War Day 270: HY”D Approved for Yisroel Yudkin’s Kever, Shifa Director Released

War Summary, Day Two Hundred and Seventy: The family of Yisroel Yudkin hy”d, the Lubavitcher bochur killed in Gaza, got permission to put HY”D on his kever after much controversy, the director of Shifa hospital was released from prison along with 55 others, and Leora Argamani, the mother of released captive Noa Argamani passed away due to illness.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

War Summary, Day Two Hundred and Seventy:

— Update of events since Friday. These updates will be off schedule while I travel for the next few weeks:

120 held captive in Gaza.
46 hostages confirmed murdered in Gaza.
116 hostages freed.
19 hostage bodies rescued.
1,556 Israelis killed.
321 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
15 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
9 fallen soldiers in Judea & Samaria.
19,760 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
90,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

Five fallen soldiers in Gaza since Friday
A new operation in Khan Younis
Major tunnels found in under Netzarim Corridor and in Rafah
Director of Shifa Hospital released from prison
Square-off continues, ahead of likely Lebanon war
One fallen soldier in Judea and Samaria
Major smuggling from Jordan prevented

Hostage Updates:

On Monday morning, Leora Argamani passed away. Leora was the mother of Noah Argamani, who was rescued from Hamas captivity. After battling a long illness, Leora held on just long enough to spend her last few days of life with her daughter at her side.

Negotiators are reportedly writing an updated draft proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release agreement which they believe Hamas may agree to.

Gaza Front Updates:

In addition to a couple other short-range launches, on Monday Hamas fired over 20 rockets from Khan Younis in Southern Gaza, to Israeli communities near the border.

Since Friday, the IDF announced the names of 5 heroes who fell in battle in Gaza:

Staff Sgt. Yair Avitan, 20, from Ra’anana
Sgt. First Class (res.) Yakir Shmuel Tatelbaum, 21, from Ma’ale Adumim
Sgt. Ori Itzchak Hadad, 21, from Be’er Sheva
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Elchanan Knoller, 30, from Jerusalem
Maj. (res.) Eyal Avnion, 25, from Hod Hasharon

Four divisions of IDF troops are currently operating in Gaza: the 98th Division in Shejaiya, Gaza City; the 99th Division along the Netzarim Corridor, and in select areas of Central Gaza; The Gaza Division in various areas in Gaza on pinpoint operations, and in the buffer zone; and the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor. The Israeli airfare struck an average of 35 targets per day in Gaza, including terror tunnels, rocket launchers, and other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) positions.

In Shejaiya, Gaza City, the targeted raid is expected to continue for a few weeks. The IDF had earlier announced defeat of Hamas’s Shejaiya battalion in December, and then returned in April for a small intelligence-based operation. Hamas has once again regrouped in the area, thought at a more limited level. The IDF is now returning with additional intelligence obtained over the last months, through captured terrorists and intelligence materials. The intelligence lead troops to areas in which they hadn’t entered before, including to the discovery of significant tunnels which hadn’t been found earlier.

The raid began in a school complex in Shejaiya, which Hamas had turned into a “combat complex.” Fighting is intense, and IDF troops face attacks from snipers, RPG fire, and hidden explosives. Two IDF soldiers fell in the first days of the battle, and two were seriously injured. Troops found and destroyed tunnels, located hidden weapons production sites and caches, found and destroyed a long-range rocket launcher, and eliminated over 50 terrorists so far.

Along the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the North from the South and Central areas of Gaza, troops continue to battle terrorists in the area, and carry out small raids. Over the past two months, they’ve eliminated dozens of terrorists, and destroyed over 100 terror targets. Amongst finds, was a mosque being used as a terror staging ground and explosives warehouse.

In a significant find, troops located a kilometer-long tunnel, which had several branches, and crossed under the Netzarim Corridor. Terrorists had been using the tunnel to move around in the area. The IDF destroyed the tunnel.

