Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose not to send a delegation to Cairo for follow-up talks aimed at securing a ceasefire with Hamas, again dismissing Hamas' demands as “delusional.”
Elon Musk's Starlink has agreed to a series of measures to block Hamas' access to satellite internet services and won licenses to operate in Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip.
Germany's foreign minister is scheduled to visit Israel to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that sending troops to Rafah could cause a humanitarian disaster.
Tensions rise between Israel and Hezbollah after rocket attack from Lebanon
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Wednesday as Israeli towns and army bases came under attack from Lebanon in what appears to be the heaviest attack since the conflict began four months ago.
The attack was presumed to have been carried out by Hezbollah, and Israeli warplanes launched a large-scale attack on positions of the Iranian-backed group.
The missiles from Lebanon landed deeper into Israel than those previously sent by Hezbollah. Since the war with Hamas broke out on October 7, the group has engaged in near-daily gun battles with Israel, although these skirmishes have been largely contained to border areas.
Many Israeli politicians, including ministers, have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military to act more aggressively against Hezbollah, the most powerful militia in the Middle East. He declares that he will destroy the Jewish state.
One woman was killed in Wednesday's assault, and emergency services said seven people were injured, Israeli media reported. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the missiles were fired primarily from areas controlled by Hezbollah.
The Israel Defense Forces said the airstrikes targeted Hezbollah military facilities, control rooms and other infrastructure.
One person was killed and 10 injured in a strike that damaged shops and homes in the village of Adsheet in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported. Hezbollah announced that one fighter was killed.
“This is no longer just dribble, it's war,” said Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, who has long advocated a more aggressive stance against Hezbollah. “It's time to change the way we think.”
Other officials were more cautious, but suggested Israel could retaliate aggressively.
“This morning we experienced a severe attack, to which we will respond immediately and strongly,” said Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's war cabinet and leader of the opposition.
Gantz added that the Lebanese government must take responsibility for Hezbollah's actions.
Lebanon is in an economic crisis, parliament has not elected a president in over a year, and only an interim prime minister exists. The government has little control over Hezbollah, which is both a political party and an armed group.
Wednesday's blaze coincided with Israeli forces threatening to launch an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled fighting elsewhere in the enclave. Despite strong criticism from US President Joe Biden and others, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hamas had fighters in Rafah and that the war could only end if Hamas was destroyed.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Tuesday that the group will continue attacking Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas.
read more: US will face fallout from Gaza even if it avoids widespread war
Prime Minister Nasrallah said, “The South Lebanon front is a pressure point to weaken the Zionist enemy, its economy and security.”
The war broke out on October 7 when Hamas fighters rushed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people. Israel's retaliatory air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed more than 28,500 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Israeli officials say about 12,000 of them are Hamas fighters.
Hamas abducted about 250 people during the invasion. About 100 people were freed during the week-long ceasefire that ended on December 1, and two more were freed by special forces on Monday. The Israeli military has announced that 31 of the 135 prisoners still in Gaza have died.
Iran supports anti-Israel and anti-American groups throughout the region. Together these are often referred to as the “resistance axis.” These include Yemen's Houthis and militias in Syria and Iraq.
Israel withdraws from peace talks due to Hamas's 'delusional' demands
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose not to send a delegation to Cairo for follow-up talks aimed at securing a ceasefire with Hamas, again dismissing the extremist group's demands as “delusional.”
The prime minister's office announced Wednesday that Israel is demanding that Hamas change its position before playing a further role in negotiations. Iranian-backed extremist groups have demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in exchange for the release of the hostages, a claim that Netanyahu flatly denies.
read more: For many Israelis, rescuing the hostages is not as important as defeating Hamas.
Hamas also called for the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, including those convicted of murder and other violence.
An Israeli delegation led by David Balnea, head of the intelligence agency Mossad, returned from talks in Egypt on Tuesday.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that Israel will not bow to Hamas's delusional demands,” the prime minister's office said. “Negotiations will move forward if Hamas's position changes.”
