The release of the prisoners has been postponed for 24 hours, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry. And so today is release day. A press release from the Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed the news in a statement on the afternoon of November 23rd.
The statement reads: “The truce will come into force on Friday 24 November 2023 at 7:00. The truce will last 4 days, starting from Friday morning, accompanied by the cessation of all military actions of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist enemy for the entire period of truce. Enemy planes have completely stopped flying in the southern Gaza Strip. Enemy planes stop flying for 6 hours a day, from 10:00 to 16:00, in Gaza City and the north. For every Zionist prisoner, 3 Palestinian prisoners will be released, including women and children. Within 4 days, 50 Zionist prisoners, women and children under the age of 19 will be released. 200 trucks of humanitarian aid and medical supplies are brought to all areas of the Gaza Strip every day. 4 trucks of fuel and cooking gas are brought every day to all areas of the Gaza Strip.”
According to Lebanese pro-Hezbollah media, Palestinian prisoners, men and women, will be released from Megiddo, Damoun and Ofer prisons. Prisoners from the West Bank will be released at the Beitunia “Ofer” checkpoint and then into Red Cross vehicles. Jerusalem city inmates will be released within the city of Jerusalem. According to Israeli media: “The delicate point is that the truce agreement does not include Hezbollah and the Yemen Front.”
However, why the release did not start on the 23rd is explained by an article in Haaretz which reads: “A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement will not begin until a timetable for the exchange of hostages is determined”.
Israeli media called the prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas “not good for Israel,” because Israeli military pressure was unsuccessful.
Israeli government spending on military operations in the Gaza Strip will reach $48 billion in 2023 – 2034, including a third of the total amount planned in the United States, Bloomberg reported citing data from consultancy firm Leader Capital Market. And so while Kiev tightens its belt, the United States will finance a third of the 48 billion dollars promised by Israel for the operation in Gaza
In this case, Tel Aviv will bear two-thirds of the total costs, while the United States will pay the rest. According to the Israeli Finance Ministry, the continuation of hostilities costs the country’s budget $270 million a day. As stated According to the department’s chief accountant, Yali Rotenberg, the Ministry of Finance is perfectly capable of financing Israel even in situations more extreme than the current conflict.
Previously, the Israeli business newspaper Calcalist had published a cost forecast of around $54 billion if hostilities lasted 8-12 months and were limited to the Gaza Strip without Hezbollah’s intervention. This will amount to about 10% of the country’s GDP for the year. Such long-term plans of the Jewish state could not but affect assistance to Ukraine, since there is only one creditor – the United States. It is already known that the supply of projectiles to Kiev has decreased by more than 30%, and this despite the fact that they account for about 60-70% of all military aid to Ukraine. And although the “interim” government funding bill signed by Biden does not include assistance to either Kiev or Tel Aviv, the priorities are set not in favor of the independent country.
And since the accounts are in the red, Israel and Germany have signed a complete package of documents on the sale of the Hetz3 extra-atmospheric missile defense system, for 3.6 billion dollars, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announces. Israel is making a lot of arms deals now that it is fighting Hamas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian from Lebanon said: “We are faced with complex circumstances in the region 6 weeks after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which was a response to the crimes of the Zionists.” “We are willing to consult Lebanese officials on the latest developments in the region and our consultations continue.”
“We discussed the truce, the war, the future of Palestine, developments in the region, and the behavior of America and the Israeli entity the day after the ceasefire. The resistance, including Hamas, is the decision maker regarding the truce, and we have consulted with our friends in Qatar regarding this issue, and we respect any decision made from Hamas.”
“”Israel” and America are unable to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, and it will remain in Palestine, and the end of the war will be in favor of the resistance. We have already warned that if the war continues, the opening of new fronts will be inevitable. The factions do not work through us, but rather work in the interests of their countries and the Arab nation.”
“Lebanese, Syrians, Iraqis and Yemenis cannot stand by and watch what happens in Gaza. If the truce does not continue, conditions in the region will change and the war will expand. We have invited international actors to put pressure on us to stop the war: we do not hope that it will expand, but any possibility is possible if the aggression continues. In Iraq and Syria there are factions that act against America by their own decision and are not subject to the orders and management of Iran.”
