DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Immediately after Oct. 7, Hezbollah began carrying out strikes in northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Hamas. Isolated and in hiding in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar’s communication with his organization has become strained. Image A poster of Mr. Sinwar at a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in August. The failure of Hezbollah or Iran to meaningfully damage Israel is a telling sign of Mr. Sinwar’s miscalculation, American officials said. On Sept. 13, Hezbollah released a letter that Mr. Sinwar sent in support of Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mohammed Saber, Hassan Nasrallah, Mr, Nasrallah, Alkis Konstantinidis, Netanyahu, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Arash Khamooshi, Yoav Gallant, ” Mr, Gallant, ”, Scott D, ” Julian E, Barnes, Adam Goldman, Edward Wong, Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman, Ronen Bergman Organizations: Israel, U.S, Hezbollah, Hamas, Mr, Credit, The New York Times, U.S . Defense Intelligence Agency Locations: Gaza, Israel, U.S, Deir al, Lebanon, Iran, Palestinian, Beirut, Egypt, Qatar, Tehran, Rafah, Tel Sultan, Washington, New York, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

☆ Wigs, robotic guns and exploding pagers: Israel has a long history of hunting down its enemies
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-20 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Over the years, Israel has viewed “targeted killings” as a way to deter attacks on the county, fuel fear among its enemies and exact revenge. Iran’s nuclear program is closer to building a bomb than ever, even after several nuclear scientists were killed, he said. But the Mossad operation dismayed Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who demanded the resignation of the spy service’s chief. Almost four decades later, Israel killed a major Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in a Dubai hotel in a complex plot involving more than two dozen Mossad operatives. In an echo of this week’s attacks in Lebanon, Israel killed a Hamas bombmaker, Yahya Ayyash, in 1996 with a cellphone outfitted with explosives.

Persons: ”, Bruce Riedel, Adolf Eichmann, Eichmann, David Ben, Gurion, God —, Russell Mcphedran, Ehud Barak, Ahmed Bouchikhi, Ali Hassan Salameh, Yasser Arafat, Bouchikhi, Israel, Mahmoud al, Mabhouh, Mohammed Salem, Ahmed Jibril, Ronen Bergman, Jibril, Yahya Ayyash, Ayyash, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Fakhrizadeh, Ismail Haniyeh, David Barnea, Israel “, ” Barnea Organizations: Lebanese, CIA, Argentine, Nazi, Damocles, Palestinian, Fairfax Media, Getty, Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, New York Times Locations: Israel, British, Nazi, Argentina, Egypt, Munich, Beirut, Moroccan, Norwegian, Lillehammer, Europe, Dubai, Gaza, Israeli, Lebanon, U.S, Iran’s, Absad, Tehran, Syria, Iran, Mossad’s

Hezbollah fighters at the funeral of a commander in August, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. By 2000, Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon, making Hezbollah a hero to many Lebanese. In that war, Israel rained bombs on southern Lebanon and Beirut, the capital; the fighting killed more than 1,000 Lebanese. Even some of Hezbollah’s traditionally loyal Shiite Muslim constituents in southern Lebanon are questioning the price of the current fighting. Estimates vary about just how many missiles Hezbollah has and just how sophisticated its systems are.

Persons: Israel hasn’t, Israel, Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah, Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Bashar al, Assad, Euan Ward Organizations: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization, Credit, The New York Times, Central Intelligence Locations: Beirut, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Iran, Lebanese, United States, Syria

For weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has denied that he is trying to block a cease-fire deal in Gaza by hardening Israel’s negotiating position. Mr. Netanyahu has consistently placed all blame for the deadlocked negotiations on Hamas, even as senior members of the Israeli security establishment accused him of slowing the process himself. But in private, Mr. Netanyahu has, in fact, added new conditions to Israel’s demands, additions that his own negotiators fear have created extra obstacles to a deal. But the documents reviewed by The Times make clear that the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the Netanyahu government has been extensive — and suggest that agreement may be elusive at a new round of negotiations set to begin on Thursday. It also showed less flexibility about allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza once fighting is halted.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mr, Netanyahu Organizations: The New York Times, The Times Locations: Gaza, Israel, Rome

Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official. The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. Such damage was also evident in a photograph of the building shared with The New York Times.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh Organizations: American, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Revolutionary Guards, The New York Times Locations: Tehran

The predawn killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran on Wednesday left the entire Middle East on edge, bringing vows of revenge from Iran’s leaders and threatening to derail fragile negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire. The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, 62, a top negotiator in the cease-fire talks who had led the militant group’s political office in Qatar, was killed after he and other leaders of Iranian-backed militant groups had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Israeli leaders would not confirm or deny whether their country was behind the brazen breach of Iran’s defenses. But Iranian leaders and Hamas officials immediately blamed Israel and vowed to avenge the death of Mr. Haniyeh, heightening fears of a broader regional war. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Israel, Haniyeh, heightening, Iran’s, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Organizations: Wednesday Locations: Tehran, Gaza, Qatar, Iran, Israel

As Hamas’s political leader, he was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled cease-fire deal negotiations with Israel. Here is what we know:Leader of Hamas in GazaMr. Haniyeh was named the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2006. Mr. Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey in recent years. He was arrested by the Israeli military and served several sentences in Israeli jails in the 1980s and 1990s. The two were targets of an attempted Israeli assassination attempt in 2003; the next year, Mr. Yassin was killed by the Israeli military.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Yemen —, Iran’s, Sheik Yassin, Yassin, Mr, Haniyeh’s, “, ” Mr, he’d Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Islamic, of Gaza, Mr, International Locations: Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Palestinian, Turkey, Egypt, United States, Gaza City, Ashkelon, Shifa

Israel launched a deadly strike in a densely populated Beirut suburb on Tuesday in retaliation for a rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that it blamed Hezbollah for and that killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field. The target of the Israeli strike in a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital was Fuad Shukr, a senior official who serves as a close adviser to Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to three Israeli security officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. The Israel Defense Forces later said in a statement that its fighter jets had “eliminated” Mr. Shukr, but there was no confirmation from Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group, and the claim could not be independently verified. Hezbollah has denied carrying out the attack in the Golan Heights on Saturday. The latest strikes were likely to fuel concerns that Israel’s long-running conflict with the group could escalate into a full-blown war even as Israel wages a military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after that group led a deadly assault in Israel on Oct. 7.

Persons: Israel, Fuad Shukr, Hassan Nasrallah, ” Mr, Shukr Organizations: Israel Defense Forces, Hamas Locations: Beirut, Golan, Lebanon’s, Iran, Israel, Gaza

Image A photo of Fuad Shukr, from a wanted poster released by the U.S. State Department. Rewards for Justice, via Associated PressIt was not immediately clear whether Mr. Shukr, also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Mohsin, survived the Israeli assassination attempt. Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general, described Mr. Shukr as “an experienced veteran” who had worked intensively to develop Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile apparatus. Analysts say the munitions are a particular concern for Israeli military planners. “It’s kind of run by committee, but Fuad Shukr is more or less first among equals,” he said, adding that Mr. Shukr reported directly to Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Fuad Shukr, Shukr, guerre, Hajj Mohsin, ”, Hassan Nasrallah, Mustafa Badreddine, Assaf, Matthew Levitt, Mohanad Hage Ali, Mr, Levitt, “, Nasrallah, Ronen Bergman Organizations: U.S, U.S . State Department . Credit, Justice, Associated, The State Department, Hezbollah, Washington Institute for Near, Carnegie Middle East, Israel Locations: Beirut, Golan, Syria, American, Israeli, Lebanon

Senior officials from Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States met in Rome on Sunday to continue negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza, according to three officials involved in or briefed on the talks and a statement from the Israeli government. The talks came as tensions mounted in the region amid growing violence along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Qatar hosts part of the Hamas leadership and, along with Egypt, plays a key role in mediating between the two sides. The statement did not give further details. Despite progress in recent weeks, the monthslong negotiations remain stalled over several key issues, particularly the extent to which Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during a truce, according to seven officials involved in or briefed on the talks.

Persons: David Barnea Locations: Israel, Egypt, Qatar, United States, Rome, Gaza, Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets bombed sites in Yemen affiliated with the Iran-backed Houthi militia on Saturday in retaliation for a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv a day earlier, the Israeli military said. The Israeli airstrikes targeted gas and oil depots and a power station in the area of Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah, two regional officials said. The port is controlled by the Houthis and contains oil export facilities, but also serves as a vital conduit for civilian goods and humanitarian aid to impoverished Yemen. An Israeli military statement said that fighter jets struck targets near the port “in response to the hundreds of attacks” by the Houthis in recent months. The military said it was not tightening its emergency civil defense regulations after the attack, indicating Israeli officials might not expect a more serious escalation.

Persons: Israel, Nasruddin Amer, ”, “ Locations: Yemen, Iran, Tel Aviv, Hodeidah, Israeli, Gaza

In a rare breach of Israel’s multilayered air-defense system, a drone fired by the Houthi militia in Yemen slammed into an apartment building near the United States Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv early Friday, killing at least one person and wounding eight others. Pentagon officials expressed doubt that the drone had specifically targeted the U.S. building, an attack that analysts assessed had possibly been an attempt by the Houthis to strike anywhere they could in Tel Aviv. The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia that has been attacking ships in the Red Sea, claimed responsibility for the strike on the city of 450,000 people. No air-raid sirens warned residents before the drone crashed into the building, causing an explosion that jolted people from their sleep, shattered windows and left shrapnel scattered on the streets. “We are investigating why we did not identify it, attack it and intercept it,” Admiral Hagari said on Friday.

Persons: Daniel Hagari, Admiral Hagari Organizations: United States Embassy, Pentagon Locations: Yemen, Tel Aviv, Iranian, Red

The Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for a drone attack in central Tel Aviv that crashed into a building near the U.S. consulate early Friday, killing at least one person. No alarms were activated in the attack, the Israeli military said earlier in a statement. The Israeli military official said it was possible that the country’s defense systems had registered the drone but misidentified it. Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, said the city was on heightened alert. The man was found in his apartment and had shrapnel injuries, the Tel Aviv police said in a statement.

Persons: Yahya Sarea, Ron Huldai, ”, Zaki Heller, Roee Klein, Witnesses, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Aaron Boxerman, Ronen Bergman Organizations: Tel, Hamas, Tel Aviv police Locations: Iran, Tel Aviv, U.S, Yemen, Israel, Red, Lebanon, Gaza

☆ Assassination Attempt on a Hamas Leader Followed Surveillance of His Deputy
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-14 | by ( Ronen Bergman | Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas’s military leader, Muhammad Deif, in southern Gaza on Saturday followed weeks of surveillance of a compound used by one of his key lieutenants, Rafa Salameh, according to three senior Israeli defense officials. The Israeli military and the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, said on Sunday afternoon that the strike killed Mr. Salameh, but Mr. Deif’s fate remained unclear. The strike was authorized after prolonged observation of one of Mr. Salameh’s secret command posts located west of Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, according to the three senior Israeli officials. The villa surrounded by palm trees near the Mediterranean Sea belonged to Mr. Salameh’s family, two of the officials said. All officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the operation’s details.

