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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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Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions
ILLUSTRATIVE: The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner
Iran’s currency fell on Saturday to a new all-time low against the US dollar after the country’s supreme leader rejected talks with the United States and President Donald Trump moved to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.
The rial plunged to 892,500 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 869,500 rials on Friday, according to the foreign exchange website alanchand.com. The bazar360.com website said the dollar was sold for 883,100 rials. Asr-e-no website reported the dollar trading at 891,000 rials.
Facing an official inflation rate of about 35%, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.
The dollar has been gaining against the rial since trading around 690,000 rials at the time of Trump’s re-election in November amid concerns that Trump would re-impose his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran with tougher sanctions and empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump in 2018 withdrew from a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and re-imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran’s rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
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US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media
Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun walks after being elected as the country’s president at the parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
i24 News – A photo showing US President Donald Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy donning a ring embellished with the Star of David to a meeting with Lebanon’s leader triggered outrage in Arabic social and broadcast media.
As Morgan Ortagus, who is Jewish, shook hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, her Star of David ring was visible in the frame, sparking accusations such as her being “more Zionist than her predecessors.”
Her direct superior, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, is likewise Jewish-American, as is his predecessor Amos Hochstein, who was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Ortagus is the first senior Trump admin official to visit Lebanon amid the fragile ceasefire agreed by Israel and the Lebanon-based Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah.
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UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing
Supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir at a pro-Hamas rally in London. Photo: Reuters/Martin Pope
i24 News – Anti-Israeli activists in Britain applied for a permit to stage a demonstration through London on the morning of October 7, 2023, as Gazan jihadists were rampaging through southern Israel and slaughtering civilians, the Daily Telegraph reported.
At 12:50 PM, as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was still ongoing, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) notified the Metropolitan Police that they intended to hold a rally the following week.
Reports and videos of the Hamas-led onslaught began appearing on social media, and Israeli and then international broadcast media, several hours earlier.
“The Met was contacted on Saturday Oct 7 at approximately 12.50pm via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest,” a police spokesman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. “The Met committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place seven days after notification.”
The group’s spokesperson defended the move, telling the Telegraph it was “clear” as early as Saturday noon that “the Israeli attacks on Gaza would be of an indiscriminate violence we had not witnessed before, and that 2.3 million people in Gaza – more than 50 percent of them children – were at severe risk.”
The post UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.