Israeli Hostage Noa Argamani: "I Was Not Beaten"

August 26, 20124

Another Israeli lie about October 7 and the hostages has failed, and this time, the person debunking the lies is as Israeli hero, one of the rescued hostages, Noa Argamani. But this lie, as it turns out, isn't so clear and the issue has sort of worked itself out, with media correcting themselves midstream before this distortion spread very far.  But for good measure, at least, I had this look to try and get a clear understanding of just what happened here.  

Noa Argamani is arguably the most famous face of October 7 abduction, seen taken away on a motorcycle, gesturing pleadingly towards her abducted, wounded and helpless boyfriend, Avinatan Or. While Avinatan remains in captivity, Noa was rescued, along with 3 others, in a controversial commando raid in Rafah on June 8. After almost exactly 8 months as a prisoner in Gaza, as she now says, it's a "miracle" she survived, and even got back in time to see her mother again before she passed away from brain cancer soon afterwards.

On August 21, the Embassy of Israel in Tokyo invited Noa and her father Yaacov to the G7 meeting there, to speak about her ordeal and why Israel has to keep on smashing Gaza to bits. Spoken softly in imperfect English, her comments caused a stir. She related the harsh conditions including scarce food and water (Israeli blockade) and the frequent Israeli bombing, and advocated for the release of the remaining hostages - including Avinatan. She also uttered some confusing words that seemed to provide Israel and its boosters with fresh confirmation of Hamas atrocities. 

Most of the media reports to this effect have now been revised, but New Delhi TV's report "'They Hit Me All Over My Body': Israeli Woman Held Captive By Hamas" remains unchanged. "Noa Argamani, an Israeli woman who was abducted by Hamas on October 7, has said she was beaten and her hair was cut in captivity by Hamas. "They hit me all over my body. Nobody came to save me," she told the media."

And here's what she said, according to an edited video clip run by Israeli channel 12 (via Oli London on X): "It's a miracle that I'm here." - cut - "Every night I was falling sleep and thinking this may be the last night of my life."  - cut - "All my (hair?) was cut and I was being hitted all over my body, but nobody came to visit me. Nobody came to see me. Nobody came to give me medical aids. Nobody. Until I got rescued. It's a warzone." 

It sounds kind of like her captors shaved her head and then beat her daily, so badly that every night she was afraid she'd be beaten to death in the morning. 

The haircut might seem like a strange non-sequitur to focus on, but it has a possible meaning known to many Israelis, though they won't want to mention it, that would suggest this was related to sexual abuse by her captors. 

There was a long-secret trial over IDF soldiers who, back in August, 1949 kidnapped  a teenage Bedouin girl, gang-raped her for 3 days, and then murdered her and buried her in a shallow grave. Even before the secret trial records were discovered and published by Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz in 2003, the case was hinted at in an entry in the diary of David Ben Gurion, Israel's first PM: "It was decided and carried out: they washed her, cut her hair, raped her and killed her," he wrote, calling it a "horrific atrocity." (The Guardian, 2003)

It's widely believed in Israel that the female hostages in Gaza are in fact being raped, probably every day. Evidence to this effect exists in one woman's testimony and many second-hand claims. But these claims could well be untrue, motivated by political agendas, and they're widely disputed by several accounts that no such abuse took place. Ms. Argamani has never mentioned such thing, but perhaps they thought she was hinting at it and moved to amplify that hint. Or maybe they realized they were inventing this hint.

Whatever they were trying to imply, Ms. Argamani would have none of it, reportedly issuing a response via her Instagram account on August 23. As Middle East Eye reported: 

"...two days later, she issued a statement on Instagram, saying that some of her remarks had been misquoted and taken out of context." 

"Contrary to some Israeli media reports, Argamani clarified that she was not beaten or had her hair shaved by Palestinian fighters." 

"I cannot ignore what happened here over the past 24 hours, taking my words out of context," she wrote, referring to the Israeli media coverage of her Tokyo speech.

This statement image is not on her main page now, but people have screen grabs of it, with Hebrew text over a "Bring Them Home Now" poster, and Noa's account name as the author. Here on the right is a grab from someone on X, taken after 18 hours, Here's another one on Instagram, from 1 hour after, with a translation reading so:

I can't ignore what happened here in the media in the last 24 hours, things taken out of context.

I was not beaten and my hair was not cut. I was in a building that was bombed by the air force. The exact quote is:

This weekend, after the shooting, as I said, I had cuts all over my head 

And I was hurt all over my body. (in red)

(I emphasize that I was not beaten, but injured all over my body by the collapse of the building on me)

As a victim of the 7th of October I will not allow myself to be victimized once again by the media.  

I don't think that's exact. See below - I think she copied over "this weekend" from someone's transcription of "as I said." Nothing relevant had happened "this weekend."

Again, this post does not appear on Noa's main Instagram page where (I think) it should be, Maybe she was pressured to pull it down? There are several copies on her "tagged" page, besides other images relating to her comments, although I think other people do that tagging. Social media accounts I trust and some professional journalists say she did in fact post this. No one's word is cited, so it seems they saw it there themselves. I didn't see it, so I'll cite them:

Brett Wilkins, ZNet (via MSN): "Responding to reports in outlets including The Jerusalem Post—which on Thursday ran the headline “Hamas Beat Me All Over”—Noa Argamani said on Instagram that “I can’t ignore what happened in the media in the last 24 hours.”"

The Jerusalem Post - in an updated version of the very article in question - would state as fact that "Argamani went to social media" to say these things. Initially, it did say "‘Hamas beat me all over my body,' Noa Argamani says in first testimony on her captivity" It sounds like the body beatings were administered during captivity. and by Hamas, or at least that's what she seems to have said. The JPost article has since changed, so here's a modified screen grab from Tameem on X

As I show below, the old headline still brought up a certain article when I checked, but now the headline is different: 'It's a miracle I'm alive" says Noa Argamani in first testimony on her captivity." I'm not sure what the original article text had said, but now it starts with a different cause and a different word for the "beating." 

"After she was taken hostage on October 7, she said she had cuts all over her head and was hurt all over her body." So that happened during her kidnapping, not during her extended captivity. But further down, they give yet another reason - the third one suggested in this single article:

Despite media reporting that she was beaten by Hamas," - some of that in the first version of this very article! - Argamani went to social media on Friday to say that her words had been taken out of context. She said she was not beaten and her hair was not cut.

"I said, I had cuts all over my head and I was hurt all over my body." Argamani emphasized that her wounds came from the collapse of a building after it was bombed by the IAF.

So she now specifies she was NOT beaten in captivity. This is new. Previously, one could assume or even say that was, since she had never specified. But now she has. We learn every day. 

Seeing the Channel 12 video, the translation issue still seemed confusing to me. So I looked for a full video of comments in order, and found one here that works well enough. My call that Noa twisted her own words a bit before anyone else did, but referencing a certain video helps it all make sense. Here's a full transcription of what she says, in 2 long segments:

"Every night I was falling sleep and thinking this may be the last night of my life. Until the moment ?? July 8th (meaning rescue on JUNE 8)? 'til today it was dangerous even all this time and I just did not believe that I was still surviving. In this moment that I'm here sitting with you, it's a miracle that I'm here. It's a miracle because I survived the 7th of October, October 7th, and I survived this bombing and also I survived the rescue." 

- cut -

"It's really sad that all the world sees the army doing in Gaza but they don't see what the terrorists doing to us 'cause they hiding us in tunnels and house that nobody can see us. In this video, I've been after the shooting with, as I said, (or "this weekend?") all my head was cut and I was being hitted all over my body, but nobody came to visit me. Nobody came to see me. Nobody came to give me medicine aids."

For "all my head was cut," auto-captions by sound gave me "all my have was cut." It's reasonable enough to hear it as "all my hair." "All my head" is, in fact, unclear English. A clarification was called for.

"Being hitted" also sounds more like being hit or beaten, repeatedly, than sustaining one-time injuries. But she says "I was being hitted," in passive form, not that Hamas actively hit or beat her, as some reported it. It could be 2 ways of saying the same thing but it's not. She meant she was injured all over. 

An unclear video is referenced. Noa gestures to her right at "this bombing" and at "this video" that came after "the shooting" (of the video? of guns?), I guess indicating a video that was recently shown on a screen to her right. Is she referring to her famous abduction? She's not notably injured in that, and no one has mentioned her being injured. Or did they show her rescue video? I don't believe she was injured in that either. 

It seems the only time she would suffer such injuries is in one or another of the two IDF airstrikes she survived in January. In fact, she describes just these same injuries in a video posted to Telegram by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades soon after, on January 18. I suppose this is the video shown, and not seeing that, the reference seems confusing. When she says "this bombing," and "this video," and even "the shooting," she means the bombing discussed in this (present) video they had apparently all just seen. 

