Israeli intelligence believes that Hamas will launch a large-scale terror attack to force Israel to withdraw from hostage deal, ceasefire negotiations.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror group is planning to carry out a large-scale terror attack in the coming weeks, in order to force Israel to pull out of ongoing negotiations towards a ceasefire and hostage deal.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, Hamas does not actually want a pause in the hostilities, but will take steps to avoid being seen as the party preventing a ceasefire from moving forward.

Therefore, the group will launch a mass casualty event targeting Israeli civilians and or soldiers, the scale of which will cause Israel to withdraw from the talks.

The attack, which Israeli intelligence believes will likely take place within the next month, could be another October 7th-style breach, which would see Hamas terrorists stream across the Gaza border into southern Israel.

Alternatively, Hamas terrorists could attack Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Another potential target would be Israeli civilians and security personnel in Judea and Samaria.

For years, Hamas has been building its presence in Palestinian Authority-administered territory. Polls have found that the majority of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria approve of the October 7th terror onslaught and would prefer to be governed by Hamas than the PA.

Last week, Hamas announced that it had dropped its demand for Israel to commit to a permanent end of the war as part of a ceasefire agreement – a non-starter that brought negotiations to a grinding halt for weeks.

Israeli officials have recently expressed “cautious optimism” regarding the prospect of a deal, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly telling hostage families that an agreement was “closer than ever before.”

However, other lawmakers such as Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich have poured cold water on the prospect of a ceasefire.

Smotrich noted that the terror group is under immense pressure and “now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.”

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Ofir Metzger shares the story of her grandparents being kidnapped by Hamas during the massacre on Oct. 7th.

The post WATCH: Her grandparents were kidnapped by Hamas appeared first on World Israel News.

‘When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view it has to be a two-state solution’

By Meir Dolev, World Israel News

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the war against Hamas following its brutal attack against Israel proved that a two-state solution was the only way to move forward.

“There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on October 6,” he said in a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“That means ensuring that Hamas can no longer terrorize Israel and use Palestinians civilians as human shields. It also means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view it has to be a two-state solution,” he said.

Biden also admitted that he had advised Israel to delay its ground operation to secure the release of more hostages, but said he hadn’t demanded it of Israel.

“What I have indicated to [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is, that if that’s possible, to get these folks out safely, that’s what he should do. It’s his decision. I did not demand it. I’ve pointed out to him if it’s real, it should be done,” Biden said, adding that the hostages were “in jeopardy.”

“Israel has the right and I would add a responsibility to respond to the slaughter of our people. And we will ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself against these terrorists, that’s a guarantee,” Biden said.

Warning Iran, he went on: “We have had troops in the region since 9/11 to go after ISIS… in the region, having nothing to do with Israel at all. My warning to the Ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond and he should be prepared. It has nothing to do with Israel.”

Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. was pressuring Israel to postpone the ground assault.

In a primetime address on Wednesday, Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to a ground incursion.

“Details regarding the timing, strategy, and the extensive considerations behind this decision, most of which remain confidential, will not be disclosed,” he said.

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Oct 7 was a ‘black day for Israel’ but the reckoning will come after the war, the prime minister said, adding that Israel is in ‘fight for our existence.’

By Meir Dolev, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time that he must also be held accountable for the military debacle that transpired on October 7, when Hamas took the IDF by surprise, resulting in an invasion of southern Israel and the tragic loss of over 1,400 lives, 4,000 injured and more than 220 kidnapped.

“A thorough investigation of this failure is crucial. We all must provide answers, and that includes me,” he declared in a live primetime broadcast.

“October 7 was a black day in our history. We will get to the bottom of what happened on the southern border and the area surrounding Gaza,” Netanyahu said.

“Nevertheless,” he continued, “discussions of accountability must be postponed until after the war,” which he called a “fight for Israel’s existence.”

His address coincided with the war’s 19th day, and came after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other high-ranking military officials also admitting their responsibility in the gravest military blunders since the founding of Israel.

“As the nation’s leader, my duty is to safeguard our future, and presently, my focus is leading the State of Israel and its citizens to a resounding victory over our enemies.

“The time has come for us to unite and push forward to victory,” he urged.

