That's it for today's live coverage of the Gaza war and its repercussions in Lebanon and the wider region, as well as on university and college campuses around the world. Thanks for joining us, we'll be back tomorrow morning. Goodnight!
The White House expects Kerem Shalom crossing to reopen on Wednesday and for fuel to be delivered into the enclave, according to American media reports.
“Israel has committed to reopen Kerem Shalom tomorrow," White House spokesperson John Kirby said. "We're working to make sure that actually happens so humanitarian assistance can continue to come through.”
Axios reported that US President Joe Biden had told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that because the Rafah crossing will be closed for entry of aid following the start of Israel's invasion of the southern Gaza city, Israel must open the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing immediately.
Updates from southern Lebanon:
• Israeli artillery fire targeted forested areas within the village of Yaroun, Bint Jbeil district, as well as the outskirts of Jabal Blat, in Sour district, a security source told our correspondent in the South.
• The Israeli army announced that its warplanes attacked Hezbollah military buildings in several locations acorss southern Lebanon, including Maroun al-Ras, Yaroun (Bint Jbeil district) and Khiam (Marjayoun district), according to a Haaretz report.
• Hezbollah announced its fighters targeted two Isreali military buildings in Shtula, in response to Israeli attacks on civilians in southern Lebanon,
Toward the end of the day, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for two attacks against Israel:
• At 6:55 p.m., Hezbollah targeted Israeli soldiers gathered in the village of Manara, near the Lebanese border, as well as a building housing Israeli intelligence forces, according to a party statement.
• Hezbollah also announced having attacked two buildings used by Israeli soldiers in Metula, in response to Israeli attacks on civilians in southern Lebanon.
American rapper Macklemore released a new track yesterday in solidarity with Palestine and echoing the voices of student protests taking hold across the world.
Titled "Hind's Hall," the song serves as an homage to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli fire after spending hours trapped in her family's car, surrounded by the bodies of her family.
In the track, Macklemore sampled the song "Ana La Habibi" by Lebanese icon Fayruz, one of the country's most influential artists.
In his song, Macklemore raps about campus protests and the students' demands that the universities divest from companies and products that support Israel and its occupation. In the opening verse he says: "The people, they won't leave / What is threatenin’ about divesting and wantin' peace?"
Cited by Reuters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the latest Hamas proposal for a cease-fire deal falls far short of Israel's essential demands, adding military pressure remains necessary to return hostages held in Gaza.
Times of Israel quoted the PM as saying that Hamas' acceptance of a deal was “meant to sabotage the entry of our forces into Rafah.”
In a recorded video statement, Netanyahu said he had instructed the Israeli negotiating team currently in Cairo to “stand firmly” on Israel’s conditions for the release of the hostages and on its "security demands."
Haaretz reported that the agreement approved by Hamas is similar to the Egyptian proposal Israel already agreed to, citing diplomatic sources.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the army's Rafah invasion will continue until Hamas is eliminated or a hostage exchange occurs, according to a Times of Israel report, citing statements made by Gallant while visiting troops along the southern border with Gaza.
“Yesterday, I ordered the [army] to enter the Rafah area, seize the crossing and carry out its missions. This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns," Gallant said.
“We are ready to make compromises in order to [release] hostages, but if this option is not available, we will deepen the operation, this will happen all over the Strip, in the South, in the center and in the North."
Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida said in a statement on Telegram that a 70-year-old Israeli hostage died after she succumbed to wounds obtained from Israeli shelling, Reuters reports.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the deceased is Israeli-US-Canadian citizen Judy Weinstein, however, the Israeli news outlets reports that Weinstein's hometown, the village of Nir Oz had already confirmed in December her death on Oct. 7.
“Judith Weinstein was seriously injured on Oct. 7," the al-Qassem Telegram video explains, "And was given intensive treatment in a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Immediately upon her recovery, she was returned to her place of detention.”
Another unnamed hostage also succumbed to their wounds, according to the outlet's report, citing the statement from Hamas' armed wing.
“Your army's destruction of hospitals and putting them out of service is what caused the suffering and death of your detainees, just as our people suffer,” Abu Obaida said.
Cairo is currently hosting delegations from Qatar, the United States, Hamas, and now Israel, following the recent arrival of a "mid-level" delegation, according to reports from Egypt's state-affiliated al-Qahera News TV, and Haaretz.
Updates from southern Lebanon:
• Two Israeli raids targeted the Wadi al-Asafir area in the village of Khiam, Marjayoun district, and the outskirts of Kfar Hammam, Hasbaya district, destroying a house there.
• Earlier in the afternoon, Israeli strikes targeted the village of Blida, Marjayoun district, destroying four houses, according to our correspondent. So far, no casualties have been reported.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Gaza could run out of fuel as early as tonight as a result of Israel’s closure of Kerem Shalom crossing and the army's seizure of Rafah crossing, which is on the border with Egypt.
