Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of July 29

Well, if you're looking for probably the craziest thing that's happened since 10/7, look no further: https://www.axios.com/2024/07/30/israel-far-right-protesters-storm-military-bases. After decades of reports about the systematic torture and rape of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention centers, it can only really be so surprising, but I still wouldn't have expected the IDF to need to redeploy military units to defend a base from their own citizens, soldiers, and MPs breaking through fences to storm a military base in support of that. That clip of Milwidsky (also referenced in NYT) explicitly saying yesterday in the Knesset that there is nothing wrong with raping Palestinians was pretty out there too, but again can only be so surprising after decades of Israeli MPs and government officials saying stuff along those lines on the floor of the Knesset and elsewhere. I'm not sure I have the capacity to be shocked anymore, just exhausted.

Pretty late but, Hamas’ top political leader is killed in Iran in strike that risks triggering all-out regional war. While Israel has not confirmed nor denied being it, it's difficult to imagine someone else.

While he's far from a man I would mourn for, it makes me worried on the prospects of a ceasefire. The situation in Gaza has already been going on for so long and now this, during sensitive negotiations. Not only makes it more difficult to believe that Israel even wants peace to begin with, the strategic location of Israel really risks tearing the world apart given everything else going on in the world.

Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader - New York Times - archive

The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.

Mr. Haniyeh was in Iran’s capital for the presidential inauguration. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. The blast also killed a bodyguard.

The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, according to the two Iranian officials, members of the Revolutionary Guards briefed on the incident. Such damage was also evident in a photograph of the building shared with The New York Times.

Mr. Haniyeh, who had led Hamas’s political office in Qatar, had stayed at the guesthouse several times when visiting Tehran, according to the Middle Eastern officials. All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details about the assassination.

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How the bomb was stashed in the guesthouse remained unclear. The Middle Eastern officials said that the planning for the assassination took months and required extensive surveillance of the compound. The two Iranian officials who described the nature of the assassination said they did not know how or when the explosives were planted in the room.

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Israel decided to carry out the assassination outside Qatar, where Mr. Haniyeh and other senior members of Hamas’s political leadership live. The Qatari government has been mediating the negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a cease-fire in Gaza.

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… the two Iranian officials, the members of the Guards briefed on the attack, confirmed that the explosion had taken place inside Mr. Haniyeh’s room, and said that an initial investigation showed that the explosives had been placed there sometime in advance.

They described the attack’s precision and sophistication as similar in tactic to the remote controlled A.I. robot weapon that Israel used to assassinate Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020.