Hostage Updates:

Negotiations are ongoing, though reports indicate that Hamas is demanding that the IDF evacuate the Netzarim Corridor during Phase One, before the release of any hostages and allow the unchecked return of all Gazans to Northern Gaza.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas has not succeeded in firing rockets at Israeli civilians since Sunday.

Thank G-d, the IDF did not announce any fallen soldiers in Gaza today.

Three divisions of IDF troops are currently operating in Gaza: the 99th Division along the Netzarim Corridor, and on pinpoint operations in parts of Northern Gaza and neighborhoods of Gaza City; the Gaza Division in the buffer zone; and the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor. Over the last day, the IDF struck more than 50 terror targets in Gaza.

The IDF has been carrying out around 35 airstrikes daily, targeting Hamas infrastructure and positions, including rocket launchers and tunnel shafts.

After a little over a week, the IDF’s 98th Division completed their mission in Khan Younis, and withdrew today. During the operation, troops eliminated over 150 terrorists, prevented Hamas from re-establishing in Khan Younis, demolished tunnels and other Hamas sites, and importantly, rescued the bodies of five hostages.

While the IDF has not yet entered Nuseirat, after calling for its evacuation, today the IDF used a drone strike to eliminate a prominent Hamas commander who was responsible for the Nuseirat battalion’s anti-tank fire.

IDF troops stationed along the Netzarim corridor carried out raids on Hamas outposts, and eliminated several armed terrorists.

In Rafah, the IDF is continuing with a very thorough search to locate all the tunnels in the city. Hamas has booby trapped almost every building in Rafah, leading the IDF to need to search every building with a drone before entry, and then blow up a majority of them. The IDF needs to be extra cautious, in case hostages are in any of the buildings. There are certain areas in and near Rafah which the troops have not yet entered, but have surrounded. While this may be a military strategy, it may also be due to suspicion and caution of hostages being held there.

Out of the 251 hostages abducted, 111 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead. During a recent raid in Khan Younis, the IDF recovered the bodies of five hostages buried in a tunnel, thanks to precise intelligence from detained terrorists. The bodies were in a wall behind a tunnel, which would have been near impossible to find without the “assistance” of the terrorists who were in the know. This find, while a significant success, also points to the difficulties ahead. As time goes on, the IDF is both able to gather more intelligence from a wider pool of arrested terrorists, and also is losing the possibility of finding some bodies, since the terrorists who know their whereabouts are all being eliminated.

The IDF believes that destroying Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure is taking away Hamas’s “freedom of action,” and is leading the IDF to victory. The results are visible in battle, with operations moving incomparably quicker and more effectively now than in earlier stages of the war. With terrorists increasingly forced to operate overground, coupled with the mass of intelligence being gathered from arrested terrorists, troops are locating tunnels and Hamas bases at a significantly quicker rate, and terrorists are much quicker to surrender.

Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:

Today (July 30) 148 Gazan patients, including children, exited Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing and Ramon airport for medical treatment in the UAE. The humanitarian operation was carried out under the leadership of the UAE, in cooperation with Israeli authorities and the World Health Organization. At all steps of the operation, medical professionals were readily available to assist the patients, and security measures were taken to ensure the safety of civilians and personnel. The patients and their guardians underwent security assessments.

There are 3 water pipelines from Israel, supplying water to Gaza.
This is in addition to water pumping facilities, water entering as humanitarian aid, and the UAE water lines from Egypt.

On July 29th:
246 trucks carrying humanitarian goods were transferred to Gaza.
6 tankers of cooking gas designated for the operation of essential infrastructure were transferred.

Hundreds of trucks worth of aid are waiting to be collected from the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom Crossing by the UN aid agencies.

Northern Front Updates:

The past two days continues with Hezbollah firing heavily on Israel’s far Northern communities. Homes were hit, and several wildfires broke our in the Yi’ron, Yiftach, Metula, and Beit Hillel areas.

A civilian was killed today by Hezbollah rocket shrapnel in Kibbutz HaGoshrim, as he was unloading groceries from his car. He is named as:

Nir Popko, 28, a farmer who stayed to tend to his crops in Kibbutz HaGoshrim.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led attacks have killed 25 civilians in Israel, and 18 IDF soldiers. Hezbollah has fired over 6,500 rockets at Israel since October 8th. (For comparison, in the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired around 4,000 rockets at Israel.)

On Mondays, for the second time in recent days, The Israeli Navy intercepted a Hezbollah drone which was heading towards Israel’s Karish gas field.

