Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

1 in 10 Gazan children tested in UNRWA clinics malnourished, agency says

2025-07-16

[IsraelTimes] Refugee agency says rates of condition rising, acute malnutrition rarely seen in Strip before war; UN says 875 slain at aid points in past 6 weeks, most of them at GHF sites

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
refugee agency in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday, as European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign ministers pressed Israel for an update on an agreement to boost aid into the enclave through UN channels.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA’s director of communications, Juliette Touma, told news hounds in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of 5 in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Touma said. "Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out."

Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
murderous Moslems and, earlier this year, banned the agency from operating on Israeli soil or contacting officials.

The announcement came after UNICEF said Monday that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.

Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across the territory, devastated by Israeli bombings since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.

Israel lifted the blockade at the end of May amid a renewed offensive in the Strip, whose declared purpose is to take over 75 percent of the Strip in order to defeat Hamas and secure the release of the hostages seized by the terror group on October 7.

As part of the resumption of aid, and in an effort to circumvent Hamas, the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has opened four distribution sites in south and central Gaza.

AT LEAST 875 PEOPLE KILLED NEAR AID SITES, UN SAYS
The UN human-rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the GHF and near convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
and humanitarian organizations," Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told news hounds in Geneva.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN figures.

GHF has faced harsh criticism from the UN and aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazooks have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.

Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has also accused the terror group of attacking Gazook aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying corpse counts. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Israel has also acknowledged that "several" Paleostinian civilians have been killed near the aid distribution sites.

Link

Europe

EU holds off on sanctioning Israel over Gaza war

2025-07-16

[IsraelTimes] But EU officials say they’ll reconsider sanctions at next meeting in two weeks if Israel doesn’t implement pledged steps on Gaza aid, release of withheld tax funds from the PA

European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Tuesday that the EU decided against adopting punitive measures against Israel over its military conduct in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, following a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the matter.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hailed the news as "an important diplomatic victory," saying his office had been working aggressively to convince countries in the bloc not to join an effort pushed by Ireland, Spain and other countries for sanctions against Israel over its conduct in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Speaking to news hounds after the Brussels meeting, Kallas reiterated that there were"positive signs" regarding Israel’s implementation of its agreement with the EU last week to increase aid to Gaza, but said "more concrete steps" were needed.

Taking the sanction threat seriously, Israel reached an agreement with the EU on a series of steps to boost aid on July 10. They included the reopening of several aid corridors, including routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza. The deal will provide for at least 150 trucks to enter Gaza daily — far less than the 500 that were entering the Strip before the war but more than double the daily average over the past two months, during which the humanitarian crisis has continued to deteriorate.

Kallas said the EU will closely monitor Israel’s implementation of the agreement and will update member states on Jerusalem’s compliance when foreign ministers meet again in two weeks. If Israel fails to implement the promised steps, the bloc will reconsider punitive measures against Jerusalem.

Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after an EU review determined that Israel is in breach of a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
grounds over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel faces numerous war crimes allegations in Gaza amid the fighting against Hamas
Hamas

..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, where it has denied claims of intentionally targeting civilians, and has been hit with mounting Western sanctions over its failure to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank.

The measures proposed by Kallas range from suspending the entire accord to curbing trade ties, sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.

Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over Israel, and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves against it at this week’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act," Kallas insisted.

The more far-reaching steps are unlikely to secure the necessary votes, but the fact that the steps are even being seriously considered has been unprecedented.

The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.

The EU will also tie its decision on sanctions to the situation in the West Bank, and Brussels raised with Israeli officials a demand for Jerusalem to release tax revenues that are being withheld from the Paleostinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords, two EU officials told The Times of Israel

The PA says that Israel is withholding roughly NIS 2.5 billion shekels ($742 million) in funds that belong to Ramallah. Israel collects customs revenues on the PA’s behalf and is supposed to transfer them to Ramallah on a monthly basis.

Israel has been withholding a portion of those funds, which it says amounts to the sum of the stipends that the PA pays to the families of security prisoners and slain terrorists. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
signed a decree in February ending the policy, though Israel has been dismissive of the move.

Israel has also been withholding a portion of the tax revenues that it says amount to the sum of the funds that the PA uses to pay civil servants in Gaza, which Jerusalem claims are at risk of reaching Hamas.

Moreover, since May, when the UK issued sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, Jerusalem stopped transferring the monthly customs revenues entirely, robbing the PA of roughly NIS 900 million ($267 million) in funds.

The move by Smotrich once again has the PA at risk of financial collapse, with Ramallah unable to pay its employees for June. Previous months saw PA employees only receiving a portion of their salaries due to Ramallah’s dire financial situation.

A spokesperson for one of the PA’s ministries told The Times of Israel that many workers are not showing up to the office, as they cannot afford the cost of travel or don’t have time to wait hours at Israeli checkpoints, which have significantly hampered Paleostinian transit throughout the West Bank.

An EU diplomat said Israel’s delegation indicated during this week’s high-level meeting of EU foreign ministers that Jerusalem would release some of the PA’s funds — likely the tax revenues that have been withheld since May.

However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
a Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied that any commitment was made on the matter.

A spokesperson for Smotrich — whose approval is needed to release the PA funds — did not respond to queries on the matter.

Sa’ar still celebrated Kallas’s decision, writing in a post on X that it was the result of a "complex, grueling, and multi-front diplomatic battle."

"The attempt to impose sanctions on a democratic country defending itself against efforts to destroy it is outrageous," Sa’ar said, thanking Israel’s allies in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
who helped thwart the punitive measures.

Throughout the Brussels summit, some Israel-friendly EU allies, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, voiced support for Israel and pushed back against proposed sanctions. In messages reposted by Sa’ar on X, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský reaffirmed their backing.

Lipavský said in a phone call with Sa’ar, "It is in the EU’s interest to maintain influence in a turbulent region, not withdraw from it," and expressed hope for a ceasefire and the full resumption of aid to Gaza.

Szijjártó, who met with Sa’ar in Brussels, said, "There will be strong pressure on us in Brussels to sanction Israeli settlers. That would be the wrong move. This is the time for diplomacy, not sanctions."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran exposes seductress journalist working for Israel

2025-07-16

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] A spy scandal that seemed to have been hushed up in 2022 is flaring up again in Iran. French-Jewish journalist Catherine Perez-Shakdam is accused of working for Israeli intelligence for many years. With her masterly command of words and her gift of seduction, she allegedly managed to gain the trust of more than a hundred high-ranking Iranian officials and ultimately exposed them to an Israeli attack.

The spy obtained secret data and visited forbidden sites practically arm in arm with the military and clerics - almost the same as the legendary Mata Hari did a century ago.

True, unlike the spy-dancer, with whom Peres-Shakdam is actively compared today, the latter managed not only to escape Iranian counterintelligence in time, but also left behind many unsolved mysteries that Tehran is still struggling with to this day.

THE RISE OF THE GUEST
The journalist's path to the top was swift. Having converted to Islam after marriage and voluntarily converted to Shiism, Peres-Shakdam began visiting Iran regularly and by 2017 had already become quite a well-known figure there.

Among other things, she managed to secure an audience with Ibrahim Raisi (at that time, the retired Prosecutor General of Iran), who was among the first to recognize the potential of the ambitious journalist and introduced her to the editors of several major Persian-language media outlets.

Over the next year, Peres-Shakdam established contacts with all the more or less influential publications in the country, becoming their regular contributor. She made connections among the security forces and the diplomatic corps, and secured the support of the "heavyweights" of Iranian politics.

She was also favored by the attention of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who considered Peres-Shakdam "the voice of the Islamic revolution" in the West and his main information weapon. Including because of her origins - Peres-Shakdam's Jewish roots gave Iranian ideologists the opportunity to say that even their co-religionists in Europe were disappointed with Israel's current course.

At one point, he even allowed the journalist to post some of her works on his official website, an honor not bestowed upon all theologians from Khamenei’s “inner circle,” let alone ordinary journalists.

SELF-EXPOSURE
Peres-Shakdam lost her “favorite” status in February 2022, when bloggers close to Iranian ultra-conservative and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began to promote a story in the press about her working for Israeli intelligence.

According to the anonymous sources, the journalist gained the trust of Iranian officials and clerics, with their help penetrating classified facilities and obtaining confidential information first-hand. Afterwards, she passed on the information she received to Tel Aviv.

It is noteworthy that a couple of months before this, Peres-Shakdam herself had drawn suspicion from the conservative wing: in an article published on one of the Israeli resources, she stated that she had never shared the ideas of the Islamic revolution and used “Muslim cover” only to infiltrate Iran and other countries to look at the situation “from the inside.”

This alone would have been enough to accuse the journalist of espionage. However, her ill-wishers then preferred not to act rashly, but to gather more information about her possible ambiguous connections.

The effect of the scandal exceeded even the wildest expectations. Rumor has it that Peres-Shakdam participated in Israel's "secret operations," including, for example, the assassination of IRGC special forces commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

Although the fatal strike on Soleimani's car was carried out by the Americans, the Pentagon was informed of the Iranian officer's route by Israeli operatives working in Iraq.

And given that shortly before the tragedy, Peres-Shakdam had communicated with Suleimani one-on-one, she was considered to be Tel Aviv’s liaison.

MIRACULOUS RESCUE
The February scandal became the point of no return. Peres-Shakdam was immediately "excommunicated from the court," and her articles disappeared from the websites of most Iranian media, where they had recently graced the front pages. However, this was the end of the repression against her, and she left the country without hindrance.

