The Israeli town of Sderot marked the first night of Hanukkah on Thursday, with soldiers gathering to sing songs and remember the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack that plunged the Jewish state into war with Hamas.
Soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces were seen gathering by a large menorah in the city to start eight-days of celebrations as they prayed to start the Jewish holiday.
“After what happened on Oct. 7 in this area, we in Sderot, and probably Israel, want to bring the light to the world,” Sderot Deputy Mayor Ofir Asulin told Fox News.
The city sits near the Gaza Strip and was one of the locations targeted by Hamas, including a gun battle at a local police station.
During the fight, 30 terrorists were killed along with 12 police officers.
"Squad" Democrats gathered on Capitol Hill to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza on Thursday, doubling down on accusations that Israel is targeting civilians and committing "genocide."
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., held the press conference alongside Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. They also invited members of the Doctors Without Borders organization, which provides humanitarian aid in Gaza. Bush had vicious words for Israel during her opening remarks.
"When we hear genocidal rhetoric, when we witness devastation and mass murder, when we finance the bombs being dropped, when we intentionally disregard the suffering, we allow the people we represent to be complicit in mass atrocities," Bush said.
"And let me be clear about what's happening: These are war crimes. The targeting of civilians is a war crime; the targeting of medical facilities is a war crime, the starvation and withholding of water and electricity is a war crime; the collective punishment of 2.3 million people is a war crime, and we refuse to be silent," she added as Omar and Tlaib nodded in agreement.
Israel, meanwhile, gave civilians in the Gaza Strip warnings and urged them to evacuate war zones ahead of strikes targeting Hamas's terror infrastructure. While many Palestinian civilians have died during the war, the Biden administration has defended Israel's right to self-defense, noting that civilian deaths, while tragic, are a result of "the nature of conflict."
The "Squad" trio has already faced heavy criticism for their incendiary rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war. Tlaib herself was censured in the House of Representatives in November after she defended a chant calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
A Virginia rabbi spoke out after a local street fair denied his request to hold a menorah lighting in honor of Hanukkah, arguing the organizers are unfairly aligning the annual Jewish tradition with the war in Gaza.
Rabbi Mendy Heber wanted to hold the annual celebration at Williamsburg's 2nd Sundays Art and Music Festival, but organizers denied his request over concerns it would look like the event was "choosing a side" in the war against Hamas.
The organization publicly claimed the denial was because it does not permit religious celebrations, but Heber said organizers privately admitted they could allow the event if an Islamic group was also included.
"It seems like they see it is that a Jew is responsible for other people's actions," Heber said during "America's Newsroom" on Thursday. "Hanukkah is the message of victory over 2000 years ago and the time of the Holy Temple and also the kindling of the menorah with the oil that lasted for eight days, and perhaps people try to connect it to the modern world."
"The modern-day fight that's going on in Gaza… that is not the message of Hanukkah," he continued. "So to connect those two is un-American. It's what we feel [is] discriminatory."
Heber said he received a private text message from the event organizer who said: "Unless we could get an Islamic group to participate at the same time. We are about Peace, Love & light... don't want to make it seem we're choosing a side - supporting the killing/bombing of thousands of men, women and children."
Fox News' Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}A California city is set to raise the Palestinian flag in what a municipal leader calls a move in solidarity with the community and the lives lost in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Palestinian flag will be flown in downtown Fresno's Eaton Plaza on Friday, says City Councilmember Miguel Arias, whose office organized the event and went through the process with the city.
Arias' office added that it also sponsored a flag-raising ceremony at Eaton Plaza to show solidarity with Israel on Oct. 12, days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists in Israel.
The latest flag-raising on city property comes at the start of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
According to city code, Fresno's Eaton Plaza is designated for community flag-raising events, meaning that the raising of flags there does not require approval from the City Council or city manager.
Read the full article from Stepheny Price.
Box trucks with billboards demanding the firing of University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill for her handling of campus antisemitism were deployed to the Ivy League school on Thursday.
"FIRE LIZ," one truck read as it toured the Philadelphia campus.
