RSS
Has Hamas Partially Restored Capabilities in Northern Gaza?
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia refugee camp northern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
JNS.org – According to a report published by Israel’s Channel 12 News on Tuesday, Israeli security officials have identified disturbing signs of renewed Hamas activity in the northern Gaza Strip. This resurgence, characterized by the recruitment of approximately 3,000 new terrorist operatives, is fueling concerns that the terrorist organization is rapidly rebuilding its operational capabilities in the northern Strip, according to the report.
These new recruits are said to be being supplied with weapons and ammunition, and to be receiving payment for their involvement in Hamas activities. In response to these developments, Israeli defense officials are reportedly contemplating a large-scale re-entry into northern Gaza.
According to Col. (ret.) Jacques Neriah, an analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and a former Israeli Military Intelligence deputy head for assessment, the report is credible, but at the same time somewhat misleading.
“Hamas is succeeding in recruiting new fighters, but they are of much lower quality,” he told JNS. In the absence of a political plan for the future of the enclave, he argued, such activity was inevitable.
“As long as the [Israeli] political echelon has not decided what to do with Gaza, the IDF will be left with two options: permanent occupation and the imposition of military governance, or intermittent, on-and-off operations” to prevent the terrorist group from rebuilding itself, he said.
During the initial weeks of the conflict, the Israel Defense Forces deployed a large number of ground forces in northern Gaza, with Gaza City being identified as Hamas’s operational center of gravity. The ground maneuver, launched on Oct. 27, involved the deployment of armored, infantry and engineering units, all with substantial air support. These operations severely degraded Hamas’s operational capacity and disbanded its organized territorial units in the area.
However, the IDF has since moved to a less intensive phase of combat, with the primary focus being on southern Gaza.
Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy and the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, said that while Hamas was rebuilding its forces to some extent, it was “certainly” not replacing what it had lost.
“It still cannot function in an organized military formation. It is making efforts to recruit youths to fill the ranks, but it does not have the ability to train them, so this is a limited achievement. They are mainly turning into cannon fodder,” he said.
Michael went on to say that Hamas’s more substantial gains have actually been in the civilian domain, through the takeover of humanitarian aid distribution.
However, he added, “There is no doubt that it will continue to make an effort to recover [in northern Gaza], including militarily, and its achievements will be more significant if Israel is not there in the form of a fixed military presence, a military administration.” A general siege on the area until the remainder of Hamas’s remaining organized forces is destroyed is also needed, he said.
“The alternative is to go in under the framework of targeted raids, once in a while, according to intelligence, and to exit. Hamas will then try to once again reorganize,” he added.
A military administration, Michael argued, would be aimed at ensuring full Israeli control over aid distribution in order to help break Hamas’s control over Gaza’s civilian population.
As it would require a constant military presence on the ground, an Israeli military administration would also make it “very difficult” for Hamas to reorganize militarily, he said.
“The military presence will create a continuous friction, which will generate more intelligence and more operational opportunities to severely harm Hamas,” he argued. A military administration will also enable the development of conditions for a civilian government alternative to Hamas, he added. “Such an alternative cannot exist and no element will be willing or able to enter Gaza so long as Hamas remains there with significant military capabilities,” he said. “The IDF is the only element in the world that can disband Hamas.”
The post Has Hamas Partially Restored Capabilities in Northern Gaza? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.