Daily Briefing Mar. 24: Day 535 – IDF strikes Hamas leadership, preps for larger operation

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s Daily Briefing.

An 85-year-old man has been shot dead in a terror attack near the northern town of Yokne’am. Another person, later identified as a 20-year-old soldier, was seriously injured. Fabian updates us with initial accounts of the attack.

A string of senior Hamas officials have been targeted by the IDF in the past week. We learn about the uptick in their assassinations and who several of these figures are.

On Sunday morning, the IDF announced that it had restarted ground operations in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun a day earlier. With the former humanitarian zone no longer in use, the IDF said that it was enabling Palestinian civilians to evacuate the “combat zone for their safety.” We learn where the IDF is currently operating.

Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said on Friday, that he had instructed the IDF to seize additional areas of the Gaza Strip if Hamas refused to release hostages, stating, “As long as Hamas continues its refusal, it will lose more and more land that will be added to Israel.” Also this week, we learned that during a visit to Washington DC this week, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will discuss with senior US officials a plan for Israeli military control over the Gaza Strip. We ask Fabian: With its current manpower shortages, is the IDF capable of controlling the Strip?

Days after six rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, which drew dozens of Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah in return, the terror group has denied any involvement in the Saturday rocket attack on Metula, and called Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon.” So, if not Hezbollah, who could it have been?

Even as there is still no governmental commission to probe the failures leading to the October 7 massacre, the new Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Saturday announced that he had appointed an external panel of former senior officers to evaluate the military’s probes into Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught. What is the end game of this new commission?

This conversation can also be viewed here:

Please see today’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Elderly man killed as terrorist rams bus stop, opens fire on cars in north

Senior Hamas official killed in targeted strike on Gaza hospital as IDF widens offensive

IDF strike in south Gaza kills senior Hamas official; ground ops restart in Beit Hanoun

Israel to discuss taking full military control of Gaza with senior US officials: source

IDF strike kills Hezbollah operative in Lebanon, day after rocket fire at Metula

New IDF chief appoints external panel to evaluate army’s Oct. 7 probes, implement findings

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

Check out yesterday’s Daily Briefing episode here: