world news
US: IDF expected not to attack ‘no-strike zones’ in south Gaza
Israel is expected to refrain from attacking the “no-strike” zones it created for Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza, US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters as the IDF battered that area of the enclave from the air and sea.“In those [safe] zones we do expect Israel to follow through without striking,” he said.
The dilemma regarding the Gaza war, he said, is “how do you, on the one hand, allow a sovereign nation like Israel to go after terror targets while on the other hand, have them do so in a way that minimizes harm to civilians, that is really where the rubber hits the road in all of this.”
“Fundamentally we have laid our expectations that in the areas that Israel has asked people to go that it ensure the security and safety of civilians and that it does so in the conduct of its military operations and that it does so in the facilitation of humanitarian assistance getting to them,” he said.
International pressure on Israel
Sullivan spoke four days after the Gaza war resumed after a week-long pause ended on December 1. Hamas has asserted that close to 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in war violence since hostilities began on October 7 after the terror group infiltrated southern Israel killing over 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “sustained humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional [and] immediate release of all hostages, and unimpeded [and] sustained humanitarian aid flow to meet the needs of the people throughout the Gaza Strip.”
Lynn Hastings, who is the humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, panned Israel’s safety zones in the south.
“Israeli military operations have expanded into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands of others into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety,” she said.
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go,” she added.
“The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.”
“The quantities of relief supplies and fuel allowed in are utterly insufficient. Despite the enormous efforts of the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies, UN agencies, and other partners, the use of only the Rafah crossing – meant for pedestrians – to bring in trucks of goods does not work.
“What we see today are shelters with no capacity, a health system on its knees, a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation, and poor nutrition for people already mentally and physically exhausted: a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster,” she said.
The head of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, visited Gaza on Monday, issuing a statement in which she said the level of human suffering was intolerable, called for the protection of civilians, respect for the laws of war, and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
“We would welcome Hamas laying down its arms”
In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller defended the resumption of Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza that began after the October 7 attack. He blamed Hamas for the war and said that more people should call for the terror group to lay down its arms.
“It is Hamas that is putting [Palestinian] civilians in harm’s way. I am surprised that I do not hear more people say why doesn’t Hamas move out of schools? why doesn’t Hamas take additional steps to protect civilians? Because we think they should as we think Israel should.
“We would welcome Hamas laying down its arms at any point,” he added. “They could do it today if they cleared about Palestinian civilian life.”
Miller also called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, as Hamas asserted that close to 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence.
The United States is watching IDF actions in Gaza “very closely,” Miller said as he explained that there were differences between Israel’s military campaign that resumed on December 1 and the one that ended on November 24.
“Too many Palestinians were killed in the opening weeks of the conflict, “ Miller said.
“We have seen a more targeted request for evacuations” by Israel so that the army is focused on clearing specific points rather than asking an entire city to evacuate, Miller said.
Civilians have been asked to relocate to “de-confliction zones rather than being asked to flee, Miller said.
During US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s visit to Israel last week, he clarified to officials “We do not want a military campaign in the south that looks like it was in the north.”
Blinken was briefed “on plans intended to avoid mass casualties.”
It was understood that there would be civilian casualties, “that is true in all war zones and is particularly true here” given that Hamas operates from within civilian areas, Miller said.
Both Miller and Sullivan addressed the collapse hostage deal by which 81 women and children were freed, but there are still some 17 or 20 women and children among the captives.
Qatar and Egypt mediated the deal. Sullivan said that Israel and US officials are still in conversation with those two countries to seek a way to resume hostage releases.
Miller said that the hostage deal partially fell apart last week because Hamas wanted to prevent the remaining Israeli women it holds in Gaza from talking about their time in captivity.
“It seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over that they have been holding hostage and the reason this pause fell apart is that they do not want these women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in captivity,” Miller alleged during an emotional moment in the press conference.
Later in the briefing, Miller clarified that he does not know this claim to be a definitive fact.
Separately, in the briefing in Washington, Miller addressed the issue of settler violence saying that the US has also spoken with Israel about doing more to crack down on attacks against innocent Palestinians in the West Bank, Miller said.
“We have seen them take some steps to respond to violence. We do not think those steps have been sufficient. They need to prosecute people who engage in violence against [innocent] Palestinians,” he said.
“We have made very clear to the Israeli government that we will be taking additional steps to hold people accountable for violent extremism,” he said, explaining that this could include visa restrictions.
Miller also addressed the issue of rising antisemitism, condemning it in the strongest terms.
“We oppose antisemitism wherever we see it,” Miller said. It’s tragic that after October 7, “one of the responses has been an increase in antisemitism that is extremely tragic and it’s incumbent on everyone in positions of authority to speak out.”
