Hamas Fires Long-Range Rockets at Jerusalem, Refuses to Provide List of Living Hostages
Prime Minister Netanyahu: “I’m not prepared to enter a deal without knowing what I’m making a deal over and who I’m getting in return.”
Amid ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, the Gaza-base terrorist group Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets at Israel. On Saturday afternoon, Israeli air defense systems intercepted two long-range Hamas rockets over Jerusalem.
“According to the IDF, two rockets were launched from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip towards Jerusalem before being successfully intercepted,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “Earlier on Saturday, additional rockets from the strip activated sirens in the Gaza border communities of Mefalsim and Nir Am in southern Israel.”
BREAKING: Sirens in Jerusalem for the second time in 24 hours, this time 2 rockets fired by Hamas in Gaza, sending hundreds of thousands of Jews, Muslims, and Christians into shelters. pic.twitter.com/6cSZNCTNM4
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) December 28, 2024
The Israeli news website YNET reported the latest escalation by Hamas:
Two rockets fired Saturday evening from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza toward the Jerusalem area were successfully intercepted by Israeli Air Force defense systems, the IDF. (…)
The rockets were fired from a location approximately 300 meters from IDF forces. Following the rocket fire, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning to Beit Hanoun residents via social media.
“This area has been repeatedly warned in the past,” Adraee wrote. “The IDF is operating there with force. You must evacuate immediately.” (…)
The IDF estimates Hamas still possesses long-range rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Beit Hanoun, located near the Israeli city of Sderot, has been a frequent site for rocket storage and launches. Despite repeated military operations in the area, long-range rockets continue to be uncovered.
Hamas again stalls ceasefire talks, refuses to give list of living hostages
After repeatedly stalling hostage negotiations for more than a year, the Gaza-based terrorist group laid down additional demands at ongoing ceasefire talks in Qatar’s capital, Doha, while refusing to give the names of Israeli hostages still alive in its captivity. “Negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages are still ongoing, yet Hamas is raising new demands regarding wounded hostages and refuses to provide a list of living hostages,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reports Friday.
Hamas is holding 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza, including 13 women and two children below the age of five. Israeli security services believe that at least 36 of them have been murdered by Hamas and its terrorist allies since October 7, 2023.
According to Israeli media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants Hamas to reveal the names of the hostages still alive in its captivity before Israel could agree to a ceasefire in Gaza — something the Biden administration, the United Nations, and several European countries have been pressuring Israel to sign up on.
“I’m not prepared to enter a deal without knowing what I’m making a deal over and who I’m getting in return,” Netanyahu reportedly said.
The Times of Israel reported Thursday:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told aides this week that he will not agree to a hostage deal with Hamas without receiving a list of the names of living abductees, Walla reports, citing two sources familiar with the details.
The report says Netanyahu told a meeting this week — following the return of negotiators from talks in Qatar — that “we can’t get any names out of Hamas and I’m not prepared to enter a deal without knowing what I’m making a deal over and who I’m getting in return.”
According to the Hebrew-language outlet, Netanyahu also said in meetings after the return of negotiators from Doha on Tuesday night that he won’t move forward without knowing who exactly the terror group will release in the first phase of a deal.
Israel targets Hamas launchers, expands ground operation in northern Gaza
The IDF is stepping up its ground operation in the northern Gaza area of Beit Hanoun, from where the latest round of long-range rockets was fired at Israel. IDF’s “Nahal Brigade” has begun “operating overnight against terror targets in the area of Beit Hanoun,” the Israeli military announced Saturday.
The operation was launched “[f]ollowing prior intelligence regarding the presence of terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area.” the IDF disclosed. “Before the entry of the troops into the area, the IAF and IDF artillery struck terror targets in the area, including a terrorist meeting point and additional Hamas terror targets.”
“IDF troops are enabling civilians still in the area to move away for their own safety from the combat zone via designated routes,” the Israeli military added.
Israeli air defenses intercept another Houthi missile
The Iranian proxy Houthis also continued firing missiles at Israel from their terror bases in Yemen. A Houthi missile was intercepted on Saturday before it could enter Israel airspace, military sources said.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the areas of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the IDF said in a statement Saturday morning.
The Yemeni jihadist group, which has fired over 400 missiles and drones at Israel since the October 7 massacre, has stepped up its aerial attacks in recent days. The Israeli air defenses intercepted most of the Houthi drones and missiles before they could reach the country’s territory. Earlier this week, Israel, for the very first time, intercepted a Houthi missile using the U.S.-made THAAD air defense system.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO: After the interceptor leaves, an American soldier says, "I've been waiting for this for 18 years."
