Hostages:
It’s now confirmed that Hamas officials left Qatar, and are in Turkey. Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, has already travelled to Turkey to attempt to jumpstart negotiations from there, with the help of Turkish officials (who are publicly no fans of Israel).
Qatar insists that they sent Hamas off not due to pressure, but at their own decision, because negotiations weren’t going anywhere. However, Qatar has not yet completely closed Hamas’s office in Doha, and there is still a possibility that they will allow them to return when the pressure is off, or when they can claim that there is progress in negotiations.
Turkey has not yet opened an office for Hamas locally. The U.S. State Department previously warned then against hosting Hamas, and there are unconfirmed reports that the U.S. is demanding they extradite the Hamas officials to the U.S. for trial.
Gaza:
The IDF announced the name of a hero who fell in battle in Northern Gaza:
Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, 21, from Mevaseret Zion
In Northernmost Gaza (Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya), the IDF has eliminated over 1,300 terrorists over the last month, and estimate that between 100 – 200 remain in the area.
IDF troops correctly anticipated that Hamas terrorists would attempt to escape Jabaliya on Monday night, under the cover of the first heavy rain and fog. Troops set up ambushes, and eliminated around 40 terrorists.
It is now an “open secret” that the IDF is aiming to completely clear out Northern Gaza, and apply military control of the area. There are reports that the IDF will soon begin organizing all humanitarian aid transfer, in order to cut out the NGOs and UN organizations that either coordinate with Hamas, or are easily looted by them.
In an unusual move, this week the IDF allowed Jordanian air force helicopters to deliver aid to Gaza, via Crossing 147 (Kissufim). The delivery comprised of 720 packages weighing a total of 7,200 kilograms, that included hygiene and sanitation supplies, food, baby formula, and medical equipment, and 30 different types of medications.
In addition, a daily average of 120 humanitarian aid trucks are transferred to Gaza, along with 6 tankers of cooking gas. While the cooking gas is designating for humanitarian aid organizations, Hamas is known to take most of it to power their tunnels, where hostages are held.
Approximately 850 trucks worth of aid are waiting for collection by UN organizations.
On Monday, UNRWA stated that a convoy of UN aid was violently looted a few days earlier, and 97 trucks were stolen. UNRWA went on to blame Israel for “food shortages” caused by the looting. However, UNRWA, and later a UN spokesperson, refused to mention that it was Hamas who looted the trucks.
Lebanon:
The IDF announced three heroes who fell in battle in Lebanon:
Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Moshe Gaeldor, 30, from Jerusalem
Sgt. First Class (res.) Eitan Ben Ami, 22, from Jerusalem
Major (res.) Zeev Erlich, 71, from Ofra
Despite his age, Ze’er Erlich has reported for reserve duty multiple times during this war. However, in this instance, he entered in a civilian role, in his profession as a historian a geographer, to examine an archeological site. He entered together with a senior IDF officer and small group of soldiers, armed, and in full uniform. The area he was visiting was previously thought to have been cleared of Hezbollah, however, two terrorists were in hiding, and ambushed the group. A gunfight broke out, in which Erlich was killed. Due to his ongoing service, and participation in the gun battle, the IDF recognized Erlich as a fallen soldier.
Hezbollah rocket and drone fire is on a downward trend, from a peak daily average around 200, to 50, and even just 20 today. Most rockets target Northern Israel, with occasional launches at the Tel Aviv area, which Hezbollah says will happen whenever Israel targets Beirut. The vast majority of projectiles are intercepted by Israeli air defenses, however, the past few days still had several severe incidents, with one death and a large number of injuries.
On Monday, a Hezbollah rocket impacted a small residential building in the northern Arab town of Shfar’am. 56 victims were brought to the hospital for treatment, most for acute anxiety, but several for severe injuries—including a four-year-old boy. One woman, named as Safaa Awad, 41, was killed in the impact. Awad was in her home bomb shelter when the rocket hit, however, it was found that her shelter was not built to code. In addition to structural failures, the room had a layer of ceramic tiles on the walls, which shattered from the impact of the rocket, and killed her.
In another incident, air defenses intercepted a missile over the Tel Aviv area, but the missile head failed to detonate in the air, and instead exploded when it landed. The missile head landed in the dense urban area where Ramot Gan meets Bnei Brak. Thank G-d, it only landed on an empty city bus, which went up in flames. Five people were injured from shrapnel, including a 54-year-old woman in serious condition.
Other serious incidents included people injured in the Tel Aviv area from broken glass due to shrapnel, a direct impact on a home in Karmiel that lightly injured one person, and a direct impact on a preschool in Acre just 20 minutes after the kids left.
The IDF carried out around 150 airstrikes against Hezbollah positions during the first half of the week, including several in the Dahieh district Beirut. Tonight, new evacuation warnings were given for specific buildings in Dahieh, indicating more strikes to come.
There are now four IDF divisions operating in Lebanon: the 98th, 91st, 36th, and 146th. The troops are searching for Hezbollah rocket launchers, weapons, and tunnels, which are well hidden in the mountainous terrain and village homes. Many Hezbollah tunnels are dug deep into mountains, and are too difficult to destroy by air—combat engineers instead need to be brought in to blow them up (a fun, but very dangerous job).
The 98th Division (which is usually the one to go first) has moved into new areas of Southern Lebanon. Reports indicate that they have reached the southern side of the strategic Al Bayyada Hill and are close to completing an encirclement of Hezbollah’s south-western sector.
Hezbollah barely announces deaths anymore, and officially only claims 521 fatalities. The IDF estimates that over 3,000 Hezbollah terrorists have been eliminated thus far.
For the second time, the commander of Hezbollah’s medium-range rocket unit (which targets Northern Israel), was eliminated in an airstrike. Ali Tawfiq Douek was eliminated in Southern Lebanon—the previous commander was eliminated in Beirut in September.
Two UNIFIL positions in Southern Lebanon were hit by Hezbollah rockets—although UNIFIL refuses to identify Hezbollah as the perpetrator, and instead says “non-state actors within Lebanon.” In the first incident four Ghanan peacekeepers sustained injuries. In the second incident an Italian UNIFIL headquarters was hit, but no injuries were reported.
U.S. envoy, Amos Hoschstein, visited Lebanon to advance ceasefire talks. Ynet reports that 80% of the ceasefire deal is done and there is a strong possibility of a deal. While Israel reserves the right to act against Hezbollah regrouping in Southern Lebanon, the deal includes steps that would make it very difficult for Israel to do so effectively, and only allows it when its deemed “urgent” due to “Imminent threat.”
Iran is reportedly in support of a truce, and pushing Hezbollah to accept it. This would be because Iran doesn’t want to totally lose Hezbollah, and knows that they can be saved by a ceasefire that allows them time to regroup. Iran may also see this as a gesture to appease incoming US president Trump, who they’ve tried to assassinate.
Other:
IDF troops carried out a raid against terrorists in Qabatiya, Samaria. Undercover Border Police officers surrounded a building where wanted terrorists were holed up, and used the “pressure cooker” method to force them out. The three were eliminated, one of whom was wanted for involvement in recent shooting and bombing attacks against soldiers in Samaria.
Israel’s News 12 reported that the Biden admin is delaying a delivery of 20,000 heavy MK-84 bombs, which are needed for airstrikes in Lebanon and Gaza. The IDF is now using an unspecified substitute.
The UN attempted to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, without any mention of the hostages. The US vetoed the resolution.
