GAZA - Hamas militants have returned to northern Gaza, where they are mobilising against Israeli forces and rebuilding a system of governance, aid officials, Gaza residents, analysts and Israeli officials say. Elsewhere in Gaza, Hamas administrators and police maintain firm control of the south, where much of the population is concentrated, though civil order is breaking down in central regions. The apparent resurgence of Hamas in areas seized and cleared by Israeli troops during the nearly four-month offensive underlines the difficulties Benjamin Netanyahu faces in meeting his pledge to “crush” the militant group. Eyal Hulata, who until January 2023 was the head of Israel’s national security council, said: “We are hearing more, unfortunately, of the recovery of [an] insurgency in both central and northern Gaza… We’re hearing more and more that Hamas are doing policing in northern Gaza and governing trade, and that is a very bad outcome. You can’t say if they have come back or never went away, but either way they are there now,” said an IDF officer, whose unit recently fought Hamas militants in Shaati camp, the scene of fierce combat in November. The Israeli offensive in Gaza could go on for months at its current intensity and hostilities may continue for years, military officials, analysts and some politicians in Israel believe.

ISRAEL - A covert Israeli plan aims to establish a military government in Gaza and foster regional ties, eyeing a future Palestinian state and peace with Saudi Arabia. Stage one involves the creation of a comprehensive Israeli military government in Gaza to oversee humanitarian aid and assume responsibility for the civilian population during a "transition period." Concurrently, stage two will see the formation of an international Arab coalition, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and others. This coalition is to be part of a broader regional normalization agreement, backing the establishment of "the new Palestinian Authority."

ISRAEL - "Joint Perspectives" - a German-Israeli summit - February 24th 2024, Berlin 4 pm. The event will be streamed on The Jerusalem Post and Die Welt websites and social media channels. Three months ago, on October 7, the Islamist terror group Hamas attacked Israel. More than a thousand people were cruelly murdered, many of them women and children.

ISRAEL - Previous methods of destroying the passages have reportedly proven ineffective. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Tuesday that it has been flooding Hamas’ underground tunnel network with seawater, a controversial tactic that it first trialed late last year. In a statement shared with Israeli media, the IDF said that it had developed and was using “several tools for injecting high-flow water into Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.” Not all of the roughly 350-400 miles of tunnels are being targeted, the military said, adding that the operation would cause unacceptable damage in some areas.

MIDDLE EAST - The White House has blamed an “Iranian-backed” umbrella group in Iraq for an attack that killed three American troops at a base in Jordan. The administration of US President Joe Biden has identified the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization for several Islamist Shia militias in the region, as the group responsible for the drone strike that killed three American soldiers and wounded over 40 others on Sunday.

SUDAN - The latest news from Sudan shows the country is still a long way from transitioning to civilian rule. Since April 2023, a conflict has been ongoing in Sudan. The two largest armed groups: the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), led by the de facto head of state, Chairman of the Sudan Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), controlled by Deputy Chairman Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti.” At the heart of the conflict is a power struggle between Sudan’s power centers, which seek to maintain dominance, and with it access to key economic resources in a future Sudan controlled by civilians. In addition, the rivalry between the two sides was also affected by the historical opposition between the poor Arab groups of western Sudan (RSF) and the Arab elites of the Nile (representing SAF). All of this made their differences unresolvable, triggering an armed conflict in mid-April 2023.

USA - The Supreme Court decision to allow federal officials to remove parts of a razor-wire barrier Texas had erected along the border with Mexico — a case of DC overruling Governor Greg Abbott — has sparked further calls for the Lone Star State to declare independence from the United States, in a movement called Texit. "Texas' razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages. I will continue to defend Texas' constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden admin from destroying our property," said Abbott. The concertina wire was installed on his order as a key part of his effort to control illegal immigration. The debate over Texan independence comes amid a broader discussion about the unity, and indeed viability, of the US in the face of current political tensions. In February 2023, House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene sparked a fiery discussion by calling for a "national divorce" which would see the country "separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government."

