Hostages:
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Hamas has now conceded to two Israeli demands in negotiations: 1. They provided a list of hostages who will be released in a deal, and 2. They accept a deal in which the IDF will temporarily stay in Gaza.
Israel is now seeing a real possibility of a deal happening, perhaps exactly a year after the first one, on the Jewish calendar.
Gaza:
Thank G-d, there have been no fallen heroes in the last two days.
Hamas fired four rockets at Israeli border communities. Two were intercepted by air defenses and two hit open areas. No injuries or damage was caused. The rockets were fired from a populated area in Central Gaza.
IDF troops remain in Northernmost Gaza, the Netzarim Corridor, and in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor. In Northernmost Gaza, most battles are in Jabaliya, where Hamas is near defeat.
Yesterday an IAF airstrike eliminated 10 Hamas terrorists who had been involved in an anti-tank missile attack that killed three IDF heroes in Jabaliya. The IDF also announced that they eliminated the Hamas Nukhba commander who had led the October 7th attack on the Paga outpost in Israel, in which 14 young IDF soldiers were killed.
The World Central Kitchen fired 60 (12%) of its 500 employees in Gaza, after they failed Israel’s security checks. This comes a week after an Israeli strike eliminated an October 7th terrorist who turned out to also be a WCK employee.
Over 350 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday from Israel, with 269 additional trucks distributed within the Strip to warehouses and shelters. 201 trucks entered Gaza the day before.
Lebanon:
Thank G-d, there have been no fallen heroes in the last two days. No rocket attacks or reported ceasefire violations either.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, today the IDF withdrew from Al Khiam in Lebanon, a village near the Litani River on the east side, and which is not on the row of villages adjacent to Israel. The IDF still remains in other areas of Southern Lebanon from which it will need to evacuate by the end of January, if the ceasefire agreement continues.
The Lebanese army says that it has began to deploy troops to Al Khiam, in coordination with UNIFIL. Lebanese civilians were warned by the army not to approach the areas as it conducts scans of the town for unexploded ordnances.
CENTCOM commander, General Michael Kurilla, visited the monitoring headquarters in Beirut to monitor the IDF withdrawal and Lebanese Army replacement in Al Khiam.
Syria:
The IDF has been acting to prevent Syrian military equipment from falling into the hands of terror groups or Hezbollah, in an operation named “Bashan Arrow.” (Bashan is the biblical name for the Southern Syria and Golan area.)
The IDF has so far conducted strikes on 350 strategic targets across Syria, from Damascus to Tartus, destroying approximately 70-80% of the former Assad regime’s military capabilities. Targets destroyed included:
– Air defense systems
– Missile depots (including long-range, Scud, cruise, and coast-to-sea missiles)
– Manufacturing facilities
– Drones
– Helicopters
– Fighter jets
– Tanks
– Radar systems
– 15 Navy vessels
– Chemical weapons sites
The operation began by neutralizing Syrian air defenses. The Israeli Navy conducted the large-scale operation against Syrian naval vessels.
IDF troops are deployed across the buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights, in a defensive position, where they are preventing terror groups from approaching Israel, and are also guarding the Syrian villages (mostly Druze) and UNDOF posts within the zone. There are reports that the Syrian villagers welcomed the IDF presence. Troops faced no military resistance, and did not have to fire any shots. They captured several Syrian tanks, which had not recently been in use, as well as a cache of weapons at a former Syrian military post.
Reports of the IDF moving further into Syria, beyond the buffer zone, are false.
The IDF stresses that the presence in the Syrian side of the buffer zone is a temporary deployment, and the duration will depend on further developments in Syria.
Al-Jawlani, who is the leader of HTS, the main rebel group, has so far steered clear of conversation about Israel. He is even quoted saying “the Syrian people are exhausted from the war. Syria will not enter another war.”However, many rebel fighters have been recorded on camera saying that Jerusalem is next. No one can predict what will be next, or if HTS will control Syria moving forward. However, most experts assume that Al-Jawlani is playing safe for now, in order to appease the west, and may turn to attack Israel once he has full established control.
The significance of Operation Bashar Arrow should not be overlooked: Israel singlehandedly prevented a large terror organization from acquiring unprecedented heavy arms. If not for Israel’s actions, the world may have had to face an ISIS-like terror group, but with a fully armed Air Force and Navy, chemical weapons, and long-range missiles.
Judea & Samaria:
Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia Simcha, 10, from Jerusalem, was killed in a terror attack on Wednesday evening.
Yehoshua was returning home with his family on a bus from Beitar Ilit to Jerusalem, when a terrorist fired at least 22 gunshots at the bus. Two men were lightly wounded, and a woman was evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition. The terrorist fled the scene, and the IDF is in hot pursuit, with the cities of Bethlehem and Husan surrounded on ground and air.
While very little is being reported about it, there is an ongoing war in Judea and Samaria, between the Palestinian terror groups and corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) government and police. The hostilities are centered around Jenin, which is a terrorism hotbed, with activity from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs, and even ISIS. Jenin is in the Samaria region, where the PA has slowly lost control over recent years. Battles have also been occurring in Tulkarem, Shechem (Nablus), and Tubas.
The PA has been attempting to make arrests, while Hamas and PIJ terrorists fight back. Some PA officers defected to the terror groups, and an interesting split seems to have happened with Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs brigade youth siding with Hamas and the PIJ, while the established group defends the PA.
The PA is attempting to crack down on terror, in order to gain the credibility to be given control of Gaza in place of Hamas.
Other:
Ireland is struggling to prove its case against Israel at the ICJ, and is therefore filling a request that the ICJ “broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State.” I.e., they are asking the ICJ to change the definition of genocide to cater to their accusations against Israel. No cases have been filed against Turkey for the ongoing Kurdish genocide.
The United Kingdom announced that its sending in additional $16.5 in aid to UNRWA.
The UN passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, without demand for freeing the hostages. The only countries that voted against it: Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Nauru, Papa New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, and the USA.
