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The US told Israel that it would impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state if it does not resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, N12 reported on Tuesday.

The White House reportedly expressed deep concern over the "deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza in recent weeks" and called for urgent steps within the next month to reverse this trend. 

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant received a letter from the Biden Administration outlining American positions on Gaza, N12 noted.

The decision to respond to Iran’s missile attack against Israel will be “based on Israel’s national security needs,” according to a statement released by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight Monday.

“We listen to the American government’s thoughts, but will make our final decisions based on Israel’s national security needs,” the statement continued.

The statement was an apparent response to a Washington Post report on Monday that Netanyahu had informed U.S. President Joe Biden that Israel’s retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic would avoid oil and nuclear installations and instead focus on military sites.

The Israel Defense Forces is preparing to conduct a “precise and deadly” retaliation to Iran’s unprecedented Oct. 1 ballistic-missile attack on the Jewish state, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday.

Israel “will soon respond,” Gallant said during a meeting with the Heroism Forum, which represents bereaved military families and has urged the government and IDF to fight until victory against Iran and its proxies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the United States that Israel is willing to strike Iranian military targets and not nuclear or oil facilities, the Washington Post reports, citing two officials familiar with the matter.

Netanyahu made the comment to Biden when the two spoke by phone last week...

One official is quoted telling the paper that the Israeli premier had agreed to plot the attack in a way that won’t impact the upcoming US election...

According to the official, an Israeli retaliatory action will come before the November 5 election to avoid the perception of weakness.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz has told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Iran is a threat to the Middle East and the entire world, his office says.

Katz tells Wang during a phone call that Israel will respond to the Iranian missile attack. They discuss fighting against Iran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, says Katz’s office.

It is the first phone call between Katz and Wang, who last spoke to an Israeli top diplomat — Eli Cohen — in October 2023.

Rockets fired by Hezbollah continued to pummel Israel throughout Monday, setting off sirens as far south as Ness Ziona, as Israel continued to strike in Lebanon, after a drone strike a day earlier killed four IDF soldiers.

Dozens of rockets targeted Israel throughout the day, as fierce fighting continued in southern Lebanon between IDF troops and Hezbollah, while the Israeli Air Force carried out a rare strike in northern Lebanon and the IDF set a goal of completely eliminating the terror group’s drone operations.

Mid-morning, around 10 rockets were fired at the Haifa area, and the IDF said that most were intercepted and some fell in open areas. Not long afterward, a barrage of rockets set off sirens in Netanya, Baqa al-Gharbiyye and several dozens surrounding towns. The IDF said it intercepted all of the rockets fired from Lebanon, and no injuries were reported.

The THAAD defense system is one of the US military’s most powerful anti-missile weapons, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles at ranges of 150 to 200 kilometers (93 to 124 miles) and with a near-perfect success rate in testing.

A man was arrested outside of a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Southern California, and multiple guns were illegally in his possession, according to authorities.

The arrest took place at a checkpoint at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive in Coachella at 4:59 p.m. on Saturday, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said. The rally was scheduled to start at 5 p.m., but Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference Sunday that the arrest took place before Trump arrived.

The driver of a black SUV, who was later identified as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, was found to be in illegal possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine.

The decision would be implemented in an attempt to prepare for an Iranian response to an Israel strike.

The United States deployed a special anti-ballistic missile battery system and its 100-member crew to help defend Israel against a potential third direct attack from Iran, as Tehran warns it has no red lines in the war with its arch foes.

“This action underscores the United States' ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” the Pentagon said Sunday.

According to an initial investigation of the drone strike near Binyamina, Hezbollah launched two drones that entered Israeli airspace from the sea, The Times of Israel has learned. They were Mirsad drones, known in Iran as the Ababil-T. The model is Hezbollah’s main suicide drone.

According to the Alma Center, an Israeli research institute focused on security challenges in the north, the drone has “a 120-kilometer assault range, a top speed of 370 kilometers per hour, the capacity to carry up to 40 kilograms of explosives, and the ability to fly at altitudes of up to 3,000 meters.”

Both were tracked by Israeli radars, and one was shot down off the coast north of Haifa. Sirens sounded in the western Galilee area.

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement [through Jesus] and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event, billed “A Million Women,” described the gathering — and next month’s presidential election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

(photo: Flash90)

U.S. officials believe Israel has narrowed down what they will target in their response to Iran’s attack, which these officials describe as Iranian military and energy infrastructure.

There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, but U.S. officials stressed that the Israelis have not made a final decision about how and when to act.

The region has been on edge awaiting Isreal's response to an Iranian missile barrage launched on Oct. 1, which Iran said was in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the assasination of its allies, including Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Hezbollah's powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Israel’s security chiefs vowed in remarks published Friday that Israel will push on with its offensive in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is pushed away from the border and would continue to act there in the future if it sees terror groups trying to reestablish a presence along the Israeli frontier.

At a Thursday night security assessment in the field in southern Lebanon, alongside Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi vowed, “We will continue to fight the enemy, and we will not stop” until the displaced residents of Israel’s north have long-term security.”

The comments were published as Israel continued striking at Hezbollah’s senior leaders and pushed more troops into the operation that Israel says is aimed at destroying Hezbollah’s ability to wage war across the border and attack Israeli communities.

(photo: AP)

Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and drones into Israel throughout Yom Kippur over the weekend, with a Herzliya retirement home hit by a UAV on Friday, causing damage but no casualties.

At the same time, Israeli forces continued their operations in southern Lebanon, ordering more villages evacuated as they worked to root out and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.

Dozens of rockets were launched at Israel on Friday and Saturday, activating sirens in Haifa, Safed and numerous northern towns.

