Hamas launches war on Israel

[Exocet25fr]

[mapuc]

What's going down there in Gaza is terrible no doubt about it-However the information they get(UN, EU and other)is from Hamas. Which makes one wonder how reliable these information is.

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded-But not as many as Hamas claim.

Hamas started the war and now they and sadly the citizens in Gaza has to pay the price.

If the Hamas could fight the Israelis like real soldiers and not hiding behind the women or children

Markus

[Skybird]

US government is turning zig-zagging into a new form of art. Is to be seen in its Ukraine policy as well.

[Exocet25fr]

[Jimbuna]

Israeli ministers threaten to quit over ceasefire plan

Two far-right Israeli ministers have threatened to quit and collapse the governing coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to a Gaza ceasefire proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden on Friday.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said they were opposed to striking any deal before Hamas was destroyed.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has pledged to back the government if Mr Netanyahu supported the plan.

The prime minister himself insisted there would be no permanent truce until Hamas's military and governing capabilities were destroyed and all hostages released.

However, the White House said on Sunday it expected Israel would agree to the plan.

"This was an Israeli proposal. We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal - as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal - then Israel would say yes," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC News.

Before the threats of resignation were issued, one of Mr Netanyahu's advisers told the Sunday Times that many of the plan's details needed to be worked out, and there would be no permanent ceasefire "until all our objectives are met".

But senior foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk also said Mr Biden's plan was a "deal we agreed to - it’s not a good deal, but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them".

The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. The deal would eventually lead to the release of all hostages, a permanent "cessation of hostilities" and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.

But in a post on social media on Saturday, Mr Smotrich said he told Mr Netanyahu he would "not be part of a government that agrees to the proposed outline and ends the war without destroying Hamas and bringing back all the hostages".

Echoing his words, Mr Ben-Gvir said "the deal.. means the end of the war and the abandonment of the goal to destroy Hamas. This is a reckless deal, which constitutes a victory for terrorism and a security threat to the State of Israel".

He vowed to "dissolve the government" rather than agree to the proposal.

Mr Netanyahu's right-wing coalition holds a slim majority in parliament, relying on a host of factions, including Mr Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party - who hold six seats - and Mr Smotrich's Religious Zionism party - who hold seven seats - to maintain power.

But Yair Lapid, one of Israel's most influential opposition politicians, was quick to offer his backing to the embattled prime minister. His Yesh Atid (There is a future) party holds 24 seats.

He said the prime minister "has our safety net for a hostage deal if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich leave the government".

The row came as tens of thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv, calling on the Israeli government to accept Mr Biden's proposed plan.

Many demonstrators also demanded Mr Netanyahu's resignation and some told reporters they feared the prime minister could torpedo the proposal.

A group campaigning to bring home Israeli hostages captured by Hamas has warned that such a move would endanger the lives of those held in Gaza.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and police, who used mounted officers and water cannon to disperse the crowds. Some demonstrators were reportedly detained.

Protests have become a fixture in Tel Aviv in recent months, as families of hostages and other anti-government campaigners have held rallies calling for a hostage deal - as well as for Mr Netanyahu to step down or call an election.

In a joint statement on Saturday, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US urged both Israel and Hamas to "finalise" Mr Biden's proposed deal.

Officials said that "as mediators in the ongoing discussions to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages and detainees", they "call on both Hamas and Israel to finalise the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden".

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also offered his backing to the plan, telling reporters that his government could "flood Gaza with far more aid" if Hamas accepts the ceasefire plan.

Earlier, a senior Hamas politician told the BBC it "will go for this deal" if Israel does.

In a statement after Mr Biden unveiled the plan, Mr Netanyahu's office insisted Israel's "conditions for ending the war have not changed".

It listed these as "the destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel".

The statement added Israel would "continue to insist these conditions are met" before agreeing to a permanent ceasefire.

However, the comments seemed to be vague enough for Mr Netanyahu to be able to claim that his objectives had been achieved.

Mr Netanyahu's office did not mention “total victory” - which he has repeatedly highlighted as a key aim for the war in Gaza.

This omission may allow the prime minister to reject criticism that the deal offers major concessions to Hamas.

On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on social media that he would give Mr Netanyahu's government his "full support for a deal which will see the release of the hostages".

"It is our inherent obligation to bring them home within the framework of a deal that preserves the security interests of the State of Israel," he said
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz55y6k0p5go

[Jimbuna]

US expects Israel will accept Gaza ceasefire plan if Hamas does

The US government has "every expectation" that Israel will accept a ceasefire proposal that would begin with a six-week cessation of hostilities in Gaza if Hamas takes the deal, according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

The three-part plan unveiled by President Joe Biden last week would also be a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners before a permanent end to the war.

The proposal, however, has met with vocal opposition from some members of Israel's government.

The negotiations come as fighting continues in Rafah, which came under intense Israeli airstrikes over the weekend.

According to the UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, all 36 of its shelters in the Rafah area are empty after residents were forced to flee.

Another 1.7 million people are estimated to be displaced in Khan Younis and parts of central Gaza.

Speaking to ABC News on Sunday morning, Mr Kirby said that the US had "every expectation" that Israel would "say yes" to the proposed ceasefire deal if Hamas accepts.

"We're waiting for an official response from Hamas," he said, adding that the US hopes that both sides agree to start the first phase of the plan "as soon as possible".

During that initial six-week pause in the fighting, Mr Kirby said the "two sides would sit down and try to negotiate what phase two could look like, and when that could begin".

In a televised address last week, Mr Biden said that the second phase of the plan would see all remaining living hostages returned, including male soldiers. The ceasefire would then become "the cessation of hostilities, permanently".

On Saturday, however, two far-right Israeli ministers threatened to quit and collapse the country's governing coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the deal.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said they were opposed to striking any deal before Hamas was destroyed.

Similarly, Mr Netanyahu has insisted that there will be no ceasefire until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed and all hostages are released.

Mr Kirby, for his part, said that US intelligence now believes that Hamas has been militarily degraded to the extent that it can no longer repeat an attack such as that which its fighters conducted on 7 October.

"We've not said that they don't still represent a viable threat to the Israeli people. Of course they do," he said. "But they don't have the military capabilities to do what they did."

In another development on Sunday, the government of the Maldives announced it would ban Israeli citizens from the Indian Ocean island archipelago, in turn prompting a warning from Israel's foreign ministry that its citizens should avoid the country.

About 11,000 Israelis visited the Maldives last year - less than 1% of all tourist arrivals.

More than 36,000 people have been killed across Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The war began in October when Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 back to Gaza as hostages.

In the US, President Biden has faced growing domestic criticism over the level of US support for Israel, as well as calls to do more to encourage the warring sides to negotiate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11l590qqwo

[Jimbuna]

Israeli strike on UN school in Gaza reportedly kills at least 35

An Israeli air strike on a UN school packed with displaced Palestinians in central Gaza has reportedly killed at least 35 people.

Local journalists told the BBC that a warplane fired two missiles at classrooms on the top floor of the school in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Videos showed the destruction and a number of bodies.

Israel’s military said it had “conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound” in the school and killed many of the 20 to 30 fighters it believed were inside.

Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office denied the claim and accused Israel of carrying out a “horrific massacre”.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), which runs the school, described the incident as "horrific" and said the claim that armed groups might have been inside a shelter was "shocking" but could not be confirmed.

Dead and wounded people were rushed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which has been overwhelmed since the Israeli military began a new ground operation against Hamas in central Gaza this week.

The BBC is working to verify the reports about the strike in Nuseirat camp.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crggq0jygq6o

[Jimbuna]

Netanyahu to address US Congress on 24 July

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address US lawmakers in Washington DC on 24 July, congressional leaders announced on Thursday.

He will speak to both chambers of Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives - as the Israel-Gaza war continues.

Republicans and Democrats both invited the prime minister to speak, but the date of his speech was not made official until Thursday.

Last month the International Criminal Court's prosecutor applied for arrest warrants against the Israeli leader and his defence minister, Yoav Galant, on charges related to the war.

Mr Netanyahu condemned the ICC move, saying he rejected with disgust that "democratic Israel" had been compared to what he called "mass murderers".

Mr Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by congressional leaders, that he was "very moved to have the privilege of representing Israel... to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us".

In their letter inviting the prime minister, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - both Republicans - said they hoped Mr Netanyahu would take the opportunity to "share the Israeli government's vision for defending democracy, combatting terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region".

Mr Netanyahu's visit comes as that relationship with the US has grown tense, especially among leading US Democrats.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a separate statement that he supported the invitation despite his "clear and profound disagreements with the Prime Minister, which I have voiced both privately and publicly".

"But because America's relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends one person or prime minister I joined the request for him to speak," he said.

US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has also grown more critical of Israel as the war continues and the death toll in Gaza climbs.

Mr Biden, who is running for re-election in November, has come under political pressure from his party's left flank to do more to convince Israel to limit its war in Gaza.

