Gallant: The maritime Gaza aid will speed up toppling Hamas

Israel will “make sure that the [humanitarian] aid gets to those who need it and does not get to those who do not need it,” like Hamas, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday.

The aid project was fully coordinated between Israel, the US, the UAE, and others, he said.

Allied aid ships are expected to depart Cyprus for Gaza as early as Monday to make the first delivery.

Sometime over the next two months, the artificial platforms developed by the US for receiving and delivering aid to Gaza are expected to be established.

Gallant watched the progress up close on Sunday from an Israel Navy Dvora boat along with the commander of the Israel Navy, V.-Adm. David Saar Salama.

The messaging from Gallant was that if Hamas loses control of the food aid coming in, it will remove one of its last grips on the loyalty of the population.

Blindsiding the IDF 

Despite Gallant’s spin, when the US announced the initiative last Thursday, sources close to the defense minister and multiple senior IDF sources were caught blindsided. It was unclear if they had no idea that the initiative was happening at all, or if it had been discussed theoretically at some point, and they only did not realize that the US had moved up the timetable.

It was hours before any Israeli defense official knew how to even respond to the question of what the US meant by “establishing a port.”

As of press time, the Prime Minister’s Office had not clarified whether it was in the loop or if the US had made the decision unilaterally.

In the North, Hezbollah fired almost 40 rockets at Israel, launched a drone, and attempted to hit an anti-tank missile. This set off around 58 rocket sirens. No casualties were reported.

On Saturday night, IAF aircraft struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Ayta ash-Shab, a launch post for anti-tank rockets in the area of Maroun al-Ras, and a military structure in the area of Khirbet Selm, where Hezbollah terrorists were sighted.

On Sunday morning, Hezbollah announced the deaths of three of its members. Five terrorists were killed and at least nine wounded by a strike in the village of Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon, according to reports.

Hezbollah said its larger-than-usual barrage on Sunday was in response to the attack on Saturday night.

On Sunday afternoon, the IDF struck a terrorist squad that was preparing to fire an anti-tank missile from the Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) area of southern Lebanon.

In Gaza, an IAF airstrike killed the terrorist responsible for the death of Maj. (res.) Amishar Ben David, the IDF said Sunday.

Ben David, who fell in combat in southern Gaza on Friday, was the cousin of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He was 45 years old.

The operation to kill the terrorist was coordinated between Egoz commandos on the ground and the IAF.Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Michael Gal, 29, of Jerusalem was killed in southern Gaza, the IDF said.

Soldiers from the Nahal Brigade continued to fight in central Gaza and killed 13 Hamas terrorists, the IDF said. The terrorists were eliminated via sniper fire, tank fire, and airstrikes.

In one of the attacks, a drone detected a terrorist squad operating underground, which was then killed by an airstrike. Another five terrorists were killed in another attack, the IDF said.

On Saturday night, soldiers were fired at. Fighter jets along with artillery responded to the source of the fire, the IDF said.

Face-to-face battles between IDF commandos and Hamas terrorists took place in Khan Yunis, with support from the IAF.Within the past day, the IDF said it had killed 17 terrorists in a series of attacks in Khan Yunis, adding that soldiers from the Maglan Unit discovered weapons, including Kalashnikovs and grenades, as well as ammunition.In one raid, two Hamas terrorists surrendered to the soldiers, the IDF said.

Airstrikes continued overnight, targeting terrorist infrastructure in the Jabalya and Beit Hanun areas.

Since the beginning of the war, seven aerial logistical supply operations have been conducted by the aerial supply unit of the Marom Brigade, the IDF said Sunday. About 110 tons of supplies were airdropped for the forces operating in Gaza, it said.