War Summary, Day 697: Hamas’s massive propaganda machine exposed, terrorist who held three female hostages eliminated, Houthi leadership flees in panic, terrorist shot while escaping IDF special forces in Samaria, and Mossad agent reveals details about the Nasrallah operation.

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

– Qatar is trying to get negotiations for a ceasefire going, with no success.
– The terrorist who held three female hostages has been eliminated.
– Confirmation of other terrorist eliminations.
– IDF moving into Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
– Details about Hamas’s massive propaganda machine, revealed.
– Israel to open yet another power line to Gaza, for more water desalination.
– Houthi leadership fleeing in a panic.
– Terrorist shot while fleeing IDF special forces in Samaria.
– IDF still hitting active Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
– Mossad agent reveals detail about Nasrallah operation.

Hostages

According to the spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, talks are ongoing in an attempt to “halt the fighting in Gaza and restart negotiations,” but with no progress.

So far, all offers have been only for a partial deal, which both Netanyahu and Trump oppose, for reasons explained in yesterday’s update.

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Gaza

The IDF eliminated Hazem Ouni Naim, the Hamas terrorist who held Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Naama Levy in captivity. While this was just confirmed today, the strike took place on August 28th, in the Gaza City area.

The terrorist held several roles in Hamas’s Gaza Brigade, and served as a senior official in Hamas’s military intelligence in the Gaza City Brigade. He was close to the commander of the Gaza City Brigade, terrorist Ezz al-Din Haddad.

The IDF also named two terrorists commanders who were recently eliminated by the 99th Division, in Northern Gaza:

– Ahmed Abu Daif, deputy platoon commander in the Zeitoun Battalion. The terrorist planned, directed, and carried out dozens of ambushes and attacks against IDF forces, and in addition, he acted to recruit additional terrorists to Hamas.
– Talab Sadki Talab Abu Itaywi, terrorist commander of a Hamas Nukhba force who infiltrated Israeli territory on October 7.

The 99th Division has been hard at work in the Zeitoun and Shejaya areas of Gaza City, alongside the 162nd Division. Troops are now positioned to enter the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

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Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry launched a new website to counter the Gaza “journalist” phenomenon. The website, called “MediaWatch,” exposes dozens of “journalists” from Gaza as undercover terrorists, providing extensive evidence for each one.

**

Doron Kadosh of IDF Radio revealed details about Hamas’s massive propaganda machine, which until recently, was led by Abu Obeida.

The Hamas propaganda bureau grew from 400 members in 2014 to about 1,500 today—twice the size of the IDF’s equivalent units. Around 1,000 are “consciousness terrorists” embedded in battalions and brigades, each with a deputy commander for propaganda, and teams of trained field cameramen equipped with GoPros and gear. They document attacks in real time, sending footage to “war rooms” where editors quickly turn it into propaganda videos. For Hamas, the documentation is often more important than the action itself.

Another 400 terrorists work in editing rooms and as “listeners” monitoring Israeli discourse to tailor psychological operations. (Yes, they learned how to pull at Israeli division and points of conflict, for their own advantage.)

Abu Obayda personally oversaw every major Hamas operation since 2014, ensuring propaganda was built into the combat plans.

He was also deeply involved in psychological terror around hostages—deciding which would appear in videos, what they would say, and even directing release ceremonies, including cynical “certificates” and staged gifts.

In recent months, he devised propaganda strategies to deter the IDF’s entry into Gaza City by using hostages in psychological operations.

Since the start of the war, the IDF has eliminated over 200 terrorists of the apparatus, but more than 1,000 still remain in action. However, Abu Obayda had no clear successor, and now that he’s been eliminated, Hamas’s propaganda machine is leaderless. Time will tell how significant of an effect this will have.

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Humanitarian Aid

On September 1st:

– Close to 320 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
– Over 350 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations. The contents of hundreds of trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gazan side of the crossings.
– An undisclosed number of tankers of UN fuel entered “for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.”
– The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributed over 1.5 million meals, for a total of 150 million meals since May.

**

At the end of July, the ‘Kela’ power line was reconnected to support the operation of the southern desalination facility in the Gaza Strip, which supplies about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day, compared to 2,000 supplied before the line was connected.

Today, the Israeli government approved plans to expand the activity of the Kela power line for the operation of an additional desalination facility in Deir el-Balah. After connecting the ‘Kela’ power line to the desalination facility, the facility will supply 6,000 cubic meters, or 6 million liters of water per day, which is 4 times the current amount.

These actions are taking place about six months after Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced a complete disconnection of electricity from Israel to Gaza. The funding for the electricity to be supplied to the Gaza facility will come from funds that Israel deducts from the Palestinian Authority.

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Yemen

In the afternoon, the Israeli Air Force shot down a UAV launched by the Houthis in Yemen, before it entered Israeli airspace. No sirens were activated.

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Aawsat News reports that the Houthi leadership is in a mass panic, following the dramatic Israeli attack on Shabbat. According to the report, the Houthi leadership are fleeing the capital of Sana’a, to hide in fortified places in other provinces.

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed the report, and commented:

“The remnants of the Houthi leadership are fleeing Sana’a.
Like all leaders of extremist Islamic terror, they look out for themselves and abandon the residents. So it is with the Hamas leaders in Gaza and in the luxury hotels in Qatar, and so it is with the Houthis in Yemen.
We knew how to hunt them this time – and we will know how in the future as well.”

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Judea & Samaria

Israeli special forces operated overnight to arrest a terrorist who was organizing terror activity. During the operation, the terrorist attempted to escape. Israeli forces fired at the terrorist and “a hit was confirmed.”

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Lebanon

Yesterday, the IDF struck two engineering vehicles that were working to restore Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in Yaroun and Barb A-Talatin in southern Lebanon.

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At a ceremony in the President’s Residence, an unnamed Mossad officer who directs recruitment and agent operations, revealed an interesting detail about the war in Lebanon: Mossad agents operated on ground in Beirut, to track Nasrallah’s whereabouts.

In his words, reported by Amit Segal:

“In the operation to eliminate Nasrallah, Mossad agents acted with courage and determination under fire in the heart of Beirut to deliver the precise intelligence for the mission.
As we celebrate the achievements of the past, behind closed doors brilliant, determined, and creative minds are working tirelessly to prepare the groundbreaking operations of tomorrow and to shape Israel’s security for generations to come.”

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