The IDF announced the names of three soldiers killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Maj. General (Res.) Gideon Ilani, 35, from Asael;
Maj. General (Res.) Etay Perry, 36, from Modi’in;
and Major (Res.) Eviatar Cohen, 42, from Kfar Saba.
Another soldier, Major Gal Bacher, 34 from Oranit, was killed in a military car accident in the south of the country.
The Qatari Al Jazeera network accused the IDF of staging a video that allegedly shows Hamas members surrendering and handing over their weapons. In the video, dozens of men are seen dressed only in underwear after their arrest in the Jabalya refugee camp.
One of the men in the footage is seen walking towards a soldier and handing him a rifle and gun. He was recorded holding the rifle in his left hand, however, an investigation by Al Jazeera found a second view of the same video, in which the same man is seen holding the rifle in his right hand.
According to Al Jazeera, a video published by Channel 12 News shows the Palestinian man placing a weapon on the ground without looking left or right, and then returns to the other detainees. A second video published by Yedioth Ahronoth, Al Jazeera says, shows the man placing his weapon on the ground in the same place, then looking towards the soldiers and speaking with them.
The BBC conducted its own investigation, and found that the two videos are “different sections of a continuous sequence, not separate takes, and the same man is going to and fro bringing different guns to the pavement with their detached ammunition.”
The British network, however, raised doubts about the circumstances of the incident, asking whether the Palestinian man handed over his weapon voluntarily or was forced to do so by IDF soldiers at gunpoint.
Shin Bet security service published footage from the investigation of former Hamas’ communications minister in the Gaza Strip, Yosef Almansi. In his investigation, Almansi citicized Hamas’ Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, and said that people in the Strip “say that Sinwar and his gang destroyed us, we must get rid of them.”
According to him, Hamas “is a group of madmen led by Sinwar.” He also said that Hamas has “destroyed the Gaza Strip and set it back 200 years.” Almansi referred to the October 7 massacre said that “what they did is not accepted by logic, religion, nor by reason. Those who are responsible for this are Sinwar and his gang.” He suggested the residents of Gaza to oppose Sinwar: “Let us live, take care of the people. We will build Gaza; it will take time, the wound is big.”
The Israeli army and Shin Bet security service said they have killed the new commander of the Hamas’ Shujaiyeh battalion, Amad Krika, in an airstrike.
Kirka was the deputy commander of the Shujaiyeh battalion from 2019, and previously trained anti-tank missile operators in Gaza City. He also participated in promoting the methods for using anti-tank missiles and raids into Israeli territory.
He was promoted in early December, after the IDF killed his predecessor, Wissam Farhat, in eastern Gaza City. According to reports, Farhat was one of the militants behind the October 7 massacre, and he commanded the terrorists that attacked Kibbutz Nahal Oz and the outpost next to it.
The IDF continues to conduct strikes in Lebanon, as the Chief of Staff says the situation on the country’s northern border “must end with a clear change.” Hamas made it clear that Israel will not succeed in rescuing any hostages by force, but the chances of another hostage-prisoner exchange are low, according to Qatar.
Here’s what you need to know 66 days into the war
■ The Israeli army and Shin Bet security service said they have killed the new commander of the Hamas’ Shujaiyeh battalion, Amad Krika, in an airstrike.
■ Two soldiers were moderately injured from shrapnel and smoke inhalation when intercepting two hostile aircraft crossing from Lebanon.
■ The IDF said it attacked more than 250 Hamas targets on Sunday, and that ground forces raided Hamas military HQ in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.
■ Israeli security sources say that the IDF is unable to create new conditions for another hostage-release deal.
■ A Hamas al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israel will not be able to recover hostages held in Gaza by force, only via a hostage/prisoner exchange.
■ Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani said on Sunday that Qatar will continue to pressure Israel and Hamas for another truce, including the freeing of hostages, despite what he called “narrowing” chances.
■ Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia urged the U.S. to pressure Israel for a cease-fire by Ramadan which begins in the second week of March next year.
■ UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the inability of the UN Security Council to vote for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza undermines the council’s authority and trust in it.
■ The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said that 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and 49,500 wounded since the war began. It told Al Jazeera that almost 300 people were killed and more than 550 were wounded in the last 24 hours.
■ Of the hundreds of Palestinian detainees photographed handcuffed in the Gaza Strip in recent days, about 10-15 percent are Hamas operatives or identified with the group, senior security officials told Haaretz. The IDF admitted that even though it had been necessary to strip them to ensure they weren’t carrying explosives, circulating the photos was needless and humiliating.
■ 1,593 Israeli soldiers have been wounded during Hamas’ October 7 attack and the subsequent war, 559 since the ground incursion began, according to the IDF.
■ The figures were released after Haaretz reported on the IDF’s unusual refusal to provide numbers; it will now give weekly reports on IDF wounded.
■ Security agencies in Cyprus and the Mossad foiled a plan by Iranian terrorists to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in Cyprus, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday.
■ The French Navy said it intercepted two Houthi drones launched from Yemen in the Red Sea on Sunday.
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