Several European states expected to recognize Palestinian state by June; Israeli bombardment of Rafah: Day 206 of the Gaza war

That's it for today's live coverage of the war on Gaza and its repercussions in the region, notably in southern Lebanon. Thanks for joining. We'll be back tomorrow morning. Goodnight!

Thousands of Israelis are protesting in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to reach a deal over the release of hostages, Haaretz reports.

Protestors wrote the words “Rafah can wait — they can’t” on the road. The father of a soldier captured on Oct. 7 addressed Netanyahu in a speech saying: “Reach a cease-fire and free them now. If you don’t bring them back, the hostages’ blood is on your hands.”

Protests against the Israeli government and for increased efforts toward freeing hostages have grown in recent weeks, reaching levels not seen since before Oct.7.

Updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:

• Israeli warplanes raided the village of Khiam, in Marjayoun district, twice, residents told our correspondent in the region.

• Israeli rockets also targeted the villages of Aita al-Shaab, in Bint Jbeil district, and Jibbayn, in Sour district, according to a security source.

Authorities at Columbia University, in New York City, have informed pro-Palestinian protestors who set up an encampment on campus that they have until 2 p.m. (EDT) to voluntarily leave, or else risk suspension from the university, Axios reports.

Suspension would render students ineligible to graduate this spring or participate in academic and extracurricular activities.

The protests are part of a massive wave of student action denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza and have as their primary demand that the university divest from companies with links to Israel.

According to the Axios report, protests would be permitted to continue after reading days, final exams, and commencement. Around 700 students protesters have been arrested on campuses across the country since mid-April.

The temporary pier being constructed by the US military off the coast of Gaza will cost Washington at least $320 million, the Pentagon announced.

"That's about our rough estimate right now, approximately $320 million," deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, cited by Middle East Eye, adding: "That's an initial cost for the temporary pier."

Reuters also reported the figure, citing a defense official, for the project that involves around 1,000 US service members, mostly from the army and navy.

Still, the cost has roughly doubled from initial estimates earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters.

The pier is a “dangerous effort with marginal benefit,” said Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee. The US has tried to persuade Israel to loosen its restrictions on aid into Gaza with little effect only seen recently.

Israel, which has been relentlessly bombing Gaza for over 200 days, controls all the crossings into the besieged Strip and has strict regulations on what can enter.

Updates from southern Lebanon:

• Israeli artillery fire targeted the village of Shebaa in Hasbaya district, for the second time today. The village Khiam in Marjayoun district, was also struck with artillery shells, as was the outskirts of Hanine in Bint Jbeil district, Tayr Harfa and Jibbayn, in Sour district, residents told our correspondent in the South.

• Israeli fighter jets carried out a raid on Wadi Berghoz, in Hasbaya district, according to a security source.

• At 5:05 p.m., Hezbollah announced that it had targeted the Israeli base at Khirbet Maer and Israeli soldiers who were deployed in the vicinity.

Updates from southern Lebanon:

• Israeli artillery fire targeted a home in the southern Lebanese village of Shebaa as well as the outskirts of Rashaya and Kfar Hammam, both in Hasbaya district, residents told our correspondent in the South.

Red Cross teams rescued a family that was in the targeted house, our correspondent said. One woman, not in the targeted house, was injured.

• Rockets were fired from Lebanon towards the western Galilee, a security source told our correspondent. According to Haaretz, rocket sirens were activated in Arab al-Aramshe and Gornot Hagalil, near the border with Lebanon.

Hamas has been offered a forty-day cease-fire and the release of "potentially thousands" of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Israeli hostages, according to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, cited by Reuters.

Speaking to a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh, Cameron called the deal “very generous” and said he hoped Hamas would take the deal, saying “all the pressure in the world and all the eyes in the world should be on them today saying 'Take that deal'.”

The Guardian reported that Cameron believed the Hamas leadership and those who took part in the Oct. 7 attack would need to leave Gaza before a two-state political solution is feasible. The former British prime minister said the conflict will not end until all of the hostages are released.

A New York Times report confirms earlier information that Israel has reduced the number of hostages it is willing to accept in exchange for a cease-fire with Hamas from 40 down to 33, according to three Israeli officials who spoke to the American newspaper.

An estimated 133 hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, around 30 of whom Israeli officials believe to be dead. Hamas recently released two videos in which hostages sent messages to their families and to Israelis in general to continue urging for a hostage exchange deal, saying: “Keep protesting, so that there will be a deal now.”

