π️ Lonny's War Update- October 224, 2023 - May 17, 2024 (cont)
π️Day 224 (cont) that 129 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*3:15pm - north- hostile aircraft intrusion Golan and Galilee areas - fire started in the Golan as a result of rocket hits in open areas*4:00pm- South - rockets Sderot, Kibbutzim Ibim and Nir Am - Iron Dome shot down a rocket - video of Iron Dome and explosion*4:30- North - rockets Katsrin*5:10pm- north - rockets Maayan Baruch*7:10pm- north- non stop alerts of hostile aircraft intrusion Kiryat Shemona, Kfar Blum, Golan and Galilee areas
*the army announced the death of Sergeant Ben Avishai, 20 from Nahariya. Ben was killed during battle in Northern Gaza today. May his memory be a blessing 
Hostage Updates - 127 Hostages have been returned since October 7, 129 are still in captivity - 39 of them were killed by Hamas. Currently, it is believed that 90 are still listed as alive but suspicions are high that the number of those killed is much higher.
- IDF recovers the bodies of hostages Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila and Shani Louk, all slain on October 7. IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press statement says the military has recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip. Hagari says the bodies were recovered in an overnight operation carried out by the military and Shin Bet.
The three were at the Supernova music festival near Re’im on the morning of October 7, where they then fled to the Mefalsim area.
Hagari says they were killed there by Hamas terrorists in very cruel ways, and their bodies were then kidnapped to Gaza. Until today, it was believed that Amit and Itzhak were alive and held hostage in Gaza. Following killing Shani, the Hamas barbarians took Shani's half naked body in the back of a pick up truck and paraded her body throughout Gaza on October 7. Hamas published the video and it was seen around the world. 
Shai Louk, Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila
Shani Louk’s father Nissim tells Channel 12 while today’s announcement that the IDF has recovered her body was difficult to receive, it was also news that he had been waiting for. The family was notified on October 30 that she had been killed on October 7. Nissim says military representatives showed him a picture of Shani’s body when they provided the news this morning that her body had been recovered from Gaza. He praises the “brave soldiers” who recovered her body. And he urges the public to come to her funeral, which will take place on Sunday. “She was light in her life and in her death,” he says. “This light will accompany the people of Israel.”
- Senior official in Israeli truce negotiating team: Expanding Rafah op will put hostages at risk: Channel 12 quotes a senior member of Israel’s hostage negotiating team who says that a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to further expand the IDF’s operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah will put the lives of the hostages at risk. Such warnings have been made by foreign officials, but this is the first time that they are being echoed — albeit anonymously — by a senior member of Israel’s own negotiating team, which is led by Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and IDF general Nitzan Alon.
Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government have insisted that military pressure, such as the operation in Rafah, is what will coax Hamas into agreeing to a hostage deal.
The senior Israeli hostage negotiator argues that further expanding the Rafah operation will lead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to double down in his current refusal to compromise, harming efforts to reach a deal in the near future.
The official says that the only strategy that will work at this point in convincing Sinwar to come down from his demands will be if Israel advances a viable alternative to Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
Netanyahu has argued that such conversations regarding the post-war management of Gaza before Hamas has been dismantled are futile because no one will agree to take up the reins so long as Hamas remains in the picture. link - this senior negotiator is now making the argument that my brother and I have been making for most of the war. The military pressure is not something that is helping the hostages. In fact, it has hurt them terribly in the past and probably is still hurting them now. It delayed by 3-4 weeks that original hostage deal that brought home over 100 of the hostages. And we know that a number of the hostages were killed as a result of our aerial bombing. And for anyone who ignores all the facts and thinks that Sinwar will compromise has no idea what they are talking about. There is no compromise with Hamas. Their initial demands remain the same no matter how much time goes by and no matter how much military pressure is put on them.
Hostage Updates - 127 Hostages have been returned since October 7, 129 are still in captivity - 39 of them were killed by Hamas. Currently, it is believed that 90 are still listed as alive but suspicions are high that the number of those killed is much higher.
- IDF recovers the bodies of hostages Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila and Shani Louk, all slain on October 7. IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press statement says the military has recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip. Hagari says the bodies were recovered in an overnight operation carried out by the military and Shin Bet.
The three were at the Supernova music festival near Re’im on the morning of October 7, where they then fled to the Mefalsim area.
