What happened: As Israel’s ground manoeuvre enters its twelfth day today, the IDF continues to close in on Shati, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as on Shifa Hospital.

• PM Netanyahu said yesterday that the IDF has reached deeper into Gaza than Hamas ever imagined. “In the south, the war is moving forward with force that Hamas has never seen… Gaza City is surrounded. We are operating within it, we are deepening the pressure on Hamas every hour, every day… Hamas is discovering that we are reaching places they thought we would never reach.”
• As Israel continued its advance, thousands of Palestinian civilians moved southward in a convoy yesterday waving white flags – heeding multiple IDF calls to do so.
• Humanitarian Aid also continued to enter Gaza. Yesterday, 96 trucks carrying international Humanitarian Aid were transferred to Gaza via the Rafah crossing. These included 15 carrying medical supplies, 31 carrying food, eight carrying water, and 19 carrying supplies for shelters.
• As of yesterday, 665 trucks have entered Gaza, with deliveries of vital Humanitarian Aid. This includes over 3,000 tons of food, over 1,720 tons of medical equipment, over 600 tons of equipment for temporary shelters, and over 1.15 million litres of water.
• An IDF soldier was killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, taking the total number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive to 32.
• During the fighting, IDF troops spotted a Hamas squad hiding in a mosque. They were killed with air support as soon as they left the mosque and headed for tunnel shafts. Hamas has fired anti-tank missiles at IDF troops from several civilian locations, including a hospital.
• The IDF also reported that in the course of a raid on a school that had served as a base for rocket fire and other terrorist activity, troops from the 402nd Brigade killed a number of terrorists, and found several rocket launchers and a large trove of other weapons on school grounds.
• The IDF this morning announced that an airstrike overnight killed Muhsin Abu Zina, “one of the leaders of weapons production” for Hamas who specialised in manufacturing “strategic weapons and rockets.”
• In the north, more than 20 rockets were fired yesterday from Lebanon into Israel, as US diplomats continue to try to remove Hezbollah from the spiraling fight.
• IAF jets demolished Hezbollah sites including a weapons warehouse, rocket fire installations, infrastructure for directing terror attacks and more.
• Netanyahu warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah that it would be making the “greatest mistake of its life” if it opens a new full-on war front.
• During a press conference in Beirut after meeting Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, US envoy Amos Hochstein said that “the United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon. Restoring calm along the southern border is of utmost importance to the United States and it should be the highest priority for both Lebanon and Israel.”

Context: President Biden has reportedly urged Netanyahu to agree to a three-day pause in the fighting in Gaza to facilitate progress in releasing some of the hostages being held by Hamas.

• According to the proposal on the table, Hamas will release 10-15 hostages and will use the three-day pause to verify the identity of all the hostages it and other groups in the Gaza Strip are holding, and will provide a list of their names.
• Hamas issued a statement on Tuesday announcing that it had been prepared to release 12 foreign nationals who are being held hostage, but Israel stymied that.
• Netanyahu does not trust Hamas to keep its word. In 2014, Hamas attacked IDF troops in Rafah during a 2014 humanitarian ceasefire, killing several soldiers and kidnapping Hadar Goldin. Netanyahu is also reportedly worried that Israel won’t be able to renew its war efforts after a significant lull in the fighting.
• Israeli officials believe that Hamas holds roughly 180 hostages, Palestinian Islamic Jihad holds roughly 40 hostages, and another 20 hostages are being held by crime organisations, mainly in the southern Gaza Strip.
• While Hamas’s ability to launch rockets on Israel has gradually diminished alongside the Israeli advance, sirens sounded yesterday in the Tel Aviv area and in Rishon Lezion, while today saw a rocket attack on the Kissufim area, adjacent to central Gaza.
• The US continues to clarify its position on the ‘Day After’ the war.
• State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said that the United States agrees “there is no returning to the October 6 status quo,” adding “generally speaking, we do not support the reoccupation of Gaza and neither does Israel…our viewpoint is that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and Gaza is Palestinian land and it will remain Palestinian land.”
• She added “Israel and the region must be secure and Gaza should and can no longer be a base from which to launch terror attacks against the people of Israel or anyone else.”

