IDF told to prepare for ‘immediate’ return to Gaza fighting • Over 50 freed hostages tell Netanyahu: Carry out Gaza ceasefire deal
‘Commanding from home’: Former IDF general explains the failures behind Oct. 7
Eliezer ‘Cheney’ Marom explained there were two main reasons the IDF was ill-prepared for Hamas’s invasion and subsequent massacre on October 7.
Former Israeli Navy commander Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eliezer ‘Cheney’ Marom criticized the IDF’s internal probes on the security failures of October 7 in a Friday interview on 103FM radio, stating that “there was heavy documentation of what happened, but the ‘why’ was missing.”
Marom, who most recently served as coordinator for the North under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, told 103FM that he “sat 12 hours last week to hear all of the findings from the probes. There were about 20 people in a small room. There was heavy documentation of what transpired, of ‘what happened,’ but the ‘why’ was missing.”
Over 50 freed hostages tell Netanyahu: Carry out Gaza ceasefire deal
Freed Gaza hostages call on Netanyahu to bring remaining captives home: “Every minute there is hell, every passing moment is a potential death sentence.”
Fifty-six former hostages either released or rescued from Gaza sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, calling on him to carry out the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal and ensure the release of all remaining hostages at once.
“We were taken during the massacre on October 7. We’ve suffered the agony that our loved ones are currently suffering. We have seen the darkness, heard the horrors, breathed the fear,” the letter read.
Yemen’s Houthis give Israel four-day deadline to lift Gaza aid blockage
On March 2, Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza as a standoff over the truce escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene.
The leader of Yemen‘s Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Friday the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.
The Iran-aligned movement staged more than 100 attacks on shipping from November 2023, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza – and the assaults tailed off in January after a ceasefire there.
IDF told to prepare for ‘immediate’ return to Gaza fighting – report
The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this week Israel would return to fighting in Gaza in about a week and a half, barring a breakthrough in talks.
Israel’s political echelon, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered the IDF to prepare for an “immediate” return to fighting in Gaza, KAN News reported on Friday evening.
The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this week that Israeli officials estimated that if no agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas, Israel would return to fighting in Gaza in about a week and a half.
IDF strikes Hezbollah weapons, rocket launchers across southern Lebanon
The strikes were the largest known ones since the ceasefire agreement was signed in November.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out strikes across southern Lebanon on Friday evening, targeting military outposts belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the IDF said.
The targeted outposts included warehouses storing weapons, as well as rocket launch sites. Hezbollah-affiliated outlet Al Mayadeen reported strikes were being carried out in the vicinity of Al-Aaishiyah.
- Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza.
- Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 at the Supernova music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities.
- 59 hostages remain in Gaza.
- 49 hostages in total have been killed in captivity, IDF says.
- The IDF launched a ground invasion of Lebanon on September 30.
- The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire came into effect on November 27 at 4 a.m.
- Netanyahu confirmed the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on January 17, 2025
- 735 terrorists will be released as part of the hostage deal