Three soldiers became the latest targets of anti-Israel organizations seeking to doxx and level legal challenges against Israeli servicemen abroad.
The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) called for the arrest of three Nahal Brigade soldiers for alleged war crimes after they entered the Netherlands on Thursday. The March 30 Movement branch submitted a complaint the same day, charging that the Granite battalion soldiers had been involved in operations in which Gazan homes were burned and the Rafah crossing was damaged without any military necessity.
The disruption of the Rafah crossing constricted the flow of aid in an act of “weaponized famine,” the group said.
The three soldiers were named on social media, and their pictures were shared by the foundation. The doxxing came days after the group filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court against a soldier and called for his arrest while he was visiting the United Arab Emirates.
Many of the foundation’s accusations do not list specific actions by soldiers but place them within Gaza or the West Bank during operations.
Other allegations and doxxing, such as those against an Israeli reservist officer who had to flee Cyprus in mid-November, are based on video and photographs posted by the soldiers on social media. Ynet reported that the officer coordinated his departure from the country with the Israeli Foreign Ministry after the HRF called on Cypriot officials to arrest him over two videos in which he allegedly burned and called to destroy Gazan civilian objects.
Following the November 21 ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, the foundation called on the international body to also issue warrants against 1,000 IDF soldiers listed in an October 8 dossier it filed to the ICC.
The HRF claimed that it had gathered 8,000 pieces of documentation detailing the destruction of infrastructure, occupation of civilian homes, looting, participating in a blockade of Gaza, and targeting civilians. The documentation reportedly included soldiers boasting “about their war crimes on social media, sharing photos and videos of their participation in the destruction and occupation of Palestinian homes and properties.”
Some of the soldiers had dual citizenship, including 12 French, 12 American, four Canadian, three British, and two Dutch citizens.
More than one group targeting Israeli soldiers
The HRF is not the only group doxxing IDF soldiers who have participated in the war.
The Israel Genocide Tracker X/Twitter account, which has over 160,000 followers, shares the names and pictures of soldiers who had allegedly been in Gaza. Many of those identified by the account are dual-nationals, such as an American-Israeli Golani Reconnaissance battalion sniper doxxed on Saturday.
“We firmly believe that every soldier who entered Gaza is complicit in the genocide,” the group said in a social media post last Monday, defending their operations from those arguing that the account’s posts interfered in ongoing legal and journalistic investigations.
“We will soon release comprehensive lists of soldiers’ names to support international legal actions. We are already collaborating with various human rights organizations that rely on our data to pursue justice.”
Telegram channels published a file allegedly containing the personal information of several thousand soldiers and security officials last Sunday.
The viability of the legal cases against these soldiers is unclear, according to legal experts, with the main objective being the intimidation of IDF soldiers.
Universal jurisdiction
NGO Monitor legal adviser Anne Herzberg said that it is difficult to know if individual cases are actionable without knowing their specifics, but there was concern that courts in countries with weak judicial systems and inadequate due process could be exploited, and warrants could be issued based on “flimsy evidence” and “no advance notice.”
“Anti-Israel NGOs have pushed universal jurisdiction cases against Israeli military and government officials for years as a complement to their lobbying for ICC proceedings,” said Herzberg.
“The shift by these groups to the targeting of thousands of lower-ranking dual-national Israelis has two purposes. First, these cases are about generating negative PR – to internationally tarnish the IDF by delegitimizing and criminalizing IDF service. The second purpose is to deter dual nationals from serving in the IDF for fear they might be subject to criminal proceedings if they return to their countries of origin.
“This second purpose constitutes a military and national security threat and should be taken very seriously by both Israeli and Western officials. It should come as no surprise that several of these NGOs have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, or other terror organizations.”
International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky said that these lawfare campaigns were “entirely without merit and no more than political stunts” but noted that “given the changing political climate and growing hostility against Israel in some parts of Europe, there is no guarantee that some countries will not entertain this charade in the future.”
“As a response to this growing threat, Israel should consider adopting a US-style American Service-Members’ Protection Act, which authorizes the use of all means necessary to secure the release of American soldiers and persons taken captive by, on behalf, or at the request of the International Criminal Court, in this case being equally applicable if IDF soldiers (or former soldiers) were detained on the instructions of the ICC and/or individual countries,” said Ostrovsky.
“The United States, which is currently putting a devastating sanctions framework [together] against the ICC over their issuing of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, should sanction any country that not only seeks to apply the ICC warrants but takes individual actions to arrest IDF soldiers.
