After 27 days of silence and coldness, US President Joe Biden returned to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu and reaffirmed to him that the United States remains focused on the creation of a Palestinian state, although the Israeli prime minister ruled this out just yesterday has. And that Israel – as the White House announced after the 40-minute conversation between the two – must reduce the damage suffered by the civilian population in Gaza. But Bibi's difficulties are not limited to Washington: in Europe, too, High Representative Josep Borrell said bluntly that “the government of Israel” under Netanyahu represents “an obstacle” to any solution to the conflict and that the international community should “reach out.” “The 2-state solution.
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ANSA agency Tajani: “Ready to send Italians on UN mission to Gaza” – News – Ansa.it Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip, at least 12 dead (ANSA)
Meanwhile, the tragedy of the Gaza hostages remains: the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, allies of Hamas, have released a video showing an Israeli hostage they say was killed in an Israeli airstrike. According to the militiamen, it is Ohad Yahalomi, a 49-year-old who was kidnapped on October 7 along with his 12-year-old son Eitan in Kibbutz Nir Oz. According to relatives, the boy was released in November during the prisoner-hostage exchange ceasefire after being beaten by his captors and forced to watch videos about the horrors of the Hamas massacre. With the hostage crisis unresolved and in a climate of increasing international isolation, Netanyahu is also sinking in internal polls, while opposition is growing within his Likud party against a leader whose political fate is increasingly at stake. If a vote were to take place today – as the latest revelation from the newspaper Maariv has confirmed – the Likud would collapse to 16 seats (from 32 currently), compared to centrist Benny Gantz's 39 seats, which would therefore be more than double.
Confirming the free fall in popular approval, the same Maariv poll shows Netanyahu stopping at 31% approval, compared to 50% for Gantz. While it's true that polls can be wrong, there's still no denying that the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history has never been in so much trouble, not to mention the legal troubles that lead to him being in Jerusalem is on trial for corruption. Fraud and abuse of power. In short, there are already those in the Likud who are preparing for succession. Anonymous party sources told The Jerusalem Post that they believe his time in power is over and his days in power are numbered.
According to the same sources, the prevailing opinion among the party base is that Netanyahu not only failed to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack, but is now unable to keep his promise to destroy the Islamic faction and bring everyone back Hostages at home. The conspiracy is also fueled by the fact that many of the party's heavyweights would be at risk of being re-elected if the Likud actually fell to 16 seats as polls predicted. For this reason, the major maneuvers for the successor have already begun: in pole position is the current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who, not surprisingly, is much more aligned with American positions in recent statements; The head of foreign affairs Israel Katz, the head of economic affairs Nir Barkat and the current president of the Constitutional Commission Yuli Edelstein would also be in the running. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak called for new elections by June at the latest “before it is too late,” i.e. before the conflicts between Netanyahu and the USA “plunge Israel’s security into the abyss.”
Not to be outdone, Gantz's deputy, former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who is also a minister in the War Cabinet, was also: “It is necessary to bring Israeli voters back to the polls within a few months to renew trust, because at the moment there is it that.” no trust. “How can we continue like this with a leadership that has failed us miserably?” he blurted out. On the 105th day of the war – while next Monday the foreign ministers of Israel and Palestine will be separately in Brussels at the EU Foreign Affairs Council and a Hamas delegation has flown to Moscow – the IDF continues to bomb the Gaza Strip, where it was eliminated in a targeted attack on Wael Abu-Fanounah, a senior member of Islamic Jihad and deputy head of the organization's psychological warfare operations.
The military spokesman explained that he was the man who created and distributed the shocking videos of the Israeli hostages. According to the Palestinian agency Wafa, 12 more people were killed in an attack near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. While in the West Bank, a 17-year-old Palestinian died in clashes with the army: he also had American citizenship, another cause of tension between Washington and the Jewish state.
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