Live updates
The Times of Israel is liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Perth teen knifes man in suspected terror attack, shot dead by cops
Australian police say they shot dead a boy after he stabbed a man in Western Australia’s capital Perth, in an attack authorities say indicates terrorism.
The teenager “rushed” at police after wounding someone and was fatally shot by an officer, Premier Roger Cook tells a news conference.
“There are indications he had been radicalised online. But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears he acted solely and alone,” he says.
Authorities say they received calls from concerned members of the local Muslim community before the attack, which occurred late on Saturday night.
The victim, stabbed in the back, is hospitalized in stable condition, authorities say.
After march, protesters calling for hostage deal hold sit-in on Tel Aviv street
Protesters calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas hold a sit-in on Begin Street in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)
Protesters calling for the release of hostages are staging sit-in on Begin Street in Tel Aviv.
After marching through the streets, the demonstrators have been sitting on the road for over an hour.
Police told the demonstration to disperse but have not made any efforts to clear the road.
Haredi MK rips Gantz for issuing statement on Shabbat while ignoring remarks from PM’s office
Knesset Finance Committee chair MK Moshe Gafni during a committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on September 26, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni lashes out at war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz for issuing a statement on Shabbat, but makes no mention of the two statements that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office put out in the name of a “diplomatic official” during the Jewish Sabbath.
In his own statement, Gafni says Gantz should’ve waited to comment on the hostage negotiations until Shabbat ended, claiming that no lives are at stake while accusing him of “public irresponsibility.”
IDF says gunmen killed in West Bank carried out deadly terror shooting in November
Palestinians inspect the damage after a counter-terror raid by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank town of Dayr al-Ghusun, near Tulkarem, on May 4, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
The IDF says the gunmen who were killed by troops during the raid near Tulkarem earlier today were responsible for the murder of an Israeli and the injury of others in recent terror attacks in the West Bank.
The terror cell was planning additional attacks, including bombings, the military says.
According to the military, the terrorists carried out a deadly shooting attack near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid on November 2, killing off-duty IDF reservist Sgt. First Class (res.) Elhanan Klein
Elhanan Klein, from the settlement of Einav, who was killed on November 2, 2023 (courtesy)
In another attack, on April 7, members of the cell carried out a shooting attack and attempted car bombing on the Route 55 highway, wounding two Israelis, including an off-duty soldier on a bus.
The IDF identifies four of the cell members who were killed in the raid in Dayr al-Ghusun as Adnan Samara, 40, a Hamas operative who had been previously jailed for terror activity; Alaa Shreiteh, 45, a Hamas operative previously jailed by Israel between 2002 and 2016; Tamer Faqha, 32, a Hamas operative; and Asal Badran, 42, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative previously jailed by Israel.
The IDF says it detained a fifth member of the cell.
A fifth Palestinian was also killed in the raid, according to Palestinian health officials.
One Yamam officer was seriously wounded during the gun battle with the terrorists.
Police clash with protesters at Jerusalem square after anti-government march goes awry
A group of police officers arrest an anti-government protester at Jerusalem's Paris Square on May 4, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Police are currently clashing with protesters in Jerusalem’s Paris Square after an anti-government march to Liberty Bell Park went awry, with demonstrators splitting into multiple directions throughout the city.
Over a hundred protesters remain at the intersection. Though law enforcement has cleared the road, the crowd is still chanting for immediate elections.
The Times of Israel witnesses police forcibly arrest a demonstrator who attempted to block the road.
Protesters calling for return of hostages march in Jerusalem
Police block protesters calling for a hostage deal, in Jerusalem on May 4, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Hundreds of protesters calling for a hostage deal have broken off from a march intended to go to Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park, with police trying to contain the demonstration.
“Netanyahu is responsible for the lives of the hostages,” the marchers chant as a dozen police officers block the march from continuing past the YMCA building.
Police are filming those at the front of the march, which the demonstrators take issue with, pointing their phones at the officers in response.
The march gone awry began at Paris Square, where a number of hostage family members gave speeches as they do weekly in Jerusalem.
Hostage families and protesters march in Tel Aviv for immediate deal; 12 arrested
Ayala Metzger speaking at the head of a march for the release of hostages in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)
Family members of hostages held by Hamas call for a hostage exchange deal to be made immediately, during a demonstration under Azrieli Bridge in Tel Aviv.
After reading out the names of every hostage who remains in Gaza, the protests organizers instruct the crowd to begin a march encompassing the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Many of the demonstrators, however, begin marching northward on Begin Street. Police eventually block the march, and protesters turn around and begin marching down Kaplan. The demonstrators then congregate outside the Kirya’s south entrance before marching back to Azrieli Bridge.
At the head of the march, Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of the hostage Yoram Metzger, calls to end the war in exchange for the release of hostages.
Protest organizers say 12 demonstrators have been arrested for attempting to block the Ayalon Freeway.
Hamas source tells AFP ‘no developments’ in Cairo talks, which will resume tomorrow
Shortly before 9 p.m. local time, a senior Hamas source close to the negotiations in Cairo tells AFP there have been “no developments” and the day’s talks “have ended.”
“Tomorrow, a new round will begin,” the source says.
IDF says strike in Rafah killed Islamic Jihad commander who helped lead Oct. 7 attack
This graphic released by the Israel Defense Forces on May 4, 2024, shows Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Iman Zareb, who the military and Shin Bet said was killed in a strike in Rafah. (Israel Defense Forces)
A senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in the terror group’s Rafah Brigade was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier today, the military and Shin Bet security agency say.
Iman Zareb, according to the IDF and Shin Bet, “commanded and directed” several attacks and attempted infiltration into Israel in recent years.
Zareb commanded Islamic Jihad’s elite forces during the October 7 onslaught, specifically during the attack on the southern community of Sufa and the nearby military post, the IDF says.
The IDF says that in recent days, Zareb from a hideout, prepared Islamic Jihad’s fighters for the military’s planned offensive in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
Alongside Zareb, another two Islamic Jihad members were killed in the strike on the hideout apartment, the military adds.
Far-right leaders warn Netanyahu against ‘reckless deal,’ call for Rafah op
Religious Zionist party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich (right) with Otzma Yehudit party leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir in the Knesset plenum, December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir issues a fresh threat to leave the government, as talks in Cairo on a hostages-for-truce deal appear to have entered a critical phase.
In a statement, Ben Gvir hails Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not dispatching a delegation to Cairo and says he expects the premier to keep the promises he allegedly made when the two met last week: “No to a reckless deal, yes to Rafah.”
“The prime minister knows well what the price is of not honoring this commitment,” Ben Gvir adds.
In a similar statement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says “a surrender deal that will lead to the end of the war without total victory is a disaster.”
“Rafah now,” he adds.
Sinwar reportedly says current offer the closest yet to meeting Hamas’s ceasefire demands, but he has caveats
File - Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Gaza City, April 14, 2023. (Mohammed Abed / AFP)
Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar has given his input on the latest proposal for a hostages-for-truce deal with Israel, Arab mediators tell The Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, Sinwar said yesterday via Hamas representatives that the offer is the closest yet to meeting the terror group’s demands, though he raised several caveats.
