GNITN – Special Edition One Hundred Nine

Israel At War – Day 11
An International Crisis

Demands To Release The Hostages

While we know that the preponderance of the hostages taken are Israeli, we must understand that people from all around the world were involved either because they held dual citizenship or living in the area with visas or work permits. German Chancellor Olaf Sholz visited Tel Aviv to show his support of Israel seen in this quote from an article in The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/german-leader-scholz-says-hell-visit-israel-this-week-to-express-my-solidarity/) :

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirms media reports and says he will travel to Israel and Egypt this week, in the wake of Hamas’s murderous rampage and Israel’s war against the Palestinian terror group.

“It is important to me to also express my solidarity with Israel very practically with my visit,” he tells reporters, while confirming a “later trip” to Egypt.

While there, reports who were near the talks said that German citizens petitioned Sholz to use his influence to get their loved ones who are hostages, released. While we don’t know how many hostages are held from other countries, slowly we are hearing about them, but the demands are the same: find them and rescue them by any means necessary.

Top Hamas Commander Eliminated

As would be expected after comments like Hamas will be annihilated or any member of Hamas is a dead man, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) reported that they have found and eliminated Ayman Nofal, who is one the 5 highest leaders of Hamas. In another quote from The Times Of Israel we read more about this air strike:

An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon killed the head of Hamas’s Central Gaza Brigade, a senior commander in the terror organization, the military and Hamas said, as Israel’s defense minister warned members of the terror group needed to choose between surrender and death, and rockets from the Strip continued to target Israeli communities.

At the same time, rockets from the Strip continued to target southern and central Israel, causing some damage and injuries.

Also Tuesday, reports from Gaza indicated that 14 people had been killed in a strike on a home belonging to the family of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, including his brother and nephew. Haniyeh himself lives in Qatar…Earlier, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said members of Hamas had two options in the ongoing war: to surrender or to die.

“Our warplanes will reach everywhere… every missile has an address. We will reach each and every one of the members of Hamas,” Gallant told pilots and technicians of the Israel Air Force’s F-35 fleet at the Nevatim airbase.

“Hamas members have two options: Either die in their positions or surrender unconditionally. There is no third option. We will wipe out the Hamas organization and dismantle all of its capabilities,” Gallant said.

From reports I have seen, the surgical strike shows just how sophisticated Israel’s military is as this strike only affected the single home.

Iranian Leader Sends Warning To Israel

In a report from i24news.tv (see https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/iran-eastern-states/1697542345-iran-s-supreme-leader-threatens-to-unleash-an-unstoppable-muslim-force) Iran’s Supreme leader said this in this quote:

The Iranian Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday that "no one will be able to stop" the "forces of resistance" if the Israelis continue their offensive against Gaza.

"If the Zionist regime's crimes continue, the Muslim and resistance forces will grow impatient and no one will be able to stop them," Khamenei warned during a speech, which was later posted on X.

"No one should expect" that certain parties like Iran can "prevent the resistance forces" from taking action, said the supreme leader, who has the final say in major state policies in Iran.

"No matter what the Zionist regime does, it cannot make up for the scandalous failure it suffered," Khamenei added.

In a report from newsweek.com, another Iranian official Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian issued a threat on Sunday (see https://www.newsweek.com/iran-issues-ominous-threat-us-deadline-warning-israel-1834798) that the United States would see "heavy losses" and warned Israel with a deadline to end its military actions toward Gaza. The article went on to say this:

The Iranian official then issued a threat directed at the U.S. "Iran cannot just watch this situation as a bystander. If the scope of the war expands, heavy losses will be inflicted on the United States," he said.

The United States currently has two warships off the shores of Israel and are apparently involved in diplomatic negotiations in the area in hopes they can keep Hezbollah and Iran out of the war. Biden, in a recent interview was asked what he would tell any other country around Israel about joining the war and he simply said “Don’t.” Things are heating up and it isn’t clear what will happen next.

Hospital Bombing In Gaza

Reports of a hospital in Gaza was allegedly bombed, and I say allegedly because the IDF says they didn’t do it. When searching online for information on this strike, almost 100% of the results, using information from Hamas alone state unequivocally that Israel did it. I might add that the search was done using Google, which has been known to skew searches. The IDF, for its part is investigating the incident, but spokespeople for Israel’s military ardently believe it was a from a Hamas failed rocket launch of some kind. Here is more on the strike from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-17-2023/) from their live blog reports:

The IDF issues a statement making clear that it does not target hospitals, two hours after a blast at Gaza Hospital, blamed by Hamas on Israel, said to have caused hundreds of fatalities.

“A hospital is a highly sensitive building and is not an IDF target. The IDF is investigating the source of the explosion and, like always, is prioritizing accuracy and reliability,” the army tells Fox News.

Talya Lankri, a senior reserves officer and the former deputy head of the National Security Council, also states on Channel 12 news that “the IDF does not hit hospitals. That is not a target.”

She says, therefore, that she believes that the IDF investigation into the incident “will either show some kind of technical malfunction or a failed launch of some kind or another from within Gaza.”

In a live video from i24news.tv, IDF International Spokesperson Col. Olivier Rafowicz told their reported that we shouldn’t take any Hamas spokesperson’s accounts seriously since they are constantly engaging in media manipulation and that pictures and videos could be from a previous bombing that Hamas caused internally.

The War In The Heavens Is Heating Up As Well

The Biblical perspective about all this is pretty easy to understand as Satan wants to rush any timeline God sets. And as we’ve seen, the various media sites are almost all engaged in making Israel look bad and the Palestinians look good or at the very least highlighting the plight of Palestinians in Gaza as they try and evacuate. It must be noted that both Lebanon and Egypt are refusing to take any Palestinians refugees into the countries which is making things even more difficult for the area. The evil princes over both areas are wanting chaos and we must hit them hard in prayer. The verse exhorting us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is a start and, in my opinion seriously needs more specific prayer strategies. Here are some new ones for you:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)

Pray for the people of Israel to come to know their Messiah, Yeshua (Psalm 40:7; Isaiah 53)

Pray for her borders to be secure (Exodus 23:31a)

Pray for Jerusalem to be protected from being divided (Joel 3:2)

Pray for Israel’s leaders to be blessed and lead well, so Israel’s citizens can live in peace and many will come to salvation (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Pray that they may be just and give their country stability, and be free from corruption (Proverbs 29:4)

Pray that they would ask God for wisdom and follow His lead (James 1:5)

Pray for the Believers in Israel to be strengthened with power in their inner being, so Messiah may dwell in their hearts through faith, and that they would know the love of Messiah (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Pray that they would be filled with God’s will, wisdom and understanding; live a life worthy of Him; bear fruit in every good work; have great endurance and patience; and be grateful (Colossians 2:6-7)

Pray for their protection, and that those around them would be drawn to Yeshua because of their love for Him and one another (John 17:11, 23)

Pray for the youth and the elderly:

Pray for the LORD to comfort the young and old alike (Isaiah 40:1)

Pray that they would know the LORD desires to give them hope and a future, not evil (Jeremiah 29:11)

Friends and enemies of Israel:

Pray that people and nations will take this Scripture to heart and bless Israel, thus receiving a blessing and not a curse (Genesis 12:3)

Pray that the nations would understand the depth of God’s wrath against those who don’t follow Him (Isaiah 60:12)

Pray for God to keep a watchful eye over His People, and bind the schemes and resources of their enemies so they can do them no harm (Zechariah 12:1-5; Psalm 91)