“Last night in Washington something horrific happened. A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young beautiful couple – Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. They were planning to start a new and happy life together. Well, that tragically did not happen. Yaron and Sarah weren’t the victims of a random crime. The terrorist who cruelly gunned them down did so for one reason and one reason alone – he wanted to kill Jews. And as he was taken away, he chanted, ‘Free Palestine!’ This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7th. On that day, thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. They beheaded men. They raped women. They burned babies alive.

Israel is completely changing its strategy in the Swords of Iron war and aims for a full conquest of the Strip, while separating the civilian population from Hamas terrorists, Channel 12 reported on Thursday. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been dealing with what seems to be an insurmountable problem: the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas uses as human shields. Since the beginning of the war, IDF soldiers have been clearing areas in Gaza of terrorists and then leaving the area and allowing civilians to return to their homes. But of course, Hamas would return to the area along with the civilians. IDF soldiers have been forced to return to the same areas time and time again, clearing houses and streets of Hamas terrorists, at great risk to their lives.

Israel is preparing for a rapid military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities if ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington fall apart, according to a report by Axios citing two Israeli sources familiar with the matter. According to one source, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is closely watching the diplomatic developments and awaiting the right political moment to act. “Bibi is waiting for the nuclear talks to collapse and for the moment Trump will be disappointed about the negotiations and open to giving him the go-ahead,” the source said, referring to President Donald Trump. The Israeli intelligence community, which once believed a deal was within reach, now reportedly sees the talks nearing collapse.

In an interview with Israel’s N12, recently released hostage Yarden Bibas – whose wife, Shiri, and two sons, Ariel and Kfir hy”d, were murdered in captivity – opened up about the harrowing months he spent in Hamas captivity — and the unbreakable bond he shared with his best friend, David Cunio, who remains a hostage in Gaza to this day. Bibas revealed that during his time in captivity, he came face to face with Yahya Sinwar, the now-dead Hamas leader who orchestrated the October 7 massacre. “Sinwar asked me what he could do for me,” Bibas recounted. “I told him I wanted to stay with David, my best friend. He promised it would be done.” But that promise was short-lived. Just two to three weeks later, the two were forcibly separated.

Despite sending call-up orders to over 24,000 Charedi men since last summer, the IDF has seen only a small fraction – 5% – begin the enlistment process. In a tense session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee for IDF Human Resources, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb revealed that just 1,212 Charedi men have begun the initial stages of enlistment, despite thousands receiving formal draft notices. Of the 2,399 who were sent immediate call-up orders, 545 failed to appear by their mandatory reporting date. Military protocol deems any individual who ignores three draft notices a “draft evader,” triggering an automatic arrest warrant.

IDF forces in the Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday fired warning shots in the air during a tour of a delegation of foreign diplomats in the city, causing them to flee the area. According to Palestinian reports, the delegation included 25 representatives from European and Arab countries. Yisrael Hayom reported that the delegation was provided with an approved route as the area is considered an active combat zone. Nevertheless, the delegation deviated from the route and approached an area banned to civilians, causing the IDF soldiers to suspect the delegation members were terror suspects. The commander of the Yehudah and Shomron Division immediately investigated the incident and ordered IDF representatives to hold diplomatic contacts with international diplomats to explain the incident.

Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, a senior official in the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, presented data on measures against army deserters and draft dodgers at a meeting of the Knesset’s IDF Manpower Committee on Wednesday. “In the first nine months of the war,, we did not carry out enforcement operations against deserters,” he said, adding that the 340 deserters arrested at Ben Gurion Airport were from all sectors, not just the Chareidi sector. Committee chairman Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) asked: “What tools do you need to obtain thousands of new recruits? There are arrests and travel bans and driver’s license bans—the tools you aren’t using.” Tayeb replied: “These tools and the sanctions you mentioned are not enforceable.

A tragic incident in the southern Gaza Strip claimed the life of an Israeli soldier during combat operations on Monday. The fallen soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu, 20, a member of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 82nd Battalion, from Holon. An initial IDF investigation revealed that Mocanu was killed when a building collapsed following the detonation of an explosive device. The IDF also reported that another soldier sustained minor injuries in the same incident.

The United States has obtained new intelligence indicating that Israel is actively preparing for a possible military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities — a dramatic development that could upend President Donald Trump’s high-stakes diplomatic outreach to Tehran and spark a wider conflict across the Middle East, according to a report from CNN citing multiple American officials briefed on the matter. While officials say that Israeli leaders have not made a final decision, the likelihood of a unilateral strike has “significantly increased in recent months,” one source familiar with the intelligence told CNN. Behind the scenes, Israeli military movements, the repositioning of air munitions, and a recent air force drill have caught the attention of American intelligence agencies.

In a fiery social media post on Tuesday, President Donald Trump labeled Joe Biden’s advisors as “treasonous thugs” who seized control of the White House, asserting that Biden was “cognitively impaired.” Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump argued that Biden’s immigration policies did not reflect the former president’s intentions. “Joe Biden was not for Open Borders, he never talked about Open Borders, where criminals of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, can flow into our Country at will. It wasn’t his idea to Open the Border, and almost destroy our Country, and cost us Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to get criminals out of our Country, and go through the process we are going through now.