Daily News Surrounding Israel

September 10, 2018

The Israeli military announced that it will close the crossings into the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, as it does nearly every year. Closures for Jewish…

September 7, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday (5th) that Israel is determined to prevent Iran and its satellites from establishing bases in Syria. “We are working firmly against…

September 6, 2018

On the Eve of the new Jewish year, Israel’s population has reached 8.907 million – 162,000 more than a year ago, according to data published Tuesday (4th) by the Central Bureau of Statistics. In a press release including…

September 5, 2018

A group of Israeli farmers traveled to The Hague on Monday (3rd) and filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against top Hamas officials for what they called fire kite terror during the…

September 4, 2018

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday (29th) said there was no concrete ceasefire agreement with Israel, but warned that if hostilities resume the terror group could launch hundreds of…

August 31, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Wednesday (29th) at a ceremony to rename Israel’s nuclear research facility for former President Shimon Peres…

August 30, 2018

Israel’s Channel 10 News published a report on Tuesday (28th) based on comments from a senior Fatah official demonstrating Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmoud Abbas’ intense hostility toward…

August 29, 2018

The Defense Ministry has signed with Israel Military Industries (IMI) to develop and acquire advanced precision short-and long-range rockets for the IDF…

August 28, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli politicians on Sunday (26th) hailed U.S. Senator John McCain for his principled and stalwart support of the Jewish state…

August 27, 2018

VILNIUS, Lithuania – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Lithuania Thursday (23rd) for a Baltic summit through which he said he hoped to deepen ties with eastern European nations to counter the EU’s “not…

August 24, 2018

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior member of Iran’s leadership, warned the United States and Israel that both would pay a “heavy” price if the US goes to war with his country, reported the Iranian Tasnim News Agency…

August 23, 2018

President Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, visited the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday (21st), as part of his three-day visit to Israel. Bolton was received at the embassy by U.S. Ambassador to…

August 22, 2018

A Palestinian terrorist shot at IDF troops on patrol near the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning (20th).  In response, the soldiers fired towards the terrorist, killing him. No injuries were reported. News sources…

August 21, 2018

The Erez border crossing, the only land crossing for the movement of people between the Gaza Strip and Israel or the West Bank, was not opened on Sunday (19th), because of stalled efforts to establish…

August 20, 2018

Israel’s defense budget will be gradually increased to 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the coming years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday (15th) as he presented a document labeled…

August 17, 2018

An Israeli source made it clear after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday (15th) that any future arrangement with Hamas would include the return of the fallen soldiers and civilians held in the Gaza Strip. “There will be no…

August 16, 2018

Israel says it plans to ease some restrictions on the Gaza Strip as Egypt attempts to broker an end to months of violent Palestinian riots, Hamas rocket attacks and arson terror, including retaliatory strikes by Israel…

August 15, 2018

Israel in recent weeks seized at the Ashdod port three containers holding tens of thousands of balloons which were en route to the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Channel 10 News reported. The balloons were confiscated to…

August 14, 2018

A week after the Druze community and supporters of the Druze gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to protest the Nation-State Law, the same plaza outside city hall turned red, green, black and white on Saturday night…

August 13, 2018

Israeli jets bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip as Palestinian terrorists fired more than 180 rockets and mortar shells into Israel in a fierce burst of violence overnight Wednesday (8th) and well into Thursday (9th)…

August 10, 2018

Israel’s air force bombed 12 Hamas positions across the Gaza Strip Wednesday night (8th), the military said, as dozens of rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israeli communities from the Palestinian enclave…

August 9, 2018

Israeli tank fire killed two Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Tuesday (7th) in a strike against a position from which the IDF said Israeli troops had come under fire. Hamas and Palestinian health officials in Gaza confirmed the…

August 8, 2018

Residents of the Samaria communities of Yitzhar and Har Bracha reported that “fire kites” and “fire balloons” were seen flying in the sky, according to a report by Hakol Hayehudi. In Har Bracha, one of the “fire kites”…

August 7, 2018

A senior Syrian  scientist was assassinated in a car bomb in the city of Hama, Al Arabiya reported early Sunday (5th). According to Hizbullah’s Al Manar TV station, Dr. Aziz Asbar was killed in an explosion in his car…

August 6, 2018

Israel struck seven ISIS militants, just feet from the Israeli border in an airstrike on the Syrian-held Golan Heights Wednesday evening (1st), the Israeli army confirmed. At 10:30 p.m. IAF jets hit seven armed terrorists…

