Israel launches second ground incursion into Gaza, Hamas commander killed in airstrike - Fox News

Israel launched a second brief incursion into Gaza overnight Thursday with ground troops supported by fighter jets and drones as the war against Hamas continues.IDF struck anti-tank missile launch sites, command and control centers and Hamas operatives, the military said.These ground incursions come ahead of an expected invasion of Gaza in a war that has already cost more than 8,000 people on both sides.incoming update…The Israel Defense Forces said Friday the military is expanding its ground operations into Gaza.Rear Adm.Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets."In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force ...to achieve the objectives of the war.”Sources tell Fox News that mobile comms systems inside Gaza have collapsed entirely, rendering communications for civilians virtually impossible.A Palestinian telecom provider told the Associated Press internet service in the Gaza Strip has been cut off by Israeli bombardment.In the past few days, Israel has conducted brief ground incursions with troops and tanks to pave the way for a full-scale invasion to eradicate Hamas.Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists Friday it is not a question of if, but when Israel conducts a ground operation to eliminate Hamas.The Israel Defense Forces said earlier Hamas terrorist targets were struck by ground troops, fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles over the past 24 hours.There were no injuries reported by the Israeli military and the troops were quickly out of the area.Targets hit by the IDF include anti-tank missile launch sites, command and control centers, and Hamas operatives, according to the army.The brief ground incursion overnight Thursday mostly impacted the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip, according to Fox News' Mike Tobin, and marked the second consecutive night of such operations ahead of a looming invasion.Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel, Gillian Turner and the Associated Press contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo A Hamas spokesperson stormed out of a BBC interview on Thursday when asked about how the terror group justified killing civilians in its Oct. 7 attack against Israel.During an interview with BBC Middle East reporter Hugo Bachega, Deputy Foreign Minister for Hamas, Ghazi Hamad, insisted that his group’s attack on Israel that resulted in the murders of around 1,400 people was focused on military targets.He claimed that there was "no command" to kill innocent people.When Bachega pressed him on the fact that Hamas fighters targeted civilians during their invasion into neighborhoods in southern Israel, Hamad refused to continue with the discussion and left.Prompting the sparring between the spokesman and BBC reporter in the now viral clip, Hamad claimed that Oct.7’s attack "was a military operation." "It was directed for military purposes, for the military sites," he insisted, before Bachega cut him off, stating, "But hundreds of civilians were killed." Hamad sidestepped the interruption and pressed on, adding that Hamas’ attack was also against the "military soldiers who imposed sanctions and collective punishment against our people."Again, the Hamas spokesperson said the attack was not aimed at civilians, stating, "And I think from the first moment, we declared that this operation was not directed to the civilians.But I can confirm and assure again and again that there was no command, no command to kill any civilians."When Bachega pressed him on the fact that Hamas fighters targeted civilians during their invasion into neighborhoods in southern Israel, Hamad refused to continue with the discussion and left.Prompting the sparring between the spokesman and BBC reporter in the now viral clip, Hamad claimed that Oct.7’s attack "was a military operation." "It was directed for military purposes, for the military sites," he insisted, before Bachega cut him off, stating, "But hundreds of civilians were killed." Hamad sidestepped the interruption and pressed on, adding that Hamas’ attack was also against the "military soldiers who imposed sanctions and collective punishment against our people."Again, the Hamas spokesperson said the attack was not aimed at civilians, stating, "And I think from the first moment, we declared that this operation was not directed to the civilians.But I can confirm and assure again and again that there was no command, no command to kill any civilians."Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo United Nations Secretary General António Guterres issued a dire warning about the imminent "total collapse" of the humanitarian situation in Gaza as Israel intensifies its bombing campaign. "The humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a total collapse with unimaginable consequences for more than 2 million civilians," Guterres said in a statement.He lamented that only 12 aid trucks per day have been permitted to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, emphasizing there is greater need for fuel, medicine and food now amid war than ever before."Given the desperate and dramatic situation, the United Nations will not be able to continue to deliver inside Gaza without an immediate and fundamental shift in how aid is going in," Guterres said, calling for additional aid trucks to be admitted to Gaza."I welcome the growing global consensus for a humanitarian pause in the conflict.I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of life-saving supplies at the scale needed," he continued."Misery is