[IMPORTANT] Hamas launches foot assault against settlements.

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Must ask....after reading this response to my Post, " What Manner of Gawd do you believe in .?"
And perhaps Persephone , you have not referenced the "Torah" which is the book of the Israelites . Not sure how you meant to associate that religious book ? to the Bible ? Perhaps a little research on these documents and how long it was before they were put down in print , and subsequent variations of them.
And Please , please understand that I am not critiquing your choice of religions in anyway ..Am only referring to the
cost in human lives..As to chosen activities of the """MEN""" controlling this particular country. And their respective military . And other humans right to life.

I haven't referenced MY religion at all.
What are the books of the Torah? Do they sound familiar, anything like the Old Testament?
This is the book the Jews live by. How does their G-d operate in this book? If you find that out, you'll see why they believe in what their doing. Just because YOU don't believe it doesn't mean they don't. And your beliefs don't seem to be prevailing.

Even if Israel wins, it doesn’t prove that a specific god and set of beliefs are real. However, it’s not uncommon for people to assign supernatural causes to random events or acts carried out by human will. People in my former faith or, indeed, any faith do it all the time. Given the fact that Israel has a clear advantage, I see nothing surprising in the way things are currently going. Bullies often beat up those who are smaller and weaker than they are.

Maybe, until he lost interest, God supported Hitler since he succeeded in killing so many people.

I’m having trouble understanding. Obviously, I was raised to believe in the entire Bible, but even then, I tried to avoid thinking about God’s despicable behavior because I knew there was no way to justify it. Others seem to not only think about it but celebrate it.

Just a couple of days before Ramadan, President Joe Biden said a cease-fire is "looking tough" after negotiations in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough, raising fears that Israel will launch a ground offensive on Rafah. The U.N. warned that "this already catastrophic situation may slide deeper into the abyss," if IDF troops are deployed into the city, where 1.5 million people are seeking refuge.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his counterparts in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey yesterday, urging calm during Ramadan and discussing the U.S. intention to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza. Biden warned Israel during his State of the Union address that humanitarian assistance cannot be "a bargaining chip."

The U.S., along with allies, announced a plan to develop a maritime corridor to ship aid into Gaza, amid criticism that sending aid by air and sea falls far short of meeting the needs of Gaza's population of 2.2 million. The maritime corridor could take as long as 60 days to be fully operational.

Canada and Sweden have resumed funding to UNRWA, the embattled U.N. humanitarian aid agency, in light of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and after assurances of more strengthened internal supervision. More than a dozen countries pulled funding after Israel accused a dozen of its 13,000 staff members of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 30,900, according to the Health Ministry, including at least 20 people who have died of starvation. The Israeli military said that at least 247 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman aims to publish preliminary findings into the state’s and security establishment’s failures in the lead-up to Hamas’s October 7 massacre by the first anniversary of the brutal incursion, according to a Channel 12 report Friday, though the official said the network’s assertions were imprecise.

The first part of Englman’s report is expected to focus on security consultations held on the night of October 6, 2023 and early in the morning of the devastating onslaught, as well as the immediate response to the invasion itself, Channel 12 news reported, without citing sources.

Channel 12 noted that due to the report’s scope, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the missteps would not be the focus of the initial findings set to be released.

Responding to the report, the state comptroller said the network’s claims were inaccurate.

“This is one subject among dozens of future reports that will be published, and this subject won’t necessarily be the first. As part of this report, the diaries of the prime minister, the defense minister, and heads of the defense establishment will be examined, from October 6-7,” Englman’s response said.

The probe will make up the lion’s share of the agency’s activities over 2024, he said, indicating that it will supersede quarterly reports on other aspects of the state’s functioning.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks.

UNRWA fired 12 staffers earlier this year following allegations from Israel that they actively participated in Hamas’s terror onslaught.

The assertions are contained in a report by UNRWA reviewed by Reuters and dated February 2024, which detailed allegations of mistreatment in Israeli detention made by unidentified Palestinians, including several working for UNRWA.

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma says the agency planned to hand the information in the 11-page, unpublished report to agencies inside and outside the UN specialized in documenting potential human rights abuses.

“When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights,” she says.

The document says several UNRWA Palestinian staffers had been detained by the Israeli army, and added that the ill-treatment and abuse they said they had experienced included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.

“Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities,” the report says.

UNRWA declined a Reuters request to see transcripts of its interviews containing allegations of coerced false confessions.

In addition to the alleged abuse endured by UNRWA staff members, Palestinian detainees more broadly described allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment, the UNRWA report says.