"There is no water or food. All resources have been depleted," she says in the video, according to the translated subtitles. "Al-Qassam soldiers are treating us well. They are caring for us as much as they can but there aren't much resources left." Relating the first attack: Along with Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, "I was located in a building. It was bombed by an IDF airstrike." 3 missiles were fired, she hears, from an F-16. One was a dud but 2 detonated very nearby, collapsing at least part of their own building on top of them. "We were all buried under the rubble. Al-Qassam soldiers rescued my life and Itay," she says, but Yossi Sharabi was killed. Then, after "many days" but just 2 nights, she says the 2 survivors were being moved to a new, safer location, when their vehicle was hit in another IDF airstrike, killing Itay. 

After the two attacks combined, Noa says, pointing to her long, cascading hair: "I remained injured in my head. My head is full of shrapnels and have injuries in my body." 

This is exactly what she was referring to, like she said on Instagram. Her gestures and use of "this" suggest everyone in attendance had seen it and probably knew wjat she meant. Or perhaps not - maybe just a clip was shown, or maybe the sound or subtitles were removed, so that Noa had to add these details in order to relate her actual story.

So it's clear that the initial media reading was fallacious and that Argamani's correction is correct. However, her own unclear wording somewhat divides the blame. I don't suppose this distortion is just an honest mistake, but it could be. And, again, it doesn't seem this "lie" made it very far.

And still,  it is a miracle she survived Israel's brutality. 4 times she cheated death: once on 10/7, when she made it to Gaza alive on that motorcycle while many didn't - perhaps as many were picked off by IDF Apache helicopters as made it to Gaza alive. Then she saw 2 fellow prisoners killed in IDF strikes that left her injured and the sole survivor of her small group. And finally, as she notes, she survived the intense rescue operation that freed her and 3 others, but reportedly killed another 3 hostages (unnamed), along with scores of Palestinian civilians (over 250 reportedly killed, but this includes some fighters). That's 4 situations with a roughly 50% chance of death that she made it through. Here's a picture I made a while back,

Israeli Hostage Killings in Gaza: A December 7 or a February 6?

August 25, 2024

edits/updates August 26

Suffocated or Shot?

On August 20, it was reported that the bodies of six Israeli hostages, five of them already confirmed dead, were just recovered from a Hamas tunnel in Khan Younis during an overnight operation. These were given as: Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Alex Dancyg, 75, Nadav Popplewell, 51, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, and Avraham Munder, 78.

The Times of Israel noted "the IDF said it would continue to investigate the causes of the men’s deaths, including the possibility that some or all of the six were killed by Israeli fire amid military operations in Khan Younis." This possibility was aired on the same day, by details reported on Yedioth Ahronoth's Ynet website: Yoram Metzger was murdered in captivity. Assessment: The 5 abductees suffocated to death due to fire from an IDF attack (auto-translated from Hebrew)

Apparently, during the 98th Division's maneuver in Khan Yunis six months ago, a target was attacked near the tunnel from which the bodies of Alex Danzig, Yoram Metzger, Avraham Monder, Haim Peri, Yagev Buchstev and Nadav Poplwell were returned. It is estimated that carbon dioxide was emitted from the fire and flooded the tunnel, and 5 of the abductees – and the terrorists with them – died. 

However, as they reported, "Metzger, according to the autopsy, was murdered." The article gives some detail on this:

Yoram Metzger's family says that autopsy results at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir revealed that he was shot dead by one of his captors. Apart from him, the main assessment of the circumstances of the captive deaths of the other five abductees ... is that they were killed by suffocation in the tunnel in which they were being held – as [an accidental] result of an IDF attack."

This was causing some stir before someone came back on the 22nd with a contrary assessment, sourced to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and to the Hostage Families Forum, presumably based on what the IDF told them. So it's an IDF claim. As Reuters would report on the 22nd, "Bullets were found in the bodies of the six Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza this week, the Israeli military and the Hostage Families Forum campaign group said on Thursday." Furthermore, "The military told Reuters it retrieved another four bodies alongside its hostages, presumed to be Hamas militants, and that those bodies did not show signs of bullet wounds." This clearly shows that the guards shot the hostages dead before they themselves died from suffocation in some separate event, as opposed to their all dying from suffocation at the same time.

This post will explore this controversy along with some related context to raise the possibility that Israel did in fact kill everyone at this site and is currently promoting a false narrative to deny that.

Altered Date? December or February

Times of Israel's first report on the recover noted "In December, Hamas had published a video showing Peri, Metzger, and a third hostage alive, and in March the terror group claimed that the three were killed by Israeli strikes. In May, Hamas shared a coerced propaganda clip featuring Popplewell. It was apparently published weeks after he was killed." The report also noted: "The five were believed to have been killed in Khan Younis in early 2024, although the causes of death are not known."

New York Times: "in early June, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that it was examining the possibility that some of the hostages had been killed together months earlier while Israeli forces were operating in the Khan Younis area," and he would repeat this upon body recovery in August. "On Tuesday, Adm. Hagari was asked again about how the hostages died at a news conference. He repeated what he had said in June — that the “hostages were killed while our troops were operating in Khan Younis” — and added that a forensic examination would reveal more."

No one can give an exact date, but Ynet seems the most specific for incident details, involved units, and maybe the date: "The attack in question took place during the 98th Division's maneuver in the area about six months ago," they reported. That would be about Feb. 23, give or take some days. That's long after that video of them alive was published, and shortly before their deaths were announced. 

But things can be published or announced after they happen. In fact, their captors reported those 3 were apparently killed, or out of contact anyway, back in December, This would make them unavailable for new video shoots, suggesting that the video was filmed earlier and gave no proof they were still alive. And the March report was clearly couched as a delayed confirmation of their earlier deaths. 

Dec. 23 Telegram post

"Due to the savage Zionist bombing, we lost contact with the group responsible for five Zionist prisoners, including:

1- Haim Gershon Peri חיים פרי 

2- Yoram Etak Metzger יורם מצגר  

3- Amiram Israel Koper עמירם קופר 

"We suspect that the prisoners were killed in one of the Zionist raids on the Gaza Strip," but apparently everyone who would know for sure had been killed. This clearly relates to the group in question - two of these names - Peri and Metzger - are among the six recently recovered, although Amiram Cooper is not (see below for some optional sorting). And they say 2 others died with them.

On March 1 the brigades reported they had somehow confirmed the 3 deaths, and that a total of seven were killed, not 5. 3/1 announcement and video on Telegram

"We have previously announced that our contact has been cut off with our mujahideen who are guarding a number of enemy prisoners in our honest [Sadiq] sector (meaning what, I'm not sure)... After examination and scrutiny during recent weeks, we have confirmed the martyrdom of a number of our mujahideen and the killing of seven enemy prisoners in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Zionist bombing." They assert the total number of hostages killed by the IDF "may exceed seventy prisoners," adding that "the enemy leadership is deliberately killing its prisoners to get rid of this file." 

Of the 7 specified killed in December, they named, Peri, Metzger, and Cooper, promising "We will later announce the names of the other four dead after confirming their identities." Then a March 9 text post  and photo explain:

We previously announced the killing of 7 Zionist prisoners as a result of the barbaric Zionist raids on the Gaza Strip, and we revealed the names of three of them. After examining and verifying the identity of the remaining four dead, it was confirmed to us that the following were killed:

1- Itzik Jarat (Itzik Elgarat)

2- Alex Densig (Dancyg)

3- Ronin Tommy Angel (Engel)

4- Eliyahu Margalit 

In a Feb. 29 preview post, they explained "We had announced that we had lost contact with the group responsible for their detention on 12-23-2023 AD." This sounds like they claim this exact date. 

The IDF was fighting in Khan Younis in late February and early March, when the IDF now says the hostages were killed, But they were also there earlier. Wikipedia's "Siege of Khan Younis" page gives this as starting with airstrikes and artillery shelling on December 1, with ground forces entering on Dec 3, and in the city center by the 5th. The very 98th Division credited with the attacks on this tunnel was in Khan Younis, destroying tunnels, somewhat before this report of December 6: The IDF said they in Khan Younis, "operating in its center," where "The military’s 98th Division “launched a combined attack on the area of ​​the city of Khan Younis, against the ‘centers of gravity’ of the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF said. ... Soldiers killed “many” Hamas operatives in ground combat and airstrikes, and located around 30 tunnel shafts that were then destroyed during the ongoing battles, as well as a weapons depot inside a mosque."

