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Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted five rockets fired at the city of Ashkelon from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, and the military responded with a series of air strikes on the Hamas-controlled territory. No group has taken responsibility for firing the rockets, which were shot down by Iron Dome's small radar-guided missiles over Ashkelon, a coastal city of some 125,000 people about 12 km (seven miles) north of Gaza.

13,000 teens complete Hamas training camps to emulate ‘suicide martyrs’ Numbers more than double in second year of Gaza’s ‘Pioneers of Liberation’ program; females also trained The Hamas government in Gaza celebrated the graduation on Monday of paramilitary camps geared at training high-school children “to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.”

After crushing the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt's military rulers plan to undermine the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the neighboring Gaza Strip, senior Egyptian security officials told Reuters. The aim, which the officials say could take years to pull off, includes working with Hamas's political rivals Fatah and supporting popular anti-Hamas activities in Gaza, four security and diplomatic officials said. Since it seized power in Egypt last summer, Egypt's military has squeezed Gaza's economy by destroying most of the 1,200 tunnels used to smuggle food, cars and weapons to the coastal enclave, which is under an Israeli blockade....

Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which US Vice President Joe Biden will attend. .....

In an end-of-year interview on Al-Nahar TV, Egyptian astrologer Sayyed Al-Shimi warned that whenever Saturn enters a fire sign, the Jews become stronger. Attributing various events, including the first World Zionist Congress, the Balfour Declaration, and the 1948, 1956, and 1967 wars, to the constellation of the stars, Al-Shimi warned that in December 2014, Saturn would enter Sagittarius again.Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on Al-Nahar TV and was posted on the Internet on December 31, 2013: Sayyed Al-Shimi: Saturn will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. My late father and I have had a long history with...

Arab Knesset members reacted angrily on Wednesday to a report in the Maariv daily newspaper, which stated that Israel has suggested to the United States a plan to transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) areas with a dense Arab population currently inside Israel. The report specifically referred to an area known as the Triangle, located in east-central Israel, including the cities of Tayibe and Tira, in which about 300,000 Arabs live. …

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood planned a series of bombings at Egyptian churches, according to a report in the Kuwaiti paper Al-Watan, according to Channel 10 news. According to the report, the attacks were to take place on Christmas. Terrorists in Sinai had succeeded in gathering explosives for the planned attack. Egyptian intelligence reportedly foiled the plot after discovering communications between the two groups. Intelligence agents also listened in on calls between the Muslim Brotherhood and other Gaza-based terrorist groups. …

Gag order placed on investigation into attack; massive traffic jams around Tel Aviv due to police checkpoints; explosion occurred just after noon, at corner of Shaul Hamelekh and Henrietta Szold streets; one casualty seriously wounded, one lightly-to moderately, and the rest sustain light injuries. A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv at a little after noon Wednesday, wounding at least 28 people. As of Wednesday night six people were admitted to hospital overnight. Of these, three had surgery for moderate injuries that were described as not life-threatening, and three had mild injuries only. The remaining 26 people...

Once again Barack Obama is going to push Israel to hand over half of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus Christ to the Hamas-Fatah terrorists. Barack Obama believes giving the terrorists more land will result in peace. It’s as if the Gaza transfer and disaster never happened. The Times of Israel reported: US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of...

The ultimate goal of the Hamas movement is to establish Islam worldwide, Hamas minister Fathi Hammad declared during a recent public address in Gaza. “We shall liberate our land, Allah willing. We shall liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and our cities and villages, as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era,” Hammad proclaimed. “The fuel and spearhead of this era will be Gaza, and its mujahideen and leaders will be from Gaza, Allah willing,” he added. Hammad’s speech was translated by the Middle...

President Shimon Peres addressed the escalation in the south on Tuesday evening. "If Gaza wants peace and quiet they had better act accordingly...."

