War Day 240: Heavy fire in the north, stabbings and shootings prevented

War summary, day two hundred and forty: Hostage deal on shaky ground, most Israelis support deal if Hamas is removed, heavy fire in north, attack drone crashes on the coast of Nahariya, stabbing and shooting attacks prevented, and two thirds of Palestinians believe that the attack of October 7 was correct and produced good results.

By Ms. Bruria Efune

125 held captive in Gaza.
41 hostages confirmed murdered in Gaza.
112 hostages released.
19 bodies of hostages rescued.
1,533 Israelis killed.
294 soldiers fell in the battle of Gaza.
14 fallen soldiers in northern Israel.
7 soldiers fell in Judea and Samaria.
An estimated 14,250 rockets were fired into Israel.
90,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity and good deeds.

Main titles:

• Agreement on fragile foundations
• Most Israelis support deal, if it doesn't leave Hamas standing
• Small IDF advance in Rafah
• Very violent fire in the north
• Attack drone crashes on Nahariya coast
• Mermaids in Akko
• Stabbing and shooting attacks prevented
• Two-thirds of Palestinians think October 7 attack was correct and produced good results

Hostage Updates:

Hamas has not yet given a response to the ceasefire proposal announced by Biden, although senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zahari told the Al-Arabi news channel: “Hamas accepted what was included in the US president's speech, Israel is the one rejecting it. We will seriously consider the lines of the proposal from Biden's speech. Our demands are the end of the war, the withdrawal of Israel and the restoration of [Gaza] Band. It's impossible [for us to] withdraw from [these conditions]. It is impossible to reach an agreement that does not meet the conditions of Palestinian resistance.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli War Cabinet appears ready to accept the deal, while emphasizing that Israel reserves the right to stop and resume the war at any time, if Hamas fails to uphold its part of the deal. agreement, and that phase two of the agreement will only just begin. after an agreement is reached that will complete the war's objective of totally dismantling Hamas's military and government capabilities.

After Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir threatened to bring down the governing coalition if the deal was reached, it appears that Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to reassure them that phase two of the deal, with the full withdrawal of Gaza, is unlikely, due to the irreconcilable differences between Israel's goal of destroying Hamas and Hamas' goal of continuing to rule Gaza and attack Israel.

It remains to be seen whether Hamas will accept the deal, knowing that it will likely fail after the first phase. (As a reminder, the first phase includes: a complete ceasefire, an IDF withdrawal from populated areas, the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons, the return of Gazans to their homes anywhere in Gaza, 600 trucks of humanitarian aid per day and the release of the “humanitarian” hostages.)

Knowing this, a recent poll by Israeli newspaper Kann News found that 40% of Israelis support the deal, 27% oppose it and 33% don't know. The Hostage Families Forum is leading an intense campaign in favor of this agreement. The Tikva Forum, which represents a smaller number of hostage families, did not speak for or against the deal, but said that before an agreement was reached, Hamas must provide a list of each hostage and their current condition, and during the agreement, the hostages must be held by a third party, such as the Red Cross. Indeed, Hamas cannot be trusted to keep the hostages alive and well once a deal is reached, and the hostages no longer have as much “value” in their eyes.

Gaza Front Updates:

Hamas failed to fire on Israeli civilians today.

Thank G‑d, the Israeli army announced no fallen heroes today.

Three divisions of IDF troops currently operate in Gaza: the 99th Division along the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza and Gaza City; The Gaza Division in various areas of Gaza for ad hoc operations; and the 162nd Division in Rafah. The Israeli Air Force struck more than 30 Hamas targets across Gaza throughout the day, including terrorist squads, weapons depots and other Hamas infrastructure.

The Israeli army is advancing into Rafah at a very slow and cautious pace, focusing primarily on searching and destroying Hamas tunnels and rockets, with reduced firepower. According to internal sources, the initial plan for Rafah was much higher intensity, but it was scaled back in order to retain approval from the Biden administration.