The government of Israel will designate official days of national mourning to honor the memory of those lost in the October 7 massacre, Netanyahu also announced during the address.

He vowed that the imminent ground offensive would uproot Hamas from Gaza, although he did not specify a commencement date.

Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. was pressuring Israel to postpone the ground assault.

“We are gearing up for a ground incursion. Details regarding the timing, strategy, and the extensive considerations behind this decision, most of which remain confidential, will not be disclosed,” he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking from Washington, told reporters that he had advised Netanyahu to consider the potential of safely rescuing the hostages before proceeding with a ground invasion.

“I have indicated that if it’s possible to get the folks out safely, that is what he should do,” Biden said.

In Israel, Netanyahu emphasized during his address that the country is “engaged in a fight for our very survival.” His remarks followed a security cabinet meeting on the 19th day of the conflict, as the likelihood of a ground offensive shifted from a question of ‘when’ to ‘if’.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s two primary objectives for the war: “Our goal is to dismantle Hamas by destroying its military and governmental capabilities, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to bring the hostages back home.”

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The U.S. president renewed funding to UNRWA, which employs and covers for terrorists in Gaza while teaching Arab children to hate Israel.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Biden Administration has given massive amounts of aid to a blatantly anti-Israel UN organization working in Palestinian areas such as the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, even as the U.S. president supports the Jewish state both in action and in words during its current conflict with the Palestinian terrorists.

According to State Department figures, since coming into office, Biden has approved the transfer of $730 million to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), making the U.S. its largest backer.

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn charged on X (formerly Twitter) that such funding was a factor in enabling Hamas to upgrade its terror capabilities to the point that it could invade Israel on Saturday and murder hundreds of men, women, and children in their homes and at a music festival, forcing the Jewish state to declare war on the organization.

“Biden admin officials are now saying they didn’t think pouring millions of dollars into Hamas areas would fuel terrorism,” she said in one post. She called for all funding to Palestinians to be stopped, including both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which has only condemned the Israeli military response to the slaughter.

Its employment of confirmed Hamas terrorists, plus its dubious fiscal practices, also contributed to the decision, which had as its ultimate goal the closure or complete remaking of the organization.

Israel had applauded the move, with one official explaining, “Consolidating the refugee status of Palestinians is one of the problems that perpetuates the conflict.”

President Biden had reversed the policy, despite the problems the previous administration pointed out. Other troubling issues include the documented, virulently anti-Semitic rhetoric found in textbooks for all grades that are taught in UNRWA’s network of schools in Arab countries such as Lebanon and Syria, as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip.

The blatant hatred that thousands of Arab children are being taught has led a few European countries to cut funding to the agency.

UNRWA has also enabled Palestinian terrorism by allowing Hamas to station rocket launchers on its grounds and dig terror tunnels beneath its schools in the coastal enclave.

Jewish groups and Republican politicians have been trying to fight back against the funding since it was renewed, so far with no success.

Senator James Risch (R-ID) reintroduced his UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act in the Senate in February, after it went nowhere the first time he tried to bring it to committee in 2021, when Biden sent over $230 million to the agency.

The bill demands that the American money spigot be turned off again, unless the State Department could certify “that neither UNRWA staff and partners nor its funding and facilities are affiliated with terrorism or disseminating certain rhetoric, such as calling for the destruction of Israel or describing Israelis as occupiers or settlers. Additionally, the State Department must certify that the UNRWA is (1) subject to comprehensive independent financial audits, and (2) not affiliated with any financial institutions complicit in money laundering or terror financing.”

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The IDF aborted a strike on a weapons storage facility in Gaza when a civilian was seen on the nearby pathway.

The post WATCH: IDF detects civilian, aborts strike on Gaza appeared first on World Israel News.

The warnings were reportedly sent to the Gaza-based terror group by Egyptian security officials who are now visiting the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel has threatened Hamas with targeted killings in response to the recent wave of terror in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Monday, according to i24 News.

Recent terror attacks included, for example, the shooting deaths of Eli Kay in Jerusalem’s Old City in November and of Yehuda Dimentman in Samaria last week. In both instances, other victims were wounded.

