War Day 306: Soldiers Saved from Bomb Trap, Tehran Starts Training

War Summary, Day 306: Iran warned international airlines to avoid flying over certain parts of Iran indicating that they would be carrying out training exercises during those hours, IDF soldiers saved from bombing trap, and Israel cleared of claims it starved Gazans as a war crime.

By Mrs Bruria Efune

War Summary, Day 306:

115 held captive in Gaza.
41 hostages confirmed murdered in Gaza.
116 living hostages rescued.
24 hostage bodies rescued.
1,616 Israelis killed.
331 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
19 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
9 fallen soldiers in Judea & Samaria.
20,560 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
90,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

• Home Front Command instructions still the same
• Tehran beginning “training exercises”
• IDF striking Hamas sites embedded in humanitarian zones and adjacent to aid storages
• IDF to operate in Beit Hanoun again
• Gallant says war with Lebanon is not “theoretical”
• IDF soldiers saved from bombing trap
• HLMG submits report to ICC challenging claims against IDF

Hostage Updates:

John Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Advisor, said today: “We are closer to a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas than ever before.” Note that this is something the White House has said more than once before.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office release a statement clarifying Israel’s position: “Israel has already given a clear offer and sent the negotiation delegation to Cairo already last Saturday. Up to this moment, no response has been received from Hamas.”

It is unlikely Sinwar will agree to any deal right when he is hoping that Iran and Hezbollah will finally attack Israel.

Iran & Proxies Attack Updates:

The are still no changes to Home Front Command instructions for civilians in Israel. According to Channel 12, the IDF is likely to give the Israeli public advanced warnings, once intelligence indicates that the Iranian axis’s attack is imminent, so that Israelis have sufficient time to switch to emergency mode, and move to shelters. The question is how much warning time the IDF will be able to give without exposing intelligence sources.

Unlike in April, the IDF Is also prepared to respond instantly—not just in defense, but also on the offensive.

Iran warned international airlines to avoid flying over certain parts of Iran, on the early morning hours between 1:00AM and 4:00AM, August 8th (Thursday), indicating that they would be carrying out training exercises during those hours. This is not an indication of an immediate attack, which is expected anytime between now and Tuesday, and most likely to begin at night.

Within Iran, there are mixed opinions about how strongly to attack Israel, with extremists in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) vying for a strong military attack, and political moderates quietly pushing for something more calculated. The commander of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, told “Iran International” that Israel will learn a lesson as soon as it receives Iran’s “severe response.” The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian officials have also told Arab countries that they don’t care if an attack on Israel causes an all-out war in the Middle East.

At the conference of Islamic countries in Jeddah today, Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bakri Khani, told representatives, “We did everything possible to avoid escalation, but Tehran has no choice but to use its right to defend itself in the face of Israeli violations.”

At the same time, “Iran International,” which is affiliated with the regime’s opponents in Iran, reported that Iran’s president-elect, Massoud Pazkhian, urged Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to refrain from attacking Israel, and warned of the devastating effect this would have on his tenure. According to him: “The reaction could collapse the country.” Reportedly, Khameini gave a noncommittal response.

According to the Washington Post, White House efforts to cool Khamenei down may be having an affect, especially after Iran learned that Haniyeh was killed by a planted bomb and not a direct attack on Iranian soil. He may also be persuaded by the massive American show of force in the region, and Israel’s military posturing as well. The Iranian regime is on weak legs, and when behaving rationally, realizes that it cannot afford to take significant risks.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas launched a rocket at the Kibbutz Nir Am area, near the Gaza border.

Thank G-d the IDF did not announce any fallen heroes today!

Three divisions of IDF troops are currently operating in Gaza: the 252nd Division along the Netzarim Corridor, and on pinpoint operations in Central Gaza; the Gaza Division in the buffer zone; and the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor. The IDF carried out dozens of airstrikes against Hamas (and PIJ) targets, including terrorist squads, and buildings used by Hamas.

Amongst the targets today was a Hamas and PIJ weapons manufacturing plant which was embedded within the designated humanitarian zone. The IDF took extreme cautions to mitigate risk to civilians before using a precision airstrike adapted for the purpose.

In a similar incident, IDF fighter jets destroyed Hamas rocket launchers which had been used in recent days to fire at Israeli civilians, and were located immediately adjacent to humanitarian aid warehouses (including one belonging to UNRWA), in the Khan Younis area.

In this phase of the Gaza war, the IDF is cracking down much more intensely on rocket launching incidents, both since it is now able to put it at a higher priority, and because most remaining launchers are in areas that require a closer look before bombing. Following the renewed evacuation orders for Khan Younis, the IDF today added renewed evacuation warnings for Beit Hanoun, from where rockets were launched yesterday. The IDF warned that it will operate “forcefully and immediately” in the area. Most civilians have already evacuated after warnings in the previous months.

