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☆ Why some 40 Israeli hostages may have gone missing in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AdvertisementSix experts on hostage-negotiation efforts, who spoke to Business Insider, explained how Hamas might have been able to allow hostages to go missing in Gaza. "You've got to appreciate that there's lots of confusion, with the fact that Gaza is essentially a warzone," he told Business Insider. Hamas rounded up a lot of hostages on October 7, and Gaza quickly found itself in a state of chaos amid Israeli retaliatory strikes. All of the aboveFor Chris White, the co-founder of Negotiation Global, who has experience of hostage negotiations in Gaza, hostages going missing could be plausibly explained by all of the above explanations. He told Business Insider: "Is it possible that some hostages escaped?

Persons: —, Scott Walker, You've, Brian Carter, Lebanon's, Hans, Jakob Schindler, Schindler, I've, There's, Roni Krivoy, Rachel Briggs, Boaz Ganor, Ganor, Chris White, Hamas doesn't Organizations: Business, Service, Financial Times, UN, Hamas, Martyrs ' Brigade, Wall, Counter, Factory, Israel's Reichman University, Negotiation Locations: Israel, Gaza, al, Jihad

☆ Analysis-Israel Targets Hamas Tunnels in New Phase of Gaza War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +6 min

In recent days, Israeli troops have surrounded Gaza City and battled Hamas fighters as they pushed deeper into its streets. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved on Monday further operational plans for military action in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has said that many of Hamas' tunnels, command centres and rocket launchers lie adjacent to schools, hospitals and humanitarian institutions in northern Gaza, including the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the region's largest. Hamas is estimated to have a force of between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters, according to Israeli security sources. Security sources said some intelligence was being gathered from Gaza residents fleeing south about the concentration of the tunnels.

Persons: Jonathan Saul JERUSALEM, Yoav Gallant, Daniel Hagari, Avi Melamed, Benny Gantz, Hagari, Israel, Ayman Nofal, Yaron Finkelman, Finkelman, Lior Akerman, Shin, Shalom Ben Hanan, Ben Hanan, Nidal al, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Israeli, Israel Defense Forces, Islamic, Southern Command, Institute for Policy, Israel's Reichman University, Shin Bet, Shin Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Israel, Hamas, Washington

☆ Israel targets Hamas tunnels in new phase of Gaza war
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Jonathan Saul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

In recent days, Israeli troops have surrounded Gaza City and battled Hamas fighters as they pushed deeper into its streets. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved on Monday further operational plans for military action in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. Hamas is estimated to have a force of between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters, according to Israeli security sources. Hagari said that Israel was seeking to target Hamas field commanders to undermine Hamas capabilities to carry out counter attacks. Security sources said some intelligence was being gathered from Gaza residents fleeing south about the concentration of the tunnels.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Yoav Gallant, Daniel Hagari, Avi Melamed, Benny Gantz, Hagari, Israel, Ayman Nofal, Yaron Finkelman, Finkelman, Lior Akerman, Shin, Shalom Ben Hanan, Ben Hanan, Nidal al, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Rights, Israeli, Israel Defense Forces, Islamic, Southern Command, Institute for Policy, Israel's Reichman University, Shin Bet, Shin, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Sderot, Gaza City, Hamas, Washington

☆ Opinion: ‘Dark, terrifying, claustrophobic.’ What it’s like inside Hamas’ tunnels
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Jennifer Smith | Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In the decade since, she has done extensive research into Hamas’ tunnel system as well as the underground network built by Hezbollah. Peter Bergen: What’s it like inside a Hamas tunnel? A Hamas fighter appears inside an underground tunnel in Gaza in 2014. Israeli soldiers went into Hamas’ tunnels during Operation Protective Edge, and they were not trained and not equipped, and there was combat in the tunnels. Bergen: Is a dog force used by Israel inside tunnels?

Persons: Peter Bergen, ”, Daphné Richemond Barak, Richemond Barak, they’re, Mohammed Salem, Israel, it’s, Rina Castelnuovo, Gilad Shalit, Shalit, Israel — Organizations: New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, CNN, Peter Bergen CNN, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, Reichman University, Subterranean Warfare, British, IDF, Israel Defense Forces, Bloomberg, Getty, Hamas, ISIS, Northern Locations: New America, Gaza, Israel, Herzliya, Vietnam, Viet, Messines, Belgium, Iran, Lebanon, Hamas, Bergen, Petah Tikva, —, Mosul, Iraq, Syria

☆ Netanyahu Finds Himself at War in Gaza and at Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Isabel Kershner | More About Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The social media post went up online at 1:10 a.m. Sunday, while most Israelis were sleeping. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a message: His military and security chiefs, he said, had failed to provide him with any warning of the surprise Hamas assault on Oct. 7. He appeared to be placing all the blame on them for the colossal lapses — even as Israeli forces were broadening a risky ground war in Gaza. The country awoke to a furious response, including from within Mr. Netanyahu’s own war cabinet. For many Israelis, the episode confirmed suspicions of rifts and disarray at the top during one of the worst crises in the country’s 75-year history and reinforced qualms about Mr. Netanyahu’s leadership.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s, ”, “, Gadi Wolfsfeld, “ He’s, Wolfsfeld, Benny Gantz Organizations: Twitter, Reichman University Locations: Gaza, Herzliya, Tel Aviv

