Brigadier General Shay Klapper, commander of the 91st division, in a letter to the residents of the north: “We are in the midst of battle days, during which we are carrying out a strong defense that enables victory in the south. We eliminated many dozens of terrorists who posed a threat to the residents of the North and the State of Israel. Anyone who tries to enter the territory of Israel will be eliminated. Anyone who fired into the territory of Israel will be destroyed”
General:
The situation in the north remains extremely tense. During the past 24 hours, Hezbollah attacked Israeli territory several times. In return, IDF forces responded with intensive force against the sources of the attacks. IDF warplanes attacked Hezbollah, including a weapons warehouse, launch positions, infrastructures directing terrorism, and sites containing technological resources. The attack was carried out in response to shelling from Lebanese territory earlier today.
In the south, IDF ground, air, and sea forces continue to operate deep within the Gaza Strip, surrounding the city of Gaza, penetrating Hamas headquarters, exerting enormous pressure on them, forcing them to reveal themselves, and ultimately killing them by ground or aerial strikes.
– So far, according to the IDF since Saturday morning Oct. 7, 1,400 Israelis were murdered and 6,900 Israelis wounded. 348 IDF soldiers killed in action. 240 confirmed abducted civilians and IDF soldiers, including a total of 35 children, 10 of whom are below the age of 5, and 18 elderly persons who are 75 years of age or older. many more are still missing. Since the beginning of hostilities, 9,000+ rockets have been launched into Israel. To date, an estimated 250,000 Israelis have been compelled to leave their homes in the communities and towns adjacent to the northern frontier and the Gaza Strip, and have since been placed in different locations across the country. Israeli IDF reservists recruited 360,000.
– Israel Police Spokesperson: As part of the effort to identify the victims brutally murdered in the Oct. 7 attack, 843 civilians have been identified so far by the Israel Police. The effort to identify the victims of the mass murder since the beginning of the war continues.
Operational Updates:
Northern Arena:
– At 14:10 an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon at the IDF’s Shoshan outpost IDF forces responded with artillery fire at the source of the fire. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the shooting. In the exchange of fire in response, two IDF soldiers were lightly injured.
Last night, in response to the events of the 32nd day of the war, the IDF attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, destroying a massive weapons depot.
Gaza and Southern Israel:
– IDF troops discovered a terrorist group hidden within a mosque. When the terrorists exited the mosque seeking out a nearby tunnel, the troops used aerial support to eliminate the cell. Furthermore, Hamas terrorists launched anti-tank missiles against IDF troops from a variety of sites, including those near hospitals. The troops were escorted by a helicopter, which provided extraction fire and struck the source of the launches. In addition, IDF troops killed three terrorists and discovered hidden rocket launchers and additional weapons inside a school in northern Gaza. The school was utilized as a launch site for mortars and rockets, as well as for terrorist actions. In addition, as part of other efforts, multiple mortars and anti-tank missile launching positions were destroyed.
Based on ISA and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, Hamas’ Head of Weapons and Industries in its manufacturing department. As part of his duties, Abu Zina served as one of Hamas’ leading weapons developers and was an expert in manufacturing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas terrorists.
Overnight, IDF troops also discovered a terrorist group preparing to launch anti-tank rockets at IGF forces. The forces flew an aircraft into the cell, killing many militants. In addition, IDF troops directed an aircraft strike on a terrorist group responsible for rocket launches against Israel. In the strike, several terrorists were killed.
– IDF troops spotted an anti-tank missile launching post in which Hamas terrorists were located. The launching posts were connected via an underground passage to a weapons storage facility. The troops conducted an air strike, damaging the terrorist infrastructure. The terrorists then escaped to the roof of the infrastructure and were killed in an additional strike. Furthermore, Hamas terrorist were identified as launching mortars toward Israeli territory. In response, an IDF aircraft and a fighter jet directed by the Fire Control Center of the Gaza Division struck the launching post, eliminating the terrorists.
– Combat engineers fighting in Gaza are destroying the enemy’s weapons and are locating, exposing, and detonating tunnel shafts. Since the beginning of the war, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed.
