International
Netanyahu reiterates to Blinken his intention to invade Rafah to defeat Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted at his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his intention to expand his military offensive to Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, as the “only way to defeat Hamas.”
“Today I met with the US Secretary of State. I told him that I greatly appreciate that for more than five months we have been together in the war against Hamas and that we recognize the need to evacuate the civilian population from the war zones and, of course, attend to humanitarian needs. We are working on it,” Netanyahu said in a video message.
Blinken arrived this morning in Tel Aviv on his sixth tour of the Middle East since the war began in the Strip to promote a truce agreement and exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, in addition to allowing the entry of more humanitarian aid to the enclave, where half of the population is at risk of imminent famine.
I also told him that we have no way to defeat Hamas without going to Rafah and eliminating the rest of the battalions that are there. I told him that I hope to have the support of the United States, but if necessary we will do it alone,” said Netanyahu, who does not seem willing to give in in his objective of invading Rafah even if the United States considers it a “red line.”
More than 1.4 million people displaced by violence currently live in Rafah, more than half of the population of the enclave, although Israel claims to have an unrevealed plan to evacuate the civilian population.
After visiting Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Blinken landed in Israel, where as soon as he landed he met with Netanyahu; then with the Minister of the Cabinet of War – and member of the opposition – Benny Gantz; and he plans to meet later with the entire War Cabinet and with representatives of the families of the kidnapped.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Israeli Army claimed to have “eliminated” about 150 alleged fighters in its military operation in the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the Strip, whose siege began on Monday with the argument that hundreds of militiamen were hiding in it.
“So far, the forces have eliminated more than 150 terrorists in the hospital area, arrested hundreds of suspects and located weapons and terrorist infrastructure,” a military statement reported.
“This is an operation with the largest number of terrorists arrested since the beginning of the war,” Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said last night.
Among the detainees – more than 500 according to the Army – are three senior officials of Hamas in the occupied West Bank and several members of the “chain of command” of Islamic Jihad.
About its military activities in the rest of the Strip, the Army confirmed the attack on a tunnel and a military complex in the center of the Strip, from where on Thursday projectiles were launched towards the Beeri kibutz, in southern Israel.
The Nahal Brigade, which operates in central Gaza, also killed “dozens of terrorists” in recent days, with fire from snipers, tanks and airplanes, according to the military.
In addition, Israeli troops have continued their operations in Jan Yunis, the main city in the south of the enclave, for three and a half months.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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