May 31: Hamas official insists group didn’t reject US offer, slams ‘complete bias’ toward Israel
Hamas changes to hostage deal proposal included demand for 7-year truce, says Israeli official * Father of slain hostage accuses PM of risking captives, inciting violence in Israel
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Senior Hamas official insists group didn’t reject Witkoff’s offer, decries ‘complete bias’ toward Israel
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim tells Reuters that the terror group did not reject the ceasefire and hostage deal proposal presented by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Instead, he insists, Israel’s response to Witkoff’s proposal was incompatible with what the group agreed on.
He adds that Witkoff’s position toward the terror group is “unfair” and shows “complete bias” toward Israel.
Hamas changes to hostage deal proposal include demand for 7-year ceasefire, Israeli official says
Hamas has requested a ceasefire lasting up to seven years in its response to the latest hostage and ceasefire proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, an Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel.
The terror group’s response includes several edits to the framework, among them the demand for a years-long truce, a full IDF withdrawal from all territory captured since March, the cancellation of the new aid distribution model in Gaza, and a return to the previous aid mechanism, Ynet reported earlier.
A source directly involved in the negotiations told The Times of Israel earlier that Hamas demanded changes that would make it harder for Israel to resume its military campaign if talks on a permanent ceasefire are not completed by the end of the 60-day truce.
Hamas responsible for continued war in Gaza, FM Sa’ar declares after group responds to truce proposal
Hamas is responsible for the continuation of the war in Gaza, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declares, after the terror group says it wants several amendments to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s ceasefire and hostage deal proposal.
“Hamas initiated this war with the 7/10 massacre [and] is responsible for its continuation by refusing to release our hostages and disarm,” says Sa’ar, in an English-language post on X.
If France and the UK want to reach a ceasefire, pressure should be put on Hamas that continues to say No, instead of attacking Israel, which says Yes,” he adds, referring to the increasing criticism that has been emerging from Europe over the continued war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas initiated this war with the 7/10 massacre is responsible for its continuation by refusing to release our hostages and disarm.
If France and the UK want to reach a ceasefire – pressure should be put on Hamas that continues to say No, instead of attacking Israel, which says… https://t.co/XojII4F20T— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) May 31, 2025
PM’s office: Israel agreed to Witkoff’s truce proposal while Hamas ‘clings to its refusal’
The Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement that despite Israel agreeing to the latest hostage and ceasefire proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Hamas again refuses to agree to a deal.
“While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff framework for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to cling to its refusal,” writes the PMO.
Hamas announced that it responded positively to the framework, while requesting several amendments be made.
Echoing Witkoff’s reply to Hamas’s response, the PMO says, “It is unacceptable and sets the process back.”
“Israel will continue its efforts to bring our hostages home and to defeat Hamas,” concludes the statement.
While Netanyahu told hostage families earlier this week that he principally backed Witkoff’s proposal — which his own confidant Ron Dermer signed off on before it was sent to Hamas — Israel’s cabinet had yet to vote on it and several members had expressed their opposition to it.
US envoy Witkoff dismisses ‘totally unacceptable’ Hamas response to hostage deal proposal
US special envoy Steve Witkoff says Hamas’s response to his hostage deal proposal is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward.”
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he says.
“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,” Witkoff adds.
This appears to be the first time Witkoff is framing his proposal as a mere framework for subsequent talks, rather than a final proposal for the parties to accept.
US President Donald Trump indicated to reporters yesterday that a deal could be announced later that day or today.
On the other hand, the proposal did stipulate that the parties would still have to reach an agreement on the parameters of Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza during the 60-day truce.
Teenage ex-hostages plead for return of father’s body: ‘I need to know he’s here’
Captivity survivor Or Yaakov, who was 16 years old when he, his brother Yagil, and father Yair were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, says his captors initially bound him because they thought he was a soldier.
“I cried. I thought about my mother, my father, my home,” says Or Yaakov. “I asked myself: What if Dad’s in captivity? What if he’s not alive?”
“Only two months after we were returned did we learn he had been murdered,” says Or. His father was killed in the attack on their home, and his body was taken to Gaza.
Or and his brother were released from captivity during the weeklong truce-hostage deal of November 2023.
“I need to know he’s here so I can get back to my life,” says Or of his father. “Why have we been waiting over 600 days just to bury him?”
Yagil Yaakov, who was 12 when he was kidnapped, says that “for the entire captivity I was alone with two terrorists.”
“I was nervous, sad, didn’t eat anything. They got annoyed, took a big plank and said, ‘If you don’t stop crying, we’ll take this and beat you with it until you stop,'” says Yagil, quoting his captors in Arabic.
“I didn’t stop, because a 12-year-old has no clue what’s going on. So they kept beating me until I was in pain and screamed, ‘Stop!'” Yagil continues, quoting himself in Arabic as well.
Despite being free, Yagil says he still feels his captivity: “The shackles on my hands, the burns, the smell of smoke, bruises all over my body.”
“Please, pray, fight, scream,” he says. “We won’t be silent until my dad and all the hostages are back.”
IDF reissues evacuation warning for Rafah, Khan Younis area in southern Gaza
The IDF reissues a wide evacuation warning for the entire Rafah and Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip, amid an ongoing ground offensive.
The military calls for Palestinians residing in areas marked on a map in red to evacuate westward toward the Mawasi area on the coast.
The warning comes after several rockets were launched at southern Israel from the Khan Younis area earlier today.
The latest order covers much of the same areas previously ordered to evacuate in March and earlier this month.
#عاجل ‼️إلى جميع سكان خانيونس وبني سهيلا وعبسان
⭕️المنظمات الإرهابية تواصل استخدام محيطكم لإطلاق القذائف الصاروخية نحو إسرائيل حيث سيهاجم جيش الدفاع بقوة كل منطقة يتم استخدامها منطلقًا لأنشطة إرهابية.
⭕️تم انذار وتحذير هذه المنطقة عدة مرات في الماضي وتم تحديدها منطقة قتال خطيرة… pic.twitter.com/rLP4YZCJYa— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 31, 2025
Air Force dropped over 50 munitions in 30 seconds in strike that killed Muhammad Sinwar, IDF says
Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped over 50 munitions in 30 seconds in the strike that eliminated Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar in southern Gaza on May 13, according to the military.
The strike targeted a tunnel system that ran underneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Alongside Sinwar, the strike also killed Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.
According to the IDF, the “precise” missiles hit the underground Hamas command center and tunnel system, killing the senior commanders, without harming the hospital itself.
Father of slain hostage accuses PM of risking captives, inciting violence, making Israel ‘more dictatorial’
Speaking before some 1,000 anti-government, pro-hostage deal protesters outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, Michel Illouz, father of slain hostage Guy Illouz, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to hurt the captives, and is inciting violence within Israeli society and turning the country less democratic.
Illouz says that in a meeting on Thursday with the premier and eight other hostage families, he asked Netanyahu how the current truce-hostage proposal in Gaza was any different from the previous one, which the prime minister had scuttled after its first phase.
“In the last deal, too, you had no intention of progressing to the second deal,” which would have required Israel to withdraw from the Strip, Illouz says he told Netanyahu. “You’re basically giving up and are willing to sacrifice my son.”
Illouz says he also accused Netanyahu of sowing tensions among the hostage families by deciding which of their loved ones would be included in a deal, thus resembling another “Schindler’s List.”
“When I got no answer,” Illouz says, he told Netanyahu: “I can handle the loss of my son… what I can’t handle is what you are doing to us, Israeli society. You’re sowing discord among us… You’re causing wars within our nation. You need to stop playing your coalition games.”
“Of course, I got no answer,” says Illouz.
To applause, Illouz says he’s “very worried for the future of the State of Israel… which becomes more dictatorial every single day.”
“The Israeli government is carrying out a military operation that could put the hostages’ lives at risk,” he says. “Is that moral? Is that human? Is that Jewish? Is that Israeli?”
After speeches, protesters light a bonfire on the street, sending up a large column of dark smoke. The fire is swiftly put out by cops.
As opposed to recent weeks, tonight’s Begin Road protest was not preceded by an anti-government protest on Habima Square.
Nor did there appear to be a silent vigil on Kaplan Street for Gazan children killed by Israel. The vigil has taken place since Israel ended the last ceasefire with Hamas on March 18.
Israeli official says mediators yet to pass along formal Hamas response to hostage deal proposal
A formal response from Hamas to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s hostage and ceasefire proposal “has not yet been received from the mediators,” a senior Israeli official says.
Earlier today, a Hamas official told Reuters that the terror group responded positively to the framework presented earlier this week, but requested certain amendments be made.
