Woman murdered in Herzliya terror attack, IDF operates in Gaza hospital

IDF soldiers from the 401st Brigade, under the command of the 162nd Division, began operations in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya, Gaza, the military confirmed on Friday morning.

During operational activity in southern Lebanon, the IDF discovered weapons inside a pharmacy and a truck containing 40 rocket launchers, the Israeli military announced on Friday.

Eighty-three-year-old Holocaust survivor Ludmila Lipovsky was murdered in a terror stabbing attack outside her nursing home in Herzliya on Friday morning. Security guards neutralized the attacker before arresting him.

Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv confirmed that Lipovsky was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Israel Police designated the incident as a terror attack after officers, along with MDA paramedics, arrived at the scene.

An initial investigation revealed that the terrorist was a Palestinian resident of the West Bank city of Tulkarm who had previously served a prison sentence in Israel. The Shin Bet added that the suspect was a former Shin Bet aide who had helped thwart terrorism in the West Bank.

The suspect's collaboration with the Shin Bet was later exposed and he was transferred for rehabilitation in Israel. He has now been transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Ludmila Lipovsky, an 83 years old Holocaust survivor, was murdered in a terrorist stabbing attack in Herzliya (credit: SCREENSHOT/X)

The commander of Tel Aviv district police, Superintendent Haim Sargaroff, said that the security guards at the scene lept into action after they heard the terrorist shout "Allahu Akbar." 

The Jerusalem Post found on Yad Vasehem's database that Ludmila Lipofsky was born in Buy, Russia on 11 November 1941, and was in Samarkand, Uzbekistan during the war. After the war, she was registered as being in Israel. She was registered as being born during evacuation.

Michael Dickson, the director of Stand With Us tweeted that the Holocaust survivor was waiting for her daughter to take her to the doctor when she was killed.

Here’s how cowardly Palestinian terrorists are: today’s victim was an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, Ludmila Lipovsky. She lived in an assisted living facility, and was waiting for her daughter to take her to the doctor. The jihadi stabbed her to death 6 times, murdering her. pic.twitter.com/CANLdvWp0F

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) December 27, 2024

Yisrael Beyteinu chair Avigdor Liberman said "there are no words to describe the pain and sorrow in this shocking case."

Details of the attack

MDA Paramedic Idan Shina and MDA EMT Elon Boaron, who were the first to arrive at the scene, said teams arrived to find the elderly woman lying unconscious with stab wounds. The paramedics stopped the bleeding, resuscitated her, treated her with medication, and evacuated her.

The incident occurred on Herzliya's Kdoshei Hashoah Street [Holocaust Martyrs Street].

 "Aside from the woman, there were no other casualties," said MDA spokesperson Zaki Heller after paramedics arrived at the scene. 

צרחות וקולות ירי: רגעי ניטרול המפגע מהרצליה | תיעוד

(צילום: שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א' לזכויות היוצרים) pic.twitter.com/9JavTWgQmm

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 27, 2024

The Israel Police said that forces located and arrested the suspect and that Police Commissioner Danny Levy then arrived at the scene.

"The circumstances of the incident are being investigated," the Police added.

The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office has filed a notice with the Jerusalem District Court to withdraw terrorism charges against four east Jerusalem residents, Israeli media reported on Friday.

The four men, who have reportedly spent more than a year in a security prison, were charged with shooting at the Kalandiya checkpoint on October 7 of last year.

The men confessed to the act during Shin Bet interrogations, Israeli media added.
 

"Our problem is not with Israel," Maher Marwan, the new governor of Damascus, told NPR on behalf of new Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani.

Following their rapid 11-day takeover of Syria, the leaders of Al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are looking to consolidate their international legitimacy as the 'new Syria.'

In a meeting with NPR's Hadeel Al-Salachi, Marwan said it was "natural" that Israel had concerns about the new Syrian government and that as a result of this "fear," Israel "advanced a little, bombed a little."

Marwan added that the new Syrian administration doesn't "want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel's security or any other country's security."

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) head Hamid Al-Shatri, in Damascus, Syria December 26, 2024 (credit: Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via REUTERS)

US mediation

Going a step further than Julani's previous statements, Marwan called on the United States to facilitate better relations with Israel.

A US official told NPR that the US relayed HTS's message to Israel.

"We want peace, and we do not want to be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone, Marwan concluded.

A Palestinian Security Services officer was killed in the West Bank city of Jenin amid clashes between Palestinian Authority forces and terrorists, Arab media reported on Thursday evening, citing PSS Spokesperson Anwar Rajab.

The Israeli air force reportedly struck the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese media outlet Al Akhbar reported on Friday morning.

According to the report, Israel targeted the outskirts of Qousaya with two missiles.

Al Akhbar added that echoes were heard across the Bekaa valley.

These are the second reported attacks on the region since a ceasefire was reached between Hezbollah and Israel in November, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News noted.

On Thursday, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, claimed that Israel had violated the ceasefire agreement.

A Lebanese army soldier stands near UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 29, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Violation of 1701

The recent US-brokered ceasefire agreement called for an IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon along with a Hezbollah withdrawal north of the Litani River, upholding the 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701, which ended the previous Israel-Lebanon conflict.

"There is concern at continuing destruction by the IDF in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon, UNIFIL wrote. "This is in violation of resolution 1701."

The IDF, however, disputes the charge and has reported a number of instances of Hezbollah members operating in violation of the ceasefire agreement. 

On December 17, the IDF reported that it had identified a Hezbollah terrorist loading weaponry onto a vehicle “in violation of the ceasefire agreements between Israel and Lebanon.” 

The IAF subsequently struck the vehicle.

“The IDF is operating in accordance with the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said at the time. “The IDF remains deployed in southern Lebanon and will operate against any threat posed to the State of Israel and its citizens.”

Additionally, other terror elements, aside from Hezbollah, have been identified recently in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Last week, Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet Al Mayadeen reported that the Lebanese Armed Forces took control of a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine command site in the Bekaa Valley’s Sultan Yacoub.

Reuters contributed to this report.

A Houthi missile fired from Yemen triggered sirens across central Israel early on Friday morning.

According to the IDF, the missile was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory.

While no one was reported wounded as a result of falling debris, 18 people were injured as they made their way to safe rooms, and two people have been treated for anxiety, Israel's emergency medical service Magen David Adom reported. 

Multiple flights on their way to Israel were diverted due to the missile, according to Israeli media.

״Houthis in sandals sent an entire country to shelters in the middle of the night," MK Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) posted on X/Twitter.

האזעקות במרכז ובשפלה - בעקבות שיגור שחצה מתימן@ItayBlumental @ela1949 @Itsik_zuarets @hadasgrinberg pic.twitter.com/CPPdxWfqPb

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 27, 2024

"If Bibi had not abolished the missile force that I established, this threat would not exist today."

Israeli - Houthi conflict

This latest attack comes just hours after the IAF targeted Houthi infrastructure near the airports of Hodeidah and the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, marking the largest strike on Houthi targets since the beginning of the war.

Three people were killed and 16 were wounded at the airport in Sana'a following the attack, Houthi-owned TV channel Al-Masirah reported.

This is a developing story.

Israeli airstrikes targeted a host of Houthi infrastructure near the airports of Hodeidah and the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

The Israeli Air Force struck several targets across Houthi-controlled Yemen on Thursday as retaliation for the missile attacks against Tel Aviv.