Hamas
“Approximately 9,000 rioters are gathered along the security fence between Gaza and Israel. They are burning tires and hurling rocks, explosive devices and firebombs at IDF troops and the security fence,” the IDF Spokesperson Unit said in a statement.
“We support the measures taken by the government of Israel to protect and defend civilian lives, and hope that its actions will bring about a swift end to these indiscriminate attacks,” said Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations chairman Arthur Stark and executive vice chairman/CEO Malcolm Hoenlein.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman held the meeting at the Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, which was attended by Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot and other senior defense officials.
Hamas’s leadership is dangling the option of a long-term truce before Israel with one hand and firing barrages of rockets at southern Israel with the other, terrorizing hundreds of thousands of Israelis and risking the security of the Gazan civilians it rules over.
“After much deliberation, in view of the security situation, the hot-air balloon festival will not take place this year and you are entitled to a full refund,” the Shikma Beshur Tourism Association announced. “You can decide whether to receive a partial refund, full, or no refund at all—and donate the money to the south.”
Mayor Ruvik Danilovich said that Israel must act more forcefully against these rocket attacks after his city of more than 205,000 people was targeted.
Nearly180 rockets were lobbed at Israel overnight, causing damage and obliterating talk of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“The IDF will take action against any offensive intent and every attempted attack on our forces,” the army said, adding that it held Hamas responsible for all violence coming out of Gaza.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, a Palestinian sniper in Gaza fired at Israeli soldiers under the cover of 20 children who were sent towards the border fence as a decoy.
Also emphasized was the contrast between the current White House administration and previous ones, with Israel’s ambassador to the United States hailing U.S. President Donald Trump as the best ally Israel has ever had.
The goal was to showcase the vast agricultural and environmental damage inflicted by Hamas in the area over the past several months.
Six people wounded in the strike, two of them critically, Palestinians say • IDF chief visits spot where Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi was killed Friday on Gaza border • Defense minister: “If life in Israel does not return to normal, neither will life in Gaza.”