An anonymous Israeli official told Israeli reporters earlier that Jerusalem views Hamas’s response to the Witkoff proposal as an “effective rejection,” due to the group’s numerous edits.
A source involved in the talks told The Times of Israel that mediators are still trying to moderate Hamas’s demands for the deal.
After Muhammad Sinwar’s death confirmed, Katz warns remaining Hamas leaders: You are next
After the military confirmed the death of Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar in an airstrike several weeks ago, Defense Minister Israel Katz warns the remaining leaders of the terror group in Gaza and abroad that they are next.
“Now it is official: The murderer Muhammad Sinwar has been eliminated with the Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana and the wicked gang who were with them under the European Hospital in Gaza, and he was sent to meet his brother at the gates of hell,” Katz says in a statement
“Izz al-Din Haddad in Gaza and Khalil al-Hayya abroad, and all their partners in crime, you are next in line,” he adds.
Haddad is Hamas’s Gaza City commander — the de facto most senior official in the Strip — and al-Hayya is a member of Hamas’s leadership council abroad.
Several said injured in latest settler raid of Palestinian village; no arrests
Several Palestinians have been injured in the latest settler raid of a village in the West Bank, Al Jazeera and other Arabic media outlets report.
The latest attack has targeted the village of Deir Dibwan near Ramallah.
Assailants torched a building located on the outskirts of the village and hurled stones at residents inside the town, according to reports.
As is almost always the case in such attacks, which have been taking place across the West Bank on a near-daily basis, there are no reports of any arrests.
لحظة هجوم مستوطنين على قرية دير دبوان، شرق رام الله. pic.twitter.com/RiYnWWldtl
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 31, 2025
IDF, Shin Bet confirm Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar killed in May 13 strike on tunnel under south Gaza hospital
Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis on May 13, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.
The strike also killed Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion, the joint statement says.
“The terrorists were eliminated while operating in an underground command and control center, under the European Hospital in Khan Younis, deliberately endangering the civilian population in and around the hospital,” the IDF says.
The IDF says it carried out “extensive intelligence measures… “to enable a precise strike that would mitigate civilian harm to the greatest extent possible.”
Muhammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander, is the younger brother of the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
The IDF describes him as “among the most senior and long-serving members of Hamas’s military wing,” adding that he “played a significant role in planning and executing the brutal October 7 massacre, serving as chief of operations at the time.”
Following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing. Later, after his older brother was killed by IDF troops, he became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Sinwar previously served as the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade and the head of Hamas’s military operations division. He was also involved in the abduction of soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
Shabana, according to the IDF, “was one of the planners and executors of the brutal October 7 massacre and oversaw the captivity of many hostages in southern Gaza.”
If Witkoff proposal inked, it will lead to release of all hostages, Israeli negotiators reportedly tell hostages’ families
If US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s ceasefire-hostage release proposal is carried out, it will ultimately lead to the release of all hostages held by Hamas, Israeli officials involved in talks tell the families of hostages, Channel 12 reports.
This is not a partial deal, the TV report cites the unnamed officials as saying.
Iran’s FM says he received ‘elements’ of US nuclear deal proposal
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he has received “elements” of a US proposal for a potential nuclear deal following five rounds of talks mediated by Oman.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi “paid a short visit to Tehran today to present elements of a US proposal which will be appropriately responded to in line with the principles, national interests and rights of the people of Iran,” Araghchi says on X.
Iran accuses Israel of giving ‘unreliable’ info to UN nuclear watchdog
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry accuses Israel of providing “unreliable and misleading information” to the United Nations nuclear watchdog to be used in its new report on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Relying on unreliable and misleading information sources provided by the Israeli regime … is contrary to the IAEA’s principles of professional verification,” the ministry says in a statement.
Rockets fired from Gaza hit open areas near border
Several rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel a short while ago, the IDF says.
The rockets struck open areas near the border communities of Nirim and Ein Hashlosha, according to the military.
There are no reports of injuries.
Hamas gave positive response to Witkoff proposal, official in terror group says
CAIRO, Egypt — Hamas has responded positively to a Gaza ceasefire-hostage release proposal presented by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, but is seeking some amendments, a Hamas official tells Reuters.
The official does not elaborate on the amendments being sought by the terror group.
Iran slams ‘political’ IAEA report on upped uranium enrichment
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounces as “political” and unbalanced a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog saying Tehran had stepped up production of highly enriched uranium.
