Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 84?
Eleven senior IRGC leaders reportedly killed in Damascus airport strike • Hamas says no release of more hostages until 'Israeli aggression ends'
Qatar deal could see release of up to 50 hostages, prolonged ceasefire in Gaza
Is Hamas ready to renew negotiations on the release of hostages? This is the message sent by Qatar to Israel.
Israel's security cabinet discussed on Thursday a Qatari proposal that would see the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The proposal is still in its early stages as of Friday.
According to the proposal's outline, the first phase will include a humanitarian exchange deal that will include the release of 40-50 hostages in exchange for a complete ceasefire of a few weeks, according to three senior Israeli officials.
The second phase is expected to be more complex, its details are not yet completely clear, but the direction is to arrange a withdrawal of IDF troops from the area.
Hamas 'agrees in principle' to restart hostage release negotiation
Despite the cabinet discussing the proposal, neither Israel nor Hamas have yet responded to the offer. However, a report from Walla! stated that the Hamas terror organization "agrees in principle" to resume such negotiations.
Senior Israeli officials said that this is only an initial message and Israel hopes to get clarification on it at the end of the week, the Walla! report said.
However, one official said that it was a positive development because, for the first time since the previous agreement, Hamas is signaling that it is ready to resume negotiations. "We have moved from a frozen standstill to just a very cold situation," said the official.
Another senior Israeli official said that Israel has not yet received a detailed proposal from the Qataris and is waiting to hear more details. "In any case, the gaps are still big," he said.
Go to the full article >>Hamas terrorist with RPG attempts to kill IDF troops but is struck by tank fire
Israel attacked Iran in 2022, ex-PM Naftali Bennett admits in WSJ
Bennett, who was Israeli prime minister from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, admitted Israel was behind attacking an Iranian base and the assassination of a senior IRGC commander.
Israel attacked an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) base in Iran and assassinated a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett revealed on Thursday.
Bennett, who was Israeli prime minister from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, made the admission in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.
"I directed Israel’s security forces to make Tehran pay for its decision to sponsor terror. Enough impunity," Bennett wrote in his op-ed. "After Iran launched two failed UAV attacks on Israel in February 2022, Israel destroyed a UAV base on Iranian soil. In March 2022, Iran’s terror unit attempted to kill Israeli tourists in Turkey and failed. Shortly thereafter, the commander of that very unit was assassinated in the center of Tehran."
Israel rarely admits publicly to attacking Iran directly, but the Islamic Republic has long been a target of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his several tenures in power. 
Iran's Middle Eastern Proxies
Bennett's op-ed, published under the title "The U.S. and Israel Need to Take Iran On Directly" calls for the two allies to make Iran's ayatollahs "pay for sowing chaos through their Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi proxies."
Iran has widely been regarded as the major destabilizing element in the Middle East, channeling millions of dollars, weapons, military expertise, and training to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Last week, a senior IRGC commander, Sayyed Reza Mousavi, was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria, for which Iranian officials warned Israel would pay for the killing.
The Islamic Republic is also seen as the driving force behind Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, when 1,200 people were killed and over 240 taken hostage by the terror group and taken back to Gaza.
"The Iranian regime is at the center of most of the Middle East’s problems and much of global terror," the former prime minister wrote. "Yet inexplicably, almost nobody is touching it."
"The U.S. and Israel must set the clear goal of bringing down Iran’s evil regime. Not only is this possible. It is vital for the safety and security of the Middle East—and the entire civilized world," Bennett's piece concludes.
Iran says it executes four 'saboteurs' linked to Israel's Mossad
Iran executed four "saboteurs" linked to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the Mizan news agency affiliated to the judiciary said on Friday.
"Four members of a sabotage team associated with the Zionist regime, who had committed extensive actions against the country's security under the guidance of Mossad officers, were executed this morning following legal procedures," it said.
Go to the full article >>US intercepts Houthi drone, missile in 22nd attack since start of war
As part of efforts to combat the Houthi threat, the US issued sanctions against entities facilitating Iranian funding for the Houthis.
