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Recent unrest at two Israeli military bases has highlighted a growing divide among Israelis about the conduct of their soldiers, and revived a deeper and older battle over the nature of the Israeli state and who should shape its future. Two of the soldiers were later released. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the base in solidarity with the detained soldiers, including at least three far-right lawmakers from the ruling coalition. Hundreds later massed outside Beit Lid, a second base in which the 10 men had been brought for interrogation. The incidents were widely broadcast across Israel, spreading an image of disunity at a time when the country is fighting enemies on multiple fronts.

Locations: Palestinian, Israel

They hide under residential neighborhoods, storing their weapons in miles of tunnels and in houses, mosques, sofas — even a child’s bedroom — blurring the boundary between civilians and combatants. They emerge from hiding in plainclothes, sometimes wearing sandals or tracksuits before firing on Israeli troops, attaching mines to their vehicles, or firing rockets from launchers in civilian areas. They rig abandoned homes with explosives and tripwires, sometimes luring Israeli soldiers to enter the booby-trapped buildings by scattering signs of a Hamas presence. Through eight months of fighting in Gaza, Hamas’s military wing — the Qassam Brigades — has fought as a decentralized and largely hidden force, in contrast to its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which began with a coordinated large-scale maneuver in which thousands of uniformed commandos surged through border towns and killed roughly 1,200 people.

Persons: — Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Cigarette Smuggling in Gaza Turns Aid Trucks Into Targets
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | Natan Odenheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A new problem is bedeviling humanitarian aid convoys attempting to deliver relief to hungry Gazans: attacks by organized crowds seeking not the flour and medicine that trucks are carrying, but cigarettes smuggled inside the shipments. In tightly blockaded Gaza, cigarettes have become increasingly scarce, now generally selling for $25 to $30 apiece. U.N. and Israeli officials say the coordinated attacks by groups seeking to sell smuggled cigarettes for profit pose a formidable obstacle to bringing desperately needed aid to southern Gaza. But the cigarettes have managed to slip through for weeks inside aid trucks, mostly through Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza. Aid trucks that set off from the crossing into Gaza were then attacked by crowds of Palestinians, some of them armed, seeking the cigarettes hidden inside, according to U.N. and Israeli officials.

Persons: —, Egypt —, Andrea De Domenico Organizations: United Nations, New York Times, Aid, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: Gaza, Kerem Shalom, Egypt, Jerusalem

Israel’s top generals want to begin a cease-fire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war. The generals think that a truce would be the best way of freeing the roughly 120 Israelis still held, both dead and alive, in Gaza, according to interviews with six current and former security officials. Underequipped for further fighting after Israel’s longest war in decades, the generals also think their forces need time to recuperate in case a land war breaks out against Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has been locked in a low-level fight with Israel since October, multiple officials said. A truce with Hamas could also make it easier to reach a deal with Hezbollah, according to the officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Hezbollah has said it will continue to strike northern Israel until Israel stops fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Underequipped Organizations: Lebanese, Israel Locations: Gaza, Israel

An influential member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition told settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that the government is engaged in a stealthy effort to irreversibly change the way the territory is governed, to cement Israel’s control over it without being accused of formally annexing it. In a taped recording of the speech, the official, Bezalel Smotrich, can be heard suggesting at a private event earlier this month that the goal was to prevent the West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state. “I’m telling you, it’s mega-dramatic,” Mr. Smotrich told the settlers. “Such changes change a system’s DNA.”While Mr. Smotrich’s opposition to ceding control over the West Bank is no secret, the Israeli government’s official position is that the West Bank’s status remains open to negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that Israel’s rule over the territory amounts to a temporary military occupation overseen by army generals, not a permanent civilian annexation administered by Israeli civil servants.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Bezalel Smotrich, “, Mr, Smotrich Organizations: West Bank Locations: Palestinian

☆ Middle East Crisis Senior Israeli Military Official Offers to Resign After Oct. 7 Intelligence Failures
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Adam Rasgon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Mr. Netanyahu said in a social media post that his government would “act by all means” against any such move. The sanctions, if imposed, would not hold up the military aid that was just approved in Congress. The Israeli military disciplined three of the unit’s commanders after the investigation. Human rights organizations have long accused the Israeli military justice system of whitewashing wrongdoing and the military of acting with impunity. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed during the six months of war, according to Gazan health officials.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu, Axios, Netzah Yehuda, Leahy, Yehuda, Omar Abdelmajed Assad, “, Assad’s, Biden, Benny Gantz, Yoav Gallant, Antony J, Blinken, Jacob J, Lew, Gallant, Mick Mulroy, ”, ” Natan Odenheimer, Gabby Sobelman Organizations: West Bank, Biden, Netzah, Jewish, Israel, Pentagon, State Locations: States, Gaza, Israel, Israel’s, Iran, U.S, United States

☆ A 7-Year-Old Girl Is the Lone Serious Casualty of Iran’s Barrage
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | Natan Odenheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The hospital waiting room was quiet on Sunday: There was no crowd of relatives, no flood of patients. Israel’s air defenses had just fended off a large-scale Iranian attack, with only one serious casualty recorded. While Israel suffered little in the way of significant damage overnight, this one family was dealt a devastating blow. Amina al-Hasoni, 7, was clinging to life — the sole serious casualty of the Iranian barrage. And were it not for systemic inequities in Israel, her relatives said, maybe she too could have been spared.

Persons: Israel, Amina al, Amina’s, Ismail, —, “, ” Organizations: Soroka Medical Locations: Israel’s, Beersheba, Israel, Negev, al

Some 4,000 revelers gathered on the night of Oct. 6 at a field in southern Israel, mere miles from the Gaza border, for the Tribe of Nova music festival. At dawn, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed Israel’s defenses under the cover of a rocket barrage. About 1,200 people were killed that day, the deadliest in Israeli history according to the Israeli authorities, including 360 at the rave alone. Many of the ravers were under the influence of mind-altering substances like LSD, MDMA and ketamine as they witnessed the carnage or fled for their lives.

Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Israeli Soldier’s Video Undercuts Medic’s Account of Sexual Assault
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Adam Rasgon | Natan Odenheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New video has surfaced that undercuts the account of an Israeli military paramedic who said two teenagers killed in the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 were sexually assaulted. The unnamed paramedic, from an Israeli commando unit, was among dozens of people interviewed for a Dec. 28 article by The New York Times that examined sexual violence on Oct. 7. He said he discovered the bodies of two partially clothed teenage girls in a home in Kibbutz Be’eri that bore signs of sexual violence. The Associated Press, CNN and The Washington Post reported similar accounts from a military paramedic who spoke on condition of anonymity. But footage taken by an Israeli soldier who was in Be’eri on Oct. 7, which was viewed by leading community members in February and by The Times this month, shows the bodies of three female victims, fully clothed and with no apparent signs of sexual violence, at a home where many residents had believed the assaults occurred.

Organizations: The New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, Washington Post, The Times Locations: Be’eri

☆ Gaza War Is Shifting Ties Between Secular and Ultra-Orthodox Israelis
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Natan Odenheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a neighborhood of Jerusalem, ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents cheered a soldier returning from military service. At a religious seminary, similarly devout students gathered to hear an officer talk about his military duties. The Hamas-led attack on Israel last October has prompted flashes of greater solidarity between sections of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority and the secular mainstream, as fears of a shared threat have accelerated the integration of some of Israel’s most insular citizens. As Israel’s war in Gaza drags on and Israeli reservists are called to serve elongated or additional tours of duty, long-simmering divisions about military exemptions for the country’s most religious Jews are again at the center of a national debate. Unusually high numbers have expressed support for or interest in military service, according to polling data and military statistics, even as the vast majority of Haredim still hope to retain their exemption.

Organizations: Hamas, Jewish Locations: Jerusalem, Gaza, Israel, Israel’s

☆ Israeli Settlers Left Gaza in 2005. They Now See a Chance to Return.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Natan Odenheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A group of Israelis hoping to live in Gaza at the war’s end has already published maps imagining Jewish-majority towns dotting the territory. And Israel’s national security minister has called for Arab residents to leave Gaza so that Jews can populate the coastal strip. After four months of war and a death toll that Gazan officials say exceeds 27,000 killed, international pressure is mounting on Israel to withdraw from Gaza. “The minute the war is over, we’ll build our homes there,” said Yair Cohen, 23, a reserve soldier, who said his family was evicted from Gaza in 2005. “The question isn’t whether we will return when the fighting is over, but if there will be a Gaza.”

Persons: Israel, ”, Yair Cohen Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel

The United States issued financial sanctions on Thursday against four Israelis accused of escalating violence against civilians, intimidating civilians or destroying property in the West Bank. “The United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank and the prospects of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. A few days later, an Israeli court later shortened his detention by a month. In 2013, Mr. Chasdai was detained for assaulting a taxi driver, according to an Israeli legal database. The court decided not to extend Mr. Chasdai’s detention, as requested by police, citing a lack of evidence.

Persons: David Chai Chasdai, Chasdai, Chasdai’s, Dafna Hasdai, Yoav Gallant, Itamar Ben Organizations: United, West Bank, U.S . State Department, State Department, The New York Times Locations: United States, Huwara, Israel

Far beneath the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, in a bunker known as The Pit, commanders were trying to make sense of reports of Hamas rocket fire in southern Israel early on the morning of Oct. 7, when the call came in. It was a commander from the division that oversees military operations along the border with Gaza. It ordered all emergency forces to head south, along with all available units that could do so quickly. But the nation’s military leaders did not yet recognize that an invasion of Israel was already well underway. Roughly 1,200 people died as the Middle East’s most advanced military failed in its essential mission: protecting Israeli lives.

Organizations: Hamas Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Gaza

Made up largely of veterans and reservists, the group that calls itself Brothers in Arms started nine months ago as a protest movement against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It helped to organize giant weekly demonstrations against his plans to give the government unprecedented control over the judiciary. And many of its members vowed that they would not serve in the army if called. Not only did the reservists show up for duty, but Brothers in Arms has also transformed into the largest nongovernmental aid agency in Israel to help those affected by the war. It is feeding and clothing some of the perhaps 60,000 Israelis displaced from the area near Gaza after the Hamas assault.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, A.I, Netanyahu Organizations: Arms Locations: Israel, Gaza

Lawmakers, including Yariv Levin, the Justice Minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Minister of National Security, at the Knesset in Jerusalem after the vote on Monday. Israel’s nationalist right celebrated a hard-won victory Monday after seven months of struggling to advance the contentious plan to weaken Israel’s judiciary in the face of mounting opposition. Many on Israel’s right say Israel’s Supreme Court is staffed by activist judges who have tied the hands of elected leaders. Right-wing voters commonly say they “vote for the right and get the left” and blame the courts for striking down popular policies. A weakened court would allow Mr. Ben-Gvir to fulfill such campaign promises, he said.

Persons: Yariv Levin, Itamar Ben, Gvir, ”, —, Benjamin Netanyahu —, Rafi Sharbatov, Ben, Arnon Segal, Segal, “, we’ve, Bezalel Smotrich, God’s, Mr, Smotrich, Smotrich’s, Dan Odenheimer, Odenheimer, “ It’s Organizations: of National Security, West Bank, Air Force, West Locations: Jerusalem, Israel’s, Israel, West Bank, Efrat

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