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Tag: Israel-Hamas war

  • ‪Tony Blair Could Help Run Gaza Under Trump Peace Plan‬

    ‪Tony Blair Could Help Run Gaza Under Trump Peace Plan‬

    US President Donald Trump has said Sir Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, wants to join the international body overseeing Gaza under an American plan to end the war.

    Sir Tony became the first named member of a new “Board of Peace” chaired by Trump, to be tasked with temporarily supervising Gaza’s governance if Hamas accept the plan. “Leaders from other countries” on the board will be named later, Trump said.

    The board is part of a 20-point plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas – including a process of demilitarising and redeveloping Gaza.

    Sir Tony said the plans were “the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering”.

    A Palestinian source familiar with the ceasefire negotiations told the BBC that Hamas officials had been given the White House’s 20-point proposal.

    Earlier, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group remained open to studying any proposal that could end the war in Gaza, but stressed that any agreement must safeguard Palestinian interests, ensure a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and bring the war to an end.

    Sir Tony, who was UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and who took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003, has been part of high-level talks with the US and other parties about the future of Gaza.

    After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN). He focused on bringing economic development to Palestine and creating the conditions for a two state-solution.

    In August, he joined a White House meeting with Trump to discuss plans for the territory, which US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff described as “very comprehensive” – though little else was disclosed about the meeting.

    Under the plan, unveiled by Trump on Monday evening, the war would “immediately end” once both sides agreed to it.

    It would also see all 20 living Israeli hostages and the remains of more than two dozen who are believed to be dead returned within 72 hours.

    Israel would then release 250 life-sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans detained since the war began on 7 October 2023.

    “Full aid” would immediately be sent to Gaza, the plan says. A multinational stabilisation force would deploy to support security and train local police. Israeli forces would withdraw in stages.

    According to the text of the plan, “Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza.

    “This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace,’ which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

    Hamas, the plan states, would have no role in governance, “directly, indirectly, or in any form”.

    Trump said that if Hamas rejected the deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have his “full backing” to “do what you would have to do”.

    The plan also leaves the door open to an eventual Palestinian state, but only if the Palestinian Authority carries out sweeping reforms.

    The president also hit out at countries for “foolishly” recognising Palestine statehood – as the UK, Australia, Canada and France did last week.

    Responding to the announcement, Sir Tony said: “President Trump has put down a bold and intelligent plan which, if agreed, can end the war, bring immediate relief to Gaza, the chance of a brighter and better future for its people, whilst ensuring Israel’s absolute and enduring security and the release of all hostages.

    “It offers us the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering and I thank President Trump for his leadership, determination and commitment.

    “In particular, his willingness to chair the Board of Peace to oversee the new Gaza is a huge signal of support and confidence in the future of Gaza, of the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians finding a path to peace and of the potential for a broader regional and global alliance to counter the forces of extremism and promote peace and prosperity between nations.”

    The plan announced on Monday marks a shift from earlier ideas floated by the Trump administration. In February, Trump declared the US would take over the Gaza Strip and build a “riviera of the Middle East”

    The idea would have involved the forced displacement of Palestinians in the territory and be in violation of international law, a step Sir Tony’s office vowed not to support.

    The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

    At least 66,055 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

    A UN-backed body recently confirmed that famine was taking place in Gaza City. Earlier this month, a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza – which Israel strongly rejects.

  • Church Leaders Return With ‘Broken Hearts’ After Rare Visit to Gaza

    Church Leaders Return With ‘Broken Hearts’ After Rare Visit to Gaza

    Church leaders in Jerusalem say they have returned from a trip to Gaza with “broken hearts”, describing starving people and children not “batting an eyelid” at the sound of bombing.

    “We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of simple meal,” the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told journalists.

    “This is humiliation that is hard to bear when you see it with you own eyes. It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”

    The Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Theophilos III, said his Church would “stand in solidarity” with “the whole people of Gaza”.

    The two men made a rare visit to the war-torn strip after Israeli fire hit the Catholic Holy Family Church in Gaza City last week, killing two women and a man.

    US President Donald Trump is said to have made an angry call to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the deadly strike, which came days after an alleged attack by extremist Israeli settlers next to the ruins of an ancient church in the Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank.

    Netanyahu’s office expressed deep regret for what was described as “a stray ammunition” hitting the Gaza church.

    However, local Christians have questioned whether the place of worship was deliberately targeted. About 400 people have been sheltering in the compound, which is in part of Gaza City now under Israeli evacuation orders.

    At the news conference, Pizzaballa noted that Christians were suffering in the same ways as other Palestinians.

    “Three people died in our community, but thousands already died in Gaza,” he said.

    He added that recent settler violence in Taybeh, was part of “broader phenomenon” in the West Bank which was “becoming a no-law land”.

    Although Italy’s foreign ministry announced that the patriarchs had entered Gaza with 500 tonnes of aid, Pizzaballa said “not a gram” had yet been able to enter due to logistical issues.

    He described the disappointment of those who came to the church hoping for handouts.

    Amid some of the most severe food shortages in 21 months of war, Pizzaballa and Theophilos III said they met people “totally starved” and gave an account of the widespread destruction.

    “We walked through the dust of ruins, past collapsed buildings and tents everywhere: in courtyards, alleyways, on the streets and on the beach,” Pizzaballa said at the end of his four-day visit. “Tents that have become homes for those who have lost everything.”

    Last week, the two Church leaders led a delegation of foreign diplomats to Taybeh, north of Ramallah, where residents and local priests described several attacks by settlers.

    The most serious was the fire stared next to the ruins of the Byzantine Church of St George.

    An Israeli police statement said on Tuesday that a special investigative unit had found that “contrary to misleading reports, no damage was caused” to the church. It said the fire was limited to an adjacent open area and that arson was not yet confirmed.

    However, one witness told the BBC that he saw settlers starting the blaze and others accused Israeli security forces of failing to respond to their complaints.

    Villagers say extremists have seized their plots on the edge of Taybeh and regularly harass them, bringing cattle to eat their olive trees.

    “What’s going on is really ridiculous and it’s driving people out as Israelis put their hands on our land,” a former mayor and co-founder of the Taybeh brewery, Daoud Khoury, told the BBC.

    He said he worried that extremist settlers and an economic downturn since the start of the Gaza war would force more Christians to emigrate.

    In an unusual move, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also visited Taybeh on Saturday.

    In a statement, he then denounced the attack near the church as “an act of terror” and demanded “harsh consequences” for those responsible.

    Huckabee, who is also an evangelical pastor known for his past strong statements supporting Jewish settlements, which are seen as illegal under international law, wrote on X. “Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God.”

    In response to the Israeli police statement, he wrote that he had not attributed the fire to any group, that “regardless, it was crime and deserves consequences”.

    At the Jerusalem press conference, Theophilos III said that the tiny Christian community must be supported to remain in Gaza, close to their holy places “full of history”.

    During his trip, Pizzaballa told an Italian newspaper that a Catholic presence would stay in the territory “whatever happens”.

    The two leaders reiterated calls by Pope Leo and a growing number of international leaders for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas.

    “We are not against Israel,” said Pizzaballa, who is known as a supporter of interfaith dialogue. “But we need to say with frankness and clarity, that this policy of the Israeli government in Gaza is unacceptable and morally we cannot justify it.”

    (BBC)

  • Netanyahu Threatens To End Gaza Ceasefire If Israeli Hostages Are Not Released By Saturday Noon

    Netanyahu Threatens To End Gaza Ceasefire If Israeli Hostages Are Not Released By Saturday Noon

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Tuesday evening to end the Gaza ceasefire deal if Hamas failed to release captives by Saturday noon.

    “If Hamas does not return our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will be terminated, and the Israeli army will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” Netanyahu said in a video statement after a four-hour security cabinet meeting.

    The Israeli premier said that he instructed the army “to mobilize forces inside and around the Gaza Strip.”

    The threat came one day after Hamas said that it would delay the next hostage release in response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.

    Local Palestinian authorities have listed a series of Israeli violations of the deal, including the shooting of civilians and denying access to relief materials, including tents and caravans for displaced civilians in Gaza.

  • Trump says Hamas Should Free All Hostages By Midday Saturday Or ‘Let Hell Break Out’

    Trump says Hamas Should Free All Hostages By Midday Saturday Or ‘Let Hell Break Out’

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and “let hell break out.”

    Trump cautioned that Israel might want to override him on the issue and said he might speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    But in a wide-ranging session with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the condition of the last group of hostages freed by Hamas and by the announcement by the militant group that it would halt further releases.

    “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said.

    He said he wanted the hostages released en masse, instead of a few at a time. “We want ’em all back.”

    Trump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday.

    The comments came on a day of some confusion over Trump’s proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza once the fighting stops.

    He said Palestinians would not have the right of return to the Gaza Strip under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, contradicting his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily.

    In an excerpt of an interview with Fox News channel’s Bret Baier broadcast on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying the U.S. gives the two countries “billions and billions of dollars a year.”

    Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump said: “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing.”

    “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” he said, adding it would take years for Gaza to be habitable again.

    In a shock announcement on Feb. 4 after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, Trump proposed resettling Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians and the U.S. taking control of the seaside enclave, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

    IGNITE THE REGION

    Trump’s suggestion of Palestinian displacement has been repeatedly rejected by Gaza residents and Arab states, and labeled by rights advocates and the United Nations as a proposal of ethnic cleansing.

    Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s statement that Palestinians would not be able to return to Gaza was “irresponsible.”

    “We affirm that such plans are capable of igniting the region,” he told Reuters on Monday.

    Netanyahu, who praised the proposal, suggested Palestinians would be allowed to return. “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza,” he said the day after Trump’s announcement.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will depart later this week for his first visit to the Middle East in the office, said on Thursday that Palestinians would have to “live somewhere else in the interim,” during reconstruction, although he declined to explicitly rule out their permanent displacement.

    The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disparity between Rubio and Trump’s most recent remarks on the plan.

    Trump’s comments come as a fragile ceasefire reached last month between Israel and Hamas is at risk of collapse after Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostagesover alleged Israeli violations of the agreement.
    Israel’s Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan, have said any plan to transfer Palestinians from their land would destabilize the region.

    Rubio met Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Washington on Monday. Egypt’s foreign ministry said Abdelatty told Rubio that Arab countries support Palestinians in rejecting Trump’s plan. Cairo fears Palestinians could be forced across Egypt’s border with Gaza.

    Trump said in the Fox News interview that between two and six communities could be built for the Palestinians “a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is.”

    “I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,” he said.

  • Hamas Says It Will Delay Hostage Release For Saturday

    Hamas Says It Will Delay Hostage Release For Saturday

    A Hamas spokesman on Monday accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement with the group, including targeting Palestinians in Gaza with airstrikes, and said that next Saturday’s hostage release would be delayed.

    A Hamas spokesperson said Monday that the group will delay the next hostage release after accusing Israel of violating ceasefire agreement.

    Israel and Hamas are in the midst of a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas is releasing dozens of the hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

    The sides have carried out five swaps since the ceasefire went into effect last month, freeing 21 hostages and over 730 prisoners. The next exchange was scheduled for Saturday, releasing three Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

    Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, accused Israel on Monday of systematically violating the ceasefire agreement over the past three weeks, and said Saturday’s release would be delayed.

    “The resistance leadership has closely monitored the enemy’s violations and its failure to uphold the terms of the agreement,” Abu Ubaida said.

    “This includes delays in allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, targeting them with airstrikes and gunfire across various areas of the Strip, and failing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid as agreed.”

    (AP)

  • No Right Of Return For Palestinians Under Gaza Plan: Trump

    No Right Of Return For Palestinians Under Gaza Plan: Trump

    US President Donald Trump said in comments aired Monday that Palestinians who leave the besieged Gaza Strip under his widely panned ownership plan for the coastal enclave will not be allowed to return.

    “We’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future, it would be a beautiful piece of land,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News.

    Asked directly by the interviewer if Palestinians would “have the right to return,” Trump said flatly, “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing.”

    “In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them, because if they have to return now, it will be years before you could ever… it’s not habitable. It will be years before it could happen. I’m talking about starting to build and I think I could make a deal with Jordan, I think I could make a deal with Egypt, you know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year,” he added.

    Trump rolled out his proposal in the midst of an ongoing ceasefire that has halted Israel’s war on Gaza after 15 months. His plan to take ownership of Gaza has been roundly rejected on the world stage, but Trump has insisted that he will see it through, repeatedly claiming he can force Egypt and Jordan to settle Palestinian refugees — claims they have publicly rebuffed, as have the Palestinians.

    Jordan’s King Abdullah is slated to visit the White House this week.

    Trump’s plan shares strong similarities to one publicly put forward by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in March 2024, when the president’s one-time advisor lauded the Palestinian territory’s “very valuable” Mediterranean property.

    “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner said during an interview at Harvard University. “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”

    Israel’s war on Gaza has left the besieged enclave in ruins, with half of its housing damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid severe shortages of sanitation, medical supplies, food, and clean water. Over 47,000 people have been killed.

    In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Separately, Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

  • Hamas Freed Three Israeli Hostages, Whose Gaunt Appearance Shocked Israelis

    Hamas Freed Three Israeli Hostages, Whose Gaunt Appearance Shocked Israelis

    Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday handed over three Israeli hostages whose gaunt appearance shocked Israelis, and Israel began freeing dozens of Palestinians in the latest stage of a ceasefire aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

    Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, who was abducted that day from the Nova music festival, were led onto a Hamas podium by gunmen.

    The three men appeared thin, weak and pale, in worse condition than the 18 other hostages already freed under the truce agreed in January after 15 months of war.

    Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, is released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, February 8. Reuters

    “He looked like a skeleton, it was awful to see,” Ohad Ben Ami’s mother-in-law, Michal Cohen, told Channel 13 News as she watched the Hamas-directed handover ceremony, which included the hostages answering questions posed by a masked man as militants armed with automatic rifles stood on each side.

    In another show of force by Hamas, which has paraded fighters during previous releases, dozens of its militants deployed in central Gaza as it handed hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    The hostages were then driven in ICRC cars to Israeli forces and into Israel, where they had tearful reunions with family members, and flown to hospitals. “We missed you so much,” the mother of Or Levy, Geula, said as she hugged her son.

    Families and supporters react as they celebrate the release of Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken from Kibbutz Be’eri and held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. Reuters

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sight of the frail hostages was shocking and would be addressed.

    Israel’s President Isaac Herzog described the release ceremony as cynical and vicious. “This is what a crime against humanity looks like,” he said.

    The Hostage Families Forum said the images of the hostages evoked images of survivors of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. “We have to get ALL THE HOSTAGES out of hell,” it said.

    In exchange for the hostages’ release, Israel was freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, as well as 111 detained in Gaza during the war.

    Cheering crowds greeted the buses as they arrived in Gaza, embracing the freed detainees, some of them weeping with joy and tearing prison-issued bracelets off their wrists.

    Among those freed in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was Eyad Abu Shkaidem, sentenced to 18 life terms in Israel for masterminding suicide attacks in revenge for Israel’s 2004 assassinations of Hamas leaders.

    “Today, I am reborn,” Shkaidem told reporters as the crowd cheered.

    The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said six of the 42 released in the West Bank were in poor health and were taken to hospital. Some prisoners complained of ill-treatment. “The occupation humiliated us for over a year,” said Shkaidem.

    PAINFUL RETURN

    Some hostages face a painful return. Sharabi’s two teenage daughters and his British-born wife were slain in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where one in 10 residents was killed.

    Israel’s Channel 12 said Sharabi had not been told about their deaths and asked where they were when he arrived.

    Levy will be reunited with his three-year-old son. His wife was killed in the attack.

    Dr Hagar Mizrachi from Israel’s Ichilov Hospital said the hostages exhibited severe weight loss and malnutrition.

    Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Reuters.

    Sixteen Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released so far and 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been freed.

    The first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, mediated by Washington, Cairo and Doha, has largely held since it took effect on January 19.

    Netanyahu sent a delegation for talks in Doha on Saturday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported, citing a political source.

    Concern the deal might collapse before all remaining 76 hostages are free has grown since President Donald Trump’s surprise call for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and for the enclave to be handed to the United States and developed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

    Arab states and Palestinian groups have rejected Trump’s proposal, which critics said would amount to ethnic cleansing. Hamas said on Saturday its armed display at the hostage handover showed it could not be excluded from post-war Gaza arrangements.

    Netanyahu welcomed Trump’s intervention and his defence minister has ordered the military to make plans to allow Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza to do so.

    Under the ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli children, women and sick, wounded and older men are to be released during the first stage in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

    Negotiations on a second phase began this week aimed at returning the remaining hostages and agreeing on a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a final end to the war.

    Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages in the October 7, 2023 attack, according to Israeli tallies.

    The offensive Israel launched in response in Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated much of the enclave.

  • ‘US Will Take Over The Gaza Strip, We’ll Own It’: Trump

    ‘US Will Take Over The Gaza Strip, We’ll Own It’: Trump

    President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the “US will take over the Gaza Strip,” shortly after suggesting a permanent resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza.

    “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” he said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, (and) create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said.

    Asked if the US will send troops to the Gaza Strip, he responded: “If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.

    “We’re going to take over that piece. We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” he said.

    Trump also said that he sees the US having “long-term ownership” of the Gaza Strip.

    “I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East…and this was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land,” he said.

    “I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle, and it’s a very, very dangerous place to be, and it’s only going to get worse. And I think this is an idea that’s gotten tremendous — and I’m talking about from the highest level of leadership — gotten tremendous praise. And if the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East, we’ll do that.”

