May 22: War cabinet meets on reviving hostage talks as clip broadcast of 5 troops’ abduction

Iran leader to Haniyeh: ‘Zionist entity will one day be eliminated, Palestine will rise from the river to the sea’

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, speaks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, as Iran's acting President Mohammad Mokhber sits at left, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 22, 2024. (Official website of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tells Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, “The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea.”

The message is given during the public portion of a meeting the two leaders held in Tehran.

Haniyeh is one of the many regional leaders in town to pay his respects and attend the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash at the beginning of the week.

EU diplomacy chief urges ‘common EU position’ on Palestinian statehood recognition

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a debate on Iran's strike against Israel, April 24, 2024, in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/ Jean-Francois Badias)

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has urged the 27-member bloc to find common ground after Spain and Ireland joined Norway in announcing they would recognize Palestinian statehood.

“Within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, I will relentlessly work with all Member States to promote a common EU position based on a 2-state solution,” Borrell writes on X about the move that has angered Israel.

Government postpones vote to approve rehabilitation plan for northern towns battered by Hezbollah attacks

A damaged home following a rocket attack in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, May 5, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

The government has postponed an expected vote to approve a rehabilitation plan for northern communities battered by Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.

The $3.5 billion program has encountered criticism from ministers who do not view it as accounting for the needs on the ground.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter tells the Ynet news site that funds were allocated for projects that were unnecessary or had already been accounted for and also complained that he was not part of the panel of ministers managing the emergency efforts.

Giving an example, Dichter said no funds were allocated to rehabilitating draining infrastructure destroyed by the military’s activities, while millions of shekels were allocated to clearing chicken coops, despite funds already having been earmarked for that project.

He also says millions were allocated to encourage Israelis to volunteer in areas targeted by Hezbollah, instead of employing foreign workers.

“They will involve the agriculture minister if they want or not. Agriculture is the lifeblood of the area of the evacuated communities and must be part of the response. How is it that the agriculture minister is not part of this committee, it’s ridiculous. There’s no other words to describe it,” he says.

Thousands protest for hostage deal in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Israelis protest in Tel Aviv, calling for the release of the hostages on May 22, 2024. (Yael Gadot)

Thousands of Israelis are protesting in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, calling for the immediate release of the hostages hours after the release of footage showing the abduction of five female soldiers by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7.

The Tel Aviv protest is taking place outside the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters, as the war cabinet convenes a meeting on the hostages inside.

The protesters have lit a bonfire on the street, blocking traffic in both directions.

The Jerusalem protest is taking place outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem making the same demands.

Israelis protest in Jerusalem, calling for the release of the hostages on May 22, 2024. (Tanya Zion-Waldoks)

Egypt warns it may withdraw from Gaza war mediation over ‘attempts to doubt’ its role

Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on May 18, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Egypt threatened on Wednesday to withdraw as a mediator in Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

“Attempts to cast doubt and offend Egypt’s mediation efforts… will only lead to further complications of the situation in Gaza and the entire region and may push Egypt to completely withdraw from its mediation in the current conflict,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, says in a statement published on social media.

The comments are made following a CNN report confirming what two officials told The Times of Israel last week — that Egypt mishandled the latest round of hostage talks, contributing to their collapse.

The threat from Egypt is similar to the one issued by Qatar last month, when its prime minister announced a review of its mediator role, in light of criticism from Israel. That review has not led to Doha withdrawing from the talks, and it appears unlikely that Cairo will take such a step either.

Egypt has also come under fire from the US for what Washington says has been Cairo’s withholding of aid for Gaza.

Earlier today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Egypt to do everything it can to make sure humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza.

Blinken told a hearing in the House of Representatives that fighting near the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza, which Israel seized earlier this month, has made the environment for providing assistance challenging.

“So we need to find a way to make sure that the assistance that would go through Rafah can get through safely, but we do strongly urge our Egyptian partners to do everything that they can on their end of things to make sure that assistance is flowing,” Blinken said.

Yesterday, a senior US official briefing reporters offered very rare criticism of Egypt over what they said was Cairo’s withholding of UN humanitarian assistance from Gaza.

“What should be going into Kerem Shalom is the UN assistance, which is now in Egypt. Egypt is holding that back until the Rafah crossing situation settles out,” the senior administration official said.

“We do not believe that aid should be held back for any reason whatsoever. Kerem Shalom is open. The Israelis have it open. And that aid should be going through Kerem Shalom,” the official added

Citing lack of manpower, IDF bars entry to evacuated settlements after Gallant authorized Israelis to return to them

Masked Israeli settlers from the illegal Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank attack Palestinians in adjacent village of Burqa, June 4, 2023. (Courtesy)

IDF Central Command head Yehuda Fox has signed a military order temporarily barring Israelis from entering three settlements that were evacuated by Israel as part of the 2005 Gaza Disengagement.

The order was signed shortly after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant authorized Israelis to return to those settlements in line with legislation passed by the Knesset last year cancelling the Disengagement order.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Fox says the IDF does not currently have the manpower to secure the return of Israelis to those three northern West Bank settlement Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim, which are located near the flashpoint cities of Jenin and Nablus.

The IDF already exhausts significant manpower in protecting ultra-nationalist settlers who operate a yeshiva at the northern West Bank settlement of Homesh. Homesh was the fourth settlement evacuated in 2005.

The hardline Israeli government has come under fire for prioritizing the settlements, leaving lower numbers of troops to protect Israelis on the Gaza border on October 7.

Every war cabinet minister accepts hostage families’ request for meeting except Netanyahu and Dermer

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) with Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, at the president's guest house, in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017. (Avi Ohayon/ GPO/ File)

The Hostage Families Forum issued an urgent request to meet with the members of the war cabinet ahead of tonight’s meeting to discuss efforts to revive the hostage talks.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of the families’ release of footage showing the abduction of five female soldiers by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister Benny Gantz, and observers Aryeh Deri and Gadi Eisenkot all agreed to the hostage families’ request for a meeting.

Only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer refused, Hebrew media reports.

PA health ministry raises death toll from IDF counterterror op in Jenin to 11

The Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank has updated the death toll from the IDF’s counterterror op in the West Bank city of Jenin to 11, with 25 wounded.

The Israel Defense Forces said it launched the operation following “intelligence information from the Shin Bet indicating the activity of armed terrorists affiliated with the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations, and the presence of many terror infrastructures in the area.”

Israeli forces raided Jenin on Tuesday, killing eight Palestinians, including a doctor and a teenager.

Three others were killed today, bringing the number of those who were killed in Jenin to 11 and the total death toll to 517 in the West Bank since October 7, the health ministry adds. The vast majority of those deaths were from clashes with IDF troops.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa warns in a statement of the dangers of “Israeli military escalation and settlers attacks in the West Bank.”

Explosive-laden drone from Lebanon struck town of Beit Hillel; no injuries or damage reported

An explosive-laden drone launched from Lebanon struck the northern community of Beit Hillel this evening, the military and local authorities say.

There are no injuries or damage in the attack.

The IDF says that fighter jets struck two Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon’s Marwahin and Rab Thalathine a short while ago.

The army also says that suspected drone infiltration alarms that sounded a short while ago in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat were false alarms.

Israel could do better job connecting military strategy to a diplomatic one — Sullivan

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says Israel could do a better job connecting its military strategy to a broader diplomatic one.

“We believe the only way to defeat Hamas and [ensure] Israel’s long-term security is to connect the military effort to a holistic integrated strategy,” he says. “That’s something that we think Israel could be clearer about publicly as well as privately. We’ll continue to work on that,”

Sullivan highlights the US post-war plan that envisions Israel’s Arab neighbors assisting in the reconstruction of Gaza, while Israel agrees to a pathway to a Palestinian state and normalized relations with Saudi Arabia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has largely snubbed this effort.

Meanwhile, he has come under fire for refusing to advance a viable alternative to Hamas, which has led the IDF to repeatedly return to areas in Gaza it previously cleared of Hamas fighters only to see terrorists quickly re-fill the vacuum.

While they too have not expressed support for Palestinian statehood, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz have called on Netanyahu to advance plans for who will replace Hamas in Gaza.

Sullivan appeared to welcome those comments. “You’re hearing senior voices inside the Israeli system speak to these issues. We think it’s a healthy debate because, at the end of the day, we know from our own experience that military force alone is not going to get the job done.”

The top Biden aide is asked about Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation.

“We certainly have seen a growing chorus of voices, including voices that had previously been in support of Israel, drift in another direction. That is of concern to us because we do not believe that contributes to Israel’s long-term security or vitality,” Sullivan says.

“That’s something we discussed with the Israeli government… A strategic approach to defeating Hamas, protecting civilians, surging humanitarian assistance and then pursuing that vision of regional integration will put Israel in the best stead to engage countries around the world and revitalize a lot of the partnerships and friendships that have been a source of great strength for Israel over time,” he says.

Sullivan maintains that IDF operations in Rafah have not crossed level Biden warned about

Troops of the 401st Armored Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout image published May 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterates that Israel’s military operations in Rafah have not reached the level that the Biden administration warned against.

