Hamas resumes rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel

An anti-tank missile was fired at the northern Israeli moshav Shtula, near the Lebanese border, the IDF said.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the launch. IDF said artillery forces targeted the source of the fire.

The IDF was also striking targets in southern Lebanon after another anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli military position in the North, it said.

At least four civilians were reportedly wounded in the incident, with one man in his 40s murdered following failed resuscitation attempts, Magen David Adom said. MDA added it rushed the other wounded civilians to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya for further treatment.

Two more men in their 40s are considered in moderate condition, MDA added.

Israel to evacuate northern border towns

The IDF announced the evacuation of towns four kilometers or less away from the northern border on Sunday morning, saying that entry to this area is strictly forbidden.

Residents of the northern moshav were told to seek shelter immediately. Later, the Kiryat Shmona municipality also told the border city's residents to seek shelter following exchanges of fire on the border

Residents of the nearby kibbutzim of Yiftach, Menara, Maayan Baruch, Misgav Am, Yeron, Bar'am, Tzivon, Dan, Daphna, Snir and Kfar HaGiladi were all told to seek shelter later on Sunday morning. 

This is a developing story.

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari on Sunday morning said that "the IDF is ready to crush Hamas' rule" as it prepares for likely the largest land invasion of Gaza since the 2005 withdrawal.

At the same time, Hagari said that Hamas had failed to launch any new even small invasions into the Gaza corridor since Sunday afternoon and had not fired any rockets since Sunday night, despite both of those activities having continued almost nonstop since Hamas started the war on October 7.

Hagari warned Israeli citizens not to become complacent, noting that Hamas still "has significant capabilities" even after eight days of overwhelming IDF airstrikes.

It was unclear why Hamas has held off from its two main sources of attacks on Israel since Sunday, but one possibility might be that it expected an imminent IDF counter-invasion after an IDF deadline for evacuating civilians from Gaza passed late Saturday.

Assassination of Hamas leaders 

Next, Hagari noted that the IDF had recently assassinated Bilal al Qadr, who was the Khan Younis commander of Hamas' October 7 invasion forces.

Flames and smoke billow during Israeli strikes in Gaza, October 9, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

This followed the assassination over the weekend by the IDF of another Hamas terrorist who was referred to as the overall mastermind of the Hamas invasion. 

In addition, the IDF killed a senior official in Islamic Jihad's rocket firing apparatus.

Once again, Hagari complained that Hamas is systematically preventing many Palestinian civilians from leaving the North, from which the IDF warned them to leave over the weekend.

He said he hoped more Palestinian civilians would join the hundreds of thousands already moving south of Nahal Aza, but that Hamas was trying to prop up its failing rule and to use the civilians as human shields.

Further, he said that the US had sent a second naval strike force, the Dwight D. Eisenhower group, to the region to back Israel versus any adventurism from Iran or Hezbollah, along with the Gaerald Force naval strike group which was already sent to the region several days ago.

Moreover, he said that some parts of the country might start to gradually return to physical school from remote learning, depending on ongoing security developments.

He said the North was still a dangerous front, but that the IDF was responding to all provocations to keep it off the major war playing field.

Likewise, he said IDF efforts in the West Bank had kept the area relatively quiet, though IDF raids for terror arrests and extra guard troops are working hard all of the time.

Hagari put the IDF's total dead updated as 286, and total missing or kidnapped at 126.

He declined to say how many of the more than 300,000 reservists were posted in the South for the invasion versus on other borders, saying strategic ambiguity was important to "confuse the enemy."

Israeli airstrikes successfully targeted Bilal al Qadr, another senior Hamas commander from the Nukhba special forces responsible for the mass infiltration and massacre of Israelis, the IDF said Sunday morning.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets, directed by Shin Bet, targeted and killed al Qadr, the commander of the Nukhba forces' southern Khan Yunis unit.

Qadr was responsible for the encroachments into Nirim and Nir Oz and the subsequent mass murder of Israelis in the Gaza border towns.

This is a developing story.

IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari signaled on Saturday night that the fateful moment of the IDF's counter-invasion of Gaza continues to draw closer.

The military is preparing to execute a wide-ranging offensive against the Hamas terrorist organization, including coordinated attacks from air, sea, and land, said the IDF.

Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel.

We just eliminated him.
All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate.

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 14, 2023

"IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed throughout the country and are ready to elevate their readiness for the upcoming stages of the war, with a strong emphasis on significant ground operations," the IDF said.

Earlier in the weekend, the IDF started executing minor, narrow, quick in-and-out invasions into Gaza to collect intelligence about Gaza's defense preparations as well as to use a well-known psychological warfare tactic to confuse Hamas about when its actual significant ground invasion will begin, versus just another more minor operation.

Tehran warned of “far-reaching consequences” if the IDF’s bombing of Gaza is not stopped, as diplomats worked around the clock to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from escalating into a regional conflict that could include Hezbollah and Iran.

