War Day 342: Hamas on the Brink of Collapse, Soldier Rammed at Guarding Station

War Summary, Day 339-342: Two IAF soldiers killed in helicopter crash, strong evidence that Hamas’s military is at the brink of collapse, Hamas made $500M off humanitarian aid, top Hamas generals eliminated in heavy airstrike, Rafah Brigade defeated, UNRWA helping Hamas survive and suppress rebellion, and IDF executed a secretive and dangerous operation under a mountain in Syria.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

War Summary, Day 339-342:

101 held captive in Gaza.
35 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
117 living hostages rescued.
37 hostage bodies rescued.
1,646 Israelis killed.
346 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
21 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
14 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
24,200 estimated rockets fired at Israel.
88,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

• Two IAF soldiers killed in helicopter crash in Rafah
• Col. (res.) Golan Vach injured in tunnel collapse
• Strong evidence that Hamas’s military is at the brink of collapse
• Hamas made $500M off humanitarian aid
• Top Hamas generals eliminated in heavy airstrike
• Rafah Brigade defeated
• UNRWA helping Hamas survive and suppress rebellion
• Heavy fire from Hezbollah, building in Nahariya hit
• IDF executed a secretive and dangerous operation under a mountain in Syria
• Soldier killed in ramming attack in Judea and Samaria region
• Terror attack prevented in Central Israel
• Three senior PIJ terrorists eliminated in Judea and Samaria region
• South Africa denied extension request by ICJ, after needing more time to find evidence

Hostage Updates:

Rabbi Elchanan Danino, the father of Uri Danino, one of the 6 hostages killed by Hamas in Rafah, spoke at a r ally for the hostages, calling for unity, and for the freedom of the remaining 101 hostages.

“We are all children of one man,” Danino said. “And this is where the obligation of responsibility for each other comes from, which is one of the first duties of a Jew from birth. We may wear different clothes, but we came from the same father and the same mother. We were scattered in all kinds of countries in the world. The Holy One, blessed be He, bestowed upon us this land because we are one people. Let’s not let anyone divide us.”

Israelis remain split on how to bring the hostages home, with the Hostage Family Forum calling for a deal at all costs, and the Tikva Forum (which represents a smaller number of hostages, most of whom won’t come home in the deal being discussed), say that only military pressure will bring the hostages home, and the current deal will only bring around 20 hostages home and leave the rest to languish after the IDF loses all negotiating power in one go.

The truth is, that there isn’t really a deal on the table at the moment, because Hamas is demanding a complete IDF withdrawal from all of Gaza and ceasefire, and the freedom of hundreds of terrorists who are serving life sentences for murder, as a precondition to releasing just a small number of hostages. The conditions laid out in the deal are designed by Hamas to allow them to begin smuggling weapons into Gaza again, and rebuilding their terrorist forces, before even beginning to slowly free the remaining hostages.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas fired rockets four times at Israeli communities in the Gaza Envelope (border area) since Monday.

On Wednesday, the IDF announced the names of two heroes who fell in Gaza:

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Daniel Alloush, 37, from Tel Aviv
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tom Ish-Shalom, 38, from Nes Harim

The two Israeli Air Force soldiers were from the elite search and rescue Unit 669, and were killed in a failed helicopter landing in Rafah, en route to evacuate an injured soldier. Five others were seriously wounded in the crash. The helicopter crew were on their way to rescue a combat engineering soldier who was seriously injured in combat.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, Col. (res.) Golan Vach was injured in a tunnel collapse in Central Gaza. Golan Vach is a renowned senior Home Front Command search and rescue officer, who amongst many International missions, directed the Israeli team in the 2021 Surfside, Florida, rescue operation. In the Tuesday incident, he was directing efforts to safely investigate and demolish tunnels, when the tunnel partially collapsed, and he became trapped inside. Vach was later rescued and evacuated to a hospital in Israel, where he is in stable condition.

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.

Hamas’s military is now at the brink of complete collapse. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed a document written a little over two months ago, by the former commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, Rafa’a Salameh (who was killed on July 13th together with Mohammed Deif). The letter is addressed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Muhammad, and describes the “difficult situation” the Hamas terror military was in. He writes:

“Please consider the following: We maintain the remaining weapons and equipment, as we have lost 90-95% of our rocket capabilities; and we have lost some 60% of our personal weapons; we have lost at least 65-70% of our anti-tank launchers and rockets, and most importantly that we have lost at least 50% of our fighters between those who are martyred and wounded, and now we are left with 25%. The last 25% of our people have reached a situation where the people do not tolerate them any more, broken on a mental or physical level.”

The Boston Globe reported that some displaced civilians in Central Gaza shelters are now blocking Hamas terrorists from entering their camp or shelter buildings, because they don’t want their encampments to become IDF targets.