Some progressive leaders, such as Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have said they intend to boycott Mr Netanyahu's speech in protest at Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage during an attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

At least 36,470 people have been killed in Gaza in almost eight months of fighting since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Mr Biden has recently made public his administration's push for a ceasefire deal that would begin a six-week cessation of hostilities in Gaza.

The three-part plan that the president unveiled last week would see a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners before a permanent end to the war.

The proposal, however, has encountered vocal opposition from some members of Israel's government, which has raised doubt that an agreement might be reached.

Hanoch Milwidsky, a senior member of the Knesset for Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party, told the BBC on Sunday that Israel's governing coalition was unified in opposition to the deal, which he called "completely unacceptable".

Mr Netanyahu last spoke to the US Congress in 2015, when both chambers were controlled by Republicans. He used the opportunity to criticise then President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for pursuing a deal with US allies and Iran to curtail Tehran's nuclear programme.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnj93pe4yo

[Cyborg322]

Originally Posted by mapuc

What's going down there in Gaza is terrible no doubt about it-However the information they get(UN, EU and other)is from Hamas. Which makes one wonder how reliable these information is.

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded-But not as many as Hamas claim.

Hamas started the war and now they and sadly the citizens in Gaza has to pay the price.

If the Hamas could fight the Israelis like real soldiers and not hiding behind the women or children

Markus

where on Earth do you get your evidence or fact from ?

[Skybird]

Four Israeli hostages held prison by the terrorists have been freed by a joint operation of the IDF and Israeli police - alive. The medical condition is described as "stable".

[Reece]

Good news!

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by mapuc

What's going down there in Gaza is terrible no doubt about it-However the information they get(UN, EU and other)is from Hamas. Which makes one wonder how reliable these information is.

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded-But not as many as Hamas claim.

Hamas started the war and now they and sadly the citizens in Gaza has to pay the price.

If the Hamas could fight the Israelis like real soldiers and not hiding behind the women or children

Markus

Originally Posted by Cyborg322

where on Earth do you get your evidence or fact from ?

Perhaps he gets the information from a source that isn't as gullible as the UN is, if you believe that Hamas or any Palestinian is telling "The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth", while discounting news from other sources other than Hamas, then you are as guilty of being as gullible as the UN is.

From what I've seen and heard from the UN over the years, they wouldn't know what the truth was if they saw it with their own eyes, so don't put any faith in what they say or you'll be sorely disappointed.

Originally Posted by Skybird

Four Israeli hostages held prison by the terrorists have been freed by a joint operation of the IDF and Israeli police - alive. The medical condition is described as "stable".

Some good news at last, I would imagine that young girl has been through some harrowing times.

[Skybird]

Oh, the UN knows what the truth is, else they would not be able to intentionally sail around it and disguise it so cleverly, and hide it from the people. The UN is the textbook example of willful bias, one-sidedness, special interest group lobbyism, and manipulative corruption. Western states as a whole should discontinue their memberships in and payments to all the UN's sub-organisations.


Not to mention the joke called "security council".

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

Perhaps he gets the information from a source that isn't as gullible as the UN is, if you believe that Hamas or any Palestinian is telling "The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth", while discounting news from other sources other than Hamas, then you are as guilty of being as gullible as the UN is.

From what I've seen and heard from the UN over the years, they wouldn't know what the truth was if they saw it with their own eyes, so don't put any faith in what they say or you'll be sorely disappointed.



Some good news at last, I would imagine that young girl has been through some harrowing times.

I get it from Danish and Swedish expert on middle east and a friend who's from Palestine. He was fighting Hamas, so he had to flee to Germany and later to Sweden.

As one of the Danish expert said on tv last time there was a war between Israel and Hamas:
"Hamas can't fight the Israelis like an ordinary army, it would mean the end of them. The only way they can fight the Israelis is from civilian areas and among the civilians"
I interpreter it as he was apologizing on their behalf-the way he said it.

Markus

[Skybird]

Every sort of terror can be "whitewashed" this way.

Lets not forget that in the last war and this one again Hamas has forced people with pointed guns to not flee to not seek shelter and to not move out, and that they dleoberately caöclate with maximise the civilians' casualties to make a bog scroe fo it in their propaganda war. They deliberately put their ammo storages, command posts and infrastructure into civilian structures and hide under hospitals, kindergarden, schools.

Their leaders and fat cats live in other countries. In wealth, relative safety, and obscene luxury.

Cynism and treason towards their own people. To the max.

And still many people in the world and most of the UN hang with their eyes on their lips. Spit.