Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Ofri Bibas Levy has been haunted by nightmares since Oct. 7, when her brother, sister-in-law and their two young children were snatched by Hamas militants from their homes and dragged into the Gaza Strip.

In those dreams she sees her captive relatives, all except for her brother Yarden. That subconscious omission may reflect her ordeal: Only women and children are expected to be among the 50 hostages released during a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that started Friday.

23 November 2023; MEMO: Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, yesterday announced that he would resign from the government if the attacks on the Gaza Strip are not resumed after the end of the expected humanitarian truce.

Ben-Gvir made the remarks during an interview with the right-wing Israeli Channel 14, hours before the prisoner exchange deal between the occupying state and Hamas entered into force.

23 November 2023; MEMO: The Pentagon announced this morning that a US destroyer intercepted several explosive-laden drones launched from Yemen from areas controlled by the Houthis.

23 November 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu cited, on Thursday, challenges in reaching a deal to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We hope to get our hostages out — it’s not without its challenges, but we have to, we hope to get this first tranche out and then we’re committed to getting everyone out,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron.

23 November 2023; MEMO: The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza could cost the Israeli economy $48 billion over the current and next year, a financial consulting company estimated on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“It is likely that Israel will bear two-thirds of the total costs of the war, with the remaining portion covered by the United States in the form of military aid,” reported Israeli Leader Capital Markets.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel continued its attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning since the ceasefire deal reached between the country and the Gaza-ruling Hamas movement did not, as expected, come into effect on Thursday.

The deal on a four-day temporary ceasefire in Gaza for a swap of at least 50 hostages kidnapped in Gaza and some 150 Palestinian detainees held in Israel, as well as for more humanitarian aid to enter the war-stricken Palestinian enclave, was initially agreed by the two warring parties on Wednesday and is due to take effect on Thursday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells.

TEL AVIV, November 22. /TASS/: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has introduced a four-hour ceasefire in Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Wednesday.

"Today, exactly between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. local time [between 9:00 and 13:00 GMT], we will take a tactical pause in combat actions in the Jourat al-Lot and Batn al-Sameen neighborhoods of Khan Yunis in pursue of humanitarian goals," Adraee stated on his page on the X social network (formerly Twitter).

JERUSALEM (AP) — Qatar on Wednesday announced a truce-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas that would bring a four-day halt in fighting in a devastating six-week war, win freedom for dozens of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, and also lead to the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners.

ASHKELON, Israel (AP) — Tatyana Prima thought she’d left the bombs behind when she fled Ukraine more than a year and a half ago, after Russia decimated her city, Mariupol. The 38-year-old escaped with her injured husband and young daughter, bringing the family to safety in southern Israel.

The calm she was slowly regaining shattered again on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants invaded.