However, Hamas remains afloat as an organization, due to the massive profits from humanitarian aid. Israeli journalist, Almog Boker, reported that according to research, Hamas has profited over half a billion dollars from humanitarian aid to Gaza. According to reports, Hamas, with the help of UNRWA, confiscated most of the aid, hides it in their warehouse to create a shortage, and then sells it at high prices to Gazan civilians. In addition, Hamas takes a significant percent of the fuel which is delivered directly to humanitarian organizations, and uses it to power their terror tunnels.

Since Monday, the IDF used several airstrikes to eliminate Senior Hamas commanders. Some were in areas with civilians, and in those, the IDF used caution and precision missiles to avoid harming civilians. Amongst the airstrikes:

• A rare very heavy airstrike on Tuesday in the designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis targeted three key Hamas terrorists, with the rank equivalent to a general: Samer Ismail Khader Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’s aerial forces; Osama Tabash, the head of surveillance and targets in Hamas’s intelligence division; and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas officer. The depth of the crater left by the airstrike, and the fact that it was in the humanitarian zone, indicates that these terrorists were essential to Hamas, and therefore high priority for the IDF to eliminate.
• On Tuesday, a drone strike eliminated Mahmoud Hamdan, the notorious commander of Hamas’s Tel Sultan Battalion in the Rafah Brigade. Hamdan played a significant role in planning the October 7th attack. Three company commanders were eliminated along with him.
• Another Tuesday airstrike targeted several Hamas terrorists in command rooms inside a mosque and a nearby building, in Al-Bureij, Central Gaza.
• On Wednesday, a Hamas command room in the Al-Jaouni School in Nuseirat, Central Gaza. UNRWA claims that 6 staffers will killed in the airstrike, but refuse to name them. The IDF named 9 Hamas terrorists, 3 of which were also UNRWA workers. Two of the terrorists eliminated had participated in the October 7th massacre.
• On Wednesday an airstrike eliminated Abdullah Abu Riala, one of the terrorists who guarded Cpl. Noa Marciano, who was later killed by Hamas in captivity in Shifa Hospital.
• Another Wednesday drone strike eliminated Ayman Khaled Ahmed Abu al-Yahni, a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces, who participated in the brutal attack on the Erez Crossing on October 7th.

On Thursday, the IDF announced the complete defeat of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, having eliminated at least 2,308 terrorists in the city, and demolished over 13 kilometers (an estimated 80%) worth of tunnels. Troops had located 203 individual, but interconnected, tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor, some of which stretched from the Egyptian border to about 300 meters away on the outskirts of the border city of Rafah. Nine of the tunnels were found to cross into Egypt. It is unknown if there are still more which the IDF has not found.

Earlier, on Monday, the IDF called for Gaza civilians to evacuate the Atatra area in Northern Gaza, after rockets were fired by Hamas elements in the area.

The IDF now needs to determine the next phase of the war in Gaza. The army still has not done a full operation in parts of Central Gaza, possibly to avoid risking the lives of several hostages held in the area (something which couldn’t be avoided in Rafah, which had to be cleared out to prevent further smuggling). Some prominent security voices are calling for the IDF to enforce a full evacuation from Northern Gaza, with a complete blockade on humanitarian aid, in order to starve Hamas out of the area, before slowly reintroducing civilians. Possibilities for the next move are:

1. Most to phase three of the war in Gaza, which will be targeted operations to remove small squads of Hamas terrorists.
2. Complete the job in Central Gaza.
3. Full blockade and clearance of Northern Gaza.

Either way, the IDF needs to keep a reduced amount of forces in Gaza in order to move the focus of the war to the northern front.

Gaza Humanitarian Efforts Updates:

As of September 10th, 81,452 children under 10 were vaccinated in northern Gaza. In total, and since the start of the vaccination campaign, 521,903 children were vaccinated for Polio in central, southern, and northern Gaza.

On September 10th:
176 trucks carrying humanitarian goods were transferred to Gaza, 143 trucks entered via Kerem Shalom to the south and center of Gaza, and 33 trucks entered via Erez, to Northern Gaza.
125 trucks were collected from the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom. Approximately 500 trucks worth of aid is waiting for collection, 480 of them by the UN.
6 tankers of cooking gas designated for the operation of essential infrastructure were transferred.
187,000 doses of polio vaccines by UNICEF were transferred.

On Wednesday, the IDF stopped a UN convoy in Northern Gaza, after receiving intelligence that Hamas terrorists were hitching a ride with the UN. Suspicions were confirmed.

While Hamas has been intimidating and torturing dissident voices in Gaza, a few brave residents are speaking out about how UNRWA is helping Hamas retain power, not only with aid, but also with refusal to help non-Hamas supporters. As mentioned above, Hamas has made over half a billion in profit from humanitarian aid since the start of the war, and takes the large part of fuel which is delivered at the request of humanitarian aid organizations, mostly belonging to the UN.

Northern Front Updates:

Hezbollah’s attacks on Northern Israel continue to escalate severely. On Wednesday night alone, over 100 rockets were fired into the far north. Amongst attacks was also a barrage of 30 rockets launched by Hamas in Lebanon. One IDF reservist was severely injured by an anti-tank missile in Kibbutz Dan. On Monday, a rocket impacted an apartment building in Nahariya (a Northern city which is not under evacuation warning), thankfully the building had thick concrete walls, and while damage was done, nobody was injured.

