Israeli Prime Minister is having internal political problems….
Hamas is lying low in Rafah….
Probably waiting to see what happen ‘s with Hezbollah, and if the IDF pulls troops to the North …..
Challenges to the IDF use of heavy bombs in ciciill area’s brought up at the UN….
Israel’s prime minister clashes publicly with his coalition partners
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded in a statement on Wednesday that his coalition partners “get a hold of themselves” and “put aside all extraneous interests” to focus on the war, as divisions within Israel’s government become sharper and more public. Mr. Netanyahu has clashed with members of his own party and with far-right and religious party leaders in his coalition. The conflicts have involved how far to go in requiring military service by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who controls the assignment of rabbis to communities, leaks to the news media and how much of a voice the far right will have in setting war policy.
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Israel’s use of 2,000-pound bombs and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas of Gaza may have consistently violated international law and could constitute war crimes, the United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday. In a report that focused on six attacks last year, the office said Israeli forces “took an expansive approach to targeting” that apparently considered members of Gaza’s civilian administration and Hamas political structures, who were not directly involved in hostilities, as military targets, possibly violating the laws of war. Israel issued a 12-page rebuttal that said the U.N. report was legally unsound and revealed “numerous biases.”
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A commercial ship disabled in a Houthi attack last week is believed to have sunk, according to a British maritime agency, which said on Tuesday that oil and debris had been spotted at the vessel’s last location. The ship, a Greek-owned bulk carrier named the Tutor, was at least the second commercial vessel to be lost to attacks in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. The U.S. Navy rescued crew members from the Tutor, who gave a dramatic account of the attack….
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Israeli bombings…
In five of the strikes, Israel gave no warning, U.N. officials said.
The report comes amid rising scrutiny of Israel’s use of force — and the U.S. role in supplying weapons — in a war that has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza and left much of the enclave in rubble….
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Israel…Hezbollah….
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Jun 19, 2024 – ISW Press
Hamas is preserving its forces in Rafah rather than engaging the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), likely because Hamas does not believe Israel’s Rafah operation will be decisive.