Israel

20 February 2024; MEMO: Israel’s economy shrank by almost 20 per cent in the last quarter of 2023, amid Israeli forces’ ongoing offensive and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, preliminary figures showed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by an annualised 19.4 per cent in the final three months of last year, which was almost double the market expectation of the decrease.

21 February 2024; MEMO: In a message to the Israeli army, IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, instructed them “not to film revenge videos” after footage was used as evidence in the case against the Israeli regime for genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Families of Israeli soldiers fighting in the Maglan Unit in the besieged Gaza Strip have sent a joint letter to the army command saying their children are “frustrated and have lost motivation to fight” given the operational reality that has turned them into easy targets for Palestinian fighters, like “ducks on a shooting range”, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday.

22 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Minister of Settlement and National Missions, Orit Strook, on Thursday denied the existence of the Palestinian people, Anadolu Agency reports.

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people,” Strook said in a video on her X account of her speech during a Knesset session.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to risk the lives of hostages held by Hamas if it serves his image, a former premier remarked Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that he will oppose any agreement that leads to freeing all Israeli captives held by Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza in exchange for ending the ongoing Israeli war against Palestinians in the besieged territory.

JERUSALEM, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions presented by Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include Israel's complete withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.

As Israeli planes resumed bombing Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the Israeli leader's refusal to end the military offensive in Gaza "means there is no chance for the return of the (Israeli) captives."

JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles.

The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others’ countries.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protested Saturday outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing frustration over his government’s seeming lack of progress in getting the more than 100 captives released as the war in Gaza drags on.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Rifts are emerging among top Israeli officials over the handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza. A member of the country’s War Cabinet cast doubt over the strategy for releasing hostages, while the prime minister rejected the United States’ calls to scale back its offensive.