Israel News for 6-18-2024
News Update
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein is in Beirut today, meeting with Lebanese leaders to try and arrive at a way to avoid a major war between Israel and Hezbollah and deescalate the current fighting. Hochstein met with Israeli leaders yesterday in Jerusalem.
A senior Israeli negotiator said yesterday that Israel was certain that dozens of hostages were still alive and that most were being held by Hamas. He said that Israel could not end the conflict with Hamas before a deal is signed for the release of all of the hostages. A phased release would give Hamas the opportunity to violate the agreement and destroy the negotiations for releases hostages in a second phase, as they have done repeatedly in the past. The initial agreement must include all of the hostages. Hamas is currently rejecting the proposal advocated for by President Biden and are a demanding a complete end to the war immediately.
Hamas is reportedly keeping 2 of its battalions out of the fighting to enable them to support a Hamas governemnt in Gaza after the war is over.
Israel is upgrading its plutonium for its reactor at the nuclear research facility in Dimona, according to the annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on nuclear weapons. The SIPRI report ranks Israel eighth in its total number of stored nuclear warheads with 90, ahead of North Korea which it estimates has 50. India and Pakistan are 6th and 7th with around 170 each. For more, click here.
In a speech on conflict-related sexual violence, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris condemned Hamas’ sexual violence during its October 7 attack on Israel and called for a hostage release deal and a permanent ceasefire. Before her speech, Harris met Amit Soussana, 40, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and released after 55 days in captivity, and who was sexually assaulted by her captor.
