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Amid Escalation in Lebanon, Hamas Is Killing Opponents in Gaza and Stealing Aid
By EADO HECHT (Algemeiner) In terms of Israel-Hamas negotiations, not much has changed since my last article.
The negotiations continue, with rumors abounding about supposed changes in Israel’s or Hamas’s positions. But every time the smoke clears, it becomes evident that with regard to the central issue, nothing has changed: Hamas still demands a total cessation of Israeli operations and total withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, with international guarantees that Israel will not resume its offensive. Israel continues to refuse to accept these conditions.
The following are Hamas’s terms for a ceasefire as posted on the group’s internet site:
We emphasize that any agreement must include:
A total ceasefire of the aggression against the Palestinian nation,
A complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip including the Philadelphi Corridor,
Return of all the displaced people to their homes,
Aid for our people and rebuilding of what the conquerors [Israel] have destroyed,
A serious and true deal for exchange of prisoners.
An interesting point that is not mentioned in the above official Hamas post, but appears in another document apparently found by the IDF in a Hamas underground command post, is that Hamas wants an inter-Arab military force placed on Gaza’s border with Israel as a guarantee that Israel will not renew its offensive later on.
This force would protect Hamas as it reconstitutes its military forces in preparation for a future war.
The fighting in the Gaza Strip continues at the same reduced pace and with the same methods on both sides. The IDF is deliberately setting the pace, slowly combing through the Rafah area against small pinprick ambushes and raids by Hamas and other groups. IDF units are operating both above and below ground.
IDF units in the Netsarim Corridor, which separates Gaza City from the rest of Gaza, are also continuing to conduct raids and defensive operations. The corridor is held almost exclusively by IDF reserve units that are rotated every couple of months.
Most of the Hamas Rafah brigade command hierarchy has been killed or wounded, and about 2,000 of its original 4,500 personnel are estimated to be killed or wounded. Others have fled and are hiding in the safe haven area. Thirteen kilometers of tunnels were exploded by the IDF after having been reconnoitered.
Four Israeli soldiers, including a female paramedic, were killed when a building was exploded on top of them by remote control.
In another incident, a helicopter landing at night to evacuate a seriously wounded soldier crashed, killing two of the casualty rescuer team and wounding seven others, including the pilot. Apparently the combination of dark, a dust cloud, and a complicated landing site (chosen to prevent Hamas from shooting at the helicopter) confused the pilot, causing them to make a mistake and crash into the ground.
Hamas continues to fire a few rockets every once in a while into Israel, mostly at villages near the border, and occasionally at towns farther away, such as Ashkelon. So far, none has caused casualties or damage.
Hamas continues to use schools, hospitals, mosques, and UNRWA sites as command posts and storage facilities. The IDF locates and strikes these locations using small-caliber guided munitions. Every time Israel takes out a Hamas position, Hamas claims that all casualties were civilians, until the IDF publishes the names and functions of those killed.
One example from the past two weeks was the attack on the al-Ja’ooni school in Nusayrat. This time, in addition to claiming the killed were all civilians, Hamas said they included UNRWA personnel.
The IDF then published the names of nine Hamas personnel killed there, including UNRWA employee Yassir Ibrahim Abu Shrar, whose day job at UNRWA — while simultaneously serving on the Hamas Emergency Committee (see below) — was as a member of one of Hamas’ internal security apparatus, which is responsible for population control.
Inside Gaza, in addition to fighting Israel, Hamas is busy asserting its dominance over the other Palestinian factions. One method of doing this is to take control of humanitarian aid convoys and distribute or sell the supplies according to Hamas’ needs (one of the missions carried out by the Hamas Emergency Committee).
In some cases, the IDF intervenes and directs fire at the Hamas teams that are doing this, but that often results in claims that the IDF itself is attacking the convoys.
In addition, there are reports by Gazans on social media of executions, abductions, and beatings of critics or members of other factions that have taken a too-independent stance (another mission usually carried out by the Hamas Emergency Committee).
Hamas of course labels all these victims “collaborators with the Zionists.” For all the talk of “the day after,” there can be no day after so long as Hamas remains the most powerful force in Gaza.
On the left: snapshot from a news video (al-Arabiya) of a Gazan criticizing Hamas. On the right: The same man in the hospital a few days later, after having been beaten up by Hamas personnel. (These photos were downloaded from the individual’s social media account by Israeli blogger Abu Ali Express)
Another critic was less fortunate. According to reports in Palestinian social media, an engineer working for UNRWA since 2021, who criticized Hamas on social media (“After being released from prison, Sinwar should have received ‘treatment’ and not been given control over 2.5 million people“) was shot and killed by Hamas.
