Israel

29 February 2024; MEMO:Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, voiced support, Thursday, for Israeli soldiers after a shooting left more than 100 Palestinians dead as they were waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We must give complete support to our heroic fighters operating in Gaza, who acted excellently against a Gazan mob that tried to harm them,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.

03 March 2024; MEMO: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq group has claimed responsibility for targeting a chemical materials depot in the Port of Haifa in northern Israel. The group said that the attack on Friday evening was “in continuation of resistance” against the Israeli occupation state.

03 March 2024; MEMO: The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has reached its demise,” former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“The government has exhausted itself, and removing it will be a reward for Israel’s people,” Lieberman, the leader of the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu Party, said in statements carried by Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

20 February 2024; MEMO: Israel’s economy shrank by almost 20 per cent in the last quarter of 2023, amid Israeli forces’ ongoing offensive and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, preliminary figures showed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by an annualised 19.4 per cent in the final three months of last year, which was almost double the market expectation of the decrease.

21 February 2024; MEMO: In a message to the Israeli army, IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, instructed them “not to film revenge videos” after footage was used as evidence in the case against the Israeli regime for genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Families of Israeli soldiers fighting in the Maglan Unit in the besieged Gaza Strip have sent a joint letter to the army command saying their children are “frustrated and have lost motivation to fight” given the operational reality that has turned them into easy targets for Palestinian fighters, like “ducks on a shooting range”, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Minister of Settlement and National Missions, Orit Strook, on Thursday denied the existence of the Palestinian people, Anadolu Agency reports.

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people,” Strook said in a video on her X account of her speech during a Knesset session.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to risk the lives of hostages held by Hamas if it serves his image, a former premier remarked Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that he will oppose any agreement that leads to freeing all Israeli captives held by Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza in exchange for ending the ongoing Israeli war against Palestinians in the besieged territory.

JERUSALEM, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions presented by Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include Israel's complete withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.

As Israeli planes resumed bombing Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the Israeli leader's refusal to end the military offensive in Gaza "means there is no chance for the return of the (Israeli) captives."