1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ HOSTAGES 🎗️ Day 432 🎗️ /

• Security chiefs Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi met senior Egyptian officials in Cairo and discuss hostage deal in Cairo as Israel sees growing chances. White House says terror group’s isolation may bring it to table. https://lnk.sk/fet1 

SYRIA 🇸🇾 /

• Following a major 48-hour historic bombing campaign across Syria, IDF says it destroyed 80% of Assad regime’s military. After rebel takeover, Israeli Air Force and Navy strike missile depots, naval vessels, fighter jets and more to ensure they don’t fall into wrong hands https://lnk.sk/npju
• Regional security sources and officers within the now-fallen Syrian army who spoke to Reuters described Tuesday morning’s airstrikes as the heaviest yet. The rough tally of 200 raids overnight had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets. https://lnk.sk/nurz 
• In a message to the new regime taking shape in Syria, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel wants to establish relations, but won’t hesitate to attack if it threatens the Jewish state. “We have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria,” he said in a video statement, “but we certainly do intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security.” https://lnk.sk/ujns
• The Biden administration urged the rebel group that led the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government. https://lnk.sk/ajuu 
• Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and Russia decried Israel’s seizure of positions in the demilitarized strip on the border in Syrian territory. The UK and US, by contrast, were broadly supportive, empathizing with Israeli security concerns. https://lnk.sk/wfh7 
• The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it strongly condemned Israel’s entry into the buffer zone between Israel and Syria and its advance into Syrian territory. „Israel is once again displaying its occupation mentality,“ the foreign ministry said in a statement. Ankara occupies part of north Syria for a years https://lnk.sk/npbl 
• Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett refuted reports on Tuesday, claiming that the IDF is advancing on Damascus, emphasizing Israel’s defensive objectives in Syria. Israel’s actions are not motivated by territorial ambitions or a desire for conflict with the Syrian regime but are aimed at preemptive defense. https://lnk.sk/ifiz
• The US-backed Kurdish Syrian forces (SDF) and Syria’s Turkey-backed rebels reached a ceasefire in the northern city of Manbij through a US mediation „to ensure the safety and security of civilians,“ SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said. https://lnk.sk/frav  

GAZA, JUDEA & SAMARIA (so-called West Bank) / 

• A U.S.-based charity, the World Central Kitchen, fired dozens of Palestinians working for the charity in the Gaza Strip, at least three workers told Reuters, after Israel said at least 62 staff were linked to militant groups. https://lnk.sk/olt3 
• Clashes reportedly broke out overnight between armed individuals and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank cities of Tulkarm and Nablus, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. https://lnk.sk/npbl 

ISRAEL 🇮🇱 /

• His trial is a “chance to refute these ridiculous charges” against him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Court as he became the first sitting prime minister in Israeli history to testify in a public corruption trial on Tuesday. He called the charges „an ocean of absurdity.” Netanyahu criticized the timing of the trial while Israel is at war: „I am the prime minister, and I am managing a country and the IDF during a war.“ He said that he „thought the court could have balanced [his] time better than [making him] testify three times per week.” https://lnk.sk/uzm3 
• Elbit Systems announced on Tuesday that it has been awarded two contracts worth a total of $175 million (NIS 620 million) for the supply of EW (Electronic Warfare) and DIRCM (Directed Infrared Countermeasure) Self-Protection Suites to a European NATO country. The contracts will be performed over a period of five years. https://lnk.sk/ntgh 

PARAGUAY 🇵🇾 /  

• Paraguayan President Santiago Peña will reopen the country’s embassy in Jerusalem Wednesday in presence of Prime Minister Netanyahu https://lnk.sk/hlbk 

Sources: Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Reuters and the sources cited directly in some reports

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