Jerusalem:

 Israel Katz, formerly Israel’s foreign minister, has been appointed defence minister after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked Yoav Gallant from the post.

Netanyahu said he no longer had trust in Gallant’s management of Israel’s military operations, which include an ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Below are some facts about Katz:

* Born in 1955 in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, Katz was drafted into the military in 1973 and served as a paratrooper, leaving the service in 1977. He has not served in any senior military command position, unlike his predecessor Gallant, who had been a general before becoming defence minister in 2022.

* Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, has been a member of the Knesset (parliament) since 1998. In the Knesset, he served on several committees including those covering foreign affairs, defence and justice.

* He has held several ministerial posts in the past two decades, including agriculture, transport, intelligence, finance and energy portfolios. He was appointed foreign minister in 2019.

* As foreign minister, Katz declared Antonio Guterres persona non grata in October over what he said was the U.N. secretary-general’s failure to “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel and for what he described as antisemitic and anti-Israel conduct.

* Also in October, he ordered his ministry to start legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Paris banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show.

* Katz has been a low profile figure in Israeli-U.S. interactions during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s 11 trips to Israel since Oct. 7, 2023. The top U.S. diplomat has held only a few meetings with Katz, while Blinken regularly met with Gallant.

* Katz studied as an undergraduate and graduate at Israel’s Hebrew University. He is married with two children.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Baghdad:

Iran’s top diplomat vowed Sunday there would be “no red lines” for the country in defending its people and interests, ahead of Israel’s expected retaliation for Iran’s recent missile attack.

“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X.

Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned operator leaders in the region and a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed Israel’s response will be “deadly, precise, and surprising”.

Araghchi was in Baghdad to discuss the wars in Gaza and Lebanon with Iraqi officials, according to the ministry.

Ali al-Moussawi, political advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, told AFP Araghchi’s visit was part of a diplomatic effort “to silence weapons and violence… to establish security and stability in the region”.

After Baghdad, Araghchi will head to Oman, the Iranian ISNA news agency reported.

On Thursday, Araghchi was in Qatar where he met Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani over the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Qatar has been mediating talks aimed at a Gaza ceasefire and has called for a truce in Lebanon.

A day earlier, Araghchi met Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

In a recent interview, Araghchi said Iran does “not want war” but it was “not afraid of it.”

“We will be ready for any scenario,” he told Al Jazeera news network.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that it appears that the replacement of dead Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been eliminated.

Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israel’s Defence Minister says the window is closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that he believes could also bring calm to the country’s volatile northern border with Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters, Yoav Gallant said that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal.

“Israel should achieve an agreement that will bring about a pause for six weeks and bring back hostages,” he said. After that period, he said, “we maintain the right to operate and achieve our goals — including the destruction of Hamas.”

The United States, along with mediators Egypt and Qatar, has been working for months to broker a cease-fire to end the devastating war between Israel and Hamas. A main area of disagreement has been Hamas’ demand for an end to the nearly year-old war and a full withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised a new sticking point in recent weeks, saying that Israel must remain stationed in a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt indefinitely.

Mr. Gallant has been quoted in Israeli media as saying that Israel could withdraw from the corridor for six weeks — to allow hostages to go free without risking Israel’s security. The two men reportedly got into a heated shouting match at a recent Cabinet meeting where ministers overwhelmingly sided with Mr. Netanyahu.

During Monday’s (September 9, 2024) meeting with foreign journalists, Mr. Gallant was asked about his relationship with the Prime Minister.

“As Defense Minister, my first priority is the state of Israel and those who protect her, and then everything else,” he said.

The current U.S.-led proposal calls for a three-phase plan, beginning with a six-week pause in fighting during which Hamas would release some of the roughly 70 hostages who are still believed to be alive and held by the militants.

In exchange, Israel would free dozens of Palestinian prisoners, withdraw troops from Palestinian population centers, allow displaced Gazans to return to their original place of residence and facilitate the influx of large amounts of badly needed humanitarian aid.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday (September 9, 2024) that Hamas had sought changes to the evolving proposal, calling it the “main obstacle” to a deal. Hamas rejected Kirby’s allegations as “baseless” and again accused the U.S. of hindering an agreement by siding with Israel.

Mr. Gallant cast doubt on Hamas’ intentions and was skeptical about whether the deal’s second phase — which is to include the release of the remaining hostages and a complete halt to the fighting — could be implemented.

He said repeatedly that Israel remains committed to its “war goals” — bringing home all hostages, destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and making sure the group can never threaten Israel again.

With Hamas repeatedly regrouping in areas of Gaza that Israeli troops have left, and with no plan for an alternative postwar government, it remains unclear when or if these goals can be fully achieved.

Mr. Gallant accused Hamas of intransigence in the talks and called for more international pressure on the militant group. Still, he said that after inflicting heavy damage recently on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, there is an opportunity for at least the first phase of the deal.