Fox News Digital has learned that two privately-funded trucks are circling the University of Pennsylvania campus on streets such as Walnut and Spruce, while making pit stops at popular spots for students like the Penn bookstore.
The trucks also show photos of the Jewish victims who have been killed or taken hostage by Hamas.
Other trucks criticizing Magill for her failure to "protect Jewish students" or highlighting individual Jews who have been kidnapped by Hamas are also touring the campus Thursday, photos show.
The board of Penn's Wharton business school has also called on Magill to resign.
The school’s student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvania, reported the board penned a letter saying it has held eight meetings since Nov. 16 to discuss student safety related to antisemitism.
"In light of your testimony yesterday before Congress, we demand the University clarify its position regarding any call for harm to any group of people immediately, change any policies that allow such conduct with immediate effect, and discipline all offenders expeditiously," the letter said.
Read the full article by Emma Colton.
A man fired shotgun blasts and shouted "Free Palestine" outside a Jewish temple Thursday in Albany, New York, where at least two dozen children — including preschoolers — were inside.
The suspect, a 28-year-old male, fired the shotgun outside Temple Israel around 2 p.m. A passerby talked to the gunman near the temple about 10 minutes after the shots were fired.
The man dropped the shotgun before officers arrived on the scene and detained him, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins told reporters at the scene.
"We were told by responding officers that he made a comment, 'Free Palestine,'" Hawkins said.
Though no one was injured, and the school was placed on lockdown. Parents were notified and were able to retrieve their children, who have since been safely released, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a press conference.
"The prospect of violence in a place of worship is not just an attack on a building, it's an attack on the very fabric of our society, our freedom to express our faith, our collective shared sense of safety," Hochul said.
Read the full article about the shooting from Bradford Betz.
{{#rendered}}President Biden stressed the importance of more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in a Thursday morning phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
During their discussion, Biden also voiced concern for the remaining 138 hostages still being held captive by Hamas. He agreed that “Hamas’s refusal to release young women civilian hostages that led to a breakdown in the humanitarian pause.”
“The leaders agreed to remain deeply engaged to pursue every possible opportunity to free the remaining hostages,” the White House said.
Biden also underscored the importance of the sustained flow of fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza. He stressed that “much more assistance was urgently required across the board.”
“The President emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities,” the White House said.
Biden further reiterated his concern about violence committed against Palestinians and the need to increase stability in the West Bank.
Israeli fighter jets and helicopters targeted a series of Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.
Among the targets was a position from which rockets launches were made, military sites and an observation post, the IDF said.
Earlier in the day, two IDF soldiers were “slightly” injured by an anti-tank missile that struck hit near the Shetula area in northern Israel.
They were evacuated from the area for treatment, the IDF said.
Israel has agreed to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing for the screening and inspection of humanitarian aid delivered into the Gaza Strip a U.S. officials aid Thursday.
The move was made at the request of the U.S., Reuters reported.
“So we continue to think that Kerem Shalom would be a good facility to use for increased inspections of trucks,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said. “I've said in the past that Israel has had security concerns about that we've been trying to work through those security concerns with Israel.”
Washington has been in talks with the Israeli government for several weeks about the opening of the border crossing in an effort to speed up inspections to aid trucks.
Officials have not disclosed a time frame for when the crossing would be opened.
Critics have said the closure cuts off essential food, medicine and other much-needed humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza.
{{#rendered}}A major donor to the University of Pennsylvania is withdrawing a donation worth roughly $100 million as a protest against the college’s handling of antisemitism on campus and the controversial testimony by UPenn's president on the subject.
Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, donated to Penn in 2017, a gift that consisted of partnership units in the firm which are now valued at around $100 million to help the university establish a financial innovation center.
Attorneys for Stevens sent the university a letter indicating the school violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement through its failure to adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules.
The news was first reported by Axios.
The letter said that Stevens and Stone Ridge "are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus."
It added that Penn’s "permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge."
Read the full article on the Penn donor by Eric Revell.
The White House is scrambling to distance itself from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) after its leader appeared to say that he was "happy" to see Palestinians in Gaza "break the siege" during Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
Nihad Awad, CAIR's executive director, is seen making the comments in a video making its rounds on social media.
