Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Deputy Chief of Staff General Amir Bern has been appointed Director General of the Ministry of Defense, to succeed Eye Zamir. On February 20, while the prisoner exchanges were underway, four coffins were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza, the IDF held exercises in the northern region surrounding Gaza.
Hamas said that the four prisoners, all belonging to the same family, were killed by Israeli bombing. Channel 12 stated: “Israel still has no answers to Hamas’s accusations regarding the circumstances of the killing of the four prisoners.”
According to the newspaper Haaretz: “The head of the “Shin Bet”, Ronin Bar, is at the top of Netanyahu’s list of targets. And again according to the Israeli media: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demands that Shin Bet chief Ronin Bar provide the results of the agency’s investigation by the end of this month, and is not expected to grant him a further extension. It is estimated that if Bar does not resign, Netanyahu will fire him.”
Israeli journalist Bin Cassette in Maariv: “There is no way to escape saying it out loud: Benjamin Netanyahu is a terrible person, while 4 Israeli prisoners return to Tabit, Netanyahu attacks the head of the “Shin Bet” and the army leaders and attributes the successes to himself while blaming the failures on the reality of his own administration.”
Minister Smotrich also wrote a post on the 20th: “Good morning to all of us, a day that clearly shows the brutality of our enemies and underlines the fairness of our firm war against them until they are exterminated from the face of the earth. We should not weaken or retreat. We will avenge their blood and raise the position of the people of Israel and the State of Israel again.”
Follow-up to Yediot Aharonot: The Israeli army’s top rabbi, General Eyal Karim, is expected to hold a military funeral ceremony in the Gaza Strip after receiving the dead hostages from the Red Cross.
Tension between Egypt and Israel. “Egypt has the capacity to rebuild the sector to a higher level than before the destruction,” reads The Hebrew Ebok magazine web and again: “Israeli intelligence indicates that Egypt violates the peace agreement with Israel, including expanding military bases, building tunnels and conducting maneuvers that simulate a clash with the Israeli army.” The US ambassador to Egypt said: “Egypt is seriously violating the peace agreement and adopting offensive military sites in Sinai, and Israel will deal with it soon.”
According to the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot, there are attempts to undermine relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv: “The Israeli army is examining whether regional parties are behind publications aimed at sabotaging relations and fomenting tensions between Israel and Egypt. Israeli sources believe that the authorities concerned are trying to undermine relations between the two countries, and therefore are promoting false information about Egypt’s preparations for war with Israel. It has also learned that Israel received a protest from senior Egyptian officials in recent days, following the release of several videos on social media, in which an Israeli army spokesman appears in Arabic, thanking Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El -Sisi for his assistance to Israel in its war in Gaza and Lebanon.” The investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Egyptian bulldozers have reached the northern Gaza Strip, knowing that the IDF continues to prevent the entry of heavy vehicles and caravans, allowing only limited numbers to enter. Five heavy vehicles with excavator vehicles entered the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side to the Karam Abu Salem crossing to undergo inspection procedures, in preparation for entry into Gaza.
During a meeting chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas for the 12th session of the Revolutionary Council of the Fatah movement: “The centrality of Fatah confirms that the Palestinian people will put an end to the illusions of the Israeli far right, removing it from the land of its homeland with its firmness on its land and its adherence to its national principles guided by the Palestine Liberation Organization.” It is reported that Ayman Qandil was appointed as Hussein Al-Sheikh’s replacement as head of the Civil Affairs Authority.
The website of the Israeli magazine EPC: “In preparation for the second phase of negotiations, Hamas announces that it will not agree to disarm or give up its presence in the Gaza Strip. High-level political sources estimate that the explosion of talks on the second phase of the agreement could be a matter of time, but Israel will commit to reaching a “temporary agreement” to free as many prisoners held by Hamas as possible”. Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanoua: “Israel’s conditions with the removal of the resistance and the removal of leaders had already been rejected before the start of the second phase”.
The bodies of Ariel Peps, Kfir Peps, Sherry Peps and Odeed Lvichist have been returned to their loved ones. They were handed over at 08:40 Italian time to the Red Cross. Hamas reports that the Peps family was killed in Khan Yunis in an area where the Israeli army worked for about 4 months. Peps worked for unit 8,200 and the forensic office is currently conducting DNA investigations. Around 800 Palestinian prisoners are released by Israel as the first phase of the deal. According to The Channel Seven: “Prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in the coming days include Nael Al-Barghouti, convicted of murdering bus driver Mordechai Yakwell in 1978. He was released in the Shalit deal and returned to prison because he violated the conditions of his release by possessing a large amount of money from a terrorist organization.”
Hamas still holds 69 Israeli prisoners, 36 of whom are dead. In preparation for the month of Ramadan: police will recommend restricting Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Tensions between Israel and Lebanon, in a joint statement: “The leaders of the Amal Movement and Hezbollah in the south confirm their absolute rejection of the occupation that remains on any part of the Lebanese territories in the south. We condemn the continued Israeli presence and interference in the sovereignty of Lebanese lands. The countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement must oblige Israel to implement the provisions of resolution 1701.”
In Lebanon, meanwhile, hostels in the southern suburbs are opening their doors to Iraqi and Iranian expatriates who will attend Sayyed Nasrallah’s funeral next Sunday, February 23. In order to ensure the safety of the participants and the proper organization of the funeral ceremony, instructions have been published that the pilgrims must keep.
And now a look at the military scenarios updated at 15:30 on February 20.
A squadron of B-52H nuclear bombers and an escort of F-16s are heading towards the Middle East for the second time this week. In Al-Bidar, settlers stationed at an abandoned military site near Bralala in the Jordan Valley are preparing a new Israeli outpost.
The Walla Al-Abri website states that the Israeli army spokesperson: “A plane belonging to the air force targeted an operation and killed a Hezbollah military element in the Aita Al-Shaab area in southern Lebanon. By agreement between Israel and Lebanon.” Youssef Sorour, son of the mayor of Aita Al-Shaab, was killed.
In Gaza, a drone attack was reported in the Abu Halawa area, east of Rafah. Jewish Channel 14: “An Israeli plane attacked a group of Palestinians on the pretext that they were approaching the forces of the Israeli army east of Rafah.” In Khan Yunis, Bani Suhaila, the Red Cross received the bodies of 4 Israeli prisoners.
On the evening of the 19th, an attack took place in Jerusalem in the Old City of the Jewish Quarter on Ur Haim Street, one man is in serious condition, the attack was classified as “guerrilla” nationalism
Clashes in the West Bank, 3 Palestinians killed in the Al-Fara’a camp in Tubas. Clashes in the village of Tal, south of Nablus. Several arrests were recorded. The IDF searched homes during the assault on the town of Beita, south of Nablus, two attacks by the IDF were recorded. Assault in the town of Odla. The IDF stormed the city of Nablus from the Beit Furik checkpoint. The IDF stormed the Al-Fawwar camp, south of Hebron.
The city of Jenin after 31 days of assault records clashes 26 dead, 100 homes destroyed and the Jenin camp witnessed unprecedented destruction since 2002; forced displacements are still ongoing for people, in addition to arrests.
The city of Tulkarem enters its twenty-fifth day of attack by the IDF, with clashes and destruction of infrastructure also recorded here.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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