzanian citizen who was an agricultural student in Israel and had been taken hostage. This was the third hostage corpse the IDF has found inside Gaza.

Two of the IDF soldiers whose deaths were announced today were Druze, including a slain Major. These deceased join two Druze Lt. Colonels who were killed earlier in the war. The Druze represent slightly above 1% of the population in Israel; so far in the war, Druze have been 8% of those killed. Regrettably, we are interconnected to the Druze is a covenant signed in blood. Unfortunately, the Nationality Law passed under the last Netanyahu government has remained an open wound to the Druze, who feel they are now discriminated against by the law. Members of the current government are talking about creating a special status for the Druze. However, doing so would ignore all the Bedouin who also serve in the IDF. What the Knesset needs to do is repeal the Nationality Law.

Both yesterday and today, the number of rockets fired by Hamas was limited. Yesterday at 5 PM, just as the television reporters finished recounting the fact it had been three days since any rockets had been fired at the Tel Aviv area, sirens sounded, indicating that a barrage of rockets was headed for Tel Aviv. All the rockets were intercepted. Today, one round of rockets was fired at the Central region; again, all were intercepted.

On Friday, an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah injured four Israelis, two soldiers, and two civilians. Israel responded with attacks on Hezbollah positions. Today, an advanced anti-aircraft missile was fired at an Israeli drone. In response, Israel attacked the anti-aircraft site. Also today, Hezbollah allowed Hamas Lebanon to fire 25 rockets at the Galilee. There were no injuries as a result of the attack. Effectively, it was another day of low-intensity warfare, at the same level of intensity as we’ve experienced the last two weeks.

Israeli forces continued to be very active in the West Bank. Today, the IDF killed five terrorists in Nablus from the air; terrorists whom the IDF claimed were planning an imminent attack. In total, since October 7th, 200 Palestinians (mostly terrorists) were killed and over 1,000 members of Hamas have been detained.

Tonight, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Galant, and Former Defense Minister Gantz held a joint press conference. The trio did not add very much to what had been said before. Of course, each of them spoke about how important it is to free the hostages. There were repeated questions on the likelihood of new elections immediately after the war, or the possibility of a change of government now. In all cases, all three leaders added that “now was not the time” to address this issue.

Gantz made an important point at tonight’s press conference, when he stated that Israel’s first priority now was to do everything possible to get the hostages back. Gantz said we have time to destroy Hamas, but time is running out to get back the hostages.

I thought that Netanyahu raised an interesting point when he was asked about an article President Biden wrote today, in which Biden stated that a revitalized Palestinian Authority should control both the West Bank and Gaza. (more about the article tomorrow)Netanyahu maintained that in its current formation, the Palestinian Authority cannot take control of Gaza; as they already failed once before. It took Hamas less than one year to wrest control from the Authority. Netanyahu said that after the war, we cannot hand over control of Gaza to an organization that is incapable of maintaining its authority. Nevertheless, Netanyahu did not fully close the door on the Palestinian Authority option.

Another item Netanyahu was asked many times about was his agreement to allow two fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza. This decision was made after Netanyahu had repeatedly stated that not a drop of fuel would be allowed into Gaza without freeing the hostages. Netanyahu responded that the fuel was being allowed in at the express request of the US to provide fuel for Gaza's water purification and sewage plants. Netanyahu went on to say that it was in Israel’s interest to ensure that no plague develops in Gaza as a result of unsanitary conditions.

The hostage families completed their march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which culminated in a demonstration in front of the Knesset. At nearly the same time, thousands gathered tonight in Hostage Square, in front of the Tel Aviv Museum. Earlier this evening, hostage family representatives met with Mk Gantz and Mk Eisenkot. An announcement was made that war cabinet would meet with families later this week

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Rumors about various hostage release deals continue to surface. As of now, there is still nothing concrete. Additional reports have circulated regarding the meeting between Iran’s Khamenei and Hamas’s Haniyeh. In that meeting, the complaint arose that Hamas had not informed Iran of the attack in advance. Khamenei complained that Hamas had disgraced the image of Islam worldwide. Moreover, Khamenei also complained Hamas's actions had resulted in the return of US power to the region. It's pretty clear.

Secretary Blinken made an intriguing statement on Thursday, asking why there are no calls from the world for Hamas to remove their forces from civilian targets.

A disturbing public opinion poll of Palestinians was released by the Ramallah-based Arab World Research and Development. Three hundred ninety-one respondents took part in the poll. According to the poll, 59.3% of Palestinians “extremely support” the action of October 7th [by Hamas], while a further 15.7% “somewhat support” those actions. Only 7.3% of those polled “extremely oppose” Hamas’s actions. Support was stronger in the West Bank than in Gaza. Similarly, 48.2% thought highly of Hamas, while only 12.7% thought highly negatively, with the negative figures higher in Gaza.

Full poll report

My cousin continues to send me interesting articles that I miss. This one, titled, “The Inside Story of How Palestinians Took Over the World; The Brilliant plan to capture the pliable minds of American college students was laid out in front of me 25 years ago during a very sinister business meeting in Israel.”

The antisemitism from both the left and the right continue.

From the right we have Charlie Kirk as reported by Media Matters:

On the left Congressman Ritchie Torres a strong supporter of Israel tweets:

A social media account posted the following headline: “Globalize the Intifada: Zone of Operations.” It features a NYC map of largely Jewish organizations to target. It describes Jewish organizations as “the enemy of colonized people,” and refers to October 7th as “a new chapter of struggle.”

Coded calls for violence against Jews are proliferating on social media.