Beyond Israel’s declarations to the mediators that it does not want an escalation with Hezbollah, there is no progress either on the southern Lebanon front or on the prisoner issue.
On August 30, the American ship Trinity, docked in the port of Ashdod, began unloading goods for the Israeli army after arriving from Cyprus. According to Israeli sources, the military secretary of the Israeli Prime Minister was in Moscow in recent days to promote an agreement on the exchange of hostages with Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz further complicated the dialogue by threatening to assassinate Khaled Mashal, former head of the Hamas Movement. Internal tensions also remain: on September 1, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The government must immediately convene a meeting to reverse Netanyahu’s decision to remain in the Philadelphia Axis, which is the main obstacle to negotiations with the Resistance.”
On September 1, Israeli protesters blocked the Rehovot intersection near Tel Aviv, where the Weizmann Institute of Science is located, demanding the immediate signing of a prisoner exchange agreement with the Islamic Resistance. Anger among protesters erupted when it was learned that three of the six Israeli prisoners whose bodies were found in Gaza were to be released under a potential prisoner exchange deal that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had blocked.
According to Palestinian sources, the six prisoners found were executed and abandoned in a tunnel in Rafah just days before the Israeli army could reach them. The post reads: “As Hamas once said, if you want the hostages alive, negotiate a deal to end the war and a prisoner exchange. These 6 Israelis could have been reunited with their families, but Netanyahu has decided to prolong the massacre in Gaza and for this, he will burden other Israelis with agony and pain for the loss.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on the microphones: “Netanyahu and the government of death have decided to block the release of the prisoners. Netanyahu does not seek an agreement with the Resistance for political reasons and prioritizes his alliances over the release of the prisoners.” And he called on the unions to strike in solidarity with the families of the kidnapped.
In response, the head of the General Organization of Workers in Israel announced a nationwide strike involving all economic institutions on Monday, September 2, to push for an agreement with the Resistance. Ben Gurion Airport also suspended its operations at 8:00 a.m. on September 2.
On the evening of September 1, tens of thousands of people gathered on Begin Street in Tel Aviv ahead of the demonstration. At the same time, thousands demonstrated across the country to demand the release of prisoners in Gaza. Water cannons were used overnight to disperse protesters in Tel Aviv. On September 2, an estimated half a million Israelis protested across the country after the bodies of six hostages, including a Russian and an American, were discovered in the Gaza Strip. Clashes broke out between protesters and police. Dozens of people were arrested and some were injured, with 29 people arrested. Closed for strike: the port of Haifa; trains stopped by protesters at the Hagana station in Tel Aviv; banks, government ministries, and a large portion of high-tech companies, more than 200 large commercial companies, chain stores, technology companies, hotels, some bus companies, the Ghosh Dan railway, and some hospitals joined the strike.
The Court then ordered the strike to end at 2:30 p.m. Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David: “We live in a state of law and respect the court’s decision, so I ask everyone to return to work at 2:30 in the afternoon.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “The court accepted our position and decided that the Histadrut strike is political and illegal. The Israeli economy cannot be damaged to serve the interests of Sinwar and Hamas.”
Hamas officially reiterated that the six Israeli prisoners whose bodies were found by the Israeli army were all killed in Israel’s shelling: “If US President Joe Biden is concerned about the lives of prisoners, he should stop offering financial and weapons support to the Israeli enemy.”
Hamas blamed the deaths of prisoners in Gaza on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.
The Association of Families of Israeli Prisoners in Gaza called on Netanyahu to take responsibility for the failed prisoner exchange talks and his negligence that led to the killing of Israeli prisoners.
On August 31, the Houthis said they had struck another ship in the Gulf of Aden. The British Maritime Trade Centre reported that no specific casualties were reported as a result of the Houthi attacks.
On September 1, the military website Aviationist reported that the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower had been subjected to a barrage of attacks by drones, attack ships and cruise missiles; it also reported that the carrier group’s destroyers had run out of missiles due to the intensity of the attacks, forcing them to refuel from nearby stations. The same site reports that the German frigate “Hessen” suffered a similar fate and exhausted its arsenal in an attempt to intercept Yemeni operations.