Hagari says they were killed there by Hamas terrorists in very cruel ways, and their bodies were then kidnapped to Gaza. Until today, it was believed that Amit and Itzhak were alive and held hostage in Gaza. Following killing Shani, the Hamas barbarians took Shani's half naked body in the back of a pick up truck and paraded her body throughout Gaza on October 7. Hamas published the video and it was seen around the world.
Shai Louk, Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit BuskilaShani Louk’s father Nissim tells Channel 12 while today’s announcement that the IDF has recovered her body was difficult to receive, it was also news that he had been waiting for. The family was notified on October 30 that she had been killed on October 7. Nissim says military representatives showed him a picture of Shani’s body when they provided the news this morning that her body had been recovered from Gaza. He praises the “brave soldiers” who recovered her body. And he urges the public to come to her funeral, which will take place on Sunday. “She was light in her life and in her death,” he says. “This light will accompany the people of Israel.”
- Senior official in Israeli truce negotiating team: Expanding Rafah op will put hostages at risk: Channel 12 quotes a senior member of Israel’s hostage negotiating team who says that a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to further expand the IDF’s operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah will put the lives of the hostages at risk. Such warnings have been made by foreign officials, but this is the first time that they are being echoed — albeit anonymously — by a senior member of Israel’s own negotiating team, which is led by Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and IDF general Nitzan Alon.
Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government have insisted that military pressure, such as the operation in Rafah, is what will coax Hamas into agreeing to a hostage deal.
The senior Israeli hostage negotiator argues that further expanding the Rafah operation will lead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to double down in his current refusal to compromise, harming efforts to reach a deal in the near future.
The official says that the only strategy that will work at this point in convincing Sinwar to come down from his demands will be if Israel advances a viable alternative to Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
Netanyahu has argued that such conversations regarding the post-war management of Gaza before Hamas has been dismantled are futile because no one will agree to take up the reins so long as Hamas remains in the picture. link - this senior negotiator is now making the argument that my brother and I have been making for most of the war. The military pressure is not something that is helping the hostages. In fact, it has hurt them terribly in the past and probably is still hurting them now. It delayed by 3-4 weeks that original hostage deal that brought home over 100 of the hostages. And we know that a number of the hostages were killed as a result of our aerial bombing. And for anyone who ignores all the facts and thinks that Sinwar will compromise has no idea what they are talking about. There is no compromise with Hamas. Their initial demands remain the same no matter how much time goes by and no matter how much military pressure is put on them.
- In the dead of night and based on terrorist investigations: what can be said about the rescue operation: The bodies of the three captives were extracted after a complex operation that lasted more than a day • The intelligence was based, among other things, on information that emerged from Shin Bet interrogations, and was later processed by the Prisoners and MIAs Department • In the late night hours, the remains of the bodies were found and transferred for examination in the Department of Forensic Medicine • All the details that were allowed for publication – step by step
Today (Friday), it was allowed to be published that the bodies of the captives Shani Louk, Yitzhak (Itzik) Galarenter and Amit Buskila were located and extracted from Gaza in a complex operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet. Many details still cannot be published, but at this stage it can be said that this was a complex process that required precise execution and relied on quality intelligence.
The Preliminary Intelligence
* During the military operation in the heart of the Strip, information was received that had been collected over a long period. The details collected were refined along the way by the Shin Bet and senior military officials.
* The intelligence was based, among other things, on information that emerged from Shin Bet interrogations of terrorists arrested in the Strip – and on intelligence guidance from the Prisoners and MIAs Department of the Intelligence Corps.
* The forces succeeded in conducting a comprehensive terrain analysis of the compound where the bodies were held, but at this stage its exact location cannot be published.
The Launch of the Operation
* This was a complex military operation that took place over more than a day.
* The fighters who reached the point serve in the operational unit of the Shin Bet and in the IDF's combat brigades. They acted based on the intelligence they received, scanned and cleared the area for hours.
* In the late night hours, the forces entered and conducted searches, finding the remains of the bodies, which were transferred for examination and verification in the Department of Forensic Medicine.
* It appears they were murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists and were not killed by IDF fire. It also appears that they were tortured.
* After an identification process carried out by medical personnel at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Ministry of Health, IDF representatives notified their families during the day.
The extraction operation in which the three bodies were returned from Gaza is similar in nature to previous extraction operations, which were also carried out based on Shin Bet intelligence. These join two other extraction operations in which the three captives Fernando Marman, Louis Herr and soldier Ori Magidish were extracted alive. link ---There are unconfirmed rumors that more bodies were located and brought back but no notifications have been made because the Forensics Institute is still working on identifying the bodies.
