Israel at War: What happened on days 35-36?

The top of the IDF is engaged in analyzing the new reality that has emerged in the Gaza Strip and led to the collapse of defense in the Gaza District and Southern Command. 

The ones fully responsible for shaping the space and defense posture on the southern front are primarily the current Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Aviv Kohavi, who was previously the commander of the Southern Command and head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the head of the Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate, Major General Eliezer Toledano, who was the commander of the Southern Command until two months ago and previously the commander of the Gaza Division.

The security establishment created a system that focuses on acting against the intentions of terrorist organizations rather than acting against their capabilities. 

While Hamas has evolved from an organization to a terrorist army, the Southern Command and other parts of the army believed that the intelligence suitable for continuous security activity would not disappoint and would provide the expected warning for war. 

The opposite happened. The intelligence system and the capabilities of the military's top echelons did not function. Even though they saw the threat looming before them, they did not grasp the magnitude of the danger.

Smoke rises from Gaza as seen from the broken fence where Hamas terrorists entered Israel during the October 7th attack, in Kfar Aza, Israel November 8, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)

There is no doubt that something went wrong in terms of gathering information and processing it for understanding the reality. "It's more than a lapse in attention," explain intelligence sources. "It's an accumulating problem when an organization relies on various alerts and insights from above in many ways. That's how it becomes complacent." An intelligence source explains that everything that came from below seemed unimportant because it did not align with the analyses "from above. There is no other way to explain the gaps that emerged."

Operating against capabilities, not intentions

Therefore, there is no alternative but for the new system built against Gaza to operate against capabilities rather than intentions.

Considerable criticism has been voiced about the "Hourglass" system, the construction of which along 64 km in the Gaza Strip cost billions of shekels. 

Repeated attempts in recent years by thousands of Palestinians to breach the fence made it clear that it is a fence for continuous security activity, not a fence for war. Any explosive charge or small drone could render the entire system useless. Everyone saw it, but no one in the General Staff thought to respond to the extreme scenario of a war that could erupt from Palestinian anger fueled by incitement and incessant brainwashing by Hamas.

The IDF needs to uproot the very idea of using deterrence. Terrorist organizations act against Israel for internal ideological and political interests as well as due to external pressures, like Iranian patronage. 

Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad do not act against Israel because they think the IDF is weak. On the contrary, the fact that the IDF is the strongest in the Middle East does not prevent them from attacking Israel. A terrorist organization operates because of internal interests, not because someone else is weak.

Deterrence is relevant only when the IDF poses a credible and direct threat to the survival of the organization or its leadership. Only then can it prevent terrorist organizations from doing what they want. 

When Hezbollah understands that there is a direct and immediate threat to its leadership and its survival, it will consider whether to stop firing towards Israel. Until then, it will continue to shed the blood of IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians along the border.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has appointed a team to focus on the day after the war - how to design an exit mechanism and the direction Israel should take militarily in the Gaza Strip.

Since it is already clear that there was no choice but to work against the capabilities of Hamas, not just its intentions, calls are growing in the security establishment, including the IDF, to eliminate the phenomenon of tunnels that led to the insane military buildup of Hamas in all areas. In parallel, forces are being consolidated that, after the war, will carry out a series of operations similar to the day after Operation Protective Edge.

This, of course, would come after reassessing the deep-rooted military combat systems on the ground and in the command and control centers.

Rocket sirens were heard in Manot, Neveh Ziv, and Avdon as well as a hostile aircraft intrusion in Cabri.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday that 39 babies are at risk of death in Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital after electricity was cut off and amid a lack of oxygen and medicine.

The ministry sent out a statement correcting remarks made by Health Minister Mai al-Kaila in a televised press conference in which she said "39 infants died in the modern care for children department because they couldn't get oxygen or medicine to them and electricity was cut off."

The ministry statement added that one baby had died, echoing a comment to Reuters by its spokesperson in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qidra.

The IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police arrested 19 wanted terrorists, including nine members of the Hamas organization, in Judea and Samaria, they reported Saturday afternoon.

During overnight arrests in Beit Fajjar in Gush Etzion, security forces nabbed three unlicensed firearms. In a town in the Menashe Regional Council, a hunting weapon was seized. Gunfire was directed at Israeli forces during the operation. They responded and neutralized the attackers.