The Gaza Strip itself is only some 360 square kilometers (140 square miles), roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C.“They started saying that they destroyed 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Hamas tunnels. I am telling you that the tunnels we have in the Gaza Strip exceed 500 kilometers,” Sinwar said following a bloody 11-day war with Israel. But fully dislodging Hamas will require clearing those tunnels, where militants can pop up behind advancing Israeli troops. During a 2014 war, Hamas militants killed at least 11 Israeli soldiers after infiltrating into Israel through tunnels. AN ADDITIONAL LAYER OF COMPLEXITYYet in all those cases, advancing militaries did not face the challenge that Israel does now with Hamas’ tunnel system.

Persons: Israel, ”, John Spencer, “, Sinwar, ” Sinwar, Hadar Goldin, Ariel Bernstein, Yoav Gallant, Gallant, Lifshitz, spiriting, Daphné Richemond, Barak, Richemond, ″ Organizations: JERUSALEM, U.S . Army, Urban Warfare, Modern, Institute, Urban, Steel Works, Hamas, “ Metro, Washington , D.C, Israeli, Ministry, Islamic, U.S ., Soufan, Israel’s Reichman, Associated Press Locations: Gaza, Israel, U.S, West, Ambracia, “, Egypt, Washington ,, Israeli, Vietnam, Saigon, South Vietnam, Russian, Ukrainian, America, Islamic State, Afghanistan, Hamas, New York, firefights

A Palestinian fighter of the Al-Quds brigade in a military tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip last year. Overnight on Saturday, Israeli fighter planes struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. The group’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said in 2021 that there were 310 miles of tunnels in Gaza. Ben Milch, an Israeli American who cleared tunnels with the Israeli military during the 2014 Gaza War, said his unit came under fire repeatedly while working to destroy some 13 tunnels. After the Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it had destroyed the tunnel to the sea, it released a video of another incident.

Persons: “, Israel, ”, Joseph L, Sergey Ponomarev, Yocheved, Daniel Hagari, Votel, Joel Roskin, Roskin, Ali Ali, Daphne Richemond, Barak, Yahya Sinwar, Yousef Masoud, ” Ms, Richemond, Ms, Amir Olo, Olo, Ben Milch, Milch, Uriel Sinai, Jeffrey Gettleman, Gal Koplewitz Organizations: Hamas, Israel Defense Forces, U.S, United States Central Command, The New York Times, Islamic, Iraqi, ISIS, Bar, Ilan University, European Pressphoto Agency, Reichman University, telltale, RAND Corporation, West Bank, Officials Locations: Al, Quds, Gaza, Israel, Israeli, Iraqi, Mosul, Al Shifa, Israel’s, Egypt, Northern Sinai, Khan Younis, Col, Israeli American, Kissufim, The, Zikim Beach, Jerusalem

A general view shows the interiors of what the Israeli military say is a cross-border attack tunnel dug from Gaza to Israel, on the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip border near Kissufim January 18, 2018. After the last round of hostilities in 2021, Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yehya Al-Sinwar, said: "They started saying they destroyed 100kms of Hamas tunnels. Tunneling became easier in 2005 when Israel pulled its soldiers and settlers out of Gaza, and when Hamas won power in a 2006 election. Although the military tunnels remained off-limits to outside eyes, during that era Gaza smugglers would show off their scarcely concealed commercial tunnels under the Rafah border. Israeli sources said what awaits them is formidable and they faced an enemy that has regrouped and learned from previous Israeli operations in 2014 and 2021.

Persons: Jack Guez, Lloyd Austin, Yehya Al, Sinwar, Lifshitz, Mahmoud Abbas, Amir Avivi, Abdel Fattah al, Sisi, Israel, Yasser Arafat's, Deen al, Gilad Shalit, Abu Qusay, Mohammed Deif, Deif, Joel Roskin, Ilan University, Benjamin Netanyahu, Amnon Sofrin, Daphne Richemond, Barak, Jonathan Saul, Stephen Farrell, Phil Stewart, Nafisa Eltahir, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Janet Lawrence Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, U.S . Defense, Israel, United Nations Security Council, LONG, Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, West Bank, Hamas, Brigades, Arafat's, Israel's, Ilan, Israel's Combat Engineering, Combat Intelligence Corps, Israel's Reichman University, IDF, ISIS, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Kissufim, JERUSALEM, LONDON, Hamas, Palestinian, States, Mosul, Islamic, Egypt, Israeli, Viet, Israel's, Egyptian, El Arish, Suez, Yasser Arafat's Palestine, Jordan, Rafah, Syria, Iraq, State, Jerusalem, London, Washington, Cairo

☆ The ‘Gaza metro’: The mysterious subterranean tunnel network used by Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The myriad tunnels under Gaza are best known as passageways used to smuggle goods from Egypt and launch attacks into Israel. Hamas in 2021 claimed to have built 500 kilometers (311 miles) worth of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing. If true, Hamas’ underground tunnels would be a little less than half the length of the New York City subway system. It’s unclear how much the tunnel network would have cost Hamas, which governs the impoverished coastal strip. The IDF is expected to go after the network in its forthcoming ground incursion into Gaza, as it has in recent years gone to extreme lengths to eliminate Hamas’ tunnels.

