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)
ISRAEL HAMMERS THE LEECH DEATH CULT ARABS REAL GOOD. WAY TO GO BENJAMIN.
RUSSIA,GERMANY, ARAB MUSLIMS COME AGAINST ISRAEL.
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.
17 Thus saith
the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my
servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many
years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to
pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in
my jealousy and in the fire (atomic bomb) of my wrath have I spoken,
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20
So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the
beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth,
and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my
presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places
shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will
call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord
GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will
plead against him with pestilence (biological,chemical,nuclear) and with
blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many
people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones,
fire, and brimstone.(NUKED,THEN MIGRATING BIRDS EAT RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS
FLESH)
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I
will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man,
prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech
(MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee
back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of
thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will
cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee
upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,(
ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6
And I will send a 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 (MIGRATING BIRDS
IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be
drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for
you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
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 (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS)
and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have
executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid
upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity
for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I
my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so
fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity
of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be
jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame,
and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when
they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I
have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their
enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to
be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto
their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my
spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
CHINA AND KINGS O F THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED
UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the
beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE
POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which
go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE
FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA
ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44
But tidings out of the east(CHINA) 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)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC
WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE
WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN
TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the
four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand
thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and
I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the
vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of
jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of
lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and
brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men
killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which
issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
I
AM SUDDENLY ON AN ALLIGATOR KICK. NOW I BELIEVE ISRAEL SHOULD POUR PIGS
BLOOD ALL OVER GAZA AND THE WESTBANK. AND ALSO IN EVERY TUNNELL. NOW
WHY WOULD PIGS BLOOD BE GREAT ALL OVER GAZA, WESTBANK AND IN EVERY
TUNNEL. WELL HERE COMES THE KICKER. THE ARABS WANNA DIE FOR THEIR NON
EXISTANT MUHAMMAD SO CALLED LEADER. WHO DIED BEFORE MECCA WAS EVEN IN
EXISTANCE. AND THEIR SO CALLED GOD THAT IS GREATER (SATAN) THEY CLAIME.
BUT SINCE THEY WANNA DIE FOR A NON EXISTANT GOD BUT AN IMMITATER SATAN.
WELL LET THEM. SO POUR TONS OF PIGS BLOOD ALL OVER GAZA, WESTBANK AND
EVERY TUNNEL. GET READY THAT BLOOD WILL BE GREAT TO ATTRACT ALLIGATORS
AT LEAST 3 TO EACH TUNNEL. THE DROP IN 50,000 ALLIGATORS ALL OVER GAZA.
AND ANOTHER 50,000 ALLIGATORS DROPPED IN THE WEST BANK. THESE ARABS CAN
GET A TASTE OF BEING EATIN BEFORE THE FINAL FEAST OF 500 MILLION
MIGRATING BIRDS EAT THEM FOR 7 MONTHS IN EXEKIEL 38 & 39. THIS WILL
GET THOSE OCCUPYING ARABS OFF YOUR GOD GIVIN LAND ISRAEL. ONCE AND FOR
ALL.
Displaced Palestinians seek protection or
outpost demolition from High Court-Several dozen Palestinian Bedouin
families fled Wadi as-Seeq in October 2023 in the face of persistent
settler harassment and violence By Jeremy Sharon-21 July 2025, 9:38 pm
Former
residents of the displaced Palestinian Bedouin community of Wadi
as-Seeq are requesting ongoing protection from security services to
enable them to return to their dwellings — or that the High Court of
Justice order the destruction of an illegal settler outpost located just
100 meters (328 feet) from their hamlet.The residents made their
demands Sunday in response to a proposal by the High Court in May that
the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police physically enable the
residents to return. But the court refused to order that the outpost be
removed or that security services provide protection to the hamlet after
the residents’ return.Several dozen Palestinian Bedouin families fled
Wadi as-Seeq in October 2023, in the face of persistent settler
harassment and violence after radical activists established an illegal
outpost right next to the hamlet.The judges said during court hearing in
May that if the residents suffered further violence after returning,
they would have a better case to demand the demolition of the
outpost.Filing a response to the court proposal on behalf of the Wadi
as-Seeq residents, attorney Tamir Blank of the Torat Tzedek organization
had tough words for the justices, saying it was “unjust” to expect the
residents to endanger their own lives and property “just in order to
prove with their own flesh that the violence continues.”The attorney
argued that the court should not lend a hand to “the farce” of having
the residents return without proper security arrangements for the
future, since they would just be displaced again by extremist settlers,
as has happened to numerous other Bedouin communities in other parts of
the West Bank.The Wadi as-Seeq case is significant because it showcases
one of the earliest examples of the tactic now increasingly used by
extremist settlers of establishing an outpost as close as possible to a
Bedouin hamlet, in order to harass, intimidate, and attack the
residents, and ultimately drive them from their homes.The residents of
Muarrajat were displaced in this manner earlier this month, as were the
residents of Mughayyir al-Deir, 13 kilometers north of Muarrajat, in May
this year.The residents of Wadi as-Seeq pointed to those examples of
displacement as a result of settler harassment in their request to the
court on Sunday, and said that without demolishing the outposts, it
would be pointless for them to return.They also alleged that the refusal
of the IDF and the Civil Administration, a department of the Defense
Ministry responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, to give any
guarantees for the residents’ safety demonstrated that they were “at
ease” with the fact that the residents would not return. They further
charged that this was actually “in accordance with their policies and
actions in different places as well.”Blank wrote that the residents
would, however, be willing to return without the destruction of the
illegal outpost, if at least several conditions were met.These included
that security services set up a special emergency hotline for residents
to call in the event of harassment or violence by the settlers, and the
IDF declaring the boundaries of Wadi as-Seeq to be a closed military
zone to prevent settlers from entering.They also asked that the IDF or
the Civil Administration pay for a private security company to secure
the hamlet, if security services themselves are unwilling or unable to
do so. They noted that the state has paid for private security companies
to provide security for Jewish residents of East Jerusalem
neighborhoods such as Silwan.“It’s not possible that the state protects
only Jews and not Palestinians, and will restrict private security to
Jews only, without even considering the issue,” Blank wrote in the court
filing.
