Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
IDF stridently denies report it nixed plan to save hostages at Shifa shortly after Oct. 7
A picture shows a view of the exterior of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023. (AFP)
The Israel Defense Forces is stridently pushing back against a report that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi put the kibosh on plans to raid Gaza City’s Shifa hospital to rescue a group of hostages in the days after the October 7 massacre, denouncing its “false and baseless claims.”
The Israel Hayom report, based on an upcoming memoir by former officer Ido Nordin, alleges that a plan was formed to carry out a massive multidimensional attack on Hamas’s leadership, believed to be under the hospital, and to rescue hostages being held there. However, Halevi rejected the idea.
“This was an operational idea without operational plans or intelligence to carry it out, nor was there information on hostages in the hospital,” the IDF says in response. “If there was intel like that, the plan would have been advanced to be carried out. The plan as presented would have killed hostages and harmed our security and our forces.”
The statement also rejects a claim that Halevi kept the information from the political leadership, and says he has spent hundreds of hours looking into various plans to rescue hostages.
“The chief of staff has approved rescue operations that take reasonable risks, and when the operational conditions allow it,” the statement reads.
US House passes bill sanctioning ICC for seeking Netanyahu, Gallant arrest warrants
Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have passed a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court for requesting arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The vote passes 247 to 155, with all 205 voting Republicans backing the measure alongside 42 Democrats.
The vote amounts to Congress’ first legislative rebuke to the war crimes court since its stunning decision last month to seek arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas. The move was widely denounced in Washington, creating a rare moment of unity on Israel even as partisan divisions over the war with Hamas intensified.
The House bill would apply sweeping economic sanctions and visa restrictions to individuals and judges associated with the ICC, including their family members.
Despite the strong support in the House, the measure is expected to face a tougher time in the Democrat-led Senate.
The White House opposes the legislation, calling it overreach, and Democrats label the approach as “overly broad,” warning it could ensnare Americans and US companies that do important work with the court.
Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have acknowledged the bill is unlikely to become law and left the door open to further negotiation with the White House. They say it would be better for Congress to be united against the Hague-based court.
“We’re always strongest, particularly on this committee, when we speak with one voice as one nation, in this case to the ICC and to the judges,” GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, says during House debate. “A partisan messaging bill was not my intention here but that is where we are.”
After 48 hours of battling flames, all blazes in north under control, fire service says
The Fire and Rescue Service says all major blazes in northern Israel have been contained, after some 48 hours of intense firefighting efforts.
“After a tough fight against the flames, with warnings of incoming [arms] fire all the time, all major spots have been brought under control, in the Ramim range, Kiryat Shmona, the Biriya Forest and Keren Naftali,” it says in a statement.
Firefighters will continue to be on alert all night pending a situational assessment, the service says.
Egyptian report says Cairo sending team to Doha for Gaza talks
An Egyptian security delegation is set to meet with Qatari and US counterparts in Doha on Wednesday, in an attempt to revive Gaza truce negotiations, Egyptian State TV and state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel say, citing sources.
Slovenia votes to recognize Palestinian state
Slovenia’s parliament has approved a motion to recognize a Palestinian state, overcoming an opposition attempt to delay the measure until a national referendum could be held.
The vote passes 52-0 in the 90-member body.
The move comes a week after Spain, Norway and Ireland also recognized a Palestinian state, sparking Israeli anger.
Columbia agrees to offer safety escorts in settlement with Jewish student
Columbia University faculty and staff gather on the campus in solidarity with student protesters who are demonstrating against Israel, April 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Columbia University will provide safety escorts and take other steps to protect its students, to settle a lawsuit claiming its campus had become unsafe during recent pro-Palestinian protests.
Under a settlement filed in Manhattan federal court, the Ivy League school will through year end offer round-the-clock “walking escorts” across campus, and appoint a “Safe Passage Liaison” to address student concerns over protests.
Columbia’s chief operating officer will get the authority to order alternative means to enter and leave the campus, and students unable to finish exams or key assignments because of protests can seek accommodations.
The settlement resolves a proposed class action filed by a female Jewish student known as C.S. who alleged the school had become too dangerous for Jewish students to receive the education they were promised.
A Columbia spokeswoman says the university remains “committed to our number one priority: the safety of our campus so that all of our students can successfully pursue their education and meet their academic goals.”
State Department says getting to Gaza ceasefire important, details can be worked out later
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says a potential deal to end the war in Gaza being championed by Washington would potentially leave the Hamas terror group in charge of the Strip.
Asked about the discrepancy between the proposal and pledges by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismantle the terror organization, Miller says it will need to be worked out in negotiations that would take place during the first phase of the deal.
“The details of how you get to phase two are going to have to be negotiated, and that’s what we were prepared to do,” Miller says.
He clarifies that “Hamas cannot continue to govern Gaza [after the war]. We also don’t believe that you can eliminate Hamas just with a military campaign. A military campaign can kill fighters, can detain fighters, but those fighters in many cases will be replaced by other recruits. So we need a political path forward, and that’s what we want to try to negotiate,” Miller says.
The spokesperson becomes exasperated when asked if Hamas would agree to a deal aimed at its ultimate destruction. “We just need to get a ceasefire,” he says.
Miller later adds that Hamas could agree to the deal out of concern for the well-being of Gazans.
“Because they don’t want to see continued conflict, continued Palestinian people dying, war in Gaza and the reconstruction of Gaza,” he says, but acknowledges that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might decide “that he’s safe in a tunnel and that his interests have diverged from the people of Gaza,” leading him to reject the Israeli ceasefire proposal.
“But if you look at the deal that’s on the table, it is manifestly in the interest of the Palestinian people, it is manifestly in the interest of the Israeli people, it is manifestly in the interests of the world. That’s why we’ll continue to push for it,” Miller says. “If Hamas really does represent the interests of the Palestinian people — as they say over and over — without a doubt they’ll take this deal.”
Read more: The US aims to wrap up Gaza war. How does that square with its goal of toppling Hamas?
Suspected explosives found outside Elbit offices in Sweden
Swedish police say suspected explosive were found outside the offices of Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Gothenburg and was likely intended to target the company.
The “suspected explosive object” was found in the early morning hours of Monday, police say. It was safely removed.
Police spokesman August Brandt says no arrests had been made and the object was still being analysed.
“It is of course not unlikely that it’s directed at this company,” Brandt says, adding that police were not ruling anything out.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.
The Scandinavian country’s intelligence agency Sapo said last week that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Senior WHO official claims Gazans reduced to drinking sewage water
Palestinians light a fire to cook bread at a UN school housing displaced people in Gaza City on June 4, 2024. (Omar Al-Qataa/AFP)
The regional director of the World Health Organization claims that some Gazans are drinking sewage as well as eating animal feed due to famine-like conditions in the Strip.