In both Central Gaza and Rafah troops battled and eliminated armed Hamas terrorists while cautiously searching for and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:

On August 6th:

158 trucks carrying humanitarian goods were transferred to Gaza.
94 aid trucks were collected from the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
Currently, there are over 600 trucks worth waiting to be collected from the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom crossing.

6 tankers of cooking gas designated for the operation of essential infrastructure were transferred at the request of humanitarian organizations.

13 bakeries are operational (7 in northern Gaza and 6 in central Gaza), producing close to 3 million pita loaves a day.

To date, the IDF coordinated the exit of 3,385 patients and 927 escorts from Gaza for medical treatment.

The IDF’s COGAT division is working with international partners such as the WHO and UNICEF to facilitate a vaccination campaign and other medical responses. Since the start of the war they have facilitated the entry of over 2 million doses of vaccines into Gaza.

Northern Front Updates:

Hezbollah in Lebanon continued with heavy firing on Israel’s Upper Galilee, reaching as far as Tzfat. Thank G-d, no injuries were reported today.

The IDF carried out several airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon, hitting drone and rocket launching sites, Hezbollah buildings, and terrorist squads. Today Hezbollah announced their 400th member eliminated by the IDF.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with IDF troops during a drill simulating a Lebanon war scenarios. “As things stand, Nasrallah may drag Lebanon into paying extremely heavy prices. They can’t even imagine what might happen. This may also deteriorate into a war, it’s not a theoretical thing—it’s real.”

A senior Hezbollah terrorist official was interviewed by Lebanese television and said: “We estimate that Israel will not maneuver on the ground even a few meters into Lebanese territory. However, if Israel maneuvers one meter, Hezbollah forces will deepen their entry into the Upper Galilee. This is the equation.”

The IDF’s goal is to push Hezbollah back to the lowlands behind the Litany River, where Hezbollah is supposed to be, according to UN Security Resolution 1701, from 2006. Since October 8th, there have been ongoing diplomatic negotiations behind the scenes, in an effort to achieve this. Highlighting the difficulties, according to a report in the The Economist, a Lebanese official recently told US mediators that it would be easier to move the Litani River south than to remove Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.

According to some estimates, one in three houses in Southern Lebanon are being used by Hezbollah, however, making things more simple than in Gaza, most civilians have already fled the area and won’t be acting as human shields. IDF troops may still need to enter on foot, in order to locate the many sophisticated tunnels and underground launching sites. When it comes to civilian casualties, Beirut will present the larger challenge, due to Hezbollah’s extensive underground network and weapons facilities under the capital city.

Houthi & Iraqi War Front Updates:

In the past 24 hours, U.S. Central Command forces destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi UAVs (attack drones), one Houthi ground control station, and three Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles, in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Lloyd Austin, the USA Secretary of Defense commented on the attack on the Ein al-Assad U.S. army base in Iraq, stating that he is certain that the attack was carried out by an Iranian-backed militia, and that “the USA will not tolerate harm to its people in the region.” He added that due to the rising tensions, the US “adjusted the military presence in the region to strengthen the defense of our forces and Israel.”

Sources in the Shia militias told the “Al-Akhbar” newspaper that the attack on the US army base came as part of a new phase of escalation against American bases in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, and the massacres in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Judea and Samaria Updates:

Following last night’s thwarted shooting attack at the Jewish community of Beka’ot, IDF troops located four bombs near the site of the shooting. It appears that the terrorists had planned to lure IDF soldiers into a trap, and thank G-d, failed. One of the terrorists had been eliminated on the spot, and the other had fled, hoping the troops would follow him into a trap where the bombs were hidden. Unlike the usual, the troops did not chase the terrorist, and allowed him to escape, and the soldiers didn’t fall into the bombing trap.

International Updates:

The High Level Military Group (HLMG), submitted a report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) challenging allegations of war crimes against the IDF in the Gaza war. The HLMG, which is is composed of former chiefs of staff and senior military officers from NATO countries, visited Israel in July, and toured IDF headquarters, spoke with senior military commanders, monitored humanitarian aid operations and even entered Gaza.

In the report, the group asserts that the IDF did not attempt any deliberate strategy of starvation against civilians, but actually made extraneous efforts to assist in delivering humanitarian aid. Nor did the IDF target civilians, according to the report, but instead worked to evacuate them, despite Hamas’s human shield strategy.

The HLMG argues that the allegations against the IDF are not supported by the evidence, and that furthermore, the charges and arrest warrants against Israeli leaders could have dangerous implications for future military operations by democratic countries involved in conflicts.

Iron Dome interceptions above Tzfat today

The first designated synagogue was inaugurated in the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza this week, almost 19 years after Jewish communities were evacuated from Netzarim in Gush Katif.