Gaza Unrest
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Israel says 3 key Hamas members ‘eliminated’ in strikes over past week
The Israeli military has named three Hamas members it “eliminated” in air strikes over the past week.
In a situational update, the army said fighter jets on Thursday had hit central Gaza and killed Mansour Adil Mansour Kashlan, who they said was involved in coordinating “terror attacks” in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Also in central Gaza, Walid Abed Abu Dalal, who reportedly served as the head of the technology department in Hamas’s internal security forces, was killed.
The army said Hamas’s technology department and internal security forces “comprise a significant part of Hamas’ counter-espionage and the ability to attack [Israeli] troops in the Gaza Strip”.
In the Nuseriat area, the army announced it killed Tareq Darwish, a key “operative in Hamas’s Aerial Array of the Nuseriat Battalion”, on Friday.
“Darwish directed and carried out terror attacks against Israel. His elimination took place following Hamas Aerial Array’s terrorist activity over the past month, including attempts to impede [Israeli] aerial operations,” the army said.
Blinken calls Saudi foreign minister to discuss Gaza ceasefire
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, has received a call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during which they discussed the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, the Saudi state news agency says.
Scenes of smoke rising after rockets fall on illegal Kiryat Shmona settlement
The Israel Broadcasting Corporation has posted a video on X showing damage sustained after a rocket fired from southern Lebanon hit the illegal settlement of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.
Videos circulated by Israeli platforms on Telegram documented the moment the sirens were activated, as well as sounds of explosions and smoke rising in more than one location in the illegal settlement.
Prabowo says Indonesia willing to send peacekeeping troops to Gaza
Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, says his country is willing to send peacekeeping troops to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza if required.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference, Prabowo said US President Joe Biden’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction.
Israeli warplanes pound southern Lebanon overnight
Israel’s military said its jet fighters attacked targets in southern Lebanon overnight, destroying what it said was “significant assets” and “terrorist infrastructure” of the Hezbollah armed movement.
Israel said warplanes hit sites in the southern Lebanese town of Ain Qana, and the villages of Aadloun and Hamila.
What was described as a military observation post was attacked near the villages of Tayr Harfa, Jibbain and Hayam. A missile launcher was attacked in the Majdal Zoun area and more “infrastructure” was hit near the village of Rachaya Al Foukhar.
Two “launches” were detected from southern Lebanon earlier this morning but both landed in an “open area” in northern Israel’s Yiftah region, the military added.
Three killed by artillery fire in Gaza City, fighting rages on Rafah’s ‘narrow streets’
In the north of the strip, Palestinians in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City have been subjected to intense Israeli bombardment by artillery units and more than five residential buildings were attacked.
There is an intensification of bombardments in the central neighbourhoods of Gaza City where three Palestinians have been killed in the Remal neighbourhood where a residential house was reduced to rubble.
More attacks have also been carried out in the south after the Israelis gained operational control of the Philadelphi Corridor. Israeli forces there are completely stationed in the eastern areas of Rafah and tanks are pushing deeper into the main, central areas of Rafah district.
Tanks are also stationed and deployed in the Shabura and Yibna refugee camps, where the battles there between the Israeli army and Hamas fighters are raging in the narrow streets of the district.
Three shot during Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank
Three Palestinian men have been shot and injured by Israeli forces during a military raid on the Balata refugee camp, located to the east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
The Wafa news agency quoted a Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesperson as saying the three suffered bullet and shrapnel wounds, including to the feet, chest and head.
Israeli soldiers stormed the camp to destroy a supermarket, Wafa reports, and were resisted by local Palestinian youth leading to “heavy shooting” and a large force of Israeli’s deploying to the area.
Palestinian fighters in Jabalia built ‘fortified combat complexes’: Monitors
US-based defence think tanks say that Israeli forces faced some of the most ferocious combat seen in the war on Gaza to date as Palestinian fighters defended the Jabalia refugee camp from Israel’s incursion, which began on May 11 and ended with their complete withdrawal on Friday.
Civilian infrastructure in Jabalia was converted as part of a “fortified combat complex” by the Palestinian resistance, which allowed them to quickly manoeuvre in safety through buildings without exposure to Israeli air or ground attack, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).
In the first week of the battle for Jabalia, Palestinian fighters were involved in 341 “operational incidents” against Israeli forces, which the ISW/CTP say was a significant increase on the roughly 100 “engagements” Palestinian armed groups were involved with against Israeli forces during the first week of the Khan Younis incursion in December.
“These points taken together reflect the degree to which Hamas and other Palestinian militias remain combat-effective in and around Jabalia. Hamas and the other militias will almost certainly resume their efforts to reconstitute there as the [Israeli] units have left,” the ISW/CTP said in their latest report.
Clashes reported as Israeli forces storm Jenin area
The Israeli military has stormed the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, resulting in an outbreak of confrontations with Palestinian groups, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli forces have also stormed the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, deploying snipers on the roofs of buildings, flying drones, and raiding several homes, resulting in clashes with Palestinian groups.
Israeli raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, including:
The Shuweika suburb, north of Tulkarem
The Jaidi neighbourhood of Qalqilya
The town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron
Is Israel losing the information war on Gaza?
As Israel’s attacks on Rafah spark public outrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war campaign is coming under fire despite continued support from the US.
Sut Jhally’s 2016 documentary, The Occupation of the American Mind, exposes the extensive pro-Israeli propaganda that has been targeting American audiences for decades. Since October 7, this narrative, which focuses on combating “terrorism” and the dehumanisation of Palestinians, has intensified.
As the world continues to witness the horrors committed in Gaza, is Israel losing the war for public opinion?
Pro-Palestine demonstrators occupy parts of the Brooklyn Museum
Scuffles broke out with police as pro-Palestine protesters occupied the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City on Friday.
Police said arrests had been made at the art museum, which closed early due to the disruption, but they would not be able to give an accurate figure on how many for several hours.
A banner was hung from the museum building saying “Free Palestine, Divest From Genocide”, while a man was arrested for graffitiing on a sculpture.
“There was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza,” a museum spokesperson told the Reuters news agency. “Protesters entered the building, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed.”
US says four Houthis drones destroyed over Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed three “uncrewed aerial systems” over the Red Sea and one over the Gulf of Aden after they were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
CENTCOM also said Houthi forces launched two antiship ballistic missiles towards the Gulf of Aden and one aerial drone towards the Red Sea on Friday, but there were no injuries or reports of damage from either the missiles or the drone, which crashed into the sea.
“It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM said.
Democratic and Republican leaders in the US Congress have invited Netanyahu to deliver an address within weeks to lawmakers, House Speaker Mike Johnson has said.
Dozens of bodies have been recovered, including 30 from a single family, 22 of whom were children and women, from the Jabalia refugee camp after Israeli troops withdrew from the area.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office has said Israel authorised negotiators to present the truce deal but reiterated the conflict won’t end until the “elimination” of Hamas’s capacity to make war and govern.
Biden urges Hamas to accept Israel's new roadmap to end Gaza war
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel was offering a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire in Gaza that he urged Hamas to accept, saying it's "time for this war to end".
But swiftly afterwards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on Biden's talk of peace, insisting that the army would continue fighting until it had "eliminated" Hamas's capacity to rule Gaza and pose a military threat.