Then again on December 27 it was reported "According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas “deep within Khan Younis,” killing many operatives and destroying the terror group’s infrastructure in the process, including tunnel shafts." (ToI) "Dozens" of strikes are mentioned, likely going back a few days, to the time of that lost contact report on the 23rd. I'm not sure if the 98th was involved then, but if not, then maybe some other unit sealed this tunnel and 98 was picked for the cover story because they had an alibi for December 23.

But according to Israel, the same people, more or less, survived December just fine, and were only shot dead while a battle raged above ground in late February. It's as if they read the delayed confirmation as a new death announcement and fit their narrative to that. And, according to Israel, the murdering guards, or perhaps their later replacements, somehow died later on. And so Hamas' 7 or so enemy prisoners including at least some of these 6, and their guards did all go quiet, while IDF troops were in the area. This is all agreed. But according to Israel, Hamas predicted it all months in advance, but in a scrambled form, in their totally untrue story. 

Also note how, as Ynet reported: "The forces of the 98th Division, consisting of a single but [reinforced] brigade combat team, led the operation to return the bodies of the six abductees, under the command of the paratroopers brigade commander, Colonel Ami Biton." Were they sent to clean up their own crime scene? 

Prisoner IDs Compared

I think I have this all sorted out, but conveying it in a non-confusing way escapes me at the moment, so ... good luck. 

It seems the December 7 could equate, roughly, with the February 6 just found, but for one. However, there's only partial crossover. In review, the 7 bodies reported by Hamas vs. the 6 recovered by Israel have:

3 hostages in both sets: Peri, Metzger, Dancyg 

4 left off the 7: Cooper, Margalit, Engel, Elgarat

3 added to replace those: Munder, Popplewell, Buchstav

All told, ToI reported: "Dancyg and Buchshtav had been confirmed dead by the IDF in late July, while Peri, Metzger, and Popplewell were declared dead by the army in early June. The five were believed to have been killed in Khan Younis in early 2024, although the causes of death are not known."

But who did they die with? One that's missing now. "On June 3, 2024, after obtaining new intelligence, the Israeli military confirmed the death of Israeli hostage Amiram Cooper, 84, who was killed in Hamas captivity." https://www.timesofisrael.com/taken-captive-nir-oz-founder-amiram-cooper-wife-nurit-released/

"four hostages" - Cooper, Peri, Metzger, and Popplewell - "were believed to have been killed together “several months ago” near Khan Younis" https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/03/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas But when three of those were found together, Cooper was reportedly not there. And they also have a tally that's one less than in the original version. Hmm... 

Dancyg was somehow confirmed dead by Israeli authorities in late July, weeks after the above, suggesting he died separately from them. That would complicate the picture Hamas had painted. But then his now appearing with Peri and Metzger, just like Hamas had said back in December ... It's Israel's picture that gets complicated. (Oddly, I had picked Dancyg as a visual match for the 3rd man in the December video. But I hadn't checked all images, Cooper fits even better, was the name given (later), and was named among the 7 killed. But then he was reportedly killed in the same batch anyway.)

Eliyahu Margalit and Ronen Engel were declared dead, executed, prior to December 1 (Reuters), as they say, without providing evidence. That's earlier than the deaths Hamas reports. This has happened other times, as with Judith Weinsten, who were injured and "confirmed" to die from that, but then the Hamas side reports they survived that, only to be killed in a later IDF attack. This has the hallmarks of psychological warfare, but still, I usually suspect it's true, and the same applies to Engel and Margalit. 

Itzik Elgarat hasn't been mentioned otherwise by anyone I've noticed - there's no Hamas claim or Israeli confirmation one way or the other, and no body has been found yet. Hamas' claim of his death stands challenged.

Avraham Munder is news, never reported by either side as having died. ToI: "Munder had not been previously declared dead by the IDF, although the army had some information that had raised concern for his wellbeing. As such, until Tuesday morning he had been listed among the hostages presumed alive." This information did not include his being named among those killed in December.

And the other two have different stories already lodged. Nadav Popplewell was linked by Israel to this group back in June, while the Hamas side reports he was killed in IDF bombing at an unspecified time, perhaps as late as April, ("more than a month ago" as announced May 11), bombing that occurred in a "place of detention ... with prisoner Jodi Fainstein (meaning Judith Weinstein)," someone who was not in this group of men. (TG) Yagev Buchstav/Buchstab was said to die from lack of food and/or medicine, back on March 23 (TG), and would be confirmed dead on July 22. 

If these two actually died with Peri, Metzger, and Dancyg - on either alleged date - Hamas has concealed this with the later reports giving different causes and dates. Some kind of honest mix-up or translation issue might explain these differences, but otherwise they seem to complicate a direct translation of one group to the other. 

It also seems possible the IDF has tacked these 3 (Popplewell, Buchstav, and Munder) onto this scene somehow, after finding their bodies somewhere else, perhaps erasing the 4 others from public reports to make some room. (see below, "Scenarios" for more consideration of this.) This would give a different enough final picture to divorce these two stories. And if that was their idea, they might also change the date and circumstances, as it seems they have. But somehow, I don't exactly suspect this is the case either, and some unknown details are required to make full sense of this. 

Another point: a preview image before the 4 were named had blank plates in 2 different shades, 2 looking military and 2 I guess civilian. None of these 4 they would name seems very military. Though maybe all of them have served in the IDF, they seem like retirement age, and all were abducted from home, not a base. Either way, the 2 types here could explain the reports of 5 gone missing later being expanded to 7. Maybe just 5 were thought to be at the one site, missing the final reports to note how 2 more were just moved in. Or perhaps there was just 2 groups taken out at the same time, here lumped together. Then we would expect 5 bodies whereas we have 6. Something doesn't fully add up either way. 

Suffocated?

As noted above, Ynet reported "the main assessment" of medical examiners is that the victims "were killed by suffocation in the tunnel in which they were being held – as a casual result of an IDF attack." The best reason for this assessment is presence of any clinical signs for suffocation and, vague as those are, the absence of any signs of violent death. So according to this, they didn't appear to have been - for example - shot dead.

Their captors certainly seem to have died from something like suffocation. Reuters: "The military told Reuters it retrieved another four bodies alongside its hostages, presumed to be Hamas militants, and that those bodies did not show signs of bullet wounds." And these would be very close to the hostages in order to guard them, and most likely breathing the same air. 

The hostage bodies found "near" a "loose concrete deck" in the wall of one tunnel, according to Ynet. "The tunnel was connected to three different underground corridors, in each of which the fighters also discovered the bodies of terrorists, along with Kalashnikov rifles." Like the hostages, the guards "were also found [intact] and sound," but "according to one IDF assessment, the terrorists who were found guarded the bodies of the abductees in recent months, but were killed as a result of prolonged stay underground and in unfavorable conditions." It's not clear why they would later die non-violently, as if by suffocation, "months" after the prisoners were killed, apparently by some different suffocation episode. 

The tunnel entrance was found 10 meters underground, IDF sources claim. But was it always that deeply buried? The published recovery video (Ynet - see also Ynet: Inside Khan Younis hostage extraction) shows soldiers in the predawn dark, descending a narrow excavated path into a gigantic crater of dirt, with the tunnel entrance newly dug out far below. The excavation here is clear and limited. A powerful bomb must have made that gigantic crater it's set in, sealing the tunnel shut at least on this end. If the other exits were also sealed, eventually the oxygen down there would run out. Below is a contrast enhanced, sharpened, and labeled view as I see it. The crater fills the whole frame but for a sliver of the background at the very top edge - we see some buildings, and a lot of sky (meaning no more buildings there). 

So that's the place these six were found. Take note.

Interestingly, a channel 12 report said says the fighters here were killed in the same attacks that had them worried about a rescue; "The bombing killed Hamas terrorists who were guarding the abductees." (screengrab: I didn't find the article yet) Lucky thing this burial death spared the Israelis stuck in the same tomb, since they were already shot dead in a panic, before this doom descended on the place. 

Now they suggest it happened weeks or months later. in some possibly unrelated "unfavorable conditions." They're not so excited to claim any immediate deaths at this site. 

Depending just how the fighter bodies were found, they might have died more suddenly, suffocated when the oxygen was sucked from the tunnel in a fuel-air explosion, or possibly hit with toxic gas, if that makes any sense. Radios should still work underground, but the fighters here reportedly just went out of contact all of a sudden. A slow suffocation or even smoke inhalation is unlikely to silence them so quickly. 

This wouldn't be the first time. It was just over a week earlier, on December 14, when it seems Israel killed 3 of its hostages with suffocation or toxic gas. Unaware of any hostages in the area, they attacked a tunnel in the Jabalia camp, killing a top Hamas commander, Ahmad Al Ghandour. Afterwards, they found Israeli hostages Ron Sherman, Nick Beiser, and Elia Toledano, it seems killed either with poison gas or some asphyxiating effect of the weaponry used. https://thegrayzone.com/2024/01/18/israeli-army-gassed-auschwitz-soldier/ 

Bullets in Bodies?

Metzger was said to be fatally shot from the start, and later, it was reported that bullets or bullet wounds were found in at least some of their bodies, suggesting maybe they had all been killed by their captors rather than by any IDF attack. 

"Israel's Abu Kabir Forensic Institute found evidence of bullet wounds on the bodies of the hostages who were recovered from the Gaza Strip." https://x.com/MacTaskForce/status/1826916343980941562

"Breaking Report: Bullets found in the bodies of the hostages released this week. It is believed that the terrorists guarding the hostages killed them while in captivity, fearing a rescue operation during an IDF aistrrike in the area where they held hostages." https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1826605344866308456

Reuters: "Bullets were found in the bodies of the six Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza this week, the Israeli military and the Hostage Families Forum campaign group said on Thursday."

New York Times: "A group representing relatives of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel said on Thursday that autopsies showed “bullets were found in the bodies” of six captives ..." 

Bullets were found "in the bodies." In all of them? Just some of them? Ora Levitt read it as "some" of the bodies, while The Persian Jewess and Adam Milstein read it as in "all 6" of them. But most people just cite the vague given form: "in the bodies," maybe all or just some of them. 

Already on the 22nd, that issue was addressed: "According to the institute’s report, the bodies of the six hostages all have signs of gunfire, likely indicating they were killed by their captors. Channel 12 reported that the military believes that they were executed by their captors during an IDF operation near where they were being held, with their guards possibly believing a rescue operation was underway." However, the report also notes "The findings are initial, and the IDF and health officials have not yet determined the exact causes of deaths." (ToI via MSN)

Of course, some of these men, possibly all of them, may have been shot during their abductions, and this may be the sole cause for those bullets. The state of these supposed wounds isn't mentioned. They might have been obvious older injuries, some 2-3 months healed, and that crucial detail was just left out. 

Furthermore, any bullets or marks the examiners saw presumably did not look fatal, from their location or nature. If they did, then that assessment of suffocation would be ungrounded. 

NYT: "But an Israeli military spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter to families, said on Thursday that the autopsies showed “marks suggestive of gunshots” on the bodies and stressed it was too soon to determine whether gunshot wounds were the cause of death."

Once this story has had time to serve its purpose, Israeli authorities will likely admit the bullets found in some bodies were unrelated to their deaths, which seem after all to be from some kind of suffocation. They may leave open that it was another accident as with Sherman, Beiser, and Toledano after all. But if they also admit the right date, it will dawn on some people that 9-10 hostages were killed by their own army in about the same way - suffocated in sealed tunnels - in two egregious incidents just a week apart. And this is the same time the IDF fatally shot 3 other hostages who just walked up to them. Do they want to admit to (at least!) 12-13 IDF hostage killings in just a week of this war dedicated partly to their rescue? No. So maybe this most lethal of the 3 incidents has to get moved and changed around. 

Scenarios

If the hostages appeared to some eyes to have died from suffocated, but some or all also had bullets in them, that could have a few possible explanations. They could be shot non-fatally at any point in their life before then, including on October 7, or just before the fire or "unfavorable conditions" that caused fighters in 3 connected tunnels to die, it seems, pretty suddenly. Or they could just be shot, with all contrary assessments just being wrong somehow, if the IDF's strange scenario were somehow true.  

One possibility: the tunnel was de-oxygenated or maybe even gassed in an attack by the 98th Division or whoever - they entered, found the guards and prisoners all dead, decided to shoot the dead prisoners but not the guards, and then call in the airstrike - this provided a better explanation, as a backup in case the better-yet explanation failed, and buried the evidence for the time being. They could then come back and rediscover the scene, and try for that better-yet explanation, cite the bullets as proof of Hamas murder. 

But again, these bullet wounds, intended to look fatal and probably succeeding, would have complicated or precluded that assessment that 5 of them just suffocated. Presumably, the relevant experts no longer stand by that call, deferring to the bullet thing. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is these experts pressuring themselves to start with some obviously wrong reading. Anywhere else, you could assume they did that on purpose, because the Human race is mostly "Hamas." But this is the people at Abu Kabir, in Israel.

More likely: the 98th or whoever called in the airstrike that wound up killing everyone inside, with some form of suffocation. They might have known these prisoners were there, or likely had no clue. They probably just left the site buried as they set to burying others, and then just came back later, based on a tip or a hunch on reflection, or because it seemed like the right time to act on that buried knowledge, 

As for the story changes: these would obviously be intended to conceal the truth, and seem to include a date shift of 2 months and an artificial divorce of deaths at the site into two events, and perhaps misreporting some of the identities of the recovered bodies, This could involve using a few secretly recovered bodies from other locations for DNA proof and burial purposes, effectively erasing that many who genuineky were there and had their bodies recovered. That would leave them lacking a story...

Where are Amiram Cooper, Eliyahu Margalit, Ronen Engel, and Itzik Elgarat? Especially Cooper, whom Israel had previously placed as dying alongside Peri, Metzger and Dancyg, "months" prior to June 3. They should be there, per Hamas reports, and Cooper even by Israeli reports. I'm halfway serious in predicting exactly this story is planned: some or all of them - notably Cooper - will turn up somewhere else, and their removal from the site will be said to prove that Hamas guys outlived the prisoners - because they killed them, of course. And it would show how they were starting to remove and hide the bodies, so they were not trapped underground. It will be a small mystery how they became stuck underground and died themselves, in a totally unrelated incident halfway through this process. 

But that will hardly matter once they have absolved Israel of all guilt for killing Netanyahu's friend and these other fairly distinguished people. In time, we may learn of the unfortunate mix-up among the openly-recovered bodies - 7 as it turns out - and some secretly-recovered hostage bodies that "accidentally" helped them to temporarily erase this extremely embarrassing episode.

Narrative Origins?

This discovery came soon after Al-Qassam and Al-Quds brigades published, on August 15, their first ever admission to their own deliberate killing of a hostage. https://t.me/resistmirror1/8641

"After investigating the killing of an enemy prisoner at the hands of his guard, it was found that the conscript assigned to the guard acted in a retaliatory manner, contrary to instructions, after receiving news of the martyrdom of his two children in one of the enemy’s massacres."

It's not specified if this is a recent killing, or a prior development they were just now telling us about. No name is given, but a photo is shown of a wrapped body with his face half-uncovered, modified and perhaps unrelated stock imagery. Perhaps based on the photo, the IDF responded by claiming that victim was already killed and recovered by the IDF way back in November, so he couldn't be just now executed (but again, they didn't specify that). https://t.me/ILtoday/8248

Taking "his body" literally, it's unclear who this refers to. Just 2 bodies I know of were reported as recovered in November: Noa Maciano and Judith Weiss, both female, with different stories. The best fit was perhaps recovered at the end of November, but it was only reported on December 2: Yeshiva World: "It was also announced over the weekend that IDF soldiers in Gaza recovered the body of Ofir Tzarfati, H’yd, whose family was informed on Thursday that he was murdered by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip." The photos I see of Tzarfati bear a decent resemblance to the man in the photo. I had guessed that he died from reportedly severe injuries sustained during his abduction, but it seems he actually was "murdered in captivity," in revenge for his 2 dead children. This term is almost always attached to a killed hostage, but usually it's just a political figure of speech that sounds better than "killed by the IDF, again." But for once it seems to be true.

Anyway, it would be just after this long-sought proof that Hamas also kills the hostages that the supposed intelligence was received allowing the recovery, 5 days later, of those 6 bodies found, and then starting with Metzger, found to have bullets in at least some of them. That seems interesting to me.

Above I noted how Yoram Metzger was the first to have a bullet, and a fatal one, mentioned. Did his wounds look more fatal than the others? Or is this distinction related to his being the only one reported to be a personal friend of Prime Minister Netanyahu?  According to "a leading source in the Qassam [brigade]" and reported on the brigade's official website months back, Metzger, was "a close friend of Netanyahu "according to his confessions" while in detention." https://alqassam.ps/arabic/news/details/19843 As I noted in an earlier post, it was about a day after Hamas confirmed Metzger's death that Netanyahu started querying just how many of the hostages were still alive. Minus his friend and whoever else, was a deal even worth it? He apparently decided it was not, and started insisting on specific and impossible numbers of hostages to be released as a precondition for anything. 