(photo: Flash90)

Israeli services shut down on Friday afternoon for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, but the country remains on high alert amid fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.

As is customary, the roads will be all but empty for the duration of the day, the holiest in the Jewish calendar, and flights in and out of the country paused on Friday afternoon and will resume only once Yom Kippur ends on Saturday night.

The security cabinet met Thursday night to discuss a potential Israeli response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on the country last week. Still, no major decision was made, as coordination on the matter continues between Jerusalem and Washington, an Israeli official said.

“There were no big decisions” made by ministers, an Israeli source told The Times of Israel, adding “There is a desire from the Israelis to coordinate with the Americans” over the response, and that strategic discussions continue between the sides.

Contrary to media reports ahead of the meeting, the cabinet was not asked to authorize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on a response, Channel 12 news said. Ministers may be asked to approve such a measure over the phone if necessary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran’s president on Friday at a time when Tehran is supplying weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine and concerns are growing over escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its terror allies.

Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed the situation in the Middle East on the sidelines of an international forum in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, Russian state media said.

Moscow and Tehran signed a $1.7 billion deal for Iran to export drones to Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the US also believes it has transferred short-range ballistic missiles.

A severe solar storm that reached Earth on Thursday could stress power grids even more as the U.S. reels from back-to-back major hurricanes, according to space weather forecasters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday that a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) blasted from the Sun reached Earth at about 11 a.m.

The Space Weather Prediction Center issued multiple warnings and alerts for geomagnetic storm conditions, and by Thursday, the Earth was experiencing G4, or severe, conditions.

Israel’s Security Cabinet was set to convene on Thursday to vote on a proposal to authorize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to determine the country’s response to last week’s Iranian missile attack.

Jerusalem has vowed a significant retaliation for Tehran’s second-ever direct attack on the Jewish state, in which more than 180 ballistic missiles were fired in two waves on the evening of Oct. 1.

The Israeli military, with the assistance of the United States and Jordan, shot down most of the missiles, with the sole casualty of the attack being a Palestinian man from Gaza who was struck by missile debris near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

On Wednesday, Gallant said Israel’s response “will be powerful, precise and above all—surprising,” adding that the Islamic Regime “will not understand what happened and how it happened.”

Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran's oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran's proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.

As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, the three sources close to government circles said.

(photo: Flash90)

Mossad Chief David Barnea wants to leverage the IDF’s success against Hezbollah in the North to pressure Hamas into accepting a hostage deal and has spoken with the United States about that possibility, according to a security source.

“He presented to the Americans the idea of connecting the two fronts,” the source said, explaining that a conversation had taken place with CIA Director William Burns. He has been one of the leading Biden administration officials involved in efforts to secure the release of the remaining 101 captives.

The proposal is only at the initial discussion stage and no concrete action has been taken, the source explained. Barnea has been the lead Israeli figure in the talks to free the hostages, including efforts to finalize a three-part deal first put on the table by the US on May 31. Qatar and Egypt have been the main mediators for those talks with the help of the US.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned early Wednesday evening that the northern eyewall of Hurricane Milton had started to spread onshore along the Florida Gulf Coast.

“The northern eyewall of Hurricane Milton is beginning to move onshore of the Florida gulf coast near Tampa and St. Petersburg where an Extreme Wind Warning is now in effect,” the center warned in advisory, pleading with residents to “shelter in place as these extremely dangerous hurricane-force winds overspread the region.”

The phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ends after 50 minutes, Netanyahu’s office tells The Times of Israel.

No readout of the call has been issued yet.

(photo: Reuters)

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may be refraining from engaging in Gaza hostage talks out of a belief that a regional war is on the horizon, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller speculated on Wednesday during a conversation with reporters.

“Sinwar has been unwilling to engage in any meaningful way in the ceasefire talks,” Miller said.

“I think it is probably reasonable to conclude he's watching what's happening in the north. He's watching Iran's attacks against Israel and looking and thinking maybe he's about to get what he's always wanted, which is a full-scale regional war,” Miller said.

The Biden administration has in recent weeks grown increasingly distrustful of what the Israeli government says about its military and diplomatic plans in the multi-front war it is fighting, four U.S. officials told Axios. 

Why it matters: The worsening trust crisis is magnified by Israel's planned retaliation against Iran for its massive missile attack, which requires coordination with the U.S. in case Iran responds.

• The Biden administration isn't opposed to Israel responding to the Iranian attack last week but wants it to be measured, U.S. officials said.  
   
• "Our trust of the Israelis is very low right now and for a good reason," one U.S. official said.

No matter how perfect conditions may get, a hurricane can only get so strong.

At least that’s what the science says. Milton, which blew up into a Category 5 hurricane Monday and kept going, is pushing the boundaries, approaching what’s known among hurricane experts as the Maximum Potential Intensity or MPI. When meteorologists pull out that measure, you know the hurricane is a monster — and Milton is that by any measure.

At 8 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said its sustained winds had hit 180 mph. By barometric pressure — a measure of storm intensity — Milton is already the fourth strongest hurricane on record with central barometric pressure at 897 millibars . Only five hurricanes in records have dipped below 900 in official records dating back more than 170 years. 

Israel is not expected to attack Iran's nuclear program but rather to focus on various kinds of military bases and intelligence sites, the Jerusalem Post has learned, following a New York Times report on the issue.

Hezbollah pelted Haifa with rockets on Tuesday in the heaviest attack yet on the northern Israeli port city, as the Lebanese terror group insisted its military capabilities “were fine” despites weeks of devastating IDF strikes.

More than 100 rockets were fired at the city within half an hour around midday. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, although some got through, exploding in the Haifa suburbs of Kiryat Yam and Kiryat Motzkin, security services said.