growing by the minute."Without a fundamental change, the people of Gaza will face an unprecedented avalanche of human suffering."Posted by Chris Pandolfo Telegram, a popular social media messaging app, has shut down several accounts belonging to the terrorist group Hamas that have been used to release videos related to the Israel-Hamas war, a report said.An account linked to Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, which has nearly 693,000 followers, now reads, "Unfortunately, this channel couldn’t be displayed on your device.” the same message appears when opening the page of Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida, the Associated Press reported.The AP report cited a Google spokesperson who was not authorized to speak publicly to the media and spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirming the report.The spokesperson said Google Play’s policies require all apps that feature user-generated content to effectively moderate egregious content, including content that promotes terrorist acts, incites violence, or celebrates terrorist attacks.“When violations are found we take appropriate action,” the spokesperson said.In the days immediately following the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, Hamas released graphic images and videos on social media boasting of the atrocities committed on more than 1,400 Israeli civilians and troops.The Associated Press contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Projectiles hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday, injuring six people, according to reports.Israel's military blamed an "aerial threat" in the Red Sea region: a possible reference to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement which is known to use drones, Reuters reported.Egyptian army spokesperson Colonel Gharib Abdel-Hafez said an "unidentified drone" crashed into a building adjacent to a hospital injuring the six in Taba, on the border with Israel, in the early hours.Later Friday morning, another projectile fell near an electricity plant in the town of Nuweiba, about 43 miles from the border, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters.No one has claimed responsibility for the incidents.Witnesses reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke rising plus Egyptian warplanes flying overhead, according to Reuters. The incidents underscore fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could erupt into a larger Middle East conflict involving terrorist groups backed by Iran.Reuters contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo American forces intercepted a drone attack on Al-Assad Air Base in Iraq on Friday, according to a U.S.defense official."Early in the morning of 27 OCT, U.S.forces engaged a one-way attack drone a few kilometers from Al-Assad Air Base, Iraq, and successfully shot it down without further incident," the official said.This is the 20th attack on U.S. troops in the Middle East since October 17th.The U.S.military conducted airstrikes on two facilities in eastern Syria in response to ongoing attacks against American military personnel in Iraq and Syria over the past week, according to the Department of Defense.A pair of F-16s targeted two facilities – a weapons depot and an ammo storage area – near Abu Kamal used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups, a senior U.S.defense official told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin.It's unclear if there were any Iranian militants at the facilities when they were hit.Earlier, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that U.S. strikes on Iranian proxies in Syria were targeting weapons and storage facilities.“These strikes were in self defense,” Kirby said on ABC's "Good Morning America." Posted by Chris Pandolfo Several loud explosions were seen and heard in Gaza on Friday as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory.The blasts were observed in near the Gaza border in southern Israel, where Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported live from the scene.Yingst reported Israel concentrated its heaviest fire on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on Oct.17.There is a specific effort underway by the Israeli military to strike targets in the northern part of the Gaza Strip by air, land and sea, Yingst reported.Live footage shows fireballs above Gaza city.Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists Friday it is not a question of if, but when Israel conducts a ground operation to eliminate Hamas.Israeli raids overnight by land and sea targeted tunnel infrastructure beneath the Gaza Strip as the number of hostages held captive by Hamas has risen to 229 people.President Biden and senior officials in his cabinet were briefed on Israel-Hamas war Friday morning, the White House said.Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo The terror group Hamas has denied Israel's allegation that its command centers exist in an underground complex beneath Gaza's largest hospital. A senior Hamas leader called the allegations "baseless" in a statement reported by the Times of Israel.Izzat al-Rishq said, "these lies represent a prelude to a new massacre against our people, greater than the one of the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital” — referring to the Oct.17 blast that U.S.intelligence determined was likely caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket misfiring.Hamas has blamed Israel for the explosion and accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes against the Palestinian people.The IDF said earlier that Hamas has hidden its main base of terror operations within a complex network of underground tunnels connecting hospitals and other civilian structures in Gaza.