(Day 674) Swords of Iron – “Last leg of the journey?”

Chaim starts by saying that it pains him to see so much disinformation being circulated about what’s going on in Israel, and that’s why he does these daily videos to give an eyewitness account.

He then says that it’s “historic” that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be having a summit in Alaska to try and hash out the end of the war in Ukraine.

However, the big news in Israel this week is the plan to finally move in and completely eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas thinks Israel won’t do because they’re getting so much rhetorical support from Western countries who are threatening to recognize a Palestinian State.

There are “last chance” negotiations going on between Israel and Hamas and US Envoy Steve Witkoff is part of these negotiations, as are the Qataris and others. But Chaim says they’re finding out, as Israel has long been warning, that Hamas doesn’t really want a deal to release the hostages and end the war. They want to keep playing games. One way you know this is true is because they are demanding that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stop distributing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. That’s because the GHF distributing aid directly to the people makes it impossible for Hamas to steal aid, which is supposed to be distributed by the UN, and they’re also demanding that Israel release the terrorists who have been captured and are known to have participated in the October 7th, 2023 massacre. They also want the IDF to completely withdraw from the Strip. In other words, they want to win this war at the negotiating table and in the media after they’ve lost it on the battlefield.

Once again, they are able to contemplate this strategy only because they’re getting so much rhetorical and diplomatic support from Western countries who are telling Israel that the way to have peace is to just give Hamas whatever they want. Chaim says this is obviously not the case, but many have been deceived into thinking so.

Meanwhile, Israel and many other countries have begun air-dropping pallets of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of trucks worth of aid is also being sent in every day, and Chaim says he hopes people don’t start blaming Israel is the pallets that are being air dropped start landing on people and hurting them. Chaim says Israel always tries to move civilians out of harms way before it goes after the terrorists, and that this can be done for the 800,000 civilians in Gaza City as well.

Chaim also mentions the interview Prime Minister Netanyahu did with Fox News this week in which he declared that Israel wants to take over Gaza City but not keep control over it. They want to free the people living there from Hamas and then turn the territory over to someone else to govern. However, even in Israel there is opposition to this plan from the families of hostages and their supporters who worry that Hamas might execute the hostages. Chaim says that might happen anyway and also, many of them who are still alive have been starved and might be near the end in any case. This is a hard fact to face, but there’s no avoiding it.

Chaim concludes by lamenting that so many Western countries have emboldened Hamas, even as Arab countries have turned on them.

In this context, Chaim quotes Zephaniah 2:4; For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon desolate; They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be uprooted.