Daily Recap: Hamas - Israel War October 25th, 2023 (19:30) - Day 19

Field Notes from Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, IDF Spokesperson to International Media

Today a colleague shared a report Israel published in 2014, after Operation Protective Edge. The report documents - at length - the extent to which Hamas uses human shields. It includes a long list of rockets fired from inside UN facilities and kindergartens, pictures of tunnels and weapons found inside mosques and UNRWA schools, Hamas exploitation of ambulances for moving terrorists, and more.

Unfortunately, Hamas’ intentional abuse of both Gazans and the institutions meant to serve them was mostly successful. Hamas learned that as long as they frame the shot right, the international community would condemn the right of a country to defend itself faster than it would condemn the underlying tactics used by the terrorist organization to attack the country in the first place.

Now, Hamas has seen that even after perpetrating a raid that massacred over one thousand civilians, it is not being labeled a terrorist organization by all, and that is even more dangerous.

This is not just Israel’s war. I guarantee that terrorist organizations around the world are carefully watching this conflict, taking notes on what they can learn from Hamas. More importantly, they’re carefully watching to see what they can learn from how the world responds.

Key Links

• An audio recording of a terrorist calling his father to brag about the number of Israelis he killed while invading Israel on October 7 from operative
  
  
  
  
  
  • Similarly, this barbaric note found on a Hamas terrorist who had infiltrated Israel in the October 7th attacks, including the line “Know that this enemy of yours is a disease that has no cure, other than beheading and extracting the hearts and livers!"”.
    
    
    
    
    
• IDF footage of an IDF strike on a Hezbollah post in southern Lebanon following Hezbollah attacks (Video)
  
  

Arena Overview

Southern Arena

Israel Defense Forces activities against Hamas continued on Tuesday, combining offensive strikes against Hamas operatives and targets with a defensive strike on a terrorist cell that aimed to execute an attack on Israel. 

In a joint ISA and IDF strike, the Commander of the North Khan Yunis Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization, Taysir Mubasher was targeted, joining the list of senior Hamas operatives neutralized during the war. Mubasher has previously served as the Commander of Hamas' naval forces and held several positions in weapons manufacturing. He had been responsible for many attacks on Israel, including one on a religious seminar in Israel. 

Strikes on other Hamas sites also continued, including a terror tunnel shaft, military command centers, weapon storage sites, mortar launches and anti-tank missile launch sites. In addition, Hamas’ emergency governance apparatus, including war rooms and military headquarters, were targeted. This apparatus had directed Hamas’ attempts to prevent civilians from evacuating .

Northern Israel

The IDF continues to carefully monitor the northern border, responding rapidly when threats are identified. Over the past day, seven anti-tank terrorist cells were targeted on the border with Lebanon, three of them in one hour. An IDF UAV also targeted two terrorist cells that had fired rocket and mortar shells toward IDF posts
in northern Israel.

Yesterday, two launches from Syria towards northern Israel were identified, landing in open areas. Following the launches, the IDF responded with artillery fire towards the source of the fire. In addition, IDF fighter jets struck Syrian Army military infrastructure and mortar launchers.

The Israeli Homefront

Rocket fire at the Israeli homefront continued. On Wednesday, rocket fire from Gaza was fired south, towards Eilat, as well as as far north as the Carmel area. No injuries were reported. 222 people are confirmed to remain abducted by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and 208 families of soldiers have been notified that their loved ones fell in action during the course of the war.