• Palestinians have conducted a retaliatory operation in the Israeli settlement of Eli, leaving four settlers dead and another four injured.

• Hamas confirms that two of its members carried out the mission. The resistance says it’s “a natural response” to escalating Israeli crimes.

• The retaliation comes a day after Israel used helicopters to fire on Palestinians in a large-scale raid on the Jenin refugee camp that killed six Palestinians and injured over 90 others.

• The raid also left seven Israeli troops injured, according to the Israeli military.

• The Palestinian resistance says the number of Israeli military casualties is higher and includes fatalities.

• Israeli Prime Minister chairs an emergency meeting amid reports of a rift among his cabinet and security chiefs.

Two Palestinians have opened fire on Israeli settlers at a gas station on Highway 60 near the settlement of Eli, leaving four Israeli settlers dead.

Four other settlers have sustained injuries, including one left in a serious condition, and three in moderate to minor condition.

The illegal Eli settlement is located between the cities of Nablus and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

According to reports, the two Palestinians shot the settlement guard, then advanced to a nearby gas station and targeted two settlers, before one of them entered a restaurant at the gas station and shot a number of settlers.

The two Palestinian youths were later killed by the Israeli occupation forces. They have been identified as Muhannad Shehadeh, aged 26, and Khaled Sabah, 24, from the town of Orif on the outskirts of Nablus.

Israeli forces killed Shehadeh after an exchange of fire. Sabah was killed near Nablus following heavy air surveillance after he succeeded in withdrawing from the site of the operation.

Israel sent in a number of battalions to the West Bank, beefing up its occupation near Nablus and the scene of the operation en masse. The regime closed Highway 60 in both directions and set up military checkpoints at the entrances to Nablus.

The Home Front Command of the occupation army, in a statement, addressed the settlers of the Eli settlement, saying: “Do not leave your homes until you receive notification. Movement in the area is prohibited and entry into it is prohibited until further notice.”

Following the retaliatory operation, Prime Minister Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting to assess the security situation. A statement issued by his office stated that he had received field reports on the details of the operation, which Israeli media described as “difficult.”

Israeli minister for military affairs Yoav Gallant also announced that he had held an emergency session with the participation of the Chief of Staff of Israeli army Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and other senior security officials before the consultations with Netanyahu.

Israeli cabinet minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who lives on an illegal settlement himself, arrived at the site of the operation and demanded the launch of a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank, including assassinations from the air, and called on settlers to take up arms.

By nightfall, Palestinians in the nearby village of Huwara and a local official said Israeli settlers went on the rampage, setting fire to cars and torching fields in the area, in scenes reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.

Ben Gvir also said, “I call on the prime minister and Galant that the time has come to carry out a military operation in the West Bank, to return to liquidations, and to destroy buildings.”

He added, “They have turned us into sitting ducks.”

The Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich also said in a statement carried by the Hebrew Channel 7 that he believes “a major military operation is closer than ever.”

He said, “The security situation is intolerable… there are several considerations that I cannot address in public, so as not to give our enemies free information about our intentions.”

Smotrich added, “We cannot allow the existence of outposts that strike our soldiers and settlers. We will not allow Jenin and Nablus to turn into southern Lebanon again.”

His remarks come as the international community this week, including the UN chief, the UN Middle East coordinator and the EU have all strongly condemned the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts, as well as the regime’s plans to ease rules for expanding settlements.

“Threats do not frighten us” 

Ismail Haniyeh, chief of the Hamas political bureau, told occupiers that “this is the first rain, and what awaits you is worse.” He added, “It will be victory or martyrdom”.

The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement said the Palestinian martyrs were two of its members.

In a statement, it also warned the occupation that “this would be the beginning of a series of resistance operations,” adding “our people have the right to defend themselves by all means possible.”

It concluded, “The occupation must realize that its ongoing crimes against our people and sanctities … will make this process just the beginning of a series of acts of resistance that will disturb their fragile state and turn the dreams of their soldiers and settlers into a nightmare.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stressed that “this great uprising will not stop unless the goals of our people are achieved with freedom and independence.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Tareq Selmi stressed “threats do not frighten the Palestinians” and that “the resistance is ready to face any escalation”.

Palestinian resistance factions, in separate statements, roundly praised the commando operation at the Eli settlement as a “natural response” to what happened in Jenin on Monday.

Despite committing terror in Jenin on Monday, the occupation forces fell in an elaborate ambush while fleeing, during which explosive devices were planted and shots were fired, wounding seven Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli media.

The Jenin Brigade revealed, in a statement, that the occupation’s admission of seven injured soldiers with some seriously wounded “is escaping from recognizing the reality of the multiple and confirmed casualties that occurred”.

The Jenin Brigade confirmed its full responsibility for the “explosive device bombing of Israeli personnel carriers,” which it said was locally manufactured.

The resistance group said the bombing of the APC in the Jenin camp led to its “damage, and the killing and wounding of everyone who was inside it, directly,” adding that the fighters with the Jenin Brigade and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade targeted, in a joint operation, a military “jeep” that tried to tow the damaged APC.

The resistance has also challenged the Israeli regime to reveal the true number of wounded troops and those who were killed in Jenin to its settlers.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan says, “The enemy was surprised that the resistance had accurate information about its withdrawal plan after carrying out its operation.”

Israeli media reported that Ben-Gvir was not summoned to participate in the security consultations held by the occupation cabinet on Tuesday. A reporter for Israel’s Channel 12 says Ben-Gvir was severely criticized in the government.

Israeli media also reported a dispute within the security establishment and at the same political level in the regime over the expansion of military operations in the northern West Bank.

Israeli security officials are reported to have said, “There are no magic solutions.”

The post No delay in Palestinian response to Israeli terror appeared first on Iran News Daily.

This year’s Eit al-Fitr was held worldwide with more support for Palestine and its freedom and this is an alarm for the Zionist regime which uses force to stop Palestinians.

A senior Iranian diplomat praised Palestinians for their significant presence at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound as they performed Eid al-Fitr prayers, stating that the holy fasting month of Ramadan breathes new life into the Palestinian struggle for freedom, and pushes it closer to final liberation from the Israeli occupation.

“Every year in the holy month of Ramadan, the cause for the liberation of Palestine gets a new life and the sacred city of al-Quds moves closer to freedom,” Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Saturday.

He added, “Palestine, as always, shone brightly during this year’s Ramadan, both in the struggle for liberation and mass [Eid] prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.”

Kanaani wrote in a separate Twitter post that the state of affairs across the occupied Palestinian lands is now in greater disarray.

He said while extremist Jewish settlers are more desperate than ever before, Palestinians espouse stronger beliefs and are more determined about complete liberation of Palestine and destruction of “the cancerous tumor of Israel”.

On Friday, a total of 120,000 Palestinian worshipers performed the Eid al-Fitr prayers at the sacred al-Aqsa Mosque compound despite strict measures taken by Israel.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces assaulted Palestinian youths, beating them with sticks near the Lions’ Gate in occupied al-Quds, as they were on their way to perform the Eid prayers.

During the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli authorities imposed strict restrictions on the entry and exit of Palestinians to and from the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque. Amid heightened tensions with Palestinian worshipers, Israeli settlers also pressed ahead with their frequent incursions and provocative rituals at the holy site.

The Zionist regime in Ramadan resorted to any action and plot to undermine Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and liberation of their lands but their efforts were in vain because Muslims in the world and even other non-Muslim people held rallies during Quds Day in support of Palestine.

On Eid al-Fitr Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the focus of the Muslim world should be on strengthening Palestinian combatants at a time when Israel is fast approaching its end.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors of the Islamic countries in the capital Tehran on Saturday on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

“Today, we are witnessing the gradual decline of the usurping Zionist regime; its speed is even increasing day by day,” the Leader said. “The strategy of the Islamic world should be focused on strengthening the combatant elements inside Palestine.”

Pointing to the increasing waves of support for the Palestinian people around the world, the Leader said the participation of the Europeans in rallies to support the Palestinian people is “very important, that too in the countries that are dependent on the Zionists”.

“The more this resistance increases, the weaker the Zionist regime will be, the more apparent its atrocities will become. The truly miserable situation that the Zionist regime is facing today is the result of the Palestinian youth’s resistance.”

Elsewhere in his address to the meeting, the Leader said the entire factors during the holy fasting month of Ramadan help to bring the hearts of people closer to one another, either within a country or in the whole Islamic Ummah.

“The authorities of Islamic countries should use this opportunity to create unity and togetherness among the members of the Islamic Ummah. Today, our problem is division, even though the Qur’an forbids division,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

If the Islamic Ummah, which is close to two billion today and is spread in the most significant and sensitive geographical areas of the world, were united, the Islamic countries would achieve much more blessings, the Leader said.

Stressing that Palestine is not only an Islamic issue but also a human one, the Leader referred to the Quds Day rallies and marches in Muslim as well as non-Muslim countries, and said, “Anti-Zionist gatherings on the Quds Day in the US and European countries are the result of the increasing revelation of the crimes of the usurping Zionists.”

After the Founder of the Islamic Revolution the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader has been the only other leader and politician who has predicted the decline of Israel and liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine and it seems many more politicians or analysts think so and they believe Israel will collapse and it is just a matter of time.

As the Supreme Leader has said, Muslims should unite against the Zionists in order to accelerate the Zionist regime’s collapse and Ramadan is a month when Muslims can get more united in defending Islam and Muslim states against the Zionists and the Quds Day is turning into a bullet in the heart of the killer regime of Israel.

So we Muslims see Ramadan as a month of preparation of soul and body for a better life and resistance against enemies and fighting them and therefore Ramadan is month of injection of hope for Muslims.

The post Ramadan Brings Hope for Palestinian Struggle for Freedom appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“If the Islamic governments had stood firm on the issue of Palestine from the first day and resisted, the situation in the West Asian region would certainly have been different and the Islamic Ummah would have been stronger and more united today,” he told a group of foreign representatives and ambassadors and participants of an international Qur’an contest in Tehran on Saturday.

The Leader made the statements on the occasion of Eid al-Mab’ath, which marks the day Prophet Muhammad (Peace upon Him) was chosen as God’s messenger.

“If the Islamic countries had followed the teachings of the Ba’that, the evil Zionist regime would not have been able to commit atrocities and crimes against the oppressed Palestinians before the eyes of the Islamic nation,” he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that the Iranian nation and its Islamic establishment will continue to fulfill their duties with regard to Palestine. He touched on the clear positions of the Islamic Republic in support of the oppressed Palestinians, saying Iran “has no reservations in openly supporting and defending the Palestinian nation.”

“The Islamic establishment will continue to help the Palestinians in any way it can,” the Leader added.

He touched on the enemies’ focus on Iranophobia, saying “unfortunately, the governments that are obliged to help the Palestinian nation themselves have joined the Iranophobia project of the enemies of Islam”.

Since the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said, the enemies have lined up against the Iranian nation with military, economic, political and propaganda war, but the people of Iran have thwarted all conspiracies of the domineering powers with their exemplary perseverance.

Ayatollah Khamenei described the issue of Palestine as one of the important weaknesses and wounds of the Islamic Ummah.

“A nation and a country is being subjected to endless and daily oppression before the watching eyes of the Islamic world by a barbaric, evil and wicked regime and Islamic countries with all their wealth, capacity and ability only look and even some of these countries, especially recently, collaborate with this bloodthirsty regime.”

The end result, Ayatollah Khamenei said, is the weakening the countries which keep silent in the face of crimes and cooperate with the Zionists.

“The situation has reached a point where America, France and several other countries, claiming to solve the problems of Muslims, have given themselves the right to interfere in the Islamic world, while they are helpless and unable to solve their problems and manage their countries.”

The Leader said important political issues such as Palestine and the US interference should be the focus of the Islamic Ummah in any situation.

He also expressed sorrow over the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, which has left many victims, saying all Muslims should share their pain and tribulation.

The post Iran to Help Palestinian Nation in Any Way It Can appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Major General Hossein Salami said this year, many Zionists have been killed in operations by resistance groups’ members in occupied Palestinian territories.

Salami added that the number of attacks by the Palestinians cannot compare with that in the past.

He said despite that the Israeli regime has closed the borders tightly, weapons are made inside the besieged territories and distributed among Palestinians.

General Salami maintained that when something becomes homegrown, it cannot be stopped.

Salami also said the Zionists have no safe haven in occupied Palestine and all parts of the land are within the reach of Palestinians resistance movements’ firepower.

According to the commander of the IRGC, when Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah is added to this equation, the conclusion is the deployment of hundreds of thousands of missiles that are pointed at the Zionist regime.

Salami said the Zionists are not the type to stay their ground and to fight back, adding that the return of Zionists to country they came from, also known as reverse migration, is growing now.

He said the Zionists are vulnerable to ground battle.

Salami cited as example the recent fight between Israel and the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, saying had the Zionists been able to continue the fight, they would have done so.

Salami said that Israeli regime’s Achilles heel is the ground battle, noting that the missile battle is not the main focus.

“They know that the land must be liberated by a ground force,” he said.

He further described Palestine as a “point of reliance and a powerhouse.”

“From the beginning of the year to date, many Zionists have been killed in the operations carried out by the Resistance groups in the occupied territories, which cannot be compared to last year’s records, apart from the Sword of Quds operation,” the IRGC commander pointed out.

“When you add Lebanon’s Hezbollah to this equation, you will realize that hundreds of thousands of missiles are ready to be poured on the Zionist regime,” he said.

He also said that people in West Bank like Gaza Strip are arming themselves, noting that lots of Zionists were killed in this year’s clashes.

The post Iran to Stand by Palestine to the End appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Ayatollah Khamenei, in a Thursday letter addressed to Secretary General of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhala, said the heroic and courageous perseverance of the group elevated its status among other Palestinian resistance factions, thwarted the plots of the usurping Tel Aviv regime and took the Zionists down a peg.

The Leader also underlined the need for maintaining unity among all Palestinian groups.

“The usurping enemy is getting weaker, at the same time that the Palestinian resistance front is getting stronger,” Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out.

Earlier this week, Nakhalah had written to Ayatollah Khamenei about the presence of Palestinian fighters throughout the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank in a united front against the Israeli aggression.

In his letter, the Islamic Jihad chief had stated that Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip vigorously withstood the latest Israeli aggression on the besieged enclave.

“We dubbed the recent bout of violence ‘Wahda al-Sahat’ (Unity of the Fields) to emphasize the unity of our nation against the enemy, which is trying to wreck it through all available means and conspiracies,” Nakhalah wrote.

“I received your solemn and auspicious letter. May God give you noble reward and bring the final victory of the proud and oppressed Palestinian nation near,” Ayatollah Khamenei responded.

“The recent incident doubled the honors of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and elevated the position of the Islamic Jihad in the glorious resistance movement of the Palestinian nation.

“With your brave resistance, you neutralized the deceitful policy of the usurping regime. You proved that each part of the resistance bloc alone can rub the enemy’s nose to the ground,” the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei also praised Islamic Jihad for uniting anti-Israeli resistance in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

“By linking the struggle in Gaza with the West Bank and other resistance forces with their support for the jihad movement, you were able to display the integrity of the Palestinian nation’s jihad against the evil and deceitful enemy.

Ayatollah Khamenei said all the efforts of the Palestinian groups throughout Palestine should go towards maintaining this unity.

“The usurper enemy is getting weaker and the Palestinian resistance is getting stronger, and there is no power but from God,” the Leader said, reiterating that “by God’s will, we are still with you” and Iran’s vows in support of the resistance is intact.

The post Leader Hails Palestinian Islamic Jihad for Defeating Enemies appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Zarif and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement Ziyad al-Nakhalah discussed the developments in the region and Palestine in particular.

In the phone call, Iran minister roundly condemned the imposed and treacherous plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, voiced support for the unanimous stance of the Palestinian people and leaders in opposition to the unilateral plan, and emphasized the necessity for unity and solidarity among groups of Palestine in their all-out confrontation with the major plot of the century.

The foreign minister also expounded on Iran’s stances in support of the Palestinian people’s rightful and legitimate struggle against the Zionist occupiers and stressed the need for widespread movements by people and the Islamic countries against the evil American-Zionist ploys.

Last week, Trump unveiled his long-delayed Middle East plan, a proposal Palestinian leaders called a “conspiracy” that “will not pass”.

Following Trump’s announcement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “a thousand no’s to the plan.

The American plan has sparked widespread international condemnation.

The deal of century ploy, fronted by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, had already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say the White House’s policies have been blatantly biased in favor of Israel.

The post Iran Backs Palestine for Rejection of US Plot appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Alkaila on Wednesday thanked the government for Iranian support to the Palestinian nation.

The post Iranian support for Palestine is appreciable, Palestine Minister appeared first on Iran News Daily.