Gaza
The operation in Zeitoun continues: Over 90 militants eliminated, a military headquarters destroyed - inside a school
The IDF Spokesperson updated on the situation of the fighting in Gaza and reported that the Nachal Brigade, the Carmeli Brigade (2), and the Multi-Dimensional Unit raided the Zeitoun neighborhood in the center of the Strip, destroyed terror infrastructures, offensive tunnels, a workshop for producing weapons, rocket launching pits, and Hamas command centers that the organization used for planning and carrying out terror activities against our forces.
In the last week, the fighters in the 99th Division have eliminated more than 90 militants, located and destroyed underground infrastructures and many means of combat. As part of the attack, with intelligence guidance from the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, a military headquarters located inside the Ain Jalut school compound was destroyed. The school served as a military headquarters for the Hamas terror organization, from which anti-tank missile launches and mortar fire were carried out towards IDF forces.
The 990th Fire Brigade, in cooperation with the Air Force, struck more than 100 targets in the area.
In parallel to the activity in Zeitoun, the 679th Engineering Corps forces operated in the area of the central Strip corridor and the Bakshi neighborhood, where the fighters eliminated militants, exposed and destroyed underground infrastructures.
The operation in Zeitoun continues: Over 90 militants eliminated, a military headquarters destroyed - inside a school
The IDF Spokesperson updated on the situation of the fighting in Gaza and reported that the Nachal Brigade, the Carmeli Brigade (2), and the Multi-Dimensional Unit raided the Zeitoun neighborhood in the center of the Strip, destroyed terror infrastructures, offensive tunnels, a workshop for producing weapons, rocket launching pits, and Hamas command centers that the organization used for planning and carrying out terror activities against our forces.
In the last week, the fighters in the 99th Division have eliminated more than 90 militants, located and destroyed underground infrastructures and many means of combat. As part of the attack, with intelligence guidance from the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, a military headquarters located inside the Ain Jalut school compound was destroyed. The school served as a military headquarters for the Hamas terror organization, from which anti-tank missile launches and mortar fire were carried out towards IDF forces.
The 990th Fire Brigade, in cooperation with the Air Force, struck more than 100 targets in the area.
In parallel to the activity in Zeitoun, the 679th Engineering Corps forces operated in the area of the central Strip corridor and the Bakshi neighborhood, where the fighters eliminated militants, exposed and destroyed underground infrastructures.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah
- 2 lightly injured in the earlier rocket attack on the Golan and Galilee areas. In the earlier rocket barrages, around 75 rockets were launched at Israel by Hizbollah, tens of them shot down by our air defenses. Earlier today, the DIF identified a Hizbollah launcher ready to launch rockets at Israel. Immediately thereafter, a fighter jet attacked and destroyed the launcher
The Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, on his Twitter account: "The 'policy of absorbing' rocket fire in the north by the small cabinet is a disgrace. Containing the firing on northern communities and their destruction, as has never happened anywhere in the country, evacuating a security strip within Israel, turning thousands of Israelis into refugees, destroying families and entire lives, eroding Israeli deterrence to zero, is a security and political bankruptcy. 'Proportionality' is an obscene word when it comes to security and deterrence. We learned this the hard way on 7.10. It's time to disband the cabinet of conceptions and change the failed policy." link - He's right about one thing, it is based on failed policy, but he is wrong about who's policy. It's the failed policy of this entire government and all of the previous Netanyahu governments.
- "We warned about the danger": A house in the area of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council was destroyed. Destruction was documented inside a house in the area of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council. Amit Sofer, the head of the council, said: "This is a community included in the government's decision for evacuation that was not implemented. From the outset, we warned about the danger inherent in this when it is a community that is in direct confrontation with 0 warning time."
Lebanese media outlets report an alleged Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near Majdal Aanjar, on the Lebanon-Syria border. No further details are immediately available.
Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon's Deir Seryan earlier, which the military says was used in a barrage on the Golan Heights earlier today.
