Israel at War: What happened on day 15?

The air force chief said he “wouldn’t want to swap places with our enemy and face an IDF division or brigade,” as the army continued with its plans for an invasion of Gaza.

Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar’s comments were made on Saturday during a briefing of squadron commanders in preparation for the invasion.

At the briefing, Bar also said the Israel Air Force has struck Hamas with thousands of missiles.

“We will come in with full force and strike them as if [it was] the first day of the battle,” Bar said. “Our role is to ‘embrace’ the land forces and say: ‘The enemy you are about to encounter met us before’” – meaning that the air force had worn down Hamas before the ground forces had to enter.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said, “Gaza is densely populated; the enemy has prepared a lot [for our invasion], but we are also preparing,” during a visit to Golani troops.

Israel Air Force drills with foreign forces in the ''Blue Drill'' exercise in October 2021. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner war cabinet, along with National Unity Party leader and war minister Benny Gantz, also met on Saturday. The content of the meeting is classified.

Earlier Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said one-fifth of the rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have misfired in the last day, landing inside Gaza and killing civilians.

Over the course of the conflict, 550 rockets have been misfired into Gaza by the terror groups. “They are killing their own people,” he said.

The announcement came only a few days after Hamas accused Israel of firing a rocket that struck Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing dozens of people. The accusation was quickly dispelled by the IDF and independent, international investigators who found the rocket emanated from a PIJ misfire.

Weekend rockets with few hits

Over the weekend, Hamas continued its rocket fire on Tel Aviv and the Gaza corridor, but with even less success in hitting Israelis or disturbing daily life as compared to many other days in recent weeks.

Hagari said, however, that Israel is continuing to attack Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip in preparation for an imminent ground invasion. Israel planned to enter Gaza last week, but delayed due to a variety of factors, including evacuating civilians, US pressure on humanitarian issues, tactical concerns about Hezbollah’s intention, and traps that Hamas might be setting. He said 700,000 residents had already moved to the southern Gaza Strip.

Hagari also updated the number of soldiers killed and hostages taken. He said Israel had been in touch with the families of 307 fallen soldiers so far. He also raised the number of hostages to 210, noting that the country constantly gathers intelligence and informs families as soon as they know something new.

“That number will continue to change, and we will update you every time we tell a new family” that their loved one has been kidnapped.

On Thursday, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon said a complex array of factors meant that the IDF had high certainty about a majority of its estimates, but that there were dozens or more cases that still required more examination of evidence, DNA testing, and other issues.

Some 765 civilians murdered by Hamas since the start of the war have so far been identified, the police said on Saturday.

The police, the IDF, and volunteers from ZAKA at the casualty identification station in Camp Shora have been working to identify the victims of Hamas’s massacre in the South for the past two weeks. They said the 765 victims who have been so far identified comprise approximately 75% of the Israeli civilians who were killed in the conflict.

Meanwhile, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Saturday arrested 89 wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria overnight, including 68 members of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Among those arrested were prominent and close associates of Saleh al-Arouri, who, from outside the area, manages military-terrorist networks in the West Bank. These included al-Arouri’s brother and cousin – both members of Hamas – and Abraham Suleiman from Nablus, a prominent Hamas operative and former prisoner.

In addition, the IDF demolished the home of Hamas terrorist Maher Shalon, who carried out the Almog junction shooting attack in February, which killed Israeli-American Elan Ganeles.

During the operation, several suspects threw stones at the forces and fired explosives, prompting the troops to respond with fire. Injuries were reported.

In addition, the army and Shin Bet said forces located and confiscated materials used for manufacturing weapons in the village of Qusra.

Since the start of the conflict on October 7, there have been 670 wanted individuals arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria region, as well as in the Jordan Valley and the Bekaa region, with over 450 affiliated with Hamas, the army said.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report. 

A spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday the group intended to release two more hostages for "humanitarian reasons", but that Israel had declined to receive them.

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said in a brief statement said that it informed Qatar on Friday of Hamas' intention to release the two people.

Soldiers recovered computer files containing instructions for the formulation of a cyanide-based chemical weapon on the body of a Hamas terrorist.

The terrorist had taken part in the October 7 attacks on southern Israeli communities, Israeli media reported on Saturday evening.

It remains unclear whether Hamas had an intention to use chemical weapons.

On Saturday night, families of the kidnapped and missing Israelis initiated a nationwide campaign. They called upon Israeli citizens to illuminate their balconies at 8:00 p.m. for 5 minutes in solidarity and support for their loved ones.

Representatives from all these families convened at the headquarters in Tel Aviv, which was established to represent their collective efforts. The “Turn on the Light” campaign was conducted in collaboration with numerous organizations across Israel, including the Knesset, local municipalities, shopping malls, stadiums, theaters, and many more.

Major Israeli companies take part

El Al flights participated by activating special screens on all their 8:00 p.m. flights that Saturday. In Tel Aviv, the organizers also set a table, with seats for all of those who have been kidnapped by Hamas.

As a central component of this initiative, the campaign organizers urged Israeli citizens to step out onto their balconies, switch on the lights, and sing "Hatikvah" (The Hope, Israel's national anthem), showcasing their unity with the families yearning for the return of their kidnapped and missing members.

Joining hands with the grieving families, the Israel Electric Corporation highlighted the nation's unity. Power station smoke stacks throughout Israel were painted in blue and white, prominently displaying the message "Shining the Light."

An empty Shabbat table laid for those taken hostage by Hamas, October 2023 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)

Their social media post echoed the sentiment: “We all hope for the swift return of the kidnapped and missing to their homes.” The families asked for the public to share the photos and videos on social media with the following hashtag: #BringThemHomeNow.

The United States is committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water and medical care without it being diverted by Hamas, President Joe Biden said on Saturday.

"We will continue to work with all parties to keep the Rafah crossing in operation to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza," he said in a statement after the first convoy of humanitarian supplies passed through the crossing into the enclave.

Hezbollah continued to attack Israel in the North with rockets, anti-tank missiles and gunfire on Friday and Saturday, wounding at least two foreign workers on the Israeli side.

The IDF responded using aerial strikes, artillery, infantry and other means to widely attack Hezbollah positions on the border several times over the weekend, including in the Mount Dov area.

One goal of the military is, without falling into a broader conflict in the North, to start to make it harder for Hezbollah to keep up with the almost constant exchanges which have characterized most of the last two weeks since Hamas invaded on October 7, starting the war.

On Saturday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held an operational situation assessment in the IDF’s 91st Division, together with the division commander, brigade commanders and soldiers stationed in the northern region.

Gallant was briefed on the deployment of troops along the border and in nearby communities, as well as on defense and counterterrorism activities in the area.

Hezbollah members take part in a military exercise during a media tour organized for the occasion of Resistance and Liberation Day, in Aaramta, Lebanon May 21, 2023. (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

"Hezbollah has decided to participate in the fighting, and is paying a price for it. We must be vigilant and prepare for every possible [scenario]. Great challenges await us," Gallant told the soldiers. "Your duty is to prepare for defense and for anything else that may be required. We are in a war, we had no choice. We will act wherever necessary and we will win this war.”

'We will turn things around 180 degrees'

”Just two weeks ago, Hamas launched a war against us in the south. This war was designed to murder, kidnap, rape and harm children, Holocaust survivors, and women. Moreover, it [the attacks] was documented and published by Hamas, in order to deter the State of Israel," Gallant said. "We will turn thing around 180 degrees - the day of the attack will be remembered as the day that started the final and complete destruction of the Hamas terrorist organization.”

He added that, "The challenges ahead of us may increase, and we have to be ready for any scenario.  The State of Israel, the defense establishment and the IDF are proud of you, and above all, we trust you.”

Gallant later met with mayors and councils in the north and helped them reinforce the authorities for managing the situation on the home front.

Defense systems at Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, intercepted and shot down two drones while they were hovering near the base, an Iraqi security source said on Saturday.

In a statement cited by SITE Intelligence monitoring group, the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq," a Shiite militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati it was important to respect the interests of his people, who would be affected if the country were drawn into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the State Department said on Saturday.

Spokesperson Matthew Miller said the call took place on Friday. Blinken also affirmed US support for the Lebanese people and noted growing concern over rising tensions along Lebanon's southern border, Miller said in a statement.

A dozen Palestinian Christian organizations have disseminated an open letter to Western Church leaders and theologians calling them "accountable for their theological and political complicity in the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians."

The letter, disseminated on Change.org, sparked an outcry by the Western Church community, including one leader who said, "The petition will be dead on arrival."

"Most Western Zionist Christians love Israel and know the history biblically and geographically," said William Levi, founder and CEO of the Massachusetts-based Operation Nehemiah Mission. "We will not entertain this."

This is not the first time such a letter has been disseminated. Still, the Christians who spoke on- and off-the-record to The Jerusalem Post said that it was a surprising approach after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,400 Israelis. Moreover, a dozen organizations, including the East Jerusalem YMCA, signed the letter.

In the letter, the Palestinian Christians said they were "profoundly troubled" by how Western Christians offer "unwavering support to Israel's war against the people of Palestine."

Thousands of Christian supporters of Israel march in Jerusalem in the annual Feast of Tabernacles parade. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

"We write to challenge western theologians and church leaders who have voiced uncritical support for Israel and to call them to repent and change," the letter reads. "Sadly, the actions and double standards of some Christian leaders have gravely hurt their Christian witness and have severely distorted their moral judgment regarding the situation in our land."

The organization accused Western Christians of supporting Israeli attacks against Gaza, which have thus far killed several thousand people, and reiterated the false narrative that an Israeli missile struck the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Independent evaluations by Europe and Israel have shown that a misfired Islamic Jihad missile hit the hospital. 

"We categorically reject the myopic and distorted Christian responses that ignore the wider context and the root causes of this war: Israel's systemic oppression of the Palestinians over the last 75 years since the Nakba, the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the oppressive and racist military occupation that constitutes the crime of apartheid," the Christian Palestinians charged. "This is precisely the horrific context of oppression that many Western Christian theologians and leaders have persistently ignored and, even worse, have occasionally legitimized using a wide range of Zionist theologies and interpretations. 

"The brutal and hopeless living conditions in Gaza under Israel's iron fist have regrettably emboldened extreme voices of some Palestinian groups to resort to militancy and violence as a response to oppression and despair," the letter writers added.

"Finally, and we say it with a broken heart, we hold Western church leaders and theologians who rally behind Israel's wars accountable for their theological and political complicity in the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians."

The letter was signed by Kairos Palestine; Christ at the Checkpoint; Bethlehem Bible College; Sabeel Ecumenical Center for Liberation Theology; Dar al-Kalima University; Al-Liqa Center for Religious, Heritage and Cultural Studies in the Holy Land; The East Jerusalem YMCA; The YWCA of Palestine; Arab Orthodox Society, Jerusalem; Arab Orthodox Club, Jerusalem; The Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches; and Arab Education Institute Pax Christi, Bethlehem.

Rev Dennis Nthumbi, a faith, governance, diplomacy and security expert who lives in Kenya and runs the local Christian Allies Caucus, told the Post that he was "appalled by the ignorance" of the letter writers. He said he was concerned that the letter was not only "unbiblical but supportive of the jihadist theory."

"Every well-meaning Christian must speak peace and strength to Israel and desire to see the ultimate destruction of Hamas and their jihadism," Nthumbi said. "We must all stand against the evil that is Hamas."

Most Americans support Israel

A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll published over the weekend by The Hill showed that over 80% of Americans expressed their support for Israel in the ongoing conflict with Hamas. The survey revealed that 84% of respondents favored Israel, while only 16% sided with Hamas.

Regarding American Evangelicals, a letter released on October 11 by a large group of leaders condemned Hamas in favor of the Jewish state.

"In the wake of the evil and indefensible atrocities now committed against the people of Israel by Hamas, we, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the violence against the vulnerable, fully support Israel's right and duty to defend itself against further attack, and urgently call all Christians to pray for the salvation and peace of the people of Israel and Palestine," the letter reads. "In keeping with Christian Just War tradition, we also affirm the legitimacy of Israel's right to respond against those who have initiated these attacks as Romans 13 grants governments the power to bear the sword against those who commit such evil acts against innocent life."

Levi concluded: "They [the Palestinian Church] are targeting the wrong people. They are just giving Hamas political and religious ammunition."

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi spoke to the Golani Brigade on Saturday, the IDF spokesperson said.

"Gaza is crowded, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there," Halevi said. "But we are also preparing for him."