He said he believed a truce with Hamas could also lower tensions with Hezbollah and allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah began striking Israel immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire daily, coming close on several occasions to a full-blown war. The fighting has forced tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to flee their homes near the volatile border.

“Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts,” Mr. Gallant said.

It seems unlikely that Hamas would accept a partial deal in which it would give up the hostages — its most valuable bargaining chips for only a brief pause in the Israeli onslaught.

But international mediators have been working on a bridging proposal that they hope could meet the demands of all sides. President Joe Biden said last week he was “optimistic” that a deal was within reach.

At home, the Israeli government faces significant domestic pressure to reach a deal as well, particularly after the deaths of six hostages it says were killed by their Hamas captors earlier this month as troops approached the area where they were being held.

Mr. Gallant described the current situation as a “strategic junction” — where Israel can reach a deal with its adversaries or risk fighting a broader war that could draw in Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran.

Mr. Gallant said he prefers a deal, but that Israel is ready for all scenarios. “We are capable of defending ourselves and we can also retaliate if necessary,” he said. “We have the ability to hit any strategic goal in Iran.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has forced hundreds of thousands of people into squalid tent camps and schools-turned-shelters gutted the health system and contributed to widespread hunger. Israel has been working with international aid workers in recent weeks on a mass vaccination program to prevent a polio outbreak in the territory from spreading.

As for the dire humanitarian situation, Mr. Gallant said he has assembled an advisory group of experts to focus on five areas of need. They include improved medical care, aid deliveries, energy, water and sanitation and better communications with aid workers.

“We discuss and hold situation assessments on this issue twice a week,” he said.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was headed to Washington on Sunday for “critical” talks on the Gaza war raging since October 7 and surging cross-border tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope for speedy progress on unfreezing US arms and ammunition deliveries from Israel’s top ally which he said had dropped off sharply in recent months.

US President Joe Biden has been at odds with Israel’s veteran right-wing leader over Gaza’s surging civilian death toll, but US officials have said they were not aware of what Netanyahu was referring to on the arms issue.

The Israeli premier on Sunday told his cabinet 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 voiced hope the issue would now be cleared up: “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 again bombed Gaza on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands staged a protest rally in Tel Aviv against the government and to demand the return of hostages being held by Hamas.

Tensions have also flared on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon whose Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has traded daily cross-border fire with the army, heightening fears of all-out war.

Gallant said 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 stressed that “our ties with the United States are more important than ever. Our meetings with US officials are critical to this war.”

– ‘War of annihilation’ –

In Gaza, Israeli forces kept striking targets and battling Hamas, the Islamist militant group Israel has vowed to destroy over its October 7 attack, in a war that has devastated much of the coastal territory.

Warplanes had struck “dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, terrorists and terrorist infrastructure” over the past 24 hours, a military statement said.

As the Gaza war has raged on for over eight months, Israeli protesters have taken to the streets week after week demanding greater efforts to bring home the remaining hostages.

A rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening drew more than 150,000 people, according to the organisation Israel Democracy HQ ~CHECK~ Hofshi B’Artzenu, which called it the biggest rally since the Gaza war began.

Many demonstrators voiced anger and frustration with Netanyahu and his far-right allies, accusing them of prolonging the war and putting the country’s security and hostages at risk.

Many held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” while some lay on the ground covered in red paint to protest what they labelled 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”.

– Lebanon tensions –

The Gaza war broke out with Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly 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 says 41 are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

An Israeli siege has deprived Gaza’s 2.4 million people of most drinking water, food, fuel and other essentials.

“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.”

Lebanon’s Hezbollah meanwhile said it had 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 said no one was injured in the attack Sunday.

Hezbollah had hours earlier published a video excerpt purporting to show locations in Israel along with their coordinates, amid heightening fears of an all-out conflict.

Israel’s military said last Tuesday that a plan for a Lebanon offensive had been “approved and validated”.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah responded with threats that no part of Israel would be spared in the event of a full-scale war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant
| Photo Credit: AFP

Israeli defence exports rose to a record $13.1 billion in 2023, a government report said on June 17, citing hundreds of contracts signed at various defence firms.

Some 36% of exports came from missile, rocket and air defence systems, followed by radar and electronic warfare, weapon stations and launchers at 11% each, with crewed aircraft and avionics at 9%, the Defence Ministry said.

Defence exports, which totalled $12.5 billion in 2022, have doubled over the past five years.

The Ministry said defence exports had become a central priority as part of an effort to strengthen security-strategic relations worldwide, enter new markets, remove bureaucratic barriers and reduce regulation.

“While our industries are primarily focused on providing the defence establishment with the capabilities to support our troops and defend our citizens … they are also continuing to pursue areas of cooperation and exports to international partners,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference.
| Photo Credit: AP

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim A.A. Khan, on May 20 announced that he will be submitting applications to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in connection with the prevailing situation in Palestine. Mr. Khan in his statement said that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for the war crimes and crimes against humanity “committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023”.

