JERUSALEM: Early Friday, just after midnight, the Israeli military put out an ominous statement to the media: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”
The terse statement set off frenzied speculation that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza — a much-feared scenario that would mark a bloody escalation of this week’s operation against Hamas militants. Some reporters were even told outright the incursion had begun.
Hours later, the military issued a “clarification.” There were no troops inside Gaza. But by then, several major news outlets had erroneously reported the ground offensive was under way.
While the army attempted to play down the incident as a misunderstanding, well-placed Israeli military commentators said the media had been used as part of an elaborate ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap that may have killed dozens of fighters.
“They didn’t lie,” said Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent on Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “It was a manipulation. It was smart and it was successful.”
This is how it unfolded:
Late Thursday, after days of airstrikes, Israel announced it was calling up thousands of reservists and amassing troops along the border ahead of a possible ground invasion. In another sign of escalation, Israeli tanks stationed along the border opened fire at targets inside Gaza.
In previous rounds of fighting, ground incursions have resulted in widespread destruction in Gaza and heavy casualties on both sides.
That set the stage for the late-night deception. According to Heller, Israel began scrambling forces along the border in what appeared to be final preparations for an invasion. Then came the announcement to the media, issued simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic on Twitter. There followed alerts in major outlets that the invasion was under way.
The Israeli moves sent Hamas fighters rushing into defensive positions in an underground network of tunnels known as the Metro, according to Heller and other Israeli reports.
Israel called in 160 warplanes and bombarded the tunnels for 40 minutes, the military said. Heller said it was his understanding that scores of militants had been killed, though he said it was impossible to say.
“What we saw tonight was a very sophisticated operation that had a media aspect to it,” Heller said.
Hamas has not commented on the incident, and it was impossible to confirm the Israeli reports.
Heller said veteran Israeli correspondents, who have close ties to the military and in many cases have served themselves, knew that there was no way Israel was sending troops across enemy lines at this stage. Heller and other military correspondents even put out statements on Twitter assuring the jittery public that there was no ground operation.
The Associated Press, based on its analysis of the army’s statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.
But others said the military had misled them or even lied when asked to clarify, turning the foreign media into an accessory of sorts.
Felicia Schwartz, correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said she alerted news of a ground offensive after receiving explicit confirmation from Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman.
In a statement posted on Twitter, she said Conricus “told me directly, `There are ground troops in Gaza.’ That was the basis for a first story saying so. He retracted that statement two hours later and I changed the story to reflect that, and that is noted in the text and will be corrected.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Conricus blamed an “internal miscommunication.”
“These things can sometimes happen in the midst of a complex operation with many moving parts and with an unclear picture of what was happening,” he said. “As soon as I understood that I had the wrong information, I updated the relevant people with a clarification.”
Militaries around the world have long used deception and trickery against their enemies. Two years ago, the Israeli military reportedly faked the injuries of soldiers at the scene of a Hezbollah missile strike, going so far as to evacuate them to a hospital in a helicopter.
According to reports at the time, the army staged the injuries to trick Hezbollah into thinking it had inflicted casualties and therefore would agree to a cease-fire.
Friday’s misleading statement further strained what has often been a rocky relationship between the IDF and the foreign media.
Peter Lerner, a former military spokesman to the foreign media, said the Israeli public in general has long felt the international media focus too heavily on the Palestinian side of the story while minimizing Israeli concerns and suffering — and the army is similarly inclined.
Lerner said he felt it was unlikely the military intentionally lied, but damage was done regardless.
“Your currency is credibility,” he said. “I think this is a crisis of that credibility in the way it’s being portrayed.”
Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas militants in Gaza
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Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas militants in Gaza
- ‘It was not a lie. It was a manipulation,’ says Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent
- Ruse sent Hamas fighters rushing into an underground network of tunnels
HRW accuses Israel of ‘indiscriminate’ attacks on civilians during war in Lebanon
- “At least one of the attacks used an air-dropped bomb equipped with a US-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kit,” HRW said
- HRW’s Ramzi Kaiss said in the statement that “more and more evidence is emerging that Israeli forces repeatedly failed to protect civilians
BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch accused Israel on Wednesday of “indiscriminate” attacks on civilians during its recent war with Hezbollah, saying two deadly strikes in east Lebanon should be investigated as war crimes.
A November 27 ceasefire sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the two sides that began with Iran-backed Hezbollah’s cross-border fire at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
More than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon, most of them during two months of all-out war that erupted in September, according to Lebanese authorities.
Among the dead were hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and a slew of senior commanders.
HRW said “two unlawful Israeli strikes” on the town of Yunin in the eastern Bekaa Valley that killed more than 30 people “were apparent indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”
“At least one of the attacks used an air-dropped bomb equipped with a United States-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit,” it said.
“The attacks should be investigated as war crimes.”
On September 25, a strike “killed a family of 23 people, all Syrians, including 13 children,” HRW said, while another on November 1 on a two-story house “killed 10 people, including two children, one of them a year old.”
HRW said it “did not find any evidence of military activity or targets at either site” and that the Israeli army did not issue evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes.
The rights watchdog said it had contacted the Israeli military about its findings but had “not received a response.”
AFP has also contacted the military for comment on the report.
HRW’s Ramzi Kaiss said in the statement that “more and more evidence is emerging that Israeli forces repeatedly failed to protect civilians or adequately distinguish civilians from military targets during its strikes across Lebanon.”
Washington’s supply of weapons to Israel “has made the US complicit in their unlawful use,” HRW added.
It urged the Lebanese government to give “the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes” and provide “a path for justice for grieving families.”
Swathes of Lebanon’s south and east and parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs were heavily damaged by Israeli bombardment during the hostilities.
Last month, rights group Amnesty International said Israel’s attacks on ambulances, paramedics and health facilities in Lebanon during the conflict should also be investigated as war crimes.
French FM says Iraq should not be dragged into regional conflicts
- “It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose,” Barrot said
- He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country“
BAGHDAD: France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability.
Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel.
“It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose,” Barrot said in a joint conference with his counterpart Fuad Hussein.
He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country.”
“We are convinced that a strong and independent Iraq is a source of stability for the entire region, which is threatened today by the conflict that started on October 7, and Iran’s destabilising activities,” Barrot said.
There have been no attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi factions for several months, while Iraq is now preparing to host an Arab League summit and the third edition of the Baghdad Conference on regional stability, which Paris has been co-organizing with Baghdad since 2021.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy with Iran while engaging in talks over its nuclear program.
Fuad Hussein urged for successful talks “to spare the region from the danger of war,” adding that “there are no alternatives to negotiations.”
Barrot met Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in Baghdad, and he is expected later in the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders.
Sudani said he welcomed “an upcoming visit” of French President Emmanuel Macron to Iraq, which would be his third trip to the country.
Iraq and France have been strengthening their bilateral relations in several sectors, including energy and security.
France has deployed troops in Iraq as part of the US-led international coalition to fight the Daesh group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017, although some of its militant cells remain active.
Baghdad is now seeking to end the coalition’s mission and replace it with bilateral military partnerships with the coalition’s members, saying its own forces can lead the fight against the weakened militants.
“We cannot allow ten years of success against terrorism to be undermined,” Barrot said, adding that France remains ready to contribute to the fighting.
Barrot’s regional tour will also help “prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution” that Paris will co-organize in June with Riyadh, the French foreign ministry said.
Macron said earlier this month that France planned to recognize a Palestinian state, possibly as early as June.
He said he hoped it would “trigger a series of other recognitions,” including of Israel.
For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
Holocaust survivor says reliving nightmare with grandson’s Gaza captivity
- “The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein
- Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent
HOLON, Israel: For Holocaust survivor Michael Kuperstein, the harrowing wait for news of his grandson — held hostage by Hamas in Gaza — feels like he is reliving a nightmare.
“It’s a second Holocaust,” said the 84-year-old, describing an anguish that has reopened old wounds he thought had long since healed.
Despite his frail health, the octogenarian is determined to take part on Thursday in the annual March of the Living at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland.
In his heart, he holds tightly to the hope of one day seeing his grandson, Bar Kuperstein, alive again.
“The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein, his anger clearly visible as talks for the release of hostages remain deadlocked.
During their attack on Israel, Hamas militants abducted 251 people and took them back to Gaza. Of those, 58 are still being held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent — then part of the USSR, now Uzbekistan — just months after his birth.
In 1972, he immigrated to Israel with his wife Faina and their two children.
But tragedy has continued to shadow the family.
Their son, Tal Kuperstein, a volunteer paramedic, suffered severe injuries in an accident years ago while rushing to save a four-year-old girl.
The incident left him disabled, unable to speak or move.
At 17, Tal’s eldest son, Bar, moved in with his grandparents to make space at home for Tal’s live-in caregiver.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Bar also became a paramedic and once even saved his grandfather’s life after a heart attack, performing emergency aid and swiftly calling an ambulance.
Just two months later, at the age of 21, he was abducted from the Nova music festival near the Gaza border during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
The massacre at the festival left more than 370 people dead.
Bar was seen in a video taken shortly after his abduction — bound hand and foot, with a rope around his neck.
Since then the family received no updates until February, when freed hostages who had been held with Bar in Gaza tunnels confirmed he was still alive.
Witnesses at the festival told AFP that Bar had been treating the wounded when he was seized by militants.
Then on April 5, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing Bar alongside another hostage — the first images of him alive.
“Bar looks extremely thin. He has his grandfather’s eyes. He’s the only one who inherited them,” said Faina Kuperstein, his grandmother.
“He looked so much like him when he was younger. But now, his eyes have lost their light. He looks terribly pale.
“I barely recognize his face anymore,” she said, choking back tears.
“He never left the house without kissing me goodbye. I miss him so much.”
All the hostages should have been released by now, said Michael Kuperstein.
“But we’re still waiting. Nothing changes except for more fallen soldiers. Why?” he added.
Bar turned 23 at the start of April.
Despite his speech disability, his father, Tal, longs to talk to him.
With immense effort, Tal recently managed to say a few words — a moment of pride that fills the family with hope he’ll one day be able to speak to his son again.
Faina visits Bar’s room every day. It remains neat and tidy.
At each meal, the family keeps a chair empty for him, with his photo placed on the table.
She yearns to tell him, “Your father is speaking now.”
“He’ll soon walk again. You dreamed of this moment — and look, it’s happening. You must stay strong so that you can return to us.”
UN appoints envoy to assess aid for Palestinians
- “We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves,” Dujarric told reporters
- “We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on“
UNITED NATIONS: The UN on Tuesday appointed an envoy to complete a “strategic assessment” of the agency charged with aiding Palestinians, a spokesman said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Ian Martin of the United Kingdom to review the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, to gauge the “political, financial, security” constraints the agency faces.
The organization, broadly considered to be the backbone of humanitarian aid delivery for embattled Palestinians, has withstood a barrage of criticism and accusations from Israel since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel and the devastating war in Gaza that followed.
Israel cut all contact with UNRWA at the end of January, and has accused 19 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza of being directly involved in the October 7 attacks.
“We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves. For the communities it serves, they deserve to be assisted by an organization, by an UNRWA that can work in the best possible manner,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The review is being carried out as part of the UN80 initiative launched last month to address chronic financial difficulties, which are being exacerbated by US budget cuts to international aid programs.
Not all agencies will undergo a strategic assessment, but UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are unique, Dujarric said.
“We will not question UNRWA’s mandate. We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on” it, Dujarric added.
The agency was created by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, in the wake of the first Israeli-Arab conflict, shortly after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Throughout decades of sporadic but ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, UNRWA has provided essential humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Educated at Cambridge and Harvard universities, Martin has previously served the UN on missions in Somalia, Libya, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Eritrea, Rwanda and Haiti.
Syrian defense minister meets Jordanian army chief in Damascus
- The Syrian defense minister affirmed the depth of the historical ties between Syria and Jordan and reiterated his country’s commitment to close cooperation
DUBAI: Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, chairman of Jordan's Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra on Wednesday in Damascus, news agency Petra reported.
During the meeting, the two men discussed bilateral relations and explored ways to further develop and strengthen them. They also addressed prospects for enhanced security and military cooperation between the two countries.
Both sides emphasized the importance of continued coordination and joint efforts to confront the various challenges facing the region.
They highlighted the need to use the capabilities and resources of the Jordanian Armed Forces in multiple sectors to support regional security and stability — particularly in light of the challenges in border areas, which directly affect the national security of the two countries.
The Syrian defense minister affirmed the depth of the historical ties between Syria and Jordan and reiterated his country’s commitment to close cooperation. He also commended the pivotal role of King Abdullah II in fostering regional security and stability.
