CIA chief reportedly heading to Doha to exert maximum pressure Gaza truce negotiations: Gaza war, day 212

Thank you for following our live updates today. We'll be back tomorrow morning with all the latest from Gaza, south Lebanon and the wider region.

Hezbollah has announced two more attacks on two Israeli positions, this time facing the southern Lebanese villages of Markaba and Kfar Kila in Marjayoun district. The party said the attacks are in retaliation for the Israeli attacks earlier on civilian houses, especially in Mais al-Jabal where four people were killed by an Israel strike this morning.

The Israeli army launched airstrikes on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab in Bint Jbeil district.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) today said that Israel had again banned him from entering the Gaza Strip, where the UN has warned of possible famine after nearly seven months of war.

"The Israeli authorities continue to refuse the United Nations humanitarian access" to the Gaza Strip, Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. "This week alone, they refused — for the 2nd time — to let me into Gaza," he added. Lazzarini had already indicated in mid-March that Israel had forbidden him to enter Gaza.

Egyptian state-linked media says a Hamas delegation that left Cairo today will return for more talks on Tuesday, AFP reports.

"The Hamas delegation has left Cairo this evening [Sunday] for Doha in order to conduct consultations, and will return Tuesday to conclude the negotiations" towards a truce in the war with Israel, said Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services, citing an unidentified "informed source."

The negotiators for the Palestinian militant group arrived in Cairo on Saturday.

CIA Director William Burns is traveling to Doha to hold an emergency meeting with Qatar's prime minister, Reuters reports, citing an official briefed on the talks says.

"Burns is on his way to Doha for an emergency meeting with the Qatari Prime Minister aimed at exerting maximum pressure on Israel and Hamas to continue negotiating," the news agency quotes the source as saying.

Prospects for a Gaza cease-fire appear slim this evening as Hamas reiterates its demand for an end to the war in exchange for the freeing of hostages, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to flatly rule that out.

Here's what has happened in south Lebanon over the last hour:

* Hezbollah announced two attacks: one on Israeli spying equipment facing the southern Lebanese village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) and one on an Israeli position facing the southern Lebanese village of Halta in Hasbaya district.

* The Israeli army launched an airstrike on the village of Houla (Marjayoun) near the village's municipality, a security source told L'Orient-Le Jour.

* The Israeli army launched airstrikes on the areas of Aita al-Shaab and Jabal al-Blat in Bint Jbeil district.

Israeli police have raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office, Reuters reports, citing an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source. The raid follows a government decision to shutter the Qatari-owned TV station's local operations.

Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room. The Al Jazeera source said the hotel was in East Jerusalem. 

Image: Security forces and emergency personnel deploy at a site hit by rockets fired from southern Lebanon in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border on May 5, 2024. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)

Hezbollah has announced two more attacks, which it says are in retaliation for the attack on Mais al-Jabal that killed four people this morning and injured several others. The latest Hezbollah attacks targeted buildings located in Shtula and Avivim in Israel, it said. This brings to four the number of Hezbollah's attacks in retaliation for the Mais al-Jabal strike.

Gaza truce efforts: Meeting ends in Cairo as Hamas negotiators head back to Doha, AFP reports.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has accused Hamas of showing signs it is not serious about reaching a truce, and said that, if so, Israel would launch military actions in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip "in the very near future," Reuters reports.

The municipality of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun) has issued a statement condemning the Israeli attack earlier today that killed four people.

"We condemn and reject this massacre … before local, international and Arab public opinion, and we assure that this cowardly enemy is targeting civilians because he has failed to achieve his war aims," the municipality said.

Here's what has been happening in south Lebanon this afternoon:

* After what it described as the "horrific crime that the Israeli army committed in Mais al-Jabal," in which four people were killed and many more injured, Hezbollah announced its second attack of the day, this one on an artillery position and Israeli soldiers in the Israeli area of "Zaoura" with tens of Katyusha missiles.

* The Israeli army launched airstrikes between the villages of Adaisseh and Markaba in Marjayoun district, a security source told L'Orient-Le Jour.

* The Israeli army launched an airstrike between the areas of Taybeh and Deir Saryan in Marjayoun district.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL, the leading Jewish rights group in the United States) today expressed alarm at the "unprecedented level" of anti-Semitic acts recorded in 2023, with the war between Hamas and Israel fueling a "fire that was already out of control," AFP reports. The remarks came in ADL's annual global report, written jointly with Tel Aviv University.

"Adopting a contested methodology that includes anti-Zionist rhetoric, militancy and calls for resistance in the Palestinian territories, the report shows 8,873 incidents in the US in 2023, including 5,204 between Oct. 7 and the end of 2023," AFP wrote.

Hamas has described the Israeli government's decision to close the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera in Israel as a "flagrant violation of press freedom" aimed at "hiding the truth" about the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's decision is "a retaliatory measure against the role … played by Al-Jazeera in bringing to light the crimes" of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, the group said in a statement on Telegram, denouncing "the culmination of a war against journalists on the part of Israel," whose "aim is to hide the truth."

🔴 The armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which Israeli and Palestinian media reports said had resulted in Israeli casualties, Reuters reports.

Israel's military said 10 projectiles were launched from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the crossing, which it said was now closed to aid trucks going into the coastal enclave. Other crossings remain open.

Al Jazeera has condemned a move by the Israeli cabinet to shut down its operations in Israel, calling it a "criminal action," Reuters reports.

"Israel's suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not detered us from performing our duty," the network said.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, has slammed Israel's supporters for supplying its arms, claiming that without foreign military assistance, the state's "ammunition in its storage facilities at best cannot even last a month of war." Raad's remarks come during a commemoration ceremony for a Hezbollah fighter. "The ones who support it [Israel] are those who advocate for human rights and all the hypocrites and liars who claim culture and progressiveness from the West and were funding the enemy with money and weapons," Raad added.

Image: Mohammad Raad speaks. (Credit: Hezbollah media office)

Here's more on Israel's move to close Al Jazeera's operations in the state:

AFP reports that Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has signed and published an order to seize the Qatari channel's equipment following the government's decision to "close" the station in Israel and block its broadcasting. According to AFP, the document includes instructions to seize "the equipment used to broadcast the channel's content," including cameras, microphones, editing tables, computer servers, computers, transmission equipment and cell phones.

The leader of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh has accused Israel of sabotaging mediation efforts aimed at securing a truce in the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh said in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted "to invent constant justifications for the continuation of aggression, the extension … of the conflict and the sabotage of the efforts made by the various mediators and parties."

⚡ The Israeli army says it has closed its main humanitarian aid crossing to the Gaza Strip, Kerem Shalom, after it was targeted by rocket fire.

"A dozen projectiles were fired from an area adjacent to [the town of] Rafah in the direction of the Kerem Shalom area. The Kerem Shalom crossing is currently closed to humanitarian aid trucks," said the army in a statement. Rafah is located in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Also in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has issued a statement announcing its first attack of the day in retaliation for the Israeli bombardment that killed at least four people in Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun) this morning.

The party claims to have targeted the Israeli site of Kiryat Shmona (opposite the Lebanese town of Houla, also in the Marjayoun) at midday "with dozens of Katyousha and Falak rockets."

A fourth victim of this morning's Israeli strike on Mais al-Jabal has been found in the rubble, a source with the rescue operation contacted by our correspondent in the region says.

🔴 Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he will "close" the Al Jazeera channel in Israel, AFP reports.

The Israeli prime minister had already promised to do so in recent weeks, calling the Arabic-language news channel a "channel of terrorism" and accusing it of "harming Israeli national security" and of having "actively participated" in the Oct. 7 attack, according to explanations provided by Al Jazeera in an article published on its site a month ago.

According to AFP, the Israeli army said it had killed five Palestinian "terrorists" near Tulkarem in the north of the occupied West Bank yesterday, following a 12-hour siege of a village during which an Israeli soldier was wounded. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas, reported the deaths of three fighters, including its Tulkarem chief, Alaa Adeeb.

In the village of Deir al-Ghusun, an AFP photographer could see a large Israeli force blocking the streets around the targeted building and a bulldozer razing it to the ground. At least one body was pulled from the rubble and taken away by Israeli forces.