The US Navy's USS Mason shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in the southern Red Sea on Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced early Friday morning.
According to CENTCOM, this was the 22nd attempted attack conducted by the Houthis against international shipping since October 19. No damage was caused to the 18 ships present in the area at the time.
The USS MASON (DDG 87) shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in the Southern Red Sea that were fired by the Houthis between 5:45 - 6: 10 p.m. (Sanaa time) on Dec. 28. There was no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area or reported injuries. This is the 22nd… pic.twitter.com/Y4JRS22850
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 29, 2023
The incident comes as the Houthis continue their attacks on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea despite the establishment of a US-led coalition aimed at deterring such attacks.
On Tuesday, the US military downed 12 kamikaze drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles fired by the Houthis in the southern Red Sea within a period of just 10 hours.
Additionally on Tuesday, the IDF said that it had intercepted a drone over the Red Sea that was headed toward Israel.
US sanctions network transferring Iranian funds to Houthis
As part of efforts to combat the Houthi threat, the US issued sanctions against one individual and three entities for facilitating Iranian funding for the Houthis on Thursday. The sanctioned individual is Nabil Ali Ahmed Al-Hadha - the head of the Currency Exchangers Association in Sanaa, Yemen - and the three entities are exchange houses in Yemen and Turkey.
The sanctioned individual and entities facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to the Houthis at the direction of Sa'id al-Jamal, a person affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force.
Jamal's network uses a web of exchange houses throughout the Middle East to facilitate the transfer of funds to the Houthis, including the Turkey-based Al Aman Kargo Ithalat Ihracat Ve Nakliyat Limited Sirketi, the Yemen-based Nabco Money Exchange and Remittance Co., and the Yemen-based Al Rawda Exchange and Money Transfers Company.
“Today’s action underscores our resolve to restrict the illicit flow of funds to the Houthis, who continue to conduct dangerous attacks on international shipping and risk further destabilizing the region,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States, along with our allies and partners, will continue to target the key facilitation networks that enable the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their backers in Iran.”
Go to the full article >>Captured Islamic Jihad terrorist admits his squad committed rape on Oct. 7
A survivor of the massacre recently testified to the police about a rape she saw with her own eyes.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist captured in Gaza admitted during questioning that he participated in the massacre on October 7 and that his squad committed rape and then murdered victims during the massacre, KAN reported on Thursday.
Serious sexual offenses were part of the method Hamas and other terrorist groups utilized in the massacre on October 7. Lahav 433, Israel’s top national police unit, collected evidence of dozens of cases of sexual offenses and sexual abuse from investigations of the terrorists and from the collection of survivor testimonies.
A survivor of the massacre recently testified to the police about a rape she saw with her own eyes, and her testimony was verified by another survivor who was close to her.
"I understand that he raped her, then they gave her to someone else. She was alive and finally he shot her," said the survivor. Some of the terrorists said in their investigation that they received permission to abuse corpses, in order to create fear in Israeli society.
On Channel 11, testimonies were revealed that were provided to the Zman Emet (Real Time) show - two witnesses who saw and heard the atrocities and decided to speak about it now for the first time and openly. One of them, Raz, a discharged officer who participated in the Nova festival in Re'im, said: "A white car arrived and five terrorists exited out of it. They stood in a semi-circle around her, grabbing her by force so she wouldn't move. It happened 30 or 40 meters from us. There was a lot of movement...he raped her. I look and see that the girl is no longer moving, but the terrorist still continues to rape her. It was impossible to help her. I couldn't do anything. I wish I had a weapon and I could help," he said.
After Cohen's appearance on Channel 11, he gave evidence to the police, becoming the first witness to openly describe the acts of rape he witnessed on October 7.
The New York Times publishes evidence of Hamas sexual violence
The same day as the KAN reported was published, a separate investigation by The New York Times was published that described in detail how Hamas weaponized sexual violence on October 7, with details showing "a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks on Israel," according to the report. The NYT investigation was reportedly two months in the making.
