Israel-Hamas War - What happened on day 61?

IDF Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkleman on Wednesday said in a meeting in southern Gaza with his field commanders that the IDF is continuing to press forward with its invasion of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

On Tuesday, the IDF revealed that its invasion of southern Gaza and Khan Yunis had started Sunday night.

According to the IDF, the top field commanders handling the Khan Yunis invasion presented Finkleman with the status of IDF and enemy forces within the city, the attacks already undertaken, and their future attack plans.

"The battle for Khan Yunis is a central priority. I am impressed that it is being carried out well: that we have a handle on all the details and that we are pressing forward," said Finkleman.

Rocket sirens were heard in Margaliot.

St.-Sgt. Amit Bonzel, 22, from Shoham, fell yesterday in a battle in central Gaza.

St.-Sgt. Alemnew Emanuel Feleke, 22, from Kiryat Gat, died yesterday due to wounds inflicted in battle on December 5 in the southern Gaza Strip.

A Brazilian man arrested on suspicion of ties to Hezbollah had taken videos and photos of two synagogues and a Jewish cemetery in Brasilia just weeks before he was arrested on terrorist charges last month, court documents show.

Lucas Passos Lima was one of at least three men arrested in November as Brazilian federal police took down a suspected Hezbollah cell, working on a tip from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation about a possible attack in Brazil or nearby.

According to a December 5 federal court document seen by Reuters, police found evidence on Lima's seized phone "that he had carried out reconnaissance tasks in places for possible attacks against the Jewish community in Brazil."

In September, the document says, Lima took video and photos of the Taguatinga and Águas Claras synagogues in Brasilia, along with the Jewish area in Brasilia's Campo da Esperança cemetery. In addition, his search history revealed research into an unnamed Jewish leader, as well as the Israeli Embassy in Brazil and Jewish locales in neighboring Goiás state.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday met with local northern authorities from evacuated communities and told them that Hezbollah would need to choose between a negotiated process where it backs its forces off of Israel’s border, or the IDF would take action to ensure that.

He said, “there is one possibility that we will reach a different deal…with international negotiators that they will respect our presence here…the second possibility is that we will be forced to do it by force.”

Moreover, he said that Israel does not want a larger conflict with Hezbollah, but that if it is necessary, “we will not hesitate, as we did not hesitate in the South,” with Hamas.

“When we finish the process of fighting in Gaza, we will be in a different reality where the military efforts will shift to the North because the different level of power comparing Hezbollah to Hamas is well-known to us,” added Gallant.

The defense minister continued, “Wherever before there was a battalion [guarding the northern communities] there will be [an entire] brigade. There will be a different level of defense and there will be other security components.”

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit held a screening on Tuesday night for leaders of the Israeli-Arab sector, showing them the video testimony of the horrific events of October 7. 

In attendance were heads of local municipal authorities, community leaders, media personalities, journalists, and thought leaders from the Arab community in Israel.

The screening took place in Nazareth and was also attended by Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism and Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli.

The film, according to Chikli, reveals the degree to which "education can lead to murderous hatred, to the point of erasing the essence of God in a person, even if he shouts [God's] name while slaughtering women and children."

The United States would object to any proposed buffer zone that would be inside the Gaza Strip as it would violate Washington's position that the Palestinian enclave must not be reduced in size after the current conflict, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.

Reuters reported last week that Israel had conveyed plans for the buffer zone to several Arab states and Turkey.

The IDF dropped leaflets over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday citing a Quranic verse about how the wicked in the times of Noah were swept away by the biblical flood, according to Palestinian reports.

"Then the Flood overtook them, while they persisted in wrongdoing," read the leaflets which also included a Star of David and the emblem of the IDF.

The quote is taken from verse 14 in Surah Al-'Ankabut (the Spider), the 29th chapter of the Quran.

Leaflets linked to reports IDF intends to flood Hamas tunnels

The leaflets were linked by some social media users to reports that the IDF intends to flood the tunnels under Gaza in an attempt to force Hamas aboveground. The leaflets were also dropped as rainy weather hit the area.

The IDF has dropped leaflets throughout Gaza since the beginning of the war with instructions to civilians for evacuation and other directives.

The latest leaflets came as the IDF surrounded Khan Yunis, believed to be the city where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior Hamas members are hiding.

Temple Mount activists plan to conduct a march through the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday, with organizers saying the march aims to call for the removal of the Waqf from the Temple Mount.

כולם מגיעים! pic.twitter.com/EYz7XkZjvG

— חוזרים להר (@CozrimLahar) December 5, 2023

According to a poster advertising the march, the march will also include a memorial for those murdered in terrorist attacks and a call to have full Jewish control over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

The march has been approved by Israel Police.

השולט בהר הבית ישלוט בארץ כולה🇮🇱✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/9eBMRiRHkO

— בני הר מוריה (@TheTempleMoun) December 4, 2023

The march will begin at Tzahal Square and continue through the Damascus Gate toward the Western Wall.

The organizers of the event include the Hozrim Lahar, Torat Lehima, and Beyadenu movements, among other organizations.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres invoked a rarely used article of the UN charter known as Article 99 to urge the UN Security Council to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Wednesday.

Article 99 determines that the UN chief "may bring to attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”