IDF Strikes Khan Younis As Israel Prepares Limited Humanitarian Aid Transfer To Gaza
The Israeli Air Force launched a series of extensive strikes in Khan Younis Monday morning (19th), according to reports from Gaza. Arab reports claimed there were dozens of attacks in various areas – both from the air and with artillery.
The Saudi Al-Arabiya network reported this morning that a special Israeli force entered a specific area in central Khan Younis for the purpose of rescuing hostages. A source in the Israeli defense establishment denied the report.
An IDF spokesperson stated: “The IDF is in the midst of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots” and is operating throughout the Gaza Strip,” adding that “following the recent reports, there is no change in the situational assessment.”
Meanwhile, after the Cabinet approved the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Sunday night (18th), Israel is preparing to allow a limited number of aid trucks into the strip on Monday (19th).
Military officials stated : “This is an effort to demonstrate to the world that Israel is not acting to starve the population.” The aid, to be delivered by an American company, will primarily consist of medical supplies, baby food, and flour.
IDF Chief In Gaza: ‘Gideon’s Chariots Will Continue Until Hamas Is Defeated’
IDF Chief Of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir conducted a field tour and situational assessment Sunday (18th) in the northern Gaza Strip alongside the Southern Command commander MG Yaniv Asor, the commander of the 162nd Division, BG Sagiv Dahan, and additional commanders.
The Chief of the General Staff spoke with the commanders and soldiers of the 401st brigade operating in the field and approved plans for the continuation of the operation.
“This past weekend, we launched Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots.’ We will continue until we dismantle the enemy’s combat ability and achieve a decisive defeat wherever we operate. We cannot go back to the reality of October 7th. We have two main objectives before us, the return of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” Zamir told the troops.
The Chief of Staff noted that the IDF will “provide flexibility to the political echelon to advance any hostage deal. A hostage deal is not a halt, it is an achievement. We are actively working toward it.”
“Addressing the soldiers. He added: “Continue to operate, fulfill your missions, and strike the enemy. I am fully aware of the gravity of the moment and the challenges ahead of us. My deep appreciation – I have full confidence in you.”
The IDF confirmed on Sunday (18th) that over the past day, IDF troops under the Southern Command – including both active duty and reservists have begun extensive ground operations throughout the northern Gaza Strip as part of “Gideon’s Chariots.”
Over the past week, the Israel Air Force conducted a preliminary wave of strikes, hitting over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations.
Among the targets struck were weapons storage facilities, underground terrorist infrastructure sites, anti-tank missile launchers, as well as terrorists. The Israeli Air Force continues to provide consistent support to operating troops in the Gaza Strip.
IDF Downs Missile From Yemen: Houthis Claim To Target Ben Gurion Airport Again
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses, the military said early Sunday morning (18th),
There were no reports of direct injuries or damage in the attack.
Sirens had sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, and the Shfela and Sharon regions, sending nearly a million residents scrambling to bomb shelters. Preceding the sirens by some five minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later said the group targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles. Vowing to carry on with the strikes until “the siege is lifted” on Gaza, where Israel has been fighting a 19 month war against Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces said air defenses successfully intercepted a missile at around 2 a.m. The reason for the discrepancy in the number of missiles was unclear, but suggested that one had fallen short.
Takeoffs and landings at the airport were briefly paused during the attack, a normal protocol, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Video on social media purported to show the interception.
On Friday (16th), the military said it struck the Hodeida and Salif ports in Yemen, claiming that the Houthis were using the two facilities to transfer weapons. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least one person was killed, and 11 were wounded in the strikes.
The Houthi administration said at the time that those strikes would “be met with a painful response,” according to the Houthi-run Saba News Agency.
Two weeks ago, a Houthi missile slipped through air defense and landed in the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people, none seriously. A slew of international carriers promptly halted services to Israel, though some have since said they will resume operations.
Israel responded to that attack with strikes on Sanaa airport, causing an estimated $500 million worth of damage . On Saturday (17th), some flights to the Yemen airport resumed.
The Houthis have targeted Israel with missiles and drones throughout the war in Gaza, saying they were doing so in solidarity with Hamas, while also targeting commercial and naval vessels on the Red Sea. The attacks have raised the Houthis’ profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel.
The attacks on the shipping route drew retaliatory strikes from the United States. In mid-March, the US military under President Trump launched an intensive campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis. The two sides eventually reached a deal to halt the US campaign in return for the Houthis halting their attacks on shipping.
Moreover, the US-Houthis deal did not address the rebels’ missile and drone attacks on Israel.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after a truce of several weeks, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 35 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel, with several of the missiles falling short.
Report: Hamas Leaders Mohammed Sinwar, Mohammed Shabaneh Confirmed Killed
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported Sunday morning (18th), citing its sources, that confirmation had been received regarding the deaths of Mohammed Sinwar, commander of the military wing of the terrorist organization Hamas, and Mohammed Shabaneh, Hamas’ Rafah Brigade commander, in an Israeli strike last week.
According to the sources, the body of Mohammed Sinwar, along with those of ten of his aides was found inside a tunnel in Khan Younis . The underground infrastructure is located near the European Hospital in the city.
