Hostage swaps for Palestians continue…
People keep returning to the desolate Gaza ….
Hamas and the Palestine Authority are in the territory….
Iran is trying to replenish Hezbollah with Israel NOT happy and lancuhing limited attacks even with a cease-fire agreement…
As has been stated here….
Hamas IS still in Gaza despite Israel’s goal of exterminating it….
USA President IS going to be under pressuere from Saudia Arabia and other Arab countries to achieve a Palestine State, something RightWingNuts in Israel are dead set against…
Israeli’s are tired of the conflict….
Want the hostagaes back and some sort of peace and security of a political NOT military solution….
Gaza’s border with Egypt is reopening to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to leave, officials said Friday, after more than eight months during which many who have needed medical care were trapped.
Reopening the crossing at Rafah, which has long been Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world, is a key stipulation of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Mediators hope that the agreement, which has begun with a 42-day cease-fire and hostage-for-prisoner swaps, will ultimately end the devastating 15-month-long war in Gaza.
As part of the truce, Israel agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing after the release of the remaining living female hostages held by Hamas, which took place on Thursday. Israel committed to allowing up to 50 sick and wounded Palestinian fighters to leave through Rafah per day, in addition to Palestinian women and children who need medical care.
The first group of Gazans was expected to leave on Saturday, now that European and Palestinian officials have conducted a trial run of the new arrangements at the crossing, according to two European diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate preparations.
The World Health Organization said it hoped to bring around 50 critically injured and sick patients through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, but it did not identify them. Over 12,000 Gazans still need medical evacuation, the organization said.
“If we continue like this, at the pace we have, we will be busy for the next 15 years,” Rik Peeperkorn, the top W.H.O. official for the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters by videoconference.
Hamas had overseen the border between Gaza and Egypt since the group took full control of the enclave in 2007, after winning elections in 2006. Israel then seized the crossing in May during its offensive against Hamas in Rafah.
The crossing is being reopened with a new security arrangement between Israel, Egypt and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival, according to Israeli, Palestinian and European officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.
Israel has resisted the notion that the Palestinian Authority would control postwar Gaza, despite the urging of the Biden administration. President Trump’s vision for who might rule the enclave after the conflict remains unclear.
The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said that the “practical involvement of the Palestinian Authority” would be only “its stamp on the passports.” Israeli forces would remain “positioned around the crossing” and no one would be allowed through without the approval of Israel’s security services, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said….
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Lebanon strikes: Amid the extension of a fragile cease-fire, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes overnight targeting the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, a bastion of support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that was hit hard during the war. Lebanon’s health ministry said that at least two people were killed and 10 others wounded in the attacks, which followed airstrikes in southern Lebanon earlier this week that injured two dozen people. The Israeli military said the overnight strikes had targeted an underground weapon-manufacturing facility used by Hezbollah, along with areas along the Syrian border used to smuggle weapons into Lebanon. The attacks came after Israel said it had intercepted a Hezbollah surveillance drone on Thursday that was approaching Israel’s northern border. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah….
Jan 31, 2025 – ISW Press
Iran is financially supporting the military reconstitution of Lebanese Hezbollah.
Jan 31, 2025 – ISW Press
The Israeli campaign into the Gaza Strip was a military success but has fallen short thus far of setting conditions to replace Hamas as a governing entity. The Israeli government enumerated three objectives at the beginning of the war: destroy Hamas’ military, return the hostages, and destroy Hamas’ government. These objectives—though expansive—were achievable through a combination of military and political action. The Israeli campaign succeeded in destroying Hamas’ military and securing a ceasefire that would release the hostages. The campaign has also isolated Hamas in the Gaza Strip, though Israel and its partners will need to ensure that Hamas remains contained. But neither Israel nor the United States has tried seriously to achieve a political end state that would build upon this military success and permanently replace Hamas as a governing entity in the Gaza Strip.
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