Middle East updates: Netanyahu lays out 'vision for Gaza'

Two Israeli kibbutzim said on Wednesday that they had received the bodies of hostages that had been taken to Gaza during the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The bodies of Maya Goren, from kibbutz Nir Oz , and Oren Goldin, from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, were retrieved from Gaza by the Israeli military, according to the separate statements. Both had already been reported dead by the military.

"Last night, we were informed that in a military rescue operation, the body of the late Maya Goren was recovered," kibbutz Nir Oz said. Her death was first reported in December.

"This evening, we were informed about the rescue operation for the late Oren Goldin, a member of the kibbutz emergency team, who fell on October 7" Nir Yitzhak said. 

Kibbitzim are communal villages in Israel often of an agricultural or industrial nature where residents focus on cooperation.

Hamas took a total of 251 people hostage during the terror attacks. Some were released, but 114 remain in Gaza, including 42 who are believed to be dead.

Netanyahu called on the United States to fast-track military aid to his country to help end the war in Gaza.

"I deeply appreciate America's support, including in this current war. But this is an exceptional moment. Fast-tracking US military aid could dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader war in the Middle East," Netanyahu told the US Congress.

"Give us the tools faster and we'll finish the job faster," he said, echoing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's famous appeal to the Americans during World War II to be given the tools to finish the job of defeating Nazi Germany.

Netanyahu said Israel would remain an "indispensable" ally, "loyal friend" and "steadfast partner" of the United States "through thick and thin."

The Israeli prime minister said while his country did not intend to resettle the Gaza Strip, it would continue to have a presence there for the foreseeable future. Netanyahu called for a demilitarized, deradicalized post-war Gaza.

"Gaza should have a Palestinian administration run by civilians who do not seek to destroy Israel," he said.

Netanyahu added that the "demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza" may lead to "a future of security, prosperity and peace" in the region.

"That's my vision for Gaza," he said. 

In his speech, Netanyahu also mentioned Iran's proxy forces. He said when Israel fights Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, it is fighting Iran and protecting the United States.

Israel will do "whatever it must" to secure its northern border, where its forces are engaged in near-daily clashes with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, Netanyahu told US lawmakers.

"Let me be clear: Israel will do whatever it must do to restore security to our northern border and return our people safely to their homes," Netanyahu said, referring to those displaced by the fighting.

"Those who attack israel will pay a very heavy price," he said. "As we defend ourselves on all fronts, I know that America has our back, and I thank you for it."

Netanyahu said anti-Israel protesters chose to "stand with evil" and with Hamas.

"They should be ashamed of themselves," he said.

"For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now, outside this building," he said.

Addressing the protesters outside the Capitol, he said, "Some are holding up signs saying 'gays for Gaza.' They might as well hold up signs saying 'Chickens for KFC.'"

Netanyahu said Iran was funding anti-Israel protests and accused the protestors of being "Iran's useful idiots."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his speech by saying the world was at a crossroads of history, facing what he said was "not a clash of civilizations a clash of barbarism and civilization."

He also said, "America and Israel must stand together."

"When we stay together... we win, they lose," Netanyahu said. "I came to assure you, we will win."

He then recalled the Hamas attacks of October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed, and about 240 more were kidnapped.

"October 7 is a day that will live in infamy," he said. "After October 7, 'never again' is now."

An Israeli delegation's trip to Qatar for indirect negotiations with the Palestinian group Hamas, announced for Thursday, has been postponed. 

It is now expected to take place next week, an Israeli official told reporters. The exact date remains unclear. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had announced the delegation's trip before he left for the United States. 

The official said the delegation's departure was delayed because Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden wanted to discuss ways to advance a possible cease-fire and hostage-release deal when they meet in Washington on Thursday. 

The delegation was to be led by David Barnea, head of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency. Barnea was to explain Israel's current negotiating position to the Qatari government, which is in contact with the Hamas leadership. 

In addition to Qatar, Egypt and the United States are mediating the talks, which center on exchanging the 120 remaining hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a cease-fire in the Gaza war.

Thousands of people gathered at the Capitol in Washington to protest a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Some of the demonstrators condemned Israel, but others have expressed support while urging Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire agreement in the war with Hamas and bring home hostages still held by the militant group.

