Israeli troops raided the Hamas military headquarters near Shifa hospital in Gaza City for the first time. Another testimony to the furious battle being fought in the Strip and the siege with which the army is tightening the Hamas militiamen in the center of the enclave. While the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a video with two Israeli hostages – an elderly woman and a child – announcing that it wanted to free them for humanitarian reasons. The army’s grip on Gaza is also demonstrated by the capture of an important Hamas stronghold in Jabalya, in the north of the Strip, after 10 hours of fighting in the refugee camp which caused 30 deaths, according to the toll provided by the Palestinian agency Wafa .
Israel: “Taken control of northern Gaza”. The battle on the ground seen by the bodycams of Hamas militiamen
In the battle for the Hamas military headquarters – Israel has always maintained that the central command of the Palestinian faction is hidden under the nearby Shifa hospital – the army instead made it known that it had killed “50 terrorists”. In that place, he added, operatives were “prepared for the murderous attack of October 7” and military intelligence documents, tunnel entrances, workshops for the production of anti-tank missiles and launch stations were found. A complex structure where strategic power centers for Hamas are located: from intelligence to defense, but also “the government offices of the terrorist organization, including the Ministry of the Interior”. “The heart – the military spokesperson summarized – of Hamas’ operational activities.”
During operations to control the northern part of the Strip, the army then announced that it had discovered in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, a weapons and drone production and storage site inside a residential building, next to a bedroom children’s bedroom. While the hunt for Hamas leaders continues: today Ibrahim Abu-Maghsib, head of the anti-tank missile unit of the central brigade in Gaza, was killed in a raid. The video released by Islamic Jihad – after the one published in recent days by Hamas – is the first evidence of the fact that the faction has hostages in its hands.
Gaza, the al-Quds Brigades willing to free two hostages and publish a video: it is a child and an old woman
The two clips feature Hanna Katzir, 77 years old, in a wheelchair, and Yagil Yaacov, 13: both kidnapped in the Nir Oz kibbutz on 7 October and dragged to Gaza. There was an appeal for Yaacov just last night in Israel because the boy suffers from a potentially lethal peanut allergy. According to Times of Israel, in the text that the two hostages read, the responsibility for what is happening is placed on Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu: in front of the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem, among other things, in the evening dozens of people demonstrated, including family members of hostages, who attempted to enter the house by breaking down the barriers erected by the police. The Israeli media once again did not broadcast the video while military spokesman Hagari urged people “not to be ensnared by psychological terrorism”.
Liliana Segre: “Whoever remains indifferent is guilty, children of every nationality must cry”
Meanwhile yesterday, for the fifth consecutive day, Israel opened a humanitarian corridor along the Salah ad Din road which cuts through the Strip to encourage the exodus of the population from north to south. According to the spokesperson of the American National Security Council, John Kirby, the Jewish State has agreed to double this possibility, opening another corridor along the coastal strip which is firmly in its hands and where, in some videos online, waving Israeli flags.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated a firm no to the possibility of a ceasefire without the complete release of the hostages. If Gaza remains the main front, the West Bank continues to burn. Violent clashes with Israeli troops were recorded in Jenin, Nablus and Qalqilya, with a death toll of 18 (14 in Jenin alone) provided by the Palestinian National Authority. The army said it was an anti-terrorism operation to capture wanted people and “neutralize” an armed cell.
While rockets continue to rain on Israel: since the beginning of the war the army has counted over 9,500 of them, of which 900 were launched from civilian sites. A surface-to-surface missile – later intercepted – was launched from the Red Sea towards the city of Eilat, in what appears to be a new provocation by the Houthis, allies of Iran, from Yemen. The Hamas Ministry of Health announced that the deaths in Gaza have reached 10,812, of which 4,412 minors and 2,918 women.
To know more
– With the reservists in the Negev desert: “It will be the last war against Hamas”
– Barbra Streisand: “We Jews are still the scapegoat. We are blamed for the world’s ills.”
– Segre: “We must mourn the children of every country. This is not the time to remain passive.”
Gaza, UN: 50 thousand pregnant women are also among those besieged
Among the 2.2 million people in besieged Gaza there are around 50,000 pregnant women, 5,500 of whom are expected to give birth in the coming weeks. This was reported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). “We are working around the clock to provide support to pregnant women and hospitals, who face lack of electricity, water, medicines, supplies and staff,” UNFPA says. Laila Baker, regional director of the UN fund for Arab states, says that “a humanitarian ceasefire is now necessary to allow aid to arrive and protect both civilians and humanitarian workers”.
Israel, 80 thousand people moved from North to South of Gaza
As Israeli troops advance into the heart of Gaza City, some 80,000 residents have moved from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, the largest movement so far in the five days since the opening of the humanitarian corridor. The Wall Street Journal reports it. The United States and other allies have pressured Israel to allow more humanitarian aid and safe passage for civilians trapped in the northern Strip. White House spokespeople said Tel Aviv had agreed to take daily four-hour breaks in its bombardment of northern Gaza.
MO: Israel, hypersonic interceptor hits first target
The Israeli military said its latest hypersonic ballistic missile interceptor, Arrow 3, destroyed a “target” heading towards Israel from the Red Sea for the first time, highlighting potential attacks from Yemen. The announcement of the historic interceptor launch came shortly after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” at Israel. Israeli forces “successfully operationally launched an Arrow 3 interceptor for the first time this evening,” the Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “The interceptor actually hit a target launched towards Israel in the Red Sea region,” it said. This is the “first operational interception” by an Arrow 3, jointly developed with the United States, since its deployment in 2017.
Media, an Israeli missing in the October 7 massacre killed
“The family of Oren Goldin, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak missing after the devastating Hamas attack on October 7, has been informed that he was killed during the assault by the terrorist group that rules Gaza.” The Times of Israel writes it, specifying that Goldin was 33 years old and leaves behind his wife and two 2-year-old twins.
Palestinian Crescent, our paramedic injured in Israeli raid
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCs) humanitarian organization has announced that one of their paramedics was shot in the back and injured by Israeli forces who targeted an ambulance during a raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Sabreen Obeidi was “wounded with live ammunition” when “a PRCS ambulance was targeted during the daytime raid on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp today”, the organization specified on X.
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