Israel pushes deeper into Gaza as UN estimates 15,000 flee South

New York City saw an increase in hate crimes during the month of October, largely driven by a spike in anti-Jewish incidents amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) released its monthly crime statistics for October on Wednesday, which showed an overall downward trend in hard crimes across the Big Apple.

Even though crimes like shootings, murders, burglaries and grand larcenies were decreasing, the five boroughs saw a rise in bias incidents that were investigated by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force.

Click here to read the full article by Greg Wehner

WARNING: This post contains disturbing content

Israeli authorities are interviewing witnesses about reported sex crimes committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

One eyewitness said that she she saw a young woman, who attempted to hide, be raped and murdered by the terrorists. At least two Hamas terrorists, who had military uniforms on, were involved in the gang rape.

“They bent someone over,” the witness said. “I realized he was raping her and passing her on to someone else also in uniform.”

The article also details that volunteers from the Orthodox organization Zaka recovered bodies of women who showed signs of sexual trauma.

Two family members of Hamas abductees joined “Your World” on Wednesday to discuss the October 7 attacks and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Speaking to Fox News host Neil Cavuto, Merav Raviv and Itay Raviv explained that their family members were forcibly taken from a kibbutz on October 7. Merav’s uncle and aunt were kidnapped, along with their daughter and grandson.

“My uncle and his wife… their only grandson, Ohad, [who] just turned nine on the 23rd of October. On that weekend. It was a holiday, the long weekend in Israel,” Merav explained. “Karen and Ohad just came to visit grandma and grandpa for the weekend, right? And they found themselves in that horrible Saturday morning.”

Itay spoke about the Re’im music festival massacre, and noted that Hamas terrorists killed Palestinians, Muslims and Christians in addition to Israelis.

“They just want to exterminate all Jewish people and they want to exterminate Israel, as they said bluntly and to the open as many times as possible,” Itay said. “And the world hasn’t understood it enough, apparently.”

“But I think the number one goal should be first to release all the hostages, because this is just a cynical game that they’re playing. They’re saying, ‘we will release hostages only if you have a cease fire,'” he added. “On October 6th, there was a ceasefire.”

A pro-Israel protester who claims to have witnessed the fatal altercation that killed Jewish man Paul Kessler at dueling California rallies Sunday told Fox News Digital that the unnamed suspect “tried to bait” the elderly man.

Jonathan Oswaks, a Jewish-American befriended Kessler at earlier “We Stand With Israel” events in Thousand Oaks. Oswaks, also 69, was pictured carrying American and Gadsen flags alongside Kessler hours before the fatal fall in footage provided to Fox News Digital.

He said Tuesday that he witnessed the altercation between the two protesters firsthand. Oswaks said that, after shouting directly in Kessler’s face with his megaphone, the 50-year-old suspect suddenly punched the elderly man in the face with the bullhorn. 

Click here to read the full article by Christina Coulter

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered remarks on the Israel-Hamas war on Thursday while in Tokyo for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

In his speech, Blinken stressed the need to “begin setting the conditions for durable peace and security and to frame our diplomatic efforts” in order to prevent another conflict from arising.

“The United States believes key elements should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Not now, not after the war,” he explained. “No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.”

“We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank,” Blinken added. “We must also work on the affirmative elements to get to a sustained peace.”

The official also referenced the need to weigh “the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza.”

“It must include Palestinian led governance in Gaza, unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority,” he asserted. “And it must include a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity.”

A former player in the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League was filmed signing the “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute at a pro-Israel demonstrator group in Los Angeles. 

Stefany Ferrer Van Ginkel was the passenger in a vehicle riding by a pro-Israel demonstration when she flashed the Nazi salute, raising her right arm, which was seen on a video posted to StopAntisemitism on X. 

“Shame on you,” one demonstrator yelled back at Ferrer Van Ginkel during the Beverly Hills rally. 

Click here to read the full article by Scott Thompson

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said it was “concerning” that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t immediately condemn those tearing down posters of kidnapped Israelis during Tuesday’s press briefing, but said he was “happy” to see a statement later posted to social media.

Jean-Pierre received backlash after she dodged a question on whether widely shared videos of youth tearing down posters of Israel hostages being held by Hamas terrorists should be condemned.

