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Two IDF Soldiers Killed in West Bank Terror Attack
Illustrative: Israeli security and rescue personnel at the scene of a shooting attack on a car and bus where at least three Israelis were killed near Kedumim in the West Bank, Israel’s national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said, Jan. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Amichay
JNS.org — Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and eight more were wounded when a terrorist opened fire at a military post near the village of Tayasir in northern Samaria on Tuesday morning.
The slain troops were identified by the military as IDF Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander in the Ephraim Regional Brigade’s 8211th Reserve Battalion, from Tel Aviv, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman, 43, a soldier in the battalion, from Ein Hanatziv.
According to an initial IDF probe, the terrorist managed to take up a position near the entrance of the military post and fired on troops as they exited. The terrorist was said to have exchanged fire with troops inside the post for several minutes before being killed.
The terrorist, who reportedly had been waiting in the area for hours before carrying out the attack, was said to have been armed with an M-16 rifle and two magazines, and was wearing a tactical vest.
According to the IDF, two of the wounded soldiers were listed as being in serious condition, while the other six victims sustained light wounds.
The death toll among Israeli troops on all fronts since the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 now stands at 844.
The village of Tayasir is located near Tammun, an area where Israeli forces have been conducting a major counter-terrorism operation since Jan. 31, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall.”
On Thursday, IDF Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi, 20, of the Kfir Brigade’s Haruv reconnaissance unit became the operation’s first casualty. Hazi was killed in a firefight with terrorists in Jenin, the military said.
The IDF expanded the operation on Monday and plans to form a new battalion that will remain in northern Samaria once the operation ends.
The IDF has killed more than 50 Palestinian terrorists since the start of the operation on Jan. 21, the military announced on Sunday evening.
At least 35 gunmen were killed during ground operations in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas, while another 15 were killed in airstrikes, according to the IDF. More than 100 wanted terrorists have been detained thus far.
Israeli forces “located and confiscated dozens of weapons, destroyed hundreds of explosive devices and dozens of additional charges that were planted on roads to harm our forces,” the military stated.
On Sunday, the operation was expanded to include Tammun near Nablus. On Jan. 20, one IDF soldier was killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the town.
Earlier on Sunday, the army said it had destroyed “several buildings in Jenin, in the Menashe Brigade [area of responsibility], which were used as terror infrastructure.”
According to the IDF, security forces destroyed 23 structures in the Jenin area where terrorist infrastructure was located after searching hundreds of buildings in the vicinity. During the sweeps, explosives laboratories, weapons, observation posts and more terror infrastructure was found.
The head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, David Elhayani, said on the Kan Reshet Bet radio station after Tuesday’s attack that he believes the ongoing military operation in northern Samaria is not enough.
“Anyone who is under the illusion that tomorrow morning, as a result of one operation or another, there will be no more attacks is deceiving themselves and does not understand the reality we live in,” charged Elhayani. “The army is carrying out intense activities and operations unlike anything seen before, but this operation needs to be expanded.”
In a statement released in response to the attack, the Yesha Council of Juduea and Samaria communities expressed support for IDF troops and their commanders, praising their efforts to defend Israeli citizens.
“The determined fighting of our heroic warriors pushes the evil terrorists away from the homes of Israeli citizens and prevents scenes similar to those of Oct. 7 from occurring in places like Afula and Netanya, God forbid,” said the council.
“This morning’s attack once again proves that Arab terrorism seeks to harm the State of Israel and IDF soldiers,” the statement continued. “The Israeli government has a duty to decisively defeat Arab terrorism and to announce the application of Israeli sovereignty, which will prevent the establishment of a terror state in the heart of the country.”
The post Two IDF Soldiers Killed in West Bank Terror Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
The post Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.