Browsing: Middle East

Israeli forces encountered terrorists who were trying to breach the border who were equipped with small arms and RPG rockets, and opened fire on the IDF troops. IDF confirms death of a soldier killed in the pre-dawn attack in the area of Rafah, on the Israel-Gaza border. Sergeant Major Zeed Mazarib, 34, was a tracker in Bedouin patrol unit in the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade. He was from the town of Zarzir, near Nazareth, in northern Israel. His death raises the total number of soldiers killed in the Gaza operation to 290. An IDF investigation into the incident is still…

Hostages Families Forum Headquarters welcomes joint statement by 17 countries demanding Hamas accept ceasefire proposed by President Biden and release the hostages. The leaders of 17 nations, including the United States, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, published a joint statement today calling on Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal outlined by US President Joe Biden last week and to release the hostages. The joint statement reads, “As leaders of countries deeply concerned for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including many of our own citizens,…

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Turkey’s Islamist and increasingly dangerous leader called on the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims on Wednesday to unify and take action against Israel. He also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bloodthirsty, genocidal “vampire.” “I have some words to say to the Islamic world,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Turkish parliament members. “What are you waiting for to take a common decision?” “Israel is not just a threat to Gaza but to all of humanity,” Erdoğan insisted. “O, leaders of the American state, this blood is on your hands also,” he added. “You are responsible for this genocide at…

The clip released by Gaza-based Islamist terror group is assumed to have been  filmed recently in continued attempts at psychological warfare The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization situated in Gaza on Thursday released a second clip showing hostage Sasha Trufanov after the terror group released a previous video earlier in the week. Sasha was kidnapped on October 7, along with his mother, Yelena; his grandmother, Irena Tati; and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His father was murdered during the massacre. The three women were released in the hostage deal at the end of…

The clip released by Gaza-based Islamist terror group is assumed to have been  filmed recently in continued attempts at psychological warfare The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization situated in Gaza on Thursday released a second clip showing hostage Sasha Trufanov after the terror group released a previous video earlier in the week. asha was kidnapped on October 7, along with his mother, Yelena; his grandmother, Irena Tati; and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His father was murdered during the massacre. The three women were released in the hostage deal at the end of…

International investigation establishes links between European criminal gangs attempting to attack Israeli embassies and Iran. Ahead of the Olympic games in Paris, France, Israeli intelligence services—Mossad, Shin Bet, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Intelligence, as well as the National Security Council—exposed Iranian sponsorship of terrorist activity targeting Israelis and Jews across Europe, the Israeli authorities said on Thursday. Working with the European partners, Israeli intelligence discovered that two criminal networks—FOXTROT and RUMBA—were behind some of the recent attempted terrorist attacks in Europe. Namely, the statement mentions the incident in which two grenades were thrown at Israeli embassy in Brussels, Belgium…

Military spokesman Daniel Hagari says Hamas positioned rocket launchers in ‘Philadelphi Route’ hoping to dissuade Israel from striking close to the Egyptian border. The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it had established “operational control” over the entire so-called Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border, discovering dozens of rocket launchers and at least 20 cross-border smuggling tunnels there so far. At a press conference Wednesday evening, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the now-captured strip of land, which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border, served as “Hamas’s oxygen pipeline” for…

Israel’s ambassador to Germany strongly criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office for saying that if the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues a warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would be arrested if he steps on German soil. When asked if Germany would obey the ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest, Chancellor Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, responded, “Of course. Yes, we abide by the law.” Israel’s ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor condemned the statement on X, and wrote, “This is outrageous! The public statement that Israel has the right to self-defense loses credibility if our hands are tied as soon as…

Soldiers operating in Zeitoun found food forcibly taken by Hamas from humanitarian aid distributors. The terror organization first distributed the aid to its operatives and then to the civilians in the area. IDF soldiers from the Nahal Brigade who raided the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza this week were surprised to find large quantities of food that came via humanitarian aid trucks in Hamas hideouts. Yoav Zitun reported on Ynet that alongside the weapons caches, Hamas hid in their stronghold that they reestablished in Zeitoun tons of packaged food, which came in humanitarian aid shipments from the southern Gaza Strip and…

As of 2023, Turkey was Israel’s fourth-largest trading partner and represented a major trading route and supplier of kosher food. The trade ban Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed on Israel to protest its war against Gaza has harmed both countries economically and may pose a particular danger to the kosher food industry. Although Israeli and Turkish leaders have often engaged in a war of words, their trading ties have been generally healthy, and relations between the countries had reached a high point prior to October 7th. However, given Erdogan’s support for Hamas and pressure from his citizens, on May…