Australia / Israel Review

ROCKET AND TERROR REPORT

As of Oct. 9, 350 IDF soldiers had been killed in Gaza since October 2023. From Sept.14 to Oct. 9, Hamas fired around nine rockets at Israel. 

A shooting and stabbing attack in Jaffa by two Hamas operatives from Hebron on Oct. 1 killed seven people and wounded 16. On Oct. 6, a border police officer was killed and ten people wounded in Beersheva in an attack by a member of the Israeli Bedouin community. On Oct. 9, six people were wounded in a stabbing attack in Hadera. 

Counterterrorism raids and airstrikes continue throughout the West Bank. On Oct. 3, at least 12 terrorist operatives were killed in an airstrike in Tulkarem targeting a senior Hamas leader said to be planning an imminent attack. 

The IDF also launched a fresh ground operation in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, in early October following intelligence reports that Hamas was attempting to re-establish itself in the area. It’s the third time the IDF has had to engage in the neighbourhood since the war started. Several hundred terrorists were reportedly killed in this campaign.

HAMAS BELIEVED NOT INTERESTED IN CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS

US officials have reportedly concluded that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has no actual interest in reaching a ceasefire deal with Israel. It was reported in early October that the US believes Sinwar, thought hiding within Gaza’s vast tunnel network, had become increasingly “fatalistic”, does not believe he will survive the war and is interested primarily in drawing Israel into a wider regional conflict. US officials say Hamas had expressed no interest in taking part in further ceasefire negotiations over the previous few weeks. Hamas still holds 101 Israelis hostage, including children, though many are likely deceased.

IRANIAN PROXIES’ PROJECTILE ATTACKS

Since Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows on Sept. 23, Hezbollah has launched approximately 3,000 projectiles at Israel, according to the IDF. From Sept. 23 to 30, at least 860 rockets and missiles were launched. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, at least 500 rockets and missiles were launched.

Hezbollah has killed 67 Israelis since Oct. 8, 2023 – 27 civilians and 40 soldiers, including 11 in Lebanon. Two civilians were killed in a rocket attack on Kiryat Shmona on Oct. 9. 

Four soldiers were killed and more than 60 people wounded in a drone strike at an Israeli military base near Binyamina on Oct. 13. 

On Oct. 8, Yemen’s Houthis fired two ballistic missiles at Jaffa. 

On Oct. 3, two Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens wounded by a drone attack from Iraq. On Sept. 25, a drone launched from Iraq struck Eilat, injuring two people. 

From October 7, 2023 to Oct. 7, 2024, about 12,000 projectiles were fired at Israel from Lebanon, 60 from Syria and 180 from Yemen.

IDF’S LIMITED GROUND ATTACKS IN LEBANON

On Sept. 30, Israel initiated a limited ground offensive in southern Lebanon to clear the area near the border of Hezbollah infrastructure and allow Israeli residents near the border to return home. The IDF described the offensive as “limited, localised, and targeted raids.” The IDF estimated on Oct. 5 that it had already killed at least 440 Hezbollah operatives. Hezbollah has admitted to more than 720 deaths since Oct. 7, 2023. Eleven Israeli soldiers had been killed in Lebanon as of Oct. 13. 

It was also recently revealed that, even before launching these operations, the IDF had conducted over 70 secret raids into Lebanon since late October 2023, destroying Hezbollah tunnels, weapon sites and positions. These raids allegedly thwarted a planned October 7-style mass invasion by 3,000 terrorists into Israel’s Galilee late last year. 

Following an incident in which two UNIFIL peacekeepers were lightly injured by IDF fire on Oct. 11 – Israel said the IDF was operating against an “immediate threat” from nearby Hezbollah forces – Israeli PM Netanyahu on Oct. 13 reiterated Israeli calls for UNIFIL to be withdrawn from the combat zone in southern Lebanon.

ISRAEL ELIMINATES NASRALLAH’S SUCCESSOR

An Israeli airstrike on Oct. 4 killed Hashem Safieddine, who was reportedly in line to succeed his cousin, Hassan Nasrallah, as the leader of Hezbollah. Safieddine was meeting with Hezbollah commanders and Iranian officials in the Dahiya district of Beirut when Israeli bombs struck the compound.

