Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
Cornell students protesting Israel dismantle encampment on their own
FILE - A woman walks by a Cornell University sign on the Ivy League school's campus, Jan. 14, 2022, in Ithaca, New York. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
The student encampment at Cornell University is disbanding, in a rare instance of a campus pro-Palestinian protest against Israel dissolving on its own.
Cornell University’s protesters agree to take down their tents voluntarily, well in advance of the school’s May 25 commencement and days after the school’s president, Martha Pollack, announced her impending retirement.
No deals were struck and no arrests were made, with the students simply leaving of their own accord.
“Our Liberated Zone is closing, but the fight continues,” Cornell’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine announces on Instagram. The post doesn’t elaborate on the decision, but a participant says that the protesters wanted to end their demonstration on their own terms.
“It’s coming down because we wanted to take this into our control,” Sivan Gordon-Buxbaum, a Jewish graduate student at Cornell who is a member of the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, tells WENY, a local station.
“We are making the choices, and we don’t want to be at the whim of the administration,” Gordon-Buxbaum adds. “So this is us being like, this is our choice. We’re taking this down. It will give us an opportunity to regroup, refocus, restructure, potentially in preparation for next fall.”
Macron condemns vandalizing of Paris Holocaust memorial: ‘Odious antisemitism’
A city employee cleaning the "Wall of the Righteous" (Mur des Justes) after the monument was vandalized in Paris, May 14, 2024. (Antonin Utz/AFP)
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron condemns an act of “odious antisemitism” after blood-red graffiti of handprints was daubed on the Paris Holocaust memorial.
The vandalism “damages the memory” both of those who saved Jews in the Holocaust and the victims, he writes on X, formerly Twitter. “The (French) Republic, as always, will remain steadfast in the face of odious antisemitism,” he adds.
We are saddened and disgusted by the antisemitic vandalism that defaced the Shoah memorial in Paris with blood-red hands on the Wall of the Righteous.
This is an outrageous disrespect to the memory of Holocaust victims and to the individuals who risked their lives to save Jews. pic.twitter.com/8SzaOxabuC
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) May 14, 2024
Hotels said told to make preparations to host displaced Israelis until end of 2024
Hotels currently housing Israelis who have been displaced from their homes due to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and skirmishes with Hezbollah on the Lebanon border have been instructed to be prepared to host them through December, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
The broadcaster’s northern correspondent notes that this could later be extended into next year.
At least one said killed in Israeli strike on vehicle in southern Lebanon
At least one person is killed in an alleged Israeli strike against a vehicle near southern Lebanon’s Tyre, according to Lebanese media reports.
No further details are immediately available.
مسيّرة إسرائيلية تستهدف سيارة على طريق الحوش عند مدخل صور الجنوبي pic.twitter.com/A827b1pkOZ
— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) May 14, 2024
After IDF releases drone video, FM Katz accuses UNRWA of being ‘an arm’ of Hamas
A screenshot of drone footage released by the IDF on May 14, 2024, shows a Palestinian gunman next to a UN vehicle at a UNRWA logistics center in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah. (Israel Defense Forces)
Foreign Minister Israel Katz charges that UNRWA “is an arm of the terrorist organization Hamas,” after the IDF released drone footage showing gunmen at one of the UN Palestinian agency’s logistics centers in Gaza.
In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, Katz also calls on UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to resign.
Pentagon says first shipments to enter Gaza via US aid pier ‘in the coming days’
US soldiers assemble the Roll-On, Roll-Off Distribution Facility (RRDF), or floating pier, off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on April 26, 2024. (US Army via AP)
WASHINGTON — In the coming days, the US military in the eastern Mediterranean is expected to jab one end of a hulking metal dock — the length of five US football fields — into a beach in northern Gaza.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, says that humanitarian groups are ready for the first shipments through the US maritime route. “In the coming days, you can expect to see this effort underway. And we are confident that that we will be able to, working with our NGO partners, ensure that aid can be delivered,” he says.
Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel has enabled the entrance of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza and will continue to do so. He repeats accusations that Hamas is disrupting aid distribution by hijacking and attacking convoys. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller asserted earlier this month that there’s only been one major incident of Hamas commandeering aid trucks.
The Israeli military says in a statement that it will keep acting in line with international law to distribute aid to Gaza. It also has previously said there are no limits on aid, it is trying to keep crossings open despite Hamas attacks and has blamed the UN for problems with distribution.
Haredi enlistment bill doesn’t appear on leaked copy of agenda for cabinet meeting
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been widely expected to bring an outline for ultra-Orthodox military enlistment to the cabinet tomorrow during its weekly meeting — although heated opposition within the coalition may prevent it from receiving a hearing.
While details of the proposal — which is said to have been hammered out with the cooperation of the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties — have not been made public, ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar HaShabbat reports that it contains significant concessions on the part of the Haredi representatives.
According to the report, the legislation contains hard targets for recruitment, which would trigger economic sanctions on yeshivas if left unfilled. Failure to meet the law’s requirements after a period of three years would result in a general mobilization of yeshiva students. The law would also include a new oversight mechanism for the army to ensure those exempted from military service to learn full-time are actually doing so.
Despite widespread media reports that the legislation would be placed before the cabinet, it does not appear on a leaked copy of tomorrow’s agenda shared online by the Kan public broadcaster’s political correspondent Michael Shemesh, who writes that it was removed “at the last moment” due to pushback.
On Saturday evening, National Unity party leader Benny Gantz urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to present his bill to the cabinet this week, arguing that it would not boost enlistment among Haredim.
Gantz indicated that a vote in the cabinet was scheduled for Wednesday, and said such a move would be deeply divisive, telling Netanyahu that advancing such a proposal for “political purposes” would be a mistake.
The reported deal has also generated significant pushback among ultra-Orthodox spiritual leaders. In a letter to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, Rabbi Moshe Tzedaka, a senior yeshiva dean, compared those pushing for ultra-Orthodox enlistment to Israel’s biblical foe Amalek and insisted that even those who are not engaged in full-time study must not enlist in the IDF.
Those arguing for universal enlistment only seek to harm “the Torah-observant public” and are engaged in a “malicious plot,” requiring ultra-Orthodox politicians to “stand firm” against the government’s “decrees and against anyone who seeks to compromise with them,” he is quoted by Kikar HaShabbat as writing.
