FULL-DRESS KOHEN SIGHTED ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT-READY TO GET 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT AND SACRIFICES TO BE DONE.

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)

FULL-DRESS KOHEN SIGHTED ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT-READY TO GET 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT AND SACRIFICES TO BE DONE.

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)

ISAIAH 30:10-15
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)

ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

Full-Dress Kohen Sighted on Temple Mount-Make sacral vestments for your brother Aharon, for dignity and adornment.Exodus 28:2 (the israel bible) Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz-October 18, 2024-Jewish priests prefrom a Passover Sacrifice 'practice' ceremony at the Old City of Jerusalem , on April 15, 2019. During the Temple times, the focus of the Jewish holiday of Passover "Pesach sacrifice." Every family large enough to consume a young lamb or Wild Goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple. Today, in the absence of the Temple, the mitzvah of the Passover Sacrifice is memorialized in the form of symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate, which is usually a roasted shankbone. The Temple Institute is dedicated to every aspect of the Biblical commandment to build the Temple on Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90.The Temple Institute announced a remarkable development that brought Israel one step closer to the Third Temple. For the first time since the Temple stood in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, a kohen (male descendant of Biblical Aaron the High Priest) ascended to the Temple Mount wearing the Biblically mandated Kohanic garments. While on the mount, the Kohen joined in a prayer quorum and gave the priestly blessing to those gathered. The Temple Institute prepared the garments in preparation for the return of the Temple service.This impressive feat was accomplished despite the numerous extra-legal restrictions placed on Jews at the site.  There is no law preventing Jews from praying on the Temple Mount, and the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Jewish prayer several times. Jews do pray at the site in inconspicuous manners and out of sight from the Arabs, but the police frequently prevent this from happening. On Tuesday, Jews prayed freely in minyanim (quorums of ten).  On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, a group of Jews smuggled shofarot (ritual rams’ horns) onto the Temple Mount and, despite police efforts to stop them, blew all of the requisite shofar blasts for the holiday. Jews have recently begun performing the commandment of prostrating themselves on the stones of the Temple. In June, a Jewish man wore tefillin (phylacteries) at the site. In August, the Biden State Department issued a statement condemning Jewish prayer at the site. There are, in fact, three types of priestly garments:An ordinary priest (known in Hebrew as Kohen Hedyot) wore four garments:Ketonet: A long linen tunic that reached until the heels.Avnet: A long sash made of linen and red, purple and blue wool, worn over the heart.Migbaat: A linen turban wound around the head.Michnesayim: Knee-length, linen trousers.In addition to the four garments worn by every priest, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) wore four more of his own.Choshen: Often referred to as a “breastplate,” it was a rectangular piece of cloth, folded and hung on the chest of the High Priest. Nestled within the fold was the Urim V’Tumim, through which G‑d would communicate. The choshen was decorated with 12 stones, each engraved with the name of one of the 12 Tribes.Ephod: Resembling a backward apron, the ephod was made from blue, purple, and crimson wool; linen; and fabric spun of gold.The choshen was suspended from the ephod’s shoulder straps, each holding a stone with the names of six tribes.Me’il: This was a blue wool robe worn under the ephod. A special mitzvah required that the neckline of the email not be torn. Its hem was decorated with alternating bells and “pomegranates” made from blue, purple, and crimson wool.Tzitz: The High Priest’s turban, called the migbaat, was slightly different from the cone shaped headgear of his colleagues. On it was affixed the tzitz, a golden plate engraved with the words: “holy to God”.The High Priest wears these  “golden garments” all year. The High Priest had  two tunics, which he wore on the Day of Atonement; one for the morning, and the other in the evening (Exodus 28:4).Five different materials were used to create the priestly garments:gold-techelet, sky-blue wool-dark-red wool-crimson wool-twisted linen

WARN THE PEOPLE-WW3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iran’s supreme leader insists ‘Hamas is alive’ despite Sinwar’s death-‘His loss is certainly painful,’ says Khamenei, but resistance against Israel ‘will not end at all’; says Sinwar left October 7 as ‘his legacy in history’By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 2:48 pm-OCT 19,24

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Hamas was alive and would survive despite the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border and massacred some 1,200 people in their homes, communities and at a music festival, and abducted 251 to Gaza, where 97 are still held hostage from that day.He was killed by IDF troops in Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.“His loss is certainly painful for the resistance front” against Israel, “but it will not end at all with the martyrdom of Sinwar,” Khamenei said.“Hamas is alive and will remain alive,” he said in a statement.Sinwar “was the shining figure of resistance and struggle,” Khamenei said in his first remarks on Sinwar since he was killed on Wednesday. Iran is Hamas’s chief backer and the Palestinian terror group is one of several proxies that Tehran has deployed against Israel.“He stood with unwavering determination against the cruel and aggressive enemy and slapped them with tact and courage,” he added. “He left behind the irreparable blow of October 7, 2023 as his legacy in the history of this region, and then he soared with honor and pride to the ascension of the martyrs.”Israel has also killed the top leadership of Iran’s main arm in the region, the Hezbollah terror group. Tehran is also bracing for an Israeli response to the missile attack that Iran launched at Israel earlier in the month in the wake of the killing of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.Hamas itself also vowed Sinwar’s death would not mean victory for Israel, and would not ease Hamas’ conditions for a cease-fire and hostage release deal.The hostages “will not return… unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops,” Khalil al-Hayya, deputy leader of Hamas’s Qatar-based politburo, said.In a video statement Friday, the senior Hamas leader said Israel would come to regret killing Sinwar, adding that his “martyrdom” would only strengthen the terror group.Hamas’s armed wing vowed, in its own statement, to keep fighting Israel until the “liberation of Palestine,” as it mourned the death of the group’s chief.

Car rams into police vehicle in suspected West Bank attack; no casualties-27-year-old Palestinian suspect dies in incident on Route 60 near Ofra settlement-By ToI Staff Today, 3:53 pm-OCT 19,24

A Palestinian driver swerved into a parked armored police vehicle at high speed on Saturday in a suspected car-ramming attack in the West Bank, police said.The driver was killed in the incident, and no police officers were wounded.Security camera footage showed the car speed toward an armored vehicle and a police patrol car, as a number of officers stood around. Right before the car rammed into the police vehicle, a seemingly unaware officer stepped out of the way of the vehicle, narrowly missing being hit.The incident occurred on Route 60 near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank.Police said that “during an operational activity by the police of Judea and Samaria District on Route 60 near the settlement of Ofra, a Palestinian vehicle collided with a police car, for a reason that has not yet been clarified at this stage. There were no casualties in the incident, police forces are on the scene.”Police later stated that the attacker was a 27-year-old Palestinian from the Nablus area, and was alone in the car. They clarified that he was killed as a result of the collision.Police said that a bomb squad was dispatched to the scene to inspect the vehicle, and that the incident was being investigated as a terror attack.The Israeli army added that “IDF and security forces are continuing their operational activity in the area.”The incident comes with Israeli forces on high alert amid fears that the Hamas terror group will try and carry out terror attacks to avenge their slain leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacre, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza this week.Since October 7, troops have arrested some 5,250 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,050 affiliated with Hamas.According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 716 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, 41 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.Since October 7, the IDF has carried out more than 70 airstrikes in the West Bank, using drones, attack helicopters, and fighter jets.

IDF probing apparent failures in warning systems-Hezbollah drone targets Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea; PM, wife not home, no injuries-Two other drones from Lebanon shot down; residents reported hearing buzzing sound before large explosion, no warning sirens sounded; Netanyahu: ‘Nothing will deter us’ By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 11:49 am-OCT 19,24

