Israel-Hamas War SITREP for 17 NOV 2023 - Fuel Shipments Restored After U.S. and U.N. Pressure (Patreon)

Action Report

The information space remains highly problematic, with an extreme amount of disinformation being spread by the proxies of both combatants. Unless we state, “we were able to independently verify the claim,” or provide three unique sources in the report, the claims should be considered “unverified.” Otherwise, every third sentence would be, “We cannot independently verify the claim.”

Gaza Strip and Southern and Central Israel

After securing the Al-Shifa Hospital compound, Israeli forces continued to advance deeper into Gaza City, moving as much as 12 city blocks east into the Zeitoun District. The IDF has also expanded control in northern Gaza, reaching Beit Lahia. Hamas continues to control a 1-kilometer-wide strip west of Beit Lahia to the northern border with Israel, with Israeli forces advancing from two directions. In Beit Hanoun, Hamas militants using the 📺 civilian housing for cover and an antitank firing position 📺 were destroyed.

IDF forces found mortar rounds, small arms, ammunition, and weapons in the 📺 al-Karmel kindergartenin Gaza City after Hamas militants fled from the area.

For perspective, Israel has established control over 20% to 25% of Gaza City. We continue to be surprised at the continued progress and no evidence of significant IDF losses. South of Gaza City, IDF secured the northern edge of Al Mughraqa, west of the Salah Al Deen green corridor.

South of Wadi Ghaza, ground fighting continued in Khan Younis, with both combatants disregarding the previously declared safe zone. The IDF dropped pamphlets calling for people to evacuate Khan Younis, drawing the ire of the international community. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported there was heavy ground fighting in Rafahbut also reported that foreign nationals continued to exit into Egypt, and aid workers continued to enter.

You can view the map updated by our friends at 📷 War Mapper.

For the first time since Tuesday, rockets targeted southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv. Iron Dome was active, with five people wounded while running to shelters and from debris.

United Nations 200 Blue Line Border between Israel and Lebanon and the Golan Heights

Harassment attacks using drones, rockets, and artillery continued along the Israel-Lebanon border, with Israel responding with counterbattery, drones, and airstrikes. Four civilians were wounded in Menara by an antitank guide missile (ATGM) fired from Lebanon. It is the first major incident in almost a week along the border. There were ten attacks in total.

The West Bank

Fighting between the IDF and Palestinian militants continued in the Jenin Refugee Camp, with an engagement lasting 11 hours. Three Palestinians were reportedly killed, but it was not clarified by OCHA if they were militants or civilians. Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron, with the pair killed.

The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed that five people were killed in a drone strike on the Fatah Headquarters in the Balata Refugee Camp. The type of weapon is unclear in our analysis, with pictures from inside the building showing damage more consistent with a smaller-sized “bunker buster” or penetrator bomb, while video was taken of the strike more consistent with a drone. It is possible that a weapon that has not been previously identified was used. Israeli sources and open-source intelligence reported four of the dead were Hamas militants. There were unconfirmed reports that one of the dead was responsible for the execution of an Israeli settler in Einav on November 2.

An IDF soldier has been suspended and is under criminal investigation for throwing a flash-bang grenade into a mosque in Budrus without provocation. The incident 📺 was filmed and shared on social media. Only the Imam was inside at the time, who was in the middle of making the call to morning prayer.

There were no reports of settler violence, with an unnamed Israeli official claiming that settler attacks are due to a group of a “few hundred extremists” that Israel has taken steps to clamp down on. We had previously reported that several radical Zionists had been taken into custody using Israeli anti-terror laws, and there was an immediate reduction in attacks by settlers after their incarceration.

Middle East Region and Theaterwide

The IAF launched airstrikes on Damascus, Syria, using standoff weapons to target a Hezbollah ammunition depot. Syria claims it intercepted the missiles, while video shows the strike was successful, and Israel claims two militants were killed in the attack. We cannot verify the casualties, but in our assessment, the ammunition depot was likely hit.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility 📺 for a drone attack on the Harir Military Airbase in Erbil, targeting U.S. forces. Video showed the 📺 fuel depot on the base was hit and was on fire.

War Crimes and Human Rights

As an editorial policy, we are referring to Hamas fighters as militants and not terrorists. New intelligence indicates the attack on October 7 was conducted by the equivalent of a brigade in size and demonstrated previously unseen asymmetrical warfare tactics that included combined arms that go beyond a terrorist attack. Further, in calling Hamas terrorists, there is less accountability for the command and control structures, which ordered what can be described as an invasion.

Claiming they bowed to U.S. political pressure, the three-member Israeli war council unanimously voted to permit two truckloads of fuel into the Gaza Strip daily. The first shipment crossed from Rafah during the writing of today’s SITREP. The capitulation came after no humanitarian aid was delivered for the last two days because the U.N. and ICRC had run out of fuel and a collapse of the communications network in Gaza. At the time of publication, communications were reportedly being restored.

In a brief statement, an Israeli official said the fuel shipments were intended “to enable the minimal maintenance necessary for water, sewer, and sanitary systems to prevent pandemics that could spread to the entire area, hurting residents of the Strip as well as our own forces and potentially spreading into Israel as well.”