IDF spokesman: ‘No doubt’ Hamas would be pressured by an alternative ruling body, but it’s up to politicians
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari speaks during a press briefing at Kerem Shalom on May 14, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited troops in eastern Rafah earlier today, Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says in a press conference from the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
Hagari says that over Israel’s Independence Day, which began last night and ending this evening, troops killed more than 100 terror operatives across Gaza, amid operations in Rafah, Zeitoun, and Jabaliya.
Since the beginning of the Rafah offensive last week, more than 100 gunmen have been killed there and 10 tunnel systems were located, he says.
Hagari says that commanders speaking to the IDF chief in Rafah today said, “There are also hostages in the Rafah area. We are determined to do whatever it takes to create the conditions for them to return to us soon.”
In Zeitoun, more than 150 gunmen have been killed and some 80 sites used by terror groups were destroyed in an ongoing operation in the area, he says. The Zeitoun raid began Thursday.
And in Jabaliya, Hagari says, troops are now operating in areas of the city that the IDF previously did not reach in the initial ground offensive in northern Gaza. More than 80 gunmen have been killed in the operation so far, he says. The Jabaliya operation began Sunday.
Responding to a question on whether the IDF needing to return to areas previously cleared of Hamas is a result of the Israeli government not making a decision on who will rule Gaza instead of the terror group, Hagari says: “There is no doubt that a governmental alternative to Hamas will create pressure on Hamas, but that is a question for the political echelon.”
Top Biden aide to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia; US official: IDF won’t expand Rafah op before then
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington on May 13, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
WASHINGTON — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will depart on a trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel at the end of the week, a senior US official tells The Times of Israel.
In Riyadh, Sullivan will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the long-shot US effort to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The deal is conditioned on Israel agreeing to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a nonstarter for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is highly influenced by far-right coalition partners ideologically opposed to a two-state solution.
In Israel, Sullivan will meet with Netanyahu and discuss Israel’s planned operation in Rafah. The US is working to convince Israel not to further expand its offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city and has received assurances from Jerusalem that the IDF won’t do so before he arrives, the US official says, confirming reporting on the Axios news site.
But Netanyahu has shown no indication that he will limit the offensive in Rafah, which he argues is essential to the “total victory” over Hamas that he’s promised.
Sullivan’s visit will come after US President Joe Biden confirmed last week that he had halted the transfer of thousands of bombs to Israel in protest of the planned Rafah invasion, and threatened to prevent the shipment of additional arms if Israel goes ahead with the operation.
IDF drone footage shows Palestinian gunmen inside UNRWA logistics center in Rafah
A screenshot of drone footage released by the IDF on May 14, 2024, shows Palestinian gunmen next to UN vehicles at a UNRWA logistics center in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah. (Israel Defense Forces)
Palestinian gunmen are seen at a UNRWA logistics center in southern Gaza’s Rafah and near United Nations vehicles, in IDF drone footage from the weekend.
According to the IDF, the gunmen were spotted by troops of the Givati Brigade on Saturday at UNRWA’s logistics center in eastern Rafah.
The video shows the gunmen next to UN vehicles and in the logistics compound itself, which the IDF says is used by the UN body to deliver humanitarian aid.
The IDF says one clip also shows a gunman opening fire inside the complex.
Following the “unusual event,” the military says representatives of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) “conveyed the findings to senior officials in the international community and called on the UN to investigate the matter urgently.”
COGAT officials also “warned the UN against the presence of terrorists in the area, and the seriousness of the danger that exists in the presence of the terrorists in the logistics center compound with regard to the continued protection of the organization’s facilities.”
Israel has previously accused UNRWA of enabling Hamas to use its facilities in Gaza for terror. It has also provided evidence that several agency employees are members of terror groups and were involved in the October 7 attack.
Anti-Israel protesters at Harvard pack up encampment after university agrees to discuss their demands
Rotem Spiegler, an alumnus of Harvard University, stands near an encampment set up at the university to protest against Israel amid its war in Gaza with the Hamas terror group, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Protesters against Israel amid its war against Hamas in Gaza are voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on after university officials agreed to discuss their divestment demands.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine says in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands.” Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber has agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students’ demands.
Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it.
Harvard says its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters say they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world’s largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.
The protesters’ statement says the students will set an agenda including discussions on disclosure, divestment and reinvestment, and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also say that Harvard has offered to retract the suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.
“Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus,” a spokesperson for the protesters says. “It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard.”
Rotem Spiegler, 37, a Harvard alumnus who opposed the encampment, says she’s glad to see it coming down, but she thinks the students are being rewarded in part for being disruptive.
“It just should have happened a while ago, and they should have suffered consequences to what they’ve been doing here violating everybody’s space and not respecting any of the university rules that were adjusted even while they were going,” she says.
In western New York, the University of Rochester cleared out an encampment there today ahead of Friday’s commencement ceremony, university officials says.
Most protesters dispersed voluntarily, but two people who were not affiliated with the university were arrested for damaging a commencement tent, university spokesperson Sara Miller says.
US says 50 aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday: ‘Not nearly enough’
An Israeli military vehicle leads a truck in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip during an operation to deliver humanitarian aid delivered from Jordan to the coastal territory through the Erez Crossing, on May 1, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
WASHINGTON — The US State Department says that 50 aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, describing this as “not nearly enough,” and says it believes more can be done to help US citizens leave the embattled coastal enclave.
“We’ve seen 50 trucks enter Gaza on May 12. This is not nearly enough,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel says of aid flows since Israel seized the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on May 7.
Waving Palestinian flags, thousands of Arab Israelis hold annual ‘Nakba’ march in north
Arab-Israelis wave Palestinian flags during the annual "March of Return," near the northern town Shfaram on May 14, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
Thousands of flag-waving Arab citizens who identify as Palestinian marched in northern Israel on Tuesday to commemorate the flight of Palestinians, some forced, during the 1948 War of Independence, and to demand the right of all those defined as refugees to return.
Many of the about 3,000 people also call for an end to the war against Hamas in Gaza as they take part in the march near the city of Haifa marking the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” the Arabic term for Israel’s creation and accompanying displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Many hold up Palestinian flags and wear keffiyeh head scarves during the annual “March of Return,” a rare Arab Israeli demonstration permitted to go ahead as the war in the Gaza Strip rages on.
