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Israel strikes airports in Syria and retrieves some hostages’ bodies as it prepares to invade Gaza
(JTA) — Israel bombed airports in Damascus and Aleppo following missile fire from Syria — a signal that tensions may escalate on Israel’s northern border as it prepares for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The invasion, which is expected in the coming days, will follow Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, which killed more than 1,300 people, largely civilians, and wounded thousands. Hamas is holding more than 100 people captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli figures.
Israeli troops have already entered Gaza in limited incursions aimed at retrieving hostages, and Haaretz reported on Saturday that one of those raids did return several bodies of hostages captured and killed by Hamas. The raid also attempted to find clues as to the whereabouts of other hostages.
The U.S. government says 29 of its citizens have been killed since Hamas’ invasion, according to the Times of Israel, and that 15 are unaccounted for. President Joe Biden spoke with the families of some missing Americans on Friday. The families of the missing have organized into a coalition to draw attention from their own government and beyond.
According to a report in the New York Times, Israel’s invasion — which has been delayed in part by overcast skies — will aim to eliminate the leadership of Hamas and will be focused on the terror group’s stronghold of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. Israel told residents of northern Gaza, more than one million people, to relocate to the strip’s southern half, though Israel’s military said Hamas blocked civilians from leaving.
Israel has conducted airstrikes in Gaza since Hamas’ invasion, killing more than 2,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. Hamas and other terror groups have also shot rockets into Israel. Israel’s last ground invasion of the territory was in 2014.
On Saturday, Egypt began allowing foreigners to leave Gaza through a border crossing on the strip’s southern border, which Egypt controls. World leaders including Biden are urging an agreement to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza, days after Israel announced a “complete siege” that cut off electricity, food and fuel.
Israel’s bombing of Syria comes after two rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights. The past week has seen other exchanges of fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border amid fears that Hezbollah, a terror group based in Lebanon, will begin attacking Israel’s northern border. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are funded by Iran. Three Hezbollah fighters and one Israeli soldier have been killed in the clashes, as has Issam Abdallah, a Reuters journalist.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.