The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
US ‘appalled’ by Smotrich for suggesting starvation of Gazans could be justified
The Biden administration says it’s “appalled” by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s comments earlier this week suggesting that starving the entire population of Gaza could be justified in order to secure the release of the Israeli hostages.
“We are appalled by these comments and reiterate that this rhetoric is harmful and disturbing,” a State Department spokesperson says in a statement to The Times of Israel.
US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly stressed “the need to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restore basic services for those in need,” the statement adds.
Speaking at a conference on Monday, Smotrich said, “We bring in aid because there is no choice.”
“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” he continued. “Humanitarianism in exchange for humanitarianism is morally justified — but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war.”
Hezbollah appears increasingly set to strike Israel ‘independent’ of Iran — report
Hezbollah appears increasingly set to act against Israel “independent” of an expected Iranian response to the recent killing of two terror leaders, CNN reports, citing two sources familiar with intelligence on the matter.
One of the sources says Hezbollah is moving at a faster clip than Iran in readying an attack, which the Lebanese terror organization looks to launch in the coming days. According to the US news network, multiple officials say Iran seems to still be hashing out its retaliation plans, with one US military official quoted as saying Tehran has already made some — but not all — of the expected preparations for a large-scale attack against Israel.
The second source says that unlike Iran, Hezbollah can likely initiate an attack with few to no advanced signs as Lebanon border Israel. The source adds that it’s unclear how or if the Islamic Republic and its Lebanese proxy are cooperating on a potential attack, and that some officials believe they may not be on the same page about how to proceed.
World Central Kitchen says Palestinian staffer was killed near Gaza’s Deir al-Balah
The World Central Kitchen says a Palestinian staff member was killed in Gaza on Wednesday, four months after seven staffers were killed by Israeli strikes in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
The WCK identifies the person as Nadi Sallout, saying in a post on X that he was “an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core.”
The organization says it is still learning the details of the incident but that it believes he was off duty at the time. He was killed near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, it adds, without assigning blame for his death.
Israeli airstrikes hit a convoy of aid vehicles traveling through Gaza on April 1, killing seven WCK staff, including citizens of the United States, Australia, Britain and Poland. The Israel Defense Forces later called the strikes “serious mistake, which stemmed from a serious failure,” and dismissed two senior officers and formally censured several others over the incident.
One of our Palestinian colleagues, Nadi Sallout, was killed tonight near Deir al-Balah, Gaza. He was an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core. We are still learning the details of this tragedy, but… pic.twitter.com/XlBmenqYig
— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) August 7, 2024
Austrian chancellor says ‘tragedy prevented’ after serious threat to Taylor Swift concerts
The security situation surrounding a planned attack on Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna was very serious and a tragedy was averted, Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer says.
“Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the newly established DSN with foreign services, the threat was identified early on, combated and a tragedy prevented,” Nehammer says in a post on social media platform X.
Home of Hadera police chief reportedly raided amid probe over violent arrests near PM’s home
The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) has conducted a search at the home of the head of the Hadera Police, Chief Superintendent Amit Pollak, and confiscated his phone, Hebrew media outlets report, in a move that sparks criticism from cabinet ministers.
Earlier this week, DIPI questioned Pollak under caution on suspicion of abuse of power, assault and obstruction of justice over an incident in April when he and other officers violently arrested several people, including pensioners and IDF veterans, who put a mock cardboard tank on a truck as part of a protest that was scheduled for that evening outside of Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea.
According to Ynet, Pollak’s lawyers say DIPI conducted the search at nine o’clock at night, waking up children in the house and causing panic, while accusing the unit of treating the Hadera police chief as “a member of an organized crime group and not a respected and outstanding police officer.”
DIPI says in response that the statement from Pollak’s lawyers isn’t accurate, but won’t further elaborate because the investigation is still underway.
Ynet reports further that DIPI searched for Pollak all day, but that he avoided them, leaving them no choice but to go to his home.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says in response that he fully backs Pollak, asserting his only sin was to “preserve public order and uphold the law,” adding “DIPI will not threaten police officers.”