A freed Israeli hostage who was taken hostage by Hamas by its terrorist fighters at a music festival said she “went through a holocaust” during her 54 days being held captive in Gaza, where everyone there “is a terrorist.”
Mia Schem, 21, described her ordeal in an interview with Channel 13 and reasoned why she wanted to open up about her experience.
“It was important to me to relay the truth about the nature of the people who live in Gaza, who they are truly are and what I experienced there,” she said.
“That I went through a holocaust,” she added. “Everyone over there is a terrorist.”
Schem said she was held by a civilian family in Gaza after being kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 and shot in the arm.
“Entire families are in the service of Hamas,” she said. “I suddenly realized that I was held captive by a family. I began asking myself questions.”
“'What am I being held in a family household? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?’” she asked.
Schem was recently released as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange during a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
During her captivity, Schem was treated for her gunshot wound by a veterinarian, Israeli officials said.
A Palestinian restaurant owner in New York City was met with death threats instead of praise after opening his newest location, where the seafood section of its menu is called "From the River to the Sea."
“It means nothing and has nothing to do with violence. It's a simple call for an end to the occupation and freedom for Palestinians. Not to be treated like animals, yet to be treated with human dignity and fairness," Ayat restaurant owner Abdul Elenani told Fox News Digital.
Elenani and Ayat Masoud opened the newest location of their restaurant, Ayat, earlier this month in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Elenani told Fox News Digital that he had originally picked the slogan on the seafood portion of the menu as a "pun" and not one of violence or hate.
He said it has been a slogan used on his menu since opening back in 2020.
"That slogan within our communities has always been defined as a calling for peace and equality for Palestinian people in their country," Elenani said. "And after Oct. 7, it was interpreted to be a way to kill, exile, murder, do whatever to all the Jewish people, which is totally nowhere near our definition. It’s been driving me crazy."
Elenani said he and his wife have received over 50 hateful, malicious, and threatening messages, but thankfully, the police have already arrested three people responsible for the threats.
"Somebody emailed our page saying, ‘Us Jews will annihilate you. Palestine does not exist. From the river to the sea will be 100 percent Israel. Palestinians need to be killed.'"
Read the full article from Stepheny Price.
AU.S. naval vessel shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea on Thursday.
The drone and missile were shot down by the USS Mason. Both were fired between 5:45 a.m. and 6:10 a.m. local time, U.S. Central Command said.
None of the 18 ships in the area were damaged.
The Iran-backed Houthis have attempted 22 attacks on international shipping since Oct. 19, U.S. Central Command said.
{{#rendered}}Fourteen protesters were arrested Thursday after a large crowd blocked the gates to Travis Air Force Base in California, authorities said.
A crowd of about 150 protesters arrived at the base with the goal of shutting down all of the gates into the installation, the Fairfield Police Department said.
Many in the crowd waved Palestinian flags holding up banners reading, “No U.S. weapons for genocide,” KRON-TV reported.
“Members of the Police Department and representatives from Travis Air Force Base met with protest organizers to facilitate the exercise of their constitutional rights, while also ensuring the men and women serving our nation could get onto the base,” the department said. “Unfortunately, almost immediately after that meeting, some of the protestors moved into the street and blocked both the North and South gates.”
The protesters were asked to leave the roadway and continue their demonstration on the shoulder but refused, police said.
Ten protesters were arrested at the north gate and four more were arrested at the south gate.
They were taken into custody for failing to disperse, police said. No force was used and the road was opened by 9:30 a.m., authorities said.
An internet expert's study regarding Google searches for antisemitic queries has him "scared for Jews everywhere!"
Mordy Oberstein, a leading search engine optimization (SEO) expert, authored The Middle East Journal's study, and shared the data on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The statistics had him "shaking," he said. "I did not think the data would be this bad," Oberstein posted. "The numbers are up across the globe."
Some of the study highlights show Google searches for "glory to our martyrs" and "intifada revolution" up 12,000% since Oct. 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel.
Other phrases with massive search increases include "kill Jews," up 1,800% and "why are Jews bad," up 450%.
"Hitler was right," queries are also up 120%, according to data from digital marketing platform Semrush.
The highest increase, with 100,000 searches a month in the U.S. alone, a 15,000% increase overall, is the phrase "from the river to the sea."
Read the full article by Pilar Arias here.
Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu met with representatives of 28 families that have loved ones being held captive by Hamas, his office said.
Netanyahu was in Tel Aviv with is wife, Sara Netanyahu, who has also called for international pressure to ensure hostages’ release.
"We are holding contacts at this very moment,” the prime minister said. “I cannot detail the status. We are working to return them all. This is our goal.”
Netanyahu’s office said he heard from the families about the situation of their loved ones and their questions about what is being done in order to advance their release.
Sara Netanyahu wrote a letter to Pope Francis last week asking him to intervene and use his influence to get Hamas to release those being held captive.
"I sent letters to the wives of 33 world leaders and requested that they pressure the Red Cross, and a letter to the Pope,” she said Thursday. “Hamas has committed crimes against humanity. We are all praying for the well-being of our hostages, and their quick and safe return home."
{{#rendered}}Israel launched widespread airstrikes into southern Lebanon on Thursday, where it has been trading fire with Hezbollah for more than two months.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, launched rockets and drones into Israel Thursday morning, The Times of Israel reported.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces used fighter jets, tanks and artillery fire to attack infrastructure used by the terror group, the IDF said.
The targeted space included areas of the villages of Ita al-Sha'ab and Ramya, the IDF said.
A Hezbollah military compound was struck by fighter jets, as well as a Hezbollah cell preparing to carry out an anti-tank missile attack, according to the IDF. Drones were also shot down over northern Israel, as violence along its border with Lebanon appeared to intensify.
Throughout Thursday, Hezbollah launched around 50 rockets and missiles as well as two drones at Israel.
Hamas is open to ending its war with Israel but that the proposal must be final, an official for the terror group said Thursday.
Osama Hamdan said the Palestinian group is “open to any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
He added that Hamas isn’t interested in “partial or temporary cessation of aggression.” Hamas broke a cease-fire with Israel when it attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7.
As for the post-war governance of the Gaza Strip, Hamdan said it would be a “decision of the Palestinian people alone” and that Palestinians in Gaza would “not accept a leadership that comes on the back of a Zionist or American tank or under the protection of this tank.”
He reiterated the group’s denial of a claim made by a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday that the Oct. 7 attack was launched in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. Hamas.
The attack was launched as the “result of international collusion that tried to dispose of the Palestinian cause” in response to Israeli aggression, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday shut down an entrance to the World Trade Center in New York City.
Hundreds marched to the site after gathering several blocks away in Zuccotti Park for the "Flood NYC for Palestine" demonstration.
Video footage taken at the building shows a police officer standing in front of glass doors to prevent the crowd from going inside.
The protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted various slogans, including “Free, Free Palestine!”
The building stands where the 9/11 attacks occurred in 2001.
{{#rendered}}Israel targeted the vicinity of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday, Syrian state Tv said.
Explosions were heard near the city and officials were trying to verify their nature, Reuters reported.
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike outside Damascus killed senior adviser in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, three security sources and Iranian state media said.
"I won't comment on foreign reports, these or others in the Middle East," IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in response to a reporter's question at a Monday night press conference about the strike. "The Israeli military obviously has a job to protect the security interests of Israel."
Two people were stabbed Thursday at an Israeli checkpoint near Jerusalem, according to local reports.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said medics were treating a woman in her 20s and a 25-year-old man at the Mazmuria checkpoint near the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, The Times of Israel reported.
Both were in moderate condition, the report said.
The alleged assailant was shot by security forces at the scene.
The Biden administration, along with the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, on Thursday condemned Iran’s increase in the rate of production rate of uranium.
"We urge Iran to immediately reverse these steps and de-escalate its nuclear program,” according to a statement reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Iran must fully cooperate with the IAEA to enable it to provide assurances that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, and to re-designate the inspectors suspended in September 2023."
The statement said the increase has no “credible civilian justification.”
The governments said they remain committed to ensuring Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.
Iran openly supports terrorist groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which have as their goal the destruction of Israel.
