The fate of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is “largely a question for the Palestinian group’s leader to answer,” CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said on August 28. According to Reuters, Cohen did not name Yahya Sinwar by name.
“The Israelis have shown seriousness in the negotiations,” Cohen told an intelligence and national security summit in Washington. “Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have been working to reach an agreement between the parties and prevent a broader regional war.”
Of those efforts, Cohen said: “There may be instances where people pull back from the brink, but I don’t think anyone can be sure that that effort to control the escalation is something that … any party in that region can control.”
However, the daily Haaretz expressed doubts about reaching an agreement on Gaza until there is Israeli flexibility regarding the Philadelphia and Netzarim axes.
The US State Department imposed sanctions on the Israeli organization Hashomer Yosh and the coordinator of the Yitzhar settlement for their involvement in violence against Palestinians and said that the Israeli government must hold accountable all individuals or entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the operation launched by Israel in the West Bank: “We strongly condemn the illegal military operation launched by Israel in the West Bank (…) We denounce the statement of the Israeli Foreign Minister that they will transfer their practices in Gaza to the West Bank (…) It is necessary to adopt punitive and binding measures against these Israeli actions that completely ignore international law.
According to Israeli media, there are “expectations that the military campaign in the West Bank will continue for several days.” Democratic Party leader Yair Golan called on opposition party leaders to hold an urgent joint meeting on work and ways to overthrow the government in the upcoming winter session of the Knesset.
At the government level, the division between Gantz and Netanyahu continues: “It is necessary to establish the goal of the return of the population of the north as a top priority” is not just a statement or a slogan, but rather a lie, Gantz said, commenting on the prime minister’s words. “You refused to include the goal of returning the population of the north among the war objectives and prevented the transfer of resources to the north for several months,” he later said.
The UN Security Council unanimously agrees to renew the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for another year and Urgent and UN Secretary-General Spokesman Stehane Dujarric says: “We have been following with great concern the developments in the West Bank since this morning (…) West Bank residents are increasingly exposed to lethal warfare tactics that appear to exceed international law enforcement standards (…) we are communicating with Israeli officials to learn more about the operation in the West Bank.”
Commenting on the Israeli military operations, a US National Security Council spokesperson told Al Jazeera: “Israel must defend itself in a way that reduces civilian casualties.”
The Bank of Israel decided on Monday to leave its borrowing costs unchanged for the fifth consecutive time, citing increased geopolitical and fiscal uncertainty due to the ongoing war with the terror group Hamas, which has been going on for more than 10 months.
According to Israeli media: visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any Israeli cabinet minister to the north have been classified for fear of Hezbollah fire.
Now a look at the front as of 18:30 on August 28
According to Channel 12, a missile fired from Lebanon fell in the Upper Galilee region and damaged infrastructure.
Hezbollah said: “We bombed buildings used by enemy soldiers in the Al-Manara settlement with appropriate weapons.
The Islamic Resistance in a statement claimed responsibility for a series of operations: “Our mujahideen targeted the buildings used by enemy soldiers in the settlement of “Al-Manara” with appropriate weapons and we targeted the site of “Byad Blida” with appropriate weapons and it was hit directly.”
In southern Lebanon, Israeli artillery shelling reportedly targeted the town of Khiam, Kafr Kila and Blida.
Going to Jenin, the Mujahideen Brigades they claim. “Our mujahideen managed to target a Zionist “Tiger” vehicle with a pre-arranged ambush and detonate an explosive device that caused direct injury on Haifa Street in Jenin.”
Al Jazeera reports more events in Jenin: “Palestinian resistance fighters target with live ammunition a house where occupation soldiers are barricaded in the eastern neighborhood of Jenin.”
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades say “Our fighters continue to engage in fierce clashes with enemy forces in the eastern neighborhood axis, using machine guns and explosive devices, causing direct casualties among the ranks of enemy forces.”
Drones fly over Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem as armed clashes are reported between Israelis and resistance fighters inside Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem, IDF reportedly arrested some. Also arrested in Al-Fara’a camp in the city of Tubas. The IDF says “Our operations in the West Bank have targeted militants and terrorist infrastructure.”
In Ramallah, Al-Mayadeen correspondent reports that the Israelis “arrested a number of young men from Beit Rima, north of Ramallah.”
Central Gaza: IAF aircraft bombed facilities near the “13th Battalion” site, west of Al-Maghazi camp, and also in the Ain al-Tineh area in southern Lebanon, attacking Hezbollah observation points in Al-Adissa and Kafr Kila, in southern Lebanon.
During the day, an IDF drone carried out a targeted attack on a car on the Damascus-Beirut International Highway near the city of Az-Zabadani and the Syrian-Lebanese border. According to preliminary information, one of the Hezbollah fighters, Muhammad Hassan Taha from the city of Baalbek, was killed.
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Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