Amid growing international concern about the fate of more than 1 million Palestinian refugees taking refuge in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israel's position suggests that the prospect of a ceasefire, even temporary, is remote. There is. Israeli forces are preparing to attack a town near the Egyptian border, believed to be home to remaining Hamas fighters, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to allow civilians to leave in advance.
Musk's Starlink wins license in parts of Israel and Gaza Strip
Elon Musk's Starlink has agreed to a series of measures to block Hamas' access to satellite internet services and won licenses to operate in Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip.
The service is available to some authorities in Israel, and the government has approved its use at a field hospital run by the United Arab Emirates in southern Gaza, Israel's Ministry of Communications announced on Wednesday.
Starlink will begin selling the devices through its Israeli subsidiary in the coming weeks, but will initially limit sales to a list of approved customers in Israel, including local governments and government agencies.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that “forces in the Gaza Strip supporting humanitarian objectives will only be allowed to operate if Israeli security forces confirm that they are authorized organizations that are not concerned about risks or potential threats to national security.'' , will be approved on a case-by-case basis.”
Starlink's services are increasingly being used in conflict zones to provide internet access to areas where infrastructure, including military units, has been destroyed. Musk launched a satellite service in Ukraine in the months after the Russian invasion. Ukrainian intelligence services say the Russian military is currently Use Starlink terminal At the forefront.
Israel plans to use the service for emergency backup communications, but needed assurances from parent company SpaceX that Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, would not have access to it.
Germany increases pressure on Israel not to attack Rafah
Germany's foreign minister is scheduled to visit Israel to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that sending troops to Rafah could cause a humanitarian disaster.
More than 1 million people have fled to the southern city of Gaza to escape Israel's war with Hamas. Not only the United States but also European and Arab countries have voiced strong criticism of Israel's plan to launch an attack on Rafah. The Israeli government appears intent on moving forward regardless.
Prime Minister Netanyahu promised in advance to allow civilians to leave their homes. Israel, which was concentrated in the northern part of the Palestinian territory at the beginning of the conflict, argues that the attack is necessary because there are many Hamas fighters in Rafah, and that it is necessary to continue the war until the Iranian-backed extremist group is destroyed. are doing.
“1.3 million people are being held in Rafah in the most appalling conditions in extremely confined spaces,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock said in a statement ahead of Wednesday's visit. “Many of them had followed Israeli evacuation orders and fled the fighting zone in northern Gaza, often with only their children in their arms and clothes on their backs. attack on Rafah would put the humanitarian situation at risk.
Israel has not yet said when it plans to move into Rafah, but it has already done so launched several airstrikes When dozens of people die in a city or a safe passage is opened for people to get out.
read more: Why Rafah is stirring up fear in the war between Israel and Hamas: QuickTake
“Military operations in Rafah could lead to genocide in Gaza,” said Martin Griffiths, the UN's humanitarian and emergency relief chief. Said on tuesday. “This could leave already fragile humanitarian operations on the brink of death,” he said, referring to UN programs in the region.
Prohamas hackers target Israeli engineers on October 7th
A group of pro-Palestinian hackers attacked Israeli software engineers in an attempt to trick Israeli software engineers into downloading malware in the weeks before the October 7 massacre, according to findings by cybersecurity researchers at Alphabet Inc.'s Google. targeted software engineers.
The attack, dubbed “Black Atom,” was more complex than those typically used by Hamas-affiliated hackers, according to a Google report released Wednesday. The target was approached on his LinkedIn and invited to download the malware-infected coding assignment via GitHub or Google Drive.
Kristen Dennesen, an analyst in Google's Threat Analysis Group, said in a press conference that Hamas-linked hackers lured an Israel-based software engineer in September “posing as an employee of a legitimate company.” He said he was promised freelance employment opportunities.
In contrast to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Google did not observe a significant increase in cyber operations by Hamas-affiliated groups targeting Israel before October 7. Google also said that to date there has been no evidence of major cyber elements being involved in Hamas' activities during the conflict. “There was no indication that cyber activities were integrated into Hamas' battlefield operations or that cyber was used to enable kinetic events,” the report said. DM
Read more at Daily Maverick: Israeli-Palestinian war