Hostages held by Hamas terrorists inside Jewish villages and towns have been released. However, fighting with the terrorists still continues in five locations outside the Gaza strip.
Last evening, 50 hostages in Kibbutz Be’eri were freed, as well as a couple who had been held by terrorists in the town of Ofakim. In Ofakim one of the terrorists was hiding in a house there, in a closet, and was eliminated only during a security clearing of the area by our fighters.
Throughout the night and morning, the terrorists made many attempts to infiltrate. With G-d’s help, dozens of terrorists were eliminated. One of the infiltrations took place near the village of Yated, all the terrorists were eliminated. Another 5 terrorists were discovered and eliminated this morning in the neighborhood of Zikim district. Another attempt was foiled from the sea — all the terrorists were eliminated. One more attempt with a carjacking and hostages was in the neighborhood of Ashkelon.
There is a battle in the neighborhood of Kibbutz Kisufim, probably an invasion attempt was prevented there as well.
Fighting continues in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where terrorists are still hiding, having engaged in a firefight with IDF forces clearing the area. According to residents, there are dead and wounded who have not been possible to evacuate yet due to the situation.
In the Sderot police station, the situation was brought under control only after 10 terrorists were killed and the building was practically razed to the ground. IDF forces continue their clearing of Sderot.
In the area neighboring the Gaza Strip, an enemy aircraft was spotted infiltrating. Remember, yesterday some of the terrorists infiltrated Israel from the air by motorized hang gliders.
In Kibbutz Holit, a little girl was rescued hiding in a closet after both her parents were killed.
And what’s happening in our country?
This morning it was reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant demanded yesterday that the water supply to the Gaza Strip be cut off.
Netanyahu also demanded an end to the “knock on the roof” procedure (a shameful protocol that exists only in Israel, imposed on our fighters by the military prosecutor’s office and which requires that before every attack on a house, a warning shot is fired, allowing all residents to escape). Do you think the army commanders followed the orders of the political leadership?
Not so... Citing “legal problems” the generals refused to carry out the order (by the way, this is also why we need that very “Reform”).
As a result, the IDF’s hands are tied again!
Therefore, may the Almighty have mercy on us, right now we continue to serve water to the murderers in the Gaza Strip, who continue to hold our men, women, children and elderly as captives, to launch rockets at us, to infiltrate us from sea, land and air and to harm us in other ways.
The situation in the north
Meanwhile, this morning Hizbullah openly shelled IDF positions in the Dov mountain range area. The fire, however, was only from mortars, without the use of rockets or artillery fire. By the grace of G-d, there were no casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces returned fire and, in response, finally destroyed the tents set up by Hizbullah on our sovereign territory. The tents were rebuilt an hour later....
All resorts in the north are closed. Amid growing tensions in the north, the Upper Galilee Regional Council issued an appeal: ’Residents whose presence in the locality is not required are asked to find alternatives for staying outside the area..... We ask that you prepare items for extended stays away from home: clothing, toiletries, etc."
Residents of the Mate Asher Regional Council in the north were also asked to leave their homes. However, it should be clarified that there is no order to evacuate the residents of the north. Thus, residents of Shlomi settlement were urged to stay in their homes, emphasizing that there is no need to evacuate.
Hizbullah’s shelling is very limited and rather declarative, and in my view, the terrorist group has no intention of going to war with us. At the same time, it intends to keep us in suspense by drawing our resources and forces away from the Gaza Strip.
In my estimation, they understand that Hizbullah realizes that they have no chance of launching a surprise attack on us now (as they did yesterday in the south), since the IDF has been deploying significant forces on the border since yesterday, and reinforcements arrived overnight. Moreover, new forces are flowing there even now.
In addition, we note that the US last night warned Lebanon and Iran several times against interfering in Israel’s war with Hamas.