November 17

11:00am – The IDF has confirmed that a senior Hamas commander involved in smuggling operations between Egypt and and the Gaza Strip was killed in an air strike. And earlier, via @IDFSpokesperson on Twitter, they reported the death of Mohammed Kalab, a senior operative in Hamas’s air defense forces.

10:20am – Israel’s Channel 2 reports that Hamas has rejected an Egyptian proposed ceasefire agreement. And from Times of Israel:

A new Hamas video that’s being circulated warns Israelis, in Hebrew, of violence to come. In the digitized-video, set to tense music, the voice tells Israelis, “We miss the suicide bombings,” and continues in both spoken and written text in Hebrew, “We’ll see you on the buses, and at the cafes,” a reference to previous Palestinian suicide attacks that occurred at popular Israeli hangouts.

8:45am – BREAKING NEWS: Sirens, followed by two explosions, were just heard in Tel Aviv.

Haaretz reports a rockets was intercepted over the Tel Aviv area and no one was injured.

8:25am – To best protect central Israel, the IDF has deployed a fifth Iron Dome battery, situating it in the greater Tel Aviv region. Haaretz reports that this battery is being released months ahead of schedule as an emergency means of intercepting ”medium-range missiles fired by militants in the Strip at central Israel.”

The Iron Dome has made 230 successful interceptions since Operation Pillar of Defense began on Wednesday

See the IDF’s video of the Iron Dome battery below:

Categories: Israel in the News