Sullivan in a press conference calls the IDF’s operations thus far “more targeted and limited [and they] have not involved major military operations into the heart of dense urban areas.”

He stresses that the US is following the offensive closely and “will continue to take briefings from Israel about how they are refining their approach.”

Sullivan doubles down in denying a Washington Post report claiming the US was withholding intelligence on Hamas leaders from Israel to coax Jerusalem not to invade Rafah. He insists that the US has constantly shared this intel and will continue to do so, as it has the same goal as Israel of removing Hamas’s leaders.

Sullivan says reports that none of the aid from the new temporary Gaza pier has reached civilians is false and that two-thirds of the shipments are either en route to civilians or have already reached them.

The top Biden aide acknowledges that the situation on the ground is dynamic and that the US is continuously in talks with stakeholders to ensure that the aid is secured and delivered to those in need.

Top Biden aide blasts Israel for withholding Palestinian tax revenues

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 30, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan slams Israel for withholding tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced earlier today that he would cease making the transfers — which he has already not been making in full — in response to the decisions by Spain, Ireland, and Norway to recognize a Palestinian state.

“I think it’s wrong. I think it’s wrong on a strategic basis because withholding funds destabilizes the West Bank, it undermines the search for security and prosperity for the Palestinian people, which is in Israel’s interests,” Sullivan says during a press conference.

“I think it’s wrong to withhold funds that provide basic goods and services to the Palestinian people. From our perspective, those funds should continue to go — with all of the necessary safeguards — but they should continue to flow,” Sullivan says.

The tax revenues make up a majority of Ramallah’s budget, and Israel’s withholding of them risks collapsing the PA, Palestinian officials warned Sullivan during a meeting earlier this week, a US official told The Times of Israel.

War cabinet convenes tonight in bid to revive hostage talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a meeting of the war cabinet in Tel Aviv, early morning on April 14, 2024. (Courtesy)

The high-level war cabinet will gather tonight, with the ongoing impasse in the hostage talks at the top of the agenda.

The Israeli hostage negotiating team is pushing to receive a new mandate from the war cabinet to renew negotiations based off the previous proposal, following amendments by Israel and Hamas.

The fundamental difference between the sides remains Israel’s desire to only accept a temporary ceasefire and Hamas’s prime demand for a permanent end to the war.

Father of abducted soldier to PM: You keep saying what you won’t accept. What are you prepared to say ‘yes’ to?

Eli Albag is interviewed on Channel 12 on May 22, 2024. (Screen capture)

Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri is one of the five soldiers in the video released today showing their abduction on October 7, demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provide the public with answers.

For 229 days, Netanyahu has said what he is not willing to accept in exchange for a hostage deal. “Tell us what you are willing to accept!” Albag shouts in an interview with Channel 12.

Albag says there’s no other way to return the hostages other than for Israel to agree to end the war. He laments that the government refuses to do so and is instead continuing to send soldiers to places in Gaza that the IDF previously cleared of Hamas fighters only for them to lose their lives in vain.

Herzog on footage of soldiers’ abduction: ‘The world must look at this cruel atrocity’

Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

“The world must look at this cruel atrocity. Those who care about women’s rights must speak out. All those who believe in freedom must speak out, and do everything possible to bring all of the hostages home now,” President Isaac Herzog says in a statement, reacting to the release of footage showing the abduction of five female IDF soldiers by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is “shocked” by the video.

“We will continue to do everything to bring them home. The brutality of the Hamas terrorists only strengthens my determination to fight with all my might until Hamas is eliminated and to ensure that what we saw tonight will never happen again.”

Rishi Sunak calls UK national election for July 4, with Labour expected to win

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street to go to the House of Commons for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions in London, May 22, 2024. (AP Photo/ Kin Cheung)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a national election, naming July 4 as the date for a vote his governing Conservatives are widely expected to lose to the opposition Labour Party after 14 years in power.

Ending months of speculation as to when he would call a new poll, Sunak, 44, stood outside his Downing Street office and announced he was calling the election earlier than some had expected, a risky strategy with his party behind in the polls.

“Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” he says, listing what he considers to be the highlights of his time in government, including the introduction of the so-called furlough scheme that helped businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. “We will have a general election on July 4.”

Sunak heads into the election not only far behind the Labour Party in the polls, but also somewhat isolated from some in his party, increasingly dependent on a small team of advisers to steer him through what is set to be an ugly campaign.

But he seems to have decided that, given some economic gains, such as inflation falling and the economy growing at its fastest pace in almost three years, now was the time to take a risk and present his agenda for a new term formally to voters.

The former investment banker and finance minister took office less than two years ago, and since then has struggled to define what he stands for, becoming increasingly frustrated that what he sees as his successes have failed to be appreciated.

Both parties have all but kicked off campaigning for an election, with the attack lines on the economy and on defense already firmly drawn.

Sunak and his government accuse Labour of being poised to increase taxes, if in government, and that the party would not be a safe pair of hands for Britain in an increasingly dangerous world as it lacks a plan, charges the opposition denies.

Labour accuses the government of 14 years of economic mismanagement, leaving people worse off, with a series of chaotic administrations that have failed to give the stability businesses have craved to spur economic growth.

If Labour wins the election, Britain, once known for its political stability, will have had six prime ministers in eight years for the first time since the 1830s.

IDF announces deaths of three soldiers killed fighting in northern Gaza earlier today

From left: Staff Sgt. Eliyahu Haim Emsallem, Master Sgt. (res.) Gideon Chay DeRowe and Cpt. Israel Yudkin. (Courtesy)

Three Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip today, the military announces.

The slain troops are named as:

Master Sgt. (res.) Gideon Chay DeRowe, 33, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, from Tel Aviv.

Cpt. Israel Yudkin, 22, an officer in the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Kfar Chabad.

Staff Sgt. Eliyahu Haim Emsallem, 21, of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Ra’anana.

Emsallem and Yudkin were killed in a Hamas sniper attack in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun. Another soldier of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion was seriously wounded in the same incident, the IDF says.

DeRowe was killed by an explosive device in a building in northern Gaza. The military says another soldier of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion and a Yahalom reservist were also seriously wounded in the same blast.

Their deaths bring the toll of slain troops in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas and during operations along the Gaza border to 286. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.

Arab and EU ministers to discuss Gaza war, peace efforts

Ministers from Arab states will meet with European Union counterparts in Brussels on Monday to try to forge a common path on ending the war in Gaza and building lasting peace, a senior EU official says.

Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates will join a regular meeting of foreign ministers from the 27-member EU, says Sven Koopmans, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process.

Koopmans says the gathering was one of a series at which Arab and European countries were seeking common positions on ways to end the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“Our assignment is to see how we can build a coalition where we try collectively to contribute (to peace efforts) without putting people in a corner,” Koopmans tells Reuters.

The EU has been riven by divisions over the war in Gaza, which followed Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

Koopmans says EU members agreed on core priorities such as ending the war, avoiding a regional war and working towards a peace settlement in which Israel and a Palestinian state would live side by side.

“We may have different positions on recognition but we have unanimity on the need for a Palestinian state,” he says.

Koopmans declines to provide details about Monday’s discussions, but said a major effort involving the United States and Arab and European countries is necessary to establish peace.

“Nobody alone is sufficient. But if we work together, and we are working on doing something concretely together, maybe we’re just about sufficient, at least to get things started,” he says.

Gantz pledges to revive hostage talks after ‘stomach-turning’ video of soldiers’ abduction

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. (The Hostages Families Forum)

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says his “stomach turned” when he first saw the video of five female hostages being taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and that he will not stop thinking about the captives until they are all returned.

“But the responsibility of leaders is not just to look the reality in the eye, it is to create a different reality, even when it means making difficult decisions. And that is our responsibility,” he writes on X.

Blinken urges Egypt to ensure aid is flowing into Gaza

This handout picture from the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) shows Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi (C) being received in Manama on May 15, 2024 ahead of the 33rd Arab League Summit. (BNA (Bahrain News Agency) / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges Egypt to do everything it can to make sure humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza.

Blinken tells a hearing in the House of Representatives that fighting near the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza, which Israel seized earlier this month, had made the environment for providing assistance challenging.

“So we need to find a way to make sure that the assistance that would go through Rafah can get through safely, but we do strongly urge our Egyptian partners to do everything that they can on their end of things to make sure that assistance is flowing,” Blinken said.

Yesterday, a senior US official briefing reporters offered very rare criticism of Egypt over what they said was Cairo’s withholding of UN humanitarian assistance from Gaza.

“What should be going into Kerem Shalom is the UN assistance, which is now in Egypt. Egypt is holding that back until the Rafah crossing situation settles out,” the senior administration official says.

“We do not believe that aid should be held back for any reason whatsoever. Kerem Shalom is open. The Israelis have it open. And that aid should be going through Kerem Shalom,” the official adds.