“There are people who are now eating animal food, eating grass, they’re drinking sewage water,” says Hanan Balkhy. “Children are barely able to eat, while the trucks are standing outside of Rafah.”
She urges Israel to “open those borders,” though closures at the Rafah border crossing have been attributed to Egypt.
Shimon Freedman, a spokesperson for COGAT, the Defense Ministry unit responsible for coordinating the aid transfers, tells The Times of Israel on Tuesday that in the week beginning on May 26, it facilitated 229 “coordinations” for the movement of humanitarian aid in Gaza, meaning operations to enable the collection and delivery of aid from the crossing points to their destinations within the territory. Each coordination typically involves multiple trucks moving in a convoy, Freedman says.
He says Israel had increased the manpower for facilitating the transfer of goods, added inspection machinery at the goods crossings, and thereby increased the capacity of what can be transferred into Gaza every day.
And he accuses UN agencies of failing to do likewise.
According to COGAT, 5,258 trucks entered Gaza through Kerem Shalom and Erez in the north in May, the highest tally for any month since the war began. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA says aid from 2,790 trucks were distributed in Gaza in May.
OCHA says access constraints “continue to undermine the safe delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.” Conditions “further deteriorated” in May it claims.
Biden backs away from claim Netanyahu putting politics above ending war
President Joe Biden speaks about an executive order in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing politics with the war in Gaza, US President Joe Biden responds, “I don’t think so.”
“He’s trying to work out the serious problem that he has,” Biden says in response to a question shouted by a reporter after a White House speech regarding the migration crisis.
Earlier today, Time magazine published an interview with Biden in which the president was asked whether he accepts the allegation made by some that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation.
Biden responded, “I’m not going to comment on that.”
But he subsequently added, “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
Situation between Israel, Hezbollah ‘extremely dangerous,’ State Department says
US State Department Matthew Miller characterizes current tensions between Israel and Hezbollah as “extremely dangerous.”
He says the US is working to contain the violence so that it doesn’t escalate to a full-fledged war.
Miller reiterates that a ceasefire in Gaza “would help us reach calm in northern Israel and southern Lebanon,” which could lead to a long-term agreement that would allow the tens of thousands of Israeli evacuees to return to their homes on the northern border.
Miller says the US does not support a full-fledged war but clarifies that Israel has a right to defend itself.
He acknowledges that the current situation is “untenable” and says it gives urgency to efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.
Likud MK Gotliv to be probed over claims trying to link protest leader to Hamas
Likud MK Tally Gotliv speaks in the Knesset, Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has signed off on police launching a criminal investigation into Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who claimed in January that the partner of a prominent anti-government protest leader held talks with the head of Hamas in Gaza days before the October 7 massacre.
Reports in Hebrew-language media indicate that the probe will focus on suspicions that Gotliv illegally disclosed classified information, seemingly related to online posts identifying the partner of protest leader Shikma Bressler as a Shin Bet agent.
According to Bressler, who is suing Gotliv for defamation, the lawmaker made repeated allegations, first circulated in a social media post in October, that US intelligence agencies had intercepted a conversation between her partner and Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. According to the conspiracy theory, Mossad head David Barnea had summoned Bressler for a meeting as a result of the intelligence, days before the October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Protest leader Shikma Bressler at a demonstration against the government’s judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, on September 9, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the Likud party, and the Mossad spy agency have all repeatedly and forcibly denied the claims.
Gotliv responds to the news by announcing that she will refuse to cooperate with the police investigation, citing parliamentary immunity.
“Immunity is total and cannot be removed,” she states incorrectly. “Write it down, I have no plan to appear before the inquest.”
“There is no authority that can compel me to be investigated and my immunity protects me from criminal process related to things done or said in the course of fulfilling my job,” she adds.
US ‘confident’ Qatar exerting as much pressure as possible on Hamas in hostage talks
Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (L), ruler of Qatar since 2013, in a meeting with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh (R) and Khaled Mashal in Doha, October 17, 2016 (Qatar government handout)
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the Biden administration “still [has] not seen the kind of rigorous [Israeli] planning for the end of the conflict that we think is essential.”
Miller notes during a press briefing that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz have recently pushed for such planning, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has largely been mum.
“Without a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after,” Miller says, warning that Israel will face continued insurgency unless it advances a viable alternative to Hamas in Gaza.
Miller also says the US is “confident” that Qatar is exerting as much pressure as possible on Hamas in the hostage negotiations.
“We greatly value the role Qatar has played, including in sending the appropriate level of messages to Hamas,” Miller says during a press briefing.
In his call yesterday with the emir of Qatar, US President Joe Biden urged Doha “to use all appropriate measures to secure Hamas’s acceptance of the deal.”
War cabinet convenes in Jerusalem for meeting
A meeting of the war cabinet has begun, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
Members of the panel and observers are gathered at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem for the meeting, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and defense brass conference in via remote link.
The meeting comes with speculation around a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza ratcheting up, along with tensions along the northern border
CIA chief, senior White House official depart for region to advance Israeli hostage deal proposal
CIA Director William Burns testifies during a US Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 11, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
CIA director William Burns and White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk have departed for the region for meetings in Doha and Cairo aimed at advancing the Israeli hostage deal proposal submitted last week, two US officials confirm to The Times of Israel.
The pair may also add a stop in Israel in addition to visits in Qatar and Egypt whose governments are mediating the talks along with the US, one of the US officials says.
Senior Israeli official: There will not be a better hostage deal offer than one we made last week
Demonstrators protest after the IDF's announcement of the deaths of four hostages in Hamas captivity, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, June 3, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Channel 12 cites a senior Israeli official who asserts that “there will not be a better offer” than the one Jerusalem submitted last week.
“We went as far as possible,” the official adds.
Hamas has yet to respond to the Israeli proposal.
Hamas official says it will only agree to deal with permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan speaks during a rally organized by Lebanon's Hezbollah terror group to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, in the southern suburb of Beirut, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hamas official Osama Hamdan says that the terror group cannot agree to a deal that does not secure a clear Israeli position on a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal from Gaza.
“We asked the mediators to get a clear Israeli position to commit to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza,” he tells a press conference in Beirut.
IDF chief: We’re nearing decision on whether to launch war against Hezbollah
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (right) meets with Fire and Rescue Service Commissioner Eyal Caspi at the Gibor Camp in Kiryat Shmona, June 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says Israel is close to making a decision regarding Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel amid the Gaza war.
“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision,” Halevi says during an assessment with military officials and Fire Commissioner Eyal Caspi, at an army base in Kiryat Shmona.
“We have been attacking for eight months, and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. It has increased its strengths in recent days and we are prepared after a very good process of training… to move to an attack in the north,” he says.
“[We have] strong defense, readiness to attack, [and] we are approaching a decision point,” he adds.
Halevi and Caspi later met with firefighters who worked to extinguish large blazes in northern Israel over the past two days, some of which were sparked by Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.
Biriya Forest fire nearing containment, but second large blaze challenging crews
Firefighters try to extinguish a forest fire that started from a fragments of a interception missile at the Biriya Forest in northern Israel, on June 4, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)
The Fire Service says nearly two dozen crews are continuing to battle two blazes in northern Israel, at least one of which was sparked by rocket fire from Lebanon.
At Keren Naftali near the Hula Nature Reserve, the fire service says a large blaze has yet to be brought under control, with 12 crews and firefighting aircraft trying to contain the flames.
“Due to the complexity of the land the fire has spread to several fronts,” the service says in a statement.
A second blaze in the Biriya forest near Safed, which was set off by interceptor shrapnel, is nearing being brought under control after some 9 hours of work by 10 crews and an air squadron, the service says.
Police take down LA pro-Palestinian encampment, no arrests
A short-lived attempt by pro-Palestinian protesters to establish an encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall has ended after officers moved in and cleared the demonstration away, KABC-TV reports.
No arrests are reported and the area does not see any disturbances during the morning rush hour.
Pro Palestine protesters tried to set up a new solidarity encampment outside of Los Angeles city hall but the LAPD came in riot gear and swept the camp of tents and protesters. The LAPD brought out hundreds of police officers for about 40 protesters and made zero arrests. pic.twitter.com/e5CIdal4lb
— Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) June 4, 2024
In Pennsylvania, pro-Palestinian protesters have left the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning after several demonstrators clashed with police. Some protesters wrestled officers over control of metal barriers and taunted them with derisive chants, and officers were seen throwing some protesters to the ground.
The conflict marked the second straight night of demonstrations. Most protesters had left the area by 2 a.m. Tuesday, after Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and his representatives met with encampment members. No arrests were made during Monday night’s confrontations.
Rocket sirens ring in northern town
Rocket sirens are sounding in Hanita, a small town on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
The Hezbollah terror group takes responsibility for an earlier attack near Rosh Hanikra that set off sirens at around 4:30 p.m., and says it also carried out other attacks on troops in other parts of the Galilee, including the Shebaa Farms area.
Army launches fresh offensive in Gaza’s Bureij camp
IDF soldiers are seen in central Gaza's Bureij, January 8, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
The Israeli military says it has launched a new operation against Hamas in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.
It says fighter jets are striking Hamas targets in Bureij, as ground forces are operating “in a precise manner” in the area, which sits just south of the Netzarim corridor where the army has maintained a presence.
The IDF says it will provide additional details on the operation at a later time.
Troops first operated in Bureij in January, before withdrawing.
Gantz: North will be dealt with by end of summer, by settlement or airstrike
Israeli firefighters try to extinguish a forest fire that started from a fragments of a interception missile at the Biriya Forest in Northern Israel, on June 4, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says hostilities on the northern border will be dealt with by the start of the next school year “whether by [diplomatic] arrangement or [military] escalation” and faults Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not joining him and fellow politician Gadi Eizenkot on a tour of the north, which has been scorched by increasingly frequent missile and drone attacks from Hezbollah across the border.
“I’ve been engaged for months in a struggle, with the prime minister and with everyone, so that by September 1, we’ll be done here and will be able to deal with something new. It will pass either by arrangement or escalation, but we can’t lose another year,” he says from Nahariya.
“Truthfully, [Netanyahu] needed to be here today. One who smells the char of the fire, one who hears the residents’ cries, one who speaks with the local leaders, can lead,” Gantz adds, according to a readout from his office.
He appears to endorse reaching a deal in Gaza to free the hostages and allow the military to shift attention to the north.
“It won’t be easy, it will cost us, it will hurt, but it’s the right thing to do,” he says.
Israel inks deal to buy 25 more F-35 fighter jets for $3 billion
52 F-35 jets line up for a launch exercise at Utah's Hill Air Force Base in show of force and combat readiness amid US-Iran tensions, January 6, 2020. (US Air Force/R. Nial Bradshaw/Twitter screen capture)
Israel’s Defense Ministry has officially signed a deal with the United States to procure a third F-35 fighter jet squadron.
The ministry says a delegation to the US signed on a letter of agreement a short while ago for the $3 billion deal that includes 25 stealth fighters built by Lockheed Martin.
The planes will begin to be delivered starting in 2028, in batches of three to five per year, the ministry says. The aircraft would bring the Israeli Air Force’s F-35i fleet to 75 in the coming years. Only 39 of Israel’s original order of 50 F-35s have so far been delivered.
The deal totals some $3 billion, financed by US military aid to Israel, the ministry says.
The signing comes following a mostly resolved row between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich over the procurement. Smotrich had vetoed the signing until a Knesset committee tasked with looking at the defense budget was convened.
Macron tells Netanyahu Gaza war must end, mum on freeing hostages
In a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron calls for an end to the war in Gaza and the return of hostages, according to a readout from the Élysée Palace, though he does not condition a ceasefire on the release of the captives.
“The ordeal of the Palestinians in Gaza must end,” says Macron.
Macron also expresses his support for Joe Biden’s ceasefire plan — which the US President presented as an Israeli proposal — and placed “overwhelming” responsibility on Hamas to accept the deal.
The French leader calls for the ceasefire deal to “reopen a credible perspective for implementing the two-state solution,” and for a “reformed and strengthened Palestinian Authority” to govern Gaza.
Macron offers condolences to Netanyahu after the announcement that four more hostages had been confirmed dead, and “reiterated the solidarity of the French people with the Israeli people in the face of terrorism.”
On Lebanon, where France is an influential player, Macron expresses his concern over the expanding fighting between Israel and Hamas, and says France is fully committed to finding a diplomatic solution.
He also voices “deep concern over the trajectory of Iran’s nuclear program,” and pledges to put pressure on Tehran to honor their commitments.
Hezbollah names operative killed in drone hit
The Hezbollah terror group confirms one of its operatives was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle in the coastal southern Lebanon city of Naqoura.
The operative is named as Haider Hassan Maslamani, a Naqoura resident who was born in Tyre in 1987.
Lapid hails Haredi backing for hostage deal proposal
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomes the ultra-Orthodox parties’ support for the hostage deal proposal presented by US President Joe Biden last week as “a moral step displaying national responsibility.”
“There is a large and clear majority in the government, the Knesset and the public in favor of a deal,” Lapid says in a statement.
Earlier today, the Haredi Shas party announced that it would support the deal. Its support comes less than a day after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf tweeted that his party “will support any proposal that will lead to the release of the abductees.”
While both ultra-Orthodox parties have now come out in favor of the proposal, which Biden presented as being Israeli in origin, the Knesset’s two far-right national religious parties, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, have both threatened to bring down the government if the deal is adopted, saying it amounts to a surrender to Hamas.