The warnings were sent to the Gaza-based terror group by Egyptian security officials who are now visiting the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, the report said. There was no comment from Hamas in response.

The Egyptian delegation had traveled to Gaza for negotiations with Hamas on preserving the ceasefire with Israel and on ways to rebuild the Strip.

Hamas reportedly pleaded for a “legitimate struggle until the occupier is expelled from all Palestinian lands and the settlers are evicted,” the report added.

On Saturday, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also based in Gaza, agreed to increase cooperation and ramp up terrorist attacks, particularly in Judea and Samaria.

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Palestinian political analysts believe that among its other goals, the deal struck by the terror groups aims to undermine the Palestinian Authority.

By JNS.org

The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist groups agreed on a plan to increase cooperation and ramp up terrorist attacks, particularly in Judea and Samaria, during “a lengthy leadership meeting” on Saturday,” according to the Palestine Information Center.

“The two movements agreed on a number of steps that would strengthen the resistance and raise the level of coordination between [their] military wings,” the Hamas-affiliated Arabic news site reported.

The two Iran-backed, Gaza-based terror groups also warned Israel that its actions in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the “occupied interior” would be met with a “strong reaction by the resistance and the Palestinian masses.”

“They reportedly agreed on the need to strengthen and develop the resistance in all forms,” Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, who first reported on the story, told JNS.

Palestinian political analysts told Toameh that the agreement is also a way to undermine the Palestinian Authority.

The agreement’s announcement came shortly after Israel announced the capture of the terrorists who killed Yehuda Dimentman on Dec. 16. PIJ claimed responsibility for that attack.

Senior Hamas and PIJ leaders also met in Beirut on Friday, Hamas’s English-language website reported.

“Reaffirming the necessity to bolster resistance, particularly in the occupied West Bank, both delegations affirmed their commitment to resistance as the only option to confront the Israeli occupation, liberate Palestine, and restore Palestinian rights and holy sites,” the report stated.

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An IDF report classified the Jewish State’s difficulty in locating and destroying rocket stockpiles in Gaza as a “failure.”

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The IDF is stepping up plans to strike rocket stockpiles in the Gaza Strip held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a preemptive move meant to limit the terror groups’ ability to operate during the next round of conflict with Israel, according to a report from Walla News.

Sources told Walla that IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi is taking steps to move forward with the plan, backed by intelligence supplied by the Shin Bet and other security agencies.

An internal report summarizing Israel’s successes and weaknesses during May 2021’s Operation Guardian of the Walls classified the Jewish State’s difficulty in locating and destroying rocket stockpiles in Gaza as a “failure.”

Some 4,000 mortar shells and rockets were launched from Gaza towards Israel during the 11 day long conflict.

While many rockets fired from Gaza were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, the technology was overwhelmed by the sheer number of rockets fired. Rockets that were not intercepted by the Iron Dome killed Israeli civilians in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan and the central city of Lod, while such deaths are typically confined to Israel’s south.

While the warning system gave Israeli citizens enough time to scramble for shelter, constant rocket launches led to the disruption of everything from the educational system to the economy, particularly in Israel’s southern communities adjacent to Gaza.

Israel is effective at preventing and thwarting offensives made via the land and sea, the report found, but significantly weaker at thwarting rocket attacks.

Security officials believe that Gaza-based terror groups, backed by Iranian support, are currently working to repair infrastructure used to launch rockets which was damaged in May.

An earlier report from the Jerusalem Center for Public and State Affairs thinktank indicated that Hamas is preparing numerous “surprises” for the next round of conflict with Israel.

Ground invasions into Israel by Hamas operatives via the Mediterranean, abductions of Israeli civilians and soldiers, and more precise rocket fire aided by UAV surveillance are some of the potential attacks that the Jewish State may see in a future clash.

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Likud MK and former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat says the government instructed the IDF to contain riots on Gazan border without using lethal force in order to help the prime minister’s image in Washington.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

MK Nir Barkat (Likud) charged the government Tuesday with making a political decision to override security considerations on the Israel-Gaza border that led to the death of St. Sgt. Barel Hadarya Shmueli and demanded a parliamentary inquiry on the issue.