Perhaps an order was sent down that Hamas bullets have to be what killed Netanyahu's personal friend, in particular. No suffocation from an IDF attack can have done it. Lacking such an order for the other 5, perhaps, the doctors initially just called it like they saw it - apparent suffocation, down there in that buried tunnel prison. Only then was a new note of "bullets" attached to whole batch.

2024 Escalations at ZNPP

August 19, 2024

"Dirty Atomic Bomb" Allegations

RT reported on August 16 that, according to military journalist Marat Khairullin “Sources on the other side report that the [Ukrainians] are preparing a nuclear false flag – an explosion of a dirty atomic bomb ... They plan to strike the storage sites of spent nuclear fuel of a nuclear power plant.” Specified as possible targets: the Zaporozhye and Kursk nuclear power plants (hereafter ZNPP  - in Ukraine but Russian-occupied since the 2022 invasion - and KNPP - in Russia, but threated in the ongoing Ukrainian invasion of Kursk). (RT)

A "security official" told RT about the same thing: "Kiev’s intention is to accuse Moscow of a false flag so it could justify using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, the security official said. The Ukrainian government has received orders from its Western backers to “escalate as much as possible,” he added." Unnamed officials were concerned Ukraine already had the capability and a special warhead already in place at the Vostochny Mining and Processing plant in Zhovti Vody (~100km nw of the ZNPP). 

I haven't looked any deeper into this claim, if there's anything public to even look into. But it's worth noting that only the most powerful bomb might seriously damage one of the plant's 6 reactors, and these are all shut down. A "dirty bomb" is radiological, not atomic - it just spreads some radioactive material that causes little harm. And if this bomb also released any stored radioactive material, AFAIK the issue is worse but similar - a moderate, localized leak of radiation, fairly easy to contain and clean up. So this could hardly be more than a stunt to raise concerns and tensions, and wouldn't even serve Russia vey well as a pretext. (as far as I know - I'm no expert)

Of course, Ukraine dismissed the allegations as absurd. But the Russian-occupied ZNPP - the largest nuclear power plant in Europe - has already suffered rocket, artillery, and drone attacks, dozens of them just between April and November, 2022. My previous analysis of the visual evidence (all posts tagged ZNPP - an attempted overview) shows these attacks were launched from the north, northwest, and northeast of the plant - across the Dnieper river on the Ukrainian-held north shore. This is what the Russian-affiliated plant managers had said all along, conducting investigations that tend to comport with my own. Ukraine, of course, denied this and blamed the Russians for shelling themselves, offering no explanation as to why or how they could keep doing that FROM THE NORTH BANK. 

After November, I didn't follow as closely, but it seems there were almost no attacks on the plant. Just one I know of happened in 2023, in April, with muted and delayed reporting, that just broke windows at the turbine hall of reactor 4 (see here, "4/12" entry). Then there was an attack I missed on April 7 this year, using a drone, inside the plant. Images: a small hole punched through a roof, "damage to the training building," the larger office-type building at the plant's main gate. (Zveda) A video shows several broken windows boarded over. IAEA would complain "For the first time since November 2022, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was directly targeted in military action." (IAEA)

Then on July 3, a reported 3-drone attack damaged a power station near the plant, injuring eight ZNPP workers who were there, one of them seriously (msn.com).The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported July 3 that, according to the plant's management, "several drones struck locations in the vicinity of the site today, injuring workers and causing forest fires. These repeated drone attacks are a threat to nuclear safety and people’s lives and must stop, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. The IAEA experts stationed at the ZNPP said they saw thick smoke and heard explosions coming from near the plant’s 750 kilovolt (kV) switchyard after they were told that drones had hit an adjacent forest, starting fires in windy conditions." (update 236) July 11: "The Director General reiterated that an attack last week that reportedly injured eight ZNPP workers at an electrical sub-station in Enerhodar had violated several of the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety during a conflict, notably one on protecting plant staff." (Update 237)

But it seems calm inside the plant held until a week ago. This dirty bomb concern comes on top of three attacks, in the span of one week (August 10-17) on or very near the ZNPP, and as Ukraine's invasion of Kursk oblast in Russia brings them perilously close to the KNPP there, perhaps hoping to occupy or just attack it. In fact, on August 14, it was reported "as a result of the drone attack, an explosion also occurred near the open switchgear of the Kursk NPP." (Rosatom 8/19)  I decided to cover all three incidents in a single post, with some excess detail left off for now.  

August 10 Incident

Around 6PM on August 10, as Vladimir Rogov reports, Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled Energodar - the city surrounding the plant -with at least 9 shells that impacted at the city's main water intake. I didn't find any visuals for analysis and unsure of its location, especially since the river changed shape last year following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam (my research suggests Ukraine and its hydropower agency jointly engineered that disaster, as they attack the nuclear plant, to complicate Russia's position as greatly as possible). 

As Rogov put it in that Telegram post: "The Nazis continue to purposefully try to deprive the residents of this city in the Zaporizhia region of access to drinking water," Rogov wrote. "They do this intentionally - in the summer heat. What is this if not genocide? But all sorts of international "human rights" organizations will not say anything about this, because they work for the owners of ZeReikh - Western intelligence services." Strangely enough, the same was reported at least one other time, one month earlier, by several sources but with Rogov posting almost exactly the same news on July 11 - Ukrainians shelled Energodar's water intake amid the summer heat, followed by perhaps the same exact commentary he would use in August, maybe just copy-pasting it by then. How many times has this happened?

IAEA, August 8: On several occasions over the past week, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) observed several fires at various distances from the ZNPP," some under crucial external power lines which, luckily, were not severed. "Over the weekend, the IAEA experts observed smoke coming from an area  to the north of the ZNPP near the Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP) inlet channel." (update 241) 

The August 10 incident was soon eclipsed by the one discussed below, and didn't get mentioned until a week afterwards, when the IAEA would report "On 10 August ZNPP informed the IAEA team that artillery struck the local power and water substation in the nearby city Enerhodar, home to most ZNPP staff. The attack caused the failure of two transformers, leading to a citywide power outage. As a result, water had to be supplied using diesel generators. On 11 August the IAEA team was informed by ZNPP that power has been restored in the city." (update 245)

Aug 11 Cooling Tower Incident

The first word many heard about this was from Ukraine's president Zelenskyy on X: "Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. ... Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety." It remains strange how he can be so certain "Russia" will stop attacking the plant once Ukrainian troops are inside it instead of their own.

People assumed there was usually nothing flammable at the site, so something was added. They decided on tires. "According to unofficial information received from sources on the opposite coast, the Russians set fire to a large number of automobile tires in cooling towers. Perhaps this is a provocation, or an attempt to create panic in the settlements on the right bank of the former reservoir", - said the head of Nikopol RVA Yevhen. (https://x.com/RussianPropX/status/1822722660272689456) Perhaps they thought this opening scene from The Simpsons was footage of the ZNPP? 

The psychology of the alleged Russian plot is pretty simple: these towers remain for many the only recognizable structure in a nuclear plant, confused by some with the nuclear reactors themselves. In fact, these towers are only used for cooling water, and at the ZNPP are set about kilometer from the nearest reactor, and all six reactors are in cold shutdown. But a huge, visible fire at a cooling tower is perhaps the most visible and understandable sign of danger at the nuclear plant, the best chance at causing a major panic. 

And, of course, the same cartoonish thinking would underpin it if this were a Ukrainian false-flag instead. It's random coincidence that has no reason to paint such a picture, although it could wind up doing so, hypothetically, at this juncture of events.

IAEA reported on the 11th that their team of experts stationed at the site "witnessed thick dark smoke coming from the north-western area of the plant, after hearing multiple explosions throughout the evening. The team was informed that an alleged drone attack on one of the plant’s cooling towers took place today. There is no impact on nuclear safety, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed."

"The IAEA team reported hearing an explosion today at the same time the ZNPP informed them that a drone had allegedly struck one of the plant's two cooling towers." (update 242) Note: "an explosions" heard, "a drone" reported. Many reports will cite 2 drones, but these may be based on confused guesses (see below).

Russian operators Rosatom (via Elena Evdokimova on Telegram (anyone else still miss her on X?)): "On August 11 at 20:20 and 20:32, one of the two cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhya NPP was struck twice directly by Ukrainian attack drones, resulting in a fire with burning internal structures. By 23:30, the main fire was extinguished by the Ministry of Emergency Situations."

"However, the internal structures of the cooling tower were seriously damaged. "The threat of the structure's collapse will be assessed by specialists when the situation allows," Rosatom notes." 

