Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Activities

A terror attack took place just outside Jerusalem this morning. At least one Israeli was killed and eleven were wounded, with some in serious condition, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman. Three terrorists who opened fire on cars waiting in traffic were all killed. Hamas referred to the attack as a “heroic operation.”

The IDF has launched a large-scale operation in a Gaza City neighborhood, during which troops have been raiding Hamas sites and killing terrorists. Over the past day, the IDF directed airstrikes against ten Hamas sites in the area, and have located and destroyed a rocket launcher that had been readied for an attack on Israel.

Meanwhile, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, IDF troops killed more than fifteen Hamas operatives in fighting, while the Navy carried out strikes against vessels belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Numerous tunnels were also destroyed.

Despite considerable international opposition, senior Israeli officials continue to say that the IDF will fight Hamas in the city of Rafah to destroy the last significant bastions of Hamas power.

The IDF has also advanced plans to establish a local Palestinian governing body to replace Hamas in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, in what is seen as a pilot program for “the day after.” IDF officials have already met with a group of unnamed Palestinian community leaders who will be tasked with governing residents of the area who did not flee southward due to the fighting. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel wants local Palestinian community leaders who are not affiliated with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to take over the governance of Gaza after the war.

JEWISH FEDERATIONS AND PARTNERS

One of the many projects being supported by Jewish Federations through the Israel Emergency Campaign is a program for midwives to support pregnant women affected by the war, including those whose partners may have been killed, evacuees and others. More than 100 midwives are partnering with the Israel Midwives Association and the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization to accompany women through their pregnancy and delivery; they are providing emotional, practical, and other support. Read more here.

Last week, the US Senate passed the “National Security Act,” a supplemental appropriations bill for military aid to both Israel and Ukraine, along with a significant increase to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). On Wednesday, Jewish Federations took out full-page ads, signed by additional Jewish organizations, in Politico and The Hill to show gratitude to the 70 senators who voted for the bill. To read Federations’ leadership message, click here. For more details on the Act, click here. And to read Federation Chair Julie Platt’s op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, click here. For an Action Alert encouraging the House to take up the bill, click here.