“This is part of our liberation,” says Fidaa Shehadeh, coordinator of the Women Against Weapons Coalition and former member of Lod’s city council. “It’s not only about ending the occupation but also about allowing all refugees the ability to return to the homeland.”
German court fines far-right leader for using banned Nazi slogan ‘everything for Germany’
Bjoern Hoecke, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the eastern federal state of Thuringia, waits for a session of his trial over the alleged use of Nazi phrases, at the regional court in Halle, eastern Germany on May 14, 2024. (Ronny Hartmann/Pool/AFP)
A German court convicts far-right politician Bjoern Hoecke of deliberately using a Nazi slogan at a campaign rally.
The court fines Hoecke, of the far-right AfD party, 13,000 euros ($14,000) for using the phrase “Alles fuer Deutschland” (“Everything for Germany”) during a 2021 campaign rally.
Once a motto of the so-called Sturmabteilung paramilitary group that played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the phrase is illegal in modern-day Germany, along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that era.
IDF announces civilian killed, 5 troops wounded in Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack
An Israeli civilian was killed and five soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile attack against the northern community of Adamit earlier today.
The IDF says one soldier was moderately injured and four others were lightly hurt in the attack. Hezbollah claimed responsibility, saying it targeted military positions in the area.
An Israeli civilian near the troops was also wounded, and his death was declared a short while later. He is not immediately named.
The IDF says it struck buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab and Kafr Kila in response to the attack.
‘Fireworks’ but no BBQ for Israeli troops fighting in Gaza on Independence Day
IDF troops are seen operating in northern Gaza's Jabaliya, May 14, 2024 (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
JABALIYA, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip are not celebrating Israel’s Independence Day this year, with some saying they barely noticed the holiday amid the fighting.
“We don’t really feel it,” one soldier tells The Times of Israel in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya when asked what it is like to fight on Independence Day. “We didn’t bring a barbecue but at least there will be fireworks,” another quips, as three large airstrikes hit buildings just a few hundred meters away.
An Israeli airstrike hits a building in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, May 14, 2024 (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Another soldier says he and his tank crew had the radio on yesterday and stood, or at least attempted to stand, for the 11 a.m. Memorial Day siren inside their tank, before they went back to their missions in Jabaliya.
But others, like Lt. Col. Yali, the commander of the 460th Armored Brigade’s 139th Battalion, says fighting Hamas on Independence Day is especially important and symbolic.
“I’m doing everything to fulfill my tasks and bring my guys back home safely, and in my opinion, doing that on Independence Day and doing everything so our country, our children, our families and the next generation will be able to enjoy the country as we have until now. I think there is nothing of greater value,” he says.
IDF troops are seen operating in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, May 14, 2024 (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
The IDF launched a new operation in Jabaliya over the weekend after it said Hamas was identified as regrouping there. So far, dozens of gunmen have been killed and many sites belonging to Hamas have been destroyed, according to the IDF.
Hundreds attend Independence Day gathering at hostage families tent in Jerusalem
Members of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball brigade at a hostage family gathering on May 14, 2024, near the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
Hundreds gather outside the hostage families tent at Jerusalem’s Paris Square for a musical gathering, in the last hours of Independence Day.
Local and well-known musicians sing tunes in Hebrew that resonate with the day and the mood amid the shadow of war, with one of the performers saying the songs feel like prayers.
Educator Chaya Gilboa, acting as MC, comments that “prayer is a kind of hope as we hope for a better future,” before reading a prayer by Rabbi Mishael Zion.
She is followed by singer Ester Rada, who accompanied by a cellist and guitarist sings a selection from Psalms.
“For the sake of my brothers and sisters, I will say peace to you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will pray for you,” sings Rada, followed by a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The crowd sits silently, more accustomed to standing with signs during the weekly Saturday evening rallies at Paris Square.
As singers perform their own songs and other well-known ones, the crowd sometimes softly sings along.
Leebie Goldberg-Polin, sister of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, speaks at the end of the event and thanks everyone for coming to mark the holiday with the hostage families.
Her father, Jon Polin, asks everyone to keep coming to the protests and gatherings, and thanks fans of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team brigade for their presence.
Israel Prize ceremony goes ahead after controversy over selection process
Winners of the Israel Prize receive their awards at the traditional Independence Day ceremony, after the selection process this year was marred by controversy over Education Minister Yoav Kisch’s effort to replace the customary categories with two new ones related to the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas.
Kisch shakes hands with Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman, the winner of the Entrepreneurship Award, after the latter accused the education minister and close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pressuring the relevant Israel Prize selection committee to change its decision to award him the honor. Waldman, whose daughter Danielle was among the over 350 people slaughtered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival, has been a vocal critic of the government.
Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef is also on hand to receive his prize, after the High Court of Justice rejected petitions against giving him an award due to his controversial comments he’s made about ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the Israel Defense Forces.
Firing back at Katz, Egyptian FM blames Israel for halted aid deliveries through Rafah crossing
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry attends a panel discussion during the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh on April 29, 2024. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denounces what he calls Israel’s attempt to blame Egypt for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Shoukry adds in a statement that Israel’s seizure of the Rafah Border Crossing from Gaza into Egypt as well as its military operations in the area are the main reasons for aid being unable to enter Gaza.
IDF says 4 troops seriously wounded in separate battles in Gaza Strip
Three troops of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion were seriously wounded during a gun battle with operatives in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.
Another five troops were moderately hurt in the same battle.
Meanwhile, a soldier of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion was seriously hurt, as a result of an explosive device, in southern Gaza’s Rafah this morning, the IDF says.
Another five soldiers were lightly and moderately hurt in the same blast.
2 charged in UK with planning IS-inspired gun attack to murder Jews
LONDON — Two men appear today in a British court, charged with planning to attack and kill members of the Jewish community and others with automatic weapons in northwest England.
Walid Saadaoui, 36, and Amar Hussein, 50, are charged with the preparation of terrorist acts, Greater Manchester police says. A third man, Walid Saadaoui’s younger brother Bilel, 35, is charged with failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors say Saadaoui and Hussein planned to carry out an attack inspired by the Islamic State militant group using automatic weapons. Their targets included the Jewish community in northwest England and law enforcement and military personnel.