The mediators are also quoted saying that Hamas is expected to soon put out a counterproposal, as it continues to demand an end to the war started by its October 7 atrocities.
US has conveyed an ‘end of war’ guarantee, TV report quotes Hamas source saying
The United States has conveyed a guarantee to Hamas, via Egypt and Qatar, that the war will end after the first, 40-day phase of the hostage-truce deal now being negotiated in Cairo, Israel’s Channel 12 news reports.
Citing “a very senior Hamas source,” the TV station’s veteran Middle East analyst Ehud Ya’ari says the Americans have pledged, “whether Israel says yes or Israel says no, that they’ll see to it that the war comes to an end after the first phase” of the deal, during which 33 living hostages are to be released.
For Hamas, Ya’ari quotes the source saying, this American guarantee is worth more than any Israeli comments.
The report comes shortly after two statements were issued by a senior Israeli diplomatic source — widely reported to be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — insisting that Israel has not and will not agree to end the war as part of the hostage deal, and that Israel will not allow the mediators to offer a guarantee that the war will end as part of the deal, either.
It says Bill Burns, the CIA head who is in Cairo for the talks, is trying to press Qatar and Hamas to get a “yes” from Hamas to the terms, and to ensure that Netanyahu not capitulate to pressure from the far-right of his coalition to scupper the deal.
Finally, Channel 12 says that, in the past few hours, Netanyahu has indicated that if Hamas continues to insist on an end to the war as a condition for the deal, he will authorize a widened military operation in Gaza, and not just in Rafah. The United States remains firmly opposed to a major IDF operation in Rafah, and has said that it hopes a protracted hostage-truce deal will ultimately lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Brother of hostage mistakenly killed by IDF says ‘struggle’ won’t end with new elections
Yonatan Shamriz speaking at the anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Lior Segev)
Speakers at the anti-government protest at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv call for early elections to be held.
“We need a different government, a government that isn’t busy all day inciting and dividing,” say Uri and Bar Hefetz, a father and daughter from Nirim who have been displaced from their homes since October 7. “We want to go home, and to go home, this whole government needs to go now.”
“Over the past 20 years, we’ve gotten used to being a piece in a political game, we got used to rockets as just a drizzle,” says Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother Alon was a hostage accidentally killed by the IDF. “There are those who think our struggle will end when early elections are called, but I’m telling you that’s the day another struggle will begin. It will be a struggle for a new and moral leadership that will represent us and not itself.”
As the demonstration ends, protesters walk over to Begin Street to join the hostage families protest.
An aerial view of the anti-government protest at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Nadav Eliyahu)
Group of students protest against Israel during U of Michigan’s commencement
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's commencement ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Protesters call to divest from Israel and wave Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan’s commencement, as student demonstrations against the Jewish state over its war with Hamas collide with the annual pomp-and-circumstance of graduation ceremonies.
No arrests are reported and the protest — comprised of about 50 people, many wearing traditional Arabic keffiyeh along with their graduation caps — doesn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, which is attended by tens of thousands of people.
One protest banner reads: “No universities left in Gaza.”
During the ceremony, planes fly overheard carrying competing banners, one of which says, “divest from Israel now. Free Palestine.”
The other reads, “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”
Relatives of hostages accuse Netanyahu of seeking to undermine deal
Einav Zangauker speaking outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)
Family members of hostages call on the government to make a deal to free their loves ones and say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to undermine a proposed deal.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, says during a press conference outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv that there’s a deal on the table that Hamas will agree too, but that Netanyahu is once again trying to undermine a chance to save the hostages. She accuses the premier of “committing a crime against his people.”
Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger says that if the price for releasing the hostages is ending the war, then the government must agree to that.
Other hostage family members call to end the war, appealing to war cabinet member Benny Gantz and observer Gadi Eisenkot to push for an end and not allow Netanyahi to undermine the deal.
US, mediators pressed Israel to send delegation to Cairo but Netanyahu refused — TV
The mediators of the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, chief among them the United States, pressed Israel to send a delegation to the talks that began today in Cairo, according to the the Kan public broadcaster.
The report says consultations were held in Israel about sending a delegation but the move was opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who refused to send any Israeli officials to Cairo until Hamas officially responds to the latest proposal for a deal.
National Security Adviser: We’re not begging for a deal; Sinwar is in distress; Rafah op could come soon
File: National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi speaks to reporters at the Israel Defense Forces' Tel Aviv headquarters, October 14, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash 90)
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says that Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar is delaying a hostage-truce deal because he is “in distress.”
“It is apparently hard for him to take a decision [on a hostage-truce deal] that is likely to mean the end of Hamas rule,” says Hanegbi, in a Channel 12 interview, “because the minute he gives up on the highly significant card for his survival, our hostages, it’s not easy for him, and that’s why things are delayed.”
Hanegbi, a former Likud MK and minister who is very close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Sinwar “is living on borrowed time,” that Israel has come close to eliminating him in recent months, missing him by “less than days” in the tunnels of Gaza, and that “he won’t emerge alive from this confrontation. His fate is sealed. But we must be patient.”
When it is put to him that Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7 massacre, has done more damage to Israel than any individual ever, and that he is perceived by adherents as a modern Saladin, Hanegbi retorts that “this Nazi murderer” should not be pumped up. “He caused more than 40,000 of his own people to be killed, and didn’t care,” says Hanegbi, citing a figure far higher than the unverified totals cited by Hamas. “14,000 terrorists were killed — which hurts him more.”
Hanegbi says twice in the interview that Israel has known harder times than the current period, citing the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 2nd intifada. He says the goals of the war against Hamas are being achieved — returning the hostages, destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, and ensuring no future threat from Gaza of the massacre of Israelis.
Hanegbi says discussion of governance in Gaza,”the day after” the war, is “important but virtual” at this stage: “Did the Americans, when they were fighting the Nazis for four years, establish what would happen the day after? They first had to defeat the Nazis. We have to defeat the new Nazis — Hamas. No Saudi, Emirati, Jordanian or Fatah official will go in and take control of Gaza so long as Hamas is there… with functional battalions… and would shoot them in the head,” he says.
He says an Israeli civil administration of Gaza “is not the right thing; we shouldn’t be running Gaza’s sewage systems.” But Israel must maintain overall security control because “nobody but us will fight to destroy the remainder of Hamas” when the war itself is completed.
He denies that the IDF is treading water, and says “it is a fact” that Israel has taken the decision to carry out its planned operation in Rafah. “The prime minister, backed by all cabinet ministers, has ordered the IDF to carry out the operation in Rafah,” he says, and “it could be very soon.”
There was a firm date, he adds, but it was postponed because of last month’s direct confrontation with Iran.
If there is a hostage deal now, he says, that would of course require a truce: “If there is a deal, the deal will require a humanitarian pause in the north, south and center [of Gaza],” says Hanegbi. “If there is an agreement to what the Americans called very generous terms, it won’t be easy for any minister to vote in favor of this deal, but it frees living people. And, therefore, if Hamas agrees to the deal as it is — and that does not include ending the war; because the government’s policy is to complete the war in order to complete the goals of the war — there’ll be a humanitarian pause for the specified period.”
