War Summary, Day One Hundred and Seventy Four: Terrorists burst out of the emergency room at Shifa hospital while spraying bullets towards IDF troops, a Palestinian terrorist stood in the middle of the road in the Jordan Valley area and opened fire on an Israeli school bus full of children, and troops eliminated senior Hamas commander Raad Thabet as he attempted to flee Shifa hospital with two other terrorists.
By Mrs. Bruria Efune
War Summary, Day One Hundred and Seventy Four:
134 held captive in Gaza.
112 hostages freed.
11 hostage bodies rescued.
36 hostages confirmed murdered in Gaza.
1,479 Israelis murdered.
253 fallen soldiers in the battle in Gaza.
6 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
4 fallen soldiers in Judea & Samaria.
11,549 injured.
14,400 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
102,100 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.
Top Headlines:
- Top 10 Hamas terrorist eliminated at Shifa Hospital
- U.S. wants to send “peacekeeping” forces to Gaza
- Further escalation in the north
- Terrorist opens fire on a school bus
Hostage Updates:
Skip this section if you are sensitive
Moran Stella Yanai became the second former hostage to speak out about the assault she experienced in Hamas captivity. Moran gave a tearful interview on Israeli TV, in which she said she won’t be able to fully talk about her experience until the rest of the hostages come home, but that it was “beyond the scope of the world.” After Moran was freed, she spent a month recuperating in the hospital.
On the opposite end, today the IDF released a video of an interrogation with a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who was captured earlier this month in Khan Younis. In the interrogation, the terrorist explicitly confessed to assaulting a young woman on October 7th in her kibbutz home, before she was taken hostage with her mother. The terrorist then also confesses to murdering at least one Israeli, and throwing a grenade at others, before returning to Gaza.
There are still 19 women being held by Hamas, amongst 134 hostages.
Gaza Front Updates:
Hamas did not successfully launch any rockets at Israeli civilians today.
Thank G-d, the IDF did not announce the names of any fallen soldiers today.
In Northern Gaza, the operation in Shifa Hospital is continuing into its 11th day. Over 200 armed terrorists have been eliminated, and over 500 arrested and brought to Israel—all of whom were using a hospital as a hiding spot and military base.
Yesterday the IDF completed the transfer of all patients and medical staff from areas where terrorists were hiding, and moved them to a safe area with all the necessary supplies. Today, after firing at IDF troops several times, terrorists burst out of the emergency room while spraying bullets towards IDF troops. In a fierce battle, IDF commando soldiers eliminated them.
Troops also eliminated senior Hamas commander Raad Thabet as he attempted to flee the hospital with two other terrorists. Thabet was one of the top ten senior Hamas commanders, and was responsible for supply to the terrorist military. There are still more terrorists remaining in the hospital, and the IDF commando soldiers will continue to search for and neutralize all of them over the next few days.
Terrorists were also eliminated in Central Gaza—both by troops on ground, and airstrikes they called in, as well as in Southern Gaza in Qarara.
In Khan Younis, in the Al-Amal neighborhood, which the IDF sieged earlier this week, troops captured dozens of terrorists, eliminated “numerous” more, and captured hundreds of weapons and explosives.
The IDF also destroyed a large section 2.5 kilometers long of a Hamas tunnel network which connected Northern and Southern Gaza.
According to a report by Politico, U.S. officials at the Pentagon are in early talks to fund an International post-war peacekeeping mission to Gaza, in the coming months. The Biden administration will approve the plans only after Israel commits to a two-state solution. Israelis are unlikely to trust such a mission, especially as UN peacekeepers on the Lebanon border either sit back and watch as Hezbollah showers missiles on Israeli civilians, or simply flee the area.
Prime Minister Netanyahu today told family members of IDF hostages of Hamas that Israel is preparing to enter Rafah, and will stop at nothing to return all of the hostages.
Hamas is also preparing for the IDF’s entry to Rafah, as an unnamed Hamas terrorist told Qatari media that “The Rafah operation will not be a cakewalk as the occupation leaders think.”
The entry to Rafah has been delayed as the Biden administration demands to hear a plan before Israel’s entry, and is continuing to apply pressure for Israel to wait until after Ramadan.
Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:
205 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip.
131 packages of food aid were airdropped over northern Gaza.
19 food aid trucks from the private sector (not the UN) were coordinated by the IDF to northern Gaza.
The International Court of Justice has issued fresh provisional measures against Israel, mandating an increase in the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip, based on claims if impending famine. The IDF is already transferring three times the amount of food to Gaza as it had been before October 7th. The only area in Gaza where food is slightly limited is in Gaza City, where residents were told to evacuate nearly six months ago, but chose not to in support of Hamas. Gaza City is less than a two hour walk from Central Gaza, where food is plenty.
Northern Front Updates:
Hezbollah continued to escalate today, with nearly nonstop missile fire on Israeli communities in Israel’s far north.
In one instance, a Patriot missile was seen from Tzfat (Safed) as it took down a “suspicious aerial target” (likely an attack drone) heading towards Israel from Lebanon. The IDF says that the target was successfully intercepted before it entered Israeli airspace. During the incident, one of the Patriot missiles exploded over Northern Israel. The IDF says that the incident is being investigated. The IDF is in the midst of replacing several aging Patriot batteries with the Iron Dome.
The IDF’s response was minimal, with shelling of Hezbollah positions along the border.
Syrian media (though not the state-run SANA news agency) say that the Israeli Air Force struck a building near Damascus.
The IDF carried out a surprise exercise today, in preparation for war in the north. The exercise including all departments and levels of the IDF, and may be the reason for today’s reduced activity in Lebanon and Judea and Samaria.
Judea and Samaria Updates:
This morning, a Palestinian terrorist stood in the middle of the road in the Jordan Valley area, and opened fire on an Israeli school bus full of children, and other Israeli vehicles. Thankfully the school bus appears to have been bulletproof, and one boy was only lightly injured from glass shards. A 30-year-old man is in serious condition after being shot, and a man in his 20s is lightly injured. The two men are from the far-left activist group “Eyes on the Occupation.”
The terrorist was identified as an officer from the Palestinian Authority security services.
A Palestinian terrorist and member of the Palestinian Authority’s security team, opened fire on a children’s school bus in Judea and Samaria.
The IDF demolished 2.5 kilometers of a tunnel that connected Northern and Southern Gaza.
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