Israel News

Israel’s new government ordered airstrikes against militants in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in response to incendiary balloons that crossed into the country from the Palestinian territory.

The IDF carried out a series of airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning in response to over two dozen fires in southern Israel caused by incendiary devices launched from the coastal enclave.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have made clear that Israel will continue the Netanyahu government’s opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement, as international efforts continued to revive the pact abandoned by former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Israeli scientists are developing an oral COVID-19 vaccine that may be ready as a booster shot for humans within nine months, the Times of Israel reports. The vaccine has so far worked well on rats, whose antibody levels increased with no side effects.

Israel’s brand new government may already be tested less than two days after being sworn into office. Hamas and other Palestinian groups are calling for a ‘Day of Rage’ on Tuesday if the planned ‘Flag March’ takes place through Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israel’s longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted from power Sunday by parliament, the Knesset, which approved a new coalition government.

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas, whose support provided the key backing needed for the incoming change government’s majority, vowed to reclaim land in Israel that was “expropriated” from Arab Israelis.

The Knesset swears in the 36th government, appointing the right-wing Naftali Bennett the next prime minister and removing Benjamin Netanyahu from power after 12 consecutive years.

Efforts to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced more challenges on Thursday, as the eight parties forming the new government struggled to seal their coalition agreements.

USAID-funded Palestinian NGOs introduced children to released convicted terrorists, Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor wrote in a report released Thursday.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN and US Gilad Erdan has told Associated Press President Gary Pruitt that the building in which the news agency had its Gaza bureau was destroyed in Israeli strikes last month because that edifice housed a tech unit from which Hamas was working to jam the IDF’s Iron Dome defense system, the Jerusalem Post reports. Following an advanced warning from the IDF, the building was evacuated before it was bombed during May’s 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

At least 11 people were reportedly killed overnight Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

Firefighters battled wildfires raging to the west of Jerusalem throughout Wednesday, with 11 aircraft and 29 response teams deployed.

An alleged Israeli airstrike targeted Syrian territory from Lebanese airspace on Tuesday night, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin will on Monday bring to the Knesset Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid’s statement that he can form a government, setting in motion the process of holding a vote of confidence in the new, eight-party coalition that would oust the current transition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yamina chief Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will share mutual veto power as part of the coalition agreement for the emerging “government for change”, Hebrew media reported Monday evening.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin has confirmed that he will announce on Monday to the plenum that Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid has managed to form a coalition, a technical step that must be met before the Knesset can approve the new government.

The Biden State Department discourages employees from referring to the historic peace agreements signed by Israel and its Arab neighbors by its official name, the Abraham Accords, according to one source with direct knowledge of the Biden administration’s internal decision-making process and emails reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. The name has also been erased from a wide array of official State Department communications as the new administration presses officials to refer to the Trump-era deals as “normalization agreements.”

A belligerent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Sunday that he will act swiftly to bring down the “change coalition” led by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, which is widely expected to be voted into government within days, ending Netanyahu’s remarkable 12-year reign as the head of Israeli government.

Some 600,000 Israelis aged 12-15 are eligible to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus from Sunday.