Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he would not scale back Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, rejecting calls from the United States to do so. 

He also said he opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state after the end of the Israel-Hamas war.

In a nationally televised news conference, Netanyahu repeatedly said that Israel would not halt its offensive until it destroyed Hamas and ended the terror group’s rule in Gaza. He also said bringing home the roughly 130 remaining hostages was paramount.

During his remarks, Netanyahu rejected his critics who claim these goals are not achievable, saying the war could continue for several more months and that Israel ‘will not settle for anything short of an absolute victory.’

Netanyahu’s comments come just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel would never have ‘genuine security’ without a pathway toward Palestinian independence.

Earlier this week, the White House urged Israel to scale down its military ground operation, saying that it was the ‘right time’ to lower the intensity of the war. Other countries have urged a cease-fire or an end to physical fighting in lieu of diplomatic debates.

Netanyahu’s comments drew criticism from the White House, with national security spokesperson John Kirby saying, ‘We obviously see it differently.’

The U.S. has also called for steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

On Wednesday, Blinken said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the two-state solution was the best way to protect Israel and gain stability in the Middle East.

The clash reflects what has become a rift between Israel and the U.S. over the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel officially declared war on Hamas in Gaza after the terror group led an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage.

While the U.S. has defended Israel’s assault as self-defense, both Israel and the U.S. face pressure to end the campaign as tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.

According to Gaza health authorities, the destructive military campaign has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians and uprooted over 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee is demanding answers from the Treasury Department and its financial crimes enforcement division after revelations the agencies urged private financial institutions to ‘surveil’ private transactions using ‘politically charged search terms’ to flag customer profiles to federal law enforcement.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki on Friday after Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the agency suggested in January 2021 that banks use specific search terms to query transactions, including ‘MAGA,’ ‘Trump,’ ‘Biden’ and more, along with merchant codes from specific sporting goods stores.

‘I write regarding recent reporting that the U.S. Treasury Department (Treasury) through its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urged private financial institutions to surveil customers’ transaction-level data using politically charged search terms, in order to flag certain customer profiles on behalf of Federal law enforcement,’ Scott wrote in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital. ‘These allegations, if true, represent a flagrant violation of Americans’ privacy and the improper targeting of U.S. citizens for exercising their constitutional rights without due process.’

Scott pointed to the Fox News Digital report, which revealed that FinCEN provided materials to financial institutions instructing them to search and filter Americans’ financial data using keywords and search terms, as well as merchant category codes to aid law enforcement in identifying persons of interest ahead of the Jan. 20, 2021 inauguration — weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The terms and codes were discovered as part of a House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government investigation. The committees obtained documents indicating that MCC codes were used to query transactions like: ‘3484: Small Arms,’ ‘5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies’ and the keywords ‘Cabela’s,’ ‘Dick’s Sporting Goods’ and ‘Bass Pro Shops,’ among others.

The House Judiciary Committee also obtained documents revealing that FinCEN warned financial institutions that an ‘extremism indicator’ could be ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts),’ like the Bible, and subscriptions to certain media ‘containing extremist views.’

‘These allegations are particularly concerning given past efforts to weaponize the financial system and payment activity against politically disfavored, lawful activity,’ Scott wrote. ‘Under the Obama administration’s ‘Operation Choke Point’ initiative, the Department of Justice (DOJ) coordinated with federal financial regulators to intimidate financial institutions into denying services to legitimate businesses that the administration was ideologically opposed to, including gun retailers.’

Scott said that ‘the weaponization and misuse of MCC codes is not a new issue either,’ saying members of Congress have recently raised concerns about the potential to ‘surveil the free exercise of lawful activity using an MCC code — the same concern is at issue here.’ 

‘Federal government efforts to target individuals and entities based on their political views is a blatant and egregious violation of our Constitution,’ Scott wrote. ‘Additionally, reported actions like these disrupt confidence in federal law enforcement and raise significant questions regarding the independence of federal financial regulators.’

Scott is demanding that the Treasury Department and FinCEN turn over information on the ‘role, if any,’ FinCEN played in ‘soliciting financial data from private companies’ to help law enforcement to identify targets after Jan. 6.

Scott is also asking if anyone from any other executive branch agency — like the Justice Department or FBI — ever directed, requested or encouraged FinCEN to engage in those alleged activities.

Scott is also asking for answers on what the basis was for FinCEN to conclude that the purchasing or possessing of religious texts ‘may be indicative of extremism,’ and who at FinCEN decided to warn banks of that possibility.

Scott has also requested a list of the financial institutions that FinCEN met with when suggesting the search for transactions of customers who shopped at Bass Pro Shops, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Cabela’s, and a list of all agencies in the government involved in the decision to search and filter those transactions.

Scott has asked the Treasury Department to turn over that information by Feb 2.

Meanwhile, sources familiar told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the search terms, like ‘MAGA’ and ‘Trump,’ were generated by a bank and used to help them identify suspicious transactions when reviewing customer transactional information. It is unclear which bank generated the search terms. 

The sources said FinCEN then shared those terms with other banks to help those financial institutions to comply with their own suspicious activity reports.

However, beyond the terms identified by the House Judiciary Committee, the unnamed bank generated other terms, which FinCEN shared with other banks, the sources told Fox News Digital. 

The source said the additional search terms included: ‘White Power,’ ‘Camp Auschwitz,’ ‘Antifa,’ ‘Proud B,’ ‘Storm, the,’ ‘Capitol,’ ‘Groyper Army,’ ‘Threepers,’ ‘boogaloo,’ ‘civil war,’ ‘last sons,’ ‘kill,’ ‘shoot,’ ‘gun,’ ‘death,’ ‘murder,’ ‘Biden,’ ‘Kamala,’ ‘Pelosi,’ ‘Schumer’ and ‘Pence.’

The sources said the distribution of the search terms began in the final weeks of the Trump administration after Jan. 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who made the initial discovery, is requesting the former FinCEN official and an FBI official appear before his committee and the Weaponization Subcommittee for transcribed interviews to aid in the panel’s oversight investigation. 

An oil depot in Russia was set on fire after the military downed a Ukrainian drone in the area. 

A Ukrainian military drone was flying over the town of Klintsy when Russian military forces forced it down, causing it to release its munitions into the oil field. 

‘An aeroplane-style drone was brought down by the defense ministry using radio-electronic means. When the aerial target was destroyed, its munitions were dropped on the territory of the Klintsy oil depot,’ regional governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on social media.

Russian sources claim no one was harmed in the explosion, but local authorities were forced to call in specialized firefighters to handle the resulting inferno.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov would not confirm or deny Ukrainian involvement in the explosion that ignited the oil depot. 

‘Such events regularly occur at the aggressor state’s military facilities,’ Yusov said.

Photos from the scene show columns of thick, black smoke billowing from the facility as flames engulf areas of the facility.

It’s only the latest in a series of attacks on energy infrastructure exchanged by Russian and Ukrainian forces.

A similarly gigantic fire tore through an online retailer’s warehouse in St. Petersburg, Russia last week, video showed.

Nearly 300 firefighters and dozens of fire engines, as well as helicopters, battled to put out the blaze, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said, as workers inside desperately ran to safety.

The warehouse’s owner, Wildberries, said in a statement that all of its staff had been evacuated and that there had been no injuries.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Iranian officials continue to frustrate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, who have suggested that Tehran has stockpiled enough enriched uranium to make ‘several’ warheads. 

‘Though it may be drowned out due to all the other bad news out of the Middle East involving Iran, the regime is getting closer and closer to establishing itself as a threshold nuclear state,’ Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) with a focus on Iranian security, told Fox News Digital.

‘If anything, Iran seems to be capitalizing on all the mayhem in the Middle East, mayhem which Washington has failed to curb or manage well, to press ahead in what appears to be a quest for the ultimate deterrent,’ Taleblu added. 

The IAEA, a U.N. nuclear watchdog, has tried for months to monitor and examine Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, in Jan. 2023 warned that Iran had enough highly enriched uranium to build ‘several’ nuclear weapons if it so chose. 

Iran has seemingly benefited from what the Wall Street Journal termed President Biden’s policy of ‘conciliate to evacuate,’ or developing agreements with Iran to reduce U.S. presence and responsibility in the Middle East. In a Fox News Digital op-ed, FDD senior advisor Richard Goldberg and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., determined that Iran has received some $50 million from the Biden administration’s policies of sanctions relief – a reversal from former President Trump’s maximum pressure policies. 

Goldberg and Issa slammed the administration for effectively emboldening Iran’s commitment to terrorism through its various proxy groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, whom the Biden administration this week redesignated as a terrorist group, though they fell short of using the maximum designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. 

In addition to increased attacks from Iranian proxies over the past few months, Iran withdrew the designation of ‘several experienced Agency inspectors,’ according to Grossi, which amounted to ‘effectively … about one-third of the core group of the agency’s most experienced inspectors designated for Iran.’

Tehran then sped up enrichment in Dec. 2023 following a monthslong slowdown that many attributed to back channel agreements with the U.S. that led to the release of American citizens held in Iran. The IAEA also determined that Iran had enough uranium enriched up to 60% – close to weapons-grade – to produce three nuclear bombs. 

Iran continues to deny it seeks a nuclear weapon and that its enrichment is purely for peaceful purposes. 

Grossi issued his latest warning earlier this week at the World Economic Forum, where he accused Tehran of holding the agency ‘hostage’ due to the ‘frustrating’ lack of oversight. He again raised concerns that Iran, if it so chose, could create several nuclear warheads. 

‘It’s a very frustrating situation,’ Grossi said during an interview at Davos with The Times of Israel. ‘We continue our activities there, but at a minimum. They are restricting cooperation in a very unprecedented way.’

‘It’s a way to punish us because of external things,’ he claimed. ‘When there’s something that France, the U.K. or the United States says that they don’t like, it is as if they were taking the IAEA hostage to their political disputes with others. This is unacceptable for us.’

He described the situation as a ‘plateau’ that ‘could change in the next few days … we never know.’ He argued that right now the world needs ‘diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy.’ 

Grossi told Bloomberg that he did not understand why Iranian officials ‘don’t provide the necessary transparency.’ 

The nuclear chief acknowledged that the IAEA had yet to detect any diversion of material for weapons, but the manufacture and storage of such significant amounts of nuclear material has raised concerns. 

Taleblu highlighted Grossi’s various comments, noting that, ‘When the IAEA director general keeps talking about a ‘new reality’ with Iran, it’s worth more than just a listen.’

‘Iran’s amassment of more highly enriched uranium, production of said uranium at greater speeds, and diminishing transparency and cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog are all ways the regime is showcasing its intent,’ Taleblu said. ‘It’s a sign that the Biden administration’s restraint-based approach has not begotten restraint from Iran.’

‘Iran’s lack of even incurring a solid slap on the wrist at the Board of Governors is propelling it ahead to continue to amass capability in what may be a quest to present the West with a fait accompli at a future time of its choosing,’ he added. 

The White House did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by the time of publication. 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump said that Republicans should say ‘No’ to a border security deal that does not include ‘everything needed’ to stop the flow of illegal migrants at the southern border. 

‘I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!’ Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.

Congressional leaders are hoping to reach a bipartisan deal that would be attached to the national security supplemental package and unlock billions in funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. 

Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters this week that a national security funding deal could come up for a vote as soon as next week.

However, even though it will likely garner the 60 votes needed to pass in the upper chamber, it will be dead on arrival in the GOP-controlled House if it does not include Trump-era immigration penalties as outlined in H.R. 2 — the House’s border security bill passed last year. McConnell has indicated that the priority is not just the border, but the other national security issues outlined in the package.

‘The rest of the bill is important,’ McConnell said this week. ‘We’re getting shot at. The Houthis are shooting at our ships, at commercial ships. We’ve got a war in Israel, a war in Ukraine. I’m sure the Chinese were unhappy with the outcome of the presidential election in Taiwan a few days ago.’

He added, ‘I think it’s time to go ahead with the supplemental, and I’m anticipating it will be before us next week.’

Schumer and McConnell both agree that aid to Ukraine and border security should not be separated. The U.S. has already sent an estimated $100 billion to assist Ukraine in its defense against Russia, and the Biden administration has exhausted the amount of funds that can be sent to the Eastern European nation without needing Congress’s approval in a final $200 million package last month. 

There is likely to be a showdown between a small group of GOP senators who oppose more aid to Ukraine.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a staunch critic of more aid to Ukraine, said this week the U.S.’s security ‘is threatened right now on our border’ and that leaders would ‘much rather spend money on Ukraine’s border than our own. I say again, it is exactly backwards — it’s insane.’

But the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination has been in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ear, too. Johnson said on Fox this week that he ‘frequently’ chats with Trump about the crisis at the southern border, and that he’s ‘not wrong’ for telling lawmakers to reject a deal that falls short.

‘President Trump is not wrong,’ Johnson told Fox News host Laura Ingraham this week. ‘He and I have been talking about this pretty frequently. I talked to him the night before last about the same subject.’ 