“And lastly, Israel should also make it a priority to sign bilateral immunity agreements with other countries, acknowledging the independence of Israel’s judicial system and undertaking not to arrest any IDF soldiers, whether current or former, thereby allowing Israelis the ability to travel freely, without fear of arrest.”
world news
Israeli Law Center representing IDF soldiers condemns ICC Indictment of Netanyahu and Gallant
The Shurat HaDin Law Center, which has been leading the fight against efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute Israeli officials, officers, and troops, has condemned the court in The Hague for its efforts to unjustly arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant.
Shurat HaDin has argued in recent briefs submitted to the ICC that the Chief Prosecutor does not have proper jurisdiction to indict Israeli leaders or soldiers as Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Treaty and that the Palestinian Authority is not a state, as is required to be a member of the ICC. Moreover, they allege that the Chief Prosecutor has displayed his bias and anti-Israel slant by refusing to indict any meaningful members of the Hamas terrorist organization that attacked the Jewish State on October 7, 2023, murdering and kidnapping civilians.
According to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: “The ICC has finally revealed its extreme bias against Israel and its blatant antisemitism by filing indictments against Israel’s leaders. How shameful that instead of recognizing the murder, maiming, raping, and arson against innocent Israelis, they have chosen to take the side of the terrorist Palestinian groups and joined the fight against Israel. The ICC completely ignores the language of its own Rome Treaty and its deliberate limitations and instead finds skewed paths and unlawful justifications to bestow statehood on the Palestinians and assert legal jurisdiction over Israel. This extreme decision creates a dangerous precedent for the ICC to target other democratic armies and leaders. The Western democratic member states need to immediately protest and disavow the Court’s ruling. They must pledge to ignore the indictments against Israelis. We are calling on the US Congress, Senate, and Administration to finally sanction the ICC, its racist judges, and its chief prosecutor. They must take bold action against The Hague. Tomorrow, they’ll be indicting American officials and troops as well.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday put him at odds with the IDF regarding how many haredi the military can absorb in a short amount of time.
Netanyahu said that while he was in favor of increasing haredi integration into the IDF, in practicality, the military needed more time to establish haredi-tailored programs and environments for this to be successful.
The prime minister’s remark comes days after top IDF officials presented a series of highly specific, customized programs for the ultra-Orthodox that are either already open or are “ready to go” as soon as the haredi respond to their military summons. This directly contradicts the prime minister’s words during the briefing.
Netanyahu spoke to the committee in a closed and classified hearing, but portions of what he said were, nevertheless, publicized, including his comments regarding haredi integration into the IDF.
When asked about the issue, Netanyahu said, “We would prefer that anyone who is not studying [in a yeshiva] share the burden [of military service.] But right now, there is a gap between what the army says it can absorb and what it can absorb, so the absorption capacity of the IDF needs to be increased.”
He added that there were intentions to create new frameworks that would allow the haredi to maintain their way of life as well as to respond to operational needs, such as establishing an ultra-Orthodox base along the border with Jordan that would be responsible for defense there.
How to fulfill the IDF’s need for more soldiers
Besides that example, Netanyahu said that the army’s need for more soldiers could be filled by extending the service of mandatory service soldiers as well as calling up a variety of reservists from among the population living in border communities who never responded to their call-ups or were given exemptions.
In contrast to Netanyahu’s statements, seeming to indicate that the IDF cannot absorb a significant increase of haredi men, the military has said repeatedly, dating back to August, that it has been ready to receive an additional 3,000 haredi per year, on top of the approximately 1,800 per year it has already been absorbing.
The announcement in August and the sending of summons to 3,000 members of the ultra-Orthodox community came after months of extensive work and the investment of significant resources to prepare both personnel and bases for a new, major influx.
One new option for service that the IDF has already added for the haredi to make their service more attractive is serving in technical and logistical capacities at hardened aircraft shelters at an air force base section where only men will serve.
Another new option is called the Yoav Track in logistics command centers, which includes fulfilling a wide variety of technical and logistic roles throughout the military, and not just in the Israel Air Force.
Also, though Netanyahu said that the IDF should look into forming a new haredi brigade, the military had already announced last week that on December 26, it would open one, distinct from Netzach Yehuda.
Netzach Yehuda had been the brigade that most of the haredi wanted to join to date. However, it has turned off many of the ultra-orthodox because it has a reputation for being more religious Zionist in nature than haredi.
Additionally, there is a recently established unit of haredi serving at the Ofer detention center, and that program is expected to grow.
Further, a Lt.-Col. with a hassidic Chabad background, who has joined the army. He will be focused on haredi affairs and making sure new inductees are comfortable and are having their needs addressed.
Despite a detailed presentation last week about all of these new service mediums as being already established for haredim, a spokesperson for Netanyahu doubled down on the claim that the IDF was still lacking in its capacity to absorb a major influx of haredi soldiers.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.
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