RSS
Israel, Hamas Explore Gaza Truce With Top US Official on Shuttle Mission
An Israeli military convoy moves inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, June 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israelis and Hamas are signalling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, their first in a year, to pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel at least some of the 100 hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.
The guarded optimism emerges as US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan holds talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday before heading to Egypt and Qatar, co-mediators with the US on a deal.
A Western diplomat in the region said an Israeli deal with the Palestinian terrorist Hamas group was taking shape but was likely to be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.
A senior Hamas official, Basem Naim, said any US official would have to apply “real pressure” to get Netanyahu and his government to accept a July 2 US truce proposal and UN resolution which Hamas said it alone had accepted.
Such a truce would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023. It would also enable the release of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been tied to terrorist activities, held by Israel.
Israel‘s Mossad intelligence agency head David Barnea met Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a source briefed on the meeting said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including seven US citizens, Katz’s office said.
Anything more than a limited truce remains unlikely so long as both sides stick to demands that have hampered numerous rounds of failed negotiations.
Hamas wants an end to the war before all hostages are freed, while Israel says the war will not end until the hostages return and Hamas no longer rules Gaza or constitutes a threat to Israelis.
“Since the first day of the negotiation, our decision has been clear: an end to the war on our people and exchange of prisoners. To achieve that we have shown all the flexibility and positiveness necessary and the mediators are our witnesses to that,” Naim told Reuters.
The war began after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
‘HELL TO PAY’
US President-elect Donald Trump has demanded Hamas release the hostages held in Gaza before he takes over from Biden on Jan. 20. Otherwise, Trump has said, there will be “hell to pay.”
Trump’s designated hostage envoy Adam Boehler has said he had spoken to Biden and Netanyahu.
Boehler told Israel‘s Channel 13 news last week: “I would appeal to those people that have taken hostages: Make your best deal now. Make it now because every day that passes, it is going to get harder and harder and more Hamas lives will be lost.”
Although Biden and Trump are working separately, their efforts overlap and both stand to gain from a deal. A US official said Trump’s public statements about the need for a swift ceasefire “have not been harmful.”
The official said the priority is to get the hostages home, whether at the end of the Biden term or the start of Trump’s.
TIMING APT FOR NETANYAHU
The timing may never have been better for Netanyahu after Israel reestablished its reputation as the most powerful Middle East force with operations in Lebanon and Syria that weakened Hamas’s Iranian-backed allies and left it isolated.
Netanyahu’s once-fragile coalition has been strengthened by the addition of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and his more centrist faction.
A Palestinian official close to the talks described what he called “a fever of negotiations” with ideas emerging on all sides, including among mediators in Egypt and Qatar and said Trump’s involvement had given the talks a boost.
The post Israel, Hamas Explore Gaza Truce With Top US Official on Shuttle Mission first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.