Several European member states are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at the sidelines of a World Economic Forum special meeting today in Riyadh, according to a Reuters report.

140 of the 193 UN member states have officially recognized the State of Palestine — more than the two-thirds majority required within the General Assembly to pass a resolution allowing Palestine full membership. On April 18, the US vetoed a draft Security Council resolution on Palestinian statehood, halting the process in its tracks.

Earlier this month, Spain and Ireland announced a joint effort to forge an alliance of countries that would collaboratively call for Palestinian Statehood.

The situation in southern Lebanon this afternoon:

- Rockets were fired from southern Lebanon at the Israeli site of Rouaissat al-Alam, on the disputed Kfar Shouba heights. Shortly afterward, at 2:15 p.m., Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a strike using artillery shells against soldiers deployed at this position. In retaliation, Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Kfar Hamam (Hasbaya), a town neighboring Kfar Shouba, according to a security source quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent.

- The outskirts of Khiam (Marjayoun) were also targeted by the Israeli army.

- Two shells hit the town of Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya), according to security sources.

Egypt's Foreign Minister said he is "hopeful" of a new truce in Gaza, as a Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire in the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement and Israel.

"We are hopeful," Sameh Choukry said in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum, adding that the cease-fire proposal on the table took into account "the positions of both sides" and attempted to "show moderation."

The situation in southern Lebanon since the start of the day:

- A neighborhood in eastern Khiam (Marjayoun) was bombed by Israeli aircraft, according to a security source.

- The outskirts of the Aita al-Shaab stadium (Bint Jbeil) were hit by two missiles, according to local residents.

So far, no casualties have been reported in these two strikes.

(Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas had an "extraordinarily generous" proposal before it at a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers in Riyadh on Monday.

According to Reuters, Blinken said Hamas had to make a decision and it had to be made quickly, adding that he hoped Hamas would "make the right decision."

He added that the United States had not yet received a plan from Israel for an offensive at Rafah that would protect civilians.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced a new death toll of 34,488 in the enclave since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on Oct. 7.

In the space of 24 hours, at least 34 additional deaths have been recorded, according to a statement from the ministry, which reports 77,643 wounded in over 200 days of war.

Following the salvo of rockets claimed by Hamas from Lebanon towards a barracks in northern Israel, the Israeli army told AFP that "around twenty shots had been fired," adding that it had intercepted most of the rockets and hit "the origin of the fire." "No injuries or damage were reported," said the Israeli army.

(Credit: Hezbollah Media Office)

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah, speaking at a ceremony in Sour in memory of two civilians killed last week in Hanine, said that "any foreign attempts" concerning Lebanon were solely aimed at "relieving the government" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so that "it can concentrate all its efforts on Gaza." These attempts are "doomed to failure," added the MP, arguing that "those who want to find solutions" to calm the front in southern Lebanon, "must first address" Israel and "exert pressure to put an end to the massacre in Gaza."

Fadlallah's speech came a day after French diplomat Stephane Sejourne paid a whirlwind visit as part of a regional tour. The aim of Sejourne's visit to Beirut was to discuss ways of reducing escalation in southern Lebanon and reaching an agreement to avoid a full-scale war.

(Credit: Hezbollah Media Office)

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah, speaking at a ceremony in Sour in memory of two civilians killed last week in Hanine, said that "any foreign attempts" concerning Lebanon were solely aimed at "relieving the government" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so that "it can concentrate all its efforts on Gaza." These attempts are "doomed to failure," added the MP, arguing that "those who want to find solutions" to calm the front in southern Lebanon, "must first address" Israel and "exert pressure to put an end to the massacre in Gaza."

Fadlallah's speech came a day after French diplomat Stephane Sejourne paid a whirlwind visit as part of a regional tour. The aim of Sejourne's visit to Beirut was to discuss ways of reducing escalation in southern Lebanon and reaching an agreement to avoid a full-scale war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has no intention of replacing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, says ICRC director Pierre Krahenbuhl in an interview with Swiss daily Le Temps. "We have completely different mandates," stressed Mr. Krahenbuhl, reacting to some Swiss politicians who had raised this possibility.

UNRWA received its mandate "from the UN General Assembly, the ICRC from the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC will not be taking over UNRWA's mandate. We already have enough to do without seeking to substitute ourselves for other organizations," stressed the new director, who himself headed the UN agency between 2014 and 2019.

The humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen is to resume its activities in Gaza, suspended a month ago after strikes killed seven of its members, according to the New York Times. WCK announced that it would resume its activities in collaboration with a team of Palestinian aid workers. Stressing the importance of launching an independent international investigation into the April 1 attack, the NGO said it had received "no concrete assurances" that the Israeli army's operational procedures had changed. However, the "humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire," said Erin Gore, head of operations for the humanitarian organization, in a statement.

According to the UN, some 200 aid workers, most of them Palestinians, were killed in Gaza between Oct. 7 and the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy.

Hamas's militant wing, al-Qassam Brigades, announced that it had targeted, from southern Lebanon, "the Israeli command headquarters of the 769th Brigade, in the Camp Gibor barracks," located near Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba (Marjayoun), with directed missiles. In a statement published on the group's Telegram account, it said the attack "was carried out in retaliation against the massacres perpetrated by the Zionist enemy in Gaza." The al-Qassam Brigades last attacked from southern Lebanon on April 21. 

Following the announcement over the weekend that British troops could be deployed in Gaza to facilitate the delivery of aid via a temporary US-built dock, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has threatened to target them.

According to media outlet Middle East Eye, the PFLP said on Telegram that British forces will be "treated as occupying forces and will be legitimate targets for resistance," calling the deployment "a lie that deceives no one." "Which justifies the permanent presence of military forces on the ground for malevolent colonial objectives and to protect the security of the Zionist entity," they added in their statement.

The military wing of the PFLP, founded in 1967, has carried out sporadic attacks since Oct. 7 in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Gaza. Israeli officials have also accused PFLP supporters in Gaza of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.

In southern Lebanon, the night was marked by several Israeli bombardments, according to security sources.

- At 10 p.m., several missiles targeted an area between Ramieh and Salhani (Bint Jbeil) which had already been hit by artillery fire last night.

- Between midnight and 1 a.m., heavy automatic weapons fire targeted Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) and the surrounding area.

- At 1 a.m., Israeli jets hit Marwahin and Jabal Blat (Sour) with several missiles. The detonation was heard as far away as Sour and Nabatieh, according to residents of these towns. 

During the night, three Israeli strikes in Rafah killed 16 people, hospital sources told AFP. Two other strikes killed seven people in central Gaza City, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Israeli army said yesterday that it had struck "dozens of terrorist targets" in central Gaza. And, throughout the day on Saturday, the Israeli navy targeted Hamas targets and provided support to troops deployed in the center of the territory, the army said on Sunday.

"If there is an agreement [on a truce], we will suspend the operation at Rafah," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli channel N12 on Saturday. "The release of the hostages is a fundamental priority for us," he added. "If there is a possibility of reaching an agreement, we will do so."

Yesterday, at the same event, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Washington to prevent the ground offensive that Israel claims it is preparing against the city of Rafah, already regularly bombarded, and where 1.5 million Palestinians, mainly displaced persons, are crowded. "America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime," said Abbas, according to whom such an operation, announced by Israeli officials, would be "the greatest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel this week, which he last visited in March, as well as Jordan, the US State Department announced on Sunday. On a tour of the Middle East to promote a truce, Blinken arrived this morning in Saudi Arabia, where a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is being held to discuss the conflict.

Yesterday, at this two-day summit of top Arab and Western leaders in Riyadh, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, asserted that "the situation in Gaza is clearly a catastrophe from all points of view, humanitarian, but also a total failure of the existing political system to deal with the crisis."

"The atmosphere is positive, barring any new obstacles posed by Israel," an official from the Islamist movement told AFP, requesting anonymity. "No major problems have been raised in the observations and requests that Hamas will submit concerning the content of the proposal" at this meeting, he added. The proposal was drawn up by Egypt and amended by Israel. It was presented in response to Hamas's insistence in mid-April on a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which Israel refuses to consider.

Hamas is due to give its response later today to a proposal for a truce in the war with Israel in Gaza, under siege and threatened by famine, combined with the release of hostages.

A tripartite meeting is due to take place in Cairo between Egypt, Qatar and Hamas, whose delegation will be led by Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the movement's political wing for the Gaza Strip and heavily involved in the negotiations, a senior Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Be sure to read the Morning Brief so that you are caught up with what has been happening. 

Morning Brief

Heavy fighting in southern Lebanon, ICC to investigate Israel, cease-fire talks stumble on: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and global impacts.