As reported by Reuters, the Trump administration’s Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that $1.9 billion in natural disaster relief aid would be conditional on US cities and states agreeing not to boycott Israeli commercial companies.
On the subject of humanitarian aid for Gaza: Adam Kadyrov appointed curator of humanitarian aid for Gaza residents from Chechnya, source Regnum. Starting on 4 August, according to the IDF, planes from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, Belgium and, for the first time, Canada, delivered pallets of humanitarian aid to the northern and southern Gaza Strip. On 4 August alone, 120 pallets were delivered. Each pallet contains about one tonne of food. Since 26 July, a total of 675 pallets of humanitarian aid have been delivered to the Gaza Strip from nine countries, including Israel. The supplies dropped by the IDF were provided by international humanitarian organisations, not by Israel. On 5 August, a meeting was held between donors and the Israeli military on humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Former leaders of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the Israeli secret services Mossad and Shin Bet have sent a letter to Donald Trump asking him to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza. In total, the letter was signed by over 600 former senior Israeli security officials, reports the Jerusalem Post. According to them, the two objectives of the military operation that were to be achieved by force have already been ‘achieved long ago’, while the third, namely the release of hostages from Gaza, can only be achieved through diplomacy. Furthermore, they argue that ‘in our professional opinion, Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel’.
According to former Israeli army military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, “Israel” is currently facing a political collapse on three levels: the world’s adoption of the Palestinian narrative of “the justice of the cause”, widespread diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian state, and the boycott and isolation of “Israel” and Israelis around the world (the BDS movement). It is worth noting the movement within the European Union to suspend “Israel’s” participation – at this stage only partially – in certain programmes and sectors.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Polish ambassador to deliver a note after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote yesterday, among other things: “Poland has always been and will always be on Israel’s side in the fight against Islamic terrorism, but it will never be on the side of politicians whose actions cause hunger and death to mothers and children. This should be clear to nations that shared the hell of World War II.”
During a visit to an IDF post in the Gaza buffer zone, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ‘formulated my position on the security measures and political steps Israel must take to ensure the war’s objectives are achieved,’ which he presented yesterday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and government ministers.
‘Defeating Hamas in Gaza, while creating the conditions for the return of the hostages, is the main objective of the war in Gaza, and we must take all necessary actions to achieve it,’ his office said in a statement. ‘At the same time, we must ensure the safety and security of Israeli communities by maintaining a permanent IDF presence in the peripheral security zone at strategic points in Gaza, from where attacks on communities and arms smuggling into Gaza can be prevented,’ he said from the so-called Ridge 70 position. ‘As soon as the political leadership makes the necessary decisions, the military, as on all war fronts so far, professionally implements a determined policy,’ he added. In response, the father of prisoner Eitan Horn said of the intention to expand the fighting in Gaza: ‘I want Netanyahu to explain to the public why he is going to kill my son.’
A spokesperson for the US State Department commented on reports of Israel’s intention to occupy Gaza and said that the main goal now is the release of all hostages, including the bodies of two American citizens. She added that the United States does not interpret the plans of other governments and stressed that Hamas will not return to power in the Gaza Strip.
Yair Golan, reserve general, politician: “The occupation of Gaza, the imposition of a military regime, the astronomical costs in terms of blood and money, international isolation, our transformation into a pariah state and the killing of prisoners: all this is absolutely unacceptable. I call for paralysing the economy and organising mass demonstrations, because the government has lost its legitimacy and is imposing measures on us for which we will pay the price for generations to come, and is imposing an eternal war on us.”
According to media outlets close to Hezbollah: “President Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf of Lebanon may want to disarm Hezbollah and certainly share this goal with Israel and the United States, but Israel and the US have not given this government a shred of legitimacy or guarantee regarding the end of attacks, occupation, prisoners and so on. They have not given this government a single result to drive the narrative, especially after Hezbollah completely, and for the first time ever on this scale, completely disarmed south of the Litani River.”
