Israel News Sunday November 16

 Day 772

- Trump unlikely to approve F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia, but could still change mind - report

The potential sale of the fighter jets to Saudi Arabia had raised concerns about Israel's ability to maintain its qualitative military edge in the region.

- In response to reports that the US is eying a Palestinian State, Israel Defense Minister Katz declares: "Israel's policy is clear: a Palestinian state will not be established. The IDF will remain at the summit of Mount Hermon and in the security zone. Gaza will be demilitarized down to the last tunnel, and Hamas will be disarmed in the yellow zone by the IDF and in Old Gaza by the international force - or by the IDF."

- The 20 Israeli hostages who returned in the agreement to end the war will fly tomorrow to meet President Trump at the White House. The meeting is expected to take place on Thursday, and afterwards, they will continue to the weekend in New York. The meeting planned with Envoy Witkoff will likely not take place

- Netanyahu at the start of the government meeting: "Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed. Gaza will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed, either the easy way or the hard way. I do not need reinforcements, tweets, or lectures from anyone. During this election year, we are witnessing a primary attack, both from within Likud and from outside it."

-  The Trump administration is looking to forgo the stage in its peace plan calling for the deployment of a stabilization force to Gaza to disarm Hamas, so that it can move ahead with starting to rebuild Gaza.

- The UN Security Council will vote Monday on a resolution endorsing US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Gaza ceasefire plan, diplomats said Saturday, as Washington warned of a “real human cost” if the body doesn’t back the proposal. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said failure to endorse the plan, which would deliver Gaza to an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and an apolitical Palestinian administration overseen by a Trump-chaired Board of Peace, amounted to support for Hamas and for war.

- PM says Israel will ‘act with full force’ against extremist attacks in West Bank both by settlers and Palestinians 

- Police say they detained three Jewish settlers yesterday who, armed with makeshift weapons, had entered a closed military zone en route to a Palestinian village.

- The British Guardian: Gaza will be divided into two zones - red and green, with the border being the yellow line, the US intends to promote rehabilitation and development of the Gaza Strip only in the green area where "stabilization forces" will also be deployed, alongside IDF forces. It is possible that following the rehabilitation of the green part, Gazans will be allowed/willing to move to the green part, while a unification between the red and green parts of Gaza may occur in the distant and unseen future.

- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun: "We will file a complaint at the UN against Israel for building the concrete fence that prevents the Lebanese from accessing about 4,000 dunams of their lands."