Pressing forward after the pause.
Recap of the last 24 hours
In this Mission Brief dispatch, I want to update you on what has changed - and what hasn’t - over the last 24 hours.
Since the beginning of this war, the IDF has been focused on two main goals: dismantling Hamas and bringing home the hostages.
During the operational pause of the last week, 105 of the abducted civilians were released from captivity in Gaza and brought home to Israel. The images of our brothers and sisters returning home after so long moved Israelis and people around the world. But with over a hundred hostages still in captivity Gaza, our mission to bring each and every one of the hostages home remains unchanged.
As part of the framework of the pause, Israel increased the number of trucks of humanitarian aid - including food, water, medical equipment and shelter supplies - going into Gaza to 200 per day. Our commitment to enabling the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza for the people of Gaza also remains the same.
So what did change?
Hamas violated the pause, including by launching rockets toward Israeli civilians early Friday morning.
The message from Hamas is clear. They chose to prioritize attacking Israeli civilians over the welfare of Gazan civilians, who were relying on the increased deliveries of humanitarian aid.
Following these violations, Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza.
Our mission to dismantle Hamas began before the pause. We temporarily stopped to enable some of our hostages to come home. Now, we are continuing with this mission, because we can’t ask our children to go back to living alongside a murderous terrorist organization.
Our actions are a measured response, defending our nation, bringing home our hostages, and aiming to dismantle the threat posed by Hamas. This hasn’t changed - and won’t change until victory.
Operational Updates:
On Friday morning, Hamas fired the first of a series of rockets toward southern Israel at 05:42 AM while the operational pause was still in effect. Later on Friday night - as families gathered together for Shabbat - Hamas fired another barrage of rockets toward central Israel, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis running for shelter.
At 07:08 AM on Friday, the IDF officially announced the resumption of operations in the Gaza Strip. Since then, IDF ground, aerial and naval forces have been carrying out strikes on Hamas forces and infrastructure in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip.
On Friday afternoon, five IDF soldiers were injured after a mortar shell fired from Gaza fell adjacent to Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel. The soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment.
The IDF announced that it is providing information to residents of the Gaza Strip on movement for their safety in the next stage of the war. This includes an online map in Arabic showing the division of evacuation areas in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF and ISA announced that the body of the hostage Ofir Tzarfati z”l was recently located by combined IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip, and was brought to Israel. Ofir was kidnapped on October 7th, from the area of the party in Re'im. We send our deepest condolences to his family.
In the north, there were renewed attacks along the border, including mortars and rockets fired into Israel. Early on Friday afternoon, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israel.
Picture of the Day
Another great way to keep up with all our video content is through one of longest-running social media platforms, the IDF’s official YouTube channel. Take a look at this message I shared about Hamas’ cynical exploitation of civilians:
Stay informed, stay vigilant, and have a Shabbat Shalom.
LTC Richard Hecht
Things should rightly switch to aggressive advancement now, as it was clear the hostages returned were in poorer condition the longer they were captive. It's hard to even imagine what they went through. We are behind you all, best soldiers with some of the best kit and techniques in the world!
Am Yisrael Chai.