The Israeli military was in a state of high alert in the country’s north Monday, in readiness for possible retaliation by Iran over alleged Israeli strikes on its sites in Syria. Security forces are preparing for the possibility of attempted infiltrations of military bases and communities in the north, Hadashot TV news reported.
Israel fired at a Syrian artillery position on Monday after a mortar round fell close to the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, the army said.
The Israel Air Force has decided to scale back its participation in the Red Flag exercise amid increasing tensions on Israel’s northern border.
In a video published by Islamic Jihad on Thursday, the Islamic militant group threatens Israel’s Defence Forces ahead of Friday’s ‘March of Return in Gaza.’
In preparation for the expected protests and riots along the border between Israel and Gaza, the IDF dropped leaflets in Gaza on Friday morning warning residents of the Gaza Strip against trying to use violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers, as well as to damage, cross or even come near the border fence.
Israel is preparing for a crossborder attack by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, in response to a strike allegedly carried out by the Jewish state against an Iranian-operated air base in Syria that killed seven of its soldiers.
An Israeli military official confirmed Monday that Israel carried out last week’s strike on Iranian forces in a Syrian airbase, the New York Times reported.
Palestinian protesters in Gaza on Friday hurled an explosive device and firebombs at Israeli troops deployed at the border, during what the Israel Defense Forces described as ‘several attempts’ to damage the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip and cross over into Israeli territory.
The hashtags #RaisingFlag, referring to the Palestinian flag, and #BurningFlag, referring to the Israeli flag, have been prevalent in recent days among Palestinians on social media as they prepare for protests Friday near the Gaza border fence. Mass burning of Israeli flags is planned for Friday as the “Great March of Return” enters its third weekend.
Around 80% of the 32 Palestinians killed by the IDF during the ongoing Gaza border crisis were terrorist operatives or identified with terrorist organizations, an intelligence report asserts.
The Israeli military said it was investigating a video that surfaced on Monday that appears to show IDF sharpshooters cheering as one of them shoots and fells a Palestinian who approached the Gaza security fence.
An armed Palestinian from Gaza approached the Gaza fence late Wednesday night and the attack was thwarted by the IDF, according to the IDF’s spokesperson’s unit.
Hamas has distributed payments to Palestinians injured in protests in the border region between the Gaza Strip and Israel and to the families of those killed, according to a report on the Islamist movement’s official website.
An Israeli aircraft targeted an armed Palestinian approaching the Gaza security fence early Thursday morning, the army said, as border tensions persisted after at least 18 Palestinians were reported killed in clashes over the past week.
Security forces arrested a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group off the Gaza coast suspected of planning to sink an Israeli naval patrol boat and kidnap any survivors last month, Israel revealed on Wednesday.
Fifteen Palestinians were killed and some 1,100 were wounded by Israeli tear gas, rubber bullets and live fire in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said, as a series of massive protests along the security fence around the Hamas-controlled enclave intensified and turned violent.
IDF Intelligence Directorate head Maj.-Gen. Herzl Halevi warned on Sunday of a possible Palestinian ‘explosion’ ahead of Israel’s 70th anniversary.
The Israeli Air Force struck a terror target located in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday night, the IDF said.
The IDF seized illegal weapons, including an improvised rifle, in overnight raids in the West Bank on Saturday night, one day after two soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack near the West Bank settlement of Mevo Dotan. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, units from the Menashe Brigade continued to operate in the Barta’a area following the car ramming attack near the village of Yabed, in which Captain Ziv Daus, 21, and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20, were killed.
The IDF destroyed two Hamas tunnels late Saturday night, including one that crossed into Israeli territory, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced.