May 31: US official says Israeli offer meets all Hamas demands with ‘very minor adjustments’

Hamas says it ‘postively views’ Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by Biden

Hamas releases a statement saying that the terror group “positively views” a proposal presented by US President Joe Biden for a hostage release deal and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Hamas “positively views what was included in the speech of US President Joe Biden today,” it says, specifying “his call to a permanent ceasefire, the Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction of Gaza, and the exchange of prisoners.”

“The movement affirms its position of readiness to deal positively and constructively with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, the return of the displaced to all their places of residence, and the completion of a serious prisoner exchange deal if the occupation declares its explicit commitment to that,” the Hamas statement says.

The terror group adds that it sees the development in negotiations and the US commitment to ending the war in Gaza, sparked by its October 7 massacre, “to be the result of the legendary steadfastness of our struggling people and their brave resistance.”

In an address earlier this evening, Biden said that Israel had offered “a comprehensive new proposal” which is “a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages.”

In a statement released directly after the US president’s speech without referencing it, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “The Israeli government is united in the desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal.”

“The prime minister authorized the [Israeli] negotiating team to present an outline for achieving this goal, while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.”

Obama endorses Biden’s ‘clear, realistic and just’ hostage release and Gaza ceasefire proposal

Former US president Barack Obama (L) claps for US President Joe Biden during a campaign fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 28, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

Former US president Barack Obama endorses a hostage deal and Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden this evening as “clear, realistic and just.”

In a post on X, Obama says the proposal, which has been green-lit by Israel, “ensures Israel’s security, returns hostages taken on October 7th to their families, increases aid into Gaza and relieves the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and engages Israelis, Palestinians, Arab countries and the broader international community in the process of rebuilding Gaza.”

While he says a ceasefire alone won’t ease the pain of Israelis and Palestinians devastated by Hamas’s October 7 massacre and the subsequent war in Gaza, he says a truce can “put a stop to the ongoing bloodshed, help families reunite and allow a surge of humanitarian aid to help desperate, hungry people.”

“It can save lives, here and now – and it can lay the foundation for what will be a long and difficult road to a future in which Israel is secure and at peace with its neighbors, and Palestinians finally have the security, freedom and self-determination that they have sought for so long,” he adds.

Obama also praises the “steady, tireless efforts” of Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to ” bring this awful war to an end.”

Police break up anti-Israel protest encampment, arrest 80 at UC Santa Cruz

Police in riot gear surround arm-in-arm protesters at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to remove an encampment and barricades where anti-Israel demonstrations have blocked the main entrance to the campus this week. Dozens were arrested, the university says.

Campus, local and state police swarm the protesters, and video from local news stations shows officers telling people to leave, then taking away signs and part of a barricade. There appears to be some pushing and shoving between police and protesters. Officers carry zip ties and appear to detain a few people.

Pro-Palestinian protesters met with massive police presence at UC Santa Cruz https://t.co/Ak8UtZGXE0 pic.twitter.com/k0S9Y7n718

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) May 31, 2024

“For weeks, encampment participants were given repeated, clear direction to remove the encampment and cease blocking access to numerous campus resources and to the campus itself,” Scott Hernandez-Jason, a spokesperson for the university, says in a statement.

“They were notified that their actions were unlawful and unsafe. And this morning they were also given multiple warnings by law enforcement to leave the area and disperse to avoid arrest. Unfortunately, many refused to follow this directive and many individuals are being arrested,” Hernandez-Jason says.

Approximately 80 demonstrators have been arrested, says university spokesperson Abby Butler. Chancellor Cynthia Larive writes in a letter to the community that some demonstrators remain at the entrance.

She says that the road blockades, “with fortified and chained barricades made of pallets and other materials, and other unlawful actions, disrupted campus operations and threatened safety, including delaying access of emergency vehicles.”

There are no reports of injuries. The university is holding classes remotely today.

Graduate student workers at UC Santa Cruz are continuing a strike that began last week over the university system’s treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters. The strike will expand to three more campuses next week, their union says.

UC Santa Cruz workers who are union members of UAW 4811, which is part of the United Auto Workers, and pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters carry signs as they demonstrate in front of the UC Santa Cruz campus on May 20, 2024 in Santa Cruz, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via AFP)

The strikes began May 20 at UC Santa Cruz, and then extended to UCLA and UC Davis. Members at UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego will walk out on June 3 and at UC Irvine on June 5, UAW Local 4811 says. Union members include graduate teaching assistants, researchers and other academic employees. The UC president’s office says the union is violating its contract’s no-strike clause and disrupting students’ critical year-end activities.

Protest camps sprang up across the US and in Europe this spring as students demanded their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that they say support its war against Hamas in Gaza.

US official: Hamas only got Israeli proposal last night; meets all Hamas demands with ‘very minor adjustments’

Protesters call for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, outside the Defense Ministry Headquarters in Tel Aviv, May 25, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters on US President Joe Biden’s speech earlier today says Israel was able to make the hostage deal proposal that Washington is pushing Hamas to accept “because of some of the success they’ve had in degrading Hamas military capacity.”

“I don’t think this offer would have been possible three months ago,” the senior official says.

The official says the Israeli proposal is very detailed and is four and a half pages long. Each of the three phases is roughly six weeks long.

The official acknowledges that the negotiations that will commence during the first six-week phase will be very difficult and require the sides to agree on a ratio for how many Palestinian security prisoners will be released in exchange for the remaining male Israeli hostages.

“It’s fair to say that if [we got to] phase two and phase three, Israel will have some guarantees about its own security [so] that Gaza can no longer be a platform for terrorism and threats against Israel,” the official says.

“Phase three outlines a pretty extensive three-to-five year reconstruction program for Gaza. It’s fully backed by the US, the international community and others,” the senior official says.

“We have to work to reform the PA in the West Bank, which is ongoing and to having an interim administration in Gaza that can help with stabilization and pathway forward there,” the official says.

The official says the latest Israeli proposal is almost identical to the demands previously laid out by Hamas.

“This is now at the stage where Hamas has said they’d be prepared to do deal X, and what is now on the table is basically that, with some very minor adjustments,” the senior US official says.

Asked about Hamas’s statement yesterday that it would not be willing to negotiate further with Israel unless the IDF halts all fighting in Gaza, the senior administration official downplays the threat, suggesting there’s a difference between what the terror group says publicly and what it says privately.

The official notes that Hamas only received the Israeli proposal last night and will likely need time to make a decision.

“But [Biden] felt very strongly… That it was time to lay out very clearly what is offered in this proposal, and particularly in those first six weeks,” the senior official says.

IDF says rocket sirens near Gaza border were false alarms

Rocket alert sirens that sounded a short while ago near the border with the Gaza Strip were false alarms, the IDF says.

The sirens had sounded in the southern community of Kissufim.

Hamas said to claim Biden’s hostage deal proposal doesn’t indicate ‘guarantees’ for end of Gaza war

Hamas has reportedly said that the hostage deal proposal presented by US President Joe Biden earlier this evening lacks the guarantees that the terror group requires regarding cessation of fighting and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

“Biden’s proposal did not indicate guarantees for a complete cessation of the war nor guarantees for withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” a Hamas source tells the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet.

The unnamed source adds that Hamas is “open to all ideas and proposals… and its position is based on a complete cessation of the war and [Israeli] withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas said yesterday that it would refuse to negotiate so long as fighting continues in Gaza.

Talks for a hostage deal have been stop-and-start for months — Hamas has said multiple times that it was not willing to make an agreement unless Israel stopped the fighting and pulled out of Gaza, while Israel has continued to maintain that the war will not end until the terrorist organization has been dismantled and all the hostages returned.

Rocket alert sirens sounding in Kissufim near Gaza border

Rocket alert sirens are sounding in the southern community of Kissufim, near the border with Gaza, warning of incoming missile fire.

The towns along the border with Gaza are still largely evacuated since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Red Alert [22:45:39] – 1 Alert:

• Gaza Envelope — Kissufim#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/6oqf3WRBR0

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) May 31, 2024

Congressional leaders from both parties formally invite Netanyahu to address joint session of Congress

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Knesset on May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Congressional leaders from both parties have sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a formal invitation to address a joint session of Congress.

The letter is signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The speech is expected to take place “as soon as the next eight weeks or soon after August recess,” a source familiar tells The Hill.

An Israeli official confirms Netanyahu’s receipt of the invitation to reporters.

The Hill says the invitation was issued after weeks of delay caused by Schumer, who gave a speech on the Senate floor in March calling for early elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu. Schumer ultimately acquiesced, saying he was prepared to cooperate in a Netanyahu address as long as it was done in a bipartisan way.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on the Senate floor on March 14, 2024. (Video screen capture)

“We join the State of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” the letter reads. “For this reason, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we would like to invite you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.”

An official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel that Netanyahu has been speaking in recent weeks with interest to Republican Congressional leaders about a potential joint session address, viewing it as an opportunity to make Israel’s case on the global stage and is less concerned about some of the political fallout within the US.

Nearly 60 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s last joint session address in 2015, which was organized by Republican Congressional leaders behind the back of then-president Barack Obama in order for the Israeli premier to lobby against the nuclear deal that Washington wound up signing with Iran later that year.

A much larger number of Democrats would likely boycott a Netanyahu speech that comes amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has become increasingly unpopular among progressives.

While Netanyahu appears to have shored up an invite from Congress, he has not yet received one from the White House and making the trip to Washington without one would only further highlight this divide.

Even before October 7, Netanyahu had not received an invite to the White House since his return to office in late 2022, as he quickly drew Biden’s ire over his efforts to radically overhaul Israel’s judiciary and actions seen as harming the US administration’s attempt to preserve prospects for a two-state solution. Biden visited Israel shortly after the Hamas-led attack, in the first-ever trip a US president has made to the Jewish state amid a war.

Rocket sirens sounding in northern communities near Lebanon border

Rocket alert sirens are sounding in northern communities on the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.

The alerts are sounding in largely evacuated towns and cities including Kiryat Shmona and Beit Hillel.

The sirens come after a tense afternoon in the north, with Iron Dome intercepting multiple rockets fired from Lebanon into the Upper Galilee and fighter jets shooting down a drone above the northern city of Acre.

Red Alert [22:37:26] – 2 Alerts:

• Confrontation Line — Kiryat Shmona, Beit Hillel#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/77hMB1XkmI

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) May 31, 2024

Poll: Biden holds two-point lead over Trump following hush money trial conviction

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 6, 2024 shows US President Joe Biden, left, in Maryland, on January 30, 2024 and former US president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump in Claremont, New Hampshire, on November 11, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS and JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden has a marginal 2 percentage point lead over Republican challenger Donald Trump in the race to win the November presidential election, following Trump’s historic conviction by a jury on charges he falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed today.

Some 41% of registered voters in the two-day poll, carried out in the hours after Trump’s conviction by a Manhattan jury yesterday, say they would vote for Biden, a Democrat, if the election were held today, while 39% pick former US president Trump. Some 20% of voters in the poll say they have not picked a candidate, are leaning toward third-party options or may not vote at all in the November 5 election.

Biden’s lead is within the survey’s roughly 2 percentage point margin of error for registered voters, many of whom remain on the fence with about five months left before the November 5 election. A prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted May 7-14 showed Trump and Biden tied with 40% support each.

The poll finds 10% of respondents would pick Robert Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist running as an independent, if he were on the ballot with Trump and Biden. The prior poll conducted showed Kennedy with 13% support.

While nationwide surveys give important signals on American support for political candidates, just a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the US electoral college, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll includes responses from 2,135 registered voters who were surveyed online.

Anti-Israel protesters rally outside Glasgow stadium before Israel-Scotland women’s soccer match

Israel's forward #13 Talia Sommer (C-L) jumps for the ball as she fights for it with Scotland's defender #05 Sophie Howard (R) during the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 League B Group 2 qualifying football match between Scotland and Israel at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 31, 2024. (Andy Buchanan/AFP)

GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) – Demonstrators have assembled outside Hampden Park in Glasgow ahead of Scotland’s Women’s Euro 2025 qualifier versus Israel, protesting against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.

About 400 people, some carrying small coffins and Palestinian flags, gather at the main stand entrance before kickoff, the BBC reports.

The match was delayed to detain a protester who was tied to a goalpost with a bike lock and wearing a black t-shirt that said “red card for Israel.”

A demonstrator wearing a t-shirt reading “Red card for Israel” chained himself to the goal post prior to the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 League B Group 2 qualifying football match between Scotland and Israel at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 31, 2024. (Andy Buchanan/AFP)

When the match kicked off demonstrators booed and blew whistles, while fireworks were let off, the BBC says.

A handful of counter-protesters also demonstrated before the match.

NEW: Protesters are gathering outside Hampden Park ahead of a football match between Scotland and Israel.

Chants of 'Stop the game' could be heard as people held signs saying 'SFA Gaza's blood on you' pic.twitter.com/ik3TBpGI2C

— The National (@ScotNational) May 31, 2024

The Scottish FA said on May 21 that the match would be played without supporters due to concerns about potential planned disruptions.

The away fixture, due to be played in Hungary on June 4, will also be played behind closed doors.

In statement after Biden speech, PM says Israeli proposal would bring about Hamas’s end, release of all hostages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset on May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a statement issued immediately after US President Joe Biden’s speech calling on Hamas to accept the latest hostage deal proposal and Israel’s leaders to stand behind it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says, “The Israeli government is united in the desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal.”

“Therefore, the prime minister authorized the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving this goal, while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities,” Netanyahu’s office says.

“The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles,” the statement adds.

Netanyahu’s office doesn’t clarify whether its proposal is the same one described by Biden during his speech — and doesn’t refer directly to Biden’s speech at all.

Asked whether the deal described by Netanyahu’s office is the same one Biden laid out in his speech, a senior administration official briefing reporters avoids answering directly.

“I have no doubt that the deal will be characterized by Israel and will be characterized by Hamas, but we know what’s in the deal. We know what the expectations are,” the official says.

“Often these deals are characterized by those who might not want to see the deal,” the official says earlier on in the briefing.

Biden: ‘It’s time for this war to end, and for the day after to begin’

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on May 31, 2024. (Screen capture/YouTube)

In concluding his address, US President Joe Biden says, “This has been one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world.  There’s nothing easy about this — nothing easy about it.

“Through it all, though, the United States has worked relentlessly to support Israelis’ security, to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza, and to get a ceasefire and a hostage deal to bring this war to an end. Yesterday, with this new initiative, we’ve taken an important step in that direction.

He wraps up: “I want to level with you today as to where we are and what might be possible, but I need your help: Everyone who wants peace now must raise their voices and let the leaders know they should take this deal, work to make it real, make it lasting, and forge a better future out of the tragic terror attack and war.

“It’s time to begin this new stage, for the hostages to come home, for Israel to be secure, for the suffering to stop.

“It’s time for this war to end, and for the day after to begin.”

Biden: Israelis are forever marked by Hamas’s sexual violence; Palestinians have endured sheer hell

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Israel-Hamas war, from the State Dining Room of the White House, May 31, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“The past eight months have been marked by heartbreaking pain — pain of those whose loved ones were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on October 7; hostages and their families waiting in anguish; ordinary Israelis whose lives are forever marked by the shattering event of Hamas’s sexual violence and ruthless brutality,” says US President Joe Biden.

“The Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war,” he continues.

“Too many people have been killed, including thousands of children. Far too many have been badly wounded. We all saw the terrible images from a deadly fire in Rafah earlier this week following an Israeli strike targeting Hamas.”

“Even as we work to surge assistance to Gaza — with 1,800 trucks delivering supplies these last five days — the humanitarian crisis still remains.”

“I know this is a subject on which people in this country feel deep, passionate convictions, and so do I. This has been one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world. There’s nothing easy about this.”

“Through it all, though, the United States has worked relentlessly to support Israeli security, get humanitarian supplies into Gaza and get a ceasefire and a hostage deal to bring this war to an end.”

Biden: For months, public has called for ceasefire. Now it’s time to demand Hamas comply

Protesters gather for a pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the Foreign Affairs ministry in Madrid, Spain, on May 27, 2024. (Thomas Coex / AFP)

“This is truly a decisive moment. Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it,” Biden says. “Hamas needs to take the deal.”

“For months, people all over the world have called for a ceasefire. Now it’s time to raise your voices and demand that Hamas come to the table, agree to this deal and end this war that they began.”

He adds: “Of course, there will be differences on the specific details that need to be worked out. That’s natural. If Hamas comes to negotiate ready to deal, then Israel negotiations must be given a mandate, the necessary flexibility to close that deal.”

Biden: Israel will be allowed to resume Gaza operations if Hamas violates deal

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on May 31, 2024. (Screen capture/YouTube)

US President Joe Biden clarifies that “Israel will always have the right to defend itself against threats to its security and to bring those responsible for October 7 to justice.”

“The United States will always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.”

“If Hamas fails to uphold to its commitments under the deal, Israel can resume military operations. But Egypt and Qatar have assured me they are continuing to work to ensure that Hamas doesn’t do that,” he says.

“The United States will help ensure that Israel lives up to their obligations as well.”

Biden: Hostage deal will allow for calm on Lebanon border, Saudi normalization, Palestinian self-determination

US President Joe Biden speaks about the situation in the Middle East, in the State Dining Room of the White House on May 31, 2024 (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

US President Joe Biden explains that the hostage deal on the table is part of a comprehensive approach that will ensure Israel’s long-term security.

“Once a ceasefire and hostage deal is concluded, it unlocks the possibility of a great deal of more progress, including calm along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. The United States will help forge a diplomatic resolution — one that ensures Israel’s security and allows people to safely return to their homes without fear of being attacked.”

“With the deal, the rebuilding of Gaza will begin. Arab nations and the international community along with Palestinian and Israeli leaders [will work together] to get it done in a manner that does not allow Hamas to rearm.”

“The United States will work with our partners to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals in Gaza, to help repair communities that were destroyed in the chaos of war.”

“With this deal, Israel could become more deeply integrated in the region,” Biden says, highlighting the normalization deal he is working to broker between Israel and Saudi Arabia. “Israel could be part of a regional security network to counter the threat posed by Iran.”

“All this progress would make Israel more secure, with Israeli families no longer living in the shadow of a terrorist attack. All of this would create the conditions for a different future, a better future for the Palestinian people, one of self-determination, dignity, security and freedom.”

Biden urges Israelis to accept plan, and Israel’s leaders to stick with it, blasts talk of ‘total victory’

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Israel-Hamas war, from the State Dining Room of the White House, May 31, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Joe Biden addresses the people of Israel directly:

“The people of Israel should know, they can take this [hostage deal] offer without any further risk to their own security because they’ve devastated Hamas’s [forces] over the past eight months.”

“At this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7. This was one of Israel’s main objectives in this war — and quite frankly, a righteous one.”

“I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely. Some are even in the governing coalition. They’ve made it clear that they want to occupy Gaza, they want to keep fighting for years, and the hostages are not a priority to them.”

“Well, I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes.”

“To the people of Israel, let me say this: As someone who has had a lifelong commitment to Israel, as the only American president who has ever gone to Israel at a time of war, as someone who just sent US forces to directly defend Israel when it was attacked by Iran, I ask you to take a step back and think what will happen if this moment is lost?”

“You can’t lose this moment. Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will only bog down Israel in Gaza, draining military, ecnomomic and human resources and further Israel’s isolation in the world. That will not bring hostages home. That will not bring an enduring defeat of Hamas. That will not bring Israel lasting security.”

Biden acknowledges that there will be differences between the sides in the ensuing negotiations.

“But if Hamas comes to negotiate ready to deal, then Israel’s negotiators must be given a mandate with necessary flexibility to close that deal,” he says.

Biden lays out new hostage-ceasefire deal he says was offered by Israel, urges Hamas to accept it

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on May 31, 2024. (Screen capture/YouTube)

US President Joe Biden lays out what he says is the latest hostage deal proposal that was green-lit by Israel in recent days, and urges Hamas to accept it.

It is a deal “that brings all the hostages home, ensures Israel’s security, creates a better day after in Gaza without Hamas in power, and sets the stage for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Biden says.

“Israel has now offered a comprehensive new proposal. It’s a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages. This proposal has been transmitted by Qatar to Hamas,” Biden says.

“This new proposal has three phases: The first phase would last for six weeks. It would include a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, the release of a number of hostages including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners,” Biden says, noting that American hostages would be among those released in this first stage.

“Additionally, some remains of hostages who have been killed will be returned to their families, bringing some degree of closure to the terrible grief.”

“Palestinian civilians will return to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north; and humanitarian assistance would surge with 600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza every single day.”

During the six-week first phase, Israel and Hamas would “negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, which is a permanent end to hostilities,” Biden says.

The president acknowledges that this subsequent round of negotiations will be difficult and says that the proposal on the table will allow for the first phase to be extended beyond six weeks on the condition that the negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue.

The US, Egypt and Qatar will work to ensure that those talks continue until an agreement is reached, Biden says.

Once those terms are finalized, phase two can begin, which would see the release of all remaining living Israeli hostages, including male soldiers. Israeli forces will also withdraw from Gaza during this phase, Biden says.

“As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary ceasefire would become permanent,” Biden says, citing the text of the proposed deal.

“Finally, in phase three, a major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence, and the final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families,” Biden says. “That’s the offer that’s now on the table.”

Biden expected to use White House speech to increase pressure on Hamas to agree to hostage deal — US official

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about student protests over the war in Gaza, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, May 2, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Joe Biden will use his White House speech, which he is slated to give momentarily, in order to increase pressure on Hamas to secure a hostage agreement, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

Biden will highlight Israel’s willingness to cooperate with the latest proposal, which would see a phased release of the hostages, and urge Hamas to do the same.

The deal would start with a weeks-long ceasefire that the US aims to turn permanent.

It is unclear, though, whether Israel will be willing to fully accept such terms given that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed not to end the war until Hamas has been defeated.

Yesterday, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi reportedly told several relatives of some of the hostages that the current government is not prepared to even accept a deal that would see the release of all remaining 125 hostages if it is conditioned on Israel ending the war.

Hanegbi said he does believe, however, that the government will be able to secure the first phase of the currently negotiated hostage deal, which would see the release of up to 33 female, elderly and sick hostages.

Last weekend, CIA chief William Burns held a meeting in Paris with Mossad chief David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to try and re-launch another round of hostage talks. The sides crafted an updated proposal that was green-lit by Israel.

It was then passed along to Hamas, which said on Thursday that it would not agree to re-launch indirect negotiations with Israel unless it halts all fighting in Gaza.

Gantz urges French PM to reconsider ban on Israeli defense firms from prestigious arms show

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz held a phone call earlier today with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and asked him to reconsider a decision to ban Israeli defense firms from exhibiting at a trade show next month near Paris, according to an Israeli readout.

IDF says earlier sirens in northern Israel were triggered by 15 rockets from Lebanon

A barrage of nine rockets was fired from Lebanon toward the Upper Galilee community of Ga’aton, a short while ago.

According to the IDF, seven of the rockets struck open areas.

Another six rockets were fired at Peki’in, which according to the IDF, were all intercepted by air defenses.

Canadian synagogue lightly damaged in suspected arson

The aftermath of a fire outside Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver, Canada on May 30, 2024. (B'nai B'rith Canada)

An incendiary device causes minor damage to the entrance of Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver, Canada.

The fire Thursday night, in which no one was injured, was the result of arson and a “deliberate act of hate” and an “attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says in a statement.

Extra police patrols are being put in place at local Jewish institutions, the Federation says.

In a statement on social media, David Eby, the prime minister of British Columbia, whose largest city is Vancouver, calls the incident a “disgusting act of antisemitism,” adding it’s “reprehensible and has absolutely no place in B.C.”

The incident comes after bullet holes were found at two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days.

“I was horrified to receive a frantic call from a community member that there was a fire burning at the entrance to the building,” Aron Csaplaros, B’nai Brith Canada’s British Columbia Regional Manager, says in a statement about the fire. “This is a serious and dangerous escalation of antisemitic activity in Vancouver, and it is outrageous and repugnant.”

WATCH: Biden to give White House speech on Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about student protests over the war in Gaza, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, May 2, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Joe Biden will give a speech on the Israel-Hamas war at the White House at 12:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Israel time), the White House press pool has been informed.

It will be Biden’s first speech since an IDF strike last Sunday, which targeted a pair of senior Hamas commanders but ultimately sparked a fire that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians sheltering in tents nearby.

IDF releases footage of Gaza-Egypt border tunnels Hamas was using to smuggle weapons

Rocket launchers found by the IDF on the Gaza-Egypt border, in a handout photo published May 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF releases footage showing Hamas smuggling tunnels and rocket launchers discovered by troops along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, adjacent to the southern city of Rafah, the IDF has located so far some 20 tunnels that cross into Egypt. Another 82 tunnel shafts leading into the tunnels have been located in the corridor area.

Hamas has been known to use such tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza, despite attempts by Egypt to thwart them in the past decade. A “high-level” source speaking to Egyptian state media this week denied such tunnels still exist.

The IDF says it has so far demolished dozens of tunnel shafts and several “significant” underground routes in the corridor area, while others are still being investigated.

Hamas operatives were killed by IDF troops inside some of the tunnels, the military says.

The IDF also says it located five primed rocket launching sites along the Gaza-Egypt border. The launchers were all demolished.

On Wednesday, the IDF announced that it had established “operational control” over the entire Philadelphi Corridor. Troops are physically located in most of the corridor. There is a small section near the coast where ground forces are not present, but the IDF says it is controlling the area with surveillance and firepower.

26-year-old man lightly injured by glass shards during Lebanon rocket barrage

A man aged 26 is lightly hurt by glass shards following the rocket barrage on the Upper Galilee a short while ago, medics say.

The shards came from a car that was hit, possibly by shrapnel.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is taking the man to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya for treatment.

Multiple Iron Dome interceptions seen over Upper Galilee after barrage from Lebanon

Multiple interceptions by the Iron Dome air defense system are seen over the Upper Galilee, following an apparent rocket barrage launched from Lebanon.

Sirens had sounded in Ma’alot Tarshiha and several nearby communities.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Multiple Iron Dome interceptions seen following sirens that sounded in Ma'alot Tarshiha and nearby towns in the Upper Galilee. pic.twitter.com/Kmdn5L7P2n

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 31, 2024

Erdan to finish 4-year tenure as UN envoy, declines offer to stay in US as ambassador to Washington

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan addresses the Security Council on October 19, 2021. (Courtesy)

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan has decided to wrap up his tenure in New York after four years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announces.

Netanyahu offered Erdan the option of staying in the US and becoming Israel’s ambassador in Washington — a post he held for a year simultaneously with his role at the UN — but the former Likud minister declined, citing family considerations, the premier’s office says, noting that Erdan has two children who will be enlisting in the IDF in the coming year.

“Ambassador Erdan represented Israel with respect, determination and strength, and I thank him for that,” Netanyahu says in a statement.

Netanyahu has reportedly decided not to extend the tenure of Israel’s current ambassador to Washington Michael Herzog. President Isaac Herzog’s brother will be wrapping up his three-year tenure in November.

While ambassadors often have their stints extended an extra year, Netanyahu has chosen not to offer that courtesy to Herzog. The prime minister reportedly blamed Herzog for not doing enough to secure Netanyahu an invitation to the White House last year.

IDF shoots down drone from Lebanon over coastal city of Acre

A drone launched from Lebanon that entered Israeli airspace was shot down by air defenses over the northern coastal city of Acre, the military says.

Sirens had sounded due to fears of falling shrapnel.

The IDF also says it carried out a strike against a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura earlier today, after identifying a terror cell there.

Another strike, in south Lebanon’s Yaroun, targeted a Hezbollah operative, the IDF adds.

Israeli strike kills medic with Hezbollah-linked rescue force, sources say

At least one medic from a Hezbollah rescue force was killed and another was wounded in an Israeli strike on an ambulance in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source and a source from the rescue force says.

The strike, which hit an ambulance belonging to Hayaa Sahiya Islamiya (Islamic Health Authority), happened in the town of Naqoura, the two sources tell Reuters.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Rocket sirens triggered in northern coastal city of Acre for first time since April

Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in the northern coastal city of Acre as well as the nearby town of Jadeidi-Makr.

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The last time sirens sounded in Acre was in April, after two Hezbollah drones launched from Lebanon were shot down in the area.

Hamas publishes propaganda video featuring voice of hostage Noa Argamani

Noa Argamani, 26, who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during a massacre at the Supernova desert rave. (Courtesy)

Hamas has published a new propaganda video featuring the voice of Israeli hostages Noa Argamani urging the country to bring about her release after what she says has been over 237 days in captivity.

The hostage is not named in the video, but Argamani’s family has identified her and has asked the media not to publish the video.

Netanyahu bars bereaved father who criticized him from participating in state ceremony; Gantz: ‘An unprecedented low’

Shai Hermesh at the ruins of his home in Kfar Aza after Hamas's October 7, 2023, terror onslaught. (Courtesy)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office blocked a former IDF soldier who fought to liberate Jerusalem in 1967 and recently lost his son in the October 7 terror onslaught from participating in an upcoming Jerusalem Day ceremony because he had previously written an op-ed criticizing the Israeli premier, Hebrew media reports

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz rips into the decision, calling it “an unprecedented low.”

“I urge you to call him, apologize and inform him that he will lead the memorial prayer at the ceremony,” Gantz tweets. “Bringing political considerations into bereavement dismantles the most sacred foundations of Israeli society.”