“Over 40,000 have sought refuge in Al-Shifa hospital, as they were displaced by the bombing that hit everything,” al-Rishq said. “We call on the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries to take action and stop the genocide against our people."Posted by Chris Pandolfo IDF spokesman Rear Adm.Daniel Hagari briefed international reporters Friday and said Hamas has placed its main base of terror operations beneath the largest hospital in Gaza.Hagari said Shifa Hospital, which has over 1,500 beds and 4,000 staff, houses an "underground terror complex" used by the Islamist group to plan attacks on Israel.He referred to Israeli intelligence reports that Hamas uses an expansive network of tunnels connecting hospitals in Gaza from which to plan and launch rocket attacks targeting residential areas in Israel.He said that terrorists do not need to enter the hospital from outside to reach the tunnels, but there is an entrance to the underground complex inside the hospital wards.“We have concrete evidence that hundreds of terrorists flooded into the hospital to hide there after the massacres of October 7," Hagari said. According to IDF, Hamas' internal security has a command center inside Shifa Hospital, where the terrorist group stores weapons.“Hamas uses Shifa hospital as a shield for Hamas terror infrastructure,” Hagari said.“Hamas wages war from hospitals.By operating from these hospitals, Hamas not only endangers the lives of Israeli civilians; but also exploits innocent Gazan civilians.Hagari shared an animated illustration showing the Hamas infrastructure beneath the hospital, based on Israeli intelligence.He told reporters Israel will not share the intelligence used to create the illustration, which has been shared with Israeli allies. "“Hamas terrorists operate inside hospitals precisely because they know that the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians," Hagari said.“When medical facilities are used for terror purposes, they are liable to lose their protection from attack in accordance with international law," he added.Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Actor Josh Gad, who voiced the character "Olaf" in the Disney movie "Frozen," said that he felt "alienated" by liberals in the wake of "antisemitic tropes" that have seemingly become popularized online since the start of the Israel-Hamas war."I have always called myself a Progressive," Gad wrote on Thursday in a post on Threads, a competitor to X."The past 2 weeks have made me feel so desperately alienated & disheartened by what that seems to encompass.I’ll always stand for what’s right but to see people I’ve always identified with ripping down posters of hostages & say such horrific & uninformed things that truly resemble antisemitic tropes is very troubling to me & so many. I stand with all those who want to protect innocent Palestinians." "Why can’t that same attitude be expressed for Jews?" he asked.Gad was responding to a post from activist Charlotte Clymer on how the left's response to the war has been a major miscalculation."It's been rather astonishing to watch just how badly much of the far-left is miscalculating this moment," Clymer wrote."It has never been more clear how many of them are firmly ensconced in echo chambers, and it is doing them no favors.Quite the opposite."This is not the first time that Gad, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, has spoken out about the conflict between Israel and Gaza. Lieba Nesis, entertainment writer for The Jewish Voice, told Fox News Digital in an interview that Gad has previously "felt the need to correct himself" for his initial reaction expressing sympathy for Israel, writing on social media he was "personally attacked, shamed, unfollowed and threatened" and reiterated his long-standing criticism of the Israeli government's "occupation and their attacks on innocent Gazans." Fox News Digital's Jeffrey Clark contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Newly-minted House Speaker Mike Johnson told FOX News in his first television interview since gaining the gavel that the U.S.stands firmly behind Israel, while back at home, lawmakers and the Biden administration alike must find common ground and acknowledge "God is not done" with America yet.Johnson told "Hannity" the House is primed to proffer a $14.5 billion support bill for Israel, slightly more than what the Louisiana Republican said Israel – via the White House – has asked for.However, a key difference between the House appropriation and other federal support is that the money will come in exchange for "pay-for's" in the budget, rather than simply printing the money.Johnson said the figure is a "very specific number tied to very specific measures" and that each dollar should be offset by a cut elsewhere.In terms of potential U.S.military involvement in Israel's fight for survival against Iran-backed Hamas, Johnson said he is hopeful to avert a boots-on-the-ground situation, but added that during a White House meeting Thursday he reminded President Biden's staff that they have limited ability to directly respond without congressional approval.The Founding Fathers, he said, envisioned a "multitude of wise counsel" in such matters, which he noted is why Congress has the power to declare war, not the executive branch.Johnson added that he has met previously with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and agreed that while Americans talk of "existential threats" stateside, Israel faces one or more daily."Their neighbors want to eliminate them," he said."America will back [Netanyahu] up – they tell us when we're in Israel the reason we're able to sustain ourselves and survive is because everybody knows our big ally is America."Posted by Chris Pandolfo White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the U.S.strikes on Iranian proxies in Syria were targeting weapons and storage facilities.