What happened on Day 221?

IDF Division 98 on Tuesday killed dozens of Hamas terrorists in Jabalya in northern Gaza in the largest Gaza battle since mid-March and the largest battle in Jabalya itself since January.

Although the IDF started its reinvasion of Jabalya over Saturday-Sunday, only on Tuesday did the military finally find and confront larger quantities of Hamas’s reconstituted forces in that northern Gaza area.

Until Tuesday, fights in Jabalya since January had only involved IDF altercations with smaller terror cells, often of only a handful of Hamas fighters at a time.

The last large fight anywhere in the Strip was during a reinvasion of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in mid-March. That reinvasion lasted between one to two weeks, depending on how one categorizes different stages of the fighting.

Questions raised over evacuation of northern Gaza

Until now, it has been unclear why the IDF evacuated 100,000-150,000, between one-third to one-half of the remaining northern Gaza civilian population, for a new large operation in Jabalya, given that the last few days have involved relatively minor altercations.

IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

But multiple defense sources have assured the Jerusalem Post that Tuesday’s fights are more of an indication of a more significant volume of Hamas terrorists reconstituting themselves in Jabalya.

In addition, IDF Division 162 continued smaller battles in Rafah, and IDF Division 99 continued smaller battles in Zeitoun, killing lower numbers of Hamas fighters.

The IDF still has not broadened its operations in Rafah beyond portions of the eastern area, though the Post has been told by Israeli defense sources that such a broadening operation could come soon and US sources have told CNN that the massing of additional IDF forces appears ready to broaden the Rafah operation.

In the face of US threats to halt the transfer of large American bombs, one move Israel may make is to invade Rafah without using as much airpower.

This could expose IDF ground forces to greater dangers, but those forces would still be able to use tanks and artillery to overpower Hamas’s four Rafah battalions.

Israel’s air force has not powered down completely, with the IDF saying on Tuesday that it carried out over 100 airstrikes throughout the Strip over Monday-Tuesday. 

Tensions between Jerusalem and Cairo rose Tuesday over who was responsible for the continued closure of the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza, which the IDF seized from Hamas last week on the Palestinian side.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz has spoken with his German and British counterparts, urging them to pressure Egypt to allow trucks with humanitarian aid to pass into Gaza.

“I spoke with UK Foreign Secretary [David Cameron] and German Foreign Minister [Annalena Baerbock] about the need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing to allow the continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Katz said in a post on X.

“The world places the responsibility for the humanitarian situation on Israel, but the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends,” he said.

"Hamas will not control the Rafah crossing - this is a security necessity on which we will not compromise,” he stressed.

A volunteer from Emirates Red Crescent prepares parcels with humanitarian aid for Gaza to be transferred through the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Cairo, Egypt, March 30, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/SHOKRY HUSSEIN)

Egyptian accusations against Israel

The State Department said it does not yet have the full details surrounding the death of a UN aid worker who was killed on Monday morning in Rafah after their vehicle was reportedly hit by Israeli strikes; however, on Tuesday, a spokesperson called the reports "incredibly disturbing." 

"UN and humanitarian workers must be protected, and they need to be able to continue their life-saving work," Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters during a news briefing. 

In these circumstances, Patel said a viable medical evacuation process for humanitarian staff injured in military operations, accidents, or illnesses is essential.

"We emphasize that there needs to be a focus on safeguarding designated sites, safeguarding aid personnel and civilians," Patel added.

The State Department joined calls for a full investigation into Monday's fatal incident in which another aid worker also sustained injuries, Patel said. 

TRUCKS at the Erez crossing are on their way to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, this week. Hamas has blown up humanitarian supply infrastructures that Israel facilitated, and instead spent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid on military attack infrastructures, the writer asserts. (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)

On Monday, The Post reported the Israeli defense establishment was investigating if the strikes came from Israel or Hamas forces.  

The IDF revealed on Tuesday that during operational activity in eastern Rafah on Saturday, terrorists were identified in UNRWA’s central logistics compound alongside UN vehicles. 

In the footage, several terrorists and gunfire can be seen near UN vehicles and in the area of UNRWA's logistics warehouse compound in eastern Rafah, which is a central point for the distribution of aid on UNRWA’s behalf in the Gaza Strip.

Following the event, representatives of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) conveyed the findings to senior officials in the international community and called on the UN to conduct an urgent investigation into the matter.

