[IMPORTANT] Hamas launches foot assault against settlements.

Post Reply New Topic

The new proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group would see the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the return of the bodies of 18 deceased hostages, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire, an Israeli official confirmed to The Times of Israel on Thursday.

The confirmation came as right-wing ministers, and some hawkish hostage families, came out in opposition to the proposed deal, arguing that Hamas is weakened and now is the time to force the terror group to surrender.

As part of the US proposal, the United Nations would resume providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, in place of the new Israeli-backed mechanism that started operating this week, the Israeli official said. The UN has declined to cooperate with the new mechanism, saying it is insufficient to address the needs of Gaza’s civilian population, and allows Israel to weaponize the food supply.

The text of Witkoff’s proposed agreement will not include an Israeli promise to end the war, according to the Israeli official.

This had until now been the major sticking point, with Israel insisting any ceasefire would be temporary and Hamas insisting on a permanent end to the fighting. The previous hostage-ceasefire deal collapsed when Israel declined to move forward with talks to end the war.

The pan-Arab channel Al Ghad reported Thursday that the outline was submitted overnight to both Hamas and Israel, and that it calls for half of the agreed-upon number of hostages to be released on the first day of the truce, and the other half on the seventh day.

In return, Israel would release 125 Palestinian terror convicts serving life sentences, 1,111 Gazans detained since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, and 180 bodies of Palestinians currently held by Israel, according to Al Ghad.

The Arab channel also reported that the proposal contains an American guarantee that negotiations would continue throughout the ceasefire until a permanent ceasefire is reached.

On Wednesday, Hamas said it had reached an agreement with Witkoff on a “general framework” for a ceasefire deal and now awaited a “final response.”

The group claimed that the framework it had approved would secure a “permanent ceasefire,” the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the flow of humanitarian aid, and a committee of independent Palestinian technocrats assuming governing control over the Strip instead of Hamas.

On Thursday, the same Israeli official told The Times of Israel that a Washington meeting earlier this week between Witkoff and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on the hostage issue and on Iran was “uneasy,” saying Witkoff was getting impatient with Israel, especially around “drama.”

For the first time, Ori Megidish, an Israeli soldier who was the first hostage to be rescued from the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has spoken about her experiences, including sexual harassment by a Hamas guard, nearly dying in an airstrike, and being treated by doctors at a Gaza hospital.

Megidish spoke to Channel 12’s Uvda program in a pre-recorded interview that was broadcast on Wednesday night, as the families of hostages remaining in Gaza marked 600 days since the devastating Hamas attack in which they were abducted.

“The whole 23 days I feared I would die,” Megidish said of the period until she was rescued. “It never left me for a moment. It is a fear you can’t describe.”

Megidish was abducted from the Nahal Oz Base by Hamas gunmen. In total, 53 soldiers were killed in Hamas’s assault on the base, and several others were taken hostage.

During the assault, Megidish said that she and others took refuge in a bomb shelter at the base. Hamas terrorists who overran the base then threw a grenade in.

When she looked up, she saw another female soldier, whom she didn’t know, still in pajamas, on her knees and firing back at the terrorists.

“She is my hero,” she said.

According to Channel 12, that soldier in question was Cpt. Eden Nimri, 22, who positioned herself at the entrance to the shelter and fought back against the attackers. Nimri was eventually killed, as were many others inside the shelter.

Megidish said some 30 to 40 terrorists entered the shelter in a state of “euphoria,” smiling at the soldiers huddled there.

“I will never forget their smiles,” she said. “I don’t even remember what they looked like, but I remember that they smiled. They looked at us and decided who lives and who dies.”

Making what she called “a mistake,” she made eye contact with one of the terrorists, who then took her away, forcing her into a vehicle. Unknown to her at the time, in the back of the same car was her good friend, Noa Marciano.

Another soldier, Naama Levy, was also forced into the vehicle. The three were then driven into Gaza, where Megidish and Levy were separated from Marciano.

Megidish was taken to an apartment. Among her guards, one in particular, whom she dubbed “the boss,” was particularly disturbing.

“He didn’t look at me the way a normal person does,” she said, and then described how the terrorist would touch intimate parts of her body whenever he passed.

Recalling that she was injured in her chest, she said the man would also show interest in the wound “in order to take a look.”

Under the circumstances, she said, she was unable to oppose his advances.

She said that at first she did not think about it too much, but that months later, “I came to terms with the fact that it was sexual harassment and I suffered that, and it is not an embarrassment.

“I know that I am not to blame, that I couldn’t prevent it,” she said. At the same time, she admitted that she asks herself, “What if I had done this or that. God only knows what would have happened if we were in that apartment for longer.”

Like other hostages who have returned, Megidish spoke of her fear in captivity that she would be killed in an Israeli airstrike. On her third Saturday in Gaza, a bombing caved in the roof of the apartment where she was imprisoned, setting the house on fire and killing one of the guards. Megidish suffered a fractured skull.

The “boss” took her from the apartment to a nearby hospital, by which time she was starting to lose her balance. “The whole room spun,” she said.

A doctor, speaking to her in English, explained he would sew up her head and face, and then proceeded to do so without giving her any anesthetic.

“It was indescribable pain,” she said, and recalled that the hospital staff told her to keep quiet and not scream.

After a night at the hospital, she was taken by other terror operatives to another apartment. Her captors told her that if Israeli soldiers tried to rescue her, they would kill her, leaving her terrified of a potential rescue operation.

But a rescue did come, in the early hours of October 20, while she was asleep.

“I heard shooting, and I realized that something was happening,” she said, and described how she hid behind a fridge, sitting curled up and with her hands over her ears.

“I shouted in Hebrew, I don’t know why, but I felt it was a rescue,” she said.

Then a man, who she described as looking just like a local, stood before her.

“It could have been someone who came to abduct me, but I went with him. He took me, and we ran,” she said.

They reached a vehicle and drove away. Inside, the men spoke to her in Hebrew. The soldier who had brought her to the car began to check her to see if she was injured or harmed.

“I remember that I exchanged a look with him, and I saw how emotional he was. Only after I came back and got used to things a bit did I understand that for the people who rescued me, it was, finally, a moment to breathe after this [difficult] period.”

Megidish is still not permitted to discuss some details about the rescue, the network noted.

Since her return, Megidish spends a lot of time at home, building Lego projects. She explained that as a naturally shy person, she was uncomfortable with all the attention she would get outside, well-meaning though it would be.

She has also faced a range of false rumors, she said, among them a claim that she had come back from Gaza pregnant.

“That irritated me. I know what is true and what isn’t,” she said.

Megidish also described how difficult things were for her after she returned, knowing that her friend, Marciano, was still in Gaza.

“I looked forward to her returning so that we could talk about things,” she said.

However, that would not come to pass.

The IDF has said that Marciano was wounded by an IDF airstrike on November 9, while held in Gaza, and later taken to Shifa Hospital in the Strip, where she was murdered.

“From what I understand, [the strike] really hurt her, and it was hard for her, and the doctors simply decided to end her life,” Megidish said.

“We have a quite similar story, but her ending was different. It really bothered me at first — why was her ending like that, and mine like this?”

On November 14, 2023, the army declared Marciano dead, and on November 16, they announced that they had recovered her body and brought it back to Israel. She was laid to rest in Modiin on November 17.

Over a year later, on January 25, 2025, Naama Levy, 20, was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza as part of a ceasefire-hostage release deal.

The Defense Ministry on Thursday confirmed that the government has approved the construction of 22 new West Bank settlements, which will include a series of new communities and the legalization of several wildcat outposts, saying the move was aimed at cementing Israel’s hold over the area and thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A ministry statement hailed the leadership of Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry, and called the security cabinet’s decision “a step that will change the face of the area and shape the future of settlement for years to come.”

“The new settlements are all placed within a long-term strategic vision, whose goal is to strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory, to avoid the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to create the basis for future development of settlement in the coming decades,” the ministry said.

The 22 communities will include Homesh and Sa-Nur, the statement confirmed — two former settlements that were evacuated in 2005 alongside Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, at which time a law was passed forbidding Israelis from entering that part of the northern West Bank.

The slate of new settlements also includes four new communities along the border with Jordan, the statement added, hailing their establishment as strengthening Israel’s “national security” and “strategic hold of the area.”

Katz said in the statement that the “historic decision” would “strengthen our hold on Judea and Samaria,” using a Biblical term for the West Bank, “anchoring our historic right in the Land of Israel and constituting a crushing answer to Palestinian terror that tries to harm settlement and to weaken it.”

Israel Police began forcibly evacuating protesters who had entered the Likud headquarters (Metzudat Ze’ev) in Tel Aviv, tied themselves in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, and began a non-violent sit-in protest for 600 minutes to protest the 600th day of the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday.

Protestors also project the words "Qatari Embassy in Israel" onto the side of the Metzudat Ze'ev building, alluding to the alleged payoffs from the Qatari government to government aides.
By Thursday morning, 60 protesters were still being held with no concrete decision issued, Maarach Otef Atzurim, a protest legal aid organization. One minor was released to house arrest.

In a statement, the Israel Police said that the protesters were disrupting public order with their demonstration.

"During an illegal demonstration in Tel Aviv, dozens of protesters who disrupted public order, caused property damage, and broke into Metzudat Ze’ev were arrested."

The release also noted that a police officer was injured and that police were making widespread arrests.

Outside Metzudat Ze’ev, hundreds of protesters also began a sit-in protest, blocking nearby streets. The protesters tied themselves to the building’s stairs to mark 600 days of neglect of the hostages.

“We are holding a non-violent sit-in on the stairs leading to the office of the man who runs the country as if there are no hostages, as if time is not running out,” the protesters said.

“This place, which once symbolized national responsibility, has turned into a room for cynical deals with enemies. We have come to remind what is being silenced: 600 days of concealment, repression, and abandonment.”

The protesters emphasized that the action is not provocative but a determined and non-violent civil action, saying that the intention was not to ignite, but to sit and represent the silent majority.

Following the protests, Shikma Bresler, Moshe Redman, Yaya Pink, and Ami Dror, leaders of the protest for democracy, said: “Even after 600 days of abandonment, the public is fighting resolutely in the streets against a government that abandons the hostages and the security of the country.

Israel are very good at making new enemies, but their latest woes in the Red Sea have been decades in the making!
Right, so if Israel thought its nightmare in the Red Sea at the hands of the Houthis blockading their shipping, not to mention of course those rockets still being fired at Ben Gurion airport, shutting down their airspace, then it seems they’ve got another think coming as Eritrea, on the African coast, have pivoted their alliances away from the West and their colonial project in the Middle East, and towards Russia, China and Iran, which, as you might imagine has got the US tearing their hair out at the same time as well.

In not insignificant part though, have the US and Israel only got themselves to blame for all of this, and with other Red Sea alliances with the west and Israel seemingly on their last legs as well, the future of the Red Sea as a key economic shipping lane for western interests, the very future of trade and industry, disrupted as it has been where it comes to Israel and its genocide of Gaza, is at stake and what we have seen unfold over the last 20 months of Houthi blockade, may end up becoming the norm in a shift that could take global economic prosperity out of the wests hands for the foreseeable future.

Right, so the Red Sea, considered one of the most vital thoroughfares for international shipping as it is, has been a no go zone for Israeli shipping for some time now as a result of their genocide of Gaza thanks to the Houthis of Yemen but it might be about to get so much worse and what the Houthis began out of protest, might soon become the norm as their influence and that of the west as well appears to be waning rapidly, with consequences that could ripple across global trade and security.

To get an idea of what’s going on, first, here’s an image of East Africa. You have Eritrea at the top there, cutting Ethiopia off from the coast, Djibouti just south of that, the contested territory of Somaliland and then Somalia moving down the coast from there and then to the west of Eritrea and Ethiopia you have Sudan and north of Sudan lies Egypt, not shown there. These are the states we’re looking at here, between them, that is the entire African coastline of the Red Sea we’re talking about here.

At the centre of this growing crisis for Israel is Eritrea, whose shifting alliances over the last several years are now driving this change.

To understand Eritrea's current positioning, we need to take a look back at some of its history. Eritrea fought a gruelling 30-year war for independence from Ethiopia, finally achieving statehood in 1993, cutting Ethiopia off from the coast as it did so. The new nation's hard-won independence was a moment of triumph, but it also ended up being the beginning of a long period of marginalisation.

US President Donald Trump said that Israel and Hamas are close to making a deal during a press conference at the White House on Friday.

"They're very close to an agreement on Gaza...I think we have a chance of making a deal with Iran also...If we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East, that would be a very good thing," Trump said, adding that the White House will have more details on the Gaza deal later Friday or on Saturday.

Earlier, Hamas said it was consulting with Palestinian factions on a ceasefire deal proposed by US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff in a statement on Friday evening. Hamas received the proposal through mediators, it added.

On Thursday, an unnamed Hamas official told the BBC on Friday that the terror group is expected to reject the latest hostage deal-ceasefire proposal by Witkoff.

Hamas had said that it does not accept the outline of US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposed ceasefire and hostage deal at face value and demands certain changes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hamas feels deceived by the US administration, believing it has been “screwed over” with a pro-Israel proposal that does not guarantee an end to the war, an informed source familiar told The Jerusalem Post

The information provided by the sources conflicts with reports published in Saudi newspaper Al-Hadath, which indicated that Hamas will shortly agree to a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18. As part of the proposal, the report claimed that 125 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,111 prisoners arrested after October 7, would also be released, and aid would be increased to the Gaza Strip.

The proposal also requires all hostages to be returned to Israel within a week, leaving Hamas without further leverage, the source said.

Hamas said the new proposal was more biased in favor of Israel than previous proposals, and that Witkoff accepted most of the demands presented by Ron Dermer in a meeting with him on Tuesday, a source close to Hamas told Walla.