"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp on Oct. 7," Awad says in the video, which quickly went viral on social media. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in."
"And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves," he added. "And yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense."
After being contacted regarding the comments, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital they are removing the group from its publicly listed pledge to fight antisemitism.
Read the full article by Joe Schoffstall and Houston Keene.
A nonprofit that has given millions of dollars to groups connected to pro-Palestinian protests was funded in part by a foundation partially funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a charity watchdog said.
The Tides Foundation has received more than $22 million from Soros, who often donates to progressive causes, the Capital Research Center said.
The San Francisco-based foundation takes in money mostly from anonymous donors before distributing the funds to other groups advocating liberal causes. Last year, it gave out around $700 million to progressive groups in 2022, the CRC said.
“I think that the funding sources of these groups is intentionally hard to sort out,” Tyler Gregory of the Jewish Community Relations Council told Fox News.
Tax records revealed that Tides gave Jewish Voices for Peace, which has spoken out against Israel war with Hamas, around $650,000. It also gave $710,000 to the Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian advocacy group that recently organized a demonstration on Capitol Hill.
Another $86,000 went to the group If Not Now, which organized a protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which sued President Biden for failing to “prevent genocide,” received $38,000, the Capital Research Center said.
“If the left does it, Tides funds it,” said Parker Thayer of the CRC. “The Tides networks sends well over $2 million in the past few years alone to organization sympathetic to Hamas and sympathetic the Palestinian resistance.”
The foundation has also funded groups calling for the Unites States to stop giving military aid to Israel, the Research Center said.
Tides did not respond to interview requests from Fox News.
{{#rendered}}The University of Pennsylvania's Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting as school president Elizabeth Magill faces calls to resign after testifying before congressional lawmakers this week.
The meeting began at 9 a.m. and was being held virtually, the Daily Mail reported.
Magill, and other Ivy Leagues school presidents, are facing mounting pressure to resign after they failed to condemn anti-Jewish chants on campus as harassment.
Magill appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill for a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses and was asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the university's codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
She told Congress that if the speech turned into conduct, it would be considered harassment, adding that it was a "context-dependent" situation that would constitute bullying and harassment if it was "directed," "pervasive" and "severe."
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby evaded a reporter's question on Thursday when asked about President Biden's decision to unlist Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist group.
During the daily White House press briefing, Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich asked Kirby whether Biden holds any "regret" for delisting the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, and whether the administration is reconsidering the move.
"I've already said that we are going to review that decision. We are," Kirby replied, although he gave no time frame for the review.
"I don't have a date certain for you or any outcome to brief, Jacqui, but we said we're already gonna take a look and review that decision," he added.
Several of the president's Republican critics in Congress have urged the Biden administration to consider reclassifying the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). The Trump administration applied the designation to the group as one of its final acts, but Biden reversed that decision as one of its first acts upon taking office.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the time argued that the administration removed the designation over concerns that it might have "a devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel.
"However, since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, the Houthis are one of several Iran-backed proxy groups who have harassed Israeli and U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East.
Read the full article by Chris Pandolfo.
One of the top leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said he was "happy" to witness the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Nihad Awad, the group’s executive director and co-founder, expressed his feelings on the terrorist attack at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in the U.S. on Nov. 24.
"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," said Awad. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in."
He continued, "And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense — have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense."
The convention was held on Nov. 24 and 25 outside Chicago.
Read the full article about Nihad Awad by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi
{{#rendered}}Images and videos have purportedly circulated online showing Hamas terrorists surrendering en masse to Israeli troops.
One video allegedly shows dozens of detainees stripped down to their undergarments while sitting in rows on a street with their heads down, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces are shown as well.
Other images said the mass surrender occurred in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip.
“Thank you Hashem for letting the Jewish people start Hanukah with a smile thanks to this mass surrender of Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” wrote Jewish activist Hillel Fuld on X with an image of the detainees. “This should be the first of many! Thank you, IDF!”
The IDF has not confirmed the surrender of Hamas fighters.
