War Day 623: Hostage Bodies Recovered, Fordow Heavily Damaged

War Summary, Day 623: Three hostage bodies retrieved from Gaza, Netanyahu thanks Hashem for divine assistance in the war, debates whether Iran’s nuclear program is derailed or done, Iran threatens to respond, parliament votes to block Strait of Hormuz, Iran threatened US with “sleeper cells”, Israel is not yet done with objectives in Iran, Israel destroys more Iranian missile capabilities – Israel’s farthest Iranian strike yet, and major counterterrorism operation in Yehuda and Shomron.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

50 held captive in Gaza.
28 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
148 living hostages rescued.
57 hostage bodies rescued.
1,881 Israelis killed.
432 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
88 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
18 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
32,325 estimated projectiles fired at Israel.
12,000 Israelis estimated remain displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

– Three hostage bodies retrieved from Gaza
– Netanyahu thanks G-d for divine assistance in the war
– Early estimations debate whether Iran’s nuclear program is derailed or done
– Questions about the whereabouts of enriched uranium
– Iran threatens to respond, parliament votes to block Strait of Hormuz
– Iran threatened US with “sleeper cells”
– Israel is not yet done with objectives in Iran
– Israel destroys more Iranian missile capabilities
– Israel’s farthest Iranian strike yet
– Major counterterrorism operation in Judea and Samaria

Gaza & Hostages

IDF soldiers of the Gaza Division, led by intelligence obtained by the Shin Bet, retrieved the bodies of three hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. All three hostages had been murdered on October 7th.

Ofra Keidar, 71, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri

Staff Sgt. Shay Levinson, 19, was a tank commander stationed on the Gaza border on the morning of October 7th. He bravely fought against the invading Hamas terrorists near the Nova party, despite being greatly outnumbered. He fell in battle, and the terrorists took his body hostage.

Yonatan Samerano, 22, fled from the Nova music festival to Be’eri with two friends, where they were murdered. Yonatan’s body was taken to Gaza by an UNRWA employee. His father, Kobi, wrote on Instagram that Yonatan’s body was retrieved on his Jewish birthday—the 23rd of Sivan.

The three will now be able to have a Jewish burial in Israel.

Netanyahu told the press today that the war in Iran is helpful in the war against Hamas in Gaza, explaining, “Iran is the one that built the axis of strangulation, the axis of evil and death around us, and without Iran’s scaffolding, this entire structure would collapse.”

Four IDF divisions continue to operate in Gaza, methodically destroying all Hamas infrastructure. Some interesting operations are underway, which we may not hear about until after the Iran war; for now, the IDF is taking advantage of the fog of war.

Iran – Homefront:

Home Front Command directives remain at maximum intensity:

No educational activities
No gatherings
No workplaces, except for essential businesses

Despite anticipation of massive retaliation from Iran, the regime only fired two volleys of missiles at Israel since the U.S. strike on Fordow, giving us the most quiet day in a while.

The only volley on Sunday itself was before 8:00 am, and came in two waves totaling around 27 missiles. The volley resulted in two direct impacts: one in a quiet residential area of Tel Aviv, and one in Nes Tsiona. Both caused extensive damage and many injuries, but thank G-d, no deaths.

In addition to impacts, a large piece of shrapnel from an intercepted missile injured someone on the highway near Be’er Yaakov.

In an unfortunate incident, an Israeli air defense missile misfired, and impacted in Haifa—where no sirens had been activated. This also caused damage and 3 light injuries.

In total, 86 people were injured, of which two remain in moderate condition.

This attack was planned to be larger—but the Israeli Air Force destroyed some of the primed launchers before they could attack.

The next missile attack from Iran came at 3:25 am on Monday, and only included one missile, which was successfully intercepted.

Overnight, the Air Force and Navy intercepted around 30 UAVs (attack drones) launched from Iran at Israel. No impacts were made.

Iran – Rising Lion:

In a press conference on Sunday night, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed Israel following the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear plants.

“We have to take our hats off to President Trump for the excellent work his pilots did,” Netanyahu said. “They did very great damage to Fordow.”

He then addressed the next concern on the table: “We will not be dragged into a war of attrition – but neither will we end this historic operation before we achieve all the goals.”

Reminder: At the start of the campaign, Netanyahu listed three goals for the war in Iran: Destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, destruction of Iran’s ballistic capabilities, and the final destruction of Iran’s axis of terror. While the first two are mentioned often, the third is often skipped out.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir stayed in constant contact with his American counterparts since the start of the war with Iran, and the coordination has become even closer recently.

Notably, Defrin said that the IDF has more objectives in the campaign, and “will continue to act to achieve these objectives.”