Portugal reported that three of its citizens, who were on a priority list for evacuation from the Gaza Strip, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Two relatives were also killed. The head of the Foreign Ministry, Augusto Santos Silva, condemned the deaths with “disgust,” adding that Israel “is not on the right path…[and]…we need to stop these bombings now.”

Hamas released a video of an 86-year-old hostage, Aryeh Zalmanovich, who appeared to be in poor condition, whispering repeatedly, “I don’t feel well.” Several hours later, they released a shocking video showing the corpse of Zalmanovich, claiming he died due to a “panic attack” from Israeli bombing. Out of respect to his family and by their direct request, we are not sharing the video. Zalmanovich was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

The IDF also recovered the body of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, whom Hamas took hostage on October 7. Weiss, a kindergarten teacher, was kidnapped from Be’eri and was under treatment for breast cancer.

Forensic experts confirmed that Vivian Silver, a peace activist who dedicated her life to serving Palestinian children, was killed on October 7. Officially, Silver had been listed missing and was believed to be among the 237 remaining hostages. Silver, who was 74, was the founder of

Women Wage Peace and was killed in her Be’eri home.

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital claimed that all of the ICU patients had died due to Israeli actions after securing the hospital without evidence. Fox News journalist Trey Yingst reported from Al-Shifa and confronted IDF officials about claims of a lack of medical supplies and basic support, with Israeli officials claiming they were working on resolving the issues. We cannot verify any of the claims, and Yingst, who, in our assessment, has done an outstanding job of covering the Israeli-Hamas War without bias, did not ask specifically about the claim of ICU deaths.

OCHA reported that in the northern Gaza Strip, bakeries stopped operating on November 7 due to a lack of fuel, water, and flour and that flour is no longer available for purchase. Most of the available drinking water is being supplied by two Israeli pipelines in the south. OCHA warned that the desalination plants in the south would shut down on November 18 without fuel deliveries. Tel Aviv claimed that one of the reasons they capitulated on fuel shipments was to prevent waterborne illness and the potential spread of “plagues.”

Editor’s Note: The use of the word “plague” should not be confused with the infamous Black Plague, now known as the Bubonic Plague. Bubonic Plague is not a waterborne illness and is spread by fleas.

Casualties

We no longer track Israeli or Palestinian casualty numbers due to serious questions about the veracity of reports from both combatants.

Rest of World: There were updates on the number of foreign nationals listed as dead, missing, or confirmed as hostages, with 40 nations reporting that 259 of their citizens were killed.

• Argentina - 9 dead, 21 unaccounted
• Australia - 1 dead
• Austria - 4 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Azerbaijan - 3 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Belarus - 3 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Belgium – 2 dead
• Brazil - 3 dead
• Cambodia - 1 dead
• Canada - 6 dead, 2 unaccounted
• Chile - 4 dead, 1 unaccounted
• China - 5 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Columbia – 1 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Estonia – 1 dead
• France - 39 dead, 9 hostages
• Germany – 10 dead, “double-digit number of hostages”
• Honduras – 1 dead
• Hungary – 2 hostages
• India – 2 killed, 4 unaccounted
• Ireland - 1 dead
• Italy – 3 dead, 1 hostage
• Kazakhstan – 2 dead
• Mexico - 2 hostages
• Moldova – 1 dead
• Nepal - 10 dead, 5 hostages
• The Netherlands – 1 dead, 1 hostage
• Paraguay - 2 unaccounted
• Peru - 3 dead, 4 unaccounted
• Philippines - 4 dead, 2 unaccounted
• Poland – 1 dead
• Portugal - 4 dead, 4 unaccounted
• Romania – 4 dead*, 6 hostages
• Russia - 23 dead, 8 hostages
• South Africa – 2 dead
• Spain - 1 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Sri Lanka – 1 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Switzerland – 1 dead
• Tanzania – 1 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Thailand - 32 dead (decrease), 18 hostages
• Türkiye - 1 dead, 1 unaccounted
• Ukraine - 21 dead, 1 missing (decrease)
• United Kingdom – 12 dead, 5 unaccounted
• United States - 34 dead, 1 unaccounted, 12 hostages
• Uzbekistan – 3 dead, 4 unaccounted

The death toll in Re’im at the Nova Music Festival was increased to 364, including 17 police officers, with 40 people taken hostage. Almost 4,000 people were at the event at the time of the Hamas invasion, and nearly one-third of all deaths on October 7 were at Re’im. An investigation concluded that Hamas militants didn’t specifically target the event but instead attacked it as a soft target of opportunity.

Israeli-Hamas Politics

The decision by the Israeli War Cabinet to restore fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip drew a sharp rebuke from hardliners within the Israeli government. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “So long as our hostages don’t even get a visit from the Red Cross, there is no sense in giving the enemy humanitarian gifts.”

Geopolitics

The White House blasted billionaire Elon Musk for…on second thought, nope. Because every time we mention Elon Musk, we get angry e-mails. Do a Google search.