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Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Far Right Presses Netanyahu for Decisive Win Against Hamas
Israel's far right pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go harder against Hamas, ahead of a UN Security Council meeting Sunday on the premier's plan to conquer Gaza City. Over 22 months into the war in Gaza, Israel is gripped by a yawning divide, pitting those calling for an end of the conflict along with a deal for the release of the hostages against others who want to see Hamas vanquished once and for all. The debate has only intensified after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet announced plans Friday to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City. While thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv Saturday night to protest the cabinet's decision, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a video online, slamming Netanyahu's decision on Gaza as half-hearted, AFP reported. "The prime minister and the cabinet gave in to weakness. Emotion overcame reason, and they once again chose to do more of the same -- launching a military operation whose goal is not decisive victory, but rather to apply limited pressure on Hamas in order to bring about a partial hostage deal," Smotrich said. "They decided once again to repeat the same approach, embarking on a military operation that does not aim for a decisive resolution." Netanyahu is scheduled to hold a press conference with international media at 4:30 pm local time (13:30 GMT) on Sunday -- his first since the security cabinet decision. The far-right members of Netanyahu's cabinet, including Smotrich, have maintained considerable influence in the premier's coalition government throughout the war -- with their support seen as vital to holding at least 61 seats for a parliamentary majority. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, also of the far right, told Kan radio on Sunday: "It is possible to achieve victory. I want all of Gaza, transfer and colonisation. This plan will not endanger the troops." In Tel Aviv, demonstrators held up pictures of hostages still in Gaza, calling on the government to secure their release. "We will end with a direct message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: if you invade parts of Gaza and the hostages are murdered, we will pursue you in the town squares, in election campaigns and at every time and place," Shahar Mor Zahiro, the relative of a slain hostage, told AFP. The cabinet's decision to expand the war in Gaza has meanwhile touched off a wave of criticism across the globe. On Sunday, the UN Security Council is set to meet to discuss the latest development. Foreign powers, including some of Israel's allies, have been pushing for a negotiated truce to secure the hostages' return and help alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the territory following repeated warnings of famine taking hold. Despite the backlash and rumors of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained firm. In a post on social media late Friday, Netanyahu said "we are not going to occupy Gaza -- we are going to free Gaza from Hamas". The premier has faced regular protests over the course of the war, with many rallies calling for the government to strike a deal after past truces saw hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead. Advertisement - Scroll to Continue Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable. According to Gaza's civil defence agency, at least 27 people were killed by Israeli fire across the territory Sunday, including 11 who were waiting near aid distribution centres. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Germany's Merz assumes Zelenskyy will join Trump-Putin summit
Germany assumes that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Sunday. Putin and Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska on Friday to try to resolve the three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, despite pleas from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of negotiations. 'We hope and assume that the government of Ukraine, that President Zelenskyy will be involved in this meeting,' Merz said in an interview with broadcaster ARD. Merz told ARD that Berlin was working closely with Washington to try to ensure Zelenskyy's attendance at the talks. 'We cannot accept in any case that territorial questions are discussed or even decided between Russia and America over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians,' he said. 'I assume that the American government sees it the same way.' Merz added that he hoped that the talks could make significant progress towards a peace settlement and even produce a 'breakthrough.' 'We hope that there will be a breakthrough on Friday,' he said. 'Above all (we hope) that there will finally be a ceasefire and that there can be peace negotiations in Ukraine.' Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin, a former KGB officer who has held power in Russia for more than 25 years, has ruled out holding talks with Zelenskyy at this stage. He insists the invasion was necessary to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine as well as Russia's security. Ukraine's leader has been pushing for a three-way summit and argues that meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Moscow strikes kill five in Ukraine, refinery hit in Russia
KYIV: A new round of Moscow's shelling and drone attacks killed five people in Ukraine Sunday, authorities said, while Kyiv hit an oil refinery in Russia's Saratov was no reduction in hostilities on the frontline, even as the United States and Russia agreed to hold a summit in a bid to resolve the conflict, which so far does not include Ukraine.'Three people killed, one wounded in Zaporizhzhia region as a result of Russian shelling,' Ukraine's national police said, adding that two more civilians died in the highly contested Donetsk region in the east.A Russian glide bomb hit a busy bus station in the city of Zaporizhzhia in a separate afternoon strike, wounding 12 people at once, the local officials said, adding that a search and rescue operation was still from the site shared by the authorities showed rescuers pulling people from the rubble in the shattered central bus station beachgoers were killed earlier in the Black Sea coastal city of Odesa, after they triggered a mine while swimming in a prohibited area which was Ukrainian army claimed its drones had hit a large oil refinery in Russia's western Saratov region, almost 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from the front Saratov governor, Roman Busargin, only gave a vague comment, saying that 'one of the industrial enterprises was damaged' and adding that one person died as a result of the drone woman died in Russia's region of Belgorod, often under Ukrainian fire due to its proximity to the frontline, the local governor is trying to hamper Moscow's ability to fund the more than three-year war of attrition by attacking its oil and gas facilities, the key sources fueling the state military claimed to have taken back the village of Bezsalivka in the Sumy region from the Russian army, which has made significant recent focus of the Russian offensive is on eastern Ukraine, where it has stepped up gains in recent months against its less well-equipped Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska this Friday to try to resolve the grinding conflict, despite warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of negotiations.