Troops wrap up push to re-clear Hamas from Gaza City neighborhood
Troops of the Yiftah Reserve Armored Brigade operate in the central Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published June 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli military says it has wrapped up a week-and-a-half-long pinpoint raid in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood aimed at re-clearing the area of Hamas infrastructure and operatives.
Early this morning, combat engineers completed the demolition of a kilometer-and-a-half-long Hamas tunnel in the area, the IDF says, before pulling back to the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
The tunnel, 23 meters (75 feet) deep, passed close to the corridor — where the IDF has maintained a prolonged presence — according to the military.
The raid in Sabra was led by the Yiftah Reserve Armored Brigade.
During the raid, the IDF says reservists located two major rocket depots, as well as other weapons, including an Igla (SA-18) anti-aircraft missile launcher, considered to be a relatively rare model in the Gaza Strip.
Troops of the Yiftah Reserve Armored Brigade operate in the central Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published June 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The troops came under RPG fire amid the raid, and responded by killing the operatives with tank shelling and by directing airstrikes, the military says.
Dozens of gunmen were killed and some 70 sites belonging to terror groups were destroyed by the brigade, combat engineers, and in airstrikes, the IDF adds.
Biden: Netanyahu willing to do almost anything to return hostages
US President Joe Biden walks to his vehicle after arriving on Marine One at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
US President Joe Biden says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back,” according to a full transcript of an interview he gave Time magazine.
The president also insists that Hamas is responsible for the lack of deal to date: “Hamas could end this tomorrow.”
The comments contrast with those included in a condensed writeup that cast Biden as much more critical of Netanyahu, saying people have “every reason” to believe the premier is dragging out the war in Gaza for political reasons.
Biden says that Netanyahu is under “enormous pressure” to secure a hostage deal: “The Israelis desperately want a ceasefire in order to get the hostages home.”
He also appears to defend Netanyahu when asked about former US president Donald Trump’s assertion that the prime minister should be criticized for failing to thwart the October 7 attack.
“I don’t know how any one person has that responsibility. He was the leader of the country, so therefore, it happened. But he wasn’t the only one that didn’t pick it up,” the president says.
US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP)
“My major disagreement with Netanyahu is what happens after, what happens after Gaza’s over? What does it go back to? Do Israeli forces go back in? I’ve been talking to the Egyptians… the Saudis… the Jordanians… the Emiratis. The answer is, if that’s the case, it can’t work,” he says, indicating that Arab states will not be willing to assist in the post-war stabilization of Gaza if Israel remains in the Strip.
“There is a clear path for a transition where the Arab states would provide security and reconstruction in Gaza in return for a longer-term commitment to a transition to a two-state solution,” Biden says, referring to a framework that Netanyahu has rejected.
“There needs to be a two-state solution, a transition to a two-state solution. That’s my biggest disagreement with Bibi Netanyahu,” Biden says.
Biden says Saudi Arabia could also play a role in the post-war stabilization of Gaza.
Pressed on claims by critics of the Jewish state that Israel is intentionally starving Gazans, Biden responds, “No, I don’t think that.”
“I think they’ve engaged in activity that is inappropriate,” the president clarifies, and says Israel is making the same mistakes the US made in Afghanistan and Iraq that led to endless wars.
“One thing is certain, the people in Gaza, the Palestinians have suffered greatly, for lack of food, water, medicine, etc. And a lot of innocent people have been killed,” Biden says.
“But a lot of it has to do not just with Israelis, but what Hamas is doing in Israel as we speak,” he adds.
While his aides have repeatedly talked about Hamas’s use of human shields in Gaza, Biden instead highlights the terror group’s “intimidation” of the Israeli population.
He repeats how he visited Israel after the October 7 terror onslaught. “What they did exceeded anything I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot. Tying mothers and daughters together with rope and pouring kerosene on it and burning them to death. That kind of thing — attempting to intimidate. And it is dastardly,” Biden says.
Hardline MKs jeered for haranguing lawmakers discussing two-state solution
Heated arguments break out between right-wing and Arab lawmakers during a Knesset conference discussing the fallout of last week’s recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain, Norway and Ireland.
During the conference, sponsored by Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Suleiman, participants call for a two-state solution and present third-party recognition of a Palestinian state as a positive outcome.
“More and more people in the world are realizing that recognition of the State of Palestine is also a step of historical justice that must be carried out precisely in these days,” Touma-Suleiman states.
Likud MK Tally Gotliv is booed by participants after she enters the conference hall in the Knesset and begins loudly arguing against Palestinian statehood. Those present bang on tables and scream “shame,” “fascist” and “crazy” as she eventually storms out of the room.
ח"כ טלי גוטליב התפרצה לכנס "הכרה במדינה פלסטין: למה עכשיו?" של ח"כ עאידה תומא סלימאן. הנוכחים לא אפשרו לה לדבר וצעקו עליה "משוגעת" pic.twitter.com/6E4ttt6XpP
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) June 4, 2024
Religious Zionism MK Tzvi Sukkot also stops by to argue with Arab MKs and other conference participants.
“You are the enemy, you support the Nova terrorists,” he yells, referring to the Nova rave massacre on October 7.
In response, Touma-Suleiman quips to Sukkot, a settlement activist, that the conference is not for him to “settle.”
Religious Zionism MK Sukkot yelling at Arab MKs during a conference on recognition of a Palestinian state in the Knesset
“You are the enemy, you support the Nova terrorists,” he yells.
In response, MK Touma-Suleiman tells Sukkot that he “can’t settle this conference either” pic.twitter.com/uHu9nE75KN
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) June 4, 2024
Israel says it killed Hezbollah operative in Naqoura drone strike
A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura earlier today, the military says.
There is no comment from Hezbollah.
The IDF also says it carried out an airstrike against Hezbollah infrastructure and buildings in Ayta ash-Shab and Odaisseh today, publishing footage of the strike.
כלי טיס תקפו וחיסלו מוקדם יותר היום מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב א-נקורה שבדרום לבנון. בנוסף, מטוסי קרב תקפו תשתית טרור ומבנה צבאי של הארגון במרחבים עייתא א-שעב ואל עדייסא שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/Z5Rh1MCESa
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 4, 2024
Troops meanwhile shelled a number of areas in southern Lebanon with artillery to “remove threats,” the army says.
The IDF says earlier this morning a “suspicious aerial target,” thought to be an explosive-laden drone, impacted in the Mount Hermon area this morning, causing no injuries.
Ben Gvir demands Netanyahu fire Gallant over illegal outpost demolition
Head of the Otzma Yehudit party and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, June 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the demolition of an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank.
“While Hezbollah is setting the north on fire, Defense Minister Galant has a more important task, sending a force to demolish an outpost at Yair’s farm,” Ben Gvir says in a statement.
Border Police evacuate and dismantle a makeshift structure in an illegal West Bank outpost close to the Yair’s Farm settlement in the northern West Bank, June 4, 2024. (Courtesy: Yair’s Farm)
The Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration and Border Police forces on Tuesday evacuated and demolished six makeshift structures at the outpost close to the Havat Yair outpost, which the Civil Administration says was built on private Palestinian land.
Gallant is willing to take action against settlers but “weak against Nasrallah,” Ben Gvir continues.
Last month, Ben Gvir twice called for Gallant’s ouster, once over a dispute regarding the appointment of senior IDF officers and again after Gallant challenged the government’s postwar thinking for the Gaza Strip in a televised address.
IRGC general killed in alleged Israeli strike near Aleppo Monday
An alleged Israeli strike near the Syrian city of Aleppo early Monday killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps general Saeed Abiyar, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news outlet reports.
Tasnim describes Abiyar as an adviser, a term it uses for all of its military personnel in Syria. According to The New York Times, Abyar was in the IRGC’s expeditionary Quds Force and had been stationed in Syria since 2012.
Tasnim, which is seen as closely tied to the IRGC, says 17 people were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes around Aleppo just after midnight on Monday.
Lebanon reports motorcycle rider killed in Israeli strike, soldiers sickened by phosphorus
One person was killed in an alleged Israeli strike on a motorcycle in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.
“The strike targeting a motorcycle in Naqoura killed one person and wounded another,” it says after earlier reporting an “enemy drone strike” in the area.
It does not say whether the casualty is a civilian or a terror operative.
NNA also reports that two soldiers needed to be treated for phosphorus inhalation following an Israeli strike near a military position in the border town of Markaba.
Qatar says Israeli truce terms sent to Hamas, doubts Netanyahu cabinet can coalesce around it
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson says Doha delivered an Israeli ceasefire proposal to Hamas that reflects the positions stated by US President Joe Biden, but has yet to receive “concrete approvals” from either side, though the distance between them appears to have shrunk.
Majed Al-Ansari stresses that there should be a clear position from both parties, with some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet threatening to bolt the government over the proposal.
“We are waiting for a clear Israeli position that represents the entire government in response to the US’s Gaza proposal,” Al-Ansari says at a press briefing.
“We have already seen statements coming from Israeli ministers which doesn’t give us a lot of confidence of there being a unified position in Israel over this current proposal on the table,” he adds, according to Al Jazeera. “We can see also that there is a positive momentum building up on both sides.”
Hezbollah No. 2 says terror group not looking to expand conflict with Israel
Hezbollah’s deputy head Naim Qassem says the powerful armed group has decided not to widen its months-long war with Israel, but that it would fight if a full-scale war is imposed on it.
“Any Israeli expansion of the war in Lebanon will be met with devastation, destruction and displacement,” he threatens, adding that Hezbollah has only used a small portion of its arsenal thus far.
Qassem’s comments are carried by Al-Jazeera ahead of the airing of an interview with him.
Hamas official says US pressure misguided, Israel blocking deal
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. (AP/Hatem Moussa)
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri says the terror group is unhappy with calls from Washington and the West for it to accept US President Joe Biden’s proposal on Gaza “considering it is not Hamas hampering the deal.”
In comments reported by Hamas media, Abu Zuhri says Israel is not serious about reaching a deal in Gaza, and is still maneuvering under the US’s cover “despite the White House knowing that the problem lies with [Israel].”
Biden: People have ‘every reason’ to believe Netanyahu prolonging war due to politics
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Israel-Hamas war, from the State Dining Room of the White House, May 31, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Joe Biden says people have “every reason” to believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dragging out the war in Gaza for political reasons.
“There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” Biden tells Time magazine.
Netanyahu has long faced this criticism, but it has intensified in recent days as far-right coalition partners have threatened to collapse his government if the premier sticks with the hostage deal proposal he authorized last week, which would potentially bring about an end to the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu for months held off on holding strategic meetings regarding the postwar management of Gaza, avoiding conflict with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have called for permanently occupying Gaza and re-establishing Israeli settlements there. The Israeli security establishment has argued that failure to advance a viable alternative to Hamas has allowed the terror group to quickly fill vacuums left by the IDF on the battlefields, further extending the war.
Netanyahu has argued that talk of day-after planning is overblown before Israel defeats Hamas, as no one will be willing to replace the terror group as long as it is still in power.
This approach has caused significant frustration in Washington, which has pushed Israel to plan for postwar Gaza since the early days of the campaign.
Also in the Time interview, Biden says an Israel-Saudi normalization deal would be “overwhelmingly in our interest.”
On efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages, who include Americans, Biden says, “We believe there are those that are still alive.”
“I met with all the families. But we don’t have final proof on exactly who’s alive.”
Asked if Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, Biden responds, “It’s uncertain.”
Mediator Qatar urges clear positions for Gaza ceasefire
Qatar, which has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas, stresses that there should be a clear position from both parties in order to reach a ceasefire deal.
“We are waiting for a clear Israeli position that represents the entire government in response to the US’s Gaza proposal,” says Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari.
“The ceasefire deal should immediately end the long suffering of all people in Gaza and the hostages and their families and provide a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the crisis,” Al-Ansari says.
Qatar says it is still waiting to reach language that is agreed on by both parties.
Security forces demolish illegal outpost in northern West Bank
Border Police evacuate and dismantle a makeshift structure in an illegal West Bank outpost close to the Yair’s Farm settlement in the northern West Bank, June 4, 2024. (Courtesy Yair’s Farm)
The Civil Administration and Border Police forces evacuate and demolish an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank built on what the Civil Administration said was private Palestinian land, close to the settlement of Yair’s Farm.
According to the Civil Administration, six makeshift structures were demolished, two of which had been used as living quarters.
According to the Samaria Regional Council, the outpost was established in memory of Moti Shamir, who was a resident of the area and who went of his own accord to fight Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7 together with another nine friends, and was killed while defending Kibbutz Re’im.
A scenic lookout point at the site built in Shamir’s memory was not destroyed in the Civil Administration operation.
The Samaria Regional Council claims in a statement to the press that the land on which the illegal outpost was built was not private but rather land being reviewed by the Israeli authorities and set to be declared state land.
Regardless, the unapproved construction is illegal.
Shas says it fully supports Israel’s Gaza hostage deal proposal
Shas chair Aryeh Deri speaks during a campaign event ahead of the municipal elections in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024 (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
The Haredi Shas party will support the the hostage deal proposal presented by US President Joe Biden last week, it says.
“At the faction meeting that took place yesterday, the Israeli proposal for the abductees deal was discussed. In the end, the faction decided to fully support the Israeli proposal, which includes far-reaching measures for the return of the hostages and the observance of the miztvah of redeeming captives,” the party says in a statement.
“Shas supports the proposal and backs the prime minister and the war cabinet in facing off all pressure, reaching a deal and saving the lives of many of our brothers and sisters who are in distress and captivity.”
