The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, announced that an occupation army force was killed or wounded in the explosion of a booby-trapped house in which it was holed up in the Shaboura camp in Rafah.

Al-Qassam added on its Telegram channel that immediately after the rescue force arrived, its members bombed the vicinity of the house that was bombed with mortar shells.

Later, Palestinian sources and media announced that 7 soldiers were killed and others were wounded in the Rafah operation carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades.

On Monday evening, settlers attacked a citizen in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus.

According to local sources, a number of settlers attacked a bulldozer driver while he was working on constructing agricultural roads in the Arma area of the town, beat him, and then burned the bulldozer.

Maariv newspaper quoted Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Lieberman as saying that he would not join the government, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not qualified.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper also quoted him as saying that Israel has not yet achieved a major breakthrough in the south or the north, and that Netanyahu is unable to decide. Lieberman indicated that "there is only one solution to our situation, which is elections."

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority also quoted Lieberman as saying that he will meet with Benny Gantz today in the hope that he will join them to topple the government.

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces destroyed a communications network in the town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, in addition to a rest area, and closed an agricultural road with dirt mounds.

According to local sources, these forces raided the area of the main street west of the town, linking the cities of Jenin and Nablus, and demolished the communications network. They also demolished a rest house belonging to the citizen Bilal Kayed, and closed an agricultural road linking the town and the plain area.

Biden administration officials have discussed the possibility of negotiating a unilateral agreement with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans detained in Gaza if current ceasefire talks involving Israel fail, according to current and two former senior US officials, NBC reported. "American.

The officials said that these negotiations will not include Israel and will be conducted through Qatari interlocutors, as is usual in current talks.

The sources reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden believes that Hamas was holding five Americans during the attack on October 7, namely Aidan Alexander, Sagi Dekel-Chen, Hirsch Goldberg-Boulin, Omar Neutra, and Keith Siegel.

US officials also hope to recover the bodies of three additional US citizens believed to have been killed that day, whose bodies were subsequently transported to Gaza.

Officials did not know what the United States might offer Hamas in exchange for the release of the American hostages.

But they made clear that Hamas may have an incentive to make a unilateral deal with the United States; Because this step is likely to further strain relations between Washington and Tel Aviv, and put additional internal political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One former official told NBC that internal discussions also took place in the context of whether the possibility of the United States concluding a unilateral deal with Hamas might pressure Netanyahu to agree to a version of the current ceasefire proposal.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said on Monday, “The only oxygen station in the Strip is threatened with a complete shutdown within hours, exposing the lives of dozens of sick and wounded people to certain death.”

The Ministry confirmed in a statement that the medicines in the refrigerators were exposed to damage, due to the lack of input of diesel fuel to operate the generator feeding the oxygen station and the refrigerators for storing medicines.

The Ministry appeals to all concerned, international and humanitarian institutions to intervene quickly.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that the war in the Gaza Strip will continue during the next two years, indicating that he will not support the current proposal to release detainees and the war in Gaza will continue.

He told the detainees' families, "We are not ready to commit mass suicide in order to release the detainees," and he told them: "Suppose Sinwar demands that we give him 20 Palestinian prisoners for every living detainee, so that he can then kill the detainees. Is this the price?"

He also told the families of the hostages, "You can try to silence me because you do not like my opinion. We released Sinwar in the Shalit deal and have buried 1,500 Jews to this day. Sinwar is currently demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinians whose hands are stained with blood in order to release the detainees, and this may lead to Many, many Jews were killed, which is something that must be looked into, according to what Israeli Channel 7 reported.

Smotrich explained, "When Hamas demands an end to the war in exchange for remaining in Gaza, this means that it returns to arming itself, launching rockets, and threatening the citizens of Israel, and many, many Jews could be killed."

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested two citizens from the city of Tubas.

According to local sources, these forces stormed the city and arrested Ubada Muwaffaq Abu Siyaj (18 years old) and Musab Abu Siyaj.

UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said on Monday that the level of destruction caused by the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip is very large, and it will take more than 20 years to erase it and rebuild.

The UN spokesman added that reconstruction will be a very huge task, especially when rebuilding the education system, receiving children and ensuring their return to schools, and rebuilding damaged clinics.

He attributed the difficulty of the reconstruction process in Gaza to the very large level of destruction. Hills and piles of rubble and debris, as well as people living among the rubble, and places filled with bombs and unexploded ordnance.

Fowler explained in an interview with "Anatolia" that UNRWA has paid an extraordinary price as a result of the war, and has lost 192 of its employees since October 7, 2023, a number not witnessed since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

He pointed out that about 170 UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip were bombed and sustained damage to varying degrees.

He pointed out that the most damaged facilities were schools due to the cessation of education since the beginning of the aggression, and their transformation into emergency shelters for citizens, who were displaced there in search of a safe place under the protection of the United Nations flag.

He stated that about 450 citizens were killed and more than 1,400 others were injured in Israeli raids on UNRWA facilities or near them since the beginning of the aggression.

Fowler said that there is a pattern of Israeli disregard for the UN flag and its sites. There is no ambiguity about the location of our sites, yet we witnessed direct strikes on our buildings.

He stressed that UNRWA will continue to work in Gaza, despite Israeli calls to replace it with other UN agencies, and said: “We are mandated by the United Nations General Assembly, and we have a very specific mission.”

UNRWA was established by a decision of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operations: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

A senior US administration official said the hostage-free operation would likely "complicate" Secretary of State Antony Blinken's efforts to release the rest held by Hamas as part of a deal.

According to the same senior official, quoted by NBC today (Monday), the release of the “hostages” is not the problem in itself, but “this strengthened Netanyahu’s determination to continue military operations instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, as well as Sinwar's determination to continue fighting due to the large number of Palestinian deaths who were martyred during the operation. In addition, the same official indicated that due to Benny Gantz's withdrawal from the government, this constitutes, according to him, an additional complication to efforts to reach an agreement.

The report comes against the backdrop of the expected arrival today of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel, who will also visit Egypt and Jordan and conclude his visit in Qatar on Wednesday. Blinken will try to present the US's latest blueprint for the swap deal.

Today, Monday, settlers attacked citizens in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and cut down olive and almond trees.

According to local sources, a number of settlers assaulted the family of citizen Farid Al Hamamda, while they were herding sheep, in the Yatta Desert.

These settlers cut down olive trees and almond trees for the third time in the past two days for the same family.

The National Office for Land Defense and Settlement Resistance warned of the repercussions of continuing to arm settlers, which doubles the dangers of the destructive activities of Jewish terrorist organizations operating in the settlements.

In its periodic report on settlements, the office pointed to what was reported by political and media circles in Israel last week about the intention of the occupation army to distribute more machine guns to settlers in the West Bank, according to agreed upon standards, through the rabbis and the regional councils of the settlements, and that the distribution It will include settlers who were not recruited into the so-called emergency teams and preparedness teams, which were established by the occupation authorities after the seventh of last October. In this context, a member of the Knesset from the far-right Religious Zionism party, Zvi Sukkot, explained that the decision to distribute more weapons in the West Bank settlements “is an important matter and would enhance the feeling of security.” At the same time, he called on settlement residents who wish to participate in defending their place of residence to submit requests to carry weapons in order to add another large response force, he said, while the Minister of Finance and Minister of Settlement in the Army Ministry, Bezalel Smotrich, called for waging a defensive war in The West Bank and threatened to turn Tulkarm into "a ruin like the Gaza Strip", if what he described as "terrorism" continued in the region. According to figures from the so-called National Security Committee, 250,000 Israelis applied to obtain licenses to carry weapons after October 7, while demand for training centers on the use of weapons increased, and thousands of Israelis obtained weapons for the first time.

Weaponization is an ancient phenomenon. 
It should be noted here that arming the settlers did not begin after the 7th of October. Rather, it was much earlier than this date and was a phenomenon that accompanied construction in the settlements from the beginning, but in a relatively limited manner. There is no accurate information about the number of weapons that the settlers possessed in the West Bank before this date. The policy of the occupation authorities, according to the left-leaning Hebrew website “Siha Mekomit,” was based on obscuring the amount of weapons possessed by the settlers in the West Bank. However, the situation began It transforms over time. The process of arming settlers took a strong boost in 2015 with Likud Gilad Erdan assuming the position of Minister of Internal Security, who introduced a number of amendments to the policy of granting weapons licenses, including facilitating the procedures for obtaining the necessary licenses and encouraging settlers to carry them.

The situation has changed decisively after the success of the right and the fascist right in the last elections for the Knesset in November of 2022, and with the formation of the thirty-seventh occupation government in early 2023 headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and his fascist and neo-Nazi partners such as Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as it rose significantly. Number of Israelis who applied for a personal weapons license. Just to clarify the picture by comparison, in 2021 the occupation authorities issued approximately 10,000 new weapons licenses, and in 2022 they issued approximately 13,000 licenses, but during the year 2023, after Itamar Ben Gvir took over the Ministry of National Security, the occupation authorities issued approximately 38,000 licenses. New, and this is before October 7th. After October 7, applications for weapons licenses multiplied insanely, as the daily rate of submitting applications for weapons reached between 8 and 10 thousand applications.

Amendments to the laws regarding the possession of personal weapons. 
Minister Ben Gvir was concerned with distributing weapons on a larger scale, especially to settlers. He worked to introduce amendments to the laws on the acquisition of personal weapons to expand the base of those who can possess them, facilitate the procedures for obtaining weapons licenses, and ease the conditions for their possession, especially among the categories of former soldiers aged 21 and above, and those They performed civil service instead of military service, and even ambulance, fire and rescue personnel and volunteers accompanied them, as well as new immigrants upon their arrival. As a result, the number of settlers who obtained weapons licenses reached unprecedented levels. From October 7 until the end of 2023, more than 250,000 settlers applied for a weapon license, and more than 26,000 of them obtained it, in addition to 44,000 settlers who obtained it. On conditional licences. The facilities introduced by Ben Gvir had a significant impact on these large numbers, as some settlers obtained the license through a short conversation of no more than 20 seconds with employees of the Ministry of National Security.

The occupation authorities, as well as the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, did not limit themselves to facilitating the procedures for the settlers to obtain weapons. Rather, these authorities went further than that when they decided, under pressure from this minister, to establish what are called “emergency teams” or “preparedness units,” which spread throughout the country. Wide after the occupation army called up the reserves to serve and join the war on the Gaza Strip. Ben Gvir personally supervised the establishment of 700 new alert units between October 7 and November throughout Mandatory Palestine. These are paramilitary units, consisting of 10 to 40 members of local settlers in each individual settlement, and subject to police supervision. The occupation in the 1948 territories, and the occupation army in the West Bank, and its mission was determined to provide the initial response in the event of security challenges until the arrival of the competent forces. Ben Gvir took over the task of distributing weapons to these units and worked to provide them with weapons and combat equipment such as helmets and protective vests, about 7 thousand pieces of which went to the settlements in the West Bank, including the settlement outposts, which everyone knows have become hothouses for operating Jewish terrorist organizations. In the West Bank.

Contribution of institutions to arming settlers. 
Arming the settlers was not limited to the occupation army or the Ministry of National Security, but rather institutions and entities affiliated with the settlers participated in this. At the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, Yossi Dagan, head of the so-called “Shomron Regional Council,” meaning the settlements in the northern West Bank, took the initiative to distribute hundreds of weapons through his council, in coordination with the occupation army and police, to the settlers. The Council distributed 200 M16 rifles, of the advanced model known as the M4, on October 22. He announced that he was in the process of purchasing 300 new pieces, and the purchase of these weapons was financed by donations from friends of the “Shomorn” around the world, as they described it. In the same direction, the “Shevat Zion” and “Tekuma 23” associations, which specialize in supporting settlements and settlers, took the initiative to launch a donation campaign to collect money to arm the settlers, and they were able to collect more than two million shekels at the beginning of the campaign.

