Israel-Hamas War - What happened on day 69?

Four soldiers from the 603rd Engineering Battalion, Combat Engineering Corps, as well as an additional officer from Golani's 12th Battalion, were seriously injured in battle in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a report by the IDF.

Another three were injured in a separate battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

All were evacuated for immediate medical treatment, with their respective families informed.

IDF's 12th Battalion commander hurt in Gaza fighting

One of the injured was the lieutenant colonel and commander of the 12th Battalion, who had already replaced the previously injured commander.

This came a day after 10 IDF soldiers were killed and six were wounded, marking a series of difficult days in terms of IDF soldier casualties.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi speaks to Israeli soldiers on December 14, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Despite those benchmarks, only 12 rocket sirens sounded on Thursday, with no hits, and many of the rockets were in the North, marking a low for rockets from Hamas in the recent time period since the late November temporary ceasefire.

There were at least three rounds of exchanges of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah in the North, with the Lebanese terror group attacking with rockets and anti-tank missiles and the IDF striking back with air strikes and artillery.

However, there were fewer public statements about escalation from the sides as the week wore on.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday told US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that it will take more than a few more months to finish off the Gaza War with Hamas.

Although this would seem to pit Israel in serious tension with the US timeframe for finishing the war in the coming weeks, the Jerusalem Post has clarified that Gallant was referring to the expected counter-insurgency stage of fighting Hamas.

In other words, Gallant and other defense officials would still stand by the end of January as an expected endpoint for the main invasion will the full volume of multiple IDF divisions involved.

Rather, even after the main invasion is considered concluded and IDF forces in Gaza are reduced to a number which can be maintained over a longer period, it has been expected that the IDF will need to fight smaller battles against insurgents for three to nine months.

The defense minister explained that Hamas had spent years creating its terror forces and infrastructure and that taking all of this vast network apart, would require much longer than the initial full invasion stage.

Gallant thanked the US "for its unqualified support."

Sullivan is visiting Israel at a critical point in the conflict with the Biden administration seeking to decide how much longer it will go on protecting Israel from global pressure for an immediate ceasefire. In addition, the two governments have engaged in a series of unusually public jabs at each other about if and to what extent the Palestinian Authority will be involved in running Gaza once Israel withdraws.

In addition, the defense minister said he discussed with Sullivan the question of how to neutralize the threat posed to Israel by Hezbollah in the North.

Along with that issue, Gallant explained how important it is to create new security realities which will allow Israel's tens of thousands of evacuees from the North to return to their homes.

The US has significantly pressured Israel not to engage in a broader fight with Hezbollah and Jerusalem has hoped that Washington will repay some of its restraint by leaning hard on the terror group to keep its forces farther away from the northern border than it has since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

After that war, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated that Hebzollah stay out of southern Lebanon, but shortly after, the group systematically violated those limits.

In addition, Gallant said Israel welcomes a global approach to holding off maritime threats from the Yemen Houthis, though he said any attack on an actual Israeli ship would lead to a direct Israeli response.

Trying to bring down Gaza’s top leaders, the IDF distributed flyers across Gaza on Thursday, promising huge rewards to anyone who would provide information on the locations of senior Hamas leaders hiding in the Strip.

The flyers state that $400,000 is being offered for information on Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and $300,000 for his brother Muhammad Sinwar.

A lower reward, worth $200,000, will be awarded by the IDF to those who provide information on the location of Rafa Salama, the Khan Yunis Brigade commander; for the location of Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas's military wing, the army will give $100,000.

"Confidentiality is guaranteed," the IDF states in the flyer, and a phone number is provided to call.

IDF makes progress in Gaza's north and south

Also, on Thursday, the IDF made slow but steady progress in both northern and southern Gaza.

IDF troops from the 460th Combat Brigade of the 162nd Division operated in the Kamal Adwan Hospital area with the Shin Bet, with scores of Hamas terrorists being killed or detained.

