Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, said in a widely watched speech that the major 7 October attack was carried out by Israel’s own forces and not Hamas.

Nasrallah insisted that Hezbollah knew nothing about the planning of the attack.

“Even other Palestinian factions were not privy to it, let alone resistance movements abroad,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. He appeared to contradict himself later in the speech and said the 7 October attack was a “100 percent Palestinian operation, planned and executed by Palestinians for the Palestinian cause, it has no relation at all to any international or regional issues.”

Israel said about 3,000 “terrorists” invaded southern Israel for the assault that killed about 1,400 Israelis. Israel said in the first two days of fighting, its forces killed around 1,000 terrorists in Israeli territory and captured another 200, The Times of Israel reported. 

Much of the 7 October attack seems to still be shrouded in secrecy. How could a rag-tag group of 3,000 fighters stage such an elaborate attack while living in one of the most surveilled areas on Earth and against one of the world’s most advanced militaries? (See “WEST SELLS ISRAELI LINE THAT HAMAS ATTACK WAS ‘INTELLIGENCE FAILURE’ GLOSSES OVER FACT THAT NETANYAHU WAS FIGHTING FOR POLITICAL SURVIVAL” 10 Oct 2023.) 

Mondoweiss reported that there is a “growing number of reports that indicate the Israeli military was also responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths” during the attack. These reports claim that Israeli forces were forced to bomb homes and bases on 7 October knowing that Israelis were inside. 

The Grayzone asked, “How many Israeli citizens said to have been ‘burned alive’ were actually killed by friendly fire?”

Yasmin Porat, an Israeli woman, told Israel Radio that there was no doubt that the Israeli military killed numerous citizens. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she said.

Nasrallah went on to accuse Israel of falsely claiming that Hamas beheaded babies—without producing evidence—“whereas the whole world has seen images of Palestinian children bombed in Gaza,” according to The Times of Israel.

“The US must be held accountable and pay the price for the crimes perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, hence resistance movements have attacked and will continue to attack American forces in Iraq and Syria,” he said.

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on how the U.S. continues to keep a large troop presence in the Middle East, despite being uninvited. (See “U.S. PUMPS MIDDLE EAST REGION WITH WEAPONS AS ISRAELI GROUND INVASION LOOMED” 31 Oct 2023, and “PENTAGON REJECTS IRANIAN REPORT THAT AMERICAN FORCES ARE ENGAGED IN GROUND OPERATIONS IN ISRAEL” 31 Oct 2023.)

The U.S. has said it is focused on “supporting Israel’s defense needs” no matter the cost. This blind support has driven a wedge between the U.S. and traditional allies like Jordan and Saudi Arabia who are unhappy with Israel’s brutal mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza and the mass destruction of the tiny city that is densely populated with 2.3 million people.

A senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor that Nasrallah seems to have no interest in joining the war to any major degree. 

“He seems to be folding,” the source said. 

Another Israeli source told the outlet, “Everyone talks about the intensity of the air force attacks on Gaza. But the truth is that the force is only operating at 40 percent of its capabilities, because all eyes are on Nasrallah’s north. If the northern arena ignites, Hezbollah will feel the full capability of the air force.”

Nasrallah made the speech on Friday from an undisclosed location at about the same time U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Israel in a failed attempt to get Israel to agree to a “humanitarian pause.”

He made clear that this is a Palestinian war “totally so, unconnected to other geopolitical issues,” according to Haaretz.