In arrests in Beit Ummar in Judea, an M16 rifle, a Carlo submachine gun, and a handgun were confiscated. In the town of Anata and the cities of Yata and Qalqilya, forces also seized weapons and other military equipment.

While in Qalqilya, Palestinians threw stones, explosives, and Molotov cocktails at forces, who responded with gunfire, resulting in injuries. 

IDF has arrested 1,560 terrorists in the West Bank since October 7

So far, since the beginning of the conflict, approximately 1,560 wanted individuals have been arrested in various locations in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including 940 who were affiliated with Hamas.

In addition to fighting in the West Bank, the IDF continues to battle and kill terrorists in Gaza and fight against Hezbollah on Israel's northern front.

The IDF eliminated Ahmed Siam, a company commander of Hamas's Naser Radwan Company, the terrorist responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents hostage in Gaza's Rantisi Hospital preventing them from evacuating south to safety, the IDF said on Saturday.

The assassination succeeded with the efforts of both the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). Ground and air troops participated in the operation.

צה"ל ושב"כ חיסלו את המחבל שהחזיק כ-אלף מתושבי רצועת עזה כבני ערובה בבית החולים 'רנתיסי' במהלך הלחימה

כוחות מצוות הקרב החטיבתי גבעתי חיסלו באמצעות הכוונת מטוס קרב ובהכוונה מודיעינית של אמ"ן ושב"כ את המחבל אחמד ציאם, מפקד הפלוגה המרחבית נאצר-רצ'ואן בארגון הטרור חמאס >> pic.twitter.com/MedpTJlq7s

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 11, 2023

Siam was struck while hiding in a school

IDF aircraft struck Siam two days ago, the IDF spokesperson said. He was killed while hiding in the "al Buraq" school, where additional terrorists under this command were also hiding and were killed.

"Siam demonstrates once again that Hamas uses the civilians of the Gaza Strip as human shields for terror purposes," the IDF said.

Since the Swords of Iron war started on October 7, the IDF has killed numerous terrorists involved in the massacre and other leaders. 

Israel strongly "vehemently" rejected what it called another "one-sided" draft resolution by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) calling for an immediate cessation of all attacks on Palestinians.

"The decision completely ignores the terrorist attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, in which they murdered, massacred, and killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted 240, among them infants, children, women, and the elderly," the Foreign Ministry said.

Hayat clarified that while most Israeli media outlets had been reporting around 1,400 deaths from the massacre, around 1,200 is now the official number. Israel is still working to identify and locate hundreds of victims.

The ministry said that the resolution "gives the green light to the Hamas terrorist organization, which is worse than ISIS, to continue killing, abducting, and using the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields. 

"UNESCO is actively collaborating with the distortion of basic facts and the denial of the massacre, aligning itself with extreme governments and supporters of terror," the ministry continued, condemning the minute of silence that the UN Security Council stood for on Friday at the start of the meeting, which Israel said was "only for Palestinian victims."

The UN said the moment was meant for the civilians killed both in Israel and Gaza, including some 100 people working with the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.

The UNESCO resolution, which passed by a majority of votes, specifically calls for the immediate cessation of all attacks on Palestinians, especially children, women, youth, teachers and all those working in the field of education.

The ministry said that UNESCO "should be ashamed of itself and its discussions. Israel expresses gratitude to the countries that supported it and opposed the decision, including the adjustments proposed by the United States."

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU). July 3, 2020 (credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/POOL VIA REUTERS)

WHO chief: A child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza

The resolution came soon after the UN Security Council met on Friday to once again deliberate about the Israel-Hamas war, including a lengthy address by World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

A child is killed on average every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip, Tedros told the council, warning: "Nowhere and no one is safe."

He said that half of Gaza's 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centers were not functioning, and those operating were way beyond their capacities, describing the healthcare system as "on its knees." Since October 7, the WHO has verified more than 250 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank, while there have been 25 attacks on healthcare in Israel, Tedros said.

"Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying. Morgues overflowing. Surgery without anesthesia. Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals," Tedros told the 15-member council. 

Israel says Hamas hides weapons in tunnels under hospitals, charges Hamas denies.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council that Israel had created a task force to establish hospitals in southern Gaza. On October 12, Israel ordered some 1.1 million people in Gaza to move south ahead of its ground invasion.

"Israel is in advanced talks with the United Arab Emirates, with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and with other European countries regarding the establishment of field-hospital and floating-hospital ships," Erdan said. "Israel facilitated the Jordanian airdrop of medical aid to hospitals in northern Gaza."

"Sadly, Israel is doing far more for the well-being of Gazans than the WHO or any other UN body," he said.

Erdan also addressed what he called the UN Security Council's bias toward Israel, including its neglect of the trauma endured by Israeli society.

'Do Israeli lives matter less?'

"Do Israeli lives matter less?" Erdan asked in his address. "I urge the council to invite me to share a screening of the footage from Hamas's slaughter. Footage that the terrorists filmed themselves. Once you see the savagery with your own eyes, you will understand the evil that Israel is defending itself against.

"Will you address these crimes today?" Erdan continued. "Will you condemn Hamas for murdering Israeli medical personnel? Will you call out Hamas for torching Israeli ambulances?"

בדיון היום באו״ם, כש@MosabHasanYOSEF (״בן החמאס״) לצידי, תקפתי את מועצת הבטחון שהמתקדה רק במצב בעזה. האם חייהם של אזרחים ישראלים שווים פחות? איך אתם דנים רק בבתי החולים בעזה, בלי להתייחס לכך שחמאס מפציץ במכוון בתי חולים ישראליים? או מבלי להתייחס לכך שחמאס מנצל את בתי החולים… pic.twitter.com/TU0N9qCIkQ

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) November 11, 2023

He questioned how a briefing on the medical situation in Gaza could be held without discussing the situation in Israel. 

"Does this not wreak of bias? Do Israeli lives matter less?" Erdan concluded.

Tedros did acknowledge "the anger, grief and fear of the Israeli people following the horrific, barbaric and unjustifiable attacks by Hamas and other armed groups on Israeli civilians on October 7." He also said that the WHO "is gravely concerned for the health and well-being of Israeli hostages in Gaza, many of whom are older people, children and those with urgent medical needs."

US: Working to get fuel to Gazan hospitals

However, he noted that before the massacre and the start of the Shields of Iron War, an average of 500 trucks a day were crossing into Gaza with essential supplies. Since October 21, instead of the expected 10,000 trucks, just 650 have entered.

Israel later updated that more than 820 trucks had entered Gaza since October 21.

A senior official from the United States at the UN said that the US is working to assist in obtaining fuel for hospitals in Gaza.

"We know that hospitals desperately need fuel. The US is working tirelessly to establish mechanisms that will allow fuel to reach hospitals and provide other urgent needs in the south," said Robert Wood, the US representative at the UN. "But I also want to clarify that we share Israel's concerns about the hoarding and diversion of fuel by Hamas in northern Gaza. This is unacceptable, and we all need to make that clear."

Wood, like Erdan, said Hamas had been using civilians as human shields.

"These cowardly tactics do not diminish Israel's responsibility to distinguish between civilians and terrorists in its fight against Hamas," he said. "The risks of harm to civilians at sites that Hamas is using for military purposes absolutely have to be considered when planning an operation."

Despite sirens in northern Israel warning of a suspected hostile aircraft intrusion, no aircraft were identified infiltrating into Israeli territory, the IDF said on Saturday morning. 

A rocket launch from Lebanon into Israel was identified by the military, however. The projectile fell into an open area in the Margaliot area. A building in Kiryat Shmona was hit, according to Maariv.

The IDF responded with artillery fire targeting the source of the launch.

Overnight, a missile coming from Lebanon targeted an IDF aircraft operating in the border area. An Israeli UAV subsequently hit the launcher that fired the missile.

Furthermore, overnight, a launch was identified toward an IDF aircraft operating in the area of the border with Lebanon, an IDF UAV struck the launcher from which the launch was carried out.

The IDF F-15 Eagle fighter plane. April 19, 2018. (credit: MOSHE SHAI/FLASH90)

IDF fighter jets hit terror infrastructure

Later, on Saturday afternoon, the IDF said that Israeli fighter jets targeted several terrorist infrastructure installations in Lebanon.

