Hamas remains firm on hostage deal terms, Hezbollah responsible for rocket attack on UNIFIL post

The IDF announced on Tuesday the deaths of four soldiers who fell in battle against Hamas in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.

The soldiers served in the IDF's Multidimensional Unit. The were reportedly killed by an explosive device, Hebrew media reported. They entered a building to clean and scan the area in the Palestinian city at 3 a.m., according to Maariv.

Hamas has stood firm on its terms for a hostage deal as negotiators have pushed for a mini-agreement that could lead to the framework for the full release of the remaining 101 captives.

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday that the group was open to discussing a deal that secures an end to the war in Gaza and a complete IDF pull-out. This has been Hamas’s consistent position.

“The movement has confirmed it is open to any deal or ideas that ends the suffering of our people in Gaza and achieves a permanent ceasefire and the occupation’s withdrawal from all of [the] Gaza Strip,” Sami Abu Zuhri said in a televised speech. He acknowledged that Hamas was studying new proposals from mediators for a hostage and ceasefire deal.

Following the sirens that were activated in the Upper Galilee area on Tuesday evening, approximately 30 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, the military said. 

The IDF noted that most projectiles fell in open areas.     

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held a situational assessment at the IDF Northern Command on Tuesday morning, Israeli media reported. 

Gallant emphasized the progress of the ground operations in southern Lebanon aimed at dismantling Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure and the goal of returning residents of northern Israel to their homes. 

He said, "The achievements of the IDF in Lebanon are extremely impressive. We have eliminated the chain of command and control of Hezbollah, and I estimate the missile and rocket capability they have left is at 20%."

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday that the terror group was open to discussing a deal that secures an end to the war in Gaza and a complete IDF withdrawal.

Israel's military chief warned Iran on Tuesday to stand down from any retaliation for Israel's airstrikes near Tehran last week, which followed an Iranian missile barrage on October 1.

"If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran, with capabilities that we did not even use this time," chief of the general staff Herzi Halevi told air and ground crews who took part in the strike on Iran against missile factories and other sites last Saturday.

Soldiers from the Golani Brigade arrested Radwan terrorists, including the commander of Hezbollah in Ayta ash Shab, the military said on Tuesday evening. 

The IDF has allegedly used Palestinians to enter booby-trapped buildings and houses in Gaza, an anonymous soldier claimed in a CNN interview last Thursday.

The soldier, who was connected to CNN via left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence, told CNN that his unit held two Palestinian prisoners and reportedly used them as human shields to enter and probe potentially dangerous places in Gaza. The soldier also claimed that this use of Palestinians was common among Israeli units operating in the Gaza Strip.

The scale of this practice, according to CNN's report, is not explicitly known, but the news organization cited the soldier and five former Palestinian detainees that the practice was commonly used in areas such as northern Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. 

The IDF uncovered a command center eight meters underground belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization on Tuesday in southern Lebanon - and additionally later found a site containing half a ton of explosives in another underground terrorist infrastructure.

The soldiers who conducted this operation were of the military's 2nd Brigade, under the 146th Division's command with other soldiers from the Yahalom Unit. The command center was later destroyed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting on Tuesday evening with several ministers and the heads of the military and intelligence community about the talks on a diplomatic solution to the war in Lebanon, an Axios reporter said on X, citing two sources.