Israel reportedly insisted that several villages on the border remain without residents and act as a buffer zone, which countered Tom Barrack’s proposals.
IDF troops operate in southern Lebanon. January 23, 2025. IDF troops operate in southern Lebanon. January 23, 2025. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT) ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF AUGUST 23, 2025 13:09 Updated: AUGUST 23, 2025 14:21 Israel rejected US envoy Tom Barrack’s proposal to end hostilities with Hezbollah, despite agreeing in principle to gradually stop targeted strikes on targets across southern Lebanon, local outlet Al-Jadeed reported on Friday.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly told Barrack that Israel would agree to gradually stop targeted assassination attempts and strikes, and would withdraw from several key points in southern Lebanon.
Questo massaggiatore riduce la neuropatia in poco tempo Sponsored by viveremeglio.net However, Israel reportedly insisted that several villages on the border remain evacuated to act as a buffer zone. Israel said that Lebanon could develop factories and other industrial areas there, but stressed that civilians should evacuate the area.
Maariv reported that this effectively canceled the entire agreement, which would have only taken effect had both sides agreed to all of its conditions.
Israel’s military has been active in southern Lebanon since a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, with the IDF saying in July that it would continue regular attacks on Hezbollah until it disarms, even if this leads to another war-J. Post
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – AUGUST 15: (EDITOR’S NOTE: Alternate Crop) U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. The two leaders are meeting for peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump keeps focus on Ukraine as Israel escalates war in Gaza-TheHill.com
KYIV, UKRAINE – JULY 10: A shopping mall stands damaged by Russian shelling on July 10, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. At night, the Russian army used 415 UAVs and missiles of various types to attack Ukraine, causing injuries and deaths of civilians. (Photo by Ivan Antypenko/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
President Trump is keeping his foreign policy focus on Russia and Ukraine as global outrage grows over Israel’s plans to launch a major new offensive in the Gaza Strip and a declaration of famine on Friday that underscored the catastrophic suffering of Palestinians.
Trump has backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch a major offensive to take over the strip’s capital, Gaza City, even as he had earlier expressed concern over “starving” Palestinians and discussed the U.S. taking control of the main food distribution effort.
Aid groups are pleading with the U.S. to exercise its influence to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis, where more than half a million people face starvation. And Israelis advocating for a ceasefire deal to secure the release of at least 20 living and 30 deceased hostages are begging for Trump to turn his attention to the Middle East.
“You have spoken powerfully about ending wars and bringing peace. As you work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, we pray you will apply that same determination to end this nightmare in Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many families of captives in Gaza, wrote an open letter to Trump this week.
But Trump’s top envoy for peace, Steve Witkoff, has not signaled a return to talks that he left in late July, saying at the time that Hamas is the obstacle to peace.
The White House did not return a request for comment on the current level of U.S. involvement in the ceasefire talks.
Witkoff, currently tasked with settling Russia’s war in Ukraine, is “spread far too thin,” said Daniel Shapiro, distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
Shapiro, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under former President Obama, said that Trump needs to appoint a full-time senior envoy specifically to deal with the Israel-Hamas war.
“If an all-out Israeli assault on Gaza City can be averted with a ceasefire and hostage deal, it will take intense U.S. diplomacy,” he said.
Trump succeeded in getting a ceasefire deal over the finish line in January, but it fell apart after two months. It provided for the release of dozens of hostages and a desperately needed reprieve for suffering Palestinians.
“But since then, he has contributed significantly to the worsening of the war, and he has missed opportunities to hasten its end,” Shapiro wrote in an article for the Atlantic Council.
Trump’s quip about building a “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza emboldened far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition to argue for Israel taking over the Gaza Strip, Shapiro said. And Trump held back criticism on Israel’s decision in March to impose a food blockade.
“He failed to use the momentum of successful Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program as a pathway to declare victory,” Shapiro continued. “And now, he expresses no concern over an ill-founded and, many fear, ill-fated expanded Israeli military campaign. He has seemingly endorsed it.”
Trump on Friday said that not all Israelis want a ceasefire and hostage deal and suggested that a swift Israeli military option might be the best way to save surviving hostages.
“The situation has to end. It’s extortion, and it has to end, and we’ll see what happens. I actually think they’re safer in many ways, if you went in and you really went in fast, and you did it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said, “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!… Play to WIN, or don’t play at all!”
Asked about his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, Trump said he’d decide in two weeks how to proceed with his push for peace.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last met with his Israeli counterpart on July 18, the Pentagon said Friday, affirming the U.S. “will continue to enable Israel’s ability to defend itself as part of President Trump’s mission to achieve Peace Through Strength.”
