Israel at war: What happened on day 25?
1,400 Israelis murdered since October 7, including 317 soldiers • Four hostages released by Hamas, one rescued, 240 families updated, IDF says
IDF takes command of Hamas military stronghold in western Jabalia in Gaza
The IDF also killed 50 terrorists in the area.
IDF forces under the command of the Givati Brigade took control over a Hamas military stronghold in western Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a military spokesperson said.
Approximately 50 terrorists were killed by Israeli forces. Furthermore, Israeli fighter jets, under Shin Bet intelligence, eliminated Ebrahim Biari, the commander of Hamas's Jabalia battalion, and was one of the leaders of the October 7 massacre.
Go to the full article >>IDF forces on operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza
Lebanon's Hezbollah works to curb hefty losses in Israel clashes, sources say
Hezbollah has lost 47 fighters to Israeli strikes at Lebanon's frontier since Hamas and Israel went to war on Oct. 7.
With dozens of Hezbollah fighters killed in three weeks of border clashes with Israel, the Lebanese group is working to stem its losses as it prepares for the possibility of a drawn-out conflict, three sources familiar with its thinking said.
The Iran-backed group has lost 47 fighters to Israeli strikes at Lebanon's frontier since its Palestinian ally Hamas and Israel went to war on Oct. 7 - about a fifth of the number killed in a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
With most of its fighters killed in Israeli drone strikes, Hezbollah has unveiled its surface-to-air missile capability for the first time, declaring on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone. The missiles are part of an increasingly potent arsenal.
The Israeli military has not commented on Sunday's reported drone incident. But Israel said on Saturday it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones and that it responded by striking the launch site.
One of the sources familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters that the use of anti-aircraft missiles was one of several steps taken by the Shi'ite Muslim group to curb its losses and counter Israeli drones, which have picked off its fighters in the rocky terrain and olive groves along the border.
Hezbollah had made "arrangements to reduce the number of martyrs," the source said, without offering further details.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is due to deliver a speech on Friday, in what will be his first address since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.
Since the Gaza conflict flared, Hezbollah's attacks have been calibrated to contain clashes to the border zone, even as it has indicated a readiness for all-out war if necessary, sources familiar with its thinking say.
Israel, which is waging a war in the Gaza Strip that it says aims to destroy Hamas, has said it has no interest in a conflict on its northern frontier with Lebanon, where it has said so far that seven of its soldiers have been killed.
"I hope we will be able to keep the quiet on this front," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a briefing, adding that he believed Israel's strong defense forces and their actions in Gaza had deterred Hezbollah till now.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would unleash devastation on Lebanon if a war did start.
Formidable force
Hezbollah, the most formidable Iranian ally in Tehran's "Axis of Resistance," has long said it has expanded its arsenal since 2006 and warned Israel that its forces pose a more potent threat than before. It says its armory now includes drones and rockets that can hit all parts of Israel.
In border clashes since Oct. 7, Hamas, which also has operatives in Lebanon, and a Lebanese Sunni Islamist faction Jama'a Islamiya have both fired rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel.
Hezbollah itself has refrained from firing rockets, such as unguided Katyushas and others that can fly deep into Israeli territory, a step that could prompt an escalation.
Instead, its fighters have been firing at visible targets across the frontier with Israel, using weapons such as guided anti-tank Kornet missiles, a weapon the group used extensively in 2006, the three sources said.
Hezbollah's television channel, Al-Manar, has regularly replayed footage from the latest clashes showing what it says are strikes on Israeli military installations and positions visible across the border.
While Hezbollah's tactics so far have helped contain the conflict, the attacks mean its fighters need to be close to the frontier, which makes them more vulnerable to Israel's military.
The sources said some fighters had also underestimated the drone threat after years of combat in Syria where they had fought insurgent groups with nothing like the Israeli military's hardware. Hezbollah played a decisive role in helping President Bashar al-Assad beat back Syrian insurgents.
"The technical superiority of the Israeli drones is making Hezbollah pay the price of this number of fighters," Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief at Lebanon's Annahar newspaper, said, in reference to Hezbollah's hefty death toll.
Conflict contained so far
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have broadly stayed contained in a narrow band of land that runs along the border, generally staying within three to four kms of the frontier.
However, Israeli shelling has expanded in recent days, according to security sources in Lebanon. They said this included a strike on Saturday on Jabal Safi, a mountainous area that lies about 25 km (15 miles) from the border.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Jabal Safi strike. Hezbollah has not commented on the reports of that strike either. The Israeli army has said it has been responding to sources of fire in Lebanon.
