Israel-Palestinian Conflict

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.

Hamas on Friday night released two hostages — Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter Natalie — who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the terror group’s October 7 assault on Israel.

Israel’s military says some 20 children under the age of 18 are among roughly 200 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, where an Orthodox Church reportedly suffered damage in an air strike, killing many.

A Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians was hit overnight by a deadly Israeli air strike, church officials said, but Israel denied it was the intended target.

The European Union’s legislature says the “Hamas terror group” must be “eliminated” while Israel’s defense minister unfolds a plan for how to make that a reality.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday laid out Israel’s objectives in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying that after the terror group has been destroyed, there will be a new “security reality” in the territory.

The IDF said on Thursday that security forces arrested some 63 Hamas operatives including Ramallah-based Hamas chief Hassan Yousef were among 80 terror suspects detained in overnight West Bank raids bringing the number of suspects in custody since the Hamas attack on October 7, to 524.

The IDF struck sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday, after the terrorist movement continued anti-tank missile attacks against IDF positions and Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades launched about 30 rockets from Lebanon toward Israel.

Israel’s defense minister suggested Thursday that an invasion of Gaza was imminent, telling troops, “You will soon see Gaza from the inside.”

Nearly half a million Israelis have been internally displaced since the brutal surprise attack on civilians in southern Israel by the Hamas Palestinian terror group on October 7, i24News reports. The size of the state of New Jersey in the US, Israel has a population of under 10 million people, including 2.1 million Arab Israelis.

The US Defense Department is deploying the USS Mount Whitney, the command-and-control ship for the U.S. 6th Fleet, to the eastern Mediterranean as an addition to its increasing military presence amid the war between Israel and Hamas, the Washington Times reports.

British Prime Minister Rushi Sunak said Thursday that Britain stands with Israel in its “darkest hour” and wants the Jewish nation to win its declared war against Hamas. “I am proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend,” he told his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the capital. “We will stand with you in solidarity, we will stand with your people, and we also want you to win,” Sunak stressed.

With sirens wailing in northern Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that “nine rocket launches from Lebanon” were detected.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Israel had agreed to let “life-saving” humanitarian aid into Gaza, but the Jewish nation’s government made clear it was limited in scope and would be allowed only to enter from Egypt.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned Wednesday that a number of Palestinian terrorists may still be hiding in the Negev region of southern Israel after infiltrating during the brutal surprise attack on Israeli citizens by up to 2,000 members of the Hamas terror group on October 7, i24News reports.

The Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas will pay the families of Hamas terrorists killed by Israel an estimated combined total payment of $2.8 million under a “pay-for-slay” system, the Jerusalem Post reports. The PA governs the West Bank, and is a political rival of Hamas, but it is still expected to reward the families of Hamas terrorists who kill Israelis.

As rocket sirens wailed in some areas Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden landed in Israel, where he praised Israeli “bravery” and assured the Jewish nation that the United States supported its battle against the enemy.