With President Joe Biden’s administration holding back shipment of key ammunition, the Israeli military planners could be forced to accept a ceasefire in Gaza even if it keeps the terrorist group Hamas in power, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
“Israeli Generals, Low on Munitions, Want a Truce in Gaza,” the NYT noted in the headline.
The revelation comes weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed that the Biden White House was withholding critical weapons and ammunition from Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli prime minister disclosed in late June that “four months ago, there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the US. For long weeks, we turned to our American friends and requested that the shipments be expedited.”
The NYT reported, citing Israeli military sources:
Israel’s top generals want to begin a cease-fire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war.The generals think that a truce would be the best way of freeing the roughly 120 Israelis still held, both dead and alive, in Gaza, according to interviews with six current and former security officials.Underequipped for further fighting after Israel’s longest war in decades, the generals also think their forces need time to recuperate in case a land war breaks out against Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has been locked in a low-level fight with Israel since October, multiple officials said.A truce with Hamas could also make it easier to reach a deal with Hezbollah, according to the officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Hezbollah has said it will continue to strike northern Israel until Israel stops fighting in the Gaza Strip.Known collectively as the General Staff Forum, Israel’s military leadership is formed from roughly 30 senior generals, including the military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the commanders of the army, air force and navy, and the head of military intelligence.
Rejecting the claims made in the NYT article, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to continue the fight until the destruction of Hamas’s terrorist force in Gaza. “We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages,” he declared.
The Times of Israel reported:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasts “anonymous sources” in the IDF quoted telling The New York Times that Israel’s military leadership wants a ceasefire in Gaza even if it leaves Hamas in power for the time being.“I don’t know who those unnamed parties are, but I’m here to make it unequivocally clear: It won’t happen,” says Netanyahu in a statement released by his office. “We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages.”
In a bid to stop Hamas from regrouping amid an ongoing operation in the southern terror stronghold of Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday launched a counter-terrorism raid in the northern Gaza town of Shejaiya. After 5 days of fighting, the military eliminated a large number of terrorists and destroyed Hamas’ weapons and terrorist infrastructure.
“IDF troops continue operational activity in the area of Shejaiya,” the military said in a press release Tuesday. “An IAF aircraft, in cooperation with ground troops, conducted strikes during which terrorists were eliminated and dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites above and below ground were dismantled, including tunnel shafts, weapons storage facilities, and a structure from which an anti-tank missile was fired at the troops.”
The IDF is planning to create terrorist-free zones in northern Gaza to prevent Hamas from rearing its ugly head again in the areas liberated from the terror group, the Times of Israel reported Tuesday:
An Israeli military pilot to create “humanitarian enclaves” for Gazan civilians unaffiliated with Hamas is reportedly set to be rolled out in two northern Gaza cities, though some officials are skeptical the plan will point the way to a new reality in the battered enclave.The plan to carve out Hamas-free “bubbles,” where local Palestinians would slowly take over aid distribution responsibilities, will initially be implemented in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, the Financial Times reported on Monday.The scheme, which would dovetail with a post-war plan to hand aspects of control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and moderate Arab states, has reportedly been met with skepticism by anonymous former officials and others familiar with the plans.
After taking around 70 percent of Rafah, the Israeli military continues to keep up the pressure on Hamas’s fighting forces in the terror stronghold.
“In the area of Rafah, IDF troops identified and ambushed an armed terrorist squad advancing in a vehicle toward them,” the IDF press release revealed. “The troops fired at the terrorists and eliminated them. In addition, the IAF struck and dismantled several terrorist infrastructure sites in the area over the past day.”
“Furthermore, the IAF struck approximately 30 terror targets, including weapons storage facilities, terrorist infrastructure sites, and Hamas military structures over the past day,” the IDF added.
After President Joe Biden’s fiasco at the recent debate raised serious doubts about his cognitive and physical capabilities, the Iranian regime is becoming even more unhinged in its hostile rhetoric towards Israel.
Days after Tehran openly threatened the Jewish State with a “war of annihilation,” a senior Iranian general claims that the regime is waiting to launch another direct missile strike similar to the one in April that saw hundreds of Iranian drones, rockets, and ballistic missiles fired at Israel.
“We are hopeful of the arrival of the opportunity for [conducting] Operation True Promise 2,” Iran’s Islamic Guards (IRGC) aerospace chief, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, warned, referring to the massive Iranian aerial strike on Israel two and a half months ago.
The Times of Israel reported:
A senior Iranian military commander said that the country is waiting for a chance to launch another direct attack on Israel as a follow-up to a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones it fired in April, Iranian media reported Tuesday.Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh made the remarks the day before in Tehran when he met with family members of people killed in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war there between Israel and the terror group Hamas. It was not clear from the report if the families he met were themselves from Gaza.“We are hopeful of the arrival of the opportunity for [conducting] Operation True Promise 2,” Hajizadeh said, according to the Mehr News Agency, referring to the title of the April attack.Hajizadeh said he did not know how many missiles would be used in a second attack.In other quotes reported by the Tasnim news agency, Hajizadeh said, “As it is obvious from the weapons of our dear ones in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, it has now become clear that they are in fact being helped and supplied by Iran.”He also boasted of Iranian attacks on US interests in the region, including shooting down surveillance drones and a 2020 barrage of rockets it fired at US bases in Iraq as revenge for the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
Hajizadeh, who was a close associate of the slain terror mastermind Qassem Soleimani, also boasted of hitting U.S. military bases in the Middle East. In 2023, Hajizadeh threatened to murder President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration. “By the will of Allah, we are looking to kill Trump,” the IRGC terror commander said.
The threat comes as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group has intensified cross-border rocket attacks on Israel. Fearful of an Israeli military response against Hezbollah, Iran has vowed to launch a multi-pronged attack on Israel using its proxy terrorist forces spread across the Middle East.
The mother of the former Israeli hostage, Noa Argamani, died on Tuesday after a long sickness, local media reports say. 61-year-old Liora Argamani, Noa’s mothers, pleaded in video messages for the safe return of her daughter despite battling for her own life at an advanced stage of cancer.
A daring raid by Israeli security forces in early June reunited Noa with her mother in her dying weeks after 245 days of captivity.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Mother of rescued hostage Noa Argamani, Liora Argamani, passed away at the age of 61 after a long battle with brain cancer, Israeli media reported on Tuesday morning.Her death was officially announced by Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. “The family has requested that their privacy be respected during these difficult times,” the hospital said.Liora spent her last days with her rescued daughter, who was saved last month by the IDF in Operation Arnon.The Hostages Families Forums released a statement expressing their condolences, saying, “The families’ headquarters mourn deeply the passing of Liora Argamani, the mother of the released captive, Noa Argamani.”Since her daughter’s violent kidnapping, Liora Argamani continually advocated for the safe return of Noa and the other hostages. She did this while suffering from brain cancer, which is often accompanied by headaches, seizures, persistent nausea, and drowsiness, as well as cognitive symptoms such as possible mental degradation and progressive weakness or paralysis on at least one side of the body, according to the British National Health Service (NHS.)
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY