๐️Lonny's War Update- October 699, 2023 - September 4, 2025 ๐️
Mediator says final US proposal calls for release of all hostages and end to Gaza war
Bishara Bahbah, who has served as a broker between Hamas and Washington, says Trump is seeking to heavily pressure Netanyahu to accept that deal
Families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and supporters attend a rally calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza, in Jerusalem, September 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)A Palestinian-American political activist who has been mediating between the Trump administration and the Hamas terror group said Wednesday that the final ceasefire proposal on the table is a comprehensive US deal to end the Israel-Hamas war and free all the hostages held in Gaza.
In an interview with the Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya, Bishara Bahbah said, “There was a meeting in Washington that, according to what I know, lasted six hours, and it was decided that there would be one final proposal on the table: the release of all the [hostages] and an end to the war.”
Bahbah is not an official member of the US negotiating team, but has been serving as a liaison between the Trump administration and Hamas.
Hours earlier, the terror group declared that it was open to a comprehensive deal, a statement that was immediately dismissed by Israel as spin.
Speaking to al-Arabiya, Bahbah said that he had “contacted Hamas about the matter [of a comprehensive deal], and they were skeptical — they didn’t know if it was something official.”
But he said that after officials in the terror group saw US President Donald Trump’s social media post calling for an end to the war, they “were convinced it was official, and immediately responded that they agree to this deal.”
The Hamas statement on Wednesday said that it was willing “to enter into a comprehensive deal in which all enemy prisoners held by the resistance will be freed in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation.” The terror group refers to the hostages it holds as prisoners.
It also said that it was ready to form “an independent national administration of technocrats” to run Gaza.
The Prime Minister’s Office has said said the war can end immediately if five conditions are met — the release of all hostages; the disarmament of Hamas; the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in Gaza; and “the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that does not indoctrinate for terror, does not dispatch terror, and does not threaten Israel.”
The Hamas statement came after Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Wednesday: “Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages (Not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly. IT WILL END!”
The US president appeared to be referring to the number of hostages believed by Israel to still be alive. Officially, only 26 of the 48 hostages being held in Gaza have been declared dead by Israel, but authorities have expressed grave concern about two others. The families of slain hostages have expressed fears over the possibility of a deal that would leave their loved ones’ remains inside Gaza.
Bahbah said that Trump is seeking to heavily pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting such a deal and ending the war — a message he passed on to Hamas.
The mediator said that the war “could be ended in two weeks” if both sides are serious about the talks, and said there were more “positive signs” than ever before about the potential for a deal.
A displaced Palestinian woman bathes her daughter at the Bureij camp for displaced Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip on September 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
However, Israel appeared to dismiss Hamas’s announcement on Wednesday night, as the Israel Defense Forces continued to advance its plan to conquer Gaza City.“This is more spin by Hamas, containing nothing new,” Netanyahu’s office said.
In a similar message, Defense Minister Israel Katz called on Hamas to either accept Israel’s conditions to end the war — including the release of all hostages and disarmament — or see Gaza City “become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” accusing the terror group of continuing to “deceive and utter empty words.”
Responding to Netanyahu and Katz, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that while the government “does not have to accept Hamas’s conditions, it must immediately return to negotiations and try to close a deal.”
“You can’t not even try to return our hostages home,” demanded Lapid.
Hostage families, supporters march on Netanyahu’s residence ahead of mass rally
Hundreds of protesters led by a group of hostages’ families arrive at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem after marching there from the Knesset.
The hostages’ relatives call on Israelis to travel to the capital, announcing plans for two massive rallies against the expansion of the Gaza war to take place outside the premier’s home. The first rally is set to be held later this evening, while the second is scheduled for Saturday night.
“We are standing here with a very simple, straight and direct message: we want a ceasefire and hostage deal and this is his [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] responsibility to do it,” says Yehuda Cohen, the father of Hamas-held hostage Nimrod Cohen.
Anat Angrest, the mother of hostage Matan Angrest, decries the expansion of the war in Gaza. “The IDF chief of staff is saying in a clear voice that continuing the war is a death trap for soldiers,” she claims.
Ofir Braslavski, whose son Rom is also held captive in Gaza, refers to a video of his son released by his captors in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Unfortunately, my child is dying, starving. His eyes were saying that he no longer wants to be alive. There’s nothing worse than that, for a father to see his child in that state and not be able to do anything,” he says. “How can it be that they’re keeping him there and the prime minister wants to occupy more land in Gaza?”
Hostage’s dad to MKs: ‘Instead of having a toast on Rosh Hashanah, you will be drinking the blood of the hostages’
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the father of hostage Rom Braslavski screams at lawmakers that “instead of having a toast on Rosh Hashanah, you will be drinking the blood of the hostages.”
“You will drink their blood because they are dead,” yells Ofir Braslavski, asking MKs if any of them care that his son is “dying.”
“You all need to go home… My son is dying, does that interest any of you? This happened on your watch,” he declares.
In July, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group published a video of Rom Braslavski, whom it is holding captive in the Gaza Strip. The terror group claimed that the six-minute video was recorded days before it lost contact with the captors holding Braslavski, and alleged that the hostage’s fate was unknown.
A still from the video published by Israeli media showed Braslavski, 21, looking pale and thin, lying on the ground in an unknown location in Gaza.
“They managed to break Rom. Even the most resilient person has their breaking point,” read a statement by his family released at the time.
Daughter of slain hostage Manny Godard at demo warns country headed to a ‘decisive moment’
Bar Godard, the daughter of murdered Israeli hostage Manny Godard, whose body is held in Gaza, tells thousands gathered to protest in Jerusalem that the country is at a “decisive moment.”
At a demonstration outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, she vows that “if the prime minister doesn’t bring them [the hostages] home, we will.”
“We are here because we want to ensure that not another mother will have to receive her son in a coffin,״ she continues.
Godard, 73, and his wife Ayelet, 63, were murdered by terrorists in their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023. Manny’s body was taken to Gaza. The family was told by the IDF in February 2024 that Manny was murdered during the Hamas assault and that his body was being held by terrorists in Gaza.
After the speeches end, the thousands of protesters spontaneously split off into several different directions in the city.
Hundreds of protesters are currently outside the American embassy, demanding an end to the war while blocking traffic on the adjacent street.
At rally outside Netanyahu’s home, hostage mother tells him to stop wearing yellow hostages pin because he plainly doesn’t care
Anat Angrest and Viki Cohen, whose sons Matan Angrest and Nimrod Cohen are held captive by Hamas in Gaza, decry Israel’s leadership at a rally near the prime minister’s residence.
“Every day of footdragging they die a little more… the hostages cannot wait for your speeches, your explanations, your excuses,” says Cohen onstage in Jerusalem, addressing Netanyahu. “If you actually cared, my child would be at home.”
She tells him to stop wearing the yellow hostages pin and “stop saying that you are with us, because if you were really with us, and really cared about us, I’d have a son at home.”
Behind the two mothers is a line of protesters wearing chains to signify the “hell that the hostages are enduring in Gaza,” in the words of the rally’s emcee.
Angrest calls on Netanyahu to sign a deal to return the hostages. “Only you can return them tomorrow morning, it’s in your hands to decide,” she says.
**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!!!”
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*7:15pm yesterday - Jerusalem, West Bank and Dead Sea areas-‘2nd time in ine day, ballistic missile launch from Yemen - successfully intercepted
IDF says intercepted Houthi missile carried a cluster bomb warhead
The IDF says a missile intercepted over Israel this morning carried a cluster bomb warhead, the second such case in the last two weeks involving missiles launched from Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthi group.
There were no reports of injuries or damage from the missile and subsequent interception.
A similar incident was recorded on August 24, when an Israeli Air Force investigation determined the Houthis had, for the first time, used a ballistic missile with a cluster bomb warhead.
In that attack, one of the munitions struck the yard of a home in the central community of Ginaton, causing light damage. The military said the failure to intercept that missile was unrelated to the type of warhead it carried.
The IDF urges the public to heed Home Front Command instructions, remain vigilant for unidentified objects, keep away from such items, and immediately report them to the police.
Hamas claims it's 'ready for comprehensive deal'; Netanyahu calls it 'more spin' | These are the conditions and the landmines
Before the coming Gaza City operation and after Trump's tweet, the terrorist organization said it still waits for Israel's response to the offer to release 10 living hostages, but are 'ready for a comprehensive deal'; Israel is not expected to agree to the conditions - which include an IDF withdrawal from Gaza; Another major minefield: the demand that Hamas disarm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding the release of all 48 hostages still held in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump backed him Wednesday but again only considered the living hostages and ignored those who have been killed. Hamas, meanwhile, said it is open to a “comprehensive deal,” but only under conditions Israel is unlikely to accept.In a statement, Hamas said it is still awaiting Israel’s response to the August 18 mediation proposal, which called for the release of 10 out of the 20 hostages believed to be alive. The group added that it is prepared for a full exchange: “the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement that would end the fighting, withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, open the crossings, and begin reconstruction.”But Israel has ruled out a full withdrawal from Gaza, and Hamas did not address another key Israeli demand—that the terror group disarm. Hamas said it would accept “the establishment of an independent national technocratic government that would take full responsibility for managing Gaza’s affairs in all areas.”Defense Minister Israel Katz swiftly rejected Hamas’ offer, saying: “Hamas continues to deceive and spout empty words, but soon it will understand that it must choose between two options: accepting Israel’s conditions for ending the war—first and foremost, the release of all hostages and disarmament—or Gaza will become another Rafah and Beit Hanoun. The IDF is fully prepared.”Netanyahu’s office also dismissed Hamas’ statement: “Unfortunately, this is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new. The war could end immediately on the conditions set by the Security Cabinet: release of all hostages, Hamas’ disarmament, demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, continued Israeli security control in Gaza, and establishment of an alternative civilian administration that does not incite terror or threaten Israel. Only these conditions will prevent Hamas from rearming and repeating the October 7 massacre again and again, as it promises.”Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich echoed the rejection, calling the group’s offer unacceptable. “It’s very simple: the return of all hostages, Hamas’ disarmament, demilitarization of Gaza, a security buffer zone, and long-term Israeli freedom of action in Gaza. This is the minimum end-state of the war—not one fraction less. With God’s help, we will reach it, either through Hamas’ surrender and acceptance of these conditions, or through its destruction in the war soon,” he said.Earlier, Trump aligned with Netanyahu and opposed any phased deal. On his TruthSocial platform, he wrote: “Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 hostages (not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly. IT WILL END!"On the battlefield, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir toured the Gaza front with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman and other senior officers. From an observation point over Gaza City, he was briefed on the operational picture and Division 162’s plans for deepening the maneuver.
DF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir toured the Gaza front(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)“We are intensifying the fighting in the central arena, in Gaza, and deepening the blows against Hamas,” Zamir said. “IDF forces are operating in positions controlling the city. Yesterday we began a significant mobilization of reservists to continue striking Hamas.”Addressing troops, he added: “You are facing one of the greatest challenges in Israel’s history. You are among our best, acting with courage, determination, and dedication in the heart of enemy territory. We have entered the second stage of Operation Gideon’s Chariots to achieve the goals of the war. The return of our hostages is a moral and national mission. We will continue striking Hamas’ centers of gravity until its defeat. We are creating a constant sense of perse cution for them everywhere.” Link we are and have been in a terrible situation whereby the 3 main actors, Netanyahu, Hamas, and Trump are all untrustworthy players. If this was a poker game in the Wild West, all three would have been gunned down for cheating. But we’re not in the Wild West and we have 48 hostages, at least twenty among them still fighting for their lives. We all know that Netanyahu won’t make any deal. He changes the rules right before the finish line every time. Hamas doesn’t change the bottom line ever. During the stupid Netanyahu branded phased interim deals, Hamas could show minor flexibility but not with any final deal. They don’t care about the suffering in Gaza or any of destruction being done by Israel. They care only about their ideology and goal of destruction of Israel and if they are killed along the way, they are rewarded in their afterlife which is far more important to them than this life. That is a concept that is hard or impossible for most people who value life to understand or accept and that is what makes negotiations with a side like them near impossible. On our side, we have a different immovable piece, Netanyahu and his goal is to survive politically no matter what. There is very little that would bring Netanyahu to end the war except for Trump telling him to do so. He cannot say no to Trump. Until now, Netanyahu has succeeded in winding Trump around his little finger convincing him that Netanyahu's way was the only way and will surely bring him the Nobel Peace Prize that he so covets. But Trump may be waking up from the Netanyahu anesthetics and recognizing that allowing Netanyahu to run free without restraints is actually moving Trump's goal post of the prize further and further and possibly removing it altogether. This may be the time that Trump says, "that's it! Now you do it my way! End the war now, get your hostages home, pull your troops back and we will start rebuilding the New Gaza!"- Father of hostage Alon Ohel: ‘Fight for him in the same way that he is fighting for his life’
Kobi Ohel, father of Hamas hostage Alon Ohel, at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on February 25, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)The father of Alon Ohel, who has been held hostage for nearly 700 days since he was kidnapped from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, pleads for the government and Israelis to fight for his son’s release.
“Alon is in extremely difficult conditions — wounded, surviving and fighting for almost 700 days,” Kobi Ohel tells the Kan public broadcaster.
“I ask our leadership to fight for his life, just as Alon is surviving and fighting for his life,” he says. “Alon is a citizen of this country. He deserves to have his life saved along with the other hostages who need to come back.”
“I call on the citizens of the state – do not be indifferent. Our existence, our mutual guarantee, our understanding that the State of Israel is the safest place for us as its citizens is important, and this is why the state was established,” he says.
“Look at your children, you know where they are. I don’t know where Alon is,” he says. “I know that he is captive in difficult conditions, and is waiting for his life to be saved.”
Alon Ohel, taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Supernova desert rave (Courtesy)Freed hostages have told the family that Ohel has had shrapnel stuck in his eye, shoulder, and arm since his abduction, that he is bound in chains, and that he has received almost no food.
Israeli officials: Hamas preventing mass evacuation of Gaza City for propaganda reasons, but tens of thousands have left
As the IDF prepares to expand its ground operations into Gaza City, Israeli officials say Hamas is preventing civilians from evacuating south, using them as human shields while amplifying claims of “forced displacement” to sway international opinion.
Defense officials estimate that 70,000 to 80,000 residents have fled Gaza City, most of them in the past 72 hours, even before an official evacuation order. Over the weekend, the number stood at about 10,000 out of the city’s estimated one million residents. Officials expect departures to continue as the IDF presses its campaign.
“The Hamas terror organization is doing everything it can to block the population’s movement southward in order to use civilians as human shields and for propaganda purposes,” one security official says. “In practice, the public’s barrier of fear has been broken, and tens of thousands of residents have managed to bypass Hamas checkpoints and evacuate the city.”
Meanwhile, the IDF releases a recording said to depict a Gaza City resident telling a Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officer that Hamas is preventing civilians from moving south.
“We want to go south but Hamas is blocking the way,” the resident is heard saying. “They tell people: go back home, there is no evacuation, go back, go back — and people scatter.”
He adds that many residents are fearful, with some attempting to take side streets and alternative routes. According to his testimony, Hamas operatives are stationed along the seashore near al-Nabulsi junction in western Gaza City and other areas, blocking main roads.
The IDF says the testimony highlights Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields to deter military operations.
Israel says it is scaling up humanitarian infrastructure in southern Gaza, particularly in the al-Mawasi coastal area, in coordination with the UN, the US and regional partners. The zone is intended to accommodate up to two million people, with expanded deliveries of food, medicine and shelter supplies, as well as repairs to water and health facilities.
Hamas has rejected the evacuation plan as “forced displacement.” Its media office accused Israel of spreading “lies and misleading maps” and warned that designated humanitarian zones, including al-Mawasi and refugee camps in central Gaza, are already overcrowded and unsafe. Hamas-run outlets, including the al-Haras channel, have echoed the claims, asserting that no area in southern Gaza can be considered safe.
- Hamas clarifies hostage deal announcement aimed at Trump, lists demands Israel rejects
Terrorist organization's announcement of its readiness for a comprehensive deal was, as a senior Hamas official said, aimed solely at Trump; Businessman who mediated between the administration and Hamas said: 'There was a six-hour meeting in Washington. They didn't understand if it was serious until the president's tweet'; Israel has already rejected the offer as 'spin'Hamas clarified overnight Wednesday that its statement expressing readiness for a deal to release all hostages was directed at one person: U.S. President Donald Trump. The announcement came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social that Hamas should be told to release “all 20 hostages," refering to the hostages in Gaza that are still believed to be alive.“We tell Trump that Hamas agreed to the mediators’ proposal (for a phased deal), and also expressed willingness for a comprehensive deal,” said senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq. However, he stressed that the group’s conditions remain in place — terms Israel has already rejected. Trump himself has not specified what conditions he believes are necessary to end the war, but regularly cites the October 7 massacre when addressing the conflict. Palestinian sources told Ynet that Hamas’ shift stems from two main concerns: that Israel could establish a permanent military government in Gaza, and the potential influence of Trump, which they fear could push Washington away from the Palestinian side. On Wednesday, Hamas reiterated its terms for a full deal: the release of an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners, an end to the fighting, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reopening of border crossings, and reconstruction of the enclave. Hamas also said it was willing to see the establishment of an “independent national technocratic government” to administer Gaza’s affairs, though it gave no details on who these technocrats would be or their ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. Israel, meanwhile, has set out five conditions approved by the security cabinet: the release of all hostages, Hamas’ disarmament, demilitarization of Gaza, continued Israeli security control in the territory, and the creation of a civilian administration that “does not indoctrinate terror, does not launch terror, and does not threaten Israel.” Most of Israel’s demands were absent from Hamas’ statement — and vice versa — leaving no sign of a breakthrough. Israel is expected to press ahead with its plans to capture Gaza City. The IDF has expressed concern that Hamas could move live hostages into Gaza City and scatter them as human shields around its strongholds. The plan was first reported two weeks ago by Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat. In his last speech before being killed, Hamas’ military spokesman Abu Obaida warned that Israeli operations in Gaza City endangered the hostages’ lives, saying the group would keep them “as much as possible” alongside its fighters. Following Hamas’ latest remarks, Palestinian-American businessman Bishara Bahbah — who has mediated between Hamas and Trump’s team — said a six-hour meeting took place in Washington on Sunday, during which it was decided that only one final proposal would remain on the table: the release of all hostages in exchange for ending the war. “We contacted Hamas about this, and they said they didn’t know if it was official. Then they saw Trump’s post, realized it was serious, and responded that they agree to a full deal — we’ll hand over all the hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, and the war will end,” Bahbah said. According to Bahbah, “Trump wants to end the Gaza war — and Hamas has now offered everything possible. In the past he hesitated. This time Trump will pressure everyone to end the war, and it could be over within two weeks if there’s genuine intent.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Hamas’ statement on Wednesday, calling it “a spin with nothing new in it.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the cabinet’s conditions represent “the minimal end-state of the war,” adding: “With God’s help, we will reach it — either by Hamas surrendering and accepting these terms, or by its destruction in the coming war.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid countered that while the government need not accept Hamas’ demands, it must return to negotiations immediately. link. Netanyahu can say that everything is a spin, and he does when it doesn't suit his way of thinking. Netanyahu has been a more disingenuous partner to the negotiations than anyone else. The Americans have said this, mostly in private but a number of people from the Biden Administration have said it outrightly. When asked about percentages of blame for the failure of most of the negotiations, it has been said and confirmed that it was 90% Netanyahu and 10% Hamas. I am, in no way, making Hamas out to be a positive partner in negotiations. They are barbaric terrorists and perpetrated unimaginable crimes on our people and continue to do so for 699 days and counting. However, despite the remarks to the press, they are not the main source of the failures to make hostage deals and end the war. The Americans have repeatedly put most of the blame on Hamas publicly as not to ruffle Netanyahu's feathers and make negotiations even harder, but that is the situation and the truth. Netanyahu is the reason that 48 of our hostages are still in captivity and he is to blame entirely for the continuation of this war because it suits his political survival needs. Until now, Hamas has functioned in the negotiations to find a way to get Israel (Netanyahu) to agree to a deal to end the war. Netanyahu was their audience of one. They understood that nothing could satisfy him because he has no desire to end the war. This, by the way is absolute fact. I know from inside the Israeli negotiating team, senior members have told 'people' I know that the negotiations were always doomed to failure before they began because Netanyahu refused to end the war. In this latest round between Hamas, the Egyptians and Qataris, Hamas could not figure out what Netanyahu wanted. A month before, he only wanted the interim agreement and then he surprised the world with his demand for a comprehensive deal with demands he knew that Hamas could not accept. The biggest demand that was impossible from Hamas' side was the demand to disarm and surrender. That is not part of their lexicon. They will never surrender to the occupier, Israel. They would however, agree to hand their arms to a new Palestinian government but not to Israel. As a result of them not understanding what Netanyahu wanted now, the Egyptians and Qataris pushed Hamas to accept the previous Witkoff proposal for an interim agreement and finally they did, a month after Netanyahu did as well. But for Netanyahu, it was too late and he was already locked into a comprehensive agreement. Netanyahu has refused to even bring Hamas' agreement to the cabinet and during a cabinet meeting, when it was brought up, he stated that it was not on the cabinet's agenda and refused to discuss it. This shows that he is not at all serious about saving the lives of the hostages or bringing the dead hostages home for proper burial. Hamas has seen that Netanyahu was the audience that they needed to find a way to reach agreement, but they are wrong. Their audience is the one person Netanyahu cannot say no to and that is Trump. They need to convince Trump that they will give back all the hostages and end the war from their end, as well as give up all powers in Gaza, including their arms to a new Palestinian government. If he is convinced and it seems that this may be happening as I write this, Trump will force Netanyahu to end the war. He desperately wants the Nobel Peace Prize and this is his best path to achieving that. He will not allow Netanyahu to rain on his parade. We will know in the coming days if Trump is serious about this or not, and in the meantime, we will be holding our breath for it is the best path to bringing home our hostages. - Israel tells Hamas to surrender or see Gaza City leveled as group says it’s open to deal
Netanyahu dismisses terror organization’s stated willingness to free all hostages in exchange for ending war as ‘more spin,’ reiterates Israel’s demands for permanent ceasefireIsraeli leaders on Wednesday dismissed a statement from Hamas declaring its willingness to free all the hostages in an exchange for ending the war in Gaza, vowing to go ahead with the planned invasion of Gaza City if the Palestinian terror group doesn’t accept Jerusalem’s conditions to permanently halt the fighting.
The statement from Hamas, which said the terrorist organization was still waiting for Israel’s reply to the ceasefire proposal it accepted two weeks ago, came after US President Donald Trump demanded the release of the remaining living captives.
Hamas stressed that it was willing “to enter into a comprehensive deal in which all enemy prisoners held by the resistance will be freed in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation.” Hamas refers to the hostages it holds as prisoners.
“This agreement will end the war on the Gaza Strip, result in the withdrawal of all occupation forces from the entire Gaza Strip, open the border crossings to allow the entry of all the Gaza Strip’s necessities and start the process of rebuilding,” Hamas continued.
The terror group emphasized that it was ready to form “an independent national administration of technocrats” to run Gaza.
Israel has said it would only accept such if Hamas surrenders and disarms, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated in his response to the statement.
“This is more spin by Hamas, containing nothing new,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the war can end immediately if five conditions are met — the release of all hostages; the disarmament of Hamas; the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in Gaza; and “the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that does not indoctrinate for terror, does not dispatch terror, and does not threaten Israel.”
“Only these conditions will prevent Hamas from rearming and repeating the October 7 massacre again and again, as it openly vows to do,” Netanyahu’s office added.
In a similar message, Defense Minister Israel Katz called on Hamas to either accept Israel’s conditions to end the war — including the release of all hostages and disarmament — or see Gaza City “become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” accusing the terror group of continuing to “deceive and utter empty words.”
Responding to Netanyahu and Katz, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that while the government “does not have to accept Hamas’s conditions, it must immediately return to negotiations and try to close a deal.”
“You can’t not even try to return our hostages home,” added Lapid.
Head of The Democrats opposition party Yair Golan issued a more stinging criticism, saying that rather than seeking a deal to free the captives Netanyahu “is again choosing to forsake the lives of the hostages and soldiers for his own sake.”
‘No choice but military rule’
Meanwhile, Israeli television reported Wednesday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is planning to warn the government that there will be no option but to impose military rule over the Gaza Strip if the plans go ahead to conquer Gaza City.
“There will be no choice but to impose military rule on all of Gaza from November,” Channel 12 news quoted Zamir as saying he will tell the government.
Zamir is opposed to the government’s plan to conquer Gaza City and has urged the government to accept the deal to reach a ceasefire that will see the hostages released.
The TV report said Zamir will carry out the orders to capture Gaza City, but is warning the government to prepare for the military and diplomatic consequences.
The government has advanced the takeover plan in recent weeks despite Hamas saying it had agreed to a phased hostage-truce deal almost identical to one Israel had previously approved. In the interim, Jerusalem had officially given up on phased deals, demanding a comprehensive agreement to return all the captives in one go and see Hamas surrender.
The phased deal — which Hamas said it agreed to on August 18 — would see 10 living hostages released and the remains of 18 dead hostages returned, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners and some 1,000 Gazan detainees, and a 60-day ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held for the return of the remaining 20 hostages, of whom 10-12 are believed to be alive, and a permanent end to the war. link
IDF representative to key defense panel: ‘Not certain the conquest of Gaza City will cause Hamas to budge’
An IDF representative told a closed-door session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that it is not certain that the conquest of Gaza City will cause Hamas to budge, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the report, the military representative made the comment in response to a question from Likud MK Amit Halevi.
“Why would the occupation of Gaza City cause Hamas to budge at all?” the military representative was asked, Kan says.
“I did not say it would move Hamas, it is not certain at all. The city has symbolic significance,” the IDF representative told the key defense committee, according to the report.
The panel was also told that according to IDF estimates, some 800,000 people remain in Gaza City as of yesterday.
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone while the military moves forward with plans to overtake it in a campaign to push Hamas into submission. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones,” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
Israeli television reported yesterday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is planning to warn the government that there will be no option but to impose military rule over the Gaza Strip if the plans go ahead to conquer Gaza City.
Zamir is opposed to the government’s plan to conquer Gaza City and has urged the government to accept the deal to reach a ceasefire that will see the hostages released.
The TV report said Zamir will carry out the orders to capture Gaza City, but is warning the government to prepare for the military and diplomatic consequences. link Finally, someone is telling some of the facts about Hamas not giving up even if we occupy and destroy Gaza City. The IDF representative got it wrong about why Hamas won't budge even with the conquest of the city. He stated that Gaza City is symbolic. That may be but it has nothing to do with Hamas not giving up. Hamas is a radical fundamental religious terrorist group that has distorted Islam. In their distorted way, they see their next life after death as far more important than this life. The purpose of this life is to do things that will give them the heaven that they are brainwashed into believing exists for martyrs of their holy battle. Death is a reward, not life. This, for us is a different universe, one we don't understand and therefore it is very difficult for any of us to find any rationale in what they do. How do you negotiate with people who live their lives and fight to die like this? Their goal will never change and it is to destroy Israel and the Jews. They will never agree to anything that looks like they gave up to Israel.
They have never cared about the death and destruction they cause or do at their hands to their own people. They see it as a price to pay. It also doesn't matter to them that most of the senior leadership has been killed and that their replacements also have been killed or will be killed. Their war will go on until they reach their goal, and if they are killed in their Jihadist war, they will be rewarded in heaven. So, no. Even if Gaza City is destroyed and all the residents are forced to leave with thousands killed along the way, Hamas will not budge.- Despite looming Israeli offensive, many in Gaza City insist they won’t flee again
Residents, including those displaced from elsewhere and many who only returned home in January, say evacuating to overcrowded south will make life harder while leaving them in harm’s way
Palestinians walk through a makeshift tent camp for displaced people near the Gaza City port, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)As artillery and bombs pound around Gaza’s largest city and Israel promises a punishing new offensive, Palestinians in the city are paralyzed with fear — unsure whether to go and what will happen if they do.
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone while the military moves forward with plans to overtake it in a campaign to push Hamas into submission. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones,” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
That has left residents on edge, including many who returned after fleeing the city in the initial stages of the Israel-Hamas war. With Israeli bulldozers razing the ground in neighborhoods already occupied by the army and Israeli leaders supporting the mass relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, many fear departing the city now could mean leaving for good.
Moving costs thousands of dollars and finding space in the overcrowded south to pitch a tent feels impossible. But staying behind, they say, could be deadly.
“The Israeli forces, when they mark any area by red color and they request the people to leave, they really will destroy it,” said Mohammed Alkurdi, who is sheltering in Gaza City along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians.
“So it’s like you decide whether to live or die. It’s very simple like that.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has framed the Gaza City operation as “the decisive blow against Hamas,” describing the area as home to the terror group’s most significant redoubt and the key to freeing hostages remaining in Gaza. But international humanitarian groups warn that Israel’s plans to displace the city’s residents will worsen already crisis-level conditions for Gazans facing food shortages and combat-related dangers.Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP/Maya Levin)
Despite the looming danger of the coming offensive, Gazans in the city say no place in the Strip is safe, and there is nowhere for them to relocate to anyway. Many also expressed fatigue after earlier displacements during earlier bouts of fighting, and noted the difficulties and costs involved in relocating, especially for the elderly, infirm, or malnourished.
“I think everyone [in Gaza city] is terrified, and there’s a lot of worry, but there’s also a lot of defiance because people are just sick and tired of moving,” said Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who has been in the Gaza Strip for the last year and nine months. “They’re saying they’re not going to move anymore because what’s the point? When they did move, they were bombed in those places too.”
Stay or go?
Israeli defense officials estimated Wednesday that 70,000 to 80,000 people had fled the city so far, most of them in the past 72 hours, after Israel declared the area a combat zone on Friday. The figure is far short of the city’s estimated one million residents, though officials expect departures to continue as the IDF presses its campaign.
The Site Management Cluster, a joint humanitarian body that coordinates assistance for people in displacement sites, said some 14,840 Palestinians had left their homes in the city as of Monday, most to flee south.
A fraction of them, about 2,200, have moved to new places within Gaza City after being displaced by Israeli attacks, it said.
Hundreds of thousands of the city’s residents fled during the first major evacuation at the end of 2023, but about 650,000 are thought to have returned during a ceasefire in January 2025, after Israel withdrew from positions blocking movement between north and south Gaza. An additional 250,000-300,000 people never left the city throughout the fighting, even during the heaviest ground operations, according to estimates.People ride a minibus carrying their furniture and belongings as they evacuate southbound from Gaza City on September 2, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Alongside residents still living in damaged apartment blocks, satellite images also reveal tens of thousands of makeshift tents housing displaced people who returned during the ceasefire or were uprooted from other northern areas and have nowhere else to go due to the massive destruction.
Many of the people who moved back to the north during the ceasefire in January had hoped to find their homes intact. Alkurdi’s home was completely destroyed, so he’s now living alone in a western area of the city. His children and wife were able to leave Gaza last year. He said he would flee south if his home fell under an evacuation order.
Alkurdi said he can hear Israeli forces from the apartment where he’s sheltering as they “erase the area completely,” referring to the eastern Zeitoun neighborhood.Displaced Palestinians seen near their tents near the sea in Gaza City, September 2, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)
Zeitoun was once Gaza City’s largest neighborhood, filled with markets, schools and clinics. Over the last month, large swaths of it and the neighboring area of Sabra have been flattened, according to satellite photos reviewed by The Associated Press from early August and early September. The photos show that entire blocks have been pummeled or bulldozed into empty, sandy lots.
“It’s not something partial like before. It’s 100%,” he said. “The house, I’m telling my friends, it keeps dancing all the day. It keeps dancing, going right and left like an earthquake.”
Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO network, left his home in the upscale Rimal neighborhood in the early days of the war and also returned there with his family in January. He, like Alkurdi, said his family would likely leave Gaza City if their area receives an evacuation order.
But leaving this time would be different, he said. “Gaza will be leveled and destroyed. Last time, I had my car. There was fuel. Everyone had his income, his money.”
Back then, the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis still stood in southern Gaza.
Now, after months of bombardment, “there is no Rafah. Almost no Khan Younis,” Shawa said. The displaced are instead being directed to refugee camps in central Gaza and al-Mawasi, an area in Gaza’s southwest with little infrastructure that is already crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans.Vehicles move past destroyed buildings along the coastal road through the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on August 30, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Anas Arafat, another Rimal resident, insisted he was staying put. “There is no safe place in Gaza — the army can bomb anywhere,” he explained over WhatsApp.
The IDF claimed on Wednesday that Hamas was blocking Gazans from leaving to keep the city stocked with human shields, releasing a recording of a Gazan man saying the terror group was sending fleeing residents back.
“The Hamas terror organization is doing everything it can to block the population’s movement south to use civilians as human shields and for propaganda purposes,” an Israeli security official said. “In practice, the public’s barrier of fear has been broken, and tens of thousands of residents have managed to bypass Hamas checkpoints and evacuate the city.”People ride a minibus carrying their belongings as they evacuate southbound from Gaza City on September 2, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
But Mo’in Hilu, who returned to Rimal after fleeing Gaza City in October 2023, said many of his neighbors were planning on staying of their own volition, hoping the invasion plan might be canceled. He was torn on whether to flee, recalling the year he and his family spent in tents with no electricity or running water, continuously having to move from place to place across southern Gaza.
“It was very hard,” he said. “When I came back to the city, I told myself, ‘If they tell me to leave again, I will not leave Gaza City again.'”
No choice but to stay
For some — medical workers, older and sick people — leaving Gaza City is nearly impossible even if they wanted to leave.
“The elders, they’re saying we will die here,” Shawa said. “This has pushed the other members of the family to stay, not to leave.”
“My aunt is elderly and can’t walk, and my mother also struggles with mobility. We have so many belongings and no way to manage them. It feels unthinkable,” said Norhan Almuzaini, medical program officer in northern Gaza for the group Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Asil Abu Ras, head of the Occupied Territories Department at Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, said half of the hospitals still operating at some capacity in the Strip were in Gaza City, with no feasible way to move them all south.
“We’re talking about people on ventilators, patients who need dialysis or cancer treatment, and newborns in intensive care units — there are at least 100 premature babies in incubators in Gaza City,” she said.A mother watches her son, who is just days old and was born prematurely, lying in an incubator at the neonatal intensive care unit of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
In a recording published by the army last month, an officer can be heard telling a Gazan health official to plan for medical evacuations south, only to be told that the south has no facilities able to absorb them, according to the World Health Organization and Mรฉdecins Sans Frontiรจres.
“The main thing is that you have a plan to move the equipment. Where to? You’ll have space, for sure. We are going to give you space,” the officer replies.
Abu Ras noted that the published excerpt of the conversation made no mention of the patients themselves — only of equipment.
“Even in normal circumstances, outside of war, relocating, say, 20,000 patients from hospitals in northern Israel to central Israel would take months to plan — if it’s possible at all. Add to that a place like Gaza, which has been at war for nearly two years, and it’s simply impossible,” she said. “If we’ve learned anything over the past two years, it’s that Israel won’t have a plan. Evacuation is a death sentence for doctors, for patients, and also for displaced people who sometimes try to shelter inside hospitals.”Displaced Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip move with their belongings along the Sea Road, in Gaza City, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Amal Seyam is the general director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza. Originally from the Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, her home was destroyed by bombardment. For nearly four months, she has been sheltering in the Nasr neighborhood in the city’s west, where she stays alongside her colleagues inside the women’s center.
Seyam has been displaced five times since the war began — three times within the city and twice to the south, in Rafah and Khan Younis. Each time, she fled with nothing.
When asked if she would consider leaving Gaza City, she said: “I will only leave when everyone who needs me here leaves. As long as there’s a woman who needs me, I am staying. All of Gaza feels like it’s in the red zone now anyway. The bombing is happening meters from us, not kilometers.”
She paused, her voice breaking into tears.
“Many people have started packing. Many have already left. Do you know what displacement means? It means moving once again, building your life once again, buying new things, blankets, tents, all over again.”
No vacancies
Those who have left Gaza City over the past few months have found dire conditions elsewhere in Gaza. Their arrival has crowded already overflowing tent camps and sent prices of basic goods up.
On August 27, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said there were 19 empty zones available in the south, in both the central refugee camps and Al-Mawasi. However, much of that land is unfit for habitation and areas where people can set up tents are already overcrowded, Cherevko said.This picture shows tents housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on September 1, 2025. (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
“The empty places in the south of the Strip are basically
under evacuation orders,” she said. “In the Al-Mawasi area, the tents stretch all the way to the waterline, and whenever the tide rises even slightly, more tents are destroyed.”
Iman El-Naya, from Khan Younis, fled Gaza City three months ago. “The beach is crowded. Everywhere is crowded. There’s no hygiene. It’s a struggle to get water and food.”
“I go and stand in line for water. Getting bread is a struggle. Everything is even more expensive after the people from the north came here.”
On August 28, Israel announced the launch of a new water line from Egypt to Al-Mawasi, funded by the United Arab Emirates. The pipeline is expected to provide 15 liters of water per person per day — the UN’s recommended minimum for drinking, bathing, and cooking. Yet it remains unclear whether the calculation accounts for the potential influx of Gaza City residents.Palestinians carry personal belongings in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 28, 2025. (AFP)
Shorouk Abu Eid, a pregnant woman from Gaza City, was displaced to Khan Younis four months ago. She said the arrival of more people from the north is creating an even more tragic situation.
“There is no privacy, no peace of mind. Places I used to walk to in five or 10 minutes are taking me around an hour now because of the congestion. There’s barely 10 centimeters between tents,” she said.
Jamal Abu Reily lamented that the bathrooms are overflowing and that there’s so little room for new arrivals.
“How are we going to all fit here? he asked. ”Where are they going to stay? In the sea?” link
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has framed the Gaza City operation as “the decisive blow against Hamas,” describing the area as home to the terror group’s most significant redoubt and the key to freeing hostages remaining in Gaza." How many times have we heard that same thing? First it was Khan Younis, then Rafah, then Philidelphi, then Netzarim and on and on and on. Netanyahu truly believes the Israeli public to be stupider than we are. I assume that history has given him that impression due to Israelis' short memories, but that all changed with October 7. We will never forget nor let him forget. He lies and lies and lies and thinks that if he lies enough times, we will believe him. That is gone. We have reached the tipping point that most Israelis know his lies and understand that everything coming out of his mouth is filled with lies. Gaza City destruction and occupation will not bring the hostages home, will not bring Hamas to their knees and surrender, will not bring our troops home and out of harm's way. Only a deal will do all of that. Only a deal.
As far as being able to complete the Gaza City operation, that is in serious doubt. Up until 2 days ago, only about 10,000 people left Gaza following the many evacuation orders issued by the IDF. In the last 48 hours many more have left due to the IDF using drones to drop bombs all over the place to scare the residents into leaving. But most are not willing to leave even as the ground underneath them shakes like constant earthquakes.
“They’re saying they’re not going to move anymore because what’s the point? When they did move, they were bombed in those places too.”"Anas Arafat, another Rimal resident, insisted he was staying put. “There is no safe place in Gaza — the army can bomb anywhere,” he explained over WhatsApp."
These are just two people among the hundreds of thousands who have not evacuated. They know they can die if they stay but they also know they can die if they leave. They prefer to die in their homes. After so many evacuations and losing everything, there is the feeling that there is nothing left to lose. They see what is happening to all the neighborhoods surrounding Gaza City. It is not a 'cleaning' to route out terrorists. It is total destruction of everything standing. Everything is becoming rubble. So, they see this and say to themselves, if we leave, we will truly have nothing to return to and absolutely nothing left. When people get so desperate and lose all hope, they see the reality and the reality tells them that there is no reason to leave, so they stay.
This is the situation. The IDF can tell us that tens of thousands have already left but it is a lie. They want the public to believe that most people are in the process of evacuating so Netanyahu can go ahead with his destructive and purely political plan to demolish Gaza City. They don't want the Israeli public to know that most of the population is still there and that the IDF's actions will end up killing thousands if not tens of thousands of non combatants, mostly women, children and elderly. This is just another reason that the government does not allow any foreign journalists into Gaza and the Israeli journalists can only go with the army and where the army wants to take them. We are not seeing the brutality we are perpetrating in Gaza, the wiping out of a civilization, the war crimes being committed on a daily basis, and all of it in our names. Slowly but surely, many of us are waking up to the crimes we are committing in Gaza, standing up and yelling 'STOP', and at every rally against the things being done, Ben Gvir's militia, the Israeli police are there. They are tearing signs, brutalizing protestors, arresting people for the signs they are holding, the writings on their hats and shirts and creating new laws on the spot that they say the protestors are violating. We will not allow them to stop us. We are still living in a semi democracy and still have many of our rights intact, at least as recognized by the courts even as the Ben Gvir Militia tries to run amok and ride roughshod all over our civil rights.
Enough of this war. It is no longer a just war, it hasn't been for a long time. A deal must be made to bring back all of our hostages and to end Netanyahu's war of political survival. ENOUGH!!!IDF says drone dropped stun grenades near Lebanon peacekeepers due to ‘suspicious presence’ in area
In response to reports that Israeli drones dropped grenades near UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) personnel yesterday, the IDF clarifies that its forces were responding to a “suspicious presence” in the area.
An IDF unit stationed at a post in southern Lebanon deployed several stun grenades to disrupt the situation and neutralize the perceived threat. The military says no injuries were reported.
At the same time, UNIFIL soldiers operating nearby reported that shots were fired in their direction.
Following an investigation, the IDF says it held a discussion via military communication channels to clarify the incident.
The IDF emphasizes that no deliberate fire was directed at UNIFIL personnel and reaffirmed that the safety of Israeli civilians and forces remains a top priority.
UNIFIL had claimed that four grenades were dropped close to observers clearing roadblocks near the village of Marwahin, with one allegedly landing within 20 meters and three within approximately 100 meters of UN personnel and vehicles. UNIFIL described the incident as “one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets since the cessation of hostilities agreement last November.”
UNIFIL, which has patrolled Lebanon’s southern border with Israel since 1978, was recently extended by the UN Security Council to continue its mission through the end of 2026, followed by a year-long drawdown.
Air Force hits Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon
The IDF says the Air Force struck two Hezbollah-linked targets in southern Lebanon a short while ago.
One strike hit a site in the town of Ansariyeh, located between Tyre and Sidon in southern Lebanon, where engineering equipment was allegedly being stored. The military says the tools were being used to help Hezbollah rebuild and advance terror operations.
A separate strike targeted a rocket launcher in the village of Jebbayn.
The IDF says the presence of the equipment and launcher violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
Gaza and the South
Smotrich proposes annexing 82% of West Bank in bid to prevent Palestinian state
As UAE warns annexation a ‘red line,’ finance minister threatens PA with ‘destruction’ in plan that would isolate Palestinian population centers, leave them outside Link
UAE warns Israel: Annexing West Bank is a ‘red line’ that would ‘end regional integration’Emirati envoy Lana Nusseibeh appeals directly to Israelis in Times of Israel interview, as Netanyahu and his ministers weigh controversial response to Western recognition of Palestine
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A top United Arab Emirates official warned Israel on Tuesday that annexing the West Bank would cross a “red line” that would “end the vision of regional integration,” just two days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was slated to hold a major ministerial consultation on whether to advance the highly controversial move.
“Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution,” Emirati special envoy Lana Nusseibeh told The Times of Israel in an interview conducted in the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi.
It was a shocking alarm bell from Abu Dhabi ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, which the UAE initiated by becoming the first Arab country to normalize relations with Israel in over a quarter-century
Since then, Emirati officials have insisted that the move was an all-but-irreversible strategic choice, making Nusseibeh’s warning particularly dramatic, as it highlighted how averse the Gulf country is to Israel again considering annexation.
The carefully crafted Emirati message about the potential “strategic loss” was voiced on the record for the first time since the Abraham Accords were signed. It came as Netanyahu geared up to discuss the matter of annexation with a small group of ministers on Thursday, in response to the plans of several major Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.
The decision to speak directly to an Israeli audience harked back to an op-ed UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Otaiba had published on the front page of a top Israeli newspaper just two months before the two countries signed a normalization agreement.
Then too, Abu Dhabi laid out a choice for Israelis as a previous Netanyahu government threatened to annex large parts of the West Bank within weeks.
“Recently, Israeli leaders have promoted excited talk about normalization of relations with the UAE and other Arab states. But Israeli plans for annexation and talk of normalization are a contradiction,” Otaiba wrote in June 2020.
The op-ed proved critical in laying the groundwork for the Abraham Accords, resonating overwhelmingly with Israelis — 80 percent of whom were shown to back forgoing annexation in favor of a normalization deal.
Netanyahu ultimately walked back from the annexation threat in exchange for diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi in a deal brokered by US President Donald Trump’s first administration.
But The Times of Israel later revealed that the UAE only secured a US commitment not to back Israeli annexation until the end of Trump’s term.
Apparently recognizing the move would carry less weight without US backing, Netanyahu hasn’t gone ahead with it since.
The US commitment’s expiration coincided with the start of the Biden administration, which restored traditional US policy in favor of a two-state solution and adamantly against annexation.
With Trump now back in office, though, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are increasingly adamant that a potential historic window has opened to declare Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements, given that the new administration appears either indifferent or supportive of the move.
Those hardliners have identified the recently announced plans of France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Belgium to recognize a Palestinian state as a unique opportunity to finally annex the West Bank, as Jerusalem weighs its response to the unilateral steps, which it deems a “reward” for Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. On Wednesday, indeed, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a proposal to annex 82% of the West Bank, and urged Netanyahu to adopt it.
Accordingly, Nusseibeh also voiced a not-so-subtle message directed at the Trump administration, with which her government has quickly cultivated a close relationship.
“We believe that President Trump and his administration have many of the levers to lead the initiative for a wider integration of Israel into the region,” said the Emirati official, who serves as assistant minister for political affairs and special envoy for UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
Nusseibeh most recently was the UAE’s ambassador to the UN. She is seen as a particularly influential Emirati diplomat with close ties to the royal family.
“We trust that President Trump will not allow the Abraham Accords tenet of his legacy to be tarnished, threatened or derailed by extremists and radicals,” she added.
Like Otaiba, the Emirati special envoy appeared to try to direct her message toward the Israeli public, not the government, which polls indicate only has the support of a minority.
Arguing that annexation would effectively amount to a rejection of the Abraham Accords, Nusseibeh maintained “that choice should be put directly to the Israeli people.”
While the senior Emirati official warned about what Israel stood to lose if it proceeded with annexation, she also made a point of highlighting what Jerusalem could gain if it again shelved the plan.
Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, are still open to normalizing ties with Jerusalem, she indicated.
But they are conditioning such a move not just on the withdrawal of annexation plans but on Israel agreeing to establish a credible, irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state. Still, they haven’t foreclosed the idea entirely, despite massive opposition to Israel’s prosecution of its nearly two-year war against Hamas.
“For every Arab capital you talk to, the idea of regional integration is still a possibility, but annexation to satisfy some of the radical extremist elements in Israel is going to take that off the table,” Nusseibeh said.
She asserted that Abu Dhabi did not come to this conclusion lightly.
“When Hamas tried to derail the Abraham Accords vision of regional integration with the October 7 terror attacks, we were firm in our response,” the special envoy said, highlighting the UAE’s immediate condemnation of the assault and recognition of Israel’s security concerns, while also “closely coordinating” to deliver more aid to Gaza than any other country.
“Over the last two years… our view was that the vision of the Abraham Accords remains pertinent — that you can’t let extremists set the trajectory of the region,” she said.
But with Israel taking increasingly far-reaching steps to entrench its presence in the West Bank and Gaza, she said, “we are worried that all of us in the Middle East are moving toward a point of no return” and that now is the time to reach out to Israelis before efforts to maintain Israel’s ties to regional partners are “irreparably damaged.”
“The Abraham Accords’ tenets of prosperity, coexistence, tolerance, integration and stability” have “never looked more under threat than [they are] today,” she said.
Nusseibeh assured Israelis that an off-ramp exists. “There is an outstretched hand, despite all of this misery, in the region to Israel. But, “annexation would withdraw that hand,” she said. Link
- Netanyahu, like he has done throughout the entire war, was allowing the tails of Smotrich and Ben Gvir wag the dog of Netanyahu. He put annexation of the majority of the West Bank on the table to satisfy these extreme messianics without regard to any cost to Israel, not the financial cost, not the societal cost, not the military costs of money and lives, not the international relations destruction that he has forged on with throughout, especially if he has the green light of the US. He already has the full support of the US Ambassador who is a Christian fundamentalist who supports the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the full takeover of the West Bank into the Greater Israel. That doesn't necessarily mean he would have gotten the green light from his BFF Trump. That would be determined by what Saudi Arabia would say to Trump. If they told him that it put so many things at risks, including Trump's personal financial interests in the region, that would have meant a red light from Trump.
