Australia/Israel Review

ROCKET AND TERROR REPORT

At least 22 projectiles have been launched from Gaza since Dec. 13, including two long-range rockets fired at Jerusalem on Dec. 28 and a drone attack on Dec. 19. At least 410 Israeli soldiers have been killed in and around Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The IDF announced the recovery of the body of hostage Youssef Ziyadne on Jan. 9, along with evidence of the death of his son and fellow hostage Hamza. 

There were several attempted and successful terrorist attacks throughout the West Bank and Israel in December and early January, including a stabbing in Herzliya on Dec. 29 that killed an 83-year-old Israeli woman. Two Israeli civilians and a police officer were killed and eight wounded in a shooting in the West Bank on Jan. 7. A roadside bombing in the northern West Bank on Jan. 19 killed one soldier and wounded four others. 

Sweeping counterterrorism operations throughout the West Bank continue to result in the death or detention of terrorists. Israeli forces launched a major operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, against terror groups in Jenin on Jan. 21, in the wake of a month-long Palestinian Authority (PA) counter-terror campaign there. 

PA FORCED TO CUT ‘PAY-FOR-SLAY’ PAYMENTS

Payments in the PA’s notorious “pay-for-slay” scheme, which gives generous lifetime pensions to terrorists imprisoned by Israel and to the families of those killed in attacks, decreased by around 40% in 2024 from the previous year.  This was despite many of the imprisoned perpetrators of the October 7 terrorist attacks being added to the rolls. New data from the Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs revealed that the factors behind the “significant decline” included the Israeli Government’s decision to withhold approximately NIS 3 billion (A$1.35 billion) from the PA to pay back a decade-old debt owed for electricity, and the war in Gaza causing significant difficulties in the logistics of receiving payouts there.

HAMAS FINANCING ITSELF WITH STOLEN AID, RECRUITING NEW FIGHTERS

After 15 months of war in Gaza, Hamas is still paying its operatives regularly and recruiting more fighters by intercepting humanitarian aid shipments intended for Gaza residents. 

Armed Hamas operatives seize supply trucks carrying internationally funded cargo and then resell these essential products to the local population at top prices, undermining humanitarian efforts intended to assist civilians. Reports say the resale of international aid has become Hamas’ dominant revenue stream and a means by which to recruit youths, with some 4,000 new fighters recruited over December. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has estimated that, of the 2,892 aid trucks that entered Gaza in December, 2,230 were “intercepted” by Hamas or other Palestinian groups.

DETAINEES ADMIT HAMAS OPERATES OUT OF GAZA HOSPITAL

In the face of international condemnation of its arrest in December of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, chief of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza and a Hamas colonel, Israel on Jan. 7 released footage from an interrogation of a captured 21-year-old Hamas Nukhba Force member, Anas Muhammad Faiz Al-Sharif, who was employed at the hospital. He confirmed that the hospital was used by Hamas as a command centre to launch attacks and to distribute weapons to Hamas fighters, saying that Hamas fighters believed the hospital was a safe haven because the Israeli military could not directly target it.

Other detainees also reportedly revealed that Israelis hostages had been held at the hospital. 

In the operation conducted at the hospital in December, IDF commandos discovered some weaponry and arrested approximately 240 suspects in the hospital compound, the largest number of terrorists caught in one location in Gaza since the war began.

ESCALATING ATTACKS BY THE HOUTHIS

The Houthis continued to attack Israel since mid-December on a near-daily basis, although the Iranian proxy announced on Jan. 18 it would halt firing at international shipping and Israel if a ceasefire comes into effect. 

In December, the Houthis launched 17 projectiles, including drones and ballistic missiles, at Israel.

Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 20, the Houthis launched at least six ballistic missiles and ten drones. 

The IDF has struck Houthi targets five times since the start of the war in retaliation, including on Dec. 19 and 26 and on Jan. 10. The US has increased airstrikes against the Houthis in retaliation for attacks on shipping and the US Navy, including on Dec. 16, 21, 30 and 31 and Jan. 8 and 10. 