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned Hamas amid reports that fighters for the terrorist group raped and sexually assaulted women during the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities.
“We’ve seen horrific reports of sexual assault by Hamas on October 7th,” she wrote on X. “It is reprehensible and must be condemned. Rape can never be used as a weapon of war.”
“I’ve spent my career protecting women and girls from heinous crimes of sexual violence and will continue to do so,” she added.
Harris’s remarks come as women’s groups have been criticized for being silent about the alleged sexual atrocities committed by Hamas.
In a Thursday interview on America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Kristen Gillibrand urged women’s groups to speak out against the rapes and sexual violence.
“It’s an outrage and I think women’s rights groups around the United States should care deeply about women around the globe and should not turn a blind eye,” she said. “They should not keep their head in the sand.”
A pair of top Hamas officials were killed this week by Israeli forces as many of the terror groups leaders continue to hide underground.
One of the leaders killed was head of Hamas’ observation unit and was partially responsible for planning the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel communities that promoted the war, Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported.
Israel has said the Israel Defense Forces have killed about half of Hamas’ battalion commanders during the two-month war. Israeli forces are now operating in both the southern and northern portions of the Gaza Strip.
One Israeli war cabinet office lost his son amid the fighting.
As of Thursday, 138 hostages are still being held captive by the terror group. Some Israelis have voiced frustration at the government over how many hostages it’s been able to bring home.
“My daughters are asking ‘Where is daddy? And I have to tell them that the bad people don’t want to release him yet,’” said Sharon Alony Cunio, whose husband is still being held in Gaza. “You are putting politics over the return of the abductees.”
Her brother, Moran Alony, said the hostages are “dying piece by piece.”
“Both of my sisters told us that when they were there, they said ‘We were sure that Israel gave up on us.’”
{{#rendered}}U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-New York, criticized women’s groups Thursday for failing to condemn Hamas for alleged rapes committed by its terrorists fighters.
“It’s an outrage and I think women’s rights groups around the United States should care deeply about women around the globe and should not turn a blind eye,” she said on “America’s Newsroom.” “They should not keep their head in the sand.”
“They have a moral responsibility to have moral clarity that rape cannot be used as torture and cannot be used to destroy whole communities because that’s what it’s being used as. It is a weapon of war,” she added.
Gillibrand said she viewed the video footage of the brutal Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel communities. She noted that the victims of rape or the “rapes happening” were not shown "because they (Israeli government) thought it was too horrific for Congress to see.”
“But we should see it,” the senator said. “These films and these photographs should be made public because the world has to condemn this.”
Israeli actress Gal Gadot has also called out the silence on Hamas using rape as a weapon.
"We claim we stand against rape, violence against women. We will not let women be victimized and then silenced. We say we believe women, stand with women, speak out for women."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing criticism for canceling the annual tree lighting ceremony over potential anti-Israel protests, with critics calling him out for not standing up to the pro-Hamas protesters.
California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson addressed the cancelation during "FOX & Friends First" on Thursday, arguing no one should be "surprised" over the move based on the governor's record on COVID and prior refusal to condemn the "terrorist protesters."
"As the governor that kept kids on Zoom school for longer than any other state in the nation, we shouldn't really be surprised that he wanted to move this to a virtual tree lighting ceremony," Patterson told Carley Shimkus Thursday. "This is a tradition that dates back to the 1930s, and it's also not the first time that Gavin Newsom had a hard time standing up to pro-Hamas terrorist protesters."
According to KCRA, Wednesday's 92nd Annual California State Capitol Tree Lighting was initially expected to be an in-person event in Sacramento, but a decision was made to make the event virtual because of planned protests. A pre-recorded virtual ceremony was released on Wednesday showing Newsom and his family watching as the tree lit up.
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that lighting the first Hanukkah candle will serve as a "beacon of hope, illuminating the path for our hostages' safe return" from the Gaza Strip.
The message came in a video that the IDF posted on X showing instances throughout history of the persecution of Jewish people.
"We will continue to fight so that no family has to celebrate without their loved ones again. So tonight, all those who celebrate will light the first Hanukkah candle, serving as a beacon of hope, illuminating the path for our hostages' safe return," a soldier says in the video.
