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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)

Israel’s insistence that France can not be a member of the international committee that will monitor a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon is due to a series of French practices that have disturbed Israel recently, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed.
These practices are most notably attributed to the French judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, who has joined other judges to unanimously issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the sources revealed.
“The Israeli government is following with concern the French role at The Hague,” they said, noting that veteran French lawyer Gilles Devers led a team of 300 international lawyers of various nationalities who volunteered to accuse Israel of “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
According to the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Israeli officials believe that Devers, who signed the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Galant, would not have dared to do so without having received a green light from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Israeli sources also mentioned other reasons for Israel’s anger at France, such as the government’s decision to bar Israeli firms from exhibiting at the Euronaval arms show near Paris earlier this month.
French officials have repeatedly said that Paris is committed to Israel's security and point out that its military helped defend Israel after Iranian attacks in April and earlier this month.
Paris has so far also refused to recognize the Palestinian state. But the Israeli government is not satisfied. It wants France to follow the United States and blindly support its war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Tel Aviv also feels incredibly confident that France should be punished, and therefore, decided that Paris could not participate in the Lebanese ceasefire agreement, knowing that the Israeli government itself has traveled to Paris several times begging for its intervention, especially during the war on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, an air of optimism has emerged in Israel around the chances for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon following negotiations led by US envoy Amos Hochstein.
But any optimism relies on Netanyahu’s final decision. The PM is still conducting talks with his friends and allies of the far right who reject the ceasefire agreement and instead, demand that Lebanese citizens not be allowed to return to their villages on the border with Israel. They also request that a security belt be turned into a permanently depopulated and mined zone.
Hochstein Talks
Meanwhile, political sources in Israel claim that what is holding up a ceasefire deal so far is Lebanon. According to Israel's Channel 12, Hochstein expressed a “firm stance” during his talks with the Lebanese side. The envoy delivered clear terms that were passed on to Hezbollah, which the channel said “led to significant progress” in the talks.
Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with Hezbollah in the coming days.
The channel said that during his late visit to Tel Aviv, coming from Beirut after talks with Speaker Nabih Barri, Hochstein said, “I placed before them (Lebanese officials) a final warning, and it seems to have been effective.”
Iran Obstacle
Despite the “positive atmosphere,” informed diplomatic sources pointed to a major obstacle: Iran.
Channel 12 quoted the sources as saying that Lebanon has not yet received the final approval required from Iran, which has significant influence over Hezbollah.

According to the draft proposal, the Lebanese Army must be redeployed to the south and carry out a comprehensive operation to remove weapons from villages. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will “supervise and monitor the implementation of the operation.”
Channel 12 said Israel believes that such details could still derail the agreement. It also said that Hezbollah could violate the truce.
“In such cases, Israel would have to conduct military operations inside the Lebanese territory,” the channel reported, adding that “one of the unsettled issues is related to the committee that will oversee the implementation of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
The sources said Tel Aviv “insists that France is not part of the agreement, nor part of the committee that will oversee its implementation.”

 

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Israel Plans to Capture All of Gaza under New Plan, Officials Say

An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Plans to Capture All of Gaza under New Plan, Officials Say

An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)

Israel approved plans Monday to capture the entire Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel's operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved the plan in an early morning vote, hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.

The new plan, which the officials said was meant to help Israel achieve its war aims of defeating Hamas and freeing hostages held in Gaza, also calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to Gaza's south. That would likely amount to their forcible displacement and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.

A third person, a defense official, said the new plan would not begin until after US President Donald Trump wraps up his expected visit to the Middle East this month, allowing for the possibility that Israel might agree to a ceasefire in the meantime. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing military plans.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt. Capturing and potentially occupying the territory again for an indefinite period would not only further dash hopes for Palestinian statehood, it would embed Israel inside a population that is deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas group in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swaths of territory and now controls roughly 50% of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and, Palestinian health officials say, killed more than 52,000 people there, many of them women and children. The officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Monday that the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Israel is trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas

The Israeli officials said the plan included the "capturing of the strip and the holding of territories."

The plan would also seek to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, a role that Israel says strengthens the group's rule in Gaza. It also accuses Hamas of keeping the aid for itself, without providing evidence. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.

The officials said Israel was in touch with several countries about Trump's plan to take over Gaza and relocate its population, under what Israel has termed "voluntary emigration." That proposal has drawn widespread condemnation, including from Israel's allies in Europe, and rights groups have warned it could be a war crime under international law.

Hamas officials did not return calls and messages seeking comment on the plans.

For weeks, Israel has been trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to get the group to agree to its terms in ceasefire negotiations. But the measures do not appear to have moved Hamas away from its negotiating positions.

The previous ceasefire was meant to lead the sides to negotiate an end to the war, but that has remained elusive. Israel says it won’t agree to end the war until Hamas' governing and military capabilities are dismantled. Hamas, meanwhile, has sought an agreement that winds down the war without agreeing to disarm.

Israel's expansion announcement angered families of hostages who fear that any extension of the conflict endangers their loved ones. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which supports families, urged Israel's decision-makers to prioritize the hostages and secure a deal quickly.

At a Knesset committee meeting Monday, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held hostage, called on soldiers "not to report for reserve duty for moral and ethical reasons."

Some reservists have indicated they will refuse to serve in a war they increasingly view as politically motivated.

Israel wants to prevent Hamas from handling aid

The defense official said the plan would "separate" Hamas from the aid by using private firms and by using specified areas secured by the Israeli military. The official added that Palestinians would be screened to prevent Hamas from accessing the aid.

According to a memo circulated among aid groups and seen by The Associated Press, Israel told the United Nations that it will use private security companies to control aid distribution in Gaza. The UN, in a statement Sunday, said it would not participate in the plan as presented, saying it violates its core principles.

The memo summarized a meeting between the Israeli defense body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, and the UN It was written by a group briefed on the meeting and sent Sunday to aid organizations.

According to the memo, under COGAT’s plan, all aid will enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, on approximately 60 trucks daily, and be distributed directly to people. Some 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the war.

The memo said that facial-recognition technology will be used to identify Palestinians at logistics hubs and text message alerts will notify people in the area that they can collect aid.

COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UN accuses Israel of wanting to control aid as a ‘pressure tactic’

After Israel said it was going to assert more control over aid distribution in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs sent an email to aid groups, urging them to "collectively hold the line" and reject any "draconian restrictions on humanitarian work."

The email, which OCHA sent Monday to aid groups and was shared with the AP, further stated that there are mechanisms in place to ensure aid is not diverted.

Earlier, OCHA said in a statement that the plan would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies. It said the plan "appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy."

Aid groups have said they are opposed to using any armed or uniformed personnel to distribute aid that could potentially intimidate Palestinians or put them at risk, and they fiercely criticized the new plan.

Israeli officials "want to manipulate and militarize all aid to civilians, forcing us to deliver supplies through hubs designed by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to reopen crossings," Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, posted on X, saying the group would not participate.

Hamas decried Israel’s efforts to control distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as a violation of international law.

In a statement Monday, the group said the effort is "an extension of the starvation policy" adopted by the Israeli government in Gaza.

Earlier this month, the AP obtained notes summarizing various Israeli proposals on aid distribution and aid groups’ concerns about them. In those documents, the groups expressed fears that Palestinians would be required to retrieve aid from a small number of sites, forcing families to move to get assistance and putting their safety at risk if large crowds gathered at the sites.