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In-Depth Issues:
154 Long-Term Palestinian Prisoners Deported to Egypt - Einav Halabi ( Ynet News)
154 of the 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences who were freed in the first stage of the hostage deal were transferred to Egypt.
Palestinian sources estimate that some may eventually settle in Turkey, Qatar, or other Arab states, while others are expected to remain in Egypt.
The rest returned to their homes in the West Bank.
"The terrorists understand that the situation has changed, but no one is under any illusion - they are not lovers of Zion," a senior security official said.
Unlike in previous exchanges, there have been no public celebrations, gunfire, or incitement related to the release of prisoners in the West Bank.
Security forces are stationed near the released prisoners' homes, using surveillance drones and observation systems to track their movements.
Drones Smuggling Weapons into Israel from Egypt - Ilana Curiel ( Ynet News)
Nearly 900 drone smuggling attempts from Egypt into Israel were recorded in the past three months, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee heard on Wednesday. There were 464 attempts in the same period in 2024.
The number has declined after the IDF deployed new counter-drone systems last month.
Anan Seaon, the security coordinator of the border community of Kadesh Barnea, testified that "I sit on my porch and drones pass overhead."
Ramat Negev Regional Council head Eran Doron said the drones carry dozens of kilos of weapons - including anti-tank weapons and heavy machine guns - into Bedouin communities near Beersheba.
"They fly over our heads every night and weapons are tested in nearby fields."
Why Israel Won the War - Bret Stephens ( New York Times)
Israelis fight not only because they were faced by an existential threat.
They also faced an existential lie: the lie that Israel is a settler-colonialist state, a nonnative invasive species that has no place in that land.
It's a lie that's taken hold everywhere, even if a 3,000-year historical record disproves it. And it's a lie that attacks the very roots of Jewish identity.
The war should settle important questions. Are Israelis weak? Is their state built on foundations of sand? Is their attachment to their beliefs slight?
Yahya Sinwar and those who followed him thought so.
Israel Must Preserve Its Freedom of Action in Gaza - Prof. Eyal Zisser ( Israel Hayom)
Hopes that Hamas will voluntarily disarm, that international forces will deploy in Gaza, and that a process of Palestinian governance building will begin from which Hamas will be excluded are all false hopes.
Therefore, Israel must ensure that it retains freedom of action against any attempt by Hamas to rebuild its army, its rockets, and its battalions.
And Israel must ensure that no house in Gaza is reconstructed while Hamas remains in control.
The writer is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.
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Report: Qatar, under Pressure from Trump, Pushes Al Jazeera to Curb Incitement to Terror - Matthew Xiao ( Washington Free Beacon)
Qatar, facing pressure from President Trump, has pushed its Hamas-linked news outlet Al Jazeera to reduce incitement to terror, Israel's Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal reported on Monday.
He cited Middle East commentator Ehud Yaari, who said Qatar is "carrying out a purge" at Al Jazeera, as "apparently part of understandings between [Qatar] and the U.S."
Two Dozen Countries Have Restricted Arms Sales to Israel. It's Not Making Much Difference. - Cate Brown ( Washington Post)
At least two dozen countries have restricted arms sales to Israel over the Gaza war, with six banning all weapons transfers. The restrictions so far have had limited impact.
99% of "major conventional weapons" transferred to Israel are supplied by the U.S. and Germany, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Israel's arms industry has reported record sales since Oct. 7. The Israel Defense Ministry reported $14.8 billion in exports in 2024, more than half of it to Europe.
The Marches Were Never about Peace. They Were about the Destruction of Israel - Stephen Daisley ( Telegraph-UK)
Since Oct. 7, the pro-Palestinian lobby has enjoyed unprecedented success in manipulating the media coverage of Israel's war to free its hostages from Gaza.
The world swallowed without question the claim that Israel was deliberately manufacturing a famine to wipe out Palestinian children.
Yet, the only massacres or atrocities to protest were those that had been conducted by Palestinians against Israelis, and Western sympathizers were certainly not demonstrating against those.
They were celebrating their victim-idols' daring slaughter of defenseless Israelis.
