Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
US believes Rafah strikes not start of major operation — official
The United States is concerned about Israel’s latest strikes against the southern Gaza city of Rafah but does not believe they represent a major military operation, a US official says.
The official says Washington is focused on heading off a major military operation into densely populated areas of Rafah and that it does not appear the Israelis are doing that.
Palestinian reports claim Israeli tanks, troops pushing into Kerem Shalom crossing
Palestinian news outlets say Israeli forces are pushing into the Kerem Shalom crossing, shelling the area from the air and with artillery fire.
Al-Aqsa TV reports that Israeli tanks are firing at the crossing from some 200 meters (650 feet) away, destroying the terminal which has served as one of the main conduits for aid into Gaza since November.
The crossing sits some 3 kilometers from the eastern edges of Rafah in the far south of Gaza.
Other reports claim that ground forces are moving into the crossing area and that air strikes are hitting eastern Rafah.
There is no comment from the Israeli military on the reported action.
Police clear Ayalon freeway for second time; mother of hostage says time for deal is now
Police have managed to clear protesters from the Ayalon freeway in Tel Aviv after it was blocked for a second time by families of hostages and others supporting a deal to free captives, Channel 12 news reports.
Videos from the scene show at least one person appearing to be detained by police.
מקבץ סרטונים שמגיע מהחסימה באיילון לפני זמן קצר
באחד הסרטונים גם מעצר
דיווחים על שורה של מעצרים ברחבי הארץ בהפגנות הערב pic.twitter.com/LF8Hj6FV2v— Or-ly Barlev 🎗 אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) May 6, 2024
Protesters are demanding that Israel accept a deal offered by Hamas that would apparently free hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.
“The time has come to take the deal. The time has come for a ceasefire,” Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, yells into a bullhorn from the roof of a car stopped on the highway. We won’t let them pass up the chance tonight.”
מתן בטוח שומע. pic.twitter.com/5LGBkXcBgH
— כולנו חטופים (@Kulanu_Hatufim) May 6, 2024
Zangauker, who has become a leading government critic, tells channel 12 that the protests seen Monday night “are just the start.”
Jordan says Rafah strikes jeopardizing truce deal
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is jeopardizing a truce agreement by launching strikes in Rafah.
“Tremendous effort has been made to produce an exchange deal that’ll release hostages & realize a ceasefire. Hamas has put out an offer. If Netanyahu genuinely wants a deal, he will negotiate the offer in earnest. Instead, he is jeopardizing the deal by bombing Rafah,” Safadi says on social media platform X.
Israeli leaders said Hamas’s offer fell short of Jerusalem’s demands, and that the army would push ahead with a planned offensive on the southern Gaza city.
Several rockets fired at Sderot, shrapnel hits home
Three rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip at the southern city of Sderot a short while ago, the military says.
According to the IDF, two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, while the third hit an open area.
A spokesperson for Sderot says slight damage was caused to property from falling shrapnel following the interceptions.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jerusalem protesters block trucks carrying aid to Gaza
Israeli protesters in Jerusalem are blocking trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Jordan to Gaza, Army Radio reports.
Right-wing activists have expressed anger at the provision of aid to Gaza while over 130 Israelis remain hostage in the Palestinian territory, and have, at times, attempted to block the aid.
מפגינים חוסמים בגבעה הצרפתית בירושלים משאיות עם סיוע הומניטרי המיועד לתושבי עזה. המשאיות, שעושות את דרכן לרצועה, יצאו הערב ממעבר אלנבי בבקעת הירדן@hod_barel pic.twitter.com/ORoMZWq9uW
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) May 6, 2024
Gantz: Hamas offer inconsistent with our dialogue with mediators
Head of the National Unity party Minister Benny Gantz holds a press conference at the Knesset, April 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says the ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to “is inconsistent with the dialogue [Israel] held with the mediators to this point and has significant gaps [from Israel’s demands].”
In a statement, Gantz says Israel faces “a cruel enemy” and vows the nation “will never stop the effort to bring back our hostages.”
He says despite the problems with the Hamas position, Israel’s negotiators are “continuing their work at every moment” and “will leave no stone unturned,” as a delegation departs for Cairo to continue talks there.
“Every decision will be brought before the war cabinet. There will be no political considerations” in the decision-making, he says (emphasis in original).
Palestinian media purports to show Israeli strikes and flares over Rafah
Footage published by Palestinian media outlets purports to show Israeli strikes and flares over eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF issued a vague statement earlier saying troops were operating in a “targeted manner” against Hamas sites in the area.
عاجـــــــــــــل ‼️
نقلا عن القناة 14 الاسرائيلية: الجيش الإسرائيلي يؤكد: العملية المستهدفة في شرق رفح قد بدأت.#طولكرم #رفح #غزة #عاجل #العالم #القدس #طوفان_الاقصى
#رفح_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/fkCWMIVTYn— Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) May 6, 2024
NY Times, Reuters win Pulitzers for their coverage of Oct. 7, Gaza war
The New York Times and Reuters news service have won Pulitzers for their coverage of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
The staff of The New York Times won for its “wide-ranging and revelatory coverage” of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the intelligence failures by Israel, and the country’s response in Gaza. The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage.
The Pulitzers also issued special citations to journalists and writers covering the war in Gaza.
The photo staff of Reuters won for coverage of the Hamas attack on Israel and the first week of the country’s response in Gaza.
Conservative US judges boycott Columbia grads over campus Gaza protests
A group of 13 conservative US federal judges say they will not hire law students or undergraduates from Columbia University, in response to its handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The judges, all appointees of former US President Donald Trump, call the Manhattan campus an “incubator of bigotry” in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.
“Both professors and administrators are on the front lines of the campus disruptions, encouraging the virulent spread of antisemitism and bigotry,” the letter says.
The letter calls for “serious consequences” for students and faculty who participated in campus disruptions and for the enforcement of free speech rules.
Senior official: Israel will achieve all its war objectives
“Israel will achieve its war objectives,” a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“We will destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, free the hostages and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel and the civilized world in the future,” the official pledges, reiterating messages that have come from Israeli officials in recent weeks.
‘Bibi is abandoning the hostages!’: Protesters in Jerusalem demand deal
Protesters demonstrate in support of a hostage deal and against the continuation of the war in Gaza in Jerusalem's Paris Square on May 6, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
The Jerusalem branch of the Hostage Families Forum has converged with demonstrators protesting a Rafah offensive in Paris Square, outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence.
The hundreds of protesters are chanting for an immediate hostage deal.
”Bibi is abandoning the hostages!” the demonstrators shout.
Earlier this evening, Hamas announced its agreement to a ceasefire proposal. Israel says it did not meet its key demands.
Elan Siegel, the daughter of Keith Siegel who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, thanks the demonstrators and says she is sure that her father can “hear the noise and energy from the tunnels in Gaza.”
White House urges Hamas leader Sinwar to answer questions on intentions in Gaza war
Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, greets his supporters during a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/ Adel Hana, File)
The White House urges Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to answer questions from the public regarding his intentions in the Gaza war.
Asked about Israeli officials’ characterization of Hamas’s response to the latest hostage deal proposal as a “trick,” Kirby says he would have to “get in between the ears of Mr. Sinwar and that’s a place I really don’t want to be.”
Kirby notes that the White House, State Department, Pentagon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF spokesperson have regularly held briefings with reporters to answer their questions, while Sinwar has not done so once. “I think it’s high time that he answers some of these questions and he come clean about what his intentions are.”
IDF says it is operating against Hamas ‘in a targeted manner’ in eastern Rafah
The Israeli military announces that troops are currently striking and operating against Hamas sites “in a targeted manner” in eastern Rafah.
The IDF says it will provide further information on the operation soon.
The announcement comes after Palestinian media reported a series of strikes in the area, where the IDF earlier called for civilians to evacuate.
Israel says Hamas offer does not meet essential demands, will keep negotiating, is moving forward with Rafah op
An Israeli Defense Forces tank drives away from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/ Tsafrir Abayov)
Israel’s war cabinet decides unanimously to push ahead with an operation in Rafah “in order to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
The statement says Hamas’s latest truce offer is “far from Israel’s essential demands.”
Nonetheless, Israel is going to send working-level teams to hold talks with the mediators in order “to exhaust the possibility of achieving an agreement on terms that are acceptable to Israel,” says the PMO.
Palestinian media report Israeli strikes and flares over eastern Rafah area
Palestinian media report a series of Israeli strikes and flares launched over the eastern Rafah area, where the IDF issued an evacuation order earlier today.
It is not immediately clear if this is the start of ground operations in the area.
Earlier this evening, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military was readying for ground operations in eastern Rafah following the evacuation order.
تغطية صحفية: الاحت.لال يواصل إطلاق قنابل إضاءة شرق رفح جنوب قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/vcOqJFsZHD
— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) May 6, 2024
Police try to remove hostage families blocking traffic on Ayalon Highway
Hostage families and other protesters block Ayalon Highway on May 6, 2024, in call for a deal before a Rafah operation. (Danor Aharon)
Police forces try to remove hostage families and protesters who are blocking traffic on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, banging drums, blowing on bullhorns, lighting fires, and calling for a deal before a Rafah operation.
Some protesters hold a banner referring to Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, reading “Never Again?”
Hundreds of people are also standing on Begin Road, blocking the major Tel Aviv artery, outside the main entrance to the Defense Ministry, and calling for a deal.
Abbas calls on world to pressure Israel to commit to Gaza ceasefire proposal
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman, Jordan, October 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calls on the international community to pressure Israel to commit to a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza mediated by Egypt and Qatar after Hamas accepted it, Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
Israeli officials are studying the offer, and have told Hebrew media it appears to have new terms they never agreed to.
