May 28: UN says over 1 million Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israeli offensive began

Emotional Seinfeld says wartime visit to Israel was ‘most powerful experience of my life’

Jerry Seinfeld (left) tours Kibbutz Be'eri on December 19, 2023. (Noam Lanir/Facebook)

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says his visit to Israel last year in the wake of the Hamas massacre was powerful.

In an interview with Bari Weiss for The Free Press, Seinfeld called his visit, which included a trip to the devastated border community of Kibbutz Be’eri and meeting with freed hostages, “the most powerful experience of my life.”

Pressed by Weiss to elaborate, Seinfeld grows visibly emotional and struggles to speak, wiping his eyes before they move on to another topic.

White House: Sanctions on ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant are ‘not the answer’

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The White House comes out against legislation being pushed by House Republicans to sanction senior members of the International Criminal Court over its pursuit of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“We also don’t believe the ICC has jurisdiction [in this case], so we don’t support these arrest warrants. However, we don’t believe that sanctioning the ICC is the answer,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a press briefing.

Last week, the US came out against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant along with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, saying the court had no authority to weigh in on the matter since Israel is not a member, has its own legal systems to adjudicate such charges and was in the process of cooperating with Khan when he cut off contact and rushed to announce his decision.

The administration also said it would work with Congress to advance a bipartisan response to Khan’s move.

While Kirby’s announcement that the US will not support sanctioning the ICC all but nixes the path being pursued by Republicans, Congress could still pass legislation threatening sanctions against countries considering abiding by any arrest warrants drawn up by The Hague court in this case.

Israel to launch ETA system for tourists from visa-exempt countries

The arrivals hall at the Ben Gurion Airport, July 11, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Israel says it is moving to an electronic travel authorization system for visitors from visa-exempt countries beginning in August, joining Britain, the United States, Canada and other countries that have such systems.

Visitors from non-visa countries will need the ETA to stay for up to 90 days in Israel, having previously been able to visit the country without it. Entry will continue to be determined by a border control officer, it says, as in other countries with a similar system.

The government says the new system will help keep track of tourists in order to maintain security.

A pilot program for the ETA-IL system will start on June 1 for holders of US and German passports and it will be open to visitors from other visa-exempt countries on July 1.

The ETA-IL will become mandatory from Aug. 1, “and visitors will not be able to board a plane to Israel without it”, the Population and Immigration Authority says in a statement.

It will cost NIS 25 ($6.80) and stay valid for up to 2 years, or until the current passport expires. Obtaining a new passport or a name or gender change would require an application for a new travel authorization.

Visitors from non-eligible countries still need a visa at an Israeli consulate prior to their travel, and do not need to obtain an ETA-IL.

UN says more than 1 million people have fled Rafah in recent weeks

Palestinians flee the area of Tal al-Sultan in Rafah with their belongings on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

More than a million people have fled Gaza’s southern city of Rafah since Israel began pushing into the city on May 6, according to the designated UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA, tells a UN press conference that the agency’s teams on the ground that there was heavy shelling in the city overnight, in the area north of Rafah home to the UN main offices as well as UNRWA’s offices.

“People are absolutely terrified,” Touma says in the video briefing from Jordan. “A lot of people are fleeing to al-Muwasi and they are also fleeing to the middle areas including Deir al-Balah.”

Touma says just over 200 trucks with humanitarian supplies have been picked up for delivery to those in need in the past three weeks, which she calls “a drop in the ocean amid people’s humanitarian needs.”

US says Gaza aid pier will take more than a week to be recovered and repaired

The image provided by US Central Command shows US Army soldiers, US Navy sailors and IDF troops placing the Trident Pier on the coast of Gaza Strip, May 16, 2024. (US Central Command via AP)

The US says it will need well over a week to resume the operation of the temporary pier it built off the Gaza coast for delivering humanitarian aid after it was damaged due to severe weather conditions over the weekend.

US forces will first need to recover a portion of the pier and four accompanying army vessels that have broken off from the rest of the pier and beached on the shores of Gaza and Israel over the past several days, says Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh, adding that this process will take roughly 48 hours.

The stump of the T-shaped pier remains anchored to the Gaza shore but will now need to be removed over the next two days and towed back to Israel’s Ashdod Port so that the weather-caused damages can be repaired by US Central Command, Singh says.

“The rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take at least over a week, and following completion, it will need to be re-anchored to the coast of Gaza,” she says, declining to give a more precise timeline.

The project has come under significant criticism due to its high cost and limited success rate thus far, but Singh insists that the pier has proved “highly valuable in delivering aid to the people of Gaza,” delivering over 1,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid for civilians.

Even though the Gaza pier will not be operating for the immediate future, Ashdod Port continues to receive aid through the Mediterranean Sea and can do so at a far greater scale, as it is larger and more established. That aid is then transferred into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing as well as the Erez West and East crossings.

Macron says France and Algeria are working together on UN Gaza ceasefire resolution

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in an amphitheater of Sorbonne University in Paris, on April 25, 2024. (Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool/AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron says his country is working with Algeria on “a joint resolution” on Gaza to push for a ceasefire and address the desperate need for humanitarian aid.

France is supporting the Algerian request for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the situation in Rafah, he says.

The response to the Israel-Hamas war “can only be a political one,” Macron says, speaking in Meseberg, Germany, on the third day of a state visit in the country.

“We are ready to actively work at a peaceful solution, it’s reachable with political will,” Macron adds. He says French diplomats will work in the “coming hours and days” at convincing “all our partners” over the resolution proposal.

Air raid sirens sound in kibbutz near Gaza border

Air raid sirens sound in Kibbutz Mefalsim near the Gaza border, indicating a rocket attack from Gaza.

The IDF later says that the sirens were a false alarm.

Family of hostage in PIJ propaganda video say they are awaiting his return

Freed hostages Yelena Trufanov, right, speaks next to her mother Irena Tati at a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, December 2, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The family of Sasha Trufanov, the hostage who was featured in a propaganda video released earlier today by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, say they are happy to see a sign of life and desperate for him to return home.

“To see him today on television is very happy, but also heartbreaking because he is still in captivity,” says his mother, Yelena. “I call on all decision makers, please do everything to bring him and all the hostages home now.”

Sasha’s girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, says “we are waiting for you to come home already, and we’re doing everything we can for it to happen soon.”

Yelena, Sapir, and Sasha’s grandmother, Irena, were all kidnapped along with him from Kibbutz Nir Oz and released in late November. His father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered in the Hamas onslaught.

US State Dept on Rafah: Israel must minimize civilian harm and Hamas must not hide behind citizens

Palestinians flee the area of Tal al-Sultan in Rafah with their belongings following alleged renewed Israeli strikes in the city in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reiterates that the Biden administration is “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life” that resulted from the IDF’s weekend strike in Rafah that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians sheltering in tents near a compound targeted by the army.

“The pain that those families are suffering through must be unimaginable, especially those who’ve lost children and those who have lost family members a repeated number of times,” Miller says.

“As we have said before, Israel has a right to go after the Hamas terrorists responsible for the cold-blooded murder of civilians — as appears to have been Israel’s aim here — and Hamas should stop hiding behind civilians in Gaza. But Israel also has the obligation to do everything possible to minimize civilian harm as it carries out its operations,” Miller says, largely reiterating the same statement issued by a White House National Security Council spokesperson yesterday.

The State Department spokesperson says the US has been in touch with Israeli authorities since the Sunday night strike and notes the IDF’s explanation for the incident, which is that it used one of the smallest bombs in its arsenal to carry out a targeted strike against senior Hamas commanders who were located 1.7 kilometers away from the safe zone, which set off a secondary explosion that sparked a blaze in the area.

The US says it will reserve further judgment on the matter until the IDF completes a full investigation on the matter.

“We will continue to emphasize to Israel their obligation to comply fully with international humanitarian law, minimize the impact of their operations on civilians and maximize the flow of humanitarian assistance to those in need,” Miller says.

Asked about another incident in Rafah today, which allegedly killed 21 civilians, Miller says the US is aware of the reports, as well as the IDF’s denial, and is seeking more information from Israel. He also says the US is looking into reports regarding IDF tanks rolling into the heart of Rafah.

Miller is pressed on whether the Sunday strike crosses Biden’s red line, which saw him threaten to withhold certain offensive weapons from Israel if it launches a major offensive in the heart of Rafah. The State Department spokesperson says the Israeli operations in Rafah have not yet crossed into what the US defines as a major offensive.