"Dmitry Rogozin published new footage of Zaporizhzhya NPP  ... According to him, the fire at the station was extinguished yesterday by 23:30." Video filmed from the east, inside the plant, into the setting sun - the tower with the fire is partly obscured - lights of a firetruck are visible, apparently between the towers.  https://t.me/readovkanews/84707

ZNPP director Yury Chernichuk: The drone, he said, “entered the tower from above and detonated.” Judging by how fast the fire spread, the official presumes that it carried something such as petroleum or napalm. “The fire spread very fast over a large area,” he added. https://www.rt.com/russia/602490-zaporozhye-npp-ukraine-drone-attack/

"the plastic steam traps caught fire" https://t.me/tass_agency/265728

"The administration of the #ZNPP reported that fire at one of the plant’s cooling towers on August 11 was associated with the burning of plastic separators. A flammable fuel, a container with which was attached to a Ukrainian drone, helped the separators to burst into flames." https://x.com/Amb_Ulyanov/status/1823103504203821488

This talk of structures, mesh and separators refers to one or another elements just above the tower's base, as shown in the following diagram (source: Natural Draft Cooling Tower (Natural Draft Cooling Towers) Explained - saVRee - saVRee)

After cooling the reactors, hot water is piped into the tower (pipe input on the left here) and sprayed into the air. The steam that escapes from the top is waste they try to limit. Droplets are partly captured with a drift eliminator, usually some kind of mesh, and drizzled into the cooling fill below - often a plastic honeycomb material. The warm water runs down the sides of each shaft as cooler air is pulled up the center. Finally, the cooled water drips down into an open basin across the bottom, where it's piped back into the plant for re-use. 

With the ZNPP entirely shut down as it is, the cooling towers were not running. Therefore, the basin, fill and everything would be totally dry and prone to burning in the right circumstances. The tower design is terrible when a fire breaks out - it works like a chimney, with the open bottom sucking in plenty of oxygen to feed the flames from below. An image taken well after dark from the west seems to show the fire worsened, even accounting for image overexposure - fire seems to be shooting out the top here. Note also at the base more fire or glare on the left/north side, closer to the Ukrainian side. 

The IAEA mission was given a chance to do a cursory inspection of the tower the following day, amid the contrary allegation. Would they discover the drones, the burned tires, or neither?  

Russian news outlets with video of this visit and the state of the cooling tower:

Tass 1:42 https://t.me/tass_agency/265856

Readovka 5:33 https://t.me/readovkanews/84777

zveda 0:45 https://t.me/zvezdanews/147687

iz.ru 1:46 https://t.me/izvestia/181663

IAEA Update 243, August 12: "Neither tyre nor drone remains were observed during the walkdown," although they only looked in the basin at the tower's base. "The team confirmed that there were no significant signs of disturbance of the debris, ash or soot located at the base of the cooling tower."  The following video still shows what they mean, and it suggests there was no site cleanup here to remove evidence. Other items seen include a nice square of mesh material and a short section of metal pipe, both seeming the belong somewhere above in the tower. 

Radial metal bands or wire usually remain after tires have burned, but nothing like that was observed. A drone, on the other hand, will be made mostly of plastic that breaks up on impact or detonation, and most of its fragments will probably vanish in such a fire. Who can say if some melted propellor blades or bits of circuit board rendered to ash are scattered in here? So we can be clear there were no tires burnt here, but we can't say one way or another regarding drones.

"[The IAEA team] observed droplets of burnt plastic and fragments of fallen concrete distributed across the cold-water basin. The team assessed that these droplets were consistent with melted and fallen plastic mesh from the fire. Samples of the debris, including burnt and molten plastic, were collected. The lingering odour from the fire was assessed by the team and determined that in the absence of a sulphur smell, was more likely caused from burning plastic" than from burning tires. 

The agency was likely just trying to shut down both sides' politicized allegations and trying to find some random accident, or a different, mysterious attack that fits neither side's story and could cleanly be blamed on someone in the group "both sides." No matching debris for either story is one aspect of this. Another as a new finding that the fire started higher up in the tower than it was reported or assumed. Update 243 also related:

"During the team’s visit to the cooling tower, it determined that the damage was most likely concentrated on the interior of the tower at the water nozzle distribution level, located at roughly ten metres high. The team has requested access to the water nozzle distribution level." Access was not granted at the time, "for safety concerns." (update 243)

A second visit followed the next day, on August 13. "Due to safety reasons, the team observed from ground level as ZNPP staff filmed and photographed the fire damage to the interior of the tower from the water nozzle distribution level, which is approximately 10 meters high. The photographs and video footage were shown immediately to the team." It's not clear how they observed, visually through some gaps in the fill (see their ceiling below), or by watching a video feed. So far, I've seen none of these images published.

“The evidence gathered reinforces our conclusion that the main fire seems unlikely to be at the base of the cooling tower,” Director General Grossi said. From the photos and footage of the cooling tower’s interior, the team identified debris consistent with a significant fire and observed dark scorch marks across the interior of the concrete walls rising from the water nozzle distribution level. No foreign objects or materials were visible." (update 244)

Aug. 11, My Analysis 

Looking at the visuals, I suspect they made the right call. It seems an upper fill was melted, dripping down black as seen, while initial views show the lower fill - a sort of light gray ridged material different from the black, honeycomb type material commonly used. PavewayIV tells me this might be "corrugated bonded PVC sheet fill" that has "been used for the last few decades." I suppose all the fill is the same, with the melted stuff turning black, but there may be a different layer above this. A piece of mesh rests on top. It may be too fine and clogged to be drift eliminator. Maybe the mesh-reinforced remains of some upper fill that mostly burned away? We can see here there's nothing else above that except the sky.

Broader view of this material in its fuller context: It seems all intact, with no visible blast signs or melting. There's also fairly little soot deposited anywhere in this scene. Dark streaks may be just from the dripping material, but in spots it looks more like smoke stains from the fires we saw. However the smoke would vent up, the fire and tower design would make sure it did. But the volume suggested here seems far below what was seen coming out the top, suggesting a much bigger fire raging unseen inside the tower. 

This all suggests the fire was in fact concentrated higher up and probably started out that way, like the IAEA found. Like the absence of drone remains, this elevated fire was seen as refuting Russian claims. But I'm not sure who, if anyone, specified the impact was at the base. The plant's director Chernichuk said the drone(s) “entered the tower from above and detonated.” Someone else may have evidence the other of 2 drones hit the base, or someone may have just guessed that from how the fire wound up there. I would guess that. In fact the whole second drone might be deduced from the knowledge of one coming down, alongside a fire also breaking out at the base.

But if the IAEA was trying to shut down the "Russian version," they failed: the meaningless lack of damage or drone parts and the fire beginning at the water distribution level are fully in line with a drone arson from above as reported. As in the basin, the IAEA reports "No foreign objects or materials were visible" in the fire area. Again, this is strong evidence against tires being burnt up here either, and fairly neutral evidence regarding possible drones.

No obvious blast damage is shown in these bottom views, and there is perhaps none in the upper views.  But little to no damage is expected in the alleged scenario. Just a strong pop would be needed to splash and ignite the liquid. Two drones allows for one to come "down the chimney" and one to hit the base, with both vanishing in the fires. But no base hit seems necessary - the design is for liquids to drain entirely below, and I reason the same would happen here, but with the fluid on fire, melting some plastic, getting too complicated to be sure, and then ... whatever mix of solid and liquid might wind up spread over most of the area to start with, and easily fill the basin as seen, better than the alleged drone blast would. Maybe both drones came down from above, with 2 containers of fuel to spread inside the tower. Or maybe there was only one drone, as some of the best sources say, and some confused guess had others thinking 2 would be needed to explain all that.

The IAEA findings leave other options open: some strange accident in the same area, perhaps involving strangely hidden Russian weapons, or a Russian false-flag, maybe just as described but with Russian drones. However, none of the IAEA's findings seem to contradict the allegations of a deliberate drone attack from the Ukrainian side. All their observations are, in fact, fully consistent with that scenario.

Note: update 244 from the 13th also mentions "During its walkdown and just after requesting access to cooling tower 2, the ISAMZ team was promptly accompanied back to a secure location due to an air raid alarm."

August 17 drone attack

Four days after the IAEA's second colling tower examination, yet another attack was reported. Zaporijie24: "Today at 7 am, a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone dropped a charge on the road that runs along the power units on the outside of the perimeter. Personnel constantly move along this road."

"No one was hurt. But once again, a direct threat to the safety of personnel and the plant was created."

"IAEA inspectors present at the plant were informed of the incident and visited the crash site." (includes 3 photos, including one with inspectors, at right) https://t.me/zaporojie24/11009

Mapping: on the main access road just outside the eastern security perimeter, alongside the spray ponds and fairly near the main, southern entrance. https://x.com/CL4Syr/status/1824751662227210345

IAEA update 245, August 17 

"The nuclear safety situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is deteriorating following a drone strike that hit the road around the plant site perimeter today, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said."

"“Yet again we see an escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. I remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides and for strict observance of the five concrete principles established for the protection of the plant,” said Director General Grossi."

"Earlier today, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) team was informed by ZNPP that an explosive carried by a drone detonated just outside of the plant’s protected area. The impact site was close to the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds and about 100 metres from the Dniprovska power line, the only remaining 750 kilovolt (kV) line providing a power supply to ZNPP."

"The team immediately visited the area and reported that the damage seemed to have been caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payload. There were no casualties and no impact on any NPP equipment. However, there was impact to the road between the two main gates of ZNPP."

The photo at right, facing south towards the training center, shows the road impact with light scoring on the north side of the impact (the small indentation), chipping to the south, including a large chunk knocked lose, and debris spread to the south. This suggests the drone was basically following the road, from north to south, when it hit. That doesn't mean much for most drones than can maneuver and turn any direction, but it's a small detail I can add.

Was it trying for anything specific? Maybe targeting a certain employee on the road who just managed to escape injury? Or was this just a vague signal they wanted to send, or just another random escalation? The external powerlines are very close by (seen in the above photo), but these are vulnerable to fire, and hitting the road is unlikely to start one. Unless maybe it had managed to blow up the car it was targeting?

Below, the partial drone remains as shown in a third photo I know of. I don't know what to make of that, but here it is.

Others Attacks to Come?

If so, I've already made this space to cover it here with updates.

Gaza Genocide: Who Ordered the Water Wells Blown Up?

August 4, 2024

An "Un-Approved" Campaign of Well Destruction?

Let's start with the video we weren't supposed to see. Luckily, Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi caught it on Instagram before it was deleted, and made sure his copy was available to the public. Tirwai reported on Dropsite News, July 28 (with reporting by Ryan Grim and Hind Khoudary).

On Friday, I discovered a video posted on Instagram by an Israeli soldier from the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, showing the calculated demolition of a chief water facility in Rafah. The video, in three parts, shows Israeli soldiers planting explosives inside and around the water pumps of a facility in the occupied city. The video—which is captioned in Hebrew, “Destruction of the Tal Sultan water reservoir in honor of Shabbat”—ends with footage of the water facility being blown up. The soundtrack is a song produced by soldiers of the 51st Golani Brigade with lyrics like, “We will burn Gaza… shake all of Gaza… for every house you destroy we will destroy ten.”

Tirawi's posting of the video on X: https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1816965332952555683

Assuming the event was new, it would be on Shabbat (Saturday), July 27th, perhaps in the pre-dawn hours, but depending on time zones and posting data, it might appear on Friday for some people. Otherwise, it might be a week-old video. Below are two screenshots from the video: soldiers wiring the place, then its detonation. The blast center is not at the main tank, but an attached building and connecting pipes probably crucial to its operation. The water supply in the tank, if any, may have survived. I couldn't say just what capabilities were actually taken out here.

Built in 1999 with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Tel Sultan water station was also dubbed the "Canada Well." I'll mainly call it that here. It was equipped with a large array of solar panels to power the plant even when electricity is scarce or cut-off by Israel. Citing Gaza’s coastal municipalities water utility, Tirawi writes "the Canada well is the main water facility in the city of Rafah and provides services to 50 percent of the city’s residents, mainly in West Rafah." In one blow, these soldiers may have taken out half of Rafah's water supply. 

Tirawi notes Rachel Corrie, the activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, "spent much of her time during the last month of her life helping to protect the municipality workers at the Canada Well" as they repaired damage caused by the bulldozers. In the current war, Tirawi reports, some employees and their family had sheltered in the protected plant until it "was struck without warning, resulting in the deaths of four of its employees’ relatives." In the destruction video, there are no longer any of the old solar panels, and in the close-up views, the place is clearly damaged by at least one previous attack. 

Tirawi writes that "Our exposure of the video on Friday immediately sparked outrage, with some describing it as evidence of war crimes." The soldier who posted the video on Instagram "quickly made his account private and deleted the stories." 

The soldier - Ido Levi - has previously posted videos of him helping destroy a school, a mosque and many homes, attaching genocidal comments to Gazans like "until nothing remains of you." (previous thread by Tirawi on X) So he doesn't seem to be a conscientious whistleblower showing us this. But this is the first time Levi was embarrassed enough to finally make his account private. Apparently, the destruction of the Canada Well was a special crime.

In a next-day update, it was added: "The IDF has not yet provided a comment, but, according to Haaretz, army sources said senior commanders did not approve the destruction of the facility. The military, Haaretz reported, is conducting an initial probe, after which it will determine whether to open an investigation." What, they jump right to pre-investigation initial probe without a pre-probe preliminary survey? This sounds like it's a very serious affair.

They say this was a field decision, if I follow correctly, approved by the 601st Battalion commanders, but allegedly without orders from higher up. But reports soon emerged of "more than 30" water wells in Khan Younis and Rafah, including this one, destroyed by Israeli forces within a ten-day span. Were these all un-approved actions?

"Destruction of Gaza water wells deepens Palestinian misery" by Hatem Khaled, Reuters, July 30

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/destruction-gaza-water-wells-deepens-palestinian-misery-2024-07-30/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter

https://x.com/Reuters/status/1818460331275956514

GAZA (Reuters) -Israel's military blew up more than 30 water wells in Gaza this month, a municipality official and residents said, adding to the trauma of airstrikes that have turned much of the Palestinian enclave into a wasteland ravaged by a humanitarian crisis.

Salama Shurab, head of the water networks at Khan Younis municipality, said the wells were destroyed by Israeli forces between July 18-27 in the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis.

The report adds: "The Israeli military did not respond to the allegations that its soldiers destroyed the wells." The closest they came was a word from "COGAT, the branch of the Israeli military that manages humanitarian activities," who said they stood ready to repair anything damaged, noting that Hamas and other militants "have been known to attack civilian infrastructures and humanitarian aid routes," complicating COGAT's needed help, and perhaps explaining any wells that were recently damaged. 

The article didn't mention the Tel Sultan station, perhaps being written before that news broke. But it is illustrated with a satellite image, obtained last-minute on July 30, of "the Canada Well water facility in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, before the site was damaged in an Israeli Army explosion." (image at right)

If it's true that 30+ wells were destroyed between July 18 and 27, that makes at least 3 per day on average. That should be more abnormal. An Oxfam International report published July 17 had found "Israel damaged or destroyed five water and sanitation sites every three days since the start of this war," or 1.67 per day. So the July bombings would roughly double the usual rate. That's not the clearest indicator of a specific campaign, but it seemed to local authorities like a noteworthy uptick, and this near-doubling came atop all the previous damage, amid worsening summer heat, and (as discussed below) just after polio was discovered in Gaza's wastewater. 

And it was just then they upped the scale to that blast damaging the huge and crucial Canada Well. The video of that was apparently filmed Saturday, July 27, the last day of attacks mentioned in the interview, which was perhaps done as early as the 27th itself. So the attacks might have continued past then, or been meant to. But this likely wound up the capstone of the campaign, and it might have been planned that way, with the biggest blow delivered on the last day by design. 

You wouldn't think this could happen so totally just then without central orders. But I'll suggest it's entirely possible and likely enough. Orders this super-criminal would rather go unspoken, and the motive that would drive such a crime is widely understood and agreed, so that if commanders are given extra latitude to make their own calls, along with subtle hints of what calls to make, many terrible things could "just sort-of happen." This might be a sort of decentralized or "crowdsourced" genocide where the exact blame may be hard to place. 

But central orders or no, I don't see any honest, legitimate, non-genocidal reason to destroy so many water wells. They were openly or tacitly approved, judging by their happening, and the silence that prevailed right up until the video proof was posted. The video publication was probably the only part they didn't approve, and now some staged concern is required. But either way, these remain acts of the state, with responsibility ultimately running to the top. 

Water War Crimes and Germ Warfare Wishes

This destruction would well serve a genocidal agenda repeatedly championed by Israeli leaders close to the war cabinet. Perhaps foremost among these is retired Major General Giora Eiland, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council and an adviser to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. As Younis Tirawi's report noted: "In October... Eiland, laid out the strategy to deprive Palestinians not just of water from outside Gaza, but to disrupt their ability to pump and purify water locally, on the IDF’s radio station, GLZ. ... said Eiland in a Hebrew-language interview. 

“Israel, as I understand, closed the water supply to Gaza ... But there are many wells in Gaza, which contain water which they treat locally, since originally they contain salt. If the energy shortage in Gaza makes it so that they stop pumping out water, that's good. Otherwise we have to attack these water treatment plants in order to create a situation of thirst and hunger in Gaza, and I would say, forewarn of an unprecedented economical and humanitarian crisis.”

