Biden told that timing, details of Iran’s attack still unclear: Reports

Axios and the Reuters news agency are reporting that US national security officials have told Biden and Harris that it is still unclear when Iran and Hezbollah will launch a retaliatory attack against Israel.

Axios, citing three US officials, said Biden and Harris were told that US “intelligence expects a scenario involving two waves of attacks – one from Hezbollah and one from Iran and several of its other proxies”.

But it is still unclear who is going to attack first and what kind of attack they are going to conduct, the officials said, according to Axios.

It added that “one US official said intelligence indicates the response by Iran and Hezbollah is still a ‘work in progress’ and both are undecided about what exactly they want to do”.

Austin, Gallant call attack on US troops a ‘dangerous escalation’

The US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just had another phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.

The Pentagon said Austin reiterated Washington’s “commitment to Israel’s security in the face of threats from Iran, Lebanese Hizballah [sic], and other Iran-aligned militia groups”.

The pair also agreed that an attack on US forces in Iraq earlier on Tuesday “marked a dangerous escalation and demonstrated Iran’s destabilizing role in the region”. Austin spoke to Gallant on Monday also and discussed moves to “deter and de-escalate broader tensions in the region”.

Funny Iraq describes the US bases as destabilizing forces in the region.

BAGHDAD, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of U.S-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, describing their presence as destabilising amid regional spillover from the Gaza war.

48% of Israelis support preemptive strike against Iran, Hezbollah: Poll

A poll by Israel’s 103FM radio has found that close to half of the public (48 percent) are in favour of a preemptive strike against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Some 34 percent of Israelis, however, support a strike only if Israel is attacked first, according to the poll.

Since the killing last week of several Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Israel has been bracing for an expected retaliatory attack from Iran and its allies.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised that Iran will deliver “harsh punishment”.

Public ‘sitting in fear’ of potential Iran attack, says Israeli mayor

Avichai Stern, the mayor of Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, which has been a frequent target of Hezbollah attacks during the Gaza war, says Israelis are living in fear due to the looming threat of all-out war, and urged the military to preemptively strike Iran rather than wait for its retaliation.

“Nine million citizens are sitting in fear in a sovereign state, waiting to see what will happen,” Stern told Israel’s Channel 14. “Today we are waiting for a ballistic missile attack from Iran; next time we might wait for a nuclear or atomic attack – it’s absurd!

“We need a preemptive strike,” he added.

No, you need to stop your genocide and all other crimes against humanity. A preemptive strike will only hasten all out war, not prevent it.

Delta suspends flights between New York and Tel Aviv

The US airline said it is pausing flights between New York and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv through August 31 “due to ongoing conflict in the region”.

Earlier, Germany’s Lufthansa also suspended its flights to Israel’s Tel Aviv, Iran’s Tehran, and Lebanon’s Beirut until August 12.

The moves come as several countries including Turkey, Japan, the US, the United Kingdom and France asked their citizens to leave Lebanon amid Iran’s threats to attack Israel over the assassinations of Hamas’s Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s military commander Fuad Shukr.

Middle East on ‘brink of war of unknown proportions’: EU’s Borrell

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, has issued a new plea to end the war in Gaza, which he warns has brought the region to “the brink of a war of unknown proportions”.

“All those standing the way of de-escalation shall be held accountable,” said Borrell in a post on X.

Borrell’s comments echo growing fears among policymakers of conflagration in the Middle East, as Iran and its allies threaten to strike Israel in response to its alleged assassination of several high-level Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week.

Peacekeepers crucial on Israeli-Lebanese border, will stay put: UN official

UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border are “more important than ever” as tensions mount between Israel and Hezbollah, says the UN’s under secretary-general for peace operations.

With some 10,000 troops based in southern Lebanon, the UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is “the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah”, Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP.

“It’s fundamental because it allows us to clarify certain things and avoid misunderstandings … miscalculations, uncontrolled and unwanted escalations,” he said.

UNIFIL is also key in informing all sides “when, for example, there are people who have been wounded or even killed in the area and someone needs to go in to rescue them or remove the bodies”.

The UN troops will stay in place as long as they can carry out their duties, barring “very, very serious” threats, noted Lacroix.

Need any more proof of genocidal intent?

Israeli minister says it may be ‘moral’ to starve 2 million Gazans, but ‘no one in the world would let us’

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/middleeast/israeli-minister-smotrich-starve-gazans-intl/index.html

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “it may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gaza residents until Israeli hostages are returned, but “no one in the world would let us.”

In a speech on Monday at the Katif Conference for National Responsibility in the town of Yad Binyamin, the far-right minister said Israel should take control of distributing aid inside Gaza and claimed that Hamas was in control of distribution channels within the strip.

“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages,” he said, adding that if Israel controlled aid distribution instead of Hamas, the war would have ended by now and the hostages would have returned.

