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Israeli Defense Chief Says Hamas as a ‘Military Formation No Longer Exists’
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a joint press conference with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 28, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
JNS.org — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted on Monday that the Hamas terror group is no longer capable of maintaining an organized fighting force in the Gaza Strip after more than 11 months of war.
“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” he told foreign journalists at his office at Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to AFP’s account. The remarks were released for publication on Tuesday.
He made the comments in the context of promoting a potential ceasefire agreement that would see the 101 remaining hostages, both alive and dead, released in exchange for many more Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons.
Gallant said bringing the hostages home is “the right thing to do.”
“Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts,” he added, with the Jewish state also facing threats from Iran’s regional proxies, including in the north from Hezbollah.
Hamas started the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when the terror group led a mass invasion of Israel’s northwestern Negev, murdering, wounding, and committing atrocities against thousands, and abducting at least 250.
Gallant urged the international community to continue to pressure Hamas to agree to the deal on the table, and said he consented to the first stage of the three-phase agreement announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31.
“Israel should achieve an agreement that will bring about a pause for six weeks and bring back hostages,” he said.
In July, Gallant said that the process of destroying Hamas would take a long time.
“The pursuit of Hamas terrorists will continue for years to come — from the most senior ones to the terrorists in the field. We must remember at any given time — and you were here on Oct. 7 — we need to remember what Hamas did to us,” said Gallant.
“We must eliminate any terrorist who murdered children, raped women, and kidnapped the elderly. We must also deter anyone who may attempt to conduct such heinous acts in the future,” he added.
Later on Tuesday, speaking to reservists of the IDF’s Oded Brigade serving in the north, Gallant reiterated that Israel plans to move its focus to the border with Lebanon as intense fighting is winding down in Gaza.
“The center of gravity is moving to the north. We are nearing the completion of our missions in the south, but we have a task here that has not been carried out, and this mission is to change the security situation and return the residents to their homes,” Gallant stated.
In August, Gallant vowed to push back Hezbollah terrorists north of the Litani River, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War with the Iranian proxy.
“We deal with both removing threats and preparing all the possibilities to be able to attack wherever we decide,” said Gallant during a visit to an IDF intelligence base in northern Israel. He was briefed on the intelligence operations that enabled the July targeted killing in Beirut of Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr, also known as al-Hajj Mohsin.
“We are determined to fulfill our mission; we must allow the safe return of [Israel’s northern] residents to their homes, once we ensure that Hezbollah withdraws north of the Litani River,” added the defense minister.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.