Ofer Bavly Updates
Vice President, JUF, Director General, JUF's Israel Offices

November 8, 2023

Wednesday, 9:33 am Chicago Time

Hamas continued to launch rockets at Israel’s south today, without causing damage. The IDF continues to operate inside Gaza City and have so far found and destroyed 130 tunnel entrance shafts. In some cases, IDF forces went into the tunnels but no information is being disclosed as to what they are finding there. The majority of the shafts were destroyed and the tunnels disabled. There are hundreds of miles of underground tunnels underneath the entire Gaza Strip, where Hamas is keeping its headquarters and command centers, its technology, its infrastructure, its weapons and launchers, and its weapons manufacturing facilities. Some of the tunnels are likely holding hostages which the IDF is trying to locate while fighting Hamas. Based on the amounts of materials, food, water and oxygen in the tunnels, it is assessed that Hamas are planning for a long-term stay under the ground. 

 

French news agency AFP is reporting that there are negotiations with Qatar mediation about the release of 10 to 15 hostages in exchange for a one or two-day ceasefire. It is unclear whether the proposal is genuine and it should be kept in mind that from an Israeli point of view, even a one-day ceasefire will be extremely costly in terms of IDF soldiers. A ceasefire will allow Hamas to come out from under the ground, place ambushes and snipers around Gaza City, set traps for the IDF and gain a very valuable image of the present displacement of IDF soldiers – which they do not know right now. This knowledge that Hamas will potentially gain in a 24-48 hour ceasefire will enable them to defend themselves better – and hit the IDF. The dilemma is complex, because refusing an offer of a ceasefire for hostages will be very hard for the Israeli government, our people and first and foremost – the families of the hostages. A cease fire will also allow Hamas to expand the international pressure on Israel as it will use the time to show the results of Israel’s operation in Gaza.

 

The New York Times published a story from Qatar with interviews of top Hamas leaders, one of whom says that Hamas’ goal is to keep Israel in a “permanent state of war”. It is clear that Hamas has no interest in ending the conflict in any way, even as they know that their own people are suffering –  in what is considered a legitimate sacrifice. 

 

In the north, Hezbollah again fired anti-tank rockets, hitting and injuring two IDF soldiers. The IDF is retaliating and shooting at the areas from which the rockets were launched. 

Thursday, 6:17 am Chicago Time 

Fighting in the Gaza Strip is intense and ongoing. After a 10-hour battle, soldiers of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade captured a major Hamas stronghold. 

 

Following up on intelligence information, an apartment in one of the residential buildings searched by IDF forces yielded a storage facility for a large quantity of new UAV’s as well as RPG’s (Rocket Propelled Grenades) and explosive devices. The apartment also held a weapons manufacturing workshop and detailed instructions on how to construct explosive devices. The adjacent room in the same apartment was previously occupied by little girls as can be seen in the photos below. Here is video footage of what IDF soldiers found in the apartment.

 

Rocket fire from Gaza resumed this morning after 11 hours with no rockets. They were aimed at Israel’s southern region. 

 

In another terror attack in the West Bank, terrorists opened fire on an Israeli family in their car. Two adults were injured and a baby was miraculously unscathed. 

 

The IDF released footage of a couple of minutes of interrogation of a Hamas terrorist who explains in detail how Hamas in Gaza has been using ambulances and vans disguised as ambulances to carry personnel and weapons. When asked why Hamas were doing that, the terrorist replies simply that they know that Israel will not harm ambulances. This statement is a strong response to those who are now blaming Israel for genocide and ethnic cleansing: the terrorists themselves admit that Israel is taking special care not to kill uninvolved civilians and makes sure to protect enemy ambulances – which they take advantage of. 

 

Although the Israeli government has not published a clear vision of the end-game strategy of the war in Gaza with the exception of declarations about denying Hamas the ability to attack Israel in the future, it is becoming clear that there are essentially three objectives for Israel: (1) release of all hostages; (2) destruction of Hamas and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; and (3) full operational freedom of movement for the IDF in the “day after” throughout the Gaza Strip. In other words, the IDF will likely need to be able to go in and out of the Gaza Strip for months or even years after the war is over, in order to ensure that Hamas and other terror organizations do not rearm and rebuild and prepare other attacks against Israeli civilians, neither on the ground nor with rockets. The declarations of some on the radical right wing of the Israeli political system notwithstanding, there will likely be no Israeli occupation of any part of the Gaza Strip. Once operationally possible, IDF forces will diminish their presence in the Strip but there will be no returning to building Israeli communities inside the Gaza Strip. 

 

The number of fallen IDF soldiers since the beginning of the ground campaign is 35. 

Thursday, 9:59 am Chicago Time

The White House just announced there is agreement on a 4-hour humanitarian “pause” in the next days for Gazans to move from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south. The pause will be limited to the humanitarian corridor. It is unclear how this is different from what the IDF is presently doing – providing safe passage for Gazans moving south. There may be some clarification later. What is clear is that the US administration continues to support Israel’s aim of defeating Hamas. 

 

Meanwhile, the Head of Mossad, the Director of the CIA and the Prime Minister of Qatar held a meeting in Qatar to discuss the parameters of a possible hostage deal. No details have been revealed but given that Israel will not negotiate an actual cease fire, the three are probably discussing a wider-ranging humanitarian “pause” to allow for humanitarian aid to go to the northern Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of some hostage – possibly the ones holding dual citizenship. Anything longer than a short pause will give time for Hamas to regroup and gain a picture of the disposition of IDF forces in Gaza, thereby making Hamas more dangerous for the IDF. 

 

A UAV hit a civilian building in the city of Eilat. The identity of the UAV and the details of the incident are being examined by the IDF.

 

The community of Kfar Azza, which holds an annual kite festival, held it tody in Tel Aviv instead in honor of one of their families, the Kutz family, which were murdered. Every one of the hundreds of kites flown by residents of Kfar Azza and hundreds of Tel Avivians, carried the names of hostages. 

 

Attached is a 1-minute video released by the IDF today about the humanitarian aid to Gaza.

 

Thursday, 11:09 am Chicago Time

Reuters News Agency Is reporting that two hostages are about to be released on humanitarian grounds. The hostages are 12-year old Yagil Yaakov who suffers from severe allergies and 76-year old Hannah Katzir. Both are from Nir Oz and are held by Islamic Jihad which also released a video in which they are appealing to Israel to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. Israeli media is adamantly refusing to air the video and the public is asked not to share it if it arrives in private hands so as not to play into the terrorists' psychological war because the two are reciting texts dictated by terrorists and designed to sow discord in Israel.