The most urgent “humanitarian issue” in Gaza is the 129 hostages still held by Hamas, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Jerusalem Monday. A terrorist who took part in the October 7 attack was captured in Gaza, while a wounded IDF soldier recounted how he took out two terrorists attacking him.

Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion and the 188th Armored Brigade on Monday destroyed “Palestine Square” in Gaza City’s Shejaia neighborhood, including smashing a Hamas statue commemorating the killing of Golani soldiers during the 2014 Gaza war, JNS reported.

A terrorist from Hamas’ “Nukhba Force” and a terrorist who participated in the October 7 massacre were captured in a school in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, Arutz Sheva reports.

“The terrorists were captured during a raid on the school on Friday by soldiers from the IDF’s 401st Brigade. During the battle, many Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists holed up in the school were killed or captured. The captured terrorists were turned over to Unit 504 of the Intelligence Directorate,” Arutz Sheva wrote

The IDF announced that the 252nd Division has completed its operation in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, which has taken the last few weeks. The division destroyed the main tunnels in the area and killed terrorists. Infantry, armor, engineering forces, and fire support from the 252nd Division were used to defeat the Beit Hanoun Brigade of Hamas, including taking over command centers and outposts of the terrorist organization, among them schools and public buildings in which tunnel entrances and munitions were found.

The Division killed numerous terrorists and destroyed munitions depots, rocket launchers aimed at Israel, and underground command centers that served Hamas. The underground infrastructure used by Hamas in the area was significantly damaged, and both tunnel entrances and central portions of the tunnels were destroyed.

Watch: IDF forces eliminate Hamas terrorist hiding in tunnel

A soldier from the IDF’s Yahalom special forces unit who was injured by a grenade in a face-to-face engagement with terrorists recounted how he took out the two terrorists attacking him.

“The first terrorist came at me. I fired a volley and he fell towards me,” the soldier recounts. “I knew they knew I was there. Another grenade came at me, and I pulled back to a corner and it exploded. I spotted the second terrorist pulling out another grenade and fired a volley at him. I realized there were no more terrorists in the immediate area, and collapsed.”

The engagement was captured on his helmet camera. He recounted the experience in person for the first time for Arutz Sheva: “The engagement took place at point-blank range in a building in the Shajiya region of Gaza. The soldier fought on despite his wounds and killed the two terrorists engaging him. He is currently recovering from his injuries in hospital care.”

Watch: IDF troops find an explosive device planted in a medical clinic

US Secretary of Defense and former Raytheon lobbyist Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahun and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Jerusalem. Gallant called the “129 hostages still held in Gaza  the most (pressing) humanitarian issue.”

“The State of Israel values U.S. leadership, and we will support international efforts,” he added. “At the same time, we maintain the right to take all the actions necessary, to defend our sovereignty and our citizens,” Gallant said.

“We’re fighting a war of civilization against barbarism,” Netanyahu told Austin prior to their meeting at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Israel’s prime minister stressed his country’s “commitment to achieve total victory against Hamas.”

You are looking at 5,000,000 NIS, which is roughly over $1,000,000.

These funds—found inside a senior Hamas terrorist’s residence— were designated for terrorist activity.

What could this money have been used for? Provisions of clean water, electricity and fuel for the… pic.twitter.com/kQFvg4v2ip

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 18, 2023

The Wall Street Journal warned that Israel’s concessions to the Biden Regime to minimize civilian casualties while combating guerilla terrorists who hide among civilians have increased the risk to IDF soldiers.

“Israel fights on because it has no other choice if it wants to survive as a state,”  the WSJ Editorial Board wrote. “But many nations see these U.N. votes as consequence-free gestures for peace or solidarity. That a cease-fire now would mean a Hamas victory and the death of Israeli deterrence, bringing on the next massacre and the next war, doesn’t concern them.”

“Jerusalem has made concessions to appease President Biden and Secretary Blinken. It is now telegraphing its attacks to the enemy so civilians can flee, and it is using a smaller force with less reliance on air power and artillery. As a result, Israel is taking more casualties. The rising fatality rate is noticed in Israel, if nowhere else,” the WSJ Editorial Board said.

“Israel gets little credit for its sacrifices. Mr. Biden even criticized it Tuesday for “indiscriminate bombing,” a slander so belied by the evidence that the White House tried to walk it back. Civilian casualties in Gaza are tragic, but they are mainly a result of Hamas’s way of embedding in what should be safe civilian spaces.”

“Israel has no good choices here, but America does. The President can focus on supporting a U.S. ally in vanquishing a genocidal enemy,” the WSJ wrote.

ELIMINATED: Subhi Ferwana.

Alongside his brother, he funneled tens of millions through his company ‘Hamsat’ to fund Hamas’ military forces, terrorists’ salaries and war activities.

The IDF, ISA and other security forces will continue their efforts to dismantle Hamas’ funding… pic.twitter.com/t8KrSAAjV2

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 19, 2023

“The Biden administration is working assiduously to block Israel from defeating Hamas or contending coherently or effectively with the growing existential threats it faces from Iran and Iran’s Lebanese and Yemeni proxies”, journalist Caroline Glick charged. “To force Israel to stand down, President Joe Biden’s top advisers are descending on Israel one after another to pressure and coerce Jerusalem to limit its military operations in Gaza, Lebanon and the Red Sea.”

“Insisting that this “diplomatic solution” is a viable alternative to war, the administration is demanding that Israel do nothing to physically secure its territory from Hezbollah terror forces and missiles,” Glick wrote. “As for Iran, the United States showed its continued subservience to the idea that Iran is a responsible regional power last week when it unfroze another $10 billion in Iranian revenue, which had been frozen under U.S. sanctions. Since Oct. 7, the United States has enabled the transfer of $16 billion to Iran.”

“Why is the United States leveraging its position as Israel’s primary arms supplier and diplomatic shield at the United Nations—that is, its position as Israel’s ally—to compel an Israeli military defeat at the hands of Iran and its proxies, in a war that Israel rightly views as an existential conflict just as fateful as its 1948 War of Independence? The answer is politics,” Glick wrote.

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