UAVs from Lebanon injure soldier, US approves partial transfer of frozen bomb shipments to Israel

On Wednesday, Israeli air force jets attacked a military site where an IDF unit from the 228th Brigade combat team identified several Hezbollah terrorists entering in the Tayr Harfa area using a drone, the IDF reported Wednesday evening.

At the same time, fighter jets attacked additional Hezbollah military infrastructure in the Taybeh area in southern Lebanon.

Following the alert activated in the Shtula area, one rocket fell in an open area from Lebanon.

The Paratroopers Brigade, Brigade 7, and the Yahalom Unit have completed a two-week mission in Shejaia under the command of Division 98 where they destroyed tunnels, killed dozens of terrorists, and neutralized booby-trapped buildings, the IDF reported Wednesday. 

In the past 24 hours, soldiers destroyed two tunnels underground, for a total of eight tunnels destroyed in the mission.

Following a preliminary investigation conducted by the IDF regarding the death of Noa and Nir Baranes by a rocket attack on their vehicle in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, it appears that there was no attempt at interception.

The Air Force classifies the roads as "open areas"; therefore, they were not provided cover by the defense systems. Interceptors were not launched against the missiles sent from southern Lebanon.

Security officials claim that the Air Force, in particular, and the Home Front Command need to update the instructions to the public and accordingly place signage, instructions, and publications so that similar events do not happen. 

Yesterday afternoon, a senior Hezbollah operative, Yasser Nimr Qarnabsh, was killed in a targeted counterattack in a vehicle on the Damascus road in Beirut. In the past, Qarnabsh was one of the security guards of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and, over the years, has held several high-up positions in the organization.

Noa and Nir Baranes. (credit: GOLAN REGIONAL COUNCIL)

IDF was criticized for the minimal response

Within a few hours, Hezbollah operatives from southern Lebanon responded with a barrage of about 40 rockets. Despite the high vigilance of Israel's air defense system, one of them directly hit the vehicle in the Golan and caused the death of the Baranes couple.

Security officials have criticized the conduct of the IDF because, contrary to claims by senior IDF officers that they would avoid enabling Hezbollah to have fixed equations and would become more unpredictable, the Shiite organization manages to create fixed equations. For example, in response to painful attacks in southern Lebanon, it launches rocket barrages, and in yesterday's case, a deadly response.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and conducted an operational assessment in the center of Gaza. 

Halevi said the IDF was "applying military pressure in all sorts of ways."

"The common denominator" between the various combat zones in Gaza is "determination," Halevi said. 

"We go on missions to destroy as much infrastructure as possible, kill as many Hamas terrorists as possible, kill as many commanders as possible. In the end, it lowers the capabilities of Hamas, allows us to move forward with the achievements, allows us to carry out a very important task - pressure - we will not stop to return the hostages either."

A total of 56% of Israelis want a deal to return the hostages in Gaza in exchange for an end to the Israel-Hamas War and a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, data published on Wednesday in the June 2024 Israel Voice Index revealed.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry stated on Wednesday that the death toll in Gaza has reached 38,295 since the war started on October 7 of last year.

A further 88,241 have thus far been wounded in the conflict, the Gazan ministry added.

The number has not been independently verified, and the ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its toll.

The Hamas-run ministry has also been repeatedly criticized for distorting casualty figures.

In May, departing from Hamas’s reported figures, the UN halved the number of women and children it had previously reported had been killed thus far in the war.

An Islamist party in the Turkish parliament a bill seeking to revoke the citizenship from Israelis who have served in the IDF in the Gaza Strip, KAN news reported on Wednesday. 

The bill passed in first reading in the Turkish parliament. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that 60% of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip have been killed or wounded as a result of Israel's operation in Gaza.

Speaking at the Knesset, he also said that Israel had broken up the majority of the 24 battalions that Hamas's military wing had at the start of the war.

'IDF has killed 14,000 terrorists'

"The action of the IDF that has so far led to the elimination of over 14,000 terrorists and the collapse of the military frameworks of Hamas is, in fact, the testimony of what I am saying - everything will be done in accordance with the law and in accordance with the operational need."

Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David called on the public on Wednesday to join the marches for the hostages and to support Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker.

The marches are set to take place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at 4 p.m.

A statement released by the Histadrut quoted Bar-David as stating, “Operation Iron Swords can only have one image of victory - our brothers and sisters that we were able to return home. Like every parent in the State of Israel, Einav Zangauker’s struggle is also my struggle. Only when I see her hugging her son will I know that the State of Israel has returned to itself.” 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered making a layover in Europe en route to Washington later this month, KAN News reported on Wednesday. 

The need for such a layover came upon the discovery that the prime minister's plane, "Wing of Zion," would not be able to make a direct flight to the US due to a lack of preparedness, according to the report. 

The Prime Minister's Office examined whether such a layover would be feasible amid the fear of arrest warrants being issued by the ICC.