GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 137

Where’s Sinwar?

One Month Later

As pressure for proof the medical supplies that were part of a January deal, we finally get a response from Hamas as seen in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Qatar has received confirmation from Hamas that the terror group has acquired medications for the Israeli hostages in Gaza and that it has begun delivering them to the abductees, Doha announced on Tuesday, over one month after the medical shipment entered the enclave.

“The State of Qatar has received confirmation from the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] regarding the receipt of a shipment of medicines and the commencement of their delivery to beneficiaries among the hostages in the Gaza Strip, in implementation of an agreement between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar in cooperation with France last month,” said a statement from Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari, which offered no explanation for the apparent delay, nor any proof that the hostages had received the medications.

This is revealed in light of the IDF finding unused boxes of medications with the names of hostages on them. Hamas was supposed to give information like this earlier, but some on the Arab side saw the verification demands as not being part of the original agreement:

An Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel earlier this month that the presentation of such proof wasn’t part of the Qatar-mediated agreement and is unlikely to come. However, they claimed Hamas wants to keep the hostages alive, as they are worth more to the terror group than if they are dead. Accordingly, it has an interest in ensuring that the hostages receive the medicine, the diplomat said.

This source seemed to refute the find of medications as proof the deal was broken:

Moreover, they said that claims from the families of specific hostages that their loved ones had not received their medications were likely due to the fact that they were not on the list of the several dozen hostages slated to receive meds.

Israel admits that they have to trust the information:

While Israeli officials have publicly demanded proof that the hostages received the medications, privately they’ve acknowledged that Jerusalem will have no choice but to simply trust the word of Qatar that they’ve indeed been received.

Sinwar Updates

As we see from multiple sources, the leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar may not be in Gaza anymore and he may be pretty ill. We read more on this initially from a report from i24news.tv:

Israel believes Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar fled the Gaza Strip for Egypt, said Arabic online newspaper Elaph.

According to the report, the Hamas chief could have taken an unspecified number of hostages with him. He is believed to have crossed the border through a tunnel he entered in the Refah area with his brother and sister.

This could explain why news of finding Sinwar’s replacement surfaced:

Meanwhile, Hamas is said to be searching for Sinwar's replacement. "There is a bid for who will manage Gaza. There is no party in control. The Khan Yunis Brigade is defeated and no longer functions as a military entity," stated Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

As for his health, we read he may be very ill in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, may be suffering from a complicated case of pneumonia, N12 reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous Arab country.

The country in question said it had heard the report from senior Hamas officials.

According to the N12 report, the country had been in contact with the terror group, asking Hamas to advance toward a ceasefire. Hamas subsequently responded that its situation was grave; it lacked ammunition, and its military structures were deteriorating.

Hamas’ leadership might not know where Sinwar is:

On Tuesday, it was reported that Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and Gaza was unsure of Sinwar’s whereabouts, with the Saudi newspaper Elaph claiming the chief terrorist may have fled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

The report disputes that Sinwar is incommunicado, though:

On Tuesday, it was reported that Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and Gaza was unsure of Sinwar’s whereabouts, with the Saudi newspaper Elaph claiming the chief terrorist may have fled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

However, later on Tuesday, Kan News said that Sinwar had resumed communications with the Hamas leadership abroad.

Mind you, all of this information is subject to change since all of the terrorists need to stay hidden while the IDF is on their trails. And of all the possible scenarios, leaving to Egypt isn’t a bed of roses for Sinwar as they could capture him and even torture him for useful information. What is more likely is that he is in Rafah hoping he survives, but don’t quote me on that.

Hezbollah Has Tunnels, Too

Lost in all the news about the IDF collapsing the extensive tunnels Hamas built is that Hezbollah has an underground system as well as we learn from a report from The Jerusalem Post:

Hezbollah has a large-scale inter-regional tunnel network stretching across Lebanon designed to move personnel and weapons, according to a new report released by the ALMA Center over the weekend.

According to the report, titled “Land of Tunnels” and authored by Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri, Hezbollah began its tunnel project after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 with the help of the North Koreans and Iranians and “is much larger than the Hamas ‘metro’ project in the Gaza Strip.”

These tunnels are meant for military purposes and are quite elaborate:

The network supposedly connects the Beirut area, Hezbollah’s central headquarters, the Bekaa area used by the group as its logistical operational rear base, to southern Lebanon. According to the report by ALMA Center, which researches security challenges facing Israel on its northern front, the tunnels allow for “hundreds of fully equipped combatants to pass stealthily and rapidly underground.”

The tunnels are also large enough for motorcycles, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), and other small vehicles to move through them to allow for troops to maneuver from place to place “for the purpose of reinforcing defense positions or for carrying out an attack in a safe, protected, and invisible manner.”

More specifics of how the tunnels can be used is revealed as well:

Like Hamas, the tunnels contain underground command and control rooms, weapons and supply depots, field clinics and specified designated shafts used to fire missiles of all types (rockets, surface-to-surface missiles, anti-tank missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles).

Beeri wrote that the tunnels are also used for artillery attacks, with the shafts opening for a short period before being shut. These shafts are hidden and camouflaged and cannot be detected above ground.

Israel did destroy part of this system:

In 2018, the IDF launched Operation Northern Shield to discover and destroy all cross-border tunnels dug by Hezbollah into northern Israel. The military said it found and destroyed six such tunnels.

The destruction of those cross-border tunnels was a significant hit to the group, and according to the IDF, they haven’t tried to rebuild them.

I bring all this up as talk of dismantling Hezbollah is on the table and taking out these tunnels would have to be a part of that operation. You can read more about these tunnels here.

October 7th Was “An Attack From God”

In what will be a controversial interview, an article from The Jerusalem Post tells us someone who believes God is punishing Israel by allowing the attacks:

"From my point of view, October 7 was a punishment from God", said Channel 14 presenter and 103FM broadcaster Yinon Magal in a sneak peek video of an interview between him and Roni Kuban that will be aired on Tuesday evening.

In the clip, Yinon claimed that the punishment from god was deserved because of immoral actions by the Israeli public during the holidays, including breaking up prayer services in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur last year.

Roni Kuban, the interviewer wasn’t ready to go there:

Roni Kuban, the interviewer and host of the show "Meeting with Roni Kuban," in which the full interview will be aired, pushed back in the clip, asking, "God is responsible for a security failure?"

Magal seemed to back off a little as the clip goes on:

When Yinon laughed off the question and responded with "No," Roni followed up by asking, "Who was more responsible for the security failure on October 7, God or Netanyahu?"

Magal then responded, saying, "Netanyahu is guilty," a few times before the clip ended.

I’m not certain if Magal was serious about his original assertion, but he isn’t alone in feeling God judged Israel with the attacks. I for one am not going down that road now or anytime at all. However, if Jews come to Jesus as a result of those heinous actions I will consider that a good thing, but only God Himself can reveal why He does anything let alone this. I prefer to ask Him for any clarification and leave it at that.