Important Takeaways:
- IDF: Half of Hamas Battalions Destroyed in Rafah; Operation to Last Two More Weeks
- The IDF entered Rafah in early May — against the wishes of the Biden administration — to destroy the four Hamas battalions that remained there, having destroyed at least 18 of the 24 battalions in fighting elsewhere in Gaza since late October. The White House relented but insisted on a slow pace, with limited use of heavy munitions, and care to avoid civilian casualties.
- The IDF raced to secure the Philadelphi Corridor — the road along the Gaza-Egypt border — and the Rafah border crossing. It has since fought a steady, methodical, house-to-house and tunnel-to-tunnel battle against Hamas there.
- The Jerusalem Post reported:
- The IDF on Monday said that its Division 162 has defeated half of Hamas’s battalions in Rafah, including killing at least 550 terrorists, as well as destroyed around 200 tunnel shafts, and eliminated the terror group’s last major rocket inventory.
- Further, the IDF said that within a couple of weeks it would likely be in control of all of Rafah and that the final battles with the remaining two Hamas battalions in parts of Tel al-Sultan and the eastern part of Shabura are already underway.
- Currently, the IDF says Division 162, commanded by Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen, has already achieved operation control of over 60-70% of all of Rafah with all of the 1.4 million or so civilians having long fled to al-Muwasi on the coast, central Gaza and Khan Yunis.
- Once it is concluded, the IDF will shift to a counterinsurgency strategy in Gaza — and will likely shift focus to a potential clash with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
- There are still 116 Israeli hostages in Gaza, of whom 41 are known to be dead. They are being hidden — possibly underground.
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Important Takeaways:
- Diplomats and world leaders have begun to worry that Biden’s reluctance to more fully break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could cost him the election in November.
- Their concerns have been conveyed largely behind closed doors, out of consideration not to wade too far into U.S. domestic politics.
- But the thrust is often the same: The war has furthered the perception that the world is peppered with a variety of out-of-control hot spots and, in turn, made Biden look weak among voters back home.
- They fear that it may usher in former President Donald Trump and rupture the broader diplomatic harmony Biden has worked to establish.
- European officials say they’re more vexed that Netanyahu hasn’t publicly supported the proposal, even though the U.S. says he privately agreed to it.
- Biden officials have dismissed concerns about the impact of the war on the president’s candidacy, pointing to polling showing that it doesn’t rank among voters’ top priorities ahead of the election.
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Important Takeaways:
- The latest proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza has the support of the United States and most of the international community, but Hamas has not fully embraced it, and neither, it seems, has Israel.
- Hamas is seeking the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including political leaders and senior militants convicted of orchestrating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly disputed aspects of the plan, raising questions about Israel’s commitment to what the U.S. says is an Israeli proposal.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas had requested “numerous” changes, adding that “some of the changes are workable; some are not.”
- Hamas has insisted it will not release the remaining hostages unless there’s a permanent cease-fire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
- When President Joe Biden announced the latest proposal last month, he said it included both.
- Israel has yet to put forward a plan for Gaza’s postwar governance, and has rejected a U.S. proposal that has wide regional support because it would require major progress toward creating a Palestinian state.
- Blinken hinted that the negotiations would not continue indefinitely. “At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Orit Meir, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, revealed in a press conference on Monday that her son, who was released on Saturday, learned Arabic and Russian while in Hamas captivity.
- Speaking at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Orit said that “he was exposed to news on Al Jazeera in Arabic.
- “He learned Arabic but also Russian from [fellow hostage] Andrey Kozlov.” She added: “On May 11, he saw the rally in the square and saw pictures of himself on the stage at the rally.”
- Another family member who spoke at the conference called on the Israeli government to push through with the ceasefire and hostage deal presented by US President Joe Biden.
- “We understand that such a [rescue mission] cannot happen for 120 people, which is why we are asking the government, which had recently shrunk in size, to carry out and execute the plan that is on the table.”
- Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza
- Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 in the Re’im music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities
- 120 hostages remain in Gaza
- 43 hostages in total have been killed in captivity, IDF says
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia and China, which hold veto powers in the U.N. Security Council, raised concerns on Thursday with a U.S. draft resolution that would back a proposal -outlined by President Joe Biden – for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
- The council’s only Arab member, Algeria, also signaled it was not ready to back the text, diplomats said. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., France, Britain, China or Russia to pass.
