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Media Summary

Saudi Arabia under pressure to agree ceasefire in Yemen

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The BBCGuardianthe TimesReutersthe Telegraphthe Independent report on an escalation in violence following Israel’s covert mission into Gaza on Sunday. The BBC reports that Israeli fighter jets have hit dozens of Palestinian militant targets overnight in Gaza after militants fired 370 rockets at Israel. At least three Palestinians died in the strikes on Gaza, while a civilian was killed in a rocket attack in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Both Israel and Hamas have threatened to escalate their actions. Violence erupted when a covert Israeli mission was exposed in Gaza on Sunday. Reuters reports that the rocket fire was the most intense on Israel since the 2014 Gaza war, with Hamas and other armed factions launching rockets and mortar bombs across the border after carrying out a surprise guided-missile attack on Monday on a bus that wounded an Israeli soldier. The Independent reports that Israeli aircrafts and tanks pounded over 70 targets in the besieged enclave including Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television building, killing at least three Palestinians, two of whom were militants. As the violence escalated the United Nations said it was working with Egypt ‘to ensure that Gaza steps back from the brink’. The office of the UN’s Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, called for an end to rocket fire, and restraint ‘by all’. The Times reports on the Israeli strike on the Al-Aqsa TV station. Israel said that at least five non-exploding missiles had been fired at the TV station to warn staff to evacuate before the main strike, which flattened the three-storey building. Ten minutes later, the station resumed broadcasts, airing pre-recorded national songs

The Guardian reports that Saudi Arabian leaders have been put under intense Western pressure to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen and open the path for political talks by ensuring the obstacles placed in the way of a previous round of UN sponsored talks are not replicated. As the joint Saudi-United Arab Emirates (UAE) offensive on the strategic port of Hodeidah continues, the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, urged the Saudis not to risk a humanitarian disaster in pursuit of military victory. Hunt, speaking during a visit to Riyadh, said there was ‘a short window to make a difference’ adding ‘right now we are witnessing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe’. His visit coincided with a lull in Saudi airstrikes, after estimates suggested as many as 150 people had been killed in air raids on Hodeidah in the previous 24 hours.

Reuters and Bloomberg report on further developments related to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal KhashoggiReuters reports via journalist Darren Butler that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said recordings related to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, which Turkey has shared with Western allies, are ‘appalling’ and shocked a Saudi intelligence officer who listened to them. Erdogan told reporters on his plane returning from a weekend visit to France that he discussed the Saudi journalist’s killing with the U.S., French and German leaders at dinner in Paris. Bloomberg reports on US National Security Advisor, John Bolton’s comments related to the Khashoggi recordings. Bolton commented that those who have heard a recording of the murder in Turkey last month say it doesn’t link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to the assassination. The Independent reports that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he thinks there will be “rapid progress” in bringing the killers of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi to justice. After meeting with the Saudi king in Riyadh, Mr Hunt said he expected to hear about the progress of legal proceedings in the case “quite shortly”.

Reuters journalist John Geddie reports that the US are to step up sanctions on Iran. The United States will step up enforcement of sanctions on Iran, national security adviser John Bolton said on Tuesday, as Tehran tries to find ways to evade the restrictions in oil trade and in banking. ‘The objective has been from the beginning to get oil exports from Iran down to zero,’ Bolton said, adding that ‘It is our intention to squeeze them very hard. As the British say: ‘Squeeze them until the pips squeak’.

All the Israeli media is dominated by reporting of missile attacks on Israel  Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot and Maariv focus on the image of the burning bus that was hit by an anti-tank missile yesterday. Channel 2 news revealed that the bus, driven by an Israeli Arab, had 50 soldiers on board just a minute before it was hit.  

In Yediot Ahronot, security analyst Alex Fishman writes, “The assessment is that the current round of fighting—according to the most “reasonable” scenario that works for both sides—will last one or two days.  But that “reasonable” scenario is liable to deteriorate easily into all-out war.  On October 27, when Islamic Jihad fired 47 rockets at Israel, the brake pad of the political echelon was thicker and war was averted at the last minute. The events of the last 24 hours found the political echelon with much weaker braking ability. It isn’t only Yahya Sinwar who is facing fierce internal criticism for the terms of the truce, after he was accused of selling the national Palestinian interest in exchange for dollars. Netanyahu also came under internal criticism which he says obligated him to cut into some of his reserves of public prestige and make unpopular decisions. The Hamas attack yesterday strengthened the Lieberman side in the prime minister-defence minister-chief of staff triangle. The mantra that the defence minister has been repeating for months, i.e. that there will be no truce on the fence until Hamas is dealt a powerful blow—is coming true.”

In Maariv, Ben Caspit writes, “Israel and Hamas are caught in a mutual “deterrence trap.” Each side is trying to convince itself that it has deterred the other, and vice versa. Hamas, starving and with its back to the wall, received a 15 million dollar extortion payment in cash via Israel and was awfully pleased with itself. Then it woke up the following morning with a Zionist gang in its backyard. “Those Jews are crazy,” said Sinwar and his men to themselves. “They don’t respect us. There’s no other choice. We have to deter them.” They buried their dead and fired an anti-tank missile at a bus that transported soldiers, and another 200 rockets at civilian communities.

