Israeli delegation expected to leave for Doha on Saturday
The Israeli delegation is expected to leave for Qatar's Doha on Saturday for the talks on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israeli Kann News reported on Friday.
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Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israel confirms it is arming Hamas rivals in operation opposition calls ‘complete madness'
TEL AVIV — Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the covert enterprise on Thursday, calling it 'a good thing.' In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said Israel had 'activated clans in Gaza which oppose Hamas,' and that it was done 'under the advice of security elements.' Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Avigdor Liberman divulged the move on Israel's Ch. 12 News on Wednesday, saying that Israel was distributing rifles to extremist groups in Gaza and describing the operation as 'complete madness.' 'We're talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,' Liberman said one day later on Israel's Army Radio, adding that Israel is providing weapons to 'crime families in Gaza on Netanyahu's orders.' 'No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed towards Israel,' he said, a warning echoed by one of the officials who spoke with CNN. After Liberman's revelation, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying, 'Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment.' The ongoing operation was authorized by Netanyahu without security cabinet approval, two officials told CNN, which is the normal forum for making major policy decisions. Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners would likely have vetoed such a Hamas said the plan revealed 'a grave and undeniable truth.' In a statement, the militant group said: 'The Israeli occupation army is arming criminal gangs in the Gaza Strip with the aim of creating a state of insecurity and social chaos.'One group that has received weapons from Israel is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, officials said. Abu Shabab heads an armed group that controls some territory in eastern Rafah and he has posted photos of himself holding an AK-47 rifle with UN vehicles behind him. Though Abu Shabab has denied receiving weapons from Israel, Hamas has accused him of being a 'traitor.''We pledge before God to continue confronting the dens of that criminal and his gang, no matter the cost of the sacrifices we make,' Hamas said on politicians ripped Netanyahu for the plan to arm militias and the secrecy around it, lambasting it as a continuation of the Israeli leader's decision to allow millions of dollars in cash to travel from Qatar to Gaza beginning in late 2018. They accused him of strengthening Hamas in the past as an alternative to the rival Palestinian Fatah faction, and now arming gangs as an alternative to Hamas.'After Netanyahu finished handing over millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to supplying weapons to groups in Gaza affiliated with ISIS – all improvised, with no strategic planning, and all leading to more disasters,' opposition leader Yair Lapid said on social has not laid out a plan for who will govern Gaza in the future and has hardly made clear any of his post-war intentions for the coastal enclave. Part of Israel's war goals include the complete disarmament of Hamas and the end of its ability to govern in the arming of militias in Gaza appears to be the closest that Netanyahu has come to empowering any form of alternate nearly 20 months of war, Israel has not been able to dislodge Hamas completely from large swaths of Gaza, and the militant group – classified as a terrorist organization in Israel, the United States, and the European Union – has clung to Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, said in a post on social media: 'Instead of bringing about a deal, making arrangements with the moderate Sunni axis, and returning the hostages and security to Israeli citizens, he is creating a new ticking bomb in Gaza.' — CNN
Leaders
4 hours ago
- Leaders
Brazilian President Describes Israel War on Gaza as ‘Premeditated Genocide'
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday condemned Israeli war on Gaza and called it a 'premeditated genocide,' during his visit to Paris, according to Al-Jazeera. Premeditated Genocide Lula noted that the Israeli military campaign had killed at least 52 people in its latest attack on Gaza. 'This is not a war. It is genocide. A genocide being carried out by a highly trained army, against women and children' Lula said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Since the beginning of Hamas-Israel War in Gaza in 2023, the Israeli strikes have killed more than 54,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 119,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. '[It is] a premeditated genocide from a far-right government that is waging a war, including against the interests of its own people,' he said. This was not the first time for Lulu to use the term 'genocide' to describe Israel's actions in Gaza. However, Macron has reserved his opinion, stating in May that it was not for a 'political leader to use the term, but up to historians to do so when the time comes'. France and Saudi Arabia are set to co-chair an international conference this month at the UN in order to deeply consider a two-state solution. Meanwhile, Paris has unveiled that it could formally recognize a Palestinian state this year. Harsh Attack on Macron In May, Israel accused French President Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a 'crusade against the Jewish state.' The Israeli statement came after Macron's call for European countries to toughen up their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve. New Settlements Israel recently announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank. Consequently, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel planned to build a 'Jewish Israeli state' in the occupied West Bank. 