Israel at War: What happened on day 18?

Israeli artillery forces struck the source of rocket fire from Syria on the Golan Heights on Tuesday evening, the IDF confirmed.

Sirens sounded in the towns of Neot Golan, Bnei Yehuda, and Givat Yoav, to the East of Lake Kinneret.

The IDF said two rockets were launched at Israel from Syria and fell in open fields.

IDF strikes terror cells in Lebanon

The IDF targeted a terrorist cell that fired anti-tank missiles at Israel from within Lebanese territory, it said on Tuesday.

The Israeli military responded with artillery forces to anti-tank fire directed at the northern border towns of Shutla and Menara. The IDF destroyed the weaponry used to launch the missiles, it added. 

Eight trucks containing water, food and medicine entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt late on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, adding it was the fourth emergency aid convoy to enter the enclave since war with Israel broke out.

Five of the trucks contained water, two contained food and one contained medicine, it said in a statement.

Jordan's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Israel "appeared" to be above international law and urged an end to what he termed "double standards" in dealing with the Gaza conflict.

In remarks after a United Nations Security Council meeting that did not call for an end to hostilities, the minister, Ayman Safadi, said the international community had an obligation to end Israel's war "against Palestinians" in Gaza.

Arab and Muslim Americans and their allies are criticizing President Joe Biden's response to the Israel-Hamas war, asking him to do more to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza or risk losing their support in the 2024 election.

Many Arab Americans accuse Biden of failing to push for any humanitarian ceasefire even as Palestinians are killed fleeing Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip, more than a dozen academics, activists, community members, and administration officials said.

Their growing frustration could impact Democrat Biden's reelection bid, which opinion polls show is likely to be a rematch with the Republican frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.

In hotly contested Michigan, Arab Americans account for 5% of the vote. In other battleground states Pennsylvania and Ohio, they are between 1.7% to 2%, said Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

Biden won Michigan with 50.6% of the vote in 2020, compared to 47.8% for Trump, and Pennsylvania with 50.01% to Trump's 48.84%, a difference of less than 81,000 votes.

US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) and the Israeli war cabinet, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)

Arab and Muslim Americans are unlikely to back Trump but could sit out the election and not vote for Biden, some activists said.

"I do think it will cost him Michigan," said Laila El-Haddad, a Maryland-based author and social activist from Gaza.

While condemning the October 7 attacks by Hamas on civilians in Israel that killed 1,400 people, Arab Americans said the Israeli response was disproportionate and Biden's failure to condemn the bombardment has many questioning his promise of a "human rights centered" foreign policy.

Demands for policy change

Abdullah Hammoud, the first Arab-American mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest Muslim per capita population in the US, decried Biden's failure to condemn Israeli threats to cut off water, electricity, and food for over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

"Nothing could have prepared us for the complete erasure of our voices and radio silence from those whom we elected to protect and represent us," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Our family members trapped in Gaza have been ignored, our calls for a ceasefire drowned out by the drums of war."

Linda Sarsour, a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, told hundreds of attendees at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event on Saturday that Muslim Americans should make any political donations contingent on a change in policies.

US President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)

Many are pressuring Biden to push Israel to temporarily halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed thousands of Palestinians.

Israel’s bombing of Gaza is "now in the realm of genocide targeting the entire Palestinian population," said CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the US, adding that government officials will be "complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza" unless they intervene.

Biden's push for more than $14 billion in new US aid to Israel is also drawing fire.

"If you look at his rhetoric, it's unbelievable, and now they are trying to pump billions and billions of dollars militarily into Israel, with some $100 million in humanitarian aid for the Palestinians," said Sa'ed Atshan, a Quaker Palestinian-American who teaches peace and conflict studies at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College.

Even Biden's former boss, President Barack Obama, usually a staunch backer of Biden's policies, offered some pointed public advice on Monday, calling on the US to continue leading the world "in accelerating critical aid and supplies to an increasingly desperate Gaza population."

Responding to criticism, says White House

Biden has appointed more Arab-Americans and Muslims to political posts than any predecessor, as well as the first two Muslim federal judges, but that diversity has not impacted policy for the self-described "Zionist" President.

Some Arab American and Muslim appointees are scared of backlash and reprisals and worried about family members in the region, said one White House official, who is Arab-American.

"There are very vocal people in the administration who have concerns," the official said. US officials with family in the region are doubly stressed by the "ambassadorial" role they play as they field agitated messages from relatives and others angry at Biden's Israel strategy.

The White House said it was aware of and responding to criticism of its policies by meeting with administration officials and community members. Biden has made forceful speeches since taking office on the need to confront Islamophobia and hate of all kinds, it said.

Biden's chief of staff Jeff Zients and adviser Anita Dunn are meeting staffers and community members and urging cabinet secretaries to do the same, White House officials said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan and his principal deputy Jon Finer met with Arab and Muslim American community leaders on October 13, and the White House officials hosted 30 Palestinian American youth on Friday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the personal difficulties some staff are facing in a Thursday letter and met Monday with Palestinian and Arab American community leaders and Jewish American groups.

One 11-year State Department veteran, the director of congressional and public affairs for its Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul, quit his job last week. Top officials refused to respond to his concerns about "blindly rushing lethal arms to Israel while the people of Gaza face obliteration," he said in a posting on LinkedIn.

Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq, an Iran-backed militia believed to be linked to the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah militia, threatened to target bases where American forces are housed in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in response to the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday evening.

