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)
THE PEDOPHILES HAMAS,ISLAM CLAIME ISRAELS GONNA GENOCIDE THEM. I SAY
ISRAEL BETTER SEND EVERY HAMAS COWARDS OF SATAN TO HELL FIRE FOREVER.
ITS TIME TO GET A SMALL NUKE IN PLAY IN GAZA AND THE WESTBANK.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
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.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
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 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 MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
GODS PROMISED LAND FOR ISRAEL.
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.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU
DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE
FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF
- HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also
gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of
Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my
heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted
my land.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the
prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be
with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27
And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many
for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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)
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.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
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.
ISAIAH 66:7-8
A Nation Born in a Day
7 Before she was in labor, she gave birth.Before her pain came, she delivered a male child.
8
Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be
born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as
Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
Isaiah 2:19
19
Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground
(BUNKERS,UNDER GROUND TUNNELS) Before the terror of the Lord , And the
splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth
tremble.(EARTHQUES,NUKES)
JOB 30:6
6 They are living on the slopes of the wadis,among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(TUNNELS, BUNKERS)
DR DOCTORION-ANGEL OF THE MIDEAST
"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.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be
earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles:
these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great
earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME)
and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall
there be from heaven.
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) have shed the blood of saints
and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are
worthy.
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.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
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)
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 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
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.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3
For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they
shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a
snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(NEW YORK) and thou
wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast
striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK ON NEW YORK)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15
For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots
like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with
flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
THESE
STUPID EUROPEAN AND ARAB,MUSLIM,WESTERN NUTJOB CONTRIES THAT WANNA STOP
ISRAEL FROM SENDING THESE PEDOPHILES HAMAS, ARABS TO HELL FIRE
FOREVER.ARE THESE LOSERS THAT SUCK HOLE UP TO DEATH CULTISTS INSTEAD OF
MORAL ISRAEL. USE WILL PAY IN WW3, YOU LOSERS. USE ARE IN THE HISTORY
BOOKS. ONCE AND FOR ALL. EARTHQUAKES, HURRACANES, TORNADOS, VOLCANOS,
WILD FIRES, THE SUN 200 DEGREES HOT, METEORS HITTING THE EARTH. GIANT
SINK HOLES AND FINALLY HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE FROM ATOMIC NUCLEAR
BOMBS. YOU THINK HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI WERE BAD. THAT WAS JUST A STICK
OF DYNAMITE, COMPARED TO WHAT GOD IS GONNA LET THESE SINNERS OF THE
EARTH GET DONE TO THEM BY NUKES.
ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY
672-Homepage-European and Arab nations slam cabinet decision-In major
shift, Germany suspends arms exports to Israel over Gaza City takeover
plan-Israel’s second-largest arms supplier to stop sales until further
notice, chancellor says; Vance: US has ‘some disagreement’ about
Israel’s war strategy, but aligned on objectives-By Agencies, ToI Staff,
Jacob Magid-and Nurit Yohanan-Today, 6:28 pm-AUG 8,25
Germany
vowed Friday to suspend sales of arms to Israel that could be used in
Gaza, as European and Arab nations slammed the cabinet’s decision to
conquer Gaza City after 22 months of war against Hamas.The cabinet
decision bucked IDF warnings that the expanded fighting could endanger
the remaining hostages in Gaza and deepen the humanitarian disaster
there.The planned Gaza City takeover has sparked fierce domestic
criticism from the Israeli opposition and hostage families, as well as
international condemnations from the United Nations, China, Russia,
Britain and other countries.While US President Donald Trump said earlier
this week that it was up for Israel to decide whether or not to occupy
all of Gaza, US Vice President JD Vance admitted Friday after the
cabinet decision that Washington has “some disagreement” with Jerusalem
regarding the latter’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, even though the
US shares Jerusalem’s objectives.Asked by reporters during a visit to
the UK about the Israeli cabinet’s decision, Vance began by saying that
the administration’s two main goals are ensuring that Hamas cannot
continue to attack innocent people and solving the humanitarian crisis
in Gaza.“There are a lot of common objectives here. There is some
disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives,”
Vance says.“We’re not going to know exactly how to solve a very
complicated problem… If it was easy to bring peace to that region of the
world, it would have been done already,” the US vice president
added.Pressed on whether the US agrees with the UK plan to recognize a
Palestinian state, Vance indicated that the UK has the right to make its
own decision on the matter. However, he reiterated that the US will not
be following suit.“I don’t know what it would mean to recognize a
Palestinian state given the lack of a functional government there,” he
says.Meanwhile, in a major change of course for Berlin, German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “the German government will not approve
any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip
until further notice.”Merz, whose country is Israel’s second-biggest
arms supplier after the United States, acknowledged Israel’s right to
disarm Hamas and seek the release of the remaining 50 hostages, but said
Israel’s decision “makes it increasingly difficult to see how these
goals can be achieved.”The release of hostages and ceasefire
negotiations were Germany’s top priorities, along with alleviating
civilian suffering in Gaza, said Merz. He also urged the Israeli
government not to take any further steps towards annexing parts of the
West Bank.Merz held a phone call with Netanyahu on Friday during which
the latter expressed his disappointment over the German decision,
according to an Israeli readout.Employing the argument Israeli officials
make in response to most international criticism of its prosecution of
the warm Netanyahu said Germany was “rewarding Hamas
terrorism.”Netanyahu also insisted that Israel’s goal is not to take
over Gaza isn’t to permanently take over Gaza, rather to remove Hamas
from power so that “a peaceful government to be established there,” the
readout from his office said.Germany’s steadfast and long-standing
support for Israel following the Holocaust has been badly strained by
Gaza’s mounting death toll and humanitarian crisis, which have prompted