In the first week of September, 1.26 million polio vaccines were sent into Gaza via Israel. Since then, 560,000 Gazans have been vaccinated, thus ending the first phase of the vaccination program. A second round of vaccinations is planned to begin within a couple of weeks.
Another health program is the supply of prosthetic arms and legs from Jordan to Gaza, together with a team of specialists to attach them. An interesting facet of this operation is that so far, the photographs that have been published of patients receiving the prosthetics show only men of military age.
Dr. Eado Hecht, a senior research fellow at the BESA Center, is a military analyst focusing mainly on the relationship between military theory, military doctrine, and military practice. He teaches courses on military theory and military history at Bar-Ilan University, Haifa University, and Reichman University and in a variety of courses in the Israel Defense Forces. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
The post Amid Escalation in Lebanon, Hamas Is Killing Opponents in Gaza and Stealing Aid first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Says Gas Prices May Remain High Through November Midterm Election
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters while Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio look on, as they attend a meeting with oil industry executives, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November’s midterm elections, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran six weeks ago.
“It could be, or the same, or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same,” Trump, who is in Miami for the weekend, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” when asked whether the cost of oil and gas would be lower by the fall.
The average price for regular gas at US service stations has exceeded $4 per gallon for most of April, according to data from GasBuddy. Trump’s comments on Sunday came after weeks of asserting that the spike in prices is a short-term phenomenon, though his top advisers are cognizant of the war’s economic impacts, officials have said.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump announced on social media that the US Navy would blockade the Strait of Hormuz and intercept any ship that paid a crossing fee to Iran, after marathon talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend did not yield a peace deal.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Any US blockade is likely to add more uncertainty to the eventual resolution of the conflict, which is currently subject to a tenuous two-week ceasefire. The new tactic is in response to Iran’s own closure of the strait’s critical shipping lanes, which has caused global oil prices to skyrocket about 50%.
UNPOPULAR WAR HITS TRUMP’S APPROVAL
The war began on February 28, when the US launched a joint bombing campaign with Israel against Iran. The scope quickly expanded as Iran and its allies attacked nearby countries, while Israel targeted Hezbollah with massive strikes in Lebanon.
The war has buffeted global financial markets and caused thousands of civilian deaths, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Trump’s political standing at home has suffered, with polls showing the war is unpopular among most Americans, who are frustrated by rising gasoline prices.
The president’s approval rating has hit the lowest levels of his second term in office, raising concern among Republicans that his party is poised to lose control of Congress in the midterm elections. A Democratic majority in either chamber could launch investigations into the Trump administration while blocking much of his legislative agenda.
US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned the strategy behind Trump’s planned blockade.
“I don’t understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
In a separate appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Warner said the blockade would not undermine Iranian control of the waterway.
“The Iranians have hundreds of speedboats where they can still mine the strait or put bombs against tankers in closing the strait,” he said. “How is that going to ever bring down gas prices?”
Although Trump has repeatedly said that the war would be over soon, Republican US Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that achieving US aims in Iran “could take a long time.”
“It’s going to be a long-term project,” said Johnson, who was not asked about Trump’s proposed blockade. “I never thought this would be easy.”
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Visits Flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS
Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying he was seeking greater access for Jewish worshipers and drawing condemnation from Jordan and the Palestinians.
The compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, it is the most sacred site in Judaism and is Islam’s third-holiest site.
Under a delicate, decades-old arrangement with Muslim authorities, it is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Suggestions that Israel would alter the rules have sparked outrage among Muslims and ignited violence in the past.
“Today, I feel like the owner here,” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said in a video filmed at the site and distributed by his office. “There is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to do more and more — we must keep rising higher and higher.”
A statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to be a violation of the status quo agreement at the site and “a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation.”
The office of Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said such actions could further destabilize the region.
Ben-Gvir’s spokesman said the minister was seeking greater access and prayer permits for Jewish visitors. He also said that Ben-Gvir had prayed at the site.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. Previous such visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted Netanyahu announcements saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the status quo.
Muslim, Christian and Jewish sites, including Al-Aqsa had been largely closed to the public during the Iran war. There was no immediate sign of unrest on Sunday after Ben-Gvir’s visit.
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Netanyahu Visits Troops Fighting Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon on Sunday as military operations against Hezbollah-linked targets continue.
Netanyahu toured forward positions alongside Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Eyal Zamir, and Northern Command Commander Rafi Milo, meeting troops and receiving operational briefings from commanders on the ground.
Speaking to soldiers, Netanyahu praised their performance and said operations in the Lebanese security zone were ongoing.
“The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” he said, adding that Israeli forces were working to prevent infiltration attempts and neutralize threats such as anti-tank fire and missiles.
He described the northern campaign as part of a broader regional struggle involving Iran and its allies, saying Israel’s adversaries were now “fighting for their survival” following sustained Israeli military pressure.