The increases approved by the government yesterday are still reverberating. While the administrative body of the General Administration Employees' League has announced the suspension of its strike pending clarification of all the vague provisions included in the decree, the Retired Military Association has rejected the increase given to retirees, citing its meager value compared to what was given to public sector employees under deceptive titles such as transportation allowance and productivity. They called on the government to "begin the process of rectifying the fault within the promised three-month period starting today, or else we will face a new stage of escalation entirely different from its predecessors."
On the ground, the border areas continue to endure Israeli shelling and airstrikes, to which Hezbollah responds by targeting Israeli military sites.
In this context, the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, announced that the ceasefire expected to begin in the Gaza Strip next week would lead to indirect negotiations to end the fighting along the southern border of Lebanon. Mikati expressed confidence that "Hezbollah will cease fire if Israel does the same," and noted that the US envoy, Amos Hochstein, would soon visit Lebanon.
Regionally, on the 146th day of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army committed the "Tahineh Massacre," resulting in more than 100 martyrs and over 250 injured who were awaiting aid in the northern part of the strip.
Hamas responded to the massacre, describing it as "unprecedented in the history of war crimes" and part of a "war of starvation and displacement against our people." They called for the Arab League and the Security Council to convene immediately and compel the criminal entity to halt the mass killing and ethnic cleansing. They also called on Arab states, in particular, to break their silence regarding what our people are experiencing, describing it as a Zionist genocide.
Meanwhile, the army announced the withdrawal of the paratrooper brigade from the battles in the sector after three continuous months of fighting in Khan Yunis. Israeli soldiers stated that there is no systematic solution to finding and destroying Hamas tunnels.
Politically, US President Joe Biden stated that the ceasefire in Gaza may not happen next Monday, contradicting his previous statement about the timing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered the political operation's goal to provide the military operation with time to achieve a decisive victory. He reiterated that "we will not yield to Hamas' demands and will continue the war until achieving a decisive victory," emphasizing that "victory over Hamas will be achieved by eliminating all its brigades in the center of the Gaza Strip and its south."
He also believed that "holding general elections now would mean stopping the war and Israel's defeat."
Regarding international affairs, the European Parliament called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, with conditions such as releasing prisoners and liquidating Hamas, after the leftist group members agreed on the relevant report. The Qatari Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the massacre committed by the Israeli army against civilians awaiting aid in Gaza, stressing that "the international community must fulfill its responsibility to compel the Israeli occupation to comply with international law" and called for urgent international action to immediately end the aggression in the Gaza Strip.
Biden discussed with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the war in Gaza and efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas. They emphasized that releasing the hostages would lead to an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza for at least six weeks.
Also, an Israeli convoy targeted a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah in western Syria. Explosions were heard in Damascus, targeted by Israeli airstrikes, on Wednesday evening.
Internationally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the priority is to stop bloodshed and cease using collective punishment against Palestinians in response to the October 7th attack. He considered that the unilateral American patronage and monopolization of the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis, and bias in it, are the reasons for the failure that led to the deterioration of conditions and instability.
In his annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin highlighted several issues related to Russia's internal and external affairs, emphasizing the country's right to protect its sovereignty and non-interference in its internal affairs. Putin affirmed Russia's role as a global power and the necessity of respecting its sovereignty, reiterating the country's readiness for dialogue with all parties to ensure global security and stability.