War Summary, Day 481: Israel demands information about the Bibas family, names of three Israeli hostages to be released Thursday, Gazans keep approaching IDF positions, Witkoff visits Gaza, Trump administration seems serious about deportation plan, IDF to stay in Jenin after operation, Hezbollah in financial crisis, and weapons caught smuggled from Egypt.
By Mrs. Bruria Efune
90 held captive in Gaza.
35 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
124 living hostages rescued.
41 hostage bodies rescued.
1,816 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:
– Names of three Israeli hostages to be released Thursday
– 5 Thai hostages to be released
– Israel demands information about the Bibas family
– Hamas threatening deal stability
– 110 terrorists to be released tomorrow, including 33 murderers
– Phase two negotiations start Sunday: challenges ahead
– Gazans keep approaching IDF positions
– Witkoff visits Gaza
– Trump administration seems serious about deportation plan
– Operation Iron Walls ongoing
– 10 armed terrorists eliminated in Samaria airstrike
– IDF to stay in Jenin after operation
– Hezbollah in financial crisis
– Weapons caught smuggled from Egypt
Wanted posters hunt IDF soldier in Vienna
Netanyahu to visit Washington Sunday through Thursday
Hostages:
Tomorrow (Thursday) three Israeli hostages will be released:
Agam Berger, 19, from Holon, the last of the female IDF soldiers to be released.
Arbel Yehoud, 29, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz together with her partner, and whose brother was murdered by Hamas on October 7th.
Gadi Moshe Moses, 80, a renowned agronomist from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Both Arbel and Gadi are being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In addition to the Israelis, five Thai hostages will be freed tomorrow. Thailand prefers to keep the identities of their hostages quiet, for the security of the hostages.
Of the 90 hostages currently being held in Gaza, 10 are foreigners: One Tanzanian, who was murdered; one Nepalese who may still be alive; and 8 Thais, of which 6 are assumed to be alive.
The release of the Thai hostages comes after Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, spoke with the foreign ministers of Thailand and Nepal, and recommended that they open diplomatic communications to get their citizens out during the ceasefire agreement. No terrorists are being released in exchange for these hostages.
While earlier this week Hamas gave Israel numbers of how many of the first phase hostages are alive, they did not give names. Israel is now demanding of Hamas to provide specific information about Shiri Bibas and her two children, in order to provide certainty to the Bibas family. Yarden Bibas is assumed to still be alive in captivity. (Shiri Bibas’s parents were murdered on October 7th. )
Hamas threatened to delay the release of the hostages tomorrow, claiming that not enough humanitarian aid is entering Gaza. However, as of Wednesday morning, more than 3,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the beginning of the week. The ceasefire agreement includes 4,200 trucks per week. At this rate, the full amount will be delivered by Thursday afternoon.
Terrorists Being Released:
After the release of the three hostages tomorrow, Israel will release 110 terrorists from prison: 30 for each Arbel and Gadi, and 50 for Agam because she is a soldier. None are being released in exchange for the Thai hostages.
33 of the terrorists being released are serving life terms for murder.
66 of them will be released to Judea and Samaria.
14 will be released to East Jerusalem, from where they have access to all of Israel.
9 will be deported to Gaza.
21 will be deported to a third country.
Among the terrorists who are expected to be released tomorrow:
- Zacharias Zubaidi: Former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Jenin, who was responsible for planning a series of attacks, including the attack on the Likud branch in Beit She’an in which 6 Israelis were murdered. He is also one of the terrorists who escaped from the Gilboa Prison in 2021. Zubaidi will not be deported abroad and is expected to be released back to Jenin, in Samaria.
- Muhammad Abu Warda: He organized and sent the suicide bombers to carry out the devastating attacks on Line 18 in Jerusalem in 1996, which resulted din the murder of 45 Israelis. He is serving 48 life sentences in an Israeli prison. He will be deported abroad.
- Sami Jaradat: One of the terrorists responsible for the attack on the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in 2003, in which 21 Israelis were murdered.
- Muhammad Amoudi: A PIJ commander who sent the suicide bomber to attack the Rosh Hair shawarma stand in Tel Aviv in 2006, in which 11 people were murdered, and 60 injured.
- Tarek Bataran: A PIJ terrorist who carried out a shooting attack in 2004, in which he murdered Sami Kamalat, a Bedouin Israeli security guard.
Hostage Deal Phase Two:
The negotiations for the second phase of the deal are supposed to begin this Sunday. The full details of what is to be included in this phase has not been released to the public.
What we do know:
– A complete and lasting truce will be made.
– At 42 days the IDF will begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor, and complete this withdrawal – within 10 days.
– The IDF and hired security will fully withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor.
– The remaining living hostages will be released in phases.
– A large number of arch-terrorists will be released from Israeli prison.
What we don’t know:
– It is unlikely that Israel will be able to veto any of Hamas’s requests, even for Marwan Barghouti.
– Whether the full IDF withdrawal will include the buffer zone.
– Who will secure the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and prevent weapons smuggling.
– Additional details to the agreement have been censored, and the Israeli court rejected petitions to force their release.
However, Netanyahu is saying that Israeli will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor until Hamas agrees to end their rule in Gaza, and give up all control. It is extremely unlikely that Hamas will agree to this.
But if Netanyahu wants the first phase of the agreement to be completed, he will need to play along during negotiations. An inside source told YNet, that the moment Hamas sees that there will be no phase two, they will collapse the entire deal, and hold onto the remaining hostages that are to be released in phase one. Hamas has already sent threatening letters to the families of the hostages implying that they will do this if they don’t see that they’re getting what they want. It will be a very difficult game for Israeli negotiators to drag out the conversation without making any bad commitments, and only allowing the deal to collapse after day 42.
On the other hand, it appears that Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who is Netanyahu’s closest confident, believes that the second phase can work out, in a grand historic move. In this scenario, a multinational force (possibly led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia) will move into Gaza, take control, and force Hamas out of power. They will then rebuild Gaza while somehow ensuring that Hamas doesn’t take advantage to rebuild themselves. This would come with a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. This grand idea will likely be a main topic of conversation during Netanyahu’s upcoming meetings with US President Trump.
Gaza:
Again: IDF troops throughout the buffer zone had to fire several warning shots to disperse Hamas suspects who were approaching their positions. The IDF used a drone strike as a warning to stop a vehicle (likely Hamas) which was trying to drive from the south to the north of Gaza through an unauthorized road, to avoid security inspection.
The Israeli Navy detained a Gazan fisherman after he travelled past the maritime boundary on his fishing boat. After questioning, he was release back to Gaza with a warning. The IDF already warned Gazans against entering the sea during this phase of the ceasefire.
Trump’s envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff, toured the Netzarim Corridor (which divides the north from the south of Gaza) and the Philadelphi Corridor (which stretches along Gaza’s border with Egypt), to see the implementation of the ceasefire agreement from up close. He was accompanied by Minister Ron Dermer. This is the first time in 15 years that a White House envoy formally visits Gaza.
Witkoff also met with Netanyahu, behind closed doors.
Israeli officials involved in the talks say that they get the impression that the Trump administration is serious about the plan to deport 2 million million Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, or other countries.
Following the King of Jordan’s rejection of the plan, Egyptian President El-Sisi responded to the proposal by saying: “Displacing Palestinians is an injustice; we will not be a part of it.”
Jordan and Egypt are not actually concerned about justice, but are more concerned about their own country’s security, and for keeping the Palestinian cause alive.
Meanwhile, people in Gaza are begging to be allowed to leave.
While Al Jazeera works hard to paint a rosy picture for Hamas, a series of videos were uploaded to social media today (mostly from Abu Ali Express), in which Gazans beg to be allowed to leave. In some of the videos, groups of Gazans are seen leaving Northern Gaza to go back to the humanitarian zone in the south. They tell the camera that they travelled to the north to go home, but found nothing but devastation, and are now heading back.
“I went to Beit Hanoun to look for my house… I searched for two hours… There is no house… There is a crater in its place… There is nothing to look for here… There is no water… I am returning to Muatzi in Khan Yunis (in the southern Gaza Strip).”
“They did not prepare us for the war… We did not gain anything… Everything was destroyed… I want them to take me out of Gaza. I want to go to Turkey.”
Judea & Samaria:
Operation Iron Walls is ongoing in Jenin and Tulkarem. Since the start of the operation, the IDF eliminated 28 armed terrorists and arrested over 60 wanted terrorists.
Over the last two days troops neutralized over 100 explosive devices and bombs in in Jenin and 30 in Tulkarem. They also seized numerous weapons in both cities.
