2 Suspects Arrested after Car Attack in Jerusalem

A woman holds a poster bearing the image of 43-year-old Israeli hostage Dror Or as relatives and supporters of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks block the Ayalon highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem near Latrun with burning barrels, during a protest calling for their release on April 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
A woman holds a poster bearing the image of 43-year-old Israeli hostage Dror Or as relatives and supporters of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks block the Ayalon highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem near Latrun with burning barrels, during a protest calling for their release on April 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
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2 Suspects Arrested after Car Attack in Jerusalem

A woman holds a poster bearing the image of 43-year-old Israeli hostage Dror Or as relatives and supporters of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks block the Ayalon highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem near Latrun with burning barrels, during a protest calling for their release on April 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
A woman holds a poster bearing the image of 43-year-old Israeli hostage Dror Or as relatives and supporters of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks block the Ayalon highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem near Latrun with burning barrels, during a protest calling for their release on April 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Israeli police said they have arrested two people after a car slammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem on Monday, lightly wounding three.
Footage of the incident taken by a CCTV camera and aired by Israeli media showed a car plowing into three ultra-Orthodox Jews, sending at least two flying over the dashboard, The Associated Press said.
Palestinians have carried out periodic attacks on Israeli cities and towns since the country’s war against Hamas began on Oct. 7. During that time, violence has surged in the West Bank.
Also Monday, Palestinian civil defense in Gaza said it had found 210 bodies on the grounds of a Khan Younis hospital, and Israel's chief of military intelligence resigned over the failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, the first senior official to do so.
The conflict, now in its seventh month, has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the US against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly this month, raising fears of all-out war.
The war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, at least two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
The US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as billions for Israel. The US Senate could pass the package as soon as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.