Looking ahead: The coming days could prove to be decisive regarding the fight against Hamas and the American-Qatari effort to secure a hostage deal.

• Some believe that beyond that point, Israel is unlikely to be able to withstand American pressure for a ceasefire, especially if a hostage deal is on the table.
• Foreign Minister Cohen will head to Brussels tomorrow, along with families of Israeli hostages, where he will speak in front of the European parliament.

What’s happened: On the 31st day of the war, IDF troops in the Gaza Strip are now surrounding Gaza City.

• IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Hagari said, “IDF troops… have reached as far as the beach in the southern part of Gaza City and they have encircled Gaza City. Essentially, today there is north Gaza and south Gaza.”
• The IDF also confirmed it has struck 450 military targets belonging to Hamas in the last 24 hours.
• Hagari also presented IDF video evidence of Hamas using an underground shaft in the grounds of Sheikh Hamad hospital. In a second clip, gunmen are seen shooting from the hospital.
• As the IDF increases the pressure on Hamas, Hagari revealed the extensive efforts Israel has made to warn Gazan civilians to leave the combat zone via safe passage to the south.
  • The IDF dropped over 1.5 million leaflets over Gaza, over time colour coded to emphasise the immediacy of military ground operations.
  • They made over 19,500 phone calls warning of approaching battle.
  • Over 4.3 million text messages and almost 6 million voice recordings.
• Relating to the hostages, Hagari emphasised they remain Israel’s top national priority. He said, “we, in the IDF and in the Shin Bet and in all the security agencies, haven’t forgotten. We are making efforts around the clock. We collect every piece of information, we seize every operational opportunity.”
• Last night Hamas were still able to launch several rockets towards Tel Aviv and the centre of Israel.
• In the north, Hezbollah fired two heavy waves of rocket fire towards the northern town of Kiryat Shmona. In the first wave one Israeli civilian was killed. In the second wave a house took a direct hit, but the man inside made it into his safe room and was unhurt.
• Hezbollah claims the strikes on Kirya Shmona were in response to Israel striking a civilian vehicle in southern Lebanon. The IDF was targeting a terror cell, but are checking the details of the strike.
• US Secretary of State Blinken continued his shuttle diplomacy and was in Baghdad yesterday, where he met with the Iraqi prime minister. Later the same day Prime Minster al-Sudani travelled to Tehran and met Iranian President Raisi, presumably to pass on a message from the US.
• In parallel, the US has continued to augment its military deployment and last night sent a nuclear submarine to the region.

Context: It has taken just over a week for the IDF to surround Gaza City, which includes Hamas military strongholds and presumably the most senior commanders.

• The operation is going to plan, though commanders stress they will need time to complete their objectives.
• They now need to enter slowly and cautiously and target Hamas’s command and operational structure, much of which is underground.
• The Sheikh Hamad hospital was built by Qatar. The release of the incriminating footage serves to prepare the international community for the next stage of fighting. It exposes how Hamas uses its own citizens as a human shield and why it will be necessary for Israeli forces to target the area. Thirdly, it is meant to highlight for Qatar how they have been manipulated by Hamas.
• Hagari also presented IDF recordings of an intercepted phone call between Hamas officials discussing the appropriation of fuel reserves designated for another hospital.
• Israel maintains that there will be no humanitarian ceasefire until progress is made regarding the hostages. This includes no supply of fuel, which would be usurped by Hamas and used to further their war effort.
• However, it is possible they will agree to a pause, but will hope to make it conditional on progress for the release of hostages.
• Sieges are not prohibited under international humanitarian law, though their conduct is subject to the obligation to protect the civilian population. The UK’s “Joint Service Manual of the Law of Armed conflict”, for example, notes that: “Siege is a legitimate method of warfare as long as it is directed against enemy armed forces,” while also noting that “the normal rules on precautions in attack apply.”
• According to COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activity of the Territories), international organisations continue to bring food to the Strip through the Rafah crossing. So far, the entry of 201 trucks of food has been coordinated.
  • Today, 75 trucks carrying international Humanitarian Aid were inspected and transferred to Gaza via the Rafah crossing. The aid is intended for the population in the southern part of the Strip.
  • So far, 526 trucks carrying Humanitarian Aid have been inspected at Nitzana crossing, and transferred to Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
  • On Sunday during the declared humanitarian corridor published by the IDF, Hamas fired towards IDF forces securing the corridor. This was a deliberate act done in order to try and prevent the people from moving south. Hamas continues to endanger the population and tries to prevent their movement.
  • Today, the corridor was opened at 10 am enabling hundreds of residents to cross and move south.

Looking ahead: Entering into Gaza City could be the most dangerous phase of the mission. With narrow allies, Israeli armour will not be able to enter, so troops may need to enter on foot.

• Israel is encouraging Egypt to facilitate Palestinian patients to cross over and receive treatment in a field hospital on the Egyptian side of the border.
• IDF Chief of Staff Lt Gen Halevi visited the Northern Command yesterday, and related to concerns saying, “we have heard a great deal about the feelings of the residents in the north. We are ready at any moment to switch to an offensive in the north.”

What happened: The IDF has advanced another stage in its war against Hamas, expanding its ground activity further into the northern Gaza Strip.

• IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that “The IDF soldiers completed the encirclement of Gaza City, the hub of the Hamas terrorist group.”
• He added that the troops have “been eliminating terrorists in face-to-face battles, and everywhere where there is combat, even if it’s hard, the IDF and its soldiers have the upper hand. We are constantly working and aiming fire from the air and sea.”
• The IDF said that around 130 Hamas terrorists were killed in gun battles Thursday afternoon and early evening.
• This morning, the IDF said it has killed the commander of Hamas’s Sabra-Tel al-Hawa battalion, Mustafa Dalloul, in an overnight airstrike.
• Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel possessed advanced technology to destroy Hamas’s tunnels. “We have unique solutions to get to all the tunnels and dismantle them from underground. We’re ready to do so. The terrorists will have two choices: they can die in the tunnels or on the surface from our troops’ gunfire, or they can surrender unconditionally. There is no third option.”
• Four soldiers were killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll since Israel began its ground offensive against Hamas to 23.
• Missile barrages were fired yesterday setting sirens off in Rishon Lezion, Lod, Ramle, Rosh Ha’ayin and Beersheva. No further rocket fire on Israel has been reported since 9.00pm last night.
• The US is reportedly flying drones over Gaza to help gather intelligence on the locations of hostages.
• As Israel comes under increasing international pressure for a humanitarian pause, Hagari said “the term ‘ceasefire’ is not at all on the table at the moment.”
• Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel would allow fuel to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing should it determine that hospitals have run out. “We check the situation in the Strip every day. For over a week, they tell us that the fuel in the hospitals will run out, and it hasn’t. We’ll see when that day comes. Fuel will be transferred, with oversight, to the hospitals, and we will do everything to ensure that it doesn’t reach Hamas infrastructure and won’t serve [Hamas’s] war aims.”
• In the north, last night the military attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanese territory in retaliation for attack on Israel in which two soldiers were injured in the Mount Dov area on the Lebanon border.
• Separately, an Israeli tank shelled a Hezbollah anti-tank guided squad in southern Lebanon overnight.
• IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that the army was well prepared in every sector. “We are employing less than half the Air Force’s power in the Gaza Strip. Most of its strength is prepared and ready, with bombs attached to the wings, to depart and attack in other sectors as well as soon as it’s needed,”
• In the West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that seven Palestinians were killed overnight by Israeli army fire in Jenin and the al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron.

Context: Pressure is building on Israel to agree to a temporary humanitarian truce in Gaza to enable a supply of aid and to evacuate the civilian population as well as to potentially facilitate an exchange deal involving the hostages.

• Yesterday, the New York Times wrote that Secretary of State Blinken will pressure Israel to agree to short lulls to enable the safe passage of Humanitarian Aid and for the hostages’ release. White House sources said that Blinken will relay this message to Netanyahu and other officials.
• However, in remarks delivered on a trip to London, US Vice-President Harris said “we are going to continue to stand with Israel’s right to defend itself,” and that “we are not going to create any conditions on the support that we are giving Israel…”
• The UAE is also trying to make intense efforts to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Noura al Kaabi said at a Abu Dhabi conference “As we continue working to stop this war we cannot ignore the wider context and the necessity to turn down the regional temperature that is approaching a boiling point.”
• Prime Minister Netanyahu is reportedly considering accepting the US demand for a temporary cease-fire, but Israeli officials said that it would depend on the circumstances.
• NBC reported yesterday that American and Israeli officials believe that Hamas has more than 750,000 litres of fuel, which it is holding onto to use to fire rockets and operate generators in the tunnels. Last week the IDF released images last week of half a million liters of diesel it said the terror group was holding in the Strip.
• While the assessment remains that Hezbollah does not currently seek all out war with Israel, the military and security establishments are proceeding with caution.

Looking ahead: Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is giving a speech this afternoon as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lands in Israel.

• In clashes on the northern border, more than 60 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed. The commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, the successor to Qassem Soleimani, has been in Beirut since October 8 to potentially coordinate a wider war with Israel.
• Blinken landed in Israel today, his third visit since October 7. He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Herzog and to attend a meeting of the war cabinet. Before departing, Blinken said Washington is focused on the two-state solution.

Gaza Strip: The IDF announced nine soldiers were killed fighting Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday.

• Seven of the soldiers served in the Givati Infantry Brigade and were killed when their armoured personal carrier (APC) was struck by an anti-tank missile.
• The other two were part of the 7th Brigade and were killed when their tank drove over an explosive device.An additional six soldiers were wounded in the two incidents, three of whom are in serious condition.
• The IDF continued its incursion into northern Gaza, taking control of the Hamas HQ in Jabalya.
• Airstrikes on the Hamas tunnels brought down buildings, and the IDF confirmed the death of the local Hamas commander, Ibrahim Biyari, who was one of the leaders of the Nukkba unit that perpetrated the October 7 massacre. An estimated 50 Hamas fighters were also killed.
• The IDF declared that “underground terror infrastructure embedded beneath the buildings, used by the terrorists, also collapsed after the strike.”
• IDF Spokesperson Hagari described the fighting as, “face-to-face battles, with our having the upper hand, we seized control of a Hamas stronghold, a stronghold with underground infrastructure, with equipment, thanks to sensitive intelligence that we collected.”
• In concert with the ground incursion, the Israeli Airforce is continuing to strike Hamas targets from the air, including operational command centres and Hamas terrorist cells. Dozens more terrorists were killed in air strikes.

Attacks from Yemen: Yesterday, the Iranian backed Houthis declared war on Israel and sent two more waves of attack.

• On Tuesday morning, the IDF confirmed the first operational interception by the “Arrow” Aerial Defence System since the beginning of the war, when they downed a surface-to-surface missile over the Red Sea.
• On Tuesday evening, Israel’s air defence systems again intercepted a missile launched from Yemen over the Red Sea. No air raid sirens were sounded, but Eilat residents heard the explosion. The Houthi military confirmed they fired three missiles.
• There have now been four waves of attack from Yemen. As a result, the Israeli navy has reinforced its presence in the Red Sea with missile boats.
• So far, the Houthi missiles and drones and have been intercepted either by the US navy or Israel, and in one incident by Saudi Arabia. One missile landed inside Egypt in Taba, others in the sea.
• Yemen is 1600km from Israel, so there is time to track their missiles and intercept them.
• Israel is considering at what point they will need to respond by attacking Houthi targets inside Yemen, but for now the focus remains on Gaza and the north.

Context: Israel’s ground incursion began on Friday night by entering Gaza at two points. one in the north-east corner and the second at a midpoint of the Gaza Strip.

• The tactical approach suggests the IDF is bisecting the strip, encouraging civilians to leave for the southern Gaza Strip, whilst the miliary advances towards Gaza City, where Hamas HQ is thought to be located in a vast underground labyrinth.
• The IDF announced, “Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has struck over 11,000 targets belonging to terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip.”
• 11 IDF soldiers have so far been killed fighting inside Gaza. Israeli society is sensitive to these losses, but for now understands the necessity of the ground incursion.
• On the Palestinian side, the Hamas controlled Health Ministry says over 8,500 Gazans have been killed. At this point the IDF has not released any data, so the number of combatants and civilians killed is unclear.
• Israel has reassured allies that it is operating within the rules of warfare, is only aiming at Hamas targets, and seeks to avoid civilian deaths as much as possible.
• Yesterday, Prime Minister Sunak spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu. According to the Downing Street statement, “The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s resolute backing for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, while emphasising the importance of taking all possible measures to minimise civilian casualties.”
• President Herzog told the BBC last night that he regretted the loss of Palestinian civilian life but explained that this was self-defence in response to a murderous terrorist attack.
• Despite the aerial attacks, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel, now totaling over 8,500 launches.
• Hezbollah has continued low intensity attacks along the Lebanese border, whilst the IDF continues to strike at cells and the sources of fire.

Looking ahead: Following international pressure, Hamas has now agreed to allow foreign and dual nationals inside Gaza to leave via Rafah crossing into Egypt.

• Egypt is also expected to allow in a limited number of injured Palestinians for treatment in a field hospital that it is setting up on the Egyptian side of the border.
• Later this week, US Secretary of State Blinken will return to Israel. He is expected to encourage Israel to increase Humanitarian Aid, including fuel.

Photo credit: Shin Bet

Hostages: In the course of the ground operation inside Gaza, the IDF and the Shin Bet Security Service were able to successfully rescue a 19-year-old female IDF soldier.

• Private Ori Megidish was rescued on Sunday night, with the announcement only made yesterday afternoon after she had been debriefed and returned to her family.
• Private Megidish was captured by Hamas when her base at Nahal OZ was overrun on the morning of October 7.
• According to the IDF, she was held by Hamas on her own, without any other hostages.
• Earlier yesterday afternoon, Hamas released a video recording of three Israeli women it is holding hostage. The hostages pleaded for Israeli leaders to agree to a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange.
• Israeli media overwhelmingly chose to show a still image, but not broadcast the recording as it is perceived as part of the Hamas’s manipulative psychological warfare.
• Nevertheless, it was at least the first proof that these three captives were alive.
• Israeli analysts have interpreted the released footage as an indication that Hamas is feeling the pressure following IDF advances on the ground.
• Also yesterday, the IDF confirmed that DNA tests on part of skull belonged to Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli whose captured lifeless body was identified on the back of a Hamas truck entering Gaza on October 7.

Ground incursion: Israel has continued its advances deeper inside northern Gaza.

• Palestinian sources released footage claiming Israeli tanks had reached the Salah al-Din road, about three kilometres deep into the Strip and one of two main north-south routes; the second being the coastal road.
• The IDF confirmed it “continues with its coordinated ground, air, and sea operations in the Gaza Strip… numerous Hamas terrorists have been killed; hundreds of additional military targets were struck.”
• “Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels.”
• The IDF also revealed it killed five prominent Hamas operatives:
  • Jamil Baba, commander of Hamas’s naval forces in its Central Brigade.
  • Muhammad Safadi, commander of the anti-tank missile unit in the Tuffah Battalion.
  • Muwaman Hijazi, a prominent operative in Hamas’s anti-tank missile unit.
  • Muhammad Awdallah, a senior operative in Hamas’s production department.
  • Nasim Abu Ajina, commander of Hamas’s Bet Lahia battalion (who was involved in the attack on Netiv Ha’asara).
• In parallel, Hamas continues to fire rockets towards Israel, mostly short-range, but also towards the centre and Jerusalem. Overall, close to 8,000 rockets have been fired, with over 550 falling short inside Gaza.

In the north: Hezbollah continues to attack along the Lebanese border area.

• According to the IDF, attacks included:
  • Mortar shells toward Rosh Hanikra.
  • Two rocket landed in open areas near Moshav Elkosh
  • Three anti-tank missiles were fired towards Biranit. No injuries were reported.
• In all these instances, the IDF returned fire to the source and later attacked additional Hezbollah targets.

Context: The successful rescue mission was greeted as the first piece of positive news in Israel since the initial Hamas attack.

• It restored some belief that Israel can act with creativity and daring, with the hope for more results like this in the future.
• For that reason, the details of the rescue mission have not been publicised.
• This was the first rescue after Hamas released two pairs of female hostages.
• The latest assessment is that another 240 hostages remain inside Gaza, 30 of whom are babies and children under 16 years old.
• The successful release of the soldier through a military operation is a blow to Hamas narrative that only a prisoner exchange will bring about their release.
• In parallel, it was revealed that head of the Mossad Barnea visited Qatar over the weekend to explore the possibility of a deal to release more of the captives, possibly in return for expanded Humanitarian Aid or even fuel. However, it appears his mission was unsuccessful.
• Families of the kidnapped continue to demand the Red Cross and doctors be given access to the hostages.
• In a further sign of the widening regional dimensions of this conflict, it was reported this morning that IDF aerial defence forces detected and shot down a drone that tried to infiltrate Israeli airspace in the Eilat area. This appears to be the third time that Houthi factions in Yemen, supported by Iran, have launched rockets or UAVs towards Israel.

Looking ahead: Israel is expected to continue its ground incursion towards Gaza City, to target Hamas military infrastructure and increase the pressure on Hamas to release more hostages.

• For now Israel has the backing of international partners to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities. In order to extend international legitimacy Israel will need to ensure that medicine, food and water continues to enter in coordination with Egypt and the US.

What happened: US President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President el-Sissi yesterday.