US President Joe Biden sought on Saturday to make the case that Jerusalem must dramatically alter its prosecution of the war against Hamas in Gaza, indicating that he is prepared to return to Israel and speak before the Knesset in order to do this.

Biden, in a hard-hitting MSNBC interview, highlighted deep US concerns over civilian deaths in Gaza, asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing more harm than good to Israel and its interests, and called the planned IDF operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah a “red line.”

The MSNBC interviewer didn’t get into these specifics, sufficing with asking Biden whether he would be prepared to return to Israel and address the Knesset.

Yes,” Biden responded, without elaborating further.

Pressed on whether this would have to be at the invitation of Netanyahu or President Isaac Herzog, Biden responds, “I’d rather not discuss it more.”

Yes,” Biden responded, without elaborating further.

Pressed on whether this would have to be at the invitation of Netanyahu or President Isaac Herzog, Biden responds, “I’d rather not discuss it more.”

Explaining ‘come to Jesus’ remark regarding Netanyahu
Biden was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic lawmaker after his Thursday State of the Union address that he recently told Netanyahu that the two of them were going to have a “come to Jesus” meeting.

“It’s an expression used in the southern part of my state meaning ‘a serious meeting,'” Biden told MSNBC. “I’ve known Bibi (Netanyahu) for 50 years, and he knew what I meant by it.”

The president reiterated that Israel has “a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” but that Netanyahu must pay more attention to the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.

Ignoring the lives lost is “contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden argued.

The president said that, in his opinion, Netanyahu “is hurting Israel more than helping Israel, by making the rest of the world, as contrary to what Israel stands for…” He appeared to be repeating the argument he’s made in the past that under Netanyahu, Israel is losing the public opinion battle around the world, before he jumped to make a different point — something that occurred several times in the interview.

Turning to his postwar plans, Biden said that he was working, first, to secure a six-week ceasefire, hopefully by Ramadan, which starts early Monday.

“We should build off of that ceasefire,” he continued, noting that he was in touch with Arab leaders, including of Saudi Arabia, who are “prepared to fully recognize Israel [and] begin to rebuild the region.”

“That’s the focus — what comes after Gaza. It’s a tough decision, but there’s a lot that can be done,” Biden said.

Red lines?
US officials privately acknowledge that their plans for Gaza hinge on securing a six-week ceasefire in the coming days.

In recent days, US officials stated that Hamas was the party blocking a deal, while Israel had agreed to the framework.

But Biden told MSNBC on Saturday that “Hamas would like a total ceasefire across the board because then… they have a better chance to survive and maybe rebuild.”

Hostage talks appeared to hit a wall late this week, but Biden noted that CIA chief Bill Burns was in the region and that there was still a chance a deal could be reached by Ramadan.

Netanyahu and Gantz has both stressed that, sooner or later, Israel will move forward with plans to carry out a major ground offensive in Rafah where Hamas’s remaining battalions are located.

The US has asserted that it won’t support such an operation until Israel presents a plan for the mass evacuation of civilians from this last area of Gaza, where more than half of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are sheltering. The US says Israel has still not offered such a plan, though Jerusalem insists it won’t move forward without ensuring that civilians are safe.

No such operation is expected to take place imminently, given that Israel has massively reduced its force presence in Gaza after tens of thousands of reservists spent over 100 days straight fighting in the Strip, succeeding in depleting Hamas significantly, even as the terror group limps on.

Asked whether an Israeli operation in Rafah would be a “red line,” Biden responded, “It is a red line,” without adding the usual qualification regarding the mass-evacuation plan that the US is demanding.

But then he appeared to backtrack, saying, “I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. There’s no red line [in which] I’m going to cut off all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome [missile defense system] to protect them.”

Then he seemed to begin reversing his stance again, saying, “But there’s red lines that if he crosses and they continue…” before he shifted and asserted, “[they] cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas].

“There are other ways to… deal with with the trauma caused by Hamas,” he said.

He again recalled how during his October visit to Israel he preached caution to the war cabinet, telling its members not to repeat the mistakes made by the US after 9/11.

“We went after [Al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden until we got him, but we shouldn’t… have gone into… Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasn’t necessary. It just caused more problems than it cured,” Biden told MSNBC.

He noted that war cabinet members pushed back on this argument and noted that the US carpet-bombed Germany during World War II.

But this sparked the formation of international law regarding how to prosecute the war, Biden said, adding that Israel should abide by this framework.

The US has conducted five airdrops totaling over 150,000 meals for Gazans over the past week. Several Palestinians were killed earlier this week when one of the parachutes carrying such aid didn’t open properly and landed on civilians at high speed, though the US military says these casualties resulted from another country’s airdrops.