Knesset passes law aimed at cracking down on illegal employment of Palestinians

Illustrative: Palestinian workers wait to cross to Israel at the Qalqiliya checkpoint. October 9, 2012 (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

The Knesset passes a law to stiffen penalties for people who illegally transport, lodge or employ illegal aliens — a move likely aimed at Palestinians from the West Bank working in Israel without a permit.

According to the legislation, which passes its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum 18-9, under certain circumstances those found guilty of transporting or harboring people in Israel illegally can have their business permits revoked for up to a year — double the period previously stipulated by law.

In addition, courts may now order “the confiscation of property related to the offense,” including cars and apartments.

As long as employers do not face financial penalties “there will be no change,” says Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s sponsor. Every Israeli violating the law should know “that he will pay for it.”

Illegal residents are “ticking bombs that carry out terrorist attacks and murder our people,” says parliamentary whip Ofir Katz. “No more. We will no longer allow the blood of our brothers and sisters to be spilled because of criminals greedy for money.”

PM says Spain, Ireland and Norway ‘rewarding terror’ by recognizing Palestinian state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a statement against the decision of three European countries to recognize a Palestinian state on May 22, 2024. (Screen capture)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Spain, Ireland and Norway’s plans to recognize a Palestinian state are “a reward for terrorism.”

“Eighty percent of the Palestinians in [the West Bank] support the terrible massacre of October 7,” he says, citing a poll from shortly after the terror onslaught.

“This evil must not be given a country. It will be a terror state. It will try to repeat the October 7 massacre, and we will not agree to that.”

“A reward for terrorism will not bring peace, and it will not stop us from defeating Hamas either,” Netanyahu declares in a video statement

Blinken says US-Saudi deal weeks from finalization, but it hinges on Palestinian component that Israel rejects

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on May 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterates that the United States and Saudi Arabia are very close to concluding a set of agreements on nuclear energy, security and defense cooperation — the bilateral component of a wider normalization deal with Riyadh and Israel.

Speaking at a hearing in the House of Representatives, Blinken says the finalizing of the agreements “could be weeks away” but cautions that for the wider normalization to be able to proceed, calm in Gaza has to occur and a pathway for Palestinian statehood needs to be formulated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the creation of a Palestinian state, a major reason why Washington’s vision of a “grand bargain”for the Middle East remains elusive.

Air Force struck 130 targets across Gaza over past day, IDF says

A makeshift shelter housing displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024. (AFP)

Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck more than 130 targets across the Gaza Strip, including cells of terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, observation posts, and other infrastructure, the military says.

Fighting is ongoing in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, where the IDF says soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade directed a drone strike against a Hamas weapons depot where eight operatives were gathered.

According to the military, the Hamas operatives were involved in rocket fire, launching drones, and observing Israeli forces in Gaza.

Separately, several more gunmen were killed by troops in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF adds.

WATCH: Hostage Families Forum releases harrowing footage of five female soldiers being abducted on Oct. 7

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023 (The Hostages Families Forum)

The Hostages Families Forum releases harrowing footage showing the abduction of five female soldiers from the Nahal Oz base by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7.

The video was taken by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists that day as they attacked the base near the Gaza border.

It shows Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy.

“The disturbing video has been the reality of Agam, Daniella, Liri, Naama, Karina, and 123 other hostages for 229 days,” the forum says in a statement.

“The video is a damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages, who have been forsaken for 229 days.”

“The Israeli government must not waste even one more moment – it must return to the negotiating table today!”

Warning: Graphic footage

Relatives of the five say that the three minutes of broadcast footage has been heavily censored, with their oversight, for publication.

Eli Albag, Liri’s father, tells Channel 12 that the original footage is 13 minutes long.

“This is the most sensitive version… and still terribly harsh. We are exposing ourselves and our daughters. We went back and forth over and over about whether to release it. Three of the mothers have not seen the footage, are not prepared to see the footage, cannot bear to see the girls [in the footage].”

“It’s been 229 days since then,” he says, “and we are living it minute by minute… I have no words to describe the horrors: At that base, 54 male and female soldiers were murdered. Those girls sat for two hours with 11 bodies of female soldiers and one male soldier in their line of sight.”

He asks: “What else can we say? Where else can we shout? What else can we do to wake the nation up?”

Eli Albag, father of hostage Liri Albag, watches newly broadcast October 7, 2023 Hamas footage of the abduction of his daughter and four other female soldiers from Nahal Oz IDF base, May 22, 2024 (Channel 12 screenshot

Asked why the decision was made to have the footage broadcast, and told that the war cabinet is meeting tonight to discuss the hostages, Albag says: “If this film doesn’t change the thinking, this is the last bullet we have, to tell them. What else do you want? What else can we do? If that doesn’t influence them…”

It took five years to reach a deal for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, he notes, “and they paid so much more” to get him out of Hamas captivity. “Wake up! There are 128 hostages. One hundred and twenty-eight. The number is beyond comprehension. Somebody has to wake up. And if this doesn’t wake them up, I don’t know what else to say.”

Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Yoni Levy, father of Naama, says he can see that she is “scared to death,” but also that “her survival instinct” is working, when she tells one of the terrorists that “she has friends in Palestine.”

“I have watched the footage several times and it doesn’t get any easier,” he tells Channel 12. “But for them, this film continues… For them, now, 229 days, 330,000 minutes, they’ve been living this. That’s why we’re screaming out.”

He says: “The hostages have become just one more in the chain of unsolved problems that the State of Israel is facing. Our goal is to say, people, this cannot be. Look what they go through in three minutes. Everything can wait. There is nothing more urgent than to return them. To return all 128.

“The State of Israel is strong enough… It can settle accounts with all of those despicable people…. [For the hostages,] we cannot drag our feet any longer.”

IDF deploys fifth brigade to Rafah, as it expands operations in southern Gaza city

Troops of the Nahal Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout image published May 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli military announces that the Nahal Brigade has been deployed to Rafah, joining the 162nd Division which has been operating in the city in the southern Gaza Strip since earlier this month.

Nahal is now the fifth IDF brigade operating in Rafah, after the 401st, Givati, Commando and Negev brigades.

The military says it is now operating in Rafah’s Brazil and Shaboura neighborhoods, following “information on terror targets in the area.”

The IDF says that the operation in Rafah is being carried out in an “accurate manner… while preventing harm to the civilian population as much as possible, after the civilians have evacuated the area.”

Ahead of the new push deeper into Rafah, the IDF says it carried out a wave of fighter jet strikes against Hamas targets in the area.

Cops nab Jewish woman trying to sneak goat onto Temple Mount; animals dies due to suffocation

A young Jewish Israeli woman tried to enter the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City with a small goat hidden under her dress, Army Radio reports.

The woman — pretending to be pregnant — attracted the attention of police officers after noises were heard and movement was noticed under her dress.

The woman was arrested, but the goat died of suffocation, Army Radio says.

In recent years, fringe religious groups have increasingly sought to carry out animal sacrifices at the flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, as performed in biblical times. The Returning to the Mount group makes a request each year to carry out the ritual before Passover but is repeatedly denied by authorities, as most Israeli security officials believe that it would be seen as a major change to the religious site’s status quo and spark fierce backlash from across the region.

העיר העתיקה בירושלים: צעירה הסתירה גדי מתחת לשמלתה ודימתה בטן הריונית, ככל הנראה בניסיון להיכנס איתו להר הבית. שוטר שמע קולות וראה תזוזות חריגות: הגדי מת מחנק, הצעירה נעצרה pic.twitter.com/Togb9Oazvk

— יואלי ברים yoeli brim (@yoeli_brim) May 22, 2024

Saudi delegation heads to China without crown prince due to king’s illness – sources

FILE - Saudi special forces salute in front of a screen displaying images of Saudi King Salman, right, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a military parade in preparation for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, July 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

Saudi Arabia is sending a delegation that includes the kingdom’s investment minister to China this week, four people familiar with the matter say, as the world’s largest oil exporter looks for foreign funding for its ambitious economic transformation.

Two other people briefed on the visit said that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the kingdom’s prime minister and de facto day-to-day ruler, had been expected to lead the delegation to China. He will, however, stay in Riyadh after his elderly father, the king, underwent medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for lung inflammation.

IDF strikes building in southern Lebanon being used by Hezbollah operatives

Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal a short while ago, after identifying Hezbollah operatives entering the structure, the IDF says.

Additional buildings used by the terror group in Ayta ash-Shab, and observation posts in Alma ash-Shab, were also hit by fighter jets, the military adds.

Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon's Mays al-Jabal a short while ago, after identifying Hezbollah operatives entering the structure, the IDF says.

Additional buildings used by the terror group in Ayta ash-Shab, and observation posts in Alma ash-Shab, were… pic.twitter.com/it2Lv5nqWX

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 22, 2024

Knesset advances bill to grant more funds to southern West Bank settlements

A general view shows houses in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, May 10, 2023. (Wisam Hashlamounn/ Flash90)

A bill defining a group of West Bank settlements as part of Israel’s Negev region passes a preliminary reading 52-37 in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.

If passed through all three readings further in the Knesset, Kiryat Arba and the settlements of the Har Hebron Regional Council will be eligible for funding from the Negev Development Authority, ending “years of discrimination and injustice against the settlers,” asserts Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech.

According to the legislation’s explanatory notes, the challenges of life in the periphery also apply to the specified settlements, which were excluded from the purview of the Negev Development Authority in the early 1990s due to the fact that they are located in the Palestinian territories.

“There is no reason for [the settlement communities] to be discriminated against just because it is in Judea and Samaria,” Har-Melech says, using the Biblical name for the areas which now comprise the West Bank.

Railing against the measure, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares that “the Negev is the Negev, Judea and Samaria is Judea and Samaria. Don’t invent a geography that doesn’t exist.”

Lapid accuses the bill’s backers of appropriating the budgets of towns harmed by the war, declaring that “the settlements have been stealing money from periphery communities for 50 years, and the Likud party has been silent.”

White House: Biden believes Palestinian state should be realized through direct talks, not unilateral recognition

File - US President Joe Biden makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on May 11, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

US President Joe Biden believes a Palestinian state “should be realized through direct negotiations between the parties, not through unilateral recognition,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson says in response to Ireland, Spain and Norway’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

“The president is a strong supporter of a two-state solution and has been throughout his career,” the spokesperson adds.

Hamas health ministry updates Gaza death toll to 35,709

Palestinians look at the rubble of a bombed out building in Rafah in southern Gaza on May 20, 2024. (AFP)

At least 35,709 Palestinians have been killed and 79,990 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says in a statement.

These figures have not be verified and only some 25,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The tolls include 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.

No two-state solution without dialogue, Berlin says on Palestine recognition

A German foreign ministry spokesperson stresses Berlin’s support for a two-state solution, responding to a reporter’s question on the decision by some European countries to recognise the state of Palestine.

“An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” the spokesperson tells a regular news conference in Berlin, adding that a dialogue process was needed for that goal.

Ireland says recognition of Palestinian state based on 1967 borders

Ireland plans to recognize the Palestinian state based on its 1967 borders, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin says.

“When we recognize a state, we don’t recognize the government of the day, we recognize the state in terms of a permanent population of people in terms of defined borders, and in this case it’s the 1967 borders,” Martin tells RTE radio.

That is “a defined territory involving Gaza, the West Bank and… a capital of both an Israeli state and a Palestinian state in Jerusalem,” he says, adding that formal recognition would take place on May 28.

IDF says troops found primed rocket launchers in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya

A rocket launcher is found by troops in northern Gaza's Jabaliya, in a handout image published May 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Primed rocket launchers were found by troops of the 7th Armored Brigade amid operations in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, the military says.

The IDF says dozens of rockets, as well as explosive belts, IEDs, grenades, and other weapons were found by the soldiers.

The fighting in Jabaliya is described by the IDF as “intense.” It says troops raided and demolished dozens of sites belonging to terror groups amid the operation, which began earlier this month.

IDF: Primed rocket launchers found on Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt

Earlier today, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade located several rocket launchers on the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Gaza and Egypt, the military says.

The IDF says the primed launchers were destroyed.

So far amid the operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the IDF has captured around half of the Philadelphi Corridor — which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Earlier today, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade located several rocket launchers on the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Gaza and Egypt, the military says.

The IDF says the primed launchers were destroyed. pic.twitter.com/veG8zppd6L

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 22, 2024

2-year-old girl in critical condition after she was apparently left in Beit Shemesh car

The Magen David Adom emergency service says that a 2-year-old is in critical condition after she was apparently left in a car for “a long time” in Beit Shemesh.

Temperatures in Israel are unseasonably high today.

According to the Beterem child safety activism group, in the decade 2010-2020, 35 children died from being forgotten or trapped in vehicles in Israel out of over 800 recorded incidents.

Hamas chief Haniyeh meets Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei in Tehran

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, speaks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, as Iran's acting president Mohammad Mokhber sits at left, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 22, 2024 (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

The office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei releases footage of the ayatollah’s meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The politburo chief of the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group is in Tehran for the funeral of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

“Head of Hamas’ political bureau, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, offered his condolences on behalf of the Palestinian nation & govt on the martyrdom-like death of President Raisi & his entourage to Imam Khamenei & the Iranian nation,” writes Khamenei’s X account.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani gave his condolences on behalf of his country’s govt & ppl to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei, & the Iranian nation on the martyrdom-like death of President Raisi & his entourage. pic.twitter.com/xXjh965cRK

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) May 22, 2024

France: Conditions to recognize Palestinian state have not yet been met

France's Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Stephane Sejourne leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on May 21, 2024. (Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

The conditions to officially recognize a Palestinian state have not yet been met, France’s foreign minister says, after a group of three other European states announced such a move in the hope that this will help bring peace to the region.

“This is not just a symbolic issue or a question of political positioning, but a diplomatic tool in the service of the solution of two States living side by side in peace and security,” Stephane Sejourne says in a statement, adding:

“France does not consider that the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on this process.”

Saudi Arabia, Jordan praise 3 European countries’ recognition of Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia praises the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognize a Palestinian state and calls on other countries to do the same.

The foreign ministry “expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s welcome of the positive decision taken by the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Ireland to recognize the sisterly State of Palestine,” according to a statement posted on X.

Jordan hails the coordinated move by Dublin, Oslo and Madrid as an “important and essential step towards Palestinian statehood.”

“We welcome the decisions taken by friendly European countries today to recognize a Palestinian state,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi tells a press conference in Amman.

“We value this decision and consider it an important and essential step towards a two-state solution that embodies an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the July 1967 borders,” he says.

Norway, Ireland and Spain announced they would each recognize a Palestinian state as of May 28.

IAEA chief Grossi: Death of Iran’s president and FM has delayed nuclear talks

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi, addresses the media after arriving at the Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Austria, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

The deaths of Iran’s president and foreign minister in a helicopter crash have caused a pause in the UN nuclear watchdog’s talks with Tehran over improving cooperation with the agency, the watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi tells Reuters.

“They are in a mourning period which I need to respect,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi says in Helsinki, where he spoke at a nuclear conference.

“But once this is over, we are going to be engaging again,” he says, describing it as a “temporary interruption that I hope will be over in a matter of days.”

Grossi says the IAEA is planning to continue technical discussions with Iran but they had not yet taken place due to the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The IAEA faces a range of challenges in Iran, from Tehran’s recent barring of many of the most experienced uranium-enrichment experts on its inspection team to Iran’s continued failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites despite a years-long IAEA investigation.

The IAEA has been trying to expand its oversight of Iran’s atomic activities while the country’s uranium-enrichment program continues to advance. Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons-grade, which no other country has done without developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran says its aims are entirely peaceful.

Lapid: Herzl ‘would be ashamed’ if he could see Netanyahu and his government

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a meeting of his Yesh Atid party at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

If Theodor Herzl were alive today and could see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “he would be ashamed,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares from the Knesset rostrum.

In an address in honor of Herzl Day, which fell on Sunday, Lapid questions what the progenitor of modern political Zionism would have made of a prime minister “who is not willing to take responsibility for 1,500 Jews who were killed and murdered on his watch [and] who is not willing to say: I am guilty, I am responsible, I am going home,” says Lapid. Not all of those killed on October 7 and in the subsequent war were Jewish.

“Your punishment, Mr. Netanyahu, is that this is how history will remember you. This is what you will be remembered for. For not taking responsibility, for not admitting your guilt. That you didn’t even know how to ask for forgiveness and leave at [the appropriate] time,” Lapid says.

“We will not win with this government,” he continues. “We will not win with Haredim who do not want to enlist. We will not win with militias burning humanitarian aid trucks. We will not win with ministers who talk about total annihilation and atomic bombs on Gaza.”

“Not only did Herzl want a Jewish state, but also a model liberal, fair, egalitarian society. He wanted there to be a government here that would protect the Jews from racism and violence, not a government that would foster racism by Jews and violence by Jews,” he says.

“If Herzl were to wake up today and look at the country, he would be proud. If Herzl were resurrected and looked at the government, he would be ashamed.”

AG, state attorney: ‘No foundation’ to ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

File - Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara arrives to casts her ballot for the head of the Israel Bar Association at a voting station in Tel Aviv on June 20, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman hit back at the International Criminal Court (ICC), describing Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as “without foundation.”

The two most senior law enforcement officials in the country say that their agencies examine all claims of violations of the law, and assert that the ICC therefore has no right or authority to investigate and charge Israeli officials.

“The security forces, including the IDF, wage war with full commitment to the rules of international law,” say Baharav-Miara and Aisman in a joint statement.

“The legal system in the State of Israel is prepared to examine any serious claim both in relation to matters of policy and in relation to individual cases,” they continue. “As the State of Israel has made clear over the years, the [international] court lacks any authority to conduct an investigation into [this] matter.

“In any case, the request to the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against the prime minister and the defense minister is without foundation.”

Ben Gvir makes first visit to flashpoint Temple Mount since October 7

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the Temple Mount on May 22, 2024 (Temple Mount)

In his first visit to the Jerusalem holy site since October 7, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declares from the Temple Mount that extending diplomatic recognition to a Palestinian state is tantamount to rewarding Hamas.

