π️Lonny's War Update- October 664, 2023 - July 31, 2025 π️
π️Day 664 that 50 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivityπ️
Witkoff speaks to Egyptian FM on stalled Gaza ceasefire talks
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed the need to intensify pressure to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal as soon as possible, according to a readout from Cairo about a phone call the pair held earlier today.
The call was held before Witkoff departs for Israel, where he will meet with officials in Jerusalem on Thursday to discuss efforts to secure the release of the hostages, end the war, and alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Witkoff and Abdelatty “exchanged views on the joint efforts of the three guarantor parties—Egypt, the United States, and Qatar—to secure a ceasefire by intensifying pressure so that an agreement to be reached as soon as possible,” the Egyptian readout says.
Abdelatty stressed that the “humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip resulted from blatant Israeli violations and the use of starvation as a weapon against Palestinians,” the readout adds. Israel has denied using hunger as a weapon, arguing that it has facilitated the entry of enough aid into the Strip, but this is after it maintained a blockade for 78 days.
Netanyahu meeting top aides to discuss Gaza deal, said to warn Hamas Israel will annex parts of Gaza if no hostage release
Israel sent a message to Hamas that if it doesn’t accept the proposal on the table for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the coming days, Israel will start to annex territory around Gaza’s perimeter, senior Israeli officials tell Channel 13.
The report of the warning comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with his small group of top aides and ministers to discuss ongoing attempts to make some progress toward a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Israel sent a document with its red lines around IDF troop deployments and prisoner releases to Hamas through the mediating countries, according to Channel 12.
Israel says in the document that it will not leave the Phildelphi corridor or the buffer zone around the Gaza border, will not allow the opening of the Rafah Crossing, and will not agree to a prisoner release that is so far-reaching that it will make it difficult to get Hamas to release the last batch of hostages in a potential ceasefire.
Israel assumes Hamas will not show any further flexibility, according to the report.
“Israel will not be patient for much longer,” says a senior Israeli official.
However, Channel 12 reports that there is currently no appetite in the White House to greenlight an Israeli move to annex parts of the Strip.
US confirms Witkoff traveling to Israel
The Trump administration confirms that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Israel tomorrow.
Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza,” a US official says in a statement to reporters. link Witkoff's original plan was to travel to the reason to close a deal. It was so close but then it all fell apart due to both Hamas and Netanyahu. Hamas upped the ante of their demands but made it clear (too late) when everything went up in smoke and Netanyahu pulled the negotiating team back to Israel that theirs was a negotiating starting point and they were open to haggling over the numbers of Palestinian prisoners to be released per hostage released (what is being called the keys). Netanyahu didn't see it that way or choose to see it that way. Instead, he used the Hamas' opening salvo as a complete rejection of the terms presented, told the negotiating team to come home and then talk to Trump to convince him that Hamas was entirely to blame and that he, Netanyahu would have to rethink the Gaza end of the war plan. Interesting that he has to rethink something that he has no plan for. Netanyahu has no strategic plan for Gaza, so there is no pulling out plan B or Plan C from the drawer. Netanyahu's drawers are and have always been empty. So his rethought plans were first to convince Trump not to go hard in his demand to free the hostages and end the war. NO, not at all. Trump would first accept Netanyahu's plan to not negotiate and to use more military might in Gaza, all to put pressure on Hamas at the bargaining table. Trump changed his plan entirely from wanting to force Netanyahu to end the war to letting Netanyahu to literally get away with murder: the murders of the hostages and of the Gazan Children who are starving to death. What Israel needs now is for Trump to stop buying into Netanyahu's BS and put down the law to Netanyahu: end the war; bring home the hostages; improve the very nature of the aid goods making their way into Israel.
Unfortunately, I don't believe that Witkoff has the mandate from Trump at this time to demand from Netanyahu to end the war and bring home all the hostages.
So that leaves us in a similar position that we were in months ago when the 2 sides couldn't make a deal. Witkoff came expecting he could close a deal only to find Hamas on one hand sticking to their original bottom line (ending the war, release of C Palestinian prisoners and US guarantees to end the war) whom we know they will not be at all flexible on these points. And on the other hand, he was faced with a Netanyahu who says very different things to the foreign press than what he says to the Israeli press and refused to end the war in order to help his political survival. Witkoff did the only thing he thought could possibly succeed: A proposal for an interim agreement that would only see some of the hostages come home and the rest to continue to rot and die in Hamas captivity. That, too didn't go anywhere but lots of talks and denials.
Witkoff is more than good meaning. He is a man of action and demands actions by others.
Now, Witkoff is coming back in an even worse position. Israel is talking about annexation and getting rid of all Palestinians from Gaza (to start), and Netanyahu is facing the pressure from his extremist partners to continue the war no matter how many hostages will die and soldiers will be killed. Netanyahu, the weak autocrat will act according to what will hold his government together, not caring what is good for Israel.
The only way for Witkoff, on this trip to make real progress is if he has the mandate to force Netanyahu into a deal that will include the ending of the war. Without that pressure, Netanyahu will continue to do what suits his war of political survival and no other considerations will enter his calculations. I am sincerely hoping that Trump has truly lost his patience with Netanyahu and is ready to force an end to the war.Israel said to give mediators response to Hamas’s unsatisfactory stance on hostage deal
Israel gave mediators on Tuesday night a document with its key points in response to Hamas’s unsatisfactory reply last week, a senior Israeli official tells Channel 12. The document was given to Hamas.
The development comes as US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to land in Israel tomorrow, with a focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
He will also discuss frozen talks to achieve a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
Trump: Fastest way to end Gaza suffering is for Hamas to surrender, release the hostages. This statement from Trump only emphasizes how much he doesn't understand the region or Hamas. He thinks that everything is a business transaction. When there is a fundamentalist terror organization that values death through battle more than life, there is no business transaction, no normal negotiation. The only transaction and negotiation is one that brings them closer to their distorted fundamentalist goals. They will never surrender to Israel. They may and probably would surrender to a Palestinian governing body but only if they believe that it will serve them in the end. Hamas doesn't care about the suffering of their own people, they never have, nor do they care how many Gazans are killed. On the contrary, the more killed, the more that suffer, serves their PR machine. It shows how bad the Israeli regime is and that of the US for supporting Israel. Only when you understand this complete distortion of how they view their religion and the world can you understand how you have to deal with them. They hold the precious cards, our hostages and the only way we will get them back is through a deal that ends the war. Nothing less.
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
* 8:00pm- A drone launched at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the military says.
The drone was shot down over the Egyptian border area. Sirens were not activated in any towns.
Ultranationalsts who want to re-establish settlements march to Gaza border
Groups of ultranationalist activists hoping to establish new Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip have set out from a meeting point close to Sderot and are walking westward toward a lookout point less than a kilometer away from the border with the Gaza Strip.
The activists are part of several cadres that have been formed by the Nachala settlement organization to establish a number of new settlements in the event that authorization for such a move is approved by the government.
Earlier on Wednesday, six cabinet ministers and 16 coalition MKs requested that Defense Minister Israel Katz approve a scouting mission for the activists inside Gaza as part of Nachala’s plan to re-establish Jewish settlements in the war-torn territory.
Katz has yet to publicly respond.
“The idea is to advance the idea of settlement in Gaza. Zionism, settlement, security,” said Nachala chairwoman and veteran settlements activist Daniella Weiss in a video message issued this morning by the organization.
Weiss said that one thousand families who are part of the settlement cadres would march toward the lookout point over Gaza, some of whom would enter the territory if Katz approves.
“They will enter inside the northern demarcation line, see the remnants of what used to be the settlements, the remnants of buildings built by the Gazans and which were destroyed, and mark where we hopefully very soon will establish new settlements,” said Weiss.
Israel calls on more nations to airdrop aid into Gaza
As Arab partners conduct airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office urges more countries to join the effort.
“Hamas stole food from its own people,” writes the PMO on X. “Israel acted. We airdropped aid to Gazan civilians, and we called on other nations to join us. Some have already done so.”
“We secured the skies, secured the drops, and made sure the food got through,” the PMO continues. “Any country that truly wants to help is welcome to join us.”
On Sunday, Israel announced new humanitarian aid measures in Gaza after mounting criticism, including from close allies.
Earlier, the IDF said that the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Egypt airdropped 32 aid packages today.
Arab nations continue Gaza air drops
Gaza and the South
Red Cross says it could take weeks for Gaza food situation to stabilize
The Red Cross says that despite Israeli efforts to step up aid to the hunger-ridden Gaza Strip, including humanitarian pauses in fighting, it could take weeks for enough aid to enter to stabilize the situation.
“A humanitarian pause is necessary but insufficient,” the ICRC says in response to a query from The Times of Israel. “It is extremely welcome for the population and the aid providers. But a pause is insufficient. What is needed is a sustained and sustainable agreement. The amount of food that needs to come in is so substantial that it will take weeks for the situation to stabilize.”
The Red Cross says that stocks of some basic foodstuffs that were brought in during the last ceasefire are also starting to run out.
“The entry of some specialized goods was a saving grace in that sense, because some products have a long shelf life and are still available, but the problem is that even that is now running out,” it says.
It also says that the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s sites are difficult for people to access and dangerous.
“The food distribution areas are hard to access, and it’s difficult for most people to understand how to even get there, as some are located close to, or in, evacuation zones,” the ICRC says. “The Red Cross Field Hospital is close to one distribution center and not far from another, and we’ve received large numbers of gunshot victims who tell us they’re coming from those sites.”
- As Israel’s allies turn on it, here’s the least bad of the lousy options for ‘victory’ in Gaza
The Netanyahu-led government is floundering militarily in Gaza and alienating the world and much of Israel and the Jewish diaspora with its approach to Gaza’s noncombatants — their food, their well-being, their futureIn the early months of Israel’s war against Hamas, various Israeli officials raised all manner of ideas regarding boosting humanitarian assistance to Gaza, even as the IDF moved slowly through the Strip to tackle Hamas’s 24-battalion army.
Among those proposals were for Israel to encourage multiple nations to deploy floating hospitals off the Gaza coast, and perhaps even for Israeli vessels to participate. France and the UAE actually did position floating hospitals nearby and treated Gaza patients. Another idea was for cruise ships to anchor near the Strip to serve as a temporary refuge from the fighting for Gaza’s elderly and infirm. That didn’t happen. Nor did an idea for Israel to airdrop aid packages across Gaza that would also carry photographs of the hostages, with rewards promised for information on their whereabouts.
Instead, Israel argued with itself about how much aid to supply, and with the UN about the mechanisms for distribution and the means to keep it out of Hamas’s hands. Much more recently, it halted supplies altogether for 11 weeks starting in March in an attempt to turn up pressure on Hamas for the release of further hostages, which Hamas was and remains unprepared to do unless Israel commits to ending the war.
Israel grudgingly lifted that ban in May when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating — a presumably well-intentioned operation that has seen hundreds of Gazans reportedly killed when seeking to access the supplies, many of them apparently by the IDF amid near-daily scenes of chaos.
Until this week, when Israel agreed to a much-increased supply of aid amid soaring international criticism of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, heightened by reports of dozens of deaths from starvation and pictures of emaciated children, the quantity of aid entering Gaza was far below the levels that had been maintained until March. Now, US President Donald Trump, Israel’s most robust ally, is promising a US role in expanding the aid supply, having declared on Monday, “We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are — that’s real starvation stuff, I see it. You can’t fake that. So we’re going to be even more involved.”
As with aid, so too with the overall prosecution of the war. The Israeli government’s position has been high on rhetoric — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed last September that Israel was “a step away from victory” and Defense Minister Israel Katz every few days threatens to “open the gates of hell” on Hamas if it does not release more hostages — and absent on strategy. Hamas’s military capabilities have been radically degraded, but it has been able to continue to recruit, and it has been spared the one threat it most fears: the establishment of an alternative governance for Gaza that would supersede it.
Netanyahu has been steadfastly unwilling to legitimize any role for the Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, which he insists shares the Israel-eliminating goals of Hamas, just with a world-fooling veneer of ostensible willingness to coexist, and which was brusquely shoved out of Gaza in a matter of days by Hamas in 2007.
But there are really only three “day after” options for Gaza: the unthinkable return to unchallenged power by a revived Hamas intractably bent on destroying Israel; full-scale Israeli occupation for the foreseeable future; and an international governance mechanism, with an American role in oversight and participation by regional players. That third option, however, depends on an ostensibly legitimate Palestinian governance component — the Palestinian Authority — because otherwise, the other regional and global participants would be perceived as illegitimate overlords.
Far-right party leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, without whom Netanyahu has no coalition, have long, openly sought the second of those options. Amid multiple unsourced reports this week that the government is weighing the full occupation of Gaza (where the IDF says it currently controls 75% of the territory) and mulling at least partial annexation, too, Smotrich on Tuesday declared that Gaza is “an inseparable part of Israel” and demanded the large-scale resettlement of the Strip (from which Israel unilaterally evicted its 7,000-8,000 settlers 20 years ago). He acknowledged being mocked and ridiculed for staying in the government even as it stepped up the influx of aid, when he had repeatedly vowed to bolt the coalition if that happened, but explained ominously: “Apparently I have reason to believe that good things are going to happen.”
With the IDF under unprecedented strain after almost 22 months of war, and Netanyahu doing everything in his power — including ousting the head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee — to ensure that the tens of thousands of army-eligible ultra-Orthodox young men are not compelled to serve, it is entirely unclear how the army would maintain the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip and secure a revived settlement enterprise there. Doubtless Ben Gvir, the recidivist thug running the police, and Smotrich, the Jewish supremacist granted a ministerial role in the Defense Ministry by Netanyahu, have some ideas in mind. (Not incidentally, the Knesset voted overwhelmingly last week in favor of a non-binding motion to annex the West Bank.)
Israel’s regional and international allies, by contrast, have consistently urged Israel to work with them to implement option three — an international mechanism for Gaza’s governance, including a closely overseen PA, with no role for Hamas. At a UN gathering on Tuesday, Arab and Muslim countries condemned the Hamas invasion and massacre in an unprecedented joint declaration and called on Hamas to lay down its arms and free all the hostages, as part of a call to end the war in Gaza and progress to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As things stand, the Netanyahu-led government is floundering militarily in Gaza and alienating the world, and much of Israel and world Jewry, with its approach to Gaza’s noncombatants — their food, their well-being, their future. Netanyahu half-heartedly dissociates himself from far-right ministers such as Amichay Eliyahu who call to “wipe out” Gaza, but he keeps them in office. He does not confront the Smotrich and Ben Gvir calls for revived Jewish settlement and annexation of Gaza; indeed, he may be inclining to go along with them. He continues to embrace Trump’s February plan to compel all Gazans to leave, even as Trump no longer advocates it.
All of Israel’s self-perceived allies have been publicly horrified by the evidence of malnutrition in Gaza, and by the near-daily deaths of noncombatants seeking food. All of them are pressing for an urgent end to the war in Gaza. And almost all of them are now chorusing their support for a Palestinian state, a prospect opposed by Israelis far beyond Netanyahu’s base, and never more so than since the October 7 Hamas-led massacre — a monstrous attack launched against Israel from territory where Israel had no presence or claim, aimed at initiating the destruction of Israel.
Israel’s leveraging of aid to try to pressure Hamas, and the pictures and clips coming out of Gaza that have convinced even Trump that starvation is real, have in the past few days helped bring Israel’s international standing to a new low — truly a pariah state at this point, with its government simply not trusted by even close allies to maintain humane policies in its conduct of the war, and Israelis and the Jewish world anguished, torn and increasingly critical.
