Israel came under world pressure Monday to halt its offensive in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah after dozens of people reportedly died in bombardments that Israel’s military said targeted senior Hamas operatives.
Israel attacked suspected Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top United Nations court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city.
Israel’s government faced mounting pressure Friday to strike a deal with Hamas after an Israeli group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza released a disturbing video recording of the capture of five female Israeli soldiers.
While no plan has been advanced for the ‘day after’ Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip ends, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that future Israeli resettlement of Gaza was “never in the cards.”
Amid a war against Hamas in Gaza, defending against attacks from the Houthis in the south and Hezbollah in the north, and following the Iranian assault last month, Israel this week inaugurated the reopening of the Aerial Defense Array’s 139th Battalion to operate Iron Dome batteries as part of the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
Israeli President Isaac Herzog confirmed Tuesday that Israel is certainly open to “historic, game changing” normalized relations with its historical enemy, Saudi Arabia, Ynet News reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday that their forces have made significant progress in their conflict with Hamas. Reports indicate that the IDF has reached the outskirts of a refugee camp in central Rafah but has yet to enter the city center due to ongoing intense fighting. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration continues to criticize Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
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.