Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Gaza on Monday, advancing in tanks and other armoured vehicles on the territory's main city and freeing a soldier held captive by Hamas militants. The Israeli prime minister rejected calls for a cease-fire, even as airstrikes landed near hospitals where thousands of Palestinians are sheltering beside the wounded. The military said a female soldier captured during Hamas' brutal October 7 incursion was rescued in Gaza the first since the weekslong war began. It provided few details, but said in a statement that Pvt. Ori Megidish is doing well and had met with her family. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed her home, saying the achievement by Israel's security forces illustrates our commitment to free all the hostages. He also rejected calls for a cease-fire to facilitate the release of captives or end the war, which he has said will be long and difficult. Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, he told a pres
Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia's Dagestan region and onto the landing field on Sunday, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, Russian news agencies and social media reported. Russian news reports said the crowd surrounded the airliner, which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings. Authorities closed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, and police converged on the facility. Dagestan's Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians. Video on social media showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car. Antisemitic slogans can be heard being shouted and some in the crowd examined the passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli. In a statement Sunday night, Israeli Prime
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation Saturday night that the military has opened a second stage in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea. He said it will only increase ahead of a broad ground invasion into the territory. It will be long and difficult, he said. We are ready. The bombardment, described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war, knocked out most communications in Gaza. This largely cut off the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people from the world, while enabling the Israeli military to control the narrative in the new stage of fighting. The military released grainy images Saturday showing tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza, many apparently near the border, and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers. The underground sites are a key target in Israel's campaign to crush the territory's ruling group after its bloody incursion into ..
Israel is in the midst of a fight for its existence and preparations are underway for a ground incursion into Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said and added that "all Hamas members are dead men walking". In an address to the nation on Wednesday evening, he stressed that the two main goals of the war were "to eliminate Hamas by destroying its military and governance capabilities, and to do everything possible to get our captives home". Seeking national unity, the prime minister said that, "Israel is in the midst of a fight for our existence." "All Hamas members are dead men walking above and below ground, inside and outside Gaza," Netanyahu said. Together with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister Benny Gantz, the Security Cabinet, the Chief-of-Staff and heads of the security organisations, "we are working round the clock in order to achieve the aims of the war until victory, and doing so without political considerations," he said. The goals are "saving the nation, achiev
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make efforts to see that a humanitarian corridor is opened in Gaza so that people can get relief and a ceasefire announced. He spoke to reporters after addressing a public meeting on Monday night organised at the AIMIM headquarters here "in protest against the atrocities of Israel in Palestine". The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks in Southern Israel on October 7. The unprecedented assault triggered retaliatory strikes from the Israel Defense Forces. "India is sending aid. But, Israel is saying we will not allow it. We are talking about sending aid to Gaza through Rafah, Egypt. Our planes had gone. We demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi to first get a ceasefire made there. Get a ceasefire done in Gaza and a humanitarian corridor is opened there," he said, when asked about India sending relief materials. He observed that 50,000 women are pregnant in Gaza and that ...
Meloni assured Netanyahu of Italy's support for Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday held a private meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his office in Jerusalem
'Based on what I have seen, it was done by the other team, not you,' US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday
The US President's visit comes amid an attack on a Hospital in Gaza which claimed the lives of hundreds present in and near the premises
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President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday to show support for the US ally as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden's travel to Israel as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire and as Israel prepares for a possible ground attack on the 141-square-mile (365-square-kilometre) territory to root out Hamas militants responsible for what US and Israeli officials say was the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust. Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the US is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged military support, sending US carriers and aid to the region. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of USD 2 billion in additional aid for both Israel and Ukraine, which is fighting Russia's invasion. Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after more than seven hours of talks with
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President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the leaders to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirmed his support for efforts to protect civilians. The weekend calls in Washington came as the US said it was moving up a second carrier strike group in support of Israel, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken intensified diplomatic outreach across the Middle East and beyond to rally an international response to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding. Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh before stopping in the United Arab Emirates as he sought ways to help civilians trapped in between the fighting and to address the growing humanitarian crisis. He also called his Chinese counterpart as Palestinians struggled to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military before an expected land offensive. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as wel
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Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he stood with Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as his GOP rivals continued to pointedly denounce his lashing out at Netanyahu days after Hamas' deadly attacks. Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, Trump posted #IStandWithIsrael and #IStandWithBibi on his Truth Social network Friday afternoon. That stood in stark contrast to comments earlier this week, when Trump told a rally crowd in Florida that Netanyahu had "let us down" before the US killed a top Iranian general. Trump further faulted the country's intelligence agencies, saying they needed to "step up their game," and referred to Hezbollah, the group Israel fears may launch a large-scale attack from the country's north, as "very smart." The comments drew widespread condemnation from the White House as well as Trump's GOP rivals, who have generally avoided directly attacking the former president and GOP front-runner because he remains deeply popular with the ...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas as the army prepares for an expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu delivered the threat in a nationally televised address late Friday. Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack last Saturday, killing over 1,300 people in a brutal rampage. Early Friday, Israel ordered half of Gaza's population to evacuate their homes. This is just the beginning, Netanyahu said. We will end this war stronger than ever. We will destroy Hamas, he added, saying Israel has widespread international support for the operation.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli leaders that we have your back as he reaffirmed US support in the first week of their war against the militant Hamas group. He voiced little public criticism of their stunning demand that some 1 million civilians evacuate northern Gaza. Austin, the second high-level US official sent by President Joe Biden to visit Israel in two days, was seeing firsthand some of the weapons and security assistance that Washington rapidly delivered to Israel after it was attacked. He stressed that this is a time for resolve and not revenge, for purpose and not panic and for security and not surrender. The defence secretary's quick trip to Israel from Brussels, where he was attending a NATO defence ministers meeting, came a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region. Blinken is continuing the frantic Mideast diplomacy, seeking to avert an expanded regional conflict. The Israeli military directed Gaza City residents to evacuate for .
Several of former President Donald Trump's Republican rivals denounced him on Thursday for lashing out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days after Hamas' deadly attack, a rare moment in which multiple competitors directly criticised the GOP front-runner. Trump at a rally Wednesday night said Netanyahu let us down just before the U.S. killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020. He also said Israeli leaders needed to step up their game" and referred to Hezbollah, the group Israel fears may launch a large-scale attack from the country's north, as very smart. In an interview that aired Thursday, he added to his criticism, saying Netanyahu was not prepared" for the deadly weekend incursion from Gaza. Now is not the time to be attacking our ally," said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump's 2024 rivals, echoing denunciations from the White House and elsewhere. More than 2,700 people are dead on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and Hamas is believed to have ..
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin plans to visit Israel on Friday, the second high-level US official to visit Tel Aviv in two days, in a deliberate show of support and an effort to determine what additional military aid is needed in the war with Hamas. Austin is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive travel details Austin's arrival comes just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited and vowed American support for Israel in a meeting with Netanyahu. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Austin said the US is working urgently to get Israel what it needs to defend itself, including munitions and our iron Dome interceptor interceptors.