Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of January 15

Teacher held in solitary confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths

I thought this was an important article to share. As happens in other countries in wartime, personal freedoms in Israel are being curtailed. We saw this to some extent in the US after 9/11 as well — if not with official consequences, certainly with social ones.

Inside Israel, veteran journalists, intellectuals and rights activists say, there is little public space for dissent about the war in Gaza, even three months into an offensive that has killed 23,000 Palestinians and has no end in sight. “Make no mistake: Baruchin was used as a political tool to send a political message. The motive for his arrest was deterrence – silencing any criticism or any hint of protest against Israeli policy,” the long-established Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial.

One quote in particular stuck out:

‘I thought to myself, when I retire, I might conclude this is the most significant lesson I ever gave in civics.’

Cost of tent materials soars due to desperate need for shelter in Gaza (NPR)

More than a million displaced people are estimated to be taking shelter in [Rafah] on top of its prewar population of 270,000. Apartments and other dwellings are housing dozens, even hundreds of people, as Israeli airstrikes continue. Shelters operated by the United Nations in Gaza are full far beyond their capacity, the U.N. says.

With nowhere else to turn, Palestinians are now living in tents or makeshift shelters made of wood beams and sheets of nylon. And the swelling demand for shelters and the lack of supply has sent prices for materials skyrocketing.

…

Before the war, tents in Gaza were mainly used for recreation, such as family gatherings at the beach. A high-quality tent might have cost 200 shekels, or about $50.

This month, a small tent cost Abu Salah 700 shekels, or about $185, he said. That's cheap, he added: People occupying nearby shelters paid double, or more.

…

Without enough tarps and nylon, Palestinians have resorted to using cloth and rugs for tent walls. Others have repurposed the large tarps that cover the truckloads of aid that enter each day from Egypt and Israel.

A man with a sewing machine, working on the streets of Rafah, sewed together nylon bags used to deliver aid. (The bags cost two shekels apiece, plus the cost of sewing them together, the man said.)

…

Some badly needed tents may be waiting just on the other side of Gaza's borders. Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, where aid is subjected to exhaustive inspection by Israelis before it enters Gaza.

There, he visited a warehouse full of humanitarian goods that had been rejected at Israeli inspection points, he told NPR.

Workers told him the rejected aid included tents, Van Hollen said. "The speculation was that some of them had metal poles in them, and somehow those could be used by Hamas to fashion weapons, despite the fact that you have thousands and thousands of Gazans without shelter as the weather gets very cold," he said.

…

"There is no water here, and toilets are another source of suffering," said Awni Nejem, who fled to Rafah from the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Israeli airstrikes have hit repeatedly since mid-November. Trash is also an issue, he said. He and his new neighbors collect garbage at a single spot, but the man who takes it away can only come by every third day.

…

Nighttime temperatures have dipped into the 40s this month. Tents are not winterproof or waterproof, and the wintertime rain has soaked people's limited belongings. Tent occupants described pests, including ants and snakes.

"You can see worms already here. Bugs and lizards are everywhere. I killed a snake inside the tent the other day," said Ayman Bar, who has spent 500 shekels so far on a tent to house his family. He is still hoping to find metal for a roof, he said.

Rifts emerge among top Israeli officials over how to handle the war against Hamas in Gaza (AP)

The comments by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief [and member of Israel’s War Cabinet], marked the latest sign of disagreement among top Israeli officials over the direction of the war against Hamas, now in its fourth month.

[…]

Speaking to the investigative program “Uvda” on Israel’s Channel 12 television, Eisenkot said the Israeli hostages “will only return alive if there is a deal, linked to a significant pause in fighting.” He said dramatic rescue operations are unlikely because the hostages are apparently spread out, many of them in underground tunnels.

Claiming hostages can be freed by means other than a deal “is to spread illusions,” said Eisenkot, whose son was killed in December while fighting in Gaza.

Defense Minister Gallant has said troops disabled the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza, from which significant numbers of troops were withdrawn earlier in the week, and that the focus is now on the southern half of the territory.

But Eisenkot also dismissed suggestions that the military has delivered a decisive blow against Hamas.

“We haven’t yet reached a strategic achievement, or rather only partially,” Eisenkot said. “We did not bring down Hamas.”

The militant group has continued to fight back across Gaza, even in the most devastated areas, and launched rockets into Israel.

In his interview, Eisenkot also confirmed that a preemptive strike against Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia was called off at the last minute during the early days of the war. He said he was among those arguing against such a strike in an Oct. 11 Cabinet meeting that he said left him hoarse from shouting.

Such an attack would have been a “strategic mistake” and would likely have triggered a regional war, Eisenkot said.

In a thinly veiled criticism of Netanyahu, Eisenkot also said strategic decisions about the war’s direction must be made urgently and that a discussion about an endgame should have started immediately after the war began.