“I’ve sorta kinda seen the reporting,” the press secretary said. She went on to block further questioning on the matter and declared, “I’m just not going to go into specifics on that particular thing.” However, she later acknowledged these incidents of vandalism as “wrong and hurtful,” in a post on X.

Click here to read the full article by Kristine Parks

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett slammed the U.S. and other governments’ proposals that Israel should take a three-day pause in fighting Hamas, so they can get humanitarian aid into Gaza as well as negotiate getting hostages back from the terror group.

During an MSNBC interview with anchor Andrea Mitchell, Bennett – who also served as Chief of Staff for current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – criticized the proposal as a “very bad idea.”

He insisted that will only serve to give Hamas time to regroup from Israel’s retaliatory strikes following the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre inside the country.

Click here
to read the full article by Gabriel Hays

U.S. military forces conducted an airstrike against a weapons facility in Syria Wednesday in retaliation for dozens of attacks against US bases in the region over the past several weeks.

U.S. troops in the Middle East have been attacked at least 42 times since mid-October, with two new attacks happening in the last 24 hours.

A U.S. defense official has confirmed the developments to Fox News on Wednesday. The recent attacks on U.S. bases began on October 17th, amid turmoil in the Middle East from the Israel-Hamas war.

American troops in Iraq and Syria has been repeatedly attacked by groups likely backed by Iran. Militants have been firing one-way drones and rockets.

The official explained that the newest attacks did not injure personnel or damage infrastructure. One of the incidents occurred at the al-Shaddadi base in Syria, while the other happened in Iraq.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III released a statement about the recent airstrikes on Wednesday.

“Today, at President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups,” the statement read. “This strike was conducted by two U.S. F-15s against a weapons storage facility. This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates.”

“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” the statement added.

Fox News Digital’s Liz Friden contributed to this report.

NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby appeared on “The Story” Wednesday to discuss the latest developments with the Israel-Hamas war.

During his interview with Fox News host Martha Maccallum, Kirby contradicted Palestinian supporters’ claims that the Israeli government is engaging in genocide.

“[Genocide is] a word that we absolutely would not ascribe to what’s going on inside Gaza,” Kirby asserted. “That is not the goal of Israeli military forces: it’s to go after Hamas…to ascribe what Israel is doing as genocide is is simply untrue, false and doesn’t doesn’t subscribe to the definition of what genocide is.”

“That said, Hamas very much has genocidal intentions,” the official added. “Their whole purpose is to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And their purpose on [October 7th] was to do nothing but slaughter and take hostages. That is a genocidal war.”

A U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News that the Iranian-backed Houthis shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone near the Yemeni coast, as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

“We can confirm that a U.S. military MQ-9 remotely-piloted aircraft was shot down while in international airspace over international waters off the coast of Yemen,” the official said. “U.S. Central Command officials are assessing the incident.”

The MQ-9 Reaper drone was reportedly surveilling Yemen when a Houthi militia fired at it. The drone is estimated to cost around $30 million.

The last time a MQ-9 Reaper was shot down by Houthi fighters was on June 6, 2019. The Biden administration removed the Houthis from the US list of terrorist groups in 2021.

Fox News Digital’s Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report

They are living the Hamas high life.

While the people of Gaza live in poverty and have suffered under the horrors of Hamas, the terror group’s leaders apparently are living high on the hog.

Israeli officials say Hamas leaders are billionaires, amassing an overwhelming jackpot of terror money for themselves.

“It’s just really the numbers that are shocking, looking at the sheer amount of money that some of these terror chiefs have been able to sock away,” Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at The Foundation For Defense of Democracies told Fox News.

Click here to read the full article by Eric Shawn

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) have gathered evidence showing that Hamas terrorists exploit civilian areas in Gaza, as the war continues.

“The Hamas terrorist organization exploits ambulances, hospitals, clinics, mosques, and schools for terrorist purposes,” the IDF said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “Hamas also uses ambulances to transfer weapons and terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip.”

“This is another example of how the Hamas terrorist organization exploits civilian infrastructure and uses civilians as human shields,” the statement added.

The IDF also released quotes from an ISA investigation of Hamas terrorists that planned the October 7 attacks.

“During combat, the ambulances are used, among other things, to evacuate fighters – commanders and operatives,” the report read. “They also transport food, cargo and weapons in them because that is the safest way to transport them.” 

“Most senior Hamas political and military officials are hiding in the hospitals, especially the Shifa Hospital,” the statement added. “They take advantage of the hospitals so that they will not be bombed.”

Fox News Digital’s Dana Karni contributed to this report

New York City residents were seen lining up outside an Upper East Side coffee shop Tuesday after the store’s entire barista staff quit because of the owner’s support for Israel, according to reports.

FOX 5 in New York City reported that customers were lined up around the block at Caffè Aronne after news spread that the shop’s baristas walked out.

The coffee slingers allegedly walked out after the owner, Aaron Daham, posted pictures of the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.

Click here to read the full article by Greg Wehner

Brazilian authorities, working with Israeli intelligence, foiled a plot by Hezbollah to orchestrate attacks on Jews in the South American country, officials said Wednesday. 

Brazil’s Federal Police arrested two people suspected of being financed by the Lebanon-based and Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group to commit domestic attacks and to recruit Brazilian citizens, Reuters reported.

“The Federal Police is carrying out an investigation based on the hypothesis of a terrorist network that was trying to install itself in Brazil,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino said at an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Click here to read the full article by Louis Casiano

A French court has approved the deportation of Palestinian activist Mariam Abudaqa, who came to France for a speaking tour in September and was put under house arrest after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

The ruling, which overturns a court decision last month that the interior minister appealed, said 72-year-old Abudaqa, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was “likely to seriously disturb public order.”

The French government has cracked down on expressions of solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack which killed 1,400 people, banning protests, canceling events and accusing some pro-Palestinian groups of condoning terrorism.

Click here to read the full article by Reuters

Anti-Israel protesters interrupted Jewish students and other witnesses testifying before Congress about the rise of antisemitism and anti-conservative bias on college campuses Wednesday.

Right as Connor Ogrydziak, recent graduate of the University of Buffalo, began his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing slated to discuss “freedom of speech on college campuses,” a protester stood up in the gallery with sign saying “pro Palestine does not equal antisemitism.”

“Silencing anti-Zionist Jewish and Arab students is not about battling antisemitism,” the protester shouted, as Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gaveled for the committee to remain in order.

Accusing politicians of “genocide,” the protester cited the estimated 10,000 people Hamas claims have died in Gaza. Police officers escorted the protester out, while another demonstrator began shouting about the censure of far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, over her use of the antisemitic chant “from the river to the sea” that promises to erase Israel from the map. Jordan promised those who interrupted the hearing would be ousted, as more demonstrators, donning red hands, accused Israel of “apartheid.” 

Click here to read the full article by Danielle Wallace

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the Biden administration is continuing to see an “alarming trend of antisemitic threats and attacks targeting Jewish communities across the country.” 

Jean-Pierre cited “disturbing acts like ripping down posters of Jewish-held hostages by Hamas, vandalizing Jewish institutions, threatening to commit acts of violence against Jewish students, Jewish faith leaders and Jewish communities” and that it is “completely, completely unacceptable.” 

“The president strongly condemns these brazen acts of antisemitism and has repeatedly made clear targeting Jews because of their beliefs or their identity is unacceptable,” she continued. “Make no mistake, we will continue to speak out against hate of every, every dimension.” 

Click here to read the full article by Greg Norman

Missouri Democrat Cori Bush tore into colleagues during an emotional rant defending Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.,on Tuesday, as the fellow “Squad” member faced a House censure vote over anti-Israel rhetoric.

The outspoken progressive blasted the “reckless” speech criticizing Tlaib, accusing her colleagues of targeting “Black and Brown people” “who look like” the Michigan Democrat.

“It’s outrageous my colleagues are blatantly, blatantly attempting to silence the only Palestinian-American representative right here. It’s outrageous but it’s not surprising. Let me tell you, it’s not surprising because this place is where 1,700 members of Congress, this elected body, enslaved Black people,” Bush, said, growing increasingly emotional.

Click here to read the full article by Kristine Parks

A Democratic congressman appeared on “Outnumbered”
to discuss rampant antisemitism in the U.S. amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., told Fox News co-host Kayleigh McEnany that he personally experienced antisemitism at his synagogue, where protestors shouted “Kill the Jews” while wearing ski masks.

“You can criticize the Israeli government. But to be clear, when you’re talking about removing Jews from the Earth, that is hatred that we have not seen since the Holocaust,” Moskowitz said. “And we are never going back. Jews are going to speak up. We are going to fight back.”

“We have learned from history and we’re done being silent when we see this level of hatred,” he added.

The Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister of Iran calling the October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel a day of “epic valor,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili praised the attacks a library event honoring the Palestinian people on October 24.

The Iranian official said that the surprise attacks against Israel were an “unprecedented epic of valor in the historical memory of the region and in the struggles of the Muslim people of Palestine.” Esmaili added that the “number of dead Zionists is unprecedented in history.”

“The issue of Gaza has become a global issue. In previous decades, because of the shortage of media outlets, the Zionists could control public opinion with false propaganda,” Esmaili said. “However, in recent years, and especially [in light of] what happened [the October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel and the Israel-Gaza war], this issue has been taken from the Zionists’ [control].”

“As a result, the atmosphere is one of public protest against Israel’s actions across Europe, America, and the Islamic countries,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says that, for the first time in the country’s history, an entire reserve division is maneuvering in the Gaza Strip.

The forces have reportedly secured Beit Hanoun by demolishing Hamas tunnels and killing terrorists. The reserve has been operating since October 7, after the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“This is a defining moment for the division and for the entire reserve array in which a reserve division maneuvers alongside the regular divisions and proves the strength and quality of the IDF, in both regular and reserve service,” Commanding Officer of the 252nd Division, BG Moran Omer, said in a statement. “We have been preparing for this for years, it is our duty to now restore peace and security to our civilians.”

“Our reservists and their families are the expression of our unity, of being willing to defend our people as much as necessary, and of getting only one result – determined in every encounter with the enemy – until victory,” he added.

Fox News Digital’s Dana Karni contributed to this report.

Opinion article by Judith Miller

Hamas seems to have made two fundamental miscalculations in staging its barbaric October 7 attack on Israel.

First, its leadership clearly assumed that the United States would not continue to support Israel if it killed enough of the Palestinians whom Hamas has been using as human shields to protect its command centers and underground tunnel networks in Gaza.

Second, Hamas apparently assumed that if enough Palestinians in Gaza died in Israeli bombing, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its patron Iran would escalate the conflict by opening a second front in the war, a scenario that has clearly worried both Israel and Washington.

Both calculations might still prove valid if Palestinian deaths and suffering in Gaza continue to command the world’s attention and spark increasing outrage, but Hamas’s hope that Iran and Hezbollah, which has de facto control of Lebanon, would escalate the conflict to defend Hamas and the Palestinians of Gaza seems to be misplaced.

Democratic power broker and New Jersey businessman George Norcross has doubled down on his decision to display an American-Israeli flag at a Philadelphia Eagles game over the weekend, and has disputed the team’s characterization that he was “physically and verbally abusive” toward stadium staff. 

In a piece written by Norcross and published on USA Today, the political boss explained his refusal
to remove the flag, which was displayed just outside a private box at Lincoln Financial Field during Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Norcross said he informed security that he would not take it down or allow the flag to be removed “because it was important to make a clear statement that America was standing by its longtime ally, Israel, after 1,400 of its citizens were brutally murdered and hostages were taken by the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7.”

He wrote that he believed the flag was in line with the team’s statement from last month condemning the attacks, but was instead met with “almost a dozen security staff jammed into the box.” 

“One aggressively went to rip off the flag. I stood up to block him and made it clear – loudly – that the flag would remain, and he could leave.”

Norcross alleged his arm was “twisted” behind his back and he was “paraded out of the stadium in front of thousands as the flag was torn down and crumpled in view of the crowd.” 

“It is still unclear to me how the flag could be deemed ‘obscene or indecent’ or otherwise inappropriate.” 

Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report

Jewish Rep. Brad Schneider was one 22 Democrats to vote alongside Republicans to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib
 over her anti-Israel remarks.

Tlaib was censured in a 234 to 188 vote on Tuesday night in a formal condemnation of her anti-Israel sentiment after she posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, using the controversial pro-Palestine slogan “From the river to the sea.”

“That is not coded language,” Schneider told “America’s Newsroom” Wednesday. “It was the chant, a rallying cry of the PLO in 1964, before Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza. It was the rallying cry and still is today of Hamas. It’s calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of Jews.”