Jewish security advisory body, the Community Security Trust (CST), says the allegations are very serious and part of a trend of rising antisemitic crime levels.
“This is one of a number of recent and ongoing cases that demonstrate why the Jewish community needs such extensive security measures and why our continuing partnership with police and government is so vital,” the CST says in a statement.
Police say they recognized the impact the details of the plot could have on the Jewish community, adding they did not believe there was a wider risk to the public.
“Today’s first court appearance has outlined some concerning and distressing details about a suspected terrorist plot that we allege was being planned by suspects from Greater Manchester,” says Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts.
“We know how significant the impact of this will be. Particularly for our Jewish community in Greater Manchester and across the country.”
IDF calls on more Palestinians to evacuate in northern Gaza amid Jabaliya operation
Troops of the 460th Armored Brigade operate in northern Gaza's Jabaliya, in a handout photo published May 13, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli military is calling on Palestinians in additional neighborhoods of northern Gaza to evacuate the area, as it presses on with its operation against Hamas in Jabaliya.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, publishes a list of the new zones that need to be evacuated alongside the announcement.
Over the weekend, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for Jabaliya, before it pushed into the area. The latest warning covers the al-Atatra and Salatin areas.
Palestinian civilians are told to move to shelters west of Gaza City.
The IDF said earlier today that it had expanded its operation against Hamas in Jabaliya, which was launched after it identified terror operatives regrouping there.
#عاجل ‼️???? إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في أحياء الكرامة والسلاطين والزهور في منطقة شمال قطاع غزة وتحديدًا في بلوكات 969-974,
967, 1738, 984, 1739⭕️حماس والمنظمات الارهابية الأخرى تستخدم أراضيكم لأنشطة إرهابية ولاطلاق قذائف صاروخية نحو الأراضي الإسرائيلية ولذلك سيعمل جيش… pic.twitter.com/CnynyNarmm
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 14, 2024
FM Katz: The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza now in Egypt’s hands
IDF troops and tanks on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on May 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Foreign Minister Israel Katz calls for Egypt to resume sending humanitarian aid through the Rafah Crossing on its border with Gaza, as Cairo refuses to do in protest of the IDF’s takeover of the crossing.
In a statement, Katz says he discussed the matter yesterday with his British and German counterparts and will also talk about it later today with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
“The world is placing the responsibility of Israel for the humanitarian issue, but the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends,” Katz says.
He adds: “Hamas will not control the Rafah Crossing. This is a security need we won’t compromise on.”
IDF says fighter jets struck Hamas command post inside UNRWA school in central Gaza
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on a school run by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. The Israel Defense Forces later said the strike targeted a Hamas command room based out of the school, killing numerous terror operatives. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Hamas command room based out of a UNRWA school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat was struck by fighter jets, the military says.
More than 15 terror operatives, including 10 Hamas members, were killed in the strike, according to the IDF. Also among them were terrorists of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force who participated in the October 7 onslaught, the military says.
The IDF says the strike was carried out following “accurate intelligence” provided by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.
“The strike was carefully planned and carried out using precise munitions while avoiding harming civilians as much as possible,” the military says in a statement.
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, the command room was used by Hamas to plan attacks against troops operating in central Gaza in recent weeks.
Israel has previously accused UNRWA of enabling Hamas to use its facilities in Gaza for terror. It has also provided evidence that several agency employees are members of terror groups and were involved in the October 7 attack.
Firefighters battle large blaze at Tel Hashomer military base
Firefighters are battling a large fire at a warehouse complex at the Tel Hashomer military base in Ramat Gan.
The warehouses were used to store various equipment.
The Fire and Rescue Services says 28 firefighting teams are at the scene.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
מחסן ציוד עלה באש בבסיס תל השומר: 12 רכבי כיבוי עם 4 צוותים, ו-3 רכבי אספקת מים נוכחים במקום@AnnaPines_ pic.twitter.com/scvyY20KXj
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 14, 2024
At Sderot settlement rally, Ben Gvir calls for ‘voluntary emigration’ of Gazans
Thousands of Israelis march in the southern city of Sderot calling for Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip once the war against Hamas is over, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir addresses a march in Sderot, calling for Israel to reestablish settlements in the Gaza Strip and “encourage voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the enclave.
It’s moral! It’s rational! It’s right! It’s the truth! It’s the Torah and the only way! And yes, it’s also humanitarian,” claims Ben Gvir, who heads the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party.
The rally is also addressed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of the ruling Likud party, who urges Israeli settlement in Gaza both “to exact a heavy price from the Hamas Nazis, and also to defend our nation and homeland.”
“We will erase the shame of 5,765 with the settlement of the year 5,785,” referring respectively to the Hebrew year in which Israel completely withdrew from Gaza and the upcoming Hebrew year starting in the fall.
IDF says rocket barrage fired from Lebanon toward Mount Hermon; no injuries or damage
A barrage of some 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Mount Hermon area, the military says.
According to the IDF, the rockets struck open areas, causing no damage or injuries.
The barrage set off sirens in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.
UK’s Cameron slams ‘appalling’ attacks on Gaza-bound aid convoys
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron arrives at the BBC offices in central London, on May 12, 2024, to appear on the BBC's 'Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg' political television show. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says attacks on aid convoys headed for Gaza are “appalling” and that Israel must hold those responsible to account.
“Attacks by extremists on aid convoys en route to Gaza are appalling. Gazans are at risk of famine and in desperate need of supplies,” Cameron writes on X.
“Israel must hold attackers to account and do more to allow aid in – I will be raising my concerns with the Israeli government.”
Georgian parliament approves ‘foreign agents’ bill amid scuffles between lawmakers
TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia’s parliament passes the third and final reading of a “foreign agents” bill, clearing a major hurdle on its way to becoming law.
The draft now goes to Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, controlled by the ruling party and its allies.
Georgian television broadcast scuffles between ruling party and opposition lawmakers, who pushed each other and gesticulated angrily during the debate on the bill, which government critics and Western countries have criticized as authoritarian and Russian-inspired.
Opponents of the bill, seen as a test of whether the South Caucasus country stays on a path towards integration with Europe or pivots back towards Russia, have called for further protests.