“The structure and content of this report… which was prepared for political purposes… are not balanced and lack a comprehensive and accurate assessment of the factors affecting the current situation,” the ministry says in a statement.
Israeli official: Jerusalem treating Hamas response to Witkoff proposal as ‘effective rejection’
An Israeli official tells Israeli reporters on condition of anonymity that Jerusalem is treating Hamas’s response to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal as an “effective rejection.”
The Hamas response includes a series of edits to the Witkoff proposal, which was sent to Hamas earlier this week after Israel’s lead negotiator and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer signed off on it.
Despite the Hamas announcement that it has already submitted its response to Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal, mediators are still working with the group to soften some of the edits it has demanded, a source involved in the process tells The Times of Israel.
Rocket sirens blare in Gaza border communities
Rocket sirens are sounding in the Gaza border communities of Nirim and Ein Hashlosha.
The IDF says it is investigating the cause.
Israeli-Palestinian peace activists meet pope in Vatican
Peace activists Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah meet Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City today.
“Peace takes shape from the ground up, beginning with places, communities and local institutions, and by listening to what they have to tell us,” the pope says when meeting the activists, according to a post by the Alliance for Middle East Peace.
Inon is a peace activist whose parents, Bilha and Yakov Inon, were killed in Netiv HaAsara on October 7, 2023. Aziz Abu Sarah is an East Jerusalem resident whose brother was killed in an Israeli prison during the First Intifada.
Today, His Holiness @Pontifex met 🇮🇱 and 🇵🇸 peace entrepreneurs @maozinon and @AzizAbuSarah for an official visit at the Vatican. This historic welcome for I&P peace leaders reaffirms Vatican support first expressed at Arena di Pace 2024, which helped shape G7 policy last year. pic.twitter.com/YGXNjqQeh5
— ALLMEP (@ALLMEP) May 31, 2025
Source tells ToI: Hamas response includes demand that makes it harder for Israel to continue war
A source directly involved in the negotiations tells The Times of Israel that Hamas’s response to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal includes a demand that makes it more difficult for Israel to resume fighting if talks on a permanent ceasefire are not completed by the end of the 60-day truce.
The source says there were other changes Hamas made to the Witkoff proposal, adding that this would require a more drawn-out negotiation process.
The updated proposal submitted by Hamas envisions the release of the 10 hostages being spread out more throughout the 60-day truce, rather than in two batches on the first and seventh day as the US offer envisioned.
The source says this change is aimed at preventing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from abandoning talks on a permanent ceasefire after the 10 hostages are released or refusing to engage in them altogether as he did during the previous ceasefire in January.
IDF vehicles appear to intentionally damage Palestinian minibus in West Bank; IDF probing
The IDF says it is investigating after army vehicles were filmed appearing to intentionally damage a Palestinian minibus in the West Bank city of Jenin last night.
Footage from the incident showed an IDF David and Panther light armored personnel carriers crashing into the side of the minibus while driving through the area.
There were no reports of injuries in the incident.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the military says the incident is under investigation.
لن تشاهدوا أقذر منهم
فجراً عربات الاحتلال المصفحة تصطدم بشكل متعمد بباص الحجاج في جنين pic.twitter.com/nnOSyWOyk6
— Muhmd Sd 🇵🇸 🍉 (@MhmmedSd) May 31, 2025
Hamas says it gave answer to Witkoff’s Gaza truce proposal, keeps mum on stance
Hamas announces that it has submitted its response to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal.
The statement from the terror group doesn’t specify whether the group has accepted or rejected the proposal.
Sources told The Times of Israel that Hamas planned to accept the offer, while submitting reservations, aimed primarily at preventing Israel from resuming the war after the temporary truce proposed by Witkoff.
The Hamas statement says its response to the Witkoff proposal aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — two demands the Israeli government has largely rejected at this stage.
Hamas confirms that the proposal being discussed would see the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 slain hostages in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.
Group of hostages’ families fear for those left behind under partial deal with Hamas
A group of hostages’ families fear that reaching a temporary deal to release captives in Gaza will lead to the deaths of those left behind, during a weekly press conference.
Einav Zangauker says she discovered this week that her son Matan, who is held by Hamas, miraculously escaped bombings several times, “and in one case, almost suffocated to death from toxic gases in a tunnel that was bombed and collapsed.”
Zangauker slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for only seeking a partial deal to return hostages, which will be a “death sentence for hostages that remain behind.”
Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage, expresses fears that his son would be left behind under US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s current proposal being negotiated.
“He is likely to pay the price of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence not to end the war,” he says, adding: “Netanyahu is abandoning my son and is shattering the Israeli ethos for political reasons.”
Report: Hamas wants to release hostages in five stages instead of two outlined in Witkoff proposal
The Egyptian Al-Rad Channel reports that Hamas has responded to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a ceasefire-hostage deal, demanding that the return of hostages be split into five stages, instead of two in the first week.
Citing unnamed sources, Hamas wants to release four living hostages on the first day of the 60-day truce, two living hostages on the 30th day, and on the last day of the deal, it will release four more hostages.
Hamas is offering to release the bodies of dead hostages on the 30th and 50th day of the proposed ceasefire, the report says.
Firefighters battling blazes in Golan Heights, Jerusalem area
Firefighters are battling blazes in the Golan Heights and outside of Jerusalem, between the moshavim of Givat Yeshayahu and Tsafarim.
Police have ordered the evacuation of the Hamat Gader hot springs in the Golan Heights due to the out-of-control fire active in the area.
Nine firefighting teams and eight firefighting planes are working to bring the blaze under control, the Fire and Rescue Service says.
Meanwhile, a pair of firefighting planes as well as firefighting teams from Beit Shemesh are trying to extinguish the fire between Givat Yeshayahu and Tsafarim, the Fire and Rescue service says
GHF downplays video of crowd overrunning Gaza aid site today
A Gaza Humanitarian Foundation spokesperson downplays footage from earlier today showing Palestinians overrunning one of its aid distribution sites, asserting that the scene was relatively calm and that a certain level of chaos is expected due to how hungry Gazans are.
Israel lightly lifted its blockade of Gaza after 78 days last week.
The GHF spokesperson says its contractors running the site allowed Palestinians to take boxes themselves, while helping those in need, and that the hope is to soon transition to a more orderly process when desperation in Gaza dies down.
This horrific scene is from today in Gaza, at one of the so-called “humanitarian distribution sites” of GHF.
There’s nothing humanitarian about it—it’s a display of inhumanity and humiliation. pic.twitter.com/Sd5k489UzQ
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) May 31, 2025
PA chief Abbas’s deputy says Israel’s barring of delegation to West Bank ‘a dangerous escalation’
Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh calls Israel’s decision to block a Middle Eastern ministerial delegation from visiting the West Bank “a dangerous escalation.”
Sheikh, who was recently appointed Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s deputy, tweets that Ramallah is deliberating with its regional partners on how to respond.
IAF reserve pilot says he will no longer fight war, claims it is harming chance of freeing hostages
IAF pilot Lt. Col. (res) “Pey” says he has informed his commanders that he won’t show up for a fourth round of reserve duty, telling Kan radio on Friday he believes the war is harming efforts to release hostages.
The pilot, whose name cannot be made public for security reasons, says that while the military has done all it can to prevent harm to hostages, “there is also uncertainty and mistakes.”
“There is one percent of mistakes in everything. This means that about 1,000 munitions fell on people who should not have been killed. Whether it’s hostages, whether it’s our soldiers, whether it’s uninvolved individuals,” he says.
“Pey” says he can no longer continue fighting the war, since it is now “waged with a blatant conflict of interest that is causing disaster and is harming the chance of freeing hostages.”
Many reservists in the military have refused to answer the latest round of call-ups, over criticism of the ongoing handling of the war, as well as the mental health burden of the previous rounds of service.
IDF says dozens of strikes hit terror targets across Gaza over past day
Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip, including terror operatives and infrastructure used by Hamas, the military says.
According to Hamas authorities, 60 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.
The IDF says a drone strike on Friday in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood killed a prominent Hamas operative involved in manufacturing weapons.
In another incident on Friday, soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade spotted a cell of four armed operatives and eliminated them, the military says.
The paratroopers also located and destroyed several explosive devices that had been planted in their area of operations, the IDF adds.
France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues vandalized with green paint
PARIS, France — France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues and a restaurant in central Paris were vandalized with green paint overnight, according to police sources, prompting condemnation from government and city officials.
“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau says on X.
No arrests have been made.
Retailleau last week called for “visible and dissuasive” security measures at Jewish-linked sites amid concerns over possible antisemitic acts.
In a separate message seen by AFP, the interior minister on Friday had again ordered heightened surveillance ahead of the upcoming Jewish Shavuot holiday.
