Readout of Daily Briefing with Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari

The following is an English translation of the daily press briefing conducted by the IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, on October 28, 2023.

Good morning and Shabbat Shalom, In Gaza, the IDF is proceeding with the stages of the war. Overnight, IDF forces entered the northern Gaza Strip and expanded ground activities. Covered by aerial support, IDF infantry, armor, engineer, and artillery forces took part in these activities. The expansion of the IDF’s operational activity furthers the war’s goals. The IDF is regularly assessing the situation and advancing according to the stages of the war. The IDF is continuing with large-scale, significant strikes from the air and from the sea, and the targeting of terrorists.

Overnight, the IDF and the ISA eliminated additional Hamas terrorist commanders. This includes the Head of Hamas' Aerial Array, who was a key member involved in the October 7th massacre in Israel. In addition, the IDF killed the commander of the naval force of the Gaza Brigade, as well as other brigade commanders. These commanders are the operational commanders of Hamas, Hamas’ tactical leaders. Eliminating them facilitates the war’s progress and enables the forces on the ground to fight against a weaker enemy. We will continue to operate as such. The forces are still in the field and are continuing with the war. As of now, there were no casualties to the IDF from last night’s activities. We will continue to prioritize efforts to maintain the safety of our soldiers with strong aerial support, but this is war.

We are working toward the goals we have set for ourselves and that have been defined for us - dismantling Hamas, establishing security along the border and the national effort to return the hostages. These goals guide our judgment, situational assessments, operational progress and the decision-making which is led by the Chief of the General Staff and the broader General Staff Forum. We will take optimal operational decisions with these goals as our compass.

In the near future we will continue to reveal more details about Hamas' exploitation of the population in the Gaza Strip, much like we did with the Shifa’ Hospital. This will be revealed shortly.

We are expanding the humanitarian efforts for the residents of the Gaza Strip who moved south of Wadi Gaza. We are bringing in more trucks of water, medicine and food today. Whoever will be in this safer area will have access to food, water and medicine.

Northern Arena and Judea and Samaria

In the north, overnight we struck Hezbollah military infrastructure, in response to fire towards the State of Israel. Overnight, no unusual events in the northern sector or Judea and Samaria were recorded. We are deployed across the area and are on high alert, carefully monitoring all regional threats in all sectors, as can be seen in yesterday’s interception in the Red Sea region.

I call on the public to continue to follow the updated instructions of the Home Front Command. They save lives. Your behavior - going to shelters - saves lives. We will update the details tonight in an orderly manner for Sunday so that the general public knows what to do on Sunday. I repeat, follow these instructions, they save lives.

So far, we have notified the families of 311 IDF fallen soldiers, and 229 abducted. In regards to the reports that were published yesterday about hostage deals - interested parties, and Hamas, first and foremost, have a deliberate interest to cynically exploit and employ psychological warfare to influence our population, which is in a sensitive state. The IDF is working together with the National Coordinator for the Captives and Missing, who was appointed by the political echelon, and we will continue to share accurate information when we have it. This is critical - when we have reliable information, we will share it. Bringing home the hostages is a top priority and a national effort. All of our activities, our operations and our intelligence is directed towards the realization of this goal.

Thank you very much, I will update again in the evening.