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Israel to Declare Return of Northern Evacuees An Official War Goal
Israeli firefighters work following rocket attacks from Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, near the border on its Israeli side, June 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
JNS.org – Israel’s Security Cabinet is reportedly set to approve on Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to make the return home of the country’s northern residents a formal war goal.
In a statement on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the goal “is agreed upon by all Cabinet members.”
Netanyahu has stated in the past that the safe return of some 60,000 residents evacuated from towns and villages along Israel’s border with Lebanon due to ongoing attacks by Hezbollah is a national goal, but has not yet made it an official government policy.
The premier was cited by Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday as saying that, “The situation in the north cannot continue. We must change the equation and we must bring back the residents.”
Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah has stated on more than one occasion that the Iranian proxy will halt its fire only if a truce is reached in the Strip.
Senior officials in Jerusalem, have noted that Israel may have no choice but to launch a full-scale ground invasion into Lebanon to create a security barrier for Israel’s north, which would allow the safe return of displaced Israelis.
Meanwhile, US special envoy Amos Hochstein is set to arrive in Israel on Monday. Hebrew media reported that the purpose of the visit is to prevent an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Shi’ite terror group has joined Hamas’s war efforts since Oct. 7, launching barrages of rockets and drones into Israeli territory, killing Israeli soldiers and civilians and causing massive damage to property in the north.
Tensions between the warring sides have reached seething levels in recent weeks, with the Israeli Air Force reportedly destroying thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon in late August.
The terrorist organization subsequently fired more than 200 projectiles into Israel. Out of the 230 rockets and 20 UAVs that crossed into Israeli territory, 90% “were launched from the heart of civilian areas,” according to the military. Nearly all of the launchers were positioned near mosques, schools, gas stations and U.N. sites.
The escalation of cross-border fire began after a Hezbollah strike murdered 12 Israeli children of the Druze community in the Golan Heights on July 27.
Israel responded three days later with the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military commander, in southern Beirut.
The post Israel to Declare Return of Northern Evacuees An Official War Goal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.