A new operation was launched in Khan Younis, after a barrage of 20 rockets were fired from the city towards Israeli communities. The operation began with a call for all civilians to evacuate from the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and move into the Al Mawasi Humanitarian Zone right outside the city. Most civilians began to evacuate immediately. The IDF clarified that the call to evacuate did not include patients or staff of the Khan Younis European Hospital, although many chose to evacuate anyway.

In Rafah, the IDF has taken control of nearly 80% of the Rafah area, or 50% of Rafah city. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says that troops have eliminated at least 900 terrorists in Rafah since the start of the ground incursion, “including commanders, at least one battalion commander, many company commanders and many operatives.” Halevi says that the IDF is focusing on destroying Hamas’s infrastructure in the area, and adds that “it takes time, so this campaign is long because we do not want to leave Rafah with the infrastructure.”

In Rafah, troops found and demolished the largest rocket manufacturing site to date, belonging to the PIJ. The site was underground, and used to manufacture rocket parts, and hundreds of long-range rockets. The PIJ put up strong defenses around the manufacturing site, including armed terrorists above and below ground, which IDF troops battled and eliminated.

Troops found and destroyed a 500-meter long tunnel which passed adjacent to a UN school. In a separate location, troops found a Hamas site with at least 9 rocket launchers, aimed at Israel.

On Monday, Gazan media reported that Israel released 55 detainees back into Gaza—including Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who was the director of Shifa Hospital, and was arrested for enabling Hamas to use the hospital as their headquarters. The news of Salmiya’s release caused an uproar in Israel. In response, the Shin Bet explained that they were forced to release non violent prisoners who don’t pose an “immediate threat” back into Gaza, due to a lack of space at the Sde Teiman detention facility. The Shin Bet also directed blame at the Israel Prison Service (IPS), who the Shin Bet says they have been pleading to expand prison space for terrorists, but with no success. The IPS, which is under the responsibility of Minister Ben Gvir, responded in turn that they had nothing to do with Salmiya’s release, and the decision came exclusively from the IDF and Shin Bet, they added that Salmiya was released from the Nafha Prison, not Sde Teiman. Defense Minister Gallant, and Prime Minister Netanyahu also denied granting authorization for Salmiya’s release. The PMO’s office, which is responsible for the Shin Bet, stated that the decision to release prisoners from Sde Teiman followed discussions at the High Court, due to potential overcrowding, however, “the identity of the released prisoners is determined independently by the security officials based on their professional considerations.” An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:

A total of 5,000 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza in the month of June.
311 trucks of aid were transferred to Gaza today.

One thousand blood units were transferred to Gaza today, along with a large delivery of medical supplies, including pain medication, anesthetics, and more.

Close to 9 million liters of fuel were coordinated to humanitarian organizations in Gaza in March through June alone, and over 400 fuel tankers have been facilitated to int’l orgs since the start of the war. The fuel is intended to support the ongoing operation of hospitals, shelters, the collection of garbage, and for the operation of essential facilities. Hamas is known to confiscate significant amounts of fuel, in order to power airflow in underground tunnels. The IDF allows UN aid agencies to coordinate the entry of fuel for humanitarian and vital operations based on need, on any day of the week.

The IDF estimates that 1.9 million people, out of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, are now residing in the Israeli designated humanitarian zone. A few hundred thousand remain in Northern Gaza, and just 20,000 remain in the Rafah area.

Israel began work on Tuesday, in cooperation with workers in Gaza, to boost electric power to a desalination plant in Gaza, so that it will produce more water for civilians in the humanitarian zones. The electric power is being provided by Israel.

Northern Front Updates:

According to the Alma Research and Education Center, during the month of June there was a total of 288 attacks on Northern Israel, averaging 9.6 attacks per day. Since October 8th, there has been a total of 2,295 attacks. The Alma center counts attacks, not the number of munitions fired—which may be significantly higher, as some attacks include up to 50 projectiles at once. The significant majority of attacks came from Hezbollah, with a minority from other Iranian-sponsored terror groups, including Hamas in Lebanon.

