ISLAM UNITS TO TALK GAZA.

 WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

STRONGS CONCORDANCE FOR VIOLENCE IN THE BIBLE-SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES.
2554. chamas - Strong's Concordance - chamas: to treat violently or wrong - Part of Speech: Verb - Transliteration: chamas -Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-mas') - Definition: to treat violently or wrong - make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong -A primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat -- make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)

SECOND ANGEL: The Middle East DR DOCTORIAN
Then Isawthat the second angel had a sickle in his hand,such asis used in harvesting. The second angelsaid, “Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the wayto Iran.” Isawthose countriesin a fewsplitseconds. “All of Turkey and those other countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another.” I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries.I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia – Iraq, Syria,Lebanon,Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor – full of blood. Isaw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; nuclear weapons were used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words, “Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come.”The angel said, “The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God.” I saw fires rising to heaven.The angel said, “This is the final judgment My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Watershall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries.” The angelshowed me that the United Nationsshall be broken in pieces because of the crisisin the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.

FALSE FLAGS (SET UP OR STAGED BY SOMEONE)
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=-6703838290529161821
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=8697248641166616573
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

ISAIAH 54:3
03-King James Bible-For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

The right hand was a symbol of strength-Exodus 15:6, ” Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.”

EZEKIEL 17:15-24 (MUSLIM COUNTRIES HISTORY)
15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
16 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.
20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.
22 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
8 Assyria (SYRIA) also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
9 Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
10 Who perished at En Dor, Who became as refuse on the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind!
14 As the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be [e]confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.

AnalysisGaza provides Hamas with concealment, cover and canalization-The devastation of Gaza was inevitable: A comparison to US operations in Iraq and Syria-Urban warfare has always been brutal for civilians — and the war against Hamas was designed by the terror group to be an extreme case-By Barry R. Posen Today, 3:50 pm-MAR 2,24

FPFOREIGN POLICY — As of the middle of February, the Gaza Health Ministry had reported more than 28,000 Palestinians dead in the war precipitated by the murder, rape, and kidnapping conducted during Hamas’s raid on Israeli border settlements and towns on October 7, 2023. Press accounts estimate that in the northern Gaza Strip, almost 80 percent of buildings may be damaged or destroyed. To avoid being caught up in the most intense fighting, according to the United Nations, as many as 85% of the 2.2 million people in Gaza may have left their homes as of mid-December. The scale of death and destruction arising from Israel’s legitimate counterattack has precipitated charges of war crimes and genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice.The Israeli government has claimed that it is adhering to its well-developed system for assessing combat in light of the laws of war. But if that is the case, then why has the Israeli offensive produced so much damage and death? One answer is simple. When war is fought among civilians, civilians are killed. Among the most poignant examples is from World War II: the number of French citizens killed by Allied bombing in the months prior to the June 1944 Normandy invasion. The Allies bombed lines of communication heavily to prevent the Germans from reinforcing their coastal defenses along the English Channel. Historians suggest that some 20,000 French civilians who had the misfortune of living near ports, bridges, roads, or railroad infrastructure were killed in these attacks and during the subsequent two months of ground and air operations.Some would say that this is ancient history; we would never do that again. But more recent history suggests that, though modern weapons are considerably more accurate and procedures in Western militaries to avoid collateral damage are more formalized, fighting among civilians, especially in urban areas, always means hell on earth for the civilians who may be trapped there.In 2016 and 2017, a US-led counterterrorism coalition and its Iraqi and Syrian (mainly Kurdish) allies aimed to destroy the Islamic State terror group and eject it from the larger cities that it held in Iraq and Syria — first Mosul, and then Raqqa. These battles were immensely destructive, despite coalition efforts to mitigate civilian harm and the United States’ possession of a lavish supply of the most accurate weapons ever produced.Like the US and its allies in Iraq and Syria, Israel chose as its objective the destruction of its adversary. That’s why those earlier wars provide important insights into what Israel knew it would face in Gaza, and they help to explain its military strategy, tactics for the campaign, and the level of death and destruction that we have witnessed.The campaign to destroy Islamic State in Mosul lasted from October 2016 to July 2017. Nearly 94,000 Iraqi troops attacked an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 Islamic State fighters. As many as 29,000 aerial munitions may have been employed by the United States and its partners during the fight, plus uncounted artillery shells fired mainly by Iraqi security forces. Of a pre-battle population of roughly a million people, an estimated 9,000 to 11,000 civilians died, at least a third of them from coalition fire, a third due to Islamic State actions, and a third from causes that are impossible to attribute. Roughly 9,900 structures were damaged or destroyed, including some 65 percent of residential construction.The Raqqa campaign, which lasted from June to October 2017, is particularly instructive because it was conducted almost entirely under US control. Between 30,000 and 40,000 Syrian and Kurdish militia members fought between 2,900 and 5,600 Islamic State fighters. The militias that did the ground fighting had all been organized and armed by the United States. Most of the air and artillery support was provided by Washington, with some assistance from allies, and the United States attempted to hew closely to the laws of armed conflict.To somewhat reduce the destructiveness of the campaign, the largest bombs employed were in the 500-pound category. US Air Force figures suggest that as many as 15,000 aerial munitions were employed against targets in Raqqa during those five months, with US Marine Corps artillery adding 35,000 155 mm artillery shells (perhaps 1,750 tons of shells) to the mix.Raqqa was also bombed and shelled heavily prior to the 2017 offensive. But after the campaign was complete, the bodies of roughly 4,100 civilians were found under the rubble, along with those of some 1,900 individuals wearing “military gear.” Nongovernmental organizations estimate that somewhere between 774 and 1,600 of the civilian casualties were caused by coalition fire. And approximately 11,000 building structures were damaged or destroyed, rendering 60% to 80% of the city uninhabitable.In Raqqa and Mosul, most civilians seem to have perished due to building collapses caused by bombs and shells, but in Mosul, the ratio of damaged buildings to civilian deaths was about 1-to-1, whereas in Raqqa, it was about 3-to-1.
Though they are cautious in their conclusion, analysts at the Rand Corp. — a US-funded think tank — attribute the lower rate of civilian casualties per building in Raqqa relative to Mosul mainly to one simple factor — a very high percentage of Raqqa’s pre-battle civilian population of roughly 300,000 people left the city, some prior to the battle and some during it.Hamas presented Israel with a very difficult military problem, even more difficult than Mosul or Raqqa. The degree of difficulty explains a lot about the terrible trajectory of the Israel-Hamas war. (Reasonable questions have also been raised about the impact of how IDF military lawyers interpret provisions about civilians in the standard international treaties on the conduct of warfare — while there is not much evidence that the IDF deliberately targets civilians, some of the destructiveness may be explained by an overly broad interpretation of proportionality and precaution measures.)-Whatever else one can say about Hamas, it is a capable and ruthless adversary. The IDF faced four main problems in starting its operation — the size and quality of the Hamas military force; the urban environment; Hamas’s comprehensive preparation of the terrain, especially including hundreds of miles of tunnels and deeply buried bunkers; and Hamas’s systematic integration of its troops and prepared defenses with the civilian population.The size and quality of the Hamas military force creates a major problem in its own right. Observers estimate that at the outset of the fighting, Hamas had between 15,000 and 40,000 soldiers, with its actual combat power reportedly concentrated in five brigades. At minimum, this is three times the combat power that Islamic State had in either Mosul or Raqqa — on the higher end of the estimate, more than 10 times Islamic State’s combat power. This alone would produce a significantly more difficult and destructive offensive campaign. (As another point of comparison, it is estimated that 8,000 Ukrainian troops, in perhaps four small brigades, defended Mariupol from a much larger and better-equipped Russian force for three months in early 2022.)-Hamas troops also appear to be well trained, and they benefited from advice by more experienced military experts, both from Hezbollah in Lebanon and from Iran. Hamas’s forces, so far as can be known, are well equipped with light and heavy infantry weapons — such as assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars, and anti-tank guided missiles. Hamas has manufactured and imported hundreds of artillery-type rockets, most of them unguided, and some with ranges as long as 150 kilometers (93 miles). Hamas also avails itself of commercially available off-the-shelf surveillance technology, including drones and digital cameras.If the well-equipped, armored forces of the IDF met these Hamas troops on a flat plain, they probably would make short work of them. But a well-trained and well-armed infantry force becomes formidable in an urban environment.The urban environment favors the tactical defense because it provides the defender with concealment, cover, and canalization. The US military concluded as much following its experiences combating Islamic State; one report released in September 2017 states that “[e]xperiences in Mosul reaffirmed that urban terrain strengthens the defense.”Buildings provide multiple hiding places. Basements offer not only hiding spots, but also natural bunkers, which can be used to shelter from enemy weapons and protect one’s own fighters so they can shoot effectively. Where there are tall buildings, upper floors provide firing positions and unobstructed fields of fire for long shots down city streets, and they also enable observation of enemy movements. Streets and roads channel the movement of adversary forces; they are natural positions for an ambush.These attributes can easily be improved by defenders. Holes are knocked in walls within buildings to permit movement from room to room and building to building, obscured from view. Tunnels and trenches are also dug from building to building. Basements and upper floors can be reinforced with sandbags to protect against bullets and shrapnel, as well as with vertical steel and wooden beams to prevent ceiling collapse. Bunkers and firing positions are often built in the interior of buildings, with weapons sighted through holes cut in several layers of interior and exterior walls to confuse the targets about the source of fire. Entrances and stairways are mined and booby-trapped against infantry assault.Because of the urban environment and the ease with which it can be improved, the defender usually has another line of defensible positions to which it can retreat under pressure, starting the whole process of attack and defense over again.There was no shortage of materials available to Hamas to improve its defenses despite an ongoing Israeli blockade. United Nations statistics show that significant quantities of construction material were imported into Gaza in the past nine years— 50,000 truckloads permitted in 2022 alone, making up 50% of supplies arriving in the enclave, whereas only 25% of deliveries contained food and 4% contained humanitarian supplies provided by international organizations. Given the group’s administrative control over Gaza, it would be surprising if the construction efforts thus supplied were not influenced by Hamas, and that materials were not skimmed from civilian projects to support underground construction of bunkers and tunnels.The effect of an urban environment on offensive operations is almost always an increase in the attacker’s reliance on firepower. In Raqqa, the United States and its partners relied heavily on precision-guided weapons, bombs, missiles, rockets, and artillery. They paid careful attention to the rules of war and often employed the smallest practical weapon to the target. (There seems to have been a hidden cost to this practice, because in Raqqa, three weapons were dispatched against each target on average, presumably to ensure that it was destroyed. Thus, the use of less destructive munitions seems to ensure that more munitions are fired to achieve the desired effect.)-In these battles, the nature of the urban environment — coupled with an experienced, committed, and well-armed adversary — were enough to require the coalition to conduct a locust-like offensive in which these munitions, fired in support of advancing ground forces, gradually consumed Raqqa, just as they did Mosul.It should not be a surprise, therefore, that the IDF now finds itself destroying a great many structures in Gaza.Hamas further improved the urban environment with a vast subterranean construction project — a deeply buried tunnel network that seems to serve both tactical and strategic purposes. Some tunnels link together fighting positions to support tactical maneuvers, surprise counterattacks and ambushes, and resupply efforts. Others permit leaders to move from their residences to their offices. Some lead to bunkers, which allow command and combat groups to work and rest underground. Presumably, other bunkers contain reserves of ammunition, including long-range rockets. And little has been said about where Hamas builds its weapons, but it seems likely that there are small fabrication facilities underground.As there are hundreds of miles of tunnels according to most sources, and the Israelis only show snippets of what they find, it could be that much of the network is pretty basic. But most of the videos and photographs that have emerged show what appear to be narrow but well-constructed, usually steel-and concrete-reinforced single file passages, while some tunnels are much wider. Living quarters and possible prisons have also been discovered. The tunnels have numerous camouflaged, vertical shafts for entrance and egress. It also appears that electric cables are strung along the ceilings, which provides power, but presumably also landline communication, allowing Hamas leaders to evade detection by Israeli intelligence.The inherent defensive possibilities of the urban environment, combined with a significant subterranean component constructed over many years, produced a vast fortress system. Though they certainly dug tunnels, a complex subterranean network like that built by Hamas fighters was unavailable to the Islamic State defenders of Mosul and Raqqa, creating vast new problems for the IDF beyond those experienced by the US-led counterterrorism coalition.To try to take buildings and more importantly take the tunnel system solely through a series of tactical ground force engagements would not only take a great deal of time, but it would also immeasurably add to the ground force casualties Israel would have been likely to suffer. No military would embrace this prospect. Moreover, even a direct attack would be very destructive insofar as it would ultimately require the demolition of the tunnels from the inside out using large quantities of high explosives.We cannot know exactly how the IDF chooses which portions of Hamas’s tunnel system to attack from the air, but any sustained attack would depend on bombs of great penetration capability and explosive power. (Western media has been critical of the IDF’s use of one-ton bombs; CNN has analyzed more than 500 large craters in Gaza and found them consistent with those produced by underground explosions.) Because Hamas routes these tunnels under and into buildings throughout Gaza, Israeli attacks inevitably also produce damage on the surface. Though tunnels and underground bunkers are not the only target for the Israeli Air Force, their importance and ubiquity likely induce many of its strikes.The US military, for example, encountered a large tunnel system near Saigon, called the “tunnels of Cu Chi,” during the Vietnam War. After years of indecisive attacks by ground forces, artillery, and tactical aircraft, Washington loosed B-52 strategic bombers on the tunnel network in 1969 and finally destroyed most of it.Observers can understand Israeli choices without endorsing them, or more importantly, supporting them. But they should understand the reasons for their opposition. Individuals can oppose Israel’s war on the basis of their own morality, but the United States as a nation, given its own military history, including recent history, does not have much ethical ground to stand on in decrying Israeli strategy.Neither, for that matter, do Arab governments. Israel is not doing anything that the United States and its Arab allies have not done — and done recently. Some may claim that Washington has had an epiphany and would never do this again, but such a claim is not credible. When the United States is provoked, it is historically quite ferocious. So-called collateral damage results.Hamas, for its part, appears unconcerned about putting Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. Indeed, this is a feature, not a bug, of their political and military strategy. Some use the term “human shield” for this strategy, but that is incomplete. This element of Hamas’s strategy could also be described as “human camouflage,” and more ruthlessly as “human ammunition.”On a daily basis, the activities of civil society obscure Hamas’s activities. More importantly, Hamas understands that civilian casualties are an Achilles’ heel for Western military operations. Liberal democracies put a high value on the individual, and hence on every human life. Lawyers have developed an elaborate legal structure to regulate the conduct of warfare because of this respect for the individual, which is enshrined in international treaties.Western militaries, including the IDF, try to live by these laws, though the law of armed conflict does not proscribe them from waging war. They try to follow these rules in part because they reflect the values of the societies that they serve and in part because of an expectation of reciprocity, but also because pragmatically, they know that lots of civilian casualties can become a political liability at home and abroad. Hamas spends the lives of Palestinian civilians as ammunition in an information war. They are not the first to do so, and they probably will not be the last.The course of every urban campaign will be influenced by unique factors, but at the same time, they share similarities. When a capable defender, even in small numbers, has time to prepare a defense in an urban environment, the attacker will meet serious difficulties. The attacking force will always be interested in doing as well as it can at the least cost to itself, especially in terms of its own casualties. This means that it will bring not only all of its cunning to bear on the problem, but also that it will, as has generally been the case in modern times whenever the defense proves strong, bring lots of firepower to the fight.Urban offensives will therefore generally do very serious damage to buildings and infrastructure. If civilians are constrained to remain in these areas of intense combat, for whatever reason, they will suffer immensely, as have the civilians of Gaza.Cities have grown in size and density as the population of the planet has grown and as more and more people move to cities to be a part of the modern economy. The Israeli offensive in Gaza, the US-led coalition offensives in Mosul and Raqqa, and even the bloody and clumsy Russian siege of Mariupol may not be anomalies.Instead, they are a window into future war. Rather than imagining pristine military operations, analysts and strategists should better understand the implications of failed diplomacy, or of conflicts simply left unsettled because diplomatic engagement is politically inexpedient.Few political disputes will be settled by invitational armored battles in empty plains and deserts. War is an extension of politics, and politics happen among people.

