The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group vowed on Friday to support Palestinian militants battling Israeli troops in Gaza
In his first remarks on the latest Israeli-Palestinian fighting that erupted on July 8, Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that it would be "suicide" to continue waging war in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Nasrallah called for putting all disputes aside in support of Gaza.
He said Hezbollah is closely following the Israel-Hamas fighting and that his followers will do all they can to help the Palestinians. He did not elaborate.
"From here I say to our brothers in Gaza: We are with you and beside you and confident of your steadfastness and your victory and we will do everything we can to support you," he said.
Israel and its key ally the United States were in open disagreement Friday night, after the Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected a ceasefire offer drawn up by Secretary of State John Kerry to halt 18 days of Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Kerry, speaking in Cairo, vowed to keep working on a ceasefire, and said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “committed” to working to narrow the gaps that were preventing a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire intended to lead to a longer-term deal. He also said Netanyahu had accepted an idea, proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, of a 12-hour humanitarian time out.
But Israeli government sources told Army Radio the ceasefire terms proposed by Kerry were “completely unreasonable.” An unnamed senior Israeli government official flatly disputed Kerry’s assertion that his offer was “built on the Egyptian initiative” – which Israel accepted last week and Hamas rejected. In fact, the official was quoted saying, the Kerry offer is not built on the Egyptian proposal and tilts heavily toward Hamas.
Indications from the lengthy Israeli cabinet meeting that rejected Kerry’s offer Friday are that the ministers were incensed that the terms of the deal would not have enabled Israel to continue to locate and demolish a network of dozens of tunnels that Hamas has dug, up to a mile or more long, from under Gaza residential areas all the way beneath the Israeli border.
The Israeli army’s southern commander, who is overseeing Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, confirmed earlier Friday that he felt the army needed more time, although it had located what it believes are most of the tunnels.
The Swiss National Bank and the People’s Bank of China reached a currency swap agreement this week.While this is not a huge trend changer in the near-term, it demonstrates that our forecast for China to become the largest economy and to be the next financial capital of the world when Europe and the USA blow themselves apart with defaulting socialism is on track. This agreement will allow the two central banks to buy and sell their currencies up to a limit of 150 billion renminbi, or 21 billion Swiss francs ($23.4 billion).
The deal will also allow the Swiss central bank to invest some of its huge accumulation of foreign exchange reserves in the Chinese bond market.
The Zurich-based SNB said the agreement will further strengthen collaboration between it and its Chinese counterpart and is a “key requisite for the development of a renminbi market in Switzerland.” It could also facilitate trade and investment between the two countries, the PBOC said. This demonstrates that China is moving in the correct direction.
Recall what we said earlier today: the proxy Ukraine war just like that in Syria preceding it, "is all about energy."
Recall also the following chart showing Ukraine's shale gas deposits, keeping in mind that the Dnieper-Donets basin which lies in the hotly contested eastern part of the nation and where as everyone knows by now a bloody civil war is raging, is the major oil and gas producing region of Ukraine accounting for approximately 90 per cent of Ukrainian production and according to EIA may have 42 tcf of shale gas resources technically recoverable from 197 tcf of risked shale gas in place.
Finally, recall our story from May that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, just joined the board of the largest Ukraine gas producer Burisma Holdings. From the press release:
In a nutshell Ukraine (or rather its puppetmasters) has decided to let no crisis (staged or otherwise) or rather civil war, go to waste, and while the fighting rages all around, Ukrainian troopers are helping to install shale gas production equipment near the east Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, which was bombed and shelled for the three preceding months, according to local residents cited by Itar Tass. The reason for the scramble? Under peacetime, the process was expected to take many years, during which Europe would be under the energy dictatorship of Putin. But throw in some civil war and few will notice let alone care that a process which was expected to take nearly a decade if not longer while dealing with broad popular objections to fracking, may instead be completed in months!
Gaza terrorists fired a salvo of rockets towards southern and central Israel on Friday evening.
