Weekly Israeli Bites
Tomorrow will mark 365 days since October 7th, 2023. The IDF started targeted incursions into Lebanon
Good afternoon, and welcome to Weekly Israeli Bites.
Tomorrow will mark one year since the tragic events of October 7th, 2023, when over 3000 Hamas and Palestinian terrorists invaded communities along the Gaza Strip and murdered 1200 Israelis, including children, women, and Holocaust survivors.
It's hard to believe that a year has passed since that day when 251 Israelis were taken hostage in Gaza. To this day, 101 Israelis are still held by Hamas in Gaza, including ten women and two children.
President Isaac Herzog said Saturday that Israel remains wounded by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, with 101 hostages still held captive in Gaza and residents displaced by ongoing fighting. “Our wounds still cannot fully heal because they are ongoing. Because hostages are still being tortured, executed, and dying in captivity,” the president said in a statement broadcast to mark one year since the Hamas onslaught.
While Jews all over the world are gathering to commemorate marking a year since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, thousands of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters marched in London, Rome, and other cities on Saturday, calling for an end to Israel’s military operations against terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon, as the war between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah neared the one-year mark. In Rome, what were called “peaceful’ protests turned into violence, with protesters shouting antisemitic chants and waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags. In London, protesters were spotted waving nazi flags and propaganda and praising Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero,” while in Hamburg, many were waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting, “Stop the Genocide.”
On the eve of Rosh Hashana (this past Tuesday), marking one year since October 7th, a deadly shooting attack took place in Jaffa, central Israel, killing seven people and injuring 11. The assailants emerged from a nearby mosque, attacked pedestrians on Jerusalem Boulevard, and then boarded a light rail train, killing more passengers before being neutralized.
One of the victims was Inbar Segev-Vigder, 33, who died shielding her 9-month-old son, Ari, on the train. Ari survived unharmed, thanks to his mother's protection. A survivor, Arik Marchenkov, who was also injured, described the scene of the mother cradling her child as she bled.
The attack occurred just before rocket sirens sounded all over Israel when Iran fired a massive salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel, sending millions of people into bomb shelters as projectiles and interceptors exploded in the skies above. The attack was largely unsuccessful. The IDF said it intercepted 85% of the missiles. A Palestinian in Jericho was the only person reported killed, while three people were wounded in Tel Aviv, where a building took a direct hit. Other strikes hit a home in the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva and a school in Gedera.
Other rockets or shrapnel fell in Tel Aviv, Dimona, Nabatim, Hora, Hod Hasharon, Beersheba, and Rishon Lezion.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that Israeli and U.S. air defense systems worked effectively in close coordination to detect and intercept the attack. Jordan's Public Security Directorate confirmed that their Royal Air Force and defense systems also responded to missiles and drones entering their airspace.
At a Security Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared the attack on Israel a failure, thwarted by Israel's advanced air defense system, and expressed gratitude to the U.S. for its support. Netanyahu emphasized Israel's resolve to defend itself and retaliate against its enemies, asserting that while Israel advances, the "axis of evil" is in retreat.
Arena overview
Northern Border
IDF troops have begun limited, localized, and targeted raids against Hezbollah terror targets in the border area of southern Lebanon. These operations are conducted to dismantle the military capabilities of Hezbollah's Radwan Forces and prevent it from carrying out its October 7th-style ‘Conquer the Galilee’ plan for an invasion into northern Israel.
The soldiers identified and breached underground access points near the border area and exposed extensive weapon caches and assembly areas for terrorist operative operations. During these operations, the troops also collected valuable intelligence and methodically dismantled the weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced weaponry of Iranian origin.
The IDF has announced that nine soldiers were killed in the ground operation in Lebanon. They were named as:
•Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22, Egoz Commando Unit, from Modi’in
•Captain Harel Etinger, 23, Egoz Commando Unit, from Eli
•Captain Itai Ariel Giat, 23, Yahalom Combat Engineering Unit, from Shoham
•Sergeant First Class Noam Barzilay, 22, Egoz Commando Unit, from Kohav Yair
•Sergeant First Class Or Mantzur, 21, Egoz Commando Unit, from Beit Aryeh
•Sergeant First Class Nazar Itkin, 21, Egoz Commando Unit, from Kiryat Ata
•Staff Sergeant Almken Terefe, 21, Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Jerusalem
•Staff Sergeant Ido Broyer, 21, Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Nes Tzion
May their memories be a blessing.
Over the past few days, with the direction of precise IDF intelligence, IAF fighter jets conducted a series of targeted strikes in the area of Beirut against several weapons production facilities and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area.
Southern border
The 252nd Division Continues Operations in the Central Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, troops have been conducting targeted raids in the area of the central Gaza Strip. They have eliminated over 450 terrorists through airstrikes and close-quarters combat and have destroyed hundreds of terrorist infrastructure in the area. The troops have located and destroyed an approximately eight-kilometer-long underground tunnel network.
Marking one year since the deadly October 7th Massacre, the IDF has established an exhibition displaying the items seized from Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7th, as well as during the combat in the Gaza Strip.
The display includes vehicles and equipment used by the terrorists on October 7th to infiltrate Israel, including pickup trucks, motorcycles, tractors, uniforms, intelligence documents, and the terrorists’ weapons, including anti-tank missiles, RPG rockets, missiles, explosives, and UAVs of the Hamas terrorist organization. Since the beginning of the war, the Enemy Assets Confiscation Unit has confiscated approximately 70,000 items of enemy equipment, including around 1,250 anti-tank missiles and RPGs, as well as about 4,500 explosive devices.
Observations
CNN Reporter Flies Aboard Israeli Tanker during Yemen Strike
Aboard a 50-year-old Boeing 707, I am the first foreign journalist to be taken on an IDF combat mission more than a thousand miles from Israel aboard a fighter jet refuel tanker. Israel's invitation to join this mission came with no detail about the plane's destination. For an hour and a half, Israeli F35 fighter jets closed in behind the tanker to refuel.
When the squadron commander shows me a map of the mission, I realize we are on the way to Hodeidah Port in Yemen. IDF spokesman Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani tells me that over the past two weeks, the Houthis have fired three long-range missiles at Israel. Shoshani told me the message of the Israeli attack was for Iran too.
I ask the lead pilot on the tanker, a reservist veteran aviator, about his feelings when civilians are killed. We don't want to kill civilians, he tells me, and we use all the intelligence we have to avoid it. We are targeting the Houthis, he tells me. They are firing missiles at our civilians, endangering them.
This embed wasn't just an object lesson in the lengths Israel will go to punish its enemies, but real-time evidence that dormant adversaries are emerging from the shadows, and Israel's war to thwart them is becoming regional
