Important Takeaways:
- Following the failure of the latest round of negotiations in Qatar, Israel is not willing to make any further concessions to Hamas and is gearing up for an invasion of Rafah after Eid al-Fitr — the three-day holiday that follows Ramadan and ends around April 12 — or in early May at the latest, according to Egyptian sources who have been in contact with IDF officials, quoted by the pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar daily.
- The ground op inside the last bastion of Hamas in the Gaza Strip would last between four and eight weeks, the sources say, and would be accompanied by an evacuation of the civilian population sheltering in Rafah, which amounts to about 1.5 million people, toward the center of the Strip along specific routes and at specific times, announced to civilians in each area of Rafah in advance.
- The mass evacuation would be monitored from the ground and the air to ensure that no Hamas fighters or Israeli hostages are hidden among the Gazan civilians, the Egyptian officials say.
- Cairo expresses its deep concerns over an IDF operation in the Rafah area, noting that it could lead to a further escalation not only in Gaza, but in the whole region, Al-Akhbar says.
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu CANCELS Israeli diplomatic trip to Washington after the US refuses to veto United Nations resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire over Ramadan
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced that he is canceling the planned visit of a delegation to Washington after the United States refused to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Minutes before the resolution was carried by 14 votes to zero, Netanyahu told Israeli news media that the visit would not happen if Washington failed to veto it.
- ‘In light of the change in the American position, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided the delegation would not leave,’ his office said after the vote, calling the decision a ‘clear retreat’ from its previous stance.
- highlights how the relationship between the U.S. is breaking down amid the bloodshed in Gaza
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S. draft UN Security Council resolution which called for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza along with “the release of all remaining hostages” held by Hamas.
- This was the fourth time since the war began in October that the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
- This time, the dispute was over the U.S. insistence on linking the ceasefire call to a hostage deal and condemnation of Hamas, rather than the unconditional ceasefire resolution demanded by Russia and China.
- S. and Israeli officials said the Biden administration had been working for weeks on mobilizing support for its draft resolution.
- In order to garner more votes, the U.S. strengthened the paragraph in the draft resolution that referred to the ceasefire.
- The U.S. draft resolution also included strong language expressing concern about a possible Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
- The Security Council is expected to vote on an alternative resolution put forward by eight member states, calling for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan to lead to a permanent ceasefire.
- The U.S. is expected to veto.
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Important Takeaways:
- Four months after Israeli troops first stormed Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shifa, claiming it was a cover for a Hamas command and control center, they have returned.
- The Israeli military said it had “concrete intelligence” that Hamas operatives had regrouped there
- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now claim to have killed “over 140 terrorists” in ongoing fighting at al-Shifa and to have made some 600 arrests, including dozens of top Hamas commanders as well as some from Islamic Jihad.
- Israeli reports suggest that in recent weeks the army found that senior Hamas figures had resumed operations at al-Shifa and that some even took their families to the hospital.
- The IDF says it uncovered arms caches and a large quantity of cash at the site.
- Israeli media have suggested the operation at Shifa Hospital could last for several days. It is not being linked to the military operation in Rafah which Israel insists it must carry out to win the war with Hamas.
- “It’s going to happen. And it will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone,” the Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister
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Important Takeaways:
- Houthi Cruise Missile Hits Israel in Ominous First
- Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for a cruise missile launched from the Red Sea which landed near Eilat, in what marks the first time a projectile fired from the Iranian-backed group has struck Israel’s territory.
- The Iran-aligned militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles at international commercial shipping in the region since November, in what they say is in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday it had tracked a “suspicious aerial target” which it confirmed was a cruise missile, The Times of Israel reported. No damage or injuries were caused and Newsweek has contacted the IDF for comment.
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Important Takeaways:
- Mark Levin Calls Schumer a ‘Disgrace,’ Says ‘Vast Majority’ of Americans Support Israel
- Iran has gotten more money directly and indirectly, as a result of this administration’s policies than Ukraine — than Ukraine. We fight over $14 billion or $17 billion of military aid to Israel. He has given over $100 billion in aid to Iran. What have they done with it? They build up their military and their armaments. They have funded Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, the PLO.
- So Biden is funding terrorism. Biden is funding a regime that’s building nuclear weapons, while he’s putting his foot on the throat of the Israeli people and the Israeli government. I don’t care what he says in public.
- What’s that all about? That is slime what this country this administration is doing to Israel and the Israeli people. And when Schumer goes to the floor of the Senate, and he’s telling — he is telling the Israeli people I am directing you, as Biden has, as Harris has, as Blinken, as Friedman has, to overthrow your government, to dislodge your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war they’re winning. I am telling you, you do this, I’m telling you, you accept a two-state solution whether you like it or not or we will impose it from afar. We’re going to organize the Arab countries, they are. We are going to organize the European countries, they are — against you, Israel, little tiny Israel, the only force that’s defending the world from Iran and the terrorists.
- That’s exactly what they’re doing.
- That’s the history, abandonment of the Jews. Hitler’s American friends right here, “The Third Reich,” “The Ivory Tower,” what’s going on our colleges and universities, “Buried by the Times,” Mr. Friedman, that’s you. “Beyond Belief,” Biden, Schumer and all the rest of you. that’s who you are.
- Iran is the enemy. Hamas is the enemy. The Houthis, Hezbollah. The terrorists are the enemy. And the Democratic Party is the enemy, too. The enemy within here in the United States. They’re trying to imprison Donald Trump and they’re trying to push a coup in Israel, because the Democratic Party doesn’t believe in honest differences.
- Chuck Schumer, you are a disgrace as an American, and I want the Israeli people to know and every survey has shown it, the vast majority of the American people support you, not the Democratic Party, not Biden, and not Schumer. They are trying to undermine you as they fund and empower the terrorists. The terrorists and Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli forces are in control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after an overnight raid on the medical complex, and have told thousands living nearby to evacuate towards the south of the Palestinian territory.
- Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, said early on Monday that troops were “conducting a high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa hospital based on … intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to command attacks”.
- The IDF has used leaflets and social media to urge civilians around Shifa to leave the vicinity, telling them to head immediately along Gaza’s coastal road to al-Muwasi, an area 18 miles (30km) south.
- The Israeli military issued grainy drone footage of the Shifa raid that it said showed troops coming under fire from a number of buildings within the hospital complex.
- The IDF said troops had been instructed on the importance of avoiding harm to patients, civilians, medical staff and equipment.
- Israeli forces have raided a number of hospitals in Gaza during a military campaign launched after the surprise attack by Hamas into southern Israel in which the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 others hostage.
- Benjamin Netanyahu has said no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from realizing its war aim of “crushing Hamas” and has pledged to launch a long-anticipated offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza that is now home to more than 1 million people displaced from elsewhere in the territory.
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu Renews Israel Victory Pledge as Biden Calls for Ceasefire, Two-State Solution
- The U.S. and Israel stand at a diplomatic and military crossroads.
- Israel says it needs to finish the war against Hamas in the key Gazan city of Rafah, yet the U.S. is threatening that Israel won’t be able to use American weapons if Israel launches its military campaign against the Hamas stronghold.
- On the northern border, Hezbollah continues to fire rocket volleys on Israeli communities.
- In his State of the Union address, President Biden put the burden on Israel to protect Gazans.
- “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards under hospitals, daycare centers, and all the like. Israel also has a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza,” Biden declared.
- He added what he says is the solution: “As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution (between Israel and the Palestinians) over time.”
- To increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, the administration announced plans to construct a port in Gaza
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Important Takeaways:
- UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten visited Israel to collect evidence and reported that there was “clear and convincing” evidence corroborating Israeli accusations of rape by Hamas in three locations.
- At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. Credible sources described finding murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were naked from their waist down – and some totally naked – tied with their hands behind their backs, many of whom were shot in the head.
- The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232.
- In kibbutz Re’im, the mission team further verified an incident of the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter
- With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.
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Important Takeaways:
- How the US Abandoned Israel under Biden
- “Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people. And I promise you: We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that it will be.” — US President Joe Biden, October 18, 2023.
- It did not take long, however, for the Biden administration to completely turn that promise on its head. The reversal began with US demands on Israel to scale down military operations, which were already scaled down….
- “Israel implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties than any other nation in history…. Israel’s use of real phone calls to civilians in combat areas (19,734), SMS texts (64,399) and pre-recorded calls (almost 6 million) to provide instructions on evacuations is also unprecedented.” — John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point, newsweek.com, January 31, 2024
- The only relevant country that has apparently not been invited to the “urgent” discussions [to reward terrorists unilaterally with a soon-to-be-militarized Palestinian State] is Israel.
- Biden, clearly, seems not that intent on making Israel or the Free World a safe place again. At least not if it might compromise his reelection.
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