Daily Briefing Sept. 9: Day 704 – After terror attack, IDF raids shooters’ villages

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 correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

Fabian describes yesterday morning’s Hamas attack at the entrance to an IDF encampment near Gaza City, in which an explosive device was hurled into a tank that caught fire, killing its whole crew.

The IDF has been carrying out strikes on buildings of 10 to 14 floors in Gaza City that Israel says are being used by Hamas for surveillance, in preparation for the army’s planned offensive there, says Fabian.

The army has been telling residents to evacuate Gaza City ahead of the upcoming operation, which Fabian doesn’t believe will begin until more Palestinians have left the area.

Following Monday’s deadly terror attack at the Ramot junction in Jerusalem, the IDF began operating in the two villages where the two terrorists came from, on the outskirts of Ramallah. In addition to possible plans to demolish the terrorists’ families’ homes, civil sanctions have been put in place against the relatives of the attackers and residents of their hometowns, which Fabian sees as a kind of collective punishment.

Fabian also talks about IDF airstrikes on Monday against military compounds in Lebanon belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan force, and in Syria. He notes that Israel has not yet commented on the reason for the Syrian strikes.

The Houthis launched drones at Israel on Monday, and all three were shot down, reports Fabian, including one near the Ramon Airport — which it hit the day before — and one near the southern city of Dimona. Fabian says that the Houthis have launched more than 150 drones since the beginning of the war and 98% of them have been shot down.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Four soldiers killed in Hamas attack on army camp near Gaza City, IDF says

Air Force levels Gaza buildings after Katz vows ‘hurricane in skies of Gaza City’

Six killed, 6 seriously injured in Jerusalem as terrorists open fire on bus, pedestrians

Katz orders crackdown on work permits for those living in same town as Jerusalem attackers

At least five said killed as Israel hits Hezbollah sites in northeast Lebanon

IDF intercepts 3 Houthi drones launched at south, day after attack on Ramon Airport

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

The following is a full transcript of today’s episode:

Jessica Steinberg: Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel Daily Briefing. It is Tuesday, September 9, and I’m Jessica Steinberg. I am speaking today with military correspondent ‘Manny’ Fabian, Emanuel Fabian.

Hi, Manny. How are you doing?

Emanuel Fabian: Hi. Good morning.

Jessica Steinberg: Good morning. It’s good to have you back.

It is day 704 of the war. The [Israel Defense Forces] IDF named the fourth soldier killed in yesterday’s Hamas attack on an army encampment on the outskirts of Gaza City. He was Lieutenant Matan Abramovitz, 21, from Ganei Tikva. The three others were named yesterday evening as Sergeant Uri Lamed, Sergeant Amit Aryeh Regev, and Sergeant Gadi Cotal. Earlier in the day, six people were killed and twelve wounded, six seriously, when two Palestinian terrorists opened fire on cars and pedestrians at Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction. They were named as Levi Yitzhak Pash, Yaakov Pinto, Yisrael Matzner, Rabbi Yosef David, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, and Sarah Mendelson. We’ll talk about what happened in those attacks, the current orders for Gaza City to evacuate as Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatens to raise the Gaza Strip. We’ll also talk about IDF airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and against a military base near the Syrian city of Homs. Stay with us.

OK, Manny, let’s start with the four soldiers, what happened there yesterday and what’s happening in Gaza City now. Let’s start with yesterday’s attack.

Emanuel Fabian: So this incident took place in the early hours of Monday. The soldiers of the 401st Armored Brigades, 52nd Battalion, they’re operating with the Nahal Infantry Brigade. They had completed an overnight activity on the outskirts of Gaza City, sort of near the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. It’s sort of in the northwest of Gaza City. After returning from this activity, they returned to their army encampment, which is a sort of a weak spot for the army there, these mostly static locations that Hamas tries to attack fairly often. And so at around 6 am, three Hamas operatives attacked this encampment. They didn’t manage to actually enter. They attacked a tank that was sort of the entrance to the encampment. They opened fire at the commander of the tank, who was sort of just outside the tank through the open hatch. And then the operatives hurled an explosive device that exploded inside the tank itself, which then caught fire and the entire tank team, all four soldiers, were killed in this attack. The other soldiers in the encampment returned fire. At the fleeing gunmen, the army believes that at least two of the three were hit. And also during this exchange of fire, one of the Nahal soldiers was wounded in the leg. He was listed in moderate condition.

Jessica Steinberg: Okay. And now we’re seeing what looks like or sounds like an uptick in attacks on Gaza City, seemingly clearly related. Can you bring us into that and tell us, you know, sort of what’s been the follow up to yesterday morning’s attack?

Emanuel Fabian: So I wouldn’t say it’s a direct result, but in recent days, the army has been carrying out strikes against high rise towers in Gaza City, taking down, we’re talking about buildings that are 10 to 15 floors. So the taller buildings in Gaza City and Israel says they are being used by Hamas for surveillance, meaning that Hamas sort of set up cameras on the buildings to observe the area in preparation of the army’s planned offensive in Gaza City. The IDF also says that Hamas has planted explosive devices in the areas surrounding the buildings and sort of rigged them up to the buildings to detonate them. And there’s tunnel infrastructure under some of them and there’s sniper posts and others. So we’ve seen in recent days, at least according to the army, around five high rise towers have been raised in strikes. Also, the Palestinians report that, but we’re hearing larger numbers from the Defense Minister and the Prime Minister. They say 30 or even 50 buildings. I think they’re talking about even buildings that are not as high, meaning not just high rise, but just other buildings, even the ones that are two, three or four stories tall. But regardless, there has been many strikes in Gaza City in the past few days, taking out these buildings in preparation of the planned major ground offensive. And speaking of that ground offensive, this morning, the IDF issued its first official evacuation warning for all of Gaza City.

Jessica Steinberg: So, okay. So we have these, right, the first orders to Gazans to evacuate Gaza City alongside or, you know, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s statement about raising the Gaza Strip. So what do you think we’re going to be hearing and seeing over the next hours and days?

Emanuel Fabian: I think what we’ll see is the army reiterating this evacuation warnings for all of, for all the Palestinians in Gaza City. I think we’ll see that over the next coming days. Interestingly, the announcement the army put out this morning also included a phone number for Palestinians to report efforts by Hamas to block civilians from trying to leave Gaza City. The army has identified since the beginning of the war efforts by Hamas to try and stop civilians from leaving areas that the army has ordered to evacuate because Hamas wants to use human shields to prevent strikes on certain areas. So the army has included a public phone number for Palestinians to call in and report such cases. But we will see, I think, more strikes on these high-rise towers before the troops actually move in.
These evacuation warnings will be issued, I think, more than once in the coming days. And then there will be a point where the army begins officially the ground maneuver in Gaza City. We’ve already, I mean, in the past few weeks, the army has been operating on the outskirts of Gaza City. And in all of the eastern neighborhoods, all the neighborhoods that are close to Israel, Zaytun and Shejaiya and Daraj (Quarters). So in the coming days, we will see the army then, I believe, push into the western neighborhoods. Once more, more civilians actually leave. There was estimations that around a million civilians were residing in Gaza City several weeks ago.And we’ve heard that around 100,000 have already left. So there’s still quite a large number of Palestinians still in the area.
So I don’t think a major ground operation will be launched until many of them, or at least most of them, have already started leaving.

Jessica Steinberg: And estimates about when you think that will happen, any sense?

Emanuel Fabian: It’s very hard to say. I mean, if you compare this maybe to what happened in Rafah more than a year ago, when the army launched its ground offensive there, the civilians up and moved out very quickly within about a week and a half, more than a million civilians who were residing in Rafah left. So it’s possible that in this case, again, the army will begin to move in and then everyone will leave.

Jessica Steinberg: Right. OK, let’s turn to yesterday’s terror attack in Jerusalem at a nearby stop in the remote intersection in Jerusalem, which is the northern end of the city. The terror attack unfolded. Six people were killed. Twelve are wounded. We have in our headlines six still seriously. What has been happening since then in the attack towns of the attackers who came from two neighboring towns outside Ramallah? What else are you hearing about that?

Emanuel Fabian: So the army’s been operating in the two villages where the two terrorists came from, Qatanna and Qubeiba. They’re very close to the settlement of Har Adar, which is sort of on the outskirts of Ramallah near Jerusalem, not far from where the attack actually took place. The army overnight measured the two homes of the attackers in preparations for their potential demolition. Of course, as a policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinian terrorists who have carried out deadly attacks or I would say even not just deadly attacks, even other severe attacks where people were just wounded. And this morning, Defense Minister Israel Katz also announced what he called civil sanctions against not just the relatives of the attackers, but also residents of their hometowns, which appears to be some sort of collective punishment.

Jessica Steinberg: More unusual, Manny?

Emanuel Fabian: It’s definitely unusual against the residents of the town. It’s not unprecedented for Israel to revoke. In this case, Katz said he was revoking work permits, 750 work permits from those in the towns. It’s not unprecedented for the family members, the immediate family members or even sometimes extended family members of terrorists to have their work permits revoked. But it is definitely unusual for Katz to announce this also against residents of the villages who are not accused of having any involvement or knowledge of the attack itself. Additionally, Katz said that he ordered the demolition of any illegal structures in the villages, although it’s not exactly clear what that means because both of these villages are in Area B of the West Bank, which is, Israel doesn’t have civil authority there. It’s under the Palestinian Authority [PA]. But it’s possible that it’s referring to buildings that were constructed in the village that are sort of outside the boundaries of Area B and are sort of in Area C already. That’s possibly what he’s referring to. But we’ll see what that actually entails.