Hamas sources told the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat over the weekend that the terrorists had already suspected that the attempt to assassinate Mohammed Sinwar may have been successful. However, they added that Hamas had prepared in advance a list of senior figures to assume leadership of the IZZ ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ military wing. The same sources noted that brigade commanders in Khan Younis and northern Gaza, such as Ra’fat Salama and Ahmed Ghandour, who were killed in previous strikes, had also been replaced.
The Hamas sources further revealed that Mohammed Sinwar had effectively been commanding the military wing for many years, despite Mohanned Deif serving as the overall commander. According to them, Sinwar was responsible for managing many of the organization’s military and administrative operations.
Khamenei Accuses Trump Of ‘Massacring’ Gazans, Calls For The Elimination Of ‘Cancerous’ Israel
Iran’s Supreme Leader took aim at the United States over the weekend, even as nuclear talks continue between the Trump administration and Tehran, and explicitly called for the annihilation of the State of Israel.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s official X account published a string of comments on Saturday (17th), castigating President Donald Trump and America’s support for Israel during the war against Hamas.
Last week, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff , reportedly gave Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi a written proposal for a new nuclear deal during the fourth round of talks in Oman on May 10, which Araghchi took back to Tehran.
Days later, a senior adviser to Khamenei told NBC News that Iran was prepared to make major concessions, adding that a deal would potentially be reached today.”
President Trump himself signaled last week that his administration was “close to a deal” with Iran.
Despite the signals last week of an impending agreement, Khamenei castigated Trump over his comments during a four-day trip to the Middle East last week, calling them “so low” as to be “a source of shame” for Americans.
Some of the remarks made during the US President’s trip to the region “aren’t even worth a response at all,” Khamenei said via his official X account.
“He said he wants to use power for peace: he’s lying,” he added.
Khamenei accused Trump and the US of facilitating massacres in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
“The US President, other US officials and administrations have used power for the massacre in Gaza, for igniting wars and for supporting their own mercenaries. When has the US ever used power to bring peace?”
“They used power to provide the Zionist regime with ten-ton bombs to be dropped on Gaza’s children, hospitals, homes, in Lebanon , and wherever else they could.”
Iran’s top cleric and spiritual leader also blamed Israel for “corruption, war and discord” in the Middle East, calling the Jewish state a “cancerous tumor” that will be destroyed.
“Without question, the source of corruption, war and discord in this West Asia region is the Zionist regime. The dangerous deadly cancerous tumor in West Asia must and will be eliminated.”
The “Nakba” Narrative Is Nonsense – Dr. Alex Safian (CAMERA)
In the years since Israel’s rebirth in 1948, a narrative has taken root that portrays well-armed and financed Jewish immigrants overrunning peaceful Palestinian villages, brutally expelling Palestinians from their homes and their country, a narrative summed up in the Arabic word nakba, or catastrophe. In contrast, Israelis view their War of Independence as a battle of the few against the many, a battle forced on a beleaguered Jewish community by Palestinian militias and the invading armies of five Arab states.
Israel was not born in sin – with a few justified exceptions, there were no expulsions, nor was there any policy of harming innocents, on the contrary. As early as 1937, Israel’s founding father David Ben Gurion wrote: “We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places. All our aspiration is built on the assumption – proven throughout all our activity… that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.”
On Dec. 13, 1947, Ben Gurion said in a speech: “In our state there will be non-Jews as well – and all of them will be equal citizens; equal in everything without exception…The attitude of the Jewish state to its Arab citizens will be an important factor- though not the only one – in building good neighborly relations with the Arab states.”
Five Arab states, together with Palestinian Arabs, launched a brutal war against the Jews, in which more than 1% of the Jewish population was killed. An Egyptian armored column had penetrated up the coast to within 21 miles of Tel Aviv. Had the Palestinians accepted partition, a Palestinian state would have been created side-by-side with Israel in 1948, and there wouldn’t have been a single Palestinian refugee.
In the summer of 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton hosted intense peace talks at Camp David between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli leader Ehud Barak. Despite the vast concessions the plan required of Israel, Prime MInister Barak accepted President Clinton’s proposal, while Arafat refused, returned home and launched a new terror campaign against Israeli civilians called the Second Intifada.
Israel again tried to make peace with the Palestinians in 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and presented a comprehensive peace plan, going beyond even the Clinton proposal. Olmert said in an interview in 2009, “Abbas could not commit. Instead, he said he would come with experts the next day. He (Abbas) promised me the next day his adviser would come. But the next day Saeb Erekat rang my adviser and said we forgot we are going to Amman today, let’s make it next week. I never saw him again.”
The Palestinians have repeatedly run away from a negotiated peace and statehood, and have caused most of their own problems. It’s a testament to the power of endlessly repeated propaganda that so many in the West act as if Israel caused the Palestinian refugee problem, as if Israel refuses to make peace, and as if Israel stands in the way of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian nakba narrative is a potent myth, a massive collection of blatant falsehoods intended to stand history on its head, and turn the victim into the perpetrator.
