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The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
World lost ‘moral compass’ on Gaza, deputy UN chief says
The international community has lost its “moral compass” on war-ravaged Gaza, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed says.
“For me, of great concern is that we have lost our moral compass on Gaza, as a humanity, as the international community,” Mohammed tells a news conference.
“We need to do something about that fast — we’re late,” she adds. “There are thousands of children that continue to lose their lives, that live amputated. There are hundreds that we are waiting to come home, hostages.”
‘Sea change’ in Gaza aid seen, but much more needed, USAID chief says
US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power acknowledges humanitarian aid into Gaza had risen sharply in the past few days, and says the higher level of aid should be sustained and increased further.
“We are seeing a sea change, which we hope is sustained and expanded upon,” Power says at a hearing of the US Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees US diplomatic and foreign assistance spending.
“We need to go way beyond the 500 trucks,” Power says, referring to the amount of aid that entered the Strip before the war.
“We have famine-like conditions in Gaza and supermarkets filled with food within a couple of kilometers away,” she says at the hearing.
US veep Harris updates families of American hostages on talks status
US Vice President Kamala Harris has met with family members of American citizens abducted on October 7, updating them on the status of ongoing hostage negotiations and stressing the Biden administration’s continued commitment to securing the release of those held in Gaza.
Harris “underscored that President Biden and she have no higher priority than reuniting the hostages with their loved ones,” according to a US readout following the White House meeting. “They and their loved ones remain at the forefront of her mind and in her prayers as the administration works to secure the release of all the hostages.”
“She also reaffirmed the US commitment to bring home the remains of those who have been tragically confirmed to be deceased,” the statement reads.
The vice president reiterates her condemnation of Hamas, including its use of sexual violence, and stressed the need for eliminating the threat posed by the terror group.
She also denounces antisemitism worldwide, which has spiked significantly since October 7.
Israel says it hit Syrian army post being used by Hezbollah
The IDF says it carried out a strike against a Syrian Army position in southern Syria, near Israel’s border, which was identified as being used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The IDF says it has intelligence indicating Hezbollah operatives used the Syrian Army site.
“The IDF holds the Syrian regime accountable for all activities which take place within its territory and will not allow for any attempted actions which could lead to the entrenchment of Hezbollah on the Syrian front,” the military says in a statement.
Meanwhile, strikes were also carried out against Hezbollah observation posts and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon in the past few hours, the IDF says.
Areas near Dhayra and Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon were also shelled with artillery to “remove threats,” according to the military.
Dutch Jews record unprecedented number of antisemitic incidents following Oct. 7
Damage from a rock hurled into the widow of Jewish home in the Netherlands on October 26, 2023. (Courtesy: CIDI)
Dutch Jewry’s watchdog on antisemitism says it documented a record 379 incidents in 2023, most of which happened after the outbreak of Israel’s war with Hamas.
The tally for 2023 documented by the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, constitutes a 245 percent increase over 2022, which also had had the previous all-time high, the group says in its annual report published Tuesday.
Of the 379 incidents, the majority of cases involve writing targeting Jewish people, such as online harassment or phone messages, the CIDI report says. There are also 66 “real-life” incidents, meaning they happened to people on the street, at their homes or at school, including three violent assaults. Another 34 incidents are of antisemitic vandalism.
“The most worrisome development we’re seeing is at schools,” CIDI writes in a statement. “The number of incidents in the education system is five times the tally of the previous year. Jewish students suffer insults, threats and violence.”
In one incident, CIDI says, a non-Jewish high school student threatened a Jewish one with a knife in an antisemitic hate crime.
Eight Syrians working with IRGC knifed to death in Deir Ezzor – report
Eight Syrian fighters working with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were killed Tuesday in a knife attack on their position in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, a war monitor says.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says “unidentified armed individuals” raided the position in the Syrian desert, in the second deadly attack on pro-Iran fighters in two days in the Mayadeen area.
The eight dead fighters “worked under the command” of Iran’s Guards and were “slaughtered” using knives, says Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria. It has been accused in the past of inflating death toll numbers.
Control of Deir Ezzor is split between US-backed Kurdish-led forces to the east of the Euphrates River and Iran-backed Syrian government forces and their proxies to the west, while Islamic State group jihadists are also active in the province.
On Monday, the Observatory said gunmen killed three Syrians who were also working with the Revolutionary Guards, in an attack on a military position on the outskirts of Mayadeen city.
UN claims no actual increase in aid entering Strip
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is disputing claims by Israel and the US that aid into Gaza has been significantly increased.
“There has been no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza or improved access to the north,” UNRWA says in its daily situation report.
Red Crescent officials in Egypt say more than 350 trucks had crossed from there into Gaza on Monday and 258 on Sunday. That was much more than in recent weeks, when the number was usually fewer than 200, they said.
However, UNRWA, the main United Nations agency in Gaza, says 223 trucks had entered on Monday, fewer than half the 500 trucks it says are required daily.
Israel says 468 aid trucks moved into Gaza on Tuesday, and 419 on Monday. Some trucks went into Gaza via land crossings with Israel.
But the UN claims many of the trucks are only half-full, inflating the Israeli count.
UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke says Israel typically counts the half-filled trucks going through an initial screening process, rather than repacked, full trucks for delivery inside Gaza.
“Trucks that go in, screened by COGAT, are typically only half full. That is a requirement that they have put in place for screening purposes. When we count the trucks on the other side, when they have been reloaded, they are full,” Laerke says.
He claims that Israel is still restricting most trucks from being able to move around.
“When you put up the statistical number of trucks going in and say, ‘Look at all these hundreds of trucks coming in’ and you put it against ‘Look how few trucks have actually moved around with distribution,’ it’s kind of an own goal, isn’t it,” he says.
There is no response from Israeli authorities.
Death toll rises in Nazareth shooting, police looking for motive
A fourth person has died in Nazareth, including the man suspected of shooting several members of his extended family before turning the gun on himself, police say.
Aside from the suspected shooter, the dead include his brother-in-law, and the brother-in-law’s brother and uncle, who had been gathered at the suspect’s sister’s house.
Police say they do not know why the suspect, identified as a resident of Iksal in his 30s, opened fire.
The suspect’s sister and mother are both injured in the shooting and listed in serious condition, police say.
The Abraham Initiatives watchdog says 49 members of the Arab community have been killed since the start of the year, outpacing 2023’s record-setting bloodletting.
Israel ready for truce deal, Hamas needs to be pushed, US adviser says
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says he believes Israel is prepared to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Sullivan is asked during a White House press briefing what Biden’s failure to secure a hostage deal before the end of Ramadan this week, after he sought to broker a deal before the holy month started, says about his ability to bring peace around the world.
“It says more about the fact that you have a party, Hamas, [that] is holding innocent people that it took hostage six months ago,” Sullivan responds. “It doesn’t get a lot of attention in the commentary.”
“There could be a ceasefire in place today that would extend for several weeks to be built upon longer if Hamas would be prepared to release some of those people, so let’s train the attention where it belongs, which is the world should say at this moment that ‘Hamas, it’s time. Let’s go. Let’s get that ceasefire.”
“I believe Israel is ready and Hamas should step up to the table and be prepared to do so as well,” he adds.
Army bombs own UAV downed by Hezbollah
An Elbit Hermes 900 is seen flying during Operation Breaking Dawn in early August 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF struck the remains of its Elbit Hermes 900 drone that was shot down by Hezbollah over southern Lebanon days ago.
In a statement, the IDF says “the Air Force struck the aircraft earlier today and destroyed it.”
Hezbollah downed the UAV with a surface-to-air missile on Saturday.
The IDF responded by striking sites belonging to the terror group’s air defense unit in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek.
US leaning on Qatar to push Hamas for response to truce proffer
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says he spoke this morning with Qatar’s prime minister and urged him to secure an answer from Hamas to the latest hostage deal offer that was put forward over the weekend.
Sullivan also praises Israel’s military withdrawal from Khan Younis “create[s] a greater opening for the movement of humanitarian goods around Gaza at a critical moment when there is a real humanitarian crisis there.”
“We welcome the opportunity to move more trucks in and around Gaza so that innocent civilians can get the food, water, medicine and other essentials that they need,” he says during a White House press conference.
But he says the amount of aid entering the Strip, which included 468 trucks and 303 air drops over the past day, while good, is still not good enough.
Israel says over 450 aid trucks entered Gaza Tuesday, marking new high
Palestinians sell sweets in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 9, 2024. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says that 468 trucks of humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip today.
The hybrid civil-military unit says that this is the highest number of trucks that have entered in any one day since the start of the war, following yesterday’s high of 419 trucks.
Forty-seven trucks carrying food were “coordinated to northern Gaza overnight,” COGAT adds.
Over the past three days, more than 1,200 aid trucks were inspected by Israeli authorities and entered Gaza, it says.
COGAT also says 303 packages carrying “hundreds of thousands of meals” were airdropped over the Palestinian enclave today.
Smotrich: Sinwar can smell weakness, we keep retreating from our red lines
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at the Maariv economic conference in Tel Aviv, March 26, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appears to slam the government’s approach to negotiations for hostages, saying that Israel has repeatedly folded on its red lines during talks.
“Hamas said no,” the far-right minister says at a conference of municipal leaders. “We keep retreating from our red lines again and again, sending improved offers,” he says.
Smotrich says Israel keeps hoping Hamas will appreciate its flexibility, “but [Hamas Gaza leader Yahya] Sinwar identifies weakness.”
Smotrich says “the only way to return the hostages is to return the military pressure on Hamas with full force. To go into Rafah and to end the humanitarian aid through Hamas and provide it ourselves. That’s the only way to win.”
Let our people go free, families of hostages urge in Jerusalem
Relatives of hostages rallying outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem address a crowd of supporters as they call on political leaders meeting nearby to agree to a deal to free their loved ones.
“We are approaching Passover, the holiday of liberation. Do everything so they can be here to celebrate Passover properly with us,” says Efrat Machikawa, niece of hostage Gadi Moses.
“The people of Israel will not forgive you and will not be able to move forward and begin to rehabilitate if you do not sign a deal,” adds Moses’ daughter-in-law Einav Moses. “There is a cruel enemy across the table, and they are creating difficulties — we know. But a strong prime minister and a strong government that desires life and wants to give its citizens a truly good future will find a way to overcome the obstacles the enemy puts on the table and bring all the hostages back — because that is its national and moral responsibility.”
Shortly thereafter, Gilad Korngold, father of hostage Tal Shoham, leads protesters to once again block Ruppin Street, this time accompanied by police who redirect traffic, before the group leaves after several hours of protesting.
Eurovision organizer slams ‘online abuse’ aimed at artists over Israeli inclusion
Hosts Alesha Dixon, Graham Norton, Hannah Waddingham and Julia Sanina appear on stage during the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 on May 13, 2023 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, northern England. (Paul Ellis/AFP)
The European Broadcasting Union, the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest, issues a statement decrying threats directed at participants in this year’s competition linked to the ongoing war in Gaza and the decision to allow Israel to compete.
Jean Philip De Tender, the EBU’s deputy director, says in a statement that while “we understand that people will want to engage in debate and express their deeply held views” on the conflict, the EBU cannot accept “the targeted social media campaigns against some of our participating artists.”
De Tender stresses that the decision to include Israel “is the sole responsibility of the EBU’s governing bodies.” He says that while everyone has the right to express their opinion, “we firmly oppose any form of online abuse, hate speech, or harassment directed at our artists,” who have no role in the decision-making process.
Security is expected to be on high alert ahead of the contest in Malmo, Sweden, next month, as the EBU has faced months of protests and boycott campaigns to exclude Israel from the contest. Israeli entrant Eden Golan, who will be singing “Hurricane” at the competition, is expected to be accompanied by heavy Shin Bet security, and the National Security Council has warned Israelis attending the event not to flaunt their identity.
Some of the participants in this year’s competition have faced online campaigns calling on them to drop out over Israel’s inclusion. The EBU has even posted a full FAQ directly addressing Israel’s participation this year.
Three dead in suspected double murder-suicide in Nazareth
Three people have been killed in a suspected double murder-suicide in the northern city of Nazareth.
Police say the shooting occurred inside a house after a man entered and began firing at family members inside, before taking his own life.
Two people are taken to a hospital in serious condition, police say. Reports indicate others also suffer non-life-threatening injuries.
Among those shot are the man’s wife, brother-in-law and father-in-law, the Kan broadcaster reports.
Iranian retaliation won’t target civilians, Israel reported to estimate
Israeli military officials estimate that an Iranian response to the alleged strike on a Damascus mission will not come until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which ends April 12, Channel 12 news reports.
The army also thinks an attack will target military or strategic assets and not civilian sites.
According to the report, Israel is preparing for the possibility of an attack coming from any of a number of proxies, or from Iran itself, as well as the possibility of a multi-pronged assault.
UK assessment finds arms sales to Israel can continue
A UK government assessment of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza determined that London can continue exporting arms to Israel, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says.
“The latest assessment leave our position on export licences unchanged. This is consistent with the advice that I and other ministers have received. As ever, we will keep the position under review,” Cameron says at a Washington press conference alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The British government has faced growing calls to halt arms sales to Israel, including last week from London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Israel remains a vital security partner for the UK, Cameron notes, while saying that London continues to have grave concerns regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Cameron’s comments appear to be the latest rebuff of those demands.
Army says troops left Khan Younis to prepare for Rafah offensive, aid being increased
Injured men walk with crutches past children sitting atop the rubble of a collapsed building along a street in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 9, 2024. (AFP)
The Israel Defense Forces confirms that its 98th Division was withdrawn from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis for troops to prepare for additional operations, including an expected offensive in Rafah.
The 98th Division had fought in Khan Younis for four straight months and had achieved its goals there, according to military officials.
The IDF says that it will meanwhile work to increase humanitarian aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip, to ostensibly increase its legitimacy to continue fighting Hamas.
The IDF also says that the army is prepared to handle any constraints that it may face as part of a potential hostage deal with Hamas.
Meaning, the IDF believes it will have no issue in resuming fighting in the event of a lengthy truce, and it will be able to work around Palestinians potentially returning to northern Gaza as part of a hostage deal with the terror group, which has reportedly been one of Hamas’s demands.
Good truce deal on table, ball in Hamas’s court – top US diplomat
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Hamas has been presented a “very serious offer” for a truce and hostage deal that “should be accepted.”
“Hamas could end all of this immediately and get a ceasefire that would benefit the people of Gaza and get the hostages homes. The fact that it continues to not say ‘yes’ is a reflection of what it really thinks about the people of Gaza, which is not much at all,” Blinken says at a Washington press conference with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
Hamas “has an opportunity now to agree to the proposal on a ceasefire and hostages. The ball is in Hamas’s court. The world is watching to see what it does,” Blinken says.
“So much of the understandable outrage and anger is directed at Israel for the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but some of that might also need to be directed at Hamas. It is astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas.”
“We wouldn’t be where we are today had Hamas not chosen to engage in one of the most horrific acts of terrorism on October 7 and had they having done that not refused this many months to stop hiding behind civilian, put down their arms, release hostages and surrender. Where is the outrage there?”
Asked whether he agrees with the assessment made by Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s mother Rachel that the brokers have thus far failed, Blinken says, “Until the day that Hersh is home, we will have not succeeded.”
US in dark about date picked for Rafah operation, Blinken says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel has not informed the Biden administration of the date on which it plans to launch an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had decided on one.
The top US diplomat says at a Washington press conference alongside UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron that the Biden administration continues to hold discussions with Israel regarding a potential Rafah operation, voicing its opposition to such an offensive due to its belief that the IDF will not be able to safely evacuate the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah and to care for them once they have been moved.
“We’re talking to them about alternative and effective ways of solving the problems that need to be solved, but doing it in a way that does not endanger the innocent,” Blinken says, noting that a senior-level delegation of Israeli officials will be visiting Washington next week to discuss the matter further.
“We are committed to ensuring that Hamas cannot govern or dictate the future of Gaza or anything else for that matter, but how Israel conducts any further operations in Gaza matters a great deal,” he adds.
Protesters calling for hostage deal block Jerusalem road
Demonstrators block roads, calling for a hostage deal, in Jerusalem's Yigal Shiloh Square on April 9, 2024. (Maya Zanger-Nadis/Times of Israel)
Demonstrators briefly block Ruppin Road outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem as they call on the government to agree to a deal to return the hostages from Gaza.
“We learned that the prime minister [might be] delaying many chances to get a deal signed,” says protester Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat is held captive in Gaza. “Right now, we hear that there is a deal on the table.”
“We must make sure that we don’t lose this chance, or else we might get a ceasefire… without the return of the hostages. That’s our biggest fear right now.”
The group moves off the road and back onto sidewalks after a short while in response to police orders.
A small number of counter protesters are situated nearby, calling on leaders not to “bend to Hamas.”
UK’s Cameron: International community should prepare for Rafah invasion if talks fail
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says world powers must plan for the possibility that ongoing hostage talks may not bear fruit and that Israel could move forward with its operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Plan A is for the US, Qatar and Egypt to secure a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas for a temporary pause in the fighting that can be turned into a sustainable ceasefire during which Hamas leaders are removed from Gaza and terror infrastructure is dismantled. “That is the way to have a political process that brings the war to an end,” Cameron says in a press conference alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.
“We have to be aware that if it doesn’t work, we have to think about Plan B — what is it that humanitarian and other organizations can do to make sure that if there is a conflict in Rafah, that people can achieve safety — they can get food, water and medicine,” the top British diplomat says, noting that he will be discussing the matter today in his meeting with Blinken.
Cameron says the UK’s policy on the war is four-pronged: supporting the hostages, getting more aid into Gaza, leading on the international stage through initiatives such as last month’s UN Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire and hostage release and supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
The highlighting of the fourth prong appeared notable amid growing calls in the UK and other countries to cut assistance to Israel due to the high death toll in Gaza.
“We want to see 500 trucks a day, we want to see the water supply switched back on, we want to see Ashdod and a northern crossing point open and crucially we want to see this deconfliction because getting aid to Gaza on its own isn’t enough. You’ve got to be able to get aid around Gaza,” Cameron says.
IDF draws fire from far right as settlement minor placed under administrative house arrest
A 14-year-old resident of Yitzhar has been issued with an administrative order placing him under nightly house arrest and banning him from leaving the West Bank settlement.
According to the Honenu legal aid organization, which often represents extremist settlers and other Israeli Jews accused of nationalistic-motivated crimes, the order was issued by head of IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, and is valid for three months.
Honenu describes the administrative order as “crazy,” and denounces Fox, who has become a hated figure for much of the settlement movement and the Israeli hard right, for “persecuting the community of settlers.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a pro-settlement hardliner, slams Fox and attacks Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the “insane” decision.
“This is not what a defense minister who is protecting settlers looks like, it is what a defense minister who is harassing them looks like,” he says.
Several such orders have been issued by the security services since the outbreak of war with Hamas, amid a severe spike in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank following the October 7 Hamas onslaught.
