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While Israel pushed out its online map of Gaza, Israel continues to widen its offensive. This is pushing Palestinians into a smaller and smaller portion to escape the fighting. It is also forcing hundreds of thousands to choose to flee or risk being in the path of the IDF. Phone and internet networks collapsed Monday evening around the time they rolled out their online map for civilians, making it effectively useless for many. This has caused around 2 million people now to be confined to 90 square miles while rendering a large amount of Gaza uninhabitable rubble. Widening this offensive only limits this space, and calls into question the ethics of the offensive, seemingly ignoring the needs of Palestinian civilians for PR stunts. 

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Israel combined its current ground assault on the Gaza Strip using an online map that divides the strip into hundreds of zones. The purpose of this they say is to direct residents to safe areas away from its fight against Hamas. Many find this confusing as it needs for Palestinians to have access to electricity and internet service, which they have had little of during this invasion. It almost feels as though they are just using this as a weak attempt to establish credibility in this conflict. A Palestinian even references here that nowhere is safe, so the map is useless regardless if you can access it or not. Israel is going to have to do more to ensure they limit the number of displaced people, and innocent civilians caught in the conflict. 

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The seven-day pause in the fighting is over as Israel has resumed air raids in Gaza. This truce began on the 24th of November and was renewed twice before ending on Friday. This was so humanitarian aid was allowed to enter Gaza as Hamas released captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. It is interesting how twice during this cease-fire Israeli forces both shot at two people and shelled others on the 29th and the 30th, breaking the cease-fire. However, the Israeli military announced an hour before the truce was supposed to end they intercepted a launch from Gaza with its Iron Dome defense system. This break in the cease-fire ended these agreements an hour early. Since fighting has resumed at least 70 people have already been killed. Hamas claims its attacks were in response to the targeting of civilians. Without this ceasefire, the people hurting in Gaza are not receiving proper humanitarian aid in this situation, with none being received on Friday. It has allowed for more than 100 hostages to be released, and for aid to flow.  It will be interesting to see if negotiations like these can continue or be extended for longer periods to allow proper aid for the people of Gaza. 

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This article discusses something we have been discussing heavily in our last two simulations, hostage releases. Israel released another group of 30 Palestinian prisoners hours after Hamas freed additional Israeli hostages under a last-minute agreement to extend their cease-fire by another day in Gaza. This is the eighth day of the extension, and Hamas is expected to set higher prices for the remaining hostages. During these ceasefires, 10 Israelis a day have been freed by Hamas. It is interesting to see how the lives of one Israeli are worth 3 times as many Palestinians in these negotiations, it almost seems that Hamas is getting the larger end of the stick when it comes to these negotiations. Not to mention the exchanges for the extended cease-fire allow Hamas to regroup and reevaluate their leverage in these negotiations to get more.

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Since this conflict sparked on October 7th we are once again witnessing thousands of people being displaced from their homes. This is not just exclusionary to Israel and Gaza but affects surrounding countries such as Lebanon. Since the Gaza war began there have been many clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border, resulting in tens of thousands in Lebanon fleeing their homes. For many of these people, this is not their first, or sometimes even second time having to flee their homes. This is due to Hezbollah's firing at Israel from the north within Lebanon. Lebanon is already a country of displaced people, taking on 1.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011. Lebanon is already struggling with its financial collapse in 2019, which ruined its economy. Ultimately this violence compounds the economic problems in Lebanon, resulting in more than just the people Israel and Gaza being affected as a result of the war. 

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This article discussed the United State’s warning to Israel against reoccupying Gaza following the war. Anthony Blinken reiterated against continued support of Hamas, and that the Palestinian Authority should govern. It seems the main goal coming out of Gaza is to reduce the area as a platform for terrorism. It called for the need for a transition period after the war to ensure a peaceful transition of power to whatever government takes over Palestine following the removal of Hamas. Many are fearful of the rhetoric that many Israeli government officials are using, using phrases that show how Israel wants to keep the security in Gaza forever, essentially planning to annex it according to some. It is crucial for not only Israel but the United States in how they handle this situation and influence Israel, because if Gaza is not given to the PLO to rule itself, and terrorism isn’t rooted out, then we can expect more terrorist attacks similar to October 7th. 

