Jerusalem Faction plan to shut down Ben-Gurion Airport to protest haredi draft
Members of the Jerusalem Faction have allegedly planned a massive demonstration for the coming week near Ben-Gurion Airport aimed at shutting the airport down for several hours, according to social media posts seen by Israel Police.
The protest is in response to the continued arrest of ultra-Orthodox (haredi) men for dodging the draft and refusing to serve in the IDF.
If the protests managed to shut down the airport, it would cause major economic damage to the country as well as to the tens of thousands of people who visit the airport every day, especially during the busy summer season and ahead of the High Holy Days.
Sorting through fake posts
Police sources told Maariv that all messages and posts on social media are monitored by law enforcement. In addition, should the protest appear to be imminent, the police will deploy officers to stop it.
The police noted that some of the social media posts appeared to be fake and were only uploaded to stoke public furor and create discourse. However, other posts were genuine, so the police have sifted through the fake and real posts in order to respond accordingly.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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CNN
a minute ago
- CNN
Gaza City residents fear Israel's looming assault is ‘a new war'
The drums of war are pounding on the doorstep of Gaza City. Residents of the largest city in northern Gaza, packed with locals and refugees, fear the hours are ticking down before a looming Israeli offensive. Dozens gathered on Thursday amid the war-stricken buildings of city for a small but defiant protest, refusing to leave their homes ahead of Israel's massive assault, with some calling on US President Donald Trump to intervene. Fearing further displacement and escalating bombardment, men, women and children took to the streets, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs reading, 'Stop the genocide' and 'Gaza is dying.' 'We send a final call to the entire world: stop the war, no to displacement,' said one Palestinian man into a microphone. 'And we say to the American President Donald Trump. … If you care about the (Nobel) Peace Prize, you must stop all wars in the world, starting with the war on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed thousands of lives of our Palestinian people over the past two years.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated Thursday that he would approve a military plan to take control of Gaza City. The prime minister had ordered an initial plan's timeline to be shortened the day before. 'We are at the stage of decision,' Netanyahu said in a video address. 'Today I came to the Gaza Division to approve the plans that the (Israel Defense Forces) presented to me and to the minister of defense for taking control of Gaza City and defeating Hamas.' Netanyahu added that he has issued instructions to 'begin immediate negotiations' to release the remaining hostages in Gaza and 'end the war under conditions acceptable to Israel.' The takeover and occupation of the largest city in northern Gaza, which Netanyahu said is one of the last Hamas strongholds, will require the military to bring in 60,000 more reserve troops and extend the service of another 20,000, in addition to those already called up. The plan has sparked growing condemnation both internationally and domestically over fears that the already spiraling humanitarian and hunger crisis in Gaza will worsen – and that the lives of the remaining hostages will be endangered by an expanded military operation. Mohammed Hamad, a protester who has already been displaced multiple times, is refusing to leave Gaza City 'If we leave Gaza, we will not return to it again,' he told CNN. 'We tell the world no to displacement. We tell the world that we should not leave the city of Gaza because if we leave, it means the final nail in our existence in Gaza,' Zakaria Bakr, a displaced Palestinian residing in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said he believes the forced displacement to come will be 'under fire.' 'They will commit massacres, bomb houses over the heads of their owners to send messages of terror and intimidation to force people to leave,' Bakr told CNN, adding that 'at the same time, they will besiege the city of Gaza and prevent food from entering.' Bakr said he was unsure whether he would be alive by the time he tries to leave, saying he is fearful of what is to come. An Israeli source said the military will give Palestinians approximately two months to evacuate the heavily populated area before the assault begins, setting a deadline of October 7, the two-year mark of the war. Ahmed Al-Ajla, a 38-year-old lawyer from the Al-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, said there is nowhere to go should Israel forcefully displace the city's residents, as tents are already 'on top of each other.' The Israeli military said it had warned medical officials and international aid organizations in northern Gaza to plan for mass evacuation, and previously said it would provide Palestinians with tents before relocating them. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said on Thursday that Israeli authorities are preparing to forcibly displace around 800,000 Palestinians to the south of the enclave, warning that 'likely that the whole population of Gaza City would have their access to healthcare disrupted or destroyed entirely.' Many in Gaza said the severity of the bombardment on Gaza City has increased in recent days. Ismail Zayda, a Palestinian man residing in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, said it feels 'like the beginning of a new war.' Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a displaced people's camp in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, wreaked havoc on what had been a haven for many, and where some Gazans displaced from Gaza City were likely to go when Israel's new assault begins. Palestinians at the camp said they received phone calls from the Israeli army telling them to evacuate before the camp was struck. They did not know the strike would destroy their entire camp, they told CNN, adding that they now have nowhere to go but out on the streets. CNN footage showed the massive strike on the camp, with smoke billowing from the scene as people ran from the shrapnel. Civil defense forces arrived to find the makeshift tents on fire, with piles of destroyed belongings buried under the rubble. 'There is nothing left, not one makeshift (tent) or anything, everything we lived with here is gone, we have nothing more to live in,' Waleed Abu Muased, a resident of the camp, told CNN as he looked on at the destruction. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that 'in response to Hamas' barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.' 'In stark contrast to Hamas' intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,' the IDF said. Two displaced women, Nisrin and Ranin sifted through the ruins for what remained of their belongings. The Israeli army gave residents 30 minutes to evacuate, Ranin said, after which she saw a 'belt of fire' fall onto the camp, annihilating it. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his call for a ceasefire on Thursday, saying it would 'avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause.' CNN's Abeer Salman contributed reporting.


UPI
3 minutes ago
- UPI
U.N. calls for immediate cease-fire, release of hostages in Gaza
Israeli tanks wait in an IDF staging area in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The United Nations is calling for an immediate end to hostilities to prevent a massive loss of civilian lives. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo Aug. 21 (UPI) -- As the Israel Defense Force focuses on Hamas in northern Gaza, the United Nations is calling for an immediate end to hostilities to prevent a massive loss of civilian lives. The IDF is targeting Gaza City, which is the largest in the Gaza Strip and home to about 1 million people, according to the United Nations. "It is vital to reach immediately a cease-fire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters while at a Tokyo conference Thursday. Such actions are needed to "avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause," Guterres said. The IDF on Wednesday announced it had begun a military offensive against Az Zaytoun in Gaza City and Jabalya in northern Gaza with the aim of ridding the area of Hamas. The United Nations reported shelling and continuous drone airstrikes, including against residential buildings, and the destruction of residential homes by IDF forces using explosives to target Hamas. The IDF also is using quadcopters and phone calls to warn Jabalya residents to evacuate the area while military operations are underway. The IDF also has "totally destroyed" parts of southern and southeast Gaza City while undertaking the city's "systematic destruction," the U.N. said. The military operations have displaced much of the local population in Jabalya and Gaza City as the IDF continues its military operations in other parts of Gaza, including Khan Younis. U.N. officials reported "acute malnourishment [is] soaring among children in Gaza City," with 28.5% of those screened showing signs of malnourishment, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency reported. "Children continue to die from man-made starvation," UNRWA officials said. IDF actions in southern Gaza have "crippled" UNRWA's ability to provide aid for Gazans there, while its offensive in Gaza City and Jabalya endangers efforts in northern Gaza, according to the U.N. UNRWA officials said they provided more than 100,000 medical consultations and screened 3,500 children for malnutrition in Gaza City. They also delivered drinking water to 220,000 people and provided domestic water for 250,000, while clearing hundreds of tons of waste. "While our colleagues, like the rest of the U.N., are determined to stay and deliver, all of these services are now at risk as the military operations intensify," UNRWA officials said.


The Hill
31 minutes ago
- The Hill
Netanyahu says he's giving final Gaza City takeover approval
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