War Day 244: 30 Terrorists Eliminated in School, Hamas Attempt Gaza Border Breach

War Summary, Day Two Hundred and Forty Four: Precision airstrike eliminated around 30 terrorists in an UNRWA school, Hamas terrorists attempted to breach the border to Israel, and the Spanish government announced that they will join South Africa’s petition against Israel at the Hague Tribunal, on the charge of “genocide.”

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

War Summary, Day Two Hundred and Forty Four:

124 held captive in Gaza.
45 hostages confirmed murdered in Gaza.
112 hostages freed.
19 hostage bodies rescued.
1,540 Israelis killed.
295 fallen soldiers in the battle in Gaza.
15 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
7 fallen soldiers in Judea & Samaria.
14,400 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
90,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

• US still pushing hard for hostage-ceasefire deal
• Precision airstrike eliminated around 30 terrorists in an UNRWA school
• Hamas terrorists attempted to breach the border to Israel
• Two fallen IDF soldiers, from north and south
• Chief of the IDF Northern Command says the IDF is trained and ready for Lebanon
• The Houthi and Iraqi Iranian-backed militias are collaborating
• IDF attack helicopter assists in gun battles in Jenin
• UAE Foreign minister called Palestinian Authority leadership “Ali Baba and the forty thieves.”
• Spain is joining South Africa against Israel at the ICJ

Hostage Updates:

Hamas says they won’t accept the deal unless it comes with a guaranteed complete IDF ceasefire and withdrawal. According to Egyptian media, Qatar and the United States are trying to come up with a formula that will reassure Hamas that they’ll get their demands.

CNN reported that the US is once again urging Qatar to announce that they will expel the Hamas leadership from Doha if they do not accept the deal. According to the report, Qatar is threatening Hamas.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas fired rockets twice from the Rafah area at civilian communities near the border, including communities which are not evacuated.

The IDF announced the name of one hero who fell in battle in Gaza:

Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib, 34, from Zarzir

Four divisions of IDF troops are currently operating in Gaza: part of the 98th in east Bureij and east Deir al-Balah, the 99th Division along the Netzarim Corridor and in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City; The Gaza Division in various areas in Gaza on pinpoint operations in areas such as Beit Hanoun and the buffer zone; and the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor.

The Israeli Air Force struck dozens of Hamas targets across Gaza throughout the day, including terrorist squads, tunnel shafts, rocket launching positions, weapons depots, and other Hamas infrastructure found by troops on ground.

Overnight, the IDF carried out an airstrike against a Hamas stronghold that was located inside an UNRWA school, where civilians were sheltering in Nuseirat, Central Gaza. The IDF took extreme precautions to prevent harm to civilians, and even delayed the strike a few times. The strike was a precise hit and only destroyed the three classrooms that Hamas took over. Hamas immediately claimed that 27 people were hit in the strike, without mentioning that they were terrorists. The IDF confirmed that between 25-30 Hamas terrorists were known to be in those three classrooms—indicating that no civilians were harmed. Amongst the terrorists eliminated in the attack were Nukhba and PIJ terrorists who took part in the October 7th attacks.

Gazan sources say that the IDF also eliminated the mayor of Nuseirat, Iyad al-Mar’ari, a Hamas politician. Gazan sources also reported intense IDF fire in East Khan Younis.

In Rafah, troops continue to forge ahead strategically, eliminating terrorists and searching for and clearing out Hamas infrastructure, especially tunnels and rocket launchers. In one instance, soldiers found a tunnel opening hidden in a pink children’s bedroom. They also found multiple incidents of weapons hidden in UN bags.

Around 4:00 a.m., observation soldiers noticed suspicious movement in Gaza, near the border, hidden in foggy weather. Troops of the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, including the Bedouin Tracker Unit, where sent to the scene. Around 5:00 a.m., the soldiers came under fire, around 200 meters from the Israeli border, within the area being prepared as a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel. Troops eliminated one terrorist with tank shelling, and used a drone strike to eliminate the other two. The terrorists, who were heavily armed with assault riffles and RPGs, had come up through a yet undiscovered tunnel near the border.

IDF Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib, one of the heroic trackers who helped find the terrorists, was killed in the incident.

Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:

The Gazan side of Kerem Shalom is still at full capacity, with the content of 1,100 aid trucks waiting to be picked up by UN aid agencies.

Despite the pileup, on Wednesday, June 5th:

140 humanitarian aid trucks were transferred to Gaza
4 tankers of fuel designated for the operation of essential infrastructure in Gaza, entered Gaza
39 trucks were coordinated to northern Gaza

Northern Front Updates:

Hezbollah continues to fire heavily on Israel’s far north. While most projectiles headed towards populated areas were intercepted, some hits were still made, causing property damage, but no injuries today. Among the damage today was a mall hit in the city of Kiryat Shemona.

Hezbollah claims to have hit an Iron Dome air defense system launcher near Ramot Naftali, and published a video of the launch, but not the hit. The IDF says no damage was done to the launcher.

The IDF announced the name of one hero who fell while defending the north:

Staff Sgt. (res.) Refael Kauders, 39, from Tzur Hadassah

Refael was killed after running to the scene of a rocket attack, to treat injured civilians. When he and the other rescuers arrived, Hezbollah launched attack drones and hit them. Ten others were injured in the incident.

Civilian reservist security teams in communities in the north (excluding the border communities) were set to decrease in size this week, but the IDF extended their stay after an assessment of the situation, essentially maintaining the heavy security presence as a precaution for what may be ahead.

Chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin spoke at a ceremony marking 18 years since the Second Lebanon War. He said that the IDF has been hitting Hezbollah hard, and eliminated around 420 terrorists and senior operatives. He added that like during the Second Lebanon War, today were again left with no choice but to fight. He then said that the IDF has completed exercises and the troops and commanders are trained and determined, and “We are prepared and ready, and when we will be ordered, the enemy will meet a strong and ready army.”

While the IDF waits for the government’s go ahead in Lebanon, Axios reports that “the Biden administration has cautioned Israel in recent weeks against the notion of “a limited war” in Lebanon and warned it could push Iran to intervene.”

Houthi & Iraqi War Front Updates:

The Houthis announced that they carried out two new attacks in collaboration with the pro-Iranian militia in Iraq. They claimed to have attacked two ships, of which one was carrying military equipment to the port of Haifa, and the other was sailing towards the port. There is no verification of these claims.

Judea and Samaria Updates:

This evening, IDF troops set out to arrest a wanted man in Jenin, and were met with heavy fire from terrorists. The troops engaged, and an IDF helicopter assisted in eliminating armed terrorists. Three terrorists were eliminated, and an unknown number were arrested and handed to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Overnight, 21 wanted persons were arrested in counterterrorism operations throughout Judea and Samaria, and at least 9 weapons were confiscated. 11 of the terrorists are associated with Hamas, and the rest with various other terror groups.

An Axios report leaked an interesting conversation from an April 29th meeting, in which US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE—as well as Palestinian minister Hussein al-Sheikh, who is Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ closest deputy. The meeting was arranged to discuss a joint post-war strategy for Gaza.

During the meeting, the Emirati Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, pushed back against the idea of supporting the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza, due to their corruption. According to Axios’s sources, bin Zayed called the Palestinian leadership “Ali Baba and the forty thieves” and their senior officials “useless.” He said that “replacing them with one another will only lead to the same result.” And that the UAE had no interest in giving assistance to the Palestinian Authority without any real reforms.

International Updates:

The Spanish government announced that they will join South Africa’s petition against Israel at the Hague Tribunal, on the charge of “genocide.” Spain is the first European country to join the lawsuit, in addition to Mexico and Chile. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Israeli security officials that he intends to add Israel to the UN blacklist of countries that “harm children in conflict zones.”