It does appear that IDF troops have the ok to take out ANY Hamas operative spotted with no regard for civilian causalities….
It also appears that Hamas operatives routinely hide among civilians ….
The US and Saudi efforts to stop Houthi attacks have had limited success….
Peace/Hostage talks???
At least 39 people were killed by Israeli strikes across northern Gaza on Saturday, as rescue workers scrambled to find survivors beneath the rubble, according to Palestinian and hospital officials.
Fadel Naem, director of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency group active in Gaza, said its emergency workers were digging for survivors at the site of a strike in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and that it had pulled several dozen bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City.
Israel said Saturday that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate further.
The deaths come a day after at least 25 people were killed in strikes on tent camps and 50 wounded near the southern city of Rafah. Israel said Saturday that it was continuing to operate in central and southern Gaza and has pushed ahead with its invasion of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Most have now fled the city, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and humanitarian conditions are dire as families shelter in tents and cramped apartments without adequate food, water or medical supplies.
A separate Israeli strike Saturday in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley killed a member of the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni Muslim faction closely allied with Hamas, according to the group. The member was the seventh killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began….
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Status of the Houthi fighters who used to be a just a problem for Saudi Arabia…
The recent uptick in Houthi activity has underscored the group’s ability to pose a sustained threat, relying in part on a steady flow of Iranian arms and expertise both to withstand U.S. strikes and remain on the attack. The faltering U.S. efforts to halt Houthi operations and protect global shipping have also drawn scrutiny from Congress, where lawmakers say not enough is being done to establish deterrence….
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For the Houthis, the relative success of their Red Sea campaign has given them the flexibility to more easily maneuver in the region and at home.
“This is an attempt to demonstrate that the Houthis are a serious regional actor,” said Hannah Porter, a Yemen researcher with ARK Group, a U.K.-based international development organization. After engaging in direct combat with the U.S. military, Porter said the Houthis “can now portray themselves as a power player,” and use that to tighten their grip domestically or in ongoing peace talks with Saudi Arabia….
Jun 22, 2024 – ISW Press
Russian forces appear to be intensifying the tempo of their offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast while decreasing the rate of attacks in northern Kharkiv Oblast