{{#rendered}}Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke Thursday about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
The pair also discussed the stabilization phase that will follow major combat operations.
“The Secretary reiterated U.S. resolve to ensure Hamas can no longer threaten Israel's security and underscored the importance of protecting Gaza's civilians and accelerating humanitarian assistance,” Ryder said in a statement.
Other issues included Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon , where the terror group has traded rocket fire with Israeli troops, militia attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed groups and attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on the Red Sea.
President Biden said news of the death of a second American hostage being held in Gaza “cuts deep.”
The Kibbutz Nir announced Thursday that Judi Weinstein Haggai was declared dead. She was one of eight Americans being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
“This tragic development cuts deep, coming on the heels of last week’s news that Judith’s beloved husband, Gad Haggai, is believed to have been killed by Hamas,” Biden said.
The announcement comes just a week after the community said Haggai's husband, Gad, had died. He was the first American hostage to die in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
They disappeared in the fields surrounding Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and had not been heard from since.
“We are holding Judith and Gad’s four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones close to our hearts,” said Biden. “I will never forget what their daughter, and the family members of other Americans held hostage in Gaza, have shared with me. They have been living through hell for weeks.”
A hidden tunnel shaft used by terrorists was discovered hidden inside a mosque, the Israeli military said Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces posted a video on X showing the unnamed mosque and the tunnel shaft inside in a room inside.
The building appeared to be deserted and possibly hit with airstrikes and the walls appeared to have been hit with gunfire.
Israel has said Hamas uses an underground network of tunnels to move around in Gaza and hide from Israeli airstrikes.
Hamas also uses tunnels in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and mosques, Israeli officials have said.
{{#rendered}}The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that an internal investigation into an incident in which three Israeli hostages were shot and killed by the country's military in Gaza City on Dec. 15 revealed that "one of them was waving a white flag" in poor visibility before being hit with gunfire.
"On December 15, 2023, during intense days of fighting in Shejaiya, an IDF soldier fired toward three figures, identified as threats, and hit two of the hostages who were killed. The third figure fled," the IDF said.
"The commanders gave orders to hold fire in order to identify the third figure. After approximately 15 minutes, the battalion commander heard shouts in Hebrew of 'help' and 'they are shooting at me,' and gave additional orders to hold fire, calling out in Hebrew 'come toward us.' The figure emerged from a building toward the forces. Two soldiers, who did not hear the order due to noise from a nearby tank, shot at and killed the third hostage," the IDF continued.
"From the investigation and analysis of the findings and aerial footage of the area, it was revealed that the hostages were walking shirtless, and one of them was waving a white flag, standing at a point with limited visibility relative to the position of the soldier that fired the shot," the IDF added.
Israel's military said in the days leading up to the incident, "a note with the Hebrew writing 'Help' was found at the exit of a terror tunnel in the Shejaiya area" alongside an "ID of a Hamas operative." But troops considered it an attempt by Hamas to lure them into an ambush.
Then during the day before the incident, "signs with the writing 'SOS' and 'Help, 3 hostages' were identified by drone footage on a building 200 meters from where the hostages were killed. Near the building, blue barrels commonly found in rigged areas, which the forces encountered in the Shejaiya area, were spotted, thus it was suspected as a trap," the IDF also said.
The IDF concluded that "The investigation revealed that the command ranks had information about the presence of hostages in the Shejaiya area and even took actions to prevent strikes on locations suspected of having hostages inside," but "in this case, there was no intelligence about either building where the hostages were in."
"The entire chain of command feels responsible for this difficult event, regrets this outcome, and shares in the grief of the families of the three hostages," the IDF said.
A rabbinical seminary in southern Israel is open for business once again.
Prior to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, the Max and Ruth Schwartz Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot was a home to roughly 300 college-age men, and a smaller female class, who were pursuing religious instruction. While there are many such schools throughout Israel, this school is a particular kind as it not only provides traditional Jewish learning, but time to fulfill one's commitments to Israel's military.
The yeshiva's halls and dorms alike have been empty. It's mirrored the emptiness of Sderot ever since the day of the attacks.
