Biden Threatens to Halt Military Aid to Israel if Humanitarian Conditions in Gaza ‘Not Improved’
With Hamas holding over a hundred Israeli hostages for more than a year and terrorists regrouping in northern Gaza, President Joe Biden’s administration has reportedly threatened to cut U.S. military aid to Israel if humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave are ‘not improved’ in the next 30 days.
“The Biden administration sent a letter to Israeli leaders on Monday demanding Israel take steps within 30 days to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk the supply of U.S. weapons to Israel being affected,” Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported in the new website Axios.
“The Biden administration is extremely concerned about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially as Israeli Defense Forces renew their operations in the northern Gaza Strip,” Ravid noted.
A recent letter jointly signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin threatened to halt U.S. military aid.
“In the letter, Blinken and Austin said recent evacuation orders issued by the IDF to the population in Gaza have forced about 1.7 million Palestinians into a small strip of land on the Gaza coast, exposing them to dangerous diseases.” the Axios article said. “They added that international aid organizations claim they can’t address the needs of Palestinian civilians and that trucks of humanitarian aid paid for by the U.S. are being held up by Israel at the border crossings with Gaza.”
The ultimatum from Washington comes as Israeli ground troops are pressing ahead with a ground offensive against Hamas terrorist forces regrouping in the area of Jabaliya, northern Gaza.
While Biden White House is putting pressure on Israel, Hamas is doing everything possible to maximize civilian casualties in Gaza. The Iran-backed jihadist group is using brute force to stop Gazans from moving to designated safe zones as the Israeli military advances on the Hamas stronghold of Jabaliya.
“Hamas is actively preventing Gazan civilians from heeding the IDF’s calls to move away from the combat zone in Jabaliya,” the IDF said in a press statement Monday. “In one conversation between an IDF representative and a Gazan civilian during the evacuation, the Gazan civilian described how Hamas forces were hitting them with sticks in order to prevent them from evacuating from the area.”
The military “remains committed to facilitating humanitarian aid, especially in the medical field, while continuing its efforts to dismantle Hamas’ military and governance infrastructure embedded inside civilian areas,” the IDF assured in a statement Tuesday.
Iran’s Quds Force chief Qaani, missing for weeks after Beirut airstrike, shown on state TV
The top general of Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC) and chief of the Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has finally appeared on state TV after weeks of speculations about his fate. Qaani, who is in charge of Iran’s international terrorist activities, went missing in late September after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut targeted Hezbollah’s new likely chief, Hashem Safieddine.
Recent Arab media reports suggested that the Quds Force chief was being interrogated by the IRGC for allegedly passing on intelligence to Israel.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported Tuesday:
Putting an end to weeks of speculation about his fate, Esmail Ghaani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, made a public appearance at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport early Tuesday. His presence dispels rumors of his death or injury that had circulated following an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs in late September.In the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Esmail Ghaani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, was spotted at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. He was there to receive the body of Abbas Nilforoushan, a high-ranking official of the organization in Lebanon, who was killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
Qaani was promoted to lead the Quds Forces in early 2020 after his predecessor Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump.
Israeli airstrike eliminates Hezbollah’s drone commander in Southern Lebanon
The Israeli armed forces eliminated a senior Hezbollah drone commander in a recent airstrike in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced Tuesday.
“A few days ago, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] eliminated the terrorist Khader Al-Abed Bahja, responsible for the area north of the Litani River in the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s Aerial Unit in the area of Nabatieh,” the IDF disclosed in a statement. “Under Bahja’s command, numerous aerial attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops were carried out from the area, making use of UAVs, surveillance aircraft, and explosive aircraft.”
Hezbollah’s Iranian-supplied drones pose a serious threat to Israeli military and civilians alike. On Sunday night, four Israeli soldiers were killed, and nearly 60 servicemen and civilians were injured in a Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel.
As the Israeli ground offensive in Southern Lebanon enters its third week. The air force hit terror targets all across the Hezbollah-dominated country. “Over the past day, in coordination with ground troops, the IAF struck more than 200 Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon and deep within Lebanon, including terrorist cells, anti-tank missile posts, and surface-to-surface missile launchers,” the IDF disclosed Tuesday.
IDF captures Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon, brings them for interrogation to Israel
Israeli troops arrested three Hezbollah terror operatives in southern Lebanon. The terrorist, members od Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, have been brought to Israel for interrogation, the IDF confirmed Tuesday.
The Times of Israel reported:
The IDF says it has arrested three members of the Hezbollah terror group’s elite Radwan force.The three Radwan members were found in a shaft underneath a building, the IDF says.The three were interrogated in the field after surrendering and were subsequently transferred to a prison facility in Israel.The IDF separately publishes a video clip of the interrogation of a Hezbollah operative who claims that Radwan fighters ran away following Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah
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