Live: Israel continues West Bank raids, mirroring military action in Gaza

Hamas back on Gaza streets after war with Israel

After more than a year hiding in tunnels and dodging air strikes, uniformed Hamas fighters returned to the ruined streets of Gaza hours into a ceasefire, defying Israel’s vow to crush them.

With the world watching on Sunday as Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, dozens of balaclava-wearing fighters in the group’s signature green headbands were seen at the packed Gaza City square marshalling the chaotic events.

The day after, Hamas’s deputy interior minister for the territory was out and about in Gaza City, declaring that Gazans were “living in a moment of victory”.

While Hamas was back on the streets, Israeli forces were withdrawing from the territory’s densely populated areas. 

Anti-Semitic acts at ‘historic’ highs in France despite 2024 fall, says Jewish organisation

France saw nearly 1,600 anti-Semitic acts in 2024, a slight dip on the year before but still at levels unseen in recent years as the Israel-Hamas war raged in Gaza, the country’s main Jewish organisation said on Wednesday.

The figure of 1,570 incidents marked a six-percent fall from the 1,676 recorded in 2023 but well above the numbers in the past decade or so.

By comparison, 436 anti-Semitic acts were recorded in 2022 and since 2012 they have fluctuated between 311 and 851 per year. 

“For the second consecutive year, we are facing a historic number of anti-Semitic acts,” said the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), an umbrella body of French Jewish groups, in a report based on figures from the Jewish community and the ministry of the interior.

Israel military says killed Islamic Jihad militant during Gaza truce

The Israeli military said Wednesday that it had killed an Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, the first such reported death since the start of a ceasefire with Hamas in the Palestinian territory.

In a statement, the military said Israeli troops in southern Gaza “identified several armed suspects who posed a threat” and “operated to thwart the threat and eliminate” a militant from Hamas’s ally Islamic Jihad. 

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory confirmed that one person was killed and said four other people were wounded.

The military also said that in several areas of the Gaza Strip, its soldiers “fired warning shots” towards “masked suspects” approaching Israeli troops.

The military added it was abiding by the terms of the ceasefire that began on Sunday.

Shooting, explosions in Jenin as Israel presses raid

Gunfire and explosions rocked the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, as the Israeli military kept up a large-scale raid for a second day.

The operation, launched just days after a ceasefire paused more than a year of fighting in Gaza, has left at least 10 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian health authorities. 

Israeli officials have said the raid is part of a broader campaign against militants in the West Bank, citing thousands of attack attempts since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

“The situation is very difficult,” said Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub.

“The occupation army has bulldozed all the roads leading to Jenin camp and to the Jenin government hospital… There is shooting and explosions,” he added, referring to the Israeli military.

Israeli forces have detained around 20 people from villages around Jenin since the operation began on Tuesday, the official said.