He says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken knows that Israel will move into Rafah soon, because Blinken drove past the tanks “on his way to Kerem Shalom” when he visited this week. “He won’t be surprised.”
When it is put to him that Netanyahu will not go ahead with the deal because Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will take their far-right parties out of the coalition, Hanegbi denies this: “Did the prime minister give a green light to the negotiating team to advance the deal, knowing that it could have political repercussions? We know that the answer is yes.”
But by saying there will be an IDF operation in Rafah in any case, isn’t he encouraging Sinwar to reject the deal, the interviewers ask? Says Hanegbi: “One of the goals of Rafah operation is to boost the chances of a deal — because when Sinwar hears that he can prevent the IDF going into Rafah by saying yes to a deal, that’s almost the only central means we have of pressuring [him].”
The Rafah operation is also needed to cut Hamas off from the Egyptian border — its “oxygen” for arms supplies, he adds, and the four functioning Hamas battalions in Rafah also have to be destroyed.
Asked whether the deal is overly generous, and yet Sinwar is still resisting it, Hanegbi says, “We’re not begging for a deal” and “there are conditions we won’t accept.”
He notes that the deal provides for only non-armed civilians to return to northern Gaza.
He says the cabinet has decided that the IDF has to focus on Gaza now, but that Israel will have to deal with the northern border. He rejects the idea of returning people to their homes near the northern border and daring Hezbollah to fire, with the threat of a major military offensive if it does, saying this would be an unconscionable risk.
He says again that Israelis have been “fighting for our lives for 75 years,” that “there were periods that were many times worse than these days,” and that “people were slaughtered in Israel not only on October 7.” He recalls, during the Second Intifada, that “I couldn’t put my children on the bus to school because buses were blowing up.”
Journalists say Netanyahu is the ‘diplomatic official’ issuing statements on hostage talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a video address regarding reports that the ICC may issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, April 30, 2024. (Screenshot/GPO)
Several Israeli journalists are naming the “diplomatic official” who issued a pair of statements during Shabbat on the hostage deal being negotiated in Cairo as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In this evening’s primetime broadcast, Channel 12’s Yaron Avraham says he won’t take part “in this game,” identifying Netanyahu as the official who issued the statements.
“These statements are not based on the view of the entire war cabinet,” Avraham adds, while saying that the anonymous official insisting in recent days that the IDF will enter Rafah is also Netanyahu.
As part of his report, Avraham says Netanyahu did not invite war cabinet member Benny Gantz and observer Gadi Eisenkot to a phone consultation today during which it was decided not to send a delegation to Cairo. Present on the call were Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.
The Haaretz daily’s military analyst Amos Harel also says the premier issued the statements, in a piece titled “the negotiations on a hostage deal have reached a critical point, and Netanyahu’s statement is hindering the chances of a deal.”
Halevi tells troops in Gaza that IDF fighting ‘in many arenas,’ urges patience
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (left) speaks with reservist officers on the coast of the central Gaza Strip, May 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi met with troops in central Gaza on Friday afternoon, the military announces.
Halevi held an assessment with the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, the commander of the 99th Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, and reservist officers operating in the Netzarim Corridor.
“The IDF operates in many arenas, north, south, Judea and Samaria [West Bank]… we have many more tasks ahead. Patience is needed,” he tells the reservists.
Protesters gather in Tel Aviv to call for new elections and release of hostages
Protesters against the government at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv, May 4, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)
Demonstrators are congregating at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv to protest against the government and call for early elections and the release of hostages held by Hamas, as reports suggest a truce deal may be looming.
The protest is being organized by Change Generation, a movement founded after the October 7 attack, to demand the release of hostages and a change in Israel’s leadership.
Police have closed off parts of Begin Street and Kaplan Street to contain the demonstration, as well as the nearby exits to the Ayalon Freeway to prevent protesters from blocking traffic, as they often do.
Tonight’s speakers include Bar and Uri Hefetz, a father and daughter from Nirim near the Gaza Strip who have been displaced from their homes since October 7; Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother Alon was accidentally killed by Israeli forces last year; and Dr. Rivka Nerya Ben Shahar, a lecturer at Sapir College whose brother was severely injured while fighting in Gaza.
Israeli official: We’ve not agreed to end war, and we’ll not let mediators guarantee an to end war either
In the second statement in hours, a diplomatic official again denies reports that Israel will agree to a hostages-for-truce agreement with Hamas that includes an Israeli commitment to end the war in Gaza.
The official further says that reports suggesting Israel will agree to the mediators providing guarantees for an end to the war are also false.
The source says Hamas is still demanding that Israel agree to end the war as a condition for any deal, “and in doing so is thwarting the possibility to reach an agreement.”
Israel said not opposed to Hamas demand to release Fatah’s Marwan Barghouti
File: Marwan Barghouti. (Flash90)
Israel is no longer opposed to Hamas’s demand for the release of Fatah’s Marwan Barghouti as part of a hostages-for-truce, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing sources close to the negotiations.
The report says that Israel is insisting that Barghouti go to Gaza rather than the West Bank if he’s freed.
Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader seen as a unifying figure, was arrested by Israel in 2002 and is serving five life terms for planning three terror attacks that killed five Israelis during the Second Intifada.
IDF says fighter jets and ground forces struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
Israeli fighter jets struck a building the IDF says is used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa earlier today.
Troops also shelled areas near Naqoura, Marwahin, Hanine and Matmoura with artillery to “remove threats,” the military says.
In addition, tanks shelled a building in Kafr Kila where the IDF says it identified “terror activity.”
Earlier, an anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon at the border community of Shtula, and two more rockets were fired at the Mount Hermon area. The IDF says it shelled the launch sites.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מוקדם יותר היום מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב טיר חרפא.
במהלך היום כוחות צה"ל ביצעו ירי להסרת איום באמצעות ארטילריה במרחבים א-נקורה, מרווחין, חנין ואל-מטמורה. בנוסף, טנק ביצע ירי לעבר מבנה צבאי במרחב כפר כילא בו זוהתה פעילות טרור>> pic.twitter.com/1vk15FteeS
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 4, 2024
Swiss students occupy university building, demand end to science co-op with Israel
At Switzerland’s Lausanne University, around 100 students are occupying a building to back demands including an end to scientific cooperation with Israel.
“Palestinians have been dying for over 200 days, but we’re not being heard,” one protester tells Swiss television on Saturday.
“Now there’s a global movement to get governments to take action, but it’s not happening. That’s why we want to get universities involved now.”
The university says the occupation could continue until Monday provided it does not disrupt work on campus.
5 Palestinian gunmen killed, Israeli officer seriously hurt during raid in northern West Bank
Smoke rises following explosions as Israeli soldiers take cover during a military operation in the Palestinian town of Dayr al-Ghusun, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Yamam officer was wounded and five gunmen were killed amid a raid in the West Bank town of Dayr al-Ghusun earlier today, police and the IDF say.
The IDF and police in a joint statement say troops operated in the town, near Tulkarem, to eliminate a terror cell.
