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IDF Finishes Counter-Terror Operation in Gaza’s Jabalia
Troops from the IDF’s 98th Division operating in Jabalia, the northern Gaza Strip, May 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.
JNS.org – The Northern Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division completed a targeted operation in the Jabalia area of the northern Strip, the military announced on Sunday.
The raid, which also included troops from the division’s engineering unit and the Yahalom combat engineering special forces unit, was launched in early October following indications of a resurgence of Hamas terrorists there.
Soldiers dismantled “dozens” of tunnels in the area—some of which were booby-trapped—that were used by Palestinian terrorists to harm the forces operating in Jabalia, the army said.
In one instance, soldiers discovered and destroyed an underground terrorist infrastructure stretching hundreds of feet, it said.
During the operation, the forces were attacked by Hamas with anti-tank weapons, the statement said. The IDF moved to eliminate the terrorists through Israeli Air Force strikes and in close-quarters combat, it added.
On Saturday night, explosions were heard in central Israel, which were caused by extensive airstrikes in the northern Strip.
IDF ground forces entered the coastal enclave following a weeks-long air campaign in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands of others, and abducted more than 250 people the Strip—96 of whom are still there, along with four others who entered Gaza earlier.
Jerusalem’s war goals for Gaza are to destroy Hamas’s capabilities, ensure that it cannot threaten Israel again, and return the captives.
Israeli security forces continue to operate in the Strip. On Friday, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced that Nachal al-Najar, the head of Hamas’s “aerial defense” unit in Gaza, was slain.
Al-Najar had been responsible for planning the aerial infiltrations into the Jewish state during the Oct. 7, 2023, assault. Since the start of the war, he led several attacks against IDF soldiers in the central Strip.
On Saturday, the IDF announced the death in southern Gaza of Capt. Avraham Ben Pinchas, 24, a platoon commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, from Harasha. According to a probe, his tank was hit by a missile during a counter-terror operation in Rafah.
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 stands at 381, and at 809 on all fronts since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, according to IDF data.
The post IDF Finishes Counter-Terror Operation in Gaza’s Jabalia first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.