Persons: Muhammad Deif, Rafa Salameh, Shin, Salameh, Khan Younis, Salameh’s Locations: Gaza, Israel, Khan

Israel conducted a major airstrike in southern Gaza on Saturday morning that it said had targeted a top Hamas military commander who is considered one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to six senior Israeli officials. The Gaza Health Ministry said that 90 people had been killed in the assault, half of them women and children, and 300 wounded. The commander targeted in the attack, Muhammad Deif, is the leader of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. He is the second most senior Hamas figure in Gaza, after its leader in the territory, Yahya Sinwar. As of Saturday night, the status of Mr. Deif and Rafah Salameh, the leader of Hamas forces in Khan Younis, who Israeli officials say was also targeted in the attack, was unclear.

Persons: Israel, Muhammad Deif, Yahya Sinwar, Khan Younis Organizations: Gaza Health Ministry, Qassam Locations: Gaza, Israel, Deif, Rafah

The Israeli military said this week that it had concluded its operation there. Palestinians returning to Shajaiye, after heeding a call by Israel to evacuate, said the neighborhood was so devastated it was uninhabitable. “The current situation in Shajaiye today is tragic,” said Ahmed Sidu, a photographer, who went back to his home as soon as he heard that Israeli forces had pulled out. Palestinian Civil Defense said on Friday that their crews began recovering bodies from Tal Al-Hawa and the Al-Sinaa neighborhoods, as they said the Israeli forces appeared to be leaving those areas as well. The Israeli military did not confirm its forces were also pulling out of those areas.

Persons: ”, Ahmed Sidu, Hamas’s, Ayman Showadeh, Showadeh, Karam Hassan, ” Mr, Hassan, Mr, Sidu, Tal, Tal Al, “, Juliette Touma, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad Organizations: Hamas, Palestinian Civil Defense, Credit, Agence France, United Nations, UNRWA, Troops Locations: Shajaiye, Gaza City, Israel, Gaza, Al, Rimal

☆ Hamas’s Cease-Fire Proposal Includes a Familiar Sticking Point
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-06 | by ( Ronen Bergman | Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hamas has softened its position in its latest Gaza cease-fire proposal but is sticking to a key demand that has been a major hurdle to a deal, according to two senior officials from countries involved in the negotiations. That has dampened prospects for an imminent agreement, even as U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed optimism now that the talks are moving forward after weeks of deadlock. Hamas presented a counterproposal on Wednesday. In effect, Hamas wants to ensure that it does not turn over many of the hostages only for Israel to restart the war, one of the officials said. Both senior officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel

Israel’s top generals want to begin a cease-fire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war. The generals think that a truce would be the best way of freeing the roughly 120 Israelis still held, both dead and alive, in Gaza, according to interviews with six current and former security officials. Underequipped for further fighting after Israel’s longest war in decades, the generals also think their forces need time to recuperate in case a land war breaks out against Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has been locked in a low-level fight with Israel since October, multiple officials said. A truce with Hamas could also make it easier to reach a deal with Hezbollah, according to the officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Hezbollah has said it will continue to strike northern Israel until Israel stops fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Underequipped Organizations: Lebanese, Israel Locations: Gaza, Israel

An influential member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition told settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that the government is engaged in a stealthy effort to irreversibly change the way the territory is governed, to cement Israel’s control over it without being accused of formally annexing it. In a taped recording of the speech, the official, Bezalel Smotrich, can be heard suggesting at a private event earlier this month that the goal was to prevent the West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state. “I’m telling you, it’s mega-dramatic,” Mr. Smotrich told the settlers. “Such changes change a system’s DNA.”While Mr. Smotrich’s opposition to ceding control over the West Bank is no secret, the Israeli government’s official position is that the West Bank’s status remains open to negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that Israel’s rule over the territory amounts to a temporary military occupation overseen by army generals, not a permanent civilian annexation administered by Israeli civil servants.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Bezalel Smotrich, “, Mr, Smotrich Organizations: West Bank Locations: Palestinian