Saturday's demonstration in London must be the first recorded example of people protesting the end of a supposed genocide.
This is a movement more concerned with dismantling Israel than with building up Palestine.
There is a ceasefire. The killing has stopped. Aid is going in. Who in their right mind protests that? A movement that sees peace as an impediment to vilifying Israel.
Israeli Drone Company UVision in $982 Million Deal with U.S. Army - Dean Shmuel Elmas ( Globes)
U.S. company Mistral Inc. and Israeli company UVision have announced a $982 million deal to supply suicide drones to the U.S. Army.
The U.S. Army has chosen UVision's Hero 120 loitering munitions model, which has a range of 40-60 km. and a one-hour endurance.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Netanyahu: No Palestinian State without "Destroying Fanaticism" - Tucker Reals
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News in an interview on Tuesday that the conditions of President Trump's peace plan "are very clear - it's not only that we get the hostages out without getting our military out, but that we would subsequently have both demilitarization and disarmament. They're not the same thing. First, Hamas has to give up its arms. And second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There's no smuggling of weapons into Gaza."
Asked who is going to govern Gaza if the war ends, Netanyahu replied, "This is a transitional period and we want to fashion a governance that works - that is not made of people who are committed to our destruction. Because if we...put them there, then we just repeat it again and again and again. And we don't want to have the October 7th massacre repeated."
"There are Gazans who are fighting Hamas and are saying, 'we don't want this anymore'...a lot of people in Gaza now know that Hamas has brought catastrophic consequences to them because of its fanaticism. The most important thing in destroying fanaticism is to destroy a certain hope, the hope that the fanaticism will achieve its results. When people know Israel is here to stay, they're not going to destroy the Jewish state."
"The Palestinians should have all the powers...to govern themselves, but they can't have the powers to threaten our survival....Otherwise, the jihadists take over. Iran takes over immediately. And that's what happened every time we vacated territory - the most extreme fanatics came in."
"If you had Palestinian governance that stopped teaching their kids to destroy the state of Israel...and they educate them for peace, then I think you can have a different reality," but it "could take generations" to get to that point. (CBS News)
- Hamas Carries Out Wave of Gaza Killings - Nidal Al-Mughrabi
Since the ceasefire took hold, Hamas has killed 32 people in a crackdown on a group affiliated with a family in Gaza City that tested its grip, a security official said Monday. Later on Monday, a video on social media showed several masked gunmen shooting at least seven men after forcing them to kneel in the street.
(Reuters)
See also Hamas Publicly Executes Militia Members in Gaza - Einav Halabi
Hamas terrorists executed several people in Gaza on Monday evening before cheering crowds, some of whom filmed the events. Reports from Gaza said 52 members of the powerful Dagmoush clan were killed, along with 12 Hamas terrorists. Hamas gunmen reportedly used ambulances to storm the neighborhood where the clan lives. "It's a massacre," one clan member's daughter said. "They're dragging people away, children are screaming and dying, they're burning our houses."
Under the Trump peace plan, Hamas was not supposed to govern Gaza and was expected to disarm - something the terror group has refused to do.
(Ynet News)
- Now Comes the Hard Part for the Gaza Ceasefire Plan - David M. Halbfinger
Getting Israel's hostages released from Gaza and stopping the war may have taken two years, but that was almost certainly the easy part. Getting Hamas to give up its weapons, and demilitarize Gaza - key preconditions for Israel to pull out of Gaza fully - could prove a lot harder.
The U.S. plan, which outlined a comprehensive solution for Gaza, also called for the establishment of an international force to help maintain security, and the creation of a temporary Palestinian governing committee, whose work would be overseen by an international board.
"The main issue still hasn't been solved: Hamas's weapons," said Akram Atallah, a London-based Palestinian columnist originally from Gaza. "The Israelis are demanding Hamas disarm, which is not a simple administrative measure. Hamas was founded on the basis of bearing arms."
Several Israeli officials described the ceasefire agreement so far as a simple trade in which Israel gave away roughly half of Gaza in exchange for its hostages. To get Israel to leave the rest of the territory, they said, it will need to give up its arms and let another entity step in to govern the enclave.
