Hamas releases propaganda hostage video, Security forces strike Hamas, PIJ terror compound

A drone accompanying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's convoy may have been the reason for his late appearance at the official ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem on Wednesday evening.

Those close to the Prime Minister claimed that the delay was due to a "security issue." 

 Netanyahu made a fiery speech at Wednesday night's Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem, comparing comparison between the Nazis and Hamas, and framing his calls for military victory as part of a historic path of rebirth following the murder of six million Jews.

Israel marked 80 years since the World War II genocide of the Jewish people on Wednesday night, with the beginning of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A siren marking the six million victims of the Holocaust is set to sound on Thursday morning, in which Israelis will cease all action, and hold a moment of silence until the siren's end.

The flag was lowered to half mast on Wednesday night, at an official ceremony held at Yad Vashem, with the year's theme being Out of the Depth: The Anguish of Liberation.

Three firefighters were injured on Wednesday as two separate fires spread across open fields in central Israel, crossing Highway 1 toward the capital of Jerusalem and leading to intermittent closures of sections of the highway.

Dozens of Israel Fire and Rescue firefighting teams attempted to control the fires as they spread northward towards Highway 1 after spreading from near Route 6 and Route 44, respectively.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee offered assistance and sent a prayer of safety to the first responders and citizens who were evacuated due to the fires that raged across the outskirts of Jerusalem on Wednesday.

An Israeli delegation is expected to depart in the coming days for talks aimed at advancing a hostage deal, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

Sources informed on the matter told the Post that there has been no change in Hamas's position regarding the deal.

Hamas has made it clear to mediators from Egypt and Qatar that "we will not agree to a deal that includes a temporary ceasefire."

A group of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists operating in a command and control center was struck by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the military announced on Wednesday.

The command center was embedded within an area that previously served as the "Jaffa" School in Gaza City. 

The IDF is currently investigating a suspected shooting incident near Elon Moreh in the West Bank on Wednesday.

This is a developing story.

Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets on Wednesday after members of the group were found to be linked to a sabotage plot, Interior Minister Mazen Fraya said.

There was no immediate comment from the movement, which has operated legally in Jordan for decades and has widespread grass-roots support in major urban centers and scores of offices across the country.

A heated debate ensued during the security cabinet meeting on Tuesday on the topic of the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Defense Minister Israel Katz told the ministers that aid would not enter in the same methods as previously.  

"It strengthens Hamas. Aid will be distributed by IDF soldiers or American companies". 

IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir quickly responded that "IDF soldiers will not distribute humanitarian aid, and we will not starve the Gaza Strip."

An explosive device believed to be from the October 7 massacre was discovered near Netivot by local police officers, according to an N12 report on Wednesday.

Explosive ordnance squads were called to the scene, which is in an area currently undergoing road construction work.