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Friday, July 03, 2026

07/03 Links Pt1: Why the Lancet study suggesting a far higher Gaza death toll is deeply flawed; Operation Entebbe, 50 years on: The rescue that reshaped Jewish history; Israel accuses Turkish FM of incitement to genocide

From Ian:

Why the Lancet study suggesting a far higher Gaza death toll is deeply flawed
Dramatic outliers like this are a clear red flag, and according to the survey's own design, catching this kind of problems was supposed to happen during fieldwork. In our critique, we pointed out that it didn't: neither Gaza9 nor Gaza3 was flagged as an outlier during the data collection.

In response to our critique, the authors dispute this and claim that these anomalies "were visible from early in the survey and actively discussed." However, the paper itself contains no indication that the anomalous data were flagged to field workers or supervisors as they emerged. Instead, the discussion of the Gaza9 anomalies appears only during the analysis phase, when the authors calculated violent death estimates, after all survey data had already been collected.

As part of that analysis, they also estimated the effect of excluding Gaza9, noting that doing so "does substantially lower our estimate for the size of the MoH undercount." Only then do the authors report looking into the reason for the outlier, writing: "So, we investigated further and found that three PSUs [survey sampling areas] covered by this team were in shelters that give special preference to families that have lost members during the fighting…"

And that after-the-fact analysis covered only Gaza9's mortality numbers. Nowhere in the paper are Gaza9 or Gaza3 identified as having unusual demographic profiles – smaller households and far fewer children – which should have also been flagged as anomalies. The paper does discuss demographics, but only to show that the data set as a whole doesn’t match what's known about Gaza's population overall. That is a different claim entirely: it says nothing about whether any specific team's results were completely out of line, which is exactly the question Gaza9 and Gaza3 raise.

Rather than address that gap, the authors try to downplay the importance of these imbalances by pointing to their use of statistical weighting – a procedure meant to adjust the results, so the full data set matches the population's known characteristics. However, while weighting can correct some small deviations, it cannot repair a situation where a handful of teams produced vastly different results. It's a bit like putting a band-aid on a structural crack: it may make the surface look more even, but it does not repair the underlying problem and doesn't clarify why the problem wasn't addressed early on.

The authors further suggest that the Gaza9 results may reflect a "genuine spatial concentration of violence". However, the data show that Gaza9 consistently reported higher mortality than other teams operating in the same areas. In at least one particularly clear case, Gaza9 reported deaths in 10 out of 20 households, while another team working just a few buildings away reported none. Such a discrepancy is difficult to reconcile with any claim of a “genuine spatial concentration of violence”.

Differences of that magnitude cannot plausibly be explained by local variation. If location were the primary factor, teams operating side by side would be expected to report broadly similar results. Instead, the discrepancies appear to track the teams, not the locations – pointing to a problem with how the data were collected rather than where they were collected.

The bottom line
The survey's headline claim – that the Ministry of Health undercounted deaths by roughly 35 per cent – rests on the assumption that the sample represents the population. The study’s own data say it doesn't. Fieldwork repeatedly seems to have departed from the sampling plan, a small number of teams drove a disproportionate share of the results, and those same teams produced demographic profiles unlike the wider population. Remove their data, and the gap largely disappears within the survey's own margin of error.

This isn't some technical nitpicking for its own sake. What's at stake here is a dramatic claim that got treated as settled fact – cited, repeated, and stretched to cover deaths it never actually measured – when, in fact, the sample behind it was just too broken to support it.
UN COI Report Discredits Itself With Claims About IDF Quadcopter Attacks On Minors
The June 18 Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI) report, alleging that the Israeli military deliberately targeted Palestinian children as part of a strategy to commit genocide during the October 7 War, is based heavily on fantastical beliefs, presumptions, and speculation about Israeli military technologies and tactics that severely discredit the document’s conclusions. In the first in a series of articles on the claims, the COI’s allegations about fleets of firearm-equipped quadcopters demonstrates the unreliability of the report.

COI Commissioner Srinivasan Muralidhar explained to CNN in a Saturday video interview that the “strongest evidence” that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was deliberately targeting children was “a combination of quadcopters, sniper rifles, and drones.”

Yet the arguments regarding these quadcopters are also the elements that most cast doubt on the veracity of the report.

Many of the alleged incidents highlighted as evidence in the COI report involved the ostensible use of quadcopters equipped with rifles and sniper rifles to target children, claiming that of 168 minors reported to the COI killed or wounded by gunshots between November 2023 and July 2025, 70 were supposedly shot by quadcopters. Anonymous doctors reportedly told the COI that there was a consistent pattern of children seeking treatment from quadcopter gunshots. One doctor reportedly estimated that, within two weeks of her tenure in a hospital, she supposedly saw around five children shot by quadcopters.

Firearm Quadcopters are Uncommon
The chief problem with the underlying claim that serves as the basis of much of the COI report is that firearm-equipped quadcopters are simply not in service to the extent that would match the supposed widespread pattern. Prototypes for firearm-equipped quadcopters exist, but there is no evidence for widespread deployment in Gaza. To the contrary, the use of firearm-equipped quadcopters is rare enough that Gaza deployment veteran IDF soldiers consulted with by HonestReporting had never seen or were unfamiliar with such a platform. Military analyst Andrew Fox also wrote in 2024 that his sources within the IDF indicate that the weapons were not in widespread use by the Israeli military.

Cube-Shaped Bullets
Perhaps the most implausible claim about the armed quadcopters is that they shoot cube-shaped pellets. Muralidhar told CNN that cube-shaped pellets were used by armed quadcopters in at least one instance. The report asserted that the supposed ammunition was designed to cause superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering. The quadcopter models mentioned in the report are equipped with standard firearms adapted for the drones. These firearms operate in a manner unlikely to facilitate cubed projectiles. This, along with the ballistic aerodynamic issues for such a projectile, make them unlikely to exist.


Operation Entebbe, 50 years on: The rescue that reshaped Jewish history
Fifty years ago, on July 4, 1976, the United States was celebrating its 200th birthday.

At the time, the president of the US was Gerald Ford, the former vice president who became president after Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974, following the Watergate scandal. Among the bicentennial observances were the “Bicentennial Minute,” a series of 60-second television segments broadcast nightly from July 4, 1974, to December 31, 1976, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution, and “Operation Sail.”

In this operation, 14 tall ships from 14 nations, together with an armada of 50 warships, sailed through New York Harbor. The American Freedom Train, a train tour across the contiguous 48 states, served as a traveling museum displaying artifacts such as George Washington’s annotated Constitution.

These, and other observances, were carefully planned for years to communicate the ideals of the American Revolution. Yet, perhaps the most meaningful expression of the values of America – the defense of freedom, the courage to persevere, and the value of human life – came not from the planned Bicentennial celebrations, but from an unexpected event that unfolded over that Independence Day weekend: Israel’s rescue of 102 Jewish and Israeli hostages, held by Palestinian and German terrorists in Uganda’s Entebbe Airport following the hijacking of their Air France plane.

The sense of euphoria, both in Israel and throughout the Jewish world, was palpable. Just days after the hostages landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, clothing stores throughout Israel were hawking hot-selling T-shirts emblazoned with the photo of Idi Amin, Uganda’s president, with a speech bubble placed above his head, mouthing the Hebrew words Kol Hakovod Le’Zahal (Well done, IDF).

Over the past 50 years, numerous books have been written about the IDF operation, called “Operation Thunderbolt”; later, it was renamed Operation Yonatan, in memory of Yonatan Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s older brother, who was the commander of the operation and was fatally wounded during the Entebbe rescue operation.

The publications document, analyze, and interpret the decisions, processes, and chronology of the rescue. In addition, four major feature films and TV movies were made about the Entebbe rescue, and numerous YouTube videos and documentaries cover the subject.

Fifty years later, as the memory of Entebbe gradually fades from the collective consciousness of Israelis and Jews around the world, what meaning does it hold? How did it shape Diaspora Jewry’s relationship with Israel, and how should its legacy be understood in the shadow of the events of Oct. 7, 2023? What lessons can today’s leaders learn from yesterday’s decision-makers?

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Entebbe, the Magazine spoke with five prominent Jewish figures with deep American ties: historians Michael Oren and Gil Troy, Israeli basketball legend Tal Brody, columnist and author Barbara Sofer, and Rabbi David Wolpe, one of America’s most prominent and articulate rabbis, to gain a deeper understanding of the Entebbe rescue, asking for their recollections of the event and its meaning today. All, except Wolpe, live in Israel.
Remembering Entebbe, 50 years later
For the survivors of Operation Entebbe, marking the 50th anniversary was less a celebration of one of Israel’s most mythologized military operations than a reckoning with the distance between the country that rescued them and the one that failed to prevent another mass hostage crisis decades later.

About two dozen of those rescued at Entebbe and their relatives gathered on Monday at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa for an event honoring Sorin Hershcu, the Israeli paratrooper gravely wounded in the 1976 raid. Teasing and jokes repeatedly broke through the formalities, giving the room the feel of an unruly extended family.

The hijacking began when an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris carrying 246 passengers was seized after a stop in Athens by terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Germany’s Revolutionary Cells. The plane was diverted to Uganda, where the despotic, notoriously unhinged dictator Idi Amin gave the hijackers safe haven. They separated Israeli and Jewish passengers from most of the others, who were released over two days.

On July 4, Israeli commandos flew thousands of miles to Entebbe and rescued more than 100 hostages in an audacious raid that became one of Israel’s defining military operations.

To mark the 50th anniversary, Israel released previously classified protocols from the raid, later renamed Operation Yonatan, after Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother and the operation’s commander who was killed during the mission. (Uganda’s military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba in February announced plans to erect a statue of Yoni Netanyahu at the airport in the exact spot where he was killed, saying it would strengthen his country’s “close blood relations with Israel.”)
Operation THUNDERBOLT
Israel was not going to let this stand. While the world watched tense talks, the Israeli government secretly planned one of the boldest rescues in history. On July 3, they launched Operation Thunderbolt, later renamed Operation Yonatan. About 100 elite commandos, mostly from the top unit Sayeret Matkal, boarded four massive C-130 Hercules planes. They flew low for over 2500 miles to avoid radar, refueling in Kenya with help from the Kenyan government. Fighter jets shadowed them for protection.

The commandos were led by Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu. They landed at Entebbe around midnight in the dark. To trick the guards, they drove up in a black Mercedes made to look just like Amin’s own car, complete with a guy dressed as the dictator, followed by jeeps full of troops in Ugandan uniforms. It worked. They got close without alarms.

In a lightning fast assault that lasted only 90 minutes, the Israelis stormed the terminal. They shouted in Hebrew for hostages to hit the floor, then opened fire taking out all seven hijackers in seconds. Fierce gun battles erupted with Ugandan soldiers, killing around 45 of them. To make sure no one could follow, the commandos blew up about 11 Ugandan MiG fighter jets sitting on the tarmac. It was chaos but brilliant.

They freed 102 hostages, loading them onto the planes amid the smoke and bullets. Tragically three hostages died in the crossfire. And one elderly woman, Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a hospital earlier for illness, was murdered later by furious Ugandan troops in revenge. The Israelis lost just one man… Yonatan Netanyahu, shot while leading the charge. Five others were wounded but they all made it back, stopping in Kenya for medical help and more fuel before landing home in Israel on July 4 to massive cheers.

This gutsy operation boosted Israeli pride and showed the world that you could strike back against terror from afar. But it came at a cost. Because Kenya helped with refueling and logistics, Amin went nuts. He ordered the slaughter of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda. Over 240 were killed in brutal reprisals, and thousands more fled for their lives.

And who condemned Israel the loudest for this heroic rescue? The United Nations of course, led by Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. He called it a serious violation of Uganda’s sovereignty, completely ignoring the hijacking and the hostages’ terror (sound familiar?). Think about it… the UN sided with a dictator and terrorists over innocent lives. And years later it turned out Waldheim himself had been a high ranking Nazi officer in World War Two, hiding his past while running the UN.

Let that sink in. Bloodthirsty Islamist terrorists, backed by a Muslim army, kidnap and threaten to kill civilians. Israel risks everything to save them with skill and bravery. Yet the world body condemns the rescuers, not the monsters. it is the identical scenario of what Antonio Guterres and the UN did immediately after, and every day since, the attacks on October 7. Fast forward 50 years to 2026 and it’s the same old story. Palestinians and their allies still kidnap and murder. Israelis still fight alone to bring their people home. And the United Nations still shields the terrorists while slamming Israel at every turn.

Nothing has changed. Remember that next time the media paints us as the villains for defending our own.
Survivors of Entebbe look back on rescue and loss
For the survivors of Operation Entebbe, marking the 50th anniversary was less a celebration of one of Israel’s most mythologized military operations than a reckoning with the distance between the country that rescued them and the one that failed to prevent another mass hostage crisis decades later.

About two dozen of those rescued at Entebbe and their relatives gathered on Monday at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa for an event honoring Sorin Hershcu, the Israeli paratrooper gravely wounded in the 1976 raid. Teasing and jokes repeatedly broke through the formalities, giving the room the feel of an unruly extended family.

The hijacking began when an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris carrying 246 passengers was seized after a stop in Athens by terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Germany’s Revolutionary Cells. The plane was diverted to Uganda, where the despotic, notoriously unhinged dictator Idi Amin gave the hijackers safe haven. They separated Israeli and Jewish passengers from most of the others, who were released over two days.

On July 4, Israeli commandos flew thousands of miles to Entebbe and rescued more than 100 hostages in an audacious raid that became one of Israel’s defining military operations.

To mark the 50th anniversary, Israel released previously classified protocols from the raid, later renamed Operation Yonatan, after Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother and the operation’s commander who was killed during the mission. (Uganda’s military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba in February announced plans to erect a statue of Yoni Netanyahu at the airport in the exact spot where he was killed, saying it would strengthen his country’s “close blood relations with Israel.”)

'I wanted to look evil in the eyes'
The documents, including cabinet minutes and phone records, show the government abandoning its longstanding policy of not negotiating with hostage-takers even as it prepared the military rescue.

Most of those at the anniversary gathering were the so-called children of Entebbe, the youngest hostages from the raid now in their 50s and 60s who still meet regularly. Three of them — Benny Davidson, who was 13 at the time, Shay Gross, who turned 6 in Entebbe, and Tzipi Cohen Gonen, who was 8 — had just returned from their first trip back to Uganda, where they visited the old Entebbe terminal in which they had been held at gunpoint for a week.

Cohen Gonen’s return to Uganda meant going back to the place where her father, Pasco Cohen, a Jerusalem doctor, was shot and killed, one of four hostages who lost their lives. She was terrified to return, she said, but accepted the Ugandan government’s invitation because she wanted to confront the site directly.

“I wanted to look evil in the eyes,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It closed a circle in that way, because the Ugandans were so nice to us. But there was no closure for my father’s death.”


Israel accuses Turkish FM of incitement to genocide
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Friday accused his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, of incitement to genocide after the latter described Israel as “a burden humanity can no longer bear.”

Speaking in an interview with CNN Tรผrk on Thursday, Fidan said Israel had become “a problem for the entire international community,” adding that “the Israeli authorities have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.”

Fidan said Turkey had no intention of changing its position toward Israel and defended Ankara’s decision to halt trade with the Jewish state following the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Israel is not only a problem for Turkey; it has become a problem for the entire world,” he said. He also claimed that anti-Israel sentiment was growing globally “because they are openly committing massacres” and accused Israel of seeking new enemies to divert attention from what he called its deteriorating international image.

Responding on social media, Sa’ar described Fidan’s remarks as “sickening.”

“Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes,” Sa’ar wrote on X.

“The civilized world and Turkey’s NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel,” he added.

The exchange marked the latest escalation in tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara, which have sharply deteriorated since the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoฤŸan denounced Israel’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide, dismissing the move as slander by what he called a “murder network” responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Gazans.
Turkey's new Somalia spaceport doubles as missile range, threatening Israel
Turkey is developing a space and ballistic missile launch site in central Somalia, combining a satellite launch base for the Turkish space program with a testing site for long-range ballistic missiles, according to a report on Wednesday by French newspaper La Monde.

Officially announced in December 2025 as a technological partnership between Somalia and Turkey, the spaceport is the most consequential layer in a decade-long project to turn Somalia into a forward operating base.

The construction of this spaceport is the culmination of 15 years of political, military, and economic investment by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, allowing Turkey to increase the range of their ballistic missile program, increasing the potential threat to Israel.

In mid-October 2025, Turkey began work on the base on the outskirts of Warsheikh, approximately 70 kilometers north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, Le Monde reported.

Shortly after construction began, Erdogan and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a space cooperation treaty, the latest move in the countries' long-term partnership.
Turkish comedian jailed pending trial over alleged insults to Erdogan and religious values
A Turkish court jailed comedian Deniz Goktas pending trial on Friday for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and religious values, a court document seen by Reuters showed, days after prosecutors opened an investigation into remarks he made on stage.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said earlier this week it had launched an investigation after identifying what it described as criminal expressions in content shared by Goktas on social media. Police detained him at Istanbul Airport when he flew back to Turkey from a trip abroad on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the investigation concerned allegations that Goktas insulted religious values during a stand-up performance in Istanbul on June 1, in which he made references to Erdogan, the Koran and jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Insulting the president is among the charges against him, Goktas' lawyer Metin Aslan said in a social media post.

The performance quickly went viral online, and attracted more than nine million views on YouTube as of Friday, with clips spreading widely across X/Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms.
IDF chief marks 1,000 days of war, says military must be ready to fight again
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Thursday marked 1,000 days since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, saying the military had rebounded from its darkest failure to achieve “unprecedented accomplishments” while warning troops to remain prepared for a rapid return to combat.

“Today marks 1,000 days since the outbreak of the longest war in our history,” Zamir said during the General Staff’s morning situational assessment.

“It is a war that began with a grave failure and the worst tragedy in the history of the State of Israel,” he said. “From that tragedy, we rose, recovered, and conducted a war that achieved unprecedented accomplishments in the history of the nation.”

Zamir said Iran remains the military’s primary strategic focus, while emphasizing that all operational fronts remain active despite a relative lull in fighting.

“We are currently in an interim period across all theaters of operation,” he said. “All arenas remain active at varying levels of intensity, and each is undergoing defining developments. The arenas are interconnected, and any action in one may affect the others.

“In every sector, we must remain vigilant and prepared for rapid escalation and for an immediate return to combat in order to deepen our achievements and secure victory.”

The IDF chief said the coming period should be used not only to maintain operational readiness but also to reduce the strain on troops after nearly three years of continuous fighting.

“Alongside maintaining our vigilance and continuing to thwart threats, we must take advantage of the coming period to reduce operational fatigue, care for our personnel, and improve operational readiness,” he said.

Calling soldiers and commanders Israel’s “most important resource,” Zamir said those serving in compulsory, career and reserve duty deserved to be the nation’s highest priority.

“It is fitting and proper that they be first in the order of priorities to receive the nation’s appreciation through its decisions and allocation of resources, by caring for them, their families, and their future,” he said.


Iran, Oman reached agreement on Strait of Hormuz based on US MoU, Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf says
Iran and Oman have come to an agreement regarding the regulation of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, based on Article V of the Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced during a meeting with Chinese officials on Friday.

"The Israelis are undoubtedly seeking to disrupt the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding," Ghalibaf added, "but the deterrent power of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region will prevent them from starting a war again."

Ghalibaf also resolved that the United States would not be allowed to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Americans pursue a unilateral policy globally," he explained, "and to reduce tensions and prevent their spread, close coordination in the political and economic arenas between Iran and China is of great importance."

China commits to strengthening bond with Iran
Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, He Wei, responded by committing to further strengthening ties between Iran and China.

"The friendship between China and Iran is a long-standing friendship, and we will further develop the relations between the two countries," he pledged.

"This year marks the 55th anniversary of the official establishment of Iran-China relations and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between the two countries. We are ready to take this opportunity to further develop bilateral relations."


Khamenei lies in state in Tehran as Iran begins week of funeral ceremonies
The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects to Iran's late Supreme Leader, killed by US and Israeli bombs.

Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions for Khamenei, whose 37-year reign was brought to an end in February by the first airstrike of the war, in a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic's theocratic state and revolutionary zeal.

Khamenei's body was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the great Shi'ite centers of Iran and Iraq, before being laid to rest on Thursday in Mashhad, home to the country's holiest pilgrim shrine.

Critical moment for Islamic Republic
His coffin was unveiled late on Thursday to a throng of sobbing supporters, swaying and beating their heads in time to a sung lament as flowers were thrown from the bier into the crowd. On Friday the coffin, and those of family members killed with him, was laid in state in the great prayer hall built to honor his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The funeral is taking place at a critical moment for Iran, where the clerical rulers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are riding high from surviving what they saw as an existential war against their greatest and most powerful foes.

But nearly five decades after the 1979 revolution, and for all the official proclamations of national unity in the run-up to Khamenei's funeral, the Islamic Republic has rarely been so internally fractured.

Support for the clerical leadership is paper thin, analysts say, and the new Supreme Leader, Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in any new image since being wounded in the strike that killed his father.


Palestinian intelligence employee arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Israeli soldier
Police arrested Walid Farroukh, a 49-year-old Palestinian Authority resident who works for Palestinian intelligence, on suspicion of kidnapping an active-duty soldier and taking him to Palestinian Authority territory on criminal grounds. According to the suspicion, Farroukh and another individual kidnapped the soldier in Be'er Sheva, handcuffed him and blindfolded him, abducted him to the territories and threatened him. Later, they left him in an open area bound and injured and attacked him. The soldier managed to free himself and was brought to a Palestinian police station, from where he returned to Israel. The Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court extended Farroukh's detention by four days.


IDF shells Hezbollah sites after soldier hurt in clash with gunman in south Lebanon
An IDF soldier was severely wounded in a clash with a Hezbollah gunman in southern Lebanon on Thursday, and Israel responded by striking a number of the terror group’s targets, a week after Beirut and Jerusalem signed a new framework agreement aimed at ending the conflict.

Lebanon’s leader defended the deal on Friday from criticism, saying it was only an initial framework aimed at reaching a final agreement, and as tensions receded, more than half a million Lebanese residents have returned home to areas they evacuated amid escalated fighting earlier this year, according to a new report.

The IDF announced Friday morning that the reservist soldier was severely wounded in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil on Thursday afternoon. He was taken to a hospital, and his family was notified, the Israel Defense Forces added.

According to an IDF probe of the incident, at around 6 p.m. during operations of the 679th “Yiftah” Armored Brigade in Bint Jbeil, troops encountered a Hezbollah gunman who opened fire on them, seriously injuring the soldier.

Immediately after, troops fired tank shells and struck the building from which the gunman had shot, and the Israeli Air Force struck other targets in the area.

IDF troops were continuing to scan the area for the gunman as of Friday morning.
IDF kills Hamas terrorist who abducted Capt. Daniel Perez
The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced on Friday that they had “eliminated” a top Hamas terrorist who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, kidnapping of Capt. Daniel Perez and later held three Israeli hostages in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Muhammad Jandiya, the head of military security for Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion, was killed in a strike carried out on Wednesday in northern Gaza, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a statement.

During the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, Jandiya commanded a Nukhba Force cell that infiltrated Kibbutz Nahal Oz and took part in the abduction of Perez, after he was killed during the attack.

Perez, who was 22, commanded Staff Sgt. Itay Chen and Sgt. Tomer Leibovich, who were also killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, while another soldier under his command, Matan Angrest, was taken hostage.

According to the Israeli military, Jandiya was also responsible for holding hostages Yotam Haim, Samar Talalka and Alon Shamriz in an underground tunnel in the Shejaiya area of Gaza City. The three men were mistakenly killed by IDF troops in December 2023 after escaping captivity.

In his senior role within Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion, Jandiya had recently been involved in planning additional terrorist attacks against Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip, the military said. It said Jandiya was among the masked Hamas men who participated in the terrorist group’s staged ceremonies during hostage-release deals.

Daniel Perez’s family held a symbolic first funeral after the IDF declared him dead in March 2024, even though his body remained in Hamas captivity. Perez’s body was returned to Israel on Oct. 13, 2025, as part of a hostage-release deal, and he was buried two days later at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery.


CAMERA urges media to revisit Gaza journalist casualty reports
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) on Thursday called on major news organizations to revisit their reporting based on casualty data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), after the press organization announced a review of its Gaza database following evidence that individuals it had identified as journalists were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“After a tainted tally, it’s time to critically cover the Committee to Protect Journalists and help protect journalism from CPJ,” Camera said in a press release.

The CPJ announced on June 25 that it was conducting a full review of its database of media workers killed in the Gaza Strip after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad mourning notices confirmed that several individuals listed as journalists were operatives in the terrorist organizations.

CAMERA said the revelations raised serious questions about reporting by major international media outlets that had relied on CPJ’s casualty figures and allegations without sufficient scrutiny.

Among the outlets cited by CAMERA were CBS, the BBC, Reuters, The Washington Post, CNN, The Associated Press, PBS, MS Now (formerly MSNBC) and The New York Times.

“It is the CPJ that has long put journalists at personal risk by enabling terrorists to masquerade as journalists,” said Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Research and Analysis Media Department.

She argued that news organizations had too often accepted CPJ’s findings without independently verifying the identities of those listed as journalists.


Two Romanian men jailed for 2024 stabbing of dissident Iranian journalist in London
Two Romanian men were sentenced in London on Friday to eight and 12 years in prison over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack the judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.

Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based news channel Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London.

Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty by a jury last month of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the “evidence overwhelmingly points” to the attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian authorities.

“I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power,” she said during a sentencing hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court.

UK security officials claim Iran is behind a growing number of plots on British soil in which criminal proxies have targeted opposition media outlets and Britain’s Jewish community.





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