Five members of the cell, who were holed up in a building, were killed following a battle that lasted some 12 hours, the statement says.
After coming under fire from the building, the troops carried out a tactic known as “pressure cooker” that involves escalating the volume of fire directed at a building to force suspects to come out.
Armored bulldozers demolished part of the building, troops fired several shoulder-launched missiles at the structure, and a Hermes 450 drone carried out a number of airstrikes.
Troops also seized several weapons amid the raid, the IDF says.
The wounded officer of the police’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit was taken to a hospital for further treatment. Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva lists his condition as “very serious.”
“The medical staff at Beilinson Hospital are fighting for his life,” the medical center says.
France denies entry to British-Palestinian surgeon who praised terror leader
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British plastic surgeon speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
PARIS — A well-known British-Palestinian surgeon who volunteered in Gaza hospitals says he was denied entry to France to speak at a French Senate meeting about the Israel-Hamas war. Authorities won’t give a reason for the decision.
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta was placed in a holding zone in the Charles de Gaulle airport and will be expelled, according to French Senator Raymonde Poncet Monge, who had invited him to speak at the Senate.
‘’It’s a disgrace,’’ she posts on X.
Abu Sitta posts on social networks that he was denied entry to France because of a one-year ban by Germany on his entry to Europe. Germany denied him entry last month, and France and Germany are part of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. He posts that he’s being sent back to London.
The French Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, local police and the Paris airport authority will not comment on what happened or give an explanation.
Abu Sitta had been invited by France’s left-wing Ecologists group in the Senate to speak at a colloquium Saturday about the situation in Gaza, according to the Senate press service. The gathering included testimony from medics, journalists and international legal experts with Gaza-related experience.
Last month, Abu Sitta was denied entry to Germany to take part in a pro-Palestinian conference. He said he was stopped at passport control, held for several hours and then told he had to return to the UK. He said airport police told him he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order.”
Last year, the UK’s Jewish Chronicle reported that Abu Sitta spoke at a Beirut ceremony on the anniversary of the death of a founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Maher Al-Yamani.
The report said Abu Sitta wept as he “hailed the late terror group founder for his success at striking fear into the hearts of Israelis.”
Terrorists from the PFLP participated in the devastating October 7 attack, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Labour’s Sadiq Khan wins record 3rd term as London mayor
London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks at a campaign event in London, April 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
LONDON — London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan has won a record third term after easily defeating Conservative challenger Susan Hall, UK media says after all the capital’s districts reported their results.
The son of Pakistani migrants and the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when first elected in 2016, Khan, 53, becomes London’s first leader to secure three terms since the post was created in 2000.
Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years.
While his supporters say he has multiple achievements to his name, such as expanding housebuilding, free school meals for young children, keeping transport costs in check and generally backing London’s minority groups, his critics say he has overseen a crime surge, been anti-car and has unnecessarily allowed pro-Palestinian marches against Israel to become a regular feature at weekends.
As Cairo talks begin, Haniyeh aide demands ‘full and complete’ IDF pullout from Gaza
Senior Hamas official Taher A-Nunu. (YouTube/Israel Defense Forces)
Taher Nunu, a Hamas official and advisor to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, says meetings in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators have begun and Hamas is dealing with their proposals “with full seriousness and responsibility.”
However, he reiterates the terror group’s demand that any deal should include an Israeli pullout from Gaza and an end to the war, conditions that Israel has previously rejected.
“Any agreement to be reached must include our national demands: the complete and permanent ending of the aggression; the full and complete withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza Strip; the return of the displaced to their homes without restriction; and a real prisoner swap deal, in addition to the reconstruction and ending the blockade,” the Hamas official tells Reuters.
Protesters gather in Rehovot to call for hostage deal, fresh elections
Demonstrations calling for a hostage deal and new elections are starting to be held around the country, with hundreds of protesters rallying in the central city of Rehovot.
כעת בפארק המדע ברחובות – pic.twitter.com/E5R1vocuSe
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) May 4, 2024
Israel will send delegation to Cairo if there’s ‘positive movement’ on deal – official
A top Israeli official says Israel will send a delegation to Cairo for talks on a Gaza truce only if it sees a “positive movement” on a framework for a hostage deal.
“What we are looking at is an agreement over a framework for a possible hostage deal,” the official tells AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Tough and long negotiations are expected for an actual deal.”
“The indication for positive movement over a framework would be if we send a delegation led by Mossad chief to Cairo,” says the official, who speaks in English.
As reports swirl, Gantz urges fellow decision-makers to ‘not become hysterical for political reasons’
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz holds a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Noting Hamas has yet to formally respond to the latest proposal, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz slams comments by unnamed officials regarding reports on the hostage-for-truce negotiations being held in Cairo.
“I advise the ‘diplomatic sources’ and all other decision-makers to wait for official updates, act with restraint and not become hysterical for political reasons,” he says in a statement.
Gantz adds that when Hamas does submit a response, the war cabinet will convene to deliberate it.
The statement comes after an Israeli official close to the talks denied Israel agreed to end the war as part of an agreement, while repeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge that an operation in Rafah will go ahead with or without a deal.
Blinken says Netanyahu’s handling of war reflects views of ‘a large majority of Israelis’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 1, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)
As the US pushes to broker a hostages-for-truce deal between Israel and Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s domestic political standing.
“This is a complicated government. It’s a balancing act when you have a coalition. And if you’re just looking at the politics of it, that’s something that he has to factor in,” he says at an event in Arizona.
Blinken adds that whatever one thinks of Netanyahu or the current government, “what’s important to understand is that much of what he’s doing is not simply a reflection of his politics or his policies; it’s actually a reflection of where a large majority of Israelis are in this moment.”
“And I think it’s important to understand that if we’re really going to be able to meet this challenge.”
Asked why Israel’s PR has been so awful, Blinken points to the changed media environment.
“We are on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond. And of course, the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. And you have a social media ecosystem environment in which context, history, facts get lost, and the emotion, the impact of images dominates,” he says.
He then suggests that while the Palestinians were previously the obstacle to a peace deal, Israel has become uninterested in one.
“To oversimplify, after the creation of the State of Israel, you had decades of basically Arab rejection. That went away with Egypt and Jordan making peace, and others following. Then you had some decades, in effect, of Palestinian rejection, because deals were put on the table — Camp David, Ehud Olmert, others — that would have given Palestinians 95, 96, 97 percent of what they sought, but they were not able to get to yes,” Blinken says.
“But I think the last decade or so has been one in which maybe Israelis became comfortable with that status quo. And as I say, I just don’t think it’s sustainable.”
New York mayor welcomes Israel’s new consul-general, vows to ‘redouble efforts to fight antisemitism’
New York Mayor Eric Adams welcomes Israel’s new consul-general Ofir Akunis to the US city, in a meeting set “to redouble our efforts to fight antisemitism at home and abroad.”
“New York City is so proud to be home to the largest Jewish population anywhere outside of Israel, and we take our work in protecting that community seriously,” Adams writes in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Akunis was appointed as the next consul-general in New York in March.
New York City is so proud to be home to the largest Jewish population anywhere outside of Israel, and we take our work in protecting that community seriously.
Today, we welcomed the new Consul General of Israel, Ofir Akunis, to New York City to redouble our efforts to fight… pic.twitter.com/THJDhTd781
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) May 3, 2024
Hamas official: Netanyahu’s insistence on Rafah operation is a ‘key’ issue in Cairo talks
File: 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)
A senior Hamas official tells Al Jazeera that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel will enter Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah regardless of a potential hostage exchange deal is a “key element” being discussed in ongoing talks in Cairo today.
“Unfortunately, there was a clear statement from Netanyahu saying that regardless of what may happen, if there was a ceasefire or not, he will continue the attack,” senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan tells Al Jazeera.
“That means there will be no ceasefire, and that means that the attack will be continued, which is against what we are discussing,” he said.
While the Hamas spokesman says talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators are “moving forward,” he claims they are focused on “the main issue, which is the complete ceasefire and complete withdrawal from Gaza.”
Hamas has called for a complete end to the war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre, and withdrawal of all Israel Defense Forces troops from Gaza, while Jerusalem insists it will go on to topple Hamas rule in the Strip after a pause in fighting to free the hostages.
“At least, we want to know exactly what does it mean, his statement, and the reaction from the mediators. Our understanding that any achievement for a ceasefire means that there will be no more attacks against Gaza and Rafah,” Hamdan is quoted as saying.
The Hamas official also charges that the United States could end the war in Gaza immediately if it chose to.
“If the United States administration has said clearly to Netanyahu, ‘enough is enough’… I assure you that will happen,” he claims.
Arab media reports earlier today claimed that the US had given assurances that Israel would withdraw all troops from Gaza at the completion of the third phase of a potential hostage deal, though an Israeli official appeared to reject the reports out of hand.
Egyptian media reports ‘noticeable progress’ in Gaza ceasefire talks
Egyptian media reports “noticeable progress” in talks to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, with a delegation from the terror group currently in Cairo to discuss the current proposal with mediators.
A consensus has been reached over many of the disputed points, the Egyptian Al-Qahera news reports, without elaborating.
An Egyptian security source tells Reuters, “The results today will be different. We have reached an agreement over many points, and a few point remain.”
The report follows a statement from an unnamed senior Israeli official who downplayed reports of progress in Arab media, reiterating that Israel will not agree in any circumstance to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.
Hamas has called for a complete end to the war and withdrawal of all Israel Defense Forces troops from Gaza, while Jerusalem insists it will go on to topple Hamas rule in the Strip, the primary stated aim of the IDF campaign there, after a pause in fighting to free the hostages.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
NYPD posts photos of book on terrorism, hammers, knives found in Columbia building occupied by anti-Israel protesters
A senior New York Police Department official shares photos of objects officers recovered after clearing a Columbia University building occupied by anti-Israel protesters earlier this week, including gas masks, helmets, goggles, hammers, knives, ropes and a book on terrorism.
“These are not the tools of students protesting, these are the tools of agitators, of people who were working on something nefarious,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry writes on X, formerly Twitter.
“Continue to peacefully and lawfully protest; but know that if you engage in illegal conduct, the NYPD will hold you responsible and hold you accountable — someone has to,” he adds.
Pencils, books, laptops, those are the tools of students and what you expect to find on a college campus. But here’s what the NYPD found in Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after we were able to arrest the protestors and agitators for commandeering and barricading themselves… pic.twitter.com/EKQV6nJySu
— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) May 3, 2024
Responding to the NYPD post, the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association slammed criticism of police dispersal of the anti-Israel encampment from within the prestigious New York university’s staff.
“You are a disgrace,” the Jewish group says.
To the irresponsible faculty who cried rivers that NYPD ended the antisemitic hate festival at @Columbia this week. Here's what NYPD found in our school:
"Gas masks, ear plugs, helmets, goggles, tape, hammers, knives, ropes, and a book on TERRORISM. "
You are a disgrace. https://t.co/9ETwe71k2e
— Columbia Jewish Alumni Assoc. (@CU_JewishAlumni) May 3, 2024
Police cleared some 40 people from Columbia’s Hamilton Hall on Tuesday night after protesters against Israel broke into the building and barricaded themselves inside, and made over 100 arrests when they cleared the campus pro-Palestinian encampment on Thursday.
Student protesters on US campuses trained for months with anti-Israel groups including SJP – report
Anti-Israel demonstrators at Columbia University Campus unfurl a banner as they barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall, naming it after a Palestinian child allegedly killed by the Israel in Gaza amid the ongoing war with Hamas, April 30, 2024 in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images via AFP)
Some of the organizers of anti-Israel protests on university campuses across the United States in recent weeks were trained for months by pro-Palestinian activists and left-wing groups, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Student organizers held consultations with groups such as the anti-Israel National Students for Justice in Palestine, veterans of previous campus protests and former Black Panthers, the report says.
While there is no central organization coordinating the anti-Israel encampments and protests sweeping US campuses, the report notes that NSJP has been sharing updates and advice on its highly active profile on X, formerly Twitter.
In a April 25 post mentioned in the WSJ report, the group shared cartoons giving protesters ideas for “non-violent” resistance, including throwing what appears to be a smoke bomb, jumping over barriers and lifting a garbage can, reminiscent of scenes at activist occupations of university buildings in the past week.
some friendly advice for students protesting right now pic.twitter.com/ybYuPQZxxd
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) April 25, 2024
Some chapters of Students for Justice for Palestine have been banned from university campuses for policy violations in the months since war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, including at Columbia University in New York, the epicenter of the anti-Israel protests.
The newspaper article mentions a “Resistance 101” training session that was scheduled at Columbia in collaboration with the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a Vancouver, Canada-based group that reportedly celebrated the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The session was banned twice by the university, according to the report, and was eventually held online.
During the virtual session with one of the speakers, Samidoun coordinator Charlotte Kates told attendees, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas… These are the people that are on the front lines defending Palestine,” according YouTube footage cited in the WSJ report.
A Columbia student protest organizer quoted in the report, Sueda Polat, says the anti-Israel demonstrators also “learned the discipline and planning needed to pull off an effective protest movement,” such as fundraising from their previous experience at Black Lives Matter marches.
Armed groups, presumably tied to Hamas, stole $70 million from Gaza bank last month – French report
File: Palestinian pass by a cash machine of the Bank of Palestine branch in Gaza City, Dec. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Armed groups in Gaza, including one with presumed Hamas links, last month robbed the Bank of Palestine of some $70 million (NIS 260 million), French daily Le Monde reports.
The funds were taken from the vaults of several branches of the bank, the report says, citing a Bank of Palestine document sent to “certain international partners” detailing the robberies.
On April 16, staff discovered a hole in the ceiling of the safe deposit room at one of the bank’s Gaza branches and found that some $3 million worth of shekels destined for cash dispensers were missing, Le Monde reports.
The next day, armed groups equipped with explosives returned to the site, blew up a cement protection chamber, and took more than $30 million in various currencies from three safes.
Two days later, the biggest branch in the Strip was attacked by commandos who said they answered to “Gaza’s highest authorities,” which the paper says is understood to mean Hamas. They took more than $36 million worth of shekels.