demands from the German public for government action.According to the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany provided 30%
of Israel’s major arms imports in 2019-2023, primarily naval equipment,
including Sa’ar 6-class frigates (MEKO A-100 Light Frigates), which have
been used in the Gaza war.As international uproar mounted, Netanyahu
posted a tweet in English, declaring, “We are not going to occupy Gaza –
we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.”While Netanyahu and other Israeli
officials for weeks have indeed been using the word “occupy” to
describe their plans, the cabinet decision passed on Friday morning
indeed did not use that term.It instead described to a “take over,” due
to legal reasons pertaining to Israel’s responsibility for civilian
matters in Gaza, according to the Ynet news site. The outlet added,
however, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, that this
distinction was superficial, and the decision in fact relates to full
military rule. The conquest would stop if a hostage deal is clinched,
according to the report.Moreover, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir
reportedly argued during the cabinet meeting that the operation risks
placing Israel under responsibility for providing services for the
entire Palestinian population in Gaza. To date, Israel has argued that
the UN and aid organizations are responsible for providing services, as
it does not have effective control over Gaza’s territory, but this could
change once Israel adds Gaza City to the territory it has conquered in
the Strip.‘Must be reconsidered’European nations also assailed the
decision to take over Gaza City, as European Union chief Ursula von der
Leyen urged Israel to reconsider.“The Israeli government’s decision to
further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered,”
said von der Leyen on X, calling for a ceasefire, the release of all
hostages and “immediate and unhindered access” for humanitarian aid in
Gaza.Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot summoned Israeli ambassador
Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, Belgium’s foreign ministry said Friday.In a
statement, the ministry said Belgium wants to “express (its) total
disapproval of this decision, but also the continued colonization…and
the desire to annex the West Bank,” adding that it will “vigorously
advocate” for a reversal of Israel’s decision.Danish Foreign Minister
Lars Lokke Rasmussen also told Denmark’s TV2 on Friday that the Israeli
decision was wrong and should immediately be reversed, while Dutch
Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said the plan to intensify operations
in Gaza was “a wrong move.”“The plan of the Netanyahu government to
intensify Israeli operations in Gaza is a wrong move,” Velkamp said in a
statement on X. “The (Gaza) humanitarian situation is catastrophic and
demands immediate improvement. This decision in no way contributes to
this and will also not help to get the hostages home.”Russian deputy
ambassador to the United Nations also conveyed Moscow’s opposition to
the Israeli plans, saying at a press briefing at the UN headquarters in
New York that “We think that this is a very bad step in an absolutely
wrong direction, and we condemn this kind of action.”The actions “run
counter to all the UN decisions on the Palestine-Israeli conflict,” he
said, according to comments carried by Turkish state news agency
Anadolu.Abbas speaks with Arab leaders amid regional anger at
Israel-Saudi Arabia on Friday rejected Israel’s plan to take over Gaza
City, lambasting it for the “starvation” and “ethnic cleansing” of
Palestinians in the blockaded territory.Riyadh said it “condemns in the
strongest and most forceful terms the decision of the Israeli occupation
authorities to occupy the Gaza Strip,” in a foreign ministry statement
on X.It added that Saudi Arabia “categorically condemns its persistence
in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices and ethnic
cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people.” Israel denies
creating starvation conditions in the Gaza Strip and accuses the UN and
Hamas of impeding the distribution of aid.Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas called for international action to stop what he
said were Israel’s “dangerous” plans to “fully occupy the Gaza Strip,”
according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.Abbas reiterated the
message in phone calls Friday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi and with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, WAFA reported. The
Egyptian foreign ministry and the Hashemite royal court both later
issued statements affirming their rejection of Israel’s plans.Egypt has
warned in a message to the US that the Israeli proposal would lead to
Hamas executing Israeli hostages it is holding, according to an Egyptian
diplomat cited by Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.According to the report,
Hamas and the other terror groups holding the hostages “have orders to
‘neutralize’ them if their captors come under siege and are unable to
escape alive.”The report also stated that senior Egyptian officials have
demanded an urgent return to the negotiating table between Israel and
Hamas regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, and that Sissi has requested to be
in direct contact on the matter with US President Donald Trump.Hamas on
Friday demanded that the United States and international courts stop
Israel from carrying out its planned takeover.The terror group said
Israel’s plans were proof that Netanyahu and his government disregard
the lives of the hostages, as the government knows that expanding the
military operation “will lead to their sacrifice.”According to the
statement, Israel’s decision explained why the country last month
abruptly withdrew its negotiators from ceasefire-hostage talks, which
Hamas said were “on the verge of reaching a ceasefire agreement.”Israel
and the US pulled their negotiating teams from Doha late last month
after Hamas requested amendments to a partial ceasefire and hostage
release deal that the two countries found unacceptable.
Iraq
divided over future of pro-Iran armed alliance-Legislation that would
further formalize role and autonomy of a powerful coalition of pro-Iran
former paramilitaries is sparking heated debate in Baghdad, fanned in
part by US pressure-By AFP Today, 5:47 pm-AUG 8,25
BAGHDAD — A
bill in Iraq that would further formalize the role — and perhaps, the
autonomy — of a powerful coalition of pro-Iran former paramilitaries has
sparked a heated debate, fanned in part by US pressure.Few details of
the bill that could decide the future of the Hashed al-Shaabi alliance
have been made public.Formed in 2014 when Iraqis were urged to take up
arms against the jihadists of the Islamic State group, the Hashed is a
powerful force with major military and political clout.The bill aims at
regulating and restructuring the alliance of a myriad of armed groups,
which together have more than 200,000 fighters and employees.Not mincing
words, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the proposed
legislation “would institutionalize Iranian influence and armed
terrorist groups undermining Iraq’s sovereignty.”An Iraqi government
official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said opponents of
the bill say it “seems to establish something similar to the
Revolutionary Guards” in Iran — a powerful military force imbued with
the Islamic republic’s ideology.The aim, according to political
scientist Renad Mansour, is to integrate the Hashed “even more into the
state.”“Some argue that this is an important first step, because it’s
better to have them in this system than outside the system, where they
could be spoilers,” said Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham
House think tank.But others, he added, “argue that this is a further way
for the Hashed to consolidate its power”, giving the alliance “access
to greater funds, greater intelligence, and other kinds of equipment and
technology.”‘Not a coherent institution’The debate around the bill
comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and upheavals, as the
Gaza war reverberates across the Middle East.Iranian allies and proxies
have been weakened in wars with Israel, which has Washington’s backing.
In Lebanon, Tehran-backed group Hezbollah faces a government push to
disarm it by the end of the year.In recent years, the Iraqi armed
factions have seen their clout grow, with some gaining seats in
parliament and in government, even as several group leaders — including
the Hashed’s top commander — have been subjected to US sanctions.In
2022, the coalition was granted a public works enterprise, Al-Muhandis,
with a capital worth tens of millions of dollars.Responding to
Washington’s concerns, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has
defended the proposed bill as “part of the government’s broader security
reform agenda.”The Hashed “is an official Iraqi military institution
operating under the authority of the commander-in-chief of the Armed
Forces,” Sudani said.A 2016 law already affords the Hashed the status of
a public body. But some factions face accusations of collecting
government salaries for their fighters on the one hand, but acting
entirely independently of the state on the other.Some of the factions
within the Hashed are aligned with Baghdad, while others pledge their
allegiance first and foremost to the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance.”The
latter have in the past launched rockets and explosive-laden drones at
US troops stationed in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist
coalition.Mansour said the Hashed was unlikely to morph into something
that resembles Iran’s Guards.It “isn’t a coherent institution,” he
said.“It has many different groups, many different factions, many
different leaders, and they’re still fighting with each
other.”‘Patronage’Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to
the armed factions told AFP that Shiite Muslim political parties seek a
“special law” that would guarantee the Hashed remains “an independent
military institution, on the same level as the interior or defense
ministry.”Sunni Muslim and Kurdish politicians oppose any such move, and
even among the Shiites, there is no consensus, said the government
official.Deputy parliament speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi said the proposed
legislation “contributes to enhancing the combat capabilities” of the
Hashed and to “creating new formations concerned with developing this
security institution”, according to the official Iraq News Agency.If
approved, it would pave the way for the creation of a special military
academy and secure the Hashed’s “financial independence”, according to a
parliament report published by state media.According to the report, the
Iraqi state council noted the “bloating” of administrative structures
and opposed the creation of such an academy for the Hashed instead of
using existing defense ministry facilities.But with legislative
elections coming up in November, the former paramilitaries may seek to
seize on the chance to gain institutional recognition.The Hashed “needs
something to reinvigorate its base,” said Mansour.“The more the Hashed
is institutionalized, the more access it has to Iraq’s wealthy state
coffers,” he added.“This could become another mechanism for patronage.”
Smotrich
thinks plan to take over Gaza City doesn’t go far enough, spokesperson
says-Finance minister thinks operation is a ploy to revive talks,
leading him to vote against it; says he’s working to ‘erase Palestinian
state’ by ‘correcting’ Disengagement-By ToI Staff Today, 9:52 pm-AUG
8,25
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich believes the plan to
conquer Gaza City does not go far enough, a spokesperson for the finance
minister said Friday after the far-right Religious Zionism chair voted
against the move during the overnight cabinet session that approved
it.Smotrich, who opposes a ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas, also said
in a separate interview that he is working to “erase the Palestinian
state” by “correcting” Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the
northern West Bank during the 2005 Disengagement.The plan “may sound
good, but it’s actually more of the same,” said the spokesperson, adding
that Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry,
believes the decision was “immoral, unethical and not Zionist.”“This is
not an operation to conquer the Strip, take full military control of the
territory and push for a decisive outcome,” said the spokesperson,
describing that plan of action as “the only way to ensure victory,
lasting security and the return of the hostages.”Rather, said the
spokesman, the plan was “a specific and dangerous operation whose sole
purpose is to return Hamas to the negotiating room — a goal that isn’t
one of the war aims.”Securing the release of the hostages is, in fact,
one of the war aims, along with the dismantling of Hamas’s military and
governing capabilities.The spokesperson predicted that once again,
Netanyahu will promise that Israel is going “all the way,” only to then,
“at the moment of truth, withdraw from the field after dozens of heroes
have died and without any real operational achievements.”Offering more
insight into Smotrich’s stance, the Israel Hayom newspaper and Kan
public broadcaster reported that he had voted against Netanyahu’s
proposal to take over Gaza City during Thursday night’s security cabinet
meeting.Citing unnamed sources, Israel Hayom reported that Smotrich
went so far as to agree with his frequent antagonist, IDF chief Zamir,
that the plan was not a good one and would not bring Israel closer to
its stated war aims.Smotrich was said to have told the security cabinet
that if Netanyahu truly wants his plan to lead to “victory,” then the
premier must “explicitly announce that he will no longer agree to a
partial deal.”“That way, Hamas will understand that it has two choices
left: Surrendering in an agreement or destruction,” Smotrich reportedly
said.“As long as there’s no such announcement from the prime minister,
it is as though the goal of this big step is to again reach a partial
deal,” Smotrich was quoted as saying. “So the content of the decision
does not match its title, and that is not something I can agree
to.”‘Erase the Palestinian state’In an interview with his Religious
Zionism party’s Ofek weekend newsletter, Smotrich also said he was
working to reestablish the former Israeli settlements of Ganim and Kadim
in the northern West Bank, both of which were evacuated and dismantled
in 2005.Smotrich, who made a similar comment during a tour of the nearby
former settlement of Sa-Nur on Thursday, said he hopes to see this plan
come to fruition “in the coming weeks,” to coincide with the 20th
anniversary of the withdrawal from Gaza and from four West Bank
settlements.“The people of Israel are correcting the sin of Gaza,” he
said, referring to the push among settler activists to reestablish the
Gush Katif settlement bloc, “and I hope we will also be able to fully
correct the sin of northern Samaria.”Earlier this year, Israel approved
plans to rebuild the settlements of Sa-Nur and Homesh, which were
dismantled along with Ganim and Kadim during the Disengagement.Smotrich
told his party’s newspaper that the plans for the West Bank are intended
to “erase the Palestinian state,” and to prevent a repeat of the Hamas
onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.“A large
part of what we are doing today in Judea and Samaria is the product of
insights from October 7,” he said, adding that “an absolute majority” of
Israelis know that the purpose of the West Bank settlements is to
ensure that cities in central Israel do not meet a similar fate to that
of Gaza border communities in the Hamas onslaught.
IDF chief:
Army will carry out Gaza City occupation plan in ‘best possible way’At
least 17 said dead as a result of bombing, starvation or being hit by
airdropped aid across Strip; Egypt, Qatar working on comprehensive
truce-hostage deal, officials say-By Emanuel Fabian,Nurit Yohanan,ToI
Staff and Agencies Today, 9:28 pm-AUG 8,25
The IDF chief on
Friday vowed to carry out “in the best possible way” Israel’s decision
to conquer Gaza City, as Palestinian media and Gaza’s Hamas-run health
ministry reported at least 17 killed in the past day by Israeli bombing,
starvation and being hit by airdropped aid packages.Meanwhile, Arab
mediators were said to be working on a deal to release all 50 remaining
hostages from Gaza in one fell swoop in exchange for an end to the war
and full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip after talks for a partial
deal hit an impasse last month.The security cabinet earlier Friday voted
to approve a proposal from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conquer
Gaza City. The decision sparked fierce criticism at home and abroad
over concerns that it would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and
endanger the hostages. The plan has also faced criticism from the
government’s far-right, which says it does not go far enough.Meanwhile,
in Gaza on Friday, the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry said four
people, including children, had died as a result of starvation over the
past 24 hours, bringing the toll of starvation-related deaths in the war
to 201. The figure could not immediately be verified.Khan Younis’s
Nasser Hospital reported that one child was also killed by an airdropped
aid package in Khan Younis. The circumstances were not immediately
clear.Media outlets in Gaza reported Friday that six people, most of
them children, were injured when an aid package was airdropped into Gaza
City and landed on a balcony, which collapsed onto the crowd beneath
it.Three people were also reportedly killed and several others injured
by IDF gunfire while waiting for aid distribution in the Netzarim
Corridor in central Gaza.It was unclear if the distribution site in
question belonged to the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation, near whose sites there have been near-daily reports of aid
seekers killed by Israel.WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news
agency, also reported five people killed in an Israeli bombing of Deir
al-Balah, in Gaza’s center, and cited medical sources in the Hamas-run
Strip as saying two people each were killed in further bombings in Khan
Younis and Gaza City.The IDF did not immediately comment on any of the
reported bombings or fatal airdrops of aid.Meeting with division heads
and top generals at the Southern Command on Friday morning, IDF Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who warned the cabinet against the expanded
fighting, said, “We will continue to lead from the national
responsibility placed on the IDF and its commanders,” according to
comments provided by the military.“We are responsible for the army’s
readiness, the security of the state and its citizens, the return of the
hostages, and the defeat of Hamas, and so we shall do,” said Zamir,
according to an IDF statement. “My responsibility is to provide you and
the soldiers in particular with as much certainty as possible, to create
pauses and a proper endurance. It is in light of this responsibility
that we operate.”Zamir said the IDF is “working on the new plan. We will
deepen the planning, prepare at the highest level in all its aspects,
and as always, we will carry out the mission in the best possible
way.”Zamir also stressed in the meeting that “as the war develops, the
IDF will act to safeguard the lives of the hostages, allow the forces to
refresh in order to strengthen endurance, and operate according to the
values and spirit of the IDF.”“The chief of staff noted that in the
coming days the IDF will deepen operational planning with
professionalism… with the aim of creating conditions for the return of
the hostages and the collapse of the Hamas regime,” the military
added.The comments came as troops in Gaza continued razing what the army
said was terror infrastructure and killing gunmen, and as six European
and Arab nations airdropped packages of humanitarian supplies into the
Strip as part of Israel’s recently adopted aid policy, according to the
military.The IDF Artillery Corps’ elite Sky Riders Unit, together with
troops of the 401st Armored Brigade, destroyed a primed rocket launcher
in northern Gaza on Thursday, after it was used to fire a rocket at Nir
Am, the military said, adding that the launcher had been primed to fire
several more rockets at Israel before it was destroyed.Elsewhere in
Gaza, the IDF said troops of the 36th Division are continuing to operate
in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, where they “destroyed
underground infrastructure and eliminated terror cells that posed a
threat to the forces.”Additional forces in southern Gaza located and
destroyed several tunnel shafts in the past 24 hours, the IDF added.At
the same time, it said the 282nd Artillery Regiment destroyed a weapons
depot, and the 990th Reserve Artillery Regiment hit buildings that posed
a threat to troops in the Shejaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods of Gaza
City.The military also said Friday that it confirmed having killed the
deputy commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion during operations in
the town in the northern Gaza Strip over the past month.The deputy
commander, Murad Abu Jarad, served as the de facto commander of the Beit
Hanoun Battalion during most of 2024, the military said, adding that he
was involved in numerous attacks on troops and that he had participated
in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in
Gaza.In a separate operation, the military said it killed the head of
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s anti-tank missile unit in the terror
group’s Gaza City brigade, Mohammed Dardawasi, who also participated in
the October 7 onslaught. In another strike, the IDF said it killed
several Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives who were involved in rocket
fire and sniper attacks.In addition to the fighting, aircraft from the
United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium, France, and — for the
first time — the Netherlands airdropped 72 pallets of humanitarian aid
in the Gaza Strip today, the IDF said. Each pallet contains around one
ton of food.Since July 26, when Israel adopted a new policy to let more
aid into the Strip, over 1,000 humanitarian aid packages have been
airdropped in the Gaza Strip by 10 countries, including Israel,
according to the military. The packages the IDF airdropped were supplied
by international aid groups.Israel re-adopted the policy amid mounting
international criticism over the hunger crisis in Gaza. But airdrops are
only able to deliver a small fraction of what can come into Gaza by
land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by
the packages from above.Israel has denied using starvation as a weapon
of war in Gaza and blamed the crisis on Hamas diverting aid and the
United Nations’ failure to properly distribute assistance. The UN has
retorted that the war’s conditions and Israeli restrictions have made
upholding a functioning humanitarian operation all but
impossible.Comprehensive truce-hostage deal said to be in the
works-Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework
which would include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in
one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from the strip, according to two Arab officials speaking
to The Associated Press anonymously due to the sensitivity of the
discussions.One is involved directly in the deliberations, and the
second was briefed on the efforts.The efforts have the backing of major
Arab Gulf monarchies, the officials said, as they are concerned about
further regional destabilization if Israel’s government proceeds with a
full reoccupation of Gaza, two decades after its unilateral withdrawal
from the Strip.The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the
contentious issue of what to do with Hamas’s weapons, with Israel
seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. The official directly
involved in the efforts said discussions were underway about “freezing
arms,” which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. The
official also called for the group to relinquish power in the strip.A
Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction
efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a
new police force, trained by two US allies in the Middle East, to take
over the strip, said the source. It was unclear what role the
Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play. The Israeli cabinet
decision on Friday specifically ruled out a role for the PA in Gaza’s
post-war governance.The second official said a powerful Gulf country is
supporting the Egyptian-Qatari efforts.A senior Hamas official, speaking
on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the
media, said the group’s leadership is aware of the Arab mediators’
efforts to revive the ceasefire talks, but has yet to receive details.AP
reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel for comment
but did not hear back.
IDF says strike on Lebanon-Syria border
killed senior commander in PFLP terror group-Mohammed Wishah and his
bodyguard killed in Thursday strike; separately, Friday drone attack in
south kills Hezbollah intelligence commander-By Emanuel Fabian,AP and
Nurit Yohanan-Today, 2:27 pm-AUG 8,25
A senior commander in the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group was
killed Thursday in an Israeli airstrike at a border crossing between
Lebanon and Syria, the IDF and Shin Bet announced on Friday
afternoon.The statement confirmed a previous announcement by the group
itself, as well as Lebanese media reports.According to the IDF, the
strike in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley killed Mohammed Wishah, a
Syrian senior terror operative in the PFLP, who served as the head of
the group’s Military-Security Department in Syria.He assumed the role
after his predecessor, Shantal al-Al, was killed in a strike in Beirut
in September 2024.Wishah was responsible for “coordinating with other
Palestinian terror organizations, strengthening ties and coordination
with the Shiite axis, and recently operated to advance military
operations against Israeli targets,” the IDF added.The IDF released
footage of the strike.The PFLP said the strike near the Lebanese border
crossing of Masnaa killed Wishah and his bodyguard as they were on their
way to Syria.Senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned the death of
Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein, in a post on social media. “We
have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls
to freedom,” Abdel-Al wrote.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency
(NNA) said the airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed six people and
wounded 10, without identifying the victims.Since the Israel-Hamas war
began with the terror group’s October 2023 onslaught, Israel has
targeted Palestinian terror operatives in Lebanon, including PFLP
members. Three PFLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut
apartment last September.A PFLP official said Wishah had been in Lebanon
to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to
Syria when the airstrike happened. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to the media.The PFLP
statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five
years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian terror
group in 1973.For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the
second-largest member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, after
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group.Separately,
an IDF drone struck a vehicle near the towns of Ansariyeh and Aadloun,
located between Tyre and Sidon in southern Lebanon, killing a senior
Hezbollah intelligence commander, the military said.Lebanese media said
that the strike killed a citizen journalist, Mohammed Shehadeh, though
Hezbollah claimed him as one of its members.The IDF said that Shehadeh
was chief of intelligence in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, and his
activities were a violation of the ceasefire between Israel and
Lebanon.On October 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas onslaught, Hezbollah
started, unprovoked, to send rockets toward Israeli cities on a daily
basis, sparking a 14-month war that ended late last year with a
ceasefire, with the Iran-backed terror group severely weakened. The
Lebanese government this week adopted a motion calling for Hezbollah to
be disbanded.Since the truce was reached, Israel has carried out scores
of airstrikes on Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah members, saying
they were violating the ceasefire.
‘A disaster’: Opposition,
world leaders, families of hostages blast Gaza City takeover plan-Lapid
says newly approved war expansion is ‘exactly what Hamas wanted’;
hostages forum says cabinet ‘sentenced the living hostages to death’By
ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 12:52 pm-AUG 8,25
Opposition
leaders, families of hostages held in Gaza, and various international
actors all issued swift condemnations Friday to the security cabinet’s
decision to take over Gaza City.Overnight, the high-level body approved a
proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the densely
populated city, bucking warnings from the Israel Defense Forces that the
operation risks the lives of the remaining hostages in addition to
potentially sparking a humanitarian disaster.The limitation of the
takeover to Gaza City did not seem to go as far as what had earlier been
characterized as a plan to occupy the entirety of the Strip. Netanyahu
told Fox News hours before the security cabinet convened that a full
takeover was his intention.However, a statement from Netanyahu’s office
notably described the adopted proposal as one aimed at “defeating
Hamas,” meaning that there may be subsequent operations beyond the one
for Gaza City that were approved and not announced.Opposition figures
charged that the step would lead to the deaths of Israeli captives and
soldiers.Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called the move “a disaster that
will lead to many more disasters,” in a post on X, adding that it was
made in “complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and
security ranks.”National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich “dragged” Netanyahu “into a move that will
take months, lead to the deaths of the hostages, the killing of many
soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a
political collapse,” Lapid added.“This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for
Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the
picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one
understands where it is leading,” he said.Yisrael Beytenu party chairman
and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman said that the decision
“proves that life-and-death decisions are being made in opposition to
security considerations and the war’s objectives.”“The prime minister of
October 7 is once again sacrificing the security of Israeli citizens
for the sake of his seat,” he added.Blue and White-National Unity party
chairman Benny Gantz also criticized the plan, calling it a “political
failure that wastes the tremendous achievements of the IDF.”In a post on
X, Gantz suggested an alternative plan to achieve the war’s stated
goals of destroying Hamas and returning the hostages: “It can be done
differently: First, announce that in exchange for the return of the
hostages, we will be willing to agree to a permanent ceasefire.”“The
problem with this government is that it is slow, not determined, does
not seize opportunities when they arise, and is not creative,” Gantz
said. “We already entered Gaza with divisions despite Netanyahu’s fears,
we already entered Khan Younis and Rafah despite Netanyahu delaying it.
We will know how to do it in the future as well. But the question is,
what have we done since then? Only waste time and military
achievements.”“We talked all the time about the day after — and
Netanyahu did not act. Israel deserves leadership that seizes
opportunities, not leadership that does not strive with all its might to
return the hostages and defeat Hamas,” he added.Yair Golan, head of The
Democrats party, said the decision means that “more hostages will be
abandoned to their deaths,” and that the move was typical of Netanyahu:
“He is weak, easily pressured, lacking decision-making ability, and
without the capacity to bridge between what the professional level
presents and the group of messianists controlling the government.”The
decision is “a disaster for generations,” Golan said.“Our sons and
grandsons will still patrol the alleys of Gaza, we will pay hundreds of
billions over the years, and all this for reasons of political survival
and messianic visions,” he added, asking how the government planned to
demilitarize the Strip: “Are we going to crawl through tunnels and
retrieve the last Kalashnikovs?”The Hostages and Missing Families Forum
issued a scathing reaction to the decision to conquer Gaza City, where
some of the captives are believed to be held.“Tonight, the Israeli
government sentenced the living hostages to death and the fallen
hostages to disappearance,” it alleged in a statement.“The cabinet
decision to launch the process of occupying the Strip is an official
declaration of the abandonment of the hostages, while completely
ignoring the repeated warnings by the military echelon and the clear
desire of most of the public in Israel,” it continued.The statement
accused the government of acting against the national interest with a
“foolish” move of “deception and unforgivable moral and security
neglect” that brings Israel closer to a “colossal disaster for the
hostages and [IDF] fighters.”The Forum added, however, that it was not
too late and that the step could be stopped by reaching a comprehensive
deal to end the war and return all the captives.
Zamir: Op risks
hostages, could spark humanitarian crisis-Bucking IDF warnings, security
cabinet approves Netanyahu plan to conquer Gaza City-Residents will
have until October 7 to evacuate; adopted proposal more limited than
PM’s publicly stated intention to take over entire Strip, but official
indicates IDF will later move on to other areas-By Jacob Magid-Today,
6:50 am-AUG 8,25
The security cabinet approved overnight
Thursday-Friday a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take
over the densely populated Gaza City, the premier’s office announced in a
statement, bucking warnings from the Israel Defense Forces that the
operation risks the lives of the remaining hostages in addition to
potentially sparking a humanitarian disaster.The limitation of the
takeover to Gaza City did not seem to go as far as what had earlier been
characterized as a plan to occupy the entirety of the Strip. Netanyahu
told Fox News hours before the security cabinet convened that a full
takeover was his intention.However, the statement from Netanyahu’s
office notably described the adopted proposal as one aimed at “defeating
Hamas,” meaning that there may be subsequent operations beyond the one
for Gaza City that were approved and not announced.The decision did not
use the word “occupy,” and instead referred to “taking over,” due to
legal reasons pertaining to Israel’s responsibility for civilian matters
in Gaza, according to the Ynet news site. The outlet added, however,
citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, that this distinction was
superficial, and the decision in fact relates to full military rule. The
conquest would stop if a hostage deal is clinched, according to the
report.Roughly one million Palestinians — many of whom have already been
displaced several times throughout the 22-month war — currently reside
in Gaza City, in northern Gaza. A senior Israeli official told The Times
of Israel news that the plan approved by the cabinet will see those
civilians evacuated toward the south.The cabinet decision states that
Palestinians will have until October 7, 2025, to evacuate Gaza City — a
two-month window that also coincides with the second anniversary of
Hamas’s attack on Israel, the Israeli official said. The IDF will then
launch its ground offensive into Gaza City, placing a siege on the area
in order to kill any remaining Hamas operatives. After the takeover is
complete, the official indicated that the IDF will proceed to the
remaining unconquered areas of Gaza.Israel says it currently controls 75
percent of the Strip, while the IDF has largely avoided entering the
remaining 25% — which mostly comprises Gaza City and refugee camps in
central Gaza — due to the belief that most of the hostages are being
held there. Almost all of Gaza’s 2 million citizens are currently in the
quarter of the Strip that the IDF does not control. Hamas has
threatened to execute hostages if its operatives detect Israeli troops
closing in; Hamas captors killed six Israeli hostages in Rafah, in
southern Gaza, last August, when IDF troops inadvertently neared the
tunnel where they were being held.Some speculated after the cabinet
decision was announced whether earlier talk of a larger-scale operation
had been a pressure tactic aimed at coaxing Hamas to return to the
negotiation table on Israel’s terms.The statement from Netanyahu’s
office specified that Israel will provide humanitarian aid to the
civilian population outside combat zones.On Wednesday, US Ambassador to
Israel Mike Huckabee said that the controversial US- and Israeli-backed
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will expand its operations from three to 16
distribution sites that will operate 24/7, ostensibly to account for
the new evacuation.The statement from Netanyahu’s office also noted that
a majority of cabinet members backed a list of five principles that
Israel will demand be met before it agrees to end the war with Hamas:
(1) The terror group’s disarmament; (2) the return of all 50 remaining
hostages — 20 of whom are believed to be alive; (3) the demilitarization
of the Gaza Strip; (4) Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip;
and (5) the existence of an alternative civilian government that is not
Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.Netanyahu has long rejected a role
for the PA, but the formal adoption of that red line risks leaving
Israel alone to govern Gaza after the war, as all Arab countries that
have expressed willingness to assist in the rehabilitation effort have
conditioned their participation on Ramallah’s involvement.Nonetheless,
Netanyahu claimed in the Fox News interview that after it finishes its
takeover of the Strip, Israel will hand over control to “Arab
forces.”During the 10-hour meeting that began at 6 p.m. on Thursday, IDF
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir expressed his firm opposition to
Netanyahu’s proposal.“The lives of the hostages will be in danger if we
go ahead with this plan to occupy Gaza. There is no way to guarantee
that we will not harm them. Our forces are worn out, the military tools
need maintenance, and there are humanitarian and sanitary [concerns
regarding the Palestinian population],” Channel 12 quoted the IDF chief
as having said.He explained that a full occupation of the Strip would
take a year or two to complete, with the initial phase of intensive
fighting likely to last five months.Moreover, Zamir reportedly argued
that the operation risks placing Israel under responsibility for
providing services for the entire Palestinian population in Gaza. To
date, Israel has argued that the UN and aid organizations are
responsible for providing services, as it does not have effective
control over Gaza’s territory, but this could change once Israel adds
Gaza City to the territory it has conquered in the Strip.Netanyahu’s
office said in its statement that Zamir presented an alternative plan to
the one backed by Netanyahu, but an overwhelming majority of ministers
determined that it would not bring about the defeat of Hamas or the
release of the hostages.So incensed was Zamir by the risk the plan poses
to the remaining hostages, the Kan public broadcaster reported, that he
told cabinet members they might as well formally remove the goal of
returning the captives from Israel’s official war aims.Relatedly,
members of Israel’s hostage negotiating team urged the ministers not to
authorize any plan that would close the possibility for a future
deal.Netanyahu reportedly responded that the Gaza City operation could
be stopped at any point if Hamas agrees to Israel’s demands.Far-right
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir pushed back on that offer,
insisting that Israel must declare that it will not stop the operation
until it is complete and that the door to further negotiations with
Hamas has been shut.Fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich
reportedly cited Netanyahu’s readiness to halt the Gaza City operation
if Hamas met Israel’s conditions for a new deal as his reason for voting
against the plan.Ben Gvir voted against it as well, taking issue with
the proposal’s stipulation that aid will be provided to Palestinians who
evacuate from Gaza City.Hostage families are vehemently opposed to the
plan approved by the government, fearing it will lead to their loved
ones’ demise, and staged a fiery protest in Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
They were joined by thousands of supporters who blocked roads and
clashed with police who tried to clear them.They argue that the last
five months have proven that military pressure has not led Hamas to
release the hostages and that Israel is in a position to agree to
Hamas’s demand to end the war, as the terror group no longer poses a
strategic threat to the Jewish state as it did on October 7, 2023.Hamas
has fully transitioned to fighting as a guerrilla group, causing roughly
three dozen Israeli casualties since Israel broke the ceasefire in
March by launching Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which was also aimed at
securing the release of the hostages and defeating Hamas.Netanyahu
argues that ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza, as Hamas demands,
will allow Hamas to regroup.He is also reliant on far-right coalition
partners who want to permanently occupy the Strip in order to push
Palestinians out of the enclave and re-establish settlements in their
place.In addition to rejecting a role for the PA, Netanyahu has refused
for much of the war to advance a viable alternative to Hamas, which his
critics say has allowed the war to drag out endlessly as the terror
group has managed to remain the most dominant Palestinian force in
Gaza.For his part, Netanyahu has argued that no alternative to Hamas
will be able to survive in Gaza before the terror group has been
defeated.The ongoing war in Gaza started with the Hamas-led October 7,
2023, massacre, in which some 5,600 terrorists invaded Israel, killing
1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to the
enclave.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people
in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so
far, though the toll has not been verified and does not differentiate
between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000
combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside
Israel during the October 7 onslaught.Israel’s toll in the ground
offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the
border with the Strip stands at 459. The toll includes two police
officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
Canadian PM calls Israel’s Gaza City takeover plan ‘wrong,’ says it will risk hostages’ lives-By Reuters-AUG 8,25
OTTAWA,
Canada — Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City is “wrong” and will
put the lives of the remaining hostages at greater risk, Canadian Prime
Minister Mark Carney tells reporters.Sharon Cunio, whose husband David
is held hostage in Gaza, tells Channel 12 news she has seen footage of
him in captivity.While unable to go into details of the unpublished
footage, she says the footage showed David Cunio “from a certain period
in his captivity, and he doesn’t look very good. He looks very
desperate, and hungry, and misses me and his family.”“Broken and
disappointed aren’t even words” to describe her feelings over last
night’s security cabinet decision to advance plans to fully occupy the
Gaza Strip, she says, adding that her “heart is crushed.”She describes
the decision as a “death sentence on David” and the remaining hostages
held in Gaza.
'We must not let Hamas kill the hope for a better
tomorrow'After Lutherans pass ‘one-sided’ Israel resolution, US rabbi’s
plea for unity prevails-Union for Reform Judaism president Rick Jacobs
has decades of interfaith work under his belt, so when a church
convention voiced a narrow view of the Gaza conflict, he was prepared
By Grace Gilson Today, 2:00 am-AUG 8,25
JTA
— Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism,
arrived at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide
Assembly last week with decades of experience building ties between the
Lutheran and Jewish communities.But as Jacobs listened on July 30 to
attendees debate a memorial titled “Stand of Palestinian Rights and End
to Occupation of Palestine,” Jacobs said he felt compelled to speak out
over what he saw as a “one-sided” narrative.He tore up the speech he
planned to give the next day, instead telling the hundreds of Christians
gathered in Phoenix that he had hoped for something different — and
that the stakes were high.“Friends, I fear that the resolution you
affirmed last night will make our community less safe,” Jacobs told the
assembly. “I feel it will embolden those who do not envision a peaceful
future for Palestinians and Israelis.”Jacobs said in an interview that
he had been startled by how little the statement seemed to acknowledge
calls for peace that have come from Jewish communities, including the
Reform movement. In May, Jacobs was one of the first denominational
Jewish leaders to urge Israel to abandon what he said was a policy of
“starving Gazan civilians” in an op-ed for the Washington Post —
previewing the collective outcry over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
that has galvanized sharp criticism of Israel in recent weeks.“We have
the largest movement in Jewish life, and we love Israel, and we work
closely with the church, and we also care about the rights and dignity
of Palestinians,” Jacobs said. “I felt like they just didn’t in any way
acknowledge all of those things that are also true, and it made me sad,
to be honest.”Memorial D4, which the assembly passed, outlined a list of
stances for the Lutheran Church, including that the office of the
presiding bishop “petition U.S. leaders to recognize and act to end the
genocide against Palestinians, halt military aid to Israel used in Gaza,
and support Palestinian statehood and U.N. membership.”Jacobs said he
was startled by how little the perspectives of Israelis and Jews were
reflected in the statement. He brought his concerns to the church’s
presiding bishop, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, who invited him to formulate a
response.“There are some specific references to Israel in D4, but I felt
like the empathy was entirely to the Palestinian narrative, which on
one level I can understand,” said Jacobs. “But there really is a deep
relationship of the church and Jewish communities locally, and I felt it
from the senior leadership of the church, especially Bishop Eaton.”The
war in Gaza has caused some longstanding interfaith alliances to fray,
as progressive churches and clergy were in some cases quick to condemn
Israel’s response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and sharply
judgmental of those who did not share their perspective.But Eaton,
Jacobs said, was receptive to his concerns, telling him to “take the
time you need” to think about how to broach them.That night, he revised
his speech, and on Thursday, he took his qualms to the lectern, rebuking
the assembled crowd.“It is possible to strongly support the State of
Israel and at the very same time to fight for the dignity and rights of
Palestinians,” he said in his remarks. “Last night, I was hoping to hear
more of that kind of ‘both and’ thinking, but I didn’t.”Jacobs then
cited the violent attacks on Jewish gatherings in recent months,
including the deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers at an
event in Washington, DC, and the deadly firebombing attack on a group of
demonstrators drawing attention to the remaining hostages in Gaza in
Boulder, Colorado.He also recounted several moments of unity between him
and the Lutheran community, including one instance during the Second
Intifada, a Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005 that was marked by a
series of suicide bombings, in which Rev. Munib Younan, the bishop
emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land,
drove Jacobs home for his safety.And he emphasized that he and many
liberal Jews share some if not all of the beliefs underlying the
approved statement.“We share your commitment to a free Palestine, free
of tyranny and exploitation by Hamas and free of Israel’s occupation,”
he said. He also spoke about the murder of Vivian Silver, the founder
and leader of Women Wage Peace, an Israeli organization that supports a
peace agreement with Palestinians, on October 7.“The brutal massacre on
October 7 included extraordinary people like Vivian,” said Jacobs. “It
was as if Hamas was trying to murder not only people, but also the
possibility for coexistence, and we, dear church, we must not allow them
to kill the hope for a better tomorrow.”In the conclusion of his
address, Jacobs urged the Lutheran community to continue “working
together” with the Jewish community, emphasizing a shared commitment to
“bringing peace everywhere, everywhere and especially in the Middle
East.”“Challenges facing our faith communities and our nation can feel
overwhelming, but facing them together gives us the possibility of
transforming for good the tide of hate, demonization and anti-democratic
attacks that threaten our freedom, our lives and our future,” he said
in the speech. “But working together, oh yes, working together, we can
and we will overcome.”At the end of his remarks, Jacobs was met by a
standing ovation, which he said left him feeling “very embraced and
supported.”Jacobs told JTA that he felt his strategy of confronting the
assembly over his concerns in real-time was “successful,” and he hoped
that “what I planted were seeds of deeper relationship.” He said he
didn’t necessarily see his audience as just the Lutherans in the
room.“I’m not naive. I don’t think one talk and one gathering changes
everything, or maybe changes most things,” he said. “But I want it to be
appreciated, and I want my clergy colleagues, particularly my Jewish
leader colleagues, to realize that you don’t have to agree with a
community on every point to work with them and to find ways to be in
community with them.”
