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. …
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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 …
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 …
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Several meetings held at Capitol Hill between the United States and Israel’s representatives did not manage to alleviate the former’s concerns about some of the latter’s recent moves against Hamas, which includes a ground operation in Rafah and a risk of causing civilian casualties, Axios reported on Wednesday. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) General Eliezer …
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The United States paused a bomb shipment to Israel last week to signal its concern over Israel approaching its plan to launch a full-scale invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, the Associated Press reported, citing a senior administration official. The shipment consisted of “1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs,” according to the official, who …
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that despite Hamas’ attempt to “torpedo” the Israeli military offensive in Rafah by agreeing to a ceasefire deal, the group failed to achieve its goal. In a statement, Netanyahu reaffirmed that as demonstrated on past occasions, “military pressure” against Hamas is necessary to achieve the release of more hostages. The prime …
Lebanon-based Hezbollah struck Israeli forces’ sites in five different locations on Tuesday as a response to earlier strikes in south Lebanon, and to continue to support Palestinians, the group said on Telegram. From the five locations, the group claimed to have left “dead and wounded” when striking Israeli military forces in two areas, the Yiftah …
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Tuesday the capture of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. According to the 401st Armored Brigade, the crossing is now disconnected from the Salah a-Din road in Western Rafah, which the Givati Brigade also captured during overnight operations. The announcement comes after reports that the army was conducting operations in …
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Hamas informed Egypt and Qatar it accepted the proposal for a new ceasefire deal with Israel those two parties created, Al Jazeera reported on Monday, citing what it described as a leading source from the organization. The group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh was said to have phoned Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al …
Hamas has decided to freeze the latest round of negotiations over a ceasefire with Israel and, henceforth, postpone its delegation’s trip to Cairo, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed or The New Arab reported on Monday. Citing a source from the organization, the outlet added that Egypt advised Hamas to return to the talks and not to escalate the …
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