War Summary, Day 639: Israel sends negotiating team to Qatar to talk with Hamas, IDF striking 130 Hamas terror targets per day, IDF has full control over 65% of Gaza, strikes in Yemen, reports from Iran claiming Jews arrested and unheard of for weeks, Sheikhs in Chevron have proposed the establishment of an emirate in Hebron that would replace the Palestinian Authority, and Netanyahu will be meeting Trump for the third time in half a year this week.
By Mrs. Bruria Efune
50 held captive in Gaza.
28 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
148 living hostages rescued.
57 hostage bodies rescued.
1,898 Israelis killed.
444 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
88 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
18 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
32,345 estimated projectiles fired at Israel.
5,000 Israelis estimated remain displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.
Top Headlines:
– Hamas’s counterproposal
– The last areas of Hamas’s control in Gaza
– Hamas attacks American aid workers
– Israel preparing long-term attack plans for Iran
– Yemen sinks a ship
– Major IDF strikes in Yemen
– Sheikhs propose Emirate of Hebron
– Significant strikes in Lebanon
– Major weapons smuggling across Egypt-Israel border.
Hostages:
Last week Israel agreed to a new adjusted American proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal. The deal would free 10 living hostages over a two month ceasefire, during which talks would take place to negotiate a complete ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages.
Hamas claimed to have responded “positively” to the proposal, but came back with conditions which Prime Minister Netanyahu said are completely unacceptable.
Despite this, Netanyahu sent an Israeli team to negotiate in Qatar, in case Hamas softens their position.
Hamas’s demands, according to the Saudi-run Al-Sharq newspaper:
– A daily flow of 400-600 trucks carrying “humanitarian aid” into Gaza. The trucks will include fuel, mobile homes, tents, construction materials for “hospitals,” food, medicine, and equipment for bakeries and water stations.
– The distribution of aid must be through the UN and other aid organizations which work with Hamas, and allow Hamas to profit by selling or taxing the aid. Hamas refuses to allow the Gaza Humanitarian Fund to deliver aid.
– Hamas wants the Rafah crossing opened for bidirectional movement: for over 20,000 sick or injured Gazans to leave, and for aid to be delivered through Gaza. This will allow Hamas to smuggle arms into Gaza through Egypt.
– An agreed plan and timeline for the IDF’s withdrawal from all of Gaza—including the Philadelphi Corridor (border with Egypt) and newly-formed buffer zone, which was created to prevent another October 7th style attack.
– Guarantees that the ceasefire will stand as long as negotiations for a permanent ceasefire continue (even if Israel sees that negotiations are making no progress).
– The release of over 1,000 terrorists from Israeli prison, including leading “symbolic” terrorists.
– The first negotiations after Hamas presented these terms took place this evening, and resulted in no progress.
Gaza:
A rocket launched by Hamas landed in Kibbutz Nirim today. Members of Kibbutz Nirim just returned to the border community for the first time since October 7th, after the IDF gave the all-clear last week.
Since Wednesday, the IDF announced the names of three fallen heroes:
Sgt. Yaniv Michalovitch, 19, from Rehovot, fell in battle in northern Gaza.
Sgt. Yair Eliyahu, 19, from Azar, fell in battle in northern Gaza.
Sgt. Asaf Zamir, 19, from Dimona, fell in battle in southern Gaza.
The terrorists who took part in the incident which led to the death of Sgt. Asaf Zamir were eliminated within hours.
The Air Force has been hard at work, striking around 130 Hamas terror targets per day. Around 100 terrorists were eliminated in these strikes over the last week. Most of the strikes are directed by troops on ground, others are based on intelligence findings.
In a precision strike on a building in Gaza City, the IDF eliminated Ramzi Ramadan Abd Ali Saleh, commander of Hamas’s Naval forces, who directed many attacks against IDF soldiers. Other terrorists in were eliminated with him in the building, including the deputy head of a Hamas mortar unit.
More pro terrorists were eliminated in airstrikes thourghout the week, including Hacham Issa, head of combat support in Hamas’s military wing; Mohammad Al-Sheikh, head of a division in the operations department of the Khan Yunis Brigade; Issa Abbas, a company commander in the Zeitoun Battalion; and Mohammad Jarousha, a company commander in the Tzabra Battalion.
**
At current, the IDF has full control over 65% of Gaza, with firing control of another 5-10%. Hamas controls under 20%, while remaining areas are being taken over by Gazan family clans. Hamas’s control is concentrated in the Central Gaza areas, where they hold most of the remaining hostages.
Depending how you measure, between 65-75% of Gaza has been reduced to rubble.
The IDF is preparing for the next stage of operation in Gaza, which will begin if the hostage-ceasefire negotiations fall apart. In this next stage, it’s most likely that tent cities will be built in Rafah, and Gazan civilians will be encouraged to move away from Hamas’s center of control, and into the new tent cities. The IDF will then first completely clear Hamas out the rest of northern Gaza, including all of Gaza City, before moving on to Central Gaza.
In the meantime, five IDF divisions continue to work inside Gaza. In each area, they fight terrorists, search for Hamas infrastructure—including weapons, rockets, and tunnels—and destroy all buildings used by Hamas.
The 99th Division is working in northernmost Gaza, where they are still finding weapons depots and explosive containers belonging to Hamas.
In Jabaliya and the outskirts of the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods of Gaza City, Division 162 is hunting down terrorists in order to advance.
The 98th Division is advancing further into Gaza City from its southern side, and fought many close-combat battles to push Hamas out of the city.
Division 36 is working on their own in Khan Younis, where they have used side raids to capture areas held by Hamas and advance,
The Gaza Division (143) is at work in Rafah where they are still finding and destroying tunnel shafts. Most of Rafah is completely rubble.
Humanitarian Aid:
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) continues to distribute around 2 million meals per day—directly to civilians, without allowing Hamas to profit.
Hamas sees the GHF as the enemy, and continuously discourages people from approaching, and publishes false stories.
On Shabbat, Hamas terrorists entered the distribution site, and threw two grenades at the American volunteers—before running to hide amongst civilians. Two American GHF workers were lightly injured, and evacuated to Israel for treatment.
Iran:
Many Iranian Jews with family in Iran day they haven’t heard from their relatives in weeks. Those who have heard from their family in Iran report that the regime arrested many Jews, and accused them of spying for Israel.
Israel is not yet done with Iran. The regime continues to claim that they will rebuild their nuclear capabilities, and issues threats against Israel and the U.S., and specifying Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. President Trump.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that he instructed the IDF to prepare a plan to keep Iran from rebuilding their terror capabilities, and to maintain full IDF air superiority over Iran. This would look similar to the agreement in Lebanon, where the IDF plays a continuous whack-a-mole of knocking the terrorists out.
Meanwhile Trump wants to announce some kind of permanent deal in Iran.
Yemen:
The Houthis in Yemen have been firing about one missile towards Israel per day. About half the missiles don’t even make it close enough to Israel to activate sirens. The others have all been intercepted.
For the first time since December 2024, the Houthis attacked a ship in the Red Sea. The attack was a coordinated multi-wave assault, which was clearly intended to sink a ship and show a come-back. The ship, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, was evacuated of crew before it sunk.
This evening (Sunday-Monday), the IDF issued emergency evacuation warnings, before beginning heavy airstrikes with around 60 munitions dropped on Houthi targets in Yemen. (The strike was planned well before the Houthi attacks today.)
Targets included the ports of Hudaydah, Ras Isa, As-Salif, and the Ras Kantib power station. These sites were used by the Houthi regime to transport weapons and conduct terror activities against Israel and global shipping. Among the targets was the Galaxy Leader ship, which was seized by the Houthis in 2023 and then equipped with radar for tracking vessels. The power station supported Houthi military operations.
Judea & Samaria:
Counterterrorism operations are ongoing in Judea and Samaria. In recent days, dozens of terrorists have been arrested, and weapons confiscated. Operations focused mainly in the Samaria areas, in cities such as Tubas, Shechem (Nablus), Tulkarm, and Shuweika. In Shechem, troops found and destroyed an illegal lath used to manufacture weapons.
**
A group of Sheikhs in the Arab section of Chevron (Hebron), leaders of large family clans, have proposed the establishment of an emirate in Hebron. The emirate would replace the Palestinian Authority in controlling the Arab population, without establishing a state.
The Sheikhs stress that they are sick of the PA and Hamas corruption, and want a prosperous future for their families. They promise to reject and uproot terrorism from their people, in exchange for permits to work in Israel. The leaders of the initiative claim that they have enough backing to be able to toss the PA out of Hebron the moment they get the go ahead.
The leaders are in close contact with Economy Minister Nir Barkat. Reports indicate that Netanyahu is interested in the idea.
There are many details of this proposal yet to be understood: Would the emirate be given a full claim to the land, or just control of the people living there? Would they operate underneath Israel’s government in any way, or remain separate? Would they need an armed police?
Of course, the PA and their friends are showing strong opposition to the plan.
Lebanon:
While Hezbollah tries to rebuild in Southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese Army fails to stop them, the IAF continues to strike, within the ceasefire framework.
On Thursday, in a rare strike in Kfar Sil (not far from Beirut), the IAF struck and eliminated a terrorist who worked for Iran’s Quds Force to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and promote terror attacks against Israel.
The IAF followed with a series of strikes against Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in southern Lebanon.
On Shabbat, the IAF eliminated a terrorist from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces.
On Thursday night, the IAF struck the Bekaa Valley region where they destroyed several Hezbollah military sites, storage and production infrastructure for strategic weapons, and a rocket launch site belonging to the Hezbollah.
Syria:
Forces from the “Mountain” Brigade (810), under the command of Division 210, continue to operate in the Syrian area. The forces locate and destroy military outposts that belonged to the previous Syrian regime. Some of these outposts, especially in the Mount Hermon area, are extremely strategic positions that used to pose a significant threat to Israel. The IDF is now ensuring that no enemy forces will be able to retake them.
Other:
IDF troops are intercepting an ever-increasing number of smuggling drones at the Egyptian border. These drones carry around 12 weapons each, and are flown over the border from Egypt, towards smuggling agents who hide on the Israeli side of the border to catch them.
Netanyahu will soon be in Washington, ahead of his meeting with Trump. This, and other developments in the IDF indicate that we have some interesting days ahead…
WATCH:
Discussion
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