Gaza Strip Archives - Page 2 of 12

Israel Officer, 6 Soldiers Killed in Hamas Ambush

CrossFireArabia
June 25, 2025

The Israeli occupation army acknowledged that one officer and six soldiers were killed in battles in the southern Gaza Strip. Their acknowledgement came after Israeli media reported that four soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in a “complex ambush” in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army also admitted that 16 other soldiers from the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion were wounded in the Khan Yunis resistance ambush. The army noted that the seven soldiers were completely burned after an explosive device detonated in a Puma armored vehicle in Khan Yunis, and that evacuating them from the scene was difficult.

Israeli media described their deaths as one of the most difficult incidents the army experienced in recent months.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that an initial investigation revealed that the tanker burned down along with the soldiers inside, and that it took the army hours to identify them after the incident. It noted that the evacuation helicopters returned empty to bases after the army was forced to evacuate the armored personnel carrier and its passengers into Israel.

The newspaper also reported that the army has not yet found the fighters who planted the explosive device. Israeli media reported that fierce fighting took place at the site and that Palestinian resistance fighters targeted the rescue force.

Israeli media reported, Tuesday, that soldiers were missing at the ambush site in Khan Yunis and indicated that the air force was intensifying its flights to evacuate the wounded and attempt to locate the missing soldiers.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, announced that its fighters carried out a complex ambush targeting an Israeli force, killing and wounding its members in Khan Yunis.

The Brigades said via Telegram that its fighters targeted the Israeli force inside a house south of Khan Yunis with an Al-Yasin 105 missile and an RPG, killing and wounding Israeli soldiers.

The developments in Khan Yunis come amid repeated attacks by Palestinian resistance fighters on occupation forces in the southern and northern Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also announced that they had targeted a Merkava tank south of Khan Yunis. The Brigades stated, via their Telegram account, that they had targeted the tank with a Shawaaz IED and a Yassin 105 shell in the old licensing area south of Khan Yunis.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades announced that they had shelled gatherings of Israeli soldiers in the “Western Line” area north of Khan Yunis with mortar shells. They stated that they had observed shells falling among Israeli soldiers and the movement of military vehicles and helicopters to evacuate the dead and wounded. They confirmed that their fighters had destroyed an Israeli military vehicle with a high-explosive device in the center of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam Brigades announced earlier today that they had killed three Israeli soldiers in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip according to Al Jazeera.

News

20 States Call on Israel to Lift Blockade on Gaza Aid

CrossFireArabia
May 19, 2025

More than 20 countries and the EU have urged Israel to lift blockade of aid delivery into Gaza Strip and enable the UN and humanitarian organizations to work independently and impartially.

In a joint statement, foreign ministers of the countries including Australia, Canada, Japan and France, stressed that the population faces starvation and Gaza’s people must receive the aid they desperately need.

Recalling that Israel’s security cabinet is said to have approved a new model for delivering aid into Gaza, which the UN and our humanitarian partners cannot support, the statement stressed that humanitarian principles matter for every conflict around the world and should be applied consistently in every warzone.

“ Humanitarian aid should never be politicised, and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change,” the readout said.

“As humanitarian donors, we have two straightforward messages for the Government of Israel: allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity.”

The statement reiterated an immediate return to a ceasefire and working towards the implementation of a two-state solution, “the only way to bring peace and security to Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long-term stability for the whole region.”

The joint statement was signed by EU officials and the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Israel, which abandoned the Jan. 19 ceasefire with Hamas, has kept all crossings into Gaza closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that Tel Aviv will permit the entry of “a basic quantity of food” for Gaza’s population “to prevent the emergence of a hunger crisis.”

He said a famine “could jeopardize the continuation of Operation Gideon’s Chariot,” referring to a new phase of Israel’s ground offensive in northern and southern Gaza.

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children according to Anadolu.

News

Trump May ‘Dump’ Netanyahu Because of Gaza

CrossFireArabia
May 19, 2025

The Washington Post reported, Monday, citing an informed source, that people close to US President Donald Trump have made it clear to Israel that “the United States will abandon Israel if the war does not end.”

The source noted that “politically, Netanyahu can end the war with overwhelming support from the Knesset and the public, who both want it, but he doesn’t want it to end.”

A source familiar with the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said that Netanyahu “sold the idea of summarizing the aid at the cabinet meeting on Sunday evening by saying it was just a technical issue.”

He noted that pressure from Trump has increased in recent days as Israel has called up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers, escalated its bombardment of Gaza, and approached the point of no return in the war.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said that the Trump administration continues to talk to “all parties involved in the conflict” in the Gaza Strip, following talks between Hamas and Washington that led to the release of US citizen Idan Alexander.

“President Trump wants to end the war in Gaza,” Levitt said at a press conference.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel plans to “take control of the entire Gaza Strip” while resuming the delivery of “minimal” aid to the territory, describing the potential for mass starvation in Gaza as a “red line” that could cost Israel US support.

This evening, Israel announced the entry of five trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including baby food, into the Gaza Strip through the Karim Abu Salem crossing, the first such delivery since 2 March according to Jo24.

News

Israel Kills Journalist No. 2015 in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
May 14, 2025

The Israeli army early on Tuesday killed a Palestinian journalist while receiving medical treatment in a hospital in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Gaza-based Government Media Office mourned journalist Hassan Eslaih, and said Israel assassinated him while receiving medical treatment in the Nasser hospital after he had survived a previous assassination attempt.

It added that Eslaih’s assassination brings the toll of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since the start of its genocide in Gaza in October 2023 to 215.

The statement strongly condemned the Israeli “systemic targeting of journalists,” urging the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and all press organizations worldwide to condemn Israeli crimes and prosecute it before international courts.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, for its part, condemned the Israeli crime of bombing the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis and killing two people who were receiving medical treatment.

Late Monday, the Israeli army resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip, following a temporary lull so the Palestinian group Hamas could release Israeli American soldier Edan Alexander, following an agreement between Hamas and the US administration.

Nearly 52,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Trump Slams Door on Netanyahu

CrossFireArabia
May 8, 2025

Israeli Army Radio has reported that personalities close to US President Donald Trump informed the Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, that the US president had decided to cut off contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Army Radio explained that these acquaintances close to Trump informed Dermer that Netanyahu was manipulating the US president, stressing that what Trump hates most is being perceived as being manipulated.

The radio quoted an Israeli official as saying that Minister Dermer’s conversation with senior Republican officials, did not work because of his displayed arrogance.

This came hours after a report in the Israel Hayom newspaper asserting that the US president is “disappointed” with Netanyahu and intends to take “steps” in the Middle East “without waiting for him.”

Since the start of his new presidential term on January 20, 2025, Trump has offered diverse and unlimited support to the Netanyahu government, which has been waging a genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

Netanyahu-Trump conflict escalates

The Israel Hayom newspaper quoted sources close to Trump as saying: "We can clearly say that the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has reached its lowest point." pic.twitter.com/QckvxxcBQu
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexkennedyIran) May 8, 2025

However, the Israel Hayom daily quoted an unnamed sources as saying that “there is a decline in the personal relations and mutual disappointment between Netanyahu and Trump.”

The newspaper added that two senior sources close to Trump said, in closed conversations in recent days, that he has decided not to wait for Israel any longer and is moving forward with steps in the Middle East without “waiting for Netanyahu.”

The sources did not elaborate on the nature of the steps Trump intends to take unilaterally, but there is a complaint in Tel Aviv that Trump sometimes acts without coordination with Israel.

The most recent example is the ceasefire agreement reached by the United States and the Yemeni Houthi group, which does not include Israel and which Israel was unaware of before its announcement according to Al Jazeera.