In a letter he sent to Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, Barkat wrote, “The government ordered the IDF to ‘contain‘ the events on the border with Gaza and not to cause Palestinian injuries in advance of the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington.”

“The fighters who were stationed on the border, facing Palestinian rioters, were ordered to contain the riots and were left exposed and confused [by these orders]. The death of Barel Hadarya Shmueli raises difficult questions regarding the instructions emanating from the political echelon to the military one, and requires the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry that will investigate the connection between the order given by the government to the army, and the operational failure at the scene.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett flew to meet President Biden and top American administration officials last Tuesday. Shmueli was shot three days prior to the visit. During a violent demonstration at the Gazan border, several terrorists were allowed to reach the wall behind which Shmueli stood with several other soldiers, including his commander. One shot the staff sergeant at point-blank range in the head through a gun slit in the wall before fleeing back into the Strip.

Shmueli was immediately evacuated to hospital and underwent several operations over the course of the week, but he could not survive the attack and passed away Monday.

MK Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) simultaneously sent a letter to the IDF chief of staff and the military’s legal department, demanding that they open a speedy criminal investigation and find out who “abandoned” the soldier in the face of hundreds of rioting terrorists.

He also blamed the government in the wake of reports that dozens of soldiers are resigning from their reserve duty since Shmueli’s death because, they say, the IDF senior command is preventing them from from defending themselves.

Tweeting a link Wednesday to an article on the subject, he wrote, “Bennett, [Defense Minister Benny] Gantz, [Foreign Minister Yair] Lapid. This is because of your feeble policy! Shame on you!”

Afraid the government will fall apart?

Speaking at a session on the Iranian threat Tuesday, MK Ophir Akunis (Likud) said: “A soldier was killed by a savage man who is still roaming free in the Gaza Strip. So the visit to Washington is over, are you still not responding because you are afraid the government will fall apart? Because MK Mansour Abbas and the Islamic Movement, the brothers of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they will not be in government and then there is no government.

“You are handcuffing our forces to maintain your coalition. There has never been such a disgrace. ”

In one case making the round on social media, a commander shows a list of more than 10 blacked-out names of fighters from Battalion 7035 who notified the army that they have quit. In reaction, the commander wrote, “It seems that at the rate of resignations due to the open-fire regulations, I won’t have a reserve battalion left by the next time we have border duty.”

An online protest of hundreds of soldiers has garnered thousands of supportive reactions from Israeli citizens furious over the government apparently tying the army’s hands instead of ordering it to fight terrorism properly.

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Citing the Islamic prohibition on unrelated members of the opposite sex mingling, a hardline Salafist group warned the hotel’s owner not to hold the event.

By World Israel News Staff

Islamist terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip bombed a seaside resort in the coastal enclave last Thursday, after the newly-opened hotel reportedly held a concert in which men and women were not segregated by gender.

Citing the Islamic prohibition on unrelated members of the opposite sex mingling, a hardline Salafist group warned the hotel’s owner not to hold the event on Wednesday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Today we went to Bianco Resort in order to denounce the evil before it happens, as this resort will hold a mixed singing party tomorrow on the beach of Beit Lahiya,” wrote Issa Miqda, one of the men associated with the terror group, on Facebook.

“Therefore, we ask the [Hamas] government to stop this evil before it happens. I call on all preachers and sheikhs to publicly denounce this evil after the owner refused our request not to hold the party.”

Suhail al-Saqqa, the proprietor, said he’d received a permit from Hamas granting him permission to hold the event and refused to cancel it.

This is the fabulous new Bianco Beach resort, just opened on the Sudanese Beach, north #Gaza Strip. A brand new holiday concept! Villas, sheltered dining corners, food court, beautiful clean private beach. #TheGazaYouDontSee #SaveGazahttps://t.co/5aC3dzY4U4 pic.twitter.com/iyw5J2YEOO

— Imshin (@imshin) July 18, 2021

The next day, an explosive device was detonated near the hotel. While no casualties were reported, the explosion caused extensive damage to a wall surrounding the resort.

Palestinian groups including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) condemned the attack.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said that Hamas must find and punish the perpetrators of the attack.

