Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 79?

The IDF on Sunday night disclosed the full background behind its finding of five bodies of hostages held by Hamas in an underground strategic-size tunnel near Jabalya in northern Gaza.

Around December 12, the IDF found two bodies, and around three days later, it found three more bodies in another area nearby. At the time, it only announced the finding of the first two bodies.

The IDF and the Israel Air Force completed their attack on a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, reported the IDF Spokesperson's Unit on Sunday.

Terrorist infrastructures, military buildings, and launch positions were hit in the attacks. 

The siren that occurred in Shlomi, northern Israel, was a false alarm, the IDF announced.

Following warnings of an anti-tank missile warning from Lebanon on Sunday morning, a closure has been imposed on all settlements in the Upper Galilee that are in a four-kilometer radius of the border. 

This warning comes after continuous missile attacks from Lebanon during the Israel-Hamas war. 

IDF troops, including the Air Force and Navy units, attacked 200 targets in the Gaza Strip over the course of Saturday, according to the IDF Spokespersons Unit.

IDF forces remain in the Gaza Strip, continuing their attack.

The recent intensification of fighting in the Gaza Strip, with multiple attacks and casualties, highlights the challenges awaiting IDF soldiers in the conflict with Hamas. Most of the recent events occurred in the 98th Brigade's sector, which is currently the main effort for the IDF and the Southern Command in the Gaza War.

Six combat teams from the division are currently operating in the Khan Yunis area under the brigade's command. However, in the coming days, the IDF may introduce additional forces into the battle, similar to the northern Gaza Strip and the city of Gaza itself, the subterranean network of Hamas tunnels, and the openings from which terrorists emerge to target IDF forces pose the most complex operational challenge for the troops.

A significant part of the missions aimed at disrupting Hamas's military infrastructure is linked to efforts to reach high-ranking Hamas officials who may be located underground in the Khan Yunis area. Another challenge is related to efforts to rescue abducted soldiers and gather intelligence, shedding light on the region where many Israeli hostages are likely held.

An Israeli soldier operates in the Gaza Strip, December 21, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

In addition to the main effort in Khan Yunis, the 162nd Brigade has entered the fight in the northern part of the Strip in recent weeks, in the Daraj Quarter of Gaza's Old City, where a structured cell of Hamas is still active in eastern Gaza. The cell operates near the border with Israel, influencing the area of Kfar Aza and other kibbutzim, as well as the events in Jabalya and Saja'ia, near the border. In this case, due to the proximity to Israeli settlements, the IDF will seek to strike at the terrorist infrastructure, destroy tunnels, and expose the terrain near the border where Hamas operatives operate.

Recent reports suggest IDF actions in collaboration with infantry and tanks in the Kerem Shalom crossing, but the IDF clarified that it was a mission aimed at securing the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and not for tunnel-related operations.

Fighting expected to continue in northern Strip

The IDF has significantly impacted Hamas's units in the northern Gaza Strip, but the fighting is expected to continue there. The operational challenge in Khan Yunis will require the IDF, it seems, at least another month of combat, as the military seeks to significantly affect the network of Hamas tunnels. The IDF, by increasing military pressure, aims to make progress on the issue of captured soldiers, but as of now, no advancement has been recorded in this regard.

Even on Israel's northern border, it seems that Israel and Hezbollah are converging towards a limited escalation, with security analysts estimating that the current phase of the war is expected to end by mid-January until the end of the month if Israel reduces its involvement in the fighting in Gaza. The next phase is expected to involve fewer forces operating in the field, engaging in targeted raids or other focused operations. If the fighting continues in the next phase without a withdrawal from the south to the Litani River, the likelihood of a war with Hezbollah will significantly increase.

After the IDF reported that more than 30,000 Hamas munitions have been destroyed in the Gaza Strip, military sources claimed that efforts should have been focused on suppressing arms smuggling in a more targeted manner over the past two years.

Now, in the IDF Southern Command, they are working on a plan to address the Philadelphi Corridor in order to prevent the rearmament of Hamas terrorists.

Hamas weapons cache, confiscated by the IDF, December 22, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

"The scope of the captured munitions since the beginning of the war is unprecedented," said an IDF special forces officer who spoke from the Gaza Strip to Walla! "The volume of munitions and anti-tank missiles used against us is on a scale reminiscent of the warfare of global Jihadist organizations in Syria and Iraq." An IDF spokesperson stated that so far, the forces have destroyed around 30,000 munitions, and military sources have criticized the defense apparatus for not acting sufficiently to prevent Hamas from amassing this amount of weaponry.

Since Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Southern Command estimated that it would take years for Hamas to restore its weapon stockpiles, emphasizing rockets, anti-tank missiles, and various types of explosive devices.

However, the numbers show that not only has Hamas closed the gap, but it has surpassed expectations, using means such as smuggling weapons and ammunition through tunnels beneath the Philadelphi Corridor, crossing through a controlled Egyptian checkpoint, or entering from the sea beneath the Israeli Navy's nose. Otherwise, there is no explanation for the large quantity of weapons that the IDF is finding daily along the Gaza Strip.

Military sources emphasized that this is a comprehensive responsibility of the entire defense apparatus tasked, among other things, with preventing the smuggling of weapons from the Middle East through Sinai to the Gaza Strip. Apparently, this mission has failed.

Military personnel stand guard on the day of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly's visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, October 31, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

IDF conducting anti-smuggling operations

According to military sources, in recent weeks, the IDF Southern Command has conducted operations in the area aimed at preventing Hamas terrorists smuggling to and from Gaza. Concurrently, efforts are being made to deal with the Philadelphi Corridor and how goods will subsequently enter through the Rafah crossing to prevent the rearmament of terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

In the background, Egypt is sending messages to Israel not to take aggressive actions in the area, to avoid riots and Palestinians attempting to cross into Egyptian territory. According to security officials, the sensitive issue has been raised with the Egyptians, and both sides are supposed to formulate a security solution in coordination.

"There is no intention to transfer all the weapon stockpiles and explosive devices to Israel; it is dangerous and serves no purpose. Therefore, we systematically destroy them in Palestinian territory," the officer said. "These are weapon depots and large stockpiles. The volume is so vast that the terrorists go out into the streets like innocent civilians and move between buildings because they know that almost every house has weapons and ammunition, so why should they risk carrying weapons when we are looking for them?"

Walla! reported on Sunday about an IDF operation with the assistance of combat engineers and tanks near the Kerem Shalom crossing. However, the IDF clarified that it was an operation aimed at securing the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, not for the purpose of destroying Hamas tunnels.

Several missiles were fired into the Ramot Naftali settlement, located near the northern border, on Sunday morning.

No siren went off beforehand. The missiles fell into open areas resulting in no injuries. 

The leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, led by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, are preparing for a visit to Cairo after discussions about a hostage deal with Hamas and Egyptian government officials, reported the Qatari news source Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Sunday.

On the visit, leaders plan to "discuss several issues, including ending the war in Gaza and reconstitution of the Gaza Strip."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally thanked US President Joe Biden for standing with Israel and helping tone down language on a resolution to expedite humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, which the United Nations Security Council approved in a 13-0 vote on Friday.

Both the United States and Russia abstained from the resolution by the 15-member UNSC, which focused on the importance of humanitarian pauses.

The text did not call for a ceasefire, a point that was particularly important to Israel.

Netanyahu told Biden in a phone call on Saturday night that Israel would “continue the war until all its goals are completed,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan lauded the fact that “the resolution maintains Israel’s security authority to monitor and inspect aid entering Gaza,” in a post he placed on X.

Members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a proposal to demand that Israel and Hamas allow aid access to the Gaza Strip, New York, December 22, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Erdan thanked Biden, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and her office “for standing on Israel’s side throughout the negotiations on the UN Security Council resolution and maintaining defined redlines” even as he said it was “disgraceful that the text failed to condemn Hamas.”

The resolution called “for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access and to enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts.”

It also demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address medical needs of all hostages” held in Gaza.

Israel estimates that some 129 remain out of some 250 hostages who were seized when Hamas infiltrated Israel on October 7, killing over 1,200 people. Qatar and Egypt are attempting to mediate a third-party agreement to secure the release of the hostages.

Hamas has asked for a permanent ceasefire, while Israel has insisted that it can only agree to a temporary ceasefire because it is determined to complete its military campaign to destroy Hamas.

The terror organization has asserted that some 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence, while some 1.9 million of the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced.

The displacement of so many people and the intense Israeli military campaign that has taken down utility systems, and destroyed roads and transportation options – together with continued IDF bombardment – has complicated the distribution of aid.

Israel has blamed the UN for delays in aid distribution, explaining that a higher volume of supplies could enter the enclave. The UN in turn has argued that it is impossible to operate under such conditions.

Friday’s UNSC resolution asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a “Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator” tasked with oversight for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying” that the goods entering Gaza are of a humanitarian nature. It also asked the UN to create a “mechanism for accelerating” humanitarian assistance, including a streamlining of the process.

The resolution does not condemn Hamas

The resolution did not condemn Hamas or even name the terror group. It also called for a two-state resolution to the conflict and for the unification of Gaza and the West Bank under Palestinian Authority rule.

Its passage marked the second time the UNSC has called for a humanitarian pause since the start of the war.

Washington abstained from both of those votes, because of the failure to condemn Hamas, but otherwise has welcomed them.

“There is no doubt that [the vote] today was a massive positive step” even though the “resolution is not perfect,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

“We were appalled that some council members still refuse to condemn Hamas’s horrific terror attack on October 7, which set so much heartbreak and suffering in motion,” she said. “We will continue to push the council to right this wrong.”

From Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that “Israel will continue to act according to international law, and will continue to screen all humanitarian aid to Gaza for security reasons.

“The Security Council’s decision emphasizes the need to ensure that the UN becomes more efficient in transferring the humanitarian aid and to make sure that the aid reaches its destination and does not end up in the hands of Hamas terrorists,” he said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas issued opposing statements on Friday in response to the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of the resolution intended to help bring more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The PA Foreign Ministry called the resolution “a step in the right direction,” and said it would help “end the aggression, ensure the arrival of aid and protect the Palestinian people.”

“We consider it a step that may contribute to alleviating the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip,” the foreign ministry statement said.

But Hamas called the resolution an “insufficient step” for meeting the impoverished enclave’s needs.

“During the past five days, the US administration has worked hard to empty this resolution of its essence and to issue it in this weak formula,” the statement said. “It defies the will of the international community and the United Nations General Assembly in stopping Israel’s aggression against our defenseless Palestinian people.”

Guterres, who had initiated the process that led the United Arab Emirates to submit the resolution on Gaza to the UNSC, spoke Friday after the vote about his frustration regarding the ongoing war as he called on Israel to halt its military campaign.

“A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare,” he said.

“I hope that today’s Security Council Resolution may help this finally to happen, but much more is needed immediately,” Guterres told reporters in New York on Friday.

He blamed Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, explaining that the “way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.”

Reuters contributed to this report