Two Israelis arrested by police after returning from Syria with Kalashnikov rifles
Israel Police apprehended two Israeli citizens returning from Syrian territory who had a Kalashnikov rifle and a magazine in their possession, police confirmed on Thursday.
During a check on Israeli civilians returning from Syria at the border, police searched two residents of north Israel, arresting them and transferring them for further interrogation.
This comes after Israeli Druze civilians crossed from Israel into Syria in solidarity with their brethren amid violent clashes with Damascus security forces, particularly in the Syrian Druze town of Sweida.
Israel Police, as well as IDF soldiers, were posted to the border fence, closing civilian crossings, and coordinated to return Israeli citizens who had entered Syria, the police added.
An Israel Police officer gives a statement on the two Israeli citizens arrested for crossing from Syria with a Kalashnikov rifle, July 17, 2025. (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
The IDF identified dozens of suspects attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory from Syria, the military stated Wednesday.
Dozens of civilians infiltrated Syria
Additionally, dozens of Druze-Israeli civilians managed to infiltrate Syrian territory from the area of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the North, the IDF confirmed on Tuesday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv
US envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday met the anguished families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, as fears for the captives' survival mounted almost 22 months into the war sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack. Witkoff was greeted with some applause and pleas for assistance from hundreds of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, before going into a closed meeting with the families. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum confirmed the meeting was underway and videos shared online showed Witkoff arriving as families chanted "Bring them home!" and "We need your help." The visit came one day after Witkoff visited a US-backed aid station in Gaza, to inspect efforts to get food into the devastated Palestinian territory. Yotam Cohen, brother of 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, told AFP in the square: "The war needs to end. The Israeli government will not end it willingly. It has refused to do so. "The Israeli government must be stopped. For our sakes, for our soldiers' sakes, for our hostages' sakes, for our sons and for the future generations of everybody in the Middle East." After the meeting, the Forum released a statement saying that Witkoff had given them a personal commitment that he and US President Donald Trump would work to return the remaining hostages. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, had been mediating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that would allow the hostages to be released and humanitarian aid to flow more freely. But talks broke down last month and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is under increasing domestic pressure to come up with another way to secure the missing hostages, alive and dead. He is also facing international calls to open Gaza's borders to more food aid, after UN and humanitarian agencies warned that more than two million Palestinian civilians are facing starvation. - 'Without rest' - But Israel's top general warned that there would be no respite in fighting in Gaza if the hostages were not released. "I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," said army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, according to a military statement. "If not, the combat will continue without rest," he said, during remarks to officers inside Gaza on Friday. Of the 251 people who were kidnapped from Israel during Hamas's attack in October 2023, 49 remain in Gaza, 27 of them dead, according to the military. Palestinian armed groups this week released two videos of hostages looking emaciated and weak. Zamir denied that there was widespread starvation in Gaza. "The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF (Israeli military), a moral army, of war crimes," he said. "The ones responsible for the killing and suffering of the residents in the Gaza Strip is Hamas." Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. A total of 898 Israeli soldiers have also been killed, according to the military. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. - Civilian deaths - Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 21 people in the territory on Saturday. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said two people were killed and another 26 injured after an Israeli strike on a central Gaza area where Palestinians had gathered before a food distribution point run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). He added that Saturday's bombings mostly targeted the areas near the southern city of Khan Yunis and Gaza City in the north. Witkoff visited another GHF site for five hours on Friday, promising that Trump would come up with a plan to better feed civilians. Adnan Abu Hasna, of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told AFP that the agency had "approximately 6,000 trucks ready for the Gaza Strip, but the crossings are closed by political decision. There are five land crossings into the Strip through which 1,000 trucks can enter daily." The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories on Friday said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza had been killed since May 27, most of them by the Israeli military. Israel's military insist that soldiers never deliberately target civilians and accuses Hamas fighters of looting UN and humanitarian aid trucks. fa-dc/jsa
CNN
30 minutes ago
- CNN
Israeli hostage families hold emergency protest after Gaza militants release new propaganda videos
Protestors gathered in Tel Aviv's 'Hostage Square' on Saturday to stage an emergency protest following the release of propaganda videos showing emaciated Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad this week showed Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state. The undated footage of David is juxtaposed with images of starving Palestinian children. They are among fifty hostages that remain in the territory, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The militant groups released the videos with ceasefire talks stalled and Palestinians face a mounting starvation crisis in the enclave. Steve Witkoff, the United States' special envoy to the Middle East, attended the public plaza on Saturday amid the protests, one day after he visited a controversial US-backed aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip. 'Against the backdrop of horrifying footage and harsh reports about the hostages' condition – hostage families will cry out this morning in the heart of Tel Aviv,' a statement from Israel's hostage families said. 'We appeal to the Israeli government and the US administration – look our loved ones – and us – in the eyes.' The hostage families – who have frequently said that ongoing fighting in Gaza endangers their loved ones – called for an end to the war in the territory and a 'comprehensive deal' that would see the remaining hostages freed. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Friday that fighting will continue 'without rest' in Gaza if there is no hostage deal. 'I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we will succeed in reaching a partial deal for the release of our captives. If not, the fighting will continue without rest,' he said. On Friday, the armed wing of Hamas released an undated video showing 24-year-old David – who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 – being held in a narrow cell. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters cautioned against using imagery from the video 'until the family has given explicit approval.' The video was released one day after a similar propaganda video was published by Palestinian Islamic Jihad showing Braslavski also in a frail state. Islamic Jihad said it was the last video taken of the hostage before the group lost contact in July with the militants holding him. 'People talk a lot about what is happening in Gaza, about hunger, and I want to ask everyone who spoke about hunger: Did you see our Rom? He is not receiving food, he is not receiving medicine. He has simply been forgotten there,' Braslavski's family said in a statement. 'We ask that Witkoff see this video. And we make an urgent plea to President Trump: Bring our son home,' the family said. Earlier this week, a UN-backed food security agency warned that 'the worst case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza, its starkest alert yet as Israel faces growing international pressure to allow more food into the territory. Gaza's health ministry said Saturday that seven people had died from malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including one child, bringing the total death toll from starvation since the conflict began in 2023 to 169.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Rare aerial imagery shows displacement and destruction in Gaza
KING ABDULLAH II AIR BASE, Jordan — Blocks upon blocks of crumbling buildings, punctuated by vast tent encampments. Scenes of devastation where neighborhoods once stood. A chance to ride along on a Jordanian aid flight Wednesday carrying out airdrops over the Gaza Strip offered a rare opportunity for low-altitude aerial views of the scale of destruction and displacement in the territory. Gaza has been closed to foreign reporters since Israel began its military operation in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and views from above have been limited largely to satellite imagery, Israeli military photos and drone footage from Gazan journalists and media workers — at least 186 of whom have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
