Israel

7 December 2023; MEMO: The son of Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief, Gadi Eizenkot, was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Party members Eizenkot and Gantz, also a former army chief, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shortly after Hamas’ deadly 7 October attack which prompted an Israeli air, ground and sea offensive in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

TEL AVIV, December 7. /TASS/: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces Northern Command and warned that the escalation of tensions on the border with Lebanon by Hezbollah could cause Beirut and South Lebanon to repeat the fate of the Gaza Strip.

"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 Yunis," he said on X (formerly Twitter).

TEL AVIV, December 8. /TASS/: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck a number of targets on Syrian territory last night in response to the shelling launched on December 7, the army's press service reported.

"In response to yesterday's launches [of shells] toward northern Israel, the IDF struck a number of targets in Syria," the statement said.

JERUSALEM, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13, said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review.

Without directly addressing the death of visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, a military statement said Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had at the time attacked across the border and Israeli forces opened fire to prevent a suspected armed infiltration.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has offered strong support to Israel in its war against the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. But the allies are increasingly at odds over what will happen to Gaza once the war winds down.

5 December 2023; MEMO: The former chief of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, on Monday, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down immediately, Anadolu Agency reports.

In an article published by Israeli Channel 12, Yuval Diskin said Netanyahu’s behaviour since 7 October “explains well why he must go home now.”

5 December 2023; MEMO: Firearm Licensing Department Director at the Israeli Ministry of National Security, Yisrael Avisar, resigned on Sunday in protest of the reckless licensing regulations applied under extremist Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has fast-tracked thousands of civilian gun permits, claiming it boosts public security.

JERUSALEM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities are investigating claims by U.S. researchers that some investors may have known in advance of a Hamas plan to attack Israel on Oct. 7 and used that information to profit from Israeli securities.

Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks, which triggered a war nearly two months old.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial resumed on Monday in Jerusalem after more than a two-month pause amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

During the hearing, the Jerusalem District Court heard the questioning of a police investigator over the so-called "Case 4,000," in which Netanyahu allegedly promoted regulatory benefits for Bezeq, Israel's largest telecom company, in return for favorable coverage from a news website it owned.

JERUSALEM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Israel will seek a "security envelope" with special zones and arrangements that will prevent Hamas from being positioned on its border after the war in Gaza is over, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the coastal enclave after the war ends.