'This is a decisive response to the terrorist organizations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land,' Katz said. Katz also noted that the new settlements would be a clear message to French President Emmanuel Macron and his associates: they will recognize a Palestinian state on paper – but Israel will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground. New Suggestion Last week, the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has attacked France's call for recognizing the Palestinian state, stating that if it adopted such an outcome, it could 'carve out a piece of the French Riviera' and create one, according to Al-Arabiya. 'If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I've got a suggestion for them — carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state. They are welcome to do that, but they are not welcome to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation,' Huckabee said. Related Topics: Italian Puglia Region Cuts Ties with Israel over Gaza Genocide Catalonia Closes its Trade Office in Tel Aviv over Gaza Genocide Horror Movies Cannot Fictionalize Genocide in Gaza, Says American Doctor Short link : Post Views: 1
Saudi Gazette
11 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israeli military recovers two hostages' bodies in southern Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two Israeli-Americans taken back to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military says. Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were murdered by gunmen from the Mujahideen Brigades group when they attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz, a statement said. Their bodies were found in the southern Khan Younis area of Gaza overnight and brought back to Israel for forensic identification. There are now 56 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife sent their condolences to the families of Judi and Gadi Haggai. "Our hearts grieve over this terrible loss. May their memories be blessed," he added."I would like to thank, and express appreciation to, the fighters and commanders for this determined and successful operation. We will not rest, nor will we be silent, until we return home all of our hostages — the living and the deceased."The couple's families recalled how they "went out for a walk on the morning of that cursed Saturday and never returned"."We welcome the closure and their return to a proper burial at home, in Israel," they an English teacher, and Gadi Haggai, who used to work in Kibbutz Nir Oz's kitchen, were last seen alive in a video they shared with a group chat at the start of the 7 October attack. They were seen taking cover in a field as incoming rockets fired from Gaza streaked overhead and the sound of gunfire was later told friends and relatives they had been wounded, before ceasing couple's daughter Iris Weinstein Haggai said after the attack her mother had told her they had been "shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad". She added: "Paramedics tried to send her an ambulance. The ambulance got hit by a rocket."In December 2023, the kibbutz announced that both Judi and Gadi were killed that day and their bodies were being held hostage in Wednesday, an Israeli military official said the couple's bodies were recovered from the Khan Younis area following an operation based on "precise intelligence" from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security said they could not disclose further details due to the sensitivity of the operation. However, Israeli Army Radio reported the intelligence was obtained through the Shin Bet's interrogation of a Palestinian fighter captured by Israeli troops in Gaza."We will keep doing the utmost for the mission of bringing our hostages back - the living, to reunite with their families, and the deceased to dignified burial. We will deploy all the methods and tools in our disposal for this goal," the military official Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged decision-makers to do everything they could to agree a new ceasefire deal with Hamas to secure the return of all the remaining hostages."There is no need to wait another 608 agonizing days for this," it said. "The mission can be completed as early as tomorrow morning. This is what the majority of the Israeli people want."US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "united in prayer" for the Haggai family."Hamas must release all remaining hostages, including Omer Neutra and Itay Chen," he added, referring to two other Israeli-Americans who the Israeli military says were killed on 7 October while serving as soldiers and whose bodies were taken back to Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "The return of their remains is a time to begin to heal and to rest. We mourn with [Judi Haggai's] family. May her memory be a blessing."Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack almost 20 months ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the far, 199 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with least 54,677 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's Hamas-run health imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month truce during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages were freed. Israel said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops "take control of all areas" of Gaza. Israel also partially eased its blockade, allowing some food into the territory amid warnings from experts of a looming than 4,400 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza over the past three months, while 640,000 others have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation of a new ceasefire deal faded last week, with Hamas and Israel remaining at odds over the conditions of the latest US said it was prepared to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead ones, which was the number specified in US envoy Steve Witkoff's proposal, in exchange for a 60-day truce and the release of Palestinian the group also repeated its demands for guarantees that the truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, as well as a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the resumption of unrestricted aid called Hamas's statement a refusal of the proposal, and Witkoff said it was totally unacceptable. But a Hamas official insisted it had acted positively and responsibly. — BBC