Ship hit by Houthis last month sinks in Red Sea, the 1st vessel lost in the conflict-Yemen’s internationally recognized PM bemoans ‘unprecedented environmental disaster’; Belize-flagged, Lebanese-operated boat Rubymar was abandoned after struck by Iran-backed group-By Agencies Today, 3:20 pm-MAR 2,24

A ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.The sinking of the Rubymar comes as shipping through the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe has been affected by the Houthi attacks.Already, many ships have turned away from the route. The sinking could see further detours and higher insurance rates put on vessels plying the waterway — potentially driving up global inflation and affecting aid shipments to the region.The Belize-flagged Rubymar had been drifting northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.Yemen’s internationally recognized government, as well as a regional military official, confirmed the ship sank. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as no authorization was given to speak to journalists about the incident.The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which watches over Mideast waterways, separately acknowledged the Rubymar’s sinking Saturday afternoon.The Rubymar’s Beirut-based manager could not be immediately reached for comment.Yemen’s exiled government, which has been backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, said the Rubymar sank late Friday as stormy weather took hold over the Red Sea. The vessel had been abandoned for 12 days after the attack, though plans had been made to try and tow the ship to a safe port.The Iran-backed Houthis, who had falsely claimed the ship sank almost instantly after the attack, did not immediately acknowledge the ship’s sinking.The US military’s Central Command previously warned the vessel’s cargo of fertilizer, as well as fuel leaking from the ship, could cause ecological damage to the Red Sea.Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, called the ship’s sinking “an unprecedented environmental disaster.”“It’s a new disaster for our country and our people,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Every day, we pay for the Houthi militia’s adventures, which were not stopped at plunging Yemen into the coup disaster and war.”The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, since 2014, expelling the government. It has fought a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a stalemated war.Satellite pictures analyzed by The Associated Press from Planet Labs PBC showed smaller boats alongside the Rubymar on Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear whose vessels those were. The images showed the Rubymar’s stern sinking into the Red Sea but still afloat, mirroring earlier video taken of the vessel.The private security firm Ambrey separately reported Friday about a mysterious incident involving the Rubymar.“A number of Yemenis were reportedly harmed during a security incident which took place” on Friday, Ambrey said. It did not elaborate on what that incident involved and no party involved in Yemen’s yearslong war claimed any new attack on the vessel.Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.Despite over a month of US-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. That includes the attack on the Rubymar and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which began after the October 7 onslaught by Hamas, and have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition.However, there has been a slowdown in attacks in recent days. The reason for that remains unclear.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Hard-liners leading in Iran parliamentary election with reported record-low turnout-Friday’s vote was 1st since the bloody crackdown on the 2022 nationwide protests following death of Mahsa Amini in police custody-By AP Today, 3:07 pm-MAR 2,24

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A day after the parliamentary election concluded in Iran, hard-liners are leading in initial vote counting in the capital of Tehran, state media reported Saturday.State-run IRNA news agency and state TV said 1,960 from 5,000 ballots in Tehran have been counted so far, based on an interior ministry report that is updated hourly.Officials have not yet released the total voter turnout. However, IRNA said it was 41 percent, based on unofficial reports.In the last parliamentary election in 2019, only 42% of eligible voters headed to the ballot stations. It was considered the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Hard-liners have controlled the parliament for the past two decades — with chants of “Death to America” often heard while in session.Under Iranian law, the parliament has a variety of roles, including overseeing the executive branch and voting on treaties. In practice, absolute power in Iran rests with its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Friday’s election was the first since the bloody crackdown on the 2022 nationwide protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.Amini, 22, died on September 16, 2022, after her arrest by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict headscarf law forcing women to cover their hair and entire bodies.The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. In the severe clampdown that followed, over 500 people were killed and nearly 20,000 arrested, according to human rights activists in Iran.

