ISLAM IN IRAQ ALLOWES PEDOPHILIA MARRIAGE TO 9 YEAR OLD CHILDREN.

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)

ISLAM IN IRAQ ALLOWES PEDOPHILIA MARRIAGE TO 9 YEAR OLD CHILDREN.

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.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950-Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

JUDGEMENT-WE ALL(EVERYONE) STAND IN FRONT OF GOD TO GIVE ACCOUNT

JOHN 14:3
3  And if I (JESUS OUR JEWISH MESSIAH) go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

MATTHEW 24:33
33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,(IN THERE BEGGINING STAGES-NOT FINAL STAGES) know that it is near, even at the doors.

LUKE 21:32
32  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:10
10  For we must all (MEANS EVERYONE EVER BORN ON EARTH FROM ADAM-EVE ON) appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.(THIS IS THE CHRISTIANS IN FRONT OF JESUS)

LUKEWARM CHURCHES

REVELATION 3:15-19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I(GOD) will spue (VOMIT) thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent

EARTHQUAKES

EZEKIEL 37:7,11-14
7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.(POSSIBLE QUAKE BRINGS ISRAEL BACK TO LIFE-SO NOISE AND SHAKING-QUAKES WILL ALSO DESTROY ISRAELS ENEMIES)
11  Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12  Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13  And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14  And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

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 11:11-14
11 And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12 And they(ELIJSH-MOSES) heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.(REV 4:1 WE KNOW IS THE RAPTURE FOR SURE) And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.(RAPTURED)
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

REVELATION 16:18-20
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city (JERUSALEM) was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

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.

REV 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.

JAMES 1:11
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

The Hebrew noun accurately translated “oven” refers to a “baking oven” as distinct from a kiln or smelting furnace—both of which burn much hotter. (The Hebrew nouns for “kiln” or for “smelting furnace” are more likely to appear in contexts of God's wrath or judgment.)
21 They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.
22 Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the mountains.
23 I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.

Ecclesiastes 1:6 ESV
6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.

Jonah 1:4 ESV
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

Psalm 135:7 ESV
7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Psalm 78:26 ESV
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;

Psalm 1:4 ESV
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Acts 27:14 ESV
14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land.

Amos 4:13 ESV
13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

 The fires consuming Los Angeles are just the beginning -by Myke Cole, opinion contributor  - 01/22/25 11:00 AM ET

Three months ago, I worked the fireline in New York’s Sterling Forest, fighting what’s commonly known as the Jennings Creek fire. I was only on the line for a day, but rotating crews battled that monster for two weeks. In the end, it burned 5,000 acres — the largest and most destructive fire in the Hudson Valley in recent memory.I spent most of my time cutting trees with a small electric chainsaw, felling them before they could become fuel bridges, allowing the fire to escape. I was shocked to learn that New York State Parks officer Dariel Vasquez was killed by a falling tree shortly after I came off the line, and wondered if he had died doing similar work.  For the rest of the time the Jennings Creek fire burned, I ran local calls for other fire companies whose crews were denuded working in the forest. Complaining to a friend that I couldn’t do more (I’m a volunteer who serves when I’m not working my day job), he replied, “Don’t worry, with climate change, you’ll get another chance and sooner than you think.”Indeed, this mirrored a warning I sounded just six months ago.And then Los Angeles burned, and I realized that we’re just getting started. Worse, I discovered that so much of the discourse around what to do to prevent this in the future is pointed in the wrong direction.  When last we had an update, the death toll in the Los Angeles fires stood at 27, with 40,000 acres burned and the largest portions of the blaze still not contained. The number of people under evacuation orders at one point stood at nearly 200,000. With more than 17,000 structures destroyed so far, this fire has “jumped the wildland urban interface. This means the fire moved from the wildland fuels that built and grew it and consumed structures where urban meets rural.That didn’t happen in the Jennings Creek fire, but this “was a miracle,” per a local town supervisor. Jennings Creek wasn’t even close to being as wind-driven as what’s happening in Los Angeles, but there were certainly moments. I’d be working the fireline a safe distance from the flames, the wind would pick up briefly, and within seconds, I’d be standing in them. Fires like these, starting in the wildland and threatening habitations, need to be addressed — and urgently.The press is rife with recriminations. President Trump has blamed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (calling him “Newscum”) for the disaster. A lot of hay is being made of the fact that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who promised not to travel internationally while serving, happened to be in Ghana at a state event when the fires broke out.Newsom has ordered an investigation into why hydrants ran dry. Foreign countries have sent help, and rich folks are hiring private crews.Manpower and water dominate the headlines, and those things are important for combatting fires, but I am not seeing much conversation about fire prevention, specifically about building the kind of resilient forests that will prevent fires from taking off like this in the first place. Take Bend, Ore. The city butts up against the tall Ponderosa pine of the 1.6 million-acre Deschutes National Forest, a veritable tinderbox on its very doorstep. Bend’s arid climate, hot, dry summers, abundant grasses and reputation as an outdoor destination for vacationers make it a prime candidate for the kind of wildfires that encroach on human habitations — just like what we’re witnessing in Los Angeles. The city has responded with the kind of preventative thinking we’re going to need moving into a climate-change-strained future.  This includes the “Own Your Zone” program, helping homeowners develop “defensible space,” essentially creating home firelines that remove combustible fuel. In a twist of intense irony, Oregon unveiled new codes mandating vegetation reduction in certain zones on new maps of wildfire-susceptible areas on Jan. 7, the very same day the conflagration kicked off in Los Angeles.  But the shining example is the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project, a volunteer collaborative focused squarely on the problem of ensuring healthy forests are getting the helping hand they need. The collaborative helps to tackle climate change, and build the kind of resilient wildland that won’t cure wildfires but can help ensure those wildfires that do break out are easier to control.  Indeed, wildfires shouldn’t be cured, as many ecosystems are dependent on “normal” natural burns that are nothing like what we saw in Jennings Creek or what we’re currently seeing in Los Angeles.This involves a range of commonsense measures which, unlike the dramatic and immediate impact of assets like additional firefighters, the gear they need to do their jobs, and abundant water, have to be undertaken gradually, over many, many years, to help wildlands build the resilience they need to keep these kinds of blazes manageable.  “In some parts of the forest,” the Deschutes Collabortive notes, “we are past the point of allowing nature to take its course. These forest stands need our help to get back to health.” This includes a variety of forest management practices, including reducing invasive species that burn more readily than native plants, thinning to remove thick underbrush that adds to the fire fuel load and opens canopies that prevents “crown-to-crown” spread of fire through the treetops.  Fire suppression efforts in wildlands are necessary in many cases, but they also run counter to the natural ecosystem that depends on fire (there are species of pine and oak that require it) to maintain balance. Big meadows, cleared by fire, become overgrown, adding to fuel load and allowing for more rapid spread.Prescribed or controlled burns, where humans deliberately simulate the natural spread of fire, can help mitigate this, but it requires funding, skill, and care. Even then, they’re still risky. In 2022, a controlled burn leapt its bounds to become the worst wildfire in New Mexico’s history. In fact, some are arguing that forest management is the real culprit behind the Los Angeles fires, but these are fringe voices sometimes tied to climate change denial, and drowned out by the focus on bodies, water and gear. Back here in New York, there are multiple projects like the Deschutes Collaborative. There’s the Black Rock Forest Consortium, just down the road from me. There’s the Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation, which strikes a rare balance between attempting conscious management of ecosystems alongside the need to provide affordable housing to the region’s growing population. The Audubon Society runs a healthy forests initiative in the state that helps create the kind of wildland resilience that might help prevent the next Jennings Creek disaster, or at least make it more manageable. All of these efforts, like Deschutes, are nonprofit, heavily dependent on community involvement, volunteer labor and public funding. You can’t even call the Los Angeles fires a warning shot. Rather, they are merely the latest episode in a rapidly unfolding story. With climate change’s increasing impact, and the increasingly populated intersection between wildland and urban environments, we can expect more of the same unless we address it urgently.Part of that move should absolutely be the tools firefighters need — more hands to do the hard work, more water to “put the wet stuff on the red stuff,” more and better gear. But the longer, slower and more patient work of managing the wildlands where these things start is going to be a critical part of that fight, demanding volunteers, dedicated activists and, of course, lots and lots of money.What’s more, it demands political courage and deft communication to sell the slower and more complex solution to a public who, as the current news cycle and social media conversation shows, have short attention spans consumed by outrage.As we reckon with what is still unfolding around Los Angeles, we need to be thinking about the full range of solutions to employ to move toward a time where this becomes a moment in history, and not the new normal.Myke Cole is a historian, novelist and essayist. His career spans service in the military, intelligence, law enforcement and firefighting. His most recent book is “Steel Lobsters: Crown, Commonwealth, and the Last Knights in England.”

Is There Any Merit To "Doomsday Fish Theory?" Second Oarfish Recovered in California-Oarfish, or "doomsday fish," get a bad rap.By Eva Hagan-Updated Nov. 18 2024, 4:23 p.m. ET

For many, news that a new species had emerged from the deep sea (or at least, a rare species not often seen by the general public) would warrant a viral moment. However, the appearance of oarfish instead sometimes sparks a negative reaction. Whether it's divers in 2023 spotting the creature or kayakers in 2024, oarfish don't get the warmest welcome.According to Japanese folklore, the elusive fish is thought to signify an impending disaster, historically spotted right before natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.Keep reading for everything you need to know about the "doomsday fish theory," explained.What is the "Doomsday Fish" theory? The "Doomsday Fish theory" is connected to the Japanese myth that the oarfish is the "Messenger from the Sea God's Palace" and appears in shallow waters before a seismic or doomsday occurrence. Hence, the oarfish is often called the "Doomsday Fish," per National Geographic.The oarfish's "bad omen" reputation has been slightly reinforced over the years. In 2017 six oarfish were seen just a few days before an earthquake in the Philippines killed six people, per ABC7.Similarly, in August 2024, just two days before a 4.6 earthquake struck Los Angeles, kayakers and snorkelers spotted an oarfish in San Diego, per the New York Post. While the oarfish in question was tragically deceased, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography obtained the body to determine why a juvenile oarfish was in shallow waters.In November 2024, a second oarfish was found on a beach in Encinitas in southern California, as reported by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to the Guardian.The "Doomsday Fish" may be no more than a myth.Many scientists and divers are not convinced of any connection between earthquakes and the fish. Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University.Motomura told the New York Post in 2023, “There is no scientific evidence of a connection, so I don’t think people need to worry. I believe these fish tend to rise to the surface when their physical condition is poor, rising on water currents, which is why they are so often dead when they are found.”Oceanographer and ecologist at Louisiana State University, Mark Benfield, told National Geographic that massive seismic activity would move more than one oarfish toward the shore.Benfield also said, "It's hard to imagine what sort of phenomenon would occur before an earthquake that would cause these oarfish to leave the [mesopelagic zone] to move towards shore and strand."The zone the oarfish live in, the mesopelagic zone, is actually several zones removed from the ocean floor, where seismic activity occurs. Therefore, oarfish are not a good signal for a natural disaster.The scariest thing about the oarfish is arguably its size.The oarfish can measure much bigger than six feet. According to National Geographic, the chilling sea serpent can reach 56 feet in length and weigh up to 600 pounds. They often have a shimmering silver complexion with blue spots.National Geographic also reports that although oarfish live in deep waters, they often rise to temperate and tropical shallow waters, believed to be pushed to the surface by strong currents.The species lives 200 to 1,000 meters below the ocean surface. They feed on small crustaceans and krill, which are harder to find in surface waters. In addition to the lack of food in shallow waters, oarfish are highly susceptible to fatal injury from harsh wind, and this could explain why most oarfish found in shallower waters are often dying or dead.This article, originally published on July 20, 2023, has been updated.

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3 PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD IS NOT MOCKED.

ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2  I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3  I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15  So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16  When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17  So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

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.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30

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)

REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

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.