THESE COWARDS
THAT SUCK HOLE UP TO THESE ARAB LEECHES.LET THESE 25 REPROBATE COUNTRYS
TAKE ALL THE DEATH CULT ARABS INTO THEIR COUNTRIES. SO THEY GET THE HELL
OFF ISRAELS LAND. THEN USE WILL NOT HAVE TO COMPLAIN OF THE POOR DEAD
AHAB THE ARABS DEATH WORSHIPPERS..
British FM: Israeli
aid system in Gaza a ‘grotesque spectacle’-25 Western nations say Gaza
war ‘must end now,’ suffering has ‘reached new depths’Foreign ministers
from UK, Canada, across EU say Israel-backed aid scheme ‘dangerous,’
‘deprives Gazans of human dignity’; call ‘humanitarian city’ plan
‘completely unacceptable’By ToI Staff and Nava Freiberg-21 July 2025,
7:36 pm
Britain and 24 Western allies, including Australia,
Canada, France, and Italy, said in a joint statement Monday that the
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza “must end now,” arguing civilians’ suffering
has “reached new depths.”The statement — which also denounced Israel’s
plan to create a “humanitarian city” in Gaza’s south, as well as settler
activity in the West Bank, while calling for the release of the
hostages — came at a time of continued reports of mass casualty events
in the vicinity of aid distribution sites, and of rising malnutrition
that UNRWA has said affects some one-tenth of Gaza’s children. It also
came as hostage-truce negotiations with Hamas have ground on, without
any apparent breakthrough, despite expanded military operations.Israel
rejected the statement, saying it “sends the wrong message to Hamas.”In
the statement, the nations’ foreign ministers wrote that “the suffering
of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s
aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability, and deprives Gazans
of human dignity.”Near-daily mass-casualty events have been reported in
the vicinity of the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s
aid distribution sites, as Israeli troops have used live fire in
attempts to control the crowds. The GHF has blamed Hamas for some of the
violence, and similar scenes have been reported at sites that are run
by other aid organizations.“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the
inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their
most basic needs of water and food,” said Monday’s statement, calling
it “horrifying” that “over 800 Palestinians have been killed while
seeking aid.”Israel has acknowledged deaths near aid sites and has
confirmed that troops have fired warning shots when crowds have gotten
too close, but has said the death tolls, which mostly come from
Hamas-run authorities, are exaggerated.“The Israeli government’s denial
of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is
unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under
international humanitarian law,” said the statement, calling on Israel
to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently
enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life-saving work safely
and effectively.”Israel has criticized the UN’s aid mechanisms as
vulnerable to exploitation by Hamas, saying the terror group seizes aid
and uses it to sustain itself and consolidate its control over parts of
the Strip. The GHF said Monday that it has repeatedly offered to work
together with the UN, but the UN has refused, saying that to do so would
violate humanitarian principles.The Monday communiqué was signed by the
foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as
the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.It
also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the
“hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 [who]
continue to suffer terribly,” and asserted: “A negotiated ceasefire
offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their
families.”FMs: ‘Humanitarian city’ plan is ‘unacceptable’The statement
also condemned Israel’s proposal to build a “humanitarian city” on the
ruins of southern Gaza’s Rafah.“Proposals to remove the Palestinian
population into a ‘humanitarian city’ are completely unacceptable.
Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international
humanitarian law,” it said.Defense Minister Israel Katz floated a plan
earlier this month to build a “city” on the ruins of Rafah that would
eventually contain all of the Strip’s residents; they would not be
allowed to leave during ongoing fighting, as the IDF would operate
against Hamas throughout the rest of the enclave.The military reportedly
opposes the plan as “unworkable,” and it has been panned by Israeli
opposition figures as “crazy, even by this government’s standards.”The
diplomats also objected to “any steps towards territorial or demographic
change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” singling out plans for
the controversial E1 area in the West Bank as a “flagrant breach of
international law,” and denouncing the surge of attacks on Palestinians
by violent West Bank settlers, who have gone mostly unpunished.“We urge
the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort
to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate,
unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the statement said, affirming
support for the US, Qatar, and Egypt, which have served as mediators in
ongoing hostage-ceasefire negotiations.“We are prepared to take further
action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to
security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians, and the entire region,”
the foreign ministers concluded, without elaborating.Israel rejected the
statement, with the Foreign Ministry writing in a statement that it “is
disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.” It
also asserted that “all statements and all claims should be directed at
the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of
hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is
prolonging it.”The terror group has “stubbornly” refused the latest
ceasefire proposal, which Israel agreed to, is “running a campaign to
spread lies about Israel” and “deliberately acting to increase friction
and harm to civilians who come to receive humanitarian aid,” the
ministry added.“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas … At
these sensitive moments in the ongoing negotiations, it is better to
avoid statements of this kind,” it said.US Ambassador to Israel Mike
Huckabee also slammed the statement.“Disgusting! 25 nations put pressure
on Israel instead of savages of Hamas!” Huckabee said in post on
X.“Gaza suffers for 1 reason: Hamas rejects EVERY proposal. Blaming
Israel is irrational,” he added.While several European allies —
including Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia did not
sign the document — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday
that he had spoken on the phone with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and
expressed his “greatest concern about the catastrophic humanitarian
situation, especially in light of the expansion of the Israeli offensive
in Gaza.”In addition to the joint letter, British Foreign Secretary
David Lammy on Monday strongly criticized Israel over the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation while addressing Parliament, saying the “new
Israeli aid system is inhumane, it’s dangerous, and it deprives Gazans
of human dignity.”“It’s a grotesque spectacle, wreaking a terrible human
cost,” he said.Lammy boasted that the current Labour government has
sanctioned violent settlers and Israeli ministers, suspended trade
negotiations with Israel, and signed an major agreement with the
Palestinian Authority.The remarks came after Lammy spoke by phone with
Sa’ar, who said he told his British counterpart that “Hamas is solely
responsible for the suffering of the population and the continuation of
the war.”In his Westminster speech, Lammy detailed attacks by Israeli
forces that have killed Gazan civilians seeking aid, and added that
“Hamas is contributing to the chaos and taking advantage of it.”“The
Israeli government must answer: What possible military justification can
there be for strikes that have killed desperate, starving children?”