The airstrikes came in tandem with artillery fire.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the time had come for action over the conflict in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists.

"Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action," Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

"Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important," he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has seized control of 11 military positions belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization since the beginning of the conflict, the IDF said Saturday morning.

WATCH: IDF operates in Gaza, takes control of 11 key Hamas positions since start of Swords of Iron

Read full story: https://t.co/6eXJDXo663 pic.twitter.com/PrwIiHclXK

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) November 11, 2023

Meanwhile, the army expanded its fighting in the Shatti refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, which is also near Al Shifa Hospital, the IDF said. More than 10 terrorists were killed in the battles, according to the estimation of military officials. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians escaped from the refugee camp.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 11,078 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the battle. This includes 4,506 children, 3,027 women, 678 older adults and 2,867 men.

Ground offensive continues

IDF forces continue to fight in the Gaza Strip, eliminating terrorists and directing air and artillery fire to attack terrorist infrastructure. Additionally, during operations in the area, soldiers from the Nahal Brigade identified and destroyed an underground tunnel apparatus near a school. 

The coordinated attack by Brigade 215 identified a group of terrorists moving towards IDF soldiers from the Givati Brigade and, using aerial assets, neutralized the group, eliminating the threat.

Overnight Friday, naval forces attacked structures used by the Hamas terrorist organization against IDF forces in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Furthermore, storage facilities of naval equipment belonging to Hamas were targeted.

WATCH: #IDF operates in Gaza, takes control off 11 Hamas positions | https://t.co/6eXJDXo663

IDF forces continue to fight in the #Gaza Strip, eliminating terrorists and directing air and artillery fire to attack terrorist infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Dw8hArjxUI

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) November 11, 2023

Action in the West Bank

While battling in Gaza, Israel is also operating on two other fronts: Northern Israel against Hezbollah and against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank, some of whom are also affiliated with Hamas.

The IDF arrested several Palestinians suspected of terrorist activity in the village of Beit Fajar in the Bethlehem area early Saturday morning.

Several suspects of terror activities were also arrested by the IDF in in the Jilzon refugee camp in the Ramallah district.

Since the beginning of the Swords of Iron war, the IDF has arrested close to 1,000 Hamas operatives in the West Bank, the military said.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating on Friday in Midtown Manhattan, shutting down Grand Central Station, as well as vandalizing and chanting in front of the New York Times building, local media sources reported.

ABC and Fox reported that services at the terminal were extremely limited as a result of the demonstrations and that their previous destination, the NYT building, was vandalized with a red tint. They accused the newspaper of being biased towards Israel and chanted: "Children die, while you lie."

PROTEST: NEW YORK PRO-PALESTINE

In case you missed it, last night a group of pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas protestors tried forcing their way into the New York Times building in NYC.

They can be heard chanting, "WHEN YOU LIE, CHILDREN DIE!"

The New York Police Department… pic.twitter.com/CNy8FeNoW9

— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) November 10, 2023

In addition, the protesters scattered editions of a fake newspaper with the words "The New York War Crimes" written on it - which accused the media of "complicity in genocide" and called on the editorial board of the Times to publicly support a ceasefire. Also, the word "lies" was written across the doors of the Times headquarters.

The demonstrators protested for over an hour and read the names of thousands of Palestinians who they claim have been killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been confirmed since the start of the war, according to Maariv.

People take part in a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the New York Times building, in New York City, US, November 9, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Grand Central and Columbus Circle

The protesters then went to Grand Central Terminal afterward, where video footage shows some of them kicking and banging to get into the station. It can be seen below:

Shocking scenes outside Grand Central Station in NYC as pro-Palestinian protesters wearing headscarves attempt to smash down the door.

pic.twitter.com/SdGQftA1B5

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 11, 2023

The rally, the ABC report stated, started at Columbus Circle with thousands marching to demand a ceasefire to Operation Swords of Iron. Protesters shouted: "No peace on stolen land."

Pro-Palestinian supporters raise flag over Columbus Square in NYC.

The Jewish community is being told to shelter in place. pic.twitter.com/EmVBEQ69k3

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 11, 2023

Police have made several arrests due to the protests, but do not have an exact number, ABC reported.