Israeli tanks roll into Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for first time since war began
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on its operations. However, Israel Army Radio said the operation had begun. It said the IDF's Golani Brigade had 'begun a ground maneuver in the southern Deir al-Balah area,' which had been preceded by aerial and artillery strikes last night.
Army Radio said that 'at this stage, the maneuver involves only one brigade, and it is expected to continue for several weeks.'
On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate an area of nearly 6 square kilometers (2.3 square miles), dropping thousands of leaflets in Deir al Balah.
The IDF Arabic language spokesperson said the military 'continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area. It is expanding its activities in this area, operating in areas where it has not operated before.'
Israeli media has reported that the IDF has been reluctant in the past to carry out ground operations in Deir al-Balah for fear of further endangering surviving hostages, who may be held there.
The Hostages Families Forum said Monday that it was alarmed by reports the assault had begun and demanded the government explain why 'the offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk.'
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio Full Interview On Russia, Russia-Gate, China, Israel & Gaza
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Brian Kilmeade about Russia, Russia-Gate, China, Israel and Gaza Listen here Embed: Rough transcript Brian Kilmeade [00:00:00] Welcome back everybody. It's my privilege to be in the National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary. Welcome Good morning. How are you? I'm doing great. So far you have a lot on your plate I can't imagine what it's like your things to do list. I know the president United States Talked about one of the ties top priorities now within 10 days He's gonna make it a decision on what's gonna happen with Russia because he does not believe that they want to ceasefire Here's what he said [00:00:30] I'm not so interested in talking anymore. He talks. We have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations and then people die the following night with a missile going into a town and hitting, I mean recently I guess the nursing home, but they hit other things. Whatever they hit, people die. Brian Kilmeade [00:00:50] So he's obviously changed dramatically since he first took office. What do you think's gonna happen after 10 days, Mr. Secretary? Sec Marco Rubio [00:00:59] Well, first of all, let me say the president has waited over six months now and given the best efforts possible, we continue to engage with the Russian side as early as this week. Early this week on Monday or Tuesday, we had full conversation with them as well, not with Putin, but with some of Putin's top people in hopes of arriving at some understanding on a path forward that would lead to peace. And we've not seen any progress on that. And I think what bothers the president the most. Is he has these great phone calls where everyone sort of claims, you know, we'd like to see this end if we could find a way forward. And then he turns on the news and another city has been bombed, including those far from the front lines. So at some point, you've got to make a decision here about, you know, what, how much to continue to engage in an effort to do ceasefires of one of the two sides is not interested in one. So the president has a lot of options. I mean, he has options, as everyone knows, to sanction secondary sales of oil, secondary sanctions on oil sales of Russian oil, which is a huge part of their revenue. There's banking, sectoral banking sanctions that would also be very powerful. Um, again, I think our hope is to avoid that and to sort of figure out a way they can get the fighting to stop. We think that's the best path forward. We're open to some different paths, but the best path forward is to have the shooting stop and the talking start. But so far there's not been what we feel, at least a sincere interest on the Russian side in achieving that objective. So we'll continue to be available and willing to participate in something like that if it becomes available. But obviously the president is not going to wait forever. Brian Kilmeade [00:02:29] So Medvedev, the former president, threatened you guys, threatened our country and said basically, your ultimatums, that's gonna lead to confrontation, if I could just paraphrase, and he says, with your country. And Donald Trump, last night, went back at Medvedeva and said, tell Medvedeh, the failed former president of Russia, who thinks he's still president, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory. Do you take him seriously, Medvedef? Sec Marco Rubio [00:02:53] Well, you can't ignore anything someone's saying. And you always wonder, is that approved as a, but he basically is not a relevant player in Russian politics. He does not a decision maker. He's not in any of the meetings or conversations we've ever had. If you recall, he was the president there for about four years during the time when Putin didn't run again. And then obviously he came back. So he was a placeholder. So I wouldn't call him a relevant, you know, decision maker, but by the same token. Obviously, he's someone who once held office there and is still in a role in government. His words are going to have impact in terms of being a provocateur and things of that nature. I'm not sure he's speaking for the official Russian position, but he's certainly someone in an official position in Russia who's saying things that are inflammatory, but that's okay. I don't think that's going to be a factor one way or the other. Brian Kilmeade [00:03:47] Do you think Russia is in a position to confront America militarily? Sec Marco Rubio [00:03:53] Well, that's not even a fathomable thing. I mean, understand the war between the United States and Russia is not something we can ever see. These are the two largest nuclear weapons militaries in the world. And the danger would just be too great. I don't think there's any doubt that from a conventional military capability, the Russians could not take on the United States or, frankly, many of the countries in Europe, for that matter. I think they would struggle. They've struggled with Ukraine, who now is the largest army in Europe but at the time being invaded was not. I I think they would struggle. On a conventional front greatly. I think what you worry more about is not an all-out war with Russia. I thing what you're worrying more about is a skirmish or a miscalculation that leads to the start of conflict. Since the Russians are not very good at conventional weaponry, they would almost invariably have to rely on some other means, like a tactical nuclear weapon on the battlefield, to sort of escalate in an effort to de-escalate a fight. So you would worry about that, but we shouldn't even think about it, because that's not something that is plausible or frankly feasible for either side. Brian Kilmeade [00:05:06] So as you know, the trade deals are coming down. That's not really a purview. You have enough on your plate. But one thing the president said last night on Truth Social, he goes, Russia continues to be the top oil supplier to India during their first six months. They're making up 35% of the overall supplies. Quote, India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25% plus a penalty for the above starting on August 1. He's upset, maybe you're upset, that India continues to get instead of a small portion. A great portion of their discounted oil from Russia, which is fueling their war machine. How disappointed are you in a so-called ally? Sec Marco Rubio [00:05:46] Look, India is an ally. It's a strategic partner. Like anything in foreign policy, you're not going to align 100% of the time on everything. India has huge energy needs, and that includes the ability to buy oil and coal and gas and things that it needs to power its economy, like every country does. And it buys it from Russia, because Russian oil is sanctioned and cheap, meaning they have to, in many cases, are selling it under the global price because of their sanctions. Yep. And that, unfortunately, that is helping to sustain the Russian war effort. So it is most certainly a point of irritation in our relationship with India. Not the only point of irritation. We also have many other points of cooperation with them. But I think what you're seeing the president express is the very clear frustration that with so many other oil vendors available, India continues to buy so much from Russia, which in essence is helping to fund the war effort. And allowing this war to continue in Ukraine. Brian Kilmeade [00:06:43] So Mr. Secretary, I have to tell you that they're doing an investigation. You're John Radcliffe, the CIA, the FBI director and assistant director, deputy director doing a heavy investigation of what's going on in 2016 when you were in the Senate about leading up to rushing meddling in the election. And Matt Taibbi and others have led the investigation along the way, and they're finding out new revelations. But every time a Democrat's asked about the investigation into 2016 and the role. Of John Brennan and James Comey and others, they point to an investigation you did as Senator. I want you to hear Democratic Congressman Jason Crow. Speaker 4 [00:07:20] There have been four investigations, including a bipartisan Senate investigation led under the first Trump administration and led in part by Marco Rubio that was very, very clear on these findings. These have been investigated and reinvestigated and reinvestigated, and nothing has changed up until this past month. Brian Kilmeade [00:07:39] So, do you think anything has changed since you did that thorough investigation, Russia meddled in our election period? Sec Marco Rubio [00:07:45] Yeah, but that's not what the question was. I don't think that the issue is whether Russia did things to try to influence American public opinion and or drive wedges. I think here's the thing that they leave out when they talk about this. And they're so dishonest about it. What they leave is the issue here was not that. The issue here is they claimed that they did it not just to help Trump, but the Trump was in on it. For a year and a half, almost two and a half years, they put this country through this notion, this fake fraud scheme lie, that Trump was somehow in cahoots collaborating with Russian and Russian intelligence officials to help his campaign. And what my investigation that I, you know, I was the acting chairman of the intelligence committee, what that investigation showed is that there was zero zilch proof whatsoever, any evidence of any kind, that the Trump campaign in any way colluded with the Russians. That's number one. That's clear. So I think what they should be saying is that there was a bipartisan study done by the Senate committee that found that the narrative that all these people were putting out there was a lie. Here's the other thing that report found, that the way they handled the dossier, understand this dossier. This dossier was a piece of campaign disinformation. It was paid for by political campaigns. They hired the equivalent of a private investigator, and then they laundered it. Usually, they take that and leak it to the media. In this case, they laundering it through our intelligence agencies. So you had some of the highest level officials in our intelligence agencies in the country taking that fake, ridiculous dossier and using it to influence and inform an official intelligence assessment of what happened in this campaign. The report that we put out pointed to this. My statement at the time pointed to this, and I think we've learned even more about how hard, what we've learnt over the last, with these new revelations, is how hard the FBI and some people, not all, but some people at the CIA worked to make that dossier a part of their intelligence assessment. It is a huge outrage because it was fake. It was a lie and they used it to mislead the American public. It cost millions of dollars in investigations, all chasing a hoax. So that's the part they leave out because they're trying to play cute with words. And the media is either uninterested or too lazy to understand those nuances and that reality. Brian Kilmeade [00:10:00] I think both, they were too busy getting their awards for running that story. Literally, all these New York Times, Washington Post, these reporters are getting rewards for being a stenographer for John Brennan and others who are clearly leaking, even when out of office. Another big thing on your plate is what Steve