TOP NEWS

Middle East Crisis Gaza War
Several commanders punished by IDF after Hamas attack

The Israeli military IDF on Sunday handed out the first official reprimands to Israeli commanders in the wake of the Hamas terror attack two years ago, several media outlets report. Army chief Eyal Zamir has dismissed several high-ranking military officers and issued warnings.

– The IDF failed in its primary mission on October 7 – to protect Israeli civilians, he said in a statement.

Many of the high-ranking military officers now included have already resigned but remained in the army as reservists. After today's decision, they are forced to leave the military altogether.

The Jerusalem Post notes that almost all of the high-ranking military officers who were on duty when the terror attack occurred have resigned, but that the political leadership has not even hinted that they want to leave.

Russian invasion  Negotiations
New meeting on agreement awaits: “I feel confident that it will be approved”

The US and Ukraine are to meet for a second meeting this evening to continue discussions on the peace proposal. After the first meeting, both delegations expressed their positive views.

“This will ultimately have to be approved by our presidents, but I feel very confident that it will happen given the progress we have made,” says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

CNN’s reporter on site notes that both delegations indicate that there will be more to say after the next meeting.

“The big question is whether the ongoing process is the beginning of the end of the Ukraine war or another game for the galleries that leads nowhere,” he writes.

Even if the US and Ukraine agree, the question remains whether Russia will agree to the peace proposal. Fredrik Wesslau, a researcher at the Center for East European Studies at the Swedish Institute for Foreign Policy, tells Ekot that the outlook is bleak.

“It feels quite unlikely at the moment,” he says.