UKRAINE - Aerial drones have changed the war in Ukraine. Now, both Russia’s and Ukraine’s militaries are deploying more unmanned ground robots—and the two are colliding. Near the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, a boxy robot zips along the rocky, cracked road. Snaking from side to side, the robot — a four-wheeled machine, around knee height — carries cargo and ammunition for Russian troops. However, it’s being watched. Hovering above the road, tracking the movements of the robot, is a Ukrainian drone. Suddenly, another drone smashes into the robot, blowing it to pieces.

USA - If Hamas survives the current war with Israel, then “they’ve won,” according to retired United States Army Major and urban and subterranean warfare expert John Spencer, who slammed the terror group’s use of “human sacrifice” tactics and warned that if Israel did not completely dismantle the organization then “massive genocidal attacks” and the taking of civilian hostages would be replicated by terrorists across the globe. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Spencer, a world-renowned expert on urban combat who serves as chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, noted how Israel’s past operations have primarily targeted the extensive tunnel networks of both Hamas and Hezbollah. He concluded by highlighting the importance of understanding that if Hamas survives, it “wins strategically,” and if Ukraine isn’t able to defend its sovereign territory, “Putin wins.”

NORTH KOREA - Starting last July, a US Navy nuclear-armed submarine made a port call in South Korea - something which hadn't happened since 1981. As expected, North Korea began immediately ramping up its ballistic missile tests and military drills near the border, and there have been escalating threats and counter-threats since. The New York Times is reporting that the Kim Jong-un government has plans for escalation, saying that it will soon launch some kind of lethal military action against the south, but will still seek to avoid a full-scale war.

USA - Elon Musk has divided fans after announcing that his controversial Neuralink brain chip has been implanted in a human. The Neuralink tech aims to enable someone to control their phone or another device with their mind, according to Musk. Elon Musk announced on Monday that the first human test subject has undergone a Neuralink implant placement and preliminary results are promising. The technology was developed primarily to 'restore autonomy' to individuals whose medical status reduced their mobility, like those with ALS, the company has said. "Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal."

USA - On some level, most people can feel what is coming. That is why sales of emergency food are at record levels, shows about survival are among the most popular on television, and Mark Zuckerberg is building a “self-sustaining doomsday bunker” in Hawaii. For example, the following comes from an article posted on Yahoo News entitled “As war creeps closer to Armageddon, the end of days doesn’t seem so far away”… From Megiddo’s hilltop, there is a great view of the West Bank, no more than two miles away.

UK - Science is not perfect, and real scientists readily admit it when they are wrong. Anyone who says the "Science is settled" is not being scientific, they are being propagandistic! One of the most famous hoaxes was the Piltdown Man. In 1921, a lawyer and amateur archaeologist, Charles Dawson, claimed to have the bones of an early hominid. While there were a few doubters, most of Britain's scientists and the public celebrated the repost, seeing it as a boost to the reputation of the nation. Awards were heaped on Dawson. Hundreds of scientific papers were written studying the Piltdown Man.

GERMANY - German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday warned of a rise in extreme-right sentiment in his country, some 79 years to the day after the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945. In a recorded message delivered as Germany marked Holocaust Memorial Day, Scholz cautioned that “new reports” are frequently emerging about what he described as “neo-Nazis and their dark networks.” In his address, Scholz – Germany’s leader since December 2021 – also warned of a festering right-wing influence gaining foothold in the country, which remains perpetually linked to its dark history of Nazism. “At the same time, right-wing populists are gaining ground,” Scholz said, “fueling fear and sowing hatred,” before adding that “this development is not something we simply have to accept.” Scholz’s comments come amid a spate of public protests in Germany against far-right political parties.

GERMANY - There’s currently no threat of Russia attacking NATO or any of the partners of the US-led military bloc, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has suggested. Moscow’s military is now fully occupied with the Ukraine conflict, Pistorius explained, in an interview with the tabloid Bild on Friday. ”At the moment, I don’t see any danger of a Russian attack on NATO territory or on any NATO partner-country,” he added. However, the minister stressed that this is just a “snapshot” of the current situation and there’s no way of knowing how things would turn out in the future.