Business connections, of which Peres-Shakdam had quite a few by that time, played a role. Thus, according to one version, in March 2022 — when the spy scandal reached its peak — the future President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian (at that time one of the leaders of the opposition wing) took the disgraced journalist under his wing.

According to other sources, Peres-Shakdam was vouched for by former President Hassan Rouhani and the "architect of the nuclear deal," retired Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Even taking into account the public's decline in trust in the reformists, the authority of these politicians was allegedly enough to leave Peres-Shakdam alone for a while.

However, it is much more likely that the order not to prosecute the journalist was given personally by Khamenei. The Supreme Leader clearly did not want to give his opponents a reason to laugh at himself (and at his failed "information weapon"), and so the scandal was hushed up rather quickly.

But after this incident, Peres-Shakdam moved to Great Britain and never returned to Iran. And since August 2022 (about six months after the incident with Ahmadinejad), the largest Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, has regularly published columns in which yesterday's "singer of the Islamic revolution" blasted Tehran's policies and praised Israel's successes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria.

WOMEN'S CHARMS
The Peres-Shakdam affair was recalled only recently, after the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict. In Tehran, it was believed that Tel Aviv was too skillful in identifying and “knocking out” Iranian critical infrastructure facilities (including those that were not known to the general public), and also liquidated prominent scientists and officers of key departments of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

This gave reason to look at the activities of the disgraced journalist from a new angle. Especially since she had previously visited some of the objects that were in the crosshairs with her high-ranking patrons.

New details about the “super spy’s” work also emerged.

For example, former Iranian parliament member Mustafa Kavakebian claims that Peres-Shakdam actively used feminine charms to obtain the necessary information and, during her trips to Iran, entered into intimate relationships with more than a hundred Iranian elites.

In addition, the journalist actively communicated with the wives of high-ranking officials and scientists at social receptions and in "salons". Bored women happily shared their sore points with the educated interlocutor, and she, in turn, disposed of this information at her own discretion.

Of course, the facts mentioned by Kavakebian still need to be proven. Moreover, personal grievances against the state system, which cut off his candidacy in the early elections of 2024, may well speak here. In addition, almost three years have passed since the journalist left Iran, and Tel Aviv would hardly rely on outdated information when delivering the first blows.

On the other hand, Kavakebian is not alone in his judgments: calls to re-examine the Peres-Shakdam dossier are heard not only from reformists, but also from conservatives. And the country's authorities will have to listen to them sooner or later.

It is noteworthy that Peres-Shakdam herself does not consider herself a spy and denies working for Tel Aviv, although she regularly makes ambiguous hints about her “Iranian period of life” in order to stir up the audience’s interest in her articles.

It is highly likely that she does not have a spy past, and Tehran is trying to shift responsibility for the failures in organizing defense onto the ubiquitous Israeli agents.

This approach, although it relieves public tension, is fraught with another problem: chasing fictitious spies, one can easily miss the real ones. Of which, judging by the results of the Israeli Operation Lion Force, quite a few were sent to Iran.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza daily round-up: Muhammad Nasser Ali Kanita, who held Emily Damari hostage in his home, was eliminated

2025-07-15

[X]

🚨 Breaking: Muhammad Nasser Ali Kanita, who held Emily Damari hostage in his home, was eliminated pic.twitter.com/NbGEMauRuW
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) July 14, 2025

The Israeli army says its warplanes have attacked Gaza more than 100 times in the past 24 hours
[GEO.TV] The Israeli army says its warplanes have attacked Gaza more than 100 times in the past 24 hours, claiming “terrorist organisations” are the targets, reported Al Jazeera.

It added that ground advances are also continuing across the besieged enclave, especially in the north.

Israeli attacks kill more than 50 people across Gaza
[GEO.TV] Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 51 Palestinians since dawn, Al Jazeera reported quoting medical sources.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 58,030 people and wounded 138,520 since the beginning of war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Children among over 700 Gazans killed waiting to get water
[GEO.TV] The government media office in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
says attacks on people waiting in line for water have killed more than 700 Paleostinians as part of a ''systematic thirst war'', Al Jazeera reported.

The Israeli army has targeted 112 freshwater filling points and destroyed 720 water wells, putting them out of service. This has deprived more than 1.25 million people of access to clean water, the office said in a statement.

''We affirm that this racist policy constitutes a full-fledged war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and a grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
law.''

The office said Israel has prevented the entry of 12 million litres of fuel monthly, the amount necessary to operate the minimum number of water wells, sewage treatment plants, garbage collection vehicles and other vital services. This ban has ''caused near-total paralysis of water and sewage networks and worsened the spread of diseases, especially among children'', the office said.

Three IDF troops killed, officer seriously wounded in northern Gaza fighting
[IsraelTimes] After initially suspecting tank was hit by Hamas RPG fire, army increasingly believes deadly blast was caused by a malfunctioning shell that detonated inside the turret

Three IDF troops were killed and an officer was seriously wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, the military announced.