During activities of the soldiers of the 460th Brigade to locate and destroy underground infrastructure, tunnel shafts, and Hamas command centers were destroyed by the brigade’s combat engineers. The enemy’s preparation for a prolonged stay in the tunnels can be realized based on water, food, and oxygen supplies found in the tunnels.
Nahal Brigade soldiers engaged in operational action at a Hamas training base in northern Gaza. Tunnels were discovered beneath the post, and once discovered, the post’s shafts were destroyed.
– In accordance with international law, the IDF continues to urge 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. Hamas terrorists are attempting to impede their evacuation through persuasion or force, to exploit these civilians as “human shields.”
The IDF spokesman in Arabic, Lt. Col. Avihai Adrai, today, once again addressed the residents of the Gaza Strip and called on them to evacuate to the south. Beginning at 10:00am, thousands of residents of the northern Gaza Strip responded to the IDF’s repeated calls to move southward of Wadi Gaza via the Salah al-Din Road. Today. the IDF extended the opening of the humanitarian route by till 15:00 due to the considerable number of Gazans who took advantage of the opportunity.
IDF tanks secured Palestinians trying to cross from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. The forces are in place intending to prevent Hamas terrorists from harming the civilian Gazans.
The IDF spokesman in Arabic, Avihai Adrei, said today that Hamas commander Ahmed Siam Abu Hamza is holding ~1,000 Gazan civilians hostage near Gaza City, preventing them from evacuating south. Abu Hamza is using patients and displaced civilians inside Rantisi Hospital as human shields. Israel has forewarned the hospital staff to evacuate.
According to Egyptian security sources – at least 500 people crossed from Gaza to Egypt today through the Rafah crossing.
In the following footage, again today, Gazans can be seen passing through the evacuation route from northern Gaza to southern Gaza waving white flags.
-Hamas continues to demonstrate its capabilities to launch missiles into Israel. Last night and today, rockets were launched from Gaza toward the south and center of Israel.
Humanitarian aid:
It should be noted that under the Rules of War, Israel is under no obligation to supply for the needs of its enemy, Hamas.
-Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip remains open for the flow of humanitarian aid carrying, medicine, medical equipment and food. The IDF emphasizes that all equipment is checked before entering the Strip.
– Yesterday 96 trucks of food, water and medicine or medical supplies entered via Rafah crossing. Bringing the number of aid trucks to enter Gaza since the commencement of the war to 665 including over 3,000 tons of food, over 1,720 tons of medical equipment, over 600 tons of equipment for temporary shelters, and over 1.15 million liters of water. None of them carrying fuel. Furthermore, Israel has opened two water pipelines to the south of the Gaza Strip, supplying about 28 million liters of drinkable water each day.
In Israel, there are voices of protest against the insertion of any humanitarian aid into Gaza, while Israel does not receive any humanitarian aid or information in return regarding the abductees and hostages held by Hamas. 32 days have passed with no word regarding the hostages. Babies, women, senior citizens and men, all kidnapped to Gaza on Oct. 7 – Nothing has been done by the international community, the U.N., despite repeated petitions to the International Red Cross.
– During the night, the IDF, ISA and Border Police forces arrested 37 wanted persons throughout the Judea and Samaria Division, more than 10 of them associated with Hamas.
Since the beginning of the war, more than 1,430 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Amakim Division, more than 900 of them are affiliated with Hamas.
Iran:
Ismail Kwasari, an Iranian lawmaker and former senior officer in the Revolutionary Guards, claims that Muhammad Def, the commander of the military wing of Hamas, maintained close ties with Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force who was eliminated in 2020, and that the two “planned together a large number of operations over the years”
International Arena:
– President Biden has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a pause in Israel’s fighting in Gaza.
-After his brief visit to Israel, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Cairo to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.
– Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres met some of the families of those taken hostage by Hamas terrorists and reaffirmed his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those being held in violation of international law inside Gaza.
– Italy’s defense minister announced the dispatch of a hospital ship to the shores of Gaza.
