Israel SitRep: November 8, 2024

Today’s Issue: | IDF Eliminates Two October 7 Massacre Participants and Destroys Tunnels in Recent Southern Gaza Operation | IDF Troops Find Hezbollah “School for Terror” Near UNIFIL Base | New Defense Minister Israel Katz Takes Office Friday | COGAT: 2,000 Pallets of Humanitarian Aid from the UAE Will Be Transported to Gaza | Latest FDD Analysis

IDF Eliminates Two October 7 Massacre Participants and Destroys Tunnels in Recent Southern Gaza Operation: The IDF reported Thursday on a recent operation in southern Gaza in which the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade and the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion destroyed two tunnels and killed terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre. The operation began with preemptive Israeli Air Force drone strikes that destroyed anti-tank missile positions, observation posts, and booby-trapped buildings. The Gaza Division’s engineering unit, working with Yahalom combat engineering troops and the Shin Bet, exposed two offensive tunnels with a total length of more than two kilometers (over a mile) and some twenty exit shafts — some of them booby-trapped — in which the soldiers found weapons. The tunnels were then destroyed. The forces eliminated several terrorists they encountered during the operation, two of whom took part in the October 7 attacks: Baha Abu Qarshin, a Nukhba force commander in the Shabura Battalion, and Hamas member Muhammad Ibrahim Sateri.

IDF Troops Find Hezbollah “School for Terror” Near UNIFIL Base: On Friday, the IDF reported on operations by the Oded (9th) Reserve Brigade, part of the 91st Division, which has been operating in southern Lebanon for the past few weeks, finding weapons, eliminating terrorists, and destroying Hezbollah tunnels. In one raid, troops found a Hezbollah “school for terror” located some 200 meters (220 yards) from a UNIFIL base, where Hezbollah members trained, studied combat doctrine, and stored a large quantity of weapons. Troops found launchers ready to be fired at Israel, textbooks about Hezbollah’s methods of operation, documents, explanations of IDF equipment, maps of Israel, weapons — which they seized — and tunnel shafts, which they destroyed. The report includes footage from Oded Brigade soldiers’ body cameras and footage of weapons found by the troops.

New Defense Minister Israel Katz Takes Office Friday: On Friday, the Israeli Defense Ministry held a ceremony as the new defense minister, Israel Katz, took office, replacing Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Members of the General Staff Forum attended, as did Defense Ministry officials. At the ceremony, Katz stated, “I am sure that we will achieve victory in this campaign, whose goals are to curb Iran’s aggression and negate its capabilities, to continue the dismantling of Hamas as a governing and military force, and to defeat Hezbollah.” Gallant said that he departs “with great pain over the loss, and for what has not yet been completed, the return of the hostages,” but added that he feels “a sense of achievement and significance, for what has been done here, under my responsibility in the last two years, establishing a new and better strategic reality for the State of Israel.” He also stated: “I will continue, as I have done all my life, to work for the security of the State of Israel and for the people of Israel.”

COGAT: 2,000 Pallets of Humanitarian Aid from the UAE Will Be Transported to Gaza: On Thursday, COGAT, the Israeli entity coordinating humanitarian aid for Gaza, reported that more than 2,000 pallets of aid donated by the United Arab Emirates arrived at Ashdod port. The aid, which includes medical equipment, food, water, and other equipment, will be loaded onto more than 300 trucks and transported to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Erez West crossings after a security check. On Wednesday, COGAT reported that 231 patients and caregivers left Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing and Ramon Airport for medical treatment abroad in an operation conducted in cooperation with the UAE, the EU, and the World Health Organization.

Latest FDD Analysis:

Today at 8:30am (ET): “FDD Morning Brief,” featuring Jonathan Schanzer and Natasha Hausdorff, FDD Event

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“IDF Launches Operations Against Terrorists in Northern Gaza and West Bank,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

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