A drone fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon that exploded in the central seaside town of Caesarea early on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home, his office said. The premier and his wife were not present and no injuries were reported.The short statement from Netanyahu’s office came after the IDF said that “a building had been hit” in the upscale town famous for its swanky villas and Roman ruins and amphitheater.It was not immediately clear if the home suffered any damage.The IDF said the drone was one of three launched from Lebanon, and that the other two were shot down.The military said it was investigating the incident that apparently saw several failures of Israel’s warning system.No warning sirens were sounded in Caesarea ahead of the drone impact and explosion. Footage posted to social media appeared to show attack helicopters in the air that were apparently hunting the drone further to the north.However, sirens did sound in Glilot north of Tel Aviv, which houses a major IDF intelligence base and the Mossad headquarters. Those sirens were not accompanied by warnings on the Home Front Command’s app or other platforms.The drones and the interceptions also triggered warning sirens down Israel’s coast in the minutes ahead of the impact.“We heard helicopters above us and there was a feeling that there was some sort of incident but there were no sirens so we were not too worried,” one Caesarea resident told Channel 12. “But then suddenly a large explosion was heard and it was not clear to us if it was from an interception or a drone impact — but it was clear that it was a real incident with no prior warning.”“It was very worrying; luckily, there are no casualties,” he said.Ofek Mor, another resident, told Ynet of hearing the drone overhead.“Suddenly we heard a buzzing sound, it was not clear what was happening, then there was a huge explosion, very strong,” he said. “It is walking distance from my house, we got here and very quickly we understood what had happened.”Nothing will deter us-In a pair of videos posted in Hebrew and English to social media after his home in Caesarea was targeted, Netanyahu insisted that “nothing will deter” him, and that Israel is “going to win this war.”The rare video statements, released on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, did not directly mention the drone attack.Filmed while walking through a sunny park, wearing sunglasses and a black polo shirt, Netanyahu said in Hebrew, “You know, two days ago we eliminated the mass murder [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar, as I’ve said, we’re in an existential war, and we’re continuing to the end.”“And I want to say something else, I’m proud of our soldiers, I’m proud of our commanders, and I’m proud of you, the citizens of Israel,” he added.????Netanyahu's response to the drone attack that hit his private residence earlier today: pic.twitter.com/dCm2uJuFMT — Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 19, 2024-In the English version, Netanyahu called Sinwar “the terrorist mastermind whose goons beheaded our men, raped our women and burned babies alive.”“We took him out,” the prime minister says, “and we’re continuing our battle with Iran’s other terrorist proxies.”Rockets at the north-In addition to the drone attacks, Hezbollah also fired rockets at towns and cities across northern Israel overnight Friday and on Saturday morning.A barrage of some 20 rockets was fired at the Safed area. According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted and the rest struck open areas, causing no injuries.One rocket was fired at the Haifa area. It exploded in an open area.Rockets were also fired at the Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee area. There were no reports of injuries.In addition, the IDF said that a drone launched “from the east” impacted in the Golan Heights, after sirens sounded in several Israeli communities in the area.According to an IDF statement, the drone entered Israeli territory from Syria. The statement doesn’t specify where the drone was fired from, though the military has frequently referred to attacks launched from Iraq as hailing “from the east.”The attack on Netanyahu’s home, the most high-profile target targeted by the terror group since the start of the fighting, came a day after it said it was entering a new phase in its fight against Israeli troops, adding that it had introduced new weapons over the past few days. A statement from the group’s operations room said Hezbollah’s fighters had used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.It said its fighters were working according to “plans prepared in advance” to battle invading Israeli troops in several parts of south Lebanon.The strikes come despite the terror group taking very heavy losses, with much of its top leadership killed in recent weeks.Israel continued strikes on Saturday.Lebanese authorities said two people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday in Jounieh, north of Beirut, in the first strike on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year.The health ministry said an “Israeli enemy raid” hit a car in Jounieh, with Lebanese state media saying the attack occurred on a key highway linking the capital to the country’s north.There was no immediate IDF comment on that strike, but the military said that jets on Friday carried out a strike killing the deputy Hezbollah commander in the Bint Jbeil area.In addition, the IDF said ground forces operating in southern Lebanon had found and destroyed large caches of Hezbollah weapons and anti-tank weapons primed to be launched at communities in northern Israel.It also said that aircraft had attacked and destroyed several launchers that had been used during the past day.Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel a day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on the country’s south, saying it was doing so in support of the Gaza-based terror group. But after suffering nearly a year of cross-border attacks, Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in September with catastrophic consequences for the group, decimating its leadership and crippling much of its capabilities.This month it launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon to dismantle terror infrastructure that threatened communities near the border.Israel’s military chief said Friday that at least 1,500 Hezbollah operatives are believed to have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the conflict there, while adding that the numbers could be higher.“We have taken out their entire command layer,” IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told commanders of the Golani Brigade, referring to airstrikes that killed terror leader Hassan Nasrallah and many other top leaders. “And you are taking out the local command structure.”Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink,” he said.“We are very determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as possible,” Halevi said during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon.“Hezbollah is hiding casualties, hiding dead commanders. We estimate that we have killed some 1,500 Hezbollah operatives, and our estimates are conservative. I imagine there are more that we don’t know about from dozens of strikes.”Halevi said Hezbollah forces continue to surrender. “It says a lot about their morale and the level of fighting.”He also asserted that the terror group’s Iranian backers “don’t understand what is happening here to Hezbollah. And [Hezbollah] are their main arm that they have been counting on, and that is very important.”At the same time, the military said it was sending another reserve brigade to join forces in southern Lebanon.Also Friday the army said four soldiers had been seriously hurt in fighting in Lebanon the previous day, three of them as a result of friendly fire. The three, from the elite Maglan unit, were mistakenly hit by a shell fired by an Israeli tank. The IDF said it was investigating the incident.Another officer, a reservist, was wounded in fighting on the border, the IDF said.

Sinwar's death said not to change Israel's plans to hit Iran-Israel said worried Hamas could kill hostages to avenge slain leader Sinwar-Reports say PM’s consultations focused on this concern, and that Israel warned Hamas not to harm captives; terror chief’s body could become ‘bargaining chip’ in truce-hostage talks-By ToI Staff Today, 9:45 am-OCT 19,24

Israel is concerned Hamas could kill hostages to avenge the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar, Hebrew media reported Friday.According to Channel 12, security consultations convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv Friday focused on efforts to prevent revenge killings of hostages. The network said Israel has sent “very harsh” warnings that the hostages should not be harmed, but did not elaborate to whom or how the message was sent.The report said it was hoped that the fact that Sinwar was killed in a random clash with troops and not in a planned assassination could reduce the motivation of Hamas operatives to harm the hostages.The killing of Sinwar, who was seen as the major obstacle to a hostage deal, had sparked hopes that his death could provide an opportunity to restart and progress on long-stalled talks for a deal.However, Israel will likely have to wait until Hamas chooses new leadership before renewing the talks to secure the hostages’ release and reach a ceasefire in Gaza, Channel 12 said, citing a senior Israeli official.Meanwhile, CNN cited Israeli officials as saying Jerusalem could use the terror chief’s body, which is being held in a secret location in Israel, as a “bargaining chip” in the long-stalled negotiations.The sources also told CNN that Israel fears that returning his body could rally his supporters and risk his grave site becoming a shrine. Nevertheless, Israel would be prepared to include his body in a deal for the hostages.An Israeli official had told The Times of Israel on Friday that if the terror group is slow to elect a new central leadership, Israel would consider separate deals with disparate Hamas factions holding small numbers of hostages.The official warned that Muhammad Sinwar, the terror chief’s brother and possible successor, is as much a hardliner as his slain brother, whom Israel and Washington had accused of stonewalling on a hostage deal.On Thursday, Netanyahu had said in a video statement formally announcing Yahya Sinwar’s death that Israel would spare the lives of Hamas operatives holding hostages if they laid down their arms and released their captives.White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that Sinwar’s death was an “inflection point” in reaching a truce-hostage deal, but added that talks are yet to be renewed.Reporting on Netanyahu’s consultations Friday, Channel 12 also said Sinwar’s death has not altered Israel’s determination to respond to Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack.Sinwar was killed in a chance encounter with Israeli troops operating in south Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday. On Friday, Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, who was the architect of its October 7, 2023, thousands-strong rampage through southern Israel in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes, communities and at a music festival, and took 251 hostages to Gaza, sparking the war.Within the terror group’s leadership, Sinwar was seen as a partisan of Iran, and had reportedly sought the help of the Islamic Republic and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah in mounting the barbaric assault. Hezbollah began attacking Israeli border towns and military posts the day after the onslaught.Since September, Israel has intensified its attacks on Hezbollah, all but decimating its leadership. Amid the escalation, Iran launched its second-ever direct attack on Israel.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

IDF says it killed Hamas commander tasked with guarding Sinwar, after believing him dead-Military says Mahmoud Hamdan, who took ‘significant part’ in planning Oct. 7 attack, was also in charge of guarding the six hostages who were executed in late August-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 6:16 am-OCT 19,24

The commander of Hamas’s Tel Sultan Battalion, Mahmoud Hamdan, was not killed as the IDF had announced in September, but rather was killed on Friday, the military announced.According to the IDF, Hamdan was responsible for guarding Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the six Israeli hostages who were murdered by their captors in Rafah in late August.The army has also said he took a “significant part” in planning the October 7 onslaught, and was involved in other attacks amid the ongoing war.“A few weeks ago it was determined that [Hamdan] was most likely eliminated, following intelligence information. Today we understand that the intelligence finding on which his death was based was not accurate enough,” the IDF said.The army said Hamdan continued to guard Sinwar since then, and earlier Friday, troops of the Bislamach Brigade killed him in an exchange of fire, around 200 meters from the site where the Hamas leader was killed on Wednesday.When it prematurely declared his death last month, the military said he was killed alongside three company commanders in the Tel Sultan Battalion in a strike several weeks earlier that it released video footage of.It seems this Sept. 10 strike didn't actually kill Mahmoud Hamdan, as Israeli military claims; it's more likely he was killed yesterday alongside Sinwar, since his ID cards were seemingly found at the house in Tel al-Sultan, and Hamas has now also confirmed his death. https://t.co/UiehiF8vew pic.twitter.com/voOMZqqwPt— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) October 18, 2024-That announcement came the same day the army released footage showing the tunnel in which the six hostages that Hamdan was tasked with guarding were held before their executions, which was not tall enough to stand in without bending over.On Thursday, following news of Sinwar’s death, The Times of Israel learned that his DNA was found some weeks ago in the same complex as — but a few hundred meters from — a separate tunnel where the hostages were murdered.IDF and Shin Bet forces were searching the tunnel, which was part of the same complex in which the hostages were killed, and found a room that they believed senior Hamas commanders may have used.They took DNA samples from the underground room and found that some of it belonged to Sinwar, but were not able to pin down when he was there.Hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi are believed to have been executed by their captors on August 29, before being discovered by troops less than two days later.The mastermind behind Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which started the ongoing war, Sinwar was long reported to have surrounded himself with hostages, from among the 251 people kidnapped during the assault.When news of his death broke on Thursday, Israeli officials were quick to specify that no hostages had been found in his vicinity.It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 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 bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

'I will make this video a daily duty to watch for my sons'‘How heroes die’: Sinwar feted by some Gazans after IDF video shows his last moments-Echoing Hamas characterization of the terror leader’s death, Palestinians in Strip say they’re ‘proud’ of how he tried to ward off drone with stick right before troops killed him-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 5:15 am-OCT 19,24

For one Gazan father, Yahya Sinwar’s death in battle trying to beat back a drone with a stick was “how heroes die.” For others, it was an example for future generations even as some lamented the ruinous cost of the war he sparked with Israel.Sinwar, the architect of Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, was killed Wednesday by Israeli forces after a year-long manhunt, and his death was announced on Thursday.A video of some of his final minutes, showing him masked and wounded in a shell-smashed apartment trying to hurl a stick at a drone filming him inspired pride among Palestinians.“He died a hero, attacking not fleeing, clutching his rifle, and engaging against the occupation army at the front line,” a Hamas statement mourning Sinwar’s death said.In the statement, Hamas vowed his elimination would only strengthen the terror group, adding that it would not compromise on conditions to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal with Israel.“He died wearing a military vest, fighting with a rifle and grenades, and when he was wounded and was bleeding he fought with a stick. This is how heroes die,” said Adel Rajab, 60, a father of two in Gaza.“I have watched the video 30 times since last night, there is no better way to die,” said Ali, a 30-year-old taxi driver in Gaza.“I will make this video a daily duty to watch for my sons, and my grandsons in the future,” said the father of two.Raw footage of Yahya Sinwar’s last moments: pic.twitter.com/GJGDlu7bie— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) October 17, 2024-According to the Israel Defense Forces, Sinwar was with two other terror operatives when they were spotted Wednesday night in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood by Israeli forces, who fired at the trio and injured them. Two headed into one building, and the third, who it only later emerged was Sinwar, went into another, the military said. IDF tanks and other forces then opened fire on both buildings.Sinwar then went up to the second floor. A tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry platoon moved up to search it. Sinwar threw two grenades, one of which exploded. The soldiers withdrew, and a drone flew in to search the room. It found a man with his arm injured and his face covered — Sinwar — who threw the wooden stick at the drone.His death came just over a year after the October 7 attack on southern Israel that he masterminded, in which some 3,000 Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists slaughtered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes, communities and at a music festival, with 251 dragged back to Gaza as hostages.The war sparked by the attack has devastated Gaza, killing more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to unverifiable figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7, 2023. 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.Sinwar’s own words in previous speeches, saying he would rather die at Israel’s hands than from a heart attack or car accident, have been repeatedly shared by Palestinians online.“The best gift the enemy and the occupation can offer me is to assassinate me and that I go as a martyr at their hands,” he had said.Recruiting tool? Now some Palestinians are wondering whether Israel will regret allowing the fulfillment of that wish to be broadcast as a potential recruiting tool for an organization it has sworn to destroy.“They said he was hiding inside the tunnels. They said he was keeping Israeli prisoners next to him to save his life. Yesterday we saw that he was hunting down Israeli soldiers in Rafah, where the occupation has been operating since May,” said Rasha, a displaced 42-year-old mother of four children.The IDF recently found Sinwar’s DNA some weeks ago in a Rafah tunnel which was in the same complex as — but a few hundred meters from — a separate tunnel where six Israeli hostages were murdered in late August, but were not able to pin down when he was there.“This is how leaders go, with a rifle in the hand. I supported Sinwar as a leader and today I am proud of him as a martyr,” added Rasha.A poll in September showed a majority of Gazans thought the October 7 attack was the wrong decision and a growing number of Palestinians have questioned Sinwar’s willingness to launch a war that has caused them so much suffering.Rajab, who praised Sinwar’s death as heroic, said he had not supported the October 7 attacks, believing Palestinians were not prepared for all-out war with Israel. But he said the manner of his death “made me proud as a Palestinian.”In both Gaza and the West Bank, where Hamas also has significant support and where fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian terror operatives has increased over the past year, people wondered whether Sinwar’s death would hasten the war’s end.In Hebron, a flashpoint West Bank city, Ala’a Hashalmoon said killing Sinwar would not mean a more conciliatory leader. “What I can figure out is that whoever dies, there is someone who replaces him (who) is more stubborn,” he said.And in Ramallah, Murad Omar, 54, said little would change on the ground. “The war will continue and it seems it won’t end soon,” he said.

Sinwar died of gunshot to head, says doctor who oversaw autopsy-Dr. Chen Kugel tells NYT that the Hamas leader was first wounded by shrapnel, notes he tried to use makeshift tourniquet but ‘it wasn’t strong enough, and his forearm was smashed’ By AFP Today, 4:05 am-OCT 18,24

An Israeli autopsy found that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by a gunshot to the head, the New York Times reported on Friday.Dr. Chen Kugel, who oversaw the autopsy, told the newspaper that Sinwar was first wounded in the arm by shrapnel, maybe from a missile or tank shell.The Hamas leader then tied an electric cable around his arm in an apparent makeshift tourniquet, but Kugel — the director of Israel’s national forensic institute — said “it wasn’t strong enough, and his forearm was smashed.”Kugel said a gunshot killed Sinwar, but the Times noted that it is unclear who fired the shot, when they did so and what weapon was used.According to the Israeli military, Sinwar met his end at the hands of a routine patrol on Wednesday.It said a group of soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislach) was moving through the city of Rafah when it came across three Palestinian gunmen.As the soldiers chased them, Sinwar split from the other two, the military said.Israeli forces later fired with a tank at the building where two of the gunmen hid and the other where Sinwar took cover, it said.The IDF releases footage of the tank firing at the at the building in which Yahya Sinwar was hiding on Wednesday. One of the tank shells killed the Hamas leader. pic.twitter.com/JEAqCWejOF— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) October 18, 2024-Israeli media and military officials said there was no prior intelligence pointing to Sinwar’s presence in the area.Footage released by the Israeli military showed Sinwar covered in dust sitting in an armchair staring down a drone as the device entered the house devastated by strikes.The grainy footage showed Sinwar alone with one hand severely injured and his head covered in a traditional scarf, throwing a stick at the approaching drone during his final moments.The Israeli military conducted DNA testing along with dental examinations and other forensic enquiries that helped confirm Sinwar’s identity.He had not been seen in public since the war erupted with the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that he masterminded.Sinwar’s death is a major blow to Hamas, the Palestinian terror movement that has waged a war with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip for more than a year now.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Trump: Sinwar ‘wasn’t a good person,’ his death makes peace in Gaza ‘easier’In Michigan to court Arab American voters, GOP nominee says he’s ‘glad that Bibi decided to do what he had to do,’ adds they’ll likely speak soon-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 3:17 am-OCT 18,24

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Friday that the death of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Palestinian Islamist terror group, would make the prospect of peace easier in Gaza.“I think it makes it easier,” the former US president told reporters as he arrived in Detroit for campaign events. “I’m glad that Bibi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) decided to do what he had to do.”Sinwar, 62, the architect of the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was killed in an Israeli operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. During the onslaught last year, Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.Trump also said he plans to talk to Netanyahu soon. He praised the Israeli leader as doing a good job while attacking President Joe Biden’s administration.“He’s called me. I haven’t spoken to him. I’m going to speak to him probably now,” Trump said. “Biden is trying to hold him back… and he probably should be doing the opposite actually.”Biden and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump faces in a tight race for the November 5 US election, have maintained strong support for Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Still, Washington earlier this week sent a letter to Israel demanding that it improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.https://t.co/1AcaOpID0B pic.twitter.com/tCGh3uCVUH — Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) October 18, 2024-In his initial response when asked about his reaction the Sinwar’s death, Trump said the Hamas chief “was not a good person.”“That’s my reaction. That’s sometimes what happens,” he said at the airport in Detroit, where he was campaigning in an effort to court Michigan’s Arab American voters.

Abbas’s PLO mourns ‘martyrdom’ of Hamas chief Sinwar, a ‘great national leader’PA president’s Fatah also offers condolences to terror group; so does Turkish foreign minister as he hosts Hamas representatives-By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 1:55 am-OCT 18,24

The Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and seen internationally as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, expressed its condolences Friday on the “martyrdom” of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, calling him a “great national leader” and urging Palestinian national unity.Some of the PLO’s constituent factions also expressed condolences for the terror chief’s demise, including Abbas’s secularist Fatah party, which said Israel’s “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people.”Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border and massacred 1,600 people in their homes, communities and at a music festival, and abducted 251 to Gaza where 97 are still held hostage. He was killed by IDF troops in Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.Among the condolences quoted by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, were messages from the Palestinian National Initiative and the Palestinian Democratic Union, left-wing members of the PLO which, like Fatah, have expressed opposition to armed struggle against Israel.Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held talks on Friday with representatives of Hamas and expressed condolences over the death of Sinwar, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.During the meeting, Fidan said that Turkey will “use all diplomatic means to mobilize the international community against the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the ministry said.Turkey’s relations with Israel have significantly deteriorated under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly expressed support for Hamas and hosted its representatives in Turkey since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, while comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.The condolences from the PLO and Turkey came hours after Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death and vowed not to release the hostages unless Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and ended the war.The Islamist Hamas is not a member of the PLO, which is dominated by a host of secularist and socialist parties.Fatah, which controls the PLO and the PA in the West Bank, has had a tense relationship with Hamas since the latter violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and removed Fatah officials from power in the coastal enclave, after Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005 from the entire Strip.Abbas has criticized Hamas for giving Israel “even more excuses and reasons to attack in the Gaza Strip” with the October 7, 2023 massacres, which Sinwar orchestrated. But he has shied away from strongly condemning Hamas’s atrocities, with the terror group enjoying broad support in the Palestinian street.Israel has long accused Abbas and the PA of backing terror by lionizing terrorists as “martyrs” and paying stipends to jailed terror operatives and families of slain terrorists.It also accuses the PA of inciting to hatred of Israel in its education system. Fatah regularly lauds the actions of Palestinian terrorists and senior Fatah officials have at times expressed support for Hamas and its deadly attacks on Israelis.Abbas has indicated that the PA is willing to take control over the Gaza Strip after Hamas is removed from power there — on condition of the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.World leaders including the US have pushed for a “reformed” Palestinian Authority taking control in Gaza.But Israel has rejected such notions, saying a body that backs terrorism will not rule the Strip.

Op-ed-Netanyahu couldn’t let Sinwar emerge victorious from a hostage deal. Now he doesn’t have to-The elimination of the Hamas terror chief provides the PM with compelling reasons to push for a deal, even at the cost of withdrawing the IDF from Gaza for a while-By Shalom Yerushalmi Today, 1:36 am

