UN Security council calls for extended pause in Israel-Hamas war as IDF strikes Hamas leaders

Emily Hand, a young girl being held hostage by Hamas, will turn 9 years old on Friday "in the tunnels of Gaza," her grief-stricken father, Thomas Hand, told Fox News Digital in an interview this week in New York City.

"No party. No friends. She won’t even know if it’s day or night. There’s no light down there. So she won’t know it’s her birthday," Hand said.

Her birthday will be marked here in America with billboards that go on display in Times Square and Madison Square Garden in Manhattan at 8 a.m. on Friday. 

Emily was only 2½ years old when her own mother died of breast cancer and has been raised by her dad and others in their tightly knit kibbutz since then. She was at a sleepover at a friend’s house in the kibbutz of Be’eri in southern Israel when Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Even at nine, she is older than many of the hostages as he youngest was just 9 months old when snatched away as a trophy of terror. 

Thomas Hand’s suffering over the past 40 days has made international headlines. He was first told in the days after the terror attack that his little girl was dead and said in one interview that he welcomed it because it was better than her being held captive and tortured by Hamas.

Officials told Hand "in all probability she's in Gaza because there was no blood in the bomb shelter and there was no blood in the house that matched Emily's DNA," he said.

Read more on Thomas Hand's hopes for his daughter here.

Fox News Digital's Kerry J. Byrne contributed to this report.

Several Jewish students at Columbia University who felt so unsafe on campus they wanted to conceal their identity said they "can't wait to graduate" as hundreds gathered to protest the school's suspension of two pro-Palestinian student groups.

"Things that are being chanted by hundreds and hundreds of students daily when we walk past the library — ‘From the river to the sea,' 'Globalize the intifada’ — these things are aggressive, violent statements," one of the Jewish students who attends Columbia Law School said.

Students wearing keffiyehs have repeatedly harassed Jewish gatherings on campus, screaming "F**k the Jews" over and over, he said.

"I was proud to be in Columbia. Now I just can't wait to graduate," he told Fox News. "I don't care much to be here. I don't feel like I want to be so involved and part of the community. It feels like there's a lot of hate."

Columbia is one of several major universities that's been criticized for its response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and for high-profile antisemitic incidents on campus. Earlier this month, the Ivy League said it was establishing an antisemitism task force to address the "terribly resilient" hatred Jewish students faced on campus.

Click here to read more from Jewish students at Columbia.

Fox News Digital's Teny Sahakian contributed to this report.

A concerned parent in Texas believes her high school daughter, who is Israeli, was targeted by her teacher after antisemitic remarks were written on the board in the classroom.

Talya Hayoun, a freshman at Dickinson High School in Dickinson, Texas, told FOX 26 Houston that she walked into her English class to find the popular pro-Palestinian mantra, "No justice, no peace. Justice for Palestine," written on the white board.

Hayoun said the message was not part of a lesson and believes it was an opportunity for the teacher to share her opinion about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war with her students.

"I'm really, really scared. I'm the only Israeli at school," the teen said. "No one is Jewish over there. They made me feel guilty that I'm Jewish and that I'm from Israel."

Click here to read more about this story.

Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

Israel Defense Forces said it is continuing to provide and deliver aid to people in Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital while its military conducts a "precise and targeted" operation against Hamas terrorists in the building.

Early Friday morning, the IDF posted on X, formerly Twitter, that troops delivered over 4,000 liters of water and 1,500 ready-made meals to the hospital.

"The well-being of civilians, including patients and staff, remains a priority," the force wrote.

Underground tunnels and weapons were discovered under three of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Tunnels were found at the Al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals, the IDF said Friday.

Inside the Al-Quds Hospital, Israeli troops found a large amount of weaponry. An image released by the IDF shows rifles, radios, grenades and other military items in what appeared to be a hospital room.

The IDF also released video footage and images of the two unearthed tunnels.

The footage of the tunnel at Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, shows a deep hole in the ground littered with concrete, wood rubble and sand. Israel says Hamas uses the hospitals for military purposes.

The terror group has accused the IDF of targeting hospitals with airstrikes, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.

Pro-Palestinian protesters shutdown a San Francisco bridge Thursday and tied up traffic, resulting in the delay of organs needed for transplant procedures at a local hospital. \

Hundreds of protesters created the traffic jam after shutting down the Bay Bridge, Fox San Francisco reported. The chaos started around 7:45 a.m. and at least 70 people were arrested and 29 cars were towed. 

At least 200 protesters chained themselves together and tossed their car keys into the bay, a move that stalled efforts to reopen the bridge and frustrated drivers. 

"This was very well planned," California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel told KTVU.  

The traffic jam delayed the delivery of organs slated to be used for transplants operations, a spokesperson for UCSF Health told the news outlet. 

However, the slowdown was not expected to affect the outcome for patients, the spokesperson said. 

Images show protesters holding large banner calling for an end of U.S. support to Israel and another that read: “Stop the Genocide.”      

California authorities released a booking photo of a California college professor accused of killing a Jewish man at concurrent pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations earlier this month. 

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office released the image of Loay Alnaji, who was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 5 death of Paul Kessler. 

Alnaji is being held at Ventura County Jail on $1 million bail. Authorities allege that Alnaji, 50, caused Kessler, a 69-year-old pro-Israel protester, to knock his head onto the concrete when he fell, which resulted in brain hemorrhaging that would kill him hours later in the hospital. 

In the weeks preceding Alnaji’s arrest, some witnesses told Fox News Digital that the pro-Palestinian protester struck Kessler with his megaphone.  

Some said he tried baiting Kessler and used the megaphone to shout into the faces of pro-Israel protesters. 

Alnaji, who was born in Kuwait, is a full-time professor teaching computer science at Ventura County Community College's Moorpark campus.

Fox News Digital's Christina Coulter contributed to this report.

A menorah display outside a Long Island, New York home was vandalized Wednesday when someone broke two of its lights, authorities said. 

Video footage released by the Nassau County Police Department shows someone walking up to the large display on the front lawn of a home at around 12:35 a.m. in Hempstead, 30 miles east of New York City. 

The suspect destroyed two lights with an unidentified object and fled on foot, police said. The act of vandalism caused around $2,000 in damage. No arrests have been made. 

The suspect was only described as an adult male who was wearing a black backpack. Authorities did say whether the incident was motivated by hate. 

Antisemitic incidents have increased in the weeks since Israel declared wars on Hamas following the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state. 

Pro-Palestinian rallies across the United States have seen insult directed at Jewish supporters of Israel, the burning of the Israeli flag and the tearing down of posters of Israeli captives being held in the Gaza Strip.  

Iranian proxies have committed 58 attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, the Pentagon said Thursday. 

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters during a briefing that 27 of the attacks took place in Iraq, while the other 31 were in Syria. Seven of the attacks in Syria have occurred since Sunday. 

Singh was asked if the Pentagon was waiting for a U.S. servicemember to be killed before taking a stronger stance or more effective action against the proxies. 

"I mean, we would never want to see that. We would never want that to be the outcome of any attack," Singh replied. "We’re not waiting on something to act. We are…we have responded, and if there are more attacks, we will certainly respond at a time and place of our choosing." 

She noted the action taken by the USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-Class destroyer, which shot down a drone from Yemen in the Red Sea on Wednesday. 

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

The drone was heading toward the warship when it was shot it down. It was the latest drone attack in a series of attacks on American troops stationed in the Middle East amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli troops discovered a hidden booby-trapped vehicle inside the complex of a Hamas-run hospital in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday. 

In a video posted to X, the IDF said the vehicle contained AK-47 rifles, grenades, RPGs, sniper rifles and other explosives. 

“This is what Hamas is trying to hide from you,” an IDF spokesperson said in the footage. 

Near the vehicle were weapons, ammunition and other items, including handcuffs and knives displayed on the ground, the IDF said. 

“And where they’re hiding all this equipment is in the hospital,” the spokesperson said. “A place that’s supposed to be for humanitarian aid. They have all this evil hidden here.”

“This is where they choose to hide everything because they know the IDF won’t attack, the air force won’t attack here," he added. "They use the hospital as human shields."

Israel has long claimed tat Hamas has used hospitals and other sensitive locations as cover to conceal its military operations. 

On Tuesday, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said that intelligence supports Israel's claims about Hamas activities in hospitals.  

"I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages," Kirby told reporters on Air Force One. 

The chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday credited his troops with moving closer to destroying Hamas’ “military system” amid its weeks-long campaign against the terror group. 

Herzi Halevi visited soldiers on the ground inside the Gaza Strip, where he spoke of Israel’s response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities. 

“As the campaign move forwards, with what you have done here with these battalions, Division 36 and 252, we are quite close to destroying the (Hamas) military system that existed in the north of the Gaza Strip,” he said, according to a press release. “We will complete it, we still have some things to do, but we are getting closer.” 

He said the IDF will continue its military operations and that “as much as it depends on us, area after area, we're going to kill the commanders and kill the operatives and destroy the infrastructure.” 

“You have done it excellently so far, take what you've learned so far - for almost three weeks, and do it even better,” Halevi added. 

Israel has battered Gaza with continuous airstrikes in the weeks since the attack, resulting in thousands dead and an escalating humanitarian crisis.   

It’s highly unlikely that Israeli military operations will eliminate the ideology of Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby suggested Thursday. 

Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip for six weeks with airstrikes as Israeli leaders have vowed to eliminate the terror group. 

"What we have learned through our own experiences ... through military and other means, you can absolutely have a significant impact on [a] terrorist group's ability to resource itself, to train fighters, to recruit fighters, to plan and to execute attacks," Kirby said Thursday during a briefing. 

He noted that Hamas leaders have repeatedly said they plan to attack Israel for the foreseeable future.

Military operations against a particular group, no matter how precise and targeted, cannot eliminate an idea, he said, citing the defeat of other terror groups in recent years. 