'They're rewarding violence and punishing a speaker' Protesters dog Israeli speaker at LA Holocaust Museum after UC Berkeley event canceled-IDF veteran and Kohelet Policy Forum deputy director Ran Bar-Yoshafat has been heckled before – but says the violence that university administrators capitulated to is unprecedented-By jacob gurvis Today, 1:50 pm-MAR 2,24

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — As a member of the Israeli military who frequently speaks on Israel’s behalf, Ran Bar-Yoshafat is used to being heckled by anti-Israel protesters, especially on college campuses.But he says what happened to him at the University of California, Berkeley this week — where a planned appearance was canceled because of a protest that turned violent — was on a different level.“They’re giving [a] prize to the violent side, and basically shutting down the person who wants to speak,” Bar-Yoshafat told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I didn’t get a chance to even say, ‘Hello, my name is Ran.’”Bar-Yoshafat’s scheduled appearance on Thursday at Los Angeles’ Holocaust museum, three days after the Berkeley incident, took place without interruption — although several dozen protesters amassed outside and later clashed with pro-Israel demonstrators who arrived.“We are not protesting the Holocaust museum,” one of the leaders of the protest announced over a loudspeaker as the group began its demonstration. “We are protesting an IDF soldier.”She made sure the group knew Bar-Yoshafat’s name, then led chants that included, “Yoshafat, you can’t hide, you committed genocide.”Israeli soldiers and former soldiers have faced protests around the world since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Hamas-led onslaught on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, and saw another 253 abducted to the Gaza Strip, where many are still being held.In England, a university rabbi who left to join the reserves faced death threats upon his return. In Canada, a champion athlete had an International Women’s Day speech canceled over her long-ago IDF service. And events featuring IDF soldiers organized by pro-Israel campus organizations have drawn protests at colleges and universities across the United States, including at Georgetown University and SUNY New Paltz this week.In addition to being a reservist who recently spent 100 days fighting in Gaza, Bar-Yoshafat is an attorney and longtime advocate for Israel who has spoken on its behalf in the US for decades. (He is also deputy director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, the conservative Jerusalem think tank behind the judicial overhaul that divided Israelis last year.)-So he has had experience facing protests before. He recalled an incident that occurred at the University of California, Davis about 12 years ago, when protesters interrupted a speech he gave. He said the university handled it smoothly and allowed the event to proceed.“People don’t have to like me,” he said. “They can come and have a walkout, which is, I think, immature, but they’re allowed to do so.”What happened at Berkeley, he said, was different. There, his talk was derailed after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the venue, smashed windows and, according to some accounts, physically attacked students who had come for the event. The setting for Bar-Yoshafat’s speech had been moved, but the university police decided to evacuate the space at the last minute, saying that they could not guarantee students’ safety. UC Berkeley Police are now investigating the incident.Bar-Yoshafat said he was “surprised by the magnitude of their violence” and had expected Berkeley to be better prepared with security.“They physically attacked students, spat on them, verbally attacking and physically assaulting them,” he said. “And the university was punishing me. I didn’t say a word.”Berkeley, where student activists in the 1960s formed a Free Speech Movement advocating for unconstrained political speech on campus and touching off a wave of student civil disobedience, has seen multiple instances of unrest in recent years over right-wing speakers coming to the school. Protests of far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017 caused a reported $100,000 in damage, while six people were arrested while protesting a 2019 speech by the commentator Ann Coulter.Ultimately, Bar-Yoshafat held a small talk at a different location in Berkeley. And on Thursday night, he addressed about 70 people at the LA Holocaust Museum.Jen Stock, the LA regional director for Club Z, the Zionist youth organization that put on the event, told JTA that the lecture’s schedule had been altered to prevent museum-goers from encountering the anticipated protests.The museum had its usual security staff on hand, and a group of LAPD officers arrived moments before a pro-Palestinian protest began in the park directly outside the museum. Attendees had to be checked in by security in order to enter the building.The protesters, some of whom represented the Palestinian Youth Movement organization, arrived bearing Palestinian flags, signs and megaphones. Many wore keffiyehs and other face coverings, while one carried a baby doll painted with fake blood.The group of roughly two to three dozen protesters began chanting variations of “Free Palestine” and anti-Israel phrases, some of which specifically named Bar-Yoshafat and US President Joe Biden.Tensions rose when a smaller group of pro-Israel counterprotestors arrived, waving Israeli and American flags. The two sides began yelling at each other, calling each other Nazis, terrorists and obscenities.One pro-Palestinian protester, who declined to share his name, said he is a US military veteran and is fed up with American support for Israel.“How in the world can the US support killing women and children?” he asked. “This s— is unforgivable.”An Israeli counter-protester, who also declined to share his name, said the pro-Palestinian activists had been brainwashed and claimed without evidence that they were protesting for money.“They’ve never been to Gaza, “ he said. “They’re just getting paid to be here.”A few times throughout the roughly two-hour protest, members of the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli camps grew heated, though there was no violence beyond the occasional shove. LAPD officers watched from outside the museum, shining flashlights on people when they got physical.Michael Weintraub, a Los Angeles local who attended Bar-Yoshafat’s speech, said he was aware of the incident at Berkeley, and called the protesters outside the LA event “misguided.”“They have an agenda that allows them to see things that are almost make-believe,” he said.Bar-Yoshafat said the string of Israeli soldiers having events canceled, moved online or disrupted was an issue of free speech — one that he would be carrying with him as he returns home.“I thought I was going to come here and share my experience in Gaza,” he said. “I feel like when I go back to Israel, I’m going to share my experience from here in America.”