One of the Iranian officials rumoured to have been present at the meeting was Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He has not been seen in public since the attack, but Iranian media reports claim he is safe and well. Recent unconfirmed reports allege Qaani had a heart attack while being interrogated by Iranian security forces investigating Nasrallah’s assassination.

Disposing of a spent Iranian missile fired at Israel (Image: IDF)

IRAN ATTACKS ISRAEL

On Oct. 1, Iran launched close to 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, sending millions into bomb shelters. It was reportedly the largest single ballistic missile barrage ever launched by one country against another. Israel’s missile defence system, supported by the US and Jordan, intercepted most of the missiles, though some caused damage, hitting a school and at least one airbase. Two Israelis were injured, while a Palestinian in the West Bank was killed. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called it a “big mistake” and warned Teheran of retaliation. The missiles were reportedly fired in response to Israel’s killing of top Hezbollah and Hamas leaders. 

FEARING RETALIATION, IRAN THREATENS NEIGHBOURS

Messages circulated on Oct. 3 in media channels affiliated with the IRGC threatened Iranian attacks on oil facilities in neighbouring Muslim countries if Israel attacks strategic Iranian oil infrastructure in retribution for the Iranian attack on Oct. 1. Teheran sent similar threatening messages to countries whose airspace might be crossed by Israeli aircraft in any Israeli attack. In 2019, Iranian drones and missiles hit Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq refineries and Khurais oil fields.

ISRAEL STRIKES HOUTHIS

On Sept. 29, the IDF launched a significant airstrike on Houthi-held ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa in Yemen, targeting oil reserves and military supplies. The attack, which involved dozens of Israeli aircraft, was the strongest since July and followed recent Houthi missile strikes on Tel Aviv. The Houthi Health Ministry reported four deaths and 29 injuries. 

TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL KILLED IN LEBANON WAS UNRWA EMPLOYEE

Fateh al-Sharif, Hamas’ top leader in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the al-Bass refugee camp in Tyre on Sept. 30. Sharif also held a high-ranking position within the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), serving as a school principal at Deir Yassin Secondary School and head of the UNRWA teacher’s union. He had been placed on “administrative leave” in March after the UN initiated an investigation into his political activities. 

YAZIDI ISIS CAPTIVE RESCUED IN GAZA

Fawzia Amin Sido, a 21-year-old Yazidi woman abducted from northern Iraq by ISIS in 2014 when she was 11, was freed from Gaza on Oct. 1 in a coordinated rescue mission by the IDF, the US Embassy in Jerusalem and others. Sido had been trafficked to Gaza from Iraq via Syria, Turkey and Egypt after being sold by ISIS to a Gazan man in 2014. The IDF said that her captor, a Palestinian Hamas member, was likely killed during IDF strikes, enabling Sido to escape to a hiding place from which she was rescued. She has since been reunited with her family in Iraq.

Stranger than Fiction

The Jewish Wakanda?

In news that will bring joy to Jews everywhere, there are actually far, far more of us than anyone previously realised – at least according to Lebanese politician Shaker al-Berjawi, leader of the country’s Arab Movement Party which, although Sunni, supports Hezbollah. Jews also apparently have a whole other secret country!

In a September 2 interview, al-Berjawi claimed, “The Jews are lying when they say that they number 12 million worldwide… There are 200 to 300 million Jews. They try to draw the world’s sympathy by saying that they are a small group and need a place where they can protect themselves. They can be found in each and every country… In America, there are 4 to 5 million of them, in the [Israeli] entity 7 million – that’s already 12 million.

“It’s a lie that they are 12 million… This is part of the Zionist propaganda. The media must shed light on this. In addition, a Jewish country [already] exists in the world – in one of the [former] USSR republics. There is a Jewish republic there. The Jews do not talk about it, so that they can claim they have nowhere to go. Go there. Why are you coming to my land?” (Translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute).

Perhaps those dastardly Jews are using a cloaking field made of “Vibranium”, like Wakanda in the “Avengers” movies, to make sure no one knows about the unnamed secret Jewish country!

What’s more, in another comic book twist, these hidden Jews may not even all be human. According to Iran Watch, Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Karami, a seminary lecturer at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting University, claimed in late September that “Given the Zionists’ history of capturing goblins, they carry out many missions in this way, and devils are their secret army.”