The terrorist organization is “ISIS on steroids,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

(JNS)

The ongoing Israel Defense Forces offensive will leave Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization with “zero military capabilities and zero motivation to carry out attacks” for decades, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists on Wednesday.

“We regard Gaza as a huge terror base, the new caliphate as you will. This is ISIS on steroids because it has a state behind it: Iran,” the spokeswoman said as she announced Israeli officials are examining “new indications” of direct Iranian involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 shock attack.

“We are a country at war, but not only we are at war: This is a war of the entire civilized world against savagery,” the official said.

On Saturday morning, Hamas terrorists infiltrated several Israeli communities, killing at least 1,200 people and taking at least 100 hostages back to Gaza. Some 3,000 people were wounded in shooting and rocket attacks over the weekend, and the toll continues to climb.

As part of “Operation Swords of Iron,” the IDF is conducting wide-scale strikes on several strategic centers belonging to Hamas.

Overnight Tuesday, the Israel Air Force hit more than 200 targets in Gaza City’s Al Furqan neighborhood, which it called “a terror nest for Hamas” from which “many activities against Israel are carried out.”

The IDF “will continue to act powerfully against the infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hamas, which aim terror against Israel, and continues extensive waves of attacks in the Gaza Strip,” it added.

The more than 2,450 Hamas targets that have been hit across the Strip in five days of war included weapons storage facilities, command and control centers and naval assets, according to the military.

According to IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military has defined killing senior Hamas terrorists as the its “top priority.”

Palestinian sources reported on Wednesday that Abdel-Fattah Diab Deif, the brother of Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif, was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip.

Overnight Monday, Hamas “Economy Minister” Jawad Abu Shamala was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Abu Shamala managed the finances of the organization and earmarked the funds for financing and directing terrorism both inside and outside the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.

He previously held security positions in the terrorist organization and led several operations aimed at harming citizens of the State of Israel, the army added.

Zakaria Abu Muammar, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau who headed the terrorist group’s National Relations Office, was killed in a separate strike.

“Abu Muammar was known to be close to [Hamas leader in Gaza] Yahya Sinwar and, as part of his position, worked to incite and act against the sovereignty of the State of Israel and endanger its residents,” the IDF noted.

“We have released all restraints, regained control of the [border] area and are moving to full offense,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops during a visit to the south on Tuesday night.

“Hamas wanted a change in Gaza. It will change 180 degrees from what it thought,” the minister said. “Gaza will never return to what it was. Whoever comes to decapitate, murder women, Holocaust survivors—we will eliminate them with all our might and without compromise.”

Image: The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

“Part of the launches crossed into Israeli territory and presumably fell in open areas,” confirmed IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

(JNS)

Mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Tuesday evening, mere hours after the Hezbollah terror group fired anti-tank missiles at the Jewish state from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said.

“Part of the launches crossed into Israeli territory and presumably fell in open areas,” confirmed IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

The military said its forces responded with artillery and mortar fire towards the source of the Syrian shelling.

Residents of the southern part of the Golan Heights were instructed to stay close to bomb shelters. Israelis in the Golan have approximately 15 seconds to seek shelter from the moment the air-raid siren sounds.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the Hezbollah terrorist organization based in Lebanon took responsibility for firing anti-tank missiles across the border with Israel, raising fears of the war with Hamas broadening to the northern front, Arab media reported.

An IDF combat helicopter responded by attacking a Hezbollah post.

“The IDF is prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians,” stated the military.

Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF attacked two Hezbollah observation posts in Southern Lebanon with artillery fire after terrorists there fired rockets at the Jewish state.

“Around 15 launches were detected from Lebanese territory, air-defense fighters succesfully intercepted four launches, ten launches fell in Lebanese territory,” the IDF wrote in a post on X on Tuesday afternoon.

Reuters cited a Lebanese security source as saying that Palestinian terror groups were responsible for the rocket attacks.

The incidents came as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held a situational assessment at the Northern Command with the commanders of the forces deployed in the area.

Image: Israeli soldiers guard the border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, April 17, 2023. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.