Biden to give remarks on Middle East later today, White House says

US President Joe Biden walks to his vehicle after arriving on Marine One at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House updates US President Joe Biden’s schedule for the day, saying he will give afternoon remarks in the State Dining Room regarding the situation in the Middle East — ostensibly on the Israel-Hamas war in particular.

It will be Biden’s first speech since an IDF strike on Sunday, which targeted a pair of senior Hamas commanders but ultimately sparked a fire that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians sheltering in tents nearby.

Hamas-run health ministry raises war Palestinian death toll to 36,284

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike adjacent to where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

At least 36,284 Palestinians have been killed and 82,057 others injured in Israel’s military offensive against Hamas since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says.

These figures have not be verified and only some 22,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The tolls include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle.

Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

US issues fresh Iran-related sanctions, Treasury Department says

File: The US Treasury Department building is shown at dusk in Washington on June 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The United States on Friday issued fresh Iran-related sanctions, according to a posting on a Treasury Department website.

The sanctions target one individual linked to Iran Aviation Industries Organization and four entities, it says.

Jordan to host international humanitarian conference for Gaza on June 11, royal court says

File: Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks during a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, February 16, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Yoan Valat, Pool via AP)

Jordan will host on June 11 an emergency international conference to work on the humanitarian response to Israel’s war in Gaza, in coordination with Egypt and the United Nations, the Jordanian royal court tweets.

Israel says it killed 18 members of Gaza-based Hamas cell in charge of West Bank attacks

IDF troops operate in northern Gaza's Jabaliya, in a handout photo published May 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Shin Bet security agency says Israeli forces have killed 18 members of Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters — a unit based in the Gaza Strip that is responsible for advancing terror attacks against Israel from and within the West Bank — amid the ongoing war.

Among those killed was Yassin Rabia, the head of the unit. Rabia was killed alongside another top member of the headquarters in a strike in Rafah earlier this week. Dozens of Palestinian civilians were also killed after a fire broke out nearby.

Another nine members of the unit have been detained by troops in the Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet adds.

The agency says the unit is primarily made up of Hamas members who were exiled to Gaza in a 2011 deal with Hamas, in which Israel released 1,027 Palestinian terror convicts in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Members of the unit make contact with West Bank Palestinians in order to recruit them to carry out terror attacks in the territory and in Israel proper, it says.

Among those detained by troops in November was Mahmoud Bashir Tanira, who the Shin Bet says is a member of a West Bank headquarters unit involved in directing attacks.

The Shin Bet says Tanira’s interrogation revealed that the unit was involved in numerous terror attacks in the West Bank between 2022 and 2023, which resulted in the deaths of eight Israelis and the injury of others.

According to the Shin Bet, among the attacks directed by the unit were a shooting against the settlement of Beit El in October 2022, in which an Israeli civilian was wounded; a shooting at a gas station near Eli in June 2023, in which four Israeli civilians were killed and two were injured; a shooting near the settlement of Kedumim in July 2023, in which a soldier was killed; a shooting at a car wash in Huwara in August 2023, in which two Israeli civilians were killed; a shooting at the Hamra junction in August 2023, in which an Israeli civilian was wounded; and a shooting near Hebron in August 2023 in which an Israeli civilian was killed.

According to the Shin Bet, the unit was involved in at least 20 more shooting attacks in the West Bank last year.

US State Department official resigns, claims her office’s report on Gaza was inaccurate

Stacy Gilbert is interviewed by the far-left Democracy Now network on May 31, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

A US State Department official who quit this week says her resignation was precipitated by an administration report to Congress that she said falsely stated Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, prompting her to resign in protest of US President Joe Biden’s Israel policy.

Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, was a subject matter expert working on the report.

“There is so clearly a right and wrong, and what is in that report is wrong,” says Gilbert, a lower level diplomat.

The State Department submitted the 46-page unclassified report earlier this month to Congress as required under a new National Security Memorandum that Biden issued in early February.

Among other conclusions, the report said that in the period after October 7 Israel “did not fully cooperate” with the US and other efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

But it said this did not amount to a breach of a US law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict US humanitarian aid.

Gilbert, who worked for the State Department for over 20 years, says she notified her office the day the State Department report was released that she would resign. Her last day was Tuesday.

In this March 9, 2009 file photo, The Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters for the State Department, is seen in Washington. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel tells reporters that he would not comment on personnel issues but that the department welcomes diverse points of view.

He says the administration stands by the report and continued to press the government of Israel to avoid harming civilians and urgently expand humanitarian access to Gaza.

Egypt extends crackdown on Gaza activism with student arrests

Egyptian activists hold bread as they participate in a pro-Palestinian protest outside the building of the Journalist Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohamed El Raai)

Egypt has detained several students who were trying to promote pro-Palestinian boycotts and solidarity campaigns, the latest sign that it does not want to leave space for activism over the war in Gaza despite growing official criticism of Israel.

The students are among dozens of people held in connection with protests against Israel’s military campaign, some of them detained in October when state-sanctioned rallies spilled over to unauthorized sites including Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Analysts say Egyptian authorities fear that demonstrations over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could fuel domestic political dissent, which has been suppressed in a broad crackdown lasting more than a decade.

According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent Cairo-based group, at least 125 people have been arrested since the Gaza war began in October, 95 of whom are still being held in pre-trial detention on charges including membership of a banned group or spreading false news.

Belgium’s Ghent University severs ties with all Israeli universities

Posters and banners line the entrance to an encampment, set up by pro-Palestinian students and activists at Ghent University, in Ghent, Belgium, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Belgium’s Ghent University has severed ties with all Israeli universities and research institutions, as they no longer align with its human rights policy, the university says.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Ghent have been protesting against Israel’s military offensive against Hamas and have been occupying parts of the university campus since early May.

An investigation by the Ghent University, known as UGent, highlighted concerns regarding connections between Israeli academic institutions and the Israeli government, military, or security services, according to a university statement.

The investigation also referenced a recent World Court ruling stating that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had worsened in recent months.

UGent, which already severed ties with three Israeli institutions two weeks ago, had 18 ongoing partnerships with Israeli academic institutions, it says.

The university will continue its research projects with six non-academic Israeli institutions, saying they could not find any links between them and human rights violations.

Protesters tell Belgian broadcaster VRT they welcomed the decision but want to see it extended to include the six Israeli non-academic partners UGent currently partners with. They added they will continue their protest.

Earlier this week, two other Belgian universities announced changes in their partnership with Israeli institutions.

The University of Antwerp announced it would continue its ongoing research projects with Israeli institutions but put new projects with Israeli partners on hold.

The Université Libre de Bruxelles announced that it will no longer initiate projects with Israeli partners. The same policy will apply to Palestinian partners until the hostages are released, it said.

Israel booted from France’s annual Eurosatory arms fair

General view of the the Eurosatory Defense and Security trade show in Villepinte, outside Paris, June 16, 2014. (Michel Euler/AP Photo, file)

Israel will not have a stand present at this year’s annual Eurosatory arms and defense industry exhibition in France, said a spokesperson for the organizers, confirming earlier media reports.

“Following a decision by government authorities, there will not be an Israeli stand at the Eurosatory 2024 salon,” says the spokesperson via email.

“No further information will be given on this,” adds the spokesperson.