Video evidence verified by the Times included Gal Abdush, "a woman in a black dress lying on her back, dress torn, legs spread, vagina exposed" with her face burnt beyond recognition. The Times also sourced Israeli police officials saying they believed that Abdush was raped.
New details by the Times showed that the attacks on women were part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on October 7, and were not "isolated events." The investigation utilized photographs, GPS data, video footage from interviews and mobile phones, and interviews with more than 150 people. Interviews were conducted with witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers and rape counselors.
The investigation showed seven locations where Israeli women were raped or mutilated. The Times received testimony from four witnesses describing in graphic detail seeing the rape and murder of women along Highway 232 near Gaza, which is the same highway where Abdush’s half-naked body was found.
Interviews with soldiers and medics revealed the discovery of more than 30 bodies of women near the Nova music festival and in two kibbutzim, where, like in the case of Abdush, their clothes were off, their legs were spread and they had signs of abuse in their genital areas. Israeli military told the Times about two Israeli soldiers at a base near Gaza who were reportedly shot directly in their vaginas.
Lahav 433 have not yet put together a number on how many women were raped on October 7, stating that most are dead and therefore they will never know.
The report noted that many dead bodies from October 7 were buried as quickly as possible, and so many weren't examined.
Another witness of the Hamas's sexual violence is Sapir, 24, who attended the Nova festival and was shot in the back during the Hamas attacks. She recounted seeing groups of armed gunmen rape and kill at least five women. Sapir told the Times that "she was hiding under the low branches of a bushy tamarisk tree, just off Route 232."
Go to the full article >>Alleged Israeli airstrikes target southern Syria, Damascus twice within hours
Syrian air defenses were activated in the Damascus area during the strikes.
Alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in southern Syria and near Damascus on Thursday night in two separate waves, according to Syrian reports.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported that Israeli fighter jets conducted airstrikes from over the Golan Heights targeting sites in southern Syria, causing material damage.
The local Suwayda 24 news site reported that a radar site belonging to the Syrian Army at Tal al-Sahn, not far from the Syrian-Jordanian border, was targeted and destroyed in the airstrikes. No injuries were reported in the strike.
Syrian air defenses were activated in the Damascus area as well during the strikes, although it is as of yet unclear what locations in the Damascus area were targeted.
The Tal al-Sahn site has been targeted repeatedly in the past by alleged Israeli airstrikes.
A few hours after the first wave of airstrikes, a second wave of airstrikes was reported in the Damascus area, with Syrian air defenses activated in response.
SANA reported that the second airstrikes were conducted from over Lebanon and targeted several sites near Damascus, causing material damage.
According to the Syrian Capital Voice news site, all the sites targeted were sites holding air defense systems.
Recent alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria
The airstrikes come just days after Razi Mousavi, a senior officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in the Damascus area. Mousavi served as one of the leaders of Iran's efforts in Syria and had been targeted by Israel in the past, according to Iranian media.
The airstrikes also come just a day after the Damascus International Airport returned to service after being put out of service by an alleged Israeli airstrike in late November.
Go to the full article >>West Bank terror: Two wounded in stabbing attack near Jerusalem
The terrorist was revealed to be an Israeli Arab who arrived at the checkpoint from the Israeli side of the crossing.
Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack at the Mazmuria checkpoint near Jerusalem on Thursday night, as per initial reports.
One was in serious condition, and the other was in moderate condition. The terrorist was killed at the scene.
Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene to give the victims medical treatment, Walla reported.
Roads to Jerusalem blocked after terror attack
Roads to Jerusalem have been briefly blocked following the attack.
An initial police confirmation stated that the terrorist arrived at the checkpoint armed with a knife and stabbed two people, who were then taken to the hospital. The two arrived at the Shaare Zedek Hospital, Walla reported, where they both arrived conscious and in stable condition and had undergone medical evaluations.
The terrorist was revealed to be an Israeli Arab who arrived at the checkpoint from the Israeli side of the crossing.
This is a developing story.
Go to the full article >>Israel-Hamas War: What you need to know
- Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza
- Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 in the Re'im music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities