On August 15, negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages were reopened in the Qatari capital, Doha. On the evening of the 18th, Israeli media reported: “The clash between the Israeli negotiating team for the release of the kidnapped and Netanyahu has erupted again. The Israeli team believes that it does not have enough authority and that what Netanyahu is asking for will never lead to an agreement. The negotiating team urged Netanyahu to be more flexible on the points of contention in order to move towards an agreement.”
“We will not be able to say for a long time that we are conducting negotiations if there is no dramatic progress.” In response, Netanyahu replies that this is a political decision and not a security one, “this is my decision.”
Since August 14, there has also been a proliferation of posts on social media that have claimed that the political relationship between Netanyahu and Gallant is in free fall as the Gaza war drags on. Netanyahu and Gallant reportedly communicate only through their military secretary, which signals an escalation of tensions between the two.
On August 16, Maariv wrote: “Netanyahu has decided to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after tensions between them reached boiling point.” We would add that this is not the first time such a headline has been made.
Yedioth Ahronoth reports: “The political system in Israel is in a state of tension amid the exchange negotiations. Estimates by the government and the opposition indicate that the success or failure of the negotiations will lead to major changes in the political system. The changes include the dissolution of the Knesset and early elections.”
Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said: “The Iranians have succeeded in dragging us into secondary arenas of attrition.” Channel 13 quotes Israeli reservist Colonel Alon Avitar as saying that the Islamic Republic and the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah will certainly respond to the Israeli regime following the assassination of the Hamas leader in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah military commander in Beirut.
And in response to continued Iranian threats, Gallant said on August 17: “The arrival of 6,000 US Marines in the region and the forced delivery of arms packages will make our enemies think twice before taking any action.”
The Red Crescent renewed its call for the release of its employees: “We demand the immediate release of fellow volunteer Dr. Suleiman Abu Sharia, and his fellow volunteers, who were arrested by the occupation (i.e. Israel, ed.) during the attack on the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance center in Jabalia 230 days ago and to this day their fate is still unknown.”
Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah points out that “there is a common understanding between the United States and Israel that the “United Front” is a reality and it is impossible to separate them. This is reflected in the joint “operational readiness” of both countries in responding to the actions of the Axis of Resistance. What is important is that Washington is working for a ceasefire in Gaza in a way that does not make Israel look defeated, in the belief that a truce is the key to stabilizing the region. This is the success of the Axis of Resistance on which to build the future. The idea of the United Front is not to allow any force or people to be singled out, which is a major concern for Washington as it hinders its projects in Western Asia”.
The Lebanese company Electricité du Liban announced a power outage in the country’s main facilities, including the airport and the port; the lack of light is due to non-payment of electricity supplies.
Iran maintains its position, at least in words, and the Iranian ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said that his country is ready for any aggression on its territory and that the Israeli government will receive a response to its actions against the Islamic Republic. And again the Iranian embassy in Beirut announced that Iran’s missile capabilities strike fear in the hearts of Iran’s enemies. The acting Iranian foreign minister stated that the United States is complicit in Israel’s crimes and cannot be considered a neutral mediator as it supplies weapons of war to the regime. Finally, on August 19, Channel 12 reported a statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: “The ceasefire talks in Gaza have no impact on our punishment of “Israel”.
Hassan Nasrallah: “The greatest vengeance and response to the enemy is to force it to stop the war in Gaza in exchange for Iran’s failure to respond. This would be a huge victory.”
Hamas denies some IDF claims: Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas member, said that the supreme commander of the Qassam Brigades Mohammad Deif is safe and that the claims that he was assassinated are not true. This comes after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed that Deif is alive. Hezbollah’s chief of staff Foad Shokor is also said to be alive. While the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, killed on August 17 in a drone strike in southern Lebanon, is said to have died, the Israel Defense Forces said: “He was hit while riding a motorcycle near the coastal city of Tyre.”
On August 17, Hezbollah responded to the killing of its commander by launching more than 50 rockets and several suicide UAVs toward Israel. The Shiite group’s targets were three Israeli military installations on the border with Lebanon. Some missiles and drones were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, others fell in deserted areas and started fires. One drone hit an Israeli military unit. Two soldiers were injured in the bombing, one of them is in critical condition.
The leader of the Yemeni Ansarullah party stated on August 15 that: “The response to the assassination of the martyr Haniyeh and the martyr Fouad has already been determined and is coming.” According to Yemeni media, American and British aircraft launched a raid in the Al-Saleef district, north of the coastal province of Hodeidah on August 15. On August 19, Sanaa Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Al-Rahwi, along with First Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Muftah and Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs General Jalal Al-Ruwaishan, and Information Minister Hashem Sharaf Al-Din, visited the Hamas office in Sana’a, to confirm and renew the government’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause and Gaza
And now a look at the Israel – Hamas – Hezbollah comparison updated at 14:30 on August 19.
According to Channel 13, “The Israeli police officially stated that the August 18 explosion in Tel Aviv was a commando operation and that the resistance fighter came from the Nablus area.” The joint statement by the Israeli Police and Shin Bet read: “The attack in Tel Aviv was an attack in which a high explosive device was used. We call on the public to be vigilant and cautious and to report any suspicious persons or objects. The state of alert has been raised in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and the police are conducting extensive search operations.”
The Al-Qassam Brigades, in cooperation with the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack, and said in a statement: “The Brigades confirm that martyrdom operations in the occupied territories will return to the forefront as long as Israel’s massacres, displacement of civilians and policy of murder continue.”
In a press release issued by the press office of the resistance committees in Palestine, it is stated: “We congratulate […] the suicide operation carried out yesterday evening, Sunday, by the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam and Saraya Brigades in the city of Tel Aviv. We affirm the return of this approach to operations [•••] inside Israel”. […] “The Tel Aviv operation is a new blow. This is a new security and intelligence failure for Israel and a confirmation that the Israeli leaders will bring nothing but destruction and death to the Israelis to maintain their positions and political gains that will never benefit them”.
Also high alert in Haifa, according to Israel Hayom “this morning the municipality of Haifa set up three mobile shelters in preparation for Hezbollah’s response”.
Over the weekend, fires were recorded south of the Hula Valley in Israel after Hezbollah’s bombings from Lebanon. Two bites were reported following a Israeli bombing of the city of Hula, in southern Lebanon.
A Hamas flag and a Palestinian flag were displayed at the entrance to the city of Marda, in the Salfit district. The flags have been hanging for days and the entrance is on a road in the settlement through which settlers and army vehicles regularly pass. None of them dared to remove them for fear that they were booby-trapped.
On August 19, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a swarm of assault drones attacking the Ya’ara barracks and the Sant Jin base, causing numerous deaths and injuries. Israeli warplanes targeted the city of Aita al-Shaab and a raid of drones targeted the city of Hanin. The IDF wrote in a statement that “following the hostile aircraft infiltration sirens sounded earlier in the day in the Western Galilee, several suspicious air targets were identified arriving from Lebanon, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted some of the targets and others fell in the Ya’ara area.”
An airstrike targeted an apartment in the Khalil Home Tower on First Street in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.
IDF troops continue operational activity in the central Gaza area. The Israeli Air Force struck and eliminated two Hamas men in a hideout in the area, as well as a Hamas command and control center and the residence of a Hamas operative. Over the past day, Israeli jets struck over 45 Hamas targets, including military facilities and infrastructure, across the Gaza Strip.
Local media reports reported that Israeli aircraft destroyed the Zumurrud Company building near the Wadi Gaza Bridge on Salah Street al-Din, in the middle of the Gaza Strip. And it is also learned that Israeli artillery is targeting the east of the city of Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. Four confirmed victims.
Since the early hours of the morning, coinciding with the landing of helicopters for the evacuation of the wounded, near the city of Hamad, west of Khan Yunis, clashes and battles between the resistance and Israeli forces have continued. Renewed artillery bombardments on the residential city of Hamad and its surroundings, northwest of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
An attack targeted a commercial structure near the Al-Hurriya school in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Israeli forces, accompanied by demolition vehicles, stormed the vicinity of the city of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. Instead, fourteen people from the West Bank were arrested from yesterday evening until Monday morning. Israeli forces storm Nablus and special forces are reported to have infiltrated Al-Marij Street in the city.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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