“The way that we saw [operations] take place in Khan Younis and Gaza City — at this point, we have not seen a military operation on the scale of those previous operations,” Miller says. “If you just look at the number of brigades that were in Gaza City and Khan Younis — so far this is a different type of military operation [in Rafah], but it’s something that we are watching very closely.”

“We continue to support their ability to go after legitimate Hamas terrorists terrorists and that of course includes using American-provided weapons, but we expect them to do so in a way that minimizes civilian harm.”

US VP Harris says ‘tragic doesn’t begin to describe’ aftermath of Rafah strikes

US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a speech on healthcare at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, File)

Shouted a question regarding Israel’s weekend strike in Rafah, which reportedly killed dozens of Palestinian civilians, US Vice President Kamala Harris responds: “The word tragic doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

The IDF said earlier today that a secondary explosion sparked by its initial strike on an area outside of the designated humanitarian zone caused a fire that led to many civilian deaths, and that it was likely caused by stored Hamas ammo or weapons in the area.

Knesset passes law barring employers from firing spouses of IDF reservists

Israeli reserve soldiers train with their unit in urban warfare in northern Golan Heights, on March 27, 2024. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

The Knesset passes in a final reading legislation that will protect the spouses of IDF reservists from being fired or placed on unpaid leave.

The legislation passes with 21 votes in favor and 0 opposed.

The law will prevent the firing of such spouses during the period of reserve duty and for 14 days after their service ends. Employers who violate the law could face criminal proceedings and financial sanctions.

Likud MK Ofir Katz says in a statement that lawmakers worked for three months to “protect our dear reservist families. When our reservists are on the front lines, they should be focused on one thing only — the victory of the mission.”

University in Detroit suspends in-person classes because of anti-Israel encampment

An anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian encampment is seen May 28, 2024, on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Wayne State University in Detroit suspends in-person classes and encourages staff to work remotely to avoid any problems with an anti-Israel pro-Palestinian encampment that sprouted last week.

“All on-campus events are canceled until further notice. Critical infrastructure workers are expected to report to campus,” the school says in a statement.

Wayne State spokesman Matt Lockwood says there have been “public safety concerns,” especially about access to certain areas.

Wayne State has 16,000 undergraduate students, but fewer during the summer term.

US suspends aid deliveries via Gaza pier after it suffers weather damage

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development cross the Trident Pier before entering the beach in Gaza, May 17, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Malcolm Cohens-Ashley/US Army Central via AP)

A part of the US military’s pier on the coast of Gaza has broken off, rendering it temporarily inoperable, two US officials say, in the latest blow to efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say that bad weather is believed to be the reason that the part had broken off. They do not say how big the part is or speculate on how long it will take for the pier to resume operations.

Since the pier began operations, the United Nations has transported 137 trucks of aid from the pier — the equivalent of 900 metric tons — according to a spokesperson from the UN World Food Program.

Yair Golan wins Labor party leadership primary with whopping 95% of vote

Yair Golan, candidate for Labor party chief, seen at his headquarters in Tel Aviv, May 28, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Ex-Meretz MK and former IDF deputy chief Yair Golan, who has pledged to “unify all leftist parties in Israel” into a single bloc, wins the Labor party primary with 95.15 percent of the vote.

He beats longtime Labor activist Azi Nagar (0.77%), billionaire socialist and online gambling magnate Avi Shaked (1.89%), and attorney and anti-corruption activist Itai Leshem (1.76%).

Throughout the day, 31,353 Labor members, 60.6% of those eligible, voted in the primary to replace outgoing chairwoman Merav Michaeli.

A former IDF Northern Front and Home Front commander, Golan, 61, now a general in the reserves, was passed over for the position of IDF chief of staff in 2018, after a 2016 speech in which he likened contemporary trends in Israel to the “disturbing processes” that took place in Europe in the run-up to the Holocaust.

He later served as deputy economy minister during the short-lived, ideologically diverse coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, and then made a failed bid for the leadership of Meretz ahead of the last elections.

The retired general made headlines and received accolades last year when he headed to the front lines of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on his own initiative and rescued many partygoers fleeing the massacre at the Supernova music festival.

Addressing an online campaign event in March, Golan said that he had sworn “to reestablish the Zionist left in Israel” and was running in the Labor primary “to unify all leftist parties in Israel, all members of the protest movement who are willing to fight for the destiny of Israel, for Israel as a democratic liberal state.”

Visiting northern border, Netanyahu vows to return residents ‘safely to their homes’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to soldiers during a visit to the northern border on May 28, 2024. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells IDF soldiers in the north that Israel is committed to returning residents near the Lebanon border safely to their homes.

“We are committed — in both the civilian and military spheres — to returning the residents safely to their communities and their homes. This is one of the objectives of the war and we are not conceding it,” he tells Golani Brigade soldiers during a visit to the IDF Northern District Intelligence Branch base.

IDF denies carrying out any strike today on designated safe zone west of Rafah

A boy stands on a balcony with a view of billowing smoke in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

The military denies reports that it carried out a strike in the designated “humanitarian zone” in the southern Gaza Strip, killing civilians.

Hamas authorities had claimed that at least 21 people have been killed in the strike at a displacement camp, west of Rafah.

“Contrary to the reports from the last few hours, the IDF did not strike in the Humanitarian Area in al-Mawasi,” the IDF says in a statement.

7 cops to be charged in alleged police brutality of Palestinian branded with Star of David

A man at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on August 20, 2023, shows a picture of Arwah Sheikh Ali, who alleges police branded him with a Star of David while he was arrested in East Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Department for Internal Police Investigations says that it has notified 7 police officers that they will be charged in a 2023 incident of alleged police brutality against an East Jerusalem resident.

According to a statement from DIPI, the seven cops are slated to be indicted on varying charges of abuse of a helpless person; aggravated assault; obstruction of investigative proceedings; and abuse of official power.

In the August 2023 incident, East Jerusalem Palestinian Arwah Sheikh Ali says that police officers beat him and branded his face with a Star of David while arresting him for suspected drug trafficking. The officers were also accused of deleting footage of the arrest.

Israeli intel said to have tapped ICC’s communications for years to hinder its probe

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)

Israel has allegedly led an almost decade-long “war” against the International Criminal Court’s intention to issue arrest warrants against its leaders, dedicating immense intelligence and diplomatic efforts to finding out the court’s plans and attempting to thwart them via multiple channels and tactics, The Guardian reports.

The British outlet — in cooperation with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call — published some of the alleged details in a separate story early today, asserting that former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen had engaged in “threats and intimidation” in an attempt to stop former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda from opening a war crimes investigation into Israel.

In a follow-up story, The Guardian claims that was just one element in a nine-year attempt to dissuade Bensouda and her successor Karim Khan from prosecuting Israeli leaders, which began in 2015 and was still being waged as recently as last month.

Citing “more than two dozen current and former Israeli intelligence officers and government officials, senior ICC figures, diplomats and lawyers” familiar with the matter, the report says that alongside the Mossad spy agency, the intelligence-gathering efforts included the Shin Bet security service, the Israel Defense Forces’s Military Intelligence Directorate and its signal intelligence branch, Unit 8200.

One of the missions was allegedly to find out which specific cases could form part of a future ICC investigation, in order to preemptively open Israeli probes into them and thus be able to claim there is no ground for The Hague to also investigate them due to a principle known as complementarity.

The report says that when Khan became prosecutor in 2021, Israel was initially optimistic as the Israeli-Palestinian probe appeared to have been put on the back burner, but that this changed when Khan’s tone on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war changed drastically in February of this year.

Intelligence agencies reportedly renewed their efforts to intercept material related to the ICC’s probe, and last month, tapped into a call between two Palestinian politicians in which one said Khan had indicated a request for arrest warrants could be imminent, though the US was pressuring him against it.

One former Israeli intelligence official is quoted as alleging that the “entire military and political establishment” viewed this “as a war that had to be waged, and one that Israel needed to be defended against. It was described in military terms.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have been “obsessed” with information on the matter, which was sent by intel bodies to his national security advisers, as well to the Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Strategic Affairs Ministry.

The story quotes Netanyahu’s office as commenting that the alleged details are “replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the State of Israel.”

A spokesperson for the IDF tells the outlet: “The IDF did not and does not conduct surveillance or other intelligence operations against the ICC.”

University of Copenhagen says it will divest from companies operating in West Bank

The University of Copenhagen says it will halt investment in companies that do business in the West Bank amid student protests pressuring the campus to cut financial and institutional ties with Israel.

The university will, as of May 29, divest its holdings worth a total of about 1 million Danish crowns ($145,800) in Airbnb, Booking.com and eDreams, it said in a post on social media platform X.

The university says it will work with fund managers to manage its investments and ensure they comply with a United Nations list of companies involved in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Report: Egypt trying to revive hostage, truce talks with help of US and Qatar

People walk by photographs of Israelis still held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. May 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

An Egyptian security delegation is trying in coordination with Qatar and the US to reactivate talks to reach a truce in Gaza and release hostages, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel says, citing a senior official.

The official is quoted as saying that Egypt had told all concerned parties that efforts to revive the talks had been undermined by Israel’s ongoing ground operation on Rafah in southern Gaza, which had brought “dire consequences.”

Georgian parliament overrides presidential veto of divisive foreign influence bill

A man waves a Georgian national flag in front of a burning barricade, not far from the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, March 9, 2023. (Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP)

The Georgian parliament overrides a presidential veto of the “foreign agents” legislation that has fueled Western concerns and sparked massive protests for weeks.

The legislature, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, dismisses Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto of the legislation that she and other critics say will restrict media freedom and obstruct Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.

The president now has five days to endorse the bill. If she doesn’t do so, the parliament speaker will sign it into law.

The bill that was approved by the parliament earlier this month requires media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, vetoed the bill on May 18. She has accused the governing party of jeopardizing the country’s future and “hindering the path toward becoming a full member of the free and democratic world.”

French parliament suspends session after MP waves Palestinian flag

French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) MP Sebastien Delogu waves a Palestinian national flag during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris on May 28, 2024. (Miguel Medina/AFP)

The head of France’s National Assembly suspends the afternoon session of the lower house of parliament after Sebastien Delogu, a deputy of the hard-left Les Insoumis (LFI) party, waves a Palestinian flag to draw attention to the situation in Gaza.

“This is not tolerable,” French National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet says as she suspended the session.

“We will continue to carry the voices of peace everywhere, all the time,” the LFI party later writes on X, where it posted the video of the incident.

The incident took place as junior French trade minister Franck Riester was answering a question about the situation in Gaza.

IDF spokesman says he is ‘not aware’ of reports of new deadly strikes in Rafah

Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents next to an UNRWA facility west of Rafah city, Gaza Strip, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says he has no information on reports of a deadly strike today on an area of tents housing displaced people west of Rafah.

Hamas media say at least 20 people were killed in the strike.

“I’m not aware of this incident. We will look into it,” Hagari says in response to a question at a press conference.

A Gazan official in the Hamas-run Strip claims that at least 21 people have been killed in strikes at a displacement camp west of the southern city of Rafah.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad publishes propaganda video of hostage Sasha Trufanov

Screenshot from a Palestinian Islamic Jihad propaganda video showing hostage Sasha Trufanov released on May 28, 2024. (Screenshot)

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad releases a short propaganda video showing hostage Alexander (Sasha) Trufanov in the Gaza Strip.

The 30-second video is not dated, and there is no further information indicating when it could have been filmed.

In the clip, Trufanov identifies himself and says that in the coming days, he will speak about what happened to him and other hostages in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas have both previously issued similar videos of hostages the terror groups are holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare. Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips themselves.

Sasha was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother, Yelena, grandmother, Tati, and girlfriend, Sapir Cohen — all of whom were released in a hostage deal in late November. His father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered in the Hamas onslaught.

IDF vows full probe into Rafah strike, shows evidence it was not in designated safe zone

An IDF infographic provided on May 28, 2024, about a strike in Rafah two days earlier. (IDF)

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in an English-language press conference, says the military is investigating the possibility that Hamas munitions stored in the area of a strike in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday night caused a fire to spread and kill civilians.

“On Sunday, we eliminated senior Hamas terrorists in a targeted strike, on a compound used by Hamas in Rafah. The strike was based on precise intelligence that indicated that these terrorists, who were responsible for orchestrating and executing terror attacks against Israelis, were meeting inside this structure we targeted,” Hagari says.

“Sadly, following the strike, due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited, taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby. Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended,” he continues.

Hagari says the deaths of the civilians in the strike is a “devastating incident, which we did not expect.” According to health authorities in Gaza, 45 people were killed.

“We are investigating what caused the fire that resulted in this tragic loss of life. An investigation is ongoing,” he says.

Showing imagery from the site, Hagari says the IDF “targeted a closed structure away from the tent area. There are no tents in the immediate vicinity.”

An IDF infographic provided on May 28, 2024, about a strike in Rafah two days earlier. (IDF)

“Contrary to reports, we conducted the strike outside the area that we designated as a humanitarian area and called civilians to evacuate to. Our strike was over a kilometer and a half away from the al-Mawasi humanitarian area, what we call the safer zone,” he says.

“The strike was conducted using two munitions with small warheads, suited for this targeted strike. We are talking about munitions with 17 kilograms of explosive material,” Hagari says, adding that “this is the smallest munitions that our jets can use.”

“Following this strike, a large fire ignited, for reasons still being investigated. Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” he continues.

“Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite. We are looking into all possibilities, including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of, may have ignited as a result of the strike,” he says.

An IDF infographic provided on May 28, 2024, about a strike in Rafah two days earlier. (IDF)

“It should be noted that Hamas has been operating in this area since October 7,” Hagari says, showing another image showing Hamas rocket launchers 43 meters from the targeted site. “Hamas fired rockets from these launchers at Israel during the massacre on October 7,” Hagari says.

Hagari says the IDF is also looking at “footage, documented by Gazans on the night of the strike, posted on social media, which appeared to show secondary explosions, indicating that there may have been weapons in the area.”

“Signals intelligence intercepted some phone calls that reinforce this concern raising the possibility that weapons stored in a nearby compound caught fire,” he says, before airing one such call in which Gazans discuss the blast and “ammunition that started exploding.”

“Yes, this is an ammunition warehouse. I tell you it exploded. The Jewish bombing wasn’t strong, it was a small missile, because it didn’t create a large hole. And afterward a lot of secondary explosions,” one of the Palestinians is heard saying in the call.

“We are working to verify the cause of the fire. It is still too early to be determined. Even when we do find the cause of the fire that erupted, it won’t make the situation any less tragic,” Hagari says.

“We took a number of steps prior to the strike to avoid civilian casualties. Aerial surveillance, using specific munitions to minimize collateral damage, delaying the attack to further assess the expected civilian presence, and other means,” he continues.

Hagari vows that the investigation will be “swift, comprehensive, and transparent.”

130 senior economists warn that lack of Haredi enlistment leading country to ‘abyss’

Ultra-Orthodox men protest against the IDF draft in Jerusalem, April 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A group of 130 senior economists warns lawmakers that increasing the burden of military reserve duty on the working population, while continuing to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from conscription, endangers the very existence of the country.

In a harshly worded letter, the group says the government’s policies of imposing an unfairly heavy economic and military burden on one part of the citizenry and of allocating funds to educational institutions that do not teach core studies are leading the country to an “abyss endangering its existence.”

This is “unsustainable, that a growing part of the population has a waiver from carrying the burden, especially in the difficult and complex security reality that Israel is facing,” the group argues.

In 2017, the High Court of Justice invalidated the legal exemption of Haredim as discriminatory and ordered the government to pass a new conscription law. The government has since been unable to agree on legislation, repeatedly extending the non-conscription policy, while Haredi politicians have sought to pass legislation cementing the exemptions.

“Without a change of current policies, many of those who bear the heavy economic and security burden will prefer to emigrate from Israel, and the most educated and skilled will be the first to leave,” the group says. “The population that will remain in Israel will be less educated and less productive.”

“This will have a spiraling effect of emigration,” it adds. “To avert the danger of national collapse, the state’s leader must face the present reality and adopt without delay a strategy that will return Israel to a sustainable path.”

Among the signatories of the letter are senior academics, including Prof. Omer Moav, a former adviser to the finance minister; Prof. Avi Ben Bassat, a former director of the Finance Ministry; Prof. Udi Nisan, former budget head at the Finance Ministry; and Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, who held a string of key government positions. Also signing the letter are a group of senior economists, including Prof. Leo Leiderman, Dr. Michael Sarel, and Prof. Momi Dahan, as well as former senior Bank of Israel officials.

Israel tells EU official that recognizing Palestinian state is ‘abandoning the hostages’

Foreign Minister Israel Katz (right) and Hungarian diplomat Olivér Várhelyi meet in Jerusalem on May 28, 2024. (Lior Mizrahi/GPO)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz tells the European Union commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement that recognizing a Palestinian state is tantamount to “abandoning the hostages.”