The IDF’s dramatic elimination of Hamas terror group leader Yahya Sinwar removes diplomatic, political, and cognitive barriers, opens up options, and may speed up a deal to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now devotes himself to the matter and deals with it seriously.Previously, Netanyahu could and would not conceive of a hostage deal under which Sinwar — the architect of October 7’s mass slaughter — would emerge unscathed from his Gaza bunker, seat himself comfortably in an armchair and flash a two-fingered victory signal, while a stream of hundreds and perhaps thousands of terrorists were released from Israel’s prisons.Such a sickening scenario would symbolize defeat in the campaign against Hamas, Netanyahu said frequently in private conversations, and he would not countenance it.Now, though, the victory picture is reversed. Sinwar is eliminated and Netanyahu can register another significant achievement in this war, after the terrible failure of October 7 for which he is responsible. The world and Israel are rightly talking about a new reality: Hamas has suffered a fatal blow and Netanyahu could submit pragmatic proposals. The way forward is to stop the war, at least for a while, and Netanyahu can do that now.In his Hebrew remarks to the nation on Thursday about Sinwar’s death, Netanyahu said the war was not over, but, rather, urged those Hamas terrorists holding hostages to release them in exchange for their lives. It is not certain that this offer will prove convincing. In his briefer subsequent English remarks, he did speak about ending the war — saying, “This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our Hostages. ”Incidentally, in his Hebrew address, Netanyahu tried to set out a narrative according to which his domestic political opponents wanted to stop the war while he and only he insisted on entering Gaza’s Rafah, Khan Yunis, and the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. The reality is different. It was the Americans and other international players who tried to prevent the IDF’s entry into Rafah — where Sinwar was killed. Netanyahu’s opponents at home from the National Unity party, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, erstwhile participants in his war cabinet, did not oppose the move and, indeed, claim to have pushed for it while Netanyahu hesitated.Additionally, many other critics and opponents at home who in recent months supported stopping the war and withdrawing the IDF from Gaza under a deal to free the hostages did not talk about ending the long-term battle to destroy Hamas. Their priority was to bring home the dwindling number of still-alive hostages, and wait for a suitable time to attack Hamas again, with refreshed and renewed IDF forces. Nobody can claim to know definitively what was really the right thing to do, but in the meantime, the hostages are dying in Gaza.Sinwar’s elimination also neutralizes the political barriers to a hostage-ceasefire deal. After the killing of the Hamas leader, following the targeted assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon last month, Netanyahu has a greater capacity to influence the far-right Religious Zionism party.Its leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Thursday night that he had not changed his position, and would oppose what he called a “surrender deal” that, in his opinion, would throw away the war’s achievements so far.But Smotrich and his party colleagues, who supported November’s weeklong deal that included the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, will not leave the government, least of all after the elimination of Sinwar. No way.“The elimination of Sinwar means there are new options,” a senior official in Religious Zionism said. “There is now the possibility of deals with middle-rankers [in Hamas]. Hamas has no real leadership and I think it is possible to reach agreements on the ground in all kinds of areas,” said this official. “That was not the case until now.”Netanyahu can also more effectively face down the other far-right leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party. The prime minister’s public appearances – invariably following impressive successes and not after failures – have helped bolster his popularity with the right-wing base. Recent polls have shown a marked fall in support for Otzma Yehudit, while Netanyahu’s Likud has been gaining. Ben Gvir, it should be recalled, did not leave the government over the previous deal in November, even though he voted against it.With Hamas in greater disarray, the fate of the hostages depends more directly and largely on Netanyahu. He has the political power to try to forge a viable deal now that his coalition has expanded with last month’s arrival of Gideon Sa’ar’s four-member New Hope party. And his political interests could also be well-served by the return of the hostages, which would bring a wave of joy among a public regaining national confidence in the wake of Sinwar’s killing and the successes against Hezbollah. He would also be uniting Israel’s interests with an American government that has pressed relentlessly to stop the war and return the hostages.And with Sinwar gone, of course, he has his victory picture.Translated and edited from the Hebrew original at ToI’s sister site Zman Yisrael.

After taking out Sinwar, Israel aims to lock in strategic gains before US election-Biden expected to use Hamas chief’s killing to pressure Netanyahu to end Gaza war, though latter may choose to wait him out as Israeli leaders seek to reshape regional order-By Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 12:37 am-OCT 18,24

The killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the terror onslaught through southern Israel that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, marked a major triumph for Israel.But Israeli leaders are also seeking to lock in strategic gains that go beyond military victories – to reshape the regional landscape in Israel’s favor and shield its borders from any future attacks, sources familiar with their thinking say.With United States presidential elections approaching, Israel is rushing to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and seizing the moment to carve out de facto buffer zones in a bid to create an irreversible reality before a new US president takes office in January, eight sources told Reuters.By intensifying its military operations against Hezbollah and Hamas, Israel wants to ensure that its enemies and their chief patron, Iran, don’t regroup and threaten Israeli citizens again, according to Western diplomats, Lebanese and Israeli officials, and other regional sources.US President Joe Biden is expected to use Sinwar’s killing to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wind down the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu may prefer to wait out the end of Biden’s term and take his chances with whoever wins the election — the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, or Republican rival Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu has had close ties.Before considering any ceasefire agreements, Israel is accelerating its military campaign to push Hezbollah away from its northern border while thrusting into northern Gaza’s densely packed Jabaliya refugee camp in what Palestinians and United Nations agencies fear could be an attempt to seal off northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave.Israel is also planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on October 1, its second-ever direct attack on Israel.“There is a new landscape, a new geopolitical change in the region,” said David Schenker, a former US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs who is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank.Before thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251, Israel had been “willing to tolerate a high-level threat,” responding to rocket fire from the Palestinian terror group and other foes with limited strikes, Schenker said. “No longer.”“This time Israel is fighting on many fronts. It’s Hamas; it’s Hezbollah, and Iran is coming soon,” he said.Formally announcing that IDF troops had killed Sinwar in Gaza’s Rafah, Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday that the terror chief’s death “settled the score,” but he warned that the Gaza war would continue with full force until Israel’s hostages were returned.His office said it had nothing to add.Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said Sinwar’s elimination marked a “great achievement” in efforts to destroy Hamas’ military apparatus, but added there were other commanders in Gaza.Yahya Sinwar is dead.He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it's the beginning of the end. pic.twitter.com/C6wAaLH1YW— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 17, 2024-On Friday, top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya confirmed Sinwar’s death and said the hostages would not be returned until Israel ended its “aggression” and withdrew its forces.Israeli forces have inflicted other big blows on its enemies: a series of high-profile strikes have wiped out Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif, Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Nasrallah’s military deputy Fuad Shukr.An explosion in Tehran in July also killed Hamas’s then-leader Ismail Haniyeh. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the blast.In addition, Israel says its has eliminated thousands of the groups’ fighters, captured deep tunnel networks and severely depleted their weapons arsenals.In September, thousands of booby-trapped communications devices used by Hezbollah members were detonated — an attack for which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.But Israel’s ambitions are broader than short-term military victories, however significant, the sources who spoke to Reuters said.Broader ambition-On September 23, Israel launched ground operations in Lebanon with the stated goal of driving Hezbollah back around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from its northern border, to behind the Litani River, and ensuring the Shi’ite terror group is fully disarmed after 30 years of military support from Iran.Israel says Hezbollah’s withdrawal is required by a UN resolution intended to keep peace in the area and protect residents from the terror group’s cross-border attacks.Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted after Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006, empowered international peacekeeping force UNIFIL to help Lebanon’s army keep the area south of the river free of weapons and armed personnel, other than those of the Lebanese state.Israel complains the two forces never gained control of the area from Hezbollah, long regarded as Lebanon’s most potent military force and a key player in its government.Hezbollah has resisted disarming, claiming the need to defend Lebanon from Israel. Since last year, it has used the border strip as a base for near-daily attacks on Israeli towns and military posts along the border. The terror group has said its attacks, which began a day after the Hamas onslaught, are in solidarity with Gaza amid the war there.Israeli officials say the only way to enforce resolution 1701, and ensure the safe return of some 60,000 residents evacuated from northern Israel, is through military action.“At the moment, diplomacy is not enough,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Reuters.Lebanese authorities say the offensive against Hezbollah has displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon, mostly members of the Shi’ite community from which Hezbollah draws support.Israel has also faced international criticism over incidents in which its forces fired at UN peacekeepers’ posts, injuring several of them.A Lebanese security official and a diplomat familiar with the situation in southern Lebanon said it appeared that Israel wanted to drive UNIFIL from the area along with Hezbollah.The security official said Israeli forces were fighting for access to strategic overlook points, which are where UNIFIL bases are located.“Their goal is to clean up this buffer zone,” the diplomat said.This could take a few weeks, if Israel aims to clear Hezbollah positions and infrastructure from a narrow band of Lebanese territory along the border, they said, but anything deeper would take much longer at the current pace.On Monday, Netanyahu rejected accusations that Israel was deliberately targeting UNIFIL’s peacekeepers, but said the best way to assure their safety was to heed requests to temporarily withdraw from combat zones. The IDF says Hezbollah has been operating from sites within and adjacent to UNIFIL posts for years.The UN has said its peacekeepers will not leave their positions in southern Lebanon.“We have to stand against … every suggestion that if Resolution 1701 was not implemented it’s because UNIFIL did not implement, which was never its mandate,” UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters on Monday, stressing UNIFIL has a supporting role.UN, US and other diplomatic envoys agree that reviving the resolution could provide the basis for a cessation of hostilities, but better implementation and enforcement mechanisms are needed.Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, told Reuters on Monday that he wanted to see “a more robust mandate for UNIFIL to deter Hezbollah.”Any changes to the mandate would have to be authorized by the UN’s 15-member Security Council, and diplomats said there were no such discussions at the moment.Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said his government is prepared to deploy troops to enforce Resolution 1701 as soon as a truce takes hold. The US and France have said that strengthening Lebanon’s army would be crucial to this endeavor.Buy-in from Iran will also be needed, said the diplomat familiar with the situation in southern Lebanon. But they said Israel did not appear ready to start negotiating any truces.“They want to push their advantage, to be in an even stronger position to negotiate,” the diplomat said.Purging borders-Israel informed several Arab states last year that it also wanted to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza’s border. But it remains unclear how deep Israel would like it to be or how it would be enforced after the war ends.Israel’s ongoing offensive in Jabaliya, an area that endured heavy bombardments early in the war, has raised concerns among Palestinians and UN agencies that Israel wants to clear residents from northern Gaza. The Israeli military denies this and says it is trying to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping for more attacks.In May, the IDF moved into the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip running along Gaza’s southern frontier with Egypt, giving Israel effective control over all of the Palestinian territory’s land borders.Israel has said it will not agree to a permanent ceasefire without guarantees that whoever runs postwar Gaza will be able to prevent the corridor from being used to smuggle weapons and supplies to Hamas.Iran is also in Israel’s crosshairs following the recent missile attack, launched amid Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.The Middle East has been on edge about Israel’s response, worried that it could disrupt oil markets and ignite a full-scale war between the arch-enemies.Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week the response would be “lethal, precise, and, above all, unexpected,” although he has also said Israel was not looking to open new fronts. Iran has warned repeatedly that it will not hesitate to take military action again if Israel retaliates.The US, Israel’s chief weapons supplier, has supported campaigns against Iran-backed targets like Hezbollah and Hamas, which it has designated foreign terrorist organizations. But tensions have grown as US officials have tried to persuade Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza, curb airstrikes on residential areas and negotiate ceasefires.Biden’s attempts to engage with Iran through indirect talks about restoring a 2015 nuclear deal, and his opposition to any strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, have also been points of tension. Israel views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.Some diplomats suspect Netanyahu is also considering how a ceasefire might affect the election. Any breakthrough could help Harris, when Netanyahu would prefer to deal with Trump, whose hardline views on Israel, Palestinians and Iran align more closely with his own, they say.“There is no reason for Netanyahu to stop his wars before the American elections,” said Marwan al-Muasher, Jordan’s former foreign minister, now vice president for studies at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “He’s not going to give Harris any credit or gift before the polls.”For now, Netanyahu appears determined to redraw the map around Israel in his favor by purging its enemies from its borders.“He put his win in his pocket and is pursuing his wars and imposing a new [regional] status quo,” said the Lebanese political official.