The slain troops were named as:

Staff Sgt. Shoham Menahem, 21, from Yardena

Sgt. Shlomo Yakir Shrem, 20, from Efrat

Sgt. Yuliy Faktor, 19, from Rishon Lezion

They all served with the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion.

According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were in a tank that was hit by an explosion in northern Gaza’s Jabalia at around noon Monday. The IDF initially suspected the tank was hit by Hamas RPG fire. However, in the hours following the incident, the military increasingly came to believe the explosion may have been caused by a malfunctioning shell that detonated inside the turret. Other causes of the explosion were being investigated, the military said.

Their deaths raised the Israeli toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 454 soldiers. The figure includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

The announcement of the soldiers’ deaths came shortly before two rockets were launched from the central Gaza Strip at southern Israel, which the military intercepted. Sirens did not sound in any towns, but alerts were activated in open areas near the Gaza border. There were no injuries.

In Gaza, meanwhile, footage circulated Monday on social media showing dozens of Palestinians lying on the ground as prolonged gunfire is heard around them.

That sure sounds like a classic Paliwood production to me, rather than something that actually happened as described. Especially since we know that Hamas has been killing those who dare take advantage of donated supplies that aren’t controlled — and sold at siege prices — by them.

Based on the location in the video, the incident appeared to have occurred near one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution centers, specifically in the Rafah area.

The IDF stated that “the details of the video are under review. At this stage, there are no known casualties from IDF fire at the distribution center in Rafah today.”

More from the Times of Israel:

A Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 onslaught and held hostage Emily Damari in his home was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month, the IDF announces.

Nasr Ali Quneita was targeted in Gaza City on June 19, according to the IDF.

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency said Israeli strikes on Monday killed at least 22 people, and the Islamic Jihad terror group shared footage that it said showed its fighters firing missiles at an Israeli command and control center in the Strip.

The fighting comes as five IDF divisions, made up of tens of thousands of troops, continue to operate across Gaza.

According to Israel, the IDF’s targets on Monday included operatives, buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots, tunnels, and other terror infrastructure.

The military said that in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, troops of the Givati Brigade located and destroyed a tunnel, while forces of the 99th Division directed airstrikes on operatives who tried to plant bombs on a road.

In the nearby town of Jabalia, the IDF said troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and elite Multi-Domain unit killed several more operatives, including by directing strikes, and destroyed terror infrastructure.

In the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, troops of the Nahal Brigade killed additional operatives, and the 98th Division operating in the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Shejaiya directed strikes on operatives and destroyed buildings used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IDF added.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad terror group which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, released footage that it said showed its fighters firing missiles at an Israeli army command and control center near Shejaiya.

Gaza’s civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that 10 Palestinians were killed in three separate airstrikes in various parts of Gaza City on Monday, with 12 more people killed in attacks on the southern area of Khan Yunis.

The agency, which is governed by Hamas, does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties, and its figures are not independently verified.

AIRSTRIKE LAST WEEK KILLED 10 TERRORISTS RELEASED IN SHALIT DEAL
The IDF and Shin Bet announced Monday that an airstrike in Gaza last week killed 10 Hamas terrorists who had been among the 1,027 security inmates released from Israeli prisons in 2011 in exchange for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Most of those killed were members of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters, a unit involved in recruiting terrorists and advancing attacks against Israel from or within the West Bank, the Shin Bet said.

Among those killed were Riyad Assila and Bassem Abu Sanina, who were accused of murdering Israeli civilian Haim Karman in a 1998 stabbing attack in Jerusalem.

Assila served as a member of Hamas’s West Bank headquarters, specifically involved in recruiting terrorists from East Jerusalem, the Shin Bet said.

Also killed in the strike was Mohammed Saria, who the Shin Bet said was charged with killing IDF soldier Staff Sgt. Ehud (Udi) Tal in a stabbing attack at the Dotan Civil Administration facility in the West Bank in 1996.

Seven more members of Hamas’s West Bank headquarters were killed in the strike. The Shin Bet said the seven were all convicted during the Second Intifada of involvement in deadly terror attacks and were given life sentences, before being exiled to Gaza in the Shalit deal.

After their exile, the Shin Bet said, the operatives held roles in the West Bank Headquarters, “within which they operated in regional committees responsible for advancing attacks in the Judea and Samaria areas, including by transferring weapons and funds to terrorists.”

IDF issues evacuation order for Gaza City, Jabalia, saying fighting ‘is spreading westward’
[IsraelTimes] The IDF calls on Palestinians residing in Gaza City and Jabalia in the Strip’s north to evacuate amid an ongoing offensive against Hamas.

“The IDF is operating in the area with increased force to destroy the enemy and terror organizations. The fighting is spreading westward toward the city center,” says the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee on X.