(New York Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Negotiations for Phase B of Ceasefire on Hold until All Hostage Remains Returned - Amichai Stein
No negotiations will begin on phase B of President Trump's plan until Hamas returns all the bodies of the kidnapped hostages, senior Israeli officials said Wednesday. "Professional teams are currently in Egypt discussing methods for locating the bodies of the kidnapped fallen." Turkey has also sent a delegation of 81 search personnel to Gaza, along with necessary equipment and vehicles, to assist in locating the bodies.
Israel does not intend to allow Hamas to "drag out" the process of returning the bodies of the fallen. The U.S. has also made clear to mediators that it opposes any delays in the return of the bodies. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Bodies of 9 Deceased Gaza Hostages Returned
Hamas has returned the bodies of 9 deceased hostages. Israeli intelligence estimates that the terror group could locate at least 10 additional hostages' remains.
(Ynet News)
- Top Trump Aides Say Only Hamas-Free Areas Will Be Rebuilt - Jacob Magid
Two senior Trump advisers said during a briefing that the U.S. is working with Israel to set up a safe zone inside the areas of Gaza still controlled by the IDF to which Palestinian civilians fearing Hamas retribution can flee. The safe-zone initiative is part of the U.S. response to the executions that Hamas has carried out since the ceasefire against dozens of Palestinians from rival groups.
The advisers also hope that limiting the redevelopment of Gaza to areas that are Hamas-free will help advance efforts at demilitarization. One asserted that all mediators agree that "no rebuilding money will go into areas that Hamas controls. "Hamas-free, terror-free zones" will be rebuilt first, and those areas "hopefully can be the examples for what could be possible in the whole place." (Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- The Trump-Netanyahu Deal that Rewrites Middle East Diplomacy - Dr. Dan Diker
The agreement mediated by U.S. President Donald Trump signals a remarkable demonstration of strategic leverage.
The Trump team has drawn in key Arab states, including Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, aligning their national interests with Washington's broader vision of regional stabilization. Each of these states ultimately used its influence to apply sustained pressure on Hamas.
After two years of conflict and hostage negotiations, Hamas's central tool of extortion - its control over hostages, both living and deceased - has been effectively neutralized. Arab capitals now understand that Israel possesses not only the technological and human capabilities to defend itself, but also the strategic will to eliminate its enemies anywhere, at any time.
This deal marks the first time in decades that key Arab nations have acted as enforcers of regional stability. It is a shift born of necessity and mutual interest - a recognition that the Iranian-led "axis of resistance" threatens Sunni regimes as much as it threatens Israel. It has vindicated Netanyahu's long-standing argument that peace with the Arab world need not depend on Palestinian statehood, but on shared interests and common threats.
Yet, Israel has learned through decades of experience that neither Hamas nor the PLO has ever honored written agreements beyond their immediate interests.
The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
(JNS)
- The Arab Countries and Turkey Applied Real Pressure on Hamas - Dennis Ross
President Trump's peace plan is divided into two phases. The release of all the living hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and an additional 1,750 Gazans is phase one.
Phase two involves the disarmament of Hamas; Israel's further withdrawal to a buffer just inside Gazan territory, with a complete withdrawal once Gaza no longer threatens the country; the creation of a board of peace to oversee the enclave's governance and a technocratic group of Palestinians to administer it; an international stabilization force; and the actual reconstruction of and investment in the strip. It also includes genuinely reforming the Palestinian Authority.
The key Arab states and Turkey have the ability to exert leverage over Hamas. And these states want good relations with Trump and for him to have a stake in their own success - which means the American president has indirect sway with Hamas, as well. The Arab countries and Turkey apparently believed it was time to end the war, and thus applied real pressure on Hamas to be responsive to Trump's plan.
Turkish President Erdogan wants American F-35s. Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati leader Mohamed bin Zayid want increased U.S. military support. All the key Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) desperately want an end to a war that at best complicates their plans to develop their economies and at worst threatens their regimes.