ISRAEL ENFORCING LEBANON CEASEFIRE 

Israel has claimed that Hezbollah has been consistently violating the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which began on Nov. 27, leading to a number of Israeli actions against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Israel says it notified the US-led ceasefire monitoring committee about the breaches and only took action after nothing was done. In December, the IDF noted 120 Hezbollah violations, struck Lebanon 25 times and killed 44 Hezbollah operatives.

This continued in January, when the IDF targeted terrorists loading weapons in the village of Kunin in south Lebanon, fired at Hezbollah operatives at the Har Dov area and struck a rocket launch site, a military installation and weapons-smuggling routes near the border with Syria.

NEW LEBANESE PRESIDENT, PM IN BLOW TO HEZBOLLAH

On Jan. 9, after two years of deadlock caused by Hezbollah’s representatives in parliament, Lebanon finally chose a new president, Gen. Joseph Aoun, Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Armed Forces, in a development seen as signifying the weakening influence of Iran and its proxy in Lebanon.

Aoun, who was backed by the US, France and the Saudis, said after his victory that the state must have a monopoly on possessing arms – apparently a message to Hezbollah to disarm. 

Aoun nominated Nawaf Salam, President of the International Court of Justice and former Lebanese Ambassador to the UN, as Prime Minister. Salam was also elected despite objections from Hezbollah politicians. After taking office, Salam vowed to “extend” the state’s authority over all its territory and implement UN Security Council resolution 1701, which requires Hezbollah to vacate South Lebanon.

IRAN EXPANDS VENEZUELA PRESENCE

Iran has reportedly established a drone production facility at El Libertador Air Base in Venezuela, where it also helps train Venezuelan military personnel on several models being locally manufactured. 

Iran and its proxies, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as its former client regime in Syria, have had a very close and cooperative relationship with the Venezuelan regime for decades. 

US PREPARING ICC SANCTIONS

New US President Donald Trump reportedly plans sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), targeting its staff and operations over arrest warrants for Israeli leaders PM Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as threats to the sovereignty of the US.

In one of the executive orders Trump signed immediately following his inauguration, he also renewed past sanctions against any ICC officer who investigates US troops.

Earlier, on Jan. 9, the Republican-led US House of Representatives passed the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” (243-140) to counter the ICC, sending it to the Senate. The sanctions in it would freeze ICC assets and pressure global banks to sever ties. 

Stranger than Fiction

YOU’RE FIRED

It was predictable that Islamist extremists and terrorists would rejoice in the wildfires devastating Los Angeles and portray them as Allah’s punishment for the US arming Israel to attack Gaza, or alleged crimes against Islam generally. And that was certainly the case, with a wide range of jihadis publishing statements to that effect across social media, including members of al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Hamas, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen’s Houthis. 

However, it is a little more surprising when it comes from regimes trying to portray themselves as responsible. Take Fatah, the party that rules the Palestinian Authority, which is currently trying to convince the international community in general and the US specifically that it is ready to take over governing Gaza.

Despite this, an official Fatah website published a cartoon on Jan. 10 portraying the fires as punishment for US President Donald Trump. The cartoon shows Trump saying, “I will open the gates of hell on the Middle East” – likely a reference to his threat that ‘all hell would break loose’ if the hostages weren’t released.

Behind him, the Los Angeles fires rage, and below is a verse from the Koran that states that just when people think they control the earth, Allah will “mow it down as if it never flourished,” insinuating the fires were divine punishment (Translation from Palestinian Media Watch).

Meanwhile, Qatar hosts the largest US base in the Middle East. Yet on Jan. 12, the Qatari daily Al-Arab, known to be pro-government, included a piece by Najat Ali referring to the fires as “a divine warning to Washington due to the unlimited military aid it extends to Israel,” and “a divine warning” to Trump for his threats. Furthermore, numerous other Qatari journalists expressed similar sentiments on social media (Translations from the Middle East Media Research Institute).