Furthermore, the new proposal does not provide a clear American guarantee that the temporary ceasefire will lead to a permanent one, the source said. The proposal does not specify that if negotiations extend beyond 60 days, the ceasefire will also continue, and Israel will not be able to unilaterally violate it as it did in March, Walla quoted the source as saying.

According to a senior Israeli official, “Contrary to reports, the Witkoff agreement proposed in recent days did not determine the new deployment line of the IDF, nor the manner in which aid would be distributed within the framework of a ceasefire.”

Hamas said in a statement: “The Hamas Movement’s leadership has received the new Witkoff proposal from the mediators and is reviewing it responsibly to serve the interests of our people, provide them relief, and achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim later added, "The agreement that Israel agreed to does not meet our demands. The Hamas leadership is responsibly considering its response to Wittkoff's proposal.

Witkoff's new proposal
The new proposal would include the release of 10 living hostages along with 18 deceased. The hostage release would take place in two rounds, a source told the Post.
Additionally, both sides would agree to a 60-day ceasefire that can be extended after the deadline if Hamas and Israel agree.

Lastly, the IDF would withdraw from areas in Gaza, and the United Nations would take over the distribution of humanitarian aid, the source said.

The Israeli response to the Gaza ceasefire offer presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has failed to meet Hamas' demands, the group's senior official Basim Naim told Reuters on Thursday.

"The Witkoff proposal was still under discussion," he added.

Dozens of fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team attacked two Arab bus drivers in Jerusalem on Thursday night, following a live broadcast of the team’s loss in the State Cup finals.

In videos shared on social media, fans can be seen punching a driver and throwing objects in his direction. Footage also shows the driver throwing the bus’s small trash can at the assailants in self-defense. Another clip shows another driver pushing fans against the door of a bus, as they hit him.

As of Friday afternoon, no one had been arrested in connection with the incident, and no suspects had been announced by police.

One of the bus drivers, Ahmad Karhin, told the Haaretz newspaper that he was driving the 77 line, which ends at Malha Mall, near the team’s home, Teddy Stadium, where the game was being broadcast on a link from Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.

“Many tens of young Beitar Jerusalem fans arrived; I recognized them from the clothes and scarves,” he recalled.

“They identified that I was Arab after they spoke with me, and they started, out of nowhere, to yell at me ‘Death to Arabs,’ to curse and to attack me. The whole time, more and more of them were joining,” he said.

Karhin told Haaretz that another Arab bus driver, Mohammad Saj, arrived at the scene and helped him, but that the second driver was also attacked.

“No one was helping me apart from that driver,” Karhin recalled.

“The police arrived 20 minutes later, maybe half an hour, and they rescued me from there and brought me to Magen David Adom, who transferred me to a hospital. I was scared for my life. I was afraid I wouldn’t get out of there alive,” he said.

He added: “This isn’t the first time drivers have been attacked, but it was the most brutal incident.”

Saj, a resident of East Jerusalem, told the Ynet news site: “I saw Karhin attacked by dozens of Beitar Jerusalem fans. I stopped and got off [my bus] and helped him, and I was also attacked.

“They cursed at me, ‘Arabs are sons of whores, dogs, we’ll burn you, get out of here,’ and other racist statements,” he recalled.

The two drivers who were attacked, both East Jerusalem residents, work for the Superbus company.

In a statement on Friday, Superbus said the incidents “join many other violent incidents that have occurred on a daily basis against bus drivers in Jerusalem.

“In videos from the violent incidents last night, the criminals are clearly visible and we expect and call on all law enforcement bodies, and the management of Beitar Jerusalem, to bring the law-breakers to justice immediately,” the company said.

The Beitar team and their fans, particularly the hardcore group of ultras known as “La Familia,” have a long reputation of racism, routinely chanting “death to Arabs” at games and refusing to integrate Arab or Muslim players into the team.

’Every day brings us closer to the murder of a driver’
The Koach LaOvdim labor union said it was “weighing taking steps as an organization,” declaring in a statement that it “will not agree to public transit workers being punching bags for passengers.”

Iti Cohen, who heads the transit employees’ branch of Koach LaOvdim, warned, “Every day brings us closer to the murder of a driver or fare inspector.”

“The 77 is prone to disaster at the end of every Beitar game. We’ve warned the police and the administration about this more than once, and the threat only gets worse,” Cohen said, and demanded that the Transportation Ministry provide more security for transit employees.

Jerusalem mayor: Racist attacks violate ‘our Jewish values’
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion condemned the attack on the bus drivers — the first time he has done so for an incident of this type, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

“The violence against the bus drivers crosses a red line,” Lion said in a statement. “We cannot accept a reality in which hard-working, dedicated workers fear for their lives while doing their job.

“Harming someone based on their origin or their sex is a severe, intolerable thing and goes against our Jewish values,” he added.

The mayor called on “the police and Transportation Ministry to work with determination to eradicate this phenomenon and watch over the security of drivers and passengers alike.”

As of Friday morning, Transportation Minister Miri Regev was yet to comment on the incident, drawing her own condemnation from MK Na’ama Lazimi, of the left-wing Democrats party.

“More than 12 hours have passed since a group of rioters violently and harshly attacked a bus driver after the Trophy final, and the transportation minister, who is apparently busy searching for her next flight — still has not said a word about the attack on the driver, and Ben Gvir’s police haven’t arrested anyone,” she wrote on X, referring to the far-right national security minister.

Barely noticeable only a few months ago, opposition is growing about fresh Israeli operations in Gaza even among the country’s military reservists, some of whom have publicly called out the government for what they say is an immoral and politically motivated decision to continue the war.

“I refuse to commit war crimes,” Yuval Ben Ari told NBC News earlier this month. “The patriotic thing to do is to say no.”

“As an Israeli, as a human being, I’m calling the Israeli government to stop starving 2 million people,” he said, adding that he felt shame and guilt because “people inside Gaza are starving to death.”

As a reservist soldier, Ben Ari served two rotations inside Gaza, the first in the north of the enclave and the second in the south, and he is one of a growing number of former and current Israel Defense Forces personnel — including high-ranking commanders — who have voiced their concerns about the country’s conduct in the war.

This pushback has only grown after the Netanyahu government announced a major new operation dubbed “Gideon’s Chariot,” which began earlier this month.

Over 12,000 current and former service members signed a series of letters since the collapse of the ceasefire in March calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to end the war and declaring they will refuse to serve if it continues, according to Restart Israel, an activist group that tracks how many people oppose the government’s actions.

Speaking in Israel’s southern city of Sderot, which sits a few hundred yards from the Gaza border, meaning the ruins in Gaza are visible and the sound of explosions and aircraft overhead are omnipresent, Ben Ari said he convinced the IDF to let him re-enlist after the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Despite a leg injury, he said he felt he should join the army to protect his homeland. But during his first deployment in Gaza late last year, he said he quickly became disillusioned by the destruction he witnessed.

Sent to southern Gaza when Israel resumed its military campaign in March, Ben Ari said he came to the realization that he could no longer serve in good conscience. So a week into his monthlong rotation, he said he asked his commander to be relieved of his duty and made his way to the border.

As soon as he was back inside Israel, he wrote on social media, “I will no longer wear this uniform under the current government.”

While most of his friends and family applauded his stance, Ben Ari said, others called him a traitor and accused him of selfishness and abandoning the remaining hostages — criticism he said he expected. He later penned an anonymous article for Israel’s highly respected Haaretz newspaper about his experiences.

However, he is far from alone in expressing his disquiet after Israel shattered its ceasefire with Hamas in early March and imposed a blockade preventing food, fuel and medical supplies from entering Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 54,000 people since the current conflict began, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave.

The IDF would not comment on the number of reservists it uses or the size of its overall forces.

“They are not saying, ‘Stop the war because we are tired,’” Guy Poran, a retired Israeli air force pilot, said in an interview at his home in Tel Aviv earlier this month. “They’re saying this war is not legitimate.”

Poran, 69, who helped initiate an anti-war letter signed by almost 1,200 current and former air force members, added that Netanyahu, who is currently on trial over allegations of bribery and fraud, “is deeply in trouble, indicted with very serious criminal charges.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the string of corruption probes.

Netanyahu’s political survival lies in the hands of his partners “on the extreme right,” Poran said, referring to ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, both of whom have threatened to bring down the government if Israel agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas, while also calling for the total annihilation of the militant group and, more generally, the reoccupation and resettlement of Gaza by Israel.

Israel, Poran added, is held “hostage because of this blackmail.”

One of the letter’s signatories, a major in the air force reserve, said they added their name because both the actions of the government and the way some ministers spoke freely about starving people in Gaza were not what you would see from “a normal, moral government,” and they thought the ministers were “losing it.”

“Somehow the military has to put a stop sign in front of them,” they added.

In a separate interview, a lieutenant colonel in the air force reserve objected to the resumption of military activities in Gaza over fears that Israeli forces “will probably kill our own,” they said, referring to the 58 hostages who remain in captivity, although the majority are believed to be dead.

“This is a red line,” they said, adding that Netanyahu and his coalition were neglecting the hostages “in order to preserve their own government.”

NBC News agreed not to use their names because they feared for their safety and their jobs, although under Israeli law, employers must have a legitimate reason to fire someone and follow due process before terminating their employment.

The army has nonetheless dismissed or threatened to dismiss service reservists who signed the letter, according to The Associated Press.

Along with Poran and Ben Ari, both reservists spoke before Israel lifted its blockade on aid entering Gaza earlier this month, around three months after it began.

The move was condemned by Ben-Gvir, who called it “foolish” and “morally wrong” in a Monday post on X. Smotrich and Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu have previously been criticized for similar statements.

Poran said there was a growing feeling that “it has become a revenge war, and that too many civilians are being killed, innocent, children, women, unnecessarily,” Poran said.

“Even the army says it cannot be a long-term solution” he added. ”If we occupy there, we have to take care of their food, of their health, of their school system, of their sewage. Who’s going to do it?”

“You cannot just displace 2 million people,” Ben Ari said. “It’s inhuman”

Tensions remained high Saturday as Hamas considered a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal that could bring an end to the fighting in Gaza, which ramped up after Israel launched a major military operation in the enclave earlier this month.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the Oval Office Friday that the deal which would pause hostilities for 60 days, allow the phased release of hostages, and pave the way for more humanitarian aid to flow into the devastated enclave, was “very close.”

The White House confirmed Thursday that Israel had accepted the proposals, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not. respond to a request for comment.

Hamas have also responded coolly. Jihad Taha, a spokesperson for the militant group, told Al Jazeera late Friday that the proposals lacked “any immediate commitment to stop the war,” a key Hamas demand. But he said Hamas leaders were “seriously” discussing the proposals

What does the deal include?
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, shared a framework of the agreement with NBC News, which calls for an immediate 60-day halt in fighting, during which Hamas would release 33 Israeli captives in exchange for “a number of Palestinian prisoners.” In return, Israel would “halt all military operations” in Gaza as soon as the truce takes effect, and civilians would be allowed to return to their homes across the enclave.

Under the terms of the framework Israeli forces would withdraw in two phases — first from densely populated areas, then from urban centers — with full withdrawal to be completed by the end of the ceasefire period.

During the truce it says, “negotiations will continue to reach an agreement on the release of Israeli soldiers in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.”

The agreement would also allow for the entry of 600 trucks per day carrying humanitarian aid, including fuel, cooking gas, and medical supplies.

Among the other proposals are that all border crossings between Gaza and Israel, and Gaza and Egypt, will also be reopened under international supervision, and patients and students will be allowed to travel abroad.

Will it lead to an end to the war?
While Hamas is yet to reject the agreement outright, differences that have derailed previous ceasefire efforts appear to remain.

The latest proposals lay the groundwork for a temporary pause in the fighting, but offer no guarantee of a permanent end to the war.

Hamas has signaled openness to talks but insists any lasting deal must include a complete cessation of hostilities and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel meanwhile, has demanded that Hamas disarm, dismantle its military and governing infrastructure, and return all 58 remaining hostages before agreeing to end the war. Hamas has rejected those terms.

The 'hungriest place on earth'
More than 4,000 people have been killed in the Strip since Israel shattered its ceasefire with Hamas in early March and imposed a blockade preventing food, fuel and medical supplies from entering Gaza. The country's military launched a major new operation dubbed “Gideon’s Chariot,” which began earlier this month.

The latest proposals to end the fighting come as the U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called Gaza “the hungriest place on earth,” as Israeli continues to let only a trickle of aid into the enclave following an 11-week-long blockade that barred the entry of food and medicine into the enclave.

The aid operation that we have ready to roll is being put in an operational straitjacket,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reports in Geneva on Friday. Accusing Israel of “drip-feeding” food into the area, and said aid trucks were being surrounded “by desperate people who want to feed their families.”

“I don’t blame them for aid that essentially is already theirs, but it’s not distributed in the way we wanted,” he added.

Is aid getting into Gaza?
The U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations this week days after Israel lifted its blockade, despite criticism from humanitarian groups who warned that they undermined a long-running humanitarian framework in Gaza and risked compromising the independence of aid operations.

They also expressed significant concern over a plan laid out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see aid distributed at sites in southern Gaza, effectively forcibly displacing Palestinians there.

In an update Saturday GHF said it had distributed 30 truckloads of food “providing approximately 1,663,200 meals.” It added that Saturday’s “meal distribution was the largest to date and five times more than yesterday.”

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff on Saturday rejected a Hamas response to a ceasefire proposal as “totally unacceptable” and said the militant group should accept the proposal he has put forward.

The rejection, issued in a statement on X Saturday afternoon, followed Hamas’ announcement that it had submitted its response to the ceasefire proposal, offering to release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners.

“I received the Hamas response to the United States’ proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward,” wrote Witkoff, whom Trump named as envoy in November after the election.

“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” Witkoff wrote, adding that compliance from Hamas is the “only way” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire deal.

The back-and-forth marks the latest development in efforts to reach a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023.

The White House said the deal had already received Israel’s stamp of approval, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Hamas’ statement Saturday affirms its position that negotiations should aim for a permanent ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the establishment of a sustained flow of humanitarian aid.

Hamas’ response to Witkoff’s proposal includes the release of hostages and bodies as part of a 60-day ceasefire. The first stage would have seen the release of 10 Israeli hostages, — women and elderly — along with 18 bodies, as well as immediate humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza through groups like the United Nations and Red Crescent.

The plan also calls for a full Israeli withdrawal, after which the remaining Israeli hostages and bodies would be released. In addition, an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners would be released by Israel under Hamas' proposal, which also calls for a "temporary independent authority" to manage Gaza.

The ministry reported Saturday that Gaza hospitals received 60 dead bodies and 284 injured patients in the last 24 hours.

A God of vengeance is the Lord, and an army of vengeance is the Israel Defense Forces. The settlers too crave vengeance – and no one is stopping them. The Palestinian town of Bruqin, facing the settlement of Brukhin in the West Bank, learned this the hard way over the past few days. Its residents are still reeling from the punitive campaign they endured.

The head of the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, called for the entire town to be razed and all its residents expelled. "Let the fate of Bruqin be the same as the fate of the Jenin refugee camp," asserted the settlers' functionary, who was forced to stop speaking at the funeral of Tzeela Gez, from Brukhin, the victim of the mid-May terror attack, in whose wake this wild campaign of revenge and retribution was launched.

Bruqin and Brukhin are situated on ridges on the two sides of Highway 446, west of Ariel. The road from the highway to Brukhin is direct and short; the road to Bruqin, a town of 5,000 inhabitants, is long and twisting. A yellow gate blocks the road that used to lead to the town, and the roundabout detour winds between the villages in the area, around and around, in order to aggravate the residents' ordeal – it's the same with virtually every Palestinian community in the West Bank since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Signs of the recent rampages of the army and the settlers are evident in the form of burned homes and skeletons of scorched cars, in the demolition of a three-story building at the edge of town, and above all in the monstrous earthworks now being carried out by bulldozers at the edges of the town, apparently in order to isolate the town even further. The settlers have already set up a hut there and have carved out a dirt path running parallel to 446 – a prelude to a punitive outpost.

Soldiers also raided the building of the local council, causing damage to it. In his office, the council head, Faed Sabra, 52, and his aides are drawing up a detailed report about all the damage wrought by the army and the settlers under its patronage. Soldiers invaded 740 homes, whether to conduct searches or to harass and intimidate the residents. They took over 23 homes, expelled the residents and remained in them for their purposes throughout the entire nine-day curfew; settlers set fire to eight cars; a three-story home was demolished, and five other homes partially damaged; and the council's garbage truck was impounded (on the incredible allegation that it had collected garbage in Area C, the sections of the West Bank under full Israeli control).

And all the while, bulldozers of the IDF are at work on the ridge at the far end of the town's land, to the northwest, without anyone, not even the council head, having any idea what the army is up to. The dug-up section is also adorned with dozens of Israeli flags, which were placed there after the terrorist attack, as though Bruqin had been annexed to Israel and is now part of its sovereign territory. A provocation, the flags are also a type of punishment.

And above all, suspicion abounds about the circumstances in which Nael Samara – who is thought to have perpetrated the shooting of Tzeela Gez – was killed. The testimonies suggest that he was handcuffed at the time he was shot by the same soldiers who had arrested him many hours earlier.

Gez, a mother of three children who was on her way to the delivery room to give birth to her fourth, was killed on May 14 in a shooting attack on the road near Brukhin, where she lived. The army raided the village of Bruqin, seized control of dozens of homes, evicted their residents and turned the structures into interrogation centers for many of the town's men. The interrogations were violent, council head Sabra says. He emphasizes that even the sick and the elderly were forbidden to leave their homes while the curfew lasted, including three dialysis patients who were compelled to wait five days before being permitted to go for treatment.

While the army conducted interrogations, the settlers vented their fury on the villagers and vandalized their property. The rampage went on for days after the terrorist attack; as late as last Thursday, more than a week after Gez's murder, homes were still being torched here.

When we arrived at the council building, workers were unloading red fire extinguishers from a car. They are the only means the townsfolk have to protect themselves and their possessions from acts of arson. Under the auspices of the curfew, the army also demolished the three-story building mentioned earlier, claiming it had been built illegally. Council head Sabra says that 245 dunams (61 acres) of the town's land were expropriated for the army's needs after the shooting attack. It's in this area that the bulldozers are now at work. Sabra estimates that between 200 and 300 settlers raided the town in the days after the terrorist attack.

And there was also the killing of Nael Samara, a plasterer by trade, who was 37, married and the father of three. He was arrested by the army on Saturday morning, three days after the shooting. The picture that emerges from testimony collected by Salma a-Deb'i, a field researcher for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, from Samara's widow and from his father and his uncle, is that of an execution.

The widow, Athadel, related that on that morning, between 7 and 8 o'clock, her husband woke her up and said that the army was outside the house. They had expected soldiers to arrive, she said, as they had visited most of the homes in town. The couple opened the door, and the soldiers ordered Nael to step outside and told him to hand over his ID card and his phone. The children were asleep. Following the usual practice, the soldiers handcuffed Nael and blindfolded him with a rag before taking him away. A few soldiers remained in the house and ordered Athadel to sit on a chair at the entrance.

When the children woke up, she said she wanted to give them food. The soldiers allowed her to go to the kitchen. Afterward, she returned to the chair by the front door and remained there until 2:30 or 3 P.M., when she heard a voice call out "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") from the backyard. She recognized it as her husband's voice. That was followed by a burst of gunfire, which was also heard across the town. She tried to get up to see what was going on, but the soldiers told her not to move.

A large number of soldiers arrived, and after some 15 minutes, they all left. Athadel went to her in-laws without knowing what had happened to her husband, even as rumors spread through town that Nael had been killed by the soldiers. A few hours later, Athadel was contacted by the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison Administration. Israeli authorities, she was told, had informed them that Nael had been killed.

The family also noted that three months ago, Nael broke a leg in a work accident. He had a hard time walking and stopped working. The army's claim that he was running when he fled from the scene of the terror attack makes no sense, they say, given the condition of his leg. Was he the terrorist who perpetrated the attack? Was he executed in cold blood by soldiers while he was handcuffed?

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit referred Haaretz this week to the long communiqué that was issued the day after the killing. After stating that the terrorist attack had been solved, and the perpetrator eliminated, the communiqué continued: "During a pursuit and targeted searches by IDF fighters from the Ephraim Brigade, guided by the Shin Bet [security service], a terrorist was spotted running toward the forces, holding a bag suspected of being booby-trapped, and calling out to them. In the light of an immediate threat the fighters eliminated the terrorist. Our forces had no casualties.

"Following an intelligence investigation by the Shin Bet, the IDF and the Shai [Samaria and Judea] Police District, it was found that Nael Samara, the terrorist who was eliminated, had perpetrated the shooting attack near the settlement of Brukhin, in which Tzeela Gez, of blessed memory, was murdered. The terrorist Samara served a prison term for his activity in the Hamas terrorist organization, was released in 2010 and was imprisoned again for several days in 2019 for incitement on the internet. The bag he was carrying was found to contain an M-16 rifle and additional means of combat, which were used to perpetrate the attack…

I asked IDF officials this week how this account squares with the testimony of Samara's wife, who related that her husband had already been arrested by soldiers that morning and brought back to the house in handcuffs. Army sources admitted that he had indeed been taken into custody in the morning and brought to the house at midday, but had then tried to attack the soldiers while calling out "Allahu akbar."

Did the soldiers remove the handcuffs at the house? Very unlikely. Could a person who was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded constitute a danger to soldiers? Very unlikely. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit declined this week to relate to the question of whether he was handcuffed when shot, and made do with a referral to the communiqué. The suspicion that he was shot while handcuffed remains stronger than any other version.

Last Thursday, May 22, the IDF left town and life supposedly returned to normal. But only supposedly. The residents are calculating the damage that was done, others are doing repairs, and everyone is fearful of the next pogrom.

More than two dozen people were killed early Tuesday after the Israeli military opened fire close to a controversial aid distribution point in southern Gaza, local health officials said, the third time in three days that Palestinians were killed in the area.

Video captured by NBC News' crew on the ground showed dead and injured being rushed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. At one point, medical workers gathered around a young child whose head is wrapped in bandages.

Australian emergency physician Dr. Ahmed Abu Sweid told NBC News that patients' injuries included "multiple gunshot wounds, thoracic injuries to the chest, mangled limbs."

“This is the third such event in the last few days,” he said, describing what he called “another mass casualty event from a food aid center” in Rafah.

“The hospital’s overwhelmed,” Abu Sweid said.

A 5-year-old girl was among the wounded, he added, before abruptly ending the interview to treat a patient being rushed into the room.

At least 27 people were killed Tuesday, and more than 160 injured, as they waited for aid at a designated site in the “Al-Alam” roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which has been run by Hamas since 2007.

NBC News was not immediately able to verify the number of casualties. The World Health Organization has previously said it considers the Health Ministry’s data reliable.

The Israeli military said its troops had fired what it described as “warning fire” at a number of people about a half kilometer, or 0.3 miles, away from an aid distribution site in Rafah, and that it was aware of reports of casualties and was looking into the matter.

Troops identified several people moving toward them “in such a way that posed a threat to them” and appearing to deviate from designated aid access routes, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Tuesday.

After the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” it said.

It did not expand on what threat those people posed.

The group in charge of dispensing the aid, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said that while it was distributed “safely and without incident" at the Rafah site, it understood that the IDF was investigating whether "a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone.”

“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area,” the U.S. and Israel-backed the U.S. and Israel-backed group added. “We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites.”

The new effort run by GHF has been condemned by established humanitarian groups, including the U.N. They warn the plan using a few distribution centers falls dramarically short of what is needed in the enclave, and forces many Palestinians to travel long distances to access desperately needed supplies, risking further displacement. It also threatens the independence of humanitarian work while handing Israel more control over Gaza, critics say.

On Monday, Gaza health officials said at least three people were killed and dozens more injured when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians trying to get to a food distribution site in Rafah.

‘Dropped to the ground'
On Sunday, more than 30 people were killed in a similar event in Rafah, with hundreds injured, according to local health officials and aid workers. Speaking with NBC News' crew on the ground, four witnesses described coming under fire from the air and on the ground while they were waiting to collect aid near a distribution site.

Several witnesses said the violence broke out just before 4 a.m. (9 p.m. Saturday ET), while another said it was around 6 a.m. (11 p.m. Saturday ET). At least three people described shelling from tanks, in addition to gunfire. Only the IDF is known to use tanks in Gaza.

Speaking from a hospital bed in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, an intravenous drip attached to his hand and bandages swaddling his right leg, Khaled Ellaham said Israeli soldiers shot at the crowd of hungry Palestinians as they neared a Rafah aid site Monday.

“They opened fire directly at us,” he said Monday. “A lot of people were injured — and a lot of people were killed.”

Ellaham, 39, was among thousands of people to have walked, many for miles, to reach the distribution center early that morning, desperate to get there in time to collect some of the limited supplies being distributed.

"Today, you throw yourself to death to eat," Ellaham said.

In video shared on social media Sunday and verified by NBC News, a crowd of people can be seen running as what sounds like gunshots ring out. A strip of light on the horizon signals the approaching sunrise.

"We dropped to the ground and when the shooting paused for a moment, I stood up — only to be hit in the arm by an explosive bullet," Naji Al-Nahal, 30, from Rafah, told NBC News on Monday as he received care at Nasser Hospital.

"Fortunately, I had an empty flour sack with me," he said. "People around me used it to wrap my wound.”

Footage captured by NBC News showed the bloodied bodies of dead and injured as they were rushed to Nasser Hospital on Sunday.

At least 31 people were killed near the Rafah aid site Sunday, Mohammed Zaqout, Gaza hospitals director, said on the day.

Nasser Hospital treated some 200 people, dozens in critical condition, he said. Many of these injuries were "direct gunshot" wounds "to the head, to the chest, to the abdomen," Zaqout added.

Vigorous denials
On Sunday, the Israeli military denied its forces fired toward Palestinians "in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site," citing an initial inquiry. GHF said it had yet to see “concrete evidence” of the alleged attack.

Separately, an Israeli military official told NBC News that there had been an incident in which soldiers had fired warning shots “toward several suspects” about a half-mile from an aid distribution center — but they maintained that there was no connection between this and what they described as “false claims” made against the military.

In a statement issued Monday, the GHF said “there were no injuries, fatalities or incidents” during their operations Sunday.

“We have yet to see any concrete evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility yesterday and that evidence-based reporting should be at least the minimum requirement for news outlets,” GHF said.

Israeli officials have long claimed that Hamas diverts aid from civilians, which is one of the main reasons for the new aid system run by GHF.

Aid groups, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, have previously said they have not seen instances of aid being diverted to Hamas during the war.

The Israeli government transferred hundreds of millions of shekels earmarked for the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza to the "security establishment," Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported on Wednesday.

The government reportedly approved the transfer of the funds in early May without specifying the intended purposes of the money and processed the transaction "under the radar," in order to hide it from the public, sources told KAN.

The description of the recipient of the funds was written only as "security establishment," when such transactions usually are required to include the details of the specific ministry and purpose of the funds, as alleged by KAN.

The source of the funding is an across-the-board government cut, including civilian services, which was implemented in May.

Denial from PMO, Finance Minister's office
The Prime Minister's Office and the Finance Ministry denied KAN's report, stating, "Even this evening, the State of Israel is not funding humanitarian aid to Gaza."

Lapid has been questioning Israel's role in Gaza aid funding
There has been speculation over direct Israeli involvement in the funding, as well as possible US involvement, notably from Israeli opposition leaders.

Last week, Israeli officials expressed uncertainty over the funding for the distribution of aid in Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Opposition head MK Yair Lapid questioned the government about the source of funding for two agencies involved during a Knesset plenum debate on Monday.

Lapid questioned whether Israel had secretly financed humanitarian aid to Gaza through two shell companies, GHF and the lesser-known Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), established in Switzerland and the US. According to Lapid, Gulf states were expected to fund the aid but declined, citing concerns about the companies’ structure.

“If this money is indeed Israeli and the government is concealing it, it would not only be a deception of Israeli citizens-whose taxes fund it-but also one of the greatest diplomatic blunders in the country’s history,” Lapid said.

“If our tax money is already purchasing humanitarian aid, funding food and medicine for children in Gaza, then let's at least gain international recognition for it. For once, let’s have global headlines highlighting something positive Israel has done in Gaza.”

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the release of all the hostages and unhindered aid access across the enclave.

“The United States has been clear we would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza,” Acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the council before the vote.

“This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground, and embolden Hamas,” she said of the text that was put forward by 10 countries on the 15-member council.

The other 14 countries on the council voted in favor of the draft as a humanitarian crisis grips the enclave of more than 2 million people, where international organizations assert famine looms, and where aid has only trickled in since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade last month.

The Security Council vote came as Israel pushes ahead with an offensive in Gaza after ending a two-month truce in March. Gaza health authorities said Israeli strikes killed 45 people on Wednesday, while Israel said a soldier died in fighting.

Roads leading to Gaza’s aid distribution centers will be considered “combat zones” Wednesday, the Israeli military warned shortly after the controversial organization tasked with running the sites announced they would close for the day.

Palestinians would be “prohibited” from entering the centers and traveling on the roads leading to them throughout Wednesday, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, said in a post on X on Tuesday, adding that they would be considered “combat zones.”

His comments came after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — the Israel and U.S.-backed organization overseeing aid distribution in Gaza — said that all distribution centers in the enclave would be closed for “update, organization and efficiency improvement work.”

The closures were announced following a string of deadly incidents which saw the Israeli military accused of firing at Palestinians as they sought to collect aid. Health officials in the enclave said dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured.

With electricity and internet access limited, it is unclear how many Palestinians will have received the message about both the closures and the fact they could be targeted if they go near the centers after several attacks near the aid sites in recent days.

Israeli forces have been accused of firing at Palestinians as they made their way toward aid distribution sites, most recently in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday when more than two dozen people were killed and scores injured as they waited to collect aid according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

Video captured by NBC News’ crews on the ground showed bloodied Palestinians being rushed into Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

“I hadn’t even reached the distribution point yet when the aircraft opened fire on us. I was hit in both legs,” one of them, Ahmad Hassan Bashnaq, said as he lay on a hospital bed in the hospital’s emergency room. “I only went there to bring food for my children, and I was shot for it,” he added.

In a separate interview, Dr. Ahmed Abu Sweid, an Australian emergency physician, said it was “the third such event in the last few days.”

Similar incidents were reported by health officials Sunday and Monday with Palestinian health officials reporting dozens killed and hundreds more injured.

Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two hostages with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, Judith Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai, a married couple whose remains were being held in Gaza since the beginning of the war there in October 2023.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, recovered the bodies of Weinstein-Haggai, 70, and Haggai, 72, in a special operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Thursday morning.

The couple, from kibbutz Nir Oz, were killed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet said in a joint statement Thursday that Weinstein-Haggai and Haggai were killed and taken into Gaza by members of the Mujahideen Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement.

It said its operation was made possible by precise intelligence from Israeli authorities, and added that the loved ones of the couple and community of Nir Oz had been notified of the recovery of the couple's bodies.

The status of Weinstein-Haggai and Haggai had initially been unclear in the aftermath of the attacks, but then-President Joe Biden said in December 2023 that Weinstein-Haggai was found to have been killed Oct. 7, along with Haggai.

“Our hearts ache for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed,” Netanyahu said after the bodies of Weinstein-Haggai and her husband were recovered.

Weinstein-Haggai and her husband were among four Israeli-Americans whose bodies were believed to remain in Hamas captivity, with Itay Chen, 19 and Omer Neutra, 21, still believed to be held in Gaza.

In a statement Thursday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents families of the hostages held in Gaza, said the return of the remains of Weinstein-Haggai and her husband “for proper burial in their beloved homeland represents the closing of a circle and the fulfillment of the state’s fundamental obligation to them.”

They reiterated calls for the Israeli government to do everything in its power to reach a ceasefire agreement that would see the rest of the more than 50 hostages who remain held in Gaza, both alive and dead, to be returned.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of facilitating Gaza aid thefts by arming terror groups within Gaza.

Right, so its all going wrong for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel as their aid distribution operation, supposedly led by the newly formed Swiss based US run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is actually a Mossad financed Israeli entity not there to provide aid at all, but merely give the façade of doing so, becoming known not for feeding people but for eliminating them instead, so much so that the US envoy who was supposedly behind this scheme has become synonymous with the horrific scenes observed, having been nicknamed Witkoff Massacres – underlining just how lethal Israel’s version of handing out aid has become.

But it’s become so much worse than that now. You see not only have the GHF not been providing the aid they are supposed to be, but it seems there’s been a data collection exercise going on as well potentially endangering so many more people not even there to collect aid, there have been further resignations from the scheme, rendering it reputationally all the more damaged, there’s been one new appointment, which actually makes matters still worse and that was right before the scheme had to shut down for two days as it turns out less than 80% of the aid passed by Israel to be sent in had actually been arriving at the distribution centres! Where was that going, was it being thieved?

Well one Israeli parliamentarian certainly thinks so and he’s accused Benjamin Netanyahu himself of being directly involved by arming ‘ISIS in Gaza’!

Right, so the collapse of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the GHF as a credible aid delivery operation has not surprised many since it only took a few days to be revealed to be nothing more than a front for Israeli interests, the grim reality for Palestinians trapped under siege as this has been, whilst also revealing to the world the disturbing extent to which aid itself has been weaponised by Israel.

A short video from Rafah in southern Gaza, filmed last Friday, shows a crowd rushing toward a food distribution center operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“A-a-a-and, here they come," someone, either the person filming or someone next to him, says in English in a half-amused tone. The residents swarm the piles of boxes, load up as many provisions as they can and flee the area. The air is filled with a cloud of dust during the rush.

These are the lucky ones who reached the GHF's distribution centers. They may have been humiliated, but they reached the facility in one piece and received aid. Others, at least 82 of them, have been killed by gunfire on their way to the distribution centers in four separate incidents this week. Hundreds more have been wounded.