“These strikes were in self defense,” Kirby said on ABC's "Good Morning America." Hours earlier, the U.S. military conducted airstrikes on two facilities in eastern Syria in response to ongoing attacks against American military personnel in Iraq and Syria over the past week, according to the Department of Defense.A pair of F-16s targeted two facilities – a weapons depot and an ammo storage area – near Abu Kamal used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups, a senior U.S.defense official told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin.It's unclear if there were any Iranian militants at the facilities when they were hit.Asked if Iran will retaliate, Kirby said, “It’s not uncommon for them to strike back.If they do, we’ll absolutely do what we have to do to protect our troops and our facilities.""We’ll be ready for that,” he added.The Associated Press contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo A man was illegally carrying a handgun after he drove through the streets of a New York town in a car covered in swastikas, a Palestinian flag and pro-Hamas messages just blocks from a planned pro-Israel rally, officials said.Hani Saleh, 47, was arrested Wednesday in White Plains at South Lexington Avenue and Quarropas Street after cops pulled over his Volkswagen, according to the White Plains Police Department The vehicle sported a Palestinian flag along the top, according to photos obtained by Fox News Digital."The license plate on the vehicle had been apparently illegally altered, and the vehicle also had writing painted across the entire windshield obstructing the driver's view," White Plains Police Capt.James Spencer said in a statement shared with Fox.Police said an investigation revealed the license plate, which appears to say "MMORTAL," to be a forged instrument. A weapon was also found inside the vehicle, along with other license plates, cops said."An inventory subject to the vehicle being impounded revealed a .40-caliber handgun and several Arizona license plates along with a New York license plate," Spencer said."Saleh was booked and processed for criminal possession of a forged instrument … and criminal possession of a weapon."Spencer noted that Saleh, listed as a resident of Elmsford, New York, was also issued a traffic summons for the violations.Saleh, after being stopped by police, was arrested two blocks away from the site of a pro-Israel rally slated to take place later that evening.Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo A Hamas rocket struck a residential building in Tel Aviv, injuring three civilians as Hamas terrorists continue to fire at major Israeli population centers.Sirens blared in Tel Aviv on Friday morning to signal incoming rocket fire on the 21st day of the Israel-Hamas war.Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel since the start of the war on Oct.7, intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure.Israel has responded by hammering the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and conducting brief ground incursions to pave the way for a future full-scale invasion. Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists Friday it is not a question of if, but when Israel conducts a ground operation to eliminate Hamas.Israeli raids overnight by land and sea targeted tunnel infrastructure beneath the Gaza Strip as the number of hostages held captive by Hamas has risen to 229 people.The rescue of hostages and destruction of Hamas military capabilities are among the main mission objectives for the Israeli military, Gallant said.Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Overnight, an Israel Defense Forces raid struck a compound use by Hamas' naval forces, the military said."IDF soldiers of Flotilla 13 conducted a targeted raid from the sea in the southern Gaza Strip.During the activity, the soldiers struck Hamas military infrastructure and operated in a compound used by Hamas' commando naval forces," the IDF said. The soldiers were assisted by Israeli Navy vessels and aircraft.IDF forces exited the area after the raid was carried out.Hamas terrorists in a statement claimed to have repelled the Israeli raid from the sea.IDF earlier said it killed the commander of Hamas' West Khan Younis Battalion, Madhat Mubasher, in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip.Mubasher "took part in sniper attacks and was responsible for large explosive devices [used] against IDF forces and Israeli towns," according to the military.Separately, IDF said it carried out more than 250 airstrikes against Hamas targets in the past day.Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo The legacy media’s widely panned coverage of last week's Gaza hospital explosion raised eyebrows across the globe and resulted in multiple corrections and editor’s notes. National Center for Audio and Video Forensics founder David Notowitz, who sniffs out deceptive and misleading evidence for a living, was among the many who were stunned anyone allowed the Hamas-backed Gaza Health Ministry to set the initial framing of the story.Notowitz believes the media backlash could have been avoided if journalists simply followed the common-sense methods he uses when determining the trustworthiness of evidence and sources."Hamas is not a reliable news source, ever.Now, you should be skeptical of anything they give you.It might be real, but you should be skeptical.Skeptical of any videos, any stills, any news they give you. It could be accurate, but check your sources and check other sources other than them," Notowitz told Fox News Digital."A missile was shot off from Gaza intending to reach Jews.It misfired, landed in a parking lot in the Gaza hospital.Immediately, Hamas Health Ministry announced it was the fault of the IDF.And immediately, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, they all swallowed it. They didn't even look into it," Notowitz added."They didn't try to get other opinions… way too quick on them for doing that." Fox News Digital's Brian Flood contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo A Hamas official said Friday that the Palestinian terrorist group cannot release the hostages it has captured during its war with Israel until a ceasefire deal is reached, a report says.The Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted Abu Hamid – a member of a Hamas delegation visiting Moscow – as saying that Hamas needs to locate where Palestinian factions have taken the hostages inside the Gaza Strip, according to Reuters."They seized dozens of people, most of them civilians, and we need time to find them in the Gaza Strip and then release them," Hamid reportedly said, noting that a calm environment was needed to do so.The development comes as the number of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists has risen to 229, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Brig. Gen.Daniel Hagari said Friday.Friday's number is five more than the 224 hostages reported on Thursday, and the number is likely to change as various operations continue to unfold, Hagari said.Since Hamas began taking hostages during its Oct.7 attack on Israel, only four have been released from custody – a mother-daughter duo from the Chicago area and two elderly Israeli women. Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo The U.S.on Friday lobbed additional sanctions against the Palestinian terror group Hamas after the Oct.7 terror attack on Israel, which started a war.The U.S.Treasury Department said in a statement the measures targeted additional assets in a Hamas investment portfolio and people facilitating sanctions evasion by Hamas-affiliated companies, including a Hamas official in Iran and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.A Gaza-based entity that Treasury said has served as a conduit for illicit Iranian funds to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group was also targeted, the department said. Iran backs Hamas and other militant groups in the Middle East."Hamas has built their own illicit networks for terror by taking many of the same steps the Kremlin is taking to avoid our financial sanctions.And much like many Russian elites, senior Hamas officials often live in luxury, while the average Gazan faces dire living conditions," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wall Adeyemo said in a speech Friday announcing the sanctions."Almost immediately after its horrific attacks, Hamas solicited donations to fund its continued terrorist activities," he said."Our goal is to cut off those financial resources, while ensuring humanitarian aid can continue to flow to the Palestinian people in Gaza." Reuters contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Qatari Ambassador to the U.S.Meshal bin Hamad al Thani met with an Israeli man whose wife and three children are currently held captive by Hamas in Gaza, Fox News has confirmed. The ambassador met with Avichai Brodutch, a member of Kibbutz Kfar Gaza, whose wife Hagar and three children, Ofri, 10, Yuval, 8, and Uria, 4, were kidnapped in the Oct.7 terror attack on Israel.Brodach thanked the ambassador for Qatar's mediation efforts to free hostages held in Gaza.This is the first official meeting of a senior Qatari representative with an Israel family since the outbreak of the war."As a parent, a father of three children held by Hamas in Gaza, I hope Qatar will continue its efforts to immediately return home my wife and three children, and the more than 30 children held hostage by Hamas," Brodutch said. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm.Daniel Hagari revealed earlier there are 224 hostages in Hamas' custody as of Thursday morning, and all families have been notified.Fox News' Aishah Hasnie, Yonat Friling and Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Israel's military has vowed to "reveal evidence" that Hamas terrorists are exploiting civilian locations to carry out attacks, an official said.Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), said during a press briefing Friday morning that Israel continued its offensive activity "from the land, air and sea last night with an emphasis on the Shejaiya neighborhood, which is one of the major terrorist strongholds of Hamas." The IDF killed Hamas operatives and destroyed rocket launch sites, he said."In the coming hours we will reveal evidence that shows Hamas's use of humanitarian facilities for terrorist infrastructures in a way that endangers the citizens of Gaza" he added."I repeat, we will expose these materials that connect Hamas to the cynical use it makes of humanitarian facilities."Hagari also updated the number of deceased IDF soldiers to 310 and the number of hostages to 229."We continue to put in the most effort – the civilian effort, the operational effort, the intelligence effort to do one thing – bringing the hostages home is the highest priority," he said.Hagari added, "Hamas prefers, at any point in time, to endanger the residents of the Gaza Strip in order to protect terrorists.At every point, he prefers to get food, electricity and medical equipment to Hamas terrorists than to the citizens of Gaza who are not involved in the war. We will expose these evidence and bring them to the attention of the world and the public."Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the ground invasion of Gaza is "close" and that the world should prepare for a lengthy battle to eradicate Hamas in the Palestinian territory."It's not a question of weeks, but a question of months," Gallant told Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst on Friday.Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza and launched several small-scale ground incursions to hit terrorist targets.But a full-scale invasion to eradicate Hamas, promised after the Oct.7 terrorist attacks in which 1,400 Israelis were brutally murdered, has so far not come to fruition.Gallant said he cannot give a precise date for the start of the operation, but plans are underway for the Israelis to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas and its governing capabilities. The army's mission is to return some 229 hostages to their families, secure Israel's southern area and deter Israel's adversaries in the region from joining the war."I'm the son of holocaust survivors," Gallant said."I'm not going to let it happen again."Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo A top British government minister who represented the U.K.at the U.N.Security Council this week says he is seeing positive signs at the international body amid efforts to find common ground on ways to resolve the crisis that erupted from the Hamas terror attack on Israel."The U.N.is an opportunity, a place where you expose difference in order to try to find solutions. So you shouldn't walk in expecting to find unanimity, you should walk in expecting to find difference so that you can find areas of common ground that you work on," Tom Tugendhat, the U.K.Minister of State for Security, told Fox News Digital in an interview.Tugendhat took the U.K.chair for the Security Council for a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, and used it to express British support for its ally Israel."The U.K.stands resolutely with Israel in defending itself against terror," he told the Council."We are clear that it must act in line with international humanitarian law and take every possible step to avoid harming civilians. We have given that message to Israel as a friend and ally, and we restate that position in this Council."Tugendhat told Fox News Digital after the meeting that there were two clear messages that emerged from the gathering and his discussions with other governments' officials."The first is Israel's right to self-defense," he said."It is simply unacceptable that the state of Israel should have to be there to get murdered by Palestinian terrorists, Hamas, every few weeks, months or years.That's clearly unacceptable.The second thing is that the Palestinian people should not suffer for the fact that Hamas has occupied and controlled that territory for… 30 or so years and therefore, finding ways in which we can get aid in through the Rafah crossing and support Palestinian civilians is incredibly important.""Is that the answer to all it?No, but that is a good place to start building on the direction of travel," he said.Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo An emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the Israel-Hamas war will resume Friday morning, with about 100 speakers remaining.“Stop the bombs and save lives!” the Palestinian ambassador demanded Thursday at the U.N. meeting as Israel continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes.However, the Israeli envoy declared again, "We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated." The war sparked by Gaza’s Hamas rulers’ surprise attacks on Israel on Oct.7 played out in the vast hall of the 193-nation General Assembly, where Arab nations expected to adopt a resolution Friday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza after the Security Council’s four failed attempts to agree on any action.At the assembly’s resumed emergency special session, speaker after speaker backed the Arab resolution’s cease-fire call — except for Israel’s U.N.Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who told the 193-member world body, “A cease-fire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again.”The non-binding Arab resolution will get a vote Friday afternoon.It calls for an immediate cease-fire and demands that all parties respect international law and protect civilians. The Associated Press contributed to this update.Posted by Chris Pandolfo The U.S.military conducted airstrikes on two facilities in eastern Syria on Thursday in response to ongoing attacks against American military personnel in Iraq and Syria over the past week, according to the Department of Defense.A pair of F-16s targeted two facilities – a weapons depot and an ammo storage area – near Abu Kamal used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups, a senior U.S.defense official told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin.It's unclear if there were any Iranian militants at the facilities when they were hit.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Thursday night that the U.S.does not seek conflict, but the "Iranian-backed attacks" on American forces are "unacceptable and must stop.""Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them," Austin said."If attacks by Iran’s proxies against U.S.forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people."There have been 19 attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct.17, including three additional attacks on Thursday, according to Brig.Gen. Pat Ryder.A U.S.contractor died from a cardiac incident while sheltering in place during the attacks and 21 American troops were injured – all of whom have since returned to duty, Austin said.Posted by Elizabeth Pritchett Israel Defense Forces said an airstrike killed Madhath Mubashar, the commander of Hamas' Western Khan Yunis battalion.Mubasher is accused of taking part in explosives and sniper attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilian communities."Furthermore, the IDF struck 250+ Hamas targets including a terrorist tunnel network in Gaza that detonated the secondary explosions," the IDF said.Earlier, IDF said they eliminated a top Hamas intelligence official in an airstrike in Gaza on Thursday.Israel identified the official as Shadi Barud, deputy head of Hamas' Intelligence Directorate.He is one of several senior Hamas officials to be killed in Gaza in recent days."Shadi Barud, Deputy Head of Hamas’ Intelligence Directorate has been eliminated by an IDF aerial strike," the Israeli military wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter."He took part in the planning of the October 7 massacre and countless other deadly attacks carried out against Israelis.""We will continue to strike and eliminate Hamas leaders and operatives responsible for the barbaric attacks," it added.Posted by Elizabeth Pritchett Fighter jets hit more than 250 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to Israel Defense Forces Thursday morning.The IDF said it struck Hamas infrastructure, operational command centers, tunnel shafts and rocket launchers "placed in the heart of civilian areas" that have fired toward Israeli territory since the terrorist group launched its attack on Oct. 7.In addition to the airstrikes, the Israeli navy also took down a Hamas surface-to-air missile launch post in the Khan Yunis area."The post is located adjacent to a mosque and kindergarten, which is further proof that Hamas deliberately uses civilian sites for terror purposes," the IDF said.IDF spokesperson Rear Adm.Daniel Hagari also revealed there are 224 hostages in Hamas' custody as of Thursday morning, and all families have been notified."The effort to release the hostages is still a high priority in any possible way," Hagari said.Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.Posted by Chris Pandolfo Israel launched a second brief incursion into Gaza overnight Thursday, Fox News correspondents reported from Tel Aviv Friday morning.The Israel Defense Forces said Hamas terrorist targets were struck by ground troops, fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles over the past 24 hours.There were no injuries reported by the Israeli military and the troops were quickly out of the area.Targets hit by the IDF include anti-tank missile launch sites, command and control centers, and Hamas operatives, according to the force.The brief ground incursion mostly impacted the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip, according to Fox News' Mike Tobin, and marked the second consecutive night of such operations ahead of a looming invasion.“I think preparation of the battlefield is the precise word to use there.That’s what we are getting from the Israelis,” Tobin reported from Tel Aviv at 10 a.m.Friday.Posted by Elizabeth Pritchett U.S. military forces are maneuvering ships throughout the Middle East to amass one of the largest collections of war ships in the region in decades, according to reports.Making its way halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is moving toward a group of U.S.naval ships in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.Once there, it will make its way through the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf.The fleet consists of the USS Gravely and USS Mason, both destroyers, and the USS Philippine Sea, a guided-missile cruiser.The strike group was first tasked to join the USS Gerald R.Ford Carrier Strike Group in the Eastern Mediterranean, but it has since been issued the change of plans.Once the fleet reaches the Persian Gulf, it will mark the first time since the evacuation of Afghanistan that a U.S.carrier strike group will operate in the Middle East.U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) News reported that France is also sending an amphibious warship to join U.S.and U.K.forces as a deterrence to keep the war between Israel and Gaza from spreading to other parts of the region.On Tuesday, U.S.Department of Defense spokesperson Brig.Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed that the New Jersey Air National Guard's 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived within U.S.Central Command's area of responsibility, adding additional F-16 fighting Falcon Squadrons into the mix to deter further aggression in the region.The U.S.Navy announced last week it would be sending the USS Mount Whitney to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as tensions in the Middle East rise amid the Israel-Hamas war.The ship left Gaeta, Italy last week to join the USS Gerald R.Ford Carrier Strike Group.Also in the area is a special operations capable Marine rapid response force of nearly 2,000 Marines and sailors known as the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is moving closer to Israel via the Red Sea. The group includes the amphibious ready groups USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall.Posted by Elizabeth Pritchett Live Coverage begins here