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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his nation on Thursday evening in the wake of confirmation that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying a chance had arrived for peace. Netanyahu began by discussing the 101 remaining Israeli hostages, saying Sinwar’s death meant that a unique opportunity had arrived to free them, and that Israel would attempt to use this moment to press for their freedom.

The Biden administration has warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned their Israeli counterparts in a letter dated Sunday that the changes must occur. The letter, which restates U.S. policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers, was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza and an Israeli airstrike on a hospital tent site in central Gaza that killed at least four people and burned others....

Hezbollah said it supported efforts to secure a ceasefire with Israel as the IDF continued to target its top leadership, and the two armies sharply increased their bombardments. “After the issue of a ceasefire takes shape, and once diplomacy can achieve it, all of the other details can be discussed, and decisions can be taken," Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said. "If the enemy (Israel) continues its war, then the battlefield will decide.” Qassem mentioned, in particular, the efforts of the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, to restore calm. "We support the political activity being led by Berri...

Mushtaha established Hamas's General Security Mechanism along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the IDF reported. The IDF announced the death of Rawhi Mushtaha, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday. "Mushtaha, alongside Yahya Sinwar, established Hamas's General Security Mechanism," the military stated. They served a prison sentence together in an Israeli jail. Mushtaha was considered to be the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip and, during the war, maintained civil control of the Hamas regime while simultaneously engaging in terrorist activity against Israel. Mushtaha was Sinwar's right-hand man and one...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on Sunday on ongoing negotiations for a hostage deal and a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, saying at the opening of the weekly Cabinet meeting that "we are engaging in negotiations, not concessions. The principles we have established are essential for Israel's security." Netanyahu emphasized that "Israel is prepared for any threat—both defensively and offensively. We are determined to defend ourselves and to exact a very heavy price from any enemy who dares to attack us, from any front." He added, "There are matters on which we can be flexible, and there are those...

The Israeli military has touted that their forces have killed more than 17,000 Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip since the war began, with US officials saying the Jewish state has achieved “the vast majority” of its goals against the terrorists. IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said about 56% of Hamas’ estimated 30,000 forces have been wiped out since Israel waged war following the Oct. 7 massacre. Hagari said the blow has greatly affected Hamas’ ability to regroup and recover as small battalions have continued to resurface across Gaza after months of intense fighting. The latest death count is...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overtook war cabinet minister Benny Gantz as the public’s preferred choice for premier in a television survey aired Wednesday, marking the first time in a year that the incumbent rated higher than his best-polling rival. The Channel 12 news poll also found Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party gaining on Gantz’s centrist National Union, while indicating that a potential all-star slate of Netanyahu’s former right-wing allies could win a double-digit number of parliamentary seats, mainly at the expense of National Union. If elections were held today, according to the poll, National Union would pick up 25 of the...

Nikki Haley, a former GOP presidential candidate and United Nations ambassador, wrote “Finish them” on an artillery shell while on a trip to Israel this week. Haley was photographed signing the shell Tuesday in a social media post by Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the Israeli Parliament. The message on the shell read, “Finish them! America [heart] Israel always, Nikki Haley.” “This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Danon wrote in a post...