Yom Shabbat
Saturday
7 Tammuz 5784
July 13 2024
BREAKING NEWS 2:00 PM Saturday
A major attack moments ago in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis targeted Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and Khan Younis Brigade Commander Rafa Salama.
Palestinian sources have confirmed that Salama is dead; there has yet to be confirmation of Deif’s death.
Apparently numerous other terrorists were killed in the strike.
All of Israel has gone on high alert expecting “reactions” from HamISIS and Hezbollah.
9:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
On the Hostage Front
The last 72 hours have seen a bizarre series of back and forths between PM Netanyahu’s office and various media organizations.
The media continues to report that Israel has agreed to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, that Israel has agreed to the unrestricted movement of Gazans back into northern Gaza, that Israel has agreed to completely withdraw all IDF troops from Gaza as part of the second phase of a hostage deal . . . and on and on.
As each report comes out, PM Netanyahu is quick to denounce them all as “fake news.”
The hostage/ceasefire talks in Doha ended yesterday with no progress, and all parties returned home.
On the Ground in Gaza
Gaza’s expensive Rimal neighborhood went up in smoke yesterday. The buildings in Rimal like the buildings everywhere else in Gaza are honeycombed with underground tunnels (photo is a screen shot from an IDF video).
The IAF guided by intel from Shin Bet eliminated the deputy commander of the Shujaieh battalion of the terrorist Hamas, Iman Shoyed. Shoyed was a senior at the operations headquarters of the terrorist organization, and was involved in directing the massacre on October 7. Recently he directed many terrorist attacks against our forces.
The IAF also eliminated Hassam Mansour, head of HamISIS internal security. Aside from the the military activity for which he was attacked, the IDF spokesman says that “Hassam was one of the managers of the association ‘Al-Khir’ which transfers funds to terrorist organizations under the guise of humanitarian activity.”
On the Ground in the North
Numerous missile barrages from Hezbollah have hit northern Israel in the last half day including strikes on Adamit, Metulla (see below) and Margaliot (see below).
There were two direct Hezbollah anti-tank missile hits in Metulla overnight. Firemen are still putting out the flames from the explosions. No Israelis were physically wounded.
Firemen have also been busy putting out numerous brush and forest fires in the North this morning:
One of many fires today near Margaliot where 5 missiles exploded in “open areas.”
In response to the Hezbollah attacks, the IAF struck several Hezbollah targets in f Kfarkela, Taybeh, and Khiam in southern Lebanon.
Over Eilat Last Night
From the IDF Spokesman:
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of the Shchoret Industrial Zone in Eilat, southern Israel, the IDF Aerial Defense Array cooperated with IAF fighter jets and successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets that approached from the east toward Israeli territory. The sirens regarding rockets and missiles sounded due to the danger of falling shrapnel from the interceptions. No injuries were reported.”
And so it goes in Israel this Shabbat morning on which
we wish all of our soldiers and you dear readers:
SHABBAT SHALOM!
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.