Jessica Steinberg: Okay. All right. Let’s take a break. When we’re back, let’s talk about what’s happening in Lebanon and Syria, as well as with the Houthis. So stay with us. Okay.

So yesterday, we also reported IDF strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike against a military base in Syria, which also both of those things have not really happened in a while. What are you hearing about why that was taking place now, this week, in these particular set of days?

Emanuel Fabian: So the strikes in Lebanon yesterday, we saw a strike against Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon, in the eastern Beqaa Valley area. According to the IDF, the strikes hit military compounds belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, where the IDF says that Hezbollah was training operatives for attacks against Israel and using these facilities to also store weapons. And all of this is against or a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. And therefore, these strikes were carried out. This morning, we also saw a strike, which the IDF has not yet confirmed, against a vehicle south of Beirut, a relatively unusual location. Most strikes since the November ceasefire have taken place in southern Lebanon, sometimes a little bit deeper into Lebanon, but rarely near the capital. We don’t know yet who the target of this strike was. The IDF has not yet commented. But the strikes in Lebanon are not particularly unusual. The strike in Syria is slightly more rare. We haven’t seen that many strikes in Syria, at least in recent months. But these strikes in Syria last night hit, according to Syrian media, a military base near Homs. There were also strikes on the coast near Latakia and in other areas of Syria. So relatively widespread strikes. Israel also has not yet commented on this. And it’s sort of unclear yet exactly what was targeted, apart from it, of course, being a military base that we know of. But we will see. Maybe Israel will confirm this. I don’t think Israel will. In this case, it seems to be one of these. There’s been several strikes, at least in the past few months. And there was also an attack, an alleged ground operation south of Damascus a month ago, according to Syrian media, which Israel has not commented on. I think Israel is trying to keep it relatively hush hush again with regards to its operations in Syria, which, of course, come amidst all these reports of potential agreements between Israel and the new Syrian government. Of course, there’s been talks that are ongoing to sort of, I wouldn’t call it normalization, but some sort of agreement between the two countries.

Jessica Steinberg: Right. OK. And then also yesterday, three drones launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen were shot down by the Israeli Air Force over southern Israel. And that was within the space of half an hour, including one which exploded at the Ramon International Airport. So again, not the first time, of course, that we’ve had Houthi drones, but in that particular location. And of course, yesterday was a day of multiple attacks and occurrences. So what can you tell us about that one?

Emanuel Fabian: So, yes, this did get a little buried in the headlines yesterday, but…

Jessica Steinberg: It certainly did, yeah.

Emanuel Fabian: But the Houthis are still launching drones at Israel. They launched three yesterday. They were all shot down. One of them was shot down near Ramon Airport, where a day prior, a drone actually hit the airport terminal building and caused damage. Another drone was shot down near Dimona, the southern city. And there was a third one that was also shot down in the area, but that one didn’t set off any sirens in any towns. The previous two ones, you know, the one near Ramon set off sirens in several towns near the airport. And the other one set off sirens in Dimona and other towns in the area. The Houthis took responsibility. They claimed to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel with one of the drones, Ramon Airport, of course. And they also claimed to have targeted a sensitive target in Dimona. I think we know what that means. But none of these were successful. And most of the Houthi drones launched during the war have not been successful, according to the IDF. More than 150 drones have been launched by the Houthis since the beginning of the war and 98% of them have been shot down. There’s been only a handful of cases of these drones actually impacting, in some cases, also causing deaths and damage. But most of them have been shot down. The incident at Ramon Airport was a failure by the Army, by the Air Force specifically, to actually identify it as a threat. Meaning the drone showed up on the radars, but it was not classified as a threat and therefore nobody went to go intercept it and no siren sounded and it ultimately struck the airport. And one of the more serious Houthi attacks, at least in a while, since the ballistic missile that hit the airport many months ago.

Jessica Steinberg: Right. So it was quite a day yesterday. A day of a lot of attacks and following up and figuring out what it all means together. But hoping for a far, far, far quieter day. Of course, there’ll be a lot of funerals and burials in the hours and days up ahead. So that’s ahead of us.

Okay. Thank you, Manny, for being with me on today’s Daily Briefing. It’s been good to have you here and to have your updates so we can understand a little bit of what’s been going on.

Emanuel Fabian: Thank you.

Jessica Steinberg: And thanks to you for listening to the Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment. This episode is produced by the Podwaves. Feel free to recommend us always to other listeners and rate us wherever you find your podcasts. Until next time, take care. Be well. Have yourselves a good day.

Check out yesterday’s episode here: