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The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they happened.
Blinken to visit Israel and Jordan Wednesday after Saudi Arabia trip
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he departs Joint Base Andrews for Saudi Arabia in the latest Gaza diplomacy push, in Maryland, April 28, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/POOL/AFP)
SHANNON, Ireland — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on a trip through Wednesday, the State Department says after the US and Israeli leaders discussed hostage-release talks by telephone.
Blinken will travel to both countries, a State Department official confirms, as the top US diplomat refueled Sunday in Ireland on his way to a previously announced trip to Saudi Arabia.
Senior Hamas official: Terror group finds ‘no major issues’ with Gaza truce offer
A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the Palestinian terror group has “no major issues” with the latest proposal from Israel and Egypt for a Gaza truce.
“The atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles. There are no major issues in the observations and inquiries submitted by Hamas regarding the contents” of the proposal, a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity says.
A Hamas delegation led by the movement’s senior leader, Khalil al-Hayya, will deliver the group’s response to the truce proposal during a meeting with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Monday, the official says.
Qatar’s US envoy rejects claims Doha funding anti-Israel activity on campuses
Qatar’s ambassador to the US hits back at renewed accusations that Doha is financially backing anti-Israel activity on American college campuses.
“Qatar is not a large donor to US universities. The Qatar Foundation pays the costs for six US universities to maintain faculty and operate campuses in Qatar, educating and awarding degrees to women and men from Qatar and others who wish to study there,” tweets Meshal Hamad Al-Thani.
“These are not donations,” the envoy continues. “Qatar does not influence these universities, and we have nothing to do with anything that happens on their home campuses in the US.”
The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael first published a story in March detailing how some schools have received hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar over the past decade.
According to a 2022 study, Qatar contributed $4.7 billion to dozens of academic institutions across the United States between 2001 and 2021. Some of the amounts are classified as “gifts” while others are labeled as “restricted agreements.”
Regarding media reports alleging some link between Qatar and recent events on U.S. university campuses, it is important to get the facts straight.
Qatar is not a large donor to U.S. universities.
1/3
— Meshal Hamad AlThani (@Amb_AlThani) April 28, 2024
Tal Schneider contributed to this report.
In call with Netanyahu, Biden reiterates his ‘clear position’ regarding Israel op in Rafah; they review hostage talks
File: View of the Erez Crossing at the Israeli border with Gaza, January 4, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Israel’s opening of additional crossings into northern Gaza later this week to allow more aid into the Strip, the White House says.
The referenced crossings appear to be the Karni and Erez crossings that Israel plans to fully open in addition to Gate 96 into northern Gaza.
The opening of additional crossings is seen as essential to flooding Gaza with aid amid concerns of possible famine.
It will also be critical if Israel goes ahead with plans to launch a major invasion of Rafah because that would likely cut off the current humanitarian hub located there from the rest of Gaza.
The White House readout says the two leaders discussed a potential Israeli offensive in Rafah and that Biden “reiterated his clear position.”
The readout doesn’t elaborate further but the US has said it cannot support any operation that doesn’t ensure the full protection of the over one million Palestinians sheltering in the southernmost Gaza city and doesn’t believe that Israel will be able to safely evacuate and care for that many civilians. At other times, US officials have expressed their opposition to a major Rafah operation without making any qualifications.
Palestinians walk in a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the border with Egypt on April 28, 2024. (AFP)
Regarding recent improvements in the flow of aid into Gaza, Biden on the call “stressed the need for this progress to be sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organizations.”
This has been a sticking point between the sides throughout the war, particularly since an Israeli airstrike killed seven humanitarian workers from the World Central Kitchen. Israel has since boosted some of its deconfliction mechanisms, and Biden on the call recognized recent increases in the amount of aid going into Gaza, but the US has insisted that Jerusalem must continue doing more.
The two leaders also discussed the ongoing hostage negotiations as the sides await Hamas’s response to the latest hostage deal proposal, which is supposed to come in the coming days.
Biden highlighted the joint statement he organized last week with the leaders of 17 other countries demanding Hamas immediately release the remaining 133 hostages it is holding in Gaza in what would allow for an immediate ceasefire and relief for civilians in the Strip, the White House says.
Biden reiterated his “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security, which was on display during the jointly thwarted Iranian missile and drone attack earlier this month, the US readout says.
White House confirms Biden, Netanyahu spoke this evening
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden has spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a White House spokesperson says, adding that a readout will be issued shortly.
Their conversation comes amid intensified efforts for a hostage-truce deal, and with the IDF preparing for a ground operation in Rafah.
In Beirut, French FM urges Israel and Hezbollah de-escalate
This handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra shows France's Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne (L) meeting with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, on April 28, 2024. (DALATI AND NOHRA / AFP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — France’s top diplomat urges de-escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group during his second visit to Lebanon since cross-border tensions flared alongside the Gaza war.
“We refuse a worst-case scenario… No one has any interest in Israel and Hezbollah continuing this escalation. This is my message here,” French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne tells reporters in Beirut.
He says he “will bring this same message to Israel on Tuesday.”
Hezbollah has repeatedly declared that only a ceasefire in Gaza will put an end to its attacks on Israel.
A French diplomatic source tells AFP that the volume of cross-border attacks has doubled since April 13.
Ahead of the press conference, Sejourne met Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Najib Mikati, army chief Joseph Aoun, and influential parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.
A return to stability “requires the redeployment of armed forces in southern Lebanon,” he adds, referring to a region where Hezbollah holds sway.
In March, Beirut submitted its response to the French initiative, based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The resolution called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from everyone except the army and other state security forces.
The objective of that roadmap, Sejourne says, “is to achieve the full implementation by all parties of Security Council Resolution 1701.”
Berri and Mikati both said that Lebanon was keen on implementing the UN resolution, according to separate statements following their meetings with Sejourne.
“The French initiative constitutes a practical framework for implementing Resolution 1701, which Lebanon is committed to implementing in full, while demanding Israel commit to it and stop its destructive aggression against southern Lebanon,” Mikati says in a statement.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF says aid to Gaza will ‘continue to scale up’ as it readies for Rafah incursion
File: Egyptian trucks carrying humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip wait near the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side on March 23, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an English-language video statement says the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip will “continue to scale up” in the coming days, as the military gears up for an offensive in the southern city of Rafah, and as it faces international pressure over the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.
“Over the last few weeks, the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza has significantly increased. In the coming days, the amount of aid going into Gaza will continue to scale up even more. Food, water, medical supplies, shelter equipment, and other aid. More of it is going into Gaza than ever before,” he says.
“This increase in aid is a result of increased effort, among them: Opening the Israeli port of Ashdod; and a new crossing that was opened into northern Gaza; and increasing the amount of aid coming from Jordan — through Israel — entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom humanitarian aid crossing. We also facilitated the opening of dozens of bakeries in the north and south of Gaza, together with the World Food Program,” Hagari continues.
“Together with the United States Central Command, we are working on a temporary maritime pier, known as JLOTS, which stands for Joint Logistics Over-the Shore. This temporary pier will provide a ship-to-shore distribution system that will further increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he says.
Hagari says that “as part of the efforts to get more aid into Gaza, we are also expanding the designated humanitarian zones in Gaza, where the aid will be reaching and streamlining the distribution efforts, together with international aid organizations, for increased efficiency.”
“Getting aid to the people of Gaza is a top priority,” Hagari says, adding that it is “because our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
“We seek to help alleviate the suffering of the civilians in Gaza that has resulted from the war that Hamas started on October 7, when it massacred and kidnapped Israelis,” he says.
“The Israel Defense Forces operates according to international law. We make vast efforts to minimize harm to the civilians that Hamas is hiding behind — because we see the suffering of civilians as a tragedy, while Hamas sees the suffering of civilians as a strategy. That’s why Hamas intentionally hides among civilians; that’s why Hamas wages war from within civilians; and that’s why Hamas has been stealing aid meant for civilians in Gaza,” Hagari says.
“We will continue to pursue Hamas everywhere in Gaza. We will continue doing everything in our power to bring back home our hostages. We will continue to fulfill our mission: Free our hostages from Hamas and free Gaza from Hamas,” he adds.
Report: Netanyahu, Biden to speak this evening on hostage deal, ICC arrest warrants, Rafah op
This combination photo shows US President Joe Biden, left, on March 8, 2024, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (AP Photo)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden are set to hold a phone call later this evening, several Hebrew media outlets report.
The two are reportedly set to discuss a potential deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, expected arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials by the International Criminal Court, and preparations for an incursion into Rafah.
IDF strikes building in southern Lebanon after spotting Hezbollah terrorist inside
Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab, where a Hezbollah operative was spotted earlier today, the military says.
Footage released by the IDF shows the operative entering the building before an airstrike is carried out.
Additionally, the IDF says two projectiles were launched from Lebanon at the Mount Dov area.
מוקדם יותר היום כוח צה״ל זיהה מחבל של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה פועל במרחב עייתא א-שעב והחל במעקב אחריו.
במהלך המעקב המחבל זוהה נכנס למבנה צבאי במרחב.זמן קצר לאחר הזיהוי, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו את המבנה בו שהה המחבל והשמידו את התשתית >> pic.twitter.com/u5JaCc1wCx
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 28, 2024
Israeli official: Rafah op still being readied, we won’t give up on war goals even if there’s a deal
Palestinians walk in a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the border with Egypt on April 28, 2024. (AFP)
As international pressure continues to be applied on Hamas to accept Israel’s latest offer for a hostage deal, an Israeli official says that “preparations for Rafah are continuing.”
Reports over the weekend indicated that Israel was open to discussing an end to the war in the second stage of a deal, which would start with an extended truce.
“In any deal, if there is one, Israel will not give up on the goals of the war,” the official said.
A different Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier in the day that the current talks are the last chance to forestall an invasion of Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold.
Channel 12 reports 30 paratrooper reservists refusing to show up for duty, citing exhaustion
Channel 12 reports that 30 paratrooper reservists have declared they no longer feel able to take part in their duties, and will not answer their call-up to prepare for a looming operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.
According to the report, commanders will not force the reservists to show up but add that it demonstrates how many soldiers are burned out after more than six months of war.
Police say bones of two missing residents of Druze town found
Police announce that human bones were found Friday in a field near the northern Arab town of Rameh.
After forensic testing, the remains were identified as belonging to two missing residents of the Druze-majority town of Isfiya, aged 32 and 34.
Police say they are investigating the deaths, and do not announce the identity of the victims.
White House says pro-Palestinian protests must stay peaceful, blasts antisemitic speech on campus
Student demonstrators occupy the anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on the West Lawn of Columbia University on April 27, 2024, in New York City. (Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
WASHINGTON — The White House insists that pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked US universities in recent weeks must remain peaceful after police arrested around 275 people on four separate campuses over the weekend.
“We certainly respect the right of peaceful protests,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby tells ABC’s “This Week.”
But, he adds, “We absolutely condemn the antisemitic language that we’ve heard of late and certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there.”
The wave of demonstrations began at Columbia University in New York but they have since spread rapidly across the country.
While peace has prevailed in many campuses, the number of protesters detained — at times by police in riot gear using chemical irritants and tasers — is rising fast. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
They include 100 at Northeastern University in Boston, 80 at Washington University in St Louis, 72 at Arizona State University, and 23 at Indiana University.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
World Central Kitchen set to renew work in Gaza after deadly strike on aid convoy
File: United Nations staff members inspect the remains of a car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024. (AFP)
The World Central Kitchen will resume operations in Gaza tomorrow, the aid organization announces. WCK suspended its work in Gaza after an April 1 IDF air strike killed 7 workers.
A Palestinian team will be delivering food, including to the northern part of the Strip, according to WCK.
Israel has been working to convince WCK to return to Gaza since the attack.
Until the deadly incident, WCK accounted for 62 percent of all international NGO aid in Gaza, according to the organization.
“We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity and focus on feeding as many people as possible,” says WCK Chief Executive Officer Erin Gore. “To date, we have distributed more than 43 million meals, and we are eager to deliver millions more. Food is a universal right, and our work in Palestine has been the most life-saving mission in our 14-year organizational history. We will continue to get as much food into Gaza, including northern Gaza, as possible — by land, air or sea.”
According to WCK, the aid organization has 276 trucks ready to enter through the Rafah Crossing, and will also send trucks from Jordan.
WCK is still looking to use the maritime corridor from Cyprus and is looking into using Ashdod Port.
The organization also announces that WCK is opening a third kitchen in Gaza, in the coastal Mawasi area. It will be called “Damian’s Kitchen” after Polish aid worker Damian Soból killed on April 1. WCK has two other high-production kitchens, one in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.
The organization continues to call for an impartial and international investigation into the IDF attack.
“We have been forced to make a decision: Stop feeding altogether during one of the worst hunger crises ever, ending our operation that accounted for 62% of all International NGO aid,” says Gore, “or keep feeding knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed,”
“Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times.”
White House says Israel will listen to US questions over potential Rafah incursion
A house targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 17, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Israel has agreed to listen to US concerns and thoughts before it launches an invasion of the border city of Rafah in Gaza, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says.
Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs there, a senior Israeli defense official said on Wednesday, despite international warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Washington has said it could not support a Rafah operation without an appropriate and credible humanitarian plan.
“They’ve assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them,” Kirby tells ABC.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit the region next week and Kirby said he would continue pressing for a temporary ceasefire that Washington wants to last for at least six weeks.
A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire, a Hamas official told Reuters.
“What we’re hoping is that after six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, we can maybe get something more enduring in place,” Kirby says, who also noted that the number of aid trucks going into the north of Gaza was starting to increase.
“The Israelis have started to meet the commitments that {US} President [Joe] Biden asked them to meet,” he says.
Istanbul’s mayor, an Erdogan rival, says Hamas is a terror group, was ‘deeply saddened’ by Oct. 7
Istanbul's mayor and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu waves in front of supporters as they celebrate outside the main municipality building following municipal elections across Turkey, in Istanbul on March 31, 2024. (Ozan Kose/AFP)
Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calls Hamas a terror group and says Turkey is “deeply saddened” by the October 7 massacre, in an interview with CNN.
“Any organized structure that carries out terrorist acts and kills people en masse is considered a terrorist organization by us,” he says.
Imamoglu adds that similar crimes are happening to Palestinians and calls on Israel to end its war against Hamas.
Imamoglu’s victory in the March municipal election marked the worst defeat for Erdogan and his AK Party (AKP) in their more than two decades in power, and could signal a change in the country’s divided political landscape.
The Turkish government under Erdogan openly supports Hamas, denounces Israel for its offensive in the Gaza Strip and has called for an immediate ceasefire.
Last year, the Turkish leader likened the tactics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and called Israel a “terrorist state” because of its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
ראש עיריית איסטנבול אקרם אימאמאולו ל-CNN: "חמאס ביצע מתקפה בישראל שהעציבה אותנו למדי. אנו מחשיבים כל מבנה שרוצח אנשים כארגון טרור"@RamEliBrandts pic.twitter.com/cMPFzc8ln9
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 28, 2024
Agencies contributed to this report.
French daily reports Paris halted certain arms exports to Israel since war erupted
France has suspended some arms exports to Israel since the start of the war against Hamas, according to the French Le Monde daily.
Paris stopped sending parts that could be used to make artillery shells after an October 2023 review of defense exports to Israel, says the report.
In general, France has sought to reduce exports to Israel to the minimum possible without “completely severing military ties.”
France abstained from an April 5 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution vote calling for an embargo on arms shipments to Israel.
Israel accounts for only 0.2 percent of France’s 27 billion Euro arms export market.
“With the Israelis,” a French government source tells Le Monde, “we help each other a little, we sell each other equipment a little, we are close enough to them to know what they do, but at the same time we are competitors, and above all, there is a very clear desire on the part of France not to help the operations carried out in Gaza and to take as few risks as possible in arms deliveries.”
The French Navy has stopped its customary port calls at Haifa, according to the report, and its air force has not planned any joint exercises either.
Gallant intent on reaching war goals of destroying Hamas, returning hostages
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to IDF soldiers at the Palmachim airbase, April 28, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vows that Israel will eliminate Hamas and return the hostages the terror group abducted on October 7, during a visit to the Palmachim Airbase.
“In Gaza, we are obligated to eliminate Hamas and also to return the hostages, we are working on these two tasks and I am determined to accomplish both things. It will take as long as it takes, but we must do this task,” he says to soldiers of the Artillery Corps who operate the Hermes 450 drone.
Yad Vashem condemns the covering up of Holocaust monuments against vandalism
Yad Vashem expresses concern following an uproar in the United Kingdom over the covering of a Holocaust monument in London for fear of vandalism by anti-Israel protesters.
“The decision to cover up Holocaust memorials and exhibitions out of fear from the scourge of global antisemitism is deeply troubling,” a spokesperson for Israel’s national Holocaust museum writes in a statement Sunday. “By concealing these historical reminders, we are only addressing the symptoms while ignoring the root cause of the issue.”
The concealment of the Holocaust monument at London’s Hyde Park over the weekend is prompting angry reactions in the British media. Multiple anti-Israel rallies in recent weeks have ended at Hyde Park, prompting park authorities to wrap a tarp around the monument as a precaution, a parks official tells LBC radio station Sunday.
In jab at far-right ministers, Gantz says government ‘has no right to continue to exist’ if it rejects hostage deal
File: Head of the National Unity party Minister Benny Gantz holds a press conference at the Knesset, April 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
If the government rejects a hostage deal backed by the security services, it will “have no right to continue to exist,” war cabinet minister Benny Gantz declares amidst a last-minute push for an agreement ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of Rafah.
“The return of our hostages, abandoned by the October 7 government, is urgent,” Gantz writes on Telegram.
“If a responsible outline is reached for the return of the hostages with the backing of the entire security establishment — which does not involve ending the war — and the ministers who led the government on October 7 prevent it, the government will have no right to continue to exist and lead the campaign,” he states.
Diplomatic efforts have been stepped up in recent days to reach a truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza.
US news website Axios, citing two Israeli officials, reports that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.
It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios says.
File: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in Jerusalem, April 21, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the group would deliver its response to Israel’s latest counterproposal for a Gaza truce on Monday in Egypt. “Hamas is open to discussing the new proposal positively,” another Hamas source close to the negotiations tells AFP.
Gantz’s statement comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned that the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have “no right of existence” unless Israel invades Rafah.
In a post on X, the head of the far-right Religious Zionism party rejected an Egyptian-mediated deal with Hamas to retrieve the dozens of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and scaling back the Israeli offensive there as a “humiliating surrender to the Nazis on the backs of hundreds of IDF soldiers” who died there.
His rejection of a deal was echoed by fellow hard-right Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who tweeted that a “reckless deal equals the dissolution of the government.”
In a post on X, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid takes aim at the far-right ministers’ ultimatums too.
“The government needs to choose: Return the hostages alive, or Ben Gvir and Smotrich. Relations with the Americans or Ben Gvir and Smotrich. An agreement with the Saudis or Ben Gvir and Smotrich. The security of Israel or Ben Gvir and Smotrich,” he writes.
AFP contributed to this report.
Hamas to submit answer to Israeli truce proposal Monday
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza call for a deal for the release of the hostages, at 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, April 27, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the group would deliver its response to Israel’s latest counterproposal for a Gaza truce on Monday in Egypt.
“A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Egypt tomorrow… and deliver the movement’s response” to the Israeli proposal during a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, the official who declined to be named says.
Mediator Egypt sent its own delegation to Israel this week to jump-start stalled negotiations even as fighting in the Gaza Strip rages.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been unsuccessfully trying to broker a new Gaza truce deal ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Diplomatic efforts have been stepped up in recent days to reach a truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza.
US news website Axios, citing two Israeli officials, reports that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.
It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios says.
“Hamas is open to discussing the new proposal positively,” another Hamas source close to the negotiations tells AFP.
The source adds that the group is “keen to reach an agreement that guarantees a permanent ceasefire, the free return of displaced people, an acceptable deal for [a prisoner] exchange and ensuring an end to the [Gaza] siege.”
Qatari PM’s adviser defends fund transfers to Gaza, says Israeli officials who asked for it now accuse Doha of funding Hamas
Adviser to Qatar's prime minister, Dr. Majed al-Ansari, speaks to the Kan public broadcaster, April 28, 2024. (Kan screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
A Qatari official defends his country’s transfer of money to Gaza ahead of October 7, and argues that it was done at the behest of some Israeli officials who are now saying the money helped arm Hamas.
Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, the Qatari prime minister’s adviser, tells the Kan public broadcaster that the aid aimed to allow Gazans to “live naturally” and that “prosperity is the only way to get out of the cycle of violence.”
“But let me tell you very clearly, all of that aid was part of a mechanism that included complete Israeli oversight, complete Israeli vetting, even if the families received $100 of aid through this process,” he says.
Ansari continues to say that Doha is “appalled” that officials who approached Qatar for the money are now accusing it of sending money directly to Hamas, adding that the money was sent through Israel into Gaza.
“The aid that went in also went in with oversight from international organizations, and there was a clear vetting process for all the families, and there was a clear reporting back mechanism to the Israeli agencies,” he says.
“And therefore, there were the checkpoints and the guarantees in place to make sure that none of that money went anywhere else. This was done for humanitarian reasons. And the lack of peace and security that we have here today is not a result of sending aid to the people of Gaza. It’s a result of the lack of commitment to peace from both sides,” he says.
Looming Rafah operation prompts international push for hostage deal, source says
The intensive international efforts to reach a hostage deal are motivated by a desire to head off an IDF operation in Rafah, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“Nobody wants Israel to enter Rafah,” says the official. “The only way to avoid it is to reach a hostage deal.”
Regional and Western diplomats are meeting in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss a hostage deal and a possible IDF incursion into Rafah. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in Israel on Tuesday.
The official declines to offer details on the latest Israeli proposal for a deal, but stresses that “Israel made great concessions,” including on Palestinians returning to northern Gaza.
The official does not say whether Israel is offering a potential end to the war, as Hebrew-language outlets reported yesterday. “Even if it does happen, it will be semantics,” says the official.
National Security Council said leading push to thwart ICC arrest warrants
Israel is making a concerted effort to head off plans by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, an Israeli government source confirms to The Times of Israel.
The National Security Council is leading the campaign, according to the source.
The Foreign Ministry is also involved. “We are operating where we can,” says an Israeli diplomat.
A major focus of the ICC allegations will be that Israel “deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza,” according to the first source.
IDF International Spokesman Nadav Shoshani offered a rare briefing on Shabbat for foreign reporters on Israel’s support for the temporary humanitarian pier off Gaza, an indication that the country is doing what it can to blunt the ICC campaign.
In the news site Walla over the weekend, analyst Ben Caspit wrote that Netanyahu is “under unusual stress” over the prospect of an arrest warrant against him and other Israelis by the UN tribunal in The Hague. Netanyahu is leading a “nonstop push over the telephone” to prevent an arrest warrant, focused especially on the administration of US President Joe Biden, Caspit wrote.
Haaretz analyst Amos Harel wrote that the Israeli government is working under the assumption that the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, may this week issue warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
Southern Command chief holds assessment in Gaza on operations, relief efforts
Chief of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman (center) meets with officers in central Gaza, April 26, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The chief of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, held an assessment in the central Gaza Strip over the weekend, as the 99th Division was deployed to the area, the military announces.
The IDF mobilized two reserve brigades to take control of the central Gaza corridor and secure a US-led project to bring aid into the Palestinian enclave via a floating pier.
The division’s 679th “Yiftah” Armored Brigade and the 2nd “Carmeli” Infantry Brigade, alongside combat engineers and the Multidomain Unit — also known as the Ghost Unit — have been carrying out pinpoint raids in the Netzarim corridor area over the past week, the IDF says.
IDF troops operate in the central Gaza corridor, in a handout image published April 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
“The raids are taking place while [the troops are] protecting the corridor area… and carrying out actions that will allow the transfer of humanitarian aid,” the military says.
On Friday, Finkelman held an assessment with the commander of the 99th Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram. The IDF says the pair discussed “the activity of the forces in the area, and approved operational plans.”
World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh focuses on Israel-Hamas war
A two-day World Economic Forum special meeting kicks off in Riyadh, with a focus on the war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel is not participating in the event in the Saudi capital, attended by the American, French, German, Emirati, Saudi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministers.
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan says in a panel discussion that the war in Gaza, as well as the Ukraine conflict, puts “a lot of pressure” on the economic “mood.”
“I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail,” he says. “The region needs stability.”
A Gaza-focused session on Monday is set to feature newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations aid coordinator for the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, Saudi planning minister Faisal Alibrahim said that the world is “walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity.”
“We meet at a moment when one misjudgment or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges.”
WEF president Borge Brende said there was “some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for… a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza.”
Smotrich says government ‘has no right to exist’ unless it invades Rafah, rejects hostage deal
Finance Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference at the Knesset, Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warns that the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have “no right of existence” unless Israel invades Rafah.
Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, makes this warning in a filmed message on X. He also rejects in the message an Egyptian-mediated deal with Hamas to retrieve the dozens of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and scaling back the Israeli offensive there as a “humiliating surrender to the Nazis on the backs of hundreds of IDF soldiers” who died there.
“If you decide to fly a white flag and cancel the order to conquer Rafah immediately to complete the mission of destroying Hamas and restore peace for the residents of southern Israel and all of the country’s citizens, and return our abducted brothers and sisters who are held hostage to their homes – then the government you head will have no right of existence,” says Smotrich.
Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States are engaged in indirect talks on a deal to retrieve the hostages taken from Israel.
If Smotrich’s party leaves the coalition, Netanyahu’s government will depend on the cooperation of Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity centrist party, which he took from the opposition to the coalition to be part of a wartime government.
אדוני ראש הממשלה,
עסקאות תיווך מצריות שסיימו "סבבים" קודמים כשחמאס חי ובועט ואיפשרו לו להתעצם שוב ושוב ולטבוח באזרחי ישראל כמו שלא קרה מאז השואה, זה בדיוק מה שהובלת בשני העשורים האחרונים, וזה בדיוק, אבל בדיוק מה שהבטחנו כולנו לא לעשות שוב הפעם. pic.twitter.com/DuqgZzL1wc— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) April 28, 2024
IDF chief of staff approves Southern Command battle plans
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi meets with officers at the Southern Command HQ in Beersheba, April 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approved battle plans with the commanders of divisions and brigades at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheba earlier today.
The IDF says the meeting and “approval of plans for the continuation of the war,” was attended by the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, and the heads of all of the command’s divisions and brigades.
The approval of the plans comes ahead of Israel’s looming offensive in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
French foreign minister to meet in Israel with families of citizens held hostage in Gaza
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, center, arrives to meet Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. Sejourne arrived in Beirut earlier in the day on an official visit to discuss the situation in the Middle East and tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné is expected to land in Israel on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., ahead of meetings with FM Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi in Jerusalem.
Séjourné is then scheduled to head to Tel Aviv to meet with families of French hostages held in Gaza, and inaugurate France’s new consulate general in Tel Aviv.
Séjourné is to fly out Wednesday morning.
Blinken to tour Be’eri in highest-ranking visit by US official to iconic locale
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a session during the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting on Capri Island, Italy, on April 19, 2024. (Gregorio Borgia/Pool/AFP)
US State Secretary Anthony Blinken is reportedly scheduled to tour Be’eri on Wednesday, in what would make him the highest-ranking official to visit from his administration since Hamas terrorists attacked the kibbutz during their October 7 onslaught.
Ynet reports that Blinken will visit Be’eri, where dozens of kibbutz members were murdered and abducted, after a visit to Saudi Arabia. According to Ynet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is scheduled to join Blinken as per his office’s request. Foreign Minister Israel Katz will also tour Be’eri alongside Blinken and Gallant, Ynet reports.
The US is reportedly working with Israel to prevent the International Criminal Court, a UN tribunal in The Hague, from issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in connection with Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. US officials are also involved in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, with Qatari and Egyptian mediation, on a deal for a temporary ceasefire and the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas.
Be’eri, a symbol of the October 7 onslaught, is among the worst-hit locales invaded by Hamas terrorists. It remains largely uninhabited as the government restores its structures, and its 900-odd members are staying at government-afforded accommodations until they can move into temporary homes in Kibbutz Hatzerim.
The government expects to repopulate Be’eri only sometime next year.
Authorities cover Holocaust memorial at London park favored by anti-Israel protesters
The Holocaust memorial at Hyde Park in London, UK, pictured here on June 7, 2007. (Wikimedia Commons)
Authorities cover a Holocaust memorial to prevent vandalism to it in London’s Hyde Park, where thousands protest each weekend against Israel.
On Saturday, the monument to the Holocaust victims, which features Hebrew engravings, was covered by a blue tarp, LBC radio reports Sunday.
Park authorities tell LBC that the move is a “precautionary measure” ahead of “various events.”
Hyde Park serves as the terminus for multiple anti-Israel marches that have been going on, mostly on weekends, since the outbreak of war between Hamas in Gaza and Israel.
Holocaust survivor Noemi Ebenstein tells The Daily Mail about the decision to cover the monument: “It is shameful. Seeing this, it feels like they are winning. Those who are Jew haters, those who are Holocaust deniers, they are winning because we are afraid of them.”
The monument’s covering follows a controversy over how police last week prevented a Jewish man, Gideon Falter, from approaching an anti-Israel march, citing how Falter was “openly Jewish” and saying that approaching the anti-Israel crowd was dangerous for him.
Abbas: Israel will enter Rafah in the next few days; only the US can stop it
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh on April 28, 2024. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP)
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, says at a conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh that only the United States can stop Israel from attacking the border city of Rafah in Gaza, adding he expects an assault in the next days.
Abbas is speaking at the World Economic Forum’s Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development.
Ben Gvir leaves hospital with 3 fractured ribs following car accident
The car (left) of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that was in an accident in Ramle. April 26, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is discharged from hospital to recover from injuries sustained in a car accident.
Ben Gvir, who has at least three fractured ribs and several bruises from the accident Friday, leaves Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on Sunday, Ynet reports. His injuries are minor, the report says.
Photos from the scene of the accident show the minister’s car lying overturned on the road, the contents of the trunk spilling out onto the asphalt at an intersection in Ramle. Dashcam footage from the scene of the accident shows the minister’s car and another car in his entourage running a red light.
Police arrest 5 far-right activists suspected of avenging 14-year-old settler’s death
14-year-old Benjamin Achimeir, who went missing in the West Bank on April 12, 2024 and was found murdered a day later. (Courtesy)
Police have arrested five far-right activists in Israeli settlements in the West Bank on suspicion of “nationalist crimes.”
The arrests are connected to reprisals by extremist settlers for the suspected murder of Benjamin Achimeir, whose body was found on April 13 after his disappearance from the fields around the outpost of Malachei Shalom.
Malachei Shalom, located near the village of Dumah, which is situated about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Ariel, is temporarily overseen as a closed military area following Achimeir’s apparent murder, which prompted some settlers in the area to riot and burn at least one car owned by Palestinians.
The names of the suspects arrested today are not mentioned in a statement from Honenu, the far-right group providing them legal representation.
Jewish-American doctor cites Yom Kippur court date in appeal on malpractice ruling
In a challenge to a $4.1 million medical malpractice judgment, a Jewish-American physician from Pennsylvania argues that the trial court violated his right to religious freedom by refusing to reschedule the first hearing that fell on Yom Kippur.
The defendant, Dr. Peter Gross, wrote in an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court that he was forced to choose between his right to freely exercise his religion and his right to attend the trial against him, the news site Law Radar reports.
Gross, whom a jury found guilty of malpractice in a lawsuit over his failure to identify the signs of an onset heart attack in a former patient, says in his appeal that the lawsuit against him was filed “in bad faith.” Gross’ former patient, Fred DiMeo, claims to suffer a permanent heart condition because of Gross.
The physician’s lawyers write in his appeal that the doctor had asked the court to delay the start of the procedure from September 2023, as it fell on Yom Kippur, and said he would not be able to appear in court. The claimant’s lawyers opposed the request, arguing that their expert witness was only available that day.
The appeal by Gross recalls how two judges denied his request to reschedule, prompting him to not appear for the proceedings on Yom Kippur.
Dozens of targets hit in deadly overnight airstrikes on terrorists in Gaza, IDF says
Israeli fighter jets and drones struck dozens of sites belonging to terror groups in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says.
The targets include infrastructure, rocket launching positions, armed operatives and observation posts, according to the IDF. The Navy also carried out strikes along the coast of central Gaza, largely in support of the 99th Division that is operating in the area, the IDF says.
The IDF says the division’s Yiftah Reserve Brigade spotted several gunmen near troops in their area of operations yesterday and called in a drone strike. In another incident, the reservists spotted a cell in a building, and called in artillery shelling and an airstrike, killing the operatives, the military adds.
מטוסי קרב וכלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר תקפו ביממה האחרונה עשרות מטרות טרור ברחבי רצועת עזה, ביניהן: תשתיות טרור, אתרי שיגור, מחבלים חמושים ועמדות תצפית.
במרכז הרצועה, כלי-טיס תקף וחיסל מספר מחבלים בסמוך לכוחות המתמרנים, בסגירת מעגל מהירה.
כלי-טיס וכוחות ארטילריה תקפו חוליית מחבלים… pic.twitter.com/XZqn3urjEG
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) April 28, 2024
Israeli soldier lightly wounded in Hezbollah missile attack on Manara
An Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in a Hezbollah missile attack on an area near the border community of Manara yesterday, hospital officials say.
Ziv Medical Center in Safed says the soldier was brought to the hospital in good condition after sustaining a shrapnel injury.
He was treated overnight and released this morning, the hospital says.
US presidential candidate Jill Stein detained at anti-Israel rally in St. Louis
File: This file photo taken on August 23, 2016 shows Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. (AFP PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/WIN MCNAMEE)
Police detain dozens of demonstrators, including presidential candidate Jill Stein, at an anti-Israel demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis.
The rally is part of a string of protests across campuses in the United States and beyond against Israel, featuring calls for Israel to end the war in Gaza and for the US to sanction Israel. Many of the protests, in which police have arrested hundreds of people in recent weeks for rioting, also feature calls for Israel’s destruction as a Jewish state.
At this weekend’s protests, police arrested more than 200 people at Washington University and three others: Northeastern; Arizona State and Indiana University.
Stein, a Jewish anti-Israel activist and the Green Party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 elections, was led away to wait in a van to be processed by police, the St. Louis Today website reports.
In St. Louis, the pro-Palestinian students are demanding that the university divest from the Boeing Co. military equipment supplier over its sale of arms to Israel. Boeing is a major employer in the St. Louis region.
Like the Green Party as a whole, Stein supports the boycott, divest and sanctions movement against Israel, or BDS. She places Israel in the company of non-democratic American allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt. On her website, she refers to Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza as a “genocide.”
Israeli fighter jets strike Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, the military says.
The targets included a building used by the terror group and other infrastructure in Maroun al-Ras, infrastructure in Tayr Harfa and another building in Yarine, according to the IDF.
מטוסי קרב תקפו במהלך הלילה מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב מארון א-ראס שבדרום לבנון. בין המטרות שהותקפו: מספר תשתיות טרור ומבנה צבאי.
כמו כן, מטוסי קרב תקפו תשתית צבאית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב טיר חרפא, ומבנה צבאי של הארגון במרחב יארין שבדרום לבנון. pic.twitter.com/70hbE5dSWi
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) April 28, 2024
Israel, US said working to prevent ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu
According to reports in several Israeli media, the United States is part of a last-ditch diplomatic effort to prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
In the news site Walla, analyst Ben Caspit writes that Netanyahu is “under unusual stress” over the prospect of an arrest warrant against him and other Israelis by the UN tribunal in The Hague, which would be a major deterioration in Israel’s international status.
Netanyahu is leading a “nonstop push over the telephone” to prevent an arrest warrant, focused especially on the administration of US President Joe Biden, Caspit writes.
Haaretz analyst Amos Harel writes that the Israeli government is working under the assumption that the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, may this week issue warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
The US, which, like Israel, is not among the 124 countries that signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, is already engaged in the effort to block the arrest warrants, according to Harel.
Netanyahu’s latest public statement about the war said forthcoming decisions by the ICC could set a “dangerous precedent.”
“We will never stop defending ourselves. Whereas decisions of the court in the Hague will not affect Israel’s actions, they would be a dangerous precedent threatening the soldiers and officials of any democracy fighting criminal terrorism and aggression,” he said on Friday.
Lapid slams chief rabbi for crediting yeshivas, not army, with Israel’s survival
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid assails Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef for suggesting that Israel survived attacks by terror groups throughout the ongoing war because of yeshiva students and not the work of the security forces.
“I wonder whether he would agree to not have the Iron Dome in his neighborhood. The people who applauded him should enlist like any other young Israeli,” Lapid tells Kan public radio.
Amit Mizrahi, an entrepreneur and lawyer, writes on X that “by that logic, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef should go to jail with his supporters for their failure on October 7.”
The reactions are to Yosef’s assertion in a filmed weekly sermon that “13,000 missiles were lobbed at our country; thank God for the miracles and wonders we had. Thanks to what? Thanks to the IDF chief of staff? Thanks to whom? Thanks to the Torah students and yeshiva students, who sit and study the Torah,” Yosef said in the sermon released last night.
He went on to say that Israelis were saved from attacks in the north, south and by Hamas terrorists, “only thanks to the members of the yeshivas and their students. They protect all the soldiers and all the nation of Israel.”
Yosef’s remarks, occurring amid a war and a polarizing debate about ending yeshiva students’ exemption from military service, prompt many on social networks to say he should not be given the prestigious Israel Prize, which he is scheduled to receive in a few weeks.
ADL chief slams Ilhan Omar for remarks on ‘pro-genocide’ Jewish students: ‘Blood libel’
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a news conference by the Congressional Progressive Caucus on the threat of default, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The head of the Anti-Defamation League accuses Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of spreading a blood libel after she implied Jewish students who support Israel amid its war against Hamas are “pro-genocide.”
Omar made the remarks Friday while at Columbia while visiting her daughter Isra Hirsi at the anti-Israel tent encampment set up by pro-Palestinian students. Hirsi was one of several students suspended by Columbia after being arrested for setting up an initial encampment.
Asked how she thought her visit would be received by Jewish students facing antisemitism, Omar responded that she met Jewish students in the encampment.
“I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide,” she said.
In a post on X, the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt slams Omar, saying it’s patently false and a blood libel to suggest that ANY Jewish students are ‘pro-genocide.'”
“It is gaslighting to impute that Jewish people are somehow at fault for being harassed and menaced with signs and slogans literally calling for their own extermination,” he continues. “It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner.”
“This is how people get killed.”
Greenblatt calls on Omar to apologize “but I’m not holding my breath,” in apparent reference to “the Squad” member’s history of remarks criticized as antisemitic.
Watch this clip. It features @IlhanMN walking through @Columbia proclaiming that "Jewish students… should not have to tolerate antisemitism… whether they’re pro-genocide or anti-genocide."
It is patently false and a blood libel to suggest that ANY Jewish students are… pic.twitter.com/XbP5J4VspE
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) April 28, 2024
French FM visits Lebanon in bid to prevent Israel-Hezbollah war
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne (L) meets with Lebanon's prime minister in Beirut on February 6, 2024. (Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — France’s foreign minister will push proposals to prevent further escalation and a potential war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah during a visit to Lebanon on Sunday as Paris seeks to refine a roadmap that both sides could accept to ease tensions.
France has historical ties with Lebanon and earlier this year Stephane Sejourne delivered an initiative that proposed Hezbollah’s elite unit pull back 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Israeli border, while Israel would halt strikes in southern Lebanon.
The two have exchanged tit for tat strikes in recent months, but the exchanges have increased since Iran launched a barrage of missiles on Israel in response to a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus that killed members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas Quds Force, including two generals.
France’s proposal, which has been discussed with partners, notably the United States, has not moved forward, but Paris wants to keep momentum in talks and underscore to Lebanese officials that Israeli threats of a military operation in southern Lebanon should be taken seriously.
Hezbollah has maintained it will not enter any concrete discussion until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, where the war between Israel and Islamist terror group Hamas has entered its sixth month.
Israel has also said it wants to ensure calm is restored on its northern border so that thousands of displaced Israelis can return to the area without fear of rocket attacks from across the border.
“The objective is to prevent a regional conflagration and avoid that the situation deteriorates even more on the border between Israel and Lebanon,” foreign ministry deputy spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said at a news conference.
Hospital says Ben Gvir fractured ribs in crash after his car ran red light
The car of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir after an accident in Ramle, April 26, 2024. The minister was lightly injured. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem says that Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir fractured his ribs in a car accident Friday, which occurred after his car ran a red light.
A statement from the hospital says Ben Gvir is also suffering from bruising and describes his injuries as light, though he will again remain at the medical center overnight for observation.
The hospital also says that one of Ben Gvir’s daughters has been sent home after she was lightly hurt in the crash. The statement does not mention the driver or guard who Ben Gvir’s office has said were injured.
Guests arriving to White House correspondents’ dinner greeted by anti-Israel protest
A demonstrator protests as guests arrive at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 27, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallying against Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza outside the annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, as US President Joe Biden is due to attend the event.
“Shame on you!” protesters draped in keffiyehs shout, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who are holding clutch purses, as guests and other participants hurried inside.
Chants claim US journalists are undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” crowds chanted at one point.
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.
Protesters cry “Free, free Palestine.” They cheer when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurls a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window.
Police arrest anti-Israel protesters at Indiana University, Arizona State University
The Indiana University police department in Bloomington says in an emailed statement that 23 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested there. on Saturday
Indiana State Police along with Indiana University police told demonstrators they could not pitch tents and camp on campus. When the tents were not removed, police arrested and transported protesters to the Monroe County Justice Center on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest.
“The Indiana University Police Department continues to support peaceful protests on campus that follow university policy,” the police statement reads.
#NOW Reports of mass arrests at IU Bloomington Gaza Solidarity Encampment during RAID by Policepic.twitter.com/TOdKweX70g
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) April 27, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protests against Israel have spread to college campuses across the US, stoked by the mass arrest of over 100 people on Columbia University’s campus last week.
School leaders at several universities have responded in the past week by asking police to clear out camps and arrest those who refuse to leave. While saying they defend free speech rights to protest, the leaders say they will not abide activists infringing on campus policies against hate speech or camping out on university grounds.
At Arizona State University, campus police arrested 69 protesters early Saturday, the school says in a statement.
The university says “a group of people – most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff – created an encampment and demonstration” and were arrested and charged with criminal trespass after refusing to disperse.
Lapid reiterates he’ll back government if Yesh Atid’s votes needed to okay hostage deal
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset on April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reiterates his pledge to provide the government support to approve a hostage deal, as far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are reportedly threatening to leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu’s coalition if a planned offensive in Rafah is called off as part of a hostages-for-ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
“There is a majority among the people and in the Knesset for deal, and if you need to get rid of Ben Gvir and Smotrich I will give you 24 votes in the government,” Lapid writes on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the number of parliamentary seats his Yesh Atid party holds.
“We must bring [the hostages] home.”
In the post, Lapid shares an article from the Ynet news site that quotes an unnamed official involved in the hostage negotiations blaming Netayanhu for holding up a deal, accusing him of expressing support for a deal “in more limited forums” before shifting his position during security cabinet meetings due to political pressure from Smotrich and Ben Gvir.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for latest barrage, says it fired rockets at Israeli towns
Hezbollah claims responsibility for the barrage on the Meron area, saying it launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israeli communities in the area.
The terror group says the attack is a response to recent Israeli airstrikes on towns in southern Lebanon, which the IDF has said targeted Hezbollah positions.
The IDF said 26 rockets crossed the border in the barrage, causing no damage or injuries.
IDF says 26 rockets fired in rocket barrage from Lebanon; no injuries or damage
According to the IDF, a barrage of at least 26 rockets was launched from Lebanon, striking open areas near the northern community of Bar Yohai.
Sirens had sounded in several communities in the Mount Meron area.
No damage or injuries were caused in the attack, the military says.
Additional footage of the rocket attack on Mount Meron pic.twitter.com/xgT0cqHcqe
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 27, 2024
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