“We’re elected representatives. We have an expectation to measure our words, to be considerate and to think about what we say and when we make mistakes, to stand up and correct them, and when a colleague refuses to do that and is throwing gasoline on a fire, that needs to be countered and addressed, and the record needs to be corrected,” the Illinois Democrat continued. 

Critics argue the chant supports the annihilation of the Jewish state, although Tlaib has pushed back on those accusations, claiming to support “peaceful coexistence” for both Israelis and Palestinians. 

“‘From the river to the sea’ is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “My work and advocacy has always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”

Fox News’ Bailee Hill contributed to this report

As the Israeli military shores up its strategic positions in northern Gaza, preparing to enter deeper into Hamas’ stronghold of Gaza City, one of the key points of battle, the army has indicated, is likely to be the Palestinian enclave’s largest medical center: al-Shifa Hospital.

 According to declassified intelligence materials shared with the media in recent weeks by IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, even as the hospital treats a growing number of wounded Gazans, Hamas terrorists operate beside it and beneath it in a labyrinth of tunnels that form the group’s military headquarters.

“Hamas uses hospitals as terror infrastructures,” said Hagari, showing satellite imagery of the compound highlighting the areas where the IDF believes Hamas has forged tunnel shafts and hidden weapons. “Hamas has turned hospitals into command and control centers and uses it as hideouts for terrorists and commanders.”

“Above ground, Al-Shifa is a hospital but below ground is something else,” Itamar Ya’ar, a former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council and a retired IDF colonel, told Fox News Digital.

He said al-Shifa had now become a stark “symbol” of the battle between Israel and Hamas.  

Fox News’ Ruth Marks Eglash contributed to this report

The Israeli State Attorney’s Office announced that a formal investigation of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel is underway on Wednesday.

The investigation is tasked with determining how the attack came as such a surprise to the Israelis as well as identifying all of the Hamas terrorists involved.

“It can be said at this stage, that the acts of horror are being investigated in the close cooperation of the General Security Service, the police of israel and the IDF, and that the investigation is being carried out in the close accompaniment of the Attorney General and his people, and under the supervision of the legal advisor to the government,” the attorney’s office said in a statement.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in Gaza and kill every member of the organization who played a role in the Oct. 7 massacre, which left at least 1,400 people dead.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza as “clearly wrong” on Wednesday, citing Hamas-provided civilian death tolls.

Guterres made the comments in an interview with Reuters, saying Israel was doing itself no favors with regard to “global public opinion.” Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in Gaza, and its leaders have rejected all calls for a cease-fire.

“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong,” Guterres said.

“It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people,” Guterres said. “That doesn’t help Israel in relation to the global public opinion.”

Israel on Wednesday denied that there is a humanitarian crisis within Gaza, despite reports from on the ground indicating otherwise.

Reuters contributed to this report

The Israeli military claimed there is currently no humanitarian crisis in Gaza on Wednesday, despite reports from on the ground indicating otherwise.

Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst interviewed an Israeli military spokesman who made the claim on Wednesday. Yingst, who has been on the ground in Gaza and spoken with doctors and other sources there, contested the spokesman’s claim.

“We know, and I can say for sure, there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the official said. “Obviously, the situation is not easy.”

“I would push back on that, sir. You’re saying there’s no humanitarian crisis in Gaza?” Yingst pressed.

“I am saying once again: There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the official repeated. “I know the situation is not easy, but we are in a war.”

Yingst spoke with a medical director of a Gaza hospital earlier Wednesday who stated that they had almost completely run out of supplies, particularly those for cancer patients.

The United Nations has also sounded alarms about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying many residents have little food and dwinding access to shelter.

Three progressive House Democrats are calling on congressional leaders in both parties to condemn “anti-Muslim” and “anti-Palestinian hate” they said is growing more pervasive in U.S. politics.

Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and André Carson, D-Ind., the only three Muslim lawmakers in the House, also singled out a new bill introduced by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., aimed at expelling Palestinians from the U.S.

“Let’s be clear: using the full power of the state to target and persecute a particular ethnic group or nationality is fascism and pure bigotry,” the joint statement said on Tuesday afternoon. “Unfortunately, this legislation is part of a growing tide of bigoted anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian hate pervading our politics.”

In addition to Zinke’s bill, they singled out Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling to “level” the Gaza Strip, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, warning Gaza would be “turned into a parking lot,” and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., for comparing Palestinian civilians to Nazis. That comment also put Mast on the receiving end of a Democratic censure resolution.

“This targeting does not just put Palestinian-American lives at risk, but all Muslim-Americans, Arab-Americans, Sikhs, and other people of color who share our identities,” the progressives said.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report

South Africa will call in Israeli ambassador Eliav Belotsercovsky to issue him with a “demarche”, or formal reprimand, a senior foreign policy official said on Wednesday.

“The demarche will be asked for hopefully by today. Not sure when he will come in,” Zane Dangor, the director-general of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told Reuters in a text message.

Dangor gave no further details of the demarche, a protest issued through diplomatic channels, and did not specify the reason for the reprimand.

South Africa criticized the ambassador this week over public comments he made, but did not specify what he had said.

South Africa has also recalled its diplomats from Israel to assess its relationship with the country as civilian casualties rise in Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The ambassador of Israel has been making a number of comments … without having had any discussion with senior members of the government of South Africa,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Monday.

Reuters contributed to this report

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., says President Biden has been “weake” in his efforts to prevent Iran from joining the war against Israel.

Mills made the statement during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News. Recent polling shows that 63% of Americans disapprove of how Biden has handled the Israel-Hamas war so far.

He and Secretary of State Tony Blinken have warned Iran to stay out of the clonflict, but U.s. bases in Iraq and Syria have nevertheless suffered dozens of attacks by Iranian proxies in recent weeks.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. believes there should be “no reoccupation of Gaza” after the Israel-Hamas war despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting that his country will likely control the territory’s security for an “indefinite period.” 

Blinken, speaking Wednesday following a Group of Seven meeting in Tokyo, told reporters, “Ultimately, the only way to ensure that this crisis never happens again, is to begin setting the conditions for durable peace and security and to frame our diplomatic efforts. 

“Now, with that in mind, the United States believes key elements should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not now, not after the war,” he said. “No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism. Or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict hence, no attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank.” 

Blinked added he has heard from Israeli leaders that “they have no intent to reoccupy Gaza and retake control of that” but “the only question is, is there some transition period that might be necessary, and what might be the mechanisms that you could put in place for that, to make sure that there is security.” 

The remarks come after Netanyahu said Israel will likely control Gaza’s security for an “indefinite period” following the end of its war on Hamas. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report

Palestinian officials now say more than 10,300 people have been killed
in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which entered its second month of fighting earlier this week. The humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-governed territory is expected to worsen and the staggering death toll – already three times higher than the number of American civilians killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks – is expected to rise as Israel’s ground invasion through Gaza City continues.

United Nations officials have stepped up their appeals for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, where whole communities have been destroyed and families are struggling for any semblance of normal life. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll includes about 4,000 children as basic supplies are running out and health care facilities are unable to tend to the wounded.

The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom,” U.N. health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. “Every day, you think it is the worst day and then the next day is worse.”

Israel declared war on Hamas after the terror group led an invasion into southern Israel on Oct. 7, and terrorists gunned down, slaughtered and burned 1,400 people in Israeli border towns, mostly civilians. Hamas also took approximately 240 hostages.

Israel’s war on Hamas entered its second month on Tuesday.

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report

Liberal and conservative commentators sounded off online after the House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for her support of antisemitic rhetoric.

Twenty-two Democrats voted with 212 Republicans to censure Tlaib after she was criticized for sharing a video on social platform X that included the phrase “From the river to the sea,” a pro-Palestinian used by Hamas that implies the destruction of Israel.

“If this is not worthy of censure, what is? When you can call for the annihilation of a country and its people, if that’s not worthy of a censure, what is?” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said on the House floor Tuesday.

Some prominent supporters of Tlaib
spoke out against her censure online.

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan said that with so many Palestinians killed in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks on Israeli, American and other citizens, the censure of Tlaib was hard to believe. “10,000-plus Palestinians killed, including 4,000-plus kids, and the U.S. House of Representatives is busy censuring… the only Palestinian-American member,” Hasan wrote. “Can’t make this stuff up.”

He called out Republicans for their rhetoric over Gaza. “For the record, Republican Congressman Max Miller said Gaza would be turned into a ‘parking lot.’ GOP Congressman Brian Mast said Palestinian civilians are like Nazis. Republican senators Graham and Cotton said ‘level’ Gaza and ‘bounce the rubble.’ But they censured Tlaib.”

Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report

Israel’s former prime minister denounced the idea of offering a military “pause” or cease-fire with Hamas, saying it would be inviting the enemy to rearm, strategize and inflict even more pain on the Israeli people.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
said Israel is party to an “inevitable war to eliminate Hamas” and that there is no backing down until the terror threat is gone.

“There’s no way that we can accept the terrorist state that did what it did on our border,” he said, adding a pause will lengthen the war and bring about all the negative repercussions associated with a drawn-out conflict, like the human toll.

He compared it to a scenario in which the Allies would ask Axis powers for a cease-fire in the closing months of World War II.

“It would be tantamount to, say, January 1945, that the Allies would tell Germany, ‘You know what, we’re going to pause the war for a few days. Take your time — we don’t want to hurt civilians,'” Bennett said.

“And the war would have continued into 1946, 1947. The best way to save lives is to accelerate the war, beat Hamas and this whole nightmare will be over.”

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they disapprove of President Biden’s handling of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, according to an Associated Press poll released Wednesday.

While Americans overwhelmingly support Israel’s war against Hamas, they showed less support for the U.S. providing military aid to Israel in the conflict. Roughly 56% of Americans say Israel’s response to Hamas Oct. 7 massacre is about right or has not gone far enough, the poll found.

Meanwhile, only a third of Americans approve of how Biden has responded to the conflict, with 63% saying they disapprove, a figure that mirrors his approval rating more generally.

The AP poll of 1,239 adults was conducted Nov. 2-6, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and the Associated Press contributed to this report

The United Nations estimates that some 15,000 people fled south from northern Gaza on Tuesday as Israel continued its campaign against Hamas terrorists in Gaza city.

Footage circulating on social media appeared to show a convoy of thousands of Gazans waving white flags as they moved south, flanked by Israeli armored vehicles. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the Gazans used Israel’s 4-hour window set up for evacuation.

Israeli forces are locked in combat with Hamas terrorists embedded in hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath Gaza City. Israeli officials said earlier this week that they believe many of the hostages Hamas took on Oct. 7 are being held under the city as well.

Those fleeing included children, older people and people with disabilities, and most walked with minimal belongings, the U.N. agency said. Some say they had to cross Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people being arrested, while others held their hands in the air and raised white flags while passing Israeli tanks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Israel’s military has shared a video purportedly showing a fiery attack on a Hezbollah “terrorist target.”

The Israeli Air Force wrote on X that the attack happened overnight, with footage depicting a fireball emerging following an airstrike.

Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, has been engaging in border skirmishes with Israeli forces as military activity is heating up against Hamas inside the Gaza Strip.

The Air Force released the video as it continues its ground operation in Gaza, announcing early this morning that Mohsen Abu Zina – whom it described as the Hamas’ “Head of Weapons and Industries” — is the group’s latest top official to be taken out. 

“He served as one of Hamas’ leading weapon developers, with expertise in strategic weapons and rockets,” the IDF said. 

And for the third day in a row, Israel’s military has opened an evacuation route within northern Gaza for residents there to head south.

“The northern Gaza Strip area is considered a fierce combat zone, and time is running out to evacuate it,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee wrote on X. “They join hundreds of thousands who have responded to calls and moved south in recent days.” 

Israeli lawmakers passed new legislation making it illegal to view terrorist content under certain circumstances on Wednesday.

The new law, which has significant carveouts allowing for legitimate viewing of such content, carries a penalty of up to one year in prison. The law is primarily designed to prevent lone-wolf attackers from consuming pro-Hamas or Islamic State content, according to the Times of Israel.

Residents are exempt from the ban if they view such content “randomly, in good faith, or for a legitimate reason including providing information to the public, preventing terror attacks, or for research purposes,” the law states.

The law will remain active for two years, at which point the Knesset must vote to renew it.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre faced condemnation online after an initially hesitant response to a question about activists removing posters of hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.

Numerous videos have gone viral of activists tearing down posters showing hostages that were taken in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,400 in southern Israel.

A reporter noted to Jean-Pierre on Tuesday that there have been widely shared videos of individuals “tearing down signs” of Israelis currently being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. He proceeded to ask whether it is the White House’s view that “these actions should be condemned” or if the White House sees such activity as a “form of peaceful protest.”

“I’ve sorta kinda seen the reporting,” Jean-Pierre said. She went on to block further questioning from the reporter and declared, “I’m just not going to go into specifics on that particular thing.”

“What I can say is there are real violent protests and threats that are happening right now and senior administration officials are aware of these reports which are deeply concerning and that is something that we’re focused on,” she added.

This sparked a wave of backlash across social media.

Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report

President Biden’s deployment of carrier strike groups to the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean might be a show of force, but his actions to deter 40 Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. forces amid the Hamas invasion of Israel raise questions, a former National Security Council official told FOX News.

Richard Goldberg, who served in the Trump administration and is now a senior adviser at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the White House is not sending any message of deterrence amid its warship rearrangements.

He responded to comments from NSC spokesman John Kirby, who told reporters the administration is sending a strong signal of deterrence and “that there have been additional attacks on our troops doesn’t necessarily mean that the war is widening.”

Goldberg told “The Ingraham Angle”
on Tuesday that he disagreed with Kirby, positing that Biden is instead sending “messages of appeasement” as they continue to seek a nuclear deal with Tehran and apparently refuse to renege on the recent unfreezing of Iranian assets in South Korean bank accounts.

The administration has said those funds are earmarked for and can only be used toward humanitarian means.

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report

Top diplomats from the Group of Seven meeting in Tokyo this week, announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for “humanitarian pauses” to speed aid to the Gaza Strip.

Top diplomats from the Group of Seven meeting in Tokyo this week, announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for “humanitarian pauses” to speed aid to the Gaza Strip.

“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” said the statement, hammered out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.”

The G7 meeting comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening with Israel’s continued ground invasion forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee south on foot, running out of food and water in the north.

The ministers condemned “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians,” which they said is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace.”

They also noted that the G7 is “working intensively to prevent the conflict from escalating further and spreading more widely.”

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report

Israeli Defense Forces say they eliminated a senior Hamas commander in charge of the terrorist organization’s weapons and industries programs on Wednesday.

The IDF says
it killed Mohsen Abu Zina in recent fighting, but it did not clarify whether he was killed in an airstrike or a ground operation. Israel is currently operating deep within Gaza City, working to clear out Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels underground.

“The IDF and ISA eliminated Hamas’ Head of Weapons and Industries, Mohsen Abu Zina,” the IDF wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “He served as one of Hamas’ leading weapon developers, with expertise in strategic weapons and rockets. We continue to operate in Gaza to eliminate Hamas.”

Jewish Americans are taking drastic measures to protect themselves and their loved ones, with many turning to firearms for the first time amid an alarming surge in antisemitism nationwide.

Florida gun store owner David Kowalsky addressed the growing number of Jews seeking to buy firearms and train with guns during “America’s Newsroom” as many fear for their safety as war rages between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.

“I have a lot of people coming in saying that they’ve never thought they’d be in this position where they had to purchase own or train with a firearm,” Kowalsky told Dana Perino Tuesday. “And they’re coming in and wanting more information on how to obtain one train with one and to be able to protect their family and loved ones.”

Kowalsky said he has known people who have received direct threats since the war began one month ago following Hamas’ unprecedented massacre on the Israeli people.

“Aside from neighborhoods being vandalized, synagogues, areas… saying they want to kill Jews and direct threats, they are very conscientious, very worried about what is going on around them and around the country in general.,” Kowalsky said.

Antisemitism has surged 388% according to the Anti-Defamation League, taking root across college campuses and even outside the White House gates.

Fox News’ Bailee Hill and Landon Mion contributed to this report.

The Israeli government has confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are now in “the heart of Gaza City” amid their war against Hamas terrorists.

Israeli Defence Minister
Yoav Gallant reported the developments on Tuesday, and said that Israeli soldiers were “tightening the noose”.

“[Troops] have one target – Hamas terrorists in Gaza, their infrastructure, their commanders, bunkers, communications rooms,” he said.

The official also confirmed that Hamas’s most senior official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was isolated in his bunker in Gaza.

“[Sinwar is] cut off from his surroundings, his chain of command is weakening,” Gallant explained.

Fox News’ Andrea Vacchiano and Reuters contributed to this report