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☆ New details emerge about Netanyahu aide accused of leaking Hamas documents to the press
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Raf Sanchez | Raf Sanchez Is A Foreign Correspondent For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Investigators discovered that a low-level Israeli soldier had illegally removed Hamas documents from a military database and passed them to Eli Feldstein, a communications consultant working for Netanyahu, prosecutors said. Feldstein acted “with the intention of influencing public opinion in Israel on the negotiations regarding the hostages and in particular the issue of the contribution of the demonstrations to the strengthening of Hamas,” prosecutors said. Days after it was published, Netanyahu cited the article as evidence of Hamas’ intent “to use psychological warfare on the hostage families” and to put pressure on the Israeli government. The Israeli soldier accused of leaking the document to him has also been arrested, along with three other military personnel, prosecutors said. “For the past few days, my office has been under a wild and unrestrained attack,” Netanyahu said at the time.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Eli Feldstein, Netanyahu, Feldstein, ”, “ Bibi, Yahya Sinwar, Hersh Goldberg Polin, Bild, Sinwar, Shin, “, ” Netanyahu, Tzachi Braverman, Braverman, Jack Chen Organizations: NBC News, Israel Defense Forces, Military, NBC, Police Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, Israel, Germany

TEL AVIV — Senior White House officials will travel to Israel on Thursday, a U.S. official and a source briefed on the matter told NBC News, as the Biden administration intensifies efforts to end the conflicts in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The officials are expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of a deal to end the fighting in Lebanon, the source said. Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, and Amos Hochstein, a U.S. special envoy with a focus on Lebanon, are also expected to meet other senior Israeli officials, the source said. McGurk and Hochstein will engage the U.S. ally on a range of issues including Gaza, Lebanon, hostages and Iran, the U.S. official said. But the visit of McGurk and Hochstein comes amid growing optimism in Israel that a cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon could now be reached without a deal to end the war in Gaza.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Brett McGurk, Amos Hochstein, McGurk, Hochstein, Michael “ Erik ” Kurilla, William Burns, Hassan Nasrallah, ” Organizations: TEL AVIV — Senior White House, U.S, NBC, National Security, U.S . Central Command, CIA Locations: TEL, Israel, Lebanon, Gaza, U.S, Iran, Cairo, Hezbollah

TEL AVIV — Israeli officials are weighing an Egyptian proposal for a small-scale cease-fire deal with Hamas aimed at trying to build momentum for a larger agreement, an Israeli official told NBC News. Israel’s security cabinet has discussed the Egyptian proposal for a two-week truce in Gaza, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Egyptian proposal calls for the release of just six Israeli hostages in exchange, the official said. The Egyptian proposal was first reported by Axios. So the idea is to get the momentum going with a smaller deal,” the Israeli official said.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Yahya Sinwar, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, Axios, It’s, —, Raf Sanchez, Chantal Da Silva Organizations: TEL AVIV —, NBC News, U.S Locations: TEL AVIV, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Beirut, U.S, Tel Aviv, London

Yahya Sinwar, the elusive Hamas leader widely credited with masterminding the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, was confirmed dead Thursday, ending a yearlong manhunt for the militant chief. The Israel Defense Forces said Sinwar was killed by soldiers in an operation in southern Gaza on Wednesday. The only sighting of him before his death was in grainy footage taken on Oct. 10, 2023, three days after Hamas' assault, according to the Israeli military. It showed him fleeing with his family into a tunnel, one of a large network build by Hamas under Gaza, which the militant group used to smuggle weapons, hide out from Israeli attacks and keep Israeli hostages captive. They were displaced in what Palestinians call the Nakba, “catastrophe” in Arabic, of 1948, when around 700,000 people were forced from their homes in the founding of Israel.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, masterminding, Sinwar, Osama Bin Laden, ” Matthew Levitt, ” Sinwar, Khan Younis Organizations: Israel Defense Forces, Washington Institute for Near, Policy, NBC News Locations: Israel, Gaza, Iran, United States, Al, Palestinian, Ashkelon

