Hostages:

Last Wednesday (December 4th), the IDF recovered the body of hostage Itay Svirski, who had been murdered in captivity by Hamas terrorists. Itay had been taken hostage while visiting his parent’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th.

On Shabbat (December 7), Hamas released a cruel psychological propaganda video of hostage Matan Zangauker, 25. In the video, Matan is repeating the same lines which Hamas forced many other hostages to in similar videos, encouraging protests and placing blame on Netanyahu.

Talks for a new hostage deal are now becoming very serious and plausible. Hamas has finally delivered a list of hostages who would be released in the first stage of a deal. Details of the potential deal have not been published, but reportedly do not include a full IDF withdrawal, but does take the IDF out of the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which allows Hamas to resume smuggling weapons. A large amount of murderous Hamas terrorists are also expected to be released from Israeli prison as part of the deal.

Gaza:

The IDF announced the names of four heroes who fell in battle in Gaza:

Cpt. Avraham Ben Pinchas, 24, from Harasha
Staff Sgt. Ido Zano, 20, from Yehud-Monosson
Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern, 19, from Kiryat Ono
Sgt. Omri Cohen, 19, from Ashdod

Troops are continuing to operate in Northernmost Gaza, primarily in Jabaliya, where they are eliminating dozens of terrorists daily, and carrying out search operations for Hamas infrastructure and weaponry. Recent finds include a bomb making factory hidden inside a home.

Also recently, troops destroyed a Hamas tunnel which stretched along several hundred meters under Jabaliya. The tunnel was equipped with weapons and several residential rooms for Hamas terrorists.

On December 4th, an IDF airstrike targeted a group of Senior Hamas commanders who were directing terror activities from within the designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis. Amongst those eliminated was Osama Ghanim, a notorious Hamas internal security commander who was responsible for oppressing civilians in Gaza and using violence and inhumane tactics to suppress internal threats the Hamas’s rule. Following the strike, the IDF identified secondary blasts, indicating the presence of weapons in the area.

The Shin Bet and IDF are continuing to work to hunt down and eliminate every terrorist who took part in the October 7th massacre. Several such terrorists were eliminated in targeted strikes this past week, including the commander of Hamas’s aerial forces in Gaza City, who had planned and directed the paraglider infiltration.

Lebanon:

Four IDF heroes fell in Southern Lebanon, while working to destroy Hezbollah tunnels. They are named as:

Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, 43, from Zichron Yaakov
Cpt. (res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, 31, from Lavi
Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, 28, from Beit Shemesh
Sgt. First Class. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, 25, from Ramat Gan

We’re 13 days into the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. IDF troops still remain in the front row of Lebanon villages, where they continue to locate and destroy extensive Hezbollah infrastructure, including rocket launchers; hundreds of anti-tank missiles, mortars, grenades, and other weapons; and tactical tunnels.

Hezbollah is continuing with minor violations of the ceasefire agreement, and Israel continues to carry out only targeted responses. Since the start of the ceasefire, the IDF eliminated around 25 Hezbollah terrorists while they were violating the ceasefire, and targeted several dozen Hezbollah positions which were actively being used by Hezbollah.

On December 4th, an IDF drone strike destroyed a primed rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun. On December 7th an IDF drone strike eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in the southern Lebanon village of Deir Siryan, who posed an immediate threat. On December 8th, an IDF airstrike targeted a group of Hezbollah terrorists at a weapons depot in the southern Lebanon village of Dibbine.

The IDF also carried out a few airstrikes against Hezbollah smuggling routes in Syria. One airstrike eliminated Salman Jumaa, who was Hezbollah’s liaison with the Syrian Army, and a key figure in the weapons transfer operations. Another series of airstrikes destroyed the land routes between Syria and Lebanon at the Arida Crossing and in the al-Qusayr area.

Syria:

On December 8th, rebel forces took over Damascus, and declared the fall of Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. The rebels are led by a group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was founded in 2017 by Abu Mohammad al-Jawlani. In short, HTS is an Al Qaeda break-off with similar caliphate aspirations to ISIS written into its name. In recent years, al-Jawlani reformed his appearance and public expression of HTS’s goals, to sound more moderate and appealing to the west.

The U.S. has been in contact with HTS since 2021, viewing them as “the best of bad options.” However, many experts warn that while HTS may start off by implementing moderate policies with minimized oppression of minorities, they may just be waiting and building up strength for the opportune moment to achieve their real aspirations. HTS has expressed solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, and eyes on Jerusalem.