Blinken: Israel promised to up Gaza aid, 400 trucks entered Monday
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel has made “important commitments” to boost Gaza aid, followed through on some of them and will hopefully implement other pledged steps in the coming days.
Israel agreed to open another northern crossing into Gaza for aid, allow maritime aid deliveries through its Ashdod Port, expand the aid it allows in through Jordan and develop more effective deconfliction mechanisms to ensure that humanitarian workers are protected.
Over 400 trucks of aid entered Gaza yesterday, “but what matters… [are] sustained results and… that includes making sure that the assistance… is distributed effectively throughout Gaza,” Blinken says in a Washington press conference alongside visiting British Foreign Minister David Cameron.
Blinken notes that both the US and the UK have citizens being held hostage by Hamas and that they’re working with Israel, Egypt and Qatar to secure a deal that will see a truce, hostage release and surge of aid into Gaza.
US defense chief says Israel has changed behavior since World Central Kitchen strike
Protesters interrupted US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tells a Senate hearing that Israel has changed how it is operating in response to US President Joe Biden’s conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers last week.
“It clearly had an effect, we have seen changes in behavior, and we have seen more humanitarian assistance being pushed into Gaza, there needs to be more still,” he says. “But I think the president’s conversation did have a positive effect.”
He declines to detail the contents of the talks between Biden and Netanyahu.
He also says that Israel is taking steps to investigate the bombing and hold those responsible accountable, following a conversation he had with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The World Central Kitchen strike led to a shift in tone from US President Joe Biden on how Israel must protect civilian life in Gaza and drove dozens of House Democrats, including former house speaker Nancy Pelosi, to call on Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel.
Maine Independent Angus King tells Austin that the US should have paused weapons transfers.
Austin also warns that mass famine in Gaza would likely accelerate violence and ensure a long-term conflict.
“It will accelerate violence, and it will have the effect of ensuring that there’s a long-term conflict,” Austin says. “It doesn’t have to happen… We should continue to do everything we can, and we are doing this, to encourage the Israelis to provide humanitarian assistance.”
Reuters contributed to this post.
Hostage families rally for deal as political leadership meets
Dozens converge on Jerusalem's Yigal Shiloh Square to call on the security cabinet to bring home all hostages held by Hamas before its meeting on April 9, 2024. (Maya Zanger-Nadis/Times of Israel)
Dozens of protesters, including relatives of captives held in Gaza, are gathering in Yigal Shiloh Square in Jerusalem in hopes of putting pressure on Israel’s security cabinet to reach a deal that frees the hostages.
Families of hostages call on members of the cabinet to “look them in the eyes” before making a decision, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“The cabinet is responsible for the lives of the hostages,” they chant. “Time is running out, bring everyone back, now!”
The rally takes place as the security cabinet is set to hold a meeting to discuss hostage talks in Cairo, following a war cabinet meeting on the same subject currently taking place.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m.
IRGC naval chief threatens to close key strait, says response to consulate attack coming
Iran's navy members stand on Ghadir-942 submarine in southern port of Bandar Abbas, Iran, at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Nov. 29, 2018. (Rahbar Emamdadi/Mehr News Agency via AP)
The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy says it could close the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime route where much of the world’s oil passes, if deemed necessary.
“We can close the Hormuz Strait, but are not doing so. However, if the enemy comes to disrupt us, we will review our policy,” Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri tells pro-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet al-Meyadeen.
He says if US nuclear vessels enter Iranian waters, the Hormuz Strait “will become unusable for several years.”
Iran has threatened to close the strait in response to tensions with Israel and the US in the past.
The commander also says Israel’s presence in the United Arab Emirates is viewed as a threat by Tehran.
“We know that the Zionists were not brought to the UAE for economic purposes, but rather for security and military work. This is a threat to us and should not happen,” Tangsiri says.
He also says Iran is taking its time, but will eventually respond to an alleged Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Syria’s capital on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers, including two senior commanders.
“We do not get hit without striking back, but we are also not hasty in our retaliation,” Tangsiri says.
No genocide in Gaza or on October 7, US defense chief says
The United States does not have evidence that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as it carries out its war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tells a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
“We don’t have evidence of that,” Austin tells the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He also declines to term Hamas atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 a genocide, but does call them a “war crime.”
Austin says a pier being built by US troops meant to facilitate humanitarian deliveries via a maritime route will be ready by the third weekend of this month.
He says it is still being worked out who in Gaza will distribute the aid brought to the pier.
Austin’s opening remarks are temporarily interrupted by protesters lifting a Palestinian flag and shouting at him to stop sending weapons to Israel. “Stop the genocide,” they say, as they lift their hands, stained in red, in the air.
War of words as Jerusalem upbraids Oslo over Hamas stance
Israel’s Foreign Ministry lashes out at Norway, saying the European country is alone among “like-minded countries” in continuing to back the Hamas terror group while refusing to condemn sexual violence against Israeli victims.
“It is shocking that the murders, rapes and other atrocities that the terrorists of Hamas committed did not change the Norwegian government’s position at all,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat says on X.
The browbeating comes in response to a statement by Norway’s foreign minister on Sunday that largely took aim at Israel over its handling of the war in Gaza, alleging “a complete breakdown in compliance with the rules of humanitarian law.”
The statement only fleetingly touched on Hamas’s October 7 massacre and ongoing hostage crisis, but did note efforts with “like-minded and several Arab countries” to end the war.
“We searched the Norwegian statement and did not find a single reference to the horrific sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli women and men on October 7th,” Haiat says.
“Norway displays a lack of proportionality and double standards towards the State of Israel, ” he charges.
Moroccan who protested Israel ties given five years in prison
Moroccans demonstrate on November 26, 2023 in Casablanca, calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the suspension of diplomatic ties with Israel. (AFP)
An activist who criticized Morocco’s decision to normalize relations with Israel has been sentenced to five years in prison, a human rights group says.
Abdul Rahman Zankad of Mohammedia, Morocco, was arrested in March after posting on Facebook about the Israel-Hamas war and Morocco’s 2020 decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, the Moroccan Space for Human Rights says in a statement.
A court on Monday found him guilty of insulting a constitutional institution and incitement. He was also fined 50,000 Moroccan dirhams ($5,000). The civil liberty advocacy group, which organizes the legal defense of protesters, calls the charges baseless and says the proceedings violated Zankad’s right to a fair trial.
His sentence “only serves to solidify the certainty that we are in a state riddled by authoritarianism and tyranny,” the group says.
Zankad is a member of Morocco’s Al Adl Wal Ihsane, a banned but tolerated Islamist association that has been a driving force behind protests against Israel and for Palestinian groups, including Hamas, since the war in Gaza began.
The protesters have criticized Israel’s allies, including the United States, and chanted demands for the government to “overturn normalization.”
“We condemn this unjust ruling in the strongest terms. It is a continuation of the unjust rulings targeting opponents from Al Adl Wal Ihsane, journalists, and leaders of the Rif Movement,” the Moroccan Space for Human Rights says, referencing a 2016 protest movement whose leaders were later sentenced and imprisoned.
Court orders soccer coach to remain in jail over ramming protesters, says car worked fine
Haim Sirotkin, the driver who is suspected of running over protesters at a demonstration in Tel Aviv on April 6, 2024, arrives for a hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court the next day. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)
A man accused of ramming his car into anti-government protesters blocking a road Saturday night has been ordered to remain behind bars for several more days, with a judge rebuffing his defense that his vehicle had malfunctioned.
Five protesters suffered non-life-threatening injuries when soccer coach Haim Sirotkin’s sedan plowed through them on Begin Road in Tel Aviv. Sirotkin has claimed he did not mean to hurt anyone and that his accelerator got stuck.
Tel Aviv District Court Judge Yaron Levy accepts police testimony that no issue was found with his vehicle, overturning a Magistrate’s Court decision from a day ago to release him to house arrest.
“Sirotkin’s behavior shows a deep disregard for human life and his dangerousness. It’s a miracle there was not more harm to human life,” Levy says in his decision, according to Hebrew media reports.
Sirotkin is ordered to remain in custody until Friday at least, Haaretz reports.
US proposal would allow 150,000 Gazans to return to north of Strip — report
A tank moves near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (AP/Leo Correa)
The Wall Street Journal reports that an American proposal for a Gaza truce and hostage deal would see 150,000 Palestinians allowed to return to the north of the Strip.
Israel has sought to limit the number of men allowed to return to the north over concerns that Hamas members could slip through and re-establish control, rolling back Israeli military gains that sought to oust the terror group from its power base.
No source is cited in the Wall Street Journal report, which notes that a previous Israeli offer included allowing 60,000 to return north.
Over a million Gazans are thought to have fled from the north in the first months of the fighting, which had concentrated on Gaza City and its environs. Many of them are now in the far southern city of Rafah, which Israel says it must conquer next to complete its goal of eliminating the terror group.
Hamas has demanded Gazans be allowed unfettered access to the north as part of any hostage deal, along with an end to the fighting and a total withdrawal of troops.
Previous reports have noted the issue of a return north as one of several major sticking points in talks taking place in Cairo now.
The Journal report quotes Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator, saying that the latest proposal, which was put forward by CIA chief William Burns over the weekend, does not address whether the truce will be temporary, as Israel insists on, or intended to end the war, a Hamas demand.
Australia to weigh recognition of Palestinian state, Canberra says
Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong says Canberra will consider recognition of a Palestinian state, “as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution.”
“A two-state solution is the only hope to break the endless cycle of violence,” she says at the Australian National University, rejecting “those who claim recognition is rewarding an enemy.”
“There is no long-term security for Israel unless it is recognised by the countries of its region,” she says, referring to a Saudi proposal that would see much of the Arab world normalize relations should a Palestinian state be established.
Wong, however, rules out a role for Hamas, whose control of Gaza Israel is attempting to topple.
“There is no role for Hamas in a future Palestinian state,” she says.
War cabinet set to huddle over hostage talks proposals
The war cabinet will meet at 5 p.m. to look at proposals for a hostage deal in the ongoing talks in Cairo, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The meeting of the three-man panel will be followed by a summit of the larger security cabinet at 7 p.m., the official says.
An official in Jerusalem told The Times of Israel earlier that significant gaps remain between the sides, tempering previous optimism.
The Hamas terror group issued a statement earlier confirming that it had received Israel’s latest proposal through Qatari and Egyptian brokers. It called the offer “intransigent,” but said it would study it further before delivering a response to the mediators.
Netanyahu vows to newly recruited surveillance soldiers that Hamas will never again be able to act against Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with new recruits drafting to the IDF's Border Defense Corps at the Tel Hashomer military base, April 9, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells new recruits being drafted to the IDF’s Border Defense Corps that they are being enlisted to protect Israel’s existence and to ensure the safety of generations of Israelis to come.
In a visit to Tel Hashomer military base in central Israel, Netanyahu tells the newly drafted future combat and surveillance soldiers that they are joining a long line of people before them who have defended Israel from its enemies “sometimes at a very heavy price.”
“We are protecting the existence of the country, which is also the personal existence of each and every one of you, of our families, of your friends but also of future generations,” he says.
He adds that “there is no force in the world” that will prevent Israel from achieving its stated goal of eliminating Hamas and vows that nothing like the October 7 massacre that sparked the war with the terror group will ever be allowed to happen again.
“Every one of you now, in your service, will contribute one way or another to the completion of the goal. This is the way it has to be. After doing something like this to our country, [Hamas] won’t do it again.”
On October 7, some 15 surveillance soldiers were murdered on the Nahal Oz military base by invading Hamas terrorists, and several others were abducted to Gaza.
US gives seized Iranian weapons, ammo to Ukraine to aid fight against Russia
A handout picture released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on February 15, 2024, shows a US navy cutter next to a vessel reportedly carrying a shipment of Iranian weapons destined for Yemen's Houthi rebels which was seized on January 28. (CENTCOM/AFP)
The United States has given Ukraine small arms and ammunition that were seized while being transferred from Iranian forces to Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the US military says Tuesday.
The transfer last week came as Ukraine suffers from significant shortages of ammunition and US Republican lawmakers block new aid, but it does not address Kyiv’s need for key items such as artillery and air defense munitions.
“The US government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces” on Thursday, the US Central Command says on social media.
“These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion” and are enough material to equip a brigade, it says.
The arms and ammunition were seized between May 2021 and February 2023 from four “stateless vessels” as they were being transferred from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, CENTCOM adds.
The Houthis have been targeting ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea since November 2023 in attacks they claim are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas — a major international security challenge that threatens a major shipping lane.
“Iran’s support for armed groups threatens international and regional security, our forces, diplomatic personnel, and citizens in the region, as well as those of our partners. We will continue to do whatever we can to shed light on and stop Iran’s destabilizing activities,” CENTCOM says.
Iran trying to flood the West Bank with weapons, open new front in Israel’s war – report
Weapons recovered by IDF troops from the West Bank's Tulkarem camp, January 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Iran is attempting to flood the West Bank with weapons and drag it into Israel’s conflicts with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, the New York Times reports after the Shin Bet said last month that it had foiled attempts by Tehran to smuggle large shipments of advanced weapons to terror operatives in the West Bank.
According to the report, Iran operates smuggling routes across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and even Israel, with large weapons shipments being transported from country to country via terror operatives, soldiers or criminal gangs before they arrive in the West Bank with the help of Bedouin smugglers who transport them to the Palestinian territory from the Jordanian border.
Citing Iranian, US and Israeli security and intelligence officials, the New York Times states that the majority of the smuggled weapons are handguns and assault rifles, but that anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades are also frequently transferred.
The smuggling operation has been ongoing for around two years, and analysts say that they don’t know how many weapons have been transferred in that time.
IDF wraps up major drill in northern Israel amid daily Hezbollah attacks
An Israeli Navy vessel is seen near the Lebanon border during a drill, in an image released April 9, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it has wrapped up a large-scale drill in northern Israel, involving the 146th Reserve Division, Navy and Air Force, as well as police and rescue services.
The 146th Division, the IDF’s largest reserve division, has been operating in the Western Galilee since the beginning of the war, the military says.
According to the IDF, the drill simulated several scenarios, including defending the region, evacuating wounded under fire, and different attacks.
The IDF says the drill is aimed at “increasing readiness and strengthening cooperation between the forces.”
“The IDF continues to train vigorously in order to maintain full readiness for all threats and attempts by the enemy to harm the citizens of Israel or its territory,” the military adds.
The drill comes amid daily attacks by the Hezbollah terror group on northern Israel.
Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 Hamas assault and said that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
WATCH: IDF releases footage of drone interception over Eilat by ship-mounted Iron Dome system
The IDF releases footage of last night’s interception of a drone over the Eilat area, by the ship-mounted Iron Dome air defense system, known as C-Dome.
In a statement, the IDF confirms the drone entered Israeli airspace from the east.
The target was tracked throughout the incident, and in coordination with air traffic control, a Sa’ar 6-class corvette fired interceptor missiles at the drone, downing it, the IDF says.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a coalition of Iran-backed paramilitary groups, this morning claims to have targeted an unspecified “vital target” in Israel as well as the Hatzerim Airbase near Beersheba.
American streamer Johnny Somali arrested for sexually harassing police officer during Tel Aviv protest
American online streamer Ramsey Khalid Ismael, known by his online alias Johnny Somali, was arrested yesterday for sexually harassing Israeli police officers during anti-government and hostage deal protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, the police say.
Somali was recording live for his social media accounts at the time of the incident and records himself calling the police officer a “bitch,” telling her “I’ll slap that ass,” and other vulgar comments.
At the end of an investigation, Somali was arrested on suspicion of interfering with a police officer in the performance of duty, insulting a public servant, rioting in a public place and violation of privacy.
He is now awaiting a hearing ahead of his deportation from the country, the police add.
Somali has been arrested elsewhere in the past for similar incidents of harassment and public disturbances. In 2023, he was arrested in Japan for trespassing, and then again shortly after for public disturbances.
Israel to buy 40,000 tents to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah ahead of ground offensive, official says
A Palestinian man ferries water at a makeshift camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 4, 2024 (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
An Israeli official confirms that Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah.
Four Hamas battalions are believed to be stationed in Rafah, and Israel has said that without launching an offensive in Rafah, it won’t be able to achieve the goals laid out at the start of the war.
Rafah is also thought to be where Hamas leaders are hidden, possibly along with Israeli hostages.
The population of Rafah has swelled to more than one million people — or half of Gaza’s total population — since the start of the war as civilians evacuated southward to flee the fighting between Israel and Hamas. As such, the international community, including the US, opposes the offensive, saying it would endanger Palestinian civilians.
Israel has said it has a plan to evacuate civilians ahead of its offensive, and the Defense Ministry on Monday published a tender seeking a supplier of tents.
The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the tents were part of the Rafah preparations.
Germany tells World Court that Israel’s security is at the ‘core’ of Berlin’s foreign policy
Judge Nawaf Salam, third right, speaks at the start of a two days hearing at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Israel’s security is at the “core” of German foreign policy, the UN’s highest court hears, where Berlin is defending itself against a claim that it is furnishing Israel with weapons being used in Gaza.
“Our history is the reason why Israel’s security has been at the core of Germany foreign policy,” Germany’s representative tells the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The case for legal action against Germany was brought to the World Court by Nicaragua, a longtime supporter of Palestinian causes, under the government of its far-left authoritarian President Daniel Ortega.
“Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case, has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua wrote in its petition to the ICJ.
Germany has rejected the allegations, and Israel has also dismissed accusations of genocide, saying its attacks in the Gaza Strip are targeted against Hamas terrorists and designed to cause as little collateral damage as possible.
Erdogan is prepared to sacrifice Turkey’s economy to support Hamas, Foreign Minister Katz charges
Foreign Minister Israel Katz accuses Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of placing the interests of Hamas above those of Turkey’s economic well-being after Turkey announced it was restricting exports to Israel until a ceasefire is implemented in Gaza.
“Erdogan is once again sacrificing the economic interests of the people of Turkey for his support of Hamas,” Katz says, adding that in return, Israel “will respond accordingly and prepare an extended list of additional products that Israel will prevent Turkey from exporting.”
Germany gives each Holocaust survivor in Israel a wartime $238 solidarity grant
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is giving out a one-time grant of €220 ($238) to Holocaust survivors living in Israel as part of an emergency response to the war with Hamas and the conflict with Hezbollah.
The grant comes from a dedicated fund, titled the Solidarity for Israel Fund, which totals €25 million ($27 million) and was provided by the German government following talks with the Claims Conference and Israel’s Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority, the Claims Conference says in a statement Tuesday.
The extra cash is necessary because, for Holocaust survivors who came to Israel because it’s a haven for Jews, “to be unsettled is retraumatizing and requires additional support and services,” says Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, which represents the Jewish people in compensation negotiations with Germany for the Holocaust.
