March 5: US backs Israel’s ‘legitimate’ demand that Hamas present list of living hostages

Stun grenade thrown at home of Israeli crime boss Yossi Musli

A stun grenade was thrown at the house of crime boss Yossi Musli in Savyon a short while ago, Hebrew media reports.

Police forces are at the scene of the incident in the upscale central Israel neighborhood and no injuries have been reported, although several vehicles are said to have been damaged.

The incident is believed to have been criminal in nature.

Musli has been the target of attacks by other crime families in the past. In 2022, a stun grenade was thrown at his home and two of his vehicles were set on fire.

First phase of six-week truce would see release of sick, wounded, elderly and female hostages — White House

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani. (Collage/AFP)

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and visiting Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani “underscored that the release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks,” according to a White House readout of their meeting earlier today.

“This first phase of a ceasefire would also enable a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm,” the readout adds.

IDF says fighter jets struck Hezbollah rocket launch point in south Lebanon after barrage fired at Kiryat Shmona

The IDF says fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launching position in southern Lebanon’s Taybeh, from which the terror group fired a barrage at Kiryat Shmona this evening.

Additionally, an anti-tank missile launch position in Aarab El Louaizeh, also used in attacks on Kiryat Shmona today, was struck by an aircraft, the IDF says.

Earlier, the IDF said it struck a building used by Hezbollah in Dibbine, and additional infrastructure in Ayta ash-Shab.

Prime Minister’s Office weighing establishing national day of mourning on date close to Simhat Torah – report

A man stands in front of a makeshift memorial amid national flags and portraits of Israeli people taken captive or killed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attacks, during a visit to the site of the Supernova music festival, where some 360 people were slaughtered, January 14, 2024, after 100 days of war between Israel and the Hamas. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

The Prime Minister’s Office has suggested a national day of mourning should be established on a day close to the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah in honor of the roughly 1,200 people killed on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

As October 7 fell on Simhat Torah last year, a national day of mourning would be held not on the day of the holiday itself, but on a date close to it.

The events of the day would include two official state ceremonies, one for the victims of the terror onslaught and one for the IDF soldiers who fell fighting Hamas on October 7 and inside the Gaza Strip, the report adds.

In addition, the PMO’s office suggested that Israel would also mark the date on the Gregorian Calendar this coming year, with a state-led memorial event.

The report adds that no final decisions have been made and that the PMO’s office is still weighing the various options.

US: Israeli demand that Hamas present list of alive hostages a ‘legitimate’ one

Israelis rally for the release of hostages held in Gaza, at the Knesset on March 4, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says Washington supports Israel’s demand that Hamas present a list of the living hostages it is prepared to release in order to move forward with the negotiations.

Hamas has said it doesn’t know where all the hostages are, but Miller is largely dismissive of the claim.

“They took these hostages, they continue to hold them. If they continue to hold them, they must know where they are,” Miller says during a press briefing.

“If you are Israel, and you are in discussions about an agreement where you would see the return of a certain number hostages, it is a fair question to Hamas to show you that they can actually deliver on that deal, show you who those hostages are and confirm that they are alive,” the spokesman continues.

“We think that is very much a legitimate request by the State of Israel.”

Blinken, Austin push Gantz on Gaza humanitarian crisis during Washington meetings

War cabinet member Benny Gantz arrives at the US State Department ahead of a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 5, 2024 in Washington DC. (Drew Angerer/AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed alarm during their respective Washington meetings with visiting war cabinet minister Benny Gantz regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, their offices say.

Blinken “emphasized the need for Israel to act urgently to enable the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and to improve the distribution of that aid inside Gaza. The current situation is unacceptable and unsustainable,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says during a press briefing.

“While the United States is doing everything it can to increase deliveries into Gaza, Israel must take additional steps as well,” Miller says.

Blinken also “reiterated that the United States continues to support Israel’s right to ensure that the terrorist attacks of October 7 can never be repeated,” his spokesman adds.

The pair discussed ongoing hostage negotiations, which Miller says now hinge on Hamas accepting the deal that is currently on the table that would see a six-week truce put in place during which the hostages would be released and aid would surge into Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that during Austin’s earlier meeting with Gantz, the defense secretary expressed “expressed strong concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and requested Minister Gantz’s support in enabling more humanitarian assistance and distribution into Gaza.”

Austin also reiterated his condemnation of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and called for the release of all hostages, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder says.

He reaffirmed the US demand for Israel to present a “credible and implementable plan for protecting civilians and addressing the humanitarian situation” before launching its major ground incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Readouts from Gantz’s office have yet to be issued.

Hamas ‘mapping out’ where hostages are held; Israel giving last chance for talks on a deal – TV report

Israelis rally for the release of hostages held in Gaza, at the Knesset on March 4, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Hamas has in recent days been “mapping out” where Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza, and what their situation is, Channel 12 reports, amid the current stuttering negotiations on a new hostage deal and with Israel reportedly demanding specific information regarding the 40 hostages whose potential release is at the heart of the indirect talks.

The unsourced TV report says Israel is therefore giving “a final opportunity” for the negotiations to bear fruit.

Israel has stayed away from ongoing contacts in Cairo this week, and US President Joe Biden said earlier today, “The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now… there’s been a rational offer. The Israelis have agreed to it.”

The Channel 12 report says IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi approved operational plans for the IDF to tackle Hamas in the remaining parts of central Gaza and in Rafah 10 days ago, and now awaits government decisions on the matter.

It says “there is coordination with Egypt,” and “there are solutions” for the evacuation of Gaza citizens from Rafah, where four Hamas battalions are stationed.

Indirect talks on resolving Israel-Lebanon border hostilities to begin during Ramadan, Lebanese PM says

Smoke rises after rockets are fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, March 5, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Indirect talks on an end to hostilities along the Lebanese-Israeli border will begin during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati says.

Mikati tells local broadcaster Al Jadeed that Lebanese officials were studying a verbal proposal suggested by US envoy Amos Hochstein, who was in Beirut on Monday to push a diplomatic solution to exchanges of fire between the powerful Lebanese armed party Hezbollah and Israel.

Since October 8, Hezbollah forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the northern border with rockets, missiles and drones on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in seven civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists.

Hezbollah has named 232 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria.

In Lebanon, another 37 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

TV report: Netanyahu told UK embassy not to help with Gantz’s visit in any way, but his security won’t be harmed

War cabinet member Benny Gantz arrives at the US State Department ahead of a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 5, 2024 in Washington DC. (Drew Angerer/AFP)

So incensed is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s current overseas trip to the US and UK that the Prime Minister’s Office has instructed the embassy in London not to assist with any aspect of Gantz’s visit, including unspecified matters that relate to his security, Channel 12 says, in a report that it notes is constrained by limitations imposed by the military censor.

“This is not only the diplomatic aspect of his trip, but a matter that relates to the essence of Gantz’s trip,” it says.

The report stresses that Gantz’s security will not be harmed, because Gantz’s own staff and the relevant Israeli entity took care of various unspecified arrangements and coordinated them with the British authorities.

The PMO denies any intervention, the report says.

The TV report says that the Israeli military censor has, “for reasons that are not clear to us,” barred Channel 12 from specifying what exactly is involved.

Reports in recent days have claimed that Netanyahu bitterly resents Gantz’s current trip to Washington, DC, and thence to London, that the minister arranged it without his approval, and that the prime minister told Israel’s Ambassador to the US not to assist with Gantz’s visit there.

Reporter Dana Weiss, plainly struggling to explain what is going on without breaching censorship, says that “the Prime Minister’s Office instructed Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely,” to tell her embassy team “not to help another Israeli entity do its necessary work” regarding Gantz’s trip.

Weiss notes that Gantz is a member of the war cabinet, a former defense minister and chief of staff, and is making the trip at a particularly sensitive time. The instruction to Hotovely relates to “logistical assistance,” but also, beyond this, to assistance in securing unspecified “permissions,” Weiss reports.

She notes that when a senior Israeli official makes an overseas trip, Israel’s legation routinely carries out all the necessary coordination with the host nation. In this case, however, “because of the boycott imposed on Gantz,” the minister’s team and the unnamed entity had to handle all the coordination with the UK authorities themselves. “One can only imagine what the authorities there think of the government of Israel,” she adds.