"I got to walk around a little bit more last week," says Rabbi Ari Katz, the school's public relations director, when speaking to the "FOX News Rundown - Evening Edition" podcast. "[It] used to be a city, which is a vibrant city that's alive with 35 to 36,000 people."
The city is still quite vacant. A few grocery stores have reopened. But the bustle is missing, except for now the yeshiva students who are coming back to their studies. For the past two months, another school in another town hosted them. But now they're returning, and the yeshiva hopes it might encourage the city's other residents to return.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Thursday that "As long as Erdogan is the president of Turkey" there is "no place for returning an Israeli ambassador there."
Cohen made the remark a day after Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Erdogan, since the beginning of the war, has been a frequent critic of Israel and its military campaign to eliminate Hamas.
The Israeli government previously ordered its diplomats in Turkey to return home at the end of October in response to past remarks from Erdogan, according to the Tazpit Press Service.
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Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is calling out her colleagues in the U.S. Congress who have sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the ongoing war between his country and the terror group Hamas.
She called the conservative leader a "genocidal maniac" in a post on her Instagram Story on Wednesday.
"Every member of Congress who sits down with this murderer is supporting a war criminal," Tlaib wrote. "We will never ever forget."
That would include fellow Democrats who met with Netanyahu since the war began, as the issue continues to fracture the left.
The United Nations Children's Fund said Thursday that this year "has been the deadliest year on record for children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with conflict-related violence reaching unprecedented levels."
“83 children have been killed in the past twelve weeks -- more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022, amid increased military and law enforcement operations. More than 576 have been injured and others have reportedly been detained," Adele Khodr, the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement. "Furthermore, the West Bank has been heavily affected by movement and access restrictions."
"Many children report that fear has become a part of their daily life, with many scared even walking to school or playing outside due to the threat of shootings and other conflict-related violence," Khodr also said. "UNICEF is extremely concerned about the right of children in the West Bank including East Jerusalem to safety and protection, and their inherent right to life."
UNICEF says "Conflict-related violence has killed 124 Palestinian children and 6 Israeli children since the start of 2023."
Egypt announced Thursday that it has sent a proposal to Israel and Hamas that would bring an end to the war in Gaza, reports say.
The plan includes three stages ending with a cease-fire, according to Reuters.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt's State Information Service, said in a statement that the proposal is an attempt "to bring viewpoints between all concerned parties closer, in an effort to stop Palestinian bloodshed and the aggression against the Gaza Strip and restore peace and stability to the region."
Further details about the plan were not immediately available, but Rashwan said they would be revealed by Egypt once responses are received from Israel and Hamas, Reuters reports.
The news agency says Egyptian security sources previously have said the proposal involves hostage releases from Hamas and prisoner releases from Israel.
{{#rendered}}The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that it is reviewing 65 million files and half a million documents collected by soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip as part of its campaign to eliminate Hamas infrastructure.
"The Document and Technical Means Collection Unit in the Intelligence Directorate has been coordinating the collection and examination of Hamas assets since the beginning of the war and the ground operation," the IDF said. "The unit is made up mostly of reservists, and its job is to extract intelligence from the assets collected by all the soldiers in the field."
"Among the documents found is a map of tunnel shafts seized by the 252nd Division in the residence of a company commander in Hamas’ Beit Hanoun Battalion. A key explaining the map was located and collected by the division at the residence of another operative," the IDF continued. "With the arrival of the materials to the research team, the important link between the map and the key was created -- making it possible to identify the tunnel shafts in the field, of which many tunnel shafts were destroyed."
The IDF also said "Since the beginning of the war, thousands of documents and technical assets were collected by IDF soldiers, which were transferred to the extraction team and contributed critical intelligence."
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that "Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel, a UAV was identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory and was intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array."
The military action unfolded after the IDF reported sirens going off in communities across northern Israel near the city of Haifa.
"A short time ago, launches were detected from the territory of Lebanon towards several areas in the north of the country, there are no casualties," it also said in a post on X, noting that it attacked the "sources of the shooting."
Judi Haggai has become the second American to have died while being held captive by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the community of Kibbutz Nir Oz announced Thursday.
