War Day 484: Three Hostages Released, New IDF Chief Nominated

War Summary, Day 484: Three hostages released, 183 terrorists released from prison, Rafah Crossing opened for exits, Netanyahu assessing a return to war in Gaza, multiple airstrikes in Shomron, IDF troops come under fire in Syria for the first time since entering, new IDF chief nominated, and Netanyahu heading to Washington.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

79 held captive in Gaza.
35 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
139 living hostages rescued.
41 hostage bodies rescued.
1,817 Israelis killed.
411 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
87 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
16 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:

– Three hostages released
– Yarden Bibas returned without his wife and children
– Information about their captivity
– 183 terrorists released from prison
– Rafah Crossing opened for exits
– Netanyahu assessing a return to war in Gaza
– Witkoff looking at reorganizing negotiation methods
– Multiple airstrikes in Samaria
– Multiple airstrikes in Lebanon
– IDF troops come under fire in Syria for the first time since entering
– New IDF chief nominated
– Netanyahu heading to Washington

Hostages:

Three hostages returned home today, thank G-d. After Israel’s demands, Hamas organized the handover of the hostages without the massive violent mobs surrounding them. Instead, around a hundred terrorists lined up around the stage, on which they did their nonsensical ceremony. The hostages were forced to smile and wave, and the Red Cross workers obediently signed bogus “release forms.” The orderliness and lack of mob proved that Hamas had intentionally created the horrific scenes of previous releases.

Yarden Bibas, 35, from Kibbutz Nir Oz returned home without his wife and two children. He was greeted by his parents and siblings. His family asked of everyone “Protect Yarden. Protect his soul. Please respect his privacy and give him the space he needs so that his body and soul can begin to recover.”

Yarden told his family that in captivity, in addition to severe physical abuse and starvation, the Hamas terrorists continuously tortured him psychologically by telling him that his wife and children are gone. To date, Hamas has not been able to prove the whereabouts of Shiri and the children, and the IDF found no evidence of their death. Israel is still demanding that Hamas provide the full information about the three. Until then, the Bibas family—including Yarden, have chosen to hold onto hope.

Yarden’s family wrote, “Yarden has returned home, but his home is missing.”

Ofer Calderon, 54, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, returned to his four children. Despite the months of abuse and starvation, he did not lose his famous sense of humor, and went directly back to joking with his family. When his brother hugged him and cried “I love you,” Ofer laughed and retorted “I had to go to Gaza for you to finally say that?!” When he was transported in a van from the helicopter to the wing of the hospital he would stay at, Ofer’s biking group biked alongside him, and Ofer asked that the driver stop so that he could thank them.

Ofer’s two youngest children had been taken hostage with him, and were freed in November 2023. Ofer hugged his children, and cracked jokes about his oldest son being better at hiding, since he managed to escape the terrorists.

Keith Siegel, 65, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, who also has American citizenship, reunited with his family, including his wife who had been taken hostage and freed in the November 2023 deal. Keith is able to walk on his own, but like the other two, suffered severe malnutrition. Keith is a vegetarian, but sometimes the terrorist captors would specifically only bring him meat, which he ate in order to survive. For many months after being taken hostage, Keith didn’t know if his son had survived, until one day he heard his voice on the radio.

Yarden and Ofer were held together for most of the time, along with Thai hostage, Jimmy Patzko. Jimmy says that when he would cry, Yarden and Ofer would comfort him and tell him not to worry—Israel would come rescue them. And when he heard Ofer crying in the bathroom, he and Yarden went to comfort him.

Keith was held separately—sometimes on his own underground, and sometimes above ground in homes. For a lot of the time he was alone with the terrorists. He would have conversations with the terrorists in Arabic, and when they’d tell him to go back to Europe, he’d tell them that the Jewish people have been in Israel for 3,000 years—a fact which dumbfounded some of them.

Hostages were repeatedly put in small cages as a “punishment of disobedience.”

Some of the freed female hostages described how Hamas would transfer them from place to place, and said that Hamas did not look damaged—they continued to act in a very organized manner. Often they were held in UNRWA buildings, which are officially still operated by UNRWA employees. In the weeks leading up to the deal, the hostages were given more food, so that they wouldn’t look as emaciated. Hamas had not done this during the other negotiations, which they had sabotaged.

Agam Berger, who was released on Thursday, told her family that she found a siddur (Jewish prayer book) in one of the homes in Gaza—possibly which had been left behind by an IDF soldier. She prayed from it every day. The terrorists tried giving her a koran, but she refused to touch it.

20 hostages remain to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire, of which 12 are thought to be alive. After they are released, there will be 24 hostages (including two foreign workers) left in Gaza who are still thought to be alive, and 35 who are not.

Terrorists Released and Crossing Opened:

In exchange for the release of the three hostages today, 183 violent terrorists were released from prison, of which 18 were serving life sentences for murder. 100 had been captured in Gaza after October 7th. 32 were released back to Judea and Samaria.

Among the terrorists released were:

  • Fareeq Barikat, an Egyptian national, who organized a suicide bombing in an Eilat bakery in 2007, which killed three bakery employees.
  • Salim Awad, a Fatah terrorist, who took part in planning suicide bombing in Homesh in 2002, which killed three Israelis.
  • Shadi Amouri, a Fatah terrorist who was involved in planning a 2002 suicide bombing near Megiddo in northern Israel which killed 17 Israelis, and injured over 40. Amouri was sentenced to 17 life terms for his role in the attack.
  • Ashraf Abu Srour, a Fatah terrorist who was a member of the Palestinian Authority security services, when he helped plan the murder of IDF Sgt. Shahar Vekret in 2002.

Since the start of the ceasefire agreement, 583 terrorists have been released from prison.

As of today, the Rafah Crossing has been opened for 200 ill Gazans to leave per day, along with family members. A number of injured Hamas terrorists are being allowed to leave daily as well.

Little information has been released about who is managing the Rafah Crossing. According to information obtained by Channel 12, it is being run by Gazans who formerly worked in the Palestinian Authority—but are not in PA uniform alongside monitors from the European Union, and possibly some U.S. observers.

Gaza:

Media reported that Haitham Hawajri, the commander of Hamas’s Shati Battalion, was one of the terrorists who handed Keith Siegal to the Red Cross today. On December 3rd, 2023, the IDF had targeted Hawajri in an airstrike, and determined a high probability that he was eliminated. The IDF today acknowledged that upon further examination, in the weeks following, it emerged that likely had not been eliminated. This is the second battalion commander to emerge after a “high probability” of having been eliminated.

Senior officials close to Netanyahu say he has been conducting meetings to assess the possibility of resuming the war in Gaza, and that he has asked the IDF to present operational plans.

Netanyahu has put negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire deal on pause, until after his return from Washington.

Reports are circulating that the negotiation methods are getting a revamp. Steve Witkoff wants to end the talks in Cairo and Doha, which give too much influence to the two countries, and instead engage in shuttle diplomacy. It’s unclear whether Qatar and Egypt will still take part as mediating messengers, or if an American diplomat will carry the communication. There are also rumors that Witkoff prefers to work with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, rather than with the head of the Mossad. Ron Dermer is Netanyahu’s closest confidant, and may have more understanding of the political elements at play—indicating that Witkoff intends to work directly on the political angle.

Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League have given a united and firm rebuke of Netanyahu’s plan to temporarily deport Gazans while the strip is being rebuilt, calling the plan a “non-starter.”

More and more videos surfacing on social media show shock from Gazans at the realization that Hamas did not actually win the war, and that Gaza is almost completely destroyed. While staying in the humanitarian zone, they believed Hamas that they would all soon return to their normal happy lives. They could not believe that Israel would stop the war for any reason other than being defeated—and definitely could not understand Israel doing that just to save the Israeli hostages. However, Hamas still appears to have a strong control over the population, who are terrified of their brutality. And while expressing shock at the destruction, they don’t express regret for killing Jews.