    Asked if this means he does not support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump said: “It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state or one-state or any other state. It means that we want to give people a chance at life.”

    “They have never had a chance at life because the Gaza Strip has been a hell hole for people living there,” he added.

    In response to a question on who will live in Gaza if Palestinians leave, Trump responded: “The world’s people.”

    “I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable,” he said.

    “I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world will be there, and they’ll live there….Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.”

    Trump added that the Gaza Strip will become the “Riviera of the Middle East,” saying: “We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal.”

    Netanyahu said: “As we discussed, Mr. President, to secure our future and bring peace to our region, we have to finish the job.”

    He added that Israel has to ensure that “Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

    Earlier, during a sit-down with Netanyahu at the Oval Office, Trump said he thinks Jordan and Egypt will take in Palestinians from Gaza, maintaining that the enclave is a demolition site and uninhabitable.

    Trump’s controversial proposal has received widespread condemnation, with many calling it “ethnic cleansing” and a “war crime.”

    Jordan and Egypt, along with other regional and European countries like the UK, France and Germany, strongly rejected Trump’s relocation proposal.

  • Hamas Gunmen Handover Four Female Israeli Soldiers

    Hamas Gunmen Handover Four Female Israeli Soldiers

    The Palestinian militant group Hamas released four Israeli female soldiers on Saturday, who will be exchanged for 200 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails.

    The four were all members of a mainly female unit of observers posted round Gaza to watch for signs of Hamas activity, who were among around 250 hostages seized during the attack on Oct. 7.

    Footage showing the capture of the four, as well as another soldier, at the Nahal Oz military base was broadcast on Israeli television last year after their families gave permission in a bid to increase awareness and build pressure to get them back.

    Looking dazed and still wearing their pyjamas, the images, taken from Hamas bodycam footage recovered by the Israeli military, showed them sitting on the floor with their hands tied, some of them bloodied.

    NAAMA LEVY, 20

    Video of Naama Levy being bundled into a jeep in Gaza circulated on social media within hours of her abduction. It showed Levy bruised and cut, the seat of her trousers stained with blood, with her hands tied behind her back, pushed into the vehicle by a gunman while bystanders chant “God is greatest!” in Arabic. She had just begun her military service when the attack took place and as she was pushed into the jeep, she pleaded: “I have friends in Palestine,” footage released of her capture showed.

    DANIELLA GILBOA, 20

    Daniela Gilboa was wounded during the attack on Oct. 7 and was shown limping in the video showing the soldiers’ capture.

    She was seen last year in a video released by Hamas, which showed her appealing angrily to the government to work for her release and saying she felt abandoned.

    LIRI ALBAG, 19

    Liri Albag was taken hostage just a day and a half after beginning her military service, Israeli media reported.

    Earlier this month, Hamas released a video showing her reading a message, appealing for her release.

    KARINA ARIEV, 20

    Just before being taken, Karina Ariev managed to speak briefly wth her parents and sent her family a farewell message, Israeli media reported. A subsequent photo of her in captivity released by Hamas showed her with a bandaged head with what appeared to be blood stains.

  • Israeli Army Chief Resigns Over Huge Security Breach In Hamas’ Oct 7 Attack

    Israeli Army Chief Resigns Over Huge Security Breach In Hamas’ Oct 7 Attack

    Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday he would resign on March 6, taking responsibility for the massive security lapse on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas gunmen from Gaza carried out a cross-border attack on Israel.

    Halevi, who had been widely expected to step down in the wake of the deadliest single day in Israel’s history, said he would complete the Israel Defence Forces’ inquiries into Oct. 7 and strengthen the IDF’s readiness for security challenges. It was not immediately clear who would replace Halevi, who said he would transfer the IDF command to a yet-to-be-named successor.

    Despite public anger over Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has resisted calls to open a state inquiry into its own responsibility for the security breach that resulted in 1,200 Israelis killed and about 250 hostages taken.

    “On the morning of Oct. 7, the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of Israel,” Halevi wrote in his resignation letter to Defence Minister Israel Katz.

    Israel, he added, paid a heavy price in terms of human lives and those kidnapped and wounded in “body and soul.”

    “My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, hour by hour, and will do so for the rest of my life,” said Halevi, a military veteran of four decades.

    Halevi was in lockstep with former defence minister Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Netanyahu in November, and at loggerheads with some ministers over military conscription exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

    A number of senior military officers have already resigned over the failures of Oct. 7, and the head of the military’s Southern Command, Major-General Yaron Finkelman, also announced he would be resigning.

    After 15 months of war in Gaza, the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Hamas went into effect on Sunday, with three hostages being released among a planned 33 in the next six weeks. Some 94 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, though some may have since died in captivity.
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    HARDLINERS RAPPED HALEVI’S CONDUCT OF GAZA WAR

    Katz thanked Halevi for his contributions to the military and that he would continue to fulfil his duties until a successor is named, while there would be an orderly search for his replacement. Netanyahu also accepted Halevi’s resignation.

    Halevi was often criticized by hardliners in Netanyahu’s government including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said his conduct of the war in Gaza was too soft.

    More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war since October 2023 and the heavily built-up territory has been widely demolished by Israeli bombardments and airstrikes.

    Smotrich on Tuesday praised Halevi for the military’s success in shattering Hamas’ military capabilities during the war but also put blame on his shoulders for the Oct. 7 debacle.

    “My criticism of his failure in the campaign to eliminate Hamas’ civilian and governmental capabilities, as well as his responsibility for the October 7th failure, does not diminish the great gratitude we owe him for all his work and contributions over the years and his achievements,” said Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

    “The coming period will be marked by the replacement of the senior military command as part of preparations for the renewal of the war, this time in the West Bank until complete victory.”

    Halevi said that despite the failings of Oct. 7, Israel had notched many military achievements since then which had “changed the Middle East”. Since Oct. 7, Israel’s military regained its prowess as the most formidable in the region, and surveys show strong public support for the IDF.

    He pointed to Israel’s military degradation of Hamas that had created conditions for returning hostages, its “unprecedented” damage inflicted on Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, a significantly weakened Iran, and its destruction of significant parts of Syria’s military.

    (Reuters)

  • Who Are The Israelis Released On The First Day Of The Ceasefire?

    Who Are The Israelis Released On The First Day Of The Ceasefire?

    Three hostages held by Hamas were released Sunday after 471 days in captivity as part of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. A gradual release of dozens of captives over the next several weeks has been agreed on.

    The truce and release of hostages sparked hope and trepidation among Israelis. Many fear that the three-phase deal could collapse before all the hostages return, or that they will arrive in poor health. Others worry that the number of captives who have died is more than predicted.

    Some 250 people were kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered 15 months of war. Around 100 hostages still remain in Gaza, after the rest were released, rescued, or their bodies were recovered.

    Hours before Sunday’s ceasefire, which many hope is the first step to end the war, Israel announced that it had retrieved the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier who was killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war and whose remains have been held by the militants since then.

    Here’s a look at the three hostages to be released Sunday:

    Romi Gonen, 24

    Romi Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That morning, Gonen’s mother, Merav, and her eldest daughter spent nearly five hours speaking to Gonen as militants marauded through the festival grounds. Gonen told her family that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes.

    Then she said words that continue to echo in her mother’s head every day. “Mommy I was shot, the car was shot, everybody was shot. … I am wounded and bleeding. Mommy, I think I’m going to die,” she recounted Romi as saying, in a press conference a few weeks after the abduction.

    This undated photo, provided by Hostage’s Family Forum, shows Israeli hostage Romi Gonen, who is being held in Gaza by Hamas militants. (Hostage’s Family Forum via AP)

    At a loss for what to do, Merav Gonen tried to convince her daughter that she wasn’t going to die, to start breathing and treat her wounded friends. According to Merav, Romi’s last word during the call was a shriek of “Mommy!” as approaching gunfire and the men’s shouts drowned out everything.

  • Israel and Hamas Agree Gaza Ceasefire Deal

    Israel and Hamas Agree Gaza Ceasefire Deal

    Israel and Hamas have agreed a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal following 15 months of war, mediators Qatar and the US say.

    Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday so long as it was approved by the Israeli cabinet.

    US President Joe Biden said it would “halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed-humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal’s final details were still being worked on, but he thanked Biden for “promoting” it. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said it was the result of Palestinian “resilience”.

    Many Palestinians and Israeli hostages’ families celebrated the news, but there was no let up in the war on the ground in Gaza.

    The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported Israeli air strikes killed more than 20 people following the Qatari announcement. They included 12 people who were living in a residential block in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, it said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

    Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

    More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to a struggle to get aid to those in need.

    Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.

    Getty.

    Qatar’s prime minister called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal, which he said would see 33 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    Israeli forces will also withdraw to the east away from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes and hundreds of aid lorries will be allowed into the territory each day.

    Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a return to “sustainable calm” – will start on the 16th day.

    The third and final stage will involve the reconstruction of Gaza – something which could take years – and the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies.

    Sheikh Mohammed said there was “a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three”, with the agreements set to be published “in the next couple of days, once the details are finalised”.

    He also said Qatar, the US and Egypt, which also helped broker the deal, would work together to ensure Israel and Hamas fulfilled their obligations.

    “We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he added.

    President Biden said the plan, which he first outlined eight months ago, was “the result not only of the extreme pressure Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy”.

    “Even as we welcome this news, we remember all the families whose loved ones were killed in Hamas’s 7 October attack, and the many innocent people killed in the war that followed,” a statement added. “It is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin.”

    Celebrations erupted across Gaza as news of the agreement spread. Reuters.

    At a later news conference, Biden also acknowledged the assistance of President-elect Donald Trump, who put pressure on both parties by demanding hostages be released before his inauguration on Monday.

    “In these past few days, we’ve been speaking as one team,” he said, noting that most of the implementation of the deal would happen after he left office.

    Trump was first to confirm reports the agreement had been reached, beating the White House and Qatar to a formal announcement.

    In a later post on social media, he attempted to take the credit for the “epic” agreement, saying it “could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November”.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office thanked Trump “for his help in promoting the release of the hostages, and for helping Israel end the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families”.

    “The prime minister made it clear that he is committed to returning all the hostages by any means necessary,” it said, before adding that he had also thanked Biden.

    Later, the office said an official statement from Netanyahu would “be issued only after the completion of the final details of the agreement, which are being worked on at present”.

    Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, said the deal would bring with it “deeply painful” moments and “present significant challenges”, but that it was “the right move”.

    The agreement is expected to be approved by the Israeli cabinet, possibly as soon as Thursday morning, despite opposition from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.

    Then the names of all the Palestinian prisoners due for release will be made public by the Israeli government, and the families of any victims will be given 48 hours to appeal. Some of the prisoners are serving life sentences after being convicted of murder and terrorism.

    Hamas’s chief negotiator and acting Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya, said the agreement represented “a milestone in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return”.

    The group, he added, would now seek to “rebuild Gaza again, alleviate the pain, heal the wounds”.

    But he also warned “we will not forget, and we will not forgive” the suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.

    Supporters of the Israeli hostages’ families also celebrated in Tel Aviv. Reuters.

    As news of the agreement emerged, pictures showed people cheering and waving Palestinian flags in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah and southern city of Khan Younis.

    Sanabel, a 17-year-old girl living to the north in Gaza City, told BBC OS: “All of us are delighted.”

    “We have been waiting for this for a long time,” she said. “Finally, I will put my head on my pillow without worrying… It is time to heal.”

    Nawara al-Najjar, whose husband was among more than 70 people killed when Israeli forces launched an operation to rescue two hostages, said: “After the ceasefire I want to give my children the best life.”

    “I want them to get over the fear we lived. My children are really scared. The terror has settled in their hearts.”

    Sharone Lifschitz is a British-Israeli woman whose 84-year-old father Oded is among the remaining hostages. Her mother, Yocheved, was also abducted in the 7 October attack but was released after several weeks in captivity.

    She told the BBC in London as news of the deal came through that it felt “like a bit of sanity”, but she admitted: “I know that the chances for my dad are very slim.”

    “He’s an elderly man, but miracles do happen. My mum did come back, and one way or another, we will know. We will know if he’s still with us, if we can look after him.”

    She warned: “There are more graves to come and traumatised people to come back, but we will look after them and make them see light again… May this be the start of something better.”

    Moshe Lavi, the brother in-law of Omri Miran, a 47-year-old father-of-two young children, told the BBC that it was “a very mixed day for most families of hostages”.

    “We want to see our families come home from their mass captivity. But we also understand that this is a phase deal. Only the first phase was agreed upon,” he said.

    “We’ll have to keep fighting, keep advocating as families with all leaders with our own government to understand they have to release all the hostages.”

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict”.

    (BBC)

  • Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz Quits Netanyahu’s Emergency Govt

    Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz Quits Netanyahu’s Emergency Govt

    Israeli minister Benny Gantz announced his resignation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency government on Sunday, withdrawing the only centrist power in the embattled leader’s far-right coalition amid a months-long war in Gaza.

    The departure of Gantz’s centrist party will not pose an immediate threat to the government. But it could have a serious impact nonetheless, leaving Netanyahu reliant on hardliners, with no end in sight to the Gaza war and a possible escalation in fighting with Lebanese Hezbollah.
    Last month, Gantz presented Netanyahu with a June 8 deadline to come up with a clear day-after strategy for Gaza, where Israel has been pressing a devastating military offensive against the ruling Palestinian militant group Hamas.

    Netanyahu brushed off the ultimatum soon after it was given.

    On Sunday, Gantz said politics was clouding fateful strategic decisions in Netanyahu’s cabinet. Quitting while hostages were still in Gaza and soldiers fighting there was an excruciating decision, he said.

    “Netanyahu is preventing us from advancing toward true victory,” Gantz said in a televised news conference. “That is why we are leaving the emergency government today, with a heavy heart but with full confidence.”

    Netanyahu responded in a social media post, telling Gantz it was no time to abandon the battlefront.

    With Gantz gone, Netanyahu would lose the backing of a centrist bloc that has helped broaden support for the government in Israel and abroad, at a time of increasing diplomatic and domestic pressure eight months into the Gaza war.

    While his coalition remains in control of 64 of parliament’s 120 seats, Netanyahu will now have to rely more heavily on the political backing of ultra-nationalist parties, whose leaders angered Washington even before the war and who have since called for a complete Israeli occupation of Gaza.

    This would likely increase strains already apparent in relations with the United States and intensify public pressure at home, with the months-long military campaign still not achieving its stated goals – the destruction of Hamas and the return of more than 100 remaining hostages held in Gaza.

    Polls have shown Gantz, a former army commander and defence minister, to be the most formidable political rival to Netanyahu, whose image as a security hawk was shattered by the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

    Warning that the conflict in Gaza could take years, he urged Netanyahu to agree on an election date in the autumn, to avoid further political infighting at a time of national emergency.

    Gantz joined a unity government soon after Oct. 7 as part of Netanyahu’s inner war cabinet where he, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant alone had votes.

    On Sunday, Gantz described Gallant, who has sparred with Netanyahu and some ultra-nationalists ministers, as a brave leader and called on him ‘to do the right thing,’ though he did not elaborate on what that meant.

    Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded Gantz’s now vacant seat at the war cabinet soon after the resignation was announced.

    Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement Gantz was giving Israel’s enemies what they want.

    Asked whether he was worried about his departure impacting Israel’s standing abroad, Gantz said Gallant and Netanyahu both know “what should be done.”

    “Hopefully they will stick to what should be done and then it will be okay,” he said.

  • Four Israeli Hostages Freed From Gaza

    Four Israeli Hostages Freed From Gaza

    Four hostages kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the 7 October attacks have been rescued in a daylight raid deep in central Gaza.

    Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrei Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were freed during a “high-risk, complex mission” from two separate buildings in the Nuseirat area, the Israel Defense Forces said.

    The IDF said the four are in good medical condition and have been transferred to the ‘Sheba’ Tel-HaShomer Medical Center for further medical examinations – where they have been pictured embracing family members waiting at the facility.

    Dozens of people, including children, have been killed and injured in the area where the operation took place, with images and footage showing significant numbers of casualties.

    Staff at the Al-Aqsa hospital are said to be struggling to treat the casualties.

    ‘Precise intelligence’

    The rare rescue of hostages – a joint operation conducted by the IDF, Israel Security Agency and Israel Police – comes eight months into war with Hamas in Gaza.

    IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the mission was based on “precise” intelligence and that Israeli forces came under fire during the operation.

    In a televised news conference, Mr Hagari said one Israeli soldier had been badly hurt.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli forces for operating “creatively and bravely”.

    “We will not let up until we complete the mission and return home all the hostages – both those alive and dead,” he added.

    Miss Argamani, a Chinese-born Israeli citizen, was kidnapped from the Nova festival and harrowing video footage from 7 October showed the 25-year-old being taken away on the back of a motorbike screaming, “Don’t kill me!”

    Fresh video of her being reunited with her father, smiling and embracing him on board a vehicle, was broadcast soon after news of the rescue operation on Saturday.

    Mr Kozlov, a Russian who moved to Israel in 2022, had been working as a security guard at the festival when he was kidnapped.

    Mr Jan tried to flee the festival. He and a friend made it to the friend’s car but only managed to drive a short distance before being forced to stop.

    Mr Ziv was part of the security detail at the festival and was initially in contact with his sisters as the attack unfolded, according to an interview with The Times of Israel.

    Andrey Kozlov is a Russian-Israeli who worked in security at the music festival from where he was kidnapped on 7 October. Getty Images.
    Andrey Kozlov is a Russian-Israeli who worked in security at the music festival from where he was kidnapped on 7 October. Getty Images.

    The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, a group representing the families of the hostages, described the rescue of the four hostages as “a miraculous triumph,” and thanked the IDF for the “heroic operation”.

    The group added: “The Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas — the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial.”

    In response to the military offensive in Nuseirat, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Israel could not force its choices on the group.

    He said the group would not agree a ceasefire deal unless it achieved security for Palestinians.

    During its 7 October attacks in southern Israel Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took some 251 people.

    Some 116 remain in the Palestinian territory, including 41 the army says are dead.

    A deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll in Gaza is now 36,801 people.

  • Why The US Has Suspended The Shipment Of Weapons To Israel

    Why The US Has Suspended The Shipment Of Weapons To Israel

    (France 24)-Is this the end of unconditional US support for Israel? With Netanyahu’s government seemingly ignoring Washington’s warnings of the dire humanitarian consequences of a ground incursion for Rafah’s civilian population, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday threatened to stop deliveringcertain types of munitions to Israel if it pushes into the southern Gaza city, notably the 2,000-pound bombs Israel has been using in its offensive.

    “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden acknowledged in a one-on-one interview with CNN.

    “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah … I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities.”

    The US president’s ultimatum came as Netanyahu’s government said it was preparing a “limited” offensive in Rafah despite UN warningsthat a ground assault could lead to a “bloodbath”. Around 1.4 million Palestinians, most of them displaced by Israel’s months-long assault on the besieged enclave, are believed to be crammed into the city.

    Biden’s threat has already partly been carried out, US officials have said. Washington last week suspended the delivery of 1,800 of the 2,000-pound bombs, a US official told AP on condition of anonymity, likely MK-84s as well as 1,700 smaller 500-pound bombs.

    US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that an area as densely populated as Rafah demanded less powerful and more precise weapons. The city, which borders Egypt, has an average of 20,000 inhabitants crammed into every square kilometre, according to the UN – the same urban density as the city of Paris.

    “We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

    Austin said the US was pausing shipment of “high-payload munitions” over Israeli plans for an incursion into Rafah without an adequate plan for protecting the 1 million civilians who have sought shelter there.

    A history of violence

    MK-84 bombs have been used by the US militarysince the 1970s, first in Vietnam and then, more sparingly, in Iraq and Afghanistan due to their devastating impact on urban areas. Human Rights Watch has said that these munitions were also used by the Saudi-led coalition in the 2016 bombing of a market in Yemen that killed more than a hundred civilians.

    Although these bombs can be modified with the addition of a precision guidance system, this measure would likely do little to avoid civilian deaths in an enclave as densely packed as the Gaza Strip.

    Containing 900 pounds of explosives, these 4.5-metre-long bombs leave immense craters in their wake and scatter thousands of potentially lethal fragments in all directions. Nothing within a 350-metre radius can survive.

    Military experts say these deadly bombs may have already contributed significantly to the horrific death toll of the war in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, almost 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed almost 1,200 people.

    Israel has frequently used these US-supplied bombs in an effort to dislodge Hamas militants from a labyrinthine network of underground tunnels beneath Gaza. According to a New York Times investigation published in December 2023, Israel dropped MK-84 bombs on Gaza every day during the first six weeks of the conflict. On at least 200 occasions, Israeli armed forces have directly targeted areas that were specifically designated as safe for Gazan civilians.

    Israel has been criticised for years by human rights NGOs for its widespread use of these gratuitously powerful bombs during previous conflicts in the Gaza Strip.

    “These bombs are used to inflict extremely heavy damage, either indiscriminately or completely deliberately, on residential areas or civilian infrastructure, which is forbidden under international law,” Amnesty International France director Jean-Claude Samouiller said. “This has not been respected by Israel, either during this current war in Gaza or in the past.”

    ‘Be careful’

    Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan described the US move in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 as “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating”.

    The US is Israel’s leading arms supplier by far. Last month, Congress approved the sale of $14.3 billion in additional arms as part of a larger package that also earmarked military aid for Ukraine and Taiwan. That comes on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid the US sends Israel every year, most of which Israel must use to purchase US military equipment and services.

    But this generous support has been called into question since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Amid outcry from the Muslim community and the progressive left as well as pro-Palestinian protests at major universities, some Democrats are worried about the consequences of the Middle East crisis on the November presidential election.

    This decision is the most spectacular sign to date of the mounting disagreements that are poisoning the Biden administration’s relationship with the Netanyahu government, which has brushed off US requests to take greater care to avoid the loss of Palestinian civilian lives.

    “It’s an insufficient first step, but it sends a strong signal to Israel,” Samouiller said.

    Biden’s announcement also comes amid the ongoing failure of ceasefire talks in Cairo. The latest ceasefire talks collapsed on Thursday with no agreement to halt the fighting or release hostages.

    Netanyahu instead maintains he is determined to annihilate Hamas by launching a bloody assault on Rafah, which he maintains is the Palestinian militant group’s last refuge.

    Israeli troops seized control of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday – essential in the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza – and ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians. The IDF has also launched what it calls “targeted strikes” in the city’s east.

    Washington’s decision is “some kind of diplomatic message to Mr Netanyahu that he needs to take into consideration American interests more than he has over the last few months”, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council Itamar Yaar told the Associated Press. Yaar added that while the decision would not have an immediate impact on Israel’s military capacities, he stressed that it was “a kind of a signal, a ‘Be careful’”.

  • Hamas Again Rejects Hostage Deal For Ceasefire With Israel

    Hamas Again Rejects Hostage Deal For Ceasefire With Israel

    Hamas has informed mediators that it rejects the latest U.S. proposal for a renewed hostages-for-ceasefire deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources as saying that the terrorist organization intends to put forward a roadmap for a permanent end to the war.

    The U.S. offer would have seen Israel  release 900 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 hostages, along with a partial IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the unrestricted return of Palestinians to the northern part of the coastal enclave.

    The plan proposed that Hamas would release more hostages at a later stage following the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza.

    At the same time, Hamas is currently “unable to locate 40 hostages detained in the Gaza Strip” needed for the first stage of a hostage deal, an Israeli official with knowledge of the talks told CNN on Wednesday.

    A senior Israeli official familiar with the talks in Cairo told the Journal that Israel was open to using the U.S. proposal as a basis for talks and that a majority in the Cabinet would vote to back a deal.

    However, Israeli officials view the framework’s plan for the free movement of Palestinians in northern Gaza and the ratio of terrorists to hostages released as significant concessions to Hamas, the newspaper said.

    Indirect talks have been taking place in Cairo, Doha and Paris brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. for a temporary truce that would see the release of the captives still in the Strip.

    The Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea departed the Egyptian capital on Monday amid conflicting reports of progress in negotiations to free the remaining hostages.

    U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday expressed frustration with Hamas, saying Israel was prepared to move forward.

    Asked about President Joe Biden’s failure to secure a deal, Sullivan told reporters at a White House press briefing that “there could be a ceasefire in place today that would extend for several weeks to be built upon longer if Hamas would be prepared to release some of those people.”

    He added, “I believe Israel is ready and Hamas should step up to the table and be prepared to do so as well.”

    Officials in Jerusalem believe that the IDF withdrawal from Khan Yunis and the flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza have hurt the chances that Hamas will agree to a hostage release deal, Ynet reported Wednesday.

    “We gave up our strong cards for nothing,” the outlet quoted the Israeli sources as saying. “Hamas is digging in with its demands for an end to the war and a troop withdrawal, and is determined to play tricks with the mediators,” the sources continued.

    Speaking at a women’s event in Jordan late last month, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal declared that the organization’s leadership is “waging a negotiating battle no less fierce” than the military conflict with the IDF, according to a readout of his remarks posted to Telegram by Hamas.

    “Inshallah [‘God willing’], we will defeat them in the field and in the negotiating battle,” said Mashaal, adding that the group is also fighting “intense battles” in the media and on the political battlefield.

    The terrorist leader reiterated that “in the negotiations, we insist on stopping the aggression, withdrawing from Gaza, returning the displaced to their places, especially in northern Gaza, providing all necessary relief, shelter and reconstruction, and ending the siege.

    “We will not release their prisoners [the hostages] until we achieve these goals,” Mashaal vowed.

  • There’s No Evidence Of Israel Committing Genocide In Gaza Strip, US Defense Chief Says

    There’s No Evidence Of Israel Committing Genocide In Gaza Strip, US Defense Chief Says

    The US does not believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, defense chief Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.

    “We don’t have any evidence of genocide being created” in Gaza, Austin said at a Senate hearing on the Pentagon’s budget request.

    Austin reiterated that the US is committed to assisting Israel in defending its territory and people by providing security assistance.

    The defense chief also said a mass famine will accelerate violence and have the effect of ensuring that there is a long-term conflict.

    Washington encourages Tel Aviv to provide humanitarian assistance, open up more land routes and separate the Palestinian people from Hamas, said Austin.

    He also rejected accusations that he gave a green light to Israeli killings in Gaza, after which a group of protestors interrupted the hearing in solidarity with Palestine.

    Austin defended the US administration’s stance that Palestinians should get humanitarian aid when he was asked why Israel should have the responsibility to provide aid to Gaza by Sen. Tom Cotton, who said Israel was the victim of an unprovoked vicious attack on Oct. 7.

    “If they (Israelis) want to create a lasting effect and in terms of stability, then I think that something needs to be done to account or to help the Palestinian people,” said Austin.

    Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

    More than 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

    Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

  • Israel Is Fully Prepared For Potential War With Iran, Says Defense Minister

    Israel Is Fully Prepared For Potential War With Iran, Says Defense Minister

    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that Israel has completed its preparations to respond to any possible scenario against Iran days after Iran’s consular building in Damascus had been subjected to a bombing.

    This came in light of Israeli preparedness for Iran’s response to the assassination of several Revolutionary Guard officials in Damascus, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

    “The defense system has finished preparations for a response against any scenario that may develop with Iran,” said Gallant at an assessment conducted at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.

    At least seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two top generals, were killed on April 1 in an attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus.

    Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and vowed to respond.

    Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack.

    The escalation in tensions came as Israel waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack in early October by Hamas killed less than 1,200 people.

    More than 33,100 Palestinians have since been killed and over 75,800 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

    Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

    The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

    Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

  • Israel Is Losing The War: Trump

    Israel Is Losing The War: Trump

    Former US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Israel needs to “finish what they started,” adding they are losing the public relations war.

    “Every night, they’re releasing tapes of a building falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that,” Trump said in an interview with The Hugh Hewitt Show that aired Thursday.

    “That’s why they’re losing the PR war. Israel is absolutely losing the PR war,” he added.

    Sharing his advice, Trump said: “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy.”

    “And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. “You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time,” he added.

    Trump reiterated his previous comments on the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, saying it would not have happened if he was president, adding that his administration would have a deal with Iran.

    “And what I said very plainly is get it over with, and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” he added.

    “They’ve got to finish what they started. They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast, because we have to, you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”

  • UN Security Council Adopts Resolution For Immediate Ceasefire In Gaza For Ramadan

    UN Security Council Adopts Resolution For Immediate Ceasefire In Gaza For Ramadan

    The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza Strip for the month of Ramadan, leading to “a lasting sustainable” cease-fire.

    As many as 14 countries voted in favor of the resolution, presented by 10 elected members of the Council, while the US abstained from voting.

    The resolution called for an “immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”

    It also demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs.”

    The formal text said the parties should comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain.

    The resolution emphasized the “urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale,” in line with international humanitarian law as well as Security Council resolutions.

    Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

    More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

    The Israeli war, now in its 171st day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

    Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.