Still, Biden said, “We’re going to avoid that in the future,” and added that the US would continue working with its Arab allies to surge aid into Gaza because “it’s a desperate situation. Food, medicine — everything [is] badly needed, and it’s needed now.”

The US Army dispatched a ship Saturday carrying the first equipment needed to establish the pier. The Pentagon says the project will take roughly 60 days to complete and require roughly 1,000 US soldiers, though, none of them will have to dock inside Gaza. Biden said Friday that Israel would be responsible for securing the pier, which will eventually be capable of delivering hundreds of truckloads’ worth of aid to Gaza each day.

Deciphering ‘uncommitted’ voters
The MSNBC interviewer went on to press Biden to respond to pro-Palestinian voters in states like Michigan, where over 100,000 voters voted “uncommitted” in last month’s Democratic presidential primary, largely in protest of the president’s support for Israel in Gaza. (The figure amounted to 13.2 percent of voters, which was three percentage points less than the figure in the 2012 Democratic primary).

Biden rejected the notion that many voters believe Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza and chided the media for presenting his critics this way. “You guys make judgments you’re not capable of making. That’s not what all those [‘uncommitted’ voters] said.”

In an apparent effort to avoid alienating them further, Biden appeared to sympathize with this disgruntled segment of the electorate.

“What they said was that they’re very upset, and I don’t blame him for being upset. Their family is there. There are people who are dying. They want something done about it. They’re saying, ‘Joe, do something.'”

The Biden interview aired hours after one by US Vice President Kamala Harris on CBS in which she tried to draw a distinction between Israelis and their government, saying the two should not be conflated.

It’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people. The Israeli people are entitled to security – as are the Palestinians. In equal measure,” Harris said.

If Biden addresses the Knesset without Netanyahu's approval he would be getting back at Netanyahu. When Biden was Vice President Netanyahu addressed Congress without the approval of the Obama administration.

Dark Brandon sends his regards.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to press ahead with an invasion of the city of Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip in defiance of United States President Joe Biden, who has warned such an offensive would be a "red line."

Relief organizations have warned that an attack on Rafah on the border with Egypt — now a refuge for about half of Gaza's 2.3 million population — would result in widespread civilian casualties. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it would be “a humanitarian catastrophe.”

When asked on Sunday whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah, Netanyahu replied: "We'll go there. We're not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again."

Without naming them, Netanyahu claimed he had the tacit support of several Arab leaders for driving ahead with the onslaught against Hamas.

“They understand that, and even agree with it quietly,” he said in an interview with Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company. “They understand Hamas is part of the Iranian terror axis.”

Fighting over within '2 months'
Israeli authorities have been criticized for blocking the delivery of humanitarian assistance by land, but Netanyahu claimed the sea convoy as his idea in the interview, and denied people were starving.

He also predicted the fighting could end in as little as a month.

“We've destroyed three-quarters of Hamas' fighting terrorism battalions. And we're close to finishing the last part in warfare,” the Israeli leader said. Fighting would not “take more than two months.”

“Maybe six weeks, maybe four," he added.

Netanyahu also gave his own death estimates. Some 13,000 Palestinian fighters had been killed, he said, while the civilian death rate was estimated at 1-1.5 for every combatant. That would put the total killed — fighters and civilians — at at least 26,000.

He also dismissed the idea of a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying while he would “like to see another hostage release,” he didn’t see any “breakthrough in the negotiations. ... Without a release, there's not going to be a pause in the fighting.”

No 2-state solution
Israel's prime minister also doubled down on his rejection of the possibility of a Palestinian state — a topic that pits Israel against most of the rest of the world.

“The positions that I espouse are supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis who say to you after October 7: 'We don't want to see a Palestinian state,'” he said.

Netanyahu also directly addressed criticism from Biden, who has said the Israeli leader is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

Netanyahu hit back, saying while he didn’t know “exactly what the president meant,” if Biden was saying he was contravening the wishes or interests of Israel, he was “wrong on both counts.”
“[The Israeli people] also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state. That is something that they agree on,” Netanyahu said.

When asked about the European view that there cannot be peace without a two-state solution, Netanyahu replied: "Yeah, they would say it. But they don't understand that the reason we don't have peace is not because the Palestinians don't have a state. It's because the Jews have a state. And in fact, the Palestinians have not brought themselves to recognize and accept the Jewish state."

Even in the case of what he described as a change of Palestinian "leadership" and "culture," Netanyahu still insisted Israel should have full security control of all Arab territory west of the River Jordan.