The Israel Defense already admitted on Sunday that soldiers had opened fire in the vicinity of the Rafah distribution center, but denied that there was a connection between the gunfire and the claims of people being killed there. The army also released a video depicting armed Palestinians firing at residents trying to receive aid.

The fact that the gunfire captured on video happened in Khan Yunis, not Rafah, was played down. On Monday and Tuesday, the army once again reported that warning shots had been fired near aid centers, but said that claims of casualties would be checked.

Eyewitness accounts provided to Haaretz, as well as a CNN investigation, reinforced the suspicion that soldiers did fire at the crowds next to the aid stations.

The foundation halted activity from Wednesday until Thursday afternoon following the massacres. It instructed Palestinians to stay away from the aid hubs for their own safety.

It is no coincidence that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid centers turned into scenes of slaughter. These hubs were born in sin. They operate contrary to humanitarian principles accepted by the United Nations and every self-respecting human rights organization.

The aid hubs' real goal is to reduce international pressure on Israel in the wake of the mass hunger in Gaza. It is an attempt to deny Hamas control of the aid without appointing an alternate regime in the embattled enclave – be it the Palestinian Authority, moderate Arab countries or any other authority.

As far as Israel is concerned, there is no "day after" in Gaza. The army can stay in the Gaza Strip until it is emptied of its residents. Hence, the foundation's true goal isn't feeding the hungry, as the UN and humanitarian organizations would happily do, but rather to secure the vision of ethnic cleansing of Gaza for the sake of keeping the coalition intact.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is supposed to supply food directly to families in amounts that meet their precise needs, without any excess that they could sell on the open market – ensuring Hamas will not be able to levy taxes on these goods or to accumulate food.

For the foundation's method to succeed, the number of people in each family must be verified, and packages must be distributed at predetermined times, with an organized list of recipients.

And yet, videos of the aid centers clearly show there is neither registration nor checking. Residents storm the boxes and carry away as much aid as they can. In such a situation, it's clear the aid will not only reach hungry families, but also the open market.

A source in Gaza told Haaretz on Wednesday that traders are selling flour from the GHF. On Thursday, food products from the aid packages could be found in Gaza City's markets.

If the GHF was interested in eradicating hunger in the Gaza Strip, it would have moved to make sure that every resident would be able to reach the facilities and receive aid, including single moms, orphans, the elderly and people with physical and mental disabilities.

However, the photographs and videos from the aid centers indicate that the vast majority of the people showing up are healthy men capable of walking many kilometers with a crate on their backs weighing 19 kilograms (roughly 42 lbs.).

The GHF's failure was evident ahead of time to anyone with eyes in their head. Israel starved Gazans for 80 days and then announced the opening of free food distribution centers.

There is no need to understand how humanitarian aid works or the logistics of food distribution to know that the scenario of storming mobs was the most likely one of all. The Israeli army chose to direct the crowd with rifles, rather than putting up signs and fences. Only a profound denial of the humanity of Gaza's residents can allow the establishment of this twisted system.

Since the war began, UN experts have explained to anyone willing to listen that the only way to ensure food security for Palestinians in Gaza is to allow commercial trade and the entry of humanitarian aid. The food should arrive through multiple entries and be distributed at hundreds, if not thousands, of distribution centers and sales points.

Such a system would guarantee that food prices would fall, and the motivation of armed Hamas militants and other armed individuals to steal and pillage food would go down as well. When a 20 kilogram (44 lbs.) bag of flour costs less than 100 shekels ($28) and not hundreds, the chances of it being stolen go down dramatically.

Of course, it would be preferable to establish such a system alongside an alternate regime that can manage Gaza in place of Hamas. However, Israel isn't interested in installing an alternate regime because it is clinging to the vision of forced expulsion. If there are no Palestinians left in Gaza, there will be no need for a regime. Thus, Israel offered the Gaza Humanitarian Fund to the world as an interim solution.

The fund is a non-transparent entity that has faced a range of problems since its inception: Two senior humanitarian aid officials whose names were tied to the fund quickly denied any connection; Its founder and director quit; Swiss authorities have opened an investigation against it; And the international consulting firm that was providing advice cut its contract with the fund.

Israel's Kan 11 reported on Thursday that the Israeli taxpayer, as everyone had already guessed, was footing the bill. Israel has provided 700 million shekels ($200 million) to purchase food and pay the American security guards' salaries. The claims of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Israel isn't covering the fund's costs are losing their credibility.

The fund's media spokesman, restaurateur Shahar Segal, rose to fame playing the character of Margo in the 1987 Israeli classic "Late Summer Blues" – as the gentle and sensitive narrator. The most famous quote from the movie came from conscientious objector Ahraleh, who said: "There is no border that has an enemy behind it. Behind what is called a border are people like you and me."

The graffiti statement "Ahraleh was right," which covered walls for many years in Israel, referred to this statement. Ahraleh was an innocent expression of the humanization of the other, of the fact that Palestinians (and even Gazans) have children, an empty stomach and dignity.

Over the past two weeks, the foundation's activities, under the cover of Segal's spokesmanship, have dehumanized Gaza residents to a new low. The foundation and Israel put before Palestinians a cruel choice belonging to futuristic dystopian movies: Starve and see your children starve, or risk death to bring back food.

"It's humiliation, it's not living," said Gaza resident Ameen Khalifa in a video he filmed on Monday as he burrowed himself under the sand next to the crowds of people who were on their way to the distribution center and suddenly heard shots. "Food diluted with blood. We're dying to bring food."

A CNN investigation found that he was killed the next day, allegedly shot by Israeli troops near the aid distribution facility. The Israeli government has made a decision in the name of all Israelis – there haven't been people like us on the other side of the border for a long time. In fact, there aren't any people there at all.

The Israeli military was behind a deadly shooting of civilians seeking aid near Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday, a CNN investigation found.

More than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, said Israeli troops shot at crowds in volleys of gunfire that occurred sporadically through the early hours of Sunday morning, the investigation said. Multiple videos geolocated by CNN placed the gunfire near a roundabout where hundreds of Palestinians had gathered about half a mile (800 metres) away from the militarised aid site.

The Israeli military has denied its troops had fired on civilians in or around the centre, and both it and the aid centre's administrator accused Hamas of sowing false rumours.

The Times of Israel said a separate report by Haaretz also confirmed eyewitness accounts and video pointing to Israel having carried out the shooting. The outlet quotes an unnamed military official saying that senior officers opened fire to direct the Palestinians towards the aid site.

“The intention was to direct the population via fire,” the officer is quoted as saying.

“The army treated this like a regular situation of suspects entering a combat zone, but it’s impossible to direct a population at scales this large with fire if you want them to feel safe getting to areas you have opened.”

The assault against the settlements were in 2023 while most of the recent posts seems to be about Israel killing and/or starving civilians in Gaza. Maybe it's time to start a new thread or change the name of this one?