"I mean, look at the shadow of itself that ISIS is right now, look at the shadow of itself that al Qaeda is right now. That doesn't mean that the ideology also withers away and dies," he said. "But you can absolutely have a practical, meaningful effect on a terrorist organization's ability to conduct and execute its attacks." 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

Israel released video footage that purportedly shows part of a tunnel on the grounds of a hospital complex in Gaza. 

The tunnel was near the Al-Shifa hospital, which Israel has said is used by Hamas to plan attacks and military operations. 

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces released footage showing weapons and military equipment inside the hospital, which has shelter thousands of civilians amid Israeli shelling. 

Israeli officials claim that the facility is being used as cover by Hamas terrorists and that the group has set up its main command center underneath the building.   

"A few of the most interesting things that we found totally confirms, without any doubt, that Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations, in violation of international law," IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said as he walked through an MRI building at the hospital. 

Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this report.

The Israel Defense Forces and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have ramped up shelling against each other as both sides continue to trade airstrikes.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it has struck eight targets so far in Israel on Thursday, including Israeli soldiers and a military barracks, "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," according to Reuters.   

In response, the IDF said it hit a site in Lebanon that has tried launching anti-tank missiles toward its territory and that artillery strikes have been directed at other locations, the news agency adds.  

Israel’s counterattack has impacted several villages along Lebanon’s southern border, a source told Reuters. There were no reported injuries. Both sides have repeatedly traded airstrikes since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities. 

Since Hamas launched its war on Israel, more than 70 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed in shelling in Lebanon, Reuters reports.  

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

Israeli Defense Forces say they found the body of a hostage taken in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Thursday.

Israeli forces say they found Yehudit Weiss' body in a building adjacent to the Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israel says Hamas had been using as a headquarters until early this week. The IDF did not offer any details about Weiss beyond her name, but noted that her family has been contacted.

Soldiers searching the building say they also found military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG's inside.

Weiss was one of roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas duirng its Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. She is now among a small number of hostages confirmed to have been killed since Israel's war on Hamas began.

Fox News' Dana Karni contributed to this report

Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic on bridges in Boston and San Francisco during rush hour Thursday morning to call for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel continues to target Hamas leadership more than a month after the militant group’s deadly incursion into Israel.

On the Boston University bridge, the group IfNotNow, which says it represents members of Boston’s Jewish community, chanted "Cease-fire now!" and demanded that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., support an immediate cease-fire and use her influence to stop the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza. 

The protest slowed traffic to a trickle on the bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, as the group held signs that said, "Let Gaza Live," and unfurled a banner across the roadway that read, "Jews say: Ceasefire now."

"We care about Palestinian lives, we only want to hurt Hamas," one protester on the bridge told NBC Boston, while another said, "There can’t be peace for Jews unless there is peace for Palestinians."

Meanwhile, Pro-Palestinian protesters also shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, where President Biden was courting world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. 

Fox News' Stephen Sorace contributed to this report

Republicans shared their thoughts on the violent protests outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Wednesday night that saw U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers pepper sprayed by protesters.

The Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., saw fireworks on Wednesday night when pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in front of the DNC.

Republicans weighed in on the protests online, with Florida Rep. Kat Cammack posting a video of the protest while she was on Capitol Hill.

"I am on Capitol Hill right now and it’s on lockdown," Cammack wrote. "No getting in or out of our offices."

"We have officers that were pepper sprayed by pro-Hamas protestors with a lot of people attempting to break into the Democratic HQ," she continued. "Anyone else notice how violent the so-called ‘ceasefire’ crowd is?"

Fox News' Houston Keene contributed to this report

The Guardian removed Osama bin Laden's infamous "Letter to America" this week as the words of the terrorist mastermind behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, went viral after being unearthed by social media users.

The left-wing outlet had the anti-American and antisemitic letter published on its website since 2002 and was the first Google search result when searching for the document. But the publication deleted bin Laden's letter amid a sudden spike in traffic.

A spokesperson for The Guardian told Fox News Digital, "The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualized it instead."

The Guardian declined additional comment.

The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, with many thousands more injured and suffering from long-term illnesses, after Islamic terrorists crashed four hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania; the latter was forced down by heroic passengers. In the letter to the American people translated in English, bin Laden justified al-Qaeda's attacks against the U.S. because "you attacked us" and "you attacked us in Palestine."

"Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation," bin Laden alleged. 

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report

California police have arrested Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, in relation to the death of Jewish man Paul Kessler at an Israel protest last week.

Alnaji has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and has a bail set at $1,000,000. The arrest comes roughly a week after Kessler, 69, died in the hospital after striking his head on the concrete during an altercation with Alnaji.

Footage showed Kessler bleeding on the ground following the incident. Alnaji, a pro-Palestinian protester had allegedly manhandled Kessler and caused him to fall.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Department stated last week that they had identified a 50-year-old suspect in the case, but they had not yet identified him nor made an arrest.