"US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Gaza currently is “not habitable” due to dangers, such as unexploded weapons, and that people will have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt.
Rubio, answering a reporter’s question during a visit to the Dominican Republic, encourages other countries to step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza, but does not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over and develop the Gaza Strip.
“I think that’s just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim,” Rubio says.
He says Trump’s controversial remarks were aimed in part to encourage other countries that “have both the economic and technological capacity” to help as well with rebuilding.
“President Trump has offered to go in and be a part of that solution. If some other countries are willing to step forward and do it themselves, that would be great, but no one seems to be rushing forward to do that,” he says.
He adds that “countries in the region who express a lot of concern about the Palestinian people” should “find a solution and answer to their problem.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/rubio-says-gaza-currently-not-habitable-declines-to-say-if-palestinians-will-be-able-to-return-if-they-leave/
"An IDF reservist who served as a guard at the Sde Teiman detention facility during the war in Gaza was sentenced on Thursday to seven months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees, as part of a plea deal.
The army said the reservist, Staff Sgt. (res.) Yisrael Zakaria Hajbi, was convicted by a military court of beating detainees with his fists and weapons on several occasions while they were blindfolded and handcuffed.
“These acts were committed in the presence of other soldiers, some of whom called on him to stop, and were even recorded on the defendant’s cellphone,” the IDF said.
An IDF reservist who served as a guard at the Sde Teiman detention facility during the war in Gaza was sentenced on Thursday to seven months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees, as part of a plea deal.
The army said the reservist, Staff Sgt. (res.) Yisrael Zakaria Hajbi, was convicted by a military court of beating detainees with his fists and weapons on several occasions while they were blindfolded and handcuffed.
“These acts were committed in the presence of other soldiers, some of whom called on him to stop, and were even recorded on the defendant’s cellphone,” the IDF said.
The military said Hajbi admitted to the acts in a plea deal and was sentenced to seven months in jail, along with a suspended sentence.
He will also be demoted to the rank of private, the lowest rank in the IDF...Amid an influx in Palestinian detainees as the war in Gaza proceeded, the military opened a detention facility at a base located in Sde Teiman in southern Israel, where it held Gazans suspected of terror activities. Various reports have alleged widespread misconduct and abuse at the site, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments and more.
This led the army to launch a number of investigations related to incidents at the facility.
Hajbi was indicted in July 2024 for using “severe violence against the detainees he was entrusted with guarding” on several occasions between February and June, while securing the transport of terror suspects.
News of his indictment came after Military Police arrived at Sde Teiman seeking to detain 10 soldiers in connection to an unrelated incident of suspected “serious abuse of a detainee.”...Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, Sde Teiman has been used to hold more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza who were suspected of terrorist activity. The majority were suspected of taking part in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, though some were arrested during the subsequent IDF campaign in Gaza.
A petition was filed last year to the High Court of Justice demanding the facility be shut down amid the accusations. In a ruling in September 2024, the court warned the state that it must abide by the law, but did not order the government to shut the prison down.
The court noted in its final decision that conditions at Sde Teiman had changed significantly since the motion was filed. Amid the legal pressure, the government vastly reduced the number of detainees held at the facility from some 700 at its peak to several dozen as of the end of August.
The government also told the court in a written submission that it had reduced the use of restraints, and was providing food and medical treatment in accordance with the requirements of the law."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-reservist-gets-7-months-behind-bars-for-abuse-of-palestinian-detainees/
"The State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment on Thursday against a 31-year-old Israeli settler for shooting at a Palestinian family in the northern West Bank, charging him with aggravated assault with a terrorist motive.
According to the indictment, Shmuel Zafran fired 18 rounds from an assault rifle at the Palestinians on October 29, 2024, as they attempted to harvest olives in a grove in the northern West Bank between the Palestinian village of Immatin and the Havat Gilad illegal outpost, where Zafran lives.
The attack left two people wounded, one of whom required multiple surgeries after a bullet broke his left leg..."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/settler-charged-with-terror-offenses-over-shooting-attack-on-palestinians-in-october/
"The US State Department has approved the potential sale of military-related design and construction services to Kuwait for an estimated cost of $1 billion, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The principal contractor for the sale will be determined from approved vendors, likely by competitive acquisitions, the Pentagon said in a statement."
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-841050
"For the first time since the fall of the Assad regime and the decline of Hezbollah’s influence in Syria, Syrian Army forces aligned with the new Syrian administration have entered areas of Hermel, Lebanon, sparking fierce clashes with Hezbollah fighters. The fighting, which began early Thursday, escalated as Syrian forces repelled Hezbollah’s attempted advances near the Syrian town of Al Qusayr, a longtime stronghold of the Iran-backed group.
A field source told The Media Line that Hezbollah fighters launched multiple attempts to push into Al Qusayr but were met with heavy resistance from the Syrian Army, which forced them back into Lebanon. As the situation escalated, Syrian forces crossed into Hawik, a Lebanese town in the Hermel region, where intense combat forced Hezbollah elements to retreat..."
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-841055
"The average salary per employee was 14,060 NIS in December, an increase of 4.2% compared to December 2023 (13,497 NIS), according to new data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Tuesday.
The average salary per employee for Israeli workers was 14,334 NIS, an increase of 4.4% compared to December 2023 (13,725 NIS).
According to flash estimates for December 2024, the number of employee positions out of the total number of employees was 4.256 million, an increase of 1.2% compared to November 2024 (4.207 million) and an increase of 5.3% compared to December 2023 (4.043 million). The number of employee positions for Israeli workers, out of the total number of employee positions, was 4.059 million, an increase of 1.1% compared to November 2024 (4.013 million) and an increase of 4.4% compared to December 2023 (3.888 million).
The average wage per employee (adjusted for the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI)) was 10,771 NIS, a decrease of 2.5% compared to November 2023 (11,046 NIS). According to CBS, the CPI has largely remained unchanged over the past four months.
The number of salaried positions was 4.013 million, an increase of 1.4% compared to October 2024 (3.959 million) and an increase of 5.8% compared to November 2023 (3.795 million).
The largest sector was that of non-financial companies, which had 2.542 million salaried positions (approximately two-thirds of all salaried positions in the economy). In this sector, the average salary for a salaried position was 14,396 NIS. The highest average salaries were in the hi-tech industry, which was also the case in 2023.
In the hi-tech sector, the average salary for an employee position was 29,736 NIS - an increase of 1.0% compared to November 2023.
Salaried positions made up 10.0% of all salaried positions in the economy, which was similar to October 2024. "
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-840989
"Israel's air force is carrying out a wave of extensive attacks deep inside Lebanon, the IDF confirmed on Thursday night.
The primary reason for these strikes is ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, including attempting to smuggle weaponry into Lebanese territory through the Syrian border, the military said.
Additionally, the terror organization has reportedly attempted to build infrastructure in the areas under attack..."
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-841062
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with bipartisan US Senate leadership on Thursday during his visit to Capitol Hill, where he received firm backing for Israel’s ongoing military efforts and strategic objectives.
The meeting, described as warm and constructive by the Government Press Office, underscored the Senate’s steadfast support for Israel. Senate leaders commended the country’s military achievements and reaffirmed their commitment to the US-Israel alliance...."
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-841052#841052