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This article discussed the humanitarian pause that Israel is allowing for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. This pause comes after the United States and Israel have made it clear that there will be no ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Ultimately the world is looking for a more permanent ceasefire compared to a four-hour humanitarian pause. Ultimately Palestinians will not fare any better with this pause as they are still forced to choose between leaving their homes or remaining home and dying. They also mentioned how President Biden is in an election year, and his polling may affect his stance on Israel, possibly being forced to intervene to stop Israel’s offensive if public pressure continues to rise. I truly believe that this pause is better than nothing, but it is not a long-term solution by any means. It will, however, allow for some humanitarian aid to hopefully make it to those who truly need it. 

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Israel has been working for years in efforts to normalize relations with its surrounding Arab neighbors. In the wake of the current conflict, it is no surprise that many people across the world, especially in these Arab countries, are protesting in support of Palestinians. This can be seen in Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, and Tunisia. In many of these countries, this has led to activists wanting reversals of agreements that formalize ties with Israel. One of the overarching ideas I took away from this is that these protests make it clear that despite formal normalization efforts over the years, they did little to move public sentiment. Israel has worked so hard to create these normalizations, so are they willing to throw away years of work to uproot and defeat Hamas at the expense of civilian lives?

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This article discussed Qatar’s influence in the Israel-Hamas conflict. I found this important as we had Qatar in our simulation this week and they seemed to play an interesting role in our simulation. It discussed how Qatar has helped broker the release of Israeli hostages and played a key role in the negotiations for foreigners to leave Gaza through the territories crossing with Egypt. Qatar has been able to have leverage in this conflict due to it hosting Hamas leaders in exile, similar to how Qatar was the spokesperson for Hamas in our simulation. However, one detail we left out of our simulation was how Qatar has sent construction materials into Gaza to help with infrastructure following previous wars. Overall Qatar plays an interesting role in this ongoing conflict, and it is worth discussing if they should be as involved as they are, or if their ties with Hamas are truly in good faith. 

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Palestinians have been forced out of their homes and forced to relocate multiple times. On October 13th,  the evacuation orders came raining down on Gaza telling more than one million Gazans to move south. Many Palestinians do not see this as a fair fight, as they had nothing to do with the attack. Many feared as they watched the death toll rise in Israel after the attack, that they would face the consequences as a result. It reminds many of the Nakba where 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes when Israel was founded in 1948. As much as representatives of the US say that Israelis have no intent to run Gaza, many of the members of the Prime Minister's far-right party support the idea of expelling Palestinians. This current situation feels like deja vu to many Palestinians who fear a second Nakba as a result of Hamas’s decisions which is unfortunate and definitely ethnic cleansing if these people are unable to go back home.  

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This article I found very interesting due to the relationship between Israel and the United States and between Israel and the United Nations. When it comes to the recent increase in violence it has been imperative for the United States to be strongly supporting Israel as one of their allies during this time of crisis. I also believe it is the job of the United States to hold Israel accountable to ensure everything they do is legal within the international system when it comes to Hamas and Palestinian civilians. On the flip side of this the article discusses the United Nations, I would say, doing just that. As a result of the comments from the UN secretary general’s comments saying that it is important to recognize that the attack seen on Israel is a result of decades of occupation of Palestinians. The question I wish to pose is if this comment was made by someone from the United States, would Israel’s decision still be the same?

