Israel at War - What happened on day 31?

The commander of Hamas's Deir al-Balah Battalion of the Central Camps Brigade, Wail Asfa, was eliminated overnight on Sunday by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF and Shin Bet said on Monday.

The strike, which was conducted by an IAF fighter jet, operated on intelligence provided by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate in carrying out the operation.

For the first time ever, Israel was pushed to the ends of the Earth last week.

Last Tuesday, it was announced that the Arrow missile defense system shot down a ballistic missile for the first time, in this instance fired at Israel by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The IDF stated that air force systems tracked the missile’s trajectory and intercepted it “at the most appropriate operational time and location.”

According to a report in the UK's Daily Telegraph, the missile was intercepted outside of the Earth's atmosphere. 

AN ARROW 3 ballistic missile interceptor is seen during its test launch near Ashdod in 2015. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)

חיל האוויר חושף: יירוט טיל קרקע-קרקע ע"י מערכת ההגנה של טיל "חץ" pic.twitter.com/DDUGsPy4gq

— מעריב אונליין (@MaarivOnline) November 2, 2023

The operation was the third targeting Israel and there would be more, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement. Saree said the attacks would continue until "Israeli aggression" stopped, referring to the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

After an initial warning of a possible "hostile aircraft intrusion," which sent residents of the tourist resort of Eilat running for shelter last Tuesday, the Israeli military had said its "systems identified an aerial target approaching Israeli territory."

The Arrow system was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries in conjunction with the Israeli and US defense establishments and is considered to be among the most advanced technology for defense against ballistic missiles in the world. 

Missile intercepted over Negev

Israel's Arrow air defense system also intercepted a Hamas long-range missile launch from Gaza over the Negev desert on Saturday evening.

This was reported to be the first Houthi missile to reach Israeli territory. 

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been left to fend for their own, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on Monday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Smotrich, who criticized the government's West Bank policy during Operation Swords of Iron, called on the cabinet to "shake up the security in the West Bank, including creating dead zones surrounding Jewish towns and preventing the entrance of Palestinians."

"It is absurd that the policy has not changed," Smotrich lamented. "This is insanity which I will not abide by."

Despite Smotrich's comments, and according to Israeli NGO Yesh Din, settlers have attacked Palestinians in more than 100 incidents in at least 62 towns and villages in the West Bank between October 7, the day of Hamas's mass infiltration and massacre, and October 22.

Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on October 15, 2023. (credit: Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Israel arrests 38, including five Hamas terrorists, in West Bank raid

Israeli security forces arrested 38 Palestinian terror suspects in an overnight raid across the West Bank, the IDF and Shin Bet said Monday.

Included in the 38 suspects arrested were five who the IDF said were Hamas-affiliated terrorists.

In addition, three printing houses that were used to distribute Hamas propaganda inciting violence against Jews were destroyed by the forces. 

Forces also shot at Palestinian rioters and stone-throwers in the villages of Halhul and Beit Anan, near Mount Ebal.

The IDF believes it is ready to continue fighting through the winter and has already started an extensive process to outfit its troops on all borders with special winter gear.

A statement on Monday said that the IDF has already handed out 129,000 winter jackets and 369,000 small disposable warmer bags.

However, other than the 1948-9 Independence War, which tactically was a different era and in which the IDF was trying to hold or regain ground, not invade a hostile territory as with the current invasion of Gaza, the IDF has no experience with winter season battle.

IDF troops on operation in the northern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2023 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

History is full of examples of winter slowing, pausing, or harming the progress of an invasion, from Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine to Germany’s World War II invasion of Russia.

Assuming the IDF really has or is providing all necessary additional jackets, heating platforms, and addressing other issues related to staying warm and how humans and machines operate differently in winter, it could avoid some major pitfalls.

But even if the IDF addresses these known and basic issues – such as making sure soldiers do not freeze in the field – it is unclear how prepared the IDF will be strategically and tactically given the lack of operating in the winter under the pressure of battle.

The IDF also views the issue as a serious one to wrestle with.

This challenge is multiplied when taking into account that there is no real end date set for the invasion.

At times, top IDF and political officials framed the intense part of the conflict in terms of one to two months, which would have meant a reduction of hostilities around December 7.

Yet, the invasion did not start until October 25-27, which could easily push heavy fighting to late December, and more recent statements have suggested the period of intense battles could go on for months more.

Defense sources have said that while IDF troops in the field are getting all of the logistics resupply they need in terms of ammunition, force protection, fuel, equipment, and food, building even makeshift mini-forward bases to provide such logistics resupply within Gaza is still not even close to within sight.

If progress in stabilizing even parts of northern Gaza where the IDF currently has more control is still not in sight, then either the period of intense fighting could go deeper into the winter months, or some part of the winter could serve as a first cut-off or slow down point for the IDF invasion.

Logistics 'mostly successful' so far

Top IDF officials described their logistics division as mostly successful so far in keeping IDF forces within Gaza supplied, despite the augmented challenges of moving fuel trucks through enemy territory where they can be struck by anti-tank missiles and mortars.

Regarding providing bulletproof vests, 5,000 additional vests have been provided to IDF troops since the invasion, on top of those provided in the first three weeks of the war.

