—These updates will be off schedule while I travel for the next few weeks—thank you for your patience!—
Hostage Updates:
The IDF announced the death of hostage Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, 39, from the southern Bedouin community of Sa’wa. New intelligence findings indicated that al-Atrash was killed on October 7th, before Hamas terrorists took his body hostage. Muhammad served as a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade.
Gaza Front Updates:
Since Monday, Hamas fired 10 barrages of rockets at Israeli civilian communities near the Gaza border, including one at the city of Ashkelon (population: 130,000), while children were in school. The children in Ashkelon had 30 seconds to run to shelter. Two people were treated for injuries while running, all rockets headed to populated areas were intercepted by the Iron Dome, no significant damage was reported.
Thank G-d, miraculously, the IDF did not announce any fallen soldiers.
Three divisions of IDF troops are currently operating in Gaza: the 99th Division along the Netzarim Corridor, and in select neighborhoods of Gaza City and Central Gaza; The Gaza Division in various areas in Gaza on pinpoint operations, and in the buffer zone; and the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor.
The IDF has been carrying out dozens of targeted airstrikes daily, hitting Hamas infrastructure, including tunnel shafts, weapons depots, and rocket launchers. Hamas spread these sites everywhere across Gaza, with no heavy concentration of weapons in any one place, but rather an even distribution to a) make it more accessible to Hamas terrorists wherever they are, and b) make it difficult for the IDF to destroy Hamas’s terror infrastructure.
Now that many tunnels are destroyed, more Hamas terrorists are gathering in locations above ground, and the IDF is also using intelligence-based airstrikes to eliminated those terrorists. Some examples:
– On Monday, a drone strike eliminated terrorist commander Muhammad Salah, who was a signifiant player in the Hamas strategic weapons development departments.
– On Tuesday, a drone strike eliminated Fadi Jihad Muhammad al-Wadiya, who the IDF says was involved in “the development and advancement of the organization’s missile array.” Al-Wadiya was also mourned by Doctors Without Borders, an NGO which wrote on their French X/twitter page: “We are outraged and strongly condemn the killing of our colleague, Fadi Al-Wadiya, in an attack this morning in Gaza City…. while he was cycling to work, near the Doctors Without Borders clinic where he was providing care.”
– Fighter jets struck a building at Gaza City’s Islamic University, which Hamas terrorists were using to gather and as a base to launch anti-tank missiles and other attacks at IDF troops. The IDF took many steps to avoid harming civilians in the attack.
– An drone strike in Southern Gaza eliminated Wissam Abu Ishaq, who was involved in smuggling weapons through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt—both above and below ground.
– In Gaza City’s Shati and Daraj neighborhoods, the IDF carried out airstrikes to eliminate terrorists who were involved in the October 7th massacre, including some who were involved in taking hostages. The terrorists were hiding in school buildings, between many civilians. The IDF used precision munitions to avoid harming civilians. At least 18 terrorists were eliminated in the strikes, including the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (who lives in Qatar).
The IDF is expanding the Netzarim corridor, which divides the South from the North of Gaza. New infrastructure is being set up near Nuseirat and the coastal “Prisoner’s Neighborhood,” to prevent terrorists from breaking into Northern Gaza.
The IDF is making significant advancements in Rafah, where Hamas’s Rafah brigade, while still not entirely annihilated, is no longer functional as an organized fighting group. Troops have advanced deep into the strategic Tel Sultan neighborhood.
The IDF destroyed the entire “Swedish village,” which was on the south-western coast of Rafah and infested with tunnels and smuggling infrastructure. The village was replaced with an IDF outpost, named the “Asaf Outpost,” after Col. Assaf Hammi, the commander of the Katif Brigade in the Gaza Division, who was murdered on October 7th.
There are reports in Gaza of major violence between Hamas and family clans, with Hamas assassinating heads of clans who they see as threats, and burning several tent homes down.
Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:
On Tuesday, June 25th:
299 Humanitarian aid trucks were transferred to Gaza
40 tons of medical supplies—including medicine for diabetes, burn treatment, antibiotics, anesthetics and more—donated by the Kingdom of Morocco, was transferred to Gaza
1 tanker of fuel and 6 of gas designated for the operation of essential infrastructure in Gaza, entered Gaza
A convoy of medical teams from the UAE entered Gaza on Monday.
Over 1,500 trucks worth of aid are waiting at the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing and at the offloading area of the JLOTS pier. The UN is not picking up and delivering the aid they are supposed to, claiming it’s not possible, however, independent NGOs have managed to collect and deliver 701 trucks since the start of June.
On Tuesday, Hamas launched attacks against IDF troops who were escorting a UN humanitarian aid convoy in Central Gaza. The convoy was a partnership with UNICEF, on a mission to reunite children from Northern Gaza with family members in Southern Gaza. No troops were injured in the attacks.
Northern Front Updates:
Hezbollah continues to fire heavily on Israeli communities in Israel’s far north, causing multiple wildfires, and damaging dozens of homes over the last few days.
The IDF continues to strike Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon, and eliminating active terrorists.
On Monday, the IDF struck a Hezbollah air defenses storage site deep in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek.
Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands, amongst other countries, have warned their citizens to leave Lebanon.
In a last-ditch effort to prevent a wider war, the U.S. has, according to a Politico report, warned Hezbollah that it will not be able to prevent Israel from invading, in order to stop their attacks, and will in fact assist Israel (with weapons shipments) if needed.
It’s estimated that the war will begin in the next few weeks, although diplomatic efforts still continue. The U.S. and Israel are discussing a possibility of an agreement with Hezbollah once the war in Gaza moves to Phase Three, which will begin when the Rafah operation is complete.
According to reports from the Alma Research and Education Center (which studies dangers on Israel’s Northern border, and Hezbollah in particular), Hezbollah has hundreds of kilometers of tunnels under Southern Lebanon, in a network which is much larger and more sophisticated than Hamas’s. The research center obtained a map, which may indicate the locations of many of the tunnels.
Houthi & Iraqi War Front Updates
On Tuesday night, the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched an attack drone towards Eilat. The IDF failed an initial attempt to intercept the drone, which then crashed into the sea, causing no harm, thank G-d.
Jordanian security forces claim to have destroyed explosives hidden in a commercial warehouse east of the capital Amman. According to security sources, Iran is connected to the incident. The circumstances are being investigated.
Judea and Samaria Updates:
The IDF announced that earlier this month, Amar Nasrallah, a terrorist from Bat Hefer, was arrested in Tulkarem. In interrogations, Nasrallah admitted to carrying out several shooting attacks, and incriminated other suspects belonging to his terror cell.
Nightly counterterrorism raids continue in Judea and Samaria. On Monday night, the IDF arrested 24 suspects and confiscated weapons—including a stockpile of weapons found in a building in Bethlehem. On Tuesday night, four wanted persons were arrested, and the IDF forces located a significant cache of anti-tank weapons, including three long weapons, about 40 stun grenades, and other military equipment. Since the start of the war 4,100 wanted persons have been arrested and more than 530 armed terrorists eliminated.
General Updates:
According to a Reuters report: A senior White House official confirmed that during Gallant’s talks in Washington in recent days, progress has been made in solving problems related to the supply of weapons to Israel. However, as far as the delivery of the one-ton bombs frozen by President Biden is concerned, no progress has been made and the issue is still under consideration.