Providing settlements with heavy weapons. 
Israeli political and media circles report that the occupation army is studying the possibility of distributing anti-armor weapons to a number of settlements in the West Bank, as part of a plan through which the person responsible for the security of the settlement, affiliated with the occupation army, keeps this weapon in stores for use when necessary. The occupation army is also studying the purchase of 200 vehicles. Armored for distribution to "readiness units" in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the settlements in the north. The occupation army had provided settlement guards with a number of armored cars in light of the escalation of resistance operations in the West Bank. As for the latest plans of the occupation army in this regard, it is what was announced by the Minister of the Occupation Army, Yoav Galant, last week about the intention of the occupation authorities to establish “rapid intervention forces” in the towns near the border with the West Bank, during his visit to the head of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Yuli Edelstein, Israeli army soldiers are on the line of contact between the West Bank and Israel. Gallant explained in his post on the “X” platform that he ordered the formation of intervention forces that will rely on townspeople and graduates of combat units, which is another step that will strengthen security elements.

Different reactions.. 
Arming settlers sparked widespread reactions due to the seriousness of this to the situation not only in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, but also abroad and in the State of Israel itself, especially since the spread of weapons coincided with the efforts of extreme right-wing circles in Israel to establish semi-official militias, as is done. Itamar Ben Gvir. What is striking here is that this armament is accepted by the Zionist community and political and security leaders under the pretext of “self-defense” from security threats. Opposition to arming settlers and the spread of weapons among Israelis came mainly from Israeli human rights organizations that oppose occupation and settlement, such as the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights (B'Tselem), the Peace Now Movement, and other organizations that expressed their concern that this weapon would be used not only in terrorist operations against Palestinians. Rather, it is feared that it will also be used in crimes, cases of domestic violence, personal disputes, suicides, etc.

This process also met with tortuous opposition from the United States of America, as the administration of President Biden last December refrained from completing a deal to sell thousands of M16 weapons to the occupying state and conditioned its approval of the deal on a pledge not to distribute these weapons to settlers in the West Bank. The deal was completed after the occupation government pledged to do so. It was normal for the occupation government to make such a pledge after it secured the arming of the settlers from local arms production companies and provided the goods to Itamar Ben Gvir and a number of settlement councils, as well as associations specialized in providing support to the settlers, including weapons.

In light of all this, and with the spread of “emergency teams,” “alert teams,” and other paramilitary formations, the danger of arming settlers to the Palestinian people in the West Bank is completely clear and does not require speculation. It is true that, in the current circumstances, these settlers are more inclined to use violence in operations of sabotage, assaulting citizens, destroying property, and in the widespread displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities from their sites and pastures, especially in the areas south of the Hebron Mountains, the Palestinian Jordan Valley, and the edge of the Jordan Valley as well. However, arming the settlers It doubles the risks of the destructive activities of Jewish terrorist organizations, which take the settlements, settlement outposts, and so-called pastoral farms as safe havens to protect the occupation army, and increases the possibility of the situation sliding towards the practice of terrorism on a larger scale, especially since the current violence has begun to take an upward trend with the continuation of acts of genocide and war. The brutality launched by the occupation army against the Gaza Strip since the eighth of last October.

World Food Program Director Cindy McCain announced on Monday the suspension of aid to Gaza through the American dock due to security concerns.

In a statement, McCain expressed her concern about “the safety of the organization’s employees” after one of the bloodiest days of the war, referring to Operation Nuseirat.

She said: "Two of the organization's warehouses in Gaza were bombed, and one of the employees was injured as a result."

In turn, the US Agency for International Development described the aid cessation as a step to allow a security review conducted by the humanitarian community in Gaza. According to what she said.

In a report on Sunday, the New York Times reported that “for months, Israelis heard only about the killing of hostages or the announcement of their deaths in Gaza. The ‘lucky’ families were those whose loved ones’ remains were recovered by soldiers, at great risk, and returned to their homes.” Israel to bury her.

“So the daring rescue of four live hostages on Saturday immediately lifted morale in Israel and provided at least a temporary victory for beleaguered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the newspaper said.

But by Sunday, the euphoria had already given way to a harsher reality. The violent air and ground assault that accompanied the rescue operation left 270 Palestinians dead and nearly 600 injured, most of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials, refuting Israel's claims that the operation was a resounding success, at least on the international level. The process failed to solve any of the deep dilemmas and challenges that trouble the Israeli government, according to analysts, “and it did not change anything regarding the equation of the potential deal for the release of all detainees and a ceasefire according to President Biden’s priority.”

Eight months into its brutal war on Gaza, “It appears that Israel is still far from achieving its stated goals of dismantling Hamas’ military and governance capabilities. Israelis fear that time is running out for many hostages in Gaza, and the Israeli authorities have already announced the death of about a third.” The remaining 120 people,” according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the Israeli leadership is “grappling” with escalating hostilities across the northern border with Lebanon and grappling with growing international isolation and disdain over the war on Gaza, including genocide allegations being considered by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

It is noteworthy that Nahum Barnea, an Israeli political columnist, wrote in the famous newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday that the rescue mission “does not solve any of the problems that Israel has been facing since October 7; it does not solve the problem in the north; it does not solve the problem in Gaza; “It (the process) does not solve a series of other problems that threaten Israel on the international scene.”

The decision on Sunday by Benny Gantz, the former military commander and Netanyahu's main political rival, to withdraw the centrist National Unity Party from the wartime emergency government, has left Netanyahu even more vulnerable, as the stability of Mr. Netanyahu's government now appears to be at stake.

Pressure is increasing on the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas to release all remaining hostages. But the fate of the Israeli proposal for a truce and the exchange of hostages and prisoners, as explained by US President Joe Biden more than a week ago (on May 31), is still uncertain. The Biden administration and Israeli officials say they are still waiting for an official response from Hamas to determine whether negotiations can resume.

Israelis are now debating whether the rescue of the four hostages (in exchange for the deaths of three other detainees and the operation's military commander) will help or hinder the prospects of reaching such a deal — a deal that, if implemented, could threaten Netanyahu's grip on power, with the far-right pledging in his ruling coalition to withdraw. And overthrow his government.

The newspaper speculates: “The rescue of the four hostages is likely to strengthen the arguments of those who say that Israeli military pressure on Hamas and continued ground operations in Gaza are necessary to return the remaining hostages to their homes, but for many Israelis and relatives of dozens of remaining hostages, the return of only four From the hostages, the obvious became clear - that such complex military operations may only be able to save a small number of them and pose a great danger to the army.