Settlements council elects Israel Ganz as next chairman
Chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council Israel Ganz is announced as the next chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella group of West Bank settlement municipal authorities, May 6, 2024.(Baruch Greenberg)
The Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing settlement municipal authorities in the West Bank, announces the appointment of Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz as its next chairman.
Ganz will replace Shlomo Ne’eman as head of Yesha, after he lost his reelection campaign for mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council during the nation-wide local elections in February.
“At this time, the communities in Judea and Samaria stand at a dramatic and fateful crossroads that will affect their future, and the State of Israel as a whole,” says Ganz after being chosen Yesha chairman.
“We face huge challenges to protect the heart of the State of Israel. Deepening our grip on the region will ensure the security and strengthening of the country. Living in Judea and Samaria should be like anywhere else in the State of Israel…. We need to work hard to develop infrastructure and places of employment and commerce.”
Sinwar’s deputy quoted saying Egypt a guarantor war won’t resume after truce deal
Khalil al-Hayya speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Istanbul, Turkey, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Khalil al-Hayya, a deputy to Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, tells Al Jazeera, “On the first day of the first phase of the agreement, there is a clear commitment to temporarily stop military operations.”
He says the second phase provides for the announcement of “a permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”
He further says that Egypt is a guarantor of the deal and will not allow the war to return.
He also says the mediators informed Hamas that President Biden is committed to ensuring the implementation of the agreement.
According to a Haaretz report, Hamas sources claim to have received assurances from the US and Qatar, as well as Egypt, that Israel will not resume the war after the three-stage deal is implemented.
Israel’s Rafah evacuation order ‘inhumane,’ UN rights chief says
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk listens to delegates after delivering his report of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza during the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 29, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
Israel’s order for Palestinians to evacuate from eastern Rafah in Gaza is “inhumane,” the UN rights chief says.
Volker Turk says forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee to areas with almost no access to aid for survival is “inconceivable” and warns that the offensive would push suffering and destruction beyond already “unbearable” levels.
“Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine,” the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights says in a statement. “And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.
“This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern.”
Labor party announces the final slate of leadership candidates
File: Yair Golan speaks during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, March 2, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The Labor party announces the final slate of candidates ahead of its upcoming leadership primary later this month.
Running for the chairmanship of the once-dominant and now marginal party are former IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, longtime Labor activist Azi Nagar, billionaire socialist and online gambling magnate Avi Shaked, and attorney and anti-corruption activist Itay Leshem.
Golan has pledged to merge Labor with Meretz and create a united left-wing front while Shaked has opposed such plans, calling the former major general in a recent media interview “a Trojan horse…who suddenly comes out of nowhere and tries to steal our party.”
The primary, which will choose a new leader to replace outgoing chair Merav Michaeli, will be held on May 28 and 13,500 new members have joined the party ahead of the vote, Labor announces.
“The elections for the leadership of the Labor Party this year are being held at a fateful time for the country,” Michaeli says in a statement.
“Everything we warned about has come true: The Netanyahu government and the messianic right are leading Israel to existential danger and the opposition is weaker than ever. This is a time for leaders, this is an opportunity for leadership. I undertake to assist whoever is elected and to stand by any party member who needs my advice or help. I wish the candidates success.”
IDF says it carried out strikes on more than 50 terror sites in Rafah area
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference says the Air Force carried out strikes against more than 50 sites belonging to terror groups in the Rafah area of southern Gaza today.
He says the strikes come as the military is readying for ground operations in eastern Rafah, where the IDF issued an evacuation order this morning.
US will not support Rafah offensive ‘currently envisioned by Israel’
A displaced Palestinian man pushes a bycicle bearing his belongings in the rain in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip following an evacuation order by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024 (Photo by AFP)
The US will not support the Rafah offensive “currently envisioned by Israel” because it has yet to see a credible and implementable plan to protect the over one million Palestinians sheltering there, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
Speaking hours after Israel began ordering the evacuation of eastern neighborhoods in Rafah, Miller says such an offensive would “dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people,” lead to an increase in the loss of civilian life and would disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, which largely comes through the areas that the IDF plans to target, Miller says.
The spokesperson notes that internal distribution lines have not been established in the areas where civilians are being urged to flee, adding that setting up those mechanisms will be difficult, if not impossible, in the middle of a war.
Miller says the IDF evacuation orders impact some 100,000 Palestinians, but others are likely to join if they see large amounts of civilians fleeing around them. “The problem now is there are such limited places for them to go inside Gaza and there is no effective way to distribute aid to them and make sure they have access to shelter, access to sanitation, in the places that they would go.”
State Department says ‘quite concerned’ by Israel’s decision to shutter Al Jazeera
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller answers questions during a news briefing at the State Department on July 18, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
The US is “quite concerned” by Israel’s decision to shutter Al Jazeera’s operations in the country, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
“We have made quite clear that we support media freedom all around the world, including in Israel,” Miller says.
“We think Al Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel, as it does in other countries in the region,” he adds. Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia all bar Al Jazeera from operating in their countries, viewing it as a dangerous mouthpiece for terror organizations.
US says it is studying Hamas response to latest truce proposal
The US has received Hamas’s response to the latest truce proposal and is reviewing it and discussing it with the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
CIA chief Bill Burns remains in the region to try and secure an agreement, which the US believes is in the best interest of both Israel and the Palestinians, Miller says.
Families of hostages block Tel Aviv road, demand Israel take deal
Several families of hostages held in Gaza have blocked Tel Aviv’s major Begin Road, demanding Israel agree to a hostage release deal, though it is not clear what deal Hamas has agreed to.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, tells Channel 12, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “This is your hour. Be brave, be a leader. The government and war cabinet should accept the deal. We need our hostages home. Every last one.
“If our government and prime minister miss this chance — probably my last chance to see Matan return home and for other families to see their loved one return home — I will bring out all Israelis. The streets will burn, the country will burn… You can’t play like this with people’s lives.”
החסימה באיילון של משפחות החטופים
"לעולם לא עוד"
קרדיט: @stidio.tulip
—
קריאות של משפחות חטופים וקבוצות מחאה לצאת הערב מ 20:30 לרחובות בשער בגין בקריה ובצמתים נוספים בארץ pic.twitter.com/OZkrJKSz4k— Or-ly Barlev 🎗 אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) May 6, 2024
Erdogan says he welcomes Hamas acceptance of ceasefire, Israel should do the same
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Pool Photo via AP)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says he welcomes Hamas’s ostensible acceptance of a ceasefire in Gaza, adding he hopes Israel will do the same.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan calls on Western countries to increase pressure on Israel’s leadership to accept a ceasefire.
“We welcome the statement by Hamas that they accepted the ceasefire with our suggestion. Now, Israel must take the same step,” he says.
Israeli officials have warned that Hamas appears to have approved a new proposal unilaterally, rather than the offer Israel agreed to.
Bernie Sanders announces he will seek re-election, criticizes Israel
US Senator Bernie Sanders, 82, announces that he will seek re-election for another six-year term.
In an eight-minute video posted to social media, Sanders highlights the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by Hamas’s “horrific” attack on October 7.
Sanders says Israel had the right to respond to the onslaught, “but it did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, which is exactly what it is doing.”
Let me thank the people of Vermont, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the opportunity to serve them in the United States Senate. It has been the honor of my life.
Today, I am announcing my intention to seek another term. Here is why: pic.twitter.com/cfO8MF4Cep
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 6, 2024
Fighter jets strike building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
Over the past few hours, Israeli fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Srebbine, as well as a rocket-launching post in Ayta ash-Shab, the military says.
Earlier today, troops shelled areas near Souaneh with artillery to “remove threats,” the IDF adds.
Over the past few hours, Israeli fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon's Srebbine, as well as a rocket-launching post in Ayta ash-Shab, the military says.
Earlier today, troops shelled areas near Souaneh with artillery to "remove threats,"the IDF… pic.twitter.com/rprnGK2B6L
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024
Ben-Gvir: Only one response to Hamas tricks — conquer Rafah
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejects Hamas’s ostensible acceptance of a ceasefire as a trick.
“There is only one response to Hamas’s tricks and games — an immediate order to conquer Rafah, increase military pressure, and continue to crush Hamas until it is utterly defeated.”
TV report: Israeli officials say not the same proposal they agreed to with Egyptian mediators 10 days ago
File - CIA chief William Burns, Egyptian intel chief Abbas Kamel, Mossad chief David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. (Collage/AP/AFP)
Channel 12 quotes Israeli officials saying Israel’s negotiating team has just received Hamas’s response from the mediators.
The report says Israel is now carefully evaluating the Hamas response and will issue orderly comments later this evening.
It says the Israeli officials are already saying that “this is not the same proposal” for a deal that Israel and Egypt agreed upon 10 days ago, and that served as the basis for the indirect negotiations since then. “All kinds of clauses” have been inserted, the TV report says.
These new clauses, among other issues, relate to the cardinal questions of if, how and when the war would end, and what kind of guarantees are being offered to that effect.
Hamas, the report notes, had been toughening its demands in recent days, and demanding that the war end during the first, 40-day phase of the deal, rather than in the second or third phases.
Israel, for its part, has repeatedly rejected ending the war as part of a hostage deal at all, instead insisting that it will resume fighting once the deal is implemented, in accordance with its twin war goals: returning the hostages and destroying Hamas’s military and governance capacities.
Hamas official: Ball is now in Israel’s court
A senior Hamas official tells AFP: “After Hamas agreed to the mediators’ proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it.”
Celebrations seen in Gaza after Hamas claims to OK ceasefire
Crowds cheer and fire in the air in the streets of Gaza after Hamas said it approved a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.
People cry tears of happiness, chant “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) and shoot in the air in celebration of the news, an AFP correspondent says.
🚨 What is heard of gunfire in various areas of the Gāza Strip is just people’s celebrations over Hāmas’ approval of the proposal, and there is no truce yet. Only the Hāmas movement agreed to the proposal.
“We await the official response…We ask God for an imminent relief.” pic.twitter.com/4zOUV1nKMp
— 🔻 mari 🔻 (@marisaturno_) May 6, 2024
Israel has cautioned that the offer Hamas says it accepted is not the one Jerusalem agreed to.
⚡️More from the celebrations in Gaza pic.twitter.com/kjVd1GRx4Z
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 6, 2024
Gallant meets top army generals to discuss Rafah plans
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, May 6, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
The implications of Hamas’s announcement it accepts the ceasefire offer are not yet clear.
Minutes ago Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office issued a statement saying he met this evening with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the head of the IDF Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk.
The three discussed “the IDF’s expected operational plans in the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on the Rafah area,” his office says.
Officials: Hamas appears to have okayed ceasefire terms that Israel did not approve
File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, March 17, 2024 (Screen grab/GPO)
Israeli officials are cautioning against taking at face value Hamas’s announcement that it accepts a ceasefire deal.
Officials tell networks Kan, 12, and 13 that the terms Hamas accepted are not those that Israel agreed to.
According to the officials quoted by the networks, the offer Hamas has accepted is one made unilaterally by Egypt and is not being taken seriously in Jerusalem before the details are clarified.
An Israeli official tells Reuters that the Hamas announcement appears to be a ruse designed to cast Israel as the side refusing a deal.
The official says the proposal Hamas has accepted is a “softened” version of an Egyptian proposal, which includes “far-reaching” conclusions that Israel cannot accept.
Hamas announcement that it accepts a ceasefire comes soon after US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone, and with CIA chief Bill Burns having shuttled from Doha to Jerusalem today.
A considerable part of the Biden-Netanyahu call was devoted to the efforts to reach a truce-for-hostages deal.
A US National Security Council spokesperson said earlier today that Biden, in the call, reiterated his concerns about an IDF invasion of Rafah and said he believes reaching a ceasefire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas says it accepts ceasefire proposal, does not specify terms
Ismail Haniyeh, the Doha-based political bureau chief of Hamas, speaks to the press after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Tehran on March 26, 2024. (AFP)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh tells Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel that the terror group accepts their terms for a ceasefire with Israel, according to an official announcement from Hamas.
The announcement does not specify what those terms are.
????UPDATE #Israel #Palestine
Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh informed Egypt and Qatar that the group has accepted a truce agreement.
"Brother Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas movement’s political bureau, had a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh…
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 6, 2024
A senior Hamas official tells Al Jazeera the same.
Israel has repeatedly said it will not accept a deal, as repeatedly demanded by Hamas, that conditions the release of hostages on the end of the war. On Saturday, furthermore, an official source, widely believed to be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that Israel had not empowered the mediators to issue guarantees of an end to the war, either.
US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators have been negotiating with Hamas in recent days over a three-phase proposal, green-lit by Israel. The proposal has not been published, but reportedly provides, in the first phase, for 33 living hostages — women, children, the elderly and the sick — to be freed during a 40-day truce, in return for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.
As per the reported text of the offer, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas would begin anew on the 16th day of the truce, to set out an arrangement to restore sustainable calm to Gaza over the second and third stages of the deal.
In the second phase, all remaining living prisoners would be released during a further 42-day truce, in return for hundreds more security prisoners, and the IDF would withdraw from Gaza.
The third and final stage of the deal would again last 42 days and Hamas would reportedly be required to hand over the bodies of those who were killed on October 7 or died in captivity, in exchange for bodies of Palestinian security prisoners who died in Israeli custody.
The rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip would begin during the first phase of the deal, starting with the restoration of Gaza’s roads, electricity, water, sanitation, and communication infrastructure. Preparations for a five-year reconstruction plan for Gaza’s homes and civilian infrastructure would be completed during the second phase of the deal, and construction would begin in the third stage.
Republican senators warn ICC: Target Israel, and we will target you
Sen. Tom Cotton speaks with reporters at the Senate Subway on Capitol Hill, March 20, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mariam Zuhaib)
“Target Israel, and we will target you,” a dozen Republican senators warn, in a letter to International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, amid reports that the ICC is considering issuing arrest warrants against top Israeli officials.
“Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and if carried out will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution,” the letter led by Sen. Tom Cotton reads. Also signing on are Sens. Mitch McConnell (minority leader), Rick Scott, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.
“The ICC is attempting to punish Israel for taking legitimate actions of self-defense against their Iranian-backed aggressors. In fact, in your own words, you witnessed ‘scenes of calculated cruelty’ conducted by Hamas in Israel following the October 7 attacks. These arrest warrants would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy. To be clear, there is no moral equivalence between Hamas’s terrorism and Israel’s justified response,” the senators write.
“The ICC is also prohibited by its charter from proceeding in any case unless the relevant government is unwilling or unable to police themselves. You yourself have said that ‘Israel has trained lawyers who advise commanders and a robust system intended to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law.’ By issuing warrants, you would be calling into question the legitimacy of Israel’s laws, legal system, and democratic form of government.
“If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States,” the letter states. “You have been warned.”
Rocket sirens sounded in Gaza periphery
Rocket sirens sounded in the Gaza periphery a short time ago.
There are no reports of casualties or damage.
Saudi Arabia warns Israel against targeting Rafah
Saudi Arabia warns Israel against targeting Rafah as part of what it calls a “bloody and systematic” campaign to storm all areas of Gaza and displace its citizens, the foreign ministry says in a statement.
US: Biden reiterated ‘clear position on Rafah,’ Netanyahu agreed to reopen crossing
This combination photo shows US President Joe Biden, left, on March 8, 2024, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (AP Photo)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to reopen Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza during his call with US President Joe Biden, the White House says.
Israel closed the crossing, which is used to funnel humanitarian aid into the Strip, after a Hamas rocket attack over the weekend killed four IDF troops at an adjacent military outpost.
Also during the call, the White House says Biden updated Netanyahu on the ongoing efforts to secure a hostage deal, which appeared to reach an impasse over the weekend.
Hamas has said it is ending its participation in the talks after the IDF this morning began ordering the evacuation of several eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, ahead of a long-pledged major offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city.
Biden “reiterated his clear position on Rafah,” the White House readout says, without elaborating. The US has repeatedly expressed its opposition to a major Israeli offensive if it does not ensure that the one million-plus Palestinians sheltering there will be protected. Israel claims it can safely evacuate and care for those civilians, but Washington does not appear convinced.
The Biden administration is pushing alternatives to a Rafah invasion, including through the bolstering of the Gaza border with Egypt and more targeted operations against Hamas’s leadership. Israeli leaders have said the four operational Hamas battalions in the city must be dismantled in order to ensure the terror group can no longer threaten the country.
Biden during the call “reaffirmed his message on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
“The two leaders discussed the shared commitment of Israel and the United States to remember the six million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered in the Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human history and to forcefully act against antisemitism and all forms of hate-fueled violence,” the White House readouts says.
A readout is not immediately available from Netanyahu’s office, which does not issue statements on every call the premier holds.
Hamas claims rocket and mortar attacks on IDF troops in central Gaza; none hurt
Hamas claims responsibility for three rocket and mortar attacks on the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip today, where the Israeli military has several forward operating bases.
The IDF says no injuries or damage were caused in the attacks.
شاهد استهداف القوات الصهيونية المتموضعة في محور "نتساريم" بمنظومة الصواريخ "رجوم" pic.twitter.com/MxYQMApCgH
— مُعاذ (@Mmt90_) May 6, 2024
Biden said to tell Netanyahu ceasefire is best way to protect hostages
A US National Security Council spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, says that in his call with Netanyahu, Biden reiterated concerns about an invasion of Rafah and said he believes reaching a ceasefire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Gallant: Hamas refusal of hostage deal forces us to start Rafah operation
File: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2024. (Drew ANGERER / AFP)
Meeting with families of hostages, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel will continue efforts to free those held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, amid the upcoming ground operation against the terror group in Rafah.
“The actions to return your loved ones continue all the time, even now. We are committed to achieving the goals of the war, but the refusal of Hamas of any plan that would allow the return of the hostages forces us to start the operation in Rafah,” he says to the families, according to his office.
“Even after the start of the operation in Rafah, all efforts to bring home the hostages will continue,” Gallant says.
Report: Biden demands Israel reopen goods crossing, shut after rockets killed 4 troops
A helicopter lands in southern Israel after a number of soldiers were killed in a Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom area, May 5, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
Axios’s Barak Ravid says US President Joe Biden demanded in his phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel reopen the Kerem Shalom goods crossing into Gaza, a key pathway for humanitarian assistance entering the territory.
He cites an unnamed senior American source.
The crossing was shuttered yesterday after Hamas fired rockets from Rafah at an IDF staging ground near the crossing, killing four soldiers.
Watch SNL’s skewering of pro-Palestinian campus protests
For those who missed it, “Saturday Night Live” opened its latest episode with a skit mocking pro-Palestinian college students who have erected anti-Israel encampments on campuses across the country rather than going to class.
The Cold Open skit was a talk show featuring the parents of three college students, two of whom are apprehensive about where the protests are heading.
But a third parent, Alphonse Roberts, expresses his support for the protests, hailing young people for making their voices heard.
Impressed by his statement of support, the talk show host says Roberts must be proud of his daughter.
A stunned Roberts says he wasn’t talking about his own child.
“Alexis Vanessa Roberts better have her butt in class. Let me find out she in one of those damn tents instead of a dorm room that I pay for,” he warns. “I am supportive of y’all’s kids protesting, not my kid. My kid knows better.
“She ain’t talkin’ ’bout no ‘free this,’ ‘free that.’ Because I tell you what ain’t free: Columbia,” Roberts says.
Hadash: Israel’s ‘fascist government’ on verge of causing ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Rafah
MK Ayman Odeh speaks during a faction meeting, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on February 6, 2023.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel’s “fascist government” is on the verge of bringing about a “humanitarian disaster in Rafah,” the Arab-majority Hadash party says in a statement.
Protesting Israel’s plans to “bomb and invade the Rafah area on the Egyptian border, which houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people,” Hadash, led by MK Ayman Odeh, warns of “the mass slaughter and humanitarian disaster involved in the bombing of a very small area containing more than a million displaced people.”
Launching such an operation would entail “sacrificing the kidnapped and hostages on the altar of the survival of the bloody and murderous government,” it continues, calling on the international community to intervene in order to bring about a ceasefire and an end to hostilities.
At Auschwitz, former chief rabbi Lau calls on Diaspora Jews to move to Israel
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau speaks at a Holocaust commemoration ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau on May 6, 2024. (Yossi Zelinger)
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau calls on the thousands of Diaspora Jews there commemorating the Holocaust to immigrate to Israel.
“We have a home, and that is Israel. So I tell all of you wonderful Jewish youth: Come home. Come live in Israel,” says Lau, a former chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, who is a Poland-born Holocaust survivor.
Lau, 86, notes the rise of antisemitism globally after the October 7 Hamas onslaught, before he lights the first of seven memorial torches on a stage at Birkenau.
Six of the torches commemorate the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The seventh is a reference to the victims of the October 7 massacre.
“You would think that they would love us, they would cherish us,” says Lau about non-Jews in countries where antisemitism is rising. “But then we see the news. We must remain together to be strong. Am Israel Chai.”
Nate Leipciger, a 96-year-old survivor who was born in Poland and lives in New York, lights the second torch, noting that he worked at Auschwitz as a prisoner 81 years ago. This is his 20th March of the Living, “and I hope it’s not the last one for me,” he says as the audience applauds.
He is followed by six Holocaust survivors from Israel who light the third torch. Their lives were affected directly by the October 7 onslaught, where some of them lost relatives and other had to flee their homes.
Descendants of rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust also light a torch at the ceremony.
Palestinian Red Crescent says ‘thousands’ of Gazans leaving eastern Rafah
Palestinians flee from the eastern side of the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israeli army orders them to evacuate ahead of a military operation, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024 (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
The Palestinian Red Crescent says “thousands” of Gazans are leaving eastern Rafah amid bombings and after Israeli forces ordered the southern Gaza area evacuated.
“The numbers of citizens moving from the eastern areas of Rafah towards the west are large, especially after the intensification of the bombing, there are thousands of citizens leaving their homes,” says Red Crescent spokesman Osama al-Kahlout.
UNICEF warns 600,000 children face ‘catastrophe’ in Rafah
Palestinians leave the eastern side of the southern Gaza city of Rafah following IDF orders to evacuate ahead of a military operation, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
Some 600,000 children packed into Gaza’s Rafah city face “further catastrophe,” UNICEF warns, urging against their forced relocation after Israel ordered an evacuation ahead of its long-threatened ground invasion.
“Given the high concentration of children in Rafah… UNICEF is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed,” the United Nations children’s agency says in a statement.
It says Gaza’s youth are already “on the edge of survival,” with many in Rafah — where the agency says the population has soared to 1.2 million people, half of them children — already displaced multiple times and with nowhere else to go.
Israel has told civilians to evacuate west to the Mawasi area, providing a map delineating the location in its messages to the population.
Columbia University cancels main commencement after protests
Anti-Israel protesters gather near a main gate at Columbia University in New York, April 30, 2024, just before New York City police officers cleared the area after a building was taken over by protesters (Craig Ruttle/AP)
Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of anti-Israel protests that have roiled its campus and others across the US, but it will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the school announces.
“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forgo the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” officials at the Ivy League school in upper Manhattan say in a statement.
Noting that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the school says in its announcement that it made the decision after discussions with students. “Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” officials say. “They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers.”
Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about five miles north at Columbia’s sports complex, officials say.
Hamas says it’s suspending hostage and truce talks
Hamas will not return to Cairo for continued talks on a possible hostage deal and pause in fighting, reports the London-based Qatari outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing a “Hamas source.”
Hamas is suspending its involvement in the talks “pending the results of the mediators’ efforts,” says the source.
Netanyahu, Biden conclude Rafah phone call after half an hour
US President Joe Biden in Syracuse, New York, April 25, 2024. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Prime Minister Netanyahu has concluded his phone conversation with US President Joe Biden on the planned Rafah operation.
The talk lasted about half an hour.
There are no details yet.
Mossad chief: Today, more than ever, ‘Never again’ is a moral obligation for us all
Israel's Mossad Director David Barnea speaks at agency headquarters near Tel Aviv on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 6, 2024 (Courtesy)
At a Holocaust commemoration event at Mossad headquarters, the spy agency chief David Barnea says: “Today, more than ever before, the saying ‘Never again’ is a moral obligation for me and for us all.”
Barnea says Mossad is “commanded to continue being the world’s best intelligence agency in the world, determined and resolute in the face of those who rise to destroy us… We are commanded to fulfill our purpose of protecting Israelis and Jews all over the world.”
He says Mossad “will leave no stone unturned” in its mission of bringing back the hostages held by Hamas “to their loved ones, their families, their homes.”
Hamas warns Rafah offensive disregards fate of hostages
Hamas says in a statement that Israel is preparing for a large-scale military offensive in Rafah “without regard for the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip or the fate of the enemy’s prisoners in Gaza,” referring to Israeli hostages.
Palestinian Authority says it’s holding intensive calls to prevent Rafah ‘massacre’
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on February 5, 2024 (Nasser Nasser / POOL / AFP)
The Palestinian Authority says it is holding intensive calls with regional and international parties, especially the United States, to prevent a “massacre” in the event of an Israeli offensive in Rafah, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reports.
Egypt says possible Israel operation in Rafah carries ‘grave humanitarian risks’
Egypt warns Israel against launching a military operation in Rafah, saying it carries “grave humanitarian risks.”
Egypt calls on Israel to exercise the utmost levels of self-restraint, the foreign ministry says in a statement.
It urged Jerusalem to “avoid further escalation at this extremely sensitive time in the process of ceasefire negotiations.”
The statement says Egypt continues to communicate with all parties to “prevent the situation from getting worse or getting out of control.”
Holocaust survivor recounts being shouted down by anti-Israel protesters in Berkeley
Holocaust survivor Susanne DeWitt speaks to Channel 12 news, May 6, 2024 (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Channel 12 interviews a survivor whose comments to the Berkeley City Council in March regarding commemoration of the Holocaust were interrupted by anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters when she mentioned the October 7 Hamas attacks. The activists screamed at her and others speaking that they were “Zionist pigs” and “traitors to this country.”
JCRC Bay Area on X: "WATCH: Yesterday, the Berkeley City Council meeting included an item on Holocaust Remembrance Day and funding educational programs around this commemoration. There was nothing on the meeting agenda about… pic.twitter.com/n4O5fBlGNz" / X https://t.co/iB3eMk4gY9
— Eric Leibman (@eric_leibman) March 28, 2024
“I was in a state of rage,” Susanne DeWitt, 90, recounts. “They were denying me my freedom of speech although they are always clamoring for freedom of speech. I was given one minute to speak and I was shouted down.
“They don’t make a distinction [between Israel and Jews in general]. A Jew so far as they’re concerned is someone who should be annihilated. And that is the message that seems to come across from these protesters.”
She adds: “I would like to say to the president: Please, please stand by the Jewish people.”
Hamas: Any Rafah operation will not be ‘picnic’ for Israel, warns truce talks at risk
Hamas says in a statement that any operation in Rafah will not be a “picnic” for Israeli forces, as Israel gears up for an offensive in the city.
Meanwhile, Hamas official Izzat al-Rashiq says an operation will put ceasefire negotiations in jeopardy.
Netanyahu: ‘Holocaust was equal to 5,000 October sevenths’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lights a candle to commemorate Holocaust Day at the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 6, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
The Holocaust was equal to “5,000 October sevenths,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at the Knesset during the annual “Unto Every Person There is a Name” Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Jerusalem.
While Hamas had the “same intention of the Nazi gangs who murdered a third of our people,” their attack was “not a Holocaust” because of the existence of the IDF, Netanyahu says.
“The scale of the carnage in the Holocaust is unimaginable. It is equal to 5,000 October sevenths.”
Palestinian gunman killed, explosives lab destroyed in IDF West Bank raid
IDF troops operate in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, in a handout image released May 6, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
A Palestinian gunman was killed and an explosives lab was destroyed during an ongoing IDF and Border Police raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem that began this morning, the military says.
The IDF says combat engineers uncovered explosive devices planted under roads in Tulkarem, and other troops located another explosives lab and seized an assault rifle amid the operation.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, 13 wanted Palestinians were detained overnight, the military says.
Since October 7, the IDF says troops have arrested some 4,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,700 affiliated with Hamas.
A few activists at Auschwitz wave Palestinian flags and claim genocide in Gaza
Protesters wave Palestinian flags and claim a genocide is unfolding in Gaza outside the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland on May 6, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
Surrounded by Polish police, nine activists wave Palestinian flags flanked by a banner that reads “Stop genocide in Gaza” near the entrance to the museum at Auschwitz as thousands of Jewish students march in commemoration of the Holocaust.
