GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 694

Hamas Is Desperate

Houthi Leaders Hit

Israel is amping up the pressure on the Houthi rebels as seen in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

The IAF on Thursday attacked a group of top Houthi military officials in Sanaa who were watching the Houthi leader give a nationally televised speech.

Israel really means business when they go after the leaders of the Houthis and they did just that:

Public broadcaster KAN, citing Yemeni media, reported that Houthi Prime Minister Ghalib al-Rahawi was killed in the attack. Yemen's Al-Jumhuriya channel reported that al-Rahwi was in an apartment alongside several colleagues when he was killed.

It is likely that the Houthis' Defense Minister, Mohammad Nasser al-Athifi, and Chief of Staff, Mohammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, were killed in the attack.

Other sources seem to confirm the deaths, but Israel and the Houthis haven’t yet:

However, no official death statements for the three Houthi leaders have been released, and Israeli media were careful to emphasize that their status is unknown at this time.

Probably seeing the writing on the wall, they were in hiding:

Al-Hadath reported that the IAF targeted homes where senior Houthi officials were hiding in Sanaa. Arab media reported that there were around 10 attacks in Sanaa.

Israeli leaders eyes were on Yemen during the strikes:

Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir monitored the attack from IDF headquarters, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following from a secure "red phone."

The IDF knew exactly who they were after and they came after the Houthis provoked them:

The IDF confirmed that it struck targets in Sanna related to Houthi rule and governance. The attacks come after the IDF shot down two drones earlier on Thursday, launched by the Houthis against Israel. In addition, the IDF struck the Houthi capital of Sanaa, including ballistic missile sites and electricity sites on Sunday.

Katz used a Biblical reference about the strikes:

Katz warned after the attacks that "after the strike of darkness, comes the strike on the firstborn. Anyone who raises a hand against Israel – their hand will be severed."

Again, Israel was responding to recent attacks:

The Houthis, for their part, fired ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday of last week and Wednesday of this week.

No one should be surprised by the attacks from either side:

Yemen's Houthis have been attacking Israel with missiles and drones since October 19, 2023, with Israel only starting counterstrikes in July 2024.

This isn’t the end of the fighting either:

None of Israel's attacks to date have succeeded at stopping Houthi missiles and drones, but also no Houthi weapon has killed an Israeli since July 2024.

Hamas Crosses Another Line

In a sign that Hamas is in real trouble, the terrorists made some telling statements about the hostages as we read in another report from The Jerusalem Post:

Hamas’s military wing spokesperson, Abu Obeida, declared on Friday that Israeli hostages are being held alongside its fighters in combat zones under the same perilous conditions, as Israel intensifies preparations for a full-scale invasion of Gaza City.

Hamas wants everyone to know that harming any hostage will be solely because of the IDF:

“We will preserve the lives of the captives to the extent that we can,” the terror group said. “They will remain with our fighters in the places of confrontation, exposed to the same risks.”

Hamas added that for every hostage killed as a result of Israeli military action, it would publish the individual’s name, photograph, and proof of death.

This also means that Israel is doing exactly what needs to be done:

The statement comes as the IDF prepares for a Gaza City offensive, having already initiated the initial phases of the operation. The city has been the focal point of heavy fighting earlier in the war and remains a strategic stronghold for Hamas. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved operational plans for the takeover of Gaza City and directed the resumption of hostage negotiations—on Israel’s terms. The decision followed weeks of pressure from hostage families and security officials concerned for the hostages' fate.

Calling in more troops signals that they mean business:

In parallel, the IDF has mobilized approximately 60,000 reservists in anticipation of what is expected to be one of the largest ground campaigns since the war began in October 2023.

Of course the calls of starvation are ramping up in the north and it’s not a coincidence:

Gaza City has now been designated a combat zone by the IDF, underscoring the intensity of the campaign. While humanitarian pauses are in effect in parts of central and southern Gaza, they do not apply to the north, and particularly not to Gaza City.

Amidst all the military tensions, some good news happened:

On Friday, the IDF and Shin Bet recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss, who was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7 massacre. They also retrieved what appears to be the remains of a second hostage, whose identity is currently being verified through forensic analysis.

To us, finding bodies is not a good thing, but to Israelis it means that the hostage can be redeemed. And it reaffirms a major reason the war against Hamas is taking so much longer compared to the ones against Hezbollah and Iran whose military might dwarf that of Hamas. Hamas has hostages. Once those hostages are not in the equation, these terrorists won’t have any leverage left which means that killing them is a threat that they will never follow through unless it is done with their last breaths. We should pray that Israel rescues them before that is even an option.