According to Hezbollah media, ‘one thing is certain: Hezbollah will not disarm.’ ‘Another thing is certain: Israel wants to occupy these parts of Lebanon forever and wants to force Lebanon into normalisation, starting with the disarmament of Hezbollah and ending with its banning.’ MP Fayyad after the meeting between the Hezbollah delegation and Bassil: “The worst-case scenario now, which we must all be cautious about, is to turn the problem from an Israeli-Lebanese problem into a Lebanese-Lebanese problem.
Fayyad said: ‘The Free Patriotic Movement has a view not far from ours, and it has an approach that considers the path to resolution as one that begins with Israel’s commitment first and foremost to the agreements and with the guarantor states playing their role. We stressed the importance of holding parliamentary elections on schedule, without any postponement.’
And now a look at the scenarios opened by Israel, updated at 3 p.m. on 6 August. From Syria, according to Syrian media: An Israeli patrol is advancing on the Jabata al-Khashab road towards the village of Ain al-Nouriya in Quneitra.
From Lebanon, we learn that the Lebanese army is conducting a major operation in the Sharawna neighbourhood of Baalbek, targeting wanted persons (A.Z.) and (A.S.), while their fate remains unknown at this time. Clashes resume in the Burj al-Barajneh camp after violent clashes between two families last night. It is reported that the Lebanese army has used its drones to carry out precision strikes in Baalbek to pursue wanted persons in the Sharawneh neighbourhood of Baalbek.
There is discontent within the ISA. The commander of the Israeli Air Force made it clear to his counterpart and other participants that he had been forced to intervene on the issue on several occasions recently, having noted a ‘lack of professionalism’ in a considerable number of attacks that the Southern Command had requested in recent months. At this point, according to witnesses, General Asur lost his temper, stating: ‘You in Tel Aviv are detached from the reality on the ground.’ Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir intervened in this extraordinary discussion and asked General Asur to refrain from expressing himself in a manner he deemed ‘unacceptable.’ According to the Israeli Ministry of Defence: ‘We are currently treating approximately 80,000 wounded soldiers.’
According to sources close to the IDF, behind this unprecedented clash between the two generals ‘lies the frustration accumulated within the Southern Command over the failure of the ground operation in Gaza in recent months. Operation “Gideon’s Swords”, now at its conclusion, has not achieved its stated objective: to create the conditions for a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas through military pressure’.
Thirty-eight dead arrived at the Nasser Medical Complex in 24 hours. Ahead of the Gaza expansion operation, the IDF warned residents of the Zeitoun district to ‘evacuate the south.’ The operation began in the late morning, with 8 dead and several wounded reported in the Israeli bombing. Israeli artillery shelling hits the outskirts of the city of Shebaa. Israeli artillery targets the outskirts of the city of Shebaa with 15 shells.
About 20 Palestinians were killed when a truck delivering supplies to the besieged enclave crashed into a crowd of people waiting to receive humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. The incident, which occurred in the central part of the Strip, was reported by the WAFA news agency. According to the agency, the vehicle delivering aid to Gaza residents was travelling to the humanitarian aid distribution site along an impassable road, almost completely destroyed by Israeli bombing. When it stopped, the vehicle was surrounded by hundreds of people who wanted to receive some of the humanitarian aid being delivered. Due to the instability of the road and the pressure of hundreds of people, the truck fell on the people standing next to it.
Israeli army aircraft destroyed an entire residential block in Al-Nuseirat, destroying the neighbourhood. Two people were killed as a result of Israeli bombing near the Al-Huriya clinic, east of the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City. Israeli air raids on the eastern areas of Gaza City intensified.
Another two-kilometre-long Hamas underground tunnel was destroyed in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Destruction continues in the West Bank. The IDF reduced two residential apartments to rubble after demolishing them in Wadi Qaddum, in the city of Silwan, Jerusalem. Israeli authorities have decided to ban the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months. Settlers establish a settlement outpost near the shrine of the Prophet Saleh east of the city of Idna, west of Hebron. The IDF storms the city of Halhul north of Hebron.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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