Israel

JERUSALEM Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Israeli military mistakenly killed three hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas during an incident which is "under review", a military spokesperson said on Friday.

The military said the hostages were killed during combat with militants in Gaza and expressed its condolences to the families while saying there would be "full transparency" in the investigation into the incident.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Rocket sirens sounded at sunset Friday in Jerusalem and several nearby cities, including Bet Shemesh.

Loud explosions echoed in the center of Jerusalem and Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepted the rocket, according to a Xinhua reporter stationed there.

Israeli media reported that the alarms sounded after a long-range rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip. There have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The rocket attack was later claimed by Hamas's armed wing al-Qassam Brigades.

7 December 2023; MEMO: Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip will end with the surrender of Hamas leaders and the return of hostages, an Israeli spokesman said on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The war in Gaza can end on the condition that Hamas leaders surrender themselves to the Israeli army and the prisoners are returned,” Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters.

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.