In the southern Indian city of Ramanathapuram, a thirty-two-year-old chemical engineer named Hathim Ali came across a headstone with an inscription in a language he didn’t recognize, and set about trying to find someone who could identify it. Itamar Eichner writes:

Thoufeek Zakriya, a Jewish history researcher and Hebrew calligrapher, [was] the first to decipher the inscription. He stated that the tombstone dates to 1224 or 1225. “This means that it is older than the Sarah bat Israel tombstone in Kerala’s Chennamangalam, [a small town elsewhere in southern India], which is considered the oldest Hebrew tombstone ever identified in India.”

Zakriya, currently residing in Dubai, is an Indian Muslim artist specializing in calligraphy in Hebrew, Arabic, and various Semitic languages. He was born and raised in the historic town of Kozhikode, India, which has a rich Jewish history.

He added that not every line could be deciphered due to damage to the tombstone. . . . “I could see a name partially which could be read as Nehemiah in Hebrew. The initial analysis shows a strong Yemeni Jewish influence in the tombstone’s pattern.” Another Jewish tombstone found in the area had inscriptions suggesting it was the tombstone of a Mariam, daughter of David.

Between December 27 and January 6, terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel almost every night. On Monday, one rocket struck a home in the much-bombarded town of Sderot, although no one was injured. The rocket fire had largely halted last spring, and for some time barrages were often the result of Israeli forces closing in a Hamas unit or munitions depot. But the truth—which gives credence to Ran Baratz’s argument in his January essay that the IDF is struggling to accomplish its mission—is that Hamas has been able to rebuild. Yoni Ben Menachem writes that the jihadist group has been “producing hundreds of new rockets using lathes smuggled into tunnels that remain operational in Gaza.” Moreover, it has been replenishing its ranks:

According to Israeli security officials, Hamas has recruited approximately 4,000 new fighters over the past month. This rapid expansion bolsters its fighting capabilities and complicates Israel’s efforts to apply military pressure on Hamas to expedite a hostage deal. Hamas’s military recovery has allowed it to prolong its war of attrition against the IDF and adopt tougher stances in hostage negotiations. The funds for this recruitment effort are reportedly from the sale of humanitarian-aid packages, which Hamas forcibly seizes and resells in Gaza’s markets.

In fact, Ben Menachem writes, Hamas’s rocket fire is part of the same strategy:

By firing rockets, Hamas seeks to demonstrate its resilience and operational capability despite the IDF’s prolonged offensive. This message is aimed at both Gaza’s residents and the Israeli public, underscoring that Hamas remains a significant force even after enduring heavy losses [and] that Israel cannot easily occupy this region, currently a focal point of IDF operations.