However, with the 'red line' statement from the UAE, a Trump green or red light is not even necessary. The UAE stated very clearly that annexation would make the Abraham Accords null and void. That would be a devastating hit to both Netanyahu and Trump, something neither of them could swallow or allow. It means that Netanyahu has to reign in the messianics, at least for now or risk his entire legacy from blowing up. What Netanyahu still fails to realize is that October 7 and the 2 years of mismanaging the war and the hostage crisis have already changed his legacy to be the worst and most dangerous Prime Minister in Israel's history.
In any case, he removed annexation from the cabinet meeting today and we will have to see what happens going forward. - Netanyahu, like he has done throughout the entire war, was allowing the tails of Smotrich and Ben Gvir wag the dog of Netanyahu. He put annexation of the majority of the West Bank on the table to satisfy these extreme messianics without regard to any cost to Israel, not the financial cost, not the societal cost, not the military costs of money and lives, not the international relations destruction that he has forged on with throughout, especially if he has the green light of the US. He already has the full support of the US Ambassador who is a Christian fundamentalist who supports the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the full takeover of the West Bank into the Greater Israel. That doesn't necessarily mean he would have gotten the green light from his BFF Trump. That would be determined by what Saudi Arabia would say to Trump. If they told him that it put so many things at risks, including Trump's personal financial interests in the region, that would have meant a red light from Trump.
Netanyahu dismisses ‘irrelevant’ comptroller report on failures to provide for home front after Oct. 7
Calling it “irrelevant,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s report criticizing him and other senior ministers for their failure to adequately care for the civilian front in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion.
His office also calls into question the timing of its release.
“While the Government of Israel is achieving unprecedented historic successes that have changed the face of the Middle East, the State Comptroller’s report deals with marginal footnotes that have no real significance,” says a statement released by Netanyahu’s office.
The statement says Englman’s report “completely ignores the fact that this is an existential war on a scale the state has never known in all its years — a war that broke out without prior warning and with no precedents to act upon. The Government of Israel succeeded in responding immediately and created an appropriate working method for the unique emergency situation that emerged.”
It adds that the report is based on incomplete and outdated information.
Englman’s report said that government decisions after the outbreak of war largely failed to achieve their goals. He pointed to a broader trend, stretching back nearly two decades, in which successive governments “failed to appoint a body responsible for managing care of the home front in times of emergency.”
Netanyahu’s office points to the tens of billions of shekels invested in rehabilitating border areas in the north and south, and caring for evacuees, the injured, and families of hostages. It boasts that 95% of students in the north returned to study in their communities, and that “the shekel has strengthened, the stock market is at a peak, and Israel has attracted more foreign investment in R&D than any other country, except the United States.”
Inspections performed by Englman across the country revealed shortages of manpower in essential factories, a lack of psychological care professionals, insufficient government representatives at evacuee sites, and deficiencies in distributing grants and compensation.
“The Prime Minister rejects the unfounded conclusions raised in the report and views it as an irrelevant document,” says the PMO.
“The timing of the report’s publication — on the eve of the entry and takeover of Gaza City, a critical stage in Hamas’s defeat — is puzzling and raises questions about the purpose of the publication and the conclusions drawn in the report,” it adds. Link
- The Region and the World
- Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo for talks on Palestinian state recognition, Gaza war
According to Arab media reports, the session will focus on the Palestinian issue, including efforts to persuade more Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state, and to halt the “Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.” link As more and more countries are recognizing Palestine or planning to recognize the State of Palestine, it is finally taking the imagined veto out of Netanyahu's hands. For years, he managed to convince most of the Western world that if he doesn't agree to a Palestinian State, then they can't either. He was very successful with selling this illusion. This, together with his stated goal of never having a Palestinian State were the primal reasons that October 7 ever happened. While the Oslo accords were only agreements towards reaching peace, they went a long way towards paving a path for a future without war and an Israel/Palestine Conflict. The failures of Oslo were many and both sides broke the agreements. Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen came closest to reaching a peace agreement that would have created a Palestinian State next to Israel that would have changed the future of the Middle East. For a number of reasons, again on both sides, it couldn't come into fruition. Netanyahu, upon his ascent to the longest serving premiership in our history set a goal to make sure that the possibility of a Palestinian State would never be, never be discussed, never be negotiated, never be recognized. To make absolutely sure of meeting his goals, he did everything to weaken the Palestinian Authority without destroying it altogether because there were certain things that the PA did that helped him and Israel, such as the security coordination between the Israeli and Palestinian security forces which have prevented thousands of terrorist attacks on Israelis. And on the other side, he made sure that Hamas would always be just strong enough to counter anything positive that the PA could show. He made sure that Hamas as a terror organization and its leaders remained and had funding, albeit it funding that was seen to be going to simple Gazans by way of cash disbursements by the Qataris, but in fact, most of it was going to Hamas, as well as lots of behind the scenes funding of Hamas by Qatar and Iran. Netanyahu did everything to keep that money flow going into Gaza. He believed and sold his belief that if the money kept flowing and he allowed more and more job opportunities to Gazans in Israel, they would be satisfied and deterred from attacking Israel. He sold that to all of the security forces and made sure they all focused on Iran and that Gaza would never be a major threat to Israel ever. He claimed that no Israeli soldier's boot would ever again touch the ground in Gaza. By weakening the PA and keeping Hamas strong enough (he and the entire intelligence community had no idea just how strong Hamas got and how much money they actually were receiving), he was able to constantly claim that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. Therefore, the idea of a Palestinian State could never be broached. It even reached the point of success that Saudi Arabia was willing to have normalizations with Israel if Israel was willing to put to paper a statement saying the bare minimum about finding a way forward towards ending the Israel/Palestine conflict.
All of that ended on October 7. Saudi Arabia put Palestinian Statehood as a must have requirement to any normalization. And the biggest lesson that should have been learned by every Israeli is that we can no longer believe that we can continue to occupy another people and their land, deprive them of the most basic human and civil rights, deny them a physical representation of their national expression: a country, control their movement, their natural resources, their ability to build their homes, steal their lands and more, and for 7 million people to continue to accept that as their reality without taking any action, then we (Israelis) have no hold on reality. There is a reason that situations like this are called powder kegs. It is just a question of time until the spark arrives to blow it all up. The spark flared several times before, both intifadas and continuous attacks and incidents before October 7 when the spark was an explosion unlike anything we have ever experienced before. The intifadas did serve as learning tools but not enough and not by enough people and politicians. October 7 should be the awakening that we all need. The conflict must end, it must be solved, not managed. None of us should abide Netanyahu's failure as a leader with no strategy and no hope and accept that we must always live by the sword. Palestinian Statehood is not a prize for Hamas. It is quite the opposite. Hamas leaders will be exploding in their graves if ever there is a real 2 State Solution where we live in peace and flourish together. Their goal is to wipe us out and have an Iran style Palestinian State. The 2 state solution is a prize to Israel and the Palestinians, the entire world. It is an end to a hundred year conflict that can only have this solution for us to change our futures for the better. Futures of hope and flourishing and a time that we see the Gaza war as the last war between our two peoples. This is the real lesson of October 7 but it can never reach fruition with the blind leaders we have on both sides, so October 7 will also usher in a new generation of leadership that doesn't believe in living by the sword for eternity.
Personal Stories
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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Twitter - @LonnyB58
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