Blinken: More aid getting into Gaza, but IDF ops hampering its distribution

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press in front of a truck with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza, at the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman, Jordan, April 30, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/AFP)

While there has been a jump in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza in recent weeks, the situation “remains dire” for civilians in the enclave because the distribution of that assistance has been severely hampered due to Israel’s expanded military operations in southern Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.

“The humanitarian situation remains dire for people in Gaza. We’ve seen changes, some positive changes, but the net effect is not there,” Blinken says during a news conference in Prague.

He notes Israel’s opening of new crossings in northern Gaza along with the solidification of the route from Jordan, which has been hampered by Israeli extremists trying to loot the trucks.

“If you look at the number of trucks that are actually getting to Gaza and going in, it’s up significantly, but distribution within Gaza is not working effectively, and part of the reason for that are the combat operations in the south,” Blinken laments.

He also highlights the problematic nature of the Rafah Crossing’s continued closure, given that it was once the main artery of aid into Gaza. The US brokered a deal with Egypt and Israel to allow the aid that was piling up on its side of the Rafah Crossing to be funneled into Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom Crossing, but that only partially addresses the problem.

“The focus that we have… is making sure that we’re not just measuring inputs, [but] we’re measuring impact. The impact remains insufficient in terms of addressing the acute needs of children, women and men in Gaza. But it’s a moving story every day as we’re working intensely to make sure that the different access points are working and then distribution within Gaza is working more effectively,” Blinken says.

The secretary dodges a question regarding why the US won’t leverage its military aid to Israel to coax Jerusalem into ensuring that the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves.

Asked about the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s decision to pursue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Blinken reiterates Washington’s outrage over the move.

“In Israel, you have a vibrant, independent and very active judicial system. In the case of Gaza, there are many incidents that are under investigation, including some under criminal investigation. There’s a case right now before the Israeli Supreme Court about the alleged denial of humanitarian distance for for Gazans.”

“Israel has a democratic system with independent courts and judges as well as a military justice system that effectively investigates any allegations of abuse. That should be allowed to run its course,” Blinken says.

Police shoot, injure man who stabbed several people at anti-Islam demo in Germany

BERLIN, Germany — German police say they shot and wounded a man who attacked a right-wing demonstration in the south-west German city of Mannheim.

Police say they could not yet give details about the extent of the injuries suffered by the people gathered on the city’s central Marktplatz square.

A livestream broadcast from the same location by anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger showed the 59-year-old preparing to address a small crowd.

“A firearm was used against the attacker,” Mannheim police say in a statement. A rescue helicopter was in attendance and trams in the area had been suspended.

Footage circulating on social media, bearing a watermark linked to his “Open Eyes” anti-Islam lobbying tour shows a bearded man attacking people on the square with a knife, one of whom suffered a deep cut to his leg.

Stuerzenberger, who describes himself as an Islam-critical journalist, has been a member of several far-right anti-Islam organizations, including the PEGIDA movement that holds regular marches in cities especially in eastern Germany.

A policeman is seen on the footage shooting the attacker as he grapples on the ground with another man, whereupon he rolls in pain on the cobbles.

There is no immediate danger to the public, police say in a statement.

Warning: Graphic content

Allahu-Akbar: Islam-Kritiker Michael #Stürzenberger wird bei einer Kundgebung in #Mannheim von einem streng gläubigen Messer-Moslem abgestochen!
Auch ein Polizist bekommt einen Stich in den Hals.https://t.co/gPPKqrXkkK pic.twitter.com/5ZW1PvzFbW

— Hartes Geld (@Hartes_Geld) May 31, 2024

Houthis claim to launch missile attack on US aircraft carrier in Red Sea

File: In this photo obtained from the US Department of Defense, the US Navy's aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (IKE) transits the Strait of Hormuz on November 26, 2023. (Ruskin Naval / US Department of Defense / AFP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthis launched a missile attack on the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea in response to US and British strikes on Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree says.

Six US and British strikes have killed 16 people and wounded 41, including civilians, Saree says in a televised statement.

Strikes in the province of Hodeidah targeted the port of Salif, a radio building in Al-Hawk district, Ghalifa camp, and two houses, Saree says.

The US and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command said US and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

IDF probing failure to intercept drones that exploded in Golan; projectile fired from Lebanon strikes Metula

Two explosive-laden drones launched from Lebanon struck an area in the northern Golan Heights earlier today, the military says.

The IDF says it is investigating why it failed to intercept the two drones. There were no injuries in the attack, which set off drone sirens in two communities in the Golan.

Also earlier today, the IDF says a projectile launched from Lebanon struck the Metula area, causing no damage or injuries. Troops shelled the launch site in response, the military says.

Suspected drone infiltration sirens that sounded a short while ago in the Galilee Panhandle and an hour ago in the Golan Heights were false alarms, the IDF adds.

2 drones explode in Golan, as sirens blare almost non-stop in northern communities

Two drones explode in the Golan Heights, Hebrew media outlets report, as rocket and drone infiltration sirens blare almost constantly in northern communities.

No injuries or damage are reported in the incident.

Trump verdict shows US ‘eliminating its political rivals,’ Kremlin says

Former US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented trial for falsifying business records shows the White House is “eliminating its political rivals” by any means, the Kremlin says.

“The fact that a de-facto elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means is going on there is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

FM Katz rejects Spain’s request to lift restrictions on consulate

Foreign Minister Israel Katz says he rejected Spain’s request to end restrictions on its consulate in Jerusalem, which were imposed after Madrid recognized Palestinian statehood.

“The State of Israel will not remain silent in the face of the Spanish government’s unilateral decision to recognize a Hamas-led Palestinian state @sanchezcastejon and the antisemitic statements by @Yolanda_Diaz_ to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state from the river to the sea,” Katz writes on X, referencing comments by Spain’s defense minister earlier in the week.

“Any connection between the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and individuals in the Palestinian Authority poses a threat to Israel’s national security and will be completely prohibited. We will strictly enforce these guidelines — if violations occur, additional measures will be taken, up to the closure of the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem,” Katz warns.

Today, I rejected @jmalbares's request to lift the restrictions imposed on the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem.

The State of Israel will not remain silent in the face of the Spanish government's unilateral decision to recognize a Hamas-led Palestinian state @sanchezcastejon and…

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 31, 2024

Likud MK apologizes to hostage’s brother after clash on live TV

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky speaks in an interview with Kan, May 30, 2024. (Kan, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky says he phoned Dani Elgarat to apologize for accusing him of exploiting the plight of his brother Itzik who is being held hostage in Gaza for political gain yesterday.

Speaking to Kan radio, Milwidsky says he told Elgarat that despite their disagreements, “it wasn’t right for me to say those things at all, and definitely not live [on TV].”

“I really hope to see his brother in Israel as soon as possible. And he accepted it and he apologized also for things he said and we ended the conversation with hopes for better days,” the lawmaker added.

PMO apologizes after Netanyahu shows map of Morocco excluding disputed Western Sahara

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office apologizes after showing a map in a French TV interview that excludes the Western Sahara from the borders of Morocco yesterday, sparking uproar in the northern African kingdom.

The statement asserts that Israel has recognized Rabat’s sovereignty over the disputed region since 2023 and that the map used by Netanyahu in the interview was not altered accordingly.

“Israel’s policy is unequivocal and has not changed — Israel recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty in Western Sahara,” the PMO stresses.

The Western Sahara dispute dates back to 1975, when colonial ruler Spain withdrew from the territory, sparking a 15-year war between Morocco and the Polisario Front movement seeking independence in the territory.

Rabat controls nearly 80 percent of the Western Sahara and sees the entire territory, home to abundant phosphates and fisheries, as its sovereign territory.

Rabat advocates for limited autonomy for the vast desert territory, while the Polisario seeks independence and has called for a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, but it has never taken place.

As part of the 2020 forging ties between Jerusalem and Morocco, brokered by the Trump administration, the US recognized Morocco’s unilateral annexation of Western Sahara. Despite pressure, the Biden administration has not reversed the US recognition of the disputed territory.

Morocco stated that it normalized diplomatic relations with Israel to gain recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Yesterday, Netanyahu presented a map that still shows Western Sahara as NOT part of Morocco.

The normalization was free. pic.twitter.com/Op3FhrsRc1

— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) May 31, 2024

AFP contributed to this report.

Official in negotiating team: Hamas ‘delusional’ if it thinks war will end without hostage release

A member of Israel’s hostage negotiating team emphasizes there will not be a cessation of fighting in Gaza without the release of hostages, a day after Hamas said it would only negotiate with Israel if it ended its operations in the Strip first.

The unnamed official tells the Ynet news site that the terror group’s stance is “delusional.”

“It won’t happen. Israel is fighting in Gaza, it will continue to fight in Gaza with all its strength, and if they want a truce for the benefit of Gaza’s residents it must only be through negotiating the release of hostages,” the official says.

The official says while Israel is determined to reach a deal, it is “clear to everyone that [Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is trying to force a ceasefire, and it won’t happen.”

Ben Gvir says AG standing up for ‘terror supporter’ after prosecution calls out unlawful arrest of Israeli Arab

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir charges that the Attorney General’s Office has intervened on behalf of a “terror supporter,” after prosecutors said police unlawfully arrested an Israeli Arab yesterday for online posts that allegedly disturbed the public order.

Ben Gvir complains that the office has not answered his call to investigate newly elected Labor chairman Yair Golan for allegedly inciting rebellion and refusal to serve in the army during the war, yet published a letter calling out the arrest of Rasha Karim Khrami from Majd Al-Krum.

“The unfortunate announcement issued by the prosecutor’s office on behalf of the supporter of terrorism reflects well the moral and professional disruption of the attorney general and the officials around her, who behave in an unprecedented manner against the state,” he writes on X.

לא ייאמן! היועמ״שית שעדיין לא מצאה לנכון להורות על חקירת יאיר גולן בגין הסתה למרד וסרבנות בשעת מלחמה, מיהרה להתערב לטובת תומכת הטרור רשה כרים ממג׳ד אל כרום שנעצרה בידי המשטרה.

ההודעה האומללה שהוציאה הפרקליטות למען תומכת הטרור, משקפת היטב את השיבוש המוסרי והמקצועי של היועמ״שית… pic.twitter.com/lLABFhOQ1l

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 31, 2024

Spain spurns planned ‘restrictions’ on consulate over Palestinian state recognition

A Spanish fighting bull billboard, is painted with the colors of the Palestinian flag and a writing that reads "free Palestine," on the outskirts of Madrid, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

MADRID, Spain — Spain rejects “restrictions” that Israel plans to impose on the activities of its consulate in Jerusalem in response to Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares says.

“This morning we sent a note verbale to the Israeli government in which we reject any restriction on the normal activity of the Spanish consulate general in Jerusalem, as its status is guaranteed by international law,” he says during an interview with radio Onda Cero.

IDF completes three-week op in north Gaza’s Jabaliya, described as war’s most intense fighting

IDF troops operate in northern Gaza's Jabaliya, in a handout photo published May 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says its 98th Division has wrapped up a nearly three-week-long operation in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, during which troops killed hundreds of terror operatives, recovered the bodies of seven slain Israeli hostages, and demolished major tunnels.

IDF officers have described the fighting in Jabaliya as some of the most intense amid the war. Jabaliya’s historic refugee camp is one of Gaza’s most dense areas, and troops came under massive RPG fire by Hamas operatives.

The IDF says Hamas turned Jabaliya’s civilian infrastructure into “a fortified combat complex,” opened fire at troops from schools and other sites where civilians were sheltering, and built tunnel networks under civilian buildings.

Some 120 anti-tank projectiles were launched at the troops, along with dozens more incidents of planted explosive devices, sniper fire, and drones that dropped bombs, according to the military.

Overground, the division’s 7th, 460th, and Paratroopers brigades killed hundreds of gunmen in “intense battles” and destroyed dozens of sites belonging to terror groups, the IDF says.

The IDF estimates that it killed around 500-600 terror operatives during the operation in Jabaliya. Only 350 have been verified so far, following battles and airstrikes.

IDF troops operate at a tunnel in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya where the bodies of seven Israeli hostages were recovered, in a handout photo published May 31, 2024.

More than 200 airstrikes were carried out adjacent to the ground forces amid the operation, killing gunmen, including Hamas field commanders, the IDF says.

Hundreds of weapons, as well as several weapon-manufacturing sites and several rocket launchers, were located and destroyed by troops in the operation, the IDF says.

Underground, some 12 kilometers (7 miles) worth of Hamas tunnels were demolished by combat engineers, after troops raided the underground networks, the IDF says.

In one tunnel network, troops recovered the bodies of Ron Benjamin, Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila, Orión Hernández Radoux, Hanan Yablonka, and Michel Nisenbaum. All seven were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and their bodies were kidnapped to Gaza, according to the IDF.

In another tunnel in Jabaliya, the commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion, Hussien Fiad, along with several more operatives, were killed by special forces.

Two Hamas attack tunnels were also demolished amid the operation. The tunnels had reached around 500 meters from the Israeli border, according to IDF assessments.

Ten Israeli soldiers were killed amid the Jabaliya operation, the last being Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel, 24, who was killed yesterday.

According to an initial IDF probe, Gavriel was hit by a grenade hurled by a terror operative from a building as troops were scanning the area. The soldiers killed the operative a short while later.

The 98th Division will now be given time for R&R, training, and going over plans for future operations in Gaza.

Hostage’s relative: PM’s aide told us government will only bring back hostages if deal pays off politically

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat is held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, says National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told relatives of captives yesterday that the government would only reach a deal to bring back their loved ones if it would politically benefit them.

“He said that if there is a way in which they can bring about the return of the hostages — it is if polls tell the government that from a political point of view, it will pay off,” Dickmann tells Army Radio, a day after Hanegbi was quoted by Channel 12 saying the government would not stop the war to free the remaining captives.

For the first time, IDF says it’s conducting ‘precise’ operation in central Rafah

An IDF tank operating in the Gaza Strip, in an image released on May 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF confirms for the first time that it is operating in the center of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, while calling the offensive against Hamas there “precise” and “intelligence-based.”

Troops of the Commando and Givati brigades, operating in central Rafah, located rocket launchers, tunnel shafts, and caches of weapons used by Hamas, the military says.

In other areas of Rafah, including the eastern part of the city and along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, the IDF says other forces under the 162nd Division located long-range rockets and additional weapons and military equipment.

Also in the Rafah area, the military says a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force was killed in a drone strike.

Strikes were carried out against “numerous” more targets across Gaza over the past day, including weapon depots, buildings used by terror groups and cells of gunmen, the IDF adds.

כוחות אוגדה 162 ממשיכים לפעול בצורה ממוקדת ומבוססת מודיעין במרחב רפיח.
לוחמי עוצבת הקומנדו, הפועלים במרכז רפיח יחד עם צק"ח גבעתי, איתרו במרחב משגרי רקטות, פירי מנהרות ואמל"ח של ארגון הטרור חמאס והשמידו מחסן אמצעי לחימה ששימש את חמאס במרחב >> pic.twitter.com/xa0ZTIsOFk

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 31, 2024

Houthis say 14 killed in US and British strikes in Yemen

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Houthi Al-Masirah television says 14 people have been killed and over 30 wounded in US and British strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah province.

The outlet reports that the strikes targeted a radio building in Hodeidah’s Al-Hawk district and port of Salif.

The US and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday as part of efforts to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command said in a statement that US and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

The British Defense Ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.

“As ever, the utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimize any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risks.”

BREAKING:

US and British warplanes are currently dropping bombs on Yemen in the middle of the night, targeting 13 different locations, including telecommunications infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/4PXNjJFRyp

— sarah (@sahouraxo) May 30, 2024

Hostages Families Forum accuses government of choosing to ‘sacrifice’ their loved ones

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum accuses the government of intentionally deciding to “sacrifice the hostages,” slamming comments made by Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi insulting the relatives of captives.

They have decided “to withdraw from a fundamental moral principle according to which Israel will never leave anyone behind, and prefer to continue the fighting over achieving the main goal of freeing the hostages who were abandoned by the government,” the forum says in a statement.

“The captives, and the entire State of Israel, have been taken hostage by those who choose political interests over their national duties,” the statement reads.

On Thursday, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi reportedly said that the current government will not agree to end its war against Hamas in exchange for the release of all the remaining hostages held by the terror group, during a meeting with relatives.

Hanegbi was also said to snap at relatives who criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Appearing on the Kan public broadcaster, Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky accused Dani Elgarat of exploiting the plight of his brother Itzik who is being held hostage in Gaza for political gain.

IDF: Fighter jets strike four buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets struck buildings used by the Hezbollah terror group in southern Lebanon overnight.

Four buildings were struck in the villages of Aitaroun and Markaba, the IDF says, releasing footage of the strike.

IDF announces Adar Gavriel and Yonatan Elias were killed fighting in Gaza

Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel, left, and Sgt. Yonatan Elias, killed during fighting in Gaza on May 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Two IDF soldiers were killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.

The slain soldiers are named as:

Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel, 24, of the Bislamach Brigade’s 6828th Battalion, from Caesarea.

Sgt. Yehonatan Elias, 20, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Jerusalem.

According to initial IDF probes, Gavriel was killed in the northern Gaza Strip during a battle with terror operatives, while Elias was killed, and another Givati officer was seriously wounded, as a result of an anti-tank missile fired at them in the southern Gaza Strip.

Their deaths raise the toll from Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas to 294.

Trump lawyer says he will appeal verdict ‘as soon as we can’

Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 29, 2024. (Curtis Means / POOL / AFP)

Donald Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche says the real estate mogul will appeal his guilty verdict after becoming the first former US president ever convicted of a crime in his hush money trial.

Blanche indicates on CNN that Trump would push forward with post-trial motions and “if that is not successful, then as soon as we can appeal we will. And the process in New York is there’s a sentencing, and then we appeal from there.”

Trump could still vote for himself after New York conviction if he’s not in prison on Election Day

Former US president Donald Trump walks outside of Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Donald Trump may be convicted of a felony and reside in Florida, a state notorious for restricting the voting rights of people with felony convictions. But he can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.

That’s because Florida defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. In Trump’s case, New York law only removes the right to vote for people convicted of felonies when they’re incarcerated. Once they’re out of prison, their rights are automatically restored, even if they’re on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.

“If a Floridian’s voting rights are restored in the state of conviction, they are restored under Florida law,” Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center writes in a post explaining the state of law, noting that people without Trump’s legal resources are often confused by Florida’s complex rules.

So as long as Trump isn’t sent to prison, he can vote for himself in Florida in November’s election.

Trump was convicted earlier today of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

A lifelong New Yorker, Trump established residency in Florida in 2019, while he was in the White House.

Even if he is elected president again, Trump will not be able to pardon himself of state charges in New York. The president’s pardon power applies only to federal crimes.

Biden campaign: Trump verdict shows ‘no one above law’; GOP speaker: ‘A shameful day in US history’

Former US president Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after being found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree at Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Donald Trump’s conviction by a New York court shows that “no one is above the law”, his election rival President Joe Biden’s campaign says.

“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” Biden-Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler says in a statement.

“But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box.”

Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson describes Trump’s conviction on all charges in his hush money case Thursday as “shameful.”

“Today is a shameful day in American history. Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon. This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one,” he says in a statement.

Trump trial judge sets sentencing for July 11

Former US president Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Donald Trump’s sentencing for falsifying business records will take place on July 11, the judge who presided over the trial says.

Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for 10:00 am local time on July 11, just days ahead of the Republican convention where Trump is expected to be named the party’s presidential nominee.

‘Real verdict’ will be November 5 election, Trump says, blasting ‘Soros-backed DA’

Former US president Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after a jury convicted him of felony crimes for falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, at Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Former president Donald Trump says the “real verdict” would be the US election in November after a New York jury convicted him on all charges in his hush money case on Thursday.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people. And they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here,” Trump says as he leaves the court.

“I’m a very innocent man, and it’s OK. I’m fighting for our country. I’m fighting for our constitution.”

He also blames the “Soros-backed DA,” referring to District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

George Soros, the Jewish progressive megadonor, is a frequent target of the right and of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

טראמפ בצאתו מבית המשפט: "המשפט מכור, השופט מוטה, העם יכריע בבחירות"; גזר הדין – ב-11 ביולי@itamargalit pic.twitter.com/k8odWbVHj1

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 30, 2024

Likud MK accuses hostage’s brother of exploiting plight of the abducted for political gain

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky speaks during a Knesset Finance Committee hearing, February 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky accuses Dani Elgarat of exploiting the plight of his brother Itzik who is being held hostage in Gaza for political gain.

Appearing on a Kan public broadcaster panel along with Elgarat, Milwidsky says the hostage’s brother is wrongly smearing the Israeli government abroad.

“You’re engaging in politics on the backs of the hostages,” Elgarat tells Milwidsky in response.

“No, you’re the one engaging in politics on the backs of the hostages. You’re exploiting the horrible human tragedy of the hostages, you’re exploiting the situation of your brother and you’re advancing a political agenda. That’s exactly what you’re doing,” Milwidsky responds as the Kan anchors try to calm the sides down.

תצפו, תרתחו ותעיפו את זה לכל עבר!
בראיון שנערך היום בערוץ 33
עם @elgarat_dani, הטיח בו ח"כ מילביצקי את הדברים שאתם רואים ושומעים כאן.
אני רועד מכעס וזעם, פיזית.
הלב תיכף יוצא מהחזה.
גם אם זה הדבר האחרון שתעשו בחייכם – שתפו את החרפה התת אנושית הזו. תייגו תקשורת ופוליטיקה. תודה. pic.twitter.com/4KTniLAPld

— סשימי תבורי ????️ (@Guitaryahu) May 30, 2024

First-ever convicted president: Jury finds Trump guilty on all counts in hush money trial

Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Donald Trump has become the first US president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.

After deliberations over two days, the 12-member jury announced it had found Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced. Unanimity was required for any verdict.

Trump watched the jurors dispassionately as they were polled to confirm the guilty verdict.

The verdict plunges the United States into unexplored territory ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, when Trump, the Republican candidate, will try to win the White House back from Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump, 77, has denied wrongdoing and is expected to appeal.

He faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of that crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win.

The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents after sitting through a five-week trial that featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current wife Melania. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.