Today, in response to the murder of 12 children in Majdal Shams, the IDF successfully eliminated Hezbollah’s most senior commander, with an airstrike in Beirut. Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, is the most senior commander of Hezbollah’s military, the right-hand man of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council.

According to the IDF, Shukr has been managing all of Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel since October 7th. Shukr joined Hezbollah in 1985, and rose through the ranks, from where he directed numerous attacks against Israel, including the abduction of the IDF soldiers from the Mount Dov area in 2000. Over the last decades, Shukr was “responsible for the majority of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including precise-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets, and UAVs” and for the terror group’s “force build-up, planning, and execution of terror attacks against the State of Israel.”

Saudi researcher Ali Muhammad al-Husseini says that Shukr was a far bigger deal than people think. In his words: “I know him very well. Hajj Mohsen is not number two, he is number one in Hezbollah. He is one of the founders and was more important than Imad Mughniyeh. He even came before Hassan Nasrallah. He is the first senior member of the Hezbollah Jihad Council. He is Hezbollah’s [equivelant to] Qassem Soleimani, at every level.”

Shukr was also wanted by the FBI, with a $5 million bounty in his head, for his involvement in the 1983 bombing of the marines barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. service members.

Israel Hayom reports that the attack was carried out in broad daylight by fighter jets with the assistance of UAVs (drones). The attack was approved by the Prime Minister on Sunday, after receiving accurate intelligence information. The IDF took a risk with the attack, knowing that the situation could deteriorate, but also signaling to Hezbollah’s leadership the extent of the IDF’s capabilities, and that their lives are all personally at stake.

According to reports, Hezbollah is currently consulting with Iran on a response. It is too early to know if they will choose to move to an “all out war,” or continue with an attempted measure-for-measure response. The IDF is on high alert, in preparation for any possible retaliation.

The IDF has not yet changed Homefront Command instructions, but recommends that everyone stay vigilant, and follow current guidelines. Many cities in the north have opened public bomb shelters, and instructed residents to stay near shelter.

In a press conference, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari emphasized, “We are not looking to go to war, but we are well prepared for it. Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon and the entire Middle East into an escalation.”

Judea and Samaria Updates:

A terrorist attempted to stab Israeli soldiers at a junction near Beit Einun in Judea and Samaria, and was shot before he could do any harm.

Prisoner Abuse Investigation:

Yesterday the IDF arrested nine reservists at the Sde Teiman detention facility, for questioning over suspicion of abuse of a detained terrorist, and conduct unbecoming of a soldier. One soldier, who was not a primary suspect, has since been released from custody.

The incident occurred three weeks ago, when, according to the Honenu legal organization, a detained Hamas commander from Jabaliya who was being transferred from Ofer prison to Sde Teiman, attempted to grab a soldier’s taser. Additional soldiers were called to assist in detaining the terrorist and searching him—including searching bodily orifices where stolen items may have been hidden. The soldiers who assisted in containing and searching the terrorist are being accused of abuse, after the terrorist presented at the hospital with severe injuries, including internal injuries. The terrorist was previously involved in a violent incident with other prisoners.

Any form of torture or abuse of terrorists or any prisoners is strictly forbidden in the IDF, and therefore any allegations are taken extremely seriously. The accused soldiers will be investigated thoroughly, and until then are considered innocent until proven guilty.

Notably, none of the lawyers representing the reservists claim that they did abuse the terrorist and were right to do so, even though these are reservists who have been on the frontlines and left their families at home since October 7th, and have seen the atrocities of the terrorists who they handle, and deal with their violence on a day-to-day basis. Abuse of detainees of any kind is against IDF values across the board, and against Torah values. The reservists’ representation insist that they did not abuse the terrorist, and claim that any injuries sustained by the terrorist during the incident were due to a difficult search.

After the reservists were detained yesterday, a large and unruly protest of over 1,000 people, including two Knesset members from the Otzma Yehudit party, arrived at Sde Teiman, and later, dozens broke into the Beit Lid base, where the reservists are being questioned.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was forced to leave important meetings preparing for the attack on Hezbollah in order to address the situation, and visit Beit Lid. “We came to Beit Lid… to make sure that nothing more serious happens. The arrival of rioters and attempts to break into the bases is serious behavior, against the law, bordering on anarchy, harming the IDF, the security of the state and the war effort,” Halevi said. He added support for the investigation, stating that “It is precisely these investigations that protect our soldiers in Israel and the world and preserve the values ​​of the IDF.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu released a statement calling on the protesters to calm down, and strongly condemning those who broke into the Beit Lid IDF base.

The soldiers under question also requested a halt to unruly protests, saying that it only harms them further.