“Spain, Norway, and Ireland chose to cooperate with the Nukhba terrorists and to feed the terror monster,” Katz tells Hungarian diplomat Olivér Várhelyi, referring to Hamas forces.

Várhelyi says that he will never support a ceasefire in Gaza that does not include the unconditional release of the hostages, and that Hamas must not remain in Gaza. If Hamas escapes punishment, says Várhelyi, October 7 could happen anywhere, to anyone.

The Hungarian says he will work with Israel to expand EU sanctions against Iran’s missile, drone, and nuclear projects.

The two diplomats also meet with the families of Gadi Moshe Mozes, 79, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 22, kidnapped from the Supernova rave.

Air raid sirens sound in towns along Lebanon border

Air raid sirens sound in the towns of Metula and Misgav Am, warning of incoming rockets from Lebanon.

The IDF later says that the sirens were a false alarm.

Earlier, rocket sirens sounded in the Gaza border community of Ein Hashlosha.

IDF says it used small munitions in Rafah strike, believes ammo sparked secondary explosion

Palestinians inspect damage after an Israeli airstrike on what the IDF said was a Hamas compound, adjacent to a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah, Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Israeli military suspects munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire to spread in a complex housing displaced Gazans in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing Palestinian civilians, following an airstrike on two top Hamas terrorists in the area.

The military says it had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar ahead of the strike on a compound they were in on Sunday night, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. According to the IDF’s intelligence, the area had been used for Hamas activity, with a rocket launcher just a few dozen meters away from where the two commanders were killed.

The military says the strike did not take place in the designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi region on the coast, where the military has called Palestinians to evacuate to. The targeted Hamas compound is more than a kilometer away from the humanitarian zone.

According to the IDF, the strike was not intended to harm any civilians and it had carried out steps ahead of the attack to ensure that no women or children were in the Hamas compound.

Israeli fighter jets also used two small munitions in the strike, each with a 17-kilogram warhead (37-pound), in an attempt to prevent any civilian casualties, given the close proximity to the camp for displaced Palestinians.

Still, following the strike, a fire spread in the adjacent complex where Palestinian civilians were sheltering. According to Hamas health authorities in Gaza, 45 people were killed and dozens more were wounded.

The two small missiles on their own would not have been enough to spark the fire, according to the IDF’s initial probe.

The military was further investigating what exactly had sparked the fire. The IDF’s initial probe suspects ammunition, weapons, or some other material was stored in the area of the strike, causing a secondary blast and a fire that spread and killed Palestinian civilians.

Conflicting reports on death of 2nd Egyptian soldier in cross-border shooting with Israeli troops

A second Egyptian soldier dies after succumbing to wounds suffered in yesterday’s shooting incident across the Gaza-Egypt border, according to the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese Al Mayadeen outlet.

Citing Egyptian media, the outlet names the soldier as Islam Ibrahim Abdel Razek.

However the Egyptian Al-Qahera news outlet later disputes the claim, saying it is untrue.

Israel sending envoy to Papua New Guinea to offer post-landslide aid

Locals gather at the site of a landslide at Mulitaka village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province on May 26, 2024. (AFP)

Roi Rosenblit, Israel’s roving ambassador to Pacific island countries, is heading to Papua New Guinea this week to determine what kind of aid the country needs after a deadly landslide on Friday, a Foreign Ministry official tells The Times of Israel.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz writes on X that Israel “is currently working on sending assistance to Papua New Guinea.”

“PNG is a great friend of Israel, and we are standing by its side.”

In September, Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape opened his country’s embassy in Jerusalem.

State comptroller slams Netanyahu for making Pfizer COVID vax deal without consulting cabinet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives his second shot of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on January 9, 2021. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

The state comptroller issues a report on the country’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making major decisions without the approval of his coronavirus cabinet.

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman says that Netanyahu made a key deal with the Pfizer company to give it exclusivity over providing COVID vaccines to Israel through March 2021, and did not update or consult the COVID cabinet. While appreciating the time sensitive and critical nature of the move, Englman says it should not have been made by a single figure.

He also criticizes similar measures taken by then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, who also made major COVID-related decisions without consulting his COVID cabinet.

In addition, the state comptroller issues a second report slamming the government for failing to make any progress toward lowering the number of traffic deaths each year.

IDF establishes committee to examine treatment of detained Palestinian terror suspects

Vehicles with Palestinian terror convicts who were released as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas arrive at the Ofer prison, November 25, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has appointed an “advisory committee” to examine the conditions of Palestinian prisoners detained amid the war in the Gaza Strip, following allegations of torture and mistreatment.

The terror operatives and other suspects are initially held in detention facilities at the IDF’s Sde Teiman, Anatot, and Ofer bases, before being handed over to the Israel Prison Service.

Earlier this month, a CNN report detailed alleged widespread abuse of detainees, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments and more, citing two Israeli whistleblowers and a Palestinian doctor who had been held in the Sde Teiman facility.

The IDF says that because of the “unprecedented number of detainees” and a shortage of space in IPS jails, many prisoners are kept in IDF facilities for “longer periods than expected,” and as such “allegations were made regarding the conditions of detention in the prison facilities.”

The panel, headed by former military advocate general Maj. Gen. (res.) Ilan Schiff, will evaluate the detention conditions and “their compliance with the law and the rules of international law,” and will submit its recommendations to Halevi within three weeks, the IDF says.

Denmark’s parliament rejects proposal to recognize Palestinian state

Denmark’s parliament votes down a bill to recognize a Palestinian state, after the Danish foreign minister previously said the necessary preconditions for an independent country were lacking.

The Danish bill was first proposed in late February by four left-wing parties.

“We cannot recognize an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said when the bill was first debated in parliament in April.

“We cannot support this resolution, but we wish that there will come a day where we can,” Rasmussen, who was not present at the vote on Tuesday, added.

Fresh deadly Israeli strikes reported in western Rafah, according to Gaza health authorities

Gaza health authorities claim that seven Palestinians are killed and dozens wounded in fresh Israeli strikes on an area of tents housing displaced people west of Rafah.

Medics and residents claim that the strikes targeted tents of displaced families in the designated humanitarian area in Mawasi in western Rafah.

Hamas media said the number of deaths stood at 20, while other reports claim that 16 people were killed.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the reports. The Israeli military says its strikes only target terror operatives and infrastructure.

South Africa says ‘deplorable’ Rafah strike ‘bears testimony’ to assertions of genocide

Palestinians inspect damage after an Israeli airstrike on what the IDF said was a Hamas compound, adjacent to a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah, Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

South Africa condemns as “deplorable” an IDF strike on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, in which Israel targeted two senior Hamas officials.

The attack, which Palestinian officials say killed 45 people in a displaced persons camp, triggered global outrage and an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

“The South African Government joins the international community in condemning the deplorable and brutal attacks on innocent civilians after Israeli forces bombed a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians,” the foreign ministry says.

It noted that the strike came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to cease military operations in Rafah that would risk the destruction of the civilian population sheltering there.

The ICJ’s ruling was issued last week as part of a case brought by South Africa alleging that the Israeli operation in Gaza amounts to “genocide.”

“What we are witnessing today bears testimony to South Africa’s assertions,” the foreign ministry adds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday called the strike a “tragic mishap” but also vowed to push on with the military campaign to destroy Hamas and free the hostages seized by the terror group during its October 7 massacre.

Dozens of Hebrew University students protest for and against Israel at opposing demonstrations

Pro-Israel students demonstrate at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, May 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Tensions are high at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where dozens of students are protesting in two opposing demonstrations separated by a security barrier.

In one demonstration, Arab and Jewish students are protesting against Israel’s military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans.

Demonstrators protest against the war in Gaza, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, May 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The invitation to that demonstration called for students to rally against the “extermination and massacre in Gaza.”

Videos posted to social media show students chanting, “With spirit and blood, we will redeem you, Palestine!”

In the heart of Jerusalem, at the Hebrew University, Arab students demonstrate the "liberation of Palestine", chanting, "With spirit and blood, we will redeem you, Palestine!" And this with the permission and protection of the Israeli police. @itamarbengvir @IL_police pic.twitter.com/NZqZaHmNtL

— Eretz Israel (@EretzIsrael) May 28, 2024

At the counterdemonstration across the street, led by right-wing group Im Tirtzu, dozens of students are waving Israeli flags and chanting, “Go, go to Gaza” and “May your village burn.”

