Suspected Hamas terrorists detained in Gaza
The White House said on Thursday that it would not impose a time limit on Israel in its fight to eradicate Hamas in Gaza. If the war ended now, the Islamist group would continue to pose a threat, White House national security aide Jon Finer said. He also said the U.S. believes Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is involved in planning, executing and authorizing missile and drone attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea.
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The military said it identified rockets targeting Israeli launched in Syria and in Lebanon. The troops returned fire to the source, the IDF said. A resident of Kibbutz Gesher Haziv was killed from anti-tank fire earlier in the day.
On a visit to the north, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group opens an all-out war against Israel, it would be turning Beirut and the south of the country into Gaza. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and IDF commanders in the north for a security briefing.
The prestigious and largest literary group Penn American on Thursday, issued a statement voicing deep concerned about the destruction of, and damage to educational and cultural sites in Gaza, including museums, libraries, churches, mosques, cultural centers.
“In moments of conflict, culture takes on even greater weight as a means of reminding us of our shared humanity, and of the stories we tell that can foster empathy and preserve the histories and narratives that might otherwise be lost. We call on the Israeli government and Hamas to urgently meet their international human rights obligations to minimize damage to civilian infrastructure, including buildings of cultural significance," they said.
A Pentagon Spokesperson said on Thursday that the U.S. has resumed military drone flights over Gaza to aid in the search for hostages taken by Hamas after they were paused during the truce which collapsed last week. "In support of hostage recovery efforts, the U.S. has resumed unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, and we continue to provide advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts," Lisa Lawrence, said in a statement.
Images emerging from the Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon showed dozens of men, suspected of being Hamas terrorists, who were detained by IDF forces, stripped down to their underway and in some cases had their hands tied.
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Troops guard suspected Hamas terrorists who were detained in Gaza
(Photo: Mossad Commentary)
The pictures, that were disseminated from the Strip were likely taken in recent days.
Gal, the son of Gadi Eizenkot was killed in Gaza on Thursday. He was 25 and served as a medic in the reserves after completing his compulsory service in the elite Maglan special operations force. The military released the names of four other soldiers who were also killed. Eizenkot is a former chief of staff and current member of the war cabinet.
The military also named Sergeant major (res.) Jonathan David Deitch as a fatality in the war.
Earlier the IDF announced the death of Sergeant First Class (res.) Maor Gershoni, 24, from Yokne'am Illit, was killed in fighting on Wednesday in the northern Gaza Strip.
The MDA said in the afternoon that a 60-year old man was killed after sustaining critical injuries when anti-tank missiles were fired at his car in the Galilee.
The IDF said that its forces killed Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior member of Hamas’ military intelligence unit in an attack of the terror group's intelligence command center along with another senior member of the group. "Rantisi had been responsible for field intelligence in the Gaza Strip and participated in the planning of the October 7th massacre," the military said in a statement.
The military spokesperson showed the foreign media a recording of Hamas terrorists launching 12 rockets toward Beer Sheva in southern Israel. The rockets were launched near the tents of Gazan citizens who were evacuated to the south of the Gaza Strip for their protection and near United Nations' facilities. "@UN, hear a loud noise yesterday? That was the sound of 12 Hamas rockets launched toward Israeli civilians in southern Israel. Hamas is the enemy of humanity and makes itself a threat to the entire world," reads an IDF tweet on the X platform. The IDF also noted that one of the rockets misfired, putting many Gazan civilians at risk.
On Thursday morning, a number of launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified. In response, the IDF fired toward the sources of the launches. Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanese territory. Among the targets struck were terrorist infrastructure, launch posts, military posts, and military sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
A Reuters investigation published on Thursday alleges that an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah and wounded the six other reporters in south Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling from a distance.
Amnesty International responded that the strikes were likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime. Human Rights Watch, in a separate statement, said the two Israeli strikes were "an apparently deliberate attack on civilians and thus a war crime."
Labor party head Merav Michaeli announced Thursday she intends to move up the party’s primary election to April 2024,and that she won’t be running and instead resign from political life.
After 16 hours of quiet, rocket warning sirens sound in Gaza-border communities.