Nearly half of all Holocaust survivors, whose number is estimated at 270,00, reside in Israel, according to a 2023 report based on the Claims Conference records of all living Holocaust survivors around the world who have received compensation through its mechanism.
IDF says recent Khan Younis airstrike killed terrorist who took part in October 7 massacre
The IDF says a recent airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis killed a terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught.
Also over the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck several sites belonging to terror groups across the Gaza Strip, including buildings, rocket launch positions, and other infrastructure, according to the IDF.
Among the targets were also a building and tunnel shafts adjacent to a launch site used in a rocket attack on Re’im yesterday, the IDF says.
Meanwhile, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade continues to operate in central Gaza, where it says the troops killed several gunmen over the past day in close-quarters combat.
Additional operatives deemed by the troops to be a threat were killed in airstrikes and sniper fire, the IDF adds.
IDF issues correction after publishing video mistakenly labeled as strike on senior Hezbollah commander
After being contacted by The Times of Israel, the IDF has issued the correct video of a strike in southern Lebanon’s as-Sultaniyah yesterday in which a senior Hezbollah commander was killed.
The original video published by the IDF was of a separate strike on a Hezbollah position in Kafr Kila, and mistakenly labeled as the strike on the commander.
“The incident was investigated and the necessary lessons were learned to prevent future errors,” the IDF says in response to a query.
IDF says it targeted Syrian Army sites in southern Syria after rocket fire to Golan Heights
The IDF overnight targeted sites belonging to the Syrian Army in the town of Mhajjah, in response to rocket fire on the Golan Heights, the military says.
Another Syrian Army post was shelled with artillery, as was the rocket launch site, the IDF adds.
Also overnight, two projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the Misgav Am area, hitting open areas and causing no injuries, the IDF says.
IDF confirms overnight strike killing head of Hamas ’emergency committee’ in central Gaza
Hatem al-Ghamri, the head of the Hamas emergency committee in Gaza who was killed in an overnight strike in central Gaza's Maghazi camp on April 8, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF confirms carrying out a strike in Gaza’s Maghazi camp last night, killing Hatem al-Ghamri, the head of the so-called emergency committee in the central part of the Strip.
The emergency committee is a Hamas body tasked with maintaining public order and civil control in the Strip’s municipalities.
According to the IDF, al-Ghamri, in addition to being head of the emergency committee in the Central Camps, was also an operative in the Hamas military wing, responsible for rocket fire from the Maghazi area.
Palestinian media reported that at least five people were killed in the strike.
Turkey restricts exports to Israel after it said it was blocked from joining Gaza aid airdrops
Thousands demonstrate in Istanbul in solidarity with the Palestinian people amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza enclave,January 1, 2024. (Yasin Akgul/AFP)
Effective immediately, Turkey will impose restrictions on the export of products from 54 different categories to Israel until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza, the Turkish Trade Ministry says.
In a statement following Ankara’s announcement that it would be taking measures after it said Israel rejected its request to take part in an aid airdrop, the ministry says the restrictions would include iron and steel products, construction equipment and products, machines and more.
Turkey, which openly supports the Hamas terror group, has sent tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid there since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
Tehran unlikely to attack Israel directly, wants proxies to carry out attacks instead – CNN
Iran is unlikely to attack Israel directly and is instead urging its various proxies to launch attacks on Tehran’s behalf, unnamed US intelligence sources tell CNN, contradicting previous assessments by both Washington and Jerusalem that an attack by Iran was “inevitable.”
According to the CNN report, Tehran does not want to significantly escalate the situation as it is concerned about US or Israeli responses to any attack it launches.
Instead, the US intelligence sources allege that Iran has urged its proxies to launch large-scale drone and missile attacks on Israel in the coming days.
UN chief demands Israel allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, says situation enables ‘false narratives’ to flourish
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, at the foreign ministry headquarters in the Egypt's New Administrative Capital, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls for Israel to allow foreign journalists to enter the Gaza Strip, claiming that an “information war” is worsening the impact of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Denying international journalists entry into Gaza is allowing disinformation and false narratives to flourish,” he writes on X, formerly Twitter.
His statement coincides with a statement from the Foreign Press Association, which assists foreign reporters covering events in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, in which it calls for Israel to allow foreign press to return to enter the Palestinian enclave.
“The barring of independent press access to a war zone for this long is unprecedented for Israel,” the statement reads. “It raises questions about what Israel does not want international journalists to see.”
“The decision whether to be on the ground in Gaza should be up to each individual international media outlet,” FPA adds. “The blanket ban has limited the world’s ability to witness the true cost of the war to all sides.”
In January, the High Court ruled that Israel could continue barring foreign journalists from accessing the Strip, citing ongoing security concerns after months in which only Gazans or correspondents accompanied by the army have been able to report from the enclave.
In their ruling, High Court justices Ruth Ronen, Khaled Kabub, and Daphne Barak-Erez accepted the Defense Ministry’s stance that the escorted tours provided an appropriate measure of press freedom given “extreme security concerns at this time and concrete security threats that go with approving entry permits for independent journalists.”
Israel prepared to strike Iranian nuclear facilities if Tehran launches attack – report
Posters depicting victims of an air strike on the consular annex of the Iranian embassy's headquarters in Damascus are displayed during a memorial service for them at the premises in the Syrian capital on April 3, 2024.(Photo by Louai BESHARA / AFP)
If Iran attacks Israel directly in response to last week’s strike in Damascus, Israel will retaliate by striking targets in Iran, the London-based Elaph News reports.
Citing an unnamed “Western security official,” the report alleges that Israel has been conducting air force drills in recent days that include preparing to target Iranian nuclear facilities and other key infrastructure.
Both Damascus and Tehran blame Israel for last Monday’s raid in which seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed, but Israel has not commented on the matter.
Trump: Biden is ‘100% on the Palestinians’ side; I don’t get how Jews vote Democrat
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wear protective glasses as they view the solar eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Former US President Donald Trump claims his successor Joe Biden is “100 percent” on the side of the Palestinians.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel and frankly, should be spoken to — How a Jewish person can vote for Biden or a Democrat because they are on the side 100% of the Palestinians, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it,” Trump tells the conservative Real America’s Voice network.
“Frankly, it’s incredible that historically Jewish people vote for Democrats. I don’t understand that,” he says, reiterating a point he has begrudgingly made over the past several years.