August 3, 2018

Israel on Wednesday (1st) deemed the Iranian pullout of heavy weapons to a distance of 53 miles from the Golan Heights border with Syria to be insufficient. Backed by Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hizbullah…

August 2, 2018

A Palestinian terrorist who murdered a 31-year-old Israeli man near Jerusalem last week has been designated as a “martyr” by the Palestinian Authority, suggesting that his family will be financially rewarded for the…

August 1, 2018

Following the death on July 20 of Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi, who was killed in a sniper attack near the Gaza border, the Israeli military launched an inquiry seeking to tie the attack to a similar subsequent incident…

July 31, 2018

An international flotilla seeking to challenge Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip was stopped over the weekend in Israel’s territorial waters by Israel’s navy. Pierre Stambul, co-president of the French Jewish…

July 30, 2018

A pair of Israeli lawmakers eulogizing Yotam Ovadia at his funeral Friday afternoon laid blame on the Palestinian Authority for the attack in the West Bank settlement of Adam late Thursday, in which a teenage…

July 27, 2018

Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced Thursday morning that its forces were going on high alert, deploying at the highest readiness level in expectation of a possible full-blown war…

July 26, 2018

The “State of Palestine” will reportedly preside next year over the largest bloc of developing nations at the United Nations. Palestine — which is not a member state of the UN but has observer state status…

July 25, 2018

Israel’s military downed a Syrian fighter jet that entered the northern part of the country on Tuesday afternoon.  The Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet was intercepted by two Patriot missiles launched from Safed after the…

July 24, 2018

Leading Palestinian politicians have voiced concerns in recent days over the prospect of the United States being excluded from acting as mediator in peace talks with Israel. They do not believe that Palestinian…

July 23, 2018

Reactions to the Knesset’s passage overnight Wednesday of the new Jewish State law were predictably divided along party lines, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing it as “a pivotal moment in the…

July 20, 2018

The Knesset overnight Wednesday-Thursday passed into law the contentious nation-state bill that for the first time enshrines Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people” in its quasi-constitutional Basic Laws…

July 19, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prevented the passage into law of a bill Wednesday that would have required all online media providers to remove terrorist content. The bill passed on Monday in the…

July 18, 2018

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday called on the international community to intervene to stop Israel from carrying out a military operation in the Gaza Strip. The PA government, which held its weekly…

July 17, 2018

The IDF deployed Iron Dome missile defense batteries across central Israel and reinforced the batteries in the south of the country, the military announced Sunday evening.  The move, which also saw a limited…

July 16, 2018

An IDF officer was moderately injured in a terrorist grenade attack during violent protests in the northern Gaza Strip Friday, according to a statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. The officer, whose name…

July 13, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for talks focusing on Iranian presence in Syria — an issue that is expected to top the agenda of the…

July 12, 2018

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said a Patriot missile intercepted a drone approaching Israel from Syria, as sirens sounded in northern Israel and fragments from the downed UAV plummeted into the…

July 11, 2018

A group of activists in Gaza are seeking to set sail Tuesday, July 9, to “break the siege” of Gaza, they claimed on Monday. The activists timed their sailing to take place after months of the Great Return March failing…

July 10, 2018

Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID deployed an emergency response team to western Japan Monday, two days after torrential rains and floods began. JISP, IsraAID’s Japan branch, will distribute urgent…

July 9, 2018

BERLIN — Research suggests the family of Anne Frank, the world-famous Jewish diarist who died in the Holocaust, attempted to immigrate to the United States and later also to Cuba, but their efforts were…

July 6, 2018

The Mossad agency has recovered a wristwatch belonging to legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen who executed in Syria, and brought it back to Israel after a recent special operation, the Prime Minister’s Office…

July 5, 2018

Residents of the North were woken up with a bump on Wednesday morning as a 4.1 magnitude earthquake shook Haifa and the Galilee region shortly before 5:00 a.m. The Israeli Geophysical Institute said a…

July 4, 2018

Australia has stopped giving direct aid to the Palestinian Authority due to concerns that the money is being used to pay Palestinian terrorists and their families. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop…

July 3, 2018

A rare bronze coin from the fourth year of the Great Jewish Revolt was recently discovered in excavations in the City of David National Park. A testament to the final days of the rebellion against the Romans, the coin…

July 2, 2018

Fifteen fires broke out in Israel Friday due to incendiary balloons and kites launched from the Gaza Strip. Firefighters doused the blazes. Around 2,000 Palestinians were demonstrating along the border, a drop…