Shas’s support comes less than a day after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf tweeted that his party “will support any proposal that will lead to the release of the abductees.”
While both ultra-Orthodox parties have now come out in favor of the proposal, which Biden presented as being Israeli in origin, the Knesset’s two far-right national religious parties, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, have both threatened to bring down the government if the deal is adopted, saying it amounts to a surrender to Hamas.
Bulldozers demolish communal structures in Kibbutz Be’eri damaged in Oct. 7 attack
A demolition crew tears down a communal building in Kibbutz Be'eri on June 4, 2024. (Tekuma Authority)
Bulldozers knock down several buildings in Kibbutz Be’eri as part of an ongoing restoration and rehabilitation plan following the destruction of much of the kibbutz on October 7.
The demolitions, which are scheduled to continue until June 17, are the second phase of the clearing out of damaged structures, the Tekuma Authority says in a statement.
Following the completion of the first phase earlier this year involving damaged private residences, the second phase focuses on communal structures, including the sewing studio, the kibbutz art gallery, and educational facilities, says the Authority, which is the government organ involved with rehabilitating more than 20 communities affected by the onslaught.
The Tekuma Authority, which has a budget of more than NIS 18 billion ($5 billion), says that more 100 new structures will be built in Be’eri before it is ready to be repopulated sometime next year.
Ben Gvir visits Kiryat Shmona, demands Hezbollah be destroyed: ‘War!’
Following harsh criticism by his political opponents, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, after fires sparked by Hezbollah rockets launched from Lebanon spread across large swaths of territory yesterday.
After a situational assessment with fire and rescue officials and meetings with local police and Mayor Avichai Stern, Ben Gvir releases a video in which he demands stronger military action in Lebanon.
“We finished a situation assessment and a visit to Kiryat Shmona. I think it’s amazing to see firefighters risking their lives, policemen who are here 24/7,” he says. “And now the IDF’s job is to destroy Hezbollah.”
Ben Gvir says it is unacceptable that “our land is under fire and we are being hurt, that people here are evacuating” while there is “quiet in Lebanon.”
“They’re burning [us] here. All Hezbollah strongholds should be burned, they should be destroyed. War!” he cries.
Visiting Kiryat Shmona, Ben Gvir calls for war in Lebanon
"לא יכול להיות שחבל ארץ שלנו מטווחים אותו, פוגעים בו, אנשים כאן מתפנים, לא יכול להיות מצב שיהיה שקט בלבנון. הם שורפים כאן, צריך לשרוף את כל מעוזי החזבאללה, להשמיד אותם. מלחמה!״ pic.twitter.com/ydXvqqPeud
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) June 4, 2024
Yesterday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slammed Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees the fire service, for attending a festive event in Jerusalem as blazes raged across the north. Ben Gvir said he only attended for 10 minutes.
The fires came amid intensifying cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, with the Iran-backed terror group firing numerous barrages at the Galilee and Golan Heights in recent days. According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, a series of rocket and drone attacks on Sunday caused bushfires that consumed 10,000 dunams (over 2,470 acres) of foliage in open areas, including nature reserves.
Lebanese report: London warns Beirut that Israel will launch offensive in mid-June
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the border with Israel on May 29, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Britain has warned Lebanon that Israel will launch a large-scale offensive in mid-June whose extent and duration are not known, and advised Beirut to “make the necessary provisions for the war,” according to the Lebanese news outlet al-Akhbar.
Al-Akhbar is affiliated with Hezbollah, the terror group that has launched daily attacks on northern Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October.
In recent days, diplomats from various countries have warned Lebanese officials of an imminent escalation by the IDF, and have underscored that the threat is serious, al-Akhbar reports.
The paper adds that Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament and a Hezbollah ally, received a phone call from US special envoy Amos Hochstein last week. Hochstein reportedly told Berri that the US intends to continue negotiations “to achieve a solution” on the Israel-Lebanon border and to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, and after that, talks will begin on the outstanding points between Israel and Lebanon.
IDF says it struck Hamas compound within UN school in Gaza overnight
The military says it carried out a drone strike overnight against a Hamas compound in central Gaza’s Bureij, based out of a United Nations school.
According to the IDF, several Hamas operatives were gathered at UNRWA’s Abu Alhilu school when the strike was carried out.
It says the strike was “carefully planned and carried out using precise munitions, while avoiding harm to uninvolved [civilians] as much as possible.”
The compound at the school was used by Hamas to plan attacks against troops operating in the Strip, according to the IDF.
Another 65 targets were hit in airstrikes across Gaza over the past day, the military says. The IDF says the sites include buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots, rocket launch positions, observation posts, other infrastructure and cells of gunmen.
The strikes come as troops continue to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah and in the Netzarim Corridor in the central part of the Strip.
The IDF says troops operating in Rafah located several “significant” tunnel shafts and caches of weapons over the past day.
European Jewish leaders accuse EU top diplomat Borrell of spreading antisemitism
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a debate on Iran's strike against Israel, April 24, 2024, in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/ Jean-Francois Badias)
Leaders of European Jewish communities single out EU top diplomat Josep Borrell for criticism, accusing him in a resolution of adding to the bloc’s antisemitism problem by excessively criticizing Israel.
Borrell has demonstrated “a clear and repeated anti-Israel bias that has been a significant contributory factor to the ongoing antisemitism and the vilification of the state of Israel as a whole in the European public space,” reads a resolution unanimously passed by more than 100 delegates from European Jewish communities at a conference on fighting antisemitism organized in Amsterdam by the European Jewish Association.
Borrell is on record as saying that Israel is deliberately causing famine in Gaza, a claim that Israel rejects, and has said that Israel “created” Hamas, a claim that his critics, including the Portuguese security analyst João Lemos Esteves, say is fueling antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Instead of merely reflecting the agreed-upon positions of the EU’s 27 member states, Borrell oversteps his mandate and has “embellished or added to adopted European Council positions on his own initiative,” the resolution states.
This open criticism by the Brussels-based European Jewish Association is unusual for the group, which routinely lobbies EU institutions to promote what it sees as Jewish peoplehood interests, including curbing antisemitism, ensuring freedom of religion and freedom of ideology for European Jews — many of whom support Israel.
A spokesperson for Borrell, a former Spanish politician, did not immediately reply to a request for comment by The Times of Israel.
War cabinet set to meet tonight to discuss situation in north
The war cabinet is expected to meet tonight to discuss the latest developments in the north.
The past day has seen major blazes in the border region caused by rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah, leading critics to lambaste the government for failing to bring security to the region after long months of conflict.
Iran’s acting FM discusses Gaza war with Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
A handout picture released by Lebanese Hezbollah press office on June 4, 2024 shows Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah (2R) meeting with Iran's acting Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Bagheri (2L) and a delegation at an undisclosed location in Lebanon. (Hezbollah's Media Office / AFP)
Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani discusses “proposed solutions” for ending the Gaza war with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a meeting in Lebanon, the Iran-backed terror group says.
