Reports of a ceasefire in Gaza for the purpose of distribution and administration of polio vaccines to residents are false, the Prime Minister's Office said on Saturday night, after COGAT had announced earlier that a vaccination campaign will start on Sunday.
Go to the full article >>Hamas is attempting to pressure Israel to abandon its fundamental principles by warning that the Gaza hostage talks are close to collapse, Israeli sources said Saturday, after the security cabinet voted 8-1 to retain IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor in any agreement with the terror group.
Go to the full article >>The IDF has found more bodies underground in Gaza, likely of Israeli hostages who had been held by Hamas.
Despite rumors on social media of possible identities of the potential hostage bodies, the IDF will not be able to confirm any specifics until the bodies have been returned to Israel and checked by the relevant professional experts, likely later on Sunday.
IDF sources did say that if the bodies are indeed those of hostages, that they were not killed by any recent fight with Hamas in the area since the military did not use force nearby.
The exact location of where the bodies were found remains under gag order.
Go to the full article >>St.-Sgt. Elkana Navon was killed in battle while fighting in the West Bank Palestinian city of Jenin, the IDF announced on Saturday.
St.-Sgt. Navon, 20, from Petah Tikva, served in the 906th Battalion in the Bislach Brigade.
He was killed while battling terrorists, and two of his fellow soldiers were also wounded in the fighting and were evacuated to the Emek Hospital in Afula.
Go to the full article >>The IDF eliminated the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Central Camps Brigade commander, Muhammad Katrouy, on Saturday in a targeted strike in central Gaza, the military announced.
Katrouy was responsible for some of PIJ's rocket attacks against Israel and operated from the central Gaza Strip, the IDF said.
Within the terrorist organization, Katrouy held positions such as Deputy Brigade Commander and Intelligence Officer, the military added.
Go to the full article >>"Hamas was and remains an obstacle" to a ceasefire-hostage release deal, KAN quoted officials involved in negotiations as saying on Saturday.
The officials said this in response to claims by Hamas leaders saying Israel was preventing a deal from happening.
This is a developing story.
Go to the full article >>Gershon Baskin, a former mediator in the Gilad Schalit release deal, claimed on Saturday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he obtained an agreement with Hamas for a three-week deal that would see the release of the remaining 107 hostages in Gaza, which includes an end to the war, an Israeli withdrawal of the Gaza Strip, and a release of a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Baskin did this after the Hostages and Missing Families Forum contacted him earlier this month to encourage him to negotiate with the terrorist organization on their behalf directly, he wrote.
However, the Forum disputed Baskin's statements, saying that "the headquarters of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum did not contact any party to conduct negotiations for the return of the hostages on its behalf," Israeli media reported.
Go to the full article >>The IDF and terrorists exchanged heavy fire in Jenin in the West Bank on Saturday, with about 14 terrorists eliminated, Israeli media reported.
Explosions were heard in the al-Damj neighborhood, according to Maariv.
A source in Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades leadership told Qatari state-run media giant Al Jazeera that the terror organization had prepared itself for long days of confrontations and battles.
"We reassure our people that the resistance, with all its formations in the West Bank, is in the best stages of coordination," the source said.
Go to the full article >>A vaccination campaign against polio has started in central Gaza, according to reports in Arab media outlets.
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