For the first time since its deployment in Israel, The THAAD air defense system participated tonight in intercepting the Houthi ballistic missile launched… pic.twitter.com/PW9II2L9k5
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) December 27, 2024
IDF destroys Hezbollah Radwan Forces’ terror tunnel in southern Lebanon
As the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire entered its first month, the IDF continued to dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist buildup along Israel’s northern border.
Israeli ground troops located and destroyed a terror tunnel belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces in southern Lebanon. The military “dismantled a 100-meter-long underground tunnel route that led to a Radwan Forces terrorist hideout” in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said in a press release Saturday.
The IDF uncovered a huge weapons cache in the Hezbollah tunnel. Israeli “troops located rifles, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and observation systems inside the tunnel. All the equipment was confiscated and destroyed, as well as the underground tunnel route itself,” the military disclosed. “An anti-tank missile stockpile and heavy machine gun positions aimed at IDF posts were also found in the vicinity of the tunnel.”
“The underground tunnel route also led to a Hezbollah command center containing rocket launchers which had been used to fire at Israel during the war, along with a large number of explosives,” the IDF added.
The IDF releases footage from a tunnel belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force which was recently discovered and demolished in southern Lebanon.
The military says the 100-meter-long underground passage was used by Hezbollah to store numerous weapons, surveillance equipment,… pic.twitter.com/UuWz3BLMBU
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 28, 2024
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Comments
If only Hamas would hit Al Aqsa dead center on that golden dome, so Israel can rebuild its Temple!
from your (fingers) to God’s (eyes).
wouldn’t that be rich; I am getting a good chuckle over that idea.
If that were to happen the Arab street would call Hamas an elaborate Jewish plot to destroy the Dome.
Hamas, never missing the opportunity to miss an opportunity.
During one of their 7 daily brainwashing sessions, or not?
The Israeli government doesn’t want to rebuild the temple. Almost nobody in Israel wants to either. The secular are fundamentally opposed to the whole idea. The religious pray every day for it to be rebuilt, but the overwhelming majority believe that this must not happen on our own initiative and it must wait for the Messiah. Only a very few believe it would be acceptable to rebuild it on our own initiative.
If the mosques on the site were to be destroyed, ideally the government would leave the site empty, but in fact it’s almost 100% certain that it would not only allow the Arabs to rebuild it but would contribute much of the cost.
Nothing like a “know it all” pretending to know.
The fact that there are still millions of European leftists and American Dhimmi-crats who believe that Israeli Jews are the problem, not the incessant and belligerent predations and hateful attitudes of rabidly genocidal and goose-stepping Islamofascists and Muslim supremacists, encapsulates the moral bankruptcy and stupidity of an emasculated and feckless west and its cancerous dhimmitude.
The terrorists will FAFO that Trump is a going to bring a whole new level of “whoop a$$” to the table. On January 20th at 2pm if they haven’t released the hostages it will be their funeral. The Israel hostages might not survive, but gaza, what’s left of it, will be a smoking ruin.
As horrific and disgusting as the idea may be, I believe that you have to consider any hostages to be deceased no more than 30 days after they are taken. This extended, and over-extended attempt to negotiate their return only plays to the power of the hostage takers, and perpetuates this behavior in the future.
Work hard in that 30 days to get them back, by hook, or by crook. But allowing the vermin to string you along for years is a recipe in failure. Eventually you have to acknowledge that they are unretrievable, and just remove the perps.
I often wonder if any of those that have been ransomed in the past regret it. For example Yahya Sinwar – the person who planned the Oct 7 attack was released from Israel in one of these deals. So, pay the danegeld, and watch it happen over, and over or just cut the head from the snake entirely.
Level Gaza. Level Yemen. Nothing of value in either place.
We can never trust Hamassholes on anything so why seek a cease-fire? We all know they will break it so my proposal is for Bibi and Trump to join forces and eradicate them once and for all.
If any Israelis were to be released, then they would be able to describe what they had experienced during their captivity.
Why would hamas ever agree to such a thing.
They won’t.
They’re committed zealots, they e accomplished a lot since 7 October 2023, and the longer all this goes on the more they accomplish — at the un, at the icj, at enlightened western think tanks, with Hollywood, at western universities etc
From their point of view, the coup de grâce will be when they and their captives are killed. They know that when that happens, it will be seen as a huge victory for them. And a huge loss for Israel and the West.
My own guess is that their next kidnapping operation is already well rehearsed, and ready to go. Probably in a place like UK or Australia or Canada—->Jewish lads will be abducted, and the National authorities will forbid Israel from assisting a rescue.
—and if Israel tries to criticize for “negotiating with terrorists” then the local authorities will be able to rightly counter “F—k you, you negotiated for ver 450 days with hamas. So stfu”