News Digest — 2/12/25
Preparing For War? Hamas Bans Phone Use Among Leadership
Hamas has ordered a ban on the use of mobile phones, by senior leadership, within both its military and politburo divisions, suggesting that the terror group is preparing for the collapse of the ceasefire and a return to fighting against Israel.
Sources from Hamas told Arabic-language news outlet Asharq al-Awsat that the terror group’s leaders and its intelligence unit issued a directive to all commanders to stop using their phones, in order to prevent being tracked by Israel, and immediately go into hiding.
Many of Hamas’ senior leadership members had resumed using their phones during the ceasefire, according to the report.
The terror group is particularly concerned about surprise assassinations via Israeli airstrikes, especially as reconnaissance aircraft carrying missiles have returned to the skies over several areas of the Gaza Strip, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Earlier this week, Hamas said that it would delay the release of Israeli captives until further notice, a direct violation of the ceasefire and hostage deal.
The group claimed that Israel had not fulfilled its obligations under the agreement regarding the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Strip – a charge that Israel vehemently denies.
According to Hamas sources, the terror group is gearing up for a number of scenarios, including a resumption of the war.
Hamas is preparing for Israel to take control of the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic passage dividing northern Gaza from the south from which Israel withdrew earlier this week.
The terror group believes that Israel may also redeploy and bolster troop forces to establish buffer zones, expected to be about half a kilometer into Gazan territory from the border fence with Israel.
Following threats from US President Donald Trump, it’s unclear whether Hamas intends to stand by its earlier pledge to not release Israeli hostages this Saturday (15th).
“Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement that Israel also committed to,” a Hamas spokesman said in a media statement on Tuesday night (11th).
“We affirm that Israel is the party that did not abide by its commitments and is responsible for any complications or delays.”
Netanyahu Declares War To Resume If Hostages Not Returned By Saturday
If Hamas does not release the hostages by Saturday (15th) at noon, the hostage ceasefire deal will end, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday (11th).
Netanyahu detailed Israel’s next steps following the conclusion of the political and security cabinet meeting, which convened early Tuesday afternoon (11th) to discuss Hamas’ suspension of the hostages’ release.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by noon on Saturday (15th), the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated,” Netanyahu said, adding the decision had been reached unanimously by cabinet members.
An Israeli official clarified to The Jerusalem post that Israel expects three hostages to be released on Saturday (15th) as per the ceasefire agreement, with the rest being freed over the coming days.
However, later on Tuesday (11th), a senior Israeli official walked back on the statement, saying that Netanyahu and the cabinet are sticking to US President Donald Trump’s demand that all hostages set to be freed in phase one be released on Saturday (15th).
“I have just concluded an in-depth four-hour discussion in the security cabinet. We all expressed outrage at the appalling condition of the three hostages who were released last Saturday (8th),” the prime minister said.
“We all also welcomed President Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by noon on Saturday (15th) and we also unanimously welcomed the president’s revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza,” Netanyahu noted.”
“In light of Hamas’ announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, I instructed the IDF last night to amass forces inside and around the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu stated, adding, “This operation is underway as we speak and will be completed as soon as possible.”
Shortly after Netanyahu’s remarks, the military said additional troops, including reservists, were being deployed to the Southern Command.
Earlier on Tuesday (11th), a source said there would be no second phase of hostage-ceasefire deal talks until all hostages are returned.
On Monday (10th), Hamas said it would postpone the release of the hostages scheduled for February 15 due to an Israeli violation of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Following Hamas’ announcement on Monday (10th), the IDF decided to raise the level of readiness in the Southern Command and postponed leave for combat soldiers and operational units.
Majority Of Israelis Support Trump’s Gaza Plan, Relocation Of Palestinians In Exclusive ‘Post’ Poll
A majority of Israelis (65%) support US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza, and believe it is the best solution to end the war in Gaza, an exclusive Jerusalem Post poll carried out by Dr. Menachem Lazar’s Panel4All revealed on Tuesday (11).
Further, only 16% of respondents stated that they do not support the president’s plan.
Trump’s plan carries almost total support among coalition voters, with 88% of right-leaning Israelis voicing their support for the plan. In comparison, 51% of opposition voters, a small majority, support the plan.
A plurality of 35% of Israeli respondents stated that one Jewish state, ‘from the river to the sea,’ is the best solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, while others said none of the options offered would bring a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
The exclusive poll, which included responses from 500 Israeli Jews and Arabs over 18 and was carried out over the past two days, also included separate questions asking respondents what is the most appropriate “day after plan” in Gaza. Over half of coalition voters (52%) and opposition voters (45%) stated that Trump’s plan would be the most preferable, contingent on the willing relocation of Gazans, rather than forceful.
A few respondents (7%) felt the Palestinian Authority should be in charge the day after… Others felt that different Arab nations should oversee Gaza. Others felt another solution for Gaza needed to be found. While others said there was no solution to the Gaza problem at all.
‘No Humanitarian Crisis, Enormous Amounts Of Food In Gaza,’ Says Senior Official
“There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” a senior aid official – responsible for transporting aid trucks into the Strip – told Ma’ariv on Tuesday (11th).
“Every day we transport about 400 trucks into Gaza,” he said.
“In each convoy there are also trucks loaded with tents. Additional trucks bring diesel and fuel, but most of the trucks carry food products such as flour, legumes, semolina and other food products. We avoid bringing in meat, chicken, vegetables, and fruit products through Jordan due to restrictions by the Agriculture Ministry, but I assume they enter through the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza.”
“There is no shortage of any humanitarian equipment inside Gaza, some of the trucks are even bringing blankets and warm clothes to the residents of the Strip. We are also bringing in trucks loaded with medical equipment through the Jordan River crossing.
Another source in the security establishment emphasized that approximately 4,200 trucks per week and 600 trucks per day have entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the agreement and the return of the abductees.”
The senior official continued: “Hamas manages the distribution of aid within Gaza. It has specific groups within the population that are given higher priority and favoritism, but we are not responsible for what goes on once the aid is in the Strip.”
“One of the things we are strict about and prevent from entering Gaza, are tent pegs made of iron or aluminum. We only allow tents with wooden pegs to enter. This is to prevent the possibility of them being used to make rockets.”
“It is impossible to claim that there is a humanitarian problem in Gaza in terms of the supply of goods,” he concluded.
“The amount of food that enters Gaza every day is enormous. There is no hunger there, and there are no problems deriving from food shortages.”
The senior official accused Hamas of creating an artificial crisis surrounding humanitarian aid and noted that despite the ongoing talks which are in crisis, over 120 trucks had been brought into the Strip with aid since Tuesday morning (11th), however their entry was delayed by four hours due to an order from the political echelon.
Report: USAID Provided Assistance To Al Qaeda, Hezbollah Terrorists
The agency targeted by the Trump administration reportedly funded a future senior Al Qaeda recruiter’s college tuition and sent supplies to Hezbollah.
As more and more cases of fraud and corruption are exposed at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), two more cases of its support of Muslim terrorists have come to light.
The New York Post reported Tuesday (11th) that an Israeli soldier had found boxes marked “USAID” among a cache of sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and explosives in a village in southern Lebanon.
Asher Friedman, who in civilian life is the executive director of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told the daily that he had found the items in a village set up to be a “forward base” for Hezbollah in its plans to invade Israel.
NGOMonitor founder Gerald Steinberg said last week that “The folks at USAID knew that taxpayers’ money and ‘emergency assistance’ went to terrorists.”
In just one example of many, according to a source in the Washington Free Beacon, less than a week before Hamas’ Oct 7 invasion of Israel, USAID handed $900,000 “to a terrorist charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.”
In the second reported case, USAID assisted a future senior Al Qaeda member due to improper vetting.
Fox News reported Monday (10th) on documents that have been found showing that the agency approved the request of one Anwar al Aulaqi to fully fund his college studies in Colorado in 1990 without checking his bona fides.
He claimed that he had been born in Yemen and wanted to study civil engineering as an exchange student when in reality he was born in the United States and was thus ineligible for such aid.
He soon became an imam, preaching in several US mosques, and serving as vice president of a charity that US authorities said was a front to fund al Qaeda.
While in San Diego he also reportedly became close with two of the 9/11 hijackers, but was never charged in connection with the movement’s attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon in 2002 although he was interrogated several times.
When his fraud of USAID was discovered in 2002 he was tipped off that the authorities were investigating, and he fled, reaching Yemen in 2004, where he officially joined al Qaeda and rose higher and higher in its ranks.
His main role with the terrorists was as a senior recruiter, radicalizing many English-speaking young Muslims, teaching them about jihad through popular motivational online videos and writings.
He also was in close contact with two men who eventually carried out terrorist attacks in 2009.
One was Major Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 soldiers and injured more than 30 in a shooting in Fort Hood, Texas.
The other was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day by detonating plastic explosives hidden in his clothes.
Al-Aulaqi was eventually killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011, ordered by then-president Barack Obama, who called it a “significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.”
President Donald Trump is intent on closing down USAID, firing more than 90% of its staff, and putting its humanitarian functions within the purview of the State Department.
Suspect Charged With Hate Crime For Attack On Jews In Brooklyn With Metal Shears
New York – A man has been charged with a hate crime for attacking Jewish men with cutting shears in New York City on Saturday (8th).
Kareem Govan, 47, was charged with assault in the second degree as a hate crime, a felony, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said on Monday (10th).
The NYPD said the suspect approached a group of men on Saturday afternoon (8th), during Shabbat, “with metal cutting shears” in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, the home base of the Chabad’Libavitch Hasidic movement.
“The individual threatened to stab the group of males and attacked a 47-year-old male as he attempted to flee, causing minor injuries,” the NYPD told The Times of Israel.
The victim was treated at the scene, the NYPD said.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a community organizer and Chabad spokesperson shared a video of the incident on X.
The footage showed a man approaching the group from behind, lunging over the head of one man, and stabbing at the face of another, who fell to the pavement.
Behrman told The Times of Israel that the targets of the attack were all Jewish.
Govan was not initially charged with a hate crime. The NYPD said on Sunday (9th) that he had been charged with seven counts, including assault, menacing, and harassment. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday (10th) that the top count was now the hate crime charge.
The attack was the latest in a series of anti-Semitic incidents reported in New York City in recent days.
Jews are targeted in hate crimes more often than any other group in NYC, according to NYPD data. Last year, Jews were targeted in 345 incidents, more than all other groups combined, as anti-Semitic crimes surged following the October 7, 2023. Hamas attack on Israel.
