Israeli forces carried out new raids in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, just hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the U.S. Congress.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck areas east of Khan Yunis, with residents saying the attack destroyed homes. The IDF said it targeted the area as one from which terror group Hamas was operating, firing rockets into Israel and attacking Israeli troops.
The military said it located terror tunnels, destroyed Hamas infrastructure sites, and eliminated terrorists, and conducted similar operations in Rafah as well.
During Mr. Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on the same day, the Israeli leader called for U.S. support amid his country’s ongoing war with Hamas.
“America and Israel must stand together,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “When we stand together, something really great happens: We win, they lose.”
He used the opening minutes of his remarks to recount the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israeli communities. He also took the time to highlight the experiences of Israeli soldiers who responded to the attacks and have fought in the Gaza Strip in the ensuing conflict.
The Israeli leader’s visit comes at a dynamic moment, amid signs of a burgeoning Gaza peace plan and shakeups in the U.S. presidential race.
But cease-fire negotiations have been delayed. An Israeli delegation that was to have left on Thursday for Doha, Qatar, to meet with U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari delegations will now wait until next week. Mr. Netanyahu was scheduled to confer with President Joe Biden about the deal that day.
Another Israeli delegation was scheduled to go to Cairo on Wednesday for negotiations with Egyptian officials focused on the Rafah border crossing and Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza–Egypt frontier, which Mr. Netanyahu’s office confirmed.
Tensions at Paris Olympics
In Paris, hundreds of police officers were deployed to secure Israel’s opening Olympic soccer match against Mali on Wednesday, ahead of the Games’ opening ceremony.Spectators loudly jeered Israel’s national anthem before the game kicked off and booed Israeli players each time they touched the ball. Mali, a former French colony, has many expatriates living in France. Mali broke off relations with Israel following the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
The Games begin amid security concerns driven by heightened tensions over the war in Gaza. Israelis, meanwhile, recall the murder by Palestinian terrorists of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, will help at the Games. The Israeli team arrived at the event under a heavy police escort.
The Palestinian Olympic Committee this week called to exclude Israel from the Games, in an open letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. French far-left lawmakers called for Israel’s exclusion as well.
This is the first time since 1976 that Israel’s soccer team has qualified for the Olympics.
