Hostage delegation to head to Cairo, IDF kills five terrorists close to Sinwar

The Prime Minister's Office announced that the hostage deal negotiation team will leave for Cairo as early as Saturday night or Sunday, while also denying claims that PM Netanyahu has changed the deal for one with more favorable terms.

Approximately 10 days ago, several senior Hamas members, including Ruhi Mushtaha, a close associate of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were reportedly killed, according to a report in the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

In addition to Mushtaha, Bassam Al-Saraj and three other high-ranking members of Hamas's military wing, including intelligence chief Abed Al-Hadi Siam of the Gaza Brigade, were also eliminated.

The terrorists were reportedly killed in a tunnel that was attacked.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s position in the terrorist organization has now been elevated since the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammad Deif, US Marine Colonel, and a former deputy assistant secretary for the US State Department, Stephen Ganyard, claimed in an interview with ABC News published on Friday.

Sinwar, the 61-year-old terror leader who has evaded Israel so far, masterminded the October 7 attacks which saw over 1200 people murdered and a further 253 kidnapped. 

"The real guy that the Israelis want to get and will likely eventually get is Sinwar and he's in a tunnel likely somewhere in Gaza, still running the show within Gaza," Ganyard said.

A coalition of armed forces is needed to combat the threats against Israel and the region from Iran and its proxies, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his British counterpart John Healey on Friday.

“Gallant discussed the IDF’s readiness and capabilities to defend Israel on all fronts, and emphasized the importance of establishing a coalition in Israel’s defense against Iran and its proxies,” the Defense Ministry said. 

“This would have a critical impact on regional and global security and stability,” he stated. 

In light of direct threats of Iran and Hezbollah to carry out a combined attack on Israel, Thailand decided to suspend the arrival of thousands of foreign workers to Israel on Friday.

According to the Israel Population Authority, as soon as likelihood of a response becomes clear and the level of risk decreases, it is likely that they will resume sending workers, and the Population Authority, together with the embassy, will work to ensure that this wokrers continue to arrive.

As if he knew his time had come, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's last words to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Ali Khamenei before he was assassinated in Tehran were a Koranic verse about life, death, immortality and resilience.

"It is Allah who gives life and causes death. And Allah is all-aware of all actions ... 'If a leader leaves, another will arise'," Haniyeh said in Arabic. A few hours later he was killed in a suspected Israeli strike on his guest house.

The comment, broadcast on television as Haniyeh addressed Khamenei, reflected deeply-held Islamist beliefs that shaped his life and approach to the Palestinians' conflict with Israel, one inspired by the late Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who preached Holy Struggle (Jihad) against Israel in the 1980s.

Western intelligence sources told Sky News Arabia that they had evidence Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which begins on August 12 and ends on August 13, the site reported on Friday.

Iran’s attack will reportedly be coordinated with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group embedded in Lebanon. 

On Tisha B’Av, Jews lament the destruction of the first and second Temples. During the annual event, there is fasting, mourning and a practice of self-denial. 

France has formally advised its citizen against travelling to Iran and has asked French citizens still the country to leave as soon as possible due to a risk of military escalation in the region, the foreign ministry said on Friday in a travel advisory.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Ahmad Aal Thani, and his ousted father, Hamad bin Khalifa Aal Thani, sat today at the forefront prayers during the funeral of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital of Doha. Another attendant at the prayer was Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Aal Thani, alongside a crowd of thousands of worshippers.

The funeral took place after another ceremony in Tehran, led by the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Khamenei and other government officials. Yet Haniyeh was not buried in Tehran, and his body was brought with a long honorary convoy to the central mosque in Doha named after the founder of the extreme Wahabi school of Islam, where it was received with great honor.

The Hezbollah terror organization has planned on evacuating its headquarters in Beirut and moving military equipment held there in light of the escalation with Israel, Israeli media reported on Friday, citing Arab media.