Israel SitRep: March 8, 2024

Today’s Issue: Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Islamic Jihad Operative in Friday West Bank Raid | After Rockets Fired From Gaza at Nahal Oz and Sderot, IDF Returns Fire, Launches Airstrikes | IDF Completes Investigation Into Deaths During Gaza Aid Convoy Incident | IDF Troops Continue Operations In Khan Younis Area, Including in Hamad Town | Latest FDD Analysis

Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Islamic Jihad Operative in Friday West Bank Raid: On Friday morning, troops from the Duvdevan special forces unit and the Border Police, using intelligence from the Shin Bet, eliminated Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Muhammad Adel Shalabi in the village of Silat al-Harithiya in the northern West Bank. According to the IDF, Shalabi was involved in “significant” PIJ terrorist activity, including shooting attacks, preparing explosive devices, and transferring terror funds. An M-16 rifle, cartridges, and military equipment were found in his home. In addition, in overnight West Bank raids, IDF soldiers and Border Police made nine arrests. Some 3,500 wanted persons have been arrested since the start of the war, more than 1,500 of them with ties to Hamas.  

After Rockets Fired From Gaza at Nahal Oz and Sderot, IDF Returns Fire, Launches Airstrikes: On Thursday night, shortly after rockets were launched from Gaza toward Kibbutz Nahal Oz, IDF troops from the 215th Artillery Regiment returned fire at the source of the launches, hitting a weapons depot in which the rockets fired had apparently been stored. After more rockets were fired from Gaza, setting off sirens in the Sderot area, Israeli forces returned fire a few minutes later at the sources of the launches, and fighter jets struck the area, including combat tunnels, a military building, a tunnel shaft, and a launching site that was used for shooting rockets at Israel.

IDF Completes Investigation Into Deaths During Gaza Aid Convoy Incident: The IDF on Friday announced the completion of its probe into the February 29 incident in which over 115 Gaza residents were reported killed when aid trucks in a humanitarian convoy in the northern Gaza Strip were swarmed. According to the IDF’s report, soldiers did not fire at the convoy but at suspicious persons who approached them and posed a threat. The investigation found that some 12,000 Gaza residents swarmed the aid trucks, which were traveling toward distribution centers, and looted the trucks. During the looting, there was a stampede, and civilians were hurt from the stampede and were run over by the trucks. In addition, dozens of them came within a few meters of IDF forces, posing a concrete threat to the troops, and the soldiers used precision fire to repel several suspicious individuals. When they continued to approach the trucks, the troops fired to remove the threat. The General Staff’s investigation unit will continue to look into the incident.

IDF Troops Continue Operations In Khan Younis Area, Including in Hamad Town: The IDF reported on Friday that its Bislamach Brigade continued intense fighting in the area of Al-Qarara, near Khan Younis, killing some 15 terror operatives and locating tunnel shafts. In one incident, troops called in an airstrike to neutralize a squad of armed terrorists who were preparing to attack them. In the Hamad Town residential complex in Khan Younis, the 7th Armored Brigade found and destroyed rocket launchers, and after troops spotted two armed men leaving a weapons depot, an aircraft struck and killed them. In a raid in the area of the complex, Givati Brigade troops found a large quantity of weapons and arrested and killed a number of terror operatives. Soldiers from the Maglan commando unit killed a terrorist who fired at them and detained two Hamas operatives armed with an AK-47. During searches of buildings, Egoz commando units saw a man who was hiding and holding a grenade and shot him at close range. The Nahal Brigade is still operating in central Gaza, and in the past day, killed some 15 terror operatives with sniper fire and aircraft.

Latest FDD Analysis:

Today at 8:30am (ET): “FDD Morning Brief,” Jonathan Schanzer and Joe Truzman, FDD Event

Live at 11:15am ET: “Turkey: A Sanctuary for Terrorist Entities & Illicit Finance,” Gallia Lindenstrauss, Michael Rubin, Tugce Varol, Sinan Ciddi, FDD Event

“What to Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program: Breakout Time,” Andrea Stricker and Anthony Ruggiero, FDD Visual

“Anti-Israel faculty group adds fuel to a raging fire,” David May and Sabrina Soffer, Washington Examiner

“Stop bailing out South Africa’s corrupt leaders,” Orde Kittrie, The Hill

“Ceasefire fallacies,” Joe Truzman and Bill Roggio, Generation Jihad (by FDD’s Long War Journal)

“An IDF raid in Gaza spotlights Israel’s new strategy,” Seth J. Frantzman, FDD’s Long War Journal

“Terrorist Rockets Target Northern Israeli Town,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“U.S. Fails to Censure Iran’s Nuclear Program at IAEA Meeting,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“Cairo Truce Talks Falter as Hamas Stalls,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“Biden to Announce U.S.-Built Gaza Aid Pier at State of the Union,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“Three Killed by Houthis in Gulf of Aden,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief