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What’s happening in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza? The latest and what could come next, explained

(JTA) — Shortly after Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400, wounding thousands and taking 200 captive, Israel declared war and vowed to defeat the terror group.

Since then, Israel has conducted punishing airstrikes in Gaza, killing thousands and preparing for a ground invasion as it is still counting bodies and learning of atrocities from Hamas’ incursion. It is also exchanging fire with Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group, and cracking down in the West Bank. 

The international response has also changed: alongside widespread horror at Hamas’ mass murder, Israel and its supporters are calling for a return of the hostages while its critics are pushing for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. President Joe Biden has staunchly backed Israel, traveling to the country this week and delivering an Oval Office address calling for aid — a question on which Americans appear split.

“We are fighting for our home, and it will take a long time,” Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and Israeli military chief who recently joined the government, said earlier this week. “The war in the south and, if needed, also in the north or anywhere else will take months, and the rebuilding will take years — and only when that is completed will we win.”

Here’s what is happening in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza — and what might happen next.  

What is happening right now in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza?

In the days following Hamas’ invasion, Israel’s leaders made clear that their goal would be to defeat and dismantle the terror group. Since Oct. 7, Israel has been bombing Gaza from the air, destroying Hamas positions and senior commanders, and exacting a heavy death toll. 

Hamas is an Islamist organization that is designated as a terror group by the United States and European Union, and is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and has controlled Gaza for more than 15 years.

Israel has killed at least 1,500 Hamas terrorists who invaded the country and, as of Friday, was still finding Gazans in Israel. 

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and footage has shown ruins of whole neighborhoods in the coastal territory. 

Hamas and other terror groups have continued barraging Israel with rockets, and some of the casualties in Gaza have been due to failed rocket launches by those groups. That includes, according to the United States and Israel, a Palestinian rocket that struck a Gaza hospital earlier this week. Hamas has claimed that Israel is responsible for that blast. 

Israel has been preparing for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, and has called up more than 300,000 military reservists. Last week, it also called on residents of the northern half of the Gaza Strip — more than 1 million people — to evacuate to the territory’s southern half. Hundreds of thousands have reportedly evacuated, though Hamas told residents to stay put. 

“We’ve moved to attack,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct. 12. “I say now to everyone: We will wipe out this thing called Hamas. We will wipe it off the earth. This thing won’t continue to exist.”

A member of the Bedouin community on October 14, 2023, stands next to vehicles destroyed in an rocket attack allegedly fired from the Gaza Strip in the village of Arara in the Negev Desert, that the residents say is constantly hit. In Israel’s southern Negev desert, Bedouins fear the war is coming closer to them after Israel declared war on the Islamist group Hamas on October 8, a day after waves of its fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

What could happen next? 

How, exactly, Israel could defeat Hamas — and what happens afterward — remains unclear. Israel has fought several rounds of conflict with the Gaza terror group over the past 15 years, but none that promises to be this extensive. 

The most major Israel-Hamas war up to this point took place in 2014, but in some measures it already pales in comparison. More than 2,100 Palestinians and 70 Israelis were killed in that conflict, numbers that have already been dwarfed since Oct. 7. And while that war lasted 50 days, a former senior Israel Defense Forces official estimated that this one could take six to eight months.

On Friday, Gallant said Israel’s war on Hamas would unfold in three stages: a campaign from the air and on the ground; a lower-intensity campaign that will aim to “eliminate pockets of resistance”; and the establishment of a new Palestinian governing entity in Gaza that would remove Israel’s responsibility for running the territory. The operation will reportedly focus on the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City

But who would that be? Right now, no one has the answer. Israel could attempt to install the Palestinian Authority, which governs Palestinian areas of the West Bank, in Gaza — but the P.A. was expelled from the territory in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a handoff to the P.A. “All talk of decisions to hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority or any other party is a lie,” he said.

Gaza is also home to other terror groups, the largest of which is Islamic Jihad, which also fires rockets at Israel. 

When Israel’s ground invasion will begin is also, as of now, an open question. On Oct. 19, Gallant said it would come “soon.” But former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is currently out of political office, urged “patience” in a post on social media, saying that it was safer right now for Israel’s air force to “crush, crush, crush” Hamas.

A woman and a girl hold pet carriers and other belongings as they prepare to depart from Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Oct. 19, 2023. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)

Could there be a regional war?

Israeli officials appear to be most anxious about a second front opening on Israel’s northern border, where the major Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has shot missiles at Israel and Israel has fired back. Israel fought a month-long war in 2006 with Hezbollah that, until this month, was its bloodiest in decades. 

Hamas and Hezbollah are both funded by Iran, a chief Israeli adversary that warned earlier this week that “other multiple fronts will open and this is inevitable” if Israeli strikes continue. 

On Thursday, the United States intercepted three missiles heading toward Israel that were launched by an Iranian proxy in Yemen. The action was extraordinary in two ways: Israel has not considered the Iranian allies in Yemen to be an immediate threat, and has rarely relied on the American military to defend against attacks aimed at its territory. The United States has moved forces to the region as a warning to regional adversaries of Israel not to get involved in the fight. 

Facing the prospect of escalating fighting, Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of residents on its southern and northern borders. Most of the city of Sderot, with a population of 30,000, has been evacuated, and on Friday, the northern town of Kiryat Shemona, which has 20,000 residents, was evacuated. 

Israel is also cracking down on Palestinians in the West Bank. In overnight raids on Friday, the IDF arrested dozens of Hamas operatives, including the group’s spokesman. Israel has conducted hundreds of arrests in the West Bank since Oct. 7, and 70 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian groups. That toll includes 13 Palestinians and one Israeli who were killed in clashes in the Nur Shams refugee camp Thursday. 

The IDF is also investigating a unit that, according to footage, abused Palestinians and left-wing activists in the West Bank. According to Haaretz, a group of soldiers and settlers beat, stripped and burned cigarettes on the Palestinians, leading to the dismissal of an officer.

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with people affected by this month’s attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Oct. 18, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

How is the United States involved?

Biden has spoken out multiple times in support of Israel since Oct. 7 and traveled there on Oct. 18 — a rare if not unprecedented trip by a U.S. president to a war theater where American troops aren’t fighting. He also called for humanitarian aid to Palestinians and for Israel to obey the laws of war. The vast majority of Congress also supports Israel’s war effort, though the absence of a speaker of the House means that its members can’t approve an aid package. 

On Thursday night, Biden delivered a rare Oval Office address in which he made the case that aid to Israel’s and Ukraine’s war efforts was vital for protecting American interests across the globe. On Friday, he made his formal aid request: more than $100 billion in total across the globe, including more than $14 million for Israel to bolster its military supplies, including its Iron Dome missile defense system. 

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats,” Biden said in his address, referring to the Russian president who launched an invasion of Ukraine last year. “But they share this in common. They both want to completely annihilate neighboring democracies.”

Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies have taken place across the country, and a recent poll by CBS and YouGov shows that Americans at large support Israel. More than 50% of Americans sympathize with Israel “a lot,” compared to 28% with the Palestinians. 

When it comes to aiding Israel with weaponry, though, opinions are mixed. On one hand, most Americans approve of Biden’s support for Israel or say he should be more supportive. But on the other hand, only 48% said the United States should send weapons or supplies to Israel. 

Israel supporters hold images of Hamas hostages at a rally demanding their release, in New York City, October 18, 2023. (Luke Tress)

What is happening with the hostages?

Hamas took more than 200 hostages during its invasion of Israel, including citizens of the United States and countries across the globe. Israel confirmed that approximately 30 of the hostages are children and up to 20 are elderly. More than a dozen are American citizens. 

Families of the hostages have embarked on a global campaign, rife with symbolism, to keep the world’s eyes on their captured family members. They have met with world leaders, including Biden and Netanyahu. They have enlisted celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Helen Mirren to advocate for their loved ones’ release. They have set up empty Shabbat dinner tables in public spaces worldwide. And they have wallpapered cities around the world with posters bearing the hostages’ photos and names. 

World leaders including United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres have called for the hostages’ immediate release. Earlier this week, Hamas released a video of one of the hostages, and on Friday, it freed two American hostages — a mother and a daughter reportedly from the Chicago area.

Israel has also led small military incursions into Gaza to recover hostages, though none has yet been rescued alive. 

This is not the first time Hamas has taken hostages. In 2006, it captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners five years later this month. It is currently holding two Israelis who entered Gaza before this year, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed in the 2014 war. 

The Al-Abbas Mosque in Gaza City, Oct. 12, 2023. (Momen Faiz/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

What is happening with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid?

Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory more than 15 years ago, and days after Hamas’ invasion, Israel initiated a “complete siege” of Gaza. Israel did not let food, water, electricity or fuel into the territory. 

Since then, the humanitarian situation in the territory has become increasingly dire, with reports of residents drinking salty water and medical care scarce and dwindling. Guterres traveled to the Rafah border crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt in support of humanitarian aid, and while in Israel, Biden negotiated a deal for aid to travel into Gaza via that border crossing. 

It appears, however, that the aid hasn’t yet entered the territory. On Friday, trucks of aid were seen sitting on the Egyptian side of the border, an Egyptian aid worker told CNN.

In addition, Israel has weighed creating “safe zones” for Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip where they would receive protection from the war, though at this stage, Israel is conducting airstrikes throughout the territory. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seated third from left, holds a meeting with his security cabinet in Tel Aviv, Oct. 7, 2023. (Haim Zach/GPO/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

How is the war changing Israel’s politics?

Hamas’ attack, the most lethal day for Jews since the Holocaust, appears to have completely taken Israel’s right-wing government by surprise, and in recent days, several military and intelligence officials, and government ministers, have apologized or taken responsibility for failing to prevent the massacre

“We are responsible. I, as a member of the government, am responsible,” Education Minister Yoav Kisch said. “We were dealing with nonsense.”

Days after the invasion, Netanyahu brought Gantz’s centrist National Unity party into the government to form an emergency coalition to prosecute the war. Gantz, Gallant and Netanyahu now form a three-person war cabinet that is in charge of the campaign. All other government legislation, including Netanyahu’s controversial push to weaken the judiciary, has been shelved for now. 

But Netanyahu has yet to publicly take responsibility, something 80% of Israelis want him to do


The post What’s happening in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza? The latest and what could come next, explained appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire

Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.

Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.

Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.

Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”

As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.

“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.

Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.

The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.

Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.

Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.

Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel

People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas

Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.

“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.

“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.

Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.

The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.

In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.

“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.

In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.

Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.

In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.

“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”

Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.

Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.

To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.

In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.

Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.

Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.

The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.

The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns

Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak

The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.

Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.

With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.

The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.

Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.

Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.

According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.

With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.

In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.

The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.

Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.

The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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