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that the Prime Minister’s Office told Israel’s embassy in London not to assist in coordinating security for Minister Benny Gantz on his current overseas trip, March 5, 2024. (Channel 12 screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The Foreign Ministry had no comment on the issue, the TV report says. The PMO said it had not intervened. And, says Weiss, she was not able to report the response of the relevant entity because the military censor would not let her name it.

It may be, she says, that the censor fears publication of the item might harm Gantz’s security. “Our understanding is that Gantz’s security will not be harmed,” she said.

During the TV report, Channel 12 shows a ticker at the bottom of the screen which states at one point, “Minister Gantz’s visit to London: PM to the Israeli Embassy: Do not help with the security coordination,” and, at another point, “Minister Gantz’s visit to London: PMO instructed embassy not to help with any aspect.”

Gantz, who has been holding two days of talks with senior US officials, is tomorrow set to meet in London with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Ra’am’s Mansour Abbas urges Arab Israeli public to maintain ‘law and public order’ during Ramadan

Ra'am party head MK Mansour Abbas leads a faction meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on October 16, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of the Islamist Ra’am party, thanks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the “responsible decision” not to limit the number of people allowed to access the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount during the first week of Ramadan compared to previous years.

In the same statement on X, formerly Twitter, he calls on the “Arab public to exercise their right to pray and observe the commandments during the holy month, while maintaining the law and public order.”

IDF: 30 rockets fired from Lebanon in barrage on Kiryat Shmona, Iron Dome intercepted at least 10

Some 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon in the latest barrage on Kiryat Shmona, according to the IDF.

It says that at least 10 projectiles were successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

There are no reports of damage or injuries.

Another clip shows multiple Iron Dome interceptions over Kiryat Shmona. pic.twitter.com/cjGBfamZc4

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 5, 2024

Humanitarian aid to enter Gaza by sea for first time since start of war – report

A picture taken from southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip shows a naval ship near the coast of the Palestinian territory on January 25, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Israel will allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza via the sea for the first time since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught and the start of the war in the Palestinian enclave, Channel 13 reports.

The United Arab Emirates will finance the aid shipments, which will be sent from the Gulf state to Cyprus, where they will be subject to inspection by Israeli officials, the report states. From there, the ships will travel to Gaza and unload on the coast.

The first flotilla will depart for Cyprus in the coming days with the hope that it will reach Gaza at the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month set to begin on March 10 or 11, the report states.

The idea for a marine humanitarian corridor has been floated for years but never got off the ground due to Israeli reticence and concerns that the port in Gaza isn’t equipped to accept aid en masse.

The US has made a renewed push for a marine humanitarian corridor to be established following last week’s deadly mass-casualty incident where dozens of Palestinians were killed trying to collect aid in northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from humanitarian assistance.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says during a press briefing, “We’re exploring other channels to get aid into Gaza, including a maritime route. To that end, we’re looking at both military and commercial options to move assistance by sea.”

“There’s still an awful lot of work that’s being done on this to flesh it out. We’re also going to continue to urge Israel to facilitate more trucks and more routes opening up more crossings so that more aid can get in to people in need and [for the] flor to be increased,” he adds.

“The maritime route can move more volume at sea, but it also is going to require a heavier logistics lift and some infrastructure… and is very much going to need the support of allies and partners,” he adds.

Ben Gvir accuses Netanyahu of ‘endangering’ Israel with decision not to limit access to Temple Mount on Ramadan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sept. 10, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “endangering the citizens of Israel,” after he confirmed that Israel will not change the number of worshippers allowed to pray on the Temple Mount during the first week of Ramadan compared to previous years.

“The decision to allow a similar ascension to the Temple Mount on Ramadan as in previous years shows that Netanyahu and the limited [war] cabinet think that nothing happened on October 7,” Army Radio reports the ultra-nationalist minister as saying. “The decision endangers the citizens of Israel and may allow an image of victory for Hamas.”

Ben Gvir also took to X, formerly Twitter, with criticism of the decision, writing that “Hamas celebrations on the Temple Mount” are not the “total victory” Israel promised to achieve over the Gaza terror group.

חגיגות חמאס בהר הבית ≠ ניצחון מוחלט

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) March 5, 2024

Rocket sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona, surrounding communities

Rocket sirens sound in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and several nearby communities, following a barrage launched from Lebanon.

Footage circulating on social media shows multiple interceptions by the Iron Dome air defense system.

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Multiple Iron Dome interceptions seen over Kiryat Shmona, following a rocket barrage from Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/XPC9KJpb8e

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 5, 2024

Global shipping company MSC confirms vessel hit by Houthi missile off coast of Yemen

Global container shipping company MSC confirms one of its vessels was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen, in an attack claimed by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Geneva-based MSC says the Liberian-flagged container ship MSC Sky II was hit on Monday near Aden, causing a fire that has now been extinguished. There were no injuries.

“During her passage from Singapore to Djibouti, MSC Sky II was hit by a missile on March 4 at around 1320 GMT, 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Aden and 170 miles (275 kilometers) east-southeast of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” MSC says in a statement.

“The missile caused a small fire that has been extinguished while no crew were injured. She is currently continuing her journey to Djibouti and will arrive today for further assessment.”

Netanyahu decides: Temple Mount access at Ramadan to be the same as previous years

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, April 14, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Israel will not reduce the number of worshippers allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in the first week of Ramadan from the levels in previous years, the Prime Minister’s Office announces after a meeting headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The statement indicates, therefore, that blanket restrictions sought by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, including on Israeli Arabs, will not be imposed.

“In the first week of Ramadan, the number of worshippers allowed to enter the Temple Mount will be as in previous years,” says the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Every week there will be a situational assessment around security and safety, and a decision will be made accordingly,”

“Ramadan is holy for Muslims, and the sanctity of the holiday will be preserved this year, as it is every year,” Netanyahu’s office pledges.

Senior Hamas official says no hostages will be released until a ceasefire is achieved

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, Lebanon, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The release of hostages from captivity in Gaza can only happen after a ceasefire takes place, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan says after the third day of negotiations with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo.

“We say to Washington, what is more important than sending aid [to Gaza] is stopping its supply of weapons to Israel,” he tells a press conference in Beirut.

The Cairo talks have been billed as a final hurdle to reach the war’s first extended ceasefire — a 40-day truce during which hostages would be freed and aid would be pumped into Gaza to stave off famine ahead of Ramadan, which is due to begin at the start of next week.

As of Tuesday, however, the talks have seemingly been bogged down, with Egyptian sources telling Sky News Arabia that there have been “difficulties.”

Lebanon claims four civilians killed in Israeli airstrike in Houla

Four civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanon village of Houla earlier today, a Lebanese security source tells UK-based Qatari outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

According to the unverified report, the four people were all members of the same family, and among them were a man, his wife and their 25-year-old son. Their identities have not yet been made public.

The IDF said it had carried out airstrikes on buildings used by the Hezbollah terror group in Houla earlier this evening.

IDF says it carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it carried out strikes on several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon a short while ago.

Among the targets was a Hezbollah compound in Ayta ash-Shab that the IDF says was used to fire two anti-tank missiles at the Biranit base earlier today. No injuries were caused in the attack, the IDF says.

The IDF says it also struck a Hezbollah command center in Jabal al-Batam, rocket launch positions in Matmoura, and buildings used by the terror group in Majdal Zoun, Houla and Kafra.

מטוסי קרב תקפו אתר צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב עייתא א-שעב, ממנו שוגרו מוקדם יותר היום שני טילי נ״ט לעבר מרחב בירנית, אין נפגעים.

כמו כן, צה״ל תקף מפקדה מבצעית של הארגון במרחב ג׳בל אל-בטם, עמדות שיגור במרחב אל מטמורה ומבנים צבאיים במרחבים מג׳דל זון, חולא וכפרא pic.twitter.com/txRtRqdW4K

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 5, 2024

Biden: Hostage deal in Hamas’s hands; we’ll know in a couple of days if it’ll happen

US President Joe Biden speaks to reporters before he boards Air Force One, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Hagerstown, MD. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Joe Biden says “we’ll know in a couple days” if Hamas agrees to the hostage deal proposal currently on the table.

“The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now… there’s been a rational offer. The Israelis have agreed to it… We’ll know in a couple days if it’s going to happen,” Biden tells reporters before boarding Air Force One in Maryland.

“There’s got to be a ceasefire because [if] we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan… Israel and Jerusalem… it could be very, very dangerous,” Biden adds.

Asked whether he’s pressuring Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, Biden reiterates, “I’m working with them very hard… We must get more aid into Gaza. There’s no excuses. None.”

Asked how his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been as of late, Biden smiles and responds, “Like it’s always been.”

President Biden: "The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now…there's got to be a ceasefire." pic.twitter.com/470gtcuuwP

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 5, 2024

Dozens protest outside US Embassy in Tel Aviv in support of hostage deal

People rally outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv in support of a deal to release the hostages from Gaza, March 5, 2024. (Lior Segev/Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Family members of hostages are joined by dozens of allies in a protest outside the US Embassy Branch in Tel Aviv for the second time in recent days in support of making a deal with Hamas that will facilitate the release of the hostages held in Gaza.

The crowd outside the embassy branch calls for US President Joe Biden to pressure the Israeli government into accepting a deal for the release of the hostages.

Earlier today, a similar protest was held outside the US Consulate in Jerusalem.

IDF says seriously wounded victim of Yitzhar Junction stabbing attack is a soldier

The IDF says the seriously wounded victim of the stabbing attack earlier today in the northern West Bank is a soldier.

He was taken to Beilinson Hospital, and his family was updated, the IDF adds.

Facebook, Instagram outages reported worldwide, Meta says it’s ‘working on’ the issue

In this illustrative file photo, a smartphone screen displays the logo of Facebook on a Facebook website background, on April 7, 2021, in Arlington, Virginia. (Olivier Douliery/AFP)

Users of Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger platforms are experiencing login issues in what appears to be a widespread outage.

Internet traffic observer Down Detector is reporting vast outages on several Meta platforms Tuesday. The problems are being reported across the world, suggesting that the outage could be global.

London-based internet monitoring firm Netblocks says on X that four Meta platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads — were “currently experiencing outages related to login sessions in multiple countries.” But the firm, which advocates for internet freedom, said there was no sign of “country-level internet disruptions or filtering,” which are typically imposed by governments.

Andy Stone, Meta’s head of communications, acknowledges the issues on X, formerly known as Twitter, and says the company is “working on this now.”

ℹ️ Note: Meta platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads are currently experiencing outages related to login sessions in multiple countries; incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering #FacebookDown #InstagramDown #ThreadsDown pic.twitter.com/0yR5mKCoQY

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 5, 2024

Netanyahu vows to ‘do everything to maintain freedom of worship for Muslims’ at Temple Mount on Ramadan

A still image from a recorded statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of a session on preparations for the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, March 5, 2024. (Screenshot, Roi Avraham/GPO)

Israel will strive to maintain freedom of worship for Muslims at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount during Ramadan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at the start of a session on preparations for the holy month, which will begin on March 10 or 11.

“Israel’s policy has always been and will always be to maintain the freedom of worship for all religions,” he says. “We of course have always acted this way during the Ramadan holiday and we will act like this now.”

“We will do everything to maintain the freedom of worship on the Temple Mount, while appropriately maintaining security and safety needs, and we will allow the Muslim public to celebrate the holiday.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot are among those attending the session.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is also at the session, as are the heads of the National Security Council, the Shin Bet, the Israel Police Forces and other senior security and political officials.

US sanctions spyware firm and its Israeli executives for targeting US journalists, officials

WiSpear CEO Tal Dilian is wanted for questioning by police in Cyprus in connection with the operations of a $9 million 'spy van' owned by his company. (Screen capture: Forbes)

The US Treasury Department announces it has sanctioned two people and a Greece-based commercial spyware company headed by a former Israeli military officer that developed, operated and distributed technology used to target US government officials, journalists and policy experts.

The sanctions target Intellexa Consortium, which the US says has sold and distributed commercial spyware and surveillance tools for targeted and mass surveillance campaigns. Other entities associated with Intellexa — including North Macedonia-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings ZRT and Ireland-based Thalestris Limited — were sanctioned for their parts in developing and distributing a package of tools known as Predator.

Biden administration officials said it marks the first time that the Treasury Department has sanctioned people or entities for the misuse of spyware.

Predator allows a user to infiltrate electronic devices through zero-click attacks that require no user interaction for the spyware to infect the device. The spyware, which has been used in dozens of countries, has allowed for the unauthorized extraction of data, geolocation tracking and access to personal information on compromised devices.

“Today’s actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens,” says Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

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Intellexa was created in 2019 by former Israeli military officer Tal Dilian.

Dilian and his partner Sara Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist who has provided managerial services to Intellexa, were also sanctioned as individuals.

Intellexa was already placed last year on the US Treasury Department’s Entities List, which tightly restricts Americans from doing business with them. Today’s announcement amounts to an escalation in Washington’s targeting of Dilian and his firm.

Dilian was previously associated with NSO Group, creator of the notorious spyware Pegasus.

Forbes reported that Dilian took over Cytrox in 2019 to make Intellexa a “one-stop-shop” for hacking and electronic surveillance services and products.

According to marketing materials, Intellexa offered customers the ability to hack both Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems.

WATCH: F-15 fighter jet shoots down drone that entered Israeli airspace from Syria

The IDF releases footage showing an F-15 fighter jet shooting down a drone that entered Israeli airspace from Syria early this morning.

According to the IDF, the drone was identified by air traffic control, which dispatched a fighter jet to take it down.

There was no damage or injuries in the attack, although it set off alerts in open areas in northern Israel.

Middle East Starbucks franchisee firing staff due to impact of boycott over Israel-Hamas war

Illustrative: A Starbucks sign is seen in the window of a Starbucks in a Target store in Pittsburgh, on Monday, January 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Middle East franchisee of Starbucks says it has begun firing staff at its coffee shops across the region after the brand found itself targeted by activists during the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip.

The Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, a private family firm holding franchise rights for a variety of Western companies including The Cheesecake Factory, H&M and Shake Shack, issues a statement acknowledging the firings at its Middle Eastern and North African locations.

“As a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months, we have taken the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of colleagues in our Starbucks MENA stores,” the statement reads.

Alshaya declined to answer questions about how many employees it was firing. Reuters, which first reported the layoffs, put the number at over 2,000 employees. Many of its employees in the Gulf Arab states are foreign workers hailing from Asian nations.

Alshaya runs about 1,900 Starbucks branches in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. It had employed over 19,000 staff, according to the Seattle-based company.

Since the shock terror assault carried out by the Hamas terror group inside Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza, Starbucks has found itself alongside other Western brands targeted by pro-Palestinian activists over the war.

The company prominently has been trying to counter what it describes as “ongoing false and misleading information being shared about Starbucks” online.

“We have no political agenda,” Starbucks says. “We do not use our profits to fund any government or military operations anywhere -– and never have.”

Though the company does not operate in Israel, its upper management has earned a pro-Israel image by pushing back against an anti-Israel statement made by one of its workers unions in the war’s early days.

In October, the company sued Starbucks Workers United for using the Starbucks logo in a statement that expressed support for the Palestinians, while failing to condemn Hamas’s brutal massacre in Israel.

Police investigating stabbing of bus driver on Route 20, attacker’s motive unclear

The Israel Police are investigating a violent incident on Route 20, the Ayalon highway, a short while ago in which a bus driver was stabbed in unclear circumstances.

In a statement, the police say that forces are attempting to locate a suspect who fled the scene of the incident and are working to determine the motive of the attacker.

Trump: Hamas onslaught, Israel counter-attack wouldn’t have happened if I were president

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, March 4, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Former US president Donald Trump says Hamas’s October 7 onslaught as well as the subsequent war Israel is waging against the Gaza terror group would never have happened if he were still in the White House.

“It would have never happened if I was president. Iran was broke… They had no money for Hamas, for Hezbollah, they were broke,” he says in a “Fox & Friends” phone interview.

“They wouldn’t have done it to me. I guarantee you that. They did this because they have no respect for Biden.”

Asked whether he supports the way the IDF is fighting in Gaza, Trump responds, “You’ve gotta finish the problem. You had a horrible invasion [that] took place.”

It's garbled because Trump is generally incoherent but I think Trump is saying that the Hamas attack on Israel happened because the Israelis "got soft" here.

