Yom Rishon
Sunday
15 Cheshvan 5784
October 29 2023
UPDATE 10:00 PM
According to the IDF, the number of hostages has grown to 239 and may reach 255. This has happened as the number missing has decreased to around 40.
On the ground at this hour, the IAF is continuing to hit northern Gaza amidst reports that President Biden is demanding that Israel allow more “humanitarian” aid into southern Gaza (which of course will wind up in HamISIS hands in the tunnels). Idiotically, the Netanyahu government has opened another water pipe into Gaza.
The entire idea of no humanitarian aid, no water, no electricity, etc. until the hostages are released is gone with the wind. Whole families, lone babies, elderly people, raped women–all of these remain hostages, and we have agreed to provide more aid to the “poor Palestinians.”
It is beyond sickening.
UPDATE 6:00 PM
IDF Spokesman (several hours ago): “IDF forces killed a number of terrorists who were apparently trying to infiltrate into Israeli territory in the Erez crossing area. The terrorists came out of an underground tunnel shaft, a few hundred meters from Erez crossing. The forces identified them and exchanged fire with them, until the terrorists were eliminated. There were no casualties to our forces.”
2 more terrorists in Gaza were killed in an attack on a motorcycle in Khan Yunis.
Beeri (5:06); Tuba Zangaria (4:53); Sufa (4:05); Netiv HaAsara (2:54); Netiv HaAsara (2:45); Netiv HaAsara (2:42); Nirim (2:30); Kfar Aza (1:31); Gan Reva (12:03); Rishon Lezion (12:01).
In the North
The IDF attacked a terrorist squad that tried to launch anti-tank missiles on the Lebanese border.
IDF forces attacked a terrorist squad that tried to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory in the Avivim region.
Mortars have been fired from Lebanon towards the Malkia area and Mt. Dov.
Ominously, there is reason to believe that Hezbollah is about to increase missile fire from Lebanon.
In Judea and Samaria
5 Palestinian terrorists were wounded in a firefight at Deheisha beside Bethlehem.
UPDATE 11:30 AM
You may remember that last night at 10:01 pm another volley of missiles hit our neighborhood here in Ashdod as well as other volleys that hit many other neighborhoods in Ashdod and Ashkelon:
The target map from last night at 10:01 pm. We live in one of the targeted areas of Ashdod.
A soldier waving an Israeli flag in Gaza yesterday.
According to the IDF Spokesman: “IDF warplanes attacked over 450 military targets of the terrorist organization Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets that were attacked were military headquarters, observation posts, and anti-tank firing positions of the terrorist organization. As part of the expansion of the activities of the ground forces, the combined combat teams attacked terrorist squads that tried to attack the forces and squads that planned to fire anti-tank weapons and also directed aircraft at targets from the ground.”
The IDF spokesman also reported that during the night’s operations an IDF officer was seriously wounded by an IED, and another fighter was moderately wounded.
There has been continuous mortar fire on IDF staging areas this morning. These were the attacks between 10:00-11:00 alone:
Nir Oz (10:00); Magen (10:02); Nir Oz (10:05); Nahal Oz (10:07); Nahal Oz (10:14); Nir Yitzhak (10:51); Nirim (10:59)
In Judea and Samaria
There has been an ongoing exchange of gunfire between terrorists and IDF troops in Shechem (Nablus) this morning.
Elsewhere in Samaria 2 terrorists were killed in a firefight with IDF troops.
UPDATE 8:00 AM
Another reminder of why this war with the demonic HamISIS and the other terrorists in Gaza must end with their complete destruction:
The nursery at Kibbutz Be’eri with some of the children in the community. Every toddler you see in this photo was butchered: their limbs were cut off and heads stomped in.
On the Ground
This war is not our first rodeo here in Israel. We’ve gone through other wars with HamISIS both small and large scale. I mention this to say that what went on last night far exceeds anything we have ever heard before here in Ashdod.
It was a night of continuous bombing, artillery fire, naval cannon fire and we are not sure what else. “Continuous” means on the order of 20-30 ground shaking “booms” per minute. Fighter planes screaming overhead, heavily loaded bombers lumbering low toward Gaza, helicopter gunships going back and forth–attacking and refueling–all night long. The decibel level was deafening.
And this was in Ashdod. We cannot imagine what it must have been like 8 km further south in Ashkelon, or right on the Gaza border in a community like Netiv Ha’Asara.
All we know at this hour is that IDF plunged ever deeper into Gaza. The IDF spokesman will let us know more details in about an hour.
Eliminating the HamISIS Leadership
All of these Hamas leaders have been killed. Because so many have been eliminated they could barely fit in the blurry graphic on the screen. Suffice it to say that we have made a start. The senior leadership both in Gaza and abroad have not yet been reached.
Another Heroine On October 7
Commander Buchris with two of her Border policemen.
There were remarkable heroes and heroines amidst the devastation on October 7.
One of them was 45-year-old Shifra Buchris, a devoutly religious woman who happens to the commander of a reconnaissance unit in the Border Police.
When she realized what was happening, she gathered her deputy and two soldiers into 2 private, non-armored vehicles and drove to the site of the massacre at the Forest Peace Party.
For the next 12 hours, under heavy fire, they worked to evacuate the wounded and those they found hiding–thereby rescuing dozens of young people. Buchris said afterwards: “All I could think about were the mothers who wanted their children to return safely.”
One other item: Buchris is the mother of 10 children:
Buchris with her family just before Shabbat. Notice the 10-“wheeled” challah.
Kolakevod to Shifra Buchris!
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.