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5️⃣0️⃣ HOSTAGES 🎗️ – Day 643 still held captive in Gaza, with no interventions from the Red Cross or the Palestinian Red Crescent /
* Israel considering partial withdrawal, ceasefire to be announced over weekend. Israel refused to withdraw from areas captured after March 2. IDF has begun preparations to establish a humanitarian zone for 350,000 residents of the Gaza https://lnk.sk/gu059
* PM says he’s in sync with Trump on hostage deal, won’t agree to one ‘at any price’. Trump’s strategy for agreement doesn’t involve pressuring Israel. Hamas says it will free 10 hostages in rare statement amid talks https://lnk.sk/aimzx
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USA 🇺🇸 ISRAEL 🇮🇱 /
* Israeli PM Netanyahu: „The great leadership of President Trump that did what no other president did. He actively engaged in battle. Now that we have exercised strength, we need to reap the fruits of peace“. https://sdu.sk/UHvy1
* Senator Lindsey Graham meets with PM Netanyahu to discuss regional security, stresses the importance of keeping Iran weakened and fully removing Hamas from Gaza for peace. https://lnk.sk/cyz36
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IRAN 🇮🇷
* Israeli intelligence shows that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not removed from Fordo, Natanz. The stockpile of some 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent stayed there, and was not removed. https://lnk.sk/duzmo
* Iran is in advanced talks with China to buy J-10C fighter jets, frustrated by delays in Russia’s Su-35s and desperate to upgrade its battered air force after heavy losses in the 2025 war with Israel https://lnk.sk/fgjz6
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GAZA
* Reserve soldier films trucks delivering aid to Hamas-controlled areas, stressing risks of supplying the enemy while IDF soldiers continue to fall in combat. ‚Is there a way to stop this?!‘ (video) https://lnk.sk/finq3
* The soldier, a bulldozer operator, was killed in Khan Younis after engaging in a struggle with terrorists who attempted to abduct him https://lnk.sk/ktcdj ; https://lnk.sk/safgs
* Dozens of enemy operatives were killed and over 130 “terror infrastructures,” were demolished by in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. Among the sites was a 500-meter-long, 13-meter-deep Hamas tunnel https://lnk.sk/mejp7
* Hamas Terror Spokesman Abu Obeida: We do not view the American people as an enemy… but as a victim in whose name crimes are committed. We call on this free people to wake up https://sdu.sk/Pdc
* The European Union and Israel have reached an agreement to allow more aid to Gaza, with a substantial increase of daily supplies to happen in the coming days, according to a person familiar with the matter. https://lnk.sk/ijgo1
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LEBANON 🇱🇧
* Israel struck a Hezbollah military compound in southern Lebanon. “The headquarters operated under the guise of a civilian structure, with the Hezbollah terror organization exploiting the civilian population to advance terror against Israel https://lnk.sk/egcnu
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JUDEA & SAMARIA
* Police launch new West Bank unit of settler volunteers with focus on ‘offensive mindset’ https://lnk.sk/fcrvx
* IDF soldier moderately injured in stabbing attack near Jenin. Terrorist eliminated after stabbing IDF soldier during operational activity in Kafr Rumana. https://lnk.sk/mv178
* Two German journalists from Die Welt were attacked with stones by Israeli settlers near Sinjil in the West Bank; they escaped unharmed, but their cameraman’s car was heavily damaged. https://sdu.sk/EahIL
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ISRAEL 🇮🇱
* Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is said to be furious that Israeli negotiators submitted new maps yesterday depicting the partial withdrawal of troops https://lnk.sk/bhrsr
* Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have both announced their opposition to any ceasefire plan that includes withdrawal from Gaza https://lnk.sk/etwi0
* No one says ‘Death to the Russian army’. There is only one armed force in the world upon which celebrities and activists openly wish for death https://lnk.sk/ty016
* Israel urges UN to act on report detailing how Hamas used sexual violence on Oct. 7 https://lnk.sk/ewpv2
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HOUTHI in YEMEN 🇾🇪
* Maritime security sources say Yemeni Houthis have kidnapped 6 Filipino crew members from the Eternity C ship https://lnk.sk/mmpuz
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Resources: Israel National News, Saudi channel A-Sharq, Jerusalem Post, Newsweek, Times of Israel, YnetNews and Open Source Intel
©️ ICEJ Slovakia / ICEJ Institute; peter.svec@icej.sk