War Day 478: Trump Pushes Jordan and Egypt to Take Gazans, IDF Strikes Terror Crowds

War Summary, Day 478: Three more hostages to be released, Hamas hands list of hostages status, Trump asks Egypt and Jordan to take in Gazans, IDF uses airstrike to disperse terror crowd in Samaria, Lebanese Army helps Hezbollah, IDF eliminates 22 Hezbollah terrorists and supporters, and Diaspora Ministers travel plans canceled due to security threat.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

90 held captive in Gaza.
35 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
124 living hostages rescued.
41 hostage bodies rescued.
1,815 Israelis killed.
411 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
87 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
15 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
30,683 estimated projectiles fired at Israel.
80,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

– Crisis over Arbel Yehud resolved
– Three additional hostages to be released early
– Hamas hands list of hostages status
– Hamas and PIJ terrorists continue to approach IDF positions
– Netzarim crossing was not opened yet
– Trump asks Egypt and Jordan to take in Gazans
– IDF destroys bomb factory in Jenin
– IDF uses airstrike to disperse terror crowd in Samaria
– Hezbollah organizes mass marches to IDF positions
– Lebanese Army helps Hezbollah
– IDF opens fire, eliminates 22 Hezbollah terrorists and supporters
– Diaspora Ministers travel plans cancelled due to security threat

Hostages:

Hamas has not yet released Arbel Yehud, and until moments ago, did not either release the list with the status of the remaining 26 hostages to be released in the first phase. The IDF in turn, has not yet opened the first road for Gazans to return to the north of the strip.

According to insider reports, the real issue was a sickening internal dispute between the PIJ and Hamas over credit for Arbel’s kidnapping. The PIJ wants to be filmed handing over Arbel, since they captured her. To the outside world, the PIJ claimed that they discovered that Arbel was really an IDF soldier (she was not), and therefore they demanded more terrorists released in exchange for her freedom.

After midnight, negotiations finally brought about an agreement:

On Thursday, Arbel Yehud will be released together with Agam Berger and one other hostage. This will be in addition to the hostages released on Shabbat. Hamas also finally handed the list of the remaining 26 hostages and their statuses to Israel.

In exchange, Israel will open the crossing for Gazans to travel to and from the northern section of Gaza, beginning Monday morning. In addition, the IDF will release a list of 400 terrorists who have been arrested since October 7th, and release an additional list every Sunday of the first phase of the deal (these are not additional terrorists being released—only lists of their names).

Israel also made it clear that further such violations won’t be accepted. In sum, the outcome seems positive for Israel, with three living hostages being released earlier than originally expected. (In other words, instead of there being 12 hostages left to be released on the last day, only 9 will be remaining.)

The contents of the list of the 26 remaining hostages has not yet been released to the public. It can be assumed that the IDF will first contact the families of each hostage, to tell them their fate directly.

Hundreds of notorious terrorists with multiple life sentences have been released from prison so far, and welcomed home by local terror groups with honors. While this significantly undermines the deterrent value of imprisonment for terrorism, at least one released terrorist put in some words to fix that. In an Al Jazeera interview, a released terrorist said, “Israeli prisons are hell, especially after October 7, the prisoners (terrorists) live in very difficult conditions.” After October 7th, Public Security Minister Ben Gvir significantly worsened the conditions in prisons for notorious terrorists.

Last week, more than 4,200 aid trucks were delivered to Gaza, as part of the ceasefire agreement.

Gaza:

Terrorists in Gaza are still approaching IDF positions, in violation of the ceasefire agreement. This can be expected to continue, in an effort to break the “glass wall” and weaken IDF security convictions. In one incident today, IDF troops eliminated a member of the PIJ’s rocket unit, after he approached IDF positions in Southern Gaza, posing a threat.

In Central Gaza, at the Netzarim Corridor, dozens of Gazans approached IDF positions, prompting troops to fire warning shots.

Thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of Gazans are gathered on the coastal road leading to the Netzarim Corridor, waiting to cross into Northern Gaza. The opening of the crossing was delayed until tomorrow, due Hamas’s failure to release Arbel Yehud on Shabbat.

Videos on social media show endless lineups of Gazans, and many of them making fun of Hamas’s “victory” in which they can’t even get the crossing opened until they heed Israel’s demands.

While Hamas has not been completely defeated, they are clearly struggling. Israeli security officials say that most of Hamas’s new recruits are young teens who haven’t undergone any training. A close look at Hamas’s parades of masked men seems to confirm this, with most of the terrorist militia standing in disheveled positions, appearing completely out of place in military uniform.

Ehud Ya’ari from Channel 12 reports that Hamas no longer has any of their production facilities for bullets and rockets, and is concerned that they will no longer be able to smuggle any in. Beginning in the second phase of the deal, the Rafah crossing will be under strict control of an American company (Orbis), and it’s expected that the Egyptians will be far more cautious.

Worse for Hamas, over the war, Gazans have learned that they can hate both Israel and Hamas. Hamas police have been retaking control of the streets by shooting and torturing anyone who tries to take the humanitarian aid without buying it from Hamas. But the people of Gaza are growing angry at Hamas, and small gangs of people who want to fight back are slowly growing.

Hamas also knows that Israel won’t allow any construction materials into Gaza, until there is a mechanism to ensure that Hamas doesn’t retake control of the strip. Hamas will lose all power if they do not control the reconstruction. Their best chance is if the Palestinian Authority (PA) takes control of Gaza, so that Hamas can later wrestle it from them. But the PA is refusing to step in unless Hamas disarms.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump has been pushing a more intensive solution. Trump asked both Jordan and Egypt to take in over 1 million Gazans each, and accommodate them while Gaza is being rebuilt. Trump explains that this is because there is nowhere to live in Gaza in the meantime, with a massive cleaning job to do before construction can even begin.

Jordan and Egypt both responded in the negative, claiming that they don’t want to bring about the displacement of Gazans. In truth, the two countries have two main issues with this proposal. One, is that it is against Islamic religion to lose land controlled by Muslims to non-Muslims. Two, is that historically, Palestinians have made big problems for both Jordan and Egypt, with uprisings, a civil war, and even the attempted assassination of the king of Jordan in the 60s.

The Saudi channel “Al-Hadath” reports that Trump’s plan actually goes much further. They claim, according to a “senior source,” that the plan to transfer the Gazans is the first of three stages. The following stages moves much of the population to other Arab and Asian countries, and has no guarantee of returning all of them. The source said that a US official is expected to hold meetings with mediators and Arab countries to discuss the issue.

Trump will then invest in Gaza, possibly together with the UAE, and build a more successful and peaceful place with a smaller filtered population.

Israel might be hesitant, or cautious about this plan. If Trump heavily invests in rebuilding Gaza, and in Gazan real estate, and Hamas then builds terror infrastructure underneath his projects, it will be very difficult for Israel to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure. Trump will not want his own projects destroyed. In other words, Trump’s reconstruction could be the greatest shield for Hamas. The plan only works if Hamas and all organized terror groups are completely removed from Gaza.

While Arab countries claim to be supporting Gazans by refusing to “take part in their displacement,” many, if not most Gazans would likely be eager to follow the plan. According to the 2023 Arab Barometer poll, 44% of Gazans aged 18-29 said that they would emigrate from Gaza if given the chance. 23% of those 30 years and older agreed with the sentiment. These numbers only represent those who weren’t afraid to admit so to the pollsters—holding such a position in Gaza can be life threatening.

Judea & Samaria:

Operation Iron Wall in Jenin is ongoing.

Videos of terrorists arrests in Jenin have surfaced on social media, but the IDF has not yet reported on numbers.

The IDF says that troops in Jenin today located and destroyed a bomb-making lab in Jenin.

