Israel at war: What happened on days 56-57?

The IDF 551st Brigade combat team completed a mission in Jabalya, in the Gaza Strip, on Saturday, having killed Hamas terrorists and destroyed terror infrastructure, the IDF said.

The neutralized infrastructure included tunnels and subterranean structures.

During the operation, which had began before the initiation of the now-ended cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, IDF troops identified and destroyed a Hamas terror tunnel which extended tens of meters below the surface of the earth.

A Hamas tunnel in a school

The tunnel had been located in the courtyard of a school compound.

Another tunnel was located and destroyed in the home of a Hamas naval force activist, the IDF stated.

Soldiers of the 551st Brigade, along with Israeli special forces, also worked to eliminate subterranean infrastructure north of Jabalya, where Israeli troops subsequently Isolated and secured a an area to facilitate further IDF activity.

Also, along with the air force and artillery units, IDF troops destroyed numerous pieces of Hamas combat equipment, including weapons, explosives, launchers, and ammunition.

While the relentless terror theater persists, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been attempting to alter the established protocol for releasing captives. Despite the resumption of hostilities, the negotiations remain active, though their failure looms as a significant risk.

Hamas, through Qatar and Egypt's mediation, had coordinated a new phase in the negotiations. However, Sinwar disrupted the process before 07:00. IDF forces in Gaza's western region grappled with how to respond to his armed militants. This tension escalated into an exchange of fire, prompting the deployment of fighter jets and subsequent rocket launches.

Sinwar, up until the final moments, seemed to maintain control in the area. Despite the IDF's claims of dominating northern Gaza, soldiers observed Sinwar's operatives swiftly emerging from tunnels right after the ceasefire, a move that bewildered them due to the operatives' precise timing and lack of weapons. Throughout the IDF's ground operations and ceasefire in Gaza, Sinwar regularly communicated with Qatar and Egypt, actively engaging in negotiations with Israel despite the risk of exposing his hideout.

Abu Obeida, the Hamas military wing's spokesperson, has continued to orchestrate a terror narrative, characterized by frequent media communications, surrounding the captives with Nukhba [naval commandos in a special forces unit of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades] operatives, last-minute changes in release timings, and orchestrated release visuals, including handshakes and waves. They even paraded a distressed captive woman and a wheelchair, aiming to soften their otherwise brutal image.

What motivated Sinwar to derail the negotiations

This raises the question: What motivated Sinwar to derail the negotiations? He seems intent on changing the long-standing exchange formula involving babies, children, women, and the elderly, especially as he nears the negotiation's most challenging phase — exchanging soldiers for prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails. Despite understanding the significant attention the Bibas family receives from Israeli society and global media, Sinwar declared the murder of the Bibas mother and her children, releasing a video of the grieving father.

Currently, the situation remains fluid, with the potential for rescue depending on both parties' willingness to act. The imminent question is what tomorrow holds, whether the negotiations progress or are further delayed by either side. The IDF faces a decision: to conduct aerial strikes in the coming days while avoiding ground maneuvers to facilitate ongoing negotiations, or to launch a broad, aggressive assault that might hasten an alternative negotiation with Hamas, albeit at a greater cost to the terrorist organization.

Israel has told the United Nations it will not renew a visa for the top UN humanitarian aid official for the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.

Canadian-born Lynn Hastings, a veteran UN official, has served as the deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory for nearly three years.

"We've been informed by the Israeli authorities that they would not renew the visa of Ms Hastings past the due date at some point later this month," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

He said UN staff do not overstay their visas in any country, but stressed that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has full confidence in Hastings. Dujarric did not say whether Hastings would be replaced.

Israel's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another two hostages taken by Hamas during the terror organization's rampage in southern Israel on October 7 were announced dead, Israeli security forces and media stated on Friday.

The body of one of the murdered hostages, Ofir Tzarfati was recovered by the IDF and Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip. It was subsequently brought it back into Israel.

Tzarfati was a soldier abducted from the vicinity of the Re'im base on October 7.

His body was identified by medical and military rabbinate personnel along with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police.

The other hostage, Guy Iloz, 26, who was abducted from Re'im was a music and sound technician who had worked with prominent Israeli musicians including Shalom Hanoch, Matti Caspi, and the band, HaYehudim.

Egypt is exerting utmost efforts with its partners to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS), said on Friday in a statement.

In response to launches from Lebanon, the IDF struck a terrorist cell operating in Lebanese territory adjacent to the Israeli border community of Zar'it, the IDF stated on Friday afternoon.

Earlier, Israeli air defense systems intercepted a suspicious aerial target that had crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel, the IDF noted. Israeli rocket and missile alarms sounded in the country's North after the target was initially identified.

Later, more rocket launches from Lebanon were fired at IDF posts in northern Israel in the areas of Rosh HaNikra and Margaliot, as well as Kiryat Shmona. 

The IDF responded to the attacks with artillery fire targeting the source of the launches.

Hezbollah says Israeli shelling kills two

Reuters, citing the Hezbollah television channel Al-Manar, reported on Friday that Israeli shelling of Houla, a border town in southern Lebanon, had resulted in the deaths of two people.

The exchange of fire between Israel and fighters in Lebanon comes in the wake of the collapse of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas and as fighting resumes in the Gaza Strip.

Later on Friday, the IDF said that it had hit more terror infrastructure in Lebanon and named Hezbollah as the target.

According to the Israeli military, a coordinated attack consisting of airstrikes, combat helicopter strikes, and artillery fire slammed into Hezbollah terror infrastructure.

The IDF also said that it targeted a cell in the area of Malkiya, a kibbutz near the Lebanon border, that had been attempting to carry out an attack on northern Israel.

 Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the enclave after war ends, Egyptian and regional sources said.

According to three regional sources, Israel related its plans to its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020.

They also said that Saudi Arabia, which does not have ties with Israel and which halted a US-mediated normalization process after the Gaza war flared on Oct. 7, had been informed. The sources did not say how the information reached Riyadh, which officially does not have direct communication channels with Israel. Non-Arab Turkey was also told, the sources said.

The IDF and Shin Bet on Friday announced they had recovered the body of Gaza hostage Ofir Tzarfati from the Strip and brought it back into Israel.

This is a developing story.

In the wake of Thursday’s deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem wherein four civilians were killed, Israel Police stated on Friday that Yuval Doron Castelman, who was shot and killed by friendly fire while responding to the attack, had been mistakenly identified as an additional terrorist by an IDF soldier responding to the attack.

At least five others sustained injuries during the attack.

The IDF spokesperson subsequently stated that the investigation into the incident, initially launched by Israel Police and the Shin Bet, had been broadened to include military police investigators.

The terror attack was carried out by two brothers, Murad and Ebrahim Nemer, from Baher in east Jerusalem.

Hamas later stated that the attackers were affiliated with the Islamist organization.

The United States continues to work with Israel, Egypt and Qatar on extending a humanitarian pause in Gaza and President Biden will remain deeply engaged in efforts to expand the pause and free hostages, a White House spokesperson said after a truce expired in the early hours of Friday and the war resumed.

Hamas has failed to produce list of hostages to enable further extension of pause in Gaza, the spokesperson said.