Kylie Jenner posted and deleted an Instagram Story on Saturday expressing her support for Israel – following backlash from some of her fans.
The 26-year-old influencer posted a picture of the Israeli flag on her social media with the text: “Now and always we stand with the people of Israel!”
The image she re-shared came from the nonprofit StandWithUs — an organization that says it supports Israel and combats anti-Semitism.
On Twitter, a video that appeared to contain comments on Jenner’s post showed numerous users responding that she supported a free Palestine.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes against Hamas after the militant group launched a series of attacks on Saturday, marking the biggest escalation in the region in decades.
Changed her mind: Kylie Jenner posted and deleted an Instagram story on Saturday showing her support for Israel
Opinion: The 26-year-old influencer posted a picture of the Israeli flag on her social media with the text: “Now and always we stand with the people of Israel!”
At least 313 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
In Israel, too, 300 civilians were killed and dozens of Israelis were taken hostage.
Among Kylie’s most recent post – when she shared snaps from Paris Fashion Week – many made their feelings clear by displaying the flag of Palestine.
Others wrote comments such as: “Free Palestine.”
Israel has launched a counterstrike against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in the south and is shelling Lebanon in the north after an unprecedented surprise attack left at least 300 Israelis dead.
As the sun rose on Sunday after the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the Jewish nation’s warplanes bombed densely populated Gaza City in retaliatory strikes.
Heavy smoke and flames rose from the Burc Vatan shopping center in Gaza after the Palestine Tower in the Al Rimal district, one of the tallest buildings in the strip, was reduced to rubble.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released footage of a rocket attack it claims took place at a compound belonging to Hamas’ military intelligence chief, adding that two of the terrorist organization’s banks and air force production facilities in Gaza were also targeted be.
Reaction: Under Kylie’s most recent post – when she shared snaps from Paris Fashion Week – many made their feelings clear by displaying the flag of Palestine
Cause: The image she re-shared came from the nonprofit StandWithUs – an organization that says it supports Israel and combats anti-Semitism
Horror: People assess the destruction caused by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Saturday. Israel has launched a counterstrike against Hamas militants after a surprise attack that killed hundreds of people
Drone footage taken in the last 24 hours and released by the military department also shows a group of Hamas fighters being attacked from the air as they try to cross Israeli territory.
Meanwhile, in the north of the country, IDF troops carried out artillery strikes against Lebanon in the disputed Mount Dov area after mortar shells were aimed at Israel from its northern neighbor.
Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters said they were behind the attacks and that the attack was carried out “in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance,” the BBC reported.
Columns of heavy weapons, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, were also spotted moving north toward Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria.
“We are beginning a long and difficult war forced upon us by a murderous attack by Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday, adding that the “offensive phase” of the IDF response had begun.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said more than 400 Palestinian militants were killed and dozens more captured in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.
“From this hour, forces are fighting [Kibbutz] In Kfar Aza there are searches in numerous cities. “There are IDF troops in all cities, there is no city where IDF troops are not stationed,” he is quoted as saying in The Times of Israel.
Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely blamed Iran for supporting Hamas before Saturday’s attack.
She told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “Iran is supporting Hamas, Iran is destabilizing the region with its proxies.”
“We are prepared to fight for a long time to defend our people. We need to make sure no one has the motivation to do it again.”
More than 300 Israelis have been killed and 1,590 injured since Hamas launched its lightning rocket attack on Saturday morning and up to 1,000 armed militants moved in gangs, attacking civilians and soldiers alike in dozens of locations.
At least 26 Israeli soldiers have been killed in an attack by the militant group Hamas in the south of the country, the Israeli military has confirmed.
At least 313 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2,000 injured in Israeli retaliation since yesterday, according to the country’s health ministry.
As of Sunday morning, Israel was still battling Hamas incursions in eight locations, the Israeli military said.
“Israel is waking up this morning to a terrible morning,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman. “Many people were killed…children, grandmothers, families, corpses.”
Hamas militants began their attack at dawn on Saturday with a massive rocket barrage into southern Israel, serving as a cover for an unprecedented, multi-pronged infiltration of militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Hamas militants killed hundreds of Israelis in clashes throughout the day and escaped back to Gaza with at least dozens of hostages, including women, children and disabled elderly Israelis.
An Israeli military spokesman said Sunday morning that two hostage situations had been “resolved,” but did not say whether those hostages had been rescued alive.
Conflict: Hamas said it fired 5,000 rockets at Israel from the occupied Gaza Strip, triggering air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Fear: People standing on a roof watch as a ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike that hit the Palestine Tower building on Saturday
An official number of people kidnapped is currently unknown, but the Israeli embassy in the United States estimates the number to be 100 civilians and soldiers.
The military department announced in a post on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday morning that it had ordered a rocket attack on a compound belonging to the Hamas intelligence chief, along with a video of an alleged attack.
It said: “Recently, IAF fighter jets attacked a compound belonging to the head of the intelligence wing of the terrorist organization Hamas.”
“The IAF currently continues to strike terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.”