The bill passes with 84 members of parliament out of 150 voting in favor.
It would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, imposing onerous disclosure requirements and punitive fines for violations.
Opponents have dubbed the bill “the Russian law,” comparing it to Russian legislation used to target critics of President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
Georgia’s government says the bill is needed to promote transparency, combat “pseudo-liberal values” promoted by foreigners and preserve the country’s sovereignty.
About 1,000 protesters picketed the fortress-like parliament building amid a major police presence during the debate, with water cannon idling nearby. On hearing the bill had passed, they shouted “Slaves!” and “Russians!”
Demonstrations have been running for weeks and typically peak in the evening, where crowds numbering in the tens of thousands have mounted some of the biggest protests seen in Georgia since it regained independence from Moscow in 1991.
Rocket warning sirens sound in Golan’s Majdal Shams
An incoming rocket siren is activated in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the northern Golan Heights.
IDF says Hezbollah shot down its observation balloon along Lebanon border
Illustrative: Smoke and fire seen after rockets fired from Lebanon hit an open area near Kiryat Shmona, May 10, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
An IDF observation balloon was shot down by Hezbollah over the Lebanon border, the military acknowledges.
The IDF says the balloon crashed in Lebanon following Hezbollah missile fire. It says there is no fear of information being taken from the sensors and cameras on it.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for launching missiles at the balloon and other military positions near the community of Adamit.
المنطاد الإسرائيلي الذي اصيبت قاعدته بالصواريخ في محيط "ادميت" عند الحدود مع لبنان لا زال تائهًا في الاجواء بعد انفلاته من القاعدة المستهدفة . pic.twitter.com/i9QIf67Dt6
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib ???????? (@alishoeib1970) May 14, 2024
Netanyahu visits wounded soldiers, says they inspire him to ‘keep fighting until victory’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) visits wounded IDF soldiers at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on May 14, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
After skipping several traditional Independence Day ceremonies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits wounded IDF soldiers at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.
“It’s my privilege to visit our heroic fighters on Independence Day, and to hear the mental fortitude of the wounded who give the people of Israel immense inspiration to keep fighting until victory,” Netanyahu says in a statement from his office.
Hezbollah member killed in IDF airstrike in south Lebanon, says military
Smoke billows during an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese border village of Odaisseh on May 8, 2024. (Rabih Daher/AFP)
A member of Hezbollah was killed in an airstrike in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal a short while ago, the military says.
Fighter jets also hit several more Hezbollah sites in Kharayeb, Halta, and Yaroun, the IDF adds.
Three rockets fired from Gaza intercepted over Sderot
Three rockets launched from the Gaza Strip at the southern city of Sderot a short while ago were intercepted by air defenses, according to the municipality.
The rocket fire comes as right-wing activists are holding a march in the area demanding renewed Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip.
International Court of Justice to meet this week on request for emergency Rafah measures
Israel's delegation to the International Court of Justice in The Hague listens to the provisional measures ordered by the court against Israel, January 26, 2024. (International Court of Justice)
The UN’s International Court of Justice will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss new emergency measures sought by South Africa over Israel’s operations in Rafah, the tribunal says.
The hearings on May 16 and 17 will deal with South Africa’s request to the court to order more emergency measures against Israel over its attacks on Rafah, the tribunal adds, part of an ongoing case which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians.
Israel has previously said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza, and has called South Africa’s genocide case baseless and accused Pretoria of acting as “the legal arm of Hamas.”
The tribunal in January declined to impose an interim injunction ordering a stop to the war.
Anti-tank guided missiles launched from Lebanon toward Upper Galilee
Anti-tank guided missiles were launched from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee a short while ago.
Sirens sounded in the communities of Adamit, Hanita, Ya’ara, Eilon, Goren and Arab al-Aramshe.
No further details are immediately available.
Turkey says it will submit declaration to ICJ to join genocide case against Israel
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), holds public hearings on the request for an advisory opinion on Israel's presence in the West Bank, from February 19 to 26, 2024 at the Peace Palace in The Hague. (International Court of Justice)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says that Ankara has decided to submit its declaration of official intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Earlier this month, Fidan announced the decision to join the case launched by South Africa as Ankara stepped up measures against Israel over its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, following the terror group’s October 7 attack.
“We condemned civilians being killed on October 7,” he tells a press conference with his Austrian counterpart. “But Israel systematically killing thousands of innocent Palestinians and rendering a whole residential area uninhabitable is a crime against humanity, attempted genocide, and the manifestation of genocide.”
A foreign ministry official says Turkey had not yet submitted the formal application to the ICJ.
Holocaust memorial in Paris vandalized with blood-red handprints
File: Emmanuel Macron stands by the Wall of the Righteous (Le Mur des Justes) during a visit to the Shoah Memorial on April 30, 2017 in Paris. (ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
A Paris memorial honoring people who distinguished themselves by helping to rescue Jews in France during the country’s Nazi occupation in World War II was defaced today with painted blood-red hands, vandalism decried as “unspeakable” by the Paris mayor.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says the Wall of the Righteous was vandalized overnight between yesterday and today, and that she has filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor.
“No cause can justify such degradations that dirty the memory of the victims of the Shoah and of the Righteous who saved Jews at risk to their lives,” Hidalgo says in a statement.
The wall bears the names of more than 3,900 people recognized as having risked their lives to help save Jews in France.
Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris’ central districts, posts photos on the social media platform X of the damage. The photos showed more than two dozen blood-red hands painted on the memorial’s stonework and others on a wall in the Paris neighborhood.
Le jour même de l’anniversaire de cet événement qui préfigure la rafle du Vel’d’Hiv où de nombreux enfants seront arrêtés avant d’être exterminés, les murs du Marais devant crèches et écoles, ont été souillés, jusqu’au Mur des Justes, qui ont sauvé des Juifs au péril de leur vie. https://t.co/ivNa2HE9Dd pic.twitter.com/SkxrdQKMC2
— Ariel Weil (@ArielWeilT) May 14, 2024
Qatari PM warns of ‘radicalization’ in region without post-war plan
Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani speaks to the press at the US State Department in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2024. (Drew ANGERER / AFP)
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani warns that even should the ongoing war in Gaza stop, with no clear rescue plan for the Strip, there is a risk of growing radicalization in the medium term.