Surrounded by police, Ben Gvir says in a video message that in their move to recognize Palestine, Norway, Spain and Ireland are “giving a prize to Nukhba, murderers and abusers.”

Members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force spearheaded the October 7 attack on southern Israel, during which 1,200 people were murdered and 252 were taken hostage.

Referring to video footage of several female hostages due to be released this evening, Ben Gvir says that “tonight we will receive further evidence of why Hamas must be totally destroyed.”

“In order to destroy Hamas, we need to go into Rafah until the end, to do a root canal,” he says, calling to cut off fuel to Gaza and limit humanitarian aid.

The flashpoint Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City is the holiest site in Judaism. Known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, the hilltop compound is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Hamas: ‘Brave resistance’ of Palestinian people led to state recognition by 3 European nations

A senior Hamas official says it was the “brave resistance” of the Palestinian people that spurred three European countries in quick succession — Norway, Ireland and Spain — to recognize a Palestinian state.

“These successive recognitions are the direct result of this brave resistance and the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people… We believe this will be a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue,” says Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas political bureau member.

Katz to summon Irish, Spanish, Norwegian envoys for ‘severe reprimands’ over Palestinian state recognition

Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz says he will be calling in the Irish, Spanish, and Norwegian ambassadors to Israel for “severe reprimands” and will have them watch footage of the kidnapping of five female Israeli soldiers on October 7.

In a statement, Katz says the footage will “underscore to them what a twisted decision their governments made.”

“Their step will have severe consequences,” Katz threatens.

He will also recall Israel’s ambassador to Spain for consultations, after the country’s prime minister says Madrid will recognize a Palestinian state in the coming days.

He recalled the envoy’s to Norway and Ireland earlier in the day after their leaders made similar announcements.

Katz is in Paris on a working visit to celebrate 75 years of bilateral ties.

Gallant: Israelis can enter north West Bank areas that had been off-limits since 2005 disengagement

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant delivers a statement to the press at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, May 15, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gives instructions to allow Israelis to enter an area of the northern West Bank where they had been forbidden to enter since the 2005 disengagement, and says the step will lead to “the development of settlement and provide security to the residents of the region.”

Still, any lawful settlement activity would have to be authorized by the government in processes that typically take years. However, the removal of the entry ban could make it easier to establish illegal outposts.

Four settlements in the region were evacuated and partially demolished 19 years ago at the same time that all the Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were evacuated, and a law was passed banning Israeli citizens from being present in those regions.

That law was repealed by the Knesset last year, but military orders barring Israelis from entering remained in place.

Gallant has now instructed the IDF to rescind the order declaring the area of three of the four settlements to be a closed military zone. A similar order was issued in May 2023 removing the closed military zone at the illegal outpost of Homesh, which was also evacuated and demolished in 2005.

“The Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria guarantees security, [and] the application of the law to repeal the Disengagement Law will lead to the development of settlement and provide security to the residents of the region,” says Gallant in announcing his decision, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan describes the measure as “historic,” saying Israel was “officially and formally amending the unjust folly” of evacuating settlements from the region.

“The full cancellation of the Disengagement Law is the first step to full redress,” he adds, in a likely allusion to future settlement activity in the area.

The Peace Now organization which campaigns against settlements condemns the step, saying “the last thing Israel needs is more isolated and unnecessary settlements which will be a security burden and distance us from a required diplomatic process.”

Smotrich says he’ll cut off transfer of PA funds after 3 European nations set to recognize Palestinian state

Religious Zionism party leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting in northern Israel, May 19, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Following three European nations’ announcements that they will recognize a Palestinian state, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu impose “harsh punitive measures” against the Palestinian Authority, including cutting off Ramallah financially.

“At the last cabinet meeting, many ministers, including myself, raised an unequivocal demand for harsh punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority for its unilateral actions against Israel, including its pursuit of unilateral recognition” and its support of legal cases against Israel in The Hague, Smotrich writes to Netanyahu.

But despite the diplomatic move by Ireland, Spain and Norway and International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant along with Hamas leaders, officials in the National Security Council have pushed back against measures to punish Ramallah, Smotrich complains.

Smotrich informs the prime minister that he intends to take immediate action to cut off the transfer of funds to the Palestinian administrative body and says that he will not extend the indemnity given to the Israeli banks that transfer funds to banks in the West Bank.

Beyond that, Smotrich calls on Netanyahu to impose “additional economic sanctions on PA senior officials and their families” and to cancel an arrangement, known as the “Norwegian outline,” used to indirectly fund Ramallah.

In January, the cabinet approved the plan to transfer to Norway Palestinian tax funds that are designated by the Palestinian Authority for transfer to its staff in Gaza, but which Israel had refused to release out of concern that they could reach the Hamas terror organization.

In addition, the far-right minister demands that Netanyahu take a series of steps to bolster Israeli settlement in the West Bank, including immediately approving 10,000 new housing units, establishing a new community for each country recognizing Palestine and advancing a government proposal to strengthen settlement.

IDF: Airstrike targeted Hamas members, weapons store at UNRWA school in central Gaza

The military says it carried out an airstrike against a UNRWA school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, where members of Hamas were gathered.

According to the IDF, among the operatives at the school were a member of Hamas’s anti-tank unit and a member of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force.

The site also had been used to store weapons, including mortars, guns, and explosive devices, the army says.

Secondary blasts were seen after the strike, which the military says indicates that the site was used to store weapons.

The IDF says the strike was “carefully planned and carried out using precise munitions” while “avoiding harm to uninvolved [civilians] as much as possible.”

The military says it carried out an airstrike against a UNRWA school in central Gaza's Nuseirat, where members of Hamas were gathered.

According to the IDF, among the operatives at the school were a member of Hamas's anti-tank unit and a member of the terror group's elite Nukhba… pic.twitter.com/ZrtybIfNd7

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 22, 2024

Mother of hostage Liri Albag: Terrorist said ‘these are the girls that can get pregnant’

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. (The Hostages Families Forum)

The mother of Liri Albag, a female soldier abducted on October 7 who is seen in a harrowing video set to be released this evening, says that one of the terrorists can be heard saying “here, these are the girls who can get pregnant.”

Shira Albag says she is one of the only mothers to have watched the video.

“Most mothers have not watched it. It is very difficult to watch,” she tells the Ynet news site.

The video is set to be released this evening ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss the hostages.

Liri Albag, who was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

Hamas welcomes decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognize Palestinian state

Palestinian terror group Hamas welcomes a decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognize a Palestinian state as an “important step” and urged other countries to follow suit.

“We consider this an important step towards affirming our right to our land,” Hamas says in a statement, calling “on countries around the world to recognize our legitimate national rights.”

PA, PLO welcome decisions by Norway, Spain and Ireland to recognize Palestinian state

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on March 31, 2024 in Ramallah. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the announcements by Norway, Spain and Ireland of their recognition of a Palestinian state, which will take effect on May 28.

In three separate statements, the PA Presidency applauds the support given by the three countries over the past years to the rights of the Palestinian people, and their votes in favor of Palestinian “self-determination on their land” in international forums.

The PA Presidency further calls on other European countries to follow their example and recognize a Palestinian state “in order to achieve a two-state solution based on international resolutions and the 1967 borders.”

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also released a statement welcoming the decision by Norway, Spain and Ireland.

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO’s Executive Committee, writes on X that these are “historical moments in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle” and that “this is the path to stability, security and peace in the region.

Pentagon: None of the aid that arrived through US-built pier has been formally delivered

Palestinians rush trucks as they transport international humanitarian aid from the US-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024 (AFP)

A US Defense Department spokesman says that it appeared that none of the 569 tons of humanitarian assistance that has arrived at a US-built pier in the Gaza Strip has been formally distributed.

While some of the aid coming off the pier has made it to warehouses, trucks have been intercepted by crowds of desperate Palestinians after the aid leaves the loading area.

“I don’t believe so,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder says in response to a question about whether any of the aid had been delivered yet.

“We fully appreciate and recognize that land routes are the optimal way to get aid,” Ryder says. “It’s also important to remember that this is a combat zone and that it is a complex operation.”

Ireland and Spain announce they’ll recognize Palestinian state as of May 28, joining Norway’s declaration

Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez officially announce that their countries will be recognizing a Palestinian state as of May 28, joining Norway’s declaration earlier today.

“I am confident other countries will join us in the coming weeks,” the Irish premier says, calling it “a historic and important day for Ireland and for Palestine.”

He says the recognition comes out of a belief in “freedom and justice,” and that peace can only be secured by “the free will of a free people.”

Speaking to Spain’s lower house, Sanchez says that Spain’s recognition is a decision “for peace, for justice and for coherence.”

“Spain will be accompanied by other European countries,” he says. “The more there are of us, the sooner we will achieve a ceasefire. We are not going to give up.

“Recognition is not just the end, it’s just the beginning,” he notes.

“This recognition is not an attack on anyone, nor a recognition against the Jewish people,” Sanchez adds. “Nor is it in favor of Hamas.”

