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Israel’s War Against Hamas Ushers in New Era for Defense Technologies
Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to what they say is a tunnel used by Hamas terrorists during a ground operation in a location given as Gaza, in this handout image released Nov. 9, 2023. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
The “shock and horror” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel and Israel’s ensuing war against the Palestinian terror group in Gaza is shaping how a defense technology renaissance will unfold, the head of a newly launched $50 million defense tech fund told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Fund, headed by unmanned systems integrator Titan Innovations, is the second dedicated defense fund of its kind with the explicit goal of saving more Israeli lives on the battlefield with homegrown technologies.
According to Menahem Landau, the fund’s managing partner and the former head of UAV and drone technologies at Israel’s defense ministry, the operation in Gaza known as Iron Swords as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine are exposing significant gaps arising from connectivity and communications challenges in addition to AI-rooted threats.
“When dealing with urban warfare, when faced with challenges like dense civilian populations, urban obstacles, and unimaginable underground operations, and when Israel is constantly examined under a microscope by the world, battlefield victories are not enough — efficiency has become critical,” Landau told The Algemeiner.
According to venture capital (VC) monitor Pitchbook, more than $100 billion of VC has been invested in defense tech startups since 2021. Yet despite Israel’s obvious prowess in the defense space, and its reputation as the “Startup Nation,” the country’s technology and defense ecosystems do not have much overlap or interaction. Landau is hoping that will change in 2024 and that VC firms, as well as Israeli entrepreneurs, “will jump on the rising wave of defense tech.”
“Defense tech became a thing thanks mostly to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific theater. Beyond that, we’re seeing over a trillion dollars in global defense budgets,” Landau said.
An estimated 3,000 terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7 by breaching its 40-mile long, $1 billion border fence at several dozen locations. In a statement, the Israel Defense Fund said it aims to identify technologies that can effectively address gaps in border security. The technologies can also be transferred to bridge existing gaps with US Homeland Security, Landau said.
“Seen through our lens, this means autonomous systems that accurately detect incoming threats in real-time, hidden from the enemy, with better survivability, and dynamic in its nature,” Landau said.
With 136 hostages still being held in Hamas’ vast subterranean tunnel network, estimated to stretch at least 380 miles, the fund also aims to prioritize technologies for conducting tunnel warfare, including specially-adapted search and rescue technologies.
Drones have played an enormous role in the war, even as early as Oct. 7 itself. In one instance that garnered headlines, the head of security at Or HaNer, a Gaza periphery kibbutz, was able to thwart a terrorist infiltration by deploying drones.
The drones “detected enemy movement and location prompting immediate mobilization of kibbutz security forces, averting a massacre in their kibbutz,” Oded Lipshitz, general partner at the Israel Defense Fund, told The Algemeiner.
Lipshitz went on to say that soldiers in Gaza also reported the huge benefits of drones for providing real-time threat detection and nullifying the use of “soldiers acting as human scouts.”
But Lipshitz stressed that the use of drones on the battlefield is limited “on account of connectivity challenges” and that Israeli drones, despite their abundance, still faced various obstacles in “working together in combat.”
Landau highlighted further obstacles faced by unmanned operations.
“On one hand, our guys are describing the moments of utilizing drone ops as ‘oxygen to their lungs’ and ‘our eyes in the sky,’ but these experiences are short-lived due to interruptions and neutralizations [of the drones] because of the environment, the enemy, and our own forces,” he said.
The fund hopes to mitigate the brief lifespan of drones by investing in AI-based sensors, software, and communication solutions needed for connectivity, GPS, threat detection, and unified command and platforms. Such technologies will also lead to preventing instances of friendly fire, Landau said.
The fund’s strength, he said, relies on the fact that it is “intimately familiar” with the ecosystem and the relevant technologies needed to allow for the development and deployment of fully integrated solutions.
More than half the CEOs from portfolio companies in Titan Innovation’s previous defense investment fund, which oversaw the development of game changing security systems like “Ronen” and “David,” were called up to war on Oct. 7 as reservists. “It has been enriching to get reports from the battlefield as to what works and where the challenges lie,” he said.
“We feel like it’s our moral imperative to show the world that Israel has the resilience and innovation to swiftly overcome all challenges and preserve our quantitative military edge and deterrence,” Landau said.
The post Israel’s War Against Hamas Ushers in New Era for Defense Technologies 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.