Hamas/Israel war: Biden to visit Israel Wed on cusp of ground invasion of Gaza – Newstrends
Connect with us

International

Hamas/Israel war: Biden to visit Israel Wed on cusp of ground invasion of Gaza

Published

on

U.S. President Joe Biden

Hamas/Israel war: Biden to visit Israel Wed on cusp of ground invasion of Gaza

United States President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday as a further show of solidarity with a nation reeling from Hamas’ deadly attack as a ground invasion of Gaza by the Israeli forces is imminent.

The announcement of Biden’s impending trip was made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. Blinken himself was in Israel, where he had held hours of meetings with the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The President will reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security,” Blinken said.

The trip by Biden could come on the cusp of Israel launching a ground invasion of Gaza, a backdrop that has left some administration officials worried. Biden will be going to Tel Aviv. But he will also stop in Amman, the capital of Jordan,
where he will meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Netanyahu invited Biden to visit when the two men spoke on Saturday, officials said.

Biden had told aides he was interested in going, as his presence would demonstrate strong U.S. support after Hamas killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took around 150 hostages, including Americans. But the likelihood of escalating hostilities could mean that the trip occurs during a particularly precarious point in the developing war.

READ ALSO:

White House aides noted that Biden has made daring trips before, namely his visit to Kyiv in February, as Ukraine’s war with Russia raged. That visit was considered by many aides to be one of the highlights of his presidency. The 80-year-old Biden has also traveled elsewhere to the region — visiting both Poland and Lithuania — as demonstrations of the United States’ commitment to defending democracies worldwide.

This trip, however, could be a bit more perilous.

Back in February, the U.S. communicated to Russia to not interfere with the trip and Moscow, perhaps mindful of an American reprisal, did not try to stop the president, though air raid sirens did go off as Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked the streets of Kyiv. Hamas, a group the United States has designated a terrorist organization, would be more likely to take a provocative strike at a traveling president.

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, said there’s no agreement between the U.S. and Israel to halt any ground invasion of Gaza while Biden is in Israel.

“We are not dictating military terms and operational mandates to the Israeli military,” he told reporters Monday night.

International

Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon 

Published

on

Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will bring a US-brokered proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon to his government for approval as soon as Tuesday evening.

He said in a televised address that he would put “a ceasefire outline” to ministers “this evening”.

He however did not say how long the truce would last, noting “the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon”.

But it later learnt that the ceasefire would is for 60 days.

During the period, Hezbollah fighters are expected to retreat 40 kilometres from Israel’s border, with Israeli ground forces withdrawing from Lebanese territory.

“If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike,” Netanyahu warned.

Key Israel backer the United States has led ceasefire efforts for Lebanon alongside France.

US President Joe Biden is optimistic the deal will lead to a “permanent cessation of hostilities”.

Biden added that the US would lead another push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“In full coordination with the United States, we are maintaining full military freedom of action,” Netanyahu said, outlining the seven-front war Israel says it faces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Even as Netanyahu spoke about the ceasefire, the Israeli military carried out multiple strikes on heart of Beirut while the army said some 15 projectiles had entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.

Demonstrators raise placards and Israeli flags during a protest in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in the coastal city Tel Aviv on November 26, 2024, against a possible ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. – Israel’s security cabinet has started discussing a proposed ceasefire deal in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, an Israeli official confirmed to AFP on November 26. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah, which said it was acting in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

The war has killed at least 3,823 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.

On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

Netanyahu said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on “the Iranian threat” and ramp up its fight against Hamas in Gaza.

“With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own,” he said.

“We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages.”

During last year’s Hamas attack, militants took 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army has declared dead.

Continue Reading

International

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Published

on

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.

READ ALSO:

Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.

As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.

 

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

ARAB NEWS

Continue Reading

International

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Published

on

President-elect Donald Trump

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the legal cases brought against him, calling them “empty and lawless”.

He accused Democrats of weaponising the judicial system to target him as a political opponent.

In a strongly worded statement, Trump alleged that over $100 million in taxpayer money had been wasted in what he described as a politically driven effort to undermine his influence.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,” he said, pointing to high-profile prosecutors, including Georgia’s Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as key figures in what he called a “political hijacking.”

READ ALSO:

Trump also accused Willis of colluding with Nathan Wade, whom he described as “her lover” and lacking the experience to handle such cases.

He claimed Wade was paid “millions,” allegedly enabling lavish trips and cruises.

Letitia James, who is pursuing a civil fraud case against Trump, was also criticised.

He claimed she had campaigned on a promise to “get Trump” in her bid for office, an action he labelled “unethical” and “probably illegal.”

Trump also mentioned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleging that Bragg initially resisted prosecuting him but was pressured into action by the Justice Department and the Democratic Party.

Describing the series of legal actions as a “low point in the history of our Country,” Trump maintained his resolve, declaring: “I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”

 

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Continue Reading

Trending