Israel was the same, just from the opposite direction. “We just gave them money, and they’re already shooting at us,” said Israeli officials, and raised the ante. With all the deterrence being established here, no one has been deterred from doing anything.” He continues, “It turns out that no one in our neighbourhood is particularly impressed by Netanyahu’s statements about strength. Qasem Soleimani continues with his military entrenchment program in Syria as usual; Putin deigned to do Netanyahu a favour by giving him two minutes for a meeting that was held standing up. Israel’s strength hasn’t looked this fragile for a long time, even though it is real.

The thing that Netanyahu fails to understand about strength is that it isn’t measured only in planes, tanks or the GDP. Strength is measured also in one’s willingness to pay a price, one’s willingness to go all the way, and what one either has or doesn’t have to lose.”

All the papers cover the funeral of Lt Col M who was killed in the firefight inside Gaza on Sunday evening.  Due to the sensitivity of the unit and the mission, military censors have not allowed his name and other basic details to be published.  Both Israel Hayom and Maariv report the emotional embrace President Rivlin gave to his children.  The president paid tribute with tears in his eyes and said: “I came to thank and to salute a hero, on behalf of the entire State of Israel. The very best of our boys, whose memory will be forever engraved in our hearts… Your pain is our pain, your grief is our grief. The grief of the whole people, the whole people of Israel. M was one of the bravest and most daring soldiers and commanders of the State of Israel and he fell defending the citizens of Israel, the children of Israel. He lived the values he was brought up on: bravery, self-sacrifice, daring and determination, and that is how he died…your dad was a hero, the greatest hero.”

Maariv reflects on the operation from Sunday night, “Lt. Col. M had to decide. His senses indicated that the cover of the small covert team of soldiers that he headed had been blown. Hamas troops, which asked him to identify himself, weren’t “buying” his cover story. He was three kilometers inside the Gaza Strip. He knew that the entire IDF was behind him, from the chief of staff down, but at that fateful second he was terribly alone.  Lt. Col. M and a handful of his fellow comrades-in-arms were facing Hamas troops headed by the regional battalion commander, and Lt. Col. M had to decide. He didn’t have time to assess the situation with the commanders back in the war room or his troops. It was Lt. Col. M and the Hamasniks, close and threatening, looking one another in the eye and asking themselves who was going to open fire first. Lt. Col. M opened fire first. According to people on our side, that decision saved his men’s lives. In incidents of this kind, whoever opens fire first has a decisive advantage. That also dictated the outcome of that battle, which the IDF defined as “heroic.” Six Hamasniks were killed, including the battalion commander, and one IDF soldier was killed. Lt. Col. M won the battle, saved his men, but lost in the fight for his life. In his death, Lt. Col. M gave his soldiers their lives. In his life, Lt. Col. M gave us our security.”

In Haaretz, Amos Harel’s analysis focuses on events from Sunday where the, “problematic operation conducted by Israeli special forces deep in the Gaza Strip Sunday night has brought Israel and Hamas once again to the brink of war. As in previous rounds of escalation, Hamas’ fierce and broad response to the incident surprised Israel somewhat and contradicted signals sent by the Hamas leadership of a strategic desire for calm.” He asks, “The immediate question posed by the special forces operation Sunday is, why now? The operation took place in the midst of prolonged efforts to reach a long-term cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at an important diplomatic conference in France and only a few hours after he, in a long and persuasive speech at a press conference, explaining why he thought every effort should be made to reach an agreement in the Strip and avoid war.” In his assessment, “Netanyahu has been seemingly too invested in efforts to reach a deal with Hamas to approve such an operation. The Israel Defence Forces is not providing many details, but the operation appears to have been an intelligence-gathering manoeuver, possibly connected to Hamas’ military infrastructure (the tunnel network or its weapons development system). In the recent years of the interwar period, Israel has been exploiting the chaos in the Arab world to conduct many similar cross-border operations. The vast majority of these manoeuvers are kept secret.  The discovery of the fighters was an operational hitch that will require an in-depth investigation within the military. Was there something about the force’s conduct, or in the preparations for the operation, that revealed the fighters’ identity to Hamas, even though according to reports they were dressed like Arabs? Still, the fact that the operation ended with only killed and one wounded, and that the other members of the unit were rescued without anyone else being injured or — no less important — abducted, is admirable. It’s clear that a lot of resourcefulness and coolheadedness was needed to extract the force from a location three kilometers into built-up enemy territory…..The IDF breathed a sigh of relief at the end of Sunday night for two reasons: the fact that the wounded man’s life was saved and that there were no more casualties. A bigger mess-up, with lots of casualties or an abduction, would be considered a strategic event that would lead to a major escalation.”

The papers also note that more than 50 mayors throughout Israel will be elected today in runoff elections, after none of the candidates there won more than 40% in the first round of voting two weeks ago. Among other places, there will be runoff elections today in Jerusalem, Rishon Lezion, Bat Yam, Eilat and Ramat Gan. Polling stations will open at 1:00 PM and close at 10:00 PM.  According to Haaretz Moshe Lion the candidate in Jerusalem that is backed by Shas and Degel Hatorah has failed to win the support of the other major ultra-orthodox party Agudat Yisrael.