GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 330

Putting Pressure On Hamas

And Another One Gone

As I mentioned yesterday the IDF is not taking prisoners, literally as we read in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

The IDF eliminated the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Central Camps Brigade commander, Muhammad Katrouy, on Saturday in a targeted strike in central Gaza, the military announced.

The terrorist was key to rocket attacks in Gaza:

Katrouy was responsible for some of PIJ's rocket attacks against Israel and operated from the central Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

Within the terrorist organization, Katrouy held positions such as Deputy Brigade Commander and Intelligence Officer, the military added.

The list of terrorists being taken out by is growing recently:

The IDF has eliminated several Hamas commanders within the past two months.

In mid-July, Hamas platoon commander Hossam Mansour was eliminated, who was one of the directors of the "Al-Khair" Foundation, which transfers funds to terror organizations.

The following day, Khan Yunis Brigade commander Rafa’a Salameh was killed. He was known as being particularly close to Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar and to Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

Commander of Hamas's Al-Furqan Battalion, Jaber Aziz, was killed the following month. He played a significant role in planning the October 7 attack and infiltrated Gaza border communities on that day.

We don’t know why the IDF is suddenly targeting these men, but we do know that if your leaders are taken out it does a few things. First, it leaves a leadership vacuum that isn’t easy to replace in a time of war. Decisions that were easy to make are suddenly harder. Second, it demoralizes the troops under them as they looked up to these men to defeat the enemy. Third it allows for power struggles and a scramble to replace them in the ranks. And fourth it strikes fear in them no matter how tough they think they are. None are helpful to being successful when going up against a very well trained and armed IDF. The happy days of October 7th are becoming a distant memory as they are literally seeing their lives flash before their eyes.

A Ceasefire Is Reached

But not the one you think as we hear about in an article from i24news.tv:

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said on Thursday that the group has agreed to a temporary humanitarian pause to allow the administering of polio vaccines to the local Gazan population, according to Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadid, or New Arab.

While it may not be the hostage deal we’ve all been wanting, it does help those in need:

This lull in fighting was deemed necessary by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres some two weeks ago to allow UNRWA and UNICEF to launch a vaccination campaign against polio.

This is a recent need:

The virus has been detected in recent weeks, starting in the water in war-torn Gaza and later in a 10-month-old child.

Of course there is the usual politics being played by Hamas which casts doubt on if they really doing this because they care for the children:

Taha said that Israel must agree to this vaccination operation without deceptions, delays, or changing the sites for administrating the vaccination. He also stressed that Hamas demands the UN, the international community, and all humanitarian organizations "fulfill their duty towards the Palestinian people and expose the inhumane actions of Israel."

Here are the details of the pauses:

Egyptian sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the humanitarian pause will start in a few days with the aim of vaccinating Gaza, children against polio. The sources said it will continue for three to five days, during daylight hours, and will not be applicable in areas where the IDF is located. Additionally, sources noted that this vaccination effort was discussed in Cairo during visits by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Israel is also making sure that their troops are being tested for polio as well:

i24NEWS reported on Wednesday that an Israeli official confirmed the government approved the humanitarian pause. Earlier, the IDF announced had decided to conduct a widespread polio vaccination campaign for all active forces and reservists in Gaza.

More Bodies Found

The IDF announced that they have found bodies in Gaza that may or may not be of hostages as we initially read in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

The IDF has found more bodies underground in Gaza, likely of Israeli hostages who had been held by Hamas.

This news is pretty recent so not much is known about the revelation and more details may take a little longer:

Despite rumors on social media of possible identities of the potential hostage bodies, the IDF will not be able to confirm any specifics until the bodies have been returned to Israel and checked by the relevant professional experts, likely later on Sunday.

The IDF was quick to dispel any talk that they perished because as a result of “friendly fire”:

IDF sources did say that if the bodies are indeed those of hostages, that they were not killed by any recent fight with Hamas in the area since the military did not use force nearby.

We are only told generics of the actual location, though:

The exact location of where the bodies were found remains under gag order.

In a separate article from The Times Of Israel we get a snippet more of the breaking news:

“At this stage, the forces are still operating in the area and carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies, which will last several hours,” the military says.

The IDF calls on the public not to spread unverified rumors.

While the IDF calls for patience, those who are demanding the hostages be released immediately are not likely to wait. It is understandable that in a country that treasures free speech to see protests against their government if they disagree on how the hostage negotiations are handled. However, you rarely if ever see these protests aimed at those who are responsible for taking these people hostage. No pressure is placed on them and that is exactly one of the reasons they were abducted in the first place. These terrorists are trained in this kind of psychological warfare and it is working to perfection. Evoke internal strife against those in charge to create instability and even a change through elections as if a better deal could be reached by the next group. To change these elected officials would necessitate a pause in the war which gives Hamas time to regroup and live to see another day. These terrorists are happy when Israelis are divided and promote that division, even by supporting protests around the globe which we know they are doing. If you want this to end, pray for the peace of Jerusalem specifically on this point. Pray that the people who are justifiably upset will also begin to call out the terrorists and demand that they do the right thing. I know it’s not probably going to happen because they would rather die a martyrs death than surrender the hostages that are still valuable to them. And they are not going to simply lay down their arms and surrender period and they’ve said as much over and over again. But it would be good to push back on the real villains here for a change. Again, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.