Israel’s intelligence community has determined that Turkey has replaced Iran as the leading financial backer of Hamas since 2012, reports the World Tribune, citing unspecified “israeli sources.” The sources said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has overseen the transfer of up to $250 million a year to Hamas, and particularly to its governing apparatus in Gaza. “The money is channeled mostly through private sources, but with full coordination with Erdogan and his aides,” a source said. Turkey has coordinated the cash transfers with Qatar, which has been hosting the Hamas leadership since its expulsion from Syria in...

Both the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups welcomed Sunday’s attack on a bus in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam. Neither group, however, claimed responsibility for the bombing, in which one officer was lightly wounded. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by the Palestinian Authority-based Ma’an news agency that the organization welcomed the attack, which he said was a "response to the crimes of the occupation." A source with the Islamic Jihad group told Ma’an he hoped the attack "could usher the resumption of suicide attacks." He added that the attack was "a sign that...

A silvery green olive grove set in the red soil of a Palestinian village is a crime scene - testament to a practice so sensitive that it is spoken of only in whispers. One night in late November, Rasha Abu Ara, a 32-year-old mother of five, was beaten to death and strung from a gnarled tree branch as a gruesome badge of "family honor" restored. The woman's alleged sin was adultery, and her killer was either her own brother or husband ... Her murder brought to 27 the number of women slain in similar circumstances in Palestinian-run areas this year,...

IDF soldiers shot dead a Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist and wounded at least five others during a counterterrorism operation in the Samaria (Shomron) region Wednesday. Clashes broke out after Israeli special forces came under fire after being exposed in the course of an undercover operation to arrest local Hamas commander Jamal Abu al-Haija. "Earlier this evening during a counter terrorism activity in Jenin, Palestinians opened fire and threw improvised grenades and explosive devices at security forces," a statement said. Soldiers "retaliated towards the perpetrators in self defense. Several Palestinians were wounded in the exchange of fire" and taken by the...

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority were in talks to form a national unity government in preparation for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency reported Tuesday. Abbas received phone calls from Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh confirming their decision to join Hamas with Fatah, according to Ma'an sources. This was not the first time that the two parties had announced an agreement to end their differences. Over the past few years, Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of such agreements that were never implemented. .....

European taxpayers are supporting a massive fraud. The European Union (EU) has become embroiled in a financial scandal of massive proportions in relation to the financial assistance given by it to the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 1994. This appears very clear from the comprehensive European Court of Auditors Report dated 22 October 2013 which was only made public this week. The Report reveals the following: .....

While snow pummeled the Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and Northern areas of Israel over the weekend, the Tel Aviv area and the Western side of Israel faced torrential rains and flooding Saturday. Total damages have been estimated to be over 300 million shekel thus far, according to Channel 2. The floods have also proved deadly. Saturday evening, the bodies of two men were found in the Tze'elim Stream, near Arad. The stream had been flooded in the storm and had drowned the two men, who had been in the midst of a hike, medics stated. Rain also hit Hamas-controlled Gaza...

Three Palestinian residents of Ramallah, Mohammad Adawi and his two sons Naser and Nasim, arrived in Canada in 2010 requesting refugee status. According to Adawi, he was forced to flee Samaria following death threats from armed members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The three recently applied for a judicial review of a 2012 decision that refused them refugee status and claimed their story was likely fabricated, reports Shalom Toronto. The federal courts involved in the review canceled the earlier decision and opened a new hearing of their case. Adawi reports that his eldest son refused to help Hamas and Islamic...

The Egyptian authorities have begun revoking the citizenship of Hamas leaders, according to reports in Palestinian and Egyptian media outlets. The move is seen in the context of intensifying tensions between Egypt and Hamas in the aftermath of the downfall of deposed President Mohammed Morsi’s regime. Under Morsi’s rule, the Egyptian authorities granted Egyptian citizenship to thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including top Hamas officials. One of the Hamas leaders who received an Egyptian passport was Mahmoud Zahar, who was born to an Egyptian mother. The Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported that the Egyptian authorities have taken effective measures...