After calling for the elimination of Hamas and publicly defending Israel’s actions to defend itself, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the founder of Hamas who left his family and former ideology, arrived in Israel. Yousef was interviewed in Arabic by Prime Minister’s Arabic Media Spokesperson, Ofir Gendelman, and also toured the areas of the October 7 massacre in the Western Negev. In the interview, Mosab Hassan Yousef told about his childhood as the son of one of the founders of Hamas, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and about his studies in an UNRWA high school in Judea and Samaria, where he…
Browsing: War in Israel
12,378 humanitarian aid trucks have been delivered to Gaza, with almost none of it going to civilians.
A conflict that started on a tiny perimeter of land on Oct. 7 is, less than four months later, reverberating throughout the region, from Turkey in the north to Morocco in the west, Iran in the east and Yemen in the south. “This is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday at a press conference. “I would argue that we’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.” The epicenter of the Israel-Hamas conflict remains…
In a remarkable defense of Israel’s military strategies in Gaza, urban warfare expert John Spencer wrote that Israel has “taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that’s fought an urban war in history.” Writing in a Newsweek Op-Ed, Spencer, who served two tours in Iraq and consequently studied urban warfare, claims that Israel took more precautions to protect civilians than the US did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spencer explained that the IDF’s use of precision guided munitions (PGMs), including Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) has enabled it to target terrorists while avoiding harm to civilians…
The idea is to prevent Hamas from stealing the food and fuel, which allows it to prolong the war. The IDF may start distributing humanitarian aid directly to civilians in the Gaza Strip, Israel Hayom reported Wednesday. In the plan currently under consideration by the Israeli government, the army would work with the international bodies currently in full charge of the aid trucks passing into the coastal enclave after undergoing security inspections at Israel’s Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings. According to the report, two aid centers will be established, one in the northern part of the Strip and one in…
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees fired a number of its staffers in Gaza suspected of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants on southern Israel, its director said Friday, prompting the United States—the agency’s biggest donor—to temporarily halt its funding. The agency, known by its acronym UNRWA, has been the main agency providing aid for Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7 attack. UNRWA officials did comment on the impact that the U.S. halt in funding…
In a moving ceremony in Jerusalem, Samaritan’s Purse President and CEO Franklin Graham encourages the Israeli people that they are not alone ______________ Jerusalem (January 23, 2024) — Just months after 14 of Magen David Adom’s ambulances were destroyed in the October 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel, replacement vehicles donated by Samaritan’s Purse, the American evangelical humanitarian-aid organization, were dedicated today in a moving ceremony in Jerusalem. For Magen David Adom (MDA), the ceremony also served to commemorate even more devastating losses the organization incurred during the terrorist attacks, when four of MDA’s medics were killed while actively treating…
(New York Jewish Week) — Among the 6,000 knitters descending on Times Square this week for a major fiber arts convention is a first-time attendee from Israel who hopes a shawl she made can counteract anti-Israel sentiment in the knitting community. A mother of seven and a grandmother of two, Liza Rodrig, 48, is something of a handicraft and fashion icon in her own country. She has been on Israeli television, boasts a significant social media following and has even had her work featured on a virtual runway during Tel Aviv’s Fashion Week. But Rodrig has never before been to…
BRUSSELS (AP) — The number of antisemitic acts registered in France and Belgium rose sharply since Hamas’ attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, according to figures released Thursday in both countries. In France, data from the Interior ministry and the Jewish Community Protection Service watchdog showed that 1,676 antisemitic acts were reported in 2023, compared to 436 the previous year. According to the Council of Jewish Institutions in France—the country’s main Jewish interest group—the number of antisemitic acts in the three months that followed the Oct. 7 attack equaled those of the previous three years combined. In neighboring…
Israeli forces tighten control over Khan Yunis, the stronghold of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Israeli soldiers are strengthening their operational control over Khan Yunis, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday. Khan Yunis is Gaza’s second largest city and is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there. Israeli ground forces completed the encirclement of Khan Yunis on Tuesday. Soldiers from the Oz Brigade, also known as the “Commando Brigade” who specialize in urban warfare, eliminated numerous terror squads using sniper fire, precision missiles and tank fire. Four other terrorists were killed in close-quarters…