The interviewer pushed back. “Giora, I want to check that I understand correctly. You are saying—get the residents of Gaza into thirst, into hunger. These are the terms you are using?”

“You understood correctly,” he said. “If you want to topple the Hamas regime, you won't achieve that merely through aerial attacks. And a ground invasion, it has its benefits, [but] it also comes with great risks, and it's unclear that the state of Israel needs to take these right now.” 

interview: https://api.bynetcdn.com/Redirector/glz/231010-10/PD?awCollectionId=2134&awEpisodeId=231010-10 - video w/original audio and subtitles: https://x.com/loffredojeremy/status/1819436235875664171

Eiland is correct to point out it would cost less soldiers to just sit back and let hunger, thirst, and maybe disease kill Hamas, along with whoever else, but especially children. That could possibly have prevented a ground invasion, but as it happens, the IDF moved in before Eiland spoke again, in an opinion article of 21 November, urging disease be used in particular, to help limit Israeli losses. 

Middle East Eye: “The international community warns us of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and of severe epidemics,” retired Major General Giora Eiland, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council, wrote Sunday. “We must not shy away from this, as difficult as that may be. After all, severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer and reduce casualties among IDF soldiers.”

"Eiland went on to say that the Israeli government must take a “harder line” against the US and rule out discussions about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza until all the hostages held in the besieged enclave are released. The opinion article elicited an endorsement from far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said, “I agree with every word.” " 

Smotrich has repeatedly called for the "voluntary emigration" of surviving Palestinians out of Gaza and its being annexed and settled by Israelis. Justice Minister Itamar Ben Gvir agrees, specifying "hundreds of thousands" of Gazans need to leave, if not all of them. (Times of Israel) And Ben Gvir, of course, agrees with Smotrich on denial of water and/or embrace of germ warfare against the civilian population he wants gone. During a televised discussion in November, Ben Gvir insisted no fuel could be allowed into Gaza, because "we know exactly where it goes," which is to Hamas. Another guest pointed out it's also needed to pump and purify water, which was no longer possible. He asked the minister "You don't want the people in Gaza to have water?" Pretending that lice are the worst problem people face from a lack of water, Ben Gvir declared that, yes ... until the Israeli hostages were released (and Hamas surrendered, etc.), the hostages and everyone else in Gaza should go thirsty; "let there be lice to itch them," he said.  (Middle East Eye on X)

This is not officially Israeli policy, but it doesn't need to be. It's happening anyway, through Israel's actions, shutting off water supplies they controlled and bombing others, gradually eroding Gaza's limited capabilities until, on May 8, the BBC reported "Half of Gaza water sites damaged or destroyed." On June 22, it was reported that five Gaza city workers "were killed by a targeted Israeli airstrike yesterday as they prepared to fix a well and help restore access to freshwater to the local population." (X) On July 17, Oxfam released a report on "Water War Crimes," finding that Israel was "using water as weapon of war," having damaged or destroyed 88% of Gaza's water wells and 100% of its desalination plants. (Israel using water as weapon of war as Gaza supply plummets by 94%, creating deadly health catastrophe: Oxfam  | Oxfam International) 

To be sure, Gaza's water problems predate the war. As far back as 2012, Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) found nearly all of the water in Gaza is polluted and "unfit for drinking," as Commondreams reported. "In five to ten years, Gaza's depleted aquifer, the sole water source, will stop producing water suitable for human consumption." That would be 2022, at the latest. 

It's also alleged that Hamas worsened the problem by digging up functional water pipes to make rockets from, as "Imam of Peace" alleges, citing a Hamas propaganda video: "They’re proud of keeping Palestinians thirsty," he said. But this looks like a barren area near the shore, likely the former Jewish settlement of Gush Khatif. The pipes there would be disconnected, irrelevant, and most likely last used by settlers to help draw down Gaza's water table before they left in 2005. Reports from 2021 said Hamas weapon-makers "repurpose plumbing pipes scavenged from abandoned Israeli settlements and components culled from dud Israeli bombs." In 2020, an Al-Jazeera documentary showed a very similar dig, explaining how the pipes had allowed "Israeli theft of Palestinian water." They're returning property here, not depriving Gazans. That remains Israel's job, self-appointed. 

As the current conflict grinds on, UNICEF's James Elder said on UN TV, July 30 that "average water availability has fallen to between two and nine litres per person, per day" whereas 15 liters for all uses is the WHO-recommended minimum in an emergency, while 3 liters just to drink is "the bare minimum for survival." It's already lower than this in some cases. Reports and images increasingly show children suffering malnutrition and dehydration, sometimes fatal, along with widespread skin diseases, kidney infections, and more. 

By July 19 it was reported that Polio was detected in Gaza's untreated wastewater, which has been widely contaminating other water sources. This means there are active infections, raising serious concerns of a major outbreak of this crippling and often deadly disease, while immunization is lower than it should be, due to the blockade and the war (CNN). This, or any of the other diseases increasing their profile in the hazardous conditions, will cause more than some "itching" and could fulfill Eiland's prophecy and bring Israel's "victory" closer to reality. And it was just then - July 18 - that this accelerated campaign of well-destructions began.

What if Netanyahu Knew?

Amid these events, on July 24, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the US and lectured Congress (or the 3/4 willing to show up) how "we're protecting you" with their actions in Gaza. Five days after Polio was detected, and in the middle of the well-destruction campaign pursuant to that, he would say, among other things:

"Antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred. For centuries, the massacre of Jews was always preceded by wild accusations. We were accused of everything from poisoning wells to spreading plagues to using the blood of slaughtered children to bake Passover matzos. These preposterous antisemitic lies led to persecution, mass murder and ultimately to history’s worst genocide, the Holocaust."

He continued: "Now, just as malicious lies were levelled for centuries at the Jewish people, malicious lies are now being levelled at the Jewish state." And they might even be of a similar character. Was he anticipating claims that Israel was deliberately poisoning the water or, let's say, systematically destroying water wells, branding it an Antisemitic lie in advance? Congressional leaders surely stand by to make that a law. 

He cites the ancient blood libel, an obvious lie originally used by ancient Romans against early Christians, until they Christianized and, as Catholics, shifted the claim onto the Jews. But he cites this alongside two possibly relevant charges - spreading disease and poisoning water - that have emerged in both ancient and modern times. Egyptian authorities alleged both of these together in 1948, when they arrested Israeli soldiers dressed as Arabs, they say, and carrying typhoid germs near a water well in Gaza, apparently planning to poison it. Israel denied the charges, Egypt executed the soldiers anyway, and then in 2022, Israeli historians Benny Morris and Benjamin Z. Kedar found evidence Egypt was right - official documentation of an operation called ‘Cast Thy Bread.’ Bigger operations inside Egypt and Lebanon were planned but called off, while mass poisoning was carried out, mainly in Palestinian areas that had been vacated. It seems the plan was more to prevent their return than to kill the residents, but Morris and Kedar found dysentery and typhoid did wind up spreading at least in the targeted city of Acre. (Haaretz article - Promised Land Museum document - Asharq al-Awsat article)

So Netanyahu lumps in these "antisemitic lies" about water and germ warfare once directed at the Jewish people, that wind up true, at least now that the Jews also have a state. He did this just as Israel was in fact helping the spread of disease in Gaza, largely with water effectively poisoned by their actions. It could still be debated whether they do this intentionally, but when they exacerbate the problem by deliberately destroying existing supplies of relatively pure water, as they were also doing just then, the case gets harder to make.

Commanders of the 601st Engineering Battalion supposedly blew the Canada Well on their own initiative, and not on Netanyahu's orders or with his awareness. So far there's no word on who decided to do the same dozens of times over in just ten days. We surely weren't supposed to see that one video, and we still don't have video proof for any of the others. So we can surmise the operation was all meant to go unseen. 

But the destruction and its devastating implications would become known. So, unless they wanted to take credit for another blatant act of genocide, Israel would need an alternate story. Perhaps Netanyahu was preparing the way for that as well, by citing those past slurs. Maybe the plan was to claim the Palestinians destroyed their own water supply over "Antisemitic fears" that Israel had poisoned the water to deliberately spread disease and, as Giora Eiland put it, bring victory closer. As it so often turns out, the Palestinians "did it to themselves."

This is a rather speculative thought, but it seemed worth airing. A decentralized or "crowdsourced" genocide, as I'm now considering, with top-level awareness and advance propaganda cover by the prime minister - that's may be hard or even impossible to prove, but if true, as I half-suspect, it's one of the evilest things ever, and surely fit for a War Crimes tribunal. What do you think?