Australia / Israel Review

ROCKET AND TERROR REPORT

Single rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel on Nov. 20, Nov. 24, Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, plus four on Dec. 11, causing no damage. Israel has suffered at least 386 military casualties since the start of ground operations in and around Gaza last year, including 19 soldiers killed between the start of November and Dec. 10. 

Attempted and successful terrorist attacks continue throughout the West Bank, including a stabbing and a car ramming. On Nov. 29, nine Israelis, including four soldiers, were injured in a shooting attack on a bus near Ariel. On Dec. 12, another shooting attack on a bus in the West Bank killed a 12-year-old and wounded several others.

Israeli counterterrorism operations in the West Bank continue to result in many terrorists killed or detained. 

PA-HAMAS POWER-SHARING DEAL ANNOUNCED, THEN COLLAPSES

It was reported on Dec. 4 that talks in Cairo to form a joint Palestinian committee between Fatah and Hamas to govern post-war Gaza had faltered due to disagreements over power-sharing – especially Hamas demands for control over financial and security portfolios. 

Earlier reports on Dec. 3 had indicated a power-sharing agreement had been reached to establish a joint committee of ten to 15 members to oversee Gaza, focussing on health, economy, and infrastructure. 

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS ADVANCING

According to reports on Dec. 10, negotiations for a potential Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal have made significant advances, with draft agreements exchanged between Hamas and mediators. Hamas has reportedly been identifying living hostages and coordinating with other armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, to provide information on hostages’ medical conditions and locations. Reports suggest a limited deal could free up to 33 elderly, female, minor and medically vulnerable hostages, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, increased humanitarian aid to Gaza and a ceasefire lasting between 45 and 60 days.

Videos of two hostages were released in early December, possibly to pressure negotiators. 

Israeli PM Netanyahu has expressed optimism about concluding a deal soon. However, some key issues reportedly remain unresolved, including Hamas’ demand for a complete IDF withdrawal from Gaza and other long-term ceasefire terms. 

UNRWA SUSPENDS DISTRIBUTION AS GAZA AID INCREASES

On Dec. 1, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced it was temporarily pausing the delivery of aid into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing due to its convoys being constantly looted by armed gangs, including one 109-truck convoy almost totally looted on Nov. 16.

In response, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) noted that UNRWA only provided seven per cent of the Gaza aid delivered in November. 

Israel accuses Hamas of being behind the looting. Hamas reportedly formed a new strikeforce at the end of November to deal with the looting and price gouging on the black market, allegedly killing dozens of gang members and other Palestinians in clashes to ensure Hamas’ sole control over aid distribution, an important source of its revenue and political power. 

Israel has recently taken steps to increase aid delivery, including opening more crossing points. COGAT figures show 2,323 aid trucks entered Gaza in November, but a major uptick in early December, with 350 aid trucks entering Gaza on Dec. 10 and 201 on Dec. 9. However, large aid stockpiles often sit inside the border waiting for agencies to collect them. For instance, COGAT said there were 685 truckloads waiting for collection inside Gaza on Dec. 8. 

HEZBOLLAH’S FINAL MISSILE FLURRY

In the days before the Nov. 27 ceasefire deal was signed, Hezbollah launched a flurry of attacks against multiple Israeli cities, including some 250 rockets fired at northern and central Israel on Nov. 25. Overall, during the escalation in fighting between Sept. 20 and Nov. 27, Hezbollah launched roughly 9,800 projectiles at Israel. On Nov. 19, Italy’s Defence Ministry said Hezbollah had fired eight rockets at a UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon, an attack Italy initially blamed on Israel.

FEWER ATTACKS ON ISRAEL FROM IRAQ AND YEMEN

The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq has dramatically reduced its drone attacks against Israel since early November, despite bold claims from the various groups that they would not back down. 