NAHUM 3:13
13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

Iraq passes law that could allow for child marriages-Human rights groups warn of ‘disastrous effects’ as some clerics interpret Islamic law as allowing girls to be married as young as 9-By Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Stella Martany 22 January 2025, 8:12 am

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s parliament passed three divisive laws Tuesday, including amendments to the country’s personal status law that opponents say would in effect legalize child marriage.The amendments give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance. Activists argue that this undermines Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law, which unified family law and established safeguards for women.Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage in most cases. The changes passed Tuesday would let clerics rule according to their interpretation of Islamic law, which some interpret to allow marriage of girls in their early teens — or as young as 9 under the Jaafari school of Islamic law followed by many Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.Proponents of the changes, which were advocated by primarily conservative Shiite lawmakers, defend them as a means to align the law with Islamic principles and reduce Western influence on Iraqi culture.The parliament also passed a general amnesty law seen as benefiting Sunni detainees and that’s also seen as giving a pass to people involved in corruption and embezzlement. The chamber also passed a land restitution law aimed at addressing Kurdish territorial claims.Intisar al-Mayali, a human rights activist and a member of the Iraqi Women’s League, said passage of the civil status law amendments “will leave disastrous effects on the rights of women and girls, through the marriage of girls at an early age, which violates their right to life as children, and will disrupt the protection mechanisms for divorce, custody and inheritance for women.”The session ended in chaos and accusations of procedural violations.“Half of the lawmakers present in the session did not vote, which broke the legal quorum,” a parliamentary official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He said that some members protested loudly and others climbed onto the parliamentary podium.After the session, a number of legislators complained about the voting process, under which all three controversial laws — each of which was supported by different blocs — were voted on together.“Regarding the civil status law, we are strongly supporting it and there were no issues with that,” said Raid al Maliki, an independent MP. “But it was combined with other laws to be voted on together…and this might lead to a legal appeal at the Federal Court.”Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani in a statement praised the laws’ passage as “an important step in the process of enhancing justice and organizing the daily lives of citizens.”Also Tuesday, at least three officers, including the national security chief of the al-Tarmiyah district north of Baghdad, were killed and four others wounded in an explosion at an ammunition depot, a security official said.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the explosion occurred as a joint force of the Iraqi army and the national security service conducted an operation following intelligence reports of the Islamic State group’s activity and an ammunition cache in the area.

Report: Smotrich held meeting to plan public campaign to resume Gaza war-Finance minister said to convene with bereaved families, relatives of hostages, and strategists to formulate pressure tactics for stopping ceasefire-hostage deal after 1st stage-By ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 11:57 pm-JAN 22,25

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently held a meeting aimed at organizing a public campaign to stop the hostage deal in Gaza after the first phase ends and to resume the war, as he has been calling for, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.The network said the meeting included bereaved families of Israelis killed in the war, relatives of hostages — apparently those who oppose the deal — and strategists.Halting the ceasefire deal after the first stage would leave nearly two-thirds of the 91 hostages in captivity, as only 33 are to be released in the first part of the three-phase ceasefire.A participant said the meeting focused on mobilizing public and international support for resuming combat.The participant, who was not named in the report, told Channel 12: “We were invited to an urgent, secret, and unofficial meeting. Its purpose was to formulate a strategy to pressure the public so that we could resume combat immediately after the first phase of the deal concludes.”In response, Smotrich’s office said he “regularly meets with bereaved families and families of hostages. The content of these personal discussions always remains confidential.”Gil Dickman, cousin of Carmel Gat, who was murdered in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah along with five other hostages at the end of August as Israeli forces closed in on them, panned Smotrich for duplicity.“On the one hand, Smotrich welcomes the hostages who return, and with the other, applies political pressure on the families of hostages…and tries to shoot down the deal and abandon hostages to be murdered?” Dickman said to Channel 12.The hostages were abducted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists to invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, ensure such an attack cannot be repeated, and save the hostagesFar-right Smotrich, who has called to encourage Gazans to emigrate and for the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian enclave, has also vowed to not allow a hostage deal that abandons Israel’s stated war goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities in Gaza.The current deal, reached via international mediators, envisions a three-step process over the course of 42 weeks, although only the first stage has been agreed upon so far. During that period, 33 living and dead hostages are to be released, among them women, elderly men, and captives who are unwell.In return, Israel is supposed to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and release thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, including hundreds convicted of deadly terror attacks on Israelis.Some families of hostages criticized the deal, fearing that if it does not progress beyond the first stage, the remaining hostages will be stuck in Gaza indefinitely.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to resume fighting if the negotiations regarding the terms of phase two do not see Hamas cede both military and governing powers in Gaza, which the terror group is not expected to do.Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has said that Netanyahu promised him that fighting will be renewed after the first phase ends. Religious Zionism says it will quit the coalition if there is no return to the war at that point.Disagreement over the ceasefire deal, which started on Sunday with the release of three women, has left Netanyahu’s coalition teetering.Fellow far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir already pulled his Otzma Yehudit party out of the coalition in protest to the deal, though he said he would not bring down the government. Netanyahu still controls a majority in the Knesset, but would lose that edge if Religious Zionism also bolts the coalition.It is believed that 91 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.The terror group released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the 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 body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.

Iran reportedly arrests 10 Bahai women in ‘shocking’ raids-Bahai organization calls arrests part of Tehran’s ‘escalating campaign of persecution’ against members of the religion, including ‘systematic targeting of women’By AFP 22 January 2025, 11:40 pm

PARIS, France — Iranian authorities on Wednesday arrested 10 women members of the Bahai community, a representative group said, warning of escalating repression against one of the country’s biggest non-Muslim religious minorities.“Security forces arrested 10 Bahai women, without arrest warrants or prior notification, in a series of shocking home raids,” the Bahai International Community (BIC), which represents, at the United Nations, the interests of faith members worldwide, said in a statement.It said security agents scaled walls, coerced neighbors and even posed as utility workers to force entry into the women’s homes, “subjecting them to distressing and invasive searches.”The women face charges including participation in conducting “deviant” educational and propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law.“The Iranian government has once again shown its true face,” said Simin Fahandej, BIC representative at the UN in Geneva, calling the raids “yet another senseless act against women who are completely innocent.”“Their so-called ‘crime’ was to serve their local communities, and now the Iranian government has detained them in violent home raids,” she said.Ten #Bahai women were detained in Baharestan, near Isfahan, #Iran today by the Islamic Republic's security forces at 6am without warrants or prior notification. Agents reportedly scaled walls and coerced neighbors to raid the homes of Boshra Motahhar, Sara Shakib, Sanaz Rasteh,… pic.twitter.com/eRswlxDgDu — Baha'i International Community (@BahaiBIC_Rights) January 22, 2025-The BIC called the arrests “part of a systematic and escalating campaign of persecution against the Bahai.”In December, UN experts in a statement voiced concern over “what appears to be an increase in systematic targeting of women” belonging to the Bahai minority throughout Iran.US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in April that the Iranian authorities’ persecution of the Bahais since the Islamic revolution of 1979 constitutes a “crime against humanity of persecution.”Unlike other minorities, Bahais have not had their faith recognized by Iran’s constitution, and have no reserved seats in parliament.How many members of the community remain in Iran is not known, but activists believe there could still be several hundred thousand.The Bahai faith is a relatively young monotheistic religion with spiritual roots dating back to the early 19th century in Iran.Senior community figures Mahvash Sabet, a 71-year-old poet, and Fariba Kamalabadi, 62, were both arrested in July 2022, and are serving 10-year jail sentences. Both women had previously been jailed by the authorities over the past two decades.Sabet risks being sent back to prison after being given leave for open heart surgery, supporters have warned, while Kamalabadi remains in jail.

IDF seizes truce-violating weapons, including rocket launchers, in south Lebanon-Foreign Minister Sa’ar tells UN envoy to Lebanon no compromise on security; strategic affairs minister said to discuss with US security chief extending ceasefire grace period-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 10:07 pm

Israel Defense Forces troops operating on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov in recent days captured numerous weapons, the military said Wednesday, as it swept the area for Hezbollah caches, ahead of a planned withdrawal under the terms of a November ceasefire that ended a war with the Iran-backed terror group.Members of the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade located and seized anti-tank missiles and launchers, rocket launchers, machine guns, and other weapons, it said.The IDF is still deployed to some areas of southern Lebanon, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.Israel has accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire hundreds of times with terror operatives moving ammunition, attempting to attack Israeli soldiers, and preparing to launch rockets toward northern Israel among other things.As part of the truce agreement signed by Israel and the terror group on November 27, the IDF is required to cede all of its positions in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army within 60 days. At the same time, Hezbollah is required to retreat north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.With the exit deadline approaching next week, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told the visiting UN envoy to Lebanon that Israel is committed to upholding the agreement as long as its security is maintained.“I emphasized that Israel is committed to implementing the ceasefire agreement, but will not compromise on its security,” Sa’ar said of his meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis. “There is an opportunity for Lebanon to break free from the Iranian occupation and build a better future!”By January 26, Israeli troops are scheduled to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon to complete the ceasefire deal reached in November, with the Lebanese Army deploying in the area alongside international peacekeepers. Israel has warned that any violations of the deal by Hezbollah be answered in kind.Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is entitled to act against immediate threats posed by Hezbollah, but must forward complaints about longer-term threats to an oversight committee comprised of representatives from the US, France, Lebanon, and the international peacekeeping force UNIFIL.Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer spoke on Tuesday with US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, the Kan public broadcaster reported. A source familiar with the call said the two officials discussed lengthening the ceasefire grace period, an idea that has previously been floated.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold a meeting with senior security officials about the withdrawal date on Thursday, Kan said.According to the network, IDF officials have repeatedly warned about Hezbollah violations including three weeks ago when IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at a special session held in the north that Hezbollah has broken the terms of the ceasefire hundreds of times.Gordin told the forum members that the Lebanese army, which is supposed to be enforcing the ceasefire by preventing Hezbollah’s presence along the border, is in some places instead helping the terror group. He reportedly said that is happening in areas where the Lebanese army commanders on the ground and their units are Shia Muslims, in line with the ideology of Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran.According to the report, army representatives gave a similar update during a closed-door meeting of the committee that was held this week at the Knesset. Among the examples cited were that Hezbollah is manufacturing and storing weapons, as well as deploying forces in areas prohibited under the truce. Some of the violations are not being dealt with, even by Israel, the representatives said according to the report.The army told MKS that, given the situation, it cannot withdraw from south Lebanon next week on the 60th day of the ceasefire as was agreed in the deal.The IDF did not respond to the report, Kan said.Speaking to The Times of Israel last month, a military source confirmed that the IDF was gearing up for the possibility that troops would stay beyond the 60-day period as the Lebanese army is currently deploying too slowly to the southern Lebanon area, allowing Hezbollah time to regroup.In addition to slow deployment rates, the Lebanese army is failing to attack Hezbollah targets when the opportunity arises. Nevertheless, the source said that while extending the length of the IDF’s deployment would test the ceasefire agreement, it would not necessarily collapse.Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement and last month submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council alleging that Israel launched some 816 “ground and air attacks” between the start of the ceasefire and December 22, 2024.The complaint said that the attacks have hindered the Lebanese army’s efforts to deploy in the south and uphold its end of the agreement, a claim that Israel disputes.Israel has also complained to the UN Security Council about Lebanese violations.The war in Lebanon was sparked when Hezbollah, unprovoked, began firing at Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023, a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, starting the war in Gaza.Israel escalated the campaign against the terror group in September 2024, decimating its leadership, in a bid to end the persistent rocket fire that had displaced some 60,000 northerners.Fighting came to a halt with the start of the ceasefire agreement on November 27, despite both parties frequently accusing the other of violating its terms.

Top Iran official says Tehran didn’t know about Oct. 7, doesn’t control ‘proxy groups’In Davos, Mohammad Javad Zarif also says Israel failed in its Gaza war objectives, Tehran not building nukes; report says Iran to receive missile fuel shipment from China-By Agencies and ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 9:21 pm

DAVOS, Switzerland — Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday sought to distance Iran from the Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, saying that Tehran had been caught by surprise by its proxy’s attack.“We didn’t know about October 7,” Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister said during an interview at the Davos World Economic Forum, referring to Hamas’s deadly onslaught that killed some 1,200 and resulted in the kidnapping of 251 hostages.“Actually, we were supposed to have a meeting with the Americans on [the nuclear deal’s] renewal on October 9, which was undermined and destroyed by this operation,” he claimed.Zarif also asserted that Israel has failed in its Gaza war objectives.“Right now, as you look at Gaza… Netanyahu did not achieve his goal of destroying Hamas. Hamas is still there. Israel had to come to a ceasefire,” he said. “I wouldn’t suggest anybody start rejoicing over destroying Hamas as well as the Palestinian resistance, or cutting Iran’s arms, because the resistance will stay as long as they’re occupied.”“The resistance is not dead,” Zarif claimed. “I can tell you that the wishes for the resistance to go away have been based on a misrepresentation, a framing by Israel, that this is not an Israeli-Palestinian issue, but an Israeli-Iranian issue.”He also downplayed allegations by Israel and many Western nations that Iran has built a network of Middle East proxies beholden to its expansionist plans.Iran did not know about Oct 7 prior, actually was planning to meet the US officials to talk JCPOA renewal on Oct 9 — Javad Zarif at WEF pic.twitter.com/VdeWnc3OiJ — RT (@RT_com) January 22, 2025“Find me a single instance when these groups, which are I think erroneously called Iranian proxies, operated on our behalf,” he demanded.Iran has spent years financing and providing sophisticated weapons, including missiles, drones, and rockets, to terror groups across the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and an assortment of militias in Iraq. All of them attacked Israel in the wake of the October 7 assault.Zarif also denied widespread reporting that Israel took out much of the country’s air defense capabilities during an air offensive in October 2024, which was a retaliation for two Iranian missile and drone barrages on the country.“The story about destroying our air defense is a story and there is a reason behind it,” he said. “We suffered [some damage], but it didn’t mean that we lost our air defense.”Zarif, who was the lead negotiator on the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, denied that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, even when confronted with the Western assessment that Iran can break out toward creating the material for several bombs within days, if it chooses.“Had we wanted to build a nuclear weapon, we could have done it long time ago. A program to build nuclear weapons is not going to be like our program. You build nuclear weapons in hidden laboratories that are not subject to international inspection,” he said.Western nations say Iran’s nuclear enrichment program has no feasible civilian application. The UN nuclear watchdog has long complained of Iranian impediments to its inspection work.On Wednesday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran is “pressing the gas pedal” on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade, adding that Iran’s recently announced acceleration in enrichment was starting to take effect.Zarif also spoke about newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump, saying that Iran hopes Trump will choose “rationality” in its dealing with the Islamic Republic.“I hope that this time around, a ‘Trump 2’ will be more serious, more focused, more realistic,” Zarif said.In 2018, then-President Trump reneged on Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and re-imposed harsh US sanctions as part of his “maximum pressure” policy against the country.In response, Tehran breached the deal in several ways, including by accelerating its uranium enrichment.Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought use economic pressure to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missile program, and regional activities.Concerns have grown among Iran’s top decision-makers that Trump might, in his second term, empower Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites while further tightening US sanctions on its oil industry.Those concerns, coupled with mounting domestic anger over economic woes, could drive Tehran toward engaging in negotiations with the Trump administration over the fate of its fast-advancing nuclear program.Missile fuel from China-According to a separate report in The Financial Times, two Iranian cargo ships are set to transport a key ingredient for missile propellant from China to Iran in the coming weeks.FT reported that the cargo on board the Golbon and the Jairan, some 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, could be used to manufacture fuel for hundreds of mid-range missiles, the report noted, citing intelligence from Western security officials.The officials who spoke to the paper did not know whether Chinese authorities were aware of the shipments.Officials in Beijing’s embassy in Washington told FT that China is “not familiar” with the matter, while asserting that it is committed to “maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and Gulf region.”

Afghan man stabs and kills two in Germany, including a toddler, police say-28-year-old arrested after two people, including 2-year-old, killed in attack at park in Aschaffenburg, amid spate of stabbings; AfD leader responds with call for deportations-By Sebastien ASH 22 January 2025, 8:48 pm

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A 2-year-old child and a man were killed by a man wielding a knife, in Germany, on Wednesday. He also seriously wounded two other people, said police, who arrested an Afghan suspect at the scene.It is the latest in a series of deadly knife attacks to have shaken Germany in recent months, fueling concerns over public safety.The stabbings happened in a public park in the center of the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg at around 11:45 a.m. (1045 GMT), police said.The attacker targeted a group of children from a daycare center who were in the park, according to German media.“Two people were fatally injured,” police said, while two others were seriously hurt and receiving treatment in hospital.The suspect, a 28-year-old man from Afghanistan, was arrested “in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene,” police added, without indicating a motive.German media reported that the man was said to have psychological issues for which he had received treatment. The suspect lived in an asylum center in the area, news outlet Der Spiegel reported.Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she was “deeply shocked” by the attack.“The investigation will clarify the background to this terrible act of violence,” she said in a statement.Following the attack police said there were “no indications of other suspects” and no further danger to the public.A second person who was held by police was being treated as a witness.Authorities had cordoned off the park in Aschaffenburg, around 36 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Frankfurt in the west of Germany.Police said train traffic around the scene had been suspended, with services delayed or diverted.The suspect tried to flee across the train tracks, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported.Shaken by stabbings-Germany has been rocked by a spate of high-profile attacks, including the death of a policeman in June, after he intervened in a knife attack at an anti-Islam rally in the city of Mannheim.A man from Afghanistan was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the stabbing.In August, three people were killed and eight wounded in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen.The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and police arrested a Syrian suspect.The presumed Islamist motive behind the stabbing in Solingen and the suspect’s status as a migrant who was facing deportation fueled a bitter debate over immigration.The government responded to the incident by tightening controls on knives, limiting benefits for asylum seekers and handing the security services new powers of investigation.Wednesday’s attack in Aschaffenburg comes as Germany prepares for national elections on February 23.The conservative CDU/CSU alliance currently leads in the polls on around 30 percent, with the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) in second with 20%.Both parties have promised to crack down on illegal immigration.The conservatives have also pledged a “de facto” ban on new asylum requests at the border.In response to the latest attack, the co-leader of the AfD Alice Weidel posted a message on X urging “remigration now!” — using a term that the far right have adopted to call for the mass deportation of migrants.Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats sit third in the polls with around 16% of support.

Houthis release crew of Israel-linked ship over a year after seizure off Yemen coast-Iran-backed Yemeni rebels say they freed sailors from Philippines, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Mexico after Oman’s mediation, ‘in support of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza’By Agencies and ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 5:24 pm

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Wednesday they released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.“This step comes in support of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” the Houthis said in a statement on rebel-controlled SABA news agency.Israel and the Hamas terror group reached a hostage-ceasefire deal that went into effect Sunday and has so far seen the release of three Israeli hostages from Gaza and 90 Palestinian security prisoners, and a stop to fighting, more than 15 months after the terror group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.The Houthis said they released the sailors after mediation by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that’s long been an interlocutor with the Houthis.Oman did not immediately acknowledge the release, though an Omani Royal Air Force jet took a flight to Yemen earlier Wednesday.The Houthis also said Hamas separately requested the Houthis release the ship’s crew of 25, who included mariners from the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico.A representative for the Galaxy Leader’s owners had no immediate comment.The Bahamas-flagged, Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader is owned by a British company, which in turn is partially owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham “Rami” Ungar.The Houthis — whose motto calls for “death to Israel” and “a curse upon the Jews” — hijacked the Galaxy Leader with a helicopter-borne raid on November 19, 2023, ostensibly over its connection to Israel.Propaganda footage of the raid has been played constantly by the Houthis, who even shot a music video aboard the ship at one point and have turned it into a tourist attraction.The rebels then conducted a campaign attacking ships in international waters, targeting over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, seizing one vessel and sinking two, and killing four sailors.The rebels have maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have had little or no connection to Israel or its allies, including some bound for Iran.On Monday, the Houthis signaled they now will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.As late as Saturday the rebels were still launching drones and missiles targeting Israel, which has warned it will continue to strike Houthi leadership.The Houthis have launched more than 40 ballistic missiles and some 320 drones at Israel since they started attacking the country in 2023.Israel and Western allies carried out several sorties against Houthi targets in Yemen, but they have failed to stem the attacks.In the vast majority of the Houthis’ attacks, the missiles have been intercepted by Israeli air defenses, or have fallen short before reaching the country. However, a few drones and missiles have hit Israel, causing casualties and damage in several cases.

Analysis-As terrorists go free, Israel debates keeping enemies close or sending them far away-History shows dangers and possible benefits of setting killers loose in West Bank or Gaza, but also points to risks that come with exiling terror leaders beyond Israel’s reach-Amir Bar Shalom-By Amir Bar Shalom 22 January 2025, 4:13 pm

Recent polling conducted before the clinching of a hostage release and ceasefire agreement with Hamas this month found consistently high levels of support for an agreement that would free captives stuck in Gaza for over 15 months, even if many Israelis disagreed over the exact contours of the truce or what concessions should be on the table.Earlier surveys conducted over the course of the war had shown significantly lower levels of support, indicating impatience had grown over the fate of the hostages and exhaustion with the war and with the mounting death toll among Israeli soldiers still fighting in the Strip.Hostage release deals provide a hurting nation with a sense of elation at the sight of the emotional reunions between the hostages and their families. That collective euphoria can be fleeting, though, as the realization of the price paid begins to sink in.For Israel, that price includes nearly 2,000 Palestinian inmates to be released for the first 33 hostages alone, with more expected to be released in exchange for the remaining hostages in the second and third stages of the agreement.Among those who will walk free are several Palestinian terrorists serving multiple life sentences for murder — the “heavies” in Israeli parlance.Israel had little choice but to agree to the terms of the agreement if it wanted to recover the 97 hostages in Gaza at the time of the deal’s signing, including at least 35 bodies. While a handful were rescued by Israeli commandos, military officials had made clear that future attempts would be nearly impossible and endanger the lives of the hostages, whose conditions are deteriorating.However, Israel does have choices to make regarding how best to ensure the worst released terrorists are unable to repeat their deadly attacks. One of the choices is whether the freed murderers are authorized to live in the West Bank or Gaza or exiled outside the region once released.Within the Shin Bet security service, opinions remain divided.Israel has demanded that the most prominent murderers — those deemed certain to return to terrorist activity — be deported outside the region-However, some hold the view that it would be preferable to release them to the West Bank, where Israel has full operational freedom and can reach them immediately and relatively easily.Sadly, Israel has experience to draw on.Dangers near and far-In 2011, when Israel released 1,027 prisoners for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, it allowed many of them to return to the West Bank. According to Israel, some resumed terror activities, taking advantage of their easy access to Israeli targets.But three years later, when Israel launched a major crackdown on Hamas following the abduction and murder of Israeli teenagers Gil-ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, it was able to quickly rearrest many of them.The seeds of that deadly kidnapping can be traced to another released Palestinian prisoner, Saleh al-Arouri, who was let out of prison in 2010 and exiled abroad.Working from his new home in Turkey, and later Lebanon, Arouri established Hamas’s “West Bank headquarters,” an operational hub that orchestrated dozens of attacks, including the June 2014 kidnapping of the three teenagers, which led to the 2014 war in Gaza.Arouri was also a key figure in building up Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, leveraging his ties with Iran and Hezbollah.In Lebanon, he helped establish a Hamas foothold with the tacit approval of Hezbollah, which was able to draw on Palestinian operatives from refugee camps in Tyre as proxies.A barrage of dozens of rockets fired at Israel in April 2023 was a show of Hamas’s capability and willingness to open another front against Israel under Hezbollah’s watchful eye.Israel assassinated Arouri in Beirut in early January 2024, but decision-makers initially balked at attacking the senior Hamas figure due to fears of how Hezbollah would respond, underlining the downstream complexities that can arise from deporting terror leaders.Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority have disclosed what countries could take in the high-profile prisoners who are deported. Where they end up will determine how Israel may deal with them if and when these deportees return to terrorist activities. Turkey and Qatar are off-limits for Israeli operations, while actions in other countries would depend on political circumstances and operational opportunities.In Lebanon, for instance, Israel has retained a policy of taking action against any emerging threat, even after agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in November.Jerusalem has insisted on applying the same to Gaza following the war and Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to assert that both former US president Joe Biden and current president Donald Trump have promised to back Israel should it return to fighting.Israel could decide to deport some of these terrorists to Gaza. That is where many of those released in the Shalit deal ended up, including Yahya Sinwar, the late Hamas leader who masterminded the October 7 massacre.The Gaza challenge-Beyond attempting to ensure that it does not free the next Sinwar into the fecund terror environment of Gaza, Israel is also focusing on the interim goal of preventing Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities to a level that poses a renewed threat.This can only be achieved through the tightest possible closure of smuggling routes from Egypt — a matter currently at the heart of Israeli-Egyptian negotiations in Cairo.It’s unclear whether a proposal for a new border crossing at the Gaza-Egypt-Israel border triangle remains in play. The idea had been pushed by former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who envisioned the site being monitored by Israel, Egypt and international actors.Israeli officials emphasize that they have not abandoned the war’s primary objective: preventing Hamas from retaining any governmental or military control. It remains an open question who could take its place, though.Meanwhile, new challenges are being created with the looming influx of hundreds of terror convicts into the West Bank, administered by a weakened and financially drained PA.One of Israel’s key achievements in the war has been maintaining relative stability in the West Bank, continuing security coordination with Palestinian security forces, and preventing the eruption of another front. Nonetheless, Hamas still views the West Bank as a place where it can operate with relative ease, and Israel knows it.Both Israel and the PA would like to clamp down on Hamas. But while the PA wants to act, it lacks the capability, thus raising major doubts about its ability to govern Gaza.In the absence of an alternative, Hamas will fill the power vacuum. On Sunday, when transferring the three freed hostages to the Red Cross, Hamas demonstrated that it still maintains some control over Gaza’s streets — a grip that is liable to strengthen as calm there persists.