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This article from Aljazeera talked about the recent bombing of a hospital in Gaza, and what open-source videos revealed about the situation. Palestinian officials have blamed Israel for the attack, while Israel claims it was a misfired rocket from group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is interesting to see all of the Arab states blaming Israel for the attack, but the United States has also blamed Palestinian fighters. According to Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification team found that the Israeli statement seemed to have misinterpreted evidence. What Israel claimed to be a flash from a misfire was consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a missile fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it midair. Unfortunately, when it comes to the second blast, there is no conclusive evidence to determine who did it. Many think that the crater left by the attack is incompatible with weapons launched by Israel. Regardless we are still left with the question of who perpetrated this attack, but what is important to keep in mind are the lives lost regardless of who did the attack. 

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This article discusses the current ongoing fighting, specifically talking about the several Palestinians who the IDF has killed in the West Bank. After Israel told residents of northern Gaza to evacuate, protests took place in a couple of Israeli-occupied territories. At least 46 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Saturday. They even discussed how on Thursday a Palestinian man and his son were shot and killed when settlers opened fire on a funeral for other Palestinians killed the previous day. I appreciated this article discussing the loss of Palestinian life. This current conflict is being portrayed in many different ways, and many blame Palestinians when it is Hamas to blame. They carried out a horrendous attack last Saturday that killed at least 1,300 people. Unfortunately, we are seeing many Palestinian civilian casualties due to the terroristic actions of the people of Hamas.

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Is Netanyahu's Career Over?

This article discussed Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and if his political career is done for. This question is raised due to the recent escalation in tensions following the attack from Hamas. The article states that when looking at history, the last time Israeli intelligence failed to this degree with so many casualties was almost 50 years ago when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel on Yom Kippur. This then leads me to my question. With this massive failure, is Netanyahu’s career over? I believe he can still recover from this if he plays his cards correctly. He is going to have to try to connect with central ideas in order to bring conservatives and liberals together to rally around this cause. Similar to how the Bush administration succeeded immediately after 9/11.   

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On Tuesday Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed envoy to the Palestinian Authority presented his credentials to President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to the West Bank. This is the first time a Saudi delegation has visited the West Bank since 1967, this is a huge step forward in the normalization efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, this still has its obstacles. The Saudis want a defense pact with the United States to help build their civilian nuclear program, which fuels the fears of an arms race with Iran. Along with this, the Saudis want Israel to grant some kind of concession to the Palestinians in the West Bank. All of this unfortunately would be met with fierce opposition due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right government. Regardless this is still a major milestone for both sides as Netanyahu has worked to forge relations with multiple Arab countries, ending its isolation, and forming better relationships with nations that have been at odds with Israel for decades. 

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This article discussed the recent blocking of crossing points between Gaza and Israel. This closing led to over 18,000 Gazans being unable to go to work, and around $2 million a day that would go to the impoverished territory’s economy was lost. Israel finally reopened these crossing points with Gaza amid international efforts from the UN, Egypt, and Qatar. The closing led to many violent protests with many wounded, and one dead. I found this interesting as it somewhat echoes our conversation from class today. The “Revolutionary Youths” organizing these protests mostly threw stones and some explosive devices. Rather than terroristic tactics, it was individuals against the Israeli military. This tactic eventually proved effective as the border reopened, and the organizers suspended demonstrations as they secured promises from mediators that Israel would stop its provocative measures in Jerusalem.

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This article caught my attention quickly with its title. It would be a fantastic success for Israel if relations with Saudi Arabia continue to get better and closer to peace with the Arab nation. This normalization of relations between the who is getting closer every day, and it could possibly include Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. This would be a huge step in relations not only between Israel and Arab nations but possibly the Palestinians as well.  However, this will not create peace overnight due to how complicated this situation is. There is currently still fighting and attacks from the IDF on Palestinians. Much of this deal seems to be built off of a similar ideology of restricting Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have had strained relations with Iran. Saudi Arabia has had more improvement in relations with Iran than Israel, but they have stated if Israel acquires a nuclear weapon then Saudi Arabia will need one as well. This creates another level of complexity to a solution in the Middle East