War Day 337: PIJ Commanders Eliminated, New Propaganada Leaked

War Summary, Day 336-337: U.S. proposal delayed due to new demands from Hamas, Sinwar’s tactics leaked in another document, PIJ battalion commanders eliminated in Gaza, Researcher finds BBC to breach it’s own rules in bias against Israel over 1,500 times.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

War Summary, Day 336-337:

101 held captive in Gaza.
35 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
117 living hostages rescued.
37 hostage bodies rescued.
1,643 Israelis killed.
344 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
21 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
13 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
22,000 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
88,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

• U.S. proposal delayed due to new demands from Hamas
• Sinwar’s tactics leaked in another document
• Protests in Tel Aviv
• Slowed airstrikes in Gaza
• PIJ battalion commanders eliminated in Gaza
• Hezbollah continues to increase rocket fire, including to Tzfat
• IDF again preparing for war
• Turkish-American “activist” killed near Shechem
• Researcher finds BBC to breach it’s own rules in bias against Israel over 1,500 times

Hostage Updates:

Israel Hayom reports that Biden has postponed the date of the final hostage-ceasefire proposal, due to a new demand from Hamas. The negotiators are reportedly getting frustrated with Hamas’s repeated new demands, and disgusted with their daily releases of videos of hostages.

Either way, expectations for success of the proposal are low, as the differences between Israel’s security needs and Hamas’s demands are irreconcilable. Center to the issue is the Philadelphi Corridor, which both Israel and Hamas demand control of. What remains to be seen, is whose side the proposal will lean towards, and therefore who the mediators will place the blame on when the negotiations fail.

Biled, a German news outlet, claims to have exclusively acquired access to a document which was found on Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar’s computer, and which outlines the negotiations strategy. The document is from spring of 2024, possibly shortly before the IDF took over the Philadelphi Corridor. The document’s main instruction is to ensure that a) the capacity of Hamas’s “armed forces” to operate against Israel is maintained, b) the Israeli political and military apparatus must be exhausted, and c) international pressure on Israel must be increased.

Notable details include:

• Hamas is not seeking a quick end to the war that would help the people of Gaza, but would rather drag out negotiations endlessly, to ensure they achieve the important clauses (so that Hamas can rebuild).
• Although Hamas admits that its “military capacity has been weakened,” it does not believe that a quick end to the fighting is necessary.
• The document doesn’t once mention the plight of civilians or that ant civilians were killed in the war.
• The document extensively details how to exert psychological pressure on the families of the hostages, so that they pressure the Israeli government, both in the first and second stage of negotiations.
• An important achievement in negotiations is the release of 100 terrorists who are in Israeli prison for murder, and are serving life sentences.
• Several key points of the document are devoted to the manipulation of the international community and promote the reconstruction of Hamas’ military power.
• There is talk of a “political maneuver”: Hamas negotiators should propose that “Arab forces be stationed along the eastern and northern borders” with Israel. But these would only have one purpose: “The Arab forces should serve as a buffer to prevent the enemy from entering Gaza after the war ends until they [Hamas] have reorganized their ranks and military capabilities.”
• Israel should be held solely responsible for the unsuccessful negotiations. Hamas’ message to the media should be that Israel rejected a deal that was brought in by the USA. The media must be made aware that Hamas agreed, but that the deal failed due to “Israel’s stubbornness.”
• The Philadelphi Corridor is not mentioned at all. The document may have been written before Israel took it over, in which case it would mean that Hamas never imagined that Israel would take it. Otherwise, it means that it’s not actually important to Hamas, and their strong demands for it are just a tactic to drag things out (this is less likely).

After Shabbat, a few hundred thousand Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, demanding that the government agree to a hostage-ceasefire deal, and blaming the lack of deal on the Israeli government. Protest extremists threatened to “burn down the country” if the deal falls through. While their desperation is understandable, these protests are exactly what Sinwar wants, and what leads him to continuously increase demands. Notably, there were no protests at all before the first deal was secured in November, which released 105 hostages for nearly nothing compared to what Hamas is demanding now.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas has not successfully fired any rockets into Israel since Thursday.

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 pinpoint operations in Central Gaza and Gaza City; the 162nd Division in Rafah and along the Philadelphi Corridor; and the Gaza Division in the buffer zone.

In the past week, the IDF struck over 40 Hamas terror targets, eliminated over 100 terrorists, and located several tunnel shafts. This is a significant decrease in airstrikes over previous weeks, possibly due to minimal targets remaining in areas where hostages aren’t being held.

Over the last two days, the IDF hit two Hamas command rooms which were embedded in two separate school buildings in Gaza City, both in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

Two PIJ battalion commanders and several other terrorists were confirmed to be eliminated in a recent airstrike in the designated humanitarian zone in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. Abdullah Khattab, was the commander of PIJ’s South Deir al-Balah Battalion and commanded his battalion in the October 7th massacre, and Hatem Abu al-Jidyan, was the commander of PIJ’s East Deir al-Balah Battalion, and had directed several attacks against IDF troops in Gaza.

The IDF released a video of close-quarters combat in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, where the IDF says troops have eliminate dozens of armed terrorists in recent days.

Northern Front Updates:

Hezbollah in Lebanon continued with heavy fire on Israel’s far north, in a continued slow increase of above 40 projectiles daily, including rockets, anti-tank missiles, and attack drones. The furthest barrage of 5 rockets targeted Tsfat (Salad). Most rockets were either intercepted, or hit open areas. One rocket hit a home in Shlomi.

The IDF launched significant airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon, targeting terrorists and rocket launchers—including the launcher which aimed at Tzfat. In one strike, rockets were immediately seen flying out of the targeted launcher, and landing in Lebanon.

The IDF reports that over the past week (up until Shabbat), it carried out around 50 airstrikes total against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi toured the Golan Heights, and hinted at (renewed) preparations for a wider war against Hezbollah. “The IDF is very focused on fighting Hezbollah,” he said. “I think that the number of attacks in the last month, terrorists eliminated, rockets destroyed, infrastructure destroyed, is very large. The Northern Command, with all the IDF’s capabilities, is attacking many of Hezbollah’s capabilities inside Lebanon before they attack us, and at the same time we are also preparing offensive moves.”

Troops continue to maintain preparedness— this past week the reservist Yiftach Brigade carried out an extended exercise simulating battles inside Lebanon.

According to various Israeli military analysts, the IDF is preparing for a large scale operation by destroying as many Hezbollah rocket launchers as possible, and improving drone interception capabilities, in order to reduce the risks as much as possible. Unverified (but highly probable) reports state that Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire proposal refusing to withdraw from Southern Lebanon. It’s estimated that Israel will wait until the negotiations with Hamas officially fall through. The U.S. is highly intent on preventing a Lebanon war, and therefore might drag out negotiations for as long as possible.

Judea and Samaria Updates:

Operation Summer Camps is ongoing in the Jenin, Tulkarem and Far’a areas. So far the IDF eliminated over 35 armed terrorists, and arrested 45. Dozens of illegal firearms were confiscated, dozens of explosive devices were neutralized, and three bomb-making labs were destroyed. 30 explosive devices which were planted under roads in Jenin alone were neutralized.

A woman with American citizenship, originally from Turkey, was killed in the town of Beita, near Shechem (Nablus). Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was reportedly an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The IDF says that during operations in the area, troops opened fire at a “main instigator” who was hurling stones at the forces and had “posed a threat.” The IDF is investigating if Eygi was killed in the incident. It’s unclear why Eygi and the ISM wasn’t throwing stones in her homeland—Turkey maintains a murderous military occupation in Kurdistan and a settlement project in northern Cyprus.

International Updates:

A report by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, based on research into the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, found over 1,500 breaches of the broadcaster’s own editorial guidelines. The study analyzed four months of BBC content across various platforms and revealed a severe bias against Israel. Key findings included:

• Israel was linked to genocide 14 times more than Hamas.
• The BBC downplayed Hamas terrorism while portraying Israel as militaristic.
• BBC Arabic was particularly biased, with journalists showing support for Hamas.
• Despite the BBC’s policy to describe Hamas as a terrorist organization, this designation was applied only 3.2% of the time.