"Seek peace and pursue it," one sign read, quoting a Bible verse, while others were designed as criminal "wanted" signs, with photos of Netanyahu in place of a mug shot. 

Protesters carrying signs that read "Arrest Netanyahu" and "End all US aid to Israel" shouted "Free, free Palestine." Some waved Palestinian flags.

Hours before Netanyahu was to address members of Congress, police lining Pennsylvania Avenue led away several protesters who were sitting in the street. Protest leaders said six intersections leading to the Capitol were "claimed by the Palestinian people." 

Organizers had said in advance that they would try to block Netanyahu's route to the building.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers planned to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress, expressing dismay at the thousands of civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's campaign in Gaza.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who presides over the Senate, will also be absent. Her office said she is on a long-planned trip. Harris, who would be seated behind a foreign leader for such a speech, will meet Netanyahu privately later this week. 

The next highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Senator Patty Murray, has declined to attend Netanyahu's speech, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would instead meet with families of Israeli victims of Hamas. 

Former President Donald Trump's running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance, said he would also skip Netanyahu's speech, citing the need to campaign. 

Some lawmakers said they were uncomfortable appearing to endorse Netanyahu and his hard-right coalition government. Netanyahu also faces declining poll numbers in Israel.

"For him, this is about shoring up his support back home, which is one of the reasons I don't want to attend," Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters. "I don't want to be part of a political prop in this act of deception. He is not the great guardian of the US-Israel relationship." 

The Lebanese Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah broadcast a drone video it said showed air defense systems, aircraft and fuel depots at Israel's Ramat David air base, nearly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border to Lebanon.

The video was more than eight minutes long and, Hezbollah said, was filmed mostly on Tuesday. It also included nighttime footage that Hezbollah said was taken "earlier" and other images the group said were taken in July.

It was the third in a series of videos released by Hezbollah that the group said were meant to demonstrate how far its surveillance of Israel has gone. The first video showed the Israeli port city of Haifa, and the second showed the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An Israeli military spokesman said in a statement on X that the video was filmed by a surveillance drone and that the base's operations were not affected.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there has been no change in prayer arrangements at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem's Old City. The comments came after a far-right minister in his ruling coalition said there had been a policy shift.

"Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change," Netanyahu's office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier in the day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Israel's "political echelon," of which he said he is a member, "allows Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount."

The compound in the walled Old City houses the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a remnant of two ancient temples.

The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Under a decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit on the condition that they refrain from praying or other religious rituals.

In addition to the Prime Minister's Office, Israeli police denied Jews were allowed to pray at the site. 

"We do not allow [Jewish] prayer at the Temple Mount," Eyal Avraham, commander of the Israeli police's holy sites unit, says in a video on the Israeli Walla news site.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Ben-Gvir a "pyroman who is trying to set the Middle East on fire." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address US lawmakers on Wednesday, with his speech marking the first time a foreign leader has addressed Congress four times.

He is due to hold talks with President Joe Biden on Thursday. The leaders will discuss progress towards a cease-fire in Gaza and a hostage release, the White House said.

Vice President Kamala Harris will meet separately with Netanyahu, who is also scheduled to meet with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.

Netanyahu's speech is likely to focus on the conflict in Gaza, which followed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.

Netanyahu's visit has already sparked protests in the United States. Police arrested multiple protesters on Tuesday night as they sat inside the Cannon House rotunda, part of the US Capitol complex.

The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), was called in opposition to Netanyahu's planned speech.

Police officials told reporters that protests are not permitted inside Cannon House, and so the arrests commenced when demonstrators refused to leave.

 

The Starlink satellite internet service has been activated in a hospital in the Gaza Strip with the help of Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Elon Musk said of the communication network owned by Musk's SpaceX.

"Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of @UAEmediaoffice and @Israel," Musk posted on X.

The move comes more than five months after the Israeli government approved Starlink's use in the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Starlink is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled or destroyed.

The UAE said the high-speed internet would enable potentially life-saving medical consultations via real-time video calling.

UAE's foreign minister thanked Musk for supporting the country's field hospital in Gaza.

dh/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)