The warning calls for civilians to head south to the Mawasi area on the coast.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Abbas urges Hamas to free hostages, says it won’t rule postwar Gaza

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] Meeting former UK PM Tony Blair in Amman, PA president calls on terror group to cede its arms and let PA take over governing Strip

Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
urged Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
to release the hostages it is holding and hand over its weapons to the PA, stressing that the terror group "will not rule the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip" after the war there ends.

In a meeting in Amman on Sunday with British former prime minister Tony Blair, Abbas also called for the release of Paleostinian prisoners from Israeli jails, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid

to the Strip, according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.

Abbas also called for the PA to be given control of the enclave, a notion long rejected by Israel. He further stressed the need to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict based on the Arab Peace Initiative and called for an international peace conference to be held in New York, the report said.

Though Abbas has in the past called for the hostages to be released, an end to the war, and for the PA to takeover governing Gaza, it was only last month that, for the first time, he condemned the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel during which the hostages were kidnapped. The attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggered the ongoing war.

At the time, Abbas also said that Hamas must not be permitted to rule Gaza and should hand over its weapons to the Paleostinian Security Services.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas-led murderous Moslems on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from the PA in 2007 during a bloody coup. The terror group and Abba’s Fatah secularist party, which dominates the West Bank-based PA, have remained at odds ever since.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to vanquish Hamas, has thus far ruled out any role for the PA in Gaza, but failed to advance any alternative amid pressure from his far-right partners, who want to establish settlements in the Strip.

The PA is largely seen as ineffectual and corrupt. It has not held general elections since 2006, and presidential elections since 2005.

Blair left office in 2007, then became an envoy for the Middle East Quartet — the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
, the United States, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, and Russia — set up in 2002 to mediate peace between Israel and the Paleostinians. He established the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit organization, in 2016. In January 2024, the institute denied as "a lie" a Hebrew media report linking him to talks for the resettlement of Paleostinians from Gaza to other countries.

US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
has touted a highly disputed initiative to relocate Paleostinians out of the coastal enclave to other countries. Netanyahu has openly backed the plan, which has been flatly rejected by Paleostinians.

Link

Arabia

Search ends for those missing since Yemen’s Houthis sank ship in Red Sea last week

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] The search for those missing after Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank a ship in the Red Sea has ended as at least four people are presumed dead and 11 others remain unaccounted for, the private security firms involved say.

The announcement comes as satellite photos show long, trailing oil slicks from where the bulk carrier Eternity C sank, as well as another where the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas by the Iranian-backed Houthis took place.

Both ships were attacked over a week ago by the rebels as part of their campaign targeting vessels over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that’s upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes a year.

The private security firms Ambrey and Diaplous Group ran the search for those missing from the Eternity C, which had a three-man security team aboard but requested no escort from either the US Navy or a European Union force in the region. The ship came under attack July 7 and faced hours of Houthi assaults by small arms and bomb-carrying drones before ultimately sinking in the Red Sea.

Ten people were recovered alive from the attack, including eight Filipino crew members and a Greek and Indian from the vessel’s security team, the EU’s Operation Aspides said. At least four are presumed to have been killed in the attack, leaving 11 others missing, the EU mission has said.

The Houthis claimed to have taken some mariners after the attack, but have offered no evidence of that. The US Embassy in Yemen said it believed the rebels had “kidnapped” some of the crew.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF names terror operatives killed in Gaza strikes over past two weeks

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] A series of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the past two weeks killed numerous terror operatives involved in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad efforts to regroup, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.

The joint statement says the Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders headed units that worked to rebuild the terror groups’ military wings, including weapon production and military intelligence.

The IDF and Shin Bet name some of the operatives as:

Muhammad Abu Awwad, a senior member of Hamas’s projects and development department in the weapons production headquarters;

Bilal Abu Shikha, a section commander in Hamas’s weapons production headquarters;

Tayseer Shareem, a section commander in Hamas’s weapons production headquarters;

Mundhir Salami, the commander of a weapons production site;

Bilal Musallam, a section commander in Hamas’s military intelligence division;

Rabi’ Mustafa Rabi’ Sukhweil, a “financial operative” in Hamas’s military wing, involved in transferring millions of dollars to the terror group;

Ahmad Abu Shamala, a squad commander in Hamas’s military intelligence division;

Mustafa Dababesh, a deputy head of a department in Hamas’s weapons production headquarters;

and Muhammad Al-Bayouk, a senior member of Islamic Jihad’s weapons production array.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli Air Force has used over 120 precision munitions and completely destroyed many underground tunnels inside the Gaza Strip

2025-07-14

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

BREAKING: The Israeli Air Force has used over 120 precision munitions and completely destroyed many underground tunnels inside the Gaza Strip.

Insane footage.pic.twitter.com/PdpN8r5nZa
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) July 12, 2025

IDF says over 100 terror targets struck over past day; Palestinian media reports dozens of casualties

More than 100 terror targets were struck by the Israeli Air Force in the Gaza Strip in the past day, the military says.

The IDF says the targets included operatives, buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots, tunnels, and other terror infrastructure.

Dozens of casualties were reported by Palestinian media in Gaza over the past day, but there are no immediate tolls from the Hamas-run health ministry or other health authorities.

The strikes come as five IDF divisions, made up of tens of thousands of troops, continue to operate across Gaza.

The military says in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, troops of the Givati Brigade located and destroyed a tunnel, while forces of the 99th Division directed airstrikes on operatives who tried to plant bombs on a road.

In the nearby town of Jabalia, the IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and elite Multi-Domain unit killed several more operatives, including by directing strikes, and destroyed terror infrastructure.

In the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, troops of the Nahal Brigade killed additional operatives, and the 98th Division operating in the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Shejaiya directed strikes on operatives and destroyed buildings used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IDF adds.

More from the Times of Israel:

The army said Sunday that the Israeli Air Force had hit 150 targets across the enclave in the previous day, targeting Hamas operatives, booby-trapped buildings, weapon depots, anti-tank launch posts and other terror infrastructure.

At least 139 Paleostinians were killed in Gaza between Saturday and Sunday afternoon, according to statistics published by the Hamas-run health ministry, raising the corpse count to over 58,000.

The tolls, which cannot be verified, do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 ~~bandidos~~ forces of Evil inside Israel during the October 7, 2023 onslaught.

Link

Europe

All Palestinians in Gaza Are Eligible for Asylum in France, Court Rules

2025-07-13

[Breitbart] All Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip will be eligible for the first time to apply for asylum in France, a court ruled on Friday.

Deciding on a case brought by a Palestinian mother seeking asylum in the wake of the Islamist Hamas October 7th terror attacks on Israel, France’s National Court of Asylum (CNDA) ruled in her favour given the “war methods” of the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza, which the court found were “serious enough to be regarded as methods of persecution.”

The decision overturned a previous rejection from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Effrusion (OFPRA) in November, which noted that the Palestinian woman was not specifically being “persecuted” and therefore could only be eligible for “subsidiary protection”, a lesser form of asylum which only allows for a four-year temporary residence permit rather than the ten years of protection guaranteed to refugees.

The case paved the way for the CNDA to declare that all Palestinians living in Gaza should be entitled to asylum protection in France, Le Figaro reports. The court based its decision on the Geneva Convention, which says that people who face “persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” should be considered refugees.

The court specifically cited the supposed persecution based on “nationality” faced by Palestinians in Gaza, despite France, like most other nations, not recognising Palestine as a state.

Nevertheless, the judges said that they possessed the “characteristics” of a nationality, which according to the Convention include belonging to a “group determined by its cultural, ethnic or linguistic identity, common geographical or political origins or its relationship with the population of another state.”

While the ruling is novel in declaring such “persecution” of Palestinians, legal experts noted that it would likely only impact around 20 per cent of the population of Gaza, given that 80 per cent were already classified as being refugees by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and were therefore already eligible for protection in France.

Although the ruling was hailed by leftist groups such as Amnesty International, others expressed concern about allowing more Palestinians into France, including a former Muslim turned anti-Islamist activist and female rights campaigner, Henda Ayari.

“While France is already grappling with explosive community tensions, it chooses today to unconditionally welcome refugees from Gaza, even though more than 30 Muslim countries refuse to take them in. Why should France, once again, play the role of humanitarian substitute while others categorically refuse to host these populations in their countries?” she questioned.

“We’re talking about a region where Hamas recruits, where Islamist ideology and anti-Semitic, anti-Western hatred are deeply rooted, where many celebrated the massacres of October 7. We cannot pretend to believe that they are all ‘innocent victims.’ Some of these individuals who will arrive in France may have participated in, supported, or condoned terrorism. And tomorrow? They will be housed, fed, and supported at the expense of French taxpayers… while our retirees are dying and our neighbourhoods are exploding,” Ayari lamented.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on approximately 35 Hamas targets in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza

2025-07-13

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

The Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on approximately 35 Hamas targets in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, within the past hour, targeting Hamas tunnels among other sites, as part of intensified operations, the IDF confirmed. pic.twitter.com/uP62k0VT3l
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 12, 2025

Video footage from the Israeli border community of Netiv Haasara displays the intense Israeli airstrikes targeting Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, conducted a short time ago.pic.twitter.com/viaAyrxIBl https://t.co/etuVwHzSSx
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 12, 2025

Several IDF troops hurt in Gaza fighting as Palestinians reported killed at aid site

[IsraelTimes] Army reports the injured soldiers were moderately and lightly wounded in separate incidents; says unaware of any casualties near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution hubs

The military announced that two soldiers were moderately hurt on Saturday in separate incidents during fighting in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, as fresh deaths were reported among Paleostinians at an aid distribution site.

One of the soldiers was hurt in the northern part of the coastal enclave, while the other was hurt in the southern part. In the latter incident, two other soldiers were lightly injured.

