According to Israel Hayom: “Dermer is seeking a comprehensive agreement, and a negotiating delegation is unlikely to leave before making progress on the five conditions for ending the war.” According to Maariv: “In an effort to advance negotiations, the Americans recently contacted senior officials in Qatar and asked them to persuade Hamas to submit a list of its conditions for ending the war in Gaza and returning all Israeli hostages. So far, no response has been received.” At the same time, a high-level Israeli source in Netanyahu’s office clarified: “Israel will not respond to the mediators’ proposal. The State of Israel has reached a point of no return with the expanded military operation in the Gaza Strip.”
A Netanyahu adviser sent a message to Hamas: “If you do not hand over the prisoners and dismantle the movement and your weapons by mid-September, we will begin the operation in Gaza.”
The Israeli Cabinet therefore did not respond to the negotiators’ requests and postponed the meeting until next Sunday. Five ministers, approximately half the cabinet members, were absent from the August 26 Cabinet meeting, which discussed the multi-arena review and which was attended by all heads of security institutions. Absent were Smotrich, Sa’ar, Ben Gvir, Dermer, and Miri Regev. According to Channel 13: “The Chief of Staff is calling for proceeding with the current partial agreement currently on the table.”
After the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: “We will defeat our enemies and bring back our prisoners.” “We are on the right path to victory in Gaza. The war began in Gaza and will end in Gaza. We will not leave the monsters of Hamas there. We have a bright future ahead of us. We will defeat our enemies and bring back our prisoners.” “I promised 25 years ago that we would dig deep and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, and here we are doing it together. I thank the settlement leaders for the excellent work they are doing.” Netanyahu said in a message to ministers: “There is no agreement on the table.” The ministers responded to the prime minister: “It must be said: overthrow Hamas before returning the prisoners.”
Netanyahu hinted at the possibility of applying Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank: “We will know how to act wisely. A bright future awaits us.” Israel Army Radio said the government intends to authorize 17 new settlements in the West Bank.
In Tel Aviv, some are predicting a government crisis, like former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who has expressed his desire to become Prime Minister. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: “The country is governed by a group of maniacs.” Yair Lapid: “The Cabinet meeting, without the ministers even discussing the prisoner deal, is another moral disgrace for the October 7 government. I firmly say to the Israeli public: there is an agreement on the table, the prisoners can be repatriated, and the war can end.”
According to Israeli military analyst Avi Issacharoff: “The Gaza occupation operation will not lead to the collapse of Hamas, as promoted by Israeli government leaders, but will push the movement to continue fighting by sending more fighters and entrenching itself in the network of tunnels dug over the past two years. Hamas will continue its strategy of exhausting Israel. Netanyahu’s government is seeking, through this operation, above all to ensure the survival of the ruling coalition.”
The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced its intention to purchase two Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft as part of a $500 million deal funded by the United States.
And while the Cabinet was meeting in Tel Aviv, solidarity marches were held with the families of the kidnapped, calling for an end to the war and a comprehensive prisoner exchange agreement.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth: “The main gap between the army and the political level regarding the occupation of Gaza concerns not only the timing and the issue of evacuating the population, but also the question of the ‘morrow after’, that is, who will govern the Strip. The army’s leadership fears that the government is essentially leading to a situation where the army becomes the manager of Gaza, that is, a military government. The army firmly opposes this choice due to its far-reaching implications: allocation of human resources with constant exposure to danger, endless friction with the population, and legal and international responsibilities.
Over 200 former European Union ambassadors and diplomatic officials, including ambassadors from EU member states, signed a public letter published Tuesday, calling for collective action against what they described as the genocide committed by “Israel” in Gaza and its continued occupation of the West Bank. The letter calls on the European Union to suspend arms exports, halt joint projects, and sever academic and economic relations with Israeli institutions, as well as impose sanctions and limit trade with the settlements. The letter also included other proposals, notably a ban on entry to Israeli military ports, the prosecution of those accused of war crimes upon their entry into the European Union, and a ban on the processing of Israeli government data in Europe. The letter states: “International law must lead by example with deeds, not just words.”
French President Macron writes a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: “I write to you with a passionate appeal to end the hopeless pursuit of a permanent, deadly, and illegal war in Gaza, which is dishonoring your state and trapping your people.”
PA President Mahmoud Abbas: “The Israeli government is pushing for a ‘big explosion’ aimed at forcing our people into displacement, and we warn against Israel’s dangerous escalation in the West Bank, which coincides with the war of extermination and starvation in Gaza. We call on America and the international community to assume their responsibilities to stop ‘Israel’ from this recklessness and criminality.”
From Lebanon, Hezbollah announces: “The world will see our power.” In response, Defense Minister Katz: “We will not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon.”
And now a look at the military scenarios updated at 3:45 PM on August 27. Both Emirati and Israeli aircraft landed at Elefsina Air Base. Elefsina Air Base has been transferred to US forces and is officially and exclusively used as a support center for Israel. Three Israeli Air Force C-130 cargo planes performed flights between Nevatim Air Base and Athens, likely to load military equipment. Additionally, on the morning of August 27, a UAE Air Force C-17 heavy cargo plane performed flights between Al Riyadh Air Base and Athens.
On August 27, a ballistic missile was launched from Yemen toward Israel. The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv area. Sirens were activated in central Israel. The ballistic missile was intercepted. Flights arriving and departing from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport have been temporarily suspended due to the ballistic missile launch.
Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian Army tank training center on the outskirts of Damascus. Residents of the towns of Bariqa and Bir Ajam burned food aid distributed by Israeli forces in the Syrian countryside of Quneitra. According to Al Jazeera Live sources, seven Syrian Army members were killed and several injured in an Israeli airstrike near the town of Al-Kiswah on the outskirts of Damascus.
Israeli Army special forces vehicles are advancing towards the village of Kudna and the Rasm Sanad farm in the Quneitra countryside.
Significant reinforcements for the Lebanese Army are arriving from Lebanon at the Sarain junction, heading for Khariba on the eastern border, following recent developments. Shots were heard near the Burj al-Barajneh camp, where the wanted man M.G. was reportedly arrested. Sources have also reported renewed clashes between the Qaffas and Habet families inside the camp. Palestinian factions are working to prevent tensions in the Burj al-Barajneh camp and are holding intense meetings that, according to reports, could lead to a de-escalation.
Five Syrians were kidnapped in the Sarghaya area of the Bekaa, following the killing of a young Lebanese man and the kidnapping of his brother in Syria. Four small Israeli quad bikes are moving inside Lebanese territory on the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab, and an Israeli “army” force has subsequently infiltrated the outskirts of the southern town of Aita al-Shaab.
Although the government has said it will wait until September for the offensive, it is effectively underway. Casualties were caused by Israeli quadcopter drone fire near the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. Airstrikes continued against the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood. Palestinians described the night of fire in northern Gaza as “bands of fire.” Heavy artillery fire Israeli airstrikes in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City. The Israeli army demolished residential buildings in Jabalia al-Balad, northern Gaza.
Despite Israeli intimidation, Catholic and Orthodox priests and nuns refuse to be evacuated from Gaza City: “We have decided to stay in Gaza.” On the 27th, shelling resumed in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Artillery bombardment from east of al-Bureij toward Gaza City.
The Israeli army used explosive robots to demolish civilian homes in Jabalia al-Balad, northern Gaza. During the night, several airstrikes on Gaza City. Israeli “quadricopter” drones opened fire on homes on Tunnel Street in Gaza City. Israeli shelling in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City
Things were no better in central Gaza: Mustafa Baraka was killed near Kisufim, east of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. His home was destroyed. There were casualties from artillery fire that hit a house near the Al-Hajjani Mosque, in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, in central Gaza City. Artillery shelling east of the town of Al-Musaddar, in the central Gaza Strip.
In southern Gaza, waves crash against the tents of displaced people in the Al-Majayda area, on the coast of Khan Younis, as shelling intensifies. Two Israeli airstrikes north of the town of Khan Younis. Shelling by an Israeli drone west of the town of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, several Palestinian farmers and foreign solidarity activists were injured following a settler attack in the Qawawis area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. Settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees from land owned by a Gazan in the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah.
The IDF reported the demolition of Abdul Raouf al-Masri’s house in the city of Aqaba, Tubas district. They announced the arrest of 100 West Bank workers in Jaffa, under the pretext of not having permits. Shaher Saad, Secretary General of the Federation of Palestinian Workers’ Unions, stated that these young people have no alternatives to work, forcing them to face difficult conditions, including climbing over the wall or crossing “death holes.” Saad added that 38 workers have been killed since October 7 and that more than 12,000 workers have been arrested, noting that there are approximately 510,000 unemployed in the West Bank.
Israeli forces stormed the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah. The IDF conducted destructive operations in the eastern and central areas of the city of Nablus.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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