Three rockets exploded in open areas in the Eshkol region in the Negev.
The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket over Ashkelon. Anoter rocket exploded in an open area near the city.
Another two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome over Ashdod.
In central Israel, the Iron Dome intercepted two rockets over Rosh Haayin and three over Petah Tikva.
The rocket salvo coincided with the Israeli Cabinet’s announcementthat it had unanimously voted to reject a ceasefire proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Three rockets exploded in open areas in the Eshkol region in the Negev.
The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket over Ashkelon. Anoter rocket exploded in an open area near the city.
Another two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome over Ashdod.
In central Israel, the Iron Dome intercepted two rockets over Rosh Haayin and three over Petah Tikva.
The rocket salvo coincided with the Israeli Cabinet’s announcementthat it had unanimously voted to reject a ceasefire proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The European Union (EU) issued a statement on Friday in which it called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"The EU remains closely involved in seeking an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting in Gaza. We call on all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement. We welcome the ongoing efforts by regional partners and in particular by Egypt to this end,” said the statement.
“We are extremely concerned about the continued escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and the deplorable increase in the number of civilian deaths, among them more than 190 children,” it added.
“We reiterate the condemnation of the loss of civilian lives in particular the most recent deaths of 16 Palestinians seeking shelter in the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun which came under fire. We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident,” said the EU statement, referring to Thursday’s incident, when the United Nations aid agency claimed that the IDF did not permit civilians to evacuate a Gaza school where 15 people were killed in an Israeli attack.
"This is the fourth occasion on which an UNRWA shelter has come under fire. We call on all parties to respect the inviolability and the integrity of UN premises. These latest events underscore the importance of establishing humanitarian corridors in Gaza as a matter of urgency,” said the EU’s statement.
The IDF has since called out UNRWA over its claims, noting it had tried to move people out of the school for two days before the attack.
Civilians who wish to leave conflict zones must be allowed to do so.
Israeli military operations must be proportionate and in line with international humanitarian law. We reiterate our condemnation of the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and other militant groups,” said the EU.
“The recent tragic escalation of hostilities underlines the unsustainable nature of the status quo in Gaza and the need to address the humanitarian and socio-economic situation there without further delay,” the statement said.
Meanwhile on Friday, the Israeli Cabinet announced that it had unanimously voted to reject a ceasefire proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Hamas responded by firing a salvo of rockets towards southern and central Israel. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron
"The EU remains closely involved in seeking an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting in Gaza. We call on all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement. We welcome the ongoing efforts by regional partners and in particular by Egypt to this end,” said the statement.
“We are extremely concerned about the continued escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and the deplorable increase in the number of civilian deaths, among them more than 190 children,” it added.
“We reiterate the condemnation of the loss of civilian lives in particular the most recent deaths of 16 Palestinians seeking shelter in the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun which came under fire. We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident,” said the EU statement, referring to Thursday’s incident, when the United Nations aid agency claimed that the IDF did not permit civilians to evacuate a Gaza school where 15 people were killed in an Israeli attack.
"This is the fourth occasion on which an UNRWA shelter has come under fire. We call on all parties to respect the inviolability and the integrity of UN premises. These latest events underscore the importance of establishing humanitarian corridors in Gaza as a matter of urgency,” said the EU’s statement.
The IDF has since called out UNRWA over its claims, noting it had tried to move people out of the school for two days before the attack.
Civilians who wish to leave conflict zones must be allowed to do so.
Israeli military operations must be proportionate and in line with international humanitarian law. We reiterate our condemnation of the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and other militant groups,” said the EU.
“The recent tragic escalation of hostilities underlines the unsustainable nature of the status quo in Gaza and the need to address the humanitarian and socio-economic situation there without further delay,” the statement said.
Meanwhile on Friday, the Israeli Cabinet announced that it had unanimously voted to reject a ceasefire proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Hamas responded by firing a salvo of rockets towards southern and central Israel. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron
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