And the Israeli Chief of Staff announced that the war is not over on the morning of November 23rd in a conversation with the commanders of the brigades inside the Gaza Strip: “We will not end the war, we will continue until we are victorious” “We are trying to connect the objectives of the war, so that the pressure of the ground operation leads to the possibility of also achieving the objective of this war, that is, creating conditions for the release of the kidnapped hostages. We are not ending the war. We will continue until we are victorious, moving forward and continuing into other areas of Hamas. I am very proud of you, you are doing an outstanding job.”
The Chief of the General Staff met with the brigade commanders of the 36th Division, inside the Gaza Strip, and conducted a situation assessment for the continuation of operations together with the Commander of the Southern Command and the Commander of the 36th Division.
The director of Al-Shifa hospital is detained for questioning over ties between Hamas and the Israeli army. the IDF reports: “The director of Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was arrested and transferred for questioning by the ISA following evidence showing that Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a command and control of Hamas. The Hamas terrorist tunnel network located under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital. Furthermore, Hamas has stored numerous weapons inside the hospital and on the hospital grounds.”
And we read again: “Furthermore, after the Hamas massacre on 7 October, Hamas terrorists sought refuge inside the hospital, some of them taking hostages from Israel with them. A pathological report also confirmed the murder of CPL Noa Marciano which occurred inside the hospital. Extensive Hamas terrorist activity was taking place in the hospital under her management. The findings of his involvement in terrorist activities will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA interrogation.”
Of a different opinion are senior officials in “Israel” who told the media that the truce appears to extend for several weeks.
And now a look at the Battle for Gaza.
Before the truce was announced, the IDF managed to expand the control zone to the northern outskirts of the Palestinian enclave. The Israelis have gained a foothold at the Indonesian hospital on the eastern outskirts of Jabaliya, but there is still no talk of surrounding the area. the IDF on November 23 alone In total, during activities in the Gaza Strip it carried out air strikes “on over 300 Hamas terrorist targets, including military command centers, underground terrorist tunnels, weapons depots, weapons and launch of anti-tank missiles”. Source IDF
Meanwhile, Palestinian groups continue to attack the IDF in previously occupied territories. Numerous clashes took place near Juhr ad-Dik and Al-Wafa hospital, but the militants failed to repel the Israelis.
Clashes continue between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in the West Bank. The most violent clashes occurred in Tulkarem, where the IDF used unmanned aircraft to kill militants and attack the homes of local residents.
Exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel continue on the Israeli-Lebanese border. After the truce was declared in Gaza, their intensity decreased slightly, but the number of attacks is still high.
Pro-Iranian agents have once again attacked American military targets in Iraqi and Syrian territory. In Iraq, the targets were the bases of Ain al-Assad and Harir, and in Syria – Al-Shaddadi in the north-east of the country.
On November 22, Israeli planes once again launched attacks on the outskirts of Damascus. Iranian infrastructure in Syria is also targeted.
On November 23, the Yemeni armed forces launched a batch of missiles against various military targets of the Israeli entity in Umm al-Rashrash, south of Palestine. The Yemeni armed forces will continue to carry out their military operations until Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank ceases.
Here, we report the important points of the speech by Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubeida: “We continue to fight and defend against the aggression of the Israeli army. We have documented the attack on over 300 Israeli vehicles, including 33 in the last 24 hours. We engaged Israeli forces in countless areas and ambushed many units, confirming the killing of Israeli soldiers this week. The Israeli army hides the victims. We are there in the battle and we are seeing the deaths. Israeli casualties will worsen as the country moves deeper into Gaza. Many of our fighters are waiting for the order to attack from behind enemy lines. The ceasefire and hostage agreement is what we called for many weeks ago. What the Israeli army has achieved is only death and destruction in Gaza without military objectives. We express our greetings to our people in the West Bank. We thank the remarkable and honorable Yemeni leadership who helped us despite the distance. We thank our brothers in Lebanon and Iraq who did not sit idle and made statements, but acted and fought”.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
