IDF announces Sgt.-Maj. Noam Shemesh, 21, killed in Gaza
Shemesh was killed by an RPG in southern Gaza, the IDF cleared for publication on Sunday morning.
IDF Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Noam Shemesh, 21, a squad commander in the Shimshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip.
Shemesh was from Jerusalem. He was killed by an RPG fired at troops fighting in southern Gaza. The tank fired back and killed three fighters from the cell, as fighter jets killed four.
The Kfir Brigade is still operating in southern Khan Yunis, the IDF updated later in the day.
The several divisions still active in the Gaza Strip continued operations over the weekend against terrorist infrastructure in the enclave, including in the Khan Yunis area, simultaneously with Israel’s strikes on Iranian military sites.
Over the last few weeks, hundreds of terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, above and below ground, including tunnel shafts, rocket launchers and booby-trapped buildings. Dozens of Hamas fighters were killed as well, and weapons were confiscated, the IDF said, including some in buildings that used to be civilian sites.
During the operation, troops raided buildings that once housed a university and a school in Khan Yunis, and now serve Hamas. The buildings were then destroyed.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effi Defrin said on Sunday that operations were continuing as normal in all parts of Gaza. He also extended condolences to Shemesh’s family.
“The war goals remain as they were,” Defrin said, “as the 53 remaining hostages and destroying Hamas’s control remain our top priority.”
The IDF spokesman said that challenging days lie ahead, and that “the Iranian regime will pay for its attacks and will meet fire for them.” He further warned the public of more anticipated missiles in the coming days.
“We know that Iran encouraged and continues to encourage its proxies in the Middle East to harm Israel in a variety of ways,” Defrin said, adding that the IDF is learning from its mistakes and preparing as much as it can for the future.
Iran once could have expected military support from proxy forces in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq. But 20 months of war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza and last year’s conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, reducing its options for retaliation.
Several missiles fired from Iran were intercepted in the North, as the IDF continues to hold up its side of the ceasefire deal with Lebanon. Troops are on the ground in Syria as well.
Local health authorities in Gaza, which are controlled by Hamas, said that Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 41 Palestinians on Sunday across the enclave, at least five of them near two aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Medics at Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. Two others were killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south, they medics.
The medics added that two others were killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south.
An airstrike killed seven other people in the town of Beit Lahia north of the enclave, medics said, adding that 11 were killed in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip. The rest were killed in separate airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip, they said.The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a nearly three-month total blockade, fearing the aid would bypass the civilians and go straight to Hamas. Scores of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily mass shootings trying to reach the food.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the logistical coordination unit within the Defense Ministry, announced on Sunday that 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the UN and other international organizations made their way into Gaza. They included flour and food, were thoroughly inspected beforehand, and were transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after Hamas-led terrorists raided southern Israel, killed at least 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, most of them civilians, on October 7, 2023, Israel’s single deadliest day. According to Hamas-controlled Gaza health authorities, 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its operation.
“Hamas is fighting for its life,” Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror told The Jerusalem Post. Israel is “pushing it to the edge – it can’t function,” he said.
Amidror explained that Iran is the power that built Hamas into what it is today, but that the terrorist group must understand that Iran’s generosity can only extend so far – especially now.
“If Iran is destroyed” in the realm of regional power and of having the ability to pull all the strings, “Hamas might shift its stance – either to continue on its suicidal stated mission, or surrender,” he said.
To the North, Amidror explained that Iran completely lost its abilities when it came to Syria, and that Hezbollah probably understands that if Israel is given the opportunity to destroy it again, it will.
“They will be careful,” he explained, “they don’t have a long-term plan at all – especially since the land passage from Iran to Lebanon, through Syria, was destroyed. They are alone and there is no way for Iran to help them,” so the terrorist group will think twice about its capabilities to enter the conflict.
In the West Bank, Amidror said, “Iran has sent technical help, but doesn’t have a say in the decision-making process.”
The military significantly tightened its presence in the West Bank over the weekend, with a widespread curfew imposed on Palestinians, and the entrances and exits to their towns blocked.
Security forces arrested 25 suspects on Sunday, including a terrorist cell in the Nablus area, confiscating M16s. Additionally, the army said, more than 100 suspects were interrogated, some under suspicion of aiding Iran.
Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced later on Sunday that two Jewish-Israelis were arrested in the morning on suspicion of carrying out missions as Iranian agents.
Security forces from the Shin Bet and the YAMAM counter-terrorism unit jointly operated and detained the two, following a Lahav 433 National Crime Unit investigation.
This is the latest of 22 separate cases of espionage on behalf of the Islamic Republic foiled by the Shin Bet and Israel Police since the massacre on October 7, 2023.
Iranian intelligence is actively attempting to recruit Israeli civilians to carry out missions it determines to be in its interest, the agencies said, adding Tehran uses information gathered to harm the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.
The identity of the two suspects, as well as further details of the investigation, are under a gag order.
The troops are focused on two major areas: Azzun in the Samaria region, west of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and in the Hebron area in the south.
“We are in the midst of fateful and historic times, when the IDF is meeting very significant goals in Iran,” IDF Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth said, adding that “we cannot get complacent against our enemy.”
