Israel at war - what happened on Day 33?

The Israeli army is likely to remain in Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the war until such time as a security architecture is drawn up for the enclave, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

“In the immediate aftermath of conflict, it’s certainly plausible that at least some period of time, Israeli defense forces are still going to be in Gaza to manage the immediate aftermath [of the war] and the security situation,” Kirby said.

“But it shouldn’t be the long-term solution. It should not be about the IDF reoccupation of Gaza as a long term governance solution.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC earlier this week that “Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibly, because we have seen what happens when we do not have it.” 

The White House and the State Department have clarified, however, that the territory must eventually be controlled by Palestinians, possibly the Palestinian Authority, in a situation where both Gaza and the West Bank are unified under one government.

Israeli interrogators working to uncover the sexual assaults committed by Hamas terrorists as part of the October 7 massacre collected a testimony detailing horrific incidents of rape and mutilation of victims.

Israel Police's Lahav 433 National Crime Unit collected the testimony of a young woman who survived the massacre at the music festival in Re'im, it was reported Wednesday.

The survivor recounted the horrific scenes in her testimony: "As I am hiding, I see in the corner of my eyes that [a terrorist] is raping her," she said of another victim while demonstrating the terrorist's violent grasp with her hands.

"She was alive beforehand, she stood on her feet, bleeding from her back. But then the situation was that he was pulling her hair. She had long, brown hair," the victim was quoted as saying.

This testimony is one of thousands of different pieces of evidence collected by the police ahead of the investigation's development.

A school in Nablus run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) posted a video to its official Facebook page in which a young student called for the victory of Hamas’s “Jihad warriors” in Gaza and evoked Mohammad’s defeat of the Jews at Khaybar, per a new report from the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).

In the video, several dozen assembled students call out "Amen" after each line recited by the boy, who is flanked by what appears to be an UNRWA school administrator. It also shows students reading a passage from a fifth-grade Islamic Education textbook that incites violence and Jihad against Israel.

The report also documented several examples of teachers at UNRWA schools in Gaza praising the attacks on social media, and found ties between Hamas terrorists and UNRWA schools.

At least 14 teachers had taken to social media to praise the massacre, both while the atrocities were still ongoing and weeks later.

Negotiations mediated by Qatar are ongoing to secure the release of 10 to 15 hostages held by Palestinian Islamist terrorist group Hamas in exchange for a 1-2 day humanitarian pause in Gaza, a source briefed on the negotiations said on Wednesday.

Qatar, where several political leaders of Hamas are based, has been leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israeli officials over the release of hostages captured when the group rampaged into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that they welcome the return of every person held hostage in Gaza, but they insisted that any move for a ceasefire must include the release of all of the hostages from Gaza.

National Unity party leader and Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz on Wednesday said that the government has not decided who will run Gaza after the IDF topples Hamas, but that whoever it is, the IDF will need to maintain an extended security presence.

“Once the Gaza area is safe, and the northern area will be safe, and the Judea & Samaria region will calm down – we will [go] down and review an alternative mechanism for Gaza. I do not know what it will be. But I do know what cannot be there – An active presence of Hamas with governance and military capabilities," Gantz told a closed press conference.

The war minister stated, "They cannot be here. We can come up with any mechanism we think is appropriate, but Hamas will not be part of it. So in terms of future strategy – in the Southern Area, we need to replace the Hamas regime and ensure security superiority for us.”

Next, he said, "On the question of the operation's length - there are no limitations. One can see it as a whole month that has passed and another can see it as merely a month passing."

"The war here is for our existence and for Zionism, and so I can’t provide an estimate of the length of each stage in the war and the fighting that will ensue after. We can’t retreat from our strategic objective," he explained.

Canada is calling for a significant humanitarian pause in the Gaza conflict to allow for the release of all hostages, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.

Canada had previously called for a series of halts in the fighting to allow aid into the enclave but had steered clear of advocating a longer pause.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit offered the Knesset another screening for MKs of its October 7 documentary after more than 50 MKs watched it last week.

The documentary, which the IDF put together from security footage and from cameras taken from captured and killed terrorists, is 47 minutes of uncensored footage of Hamas’s attack in which the terrorist organization murdered some 1,400 men, women, and children.

Despite being given relaxation medication at the entrance to the auditorium, the first screening greatly affected the viewers. Some MKs ran out in the middle sobbing and a few required medical attention after it ended.

Many MKs who watched the documentary said that it needed to be screened worldwide to parliaments and judiciaries so that they would understand what Israel faced on October 7.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said it would be distributed worldwide.

Israel does not intend to "reoccupy" Gaza or control it for a long time, a senior Israeli official said in Washington, as Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian coastal enclave.

"We assess that our current operations are effective and successful, and we'll continue to push," the Israeli official told reporters late on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's not unlimited or forever," the official added, without giving a specific timeframe.

Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, should it succeed in its air, land, and sea operation to vanquish Hamas following a deadly October 7 rampage in southern Israel by the Islamist terrorists.

A 55-year-old Kiryat Shmona resident was killed on Monday after being hit by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon's south, the Kiryat Shmona municipality announced Wednesday afternoon.

Meir Moyal was killed at Israel's northern border during operations as part of his reserves service.

Moyal's funeral will take place in Tiberias on Thursday, but as per the family's wishes and the Home Front Command's directives, only the family will be allowed to be present.

An immediate Gaza ceasefire would help Hamas carry out additional massacres of Israeli, such as the one it executed on October 7, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Tokyo after his G7 meeting. 

“Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result it would likely bring about,” he said,

Hamas would be “left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat October 7th – again and again and again,” Blinken said as he referenced the 1,400 Hamas killed that day.

Condemnation of the Hamas attack

He spoke after a meeting of the foreign ministers of G7 countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

The G7 condemned the Hamas attack, which also included the seizure of over 240 hostages, and called for a humanitarian pause to the Gaza War rather than insisting on a full ceasefire.