GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 318

Hezbollah Is Ready

US Says PM Agrees To Deal

We learn from a report in The Times Of Israel that after a 3 hour meeting, the US got Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree to their newest proposal:

Speaking to the press in Tel Aviv after meeting Israel’s leadership, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he is in the region “to bring across the finish line” attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and to bring the hostages home.

Blinken seems to think that a permanent ceasefire can happen with Hamas surviving:

He says an enduring ceasefire proposal “also reflects Israel’s security interests,” and that it would “relieve the terrible daily suffering of Gazans desperate for food to eat, for shelter, and staying out of harm’s way.”

The US Secretary of State described his meeting with the PM as being “constructive:”

Blinken says he had a “very constructive meeting” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. And he stresses that the premier “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal” offered by the US last week in Doha “to try to bridge the gaps that remain between the parties.”

Netanyahu supports the proposal, he repeats.

While not actually telling us just what Netanyahu agreed to or what Hamas needs to accept, he then said that Hamas need to agree as well:

He then puts the onus on the Gaza-based terror group: “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.”

He then said that an overall agreement will need to occur and then the details on how it is be implemented will come next:

Then, says Blinken, the parties have to “come together and complete the process of reaching clear understandings about how they’ll implement the commitments that they’ve made under this agreement.”

“The next important step is for Hamas to say yes,” repeats Blinken, “and then, in the coming days, for all of the expert negotiators to work on clear understandings on implementing the agreement.”

Blinken asserted that there are still a lot of complicated details to iron out:

“These are still complex issues,” he says, and “they’re going to require hard decisions by the leaders.”

He emphasizes that the US is deeply committed “to getting this job done, to getting it done now.”

But the big elephant in the negotiations is what will take these hopeful assertions down in flames and that is Hamas not surviving:

“There is a deep sense of urgency for getting this done,” says Blinken, adding that is “the best way to make sure the conflict doesn’t spread, that we don’t see escalation, that we can actually defuse some of the pressure points that we see throughout the region, and then open prospects for trying to build more enduring peace and security for everyone throughout the Middle East.”

He also noted that the US has a lot of assets in the area not to cause a fight but to deter one.

Tel Aviv Attacked

A suicide bomber carried out what is termed a failed attack in Tel Aviv, an attack that terrorists claimed as coming from them as we see in an article from the Jewish News Syndicate:

The “military” wings of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups accepted responsibility on Monday afternoon for a failed suicide bombing attack in south Tel Aviv the previous night.

In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue to carry out suicide attacks “as long as Israel continues its massacre and policy of assassinations in Gaza.”

The Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) earlier on Monday determined that the incident was an attempted terrorist attack.

The man with the bomb perished which is not surprise:

The bomber, who was killed in the blast, was a Palestinian from the area of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria. An accomplice is believed to have transported him to Tel Aviv.

Israeli law enforcement also labeled this as a terrorist attack:

“It can be said that this was a terror attack, with the detonation of a powerful explosive device,” the police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement following a situation assessment led by the commander of the Tel Aviv Police District, who ordered increased alertness in the Dan region.

The report gave us these details about the location and both those who died and who survived:

The blast occurred on Lehi Road around 8 p.m. A 43-year-old passerby on an electric scooter was moderately wounded.

Paramedics pronounced the bomber dead at the scene and the wounded man was taken to the hospital.

Dr. Eyal Hashavia, head of trauma surgery at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), said on Monday that the injured man suffered from a shrapnel wound, described as a penetrating chest injury, and will be operated on soon to remove the fragment. He emphasized that the victim’s life was not in danger and that he was very lucky it wasn’t worse.

The bombs details were also given:

According to estimates the bomb weighed less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). The security establishment is very concerned about copycat attacks.

Officials are encouraging everyone to be watchful about their surroundings:

Extensive searches by security forces were underway across the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

“Citizens are urged to be vigilant and notify the police at the 100 hotline,” the statement said.

A local police commander said earlier Monday that it is “99%” certain that the explosion was a failed terrorist attack, calling it a “miracle” that it had not resulted in mass casualties.

Without further corroboration the police can only wonder what the plan was:

Ayalon District Police Commander Haim Bublil told Kan News Radio that “it is possible that the assailant planned to reach the nearby synagogue or perhaps the shopping center. We have no ability to understand why [the bomb] exploded at this point in time.”

What they do know is that things could have been much worse:

“The scene here speaks for itself, it is a powerful charge that could have caused significant damage. We are in a kind of miracle that the incident did not end in dozens of deaths,” said Bublil.

Hezbollah Shows Off Its Tunnels

As the IDF continues to destroy the Hamas tunnel system, Hezbollah wants everyone to know they have even better ones as we discover from a report from yahoo.com:

Hezbollah has released a video providing a rare look inside its extensive network of tunnel systems, including concealed heavy multiple rocket launch systems that can be fired from underground. This is all part of an extensive arsenal of weapons that could be employed against Israel, something that you can read about in more depth here. The release of the footage comes as tensions in the Middle East remain high, with fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as well as a potential broader conflict involving Iran and other Iran-aligned militias.

The information is current:

The video in question was published by Hezbollah today, initially on the official Telegram account of the Lebanon-based pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen news channel.

The scope of their underground capabilities is massive:

Immediately obvious is the scale of the tunnels themselves, with those that are shown being wide enough to easily accommodate truck-based multiple rocket launch systems. Various motorcycles can also be seen speeding through the underground passages. Accessed behind heavy blast doors, the tunnels are equipped with lighting and communications systems, while the walls are adorned with propaganda posters.

Anyone attacking them now knows of their ability to shoot rockets from below ground:

Perhaps most interesting are the apertures cut into the roof in certain parts of the tunnel, which allow rockets to be fired without the launch vehicles having to leave the tunnels. Similar to the Iranian tunnel networks for ballistic missiles, this means the rockets can be moved around the tunnels, making them even harder to target, even with bunker-busting weapons. In fact, the possibility that the video was actually shot in Iranian tunnels as a propaganda strategy should not be discounted, although there is no proof that is the case at this time.

If Israel wants to take down Hezbollah, these tunnels are making it a huge task:

The size of the tunnels would allow plenty of reloads, so huge barrages could potentially be launched from relative safety. At the same time, the design of these tunnels is usually such that even if one of the apertures is struck by a missile or bomb, the rest of the tunnel network survives intact, meaning that a hazardous ground assault might be needed to fully clear the underground network.

The IDF is saying they are prepared to make northern Israel safe, but Hezbollah is telling them it will be extremely difficult:

Overall, the Hezbollah tunnel network presents a significant threat to Israel and one that appears to be growing in size and sophistication. While the group was known to have extensive tunnel networks for many years, the positioning of heavy rocket artillery underground, combined with aperture-firing capabilities, albeit with shorter-range weapons compared with Iran, seems to be new.

It's not a secret why they’re releasing this information now:

It’s hardly a surprise that Hezbollah is taking the opportunity to showcase these capabilities now, with tensions with Israel — and in the wider region — at a high.