War in the Middle East: UN calls on Israel to stop weapons and answer for any war crimes

A senior Israeli official denies that Hamas responded to the latest proposed hostage deal

Mediators of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas are failing to exert any pressure on the terror group, a senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel. While CNN reported today that Hamas has rejected Israel's latest hostage deal proposal, the top Israeli official says Jerusalem has yet to receive any response from the terrorist group. Hamas leader Yahya “Sinwar does not want a deal, despite Israel's enormous flexibility,” claims the senior Israeli official. “The Qatari-led mediators are not applying any pressure [su Hamas].Qatar has refrained from deporting the Hamas leaders it hosts, nor has it closed their bank accounts, which contain hundreds of millions of dollars used for terrorism,” says the senior Israeli official. “Sinwar does not want a deal. He is not interested in the suffering of his people in Gaza,” the official continues. “He is waiting for tensions to rise and for there to be further escalation.”

Middle East: CNN, USA prepares for attack by Iran

The United States is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack that could come within the next week from Iran in response to Monday's Israeli attack on Damascus. A senior administration official told CNN. Senior US officials currently believe that an attack by Iran is “inevitable”, a view shared by their Israeli counterparts. The two governments are working to prepare for what's to come, as they anticipate Iran's attack could play out in many different ways. The impending Iranian attack was a major topic of discussion during President Joe Biden's phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.