Commenting on the success of the campaign, and the rule of “peace through strength,” Netanyahu said that he imagines a tremendous expansion of the Abraham Accord peace agreements in the near future.

Nuclear Capabilities

The U.S. strike in summary: Ahead of the operation, Israeli forces cleared Iranian radars and air defenses, enabling U.S. bombers to remain undetected. Seven B-2 Spirit bombers, supported by over 120 U.S. aircraft (including fighter jets, refuelers, and surveillance planes) executed the strike. The bombers dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on Fordo and Natanz, while over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a U.S. submarine struck Isfahan.

Following the strike, Netanyahu gave thanks to G-d for guiding the war to success, alongside Israel’s Air Force and intelligence operatives. He returned to the Western Wall today to deliver a note of gratitude, and hope for the Jewish nation.

In summary of the results: Various reports indicate that Iran’s three main nuclear facilities have been at least severely damaged, if not completely destroyed, as a result of the U.S. strikes. It will take time to have a complete picture of what happened to the underground compounds.
In order to know whether Iran’s nuclear ambitions are severely delayed or completely destroyed, we need to know what happened to the uranium that they enriched to 60%. If it still exists, some argue that Iran may be able to get back on track in several years and complete the enrichment to the 90% needed for a nuclear bomb. There are positive indications that the uranium is gone.
Even with the enriched uranium, Iran may have already lost all their capabilities to complete the enrichment and weaponize the remaining uranium–having lost both their facilities and scientists.

Now for the people who like sources and details:

According to the New York Times, the U.S. assessment is that Fordow was severely damaged, but not destroyed.

According to an assessment by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, the main uranium conversion facility at the Isfahan complex, responsible for converting natural uranium into a form suitable for feeding into gas centrifuges, was severely damaged. It also said that damage was also caused to the entrances to the tunnels leading to the underground complex, and at least three of the four entrances had collapsed.

According to Amit Segal, the Israeli assessment is that Natanz is completely gone, but it’s too soon to confirm anything about Fordow and Isfahan, since they include deep underground sites. He also says that Israel thinks that the uranium that Iran enriched to 60% was held in Natanz or Isfahan, in which case it’s likely destroyed. Even if it wasn’t destroyed, Iran lost the capabilities to enrich it to 90%.

According to Ynet, Israel knew that the enriched uranium was being stored in an underground compound near Isfahan, but couldn’t hit it. So after striking other targets in Isfahan, Israel asked the U.S. to hit the bunker containing the enriched uranium.

Satellite images published by Abu Ali Express and the New York Times show a large convoy near the Fordow nuclear facility two days ago. The NYT suggests that Iran smuggled enriched uranium and other equipment out of the facilities before the strike. (Personally, I doubt that the IDF wasn’t watching closely, in which case they’d know exactly where the convoy went, and if it needed to be bombed.)

Iran is of course claiming that they transferred the enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike, and have it in a safe area. It is hard to believe anything Iran says at this point, as they are desperate to save face.

In contrast to all these reports, when asked about the whereabouts of Iran’s enriched uranium, Netanyahu replied: “We have interesting intel on that,” and refused to supply details.

The Atomic Energy Agency of Iran was quick to announce that they will restore everything quickly, declaring: “Iran’s nuclear program will continue its activities with greater intensity.”

In an interview, Yossi Cohen, former head of the Mossad, said that he estimates that the attack completely stopped Iran’s nuclear program.

U.S. Strike Response

From U.S. President Trump’s first announcement, he made it clear that the U.S. did not want any further conflict with Iran, and only wanted peace talks from here out.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that he warned the Iranians against retaliation against the United States. He added that the U.S. is willing to continue talks with Iran, and that the U.S. did not set regime change in Iran as a goal.

Despite America’s calls for peace, and warning against action, Iran’s Khameini threatened that the “U.S. entry into war will cause it irreversible damage.”

Iran’s parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz—something which would cause massive economic upheaval, but would also be suicidal for Iran’s own economy an interests. The final decision is now in the hands of the Iranian security establishment.

The NYT reports that U.S. the intelligence and military identify signs of pro-Iranian militia preparing to attack American military bases in Iraq and Syria.

A source told the NBC that before the U.S. struck, the Iranian regime sent a message to Trump warning that they would activate sleeper-cell terror networks inside the U.S. if attacked.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Khameini, tweeted about surprises to come: “Even assuming that the nuclear sites are completely destroyed – the game is not over, because the enriched materials, local knowledge and political will still exist. Now, the political and operational initiative, thanks to legitimate defense, is in the hands of the side that knows how to manage the game wisely and avoid indiscriminate firing. The surprises will continue.”