Assad wasn’t either a friend of Israel, and for decades allowed Iran to operate in Syria, producing and transferring weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, Assad was more predictable, and had motivations to stay out of war with Israel.

Following the fall of Assad, the IDF began implementing four major strategies to minimize the threat to Israel:

1. Takeover of the buffer zone in in between Israel and Syria: This zone was previously monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), who came under attack by rebel forces last week. After the IDF had to use artillery fire to rescue a UNDOF post in the buffer zone, the necessity to control the area became clear.
The IDF coordinated the takeover with the UNDOF, who are remaining in position for now. The IDF faced no resistance in the takeover, but did warn residents of Syrian border villages to remain at home until further notice.
For now, Israel has made it clear that the takeover is temporary, until the situation in Syria stabilizes.

2. Destruction of strategic Syrian weaponry, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands: The IDF carried out around 300 airstrikes in just two days, to destroy huge amounts of Syrian weaponry. Targets included Assad’s chemical weapons factories, missile production sites, all of Assad’s air force and air defense systems, as well as large stores of long-distance weaponry. Airstrikes are still ongoing.

3. Prevent the renewal of arms smuggling routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon: Until now, the IDF has been destroying Iran-Hezbollah weapons routes between Syria and Lebanon. Assad was a sort of proxy to Iran, and lent Hezbollah fighters to support his regime. Iran does not yet have a relationship with the rebels. Israel will now need to sabotage Iranian efforts to turn the new rulers of Syria into proxies, and prevent them from reestablishing Iranian smuggling routes. There’s a possibility that the IDF will move in to control the border between Syria and Lebanon.

4. Establish contact with the Druze and other communities in Syria: While the Kurdish already have a strategic relationship with Israel, some Druze and christian villages have shown signs of willingness to cooperate with Israel. Israel has begun making efforts to establish relationships with them. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, is also advocating for the west to protect the Kurds, who are threatened by HTS and Turkey. Sa’ar points out that the Kurds are largely responsible for the defeat of ISIS in the area.

The IDF is also continuing to bolster the defense border with Syria in the Golan Heights, in an effort that began several months ago. Efforts include constructing a trench-style barrier to prevent vehicles from crossing into Israel.

Judea & Samaria:

The IDF is operating in Judea and Samaria against specific threats by terror groups, including Hamas’s branch in the area. Below are several incidents from this past week.

An IDF drone strike targeted a car with three Hamas terrorists in Aqabah, Samaria, who were planning an “imminent terror attack.” Two of the terrorists were eliminated, and one was moderately wounded.

Israeli special forces arrested Hamas terrorist Ayman Ghanem at a Shechem (Nablus) hospital, completing the takedown of the Hamas cell responsible for the August attack at Mehola Junction, which killed Yonatan Deutsch. Ghanem was wounded in a recent drone strike and then arrested during a carefully planned hospital operation. Other cell members were eliminated in previous operations, including leader Wael Lahlouh who was killed in a drone strike near Jenin earlier this week.

Troops of the IDF’s Duvedevan commando unit eliminated a terrorist who opened fire at them during an operation in the Balata camp near Shechem.

An IDF soldier was seriously injured in a car-ramming attack near Chevron. The terrorist turned himself in to security forces.

Two terrorists were eliminated in a drone strike, during an ongoing IDF operation in Tubas. Troops found an assault rifle, two handguns and a grenade on the bodies of the terrorists.

Houthis in Yemen:

On both December 7th and 8th, the Houthis launched a missile at Israel, which air defenses intercepted before it entered Israel airspace.

On December 9th, the Houthis launched a drone at Israel, which traveled in an indirect route over the sea. It’s erratic route made it difficult for the IDF to determine where to trigger sirens, or to catch and intercept it. The drone hit a residential building in Yavne, with no warning. Thank G-d, no one was injured, though several apartments were damaged.

Other:

On Dec 3rd, just days before HTS rebels took over Syria, the UN adopted a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights up to the pre-1967 borders, and return it to Syria.

On December 7th, Amnesty International released a report claiming that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. The report is extremely nonsensical, right from the opening line, which claims that Israel launched an attack on Gaza on October 7th (aside from that it was Hamas who launched a genocidal attack, Israel didn’t strike Gaza until the next day). However, the most gross and almost laughable part of the report, is that Amnesty had to make up a new definition of genocide, since it could not make a remote claim for real genocide. In Amnesty’s definition, use of derogatory language or destruction of religious buildings (which were used to launch rockets), is evidence of genocidal intent.