The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) encircled another Hamas terror stronghold in northern Gaza amid media reports of a possible hostage deal backed by President Joe Biden.
The deal may entail the freeing of convicted Palestinian terrorists and the ceasing of Israeli military operations against terror group Hamas. “Senior Hamas officials said Tuesday that an agreement could be reached soon in which the militant group would release hostages and Israel would free Palestinian prisoners,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday. “Israel, the United States and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks over a hostage release that would be paired with a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the entry of more humanitarian aid. Similar predictions of a hostage agreement in recent weeks have proven premature.”
The Israeli government is expected to approve the hostage deal that might include the release of 50 hostages in return for halting of IDF’s Gaza ground operation. “Cabinet tonight set to okay deal for Hamas release of 50 Israeli hostages over 4 days,” The Times of Israel reported. “Israel to suspend war while releases go ahead.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military encircled Hamas stronghold of Jabaliya in northern Gaza on the 25th day of its ground offensive. Hamas is using Jabaliya’s Indonesian Hospital as a command and control center for its attacks against Israeli ground troops operating in the area. The hospital, run by Hamas’s “Gaza Health Ministry,” is repleted with underground terrorist infrastructure built by Hamas, recent IDF intelligence disclosed. Videos posted on Twitter show gunmen firing from inside the hospital.
“The northern city of Jabaliya is considered to be a Hamas stronghold and has been a key target in the IDF’s war against Hamas in Gaza,” The Times of Israel reported. “Jabaliya, four kilometers north of Gaza City, has an estimated population of 172,200 people and is home to the Indonesian Hospital. Earlier this month, the IDF said that it had compiled intelligence documents showing the presence of a tunnel network underneath the hospital, as well as aerial imagery showing rocket launchers a few dozen meters from the complex.”
The mainstream media is upset over the Israeli military going after another Hamas-controlled ‘hospital.’
“Gaza health ministry says Israeli forces are ‘laying siege’ to hospital and fear repeat of events at al-Shifa,” the left-wing British newspaper Guardian lamented Tuesday. Last week’s IDF raid on Gaza City’s al-Shifa yielded massive weapons cache and intelligence on Hamas’s terrorist activities inside the hospital. The hospital was being used to keep Israeli hostages captured during the October 7 massacre.
The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS confirmed the encirclement of the Hamas stronghold:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday stated that its 162nd Division completed the encirclement of Jabaliya in northern Gaza and was ready to deepen the fighting. According to the statement, the IDF’s Air Forces as well as artillery have conducted heavy strikes in the city in order to “prepare the ground for battle.”The military said it targeted three Hamas tunnel entrances and killed a number of the terrorist group’s operatives. The 401st Brigade is said to have destroyed Hamas rocket launchers.”The troops from the Nahal Brigade killed dozens of terrorists over the past few days with support of tanks and UAVs.” In addition, “combat squads of the 551st Brigade killed dozens of terrorists with air support, captured enemy weapons in various locations, including private houses and children’s bedrooms, and located and destroyed tunnel shafts.”
Besides carrying out ground operations in the north, the IDF was also hitting terrorist targets in southern Gaza, where top Hamas leaders, including the terror group’s Gaza chief, Yehya Sinwar, are reportedly hiding among civilians.
“Palestinian Arab sources are reporting widespread attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, ” the Israeli news website Arutz Sheva confirmed Tuesday. “Another attack was also reported in Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli troops are clearing the terrorist-infested northern Gaza in house-to-house fighting, discovering terror tunnels and weapons dumps inside residential homes, mosques, and schools. During a house search, Israeli soldiers recovered an anti-tank missile hidden under a baby’s crib, the IDF disclosed Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, the IDF revealed the details of the nighttime operations:
As part of the IDF’s activities in the Gaza Strip over the last day, IDF aircraft struck approximately 250 Hamas terror targets. Among the targets struck were dozens of terrorists, rocket launchers, and terrorist infrastructure.Overnight, IDF troops directed a fighter jet to strike a rocket launch post from which rockets were fired toward central Israel yesterday (Monday). The post was located near a residential area of the civilian population.In addition, IDF ground troops located a significant weapons stockpile in the residence of a senior Nukhba terrorist in the Gaza Strip.Furthermore, IDF ground troops located an anti-tank missile hidden under a baby’s crib.
An IDF drone strike eliminated Hamas’s Lebanon-based deputy chief and other senior terrorist operatives. “The deputy commander of the military wing of Hamas in Lebanon, Khalil Kharaz, was killed along with 3 other operatives of the terrorist organization, after an Israeli attack on a vehicle near Tyre,” the i24NEWS reported, citing Arab media.
The strike came amid a growing number of cross-border attacks into northern Israel from Lebanon.
The Israeli military carried out a series of strikes against terrorist targets in Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, the news website Arutz Sheva reported Tuesday:
A short while ago, IDF aircraft identified and struck three armed terrorist cells in the area of the border with Lebanon.In addition, IDF fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah terror targets, including military infrastructure and structures used for directing terrorist activity.A short while ago, terrorists fired mortar shells at an IDF post in northern Israel. No injuries were reported. IDF artillery is currently striking the source of the fire.
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