IDF: Lebanon strike targeted Iranian militia members involved in rocket fire on north-One of 3 reportedly killed said to be weapons technician in division that operates alongside Hezbollah; military says it also hit positions belonging to Tehran-backed terror group-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 1:32 pm-MAR 2,24

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck a vehicle near southern Lebanon’s Naqoura on Saturday, targeting operatives belonging to the Imam Hossein Division, an Iranian militia that operates alongside Hezbollah.According to the IDF, the operatives were involved in recent rocket fire on northern Israel.Arab media reports, citing Lebanese sources, said three people were killed in the strike on a vehicle on a coastal road.One of the men was a weapons technician, a security source in Lebanon told the Reuters news agency.The IDF also said fighter jets carried out strikes on Hezbollah positions in Labbouneh, and two more buildings belonging to the terror group in Blida overnight.It published footage showing the strike on the vehicle and the Hezbollah compounds.Meanwhile, on Saturday, Hezbollah announced the deaths of seven more members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.Hezbollah has named 229 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 37 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against Hamas there.So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of ten IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Officials close to US President Joe Biden are concerned that Israel is planning to launch a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the coming months, US media reported Thursday.According to the CNN report, the Biden administration has held intelligence briefings on the matter, preparing for the possibility that the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group cannot be made to retreat from the border through diplomatic measures.Speaking to the network on the condition of anonymity, one senior official said that the Biden administration was “operating in the assumption” that a ground operation would occur in the coming months.The Biden administration has tasked special envoy Amos Hochstein with forging a deal to end the fighting. Additionally, France delivered a written proposal to Beirut aimed at ending hostilities last month. It included negotiations to settle the disputed Lebanon-Israel frontier and a withdrawal of Hezbollah’s Radwan elite unit 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.Israel has warned that it will no longer tolerate the presence of Hezbollah along the Lebanon frontier, where it could attempt to carry out an attack similar to the massacre committed by Hamas in the south on October 7.A failure of international diplomacy to force Hezbollah away from the border would necessitate an Israeli offensive, the country has said.The Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Lebanon came a day after Iran alleged a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy serving as a military adviser in Syria was killed in an IDF strike.Iranian media reports said Reza Zarei was killed along with two members of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.The IRGC have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria due to a spate of deadly Israeli strikes and were relying more on allied Shiite militia to preserve their sway there, Reuters reported in February.There was no comment from Syrian authorities.There was also no statement from Israel, which rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, to expand its presence there.

US: Houthi surface-to-air missile hit in strike, amid ‘imminent threat’ to aircraft-CENTCOM says projectile was ‘prepared to launch’ at American planes; Iran-backed group fires missile into Red Sea in separate incident-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 10:48 am-MAR 2,24

US forces struck and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile in Yemen Friday after deciding it posed an “imminent threat” to American aircraft, the US Central Command in the Middle East announced on X.It is unclear if there were any casualties on the ground.The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.The US is spearheading a naval coalition to protect vessels in the vital waterway, and has also conducted air strikes in Houthi territory, both on its own and alongside Britain.On Friday afternoon, US “forces conducted a self-defense strike against one Iranian-backed Houthi surface-to-air missile that was prepared to launch,” CENTCOM said in a statement, adding it had “determined [the missile] presented an imminent threat to US aircraft in the region.”It went on to say that the Houthis on Friday night had launched an anti-ship missile into the Red Sea, but “there was no impact or damage to any vessels.”There have been over 30 US strikes in Yemen over the past month and a half; a few were conducted with allied involvement. In addition, US warships have taken out dozens of incoming missiles, rockets and drones targeting commercial and other Navy vessels.The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched exploding drones and missiles at commercial vessels since November 19 as a protest against Israel’s military operations in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack in which terrorists rampaged through Israel’s south, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 253.The attacks have forced some importers to find alternate routes to transfer their goods, causing shipping to take longer and causing potentially severe damage to the economy.In response, the US and the UK have struck Houthi targets in Yemen, causing the Iran-backed group to declare a ban on Friday on all US-, UK-, and Israeli-owned ships passing through the Red Sea. However, ships with no clear links to those countries have been targeted as well.The Houthis have also fired rockets and launched drones toward Israel.

