7.0 CALIFORNIA QUAKE NEAR SAN FRANSICO (THE SODEMITE CAPITAL OF THE EARTH)

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

 7.0 CALIFORNIA QUAKE NEAR SAN FRANSICO (THE SODEMITE CAPITAL OF THE EARTH)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING (BUT WILL NOT KILL EVERY BODY WITH WATER)(BUT 50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE (4 BILLION PEOPLE) FROM NUCLEAR WAR)(THE BIBLE SAYS BY FIRE OR ATOMIC BOMBS THIS TIME)
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6  I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9  I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.so was not yet deemed a threat to land.The storm was located about 580 miles (930 kilometers) west-southwest of the southernmost tip of the Cabo Verde Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), the center said.The storms churned in the Atlantic as rescuers in the U.S. Southeast searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene struck last week, leaving behind a trail of death and catastrophic damage.

Large quake hits off northern California; Tsunami warning issued, then canceled-US Geological Survey says 7.0-magnitude quake recorded at a depth of just 10 km; millions of residents had been urged to flee for higher ground-By Agencies Today, 4:26 am-DEC 6,24

A powerful earthquake that struck off the coast of California sparked a brief tsunami warning on Thursday, with residents warned to flee to higher ground before the alert was canceled around 45 minutes later.Seismologists at the US Geological Survey said the shallow 7.0 magnitude tremor hit around 68 kilometers (42 miles) from the coastal town of Ferndale mid-morning, with people living in the area experiencing strong ground shakes.At least 5.3 million people in California were under a tsunami warning after the 7.0-magnitude temblor, the US Geological Survey said in a yellow alert, which predicted localized but minimal damage. The quake was felt as far south as San Francisco, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County near the Oregon border, according to the USGS.A tsunami warning was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon.Smartphone users received warnings urging them to move to higher ground immediately, AFP reporters in the area said.“A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you,” the warning said. “You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters.”The National Weather Service, which issued the warning, withdrew it around midday, shortly before the first waves had been expected.The quake appeared to have been felt across the region, including in the San Francisco Bay Area, where some people said they had felt rolling waves underfoot.Tsunami Warning 1 for areas of OR & N. CA: See https://t.co/npoUHxX900 for alert areas. M7.3 045mi SW Eureka, California 1044PST Dec 5 pic.twitter.com/NFCbU5EaKa— NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) December 5, 2024-Marc Buller, an attorney who lives in Eureka, a port city in northern California close to the offshore epicenter, said he had experienced a lot of quakes, but this one felt unusual.“It was an intense jolt. When the big jolt stopped, it felt like the house was on rollers,” he told AFP.“It was like when you throw a big stone in water and the ripples go out, it was like the earth was doing that.”The US West Coast is the confluence of several of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and tremors are not uncommon.The area has been struck by several major earthquakes, including a 1994 quake that hit Northridge, in the Los Angeles area, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands more, as it wrought billions of dollars of damage to homes and infrastructure.The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which also caused a tsunami, is thought to have killed upwards of 3,000 people, some of whom died in fires that erupted after the powerful tremor.

7.0 magnitude earthquake reported off Northern California coast, tsunami warning canceled-MEREDITH DELISO-Thu, December 5, 2024 at 3:02 p.m.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey.The epicenter is off the coast near Petrolia, in Humboldt County, the USGS said.Also, a tsunami warning that had been issued for coastal areas in California and Oregon, including San Francisco, was canceled just before noon local time."The tsunami Warning is canceled for the coastal areas of California and Oregon," the National Tsunami Warning Center wrote on X. "No tsunami danger presently exists for this area."The warning had been in effect from Davenport, California, to Douglas/Lane Line Oregon, the National Tsunami Warning Center said.Police in Berkeley, California, had issued an evacuation order for parts of the city "due to a tsunami coming to West Berkeley.""People in the Tsunami Zone are in IMMEDIATE DANGER and MUST EVACUATE NOW," the police department said. "Stay east of 7th St. This is a lawful order to leave now."The earthquake was reported at 10:44 a.m. local time, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.Subsequent earthquakes were reported in the region, including a 5.0 magnitude near Ferndale and a 4.2 magnitude near Petrolia, according to the USGS.Shake alerts in the USGS's earthquake early warning system were delivered as far north as Lincoln City, Oregon, and as far south as Salinas, California, the agency said."System was activated and performed as designed. Still trying to ascertain how much warning people received," the USGS said.California Gov. Gavin Newsom said officials with the state's Office of Emergency Services are "actively responding to the earthquakes this morning in Northern California.""Californians should follow guidance from local emergency responders," he said on social media.Regarding aftershocks, there is currently a 5% chance of a magnitude 6 or larger earthquake occurring in the next week, and a 34% chance of a magnitude 5 quake occurring in that time frame, the USGS said.

Tsunami Warning Cancelled After 7.0 Earthquake Rattles Northern California-Published Dec 05, 2024 at 2:05 PM EST-By Carlo Versano-Editor, Live News

A tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Oregon and Northern California was cancelled just over an hour after a major 7.0 earthquake struck the region on Wednesday morning.The National Tsunami Warning Center originally issued an alert telling people in the affected area to move to higher ground immediately. The warning extended from Florence, Oregon, to Davenport, California and included the densely populated San Francisco Bay Area."Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant inundation is possible or is already occurring. Tsunamis are a series of waves dangerous many hours after initial arrival time. The first wave may not be the largest," the warning read.A bulletin from the National Weather Service issued at 11:54 a.m. local time said that the threat of a tsunami had passed."Do not re-occupy hazard zones until local emergency officials indicate it is safe to do so," the advisory reads.Definitely felt that #earthquake here in California. Felt like I was hammered I was swaying so bad, and it shook a bunch of the water out of our pool!#california #cali #530 #earthquakes pic.twitter.com/DuKRxTRFBF— NorthWindAerial (@NorthWindAerial) December 5, 2024-Social media users in Northern California reported getting the tsunami warning through a mass alert sent to their phones. Others reported feeling the ground sway beneath them. At Fort Mason in San Francisco's Marina District, which sits about 50 feet above sea level, a crowd had started to form of people looking for a glimpse of a tsunami wave that never came.The original quake struck about 40 miles west of Petrolia, a small unincorporated community in Humboldt County at 10:44 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.At least 10,000 customers were without power in Humboldt County, according to an online database that tracks outages.The Bay Area's rapid transit network (BART) suspended service through the underwater tunnel that connects San Francisco and Oakland as a precaution.The San Francisco Zoo said it was evacuating guests and securing animals before staff moved to high ground.The city of Berkeley issued an evacuation order, telling residents in the western part of the city to immediately head east."Tsunami coming to West Berkeley. EVACUATE NOW. Stay east of 7th St. See http://tsunami.gov. Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to leave now. The area is lawfully closed to public access," the citywide alert read.When reached by phone, a spokesperson for the University of California - Berkeley told Newsweek they were unaware of any impacts to the university's core campus.California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was activating state emergency procedures, according to the governor's office. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage from the quake.There have only been about a dozen earthquakes in California that registered at or above a 7.0 since 1857, according to the state's department of conservation, the most recent being a 7.1 temblor that struck near Ridgecrest in July 2019.

WARN THE PEOPLE-WW3

EZEKIEL 33:1-6
1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2  Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
3  If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4  Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
5  He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
6  But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

DANIEL 11:40-45 (WW3 BREAKDOWN)
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

ISAIAH 24:1
1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,(NUKES USED) and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(ARAB/MUSLIM) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man;(RIOTS-BURNING-MURDEROUUS RAGE) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION) and every man's hand against him;(DEFENDING THEMSELVES) and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(ARAB/MUSLIMS LIVE WITH ISRAELIS)

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOON GOD ALLAH)

ISAIAH 14:12-23
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, (SATAN) son of the morning! (HEBREW MEANS CRESCENT MOON ANGEL-ISLAM OVIOUSLY)(SATAN IS THE GOD OF ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

EZEKIEL 31:10-17
10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.(HELL).
15Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17They also went down into hell with him unto [them that be] slain with the sword; and [they that were] his arm, [that] dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with [them that be] slain by the sword. This [is] Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

EZEKIEL 32:17-32
17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth [day] of the month, [that] the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, [even] her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.
20 They shall fall in the midst of [them that are] slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.
21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
22 Asshur [is] there and all her company: his graves [are] about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
24 There [is] Elam (IRAN) and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves [are] round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of [them that be] slain.
26 There [is] Meshech, Tubal,(RUSSIA) (GERMANY, TURKEY) and all her multitude: her graves [are] round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
27And they shall not lie with the mighty [that are] fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with [them that are] slain with the sword.
29 There [is] Edom,(JORDAN) her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by [them that were] slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
30 There [be] the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with [them that be] slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.
31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, [even] Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with [them that are] slain with the sword, [even] Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13  Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15  And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16  And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

EZEKIEL 39:11-22
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18  Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19  And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20  Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)

REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.

MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)(50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.(ON EARTH)
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.(ON EARTH)
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 32:18-29 (NOTICE ALL THE COUNTRIES LAND PROMISED ISRAEL BY GOD ARE IN THE JORDAN VALLEY BURIED)
18 “Son of man, wail for the multitudes of Egypt, and consign her and the daughters of the mighty nations to the depths of the earth with those who descend to the Pit:
19 Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be placed with the uncircumcised! (IN HELL FIRES)
20 They will fall among those slain by the sword. The sword is appointed! Let them drag her away along with all her multitudes.
21 Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’
22 Assyria (SYRIA) is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.
23 Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who once spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam (IRAN) is there with all her multitudes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who went down uncircumcised to the earth below, who once spread their terror in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit.
25 Among the slain they prepare a resting place for Elam with all her hordes, with her graves all around her. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, although their terror was once spread in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit. They are placed among the slain.
26 Meshech and Tubal (RUSSIA) are there with all their multitudes, with their graves all around them. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because they spread their terror in the land of the living.
27 They do not lie down with the fallen warriors of old, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were placed under their heads, whose shields rested on their bones, although the terror of the mighty was once in the land of the living.
28 But you too will be shattered and lie down among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.
29 Edom (JORDAN) is there, and all her kings and princes, who despite their might are laid among those slain by the sword. They lie down with the uncircumcised, with those who descend to the Pit.THIS IS RIGHT FROM 93:

SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting.The second angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few split seconds."All of Turkey and those [inaudible] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another."I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries. I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come." The angel said, "The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God."I saw fires rising to heaven.The angel said: "This is the final judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries."The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.

PSALMS 83:1-8 (GODS LAND PROMISED TO ISRAEL)
1 O God, do not remain silent;do not turn a deaf ear,do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl,  how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they (ARAB,MUSLIMS) conspire against your people;they plot against those you cherish.(ISRAELIS)
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
5 With one mind they plot together;(TREATIES) they form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom (JORDAN)  and the Ishmaelites, (EGYPTIAN ARABS SO CALLED PALESTIANS) of Moab (JORDAN) and the Hagrites,(EGYPT)
7 Byblos,(HEZBOLLOH) Ammon (JORDAN) and Amalek,(SYRIAN ARABS IN THE SINAI) Philistia,(ARABS) with the people of Tyre (LEBANON).
8 Even Assyria (SYRIA) has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

1 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
1-PROMISCUOUS SEX AMOUNG EACH OTHER.
ROMANS 1:24
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (THE 60S FREE SEX)
2 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
2-SODOMITES - MEN LUSTING MEN, AND WOMEN LUSTING AFTER WOMEN.
ROMANS 1:26-27
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
3 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
3-A DEPRAVED MIND-ANY SIN GOES.
ROMANS 1:28-31
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO THESE 3 DEPRAVED ABOMINATION SINS?
OH OH NOAHS DAY. WHAT HAPPENED IN NOAHS DAY. THE WHOLE WORLD WAS JUDGED BY WATER.
GENESIS 6:7,17
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
GENESIS 7:4
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
GENESIS 8:16
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
WELL THE SODOMITES PICKED THE RIGHT SIGN OF A RAINBOW FOR JUDGEMENT. THE SODOMITES TRYED TO STEAL GODS SIGN THAT THE WHOLE EARTH WILL NEVER DIE FROM FLOOD WATERS AGAIN. BUT THE JUDGEMENT THIS TIME IS GOING TO BE BY FIRE.NOT WATER.
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

EZIKIEL 38:12-13
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (AGAINST ISRAEL)
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, (RUSSIA AND HER MUSLIMS HORDES)Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

GENESIS 12:1-3
1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3  And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.(ALL THESE ARAB, MUSLIMS ARE OCCUPYING ISRAELS LAND. GET OFF IMMEDIATELY. BECAUSE YOUR DEATH CULT DAYS ARE NUMBERED)

ISLAMIC DEATH CULT AND FAKE MOHAMMAAD AND FAKE MOON GOD ALLAH WHICH IS SIMPLY SATAN IS THE LEADER OF ISLAM.
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart:(WARS AND DEATH) and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.(CHINA CONTROLS AMERICAS ECONOMY BY BUYING UP DEBT)

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOON GOD ALLAH)

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(ARAB/MUSLIM) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man;(RIOTS-BURNING-MURDEROUUS RAGE) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION) and every man's hand against him;(DEFENDING THEMSELVES) and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(ARAB/MUSLIMS LIVE WITH ISRAELIS)

The Family Tree of Ishmael
12 This is the family tree of Ishmael son of Abraham, the son that Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham.
13-16 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons in the order of their births: Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah—all the sons of Ishmael. Their settlements and encampments were named after them. Twelve princes with their twelve tribes.
(ISLAM CLAIMS MOHAMMID IS A OFF SPRING OF ISHMAEL THE FIRST BASTARD CHILD OF THE ARABS WITH A SLAVE MOTHER TO THE ISRAELIS.DOES ANY ONE SEE THE NAME OF MOHAMMID IN ISHMAELS FAMILY TREE. BECAUSE I SURE DON'T. I DOUBT MOHAMMID EVEN EXISTS. AND SATAN IS THE LEADER OF ISLAM HIMSELF. SO ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION AT ALL. ISLAM IS NOTHING BUT A DEATH CULT THAT WORSHIPS DEATH. AND WILL BURN IN HELL FIRE, THEN THE FINAL JUDGEMENT IN FRONT OF JESUS.ONLY TO BE THROWN IN THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER WITH THEIR NEVER DYING BODIES.ISLAM EXPOSED AS A FRAUD SATAN LIE AND MURDER DEAT CULT.

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

JOHN 8:44
44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

PAUL BEGLEY ON THE INTERNET WHO CLAIMES HIS WASHINGTON SECRET SOURCE MAN SENT HIM A WARNING FOR THE LAST 24 HRS THAT NUKE SNIFFERS ARE IN WASHINGTON AND FLORIDA.AND TERRORISTS THREATS IN AMERICA EAST COAST. WE WILL SEE IF HIS ANONYMOUS ALWAYS DEAD ON WASHINGTON PROPHET COMES THREW.

Almost half of Amnesty Israel board have recently resigned-‘Predetermined conclusions’: Amnesty Israel workers slam parent group’s ‘genocide’ charge-Local branch rejects report’s conclusion, but says Israeli actions ‘may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing’; some employees more critical, call report ‘flawed’ By Jeremy Sharon-and ToI Staff Today, 3:47 pm-DEC 5,24

Amnesty Israel, the local branch of the Amnesty International organization, rejected a report released Thursday by its parent group that accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, with some members accusing the report’s authors of reaching a “predetermined conclusion.”Amnesty Israel said that although the death and destruction in Gaza had reached “catastrophic proportions,” its own analysis did not find that Israel’s actions met the definition of genocide.The Israeli branch of the international rights group asserted, however, that Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas following the terror group’s massacres of October 7, 2023, “may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”Gaza’s Hamas health ministry claims that some 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Strip since the war began — figures that cannot be verified and that don’t differentiate between civilians and members of terror groups — while Israel estimates that it has killed 18,000 combatants.The death and destruction has led accusations of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice and to the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for its leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Jerusalem rejects these charges, saying it only attacks military targets and that civilian casualties are largely the result of Hamas embedding its military installations and personnel deep within Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.In the statement released by Amnesty Israel on Thursday, the group stated that it was not involved in the research, funding or writing of the Amnesty International report and that it “does not accept the claim that genocide has been proven to be taking place in the Gaza Strip and does not accept the operative findings of the report.”It contended that although “the scale of the killing and destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza has reached horrific proportions and must be stopped immediately,” it does not believe that the events “meet the definition of genocide as strictly laid out in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”Amnesty Israel noted that the Genocide Convention requires proof that these actions were carried out with the “specific intent” to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza “in whole or in part.”“Based on our analysis, put together in consultation with external experts, many of us have doubts regarding the possibility of proving unequivocally, and beyond any reasonable alternative explanation, the element of intent,” Amnesty Israel stated.It also noted that “there are diverse voices within Amnesty Israel,” though “the majority position… believes that the claim that Israel is committing genocide is unfounded.”A “minority of Amnesty Israel members believe that, based on the available information, it can be determined that Israel is committing or has committed genocide in Gaza,” it said, but stressed that “this is not the position of Amnesty Israel.”Despite rejecting the claim of genocide, Amnesty Israel nevertheless asserted that Israel’s actions in Gaza “raise suspicions of widespread and serious violations of international law and crimes against humanity,” and called for steps to be taken that will bring an immediate end to the war in Gaza.The statement also appeared to criticize the double standard adopted by Amnesty International with regard to Israel and Hamas.“There have been allegations that both the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 and the Israeli attack on Gaza following the massacre were genocide or attempted genocide,” Amnesty Israel stated. “It is imperative and correct to investigate these allegations and to ensure that the standard required to prove intent to commit genocide is universal and consistent for all parties, as well as in any other case in the world where similar concerns are raised.”In a separate statement obtained by the Haaretz newspaper, several members of Amnesty Israel and Jewish members of Amnesty International went one step further and accused the report of producing an “artificial analysis” of the situation in the Gaza Strip.“From the outset, the report was referred to in international correspondence as the ‘genocide report,’ even when the research was still in its initial stages,” Haaretz cited the Amnesty members as saying.“This is a strong indication of bias and also a factor that can cause additional bias: Imagine how difficult it is for a researcher to work for months on a report titled ‘genocide report’ and then to have to conclude that it is ‘only’ about crimes against humanity,” they added. “Predetermined conclusions of this kind are not typical of other Amnesty International investigations.”They accused the report of having been “motivated by a desire to support a popular narrative among Amnesty International’s target audience” that stemmed from “an atmosphere within Amnesty International of minimizing the seriousness of the October 7 massacre. It is a failure – and sometimes even a refusal – to address the Israeli victims in a personal and humane manner.”The statement said efforts by Jewish staff to raise these concerns with Amnesty International were ignored.The reported statement called for the organization to “critically reconsider the working procedures and methodologies that led to the publication of this flawed report.”The Amnesty International report has generated severe reverberations inside Amnesty Israel, with four of its nine-member board of management having resigned in recent days, according to Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister website.According to the Zman report, three of the board members resigned on the grounds that the organization’s representation of Palestinian voices is insufficient, while the fourth board member stepped down on the grounds that Israel’s perspective is not adequately represented within the organization.Amnesty Israel, at the end of its formal statement, called for five measures to be taken as a result of the current war, including international pressure to bring about a ceasefire and secure the release of “all Israeli hostages” alongside “the release of Palestinian detainees who were imprisoned without due process.”It also called for the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza to satisfy the needs of the civilian population, which many aid organizations assert is currently not being provided at a sufficient scale — Israel says it isn’t hindering aid and accuses international groups of failing to deliver it — as well as “active involvement of the international community” to resolve what it said was the root causes of violence, including “the occupation, siege, and apartheid in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967,” as well as tackling the activities of “armed actors in the region including Iran and Hezbollah.”

Sweden jails 3 over explosives planted at Israeli defense firm-Two adult defendants get jail time, while third person, who was 16 at time of attack, is sentenced to 14 months in a juvenile center-By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 4:55 pm-DEC 5,24

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A Swedish court on Thursday jailed three men for planting explosives outside an Israeli military technology firm in Gothenburg in June, the ruling said.Two insulated flasks packed with plastic explosives were found outside the offices of Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden’s second-largest city on June 4.The national bomb squad removed the objects and no damage or injuries were reported.Two men aged 24 and 17 were convicted of placing the bombs outside the building. The first defendant was jailed for seven years while the latter, who was 16 at the time, was ordered to spend one year and two months in juvenile care.The pair “together and intentionally handled two explosive devices containing 3.3 kilos (7.3 pounds) of explosives, without permission. It occurred at the place and time the prosecutor claimed,” the Gothenburg district court wrote in its ruling.The third suspect, aged 29, was found guilty of storing and handling the explosives in his home, but not of transporting them to his two accomplices as the prosecutor had claimed.He was sentenced to four years and seven months behind bars.All three defendants, who had received orders from unidentified individuals to carry out the attack, had denied the charges.The Swedish intelligence agency Sapo in late May accused Iran of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden, a claim Iran has denied.Elbit Systems was also targeted in a shooting incident by a 15-year-old on October 10, which resulted in no injuries and the teenager’s arrest, according to Swedish media.Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 when the Palestinian terror group attacked Israel killing 1,200 people, there have been several incidents targeting Israeli interests in Sweden.The Israeli embassy in Stockholm was targeted in a shooting on October 1. Sapo later said Iran may have been involved.In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the embassy compound, which the ambassador called an attempted attack.And in May, gunshots were fired outside the embassy, prompting the country to bolster security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.Prosecutor Rasmus Oman told public broadcaster SR on Thursday that several investigations involving shootings near the Israeli embassy have been closed due to lack of evidence.He said prosecutors had evidence against two 14-year-olds, but they could not be prosecuted as they were under the age of 15.There have been protests at other office of Elbit in Europe since the war started.

Syrian rebels oust regime forces from key central city of Hama, on route to Damascus-Assad’s troops retreat from strategic city, which had remained in government hands throughout entire civil war, less than a week after Islamist forces took Aleppo-By Suleiman Al-Khalidi Today, 3:25 pm-DEC 5,24

AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) — Syrian rebels ousted pro-government forces from Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major new victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.The Syrian army announced that the rebels had entered Hama after intense clashes and said it was redeploying outside the city “to preserve civilians’ lives and prevent urban combat.”Rebels said they had taken districts in the city’s northeast and had seized the central prison, freeing detainees.Al Jazeera television broadcast what it said were images of rebels inside the city, some of them meeting civilians near a roundabout while others drove in military vehicles and on mopeds.In a video shared widely on social media, rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani, of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former Al Qaeda affiliate, said his fighters had seized Hama and called for there to be “no revenge” against pro-regime civilians.The rebels took the main northern city of Aleppo last week and have since pushed south from their enclave in northwest Syria, reaching a strategic hill just north of Hama on Tuesday and advancing toward the city’s east and west flanks on Wednesday. BREAKING: The leader of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, declares the liberation of Hama city from Assad regime forces, and calls on fighters to take no revenge against pro-regime civilians. https://t.co/3iKd7znOmJ — Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) December 5, 2024-Hama had remained in government hands throughout the civil war, which erupted in 2011 as a rebellion against Assad. Its fall to a revived insurgency would send shockwaves through Damascus and its Russian and Iranian allies.The city lies more than a third of the way from Aleppo to Damascus and its capture would open the road for a rebel advance on Homs, the main central city that functions as a crossroads connecting Syria’s most populous regions.Inside Hama, the scene of an Islamist uprising that the Assad dynasty crushed in 1982, the internet was cut off and streets emptied on Wednesday according to a resident whose family remains in the city.Hama is also critical to the control of two major towns with big minority religious communities, Muhrada, home to many Christians, and Salamiya where there are many Ismaili Muslims.The return of full-blown civil war in Syria after years of frozen frontlines risks further destabilizing a region ablaze from conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.At the height of the conflict a decade ago, regional and global powers backed rival forces across the country and the chaos created space for Islamic State to seize territory that it used as a launchpad for attacks around the world.NEW – #HTS & opposition fighters are in #Hama city center. Gunfire has stopped. #Assad’s regime has confirmed withdrawal.With that, #Assad’s in real trouble. #Homs is next & its countryside is FAR more amenable to facilitating an opposition advance. pic.twitter.com/WHafQzSVgi— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) December 5, 2024Advance-The most powerful rebel faction is the Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Its leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani has pledged to protect Syria’s religious minorities and has called on them to abandon Assad, but many remain fearful of the insurgents.On Wednesday, Julani visited Aleppo’s historic citadel, a symbolic moment for rebels who were driven out of the city in 2016 after months of siege and intense fighting, their biggest defeat of the war. Aleppo was Syria’s biggest city before the war.HTS and the other rebel groups are trying to consolidate their rule in Aleppo, bringing it under the administration of the so-called Salvation Government they established in their northwestern enclave.Aleppo residents have said there are shortages of bread and fuel, and that telecoms services have been cut.The rebel forces advancing on Hama have included a Turkey-backed insurgent coalition called the Syrian National Army, which holds a strip of territory along the Syrian-Turkish frontier, rebel sources said.Turkey, which designates HTS as a terrorist organization, has long been the biggest external backer of other rebel factions and its role will be critical to the future of any enlarged insurgent region in Syria.Ankara has denied having taken part in the rebels’ sudden sweep into Aleppo last week.On the government side, Russia and Iran were crucial to Assad’s success in recovering most Syrian territory and all main cities from 2015 to 2020, and they have sworn to help him again.But Moscow has been focused on the war in Ukraine, while Iran’s most important regional ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group that for years played a critical role shoring up Assad in Syria, has suffered heavy losses to Israel in Lebanon over the past two months of a 14-month conflict that Hezbollah initiated.Russian airstrikes across rebel-held areas of northern Syria have sharply intensified over the past week. Iran-backed groups from Iraq reinforced frontlines after bringing fighters across the border on Monday, Iraqi and Syrian sources said.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Development said to pose long-term threat to US, allies-US intel: Hezbollah looking to rebuild after losing half of its weapons stockpiles-Recovery efforts began even before ceasefire, sources say; IDF strikes rocket launcher in Lebanese border town; Blinken asserts truce is holding, monitoring mechanism is working-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 12:44 pm-DEC 5,24

Hezbollah has been significantly degraded militarily by Israel since it went to war against the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, and has lost more than half its weapons stockpiles, but the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group will likely try to rebuild its arms and forces and pose a long-term threat to Israel, the US and its regional allies, four sources briefed on updated US intelligence told Reuters Wednesday.The evaluation came as Israel continued to hit what it said were Hezbollah forces violating a ceasefire that came into effect last week, while Washington said that the deal it helped broker was holding up.The ceasefire is meant to put a halt to nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that began when the group, unprovoked, started firing at Israel in solidarity with allied Palestinian terror organization Hamas amid the war in Gaza. Securing the border area to enable the return of northern residents, tens of thousands of whom were displaced by the Hezbollah attacks, has been one of Israel’s declared goals of the war.Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah all avowedly seek the destruction of Israel.US intelligence agencies assessed in recent weeks that Hezbollah, even amid Israel’s military campaign that decimated its leadership and weapons stockpile, had begun to recruit new fighters and was trying to find ways to rearm through domestic production and by smuggling materials through Syria, said a senior US official, an Israeli official and two US lawmakers briefed on the intelligence, speaking on condition of anonymity.It’s unclear to what extent those efforts have slowed since last week when Hezbollah and Israel reached the shaky ceasefire, two of the sources said. The deal specifically prohibits Hezbollah from procuring weapons or weapons parts, or maintaining a presence in southern Lebanon.In recent days, Israel has tried to undercut Hezbollah’s ability to rebuild its military forces, striking several Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon, bombing border crossings with Syria, and blocking an Iranian aircraft suspected of ferrying weapons for the group.On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said it had carried out a drone strike against a Hezbollah rocket launcher that was spotted in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun.The launcher “posed a threat to the State of Israel while violating the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said.Troops also demolished Hezbollah weapons found Wednesday in southern Lebanon’s Khiam, as-Sawana and Aitaroun, the IDF said.“The IDF is deployed in southern Lebanon and acts against any threat that endangers the State of Israel,” the army added.US intelligence agencies assess that Hezbollah is operating with limited firepower. It has lost more than half its weapons stockpiles and thousands of fighters during the conflict with Israel, reducing the overall military capacity of Tehran and its proxies to its lowest point in decades, according to the intelligence.But Hezbollah has not been destroyed. It still maintains thousands of short-range rockets in Lebanon and it will try to rebuild using weapons factories in neighboring countries with available transport routes, the sources said.One of the lawmakers said Hezbollah has been “knocked back” in the short term and had its ability to conduct command and control reduced. But the lawmaker added: “This organization is designed to be disrupted.”US officials are concerned about Hezbollah’s access to Syria, where Syrian rebels recently launched an offensive to retake government strongholds in Aleppo and Hama. Hezbollah has long used Syria as a safe haven and transport hub, taking military equipment and weapons from Iraq, through Syria and into Lebanon through the rugged border crossings.Washington is trying to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to limit Hezbollah’s operations, enlisting other countries in the region to help, a senior US official said.Reuters reported on Monday that the US and the United Arab Emirates have discussed possibly lifting sanctions on Assad if he peels himself away from Iran and cuts off weapons routes to Hezbollah.Hezbollah officials have said the group will continue to function as a “resistance” against Israel, but its secretary general Naim Qassem has not brought up the group’s weapons in recent speeches, including after the ceasefire was reached. Sources in Lebanon say Hezbollah’s priority is rebuilding homes for its constituency after Israeli strikes destroyed swaths of Lebanon’s south and the southern suburbs of Beirut where the group embedded its headquarters and stored weapons.The US National Security Council and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence declined to comment on the updated US intelligence.Training challenges-Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that Hezbollah had not been weakened by Israel’s killing of many of its leaders since January and by its ground assault against the group since early October. He said Hezbollah had been able to reorganize and fight back effectively.However, US intelligence indicates that Israel has taken out thousands of Hezbollah’s missiles in Lebanon, pushing cadres of its fighters back from the border with Israel, the sources told Reuters.While tracking the exact number of Hezbollah fighters remains a challenge, the intelligence notes that the group will likely face significant training challenges for years to come, the sources said.US officials say Hezbollah’s breakdown points to a growing gap in Iran’s military capacity and raises doubts about its ability to use its proxies to attack Israel and its other adversaries in the short term. Iran also backs Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the Houthi terror group in Yemen.In the past, had Israel considered bombing Iran, it faced the prospect of Hezbollah in Lebanon reciprocating, said a second US official, but with Hezbollah weakened, Israel can attack Iran directly without the same threat to its north.In Gaza, US intelligence indicates Hamas can only sustain small, guerrilla-style tactics after having lost at least half of its fighters in the war that began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in 251 hostages being taken to Gaza.The next day, Hezbollah began firing across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, saying it was acting in support of Hamas. The Houthis in Yemen, who also say they are supporting Gaza, continue to launch missiles and drones at Red Sea shipping, but the US has been able to intercept most. The Houthis have also directly fired drones and missiles at Israel, which have also mostly been intercepted, though one drone killed a man in Tel Aviv several months ago.The updated US intelligence — briefed to senior officials and lawmakers in recent weeks — emerges ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration. The US charged an Iranian man last month in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. Iran has rejected the accusation.During his first term in office, Trump embraced a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, imposing harsh sanctions on Tehran, its military complex, and its most lucrative economic sectors. Trump in 2018 pulled the US out of a 2015 international agreement meant to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons. In 2020 Trump was responsible for a strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.US says ceasefire holding up-Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the ceasefire in Lebanon was “holding” despite a series of incidents between Israel and Hezbollah.“The ceasefire is holding, and we’re using the mechanism that was established when any concerns have arisen about any alleged or purported violations,” Blinken told journalists on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.In addition to Hezbollah’s violations, France has accused Israel of having breached the truce by not coordinating its enforcement of the infractions with a newly announced international mechanism. Jerusalem has rejected the accusation.“I think fundamentally, both parties, that is to say Israel and Hezbollah, through the Lebanese government, wanted and continue to want the ceasefire,” said Blinken.“But we have to make sure that it’s upheld. And we’re determined to do that,” he added.A committee chaired by the US that also includes France, UN observers, Israel and Lebanon is tasked with maintaining communication between the various parties and ensuring violations are identified and dealt with to avoid any escalation.“The mechanism that we established with France to make sure that the ceasefire is effectively monitored and implemented is working, and we want to make sure it continues to work,” Blinken said.“If there are concerns that one party or the other is violating the ceasefire, it comes to us, and one way or another, we engage the parties. That’s exactly what’s happened,” he added.Lebanon Health Minister Firass Abiad said the Lebanese death toll from the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has reached 4,047, most of them since September.The figure does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The IDF estimates that some 3,500 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups have also been reported killed in Lebanon.Starting October 8, 2023, Hezbollah-led forces — unprovoked — attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis. Hezbollah then expanded its attacks to also target cities in central and northern Israel with rockets.Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern Israel near the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group. In September, Israel expanded its operations in Lebanon with the aim of enabling northern residents to return to their homes.Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 45 civilians. In addition, 76 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes, attacks on Israel, and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon.

Amnesty report accuses Israel of seeking genocide in Gaza; Jerusalem slams ‘lies’Investigation by rights group alleges Israel pursuing destruction of Palestinians via ‘slow death,’ deliberate targeting of civilians; Foreign Ministry says report ‘entirely false’By AP and ToI Staff Today, 5:13 am-DEC 5,24

CAIRO, Egypt — Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip during its war with Hamas in a new report Thursday, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.The report was swiftly denounced by Israel as based on falsehoods.The human rights group’s 296-page report claims Israel’s actions cannot be justified by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel, which ignited the war, or the presence of terror operatives in civilian areas.Amnesty said the United States and other allies of Israel could be complicit in genocide, and called on them to halt arms shipments.“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” Amnesty International chief Agnès Callamard said in the report.Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.”It is challenging such allegations at the International Court of Justice, and it has rejected the International Criminal Court’s accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes in Gaza.“The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Israel accused Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate Israel, of carrying out a genocidal massacre in the attack that triggered the war, and said it is defending itself in accordance with international law.The war in Gaza was sparked by the October 7, 2023, attack, which saw thousands of Hamas-led terrorists storm into southern Israel and rampage through communities, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking 251 captive, while carrying out various atrocities aimed at civilians, such as rape and torture. Nearly 100 people kidnapped during the attack, including elderly men and small babies, remain hostage, many of them no longer alive.While the report contains several pages of recommendations for the international community to pressure Israel, including immediately ending any security assistance to the country, Amnesty does not recommend that global actors pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages it kidnapped on October 7.A statement from Amnesty accompanying the report urged the release of only civilian hostages kidnapped from Israel.The Amnesty report joins a growing roster of accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza — which would put it in the company of some of the deadliest conflicts of the past 80 years, including campaigns in Cambodia, Sudan and Rwanda that wiped out millions.According to Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Strip, some 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the war began, though the toll does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.Israel, which maintains it takes pains to avoid harm to civilians in line with international law, says its military has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Neither toll can be verified independently.The genocide accusations have largely come from human rights groups and allies of the Palestinians. But last month, Pope Francis called for an investigation to determine whether Israeli actions amounted to genocide, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who has signaled readiness to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, accused it of committing genocide.Israel says it is at war with Hamas, not the people of Gaza. And key allies, including the US and Germany, have also pushed back against the genocide allegations.But Amnesty accused Israel of violating the 1951 Genocide Convention through acts it says are intended to bring about the physical destruction of Gaza’s Palestinian population by exposing them to “a slow, calculated death.”Amnesty said it analyzed the overall pattern of Israel’s conduct in Gaza between Oct. 7, 2023, and early July. It noted that there is no casualty threshold in proving the international crime of genocide, which is defined by the United Nations as acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.To establish intent, Amnesty said it reviewed over 100 statements by Israeli government and military officials and others since the start of the war that “dehumanized Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them.”Israeli officials have previously said that such statements were taken out of context or referred to their stated goal of destroying Hamas, not Palestinian civilians.Israel says it goes to great lengths to protect civilians and comply with international law — including ordering civilians to evacuate areas ahead of airstrikes and ground offensives. It also says it has facilitated the deliveries of large quantities of food and humanitarian supplies — a claim that is disputed by the UN and aid organizations working inside Gaza.Amnesty said it found that Israel “deliberately inflicted conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction.” Those actions included the destruction of homes, farms, hospitals and water facilities; mass evacuation orders; and the restriction of humanitarian aid and other essential services.It also analyzed 15 airstrikes from the start of the war until April that killed at least 334 civilians, including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of other people. It said it found no evidence that any of the strikes were directed at military objectives.It said one of the strikes destroyed the Abdelal family home in the southern city of Rafah on April 20, killing three generations of Palestinians, including 16 children, while they were sleeping.An Associated Press investigation identified at least 60 families in which at least 25 members had been killed.Amnesty has previously angered Israel by joining other major rights groups in accusing it of the international crime of apartheid, saying that for decades it has systematically denied Palestinians basic rights in the territories under its control. Israel has also denied those allegations.Responding to the report, pro-Israel watchdog NGO Monitor accused Amnesty of pursuing an antisemitic agenda seeking Israel’s annihilation.“Amnesty’s report and recommendations… are not a credible, unbiased, carefully considered analysis of the complex circumstances inherent in the Gaza conflict,” the group said.Israel says it only targets combatants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its operatives fight in dense, residential areas and have built tunnels and other military infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.It blames the lack of humanitarian aid on United Nations agencies, accusing them of not delivering hundreds of truckloads of aid that have been allowed in. The UN says it is often too dangerous to retrieve and deliver the aid. It blames Israel as the occupying power for the breakdown of law and order — which has enabled armed groups to steal aid convoys — while also accusing it of heavily restricting movement within the territory.Israel says members of Hamas, the terror group that rules the Strip, have stolen much of the aid sent in for civilians. Israel pulled out all its military forces and civilians from Gaza in 2005.The offensive against Hamas has left vast areas of the besieged coastal territory in ruins and displaced some 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to cram into squalid tent camps with little in the way of food, water or toilets.Israel says it must control Gaza’s borders to be able to inspect goods going into the enclave in order to ensure shipments do not contain arms or other banned materials that Hamas could use to rebuild its military with.Aid groups say the restrictions put the population at risk of disease and malnutrition, especially as winter sets in. Experts have warned of famine in northern Gaza, which Israel has almost completely sealed off since launching a major military operation there in early October against Hamas operatives attempting to regroup.The United States, which has provided crucial military aid to Israel and shielded it from international criticism, has repeatedly appealed to Israel to facilitate more aid, with limited results.The Biden administration said in May that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza at times likely violated international humanitarian law but that the evidence was incomplete.FM Sa'ar tells Blinken there's an opportunity to reach deal-Israeli official:

Egypt has proposed hostage deal with extended truce, not end to war-Official says Israel open to discussing outline that has been handed to Hamas, in which ‘humanitarian’ category of hostages would be released, reportedly over 60 days-By Lazar Berman-5 December 2024, 6:46 pm-A recent Egyptian hostage deal proposal passed on to Hamas offered an extended ceasefire during which hostages in the “humanitarian” category would be released, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Thursday, as mediators launched a flurry of activity to reach an agreement to end the 14-month war.

The updated hostage deal proposal given to Hamas by Egypt was not an Israeli offer as previously reported by the Axios news site, the official said, but was instead a proposal made by Cairo that Israel is fully open to discussing.The official noted that the proposal is not for an end to the war, but an extended ceasefire that will allow the elderly, children, women, ill and badly wounded hostages to be released. The number of living hostages in these groups is today understood to be fewer than the 33 that was previously discussed in talks over past months.Hamas still has not indicated whether it is willing to discuss the proposal, but if it is, Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to negotiate, the official said.Hamas has until now repeatedly refused agreements that do not include a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Hebrew media reports said Thursday that Hamas may be willing to show flexibility on these demands, though it has given no publication indication of this.Israel is interested in Egypt remaining at the center of the talks, said the official, adding that Qatar remains updated behind the scenes and will want to take full part in mediation if there is progress. “Turkey has no role,” the official said, contradicting earlier reports.Qatar announced last month it was suspending its role until the two parties show “willingness and seriousness” to resume talks. Steve Witkoff, US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, traveled to Qatar and Israel this week in order to kickstart efforts, while a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel that Doha had quietly resumed its role as a mediator.A US official said Biden’s aides were aware of Witkoff’s meetings and understood that Witkoff supports a Gaza deal along the lines the administration has been pursuing, but did not see a need to coordinate with him.The Israeli official who spoke to The Times of Israel noted that Trump’s threat this week to punish those responsible if the hostages aren’t released before his inauguration should have a positive effect on attempts to reach a deal: “Hamas takes it seriously, especially now that they are isolated in the campaign.”Israel is speaking to both the Biden administration and the Trump team about the hostages, said the official, but won’t say whether Trump’s Truth Social post was coordinated with Israel. “They hear our claims, and we see eye to eye with them on the need to apply pressure on Hamas,” was all the official would offer.Israel has begun applying more military pressure on Hamas in Gaza in recent days, the official said.War was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists swarmed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251.First phase of proposal reportedly to last 60 days-The recent proposal handed to Hamas is similar to the phased plan under discussion in August but now is focused primarily on getting the first phase done. Hamas has also shown a new openness to a partial deal, two Israeli officials told Axios Wednesday.In the updated proposal, Israel is now willing to entertain the option of a ceasefire that would last up to 60 days, whereas previously the first stage was only 42 days. During the ceasefire, Axios reported, living female hostages, all living men over 50, and those with serious medical conditions would be released. Israel had been demanding 33 living hostages from these groups, but believes there are not that many alive in those categories anymore.Israel is still willing to release hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, including some serving life sentences for deadly terror attacks.According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior ministers and security chiefs approved the proposal on Sunday and then passed it to the Egyptians, who presented it to Hamas in Cairo on Monday and Tuesday.Meanwhile, Massad Boulos — selected as Donald Trump’s Middle East adviser — told the French Le Point outlet Tuesday that “both sides have agreed on the broad outlines of an agreement.”“The war is practically over,” he said. “There is practically no more significant military activity. The only issue that remains is the hostages, and the parties have already agreed on several occasions on an exchange between hostages and Palestinian prisoners.”“The main lines of the agreement have already been established and there are only very small details to be settled on a few names,” Boulos said, “the number of people released [on the Palestinian side] and the period over which the exchanges should take place.”Optimism was also sounded Thursday by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in Malta that there is an opportunity to advance a dealAccording to his office, Sa’ar stressed that Israel was serious about reaching a deal, sticking to the message he offered other foreign ministers at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting.Ninety-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.Agencies, Jacob Magid and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

AnalysisArab official: PA's openness to Trump plan will prove decisive-Trump nominations set stage for fresh clash between annexation, normalization backers-US president-elect returns to office with plans to expand Abraham Accords, but those pushing for Israel to annex West Bank are still bullish about doing so over next four years-By Jacob Magid-Today, 6:31 am-DEC 6,24

Donald Trump’s election victory was celebrated by settler leaders who viewed his ascent as an opportunity for Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank.“I call on the prime minister and the government of Israel to immediately [expand] construction throughout Judea and Samaria while applying sovereignty to the half a million Jews living here,” said Yochai Damri, the head of the Har Hebron Regional Council in the southern West Bank.“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a historic opportunity before him to… to cancel all of these freezes on construction and maybe we can even finally apply sovereignty [to the West Bank],” added Yossi Dagan who heads the Samaria Regional Council in the northern West Bank.Those statements were issued after Trump’s first election victory in 2016.The next four years saw an unprecedented boom in settlement construction. However, efforts to annex those settlements were put on hold as a result of the Trump administration’s brokering of the Abraham Accords in 2020. The United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Israel shelving its annexation plans for four years.With Trump set to return to office as that deadline expires, proponents of annexation are again confident that their time has come.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich predicted that 2025 will be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria” and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared that now is “the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory, the time to legislate death penalty for terrorists law,” and many other pieces of legislation that he opined Trump would not oppose.The far-right was further emboldened when Trump tapped former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel, in one of his first nominations in the week after the election. A longtime advocate of the settlement movement, Huckabee said last month that Trump could support Israel annexing the West Bank.However, he added an important caveat: “I won’t make the policy, I will carry out the policy of the president.”Trump has not weighed in on the issue of annexation, but he has made clear that he would like to pick up where he left off with the Abraham Accords. “If I win, that will be an absolute priority,” he said in an October interview.Earlier this week, Trump announced that his son-in-law’s father Massad Boulos would serve as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs. The Lebanese-American businessman will work together with Trump’s other Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to advance the Abraham Accords; Boulos will prioritize ties with Arab countries, while Witkoff will work more directly with Israel, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.In a Wednesday interview with the French weekly Le Point, Boulos said the Trump administration would start by focusing on a deal with Saudi Arabia. “Because we know very well, and the president has said so, that once we reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia and Israel, there will be at least twelve Arab countries that will be immediately ready to follow suit.”The Biden administration sought to broker that same deal but was thrown off course by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and the war in Gaza that followed. Riyadh has put negotiations on hold while raising the price of the Palestinian component of the deal from more modest steps to boost the prospects for a two-state solution to the full-fledged establishment of a Palestinian state.Even if Riyadh backs off from the demand when Trump is back in office, two senior Arab officials told The Times of Israel that Riyadh will not accept anything less than what the UAE received from Israel in 2020 regarding annexation.Boulos acknowledged the Palestinian issue would be part of US negotiations with Saudi Arabia.“I think the issue of a road map that would lead to a Palestinian state is an important part of the discussions between the United States and Saudi Arabia… But it is important to remember that Saudi Arabia is not demanding the creation of a Palestinian state today. Rather, it is asking for a vision and a road map for it — that’s all,” Boulos told Le Point.He then pointed to Trump’s 2020 peace plan, which also envisioned the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state, indicating that the president-elect still endorses the concept.Trump’s former Iran envoy Brian Hook, who is leading the administration’s State Department transition team, said as much in an interview last month, while acknowledging that Israel’s appetite for a two-state solution has even lessened since October 7.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the plan with reservations after appearing alongside Trump at the White House for the proposal’s unveiling, while settler leaders fumed over its inclusion of a roadmap for Palestinian statehood.The Palestinian Authority was even quicker to reject the Trump proposal, which as a starting point for negotiations offered a map that allowed Israel to retain all of its settlements while offering the Palestinians a capital outside of Jerusalem.A senior Palestinian official told The Times of Israel that Ramallah has “learned its lessons” regarding how to work with the Trump administration after severing ties in 2017 when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Abbas has resumed contact with Trump, and the two held a “very warm” call last month, the Palestinian official said.Asked if Abbas would be prepared to accept the Trump peace plan as a starting point for negotiations, the senior Palestinian official did not rule out the possibility.Refusal to do so could lead the next administration to move forward with a Saudi normalization deal that offers very little to the Palestinians, while Trump heeds calls from aides to back Israeli annexation of the West Bank, one of the senior Arab officials warned.As for whether Trump will end up prioritizing a Saudi normalization deal over supporting Israeli annexation of the West Bank, the Arab diplomat acknowledged that his guess was as good as anyone’s.“People are trying to read into every appointment, but at the end of the day, it will be President Trump who makes the decision, and predictable he is not,” the diplomat added.Pressed on whether the Trump administration will back annexation, Boulos told Le Point that a policy on the matter was still being crafted. “What I can tell you is that starting January 20th, there will be a very clear and very specific policy on this subject, which we will all have to respect.”

Smotrich said to tell Civil Administration of ‘great opportunity’ to annex West Bank-Report says minister expressed hope that gov’t will ‘create full normalization’ of Israeli rule during Trump’s tenure by shuttering the Defense Ministry body that manages the area-By ToI Staff Today, 1:40 am-DEC 6,24

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently told workers of the the Defense Ministry body in charge of Israeli and Palestinian civil affairs in the West Bank that he hopes to shut down the department as part of an envisioned Israeli annexation of the area, Hebrew media reported Thursday.The report comes as settlers and far-right lawmakers have become hopeful that US President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-Israel appointments — among them his intended ambassador, Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has said the West Bank is not under occupation and prefers the term “communities” to “settlements” — will help fulfill their dream of full Israeli control over the West Bank.“I hope we’ll have a great opportunity with the new US administration to create full normalization [of Israeli rule] and bring government ministries in here,” he was quoted by the Ynet news site as telling Civil Administration officials.“There will be an orderly process, and we’re working now on solidifying the administrative work and putting the plan on the table.”He added: “This is a serious statement, I’ve spoken with the prime minister about it and we are taking it very, very seriously. I also spoke with the designated ambassador to Washington, Dr. Yechiel Leiter. We are trying to create a real process here. There is a lot of work involved, but this was once an impossible reality, and we can make it a reality.”Leiter is a former settler leader who has advocated for annexing large parts of the West Bank and against the establishment of a Palestinian state.Applying sovereignty would likely entail annexing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and extending Israeli civil law to their residents. Since capturing the West Bank during the 1967 Six Day War, the entire territory has remained under military, rather than civil, rule.Smotrich said in November that the incoming Trump administration provides Israel with the opportunity to advance the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, citing the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and the decision to declare that Israel’s West Bank settlements were consistent with international law during Trump’s first term.However, it is by no means certain Trump will give backing to a move that puts at risk Washington’s strategic ambition of a wider deal under the Abraham Accords to normalize Israel’s ties with Saudi Arabia, which, like most countries in the world, rejects Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.At least two officials in Trump’s previous administration have warned senior Israeli ministers not to assume that the president-elect will support Israel annexing the West Bank in his second term, three sources familiar with the conversations told The Times of Israel last month.While Trump did present a peace plan in 2020 that envisioned Israel annexing all of its settlements, the proposal still allowed for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the remaining areas of the West Bank.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the proposal with reservations at the time, while Smotrich and many of the settler leaders came out against the Trump plan.Earlier this year, The New York Times cited recordings in which Smotrich described a “mega-dramatic” plan to transfer authority over the West Bank from the military to civilians under his authority in the Defense Ministry, where he was handed broad powers as demanded in his Religious Zionism party’s coalition deal with Netanyahu’s Likud.Jacob Magid and Agencies contributed to this report.

Israel’s defense chiefs discuss Syria fighting as rebel advance said to exceed expectations-Official says it’s in Jerusalem’s interest both sides fight, weaken each other, stresses Israel not getting involved; Hezbollah chief vows terror group to stand by Assad regimeBy Emanuel Fabian-and AFP 5 December 2024, 10:32 pm

Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment on developments in Syria as jihadist rebels rapidly advanced through parts of the country, the military said Thursday.The meeting came as the rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the key central city of Hama, a little more than a week after they launched their offensive just as a ceasefire took hold between Israel and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.The military assessment was held with the IDF General Staff Forum, the military’s top brass.“The IDF is following events and is preparing for any scenario in attack and defense,” the military said.“The IDF will not allow a threat near the Syrian-Israeli border and will act to thwart any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel,” it added.Amid the growing concern, two senior Israeli officials told the Axios news site that the collapse of regime defense lines happened faster than expected in the past 24 hours.The city lies more than a third of the way from Aleppo to Damascus and its capture would open the road for a rebel advance on Homs, the main central city that functions as a crossroads connecting Syria’s most populous regions.According to Axios, a security cabinet meeting set for later Thursday will mainly focus on the rapid advance of the rebels.A US official who also spoke to the site said that Israel has expressed concern to Washington over both a potential radical Islamist takeover of Syria and the increased presence of Iranian forces in the country to back Assad.Israel’s interest in the renewed fighting in Syria is “that they continue fighting one another,” an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.“It’s entirely clear to us that one side is Salafi jihadists and the other side is Iran and Hezbollah,” the official continued. “We want them to weaken one another.”The official stressed that Israel is not getting involved on either side. “We are prepared for any scenario, and we will act accordingly.”Until last week, the war in Syria had been mostly dormant for years, but analysts have said the violence was bound to flare up as it was never truly resolved.HTS is rooted in Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch.The group has sought to moderate its image in recent years, but experts say it faces a challenge convincing Western governments it has fully renounced hardline jihadism.Hezbollah chief vows to stand by Assad regime-Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Thursday that his Iran-backed terror group would be by Damascus’s side amid the offensive.In a televised address, Qassem denounced “terrorist groups” who want to “destroy Syria again… to bring down the regime” and “create chaos.”“They will not be able to achieve their goals despite what they have done in past days, and we as Hezbollah will be by Syria’s side in thwarting the goals of this aggression as much as we can,” Qassem said.He did not elaborate on what sort of support his group might provide, but Hezbollah suffered heavy losses in the war it initiated with Israel which ended with a fragile ceasefire on November 27, the day the Syrian rebels launched their offensive.Hezbollah began its cross-border attacks in support of Hamas amid the Palestinian terror group’s war with Israel.Qassem accused the United States and Israel of supporting “takfiri” factions, a term the Shiite Muslim group uses to refer to jihadists or supporters of radical Sunni Islam.Hezbollah has openly backed Assad’s forces since 2013.Hezbollah fighters helped Assad regain territory lost earlier in the civil war which broke out in 2011 after the repression of anti-government protests.