Footage of Hamas terrorists using UN facilities for cover and transport, May 14, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Hamas presence threatens civilian safety

If anyone had said on October 8 that only one of the major top Israeli officials responsible for October 7 would have resigned seven months later and that no larger state inquiry would have even begun, he would have been dismissed as delusional.

On October 8, it seemed that the nation had so completely lost faith in its leadership that all would be gone within months.

There was an early shift when all of the officials, including non-political ones like IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi indicated that they would resign, but only after wrapping up the invasion, estimated to be sometime in January.

However, in January, when the IDF gained full operational control of northern Gaza, and by February, when it had full operational control of central and southern Gaza (minus Rafah), top officials shifted their tone to talk of getting the hostages back first and restoring calm in the North.

They were no longer given deadlines.

An Israeli soldier's rifle is silhouetted next to posters of hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 5, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)

By mid-spring though, Halevi said that he would publish an IDF probe of October 7 by mid-June, signaling they may resign then.

A change in attitude and approach

Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile which, according to Lebanese media, made a direct hit at Adamit in the Western Galilee on Tuesday afternoon.

Later, the IDF confirmed the direct hits and added that, as a result, an IDF soldier was moderately injured, and four additional soldiers were lightly injured. 

The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment, and their families have been notified.

Additionally, the IDF announced that an Israeli citizen was also injured from the anti-tank missile fire and was pronounced dead shortly after.

The statement also added that following the launches, Israel Air Force fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Ayta ash Shab and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon.

Sirens had sounded in that and other nearby areas, including in Arab al-Aramshe. The details of the incident are still under review. 

IDF continues to strike Hezbollah's infrastructure, assets 

A Hamas war room embedded inside a UNRWA school in Nuseirat used by Hamas commanders was targeted in a precise strike by the IDF and ISA, the military announced on Tuesday.

The IDF eliminated over 10 Hamas terrorists by airstrike.

The IDF stated that the war room was used by terrorist operatives in Hamas' military Nukhba wing. They said the strike was carried out using precise munitions to minimize civilian harm.

The terrorists took part in Oct. 7

According to the intelligence, the Hamas war room had been used by the terrorist organization to plan multiple attacks against IDF troops in central Gaza in recent weeks. The Nukhba terrorists situated inside the war room are alleged to have taken place took part in the October 7th Massacre and carried out ambushes and attacks on IDF troops in the Gaza Strip.

The Biden administration does not believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Monday.

“We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition,” Sullivan said.

The US is “using the internationally accepted term for genocide, which includes a focus on intent,” Sullivan explained, adding that the Biden administration has also backed Israel on this matter at the International Court of Justice.

"The United States actually made a presentation [there] backed up by legal analysis, which I would invite you to read because it lays out all of those crimes,” he stated.

South Africa's case against Israel

The ICJ is in the middle of adjudicating charges by South Africa, that Israel is guilty of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, due to its military campaign to destroy Hamas in that enclave. It is expected to hold an additional hearing this Thursday and Friday on a South Africa request for more provisional measures.  

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan meets with Israel's war cabinet. (credit: MAARIV)

The United States and Israel both believe that Hamas is a terror organization. It forcibly seized power in Gaza in 2007 and has ruled it since.

Three soldiers from the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade were severely wounded in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Tuesday.

Additionally, a soldier from the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade was severely wounded in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the statement, all four of the soldiers were evacuated to a hospital for continued treatment, and their families were notified.

This is a developing story.

Israel can not achieve total victory over Hamas in Gaza, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said as he urged Israel to refrain from a major Rafah operation and to consider diplomatic options instead.

Israeli leaders talk mostly about “the idea of some sort of sweeping victory on the battlefield, total victory. I don’t think we believe this is likely or possible,” Campbell told the NATO Youth Summit in Miami.

His words followed those of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Sunday, also cast doubt on Israel’s ability to rely solely on military might to defeat Hamas in Gaza.

Resembling a post-9/11 America

The Gaza war, at this stage, looks like the situation the US found itself in Iraq, in the aftermath of the Al Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, as it faced continuous violence and insurrection.

The Biden administration believes that the best way forward is through “more of a political solution,” which is one of the reasons US President Joe Biden and his team have been so engaged in the Middle East, he said.

Displaced Palestinians prepare to evacuate a tent camp, after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, amid ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Hussam Al Masri)

Countries in the region want to move forward to a “political solution in which the rights of Palestinians are more respected,” he stated.