UN nuclear watchdog warns Iran is ‘pressing the gas pedal’ on uranium enrichment-IAEA chief Grossi urges diplomacy between US, Iran on nuclear issue; UN chief pushes Iran to renounce nuclear weapons-By Leela de Kretser 22 January 2025, 4:13 pm

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Iran is “pressing the gas pedal” on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, adding that Iran’s recently announced acceleration in enrichment was starting to take effect.Grossi said last month that Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would “dramatically” accelerate the enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, closer to the roughly 90% of weapons-grade.Western powers called the step a serious escalation and said there was no civil justification for enriching to that level and that no other country had done so without producing nuclear weapons. Iran, which frequently threatens to destroy Israel, has said its program is entirely peaceful and it has the right to enrich uranium to any level it wants.“Before it was (producing) more or less seven kilograms (of uranium enriched to up to 60%) per month, now it’s above 30 or more than that. So I think this is a clear indication of an acceleration. They are pressing the gas pedal,” Grossi told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.According to an International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, about 42 kilograms (93 pounds) of uranium enriched to that level is enough in principle, if enriched further, for one nuclear bomb. Grossi said Iran currently had about 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60%.Still, he said it would take time to install and bring online the extra centrifuges – machines that enrich uranium – but that the acceleration was starting to happen.“We are going to start seeing steady increases from now,” he said.Grossi has called for diplomacy between Iran and the administration of new US President Donald Trump, who in his first term, pulled the United States out of a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that had imposed strict limits on Iran’s atomic activities. That deal has since unraveled.“One can gather from the first statements from President Trump and some others in the new administration that there is a disposition, so to speak, to have a conversation and perhaps move into some form of an agreement,” he said.Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at Davos that Iran must make a first step toward improving relations with countries in the region and the United States by making it clear it does not aim to develop nuclear weapons.“The most relevant question is Iran and relations between Iran, Israel and the United States,” Guterres said as he discussed the situation in the Middle East at the World Economic Forum in Davos.“Here my hope is that the Iranians understand that it is important to once and for all make it clear that they will renounce to have nuclear weapons, at the same time that they engage constructively with the other countries of the region.”

Iran claims Swiss man who died by suicide in prison had photographed military sites-After Bern demanded probe into death of tourist who was arrested on suspicion of espionage, Tehran says 64-year-old entered Iran ‘in a car fitted with various technical equipment’By Agencies 22 January 2025, 3:05 pm

DUBAI – A Swiss national who Iranian authorities said took his own life while in an Iranian jail after being arrested on suspicion of espionage had taken pictures of military sites, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson said on Wednesday.Switzerland had demanded detailed information on the reasons for the arrest of the 64-year-old man, who had been traveling in Iran as a tourist, and a full investigation into the circumstances of his death earlier this month.“The person had entered the country from Dogharoun (bordering Afghanistan) in October as a tourist in a car fitted with various technical equipment meant for different purposes,” the judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said.The Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has said it was informed by the Islamic Republic about the arrest of the 64-year-old man on December 10 on suspicion of espionage.The man had been traveling in Iran as a tourist, and had not resided in Switzerland for almost 20 years, the FDFA said, adding he had been living in southern Africa.The Iranian spokesperson said the detainee had hanged himself with a piece of cloth after turning off his cell’s light and placing himself out of the view of security cameras.“After passing through several provinces, he entered Semnan province and was arrested while being in a military-restricted zone,” Jahangir said. “He was arrested on charges of taking pictures of the military zone and collaborating with hostile states.”Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have in recent years arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.Several Europeans or dual nationals are detained in Iran, including French couple Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are accused of spying.Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested and jailed in Iran since December, was freed and returned to Rome earlier this month.In 2023, Oman negotiated the release of six Europeans, including Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who had been convicted of espionage and spent more than a year in detention.Rights groups accuse Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies this.

Analysis-Hamas presence in Gaza during truce is a message the terror group is still in charge-Though jubilant crowds celebrating ceasefire have been described by Israel as an exaggeration of Hamas’s strength, the group has begun to curb looting, restore basic services By Agencies and ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 1:44 pm

In neighborhoods leveled by 15 months of war with Israel, Hamas officials are overseeing the clearance of rubble in the wake of Sunday’s ceasefire. The Palestinian terror group’s gunmen are guarding aid convoys on Gaza’s dusty roads, and its blue-uniformed police once again patrol city streets, sending a clear message: Hamas remains in charge.Israeli officials have described a parade of jubilant Hamas operatives that celebrated the ceasefire on Sunday in front of cheering crowds  — including in Gaza City where the terror group released three Israeli women it had been holding hostage for 471 days — as a carefully orchestrated attempt to exaggerate its strength.But, in the days since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza’s Hamas-run administration has moved quickly to reimpose security, curb looting, and start restoring basic services to parts of the Palestinian enclave, swaths of which have been reduced to wasteland by the war, which was sparked by the terror group’s brutal October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.Reuters spoke to more than a dozen residents, officials, regional diplomats and security experts who said that, despite Israel’s vow to destroy it, Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power constitutes a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.The Iran-backed terror group not only controls Gaza’s security forces, but its administrators run ministries and government agencies, paying salaries for employees and coordinating with international nonprofits, they said.On Tuesday, its police and gunmen – who for months were kept off the streets by Israeli airstrikes – were stationed in neighborhoods through the Strip.“We want to prevent any kind of security vacuum,” said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office. He said that some 700 police were protecting aid convoys and not a single truck had been looted since Sunday – a contrast to the massive theft of food by criminal gangs during the conflict.A spokesperson for the United Nations in Geneva confirmed on Tuesday there had been no reports of looting or attacks on aid workers since the ceasefire took effect on Sunday.The three-phase accord caps a yearlong international effort to get both Hamas and Israel to agree to a deal meant to end the war and free the hostages held in Gaza, with 33 captives set to be released over the next 42 days in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks.Also as part of the initial stage of the accord, which includes a temporary ceasefire, a major surge of humanitarian aid has begun to flow into Gaza.In recent weeks, Israeli airstrikes have targeted lower-ranking administrators in Gaza, in an apparent bid to break Hamas’s grip on government. Israel had already eliminated most of the terror group’s senior leadership, including political chief Ismail Haniyeh and the masterminds of the October 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.Despite the losses, Al-Thawabta said the Hamas-run administration continued to function. “Currently, we have 18,000 employees working daily to provide services to citizens,” he said.The Hamas-run municipalities had begun on Sunday clearing the rubble from some roads to vehicles to pass, while workers repaired pipes and infrastructure to restore running water to neighborhoods. On Tuesday, dozens of heavy trucks ferried debris from destroyed buildings along the enclave’s main arteries.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not articulated a vision for Gaza’s postwar future beyond insisting that Hamas can play no role and stating that the Palestinian Authority – a body set up under the Oslo Peace Accords three decades ago that partially administers the West Bank — also cannot be trusted under its current leadership. The Israeli government did not respond to Reuters’ questions.Joost Hiltermann, of the International Crisis Group, said the terror group’s firm grip on Gaza presented Israel with a dilemma.“Israel has a choice, to continue fighting in the future and killing people — and that hasn’t worked in the past 15 months — or it can allow an arrangement where the Palestinian Authority takes control with Hamas’s acquiescence,” Hiltermann said.Hamas’s military capability is hard to assess because its rocket arsenal remains hidden and many of its best-trained fighters may have been killed, Hiltermann said, but it remains by far the dominant armed group in Gaza: “Nobody is talking about the PA taking over Gaza without Hamas’s consent.”While senior Hamas officials have expressed support for a unity government, Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority and a longtime adversary of Hamas, has not given his assent. Abbas’s office and the Palestinian Authority did not respond to a request for comment.Fresh negotiations-Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel must withdraw its troops from central Gaza and permit the return of Palestinians to the north during an initial six-week phase, in which 33 hostages will be released. Starting from the 16th day of the ceasefire, the two sides should negotiate a second phase, expected to include a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and the release of more hostages.Reconstruction, expected to cost billions of dollars and last for years, would only begin in a third and final phase.The deal has divided opinion in Israel. While there was widespread celebration of the return of the first three hostages on Sunday, many Israelis want to see Hamas destroyed for its October 7, 2023, massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, alongside acts of brutality and sexual assault.Even before the ceasefire took effect, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet said they favored returning to war to remove Hamas from power, once hostages have returned home. Three far-right ministers resigned over the halt in fighting.“There is no future of peace, stability and security for both sides if Hamas stays in power in the Gaza Strip,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Sunday.Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida told Reuters that the terror group would honor the terms of the ceasefire and urged Israel to do the same.Fifteen months of war have left Gaza a wasteland of rubble, bombed-out buildings and makeshift encampments, with hundreds of thousands of desperate people sheltering from the winter cold and living on whatever aid can reach them. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 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 20,000 combatants in battle as of January 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.The ceasefire deal calls for 600 trucks of aid per day to reach Gaza. Al-Thawabta, the spokesman for the Hamas-run administration, said it was liaising with UN bodies and international relief organizations about security for aid routes and warehouses, but the agencies were handling the distribution of aid.A UN damage assessment released this month showed that just clearing away the more than 50 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.On Sunday, as Hamas forces paraded on the streets, some residents expressed pride that the terror group that rules Gaza had survived the onslaught.“Name me one country that could withstand Israel’s war machine for 15 months,” said Salah Abu Rezik, a 58-year-old factory worker. He praised Hamas for helping to distribute aid to hungry Gazans during the conflict and trying to enforce a measure of security.“Hamas is an idea and you can’t kill an idea,” Abu Rezik said, predicting the group would rebuild.Others voiced anger that Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack had brought destruction to Gaza.“We had homes and hotels and restaurants. We had a life. Today we have nothing, so what kind of a victory is this?” said Ameen, 30, a Gaza City civil engineer, displaced in Khan Younis. “When the war stops, Hamas must not rule Gaza alone.”No rivals-While the Palestinian Authority says it is the only authority with the legitimacy to govern postwar Gaza, it has no presence in the enclave and little popular support, polls show.Since 2007, when Hamas drove out the Palestinian Authority dominated by the rival faction Fatah after a brief civil war, it has crushed opposition in Gaza. Supported by funds from Iran, it built a feared security apparatus and a military organization based around a vast network of tunnels — much of which Israel says it destroyed during the war.Israel floated tentative ideas for postwar Gaza, including coopting local clan leaders – several of whom were immediately assassinated by Hamas – or using members of Gazan civil society with no ties to terror groups to run the enclave. But none has gained any traction.Key donors, including the United Arab Emirates and US President Donald Trump’s new administration, have stressed that Hamas — which is designated as a terrorist organization by many Western countries — cannot remain in power in Gaza after the war.Diplomats have been discussing models involving international peacekeepers, including one that would see the United Arab Emirates and the United States, along with other nations, temporarily overseeing governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge.Another model, supported by Egypt, would see a joint committee made up of both Fatah and Hamas run Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority.Michael Milshtein, a former Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer now at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies in Tel Aviv, described Hamas’s public willingness to discuss a unity government as “cosmetic.”“As long as they are behind the scenes, handling matters, they don’t care that there will be a committee as a front,” he said.On Monday, shortly after taking office, Trump expressed skepticism about the Gaza ceasefire deal, when asked if he was confident that all three phases of the agreement would be implemented. He didn’t elaborate further.A spokesperson for the Trump camp did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 2,400 aid trucks enter Gaza under ceasefire with no major looting, UN says-Senior UN aid official says some kids tried to loot food baskets, water; believes issue will be resolved when Gazans realize there’s enough for everyone By Reuters and ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 12:33 pm

Nearly 900 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the third day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terrorists Hamas, as a senior UN official said so far there had been no apparent law-and-order issues.The latest arrivals bring the three-day total to more than 2,400 trucks entering the enclave.Throughout the 15-month war, the UN has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic — saying it was facing problems with Israel’s military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and looting by armed gangs.The Israeli military has said that attacking and stealing aid is an ongoing problem, especially in southern Gaza. COGAT, the Defense Ministry body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, has said convoys are attacked by Hamas terrorists and known crime families.Israel has also said that it had been working to address the humanitarian situation since the start of the war, adding that the main problem with aid deliveries was UN distribution challenges.Muhannad Hadi, the top UN aid official for Gaza and the West Bank, said there had been minor incidents of looting in the past three days, but “not like before.”“It’s not organized crime. Kids jumped on some trucks trying to take food baskets. There were some other people (who) tried to take some bottled water,” he told reporters after visiting the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday.“Hopefully within few days this will all disappear once the people of Gaza realize that we will have aid enough for everybody.”The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 897 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, citing information it received from Israel and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement – the United States, Egypt and Qatar.This compares with 630 on Sunday and 915 on Monday. The truce deal requires at least 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of those trucks are supposed to go to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.Hadi warned that problems were likely to arise: “Let’s not assume that because there is a ceasefire life is going to be rosy and our work is going to be a walk in the park.”He said the aid operation faced logistical problems because the road network within Gaza was destroyed, adding that the movement of people within the enclave was also a complicating factor.OCHA said on Tuesday that humanitarian priorities in Gaza include food assistance, opening bakeries, providing healthcare, restocking hospitals, repairing water networks, bringing material to repair shelters, and reuniting families.

Off-duty officer who lost hand in Gaza helped chase down terrorist in Tel Aviv attack-Cpt. ‘Aleph’ says he was with IDF comrades when he saw incident and pursued assailant, who was shot dead; video shows terrorist stopped for pizza before attack By Emanuel Fabian-22 January 2025, 11:44 am

An off-duty Israel Defense Forces tank officer who lost a hand during fighting in the Gaza Strip last year was among those who attempted to neutralize a terrorist who stabbed four people in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.“I fought in Gaza about a year ago. I was injured and lost my right hand. Today I am at the Tactical Command College, in the company commander course,” Cpt. “Aleph” said in a video distributed by the IDF.“I went out with my friends from the course to Nahalat Binyamin, and during the outing, a terrorist came and tried to stab one of us. As soon as I noticed the incident, I tried to hit the terrorist and we chased him,” he said.Aside from Cpt. Aleph, the victims in the attack in the Nahalat Binyamin neighborhood included two men aged 24 and 28 in moderate condition, and another man aged 59 in good condition, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.The Armored Corps officer said he would return to the course on Wednesday. He was lightly injured in the attack.The terrorist, named as Abdelaziz Kaddi, a Moroccan national with a US green card, was eventually shot dead at the scene.Kaddi was flagged by security when he arrived in the country a few days ago but was nonetheless granted entry, a decision the Shin Bet security agency said late Tuesday that it was investigating.Pizza stop-Before carrying out the attack, Kaddi visited a local pizzeria and was filmed on surveillance videos buying slices and speaking to the owner of the eatery.Channel 12 news aired the footage of the terrorist ordering at the restaurant, and interviewed the owner.“I only realized later when I got home and images were circulating on WhatsApp. That’s when I saw a photo of the terrorist,” Chaim Bassan, the owner of Pizza and Tortilla, told the outlet. “He was so close to us. We saw him. We talked to him.”“A few minutes after he left the pizzeria, people began to run,” Bassan said. “They were shouting ‘terrorist’ and I heard gunfire. So we ran.”“It didn’t occur to me that it was anything to do with him,” Bassan said, adding that Kaddi spoke to him in English with an Arabic accent and that he had remarked to him on his choice of language as he thought it was unusual. “He ate outside, and he even returned his plate, which not all Israelis do.”Second attack in three daysThe attack was the second terror stabbing in three days in the Israeli metropolis.A man in his 30s was seriously injured in another terrorist stabbing in central Tel Aviv over the weekend before an armed civilian shot and killed the attacker. The terrorist in that incident was identified as Salah Yahye, 19, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.The attacks came two days after the first stage of a hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas went into effect, under which Israel will release up to 1,904 Palestinian security prisoners and detainees, including more than 150 terrorists convicted of murder and several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks, in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages.Israel released 90 Palestinian security prisoners to the West Bank and East Jerusalem early Monday morning, hours after Hamas released three civilian hostages Sunday on the first day of the ceasefire.The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Hezbollah official killed in drive-by shooting outside his home in eastern Lebanon-Lebanese media identifies official as terror group’s local commander in Western Bekaa District; motive for attack not immediately certain By ToI Staff 22 January 2025, 3:30 am

A senior Hezbollah official in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley region was shot dead Tuesday in what Lebanese media reported was an apparent assassination.The official, named by Lebanon’s National News Agency as local Hezbollah commander Sheikh Muhammad Hamadi, was shot six times in a drive-by shooting outside of his home in Machghara in the Western Bekaa District.The gunmen, who were driving two separate cars, then fled the scene of the attack, Lebanese news outlets reported, citing the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television.Hamadi was transported to a hospital in the area, where he died shortly later.Lebanese authorities have opened an investigation into the shooting, and Al-Manar reported said the motive was not immediately clear. According to An-Nahar news outlet, however, the assassination stemmed from a years-long interfamilial feud and was not politically motivated.The deadly shooting occurred days before the end of the initial 60-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.Under the terms of the agreement signed in late November, Israel has until January 26 to withdraw from southern Lebanon,  while Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.After the 60 days are up, the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL will be the only armed forces permitted to maintain a presence between Israel and the Litani. Reports in Israel have suggested that the deadline could be extended, ostensibly due to the Lebanese military’s failure to deploy throughout the region quickly enough.The US- and France-brokered ceasefire in late November came two months after Israel massively escalated operations in Lebanon in a bid to stem Hezbollah’s persistent rocket fire, which forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel.Israel’s offensive in Lebanon all but decimated Hezbollah’s top brass, drastically weakening the terror group.Unprovoked, Hezbollah began its near-daily attacks on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

US green card holder, a Moroccan national, wounds 4 in Tel Aviv terror stabbing spree-Two moderately wounded, two others lightly hurt; Shin Bet confirms it’s probing why the assailant was let into Israel after being interrogated at airport By Emanuel Fabian-22 January 2025, 12:41 am

Four people were wounded Tuesday evening by a terrorist who went on a stabbing spree in a trendy Tel Aviv neighborhood, emergency services and Israel Police said, before he was shot dead.The assailant who carried out the stabbing was Moroccan national Abdelaziz Kaddi, a US green card holder, according to an ID found on his body.Kaddi was flagged by security when he arrived in the country a few days ago but was nonetheless granted entry, a decision the Shin Bet said late Tuesday it was investigating.It was the second terror stabbing in three days in the Israeli metropolis.The Magen David Adom ambulance service said four people were wounded in the attack in Nahalat Binyamin. The victims include two men aged 24 and 28 in moderate condition, and two others aged 24 and 59 in good condition, MDA said.Kaddi entered Israel on January 18 with a tourist visa.Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said immigration officials had identified Kaddi as a threat when he arrived at Ben Gurion Airport and sought to bar him from entry. He was handed over to security officials for questioning.“To my regret, they decided to allow his entry into Israel,” Arbel said in a statement. He called on Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to investigate the incident, which the security agency shortly afterward confirmed it was doing.“Upon the subject’s entry into Israel, he underwent a security assessment that included his interrogation as well as additional checks, at the end of which it was decided that there was no information that established grounds to prevent his entry into Israel for security reasons,” the Shin Bet said in response to a query.The attacker apparently stabbed three people before running to an adjacent street, where he wounded a fourth person.Victims were taken to the city’s Ichilov Hospital.Amid varying reports on who shot the assailant, the Ynet outlet cited members of an unspecified special forces unit, apparently off-duty, who said they noticed the attack in progress.“We came down from an apartment and saw a stabber dropping someone to the ground. We shouted to him to stop and fired when he didn’t comply,” one of them told the outlet, without being identified.Eyewitnesses told Hebrew media the terrorist arrived on a motorcycle driven by another person who then left the scene.Police combed the surrounding area looking for possible accomplices.The attack came three days after a man in his 30s was seriously injured in another terrorist stabbing in Tel Aviv.He was also taken to Ichilov Hospital which later said his condition was stable and there was no threat to his life.The terrorist in that incident was identified as Salah Yahye, 19, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.He was in Israel illegally, according to defense sources. Medics said he was shot dead at the scene.

Columbia anti-Israel activists start semester with protest, disrupt Israeli prof’s class-Activists barge in on modern Israeli history lesson, chant for ‘intifada’ outside New York campus gates; counter-protesters hold Israeli flags and chant-By Luke Tress 21 January 2025, 11:49 pm

NEW YORK — Several hundred anti-Israel demonstrators rallied outside the gates of Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, as student activists vowed to step up their protests with the start of the spring semester.The renewed protests come as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress put pressure on universities to rein in threatening rhetoric on campuses.The protesters gathered on Broadway outside a Columbia entrance in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. They chanted “We will honor all our martyrs,” “Smash the settler Zionist state,” and “Intifada people’s war” to the beat of a snare drum.On campus, several dozen activists gathered and chanted “Long live the intifada” outside the university’s Butler Library, according to video that students shared with The Times of Israel. The protesters then marched off campus to join the activists on the street, two students said. The campus is only open to students and staff with university identification.“Columbia you will see, we resist till victory,” the protesters on the street shouted. Most of the protesters’ faces were covered in medical masks or keffiyehs.A handful of pro-Israel counterprotesters held Israeli flags and chanted, “The people of Israel live” in Hebrew. Other students and faculty looked on as they waited in line in the frigid cold to enter the campus. Police set up a metal barricade separating the line and the activists.The protesters were led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups led by the campus branches of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Both groups were suspended last year for violating university protest policies but continue to operate as part of the broader coalition. Tuesday’s demonstration was backed by the off-campus groups Within Our Lifetime, the Palestinian Youth Movement and National Students for Justice in Palestine.The groups call for the eradication of Israel and have vowed to continue their activities since the ceasefire agreement this month.The Columbia students urged classmates to leave class on Tuesday, the first day of classes for the semester.“Join us to flood Columbia,” the protest coalition said on social media. “There will be no school as usual as long as Columbia is participating in a genocide.”“Ceasefire is only the beginning,” they said.New York City protest groups often label their rallies “floods,” a homage to the Hamas term for the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, the “Al Aqsa Flood.”On campus, protesters handed out fliers that said, “The enemy will not see tomorrow,” with images of masked gunmen and an inverted triangle, a Hamas symbol, according to images shared online.The protest organizers told participants to wear masks and be cautious about using their student IDs to “defend against Columbia’s surveillance.”“As long as Columbia is responsible for genocide, there will be no school as usual,” the student protesters said in a statement.Several pro-Israel students counter-protested on the campus, holding an American flag and a red banner that said, “Get support for terrorism off our campus.”Also Tuesday, several activists disrupted a class on the history of modern Israel taught by an Israeli professor, Avi Shilon. Elisha Baker, a student in the class, said three demonstrators entered the classroom, read a speech and threw anti-Israel fliers that said “Crush Zionism” at the students in the class.“That is the culture at Columbia University. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about Zionism unless it is about criticizing Zionism,” Baker told The Times of Israel.“It’s also ironic because these protesters have been talking about academic freedom for the entire year, but clearly, they don’t care about academic freedom at all because there’s no such thing as the freedom to intimidate and disrupt inside of a classroom,” he said.The activists’ faces were covered in keffiyehs and it wasn’t clear if they were students, though only those with university IDs can access campus.The protesters called the class “genocidal propaganda for the apartheid state…from the point of view of the colonizers,” argued with the professor and refused to leave the classroom.It’s day 1 of Prof. @shilonavi History of Modern Israel @Columbia and masked protestors just barged in to intimidate and disrupt. So much for “academic freedom.”Welcome to Columbia, 2025! pic.twitter.com/S6GbzKFqut— Elisha (Lishi) Baker (@LishiBaker) January 21, 2025-Shilon told The Times of Israel that he was teaching about the conflicting Israeli and Palestinian narratives surrounding Israel’s 1948 War of Independence at the time of the disruption.“I was trying to be unbiased as I’m used to being and then they knock on the door and for me, as an Israeli, they looked like mehablim,” he says, using the Hebrew word for terrorists. “They didn’t look like protesters so I was surprised.”“I didn’t know how to react because if you would be aggressive they can claim that you pushed them or something, and if you’re going to be more calm they can continue, so I suggested to them to join the class and to learn about the conflict,” he said. “They just shouted ‘genocide,’ ‘criminals,’ and didn’t reply.”University President Katrina Armstrong condemned the disruption and vowed an investigation.“No group of students has a right to disrupt another group of students in a Columbia classroom,” Armstrong said in a statement. “We want to be absolutely clear that any act of antisemitism, or other form of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”Columbia University Apartheid Divest also posted video on Tuesday showing a masked individual vandalizing the area around the campus with red spray paint, writing messages including “Gaza rises Columbia falls” and “fuck Columbia.”The Columbia students are demanding the university drop all disciplinary measures against student activists.“Suspension for Gaza is the highest honor,” they said.The Trump administration and Republicans in Washington have vowed to put pressure on universities. Last year, the Republican-led Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce grilled Columbia and other top universities over antisemitism.Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, told The Free Press this week that he expected a crackdown.“DOJ is going to go after any university that looks the other way, that tolerates antisemitic threats of violence, intimation and threats directed at Jewish students,” Cruz said. “Columbia is right at the top of the worst offenders and so if they don’t change their conduct dramatically I think you’re going to see the Trump administration cut off their federal funds.”Federal Title VI protections bar universities that accept federal funding from allowing discrimination based on race or national origin.Trump signed an executive order on Monday, his first day in office, vowing to protect Americans against non-citizens who “espouse hateful ideology” or “support designated foreign terrorists,” including by evaluating visa programs.A prominent anti-Israel professor left the university earlier this month after an internal investigation found that she had discriminated against Israeli students.Protests surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict plunged Columbia University into turmoil last year, culminating in an unsanctioned protest encampment on campus property, protesters’ forcible takeover of a campus building and dozens of arrests. Israeli and Jewish students have said the protests and rhetoric, including from faculty, created a hostile and unsafe environment for them on campus.The university administration struggled to tamp down tensions and implemented some counter-measures, including a task force on antisemitism.

Hamas confirms 4 female hostages to be released on Saturday, without naming them-IDF says displaced Palestinians can return to north Gaza next week if Hamas upholds truce; Mossad, Shin Bet chiefs in Cairo for talks with Egyptian intel chief By AFP, Amy Spiro,Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 21 January 2025, 3:13 pmUpdated at 6:30 pm

A Hamas official confirmed Tuesday that four Israeli female hostages would be freed on Saturday as part of the ceasefire deal that will also see Palestinian security prisoners released.Taher al-Nunu said Hamas would release “four Israeli female detainees in exchange” for a second group of Palestinian inmates.He did not name the four women who will be released after over 470 days in captivity. The hostage and ceasefire deal states that Hamas is required to provide the names of the hostages at least 24 hours ahead of their release, though the terror group failed to meet that condition for the first three women who were freed on Sunday.Nunu’s statement came after a spokesperson for the terror group’s prisoners’ office claimed on Monday that the next hostage release would happen on Sunday, a day later than agreed, which was followed by a Hamas statement that the release would take place on Saturday after all.There are seven female hostages remaining from the original list of 33 to be released in the first phase of the hostage ceasefire deal. Two of them are civilians: Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33.There are also five female soldiers in captivity: Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, Agam Berger, 21, Danielle Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20.Bibas’s two young sons Ariel and Kfir, now aged 5 and 2, are also held and are on the list, as is her husband, Yarden Bibas.For each of the female soldiers, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of them convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences. Early Monday, Israel released 30 prisoners for each of the three civilian female hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher — Hamas set free the previous afternoon.Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov said Tuesday that Russian-Israeli hostage Sasha Trufanov will be released from Gaza in the next few weeks and that he is “not entirely healthy,” but stable.“Simple mathematics suggests, unfortunately, that we are not talking about the next waves of hostage releases, but within 3-4 weeks, judging by the schedule, he will be released,” Viktorov said on the Russia 24 TV station, according to the state-run TASS wire agency.Trufanov, 28, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, alongside his mother, grandmother and girlfriend, while his father was murdered. The rest of his family was released in November 2023, and Trufanov has since been seen in two propaganda videos released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.Viktorov said that “unfortunately, there is information that [Trufanov] was injured and his state of health is not entirely satisfactory. We hope that for the remaining few days, his health will not deteriorate.”The ambassador suggested that Trufanov was wounded during his abduction, but said that Hamas has made a “firm promise” to Moscow that he will be returned “alive and healthy” to Israel.The dual Russian-Israeli citizen is on the list of the 33 hostages slated to be freed during the six-week first stage of the ceasefire, which includes those considered in the “humanitarian” category — women, children, men over the age of 50 and the sick and wounded. The expectation is that the women and elderly will be freed in the earlier stages, and the final 14 hostages will be freed only on the 42nd day.After the four hostages set to be released this coming Saturday, three hostages will be released each Saturday over the following four weeks, until the final group of 14 on day 42 of the first phase of the ceasefire.Israel has not been told how many of the 33 are alive, but under the agreement is expected to receive a full status report on all those on the list on Saturday.In the second phase of the deal — if Israel and Hamas reach agreements preventing the resumption of the war — the terror group would release the remaining living captives, men under the age of 50. In the third phase, the bodies of all remaining hostages would be returned.As the ceasefire held for a third day, the military said Tuesday that displaced Palestinians would soon be able to return to northern Gaza from the Strip’s south after being displaced at the beginning of the war, if Hamas upholds the ceasefire deal.“If Hamas adheres to all details of the agreement, starting next week, residents of the Gaza Strip will be able to return to the northern Gaza Strip and instructions will be issued in this regard,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, said on X.Under the agreement, on the seventh day of the ceasefire, unarmed Gazans will be allowed to return on foot to north Gaza without any inspection, via the coastal road. Vehicles returning to north Gaza will be required to undergo an inspection by a private company to be determined by the mediators and Israel.On day 22, displaced unarmed Palestinians will be allowed to return to north Gaza on foot via Salah a-Din road, also without inspection, meaning that the IDF will be gradually withdrawing from the Netzarim Corridor in the Strip’s center.Adraee also warned Gazans against approaching areas where troops are still deployed in Gaza, including the buffer zone along the entire border, the Netzarim Corridor, the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, and the shore.Meanwhile, Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar were in Cairo for meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, the Prime Minister’s Office said, confirming reports in several Hebrew media outlets.According to Ynet, the talks are focused on security arrangements for the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and the continued implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

IDF launches major counterterror raid in West Bank’s Jenin, expected to last days-Operation Iron Wall begins with drone strikes on terror infrastructure; large numbers of troops enter city; 10 Palestinians said killed, 40 wounded By Emanuel Fabian-21 January 2025, 2:26 pm

The Israel Defense Forces launched a major counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday afternoon, which military sources said was expected to last several days.The operation began with a series of drone strikes on infrastructure used by terror groups in Jenin, a military source said.Palestinian media outlets reported several airstrikes and local health officials said at least 10 people were killed and 40 were wounded.Footage published by Palestinian media showed Israeli Air Force helicopters flying over Jenin.In a brief joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency confirmed the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” and said further details would be provided later.IDF sources said large numbers of troops, including special forces, Shin Bet agents and Border Police officers, were operating in the city.The goals of the operation were to “preserve the IDF’s freedom of action” in the West Bank, neutralize terror infrastructure and eliminate imminent threats, according to military sources.The sources said the operation would last at least several days.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was “another step in achieving the goal we set, strengthening security in Judea and Samaria.”Judea and Samaria is the biblical name for the West Bank.“We are operating in a systematic and decisive way against the Iranian axis wherever it sends its arms, in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the military was preparing for “significant operations” in the West Bank, amid a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.“Along with the intense defense preparations in the Gaza Strip, we must be prepared for significant operations in Judea and Samaria in the coming days in order to preempt and catch the terrorists before they reach our citizens,” he said during an assessment, in remarks released by the IDF.On Sunday, military officials said the Central Command was readying to carry out offensive actions in the West Bank, to prevent Hamas from establishing a foothold in the West Bank in light of the release of members of the terror group in the ceasefire deal.The offensive plans were being coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, which also fears its rival Hamas gaining power in the West Bank, the officials said.Hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners are due to be released to the West Bank in the hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including many convicted of deadly terror attacks.The Tuesday raid came a day after an Israeli reservist soldier was killed and four others were wounded, including a senior officer in serious condition, when they were hit by a roadside bomb in the northern West Bank.It also followed a shaky truce agreement between the Palestinian Authority and terror groups operating in Jenin that ended a six-week standoff in the northern West Bank city and adjacent refugee camp.The PA had been targeting the so-called Jenin Battalion, made up of operatives affiliated with terror groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a bid to show incoming US President Donald Trump that Ramallah can maintain order in the West Bank, amid its push to take the reins of Gaza from Hamas after the war there.The IDF, which also staged counterterrorism operations in the northern West Bank in recent months, has said that it supported bolstering the PA forces to help them in the fight against the Jenin Battalion. The military paused its airstrikes on Jenin as PA forces operated there, but ended that policy last week with a pair of airstrikes on terror operatives that killed a dozen people, including civilians.Palestinian media reported Tuesday that as Israeli troops entered Jenin, PA forces withdrew from the area.The West Bank has seen a sharp rise in violence since the Gaza war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.Since then, IDF troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 858 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.During the same period, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another seven members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

Houthis claim they will now limit Red Sea attacks to Israeli ships-Yemeni terror group warns it will resume attacks on US and UK ships if provoked, says it will only stop attacking Israeli ships when all three phases of ceasefire deal are complete By Agencies 21 January 2025, 11:14 am

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels signaled Monday they now will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror group began in the Gaza Strip, but warned wider assaults could resume.The terrorists’ announcement, first made in an email sent to shippers and others late Sunday, likely won’t be enough to encourage global firms to reenter the route that’s crucial for cargo and energy shipments moving between Asia and Europe. Their attacks have halved traffic through the region, cutting deeply into revenues for Egypt, which runs the Suez Canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.“The ceasefire is considered fragile,” said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners.“It is assessed that even minor deviations from the ceasefire agreements could lead to hostilities, which would subsequently prompt the Houthis to again direct threats against a broader range of international shipping.”That was underscored by a speech aired Monday from the Houthis’ enigmatic supreme leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.We are “maintaining constant readiness to intervene immediately should the Israeli enemy resume any escalation, commit acts of genocide, impose a siege on Gaza or deny food and medicine to the people of Gaza,” al-Houthi said. “We are ready to return to escalation again alongside our brothers, the fighters in Palestine.”The Houthis made the announcement through their Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, saying it was “stopping sanctions” on the other vessels it has previously targeted since November 2023.For Israeli ships, those “sanctions… will be stopped upon the full implementation of all phases” of the ceasefire, it added.However, the center left open resuming attacks against both the United States and the United Kingdom, which have launched airstrikes targeting the rebels over their seaborne assaults.“In the event of any aggression… the sanctions will be reinstated against the aggressor state,” the center said. “You will be promptly informed of such measures should they be implemented.”However, the shipping industry reacted with caution to the Houthi pledge.“The coming weeks will provide the proof of whether the Houthi follow suit with their stated intent,” the maritime security firm Ambrey warned.The Houthis have targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 with Hamas’s onslaught in Israel in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 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.The Iranian-backed Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.The rebels had maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked had little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.The tempo of Houthi attacks has slowed in recent weeks, particularly involving ships at sea. That may be due in part to the US airstrike campaign. The US and its partners alone have struck the Houthis over 260 times, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Israel has also launched several rounds of airstrikes on Houthi targets.However, the rebels have continued to launch drones and missiles targeting Israel, which has warned it will continue to strike Houthi leadership.Another wild card is US President Donald Trump, who started his second term Monday. He may reapply a foreign terrorist organization designation on the Houthis that former president Joe Biden revoked, which could spark attacks again.“Uncertainty is further exacerbated by today’s inauguration of Trump,” Larsen said. “It remains unclear how the Trump administration will act in the conflict with the Houthis and whether potential punitive actions against them will be considered.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

1 Thessalonians 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Israel downplays PA role in postwar Gaza, denies promising Saudis a Palestinian state-PM’s office partially refutes report claiming Palestinian Authority to control Rafah Crossing; Ron Dermer says there is ‘no promise’ to Riyadh on establishing Palestinian state By Amy Spiro-22 January 2025, 3:05 pm

Israel attempted on Wednesday to play down reports and speculation that the Palestinian Authority would play a larger role in postwar Gaza and that a deal with Saudi Arabia could include the establishment of a Palestinian state.With the start of the first stage of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, conversation around the “day after” in Gaza has intensified, with many international figures calling for the PA to return to controlling the Strip as well as for increased efforts toward reaching a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution.According to a report in the Saudi-owned, UK-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday, Israel has agreed to allow the PA to take control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt in future stages of the deal.The report said that in meetings this week in Cairo between Egyptian intelligence officials and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Mossad head David Barnea, Israel agreed to allow the PA to manage the crossing “under international and UN supervision.” The report, citing a source familiar with the meetings, noted that the current arrangements are temporary and “concern this stage only of the ceasefire.”The Prime Minister’s Office partially denied the report, accusing the PA of attempting to “create a false picture to the effect that it controls the crossing.”However, the PMO admitted that the current arrangement at the crossing is “correct for the first stage of the framework and will be evaluated in the future,” and that the PA currently plays a limited role at the border crossing.According to the PMO, the IDF currently controls the crossing point and “nobody passes through it without supervision, oversight and advance approval of the IDF and Shin Bet.” It stated that “non-Hamas Gazans” provide technical management at the crossing with international oversight, and the PA provides the stamp on passports allowing Gazans to exit the Strip.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly refused to entertain the idea of the PA ruling postwar Gaza, accusing it of glorifying terror and supporting the October 7 attack. However, many in the Israeli security establishment have privately backed such a move due to the lack of any other viable alternative.In March 2024, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told a security cabinet meeting that PA rule in Gaza was the least bad option facing Israel.Speaking at a press conference alongside his Italian counterpart on Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar did not rule out the possibility of the PA playing a role in postwar Gaza, but said it would need to undergo serious reforms.If the PA ended its support for terror, “addressed these problems, and changed their attitudes, it would be a different Palestinian Authority, and then we could seriously discuss together a better future for both nations,” Sa’ar said.Speaking in the Knesset on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said Israel is part of discussions on the vision of a postwar Gaza but that any such arrangements must include international players.“We’re working on it, I’m part of that work, on ‘the day after’ in Gaza,” Dermer said, speaking from the Knesset podium. “But you have to understand that any Israeli plan will be dead on arrival, because it’s an Israeli plan.”Dermer said that, therefore, “we need to harness both the United States and regional powers” to take part in such efforts, declining to elaborate further on the potential partners.“I’m very optimistic that we can achieve governance in Gaza the ‘day after’ exactly according to the framework set out by the prime minister,” Dermer added, shutting down a further question from an MK and suggesting that Israel needs to “talk less and do more.”It was apparently the first time that Dermer, who he rarely gives public statements, has spoken in the Knesset plenum since his swearing-in as minister in December 2022.The minister, considered a close confidant of Netanyahu, also denied that Israel has made any promise to Saudi Arabia that it would support the establishment of a Palestinian state in return for establishing ties.“There’s no promise like this whatsoever,” Dermer said.Speaking in Davos on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog — who holds a largely ceremonial position — said that there was “real dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia” on normalization efforts.Herzog said that though he was a longtime supporter of a two-state solution while leading the left-wing Labor party, the October 7 attack shook his worldview. Today, he said, he understands “that there must be political move forward on the Palestinian front,” but he believes that the “trajectory of moving forward with Saudi Arabia, with Arab countries, which of course, puts the Palestinian issue as a focal point in the discussions, is something which makes more sense to me.”Netanyahu has said that his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state has only intensified following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and in February 2024 he said that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”The Knesset in July 2024 voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, even as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.

