Rioting was planned to take place along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel on Saturday night, with the so-called “night confusion units” vowing to resume their activities along the barrier at around 8 p.m. near Gaza city.
In the past, Gazans involved in such activities have burned tires, hurled explosive devices, and played fake rocket alert noises in an attempt to confuse Israeli residents living near the border and harass soldiers guarding the border.
The “confusion units” do not officially tie themselves to Hamas, though their activities could not take place without the approval of the terror group that rules the Strip.
The move comes despite Israel on Thursday easing some of its restrictions on trade and movement, allowing additional goods and materials to enter Gaza. It also allowed another 1,000 Gazan businessmen to leave through the Erez Crossing with Israel to travel to the West Bank.
Gaza has seen two border protests in the past week — a major violent rally last Saturday and a second, relatively calmer one on Wednesday.
After Biden’s warning to Iran, Khamenei fumes: ‘Americans truly have no shame’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused US President Joe Biden of making the same demands as his predecessor Donald Trump in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
He spoke after US President Joe Biden’s comments to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday that “other options” are available if diplomacy with Iran fails.
“America’s current administration is no different from the previous one, because what it demands from Iran on the nuclear issue is different in words, but the same thing that Trump demanded,” Khamenei was quoted by his official website as saying.
“The Americans truly have no shame on the nuclear issue, and even though they withdrew from the JCPOA… they now talk in a way and make demands as if it was [Iran] that withdrew,” he added, referring to the deal by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Khamenei made the remarks at a meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi’s newly formed cabinet.
Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a leading adviser to Khamenei, tweeted his message in Persian, Arabic, English and Hebrew.
“The first meeting between [Israeli Prime Minister Naftali] #Bennett and #Biden and the emphasis on using ‘Other Options’ against #Iran, while being an illegal threat to another country, establishes the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to reciprocal response to ‘Available Options,'” Shamkhani tweeted.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, speaks with NBC News in 2019 (video screenshot)During Bennett and Biden’s meeting in the White House on Friday, the US leader said Iran will “never” get a nuclear weapon, and that though he prefers a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran, there are “other options” should that fail. Bennet thanked Biden for his comments.
Following the meeting, a senior Israeli official said that the atmosphere in the White House is “not optimistic” about returning to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The official stressed that the fate of the agreement depends on Iran.
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