Israel at war: What happened on day 41?

There is a debate at the highest levels of the government and the IDF about whether the military should already begin its invasion of southern Gaza or whether this must wait for an interim deal on hostages, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Numerous leaks have been made about terms that Israel or Hamas wants as the sides negotiate what might be an interim deal getting significant numbers of Israeli civilian hostages back, but not all hostages, for some kind of pause and prisoner exchange, but not necessarily that Hamas has demanded.

Whether Israel agrees to a deal or not which Hamas has been desperate for, even the possibility of being close to a deal may currently be slowing the push into southern Gaza, the Post understands.

The concept is that this is a unique tipping point where the IDF has mostly taken over northern Gaza and could make a natural pause.

Israel must not not be “consumed with rage” as it responds to Hamas’ October 7 infiltration of southern Israel, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to southern Israel to see the charred ruins of the communities Hamas had attacked and destroyed.

“I understand your fears and pain. I understand the fears and pain of the people that have been attacked, slaughtered, kidnapped. I understand your rage. But let me ask you not to be consumed by rage. 

"I think that is what the best friends of Israel can tell you, because what makes the difference between a civilized society  and a terrorist group is the respect for human life,” Borrell said.

There are "strong indications" that most hostages taken by Hamas in Gaza were kept at Al-Shifa hospital before being taken away, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS on Thursday evening.

"We had strong indications that they were held in Al-Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital," the prime minister was quoted as saying. "If they were [there], they were taken out."

There are "strong indications" that most hostages taken by Hamas in Gaza were kept at Al-Shifa hospital before being taken away, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS on Thursday evening.

"We had strong indications that they were held in Al-Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital," the prime minister was quoted as saying. "If they were [there], they were taken out."

Israel's war cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened on Thursday evening on day 41 of Operation Swords of Iron.

Hezbollah fired a small number of rockets and anti-tank missiles, but Thursday was a rare day where the small volume and lack of danger posed by the attacks meant that the IDF did not even send out a formal public message about the attacks.

The Jerusalem Post separately confirmed the details.

Likewise, Hamas rocket attacks dropped to under 20 in the last 24 hours, from an average that has steadily dropped from hundreds a day, to close to 100, to 75, to 50, to now even lower numbers.

IDF fighter jets carry out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets

On the northern front, IDF fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Thursday morning. The targets included Hezbollah military posts.

IDF soldiers also hit a terrorist in Lebanon who was attempting to fire into Israeli territory.

The IDF announced on Thursday evening that it had found the body of Yehudit Weiss, an Israeli civilian thought to have been taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.

The remains of Weiss, a resident of the southern kibbutz of Be'eri, were found near a structure adjacent to the Al-Shifa Hospital which serves as a military weapons cache, the IDF said.

Her body was found by the IDF's 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion operating in Gaza as part of Operation Swords of Iron.

Weiss was battling cancer before her death at the hands of Hamas.

Suddenly, everything appears backward about Iran and its nuclear threat.

With multiple leaks of the IAEA’s upcoming reports on Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday signaling nuclear violations by the Islamic Republic, and progress reaching new highs, as well as turning loose its Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen Houthi proxies – one would think that the world would be ready to crack down on Tehran in unprecedented fashion.

Yet, though the IAEA Board of Directors is set to meet next week, giving it yet another opportunity to threaten the ayatollahs with global sanctions, some European diplomats are saying it is least likely to confront them now because of Operation Swords of Iron.

Why? Because they do not want to risk creating further instability in the war. Now, if you were to feel your powers of logic being suspended, then this would not be a surprise.

The IDF published the names of three more fallen soldiers on Thursday, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza to 55.

One of the fallen soldiers, Captain Asaf Master, served in the 401st "Iron Tracks" Brigade.

Master, who was a company commander of Battalion 601, fell in combat in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday at the age of 22.

He was posthumously promoted from lieutenant to the rank of captain.

Master hailed from Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the southern Israeli communities hit hardest by Hamas’s attack on October 7.

Another of the soldiers killed in combat in north Gaza, Captain Shlomo Ben Nun, of the 35th "Paratroopers" Brigade, fell in battle on Thursday, also at the age of 22.

Ben Nun, a company commander in Battalion 202, came from Modi’in and was likewise posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

The third fallen soldier named by the IDF is Captain Kfir Yitzhak Franco, also 22 years old. Franco also served in the 401st "Iron Tracks" Brigade. He was a platoon commander of the 52nd Battalion.

After locating what they described as the entrance to a Hamas tunnel under an evacuated hospital in northern Gaza, Israeli army engineers filled the passage with exploding gel and hit the detonator.

The blast engulfed the building and sent smoke spewing out of at least three points along a nearby road in a district of the city of Beit Hanoun, surveillance footage showed.

"The gel spread out and exploded whatever they had been waiting for us in the tunnel," an army officer told reporters at a briefing at Zeelim Ground Forces Base in southern Israel.

Clearing the tunnels is an important part of Israel's military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas terrorist group's deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.