Israel at War: What happened on Day 59?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tried as a war criminal, Reuters reported on Monday.

Two people have been arrested in Italy for spreading online terrorist propaganda linked to militant groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Islamic State and al-Qaeda, police in the northern city of Brescia said Monday.

The suspects are a Pakistani national and an Italian citizen of Pakistani origin, a statement said. They were apprehended following a investigation that started in October 2022, they said.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Italy remained on alert for possible terrorist attacks following the weekend attack in Paris, in which one German tourist was killed and two others were wounded.

"We have confidence in our traditional prevention systems, but attention must remain high," the minister was quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency.

Three IDF soldiers were wounded by mortar shells launched from Lebanon toward an Israeli military post in Shtula, according to a Monday morning statement from the IDF Spokesperson's unit.

Three soldiers were wounded and immediately evacuated for medical treatment. A similar launch was detected in the Yiftach area, according to the IDF.

Lebanese terror group Hezbollah launched initial strikes on Israeli territory on Friday, rendering it responsible for the resumption of fire along Israel's northern border, IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on Monday morning.

Adraee's post was accompanied by radar imagery along with a timeline of events on the northern border on December 1.

#حزب_الله أثبت مجددًا أنه يخل بالهدوء الذي كان يسود بمحاذاة الحدود الشمالية وسمح للعديد من سكان جنوب لبنان بالعودة إلى ديارهم حزب الله خرق الهدوء دعمًا لقتلة الأطفال ومختطفي النساء التابعين لحماس-داعش. وقد أثبت حزب الله مرة أخرى أن الدولة اللبنانية لا تتصدر سلم أولوياته. حزب الله… pic.twitter.com/Qb0rvue5YF

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) December 4, 2023

The IDF attacked some 200 Hamas targets overnight as they continued the ground operation deep inside Gaza, according to a statement by the IDF spokesperson.

Extensive strikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force, operating alongside soldiers on the ground.

The Negev Brigade reportedly destroyed terrorist infrastructure set up within a Beit Hanun-based school where Hamas terrorists launched attacks against IDF soldiers. Within that same school complex, two additional tunnels of the terror organization's extensive network tunnels. 

צה"ל תקף במהלך הלילה כ-200 מטרות של ארגון הטרור חמאס; כוחות קרקעים ממשיכים בלחימה הושמדו תשתיות טרור שמוקמו בתוך בתי ספר בצפון הרצועה

כוחות קרקעיים של צה"ל ממשיכים לפעול בשטח הרצועה לצד תקיפות נרחבות של חיל האוויר>> pic.twitter.com/M6VoCpcOyD

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 4, 2023

The uncovered tunnels were also holding an arsenal of weapons.

Weapons of mass destruction uncovered in Gaza

The IAF struck vehicles such as mortars, missiles, and other weaponry for war in addition to striking Hamas military infrastructure believed to be planned for an attack against Israeli forces.

Reservists in the 551st Brigade, under the instruction of the IAF, were able to eliminate a terror cell and launch an attack on a weapon warehouse.

The Navy also struck terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza harbor.

Hamas terrorists interrogated Israelis taken captive on their past service in the IDF, female hostages freed last week said following their return from captivity, Army Radio reported Monday morning.

The Israelis, taken hostage during the October 7 massacres and mass infiltration by Hamas, told this to Shin Bet officials upon their return from the Gaza Strip as part of the seven-day truce agreement.

Hamas terrorists used excessive force in interrogations

According to the freed hostages, Hamas terrorists often used excessive physical force as part of their interrogations of Israeli hostages, Army Radio reported.

In addition, the hostages reported that Hamas used several interrogation tricks during the long questioning periods.

For approximately 50 days, Israel fought a war against Hamas and Hezbollah, took a pause of about a week, and returned to an intermediate level of conflict.

What may the southern incursion bring to the trajectory and arc of the war and the future of the region going forward?

In the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the IDF had seized control of most areas by mid-November. 

What's going on in Gaza's North and South?

 There was a period of a few weeks during which the IDF continued there, albeit at a slower pace, in Jabalia and Zeitoun, steering clear of Shejaia to leave space for hostage negotiations.

In fact, hostages were returned to Israel from Shejaia in the middle of the week of the temporary ceasefire.
It seems that absent another pause, the IDF’s intention is to slowly take apart the small remains of Hamas terrorist forces in those northern neighborhoods that still have some organized resistance.

Almost nothing of strategic significance has happened in the South in the days of fighting since Friday.
The IDF carried out air strikes and some artillery shelling of areas around Khan Yunis – where it may invade – but has not moved any large number of forces into the South.

It seems that the IDF will only move its forces into the South in a real way once the government has lost hope for a near-term additional pause in which it can receive more hostages.

Yonatan Samerano, taken hostage by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre on October 7, was murdered in Gaza captivity, his family was notified on Sunday.

Samerano, 21 years old from Tel Aviv, escaped the festival in the direction of Kibbutz Be'eri on the day of the attacks before being shot and taken into Gaza.

His funeral will be held on Monday evening in Tel Aviv.

The Netherlands faces a legal challenge on Monday over accusations that its role in the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel makes it complicit in alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Three human rights organizations, including the Dutch arm of Oxfam, have brought the case at the district court in The Hague, stating the export of the fighter plane parts enables Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip.

"Israel disregards the fundamental principles of the laws of war, such as distinguishing between civilian and military targets and the principle of proportionality," in the bombing of the Gaza Strip, the organizations said in their court filings.

Israel denies having carried out war crimes, saying its forces abide by international law while fighting Hamas terrorists who operate in densely populated civilian areas.

Hamas senior leader and founding member of the terrorist organization's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Saleh al-Arouri, said there would be no more hostage-prisoner swaps until after a complete ceasefire is implemented.

Arouri’s comments came in an interview with Al-Jazeera on Saturday. A portion of his remarks, which were delivered in Arabic, were later translated by the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI).

Several days after the October 7 massacre, Arouri appeared on Al-Jazeera doubling down on the falsehood that Hamas did not target Israeli civilians and that Israel’s offensive on Gaza would prove weaker than Hamas’s defensive plan.

Hamas Senior Official Saleh Al-Arouri: The People in Gaza Support Us, Otherwise They Would Be Angry with Hamas; No More Prisoner Swap Deals before Final and Complete Ceasefire; The U.S. Is More Nazi and Fascist than the Zionist Entity #Hamas #Qatar #Gaza #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/mYc2qkjl7D

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 3, 2023

“The official and final position of the Hamas movement and the resistance is that there will be no more prisoner swaps before the end of the aggression, and before there is a final and complete ceasefire,” Arouri said.