The pro-Israel demonstration ends with the singing of Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem.

סטודנטים יהודים לסטודנטים פלסטינים באוניברסיטה העברית שמפגינים נגד המלחמה וההרג ברפיח: ״לכו לכו לעזה״, ״שיישרף לכם הכפר״ pic.twitter.com/fWTrVfCYEP

— David Issacharoff (@davidiss) May 28, 2024

Hezbollah prepared to continue war for up to a year, may carry out operations inside Israel – Lebanese media

People gather to listen to a televised speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah during a rally to mourn the recent death of the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, killed in a helicopter accident, in Beirut's southern suburbs on May 24, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP)

Hezbollah is prepared to continue the war until the US elections and possibly until next spring, according to unnamed “sources” quoted by the Lebanese news agency El-Nashra.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech to commemorate Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi who died last week, in which he addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and promised “more surprises.”

The surprises in question are weapons that Hezbollah has not yet deployed, El-Nashra reports, but the terror group “will not reveal what it has up his sleeve unless Netanyahu miscalculates and escalates the war.”

Another Arab publication, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, reports that Hezbollah is in possession of long-range precision missiles and Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles with Iranian modifications. In addition, the terror group is training to ambush Israeli patrols, surrounding them with fire, and to carry out operations on Israeli soil, such as capturing IDF soldiers.

As for its current strategy, Hezbollah is increasing military pressure on Israel in the hope that it will lead to domestic pressure on the government and force Netanyahu to enter negotiations for a truce, Al-Jarida reports.

It adds that all possible scenarios were discussed in Tehran last week on the sidelines of Raisi’s funeral by leaders of Iran-backed terror groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Quoting “sources” close to Hamas and Hezbollah, Al-Jarida says that it was decided that Hamas will be strict in its negotiating position, will not make concessions to Israel and will not release the hostages until Jerusalem stops the war and withdraws its troops from the Gaza Strip.

The two terror groups reportedly believe that Washington will increase its pressure on Israel to end the war as the US presidential elections approach.

Spanish FM: Madrid, Dublin, Oslo to issue ‘calm but firm’ response to Israeli ire over Palestinian state recognition

Spain, Ireland and Norway will jointly issue a “firm” response to Israel’s angry reaction to their coordinated decision to recognize Palestinian statehood, Spain’s top diplomat says.

Israel has lashed out at all three countries over the Palestinian statehood move, notably online.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares says Madrid, Oslo and Dublin will “issue a coordinated response” that he said would be “calm but firm.”

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a post on social network X accused Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez of being complicit in calls to eliminate the Jewish people.

He also summoned the countries’ ambassadors in Tel Aviv to the Foreign Ministry last week after their countries announced that they would recognize Palestinian statehood, where they were shown newly released footage of the October 7 Hamas attack and abductions.

Ireland joins Norway, Spain in officially recognizing Palestinian statehood

Ireland officially has recognized a Palestinian state, implementing an intention announced last week along with Norway and Spain.

A statement from the Irish government says the recognition was approved in a cabinet meeting this morning.

“The Government recognises Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah,” the statement says.

“An Ambassador of Ireland to the State of Palestine will be appointed along with a full Embassy of Ireland in Ramallah.”

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris says the move is about keeping hope for peace alive.

“This decision of Ireland is about keeping hope alive. It is about believing that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security,” he says in the statement.

“I again call on Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Christian groups present Herzog with Israeli flag made of names of Oct. 7 hostages

President Isaac Herzog shares a photo of a tribute from international Christian community groups to Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7

In a post on X, Herzog shares a photo of an Israeli flag made up of the names of the hostages.

“A moving token of support from Christian friends of Israel from all over the world,” he writes, adding, “Together we demand the immediate release of all the hostages.”

A meaningful and beautiful show of solidarity for our hostages! A flag of Israel made up of the names of those brutally taken captive by Hamas on October 7th. A moving token of support from Christian friends of Israel from all over the world.

Thank you to the @NRBAssociation,… pic.twitter.com/oTGVIpTKev

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) May 28, 2024

It is believed that 121 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.

The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 37 of those still held by Hamas, citing intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Hamas health ministry in Gaza says at least 36,096 have been killed in war

A Palestinian boy carries a container as he walks on debris at the site of an Israeli strike a day earlier on a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that at least 36,096 people have been killed during more than seven months of war between Israel and the Palestinian terror group. Only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals.

The toll includes at least 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a ministry statement, adding that 81,136 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began with Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

The toll, which cannot be verified, includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle.  Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

A total of 288 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.

Spain, Norway formally recognize Palestinian statehood; Ireland to follow suit

Spain has formally recognized a Palestinian state, in a decision approved by its cabinet in parallel with similar moves by Ireland and Norway.

Spanish government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria says the cabinet has “adopted an important decision to recognize a Palestinian state,” which has “one objective: to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace.”

Norway’s recognition has also officially gone into effect, with the country’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide hailing the move as “a special day for Norway-Palestine relations.”

Ireland is expected to follow suit later today.

Last week’s joint announcement by Spain, Ireland and Norway that they intended to recognize Palestinian statehood triggered an angry response from Israel, which summoned the countries’ ambassadors in Tel Aviv to the Foreign Ministry, where they were shown new footage of the October 7 Hamas attack and abductions.

Vessel said to take on water, tilt to one side off Yemen’s coast after missile attack

DUBAI – British security firm Ambrey reports that a merchant vessel off the Yemeni coast has taken on water and tilted to one side after being targeted with three missiles.

The vessel issued a distress call stating it had sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water about 54 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, Ambrey says.

“According to the distress call, the vessel was listing,” the UK security firm adds.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says separately that it had received a report of an incident 31 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, without providing further details.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea region since November, later expanding to the Indian Ocean, in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing war there.

New Hope’s Sa’ar says he’ll make personal concessions to create right-wing bloc opposing government

MKs Gideon Saar (left) and Yair Lapid at a debate in the Knesset plenum, Jerusalem, May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar says he is open to making concessions in order to establish a right-wing bloc in opposition to the current government.

“I support and gave expression to the establishment of a bloc of incumbent and new right-of-center parties,” Channel 14 quotes him telling an Israel Bar Association conference.

“It is natural to cooperate with MK Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party,” he says, less than a week after it was announced that the two factions would work together in submitting no-confidence motions against the government during the summer legislative session.

“We are right-wing parties in the opposition and in this we differ from other factions whose views on war are completely different from ours,” Sa’ar adds, explaining that establishing a new right-wing bloc would create a chance “to both change the government and lead Israel while facing major challenges.”

“I do not want to say that I have already given up my ego. I am saying simply that if the goal is important, I will make personal concessions for the sake of unity.”

Sa’ar, a former Likud minister, was pushed out of Likud after challenging Netanyahu for its leadership several years ago. His New Hope party, which has four seats in the Knesset, merged with Gantz’s Blue and White, which has eight, in July 2022.

Sa’ar announced his four-seat party’s departure from the coalition in March, two weeks after dissolving his political alliance with Benny Gantz, following the denial of his demand to be admitted to the high-level war cabinet.

Following Sa’ar’s split from Gantz, polls showed that the New Hope leader could struggle in elections despite positioning himself as an alternative leader of the “statesmanlike right.”

One survey in March found that if former prime minister Naftali Bennett and ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen were to join Sa’ar in forming a new party, the Bennett-Cohen-Sa’ar party and Likud would each take 17 seats in a new election.

Last night, centrist Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s office announced that he would be meeting with both Liberman and Sa’ar tomorrow.

IDF deploys additional brigade to Rafah as troops find tunnels, weapons, terror operatives in southern Gaza

Troops of the Nahal Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout image published May 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF has deployed an additional brigade to southern Gaza’s Rafah, as the offensive against Hamas there continues.

The Bislamach Brigade — the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders during war time — joins the 162nd Division’s other brigades that have been operating in Rafah since earlier this month.

The military says it operated along the Philadelphi Corridor overnight, following information on infrastructure belonging to terror groups in the area.

The IDF says troops located tunnels, weapons, and killed numerous operatives in the Rafah area.

Troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout image published May 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Dozens of sites belonging to terror groups were also destroyed during operations in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, according to the IDF.

It says the sites in Jabaliya include observation posts, weapon depots, and a building used by Hamas.

Several operatives were killed by troops in Jabaliya in the past day, including a mortar-launching cell that was struck by a fighter jet, the military says.

And in central Gaza, the IDF says it has expanded operations in the Netzarim Corridor area, killing operatives and raiding Hamas sites.