All four were taken to hospitals, and their families were notified.

The injuries came as the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that over 250 terror targets in Gaza were hit in ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s since Thursday. A fresh wave of airstrikes Saturday evening hit over 35 targets in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, the military said.

The IDF said the targets included operatives, booby-trapped buildings, weapon depots, anti-tank launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels, and other terror infrastructure.

At least 143 Paleostinians were killed in Gaza since Wednesday, according to statistics published by the Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
-run health ministry on Friday night.

The strikes came as five IDF divisions, made up of tens of thousands of troops, continued to operate across Gaza.

In a statement on the Beit Hanoun strikes, which could be seen from across the border in Israel, the military said dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets hit some 35 Hamas targets in the area.

The targets included Hamas tunnels in the area, the IDF said.

Earlier, the military said troops of the 98th Division located Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
observation posts and caches of bombs in Gaza City’s Shejaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods.

Numerous operatives were killed elsewhere by the troops, including by calling in airstrikes, the IDF added.

MORE DEATHS REPORTED AT AID SITES
Paleostinian reports, meanwhile, said that aid seekers were rubbed out and injured Saturday around the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation facility in northwest Rafah, with the News Agency that Dare Not be Named quoting hospital officials and witnesses as saying that at least 24 people were killed.

Hamas has been getting busy with their guns, as they do every day that the people they own dare to get help from a group that doesn’t let them skim off the top, the bottom, and both sides..

The IDF pushed back on the Paleostinian reports, saying the military was unaware of any casualties from troops’ gunfire near GHF distribution sites on Saturday.

A military official did say that several suspects were spotted approaching forces in Rafah on Saturday, hundreds of meters from the aid site, and that "troops acted to prevent the suspects from approaching and fired warning shots. No injuries from the gunfire are known."

The IDF, in its statement, said it "continues to operate in order to enable the distribution of humanitarian aid

in the Strip, and to allow passage to the distribution areas via organized and secured routes."

The statement added that the IDF is continuing to investigate the claims of injuries on Saturday near the aid site.

GHF, an Israeli-backed US organization that seeks to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, has faced harsh criticism from the UN and other aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazooks have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.

Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has also accused the terror group of attacking Gazook aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying corpse counts. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
Israel has also acknowledged that "several" Paleostinian civilians have been killed near GHF aid distribution sites.

GHF commenced operations in May as Israel lifted a nearly three-month aid blockade on Gaza, amid a renewed offensive there that seeks to take over 75% of the Strip.

On Friday, the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
said nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the GHF’s distribution sites.

Numbers supplied by Hamas are vary from exaggerated to greatly exaggerated, coupled with flat-out lies.

GHF, which denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites, told Rooters the UN figures were "false and misleading."

The IDF said Friday that it had issued instructions to troops in the field "following lessons learned" after reports of deadly incidents at GHF distribution facilities.

SWIMMING RESTRICTIONS
The IDF on Saturday also reiterated a restriction on Paleostinians, in place since the beginning of the war, forbidding them from entering the sea along the entire coast of the Gaza Strip. The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, reminded residents in a post on X that "security restrictions have been imposed in the maritime area adjacent to the Strip, and entry into the sea is prohibited."

He added, "The IDF will respond to any violation of these restrictions. We urge fishermen, swimmers, and divers to refrain from entering the sea. Entering the sea along the Strip exposes you to danger."

Nevertheless, the IDF has not enforced the restriction against Paleostinians seeking to cool off in the waters on the beach, but only those heading out deeper into the sea.

The vast majority of the Paleostinian population in Gaza is concentrated in areas on the coast, with tent camps set up on the beaches.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Doha talks stuck on IDF withdrawal; Palestinian officials say discussions nearing collapse

2025-07-13

Here we go again.

[IsraelTimes] Hamas rejects proposal showing continued Israeli control over parts of Gaza, including Rafah buffer zone, sources tell ToI

No significant progress has been made in the ongoing hostage negotiations in Doha since Wednesday, an Arab diplomat and a second source familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Friday, as Palestinian officials said the talks were on the verge of collapse.

The result of the negotiations will either be a hudna that Hamas will quickly break or no ceasefire at all. Thus far they have not progressed beyond none at all, in which Israel is happy to oblige them. But the ritual, accompanied by a soundtrack of hysterical anti-Bibi protesters at home and Jew-hating protesters around the world, has become excessively tiresome.

While Israel agreed to ease some of its demands regarding the redeployment of its troops during the 60-day truce under discussion following US pressure, the new series of maps depicting the partial withdrawal of IDF troops was not sufficient to satisfy Hamas, the two sources said.

The new maps still envision Israel maintaining control of roughly one-third of Gaza’s territory, including a three-kilometer (1.86-mile) buffer zone in Rafah to create a highly controversial “humanitarian city” to which Gaza’s entire population will be herded, checked for weapons and be barred from leaving as Israel will seek to encourage their emigration outside of the Strip.