He goes on to say that dead people in Ukraine and Russia and Israel would be "leading great lives" if he was in office. pic.twitter.com/x6GpYk1BZ3

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) March 5, 2024

“Likewise, Russia would never never have attacked Ukraine. Never. You know it, everybody knows it. This is all on Biden.”

Asked whether he thinks US President Joe Biden is in the process of “abandoning Israel,” Trump responds, “I do believe that” before mocking his successor’s mental competence.

“It’s the fascists and the communists [who] surround him. They’re making the calls,” Trump claims.

Asked whether he supports US Vice President Kamala Harris’s call for a temporary ceasefire, Trump reiterates, “This attack on Israel, and likewise, Israel’s counter attack — which is what it is — would never have happened if I was president.”

He appears to again claim that the 2020 US election was stolen before saying, “all these people that are dead in Ukraine and Russia and Israel all these areas that are destroyed. People would be leading great lives right now.”

“We’re gonna end up in World War III,” Trump warns.

Hebrew University’s Haim Sompolinsky awarded prestigious Brain Prize for pioneering neuroscience research

Prof. Haim Sompolinsky (Kris Snibbe/Harvard University)

Prof. Haim Sompolinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is awarded the Brain Prize for 2024, the largest and most prestigious international prize for brain research. The prize is awarded annually by the Lundbeck Foundation of Denmark.

Sompolinsky, who is also affiliated with Harvard University, is a physicist and pioneer in the field of theoretical and computational neuroscience, particularly in the study of neural circuit dynamics in the brain. His research has significantly contributed to understanding how neural circuits process and encode information, map the external world and participate in learning and memory.

Sompolinsky shares the annual prize totaling 1.3 million euros with Prof. Larry Abbott of Columbia University and Prof. Terrence Sejnowski of the Salk Institute, who are also widely recognized for their groundbreaking work in computational and theoretical neuroscience, which applies physics, mathematics, and statistics as tools for studying the brain and how it functions.

“It’s a very satisfactory and personal honor for me to receive this award. More so, it is a fantastic recognition of the important contribution of radical computational science at the heart of brain science. This would not have been the case decades ago,” he tells The Times of Israel.

His Royal Highness King Frederik of Denmark, will present the Brain Prize medals to the winners at a ceremony in Copenhagen on May 30.

Israeli man wounded in stabbing attack in serious condition, Beilinson Hospital says

Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva says the wounded Israeli man from the stabbing attack at the Yitzhar Junction in the northern West Bank is in serious condition.

The Palestinian assailant who carried out the attack was shot dead by IDF troops.

He is named by Palestinian media as Muhammad Shehadeh, 17.

◾ إرتقاء الشاب محمد هشام شحادة من بلدة عوريف جنوب نابلس pic.twitter.com/xKhKmnYnXT

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) March 5, 2024

Blinken: Up to Hamas to accept an ‘immediate ceasefire’ with Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani speak to the press in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2024. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls on Hamas to accept an “immediate ceasefire” with Israel as talks between the terror group and Egyptian and Qatari mediators drew to a close in Cairo.

“We have an opportunity for an immediate ceasefire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian assistance getting to Palestinians who so desperately need it, and then also set the conditions for an enduring resolution,” Blinken says during a visit by the Qatari prime minister in Washington.

“It is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire,” he says.

“It’s also urgent — irrespective of a ceasefire — to dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance that is getting to people inside Gaza,” Blinken continues.

“The situation for children, for women, for men who were caught in the crossfire of Hamas’s making making inside of Gaza is unacceptable and unsustainable.”

“Israel has to maximize every possible means, every possible method of getting assistance to people who need it.”

“It requires more pauses, it requires more aid getting… it requires making sure that it can get to the people in need.”

“We’ll continue to press that every single day because the situation as it stands is simply unacceptable,” Blinken concludes.

US says it carried out second airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza with Jordan

US troops prepare to airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza on March 5, 2024. (US CENTCOM)

Following Jordan’s announcement of its joint airdrop of humanitarian aid for Gaza with the US, the US Army’s Central Command offers additional details on the operation, which was the second such airdrop in four days.

“The combined, joint operation included US Air Force C-130 aircraft and US Army Soldiers specialized in aerial delivery of U.S and Jordanian humanitarian assistance supplies,” US Centcom tweets.

“US C-130s dropped over 36,800 US and Jordanian meal equivalents in northern Gaza — an area of great need –allowing for civilian access to the critical aid,” Centcom adds.

“These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors.”

Jordan said earlier that the airdrop was the largest conducted since the beginning of the war with three Jordanian planes, three US planes, and one each from France and Egypt taking part.

One injured in stabbing attack at Yitzhar Junction, assailant shot dead

This handout image from the IDF shows the knife used in a stabbing attack at Yitzhar Junction in the West Bank on March 5, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Palestinian assailant who allegedly carried out a stabbing attack at the Yitzhar Junction in the northern West Bank was shot dead by troops at the scene, IDF and medics say.

The Rescuers Without Borders emergency service says one victim who was attacked was taken to Beilinson Hospital in good condition.

IDF: Counter-terrorism troops found weapons depot close to a school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis

A weapons depot located near a school in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout image published March 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Troops of the elite LOTAR counter-terrorism unit located a weapons depot close to a school used as a shelter for civilians in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says.

The IDF says it had “intelligence indications” of the site, which was found to be storing dozens of firearms, ammunition, rockets, mortars, grenades, and other military equipment.

Nearby, the troops found another weapons depot, which the IDF says contained dozens more rockets and additional military equipment.

Footage shared by the IDF shows Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags at both weapons depots.

The IDF says the LOTAR troops also raided Hamas hideout apartments and additional sites in Khan Younis recently.

British PM Sunak may briefly join Gantz’s meeting with Foreign Secretary David Cameron

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might drop in on war cabinet minister Benny Gantz tomorrow during his meeting with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, a British official tells The Times of Israel.

With Budget Day tomorrow, Sunak is busy preparing for the much-anticipated announcements about spending and taxes for the upcoming year.

Medics responding to reported stabbing attack at Yitzhar Junction in the West Bank

The IDF and medics are responding to reports of a stabbing attack at the Yitzhar Junction in the northern West Bank.

First responders say they are treating one person at the scene.

In a brief statement, the IDF says it has received reports of an attack and will provide additional information soon.

Kamala Harris denies NBC report that White House prevented her from criticizing Israel too harshly

Vice President Kamala Harris walks to the stage before people walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in 1965, Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Selma, Alabama. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

US Vice President Kamala Harris intended to criticize Israel more harshly in her speech in Selma, Alabama on Sunday, but the White House watered down her remarks about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, NBC News reports.

US officials tell NBC that the original language was “strong but not controversial,” before the National Security Council edited the speech.

Harris’s spokeswoman calls the report “inaccurate.”

“The Vice President felt it was important to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, given recent developments, and to reiterate our Administration’s call on Hamas to accept the terms of the hostage deal,” she says.

Harris on Sunday called the situation in Gaza a “humanitarian catastrophe” and implied strongly that Israel was imposing unnecessary restrictions on aid and even targeting convoys.

She also called for a six-week ceasefire, putting the onus on Hamas to accept the terms Israel and the US hammered out with Qatar and Egypt.

Sources also tell NBC that Harris wants to be more critical of the war than US President Joe Biden.

Hamas denies UN report on sexual violence as ‘false claims’

Hamas denies a UN report finding Palestinian terrorists committed “sexual violence” during their attack on Israel on October 7, saying it is based on “false claims.”

The report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, “did not document any testimony from what she calls the victims of these cases,” Hamas says in a statement.

“She relied on Israeli institutions, soldiers and witnesses, who were chosen by the occupation authorities to push towards an attempt to prove this false accusation, which was refuted by all investigations,” the terror group claims.

The report, released on Monday, said it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred” on October 7.

The assaults took place in at least three separate locations, and “in most of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then killed, and at least two incidents relate to the rape of women’s corpses,” the report said.

Despite extensive documentation of its atrocities, Hamas has consistently refused to admit harming civilians on October 7, claiming its assault on southern Israeli communities, in which some 1,200 people were brutally murdered, many of them families in their homes or young people at a music festival, only targeted soldiers.

Sirens blare in Manara in north

Rocket sirens sound in Manara, near the Lebanon border.

The launch appears to be the fifth attack on the Galilee in the last three hours.

