GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 64

Differing Timelines

“Explosion In Mideast”

The United Nations (UN) tried to impose a ceasefire for the war in Israel, but the resolution was vetoed by the United States. The Iran delegate to the UN responded by saying this as seen in an article in The Times Of Israel:

Iran warned of the threat of an “uncontrollable explosion” of the situation in the Middle East on Saturday, after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

“As long as America supports the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] and the continuation of the war… there is a possibility of an uncontrollable explosion in the situation of the region,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the top diplomat of the Islamic Republic, told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a phone call, according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement.

The Iranian foreign minister praised the UN chief’s decision to use Article 99 of the UN Charter — a move decried by Israel — as “brave action to maintain international peace and security.”

Further in the same report, the Iranian diplomat tried to blame Israel for the end of the truce:

Amir-Abdollahian also sought to divert the blame for the end of the ceasefire from Hamas, even though the terror group failed to free the remaining women and child hostages as previously agreed and fired rockets into Israel.

“The Israeli regime’s claim that Hamas has violated the ceasefire is completely false,” Amir-Abdollahian told Guterres, adding that US support for Israel “has made it difficult to achieve a lasting ceasefire.”

If there was any doubt that the UN is a den of thieves, this resolution should give you ample evidence of it.

United States Veto Explained

We read what the Iranians had to say about the veto of the resolution put forward by the UN to halt the fighting in Israel, but we hear from the United States in this article from i24news.tv:

American envoy Robert Wood said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground."

"All of our recommendations were ignored," he said. And the result of this rushed process was an imbalanced resolution that was divorced from reality. It would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way.

"We still cannot comprehend why the resolution’s authors declined to include language condemning Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack on Israel, an attack that killed over 1,200 people, women, children, the elderly, people from a range of nationalities burned alive, gunned down subjected to obscene sexual violence."

"We are very disappointed that for the victims of these heinous acts, the resolution’s authors offered not their condolences or condemnation of their murders. It’s unfathomable. Nor is there condemnation of the sexual violence unleashed by Hamas on October 7."

IDF Attacked From School, Mosque

As we see in report found on The Times Of Israel, the IDF came under attack in the north area of Gaza from a school run by the UN and a mosque:

Overnight the military said there had again been fierce clashes in the north, with the fighting showing how deeply entrenched the terrorists are inside the civilian fabric of Gaza.

At least two of the clashes took place inside a mosque and schools, including one run by the United Nations.

Once they killed the Hamas gunmen, they found how deceptive the terrorists were by what they found inside:

The IDF said Saturday that troops of the Kfir Infantry Brigade encountered a Hamas cell in a school in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood. The troops killed the gunmen and later found weapons and military equipment inside the classrooms.

Troops of the Armored Corps operating with the Paratroopers Brigade found and destroyed a tunnel shaft in Shejaiya, which the IDF says was part of a “wide” tunnel network. Another tunnel shaft in the area had an elevator, according to the IDF.

From another area, the IDF discovered this:

In Beit Hanoun, the IDF says the 5th Reserve Infantry Brigade came under fire by Hamas operatives shooting from a mosque and a UNRWA school.

The army also released footage showing soldiers finding a sniper rifle and ammunition hidden inside a large teddy bear during searches of a school in the Gaza Strip.

While I would call these tactics clever, in context I choose to call them devious, and yes, demonic.

Egypt May Take Refugees Afterall

In an apparent change of heart, Egypt may take in refugees from Gaza as we read in a report from i24news.tv:

Egypt is purportedly making arrangements for the potential relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gaza Strip residents onto its soil starting in early 2024, according to reports from the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

Contrary to its official stance, Cairo is reportedly considering plans for Palestinians to enter through the Rafah crossing, with discussions about other Arab countries welcoming those permitted to leave.

The report adds that other countries and options may soon be available as well:

This includes possibilities for Palestinian students to receive scholarships abroad.

Reports suggest Egypt aims for an organized departure process via pre-issued exit permits, highlighting criteria such as health conditions requiring care, humanitarian grounds, and education. However, it's stipulated that these individuals wouldn't settle in Sinai but disperse elsewhere outside Sinai with a new status.

This new stance is explained like this:

Allegedly, the change in Egypt's position arises from concerns that Israel may hinder Gaza's economic recovery post-conflict, prompting Egypt to seek economic aid for resettlement efforts from various countries.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi previously suggested relocating displaced Palestinians to the Negev territories, accusing ongoing military actions as an attempt to encourage migration to Egypt.

Even in helping out, Egypt has to take a dig at Israel. The hatred runs deep.

Differing Timelines

The United States wants the war against Hamas over by January of 2024, but Israel says it needs about 2 more months just to finish in the south of Gaza as seen in another article from The Times Of Israel:

The Israeli military needs another three to four weeks to complete its current offensive in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and a similar amount of time after that to wrap up the first stage of the war against Hamas, according to a senior Israeli defense official.

The official told Axios in a report on Friday that while the US has not given Israel a deadline on ending its military operations in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 massacres, Washington has expressed that time was running out.

The defense official who spoke to Axios said the US and Israel disagreed by about a month on how long the war should continue, without further specifying.

According to the official, the Biden administration would be happy for Israel to finish intensive operations by the end of the month, but Jerusalem believes it needs until at least the end of January.

America wants more humanitarian aid and less civilian casualties, however the IDF says that is wishful thinking due to Hamas not being accommodating:

“The American message is that they would like to see us finish the fighting sooner, with less harm to Palestinian civilians and more humanitarian assistance for Gaza. We would also like this to happen, but the enemy does not always agree,” the official was quoted as saying.

In a separate quote, an Israeli official explained the differences from the start:

“They advised us not to go into Gaza, but we did,” the official said. “We went into Gaza because that was the only way we could destroy Hamas and free our hostages. They told us, don’t go into the terror tunnels. But if we don’t go into the terror tunnels, there’s no way we can destroy Hamas. They told us not to go into the hospitals despite them being used by Hamas as command and control centers, but we went into those hospitals, and we did what we needed to do.”

“And we’ll do what we need to do to reach decisive victory,” the official added.