Israel News

Ireland, Norway, and Spain announced Wednesday that they would recognize a Palestinian state, prompting Israel to withdraw ambassadors.

Nearly one million non-combatant Palestinians have now been evacuated from Rafah, a city on the border of Egypt and the Gaza Strip which Israel believes is hiding four remaining Hamas battalions and 128 Israeli hostages.

Leaders of several countries have expressed “unease” and outrage over the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor’s decision to seek the arrest of Israeli leaders and “Islamist terrorist organization” Hamas for atrocities.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have been discussing a “semi-final” version of draft security agreements, which would include a two-state solution that resolves the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Saturday issued Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an ultimatum, asserting that he will remove his centrist National Unity party from the government and return to the opposition unless the PM commits to an agreed-upon plan to resolve the Gaza conflict by June 8, the Time of Israel (TOI) reports.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that it had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes related to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike allegedly killed at least 27 people in central Gaza, primarily women and children, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced criticism from within the War Cabinet over his handling of the war in Gaza.

The United Nations (UN) reported that 800,000 civilians have been “forced to flee” from Rafah since the IDF began its operation in the city’s east. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that two soldiers were killed in combat in southern Gaza the previous day. Meanwhile, Hamas terrorists launched rockets at southern Israel as military operations intensified.

Israel’s military says its troops in Gaza have found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its October 7 attack in Israel, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.

The first shipment of humanitarian aid has arrived in Gaza via a temporary floating pier anchored to a beach of the war-torn enclave, the U.S. and Israeli military confirmed Friday.

Israel anxiously entered the “Shabbat,” the weekly Jewish day of rest, after the 22-member Arab League sought to dispatch troops to Jerusalem, Judea, and Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.

Israel’s military suffered setbacks Thursday after officials confirmed that five troops were killed in a “friendly fire” incident in Gaza while elsewhere, an Israeli air force base in northern Israel was hit by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

Amid heightened tensions with Egypt since Israel began its ground operation against Hamas in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday intimated that Egypt was holding Gazan civilians “hostage” by not working with him to reopen the Rafah Border Crossing for humanitarian aid to enter the war-torn enclave, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

Israel came under pressure Wednesday to accept an independent Palestinian state as Arab countries plan to join a U.S.-led peacekeeping force in wartorn Gaza, Western and Arab officials confirmed Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) clashed on Wednesday over the future governance of the Gaza Strip after the current war with Hamas, exposing divisions within the ruling Israeli coalition government.

Israeli tanks advanced deeper into eastern Rafah on Tuesday, reaching residential areas of the southern border city, where over a million displaced individuals had sought refuge amid the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli military has intensified its operations in northern and central Gaza and Rafah, urging more neighborhoods to move to designated safe zones over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft struck over 120 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip, as detailed in a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday.

Israel began its 76th Independence Day with subdued celebrations due to ongoing conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The annual torch-lighting ceremony was pre-recorded and broadcast Monday night, marking the first Independence Day since the escalation of hostilities on October 7.

Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have announced they reject Israel’s suggestion that Arab countries control civil administration in the Gaza Strip after the current Israeli-Hamas war there has ended, the Jerusalem Post reports.

At 8 pm local time on Sunday, May 22, Israel came to “a halt for 24 hours” to mark “one of the most difficult Memorial Days since our country’s founding,” Israel’s government said.