Note to reader: We wanted to give you a trigger warning on what you may read below. We have chosen, as with every night of these briefings, to not share horrific images, however we want to alert you as sensitively as we can to the reports coming out of Israel and Gaza.
What you need to know today:
• IDF releases CCTV footage of Hamas taking hostages to Shifa Hospital on 7th October and Hamas tunnel beneath hospital
• Palestinian Authority blames Israel for October 7th massacres, claims Israel “fabricated” evidence
• Hezbollah fired over 1,000 munitions at Israel since October 7th
• Iran-backed Houthi terror group release footage of hijacking of Israel-linked ship in Red Sea
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps: “There was a ceasefire on 6th October”
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said that “there was a ceasefire on 6th October” which was “broken by Hamas”, bringing “carnage on the Middle East”.
“The population of Gaza is being held hostage by Hamas”, he said. “Hamas are using those civilians as human shields” and “hide behind” civilian infrastructure.
The Defence Secretary said that the surest way to achieve a two-state solution would be for Hamas to release the “242 innocent civilians that they are holding hostage” – including Brits. “Sadly, I don’t think they will do”.
Rt. Hon. Tobias Ellwood MP emphasised that “behind Hamas sits Iran, behind Iran sits Russia and behind Russia increasingly sits China” and Dr Matthew Offord MP raised the hijacking of the British-owned cargo ship, the Galaxy Leader, by Houthi forces in the Red Sea.
The Houthis claimed that the ship was Israeli, but is only distantly linked to Israel by the nationality of the co-owner of Galaxy Maritime’s parent company, Ray Car Carriers. The IDF stated that “this is not an Israeli ship”.
There is a need for “much greater surveillance” to carry out the UKs “important missions”, Mr Shapps said, and mentioned there has been an uplift of approximately “600 personnel in the wider region”.
Minister for the Middle East reaffirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself”
Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad, has reaffirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself against Hamas” at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue security conference, in Bahrain.
Hamas “do not believe in peace” and committed “horrific atrocities” against Jews, Muslims and those of other faiths in Israel. The terror group “poses an immediate threat to many, indeed to us all” he said, urging the international community to “work collectively” to ensure the “abhorrent events” of October 7th are not repeated.
CFI Parliamentary Vice-Chair, ceasefire will allow Hamas to “regroup, rearm, reorganise”
CFI Parliamentary Vice-Chair, Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP, said that Hamas committed “a vile terrorist atrocity (…) the worst attack on Jewish People since the Holocaust” on BBC Radio 4 on Friday.
Hamas would only use a ceasefire to “regroup, rearm, reorganise itself” and seeks to commit “all the same atrocities again”. She reiterated that Hamas terrorists “filmed themselves” carrying out the atrocities “and sent those films to the relatives of the victims on [the victims] phones”.
Whilst Hamas keeps hostages, “including British citizens”, and continues to fire rockets at Israel, asking the Jewish state to undertake “what would effectively be a unilateral ceasefire is simply not fair and it’s not just”.
Villiers highlighted Israel’s right to self-defence and said that she is “convinced” that the Jewish state is “doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties”, citing that Israel’s “strong and vibrant democratic and judicial institutions will hold the IDF to account”.
Shifa Hospital Developments
The IDF has released surveillance camera footage from Shifa Hospital showing Hamas terrorists bringing Nepali and Thai citizens through the complex, abducted from Israeli towns on October 7th. The hostages were seen with Hamas terrorists carrying guns and a meat cleaver, as well as a number of doctors in the hospital.
The IDF contends that the hospital acts as a major command and control base for Hamas.
Noa Marciano, an Israeli hostage abducted on October 7th, was revealed to have been killed by Hamas at the Shifa Hospital.
The CCTV footage released from the Shifa Hospital shows one civilian is bought on a hospital bed, visibly wounded, the other is forcibly dragged through the hallways.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the two were moved to Hamas hideouts, the location of which are unknown.
Further images reveal Hamas terrorists inside the hospital, a captured IDF vehicle brought to the medical centre and a tunnel located beneath-ground leading directly to a “blast door”, securing the route on the other side and providing a hole for gunfire.
A British doctor who worked at Shifa Hospital three years ago has confirmed that he would be “in danger of being shot” for entering restricted parts of the complex.
“It was a ward leading to a basement”, the doctor said, recounting “dodgy-looking non-medical characters going in and out all the time”.
He continued by describing the “hushed tones” used to describe the area, “consistent with all the other hushed tones with which Hamas was discussed”.
The staff were described as “genuinely fearful” of Hamas, creating an “air of collective paranoia”. Fear of Hamas outweighed the fear of an Israeli airstrike as 10:1, according to the British doctor.