The two men “reviewed the latest regional political and security developments, especially on the Gaza and Lebanon fronts, and the proposed solutions,” a Hezbollah statement says.
Bagheri arrived in Lebanon Monday on his first foreign trip since being named caretaker minister following the death of his predecessor Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash last month that also killed president Ebrahim Raisi.
At a press conference on Monday, Bagheri said the United States should halt all aid to Israel rather than propose a ceasefire. He said he had chosen Lebanon for his first official visit “because Lebanon is the cradle of resistance” against Israel.
Lebanese report: Israeli delegation headed to Cairo to discuss latest proposal
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip in a photo released for publication on June 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Cairo in the coming hours to give Israel’s position on the latest proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, according to Egyptian sources quoted by Lebanese news outlet al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah.
The sources claim the deal could enter into force at the beginning of next week, in light of American pressure on Israel and regional diplomatic efforts.
They add, however, that Cairo fears that “the Israeli government will not adhere to the ceasefire after receiving some of the hostages.”
Al-Akhbar says Egypt and Qatar have asked Hamas not to carry out attacks on Israeli territory in exchange for a “verbal pledge by the US to end the war and a guarantee to prevent its resumption,” amid concerns that Washington will not feel bound by such a commitment once the US election campaign gets underway.
The paper adds that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, and the two top diplomats have agreed that Gaza’s postwar reconstruction should only be launched after a security mechanism is devised to prevent renewed clashes between Israel and Hamas.
IDF says recent drone sirens in north were false alarms
Suspected drone infiltration sirens that sounded a short while ago in the upper and western Galilee were false alarms, the military says.
An interceptor missile was launched at a target, which was later confirmed to be a false identification, the IDF adds.
Sirens had also sounded due to fears of falling shrapnel from the interceptor.
Lebanese media reports 2 injured in Israeli airstrike on vehicle
Lebanese media report an alleged Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the Western Beqaa District.
According to reports, two people are wounded in the strike.
The strike reportedly took place between the villages of Libbaya and Yohmor, some 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the Israeli border.
فرق الإسعاف نقلت إصابتين من السيارة المستهدفة في وادٍ بين #لبايا و #يحمر في #البقاع_الغربي. pic.twitter.com/NMk1JCcSY3
— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) June 4, 2024
Satellite images show aftermath of large Katzrin fire sparked by rockets
New satellite imagery shows the aftermath of some of the large fires in northern Israel in recent days sparked by Hezbollah rockets and drones.
Images from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite, processed by the Sentinel Hub website, show scorched land south of the Golan Heights city of Katzrin.
The large fire was sparked by a barrage of rockets and several drones launched by Hezbollah at the area on Sunday.
These May 29 and June 3, 2024 true-color images from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite, processed by the Sentinel Hub website, show the Katzrin area in the Golan Heights, before and after a major fire. (European Commission)
IDF reservist moderately wounded by shrapnel from northern interception
An IDF reservist was moderately wounded by shrapnel from an interceptor missile launched over the northern city of Safed earlier today, the military says.
The IDF says it launched an interceptor missile after identifying a “suspicious aerial target” in northern Israel, although it was later revealed to be a false alarm.
The interceptor shrapnel also sparked a fire in Biriya Forest near Safed.
Sirens sounded in the Galilee Panhandle amid the incident.
Separately, another “suspicious aerial target” that was heading toward Israel from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses over the sea, near Nahariya, the IDF adds.
No sirens sounded in the incident.
Gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients to face criminal charges
File: Dr. Guy Rofe, a gynecologist arrested on suspicion of sexual harassment, arrives for a court hearing at the Magistrate's Court in Haifa, January 4, 2022. (Alon Nadav/Flash90)
Haifa prosecutors say they will charge a gynecologist suspected of sexually abusing multiple patients.
Guy Rofe, 45, a resident of the northern city, has been accused by several women of indecent acts, and two have filed police complaints.
At least 15 women have testified on social media or in Hebrew media reports about a pattern in which Rofe would obsessively send them private messages with sexual content, while assaulting them during treatment sessions.
That included touching patients against their will; inserting fingers; pressuring them to hug him, kiss him, take off their clothes or take unnecessary mammography tests; making sexual advances on them; and in one case, offering a woman a job as a secretary that would require her to regularly have sex with him.
Rofe denies all the accusations against him.
Pro-Palestinian protesters set up tent encampment outside Los Angeles City Hall
Pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall overnight.
About 50 protesters with 20 tents were seen lined up on the sidewalks outside the building at Main and First streets, KABC-TV reports. Several tents had Palestinian flags and phrases such as “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza.”
The Los Angeles Police Department says it is monitoring the non-permitted demonstration and urges people to keep an eye out for others on the street.
No arrests and no injuries have been reported. The police department went on an area-wide tactical alert out of an abundance of caution.
????#BREAKING: A citywide tactical alert has been declared due to multiple pro-Palestine protesters setting up an encampment near LA City Hall ⁰⁰????#Losangeles | #California ⁰⁰The Los Angeles Police Department has declared a citywide tactical alert due to numerous pro-Palestine… pic.twitter.com/TCxdpyExaC
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) June 4, 2024
UN decries ‘unfathomable’ numbers killed in West Bank since October 7
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk listens to delegates after delivering his report of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza during the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 29, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
The UN rights chief demands an end to surging violence in the West Bank, saying it is “unfathomable” that more than 500 Palestinians had been killed there since October 7.
“As if the tragic events in Israel and then Gaza over the past eight months were not enough, the people of the occupied West Bank are also being subjected to day-after-day of unprecedented bloodshed,” Volker Turk says in a statement.
“It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion.”
Since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that started the Gaza war, troops have arrested some 4,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,700 affiliated with Hamas. According to the PA health ministry, more than 510 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.
Based on military estimates, the vast majority of those killed since October 7 were shot during violent clashes amid arrest raids.
German authorities see Islamic extremist motive in Mannheim knife attack
Members of the fire brigade clean away the blood at the scene where several people were injured in a knife attack on May 31, 2024, in Mannheim, western Germany. (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
German authorities say they have uncovered evidence of an Islamic extremist motive in last week’s knife attack in the southwestern city of Mannheim in which a police officer was fatally injured.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann writes on the social media platform X that “there are now clear indications of an Islamist motive” for the attack and federal prosecutors, who are responsible for terrorism and national security cases, are taking over the investigation.
The federal prosecutor’s office confirms that it has taken on the investigation, citing the significance of the case and the suspicion that it was religiously motivated.
Investigators have said the suspected assailant, a 25-year-old man from Afghanistan who has lived in Germany since 2014 and reportedly had his asylum application rejected, stabbed several members of a group that describes itself as opposing “political Islam.”
