Egyptian service members and Israeli Defense Forces exchanged gunfire Monday at the Rafah border crossing along the Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel is reporting.

Other Israeli media outlets are reporting that an Egyptian soldier was killed Monday during the incident. 

The Israel Defense Forces said “a shooting incident occurred on the Egyptian border” and that the “incident is under review and discussions are being held with the Egyptians.” 

The gunfight comes just hours after an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas compound in Rafah killed two top Hamas officials as well as dozens of civilians.  

‘SQUAD’ MEMBER RASHIDA TLAIB CALLS BIDEN ‘ENABLER’ OF GENOCIDE AT CONFERENCE LINKED TO TERRORIST GROUP, CCP 

While the exact number of killed remains unclear at this time, the IDF confirmed that it struck a Hamas compound in which “significant Hamas terrorists were operating.” 

The IDF said it carried out the strike “against legitimate targets under international law.” 

IDF sources told Fox News Digital the strike eliminated Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamas’ leadership in Judea and Samaria, as well as Khaled Nagar, a senior official in Hamas’ Judea and Samaria wing. 

The IDF said both men had perpetrated numerous terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in which Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed. 

The IDF acknowledged reports that “several civilians in the area were harmed” from the airstrike and a subsequent fire. It said incident is “under review” as well. 

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON RAFAH KILLS 2 TOP HAMAS COMMANDERS, DOZENS OF CIVILIANS 

Fire rages following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, May 26. (Reuters/Reuters TV TPX Images of the Day)

Last week, the United Nations’ top court issued an order demanding Israel “immediately halt its military offensive” against Hamas in Rafah, the Palestinian terrorist group’s final stronghold in the Gaza Strip.  

“The military ground offensive in Rafah, which Israel started on 7 May 2024, is still ongoing and has led to new evacuation orders,” the International Court of Justice said in its ruling. “As a result, according to United Nations reports, nearly 800,000 people have been displaced from Rafah as of 18 May 2024.”  

It added that the “immense” humanitarian risks “associated with a military offensive in Rafah have started to materialize and will intensify even further if the operation continues.”  

But Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman, when asked about the ICJ order on Friday, declared, “No power on earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza.”  

The IDF says its “troops are continuing operations against terror targets in the area of Rafah.” (IDF Spokesman’s Office)

“We will destroy Hamas, we will return peace and security to the people of Israel and to the people of Gaza,” Hyman added. “We cannot go on with a genocidal terrorist regime on our southern border.” 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Trey Yingst contributed to this report. 

Duesseldorf court sentences ex-soldier to three and a half years in jail for sharing secret military information with Russia.

A former German soldier has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail for sharing secret military information with Russia in the wake of the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

A court in Duesseldorf had found the defendant, named only as Thomas H, guilty of passing on information on his initiative from his post in the military procurement service.

In handing the sentence on Monday, judges noted that Thomas had no prior offences on his record, had not benefitted materially from helping Russia and was in poor health at the time he did so.

The 54-year-old had admitted the crime during his trial, claiming he was hoping to obtain information in return that would help him get his family to safety in time in the event of the conflict escalating into a nuclear war.

The espionage case is one of several uncovered in Germany since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Prosecutors had accused Thomas of photographing old training documents related to munitions systems and aircraft technology and dropping the material through the letterbox of the Russian consulate in Bonn.

The defendant “approached the Russian general consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin and offered his cooperation” in May 2023, prosecutors said.

“He passed on information he had obtained in the course of his professional activities for it to be passed on to a Russian intelligence service.”

‘Stupid idea’

Thomas admitted at the opening of his trial in April that the accusations against him were “broadly” accurate. “It was wrong. I stand by that,” he said.

He said his concern about a possible escalation in the war in Ukraine led him to reach out to the Russian side.

More precisely, he was worried about the possibility that deliveries of heavy weapons systems by Berlin to Ukraine would draw Germany into the conflict.

Thomas also indicated he had become dissatisfied with the government and a perceived lack of concern for the safety of German citizens.

He cited complaints over his health after many hard years working for the army and long-term side effects from the coronavirus vaccine.

His various worries led him into a “vicious circle”, he said, adding that he could no longer justify his actions to himself.

Until his arrest in August 2023, Thomas had been a career soldier, working at the army’s equipment, information technology and in-service support department.

The department, which has about 12,000 employees, has seen its workload increase substantially since the outbreak of the Ukraine war as the government stages a wide-ranging overhaul of the army after years of neglect.

Germany has been on high alert for Russian spies against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and soaring tensions between Moscow and the West.

In April, German authorities arrested two German-Russian dual nationals on suspicions that they were plotting sabotage attacks on the United States military sites in the country to undermine Western military support for Ukraine.

Russian authorities for their part have levelled treason charges against dozens of people accused of aiding Ukraine and the West since the invasion.

“The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, retained the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas for the third weekend of its four weeks on release. Other signs of theatrical malaise were plentiful.

“The Last Frenzy” earned $5.8 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That lifted its total to within a whisker of the $100 million landmark, at $98 million (RMB696 million) since releasing on May 1.

“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” the Soi Cheang-directed crime action film set in Hong Kong’s now demolished Kowloon Walled City, held on to second place. It earned $4.9 million and has a cumulative of $86.2 million.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which two weeks earlier had been the biggest title before slipping to fourth, regained a position. In third, it earned $2.8 million for a cumulative of $25.6 million, since debuting in China on May 10.

“Three Old Boys,” a crime action film directed by Gao Qunshu (“Beijing Blues,” “Old Fish”) was the weekend’s highest opener. Starring Bao Bei’er, Han Geng and Guo Tao, the film earned $2.7 million (RMB19.0 million).

(“The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” opened outside the top ten. Other data providers estimate that it earned a fraction over $500,000 in its opening three days.)

Fifth place ove the latest weekend belonged to “Hovering Blade” with $1.8 million. The iQiyi-backed revenge-action film is a Chinese adaptation of a crime novel by Japanese author Keigo Higashino about a father on a revenge mission after discovering that his school-age daughter has been raped and murdered. After ten days in cinemas, it has a cumulative of $10.9 million.

Theatrical momentum, which has made China the world’s biggest cinema market so far this year, continues to slow in the flat spot between the May Day holiday and China’s own summer season.
Artisan Gateway calculates that year-to-date box office in China has now passed the $3 billion mark and totals $3.03 billion. The year-to-date score is now 1% below the comparable figure in 2023.