JERUSALEM, Israel – A U.S.-Israeli agreement on the Hamas terrorists holed up in a tunnel comes with a significant snag, and new plans by the Trump administration could put military boots on the ground along the Gaza Strip.
Negotiators reached a deal to free, then deport, some 200 Hamas terrorists trapped in an underground tunnel on the Israel-controlled side of the Gaza Strip.
The problem: no country has yet agreed to take in the terrorists.
In an effort to maintain the ceasefire, the U.S. is reportedly planning to build a $500 million military facility along the Gaza-Israel border. Currently, the U.S. military presence is rather slim, with around 200 American soldiers.
Israeli Government Spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian stated, “Any decision that is made is made in partnership with full collaboration with Trump and his team. Of course, these meetings are ongoing, we are working with the Trump administration under this plan every step of the way.”
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Plans for a Palestinian state continue to take shape. French President Emmanuel Macron met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris with promises of a new committee to further the process.
“This committee will be responsible for working on all legal, constitutional, institutional, and organizational aspects. It will contribute to drafting a new constitution – a project that President Abbas has presented to me – and will aim to finalize all the conditions necessary for the establishment of such a State of Palestine,” Macron declared.
In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem warned that the near-daily Israeli Defense Forces strikes on Hezbollah positions “cannot continue.” Israel has been pounding the region in an effort to force the terror group to disarm, which Hezbollah has defied, despite the Lebanese government’s attempts to collect its weapons.
Thousands gathered in Israel on Tuesday for a funeral 11 years in the making. With music and eulogies, IDF soldier Hadar Goldin was laid to rest after being returned by Hamas, who had kept his body since the 2014 Israeli military action in Gaza.
Leah Goldin, Hadar’s mother, said at the ceremony, “Hadar, we waited for you for 11 years, that is a long time, a very long time. I truly have no explanation for how we did it, except that in every moment when we almost sank, there was someone in the family who would jump up and say, ‘But what would Hadar say?'”
His remains were returned as part of the ceasefire deal.