Judea & Samaria:

Late Thursday night, IDF troops eliminated the two terrorists who had ambushed and killed on IDF soldier earlier in the day.

A drone strike in Jenin, eliminated three armed terrorists.

A drone strike in Qabatiya hit a car with several armed terrorists, and said more info will be released soon. One of the terrorists eliminated in the car was identified by local media as Abd Issam Alawneh, a terrorist who had previously been imprisoned, and was released in the November 2023 hostage-ceasefire agreement. Alawneh makes the fourth terrorist to jump back to terrorism after his release in the deal, and get eliminated by the IDF.

A large celebration was planned in Ramallah in honor of arch-terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, who was released from prison on Thursday, in the hostage deal. The party was cancelled after Israeli authorities gave sharp warnings to Palestinian Authority officials.

Zubeidi, who headed the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades in Jenin, is responsible for a terror attack that killed 6, and for planning several other attacks during the Second Intifada. He has not yet returned to Jenin, as the IDF is currently operating there, and is instead in Ramallah. Israel’s Minister of Defense gave him a stern warning “one mistake and you’re going to meet old friends.”

Lebanon:

On Thursday night, Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in the Beqaa Valley of eastern Lebanon. Targets included a military facility with an underground weapons manufacturing site, and infrastructure used for smuggling arms from Syria.

Today, the IDF launched an intercepter at a “suspicious aerial target” over the Zar’it area on the Lebanon border, but did not yet supply further information.

Hezbollah continues to send groups to approach IDF positions, and yell chants while holding flags. However, they seem to be finding fewer and fewer people interested in the job.

Israel has filed a complaint to the committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, accusing Iran of smuggling millions of dollars to Hezbollah, by sending it in suitcases with diplomats visiting Lebanon.

Syria:

IDF troops stationed in a buffer zone in southern Syria came under fire. This is the first incident of its kind since the IDF took over the buffer zone in December. The troops returned fire at the source of the shooting. No IDF troops were injured.

A group calling itself the “Islamic Resistance Front in Syria” claimed responsibility for the attack.

At this point it is too early to know whether this is the beginning of organized armed resistance to IDF activity in Syria, but the incident is still very concerning. The IDF has been moving freely in the area for two months, and have been preparing for this scenario, but obviously hoping it wouldn’t occur.

Other:

The new IDF Chief-of-Staff has been nominated: Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, who currently serves as the Defense Ministry Director General. Eyal Zamir was the top choice, and a natural choice since he was the only one not involved in the IDF during the failures of, and leading up to, October 7th.
Eyal Zamir enlisted in the IDF in 1984, and is the first IDF chief to have started his service in the Armored Corps. He rose through the ranks until 2012, when he became Netanyahu’s military secretary, until 2015. He then returned to the IDF and commanded the Southern Command, and then served as deputy chief of staff until 2021, when he went to the U.S. to become a visiting research fellow at the Washington Institute think tank.
He returned in 2023, to become director general of the Defense Ministry.
Tamir had previously raised the alarm to a need to improve military supplies, and objected to plans to decrease the size of the military.
IDF commanders are very happy with Zamir’s appointment, and feel they are in good hands.

Netanyahu will be leaving to Washington on Sunday morning, where, on Tuesday, he’ll be the first world leader to meet with US President Trump after his inauguration. Netanyahu’s office says that the two will discuss “Gaza, the hostages, the confrontation with all elements of the Iranian axis, and other key issues.”
Netanyahu plans to stay in Washington for 5 days, during which he will meet with a variety of American officials.

The Trump Administration is considering delivering a shipment of 24,000 assault rifles to Israel, after it was blocked by the Biden admin. The IDF has an unspoken shortage of assault rifles—this is an urgent need.

Sponsored anonymously in honor of Bruria’s thorough & thought-provoking updates.

VIDEO:

Egyptian tanks in the Sinai, near the border with Rafah. This is a direct violation of the Camp David Peace Accords

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