Meanwhile, this evening, Iran’s Foreign Minister arrived in Moscow to meet with Putin and other senior officials for consultations.

America is taking precautions. The U.S. Department of State issued an urgent warning to American citizens to exercise caution everywhere, due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

Regime

A senior Iranian officials told Reuters that “any step directed against Supreme Leader Khamenei will lead to closing the door on any kind of negotiation and will lead to a response without limits.”

Netanyahu was also asked today whether Israel would assassinate Khamenei. He avoided giving a direct answer, and instead responded: “I have no doubt that this is a regime that wants to eliminate us and our existence, and that is why we embarked on an operation to eliminate the two concrete threats to our existence: the nuclear threat and the missiles. We are progressing step by step towards achieving the goals. We are very close to completing them. This is not the forum to detail who is in the goals. I think that in war, fewer words and more actions are needed, and I do not intend to deviate from the rule.”

Reports in Iran (shared on X/twitter) indicate that the IRGC is patrolling the streets and making wide arrests in order to prevent an overthrow of the regime. Eliminating Khameini might not be enough to overthrow the regime, so long as the IRGC is armed and in place to enforce it, and support his successor.

According to a report in the Atlantic, Iranian officials are already talking about choosing a successor to replace Khameini, even before he is gone.

Military Capabilities

The IDF reported carrying out 3 sorties over Iran, with around 20-30 jets each, with over 100 munitions dropped on a wide variety of targets. These missions were all intended to degrade Iran’s military capabilities, so that they can no longer harm Israel.

Last night (Saturday), the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed:

Two Iranian F-5 fighter jets at the Dezul Airport.
An Iranian ballistic missile engine production site near Iran’s Shahrud last night, around 2,000 kilometers from Israel. The strike destroyed planetary mixers and critical machinery used to manufacture missile engines that have been fired at Israel in recent days. These mixers are very expensive and difficult to replace. Their destruction disrupts the Iranian regime’s surface-to-surface missile production industry, which aimed to produce thousands of missiles in the coming years.

Early morning strikes destroyed:

Eight ballistic missile launchers, including six that were primed for an immediate attack on Israel.
A military site containing components for the production of explosives.
Sites for the storage and production of weapons.
Iranian air defense systems.
Military infrastructure at Isfahan Airport to prevent the Iranian Air Force from using the site’s military facilities..

A second wave of strikes with 30 fighter jets in four areas of Iran, targeting missile and drone sites in Isfahan, Bushehr, Ahvaz, and for the first time, also Yazd (around 2,200 kilometers from Israel!). Targets included:

Missile launchers
Air defense battery production sites
A headquarters of an Iranian drone regiment
A drone storage facility
In the Yazd area, the IAF struck the ‘Imam Hussein’ strategic missile headquarters Iran stored long-range Khorramshahr missiles. Some 60 missiles were previously fired from this facility at Israel, and this strike prevented more missiles from being launched soon after.

Amid the strikes, the IDF says an air force drone identified Iranian soldiers “arming missile launchers, and eliminated them shortly afterward.

In a third wave of strikes, around 20 IAF fighter jets dropped more than 30 munitions on several targets western Iran and Tehran, including:

Infrastructure used to store and launch ballistic missiles at Israel
Satellites and radar sites in Kermanshah and Hamedan used for aerial intelligence gathering
An air defense system in “the heart of Tehran.”

Judea & Samaria:

Israeli security forces began a new counterterrorism operation on Friday as part of the expanded “Operation Iron Wall,” with about 10 battalions acting across Judea and Samaria.

Around the Jenin and Homesh area: Forces completed a 30 hour operation in eight villages. During the operation, nine terrorists were arrested, and over 250 structures were searched. A lathe used to manufacture weapons was located during the searches, along with two M-16 rifles, improvised airsoft weapons, and 10 pipe bombs that were discovered and confiscated.

In the villages of Bal’a, Deir al-Ghusun, and Atil: Four wanted terrorists were arrested, over 900 structures were searched, and six weapons of various types and additional arms were seized.

In the villages of Ein Bidan, Taluza, and Asira ash-Shamaliya: Troops searched more than 80 buildings, interrogated dozens of suspects, and confiscated weapons.

Lebanon:

Hezbollah issued an official statement condemning the US attack on Iran. In the statement, they emphasized full solidarity with Iran, and confidence in Iran’s ability to “confront this aggression.” They did not indicate that they would join in Iran’s response.

From a basic glance, it appears that Hezbollah is not interested in risking everything to join Iran’s war now (even though this is the main reason Iran funded them). But Israel is taking full precautions, and has bolstered security and air defenses all along the Northern border.