Israel News

President Joe Biden’s administration approved the potential sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, and congressional sources said on Monday that U.S. lawmakers were not expected to object to the deal despite violence between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Reports late Tuesday that Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip will cease fire on Thursday morning sparked a flurry of denials from all parties involved, while the White House continued applying behind-the-scenes pressure on Jerusalem to wind down the fighting.

Palestinians and Arab Israelis were participating in a general strike across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza on Tuesday in protest of Israeli policies toward Palestinians.

Israel’s military said Monday that a new heavy wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip destroyed militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders, raising concerns in the White House.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz are in talks to form another unity government as Israel continues to face rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 News reported.

Six rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel late Monday, but they apparently fell short of the border fence. The IDF responded with artillery fire, the army said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday said that it launched strikes at five homes of high-ranking Hamas commanders in aerial attacks, adding that all of the houses were used as part of Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure.

The United Nations suggested Sunday that the Israeli-Palestinian was escalating into a broader Middle East conflict after Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings killing at least 42 people.

Israel’s military has denied allegations that it deliberately targets media offices and accused the militant group Hamas of using journalists as human shields.

Gaza City shook from north to south early Monday as Israeli fighter jets attacked several locations.

Israel came under heavy criticism on Saturday for striking a 12-story tower in Gaza housing the offices of foreign media affiliates such as the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other news outlets. The United States government, AP and Al Jazeera each publicly expressed their concerns with the operation moments after the strike.

Rocket sirens continued to blare throughout the night in Ashkelon and Beersheba, with two separate barrages being aimed at each city, as Gaza terror groups continue their assault on Israel late into the night.

Two people were killed and 167 injured, including five seriously, when a bleacher collapsed under worshipers in a Givat Ze’ev synagogue during Shavuot festival prayers on Sunday evening.

Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Saturday conceded that forces were underprepared for the violence that swept through Jewish-Arab cities this week, particularly amid the ongoing threat of rocket fire from Gaza.

Israel’s military said Friday at least three rockets were fired from Syria towards Israeli territory, a day after missiles were launched towards Israel from Lebanon. 

Israel faked a massive ground offensive into the Gaza Strip to make Hamas group militants there scramble for cover in a vast tunnel network, Israel’s army clarified Friday.

Israeli troops attacked the Gaza Strip early Friday, backed by artillery, tanks, and warplanes, Israel’s military confirmed.

Israel appears to have lost control over the nationwide riots by Arab and Jews as dozens of people were wounded and many detained following a night of unprecedented civil unrest in the country.

As Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip continue to launch rocket after rocket into Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces Thursday said at least three had been fired from Lebanon, the country to the north.

Israel rejected offers of truce on behalf of the Hamas terrorist group, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, at a meeting of the top military brass and security officials occasioned by the sharp escalation between the Jewish state and Gaza-based Islamists.