Witkoff's doing today. He's heading over to Israel, then he wants to possibly go to Gaza. We have allies, UK, Canada, and France, all either threatening to or already done recognizing a Palestinian state. That's over 140 in the UN. How does the US view this move? Sec Marco Rubio [00:10:36] Irrelevant. It's irrelevant. I mean, it's annoying to some, but it's irrelevant, it doesn't mean anything. First of all, none of these countries have the ability to create a Palestinian state. There can be no Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to it. Number two, they can't even tell you where this Palestinian state is, they can't tell you who will govern it. And I think number three, it is counterproductive. So think about it now, if you're Hamas, you're still holding 20 innocent people as hostages, you are holding the bodies of over 50 of the people you massacred, raped and killed during this, on October 7th, the 2023, you're sitting there hiding in some tunnel somewhere as cowards and then you're reading or hearing in the press that all of these countries are rallying to your side because this is the Hamas side. At the end of the day, the Hamass side is the Palestinian statehood side. So you are creating this reward. And by the way, they are hurting ceasefire talks because Hamas is sitting there saying, that's the problem with the UK statement. The UK is like, well, if Israel doesn't agree to a ceasefire by September, we're going to recognize a Palestinian state. So if I'm Hamas, I say, you know what, let's not allow there to be a ceasefire. If Hamas refuses to agree to a cease fire, it guarantees a Palestinian state will be recognized by all these countries in September. So they're not going to agree to a ceased fire. I mean, it's so clumsy. But what this really is in many of these countries' case is their domestic politics. Some of these countries have huge constituencies now that are pressuring them domestically to line up on the side, irrespective of its geopolitical ramifications. That's what they're doing here. But they're hurting, they're actually hurting the cause. They're not helping because A, their statement isn't going to change anything other than it encourages and rewards Hamas, who now has every reason in the world not to agree to ceasefire and not to release the hostages. I wish all these countries would get together for once and maybe in one clear voice say, you must release these 20 living hostages who are, that's what, they are, they are hostages, you must released them immediately. I wish there was as much attention paid that as some of the other factors here. Brian Kilmeade [00:12:31] Great point. The Arab League came out. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are demanding Hamas lay down its arms and agree to a two-state solution. Now, the two-states solution, you just, it's folly. I got it. But for Qatar, the Saudi Arabia and Egypt, they have the sway, don't they? Especially Qatar. Sec Marco Rubio [00:12:50] Yeah, I mean, over, they host the Hamas external people in their country. And look, I want to be fair. Okay. I know that McCarter is not always, you know, the source of controversy among some. When it comes to this negotiation, they've been very helpful. They've been forceful. They've put a lot of time and energy into this. And frankly, they have expressed their own frustrations with Hamas. I think the moment of truth has to arrive, however, where there has to be consequences if Hamas continues to disagree. Understand, there was a ceasefire agreement in principle in place. Israel actually made a bunch of concessions that Hamas had asked for, hard concessations for Israel to make. And then Hamas came back and just rejected the deal. And by the way, rejected it on the same day that Macron, from France… Made his announcement, because at the end of the day, Hamas is sitting there saying, we're winning the PR war. We've got all these countries lining up on our side of this argument. We've gotten leverage now. We shouldn't agree to anything. We should keep this thing going. That's how they don't care about how many people die in Gaza, and they're certain that they've got hostages that they think is their shield, and now they've got all of these countries sort of lining up their side. So as they view this anti-Israel narrative building internationally, it's emboldening Hamas. And I do think, however… It's interesting how forceful these Arab countries are about demilitarizing Gaza. I think that's a very important thing, because if Gaza's not demilitarized, if Hamas is not demiliterized, there will never–a lasting peace is impossible in Gaza or anywhere. Brian Kilmeade [00:14:15] No, I hear you. The other thing is you're talking about the huge Muslim population in France and the U.K., where people find those cities almost unrecognizable because of what they have allowed to happen with immigration into their country. And I assume that's what you were saying, right? You don't mean liberal. You mean… Sec Marco Rubio [00:14:32] I mean, look, I'm not, you know, their internal politics may be influenced by a combination of things. We have seen this unity of, you know, these pro-Islamists. Anti-Western, anti-capitalism left sort of merger, and they sort of join forces on everything from attacking ICE officers to, you've seen some of these immigration riots, immigration enforcement riots that you've see these protesters in California and other places and many of these things. It's the same people. They're waving the same flags, wearing the same headscarves, and it's the same people that shut down our universities. That's what we've experienced domestically, and this has become a factor in many of these countries as well. They're under tremendous domestic pressure. And you watch the programming of things like the BBC, 95% of their coverage is about how evil in their narrative Israel is. Very little coverage paid to the hostages, the families. It's totally been forgotten, because you know why? The United States is not insensitive, and we have done a lot. We've done more than, frankly, anybody else in terms of providing funding necessary for humanitarian relief in Gaza. And the cameras capture the images of the human suffering there. You know what the cameras don't capture? The suffering of 20 people living in tunnels right now, taken hostage by her mom for almost, you