“PCHR points out that this resort is a modern and private investment project that opened in the middle of last month and was built on an area of 12 dunams, employing about 120 workers, and it has been very popular since its inauguration,” the NGO said in a statement.

“We stress the importance of supporting such projects, which contribute to supporting domestic tourism, upgrading the Palestinian economy, creating job opportunities for young people and mitigating the effects of the siege [on the Gaza Strip].”

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Israeli officials, family, say the video shown on Al Jazeera of an “Israeli hostage” held by the terror group is fake.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Israel officials on Sunday dismissed a Hamas video that was shown on the Al Jazeera network saying Hamas had faked the attempt to show they were holding a live Israeli soldier hostage.

The Iran-backed terror group is holding two Israeli civilians and the bodies of two IDF soldiers hostage in Gaza in an attempt to trade them for over one thousand convicted terrorists being held in Israeli jails.

The government coordinator for the release of the hostages, Yaron Blum, dismissed the video as a cheap psychological trick by Hamas trying to play on Israeli public sentiment.

“Hamas is in distress after the severe blows it received in Operation Guardian of the Walls and is attempting cheap and transparent manipulation here,” Blum said. “Israel is well aware of the plight of the sons Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul … and of the two civilians Avraham ​​Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed who crossed the border while alive.”

In the 11 days of conflict last month, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terror group lost over hundred dead, and the IDF claimed it destroyed a large part of the vast underground tunnel network the two groups had spent years building. On the Israeli side, only one IDF soldier was killed in the conflict, and Blum estimated that Hamas was under pressure to show some results to Palestinians to offset the losses.

In the recording, a voice speaking accented Hebrew claims to be an Israeli soldier being held captive by Hamas and says he wonders “if Israel still exists… I am dying every day. I feel the hope to be near my family beating in my heart. Please help me.”

Neither Mengistu nor al-Sayed, both of whom suffer mental health issues, served in the IDF, and Mengistu’s mother said the recording was definitely not her son.

“I heard the tape like everyone else, and I can say unequivocally that it is not my son, it is not his voice. I am waiting for my son and hope to meet him soon as I was promised all the time,” Agarnesh Mengistu told Kan News.

The Al Jazeera report included new video footage of former IDF hostage Gilad Shalit while he was a Hamas prisoner, showing him in captivity doing some exercises. Captured in a 2006 border attack in which two other IDF soldiers were killed, Shalit was held hostage for five years before being released in a 2011 exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails, including many who had committed multiple murders.

Hamas bars the International Red Cross from checking on the hostages as required under international law. The Israeli blogger who goes by the code name Abu Ali Express noted that in 2009, Israel released a group of 20 Palestinian female prisoners in order to get a videotape showing that Shalit was alive.

“Mangisto’s voice tape was given to Israel free of charge. This is to put pressure on public opinion in Israel,” the blogger said. “This may indicate that Hamas thinks that the chances of a deal are greater now than in the past and therefore provided a ‘free gift’ unlike in the Shalit case.”

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“The Zionist enemy must be careful, if he attacks Gaza – there will be many surprises,” the Gaza terror groups said in a joint statement. 

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

With a cry of “Allahu akbar,” Hamas fired a barrage of six rockets out to sea from Gaza on Tuesday to launch what appears to be the first ever joint military exercise by all of the different terror groups in Gaza.

“We have not failed in our pledge and promised to our people to continue the path of resistance, jihad and struggle, with a pure rifle and a weapon brewed with the blood of the martyrs and the beads of sweat of the fighters in the fields,” said a joint statement posted on the Hamas website.

With the Gaza economy in a shambles under 13 years of Hamas military rule and unemployment over 50%, the distraction from the misery of daily life in Gaza began several days ago with Hamas announcing the military exercise and posting signs and billboards across the seaside enclave that is home to roughly two million people.

Large posters featured the face of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in January of this year in Iraq by an American drone strike. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar revealed that during a visit to Tehran in 2006, the terrorist organization received $22 million in cash from Soleimani, reported Arab affairs analyst Yoni Ben Menachem of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

The belligerent joint statement that launched the exercise was issued by by all Palestinian factions, declaring that “the Zionist enemy must be careful, if he attacks Gaza – there will be many surprises.”