Extremists cut out image of female soldier kidnapped on October 7 from Jerusalem billboard

Karina Ariev, who was taken captive early in the morning of October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists. (Courtesy)

Extremists have defaced a Jerusalem poster to remove the image of a female soldier kidnapped on October 7, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The photo of Karina Ariev was cut out of the billboard that was put up near her home in the capital.

The municipality tells the outlet that the poster will be replaced.

The defacing of images of women in public areas by extremist members of the ultra-Orthodox community has become a common phenomenon in recent years.

תמונתה של התצפיתנית החטופה קרינה ארייב הושחתה הבוקר בשכונת נווה יעקוב, הצמודה לשכונת מגוריה פסגת זאב בירושלים. מהעירייה נמסר כי יוצב שלט חדש בהקדם @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/muzdlXpbTW

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 22, 2024

Katz recalls envoys from Norway, Ireland over Palestinian state recognition: ‘Israel will not let this go quietly’

Foreign Minister Israel Katz tours the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz recalls the Israeli ambassadors in Ireland and Norway for immediate consultations as Oslo announces it will recognize a Palestinian state, and with Dublin expected to make a similar decision.

“I am sending an unequivocal message to Ireland and Norway — Israel will not let this go quietly.”

He says he will do the same if Spain follows suit.

“Ireland and Norway intend to send a message to the Palestinians and the entire world — terror pays,” says Katz in a statement, adding that they are “giving a prize to Hamas and Iran.”

“The twisted step by these states is an affront to the victims of October 7,” he continues. “It also harms efforts to bring back the 128 hostages.”

Katz adds that it makes peace less likely and undermines Israel’s right to self-defense.

“The Irish-Norwegian parade of stupidity does not deter us,” Katz concludes, “we are determined to achieve our goals: returning security to our citizens, toppling Hamas, and bringing back the hostages.”

Norway announces it will recognize Palestinian state as of May 28

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announces his country will recognize a Palestinian state during a news conference in Oslo, Norway, May 22, 2024 (Erik Flaaris Johansen/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Norway will recognize a Palestinian state as of May 28, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store says at a press conference, despite warnings against the move from the Israeli government.

The Norwegian prime minister says: “There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition.”

Norway, which is not a member of the European Union but mirror its moves, has been an ardent supporter of a two-state solution.

“The terror has been committed by Hamas and militant groups who are not supporters of a two-state solution and the state of Israel,” the Norwegian government leader says.

Other European countries are expected to make similar moves today.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to announce the date for Madrid’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state and the Irish government has called a press conference to announce its decision, according to local media.

US intel indicates only 30-35% of Hamas fighters killed, 65% of tunnels are intact – report

IDF soldiers seen operating in Gaza in this handout photo released for publication on May 22, 2024. (IDF)

US intelligence indicates that only 30-35 percent of Hamas fighters have been killed since October 7, and around 65% of the terror group’s tunnels are still intact, Politico reports.

The outlet also says that US officials believe that Hamas has recruited thousands of new members in recent months. The report does not clarify if these individuals are thought to have become members of the terror group’s active fighting forces.

The outlet says these factors are helping to inform recent decisions by the Biden administration vis-à-vis Gaza.

IDF reservist seriously wounded in north Gaza fighting on Tuesday

An IDF reservist with the Carmeli Brigade’s 222nd Battalion was seriously wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.

He was brought to a hospital in Israel for treatment.

Two hundred and eighty-three soldiers have been killed during the IDF’s ongoing ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border.

A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip. Another 1,752 soldiers have been wounded in the ground operation — 349 seriously , 577 moderately, and 822 lightly, according to IDF data.

Footage to be released showing abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. (The Hostages Families Forum)

Harrowing footage showing the abduction of five female soldiers from the Nahal Oz base on October 7 will be released today.

The video was taken by body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists that day as they attacked the base near the Gaza border.

It shows Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the three minutes and 10 seconds of footage is being released at the request of the families, and has been edited to remove some of the most disturbing images, including the multiple murdered bodies.

“The footage reveals the violent, humiliating, and traumatizing treatment the girls endured on the day of their abduction, their eyes filled with raw terror,” the forum says in a statement.

The footage will be released at 6 p.m. in Israel.

Ahead of the release, the forum has distributed a number of new images taken from the footage.

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023 (The Hostages Families Forum)

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023 (The Hostages Families Forum)

A still from footage showing the capture and abduction of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy at the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023 (The Hostages Families Forum)

IDF says ‘prominent’ terrorist from Oct. 7 killed in Gaza airstrike

A Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the military says.

Ahead of the strike against Ahmed Yasser al-Qara, a “prominent” member of Hamas’s anti-tank unit, a child was identified in the vicinity of the building.

The IDF says it held off carrying out the strike until the child was at a safe distance from the terrorist.

Al-Qara, according to the IDF, also carried out many attempted attacks against Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip amid the war.

Along with al-Qara, another two terror operatives were killed, according to the IDF: Suhaib Ra’ed Abu Riba, a member of Hama’s elite Nukhba force, and Anas Muhammad Abu Rajileh, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative.

A separate airstrike killed five Hamas operatives who were gathered at a school in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, the military says.

The IDF says that among those killed were Fadi Salim, the head of the propaganda unit in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, three members of Hamas’s intelligence unit, and another Nukhba member.

בהובלת אוגדת עזה, אמ״ן ושב״כ, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף וחיסל בחאן יונס את המחבל אחמד יאסר אלקרא, פעיל נ״ט מרכזי בארגון הטרור חמאס אשר הוביל תקיפות ומתווי טרור נגד כוחות צה"ל במהלך המלחמה והיה במעקב על ידי החטיבה הדרומית>> pic.twitter.com/r9RNorN0nk

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 22, 2024

Rocket alert sirens sounding in northern town of Malkia, near Lebanon border

Rocket alert sirens are sounding in the northern town of Malkia, close to the Lebanon border, warning of incoming rocket fire.

The towns closest to the border have been largely evacuated of civilians since October 8, when Hezbollah began launching attacks on communities and military posts in the north in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Red Alert [08:46:09] – 1 Alert:

• Confrontation Line — Malkia#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/IjNhCH1ADs

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) May 22, 2024

Norway, Ireland expected to announce recognition of Palestinian state later today

OSLO – Norway’s government is expected to announce today that the Nordic country recognizes an independent Palestinian state, public broadcaster NRK and daily Aftenposten report, citing unnamed sources.

Norway’s foreign ministry does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Irish government will also announce its recognition of a Palestinian state, according to comments from a source familiar with the matter yesterday.

European Union members Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta have indicated in recent weeks that they plan to make the recognition, arguing a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace in the region.

The United States has long opposed Palestinian efforts to unilaterally secure statehood status, arguing that the goal should be achieved through direct negotiations with Israel.

Washington has also said that the Palestinian Authority needs to undergo significant reforms before it’s recognized as a state. Ramallah has long been marred by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Hamas leader Haniyeh, Hezbollah deputy chief attend Raisi’s funeral in Tehran — Iranian media

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem attend the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, on May 22, 2024 (Screen grab)

Iranian state media runs footage of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attending the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Palestinian terror group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.

Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh attends the funeral procession of martyr President Ebrahim #Raisi and his entourage in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/RBQwDniFCf

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 22, 2024

Hamas belongs to the “axis of resistance,” a collection of Iran-backed movements hostile to Israel and the United States that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and Iraqi militias.

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem is also in Tehran for the funeral.

In a statement following the confirmation of Raisi’s death earlier this week, Hamas mourned the Iranian president in a statement as an “honorable supporter.”

The terror group said it appreciated Raisi’s “support for the Palestinian resistance and tireless efforts in solidarity” with Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Tens of thousands of mourners gather in Tehran for Raisi’s funeral – Iranian state TV

Mourners hold up a posters of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the mam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, May 21, 2024 during a funeral ceremony for him and his companions who were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday in a mountainous region of the country's northwest (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Tens of thousands of Iranians are flocking to the streets of Tehran to join the funeral processions of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, Iranian state television says.

In the centre of the city, people holding portraits of Raisi gather in and around Tehran University, where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is due to lead prayers for Raisi and his companions.

Huge banners have gone up hailing the late president as “the martyr of service,” while others bade “farewell to the servant of the disadvantaged.”

Tehran residents received phone messages urging them to “attend the funeral of the martyr of service.”

The processions, which will be attended by foreign dignitaries, are planned to set off from the University of Tehran and head to the vast Enghelab Square in the city centre, according to state media.

Nicknamed “The Butcher of Tehran” for his role in overseeing the mass executions of thousands in 1988, he led the country under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as it enriched uranium near weapons-grade levels, launched a major drone and missile attack on Israel, and suppressed the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests to deadly effect.

Over 1,400 Israeli academics call for end to war, hostage release

Protesters call for early elections and for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, as they march towards the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 20, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Over 1,400 academic staff and administrators from institutions of higher education in Israel have signed a petition urging the Israeli government to promptly end the war in Gaza and to secure the immediate release of the hostages.

