Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said the military has carried strikes to eliminate 20 Hezbollah cells in southern Lebanon since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Hezbollah terror group has been carrying out daily missile attacks from Lebanon against IDF positions and towns in northern Israel since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. Hagari said the military has so far notified the families of 222 hostages that their loved ones are being held in the Gaza Strip.
He said the number includes foreign nationals, and that it has taken time for them to be identified and for their families to be notified. The number does not include Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, who were released by Hamas on Friday night. When asked whether the ground operation is being delayed to allow more time for attempts to secure the release of further hostages, Hagari said “We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home.”
Meanwhile, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus on Sunday said that Hezbollah is playing a very “dangerous game” and escalating the situation. He said that Hezbollah has been dragging Lebanon into war. In an operational update on the northern border, Jonathan Conricus called Israel’s response “measured, tactical and confined to the areas near the border.” He said that Israel has struck various infrastructures of Hezbollah that have positioned along the blue line.
“So far, our response has been measured, tactical and confined to the areas close to the border. The tactical distances from where Hezbollah has been firing these missiles, rockets and UAVs. That is so far. We have used tanks, drones, artillery and infantry and a few other things. But in essence, those are the weapons that we have been responding to,” Jonathan Conricus said.
“We have struck various Hezbollah infrastructure that they have positioned along the blue line also in violation of 1701. We have struck positions where Hezbollah was firing from and we have also struck different Hezbollah squads. Hezbollah terrorist squads that were manning those anti-tank missiles have also been hit either by tanks or by other means,” he added.
Earlier, on Sunday, IDF said they had carried out strikes against two more Hezbollah squads in southern Lebanon before they could launch attacks on Israel. One of the Hezbollah cells, in the Mount Dov area, planned to launch rockets, while the second, near the northern town of Mattat, planned to launch an anti-tank guided missile, the IDF added.
This strike marked the sixth and seventh Hezbollah cells that the IDF hit on Sunday, The Times of Israel reported. It stated further that it was currently carrying out a wave of airstrikes against dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Also, earlier in the day, several Merkava tanks and troops were positioned by the Israel Defence Forces near the Gaza border in South Israel, following the government’s announcement that it intends to launch a ground operation against Hamas in the “near future”.
The Merkava, a series of main battle tanks utilised by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), serves as the cornerstone of its armoured corps. The Merkava gained significant operational experience during the 1982 Lebanon War, and its name is derived from the IDF’s initial development programme.
‘Israel had failed on many fronts during Hamas attack’
BE’ERI: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) representative Major Doron said on Monday that during the October 7 attack by Hamas, Israel had failed on multiple fronts of security, including intelligence, military, and many others.
“There is no question that Israel failed here on many levels. The intelligence spheres, the military spheres, and many others,” he said. While speaking to a news agency, the IDF Major, deployed in a Kibbutz in the South of Israel where the massacre happened, emphasised that the failure of security structures needs independent inquiries for a thorough understanding and expressed a commitment to take these failures as lessons for future tasks.
The IDF Major said, “For us as a country, we will do the investigations, but not now. After a few months,we will tear open our hearts and our minds and investigate every single layer so that we get better and never allow this to happen again.” On Hamas’ attack on Israel, IDF’s Major Doron said, “I have never seen anyone face such slaughter. It’s not human what they did here. I don’t think we have seen anything like this except for maybe ISIS of the Holocaust. They came and killed babies, and mothers or took them as hostages. Even now, we don’t know who is alive or dead…”
The attack by Hamas on October 7 resulted in tragic consequences, with the terrorist group using various means to infiltrate and carry out attacks, causing the deaths of innocent civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. Notably, Hamas launched a horrific terror attack on Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people. In response, Israel launched a strong counter-offensive against Hamas, targeting the units of the terror group. While many of them were engaged by Israeli forces, some managed to sneak back into Gaza with more than 200 civilian hostages.
