Israel IS doing strikes in Gaza again….
Hamas will NOT release anymore hostages untill the ttacks stop and the 2nd Phanse of what was agreeded to begins….
Those in Gaza have had aid shipments vastly cut back….
Trump’s influence in this isn’t….
Trump ‘s threats have virtually no affect in the region right now….
Gaza…No Progress goiung forward….
The current fragile pause in hostilities in Gaza has come under further threat with Hamas hardening its negotiating positions amid new Israeli airstrikes in the devastated territory.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement ended two weeks ago but Israel is refusing to implement the scheduled second phase, which is supposed to end with its withdrawal from Gaza, the freedom of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, and a definitive end to the conflict.
Currently, both sides have refrained from returning to war, though Israel has conducted an intensifying series of airstrikes in Gaza that have killed dozens of Palestinians.
Israeli military officials say the victims are legitimate targets who had entered unauthorised areas, engaged in militant activities or otherwise violated the truce.
US Houthi attacks campaign….
US officials have said airstrikes launched against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis will continue indefinitely, after a first round on Saturday killed at least 53 people and injured almost 100 more.
The strikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, are Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, told Fox News: “The minute the Houthis say ‘we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones’, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
Hegseth was among several senior officials underlining that the strikes were designed to signal a new assertive approach to Iran, and more generally in the Middle East.
Michael Waltz, the US national security adviser, said in separate interviews that the strikes “targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out” and had involved “overwhelming force [that] put Iran on notice that enough is enough”.
Earlier, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”
He added: “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!”….
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The US military’s central command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, described Saturday’s strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen. The strikes on Saturday were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea. They could continue for weeks, one Pentagon official said.
The Houthis are seen as key actors in the “axis of resistance”, a loose regional coalition of militant groups built up by Iran over recent years to project force and put pressure on Israel.
The group is considered the only member of the coalition not to have been significantly weakened by Israel during the war in Gaza since October 2023 and the short conflict in Lebanon last year. Both Hamas and Hezbollah, once the most powerful member, have suffered significant losses….
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Iran ….US….
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in a Sunday post on X, wrote, “The United States government has no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy. That era ended in 1979,” the year of the Islamic revolution that began with the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
In response to the Yemen strikes, the Houthis claimed Sunday to have fired 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone at the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, located with its escort ships in the Red Sea. The Pentagon referred questions about the Houthi claim to U.S. Central Command, which did not respond to several requests for comment.
While heated exchanges of rhetoric between Iran and the United States are not particularly new, Waltz said the weekend attack on the Houthis was different both in size and in holding Iran responsible. “It is Iran that has repeatedly funded, resourced, trained and helped the Houthis target not only U.S. warships, but global commerce, and has helped the Houthis shut down two of the world’s most strategic sea lanes,” he said.
The attack came amid a number of recent events that have moved both countries closer to the brink.
A report released this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran has substantially expanded its production of highly enriched uranium and is further increasing its stockpile of near-weapons-grade material, shortening the time it would need to produce a nuclear device….
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Netanyahu vs his Israeli Security Service head…..
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will seek to dismiss the head of the internal security service this week, deepening a power struggle focused largely on who bears responsibility for the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s effort to remove Ronen Bar as director of the Shin Bet comes as the security service investigates close aides of the prime minister. Netanyahu said he has had “ongoing distrust” with Bar, and “this distrust has grown over time.”
Bar responded by saying he planned to continue in the post for the near future, citing “personal obligations” to finish “sensitive investigations,” free the remaining hostages in Gaza and prepare potential successors.
Bar also criticized Netanyahu’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest. But he emphasized that he would respect any legal decision regarding his tenure…..
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