The French Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7, 2023.
“Antisemitic acts account for more than 60 percent of anti-religious acts, and the Jewish community is particularly vulnerable,” Retailleau says in the message seen by AFP.
Paris authorities would be lodging a complaint over the paint incident, the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, says.
“I condemn these acts of intimidation in the strongest possible terms. Anti-Semitism has no place in our city or in our Republic,” she says.
After alarming IAEA report, Netanyahu urges world to ‘act now to stop Iran’
The Prime Minister’s Office says that the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that Iran’s nuclear program was not peaceful and that Tehran remained determined to complete its nuclear weapons program.
“The international community must act now to stop Iran,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says, adding that the level of uranium enrichment Iran had reached “exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever.”
Arab FMs slam ‘arrogant’ Israeli decision to block trip to West Bank
AMMAN, Jordan — The foreign ministers of five Arab countries who had planned to visit the West Bank this weekend condemn Israel’s decision to block their plans.
The ministers condemn “Israel’s decision to ban the delegation’s visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas,” the Jordanian foreign ministry says.
Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates had been expected to take part alongside Turkey
The joint statement from the Arab ministers says the decision to block the visit “reflects the extent of the Israeli government’s arrogance, its disregard for international law, and its continued illegitimate measures and policies that besiege the brotherly Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership.”
The ministers add that Israel is seeking to perpetuate “the occupation, and undermine the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace.”
New IAEA report says Iran has amassed more enriched uranium
Iran previously carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the UN nuclear watchdog at three locations that have long been under investigation, the watchdog says in a wide-ranging, confidential report to member states seen by Reuters.
The International Atomic Energy Agency concludes that “these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear program carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material,” the “comprehensive” report requested by the IAEA’s Board of Governors in November says.
The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency — which was also seen by The Associated Press — says that as of May 17, Iran has amassed 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%. That’s an increase of 133.8 kilograms (294.9 pounds) since the IAEA’s last report in February.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds).
The IAEA chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has stressed repeatedly that “Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level.”
Grossi says he “reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to cooperate fully and effectively” with the IAEA.
Saudi FM to delay trip to West Bank after Israel bars him from entry
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud has delayed a planned trip to the West Bank after Israel blocked it, a Saudi source tells Reuters.
Palestinian sources say the visit was at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority to host a Saudi-led delegation of Arab foreign ministers in Ramallah in the West Bank.
The ministers needed approval from Israel, which controls access to the West Bank.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hamas authorities say 60 killed in strikes on Gaza over past 24 hours
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip reports 60 killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.
The figures have not been verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
This morning, Palestinian media reports strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis in the Strip’s south.
The IDF has not yet commented on its strikes in Gaza today.
Reports say Hamas gives overall positive response to Witkoff proposal, but still wants clear assurances for end to war
Hamas has handed its response to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s ceasefire-hostage release deal proposal to mediators, sources in the terror group tell the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat news outlet.
The sources say Hamas’s response is generally positive, but it wants the release of hostages to take place in additional stages, as opposed to days one and seven of the first week of the 60-day ceasefire.
The sources say that all Palestinian factions from across the Middle East took part in the deliberations on the response to form a united Palestinian position.
A similar Al-Arabiya report says that Hamas is concerned over the fact that there are no clear assurances in the proposal that the war will permanently end, and that the IDF will withdraw from Gaza.
Convoy of tractors from kibbutzim arrive at Hostages Square in call for captives’ freedom
A convoy of tractors that set out from kibbutzim across the country arrives at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to call for the return of hostages held in Gaza ahead of the upcoming Shavuot festival.
“The struggle for the return of the hostages is a struggle for the character and spirit of the State of Israel,” Kibbutz Movement chair Lior Simcha says in a statement, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do all he can to return the 58 captives.
‘The Hamas leadership has sold you out’: COGAT shares video of Gazan blasting terror chiefs
The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) issues a message to Gazans after a video posted to social media yesterday showed a Palestinian in the Strip criticizing Hamas’s leadership.
“Residents of Gaza, the Hamas leadership has sold you out. This is the same leadership that deceived you. Instead of focusing on caring for the civilian population, it abandoned its people, while senior leaders abroad indulge in luxury on airplanes, in hotels, and in restaurants,” says COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian in a Facebook post, where he attached an edited version of the social media video with subtitles. The full context of the clip is unclear.
Israel has been attempting to drive a wedge between Hamas and the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, in an effort to weaken the terror group’s rule in the Strip.
Yesterday, an Israeli defense official said Hamas’s rule in Gaza was slipping as a new aid distribution system ramped up activities.
A video of a Gazan man criticizing Hamas’s leadership in the Gaza Strip, in a video published on social media on May 30, 2025. (COGAT)
Hamas official: Terror group to submit response to Witkoff’s Gaza proposal today
Hamas will present its response to a ceasefire-hostage release deal proposal made by US special envoy Steve Witkoff later today, a senior official in the terror group tells al-Risala, a Hamas mouthpiece.
According to a copy of Witkoff’s latest proposal, the authenticity of which was confirmed to The Times of Israel by two sources familiar with the negotiations, Hamas would release 10 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza and return the bodies of 18 deceased hostages during a 60-day ceasefire.
In return, Israel would release 125 Palestinian terror convicts serving life sentences, 1,111 Gazans detained since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, and 180 bodies of Palestinians currently held by Israel.
The US proposal stipulates that the sides still need to agree on the parameters of the IDF’s partial withdrawal from Gaza during the temporary truce.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel that Hamas was disappointed with the proposal, since it still gives Israel the option to resume fighting at the end of the temporary truce, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to do.
Not wanting to be pegged as the party to blame for the impasse, Hamas is leaning toward accepting the proposal, while submitting a series of reservations, the two sources said, in what will likely drag the talks out for at least several more days.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
Syrian Kurds commander says he is in direct contact with Turkey, open to meeting Erdogan
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria says that his group is in direct contact with Turkey and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
The public comments represent a significant diplomatic overture by Mazloum Abdi, whose Syrian Democratic Forces fought Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels during Syria’s 14-year civil war.
Turkey has said the main Kurdish group at the core of the SDF is indistinguishable from the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which decided earlier this month to disband after 40 years of conflict with Turkey.
Abdi tells regional broadcaster Shams TV in an interview that his group was in touch with Turkey, without saying how long the communication channels had been open.
“We have direct ties, direct channels of communication with Turkey, as well as through mediators, and we hope that these ties are developed,” Abdi says. There is no immediate comment from Turkey on Abdi’s remarks.
He notes his forces and Turkish fighters “fought long wars against each other,” but that a temporary truce had brought a halt to those clashes for the last two months. Abdi says he hoped the truce could become permanent.
Local Hezbollah rocket unit commander killed in overnight south Lebanon strike, IDF says
A Hezbollah commander was killed in a drone strike in southern Lebanon overnight, the IDF says.
According to the military, the strike near Deir ez-Zahrani killed Muhammad Ali Jamoul, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit in the Beaufort Castle area.
The IDF says Jamoul advanced numerous rocket attacks on Israel during the war, and was recently involved in attempting to restore Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.
His actions “constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.
United Airlines announces resumption of Tel Aviv flights from June 5
United Airlines announces it will resume flight services from New York to Tel Aviv with a single flight on June 5.
The US airline says it will restart its second daily flight between the two cities the following day.
“This resumption follows a detailed assessment of operational considerations for the region and close work with the unions who represent our flight attendants and pilots,” United says in a statement.
United halted flight services between New York’s Newark airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on May 4 after a ballistic missile from Yemen struck an area at Israel’s main international airport.
Palestinian media reports over 100 aid trucks loaded with flour looted in Khan Younis area
Over 100 UN World Food Programme trucks loaded with flour were looted in the Khan Younis area, Palestinian media reports.
The Ynet news site reports that distribution of the flour had been set to begin tomorrow.
Gunfire can be heard in video footage. There are no immediate reports of injuries.
Under pressure from allies, Israel began allowing some humanitarian aid into Gaza last week after blocking all food, medicine, fuel or other goods from entering since March 2.
Aid groups have warned of famine and say the aid that has come in is nowhere near enough to meet mounting needs of an increasingly desperate Gazan civilian population.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, and says it needs to be tightly controlled to prevent it from helping the terror group.
📹 اعتراض شاحنات محملة بالطحين صباح اليوم على طريق صلاح الدين بخانيونس جنوبي قطاع غزة وسط إطلاق نار على المواطنين#غزة_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/PZDGKgqFsR
— ساحات – عاجل 🇵🇸 (@Sa7atPlBreaking) May 31, 2025
Iran’s FM says Tehran considers nuclear weapons ‘unacceptable’
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Iran considers nuclear weapons “unacceptable,” reiterating the country’s longstanding claim amid delicate negotiations with the United States.