Israel trying out sending aid straight to northern Gaza via second crossing

A general view taken from the Israeli side of the border shows aid parcels being airdropped over the northern Gaza Strip on March 5, 2024. (Nicolas Garcia / AFP)

Israel has begun testing bringing in aid through the border between Israel and northern Gaza, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

Getting trucks safely into the northern Gaza Strip is a priority for Israel, the official explains, and though the number of trucks entering the Strip from the south reached new highs this week, almost all have been cleaned out before they make it to the north.

Until now, all aid has been checked at Kerem Shalom, at Gaza’s southern end, then sent in through the crossing there or through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing.

Israel knew UN head would not convene Security Council on rape report, official says

Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s decision to recall UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan for consultations shortly after a UN report accusing Hamas of rape came from advance knowledge that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had no intention of calling an emergency session of the Security Council or General Assembly to discuss the report, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

Katz said earlier today on X that the move was made due to Guterres “acting to soften the serious report that he himself ordered on the sexual offenses of Hamas, trying to keep Hamas from being held responsible and not ordering that the Security Council be immediately convened to discuss the report and recognize Hamas as a terror group, with all the sanctions that entails, while calling for an unconditional release of all hostages.”

Rocket strikes Kiryat Shmona, causing damage — police

A rocket launched from Lebanon struck the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, causing damage to property, police say.

There are no reports of injuries in the attack.

קרית שמונה נפילה pic.twitter.com/qKKDiohvur

— כל החדשות בזמן אמת ???? (@Saher95755738) March 5, 2024

Sirens had sounded in the city and nearby towns, which are largely evacuated amid daily attacks by Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.

As rockets fly, Gallant says Israel inching toward military option against Hezbollah

US envoy Amos Hochstein, left, meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2024. (Shachar Yurman/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein that Hezbollah’s continued attacks on Israel are bringing the country closer to making a decision regarding military action in Lebanon.

“We are committed to the diplomatic process. However, Hezbollah’s aggression is bringing us closer to a critical point in the decision-making regarding our military activities in Lebanon,” Gallant says, according to remarks provided by his office.

During the meeting at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, Gallant also warns Hochstein that Hezbollah is “dragging the parties to a dangerous escalation,” according to his office.

According to a readout, Gallant and Hochstein spoke on Hezbollah’s daily rocket, missile, and drone attacks, as well as efforts to reach an agreement that would see the terror group withdraw from the border and end the hostilities, to enable displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.

Underlining the threat, rocket sirens sound in several towns near the border moments after Gallant’s office publishes the statement, with reports of one projectile impacting in Kiryat Shmona.

Cairo talks extended for third day, Israel says Hamas yet to respond to its offer

Hamas negotiators will remain in Cairo for another day at the request of mediators, keeping ceasefire talks going after two days with no breakthrough, an official from the terror group says.

Meanwhile, Israel denies that it received a Hamas counteroffer or is seeking to torpedo the talks.

“The delegation will remain in Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, they are expected to wrap up this round later today,” a Hamas official tells Reuters.

Egypt’s Qahera television also reports the talks have been extended for a third day, but says they are “facing difficulties.”

Earlier, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told Reuters the group had presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to the mediators, and was now waiting for a response from the Israelis, who have stayed away from this round.

Asked about Naim’s claim that Israel was holding up the deal, a senior Israeli official says it is incorrect.

“Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement. We are awaiting a response from Hamas,” the official says.

Rocket sirens ring in Kiryat Shmona and surrounding towns

Rocket sirens are sounding in several towns in the Upper Galilee panhandle, including Kiryat Shmona and Metula.

צבע אדום (05/03/2024 14:22): בית הלל, כפר גלעדי, כפר יובל, מטולה, מעיין ברוך, קריית שמונה, תל חי, הגושרים pic.twitter.com/ESokmi7I2i

— צופר – צבע אדום (@tzevaadom_) March 5, 2024

High school visits to concentration camps in Poland given go-ahead for summer

People from all over the world participating in the March of the Living at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp site in Poland, as Israel marks annual Holocaust Memorial Day, on April 24, 2017. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Israeli high school students will be able to go on organized visits to concentration camps in Poland this summer, the Education Ministry announces. In November, the once-annual trips during the school year were canceled due to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war and concern over antisemitism in Europe.

The decision to greenlight the trips came after a review of security and logistical factors, and after a “pedagogical process was completed examining and adjusting the goals and contents of the trips” in light of current events, the ministry said.

Although approved, the summer trips could be canceled depending on the security situation, so the ministry suggests that schools preparing for the trip build their curriculum “in such a way that the preparation stands on its own even if the trip to Poland is not possible.”

The ministry also suggests parents take out travel insurance on the tickets so that a refund will be possible if the trips are canceled. Typically the trips, considered a rite of passage for Israeli youth, are paid for by individual parents, school fundraisers or other donations.

The Poland trips are meant to be a learning experience about the Holocaust, the subsequent necessity of the Jewish state, and the values of volunteerism and social cohesion.

In 2023, Israel and Poland reached an agreement to resume the trips after a three-year break caused by disputes between the two countries over curriculum, but then the trips were canceled due to the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Hamas says it is awaiting Israeli response as Cairo hostage talks end without breakthrough

Ceasefire talks between Hamas and mediators broke up on Tuesday in Cairo with no breakthrough, a senior Hamas official says.

Bassem Naim tells Reuters the group had presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to mediators during two days of talks, and is now waiting for a response from the Israelis, who stayed away from this round.

“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him for a deal, Naim says.

Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks in Cairo.

An Egyptian source tells Sky News Arabia that talks are ongoing, while acknowledging there are “difficulties.”

Egyptian security sources said on Monday they were still in touch with the Israelis to allow the negotiations to continue without an Israeli delegation present.

A source told The Times of Israel this week that Israel was staying away because Hamas had rejected its demand to furnish a list of all hostages who are still alive.

Naim says this was impossible without a ceasefire first as hostages were scattered across the war zone and held by separate groups.

The Cairo talks had been billed as a final hurdle to reach the war’s first extended ceasefire — a 40-day truce during which hostages would be freed and aid would be pumped into Gaza to stave off famine, ahead of Ramadan, which is due to begin at the start of next week.

Jordan says 8 planes dropped aid into Gaza, in largest operation yet

Jordan’s official news agency says the country’s army and allies deployed eight airdrops over Gaza today, the largest such operation to date.

Three Jordanian planes, three US planes, and one each from France and Egypt took part in the operation aimed at delivering aid to various locations around the crisis-wracked Strip, a statement carried by the Petra news agency says.

The planes dropped unspecified relief supplies, including food provided by the World Food Program.

“These airdrops are a continuation of Jordan’s commitment to providing medical, relief, and food aid to the people of Gaza, aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip,” the statement says.

According to Jordan, there have been 43 airdrops over Gaza since war broke out on October 7, the majority of them carried out by Amman.

IDF says it nabbed West Bank terror mastermind plotting ‘imminent’ attack

Border Police, the Shin Bet, and IDF say troops detained a prominent terror operative in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank in an overnight raid.

In a joint statement, authorities say Muhammad Tanji was planning an “imminent” terror attack with other operatives.

Tanji was “one of the main operatives in the terror infrastructure in Balata over the past year,” the statement says.

اعتقال قائد كتيبة بلاطة ومؤسسها محمد ابو ذراع "الزنكلوني" المصاب اكتر من اصابة والمطلوب لقوات الاحتلال منذ اكثر من اربع سنوات. pic.twitter.com/UVvKcEM2cE

— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) March 5, 2024

Palestinian media identify Tanji as a leader and founder of the so-called Balata Battalion, a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the refugee camp.

The IDF says troops also operated in the northern West Bank village of Kafr Dan to demolish the home of a Palestinian accused of taking part in a deadly terror attack last year.

Abed Massad was allegedly involved in the killing of Shay Silas Nigreker, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir, in the West Bank town of Huwara last August. The attack itself was carried out by Osama Bani Fadl, and his home was demolished in December.

In other raids across the West Bank, another 20 wanted Palestinians were arrested, the IDF says.

Since October 7, the IDF says troops have arrested some 3,450 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,500 affiliated with Hamas.

Hezbollah claims attack on troops as IDF confirms one rocket fired

The Hezbollah terror group takes responsibility for an attack on the border, saying it targeted soldiers at a site near Zar’it.

The IDF confirms one rocket was fired in the attack.

