War Summary, Day 702: Trump says if hostages are harmed Israel eliminates Hamas leaders abroad, Trump announces new hostage deal proposal releasing all hostages day one, IDF prepares Gaza City center taking down high risers, Houthi UAV hits Ramon Airport and three others are downed, and 70 terrorists are arrested in Judea and Samaria with bombing attack prevented.

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

– Hamas threatens lives of hostages in Gaza City, with cruel propaganda video
– Trump says if hostages are harmed, Israel will eliminated Hamas leaders abroad
– Trump announces new hostage deal proposal, which releases all hostages day one
– All the details explained
– IDF preparing Gaza City center, taking down high risers
– Operations in Gaza City outskirts, Khan Younis
– Humanitarian aid continues to flow into Gaza
– New humanitarian zone announced in Khan Younis
– One of the most shocking Oct 7th terrorists eliminated
– Houthi UAV hits Ramon Airport; three others downed
– 70 terrorists arrested in Judea and Samaria, bombing attack prevented
– Terrorist caught cutting fence into Jewish town
– France chooses Rosh Hashana to recognize “Palestinian State”

Hostages

The weekend brought a lot of developments on the hostage situation, mostly due to Hamas’s immense fear of the IDF taking over Gaza City, and finishing Hamas off.

In summary:

– Hamas released a cruel video of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel, showing that they are held in Gaza City. Hamas threatened that the IDF’s takeover of Gaza City may lead to their death.
– Hamas claimed that 8 hostages are held in Gaza City.
– While the IDF intelligence expects Hamas to remove most hostages from the city, they are seeing signs that Hamas is considering shooting a hostage and blaming it on the IDF. This would be in order to shock Israelis and encourage protests to en the war.
– U.S. President Trump threatened that if any living hostages are harmed, Israel will eliminate Hamas leaders abroad (several of whom are in Qatar).
– Today, Trump presented a new hostage-ceasefire proposal which is different from those seen until now, because it releases all the hostages at once, right in the beginning.
– The Prime Minister’s office says Israel is considering the deal, but doesn’t expect Hamas to.
– Hamas claims that they are considering the deal, prioritizing an IDF withdrawal.
– Trump claims that Israel accepted the deal, and it’s now up to Hamas.

The reported details of the newest proposed deal:

1. All hostages, living and not, will be released on the first day of the deal.
2. Between 2,500 to 3,000 terrorists will be released from Israeli prison, including hundreds of murderers.
3. A ceasefire will immediately begin, halting Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2. The ceasefire will continue so long as negotiations do.
4. Negotiations will discuss a permanent end to the war, in which a new government will take control of Gaza, Hamas will be disarmed, and the IDF will fully withdraw from Gaza.

This outline leaves some serious questions, here are some:

– Will the IDF withdraw from positions in Gaza once the hostages are released? Will they remain in the buffer zone and Philadelphi Corridor (border between Gaza and Egypt)? Or will they remain in position until a full ceasefire is agreed on?
– Hamas has always demanded a guarantee that the agreement will lead to an end to the war. In this case, it does not appear that they are getting a guarantee. Instead, Hamas is being told that after they release the hostages, Israel will have less legitimacy to return to war. Does this mean that Israel will be pressured to agree to a bad deal that leaves Hamas in power and armed?
– Will Hamas be able to drag out negotiations forever? Or will Israel be able to withdraw if the negotiations are in bad faith, and return to war?
Sources in Israel told Tamir Morag that Israel will be able to leave bad-faith negotiations, but the international pressure against it will be strong.
Perhaps hinting to what’s to come, in a government meeting today, Netanyahu said, “If I have to choose between victory over our enemies and bad propaganda against us – I choose victory.”
– Hamas has always refused to give up the last living hostages until they receive all the supplies to begin rebuilding Gaza, on their own terms. The hostages are seen by Hamas as their key to survival. Why would Hamas agree toggle up all the hostages in one go, before even getting those guarantees?

Amit Segal points out that the outline was likely drawn up by Netanyahu and Ron Dermer, and is being presented as an American proposal.

This proposal flips Hamas’s script back on them. Hamas keeps fooling the world by saying that they’ll release all the hostages, if Israel ends the war. But they hide all the details of their offer, which stipulates that they remain armed, in power, and hold the lats hostages for years until Gaza is rebuilt.

In this offer, Hamas is told that they will get a ceasefire once they return all the hostages. The hidden print is negotiations that leave them disarmed, and hand Gaza over to a new government.

If Hamas turns down the offer, their bluff is called. Israel will continue the war and be able to say that they agreed to end it, but Hamas refused.

Hamas will have to at least pretend to consider the offer. But the likelihood of them giving up all the hostages in one go, before getting everything they want, is very low.

In the meantime, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel is giving “very serious consideration to President Trump’s proposal.”

Trump says that Israel already accepted the terms, and he’s giving Hamas a final warning to accept as well.

A Hamas source says that they are reviewing the proposal with a “conservative approach,” and will respond responsively—but “ending the war and securing an Israeli withdrawal remain top priorities.” They also maintain the right for the resistance to remain armed.

(Sources for this section: Amit Segal of News 12, Tamir Morag of Channel 14, Axios, Ynet.)

Gaza

Early Sunday morning, while kids were on their way to school, Hamas fired two rockets towards Netivot. Sirens were activated in the city of Netivot and several nearby towns, giving over 50,000 civilians just 15 seconds to run to shelter.

One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome, and the other fell in an open area. Hamas fired the rockets from a humanitarian zone in central Gaza.

**

The IDF is now preparing to move into the more densely populated parts of Gaza City, seen as the city’s center. Before the troops enter on ground, the Air Force needs to remove all major threats.

