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The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday announced that it had discovered and began dismantling a terror tunnel stretching from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip to dozens of meters into Israel. Shortly thereafter, Palestinian terrorists in the coastal enclave fired a rocket at the Jewish state that was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system. In response, the Israeli military struck an underground site belonging to Hamas.
Palestinian terrorists have in the past used subterranean passageways to penetrate Israeli territory and launch attacks and, perhaps most notably, kidnap IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Though the IDF did not confirm which group built the most recently uncovered tunnel, Israeli policy is to hold “Hamas responsible for everything emanating from the Gaza Strip.”
Israel Defense Forces tanks reportedly struck Hezbollah military assets located near Quneitra in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights. A Syrian army base was also allegedly targeted.
“We will not allow terrorist entities aligned with Hezbollah or Iran to entrench themselves on Israel’s Golan Heights border, and will do whatever is necessary to push them back,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Wednesday.
The statement is being construed as a rather stark warning to Damascus and Tehran given Israel’s overarching policy of not commenting on purported military operations abroad.
The incident follows last week’s IDF Special Forces’ covert operation to destroy two Syrian outposts. The mission was launched in response to Syria’s repeated violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel that established a buffer zone between the countries that is patrolled by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force.
French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to dissolve a pro-Hamas group due to its having been “directly implicated” in last week’s beheading of a history teacher close to Paris.
Macron said that the move to shut down the Cheikh Yassine Collective, which is named after Hamas’ founder, will be finalized at an upcoming cabinet meeting. He added that “actions will be stepped up” in order to combat Islamist extremism in France.
Four students were among 15 people taken into custody following the beheading of Samuel Paty, who was targeted after showing his class controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dozens of jars and complete clay objects from the Second Temple period were discovered inside a water hole at the Khirbet Kafr Mer archaeological site located in the West Bank Jewish community of Beit El. The water hole was apparently used by Jews who lived in the area roughly 2000 years ago.
Hanania Hizmi, head of the Israeli Civil Administration’s Archaeological Unit, said that the artifacts unearthed “testify to the rich Jewish history of the area and contribute greatly to historical research.”
For many elderly Israelis, the second coronavirus-related nationwide lockdown has been exceedingly difficult and lonely. But each week ahead of the Jewish Sabbath, volunteers bring home-baked pastries to those living in isolation.
Sweets for the Soul was inaugurated last year, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, by a Tel Aviv-based amateur baker. The aim: To raise the spirits of older Israelis confined to their homes for health reasons.
While the coronavirus crisis in March forced the organization to halt deliveries out of concern for the safety of higher-risk citizens, only two weeks after the project shut down people started calling.
Now, the group is supplying over 1,000 cakes a week.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Recommendations for Israel | Team of Experts Led by Lt. Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eisenkot (Edited by Mor Yahalom, The Institute for National Security Studies)
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No Longer United Against Israel: The New Arab World (Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies)
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Meet the Orthodox Woman at the Top of Israel’s Cyber Game (Naama Barak, Israel21C)
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Yom Kippur Zoom Reunites Holocaust Survivors 71 Years Later (Luis Andres Henao and Jessie Wardarski, Associated Press)