Palestinians say 20 killed in strike in humanitarian zone-IDF says top commander in Hamas internal security forces killed in south Gaza airstrike-More than 18,000 Palestinian civilians said evacuated from Beit Lahiya in the past day as troops raided shelters, detaining some 100 terror suspects-By Emanuel Fabian-and Agencies 5 December 2024, 9:54 pm

An Israeli strike on Wednesday night in the southern Gaza Strip killed several Hamas operatives, including a top commander in the terror group’s internal security forces, the military said on Thursday.Palestinian media reported that some 20 people were killed in the strike in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Khan Younis area, along with at least 19 others in other strikes across the Strip.The IDF said it took numerous steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using a precision munition, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.The military said that the Hamas commander, Osama Ghanim, was involved in “activity to suppress the citizens of Gaza and was responsible for detecting threats against Hamas from within the Strip.“Ghanim held a key role in implementing Hamas’s brutal methods, which included conducting harsh civilian interrogations while violating human rights, suppressing residents suspected of opposing Hamas, and persecuting civilians from the LGBTQ+ community,” the IDF said.Following the strike, the IDF said it had identified secondary blasts, indicating the presence of weapons in the area. Palestinian media published footage purportedly showing the strike. Gaza medics said the 20 killed in the strike included women and children, though these accounts could not be independently verified.Palestinians said the strike set several large tents ablaze and exploding cooking gas canisters and burning furniture fueled the fire. The area was strewn with charred clothing, mattresses, and other belongings among the twisted frames of burnt-out shelters, according to the accounts.Some 2 million Palestinians of the 2.3 million Gazan population are residing in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone,” according to IDF assessments. The zone is located in the al-Mawasi area on the southern Strip’s coast, western neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.Also Thursday, Army Radio reported that some 18,000 Palestinian civilians have been evacuated from Beit Lahiya in the past day. Before entering the town last month, the IDF estimated that only a few thousand Palestinians were residing there.During the population’s evacuation from several shelters in the combat zone, troops detained around 100 suspected terror operatives who were taken to Israel for questioning, according to the report.The military has previously denied it is seeking to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza, saying that “the IDF’s warnings to members of the civilian population to temporarily distance themselves from areas expected to be exposed to intense warfare are made in accordance with the obligation under international law to take feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm by providing advance warnings prior to attacks. The IDF only operates in areas in which there is known to be a military presence, and is still at this time working to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure in various parts throughout the Gaza Strip.”Troops killed some 20 terror operatives during fighting in Beit Lahiya in the past day, Army Radio reported, a relatively low figure compared to recent weeks, as the fighting in the area has become less intense.The incidents came amid a renewed push to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened this week to punish those responsible if abductees kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group for over a year aren’t released before his inauguration.An Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Thursday that a recent Egyptian hostage deal proposal passed on to Hamas offered an extended ceasefire during which hostages in the “humanitarian” category would be released.Hamas has until now repeatedly refused agreements that do not include a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and a permanent end to the war, which was sparked when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.It also came as Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza during its war with Hamas in a new report, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.The report was swiftly denounced by Israel as based on falsehoods. It was also rejected by Amnesty Israel, the local branch of the Amnesty International organization, with some members accusing the authors of reaching a “predetermined conclusion.”Meanwhile on Thursday, Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in the north of the enclave, said a 16-year-old boy who used a wheelchair was killed and several people, including medics, were wounded by Israeli drone fire against the medical facility.There was no comment from the IDF on Abu Safiya’s account. The health ministry said the three hospitals that are barely operational in northern Gaza have come under repeated attack since the IDF launched an offensive against Hamas in the Strip’s far northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun in early September.So far, the military estimates that it has killed at least 1,750 operatives during the operation, while another 1,300 have been detained, and around 90,000 civilians evacuated from the area.Thirty-one IDF soldiers have been killed so far in the operation.Elsewhere in Gaza, medics in Gaza City said an Israeli attack destroyed a house where an extended family had taken shelter and damaged two nearby homes, killing at least three people.In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians on Thursday, and three others in a separate airstrike in Shejaia, in eastern Gaza City.There was no immediate IDF comment on those strikes.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 44,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 382. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

More combat engineers, mechanized infantry: IDF Ground Forces lays out future plans-Drawing on lessons from the latest conflicts, the military begins to arm female surveillance soldiers, move their war rooms away from borders; infantry to get explosives training-By Emanuel Fabian-5 December 2024, 7:02 pm

After 14 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces’ Ground Forces on Thursday laid out a series of changes it was seeking to implement to face current and future challenges, from expanding its combat engineering forces to giving infantry troops more independence.Amid the war, top IDF officials have repeatedly said that the military needs to grow in size, though they have never specified exactly where.According to the Ground Forces, its top priority is establishing a new standing army Combat Engineering Corps battalion. Currently, the military only has four combat engineering battalions in the standing army, but more than a dozen in reserves.Combat engineers have operated intensively during the war, demolishing hundreds of kilometers worth of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group in the Gaza Strip, as well as Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon.Their intensive activity amid the war has brought top officers to the realization that there needs to be more combat engineers readily available in the standing army.With the same thinking, the Ground Forces also plans to expand the size of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, which has also been used constantly during the war for special operations in Hamas tunnels in Gaza.In addition to the new combat engineering battalion and expanding Yahalom, the Ground Forces said it would also begin to train infantry forces to carry out simple explosive-related engineering tasks, to free up the combat engineers.The Ground Forces also seeks to train all of the IDF’s infantry forces to use armored vehicles and become mechanized infantry brigades. Currently, only the Givati and Golani brigades are considered mechanized infantry, while the Nahal Brigade is in the process of adopting more advanced armored personnel carriers.Infantry units amid the war have largely lacked their own mobility units. Therefore the Ground Forces also plans to provide them with Humvees and light armored vehicles, in addition to the APCs.In terms of women in the Ground Forces, the IDF said that in 2023, some 7,000 female soldiers served in combat roles, and each year around 1,600 new female fighters are drafted. The IDF has been opening up new combat units for young women joining the army in recent years.A pilot program in Yahalom, where there is an active all-female team and another team in training, will end in July 2025. Another pilot for women to serve in infantry mobility units began in November, and there are plans for a pilot program for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps starting in November 2025.Additional changes the Ground Forces was working to implement were moving the Combat Intelligence Collection Array’s command centers away from the country’s borders and providing the female surveillance soldiers with weapons.Female surveillance soldiers, referred to in Hebrew as tatzpitaniyot, have been positioned very close to Israel’s borders with the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. On October 7, the Nahal Oz base next to Gaza, where one such command center is based, was overrun by terrorists who killed and kidnapped over 20 surveillance soldiers. The female soldiers, aside from the commanders, were mostly unarmed.The Ground Forces said that in the coming months, all of the tatzpitaniyot will have weapons, and in the coming years all the command centers will be moved back from the borders.The Ground Forces seeks to achieve bringing all the reservist units up to the same level as the standing army, in terms of their equipment. Many reserve armored brigades are using older Merkava tanks without active defense systems. Those tanks will undergo upgrades to retrofit them with more advanced systems, including active defenses that are featured in the latest models.The Ground Forces is also establishing two new divisions and a new brigade for ultra-Orthodox soldiers.One division, known as the Eastern Division will be tasked with Israel’s border with Jordan.The second, known as the 96th Division, will be a light infantry force based on volunteer reservists for patrol and routine security during periods of escalation across the country.Meanwhile, the army’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, will receive its first company of ultra-Orthodox men later this month.