On Friday, the IDF announced that the Air Force would be destroying a series of high-risers that are used by Hamas, and which Hamas prepared for battle.

These Hamas high risers all contain:

– Sniper and anti-tank positions: used to fire on IDF soldiers.
– Observation posts and cameras: to track IDF movement.
– Command and control rooms: to coordinate Hamas operations.
– Explosive devices hidden nearby: designed to be detonated remotely when Israeli forces approach.
– Tunnel connections: allowing Hamas terrorists to ambush IDF soldiers or escape.

Before destroying each high-riser, the IDF gave extensive warnings for civilians to evacuate and remain at a distance. This is after the IDF gave a month’s warning for all civilians to leave Gaza City in entirety.

The first building came down on Friday, the second on Shabbat, and the third on Sunday.

In addition to removing major threats, the dramatic destruction of these high-risers send a powerful warning to civilians in Gaza City that time is running out, and they must leave now.

Hamas is doing all they can to prevent people from leaving Gaza City. The terror group delivered a letter to all employees, threatening severe consequences is they evacuate. Other threats are more quiet and under the radar, with civilians reporting arrests, torture, and shots fired at people who attempt to leave.

**

Meanwhile, action in the outer neighborhoods of Gaza City continues, with many airstrikes and systematic destruction of all infrastructure used by Hamas.

Division 99 is hard at work flattening the Zeitoun neighborhood, and eliminating terrorists. In a key finding, troops located a tunnel which stretched hundreds of meters long, and contained the control room used by Hamas’s Zeitoun battalion. Troops also found and eliminated terrorists inside the tunnel.

Parts of Division 162 are working in the Jabalia area, and the east and northern outskirts of the Gaza City. Troops in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood appear to be moving silently but quickly.

Recently, the IDF stated that 40% of Gaza City is already under control These are the less populated neighborhoods on the edges of the city, and appear to include Shejaya; some of Daraj and Tuffah; some of Sheikh Radwan; and half of Zeitoun and the Netzarim Corridor it connects to.

**

In Khan Younis, IDF troops of Division 36 are working to secure captured area on the eastern side of the city, especially along the Magen Oz Corridor. The IDF’s strategy here has been to fully encircle areas, before closing in and completely defeating the remaining terrorists. Three areas are currently encircled, the largest being the Bnei Suheila neighborhood. The remaining western section of the city is partially encircled. Troops are also active in the al-Qarara and Hemed areas to the city’s north.

The IDF is preparing the European Hospital in the al-Fakhari neighborhood of Khan Younis for civilian use. This is the hospital under which Muhammad Sinwar hid, and where he was eliminated in a tunnel. The hospital was riddled with Hamas operation rooms and weapons storages.

The European hospital is in an area fully under IDF control, and will be handed to international aid organizations to treat civilian patients.

**

Amongst the many terrorists eliminated in recent days, were two notables:

– Nur al-Din Dababesh, who operated in the finance department of Hamas’s military wing. Throughout the war, the terrorist collected and transferred tens of millions of dollars to Hamas’s military in Gaza.
– The terrorist who called his parents from a kibbutz on October 7th to brag that he killed ten Jews was finally killed. The IDF made sure to call his parents to let them know.

**

For four days already, Hamas has been publishing horrific daily videos of them torturing Gazan civilians. The victims are accused of opposing Hamas, assisting Israel, or anything similar.

Humanitarian Aid

Over the past week:

– Over 1,900 trucks were collected and distributed from the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim Crossings.
– Close to 1,500 humanitarian aid trucks primarily containing food, entered through the crossings this week.
– In addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributed an average of 1.5 free meals each day, all for free, without Hamas theft or taxes.

The IDF announced a new humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, which will contain:

– Housing tents
– Field hospitals
– Water pipelines + desalination facilities
– Continued supply of food
– Medicines and medical equipment

Iran

Iran has begun talks with the IAEA, in an attempt to form some kind of agreement, which would oversee Iranian nuclear activity, and halt the snap-back sanctions.

Yemen

On Sunday afternoon, the Air Force downed three UAVs launched by the Houthis. Two were intercepted before they entered Israeli territory, and one was intercepted over southern Israel.

A fourth UAV escaped warning systems, and suddenly crashed into the Ramon Airport, not far from Eilat. The UAV crashed into the arrivals terminal, and two civilians were lightly injured from shrapnel.

An investigation after the incident found that Israel’s radars had detected the UAV, but it was not classified as an enemy aircraft, which is why it wasn’t intercepted, and did not activate sirens.

The Houthis claim to have launched 8 UAVs towards Israel. Four were never seen.

Judea & Samaria

Over the last week, Israeli security forces operating in Judea and Samaria arrested 70 wanted individuals, suspected of involvement in terrorism. 19 illegal weapons were confiscated.

In the village of Twila, troops arrested a key Hamas terrorist who planned to carry out a bombing attack against Israeli civilians.

On Friday, a terrorist arrived at a military checkpoint near Bourin, in Samaria, and threw a suspicious object towards the IDF troops operating in the area. After the terrorist didn’t heed warnings, he was shot and neutralized.

On Sunday morning, a suspect was seen cutting the outer fence to enter the Hewish town of Psagot. IDF forces rushed to the location, found the terrorist, and arrested him.

Lebanon

On the Jewish calendar, Sunday marked the first anniversary of the beeper operation in Lebanon – the 14th of Elul. This was the day when Hezbollah flipped from being a terrifying enemy, to the butt of all jokes.

Other

France has scheduled its international conference on unilaterally recognizing a “Palestinian state” for September 22.

That’s Rosh Hashana. When no one in Israel will be able to respond.

Sponsorship: In honor of our grandson, Benjamin Halberg.

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