“You cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other. It’s his (Hamas’) money, it’s his fuel, it’s his civilian control of the Gaza Strip. It just doesn’t work,” he said.

Israel has control over aid that enters Gaza and aid groups are in charge of distributing it. While there have been some anecdotal reports from Gazans of Hamas stealing aid, it’s unclear how rampant it is. US Special Envoy David Satterfield said in February that no Israeli official had presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance.”

Israel is facing mounting criticism from aid groups and international organizations for restricting food aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. A United Nations statement, citing independent experts, indicated last month that famine has spread across the entire enclave. The experts accused Israel of conducting an “intentional and targeted starvation campaign,” which they termed a “form of genocidal violence.”

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of “starvation as a weapon of war,” among other allegations.

Smotrich on Monday advocated for Israeli control of the aid effort “as a part or as an essential means of realizing the defined goals of the war,” and said only minimal aid is needed in Gaza in the months and years to come.

“No one talks about (Israeli) military rule (of Gaza) now. No need to unclog sewers, no need for education, no need for welfare. Gaza in the next two years is (going to be) a war zone. You need food, some medicine and a minimum of sanitation – water, sewage. That’s it,” he said.

Infrastructure damage in Gaza by Israeli strikes updated to August 4th

At least Trump's chances of getting re-elected keep dwindling

WOW: Harris Picks Walz For VP!!

BREAKING: KAMALA MAKES BEST POSSIBLE VP PICK!

Will it make a change for Gaza? Not in the short term, Biden needs to get a ceasefire done asap.

What has Kamala Harris’s VP pick said about Israel, Gaza and US policy?

Tim Walz, who served five terms in the US House of Representatives before becoming governor, has been a supporter of Israel throughout his political career.

The Minnesota governor has also been vocal about the high civilian toll in Gaza amid the war and has called for a ceasefire.

The 60-year-old has decried the “barbarism” of the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, but also appealed for more aid for Palestinians as the Israeli military’s bombardment of Gaza began.

He has since described the situation in the coastal Palestinian enclave as “intolerable”.

When about 19 percent of Democratic primary voters in Minnesota voted “uncommitted” in March to protest US policy towards the war, Walz praised them for their civic engagement.

“These are voters that are deeply concerned – as we all are,” he said, adding that “listening to what they’re saying” is a healthy thing for the Democratic Party.

West bank is slowly starting to look like Gaza...

Aftermath of Israel’s raid in Jenin

Settlers attack Palestinian vehicles in the occupied West Bank

Palestinian Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles in an area south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

The report, citing local sources, stated that under the protection of the Israeli forces, settlers hurled stones towards vehicles with Palestinian registration plates travelling close to Marah Rabah village.

Since October 7, 553 Palestinians, including 131 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The vast majority of the settlements have been built either entirely or partially on private Palestinian land.

Israeli authorities blocking Palestinians’ access to healthcare in West Bank

Restricted access to medical care, injuries and mental trauma are “an everyday reality for many Palestinians in and around Hebron, occupied West Bank, according to a new report by MSF. The report states that clinics across Hebron were “forced to close”, there is a shortage of medicine at pharmacies and there have been attacks on ambulances.

“Faced with restrictions on their movements and the threat of violence, many sick people delay seeing a doctor or have no choice but to stop medical treatments altogether,” the report added.

Trail of destruction in Bureij after deadly overnight attacks

Israeli air strikes continue to pound central Gaza, as well as hitting the eastern part of Khan Younis in what seem to be concentrated attacks.

The Israeli military is describing their attacks as “targeted killings” but judging from the kind of targets they are hitting and the people showing up injured at the hospital, they seem quite the contrary.

In the Bureij refugee camp, for example, four brothers from one family were killed in overnight attacks. It was not until this morning that paramedics and rescue teams were able to get to their bombed house and remove their bodies from under the rubble.

Eyewitnesses described the bombing as quite intense, causing massive explosions that not only destroyed the targeted home but also the majority of properties, residential homes and infrastructure in the area.

Israeli soldiers injured in eastern Rafah

In its latest war update, the Israeli military says Palestinian fighters fired antitank missiles at Israeli troops who were operating in eastern Rafah. The attack led to multiple injuries among the soldiers who were evacuated to hospital to receive medical treatment.

In May, judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah. The Israeli military has continued to attack the city in southern Gaza despite the ruling.

Another Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli attack on Gaza

Gaza’s Government Media Office says the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks has risen to 166 since the start of Israel’s war. It said in a statement that Mohammed Issa Abu Saada, a correspondent and field photojournalist for several media outlets, is the latest to be killed.

“The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation, and we hold it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime,” it said.

Three killed in Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah

At least three people have been killed and more than 10 wounded in the latest Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah.

Our colleagues in Gaza are reporting that two homes and a site housing tents for the displaced were targeted.