Pope Francis on Sunday demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and said he prays for an end to “the violence in the Holy Land,” especially in Gaza, where minority Christians are among those suffering.

An Israeli ground offensive appeared underway in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with the Israeli defense minister saying that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

Israel’s army said it has killed a mastermind behind the October 7 attacks that killed 1,400 people in Israel.

The Israeli military said its troops and tanks briefly entered northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, hitting several terrorist targets as a wider ground incursion loomed after more than two weeks of heavy air raids.

Israel’s army has reportedly been testing new chemical devices to seal off gaps or tunnel entrances where fighters may be hiding ahead of a ground offensive into Gaza.

There were fresh concerns about the safety of Israeli soldiers entering Gaza on Thursday after reports that hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters received “specialized combat training” in Iran to prepare them for the October 7 “Black Sabbath” massacres in Israel.

Israel has postponed a planned ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to allow the United States to deploy missile defense systems in the area to safeguard U.S. troops, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported Wednesday.

Israel’s foreign minister condemned United Nations Secretary-General General Antonio Guterres for suggesting that a recent massacre against Israel was linked to Palestinians being “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Israeli warplanes struck Syrian military infrastructure early Wednesday in retaliation for rockets launched from Syria toward Israel, military officials said.

Continuing its supply of military aid to Israel in its ongoing war against the Hamas Palestinian terror group, the US sent its 45th cargo plane of armaments to southern Israel’s Ramon airport at the weekend, All Israel News (AIN) reports.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have taken journalists on tour to share evidence of the horrors of “Black Sabbath” on Saturday, October 7, when Hamas killed over 1,000 Israelis, including men, women, and children.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the Palestinian militant group Hamas set free two more hostages taken captive from Israel in its worst attacks on record.

A commando unit in the Israel Defense Forces has begun using “Iron Sting,” an innovative precision-guided mortar bomb that allows it to strike terrorist targets with significantly reduced collateral damage, i24News reports. Israel has been fighting the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip since the brutal surprise attack and on Israeli civilians of October 7.

The health ministry in Gaza, which is under the control of Hamas, reported on Monday that 436 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours. These casualties occurred as Israeli airstrikes continued in the aftermath of what has been described as one of the worst atrocities against Jewish people since the Holocaust. In Israel, the terrorist attack committed by Hamas on October 6 is now referred to as “Black Sabbath.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern Sunday about the rapidly evolving tensions in the Middle East, suggesting they could escalate into a broader armed conflict involving Iran.

Two Western allies that made peace with Israel decades ago are losing patience with its two-week-old war against Hamas.

An Israeli soldier was killed and three other troops wounded as they entered the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip ahead of an expected massive ground offensive, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Sunday.

Israel’s military said Sunday it would intensify airstrikes on Gaza after “killing dozens of terrorists” in overnight attacks, but it warned Palestinians still in the north of the territory to flee south.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say more than 6,900 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel over the last two weeks, with over 450 failed launch attempts within the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s military released footage early Saturday local time that it said was the airforce hitting “terror targets” in neighboring Lebanon.