The Israeli media paid little attention to the large death toll reported by officials in Gaza as a result of the rescue operation. Neither the Israeli army nor Palestinian health officials provided details on the number of civilians and fighters killed in the raid.

The military's chief spokesman, Admiral Daniel Hagary, made clear the limits of what the military could do at a news conference on Saturday, saying of the remaining hostages: “We know that we cannot conduct operations in order to rescue all the hostages, because there are not always the circumstances that allow it. The largest number of hostages ever released – more than a hundred – was released under a previous temporary ceasefire and hostage and prisoner exchange agreement last November.” .

The operation also highlighted Israel's predicament: without boots on the ground, the army would be unable to carry out any such rescue operation or continue to dismantle Hamas' capabilities. But Hamas insists that any progress regarding the hostage deal is conditional on Israel's commitment to a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.

“For Hamas, the deadly Israeli operation may harden its position. The group hinted that the rescue operation may make matters worse for the remaining prisoners.”

The spokesman for the movement’s military wing, Abu Ubaida, said in a statement on Saturday that “the operation will pose a great danger to the enemy prisoners and will have a negative impact on their conditions and lives.”

Experts said some of the remaining hostages may now be moved from civilian apartment buildings, such as those that housed the four rescued on Saturday, to harsher conditions in underground tunnels where they would be more difficult to access.

Avi Kalo, an Israeli reserve lieutenant colonel and former head of a military intelligence department that focuses on soldiers missing in action, said that “Hamas will try to draw lessons” from the operation and take more precautions to keep the hostages out of reach.

“For Hamas, this is not a turning point,” he said, adding that the movement is still holding many hostages. He added: "Four less is not something that changes the reality significantly."

Many Israelis had already accused Netanyahu, whose approval ratings declined after October 7, of trying to take advantage of the rescue operation by rushing to receive the freed hostages at the hospital near Tel Aviv where they were recovering and reuniting with their families.

His office then released batches of photos and videos from the hospital, where Netanyahu also made a public statement, breaking with the usual avoidance of government activity on the Jewish Sabbath.

Relatives of hostages who did not return said they had not received such personal attention from the prime minister. Avi Marciano, whose daughter, soldier Noa, was kidnapped on October 7 and killed in Gaza, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday that in the six months after her death was announced, "the prime minister did not come. He did not call either."

The departure of Gantz and his party marks the end of the broader emergency government and was an indictment of Mr. Netanyahu's ambiguous wartime policies.

Gantz joined the government shortly after October 7, out of what he said was a sense of national responsibility, and became a key member of Mr. Netanyahu's war cabinet. Three weeks ago, he issued an ultimatum, saying he would withdraw from the government by June 8 unless Mr. Netanyahu charted a clear and strategic path forward, including making decisions and plans for how to release the remaining hostages in Gaza and for post-war governance in Gaza. Territory, among other issues.

Gantz had planned to address the nation on Saturday evening, but due to the hostage rescue operation, he postponed his anticipated announcement by 24 hours. The departure of his party will not immediately bring down the government; Netanyahu and his remaining partners still enjoy a majority in Parliament.

Gantz accused Netanyahu of delaying crucial decisions for narrow political reasons, sending a clear signal that even after Saturday's dramatic raid, not much has changed.

If the exchange deal turns into a slap, and this is not unlikely in light of Israel’s insistence on not stopping the war, which is the most important element in any agreement from a humanitarian perspective, then thousands of Rafah citizens will be exposed to death because of Israel’s intention to expand its aggression and ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to a new analysis conducted by the Hopkins University Center for Human Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 40 residents of Rafah will die every day due to their severe injuries if Israel continues its invasion. This means that 3,509 citizens will be killed due to injuries alone, not including diseases and hunger, by the middle of next August.
The need appears to be very urgent for Israel and Hamas to agree on ceasefire proposals, because a large number of Palestinians will be killed in the coming months, and based on an equation conducted by these competent international bodies in comparison with the aggression on Khan Yunis, the number of Palestinian martyrs is considered loud, especially The conditions are similar to what happened in Khan Yunis in terms of evacuation and displacement orders.
The aim of these proposed initiatives is to show the consequences of the continued Israeli aggression and the necessity of saving civilian lives, after the number of martyrs reached more than 37 thousand.
Despite all of the above, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the occupation government, insists on continuing the war until the elimination of Hamas in his statements yesterday evening, but achieving this goal is almost impossible because Hamas has been fully involved for two decades in the daily lives of the citizens of Gaza and some of its most important leaders live outside Palestine. Despite this fact that the American President made clear to the Israeli side, that achieving victory over Hamas seems difficult, Israel only recognizes the language of killing and destruction, based on its quest to continue taking revenge on our Palestinian people, and this clarifies the essence of the Israeli desire and the reason for its permanent failure of any exchange deal.
The failure of the Netanyahu government, which the Israeli street considers to be a fake government and the most failed government, has been proven absolutely after the resignation of Ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot yesterday evening. The essence of the two resignations is that Netanyahu failed to achieve the goals of the war, and from here the focus of Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing coalition will be on preventing an exchange deal that will stop the war and more. Of the killings against our people..

Israeli analysts believed that concluding an exchange deal was the best way to recover the rest of the detainees held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), despite the success of recovering four hostages alive in an Israeli army operation in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army announced on Saturday that its forces were able to recover four hostages alive from the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip.

The army said in a statement that "four Israeli kidnappers were freed, and all of them are in good health."

274 Palestinians were killed and more than 698 others were injured as a result of the Israeli air strikes that coincided with the operation, according to Palestinian statistics.

In a surprise attack launched on southern Israel on October 7, Hamas seized more than 250 hostages and transferred them to Gaza, while Israel says that 120 detainees are still in the hands of Hamas.

Opinions are divided in Israel regarding dealing with the issue of prisoners. There are those who believe that military pressure and carrying out “accurate” rescue operations may contribute to the process of retrieving the largest possible number of hostages held in Gaza, and one of the biggest supporters of this approach is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On the other hand, Israeli politicians believe that the best way to return the hostages alive is to go to a prisoner exchange deal, and this is supported by Minister of the War Council, Benny Gantz, and the head of the opposition, Yair Lapid.