Separately, an Italian journalist reported that when he visited the hospital after Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in 2009, he “got lost” and “found [him]self in front of two armed Hamas men in military attire”.
“I got the impression they were guarding a security door that gave access to their underground infrastructure. Several Palestinian sources I spoke with later on confirmed that Hamas’s command and control centre was located under Shifa Hospital and that [Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh had been hiding there throughout the duration of Operation Cast Lead”.
28 prematurely-born babies, transferred to the Emirati Hospital in southern Gaza from Shifa Hospital with Israeli assistance, have been evacuated to Egypt where they will receive further treatment.
Operational and Humanitarian Developments
The remains of 12-year old Liel Hatzroni have been identified. She was kidnapped on October 7th and killed by Hamas.
The IDF death toll since the Gaza ground operation has risen to 66.
Hamas have claimed responsibility for a surge of rockets aimed at Tel Aviv today, marking the first rocket attack on the city since Friday. Rocket fire persisted toward Ashkelon on Sunday, together with the surrounding area. There were no injuries reported.
On Saturday night, Israel’s security cabinet officially approved the daily transfer of a limited amount of fuel into the Gaza Strip.
300 Hamas terrorists have been arrested and brought into Israel for questioning since the start of Israel’s ground invasion. The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, which specialises in human intelligence, said that it had doubled its personnel and is working on the ground to carry out field interrogations.
The special branch has “received thousands of phone calls” from people in Gaza, “at a magnitude never before seen in the unit”, according to a senior official.
In Gaza, IDF troops have discovered 35 tunnel entrances across the luxury homes of Hamas leaders in Rimal and Sheikh Ijlin. Large quantities of weapons, including seven rocket launchers, and command and control centres, have been found in the neighbourhood.
Hamas senior official, Ahmad Bahar, was killed following an Israeli strike in Gazaon Saturday, Hamas confirmed. In 2012, Bahr called for the annihilation of Americans and Jews “without leaving a single one”.
The first field hospital in Gaza has been established by Jordan at Khan Younis.
Palestinian Authority blames Israel for October 7th massacres
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has falsely claimed that the massacre of 365 Israeli civilians at the Nova festival on October 7th was carried out by the IDF.
According to the statement, Israel “fabricated” media material to justify its offensive in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked the claims as “preposterous”.
The PA foreign ministry asserted that the IDF had launched a so-called “Hannibal Protocol, which allowed the occupation police and army to kill everyone”.
Referring to Israeli towns around the Gaza border area as “settlements”, even though they lie within sovereign Israel, the PA echoes Hamas messaging on the illegitimacy of Israel as a whole, rather than reserving such criticism for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The misinformation distorts the IDF Hannibal Protocol which was repealed in 2016. The protocol granted troops broad permission to prevent the kidnapping of fellow soldiers – even if endangering their own life.
The PA also distorts a Haaretz story quoting an unnamed police source which outlined that a small number of partygoers had been harmed on October 7th by mistaken Israeli helicopter fire aimed at targeting Hamas terrorists. The police have denied the report.
Distorted misrepresentations of the Haaretz article have reportedly been widely distributed across the Arab World.
Hezbollah fired over 1,000 munitions at Israel since October 7th
Iran-backed Hezbollah forces have fired “more than 1,000 munitions” at Israel since October 7th, according to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The defence establishment has identified (…) Iran working to intensify attacks by the militias against Israel”, he said, citing proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
An IDF base in the north, Biranit, was struck by Hezbollah rocket fire today. There were no injuries but widespread damage has been reported. The attacks follow rocket, including anti-tank missile, and drone strikes aimed at Israeli military and civilian targets in the north over the weekend, including the communities of Shlomi, Margaliot and Kfar Giladi.
Israel intercepted “suspicious aerial targets” that entered its airspace and in response, IDF units shelled the sources of the fire, and deployed warplanes to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.
Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa condemn Hamas at IISS Manama Dialogue
Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, “unequivocally” condemned Hamas during the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue security conference, in Bahrain.
The Crown Prince said “I don’t think any Arab leader has called on Hamas to release the hostages”. He urged Hamas to release all of the hostages captured on October 7th.
IDF acquires dozens of new armoured ambulances
Dozens of ambulances, built and armoured in the U.S., arrived in Israel today. The modified-Toyota Landcruiser 78, is bulletproof; protecting against lead core, ball rounds and hand grenades. Its glass is ballistic and multi-layered, and the vehicle is equipped with anti-mine protection.
The new shipment follows the procurement of 17 new ambulances for Magen David Adom (MDA) last month.