Influential Iraqi cleric calls for closure of US embassy after Israel’s Rafah strike

Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr gives a press conference at his home in the holy city of Najaf on July 20, 2023. (Qassem al-Kaabi/AFP)

BAGHDAD — Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr renews his calls to close the US embassy in Baghdad, after an Israeli strike killed dozens of civilians in a camp in Gaza.

Health officials in Gaza say Sunday night strike, in which Israel targeted two senior Hamas officials, also killed dozens of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in tents in the southern city of Rafah.

Sadr condemns the Israeli strike and Washington’s “shameless” support for the “genocide” he charges is under way in Gaza.

“I reiterate my demand to expel” the US ambassador and “close the embassy through diplomatic means without bloodshed,” he says in a statement on X.

He adds that this would be a more effective deterrent than the use of force and would mean US officials “don’t have an excuse to destabilize Iraq.”

Sadr once led a militia fighting US-led forces after the 2003 invasion that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein.

He retains a devoted following of millions among the country’s Shiite Muslim majority community, and wields great influence over Iraqi politics.

Norway says it’s ‘regrettable’ that Israel won’t ‘engage constructively’ in recognizing Palestinian state

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, left, speaks after receiving a document handed over by Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, right, prior to a meeting for talks on the Middle East in Brussels, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says in a statement that “for more than 30 years, Norway has been one of the strongest advocates for a Palestinian state.”

“Today, when Norway officially recognizes Palestine as a state, is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine,” he says.

The Norwegian foreign minister adds that “it is regrettable that the Israeli government shows no signs of engaging constructively.”

Eide on Sunday handed diplomatic papers to the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, in his country’s latest step toward recognizing a Palestinian state.

Norway, along with Ireland and Spain, is expected to officially recognize a Palestinian state today, after pledging to do so last week in a move that increases Israel’s isolation more than seven months into its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Northern municipal head reportedly receives threatening WhatsApp texts from Hezbollah

The Merom HaGalil Regional Council head has received threatening messages on WhatsApp from the Hezbollah terror group, according to unconfirmed reports with screenshots of the texts.

“To the settlers of the north, we only target the houses where soldiers have settled,” one of the messages reads. “If the fighting in Gaza doesn’t stop, there will be no houses left.”

The text messages were received this morning and are all written in Hebrew and signed “Hezbollah.”

“You must understand that nothing will change here in the north after September 1 if the attacks on Gaza don’t stop,” reads another message sent to Amit Sofer, who heads the Merom HaGalil Regional Council.

"אנחנו כאן לנצח נצחים, לא ישארו בתים לחזור אליהם": הודעות האיום שקיבל הבוקר ראש מועצת מרום הגליל עמית סופר מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה@Now14Israel pic.twitter.com/CHnHPpTPvn

— אדיר לחקים Adir Lehakim (@AdirLM1) May 28, 2024

Another text charges that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is “selling you illusions that he promises to get rid of us. We are here forever.”

Gallant has vowed to return the tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks back to their home, hinting at the possibility of an escalation on the northern border over the summer.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 14 IDF soldiers and reservists.

There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 322 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 62 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.

British FM Cameron calls for ‘swift, comprehensive’ probe into deadly Rafah airstrikes

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at a joint press conference with the Albanian prime minister after a meeting in Tirana, on May 22, 2024. (Adnan Beci/AFP)

British Foreign Minister David Cameron says an investigation by the Israel Defense Forces into this week’s deadly airstrikes on Rafah must be “swift, comprehensive and transparent,” again calling for a pause in fighting.

“Deeply distressing scenes following the air strikes in Rafah this weekend. The IDF’s investigation must be swift, comprehensive and transparent,” Cameron writes on X.

“We urgently need a deal to get hostages out and aid in, with a pause in fighting to allow work towards a long-term sustainable ceasefire.”

The IDF announced yesterday that the strike, which targeted two senior Hamas officials in the southern Gaza city but also reportedly killed dozens of Palestinian civilians, will be probed by the top-tier General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report. 

Palestinian reports: IDF tanks roll into Rafah city center

Several Israel Defense Forces tanks have reached the center of Rafah, witnesses tell Reuters, three weeks into a ground operation in Gaza’s southernmost city that has drawn intense scrutiny from neighboring Egypt and from the United States, among other countries.

The tanks were spotted near Al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses say.

Footage from Al Jazeera posted to social media purports to show the tanks advancing into Rafah.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the witness accounts, with the military saying it will issue a statement on the Rafah operation later in the day.

Exclusive footage from Al Jazeera shows Israeli occupation tanks advancing further into the west of Rafah city.

The Israeli occupation intends to fully occupy the Philadelphi Axis with Egypt, effectively encircling the Strip and implementing disastrous restrictions. pic.twitter.com/6rgaIOJ8XK

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 28, 2024

‘Nowhere safe to go’: UNRWA says a million Palestinians fled Rafah in past 3 weeks

Around one million Palestinians have fled the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip in the past three weeks, according to UNRWA, after Israel began issuing evacuation orders early this month.

“This happened with nowhere safe to go & amidst bombardments, lack of food & water, piles of waste & unsuitable living conditions,” the UN agency for Palestinians charges in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The IDF has called on residents to move to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas of southern Gaza, estimating last week that some 950,000 Palestinians had evacuated from Rafah.

Amid mounting international pressure, Israel insists that the military operation in Rafah is crucial to its goal of eliminating Hamas and freeing the hostages seized during the terror group’s October 7 massacre.

In the past 3 weeks around 1 million people have fled #Rafah

This happened with nowhere safe to go & amidst bombardments, lack of food & water, piles of waste & unsuitable living conditions

Day after day, providing assistance & protection becomes nearly impossible#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/CyVE0angws

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 28, 2024

IDF: Drone alert sirens in northern communities were false alarms

Drone alert sirens that sounded a short while ago in northern cities and towns near the border with Lebanon were false alarms, the IDF says.

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

Report: Ex-Mossad chief tried to pressure former ICC prosecutor to drop war crimes probe

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen speaks at a conference of the Makor Rishon newspaper at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, February 21, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)

Ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen tried to pressure former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda into abandoning a war crimes investigation against Israeli officials, according to a report in The Guardian.

Cohen’s campaign is said to have taken place leading up to Bensouda’s 2021 decision to open an investigation into alleged breaches of international law committed by both Israel and the Palestinians.

Current ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s announcement earlier this month that he is seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three senior Hamas leaders was the culmination of his predecessor Bensouda’s investigation.

The Guardian quotes a senior Israeli official as saying that Cohen’s activities were “authorized at a high level” on the basis that the court posed a threat of prosecutions against Israel Defense Forces staff.

Four sources cited in the report confirm that Bensouda had briefed a small group of senior ICC officials about the former Mossad chief’s attempts to influence her, though a spokesperson for Netanyahu calls the allegations “unfounded.”

“The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel,” the spokesperson is quoted as saying in the report.

There is no response from Cohen or Bensouda.

Cohen finished his tenure as Mossad chief in 2021 and is considered a Netanyahu loyalist. It has been rumored in the past that the prime minister views Cohen as a potential successor.

FM accuses Spain’s Sanchez of being complicit in calls for genocide of Jewish people

As Spain prepares to recognize a Palestinian state later today, Foreign Minister Israel Katz accuses Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez of being complicit in calls to eliminate the Jewish people.

“Khamenei, Sinwar, and deputy PM Yolanda Diaz call for the elimination of Israel and for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian terror state from the river to the sea,” writes Katz on X.

Diaz ended a speech last week with the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” and has said since it was an endorsement of the two-state solution.

“Sanchez, when you don’t fire your deputy and declare recognition of a Palestinian state — you are a partner to incitement to the genocide of Jews and to war crimes,” Katz writes.

Drone alert sirens sounding in northern cities and towns near Lebanon border

Drone alert sirens sound in northern cities and towns near the border with Lebanon.

The alerts can be heard in largely evacuated communities including Snir, She’ar Yeshuv, Dan, Ghajar, HaGoshrim, Dafna, Tel Hai, Kiryat Shmona, Misgav Am, Margaliot, Ma’ayan Baruch, Manara, Metula, Kfar Yuval , Kfar Giladi and Beit Hillel.

????✈️ Hostile Aircraft Intrusion [10:39:40] – 16 Alerts:

• Confrontation Line — Ghajar, Kibutz Dan, Snir, Kfar Yuval, Misgav Am, Ma'ayan Baruch, Manara, Kiryat Shmona, HaGoshrim, Metulla, Shear Yeshuv, Kfar Giladi, Beit Hillel, Dafna, Margaliot, Tel Hai pic.twitter.com/iZKKd9BmcR

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) May 28, 2024

South African Jews ‘revolted’ by president’s ‘from the river to the sea’ chant

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, wearing a keffiyah scarf, speaks before an exhibition football match between Western Cape XI and the Palestinian national football team at Athlone Stadium in Athlone, near Cape Town, on February 11, 2024. (Rodger Bosch/AFP)

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” during a speech, prompting criticism by his country’s Jews for allegedly calling to “exterminate Jews from their homeland.”

The criticism by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies follows the president’s apparently unscripted use of the controversial slogan at a rally in Soweto.

Referencing the River Jordan and Mediterranean, the slogan is understood by many to mean a rejection of Israel’s right to exist and a declaration that the only way for a Palestinian state to be free is to take over the territory of the Jewish one. Advocates of the slogan deny this, with some claiming it is merely an endorsement of the two-state solution.

The Jewish group’s statement is unusually harshly worded, expressing its “revulsion” at Ramaphosa’s words.

The slogan “is widely regarded as a call to genocide of the Jewish people,” the Board notes in a statement. “The slogan and its call for the destruction of the Jewish State has its origin in the Hamas Charter, with its goal to see Israel as `Judenfrei’ or Jew free,” SAJB writes.

“The chanting of this slogan by a head of state of a government that recurrently tries to express their commitment to a `Two State Solution’ as their policy on Israel and Palestine is hypocritical to the full,” they add.

South Africa is an initiator of the legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Ramaphosa is on record as accusing Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” in Gaza.

Polls open in Labor party primaries; Yair Golan expected to win

Yair Golan attends a protest outside of Jerusalem against the government, demanding new elections. May 4, 2024. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Polls have opened in the Labor party’s primary, with 51,000 members eligible to vote.

Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi post photos on X voicing support for frontrunner Yair Golan.

Golan, an ex-Meretz MK and former IDF deputy chief of staff, is the odds-on favorite to win the primary, having pledged to “unify all leftist parties in Israel” into a single bloc in order to “fight for the destiny of Israel, for Israel as a democratic liberal state.”

The vote is of critical importance for both the party itself — which has consistently failed to cross the election threshold in recent opinion polls and therefore is in danger of not making it into the next Knesset at all — and for the further left-wing party Meretz, which failed to enter the parliament in the last election and is seeking a return path.

The primaries were supposed to be held in late 2022 but were delayed by the general election and the outbreak of the ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

‘Fake news’: Smotrich denies budget feud is blocking purchase of crucial military supplies amid Gaza war

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

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decries reports that his ongoing budgetary feud with the defense establishment has prevented the acquisition of necessary military equipment in the middle of Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

“Fake news. There is no limit to armaments and all the necessities of war, period,” he tweets, claiming that the “same senior officials in the security establishment who failed [on October 7] are behind this false campaign so that they will be allowed to continue [waste] tens of billions of our money” without any oversight.

“I will not give up my demand, with the prime minister’s approval, to establish a professional committee to examine the defense budget,” Smotrich insists.

פייק ניוז. אין שום מגבלה לחימושים ולכל צרכי המלחמה. נקודה.
אותם בכירים במערכת הביטחון שכשלו עומדים מאחורי הקמפיין השקרי כדי שיאפשרו להם להמשיך ולשפוך עשרות מילארדים מהכסף של כולנו בלי שום הפקת לקחים ובקרה.
לא אוותר על דרישתי בהסכמת רוה״מ להקים ועדה מקצועית שתבחן את תקציב… pic.twitter.com/e2BJk2bq7f

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) May 28, 2024

The finance minister has held up the military’s purchase of new American fighter jets until a Knesset committee tasked with looking at the defense budget was convened — arguing that “doing the same thing over and over again without learning from past mistakes will bring us a disaster.”

Smotrich’s response comes after the Israel Hayom daily reported this morning that he was delaying the allocation of $1.7 billion from the military budget intended to be used on, among other things, aircraft munitions and Iron Dome missiles.

Spain’s PM says Madrid will recognize Palestinian state in Gaza, West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital

MADRID – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Madrid will recognize a Palestinian state including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, unified under the Palestinian Authority with East Jerusalem as its capital.

In a televised address, he says Spain will not recognize any changes to Palestinian borders after 1967 unless all the parties agree on them.

“This is a historic decision that has one goal: to contribute to achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he says.

The Spanish government will formally approve the recognition later today.

????️ Pedro Sánchez anuncia también en inglés el reconocimiento oficial del Estado de Palestina por parte de España pic.twitter.com/cuFm3Wnl9S

— La Razón (@larazon_es) May 28, 2024

AG says Ben Gvir acting out of ‘ulterior motives’ in push to dismiss police chief Shabtai

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara addresses the Israel Bar Association's annual conference in Eilat, May 27, 2024. (Courtesy Israel Bar Association)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructs National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir not to hold a hearing on dismissal for Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, saying the summons he issued yesterday fails to provide adequate grounds for firing him.

Baharav-Miara says she believes the far-right minister is acting out of “ulterior motives,” noting in her letter to Ben Gvir that Shabtai himself told her this week that Ben Gvir “once again exceeded the boundaries of your authority regarding the Israel Police” and that shortly afterwards Ben Gvir summoned him to the hearing.

“The proximity of the timing raises serious concerns that under the guise of supposedly principled claims against the commissioner you are actually seeking to ‘punish’ him for seeking to prevent you from improperly interfering in the work of the police, all while you are acting, apparently, contrary to the express decision of the High Court of Justice,” the attorney general tells Ben Gvir.

Baharav-Miara appears to be referring to a High Court ruling in March last year in which the court ruled that Ben Gvir could not issue operational orders to the police regarding how to manage protests and the use of force during demonstrations.

The attorney general tells Ben Gvir that summoning the police commissioner to a hearing requires substantive evidence to justify such an “irregular step,” and said that the letter the minister issued in summoning Shabtai was insufficient.

“Therefore, there is a legal impediment to holding the hearing,” she concludes.

Teachers’ union calls two-hour mini-strike for tomorrow over deadlocked salary negotiations

The teachers’ union says it will suspend classes tomorrow in Tel Aviv and Gush Dan from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for 10th and 11th graders.

The move comes in response to what the union says are deadlocked salary negotiations between the union, the Finance Ministry and the Education Ministry. The government is pushing for individual contracts for teachers, instead of the usual collective salary agreement as demanded by the union.

Individual contracts would turn educators into “contract employees” with fewer rights than salaried staff, and be “the first step toward the privatization of the educational system,” the union says in a statement.

In previous statements, the teachers’ union has threatened to call a full strike at the beginning of the next academic year if the issue is not resolved.

Protest convoys around the country block traffic in call for early elections

A protest convoy on Route 2 at Rishon Lezion joins demonstrations around the country calling for early elections, May 28, 2024. (ERAN/Pro-Democracy Movement)

Anti-government protest convoys are taking place around the country, driving slowly to block traffic in their demand for early elections.

Videos posted to social media show dozens of cars driving together through areas including the Sharon, Ben Shemen, Caesarea and Haifa.

שיירת עמק חפר מאטה את התנועה בכביש החוף צפונה

| צילום: עומר ילין Omer Yelin pic.twitter.com/jtS4ceeoGU

— Restart Israel (@restart_israel) May 28, 2024

IDF: Rocket sirens in northern town of Kfar Giladi were false alarms

Rocket sirens that sounded a short while ago in the northern border community of Kfar Giladi were false alarms, the military says.

The sirens come after a tense day on the northern border yesterday, with multiple cross-border strikes between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group.

Red Alert [08:29:23] – 1 Alert:

• Confrontation Line — Kfar Giladi#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/08ESmBlffY

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) May 28, 2024

Irish FM says EU considering sanctions on Israel if it doesn’t comply with international law

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin holds a joint press conference with his Spanish and Norwegian counterparts at the the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union in Brussels on May 27, 2024. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP)

Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin is quoted as saying that he and his EU counterparts had a “significant” discussion about the possibility of levying sanctions on Israel if it fails to comply with international humanitarian law.

“For the first time at an EU meeting, in a real way, I’ve seen significant discussion on sanctions and ‘what if,’” Martin is quoted as saying by Politico.

He qualifies that there is “some distance between people articulating the need for a sanctions-based approach if Israel does not comply with the ICJ’s ruling … to agreement in the Council meeting, given all of the different perspectives there.”