Lammy continued. “What immediate actions are they taking to stop this
litany of horrors? What will they do to hold those responsible to
account?”“I firmly believe the Israeli government’s actions are doing
untold damage to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s
long-term security,” said Lammy, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu should listen to “82 percent” of the Israeli public that wants
a ceasefire.“This offensive puts them in grave danger,” he said. “But
still Netanyahu persists.”He called Katz’s plan to move Gaza’s civilians
to Rafah “a cruel vision which must never come to pass.”“The war in
Gaza must end now,” said the top British diplomat. “There is no military
solution. Negotiations will secure the hostages. Further bloodshed
serves no purpose. Hamas and Israel must both commit to a ceasefire
now.”“And the next ceasefire must be the last ceasefire.”Hamas, he said,
can have “no role in the governance of Gaza nor use it as a launchpad
for terrorism.”The war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, when some
5,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200
people and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual
assault.Some 20 living hostages remain in terror groups’ captivity in
Gaza, alongside the bodies of 28 who are confirmed dead, and two about
whom there are grave concerns. One of the slain hostages is an Israeli
soldier who was killed in 2014. The rest are civilians and soldiers
abducted during the October 7 invasion.The Hamas-run Gaza health
ministry says more than 58,000 people in the Strip have been killed or
are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be
verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January
and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7
onslaught.
PA and UAE condemn transfer of authority-Israel to
take administrative control over Tomb of Patriarchs for construction
work-Civil Administration says move temporary, authority will be
returned to Palestinian Hebron municipality when work is finished, but
settler council claims it’s now in charge at holy site By Jeremy
Sharon-21 July 2025, 12:35 am
Israeli authorities have said they
are taking control of the management of the Tomb of the Patriarchs holy
site in Hebron, in order to carry out construction work at the
flashpoint West Bank shrine.According to the Civil Administration, a
branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Affairs in
the Territories (COGAT) liaison to the Palestinians, the government has
authorized a process whereby Israeli authorities will be able to build a
canopy over a courtyard in the Tomb of the Patriarchs complex to
provide shade to worshipers.The Civil Administration has said that the
bureaucratic process for enabling this work to go ahead is in its
“advanced stages,” and will be for the benefit of “all population groups
who pray at the site.”The Tomb of the Patriarchs is revered in Judaism
as the burial site of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham,
Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. It is also a holy site for
Muslims, and a large section of the compound serves as the Ibrahimi
Mosque. The site features different times and spaces for Jewish and
Muslim prayer, and any change to the arrangements typically attracts
condemnation.Israeli authorities have accused the Islamic Waqf — a
religious trust that, together with the municipal authority of the
Palestinian city of Hebron, has administered the Tomb of the Patriarchs
thus far — of failing to cooperate regarding necessary renovations to
the site.In light of this position, a process for transferring the
management authority from the Hebron Municipal Authority to the Civil
Administration has been initiated, Israeli officials said.Officials
connected to the religious council of the Hebron-adjacent Israeli
settlement of Kiryat Arba, however, have claimed that the council will
be in charge of carrying out the construction work at the contested
site.The Civil Administration denied this was the case, saying authority
for site management would remain in its hands.It also said that
management authority would be restored to the Hebron Municipal Council
once the construction work is finished.Amitai Cohen, an official with
the Tomb of the Patriarchs Administration, which runs the Jewish part of
the shared holy site, nevertheless stated that the religious council
was now in charge of daily operations at the site.He said he was unaware
of any arrangement whereby the management authority would be restored
to the Palestinian Hebron Municipal Council.In a similar process in
2020, the Defense Ministry approved plans to install a controversial
elevator for disabled access at the site, which was carried out by the
Civil Administration.The elevator was inaugurated in June 2023.Defense
Minister Israel Katz’s office did not respond to a request for comment
from The Times of Israel regarding the contradictory accounts over the
management of the holy site.“The idea is to make order at the Tomb of
the Patriarchs for everyone who prays there,” said Cohen.“We need to
develop it and take it forward as a holy site, it’s something healthy
that there will be an organization with authority and responsibility to
deal with the issues there.”The Palestinian Authority and the United
Arab Emirates both condemned the transfer of authority, however.Ramallah
said that it would constitute “an unprecedented step in the
occupation’s measures to impose its sovereignty over the mosque, Judaize
it, and completely alter its identity and features.”The UAE’s foreign
ministry said it had “expressed its strong condemnation” over the plans,
and called it “a grave violation of the historical and legal status quo
at the Ibrahimi Mosque.”The ministry added that it was calling for “an
immediate halt to all unilateral and provocative actions that risk
destabilizing the occupied Palestinian territories and undermining
international efforts toward de-escalation.”
Source: Hamas
negotiators unable to reach group’s Gaza leaders, slowing hostage
talks-Sign-off needed from Hamas chiefs in Strip, who source warns may
become even harder to reach as IDF expands offensive into Deir al-Balah;
progress made in aid talks with Egypt By Jacob Magid-Today, 3:16 am-JUL
21,25
Hamas’s negotiators in Doha have been unable to reach the
terror group’s leaders in Gaza since late last week, preventing talks on
a ceasefire and hostage release deal from moving forward, a source
familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Monday.Last week,
Israel submitted updated maps showing its proposed redeployment of
troops during the 60-day truce under discussion. The maps had mediators
bullish about the chances for an agreement as they envisioned Israel
coming down from previous demands to remain in control over larger
swaths of Gaza territory, Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel at the
time, adding that they expected Hamas to approve the Israeli maps.But
Hamas deliberations on the updated Israeli proposal have continued since
Thursday without a response, the source said Monday, lamenting the
daily loss of Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip that have taken place
in the interim.The source added that Israel’s decision to enter the
central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for the first time since the start of
the war may further harm efforts to reach Hamas leaders when seeking a
response to developments in the Doha negotiations.With frustration
growing from mediators over the perceived foot-dragging by Hamas, the
source indicated that Hamas would likely issue a statement declaring
that it is still conducting internal deliberations on the Israeli
proposal in a positive manner.While talks in Doha have stalled, a
separate track of negotiations has been taking place in Cairo between
Israeli negotiators and Egyptian officials that have focused on
advancing a new mechanism for aid distribution during the ceasefire
under discussion.The source said Monday that those talks have been
progressing well and that a meeting was being planned for Tuesday
between Egyptian, Israeli and UN officials to discuss the new
mechanism.The goal is to move away from the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation, while still satisfying Israel, which argues that Hamas has
exploited existing UN distribution mechanisms to divert aid, the source
said.The US- and Israeli-backed GHF has been heavily criticized for
forcing Gazans to walk long distances, often coming under deadly fire as
they cross IDF lines in order to pick up aid.An Arab diplomat
separately told The Times of Israel on Monday that despite the delay in
Hamas’s response, mediators are still optimistic about the chances to
reach an agreement in the coming days, given the softened Israeli stance
on its troop redeployment and Hamas’s willingness to forgo its demand
for an upfront Israeli commitment for a permanent ceasefire.However,
Channel 12 cited unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations who were
less optimistic, saying that another week or possibly two may be needed
due to the delays.The network said Israel was threatening to pull its
negotiating team from Doha if talks did not advance.With the talks
failing to yield a breakthrough, Israeli troops on Monday began ground
operations in the Deir al-Balah area, one of the few places in the Strip
where the IDF has, until now, not operated with ground forces because
it believed Hamas to be holding hostages there, though it has conducted
airstrikes in the city. Hamas has vowed to execute captives if the IDF
approaches.Amid the IDF advance, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum
said it was “shocked and alarmed” at the decision and demanded the
government explain the rationale behind it.The IDF has long said it
doesn’t operate in areas in which it knows that hostages are located,
though, former captives have testified to having come under Israeli fire
that nearly lost them their lives. Six hostages were executed last year
in Rafah after troops unknowingly approached an area near where they
were being held.
Pro-Palestinian activist in New York charged by
feds for torching 11 police vehicles-Jakhi McCray faces up to 20 years
for alleged arson; separately, anti-Israel protesters vandalize Bronx
office of US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez By Luke Tress-Today, 12:36
am-JUL 22,25
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a
pro-Palestinian activist, Jakhi McCray, with torching 11 NYPD vehicles
last month.McCray allegedly climbed a fence to access a parking lot for
police vehicles on June 12 in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn,
according to the federal Eastern District of New York court.Once inside
the lot, McCray allegedly ignited 10 NYPD vehicles and a trailer, the US
attorney’s office said.The cost to replace the vehicles was around
$800,000, the statement said.McCray, 21, was charged in federal court
with arson and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.The
NYPD identified McCray as a suspect last month. NYPD Chief of Detectives
Joseph Kenny said at the time that McCray was “very active in the
protest community, involving the Free Palestine movement.”Kenny also
said McCray damaged a statue at Columbia University during protests on
the campus last year.Court filings said that surveillance video and
fingerprints found on a pair of sunglasses at the scene of the arson
implicated McCray in the fires.Ahead of his arrest, police had offered
up to $30,000 for information on McCray.NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch
said on Monday that McCray had turned himself in, accompanied by his
lawyer, in Brooklyn earlier in the day. He was being held in federal
custody.“Setting police vehicles ablaze is not a form of protest — it is
a federal crime. Our office will not tolerate violence or destruction
that undermines law enforcement efforts to ensure public safety and will
prosecute this individual to the fullest extent of the law,” said US
Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr.Anti-Israel activist groups, including at
Columbia, rallied behind McCray ahead of his initial court appearance on
Monday.“The time has come to rise in solidarity for our comrade, Jakhi
McCray,” said Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the campus alliance
leading anti-Israel protests at the university. The group has backed
other violent offenders in the past, including Tarek Bazrouk, an
anti-Israel activist who pleaded guilty last month to assaulting
Jews.Separately, anti-Israel activists in New York said on Monday that
they had vandalized the Bronx office of Democratic US Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Israel’s leading critics in
Congress.The anti-Israel protest group Decolonize This Place posted
photos showing red paint, reminiscent of blood, splattered on
Ocasio-Cortez’s office, and a sign that said, “AOC funds genocide in
Gaza.”Decolonize This Place said the vandalism was an “anonymous
submission” from a group called the Boogie Down Liberation Front. The
group did not appear to have any previous history or online
presence.Anti-Israel protesters have repeatedly vandalized the offices
of elected representatives in New York, including US Representatives
Adriano Espaillat, Mike Lawler, Ritchie Torres, and Daniel Goldman.The
vandalism appeared to be a response to Ocasio-Cortez voting against a
Congressional amendment, sponsored by US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to
cut funding for Israel’s air defense.“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s
amendment does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the
flow of US munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it,”
Ocasio-Cortez posted on X last week. “What it does do is cut off
defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing
Palestinians to continue.”
Harvard, Trump admin fight in court
over funds axed due to antisemitism allegations-Hearing ends without
ruling in case that marks key moment in White House’s conflict with
university-By Agencies 21 July 2025, 11:06 pm
Harvard University
urged a federal judge on Monday to order US President Donald Trump’s
administration to restore about $2.5 billion in canceled federal grants
and cease efforts to cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy
League school.The administration canceled hundreds of grants awarded to
researchers on the grounds that Harvard failed to do enough to address
harassment of Jewish students on its campus. A lawyer for the Trump
administration told the judge that the canceled grants reflect a
government priority not to send money to institutions that practice
antisemitism.“Harvard prioritized campus protesters over cancer
research,” said Michael Velchik, a senior lawyer at the US Justice
Department. He told the judge she should not be hearing the case in the
first place, arguing the matter belonged in the US Court of Federal
Claims, which handles monetary disputes.The court hearing before US
District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston lasted more than two hours,
but ended without a ruling. The case marks a critical moment in the
White House’s escalating conflict with Harvard, which is being widely
watched across higher education and beyond.The Cambridge,
Massachusetts-based university, the US’s oldest and richest, has become a
central focus of the administration’s broad campaign to leverage
federal funding to force change on campuses, which Trump says are
gripped by antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies. Harvard has been
in the administration’s crosshairs particularly since it rejected a list
of demands to make changes to its governance, hiring, and admissions
practices in April.The administration’s effort comes in the wake of
widespread anti-Israel — and in some cases antisemitic — protests on
campuses across the US that saw frequent expressions of support for
Hamas and its October 7, 2023, attack, as well as violations of school
rules and local laws. It also echoes decades of criticism by
conservatives who point to a lack of “viewpoint diversity” at colleges
and universities.Harvard says it has taken steps to ensure its campus is
welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students, who it acknowledges
experienced “vicious and reprehensible” treatment following the October 7
attack and the onset of the war in Gaza.But Harvard President Alan
Garber has said the administration’s demands have gone far beyond
addressing antisemitism, and unlawfully seek to regulate the
“intellectual conditions” on its campus by controlling who it hires and
who it teaches.Those demands, which came in an April 11 letter from an
administration task force, included calls for the private university to
restructure its governance, alter its hiring and admissions practices to
ensure an ideological balance of viewpoints, and end certain academic
programs.After Harvard rejected those demands, it said the
administration began retaliating against it in violation of the free
speech protections of the US Constitution’s First Amendment by abruptly
cutting funding the school says is vital to supporting scientific and
medical research.Harvard says hundreds of research projects, including
ones concerning cancer treatments, infectious diseases, and Parkinson’s
disease, will be in jeopardy, unless the judge declares the grant
cancellations unlawful.Steven Lehotsky, a lawyer for Harvard, said the
government has made wholesale cuts to research under the guise of
combating antisemitism, but has not identified any connection between
the two.“The administration has given no consideration to patients, the
public at large, and the harm of all this research being cut off,”
Lehotsky told the court.In addition to the grant cancellations, the
Trump administration sought to bar international students from attending
the school; threatened Harvard’s accreditation status; and opened the
door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil
rights law.Velchik said the government has authority to cancel research
grants when an institution is out of compliance with the president’s
directives. He said episodes at Harvard violated Trump’s order combating
antisemitism.Burroughs questioned how the government could make “ad
hoc” decisions to cancel grants and do so across Harvard without
offering evidence that any of the research is antisemitic.She also
argued the government had provided “no documentation, no procedure” to
“suss out” whether Harvard administrators “have taken enough steps or
haven’t” to combat antisemitism.“The consequences of that in terms of
constitutional law are staggering,” she said during Monday’s hearing. “I
don’t think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible
suppression of speech. Where do I have that wrong?”Velchik said the case
comes down to the government’s choosing how best to spend billions of
dollars in research funding.“Harvard claims the government is
anti-Harvard. I reject that,” Velchik said. “The government is
pro-Jewish students at Harvard. The government is pro-Jewish faculty at
Harvard.”Meanwhile, as part of Trump’s spending and tax bill, the
Republican-led US Congress increased the federal excise tax on Harvard’s
income from its $53 billion endowment to eight percent from 1.4%.
Income from the endowment covers 40% of Harvard’s operating
budget.Garber said last week that the various federal actions since
Trump returned to office in January could strip the school of nearly $1
billion annually, forcing it to lay off staff and freeze hiring. The
amount includes the impact of the multi-year federal grants canceled by
the Trump administration.Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic former
president Barack Obama, in a separate case has already barred the
administration from halting Harvard’s ability to host international
students. She is expected to issue a written ruling in the funding case
in the coming weeks.Following the hearing, Trump took aim at Burroughs
in a post on his Truth Social platform. The president called her a
“TOTAL DISASTER, which I say even before hearing her Ruling.”“She has
systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic
‘loss’ for the People of our Country! Harvard has $52 Billion Dollars
sitting in the Bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and
anti-America,” Trump wrote.Luke Tress and Times of Israel staff
contributed to this report.
US, Israel resolve issue of visas
for visiting Christians, after row went public-US Ambassador Huckabee
says Israel will ‘completely restore the long-standing process’; last
week, he threatened to declare Israel no longer welcomes Christians By
Lazar Berman-21 July 2025, 11:54 pm
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee
said Monday that a solution had been reached on the issue of visas for
visiting Christian groups, after a furious letter from him leaked to the
press last week.In the letter, Huckabee threatened to declare that
Israel no longer welcomes Christians, over what he said was Jerusalem’s
failure since January to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions,
after launching investigations into several Christian groups at the
start of 2025.On Monday, Huckabee posted on X: “I am delighted to report
that the issue has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and the
strong support that Israel enjoys from American evangelicals will
continue.“I’m convinced the Interior Minister was not fully aware of the
change being imposed and I’m grateful he has personally intervened to
completely restore the long-standing process,” he continued.“Attorney
Calev Myers, an Israeli attorney who represents some 150 Christian
groups in Israel, was instrumental in outlining the request and the
Prime Minister’s Office was supportive and involved in the resolution,
along with the Minister of the Interior,” Huckabee said.The Prime
Minister’s Office has been silent regarding the visa affair.After
meetings with the Minister of the Interior and with the help of
@IsraeliPM , I’m happy to report that the issue concerning visas for
American Evangelical organizations has been fully resolved.Starting in
January, a change in the manner which visas for Christian…— Ambassador
Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 21, 2025Prior to Huckabee’s
announcement, Myers told The Times of Israel that a solution had been
reached, and credited “the hard work and fruitful cooperation between
the US ambassador, the Ministry of Interior, and the Prime Minister’s
Office.”“The Evangelical Christian organizations active in Israel, which
represent the vast majority of Zionists in the world today, will
receive all of the visas they need through a streamlined and efficient
application process,” Myers said.The US ambassador fired off a seething
letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel last Wednesday, in which he
asserted that at the start of 2025, the Interior Ministry launched
investigations into several evangelical Christian organizations with
long ties to Israel, including the Baptist Conference in Israel and the
Christian Missionary Alliance.In the letter, Huckabee informed Arbel
that these organizations were required to complete lengthy
questionnaires and that they had still not received new visas for
religious leaders to travel to Israel, despite submitting their
applications at the beginning of the year.Copies of Huckabee’s letter
were also sent to Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister
Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Knesset Speaker
Amir Ohana.The private exchange that quickly turned public was followed
by an apparent Israeli strike on Gaza’s sole Catholic church on
Thursday that killed three people and injured several, according to the
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, drawing international condemnation and
expression of “deep sorrow” from Israel. The military said the church
was struck by accident, and that it was investigating what happened, and
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement expressing regret.Earlier last
week week, Huckabee weighed in on unchecked settler violence in the West
Bank for the first time, calling on the Israeli government to
investigate the “terrorist killing” of a 20-year-old
Palestinian-American in the village of Sinjil last week.On Saturday,
Huckabee visited the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West
Bank, which has been the scene of several attacks by settlers in recent
weeks.
Soldier killed in blast, as IDF pushes into central Gaza’s
Deir al-Balah for 1st time-Staff Sgt. Amit Cohen killed in Khan Younis;
hostage families alarmed by new ground offensive; undercover troops
said to nab Hamas health official in Rafah By Emanuel Fabian,Nurit
Yohanan and Jacob Magid-21 July 2025, 10:42 pmUpdated at 2:30 am
An
Israeli soldier was killed by an explosion in southern Gaza on Monday,
the Israel Defense Forces announced, as troops began ground operations
in the Deir al-Balah area in the Strip’s center for the first time since
the beginning of the war.The soldier was named as Staff Sgt. Amit
Cohen, 19, of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, from Holon.According
to a preliminary IDF investigation, Cohen was killed by a blast from
Israeli military munitions that detonated inside a building in Khan
Younis.The explosion also seriously wounded an officer in the 13th
Battalion, the IDF said.The military said it was further investigating
the cause of the explosion, including the possibility that it was an
“operational accident.”Cohen’s death brought Israel’s toll in the ground
offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the
border with the Strip to 455.Earlier Monday, media in Gaza reported that
IDF tanks had pushed into the southern and eastern districts of Deir
al-Balah.It is one of the few places in the Strip where the IDF has,
until now, not operated with ground troops because it believed Hamas to
be holding hostages there, though it has conducted airstrikes in the
city. Hamas has vowed to execute captives if the IDF approaches.As a
matter of policy, the IDF has said it avoids ground operations in areas
of Gaza where it believes Hamas to be holding hostages or cannot rule
out the presence of captives, in order not to endanger them.The push
into the southeast of Deir al-Balah was being led by troops of the
Golani Infantry Brigade, along with tanks and combat engineers,
according to military sources. The ground operations came after
Palestinian reports of artillery shelling and airstrikes overnight and
on Monday morning in the area.A day earlier, the IDF issued an
evacuation warning for several zones in the southwest of Deir al-Balah,
where many Palestinians had sought refuge. According to United Nations
figures, between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when Sunday’s
evacuation order was issued.Sunday’s announcement told civilians to
head south to the Mawasi area on the coast, where at least 600,000
Palestinians were already massed.During a briefing on Monday, UN
spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric warned that the southern Gaza
desalination plant and other vital water infrastructure are located
within the Deir al-Balah areas from which the IDF has ordered
Palestinians to evacuate.The plant is a main source of drinking water
for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in the coastal
Mawasi zone, producing 660,430 gallons of water per day.“The loss of
this facility would be catastrophic for the people who depend on it for
access to fresh water,” Dujarric said.As of early July, 80 percent of
water, sanitation and hygiene facilities fall within Israeli-militarized
zones or in areas that have been placed under evacuation orders, said
the UN spokesperson, adding that 93% of households in Gaza had no access
to water as of last month.Over 87% of Gaza is currently under Israeli
evacuation order, which has squeezed about 2.1 million people into
fragmented areas of the Strip where hardly any services are available,
Dujarric said.He noted that UN humanitarian staff will remain in Deir
al-Balah areas that the IDF has ordered to evacuate and has shared its
coordinates with all parties of the conflict.According to the World
Health Organization, its staff residence and main warehouse in Deir
al-Balah were attacked three times on Monday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said the IDF entered the UN agency’s staff residence, forced
women and children to evacuate on foot, and handcuffed, stripped and
interrogated male staff at gunpoint.Two WHO staff and two family members
were detained, three of whom were later released while the other
remains in detention, according to Tedros.“WHO demands the immediate
release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,” he
said.Tedros also said “the latest evacuation order in Deir al-Balah has
affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in
Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse.”“WHO’s main
warehouse located in Deir al-Balah is within the evacuation zone, and
was damaged yesterday when an attack caused explosions and a fire
inside,” he added.Earlier, following reports of the IDF’s push toward
the city, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it was “shocked
and alarmed” at the decision, and the mother of one of the hostages
thought to be alive said she was perplexed by it.The expanded military
operation commenced as global criticism mounted over the war and the US-
and Israeli-backed aid distribution mechanism in Gaza. At the same
time, negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release deal were
ongoing in Qatar. Should those talks prove fruitless, the IDF is
proposing a further intensification of the fighting, even as it
acknowledges burnout among troops after more than 21 months of war.Deir
al-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP that “during the
night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area, as if it
were an earthquake,” which he attributed to “artillery shelling in the
south-central part of Deir al-Balah and the southeastern area.”“We are
extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground
operation in Deir al-Balah and the central camps where hundreds of
thousands of displaced people are sheltering,” he said.Local medics said
tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least
three Palestinians and wounding several others. At least 130
Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire
and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s
Hamas-run health ministry said Monday.The ministry’s figures cannot be
verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. 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.Also on Monday,
Marwan al-Hams, an official in the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza,
was reportedly detained by an undercover Israeli force outside the field
hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the
southern Gaza Strip.Hams is the director of Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital in
the city of Rafah, and also serves as the head of all field hospitals in
the Gaza Strip.The Hamas health ministry said that Hams was on his way
to visit the ICRC hospital in Rafah when an Israeli force “abducted” him
after opening fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian
nearby.Medics said the person killed was a local journalist who was
filming an interview with Hams when the incident happened.An ICRC
spokesperson said the ICRC hospital had admitted and treated patients
injured in the incident but would not comment further on their status in
order to protect their privacy. It said it was “very concerned about
safety and security” around the field hospital.The IDF did not
immediately comment on the incident.Also in southern Gaza, footage
showed several dozen people, including children, protesting in the Khan
Younis area against Hamas and in support of ending the war.In the
footage published by Gaza-based media outlets, protesters can be heard
chanting “Hamas out.”One demonstrator is seen holding a sign reading
“Stop the war,” while another sign says “Stop exploiting the blood.”The
demonstration appeared to be the first in Gaza against the terror group,
since it violently suppressed a series of protests in March and in
April.Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which
represents the relatives of many of the 50 remaining hostages, at least
20 of whom are believed to be alive, asked the government to explain the
move into Deir al-Balah.“The families demand that the prime minister,
defense minister, chief of staff, and IDF spokesperson appear before
them and the Israeli public this evening to clearly explain why the
offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious
risk,” said the group. “The people of Israel will not forgive anyone
who knowingly endangered the hostages — both the living and the
deceased.”Ruhama Bohbot, whose son Elkana Bohbot is held captive by
Hamas and thought to be alive, told a gathering of supporters Monday
that she felt “a little tense” over the military’s entry into the
city.“The IDF have begun operating in Gaza in the place where Elkana is
being held, and I’m a little worried and suspicious like the other
families,” Bohbot said. “I don’t have any idea why they started doing
this now — now, when there’s supposed to be a deal.”“I hope that the
army will know what to do and how to do it,” she said. “And God forbid
not touch the hostages. The government said it wouldn’t be the worst
thing if some hostages were harmed, an unbelievably terrible thing to
say.”It was an apparent reference to Orit Strock, the minister of
national missions and settlements, who said in an interview Monday that
while the IDF should make a “great effort” to avoid harming hostages,
“it’s not right to refrain from vanquishing Hamas” in areas where they
might be held.“That also risks lives,” said Strock, a member of the
far-right Religious Zionism party, adding that she “cannot make
calculations about whether this person’s life is more important than
that person’s life.”Negotiations over a 60-day ceasefire that would see
the release of about half the hostages are continuing in Qatar, though
difficulties reaching Hamas’s Gaza leadership are reportedly slowing the
process. Should those talks fail, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal
Zamir was drawing up plans for an expansion of the fighting.A Channel 12
news report that quoted sources familiar with the proposal described it
as “the plan for taking over Gaza,” and said it was an alternative to
the controversial “humanitarian city” in Rafah pushed by Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, which Zamir
opposes.Global criticism of the war, and reports of a growing
humanitarian crisis in Gaza, mounted on Monday. In a call for the war to
end, 25 countries zeroed in on criticism of the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation, which began operating aid distribution sites in May under
American and Israeli backing.Hundreds of people have been reported
killed around the sites, according to Hamas officials. Israel has
acknowledged deaths near aid sites and has confirmed that troops have
fired warning shots when crowds have gotten too close, but says the
death tolls, which mostly come from Hamas-run authorities, are
exaggerated.The UN’s World Food Program, in a rare condemnation, said a
crowd surrounding its aid convoy in northern Gaza on Sunday “came under
fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.” It said “countless
lives” were lost. Hamas authorities reported nearly 80 dead from Israeli
gunfire in the area of the convoy, which is unrelated to the GHF aid
distribution sites.Responding to the reports, the IDF said it had fired
“warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops” in
northern Gaza, but denied the steep death toll, insisting that the
“reported number of casualties does not align with the existing
information.”An Israeli reservist told the Wall Street Journal that
soldiers fired at aid-seeking Palestinians who veered off approved paths
even though some of them were carrying white flags. The report,
published Monday, said that Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinians who
strayed from the paths or came too close to the troops.“We have an
unwritten rule that if you are worried and they get too close and you
see that it could be something that puts you and your team at risk, you
don’t take that risk,” the reservist said.A spokesman for the GHF,
Chapin Fay, said Monday that it was willing to deliver food to
Palestinians for the UN, which he says “has given up distribution
altogether.” He added that “desperation levels” in Gaza are rising.“We
can get their aid into Gaza safely and securely and have offered to help
repeatedly, but they continue to reject our offers,” Fay said in a
media briefing.The UN has argued that it will not cooperate with the
GHF, as its distribution mechanism has placed Palestinians at risk.UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the “accelerating
breakdown of humanitarian conditions” in Gaza.“The last lifelines
keeping people alive are collapsing,” his spokesman said in a statement.
