The Israeli military is expected to move forward with its military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah “as planned,” a source told Axios correspondent Barak Ravid on Thursday. The ceasefire negotiations in Cairo, which also focused on the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip, have ended, with the Israeli delegation already on its way back to Israel, the insider confirmed. Israeli officials are also said to have presented their “reservations” to the mediators about the Hamas proposal. Namely, the Israeli war cabinet was anticipated to hold a meeting this evening after United States President Joe Biden warned that Washington would stop its weapon shipments to Israel were it to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where over a million people are currently taking shelter.
Hamas delegation leaves Cairo without ceasefire deal
Hamas Political Bureau member Izzat al-Risheq said on Thursday that the Palestinian group’s delegation left Cairo after the latest round of ceasefire negotiations with Israel. No agreement has been achieved as Israel began operations in Rafah in the south of Gaza. Al-Risheq said the Israeli operation “aims to obstruct the efforts of the mediators and escalate the aggression and the war of extermination.” International opposition to the Rafah invasion accelerated in recent days, with the United States vowing to stop weapons deliveries to Israel if it decided to proceed with the operation.
Fears mount that a full-scale Israel-Hezbollah confrontation could be imminent
Lebanon, a country of six million scarred by sectarianism and under the de facto control of the Islamist movement, is in the grips of a dire financial crisis; its people are in no position to bear the brunt of another war. The Observer’s conversations with Beirutis over the past few weeks suggest that the Lebanese still believe the cross-border hostilities can be contained, as Hezbollah does not want to antagonise its base. For the time being, what happens in the north is dependent on the trajectory of Israel’s war in Gaza. Despite international calls for restraint, including from Israel’s closest ally, the US, the IDF appears to finally be gearing up for its long-threatened offensive on Rafah . An Israeli ground operation there is likely to cause thousands of civilian casualties and further disrupt meagre aid deliveries. Protracted ceasefire talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar have gained traction again in the past week or so, but it remains uncertain whether any truce and hostage release deal can be struck that would spare Rafah from an Israeli offensive in the next few weeks.The IDF is loath to stretch troops across two major fronts, so a wider operation in the north is unlikely to come before Rafah’s fate is decided. For its part, Hezbollah has vowed to continue fighting until Israel completely withdraws from Gaza.
Netanyahu: ‘Israel will stand alone’ if it has to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday that Israel will continue its fighting against Hamas without anyone’s support if it has to do so. “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu pointed out, adding that “no amount of pressure” will be strong enough to make Israel desist “from defending itself.” The prime minister’s comments come after United States President Joe Biden said that his country will suspend weapons shipments to Israel if it launches a full-scale invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where nearly 1.5 million people have been sheltering since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Israel Betrayed
Israelis have waited for months for Israel to send the IDF into Gaza and finish the job, to defeat Hamas and free our captives, those alive and dead. The IDF finally was sent in. But why did it take so long? And what in the world just happened with Hamas announcing that they agreed to a ceasefire that Israel never agreed to? The bottom line is that the Biden administration betrayed Israel, taking one step more than it has taken until now. Hence, I have no problem using the word “betrayed”.
Biden: Rafah invasion will end weapons shipments to Israel
- State Department says it’s reviewing other weapons systems
- Israeli officials and Republicans air displeasure over US move
US President Joe Biden said he would halt additional shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if the country proceeded with a ground invasion of Rafah, decrying the potential loss of civilian life as “just wrong.” “We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” Biden said in an interview Wednesday with CNN. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.” The remarks came after the US paused delivery of about 3,500 bombs to Israel — including 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) explosives that could cause massive collateral damage in the densely packed southern Gaza city of Rafah — amid mounting frustration over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza. The move marked the Biden administration’s most serious signal of displeasure over the conduct of the ongoing war against Hamas.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said. NB: Its called a war. And get this when you start a war people die. Including women and children…… Especially when you use them as a human sheild.