The Eisenhower Group has used defensive tactics developed for the Pacific war against China to reduce its exposure to attacks in the Red Sea. After nine months of combat service in the Red Sea and Yemeni waters, the US destroyer DDG 58 Laboon has docked in Norfolk, Virginia.
On September 2, the British Embry Maritime Security Center reports that a commercial ship was attacked by a Houthi UAV in the Red Sea, with no damage or casualties. The British Maritime Authority stated: “A vessel targeted by two unknown projectiles and an explosion occurred near, 70 nautical miles northwest of Al-Salif, Yemen.”
According to Islamic Resistance sources: “In their latest attack on ships bound for Israeli ports, the Yemenis attacked a ship with a suicide drone 50 nautical miles west of the port of Hodeidah.”
And now a look at the escalation between Israel -Hamas – Hezbollah updated at 14:00 on September 2.
On September 1, airstrikes were reported in Taybeh, Odaiseh and Beit Yahoun. The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon claims to have targeted the “Al-Samaqa” site in the Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba with missiles. The IDF reported that overnight, “the IAF struck Hezbollah military facilities in the areas of Yaroun, Ayta ash Shab, Hanine, Tayr Harfa and Blida in southern Lebanon.”
Hezbollah claimed six attacks on the IDF on September 1: against intelligence equipment at the Rwaysat al-Alam base; soldiers near KfarYuval using ATGMs; soldiers near the Al-Marj base; intelligence equipment near Hadb Yaroun with an FPV; the Jal al-Allam base with artillery; the Ramiah base with artillery.
On September 2, Hezbollah attacked Western Galilee with rockets. Sirens in action on red alert in Ein Yacov and Ga’aton. Hezbollah issued a statement announcing that it attacked the settlements of Ein Yaakov, Ja’aton and Yehiam in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese villages, particularly Naqoura. None of these settlements were evacuated. Sirens also sounded in Mattat, in northern Israel.
In the heart of the Gaza Strip, in the Beit Hanon area, General Barak Hiram took over the command of the Gaza Division from General Avi Rosenfeld, who resigned from his post and the IDF due to the failure of the October 7 campaign. Israeli soldiers wounded in battles in the Gaza Strip have not received treatment at Sheba Hospital due to the strike.
The Gaza Municipality issued a statement on September 2, saying: “This morning, Monday, September 2, 2024, Israel targeted a car belonging to the Gaza Municipality, which led to the death of employee Jalal Saeed Abu Dayyah (36). The municipality condemns Israeli attacks against municipal employees, such as the one that led to the martyrdom of its employee, who was performing his national duty in the service of the citizens of Gaza City. The United Nations and international organizations call for urgent intervention to protect municipal employees who have been working since the beginning of the aggression to continue providing basic services to citizens despite the risks of working while the aggression has continued for more than 11 months.”
Israeli aircraft struck in the Al-Tanour neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Israeli artillery bombardment renewed in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
After the operation near the Tarqumiyah checkpoint, northwest of the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, which killed three Israeli policemen, a large number of Israeli soldiers attacked the town of Ezna northwest of Al-Khalil to find those responsible for the operation.
The Saraya Al-Quds – West Bank claimed responsibility: “Our fighters from the Tubas Battalion carried out 5 explosive device explosions against Israeli soldiers and vehicles. Our fighters from the Tulkarem Battalion carried out 6 explosive device explosions, resulting in the death and wounding of Israeli soldiers. On the evening of September 1, there was a total power outage in the Jenin camp. Israeli bulldozers on September 2 destroyed roads as they passed through the area of the cinema roundabout in the city of Jenin. The Al-Quds Brigades – Jenin Battalion reported fighting in Jenin between Israeli soldiers and militants allied with Hamas. Clashes also reported in Hebron.
On the morning of September 2, the army closed road 466 near the “Atarot” area in the central West Bank and called in explosives experts after suspecting the presence of a vehicle carrying an explosive device.
A car bomb was neutralized at the entrance to the settlement of Atart in Binyamin. There were no casualties. The connecting road to Binyamin is closed to traffic. The car bomb contained two gas cylinders and was connected to a remote control device to activate them, apparently to shoot the car when a force approached.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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