The United Nations chief “deplores the growing reports of children and
adults suffering from malnutrition.”Jessica Steinberg, agencies and
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Knesset
approves compensation package for businesses hurt by Iran conflict-With
summer recess looming, coalition and opposition race to complete plan
that focuses on maintaining economic ‘continuity’ for small- and
medium-sized businesses By Sam Sokol-21 July 2025, 8:43 pm
Lawmakers
voted 55-2 to approve the government’s plan to compensate those
affected financially by last month’s conflict with Iran, in its third
and final Knesset reading on Monday afternoon, including grants for
businesses whose income streams were reduced and workers who were
furloughed.“Our message to businesses is clear: the state is with you.
The approval of the compensation outline today in the Knesset is an
important step in ensuring business continuity and economic recovery
following Operation Rising Lion,” said Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich.“We will act quickly, efficiently and sensitively, so that
every business owner, in every part in the country, receives the
assistance they deserve.”The outline, whose aim is to create “as broad a
safety net as possible for the working public,” was first presented at a
joint press conference last month by officials including Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich, then-Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Moshe
Gafni, Business Sector Presidium chair Dubi Amitai, and Histadrut Labor
Federation chief Arnon Bar-David.According to the Finance Ministry, the
outline is focused on maintaining economic “continuity,” with an
emphasis on small- and medium-sized businesses. Businesses with an
annual turnover of NIS 12,000 ($3,450) to NIS 400 million ($114 million)
that has decreased by more than 25 percent month over month will be
compensated from the Property Tax Compensation Fund.Businesses bringing
in less than NIS 300,000 ($86,000) a year will be eligible for a fixed
business continuity grant “depending on the level of damage to the
business,” while businesses earning NIS 300,000 to NIS 400 million will
be eligible for the reimbursement of 7% – 22% of their expenses,
“depending on the rate of damage to business turnover, as well as a
refund of 75% of salary expenses in relation to the level of
damage.”Businesses with an annual turnover of NIS 300,000 to NIS 100
million ($28 million) will have compensation capped at NIS 600,000
($172,000).Employees placed on unpaid leave due to the cessation of
economic activity during the war will receive payments from the National
Insurance Institute and will not be forced to use any of their accrued
vacation days.According to officials, an online system for claims under
the new compensation plan will be opened by the Tax Authority “in the
coming days.”Aside from assisting businesses and employees, the
government will also offer compensation to landlords of residential
apartments or commercial properties damaged as a result of the
war.Overall, the war caused economic damage of at least NIS 4.5 billion
($1.2 billion), officials said last month.Progress on the compensation
law was temporarily halted last week when the ultra-Orthodox United
Torah Judaism party’s quit the coalition to protest its failure to pass
legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.In the wake
of his resignation, UTJ lawmaker and then-committee chairman Moshe
Gafni failed to show up for a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on the
compensation bill, taking participants in the scheduled discussion by
surprise.Without Gafni, the parliamentary panel had no chairman, and the
discussion of the bill could not move forward, causing what committee
member MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) called “an absurd and
unprecedented situation.”“Representatives from government ministries,
the business sector, and opposition members arrived this morning for a
discussion on the compensation outline for businesses. But here’s the
thing: committee chairman Gafni resigned overnight, didn’t cancel the
meeting, and currently, no one has the authority to lead the committee,”
Beliak tweeted at the time.Within a day, the committee had approved a
Knesset House Committee recommendation to appoint Likud MK Ofir Katz as
chairman of the influential panel and announced that it would hold a
meeting to advance the compensation outline prior to the upcoming
Knesset recess.The Knesset is set to enter a nearly three-month-long
recess on July 27. It will reconvene on October 19 for the winter
session.“There is an urgency to finish with the compensation outline, on
which most of the work has already been done,” Katz said at the time,
adding that he intended to “finish the work in the committee, and bring
the legislation up in the plenum next week.”
Romania, on edge
over Russia, to buy Israeli anti-aircraft system for $2.3 billion-NATO
member state signs 7-year framework agreement with Iron Dome maker
Rafael for six short-range air defense systems-By Reuters and Emanuel
Fabian-21 July 2025, 8:10 pm
Romania has signed a framework
agreement to buy Israeli-made short-range and very-short-range
anti-aircraft systems for more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), the
Romanian defense ministry said on Monday.Under pressure from US
President Donald Trump, Romania and other European countries have been
looking to increase their defense spending since Russia’s full-scale
invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022.The European Union and NATO
member state, which shares a 650-kilometer (400-mile) border with
Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall in its territory
repeatedly over the past two years, as Moscow attacks Ukrainian port
infrastructure.The framework agreement with the Israeli company Rafael
Advanced Defense Systems — the maker, with US backing, of the Iron Dome
defense system — provides for the signing of three further contracts,
through which six integrated anti-aircraft systems will be acquired.The
contracts will also cover training, ammunition, and logistical
support.The framework agreement will run for seven years, with the first
two Vshorad systems to be delivered within three years of the signing
of the first of the three further contracts, the ministry said.Defense
Ministry figures released in June showed that Israeli arms sales reached
a new record in 2024, for the fourth consecutive year, totaling nearly
$14.8 billion, amounting to double the value of exports of five years
ago.Europe was the largest purchaser of Israeli defense goods, buying 54
percent of the total exports in 2024, and ministry officials attributed
the increase in demand from European countries to Russia’s ongoing
invasion of Ukraine.At the same time, ministry officials said they were
increasingly concerned by some governments, especially in Western
Europe, who have canceled weapon deals with Israel or otherwise
sanctioned Israeli defense firms over the war.