Israel will win the war and “We will keep the promise that the people of Israel live,” the Israeli prime minister said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel’s war with Hamas as “a war for the home, a war to secure our existence” in an address to the nation on Monday.

He condemned the atrocities committed by hundreds of members of the terror group Hamas who broke through the Gaza border fence in a surprise assault on Saturday morning and killed more than 900 Israelis, mostly civilians, in a wholesale slaughter. That number has increased for the past three days.

“This war was forced upon us by a despicable enemy, human animals celebrating the murder of women, children and the elderly,” the prime minister said, speaking in Hebrew. “We have not seen the atrocities that Hamas committed since the horrors of ISIS.”

“Handcuffed children who were executed along with the rest of their families, young men and women shot in the back. They were executed,” he said.

Netanyahu promised Hamas would suffer the same fate as ISIS. “The enemy wanted war, he will get war.”

Netanyahu laid out five immediate goals:

1. to purge the enemy from Israeli towns and communities and repel the entry of additional enemy combatants, a battle he said was still being waged;
2.  to carry out a massive attack on Hamas of “unprecedented intensity”;
3. to fortify the other fronts, including on the northern border against Hezbollah, in Judea and Samaria, and within Israel;
4. to continue to strengthen international support “in order to preserve our field of action against our enemies”;
5. and to establish unity among the people.

Speaking of the last, which referred to the months-long social upheaval around the government’s efforts at judicial reform, the prime minister stated that “the split between us is over. We are all united, and when we are united, we are victorious.”

The leadership must unite, as the country had, Netanyahu said. He called on the opposition leaders to immediately join in an emergency national government, citing the example set by former Prime Minister Menachem Begin during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Netanyahu promised Israel’s citizens that the blow against Hamas had only begun. “We have eliminated many hundreds of terrorists, and we will not stop there,” he said. “I said that every place in which Hamas hides will become a city of ruins. It’s already happening today.”

The prime minister thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for placing American support squarely behind Israel “in words and deeds,” and noted that one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world, the USS Gerald Ford, was en route to Israel.

“Our common enemies in the region fully understand the meaning of this step,” he said.

Netanyahu thanked the soldiers and security forces who were “acting with extraordinary courage.” He cautioned Israel’s citizens against falling for fake news that seeks to divide or frighten them.

“I assure you, dear citizens, at the end of the campaign, all our enemies will know it was a terrible mistake to attack Israel,” he said. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will echo with them for generations.”

Netanyahu also promised that the government would do everything possible to return the Israelis held captive by Hamas. “The hearts of all of us are with the families of those captured,” he said.

“As prime minister of Israel, I tell you candidly: Difficult days lie ahead. We mourn for our brothers and sisters, whose blood was spilled, and we are determined to win this war in order to bring life, blessing and light to our nation and our country,” he said.

“The rebirth of Israel is a miracle. It is a model of faith and action. In the book of Samuel, it is said: ‘The victor of Israel does not lie,'” Netanyahu added. “This time, too, we will keep the promise that the people of Israel live.”

The terrorist, who was neutralized by Israeli forces, reportedly drove a heavy tractor through a military barrier and towards the heavily guarded local Jewish community.

(JNS)

Israeli security forces on Monday neutralized a Palestinian terrorist who drove a heavy tractor through a military barrier in Hebron towards the local Jewish community, all the while livestreaming the attack on social media.

The terrorist attempted to ram the force guarding the post, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“Soldiers at the post, together with Border Police officers who were returning from operations and arrived at the scene, opened fire and neutralized the terrorist,” the IDF statement added.

The attacker’s condition was not immediately known.

There were no reports of Israeli casualties.

Under the Oslo Accords, Hebron is located in Area A of Judea and Samaria, under full Palestinian Authority administrative and security control, except for a small Jewish enclave consisting of some 800 heavily protected families.

On Sunday night, Israeli forces arrested two Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem armed with a knife near a synagogue in the capital’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood.

The suspects also had with them a kippah and a necklace with a Star of David pendant, suggesting they were planning to disguise themselves as Jews.

Earlier on Sunday, a terrorist killed two Israeli tourists in Alexandria, Egypt, near an ancient Roman triumphal column called Pompey’s Pillar.

The group’s Egyptian tour guide was also killed and another Israeli was wounded.

Israeli media reported that the terrorist was an Egyptian police officer.

The developments come amid ongoing fighting sparked by Hamas’s killing of at least 700 Israelis on Saturday in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip, that included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.

On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet authorized the start of the offensive phase of “Operation Swords of Iron,” ordering the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the “destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped plan the Hamas attacks and green-lit them in Beirut during a meeting last Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.

Image: Israeli security forces neutralize a Palestinian terrorist attempting a ramming attack behind the wheel of a tractor in Hebron, Cot. 9, 2023. Credit: TPS.

“My grandmother. My whole world. The light of my life,” wrote Mor Bayder.

(JNS)

At 7 a.m. on Saturday, Mor Bayder saw a horrifying photo on her grandmother’s Facebook page.

A Hamas terrorist had broken into her grandmother’s house in kibbutz Nir Oz, murdered her, and then took a picture on her phone and uploaded it to her Facebook page.

“This is how we found out,” Bayder wrote. “My grandmother. My whole world. The light of my life.”

“Yet another example of Palestinian barbarity and cruelty,” wrote Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel.

“Both Hamas and Tehran want to spoil the Saudi-Israeli normalization process.”

Yaakov Lappin

(JNS)

Current and former Israeli defense officials suspect Iranian influence played an important role in Hamas’s decision to stage a series of mass murder and kidnap raids on the South on Saturday.

During a Zoom call with journalists organized by Media Central, Eyal Hulata, who was Israel’s national security adviser from August 2021 to January 2023, discussed “the Iranian fingerprints on both potential [Hamas] planning and motivation, in light of attempts to normalize [relations] with Saudi Arabia.”

Both Tehran and Hamas stand out for their desire to act as “spoilers” to the Saudi-Israeli normalization process, which would likely benefit the Palestinian Authority at Hamas’s expense, Hulata assessed.

“Hamas clearly wouldn’t have wanted this to go. If Iran needs a player to act, it’ll be more in Gaza than in Lebanon,” he added. “There are reasons for the spoilers of the region to put their heads up. Our enemies around us think Israel is weaker now. That is a concern of mine.

“All of this is now in the background. We need to fight back and do whatever we can to bring our people back,” Hulata said.

“This morning, Hamas embarked on the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history. They’ve been planning this for a long time, obviously. This is a very coordinated attack, and unfortunately they were able to surprise us tactically and cause devastating damage in casualties, people murdered in their beds and homes, and an unknown number of people taken back to Gaza. Civilians and soldiers have been abducted,” he continued.

“This is unprecedented. Hamas has never done something like this. We never encountered that. The fact that they felt they could or should do it is very alarming.”

The fact “that this happened 50 years after Yom Kippur War is on everyone’s mind,” Hulata said. “They were hoping to mimic this event. Clearly, everyone is thinking that and is worried about this failure, which is grave and devastating. The IDF spokesperson said it will be investigated. But at this point, the crucial issue is first how we end the fighting in Israel and then conduct fighting in Gaza.

“This will end with devastating results in Gaza and if Hezbollah gets involved it will end with devastation in Lebanon,” the former national security adviser said.

The large number of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza “complicates everything,” he added.

The Israeli Cabinet is likely weighing a range of options, Hulata said, including the option of conquering all of Gaza. “If I was national security adviser, I would want to hear that option and weigh it compared to other options,” he stated.

“Iran’s tentacles everywhere”

Lt. Col Richard Hecht, the IDF’s international spokesperson, said during his own comments to international media that “Iran has tentacles everywhere,” when asked about its likely role in the Hamas onslaught.

All military options “are on the table,” he added.

“Hamas has declared war, a combined offensive on Israel,” said Hecht, describing its attacks on Saturday as involving some 3,500 rockets fired including very heavy salvos on Tel Aviv, and a major ground invasion of Israel.

There were still 22 locations late in the day where we were engaging with terrorists who entered “Israel from the sea, the land and the air. Some of the locations we cleared, some of the locations, fighting still happen [there],” he said.