Top IDF officials acknowledge that many IDF forces standing guard on the border with Gaza, and who are not entering actual urban areas, do not have bulletproof vests.

Rather, they have vests made to withstand shrapnel explosions.

IDF sources explained that these troops are unlikely at this stage to encounter close fighting with Hamas forces, but may encounter explosions from mortars or rockets.

They added that the vests given to these border guard troops provide wider protection from shrapnel, even as they do not protect from bullets.

IDF Southern Command Logistics Officer Col. Oren Fortal said, “ from the moment of our forces’ invasion, the logistics division has acted broadly to rescue vehicles from the war zone, to evacuate wounded persons, and to save lives. In addition, the apparatus provides to our forces nightly resupplies of fuel, ammunition, tools for invading, food, for energy stimulation, and vast medical supplies.”

Some other logistics statistics during the invasion to date include providing soldiers with 2,127,000 bottles of water, 4,240,000 food hand-outs, and 78,000 mattresses.

The Palestinian Authority will not accept a partial transfer of tax funds from Israel that withholds sums earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday.

He said he hoped international pressure would bring a speedy transfer of the funds, which are collected by Israel in areas of the occupied West Bank, and paid to the Palestinian Authority under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.

Part of the funds go to pay for expenses in Gaza, including the salaries of health workers, that are still covered by the Palestinian Authority even though the terrorist group Hamas controls the blockaded enclave.

The top political and diplomatic brass of the terror organization Hamas all live and operate outside of the Gaza Strip, the Military Intelligence Directorate said on Monday.

The IDF listed over a quarter of Hamas officials, including top official Ismail Haniyeh, as operating outside Gaza, including in Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, and Turkey.

Who of Hamas's top branch live outside Gaza - and why?

Haniyeh, who met with Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, is head of Hamas's political bureau, which operates from the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Hamas leadership's responsibilities abroad are divided into three sectors - the West Bank, the Strip, and foreign affairs. The Intelligence Directorate said that "it is working nonstop to understand, map and locate" the leaders.

Some of Hamas's foreign affairs chiefs operate outside in various countries that do not have an official Hamas presence, fundraising and directing terror, the IDF reported.

HAMAS CHIEF Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the press upon his arrival at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip in 2017. (credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

These officials also carry heavy influence over the terror organization's Shura council, which is made up of representatives from the three branches of operation, as well as representatives of Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israeli prisons.

This way, Hamas leaders such as Haniyeh, former head Khaled Mashaal, his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk and former interior minister Fathi Hamad are all able to manipulate the daily happening on the ground in Gaza and redirect the most critical needs of Gazan civilians to the terror organization's hands.

The Jerusalem Post also reported last month that Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, a Hamas terrorist who ran operations in the West Bank, has been enjoying life in a state-funded home in London.

Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, who is also in charge of Hamas's West Bank wing, currently operates in Lebanon.

According to the IDF, Arouri, along with other leaders abroad, spearheads terror activities against Israelis and other targets in Muslim countries as well as in Muslim communities in the West.

Foreign Policy Advisor to the Israeli PM, Dr Ophir Falk, spoke with British media on Sunday to discuss the current state of Israel's war with Hamas and the ongoing protests around the world, appearing on GB News alongside reporter Nana Akua.

Falk discussed his recent conversation with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his support for Israel's response to the war.

Describing details of the October 7th attacks, Fal said, "Israel is united like never before in its mission to destroy Hamas," he stated, describing the unity of politicians and the government following the most severe attack on the Jewish people and the state of Israel to date.

Demonstrators protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in London, Britain, October 28, 2023 (photo credit: REUTERS/Susannah Ireland)

 Akua asked about the difficulties presented by watching an outbreak of pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas rallies across the world, which Falk described as "misinformed."

Ceasefire calls won't happen, Falk tells UK media

When probed about the pressure for a ceasefire, Falk added that it was unrealistic.

"Asking Israel for a ceasefire after this attack is like asking the US for a ceasefire against Al-Qaeda following the attack on 9/11. This is actually 10 times worse than 9/11, for Israel, it's like the equivalence of 50,000 Americans killed in one day," he added.

The French death toll from the Hamas attacks in Israel has risen to 40 deaths, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Monday.

Borne also told France Inter radio that there were eight French citizens still missing, with some believed to be hostages.

Britain's Foreign Office said on Monday it was temporarily withdrawing some British embassy staff from Lebanon.

It had already advised Britons against all travel to Lebanon due to the conflict between neighboring Israel and Gaza, and encouraged any Britons still in the country to leave while commercial flights remain.

IDF ground troops took control of a Hamas military compound in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night, the IDF announced Monday morning, as Israeli forces struck over 450 Hamas targets on Sunday.

The compound contains observation posts, training areas for Hamas operatives and underground terror tunnels. During the operation, several Hamas terrorists were killed. The Israeli Navy also struck command centers, anti-tank launch posts and additional observation posts belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.

IDF fighter jets struck and killed additional Hamas terrorists, including Jamal Mussa who was responsible for the special security operations in the Hamas terrorist organization. In 1993, Jamal Mussa carried out a shooting attack on IDF soldiers who were patrolling the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, IDF soldiers killed Hamas battalion commanders in battles on the ground.