Trump considering Mideast visit but ‘not yet,’ says only his deadline got hostage deal done-‘We have a thing called “the hostages are coming back” going on right now,’ US president tells reporters, as envoy Witkoff confirms he’ll go to Gaza to oversee deal implementation By Jacob Magid-22 January 2025, 10:09 am

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he’s considering visiting the Middle East, though not immediately, as he again lauded his new administration’s role in securing a hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group that came into effect on Sunday.“We’re thinking about going to the Middle East — not yet,” he told reporters on his second day in office.His Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed Monday that he plans to travel to the Gaza Strip to oversee the implementation of the three-phase accord.Arab diplomats speaking to The Times of Israel have credited Trump and Witkoff, who held talks in Qatar and Israel in the final week of the Gaza negotiations, with helping bring the deal across the finish line, particularly by pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.“We have a thing called ‘the hostages are coming back’ going on right now,” Trump added.Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Sunday as the deal came into effect, bringing a halt to the war that began October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages.The first stage of the framework, first presented by then-US president Joe Biden in a May 31, 2024, speech, provides for a temporary ceasefire, the release of 33 Israeli hostages, and the freeing of nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners and detainees.Trump lamented that some of the hostages are not in good condition, specifically referencing former captive Emily Damari, released on Sunday, who had two of her fingers amputated after being shot during Hamas October 7 onslaught.“If I weren’t here, that they wouldn’t be back ever,” Trump said of the hostages.Ninety-one 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.“Biden couldn’t get it done, and it was only the imposition that I put on as a deadline that they got it done,” Trump said.Last month, Trump threatened “all hell to pay” in the Mideast if the hostages weren’t released by his January 20 inauguration.Trump’s comments came after he signed an executive order on Monday rolling back the sanctions regime Biden implemented last year targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.The policy was one of dozens rolled back by Trump hours after being sworn back into office through a stack of executive orders he signed first at a post-inauguration rally in front of thousands of supporters, and then back at the White House.Trump is also looking to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia — a deal that will likely require Jerusalem to make significant concessions to the Palestinians. Riyadh has publicly conditioned the agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Inside story-How ‘the stars aligned’ after over a year to reach a hostage release-ceasefire deal-Damage to Hezbollah, Sinwar’s killing pressured Hamas, officials say, while Trump’s ‘hell to pay’ threat gave new momentum; Qataris credit partnership between Biden, Trump advisers-By AP and ToI Staff Today, 1:52 am-JAN 22,25

Inside a lavish clubhouse on Doha’s waterfront, tensions strained by months of fruitless back-and-forth weighed on negotiators as the hour neared 3 a.m.On the first floor, a Hamas delegation whose leader had once evaded an Israeli airstrike that killed seven family members combed through the details of yet another proposal to halt the war in Gaza. On the second floor, advisers to Israel’s intelligence chief, who had vowed to hunt down those responsible for the October 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, did the same.With Qatari, US, and Egyptian mediators pushing for resolution, did the sides — such bitter enemies that they refused to speak directly to one another — at last have a deal that would pause the fighting, bring dozens of Israeli hostages home, and release thousands of Palestinian security prisoners?“They were extremely suspicious towards each other. No trust at all,” said an Egyptian official involved in the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The talks that night a week ago dragged on over disagreements about maps showing where Israel would begin withdrawing troops and its demand that Hamas provide a list of hostages who remained alive, he said.“Both parties were looking at each word in the deal as a trap.”By the time Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, announced a deal last Wednesday evening, mediators had scrambled again to defuse objections by both sides. Even then, disagreements and delays continued over the two days that followed.But as the fighting in Gaza paused this week, Hamas released three Israeli women from captivity, and Israel released 90 Palestinian security prisoners, the agreement, however tenuous, has held.After months of deadlock, a singular moment for deal-making-The story of how Israel and Hamas found their way to a deal stretches back over more than a year. But the timing and unlikely partners who coalesced to push negotiations across the line help explain why it finally happened now.“Over the course of the last week, all of the stars aligned finally in a way that, after 15 months of carnage and bloodshed, negotiations came to fruition,” said Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar.The agreement was the product of a singular political moment, with one US president preparing to hand power to another.Both were pushing for a deal to free some 100 Israeli hostages and bring an end to a conflict that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, when terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The subsequent war has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.In tiny but wealthy Qatar, the talks had a steward that positions itself as a go-between in a region on edge, one that hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, even as it provides offices for leaders of Hamas and the Taliban. Egypt, eager to ease instability that has driven an influx of Palestinians across its border and sparked attacks on sea lanes by Houthi rebels, worked to keep the talks on track.The circumstances partnered Sheikh Mohammed with improbable allies. Then-president Joe Biden sent Brett McGurk, a veteran Middle East hand in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Donald Trump dispatched Steve Witkoff, a Bronx-born real estate billionaire with little if any diplomatic experience, but a longtime friendship with the then-president-elect.The deal they brought together calls for continued negotiations that could be even more fraught, but with the potential to release the remaining hostages and end a war that has destroyed much of Gaza and roiled the entire region.Pressure mounted on Israel and Hamas-In the end, negotiators got it done in a matter of days. But that followed months of deadlock over the number of Israeli hostages that would be freed, the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released, and the parameters of a pullback by Israeli troops in the embattled enclave.In late May, Biden laid out a proposed deal, which he said had come from Israel. It drew heavily on language and concepts hammered out with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, calling for a phased agreement with continued negotiation toward a “sustainable calm” – verbiage designed to satisfy both sides.But talks had stalled even before Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed in Iran in late July, an assassination for which Israel finally took credit last month. And efforts by mediators to restart them were derailed when Hamas captors executed six Israeli hostages in a tunnel underneath southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.“Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.Pressure on Hamas increased after Israeli forces launched a devastating offensive against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the group’s longtime ally, and killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect of the October 7 attack.But Qatari officials, frustrated by the lack of progress, announced they were suspending mediation until both sides demonstrated willingness to negotiate.Weeks later, Trump dispatched Witkoff, a golfing buddy whose most notable prior link to the Middle East was his $623 million sale of New York’s Park Lane Hotel to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund in 2023.Flying to Doha in late November, Witkoff asked mediators to lay out the problems undermining the talks, then continued on to meet officials in Israel. The talks restarted soon after, gaining ground through December.“Witkoff and McGurk were pushing the Israelis. Qatar was pushing Hamas,” said an official briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity.Cooperation between Biden and Trump advisers was key. Assigning credit for the progress depends on viewpoint.The Egyptian official recounted the frustration of successfully pushing Hamas to agree to changes last summer, only to find Netanyahu imposing new conditions.An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity last week because the negotiations were ongoing, said Sinwar’s death and Iran’s weakening influence in the region forced Hamas’s hand, leading to real give-and-take, rather than“playing a game of negotiation.”He and others close to the process said Trump’s rhetoric and dispatch of an envoy had injected new momentum. The Egyptian official pointed to a statement by Trump on social media that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released, saying it had pressured both Hamas and Israeli officials to get a deal done.And mediators said the willingness of Witkoff and McGurk — representing leaders loath to give one another credit for the deal – to partner up was critical.“How they have handled this as a team since the election, without yet being in office, has really helped close the gaps that allowed us to reach a deal,” Majed Al Ansari, the adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.In early January, there was a breakthrough in the talks when Hamas agreed to provide a list of hostages it would release in the first phase of a deal, an official briefed on the talks said.McGurk flew from Washington to Doha hours later. Witkoff followed at the week’s end.The following day – Saturday, January 11 – Witkoff flew to Israel, securing a meeting with Netanyahu, even though it was Shabbat. McGurk called in. Netanyahu agreed to send the heads of Israeli intelligence and internal security back to Doha for negotiations.That led to extended negotiations, most convening in the Qatari prime minister’s private office, that lasted late into the night.At points, mediators shuttled back and forth between adversaries on different floors. At others, the chief negotiators for the two sides cycled separately into the Prime Minister’s Office to hash out details.“But the Hamas and Israeli delegations never crossed paths,” said the official briefed on the talks.Ceasefire conditions debated up until the last moment-After the lead negotiators for each side left Sheikh Mohammed’s office late Tuesday, the work shifted to the waterfront club owned by the foreign affairs ministry, where “technical teams” from both sides pored over the specific language, a floor apart.“Until late the first hours of Wednesday we were working tirelessly to resolve last-minute disputes,” said the Egyptian official involved in the negotiations.After extended discussions focused on the buffer zone Israel is to maintain in Gaza and the names of prisoners to be released, the long night ended with an agreement seemingly at hand, said the official briefed on the talks.But with reporters gathering Wednesday evening for an announcement, “a last-minute hiccup, last-minute requests from both sides” forced a delay, the official said.Israel accused Hamas of trying to make changes to already agreed upon arrangements along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Hamas called the claims “nonsense.”A senior US official involved in the talks said Hamas negotiators made several last-minute demands, but “we held very firm.”After calling the Hamas negotiators into his office, with the media and the world still anxiously waiting, the Qatari prime minister met separately with the Israelis and US envoys. Finally, three hours behind schedule, Sheikh Mohammed stepped to a lectern to announce the parties had reached an agreement.Even then, negotiations resumed the following day to wrangle with questions about final implementation of the deal and mechanisms for doing so. By the time the talks ended, it was 4 a.m.Hours later, President Isaac Herzog voiced his hope that the deal would bring a national moment of goodwill, healing, and rebuilding.But no one can say how long it will last.The deal calls for Israel and Hamas to resume talks just over a week from now, to work out the second phase. That is supposed to include the release of all remaining hostages, living and dead, and a permanent ceasefire. But getting there, observers say, will likely be even tougher than the agreement to get this far.