Meanwhile, some conservatives in the upper chamber remain skeptical about the so-called border deal that still has not made it to paper.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a post on X, ‘It’s unfair to put pressure’ on Johnson, ‘or anyone else — to support a ‘deal’ that doesn’t yet exist, the details of which remain cloaked in secrecy.’ 

But Lee agreed with Trump and said, ‘But from what little we do know, no Republican should support it. This is nuts.’

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., shared a similar sentiment in an interview with Fox News Digital. He said that Biden doesn’t need ‘all these policy changes,’ since the border ‘was secure under Trump.’ It’s a matter of enforcement, he argued. 

‘The border was secure under Trump — he didn’t need a policy change. I haven’t seen the text of the bill, but there are some things that might be nice to have, but it’s not going to secure the border this year,’ Scott said. 

The package will need around 10 Republican votes to pass in the Senate. 

Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s former chief of staff is being propped up by her own ex-staffers as he mulls a primary challenge against her, two sources told Fox News Digital.

Dan Hanlon joined Mace’s office in 2021 after serving in the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget. He departed last month under reportedly contentious circumstances.

A source familiar with his plans told Fox News Digital that Hanlon was being approached about a possible run for Mace’s seat. They and a second source said that multiple former staffers were informally aiding Hanlon in some capacity.

The source said at least one is a former communications director for Mace who is now helping Hanlon and said ‘there are many’ ex-staffers of hers in his position.

‘I along with several other former staff are backing Hanlon in some sort of way,’ the second source said. 

‘Dan is receiving great feedback because for years he did the actual job of serving the constituents of South Carolina in Congress while Nancy Mace was busy going on TV and getting her net worth up millions,’ the first source familiar with Hanlon’s plans said. ‘Both the donor class and grassroots voters are tired of Mace privately bashing Trump and publicly bashing real conservatives as a–holes.’

Hanlon’s potential primary challenge was first reported in Politico earlier this week. 

Fox News Digital on Thursday asked Mace about those reports on Capitol Hill. She said, ‘I believe we put a statement out. He’s going to have to move to the district if he has to run.’

When reached for comment, Doug Stafford, a spokesman for Mace’s re-election campaign, told Fox News Digital, ‘This can’t be true. Mace couldn’t get this lucky? Well, would he move there, ’cause he sure as s— doesn’t live there now!’

The source familiar with Hanlon’s plans responded to her accusation about his living outside the district: ‘Dan owns a home in the district. Rep. Mace had her ex-fiancé buy her one.’

Mace’s former staffers coalescing around her former top aide comes after several reports of a toxic workplace culture in her office. She has seen a slew of staff departures in recent months in addition to Hanlon’s.

Mace was accused of making lewd comments in the office by three sources who spoke anonymously with the Daily Mail in December. 

A Daily Beast report in November claimed Mace had a ‘handbook’ for staffers that allegedly said, among other things, that her office must send out at least one press release per day and put her on TV at least nine times per week.

Mace told Fox News Digital during a Nov. 3 interview that she had not read the report, and shrugged off its accusations.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday that the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen ‘still have some offensive capability’ despite repeated waves of U.S. military strikes against the rebel group. 

Kirby made the comment a day after President Biden, when asked by a reporter about the effectiveness of the strikes, said, ‘Well, when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.’ 

Kirby told reporters Friday at the White House Press Briefing that the Pentagon conducts an assessment following each strike to determine how successful they have been. 

‘They believe that they have had good effects on degrading some of these Houthi capabilities,’ Kirby said. ‘But clearly, and the president alluded to this yesterday, they still have some offensive capability, and we’re going to keep taking the actions we believe we need to take to defend ourselves.’ 

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MISSING MARK AS IT REDESIGNATES IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS TO TERROR LIST, CRITICS SAY 

Kirby also revealed that this morning, U.S. forces in the region ‘conducted three successful self-defense strikes’ against the Houthis. 

‘This is the fourth preemptive action that the U.S. military has taken in the past week against Houthi missile launchers that were ready to launch attacks, in this case, anti-ship missiles,’ he added. 

US FORCES STRIKE 2 HOUTHI ANTI-SHIP MISSILES, TWO DEFENSE OFFICIALS SAY 

Kirby again warned the Houthis to stop their attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea. 

‘They can make that choice. Clearly, they’ve made opposite choices,’ he said. ‘So we have choices to make too, and we have options available to us as well. We’ll continue to explore those options. Clearly, one of the options that we are and will continue to take are in the military realm if needed.’