know, for a long time. No one's covering that. Where's the, you know, no one's talking about that. Brian Kilmeade [00:15:54] Mr. Secretary, people have talked about changing tone with China. The Taiwan president came here, we said, don't walk across the country, it's going to aggravate China. We seem to be going more towards Pakistan than India as of late. Do you think we're more in deal mode with China? How would you describe our approach as we push forward on trade with China and also I ask them to help us with Ukraine. Sec Marco Rubio [00:16:19] Well, we have plenty of issues that we disagree with China on, and they happen every day, in terms of those things continue. We remain as committed as ever to freedom of navigation in the region. We remain committed as every to our partners in the Philippines and in places like Taiwan and other things of this nature. We are also entering a period of some sort of strategic stability. In the end, we are two big, the two largest economies in the world, and all out trade conflict between the U.S. And China. I think the U.S. Would benefit from it in some ways, but the world would be hurt by it. It would have a huge impact on the world and on our economy, and especially on the Chinese economy. So I think as much as anything else, a mature foreign policy requires strategic balancing of equities as we move forward. We don't have a trade deal with China. What we have is an agreement in the short term that was just recently extended after very hard negotiation. That occurred with our trade negotiators just a few days ago. Gotcha. So, you know, I think it's at the end of the day, two things are true. We have a lot of irritants long-term with China that we need to confront. There are vulnerabilities that we have to close. Brian Kilmeade [00:17:27] Mr. Secretary, I guess I have to stop you there against a hard break. Thanks so much for your time. Marco Rubio.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Trump: Hamas surrender, hostage release is ‘fastest way' to end Gaza war
President Donald Trump on Thursday took to Truth Social with a stern message about Hamas, the remaining hostages and the unfolding crisis in Gaza. "The fastest way to end the humanitarian crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!" the president posted. Trump's post shows a bit of a shift in his messaging on the war and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Recently, Trump appeared to put the onus on Israel and acknowledged that "there is real starvation in Gaza," representing a rare break from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delivered the exact opposite message. "There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza, and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals," Netanyahu said in a video statement on X. He also doubled down on his commitment to get the hostages out and destroy Hamas' military and governing capabilities. "There are two ways to end the war: terminate Hamas or terminate the Jewish state," Human Rights Voices President and Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust Anne Bayefsky told Fox News Digital. "The Europeans pretend there is a little-bit-pregnant solution, namely, decimate the Israel militarily, economically and politically and allow Palestinian terrorists to live to see another day… President Trump quite rightly says, hell no; the Palestinian terrorist machine needs to be ended for the sake of Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of us." Trump's Thursday post comes as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff meets with Netanyahu to discuss the potential for a ceasefire deal, as well as the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Last week, ceasefire talks in Qatar broke down, leading the U.S. and Israel to pull their delegations of negotiators. Both countries cited Hamas' response as the main reason for backing out. Witkoff said the terror group showed "a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza" and that Hamas was not "acting in good faith." "It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza," Witkoff wrote on X. Despite negotiations breaking down, the international community recently issued a declaration calling on Hamas to disarm, demanding that Israel leave the Strip and outlining a path to ending the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The "New York Declaration" was signed during a U.N. conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. The declaration, which was obtained and published by the Times of Israel, calls for the unification of Gaza and the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian Authority and for "the end of armed group control and the dismantlement of their military capabilities," likely referring to Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. Additionally, the document includes praise for efforts by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar to bring about an end to the war. Bayefsky was not optimistic about the declaration, despite its apparent calls for peace and the end of Hamas rule. "The New York Declaration is a no-holds-barred attack on the United States as well as Israel, intended to completely derail President Trump's foreign policy and long-standing bipartisan commitment to a negotiated settlement," she told Fox News Digital. "In this very long document that includes talk about Islamic claims, there is zero reference to a Jewish state, to Jews, or Jewish history – or to antisemitism, the driver of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the first place." "The Declaration says there will be a meeting in New York in September to get world leaders attending the opening of the General Assembly to sign on and give the president the proverbial middle finger," Bayefsky added. Israel objected to the declaration, while the U.S. stayed away from the conference, calling it "unproductive and ill-timed." "No token recognition and no U.N. resolution will change the basic fact that there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces and then there are those who turn a blind eye to them or resort to appeasement," Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the conference was a "publicity stunt" that would "prolong the war, embolden Hamas and reward its obstruction and undermine real-world efforts to achieve peace.