The two countries most likely to invest in reconstruction - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - share Israel's goal of disarming Hamas and making sure it does not retain control over Gaza. Leading Arab states understand that ignoring the Palestinian problem can threaten their own agendas and priorities. As a result, they are more likely to ensure that Hamas cannot control Gaza directly or indirectly and support steps on the ground to ensure it doesn't. To achieve a lasting peace, the Arab states must also insist that the Palestinian Authority carry out substantial reforms.
The writer is Counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a professor at Georgetown University. (Foreign Affairs)
- The Middle East Hasn't Yet Entered an Era of Peace - Walter Russell Mead
After the release of the last living hostages from their inhuman and indefensible captivity in Gaza, the dark cloud hanging over Israel and the Jewish people worldwide since the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, has lifted. There is mourning for the dead, horror at the survivors' suffering, and gratitude for the heroism of those who gave their lives in Israel's defense after the attacks.
But despite President Trump's optimism, the Middle East hasn't yet entered an era of peace. The core cause of the conflict hasn't been and perhaps can't be resolved. The existence of a Jewish state in the predominantly Muslim Middle East presents an unendurable civilizational and religious affront to so much of the region's population that Israel has had to become an armed camp to survive.
Hamas was the enemy of every Arab government in the Middle East. It had no positive program for the people it ruled, and its tactics were as revolting as its methods were brutal. That a movement so deranged and misguided could command such wide support among the world's restless youth reflects in part the careless sentimentalism of people whose genuine concern for the Palestinians blinded them to the cynical and bloodthirsty duplicity of Hamas.
Mr. Trump's triumph over Hamas came from his ability to organize a coalition of realists against the pretensions of fantasists. The Gulf Arabs want Hamas to suffer the kind of crushing defeat that would reduce its ideological appeal among their own citizens.
The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Hamas Has Brought a Vast, New Nakba on the Palestinians - Yoni Ben Menachem
After the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, senior Hamas figures rushed to declare "victory." Yet across the Arab world and inside Gaza, the widespread sense is that Israel defeated Hamas. From Hamas's perspective, merely surviving is framed as a "victory," diverting attention from the harsh reality.
Hamas inflates its achievements - most notably, the return of the Palestinian issue to the global stage - as cover for the human, social, and economic devastation it inflicted on Palestinian society. The war that Hamas forced upon Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, seeking to "restore lost Palestinian dignity" through blood and fire, produced the largest Nakba in Palestinian history.
Palestinians repeatedly choose leaders who destroy Palestinian society from within. Generations of Palestinian leadership preferred death to life, symbolism to reality, and revenge to a future. Tragically, there is currently no sign that Gazan society is about to recover. On the contrary, voices calling for jihad and chants of "Death to the Jews" are once again being heard in Gaza. Israel must draw the necessary lessons from the war and prepare thoroughly for the next conflict.
The writer, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- Gaza Celebrates while Hamas Prepares for the Next War - Clifford D. May
For the past few days, large crowds of healthy, energetic men, women and children have been cheering, dancing in the streets and chanting "Allahu akbar!" - all recorded on their fully charged cellphones. These scenes make clear there is no Israeli-engineered famine in Gaza, much less a genocide. A central pillar of Hamas's war strategy has been to cause maximum hardship in Gaza, confident that useful idiots in the West would blame Israelis.
Gaza had 36 hospitals, elegant restaurants, shopping malls and luxury auto dealerships. Such wonders were produced thanks to the river of foreign aid that flowed into Gaza after Hamas's violent ascension to power in 2007, two years after Israel's complete withdrawal from the territory. That left Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar free to devote his energies to war planning: importing munitions via Egypt, building weapons factories and constructing a subterranean fortress.
Sinwar instructed his terrorist troops to commit multiple atrocities, film them and then broadcast them. According to a memo acquired by the New York Times, he believed Muslims around the world would "respond positively to calls for them to join the revolution."
Hamas troops have now emerged from their tunnels, proudly wearing their uniforms and reasserting control by executing opponents, rivals and dissidents. Hamas leaders regard the ceasefire with Israel not as "peace" but only a "hudna," a truce during which they can prepare for the next battle in the jihad.