Fire erupts in forest near Safed after military intercepts threat
A fire has erupted in Biriya Forest near Safed in northern Israel, after an interceptor missile was launched at an incoming threat in the area, local authorities say.
Two firefighting teams are at the scene and there is no fear that the fire will threaten any nearby towns, the Marom Hagalil Regional Council says.
The fire apparently sparked from falling shrapnel following the interception.
The IDF has not yet commented on the incident.
אזעקות לפני זמן קצר בקרית שמונה, מיירט נצפה בשמי צפת pic.twitter.com/5RdpNwxEx4
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) June 4, 2024
Iran will react if IAEA passes resolution against it — news agency
Tehran will react if the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors passes a resolution against it, Iran’s Nuclear Chief Mohammad Eslami says, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.
Suspected drone infiltration sets off warning sirens throughout Galilee
Warning sirens are blaring throughout the Galilee due to a potential drone attack from Lebanon.
There are no immediate reports of impact.
Police investigating after grenade thrown at Herzliya home
Police say they are investigating an attack on a home in Herzliya overnight during which a grenade was thrown into a private yard.
The grenade exploded, causing some damage but no injuries.
India counts votes from a mega-election seen as a referendum on Modi
India has started counting votes from its staggered, six-week election that is seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power and is expected to give him a third term in office.
Exit polls by major television channels have projected a comfortable win for the Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies over a broad opposition alliance led by the Congress party and its main campaign leader, Rahul Gandhi.
Nearly 970 million people — more than 10% of the world’s population — were eligible to vote and turnout averaged 66%, according to official data. The tallying at counting centers in 543 constituencies could stretch well into the evening before final results are announced, though substantial leads are likely to emerge earlier.
IDF says it killed terror suspects planning to shoot at towns across security barrier
A handout photo from the IDF shows an assault rifle that terror suspects allegedly were set to use to fire on Israeli towns across the security barrier from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, June 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops killed two terror suspects overnight near the West Bank city of Tulkarem as they headed to open fire at Israeli towns across the security barrier, following several recent shooting attacks.
According to an IDF statement, commandos ambushed the armed suspects as they approached the barrier, killing them and confiscating the assault rifle they allegedly planned to use.
Fire department says most blazes in north now under control
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services says most of the the blazes in the north sparked by Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon have been brought under control.
A statement from the service says a major fire near Amiad was among those brought under control after a nine-hour battle that included firefighting planes, estimating it burned some 4,000 dunams (nearly 990 acres).
The statement adds that firefighters prevented fires in Kfar Giladi and Kiryat Shmona from spreading to homes there.
The fire department also says it’s still fighting to gain control of a fire that broke out yesterday afternoon at Keren Naftali.
San Francisco police say 70 arrested for occupying building housing Israeli consulate
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco police arrested 70 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on trespassing charges after they entered the lobby of the building housing the Israeli consulate and refused to leave, police say.
“Officers developed probable cause to arrest 70 suspects who refused to vacate the building,” police say in a statement. No injuries are reported.
Ex-PM Bennett rips government over response to Hezbollah attacks: North ‘is going up in flames’
Amid the major fires in the north sparked by Hezbollah attacks, former prime minister Naftali Bennett tears into the government, charing that “the country is not being managed” and is devoid of leadership.
“These are tough days, but the sense that there’s someone in charge, even in difficult times, is not a luxury. It’s an existential need,” Bennett says in a statement.
“We must save the north. The Galilee is going up in flames. The fire is spreading,” he continues, referring to Hezbollah’s intensified rocket and drone attacks.
“Beautiful and flourishing places have turned into heaps of rubble. Some residents who were evacuated are already planning their lives elsewhere. This is a grave strategic event and can in no way be normalized.”
Bennett goes on warns “the north’s abandonment is dangerous for our future” and calls on the government and security chiefs “to chart a new course.”
“The prime minister must begin to manage, and now,” he adds.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid meanwhile hits out at far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees the fire service, for attending an event in Jerusalem as blazes raged across the north.
“There has never been a more reckless government in the country’s history. They just don’t care. Not about the north, the south or the hostages,” Lapid charges.
Over 30 firefighting teams battling blazes in the north
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services says over 30 firefighting teams are currently battling the blazes raging in the north, following rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon.
A statement from the fire department stresses there is no current threat to lives or homes, adding it’s “working hard to protect communities and property.”
The fire service says the blazes have raged for over 13 hours, while noting the extreme heatwave currently blanketing the area.
The Israel Defense Forces says that it’s assisting in the firefighting efforts, and that six reservists lightly hurt from smoke inhalation have been taken to a hospital.
US submits UN Security Council resolution expressing support for latest Gaza deal
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on March 25, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
The United States has submitted a new resolution to the UN Security Council expressing support for the latest Israeli hostage release-ceasefire proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden last week.
“Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions,” says US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “The Security Council must insist that Hamas accept the deal.”
“Members of the council have consistently called for the steps outlined in this deal: bringing the hostages home, ensuring a complete ceasefire, enabling a surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and in the refurbishment of essential services, and setting the stage for a long-term reconstruction plan for Gaza,” the US envoy notes. “Council members should not let this opportunity to pass by. We must speak with one voice in support of this deal.”
The development comes amid an Algerian effort to pass a Security Council resolution aimed at ordering a halt to Israel’s ongoing operations in Rafah, which the US has indicated it will oppose.
At least 12 detained in Baghdad over latest attack on KFC amid Israel-Hamas war
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces cracked down on rioters in Baghdad who attacked a KFC on Monday, wounding three with live fire and detaining at least 12, security and medical sources tell Reuters.
The attack on a KFC on the city’s Palestine Street is at least the third in just over a week and was reported just as a senior official in the Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah releases a statement calling on Iraqis to “boycott and expel” US brands.
The attack caused significant damage but no injuries to staff or customers, the sources say.
The store was opened by Americana Group, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut. Americana doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iraqi security forces don’t immediately comment on Monday night’s attacks.
The KFC brand, previously known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is owned by US-based Yum! Brands YUM.N.
Iraq has been trying to encourage foreign businesses to set up shop in the country amid a period of relative stability that has at times been shaken by security incidents, including months of tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed armed groups and US forces.
Western brands in many parts of the world have been facing boycotts and other protests during the war in Gaza, reflecting public anger over the military offensive Israel launched in response to Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.
Noting Shavuot, PM’s office denies Netanyahu will address US Congress on June 13
File: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves following his address to a joint session of the US Congress on March 3, 2015 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denies a report claiming that he will give an address to a joint session of Congress on June 13.
The PMO says a date has not yet been finalized and that the speech will not take place on June 13, as that would fall on the second day of the Shavuot holiday.
The Punchbowl news site sparked a brief political storm after it revealed the date for Netanyahu’s speech without citing any sources an hour and a half ago.
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