Israel seems intent on postpone of a few days as often announced land invasion from the Stripeven if thearmy is now ready to take action. While the military wing of Hamasthe Al Qassam Brigadesannounced in the evening liberation of two other hostages, two women, thanks to the mediation of Qatar and of theEgypt.
Many more could soon find their freedom: according to various sources, the militiamen’s release of at least 50 prisoners with double citizenshipwho would be released on the Egyptian side of Rafah to be returned to the respective embassies. The slip of the ground operation – also reported by Israeli military radio – therefore also appears linked to the need to facilitate the exit of foreign hostages from Gaza (on request USA and mediation of Qatar and Egypt), as well as to allow the entry of humanitarian aid – today a third convoy entered – destined for the population of the Strip.
All this despite continuing fromPalestinian enclave the launching of rockets together with that of Hezbollah in northern Israel and, in parallel, there is a marked increase in raid of theJewish aviation.
Me too’Iran shows no signs of easing the tension: after Sunday’s intimidation, today the second in command of the Pasdaran Ali Fadavi threatened a direct attack of Tehran against Israel, indicating the city of as the objective Haifa. While the USA they in turn accused the ayatollah regime of “facilitating” attacks against American bases in the Middle East by the various Shia militias.
As the primary cause for the postponement of the invasion, military radio cited the need to wait for the arrival of US reinforcements in the area. The United States essentially they would have communicated to Israel the intention to deploy other forces following Iranian threats to act “on various fronts”. L’Biden administration – against a ceasefire now because “it would only benefit Hamas” – has meanwhile sent a Marine general and other officers as advisors for the next operations, also on the basis of the experience gained in the battle against theIsis in Mosul.
L’Israeli army However, it continues to prepare: the soldiers, both those in service and those recalled, are conducting a “series of exercises in order to increase capabilities for the ground operation in Gaza”, explained the military spokespersonadding that “combat teams combining infantry forces, armored corps and other units” are being trained to be employed “in a number of different scenarios”. The military is convinced that to achieve the objectives of the war against Hamas it is necessary to begin the ground offensive “as soon as possible”. After 16 days of devastating attacks from the air, the army informed the government that it was fully ready for the ground offensive, convinced that it could achieve the objectives established even at the cost of heavy losses and despite Hezbollah’s repeated attacks in the north.
To deny friction between the government and the army compared to the times of the invasion, the Prime Minister NetanyahuThe Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi they intervened in the evening with a joint statement in which they underlined that they were “in close and full collaboration”, asking the media “to avoid false news”. But rumors of internal disagreements even within the government have been fueled by rumors according to which “at least three ministers” are considering the possibility of resigning to force the prime minister to assume his responsibilities for the Hamas attack on 7 October.
On the ground the situation has not changed much: Israel continues to pound the Strip, targeting the bases and commanders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad with 436 deaths – according to Local healthcare – in the last 24 hours. The victims in the Strip – but also in West Bank in clashes with the army – have exceeded the threshold of 5,000, of which 2,055 are minors. In Israel there are now 222 identified hostages, but among these – announced Minister Antonio Tajani – there is no longer Liliach Lea Havron, whose body was identified today. Havron is the wife of Eviatar Moshe Kipnis, who was declared dead a few days ago. Both were Italian-Israelis from the Beeri kibbutz.