Israel continues to wage war on two fronts this week – to the north in Lebanon and the south in Gaza. The battles with the remnants of Hamas and Hezbollah come as a showdown with Iran and its nuclear program looms over the Middle East.

The Israel Defense Forces struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launcher sites on Saturday, the largest attack since the ceasefire. The attacks follow a rocket launch from southern Lebanon toward the Galilee.

The agency has consistently concealed Hamas’s abuses and misrepresented Israel’s counterterrorism efforts.

An Israeli strike in southern Gaza killed senior Hamas leader Salah Bardawil, according to the Associated Press.

Bardawil was a Palestinian parliament and political bureau member and was among at least 26 people killed in the Israeli strikes between Saturday night and Sunday morning. 

Bardawil’s wife was also killed by the strike.

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that Israel would annex areas of the Gaza Strip should the terror group Hamas refuse to release the remaining hostages it is still holding.

Katz’s announcement came after a weeks-long ceasefire abruptly ended on Tuesday, with Israel resuming strikes on the Strip as hostage negotiations failed to progress.

A federal judge on Wednesday denied the Trump administration's request to dismiss Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil's challenge to his arrest by immigration authorities and agreed his case should be moved to New Jersey.

The big picture: The arrest of Khalil, a key leader in Columbia's pro-Palestinian protests and a green card holder, sparked mass concern among immigration and free speech advocates, as the administration promises more arrests to come.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student activist detained by U.S. authorities for his role in pro-Palestinian protests, can challenge his detention's legality, but the case must be heard in New Jersey rather than New York or Louisiana, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled that New Jersey was the appropriate venue since Khalil was first detained there when his legal team filed the lawsuit.

Anti-Israel Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil has called himself a “political prisoner” — while urging students to respond with even more protests.

“My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner,” Khalil said in a fiery letter written from his Louisiana immigration detention facility.