“The exercise is a message to Israel that the factions are united under one word, one rifle, one missile, which will be activated simultaneously to defeat it as soon as the factions decide,” the statement said.

Before Tuesday, the terrorist organizations sought to emphasize unity among all factions and asked the Palestinian media not to cover other issues besides that of the joint military exercise – especially after an apparent failed rocket launch Monday night at Israel that fell short and exploded in an open area on the Palestinian side of the perimeter fence.

The exercise was also a distraction from the coronavirus pandemic, with Palestinian statistics showing 542 new cases in Gaza on Monday.

The military games included the rocket launching together with land, sea and air exercises using drones, as well as a simulated raid on a Israeli army convoy.

“The message of opposition to the whole world is that the failed normalization agreements will not change anything on the ground,” the statement read, reflecting the terror groups frustration at several Arab countries having recently established diplomatic relations with Israel which bypassed the Palestinian demand that no Arab state open relations with the Jewish State before the Palestinian issue is resolved.

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Islamic Jihad terror group to mark the anniversary of the death of one of its leaders; IDF deploys extra Iron Dome battery on Gaza border.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Israel is preparing for the possibility that the Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza will carry out attacks to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of one of its senior leaders, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.

Last November 12, the IDF killed notorious Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu Al Ata with a targeted rocket strike, sparking a barrage of over 150 rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. There have been sporadic incidents since then, but in anticipation of possible revenge attacks on the anniversary, the IDF deployed an additional Iron Dome anti-missile defense battery in the area, the report said.

Israel defense officials are concerned that terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip will try to carry out an act of revenge including the possibility of rocket fire into the south of the country and even reaching the Tel Aviv region, leading to Ben Gurion Airport flight routes being changed.

Al Ata was the commander of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad‘s forces in the Gaza Strip and was in charge of the terrorists on the ground and is known to have received direct instructions from the Iranian leadership.

Although a Sunni organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is inspired by the Shi’ite revolution in Iran. According to the organization, the Iranian revolution proved that “Islam was the solution and Jihad was the proper means.” Iran is a major funder of the organization.

The most serious incident since the Al Ata killing came in February when the terror group fired more than 80 rockets at Israel after IDF soldiers killed an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was planting a bomb on the border fence.

Although subservient to the Hamas terror group that has controlled Gaza with an iron-fist since it seized power in a bloody 2007 military coup, the Islamic Jihad has made inroads in Judea and Samaria – trying to gain recruits and challenge both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

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The Hamas affiliated terrorist group vowed to launch 1,300 incendiary balloons at Israel on Friday.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

The Sons of al-Zawari, a Hamas affiliated terrorist group responsible for many of the incendiary balloons launched against Israel, warned the Jewish State on Thursday that the “beginning of hell” is imminent and vowed to launch 1,300 incendiary balloons on Friday, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The terrorist group published videos and pictures of a number of incendiary balloons and a makeshift aerial device with incendiary devices attached.

The Sons of al-Zawari announced earlier in the day they were waiting for Israel to respond to their demands, but did not specify what those demands were, the report said.

A similar threat was made in May by Ahfad Al-Nasser, another Hamas-affiliated terrorist group, which said they would turn the area bordering Gaza into hell if Israel didn’t send over coronavirus medical supplies.

Even though Israel’s Health Ministry had already sent over medical supplies and established a field hospital for coronavirus patients from the strip, the terrorist group launched their incendiary balloons anyway.

Incendiary aerial devices have long been used by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists against Israel.

Hamas began launching incendiary devices into Israel in April 2018 – first with kites and then balloons. The low-technology weapons have managed to stymie Israel’s Defense Forces, causing widespread damage to farmland and nature reserves.

In December 2019 Israel began testing a new weapon called called “Light Blade,” a targeted laser system that looks much like a miniature Iron Dome.

It tracks the suspicious airborne object, locks onto it, and blasts it with a unique laser beam.

If the object is a balloon loaded with flammable material, it will explode. If it’s a drone, its motor will be knocked out and crash.

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Three waves of arson balloons floated into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday.

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