Four international activists, including three Italians, were injured today in an attack carried out by Israeli settlers in the community of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, in the West Bank, after the attackers broke into the house where they were staying. This was reported by the Palestinian agency Wafa. The fourth activist would be of Canadian nationality. According to sources, around 10 masked Israeli settlers broke into the activists’ residence at dawn, beat them and stole personal belongings, including passports and mobile phones.
Palestinian medical and security sources said the settlers attacked the activists, resulting in four injuries who were transported to Jericho hospital for treatment but were later discharged. The three Italians are not in serious condition, despite the shock of what happened: two girls suffered minor injuries, while the third will have to rest for 3 days. The activists were assisted by the mayor of Jericho and the Palestinian police, to whom they reported the incident.
The Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, announced that he had “spoken to the Italian consul in Jerusalem, he updated me on the situation and told me that they are injured but not serious, they are returning to Ramallah and therefore should be reachable in the afternoon. So I will try to speak to them also in the afternoon”. They were “beaten up”, he finally specified. “Enough aggression – said Tajani – this is not the way (of the Israeli settlers, ed.) to also vindicate their own reasons. The West Bank must not be annexed, no possibility of annexation, we are absolutely against it, the Palestinian civilian population must be respected. It is very serious. The appeal we also make to the government of Israel is to stop the settlers and prevent the continuation of this violence which does not serve the realization of the peace plan for which we are all working”.
Netanyahu, I ask for grace to serve the good of Israel. Letter to Herzog
“I ask that you consider granting clemency in order to allow me to continue to work entirely for the good of the State of Israel, without the ongoing judicial process continuing to divide the people and influence government decisions.” Benyamin Netanyahu writes this in the letter to President Isaac Herzog, which accompanies the request for pardon. “The judicial proceedings against me further contribute to these fractures”, while there is “the need for national reconciliation among all citizens”, writes the prime minister while claiming his innocence.
Israeli raids in Gaza
Last night, meanwhile, Israeli military planes launched a raid east of the Bureij camp, in the central area of Gaza, on the territory located behind the so-called yellow line that delimits the areas under Israeli control. This was reported by Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, IDF air forces carried out six raids east of Rafah, in the southern area of Gaza. According to the Arab newspaper, Israeli forces also carried out a demolition operation under artillery fire in the territory located behind the so-called yellow line east of Khan Younis, in the southern area of Gaza.
“Four terrorists have been eliminated” in the operation carried out this morning east of Rafah by the Israeli armed forces, the Israeli army says.
The four “had emerged from underground infrastructure in the area”, adds the note. As underlined by various Israeli media including The Times of Israel, the IDF is verifying whether among these four “eliminated” individuals are the commander of Hamas’ East Rafah Mizrahi Battalion and his deputy regarding these four individuals. However, the Israeli army emphasizes that the recognition procedure is complex.
According to the Israeli broadcaster, 44 Hamas militiamen fleeing from the Rafah underground have been killed so far, while many others have been captured. According to estimates, there are another 50 men trapped in the tunnels under the Israeli area of control, where the IDF Southern Command continues to strike to destroy structures and reduce their space for maneuver.
In recent weeks, Israel has made a proposal to Hamas through mediators that surviving terrorists in tunnels in eastern Rafah will be able to leave, surrender and be incarcerated in Israeli prisons.
According to the Israeli proposal, they can then be released and return to the Gaza Strip, provided they declare that they wish to disarm and not continue to engage in terrorist activities. So far the Islamic faction has rejected any hypothesis of surrender of its militiamen, who nevertheless try to escape piecemeal.
A spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says Israel should not be able to delay moving to the next stage of the ceasefire plan on the basis that the bodies of two hostages are still being held in Gaza. The Times of Israel writes it.
In an interview with an Al-Araby Al-Jadeed podcast, Majed al-Ansari says that the issue of the two remaining bodies “is the most important” right now. “We do not believe that Israel should be allowed to hinder the implementation of the agreement on these two bodies. At the same time, of course, the Palestinian side is working to recover the bodies and prevent any Israeli pretext,” he says.
“The current commitment of Qatar and its partners in the region is to move from the first to the second phase of the plan, and thus achieve a sustainable peace that can comprehensively end the state of war in the Gaza Strip,” it says. “Reaching this stage of truce presents significant challenges, but the goal now is to maintain it long enough to reach a political solution in which all parties in the region, together with the international community and the United States, work together towards the success of this plan and the end of the war.” Ansari also states that any potential normalization between Doha and Israel will only happen within the framework of a solution to the Palestinian issue.
‘Iran is rearming itself against Israel’
A security source warned in an interview with Kan News on Channel 2 that Iran is making efforts to restore its damaged status and is accelerating the pace of weapons acquisition out of fear of an Israeli attack. This is what the Israeli public television website reports.
According to the source, Iran is making efforts to restore the capabilities of the Houthis in Yemen and is illegally introducing weapons into the territories of Judea and Samaria for the purpose of carrying out attacks in Israel. He warned that Iran is also re-equipping Hezbollah in Lebanon and terrorist organizations operating in Syria with weapons for possible action against Israel.
Regarding the situation in Lebanon, the security source said that Iran is aware that Israel will have to act after December 31, the deadline by which Hezbollah should disarm. The source concluded by stating that Iran is engaged in an arms race which worries security sources.
The Yemeni news website ‘Defense Line’, which opposes the Houthis – Kan News reports – reported about two weeks ago on the measures taken by Iran to restore influence in Sana’a. According to the report, Tehran has decided to send Abdul Reza Shahla’i, commander in chief of the Quds Force and responsible for the Yemeni sector, to Yemen in an attempt to fill the strategic vacuum created by the assassination of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Qassem Soleimani, and to send experts from the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah as “jihadist aides” for the Houthis.
Iran’s actions against Israel also extend beyond the borders of the Middle East. The Mossad recently announced that it had managed to foil, in collaboration with European intelligence, a number of terrorist infrastructures around the world promoting attacks against Israelis and Jews, some of which operated under Iranian auspices.
According to Israeli officials, dozens of cells try to promote attacks in Europe, Africa and other places.