We're closing today's live coverage of the war on Gaza and its repercussions on the region — notably in southern Lebanon. Thanks for following along. We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis. Good night!
The head of Hamas’ negotiating team, Khalil al-Hayya told the Saudi channel Asharq News that Israel presented maps to the mediators that show it intends to control up to 20 percent of the Gaza Strip after the war, Haaretz reports.
According to Hayya, citing information passed on to him through mediators, Israel painted a picture of post-war Gaza in which it controls the corridor that splits northern from southern Gaza and holds territory one kilometer north and east of it, as well as areas in Khan Younis and Rafah.
Hayya told the channel that a proposal recently presented by the US only demands an Israeli withdrawal from “population centers” in Gaza, whereas Hamas has been firm in its demands that the Israeli army withdraw from the Strip entirely.
Police officers arrest a demonstrator during a pro-Palestinian protest against Israel's war on Gaza at Emory University on April 25, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. College campuses across the US braced for fresh protests by pro-Palestinian students, exte
Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinians have crossed into Egypt from Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian ambassador to Cairo.
Ambassador Diab Allouh told AFP that they had made their way over the frontier, without specifying how. The Rafah border crossing is the sole entry and exit point to Gaza not directly under the control of Israeli forces.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi strongly condemned the looming “forced migration” of Palestinians — a consequence of Israel's imminent attack on Rafah, the south Gaza city with a current population of more than 1.5. million people, pushed up against the closed border with Egypt, Egyptian media reported.
Despite warnings from allies about the potential for significant civilian casualties, Israel intends to evacuate civilians from the Gaza border city and carry out the operation.
In a televised address, Sisi restated “Egypt's firm stance against any attempts to displace Palestinians from their land,” emphasizing the importance of “preserving the Palestinian cause and safeguarding Egypt's national security.”
He emphasized that Egypt stands firmly against the forced relocation of Palestinians to Sinai or any other location.
Updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
• Israeli artillery fire targeted the Bab al-Thenieh area of Khiam Valley, in Marjayoun district, residents told our correspondent in the South.
• The fire that broke out in the forest around Yaroun, in Bint Jbeil district, due to Israeli phosphorous bombs has been brought under control.
• Hezbollah announced that its fighters targeted the Zebdine barracks in the disputed Shebaa Farms at 5:15 p.m. It also claimed to have carried out an air strike on the Margaliot area using a one-way drone, in retaliation for Israeli strikes that targeted civilian homes in Alma al-Shaab, in Sour district.
The Israeli government has approved a British request to allow foreign observers to visit Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, according to Times of Israel.
The request was initially opposed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said he would only give approval if foreign observers were allowed to visit Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the Maariv newspaper reported.
But ministers seem to have reached an agreement that an Israeli judge and two foreign observers would be allowed to visit the detainees, who Israeli media alleges are members of Hamas’ Nubkah force responsible for Oct. 7.
In March, it was reported that UK Foreign Minister David Cameron threatened to cut arms supplies to Israel unless either the Red Cross or diplomats be allowed to visit Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV and Haaretz have reported that an Egyptian delegation will be arriving in Israel tomorrow to advance negotiations toward a potential hostage and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
This visit, unconfirmed by the Egyptian side, follows yesterday’s visit to Cairo by army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar.
The Israeli army’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi informed the war Cabinet today that the army had completed preparations for a ground invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza, the state-run Kan radio station reported, cited by Haaretz. The date for the operation — on a city previously designated by the army as a “safe zone” — is set to be decided by Cabinet.
Yesterday, the army announced that two brigades previously stationed along the northern border with Lebanon were being redeployed to southern Gaza, and today, Halevi announced that a brigade, number 162, which had been stationed in northern Gaza, was moving southward as well, to be replaced by two reservist units.
According to the Haaretz report, the Israeli army will begin evacuating Rafah as soon as the Cabinet gives its go-ahead. The army estimates that the evacuation will take several weeks, and says troops will only enter the territory once it is completed. Rafah has been under nonstop aerial bombardment from the Israeli army. Residents have reported that in the last few days, airstrikes have been the heaviest they’ve seen in weeks.
Here’s an update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
• Israeli military aircraft targeted the disputed Kfar Shuba heights and the Salamiyah farm located on the outskirts of Kfar Shuba, our correspondent in the region reports, citing residents.
• ⚡ Fires were reignited in the forests of the Labbouneh area (Sour district) and Yaroun (Bint Jbeil district) by Israeli phosphorous bombs. Firefighting teams had just managed to put out fires in these areas ignited by Israeli incendiary bombs overnight. Having returned to the site to extinguish the new fires, continued Israeli shelling of the area forced the firefighters to withdraw again, according to the head of Nabatieh's regional civil defense center, Hussein Faqih.
Faqih says his teams coordinated with the Lebanese Army, which in turn contacted UNIFIL in order to have the UN peacekeeping force request a halt to the Israeli shelling. Troops and members of the Civil Defense Force were then redeployed to fight the fires.
The European Parliament, a legislative body of the European Union, has voted 357-20 to “strongly condemn” Iran’s retaliatory strike on Israel, as well as Hezbollah and Houthi rockets launched toward “the Golan Heights and Israeli territory.”
The parliament’s press release says the resolution adopted today also calls on both Iran and Israel to “exercise restraint and avoid further escalation,” while reiterating its “full support” for Israel’s security, and restating its “long-standing call” to list the IRGV on the EU list of terrorist organizations.
The parliament also “deplores the recent attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus,” reminding the international community that diplomatic and consular premises are protected under international law.
The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary group, Mohammad Raad, told a ceremony in memory of a Hezbollah member killed by Israel that the Gaza war was "strategically over." "The enemy is no longer in a position to wage it and will receive the appropriate response to each of its aggressions," he said. "After seven months, the enemy remains confused and does not know how to act" in Gaza, he said in a speech delivered in Kfar Tibnit, southern Lebanon.
Palestinian youths search the rubble of a building hit in overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on April 25, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP)
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati addressed the Arab Economic Security Forum in Light of Geopolitical Changes organized by the Arab Banks Union in Beirut, emphasizing the "Palestinian issue as the most prominent regional challenge." He highlighted the "plight of the Palestinian people under occupation," reaffirming Lebanon's commitment to achieving a just and comprehensive peace through a two-state solution and international references. Mikati reiterated the significance of the Arab Peace Initiative issued at the Beirut Summit in 2002, emphasizing its role in laying the foundations for desired peace. At the Beirut Arab League Summit in 2002, 22 states unanimously adopted the Arab Peace Initiative – a historic document that offered a formula for ending not only the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but also the wider, lingering Arab–Israeli conflict.
"Iranian forces have withdrawn from their bases in Damascus and southern Syria, and will potentially be replaced by Hezbollah and Iraqi militants," according to an article in the daily Asharq Al-Awsat, citing a source close to Hezbollah.
The report adds that Iran suspects members of the Syrian security forces of being behind the leaks that led to a series of assassinations of IRGC officials in Syria, including that of Mohammad Reza Zahedi in early April.
A senior Hamas politician, Khalil al-Hayya, told the Associated Press that his group was ready to accept a truce of five years or more with Israel and would lay down its arms and convert to a purely political party if an independent Palestinian state were established along the pre-1967 borders. This statement has been made several times recently by Hamas officials and sources.
Hayya's comments come at a time when ceasefire talks between Tel Aviv and Hamas have been deadlocked for months. The suggestion to disarm Hamas appeared to be a major concession on the part of the militant group, which is officially committed to the destruction of Israel.
According to AP, Israel is unlikely to consider such a scenario, having vowed to eliminate Hamas in the wake of the deadly Oct. 7 attack.
While several security sources and those close to Hezbollah had claimed in the morning that an Israeli drone had targeted a tanker truck near Baalbeck earlier in the day, a report that had been picked up by the Israeli press quoting the pro-Iranian channel al-Mayadeen, the incident remains unclear. According to sources following the "preliminary investigation" by the police into this incident, quoted in the Lebanese media, the cause of the shots fired at the truck is not yet clear.
The situation in southern Lebanon since 8 a.m.:
- The Israeli air force struck an isolated house in a wooded area near Alma al-Shaab (Sour) with several missiles. So far, no casualties have been reported, according to a security source.
- Also in the Sour district, firefighters had to be deployed once again in the Labouneh area to extinguish a fire that had rekindled after Israel had sent incendiary bombs during the night. The firefighters finally managed to extinguish the flames, but the heat has raised fears of another outbreak.
"The police should have smashed their faces in," said the son of Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, of demonstrators who protested against his father outside the Jerusalem synagogue where he was praying on Wednesday evening.
"The Israeli police should have gone there with truncheons and smashed their faces in," he said, Haaretz reports. Last night, a dozen demonstrators had gathered outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence with placards reading "Bring them home."
A tanker truck on the Douris road, a few kilometers west of Baalbeck in the Bekaa, was hit by a missile launched by an Israeli drone, reports a security source. The vehicle then hit the embankment. The driver was injured in the accident and taken to hospital, according to the same source. According to the pro-Iranian al-Mayadeen channel, the driver was killed, but we have not been able to confirm this independently.
Images published by the channel and by several media outlets show the truck across the road, with fuel leaking from holes drilled in the tank.
So far, the Israeli army has not claimed responsibility for the strike, as it usually does for targeted attacks.
The Israeli army has launched several deep strikes in Lebanon, notably in the Baalbeck region, since the start of hostilities with Hezbollah on Oct. 8.
Israel's war cabinet will meet later today to discuss efforts to resume negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, Haaretz reports. Negotiations have been deadlocked for two weeks, with Israel accusing Hamas of hardening its position.
A team headed by Mossad chief David Barnea and Major General (reservist) Nitzan Alon will present the government with various plans to relaunch negotiations. A diplomatic source involved in the negotiations told Haaretz that one of the options being considered is to press for an agreement that would include the release of all hostages at once in exchange for a massive release of Palestinian prisoners, instead of the gradual plans discussed so far. An Israeli official told the Israeli newspaper that this option may be on the table, but is still a long way off. According to him, a decision on this matter would raise major difficulties within the government.
In Jerusalem last night, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence with placards reading "Bring them home." And the demonstrators heckled National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as he tried to extricate himself from the crowd.
In the morning, at around 8 a.m., artillery fire targeted Tayr Harfa and the outskirts of Dhaira and Alma al-Shaab (Sour).
- Between 10 p.m. and midnight, the Israeli army shelled Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil) three times.
- At around 11.:0 p.m., a house located between Markaba and Houla (Marjayoun) was shelled, causing a fire. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which appears to have caused no casualties.
- After midnight, incendiary bombs were dropped by Israel on the outskirts of Naqoura, causing a fire, which was extinguished by the fire department.
At the same time, strikes also increased in southern Lebanon, where Israel claimed to have carried out "offensive action" yesterday, hitting dozens of Hezbollah targets.
After a day of violent exchanges of fire, with Hezbollah retaliating by targeting several localities in northern Israel with "dozens of Katyusha rockets," the night was marked by a number of shootings and strikes, according to security sources.
The Israeli army continues its deadly strikes on Gaza, particularly in the Rafah sector.
"We are not terrorists," Robhi al Hout, a resident of Deir al Balah whose house was destroyed in an Israeli strike, told AFP.
Make sure to read the Morning Brief so that you are caught up with what has been happening.
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