Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Friday at noon with Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and senior security officials to discuss expanding operations in Gaza.
This is a developing story.
In the ongoing battle against the flames on Thursday, Israel is operating its “Elad Sqadron” as several aircrafts from abroad are en route to aid in its efforts.
The IDF closed off the entrance to the town of Beita in the area of Nablus on Thursday morning after troops were deployed to the area, Israeli media reported.
As of Thursday morning, 119 firefighting teams are still operating at all fire sites in the Jerusalem hills region, although highways 1, 38, and 3 have been reopened to traffic.
All roads previously blocked due to wildfires have been reopened, Israel Police announced Thursday morning.
The Independence Day tribute flyover event for the hostages’ families has been canceled, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Thursday.
A national flotilla involving hundreds of private boats was also canceled, Israeli media reported.
These two events were scheduled to replace the Independence Day Israeli air force flyover and Navy flotilla.
Hamas posted a message encouraging Palestinians to “burn whatever you can of groves, forests, and settler homes,” on Telegram on Wednesday.
“Youth of the West Bank, youth of Jerusalem, and those inside Israel, set their cars ablaze… Gaza awaits the revenge of the free,” the terrorist organization wrote.
A massive wildfire broke out on Wednesday in Israel in the forests between Eshtaol and Latrun, west of Jerusalem, forcing evacuations and road closures as thousands gathered across the Jewish state for Memorial Day observances. Fanned by high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds, the fire, believed to have been set intentionally, spread rapidly through multiple locations across Israel.
“It’s a terror attack on Israel,” Eli Beer, president of the United Hatzalah emergency response organization, told The Media Line. He noted that fires were started in 20 separate locations. A security source also confirmed to The Media Line that a terrorist act was likely behind the fires, adding that several people had been arrested.
Israel is due to restore humanitarian aid to Gaza within weeks whether it reaches a new hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas or not, the Jerusalem Post has learned.
A variety of top governmental figures in early March had said that Israel would permanently block the flow of new humanitarian aid to Gaza unless Hamas agreed to additional hostage exchanges.
Israel and the new Syrian government could be on a collision course over threats to the Druze in southern Syria. The sudden crisis developed quickly over two days since April 28. It began due to rumors about an audio recording that was supposedly insulting to Muslims. This led extremists to gather and slander the Druze community and make genocidal threats.
This appears to be a repeat of incidents that are common in the Islamic world where alleged “insults to the prophet Mohammed” lead to lynching, murder and massacre. This has been used for decades in Pakistan to suppress minorities. It was used on 2012 to get crowds to attack the US embassy in Cairo and this led an attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