“We have a severe hostage situation in Be’eri and Ofakim, still ongoing. We’ve mobilized mainly special forces to deal with these events. There’s a very strong professionalism on how to deal with this kind of event in these elements of the military. I can confirm we have hostages and casualties. I don’t want to go into numbers but they are substantial,” he said.

“Right now we’re fighting; there will be lots of discussions about intelligence [failures] down the road,” said Hecht.

“Right now we are focused on two courses of action: returning security around Gaza and the planning by the prime minister and IDF General Staff on future steps in Gaza. There will be a severe response to this inhumane attack,” said Hecht.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel Air Force jets struck military infrastructure in two multi-story buildings in the Gaza Strip that senior Hamas operatives use for carrying out terrorist activity.

In one of the buildings, the IDF struck the military offices of a number of units and arrays of the Hamas terrorist organization, including the Hamas intelligence headquarters, its weapons production offices and other offices belonging to senior Hamas organization leaders.

The other building contained military offices used by Hamas’s General Security Service, the IDF said.

According to Hecht, “Hamas has a massive amount of projectiles. They’re going to fire as much as they can. It’s still early days. PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] is also probably involved.

“We’re moving and mobilizing forces right now. Mainly mobilizing reservists to the South and special operations intervention units for communities under attack,” he said.

The next 50 years in Gaza

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Saturday, “Today we saw the face of evil. Hamas has launched a brutal attack against the citizens of the State of Israel, attacking men, women, children and the elderly, indiscriminately. Hamas will understand very quickly that it has made a mistake—a grave mistake—and will pay a [heavy] price.

“Fifteen years ago, as head of the [IDF] Southern Command, I came close to ‘breaking the neck’ of Hamas. I was stopped by the political echelon. This phenomenon will not continue. We will change reality on the ground in Gaza for the next 50 years. What was before will be no more. We will operate at full force. I ask Israel’s citizens to remain determined and to support our security forces,” Gallant said.

Earlier, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “There are strikes by the air force in several locations. UAVs, scanners [sensors] and fighter jets are striking in the area of the [Gaza border] fence. Hundreds of such strikes were carried out—hundreds of deaths, including many terrorists.”

He continued, “In the [IDF] Northern Command we are on high alert, there are currently no events there but we are ready for any event and whoever attacks us in the entire northern arena will pay a very heavy price. Our focus is on Gaza but we are on high alert in case we encounter any incident, we currently do not have such information [about such enemy activity].”

Image: Firefighters battle flames a Gazan rocket started in a residential area of Rishon Letzion, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90.

The vehicle’s occupants—a man, his pregnant wife and their 18-month-old baby—emerged from the attack unscathed.

(JNS)

A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at an Israeli vehicle on Route 60 in Huwara, just outside Nablus (Shechem) in northern Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday night.

According to the Magen David Adom emergency medical service, the vehicle’s occupants—an Israeli man and his pregnant wife, both in their 20s, and their 18-month-old baby—emerged from the attack unscathed.

IDF troops found several bullet holes in the car, as well as a number of shell casings in the area. The back window of the car, which was reportedly en route to the Tapuach Junction, was shattered by gunshots.

Video footage from a nearby vehicle showed the terrorist shooting multiple times at the vehicle with a handgun before fleeing on foot.

Following a pursuit and fire exchange with the terrorist, IDF soldiers “neutralized” the gunman, the army announced.

Bypass road to be completed by year’s end

Four Israelis have been killed in Huwara in the past year—brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv in February; and father and son Shay Silas and Aviad Nir Nigrekar in August.

Dual Israeli-U.S. citizen David Stern, 41, narrowly survived a shooting on March 19 while driving through Huwara with his wife on their way to Jerusalem.

Two Israeli soldiers were also wounded in a drive-by shooting in the village on March 25. A few days later, dozens of Arabs stoned cars traveling through Huwara bearing Israeli license plates.

Route 60, the main north-south highway in Judea and Samaria, runs through the village. The main section of a road that bypasses the town is scheduled to open later this month.

Work on the road began approximately two years ago but was delayed. The construction received a boost in the form of an additional 50 million shekels ($13.2 million) following the murder of the Yaniv brothers and was initially planned to be completed by December.

Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev has lauded the project, saying that the bypass road “will save lives and give residents a sense of security.”

