Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari November 3rd 11:00

The IDF are encircling Gaza City from the air, the land, and the sea.

The soldiers are advancing in battles during which they are destroying terrorist infrastructure above ground and underground, and eliminating terrorists.

Overnight, our forces operated in several locations and found many weapons - grenades, explosives, protective gear, communications equipment and maps. These were all in terrorist strongholds that our forces have secured. They eliminated the terrorists and exposed the weapons intended to be used against our forces.

We continue in our effort to shed more and more light on the way Hamas cynically uses the civilian population. Today we revealed a recording of an official from the health system in Gaza, speaking to our forces, describing how Hamas holds fuel tanks at the Shifa hospital where it distinctly uses it for terrorism, and steals from the hospital.

While Hamas threatens that the fuel in the hospitals is about to run out, it steals this same fuel from sick patients and those receiving care and uses the fuel for terrorism.

We will continue to expose to the world the actions of Hamas and how it cynically uses the population as a civilian shield.

In the North

We continue with a powerful deployment of forces along the northern border.

Yesterday, we carried out extensive strikes and hit a number of Hezbollah terrorist cells, in response to wide-ranging fire shot by the Hezbollah organization towards Kiryat Shmona and Safed, as a result of which civilians were injured. We will continue to respond firmly against any harm to the citizens of the State of Israel.

We are at a high level of readiness, both defensive and offensive, with a high level of vigilance to react to any events that happen on the northern border today and in the coming days. Iran continues to carry out subversive, negative activities and pushes its proxies - in its name - with Iranian weaponry which it sends them, exactly like in Ukraine, Yemen and Iraq against American troops, that's what they're trying to do against the State of Israel. They are trying to distract us from our war in Gaza. We are continuing to be focused on the war in Gaza.

We continue to be focused on the progress of the war in Gaza, the dismantling of Hamas and our effort to return the hostages. We will respond to any arena or threat if required.

In Judea and Samaria - tonight our forces operated in the city of Jenin. During this operation, our forces made contact with terrorists, thwarting them as necessary from the air and from the ground, continuing to expose terrorist activity and arrest terrorist operatives, as we do in the face of this threat of terrorism in Judea and Samaria. We will continue to do so based on every indication together with the ISA, this is how we work to thwart terrorism in Judea and Samaria.

Home Front

We continue to update the defensive guidelines to allow certain aspects of routine, without compromising your safety of course.

On Shabbat we will activate a "silent frequency" with Home Front Command alerts, for the religious public.

I call again - do not become complacent on any of the borders, in any of the sectors.

Stick to the guidelines of the Home Front Command, and make sure that you and your loved ones fulfill them fully.

Strict adherence to the guidelines saves lives.

So far, the families of 241 hostages have been notified.

The number of hostages changes and is updated according to the intelligence information we receive, which is why I update it on a daily basis, of course this happens after we have updated the families. The number will change and may change further in the future according to the intelligence assessments and we will continue to inform the public about this. We are reviewing this information and updating and will come back and do it again. It is a top priority for us to return the hostages and bring every piece of intelligence every operational or civilian opportunity to return them home.

So far, we have notified the families of 338 IDF soldiers fallen in the line of duty.

We embrace the families. And we will continue to accompany them.

We also accompany the injured and wish all the injured a speedy recovery. I wish us a quiet day and we will talk again tonight. May it be a peaceful day and of course Shabbat Shalom to those that observe Shabbat. Thank you.