During the operation, the IDF troops located a building close to the hospital that was being used by Hamas terrorists. An exchange of fire took place, in which a number of Hamas terrorists were killed.

Some 70 terrorists surrendered and left the building with their weapons and were detained and taken for interrogation by the Shin Bet.

This was one of several rounds of large-scale surrenders in recent days, though IDF sources indicate Hamas is still far from completely cracking.

Kamal Adwan Hospital is in the Beit Lahiya area north of Gaza City, near the Israeli border.

In mid-October, various media outlets quoted Hussam Abu Safiya, head of pediatrics at the hospital in northern Gaza, saying it did not evacuate despite calls to do so by Israel. The UN had warned at the time that hospitals would run out of fuel in two days on October 15.

The fuel continued to flow despite the warnings. On November 4, CNN reported that “MedGlobal, a US-based organization that supports local health programs for vulnerable populations across the globe, issued an urgent appeal for fuel to power a generator at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.”

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to Israelis about transitioning its high-intensity military campaign in Gaza to a lower one during his visit to Tel Aviv on Thursday.

“We all want it [the Gaza war] to end as soon as possible,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington as he provided details of Sullivan’s visit, which included conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minster Benny Gantz.

Kirby underscored that Hamas bore responsibility for the war and that it could end now if the terror group surrendered and released the hostages.

“We’re not dictating terms to the Israelis about how long it [the Gaza war] has to take,” Kirby said, explaining that, “it has to take as long as they feel it needs to take to eliminate this threat” from Hamas, Kirby said.
“One of the things that Jake did talk to them about was progress in the war and where the Israelis think it is going to go.

“He did talk about possible transitioning from what we would call from high-intensity operations — which is what we are seeing them do now — to what we call lower-intensity operations.”

IDF soldiers on the ground in Gaza, December 14, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Assassination attempts permitted

Kirby backed IDF attempts to assassinate the top Hamas leaders, explaining that “if you can go after the leadership of a terrorist network you can have a very significant effect on their ability to plan train and execute attacks.”

The US saw how effective such assassinations were with the leadership of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, Kirby said. The targeted killings did not eliminate the terror groups, but it did significantly weaken them, he added.

 “Both groups are radically diminished because we focused so much on their leadership,” he said.

The Biden administration has been under intense pressure to force Israel to end the war in light of the high casualty count. Hamas has asserted that close to 19,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence. Israel has said that at least 7,000 of those fatalities are Hamas combatants.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in Geneva on Wednesday that he foresees more displacement in the Middle East due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas that has internally displaced 85% of Gaza's population.

"Tragically, however, we foresee more civilian deaths and suffering and also further displacement that threatens the region."

In Tel Aviv on Thursday Gallant stressed to Sullivan that it could take several months to complete its military campaign to oust Hamas Gaza.

For over a decade Hamas has been building its "infrastructure under the ground and above the ground" and that to destroy the Islamist group "it will require a long period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.”
The IDF must be allowed to continue its military campaign in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed, Netanyahu Sullivan.

“Our brave fighters have not died in vain. Out of the depth of the pain of their loss, we are more determined than ever to continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed, until total victory,” Netanyahu said in a video statement he put out after the meeting.

Sullivan arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. They discussed a normalization deal between Riyadh and Israel, Kirby said.

“The indications we have gotten from the Saudis is that they are still interested in pushing forward with that,” Kirby said.

In Tel Aviv, Sullivan spoke with Israelis about the importance of reducing the civilian casualty count, the increased entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza and efforts underway to release the hostages.

Hamas seized some 250 hostages and killed over 1,200 people when it infiltrated southern Israel on October 27. Some 110 hostages have been freed. Most of them were released as part of a deal by which the war was paused for seven days. It’s estimated that 135 people are remaining in captivity in Gaza.

The US and Israel have continued to push for a resumption of the deal, with the help of Qatar and Egypt which mediated the first agreement.