The participants of the March of the Living respond with a thunderous singing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, and with jeering.
The anti-Israel activists waving Palestinian flags, some of them wearing a keffiyeh covering their face, shout: “Free, free Palestine.” One of them holds a bundle of helium balloons in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
One protester lectures the marchers through an amplification system. “How dare you disrespect the victims of the Holocaust by cheering, as a new genocide is happening in Gaza. Your mothers are watching you! Show some respect,” she shouts, adding: “Ceasefire now!”
The International March of the Living in a statement says: “The half a dozen protestors who perversely saw this as an opportunity to voice hatred against Israel and the Jewish people serve as a timely reminder of the importance of Holocaust education and remembrance, and of teaching the dangers of hatred and extremism.“
Netanyahu and Biden to speak as Israel prepares for Rafah offensive
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden will speak by phone soon, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
CIA chief William Burns is in Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu and the war leadership as Israel gears up for an operation in Rafah, something the Biden administration has advocated against for months.
WATCH: March of the Living held at Auschwitz Birkenau
The annual March of the Living is taking place now at Auschwitz Birkenau, the Nazi extermination camp in Poland, on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Watch a livestream of the event here.
Hostages, campus antisemitism loom large on minds of March of Living participants at Auschwitz
Jewish university students from Canada hold up posters of hostages in Gaza at the former Nazi camp Auschwitz, in Poland, on May 6, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
AUSCHWITZ — Chanting “bring them back,” dozens of Jewish university students from Canada march through the Auschwitz former Nazi camp in Poland while holding up posters of hostages held in Gaza.
“It’s all part of the same thing. The hostages were abducted for the same reason people were murdered here. For being Jewish,” student Evylyn Gorodetzky tells The Times of Israel, explaining the statement she and her friends are making at the annual March of the Living event.
Thousands of Jews ranging from teenagers to Holocaust survivors attend the annual march, which takes place this year in the shadow of the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, with terrorists murdering some 1,200 people in Israel and abducting another 252. Dozens of hostages remain in captivity amid fighting in Gaza with negotiations apparently collapsing for a deal that would see their release.
The posters of the hostages came from the Canadian delegation of high school students, Gorodetzky says.
She and other university students say the situation on campuses in Canada is “bad,” “tough, and “terrible,” when asked about antisemitism.
“We’re vocal and we fight,” says Gorodetzky.
“It’s much more about Israel and October 7 this year,” says Tania Stelman Lowy, an educator from Belgium. She heads delegations of Belgian Jews who do not go to Jewish schools and therefore lack the framework for attending the march, which happens annually on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Her delegation has 45 students this year.
Benjamin Signer, an 18-year-old high school student from Los Angeles, was supposed to travel with participants in the march from his Jewish school from Poland to Israel after the march, but the Israel leg was canceled after October 7, he says.
“It’s disappointing but it makes this experience, which to me is about Jewish unity, even more significant,” he says.
The unity he sees, Signer adds, “is important because of the isolation we feel as Jews right now. It gives strength going forward in life.”
‘Unacceptable’: EU’s Borrell condemns Israel’s call for civilians to evacuate from Rafah
Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip carry their belongings following a call to evacuate by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024 (AFP)
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell condemns Israel’s call for Palestinians living in parts of eastern Rafah to flee the Gazan city ahead of an expected ground assault.
“Israel’s evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce to a ground offensive,” Borrell says in a social media post.
“The EU, with the international community, can and must act to prevent such scenario,” he says.
Egypt raises preparedness level in north Sinai ahead of Israel’s Rafah offensive
Egypt raised its military’s level of preparedness in northern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, after Israel called for the evacuation of the civilian population in parts of Rafah ahead of a planned operation, say Egyptian security sources.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that Egyptian officials warned the decades-long peace treaty between Egypt and Israel could be suspended if Israel Defense Forces’ troops enter Rafah, or if any of Rafah’s refugees are forced southward into the Sinai Peninsula.
France opposes Rafah offensive: ‘Forced displacement of civilian population constitutes war crime’
Displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip carry their belongings as they await transportation following a call to evacuate by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024 (AFP)
France says it is “strongly opposed” to Israel’s Rafah offensive, ahead of an expected ground assault in the southern city of the Gaza Strip.
“France reiterates that it is strongly opposed to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, where more than 1.3 million people are taking refuge in a situation of great distress,” the foreign ministry says in a statement. “The forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime.”
UNRWA says it won’t heed Israel’s call to evacuate parts of Rafah ahead of planned offensive
Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 3, 2024 (AFP)
The United Nations agency serving Palestinian refugees says it will not heed the Israeli military’s call to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah ahead of a planned offensive.
Juliette Touma, communications director for UNRWA, says the agency has not evacuated the area and has no plans to do so.
She says it has thousands of employees in the city.
“UNRWA will not take part in any forced evacuation of the population in Rafah or elsewhere in Gaza,” she says. “We are committed to staying and delivering humanitarian assistance.”
Touma also calls for a ceasefire.
Relations between Israel and UNRWA have long been strained and further deteriorated during the seven-month war, sparked by the Hamas onslaught on October 7.
Israel has accused UNRWA of collaborating with the terror group and employing Hamas members, and has called for the agency’s closure. UNRWA, the largest international provider of aid and services in Gaza, denies the accusations.
Lapid: End the ‘unnecessary statements’ by officials serving to ‘thwart the hostage deal’
Opposition and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demands an end to “unnecessary statements” by senior officials, arguing that such rhetoric prevents the successful conclusion of a hostage deal.
“The announcements, the threats, other unnecessary statements by the ministers of the government and the prime minister regarding the hostages, the political calculations, the media recklessness must stop,” Lapid says.
“Are you completely crazy?! The State of Israel does not have a responsible adult to stop the madness.”
The former prime minister argues that “briefings by officials and associates” have only served to “thwart the hostage deal and constitute poor management of the negotiations.”
“The Israeli government abandoned the hostages and the Israeli government should do everything, but everything, to bring them home,” he insists.
Lapid’s statement comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forcefully rejected a claim made by an Israeli official suggesting that he was responsible for torpedoing the latest round of talks with Hamas in Cairo on a potential hostage and truce deal.
The unnamed Israeli official had suggested to The New York Times that Netanyahu’s statements about pressing ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah led to Hamas hardening its position in the hostage and truce talks.
Earlier today, the IDF called on Palestinians to begin evacuating from parts of Rafah ahead of a planned offensive on the southern Gaza city, Hamas’s last stronghold.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, hundreds of strangers attend funeral of Auschwitz survivor
Hundreds of strangers attend the funeral of Holocaust survivor Esther Greizer in Haifa on May 6, 2024 (Screen grab via Channel 12 news)
Hundreds of strangers attend the Haifa funeral of 95-year-old Esther Greizer, a Holocaust survivor who died overnight and does not have any immediate family.
The crowds throng the cemetery after a plea went out on social media for people to attend the funeral of the Hungary-born woman who survived the Nazi atrocities.
Greizer’s great-nephew, Yochai Gringlick, writes on Facebook that his aunt was unable to have children due to experiments that she was subjected to as a child at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“It didn’t prevent Esti from marrying the late Gershon and living a happy life full of love and giving,” he writes. “Because she didn’t have children, we were like grandchildren to her. Even though we were her sister’s great-grandchildren.”
“Unfortunately, there will be no shiva,” he says, referring to the traditional Jewish mourning period for immediate relatives of the deceased. “She doesn’t have children and her brothers are all already dead. There will only be a funeral.”
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, the annual memorial for the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.
הלילה הלכה לעולמה אסתר גרייצר, שורדת שואה בת 95. הניסויים הרפואיים שעברה באושוויץ נטלו ממנה את היכולת ללדת.
למרבה הצער לא תהיה שבעה. אין לה ילדים ואחיה כבר נפטרו. תהיה רק הלוויה. אם אתם באזור חיפה ורוצים לחלוק כבוד אחרון לגיבורה – ההלויה בשעה 14:00 שער אורן, בית העלמין חיפה. pic.twitter.com/0Blx3maXBP— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) May 6, 2024
Germany says talks for potential truce and hostage deal ‘must not be jeopardized’
Germany calls on all parties to continue with negotiation towards a truce and hostage deal after disagreements between Israel and Hamas appeared to intensify.
“The negotiations must not be jeopardized and all sides must make maximum efforts to ensure that the people in Gaza are supplied with humanitarian goods… and that the hostages are freed,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman tells a government press briefing.
Former Gaza hostage Noga Weiss drafts into the IDF: ‘Carrying on with my life’
Former hostage Noga Weiss (center) with her mother Shiri (left), at the Tel Hashomer base in central Israel, May 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Former hostage Noga Weiss was drafted into the Israeli military this morning.
Weiss, 18, was kidnapped by Hamas from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, along with her mother Shiri.
Her father, Ilan, was killed by the terrorists.
Noga and Shiri were released from the Gaza Strip in a hostage deal in November.
Noga will serve as a mashakit tash, or noncommissioned officer responsible for service conditions, a sort of social worker for soldiers.
“After a very turbulent period, I feel that enlisting in the army to the position of a mashakit tash is the right thing for me. Mashakit tash has been my dream position for years. I feel that I can contribute a lot, be significant and help others,” Weiss says in remarks published by the military.
“I always wanted to enlist and dedicate myself to the country. The army for me is a combination of a distraction from what happened, a framework and a daily routine, but mainly carrying on with my life as it would have been even before all this happened,” she says.
“I remember that the day my mother and I were released, they took us to Kerem Shalom, and there was a hangar full of soldiers. The presence of the soldiers made me feel safe and it only strengthened my desire to be a part of and serve in the army,” Weiss adds.
Poll: 54% of Jewish Israelis believe there can be comparison between Holocaust, Oct. 7
An empty yellow chair, reserved for the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian terror group Hamas from Gaza, is pictured during a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, in Jerusalem, May 6, 2024. (Amir Cohen/Pool Photo via AP)
Just over half of Jewish Israelis believe that there is a basis for comparison between the Holocaust and the events of October 7, according to a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute.
Fifty-four percent of 600 Jewish respondents polled on May 1-5 stated that there was some basis for the comparison, while 39% said it such a comparison was out of place and 8% were unsure.
Fifty-six percent of those polled who were politically on the right, 54% on the left and 46% in the political center agreed that there was a basis for comparison.
“Ahead of this year’s Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), the debate that began more than six months ago has intensified, regarding the relevance of the comparisons between the events of October 7 and the events of the Holocaust,” says Prof. Tamar Hermann, the director of the IDI’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.
“The fact that among the Jewish respondents, a majority (albeit a small one) feel that there is a basis for such a comparison, suggests that despite the obvious difference between the circumstances in both periods, and despite Israel being a sovereign and militarily strong country, the sense of existential threat is a very strong link between then and now, especially against the backdrop of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli hatred around the world today,” Hermann says.
Germany says Israel’s decision to shutter Al Jazeera’s operations sends ‘wrong signal’
Police raid the Al Jazeera offices in East Jerusalem on May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The German foreign ministry criticizes Israel’s decision to shutter Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera’s operations in the country, and calls for the protection of press freedom.
“A free and diverse press landscape is an important cornerstone of any liberal democracy,” the ministry writes on X, formerly Twitter, adding that the move “sends the wrong signal.”
Police seized Al Jazeera’s broadcasting equipment from its Jerusalem offices on Sunday afternoon and the Qatari news channel was pulled off the air in Israel, immediately after the government approved a decision to temporarily shutter the outlet on the grounds that it has harmed national security.
Hamas spokesman says terror group to continue truce-hostage deal talks despite Rafah evacuation
Hamas spokesman Abdelatif al-Qanou speaking to an Arabic television station on October 7, 2018. (Screenshot: Youtube)
A Hamas spokesman says the Palestinian terror group will continue negotiations toward a potential truce and hostage deal, despite Israel’s call for civilians to begin evacuating from parts of Rafah in south Gaza.
“We will continue the negotiations positively and with an open heart,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou tells AFP.
He reiterates that an agreement needs to provide “for a permanent ceasefire and the fulfillment of the demands of our people.”
Israel has publicly rejected a permanent ceasefire and has said it has been left with “no choice” other than to launch an operation in Rafah after the apparent collapse of the talks and a deadly Hamas rocket attack launched from the Gazan city.
Belgium’s deputy PM claims Rafah operation will ‘lead to massacre’
Belgian Vice-Prime Minister Petra De Sutter attends a media conference in Brussels, Feb 12, 2021. (Didier Lebrun, Pool via AP)
Belgium’s deputy prime minister says an operation in Rafah will “lead to massacre.”
Petra De Sutter also says on X that Brussels is “working on further sanctions” against Israel.
One month after October 7, De Sutter was calling publicly for sanctions against Israel and an immediate suspension of the Israel-EU association agreement.
She is slated to meet Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki later today.
Belgium announced sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in March.
2 Israelis injured in drone attack near Metula; Hezbollah says it targeted military position
Two Israelis are hurt in the Hezbollah explosive-laden drone attack on the Metula area.
Hezbollah in a statement claims to have targeted an Israeli military position.
At Auschwitz march, survivor Bella Haim commemorates hostage grandson killed in Gaza
Bella Haim tours the Auschwitz-1 former Nazi camp in Poland on May 6, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
AUSCHWITZ — At the age of 86, Bella Haim walks briskly between the red-brick barracks of the Auschwitz-1 camp in Poland. It’s her first visit to a Holocaust commemoration site anywhere in Europe, which she left for Israel as a child survivor of the genocide.
“I never felt any need to come to a place like this, but then October 7 happened,” Haim tells The Times of Israel ahead of the annual March of the Living commemoration event at the former Nazi camp on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Thousands of Jews march here to commemorate the genocide.
Her thoughts, she says, are with her grandson, Yotam, a hostage who was killed accidentally by Israeli troops in Gaza along with two other Israelis who escaped captivity there after being abducted by terrorists on October 7.
Yotam, who was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, spoke with her as terrorists were raiding the kibbutz, where they killed dozens of members, she recalls: “He told me he can smell smoke and it transported me back to thinking about the Holocaust. The smell of Jewish homes burning.”
Yotam Haim (Courtesy)
Haim, who was born in Poland in 1938 and settled in Kibbutz Gvulot in Israel’s south, near the Gaza Strip, in 1951, says she is at Auschwitz to make a statement,.
“I’m here to show we are alive, we have risen from the Holocaust and we will rise again from October 7,” she says.
Haim is among several Holocaust survivors who are participating in the march and whose lives were directly impacted by the October 7 onslaught, along with Berlin-born Judith Tzamir from Kibbutz Mefalsim near Gaza and Danit Gabbai, who was born in Marrakech, Morocco, and whose son and daughter and their children survived the onslaughts in Re’im and Zikim, respectively.
Explosive-laden drone launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon hits near Metula
An explosive-laden drone launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon struck an area near the northern community of Metula, the military says.
The IDF does not immediately release details on possible casualties in the incident.
The military also says it struck some 15 buildings and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force at a compound in south Lebanon’s al-Lwaiza a short while ago.
Herzog ties Holocaust Remembrance Day to Oct. 7: ‘The wounds are still gaping in our hearts’
President Isaac Herzog attends a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony held at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 5, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 )
President Isaac Herzog links Holocaust Remembrance Day to October 7 during the Knesset’s annual “Unto Every Person There is a Name” Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Jerusalem.
“This year, piece by piece, we were broken, and our eyes saw sights we never thought we would see again, as a free nation in its own land. The wounds of October 7 are still gaping in our hearts, we mourn and mourn, and we will not be able to remain silent, as long as our brothers and sisters are hostages in the hands of Hamas murderers,” he says.
In addition to remembering his own relatives and those of his wife Michal Herzog, the president also memorializes several Holocaust victims related to Gaza hostages Matan Angrest and Alex Dancyg, a Holocaust expert.
‘High-level’ official to Egypt TV: Deadly Hamas rocket attack on Kerem Shalom caused hostage talk impasse
A helicopter lands in southern Israel after a number of soldiers were killed in a Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom area, May 5, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera news TV quotes an unnamed “high-level” source as saying that Hamas’s deadly attack on the Kerem Shalom Israel-Gaza crossing yesterday has caused an impasse in the hostage-truce deal talks.
The Egyptian negotiators are intensifying talks to contain the current escalation between Israel and Hamas, the source says according to the channel.
Four IDF soldiers were killed when Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at the area near the crossing.
Most of the rockets struck an area where troops were gathered on the border, not far from the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which has been used to deliver thousands of truckloads of humanitarian aid to Gaza during the war.
Protester demands PM’s resignation at Holocaust wreath ceremony: ‘He failed to protect us’
Top Israeli officials attend a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, May 6, 2024 (Haim Zach/GPO)
A protester demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation disrupts the wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem.
Video from the event at the national Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem shows a man yelling for the prime minister to resign, declaring, “We must not descend into the abyss again. What else is necessary for you to go home?”
“Let the people of Israel remember their abandoned sons,” he shouts, referring to the hostages held in Gaza.
“I had no hesitation. What is very clear is that he failed in a very serious way to protect the people of Israel,” the man tells the Ynet news site.
Only weeks after October 7, polling found 80 percent of Israelis calling for Netanyahu to publicly accept responsibility for the staggering failures that led to Hamas’s devastating onslaught on October 7. Last month, another poll found that sixty-two percent of Israelis — both Jewish and Arab — believe it is time for those responsible for the failures of October 7 to resign from their positions.
תקשיבו לשורד החכם והקשיש: הרודן — הביתה!
pic.twitter.com/xYqxXdeDYo— Dan Adin דן עדין (@adin_dan) May 6, 2024
IDF announces death of fourth soldier in Sunday’s Hamas rocket attack
Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Rishon Lezion, killed in a Hamas rocket attack on Kerem Shalom on May 5, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF announces the death of a fourth soldier killed in the Hamas-claimed rocket attack at a staging ground near Kerem Shalom in southern Israel yesterday.
He is named as Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, from Rishon Lezion.
Last night, the IDF announced the deaths of three soldiers in the attack on the Gaza border.
Another 10 soldiers were wounded, three of them in serious condition.
Hamas launched at least 10 short-range rockets from Rafah in the attack.
Hamas official: Israel’s call to evacuate Rafah will lead to collapse of hostage-truce talks
An official from Hamas tells the Walla news site that Israel’s call for civilians to evacuate parts of Rafah ahead of a potential ground offensive will lead to the collapse of the precarious talks for a hostage and truce deal.
“The Israeli decision to begin evacuating the population will stop the negotiations on the deal, which had progressed well and we were close to an agreement,” the official from the terror group tells the Walla news site.
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is under the illusion that the threat of an invasion of Rafah will put pressure on Hamas, but it will only lead to the collapse of the negotiations,” the official says.
FM Katz: Israel’s war aims against Hamas have not changed, the nation says ‘Never again’
Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has no intention of releasing all the hostages being held in Gaza, Foreign Minister Israel Katz alleges, even if Israel emptied its prisons of Palestinian prisoners.