"Our light will overcome Hamas' darkness," the soldier adds.
{{#rendered}}A coffee shop in Oakland, California, has issued an apology after a video circulating on social media showing staffers blocking a Jewish woman from a restroom while making anti-Israel comments.
The video recorded by the Jewish woman shows employees at Farley's Coffee standing in front of the door to the bathroom and asking her to leave the establishment.
The employees apparently wanted to prevent the woman from recording graffiti in the bathroom equating Zionism to fascism and accused the woman of "misgendering" an employee. In an apology statement issued on Farley's Coffee's Instagram page Wednesday, the business insisted, "We're not antisemitic," and promised "ongoing staff training" after the incident.
While the coffee shop's statement categorizes the messages in the bathroom as "hate speech," video of the incident shows one of the employees involved having agreed with the notion that Zionism is the same as fascism on camera, and the staffers tell the woman, "Free Palestine," until she goes to leave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning Thursday that Hezbollah could turn Lebanon's capital of Beirut into another Gaza if the terrorist group decides to open an "all-out war" on his country.
Netanyahu made the comment while visiting the Israel Defense Forces Northern Command headquarters with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.
"I am impressed by the great spirit here. You have expressed it and I want you to know that this obligates us. The people are proud of you," Netanyahu told the troops, according to his office.
"I also suggest that our enemies pay attention to this spirit because if Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis. We are determined to achieve victory and we will do so with your help."
Netanyahu's office said he and Head of Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin "visited an artillery battery in the Upper Galilee, where he spoke with reserve infantry and artillery soldiers, who have been serving on the forward line along the Lebanese border for the past two months," during the trip.
The son of a former Israeli military leader and current member of the country's war cabinet has been killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said Thursday that Master Sgt. Gal Meir Eizenkot, 25, died in a battle in northern Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
His father, Gadi Eizenkot, served as military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019.
Eizenkot recently entered politics as a member of the centrist National Unity Party. He joined the newly formed war cabinet as an observer on Oct. 12.
The Israel-Hamas war has reached its 2-month mark Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: Israel's military has released a video Thursday of Hamas fighters being taken out with an airstrike in the Gaza Strip after they were captured operating in a civilian area.
The IDF said "a Hamas terrorist cell armed with RPG anti-tank missiles was identified by IDF Field Intelligence soldiers operating in a civilian area in the northern Gaza Strip.
"IDF troops then directed a precise aerial strike against the cell. All of the terrorists in the cell were eliminated by the IDF during the operation," it added.
The footage appears to show Hamas militants climbing out of a building and onto the roof of a vehicle before dropping down to street level. While taking cover and wielding weapons, the militants move around the perimeter of another building.
The footage then shows the militants retreating back to the area where they emerged.
Two fighters later are seen being blown up in an airstrike.
Fox News' Ben Evansky contributed to this report.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday that it has “sanctioned 13 individuals and entities responsible for providing tens of millions of dollars’ worth of foreign currency generated from the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities, backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, to the Houthis in Yemen.”
“Through a complex network of exchange houses and companies in multiple jurisdictions, these persons, under the auspices of U.S.-sanctioned Houthi and IRGC-QF financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal, serve as an important conduit through which Iranian money reaches the country’s militant partners in Yemen,” the department said in a statement.
“The Houthis continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said. “Treasury will continue to disrupt the financial facilitation and procurement networks that enable these destabilizing activities.”
The sanctions come after three commercial vessels were attacked in the Red Sea on Sunday, prompting a U.S. warship to shoot down multiple unmanned aerial vehicles headed toward them in a development that could signify a serious escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
The USS Carney was in the southern Red Sea, just north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, when it shot down three Houthi drones heading in its direction, a U.S. official told Fox News, adding that the action was taken in self-defense. The drones were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the official claimed.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari announced Thursday that two senior members of Hamas’ intelligence unit in the Gaza Strip have been “eliminated.”
In a joint statement, the IDF and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency identified the individuals as Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Ahmed Aiush.