The Bank of Palestine, founded in 1960, is Gaza’s leading financial institution.
The Palestinian Monetary Authority, an independent body that oversees the financial system in Palestinian territories, responds when contacted by AFP that it is planning to issue a statement about the issue later today.
Official says Israel won’t end Gaza war as part of hostage deal, after reports of US promise IDF will withdraw; also says IDF will enter Rafah
An Israeli official close to ongoing talks to secure a hostage release deal discounts Arab media reports that claim the US has guaranteed Israel will withdraw all troops from Gaza at the conclusion of a three-phased ceasefire agreement.
“Contrary to the reports, Israel will under no circumstances agree to the end of the war as part of an agreement to release our hostages,” the official says.
“As the political echelon decided, the IDF will enter Rafah and destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there – with or without a temporary respite to allow for the release of our hostages,” the official adds.
Israel has repeatedly rejected ending the war to destroy Hamas in Gaza as a condition for a hostage release deal.
Anti-Israel protesters erect camp at Dublin university, forcing school to restrict campus access, close popular exhibition
Students at Trinity College Dublin protesting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have built an anti-Israel encampment that forces the university to restrict campus access and close the Book of Kells exhibition, one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions.
The camp was set up late last night after Trinity College’s students’ union said it had been fined 214,000 euros ($230,500) by the university for financial losses incurred due to protests in recent months, not exclusively regarding the war in Gaza.
Students’ union President Laszlo Molnarfia posts on social media a photograph of wooden benches piled up in front of the entrance to the building where the Book of Kells is housed. The illuminated manuscript book was created by Celtic monks in about 800 AD.
“The Book of Kells is now closed indefinitely,” he writes in the post.
Book of Kells tourism generates income that finances the student hardship fund. The Student Union has already been fined a fifth of its income for blocking access before. This obsession with Israel is harming students directly. These ppl should be removed from power. pic.twitter.com/l6lvCm9VmQ
— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) May 4, 2024
Trinity College says it has restricted access to the campus to students, staff and residents to ensure safety, and that the Book of Kells exhibition would be closed today.
Similar to the student occupations sweeping US campuses, protesters at Trinity College are demanding that Ireland’s oldest university cut ties with Israeli universities and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Protests at universities elsewhere have included Australia and Canada.
IDF: Troops using ‘pressure cooker’ tactic to force wanted Palestinian gunmen out of West Bank house
IDF troops and officers of the police’s elite Yamam unit have been operating overnight in the Tulkarem area, surrounding a home where several wanted gunmen are holed up.
The forces are carrying out a tactic known as “pressure cooker” that involves escalating the volume of fire directed at a building to force suspects to come out.
According to military sources, armored bulldozers demolished part of the building, troops fired several shoulder-launched missiles at the structure, and a Hermes 450 drone carried out a warning shot strike.
Several gunmen have been killed amid the raid so far, the sources say.
Hamas said ready to okay first phase of hostage deal, but Israeli source says Jerusalem hasn’t seen updated agreement
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza during a protest calling for their return, after meeting families of hostages in Tel Aviv, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Hamas will announce its approval of the latest proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the next few hours, according to the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper.
The Saudi Asharq newspaper also reports that a deal is close and echoes that Hamas will announce its response in the coming hours.
An unnamed Hamas source quoted in the report says the terror group is willing to agree to the first phase without a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza because it believes it still “holds the cards for greater power regarding the identity of some of the kidnapped [IDF] soldiers who are still alive.”
Both reports, as well as an earlier Channel 12 report, say that the US has guaranteed Israel will withdraw all troops from Gaza upon completion of the third phase of the agreement — a condition to which Israel has repeatedly refused.
However, the Kan broadcaster quotes an unnamed Israeli source close to the talks as saying that Israel has yet to review the agreements mentioned in Arab media reports regarding US guarantees to end the war.
The Palestinian report quotes anonymous sources in Hamas as saying that there have been frequent communications between the Egyptian and Qatari mediators and the Hamas and Israeli delegations to agree on the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages held by terror groups in Gaza since October 7.
The latest proposal reportedly includes a first phase lasting up to 40 days in which up to 33 of 128 Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 would be released and an IDF withdrawal from parts of Gaza, while the second phase would last for 42 days and see the release of all other living hostages and the sides completing arrangements for sustainable calm in Gaza. The third and final phase, which would see an exchange of bodies, would also last 42 days.
The sources quoted in the Al-Quds report say that Hamas hopes a deal agreeable to all parties will be reached by the end of the week.
IDF: Fighter jets strike rocket launcher in south Gaza ready to be used in attack on Israel
Israeli fighter jets struck sites in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, after a rocket was fired from the area at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha yesterday, the military says.
According to the IDF, the rocket fell short and struck an area near the border fence.
In another strike in southern Gaza, fighter jets hit a rocket launcher that was ready to be used in an attack on Israel, the IDF says.
The military says the strike was carried out after civilians sheltering in the area of the rocket launcher were evacuated first.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מטרות בסמוך לאתר שיגור במרחב חאן יונס שבדרום רצועת עזה אמש. התקיפה בוצעה זמן קצר לאחר שזוהה שיגור מהמרחב לעבר קיבוץ עין השלושה, שנפל בסמוך למרחב הגדר בדרום הרצועה>> pic.twitter.com/QqDTfSJPy5
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 4, 2024
In central Gaza, airstrikes were carried out against mortar launching positions that were primed for attacks on troops, the IDF says.
The Navy also carried out strikes along the Strip’s coast over the past day, largely in support of ground forces operating in central Gaza, the military adds.
New York Times investigative feature on UCLA clashes says pro-Israel counterprotesters provoked violence
A pro-Palestinian demonstrator is beaten by counter-protesters attacking the anti-Israel encampment on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles, May 1, 2024. (Etienne Laurent/AFP)
The New York Times publishes an investigative feature on clashes at an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian encampment at the UCLA campus earlier this week, charging that pro-Israel counterprotesters provoked the violent outburst.
“Except for a brief attempt to capture a loudspeaker used by counterprotesters, and water bottles being tossed out of the encampment, none of the videos analyzed by The Times show any clear instance of encampment protesters initiating confrontations with counterprotesters beyond defending the barricades,” the report states.
Accompanied by a detailed timeline of the Tuesday clashes, the report says the pro-Israel counterprotesters pulled down parts of the barricade around the encampment and sprayed chemicals at pro-Palestinian protesters.
Videos and photos analyzed in the interactive report also show counterprotesters using makeshift weapons such as sticks, traffic cones and wooden boards to attack people inside the protest encampment.
Other videos show the pro-Israel activists, many dressed in black with white masks, physically attacking the perimeter of the school’s anti-Israel encampment.
Police arrived at UCLA two hours after the clashes began, according to the report, but did not intervene and disperse the counterprotesters for over an hour.
The fighting took place after several days of rising friction between demonstrators protesting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and counterprotesters amid a wave of anti-Israel protests on university campuses around the US.
Report: Hamas okays 1st phase of hostage deal, after US guarantees IDF withdrawal from Gaza once all phases completed
Families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold banners and flags during a protest calling for their return, outside a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and families of hostages in Tel Aviv, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A Hamas source claims that the terror group has approved the first phase of a hostage release deal, having received a guarantee from the United States that Israel will completely withdraw from Gaza after 124 days, when all three phases of the agreement have been completed.
Channel 12 quotes an unnamed Hamas official as saying that the US guarantee was communicated via Egyptian and Qatari mediators who were set to meet with representatives from the terror group in Cairo today.
Israel has insisted repeatedly that it will not accept an end to the war in Gaza as part of a potential hostage deal.
The agreement also reportedly comes with a promise backed by the US that Israel will not begin its planned military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering during the ongoing fighting.
The latest proposal reportedly includes a first phase lasting up to 40 days in which at least 33 of 128 Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 would be released and an IDF withdrawal from parts of Gaza, while the second phase would last for 42 days and see the release of all other living hostages and the sides completing arrangements for sustainable calm in Gaza. The third and final phase, which would see an exchange of bodies, would also last 42 days.
The first phase is also believed to allow for the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, with the US saying that Israel has agreed to the unrestricted return of Gaza civilians to areas cleared by the Israel Defense Forces.
It also includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the hostages kidnapped on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault, sparking the ongoing war.
The Hamas source quoted by Channel 12 says “compromises were reached” regarding the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for each Israeli hostage.
The issue of allowing “dual-use” items into the Strip — meaning humanitarian supplies that could also be used for terror purposes — is still being ironed out, the Hamas source adds.
The report follows an official statement from Hamas late last night that the terror group was sending a delegation to Cairo “determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfills Palestinians’ demands.”
Gaza ceasefire should be a ‘no-brainer’ for Hamas but terror group’s motivations are unclear, Blinken says
Accepting a ceasefire deal with Israel should be a “no-brainer” for Hamas, but that the motivations of the terror group’s elusive Gaza-based leadership remain unclear, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, has announced that its delegation will return to Cairo today to resume long-running talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar that would temporarily halt fighting in the Strip in return for freeing over 100 hostages held by the terror group since October 7.
Noting that the terror group “purports to represent” the Palestinian people, Blinken said: “If it is true, then taking the ceasefire should be a no-brainer.”
“But maybe something else is going on, and we’ll have a better picture of that in the coming days,” he adds.
Blinken pointed to difficulties negotiating with Hamas, which the US has designated as a terror group and does not engage with directly and which Israel vowed to eliminate after some thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
“The leaders of Hamas that we’re indirectly engaged with — through the Qataris, through the Egyptians — are, of course, living outside of Gaza,” Blinken points out.
“The ultimate decision-makers are the folks who are actually in Gaza itself with whom none of us have direct contact.”
Blinken was addressing the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona days after he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders on his latest visit to the Middle East.
IDF surrounds West Bank house with terrorists from November shooting holed up inside — Palestinian reports
Israeli forces have surrounded a house in the West Bank town of Deir Ghusun, where the perpetrators of a November 2023 terror attack are believed to be holed up, according to Palestinian reports.
Palestinian news agency Wafa says that an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer recovered a dead body from the house.
The report adds that part of the house’s external wall is demolished by troops during the eight-hour long ongoing operation, with security forces placing the central West Bank town under curfew for the duration of the ongoing raid.
Forces search the rubble and comb the surroundings with dogs from the military’s Oketz canine unit, the report adds.
According to Wafa, the IDF says that the Palestinian men who barricaded themselves into the house carried out a November shooting attack near the northern West Bank settlement of Itamar that left two Israelis wounded — one seriously.
Posts on social media purport to show what appears to be grenade fire on the besieged house.
Tulkarem |
Israeli special forces besiege a group of Palestinian fighters in the town of Deir Ghssoun.
Several Energa missiles was fired at the house pic.twitter.com/wUVqBcF5Ba
— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) May 3, 2024
Pro-Palestinian students issue ‘antisemitic’ demand for UC Santa Cruz to cut ties with Jewish groups
Illustrative: NYU students participate in a anti-Israeli protest led by the 'Students for Justice in Palestine' at Washington Square Park, New York City, October 25, 2023. (Ed Jones/AFP)
The pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel group Students for Justice for Palestine issues a call for UC Santa Cruz to boycott both Israeli and Jewish community organizations, in a list of “demands” posted to social media.
Under its call for a “complete academic boycott,” SJP demands that the California university, “Cut ties UC wide with all zionist organizations — including study abroad programs, fellowships, seminars, research collaborations and universities. Cut ties with the Hellen Diller foundation, Koret foundation, Israel Institute and Hillel International.”
Local Jewish organizations label the demand as antisemitic.
“Three of the four organizations cited in the academic boycott demand by encampment activists at UCSC are Jewish charities and communal groups,” the Bay Area JCRC writes on X, formerly Twitter.
“They are pillars of the Jewish community. This isn’t just about opposing Israel’s Gaza actions but seems aimed at Jewish institutions, revealing underlying antisemitism,” the Jewish group adds.
The SJP post also calls for the university to divest from weapons manufacturing companies, to “end the targeted repression and policing of pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus” and to “sever all ties” with the Santa Cruz Police Department.
It also demands that the university call for a ceasefire in Gaza and “an end for the occupation and genocide in Palestine.”
Israel and its supporters have branded many of the anti-war protests sweeping US university campuses in recent weeks as antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition.
Although protesters have been caught on camera holding controversial signs, making antisemitic remarks and violent threats, protest organizers say it is a peaceful movement to defend Palestinian rights and protest the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Columbia University suspended its campus chapters of SJP and the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace earlier this year for repeatedly violating university policies by holding unsanctioned protests.
Police disperse anti-Israel protesters after they interrupt University of Michigan commencement
Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt a commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan, May 3, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is interrupted by an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protest, amid a wave of demonstrations against the war in Gaza on campuses across the United States.
Video posted on social media shows a small group of masked students, some in hijabs, enter the theatre and walk through the audience holding Palestinian flags and signs reading “UM funds genocide” and “ACAB,” an anti-police slogans that stands for “all cops are bastards.”
I was attending the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance commencement Friday when a pro-Palestinian protest broke out.
The protest lasted a few minutes before police arrived and the protestors left. pic.twitter.com/OuTCdthfUq
— Thad Green (@thadgreen) May 3, 2024
Some cheering can be heard from the crowd, while one man in the audience stands and shouts “get out!”
The university screens a series of warnings on a large screen on the stage asking the protesters to leave, as the crowd breaks into a “USA, USA, USA” chant.
The first warning reads, “We respectfully ask for silence. The University of Michigan recognizes the right of dissent, but we also recognize the right of speakers to be heard.”
In response to Palestinian protesters disrupting a graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan, the audience broke out into a “USA!” chant 🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/iDkNYtnlxA
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) May 4, 2024
Police enter the hall as the third warning is screened, reading, “The disruption has continued despite two warnings. In an effort to continue the event, disruptors will now be escorted out.”
Witnesses on social media say the interruption lasted a few minutes.
Recent weeks have seen chaotic scenes at anti-Israel rallies, encampments and building seizures on 44 university campuses across the nation, with 2,300-plus arrests since April 17.