According to the report, the Irish foreign minister told reporters yesterday that the discussion focused on provisional orders issued by the International Court of Justice last week calling on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah that would risk the destruction of the civilian population sheltering there.

Martin is quoted as saying that the EU foreign ministers agreed that Israel should “adhere to those provisional orders… and cease its military operations in Rafah,” though four ICJ justices argued that the key operative clause in the ruling does not require that Israel immediately halt all operations there, but rather that it specifically halt military operations that “could bring about physical destruction in whole or in part” of the Palestinians.

The report does not give details on the types of sanctions discussed by the EU diplomats.

Irish news outlet RTE quotes Martin as saying that a number of foreign ministers had also raised the possibility of sanctions against Israeli officials who were aiding and abetting violent West Bank settlers.

The meeting follows Israeli airstrikes near Rafah on Sunday night that drew outraged reactions from Palestinians and around the world, with Hamas health authorities reporting that 45 people were killed and dozens injured in the attack and in an ensuing blaze in a camp housing displaced civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted a Hamas compound and eliminated two commanders in the terror group’s ranks, and that it is investigating what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mishap.”

Trump says he’ll deport anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian student protesters if elected — report

Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC, May 25, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says that if elected in November he will deport anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters, according to a report in The Washington Post.

“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump is quoted as saying at a May 14 donor event.

Referring to anti-Israel protests amid the ongoing war in Gaza that swept US college campuses in the last seven months, the former US president vowed to defeat the “radical revolution,” according to the report.

Trump also praised the New York Police Department for clearing up protest encampments and a building occupation at Columbia University and encouraged other cities to do the same, the report adds.

Commenting on the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack in southern Israeli communities, Trump reportedly expressed support for Israel’s right to continue “its war on terror.”

The former US president has been critical of Israel and Netanyahu since he left office, including in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre. At an October rally, Trump hailed the Hezbollah terror group as “very smart,” while branding Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk.”

Lebanese health officials report 2nd death in Israeli strike near hospital entrance

A charred motorcycle is seen after an Israeli strike outside Salah Ghandour Hospital, background, in Bint Jbeil town, south Lebanon, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)

An Israel Defense Forces strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon next to a hospital entrance yesterday also killed a security guard, according to Lebanese health officials.

The motorcycle driver, identified by the IDF as a Hezbollah operative who was identified at a rocket launching site in southern Lebanon’s Aynata, adjacent to Bint Jbeil, was previously reported killed in the strike.

The site had recently been used to fire rockets at the Malkia area in northern Israel, according to the military.

Mohammed Suleiman, director of the Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil, says they had initially received one person killed and nine wounded in the strike, most of whom were “civilians who were in front of the hospital, where family members and people accompanying the patients usually gather.”

The Islamic Health Committee, affiliated with the Hezbollah terror group, runs the hospital in the southern town.

The strike also caused minor damage to the hospital, according to an Associated Press photographer.

Hezbollah later launched a barrage of dozens of missiles at the Mount Meron area, Safsufa and Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in response to the deadly strike. No injuries were reported in the rocket attacks.

IDF: Three anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon at northern Israel; none hurt

Three anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon at the Shtula area in northern Israel a short while ago.

The IDF says there are no injuries in the attack.

Spain, Ireland and Norway set to formally recognize Palestinian statehood today

Spain, Ireland and Norway will formally recognize a Palestinian state today, in a decision slammed by Israel as a “reward” for Hamas more than seven months into the war in Gaza.

The three European countries believe their initiative has strong symbolic impact, which will likely encourage others to follow suit.

They also point to Norway and Spain’s historic role in advancing Israel-Palestinian peace efforts: in 1991, the two sides sat down together for the first time at a Madrid peace conference that paved the way for the 1993 Oslo Accords.

“Recognizing the state of Palestine is about justice for the Palestinian people,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in Brussels yesterday.

It is also “the best guarantee of security for Israel and absolutely essential for reaching peace in the region,” he said alongside his Irish and Norwegian counterparts.

The plans were unveiled last week in a coordinated announcement by their prime ministers, with formal recognition to take place in all three countries today.

Washington and most Western European nations have said they are willing to one day recognize Palestinian statehood, but not before agreement on thorny issues like the status of Jerusalem and final borders.

Tuesday’s move by Spain, Ireland and Norway will mean 145 of the UN’s 193 member states now recognize Palestinian statehood.

These include many Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries, but not the United States, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan or South Korea.

Israeli fighter jets hit multiple Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight

Israel Air Force fighter jets attacked a number of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight, the military announces.

An IDF statement adds that the targets included an arms warehouse in Mays al-Jabal and buildings used for the terror group’s military operations in Aita al-Shaab and Khiam.

The military publishes footage of the strikes.

במהלך הלילה מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מספר יעדי טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון.

בין המטרות שהותקפו, מחסן אמצעי לחימה במרחב מיס אל-ג'בל ומבנים צבאיים של הארגון במרחבים עייתא א-שעב ואל-חיאם>> pic.twitter.com/yN2lu4ACqg

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 28, 2024

Palestinian report: Three arrested in IDF raid on Jalazoun camp near Ramallah

Three Palestinians have reportedly been arrested by Israeli troops in the Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah.

Palestinian Authority official news agency WAFA names the detainees as Ola Ibrahim Dalaysha, her son Walid Maher Dalaysha and Muhammad Iyad Safi.

According to report, the forces stormed the West Bank town at dawn this morning and raided a number of homes in the area.

Unverified posts on social media show Israel Defense Forces armored vehicles rolling through Jalazoun.

There is no comment as yet from Israeli authorities on the raid.

قوات #الاحتلال الإسرائيلي تقتحم مخيم الجلزون شمال #رام الله بالضفة الغربية.#طوفان_الأقصی #قطاع_غزة #غزة pic.twitter.com/r96G4nPP6s

— وكالة قدس برس (@QudsPress) May 28, 2024

Man killed in shooting in northern town of Jisr az-Zarqa

A man has died of gunshot wounds after being fatally hurt in a shooting in the northern town of Jisr az-Zarqa.

EU foreign ministers meet with Arab counterparts amid push for Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhane, second left, and Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, second left, chair a meeting for talks on the Middle East in Brussels, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU foreign ministers held talks in Brussels with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar as part of a diplomatic push for a two-state solution after the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Speaking after Monday’s meeting, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the two parties will look to see if they can combine their efforts to set up a joint conference on how to implement a two-state solution.

The push in Europe for a Palestinian state gained momentum last week when Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognize one starting May 28. But the move underscored divisions within the 27-nation EU, which has struggled to reach a unified position on the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

1 killed, several hurt in Tel Aviv clashes between Eritrean migrants

A man critically hurt during a brawl in south Tel Aviv between supporters and opponents of Eritrea’s regime has died of his wounds.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says five other people were wounded in the clashes, three of them seriously.

עימותים בין אריתראים מתנגדי משטר ותומכי המשטר בשכונת התקווה בתל אביב, כולל השלכת אבנים, שימוש באלות ודוקרנים. המשטרה במקום ופועלת לפיזור המתפרעים@AnnaPines_ pic.twitter.com/x3ELBDzw9K

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 27, 2024

There has previously been similar violence among Eritrean migrants in both Israel and elsewhere, including major clashes in Tel Aviv last September in which at least 170 people were hurt — including police officers.

Diplomats say UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting after deadly Rafah strike

General view of a UN Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on April 17, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/AFP)

The UN Security Council has convened an emergency meeting for Tuesday, diplomats tell AFP, after an Israeli strike targeting two senior Hamas figures also reportedly killed dozens of Palestinians at a displaced persons camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The closed-door meeting was requested by Algeria, which is currently a non-permanent member of the council, diplomats say.

IDF downs 2 drones targeting Eilat in attack claimed by Iran-backed Iraqi militia

A screenshot of video shared on social media shows an explosion as an interceptor missile hits a suspected drone near Eilat on 28, 2024, as the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to target the Red Sea coastal city in a drone attack. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Two explosive-laden drones heading toward Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat from the eastern direction — apparently originating in Iraq — were downed by air defenses, the military says.

According to the IDF, the two drones were intercepted by a fighter jet and ground-based air defense systems.

Both projectiles did not enter Israeli airspace, it adds.

The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched three drones at IDF positions in Eilat.

Footage posted to social media shows an interceptor missile downing a suspected drone near Eilat this evening. https://t.co/hxnIOQXBVN pic.twitter.com/6GpK7h01Ol

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 27, 2024