“He believes that the world will pressure Israel to stop the war unconditionally,” writes Katz in a tweet, “and he will be able to continue ruling Gaza — while he holds the hostages as bargaining chips — with the ability to continue a war of attrition against Israel’s home front while planning the next attack.”
Katz says that the deadly Hamas rocket attack on Kerem Shalom was “a reminder who the Nazi terror organization Hamas is.”
Israel’s goals in the war on Hamas have not changed, stresses Katz — releasing all the hostages and defeating Hamas.
“Today,” he writes,” on Yom Hashoah, the imperative ‘Never Again’ takes on a special meaning. The nation of Israel says, ‘Never Again.'”
Sirens warning of suspected drone attack sound in northern towns
Sirens warning of a suspected drone attack sound in multiple communities close to the northern border.
President, PM and top officials attend Knesset Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony
President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, acting Supreme Court President Uzi Fogelman, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan and other senior officials attend the Knesset’s annual “Unto Every Person There is a Name” Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Jerusalem.
Several Holocaust survivors, including the grandparents of current MKs Zvika Fogel, Almog Cohen and Boaz Toporovsky light memorial candles, after which officials will read the names of Holocaust victims.
Earlier this morning Netanyahu attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem.
UCLA to resume in-person classes after campus clashes over Israel-Hamas war
Illustrative: Police patrol as workers clean up anti-Israel graffiti at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after police evicted pro-Palestinian protesters, May 2, 2024. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)
In-person classes will resume today at the University of California, Los Angeles, college officials say, after they were moved online following clashes on campus between pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters and pro-Israel protesters, as well as police.
Students have rallied or set up tents at dozens of universities in recent weeks to protest Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, which was started by the terror group’s October 7 onslaught, prompting crackdowns, mass arrests, and a White House directive to restore order.
UCLA said Friday it had moved classes online after a large police contingent forcibly cleared a sprawling encampment.
In the predawn hours of Thursday, helmeted police swarmed the tent city, using flash bangs and riot gear to push through lines of protesters who linked arms in a futile attempt to forcibly resist their advance.
Los Angeles police said on social media that 210 people were arrested at UCLA.
Clashes have also broken out between the protesters and pro-Israel counter-demonstrators.
“The campus will return to regular operations [on Monday]… and plans to remain this way through the rest of the week,” reads a statement posted on the university’s website.
“A law enforcement presence continues to be stationed around campus to help promote safety,” the post adds.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block says “urgent changes” were needed in the campus’s security operations, adding that a new office would lead the effort.
“It is clear that UCLA needs a unit and leader whose sole responsibility is campus safety to guide us through tense times,” he says in a statement.
Rick Braziel, the former head of the Sacramento Police Department, was named to lead the office.
Ceremony held near Jerusalem to honor 13 who rescued other Jews from Nazi atrocities
Crowd gathered in Martyrs Forest outside Jerusalem to honor Jewish rescuers during the Holocaust in a Yom Hashoah ceremony on May 6, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
A mix of soldiers, Holocaust survivors and diplomats are gathered outside of Jerusalem to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and recognize Jewish heroes who rescued other Jews during the Holocaust.
The ceremony, held jointly by B’nai B’rith World Center and Keren Kayemet Leyisrael – Jewish National Fund, will see 13 people honored with the “Jewish Rescuers Citation” for their efforts to rescue other Jews from Nazi atrocities.
“Jews rescuing Jews continues to this very day, [but] we are still yearning for the day we won’t need this resourcefulness and heroism,” says Dr. Haim Katz, chairman of the B’nai B’rith World Center.
The ceremony is being held in “Martyrs Forest,” a woodland planted by the KKL-JNF, which contains six million trees in remembrance of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Sergio Barbanti, Italy’s ambassador to Israel, addresses the crowd, comparing the Hamas October 7 massacre to the horrors of the Holocaust.
“Raising our voices to say never again is more necessary today than ever,” he says. “The ferocious antisemitic massacre of October 7 represented the darkest page for the people of Israel since its foundation.”
Italian ambassador to Israel Sergio Barbanti addresses the crowd in Martyrs Forest outside Jerusalem during a Yom Hashoah ceremony on May 6, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Israeli official blames Hamas for collapse of talks for potential hostage, truce deal
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team believed there could be an agreement over a hostage deal framework in the coming days, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
It was Hamas’s repeated insistence that Israel agree to end the war that caused the latest efforts to collapse, the official indicates.
“Hamas wants to declare victory, that’s its entire aim in the talks,” the official argues. “There is no way Israel will agree to it.”
Hamas: IDF call for Rafah evacuation a ‘dangerous escalation that will have consequences’
This picture taken on April 30, 2024, shows tents at a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (AFP)
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri tells Reuters that Israel’s call for civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate ahead of an expected offensive is a “dangerous escalation that will have consequences.”
Earlier today, the Israel Defense Forces began calling on Palestinians to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that are close to the Israeli border, ahead of a planned ground offensive in the area.
The civilians were being called to move to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas of southern Gaza.
PM’s office denies Netanyahu’s comments caused Hamas to harden position in hostage talks: ‘Complete lie’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a video statement, May 5, 2024 (Screen grab via Government Press Office)
In the wake of a New York Times article with comments from an anonymous Israeli official alleging that a hostage deal was possible on Saturday until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a series of statements that caused Hamas to harden its position, the Prime Minister’s Office issues a rebuttal.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office calls the idea that the premier sabotaged the deal “a complete lie and a deliberate deception of the public.”
“Hamas is the one that sabotages any deal by not moving one millimeter from its extreme demands that no Israeli government could accept,” the statement continues, “first and foremost, that Israel withdraw from Gaza and end the war.”
On Saturday, amid signs that a potential deal could be reached, another anonymous Israeli official — widely reported to be Netanyahu — released two statements asserting that there would not be any hostage agreement that entailed an end to the war.
10 remain hospitalized after Sunday’s deadly Hamas rocket barrage
A helicopter lands in southern Israel after a number of soldiers were killed in a Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom area, May 5, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
Ten victims of yesterday’s Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom area on the border between Israel and Gaza remain hospitalized at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
The hospital says that three of the wounded are in serious condition in the intensive care unit. Three are in moderate condition and the rest are in good condition. Five of the victims underwent surgery performed by multidisciplinary medical teams.
It is expected that some of the injured will be discharged today.
Three soldiers were killed by the barrage fired into Israel from Rafah in Gaza.
UN nuke watchdog chief Grossi to arrive in Iran for Isfahan conference, talks with officials
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends IAEA Board of Governors emergency meeting in Vienna, Austria, on April 11, 2024. (Joe Klamar/AFP)
UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi is set to arrive in Iran, where he is expected to speak at a conference and meet officials for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criticizing Iran for lack of cooperation on inspections and other outstanding issues.
Grossi, head of the IAEA, is expected to deliver a speech at Iran’s first International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology.
The three-day event, which starts today, is being held in Isfahan province, home to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and where strikes attributed to Israel hit last month.
The IAEA and Iranian officials reported “no damage” to nuclear facilities after the reported attack on Isfahan, widely seen as Israel’s response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel days earlier, which itself was retaliation for a deadly strike on what Tehran said was a Damascus consulate.
During his visit, Grossi is expected to meet with Iranian officials, including the Islamic Republic’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami.
On Wednesday Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said he was “sure that these negotiations will further help clear ambiguities, and we will be able to strengthen our relations with the agency.”
Iran in recent years has deactivated IAEA monitoring devices at nuclear facilities and barred inspectors, according to the UN agency.
Grossi last visited Iran in March 2023 and met with top officials including President Ebrahim Raisi.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Israel to come to a halt with 10 a.m. siren to commemorate 6 million Holocaust victims
Drivers stand still in Tel Aviv on April 18, 2023 as sirens blare for two minutes marking Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the six million Jews killed during World War II. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Israel will come to a standstill for two minutes at 10 a.m., as the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day siren will wail to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
The siren brings life to a halt, with pedestrians standing in place, buses stopping on busy streets, cars pulling over on major highways and drivers getting out to stand on the road.
The official state ceremony marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem will commence immediately after the siren.
Ceremonies are also held at memorials nationwide throughout the day, and in schools.
CIA chief Burns to meet Netanyahu amid last-ditch efforts to reach deal between Israel, Hamas
File: CIA Director William Burns speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 8, 2023. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP Photo)
A meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and CIA chief William Burns will take place in Jerusalem in the early afternoon, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
Intensive efforts by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to mediate a deal between Israel and Hamas collapsed over the weekend, and the CIA director is working to find a way to keep hope alive for a deal even as Israel begins to evacuate civilians from parts of Rafah in advance of a likely military operation.
Burns departed Cairo for Doha to hold talks with Qatar’s prime minister yesterday, and is in Israel today.
IDF says barrage of some 30 rockets fired at Golan Heights from Lebanon; no reports of injuries
A barrage of some 30 rockets was launched from Lebanon at the Golan Heights, the IDF says.
There are no reports of injuries.
The military says it is shelling the launch sites with artillery.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it launched dozens of rockets at an army base in the Golan Heights.
IDF says jets hit Rafah area used by Hamas to launch rockets in Sunday’s deadly barrage
Fighter jets struck several Hamas positions in southern Gaza’s Rafah overnight, in the area from which a deadly rocket attack was carried out yesterday, the military says.
The IDF says it hit sniper positions, buildings used by terror groups, and other infrastructure.
The strikes in Rafah come as ground troops continue to operate in central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor. In a recent incident, the IDF says reservists of the Yiftah Brigade spotted a cell of gunmen near them and called in an airstrike.