Top officials said already gearing up for 2nd phase hostage talks, ahead of schedule-Qatari PM says ‘pushing for this’; Shin Beit, Mossad chiefs reportedly discussed next stage in Egypt, two weeks before start date; Trump envoy Witkoff also expected to be involved-By ToI Staff, Reuters and Jacob Magid-22 January 2025, 8:04 pm

Top officials from the US, Israel, and Egypt were reportedly already moving on the second stage of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal on Wednesday, some two weeks ahead of the scheduled date for the discussions to begin.The reports came as Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he was ready to start mediating talks on the second stage of the three-phase deal as soon as possible, and as US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, asserted his commitment to reaching the second phase amid concerns that Israel will resume fighting after the first stage is over.The Qatari prime minister told the Walla outlet that he plans to speak to Mossad head David Barnea this week to begin discussing negotiations on the second phase of the agreement: “We are pushing for this.”Al Thani spoke in Davos, where he is attending the annual World Economic Forum.Witkoff will also hold talks on the second phase when he arrives, Walla reported.An unnamed senior Israeli official told the Walla site that Israel has “no problem” beginning the talks before day 16, but cautioned that the process could be lengthy.“Negotiations on the first phase lasted months, and reaching an agreement on the second phase may also take a long time,” the unnamed official said. Previously, Israeli officials have said the discussions were set to begin on day 16 of the first phase of the deal.Another Israeli official told the site that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Barnea held talks on the deal during their Cairo meetings with Egyptian intelligence officials this week, but noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not yet had a meeting on the second phase of the deal. Nonetheless, he stressed that Israel wants to see the ceasefire plan through.Channel 12 reported that while in Egypt, Bar and Barnea specifically discussed details of the second phase of the deal, including how many Palestinian security prisoners would be released for each Israeli hostage set free.Qatar, Egypt, and the United States brokered the multi-phase deal between Israel and Hamas terrorists, and the two Arab countries have set up a communications hub in Cairo to head off new clashes between the foes.Despite the reported developments, the fate of the latter stages of the ceasefire deal is still in question. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said Netanyahu promised him that fighting will be renewed after the first phase ends. Smotrich has vowed to not allow a deal that stops the war before Hamas is destroyed.Even Trump, who has touted his role in securing the deal, said Monday he was “not confident” that the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement would be upheld through all three phases.Trump said Tuesday he is considering a visit to the Middle East, but not immediately.Arab diplomats speaking to The Times of Israel have credited Trump and Witkoff, who held talks in Qatar and Israel in the final week of the Gaza negotiations, with helping bring the deal across the finish line, particularly by pressuring Netanyahu.Qatar candidate to normalize ties with Israel-In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Witkoff tied the success of the second stage to the deal with getting more living hostages out.“We have to make sure that the implementation goes well, because if it goes well, we’ll get into phase two, and we’re going to get a lot more live bodies out,” Witkoff said.Netanyahu has pledged to resume fighting if the negotiations regarding the terms of phase two do not see Hamas cede both military and governing powers in Gaza, which the terror group is not expected to do.Asked about Trump’s lack of confidence, Witkoff said he doesn’t disagree with the president and that implementation of the deal will likely be more difficult than the initial agreement.Witkoff said senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk’s recent statement to The New York Times that Hamas is prepared to enter a dialogue with the new Trump administration would be welcome if accurate.“I’m actually going to be going over to Israel. I’m going to be part of an inspection team at the Netzarim Corridor, and also at the Philadelphi Corridor,” Witkoff said but did not give an exact timeline for when he’ll depart.Netzarim is an east-west strip that Israel cleared during the war. It prevents Palestinians’ free movement between northern and southern Gaza. Philadelphi is a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt.“That’s where you have outside overseers, sort of making sure that people are safe and people who are entering are not armed and no one has bad motivations,” Witkoff added. He did not say who else might be part of the inspection teams.Asked what he told the parties during the negotiations, Witkoff said he highlighted Trump’s threat of “all hell to pay” in the region if the hostages weren’t released by his January 20 inauguration.He noted that he wasn’t involved in the crafting of the deal, whose framework was advanced by the Biden administration. “Our job was to speed up the process because it felt like it had bogged down… It doesn’t happen without the president,” Witkoff said.The US envoy is very close to the president and was seated close to him during Monday’s inauguration. He was seen briefly speaking to former US president Joe Biden at the end of the ceremony. Witkoff told Fox News that he was thanking Biden for allowing him to work on the hostage deal, adding that the former president thanked him in response.Biden had indeed directed his team to cooperate with the incoming administration on the hostage deal following Trump’s November election win. Biden’s White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk worked closely with Witkoff in the last week of negotiations.Witkoff spoke to his goal of expanding the Abraham Accords, insisting that all countries in the region could eventually join the alliance.“Normalization is an amazing opportunity for the region. It’s basically the beginning of the end of war [which] means that the entire region becomes investable [and] financeable,” he said. “Banks do not have to underwrite whether the Houthis, Hezbollah or Hamas are going to fire a missile and take down a hyper-scale data center.”He noted that a precondition to expanding the Abraham Accords has been a ceasefire in Gaza.“First, we needed the hopeful moment, and I’d like to think that we’ve achieved that, and we’ll build on that. Then on top of that, we needed to show people that we could stop the violence and that we could have conversation and dialogue. This is the beginning of that,” he adds.Asked who are potential candidates for joining the Abraham Accords, Witkoff highlighted Qatar, lauding the role of its prime minister in mediating between Israel and Hamas.Doha has long asserted that it will not normalize relations with Israel until a Palestinian state has been established.With the start of the first stage of the ceasefire deal conversation around the “day after” in Gaza has intensified, with many international figures calling for the Palestinian Authority to return to controlling the Strip, as well as for increased efforts toward reaching a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution.According to a report in the Saudi-owned, UK-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday, Israel has agreed to allow the PA to take control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt in future stages of the deal.The Prime Minister’s Office partially denied the report, accusing the PA of attempting to “create a false picture to the effect that it controls the crossing.”The Israeli official who spoke to Walla said that Israel will continue to demand that Hamas not be permitted to govern Gaza after the war. According to Walla, Egypt has been working with Palestinian factions in recent weeks to establish what it calls a “civilian committee” to potentially run Gaza alongside the international community and representatives of the Palestinian Authority.Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Sunday as the deal came into effect, bringing a halt to the war that began October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages.The first stage of the framework, first presented by then-US president Joe Biden in a May 31, 2024, speech, provides for a temporary ceasefire, the release of 33 Israeli hostages, and the freeing of nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners and detainees.Ninety-one 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.

Trump nominee vows to combat ‘antisemitic rot’ at UN, slams UNRWA’s ‘terrorist ties’Touting her grilling of university heads over campus antisemitism, Elise Stefanik vows to take similar approach at UN; also says Israel has biblical right to entire West BankBy Jacob Magid-and JTA 22 January 2025, 6:48 am

US President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that she will use the role to combat “antisemitic rot” at the UN.“Combatting antisemitism is something I am deeply committed to doing in this role, and it’s one of the reasons why I was interested in this position during my conversations with President Trump,” US Representative Elise Stefanik told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during her confirmation hearing.She said she used her current role as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives to combat “antisemitic rot” in the United States, referencing her tough questioning of college heads regarding over handling of anti-Israel protests following Hamas’s October 2023 attack, which first gained international attention that December when she asked three elite university leaders whether their schools prohibit calls for genocide against Jews. Video of the leaders’ answers sparked widespread outrage, leading two of them to step down.Stefanik said she hopes to take the same approach at the UN.“The US is the largest contributor to the UN by far… Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism,” she said. “As the world faces crisis after crisis, with hostages including Americans still held in Hamas captivity, to national security challenges ranging from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran… it has never been more critical for the United States to lead with strength and moral clarity.”She pointed out that there are more resolutions at the UN condemning Israel than any other country and blasted the UN agency for women’s lackluster and delayed condemnation of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which included sexual violence against Israelis.Stefanik characterized the UN Relief Agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA as a “program that is not meeting the mission of the UN. We need to roll our sleeves up, deliver reforms and make sure our dollars are going to programs within the UN that work and have a basis in rule of law, transparency, accountability and strengthen our national security.”VAN HOLLEN: Do you share the view that Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank?STEFANIK: Yes pic.twitter.com/q4KQQoINwx— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 21, 2025“We should never tolerate any US taxpayer funds going toward terrorism. I was one of the members that voted to defund UNRWA… We can look to organizations within the UN which are proven organizations such as UNHCR, the World Food Program – which still need reform efforts and modernization – but don’t have the terrorist ties that UNRWA had that were exposed during October 7,” she said.Stefanik declined to endorse a two-state solution or Palestinian rights to self-determination. “I believe they deserve so much more than the failures they’ve had from terrorist leadership,” she said.Asked whether she agreed with far-right lawmakers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank, Stefanik responded in the affirmative.She also urged an assessment of the UNIFIL observer mission role, following mounting allegations that it didn’t do anything to stop repeated Hezbollah violations of Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon.Stefanik called Iran “the most significant threat to world peace, and specifically the region,” saying sanctions snapbacks “will be an important tool to consider in [Trump’s] toolkit as he pushes back on Iran.”The statements by Stefanik, a close Trump ally and Republican congresswoman from upstate New York, could position her to be a successor of sorts to Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador at the beginning of Trump’s first term in office and gained fans among pro-Israel activists for her outspoken defense of Israel.Democratic senators noted areas of agreement with Stefanik but also challenged her at times on accusations of antisemitism in her own party and ideological camp. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia raised a past Stefanik campaign ad that said Democrats want to “overthrow our current electorate” by permitting undocumented immigrants to come into the country. Critics said the ad echoed the “great replacement” theory, a right-wing conspiracy theory alleging that Jews are using mass immigration to orchestrate the replacement of Western nations’ white populations.Kaine did not ask a question about the ad, saying he “can separate campaign rhetoric from government rhetoric.” But Stefanik defended it, saying, “I stand strongly for border security and that was what the tweet you referenced was related to.” She and Kaine sparred about whether Democratic senators supported open borders, but she did not refer to the charge of promoting antisemitism.Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked Stefanik for her reaction to claims that Elon Musk, the billionaire and senior Trump adviser, had performed a Nazi salute at a rally on Monday. Stefanik responded, “Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” and praised Musk as an entrepreneur who “loves to cheer” for Trump.In response to another question, she declined to say directly whether Palestinian deserve self-determination, though she said, “Of course they deserve human rights.” She also confirmed that she believes Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank.

HOMOSEXUALS.(SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERS)

LEVITICUS 20:13
13  If a man also lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

LEVITICUS 18:22
22  Thou shalt not lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as with womankind: it is abomination.

2 TIMOTHY 3:3
3 Without natural affection,(HOMOSEXUALS) trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,(HARDENED SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERRS) nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

PSALMS 14:1
1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ROMANS 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:(HOMOSEXUALITY,AND ALL SEX SINS)
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
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:(LESBIENS)
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,(SODOMITES) and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.(AIDS ETC)
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:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

GOD CREATED THEM MALE AND FEMALE IN MARRIAGE

GENESIS 1:27-28
27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,(HAVE LOTS OF CHILDREN) and replenish the earth,(HOMOSEXUALS CAN NOT REPLENISH THE EARTH WITH CHILDREN)(BY HAVING SEX WITH EACH OTHER) and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

GENESIS 2:21-24
21  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

MATTHEW 19:4-6
4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Israeli LGBTQ orgs slam Trump’s anti-trans measures, warn they could come to Israel-Responses come after US president, on 1st day in office, signed executive order recognizing only man and woman as genders and putting in place measures against trans communityBy ToI Staff 21 January 2025, 3:58 pm

Israeli LGBTQ organizations heavily criticized US President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he signed an executive order the previous day declaring that the US would now only recognize “man” and “woman” as genders.According to the order, the US would officially classify Americans’ genders based on the reproductive organs they were born with, meaning the country would no longer recognize transgender or non-binary as legitimate genders.The order also states that federal prisons and shelters would be segregated by sex according to the order’s stipulations and that taxpayers’ money could not be used to fund services for trans people.Railing against the order, Israeli LGBTQ+ organizations warned that Trump’s move could lead to similar moves against the Israeli transgender community. Even though Israel does not recognize genders other than man or woman, it currently does allow trans people to change the genders listed in their ID cards after they transition.Trans people can also have their gender-affirming surgeries subsidized as part of their medical insurance packages and cannot legally be discriminated against in the workplace. Israel allows youth under the age of 18 to begin hormone treatments with parental consent and are given mental and emotional support for the process.Zohar Katan, the chairperson of the Ma’avarim organization for the Israeli trans community, was quoted by the Walla news site as saying Trump’s order was only the first step targeting US trans people and warned that it could also lead to attacks against gay people and infringe on women’s rights.“Today, trans people are considering leaving the US or moving to different states — it’s organized persecution,” she said, contending that the same measures could also come to Israel.“We may be able to build our resilience in different ways, mainly with dialogue and cooperation, but we need to be ready for it. We are raising the flag already now and it needs to be for every community or organization that cares about having a democratic society. It may begin with the trans community, but it can easily escalate to the whole LGBTQ community and other communities. We will fight for Israel to remain democratic with human rights and for people to have the rights over their own bodies,” she added.Nina Halevy, who manages a support program for trans people in the Gila Project, echoed the warning that similar measures could come to Israel and compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a statement cited by the Walla news outlet, saying that both men identified a “weakened minority and used it as a scapegoat.”“We are very scared and are working mainly against organized transphobia and against organizations that are trying to set a conservative and oppressive agenda,” she said.She warned that the order would lead to further legislation against the trans community, especially its youth, due to misinformation surrounding it.“No one is overdosing them with hormones or mutilating them,” she said.The Israeli LGBTQ+ Youth Movement, known as IGY, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that Trump’s order did nothing but serve “extremist anti-LGBTQ+ people.”“Protecting the lives of the youth and our community is not negotiable and we cannot allow this policy to seep into Israel,” the movement said.The Aguda – The Association for LGBTQ+ Equality in Israel warned that US transgender people would soon begin to see the Trump administration damage their rights in the military, healthcare, employment and education, among other fields.“Extremist forces have already announced that they intend to import this dangerous policy to Israel. We will continue to stand as a wall in the face of anyone who tries to harm the community and especially people on the trans spectrum,” the Aguda said.