GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 327

West Bank Heating Up

It’s Up To Hamas Now

In what should have been expected, the US is telling us that Hamas needs to agree to the deal on the table as we learn from a report from The Jerusalem Post:

The fate of a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “largely a question that is going to be answered” by the leader of Hamas, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said on Wednesday.

Cohen did not refer to Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, by name. The Israelis were showing seriousness in the negotiations, Cohen told an intelligence and national security summit in Washington.

The heightened nature of these talks is because of the threats of an attack on Israel if they fail:

Mediators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar have been working to strike a deal between the sides and prevent a direct Iranian attack against Israel, which they fear would spark a broader regional war.

On those efforts, Cohen said: “There may be episodes where people would step back from the brink, but I don’t think anybody can be confident that that effort to control escalation is something that ... any party in that region” can control.

As if it will help, the US is still trying to get everyone to deescalate tensions:

The US has sent messages to Iran via third-party allies, urging it to refrain from escalating the situation.

Qatar talked directly with the US to see if things can be cooled down:

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani met with US special envoy Brett McGurk about Gaza hostages and regional issues after he visited Tehran on Monday, a US official confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.

“Topics included the ceasefire and hostage release deal, as well as regional issues following the prime minister’s visit to Iran,” the official said of the Tuesday meeting in Doha.

Al Thani has been instrumental in the talks for the release of the remaining hostages and to end the 10-month Gaza war.

Israel is working with the negotiating team and Iran offered to talk about even a nuclear deal:

An Israeli negotiating team with officials from the Mossad, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the IDF were in Doha on Wednesday for working-level talks. Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet on Thursday.

Newly installed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Thani in Tehran on Monday that the Islamic Republic would back any Gaza ceasefire deal that Hamas agreed to.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to hint on Tuesday, the day after his meeting with Al Thani, that the Islamic Republic might be open to reviving talks with the West on its nuclear program, according to a report in the Associated Press. Such talks have been dormant for two years.

I am just a little suspicious of Iran’s real intentions now. And you should be, too.

Another Front

I’ve been saying that Israel will need to address the terrorists in the West Bank and now it appears they are as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called on Israel to consider temporarily relocating Palestinians as part of a major anti-terror raid in the northern West Bank the IDF launched in the wake of last week’s attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

“We need to deal with the [terror] threat exactly as we deal with terror infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians and any other step needed,” Israel’s senior diplomat tweeted, calling the operation “a war in every sense.”

The FM points to Iran as the main culprit:

Katz said that Israeli forces operating in Jenin, Tulkarem and other areas are working to dismantle an Iranian-backed terror network being built up in the West Bank.

“Iran is working to establish a terror front against Israel in [the West Bank], according to the model it used in Lebanon and Gaza, by funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan,” he tweeted.

Anyone who doubts that Iran is behind all of the attacks on Israel, it’s plain for anyone to see. And now it appears that the same way the IDF moves people to other areas may need to happen in the West Bank:

Palestinians in Gaza ordered to flee Israeli military action have expressed fear that their forcible removal will become permanent as part of a plot to grab more territory. Israel says the moves are necessary to protect civilians who could be caught in the crossfire as it battles Hamas-led fighters in the Strip.

According to the Israel Hayom daily, Katz — who was recently criticized for inflammatory social media posts by former Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy — had previously made similar remarks regarding evacuating Jenin during a closed meeting with settler leaders.

Another Israeli minister also thinks it needs to be done:

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter appeared to back up Katz, telling Army Radio that “if we ​​have to evacuate people in order to keep our soldiers safe, they will be evacuated. They are not being sent abroad — they are being evacuated and after that they will return home.”

The Details

The actual campaign is described in another Times article and addresses why a mosque was targeted:

At least eleven Palestinians were killed in a series of drone strikes and clashes with the Israel Defense Forces in the northern West Bank early Wednesday, as the Israeli military said it had launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation.

According to the IDF, the raid was largely focused on the Tulkarem area, but troops were also carrying out activities in Jenin and the Far’a camp near Tubas.

The operation, involving the Kfir Brigade, the Duvdevan Commando Unit, combat engineers, and Border Police, was expected to last at least several days, military sources said.

Some posts on X made it look like the mosque was destroyed, but the IDF posted videos of them inside the mosque to prove it was being used by terrorists:

In Far’a, IDF troops located what the military described as a command room used by local terror operatives embedded within a mosque.

You can’t show the inside of a mosque that was blown up. Once inside the IDF found more evidence that the holy place was being used for a terrorist operation:

The site had numerous surveillance cameras hooked up to television screens, which according to the IDF was used by terror operatives to track Israeli forces.

Apparently is was used to build bombs:

A video from an IDF drone showed the entrance to the mosque, the walls of which were plastered with “martyr posters.” The video also showed equipment that the IDF said is used to build explosive devices.

Further inside the mosque, several primed explosive devices were found, according to the IDF.

For those who want terrorists released for hostages it must be noted that a terrorist released in last November was part of the operation:

The army confirmed Palestinian reports that among those killed was Jibril Jibril, a Hamas member who was released by Israel in a November deal with the terror group.

The army says the strike also killed bombmaker Adnan Jaber, as well as terrorists Mahand Qarawi and Mohammed Yousef.

As hard as it is, getting back a loved one in exchange for a terrorist only puts future people in harm’s way and this is just one evidence of that. We need these hostages rescued and soon. With God’s help it can happen.