Channel 12 reported that Hamas agreed to expand the buffer zone Israel wants to create along much of the Gaza perimeter from 700 meters to one kilometer. However, Israel is still demanding that it be expanded to as much as two kilometers.

Amid the apparent stalemate on the issue, the US is urging Hamas to move on to discuss other remaining issues — something the terror group has refused to do until disagreements regarding Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza are solved.

“The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel’s insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,” a Palestinian official told AFP on Saturday.

“Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps… as they essentially legitimize the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” the source said.

FAFO: this is what losing the war looks like, guys. Next time don’t start a war you are guaranteed to lose.

Palestinian officials told the BBC and AFP that negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas are on the verge of collapse and are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the Strip.

That’s one way to look at it…

One Palestinian official told the BBC that Israel “bought time” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump, and that the decision to send a team to Qatar without a strong mandate was an act to deliberately stall the discussions.

Another way to see it is that The war would end the moment Hamas returned all the hostages, laid down their arms, and marched themselves out of the Gaza Strip — so much cheaper and easier than working to 10/7, so we know y’all are capable of it.

Israel’s delegation to Doha does not include the senior-most officials who have been involved in talks — Mossad chief David Barnea, acting Shin Bet head “Shin,” and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Army Radio reported earlier this week.

Gaza is only one of the fronts of this war, so the big guys have much more than Hamas on their plates

A Palestinian official told AFP that Israel was “stalling and obstructing the agreement to continue the war of extermination.”

Another said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Doha. It is unclear if or when that will happen.

The second Palestinian source told AFP that “some progress” had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.

GHF: ISRAEL SHOULD MEET ITS COMMITMENT TO LET NEW AID SITES OPEN
Meanwhile, the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation issued a statement Friday asking Israel to abide by its commitment to allow the opening of additional distribution sites.

“GHF also continues to press the Government of Israel to live up to its commitment to allow us to open additional sites, including in the north of Gaza,” GHF said.

The statement also welcomed reports of an agreement between Israel and the European Union to scale up humanitarian aid in Gaza, along with ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in the Strip.

Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the GHF, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas.

Israel and the United States have publicly urged the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN has refused.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel, EU agree to boost Gaza aid: ‘More trucks, more crossings, and more routes’

2025-07-11

[IsraelTimes] Israel to open several aid corridors, including through Egypt and Jordan, allow bakeries and kitchens to reopen, ensure security for aid workers, repair vital infrastructure

Israel and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
have agreed upon "significant steps" to increase the flow of humanitarian aid

into the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip "in the coming days," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirmed the agreement, saying the security cabinet decided last Sunday on measures "to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza," including "more trucks, more crossings, and more routes for the humanitarian efforts."

Speaking alongside Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephu, Sa’ar thanked his counterparts "for the fruitful dialogue that we are conducting — with you and the EU — on the humanitarian issue."

The discussions are "based on an understanding of human needs and of the threat that Hamas
Hamas

..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
and the Gaza Strip have posed to Israel over the past 20 years," added Sa’ar, saying, "this dialogue is important and it will continue."

The announcements by Sa’ar and Kallas confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg, which said that a deal had been reached enabling the reopening of several aid corridors, including humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza.

"These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas," Kallas said.

According to the top European diplomat, the agreement will see a "substantial increase" in the daily entry of trucks supplying food and non-food items; the opening of several crossing points in northern and southern Gaza; the reopening of humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan; resumed operations of bakeries and public kitchens in Gaza; resumed fuel deliveries to humanitarian facilities "up to an operational level"; security for aid workers; and reparations on works for "vital infrastructure like the resumption of the power supply to the water desalination facility."

"The EU stands ready to coordinate with all relevant humanitarian stakeholders, United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
agencies and NGOs on the ground, to ensure swift implementation of those urgent steps," added Kallas, adding that the EU "calls again for an immediate ceasefire" and release of all hostages.

Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas. The GHF’s operations have been strongly criticized by the international community for failing to address the humanitarian needs in Gaza.

It is unclear under which bodies the expanded aid measures will be operated.

The EU has been increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led bully boyz murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took 251 hostages.

Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas.

The EU is Israel’s biggest commercial partner, with 42.6 billion euros ($48.2 billion) traded in goods in 2024. Trade in services reached 25.6 billion euros in 2023.

More than 100 aid groups and other organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, last month urged Brussels to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement "at least in part."

Spain has also called for the agreement to be suspended, while Germany has come out against such a move.

Suspending the EU-Israel accord outright would require unanimity among member states — something diplomats have said from the outset was virtually impossible.

Halting diplomatic dialogue with Israel — a measure that was already rejected last year — also requires backing from all EU countries.

Trade measures could instead be adopted with a qualified majority, diplomats have said, cautioning, however, that agreeing on those might also prove tricky.

Link

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