An Air Force fighter jet dropped fuel tanks off the coast of Ashkelon last week due to a malfunction, the IDF said in a statement Wednesday.
According to the statement, the incident occurred during a training flight, and no injuries were reported. The IDF added that one of the tanks was located earlier on Wednesday in central Israel.
Two ultra-Orthodox factions in the Knesset, Shas and United Torah Judaism, issued a statement reiterating their support of any proposal for a hostage deal that might be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset, despite leaving the coalition.
“We are fully committed to our brothers and sisters, the hostages in the tunnels in Gaza, both living and dead,” the factions wrote in a joint statement.
“Therefore, the factions will support any proposal for a hostage deal that will be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset, ” they wrote.
“There is no commandment more important than “Pidyon shvuyim” [redemption of captives],” they wrote, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do everything in his power to return the hostages to their families.
Israeli settlers shot and murdered Awdah Hathaleen on his own land in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Kheir in the West Bank yesterday. Yinon Levi, a violent settler so well-known that former U.S. President Joe Biden sanctioned him was filmed on location, at the time, opening fire.
Awdah was shot in the chest and suffered critical injuries. Levi has been taken into custody for now, although no charges have been filed against him or anyone else in relation to Awdah’s murder.
Awdah was my friend. It doesn’t matter if he was a good person, because there is no justification for his murder, nor for the daily violence his community faces, nor for the regular attempts to usurp the private land of Umm al-Kheir and displace the community. But Awdah really was an incredible person. He was a leader and human rights defender who fought every day to improve life in Umm al-Kheir, despite years of home demolitions and, more recently, increased settler violence.
But Awdah’s unjust killing is far from an isolated incident.
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A 17-year-old was moderately to severely wounded by a gunshot to his back near the Tzur Harel outpost in the West Bank.
According to a security source, a reserve soldier who was on an administrative trip noticed masked suspects throwing stones at vehicles near the settlement of Beit El.
The soldier, who felt his life and the lives of the drivers on the road were endangered, fired shots into the air.
When the suspects began throwing stones at him, he shot at one of the suspects and wounded him.
The IDF said the incident is under investigation.
Here are the latest updates on day 663 of the war:
■ The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that hospitals in Gaza recorded seven deaths due to hunger and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.
■ Several Western countries announced Wednesday that they are considering recognizing a Palestinian state ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this September.
■ The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement saying that the recognition of Palestinian statehood while hostages are still being held in Gaza “amounts to rewarding terrorism.”
■ Britain rejected criticism that it was rewarding Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace.
■ Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party said in an interview to Haredi Kol Chai Radio that the mission to return the hostages being held in Gaza back to Israel should not be the primary goal of Israel’s war in Gaza.
■ Ministers and MKs from the right-wing coalition wrote to Defense Minister Israel Katz, demanding that he allow them to tour the northern perimeter of the Gaza Strip, to “explore settlement possibilities.”
■ UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who argued the university violated their civil rights by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters in 2024 to block their access to classes and other areas on campus.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that hospitals in Gaza recorded seven deaths due to hunger and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.
According to data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, 154 people have died of hunger since the start of the war, 89 of whom are children.
In response to growing European initiatives to recognize a Palestinian state, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement saying that the recognition of Palestinian statehood while hostages are still being held in Gaza “amounts to rewarding terrorism.”
“Such recognition is not a step toward peace, but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes,” the forum wrote.
The family members of the hostages said that if the international community desires peace, “it must join U.S. efforts” by calling for their release from Hamas’ captivity and an end to the fighting in Gaza.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state before the hostages are returned will be remembered throughout history as validating terrorism as a legitimate pathway to political goals,” they added.
Ministers and MKs from the right-wing coalition wrote to Defense Minister Israel Katz, demanding that he allow them to tour the northern perimeter of the Gaza Strip.
The letter, issued Wednesday, states that the purpose of the requested tour is to “explore settlement possibilities” in the northern perimeter of the Gaza Strip, an area in the northern part of Gaza they claim “is under full control of the Israel Defense Forces, empty of Gazans and has no extraordinary security restrictions.”
Among the signatories are Likud ministers Miki Zohar, May Golan and Shlomo Karhi, and Otzma Yehudit ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Amichay Eliyahu and Yitzhak Wasserlauf.
In their letter to the defense minister, the right-wing lawmakers wrote that “the Gaza Strip is a pounding heart of the Land of Israel,” and that preventing such a tour, without proper justification, could be perceived as “asserting a political stance and silencing the right-wing side of the political map.”
The lawmakers asked him to approve the tour, which they said is organized by the Nachala movement.
Nachala, headed by settler leader Daniella Weiss, also asked to hold a demonstration march titled “Returning to the Gaza Strip – Starting with the Northern perimeter.”
Read more here
Britain on Wednesday rejected criticism that it was rewarding militant group Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum, setting a September deadline for Israel, prompted an immediate rebuke from his counterpart in Jerusalem, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of their 2023 cross-border attack.
Asked about that criticism, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said it was not the right way to characterize Britain’s plan.
“This is not a reward for Hamas. Hamas is a vile terrorist organization that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death,” she told LBC radio.
“We’ve got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza.”
Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party said in an interview to Haredi Kol Chai Radio that the mission to return the hostages being held in Gaza back to Israel should not be the primary goal of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“They should be called ‘prisoners of war,’ and ‘prisoners of war’ are dealt with at the end of the war,” he said. “When you define them as hostages, the objective is first and foremost to return the hostages, but I think the hostages shouldn’t be the primary goal.”
In the interview, the minister also called for the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. “Gaza should be Jewish. Once Gaza is Jewish, the Arabs there will also be better off,” he said.
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