A heavy barrage of rockets was fired at the North on Sunday, including Kiryat Shmona and Rosh Pina, as the IDF continued its expanded ground operation into Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip.
Overnight Saturday, the IDF carried out airstrikes and tank and artillery fire into the northern Gaza Strip as it expanded its ground activities. The night was lit up by flashes over Gaza, as the IDF took out terror targets.
The IDF said it hit 450 Hamas targets – more than in the few nights – and included “operational command centers, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts.” It added that Hamas tactical field commanders were present in some of these structures. It also targeted anti-tank missile launch sites. IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari noted that the aerial attacks are carried out primarily to ensure the safety of ground troops.
An IDF officer was severely injured after being hit with a mortar shell in the northern Gaza Strip. Another soldier was moderately injured in clashes with terrorists in the northern part of the Strip. They were both evacuated for medical treatment.
Four terrorists tried to exit a tunnel near the Erez crossing to infiltrate into Israel and were killed by the IDF.
“Additionally, aircraft guided by IDF troops struck two staging grounds of the Hamas terrorist organization and killed several terrorists,” the IDF said.
Hagari charged Hamas with using schools and hospitals – untouchable as military targets – to operate from, challenging the IDF and putting Palestinian civilians in mortal danger. He added that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is directly responsible for Gaza’s collapse, proving to the world, with the attack carried out on October 7 under his charge, that Hamas is worse than ISIS. He called again on Gazans to temporarily emigrate south as the offensive continues.
About 1,400 Israelis were killed in the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas, which prompted the operation, 311 of them soldiers, as the Hamas-run Health Ministry updated the Palestinian death toll to over 8,000. The IDF updated on Sunday that the number of confirmed hostages jumped to 239. The number of missing individuals continues to drop as they are either confirmed dead or hostage, standing at 40 on Sunday.
In a separate incident, terrorists who emerged on the coast of Gaza not far from Zikim were killed by the IDF. As well, “IAF aircraft, guided by IDF troops, struck Hamas military structures, some of which contained Hamas terrorists. In addition... observation posts and military infrastructure were struck,” the IDF said.
In a briefing in the morning, the military noted that the ground operation was continuing both in the north and south of the Strip.
Northern Israel terrorist threats continue
In the North, “a terrorist cell carried out launches toward Israeli territory,” the IDF said, and in response an IAF aircraft struck the cell in the Mount Dov area, striking Hezbollah infrastructure inside Lebanese territory.
Later in the evening, rocket sirens renewed in the North, after three launches were detected and intercepted from Lebanon. More launches followed, toward the area of Malkiya. Hagari warned that any Hezbollah cell that approaches the border will be struck.
Sirens were activated in the Kiryat Shmona area on Sunday evening. The IDF said after that, six launches were registered, one of them directly hitting a home, with no injuries recorded.
Hezbollah said it shot down an Israeli drone southeast of Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile on Sunday afternoon, downing it in Israeli territory, while Reuters reported that “fishermen in the Lebanese city of Tyre are among those counting the costs of war in the Middle East. As Israel and Hezbollah clash, it is too dangerous to sail into nearby fishing grounds.” UNIFIL added that one of its members was wounded in Lebanon.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Sunday that the killing of Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah in Lebanon on October 13 was the result of a targeted strike from the direction of the Israeli border.
“According to the ballistic analysis carried out by RSF, the shots came from the east of where the journalists were standing; from the direction of the Israeli border,” RSF said. “Two strikes in the same place in such a short space of time (just over 30 seconds), from the same direction, clearly indicate precise targeting.”
The IDF has said it does not deliberately target journalists and that it is investigating the October 13 incident.
Sebastien Lecornu, France’s minister of the armed forces, will meet with officials in Lebanon from Wednesday, including caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as well as visit a base of United Nations peacekeepers, his cabinet announced on Sunday.
The trip comes amid rising border tensions since the start of the Gaza conflict.
The minister seeks to reaffirm France’s “commitment to the stability of Lebanon,” his office said.
On Thursday, Lecornu will visit UNIFIL, which on Saturday saw its headquarters near the coastal town of Nakoura damaged by a shell that landed inside the base.
France is one of the main contributors to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, where it has deployed nearly 700 troops.
The IDF and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily since early October.
Lebanon and France, its former colonial power, are linked through numerous political and economic ties.
French President Emmanuel Macron led international aid efforts after an explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut in 2019, but his efforts afterwards failed to resolve the political and economic crisis that followed.
Meanwhile on the home front, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Justice Minister Yariv Levin said the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved that the “2016 Counter-Terrorism Law will be amended, and will enable the State of Israel to designate individual terror operatives. The law will be amended to allow the defense minister to designate individuals as terrorists – today the law only enables the designation of organizations,” the Defense Ministry said.
The ministry is also working with suppliers to make advance payments for purchases to Israeli industries. This will enable procurement from these industries, as well as procurement from the US.
The ministry also began to supply the IDF with tomatoes from agricultural communities situated around the Gaza Strip. The fields were at risk of lying fallow after the Hamas attack, but volunteers have risen to the call. These communities are currently evacuated as the areas have been declared closed military zones, yet efforts to save the agriculture have been ongoing. The ministry said the first shipment arrived.
The IDF said also that it is adding a new course for field observers: “Observation soldiers play a very significant and important role in maintaining the security of Israeli civilians. They are deployed in defending all the country’s borders.”
The IDF is attempting to keep its enlistment schedule normal even with the complexities of the war. The observation unit along the Gaza border suffered casualties and horror during the October 7 attack, according to multiple media reports.
Some recounted stories of hiding for hours, awaiting rescue, or seeing their friends killed. Recruitment for the unit takes place in the context of what the IDF is calling the bravery of these soldiers. For the survivors of the massacre, it also takes place in the context of trauma and the high casualties suffered among the units on the border that day.
Reuters contributed to this report.