Polish police probe ‘Jews to the gas’ sign at building occupied by anti-Israel students-Group denies hanging antisemitic signs outside Krakow’s Jagiellonian University; Jewish community: Facade of anti-Zionism recalls Communists’ excuse for 1968 anti-Jewish purge-By ToI Staff 18 October 2024, 11:05 pm

Polish police are investigating antisemitic signs that were spotted among banners that pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel students hung outside a Krakow university building that they have occupied for over six months, local media reported Thursday.The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said the signs, including one reading “Jews to the gas,” were spotted Monday morning on a wall outside the Collegium Broscianum, which houses the sociology and philosophy departments of the Jagiellonian University, Poland’s oldest university, which has a long history of antisemitism.A university spokesman apologized for the incident, saying the institution swiftly removed the signs and alerted the local police, who confirmed investigating the “incitement to hatred on national grounds.”Academy for Palestine, the student group occupying the building, denied putting up the signs, calling them a “provocation,” the news outlet reported.Israel’s Ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne took to X Friday to condemn the “Israel-haters” at the university who “apparently want to murder Jews by gas, as was done in nearby Auschwitz.”“I call on the Polish authorities to look closely into the events taking place on this campus,” he added.Decrying the “call for genocide” at the university, Krakow’s religious Jewish community said on Facebook that since the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, “acts of antisemitism are on the rise, which until now — like the infamous March 68 campaign — was hidden behind a facade of alleged ‘anti-Zionism.'”The community was referring to a purge of Polish Jews from academia after Communist Poland’s crackdown on student protests. Poland, then in the orbit of the Soviet Union, said at the time that anti-Zionism, not antisemitism, was behind the purge, which came after Moscow cut ties with Israel following the 1967 Six Day War.While the Jewish state fights to make the world a safer place, Israel-haters in Krakow @JagiellonskiUni apparently want to murder Jews by gas, as was done in nearby Auschwitz.I call on the Polish authorities to look closely into the events taking place on this campus. pic.twitter.com/dnu9O4Bry5— Amb. Yacov Livne ???????? (@YacovLivne) October 18, 2024-Jagiellonian University, one of Poland’s most prestigious institutions, was founded in 1364, and is known as the birthplace of the Copernican Revolution.The Israel Hayom newspaper said the university was initially closed to Jews, and university students would occasionally participate in anti-Jewish riots. In the years before the Holocaust, the newspaper said, Jewish students were segregated from other students.Israel Hayom said Jewish and Israeli students currently studying at the university feel threatened by the “antisemitic bullying” around them, and that the university and local authorities have left their pleas for help unanswered.Citing a police spokesperson, Dziennik Polski reported that the anti-Israel encampment at the university’s Collegium Broscanium had cleared the premises on Tuesday per an agreement reached with university authorities on September 30.In return, the university said it will try to avoid cooperating with research that could be used to develop Israel’s military, and will assess further cooperation with Israeli academia.

IDF says Hezbollah toll at 1,500; Lebanese PM: A lesson to stay out of regional conflicts-Halevi says numbers are a ‘conservative’ estimate, adds Hezbollah forces are surrendering; rockets continue to target northern Israel; four soldiers seriously injured in fighting-By Lazar Berman,ToI Staff and Agencies 18 October 2024, 10:25 pm

Israel’s military chief said Friday that at least 1,500 Hezbollah operatives are believed to have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the conflict there, while adding that the numbers could be higher.“We have taken out their entire command layer,” Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told commanders of the Golani Brigade, referring to airstrikes that killed terror leader Hassan Nasrallah and many other top leaders. “And you are taking out the local command structure.”Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink,” he said.At the same time, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati voiced rare criticism of the terror group that has a stranglehold over his country, saying during a meeting with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that “what is happening today is a lesson for all Lebanese to stay out of regional conflicts.”Both agreed that a diplomatic solution must take precedence over violence.Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel a day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on the country’s south, saying it was doing so in support of the Gaza-based terror group. But after suffering nearly a year of cross-border attacks, Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in September with catastrophic consequences for the group, decimating its leadership and crippling much of its capabilities.This month it launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon to dismantle terror infrastructure that threatened communities near the border.“We are very determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as possible,” Halevi said during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon.“Hezbollah is hiding casualties, hiding dead commanders. We estimate that we have killed some 1,500 Hezbollah operatives, and our estimates are conservative. I imagine there are more that we don’t know about from dozens of strikes.”The army said some 60 Hezbollah operatives had been killed in the past day in fighting in southern Lebanon and in airstrikes, and that troops fighting in villages in southern Lebanon had found and destroyed large caches of weapons.Halevi said Hezbollah forces continue to surrender. “It says a lot about their morale and the level of fighting.”He also asserted that the terror group’s Iranian backers “don’t understand what is happening here to Hezbollah. And [Hezbollah] are their main arm that they have been counting on, and that is very important.”At the same time, the military said it was sending another reserve brigade to join forces in southern Lebanon.The brigade “will enable the continuation of the combat effort against the Hezbollah terror organization and achieving the goals of the war, including returning the residents of the north safely to their homes.”Also Friday the army said four soldiers had been seriously hurt in fighting in Lebanon the previous day, three of them as a result of friendly fire. The three, from the elite Maglan unit, were mistakenly hit by a shell fired by an Israeli tank. The IDF said it was investigating the incident.Another officer, a reservist, was wounded in fighting on the border, the IDF said.Hezbollah said it was entering a new phase in its fight against Israeli troops, adding that it had introduced new weapons over the past few days. A statement from the group’s operations room said Hezbollah’s fighters had used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.It said its fighters were working according to “plans prepared in advance” to battle invading Israeli troops in several parts of south Lebanon.Rocket and drone sirens sounded in northern communities throughout the day Friday, including in the Haifa area. The IDF intercepted several rockets and drones.There were no reports of casualties or damage.In Lebanon, Mealoni called for the strengthening of the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.“Only by strengthening UNIFIL while maintaining its impartiality, we will be able to turn the page,” Meloni said alongside Mikati.“I repeat that I consider targeting UNIFIL is unacceptable,” Meloni added, in reference to recent incidents in which the mission’s troops were hit by Israeli fire or had a confrontation with Israeli troops. Israel has said it does not target UNIFIL and has urged the peacekeepers to evacuate south Lebanon, saying Hezbollah operatives sometimes fire at troops from beside UN posts. UNIFIL has resisted calls to pull out.On Thursday the army said that five soldiers from Golani’s reconnaissance unit had been killed in the ground offensive. The soldiers were named as company commander Maj. Ofek Bachar, 24, from Nes Ziona; team commander Capt. Elad Siman Tov, 23, from Tzofim; squad leader Staff Sgt. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, 22, from Jerusalem; Staff Sgt. Yakov Hillel, 21, from Jerusalem; and Staff Sgt. Yehudah Dror Yahalom, 21, from Hebron.A number of other soldiers were seriously hurt during battles in southern Lebanon.During a press conference Thursday night, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Golani soldiers captured Hezbollah operatives during the battle in which the five troops were killed.

Body taken to secret location in Israel after autopsy-Confirming Sinwar’s death, Hamas insists hostages won’t be freed unless war ends-As terror group warns it won’t soften its stance on a deal, Netanyahu consults on campaign’s future; Israel ‘cautiously optimistic,’ but White House says talks yet to restart-By Lazar Berman,Sam Sokol and ToI Staff 18 October 2024, 8:25 pm

Hamas on Friday confirmed that its leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday.At the same time, it sought to pour cold water on Israeli hopes of an easier path to a hostage release deal now that the terror leader is gone, saying the 101 hostages still held in Gaza would not be freed until the war ends and Israel fully withdraws from the enclave.Both Jerusalem and Washington, meanwhile, expressed cautious optimism that Sinwar’s death could yet hasten the release of the hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported by Hebrew media outlets to be holding consultations Friday on the future of the Gaza war in the wake of the demise of Sinwar.At the same time, the White House said long-stalled truce-hostage talks had yet to be renewed.An Israeli official also warned that Sinwar’s brother and possible successor Muhammad was no less of a hardliner than the slain terror chief, and suggested Israel could pursue smaller hostage deals with disparate Hamas factions if no central leadership emerges quickly.Also on Friday, the army released footage of a tank firing at the building where Sinwar was hiding. One of the tank’s shells killed Sinwar, who had been spotted moving through the neighborhood with two bodyguards.The IDF releases footage of the tank firing at the at the building in which Yahya Sinwar was hiding on Wednesday. One of the tank shells killed the Hamas leader. pic.twitter.com/JEAqCWejOF— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) October 18, 2024-Channel 12 reported that Sinwar’s nephew, who was one of the men killed with him, was carrying many documents relating to the Hamas leader’s affairs, and that these could supply key intelligence to Israel.In a video statement Friday, Khalil al-Hayya, deputy leader of Hamas’s Qatar-based politburo, said Israel would come to regret killing Sinwar, adding that his “martyrdom” would only strengthen the terror group.The hostages “will not return… unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops,” the senior Hamas official said.Hamas’s armed wing vowed, in its own statement, to keep fighting Israel until the “liberation of Palestine,” as it mourned the death of the group’s chief.Hamas’s fellow Iran-backed terror groups, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, offered their condolences for Sinwar’s death and also vowed to keep fighting.Hailing the killing in a video statement Thursday, Netanyahu pledged to press on in Gaza and Lebanon. He also addressed Palestinian terrorists holding hostages in Gaza, saying the captors would be spared if they laid down their arms and released the hostages.Full speech: Hamas confirms leader Sinwar killed in Gaza-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces, Khalil Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza, has confirmed.(with English & Arabic subtitles)———————————Check more updates here:… pic.twitter.com/PJErLcWccE— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) October 18, 2024-Netanyahu was slated to consult with security chiefs at IDF headquarters, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier on Friday. The official said there would be a separate meeting to discuss the hostages.Hebrew media reported that Netanyahu also met with President Isaac Herzog Friday to discuss the new “window of opportunity” that Sinwar’s killing had opened.The Prime Minister’s Office said US President Joe Biden called Netanyahu on Thursday night to congratulate him on Sinwar’s killing, and that the two leaders agreed to pursue the new opportunity to release the hostages.White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in Washington that Sinwar had been a key obstacle in talks to secure the hostages’ release and a ceasefire in Gaza, and that his killing was an “inflection point” in reaching those goals. However, Kirby noted, talks had yet to be renewed.An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem was now “cautiously optimistic” that a hostage-ceasefire deal could be reached, but warned that Muhammad Sinwar, Yahya’s brother and potential successor, “is no less extreme than his brother,” and that Hamas remains “a murderous terror organization.”There has been no comment from Hamas’s remaining leadership on speculation that Muhammed Sinwar is preparing to take the reins of the terror group. The Israeli official said Jerusalem is considering seeking separate, smaller deals with various Hamas factions that hold some hostages if there is no central leadership to negotiate with.Yahya Sinwar is dead.He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it's the beginning of the end. pic.twitter.com/C6wAaLH1YW— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 17, 2024-The Israeli military said Sinwar was killed in a chance firefight in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday, with forces only discovering who they had killed after the fact.The Times of Israel understands the IDF believes that the terror leader was hiding in Khan Younis earlier in the war, but was driven out by Israeli military pressure, which left him feeling boxed in and forced him to move locations, staying underground as much as possible.After spending some time in Rafah, the military believes he was likely trying to reach the Al-Mawasi humanitarian area by the coast when he ran into Israeli forces.Channel 12 reported Friday that Israel believes IDF operations in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood increasingly denied Sinwar more and more locations in which to hide, forcing him to flee.Forces spotted three terror operatives Wednesday night, firing at them and injuring them. Two headed into one building, and the third, who it later emerged was Sinwar, went into another, the military said. IDF tanks and other forces then opened fire on both buildings.Sinwar then went up to the second floor. A tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry platoon moved up to search it. Sinwar threw two grenades, one of which exploded. The soldiers withdrew, and a drone flew in to search the room. It found a man with his arm injured and his face covered — Sinwar — who threw a wooden stick at the drone. A video published by the army on Thursday showed this moment.Drone Footage showing the Leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar armed with a Stick and hiding behind several Chairs on the Second Floor of a Building, right before his Elimination. pic.twitter.com/a3tOcfFXWV— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 17, 2024-Another tank shell was then fired at the building, killing the Hamas leader.Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.The Walla news site reported Friday that Sinwar’s body had been moved to a secret location inside Israel after undergoing an autopsy at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute overnight.According to the report, the autopsy confirmed that Sinwar had been killed by a bullet to the head and shell fire.Walla added that the forensic institute is waiting for the findings of additional tests to determine whether there were drugs or other unusual substances in his blood at the time of his death.Agencies contributed to this report.

Analysis-After Sinwar killing, Netanyahu sees vindication in his Rafah approach-PM and his circle argue that the elimination of the Hamas leader, in the city world leaders said Israel must not invade, shows he knows what he’s doing despite opppsition criticism-By Lazar Berman-18 October 2024, 8:22 pm

In mid-March, US officials told the Politico news site that US President Joe Biden would consider limiting future military aid to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went ahead with an offensive against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.Days before, Biden said in an interview that such an IDF move into the city would be a “red line,” while adding that he was “never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical.”Vice President Kamala Harris famously said at the time that she had “studied the maps” and that a Rafah operation was not viable, while warning of potential consequences.The US wasn’t the only country to use unusually harsh language in warning against the step. An Israeli offensive in Rafah “could only lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. The UK, Jordan and Egypt also issued stark injunctions.In fact, world leaders were projecting outright panic over the planned campaign, which Israel insisted was necessary in order to complete the dismantlement of Hamas. They warned of catastrophic consequences for the civilian population in the city, which had become a refuge for much of the Strip’s population amid the war; they said a proper evacuation of the city would require months and was unfeasible; they predicted a cataclysmic death toll that would dwarf all that had come before.The intense global pressure led to months of delay, but the Rafah offensive eventually went ahead in May regardless, with Israel successfully evacuating the civilian population ahead of its push into the city — in a matter of days — and none of the predictions of disaster coming to pass. Over the course of four months, the military systematically dismantled Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, with civilian deaths actually far lower than during the opening campaigns of the war in Gaza’s north.As the promised doom failed to materialize, so did the threats of repercussions for Israel. The international community was largely muted as the IDF carried out its work, neighborhood by neighborhood. Egypt, which had cautioned an operation in Rafah could threaten peace with Israel itself, suspended aid convoys into Gaza through the Rafah Crossing in anger as it began, but kept cooperation on hostages, security and other core elements of the bilateral relationship intact.The efforts in Rafah reached their climax this week with IDF troops killing Israel’s number one target in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect of the October 7, 2023, invasion and slaughter in southern Israel. And now, just months after their admonishments and threats, Israel’s allies are celebrating the terror chief’s demise, while enthusiastically promoting the opportunity his elimination from the picture represents.In the White House statement after Sinwar’s death, Biden said, “There is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.“Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals,” Biden added. “That obstacle no longer exists.”Even Macron, who has recently emerged as a leading critic of Israel’s handling of the war, indirectly blessed the operation: “We should seize this opportunity to free hostages and to end the war.”Netanyahu and his inner circle are not trying very hard to hide their feelings of vindication.“It is now clear to everyone, in Israel and in the world, why we insisted on not ending the war,” the prime minister said in a Hebrew-language statement Thursday night, formally announcing that Sinwar had been eliminated. “Why we insisted, in the face of all the pressures, to enter Rafah, the fortified stronghold of Hamas where Sinwar and many of the murderers hid.”Top Netanyahu adviser Ophir Falk was more explicit, saying on X that the prime minister “overcame the international and domestic pressure and pushed the Rafah operation over the line.”Speaking to The Times of Israel on Friday, an Israeli official took aim at Hebrew-language columnists who had in the past day accused Netanyahu of having wilted under US pressure and delayed the Rafah operation for months.“The one who pushed for a Rafah operation was the prime minister,” argued the official, while asserting that it was other members of the now-defunct war cabinet who spoke against it, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and then-minister Benny Gantz.“Biden told him three times over the phone not to go into Rafah,” said the official. “Not only did Netanyahu say we would go into Philadelphi [the Gaza-Egypt border corridor] and Rafah, but that we would fight with our fingernails.”Gallant’s office declined to comment on the accusations. Publicly, at least, Gallant pushed for a Rafah operation while Israel waited. “We are completing the mission in Khan Younis and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate everyone there who is a terrorist who is trying to harm us,” Gallant said in February.“The reason why we didn’t do [Rafah] is because Netanyahu was wary of immense US pressure,” said a second Israeli official, less supportive of the prime minister, when responding to allegations that Gantz was wary of the campaign.“If it was up to Benny, we would have finished Rafah and Gaza earlier to move focus to the northern border faster,” the official continued. “But finishing faster in Gaza doesn’t suit Netanyahu.”The fact that Israeli leaders are squabbling over credit for the Rafah operation and its culmination in the elimination of Sinwar, while assigning blame to rivals for the delay, underscores just how successful it has been.Throughout the operation, the IDF defeated four Hamas battalions and assumed control over the key Philadelphi Corridor, while cutting off the smuggling routes Hamas had previously used to bring mass amounts of weaponry from Egypt into Gaza — both above and below ground. The dismantling of Hamas’s fighting forces in Rafah has solidified the sense that, at least on the basic military level, the war is essentially won.There is no question that Netanyahu has been on a winning streak of late, ever since he decided to turn up the pressure on Hezbollah in September, with Israel swiftly dealing massive damage to the group in a matter of weeks, eliminating most of its leadership while crippling its capability to wage war.The prime minister still has to show he has answers to stubborn questions, however. Repeated tactical successes in Gaza have not led to freedom for the remaining 101 hostages held there, and Hamas is still positioned to retake the Strip should the IDF leave, if no alternative governing force is allowed to inherit it. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is showing some signs of recovering in the north, as the IDF operation there keeps expanding.But for now, at least, with a more stable coalition and a shrinking list of top terror targets to eliminate, Netanyahu seems to feel thoroughly justified in his approach to the war. Sinwar’s killing appears to be potent further evidence that Netanyahu and the IDF can highlight to justify the decision to go into Rafah in the face of immense opposition, and the prime minister is sure to continue to use it to argue that — whatever his many critics at home and abroad may say — he does in fact know what he’s doing.