Writer and political analyst for the Haaretz newspaper, Yossi Verter, told Xinhua News Agency that the operation to free the four prisoners was a "brilliant" success.

But Werther believed that despite the success of the operation, the price could have been “much greater,” indicating that the four hostages could have been killed during the operation, considering that this proves the inevitability of reaching an agreement now, even at the expense of ending the war.

He added that what happened in Nuseirat "did not bring about any strategic change, as Israel is still immersed in the mud of Gaza with no political horizon and no plans for the day after the war."

Werther expected that the high death toll in the Nuseirat camp during the Israeli operation would further worsen Israel's image internationally, while right-wing ministers would demand more such measures because, in their view, it is the only way to release the rest of the kidnapped people.

The hostage recovery operation came the day after the United Nations announced the inclusion of Israel on the blacklist of countries and organizations that harm children, while the International Court of Justice is considering a case in which South Africa accuses Israel of committing genocide, amid a deadlock in indirect negotiations with Hamas and the possibility of war breaking out with the Lebanese Hezbollah in the north. .

The former head of the Military Intelligence Division in the Israeli army (AMAN), Amos Malka, believes that the Nuseirat operation is “a high-level and very complex intelligence operational effort, and one mistake would have failed the operation.”

Despite this, Malka said, "It is impossible to build on such operations as the only way to release all the abductees."

Meanwhile, Reserve General Yisrael Ziv, who previously served as commander of operations in the army, said that Hamas “will learn lessons, make changes, and make the next step more difficult.”

Ziv believed that only an exchange deal could return those kidnapped by Hamas.

Since the seventh of last October, the Israeli army has been waging a war against the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 37,000 Palestinians dead, after a sudden Hamas attack on a number of Israeli military bases and towns adjacent to the border with the Strip, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people.

To date, Netanyahu has not presented any clear plan for the day after the war in Gaza, which prompted Gantz to give him until June 8 to present a clear strategy for the situation in Gaza after the end of the war, otherwise he will submit his resignation.

Minister Gantz retracted his resignation yesterday, shortly after the hostages were recovered.

Talk of Gantz's possible resignation coincides with threats from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to dissolve the government if Netanyahu agrees to what they described as an "illegitimate deal."

Despite the threats of the two hard-line ministers, opposition leader Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid Party (24 seats in Parliament), gave Netanyahu several times a “safety net” to conclude an exchange deal.

Writer and political analyst for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Nahum Barnea, said that the Nuseirat operation "did not solve any of the problems facing Israel since October 7, neither the crisis in the north with Hezbollah nor the crisis that threatens Israel on the international front."

Barnea added, "In each of these issues, the government continues to dive into a hole it dug for itself."

The Australian government has confirmed that Australia will attend an international conference on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Monday that Anne Ali, Minister of Early Childhood Education and Minister of Youth, will represent Australia at the conference to be held by Jordan, Egypt and the United Nations in Amman, Jordan.

Wong said Egyptian-born Ann Ali was chosen because of her lived experience and understanding of the conflict in the Middle East.

They said in a joint statement that Australia had made clear that Israel must comply with the orders of the International Court of Justice and allow the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to Gaza, and they reiterated their call for an end to the war.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with more than a million Palestinians facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and about 1.7 million people have been displaced, multiple times,” said Anne Ali. “The delivery of humanitarian aid remains woefully inadequate.”

It is worth noting that since the beginning of the conflict on 7 October 2023, the Australian Government has allocated A$62.5 million (US$41.1 million) in humanitarian assistance to the region, including A$41 million (US$27.0 million) to address urgent needs in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will arrive in Israel on Monday afternoon, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the National Camp, Benny Gantz, to discuss reaching a ceasefire agreement and accepting the exchange deal.

During his visit to the country, which is the tenth since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, the American minister will meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, where he is scheduled to leave on Tuesday morning, according to what was reported by the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

According to the website, Blinken's visit to Israel falls within the context of his regional tour in Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, and the US Secretary of State stressed the need to prevent further escalation of the conflict. In Jordan, Blinken will participate in a conference on the urgent humanitarian response to Gaza, hosted by Jordan and Egypt. And the United Nations.

During the meetings, Blinken will discuss the necessity of reaching a ceasefire agreement that guarantees the release of the Israeli hostages, and will stress the importance of accepting the plan of US President Joe Biden, which, according to the US administration’s claims, is based on the Israeli proposal.

It also discusses the benefits that the ceasefire proposal holds for both Israelis and Palestinians, and emphasizes that it will alleviate suffering in Gaza, allow for a massive increase in humanitarian aid and allow Palestinians to return to their neighborhoods.

Blinken believes this will open the possibility of achieving calm along Israel's northern border, so that displaced Israeli and Lebanese families can return to their homes, and will create conditions for continued integration between Israel and its Arab neighbors, strengthening Israel's long-standing ties for long-term security and improved stability throughout the region. , according to the website.

Blinken arrives in Israel after Gantz withdrew from the emergency government and the war cabinet, and against the backdrop of sharp criticism of him in Israel, and at a time when the United States is submitting a Security Council resolution to which Israel objects and accuses him of not moving behind the scenes to prevent the decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to impose arrest warrants. Against Netanyahu and Gallant.

At dawn and Monday morning, the Israeli occupation forces launched an arrest campaign in various areas in the West Bank.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces arrested: Bahaa Mohsen Abu Yabes, Shadi Makkawi, Yazan Manna, Yazan Jaidi, Abdel Fattah Muhammad Faraj, Omar Muhammad Abu Omar, from the Dheisheh camp, and Uday Nabil Jibreen, Abdul Rahman Awad, and Youssef Abu Omar from the town of Doha, after raiding and searching their homes.

The occupation forces also fired poison gas bombs towards citizens' homes during the arrest process, causing dozens of suffocation cases.

In Qalqilya, the occupation forces arrested: Ayham Abu Al-Adas, Muhammad Al-Tirawi, and Tariq Nofal, after raiding and searching their homes.