Earlier Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US is reviewing “other potential weapon systems” as needed. A congressional aide and an administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said another pending arms sale has been under review for months — a potential $260 million sale between Boeing Co. and Israel for as many as 6,500 tail-kits to convert unguided bombs into GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
Yet even as tension mounts, Biden administration officials and former officials said the moves had a clearly defined goal: exert as much pressure as possible on Israel to scale back or abandon an invasion of Rafah while being careful not to make a total break with Netanyahu’s government.
Palestinian officials said all aid from Egypt stopped after Israel took control of the Rafah crossing on May 7. Israeli military said aid is coming through other ways. Israel also conducted airstrikes overnight on May 6 in Rafah
The administration also wants to preserve space for negotiators who have convened in Cairo this week to keep striving for a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Officials in those talks include Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, who is trying to bring home a deal whose prospects have whipsawed between hopeful and grim. “The pause in arms shipments should not be read as a major break in the relationship,” said Mara Rudman, who held senior Middle East diplomatic roles in the Obama and Clinton administrations and is now a professor at the University of Virginia. “Consider it as an element in the mix at a key inflection point — maximizing efforts to reach a cease-fire that brings out hostages, brings in humanitarian relief and starts to build a pathway to greater sanity all around.” It all comes at a critical juncture in the seven-month old conflict. Biden is facing domestic pressure for a solution with US elections just six months away. At the same time, Israel has begun strikes in Rafah that could either pressure Hamas leaders into signing a cease-fire deal or scuttle the negotiations entirely.
Biden’s decision was immediately assailed by the Israelis, who privately expressed deep frustration to the US and warned that it could jeopardize the negotiations at a crucial moment, according to a person briefed on the discussions. The Israelis also told US officials that pressure should be put on Hamas, not on Israel, said the person, who also asked not to be named to speak freely about private discussions.
It was also assailed by Republican lawmakers in Washington, who accused the administration of sending the wrong message to Hamas and other Iran-backed militant groups such as Hezbollah. The pauses “call into question your pledge that your commitment to Israel’s security will remain ironclad,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a joint letter to Biden Wednesday. “Daylight between the United States and Israel at this dangerous time risks emboldening Israel’s enemies and undermining the trust that other allies and partners have in the United States.” NN: 2 words come to mind SELL OUT. To Hamas….. SHAME!!!!
Israel reportedly tells US weapon pause could harm hostage deal
Israeli officials are said to have warned the United States that the decision to halt weapon shipments could harm the hostage talks, Axios reported on Wednesday citing sources. People familiar with the matter shared that Israel was not only frustrated by Washington’s move to pause the security assistance package but also about its decision to leak the information to the media outlets. Previously, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin clarified that Washington has not yet reached a final decision on the delivery of weapons to Israel, but that it is instead “reviewing” it in light of the “unfolding events” in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
EIA: US crude inventories down by 1.4 million barrels
Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were down by 1.4 million barrels to 459.5 million barrels in the week ending May 3, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday. The figure marked a slightly lower-than-expected draw. The country’s inventories now stand 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9 million barrels per day for the corresponding week, which is 307,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 85.5% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production increased, averaging 9.5 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 7 million barrels per day last week, going up by 198,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels last week.
Israel reportedly frustrated amid US weapons halt……….Austin: US reviewing Israel aid over Rafah plans
The Israeli government is deeply frustrated with Washington last week’s decision to stop a big delivery of weapons to the Middle Eastern country, according to an NBC report on Wednesday citing an Israeli official. In addition, the source added that the frustration sentiment increased because Israel felt the US failed to warn them about Hama’s announcement of accepting a ceasefire. The weapons delivery that the US halted included 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, the official noted allegedly confirming previous reports. On Tuesday, the White House insisted on not wanting to see a further escalation of the conflict in Rafah where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a military operation and the evacuation of thousands.
Austin: US reviewing Israel aid over Rafah plans
United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin clarified on Wednesday that Washington is currently “reviewing” near-term security assistance shipments to Israel due to the “unfolding events” in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. “We have delayed the shipment. We made it clear that we are opposed to Israeli action in Rafah that does not take into account the safety of the Palestinian citizens in the city,” Austin told the Senate Appropriations Committee but added that Washington has not yet made a final decision regarding the weapon shipment. Earlier, US media outlets reported that the Biden administration put a pause on a shipment of some 3,500 bombs to Israel last week over growing concerns that the weapons could be used during Israeli military operation in Rafah.
Gaza Cease-Fire Should End With Hamas’ Exile
Negotiations to secure a cease-fire in Gaza aren’t yet dead, but Israel has begun its assault on Rafah nonetheless. While everyone will take a side when it comes to assigning blame for this unfolding human catastrophe, the talks have been revealed as an exercise in bad faith by all involved. There was bad faith from Israel because, in the days before the latest round of peace talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been so vocal in his insistence that no matter what might emerge in Cairo, the Israel Defense Forces would at some point move into Rafah. This was a transparent attempt to doom efforts at bridging the gap with Hamas. There was bad faith on the part of Hamas, because its Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh implied by omission that the document he approved was the same one Israel already accepted. This was untrue. What Hamas agreed to on Monday was a counteroffer. I doubt Haniyeh believed for a second that Israel would accept, so for him this was about shifting responsibility for collapse of the talks. Al Jazeera — recently banned from Israel — has published what purports to be the text of the proposal Haniyeh agreed to. Its provenance hasn’t been verified, but two elements ring true and I think go to the heart of why this war is proving so deadly and difficult to end.
The first is that the proposal was so clearly an attempt to paper over the yawning gap between two essentially unreconcilable positions. Israel wants its hostages back without having to accept an end to the war; that would leave Hamas in place in Gaza and therefore victorious.
Hamas, meanwhile, will trade its hostages only for a permanent Israeli withdrawal. Both demands can’t be met simultaneously. The purported deal mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar and the US consists of a three-stage plan in which the first 42-day phase included detailed procedures to begin an Israeli stand down and partial hostage release. The two remaining phases, according to the Al Jazeera document, would move to a “sustainable calm” in which all hostages would be traded for prisoners and an Israeli withdrawal, followed by reconstruction and compensation. The deal was to be guaranteed by Egypt, Qatar, the US and the United Nations. The war cabinet decision to reject the latest cease-fire offer from Hamas was unanimous and the IDF’s plans in Rafah didn’t skip a beat. But before dismissing that response as warmongering in its purest form, consider what was not in the mediated agreement: Any mention of Hamas and its future.
I have been critical about the way in which Israel has conducted the war, in particular its failure to build a political strategy and its high tolerance for civilian deaths. The operation in Rafah, which involves closing a key entry point for aid and attacking a town that’s host to more than 1 million refugees from other parts of the strip, can only promise worse. Even so, the Israeli concern about Hamas remaining in Gaza as the IDF leaves is justified. It pays to listen carefully to what Hamas says, and on Monday the group’s head of international relations, Osama Hamdan, gave a lengthy webinar on the website of Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. He made three things very clear.
The first is that Hamas considers its terrorist operation on Oct. 7, and the war it provoked, to have been an enormous success. His tone is jubilant, with no sign of remorse for the more than 34,000 Palestinians who the Gaza health authority says have lost their lives as a direct result of that attack. In the view of Hamas, the operation halted the process of normalizing Israel’s global acceptance as a legitimate nation state and turned the Palestinian cause global. Again and again, he praised the “heroes” on the university campuses of the West as evidence of a geopolitical pivot in favor of Hamas.
The second point Hamdan repeatedly stressed was that the aim of Hamas is to eliminate Israel — not to make peace with it. And lastly, that the organization sees a cease-fire as no impediment to pursuing that goal; he even cast Gaza’s reconstruction as providing the means for ordinary Palestinians to join in the struggle.
“Now we are heading toward a cease-fire, but this doesn’t mean the confrontation will stop,” Hamdan said. “We need to continue our resistance against the occupation, but I think the confrontation will become bigger and wider.”