i24 News – The United States has opted not to impose sanctions on Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Ynet reported on Wednesday afternoon, citing sources from within Israel.

The decision comes after intense pressure from various segments of the Israeli political spectrum.

Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at potential actions regarding military aid to specific Israeli army units accused of human rights violations in the West Bank before October 7.

Initial reports suggested that Blinken might move forward with sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, raising concerns and sparking reactions from Israeli officials.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly opposed the possibility of sanctions, vowing to challenge the decision with all available means.

In a statement published on Saturday night, Netanyahu criticized the proposed sanctions as “the height of absurdity and a moral blow.”

Similarly, opposition leader Yair Lapid voiced his disapproval, labeling the potential sanctions as a “mistake” and emphasizing the need for Israel to take action to prevent them from being implemented.

The post U.S. Decides Against Sanctions on IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, a senior Israeli defense official said on Wednesday, despite international warnings of humanitarian catastrophe.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said Israel was “moving ahead” with a ground operation, but gave no timeline.

The defense official said Israel’s Defense Ministry had bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from Rafah in advance of an assault.

Video circulating online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, a city some 3 miles from Rafah. Reuters could not verify the video but reviewed images from satellite company Maxar Technologies which showed tent camps on Khan Younis land that had been vacant weeks ago.

An Israeli government source said Netanyahu’s war cabinet planned to meet in the coming two weeks to authorize civilian evacuations, expected to take around a month.

The defense official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that the military could go into action immediately but was awaiting a green light from Netanyahu.

Rafah, which abuts the Egyptian border, is sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled the half-year-old Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza, and say the prospect of fleeing yet again is terrifying.

“I have to make a decision whether to leave Rafah because my mother and I are afraid an invasion could happen suddenly and we won’t get time to escape,” said Aya, 30, who has been living temporarily in the city with her family in a school.

She said that some families recently moved to a refugee camp in coastal Al-Mawasi, but their tents caught fire when tank shells landed nearby. “Where do we go?”

HITTING HARD

Israel, which launched its war to annihilate Hamas after the Islamist group’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli towns, says Rafah is home to four Hamas combat battalions reinforced by thousands of retreating fighters, and it must defeat them to achieve victory.

“Hamas was hit hard in the northern sector. It was also hit hard in the center of the Strip. And soon it will be hit hard in Rafah, too,” Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen, commander of Israel’s 162nd Division operating in Gaza, told Kan public TV.

But Israel’s closest ally Washington has called on it to set aside plans for an assault, and says Israel can combat Hamas fighters there by other means.

“We could not support a Rafah ground operation without an appropriate, credible, executable humanitarian plan precisely because of the complications for delivery of assistance,” David Satterfield, U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issued, told reporters on Tuesday.

“We continue discussions with Israel on what we believe are alternate ways of addressing a challenge which we recognize, which is Hamas military present in Rafah.”

Egypt says it will not allow Gazans to be pushed across the border onto its territory. Cairo had warned Israel against moving on Rafah, which “would lead to massive human massacres, losses (and) widespread destruction,” its State Information Service said.

Israel has withdrawn most of its ground troops from southern Gaza this month but kept up air strikes and conducted raids into areas its troops abandoned. Efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to broker an extended ceasefire in time to head off an assault on Rafah have so far failed.

Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 253 on Oct 7. Of those hostages, 129 remain in Gaza, Israeli officials say. More than 260 Israeli troops have been killed in ground fighting since Oct 20, the military says.

H. A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow in international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said he expected the assault on Rafah “sooner rather than later” because Netanyahu is under pressure to meet his stated objectives of rescuing hostages and killing all the Hamas leaders.

“The invasion of Rafah is unavoidable because of the way he has framed all of this,” he said. But it will not be possible for everyone to leave the city, so “if he sends the military into Rafah, there are going to be a lot of casualties.”

The post Israel Says It Is Poised to Move on Rafah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

i24 News – Hamas released a psychological warfare video on Wednesday featuring the 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the Re’im festival on October 7.

In the undated video, which it is unclear when it was filmed, Goldberg-Polin is seen missing his left hand, his head shaved clean. In the video, choreographed by Hamas terrorists, he pleads not to be forgotten, and to be released from captivity.

This is the first video showing Goldberg-Polin since October 7, where he was seen being bundled into a pickup truck along with other Israeli hostages by Hamas terrorists.

Hirsch’s mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin, is one of the leaders in the struggle for the release of the kidnapped. Last week Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

“In hopes of seeing him again, Goldberg-Polin has become one of the most visible advocates for the hostages and their families. She has met with dozens of world leaders, including President Biden,” the Time entry read. “She has addressed the U.N. in New York City and Geneva. She has even had an audience with the Pope.”

The post Israeli Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin Seen Alive in a New Hamas Video first appeared on Algemeiner.com.