Analysis-What would Donald do? Here’s what we know about how Trump would handle Israel and Gaza-While the former president hasn’t released a detailed plan on the war, he points to support for Israel during his first term and his posture toward Iran, which funds Hamas-Ron Kampeas-By Ron Kampeas Today, 6:17 am-MAR 2,24

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For months, poll after poll has been clear on one thing: Most Americans don’t like the way US President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas war.In December, a New York Times poll found that 33% of voters approved of his approach to the war, and earlier this month, an AP poll put the number at 31%. And the divide isn’t just partisan: The AP poll found that most Democrats also disapproved of Biden’s Gaza war policy, which has backed Israel’s aims.Still, there are concrete signs that the dissent could tank Biden’s reelection chances: This week, 100,000 people voted “Uncommitted” in the Michigan Democratic primary, many of them in protest of Biden’s staunch support of Israel.But Biden isn’t the only candidate cruising to his party’s nomination: As the November election nears, a rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump appears all but certain. And if a significant number of voters ditch Biden over Israel, it would likely be a boon for his Republican predecessor and opponent.So what would Trump do about the war if he were elected president? The former president has not released a detailed plan on the war, but arguments from Trump and his supporters focus on his support for Israel during his first term, and his posture toward Iran, an ally and funder of Hamas.While many of the loudest Biden critics accuse the president of being too deferential to Israel, Trump takes the opposite tack: He says Biden is putting Israel in danger. Democrats argue, meanwhile, that Trump’s isolationist bent, unpredictability and lingering animosity toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would also be bad for Israel.Trump has given no indication that he would be more sympathetic to Palestinian claims, nor that he would place more pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.“The approach of the United States would be that Israel needs to win this war, it was attacked brutally,” Trump’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, describing how Trump would act. Friedman is now a campaign surrogate for Trump.“It is important for Israel, it is important for Israel’s neighbors as well, that Israel wins this war,” he said. “And the United States is not going to micromanage the war. They’re not going to tell Israel how to win.”In his classic style, Trump threads his criticisms of Biden’s handling of Israel through a litany of his other favored subjects — ranging from Mexico to China to the American left to his false claims about winning the 2020 presidential election.At the conservative CPAC gathering late last month, Trump said Israel was safer when he left office in January 2021. He homed in on Iran’s financial and logistical support for Hamas, and said his pressure on Iran had left the country unable to support its proxies. In 2018, Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by Barack Obama, and imposed more stringent sanctions on Iran.“Iran was broke and they had no money for Hamas, and they had no money for Hezbollah. They had no money for anything,” Trump said. “They were down to almost nothing, and there were a lot of stories that Iran was unable — that all these terror groups were angry at Iran because they weren’t paying and the terror groups were all breaking up.”In the speech, he added, “If I were president, Israel would have never been attacked, would have never been.” He also claimed, without elaborating, that if he loses in November, Hamas and Antifa, the left-wing anti-fascist movement, would “terrorize our streets” and that their ideology would “take over our schools.”There is no evidence that the terror groups funded by Iran were breaking up in 2020, as Trump claims. But according to congressional testimony in late October by Gabriel Noronha, an analyst from the conservative Jewish Institute for the National Security of America, Iran did cut funding to Hamas. Trump’s sanctions put Hamas on an “austerity plan,” he said.Iran’s oil exports since then have skyrocketed. But the change has come mostly because China — which has become increasingly antagonistic to the United States under both Trump and Biden — has favored Iran’s cheap, high-quality petroleum. Iran has resumed its funding for the Gaza terrorist group and it is now at “record highs,” Noronha said.Biden has added sanctions on Iran since Trump left office. But Trump’s advisers blast Biden for a deal last year that traded the release of $6 billion in Iranian assets for the freedom of Americans held in Iranian prison. Biden administration officials say the money is strictly controlled and is only available for humanitarian purposes. Trump advisers counter that it frees up funds for Iran’s regional aggression.“The money that now Iran is using to sell oil, the money that you cut off to the Palestinians that they now have, the money you cut off to the United Nations that they still have, all of this was the lubricant that enabled Hamas to conduct their horrible attacks, and Hezbollah too,” said Friedman at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 22. “You cut it all off and President Biden brought it all back and so we really wish you never left office because we’re feeling the pain right now.”Pro-Israel figures who favor Trump also note that Qassem Soleimani, the senior Iranian military leader, was assassinated in 2020, on Trump’s watch.“Trump did not want to go to war with Iran, but he was willing to use force outside of Iran against Iran,” Joel Pollak, the senior editor at large at Breitbart News, a hardline right-wing news outlet that favored Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, said in an interview. (Biden, for his part, has targeted Iranian allies and proxies, and has not stood in the way of Israel targeting Iranian figures.)Biden has embraced Israel since the outbreak of war on October 7, traveling there, literally embracing Netanyahu and advocating for increased aid in an Oval Office address. Recently he’s become more critical of its leadership and military conduct, and pushed for more humanitarian aid. The United States has also spearheaded negotiations for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release.Pro-Israel Democrats have lauded Biden’s stance. They caution that Trump’s increasingly isolationist leanings could bode poorly for American support for Israel. When it comes to another major global conflict, in Ukraine, Trump has steadfastly opposed giving aid to Kyiv and has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. His slogan remains “America First.”“It’s hard to imagine when the going gets tough that Trump’s going to stick with Israel because the fact is, he doesn’t stick with anybody when the going gets tough,” said Mark Mellman, the CEO of the Democratic Majority for Israel.Some of Trump’s Jewish allies want him to take an even harder line on Hamas in Gaza, including suggesting that he reduce humanitarian aid into the territory, which aid groups have warned is on the verge of starvation.“Biden is directly aiding Hamas terrorists,” Chaya Raichik, the Jewish woman who runs the right-wing LibsOfTikTok social media presence, said in December on X, formerly Twitter. She attached a screenshot of stories alleging that humanitarian aid was reaching Hamas and not Gaza civilians.Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s lead spokesman, did not return requests for comment, but a number of Trump’s surrogates, particularly Friedman, have been more specific in explaining how he would better handle Hamas.In an interview, Friedman said Trump would give Israel a freer hand than Biden, who has pressured the Netanyahu government to be more precise in its attacks. Biden has called Israel’s bombing “indiscriminate” and has said that its conduct has been “over the top.”Friedman also said Trump would not pressure Israel, as Biden has, to embrace the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority as a replacement for Hamas in Gaza in “day after” scenarios. Biden argues that the P.A., after reforms, is the best option for a functioning Palestinian government in Gaza.Trump cut off contact with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, when Abbas objected to Trump’s 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. His allies, along with much of the pro-Israel right, castigate the P.A. for providing salaries to Palestinian terrorists and their families, and say Abbas incites his constituents to violence.“This guy is never going to deliver anything good,” Friedman said of Abbas. “He continues to pay terrorists, he continues to spout these antisemitic slogans. I mean, he’s a bad guy.”When he was in office, Trump was particularly close with Netanyahu, who is also on the right. But the relationship soured after 2020, when Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his victory. Trump falsely claims that he won the election and saw the standard congratulatory message as a betrayal. The following year, Trump reportedly said of Netanyahu, “F— him.”The acrimony has persisted. In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel that saw 1,200 people brutally murdered and 253 abducted to the Gaza Strip, Trump shocked Israelis by attacking Netanyahu.“I will never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” he said. “That was a very terrible thing.”The DMFI’s Mellman said Trump’s fickle attitude was bad for Israel. He noted Trump’s praise for Putin.“Donald Trump is as inconsistent a human being as exists in our world,” he said. “I’m not really sure that a pro-Putin Trump, anti-Europe Trump, someone who walks away from our other allies, is necessarily going to stand with Israel when the going gets tough.”Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have in recent weeks frustrated the pro-Israel community by blocking the emergency transfer of $14.1 billion in defense assistance to Israel. Trump has suggested converting aid to Israel, currently a grant, to a loan.Pollak, the Breitbart editor, said Trump’s unpredictability was an asset for Israel. He noted that Biden has nurtured ties with Qatar in a bid to get the country to leverage its relationship with Hamas to bring about the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.Trump, Pollack said, would be willing to take a harder line in negotiations.Trump “would have used the stick of moving the base,” Pollak said, referring to the massive US military base in the Gulf country. “And maybe he would be saying to the Hamas leaders who are still holed up in Gaza, ‘I will let you survive individually, you can join your billionaire friends in exile, if you give up the hostages. He has a broader toolbox because he was willing to think outside the box and be unpredictable.”