Hezbollah claims its strike hit a target, causing a fire and a cloud of black smoke seen near the border.

النيران تندلع من موقع العدو في #بركة_ريشا مقابل بلدة #الضهيرة بعد استهدافه بصواريخ حزب الله pic.twitter.com/OIVUfNdBnu

— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib ???????? (@alishoeib1970) March 5, 2024

Black smoke seen on northern border after rocket alarm

Smoke seen on the Israel-Lebanon border on March 5, 2024. (screen capture: Reuters video)

A cloud of black smoke is billowing on the Israel-Lebanon border after rocket sirens sounded in the area of Zarit.

There is no immediate word from Israeli authorities on the cause of the smoke.

Hezbollah-linked media in Lebanon claim it is from a military site hit by a rocket.

Gantz’s office details talks with US officials

A statement from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s office says he told senior US officials that Israel was committed to reaching its goal of removing the Hamas terror group, as well as finding a way to get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

“Gantz iterated the imperative of completing the mission of removing the threat Hamas poses to Israel, finding a sustainable solution to ensuring humanitarian aid reaches civilians and not terrorist Hamas, and the importance of completing all of the operation’s military objectives in Gaza in a manner that enables stability and prosperity for the region entirely,” the statement reads.

The statement says Gantz also called for an international mechanism to run the aid operation, which he said could advance efforts to normalize with regional countries.

Gantz, who met with Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Mideast envoy Brett McGurk and others, thanked the US for its support and for efforts to free hostages kidnapped on October 7, the statement says.

Gantz told Harris that Israel’s main goal was returning the hostages “and concluded by conveying his gratitude for the significant pressure the US is applying to advance the matter.”

BBC accused of relying on Iran-linked terror supporter for on-the-ground account in Gaza

The Daily Telegraph accuses the BBC of relying on a journalist working for a news outlet associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in its reporting on the deadly melee around an aid convoy in Gaza last week.

Citing investigative journalist David Collier, the Telegraph accuses BBC Verify — the public broadcaster’s fact-checking arm — of leaning on the eyewitness account of Mahmoud Awadeyah, who it alleges works for the semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency.

“Israelis purposefully fired at the men… they were trying to get near the trucks that had the flour,” the BBC quoted Awadeyah as saying in its coverage of the chaos around the aid convoy early Thursday. “They were fired at directly and prevented people to come near those killed.”

Hamas has claimed Israel killed over 100 Palestinians desperately attempting to reach aid trucks in Gaza City. Israel says it only fired at a small number of Palestinians who threatened troops and that most people were trampled or crushed in a stampede.

On X, Awadeyah has praised a January 2023 terrorist attack outside a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem, which killed seven Israelis, and posted a picture in which he sits for a meal with Khalil Bahtini, a senior Islamic Jihad commander who Israel killed in May.

And Awadeyah is not shy about his feelings. His social media is full of pro-terrorist messaging.

Did the BBC not 'verify' anything before using this man as a source? Here he is praising the terrorist attack on the 27 Jan 2023 which left 7 Israelis dead. 3/14 pic.twitter.com/iReQJy7AVP

— David Collier (@mishtal) March 3, 2024

The BBC responds by rejecting allegations leveled by Collier.

“We stand by our journalism,” responds the BBC. “The BBC is not allowed access into Gaza, but we use a range of accounts from eyewitnesses and cross reference these against official statements and footage, including from the IDF. The fact that someone has expressed an opinion on social media doesn’t automatically disqualify them from giving eye-witness testimony.”

Rocket sirens sound on northern border

Rocket sirens are sounding in towns near the Lebanese border in central and western Galilee.

The sirens are heard in Shomra, Arab al-Aramshe and Zarit.

Northern Gaza malnutrition ‘extreme,’ WHO says

Children pose for a picture at a stand selling flatbread in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on March 3, 2024. (AFP)

The World Health Organization says malnutrition in northern Gaza is “particularly extreme.”

Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, says that one in six children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in northern Gaza as of earlier this year.

“This was in January. So the situation is likely to be greater today,” Peeperkorn adds.

India tells nationals in Israel to avoid border areas

India’s embassy in Israel is advising nationals working in Israeli border areas to move to safer parts of the country.

The advisory comes a day after an anti-tank missile attack near the border with Lebanon killed Indian national Patnibin Maxwell and seriously wounded two other Indians.

Otzma Yehudit MK halts Knesset discussion of boss’s move to cut domestic abuse program funds

Merav Ben-Ari, left, yells at Limor Son Har-Melech, in hat, as Oded Forer, center, prepares to leave. (Danny Shem Tov/Knesset spokesperson)

A Knesset discussion on the National Security Ministry’s decision to cut off funding for the Michal Sela Forum’s programs for women at risk of domestic abuse has been shut down after just 20 minutes, following a shouting match between two lawmakers.

Knesset National Security Committee head Tzvika Fogel cuts off the discussion after MK Merav Ben Ari repeatedly interrupts fellow lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech as she attempts to question whether the Sela Forum’s programs do any good.

Both Fogel and Har-Melech are from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, headed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who decided in February to cut off funding for the programs, claiming without evidence that the organization was using the money for personal gain and not to help women.

The Michal Sela Forum, named for a woman who was murdered by her partner in 2019, operates two personal security programs: one that provides threatened women a panic button with which to summon a guard at a moment’s notice, and another program whereby women are given a specially trained guard dog.

In the meeting, Ben-Ari, of the Yesh Atid party, repeatedly challenged Har-Melech’s claims that the programs failed to help women or offer “real” solutions to the issue of domestic violence. Fogel repeatedly threatened to shut down the discussion, as Ben-Ari struggled to contain her frustration, and eventually a shouting match broke out, with Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer joining in against Har-Melech’s unsubstantiated claims.

It is unclear why Fogel shut down the discussion rather than removing Ben-Ari, which is normal procedure for dealing with a troublesome lawmaker.

Last year, Ben Gvir delayed legislation enabling electronic tracking of domestic abuse offenders, which the Forum had advanced in cooperation with the previous government. The bill eventually passed, after the minister inserted modifications that he said would protect men from false abuse allegations.

Hamas says 97 killed in Gaza in last day, raising toll to 30,631

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 30,631 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out on October 7, raising the death toll by 97.

The ministry says 123 were wounded in the past 24 hours, bringing the number injured to 72,043.

The numbers cannot be verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. They are thought to include those killed by errant Palestinian fire within the Strip.

Indian man killed in Hezbollah attack leaves behind daughter, pregnant wife

The Indian man killed in a Hezbollah missile attack on northern Israel a day ago has been named in reports as Patnibin Maxwell, a native of Kollam in Kerala state in southern India.

Maxwell, 31, was married and expecting a second child in two months, in addition to his 5-year-old daughter, the Hindustan Times reports.

Who Was Patnibin Maxwell? Indian National Killed In Lebanon Anti-Tank Missile Attack on Israelhttps://t.co/6B0OPRsaMJ

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 5, 2024

The paper says he arrived in Israel two months ago on a work contract and his older brother is also working in Israel. His remains are expected to be repatriated for burial in the next four days.

Two other farmhands injured in the attack were also from Kerala, according to the report. They are named as Joseph George Bush, 31, and Paul Melvin, 28.

Turkey arrests seven accused of selling info to Mossad

Turkish police have detained seven people, including a private detective, suspected of selling information to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency says.

Anadolu cites security sources as saying the private detective, a former public servant, was suspected of gathering information on Middle Eastern companies and individuals in Turkey, placing tracking devices and engaging in surveillance.

The sources say the detentions are part of an operation carried out by Turkey’s national intelligence agency MIT and Istanbul counter-terror police.

Ankara makes no official statement on the operation. Israel does not immediately comment on the Anadolu report.

The Turkish detective was trained by the Mossad in the Serbian capital Belgrade and received payments in cryptocurrency that did not appear in official records, the sources say.

A Turkish court in January ordered the arrest of 15 people and the deportation of eight others suspected of having links to Mossad and targeting Palestinians living in Turkey, which has harbored senior members of the Hamas terror group.

In February, Turkey detained seven suspected of selling information to the Mossad.

IDF says massive north Gaza tunnel destroyed

Workers pour concrete in a Hamas tunnel in northern Gaza in an undated photo released by the military on March 5, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF announces that it has completed destroying and sealing Hamas’s largest-ever tunnel, which the military initially revealed in December.