“We are very much worried after all these images to see another wave of radicalization. So security is the key for us in the region. We need to preserve it as much as possible,” he says at an economic forum in Doha.
Biden in letter to Herzog: I hope coming year brings ‘more peace and joy than suffering’
US President Joe Biden (left) and Israeli President Isaac Herzog speak in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, July 18, 2023. (Chris Kleponis)
US President Joe Biden sends a letter to President Isaac Herzog congratulating him on Israel’s 76th Independence Day and wishing for a more peaceful year ahead.
In the letter, Biden notes that the US is “proud of our enduring relationship with Israel,” amid strained ties in recent weeks following the American president’s threat to pause arms shipments if the IDF pushes further into Rafah.
US President Joe Biden's Independence Day letter to President Herzog: "I hope that the coming year brings more peace and joy than suffering." pic.twitter.com/L9SiY5gUvU
— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) May 14, 2024
“This past year has been deeply painful, as Israel suffered the worst attack in its history on October 7th, 2023,” Biden continues. “But the people of Israel have shown tremendous strength and resilience.”
The US president notes that he is a “lifelong supporter of Israel” and reiterates Washington’s common refrain, that “the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad.”
“I look forward to our nations’ continuing to work together to forge a brighter future for all our people,” Biden adds. “I hope that the coming year brings more peace and joy than suffering.”
WHO defends Gaza death toll figures following revision
Palestinian medics treat a girl wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub)
The World Health Organization voices full confidence in the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry death toll figures after Israel questioned a change in the numbers.
Gaza’s health ministry last week updated its breakdown of the total fatalities of around 35,000, saying that around 25,000 of those have so far been fully identified. UN agencies have republished these figures.
“The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward,” says WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a Geneva press briefing, saying that there is “nothing wrong” with health ministry data.
The new data released last week attributes close to 10,000 reported deaths as coming from “reliable media sources,” and also reduces by more than half the number of women and children that it previously said had been killed during the war.
IDF says more than 100 targets struck across Gaza over past day
IDF soldiers seen operating in Gaza in this handout photo released for publication on May 14, 2024. (IDF)
More than 100 targets were struck by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, drones and helicopters across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says, as fighting continues in Rafah, Zeitoun and Jabaliya.
The IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and Givati Infantry Brigade, under the 162nd Division, killed several cells of gunmen in close-quarters combat in eastern Rafah, as well as located weapons.
In Jabaliya, the military says the 98th Division expanded its operations in the area, raiding Hamas sites in the city in northern Gaza. Over the past day, troops of the Paratroopers, 460th and 7th brigades killed dozens of gunmen in Jabaliya, according to the IDF.
More than 100 targets were struck by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, drones, and helicopters across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says, as fighting continues in Rafah, Zeitoun, and Jabaliya.
The IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and Givati Infantry… pic.twitter.com/7D8G9A4MSm
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 14, 2024
Meanwhile, in Gaza City’s Zeitoun, troops operating under the 99th Division located tunnel shafts and destroyed several rocket launchers and a weapons depot. Several gunmen were also killed by the troops, the military says.
Sites hit by the IAF included a command room in central Gaza where at least five operatives were gathered, booby-trapped buildings, and other infrastructure, along with gunmen near troops, the IDF adds.
Red Cross sets up emergency field hospital in Rafah
Palestinian pack their belongings as they prepare to flee Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024. (AFP)
The International Red Cross says it is opening a field hospital in southern Gaza today to try to meet what it describes as “overwhelming” demand for health services in the city.
Some health clinics have suspended activities while patients and medics have fled from a major hospital as Israel has stepped up its operations in the southernmost Gazan city, where hundreds of thousands have sought refuge.
The ICRC says that staff at the new facility will be able to treat around 200 people a day and can provide emergency surgical care and manage mass casualties as well as provide pediatric and other services.
“Medical staff are faced with people arriving with severe injuries, increasing communicable diseases which could lead to potential outbreaks, and complication related to chronic diseases untreated that should have been treated days earlier,” it says.
Netanyahu skips both ceremony honoring soldiers and Bible Quiz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a state memorial ceremony for fallen Israeli soldiers, at the National Hall For Israel's Fallen soldiers at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Memorial Day, May 13, 2024. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not attend a ceremony at the President’s Residence honoring outstanding soldiers this morning, and he also skips today’s annual Bible Quiz.
Instead Netanyahu sends a prerecorded message to the quiz participants, noting that “the roots of our identity lie in the Bible, as does our right to the land of Israel.”
The prime minister also did not attend last night’s official state ceremony marking the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day, instead also sending a prerecorded message, as celebrations this year are muted amid the ongoing war.
Haredi minister endorses march calling to establish new settlements in Gaza
United Torah Judaism leader Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf in Tel Aviv on February 4, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, releases a video message endorsing an Independence Day march demanding renewed Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip.
“It is very important to identify with this march and afterwards to take part in the mass gathering in Sderot,” he says.
According to organizers, buses bringing participants will come from all over the country for the demonstration, which has also been endorsed by far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, who has said she will be attending with her family.
Unusually for an ultra-Orthodox politician, Goldknopf has lately been an outspoken advocate for resettling Gaza, whose 21 settlements were dismantled in 2005 during the Disengagement. This January, he was one of 11 government ministers and 15 coalition lawmakers who attended a mass conference advocating the rebuilding of Jewish Israeli settlements in the heart of the Gaza Strip.
השר גולדקנופף על הדרישה להתישבות ישראלית בחבל עזה: כי לזרעך אתן את הארץ הזאת״
שר השיכון מצטרף לקריאה להגיע היום לצעדת עזה אשר תצא היום משדרות בשעה 12:00 pic.twitter.com/1vn0N8ugJB
— נחלה – תנועה להתיישבות (@T_Nachala) May 14, 2024
IDF chief says military service can go hand-in-hand with religious way of life
IDF chief Herzi Halevi (left) and President Isaac Herzog at an Independence Day ceremony at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on May 14, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeals to the ultra-Orthodox community in a speech marking Independence Day, saying that military service and religious life are not contradictory.