- The current draft welcomes the ceasefire proposal, describes it as “acceptable” to Israel, “calls upon Hamas to also accept it, and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
- Some council members have raised questions about whether Israel has actually accepted the plan and want the council to stick to a demand made in March for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages, diplomats said.
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Important Takeaways:
- “We are prepared for a very intense operation in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the border area.
- Almost eight months of exchanges between Israel and the Iran-backed movement, a Hamas ally, have intensified over the past week, with Israel striking deeper into Lebanese territory.
- Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have both called in recent days for urgent action to restore security to northern Israel.
- “They burn us here; all Hezbollah strongholds should also burn and be destroyed. WAR!” Ben Gvir said
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Important Takeaways:
- South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last year. It alleged that Israel was breaching the genocide convention in its military assault that has laid waste to large swaths of Gaza.
- The court has ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave.
- “There should be no doubt that Spain will remain on the right side of history,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
- Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Libya and the Palestinians are waiting for the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, to grant approval to their requests to join the case.
- Over 140 countries have recognized a Palestinian state — more than two-thirds of the U.N. — but none of the major Western powers, including the United States, has done so.
- Last year, the International Court of Justice allowed 32 countries, including Spain, to join Ukraine’s case alleging that Russia breached the genocide convention by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in its eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and using that as a pretext for the invasion.
- Netanyahu is also facing a separate legal challenge from the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader and others, including leaders of the Hamas militant group.
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Important Takeaways:
- On October 7, Hamas had a Plan A and a Plan B.
- Plan A was to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. Plan B was to pull back, stage ambushes and cry genocide while making up fake casualties and staging atrocities until its Islamist and leftist allies managed to save it while using hostages and their bodies as negotiating leverage.
- Phase 1. Hamas frees some surviving female hostages and returns the bodies of the others in return for Israel releasing hundreds of terrorists. Then Hamas retakes control over populated areas in Gaza.
- Phase 2. Endless negotiations for the possible return of the rest of the hostages as Hamas secures its grip on Gaza once again.
- Phase 3: US sends billions to Hamas to “rebuild” Gaza in exchange for some bodies of hostages.
- Phase 4: Hamas plots its next attack.
- The plan, presented as Israel’s proposal, is really Egypt and Qatar’s proposal overlaid on Israel, and now put forward by Biden and endorsed by Obama, whose people are running foreign policy in this administration.
- The Biden administration will decide if Israel gets to defend itself based on assurances from Qatar, a state sponsor of Hamas, and Egypt, which was caught red-handed with tunnels leading into Rafah to Hamas.
- This isn’t an Israeli deal or an American deal. It’s a deal by Islamic terrorists for Islamic terrorists. And Obama and Biden, two men who have done more to empower Islamic terrorists than almost anyone in the White House except Jimmy Carter, have put their seal on it. It’s a bad deal for America, for Israel and for civilization.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel says tent camp blaze that killed 45 Palestinians and sparked international outcry could have been caused by exploding Hamas weapons cache – as IDF tanks roll into the center of Rafah
- …the Israeli military claimed on Tuesday that the munitions it dropped near the camp were not enough to cause the large fires, instead suggesting an exploding weapons cache may have caused the inferno to spread.
- IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that the strike was conducted against a ‘closed structure… away from the tent camp’ and claimed several Hamas officials were sheltering inside.
- He said the IDF dropped two munitions with 35lb warheads. ‘These are the smallest bombs we have. Our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size.’
- As international pressure mounts on Israel over the horrific scenes emerging from Rafah – and as calls grow for its war in Gaza to cease – Israeli tanks reportedly reached the center of the beleaguered city on Tuesday.
- The Gaza Government Media Office claimed that Israel dropped seven 2,000lb (900kg) bombs as well as missiles on the camp in Tal as-Sultan, as reported by Al Jazeera.
- The UN Security Council is set to convene for an emergency meeting today to discuss the strike as the UN human rights chief Volker Turk expressed his ‘horror at the further loss of civilian life in Gaza’.
- Yet the Israeli Prime Minister’s resolve appears unwavering, as he declared in parliament: ‘I don’t intend to end the war before every goal has been achieved.’
- The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life.
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Important Takeaways:
- Turkey’s Erdogan Calls On ‘Islamic World’ To Take Action Over Gaza
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called on the “Islamic world” to take united action following the latest Israeli strikes on Gaza.
- “I have some words to say to the Islamic world: what are you waiting for to take a common decision?” Erdogan told lawmakers from his AKP party, adding that “Israel is not just a threat to Gaza but to all of humanity.”
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