Live Updates

Israel at war day 539: What's going on in Gaza and Lebanon?

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 Hostage families call on US President Donald Trump to return their loves ones home from captivity, March 29, 2025. (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Hostage families call on US President Donald Trump to return their loves ones home from captivity, March 29, 2025.
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

IDF fires artillery in Shejaia, east of Gaza City

By WALLA!, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

The IDF fired artillery at Shejaia, east of Gaza City, on Saturday, during its operations in the area.

In Khan Yunis, three mortars were fired toward IDF troops operating on the outskirts of the city in southern Gaza, according to the military. No IDF injuries were reported in the incident.

In addition, an IDF D9 bulldozer drove over an explosive in central Gaza in the buffer zone. However, no IDF injuries were reported in this incident either.

This is a developing story.

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Israel's Foreign Ministry slams Erdogan for condemning Israel's Beirut strike

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Israel's strike on Beirut was a violation of the ceasefire agreement Israel holds with Lebanon. 

By AMICHAI STEIN, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Malaysia-Turkey Business Forum during his working visit to Malaysia, in Putrajaya, Malaysia, February 11, 2025. (photo credit: REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Malaysia-Turkey Business Forum during his working visit to Malaysia, in Putrajaya, Malaysia, February 11, 2025.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain)

Israel's Foreign Ministry slammed Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Saturday statement for condemning Israel's strike in Beirut on Friday.

"While violently oppressing his own citizens and carrying out mass arrests of his political opponents, Erdogan dares to preach lofty values to the international community," the statement read.

"In Erdogan's Turkey, there is no justice, no law, and no freedom. Israel has no need for Erdogan's absurd moralistic speeches. Israel is acting to defend itself and its citizens from real threats and actual attacks — and it will continue to do so," the statement concluded.

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Hostage families 'held captive by Netanyahu,' Einav Zangauker claims in fiery address

The mother of Matan Zangauker accused PM Netanyahu of "tattooing the souls of our loved ones with numbers" like Nazis did during the Holocaust.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker addresses demonstrators, March 29, 2025. (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker addresses demonstrators, March 29, 2025.
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

"The war will not only not return the kidnapped, it will kill them and [prevent] the bodies of the fallen from being exhumed. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is consciously turning the kidnapped into Ron Arad," Einav Zangauker, the mother of Gaza hostage Matan, accused on Saturday.

Ron Arad was an Israeli air force weapon systems officer who has been classified as missing since 1986. 

Zangauker's comments were shared as demonstrators joined in Tel Aviv's Hostages' Square, demanding a deal that would release the remaining hostages after over 500 days in captivity.

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'Deliver my screams': Hamas publishes video of Elkana Bohbot begging for release

The 35-year-old, who has spent over a year in Hamas captivity, suffers from asthma.

By DANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD
 Elkana Bohbot.  (photo credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Elkana Bohbot.
(photo credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Hamas released on Saturday footage of Gaza hostage Elkana Bohbot amid reports of a potential Eid ceasefire-hostage deal.

In the video, Bohbot identifies himself as "Prisoner 22" and insisted that he asked Hamas to make the video - a claim that cannot be verified. 

"This is not psychological warfare," he claimed, speaking on Hamas's release of hostage videos. "The real psychological war is me wake up without seeing my son, without my wife - this makes my health not well.

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US says it expects Lebanese government to disarm terrorist groups

Israel's airstrike came after a rocket launch from Lebanon in the most serious test of the ceasefire.

By REUTERS
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, March 22, 2025 (photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, March 22, 2025
(photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)

The US State Department said on Friday that Israel was defending itself from rocket attacks that came from Lebanon and that it was incumbent upon the Lebanese government to disarm terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

The comment from a State Department spokesperson came in a press briefing when asked about Israel conducting its first strike on Beirut's southern suburbs since a shaky ceasefire deal was struck in November.

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Starved and tormented: Ohad Ben Ami shares details of 491 days in Hamas captivity

Speaking on N12's Friday Studio show, Ohad Ben Ami said he and other hostages were held "30 meters underground, in six meters of concrete and sand without air to breathe."

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
  Released hostage Ohad Ben-Ami is reunited with his family, 08/02/2025. (photo credit: MAAYAN TOAF/GPO)
Released hostage Ohad Ben-Ami is reunited with his family, 08/02/2025.
(photo credit: MAAYAN TOAF/GPO)

"We received two meals a day that amounted to 700 calories at best," former hostage Ohad Ben Ami said as he went into detail on his hunger and sickness during captivity on N12's Friday Studio show, speaking on conditions he was held in along with five other hostages.

"Most of our time was spent trying to guess what we would get to eat when it would happen, whether we would get a whole pita for each person or just half, whether there would also be a cup of rice, whether we got leftovers from our captors," Ben Ami recounted.

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Hamas willing to release multiple hostages including Eden Alexander for Eid al-Fitr ceasefire - KAN

The terrorist organization reportedly needs the ceasefire for a few days in order to suppress anti-Hamas protests that have been held by Palestinians in the enclave this week.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 The mother of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander hugs an organizer at a pro-Israel rally, nearly one year after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US October 6, 2024.  (photo credit: REUTERS/Stephani Spindel)
The mother of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander hugs an organizer at a pro-Israel rally, nearly one year after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US October 6, 2024.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Stephani Spindel)

Hamas is allegedly open to releasing several hostages, including US citizen and IDF soldier Edan Alexander, in exchange for a ceasefire during Eid al-Fitr, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Hamas's conditions for releasing the select group of hostages has not been revealed, the report notes, but states that the terrorist organization needs the ceasefire for a few days in order to suppress anti-Hamas protests that have been held by Palestinians in the enclave this week.

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Important facts


  • Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza.
  • Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 at the Supernova music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities.
  • 59 hostages remain in Gaza.
  • 49 hostages in total have been killed in captivity, IDF says.
  • The IDF launched a ground invasion of Lebanon on September 30.
  • The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire came into effect on November 27 at 4 a.m.
  • Netanyahu confirmed the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on January 17, 2025.