Attacks from the Houthis in Yemen continue, although these have reportedly also reduced. The Houthis launched ballistic missiles targeting Israel on Dec. 1, 7 and 8, all of which the IDF intercepted. A Houthi drone stuck an apartment building in the central Israel town of Yavne on Dec. 11, causing a fire but no injuries. 

UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG CENSURES IRAN

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution on Nov. 21 demanding that Teheran take “essential and urgent” steps to explain traces of uranium found at undeclared sites in Iran and allow UN inspectors access to these locations. The resolution also tasked the IAEA with issuing an updated assessment regarding unresolved issues about Iran’s nuclear activities and providing a comprehensive account of Teheran’s lack of cooperation with the agency.

In response, Iran began injecting UF4 gas into newly installed advanced centrifuges at the Fordow and Natanz sites. Iran is currently operating more than 20,000 centrifuges of various types and has accumulated enough fissile material for several atomic warheads. Additionally, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – which forbids the development of nuclear weapons – if the 2015 nuclear deal’s ‘snapback’ mechanism to reinstate sanctions on Iran is triggered.

IRANIAN HIT SQUADS TARGET PROMINENT JEWS IN UAE, CANADA

The Chabad organisation’s emissary to Abu Dhabi, Rabbi Zvi Kogan, was found dead on Nov. 24, three days after he was reported missing. His body was found near the Emirati city of al-Ain following his kidnapping by three Shi’ite Uzbek nationals likely operating under instructions from Iran. The suspects fled to Turkey, where they were arrested, and will likely be extradited back to the UAE.

It was also reported that prominent Canadian Jewish human rights advocate Irwin Cotler, a former attorney-general of Canada, had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot foiled by Canadian law enforcement authorities. Cotler, 84, has been at the forefront a global campaign to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation. He has also represented Iranian political prisoners. 

ICC ARREST WARRANTS AGAINST NETANYAHU DENOUNCED

US President Joe Biden unequivocally denounced the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, stating on Nov. 21 that they are “outrageous”. Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto similarly said on Nov. 23 that it is “absurd” to put Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the same level as Hamas, echoing comments the previous day from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Argentina’s President Javier Milei, on Nov. 21, also expressed his country’s “profound disagreement” with the ICC decision.

UN DISMISSES SPECIAL ADVISER AFTER REFUSAL TO ACCUSE ISRAEL OF GENOCIDE

On Nov. 26, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention, left her role after the UN declined to renew her contract, reportedly due to her refusal to label Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocide”. 

Stranger than Fiction

“ONLY A FLESH WOUND”

On June 19, as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah continued to rise in the wake of Hezbollah’s constant projectile fire into Israel, then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that if it launched a major offensive against Hezbollah, no place in Israel would be spared Hezbollah’s rockets, and Hezbollah might launch a ground invasion.

He regularly insisted that the only way Hezbollah would stop attacking Israel was if a ceasefire was declared in Gaza.

However, once the Israeli offensive did come, almost the entire upper echelon of Hezbollah’s leadership, including Nasrallah, was wiped out. An estimated 3,500 other Hezbollah fighters were killed, and vast numbers of Hezbollah rockets were destroyed –estimates say Hezbollah lost 70 to 80% of what it had, plus the factories to make more –  along with the huge network of tunnels, bases and other military infrastructure it had spent years building. Hezbollah rocket attacks into Israel were largely ineffective, and the terror group agreed to a ceasefire while the conflict in Gaza continues which requires Hezbollah to withdraw from the border area.

So, who won? Well, according to Hezbollah’s sole remaining leader, Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s replacement’s replacement as Secretary-General, it was a “great victory” for Hezbollah.

Like the Black Knight, in a famous scene from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who has both his arms cut off but insists it’s just a “flesh wound”, Naim stated in a Nov. 29 address that Hezbollah had won because “we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah. We won because we prevented it from finishing off the resistance.” It was also a victory, he said, “due to… the ferocity of the fighting and the great sacrifices.” (Translation from the Middle East Media Research Institute)

Lucky for Hezbollah it won. Imagine what terrible shape it would be in had it lost!