Persons: ”, Daphne Richemond, Barak, Uriel Sinai, “ It’s, Richemond, Rina Castelnuovo, Israel, Critics, ” Richemond, “ Organizations: CNN, Israel Defense Forces, Hamas, New, Israel’s Reichman University, The New York Times, Lieber Institute for Law, Warfare, Modern, Institute, Israeli Army, IDF, Ministry of Health, United Nations, UN Locations: Gaza, Egypt, Israel, New York City, Israeli, The, al Qaeda, Afghanistan, Viet, Southeast Asia, Gaza City, West Point, Petach Tikva

[1/2] Israeli tanks from an artillery unit are seen near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 12, 2023. Israeli air strikes in response have killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza so far. In Gaza, a strip of land with 2.3 million people, the risk of a mounting civilian death toll could also complicate Israel's military plans. But Gaza residents have already spotted what they believe to be invasion preparations in the intense Israeli bombardment of the enclave since the initial assault by Hamas. Reuters GraphicsLEARNING LESSONSMore recently than its Gaza incursions, Israeli troops were confronted with the growing capability of militants in a West Bank clash in June.

Persons: Ronen, Israel, Abu Abdallah, Hamas spokespeople, Saleh Al, Arouri, Al Jazeera, Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Shalom Ben Hanan, Jonathan Saul, Jerusalem, Nidal, Edmund Blair, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Reuters, Shin, Foreign, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Bank, Apache, Jenin Brigade, International Institute for, Israel's Reichman University, Thomson Locations: Israel's, Gaza, Israel, GAZA, JERUSALEM, Israeli, Russian, Iran, Jenin

It was enacted as an amendment to one of Israel’s Basic Laws, which the justices have never previously struck down. Originally, Basic Laws, which can be passed by a simple parliamentary majority, were not necessarily superior to other laws. Then in 1992, the Knesset passed a Basic Law that guaranteed dignity and liberty. “Proportionality is a balancing test,” said Rivka Weill, another law professor at Reichman University. But if the government removed Ms. Baharav-Miara, it would “cross a red line for the court,” Professor Weill said.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Netanyahu, —, Oded, Adam Shinar, “, it’s, ”, Kim Lane Scheppele, Aharon Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ronaldo Schemidt, Shinar, Rivka Weill, Weill, Gil Cohen Magen “, Aryeh Deri, Deri, Scheppele, Ronen Zvulun Organizations: Monday, Reichman University, Princeton University, ., Agence France, Princeton, Senate Locations: Israel, Israel’s, Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Jerusalem, Gali Baharav, Britain, United States

☆ Fed up with facial recognition cameras monitoring your every move? Italian fashion may have the answer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Elliott Gotkine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Facial recognition software immediately identifies the man as … a giraffe? While there, she read about how tenants in Brooklyn had fought back against their landlord’s plans to install a facial recognition entry system for their building. “This was the first time I heard about facial recognition,” she says. Whichever route they took, they had to test the images on a well-known object detection system called YOLO, one of the most commonly-used algorithms in facial recognition software. At the recent World Cup in Qatar, creative agency Virtue Worldwide came up with flag-themed face paint for fans seeking to fool the emirate’s legion of facial recognition cameras.

☆ Google sets up high-tech school at Israeli University
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) and Israel's Reichman University have set up a school to train high-tech professionals, offering courses in computer programming, sales and data analysis among other subjects, the university said on Monday. Israel has a vibrant high-tech sector but a severe shortage of skilled tech workers has led to tens of thousands of unfilled positions. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We believe that a variety of voices, opinions and perspectives enriches Israeli high-tech and its developments," said Barak Regev, managing director of Google Israel. Courses are being rolled out over the next few weeks and students completing courses at the school will earn credit towards a degree, the university said. In the first half of 2022, Israeli tech firms raised nearly $10 billion in investments, according to the Israeli Tech Review.

☆ Analysis: Iran's leaders are safe but protests raise the stakes over imposing veil
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Michael Georgy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The death of Mahsa Amiri released decades of suppressed energy and will among women to fight back. Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to conceal their figures. While that defiance is common, the shock over Amini's death and nationwide protests have raised the stakes as Iranian women call for more freedoms. In 2014, rights activist Masih Alinejad started a Facebook campaign "My Stealthy Freedom", where she shared pictures of unveiled Iranian women sent to her. "The protests pose less of a risk to immediate government stability than to its legitimacy and sustainability over the longer term."

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