RSS
Israelis on Edge as Iranian Threat to Attack Looms
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses a Hamas solidarity rally in Tehran. Photo: Reuters/Sobhan Farajvan
Israelis nationwide are preparing for an imminent attack by Iran and wider escalation in the north with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon.
While much attention has been focused on the Israeli government’s actions to brace for a military strike, regular families are in many cases being forced to alter their plans due to fear of an attack.
Israeli youth movements, for example, are weighing the possibility of calling off their annual Passover trips. Many parents have already cancelled their trips for the upcoming Jewish holiday later this month as they continue to monitor the situation, according to some groups.
“All activities and trips in the Bnei Akiva movement take place according to the guidelines and with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], and the security forces in the State of Israel,” said Bnei Akiva, one of the largest youth movements in Israel with more than 80,000 total campers.
“Over 30,000 campers will go on a Passover trip next week,” the group noted. “At the same time, we understand parents who are more worried these days, and because of this we have decided that this year the Passover trip will take place only one day without overnight accommodation.”
The Hebrew Scouts, the largest youth movement in Israel with over 100,000 kids, is also taking precautions and ready to change plans if needed.
“Tens of thousands of campers and guides of the Scout movement have signed up for the trips in the coming weeks. Since we learned of the situation that has arisen, the movement is acting responsibly as it has always acted in full coordination with all the relevant parties, including the IDF,” the group said. “The movement is prepared accordingly and will make all the necessary adjustments according to the instructions of the authorized parties.”
Youth movements in Israel are extraordinarily popular, with around 250,000 youth active across the country. Many have credited the skills learned in the movements to Israel’s excellence in areas such as military operations and hi-tech innovation.
The concern among Israeli parents and youth groups comes as Israel prepares for a potential attack from Iran, whose leaders routinely call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Top Iranian officials have been publicly threatening to attack Israel as revenge for an airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria last week that Iranian officials have attributed to Israel. The strike killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization, including two senior commanders. One of the commanders allegedly helped plan the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the incident. However, Israel has been bracing for a retaliatory strike amid a flurry of public threats from Iran to attack Israel.
The White House said this week that it considered the Iranian threats of reprisals to be legitimate. “We still deem the potential threat by Iran here to be real, to be viable,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Due to the threat, the US Embassy in Israel announced it is restricting government employees and their families from personal travels outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran could launch an attack on Israeli soil within the next 24 to 48 hours, quoting a US official who cited American intelligence reports.
Israeli officials have said they are prepared to respond to an attack — warning that such a response could target Iran directly.
“We are prepared to defend ourselves on the ground and in the air, in close cooperation with our partners, and we will know how to respond,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said after a meeting with the head of US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla.
On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X/Twitter that “if Iran attacks from its own territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran.”
Less than an hour later, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted what appeared to be a response to Katz. “When the Zionist regime attacks an Iranian consulate in Syria, it is as if it has attacked Iranian soil,” he wrote. “That malicious regime has made a wrong move. It should be punished, and it will be punished.”
Countries including India, France, Russia, and Poland have warned their citizens against travel to the region, which is already on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which began with the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. Iran provides Hamas with weapons, funding, and training.
Despite the expected attack, Israeli officials have not forbidden travel to the Galilee area in northern Israel, where an Iranian attack could reportedly take place.
“Currently, as far as the Home Front Command is concerned, there is no crowd restriction in the area of Tiberias and the shores of the Sea of Galilee, but there is no doubt that an aircraft or a missile that penetrates this space constitutes a threat to us and a big challenge,” Commander Yigal Ben Lulu of the Tiberias Police said on Friday morning. “In such a situation, you must lie down on the ground and put your hands on your head.”
The post Israelis on Edge as Iranian Threat to Attack Looms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
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.”
RSS
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.
RSS
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.