In Jenin, the occupation forces arrested the young man Ahmed Ali Abu Dukhan from the village of Faqoua, the two young men Taha Shadi Abu Suwais, and the freed prisoner Mahdi Bushnaq, from the village of Rummana, after raiding and searching their families’ homes.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces stormed the village of Tal, west of the city, raided the home of citizen Bilal Yamin, arrested his son Mahmoud, and wreaked havoc on the contents of the house.

In Ramallah, the occupation forces arrested and arrested citizen Nassif Rasem, after raiding his house and searching him in the town of Beitunia. They also raided a car shop in the town and seized a vehicle, before withdrawing.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the Israeli occupation committed 5 massacres in the Strip, including 40 killed and 218 wounded arriving at hospitals within 24 hours.

The Ministry of Health announced that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression had risen to 37,124 dead, in addition to 84,712 injured since October 7.

8 citizens were killed, and others sustained various injuries, as a result of the Israeli occupation aircraft bombing the city of Rafah and Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a house in the town of Al-Fokhari, east of Khan Yunis, killing three citizens and wounding others with various injuries.

Medical sources reported that five martyrs and 30 wounded arrived at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, as a result of the Israeli occupation bombing of the city of Rafah, which is witnessing continuous artillery shelling in the vicinity of the Al-Alam Roundabout to the west.

The occupation aircraft also targeted the tents of the displaced in Mawasi Khan Yunis, resulting in casualties.

Dr.. Ahmed Azm: An important decision that must be built quickly, and there is an urgent need for international and Arab action to stop the Israeli madness

Khaled Qazmar: It is late, but it shows the reality of the occupying state that kills children, and it must be reflected in the countries’ relations with it

Qasim Awad: The world now stands on the right side, albeit after many years of crimes against the children of Palestine

Muhammad Hawash: A decision that is primarily of a moral nature...and part of the pressure on Israel that the American administration needs

Israel's aggression against the United Nations and its Secretary-General, António Guterres, has once again increased after the decision taken last Friday, to add Israel to the "list of shame" of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts, as if it would be too much for the highest international body to take such a decision after... Eight months of the war of extermination that it waged against people, stones and trees in the Gaza Strip, during which children paid a price that no mind can imagine and that no logic accepts, as the number of child martyrs exceeded fifteen martyrs, in addition to tens of thousands of wounded, missing and displaced persons.

On the other hand, this UN resolution was welcomed by the Palestinians, observers, and human rights institutions, “even if it was long overdue,” but it is an important milestone in stripping Israel of the immunity it has enjoyed for many decades and holding it accountable for the horrific war crimes it has committed and is still committing, while some have expressed their fears. From the reaction of the occupying state, which may reach the point of madness, and therefore there must be rapid international action to stop this madness and build on the decision to stop the Israeli war of annihilation.

On Friday, Guterres informed Israel that it had been added to the so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts, which angered Israeli officials, who were quick to attack the United Nations and denounce its decision, threatening that it would have consequences. On Israel's relations with the United Nations.

On the other hand, various Palestinian circles welcomed the decision, and called on the Palestinian presidency in a statement to the Security Council to take a decision to immediately stop the continuing aggression against our people, and to stop the crimes of genocide against our people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, considering that “the decision is a step in the right direction to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and put an end to the crimes of genocide against our people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.” It should be limited by the international community, through the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions related to the Palestinian issue.”

Dr. Ahmed Azm, professor of political science at Qatar University, commented in an exclusive interview with Al-Quds.com on the arrogant Israeli reactions to the decision, pointing out that they reflect the extent of Israeli confusion, and reflect an Israeli collective psychological state in which there is a lot of denial, and a lot of Condescension, and this reflects Israeli isolation as much as it raises many fears about the extent to which this madness can reach.

Azm added: After the United Nations resolution, we saw Israel’s intransigence in the negotiations, and we saw the Nuseirat massacre. I believe this decision is very important, but it must be built quickly, and there is a need for international and Arab action to stop the Israeli madness, because the more the world turns towards applying international law and trying to apply international standards, the more the Israeli madness increases.

For his part, lawyer Khaled Qazmar, head of Defense for Children International, said in an exclusive interview with “ے” that the decision came too late, noting that there are five grave violations that are considered a measure of the extent of the commitment of states in these regions to respecting children’s rights.

Qazmar said that every year he submits reports from various Palestinian and international bodies on the situation of children’s rights in Palestine, and includes in them that these five violations are violated by the Israeli occupation in a systematic and continuous manner, but the United Nations assessments involve some kind of political bargaining, and every time they evade. The occupying state decided to include it on this list. The previous time was in 2015 when it discussed the conditions of children in Palestine. There were 50 child martyrs in the Israeli aggression on Gaza in 2014. Unfortunately, political bargaining was able to save Israel.

He continued: "Now neither the Secretary-General nor any country can ignore this staggering number of child martyrs and the catastrophic violations against children, specifically in the Gaza Strip."

The head of Defense for Children International affirmed, "The results of this decision show the occupying state for what it is and that it is truly a state that kills children." He said: “This must be reflected in the relations of countries with this Israel, which claims to be democratic, and that there must be measures to prevent dealing with the Israeli army, and to prevent supplying it with weapons, in order for it to be punished for these crimes it committed, so that we can ensure that what is currently happening in Israel will not be repeated.” Palestine and any other region.”

In turn, the Undersecretary of the Human Rights and Civil Society Department in the PLO, Qasim Awad, told Al-Quds.com: “The decision came within the framework of correcting history, but it is very late and came after many years of Israeli attacks and crimes against our children in Palestine,” pointing out: “Relentless attempts were made during the previous years to include Israel on the list of shame, but unfortunately there was a kind of protection and global double standards.”

Awad added: “After the United Nations resolution, the world stands on the right side of history, in an attempt to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, starting with genocide, all the way to its details, including Israel’s assault on children and women, in violation of UN Resolution No. (1325).”

For his part, the writer and political researcher Dr. Muhammad Hawash told Al-Quds.com, “The decision has a primarily moral nature, and it also has an impact on public relations, and in the future some countries that have trade relations and arms supply relations to Israel may take it into consideration, and when Israel is included on this list, it becomes "It is difficult for public opinion in countries committed to human rights to deal with Israel at this level."

