Israel at War: What happened on Day 59?

A senior security official, in a confidential briefing, shared insights on the escalated efforts to locate Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas. The official revealed, "There is a significant intelligence effort underway to track down Sinwar," emphasizing his misjudgment of the IDF's strength and his shock at recent military actions in Shifa.

Security forces are now focusing on the southern Gaza Strip, with an expectation that operations in areas like Khan Yunis and Rafah will be more effective than previous combat in northern Gaza. These actions, targeting the control centers of Hamas, are aimed at fulfilling the war's objectives and dismantling the organization's governmental and military capabilities.

In a separate high-ranking security discussion, it was claimed that the elimination of Sinwar could significantly alter the dynamics of hostage releases. The source noted, "A large intelligence operation is focused on Sinwar's whereabouts," highlighting the importance of this mission.

When Taha Amin-Ismail Khalifeh dialed into a conference call with his Israeli employer last month, the Palestinian hotel worker expected a briefing on how the Israel-Hamas war was affecting business. Instead, he and 40 others were laid off.

Khalifeh, who lives in the West Bank, had worked as a housekeeper in the hotel in East Jerusalem for more than 20 years.

About 160,000 Palestinians from the West Bank who were working in Israel and in Jewish settlements have lost or are at risk of losing their jobs because of the closure of border crossings from the West Bank into Israel and settlements, and restrictions on their access to Israel's job market, according to the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO).

Israel has also sent back thousands of Palestinians to the Gaza Strip.

The families of the Gaza hostages will meet with Israel's war cabinet on Monday after protesting that they asked to meet with the members of the cabinet earlier but received a minimal response from the coalition.

The Prime Minister's Office responded: "A meeting with the families of the abductees and the War Cabinet was scheduled yesterday for Wednesday." In light of the families' request, it was brought forward for later on Monday.

Family members of children held captive in Gaza by Hamas terrorists told media outlets from across the world about their return and how they adjusted to life after being held against their will. 

Families speak of separation anxiety, minimal food intake

Chen Avigdori, whose 12-year-old daughter Noam Avigdori was kidnapped along with her mother and uncle, shared that upon his daughter's release last week, she suffered severe separation anxiety from her father. "She was not comfortable with me even going outside to take out the garbage for a couple of minutes," he said.

He also divulged that despite waking up screaming many nights after her release, she remained relatively talkative about her experience. She did not share details in any specific order, he added, but was willing to talk about them.

“It was the rebirth of our family, being reunited,” Avigdori added on being brought back together.

Israel must not only instruct Gazans to move to safety but also make this possible, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said on Monday, amid concerns that the war against Hamas could expand into Gaza's refugee-crowded south.

It is important that Israel avoids civilian casualties and adheres to humanitarian law, the spokesperson told reporters in Berlin, adding that the German government was conveying this message in its talks with Israeli partners.

A delegation of White House officials is set to arrive in Israel on Monday to discuss "the day after" the war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Walla! reported.

The reported delegation making its way to Jerusalem is headed by Phillip Gordon, National Security Advisor to the United States Vice President Kamala Harris.

Four prominent Israeli medical academics and a senior legal expert have written a strong letter to The BMJ (British Medical Journal) protesting to its editor, Dr. Kamran Abbasi, against its recent editorial entitled “Violence in Palestine demands an immediate resolution of its settler-colonial root causes.”

“The article lacks any scientific value,” charged the five Israelis: Israel Medical Association (IMA) Zion Hagay; leading geriatrician Prof. A. Mark Clarfield; former Ben-Gurion University president, pediatrician and geneticist Prof. Rivka Carmi; nephrology specialist and emeritus dean of Bar-Ilan University Medical Faculty; and IMA director of the division of law and policy. 

They continued that “the [BMJ] editorial completely ignores the events of October 7, when Hamas terrorists raped, burnt, mutilated, tortured and killed entire families and took women, children and the elderly hostage. In addition, it is so full of distortions and obfuscations that it is hard to know where to begin, but we will address just a few of these statements.

"In a perfect example of fake news, the authors refer to the Al-Ahli Hospital ‘airstrike’ as representing one of the most horrific attacks on a healthcare facility in our collective facility. We would heartily agree, except that the bombing of Al-Ahli hospital was well documented and found by nearly all reputable sources to have been the result of terrorists' failed firing from within Gaza and not an Israeli airstrike.” 

The Israelis continued that the editorial “also refers to alleged ‘implementation of eliminatory settler colonial strategies by the Israeli occupation that aims to increase morbidity and mortality.’ Besides the fact that Gaza has not been occupied by Israel since 2007, and putting aside for a moment the thousands of patients from Gaza (including Hamas terrorists!) that have been treated in Israeli hospitals, and Gazan physicians trained in Israeli hospitals, on the most objective level, the population in Gaza City has grown from 117,423 in 1967 to 778,187 in 2023.  If Israel is trying to increase morbidity and mortality, [it] is doing a very poor job of it.”

The commander of Israel's Armored Corps said on Monday that he and other ground forces were close to achieving their war mission in the northern Gaza Strip and were operating elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave against Hamas.

"The goals in the northern section have almost been met," Brigadier-General Hisham Ibrahim told Army Radio. "We are beginning to expand the ground maneuver to other parts of the Strip, with one goal: to topple the Hamas terrorist group."

The families of the Gaza hostages released a statement Monday in which they protested that they asked to meet with the members of the cabinet, but received minimal response from the coalition.

The Prime Minister's Office responded: "A meeting with the families of the abductees and the War Cabinet was scheduled yesterday for Wednesday. In light of the families' request, the possibility of bringing it forward will be examined."

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tried as a war criminal over Israel's ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip, referring to the Likud party leader as the "butcher of Gaza."

In a speech at a meeting of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) committee in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Gaza is Palestinian land and will always belong to the Palestinians.

"Israel is not only a murderer but also a thief," Erdogan said, according to Turkish state media, adding "We cannot let Israel occupy Gaza once again."

Erdogan charged that "those who invade Gaza will seek other places tomorrow. Gaza butcher Netanyahu revealed he has expansionist ideals."

Several rockets were launched from Lebanese territory into northern Israel and landed in open fields, the IDF said on Monday.

The IDF attacked the source of the rockets.