War Summary, Day 694: Bodies of two hostages rescued from Hamas, Hamas’s Abu Obeida might have been eliminated, Head of ISIS in Gaza, Sinai, Judea & Samaria eliminated, Gallant: second round with Iran likely, most of Houthi top leadership eliminated in powerful strike, operation in southern Syria, and U.S. State Department blocks PA from UN assembly.

By Mrs. Bruria Efune

48 held captive in Gaza.
26 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
148 living hostages rescued.
59 hostage bodies rescued.
1,918 Israelis killed.
461 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
88 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
18 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
32,374 estimated projectiles fired at Israel.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.

Top Headlines:

– Bodies of two hostages rescued from Hamas
– IDF hero fell in Gaza
– Hamas’s Abu Obeida might have been eliminated
– Head of ISIS in Gaza, Sinai, Judea & Samaria eliminated
– Seventh round in Zeitoun – why it’s different now
– Humanitarian pauses over in Gaza City, now a war zone
– Aid still flooding Gaza
– Gallant: second round with Iran likely
– Most of Houthi top leadership eliminated in powerful strike
– IDF still eliminating terrorists in Lebanon
– Operation in southern Syria
– Turkey cuts even more ties with Israel
– U.S. State Department blocks PA from UN assembly

Hostages:

The IDF rescued the bodies of two hostages, which were held by Hamas in Gaza:

Ilan Weiss, 56
Ilan was from kibbutz Be’eri and left his home on the morning of October 7th to join the kibbutz emergency response team. He was murdered and kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7th Massacre. His wife Shiri, 54, and daughter Noga, 19, were taken hostage into Gaza and released during the ceasefire deal in November 2023.

Idan Shtivi, 28
Idan was murdered and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Tel Gama area in southern Israel, on October 7th. Before his death, he acted bravely to help evacuate and save many others who attended the Nova music festival.

The bodies of the two hostages were found in eastern parts of Central Gaza, following intelligence recently gathered by the IDF.

Gaza:

The IDF announced the name of a hero who fell in Southern Gaza:

Master Sergeant (Res.) Ariel Lubliner, 34, from Kiryat Bialik.

He leaves a wife and 9 month old baby.

Ariel Lubliner is the 900th fallen IDF soldier since the morning of October 7th.

**

There is a significant probability that an airstrike today eliminated the infamous Hamas spokesperson, known as Abu Obeida.

After a powerful strike in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on late Shabbat afternoon, the IDF announced that it had targeted a “central terrorist” in Hamas.

Inside sources, quoted by Channel 12, say that the IDF made the strike after intelligence indicated that Obeida would be in an accessible area, away from hostages.

Amit Segal says that the assessment is that the strike was successful. The IDF has not yet confirmed—this will likely take some time.

**

Now confirmed by the IDF: Last week, an airstrike in the Al-Bureij area lpf Central Gaza eliminated terrorist Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Abu Zayda. The terrorist was the head of ISIS for the Gaza, Sinai, and Judea & Samaria areas. In Gaza, ISIS fought against the IDF alongside Hamas.

**

Forces under the command of Division 99 are making their way through Zeitoun, in Northern Gaza, where they are still finding terrorists, and terror infrastructures.

This is the seventh time that the IDF is operating in Zeitoun. The previous IDF Chief Of Staff, Herzi Halevi, had declared the Hamas battalion in Zeitoun to be defeated. But when IDF troops returned, they found an organized Hamas battalion of an estimated 400 terrorists.

So what’s different now?

In previous operations, IDF troops would enter, eliminate most local terrorists, destroy the main structures used by Hamas and some tunnels, and then leave. But now, and since the start of Operation Gideon’s Chariot’s, the rules are different. The two main differences:

1. Hamas’s militia is an urban military—buildings to shoot from and tunnels to hide in are their greatest battle weapons. The IDF is finally addressing this. In every area they enter, the troops destroy all Hamas structures. That means every building where Hamas hides weapons, or meets in, which is about 98% of structures in each area, all turned to rubble, with nothing for Hamas to return to.
   The troops are also doing a much more thorough job searching for and destroying tunnels, many of which were missed until now.
2. In most areas, the IDF now leaves a small presence to continue control, and ensure that Hamas doesn’t return.

So, why didn’t the IDF do this before?

Based on my sources (various commanders in the IDF), previously the IDF was not able to destroy so much Hamas infrastructure, due to a shortage of bombs, artillery, explosive materials, and bulldozers. And, with all the infrastructure still standing, and so many buildings for Hamas to hide in, it wasn’t possible to safely leave a small IDF presence in every captured area.

The changes came after President Trump took office in the U.S., and began shipping Israel’s paid-for military orders.

This doesn’t mean that all the battles until now were for nothing; Hamas was turned from an organized army capable of firing hundreds of rockets at Israel daily, into a guerrilla terror group. The early battles made all the difference, but could not actually defeat Hamas.

According to Amit Segal, Hamas’s tone has finally changed. They are finally beginning to see October 7th as a failure, and are genuinely terrified of the IDF’s upcoming (re)takeover of Gaza City.

**

The IDF is preparing for the threatened takeover of Gaza City. In July, in order to get the UN to pick up and deliver humanitarian aid, the IDF instated “tactical pauses” throughout Gaza during daytime hours. On Friday, the IDF announced that the pauses will no longer apply to the areas in Gaza City. Civilians were already given sufficient warning time to evacuate, and the city is now considered a “dangerous combat zone.”

Thousands of Gazans are evacuating Gaza City, but Hamas is doing their best to stop them. The IDF assured protection to civilians who travel to encampments in southern Gaza, but many are going to Central Gaza instead. Video footage from Central Gaza shows Hamas terrorists shooting and Gazans who fled Gaza City, and tried setting up tents in Central Gaza camps.

Humanitarian Aid:

On August 28:

– Close to 290 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
– Close to 310 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations. Most of these tracks were hijacked by Hamas or other gangs, who sell the contents for a profit. The contents of hundreds of trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gazan side of the crossings.
– Separately, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distributed over 1.5 million meals, marking a total of 145 million meals distributed since May. Hamas is not able to profit off GHF aid.

Iran:

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told N12 News that another round of fighting between Israel and Iran is very likely. (I heard the same from a few Air Force commanders, but with no indication of when it will happen, whether in months or years.)

**

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, said that Iran is ready to resume “fair” negotiations over its nuclear program, if the west shows “goodwill” (Reuters). This comes hours after the E3 began the process to reimpose global sanctions on Iran.

Yemen:

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed: “The Houthi Prime Minister and most of his ministers and other senior officials were neutralized and harmed.“

This came after a strike on Thursday, which targeted a meeting of senior Houthi officials in Sana’a, Yemen.

The IDF says that at the building struck were “senior officials responsible for operating the force, the military buildup of the Houthi terror regime, and advancing terror plots against Israel, in addition to other Houthi officials in key roles.”

According to Al-Arabiya, there are now only four ministers remaining in the Houthi civilian government. The list of those eliminated (according to Channel 14) includes:

• Prime Minister
• Head of the Political Bureau
• Minister of Welfare
• Minister of Agriculture
• Minister of Economy
• Minister of Justice
• Minister of Information
• Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Secretary of the Government
• Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister

— The Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff were injured, but it is not yet known if they survived.

Describing this as a severe blow, Katz explained, “The fate of Yemen is the same as the fate of Tehran – and this is only the beginning.”

(Reminder: The Houthis are an Iranian-backed terrorist rebel group, who illegitimately took over a third of Yemen’s territory.)

Lebanon:

The IDF is continuing to target terrorists from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, as they operate in southern Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Most recently, the Air Force eliminated terrorist Ahmed Na’im Matuk in the Sir al-Arabiya area in southern Lebanon. Matuk served as the head of a Radwan battalion headquarters, and during the war, he advanced numerous terror plots against Israel.

Syria:

Small terror groups are attempting to gather in southern Syria, in order to attack Israel. These terror groups existed before the fall of Assad, but the IDF was limited in action against them. Now that the IDF has taken control of the buffer zone in southern Syria (previously patrolled by the UN), the IDF continuously operates to keep the terror groups out.

In an overnight operation, between Thursday and Friday, troops under Division 210 detained several terrorists who were planning attacks against IDF forces. During operational searches, the IDF forces found weapons belonging to the suspects.

Other:

Turkey has announced that they decided to completely cut off all economic and trade ties with Israel, and will close its airspace to Israel’s planes. This will likely mean longer flight times from Israel to Moscow and Europe.

(A friend of mine works in logistics for a large chemical company in Israel, which imports significant amounts of materials from Turkey. She told me that when Erdogan announced the end to trade with Israel last year, it was the Turkish businesses who were most upset. They solved the issue by shipping their goods to a third country, from where the Israeli companies purchase and pick it up. This adds to expenses, which are mostly absorbed by the Turks who don’t want to lose major clients.)

**

Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly next month.

In a countermove, the U.S. announced that it will not allow Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York. The U.S. State Department will revoke Abbas’s visa, as well as the visas of 80 other members of the PA, and PLO umbrella.

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