The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
(Washington Times)
- The Deal with Hamas: Hostages Exchanged for Killers, Jihadis Diminished but Not Gone - Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox
There was always going to be a deal with Hamas. When neither side can eliminate the other at an acceptable cost, wars end in bargains with enemies. Any plan that assumes swift moderation of Gazans is wishful thinking; if change comes, it will be generational and will not be dependent on moral exhortation from abroad.
What is new is a lattice of external guarantees, with Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish security commitments. That makes it harder for Israel to re-enter Gaza at will. It also binds Hamas to patrons it cannot afford to alienate. Yet, Hamas remains in Gaza. Even if it yields front-stage administration, it will try to retain influence behind the scenes. For now, though, it is militarily neutered and unlikely to mount serious attacks any time soon.
The writer, who served in the British Army in 2005-21, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)
Israel and the West
- Will the "Peace Protesters" Give Peace a Chance? - Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
Strangely, activists and organizations formerly insistent on an immediate ceasefire suddenly appear quite opposed to ending the war in Gaza if it is based on the U.S. proposal, which they have denounced even though the plan literally stops the actual war. The lack of support from self-styled peace activists in the West is unsurprising. A lack of clarity, consistency, or levelheaded thinking has been a staple of Western-based activism that purports to care about the Palestinian people in Gaza.
As someone who has lived part of my life in Gaza, lost family members and my childhood homes in this war, and is dedicated to Gaza's future rejuvenation and healing, I believe it is more urgent than ever to liberate Palestinians from the vicious cycles of violence brought on by Hamas's 18-year rule.
Worse, I have watched the devolution of the pro-Palestine narrative into widespread adoption of Hamas's views and positions. Nowadays, you can't go to a mainstream pro-Palestine event or conference without proud, overt support for jihadi terrorism and Hamas's armed-resistance narrative. The Hamas narrative has clearly been mainstreamed as the Palestinian narrative.
This lionization of Hamas in the West has come as actual Palestinians in Gaza have grown more vocal in their opposition to Hamas, its terrorism, the hypocrisy of its "resistance," and how foolish Western figures are for celebrating it. Islam has strict codes of conduct on how war is supposed to be waged and prohibits crimes against civilian populations like Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7.
One of the first steps to freeing Palestinians from the horrors of war is to free them from the "Free Palestine Movement" in the West. I am encouraged by the large number of Palestinians in Gaza, with whom I am in regular contact, who denounce Hamas. They understand the need for lasting peace with Israel as positive and necessary. They are desperate to move away from the "resistance" narrative and embrace the coexistence and nation-building agendas in which a prosperous state of Palestine is a reality.
The writer, a Gaza native, is a resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. (Free Press)
Observations:
- The stark lesson of Israel's achievement since Oct. 7, 2023, is: Often military might does, and often only it can, make room for diplomacy.
- Primary credit for the ceasefire between Israel and those who still aspire to murder it goes to the Israel Defense Forces. Credit also goes to the prime minister who wielded the IDF with a properly austere regard for the opinions of mankind, Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The diplomats' hour arrived after, and because of, the fighting by those who form the tip of Israel's spear against unprovoked and wanton violence - the mostly young men and women of the IDF. To the Trump administration's credit, the U.S. has enabled Israel's victory by not restraining its self-defense.
- Israel's reality on Oct. 7 was that it was contiguous to an enclave under the thumb of organized sadists who sheltered behind a captive civilian population. The war that paused and perhaps ended last week reminded the world that Israel has never known a day of peace, properly understood.
- Israel has always had U.S. support because it has earned it. It has never, however, been dependent on it. Centuries of hard experiences, culminating in Auschwitz, have taught the Jewish people the lethal risks of dependence on others.
- For decades, U.S. officials belabored Israel with reasons why, in negotiations with bellicose enemies, it should "take a risk for peace." To one official, Netanyahu, referring to a tranquil Washington suburb, replied, "You live in Chevy Chase. Don't play with our future."
- Israel has refused to trim its sails to accommodate gusts of critical opinions from people living comfortably at a safe distance from violence.
The writer, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, has been a Washington Post columnist since 1974.
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