Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 83?

The IDF announced on Thursday that it will not take any current action against soldiers who mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages on December 15 who were waving a white flag, screamed “help” in Hebrew, and were bare from the waist up .

The three, named Yotam Chaim, Samer Talalka, and Alon Shamriz, were all taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7 massacre against southern Israeli communities.

In publishing the results of its final probe into the issue, the IDF said that despite the soldiers clearly violating the rules of engagement – by firing on persons who presented no immediate danger and were waving a white flag – the enormous complexity of the circumstances led to no immediate punishment.

Soldiers who killed hostages to remain in Gaza

IDF sources suggested that once the war was over it was possible that disciplinary or other action might theoretically be taken against some of the soldiers involved, but in the meantime the soldiers are being left to continue to fight in the field.

The IDF legal division also technically can second-guess the IDF chief, but that is a very rare occurrence.

IDF infographic on the location of the killed Gaza hostages (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Also, with it being ambiguous when the war will be “over,” given discussions of higher and lower intensity stages, it seems that no action will be taken for the foreseeable future.

Already back on December 16, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi had signaled this would be the direction he would go in.

Back then he had also said that the soldiers had violated open fire rules, but on the other hand he had not mentioned even removing them from combat without any formal penalty.

Also, at the time the IDF legal division sidestepped addressing the issue, pending the IDF chief’s probe.

But there have been cases where initial evidence was strong enough to launch an initial criminal probe and where the soldiers involved were immediately arrested and questioned under caution - which was not done here.   

The incident happened in the Shejaia neighborhood of Gaza City, an area of intense combat where Hamas terrorists have been operating in civilian attire and used complex deception tactics.

Some of those tactics have included trying to use white flags, stuffed animals, or seemingly harmless women to get IDF soldiers to approach an area, where some other terrorists then opens fire or sets off a remote explosive device.

According to the final IDF probe, around six Hamas fighters had been killed or observed recently by IDF forces along the line of travel which the three hostages likely took based on the multiple locations where the IDF has established they definitely spent time.

Some of the Hamas terrorists were killed by infantry, one by a tank, and one by a drone.

All of this information was in the minds of the soldiers involved in killing the three hostages.

Details of the IDF's investigation into the killings

The final probe found that the soldiers opened fire on the three at a distance of 38 meters where the hostages were standing at a window one floor up from the ground level of a house.

According to the high command’s understanding of the open fire rules, such a distance and without seeing any weapon, and certainly seeing a white flag and a bare upper body disqualifying the likelihood of explosives, there was no reasonable way to argue the soldiers could have felt threatened.

The building in which the Gaza hostages where hiding (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

However, the soldiers argued that they were given additional instructions from local commanders in the field about what was considered a threat and when to fire, and that 38 meters and suspicious activity from a window fell within those open fire rules.

Further, given the many fake surrender traps Hamas has set throughout the war, including using Hebrew, white flags, and actual children’s items seized by Hamas in Israel on October 7, Halevi and other commanders seem to be willing to recognize the subjective sense of danger felt by the soldiers involved as valid enough to avoid immediate punishment.

Controversially, the first soldier who opened fire has admitted that he did see the white flag, but still felt it was a trap and that he was in danger.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has rendered nearly 2 million Gazans homeless and resulted in thousands of casualties and injuries.

When this report was recorded, the Red Crescent, associated with the International Red Cross, had said that since the onset of the conflict, over 16,000 Palestinians had been killed and approximately 47,000 injured in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the death toll has by now surpassed 21,000, with 55,000 Gazans injured.

Since the outbreak of war with Hamas, the Military Rabbinate has pronounced 15 soldiers dead, despite their bodies being missing or held by Hamas.

The act is not unprecedented, but the quantity is. The motto heard in the rabbinate corridors is “zero errors and 100% certain identification,” which can be difficult even with a body and doubly so without one. 

Pronouncing a person’s death is one of the most sensitive, religiously complex issues faced by the Military Rabbinate. The Chief Military Rabbi, currently Lt. Col. Rabbi Eyal Karim, is the only person authorized to pronounce a soldier dead. Behind each declaration is a thorough process of collecting and identifying remains in consultation with intelligence services, medical experts, forensic examiners, and video and photo analysis. 

In the absence of a soldier’s remains, there are several bases on which a rabbi can pronounce him or her dead. One is information gleaned by intelligence services. An intercepted conversation, for example, might include a statement by the enemy that indicates the soldier was killed.

Another factor is the concept of “most,” i.e., what happens to most people who enter a certain combat situation. If a soldier finds himself in a scenario that most don’t survive, this can count towards pronouncing him dead. If the army. If a soldier is known to have lost a fatal quantity of blood, this can allow the rabbi to make a death pronouncement. 

If all the experts come to the conclusion that a missing or abducted soldier has died, the verdict will be delivered to special teams in the Military Rabbinate made up of rabbis, doctors, and lawyers who confirm the finding. Then, the case is passed on to Rabbi Karim for the final decision. 

Iran is trying to manage the conflict against Israel, in much the same way Israel sought to “manage” the conflict in Gaza over the last decade. What this means is that Iran seeks to bring the war to Israel’s borders but not escalate into a massive conflict.

This can change depending on Iran’s calculations. For instance, the killing of IRGC officer Razi Mousavi has led Iran’s regime into a state of fury and mourning.

 Iran’s management of the conflict is designed to push its pawns and proxies closer to Israel’s borders. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq, and militias in Syria, are all part of Iran’s movement of pawns to threaten Israel and the US in the region.

This includes dozens of attacks on ships in the Red Sea, more than 110 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, and hundreds of attacks by Hezbollah since October 7.