Gaza sources confirm group stealing large
amounts of aid-Hamas using secret cash stockpile, looted aid to pay
employees and loyalists — BBC-British broadcaster cites Gaza sources as
saying terror group stashed away $700 million before Oct. 7, wages
surreptitiously handed out at ‘tea’ meetings-By ToI Staff 7 August 2025,
9:31 am
Hamas is using secretive methods to pay salaries to its
tens of thousands of members, the BBC reported Wednesday, in a report
that also supported Israel’s contention that the terror group has
systematically commandeered humanitarian aid entering the Strip and is
handing it out to loyalists while other Gazans go hungry.The British
broadcaster said it spoke to three Hamas employees who each reported
they received some NIS 1,000 ($300) within the last week. At the same
time, the report noted that those on the payroll are getting a fraction
of their prewar salaries— at most 20% of the previous sum every 10
weeks.According to the report, throughout the war, Hamas has continued
paying wages to some 30,000 people described as “civil servants.”A
senior Hamas official was quoted as saying the terror group stockpiled
some $700 million in cash in underground tunnels before launching its
October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.Noting that Israel has
targeted Hamas salary distributors in order to disrupt payments, the
report said operatives receive encrypted messages on their phones,
inviting them for “tea” at a certain time and place. At the meeting, a
contact walks by and discreetly hands them an envelope with cash before
walking away.The method entails dangers, the report said, with Israel
sometimes identifying distribution points and hitting them with strikes.
One source said he narrowly survived one such bombing.The BBC also
reported that Hamas has been taxing traders and selling cigarette packs
for up to 100 times their prewar price to generate revenue.It cited
unnamed Gazan sources as confirming Israel’s longtime claim that
significant portions of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza were diverted
by the terror group and sold on the black market for inflated prices or
handed to loyalists.Both the terror group and the UN have in the past
denied that systematic looting is taking place.However, the UN recently
admitted that 88 percent of the aid trucks it has collected over the
past few months to deliver supplies to Gaza did not reach their
destination due to looting.According to the BBC report, “significant
quantities” of aid were grabbed by Hamas during a two-month between
January and March, during which Israel boosted aid deliveries as part of
a deal that saw dozens of hostages returned.In April, the Wall Street
Journal also reported on the importance of humanitarian aid supplies to
Hamas in its efforts to raise cash to pay fighters.The BBC report said
the diversion of supplies has fueled anger at Hamas among
residents.“When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only
from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbors receive
food parcels and sacks of flour,” Nisreen Khaled, a single mother in
Gaza, was quoted as saying. “Are they not the reason for our suffering?
Why didn’t they secure food, water, and medicine before launching their
October 7 adventure?”Hamas employees were also said to be angry at the
leadership over the inadequacy of wages amid rampant wartime inflation.
In addition, one person told the BBC that most of the cash he did
receive was useless, as the bills were old and worn out.
Visiting
Damascus, Turkish FM pledges to deepen ties with Syria, blasts IDF
actions-Turkey’s Hakan Fidan credits US, Europe for ‘providing
significant support’ to new regime led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, says Israel
‘pursuing a policy of destabilizing’ the Mideast-By Agencies 7 August
2025, 11:53 pm
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reaffirmed
Ankara’s support for Syria’s stability and reconstruction following a
meeting on Thursday with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in
Damascus.In a statement posted on X, Fidan pledged continued support for
Syria’s fight against extremist groups, and reiterated Turkey’s
readiness to help manage camps in northeastern Syria that house people
with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group.“The Syrian
government is… tackling many challenges to make the country safer, more
stable, and prosperous. The international community, particularly the
United States and European countries, is providing significant support,”
the minister said.“Israel, on the other hand, is pursuing a policy of
destabilizing our region,” he continued, adding that thwarting Israel’s
policies was “a shared responsibility of the international
community.”Ankara has been a strong backer of the interim government in
Damascus since former Syrian president Bashar Assad was toppled in a
lightning rebel offensive in December. It was Fidan’s third visit to
Damascus since Assad’s fall.Syria last month requested Turkey’s support
to strengthen its defense capabilities following sectarian violence that
increased tensions in the country and drew Israeli intervention.Clashes
erupted last month between members of Bedouin tribes and armed factions
from the Druze religious minority in Syria’s southern Sweida province.
Government forces that intervened, ostensibly to quell the fighting,
ended up siding with the Bedouins.Israel then launched strikes on
government convoys in Sweida and the Defense Ministry headquarters in
Damascus, saying it was acting to protect the Druze.Also, last December,
Israel launched hundreds of strikes on military sites immediately
following Assad’s overthrow, saying at the time it wanted to prevent
weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers
jihadists.Turkey has been vocally critical of Israeli intervention in
Syria and also wants to curb the influence of the Kurdish groups
controlling northeastern Syria.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
has been a key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State extremist
group, but Ankara regards the SDF as a terrorist group because of its
ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which waged a decades-long
insurgency in Turkey.In March, the SDF and Damascus reached an agreement
to merge their forces, but its details were vague and the deal has not
been implemented.Turkish defense ministry officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, accused the SDF
Thursday of not following through on its commitment, adding that Ankara
remains “committed to supporting the Syrian administration’s fight
against terrorist organizations and to providing the requested training,
advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen its defense and
security capacity.”Developments in Syria have increased tensions between
Turkey and Israel, which is occupying the former no-man’s land adjacent
to its border as a buffer zone.In April, Israel struck five cities in
Syria, including more than a dozen strikes near a strategic air base in
the city of Hama, where Turkey reportedly has interests in having a
military presence. Israel accused Turkey of trying to build a
“protectorate” in Syria.That month, Turkey and Israel held talks on
creating a deconfliction mechanism in Syria that would avoid clashes
between the two countries. They reportedly reached an agreement
following a month of talks.Times of Israel staff contributed to this
report.
