By the end of the 1950s, most scholars and archaeologists concluded that all of the ancient scrolls hidden in the caves of Qumran had been located or lost and that further expeditions would be in vain. But Oren Gutfeld of Hebrew University and Randall Price of Liberty University in Virginia are convinced that this assessment is incorrect, and in 2017 they began digging in caves high above the Dead Sea that had previously been surveyed, but never properly excavated. They completed their third season of digging last week, and plan to resume in 2020. While they have not yet found more scrolls, they’ve discovered ample evidence that they’re looking in the right places, as Amanda Borschel-Dan writes. (Pictures and video can be found at the link below.)

[N]o one knows the whereabouts of the Eastern Syriac patriarch Timothy’s particular cave, described in a letter [he wrote around 800 CE about a Bedouin who found ancient Hebrew scrolls] in the vicinity of Jericho. Perhaps it was fully emptied, its scrolls used by the [Jerusalem Jewish] community and eventually deposited in the Cairo Genizah. Or maybe it is one of the eleven major caves that held the 900-plus manuscripts and 15,000 tiny text fragments that have been unearthed since the besieged Qumran community stashed them away from the Romans circa 68 CE.

Or maybe, just maybe, Timothy’s cave is still out there to be discovered. If so, Gutfeld is positioning his team to find it—as well as a wealth of information on the people behind the Dead Sea Scrolls and their everyday lives. The previous two excavation seasons of [what is known as] Cave 53 bear out the possibility of overlooked artifacts. . . .

[S]o far, the team has discovered indications of “scroll activity”—accessories including jars, textile wrappings, and leather ties [that would have been used to store scrolls]. This winter, the team also examined a pair of hard-to-enter elevated caves, reachable only with full climbing gear and metal guides hammered into the rock. . . .

The cave complex also offered signs of much earlier habitation. Within moments of arriving at the terrace outside its mouth, Gutfeld bent over and picked up several pieces of pottery. In one hand he held a few shards from the Second Temple period. In another, prehistoric pottery from thousands of years ago, possibly Neolithic or Chalcolithic. Other prehistoric finds include arrow and spear heads, flint blades, an interestingly carved carnelian seal, and a piece of precious obsidian, which would have somehow made its way from Turkey.

Tamir Hayman analyzes the latest reports about an offer by Hamas to release three female soldiers in exchange for 150 captured terrorists, of whom 90 have received life sentences; then, if that exchange happens successfully, a second stage of the deal will begin.

If this does happen, Israel will release all the serious prisoners who had been sentenced to life and who are associated with Hamas, which will leave Israel without any bargaining chips for the second stage. In practice, Israel will release everyone who is important to Hamas without getting back all the hostages. In this situation, it’s evident that Israel will approach the second stage of the negotiations in the most unfavorable way possible. Hamas will achieve all its demands in the first stage, except for a commitment from Israel to end the war completely.

How does this relate to the fighting in Rafah? Hayman explains:

In the absence of an agreement or compromise by Hamas, it is detrimental for Israel to continue the static situation we were in. It is positive that new energy has entered the campaign. . . . The [capture of the] border of the Gaza Strip and the Rafah crossing are extremely important achievements, while the ongoing dismantling of the battalions is of secondary importance.

That being said, Hayman is critical of the approach to negotiations taken so far:

Gradual hostage trades don’t work. We must adopt a different concept of a single deal in which Israel offers a complete cessation of the war in exchange for all the hostages.