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Israel’s Defense Chief: IDF Will Intensify Fight Unless Hamas Frees Hostages
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
JNS.org — If Hamas does not release the 100 hostages it has been holding for 454 days and halt its rocket attacks on the Jewish state, Israel will deal it “blows with a force not seen in Gaza for a long time,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
“The IDF will intensify its activities against the terrorist nests in Gaza until the release of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas,” Katz warned during a visit to the southern Israeli city of Netivot.
Hamas terrorists welcomed 2025 by firing two rockets towards the Netivot area. No damages or injuries were reported in the attack.
“I call on Gaza’s residents to rise up against the murderous Hamas group, which also uses you as human shields, and to bring about the release of the hostages, to prevent suffering and end the war,” Katz said.
The defense minister in his remarks highlighted Israel’s “willingness to make far-reaching compromises in accordance with the principles outlined by the US president.”
Israeli ground forces entered Gaza on Oct. 27, 2023, following weeks of airstrikes in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands more and took more than 250 men, women and children back to the Gaza Strip as hostages.
Israeli Air Force aircraft conducted more than 1,400 strikes on Hamas terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip during the month of December, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday.
The IAF strikes — which were carried out by fighter jets, helicopter gunships and drones — targeted Hamas terrorist operatives, tunnel systems, weapon depots and attack positions, the military said.
“Air Force aircraft and control rooms are in direct contact with the fighting [ground] forces and support the fighting in the various sectors,” the statement continued, adding that the IAF has managed to kill terrorists “within a few meters” of Israeli soldiers.
Jerusalem’s year-plus-long offensive against Hamas and other Iranian-backed groups has greatly curbed rocket fire from Gaza, although the Palestinian terrorists still intermittently target the Jewish state.
Following Wednesday’s assault on Netivot, the IDF issued a warning to noncombatants in the Bureij camp, located near the IDF’s Netzarim Corridor dividing Gaza, ahead of a retaliatory strike on Hamas.
“This is an early warning. Terror groups are again firing rockets from this area, which has been warned several times in the past. For your safety, immediately move to the humanitarian zone,” the IDF notice read.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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