“If the issue is nuclear weapons, yes, we too consider this type of weapon unacceptable,” Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in the talks, says in a televised speech. “We agree with them on this issue.”
The United States, Israel and other Western countries have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iran has categorically denied the claims, instead arguing that it is pursuing a nuclear program for civilian purposes alone. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, Iran is the only country in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent. That rate is only a technical step below the 90 percent threshold required for a nuclear weapon, and far above the 3.67 percent limit set under a 2015 agreement with world powers.
One said killed in Israeli strike in south Lebanon; no comment from IDF
One person is said to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in south Lebanon.
Lebanese reports cited by Hebrew-language media say the individual was killed in the strike in Deir ez-Zahrani.
There is no comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
דיווחים בלבנון על תקיפת רכב באמצעות כטב"ם בדרום המדינה@OmerShahar123 pic.twitter.com/LiqjFhlgKF
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 31, 2025
During the ongoing ceasefire in Lebanon, the IDF has continued to strike Hezbollah operatives and sites it says violate the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
More than 150 Hezbollah operatives have been killed since the start of the ceasefire in November 2024.
US government investigating messages, calls impersonating Trump’s chief of staff
The US government is investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures in recent weeks received messages from someone impersonating Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
A White House official confirms the investigation and says the White House takes cybersecurity of its staff seriously. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that senators, governors, business leaders and others began receiving text messages and phone calls from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the newspaper reported.
Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the report. Some received text messages that they initially thought were official White House requests but some people reported the messages did not sound like Wiles.
The FBI warned in a public service announcement this month of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which unidentified “malicious actors” have been impersonating senior US government officials.
The scheme, according to the FBI, has relied on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior US official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.
“Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority,” FBI Director Kash Patel says in a statement.
It is unclear how someone gained access to Wiles’ phone, but the intrusion is the latest security breach for Trump staffers. Last year, Iran hacked into Trump’s campaign and sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed, including a dossier on Vice President JD Vance, created before he was selected as Trump’s running mate.
Wiles, who served as a co-manager of Trump’s campaign before taking on the linchpin role in his new administration, has amassed a powerful network of contacts.
IDF reported to strike car in southern Lebanon
The IDF is reported to have struck in southern Lebanon overnight.
Local media says a car was destroyed by the military. There are no immediate further details.
Barcelona ends ‘friendship agreement’ with Tel Aviv over Gaza war
Barcelona’s city council voted yesterday to cut institutional ties with the Israeli government and suspend its friendship agreement with the city of Tel Aviv, citing alleged violations of international law and the rights of Palestinians.
The motion, supported by the governing Socialist party along with far-left and leftist pro-independence groups, calls for an end to all official relations with Israel “until respect for international law” and the “basic rights of the Palestinian people” are restored.
Barcelona will also suspend a 1998 friendship agreement with Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and it urged the trade fair organizer Fira de Barcelona not to host Israeli government pavilions or companies involved in the arms trade or profiting from the conflict in Gaza.
A similar recommendation was made to the Port of Barcelona.
“The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half, and recent attacks by the Israeli government, make any relationship unviable,” Barcelona’s Mayor Jaume Collboni said during the council session.
It is not the first time Barcelona has moved to suspend ties with Israel. In 2023, then-mayor Ada Colau took similar steps, which were later reversed when Collboni won local elections.
While the move has little practical impact, the decision by Spain’s second-largest city — a top tourist destination and home to one of the world’s best-known football clubs — adds to a growing list of critics of Israel amid the devastating war in Gaza.
Pentagon chief warns of imminent China threat
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns that the threat from China was real and potentially imminent as he pushed allies in the Indo-Pacific to spend more on their own defense needs.
Hegseth, speaking for the first time at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s premier forum for defense leaders, militaries and diplomats, underlines that the Indo-Pacific region was a priority for the Trump administration.
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth says, in some of his strongest comments on the Communist nation since he took office in January. He adds that any attempt by China to conquer Taiwan “would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,” and echoes Trump’s comment that China will not invade Taiwan on the president’s watch.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to “reunify” with the democratic and separately governed island, by force if necessary. It has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games around Taiwan.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
“It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo Pacific,” Hegseth says.