Israel

22 March 2024; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces will eventually invade the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza and defeat Hamas, “even if the whole world is against Israel, including the United States”, Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, has said.

23 March 2024; MEMO: The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara, sparked a wave of reactions from the Israeli captives who were returned from Gaza during the exchange deal with Hamas.

Sara criticised the liberated captives and complained in private conversations with a member of the Knesset that she and her husband had not yet received thanks for returning some of the captured Israelis.

23 March 2024; MEMO: Two Hezbollah drones fell down in the Galilee Panhandle area in northern Israel, Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation reported Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Two Hezbollah drones fell near Kfar Blum in northern Israel where a fire broke out at the place,” it said without providing any further details.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday accused Israeli officials of cooperating with the US to prevent a ground attack in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, Anadolu reported.

“Some in Israel are cooperating with the Americans to prevent entry into Rafah,” Netanyahu told a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. He did not name the officials involved.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Half the workers at Israel’s Eilat Port are at risk of losing their jobs after the seaport took a major financial hit due to the crisis in Red Sea shipping lanes, Reuters reported officials saying today.

Eilat sits on a northern tip of the Red Sea and was one of the first ports to be affected as shipping firms rerouted vessels to avoid attacks on Israel-linked vessel by the Houthis in Yemen.

20 March 2024; MEMO: An online Israeli influencing campaign employing fake social media accounts has been attacking the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to a recent report by a disinformation watchdog cited by Haaretz.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Israel yesterday announced that it has informed the United States of its opposition to Qatar’s involvement in building and operating a floating pier in the Gaza Strip that will bring humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the US had invited Qatar to be involved in constructing the pier in spite of Tel Aviv’s objection.

18 March 2024; MEMO: Israel has lost its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a former Israeli military commander said yesterday.

“You can’t lie to many people for a long time,” Yitzhak Brick, a former major general, said in an article in Maariv newspaper, according to Anadolu.

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon will blow up in our faces sooner or later,” he warned.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that Jews storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in the last ten days of Ramadan, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported that “Ben-Gvir demanded abolishing the well-known policy in Israel and allowing Jews to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan.”

It revealed that security officials were informed of Ben-Gvir’s request before the Council of Ministers discuss this matter over the next two weeks.

19 March 2024; MEMO: The leader of the opposition in Israel, Yair Lapid, yesterday called on the Knesset to vote in favour of withdrawing confidence from the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid described Netanyahu’s government as “most insane government in the country’s history.”