Jim Williams covers the Israel-Hamas War on a daily basis and files video and written reports.
This is day 193 of the Israel-Hamas War.
Washington, D.C. – Today Israeli school children were allowed to return to class the streets of Tel Aviv were filed with traffic and people went about their business as usual. Well as usual as thing can be in the middle of a war with Hamas and less than 48 hours after an unprecedented act of aggression from Iran who launched 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles in a bold attack for the first time at the Jewish state.
The IDF with help of the US, UK, France and regional partner Jordan were able to intercept 99 percent of the incoming attack projectiles. So, the world holds their breath while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet ponder what to do next with regard to Iran.
The G7 led by President Joe Biden made it clear they would like to see Israel take a more diplomatic move toward Iran for now and not to rush to push a counterattack. The war cabinet want to respond but there does not seem to be a rush at this time nor is there a solid plan for how best to respond.
Biden made it clear that while the United State would continue to defend Israel that if they were to attack Iran the US would not take part in that move. The US and the rest of the G7 were clear they did not wish to escalate the war in the region to include Iran, but remained committed to defending the Jewish state.
To be be clear the president has not wavered from defending Israel and he made that clear this weekend. On Saturday night Biden in a readout of a phone conversation with the Prime Minister he was very impressed how the attack on the country was handled.
“I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.”
The big news in Israel today is the increased amount of aid flowing into Gaza which is a welcome site for the US, the UK, France and the other countries who are defending Israel. The more aid headed into Gaza the better it is for Israel on the world stage.
The latest on the hostages is another frustrating week began with Hamas rejecting the latest deal on the table which is the most favorable one for them yet proposed. Hamas turned down a US crafted plan agreed to by Israel that was presented in a meeting held in Cairo. According to multiple news outlets there would have been a temporary ceasefire of at least six weeks in return for the release of 40 living hostages. Israel would also set free hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners and boost aid to Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has ballooned amid the fighting.
Per The Times of Israel reporting that the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, Hamas has submitted the proposal to the mediators. As of this writing, Israel has not publicly commented on it.
Hamas is reportedly demanding the release of 30 Palestinian security prisoners for each civilian hostage — a tenfold increase from the three security prisoners who were freed for each civilian hostage in November’s deal. Israel would reportedly be required to release 50 Palestinian security prisoners per captive female soldier, of whom 30 would be prisoners serving life sentences.
Israel would be required to complete the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza as part of this second phase. The reports were not definitive as to whether the complete withdrawal would be required at the start or in the course of this phase.
In the third and final stage of Hamas’s proposed deal, the rehabilitation of the war-torn Gaza Strip would begin, and all captive male soldiers and men of military age would be released, as well as the bodies of those who have died or been killed in captivity or whose bodies were abducted on October 7.
More to come….
