Israelis

The last two years have seen social-media revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere. They've seen social-media elections, such as the U.S. presidential race just past. And now, in this week's eruption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, we may be seeing a new kind of war. It's missiles and air attacks, bomb blasts, gunfire, and screams of agony. It's also tweets on Twitter and videos on YouTube. "Call it the first social- media war," says Lawrence Husick, cochairman for the Center on the Study of Terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - Israel carried out a blistering offensive of more than 20 airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, assassinating Hamas' military commander and targeting the armed group's training facilities and rocket launchers in Israel's most intense attack on the territory in nearly four years. Israel said that the airstrikes, launched after days of rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza, were the beginning of a broader operation against the Islamic militants and that a ground operation was possible in the coming days.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The shadowy Hamas military chief killed in an Israeli missile strike Wednesday had long topped the Jewish state's most-wanted list for masterminding a string of deadly attacks. One was the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier in a complex cross-border raid that killed two other soldiers. Ahmad Jabari, a former history student who spent 13 years in Israeli prisons, also commanded Hamas fighters during a 2007 takeover of Gaza in which they drove out forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

JERUSALEM - Israel was drawn into the fighting in neighboring Syria for the first time Sunday, firing warning shots across the border after an errant mortar shell landed near an Israeli military installation in the Golan Heights. While Israel appeared eager to calm the situation, its response was a potent reminder of how easily the Syrian civil war - already spilling across borders with Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan - could explode into a wider regional conflagration. Israeli officials threatened even tougher retaliation if attacks persist.

JERUSALEM - They spent their journalistic careers analyzing, covering, and skewering Israel's politicians. Now, a striking number are vying to join their ranks. Four prominent Israeli TV anchors and news pundits are leaving their jobs and running for parliament in Israel's coming elections, reflecting the rising star power of media personalities for an electorate that has long had a penchant for retired army generals. The recent surge of journalists-turned-politicians reflects in part a desire for new blood in a political scene long dominated by the same faces.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is moving forward with his plan to seek upgraded observer status at the United Nations next month, despite American and Israeli threats of financial or diplomatic retaliation, officials said Sunday. The decision sets the stage for a new showdown between Israel and the Palestinians at the world body, following last year's attempt by the Palestinians to seek status as a full member state. Although that initiative failed to pass the U.N. Security Council, it caused months of diplomatic tensions with Israel.

JERUSALEM - Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday in the heaviest bombardment on the area in months, drawing ominous Israeli threats of retaliation and dangers of escalation. The violence came a day after a landmark visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar. Israeli officials suggested that the visit, the first by a head of state to the Hamas-ruled territory, emboldened the militant group. The rocket fire began shortly after the emir left Gaza late Tuesday and continued through the night.

JERUSALEM - Israeli authorities have placed a multimillionaire celebrity rabbi with a strong American following under house arrest and banned him from traveling abroad as they investigate allegations that he bribed a high-ranking officer for access to his police file, police said Monday. Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto's legal saga took a dramatic twist this week: Investigators interrogated Pinto for three hours Sunday, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, but cut short the questioning after news came that Pinto's wife - also questioned in the affair - had overdosed on pills and was rushed to the hospital.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The leader of Hezbollah claimed responsibility Thursday for launching an Iranian-made drone into Israeli airspace this week, adding more tension to an explosive Mideast atmosphere. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned that it would not be the last such operation by his Lebanese militant group. Israeli warplanes shot down the unmanned plane, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel's tightly guarded airspace. Hezbollah had been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.

JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister on Tuesday ordered parliamentary elections in early 2013, roughly eight months ahead of schedule, setting the stage for a lightning quick campaign that likely will win him reelection. For nearly four years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presided over a conservative coalition that has proven stable in a country where governments rarely serve out a full term. Reelection could grant him a fresh mandate to continue his tough stance toward Iran's suspect nuclear program, put the already deadlocked peace process with the Palestinians further into deep freeze, and complicate relations with the United States if President Obama is reelected.