The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
Alleged IDF strike in northeast Lebanon said to target truck carrying military equipment
An Israeli airstrike late last night hit a pickup truck traveling in northeast Lebanon, two security sources tell Reuters, with one of the sources saying it carried military equipment.
The two sources say the strike hit a pickup near Chaat, a remote area of Lebanon near the Syrian border, but that the driver survived.
One of the sources says it was likely the military equipment being transported was a damaged rocket launcher on the way to be repaired.
At least 7 Palestinians said killed amid IDF counter-terror operation in West Bank
At least seven Palestinians have been reported killed during a Israeli counter-terror operation in the West Bank, five of them in drone strikes.
Citing the Palestinian Red Crescent, the PA’s official Wafa news agency says three Palestinians traveling in a car near Jenin were killed by a drone, after earlier reporting two were killed by Israeli gunfire in the northern West Bank city.
Wafa also says two Palestinians were killed in a drone strike in the al-Fara refugee camp in the Jordan Valley.
White House insists Israel-Saudi normalization still possible before US election
WASHINGTON — The White House insists that it’s still possible to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the November US presidential election and says it’s working to complete the initiative, even as the Israel-Hamas war wages in Gaza.
“President Biden absolutely believes normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is possible, and he believes that it’s certainly possible to get it done before the end of his time as president,” says National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby in an interview with The Times of Israel.
“He recognizes that there’s a lot of spade work that needs to be done before you can get there, [but] that’s why we’re in Doha right now trying to get this ceasefire in place so that we can start to make some progress on larger regional issues,” Kirby explains.
Already in July, however, a lawmaker from each party told The Times of Israel that the window for the US to secure a normalization agreement before the presidential election had shut.
The two congressional sources maintained that there is not enough time left in the congressional calendar for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to a deal with Israel.
Last week, an Israeli diplomat speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention agreed that a normalization deal won’t be possible before November, but maintained that the window could re-open during the lame duck period.
The official argued that it will be too difficult before the election for both parties in Congress to authorize the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to normalization with Israel.
“After the election, it’ll be easier for both parties. There will be a better chance that Biden will bring the support of a Democratic majority, and the Republican side will also support the [US-Saudi bilateral security pact] because of the normalization component,” the Israeli diplomat maintained.
Riyadh is conditioning normalization on Israel agreeing to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a framework Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected and which, if adopted, would likely cause his far-right coalition partners to bolt.
Kirby says the Palestinian component of the deal is critical. “We have said from the beginning that as part of the normalization process, there has to be something in it for the Palestinians. That means there has to be something in it for the Palestinian Authority.”
“The other thing that is baked into this process… is a reformed Palestinian Authority that can credibly look after the aspirations of all the Palestinian people,” he adds.
IDF announces counter-terror operation in northern West Bank’s Jenin and Tulkarem
The military says Israeli forces are carrying out a large counter-terror operation in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, following reports of deadly clashes in the former.
US official hints further sanctions in pipeline as Israel fails to check settler violence
WASHINGTON — A senior Biden administration official indicates that more sanctions are on the horizon against Israeli extremists over attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
“We have taken actions in terms of sanctioning entities and individuals. That remains a viable tool going forward,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says in an interview with The Times of Israel.
The past week has seen several settler attacks against Palestinians, including a pair of rampages that resulted in two deaths. No arrests were made in the most recent attack last night. Indictment in such cases are highly rare and convictions even more so.
The head of the Shin Bet security service has been quoted lamenting in private meetings that the Israel Police overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is refusing to crack down on the phenomenon.
The lack of Israeli enforcement has led a handful of Western countries — led by the US — to begin issuing their own sanctions against Israeli extremists.
Asked if these sanctions have been effective in curbing the problem, Kirby responds, “There’s still settler violence, so that’s deeply concerning. As President Biden has made clear, it is unacceptable and we’ve condemned it in every case.”
“We don’t look at any one tool in the toolbox as a panacea. It doesn’t mean that we want to ignore it, either, so we have issued sanctions,” the White House spokesperson says.
“What really needs to happen here is sound leadership decisions there in Israel to stop this violence,” he continues. “I can’t rule out sanctions in the future.”
Sanctions “remains a tool (at our disposal), as well as the intense diplomacy that Secretary Blinken has been conducting on the ground with leaders to try to get the violence to stop,” Kirby adds.
PA says 1 Palestinian killed, 3 wounded in Jenin amid reports of clashes with IDF
The Palestinian Authority health ministry says that one person was killed and three injured “as a result of the occupation’s aggression on Jenin,” as clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians were reported in the area.