University administrators, who have tried to balance the right to protest and complaints of violence and hate speech, have increasingly called on police to clear out the demonstrators ahead of year-end exams and graduation ceremonies.
While some universities have made agreements with anti-Israel protesters, fending off possible disruptions, others have canceled speakers and even live events, or moved classes online amid concerns for student safety on campus.
The students are calling for academic institutions to divest from Israel over its ongoing war on Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre, which saw thousands of terrorists burst across the border, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Blinken says major IDF operation in Rafah would cause damage ‘beyond what’s acceptable’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has renewed his warnings against a major Israeli assault on the crowded Gaza city of Rafah, saying Israel has not presented a plan to protect civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” Blinken tells the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona.
Over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah amid the ongoing war with Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israeli communities.
While Israeli officials have repeatedly vowed to enter Rafah, citing the need to take out Hamas’s remaining forces in the southernmost Gaza city, Blinken said yesterday that “there are also better ways to do what Israel needs to do in terms of dealing with the remaining Hamas problem.”
Blinken: Hamas ‘the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Hamas is the only holdup to a Gaza ceasefire as the terrorists prepared to send a delegation back to Cairo on Saturday for talks.
“We wait to see whether, in effect, they can take yes for an answer on the ceasefire and release of hostages,” Blinken says at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona. “The reality in this moment is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.”
Qatar anticipating US request to expel Hamas leaders, open to doing so — source
Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R) in a meeting with Hamas official Khaled Mashal in Doha, October 17, 2016 (Qatar government handout)
Qatar is prepared to accept a request from the US for it to expel Hamas’s leaders from Doha and is anticipating one could be made soon, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani last month that Doha should expel Hamas’s leaders if the terror group continues to reject hostage deal proposals, a US official says, confirming reporting in the Washington Post.
Negotiations appear poised to reach an inflection point over the weekend, with CIA chief Bill Burns arriving in Cairo yesterday and a Hamas delegation landing later today, as the sides await the terror group’s response to the latest hostage deal proposal crafted by Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators and green-lit by Israel.
The US has blamed Hamas for refusing to accept previous offers and says Hamas is the only obstacle to a deal that would see dozens of the most vulnerable Israel hostages released in exchange for an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks.
The source familiar with the matter indicates that a US request for Doha to expel Hamas’s leadership could come if the terror group rejects the latest offer on the table.
An Israeli official says Hamas is not expected to reject the offer outright, rather return with an amended offer of its own.
But given that patience with Hamas is running out in Washington, anything other than an affirmative response to the deal on the table might be enough to lead the US to formally ask Qatar to expel the terror group, the source says.
Agreeing to protesters’ demand, U of Vermont removes US envoy to UN as commencement speaker
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)
Protesters at the University of Vermont notch a victory as the administration announces that their commencement speaker, the US ambassador to the United Nations, will no longer be giving an address to graduates later this month.
The protesters, who erected an encampment Sunday, had demanded Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s speech be removed from the upcoming ceremony because of her role in vetoing multiple UN ceasefire resolutions that contained no mention or linkage to a deal for Hamas to release the hostages it took on October 7.
UC Riverside announces deal with anti-Israel protesters to consider reinvesting endowment
A sign at the entrance to University of California, Riverside. (Wikimedia Commons)
Administrators at the University of California, Riverside, announces an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters to close their campus anti-Israel encampment. The deal includes the formation of a task force to explore removing Riverside’s endowment from the broader UC system’s management and investing those funds “in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery.”
The announcement marks an apparent split with the policy of the 10-campus UC system, which last week said it opposes “calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel.”
“While the university affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses,” the system said in a statement. “UC tuition and fees are the primary funding sources for the University’s core operations. None of these funds are used for investment purposes.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
86 House Democrats send letter to Biden saying Israel restricting aid to Gaza
WASHINGTON — Scores of lawmakers from US President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party tell him they believe there is sufficient evidence to show that Israel has violated US law by restricting humanitarian aid flows into Gaza amid the war there against Hamas.
A letter to Biden signed by 86 House of Representatives Democrats says Israel’s alleged aid restrictions “call into question” its assurances that it’s complying with a US Foreign Assistance Act provision requiring recipients of US-funded arms to uphold international humanitarian law and allow free flows of US assistance.
Such written assurances were mandated by a national security memorandum that Biden issued in February after Democratic lawmakers began questioning if Israel was upholding international law in its offensive against Hamas.
The lawmakers say the Israeli government has resisted repeated US requests to open enough sea and land routes for aid to Gaza, and cite reports that it failed to allow in enough food to avert famine, enforced “arbitrary restrictions” on aid and imposed an inspection system that impeded supplies.
“We expect the administration to ensure (Israel’s) compliance with existing law and to take all conceivable steps to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the lawmakers write.
Biden’s memorandum requires that Secretary of State Antony Blinken report to Congress by Wednesday on whether he finds credible Israel’s assurances that its use of US arms adheres to international law.
UN says all aid ‘accounted for’ after Gaza convoy briefly seized by Hamas
Workers unload a truck in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip of humanitarian aid delivered from Jordan to the coastal territory through the Erez border crossing with Israel, on May 1, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations reports that a UN convoy carrying humanitarian aid from Jordan to Gaza had “a limited amount of goods” vandalized by Israeli civilians when it went through the West Bank. The UN also acknowledged the aid was “rerouted by armed men” when it entered Gaza to the wrong UN facility, but unlike the US did not explicitly say it was seized by Hamas.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq tells reporters “there was a miscommunication” with the convoy Wednesday and the trucks were ultimately directed to the UN World Food Program warehouse in Beit Hanoun.
Referring to Hamas, he says the UN has clarified the misunderstanding with “the de facto authorities in Gaza to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.” They reiterated their commitment to respect the delivery of humanitarian aid, he says, without naming the Gaza-ruling terror group.
“All of the goods have been subsequently accounted for and are being distributed by the UN,” Haq says.
The UN humanitarian office reported that the convoy started in Jordan and entered Gaza “via back-to-back transfer at Erez crossing, following inspection by Israeli authorities only at Allenby Bridge,” he said.
The bridge links Jordan to the West Bank, and Haq says “Going through the West Bank, Israeli civilians offloaded and vandalized a limited amount of goods from the convoy,” which included food parcels, sugar, rice, supplementary food for those malnourished and milk powder.
The UN doesn’t think the incident should impact further aid deliveries from Jordan, Haq says.
Hamas delegation won’t give response to latest hostages-for-truce proposal — report
Khalil al-Hayya speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Istanbul, Turkey, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
The Hamas delegation slated to arrive in Cairo will not present the terror group’s response to the latest proposal for a hostages-for-truce deal with Israel, a Palestinian source tells the Kan public broadcaster.
According to the source, the delegation is traveling to the Egyptian capital for further negotiations and will reiterate Hamas’s demands for an agreement, chiefly an Israeli commitment to end the war sparked by the October 7 onslaught.
The report says the delegation will be led by Khalil al-Hayya and also include Zaher Jabarin and Ghazi Hamad.
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