Another building and additional infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Kfarhamam and Odaisseh were also struck a short while ago, the IDF adds. Video of the attack
An Israeli airstrike earlier today in southern Lebanon seems to reveal that Hezbollah is in possession of advanced Iranian anti-aircraft missiles. The IDF said earlier that it had targeted Hezbollah compounds in Najjarieh, south of Sidon, used by the terror group’s air defense unit. The sites had “posed a threat to Israeli aircraft,” the military said. Footage circulating on social media apparently shows the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile following one of the IDF strikes. The missile is identified by Tal Inbar, an expert on missiles and drones, in a post on X. It is apparently the first public evidence suggesting that Hezbollah has such missiles. link
Footage circulating on social media apparently shows the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile following one of the IDF strikes in Lebanon on May 17, 2024. (Screen capture/X)
A reported Israeli strike on Majdal Anjar, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria earlier, killed Sharhabil al-Sayed, a member of Hamas who was in charge of the terror group’s operations in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, two security sources tell Reuters. The strike also killed another Palestinian Hamas member, the sources add. link
- 2 lightly injured in the earlier rocket attack on the Golan and Galilee areas. In the earlier rocket barrages, around 75 rockets were launched at Israel by Hizbollah, tens of them shot down by our air defenses. Earlier today, the DIF identified a Hizbollah launcher ready to launch rockets at Israel. Immediately thereafter, a fighter jet attacked and destroyed the launcher
The Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, on his Twitter account: "The 'policy of absorbing' rocket fire in the north by the small cabinet is a disgrace. Containing the firing on northern communities and their destruction, as has never happened anywhere in the country, evacuating a security strip within Israel, turning thousands of Israelis into refugees, destroying families and entire lives, eroding Israeli deterrence to zero, is a security and political bankruptcy. 'Proportionality' is an obscene word when it comes to security and deterrence. We learned this the hard way on 7.10. It's time to disband the cabinet of conceptions and change the failed policy." link - He's right about one thing, it is based on failed policy, but he is wrong about who's policy. It's the failed policy of this entire government and all of the previous Netanyahu governments.
- "We warned about the danger": A house in the area of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council was destroyed. Destruction was documented inside a house in the area of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council. Amit Sofer, the head of the council, said: "This is a community included in the government's decision for evacuation that was not implemented. From the outset, we warned about the danger inherent in this when it is a community that is in direct confrontation with 0 warning time."
Lebanese media outlets report an alleged Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near Majdal Aanjar, on the Lebanon-Syria border. No further details are immediately available.
Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon's Deir Seryan earlier, which the military says was used in a barrage on the Golan Heights earlier today. Another building and additional infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Kfarhamam and Odaisseh were also struck a short while ago, the IDF adds. Video of the attack
An Israeli airstrike earlier today in southern Lebanon seems to reveal that Hezbollah is in possession of advanced Iranian anti-aircraft missiles. The IDF said earlier that it had targeted Hezbollah compounds in Najjarieh, south of Sidon, used by the terror group’s air defense unit. The sites had “posed a threat to Israeli aircraft,” the military said. Footage circulating on social media apparently shows the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile following one of the IDF strikes. The missile is identified by Tal Inbar, an expert on missiles and drones, in a post on X. It is apparently the first public evidence suggesting that Hezbollah has such missiles. link
Footage circulating on social media apparently shows the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile following one of the IDF strikes in Lebanon on May 17, 2024. (Screen capture/X)A reported Israeli strike on Majdal Anjar, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria earlier, killed Sharhabil al-Sayed, a member of Hamas who was in charge of the terror group’s operations in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, two security sources tell Reuters. The strike also killed another Palestinian Hamas member, the sources add. link
West Bank
Politics and the Region
During last night’s security cabinet meeting, an argument broke out between National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, according to the Walla news site.
Eisenkot was in the midst of addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lamenting that the government has avoided taking strategic decisions in the war for months. He began offering steps that he thought the government should take when he was interrupted by Ben Gvir.
“We’ve heard enough from you generals,” Ben Gvir said, accusing the former IDF chief Eisenkot of having been responsible for the policies that led to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“Stop interrupting me,” Eisenkot shot back. “Remove your sandals,” he added, quoting a verse from the biblical book of Exodus, which ends “…for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” The remark appeared to urge Ben Gvir to show some respect to Eisenkot’s life of military service. Eisenkot also lost his son fighting in Gaza earlier on in the war.
The National Unity minister also took a swipe at Ben Gvir’s lack of military service, calling him a “draft-dodger.”