“Rantisi had been responsible for field intelligence in the Gaza Strip and participated in the planning of the October 7th massacre,” the statement read.
“He was eliminated in an attack on Hamas’s central intelligence command center along with Ahmed Aiush, a terrorist operative from Hamas’ Carrara Battalion observation unit,” it continued.
“This command center was responsible for compiling field intelligence from across the Gaza Strip and served as a significant strategic hub for Hamas to direct combat activities, supporting attacks on IDF soldiers,” the statement added.
{{#rendered}}Israel on Thursday has started distributing weapons and protective equipment to civilian squads near the Gaza Strip, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Minister of Communications Shlomo Karai said in late October that “hundreds of emergency standby squads are being established across the country, which constitute a civil security force in towns and villages.”
A dozen of the squads received M-16 rifles and protective gear from the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command on Thursday, the Jerusalem Post reports.
The newspaper, citing a joint statement from the IDF and Ministry of Defense, says the program is aimed at creating better safety conditions for the return of Israelis to their homes in southern Israel following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that launched the war in Gaza.
Columbia University admitted that a student-led discussion aimed at justifying Hamas' October 7 massacre as a "Palestinian counteroffensive" happened Wednesday despite the school's efforts to shut the event down, sparking concern among Jewish students.
Videos circulated on social media from inside Columbia's School of Social Work showing a group of pro-Palestinian students gathered in the lobby, as a female speaker could be heard praising October 7 and the Taliban taking back Afghanistan. Some student protesters held umbrellas with the Columbia School of Social Work logo, blocking people from recording.
A female Israeli student was recorded confronting participants, some of whom wore masks to hide their identities, that "if you want to talk about the military operation in Gaza, we can do that, I would love to have a genuine and real conversation with any of you, but I cannot do that when in these hallways you call for violence against me, against my children." She also asked demonstrators when they spout messages of "by any means necessary," "is my life a means necessary?"
The event took place despite Columbia University previously saying it was shut down. On Monday, Melissa Begg, the dean of Columbia School of Social Work, told Fox News Digital that students who organized the event did not seek approval for the fliers and text as required by Columbia School of Social Work processes.
The Israeli Air Force said Wednesday that a civilian has been injured in its territory by an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon.
"A short time ago, terrorists launched an anti-tank missile from Lebanese territory towards a dead area, as a result of which a civilian was injured by the shot," it said in a post on X.
"In addition, several other launches from Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory were detected," the Israeli Air Force added. "Combat helicopters of the Air Force attacked, together with artillery fire and tanks, the sources of the fire."
Israel's military has been engaging in repeated border skirmishes with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah since the war against Hamas began on Oct. 7.
{{#rendered}}United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres distributed a letter to members of the organization's security council calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
The secretary-general invoked a rarely used power of his office on Wednesday to publish a letter to the members of the council expressing severe concern about the violence continuing to unfold in the Gaza Strip and increased inability to address the casualties.
"I am writing under Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to bring to the attention of the Security Council a matter which, in my opinion, may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security," Guterres said in the letter.
"We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system," he added. "The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a while and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost."
"The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis," Guterres also said in the letter. "I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian crisis. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent."
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari tells the Associated Press that the job of his country's military is to hunt down Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
Hagari made the comment after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the IDF is "encircling Sinwar's house.
"So his house is not his fortress, and he can escape, but it's only a matter of time before we get him," Netanyahu said.
Hagari told the AP that "The house of Sinwar is the area of Khan Younis.”
“Sinwar is not above ground; he is underground,” he reportedly added. “I don’t want to elaborate where and how and what we know in terms of intelligence. This is not the place to talk about such things in the media. Our job is to find Sinwar and kill him.”
The Israeli Air Force said Thursday that its fighter jets “recently attacked a series of targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.
“Among the targets attacked, terrorist infrastructures, launcher positions, military positions and military buildings of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” it added.
{{#rendered}}Israel's war cabinet voted in favor of increasing the flow of fuel into Gaza late Wednesday as the Israel Defense Forces backed Hamas into a corner in the city of Khan Younis.
Israel has heavily restricted the flow of fuel over the two months of war with Hamas since the Oct. 7 massacre, but the U.S. has been pressuring the country to increase output. Reports from local media say daily shipments of fuel will gradually rise from the current 60,000 liters to 180,000 liters in the coming days.
The move comes as the IDF has pushed back Hamas terrorists to their final military stronghold of Khan Younis, the second most populous city in Gaza.
IDF troops encircled the home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday, but he is believed to be coordinating his forces from a labyrinth of underground tunnels.
A 28-year-old Thai hostage who was freed by Hamas after spending 50 days in captivity in the Gaza Strip says he and his fellow countrymen relied on playing chess games on a makeshift board and memories of their families to make it through beatings by the terrorists.
Anucha Angkaew, a farm worker in southern Israel, told Reuters that he and five Thai colleagues shouted “Thailand, Thailand” when they were confronted by 10 militants on Oct. 7, “but they didn’t care.”
After two of his colleagues were killed, including a friend shot dead in front of him, Angkaew said he and the rest were brought into Gaza and spent nearly all of their time there inside two underground rooms.
"I thought I would die," he told Reuters from his family home in Thailand, describing how his captors would punch and kick them, while the Israelis were whipped with electrical wires.
During one stretch, Angkaew said he and five others were served flat bread and two bottles of water between them daily – and if they wanted to take bathroom breaks, they had to be escorted by an armed guard to a hole in the ground near the 5 by 5-foot room where they were being held.
The ordeal ended on Nov. 25 when a guard served them a meal and said “Thailand, go home,” according to Angkaew. He told Reuters he was then led through tunnels for around two hours before being handed over to the Red Cross.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says he believes his country’s war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas will last for two more months before it starts conducting “mop up operations” involving the elimination of “pockets of terrorist resistance,” a report says.
Gallant recently made the remarks during an interview in Tel Aviv, according to ABC News.
When speaking about the 137 hostages that Israel says remain in Gaza, Gallant reportedly said "the only way with Hamas is to use force" and then "eventually, they will give you something."
He also told ABC News that Hamas has two options to bring an end to the conflict, either “die in the tunnels or on the surface or surrender with no conditions."
One of the current objectives of the Israeli military is tracking down Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza who is believed to have played a key role in executing the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that launched the war.
{{#rendered}}Jewish and Israeli employees of the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok are beginning to speak out about what they say is an increasingly hostile and insecure work environment, including harassment, personal attacks and even boycotts, since Hamas carried out its massacre in Israel Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza.
In interviews with Fox Business, Jewish employees said they have received little support from senior management since Hamas attacked Israel and believe the company has lost control over the app’s 40,000 moderators, who, they maintain, allow claims proven to be false and antisemitic and anti-Israel content to remain on the site based on their personal views with little fact-checking.
Jewish employees told Fox Business antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments are expressed freely by other employees on the company’s internal chat system, Lark, which includes a recently created support group dedicated to the Palestinians but no such option for Israelis because the company considered it too political.
The company told employees to utilize an existing Jewish support group, even though not all Israelis are Jews and Hamas targeted both Jews and non-Jews. A spokesperson for TikTok said the company disputed these claims and said they "do not reflect the experience of the majority of our employees."
"TikTok has strong policies against discrimination and harassment in the workplace, and employees are encouraged to report their concerns – anonymously if they so choose," the spokesperson said. "Every incident is investigated by the appropriate internal team."
"Our CEO sent a message to all employees denouncing the attacks of Oct. 7, and the company published a statement on our website as well," the spokesperson added. "TikTok has had an internal group called MazalTok, to provide resources and a community for our Jewish and Israeli employees that has doubled in size since the start of the war.".
The Israel Defense Forces said on X, formerly Twitter, that Hamas launched 12 rockets toward southern Israel on Wednesday.
In the post, the IDF asked the United Nations if it heard a "loud noise" and added a map showing the UN facility not far from the site where the rockets were launched.
"Hamas is the enemy of humanity and makes itself a threat to the entire world," the IDF wrote.
Thursday marks two months of war between Israel and Hamas since the terrorist group conducted its attack on the Jewish State on Oct. 7.
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