In other strikes across Gaza, the military says fighter jets hit booby-trapped buildings and rocket launching positions. A helicopter also struck a building used by gunmen to fire at troops, the IDF adds.
Witnesses say some families starting to leave areas east of Rafah after IDF call to evacuate
Some Palestinian families were leaving areas east of Rafah after the Israeli military called on them to evacuate, witnesses in the city on the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt tell Reuters.
The Israel Defense Forces has begun telling residents of some neighborhoods that they should begin to temporarily evacuate ahead of a planned offensive.
IDF drops flyers warning Gazans against approaching Israeli, Egyptian borders
In the IDF flyers dropped in the Gaza Strip this morning, the military warns Palestinians against approaching the borders with Israel or Egypt.
One flyer, addressed to all Gaza Strip residents, announces the expansion of the designated humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi area.
“In this area the expanded humanitarian aid will continue. The IDF will continue fighting the terror organizations that use you as human shields. Therefore: Gaza City is a dangerous fighting zone; avoid crossing to the north of Wadi Gaza,” it continues.
“It is prohibited to come near to the eastern and southern security fences,” the IDF flyer adds.
The second flyer, addressed to the residents and those sheltering in eastern Rafah neighborhoods, warns that “the IDF is about to operate with force against the terror organizations in the area you currently reside, as the IDF has operated so far.”
“Anyone in the area puts themselves and their family members in danger,” it reads.
That flyer also warns against approaching the Israeli and Egyptian borders.
#عاجل في الدقائق الأخيرة ألقى جيش الدفاع فوق الأحياء الشرقية لرفح مناشير يدعو فيها السكان في الاحياء الشرقية لرفح باخلاء المنطقة بشكل مؤقت إلى المنطقة الإنسانية الموسعة حيث تتم عملية الإجلاء من خلال المناشير والرسائل النصية والاتصالات الهاتفية والمواد الإعلامية بالعربية pic.twitter.com/RngS7LshIM
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 6, 2024
Gallant to US defense chief Austin: Israel has ‘no choice’ over Rafah operation after deadly Hamas barrage
File: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in a phone call overnight that Israel was left with no choice but to launch its offensive in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
Gallant updated Austin on the deadly rocket barrage from Rafah on an IDF position on the border, his office says.
The minister detailed “the many efforts that the State of Israel is making to reach an [agreement] for the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire, and said that at this stage Hamas refuses any proposal that would allow this.”
He told Austin that “there was no choice left and this meant the start of the Israeli operation in Rafah.”
“Gallant thanked the secretary of defense for the close cooperation, and emphasized that the US has an important role in advancing dialogue for the release of the hostages held captive by Hamas,” the ministry adds.
Ohana lights memorial candle at Knesset to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana lights a memorial candle for Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Knesset on May 6, 2024 (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana lights a memorial candle at the entrance vestibule of the Knesset as part of the “Unto every person there is a name” ceremony marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day.
He recalls the short life of Ada Dadosh, who was born in the Giado concentration camp in Libya.
“At the age of 3 months she fell ill with pneumonia. Her father Yosef helplessly approached the camp doctor whom he called ‘hell on earth’ and asked him for a cure. The doctor held her, took a syringe, stabbed and injected it into her body. Her heart stopped beating. It wasn’t medicine that the devil injected, but poison that the devil injected,” he says.
“May the memory of Ada Dadosh, along with the six million who perished, be blessed forever.”
Rocket sirens sound in towns near northern border
Sirens warn of incoming rocket fire in a number of communities in the Golan Heights and close to the border with Lebanon.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces in Lebanon have attacked Israeli communities and military posts in the north on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Israeli troops launch counter-terror operation in West Bank city Tulkarem
The Israeli military and Border Police launched a large counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarem overnight.
According to military sources, the operation is aimed at dismantling a local terror network in the city and adjacent refugee camp.
The troops are working to uncover explosive devices planted by the operatives along the roads, seize weaponry, and kill or capture any gunmen.
There are no injuries to Israeli forces as of this morning.
Israeli official to NYT: Netanyahu’s comments caused Hamas to harden position in hostage talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a video statement, May 5, 2024 (Screen grab via Government Press Office)
An unnamed Israeli official tells The New York Times that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements vowing that Israel will carry out an operation in Rafah had caused Hamas to harden its position in negotiations for a potential hostage and truce deal.
The official tells the newspaper that the negotiations were now in “crisis,” and that Hamas was using them to try to ensure that Israeli troops won’t begin a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city.
“Hamas, the official said, was now seeking further guarantees that Israel would not implement only part of an agreement, and then resume fighting,” The New York Times says.
Hours after The New York Times published the comments, the IDF began to call on residents of some eastern neighborhoods in Rafah to evacuate ahead of a potential ground offensive.
The newspaper describes the negotiations having had a “setback” over the weekend.
“We were very close, but Netanyahu’s narrowmindedness aborted an agreement,” Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, tells the newspaper.
On Saturday, amid signs that a potential deal could be reached, another anonymous Israeli official — widely reported to be Netanyahu — released two statements asserting that there would not be any hostage agreement that entailed an end to the war.
Yesterday, Netanyahu doubled down on his rejection of Hamas’s demand for an end to Israel’s war against it in exchange for freeing the hostages it holds, saying that such a move would keep the Palestinian terror organization in power in Gaza and pose a threat to Israel.
Previous negotiations stalled in part due to Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire and Netanyahu’s vows to crush the group’s remaining fighters in the far-southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population is sheltering.
IDF says jets struck Hezbollah compound near northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek
A picture taken on May 6, 2024 shows a damaged vehicle following an overnight Israeli air strike that the IDF said targeted Hezbollah compound in an area near the Bekaa Valley city of Baalbek (AFP)
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah compound in the Sefri area near northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek, the military says.
Three people were lightly wounded in the strike, according to Lebanese media.
Baalbek, an area identified in the past as a Hezbollah stronghold, is around 100 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The IDF says it also struck Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon’s Ramyeh, Ayta ash-Shab, Marwahin, and Jabal Blat last night.
IDF using flyers, text messages and phone calls to instruct Gazans on evacuation of Rafah neighborhoods
An IDF map of the civilian evacuation of Rafah ahead of the planned offensive, released May 6, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF is now beginning to drop flyers in eastern Rafah, send text messages, and make phone calls to Palestinians with instructions on the zones that need to be evacuated and which routes to take to a designated humanitarian zone.
The evacuation order only applies to some of the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah for now, and not the entire city in southern Gaza.
The IDF publishes a map showing the zones.
The military in a statement says that “in accordance with the approval of the political echelon, the IDF calls on the population, which is under the control of Hamas, to temporarily evacuate from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah to the expanded humanitarian zone.”
“This matter will progress gradually, according to an ongoing assessment of the situation,” it says.
The expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas includes field hospitals and tent camps for displaced Palestinians, with the IDF saying “there has been a surge of humanitarian aid going into Gaza” recently.
The Kerem Shalom Crossing with southern Gaza still remains closed following yesterday’s deadly Hamas rocket attack on troops in the area, but it may open following a new assessment of the situation.
The military says it will still try to maintain the supply of humanitarian aid at the same level despite the closure of the crossing. Other crossings will remain open, as work continues on the construction of the Americans’ floating pier in central Gaza.
“The IDF will continue pursuing Hamas everywhere in Gaza until all the hostages that they’re holding in captivity are back home,” it adds.
IDF calls on Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah neighborhoods ahead of planned offensive
This picture taken on April 30, 2024, shows tents at a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (AFP)
The Israeli military has begun calling on Palestinians to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, those close to the Israeli border, ahead of a planned offensive in the area in the southern Gaza Strip.
The civilians are being called to move to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas.
IDF says its fighter jets have shot down a drone heading to Israel from the east
Israeli fighter jets during the night shot down a drone that was heading toward Israel from “the eastern direction,” the military says.
The IDF says the aircraft had been tracked throughout the incident, and there was no threat to civilians.
It does not elaborate on where the drone was shot down.
Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims to have launched two drones at Israel overnight, targeting two military positions, including a base in Eilat.
Amid the war, several drones have been launched at Israel by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria. Iran itself also carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel last month with hundreds of drones and missiles.
In Holocaust Remembrance Day message, Biden pledges to realize responsibility of ‘Never Again’
In a short Holocaust Remembrance Day message, US President Joe Biden writes of the importance of “heeding the lessons of the Shoah and realizing the responsibility of ‘Never Again.'”
The statement is posted on X, formerly Twitter.
This Holocaust Remembrance Day, we mourn the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during one of the darkest chapters in human history.
And we recommit to heeding the lessons of the Shoah and realizing the responsibility of “Never Again.”
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 6, 2024
Lebanese report: Israeli raid near Baalbek injures 3
Lebanon’s Hezbollah-aligned Al Mayadeen outlet reports an Israeli raid targeting a building in an area south of the city of Baalbek.
The report says three people are lightly injured.
There is no immediate comment by the Israeli military.
US defense chief speaks with Gallant, voices condolences for victims of Hamas barrage
File: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to discuss “the ongoing hostage negotiations, humanitarian assistance efforts, and Rafah,” the Pentagon says.
Austin “expressed his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed and wounded by a rocket and mortar attack launched by Hamas out of Rafah,” the statement says.
He is also said to have reiterated Washington’s commitment to “supporting Israel’s defense,” his own commitment to returning all the hostages from Gaza, and the US demand for any offensive to Rafah to include a “credible” plan to protect civilians and preserve the flow of humanitarian aid.
There is no immediate Israeli readout of the call.
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