Hezbollah launched a series of rockets at cities and towns across northern Israel on Sunday, resulting in 33 air raid sirens being activated, the most in recent times. In addition to this, the IDF took control of the Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigade headquarters in Gaza and announced the death of a soldier, Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Shimon Yehoshua Asulin in battle in southern Gaza.
At midday, IDF aircraft targeted Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, including rocket launchers and observation posts in Blida and Meis el-Jabal. Rockets from Lebanon were identified approaching the Israeli border, leading to rocket alarms in several northern Israeli communities such as Kiryat Shmona, Manara, Margaliot, and Metulla. As the day progressed, more communities came under fire, with no casualties reported in Israel, as most of its 80,000 residents had evacuated back in October.
Despite Hezbollah’s rocket barrage on Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed that the IDF was making significant progress in pushing back Hezbollah’s ground forces to the Litani River. Gallant mentioned that the IDF’s growing success was reducing the likelihood of a full-scale war being necessary to restore security on the northern border. The IDF has already pushed back 75% of the elite Radwan forces to the Litani River and destroyed 85-95% of Hezbollah’s lookout posts in southern Lebanon.
Even after gaining operational control in Khan Yunis, IDF sources acknowledged that there would still be fighting against smaller remaining terrorist cells, as these groups are disconnected from the larger Hamas collective command structure. The Givati brigade had eliminated 550 Hamas terrorists on the ground, with an additional 250 using air support. As of Sunday, 14 Hamas members had been killed by the IDF. Over five days, the IDF evacuated around 120,000 Palestinians in Khan Yunis and arrested and interrogated some 500 Hamas fighters, leading to significant intelligence gains.
Although IDF sources reported indications of Hamas’s leadership and the Israeli hostages they are holding captive in Khan Yunis, there was no concrete discussion of locating them immediately. The IDF has not yet finalized the terms with Egypt for entering Rafah to search for four Hamas battalions among at least 1.5 million civilians.
On Sunday, the IDF announced the death of Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Shimon Yehoshua Asulin in a battle in southern Gaza. Asulin had been released from duty around 75 days ago but was called back to a unit in southern Gaza last Wednesday before being killed. Efforts are being made to coordinate with Egypt to evacuate civilians from Rafah to the north to alleviate the situation.
Despite concerns expressed by a UN office about the impact of hostilities in Khan Yunis forcing more people into Rafah and the potential consequences if the war moves to Rafah, IDF sources indicated that there were no immediate plans for an operation in Rafah. Jerusalem Post Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
