Over 800,000 Palestinians flee Gaza City as Hamas grip weakens

AMIR BOHBOT

Palestinians move from the Shujaiya neighborhood after the Israeli army ordered its evacuation due to Hamas rocket fire, in Gaza. April 3, 2025. / (photo credit: Ali Hassan/Flash90)

More than 800,000 Palestinians have left Gaza City, as the IDF prepares to expand operations in the area, a security source said on Sunday.

>According to Southern Command estimates, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have departed the city daily over the past eek, and this number is expected to increase.

Defense officials said between 250,000 and 350,000 Palestinians are still inside Gaza City.

Officials praised the Southern Command’s evacuation plan, which anticipates the number of evacuees could soon reach one million. Unless there is a last-minute change, the next phases of the maneuver into the city center have already been approved.

Hamas’s attempts to keep civilians in northern Gaza and Gaza City have failed, despite the group using both persuasion and physical deterrence, including roadblocks and violence.

“The public is moving to the south of the Strip,” a security source said.

Palestinians evacuating amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas travel on a vehicle in Khan Younis in the Southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024. (credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

Hamas Claims Responsibility for Monday’s Deadly Jerusalem Terror Attack

Algemeiner Staff

People inspect a bus with bullet holes at the scene where a shooting terrorist attack took place at the outskirts of Jerusalem, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas‘s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the shooting that killed six people in Jerusalem on Monday.

In a statement, the internationally designated terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades and also maintained operations in the West Bank, said the two assailants who carried out the attack, Muhammad Taha and Muthanna Amro, were members.

The two Palestinian gunmen boarded a bus at Ramot Junction in northern Jerusalem and opened fire, killing six people before the attackers were shot dead by a soldier and an armed civilian. They were believed to have set out from two villages in the West Bank, according to Israeli officials. A third suspect was later arrested.

Those who were killed include Jacob Pinto, 25; Sarah Mendelson, 60; Rabbi Israel Matzner, 28; Rabbi Yosef David, 43; Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79; and Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Pash. About 15 others were reportedly injured in the attack, including a pregnant woman and six who were in critical condition with gunshot wounds. Pinto, who recently immigrated to Israel from Spain, was a newlywed and the cousin of Instagram influencer Ariella Charnas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told security agencies on Monday night to prepare for a strike on Hamas leaders abroad following the terrorist attack in Jerusalem and a separate attack on an Israeli tank in northern Gaza that killed four soldiers, according to a joint statement from Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency on Tuesday targeted senior Hamas leadership in Qatar with airstrikes. For years, Qatar has not only hosted and sheltered top Hamas leaders but also supported the Islamist group diplomatically and financially.

“The prime minister and defense minister believed the operation was fully justified, given that this Hamas leadership was the one that initiated and organized the Oct. 7 massacre,” Netanyahu and Katz said, referring to Hamas’s 2023 invasion of southern Israel that started the war in Gaza. The two leaders added in their statement that Hamas “has since continued to carry out murderous attacks against Israel and its citizens, including taking responsibility for the murder of our civilians in yesterday’s attack in Jerusalem.”

Katz and Netanyahu added that they identified an “operational opportunity” to give Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) the green light to carry out the strikes in Qatar.

A taxi driver helped rescue an elderly woman from Monday’s terrorist attack, according to video circulating on social media. The footage, taken from a vehicle’s dashboard camera, showed the driver, reportedly named Yigal, rushing from his seat to the passenger seat, which was occupied by an elderly woman he had driven in the city.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with the driver and praised the man for his courage.

“I am moved to speak with you, dear Yigal; you are truly an example of civilian heroism. I saw the video and said, ‘Get me Yigal!’” Herzog said, according to Israeli media reports. “Well done. You are an exemplary citizen. I want to thank you. You bring immense pride to the State of Israel.”

Several guns, ammunition, and a knife used by the attackers were found at the scene of the shooting.

Jewish strangers on a train

Ruthie Blum

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Passengers at the Israel Railways station in Tel Aviv, Aug. 25, 2025. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

The train from Jerusalem to Herzliya hums steadily along the tracks. It’s full, as usual, for this time of day in the middle of the week.

Voices mingle with the whir of the wheels. A mixture of languages—Hebrew, English, Russian—meld with universal sighs of weary commuters wishing to reach their destination before sundown.

Suddenly, a minyan (public prayer quorum) of 10 men rises, almost simultaneously. One stands, calling out the afternoon prayer, his Yemenite accent ringing clear above the din. The others follow his lead.

There’s a tall, blond tourist with a thick beard who boarded at Ben-Gurion International Airport, luggage in tow. His faded jeans hang as loosely as his tzitzit.

Beside him is a clean-shaven local with olive skin in a crisp white shirt and black pants, wearing a dark velvet kippah. He’s holding a siddur. The rest read the text on their electronic devices.

The words of Mincha, the afternoon prayer, followed by Selichot—the penitential prayers recited ahead of the High Holidays—fill the car, soft yet commanding. Strangers mumbling in chaotic unison.  

When they finish, they nod, smile and shake hands. The leader sits down again and phones his office. Holy duty behind him, he tends to his real-estate business without skipping a beat … or minding that his conversation’s being heard by eavesdroppers.

