GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 74

Hostage Deal Holdups

Hospital Director Comes Clean

What we all suspected from the start has been confirmed as read in an article found on The Times Of Israel:

The director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya has revealed in a Shin Bet interrogation that his northern Gaza hospital was turned into a military facility under Hamas’s control and that at one point, it had housed a kidnapped soldier.

In footage published on Tuesday by the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces, hospital director Ahmed Kahlot could be seen telling an Israeli interrogator that Hamas had offices inside the hospital and used it as a base for operational activity.

Even skeptics believing that the hospitals in Gaza were not being used by Hamas to stage operations and were off limits for attacks now need to understand that these facilities were just that:

According to Kahlot, who said he has been a lieutenant colonel in Hamas since 2010, some 16 members of the hospital’s staff — including doctors, nurses and paramedics — were Hamas operatives serving in the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the terror organization.

He added that several members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades were also employed in the hospital.

Hamas operatives were heavily involved in the hospital:

On December 12, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that Israeli forces had entered the Kamal Adwan hospital, which the IDF later confirmed. Over the course of several days, troops detained some 90 operatives inside the hospital and seized numerous weapons.

According to a joint Shin Bet and IDF statement on the operation, some of those captured at the hospital had participated in the October 7 massacres in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 were taken hostage.

Not Playing By The Rules

As I’ve said before, Hamas doesn’t play by the same rules and we have more and more proof of this as he war continues. Also in the article we discovered that a captured soldier was in the hospital and Hamas ambulances were never used for medical purposes as the article continued:

According to Kahlot, the ambulances used by Hamas aren’t ever volunteered for medical uses.

“There are places for senior officials. They also brought a kidnapped soldier there,” he said. “There is a designated space for interrogations, internal security and special security. They all have private phone lines within the hospital.”

No further information about the kidnapped soldier’s identity or when he was brought to the hospital was provided.

“They hide in hospitals because they believe that hospitals are a safe place,” Kahlot told the Shin Bet interrogator. “They will not be harmed if they are inside a hospital.”

The director is not a supporter of Hamas now as we read more:

“Once I begged them to take a wounded man to the Indonesian Hospital or Shifa Hospital for treatment. They refused,” he said. “Their mission was more important.”

Asked what he thinks about Hamas now, after two and a half months of war, Kahlot didn’t spare his criticism.

“The leaders of Hamas are cowards,” he said. “They left us in the field while they’re hiding in concealed places. They destroyed us.”

Fighting In The North Heats Up

It also no surprise that Hezbollah is ramping up its attacks on Israel from the north. As I said, as things get worse and worse for Hamas in the south, terrorists will get more aggressive from other sides. We read more about the intense fighting going in from an article in The Jerusalem Post:

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that the IDF had eliminated several Hezbollah terrorists on Tuesday, adding "Hezbollah continues to serve as a defender of Hamas-ISIS and thereby endangers Lebanon and its citizens."

The IDF struck several sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, including weapons storage sites and rocket launchers, after a series of drone infiltrations and rocket launches from Lebanon throughout the day.

Amid the exchanges of fire, the Israeli Air Force struck a terrorist cell near the Lebanese border across from Hanita. IDF tank fire also targeted several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and fired at a threat near the border near Yir'on in northern Israel.

According to an IDF representative, war in the north is getting closer and closer:

In reference to the rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus stressed on Monday that "we are closer today to war than we were yesterday," warning that Hezbollah is "playing a very, very dangerous game."

There are even talk of the IDF preparing a ground offensive in the north, but nothing is confirmed on that.

Hostage Deal Hold Up

The same disagreement that ended he last hostage deal appears to be the same thing keeping another deal to form as we read in an article from i24news.tv:

Egyptian negotiators trying to facilitate a new hostage deal between Israel and Hamas reported difficulties in their efforts.

The Qatari New Arab outlet attributed the report to unnamed Egyptian officials who are in coordination with both Doha and Washington. The sources cited the jihadist group's demand for an immediate ceasefire as one of the main reasons for the deadlock.

But Israel’s demands are also making a new deal difficult:

The public pressure in Israel to secure a deal that would see the release of 129 remaining hostages is immense. The previous agreement — which saw Israel release three terrorists for each Israeli hostage abducted during the October 7 massacre —saw 110 Israelis released, mostly children and elderly women.

However, the big sticking point has been the release of young women, which Hamas refused and blew up the deal to avoid delivering, and it reportedly remains one of the biggest points of contention in the mediated talks between the Jewish state and the Palestinian jihadists.

We told you earlier that some believe that Hamas doesn’t want these women to talk about how they were treated and that is why it is a holdup from their side.

Prayer Keys

  • Lord God, we treasure Your guidance as we pray for Israel today (Zech. 4:6b; Rom. 8:26).
  • As Hamas' attack and the war did not surprise You (Isa. 41:26-27), please use it and the outcome to aid in the furtherance of Your prophetic end-time plans (Num. 23:19; Lam. 3:37; Ezek. 36:36).
  • In line with the prophetic portion, Lord rebuke Satan's attempts to destroy Your nation (Zech. 3:2).
  • Expose every trap Hamas has set for the IDF, and let them trap Hamas instead (Psa. 35:4-8).
  • Let the flooding of Hamas' tunnels by the IDF remove these deadly traps (Isa. 28:15-18).
  • Impart to Hamas' terrorists and its leaders a spirit of paranoia and panic (Psa. 46:6; Amos 1:14).
  • Aid Israel to quickly and suddenly end this war, defeating Hamas completely (1 Sam. 17:45-51).
  • Guard over Israel's soldiers, supplying all of their equipment and other needs (Psa. 140:7; 144:10).
  • Also please protect them from friendly fire and all other accidents (Psa. 17:8-9; 91:4).
  • Lord of hosts, increase Your angelic armies warring alongside the IDF (2 Kin. 6:15-17).
  • Anoint the IDF to fight like David's mighty men in Gaza's urban areas (2 Sam. 23:8-9).
  • Lord, rescue the remaining hostages by Your supernatural power (Psa. 79:11-12; Zech. 9:11-12).
  • Empower the IDF and Israel's Mossad to capture or eliminate every Hamas leader who is still alive, regardless of where they are hiding or residing (Josh. 10:24-25; Psa. 68:21; Hab. 3:13).
  • Anoint Israel's intelligence services to uncover all enemy plots by accurately interpreting the data they collect from Gaza, as well as from Judea and Samaria (Gen. 40:8; Prov. 1:5-6; Dan. 2:22).
  • Enable those Israelis who interrogate captured Hamas terrorists to discern what is true (Eccl. 8:5).
  • Guide those who decide what to do with this intelligence into making godly decisions (Prov. 16:1).