In recent weeks, the IDF says, it worked to complete its investigation of the tunnel and then destroy it.

Parts of the tunnel were blown up by combat engineers, while the IDF and Defense Ministry pumped later concrete into the remaining underground passages.

The tunnel, of which around four kilometers (2.5 miles) was uncovered by the IDF, goes down some 50 meters (165 feet) underground in some areas and appeared to have been wide enough for vehicles to pass through. It did not enter Israeli territory, but officials described it as designed for use in offensive attacks rather than as a defensive position or for use in transporting officials.

One of the shafts was found just 400 meters (a quarter mile) from the Erez Crossing, which until Hamas’s October 7 onslaught facilitated the movement of Palestinian civilians into Israel for work and medical care.

“Its width indicates that it was intended to have been used for vehicle-borne raids against civilians in the Gaza border communities,” the commander of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, Col. Haim Cohen, said in a video statement in December.

The IDF said the tunnel project was led by Muhammad Sinwar, the commander of Hamas’s southern brigade, and brother of Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar.

In the December announcement, it released footage obtained from the Gaza Strip, showing Muhammad Sinwar in a car driving through the tunnel.

The IDF reveals footage obtained from the Gaza Strip showing senior Hamas commander Muhammed Sinwar, the brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in a car driving through the major tunnel revealed earlier today by the military. pic.twitter.com/PPr0jOSKSp

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 17, 2023

Americans reportedly dubious of Israel’s Rafah plans in Gantz meetings

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz (L) departs the White House after meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris on March 4, 2024, in Washington, DC.(Brendan Smialowski/ AFP)

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz has struggled to convince White House officials of Israel’s position regarding the remainder of the war in Gaza as he holds meetings in Washington, Israel’s Channel 12 news reports.

According to the unsourced report, the Americans feel Israel has fallen short of explaining its war plans, especially given the expectation that fighting would end in January.

The issue of dealing with Rafah civilians made up the bulk of Gantz’s meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris, with the administration insisting that Israel step up efforts to flood the area with aid, not troops, according to 12.

“The Israeli side has run into difficulties explaining Israel’s stance regarding the evacuation of [civilians] in Rafah before [military] action, with skepticism on the American side,” the channel says.

According to the report, Gantz told National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that Israel was “committed to finishing the job.” He also told Sullivan that Israel was not interested in war against Hezbollah, but is rather seeking deterrence by displaying steadfast US backing to supply arms.

Israel blasts EU decision to restore UNRWA funding

Illustrative: A boy carries a sack bearing the logo of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. (Anas Baba/AFP)

The Foreign Ministry denounces a European Union decision last week to restore some funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees frozen in the wake of evidence that employees took part in the October 7 massacre.

“The disappointing decision gives legitimacy to UNRWA employees’ involvement in terror activities and cooperation with Hamas,” the ministry says in a statement.

The statement notes that the EU is reopening the spigot before a UN probe into the Israeli claims of UNRWA bias, vowing to present donor countries and the UN investigators with all the information it has on the subject in the coming weeks.

“Israel is committed to transferring humanitarian aid to Gaza and working with other UN agencies and additional actors to ensure the distribution of aid to the Strip,” the statement reads.

In a statement on Friday, the EU Commission said it had decided to give UNRWA 50 million euros after taking “account of the action taken by the UN and the commitments the Commission required from UNRWA.” An additional 32 million euros is being withheld pending completion of steps outlined by the EU, including the probes and a European audit.

IDF says fighters trying to evacuate with civilians captured in Khan Younis

An Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip aims a rifle in a photo released for publication by the military on March 5, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says its 98th Division continues to operate in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, where troops captured dozens of terror operatives over the past day.

The division’s Commando Brigade has been raiding Hamas sites in the neighborhood, where the IDF says troops seized a large amount of weapons.

The army says over the past day troops facilitated the evacuation of civilians from the area, during which the soldiers nabbed dozens of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives who tried to flee with the civilians.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed some 20 gunmen over the past day, including with sniper fire and by calling in tank shelling and airstrikes.

In northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, the IDF says the Gaza Division spotted a Hamas cell flying a drone while troops operated in the area. A fighter jet then struck the cell, the IDF says.

Across Gaza, the Air Force carried out strikes against more than 50 Hamas targets over the past day, the IDF says. The targets included rocket launching positions, weapon depots, tunnel shafts, and other infrastructure, it adds.

Defending decision to recall UN envoy, Katz says Guterres trying to cover for Hamas

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, March 23, 2023. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz is accusing United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of trying to help the Hamas terror group evade charges of sexual crimes against Israelis on October 7, after a UN report found victims and hostages have likely been subjected to rape.

Explaining his decision to recall Ambassador Gilad Erdan for consultations, Katz says on X that the move was made due to Guterres “acting to soften the serious report that he himself ordered on the sexual offenses of Hamas, trying to keep Hamas from being held responsible and not ordering that the Security Council be immediately convened to discuss the report and recognize Hamas as a terror group, with all the sanctions entailed, while calling for an unconditional release of all hostages.”

He says Israel will not allow Guterres “and his friends to deny the report,” accusing the UN chief of “bringing the organization down a notch by ignoring the terrible crimes against humanity committed against Jews and Israelis while constantly being involved in attempts to discredit Israel and its right to self-defense.”

The tweet, which sharpens but largely retreads comments made the previous day, also appears to push back against implicit criticism in a front-page story by Israel Hayom claiming that Katz recalled Erdan without letting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu know he was doing so.

“As foreign minister, I determine the policies and the prioritization of the Foreign Ministry’s values,” he tweets.

Guterres’s spokesman denied Monday that he was attempting to suppress the report.

VP Harris pushing Biden to sharpen rhetoric on Gaza humanitarian crisis — report

US Vice President Kamala Harris (2nd L), Civil rights attorney Ben Crump (R) and the Reverend Al Sharpton (L) join a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during a commemoration of the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, March 3, 2024. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

The New York Times reports that US Vice President Kamala Harris has been pushing President Joe Biden and other senior administration figures to speak out about the humanitarian plight of Gazans.

The report, citing four people familiar with Harris’s urgings, says she has repeatedly told Biden and others in the White House “that the administration must show more empathy for Palestinian civilians by speaking publicly about the high death toll in Gaza and the plight of survivors.”

Biden has backed Harris’s position, according to the Times, while also saying officials should continue to condemn Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

Harris accused Israel of not doing enough to ease the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza in a speech on Sunday that marked a shift in the administration’s rhetoric. She met with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz in Washington on Monday.

According to the paper, Harris’s comments were meant to address complaints from Democrats who oppose US support for Israel in its war against Hamas and to burnish the vice president’s foreign policy credentials to make clear she is a viable replacement for the president if needed.

West Bank mother released in November hostage deal re-arrested, Palestinians say

Official Palestinian news outlet Wafa says several people have been arrested by Israeli troops in the town of Kobar overnight, including Hanan Barghouti, a 59-year-old mother released from Israeli detention in November as part of a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Five others, most of them members of the extended Barghouti clan, are also arrested during a raid on the Ramallah-area town, Wafa says.

Hanan Barghouti had been the oldest detainee released by Israel in November, according to the Ynet news site. Upon her release, she was recorded waving a Hamas flag and praising the terror group and claimed to defiantly dismiss a warning she would be re-arrested.

Hanan Barghouti, a 59-year-old Palestinian mother from the occupied West Bank village of Kobar, north of Ramallah, has been in Israeli custody for over two months.

During the celebration of her release, she said, "without the resistance, I would never have been released." pic.twitter.com/uVx9LZlsHV

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) November 24, 2023

“No one can break my will,” she said at the time.

There is no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Iran executed at least 834 people last year, in ‘staggering’ jump, rights groups say

People cross a street in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran executed a “staggering” total of at least 834 people last year, the highest number since 2015 as capital punishment surged in the Islamic republic, two rights groups say in a new report.

The number of executions, which Iran has carried out by hanging in recent years, was up some 43 percent over 2022.

It marked only the second time in two decades that over 800 executions were recorded in a year, after 972 executions in 2015, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty say in the joint report.

The groups accuse Iran of using the death penalty to spread fear throughout society in the wake of the protests sparked by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini that shook the authorities.

“Instilling societal fear is the regime’s only way to hold on to power, and the death penalty is its most important instrument,” says IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in the report, which describes the figure of 834 as a “staggering total.”

Iran has executed nine men in cases linked to attacks on security forces during the 2022 protests –- two in 2022, six in 2023 and one so far in 2024 -– according to the rights groups.

But executions have been stepped up on other charges, notably in drug-related cases, which had until recent years seen a fall.

ECPM director Raphael Chenuil-Hazan says the “lack of reaction” by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is sending “the wrong signal to the Iranian authorities”.

Amiry-Moghaddam expresses concern that a lack of international outrage at the executions, in particular with attention focused on the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, was only encouraging the Islamic republic to carry out more hangings.

“The inconsistency in the international community’s reaction to the executions in Iran is unfortunate and sends the wrong signal to the authorities,” he says.

Houthi missile hits Swiss ship, causing damage, US says

The US Central Command says an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit the container vessel M/V MSC SKY II in the Gulf of Aden causing “damage.”

“Initial reports indicate there were no injuries; the ship did not request assistance and continued on its way,” Centcom adds in a statement released on Tuesday.

March 4 Red Sea Update

On Mar. 4, at approximately 2:15a.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Yemen into the southern Red Sea. The missile impacted the water with no reported damage or injuries to commercial or U.S. Navy… pic.twitter.com/mqigHoON4b

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 5, 2024

A second missile fired by the Houthis missed the Liberian-flagged ship, owned by Swiss shipping giant MSC, Centcom says.

The container ship was traveling from Singapore, according to marine tracking data, which shows its last location as some 120 kilometers (80 miles) from the port of Aden in Yemen.

The attack, at around 4 a.m. Sanaa time, came about two hours after another missile was fired into the southern Red Sea, the military says.

It adds that the US Navy conducted “self-defense strikes against two anti-ship cruise missiles that presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.”

In January, MSC said it was not transiting the Red Sea due to danger to its vessels.

IDF: Fighter jet shot down ‘suspicious aerial target’ that entered Israel from Syria

An Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down a “suspicious aerial target,” believed to be a drone, that entered Israeli airspace from Syria a short while ago, the IDF says.

No further details are given.

Michigan man sentenced to prison for violent social media threats against Jews

A 20-year-old Michigan man who admitted using social media to make violent threats against Jewish people is sentenced to a year and a day in prison, far short of what prosecutors had recommended.

A sentence exceeding a year makes someone eligible for good conduct credits and a shorter stay in federal custody.

Seann Pietila, who has been locked up since June, was accused of using Instagram to spread neo-Nazi ideology, discuss plans to kill people and praise mass shooters.

Pietila admitted that he told someone last summer about a plan to kill or injure Jewish people and wanted to post the attack online. The FBI said Pietila also had written the name of the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing, near Michigan State University, on his phone along with a 2024 date.

“He never sent the note to anyone or posted it in a public forum,” defense attorney Scott Tilton said.

Pietila moved to the Lansing area from the Upper Peninsula when he was 16 years old. Tilton said he’s had cognitive issues as well as depression and anxiety.

“Mr. Pietila understands that his words have meaning, his messages were harmful, and that there are consequences for his actions,” Tilton said in a court filing.

Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of nearly three years. But US District Judge Robert Jonker settles on 366 days, along with $10,648 in restitution to the synagogue for security. Pietila will get credit for nearly nine months already spent in jail.

Trump wins North Dakota caucuses, racking up another win going into Super Tuesday

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, March 4, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

BISMARCK, North Dakota — Donald Trump wins the North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses on Monday, adding to his string of victories heading into Super Tuesday.

The former president finished first in voting conducted at 12 caucus sites, ahead of former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. The results resumes Trump’s winning streak, which was briefly interrupted on Sunday when Haley notched her first victory of the campaign in the District of Columbia’s primary.

The White House hopefuls now turn their attention to Super Tuesday, when results will pour in from 16 states in contests that amount to the single biggest delegate haul of any day in the presidential primary. Trump and US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, are dominating their races and are on track to winning their nominations later this month.

Under North Dakota’s rules, candidates are eligible to win delegates if they finish with at least 20% of the vote. However, a candidate who wins at least 60% of the vote receives all of the state’s 29 delegates.

Four candidates were on the ballot, including Trump and Nikki Haley. The other candidates, who have received little attention, were Florida businessman David Stuckenberg and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, who recently ended his campaign.

North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party is holding a presidential primary almost entirely by mail, with mail-in voting from February 20 to March 30, and limited in-person voting for residents of Indian reservations. US President Joe Biden, Representative Dean Phillips and six others are on the ballot.

A third party will count ballots in Fargo on March 30, with results available on the party’s website afterward.

Indepdenent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont won the Democratic caucuses in 2016 and 2020.

Far-left activists accost AOC, demanding she call Israel’s war on Hamas ‘genocide’

A far-left, pro-Palestinian activist accosts Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a Brooklyn movie theater on March 4, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

Far-left, pro-Palestinian protesters accosted Democratic Squad Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her way out of a movie theater in Brooklyn with her fiancée, demanding that she brand Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza a “genocide.”

Footage shows Ocasio-Cortez angrily telling the handful of hecklers that she has in fact done so, though it was not clear when. In a late January interview, she went as far as to say that a growing number of Americans view the term to accurately describe the situation in Gaza and that they shouldn’t be dismissed.

Monday’s incident appeared to highlight the radical nature of many of the anti-Israel demonstrators in the US, who are turning on some of the most progressive members of Congress, including ones like Ocasio-Cortez who have been very vocal in their criticism of Israel and support for the Palestinian cause.

“You refuse to call it a genocide,” one of the protesters is heard shouting at Ocasio-Cortez as she leaves the theater. “It’s not okay that there’s a genocide happening and you’re not actively against it.”

“You’re lying!” Ocasio-Cortez shouts back, later adding that she doesn’t want to engage with those filming her because she’s convinced they’ll only partially publish her response and take her remarks out of context.

“I already said that it was. And y’all are just gonna pretend that it wasn’t. Over and over again. It’s f—ed up man. And you’re not helping these people,” Ocasio-Cortez says as she walks away.

#NYC "You refuse to call it a genocide" – handful of protesters chase after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a Brooklyn movie theater, "You gonna cut it and take it out of context, I already said that it was" – AOC responded to protesters claims on refusing word "Genocide" , "This is… pic.twitter.com/mipmA5EHu9

— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) March 5, 2024

3 Red Sea data cables cut amid continued Houthi attacks in vital waterway

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three cables under the Red Sea that provide global internet and telecommunications have been cut as the waterway remains a target of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials say.

What cut the lines remains unclear. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in the Houthi campaign, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have denied attacking the lines, however.

While global shipping has already been disrupted through the Red Sea, a crucial route for cargo and energy shipments from Asia and the Middle East to Europe, the sabotage of telecommunication lines could further escalate the monthslong crisis.

The cut lines include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications says. It describes the cuts as affecting 25% of the traffic flowing through the Red Sea. It describes the Red Sea route as crucial for data moving from Asia to Europe and said it had begun rerouting traffic.

HGC Global Communications describes the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line as being two separate cables when it is actually one at the area of the cut, according to Tim Stronge, a subsea cable expert with TeleGeography, a Washington-based telecommunications market research company.

Responding to questions from The Associated Press, Seacom says that “initial testing indicates the affected segment lies within Yemeni maritime jurisdictions in the Southern Red Sea.” It says it’s rerouting the traffic that it was able to change, though some services were down.

Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate and behind the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line, tells AP that it “initiated immediate and appropriate remedial actions” after the line was cut.

“We invest in various cable consortiums to increase our diversity and hence in such situations of a cable cut or snag, we are able to automatically reroute our services,” Tata says.

Other firms behind those lines, which provide data to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, didn’t respond to AP’s queries.

IDF says probing 10-year-old Palestinian boy’s death in West Bank clashes

The IDF says it is investigating the death of a Palestinian boy amid clashes in a West Bank village.

Earlier today, Palestinian media and the Yesh Din rights group reported that a 10-year-old boy, Amr Mohamed Najjar, was shot dead by IDF troops in Burin, close to Nablus.

In response to a query, the IDF says troops were operating in Burin when several suspects began to hurl stones at them.

The IDF says the soldiers returned fire, and a short while later it received reports of a Palestinian minor being hit.

“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” the IDF says.