Addressing the 120 outstanding soldiers honored at the President’s Residence ceremony, Halevi says that their stories “are the stories of the diverse Israeli society, the story of the IDF as the people’s army. Among you are city dwellers and village residents, those born in Israel and immigrants from six continents, representatives of all religions and backgrounds, and also those who grew up in the Haredi community and serve in the IDF.”
The military chief adds that it would be praiseworthy if “in a few years even more of [Haredi society’s] sons would sit in the rows of the outstanding soldiers, and prove that you can maintain a religious identity and a religious way of life and at the same time excel in military service on behalf of the people and the state… this is a clear national-security need.”
Qatar PM says hostage, truce talks at a ‘stalemate,’ suffered setback over Rafah
Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani gives a press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Doha on April 17, 2024. (Karim Jaafar/AFP)
The IDF’s military operation in Rafah has “set us backward” in negotiations with Hamas, mediator Qatar says, adding that talks are at “almost a stalemate.”
“Unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward,” Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani tells the Qatar Economic Forum.
Al-Thani says that Qatar is and will continue to pursue negotiations, and that while doing so, Hamas’s office in Doha will remain open. He also points out that Hamas and Israel have a “fundamental difference” on their approach to the talks and the continuation of the war.
UNRWA says more than 450,000 Gazans have left Rafah in recent days
People evacuate Rafah, bound for Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 11, 2024. (AFP)
The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees says that around 450,000 Palestinians have left Rafah in the past week, as the IDF has escalated its operations in the southernmost Gazan city.
There were an estimated 1.3 million people sheltering in Rafah before Israel began pushing into the city, which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold.
The IDF dropped leaflets early last week in eastern Rafah with instructions on the zones that need to be evacuated and which routes to take to a designated humanitarian zone. Earlier today, residents said that Israeli tanks had pushed further into the eastern portion of the city.
Herzog: ‘We will not rest or be silent’ until our hostages return home
Independence Day celebrations at the President's Residence honoring outstanding soldiers on May 14, 2024. (Igal Slavin)
Addressing an Independence Day ceremony honoring outstanding IDF soldiers, President Isaac Herzog says celebrations this year are mixed with grief and sorrow.
“This year, we mark a different Independence Day,” he says. “We are proud of our independence, of the miracle that is the State of Israel, but our hearts are full of sorrow and pain.”
Herzog reiterates that there is “no greater commandment than redeeming captives, and as I said we need to act with courage. We need to choose life. We will not rest or be silent. We will not rest or be silent – until our sons and daughters return home to their borders.”
The president says he debated whether to hold this year’s ceremony amid “so much pain, mourning, so much concern for hostages and soldiers, so much sorrow and grief.” However, he says, he believes he made the “right decision” to honor the 120 IDF soldiers recognized as outstanding this year.
“You are 120 beacons of light. 120 sources of comfort. 120 sources of hope. Your bravery, excellence, determination, you comradery and love for the people, nation, and homeland are the source of our strength and inspiration,” he says. “You lift the spirit of the people, and the whole nation salutes you.”
Report: Israeli tanks advance further into eastern Rafah
Troops of the Givati Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published May 13, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli tanks push deeper into eastern Rafah this morning, entering the neighborhoods of Al-Jneina, Al-Salam and Al-Brazil, residents say.
“The tanks advanced this morning west of Salahuddin road into the Brzail and Jneina neighborhoods. They are in the streets inside the built-up area and there are clashes,” one resident tells Reuters via a chat app.
132 T-shirts representing hostages displayed outside President’s Residence
132 T-shirts representing 132 hostages in Gaza on display outside the President's Residence in Jerusalem on May 14, 2024. (Igal Slavin)
Ahead of the traditional Independence Day ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem honoring exceptional soldiers, 132 shirts representing 132 hostages being held in Gaza are displayed outside the building.
The president’s office says in a statement that each yellow shirt represents a hostage, and this way “everyone who enters the President’s Residence will pass them and stop to think and learn a little about the people behind the names.”
IDF says it struck several Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight
Smoke billows over the southern Lebanese village of Kafr Kila following Israeli bombardment on May 10, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)
The IDF says it struck several Hebzollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
A site in Odaisseh was hit after a Hezbollah terrorists was spotted by the military, the IDF says. In addition, Israeli Air Force planes struck military buildings tied to Hezbollah in Khiam and Kafr Kila.
אמש, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מבנה צבאי בו זוהה מחבל של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב אל עדייסא שבדרום לבנון.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במהלך הלילה מבנים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב אל-חיאם, לצד מבנים צבאיים נוספים של הארגון במרחב כפר כילא שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/ums5VKLPAq
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 14, 2024
WSJ: Egypt weighing downgrading diplomatic ties with Israel
IDF troops and tanks on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on May 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Egyptian officials reportedly tell the Wall Street Journal that Cairo is considering downgrading but not cutting its diplomatic relations with Israel amid sharpening divisions over the Gaza war.
According to the report, officials say that pulling Egypt’s ambassador from Tel Aviv is a move being weighed.
“As we stand, there are no plans to suspend ties or throw away Camp David,” another Egyptian official tells the newspaper, referring to the US-backed accords that led to the countries’ 1979 peace treaty. “But as long as Israeli forces remain at Rafah Crossing, Egypt will not send a single truck to Rafah.”
On Sunday, Egypt said it would support South Africa’s ongoing lawsuit in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, a day after it said it would refuse to coordinate aid entering Gaza through Rafah as long as IDF troops remained there.
Hamas health ministry claims Gaza death toll rises to 35,173
Smoke billows during Israeli strikes in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024. (AFP)
At least 35,173 Palestinians have been killed and 79,061 wounded in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, according to figures released by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The ministry claims there have been 82 Palestinians killed and 234 injured over the past 24 hours.
These figures have not been independently verified. The UN says some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The rest of the total figure is based on murkier Hamas “media reports.” It also includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Sirens sound in Ashkelon as rockets fired from Gaza
Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip at the southern city of Ashkelon on May 14, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Air raid sirens sound in Ashkelon and other nearby areas as rockets are fired from Gaza at the southern Israeli city.
CNN: US believes Israel has enough troops next to Rafah to launch full ground op soon
Troops of the Givati Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published May 13, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The US believes that Israel has enough troops just outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah to launch a full ground operation soon, according to a CNN report.