The prosecutor has also charged Yahya Sinwar (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail Haniyeh. The ICC has believes them to be “criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas (in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades) and other armed groups on 7 October 2023 and the taking of at least 245 hostages.”

In his statement, Mr. Khan said that “Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”

Also read: A brief history of starvation as a ‘war crime’ | Explained

The International Court of Justice, a separate body is also investigating whether Israel has committed acts of genocide in the ongoing war in Gaza, with any ruling expected to take years. Israel has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and accused both international courts of bias.

Israel has instead accused Hamas of genocide over its October 7 attack that triggered the war. Militants stormed through army bases and farming communities across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages.

In response, Israel launched a massive air, sea and ground offensive that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.

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Israel Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant (right) with Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, in Tel Aviv, Israel. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Israel’s Minister of Defence on March 26 and discuss ways to defeat Hamas other than conducting a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah,” the Pentagon said, at a time of rising tensions between the two countries.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on March 25 that Mr. Austin’s planned morning meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is still on, even though Israel abruptly cancelled the visit of a high-level delegation to Washington this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled the visit in protest over Monday’s UN Security Council decision calling for an immediate cease-fire. The U.S. abstained, deciding not to use its veto power, and the resolution passed 14-0.

Israel-Hamas war | Timeline of major events from the first 100 days

“There are ways to go about addressing the threat of Hamas, while also taking into account civilian safety. A lot of those are from lessons, our own lessons, conducting operations in urban environments,” Mr. Ryder said. “I would expect the conversations to cover those kinds of things.” Israel says it cannot defeat Hamas without going into Rafah, where it says the group has four battalions composed of thousands of fighters.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and driven a third of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation. It was launched in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people.

Hamas-led militants also took around 250 people hostage. They are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a cease-fire last year in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The United Nations Security Council resolution calls for a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Mr. Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages.

The dispute signals an erosion in the U.S.-Israel relationship that has been under a microscope for months as the military assault on Hamas continues, escalating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was disappointed in the decision to cancel the delegation’s visit this week. He said the talks with Mr. Gallant would likely include some of what the U.S. had planned to discuss with the Israeli delegation on the possible Rafah invasion.

The White House was aiming to talk to the Israelis about possible alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah. Mr. Gallant met, on March 25, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan. Mr. Kirby said those meetings, however, had not been intended as a replacement for the delegation meetings.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday his visit to Washington this week would focus on maintaining Israel’s military superiority in the Middle East, as fighting rages in Gaza.

Gallant is expected to meet his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin and other senior U.S. officials, as relations between the two allies become strained over the civilian impact of Israel’s almost six-month-old war against Hamas militants.

“During my visit, I will focus on preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge and on ways to achieve our common goals: victory over Hamas and returning the hostages home,” Mr. Gallant said before departing on Sunday, according to a statement from his office.

Discussions on military capability will cover Israel’s “ability to obtain platforms and munitions”, he said, without elaborating.

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign military assistance.

U.S. governments have long argued that the aid is needed for its ally to maintain a military advantage in the region.

Gallant’s visit will be his first to Washington since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 32,226 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Gallant’s trip comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s latest tour of the region during which he warned that an Israeli offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would be a “mistake” that “risks further isolating Israel around the world”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel was prepared to move ahead with the Rafah operation even without US support.

There are widespread fears of mass civilian casualties in Rafah where around 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the fighting.

Since October, Israel has also engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire across its northern border with Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides, and Gallant said this would be on the agenda in Washington.

“We will also discuss the need to return Israel’s northern communities to their homes, whether this is achieved via military action or via agreement,” Gallant said.

People inspect the rubble of a house where a Hezbollah member and his family were killed in Israeli bombardment.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah said on March 12 it launched more than 100 rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for a strike on the country’s east that killed one person the day before.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, but several Israeli strikes have recently hit Hezbollah positions further north, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

“Hezbollah launched “more than a hundred katyusha rockets” on Tuesday morning at two military bases in the occupied Golan Heights,” the group said in a statement. This was “in response to the Israeli attacks on our people, villages and cities, most recently near the city of Baalbek and the killing of a citizen”, it added.

On Monday, Israeli air strikes near Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek killed one person, in the second raid on the Hezbollah stronghold since cross-border hostilities began. The Israeli military confirmed its jets had hit two sites belonging to “Hezbollah’s aerial forces” in retaliation for strikes on the occupied Golan Heights over several days.

On February 26, Israeli strikes targeted Baalbek, some 100 km (60 miles) from the border, killing two Hezbollah members. Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah said its chief Hassan Nasrallah met with Khalil al-Hayya, a leading member of Hamas’s political bureau.

They discussed ceasefire talks for the Gaza war, as well as attacks by Hamas’s regional allies to support its war efforts, the Hezbollah statement said. Nasrallah is due to give a televised speech on Wednesday. Hezbollah has repeatedly said it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.

But Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant recently said any truce in Gaza would not change Israel’s goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, at least 317 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters but also 54 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally. In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in the cross-border hostilities.