The far-right minister was barred from service due to his involvement in terror activity as a far-right activist. link
An Israeli and his daughter removed an anti-Israeli sticker in Belgium - and were violently attacked. An inflamed pro-Palestinian mob that identified a tourist walking with his daughter in the city of Bruges, Belgium violently attacked them, after noticing that Shimon Ohana (64) and his daughter Shira (29) were removing an anti-Israeli sticker that had been affixed to a wall at the train station. They attacked the father with kicks and punches to the face, and even after the two managed to flee downstairs, one of the assailants continued to chase after the father, knocked him to the floor and continued kicking him in the head in front of the cameras. The father and daughter's calls for help from passersby went unanswered. After the severe attack, Ohana was evacuated to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken jaw. Ohana filed a complaint with the local police against the assailants, but said he got the impression that the Belgian police were "not burning" to prosecute them to the full extent of the law, even though part of the attack was caught on security cameras. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association (EJA), condemned the attack and called on the Bruges police chief to prosecute the assailants to the full extent of the law and to classify the attack as an anti-Semitic and racist hate crime. "The harassment of Jews and Israelis in Belgium is increasing day by day, and there is also an escalation in violence. It is no longer just verbal violence or spitting, but actual physical attacks that could end in disaster. Don't wait for us to be murdered to understand that you must act more resolutely against the rioters. Today it's against Jews, and tomorrow the incited mob will attack anyone who looks Western to them," warned Rabbi Margolin, noting that it cannot be that a Western country that purports to be a state of law like Belgium will not act for the immediate arrest of the anti-Semitic assailants and refrain from immediate enforcement action to prosecute them to the full extent of the law. link to story (in hebrew) and video of part of the attack
Muslim mob ATTACK Jewish man in London’s Soho Square; force him out of the park. video here
During last night’s security cabinet meeting, an argument broke out between National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, according to the Walla news site.
Eisenkot was in the midst of addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lamenting that the government has avoided taking strategic decisions in the war for months. He began offering steps that he thought the government should take when he was interrupted by Ben Gvir.
“We’ve heard enough from you generals,” Ben Gvir said, accusing the former IDF chief Eisenkot of having been responsible for the policies that led to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“Stop interrupting me,” Eisenkot shot back. “Remove your sandals,” he added, quoting a verse from the biblical book of Exodus, which ends “…for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” The remark appeared to urge Ben Gvir to show some respect to Eisenkot’s life of military service. Eisenkot also lost his son fighting in Gaza earlier on in the war.
The National Unity minister also took a swipe at Ben Gvir’s lack of military service, calling him a “draft-dodger.”
The far-right minister was barred from service due to his involvement in terror activity as a far-right activist. link
An Israeli and his daughter removed an anti-Israeli sticker in Belgium - and were violently attacked. An inflamed pro-Palestinian mob that identified a tourist walking with his daughter in the city of Bruges, Belgium violently attacked them, after noticing that Shimon Ohana (64) and his daughter Shira (29) were removing an anti-Israeli sticker that had been affixed to a wall at the train station. They attacked the father with kicks and punches to the face, and even after the two managed to flee downstairs, one of the assailants continued to chase after the father, knocked him to the floor and continued kicking him in the head in front of the cameras. The father and daughter's calls for help from passersby went unanswered. After the severe attack, Ohana was evacuated to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken jaw. Ohana filed a complaint with the local police against the assailants, but said he got the impression that the Belgian police were "not burning" to prosecute them to the full extent of the law, even though part of the attack was caught on security cameras. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association (EJA), condemned the attack and called on the Bruges police chief to prosecute the assailants to the full extent of the law and to classify the attack as an anti-Semitic and racist hate crime. "The harassment of Jews and Israelis in Belgium is increasing day by day, and there is also an escalation in violence. It is no longer just verbal violence or spitting, but actual physical attacks that could end in disaster. Don't wait for us to be murdered to understand that you must act more resolutely against the rioters. Today it's against Jews, and tomorrow the incited mob will attack anyone who looks Western to them," warned Rabbi Margolin, noting that it cannot be that a Western country that purports to be a state of law like Belgium will not act for the immediate arrest of the anti-Semitic assailants and refrain from immediate enforcement action to prosecute them to the full extent of the law. link to story (in hebrew) and video of part of the attack
Muslim mob ATTACK Jewish man in London’s Soho Square; force him out of the park. video here
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu MazenJoin my Whatsapp update group https://chat.whatsapp.com/IQ3OtwE6ydxBeBAxWNziB0
Twitter - @LonnyB58
Twitter - @LonnyB58
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