Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is set to travel to Washington on Sunday for “critical” discussions regarding the ongoing Gaza war, which has raged since October 7, and the surging cross-border tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed hope for swift progress on unfreezing US arms and ammunition deliveries from Israel’s primary ally, which he stated had significantly decreased in recent months.
US President Joe Biden has been at odds with Israel’s veteran right-wing leader over the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, but US officials have asserted that they are unaware of the arms issue that Netanyahu has raised. The Israeli Prime Minister informed his cabinet on Sunday that “about four months ago, there was a dramatic drop in the supply of armaments arriving from the US to Israel. We got all sorts of explanations, but… the basic situation didn’t change.” However, he expressed optimism that the issue would be resolved shortly: “In light of what I have heard in the last day, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future.”
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Gaza on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against the government and demand the return of hostages held by Hamas. Tensions have also escalated on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has exchanged daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army, heightening fears of a full-scale war.
Gallant stated that he would “discuss developments in Gaza and Lebanon”, vowing that “we are prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon and in additional areas”. He emphasized that “our ties with the United States are more important than ever. Our meetings with US officials are critical to this war.”
In Gaza, Israeli forces continued to strike targets and engage in combat with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that Israel has pledged to dismantle for its October 7 attack, in a war that has devastated much of the coastal territory. Warplanes had targeted “dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, terrorists and terrorist infrastructure” over the previous 24 hours, according to a military statement.
As the Gaza war has continued for over eight months, Israeli protesters have taken to the streets week after week demanding greater efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages. A rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening attracted over 150,000 people, according to the anti-government protest organization Hofshi Israel, which described it as the largest rally since the Gaza war began. Many demonstrators expressed anger and frustration towards Netanyahu and his far-right allies, accusing them of prolonging the war and jeopardizing the country’s security and the hostages.
Many held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” while some lay on the ground covered in red paint to protest what they labeled the death of Israel’s democracy. In an address to the crowd, Yuval Diskin, a former head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, condemned Netanyahu as Israel’s “worst prime minister”.
The Gaza war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, primarily civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army claims 41 are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,551 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
An Israeli siege has deprived Gaza’s 2.4 million people of most drinking water, food, fuel, and other essential necessities. “This war must stop,” said Umm Siraj al-Balawi, surviving in a makeshift shelter amid a field of rubble, with strung-up sheets protecting her young children from the blazing sun. “People are getting displaced from house to house, tent to tent, school to school,” she said. “This is a war of displacement. It’s a war of annihilation.”
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah claimed to have targeted a military position in northern Israel “with an attack drone” in response to the killing of a commander of the Jamaa Islamiya group in a strike on eastern Lebanon. Israel reported that no one was injured in the attack on Sunday. Hezbollah had previously published a video excerpt purportedly showing locations in Israel along with their coordinates, amidst growing fears of an all-out conflict.
Israel’s military stated last Tuesday that a plan for a Lebanon offensive had been “approved and validated”. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah responded with threats that no part of Israel would be spared in the event of a full-scale war.