The report, citing two senior US administration officials, says the Biden administration is nevertheless not sure if Israel has made the decision to move ahead with a full ground invasion of the city, following President Joe Biden’s warning last week that such a move would prompt the US to withhold some additional weapons shipments.
Israel has urged residents of some neighborhoods in the city, which the IDF has called the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza, to evacuate over the past week, and estimates indicate that more than 350,000 have left, but hundreds of thousands are believed to remain.
IDF: UN employee killed earlier today in Rafah was in combat zone; doesn’t say its troops were responsible
A United Nations vehicle that came under fire in southern Gaza's Rafah, May 13, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The Israeli military responds to the death of a United Nations employee and the injury of another in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Monday, saying that the pair were hit in an active combat zone, but further details are under investigation.
In response to a query, the IDF says that it received reports that two members of the UN Department of Safety and Security were hit while driving in the Rafah area. According to a UN spokesman, the pair were driving to the European Hospital in southern Gaza when one of the staffers was killed.
The IDF says that according to an initial review, the UN vehicle was hit “amid fighting in an area defined as an active combat zone.”
It says that the vehicle’s route was unknown to the military. Normally, the IDF is made aware of aid workers’ movement in Gaza to avoid such incidents.
Still, the IDF does not confirm its forces fired at the vehicle.
“All of the details of the incident are under review,” the military adds.
IDF fighter jet intercepted drone that entered Israeli airspace from the east, army says
A drone heading toward Israel from the eastern direction was intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet, the military says.
According to the IDF, the drone did not enter Israeli airspace, and therefore sirens did not sound.
Amid the ongoing war, Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have claimed to have launched dozens of drones at Israel, with the IDF reporting downing many of them.
White House pans GOP bill forcing it to release weapons being held from Israel over Rafah
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a briefing at the White House, in Washington, May 1, 2024. (Evan Vucci/AP)
The White House blasts Republican legislation aimed at forcing US President Joe Biden to release a shipment of high-payload bombs for Israel that he withheld earlier this month amid concerns that they would be used by the IDF in a major Rafah offensive that Washington opposes.
“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy a US security assistance consistent with US foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters.
The bill would freeze the budgets of the secretary of state, the defense secretary and the National Security Council until the bombs are released to Israel.
While it will likely pass the Republican-controlled House, it is similarly certain to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Senior Biden official doubts Israel can achieve ‘total victory’ in Gaza
National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell testifies during his confirmation hearing to become Deputy Secretary of State on Capitol Hill, Dec. 7, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
The Biden administration does not see it likely or possible that Israel will achieve “total victory” in defeating Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says.
While US officials have urged Israel to help devise a clear plan for the governance post-war Gaza, Campbell’s comments are the clearest to date from a top US official effectively admitting that Israel’s current military strategy won’t bring the result that it is aiming for.
“In some respects, we are struggling over what the theory of victory is,” Campbell says at a NATO Youth Summit in Miami. “Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they talk about mostly the idea of….a sweeping victory on the battlefield, total victory.”
“I don’t think we believe that that is likely or possible and that this looks a lot like situations that we found ourselves in after 9/11, where, after civilian populations had been moved and lots of violence that…the insurrections continue.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to achieve “total victory” against Hamas.
Likening the situation in Gaza to that of a recurring insurgency that the United States faced in Afghanistan and Iraq after its invasions there following the September 11 attacks, Campbell says a political solution was required.
“I think we view that there has to be more of a political solution…What’s different from the past in that sense, many countries want to move towards a political solution in which the rights of Palestinians are more respected,” he says.
“I don’t think it’s ever been more difficult than right now,” he adds.
Report: Top Biden official denies US conditioning intel about Hamas leaders on Israel forgoing Rafah op
US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer speaks during a joint statement with Colombia's President-elect Gustavo Petro, in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, July 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Deputy US National Security Adviser Jon Finer denies a Washington Post report claiming that the Biden administration has told Israel it will provide it with intelligence to help locate Hamas’s Gaza leadership if Jerusalem agrees to scuttle plans for a mass-invasion of Rafah, JTA reports.
“It’s not true,” Finer told a group of Jewish community leaders in a meeting earlier today, according to JTA, which cites several sources from the meeting.
Days before the report, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the US has been helping Israel target Hamas’s leaders “on an ongoing basis,” making no indication that this assistance was conditioned.
A White House official also denies the Washington Post report, telling The Times of Israel that “Helping Israel target the leaders of Hamas and providing any information we have as to their whereabouts is a top priority for us, and not a quid pro quo. None of this is dependent on operational decisions Israel makes. ”
“The United States is working with Israel day and night to hunt the senior leaders of Hamas, who were the authors of the brutal terrorist assault of October 7,” the official continues. “We are providing unprecedented support – in ways that only the United States can – to help Israel bring them to justice. And we will continue to work relentlessly toward this objective in the period ahead.”
Israeli extremists said to torch aid trucks en route to Gaza hours after looting convoy
Extremist Israelis have torched a pair of trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Jordan to Gaza.
The trucks were sitting at the West Bank’s Tarqumiyah checkpoint after they were blocked and looted by the Israeli extremists earlier in the day.
Police had arrested four people for taking part in the illegal activity before leaving the area, allowing the far-right activists to return and torch the trucks.
Haaretz reports that the police and the IDF traded blame, with the former saying the army was responsible for guarding the trucks after the police dispersed the protesters, while the military said the entire incident fell under the police’s jurisdiction because it took place on the Israeli side of the checkpoint.
A senior security establishment official tells Haaretz that “the police turn a blind eye to the riots of lawbreakers who loot and burn the aid after receiving inside information regarding the movement of the trucks.
The official says there are forces within the police who avoid cracking down on the aid looting by right-wing extremists while others only agree to deal with the issue reluctantly.
“There is a feeling that they are trying to please someone specific in the government,” the official adds, apparently referring to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose office oversees the police and has reportedly encouraged law enforcement not to crack down on the protesters blocking aid from reaching Gaza.
The activists argue that aid should be used as leverage to bring back the hostages, while also claiming that it is being co-opted by Hamas.
המצב ״התלקח מהר״: משאיות הסיוע לחמאס הועלו באש על ידי פעילים חוסמי הסיוע, סמוך למחסום תרקומיא. ואוו pic.twitter.com/pkmoDdl3qB
— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) May 13, 2024
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