Israeli strike kills a Hamas spokesman in Gaza
An Israeli strike hit the tent where Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official.
Israel broke its ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza last week and has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since. Israel has vowed to escalate the offensive if Hamas does not release hostages, disarm and leave the territory.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
In Israel, the parliament passed a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary.
The law gives the government a larger role in appointing judges.
It would give two of the nine seats on the Judicial Selection Committee to lawyers chosen by the government and the opposition. Those seats are currently held by the Israeli Bar Association. The political appointees would have the power to veto nominations to Israel’s Supreme Court and lower court appointments.
Supporters of the measure say it gives more power to elected officials, while critics say it would undermine an independent body that provides essential checks and balances.
The law would not take effect until the next parliament, and the opposition has vowed to repeal it if it regains power.
Holding signs calling for an end to the war in Gaza and new elections, thousands of Israelis packed a central square in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Addressing the crowd, a string of retired generals and former security officials warned that the government’s actions were endangering Israel’s security and said the country was “on the brink of an abyss.”
European leaders were in Jerusalem for a conference organized by the Israeli government aimed at ”combating antisemitism.”
Netanyahu has cultivated close ties in recent years with populist leaders in countries like Hungary, Brazil and Argentina. Many of these leaders have been greatly influenced by the policies and demeanor of President Donald Trump.
Jordan Bardella, president of the French National Rally party, gave a keynote address in which he blamed rising antisemitism in Europe on migration and Islamism.
In Lebanon, the state news agency said an Israeli drone strike in the country’s south hit a car, killing two people on Thursday afternoon.
The National News Agency gave no further details and it was not immediately clear if the two killed were members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group. Israel’s military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November, ending the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israel’s air forces has carried out dozens of airstrikes mainly targeting Hezbollah terrorists.
Israel said two long-range missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory on Thursday, according to the military.
Air-raid sirens were heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, central Israel and the West Bank, with local media reporting fragments fell in several places. There were no reports of injuries.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire last week, a handful of rockets have been fired from Gaza as well as missiles from Yemen. No one in Israel has been hurt.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack. The Iran-backed terrorists have been attacking Israel and shipping off Yemen for well over a year, saying they aim to end Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Although Palestinian terrorists were once firing volleys of rockets each day out of Gaza, that dwindled to nearly zero over the course of the 17-month war.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack into Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza have killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