In Moscow talks, Hamas and Fatah vow to seek ‘unity of action’ on post-war Gaza-Representatives agree on future dialogue to bring terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad under the PLO umbrella-By Agencies and ToI Staff 1 March 2024, 6:16 pm

Palestinian factions including rivals Fatah and the Hamas terror group said on Friday they would pursue “unity of action” in confronting Israel after representatives met at Russia-hosted talks.The meeting in Moscow on Thursday brought together Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Palestinian groups for talks on the war in Gaza and an eventual post-war period.It came on the heels of the resignation of the Palestinian Authority government, which is led by Fatah and based in the West Bank.Outgoing prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called for intra-Palestinian consensus as he announced his resignation, and some analysts said the development could pave the way for a government of technocrats that could operate in the West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza after the war.Arab and Western leaders have been pushing for reforms to the Palestinian Authority as they discuss possible reconstruction efforts.A statement on Friday by the Palestinian factions represented in Moscow said there would be an “upcoming dialogue” to bring them under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).Thursday’s “constructive” talks saw agreement on points including the need for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the creation of a Palestinian state, the statement said.While Hamas and Islamic Jihad are designated terror groups, the PLO is internationally recognized as representing Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and the diaspora.Discussions in recent years about integrating Hamas into the PLO have ended in failure. Hamas kicked the PA out of Gaza in 2007 in a violent takeover of the Strip.In recent years, Moscow has strived to maintain good relations with all actors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Fatah and Hamas.Russia’s relations with Israel have become strained amid Moscow’s criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza, its invasion of Ukraine and increasingly close ties with Iran.The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took another 253 hostages.Israel launched an offensive in Gaza aimed at returning the hostages and destroying Hamas.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed so far. The figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.The IDF says it has killed more than 13,000 Hamas operatives in addition to another 1,000 killed inside Israel on October 7.