☆ Hostages were killed by Hamas the night before IDF reached tunnel, Israel says
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-10 | by ( Raf Sanchez | Raf Sanchez Is A Foreign Correspondent For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

TEL AVIV — The six hostages recently found dead in Gaza were executed by Hamas the night before Israeli forces reached the tunnel where they were being held, government officials said Tuesday night. The IDF said it reached that tunnel and made the gruesome discovery on Aug. 30. AK-47 magazines and shell casings were found nearby, Israeli officials said. "It was a hard moment to see the bloodstains on the floor," said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson. That's when about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 250 people taken hostage.

Persons: Hersh Goldberg, Rafah’s Tal, It's, Daniel Hagari, Mickey Mouse, Hagari, Goldberg, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog, Sgt, Ori Danino, Benjamin Netanyahu, ”, Shai Dickman, Gat, Carmel, “ Organizations: Israel Defense Forces, AK, IDF, Israel’s, Health Ministry Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, Rafah’s Tal Al Sultan, Israel

TEL AVIV — Israel is bracing for a potential multiday attack by Iran and its ally Hezbollah following the assassination of two senior militant leaders last week, an Israeli official told NBC News. Israel killed Shukr in a strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut last Tuesday. Hours later, news broke that Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in the early hours Wednesday morning. The call was “tense,” according to the Israeli official. This time, the Israeli official said the attacks could come over several days, with Hezbollah attacking Israel from the north while Iran’s longer-range weapons are fired from the east.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr, “ They’ll, Shukr, ”, Haniyeh, Masoud Pezeshkian, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, “ Biden, Israel, Netanyahu, Raf Sanchez, Doha Madani Organizations: NBC News, Diplomats Locations: TEL AVIV, Israel, Iran, Beirut, Golan, Tehran, Gaza, U.S, Cairo, Damascus, Tel Aviv, Doha, New York City

☆ War with Russia rages as Ukraine’s government confronts an old enemy: Corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Raf Sanchez | Raf Sanchez Is A Foreign Correspondent For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

He is now one of around a dozen officials who resigned, were fired, or were put under investigation this week as Ukraine’s government confronts an old enemy: corruption. On Monday, Zelenskyy banned public officials from traveling abroad for anything other than work. “It demonstrates what President Zelenskyy has told us, that there will be zero tolerance for fraud or waste,” he said. Ukraine is currently ranked 132 out of 180 countries on a corruption index compiled by Transparency International, a good-governance nongovernmental organization. “I think that after the war, we will have a better Ukraine than we had before the war,” he said.

Despite German efforts to pressure the U.S. into providing Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the Pentagon’s top leaders are against sending them, three U.S. officials said. At the same time, the officials said President Joe Biden would not pressure Germany to send the Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Asked Friday about sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Biden was noncommittal. They also have argued they are not the right vehicles for the fight in Ukraine right now, according to the officials. Artur Widak / AP fileU.S. officials said opposition within the Biden administration to sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine is not due to concerns Russia would see the move as escalatory.

☆ Netanyahu eyes comeback in Israel election with help of far-right
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Raf Sanchez | Raf Sanchez Is A Foreign Correspondent For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, stayed in power with the support of religious and right-wing parties. Netanyahu’s hopes of forming a 61-seat majority government rest in part on the support of the far-right Jewish Power party (Otzma Yehudit). Once shunned from Israel’s political mainstream, Jewish Power and other far-right parties are enjoying unprecedented popularity heading into this election. If that projection holds, it would make them the third-largest faction in parliament and give them significant leverage in potential coalition negotiations with Netanyahu. It would likely also mean a Cabinet post for Itamar Ben Gvir, the firebrand leader of Jewish Power, who among other things supports the deportation of Arab citizens who are deemed to be “disloyal” to Israel.

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