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Israel army says 50 soldiers killed in Gaza since start of war
The Israeli army on Thursday announced the deaths of two more soldiers in Gaza, raising the number of troops killed in the Palestinian territory to 50 since the war with Hamas militants began.
An army spokesman confirmed the new overall toll to AFP, after announcing two soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
German authorities raid properties linked to group suspected of promoting Iranian ideology
German police raided 54 locations across the country on Thursday in an investigation of a Hamburg-based center suspected of promoting Iranian ideology and supporting the activities of Hezbollah, the government said.
- The Interior Ministry said the Islamic Center Hamburg, or IZH, has long been under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency. It said the activities of the group are aimed at spreading the 'revolutionary concept' of Iran's supreme leader.
- Authorities are also looking into suspicions that it supports banned activities in Germany by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has repeatedly traded fire with Israel across the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza last month.
- The IZH runs a mosque in Hamburg. The Interior Ministry said German intelligence believes it exerts significant influence or full control over some other mosques and groups, and that they often promote a 'clearly antisemitic and anti-Israel attitude.' It said authorities are examining whether it can be banned, and material seized during the searches will be evaluated.
- Wednesday's raids were carried out in Hamburg and six other German states - Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria in the south, Berlin, and Hesse, North-Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony in the west and northwest. In addition to IZH, the investigation is also targeting five other groups suspected of being sub-organizations of it.
- 'We have the Islamist scene in our sights,' Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement. 'Now in particular, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, we tolerate no Islamist propaganda and no antisemitic and anti-Israel agitation.'
Gunmen wound several in attack near Jerusalem before being 'neutralised': Israeli police
Three gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli police said, wounding several people before the attackers were 'neutralised'.
Four people suffered gunshot wounds, including one who was critically injured, said the emergency medical service Magen David Adom in a statement, with another two people lightly wounded.
All those injured were members of security services, according to police.
The attack on a checkpoint guarding access to road tunnels linking the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem came on the 41st day of the war between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas terrorists.
Biden warns occupying Gaza would be 'big mistake'
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution was the only way to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict and that occupying Gaza would be 'a big mistake'.
Israeli troops show what they claim is 'concrete' evidence that Hamas was using Gaza's Al Shifa hospital as a terrorist base - but admit they have not yet found tunnels or an advanced command centre
Israel has claimed to have found 'concrete' evidence that Gaza's biggest hospital Al Shifa was being used as a terrorist base after hundreds of commandos raided it early yesterday.
The IDF revealed evidence of weaponry which it said proved the hospital was a terrorist base, with spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus showing a duffel bag hidden behind a hospital MRI machine containing an AK47 assault rifle, grenades, ammunition and a uniform.
He also said a backpack contained 'what appeared to be very important intelligence including a laptop', and added that security cameras in one part of the hospital had been taped over.
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Israeli president says 'strong force' may need to stay in Gaza
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said a 'very strong force' may need to remain in Gaza for the near future to prevent the Hamas militant group re-emerging after the war.
- 'If we pull back, then who will take over? We can't leave a vacuum. We have to think about what will be the mechanism; there are many ideas that are thrown in the air,' Herzog said in an interview with the FT published on Thursday.
- 'But no one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again', he added.
- Herzog told FT that Israel's government was discussing many ideas about how Gaza would be run once the war ends and added that he assumed that the United States and 'our neighbours in the region' would have some involvement in the post-conflict order.
Driver arrested after a car struck a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo
Police in Japan said Thursday they arrested a driver after a vehicle crashed into a temporary barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, injuring one police officer.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said they arrested a 53-year-old man on suspicion of obstructing official duties. The man was unemployed and a member of a right-wing group, police said.
Tokyo police said the suspect suddenly drove into the street where police officers were on duty at the barricade set up to secure the Israeli Embassy, injuring an officer in his 20s. His injury was not life-threatening, police said. Media reports said he had a hand injury.
The alleged motive and whether the embassy was targeted are not known. Demonstrators often gather to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza, and the street near the embassy has been barricaded by Japanese police.
Israel signals wider operations in southern Gaza
Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signalling a possible expansion of operations to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes.
- Broadening the offensive to the south - where Israel already carries out daily air raids - threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. Over 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.
- The leaflets, dropped in areas east of the southern town of Khan Younis, warned civilians to evacuate the area and saying anyone in the vicinity of militants or their positions 'is putting his life in danger.' Similar leaflets were dropped over northern Gaza for weeks ahead of the ground invasion.
- Two local reporters who live east of Khan Younis confirmed seeing the leaflets. Others shared images of the leaflets on social media.
- Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday the ground operation will eventually 'include both the north and south. We will strike Hamas wherever it is.'
WATCH: Israeli air strike hits home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
Israeli fighter jets have struck the house of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, the Israeli military said on Thursday.
Haniyeh's house was 'used as terrorist infrastructure and often served as a meeting point for Hamas' senior leaders to direct terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers,' the military said.
Israeli forces renew raid on Gaza's largest hospital
Israel renewed its operation at Gaza's largest hospital Thursday, targeting what it said was a Hamas command centre nestled among patients, medics and the displaced.
'Tonight we conducted a targeted operation into Shifa hospital,' said Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of Israeli military operations in Gaza. 'We continue to move forward.'
Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry said Thursday that Israeli bulldozers had 'destroyed parts of the southern entrance' of the hospital.
Both Israel and its top ally the United States believe Hamas has a command centre below the Al-Shifa complex, which has become a focal point in the war.
The Palestinian militant group and directors at the hospital have denied the charge.
Before Israel first sent troops into the hospital complex on Wednesday, UN agencies estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced civilians were sheltering at Al-Shifa.
Israel's army claimed an initial raid had uncovered military equipment, weapons and what spokesman Daniel Hagari described as 'an operational headquarters with comms equipment'.
Key Updates
Biden warns occupying Gaza would be 'big mistake'
Israeli troops show what they claim is 'concrete' evidence that Hamas was using Gaza's Al Shifa hospital as a terrorist base - but admit they have not yet found tunnels or an advanced command centre
Israel signals wider operations in southern Gaza
WATCH: Israeli air strike hits home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
Israeli forces renew raid on Gaza's largest hospital
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