Mid East Chat

Footage taken by a passenger aboard the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the plane took a rapid plunge.

Another video clip taken by a passenger aboard the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv shows the plane taking a rapid plunge. According to flight tracking data, the plane dropped more than 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.

Another video clip taken by a passenger aboard the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv shows the plane taking a rapid plunge. According to flight tracking data, the plane dropped more than 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.

A Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught, and was claimed as a journalist, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military says. The strike in Khan Younis killed Mohammad al-Najar, who Palestinian media identified after his death as a journalist. The IDF says Najar, as a member of Hamas's military wing, invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. Najar had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, and attempting to restore Hamas capabilities, "while systematically violating the ceasefire agreement," the military says.

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket-launching operative was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF says. The strike in Khan Younis killed Bilal Mahmoud Suleiman Samiri, identified by the IDF as a member of Islamic Jihad's rocket array. The IDF says Samiri was involved in advancing attacks "in systematic violation of the ceasefire," as well as taking part in "ambushes targeting IDF troops" operating in the Strip. "The terrorist was eliminated to remove the threat he posed," the military adds.

Two terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught, including one who abducted hostages, were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip earlier this week, the IDF announces. One strike on Tuesday in Gaza City killed Muhammad Jamal Mahmoud Abu Al-Shaar, identified by the IDF as a commander of a cell in Hamas's military wing. On October 7, 2023, Shaar invaded Kibbutz Be'eri and took part in the abduction of hostages Sharon Hertzman-Avigdori, Noam Avigdori, Adi Shoham, Nave Shoham, Yahel Shoham, and Shoshan Haran, according to the military. A separate strike in Jabalia on Tuesday killed Musab Abd al-Jalil Saqib Balbisi, who the IDF says was a commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Balbisi also invaded Israel on October 7, the IDF says. Both terrorists had recently been involved in advancing attacks against Israeli troops and civilians "in systematic violation of the ceasefire," and they were killed "to remove the threat that they posed," the military adds.

The Israeli military says it has determined that 170 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who were claimed as journalists following their deaths were actually members of terror groups. "Following extensive research, the IDF is now revealing that 170 Gazans killed during the war who were presented as journalists and media personnel were in fact serving as terrorists for terror organizations in the Strip, foremost among them Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad," the army says. According to the military, 118 of the journalists were active in Hamas's military wing, 49 operated in Islamic Jihad, two were members of the Popular Resistance Committees, and one was part of the Mujahideen Brigades. Seventeen of the journalists/terrorists raided Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, the army says. Some of the journalists appearing on the IDF's list also worked for international media outlets, including Reuters, CNN, ABC Australia, BBC, AFP, AP, Le Monde and others. The 170 cases are published by the IDF on a dedicated website. Each includes the name and role of the journalist/terror operative, along with their civil and military ID numbers. The military says it is publishing "verified evidence, including visual material and documents produced by the terror organizations, some of which were found in the field, indicating the organizational affiliation of those terrorists and the roles they held within the terror organizations." The IDF says that during the war, various international media outlets "repeatedly accused Israel and the IDF, without presenting verified findings, of deliberately harming journalists." "This was despite the fact that in some cases the terror organizations themselves presented those individuals as terrorists in their ranks and even claimed responsibility for them," the IDF asserts. "The information now being revealed illustrates the gap between the picture presented to the world and the reality on the ground, and presents additional and conclusive evi

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City overnight targeted senior Hamas official Ali al-Amoudi, according to a security source, with Palestinian media reporting five people killed. The strike hit a building in western Gaza City. Palestinian media reported that those killed included a young man, a mother and her daughter, and two other adult women. Amoudi was not named among the dead. The IDF has not yet commented on the strike as it assesses the results. Amoudi has been reported to be a frontrunner to succeed Khalil al-Hayya as head of Hamas’s political bureau in the Gaza Strip. He is currently believed to be the de facto senior-most Hamas political official in the Strip.

Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza City yesterday, the military announces. One strike killed Ahmed Mahmoud Harb Ramlawi, who according to the IDF served as a commander in the rocket unit of Islamic Jihad's Shejaiya Battalion. A second strike killed Munir Ibrahim Masri, a commander of a Islamic Jihad anti-tank squad, the army says. Both terror operatives had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians and were attempting to restore Islamic Jihad capabilities, "in systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement," the IDF says.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir convened senior officers today for a conference on the lessons learned from the October 7 onslaught, three years after Hamas's massacre. During the conference, Zamir presented a certificate of appreciation to Chief Warrant Officer "Vav," a member of the signals intelligence Unit 8200, who warned before October 7, 2023, that Hamas had a clear plan in place to attack Israel. Senior intelligence officers had dismissed her warnings. At the conference, Zamir says that the army is concluding its investigations into October 7, "out of an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster, alongside the understanding that we must not become mired in them, but rather learn, draw lessons, implement them and move forward." "One of our greatest lessons from October 7 is the need to expand the security margin. We need to build the IDF's force structure to meet challenges and threats across multiple arenas. The size of the IDF is our strategic depth," he says. Zamir also says that the military is building its strategy "with our reference scenario being readiness for a surprise war, including thwarting severe threats while they are taking shape." The conference at the Glilot Base in central Israel was attended by officers ranked brigadier general and above, from all branches, directorates, and commands of the military. The IDF's October 7 investigations "were summarized and the main lessons that emerged from them were presented," the military says, adding that top officers "presented the processes for implementing the lessons and the mechanisms for monitoring their implementation." The military says the conference also constitutes the first stage in a series of investigations into the entire war, including probes into the recent war with Iran. Those probes will be split into various subjects and investigated by different teams, similar to the October 7 investigations. In the coming months, meetings on the investigation process will be hel

A Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught and also served as the director of a Turkish humanitarian aid group was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip today, the military announces. The strike in Khan Younis killed Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, identified by the IDF as a member of Hamas's elite Nukhba Force who invaded Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. Alongside his role in Hamas, the military says Qaisi also "served as the director of the Turkish organization Deniz Feneri, which presents itself as a humanitarian aid organization but in practice maintains ties with senior figures in the Hamas terror organization's leadership and with elements within the Turkish leadership." As part of his role in the supposed aid group, Qaisi "worked to regularly employ numerous terrorists and provide financial support to Hamas terrorists," the military says. The IDF says that Deniz Feneri and its senior figures "present their activities as humanitarian efforts, but in practice promote fundraising to support the Hamas terror organization." "This constitutes the cynical exploitation of the humanitarian sphere to support terror activity, while advancing the activities of the Hamas terror organization under a humanitarian guise," the military charges. The IDF says Qaisi was targeted today because he had recently been involved in advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, as well as attempting to restore Hamas capabilities, "in systematic violation of the ceasefire." He was "eliminated to remove the threat he posed," the IDF says, while adding that it took steps to minimize harm to civilians in the strike.

Marking three years since the October 7 onslaught, the IDF's General Staff Forum held a short ceremony and a moment of silence at the Zikim Base, which was attacked by terrorists.