Hamas…Israel Conflict Day 310….Same ole’…Same Old…..

Israel moves again on it’s ‘Land for Peace’ policy…..

Waiting to see if Iran and its proxies actually strike back at Israel….

Another day of captivity for hostages and POW’s….

• The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to visit the Gaza Strip “even if it costs my life,” using a speech to Turkey’s Parliament on Thursday to renew criticism of Israel. It was not immediately clear whether such a visit was feasible, and Mr. Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has not been to the enclave since Hamas seized power there in 2007. Israeli officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Mr. Abbas, who was wrapping up a two-day visit to Turkey, received a standing ovation from lawmakers. Both he and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a harsh critic of Israel’s approach to the war in Gaza, entered the chamber wearing scarves bearing the Palestinian and Turkish flags.

• More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, including women and children, the Gazan Health Ministry said on Thursday. The ministry’s figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Asked about the reported toll, Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, told reporters that any number of civilian deaths “above zero” was troubling and reiterated a U.S. call for restraint. Also Thursday, Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that the Israeli military had killed more than 17,000 combatants in the enclave since the war’s start, but he did not say how the military had arrived at that number, or how it had distinguished combatants from civilians.

• Marking 100 days since the Israeli closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the Gaza government press office said at a news conference on Thursday that the closure had severely hurt Gaza’s health care system. The closure is preventing the entry of medical supplies and aid, and blocking critically ill patients from receiving necessary treatment abroad, a spokesman for the office said. The office estimated that more than 1,000 people had died because they could not leave through the crossing in southern Gaza. The Israeli military seized the crossing when it moved into the city of Rafah in May, calling it an important step in reducing Hamas’s control over the territory.

• The United States imposed new sanctions on Thursday intended to cut off financing to Iranian-backed militias. The measures targeted several companies, individuals and vessels involved in shipping Iranian commodities to finance its proxy groups, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, the U.S. Treasury said….

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A new Israeli settlement planned for construction in the occupied West Bank will encroach on Palestinian land recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, Israeli peace activists say.

Much of the international community views Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, and many were established illegally under Israeli law, but tolerated by the government.

Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister and a settler himself, gave preliminary approval to the new settlement, Nahal Heletz, in June, and the country’s planning authorities signed off on it on Wednesday.

But the area designated for the settlement was much bigger than what was shown in a plan the government published in July, according to an Israeli advocacy group, Peace Now, which closely tracks settlements. The new plan claims over 150 acres rather than the 30 acres announced previously, and all of it is on UNESCO-designated territory, the group said.

Mr. Smotrich, who is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has pushed for measures that would expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank in exchange for the release of funds withheld from the Palestinian Authority, which partly administers the territory….

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Iran Update, August 15, 2024

Aug 15, 2024 – ISW Press