Israel News for 2-9-2024
News Update
Israel reportedly struck a military airport in Damascus this morning.
Over 30 rockets were fired into northern Israel last night, towards an air force base near Mt. Hermon. All landed in open areas. The attack followed a drone attack in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, which wounded a regional Hezbollah commander. Other rockets and projectiles were fired towards Israel throughout yesterday. No casualties or damage was reported.
The Shin Bet released video from an interrogation of a Hamas commander in the Nukhba unit who surrendered deep inside a tunnel in Khan Yunis, along with 2 other terrorists. The terrorists were heavily armed, but they chose not to fight in order to save their lives. He says on the video, “I recommend to everyone to surrender, because your destiny is to die.”
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, has been out of contact with the Hamas leadership abroad for more than 10 days now. He is hiding deep underground and moving fro place from place. It is unlikely that he is involved in the current round of negotiations for the release of hostages.
The WSJ published an article based on extensive interviews with Tamar Metzger, a 78 year old female hostage who was released in one of the exchanges. The article reflects the experience of Metzger and other elderly hostages and paints a picture of hardship and suffering — but it also humanizes their Hamas captors and the treatment they received from them. Unfortunately, the younger female hostages being held in other places are facing a much different reality that includes constant sexual assault, rape and torture. The men are facing that same reality. So let’s not be lulled into complacency by the experiences of some of the elderly female former hostages. We, and the world, must demand that all of the hostages be released, immediately and unconditionally. There is no valid defense for permitting rape. The hundreds of thousands of pro Hamas protesters throughout the world, including the budding scholars populating our universities (and manning the counters at your local Starbucks) don’t agree — at least when the rape is against Jewish women. The rape must stop. The hostages must be released. Period.
For a complete list of the soldiers killed in the ground offensive, click here.
