General Assessment:
The Israeli Air Force continues to launch immense air attacks against terrorist targets in Gaza. The terrorists are continuing to shoot rockets at South and Central Israel. Ground forces are deployed along the Gaza border prepared for the IDF ground maneuver.
During extensive attacks in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the IDF, under the direction of the ISA, eliminated Hamas operatives and terrorist infrastructure. Among the targets destroyed: tunnel shafts, military headquarters, ammunition depots, and mortar bomb and anti-tank missile launching positions.
In the north, Hezbollah is continuing its assaults on Israeli territory, mostly by launching ATGM toward Israeli forces and communities.
– So far, according to the IDF since Saturday morning Oct. 7, 1,400 Israelis were killed, among them 308 fallen soldiers. 3,900 Israelis wounded. 222 Confirmed abducted, and many more missing. Since the beginning of hostilities, nearly 7,000 rockets have been launched into Israel.
Operational Updates:
Northern Arena:
-Hezbollah continues its over-border attacks against Israeli forces. Several terrorist squads preparing to fire anti-tank missiles were eliminated by IDF forces.
– Today’s events began at 10:26 when the IDF targeted an anti-tank squad on Mount Dov. The number of events and their severity were lower than in recent days. Following the morning incident at Mount Dov, the IDF attacked a terrorist squad that tried to fire at the border at 12:40. For the first time today, at 13:10, a Hezbollah terrorist team launched an anti-tank missile towards Israeli territory from Moshav Avivim in the Upper Galilee. Simultaneously, an alarm was raised in the Mt. Carmel area, which, according to accounts, was activated owing to missiles launched from Gaza. Alarms were sounded in the Galilee Panhandle and Kiryat Shmona at 4:25 p.m. Shortly afterward, the IDF announced that rockets from the Lebanese border had been detected only to land in an open region. In reaction to Hezbollah’s shooting attempt, the IDF retaliated with artillery into Lebanon.
-At noon today, Hezbollah reported a fourth casualty today, bringing the total count of Hezbollah terrorists killed since the beginning of hostilities to 43.
01:45 – In reaction to the missiles fired at Israel from Syrian territory, fighter jets bombed Syrian military facilities and launching positions. According to Syrian reports, eight of their soldiers were killed and 7 others wounded. According to sources in the Syrian opposition: last night Israel attacked in the Deraa area, southern Syria, military headquarters and weapons depots.
According to reports from Syria, the IDF dropped banners in the Deraa area following the attack tonight, reading: “The terrorist Palestinian factions continue to launch rockets from Syrian territory towards Israel. The Syrian army leaders, particularly the commander of the 112th brigade, bear full responsibility for all terrorist acts directed from Syrian territory that will be answered (by Israel) with an iron fist.”
Syrian sources reported that Israel attacked Damascus and Aleppo airports today, the second time in days.
Gaza and Southern Israel:
-Israeli forces are continuing to attack and destroy Hamas terrorist hideouts, infrastructures, and command posts, killing Hamas operatives. The IDF has repeatedly urged Gaza City inhabitants to move to a safe humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip’s southwest, in the Al-Mawasi area, where international aid is supplied via the Rafah crossing. Simultaneously, Hamas terrorists attempt to impede their evacuation through persuasion or force, to exploit these civilians as “human shields.” Today IDF forces attacked those Hamas positions impeding the civilians from moving south.
The IDF Naval Control detected a terrorist cell of the terrorist group Hamas yesterday evening. The terrorists emerged from the Gaza Strip through a tunnel shaft on the beach and were killed by IDF forces when they attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory by sea in the Zikim area. Fighter jets and naval forces struck the Gaza Strip shaft from which the militants emerged, as well as the terrorists’ weapons depot.
During the night, IDF soldiers struck Hamas military personnel, infrastructure, and military headquarters, as well as the Hamas emergency array, which deploys blockades that make it very difficult for Gaza inhabitants to flee to the Strip’s south, preventing them from defending themselves. This is in addition to the demolition of Hamas security facilities and military headquarters, which are responsible for the administration of the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, as well as the arrest and incarceration of Hamas opponents.
– The IDF, guided by accurate intelligence information from the Intelligence Department (Aman) and the ISA, eliminated the commander of the North Khan Yunis sector battalion of the terrorist organization Hamas, Taysir Mubasher. In the past, he served as the commander of the terrorist organization’s naval force and held several positions in the munitions production system. Mubasher has scores of military and command experience as a coordinator of attacks, and he is considered close to the senior members of the terrorist organization, with an emphasis on Muhammad Def, the head of Hamas’ military branch.
Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip remains open for the flow of humanitarian aid, 8 trucks crossed through today carrying, medicine, medical equipment, and food to Gaza. In Israel, it is noted that all the equipment is checked by the security forces before its entry into the Gaza Strip.
-Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has identified hundreds of failed Hamas rocket launches that fell inside the Gaza Strip. The Hamas terrorist organization uses the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields and launches rockets from civilian infrastructure, areas, and buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Judea and Samaria:
Many IDF, ISA, and Border Guard soldiers were deployed tonight in various locations around the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Brigade to combat terrorism, arresting 68 people suspected of being involved in terrorist activity. 58 of them are members of the terrorist group Hamas.
Iran:
IDF spokesman Brigadier General Hagari: “Iran assisted Hamas directly with technological knowledge, money, and ammunition. Iran is currently assisting Hamas even at these moments – with intelligence and incitement on the networks.”
Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, met today in Lebanon with Ziad Nakhalah, Secretary General of Islamic Jihad, and Saleh al-Arouri, Deputy Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau. Nasrallah, in a letter to the organization’s activists published in Al-Manar, spoke out for the first time since the atrocious attack against Israel, writing, among other things, that “every new death is a death on the way to Jerusalem.” Blessing all those killed in the attacks as holy martyrs.
International Arena:
-The pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claimed they had launched rockets at the American base in Kharab al-Jir, northeastern Syria. It was reported that the US will send additional air defense batteries this week to secure its forces. US Defense Officials announced the rapid deployment of at least 12 Air Defense Systems to the region. A THAAD battery to counter ballistic missiles is deploying to Saudi Arabia, while 11 Patriot missile batteries will operate throughout 5 additional countries; Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and also Saudi Arabia.
– A statement by the Russian Embassy in Israel: It is impossible to justify the violence and murder that peaceful Israeli citizens were exposed to on October 7. We send our sincere condolences from the bottom of our hearts to the families of the murdered and injured. Taking hostages is unacceptable – all hostages must be set free.
– After a year of a thaw in Turkish-Israeli relations, Turkish President Erdogan in a defiant statement: “Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a liberation organization fighting to defend its land. Israel, the West owes you a lot, Turkey owes you nothing.”
– In a Pentagon press briefing, Brigadier General Pat Ryder announced 24 US soldiers have been wounded between Oct. 17 to 24 in 13 attacks across Iraq and Syria “via a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets.”