“I’ve been more pro-Israel than any other president by far with Golan Heights — throw that one in there by the way… nobody even asked for it, and I got that for them,” Trump continues, highlighting his decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
“Maybe it’s just a bad habit when you vote for a Democrat, but I don’t know how anybody that is Jewish votes for a Democrat,” he says.
Relatives of American hostages to meet VP Tuesday after sitting down with Sullivan
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 4, 2024. (Allison Joyce/AFP)
Relatives of several American hostages being held in Gaza will meet on Tuesday with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, a US official says, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
The hostage families met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday.
‘Qatar does not pay Hamas’: Doha hits back at GOP lawmaker’s claim
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani looks on during a meeting with the US Secretary of State at Lusail Palace, in Doha on February 6, 2024, during his Middle East tour, his fifth urgent trip to the region since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza erupted in October. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)
Qatar’s Embassy in Washington hits back at US House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer who issued a statement earlier today asserting that Doha has paid the Hamas terror group $30 million per month since 2018.
“Qatar does not pay Hamas,” the embassy says in a tweet. “In full coordination with the Government of Israel, Qatar has contributed humanitarian assistance in Gaza since 2018.”
It points to two forms of assistance — “fuel purchases from Israel to supply a Gaza power station to generate electricity in Gaza, under the supervision of the United Nations Office of Project Services. The Israeli Government controlled all fuel transfers at the Gaza border.”
The second form has been payments since 2021 administered by the World Food Program providing $100 million per month to poor families in Gaza in stipends overseen by Israel.
The Qatari aid was sought and appreciated by Israel in the decade leading up to Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, documents obtained by The Times of Israel last month showed.
“The United States also supported Qatar’s humanitarian contributions. In 2018, President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, endorsed the Israel-Qatar agreement to channel aid to Gaza. He said, ‘Qatar partnering with Israel can bring real relief to the people of Gaza,'” the Qatari embassy notes.
The tweet goes on to highlight Qatar’s ongoing efforts in mediating Gaza truces through hostage releases.
“There is more work to be done, and urgently. Misinformation about Qatar and its humanitarian contributions is unhelpful to these delicate negotiations,” the Qatari embassy adds.
Israel has become increasingly critical of Qatar in the four months since the last hostage deal, arguing that Doha has failed to sufficiently pressure Hamas, whose leaders it hosts at Washington’s behest.
A confidential report by a team of veteran US and Israeli intelligence professionals working on behalf of lawyers for the families of October 7 victims contends that Qatar should not be allowed to continue to serve as a key mediator, claiming that Doha is a fundamentally disingenuous actor.
Gallant briefs Austin on IDF withdrawal from portions of Gaza and future war planning
File: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed “the urgent need to dramatically increase humanitarian assistance delivery to Gaza, including by implementing steps approved by the Israeli war cabinet in a phone call earlier today with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon says.
The pair also discussed the IDF probe into its deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy last week and “the need for procedural changes to ensure such incidents never happen again,” the US readout says.
“Gallant provided details about the IDF’s withdrawal from portions of Gaza and the future of Israel’s campaign against Hamas,” it adds.
“Austin voiced his commitment to supporting the unconditional return of all hostages and expressed hope that ongoing negotiations would produce a pause in hostilities.”
He “also affirmed unwavering US support for Israel’s defense in light of threats posed by Iran and its proxy network,” the readout adds.
Hamas claims ‘intransigent’ proposal from Israel doesn’t meet any Palestinian demands
In an early morning statement, Hamas says Israel’s proposal for a truce and hostage release deal that it received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators does not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions.
However, the terror group adds that it will study the proposal, which it describes as “intransigent,” and deliver its response to the mediators.
The statement comes intensive US efforts to achieve a deal for the release of over 100 hostages held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip since October 7 in exchange for a truce in the ongoing war.
The deal currently under discussion would provide for the release of some 40 Israeli captives held in Gaza in return for a temporary truce and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, including some convicted of deadly attacks.
US military says it destroyed Houthi air defense, drone systems in Red Sea area
The US military says it has destroyed air defense and drone systems of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi forces in the area of the Red Sea, with no injuries or damage reported to commercial, US and coalition ships.
The Houthis, a US-designated terror group, have vowed to target Israeli, British, and American ships, as well as vessels heading to Israeli ports, disrupting traffic along the vital trade route amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
The US, which leads an international coalition meant to protect Red Sea shipping, has been hitting Houthi targets in Yemen since mid-January.
Palestinian convert shot by IDF soldier last month buried in Jewish cemetery in West Bank
A Palestinian convert to Judaism who was shot dead by an IDF soldier last month has been laid to rest in a Jewish cemetery in the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha, according to Hebrew media reports.
Hebron resident Sameh Muhammad Abd al-Rai Zaytoun, also known as David Ben Avraham, 63, was shot dead by a reservist soldier on March 21 after getting out of a Palestinian taxi at a bus station near the settlement of Elazar, south of Jerusalem.
A disturbing video that surfaced a week after the deadly shooting shows the victim raising his hands in compliance with orders from an IDF reservist who opened fire on him anyway.
The delayed burial comes after the Tel Aviv family court denied an appeal from the victim’s family to bury him themselves in Hebron, ruling that by converting to Judaism the deceased had indicated his will, Ynet reports.
Jewish funerals are usually held within 24 hours of death.
Ynet adds that the funeral was attended by dozens of mourners.
The Military Police has launched an investigation into the “serious incident.”
UNSC to decide this month on Palestinian bid for full United Nations status; US expected to veto
The United Nations Security Council says it would decide this month on the Palestinians’ bid for full UN membership, with the long shot campaign unlikely to survive US opposition.
As the Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, rages on into its seventh month, the council’s move is described as “historic” by the Palestinians, but angrily denounced by Israel.
Maltese Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who holds the rotating presidency of the council, says that “the council has decided that this deliberation has to take place during the month of April.”
Any request to become a UN member state must first pass through the Security Council — where the United States wields a veto — and then be endorsed by the General Assembly.
The Palestinians, who have had observer status at the world body since 2012, have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“Today is a historic moment,” Palestinian Authority UN envoy Riyad Mansour tells reporters Monday as the Security Council members, through an ad hoc committee on new membership, start the review process after the Palestinians last week relaunched their formal 2011 bid.
“All we ask for is to take our rightful place among the community of nations, to be treated as equals — equals to other nations and states, to live in freedom and dignity, in peace and security, in our ancestral land,” Mansour says in the General Assembly.
Washington maintains the UN is not the place for hashing out Palestinian statehood, which it stresses should be the result of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
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