News Update
Palestinian politician Sufian Abu Zaida, a senior figure in Fatah and the PLO and a former Palestinian Authority minister for prisoner affairs, said Thursday that he was the previously unidentified intermediary who relayed a warning in September 2023 that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major attack on Israel. Abu Zaida was reportedly involved in indirect contacts between Israel and Hamas over the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul and the release of two Israeli civilians, Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who were being held in Gaza at the time. For more, click here.
The IDF has formally dismissed the officer who served as the Gaza Division’s intelligence chief during the October 7 attack. The officer, who’s identity remains classified, challenged the dismissal in court, but ultimately was unsuccessful.
Herbert Kickl, the leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party delivered remarks on Wednesday that condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, apologized directly to Jews over Austria’s role in the Holocaust and sought a new relationship with Jewish communities. He spoke at a conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg attended by representatives of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and other right-wing European parties. The gathering focused on antisemitism and Islamism and reflected the FPÖ’s growing efforts to build ties with Israel despite the party’s controversial history. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomed the remarks, calling them “an important and positive development.”
Another casualty of the Houthi attempts to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is the southern gateway to the Red Sea, is the Port of Eilat. In 2023, 150,000 vehicles arrived at the port, while in 2024 and 2025, not a single vehicle arrived. For more, click here.