Hamas' Anti-Humanitarian Efforts.

...and what happened when we left 300 liters of fuel on the hospital's doorstep.

In this update, I share more information about our efforts to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of Hamas’ actions and update about our attempts to deliver an emergency supply of fuel to Shifa hospital.

But first, if you haven’t subscribed yet, click the button below to make sure you get the next update straight to your inbox.

Also, I strongly recommend listening to this podcast interview I did yesterday with Daniel Gordis:

"Maybe this war will be called the Second War of Independence"

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Let’s dive in.

“Our war is with Hamas, not the people of Gaza”.

I’ve honestly lost track of how many times me and other IDF officials have said this.

Just a couple of examples

In today’s newsletter, I want to talk about what this means in practice, the steps we’re taking to ensure humanitarian aid gets through, and finally - how Hamas is actively working to prevent this aid from reaching Gazans.

Let’s start with humanitarian aid.

As CPT Herzig explained in yesterday’s post about the legal front:

“We don’t have an obligation to provide by ourselves supplies to the civilian population. However, we are required to allow the access of supplies essential for the survival of the civilian population.”

Here’s how we’re making sure we meet those obligations. Yesterday, 143 aid trucks entered Gaza through Rafah after going through security screenings:

• 72 trucks of food

• 22 trucks of water

• 11 trucks of medical equipment

• 15 trucks of equipment for shelters

• 23 trucks containing a mix of humanitarian items

143 is the highest number of daily entries since the war began and it pushed the total number of trucks that entered Gaza to over one thousand.

I’d be remiss to not mention, by the way, that on October 7th, Hamas attacked the very crossings Israel uses to trade with Gaza, killing and injuring those responsible for facilitating aid.

Efforts to Evacuate Civilians to Southern Gaza

Well before ground operations in Gaza began, we’ve been telling residents north of Wadi Gaza to move south for their own safety. Unfortunately, not everyone heeded this warning, in many cases because Hamas refused to let their human shields depart.

Now that significant parts of northern Gaza are secured by the IDF, we have opened humanitarian corridors for civilians to evacuate, taking them away from the heaviest fighting between Hamas and IDF troops.

The first corridor opened on November 5th. Yesterday 25,000 Gazans evacuated between 9AM and 4PM and, in total, some 250,000 people have moved from north Gaza to the south over the past week.

In addition to the corridors, we have implemented a series of tactical pauses - eight in the past five days - in certain neighborhoods to allow civilians to leave safely. This includes pauses yesterday in the Jabalia Village and Azbat-Malin neighborhoods.

Fuel for Shifa Hospital

On October 27th, we presented evidence of Hamas’ exploitation of Shifa hospital for terrorist activities.

It should be no surprise to anyone that Hamas is fighting bitterly around Shifa - not to protect their civilians but to protect their terror infrastructure.

This isn’t new behavior either. Check out this BMJ article from when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip:

Witnesses have said that some injured people coming for hospital treatment have been shot by Hamas militants inside hospitals…The medical staff are suffering from fear and terror, particularly of the Hamas fighters, who are in every corner of the hospital.”

Now we have another example of Hamas’ cruel exploitation of Gazans.

Yesterday, the IDF provided Shifa hospital with 300 liters of fuel for urgent medical purposes for Shifa Hospital. Hamas - unsurprisingly - prevented the hospital from receiving the fuel.

How it started. Here’s a video of our troops putting themselves in harms way to deliver fuel to the hospital:

How it ended. And here’s a recording of a conversation between an IDF officer and a senior official in the health ministry in Gaza who states that the CEO of the Hamas Health Ministry, Yosef Abu Rish, forbade them from receiving the fuel:

Finally, just hours ago we released this footage of Hamas fighters firing an RPG from the entrance of ‘Al-Quds’ hospital, providing yet another example of Hamas exploiting the protected status of hospitals:

This is the context which is missing from the Shifa hospital story. The IDF is trying to get fuel to the hospital. Unfortunately, Hamas is doing what they always do - forcing Gazan civilians to unnecessarily suffer to bolster their own propaganda.

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Operational Updates

Southern Front

• IDF troops are continuing to conduct raids on the outskirts of Shati in Gaza City, targeting terrorist infrastructure located in the heart of the civilian population, including schools, universities, and mosques.

• Hamas' terror infrastructure was deliberately located inside civilian structures, including in the "Al-Quds" University, and inside the "Abu Bakr" mosque. The troops uncovered a section of the mosque which housed a large number of explosive devices and flammable materials.

• The soldiers of the Israeli Navy’s Unit for Underwater Missions (“Yaltam”) have located dozens of weapons and military devices in the Gazan maritime region since the beginning of the war, both above and underwater. Working with "Yahalom" Troops (the Combat Engineering Corps’ special forces), the weapons suspected of containing explosives were neutralized.

Northern Israel

• Two mortars fired from Lebanon fell in an open area in Israel. Artillery fire was directed at the sources of the launch.

• Terrorists fired from Lebanon toward the area of Netu'ah and an IDF post in Shtula in northern Israel. No injuries were reported. The IDF is striking the sources of fire.

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What I’m Reading

IDF spokesman says military working with officials to evacuate remaining hospital patients - CNN

Arabic copy of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' found in children's room used by Hamas: Israeli officials - Fox News