Hamas started the war almost 22 months ago with an unprovoked invasion in which it massacred primarily civilians with monstrous brutality, abducted 251 hostages and still holds 50, turned Gaza into a terror state, cynically abuses its populace as human shields and propaganda pawns — but Israel is now regarded as the prime villain. The damage is generational.
Only Trump has yet to throw his weight behind the Palestinian state advocates, notably now including two more Security Council permanent members in Britain and France. And even he said indulgently on Tuesday that the likes of Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have the right to their opinion: “That’s okay. It doesn’t mean I have to agree.”
But Trump is now promising that the US will step in to help boost Gaza aid. And he has emphatically been demanding an urgent end to the war.
It’s far past time for Netanyahu — inconsistent on Gaza aid, back and forth on the terms of hostage-ceasefire deal — to make up his mind.
Will the prime minister belatedly adopt the least bad of the lousy options for ending the war — a deal to get back every single hostage possible, and a readiness to establish a US-led international and regional mechanism for building a non-threatening Gaza, at the price of a closely overseen role for the deeply problematic PA, but no role for a disarmed, superseded Hamas. Such a step would also reduce the global diplomatic and potential economic pressure for Palestinian statehood on terms that would reward Hamas and threaten Israel anew.
Or, already hobbling Israel’s judiciary and democratic character, is he bent on initiating an untenable, unsustainable long-term occupation of Gaza, which will deepen Israel’s isolation and turn it into an expanded state with a dwindling Jewish component — the complete failure of the Jewish-democratic Zionist vision? link
Hezbollah says those demanding it disarm are ‘serving’ Israel
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem says that those demanding its disarmament are “serving the Israeli project,” accusing US envoy Tom Barrack of “intimidating” Lebanon.
In a televised address marking the first anniversary of the targeted killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shukr, Qassem says, “anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project.”
He accuses Barrack of using “intimidation and threats” with the aim of “aiding Israel.”
- Israeli, Syrian officials to meet in Baku as US pushes deescalation in southern Syria
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister Ron Dermer to hold follow-up meeting after Paris talks with Syrian foreign minister; discussions center on stabilizing southern Syria, including Druze areas, under US mediation
Israeli officials are expected to meet Thursday in Baku with representatives of the Syrian regime, a diplomatic source told AFP, in a continuation of regional talks involving Israel, the United States and Syria aimed at de-escalating tensions. The meeting will include Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, who are arriving in Azerbaijan’s capital directly from Washington, where they participated in high-level coordination talks with U.S. officials on issues including Syria. Thursday’s meeting in Baku follows a direct encounter last week in Paris between Dermer, Hanegbi and Syrian Foreign Minister Hassan al-Shibani. According to U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who facilitated the Paris meeting, the objective was to initiate dialogue and reduce tensions. “That is exactly what we achieved,” Barrack said, noting that all sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue the process. Syrian regime checkpoint in Sweida province (Photo: OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the proposed agreement under discussion includes several provisions: transferring oversight of the predominantly Druze Sweida province to the U.S., withdrawal of Syrian government and tribal forces beyond Druze villages and the formation of local Druze councils to provide civilian services. Additionally, the agreement reportedly calls for a verification committee to report violations to the U.S., the disarmament of Quneitra and Daraa provinces near the Israeli border and the establishment of local security committees composed of residents, with restrictions on heavy weapons and any Syrian government-aligned forces entering Sweida. UN agencies, however, would be granted access. link Lebanese president demands Hezbollah disarm before US ratchets up pressure
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says his country is determined to disarm Hezbollah.
Aoun calls on the Iran-backed group and other Lebanese parties to seize the opportunity to hand over their weapons sooner rather than later, as Washington increases pressure on Hezbollah to give up its arms.
Beirut is demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army,” Aoun says in a speech to mark Army Day.
Aoun adds that the country will seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and security forces in Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s leader Qassem Naim said Wednesday that those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals, rebuffing calls for it to lay down its arms.
IDF court extends remand of suspected Palestinian stone-throwers after settler accused of shooting dead activist released to house arrest
A military judge has granted an eight-day extension to the remand of five Palestinians suspected of stone-throwing in an incident in which Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen was shot dead, even though the suspected Israeli killer was released on Tuesday to house arrest.
The rulings highlight the differences in treatment between settlers who enjoy full Israeli civil rights and Palestinians who are under Israeli military rule.
Israeli law requires suspects to be brought before a judge for a remand hearing within 24 hours, whereas Israeli military law allows authorities to wait 96 hours before bringing Palestinians before a judge.
Accordingly, Levi’s hearing was held at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday — a day after Hathaleen’s killing — while the Palestinians detained in the incident had to wait until Wednesday before seeing a judge for the first time.
Nasser Odeh, who is representing the five Palestinian suspects, tells the judge at the Ofer Military Court in the West Bank that they had been held with their hands and feet shackled for 13 hours at a military base after their arrest on Monday.
In requesting an additional remand extension against the five Palestinians, the Israel Police’s representative points to damage incurred to Levi’s bulldozer and vehicle, while arguing that Levi felt that his life was in danger when he fired his weapon.
The representative does not explain why Levi had encroached on privately-owned Palestinian land on the edge of Umm al-Khair in the West Bank, where residents have long reported near-daily harassment by settlers from nearby illegal outposts.
Last night, the IDF arrested nine more Palestinians on suspicion of involvement in the incident in which Hathaleen was allegedly shot by Levi — an extremist settler formerly sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration, and still sanctioned by Canada, the UK, and the European Union.
Troops shoot, wound masked Israeli teen who was throwing rocks at cars in West Bank
A masked Israeli teenager who was hurling stones at motorists in the central West Bank was shot by a Border Police officer, a military official says.
The reservist policeman had spotted a group of masked suspects hurling rocks at cars that were stuck in a jam on Route 60, close to the settlement of Beit El and the illegal outpost of Oz Zion.
In response, the officer fired in the air. Moments later, the masked suspects began throwing stones at the police officer, who returned fire, hitting one of the suspects, the official says.
Medics report that the suspect, an Israeli 17-year-old boy, is in light-to-moderate condition after being shot.
Recent months have seen a significant rise in attacks by settler extremists against Palestinians in the West Bank, with troops often reluctant to intervene.
Israeli forces routinely shoot Palestinians throwing rocks at vehicles in the West Bank, saying they are endangering the lives of the motorists.
Palestinian man reported killed during fiery settler rampage near Ramallah
Palestinians say one person is dead after settler extremists allegedly rampaged through a West Bank town near Ramallah overnight, setting fire to cars and homes.
According to official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the man died of suffocation while trying to put out flames after a home in Silwad was set on fire.
The agency had earlier reported that the man was shot by troops, but the claim was later removed from its account.An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson says the army is looking into the matter.
Footage from the town shows several homes and cars on fire. On one wall, Hebrew graffiti reading “Revenge [for] the shooting of Zio-Nazis” is seen alongside a star of David.
Attacks are also reported to have taken place in the nearby villages of Rammun and Khirbet Abu Falah.
Activists say attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the area have intensified in recent months. video more video An investigation by the army will come up with nothing. No settler terrorists will be arrested, no charges, no trials, just more blindness to the situation and more terror by these settler terrorists.
IDF reviewing eligibility for service for reservists suffering mental health challenges, PTSD
The IDF has begun reviewing the eligibility of reservists suffering from significant mental health disabilities, including post-traumatic stress disorder, following months of internal delays and mounting public pressure.
Under the new policy, quietly implemented last week, soldiers formally recognized by the Defense Ministry as having a 30% or greater mental health disability will be assessed by IDF mental health officers to determine if they are fit for continued reserve service.
The reviews come amid growing concern over the deployment of traumatized soldiers — including those unknowingly sent back to combat due to gaps in data-sharing between the IDF and the Defense Ministry.
At least 17 active-duty soldiers have died by suicide in 2025, according to Haaretz.
No formal discharges have yet been finalized, but at least one reservist told Ynet he was informed by phone mid-deployment that his service was terminated, describing the interaction as lacking “explanation or preparation” and having “zero sensitivity,” with the IDF describing it as an “isolated incident.”
Carney says Canada will recognize Palestinian state in September, joining France and UK
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney says his country will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
He says the move is “predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to much-needed reforms” including elections, anti-corruption measures, and a demilitarized Palestinian state.
His announcement comes on the heels of recognition by fellow G7 states France and the UK. link It is wonderfully ironic that Netanyahu has fought this all of his political career, and it is due to his criminal mismanaging of the horrendous Gaza war that is bringing extensive recognition of a Palestinian State. Netanyahu has always pushed the distorted belief that Israel has the veto of this recognition and world leaders have, up until now accepted Netanyahu's demand blindly. Netanyahu is directly responsible for the horrendous humanitarian crisis and starvation in Gaza and now it is beginning to come home and bite him in the ass and it is very deserved.
Trump said to warn Jewish donor that MAGA world ‘starting to hate Israel’
US President Donald Trump recently warned a Jewish campaign donor that his MAGA base was beginning to turn on Israel, the Financial Times reports.
“My people are starting to hate Israel,” Trump is quoted as having told the unnamed donor recently, citing a Mideast expert, also unnamed, with contacts inside the Trump administration.
The report describes the donor as “prominent.”
“There are people in the White House who are watching this narrative develop in the right wing, in the MAGA world, that is very anti-Israel, very anti-Jewish,” the expert is quoted saying.
The comments come as Israel has come under increasing criticism, including from Trump and other Republicans, due to images of hunger emerging from Gaza.
On Monday, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a MAGA stalwart who has promulgated antisemitic conspiracy theories and routinely calls for an end to foreign aid, called what is happening in Gaza “genocide.”
“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” she wrote on X.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denied the existence of a rift between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling it a “false” media narrative.
“The disconnect is with the media [that] wants there to be an anti-Israel message that they keep getting across; but it’s a false message,” Huckabee said. link I would never put a lot on the statements of Marjorie Taylor. She is a known anti semite who pushes the craziest conspiracy theories, but the issue of MAGA base turning on Israel is coming from other sources who known MAGA. The horrors of what we are doing in Gaza is getting through to the most supportive groups in the US, the fundamentalists and they are being disgusted by it. Netanyahu's denials "False media narrative" is chock full of his hubris and thinking that he knows better than anyone else, typical of this autocrat. The damage that he has caused to Israel's image is immeasurable and not for nothing. He is single-handedly turning us into a Pariah Nation. His foreign ministry has not stopped issuing warnings to Israelis traveling abroad not to speak hebrew, not to show anything that identifies them as being Israeli or Jewish, naming various countries as being more dangerous for Israelis, and the list goes on. This doesn't happen in a vacuum. It also doesn't stop with being Israeli. Jews around the world are experiencing the highest levels of antisemitism, verbal attacks and physical attacks, probably since the Holocaust, and it is happening in countries and areas that things like this are unheard of, such as Japan. We can all thank the non stop failures of Netanyahu and his corrupt government for all of this. He and his cronies are the most dangerous people in Israel today and the dangers are growing daily.
Over half of US Senate Democrats back failed measures to block arms sales to Israel.
This is another gift of Netanyahu. Bernie Sanders has long been a proponent to reduce or eliminate arms sales to Israel but has never had the backing of more than a handful of senators. The tides are turning and it is all thanks to Netanyahu and his massive failures in managing this war and being the cause of the world's worst current humanitarian crisis as well as causing the entire country to be accused of and guilty of genocide.
Her father was kidnapped and murdered on 7/10, Shai walked to the chuppah with an old recorded blessing | Watch the emotional moment
On the morning of that Saturday, Ron Benjamin went out for a bicycle ride in the Gaza envelope, from which he did not return. Last night, his daughter Shai married her partner, with the commemoration of her father accompanying the event: "He is with us, no matter what." She walked to the chuppah without him, and during the ceremony played an old and emotional recording of him: "You are charming, successful and loved by everyone"
Her father was kidnapped and murdered on 7/10, Shai walked to the chuppah with an old recorded blessing
On the morning of that Saturday, Ron Benjamin went out for a bicycle ride in the Gaza envelope, from which he did not return. Last night, his daughter Shai married her partner, with the commemoration of her father accompanying the event: "He is with us, no matter what." She walked to the chuppah without him, and during the ceremony played an old and emotional recording of him: "You are charming, successful and loved by everyone"
"So missing, in a time when every girl wants her father by her side."
Several survivors of captivity also arrived at the place, and heard the bride play an old recording under the chuppah in which her father blesses her, in a particularly emotional moment: "I wish you all the best in the world. Happiness, success, and most importantly, health. Continue to be the charming person you are, successful and loved by everyone, and only good things."
During the ceremony, which was led by actor Guri Alfi, Shai blessed her partner who supported her through the difficult time: "You are the only person who knows how to see me as I truly am. On October 7th, the hardest period I have gone through in my life, a time of struggle, fear for my father’s fate, and journeys all over the world. I always knew I had you." Her mother Ayelet said: "I am very emotional and stressed to walk her alone. Ron is present with us today everywhere."
Before the wedding, Shai said that even in moments of happiness, she does not forget him: "I am entering the chuppah as a symbol. Hamas tried to stop us, to murder us, to kidnap us, to break us. But I am building a home in Israel." The wedding the daughter had dreamed about for years, she was forced to reimagine. "I did not write the parents' names on the invitation," she said with pain. "I could not write 'Ron Benjamin of blessed memory'. I wrote 'The Benjamin Family'. I did not want to write it black on white."
In the week of the wedding, Shai held a challah separation ceremony for the elevation of her father’s soul. "This was my way to talk about him, to tell who he was. He was a full-time dad. Every morning he sent a message, every evening he called. A man of music, of emotion, of presence. I miss him so much, especially now, in a time when every girl wants her father by her side. I am completely a daddy’s girl."
That same evening she also held a numerology workshop. "We always said we are connected through numbers," she said. "He was born on 7/7/1970. On October 7th he was murdered and kidnapped at 7:00 in the morning. He rode on Route 232, the digits of which also lead to 7. Two weeks before Black Saturday, he tattooed on himself the number 777. Suddenly everything took on a different meaning."
The disaster came just after Shai and Daniel returned from a vacation in the Philippines — during which she was sure he would propose. "I always told Daniel not to propose because I felt too young, I wanted to be a bride who is invested in her wedding. We returned exactly on October 7th. He planned to ask for my hand from my father when he returned from captivity and was in the hospital, but it did not happen. I waited so much for the moment my father would be part of the wedding."
The wedding was held, as mentioned, without his name on the invitation, but with a lot of his spiritual presence. "I chose at the chuppah to play a recording of him blessing me — an old video I found. He loved Daniel, he was happy I had him. I know he would have approved the proposal, if only he had been asked."
In the hall, there was a corner with his photo, and guests received yellow pins. "Even if my father returned, I do not forget those who are still there," says Shai. "We are one big family of hostage families. Even when we celebrate — we do not forget."
And among all the preparations, between dresses and vendors, Shai dealt with the great absence. "I see videos online of brides with their fathers, and I cry. I was at a wedding where the bride’s father got emotional and burst into tears, and it moved me and hurt me at the same time. My father will not be there, he will not know my children, he will not see me under the chuppah."
In the month when they were supposed to mark her father's 55th birthday — Shai chose to celebrate differently. "He stayed 53 forever, and I wanted to turn this month into a joyful month, of life. He would want us to be happy. That is what keeps me going, the knowledge that he is with us, no matter what." link
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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