The petition — titled “A Call on the Israeli Government to End the War and Ensure the Return of the Hostages” — states, “We, faculty and administrative staff at academic institutions in Israel, call on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza without delay and ensure the immediate return of the hostages,” emphasizing that both these things are “moral imperatives that align with Israel’s interests.”

The petitioners argue that Israel had the right to defend itself following Hamas’ horrific attacks on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 252 were taken hostage. However, they claim that “this initial purpose has been exhausted, partly because the government has deliberately avoided setting a strategic or political vision beyond the war, instead aiming for an undefined ‘complete victory’ which, even according to senior military officials, is not only unachievable but likely to result in the death of the hostages.”

The petition says that the right to self-defense “does not grant the right to wage a war without a realistic end or one aimed at the political survival of the leadership.”

Along with causing “tremendous harm to civilians in Gaza, starvation, and unprecedented destruction of infrastructure,” the signatories say prolonging the war has led to many Israeli casualties, “mental harm to hundreds of thousands, enormous economic damage, and a severe deterioration of the rule of law,” in Israel and the West Bank.

Trump foreign policy adviser urges sanctions on ICC officials after meeting Netanyahu

Then-US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien speaks at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City, Philippines, November 23, 2020. (Eloisa Lopez/Pool Photo via AP)

The United States should slap sanctions on International Criminal Court officials who seek an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a top foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says.

Robert O’Brien, who served as Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser, made the comments in a Jerusalem interview with Reuters after meeting Netanyahu and other Israeli officials during a multi-day visit to the US ally.

O’Brien, who says Trump would be briefed on the results of the trip, discusses what he called the ICC’s “irrational decision” to issue a warrant for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Palestinian Hamas leaders, in his meetings with the Israeli officials.

“We can sanction the bank accounts, the travel. We can put visa restrictions on these corrupt prosecutors and judges. We can show some real mettle here,” O’Brien tells Reuters from Jerusalem.

O’Brien is joined by former US Ambassador to the UAE John Rakolta and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen.

The trip is a rare case of Trump allies traveling abroad as part of an organized delegation to meet foreign officials.

⁦@netanyahu⁩ points out ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ signatures on orders moving the US embassy to Jerusalem & recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.They hang next to Truman’s order recognizing Israel. All three records are permanently displayed in the PM’s office. pic.twitter.com/hWaXCzqVyk

— Robert C. O'Brien (@robertcobrien) May 21, 2024

In addition to Netanyahu, the delegation met in recent days with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, and Gallant, O’Brien said. Their itinerary did not include Palestinian leaders.

O’Brien says rescuing all remaining hostages held by Hamas and capturing Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attack on Israel that prompted Israel’s Gaza offensive, would be key to declaring victory over the terror group.

“This is something I did share with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and President Herzog and Benny Gantz from the war cabinet: We’ve got to move quickly,” O’Brien tells Reuters. “Israel has to defeat Hamas in Rafah.”

The group says they did not go to Israel at Trump’s behest.

In addition to meeting political leaders, members of the delegation traveled to areas of Israel that were targeted in the Hamas attack in October, including the site of the Nova Music Festival and the Nir Oz kibbutz, both near Gaza.

In the Reuters interview, O’Brien says he was throwing his support behind Republican-led legislation in Congress that would sanction ICC employees who investigate officials in the U.S. or in allied countries that do not recognize the court, like Israel.

Throughout the interview, O’Brien, Rakolta and McMullen rejected assessments that Israel is not doing enough to protect civilian life.

“The Israelis are conducting themselves in a really fine tradition of a modern, humanitarian military, and I think that’s the biggest takeaway from the meetings we’ve had in my view,” O’Brien says.

Netanyahu denies dissing Israeli media after avoiding interviews since Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is interviewed on CNN on May 21, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressed during his CNN interview why he has refused interviews on Israeli media networks since October 7.

He has given 22 interviews since October 7 — all of them with foreign media outlets.

“That’s the tendentious reporting of a lot of the Israeli media. I can tell you, what they’re not telling you is, I have done… two dozen or 20 or 15 press conferences with Israeli media. They can ask anything they want, and they do.”

The last press conference he held, though, was two months ago. CNN’s question was also regarding interviews, not press conferences where Netanyahu has more control over the format and questioning.

היה לנו חשוב ב-CNN לקבל תשובה גם על זה pic.twitter.com/TZxtgkeCSP

— Ami Kaufman (@AmiKaufman) May 21, 2024

PM reiterates opposition to re-establishing Gaza settlements: ‘Some of my constituents aren’t happy about it’

Thousands of people turn out for an ultra-nationalist march and rally in Sderot to call for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in Gaza, May 14, 2024. (Courtesy Nachala Settlement Movement)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that he opposes re-establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip.

“If you mean resettling Gaza… it was never in the cards, and I said so openly. Some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position,” Netanyahu tells CNN.

Pressed for his plan for the post-war management of Gaza, Netanyahu again stresses that his priority is defeating Hamas, including its remaining battalions in Rafah.

Once Hamas is defeated, what we have to do is have sustained demilitarization of Gaza,” he tells CNN. Netanyahu says the IDF is the only security force capable of ensuring that there isn’t a resurgence of terrorism from Gaza for the forseeable future, asserting that the Israeli army will maintain the freedom to operate in Gaza after the war.

“At the same time, I want a civilian administration that is run by Gazans who are neither Hamas nor committed to our destruction,” Netanyahu says.

“The third thing that I would do is have a reconstruction of Gaza, if possible, done by the moderate Arab states and the international community,” he adds.

Arab states have repeatedly asserted that they will not assist in the rehabilitation of Gaza unless Israel agrees to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — something Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.

“That is a realistic plan, and I have said so. Some people are not happy with it. Maybe they want to put in the Palestinian Authority that still teaches its children to seek the destruction of Israel. That’s not my position. I want a different future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Netanyahu claims.

US House leader moves toward inviting Netanyahu to address Congress

Rep Jim Jordan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Rep. Mike Johnson in Jerusalem on February 19, 2020. (Mike Johnson's office)

The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives says he is close to inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address lawmakers, even if the Senate’s Democratic leader did not go along.

House Speaker Mike Johnson tells reporters at the Capitol he had given Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer until Tuesday to sign a letter inviting Netanyahu to address a joint meeting.

“If not, we’re going to proceed and invite Netanyahu just to the House,” Johnson says.

Schumer confirmed that he was talking to Johnson. “I’m discussing that now with the speaker of the House and, as I’ve always said, our relationship with Israel is ironclad. It transcends any one prime minister or president,” Schumer tells reporters at his weekly news conference.

New routes planned for halted Gaza aid from US-built pier

Palestinians carry boxes of humanitarian aid after rushing the trucks transporting the international aid from the US-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

The United Nations has planned new routes within the Gaza Strip to transport aid from a US-built floating pier after crowds of desperate Palestinians intercepted 11 trucks, causing a halt to deliveries that continued for a third day on Tuesday.

The temporary pier was anchored to a Gaza beach last Thursday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Hamas and famine looms.

Operations began on Friday and 10 aid trucks were driven by UN contractors to a World Food Program warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza. But on Saturday, only five trucks made it to the warehouse after 11 others were intercepted.

“Crowds had stopped the trucks at various points along the way. There was … what I think I would refer to as self-distribution,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York today.

“These trucks were traveling through areas where there’d been no aid. I think people feared that they would never see aid. They grabbed what they could,” he said.

Distribution was paused as the UN planned new routes and coordination of deliveries in a bid to prevent more aid being intercepted, said Abeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson in Cairo.

“The missions were planned for today using the new routes to avoid the crowds,” she said. Dujarric later said there had been no transportation of aid from the pier since Saturday.

US officials have said that once up and running the pier would initially handle 90 trucks a day, but that number could go to 150 trucks. The UN has said at least 500 trucks a day are needed to enter Gaza.

Report: Ireland to announce recognition of Palestinian state on Wednesday

Illustrative: An Ireland supporter holds a Palestinian flag on the stands during the Euro 2024 group B qualifying soccer match between Gibraltar and Ireland at the Argarve Stadium, outside Faro, Portugal, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP/Joao Matos)

The Irish government is to announce the recognition of a Palestinian state on Wednesday, a move strongly opposed by Israel, a source familiar with the matter tells Reuters.

European Union members Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta have indicated in recent weeks that they plan to make the recognition, possibly in a coordinated announcement, arguing a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace in the region.

The efforts come as a mounting death toll in Gaza from Israel’s offensive to rout Hamas prompts calls globally for a ceasefire and lasting solution for peace in the region.

Since 1988, 139 out of 193 UN member states have recognized Palestinian statehood.

The Irish government has said recognition would complement peace efforts and support a two-state solution.

Israel’s foreign ministry warned against the move, saying in a post on social media platform X that recognition would “lead to more terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardize any prospects for peace.”

“Don’t be a pawn in the hands of Hamas,” the ministry said earlier today.

The Irish government on Tuesday evening said the prime minister and foreign minister would speak to the media on Wednesday morning but did not say what the topic would be.

China to continue to strengthen ties with Iran, state media says

Visiting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, February 14, 2023. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via AP)

China will continue to strengthen strategic cooperation with Iran, safeguard common interests, and make endeavors for regional and world peace, Chinese state media reports, citing comments from Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang made the remarks in talks today with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahdi Safari, while attending a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

“Iran has lost outstanding leaders and China has lost good friends and partners, said Wang, according to Xinhua news. “In this difficult time, China firmly stands by Iranian friends,” he says, referring to the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday.

Omani channel has been ‘useful’ in preventing escalation with Iran, US official says

Illustrative: Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq meets with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at al-Alam palace in the capital Muscat, February 21, 2020. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

A senior US official confirms the indirect negotiations White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk held with Iranian counterparts in Oman last week.

“The Omanis recommend their facilitation for an exchange between senior officials with Iran and the United States,” the official says in a briefing with reporters.

“It’s a forum for us to make very clear some of the consequences of various courses of action of Iranian behavior and policies. We’ve done it a number of times through this forum quite effectively, managing escalations, particularly since October 7,” the official says, adding that the US uses the channel to raise its concerns regarding Tehran’s regional proxies and its nuclear weapons program.

“It’s a useful forum because without being able to have some exchange, the risk of miscalculation, misunderstanding can be quite high,” the official adds.

US official: Nuclear component of near-final Saudi deal ‘very much in our interests’

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan (R) receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretariat in Riyadh on April 29, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP)

The component of the near-final bilateral agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that will allow Riyadh to establish a civil nuclear program will advance Washington’s interests, a senior Biden administration official tells reporters in a briefing.

“There is a civil nuclear cooperation element, which we believe is very much in our interests [due to] the way this has been structured. It has been done by our non-proliferation experts… in a very rigorous way,” the senior official says.

The civil nuclear cooperation is one of several bilateral elements, along with a security component and an economic component to the broader diplomatic initiative that the US is looking to sign with Saudi Arabia, the official says.

The bilateral package is “very focused on a convergence of the interests that we want to see secured for a very long-term basis,” the official says, noting that the Defense, Energy and State Departments were closely involved in crafting those agreements.

While the bilateral agreements were all but finalized over the weekend, the entire deal hinges on a Palestinian component — the establishment of a pathway to a two-state solution, the official acknowledges.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that he is not interested in making such concessions to the Palestinians, even if it is in exchange for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, May 6, 2024. (Amir Cohen / POOL / AFP)

But this has not stopped the US from trying to advance the initiative. It was a top agenda item during US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s nearly four-hour meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday. Afterward, Riyadh issued a statement saying a near-final set of bilateral arrangements had been reached with Washington.

Sullivan briefed Netanyahu on those developments when he arrived in Israel on Sunday. “The Israeli officials took that on board, and we’ll continue to consult with them,” the senior US official says.

Some Biden officials have suggested that the US is running out of time to secure a deal before the 2024 presidential election and that the administration is nearing a point where it will simply choose to publicly present the diplomatic initiative and force Netanyahu to make a decision.

But the senior official briefing reporters says that wasn’t the approach during Sullivan’s recent meetings. “There was no ultimatum or ‘last chance or it can’t be done.'”

Displaced Palestinians line up to receive food in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip, on May 19, 2024 (Photo by AFP)

As for Saudi Arabia, the official suggested that Riyadh is no less interested in a deal than Washington is.

“We are very realistic about this. In fact, we are not pushing it. We are basically facilitating it. The Saudis… remain very interested in this possibility, but with the emphasis that there has to be a credible pathway for the Palestinians. That is a fundamental component of the deal,” the senior official says.

The official asserts that Riyadh is “prepared to do an awful lot with tremendous benefit for the Palestinians,” including assistance in the post-war stabilization of Gaza.

Stressing that a deal with Saudi Arabia requires the war in Gaza to wind down, the senior US official said Sullivan during his meetings in Israel this week discussed the need to pursue interim political arrangements that transition to a “stabilization phase” in the Strip.

“That conversation is very much ongoing. There are disagreements within the Israeli system on this, which I think are very natural,” the senior US official says, apparently referring to criticism of Netanyahu by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz over the premier’s refusal to advance a viable alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza.

Updated Israeli operations to squeeze Hamas in Rafah could help restore hostage talks — US official

A rocket launcher after it was destroyed by troops in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout image published May 16, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel’s tailored operations in Rafah and the military pressure that the IDF has been exerting on Hamas in the southern Gaza city might lead to “some opportunities for getting the hostage deal back on track,” a senior Biden administration official says in a briefing with reporters.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly maintained that military pressure, particularly in Hamas’s last main stronghold of Rafah, is essential in coaxing Hamas to agree to a hostage deal. The US has not refuted that stance outright but has said that a major military operation in Rafah would actually embolden Hamas in the hostage talks.

Israel has taken some of its recommendations regarding Rafah planning into account, the US official says, indicating that this is what allowed Israel to potentially improve its standing in the negotiations, rather than harm the effort.

Breaking the current impasse in the hostage negotiations was a topic of conversation that came up in every one of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s meetings in Saudi Arabia and Israel over the weekend, the official says.

“We think we might have some openings to do that. We have a decent plan,” the official adds, without elaborating.

The senior Biden official notes that much of Washington’s broader regional agenda hinges on first securing a hostage deal that would produce an initial weeks-long pause in the fighting that the US aims to turn into something more enduring.

US issues rare criticism of Egypt for withholding UN aid from Gaza

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid which Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) agency says entered Gaza on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Courtesy COGAT)

A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters offers very rare criticism of Egypt over what they said was Cairo’s withholding of UN humanitarian assistance from Gaza.

“What should be going into Kerem Shalom is the UN assistance, which is now in Egypt. Egypt is holding that back until the Rafah crossing situation settles out,” the senior administration official says.

“We do not believe that aid should be held back for any reason whatsoever. Kerem Shalom is open. The Israelis have it open. And that aid should be going through Kerem Shalom,” the official adds.

Aid has piled up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing after it was shuttered earlier this month due to Israel’s operation to take over the Gaza side of the crossing from Hamas

Egypt and Israel have traded blame for why Rafah has remained closed.

A second US official speaking to The Times of Israel earlier Tuesday said that Egypt warned Israel it would close the crossing if Israel did not fully coordinate its military operations at the gate with Cairo, which Jerusalem failed to do.

The US official said that Egypt is unwilling to reopen the crossing so long as it is the IDF that is the IDF that is securing the other side, not wanting to be seen as complicit with Israel’s occupation of the gate.

Egypt could be willing to reopen the Rafah Crossing if the Palestinian Authority or an international organization replaced the IDF there, the official said, adding that the PA rejected an Israeli offer to manage the gate.

Israel conditioned PA involvement on its officers not identifying themselves as being from the PA due to fears of pushback from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners. Ramallah also demanded that its involvement at Rafah be part of a broader diplomatic initiative aimed at an eventual two-state solution — a non-starter for Israel.

In the meantime, the US has sought to convince Cairo to at least allow the aid that is building up in Egypt to be transferred to Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom Crossing.

But this effort has been rejected by Cairo, which still views such a move as cooperation with Israel’s takeover of the Rafah Crossing, the second US official said.

Meanwhile today, the UN says that it was no longer able to distribute food aid in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity.

The senior US official notes that Israel has agreed to implement a series of requests made by the US in recent days to improve the amount of aid getting into Gaza.

One of those steps is allowing aid scanned in Cyprus to be sent directly to Israel’s Ashdod Port where it can then be transferred to Gaza without having to undergo an additional security step, the US official says.

Israel tailoring plans for Rafah in manner seen as initially satisfactory to US — top Biden official

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)

Israel has been updating its plans for a military offensive in Rafah in a manner that has been initially satisfactory to the US, a senior Biden administration official says in a briefing with reporters.

Earlier this month, Israel launched operations in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and at the city’s border crossing — operations that the US says have not crossed its red line for what would warrant a withholding of weapons transfers.

Asked whether Israel could carry out an offensive in Rafah that is kept in line with the concerns of the Biden administration, the senior official says that Jerusalem is on the right path for doing so.

“It’s fair to say that the Israelis have updated their plans. They’ve incorporated many of the concerns that we have expressed,” the official says, while stopping short of fully green-lighting the IDF plans.

The US has for months come out against a major military offensive in Rafah, warning that there was no way to pull one off in a manner that accounted for the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering there.

But in recent weeks, Israel began issuing evacuation orders for large parts of Gaza’s southernmost city, leading nearly two-thirds of the population to flee to humanitarian zones to the south and west. While the US remains concerned that Israel doesn’t have the humanitarian systems in place to care for so many people who are now sheltering in areas flattened by bombings, as opposed to the slightly more infrastructurally sound Rafah, the senior Biden official was less critical of the latest Israeli efforts.

“I have to say after coming out of Israel these past couple of days… it is pretty clear that the Israelis are taking those concerns seriously,” the senior US official says.

He also notes that the situation in Rafah has changed dramatically over the past several weeks, given the mass evacuation of Palestinians.