Iran says open to working with France on truce in Lebanon; Beirut slams ‘interference’Rare spat between the countries comes after Iranian parliament speaker says Tehran could negotiate over implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701-By Agencies and ToI Staff 18 October 2024, 2:13 pm

In a rare public tiff between the countries, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister took issue on Friday with remarks by the speaker of Iran’s parliament, who said Tehran was ready to negotiate with France on implementing a UN resolution concerning southern Lebanon, where Israeli ground troops are battling Hezbollah.“We are surprised by this position, which constitutes a blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish a rejected guardianship over Lebanon,” a government statement quoted Prime Minister Najib Mikati as saying.The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, made his comments in an interview published on Thursday with French daily Le Figaro.In the interview, Ghalibaf said Iran could participate in negotiations over the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in 2006 to end the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah. The resolution stipulated that the Hezbollah terror group must not maintain a presence within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of the border with Israel, something that has never been implemented.The Iranian parliament speaker called for a ceasefire as soon as possible.French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds sway in Lebanon as a former colonial ruler there, has also urged a ceasefire in Lebanon and called on Israel to halt all its operations in the country.Under Resolution 1701, the United Nations Security Council authorized a UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL “to assist” Lebanese forces in ensuring southern Lebanon is “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon.”The resolution failed to keep Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, however, and the Iranian-backed terror group continued to arm and entrench itself along the border with Israel.Since October 8, 2023 — the day after the Hamas terror group launched its cross-border assault on Israel that started the ongoing war in Gaza — Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis. Israel says thousands of Hezbollah forces had been ready to invade Israel days later, before they were pushed back by Israeli strikes.Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group. Israel has vowed to return those residents safely to their homes.In September, Israel launched a new offensive against Hezbollah, devastating its senior leadership and killing its longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah.On October 1, Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon to push back the terror group, destroy its infrastructure and prevent the possibility of an invasion of northern Israel.Hezbollah, meanwhile, declared on Thursday that it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel, saying it was using precision-guided missiles to target troops.The announcement came shortly after news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, but it did not reference the terror leader’s death.Earlier, Hezbollah legislator in the Lebanese parliament, Hassan Fadlallah, said the aim of the terror organization’s military command is to keep fighting “with all available means” to prevent Israel from achieving its goals and to eventually agree on a ceasefire.“Our goal today is to end the aggression. We will not go into any detail related to the mechanism or solutions,” he told reporters, when asked whether Hezbollah still insists that it will only stop fighting once the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza stops.The attacks on northern Israel over the past year have killed 28 civilians, and 43 IDF soldiers have been killed in the attacks and ensuing ground operations in Lebanon.The Lebanese government has said that Israeli strikes have killed over 2,400 people in Lebanon over the last year, mainly in the last few weeks. According to the IDF, the toll includes at least 960 Hezbollah operatives

UN rights chief claims IDF evacuation orders in northern Gaza may be ‘war crime’Volker Turk says directives could constitute ‘forcible transfer’ of civilians if not done for strictly military purposes; IDF says dozens of terror operatives killed Thursday-By Agencies and ToI Staff 18 October 2024, 10:41 am

UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Thursday warned Israel that any “large-scale forcible transfer” of civilians out of conflict-wracked northern Gaza could constitute a war crime if not done on “imperative military grounds.”“Israel’s evacuation orders appear designed to cut off North Gaza completely from the rest of the territory,” Turk claimed in a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.The Israel Defense Forces has intensified operations over the past 10 days or so in northern Gaza, seeking to combat efforts by the Hamas terror group to reconstitute there, after a year of war following the group’s October 7, 2023, attack, when terrorists killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages.The IDF issued broad evacuation orders to tens of thousands of civilians in northern Gaza before launching the operation, but many have refused to comply.Some have said they are unable to, while others cite claims that Israeli troops have targeted those fleeing the area, and others highlight the squalid conditions in the southern Gaza humanitarian zone where residents have been pushed after repeated evacuations.Israel says its orders are meant to keep civilians out of harm’s way, accusing terrorists of using them as human shields.“As bombing and other attacks continue, there are serious concerns about a large-scale forcible transfer of civilians not meeting the requirements of international law for evacuation on imperative military grounds,” Turk said on Thursday.“Forcible transfer of a large part of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime.”Turk additionally called on Israel “immediately to facilitate the massive influx of humanitarian aid that is needed across all parts of Gaza.”Israel allowed 50 aid trucks to reach northern Gaza on Wednesday, following 30 trucks that arrived on Monday, after nearly two weeks during which humanitarian groups said that all assistance had been blocked.The United States had warned Israel that its supply of military aid would be jeopardized if more aid did not flow into the Strip within 30 days.The IDF said Friday morning that troops of the IDF’s Givati Brigade had joined the 162nd Division in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza overnight as part of the renewed ground operation.Dozens of terror operatives were eliminated in fighting and airstrikes across northern Gaza over the last day, the IDF said, while in central Gaza, troops of the 252nd Division targeted a building that had been used by Hamas operatives.The news in northern Gaza came after Israeli soldiers killed Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader and the architect of the October 7 attack, in southern Gaza’s Rafah.In the wake of the terror chief’s death, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Hamas fighters to lay down their arms and hand over the terror group’s hostages, of which 101, living and dead, are still held in Gaza.Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Hezbollah vows escalation after Sinwar’s death, Iran says ‘resistance will endure’Tehran shares image of Hamas chief’s last moments, glorifies him as ‘facing the enemy’; Hamas officially mum but senior member appears to admit leader is indeed dead-By Agencies and ToI Staff 18 October 2024, 9:31 am

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said Thursday that the killing of Hamas terror group leader Yahya Sinwar would lead to the strengthening of “resistance” in the region, hours after Israel confirmed it had killed the terror chief, while Lebanon’s Hezbollah declared a “transition to a new and escalatory phase” in the war.The Islamic Republic shared a still image taken from drone footage of Sinwar’s last moments, in which the terror leader is seen, face covered and injured, throwing a stick at the Israeli surveillance device.The mission compared Sinwar with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, a longtime foe of Iran whom American troops captured in 2003.“When US forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the mission said on X.“However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield — in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy — the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.”Sinwar was found with some NIS 40,000 ($10,770) in cash, and documents including the passport of a Gazan UNRWA teacher. The Israeli military said the terror leader was probably attempting “to escape to the north [of Gaza], to safer areas” as troops closed in.When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the… pic.twitter.com/S1QUN47y83— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) October 17, 2024-Iran supports Hamas, which invaded Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.Sinwar was the main architect of that attack, which saw thousands of terrorists burst into southern Israel, attacking a music festival and carrying out widespread murder and sexual violence, as well as targeting military bases.Israeli soldiers killed the terror leader in a firefight in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday, with Israeli authorities confirming his identity on Thursday.Sinwar “will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration,” the Iranian mission said.Hamas itself has been largely silent since news broke of Sinwar’s death, although a statement issued Friday by one of its political leaders abroad tacitly — but not directly — confirmed the development and said that Israel is mistaken if it “believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people.”Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim said that past leaders in the organization had also been killed and “Hamas each time became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations to continue the journey toward a free Palestine.”He added that it is “painful and distressing to lose beloved people, especially extraordinary leaders” but that the Palestinian terror group is sure it will be “eventually victorious.”When asked if the statement was a confirmation of Sinwar’s death, Naim said it was not.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday urged members of the terror group holding the hostages to lay down their arms, promising to let them live if they do so. He also said the war could “end tomorrow” if Hamas surrendered and freed all the hostages.Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, meanwhile, said it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel, saying it has used precision-guided missiles to target troops.In a statement late Wednesday, Iran-backed Hezbollah announced “the transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy,” adding that precision-guided missiles “are being used for the first time.”Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.Some 60,000 Israeli residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and amid increasing rocket fire by the terror group.After a year of tit-for-tat skirmishes, Israel launched a new offensive against Hezbollah in September, devastating the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah.Israel launched a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon earlier this month. Five soldiers were killed Thursday and others wounded there, as operations against the terror group continue.

Kim Jong Un rejects reunification with 'foreign country' South Korea-by Thomas Maresca.

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 18, 2024-North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called South Korea a "foreign country" and rejected the goal of reunification, state media reported Friday, days after Pyongyang blew up sections of roads and railways connecting it with the South.Kim made the remarks during an inspection of the headquarters of the 2nd Corps of the Korean People's Army on Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported."He stressed that our army should keep in mind once again the stark fact that the ROK is a foreign country and an apparent hostile country," KCNA reported, using the official acronym for South Korea.Kim called the blasting of the roads, once seen as a symbol of improving relations between the two Koreas, "the physical closure but also the end of the evil relationship with Seoul, which persistently lasted century after century."He added that the detonations would completely remove the "unreasonable idea of reunification."On Thursday, state media reported that North Korea's Constitution now defines South Korea as a "hostile state" in the first indication of changes made during a parliamentary meeting last week.Kim called the South the "invariable principal enemy" earlier this year and publicly called for a constitutional change rejecting the long-held official goal of reunification.Tensions have sparked on the peninsula in recent days, with North Korea accusing the South of flying drones over Pyongyang and announcing that orders were given for eight artillery brigades along the border to be on standby to open fire.During the inspection, Kim said that the destruction of the roads was "the last declaration that when the DPRK's sovereignty is violated by the ROK, a hostile country, its physical forces will be used unhesitatingly, without sticking to conditions any longer."The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.Kim also cited the need for North Korea to continue bolstering its nuclear weapons capacity in response to the U.S.-South Korea military alliance."The impact of the changed nature of the ROK-U.S. alliance and the more developed different enemy military maneuvers of aggressive nature on the DPRK's security more clearly highlights the importance of strengthening its nuclear deterrent and proves its validity," Kim said.Pyongyang has not conducted a nuclear test since 2017, but raised international concerns after showing off a weapons-grade enriched uranium facility last month as Kim called for an exponential increase in the North's nuclear arsenal.North Korea is banned from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.Russia used its veto power in March to end the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which monitored and reported on sanctions violations, amid growing military ties with Pyongyang.On Wednesday, the United States, South Korea and nine other countries announced a new multilateral monitoring team in an attempt to help implement the sanctions.

China warns against 'further escalation' of Korean peninsula tensions-by AFP Staff Writers.

Beijing (AFP) Oct 15, 2024-China on Tuesday called for all parties on the Korean peninsula to avoid a "further escalation" after North Korea blew up sections of roads connecting it to the South and Seoul conducted a "counter-fire" operation in response."Tensions on the peninsula do not serve the common interests of all parties, and the priority is to avoid further escalation of conflicts," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.Pyongyang's military last week vowed to permanently seal its southern border after spending months laying mines and building anti-tank barriers in the wake of leader Kim Jong Un declaring the South his country's "principal enemy".The North also accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on its capital Pyongyang, with Kim convening a security meeting to direct a plan of "immediate military action" in response, state media reported Tuesday.Asked about the tensions, Beijing -- North Korea's most important ally and economic benefactor -- said it was "paying attention to the development of the peninsula's situation"."China's position on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula and promoting a political solution to the peninsula issue remains unchanged," Mao said.

Zelensky's nuclear arms comments 'dangerous provocation': Putin.