In Jenin today, an IDF drone struck and eliminated a terrorist who was hurling explosives at IDF troops. Secondary explosions indicated that he carried additional explosives on him.
In the evening, the IDF carried out a drone strike in Tamun, near Jenin, targeting a cell of armed terrorists. Local media reports that 10 known terrorists were eliminated in the strike.
IDF action was also seen in Qalqilya. In other areas, IDF troops arrested at least 9 terror supporters who held celebrations for the release of Hamas terrorists.
Defense Minister Israel Katz visited troops in Jenin, and stated that the IDF would remain even after the operation, to ensure that the terror does not return.
“We declared a war on Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria,” Katz said.
Katz also called on the Palestinian Authority to stop funding terrorism and the murder of Jews. The PA pays salaries to imprisoned terrorists, with higher pay for those who murdered more.
Lebanon:
Small numbers of Hezbollah terrorists continue to try and approach IDF positions in Southern Lebanon. In one incident, Hezbollah supporters approached an IDF position while waving Hezbollah flags. After the group ignored warning shots, one of the flag-wavers was shot in the leg. IN another incident, IDF troops chose to kindly chase the terror supporters out by chasing their vehicle with a tank.
Hezbollah is reportedly facing severe financial difficulty, especially after the IDF bombed their Al Qard Al Hassan banking system during the war. Hezbollah promised payments to people whose homes were ruined in airstrikes, due to holding Hezbollah weapons—but this week they delivered checks which can’t be cashed, and are essentially worthless.
While Lebanon builds a new government coalition, Hezbollah coalitions members are trying hard to get control of the Finance Ministry, so that they can take care of their own monetary problems.
IDF troops are still working hard to locate and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon, with no trust that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will do it. The IDF already handed the border villages of the west and center to the LAF, but maintain the eastern border villages, which border the Upper Galilee, and include the most strategic points along the fence.
Other:
– The IDF foiled an overnight attempt to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Israel, using a drone. Troops spotted the drone crossing over the border fence, and shot it down. The drone was found to be carrying 13 assault rifles. Typically Egyptian smugglers smuggle goods to Bedouin criminal groups or Arab Israelis. IDF commanders deployed to the Egyptian border have been raising the alarm that this may develop into a significant problem.
– Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke with his new American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for the first time. The two discussed strengthening security cooperation between the countries and advancing common interests, in light of Israel’s achievements in the campaign against Iran and its proxies. Katz’s office says that the two decided to maintain direct contact and meet soon.
– The deadline arrived: UNRWA is banned in Israel.
– Wanted flyers of an IDF soldier were seen plastered around Vienna, Austria. The poster, with a large photo of the soldier, says that he might be visiting Vienna, and calls on anyone who sees him to “contact authorities or human rights organizations.” It is unknown if Viennese authorities would take the calls seriously, but it is clear that Jew-hunting is once again a thing in Vienna.
– After President Trump invited Netanyahu to be the first foreign leader hosted by the White House, Netanyahu’s office announced that he will leave for Washington on Sunday, meet Trump on Tuesday, and return to Israel on Thursday. Of course, his schedule is subject to change. Netanyahu’s visit will be unusually long, in part due to the many key American government officials who requested to meet with him. The hot topics are expected to be the ceasefire and hostages in Gaza, ceasefire in Lebanon, the Iranian nuclear program, and normalization with Saudi Arabia.
– A Knesset subcommittee held an extensive debate on whether Israel should reduce its dependency on U.S. aid. The key argument for reducing dependency is so that the Americans can no longer force Israel into peace talks on poor terms. Some argued that the channel must be left open, in case of emergency. One voice suggested that the term “foreign aid” was a misnomer, and that it should really be called “joint defense and manufacturing projects,” since the U.S. makes more weapons sales due to Israel’s demonstrations of its practical use, and Israel equally contributes to weapons research and development in joint projects. A strong conclusion was that Israel now has a strong economy, and if planned correctly, within 10 years could manage perfectly without any U.S. assistance. The U.S. may be the ones to lose the most in this scenario, not only in leverage, but in the free access to Israeli military innovations.
Sponsored in memory of Ella bat Hadassah and Nissim. May her murder by the hands of the terrorists be avenged. May H-shem watch over our soldiers. Sponsored by her aunt Magi.
VIDEO:
Construction of the IDF outpost on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon
Discussion
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