Israel-Hamas war day 328: What's happening in Israel, Gaza?

Hezbollah-owned Lebanese channel Al-Manar reported that a heavy rocket was fired from Lebanon towards Metula on Friday.

The channel also reported that Israeli artillery fire at Kfar Kila area in southern Lebanon was conducted in response.
 

Hamas responded to the Israeli cabinet's decision that the IDF would remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, saying on Friday that the decision caused ceasefire negotiations to reach a critical stage, according to a Y-Net report, citing Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

"The negotiations on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip have reached a critical stage due to Netanyahu's insistence on continuing the war and holding on to control," Zuhri reportedly said. 

The discussion in the Security Cabinet on Thursday evening regarding the hostage deal escalated into a shouting match between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to two senior officials familiar with the contents of the discussion.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Defense Minister presented a lengthy review to the ministers, arguing that the hostage deal is a strategic crossroads for Israel. He emphasized that if Israel does not proceed with the deal, the implications are much broader than just the issue of the hostages, stating that such inaction could lead to a regional war.

Two senior Israeli officials said that towards the end of the discussion, after midnight, Prime Minister Netanyahu surprised the ministers with an unplanned announcement that he wanted to bring to a vote the continued presence of IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor.

Division 98 of the IDF, which was operating in the areas of Khan Yunis and Deir al Balah, has completed its divisional activity and will withdraw from there, the IDF announced on Friday afternoon.  

This decision marks the third withdrawal of the IDF from Khan Yunis since the start of the war. Only eight days after concluding its second reinvasion on July 30, the IDF began this current round of invasion.

Since beginning the third reinvasion, the IDF has engaged in about a month of ground and underground maneuvers. 

Some 1.2 million vaccine doses have already been delivered to Gaza ahead of a Sept. 1 campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, a WHO official said on Friday.

Some 400,000 additional doses are en route to the territory, said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative for the occupied Palestinian territories.

IDF Arabic Spokesman Lt. Col. Avichai Adraee told residents and displaced persons in some areas of Gaza that they could return to the region following IDF operations in the area, Adraee announced on Friday.

Residents of Block 6, Block 2356, Block 89 (the northern part), and the Hamad, Al-Jala'a, and Al-Karara neighborhoods were told the areas were safe to return to.

Adraee added that the above territories will now be classified as part of the humanitarian zone.

Residents of the following neighborhoods of Gaza told they may return, following cessation of IDF activity, Friday 30 August 2024. (credit: IDF)

Wassem Hazem, head of the Hamas terror organization in the West Bank area of Jenin, was killed on Friday in a joint IDF, ISA, and Israel Border Police counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area, Israel's military announced shortly afterward.

Hazem was killed in his vehicle after an exchange of fire during the joint operation. His role in the terror group involved carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks.

The IDF killed dozens of terrorists in the Rafah area of Gaza on Thursday and sent artillery to strike in the area of Khan Yunis, where projectiles toward Israel were launched from, Israel's military said on Friday morning.

According to the IDF, the terrorists in Rafah posed a threat, and using a drone, the forces were able to strike them and locate large quantities of weapons that they held.

Additionally, IDF artillery targeted the area in which projectiles were launched toward Israel's Kissufim area. An IAF aircraft struck the structure from which the launches were carried out.

The Security cabinet approved the maps determining the IDF would remain in the Philadelphi Corridor.

The IDF and the police knew more about the impending attack on Jit from the Shin Bet than the military’s probe of the episode let on, sources have told The Jerusalem Post.