Across the aisle, a young female Israel Defense Forces officer with a rifle nestled between her shoulder and lap barely notices. She takes Jews for granted.

Anyway, she’s busy texting her boyfriend to find out if he’s been called up yet again to fight in Gaza. Her long pink nails—the hue of her furry cellphone cover—click furiously on the screen.

A mother nearby leans close to her son. The 9-year-old (she mentioned his age) was fidgeting about his audition for a TV show that evening. She glances nervously at her watch; they’re running late. She calls his agent to announce the delay, then asks a passenger for directions to a certain address in Tel Aviv.

He looks it up for her on the Moovit app, adding a few tips of his own. She responds by declaring that she can’t stand Tel Aviv.

“It’s too noisy and dirty,” she says, revealing that she lives in Haifa.

“At least Tel Aviv doesn’t have all those oppressive hills,” he retorts. They laugh and shrug, agreeing that traffic is terrible everywhere today, in any case. Anti-government protesters are blocking the highways again.

By the doors, a young couple stands guard over their electric bikes. They’re arguing about Egypt. And Washington. And whether the demonstrations are helping or harming the hostages. Their tones rise and fall, frustration infused with flirty familiarity.

Three boomers with gray braids pass the pair, their Israeli flags sticking awkwardly out of backpacks and under arms. They’re heading to Hostages Square outside of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

The train halts between stations. The conductor apologizes over the loudspeaker for the mishap.

“Is this because of the protests?” an elderly man inquires of nobody in particular.

A woman with a small dog on a leash shakes her head. “No, no,” she answers. “It’s probably due to the electrical failure last week.”

“You mean because of the heat wave or the Houthi missile attack?” he wonders aloud.

The train resumes moving. Relief, like camaraderie, is palpable.

Nothing remarkable. And everything. A snapshot of the Israel I love.

Ruthie Blum, a former adviser at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is an award-winning columnist and a senior contributing editor at JNS. Co-host with Ambassador Mark Regev of the JNS-TV podcast “Israel Undiplomatic,” she writes on Israeli politics and U.S.-Israel relations. Originally from New York, she moved to Israel in 1977. She is a regular guest on national and international media outlets, including Fox, Sky News, i24News, Scripps, ILTV, WION and Newsmax.

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First Charter Aliyah Flight Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 Attack Brings 225 Newcomers to Israel

Ailin Vilches Arguello

New olim disembark at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on the first charter aliyah flight since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, arriving to begin new lives in Israel. Photo: The Algemeiner

NEW YORK/TEL AVIV — Defying the uncertainty of war, 225 Jews arrived in Tel Aviv on the first charter aliyah flight since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, determined to start new lives and contribute to the country they now call home.

On Wednesday morning, Nefesh B’Nefesh — a nonprofit that promotes and facilitates aliyah from the United States and Canada — brought its 65th charter flight from New York to Tel Aviv.

Aliyah refers to the process of Jews immigrating to Israel.

With the most children yet on a single flight, this historic aliyah brought 45 families to their new homeland — 125 children among them, ranging from the youngest at 9 months to the oldest at 72.

Migrating from across the US and Canada, these newcomers and families are settling throughout Israel to build communities and begin new lives of service to the Jewish state. Among them are professionals in fields such as medicine, journalism, education, law, accounting, engineering, and many others.

During a farewell ceremony in New York, Nefesh B’Nefesh chairman and co-founder Tony Gelbart commended those on the flight, holding them up as examples of Jewish resilience and unity in the face of adversity

“You’re fulfilling your dream, but I believe you’re doing something even more important at this time,” Gelbart said in his speech.

“Not only are you helping Israel; you’re showing the world that Jews everywhere stand together and care for one another,” he continued.

Israeli Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer, who traveled to the US to see off the new olim (immigrants who moved to Israel) on their historic flight, also praised them for embarking on this new chapter in Israel.

“I want to thank each and every person who made the decision to make aliyah during the war. It strengthens our resilience and our solidarity, and I am truly proud of them,” Sofer told The Algemeiner.

“Since Oct. 7, we’ve seen that most people want to support Israel … but the highest form of solidarity is choosing to make aliyah,” the Israeli official said. “These individuals want to be part of what’s happening in Israel, make a meaningful difference, and stand with their people.”

Founded in 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh is dedicated to “strengthening the State of Israel by facilitating aliyah, advancing national service and development, and promoting Zionist education.”

Nefesh B’Nefesh, working alongside Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth, and the Jewish National Fund-USA, helps olim become fully integrated members of Israeli society.

To this day, they have assisted nearly 100,000 olim in establishing thriving lives in Israel, guiding them through the aliyah process.

Those who decide to make aliyah receive comprehensive support to help them transition smoothly into their new life, including guidance through the immigration process, access to community programs, health-care assistance, and employment resources.

The Israeli government also provides a range of support and resources to ease the transition and adaptation for those taking this significant step, including housing subsidies and higher education incentives for young olim and professionals pursuing studies in Israel.

“I believe we’ll see an increase in the number of people making aliyah in the coming years. It won’t happen overnight, but it will be a gradual process,” Sofer told The Algemeiner. “The trend is clear, and there is growing interest among many in taking this step.”

“We’re seeing numbers rise year by year, especially from Western countries like the UK, France, and North America, and I expect that trend to continue,” the Israeli minister said.