With the declaration of famine in Gaza Governorate on Friday, by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), humanitarian experts are urging U.S. intervention to push off Netanyahu’s planned offensive in the area.
“The United States, Israel’s closest ally, also bears direct responsibility for failing to utilize its diplomatic and military leverage to demand an unconditional surge of humanitarian aid,” Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International, said in a statement.
The IPC warned that famine will spread into the southern parts of the strip by September.
Israel has rejected the IPC’s finding of famine, claiming the body “forged” its findings.
There’s still time for a ceasefire deal to take place, said Seth Frantzman, a Jerusalem-based adjunct fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C. think tank.
But he said Netanyahu has repeatedly changed his goal posts for a deal.
“It does appear that Israel’s leadership doesn’t want to agree to a deal that ends the war. And Hamas basically says, we want guarantees from the Trump administration that if the Israelis agree to a partial deal, that they also will stop the war. That’s where there’s an impasse,” he said.
Hamas reportedly accepted this week an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire deal, which mediators tout is nearly identical to a proposal offered by Witkoff in May. That includes a two-month pause in fighting and the release of 10 living hostages, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails – including some with life sentences – and follow-on negotiations to end the war.
Netanyahu’s most explicit terms include for all hostages to be released at once, the disarmament of Hamas and abdication of governing, the establishment of Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip and an alternative civilian government that does not include Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.
While Israeli officials are reportedly still looking at the deal Hamas accepted, Netanyahu has not signaled backing off the offensive on Gaza City, calling up approximately 60,000 Israeli troops for the massive military undertaking and with no clear end state.
“I came to approve the IDF’s [Israel Defense Forces] plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a video message released Thursday, outside the headquarters of the IDF’s Gaza Division.
“At the same time, I instructed that immediate negotiations begin for the release of all our hostages and for ending the war under conditions acceptable to Israel.”
Frantzman, who authored “The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza,” is critical of the decision to launch an operation to take Gaza City. He questioned why such a move had not been proposed earlier if it was really a “magic wand” to end the war.
Moving forward on the military operation presents a whole new set of challenges, Frantzman added. Israel is facing a manpower issue. The 60,000 reservist troops being called up are exhausted soldiers who have already done multiple rotations over 22 months of war, with forces facing attrition, burnout, and disillusionment.
And Gaza City is a huge urban area – the main city, suburbs, and a collection of dense, overpopulated refugee camps that are Hamas strongholds. He said the IDF will call for evacuation of civilians before launching combat operations, but that Hamas will likely blend in with that group and sit in wait.
“Hamas appears to just leave when the civilians leave. And then Hamas waits, and Hamas comes back, and that is a challenge for the IDF,” he said.
Lt. General Jeffrey Kruse has been ousted as Defense Intelligence Agency director, a senior defense official confirmed Friday.
“Lt Gen Kruse will no longer serve as DIA Director,” the official said in a brief statement.
The agency’s deputy director, Christine Bordine, will assume the role of acting DIA director, a spokesperson said.Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, who is the vice chair of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said in a statement, “The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country.”
The DIA was the department responsible for the preliminary assessment of the military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The assessment said that the strikes had set back Tehran’s nuclear program by a matter of months, three sources familiar with its contents told CBS news shortly after the airstrikes.
After the death in July of their father, Dan Pelzer, at the age of 92, John and Marci Pelzer discovered something extraordinary in his things — a very long list of every book he had ever read.
Dan, a social worker from Columbus, Ohio, was in the Peace Corps when he started the list in 1962. And over the next six decades, his whale-sized appetite for books took him on a journey through the likes of James Michener, Jack Kerouac and Homer.other people,” Marci added.
Dan borrowed almost all his books from the Columbus Metropolitan Library. When the library staff heard about Dan’s list, they decided to share it on social media. The library went through every title in his collection and made it available in its own list.
“So the next time you need inspiration, perhaps you can find it from Dan,” the library said in a video posted to social media.
Columbus Metropolitan Library CEO Lauren Hagan told CBS News the public’s response to the list has been “just incredible,” adding that people have been “absolutely” coming in to check out the books Dan read-CBS
President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending his deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in hopes of ending the war.
Asked by CNN’s Alayna Treene if there’s a possibility he does nothing if Putin doesn’t come to the table, Trump said, “We’ll see. I’ll see whose fault it is.”
“If there are reasons why, I will understand that; I know exactly what I’m doing. We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting, that will be interesting to see, and if they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting? Because I told them to have a meeting,” Trump said.
“But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump added, reprising a timeline he’s repeatedly issued to determine Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine.President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending his deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in hopes of ending the war.
Asked by CNN’s Alayna Treene if there’s a possibility he does nothing if Putin doesn’t come to the table, Trump said, “We’ll see. I’ll see whose fault it is.”
“If there are reasons why, I will understand that; I know exactly what I’m doing. We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting, that will be interesting to see, and if they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting? Because I told them to have a meeting,” Trump said.
“But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump added, reprising a timeline he’s repeatedly issued to determine Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine.
His latest comments come as the momentum around peace talks has stalled, with no sign that the bilateral meeting the White House has pushed is happening. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier on Friday that there were no plans for a meeting between the two leaders.
After Trump met with Putin in Alaska last week and hosted Zelensky and European leaders at the White House earlier this week, he’d teased a bilateral meeting, potentially to be followed by a trilateral meeting he would join.
“You understand that I wanted to have a meeting with those two. I could have been at the meeting, but a lot of people think that nothing’s going to come out of that meeting. ‘You have to be there.’ Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s not, but we’re going to see in the meantime, people continue to die,” Trump said Friday.
Trump repeated his two-week timeframe several times. “We’ll see what happens. I think in two weeks, we’ll know which way I’m going, because I’m going to go one way or the other, and they’ll learn which way.”
Trump also pulled out from the Resolute Desk a photo of him and Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, that he said the Russian leader had sent him.
“I was just sent a picture from someone who wants to be there very badly,” Trump said, referring to the World Cup. He’d convened reporters in the Oval Office to announce that the draw would be held at the Kennedy Center in December.
“He’s been very respectful of me and of our country, but not so respectful of others,” Trump said, adding that he was going to sign the photo for Putin, who he suggested could be coming to the US for the World Cup.
Passenger speaks out after falling victim to airline scamA passenger is sharing his story after being the victi…Show more A United Airlines passenger claims he was scammed of $17,000 after a United customer service agent unknowingly transferred his call to a scammer.
Dan Smoker, a resident of Denver, said he called the United Airlines customer service number to rebook the flight for him and his family after it was cancelled due to a mechanical issue in May.
Smoker said he was first connected to a United agent to whom he explained the situation and was put on hold, and was then connected to another person who identified himself as “David,” who he says turned out to be the scammer. Smoker said he explained the whole situation to David again and asked to be rebooked on a Lufthansa flight from Denver to Munich, Germany. United and Lufthansa are codeshare partners.
According to Smoker, David informed Smoker that he was unable to change the booking, but if he was willing to pay for a new booking right then, he would be refunded for the new flights later on.
Desperate to rescue his family’s vacation, Smoker says he agreed, thinking he would be refunded. After Smoker was put on hold, he said David came back on the line, now saying there were no seats available on that flight, but ultimately ended up rebooking Smoker and his family on a flight to London from Denver with a stop in Newark.
“It turns out David called them [United] that morning and worked with their call center people to ultimately get me rebooked. So he put me on hold. He called United and then worked with a United agent to rebook me and my family,” Smoker said.
Smoker said he paid $17,000 through a payment link provided by David, which he thought was a legitimate United payment link. He later told ABC News that he did not find the link suspicious, as he’s used a payment link for United in the past.
Looking back, Smoker said he realized it was a different link than that of those he’d previously seen.
Smoker said he believed the URL for a payment link should have been a direct pathway through United.com with clear language and direction for the customer.
Smoker said he was informed by David that the refund would be processed within one billing cycle and was sent an email, which was seen by ABC News, that detailed all the refund and payment information.
When it came time to pay his bill, and the refund had still not been processed by July, Smoker said he called David on the direct number he had provided to him. David answered the call and told Smoker he should have gotten the refund and that he needed 24 hours to look into the matter. Smoker said he never heard back from David, and when he tried calling him back, his number had been blocked by David.
Smoker posted on social media, asking United when it will refund his $17,000 and what was going on? Local Denver news station, 9News, which was first to report this story, saw Smoker’s post and quickly figured out Smoker had been scammed.
After learning he may have been scammed, Smoker reached out to United to confirm if the $17,000 charge was in United’s system, but was informed by the airline that the last charge from this card to the airline was $17 and was made three years ago.
Smoker then filed a report with United Airlines and says he was initially told by United that he had probably dialed the wrong number. Smoker pushed back, saying he called the correct number and says he sent United a PDF with all the information.
“I know it. I know I called the right number,” Smoker told ABC. “Because it’s one thing to call, call the wrong number entirely and get scammed. It’s another thing to call a trusted source, or what you think is a trusted source, and get scammed. And if it’s happened to me, I can pretty much guarantee it’s happened to other people.”
Smoker said that’s when United realized it must have been something within its system and was informed that the airline is conducting a full investigation into the matter. Smoker also said the airline refunded him for the upgrades and the hotel booking, but not the $17,000, since that was not charged by United. Smoker said he disputed the $17,000 charge on his American Express card and is hopeful he will get the money back.
Russia has appointed a new commander to lead its “North” grouping of forces, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, confirming earlier reports of a leadership change in the military formation tasked with securing border regions from Ukrainian incursions.
The announcement came during Defense Minister Andrei Belousov’s inspection of the grouping, where the newly appointed commander, Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, briefed him on plans to equip units with high-tech weapons.
State media footage showed Nikiforov at Belousov’s side as officers displayed drones and other equipment, before accompanying the minister at a medal-awarding ceremony.
The “North” grouping was formed in early 2024 and deployed after Ukrainian forces staged a surprise cross-border incursion into the Kursk region that August. Russian military bloggers say its broader objective is to bog down Ukrainian troops in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions while preparing for gradual advances toward the city of Sumy.
Nikiforov commanded the Western Military District from January 2023 until its dissolution in February 2024. He briefly led Russian forces in Syria in 2021. He replaces Colonel General Alexander Lapin, who earlier this month was reported by pro-war bloggers to have resigned due to health problems.
Lapin, who commanded the “Center” grouping during Ukraine’s recapture of the Donetsk region city of Lyman in 2022, was heavily criticized at the time by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. He was later reassigned as chief of staff of Russia’s Ground Forces in 2023
The US State Department said Friday that it was looking into a recent report in which the UN declared a famine in Gaza, adding that the humanitarian situation there was “a serious concern.”
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a serious concern. We are diligently working to find ways to deliver aid to innocent people in an active warzone where there is a serious looting problem, a hostage crisis, and a barbaric terrorist organization that will do anything to stay in power,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The United Nations on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, the first in the Middle East, with its experts saying 500,000 people were facing “catastrophic” hunger.
“We are looking into credible reports that the IPC recently changed its definition for what constitutes a famine,” a State Department spokesperson said, referring to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), which is a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises.
“We are likewise aware that Hamas is systematically promoting a false narrative of deliberate mass starvation to put political pressure on Israel,” the State Department official added.
President Donald Trump has said one of his main foreign policy goals is to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
The State Department official said the US remained focused on ending the conflict in Gaza, ensuring Hamas never again governs Gaza, and ensuring the delivery of critically needed humanitarian aid to Gazans.
“President Trump and Secretary Rubio have prioritized getting aid to the people in need while implementing safeguards to prevent Hamas from stealing and looting the assistance,” the spokesperson said.
According to the State Department, citing the UN, from May to August, nearly 57,000 pallets of food, 4,083 trucks, and over 50,000 tons of food were looted in Gaza. “Food is going into Gaza but is not getting to the people who need it,” the spokesperson said.
Taiwan aims to boost defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030 | Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has indicated that he aims to boost Taiwan’s defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2030.
The presidential office said Lai visited a naval base in Yilan on the northeast coast on Friday.
During the visit, Lai spoke of his plan to continue increasing the budget, saying that China’s threats have mounted in recent years.
This follows an announcement by the Cabinet on Thursday of a plan to increase next year’s defense budget by more than 20 percent from this year. This would amount to 3.32 percent of Taiwan’s GDP.
The move comes amid growing pressure from China’s military activities and calls from Washington to increase defense spending.
plans to visit Tokyo next month as part of his family’s expanding push into the cryptocurrency industry, according to people familiar with the matter.The U.S. President’s son plans to attend a shareholder meeting of Japanese bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet on Sept. 1, one of the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public.
Metaplanet, a hotel operator that pivoted to bitcoin accumulation early last year and has since amassed over $2.1 billion worth of the token, appointed Eric Trump as a strategic adviser in March. The company is modeled on Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
The company is modelled on Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc.
Metaplanet’s stock reversed its morning losses to rise as much as 2.1 per cent in Tokyo on Aug 22 after Bloomberg’s report.
The volatile shares have ballooned almost 800 per cent in the past 12 months, even after more-than halving in value from a peak in mid-June.