Iran is trying to reverse the “campaign between the wars” in which Israel was seeking to end Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Basically, Iran is trying to do to Israel, what Israel was doing in the West Bank and Gaza.

In its latest response to attacks on shipping by the Houthis, the United States on Thursday sanctioned an individual and three currency exchange houses that it accused of facilitating the flow of Iranian financial assistance to the Yemeni movement.

The exchange houses are based in Turkey and Yemen, the US Treasury said in a statement.

"Today's action underscores our resolve to restrict the illicit flow of funds to the Houthis, who continue to conduct dangerous attacks on international shipping and risk further destabilizing the region," Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in the statement.

Kibbutz Nir Oz announced the death of Judy Weinstein Haggai, 70, on Thursday, who was killed by Hamas on October 7, and her body is still being held by the terrorist organization in Gaza.

Judy was 70 years old, and a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Mother of four, grandmother of seven. She was an English teacher specializing in children with special needs and worked with children with anxiety by using meditation and mindfulness methods. She was a poet and entrepreneur, and was dedicated to working for peace and brotherhood, the kibbutz said. 

Judy's husband, Gadi Haggai, 72, was also murdered on October 7, and his body is also still in the hands of Hamas. The two were attacked while they were on a walk that morning in the kibbutz.

The kibbutz stated that Gadi was “a sharp person, a gifted musician from the age of three, a chef and a follower of a healthy vegan diet.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement on Weinstein's death, stating that "Judy had time to inform her friends that she'd been hit by a gunshot and that her husband Gadi was seriously injured, that was her last contact with them."

The destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, November 21, 2023 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

N12 reported that Judy also managed to record the beginning of the attack on video - and also tried to contact MDA paramedics when her husband was shot.

Weinstein's daughter, Iris, heard in a phone call that her parents were hiding and that her father was injured, and later lost contact with them.

Muhammad Issa, the son of Hamas's Deputy Military Commander Marwan, was killed in an IDF attack on Thursday morning, Israeli media reported, citing Palestinian media.

Issa serves as the top deputy to Gaza military chief Muhammad Deif.

بعد أن عجز الصهاينة عن الوصول لوالده..

الاحتلال المهزوز الجبان يقتل محمد عيسى، نجل القائد الكبير مروان عيسى (أبو البراء). pic.twitter.com/M7URpzzatZ

— رضوان الأخرس (@rdooan) December 28, 2023

Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces in Ramallah - report

A Palestinian man was killed, and several others were injured amid clashes with Israeli forces in Ramallah in the West Bank early Thursday morning, according to Palestinian reports.

Clashes were reported in several cities throughout the West Bank on Wednesday night, including in Jericho, Halhul, Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nablus. At least nine Palestinians were injured in clashes in Halhul overnight, according to Palestinian reports.

In Jenin, one Palestinian was moderately injured, and two others were lightly injured in an Israeli drone strike, according to Palestinian media.

This is a developing story.

The bodies that the IDF returned to Gaza on Wednesday were missing vital organs, according to foreign media outlets citing the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed the receipt of 80 bodies of Palestinians killed in Gaza and taken to Israel.

Gaza's GMO said the bodies were "mutilated" and that Israel had removed "vital organs from them," according to Al Jazeera.

Who is making the claims?

Turkish media outlets Politicstoday.org and Anadolu further claimed the GPO criticized "the silent position of the international organizations operating in Gaza, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, towards such an awful crime by the [Israeli] occupation." This quote was also included in The Palestine Chronicle's account of the GPO report. 

Several Middle Eastern media outlets, including the Chronicle, Al-Mayadeen and Al-Jazeera, claimed that Israel was illegally harvesting organs from the bodies and that this was only one in a series of Israeli organ-harvesting incidents.  

A UN peacekeeper in southern Lebanon was hurt when a group of young men attacked a patrol and tried to stop it from moving through their village, the UN mission said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night when residents of the village of Taybeh briefly blocked the peacekeepers' patrol traveling through the area, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement.

The man wounded was an Indonesian soldier, a security source said. A vehicle was damaged, UNIFIL said.

It called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

In a second incident on Thursday morning, a peacekeepers' convoy traveling to UNIFIL's eastern headquarters was briefly blocked by residents, who let them go ahead after a brief discussion, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said.

Hostage Mia Schem, who was released from captivity by Hamas after more than 50 days in Gaza, was interviewed by Channel 13.

In an interview that will be broadcast in full on Friday, she explains why she decided to break her silence: "It was important for me to reflect on the true situation of the people living in Gaza, who they really are, and what I went through there.

"It's important to understand that I went through a Holocaust and that everyone there is a terrorist," Schem said. "These are families under Hamas. In retrospect, I suddenly realized that I was with a family, suddenly, I started asking myself questions, why am I in a family's house? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?"

Psychological terror

Mia was abducted from the party in Kibbutz Re'im, where Hamas conducted a massacre on October 7. At the time of her abduction, her right hand was severely injured, and she was operated on in the Gaza Strip.

In the first days of the war, Hamas published a video of her from captivity as part of the psychological terror they used, in which she asked to return to Israel and see the treatments she underwent on her arm.

Mia Schem seen released from Hamas captivity, Thursday, November 30, 2023 (credit: screenshot)

Two weeks ago, she revealed on Instagram a new tattoo she had done that reads in English, "We will return to dance again," next to the date October 7, 2023. "I will never forget this date," Mia wrote in the post. "The pain and the fear, the hard sights, the friends who won't come back, and the ones we have to bring back. But we will still win, we will still dance!"

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A post shared by מייה שם (@mia_schem)