Daily Recap: Hamas - Israel War October 30th, 2023 - Day 24

Additional information and thoughts from Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, the IDF’s International Spokesperson, is available in his Substack newsletter here.

Key Links

• Video footage of IDF ground activities in the Gaza Strip (Video)
• The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, addresses the soldiers of the IDF Artillery Corps (Hebrew video with subtitles)
• Morning briefing from Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF Spokesperson (Hebrew Video with English subtitles)

Arena Overview

Southern Israel

During overnight ground operations, PVT Ori Megidish, an IDF field observer who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th, was released. She has received medical attention and is now home with her family.

 

The IDF continues the war on Hamas, with the aim of eliminating the Hamas threat, restoring security to Israel and recovering the hostages.  Activities against Hamas in the Gaza Strip intensified, following the evolution of our operational plans and supported by additional forces from infantry, the armored corps, combat engineers and the artillery corps. Dozens of terrorists were killed during engagements with IDF troops and over 600 terrorist targets were struck, including weapons depots, anti-tank missile launch positions and Hamas staging grounds. 

Joint operations involving ground forces, the air force, the navy and intelligence enable the IDF to close the loop against active threats in real time. One example of this collaboration took place when soldiers in Gaza identified over twenty Hamas operatives in a building and called in an aerial strike. In another case, armed terrorists were identified and targeted in an aerial strike while in an anti-tank missile launching post at the al-Azhar University in Gaza. In yet another example of Hamas’ usage of sensitive sites, soldiers identified Hamas Nukhba operatives in a tunnel under a mosque and called in an aerial strike. This collaboration enables dynamic collaboration of developing situations; following another air strike, ground forces were able to identify operatives who escaped and call in an aerial strike on them. 

The IDF continues to target both senior and tactical operatives in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, tactical leadership targeted by the IDF included:

Among the operatives killed:

• Jamil Baba, commander of Hamas’ naval forces in its Central Brigade
• Muhammad Safadi, commander of the anti-tank missile unit in the Tuffah Battalion
• Muwaman Hijazi, an operative in Hamas' anti-tank missile unit
• Muhammad Awdallah, an operative in Hamas’ production department

In addition to the aerial coverage, ground forces are supported by ongoing logistics resupply, including ammunition and protective equipment.
 

Northern Arena

Hezbollah hostilities continued with a number of attacks along the northern border. This included rockets fired from southern Lebanon, including one that hit a house in the city of Kiryat Shmona, one of the cities evacuated by the Ministry of Defense earlier in the war, as well as rockets fired from Syria. 

Over the past day, six terrorist cells were identified and neutralized along the Lebanese border, including one that attempted to infiltrate Israel. In addition to target the cells, the IDF targeted Hezbollah and military sites in southern Lebanon and Syria.

Additional Arenas

During the course of the day, rockets were fired at southern and central Israel, including Jerusalem. 

One IDF soldier was killed and another was seriously injured when a tank turned over in an accident in northern Israel. To date,  the families of 312 fallen soldiers of the IDF and the families of 239 hostages have been notified. The return of the hostages is a supreme national mission - one of the objectives of this war. Our ground activity in the Gaza Strip serves, among other things, this purpose.