The IDF on Thursday morning announced the names of two more soldiers killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip. Staff Sgt. Amit Bonzel, 22, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Shoham, was killed Wednesday in a battle in the center of the Gaza Strip. In addition, Staff Sgt. Alemnew Emanuel Feleke, 22, from Kiryat Gat, a soldier in the Commando Brigade’s Duvdevan unit, died Wednesday after being wounded in a battle on December 5 in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF also announced that in the battle in which Bonzel fell three soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were seriously wounded. Another reserve soldier was seriously injured in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
The 188th Armored Brigade, together with the Paratroopers and Golani Brigades, is in action for the fourth day in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, which has become the focus of the most persistent and difficult fighting since the resumption of the ground operation. In the last day, there were more than 50 encounters with terrorist squads in the neighborhood, and nearly 200 terrorists were eliminated.
The forces occupied the neighborhood from several directions, including from the border with Israel. The forces are also operating in the dense Shijaiyah marketplace, and most of the encounters involve the firing of RPG missiles from close ranges at the tanks and snipers. The army estimates that it will take a few more long days to achieve operational control and cleanse the large neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. The forces have also so far located dozens of tunnel shafts in Shijaiyah.
At the same time, the battles also continue in Khan Younis and Jabaliya. In Khan Younis, terrorists were eliminated and dozens of terrorist targets were attacked from the air. A Duvdevan force from the Commando Brigade's combat team encountered a terrorist squad that came out of a tunnel shaft and killed two terrorists in the encounter, and also destroyed the shaft. Team The 460th Brigade fought battles in the area of Jabaliya, where soldiers raided a military outpost of Hamas' Jabaliya Center Battalion. During the raid several terrorists were eliminated, according to the IDF. Forces also located a network of underground tunnels leading outside of the outpost, as well as a training complex and a munitions warehouse in the area of the outpost. Naval forces, attacked terrorist infrastructures and military compounds of the terrorist organization using precision weapons and mortar shells.
Overnight, the U.S. Senate fails to approve the aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which amount to $50 billion and $14 billion dollars respectively, despite US President Joe Biden's personal appeal to the legislators. The money for Ukraine was the most essential element of the legislation and the biggest point of contention among the legislators, because of the Republican opposition to the continuation of funding to that country's war effort. The budget proposal will now go back to the drawing board, with Biden already hinting that he would be willing to reach a compromise.
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Hostages returned to Israel in Red Cross vehicle
(Photo: Reuters /Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
Egyptian sources told the Qatari news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Thursday morning that Cairo estimates that there could be a return to the deal to release the hostages in exchange for a truce. The source said that there are movements on the part of Israel to initiate a new prisoner exchange deal, and that in recent hours there have been Israeli contacts with senior officials in Egypt to check the feasibility of this. According to the source, Israeli officials discussed the possibility of a hostage release deal that includes female soldiers, elderly people and wounded soldiers. In addition, it was hinted that Israel would meet Hamas' demands for the release of sick and elderly prisoners, including those with blood on their hands.
The report comes after the head of Hamas's political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed the movement's "willingness to resume negotiations for the exchange of all prisoners and to reach a comprehensive agreement if the fighting in Gaza stops," according to a report by the Egyptian channel Al-Qahera el-Ekhbariya.
The Cabinet approved doubling the amount of fuel supplied to Gaza in a meeting late on Wednesday in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
The decision was made amid pressure from the Biden administration that wanted the fuel supply up from 60,000 liters per day to 180,000 liters. There was no statement detailing how much fuel would be allowed to be delivered but Defense Minister Yoav Gallant early suggested that there would be an initial supply of 120,000 liters that would be increased only if Hamas allowed the Red Cross to visit the refugees and deliver medications to them.
The Washington Post reported late on Wednesday that in the efforts to fool Israel into believing Hamas had no intention of launching its attack, the terror group supplied the military with intelligence on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, the second largest Islamist faction in the Strip. Israel clashed with the PIJ in 2021, while Hamas remained out of the conflict.
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Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists shake hands during a release of Israeli hostages
(Photo: AFP)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the Security Council of a global threat from the Gaza war as Arab states seek to leverage that to renew a push for the council to call for a cease-fire. He evoked section 99 of the UN charter which states: "The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security." The article has not been used for decades, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The IDF announced Wednesday evening that the 98th Division is fighting for the first time in the heart of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
First published: 09:03, 12.07.23