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Netanyahu Vows Again to Storm Rafah as Israel Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Feb. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to go ahead with a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, whatever the response by Hamas to the latest proposals for a halt to the fighting and a return of Israeli hostages.
Expectations that a ceasefire agreement could be in sight have grown in recent days following a renewed push led by Egypt to revive stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s ruling Palestinian Islamist group.
However Netanyahu said that with or without a deal, Israel intended to pursue the operation to destroy the remaining Hamas combat formations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Gaza Palestinians displaced from their homes amid Israeli military operations elsewhere since October have been seeking shelter.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a statement. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.”
Earlier, a person close to Netanyahu said Israel has been waiting for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals tabled by Egypt, one of several foreign mediators, before sending a team to Cairo to continue talks.
With U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to arrive in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening following a visit to Riyadh to help nurture a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, pressure has been building for an agreement to stop the war that has devastated Gaza as it nears the end of its seventh month.
But so far there has been little sign of agreement on the most fundamental difference between the two sides – the Hamas demand that any deal must ensure a withdrawal of troops and a permanent end to the Israeli operation in Gaza.
“We can’t tell our people the occupation will stay or the fight will resume after Israel regains its prisoners,” said a Palestinian official from a group allied with Hamas. “Our people want this aggression to end.”
For Netanyahu, any move is likely to be affected by divisions in his coalition cabinet between ministers pressing to bring home at least some of the 133 Israeli hostages left in Gaza, and hardliners insisting on the long-promised assault on remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.
‘LAST CHANCE’
But Israeli officials have said the operation could be deferred if Hamas accepts the deal on offer – which includes no definitive ceasefire but the return of 33 vulnerable hostages – women, children and those in frail health – in exchange for a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners and a limited pause in the fighting.
“As far as Israel is concerned, this is the last chance to hold off a Rafah sweep. The IDF has already started mobilizing troops for that operation,” said a second Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.
The Israeli military said two divisions which left Gaza last week were refitting and repairing equipment and holding training and operational assessment exercises in preparation for continued operations in the enclave.
“The commanders of the divisions have completed the approval of plans for upcoming missions and are now continuing to enhance readiness in all areas and in training,” the military said.
Netanyahu’s position has been complicated by talk that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be preparing arrest warrants for himself and other senior Israeli leaders on charges related to the conduct of the war.
The ICC has so far said nothing to confirm the speculation, which prompted Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to warn Israeli embassies abroad to bolster their security.
But it underlined fears in Israel of growing isolation over the fighting in Gaza, which has caused mounting international alarm at the scale of destruction, the risk of famine and the prospect of a slide into a wider regional conflict. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the war.
The post Netanyahu Vows Again to Storm Rafah as Israel Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East
A Patriot missile battery. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – American Patriot missile defense batteries will be moved from South Korea to the Middle East, according to reports in Asian media on Friday, amid speculation over a potential military action against Iran’s nuclear program and escalating bombardments of Iran-backed jihadists in Yemen.
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, and the United States has moved additional warplanes into the region.
Washington and Seoul have reportedly recently agreed on the “monthslong” partial deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, in what is understood to be the first known case involving the relocation of United States Forces Korea (USFK) assets to the Middle East.
Iran in recent years has largely dropped the pretense of enriching uranium for a civilian atomic energy program, as it’s reportedly teetering on the nuclear precipice. Israel believes that a nuclear Iran represents a grave existential threat, consistent with the exterminationist antisemitism of the Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel rhetoric.
After the election of Trump, a known Iran hawk, the likelihood of an U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has increased precipitously.
The post US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled
The Azerbaijani capital of Baku. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Iran enlisted the services of a Georgian drug trafficker to carry out an assassination of a prominent Azerbaijani rabbi, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing security officials.
The plot to murder Rabbi Shneor Segal, foiled by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in early January, also involved a plan to attack a Jewish education center, the officials said.
The plot was set in motion by an officer with Iran’s Quds Force, who met with Georgian criminal Agil Aslanov, handing him a photo of Segal and detailed instructions on how to murder him, the officials cited by WaPo said. Aslanov’s fee for the foiled hit was $200,000.
The State Security Service said the two men “worked to collect information about a member of a religious community, and sent the location of his residence and workplace to a representative of a foreign special service agency via the appropriate mobile phone application.”
Iran is known to be behind multiple plots against Israeli and Jewish targets, many of which have been foiled by Israeli and foreign security services.
However a recent plot saw three citizens of Uzbekistan murder an Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates on Iranian orders. The three were sentenced to death earlier this week for the murder of Zvi Kogan in November.
The post Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart to Washington DC on Sunday directly from Hungary—where he is presently on an official visit—to meet with US President Donald Trump, i24NEWS learned on Saturday from an Israeli source.
The visit comes following a phone conversation between the leaders on Friday, and a call with State Secretary Marco Rubio a short while ago.
As a result, the planned visit to Washington of Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz will be postponed once again.
Topics of discussion between the two leaders are expected to include the possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Gaza war and the future of the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, the US bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi jihadists in Yemen, and the recent imposition of tariffs on Israeli products.
The post Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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