Hawash explained that the decision comes at the request of the Security Council, as the United Nations is drafting this list, and placing violators and those who violate children’s rights and those who violate international law and international human law in this field, to be included in the list, and the Security Council will discuss it during the coming period, and there will be three Points for discussing this issue after a week, and on the twenty-sixth of next month, it will be approved by the Security Council, after which it will become effective.

Hawash considered the decision part of international and American pressure in particular, which allows for the opening of an investigation and does not yet allow for an absolute and complete condemnation of Israel. He explained: “The United States is providing signals to Israel to respond to stop the blatant campaigns against civilians in Gaza, and against the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

He added: “It is also considered part of the green signal that the American administration issues to international organizations in order to put pressure, in one way or another, on the Israeli government to change direction and respond to the demands and endeavors of the United States and its desire not to see war during the American election campaign, and therefore it is a complex part of the pressure it needs.” The current American administration does not need to see the hideous, criminal, and brutal scenes carried out by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip during the past eight months.”

A young man and a child were killed, Monday morning, by Israeli occupation bullets in Tulkarm and Tubas.

Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm announced the death of the young man, Youssef Samih Abdel Karim Abdel Dayem (21 years old), a student at the Faculty of Engineering at Khadoori University, and a resident of Tulkarm camp.

In Tubas, the child Mahmoud Ibrahim Nabrisi (15 years old) was killed, succumbing to serious wounds, by bullets of the  Israeli occupation forces, during their storming of Al-Fara’a camp.

Four young men were injured at dawn today by  Israeli occupation forces' bullets during the storming of Al-Far'a camp.

Confrontations broke out with the  Israeli occupation forces inside the camp and were renewed this morning, after special units were discovered holed up in one of the buildings, after they withdrew from the camp after a five-hour raid.

Dr. said. Gershon Baskin - Peace Activist and Hostage Families Forum Yesterday's operation to free the hostages led to a state of euphoria in Israeli society, but it will not lead to a change in the course of the negotiations or the prices that Hamas is demanding in exchange for the release of the hostages. Baskin pointed out that the families of the hostages and detainees are well aware of this matter, and this was proven in the huge demonstration that took place yesterday in the city of Tel Aviv. Which proved that specific military operations will not lead to the release of more hostages, and that waiting for special military operations will prolong the war indefinitely, in addition to posing a great danger to their lives.

Baskin considered that the impasse now between the Israeli and Palestinian parties is due to Hamas’ refusal to relinquish power in the Gaza Strip and advance a political settlement, while the Israeli government refuses to advance this path, and therefore it is necessary to go out to the Israeli street to pressure the government to advance the date of the elections.

He considered that Jans's withdrawal from the government, or his non-withdrawal, would not lead to a fundamental change, but his postponed statement may have implications for the internal political arena and increase momentum for popular protests.

He considered the failure to discuss the next day in the Gaza Strip to be an obstacle that prevents progress in any political settlement. He pointed out that the Palestinian Authority model at its current time cannot be a successful model as it is fragile, weak, and does not have authority. Therefore, a new leadership must be developed that can govern the situation. Gaza and the West Bank together, and this needs the legitimacy of the Palestinian and Israeli streets.

The government media office in Gaza said that the number of killed journalists in the Strip has risen to 150 male and female journalists since the start of the Israeli aggression on the seventh of last October.

He added, in a statement today, Sunday, that 3 journalists had recently joined the list of dead: The journalist Abdullah Ahmed Al-Jamal, editor and the journalist at the Palestine Now Agency, journalist Ahlam Izzat Al-Ajla, correspondent at Family Happiness Magazine, and journalist Dina Abdullah Al-Batniji from the Thuraya Media Foundation.

Last May, a report issued by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate confirmed the Israeli occupation army’s continued targeting of journalists for the purpose of killing them, not just injuring them, in an attempt to kill the truth.

The head of the union’s freedoms committee, Muhammad al-Laham, commented on the report for the first quarter of this year that the normal thing in all wars and conflicts is that the number of wounded is much greater than the number of dead, and this is what makes what is happening in Palestine abnormal, because this indicates and demonstrates that there is a decision At the highest political level in the Israeli occupation entity system, Palestinian journalists were targeted with murder and liquidation in an attempt to kill the truth.

Al-Lahham added that for this reason, foreign journalists were prevented from entering the Gaza Strip by a decision of the so-called Supreme Court of Justice, so that the occupation would be alone in killing Palestinian journalists in front of the world that is silent about the crimes and one-eyed towards genocide and to continue challenging and questioning the professionalism of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

The head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, stressed that the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation in Nuseirat - yesterday, Saturday - confirms the correctness of the movement’s position that any agreement that can be reached must include a permanent cessation of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, and a complete withdrawal from the Strip, Concluding an exchange and reconstruction deal.

Haniyeh's statements came during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the sixth meeting of foreign ministers of the high-level strategic dialogue mechanism between Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which was held in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Sunday.

The Hamas movement said - in a statement - that Haniyeh discussed with Fidan the latest field and political developments related to the ongoing war on Gaza, and the efforts made to stop the aggression.

The Hamas statement stated that the Turkish Foreign Minister conveyed to Haniyeh and the movement’s leadership delegation that attended the meeting condolences for the martyrs of the Palestinian people, especially the martyrs of the Nuseirat massacre, denouncing the widespread killing of Palestinians, and reviewing the efforts of Turkish diplomacy to support ceasefire efforts and support the rights of the Palestinian people.

Israeli refusal

Haniyeh's statements regarding the need for any agreement to include a permanent cessation of aggression against Gaza come after statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he said that "Hamas requires stopping the war as part of the exchange deal, and I do not agree to that, and I will not agree."

Netanyahu said, “We are committed to achieving absolute victory and all the goals of the war,” and added, “The issue of prisoners is very important, but we must work to ensure Israel’s future,” as he put it.

US President Joe Biden presented a plan to reach a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas and end the war in the Gaza Strip, in a speech he delivered on May 31, during which he presented an Israeli proposal in this regard consisting of 3 stages.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that his country provided support to Israel to locate prisoners held by the resistance in the Gaza Strip, and at the same time stressed that it did not participate in the operation on the ground.

Sullivan indicated in an interview with the American ABC network that Washington has been supporting Tel Aviv in "retrieving hostages from Gaza for months, and not just during this operation."

Sullivan's statements came after several news sources announced that the United States was involved in the Nuseirat camp operation, which took place during the recovery of 4 prisoners from the resistance, during which the occupation army carried out a major massacre that claimed the lives of more than 200 Palestinian martyrs.

Yesterday, Axios reported - quoting an official in the US administration - that what it described as the "American kidnappers cell in Israel" helped in the return of the prisoners.

American contribution

For its part, CNN quoted an unnamed American official as saying that an American cell in Israel contributed to the operation with the Israeli forces. Meanwhile, the American New York Times confirmed that intelligence information from the United States and the United Kingdom helped the Israeli army recover prisoners. Al-Nuseirat, and that the information was collected with the help of launching drones over Gaza and intercepting conversations.

It quoted an unnamed American official as saying that a team of American hostage recovery officials stationed in Israel helped the Israeli army by providing intelligence and other logistical support, but it did not clarify the nature of the logistical support that Washington provided to Tel Aviv.

Regarding the prisoner exchange deal, the US National Security Advisor told CNN that Washington wants “a ceasefire, but that will not be achieved without Hamas’ approval of the deal.”

As is usual with American officials, Sullivan called for pressure on Hamas to accept what was offered to it, as “the Palestinians and we all need the deal, and Hamas must be pressured to achieve that.”

Yesterday, Sullivan said in a statement, "The United States supports all efforts aimed at securing the release of hostages still being held by Hamas, including American citizens, whether through ongoing negotiations or other means."

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies

The number of victims of the Israeli army massacre in Nuseirat, which it carried out yesterday, Saturday, rose to 274dead and 698 injured, including those with critical injuries, while others remain “under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” she confirmed. The Ministry of Health in Gaza, in a statement issued today, Sunday.

As the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip entered its 247th day, the Ministry stated that the occupation committed 8 massacres in the Strip, as a result of which 283 dead and 814 injured were transferred to hospitals within one day, confirming that the war’s death toll had risen to 37,084  and 84,494 injured since October 7. 

The Israeli army continued its ground and air attacks on various areas in the Gaza Strip, while the city of Rafah witnessed fierce clashes in several areas. Israeli artillery also renewed its bombardment of populated areas and shelter centers for displaced people in various areas of the Gaza Strip, where the center and north of the city of Rafah were subjected to artillery shelling and heavy fire from Israeli tanks, which targeted the areas of Al-Khirba, Musabah, and Oraiba in the city.

The head of the National Camp bloc, Benny Gantz, announced today, Sunday, his withdrawal from the Israeli emergency government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, which he had joined days after launching the war on the Gaza Strip last October, and accused Netanyahu of “hesitating and delaying taking action.” Fateful strategic decisions based on political considerations.”

This came in a press conference held by Gantz in the Knesset, during which he sharply criticized Netanyahu and his management of the war, accusing him of “preventing Israel’s progress towards true victory,” and considered that he is “hesitating to make strategic decisions” and “preventing taking important decisions” in the context of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza Strip 247 days ago; Gantz also called for early elections.

In turn, Netanyahu and his allies in the coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, quickly issued strongly worded statements against Gantz and the “National Camp,” accusing him of “withdrawing from the battle” and working to strengthen the division and create a rift in the country. Israeli society instead of maintaining unity in times of war.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on 29 September 2023 that “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” That all changed on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, which unsurprisingly invaded Gaza to destroy Hamas.  After more than six months, it appears to many that Israel is losing its war in Gaza. At the same time, Israel is fighting Hezbollah on its northern border, relations between Jerusalem and Washington are strained, and the International Court of Justice has ruled that a plausible case can be made that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, there is great danger of escalation across the region, as the fighting between Israel and Iran makes clear. Indeed, there is a possibility the United States, which is already fighting the Houthis, might end up in a war with Iran, which neither country wants. What might be the lasting consequences of these conflicts? Who will emerge weaker and who stronger? And what does this crisis mean for U.S. foreign policy in the region, Ukraine and East Asia?

Minister in the Israeli war government, Gadi Eisenkot, announced his resignation, coinciding with the resignation of Benny Gantz.

Eisenkot said in his resignation letter: “External and political considerations penetrated the decision-making process.”

Eisenkot continued in his speech to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "Despite my great efforts, along with my colleagues, the government under your leadership has long refrained from making the critical decisions necessary to achieve the war goals and improve the strategic situation of the State of Israel."

He added that this abstention from making decisive decisions “practically harms the strategic situation and national security of the State of Israel.”

He added: "External and political considerations have penetrated the discussion rooms. Therefore, this is our time to leave the government."

In the same context, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz announced his resignation from the government after the expiry of the deadline he set for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make strategic decisions related to the war on the Gaza Strip.

Gantz said: “Our participation in the war council was for a common destiny and not a political partnership, and leaving the government is a complex and painful decision... Today we leave the emergency government with a heavy heart.”

In the resignation statement he delivered today, Gantz stressed that “Netanyahu is obstructing important strategic decisions due to political considerations,” stressing that “we are withdrawing from this government because Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing toward achieving true victory.”

The former minister in the war cabinet also indicated that he “supports the deal presented by Biden, which he asked the prime minister to have the courage to make it successful,” and he told the families of the prisoners: “We failed the test and were not able to return their children, and everything must be done to He postponed the proposed deal to recover the kidnapped persons.”

He added: "I call on Netanyahu to go to hold elections as soon as possible and form a national investigation committee. There must be elections that bring about a true national Zionist unity government," and he called on party leaders to stand by him in order to hold elections to form a national Zionist unity government.

Netanyahu had called on the head of the "National Camp" bloc, Benny Gantz, to retract the decision to withdraw from the Israeli emergency government that was formed in the wake of the war on Gaza, and called on him "not to give up unity."

This came in a brief statement that Netanyahu shared on his social media accounts, saying, “This is a time of unity, not a time of division. We must remain united from within in the face of the great tasks that await us. I call on Benny Gantz: Do not abandon the emergency government, do not abandon unity.” ".