The militia has claimed attacks against Gulf states in the past, including a drone attack in which three drones were intercepted by the UAE in February 2022.

West German police arrested a man in the city of Duisburg after receiving information about a potential attack, the police said on Tuesday.

The man, 29, was a previously convicted Islamist militant and is suspected of planning an attack on a pro-Israeli demonstration, according to German newspaper Spiegel.

The apartment of the man in the Dellviertel neighborhood was searched and he was temporarily taken into custody, the police said in a statement.

The man had searched online for pro-Israeli events and jihadist content and it is unclear whether he already had a specific demonstration in mind for the potential attack, Spiegel reported.

US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman on Tuesday discussedefforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from widening, the White House said.

They agreed in a call to pursue broader diplomatic efforts "to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding," the White House said, adding the two leaders will remain in close coordination.

Biden and the Saudi crown prince welcomed the delivery of humanitarian assistance from Egypt into Gaza and recognized that "much more is needed for civilians" to have sustained access to food, water and medical assistance, according to the White House.

They both welcomed ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and called for their immediate release, the White House added.

Working towards "sustainable peace"

Biden and the Saudi crown prince affirmed the importance of working towards "sustainable peace" between Israelis and Palestinians as soon as the crisis subsides, the White House said, adding they will be "building on the work that was already underway between Saudi Arabia and the United States over recent months."

A barbed wire fence is seen on Zikim beach, in southern Israel near the border with Northern Gaza Strip, on April 5, 2016 (credit: CORINNA KERN/FLASH90)

Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said they thought Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on Israel that left over 1,400 people dead was in part motivated to disrupt a potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest shrines, gave its blessing to Gulf neighbors United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing relations with Israel in 2020 under the US administration of Donald Trump.

Riyadh has not followed suit, saying Palestinian statehood goals should be addressed first.

Gulf states including Saudi Arabia worry a wider conflict would affect their national security and have been pressing for a ceasefire in Gaza and a lift of the siege on the strip.

Although it has called for a "humanitarian pause" for aid deliveries, the United States has thus far not supported a ceasefire, with White House national security council spokesman John Kirby saying a ceasefire at this stage will benefit Hamas.

Since Oct. 7, Israel's heavy air strikes on Hamas-ruled Gaza have killed over 5,700 Palestinians, including over 2,300 children, Gaza officials say.

Gaza, a 45 km-long (25-mile) strip of land that is home to 2.3 million people, has been ruled politically since 2007 by Hamas but faces a blockade from Israel.

At least ten Hamas terrorists were killed in waters off the shore of the southern Gaza border town of Zikim after attempting to infiltrate into Israel, Israeli media reported on Tuesday evening.

Heavy gunfire was reported between Israeli security forces and the infiltrating terrorists. An Israeli Air Force helicopter was also reportedly on the scene of the attempted infiltration.

The IDF later said that Israeli fighter jets struck the military infrastructure the terrorists departed Gaza from.

IDF spokesperson: Hamas terrorists used tunnels to the sea

In a Tuesday evening address, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the terrorists used tunnels from the Gaza Strip to open waters in an attempt to infiltrate into Israel through the Mediterranean Sea.

According to reports, the IDF killed a handful of terrorists as they were swimming toward the beach in Zikim, while others were killed in scans of nearby areas which continued late into Monday night.

This is a developing story.

In a moving interview with Army Radio, Dekel Lifshitz painted a vivid picture of his grandmother, Yocheved Lifshitz's tenacity during her captivity by Hamas terrorists. "My grandma is a fighter who never stopped fighting and returned like a champ," he proclaimed with evident pride.

Yocheved, an 85-year-old Israeli peace activist, had spent years helping sick Palestinians from Gaza access hospitals alongside her husband. Hamas released her on Monday. She was brutally kidnapped on October 7th during the Hamas massacre in southern Israel.

Dekel emotionally recounted their reunion, saying, "It was, if not the most emotional moment of my life, certainly one of them. Meeting grandma again after such a long time was overwhelming." Echoing the sentiments of many, he observed, "It's hard to believe it happened so quickly."

While Yocheved displayed remarkable strength, her noticeable weight loss underscored the hardships she faced during her ordeal.

What happened to Yocheved's husband?

Discussion about the fate of Yocheved's husband, who remains in Hamas's custody, dominated parts of the conversation. Dekel shared his heartbreak, saying, "It's agonizing not knowing what's happening with her husband, her companion for nearly 60 years." Sadly, no further details about his situation are available.

Dekel stressed that while Yocheved suggested she was treated fairly during her captivity, it's crucial to remember she was forcibly taken from her home, and the conditions under which she was held may not have been suitable for others.

Hamas fired a massive barrage of rockets at central Israel throughout the day Tuesday, setting off alarms in dozens of communities and cities around Tel Aviv, in the Negev, in the northern West Bank, and in the Gaza border area. There were hits in Alfei Menashe and Holon, with three people moderately wounded.

The barrage indicates that Hamas continues to possess long-range rockets, 18 days into the war. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed the nation from the southern border: “I want to be clear, we are ready to invade,” he declared, as the IDF continued to weigh the timing of the ground war in coordination with the political echelon.

Expanding on the delay, which has puzzled some, Halevi said, “At this stage, there are tactical and strategic factors that are allowing us more time to improve and to exploit every minute to be more ready.” In contrast, “with every minute that passes for the other side, we are attacking the enemy more, killing their fighters, killing their commanders, destroying their infrastructure, and collecting more intelligence for the next moves.”