Image: An Israeli car was damaged when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at the vehicle on Route 60 in Huwara, Oct. 5, 2023. Photo by Nadav Goldstein/TPS.

The rockets did not cross into Israeli territory, according to the IDF.

(JNS)

Terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday launched a volley of rockets towards the Mediterranean Sea.

While the rockets did not cross into Israeli territory, their launch triggered an alert on the IDF Home Front Command’s warning application.

Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement posted on Telegram that it fired the rockets as part of a drill “simulating raids on several Zionist military sites and fortifications.”

Last Thursday, Israeli authorities reopened the country’s sole pedestrian crossing with Gaza, after terrorist groups in the Palestinian enclave temporarily agreed to end weeks of rioting along the border.

Hamas staged violent riots along the frontier on a near-daily basis throughout September, targeting Israeli forces with explosive devices and gunfire, renewing the launch of incendiary balloons into Israeli territory and setting fire to tires in the Strip.

Following talks brokered by Egypt, Hamas told negotiators that it would put an end to the incessant rioting.

The riots and terror balloons are believed to be a form of Hamas pressure on Israel and Qatar. JNS previously reported that Doha notified Hamas in mid-September that it did not intend to renew its monthly aid package of $30 million.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Jerusalem was ready for a possible conflict.

“We don’t want an escalation and are not seeking a fight, but if we arrive at a point where we need to act, ‘Operation Shield and Arrow’ should be a reminder to all [Gaza-based] terror groups about the capabilities of [Israel’s] security apparatus,” Gallant said at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war.

He was referring to the IDF’s five-day campaign in May in which the military assassinated several top Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza. During the fighting, PIJ launched more than 1,250 rockets at Israel, to which the IDF responded by striking nearly 400 terror assets in the Strip.

“If Israeli civilians or soldiers are harmed, we will not hesitate to use all of our power to ensure the safety of citizens and return quiet to the border,” added Gallant.

Image: Palestinian terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip fire rockets toward the sea, Sept. 12, 2023. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS.

Mahmoud Musa, Mohammed Othman and Mohammed Said Othman will be sentenced later this month for their assault on Joseph Borgen in May 2021.

(JNS)

On Wednesday in New York City, Mahmoud Musa and Mohammed Othman pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime for their role in attacking Joseph Borgen on May 20, 2021. Neither received an offer from prosecutors regarding potential sentencing, so they each could face as few as three and a half years in prison or as much as 15.

Mohammed Said Othman received a lesser charge of attempted gang assault and an agreement of three years in prison.

A fourth assailant, Waseem Awawdeh, pleaded guilty in April to hitting Borgen four times with a crutch. He said, “If I could do it again, I would.”

He received an 18-month sentence, up from six after a public outcry.

“If you beat up a Jew in the streets, this is what’s going to happen. … You’re not going to get a slap on the wrist or a BS deal. You’re going to spend real time in jail,” said Borgen at the time.

Image: The on-camera anti-Semitic assault of Joseph Borgen in Times Square, N.Y., on May 21, 2021. Source: Screenshot.

Bullets struck several homes in Asa’el.

(JNS)

Palestinian terrorists shot at the Jewish community of Asa’el in the South Hebron Hills in Judea on Sunday night, with bullets striking several homes but causing no injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces opened a manhunt for the perpetrators.

Asa’el was among the nine Jewish communities beyond the Green Line whose legal status the government regulated earlier this year.

The attack came hours after several Israelis crossed into Samaria and entered the nearby Palestinian village of Jalbun, following a series of shootings targeting their homes in Kibbutz Meirav.

IDF troops spotted the Israelis crossing the security fence and intervened to return them to inside the pre-1967 line.

There were no reports of confrontations during the incident, which followed a meeting of residents who decided to set up a local operations team to immediately respond to the wave of shootings and draw public attention to them.

On Friday night, as Jews were marking the beginning of the Sukkot holiday, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Meirav, located on the slopes of Mount Gilboa, close to Jenin but within the Green Line.

Image: The Israeli community of Asael in the South Hebron Hills, June 6, 2012. Photo by Moshe Shai/Flash90.