Rafah troops recently advanced into the Yabna “camp”, located in the central part of the city, closer to the Egyptian border, and riddled with tunnels and rocket launchers. Among the many weapons found by soldiers today were anti-aircraft machines. The air force assisted the ground troops by launching airstrikes against terrorist squads that were firing on IDF troops and suppressing Hamas infrastructure before the infantry advance.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant outlined his plan for Gaza's “next day,” in which Hamas must be replaced by an alternative governing body to prevent its resurgence. According to Gallant's plan, Israel will “isolate areas, eliminate Hamas members and bring in other forces that will enable a different government.”

Israel's great challenge will be to find capable alternatives, strong enough to resist Hamas, but not militant enough to become the next terrorists. So far, Hamas has assassinated anyone in Gaza it suspects Israel sees as an alternative – such as tribal clan leaders (particularly the Doughmush clan) and some Palestinian Authority employees.

Updates on humanitarian efforts in Gaza:

On Shabbat June 1, in accordance with the agreement reached with the United States, Egypt and the UN, the crossing points were closed. This was to facilitate the distribution of goods by the UN on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Throughout the day, 187 aid trucks were collected from the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom by UN agencies.
450 humanitarian trucks were still waiting for UN organizations to collect them.
40 trucks of humanitarian aid were transferred to northern Gaza.

Over the past week, 1,858 trucks entered via the Kerem Shalom and Erez West crossings, including 312 flour trucks and 13 tankers carrying more than half a million liters of fuel.

Northern Front Updates:

Hezbollah today rained rockets, missiles and attack drones on the far north of Israel, overtaking Nahariya and reaching Akko (Acre), in what could be its most intense fire since the beginning of the war. While the majority of projectiles targeting populated areas were intercepted, several shots were fired and, for the first time since the start of the war, the IDF failed in its attempts to intercept a Hezbollah attack drone . The drone crashed near the coast of Nahariya, causing a fire, but without causing any casualties.
At least thirteen fire brigades mobilized to put out three fires started by the attacks.
Two men were injured in Kiryat Shemona.

The Israeli military confirmed that overnight the air force struck a Hezbollah compound in Baalbek, northeast Lebanon. The IDF attacked numerous other Hamas targets in southern Lebanon, including ammunition storage facilities, which was confirmed by secondary explosions.

Late night reports in Syria indicate that the IDF may have struck several sites in the Aleppo region, including a copper factory in the San region run by pro-Iranian militias.

The Israeli military conducted another, larger war simulation exercise last week, during which northern troops prepared for “numerous scenarios simulating the expansion of the war into the northern arena, as well as than war scenarios on several fronts.

Israel is unlikely to launch a broader war against Hezbollah until the current proposed deal with Hamas fails. Hezbollah has said it will stop shooting when Israel withdraws from Gaza, and Biden is pushing for that to happen as part of the deal.

Updates from the Houthi-Iraqi war front

The pro-Iranian Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims to have launched a drone yesterday evening towards “a vital target in Eilat”. There have been no sightings of the said drone, indicating that either it was never launched or failed to reach Israel's neighborhood.

Updates on Judea and Samaria:

A Palestinian terrorist who was planning a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City neighborhood has been arrested in possession of a knife. The terrorist, who was in Israel illegally, handed himself in to the police. After investigation, it turned out that he had an accomplice who was planning a shooting. The accomplice was arrested before he could commit any harm.

On the last day, Israeli security forces arrested six people wanted for their links to terrorist organizations, including two who threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces during an operation. Since the start of the war, the Israeli army has arrested around 4,000 wanted people in Judea and Samaria, of whom around 1,700 are associated with Hamas, with the remainder associated with various terrorist groups, such as PIJ and ISIS.

A new poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) finds that overall, 72 percent of Palestinians still think the October 7 attack was a good decision. Since March, there has been a slight decrease in the number of Gazans who believe this, but an increase in the number of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria who believe it.

The poll also found that three-quarters of Palestinians believe the attack has renewed international attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and could lead to increased recognition of Palestinian statehood.