Top IDF commander coordinated with settlers on takeover of Palestinian homes as storm batters Israel and Gaza
| Senior IDF commander knew of settlers’ takeover plan near Jericho but kept officers in the dark, sources say |
| Senior IDF commander knew of settlers’ takeover plan near Jericho but kept officers in the dark, sources say The Israeli military commander responsible for West Bank operations, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, knew in advance of settlers’ plans to enter Palestinian homes near Jericho earlier this week and deliberately kept other senior officers in the dark, according to information obtained by Haaretz and defense officials familiar with the matter. On Wednesday, eight settler families entered homes in a Palestinian neighborhood on the outskirts of Jericho, claiming they had legally purchased the properties. But the neighborhood sits on Israeli state land, meaning the settlers could not have purchased the properties from Palestinians. Rights activists said Palestinian residents fled their homes for fear of violence. Defense officials said Bluth met with the settlers a day before the move and instructed that commanders on the ground be informed only after the families had entered the homes. He also sought to keep his advance knowledge of the operation secret, according to sources familiar with the preparations. The IDF initially denied that the meeting had taken place, but later acknowledged it, saying Bluth maintained that the discussion concerned unrelated matters. The decision to keep commanders in the dark may have been driven by legal considerations, sources said. Deploying troops before the settlers entered could have complicated their ownership claims. According to one source, the settlers wanted to enter as civilians asserting property rights, rather than under military protection. Thousands of Hebron residents had nowhere to go at 2 A.M. on that day in October, when raucous loudspeakers and sirens woke them, and they were ordered to take their belongings and leave their homes forthwith. Still dazed from sleep and terrified, they spilled into the streets, some on foot, others in their cars, utterly bewildered and having no idea if and when they would be able to return to their homes, write Gideon Levy and Alex Levac  Storm sweeps across Israel and Gaza, flooding thousands of tents in enclave Gaza’s emergency services warned Saturday of a looming humanitarian crisis as heavy rain and strong winds battered Israel and the Palestinian territories, flooding tens of thousands of tents sheltering displaced Palestinians. Gaza’s civil defense service said it had received more than 1,500 distress calls since the storm began Friday night, with tents and shelters flooded across the enclave. The Hamas-run government media office said at least 70,000 tents had flooded in the past 12 hours, affecting tens of thousands of displaced people. Injuries were reported, but no fatalities. Municipal and civil defense officials said fuel shortages and damaged equipment had hampered their response to the storm, saying Israeli forces had destroyed hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and water-pumping equipment, during the war. Hamas also accused Israel of blocking the entry of shelters and construction materials into Gaza. The storm reached Israel’s northern coast Friday before spreading south overnight, bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds to central and southern Israel and Gaza. Rain continued intermittently throughout Saturday, with cool temperatures and cloudy skies.  PODCAST | ‘A new elite’: Behind the U.S. money launching Israel’s far-right to power LISTEN  Two Israelis charged in U.S. over alleged $129 million AI-powered fraud scheme Two Israelis have been charged in the U.S. over an alleged $129 million fraud scheme in which artificial intelligence was used to impersonate corporate executives and lawyers and trick employees into transferring money to bank accounts worldwide, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan announced Friday. According to the FBI investigation, the two Israelis and a Spanish national used AI to mimic the voices of executives and lawyers at major law firms between July 2024 and February 2026, persuading employees to transfer large sums of money. The Israeli suspects were identified as Sharon Hazan, 54, a British-Israeli citizen convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in Manhattan in 2008, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, an Emirati-Israeli citizen. They face charges of fraud, impersonation, and money laundering, with a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors said the suspects and their associates converted the stolen funds into cryptocurrency to conceal their origins before dividing the proceeds among members of the network. |
Reference Link:- Haaretz <warupdates@mc.haaretz.com>
Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan Founder & Chair, Global Silk Route Research Alliance
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