June 29, 2018

During Wednesday night of this week, an IDF force identified two terrorists who were crawling toward the security fence in an attempt to infiltrate Israel from the southern Gaza Strip. The force responded with tank…

June 28, 2018

The World Economic Forum has chosen Watergen as one of its technology pioneers out of hundreds of candidates. The Israeli start-up’s devices and technology are a new source of clean drinking water, using…

June 22, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Hamas on Wednesday (20th) amid escalating tensions along the border with the Gaza Strip, saying Israel will employ whatever means necessary to…

June 21, 2018

Terrorists in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip launched at least 45 rockets and mortar shells at communities in southern Israel early Wednesday morning (20th), seven of which were shot down by the Iron Dome…

June 20, 2018

The United States Senate approved its version of the annual defense spending bill Monday (18th) that included the $500 million promised to Israel each year for missile defense…

June 19, 2018

Palestinian terrorists blew themselves up Monday (18th) while trying to blow a hole in an underground wall separating Israel from the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. Of a terror cell of five, one terrorist was…

June 18, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday (17th) with a report on his talks with Russian President Putin and U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo. “Over the weekend I spoke with…

June 15, 2018

The UN General Assembly, in a 120-8 vote with 45 abstentions, approved a non-binding resolution Wednesday (13th) blaming Israel for violence in Gaza and deploring its “excessive use of force,” after narrowly…

June 14, 2018

Soldiers from the IDF’s elite Duvdevan counter-terrorism commando unit raided Palestinian Camp al-Am’ari last Wednesday (6th) in the late morning hours and pulled the terrorist who killed their friend…

June 13, 2018

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman visited the Gaza Division Tuesday (12th) and congratulated the incoming commander of the Southern Command, Major Hartzi Halevi. “First of all, I came to congratulate…

June 12, 2018

An 18-year-old woman was stabbed and seriously wounded in the northern city of Afula Monday (11th), in a terror attack authorities said.  The victim was able to take a few steps and…

June 11, 2018

The Israel Defense Forces called up thousands of reservists on Sunday (10th) as part of a surprise exercise in the Golan Heights on Israel’s border with Syria. The drill is expected to last several days and will…

June 8, 2018

IDF aircraft dropped leaflets, ahead of Friday’s (8th) planned protests, warning Gaza residents against approaching the border fence and attempts at sabotage and terrorism, according to the…

June 7, 2018

A Palestinian rioter was killed in the Ramallah area on Wednesday (6th) after attempting to kill an IDF soldier with a rock at close range. The attacker hurled a large rock at IDF troops during a counter-terrorism…

June 6, 2018

The Israel Security Agency announced Tuesday (5th) it had uncovered and thwarted a terrorist cell guided by a terror operative from Syria, which had planned to target senior Israeli officials including…

June 5, 2018

IDF soldiers killed one of two armed Terrorists Monday (4th) as they attempted to cross the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The terrorists who were carrying axes damaged the security fence in what was…

June 4, 2018

Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip cut through the border fence and infiltrated southern Israel Sunday evening (3rd), before setting ablaze a container that stored equipment for the construction of an…

June 1, 2018

While mortar and rocket barrages from Gaza stopped with the attainment of a ceasefire, incendiary kite terrorism never stopped, with fires breaking out on Thursday (5/31) in the regions’ Be’eri and Kissufim…

May 31, 2018

Thousands of Israelis in communities within rocket range of the Gaza Strip spent Tuesday night (29th) in or near bomb shelters as terrorists fired more than 40 more rockets and mortar shells at Israel. According…

May 30, 2018

Several structures and vehicles in the town of Sderot were hit by machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip on Monday evening (28th). On Tuesday morning (29th), at least 27 rockets were fired at Israeli towns…

May 29, 2018

On Monday (28th) Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambassador to the United States, tweeted, “On Memorial Day, Israel salutes the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces for everything they have done and continue…

May 25, 2018

Explosions were heard outside of  a Syrian airbase near the city of Homs Thursday evening (24th) in what Syrian state media termed a missile attack. The pro-Hizbullah Al Mayadeen outlet claimed that four…

May 24, 2018

May 14th was a historic date in Israel this year, marking the country’s 70th anniversary and the day on which the Americans moved their embassy to Jerusalem. It was also the date on which the number of…

May 23, 2018

Citing the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, Ma’ariv reported on Tuesday (22nd) an Israeli-American offer to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, in which he was told, “Remove Iranian forces from Syria, and in return Israeli attacks will…