• National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had previously said on CNN that Biden would reiterate to Netanyahu that Israel had a responsibility to protect the civilian population of Gaza and “should be taking every possible means available to them” to distinguish between Hamas and civilians.
• Later, on ABC’s This Week programme, he said Hamas “is hiding behind the civilian population, which puts an added burden on Israel to differentiate between the terrorists and innocent civilians, but it doesn’t lessen their responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population.”
• The official US readout of the Biden-el-Sissi conversation says Biden “expressed his appreciation for Egypt’s leading role in efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza… The two leaders committed to the significant acceleration and increase of assistance flowing into Gaza beginning today and then continuously.”
• “They also discussed the importance of protecting civilian lives, respect for international humanitarian law and ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation.”
• Britain Prime Minister Sunak and France President Macron spoke by telephone and “agreed to work together on efforts both to get crucial food, fuel, water and medicine to those who need it, and to get foreign nationals out,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. They also stressed “the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support.”
• The two also “agreed that it was important not to lose sight of the long-term future of the region and, in particular, the need for a two-state solution.”
• Britain’s Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters said that the UK needs Israel to win the war with Hamas in Gaza. In an interview with Israeli Army Radio he said “Hamas must not remain in control in the Gaza Strip,” adding that “Israel must adhere to the laws of war.” Simon also expressed extreme concern about the rise in antisemitism in the UK. “It’s worrying that during the protests we’ve seen some antisemitic slogans and some calls for jihad. The government is responding to that — it takes the safety of Jewry in the UK very seriously.”
• The IDF says that over the last day it has conducted strikes against some 600 Hamas sites, including weapons storage sites, hideouts, and staging grounds.
• IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “dozens of terrorists” from “tactical command” were killed during bombing in Gaza. “They were those who command the people and direct them in the field,” Hagari said, accusing Hamas of “using schools, hospitals, and others. They do not want anything other than to use them as a human shield.”
• Hagari also updated the number of hostages believed to be in Gaza. The military has notified the families of 239 hostages. “It’s an unfathomable number. There are foreign workers among the hostages, it takes us time to reach everyone’s families,” he says.
• At the request of the US Administration, Humanitarian Aid is entering the Gaza Strip. The aid includes only water, food, and medical supplies. A total of 108 trucks have entered during the past eight days, including 33 yesterday and 24 today.
• With rocket fire from Gaza continuing, homes were hit this morning when 30 rockets were fired on the southern Israeli city of Netivot.
• In the north, the IDF carried out airstrikes against several Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to rocket and missile fire on northern Israel. The IDF said targets included “infrastructure for directing terror, and military infrastructure.” Troops also struck another anti-tank guided missile squad in southern Lebanon and carried out a drone strike on a terror operative flying a drone over the border.
• An IDF reserve soldier was killed, and three soldiers injured in a tank accident on the northern border.
• Elsewhere, Channel 12 reports a warning by Shin Bet head Ronen Bar to the war cabinet and the wider cabinet of “fears about an eruption” of violence in the West Bank. “The specific warning notes a rise in violence by settlers [and] incidents between settlers and Palestinians that result in the deaths of Palestinians.”
• According to the report, Israeli sources said that “these incidents are likely to set the area alight” and harm the war effort against Hamas. Palestinians said on Saturday that a Palestinian man was shot dead as he harvested olives near the West Bank village of As-Sawiya.
• Last night IDF troops conducted an operation in Jenin to arrest wanted men. Palestinian media reported that three Palestinians were killed and nine injured. One of the dead has been identified by Palestinian media as Wiam Hanoun, suggested to be a founder of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad offshoot Jenin Brigade.

Context: As world leaders emphasise the importance of preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) claimed yesterday that Hamas possesses fuel reserves, and is continuing to take control of private fuel reserves. Essential facilities in Gaza depend on the fuel depots of Hamas, which supplies a limited quantity every few days.

• According to new intelligence received and exposed by the IDF, Hamas has a fuel depot of approximately one million litres, and is controlling the supply of fuel to hospitals and other essential facilities, according to its own interests. It does so to add pressure to the international discourse by creating the public perception of a fuel shortage in the Gaza Strip.
• Gaza has local energy production based on solar farms and on generators powered by private fuel reserves, COGAT says.  All the essential facilities — hospitals, desalination plants, wells, and the like — have alternative energy sources. For example, 70 percent of the energy needs of the European Hospital are met by solar energy.
• COGAT also says there is no shortage of food for the near term, and food reserves in the Strip are sufficient for at least a month. Medical supplies are sufficient for the near term, both by Hamas and by the international organisations.
• According to COGAT, there is also currently no water shortage in Gaza. The Birket Sa’id water line, which was damaged by Hamas mortar fire, has been repaired and is once more supplying water to the residents of the central Gaza Strip. The reopening of the Birket Sa’id water line has improved the water accessibility and quality.
• In the northern Gaza Strip, the municipalities distribute water from tanks. They also pump water from the ground and into the water system. In the southern Gaza Strip, and particularly in the Khan Younis area which is served by the Bani Suheila water line, there is a constant supply of water.

Looking ahead: The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting this afternoon at the request of the United Arab Emirates. The council has already rejected four draft resolutions – one vetoed by the US, one vetoed by Russia and China, and two that failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes.

• Amid concerns of regional escalation, Jordan has asked the US to deploy its Patriot missile defence system to bolster its border defences.