Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli warplanes hammered the Gaza Strip neighborhood by neighborhood on Tuesday, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety in the tiny, sealed-off territory as Israel vowed a retaliation for Hamas’ surprise weekend attack that would “reverberate ... for generations.”

JERUSALEM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Israel's response to the unprecedented multi-pronged attack by Palestinian gunmen from the Gaza Strip will "change the Middle East," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

He was speaking to mayors of southern border towns hit by the surprise assault that began on Saturday, a statement from his office said. It did not elaborate on his prediction.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday, killing dozens and stunning the country. Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

06 October 2023; MEMO: An international human rights organisation warned, on Thursday, of a “sharp increase” in violence by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories “under the political cover of the government Israel”, Anadolu Agency reports.

07 October 2023; MEMO: The Israeli army has declared a “state of readiness” for war after Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip fired an intense barrage of rockets early Saturday toward Israel, reports Israel Broadcasting Authority.

The rocket salvoes were fired from different locations in the enclave but Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted many, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

07 October 2023; MEMO: Hospitals in Israel have confirmed that more than 100 Israelis have been wounded in rocket strikes across south and central Israel, some in critical condition, The Times of Israel reported.

Soraka Medical Centre in Beersheba received 80 wounded, some in very serious condition.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues.

The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.

Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

05 October 2023; MEMO: Israel's minister in charge of crime and policing, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has said it's not a crime for Israeli Jews to spit on Christians.

The Jewish holiday of Sukkot saw an increase in abuses on Christians by Israelis according to Christian leaders in Jerusalem.

Spitting on people of a minority religion would be considered a hate crime in most countries, but for the Israeli government it is simply 'an old Jewish tradition'.