Israel at war: What happened on day 34?

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is willing to release two Israeli hostages they are holding, the terror group's spokesperson announced on Thursday, according to Israeli media reports. 

The spokesperson said that an elderly woman and a child could be released. They were later named as Hanna Katzir, 77, and Yagil Yaakov, 12, both of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yaakov was kidnapped alongside his father, his father's partner, and his brother Or, 16.

"At the end of the war, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will be forced to go to elections within 90 days," Labor Minister Yoav Ben Tzur (Shas) told Maariv on Thursday.

"[An election[ will be before an investigative committee of one kind or another. This is my opinion. The prime minister himself will initiate the elections. We cannot continue like this any longer. The public will have its say and then we will see if Netanyahu receives the mandate.

"Decency requires that after such a terrible event, the public must have its say. The government will not be able to continue functioning in the current situation. Everyone takes responsibility for what happened. I, as a minister in the government, also take responsibility."

The US struck a facility used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-backed militias in the Deir Ezzor region of eastern Syria on Wednesday night in response to repeated recent rocket and drone attacks against US forces in Syria and Iraq.

"Following a series of attacks against US persons in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces conducted an airstrike against a facility in Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups," said CENTCOM. "We will take all necessary measures to defend our people against those who are responsible for the attacks and will respond at a time and place of our choosing."

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the strike was conducted by two US F-15s and targeted a weapons storage facility.

"This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates. The president has no higher priority than the safety of US personnel, and he directed today's action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests," said Austin.

"The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities. We urge against any escalation. US personnel will continue to conduct counter-ISIS missions in Iraq and Syria."

The Transportation Ministry will provide free round-trip flights between the Ramon Airport near Eilat and Ben-Gurion Airport to move between the center of the country and the hotels where evacuees are being hosted in Eilat.

Sergeant first class Eliyahu Benjamin Elmakayes (29), of Jerusalem, and Staff Sergeant Noam Yosef Abou (20), of Dimona, were killed in battle with Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the IDF stated on Thursday morning.

The families of the soldiers have been notified.

Blackened windows, shattered bedrooms, pockmarked walls. Wherever you look in northern Gaza, you see destruction and desolation a month into Israel's military campaign to oust Hamas from the enclave.

Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a rare view of their advance into the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, driving them along sandy routes, churned by tank tracks, to the fringes of Gaza City.

Stopping at a cluster of apartment blocks, every building within sight is scarred by battle. Walls have been blown away, bullet holes and shrapnel dot the facades, the palm trees are shredded and broken.

"It's been a long two weeks of fighting. It is not an operation, it is a war," said Lieutenant Colonel Ido, deputy commander of the 401st Brigade. He did not give his last name. "It is going to last a long time, until Hamas no longer exists."

A US military MQ-9 drone was shot down on Wednesday by Yemen's Houthis, two US officials and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said.

While US drones have been shot down by Houthis in the past, this incident comes at a particularly tense time in the region.

Washington is on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups as regional tensions soar during the Israel-Hamas war.

A shooting attack occurred at the Itamar and Gigit intersection in the northern portion of the West Bank, Israeli media reported shortly after midnight on Thursday.

The MDA noted that two people were wounded in the attack.

Reportedly, one of the wounded sustained an injury to the chest and the other was wounded in the shoulder. A toddler in the car was not harmed. 

According to the MDA spokesperson, at 11:50 p.m. on Wednesday, the emergency service received a report of a vehicle that was shot at. The vehicle had three occupants, a man, a woman, and a baby.

Later, Israeli media reported that authorities were pursuing suspects of the shooting who had reportedly fled to the Nablus area.

This is a developing story.