2:39 p.m
Israel confirms attack in Syria
Israel has confirmed responsibility for an airstrike carried out in Syria yesterday. “During the night – says the armed forces website Idf.il – we attacked military infrastructure in Syria. This is in response to yesterday's launches aimed at Israeli territory. Indeed, yesterday there was news that five rockets from Syria had exploded on Israeli territory in open areas without causing any casualties or damage. Syria then reported an Israeli air strike in the Damascus area.
12:43 p.m
Israel rejects new Hamas proposal on hostages
According to two Israeli officials and a source familiar with the proposal, Hamas presented Israel with a proposal for a new hostage agreement on Sunday through Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries: Jerusalem rejected the proposal, but one of the Israeli officials said the offer showed that Hamas is ready to begin negotiations on a new hostage-taking agreement even as fighting continues in Gaza. Axios' website says the plan called for a three-step process. One of the Israeli officials said that each phase should include a pause in fighting of more than a month in return for the release of the hostages. Under the proposal, Israel would begin withdrawing its forces from Gaza during the implementation of the deal's first phase, which would include the release of around 40 hostages, the official said. Some Palestinian prisoners should probably be released too. The proposal would end the war after implementing the final phase of the deal, which would include the release of soldiers held hostage in Gaza, the official said. Israel's war cabinet discussed the new Hamas proposal and told Qatari and Egyptian mediators on Monday that it found it unacceptable, the Israeli official said. “The proposal we received from Hamas was completely out of place and we asked the mediators to try to come up with something more acceptable.” “They are working on it and let's see what will happen,” the official said, ” We are in the run-up to the talks.” Although the negotiations are no longer blocked, they are not making any significant progress yet.”
07:55
Israeli attacks on Gaza
Israeli air and tank attacks in the southern Gaza Strip intensified overnight, residents said, the Times of Israel reported.
07:49
Israel is preparing phase 3
Israel will continue fighting in Gaza until 2024, which will require an operational change. The plan calls for an initial demobilization from the north of the Gaza Strip to give the troops a breathing space, especially the reservists, who are also needed domestically to support the economy. This is the third phase of the conflict, which aims to carry out surgical operations against Hamas targets after the bombings and massive land invasion. A strategy pushed by the United States, which will send Antony Blinken on a new mission to the Middle East in the next few days to keep the regional dialogue alive. Furthermore, diplomatic efforts appear more necessary than ever at a time when the war risks expanding day by day. As the escalation in the Red Sea shows, where the Americans sank three Houthi boats to protect Western merchant ships.
07:46
Israel will present itself in The Hague
Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend itself against genocide charges made against Israel by South Africa last week in connection with the war in Gaza, Haaretz reports.
07:45
Syria: Israeli attack on the outskirts of Damascus
According to a Syrian military source, the Israeli Air Force attacked some locations on the outskirts of Damascus at 4:35 a.m. This is what the Syrian state news agency SANA writes.
07:45
Media: 15 dead in Gaza after Israeli attack
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, 15 Palestinian civilians were killed and several others injured last night in an Israeli shelling that hit a house in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. According to Wafa, additional victims were registered yesterday in the Nuseirat refugee camp and in the center of the city of Khan Yunis. The latest figures provided by local authorities put the number of deaths in Gaza at 21,978 since Israel began attacking the Palestinian enclave on October 7 in response to Hamas attacks.
07:44
US Navy confirms: Ford aircraft carrier leaves Mediterranean
The American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which was stationed in the eastern Mediterranean after the Hamas attack on Israel in October, will return to the United States “in the next few days.” The US Navy confirmed this. The aircraft carrier was deployed to “contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture” and “will return to its home port as planned to prepare for future deployments.” Ford and her accompanying warships will be joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan and its squadron -Warships, USS Mesa Verde and USS Carter Hall, replaced. The three ships were in the Red Sea and had been transiting towards the eastern Mediterranean for the past few days.