Iran has issued public warnings and sent a private message to Israel through the United Nations that it could intervene if Israel continued its military campaign to root Hamas out of Gaza, according to a report first published by the Walla news site and confirmed by The Jerusalem Post.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland in Beirut to discuss the situation. 

Amirabdollahian later met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, where they discussed the Palestinian terrorist group's deadly attack in Israel "and agreed to continue cooperation" to achieve the group's goals, Hamas said in a statement.

Amirabdollahian in that conversation praised the rampage as a "historic victory" that had dealt a setback to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian meets with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar. October 15, 2023 (credit: Hasan Shirvani/IRNA)

Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X on Saturday, “If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes [and] genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control [and] ricochet far-reaching consequences, the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end."

Iran's UN mission spoke out a week into the war sparked by the October 7th assault by the Iranian proxy group Hamas on southern Israel in which over 1,300 civilians and soldiers were killed and over 150 were taken hostage. Israeli retaliatory aerial strikes have killed some 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza, as the IDF pushes to eliminate Hamas.

Wennesland has been among a host of diplomats who have worked to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, secure the release of the hostages, and prevent a regional war against the Jewish State.

Israel expresses outrage at UN coordinator's meeting with Iranian FM

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, however, took issue with Wennesland’s meeting with Amirabdollahian, an event that was not publicized by the UN. 

פשוט חרפה‼️אין מילים.
שליח האו״ם @Twennesland נפגש היום(!) עם שר החוץ האיראני. מי שמימן את רצח ילדינו. ולא אומר דבר! שום גינוי!
זה לא יימשך כך. הכללים השתנו! לא נמשיך לקבל את הלגיטימציה שהאו״ם נותן למשטר הנאצי של איראן שקורא בגלוי להשמדת ישראל.
עד ש@Twennesland לא יגנה בפומבי… pic.twitter.com/BYIhlatvPS

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 14, 2023

He took Wennesland to task for not condemning Iran for its role in supporting Hamas.

“Don’t forget to wash the blood of Israeli babies off your hands after that handshake,” Erdan said in a message he posted on X, that was directed at Wennesland.

“Today (!!!), senior UN official, Tor Wennesland not only met with the Iranian regime’s FM, but didn’t even bother condemning Iran for its role in the massacre of Israeli women and children. It’s no secret that Hamas terrorists are openly praising Iran for funding, arming, and training them,” Erdan wrote.

“At the VERY SAME TIME, Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, openly called on the Muslim world to expand the attack on Israel.

"The UN’s support for and legitimization of genocidal terrorists is a threat to civilization!,” Erdan said.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in response, “All of the Special  Coordinator’s meetings have been to discuss diplomatic efforts to release hostages, secure humanitarian access and prevent a spillover of the conflict to the wider region. This includes his recent meetings in Lebanon.”

Israel has held that Iran is complicit in the October 7th attack, which came as the United Starts and Saudi Arabia were in the midst of discussing a security pact to protect the Kingdom against an attack from the neighboring Islamic Republic.

The Hamas assault is seen as a part of Tehran’s proxy war against Israel. US President Joe Biden has warned Iran not to get involved, telling it, “be careful.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

300 Palestinians were killed, mostly children and women, while 800 others were injured in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the health ministry in the coastal enclave.

Belgian Member of Parliament Michael Freilich has publicly commended the decision to shut down an online payment account previously connected to Gaza Now, a news platform and Telegram group tied to Hamas boasting a membership of over 1.1 million. The group can only fundraise through the use of Bitcoin, a currency that isn’t popular among the masses.

Earlier this week, Freilich communicated his concerns to the online payment institution, Wise, and the National Bank of Belgium, urging prompt action against the account in question. Although Wise's policies prevent disclosure of specifics about individual cases, MP Freilich confirmed independently that the account is currently incapacitated from receiving any further payments. Furthermore, Gaza Now has subsequently removed these account details from their donation page.

In Freilich's words to The Jerusalem Post early Sunday morning, "This move signifies a crucial step forward in combating the channels that fuel terrorism and propagate hate speech. My investigations confirmed the suspension of the account, striking a significant blow to Hamas's global fundraising endeavors." Freilich told the Post that the payments in Europe will not be possible, due to this move.

Responding to the situation, Wise underscored in a statement their unwavering dedication to adhering to both their intrinsic policies as well as external legal mandates, particularly those related to anti-terrorist financing.

When pressing the “donate to us” button on Gaza Now’s homepage, a link for Paypal is opened, with a warning message, "This organization does not meet the conditions for receiving donations at this stage." In addition, their Facebook page has been shut-down, yet their X and Telegram accounts still exist. 

Michael Freilich. (credit: Courtesy of Michael Freilich)

Subsequent to this event, Gaza Now has pivoted to encouraging Bitcoin donations, a clear hint at their inability to utilize traditional banking methods. Despite this alteration in their approach to fundraising, Freilich's initiative has spotlighted the imperative of intelligence sharing. In his statement, he encouraged the public to “provide any pertinent information to bolster ongoing efforts against such entities.”

Anti-terror and anti-hate

The sole Jewish MP in Belgium, Freilich, reaffirmed his dedication to rigorously opposing activities that incite terrorism, hate speech, and other extremist ideologies. "It's crucial for financial bodies to be acutely aware of their ethical and legal duties in such scenarios," Freilich expressed. "Our vigilance against the financial underpinnings of extremist factions remains unwavering." He further conveyed his deep solidarity with the people of Israel, particularly in the aftermath of the tragic losses endured in the recent onslaught by Hamas.

On October 10, 2023, Freilich urgently addressed WISE, highlighting concerns about a specific account associated with the extremist organization, Gaza Now. Providing specific account details, Freilich emphasized that facilitating such transactions breaches WISE's internal policies and legal obligations, particularly anti-terrorism financing laws. He strongly urged WISE to promptly suspend the account, conduct a thorough investigation, and prevent future misuse. 

Iran warned on Saturday that if Israel's "war crimes and genocide" are not halted immediately, "the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences," Tehran's mission to the United Nations in New York posted on X.

"If the Israeli apartheid's war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences — the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end," the post read.

Twenty-nine citizens of the United States have perished in Hamas attacks in Israel, a US State Department spokesperson confirmed on Saturday.

Previously 27 had been confirmed dead amid the violence.

The spokesperson said that the US was aware of 15 citizens and one lawful permanent resident who were unaccounted for, and was "working around the clock" to determine their whereabouts.

The US was working with the Israeli government on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence, the spokesperson said.

Alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Aleppo International Airport on Saturday night, according to Syrian reports, just hours after two rockets were fired from Syria toward Israel and as tensions continued to rise along Israel's northern front.

The airstrikes reportedly targeted the runway at the airport in Aleppo which was repaired recently after being damaged in earlier alleged Israeli airstrikes on Thursday. The international airport in Damascus was also targeted and put out of service on Thursday.

Two rockets were fired from Syria toward the Golan Heights on Saturday evening, hours after Hezbollah and the IDF exchanged fire along the Lebanese border as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continued to escalate.

The rockets fell in open areas. No interceptors were launched. Shortly after the rocket fire, the IDF launched artillery strikes on the source of the fire, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Simultaneously, sirens sounded in Alma in the Galilee, with the IDF saying an interceptor was launched at a "suspicious object" which crossed from Lebanon into Israel. The incident is being looked into.

On Saturday morning, the IDF thwarted an attempt by a Palestinian terrorist cell directed by Hezbollah to infiltrate into Israeli territory.

Rockets fired from Lebanon at Mt Dov in northern Israel. October 14, 2023. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that an IDF drone struck the terrorist cell, killing a number of terrorists.

In the afternoon, Hezbollah fired about 30 mortars at IDF sites in the Har Dov (Shebaa Farms) area, with the IDF responding with artillery fire toward the source of the fire and additional sites. Simultaneously, the IDF struck a terrorist cell that attempted to fire an anti-tank missile at Israeli territory.

Hezbollah stated that it fired toward an additional IDF site in the Shebaa Farms area later in the afternoon as the exchange of fire between the IDF and the terrorist movement continued.

During the clashes, a Hezbollah terrorist identified as Ali Youssef Alaa Al-Din "Jawad Ali" was killed, Hezbollah announced on Saturday.

IDF intercepts 'unidentified objects' over northern Israel

On Friday night, the IDF said that it had intercepted two "unidentified targets" over Haifa. The nature of the targeted objects was unclear as of Saturday night. A third unidentified object was intercepted over Shefaram in northern Israel on Friday night.

After the interceptions, the IDF targeted a site belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, saying the strike was conducted in response to the infiltration of the unidentified objects and fire which targeted an IDF drone.

Iran warns its proxies have 'fingers on the trigger'

During a visit in Beirut, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that all the terrorist groups which are part of the axis led by Iran have their "fingers on the trigger."

"In case of procrastination by the international community and the United Nations and the activists who support the warmongering of the Israeli regime, the response will be done at the right time and the desired resistance," said Amirabdollahian. "I found out in the conversation with the leaders that the response that will be given is regrettable and will change the current map of the occupied territories."

"Based on my understanding of the situation, I warn the war criminals and their supporters in the region to stop Israel's crimes against civilians before it is too late, maybe it will be too late in a few hours. There is still political opportunity to avoid a widespread crisis in the region. Today, I will meet with the representative of the UN secretary general in the region and I will say that there is still a political opportunity, but tomorrow is too late."

Amirabdollahian met with Nasrallah and other terrorist leaders during his visit in Lebanon. On Saturday night, the foreign minister visited Qatar, meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.