Israeli Media: ‘Beware of Hamas Forces’

Israel is failing to achieve its objectives in Gaza. This is the view of many in the Israeli media. They say that despite the long-war, now in its 18-month, the Palestinian resistance are still able to carry out qualitative operations against Israeli soldiers.

Hamas reorganized, prepares the traps

According to Israel’s Channel 14 the reality in the Gaza Strip requires a profound change in the Israeli combat doctrine, adding that recruiting forces, no matter how good, is still insufficient. Hamas has “rebuilt itself, prepared explosive traps, and recruited forces,” the Channel stated.

Because of this, speakers in Channel 14 went on to state that the Israeli army must control positions inside Gaza and maintain military control over the area to prevent Hamas from achieving any success.

It noted the incident over the weekend, in which two soldiers were killed and another from the Yahalom Unit seriously wounded, is an example of what awaits the Israeli army in Gaza.

Conceal the erosion of its forces!

The Maariv Israeli daily asserted the resumption of the war on Gaza has not achieved the desired results, as military pressure has failed to secure the release of prisoners.

It acknowledged that the current Israeli political thinking and military performance have not succeeded on the ground in Gaza. It added the failure to return all prisoners is tantamount to a defeat for the Israeli army in the battle for Gaza.

Regarding Israel’s readiness to expand the war, Maariv stated that the introduction of Israeli forces into Gaza is complex because of the presence of booby-trapped tunnel openings, which could harm prisoners due to intense fire.

It added that Hamas understands the limitations of the Israeli army’s power in a large-scale maneuver.

It emphasized that the Israeli army is trying to conceal the erosion of its forces and equipment from the public, noting that the significant erosion in the Israeli army is not only in combat power but also in combat equipment according to Jo24.

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Fires Rage in Israel

Fires are raging in Israel. Flames have started in the West Jerusalem hills and are feared to be creeping into northern and mass Israel with around 119 fire crews, 10 firefighting planes, and a helicopter deployed to attempt to extinguish the blaze according to The Jerusalem Post.

Israel has asked for international help especially from countries like Italy, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria to attempt to put down the raging fires that are spreading because of high winds. Later reports, and with the inability to contain the fires, Israel called for more help from England, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Argentina, Spain, North Macedonia, and Azerbaijan.

The wild fires that started, Wednesday, are trending on the social media with images and videos of what are seen as apocalyptic scenes never seen before in Israel. The blazes, starting from the hills of western Jerusalem have spread to the areas of Tel Aviv in the north with up to eight Israeli municipalities affected with one blogger simply saying “Israel is burning.”

Reports show that people on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway abandoning their cars and running across the wilderness, anywhere, away from the raging fires consuming forests and natural habitats. Reports also suggest that 10,000 Israeli have been evacuated by over-worked Israeli firefighters who fear the battle will be long.

The highway as well as trains between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have since been closed because of the consuming danger.

As soon as they started, Israeli government officials quickly declared a national state of emergency as raging fires spread to settlements and military bases near Jerusalem with soldiers caught in the blazes with reports that blazes raged in 29 locations such as Nataf, Eshtaol, Ramat Raziel, Giv’at Ye’arim, and Kisalon.

The fires from Jerusalem have also moved south and west due to the raging winds and weather conditions with the Israeli army being deployed to assist firefighting teams as the fires latched on to cars and other vehicles. New blazes have been reported to as far away as in Ashkelon, Ashdod and its port and bordering to the so-called Gaza envelope the territory that houses Jewish settlements and military basis.

The speed winds in Israel are expected to increase dramatically in the coming hours and days with Israeli hospitals recording 12 injuries so far due to smoke inhalation and burns. For the first time in 77 years, Israeli local councils have canceled so-called Independence Day celebrations that is when Israel was created in 1948 on Palestinians lands.

Nobody really knows how the fires have started while Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rushed to accuse local Palestinians of arson but this is hearsay.

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Rehabilitating Iran?

By Dr Khairi Janbek

All eyes now are on the new game in the Middle East: The US-Iran negotiations. One would say the aim here is far more advanced than the Iranian nuclear programme when the agreement was torn up by US President Donald Trump himself who was more concerned with details which would eliminate all threats against Israel, and would that in all liklihood, transform the whole region.

It seems that in this early intense stage, the ambiance is for reaching an amicable agreement through the recognition that no matter of the outcome, there will be nothing divisive. Trump will continue creating crisis just for the sake of showing that he can control those crises, and act in the manner of the old Arabic adage, for neither the wolf to die nor the sheep to parish. While for the Iranians, they have everything to gain from a positive outcome to those negotiations.

Of course, the Iranian nuclear programme is an important component of these negotiations, and most often than not, at times Iran and at times its enemies, exaggerate the potential of the country to making nuclear weapons for political purposes.

Yet the fact remains that despite the possibility of Iran being still far from creating weapon-grade enrichment programme, if carried on unchecked, it is inevitable that at one point in the future it will have nuclear weapons. Consequently the fact remains, the onus is on Iran to prove credibly that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, and accept periodically, the checks of the international nuclear inspectors.

The other dimension is the relationship of Iran with its proxies in the region, which falls under the category of threats to Israel. Well, and under the circumstances, Iran has to decide the reasons for its continued alliances with its proxies – whether such alliances served their purpose, or have become a burden than an asset – or if it can maintain these alliances with definte no threat commitment Israel but with political clout in Arab world affairs, which incidentally may not seem such a bad idea for Trump.

After all eliminating the threat against Israel is the primary concern, while at the same time his rich Arab allies buy their protection from him, a protection which Iran cannot dare to test.

But what is in it for Iran to reach an accord with the United States? One would say plenty. For a start it’s reintegration back into the region. After all it kept claiming it’s nuclear programme, is in reality, a peaceful programme and Tehran never had the intention of enriching weapons grade uranium.

Well, and with an accord it can now easily prove, and then can start dealing with the issue of not being a threat to Israel by either dissociating itself from these proxies which have become costly to its image and/or work in their transformation to political, unarmed forces and parts of the political structures wherever they exist in the Arab region.

Essentially if the sanctions against Iran are lifted and its assets are no longer frozen, Iran will be able to assume a very strong position in the Middle East region based on its economic strength and its enormous trade potential. In fact, Trump knows that any military action he takes against the Iranian nuclear installations, and any possible response will not have a decisive result. Therefore, the most likely decisive result will be, a new Iran, big in the region as well as moreover, that will owe him a favour.

In the meantime , we are still at the very early stage to even try to guess, but we can safely assume, that no matter how those negotiations proceed, nothing tangible is likely to happen before the visit of President Trump to the Gulf region in May.

Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian analyst based in Paris, France

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Israeli Planes Bomb Baby 50 Meters Into The Sky!

An Israeli missile suddenly hurls infant Enaam, 50 meters away from her home bombed by Israeli warplanes in the northern Gaza Strip writes Jihad Oweiss in Al Jazeera.

The baby flies up into the sky and miraculously lands on a nearby mattress, as if angels carried her and lowered her onto it, protecting her from certain death. She then sustains facial burns from the explosion of the first missile.

This scene is not a cinematic one: It is a true story that happened in early April and documented by Moroccan doctor Youssef Bouabdallah on his Instagram account. He is visiting Gaza to provide medical care to the wounded.

This bloody scenario is among dozens of scenes of ongoing slaughter, expertly orchestrated by Israel and supported by the United States, which has claimed the lives of more than 50,846 martyrs and injured 115,729 since 7 October, 2023.

Flying Bodies and Remains

If the world’s ears cannot comprehend the murderous scenarios being tested by the Israeli occupation army on the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, the Dar al-Arqam School massacre in Gaza City is proof of this, adding to the open record of genocidal crimes.

Palestinian platforms documented the horrific massacre committed by the occupation army on 3 April and what they said showed the moment the bodies of residents blown to pieces by the violent shelling of a school housing displaced persons.

The people of Gaza, especially, cannot get over the sight of bodies being blown apart by the bombing, asserting what they are experiencing is not a war, but “a slow annihilation in which the apocalypse is being perpetrated on earth, without accountability, scale, or justice. While bodies are being torn apart and souls are being scattered, the world is content to count and remain silent.”

To emphasize this, activist Ahmed Al-Khalidi addresses “the complacent” who are surprised by the evacuations of Gaza’s residents by the bombing. He recounts some of the stories of those whose bodies were blown to the top of nearby buildings, those whose remains disappeared and were scattered into the unknown, those who were completely annihilated, and those who were blown away but survived.

Al-Khalidi says in his post: “We found the remains of our neighbors in our house after their six-story home was bombed. The explosion scattered everything: bodies, rubble, and memories.”

He adds: “I once asked a friend who was rescued alive from under the rubble of his house, ‘How did it feel?’ He replied, ‘When the missile exploded, I felt like I’d fallen into a deep hole, spinning violently, but I emerged alive and well.'” He confirms that the same person was later martyred along with his wife and children in a separate bombing.

Psychologist Dr. Saeed Al-Kahlout adds to similar stories, saying: “My martyred sister’s body flew away in one bombing, passing over two buildings and a street, while her husband was found two days later in a nearby neighborhood.”

He continues in a Facebook post: “At the beginning of the war, following a bombing on our neighbors’ house, the neighborhood residents found the body of a martyr, still lying on her bed, on the fifth floor of a building adjacent to the blind martyr’s house. People explained the event by saying, ‘Angels carried her and fled with her to a safe place. She was sound asleep.'”

The new phase of the Israeli war, since its resumption on 18 March, appears to be more bloody and criminal. The occupation army has killed 1,482 Palestinians and injured 3,688, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Gaza residents are witnessing more intense bombardment and a more intense rate of killing, as if the Israeli occupation army is using the Strip as a testing ground for its lethal military weapons, following its violation of the ceasefire agreement concluded with the resistance last January.

Al-Kahlout links the scenes of bodies of martyrs flying to the violent bombardment, saying: “The force of the explosions we are witnessing in this war makes me say that bodies are trying to save themselves by fleeing, even if they fly outside the circle of fire, to escape the hell… The sound of the explosion is as if the sky has split open in its wrath, shaking the ground beneath our feet and deafening our ears until we hear nothing but the howling of fear inside our heads.”

Fear and Panic

Blogger Abu Ghaith Yaghi calls on the world to talk about “dying Gaza” and the difficult nights the residents are experiencing, while “Israel is testing new types of bombs and missiles.”

While activist Mohammed Al-Akashiya asks on his account, “What are they (the occupation) throwing at us?” due to the sounds of shelling reverberating throughout the area, another asserts that the wave of explosions and shelling is terrifying and unprecedented.

Activist Mohammed Haniyeh believes that most of the missiles used after the renewed genocide are different from those before, and have a massive blast wave. He adds: “We now hear the echo of the explosion for a longer period of time. It doesn’t stop instantly, but rather the sound seems to extend and spread, coinciding with earthquakes that last for seconds.”

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