The IDF has been escalating response attacks in Southern Lebanon, with heavy airstrikes on Hezbollah positions, to remove as many Hezbollah positions, weapons manufacturing plants, and rocket launchers as possible, ahead of a possible larger-scale war.

In addition, on Tuesday, the IDF carried an airstrike deeper into Lebanon, on a road near Lake Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley. The target was Muhammad Qassem al-Shaer, a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.

The IDF is also targeting Iranian assets in Syria, from where many weapons are smuggled to Hezbollah into Lebanon, and where Iran may be developing another strong front from which to attack Israel. On Thursday, the IDF broke the usual protocol of remaining quiet about attacks on Syria, and announced that it carried out two drone strikes in Southern Syria, targeting a senior Hezbollah terrorist and another Iranian-backed terrorist.

There are now reports that Sunday’s “alleged” IDF airstrikes in Syria, were actually cover for a raid with forces from the elite Shaldag unit on ground. These reports come from a Syrian opposition television channel, and Greek Middle East expert Eva J. Koulouriotis, as well as sources who told Axios.

According to the reports, the secretive raid targeted an Iranian factory which was built deep inside a mountain in Masyaf , where it couldn’t be reached by IDF airstrikes. The factory, which contained sophisticated machinery, was producing short and long-range precision missiles for Hezbollah. The IDF had been monitoring this factory for five years now, under the code name “Deep Layer.” Raids were not carried out earlier, due to the high risk.

On Sunday, IDF Shaldag soldiers repelled from helicopters, and attacked the factory guards, before capturing 2-4 Iranians, confiscating intelligence materials, and then blowing up the underground factory. The simultaneous airstrikes prevented the Syrian military from sending reinforcements during the operation. The operation appears to have been a success, and no IDF fatalities were reported. The U.S. had been made aware of the plan in advance, and didn’t voice opposition.

On Tuesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers stationed in northern Israel that “The center of gravity is moving to the north, we are nearing the completion of our missions in the south, but we have a task here that has not been carried out, and this mission is to change the security situation and return the [60,000] residents to their homes.”

Judea and Samaria Updates:

On Wednesday, the IDF announced the name of a hero who fell guarding Judea and Samaria:

Staff Sgt. Geri Gideon Hanghal, 24, from Nof Hagalil

Gideon Hanghal was killed while guarding an intersection near Givat Asaf, when a terrorist truck driver rammed his fuel tanker into the tiny one-man army post where he was standing.

Operation Summer Camps is ongoing, primarily in Tulkarem, Tubas, and Tammun, and the surrounding suburbs. Since Monday the IDF has used at least two drone strikes, one of which was to take out five terrorists who were attacking active IDF forces.

An airstrike on Thursday targeted a car, which contained three top Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists, who were behind recent shooting and bombing attacks, and one of which is believed to have been responsible for killing Border Police officer Master Sgt. Maxim Razinkov nearly a year ago.

On Wednesday night, the Shin Bet and elite Yamam forces raided a Palestinian Authority hospital near Chevron (Hebron), to arrest a wanted terrorist who had been wounded in a failed car-combing attack on August 13.

On Monday, in a quick and dramatic episode base don intelligence received of an imminent terror attack, the IDF blocked traffic on the Route 6 highway in central Israel, and stopped a vehicle in which 12 Palestinian Authority residents were traveling illegally in Israel. The 12 were arrested, and one was found to be on his way to carrying out a terror attack. Two other collaborators in the attack were later arrested in their homes in Bani Naim, near Chevron.

International Updates:

South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an extension to give them more time to find evidence of Israeli genocide in Gaza, since apparently, they haven’t been able to find valid evidence for their case. The ICJ refused the extension, and South Africa has until October 28th to submit their evidence.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has repeatedly failed to condemn Hamas’s attacks and use of UN buildings, told Reuters that he hasn’t spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu since before October 7th.

“I have not talked to him because he didn’t pick up my phone calls, but I have no reason not to speak with him,” Guterres says. “So if he comes to New York and he asks to see me, I will be very glad to see him.”

General Updates:

On Sunday, police foiled an attempt to smuggle around 74 Glock pistols and 61 magazines into Israel from Jordan, via the Rabin Crossing near Eilat. The driver of the car the passenger, who were both arrested, are residents of the Bedouin town of Bir Hadaj and an illegal Bedouin outpost near Yerucham.

Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, commander of the IDF’s Unit 8200, has informed his superiors and subordinates of his decision to resign. The IDF states that Sariel will be replaced “in the near future.” Unit 8200, the IDF’s primary signals intelligence unit, is one of the units blamed for failing to prevent Hamas’s attack on October 7.

(Warning, very disturbing) IDF spokesman shows the tunnel where 6 hostages were held in horrific conditions.