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Update on Current Situation November 14, 2024 - October 7 War, Day 405

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Activities

  • Fierce fighting continues along multiple fronts as the IDF destroys more and more terrorist infrastructure and eliminates terrorists in both Gaza and southern Lebanon.
  • Yesterday, six soldiers from the Golani Brigade fell in fighting in Lebanon. The six were killed during an exchange of fire with Hezbollah operatives inside a building in a village near the Israeli border. Two other soldiers were wounded in the battle.
  • The day before, five soldiers were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip. In total, 793 soldiers have fallen since October 7, 2023.
  • Earlier this week, the IDF revealed that among the vast amounts of equipment and computers they had unearthed in Lebanon, they found hours of video footage from closed-circuit cameras in Hamas interrogation rooms that showed the terror group torturing Palestinians in the years before the war. The videos were released to the public and depicted alarming videos of the torture of Palestinians accused of opposition to Hamas. 
  • Following the attack on Israeli and Jewish soccer fans in Amsterdam last week, Israel’s National Security Council advised Israelis to refrain from attending sporting events in Europe and from wearing any identifying Israeli clothing or accessories on the continent. Meanwhile, France, which will be hosting the Israeli national soccer team tonight, said it will deploy 4,000 police to secure the match and that it will also prohibit the use of Palestinian flags in the stadium. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to attend in person.
  • The IDF has now revealed more information about an operation a few months ago when an IDF Egoz special-forces unit penetrated behind enemy lines in Syria. The team abducted Ali Suleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian citizen working on behalf of Iran. The operation took place about a mile and a half inside Syria, where Al-Assi was in a house with his family. Despite the presence of Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian Army forces nearby, soldiers entered Al-Assi’s house and managed to apprehend him without encountering resistance and without harming his family. On-site, an IDF interrogator confirmed the terror leader’s identity before the special forces took Al-Assi to Israel for interrogation, during which he revealed important details about Iran’s operations both in Syria and along the Israeli border.
 

Rockets

  • Rocket and other projectile fire against Israel continues on numerous fronts. While most rockets and missiles are intercepted by the Iron Dome system, UAV (drone) fire remains a significant challenge for security forces.
  • Currently, the vast majority of projectiles are fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon against targets in Israel’s north, triggering dozens of daily sirens in major Israeli cities, including Haifa (Israel's third-largest city), Tzfat, Karmiel, Acco, Nahariya, and others. Hundreds of thousands of residents run for shelters every day when they hear sirens.
  • Yesterday, two men, Ziv Belfer, 52, and Shamoun Najm, 54, were killed when a rocket hit their building in Nahariya. The two had not made it to their shelter on time.
  • The IDF continues to strike Hezbollah rocket launchers, destroying 140 in the last week. Watch this strike on an installation yesterday.
  • In addition to the north, occasional rockets are still fired from Gaza at Israel’s south, as well as from Yemen, Iraq, and Syria at cities across the country. Yesterday, three missiles headed towards Tel Aviv were intercepted, as was a separate barrage aimed at Eilat.
 

Hostages

  • On Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group released a video message that depicted hostage Sasha Tropanov, who was abducted on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Tropanov turned 29 two days ago, his second birthday in captivity. In the message, Tropanov asked Israelis to “demonstrate and strike” against the government and push it to end the war, “otherwise I will die here.” Tropanov's father was murdered on October 7, while his mother, grandmother, and girlfriend were kidnapped and released in the exchange in November. 
 

Stories of Heroism and Heartache

  • Rachel Goldberg-Polin: Limping toward the light: A letter from me at this moment
  • Earlier this week, members of Kibbutz Nir Oz voted on whether or not to rebuild their community, a year after over a quarter of its members were either killed or taken hostage. Today, 29 members of Nir Oz remain in captivity. The kibbutz members voted to return to their land, even though some have decided not to return. Of the 220 houses in the kibbutz, 214 were either destroyed, damaged, or looted by some of the hundreds of terrorists that overran Nir Oz.
  • Today marks the traditional anniversary of the death of Rachel, the biblical matriarch. To mark the occasion, three “Rachels” meet in this video entitled “Rachel Weeping for her Children” (a famous Biblical verse). Rachel Goldberg-Polin (whose son Hersh was killed while being held hostage by Hamas), along with Rachel Goldberg (whose husband Ari was killed while fighting), is interviewed by Rachel Danziger (daughter of Natan Sharansky).
 
 
 

Jewish Federations Resources

Jewish Federations have produced new one-pagers highlighting the impact of Federations’ emergency allocations for these grantees:

See also these updated resources by Jewish Federations that give insight into specific areas of Federations’ emergency allocations:

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