Hezbollah lost 263 fighters in the 2006 war when Israel hit sites all over Lebanon during a more than month-long conflict. The war erupted after Hezbollah launched a raid into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
The Hezbollah death toll of 47 this time, in such a relatively contained conflict, has shocked the group's supporters. The group's al-Manar television has broadcast daily funerals of fallen fighters being buried with military honors, their coffins covered in the group's yellow and green flag.
Hezbollah released a handwritten letter from its leader Nasrallah to the media last week, saying the fallen fighters should be called "martyrs on the road to Jerusalem."
Go to the full article >>Bar-Ilan U. grants students who are in IDF reserve duty emergency funds
A NIS16 million emergency fund was announced to assist one-third of the 20,000 students who've been drafted into reserve duty.
After Tel Aviv University decided to grant NIS 1,000 apiece to 5,000 of its 30,000 students currently doing reserve duty, Bar-Ilan University (BIU) announced on Tuesday that it has established a NIS 16 million emergency fund to assist one-third of its 20,000 students who've been drafted into reserve duty.
Students on the front lines will each receive a NIS 1,000-1,500 grant to be applied towards housing and tuition, emotional support, and additional study hours during the academic year. 
BIU president Prof. Arie Zaban said that “these students bear the weight not only of fighting for Israel's survival, but also the burden of concern for their and their families’ future. They’re distressed about how they'll pay for tuition and their rent. They’re fearful about covering their children’s expenses when they can’t work.”
He added that BIU “looks forward seeing all our students back on campus as soon as the academic year begins. Thousands of our students are currently drafted into the reserves and others are volunteering in the variety of initiatives launched to benefit Israeli society. We greatly appreciate the contribution of each and every one of them. We have formed eight teams that will be in charge of reabsorbing students after the war. These teams are building an academic and emotional framework to ensure that the return to normalcy leaves no one behind.”
BIU director-general Zohar Yinon estimated that aside from the emergency fund, the university has invested an additional NIS 4 million for a number of its initiatives launched in support of Israeli society as a whole. These initiatives include a hotline manned by dozens of faculty members and graduates from the psychology department who are providing emotional support; a school at Kfar Hamaccabiah in Ramat Gan launched by the Faculty of Education for evacuees of the Gaza Envelope; a mock teddy-bear medical clinic to ease children’s fear of doctors set up by the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine; a system that directs hundreds of students to various volunteering opportunities; a mobile vision examination lab, dispatched by the School of Vision Sciences that has fitted hundreds of evacuees in Dead Sea and other hotels with new glasses; lectures and seminars organized by the Center for Youth; lectures organized by the Faculty of Jewish Studies and the Faculty of Humanities; briefings by researchers from the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies for the international and diplomatic communities; activities in the US geared towards the fight against antisemitism organized by the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education; and the distribution of hundreds of donated portable ultrasound machines to the IDF Medical Corps.
Go to the full article >>Israeli forces demolish West Bank house of senior Hamas leader
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, is among a group of leaders singled out by Israeli officials who have vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the deadly Oct. 7 attack.
Israeli troops on Tuesday destroyed the family home of Saleh al-Arouri, the exiled commander of Hamas forces in the West Bank as security forces continued their crackdown on leaders of the terrorist group.
Currently thought to be living in southern Lebanon, Arouri, the deputy to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, is among a group of leaders singled out by Israeli officials who have vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
Arouri's murder of three Israeli teens
A veteran Hamas leader who has spent 17 years in Israeli jails, Arouri rose to prominence in 2014 by admitting to the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers from a West Bank settlement.
Since then he has been behind a steady expansion of Hamas political cadres and terrorists throughout the West Bank, where the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas controls the Palestinian Authority.
His house, which local residents said was not occupied, had been scheduled for demolition since last week and security forces blew it up in the early hours of the morning, according to witnesses.
Following 18 months of steadily escalating violence in the West Bank, Israeli forces have clamped down further since the Oct. 7 attack, making hundreds of arrests and conducting regular raids that have resulted in clashes. At least 121 Palestinians have been killed there in the three weeks since the attack.
On Tuesday, a 14-year-old boy hit during a confrontation near the northern West Bank city of Nablus died of his wounds and in a separate incident, a 70 year-old man was killed during a clash in the city of Tubas.
Go to the full article >>Israeli Ambassador criticized for wearing yellow star at UN
"We were deeply saddened to witness members of the Israeli delegation to the UN donning yellow badges," Dayan stated on Tuesday.
Yad Vashem chairman, Dani Dayan, has expressed his disappointment over the decision of the Israeli delegation to the UN to wear yellow badges. "We were deeply saddened to witness members of the Israeli delegation to the UN donning yellow badges," Dayan stated on Tuesday. He emphasized that such a move not only dishonors the victims of the Holocaust but also the State of Israel itself.
הצטערנו לראות את חברי משלחת ישראל לאו״ם עונדים טלאי צהוב. מעשה זה מבזה הן את קורבנות השואה והן את מדינת ישראל. הטלאי הצהוב מסמל חוסר אונים של העם היהודי והיותו נתון לחסדי אחרים. כיום יש לנו מדינה עצמאית וצבא חזק. אנו אדונים לגורלנו. על הדש נשים היום דגל כחול-לבן, לא טלאי צהוב.
— דני דיין (@dandayan) October 31, 2023
Dayan remarked, "The yellow badge symbolizes the historical vulnerability of the Jewish people and their dependence on the mercy of others. Today, the scenario has changed. We have an independent nation and a formidable army. We determine our own fate. Instead of a yellow badge, we should be proudly displaying a blue-and-white flag.”
'The world remains silent'
Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, along with his delegation, sported yellow Stars of David bearing the message "Never Again" during the UN Security Council meeting that took place on Monday. This meeting was convened to discuss the recent war in Israel and the current humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Erdan passionately addressed the council, saying, "The world remained silent when Jewish infants were incinerated in Auschwitz, and today, it remains silent as Jewish babies in Be'eri and the southern towns face atrocities from the Nazi Hamas. The global community's silence is deafening." He further pledged to wear the yellow badge until the Nazi Hamas is eradicated and until the Security Council breaks its silence to condemn the massacre that took place on October 7.
Drawing a poignant comparison, Erdan shared a personal story: "The world didn't raise its voice when my grandfather, his wife, and their seven children were sent to Auschwitz. The global community stood silent when they, along with millions of other Jewish children, were exterminated in the Holocaust." Erdan drew a parallel between this historical silence and the current lack of global response to the Hamas-led massacre on October 7.
Go to the full article >>Al-Qassam Brigades terrorists fire at IDF soldiers near Erez border crossing
WATCH - IDF Southern Command chief: "We have one goal - victory!"
IDF Southern Command chief: 'You are the generation of victory'
Commander of the Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkelman addressed IDF soldiers preparing to enter Gaza as part of the ground forces operating, the IDF announced on Tuesday.
"We are launching an attack on Hamas and the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip," Finkelman said. "Our goal is one, victory. No matter how long the fighting will be, how difficult, there is no other result but victory. We will fight professionally and powerfully in light of the IDF values we were raised on, Chief among them is sticking to the mission and striving for victory.
"We will fight in the alleys, we will fight in the tunnels, we will fight where necessary. We will cripple the abominable enemy before whom we stand. My fighting brothers, the residents of Be'eriri, Sderot, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza and the communities of the Western Negev, and with them the entire people of Israel, are all looking at us now. Like me, they also trust you and believe in you, you are the generation of victory."
Past, present Mossad leadership makes secret trip to Qatar
The details, and any potential results, of Barnea and Cohen's trip to Qatar have not yet been revealed.
Mossad Chief David Barnea and former Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen made a secret trip to the Arab Gulf State of Qatar over the weekend, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
The past and present Mossad leadership met with Qatari leaders to discuss the ongoing hostage situation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The Gulf state has previously mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday that Barnea had made the trip to Qatar. The following day, KAN revealed that Cohen had accompanied the current Mossad leader to the Gulf nation on an aircraft that has since returned to Israel.
Other members of the Israeli delegation have not yet been revealed.
The flight left Israel on Sunday and subsequently landed in the Qatari capital of Doha, according to the KAN report.
It is unclear what, if any, advancements were made toward securing the release of the hostages as a result of the trip.
IDF soldier held hostage by Hamas rescued during operation in Gaza
On Monday, the IDF rescued one of the Hamas hostages, Private Ori Megidish, during its ground activities in Gaza.
Still, on Tuesday morning, the IDF said 240 hostages were in Gaza.
Go to the full article >>Israel, Hamas at war: What you need to know
- Hamas launched a barrage of rockets on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border
- Over 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered as of Tuesday afternoon, and more than 5,431 were wounded according to the Health Ministry
- Israel reportedly preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip
- IDF: 240 families of Israeli captives in Gaza have been contacted, 30 of them children