Netanyahu Disagrees With Biden On Two-State Solution. Biden: “They Are Rejected In My Administration.”

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Joe Biden’s statement that a two-state solution with Netanyahu is possible after the Gaza war .
• Numerous protests in Israel against the Netanyahu government .In Tel Aviv, participants in a rally demanded an immediate end to the Gaza war .
• In Damascus, a multi-story building was completely destroyed in a suspected Israeli airstrike .
• Here is a summary of the situation in the Middle East . For more reports, see our Israel and Gaza overview page .

Negotiations for the release of hostages in the background

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically ruled out the release of Israeli hostages on the terms of the Islamist Hamas. He said in a video message published on Sunday that he was working “around the clock” to free the more than 130 hostages held by Hamas.

• “But let’s be clear: I reject in the strongest possible terms the terms of surrender of the Hamas monsters,” he added. In exchange for the release of the hostages, Hamas would demand an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the continuation of its government power in the coastal strip. It would also call for the release of the “murderers and rapists” captured by Israel in the wake of the brutal attack by Hamas and other extremist groups on southern Israel on October 7th.According to a media report in the Wall Street Journal, which is based on statements from diplomatic circles, discussions are still taking place in the background. Accordingly, the USA, Egypt and Qatar are urging both sides to embark on a gradual diplomatic process. This provides for the release of hostages at the beginning and ultimately the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war. The negotiations should continue in Cairo in the coming days, it was said.
• “I never left the hospital once”New patients arrive at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah – near the border with Egypt – almost every minute. The healthcare system in the Gaza Strip is completely overwhelmed. Suhaib Alhamss is a doctor at the Kuwaiti Hospital. Since the beginning of the war, the doctor has worked almost around the clock. “I never left the hospital once.” The report.
• Security sources: Two Hezbollah fighters killed in LebanonAccording to security sources, two fighters from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia were killed in southern Lebanon. An Israeli drone hit their vehicle, the Reuters news agency reported. A person close to Hezbollah said they were not high-ranking figures.The Israeli military said it does not comment on foreign reports. Previously, residents and security officials reported that a drone killed two people and injured at least four others near the village of Kafra, eight kilometers from the border.
• Norway should manage Palestinian tax moneyIsrael does not want to pay out the frozen Palestinian tax money to the Palestinian government for the time being. The government is adopting a plan that officials say will see the funds held by Norway. It also reserves the right to decide when the money should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.The cabinet decision is supported by Norway and the USA, which will act as guarantors for compliance with this approach. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) says it wants the money in full and will not accept any conditions that prevent it from paying its employees, including in the Gaza Strip.Under peace agreements reached in the 1990s, Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinians and transfers them monthly to the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank.
• GB Defense Minister disappointed with Netanyahu’s statementBritain’s Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has criticized the Israeli Prime Minister’s opposition to a two-state solution. “I think it’s disappointing when you hear Benjamin Netanyahu say that he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution,” Shapps told Sky News television. To be fair, Netanyahu has been saying this for a long time. “I don’t think we’ll find a solution until we have a two-state solution,” Shapps said. Great Britain will stick to it.The US is also pushing for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. On Saturday evening, however, Netanyahu rejected US President Joe Biden’s claim that a two-state solution after the Gaza war was feasible with him as head of government.
• Israeli army: 15 Palestinian gunmen killedThe Israeli military says its soldiers killed 15 armed Palestinians in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. “Terrorists” were also killed in the south of the Gaza Strip – the military does not release exact figures.The Israeli army also announced today the death of soldier Uriel Aviad Silberman. He died yesterday in fighting in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. This brings the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since ground operations began in the Gaza Strip to 195.
• USA downgrades war goals: Hamas destruction not possibleThe Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that, according to US intelligence estimates, Israel has so far only managed to kill 20 to 30 percent of Hamas fighters. This means that Israel is still a long way from its goal of destroying the Islamist organization.According to US estimates, Hamas had between 25,000 and 30,000 fighters before the war, apart from thousands of police forces. Israel says it assumes that around 9,000 terrorists have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far.The US continued to assume that Hamas had enough ammunition to continue attacking Israel and Israeli troops in Gaza for months. The US government has therefore downgraded its expectations of the war goals, from destroying Hamas to weakening the security threat.
• Hamas leader visits Turkey
• Against the backdrop of ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, the political leader of the radical Islamic Hamas, Ismail Haniya, spoke during a visit to Turkey about an early ceasefire and a two-state solution “for lasting peace”.
• Other topics discussed at the meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were the release of the hostages and an increase in humanitarian aid, according to diplomatic circles. Accordingly, the meeting between Fidan and Hanija, who lives in Qatar, took place yesterday.
• The last official contact between the two politicians was a telephone conversation on October 16th – immediately after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th.
• Iran’s president threatens IsraelIran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has threatened Israel with retaliation after the suspected Israeli airstrike in the Syrian capital Damascus. The Islamic Republic will not leave the “crime of the Zionist regime” unanswered, state radio quoted him as saying.
• Yesterday, Israeli soldiers apparently stumbled upon a hostage dungeonThe Israeli military says it has found a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, parts of which served as a dungeon for people abducted from Israel. “From what we know, 20 hostages were held inside in stuffy air with little oxygen and terrible humidity that made breathing difficult,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.The tunnel was discovered under the house of a Hamas fighter in Khan Yunis. Israeli soldiers arrived at the dungeon site after walking about a kilometer along an underground passage at a depth of 20 meters. The hostages were there at different times, and some of them have since been released through an exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
• Yesterday, Attack on US base in IraqAccording to US information, a military base used by US soldiers was attacked in Iraq. Iranian-backed fighters in western Iraq fired several rockets at the Ain Al-Assad base, the responsible regional command of the US military said on the X platform, formerly Twitter. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the base’s air defense, while others hit the base. The damage assessment is ongoing, it said. A number of US soldiers are currently undergoing medical examinations. At least one Iraqi soldier was wounded.
• Yesterday, Pro-Palestinian rally in GenevaAbout 2,000 demonstrators expressed their solidarity with Palestinians in Geneva on Saturday. At a rally they called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The BDS movement, which calls for a boycott of and sanctions against Israel, called for the demonstration. Many participants carried Palestinian flags or a traditional black and white Palestinian scarf.

Tensions between friends USA and Israel are increasing

The war in the Middle East is causing tensions between the close friends: Israel’s actions in the Gaza war are also increasingly met with criticism in the USA. The opinions of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu differ widely, particularly on the question of a possible post-war order. Biden speaks positively about a two-state solution – Netanyahu doesn’t want to hear about it.

On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected US President Joe Biden’s claim that a two-state solution after the Gaza war was feasible with him as head of government.

“I will not compromise when it comes to full Israeli security control over the entire area west of the Jordan – and that contradicts a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter. After a phone call with Netanyahu, when asked by journalists whether a two-state solution was impossible as long as Netanyahu was still in office,

Biden said: “No, it is not to the operation even if they don’t like it. They are rejected in my administration.”

Thousands demonstrate in Israel against Netanyahu government

Thousands of people demonstrated in Israel against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv, participants in a rally demanded an immediate end to the Gaza war in order to free the more than 100 hostages. “Stop fighting, pay the price!” Israeli media quoted one of the speakers, whose cousin is among the hostages, as saying.

• Hamas does not want to release the others it has abducted until Israel’s military withdraws from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu and his colleagues, however, say that only the military defeat of Hamas can lead to the liberation of the abductees.In the northern port city of Haifa, several hundred supporters of the left-wing Chadash party demanded the resignation of the head of government on Saturday. Several hundred people also took to the streets in Jerusalem against the Netanyahu government.
• Yesterday, Israel’s military finds and destroys rocket workshops in GazaThe Israeli military says it has discovered and destroyed a large number of workshops for building rockets in the Gaza Strip. While searching areas in the Seitoun district of Gaza city, the military also found rocket launchers, explosive devices, machinery and chemicals, the armed forces said.
• The material found would have been enough to produce 800 rockets, the statement continued. The workshops were designed so that each of them only produced rocket components. Hamas spread the rocket factories across the area to make it more difficult to detect and combat them.

US military: renewed attack on Houthi militia

• According to their own statements, US forces have again destroyed an anti-ship missile belonging to the Yemeni Houthi militia. The responsible regional command of the US military announced on the platform

/ TASS