The military area attacked with the highest intensity is the Mount Dov region and its outposts, which Hezbollah attacks daily, with a total of 265 attack incidents. Amongst civilian targets, the town of Metula is attacked the most frequently, with 49 incidents, the city of Kiryat Shmona with 45 incidents, and the town of Manara with 30 incidents. A majority of homes in Metula and Manara have been damaged by Hezbollah fire. 80,000 civilians remain evacuated from their homes.

Hezbollah’s fire comes with increases in response to significant attacks from Israel, and a return to a lower, but steady flow, at other times. Hezbollah is currently firing at Israel at a lower rate, still causing damage and outbreaks of fires. Today, after a barrage of 8 rockets from Hezbollah, firefighters spent several hours stopping a fire from entering Kiryat Shemona’s residential area.

On Sunday, 18 IDF soldiers were injured, including one seriously, in a drone attack in the Northern Golan Heights.

The IDF continued attacking Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon over the last few days, including targeting buildings where Hezbollah terrorists were known to be hiding. Troops continue to train and practice for a larger war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which many expect to begin around the beginning of August. There are still ongoing attempts to achieve a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah however insists that they will only halt fire once there is a complete ceasefire in Gaza.

The Iranian Regime has threatened that they might join in on attacking Israel, if Israel enters Lebanon.

The U.S. Army published a photo of the Eisenhower aircraft carrier, along with two other military ships, in the Mediterranean Sea.

Houthi & Iraqi War Front Updates:

On Tuesday, the Houthis claimed that their forces attacked four ships belonging to the US, Britain, and Israel, in the Red Sea.

Judea and Samaria Updates:

The IDF announced the name of one hero who fell in a counterterrorism operation in Judea and Samaria:

Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur

On Sunday, in a less common incident, the IDF carried out an airstrike in Nur Shams, in the Tulkarem area, eliminating Saeed Jaber, who was a PIJ commander, responsible for several shooting and explosive attacks against IDF troops. The IDF says that Jaber was one of the founders and most prominent leaders of the PIJ wing in Tulkarem, and was second-in-command. The airstrike eliminated Jaber in a home which was used by a PIJ cell which was behind several deadly attacks.

On Monday morning, the IDF announced that Sgt. Yehuda Geto was killed and another soldier was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Nur Shams. The two were in a Panther armored personnel carrier (APC), parked in an area which the IDF did not believe was trapped—when a bomb exploded under the APC. The bomb was likely a 10 kilogram improvised explosive. Geto was the driver, and the injured soldier was a Duvdevan commander. The other troops had left on foot, on a mission. The APC was destroyed and had to be towed from the area. When the IDF was extracting the two soldiers, they came under fire, and the IDF attempted to eliminate the terrorist gunmen with a missile, but it did not explode. Later, terrorists attempted to tamper with the missile, but it explodes, and killed a Palestinian woman who was standing nearby.

Also early this week, the IDF and Border Police foiled an attempt to smuggle around 75 handguns, and dozens of assault riffle parts, from Jordan into Judea and Samaria. The soldiers monitoring the area spotted suspicious activity on the border, and located three bags filled with the guns and parts. The smugglers were not yet caught.

Weapons are frequently smuggled from across the Jordanian border, which has minimal security and barely any fencing, due to a shaky peace agreement, in which Jordan objects to any real border security systems between the two countries. Most weapons are smuggled to Palestinian terror groups.

On Tuesday, an Israeli civilian was injured in Mitzpe Yosef, by gunfire which came from deep inside Shechem (Nablus). IDF troops later began a search for the gunman, and came under fire from other local terrorists. IDF troops shot back at four of the gunmen.

General Updates:

In a monumental decision, the Committee of the Soldier Commemoration Council at the Ministry of Defense voted in favor of allowing the abbreviation “הי”ד” after the names of fallen soldiers on their gravestone on Har Herzl. The abbreviation means “may G-d avenge his blood,” and according to Jewish tradition, is written after the name of people killed for being Jewish.

The decision comes after intense petitioning from the parents of Cpt. Yisrael Yudkin, 22, from Kfar Chabad, after he was killed in battle in Gaza at the end of May. Yisrael Yudkin’s grave is still missing a stone, awaiting this ruling.

A PIJ rockets manufacturing facility, found under Rafah.