Dispatches from Israel provided by Forbes Israel.

Local.

Ceasefire expires, war in Gaza resumes. Upon the expiration Friday of a ceasefire during which Israel released Palestinian prisoners in return for hostages seized by Hamas during its terrorist attack on October 7, Hamas launched dozens of rockets at towns and cities in the south and center of Israel, including the densely populated Gush Dan metropolitan area in Israel.

During the seven-day ceasefire, Hamas released 110 hostages, mostly women and children. Eleven Israeli hostages were killed or died in captivity and Hamas still holds 137 people, including 17 women and children, according to a military spokesperson. At least 10 American citizens are currently among the hostages held in Gaza.

"The Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization has violated the outline. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday morning. "The Government of Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war: Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel."

Israel's defenses forces (IDF) then attacked more than 400 targets in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the area of Khan Yunis, Gaza's second-largest city. During ground operations, the IDF uncovered dozens of Hamas missiles hidden beneath UNRWA equipment, as well as mortars and other explosives hidden in UNRWA boxes.

Against this backdrop, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his fourth visit to Israel since the start of the war. Blinken met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, then traveled to Ramallah to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "It is important to understand why the pause came to an end," Blinken said on Friday as Israel resumed combat operations in Gaza. "It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans. It began firing rockets before the pause ended and reneged on commitments made in terms of releasing certain hostages."

Blinken was referring to a shooting attack at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, in which four people were killed and seven others wounded. The terrorists who carried out the attack, two brothers from East Jerusalem, were members of Hamas recently released from prison.

Hezbollah renews attacks on Israel. Across the Lebanese border, IDF aircraft eliminated three terrorist cells attempting to launch anti-tank guided missiles and mortars towards Israeli territory. Israeli air defenses also intercepted rockets fired by Hezbollah toward military positions and civilian areas including Kiryat Shmona in the far northern tip of Israel. In response, IDF fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.

Mysterious explosion in Sana'a, Yemen. On Thursday, Arab media reported an explosion at a base located in Jabal Attan, a closed military zone controlled by the pro-Iranian Houthi militia in the Yemeni capital. The weapon depots involved contained ballistic missiles and drones of the type used by the militia for attacks against Israel in recent weeks. Saudi media reported Friday that Israeli fighter jets were responsible for the precision attack.

Houthi Retaliation? At least two cargo ships and an American warship came under attack in the Red Sea Sunday. The US. Warship, the Carney, shot down two drones while responding to a distress call from one of the freighters, the Unity Explorer, which reportedly suffered heavy damage. A spokesman for the Houthi organization said that it had attacked the ships because of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

World.

Horror on the cover of The Sunday Times. The prestigious British newspaper The Sunday Times on Sunday published a comprehensive front-page article, including survivors' eyewitness accounts, reporting the acts of rape and violence committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli women during the massacre on October 7. "I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten of the fighters beating and raping her," one such survivor says in the article. "She screamed, 'Stop - I'm already going to die from what you're doing, just kill me!' When they finished, they laughed, and the last one shot her in the head."

A deafening silence. After almost two months of denials, evasions, and vague condemnations from activists and women's organizations worldwide, the United Nations Women's Organization released a statement Friday expressing great concern over "the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks." Based on forensic evidence, photos, videos and more than 1,500 statements from witnesses, the special Israeli police unit investigating the atrocities and rapes that occurred on October 7^th described the scope of the terror acts committed that day as incomprehensible in terms of their cruelty and the number of victims. "A survivor from the scene recounted: 'It was an apocalypse of bodies, girls without clothes, people mutilated. There were girls whose pelvises were broken from the excessive violence they endured. They were just legless corpses." Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen accused the United Nations of ignoring war crimes committed against women and children, stating, "For nearly 50 days, UN officials have remained silent in the face of the rape, murder and kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli women and girls."

High tech.

An Israeli investor tops Forbes Magazine's Midas list. In a recent edition, the magazine crowned Avi Eyal, co-founder of the venture capital fund Entrée Capital, best Investor In Europe and the Middle East. Eyal finished in the top 50 investors in last year's Forbes ranking.

Eyal reached the top of the list thanks to successful local investments, such as early investment in the cloud startup Monday.com, now valued at $8.5 billion, alongside other successful international investments in companies such as Coupang and Stripe.

Of the 25 investors on the Forbes Midas List Europe, four are Israelis. The three other Israeli venture capitalists selected for the prestigious list were Gili Raanan from Cyberstarts, Michael Eisenberg from Aleph and Gil Dibner from Angular Capital. Laurel Bowden also appeared in the top investor list. Bowden is a partner at North83, a global venture capital firm, with more than half the team based in Tel Aviv, that has made numerous investments in Israeli hi-tech.

By Itai Zehorai, Alan Sacks