Haggai's death comes after her husband, Gad, was pronounced dead last week.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Gad and Judi went "for their regular morning walk in the fields and vineyards" of Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel when they were kidnapped by Hamas, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.
"Judi managed to notify friends that they had been shot and that Gad was critically injured -- it was the last contact with them," the Forum said.
Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is threatening "revenge" Thursday after one of the country's high-ranking generals was killed this week in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Syria.
Mourners gathered in a central square in Tehran on Thursday before accompanying the casket of Gen. Seyed Razi Mousavi to a shrine where he was buried.
Mousavi, who was responsible for coordinating a military alliance between Iran and Syria, was killed Monday in an airstrike outside Damascus.
The head of the Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, said “our revenge will be tough, as always,” but that the only fitting revenge would be “the removal of Israel from the face of existence.”
Salami described Mousavi as a close companion of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.
Fox News' Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A new image has been published by Israeli media purportedly showing the first glimpse in 30 years of Mohammed Deif -- the shadowy commander of Hamas’ military wing who has survived repeated assassination attempts.
The photo, first published by Channel 12 on Wednesday, reportedly was obtained by Israeli forces fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to The Times of Israel.
Ynetnews reports that the image dates back to 2018 and was likely captured at a social event, the Times of Israel adds.
"I won't address the publication about Mohammed Deif. We need to locate him and eliminate him as soon as possible," IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told Ynetnews. "It's a task that must be carried out. During operational activity in Gaza, we located a lot of intelligence material, mainly in underground tunnels."
Twenty-one people have been taken into custody overnight in the West Bank over suspicions of helping fund the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday.
The IDF said "During the operation, terrorist funds were located and tens of millions of shekels, safes, documents, recording systems and telephones were confiscated."
One Israeli shekel is worth about 28 U.S. cents.
The IDF said it was working in collaboration with other Israeli agencies and "arrested 21 wanted persons in three central divisions - Menashe, Binyamin and Etzion, who are suspected of involvement in funding Hamas."
{{#rendered}}The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that two of its soldiers have been killed in fighting at a mosque in Khan Younis, where a bomb was set off.
"During an activity of the 12th Battalion's combat team at the Qutaiba mosque in the Khan Younis area belonging to Hamas, the fighters identified a wide underground infrastructure in the mosque," the IDF said in a statement. "In one of the rooms, a bomb was set off and the troops were fired upon, the fighters returned fire while rescuing the wounded battalion fighters, and eliminated with air support additional terrorists who tried to escape from the mosque.
"Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot and Sergeant Yonatan Din Chaim were killed in this activity," the IDF added.
The IDF released an image showing a firearm it says was found in the mosque.
The Israeli Air Force struck an anti-tank missile terrorist cell in Daraj Tuffah on Thursday with the guidance of Israel Defense Forces troops on the ground in the area.
The IDF said troops destroyed terrorist infrastructure inside a building after RPG missiles were fired from it in the direction of an IDF vehicle. An anti-tank missile launch site with operating terrorists was struck by an IAF fighter jet in the same area at the direction of troops on the ground.
Israeli forces have also conducted operations in the Daraj Tuffah area over the past two days, eliminating terrorists via ground and aerial strikes.
"In a separate incident, terrorists fired at IDF troops from a building during operational activity," the IDF said. "Following searches of the residence from which the shots were fired, the troops located dozens of weapons."
The IDF's naval forces are also providing support to troops conducting ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
Fox News' Yael Kuriel contributed to this report.
A northern Israeli town and city were struck with Hezbollah rockets on Wednesday, according to the Times of Israel.
Rosh Hanikra and Kiryat Shmona were targeted, where sirens reportedly rang all day. No injuries have been reported at this time.
Hezbollah reportedly fired 18 rockets at Rosh Hanikra, a coastal kibbutz. The terrorist group said they were intended to hit an Israeli naval base.
Another barrage was fired at Kiryat Shmona, where residential buildings were damaged. Hezbollah claimed that they fired around 30 rockets at the city, the Times of Israel reported.
The Israeli outlet called it "the most intense volleys on northern Israel since the region was plunged into war on October 7."
{{#rendered}}Coverage for this event has ended.