In Balata, near Shechem (Nablus), the IDF used a drone strike to disperse a large crowd in which there were armed terrorists.

Lebanon:

Drama in Lebanon today: After the IDF held positions, Hezbollah sent mobs to return to the villages. By late evening, the Trump administration announced that the withdrawal stage of the ceasefire agreement will be extended until February 18.

The original agreement stipulates that Israel only needs to withdraw at the end of the 60-days if the Lebanese Army has fully deployed to Southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah has fully moved north of the Litani River. Neither condition was fulfilled.

Hezbollah had promised to fight back if the IDF did not fully withdraw after 60-days. However, they chose to avoid escalating to rockets, and try local violence and drama instead. Hezbollah delivered notices to locals of Shiite villages on the Lebanon-Israel border (all Hezbollah supporters and members), with organized times to arrive at the villages, where the IDF remains in place. Several hundreds of Hezbollah supporters complied.

Instead of stopping the mobs, as is their job, the Lebanese army simply opened the barricades and allowed the Hezbollah supporters, including vehicles with Hezbollah flags, to drive right through.

As the mobs approached IDF positions, troops used warning shots in an attempt to deter them. When the mobs continued approaching, direct shots were used to remove threats.

On one instance, a vehicle decorated with Hezbollah flags approached IDF troops, who used a drone to destroy it.

By the end of the day, the Lebanese health ministry reported 22 Hezbollah supporters killed (including one member of the Lebanese Army) and another 124 wounded by Israeli fire.

The Lebanese Army, doubled down on there failure by stating that they were “accompanying civilians entering several villages in south Lebanon, amid the Israeli enemy’s persistence in violating Lebanon’s sovereignty, its attacks on citizens, causing martyrs and wounded among them, and its refusal to abide by the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the Lebanese territories it occupied.”

Hezbollah put out a statement, also doubling down: “The international community, led by the countries that sponsored the agreement, must bear responsibility for Israel’s violations and compel it to fully withdraw from our lands. We call on all Lebanese to stand united in southern Lebanon to renew the meanings of national solidarity and build true sovereignty.”

Instead of seeing the complete failure to implement the ceasefire, French President Macron complied to Hezbollah; ‘s demands, and urged Netanyahu to withdraw Israeli forces remaining in Lebanon.

Today’s events showed that Hezbollah still has a strong presence in Southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese Army will only support them.

Israel now has until February 18th to decide the next steps.

Iran:

According to a Telegraph report, Iran sees Trump’s return to the White House as an “existential threat” and has instructed their proxies in the region to “avoid provocative moves that could escalate tensions.” Iran has ordered the militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen not to attack American assets, or at least not to use Iranian weapons for this purpose.

Syria:

In a flip from the previous Syrian dictatorship, Syrian authorities today seized a shipment of weapons heading to Hezbollah in Lebanon via smuggling routes on the border city of Sarghaya.

Other:

– Defense Minister Israel Katz has interviewed the three senior generals who were named as candidates for the position of Chief of Staff: Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, the current deputy chief of staff; Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, the Defense Ministry director-general; and Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, the former Ground Forces chief.
– Katz emphasized that the role of chief of staff “is first and foremost to lead an offensive policy of defeating the enemy in all combat theaters.”
Katz says that the candidate will be chosen “soon,” and the selection will be done in coordination with the Prime Minister.

– The Prime MInister’s Office announced that Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli had to cancel his planned trip to the European Parliament in Brussels, in light of concrete threats to his security.
At the same time, the Shin Bet instructed Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia, and IsraAir to cancel flights to Paphos, Cyprus, and transfer them to Larnaca Airport, due to security considerations.

– Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington to meet President Trump in the beginning of February. The meeting will take place while the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal is still ongoing.

In honor of all our fallen, and all those who need healing. By Rivkah Moses Moriah, in memory of her son Avraham David Moses HYD.

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