President Biden annouces pleadges for aid to Israel and Gaza….
Israel in contact with hostages families who are increasing NOT happy with Israli Prime Minister Netanyahu…
Almost two weeks since the Hamas attack and atrocities….
The Israeli’s have NOT crossed into Gaza with ground forces…
Israel forces are enegaged in small fights with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon ….
A US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has taken out missiles fired from Yemen at Israel…..
US Troops in Syria and Iraq has had drones aimed at them….
……Mr. Biden’s address came amid heightened hope that some humanitarian aid would soon enter Gaza, where basic human necessities are nearly depleted after more than a week of an Israeli siege triggered by Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, which claimed more than 1,400 lives and put more than 200 hostages in enemy hands. During and after a bold visit to Israel on Wednesday, Mr. Biden said both Israel and Egypt had agreed to let the aid through. Trucks full of food, water and medicine are waiting near Egypt’s border crossing into Gaza.
Gazans, already living under a 16-year blockade by Israel and Egypt, have been facing increasingly desperate conditions since Israel responded to Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack with airstrikes and a “complete siege” of the enclave, where Hamas is embedded among a densely packed civilian population of some two million.
After an Israel evacuation order for Gaza’s north, and amid intense Israeli airstrikes, nearly half of Gaza’s people have been displaced, according to the United Nations, and dwindling essential resourcesthreaten civilians with disaster.
Other developments:
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Israel’s military said it had been in contact with the families of 203 people taken hostage in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, raising by four the number of people believed to be held in Gaza. The military also said that it had caught a Hamas fighter trying to return to Gaza, underscoring the possibility that attackers were still in Israel. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said soldiers would “continue combing the area.”
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Satellite imagery shows that hundreds of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have gathered about four miles north of the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza, in preparation for a potential ground invasion. The crossing has been closed since Hamas fighters seized it on Oct. 7.
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Israel’s northern border with Lebanon remained tense as Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and the Israeli military continued clashes there. With Israel threatening a ground invasion of Gaza, many in the region fear that the fighting could escalate into a war involving Lebanon.
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Seven Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, including one who was shot dead by settlers during an attack on a Palestinian village. The remaining six were killed by Israeli forces during overnight raids, the ministry said.
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Gaza health officials told a news conference that at least 3,785 people had been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the enclave since Oct. 7. The figures are believed to include casualties from the hospital explosion in Gaza City. Hamas and Israel blame each other for that blast, which prompted sporadic protests in Europe and in some Arab nations for a second night…..
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Does Hamas have a ‘second wave’ to be brought against Israel?
As the intensity of the Gaza war increases, so do the odds that Hamas will unveil a deadly surprise, according to analysts who study the group’s military capabilities. A day after the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, Hamas announced that it had used 35 self-detonating drones — all of them based on Zouari’s early weapons designs — in the assault they dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The group’s weaponeers also are known to have acquired technology for an array of new weapons, from powerful mines and roadside bombs to precision-guided munitions. Some were developed by Hamas engineers outside Gaza, in most cases with technical assistance from Iran.
Most of the weapons used on Oct. 7 had been seen before. But experts fear that Hamas may be holding a more technologically advanced arsenal in reserve, preferring to deploy those weapons as a response to an Israeli ground assault that its leaders surely knew would be coming….
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US military units are already involved defensive situations in the Hamas/Israel conflict….
The incidents have involved U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria and aboard a Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, said Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman. Speaking at a news conference, he said the spate of action entailed three attack drones targeting U.S. military positions in Iraq on Tuesday, two drones zeroing in on a garrison in Syria on Wednesday, and the downing by personnel on the USS Carney of cruise missiles and drones launched by Iranian-backed fighters, possibly aimed at Israel.
“Our defensive response was one that we would have taken for any similar threat in the region where we’re able to do so against our interests, personnel and partners,” Ryder said….
It is pretty remarkable that jamesb continues to be so anti-Israel as to describe the Oval Office Address tonight as the “Gaza Aid Speech.” I do not think many people will be calling it that. It was mostly about sending money and material support to Israel and Ukraine in their fights for survival.
He did mention some humanitarian aid will be sent to the people of Gaza and have no objection to that in theory, but he also seemed to admit that Hamas might steal this money, and if so, the U.S. will not give anymore.
CG?
I am NOT anti-Israel because I don’t have the blood thirst for ‘Revenge’…..
The actions of indiscriminate violence and killing is NOTHING to be proud about….
Hamas in the end has made a HUGE mistake….
There action is NOT the way to achieve a goal….
I am SURE that Israel will continue to seek out as it already has the leaders of the Hamas action and make them pay for the action….
Over the last 13 days I have taken a serious overview of the conflict….
The violence and killing of innocent’s by BOTH sides is WRONG and swerves NO REAL purpose except pain and suffering….
I have pointed out the same for the conflict in the Ukraine …..
The loss of live and suffering by the innocents is WRONG….
They are ALL human beings ….
They deserve BETTER and Safety with long lives….
Palestinians, Israeli’s, Ukrainians and Russian’s deserve NO Less…..
Displacing Palestians from their homes is no better then Russia grabbing parts of the Ukraine or even displacing American Indians from their ‘lands’ back in the day….
Humans have and will continue to hurt each other to get their way…..
It is who we are as a species
YOU JUST DO NOT GET IT…..
NOBODY WINS….
LOTS OF PEOPLE GET HURT AND KILLED….
Inoccent people ON BOTH sides….
But Hamas are “moderates” right? That is what you said this week. Just like you said that 1/6 should be put “in the rear view mirror.”
This is nothing new. I have seen you post for many years and as it relates to Israel and to acts of violence perpetuated against Jewish-Americans here in this country and your insinuations that certain Jewish politicians (Democrats as it is) somehow have conflicted loyalty to America when it comes to foreign policy matters. Now, you may genuinely believe you are a perfect person and mean no harm to anyone. I definitely do not think you are a danger to anyone, but I do see you for what you are.
Thank G-d that as Americans, we both have that freedom to think and say what we believe.
“He’ being Biden.
The brave men and women of the IDF are soon to be engaging in a major front on this war that will be long and dangerous.
I choose to believe that the vast majority of Americans will continue to support them in this fight.
They will be looked by many as an invading and maybe occupying Army….
America tried THAT in the Middle East….
It doesn’t play too well…..
CG?
You might want to check this Wiki link that lays out the cyclical back and forth ….
This time will beget another time with more bloodshed and lives lost ….
The actions accomplish NOTHING…….
For BOTH sides….