☆ After Weeks of Planning, Seconds Made the Difference in Israeli Hostage Rescue
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Bilal Shbair | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the four Israelis woke up in Gaza on Saturday, they had been held hostage by Hamas for 245 days. The buildings in which they were being kept, two low-rise, concrete apartment blocks, looked much like the other nearby residences in a civilian neighborhood full of Palestinian families. Within a few hours, the captives, three men and one woman, would be reunited with their own families, the result of a risky, long-planned rescue operation in which the full might of the Israeli military would be used to devastating effect. “I’m so emotional,” one hostage, Noa Argamani, 26, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in a phone call after her release. “It’s been so long since I heard Hebrew.”The rescue effort in Nuseirat involved hundreds of intelligence officers and two teams of commandos who simultaneously stormed the homes in which the hostages were being held, the Israeli military said.

Persons: “, Noa Argamani, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, “ It’s Locations: Gaza

The hostages in Gaza are being moved around, with Hamas shuttling some from one apartment to another to obscure their whereabouts, while others are believed to be in tunnels underground. More than one war is being waged in the Gaza Strip. For the most part, the world sees the airstrikes and the ground invasion, which Israel says are aimed at dismantling Hamas and have reduced much of the territory to rubble, setting off a humanitarian crisis. But the rescue on Saturday of four hostages was a reminder that Israel and Hamas are engaged in another, less visible battle:The militants are determined to hold on to the hostages they seized during their deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, for use as human bargaining chips. The Israelis are determined to bring them home.

Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Takeaways From the Times Investigation Into ‘The Unpunished’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Ronen Bergman | Mark Mazzetti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For decades, most Israelis have considered Palestinian terrorism the country’s biggest security concern. But there is another threat that may be even more destabilizing for Israel’s future as a democracy: Jewish terrorism and violence, and the failure to enforce the law against it. It is a blunt account, told in some cases for the first time by Israeli officials, of how the occupation came to threaten the integrity of the country’s democracy. Lawbreakers Become LawmakersOfficials told us that once fringe, sometimes criminal groups of settlers bent on pursuing a theocratic state have been allowed for decades to operate with few restraints. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government came to power in 2022, elements of that faction have taken power — driving the country’s policies, including in the war in Gaza.

Persons: Lawbreakers, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Locations: of Israel, Gaza

☆ The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Ronen Bergman | Mark Mazzetti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first documents the unequal system of justice that grew around Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. The second shows how extremists targeted not only Palestinians but also Israeli officials trying to make peace. IMPUNITYBy the end of October, it was clear that no one was going to help the villagers of Khirbet Zanuta. But occasional harassment and vandalism, in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, escalated into beatings and murder threats. So one day the villagers packed what they could, loaded their families into trucks and disappeared.

Organizations: West Bank Locations: Gaza, Khirbet Zanuta, West Bank, Hebron

☆ How Israeli Extremists Won
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last October, an Israeli settler in the West Bank set a Palestinian home on fire. And last fall, a settler shot a Palestinian in the stomach in front of an Israeli soldier. Yet the authorities have not charged any of these settlers — or others who have attacked West Bank residents — with crimes. In it, they document how violent factions within the settler movement have repeatedly received protection from the Israeli government despite attacks against Palestinians — and even against Israeli officials who tried to challenge the settlers. An Israeli government report in 1982 documented the problem, to no effect.

Persons: —, Ronen Bergman, Mark Mazzetti, ” Ronen, Mark, “ Organizations: West Bank, Times Magazine Locations: “, of Israel

☆ Secret Hamas Files Show How It Spied on Everyday Palestinians
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Adam Rasgon | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The unit, known as the General Security Service, relied on a network of Gaza informants, some of whom reported their own neighbors to the police. People landed in security files for attending protests or publicly criticizing Hamas. Hamas has long run an oppressive system of governance in Gaza, and many Palestinians there know that security officials watch them closely. Security officials trailed journalists and people they suspected of immoral behavior. Political protests were viewed as threats to be undermined.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar Organizations: The New York Times, General Security Service Locations: Gaza, Israel

Search resuls for: "Ronen Bergman"

25 mentions found