Kirby told reporters in Washington that the US was “working by the hour to try to get a pause back in place to get the hostages released,” adding that this was one of the things that Sullivan was “doing in the region.”

The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric visited Israel on Thursday and met with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and families of the captives.

Israel has been highly critical of the ICRC for failing to secure access to the hostages. The ICRC has blamed Hamas for not granting it access.

A Hamas terrorist interacts with members of the International Committee of the Red Cross. (credit: Hamas Military Wing/Handout via REUTERS)

Asked about Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar, a US official said, "It's safe to say his days are numbered," Reuters reported on Friday.

The United States told Israel it must wrap up its operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip by the end of 2023, the New York Times reported on Thursday evening.

The Biden administration further told Israeli officials to transition to a more targeted phase in its war, according to four senior US officials cited by NYT. 

This is a developing story.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Joe Biden in a phone call that the United States has a historic responsibility to achieve a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza conflict as soon as possible, Erdogan's office said on Thursday.

It reported him as saying that a ceasefire could be achieved quickly if the United States withdrew its unconditional support for Israel and that Israel's prolonged attacks may have negative global consequences.

The United States told Israel it must wrap up its operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip by the end of 2023, the New York Times reported on Thursday evening.

The Biden administration further told Israeli officials to transition to a more targeted phase in its war, according to four senior US officials cited by NYT. 

This is a developing story.

The IDF must be allowed to continue its military campaign in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages remaining there are released, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan when the two men met in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

“Our brave fighters have not died in vain. Out of the depth of the pain of their loss, we are more determined than ever to continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed, until total victory,” Netanyahu said in a video statement he put out after the meeting.

Securing the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza is one of the central objectives of the war, he said, as he referred to the 135 captives.

Netanyahu also raised Iranian nuclear issue with Sullivan

Netanyahu said he appreciated the US support for the war, both in its military aid, its diplomatic help in freeing the hostages and its efforts to protect Israel at the United Nations.

According to his office, the two men discussed humanitarian aid to Gaza. They also talked about regional threats from Iranian proxy groups such as Hezbollah in the north and the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping routes.

Netanyahu also told Sullivan that Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Israeli government officials have been making more and more noise about maintaining a security zone in Gaza even after the future withdrawal of most forces, but no one has discussed the elements of what this zone would look like and how it would operate.

Former Shin Bet head of the counter-terrorism division for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria Arik “Harris” Barbing interviewed with the Jerusalem Post on Thursday to set out some early principles for how to handle the fraught idea of a Gaza border security zone.

First, Barbing, who was also a Shin Bet cyber chief and currently does cyber and intelligence consulting in the private sector, warned that no one should jump the gun and that Israel is months, if not years, from being able to withdraw its main forces from the heart of Gaza back to a border security zone.  

But in the distant future, he said that there will still need to be “pathways where the IDF can act to stop terrorists from moving around the area.”

Israel cannot be static, ex Shin Bet official warns

The former top Shin Bet official cautioned that “if we are more static, they can attack us more easily. So, how do we address this operationally? We move out of the center and closer to the border.”

“The perimeter needs to be significant, between a kilometer to one-and-a-half kilometers,” he said, clarifying that there would no longer be able to be Gaza housing in that area.

The IDF on Thursday evening released footage of operational activity inside Hamas's Gaza terror tunnels, in which Israeli forces are seen killing terrorists in one of Hamas's most "significant" tunnel networks, the Israeli military said.

The footage can be viewed below.

Israel will pursue its war against Hamas "until absolute victory," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, according to a statement from Netanyahu's office.

Netanyahu said he spoke with Sullivan about regional threats, including Iranian proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen, securing the return of hostages being held by Hamas, and the continuation of humanitarian aid for Gaza's civilian population.

"I told our American friends - our heroic fighters have not fallen in vain. From the deep pain of their falling, we are more determined than ever to continue to fight until Hamas is eliminated - until absolute victory," the statement said.