Also in southern Lebanon this morning, the Israeli army shelled the outskirts of Alma al-Chaab, Dhaira and Naqoura in the Sour district.

🔴 The Health Ministry in Gaza has announced a new death toll of 34,683.

⚡ At least three members of a family were killed this morning, and several other people were injured, in Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, the head of the village's municipality, Abd al-Karim Shkeir, told L'Orient-Le Jour. Shkeir added that the family was at a supermarket in the village when the strike happened at about 9:30 a.m.

Shkeir also added that some civilians had recently returned to the village to check on their houses and shops after seven months of war.

Here's what happened in south Lebanon overnight: 

* The Israeli army shelled and opened fire on the Lebanese border village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) around 9 p.m.

* The Israeli army launched airstrikes on a house in the village of Dhaira (Sour) and a house in southern Khiam, (Marjayoun). No casualties were recorded.

* The Israeli army shelled the southern outskirts of Naqoura in Sour district around midnight.

* The Israeli army shelled an area between Dhaira and Alma al-Shaab in Sour district.

An Israeli strike has hit Mais al-Jabal in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, according to local residents. Ahead of the reported strike, a precarious calm had prevailed early this morning on the border between southern Lebanon and northern Israel, our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Muntasser Abdallah, said, citing security sources.

This morning, Israel also shelled the town of Aitaroun in Bint Jbeil district.

Image: Photo of the strike on Meis al-Jabal provided by residents and relayed by our correspondent in South Lebanon

Even as efforts to reach a truce appear to be intensifying, Benjamin Netanyahu continues to repeatedly declare his intention to carry out a ground offensive on Rafah, which he considers to be the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza.

The US, Israel's main ally, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to an assault on the city, where some 1.2 million Palestinians displaced by the war are sheltering.

Rafah, located on Egypt's closed border, is also the main land crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter the enclave. An offensive would be a "major blow" to humanitarian operations,  the UN has warned.

International aid, strictly controlled by Israel and arriving via Rafah, remains far from sufficient to meet the needs of the 2.4 million Gazans.

Of the 250 people abducted on Oct. 7, 128 remain captive in Gaza, 35 of them dead, according to the Israeli army.

Yesterday evening, thousands of people, including relatives of hostages, demonstrated in Tel Aviv to demand that the Netanyahu government conclude a truce agreement allowing the return of the hostages.

In a statement, the Hostage Families Forum called on Netanyahu "to ignore political pressure" and accept an agreement that would allow the hostages to be released. "Mr. Netanyahu, history will not forgive you if you miss this opportunity," they said.

Meanwhile, the director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain, has expressed alarm that the north of the Gaza Strip has been hit by "real famine," which is spreading southwards.

The Israeli army's attacks on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas offensive, in which 1,170 people were killed, led to the deaths of 34,654 people, most of them civilians, according to Hamas, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe and colossal destruction. Israeli bombardments have continued unabated, even in areas declared to be safe.

Ahead of Hamas' return to Cairo, an Israeli official had accused the group of blocking any agreement by insisting on its demand for an end to the war, predicting difficult negotiations.

There were "no developments" at the first round on Saturday in Cairo, but further talks are scheduled for today, a Hamas official said, according to AFP.

Israel is not present in the Egyptian capital. According to another Israeli official, signs of progress would be visible if Mossad chief David Barnea were to take an Israeli delegation to Cairo. According to the American website Axios, CIA chief William Burns is in Cairo.

After a first round of talks in Cairo on Saturday, attended by a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya and representatives of the mediating countries — Qatar, Egypt and the United States — Israel and the Palestinian movement once again displayed their profound differences regarding a truce.

On Saturday evening, a Hamas official repeated, on condition of anonymity, that his movement would "under no circumstances accept an agreement that does not explicitly provide for an end to the war."

"Our information confirms that [Benjamin] Netanyahu is personally putting the brakes on an agreement out of personal calculations," he told AFP of the Israeli prime minister accused by Hamas of hampering any agreement with his public threats about an assault on Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Good morning,

Welcome back to our live updates from Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and the wider Middle East on day 212 of the Gaza war.