Moscow, Oct 18 (AFP) Oct 18, 2024-Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday condemned comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggesting that Kyiv would seek nuclear weapons if it could not join NATO as a "dangerous provocation".The Ukrainian leader made the comments at an EU summit on Thursday, in which he said "either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will protect us, or we must have some kind of alliance"."This is a dangerous provocation," Putin said at a meeting with journalists from the BRICS group of emerging economies, warning: "Any step in this direction will be met with a corresponding reaction.""It is not difficult to create nuclear weapons in the modern world," Putin added."I do not know whether Ukraine is capable of doing it now, it is not so easy for Ukraine of today, but in general there is no great difficulty here."Zelensky sought to clarify his words in a televised interview Friday, saying he wanted "to be understood very correctly".Ukraine "did not intend to create any threat to the world nor any nuclear weapons", he told a group of journalists.His original comments Thursday referred to a conversation he had with former US president Donald Trump about Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. It surrendered it three years later after receiving security guarantees from Russia and the United States.Those security guarantees, known as the Budapest Memorandum, required that the signatories respect Ukraine and the other ex-Soviet republics' territorial integrity and independence.Under the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine "gave up nuclear weapons and was guaranteed security (and) territorial integrity" but "received nothing for it", Zelensky said Friday.Ukraine is not seeking to regain its nuclear umbrella but wants NATO membership, he said."We are a peaceful state. NATO is better today than any kind of weapon. Especially such a threatening one."

G7 defence summit considers Gaza, Lebanon as conflicts rage.

Naples, Italy, Oct 19 (AFP) Oct 19, 2024-G7 defence ministers convened Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organised the body's first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.Invited to the one-day talks were NATO chief Mark Rutte and the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.Borrell told reporters the group had much to discuss, including recent strikes on the UN's peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, and the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza.The summit comes two days after Israel announced it had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the devastating retaliatory war in Gaza."Certainly after the killing of Yahya Sinwar a new perspective is open and we have to use it in order to reach a ceasefire, to release the remaining hostages and to look for a political perspective," Borrell told journalists.A morning session included discussions over recent strikes on UNIFIL, the UN's Lebanon peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, where Israel is also at war with Hamas ally Hezbollah.Borrell suggested the peacekeepers' mandate should be beefed up by the UN Security Council to give them more scope to act amid repeated attacks on their positions they say are being conducted by Israeli forces."They cannot act by themselves, it is certainly a limited role," he said.Earlier Saturday, Borrell wrote on social media that "a more robust mandate for UNIFIL" was needed.In Lebanon Friday, Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni slammed as "unacceptable" the recent strikes on UNIFIL.Italy has around 1,000 troops in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which has soldiers from more than 50 countries.As the Naples talks began, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told the group that the "critical situation in the Middle East", Russia's war in Ukraine, "profound instability" in sub-Saharan Africa and "increasing tension" in the Asia-Pacific region "highlight a deteriorated security framework with forecasts for the near future that cannot be positive".- Ukraine prospects -On Ukraine, the ministers will contemplate Kyiv entering a third winter at war, battlefield losses in the east -- and the prospect of reduced US military support should Donald Trump be elected to the White House next month.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, under mounting pressure from Western allies to forge a winning strategy against Russia, on Thursday presented what he called a "victory plan" to the European Union and NATO.Its main thrust is a call for immediate NATO membership, deemed unfeasible by alliance members.It also demands the ability to strike military targets inside Russia with long-range weapons, and an undefined "non-nuclear strategic deterrence package" on Ukrainian territory.Under discussion will also likely be reports, based on South Korean intelligence, that North Korea is deploying large numbers of troops to support Moscow's war against Ukraine.NATO was not as yet able to confirm that intelligence, Rutte said on Friday.

Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, Oct 19 (AFP) Oct 19, 2024-Glinting in the sun by the world's biggest nuclear plant, the Sea of Japan is calm now. But as the huge facility gears up to restart, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has a new tsunami wall, just in case.Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but with the G7's dirtiest energy mix, it is seeking to cut emissions, and atomic energy is making a steady comeback, in part because of AI.At the 400-hectare (1,000-acre) KK plant, shown to AFP in an exclusive tour, the 15-metre (50-foot) wall is just one measure to prevent another catastrophe and reassure the public and Japan's jittery neighbours."We believe that (a similar accident to Fukushima) could be largely avoided," Masaki Daito, KK deputy superintendent, told AFP. Japan now has "the strictest (regulatory) standards in the world".The facility in central Japan -- like the nation as a whole -- is no stranger to earthquakes, having been shut down for two years for "upgrades" after a big jolt in 2007.At Fukushima, a 15-metre tsunami cut power lines and flooded backup generators, disabling water pumps needed to keep nuclear fuel cool.In this century's worst nuclear accident, three reactors went into meltdown and hydrogen explosions blew off roofs and released radioactivity into the air.To keep the power running in the event of a quake, KK has new backup power supply vehicles on higher ground, plus "blow-out" panels and a new vent meant to filter out 99.9 percent of any radioactive particles.In addition to the recently built sea wall, an embankment has been enlarged and reinforced. In corridors deep inside the reactor building, luminous stickers mark pipes and faucets."The lights all went out at Fukushima and no one could see," Daito said.- Climate goals -Before the 2011 quake and tsunami, which killed around 18,000 people, nuclear power generated about a third of Japan's electricity, with fossil fuels contributing most of the rest.All of Japan's 54 reactors were shut down afterwards, including those at KK. To keep the lights on, resource-poor Japan has hiked imports of natural gas, coal and oil while increasing solar power.But fossil fuels are expensive, with imports last year costing Japan about $510 million a day.It is also not helping Japan achieve its climate pledges.The E3G think-tank ranks Japan in last place -- by some distance -- among G7 nations on decarbonising their power systems.Britain recently closed its last coal power station. Italy, France and Germany plan to follow suit. Japan and the United States, however, have no such target.The government is striving for "carbon neutrality" by 2050 and to cut emissions by 46 percent by 2030 from 2013 levels.It wants to increase the share of renewables to 36-38 percent from around 20 percent and cut fossil fuels to 41 percent from around two-thirds now.Hanna Hakko, a Japan-based energy expert at E3G, thinks Japan could aim higher and have renewables generate 70-80 percent of its power by 2035."This would allow Japan to phase out coal, as it has committed to doing together with its G7 peers," Hakko told AFP.- Nuclear resurgence -Yet even under this scenario, the remainder would need to be covered by gas and nuclear energy.Under its current plan, Japan aims for nuclear power to account for 20-22 percent of its electricity by 2030, up from well under 10 percent now.Japan in late 2022 decided to accelerate reactor restarts and to extend operating time for nuclear reactors to 60 years from 40.Nine of Japan's 33 still-operable reactors are currently online. At KK, unit seven is ready to join them once the local governor approves, with others set to follow.Because of tougher safety rules since Fukushima, getting approval is a slow process. One restart was recently blocked because of earthquake risk.Business groups remain worried about power shortages, particularly as Japan seeks to go big in energy-hungry data centres for artificial intelligence (AI)."Japan has large untapped potential for renewable energy development," new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told local media last week ahead of elections on October 27.But he added: "Obviously, nuclear energy needs to be utilised."- Megaquake -The meltdown at Fukushima still looms large for people in Japan and elsewhere.Japan is hit by hundreds of earthquakes per year -- mostly minor -- and in August, it issued a first "megaquake advisory" for its Pacific coast.The alert was lifted after a week, but the government still sees a roughly 70 percent chance of a monster tremor within 30 years.Making Fukushima fully safe, meanwhile, has also barely begun.Japan last year started to release into the Pacific Ocean some of the 540 Olympic pools' worth of treated cooling water amassed since 2011. China banned Japanese seafood imports in response.Engineers still have not worked out what to do with 800 tons of highly radioactive fuel and rubble. Humans still cannot enter the wrecked facility.Mototsugu Oki, picnicking with his family at the beach by KK, said that like many Japanese, the Fukushima accident turned him off nuclear power for good."It is operated by human beings, and human beings naturally make mistakes," he told AFP.

China consulate in Myanmar hit with explosive device: local media.

Bangkok, Oct 19 (AFP) Oct 19, 2024-China's consulate in Myanmar's city of Mandalay was attacked with an explosive device, local media said Saturday, adding that no deaths or injuries were reported.The blast occurred at the consulate office in central Mandalay, south of the sprawling Royal Palace, around 7 pm Friday (1230 GMT Friday), local media said.China is a major ally and arms supplier to Myanmar's junta, but it also maintains ties with ethnic groups fighting the military in Myanmar's northern Shan state, according to analysts.Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in 2021.A statement from the junta on Saturday night blamed "terrorists" for the incident, which it said it was investigating in cooperation with consulate officials.It said security had found "a blast" had occurred and that it was "raising the necessary security measures"."About two feet of clay tiles of the roof of the two-storey building were damaged," the statement said.A Myanmar official in Mandalay confirmed to AFP there had been "an incident at the Chinese consulate office compound in Mandalay late evening yesterday"."There was no one injured," the official said, without specifying the nature of the incident.The Irrawaddy outlet reported a grenade had been thrown at the compound, which is usually guarded by members of Myanmar's security forces.The Voice of Myanmar newspaper reported the consulate had been hit by an unidentified "explosion" without giving details.China's embassy in Yangon did not respond to AFP's queries.

Potential microbial habitats in Martian ice.by Clarence Oxford.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 18, 2024-Martian ice deposits may hold conditions suitable for photosynthetic life, according to a recent study published in 'Communications Earth and Environment'. The research suggests that regions of exposed ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars could offer a protective environment for microbial life, shielding it from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation while still allowing enough light for photosynthesis to occur.Mars' surface is exposed to high levels of UV radiation, making it nearly impossible for life to survive on the planet's surface. However, researchers propose that life might exist beneath a layer of ice thick enough to block UV rays but thin enough to permit visible light needed for photosynthesis. This balance could create what is termed a "radiative habitable zone" just below the surface.The study, led by Aditya Khuller and colleagues, examined whether such a zone could form within the dusty ice observed on Mars. They determined that highly dusty ice would block too much sunlight for photosynthesis, but ice with dust concentrations between 0.01% and 0.1% could potentially support life at depths ranging from 5 to 38 centimeters, depending on the size and purity of the ice crystals. In cleaner ice deposits, the habitable zone could extend deeper, between 2.15 and 3.10 meters.In addition to offering protection from radiation, the researchers note that dust particles within the ice could cause localized melting at depths of up to 1.5 meters, providing the liquid water necessary for any potential photosynthetic life. While the polar regions of Mars would be too cold for this process, subsurface melting could occur in mid-latitude areas, specifically between 30 and 50 degrees latitude.Despite these findings, the researchers emphasize that the existence of a habitable zone does not confirm the presence of life on Mars. However, the results point to a few specific locations in the Martian mid-latitudes as key targets for future exploration missions searching for signs of life.