Ben Gvir’s go to to the compound, which is steadily a flash level of violence, got here at some point after an Israeli delegation landed in Cairo to renew negotiations by means of U.S. and Egyptian mediators. The talks have collapsed repeatedly since November, however momentum has grown over the previous week amid alerts from each Israel and Hamas {that a} deal is feasible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is below mounting strain from the households of hostages taken throughout Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel to succeed in a deal as quickly as potential. However his far-right coalition companions, led by Ben Gvir, have threatened to deliver down the federal government if he agrees to any cease-fire that will finish the continuing battle in opposition to Hamas in Gaza.
In a video filmed in entrance of the golden Dome of the Rock, Ben Gvir mentioned he was there to wish for Netanyahu “to not again down and to go all the best way to victory.”
Advocates for the roughly 120 Israeli hostages believed nonetheless held in Gaza mentioned Ben Gvir was endangering their lives.
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“These feedback and actions are deeply hurtful to the hostages’ households and dangerously irresponsible,” the Hostages Households Discussion board, an umbrella group, mentioned in an announcement to The Washington Publish on Thursday. “The hostages’ lives grasp within the stability. Time has already run out for a lot of of them, and every passing day in captivity places extra in danger.”
The flap comes at a fraught second for cease-fire negotiations, which have lurched alongside with no breakthrough. Final week, The Publish reported that U.S. and Arab officers mentioned that whereas the 2 sides had been nearer than they’ve been, Israel had injected new situations to the proposal’s broad define and each side had balked on among the particulars throughout talks in Cairo and Doha. The officers spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate negotiations.
Visits by non-Muslims to the al-Aqsa plaza are closely restricted and non-Muslim prayers are prohibited. Ben Gvir’s go to was instantly condemned by neighboring Jordan, which has managed the compound since Israel took management of Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis within the 1967 struggle.
Ben Gvir has made frequent visits to the compound, counting on his parliamentary immunity to keep away from arrest, and has known as for it to be returned to Israeli management. The plaza is thought to Muslims because the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews because the Temple Mount.
Israeli Minister of Inside Affairs Moshe Arbel condemned the visits as “provocations,” citing steering from Jewish leaders that no particular person ought to enter the Temple Mount space for prayer.
Ben Gvir, an ultranationalist settler chief who was on the perimeter of Israeli politics till Netanyahu invited him to hitch his slender parliamentary majority in 2022, is among the many most hawkish of the prime minister’s companions within the four-seat majority coalition. He and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have steadily threatened to deliver down the federal government if Netanyahu strays from the exhausting line.
Each have rejected any proposal to incorporate the Palestinian Authority sooner or later governance of Gaza and known as for Israel to completely reoccupy the enclave after the struggle.
The prime minister’s workplace declined to remark.
Right here’s what else to know
The Pentagon known as off its mission to produce Gaza with humanitarian help by means of a floating pier. After costing a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} and lasting only some months, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper mentioned that the sea-based mission will now shift to the Israeli port in Ashdod, north of Gaza. The floating pier plan carried out below expectations and was repeatedly sidelined by poor climate and tough seas.
The mother and father of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra addressed the Republican Nationwide Conference on Wednesday night, main delegates in chants of “deliver them residence.” Neutra was serving as a tank commander when he was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7. “This was not merely an assault on Israel. This was and stays an assault on People,” mentioned Ronen Neutra, Omer’s father, who used his speech to reward former president Donald Trump for calling him after the assault.
Egyptian authorities mentioned “tensions within the Purple Sea” have brought on a drop in income from the Suez Canal, because the variety of ships transiting by means of the waterway declines. In an announcement Thursday, the Suez Canal Authority mentioned 20,148 ships navigated the canal within the yr ending June 30, the latest fiscal yr, in comparison with 25,911 within the earlier yr. Income dropped from $9.4 billion to $7.2 billion in the identical interval.
The Israel Protection Forces mentioned it killed about 20 militants from Hamas’s al-Shati battalion. In an announcement Thursday, it mentioned the Israeli air drive killed “commentary terrorists, engineers, and snipers,” together with the sniper who killed Israeli soldier Tal Lahat in Gaza Metropolis on July 9.
At the very least 38,848 folks have been killed and 89,459 injured in Gaza because the struggle began, the Gaza Well being Ministry mentioned. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants however says nearly all of the useless are girls and youngsters. Israel estimates that about 1,200 folks had been killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, together with greater than 300 troopers, and it says 326 troopers have been killed because the begin of its navy operations in Gaza.