May 22, 2018

Paraguay opened its new embassy in Jerusalem Monday (21st), with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing the country as a “true friend,” making it the third country to do so after the United States and…

May 21, 2018

Some 200,000 Israelis visited national parks Sunday (20th) for the Shavuot holiday, as tens of thousands more flocked to beaches across the country. With Israel in the grips of a heat wave, nature reserves and…

May 18, 2018

Paraguay’s government says President Horacio Cartes will open the country’s new embassy in Israel on Tuesday (22nd) in Jerusalem, following similar steps by the United States and Guatemala…

May 17, 2018

The bullets that hit a number of of homes in the southern Israeli city of Sderot Wednesday (16th) were the result of machine gun fire by Palestinians in Gaza at an Israeli military aircraft, officials said. Bullets shattered…

May 16, 2018

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again defended his country’s response to protests in Gaza and blamed the territory’s ruling Hamas party for the violence…

May 15, 2018

Sixty-nine years after Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital, and 23 years after the US Congress passed a law mandating that Washington move its embassy there, the US formally opened its embassy in the…

May 14, 2018

After a week of tension in Israel’s Golan Heights, Israel’s defense establishment is bracing for a week of violent confrontations along the border fence with the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. With the opening…

May 11, 2018

In a warning directed especially at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed in a Hebrew-language video message Thursday (10th) that the IDF will respond powerfully…

May 10, 2018

The Iranian Qods Force in Syria, fired a barrage of 20 rockets at IDF posts on the Golan Heights around midnight on Wednesday (9th). A number of rockets were intercepted by the IDF’s Iron Dome…

May 9, 2018

Syrian state-run media reported an Israeli attack near the capital Damascus, Tuesday night (8th).  The official news agency SANA said the attack occurred in the countryside just south of Damascus…

May 8, 2018

At least three “U.S. Embassy” road signs went up in Jerusalem on Monday (7th) ahead of next week’s opening of the mission in the city, a Reuters witness said. The signs, in English, Hebrew and…

May 7, 2018

“We are determined to stop the Iranian aggression against us, even if it involves a struggle – it is better now than later,” Netanyahu said. Israel is determined to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria even…

May 4, 2018

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday (1st) began an official visit to Ethiopia.  Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said ties between the two countries date back 3,000 years to when the Ethiopian Queen…

May 3, 2018

Incendiary kites flown Wednesday (2nd) from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian terrorists caused a huge fire in the Be’eri Forest in southern Israel that continued to rage into the evening. The conflagration is the..

May 2, 2018

On Tuesday (1st), a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released information collected by the Mossad on Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Intelligence Minister…

May 1, 2018

Missile strikes targeted suspected Iranian military bases in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Aleppo late Sunday (4/29), Syrian state media reported Monday (4/30)…

April 30, 2018

Some 4,000 students of pre-military academics, teenagers and youth, held a memorial event in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Saturday night (28th) for the ten teenagers…

April 27, 2018

At least nine high school students have died and several others went missing on Thursday (26th) when the field trip they were on in southern Israel was disrupted by flash floods. The group of 25…

April 26, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his visiting counterpart from Romania on Wednesday (25th) for her government’s stand on possibly moving Romania’s embassy to Jerusalem…

April 25, 2018

Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians who crossed into Israel from Gaza armed with grenades and knives. The men were taken in Tuesday morning (24th) shortly after they crossed the security fence, according…

April 24, 2018

The Kremlin on Monday (23rd) declined to comment on media reports suggesting that Russia plans to supply Syria with S-300 air defense systems, but said a Western missile strike on Syria had soured the…

April 23, 2018

On Sunday (22nd) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to accusations by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that Israel violated international law, saying, “This is the foreign minister of a…

April 20, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday (19th) at a welcoming ceremony for diplomats and consular staff that “preferable treatment” will be given to the first 10 embassies moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem…

April 19, 2018

On Wednesday (18th), air raid sirens blared across the Land of Israel to call to remembrance the 23,646 soldiers and 3,134 terror victims who fell in Israel’s wars and during various attacks. Nearly every Israeli…

April 18, 2018

Israel came to a standstill on Tuesday night (17th) to mark its national Memorial Day, and to commemorate the 23,646 fallen IDF soldiers and 3,134 victims of terrorist attacks who…

April 17, 2018

On the eve of Israel’s 70th Independence Day, its population stands at 8,847,000, of whom 74.5 percent are Jewish, according to figures released on Monday (16th) by the Central Bureau of Statistics…