Browsing: Middle East

Israel struck a Hamas terror cell in southern Syria and a command center of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group in Damascus this week, Israeli media reported. The Hamas cell was struck by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday after planning to carry out terror attacks in the Israeli Golan Heights, Channel 12 News reported Wednesday evening. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) target in Damascus was struck. The IDF stated that the site was used for planning and coordinating terrorist activities against Israel. “Wherever terrorist activity is…

The family of Avinatan Or (32) received a sign of life from one of the returning hostages, Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday. Or’s family had not received any sign of life since his capture by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and they were not sure he was still alive. The indication that Or was alive came from interviews with a released hostage, who reported being held with him in harsh conditions, deprived of food and given very little water. According to the information received, Or is being held in the central camps in the Gaza Strip. His brother…

Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Druze communities in Syria over the past few weeks, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, in a further sign of Israel’s support for the minority group. “In an operation conducted over the past few weeks, 10,000 packages of humanitarian aid were thus far delivered to the Druze community in the battle areas of Syria,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The packages included basic goods like oil, flour, salt and sugar, and were mostly delivered to the southern province of Suwayda, the Foreign Ministry said. The Druze, an Arab minority present in Syria,…

Israel has halted the humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced on Sunday, March 2, shortly after the hostage-ceasefire deal expired. An Israeli official told Israeli media that the move came in full coordination with the Trump administration. “With the completion of the first phase of the hostage deal and in light of Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff framework for continuing negotiations — which Israel had agreed to — Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be halted,” the…

Israel’s new IDF chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, has vowed to achieve an Israeli military victory over its enemies despite many existing challenges. “Enemies near and far have sought to destroy us. They mistakenly believed that our spirit was weak and our ranks were fractured,” Zamir wrote in his first official order to IDF soldiers. He openly admitted that the Israeli military failed to protect the Israeli border communities during the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack. “The Israel Defense Forces did not fulfill its mission on October 7. We will not hide it, nor will we cover it up,” Zamir pledged.…

The United States has formally redesignated the Yemeni Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” according to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This announcement is in line with the promise made by President Donald Trump three days after he took office last month. The measure imposes more severe economic sanctions than those applied by Joe Biden’s administration to the Iran-aligned group, officially known as Ansar Allah. This decision follows the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and on American warships defending this crucial maritime passage point. At the beginning of his presidential term…

The Health Ministry and the National Cyber Security Authority announced suspicions on Thursday that the Doctor’s Visit clinic network had been targeted in a cyber attack. A joint statement said that the network’s information security teams are investigating the event, including examining whether information was leaked and its nature. At this stage, it is too early to determine, but Israeli authorities are prepared for any scenario. The Doctor’s Visit clinics are operating as usual and are continuing to provide medical treatment. “The company identified at the beginning of the week an indication of a cyber event carried out by Iranian…

Liri Albag is one of the female lookouts who survived the Hamas terror attack at the IDF base where she was serving on October 7th. In an interview to be broadcast on Channel 12, Albag shared the horrors she experienced that day and the feeling of fear that took over her. “Since October 7th I have been living in one long nightmare, waiting for someone to wake me up, to tell me, ‘It was all a dream; it didn’t really happen,’ but unfortunately it did,” she said sadly. On the moment when the terrorists infiltrated the base, she said: “There was a look…

On October 7, the battle at sea ended in less than an hour thanks to a swift response from IDF Navy forces, even though no reinforcements were sent to the coastline overnight, even after warning signs emerged. The Navy had even been instructed not to raise its alert level, yet still managed to eliminate about half of the Hamas terrorists who attempted to infiltrate by sea. However, those who did make it ashore murdered 17 people at Zikim beach, near the Gaza border. As part of the IDF’s core investigations into the failures of October 7, released Thursday for the…

Released hostage Omer Shem Tov was forced to disguise himself as a Muslim woman and lowered into an underground tunnel in a bucket. He was spit on, cursed, and compelled to kiss his Hamas captor in a staged ceremony. Other hostages were shackled for months, starved, and left in complete darkness, their bodies wasting away.  According to testimonies published by Israeli media, the six freed hostages endured months of isolation, abuse, and deprivation in Hamas’s underground tunnel network. Eliya Cohen, one of the released hostages, recounted being shackled for extended periods, suffering deep cuts from the restraints. He and his…