"The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately. Just to give one example, we risk running out of fuel this evening," Guterres told a press conference in New York.
"Rafah is the epicenter of humanitarian operations in Gaza," Guterres said. "Attacking Rafah will further upend our efforts to support people in dire humanitarian straits as famine looms. International humanitarian law is unequivocal: civilians must be protected – whether they leave Rafah or stay in the city."
Updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
• Israeli warplanes targeted the villages of Blida (Marjayoun district) and Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil district), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
• Hezbollah announced that at 3:15 p.m. it targeted the Israeli Zebdine barracks in the disputed Shebaa farms.
Israeli media is reporting on concerns that of the supposed 33 hostages to be released in a potential cease-fire deal, many will not be alive.
In mid-February, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said that there had been many losses among Israeli hostages, “while other hostages live in extremely difficult conditions," and in early April, there were reports that Hamas could not account for enough hostages that were still alive in order to meet Israeli demands for a truce deal.
The current proposal includes the release of women, the elderly and those in need of medical treatment, in return for a cease-fire and the release of a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners, according to two officials familiar with the mediation process who spoke with The New York Times.
Three recent Hezbollah statements regarding attacks on northern Israel:
In addition to the strike using explosive-laden drones, Hezbollah announced that "after monitoring and following enemy soldiers in the al-Raheb position [opposite Aita al-Shaab], as they moved inside one of the bunkers at 1:15 p.m., [Hezbollah] fighters directly hit the bunker with guided missiles."
Hezbollah also stated that it had struck surveillance equipment at the "Sammaka site" in Lebanon's disputed Kfar Shuba hills at 2:15 p.m.
In a third statement, Hezbollah said that around "an hour and a half after the aerial drone strike on the Ramot Naftali barracks, and as enemy soldiers were gathering inside the barracks, Islamic resistance fighters targeted them with a guided missile, causing deaths and injuries."
An update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
- Two artillery shells targeted the outskirts of Shihine (Sour).
- Artillery fire targeted the area around Kfar Shouba and Shebaa (Hasbaya).
- Shots were reported over Tayr Harfa and Jibbayn (Sour).
In the afternoon, Hezbollah launched an “air attack” using several one-way drones aimed at Israel, according to a party statement. The attack “targeted Israeli officers and soldiers” in the courtyard of the Yiftah Barracks in the north of Israel, opposite the Lebanese town of Blida (Marjayoun), causing casualties, according to the text. “At the same time, other devices targeted one of the Iron Dome's platforms” located south of the Ramot Naftali Barracks, a little further south of Yiftah.
The Israeli army reported, according to Haaretz, that several drones that had infiltrated northern Israel from Lebanon had been successfully intercepted. One drone fell in the Nir's Cliff area near Menara. No casualties or damage were reported.
Earlier, local residents reported to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South that interceptor missiles had been heard over Aitaroun and Houla (Marjayoun).
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army had announced that a drone attack launched the previous day by Hezbollah had killed two of its soldiers.
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Harris, confirmed that the Rafah crossing has been closed since yesterday without exception: “No personnel in or out, no evacuations, nothing. And I understand it's the same today.”
Opposite the AUB entrance gates, two students emerge, kuffiyehs slung over their shoulders. “This time, we've focused on the demands,” explained a Syrian student, speaking on condition of anonymity, to L'Orient Today.
“Being there is the least we can do. Especially when you see what's happening in Rafah,” added their Palestinian friend, also a student.
The students both support the demands. “The most important thing is HP,” said the student, referring to the AUB demonstrators' insistence on a boycott of Hewlett-Packard in particular, an American multinational “that supplies technology to the occupation to target the Palestinian people and commit massacres against them,” they said.
Egypt warned its Israeli counterparts of the danger posed to the future of cease-fire negotiations in the Gaza Strip by the ground operation carried out by Israeli troops against the town of Rafah since this morning. The Egyptian security delegation overseeing the talks in Cairo called for the military maneuvers to “cease immediately,” according to an Egyptian diplomatic source quoted by Reuters.
(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
In front of the AUB, the protest continues in support of the Palestinians and Gaza. Alongside the dozens of demonstrators, students pass by indifferently on Bliss Street to buy their lunch or take a break. Most of the students interviewed by L'Orient Today said they were not taking part in the sit-in because of exams in progress. Others believe that the protest “won't have as much impact as in the United States.” “Our country and our university are already committed to the Palestinian cause,” explained a biochemistry student, speaking on condition of anonymity.
EU ministers have expressed deep concern after Israel's strikes on Rafah, the deployment of Israeli tanks in the city and Israel's takeover of the Palestinian part of the crossing with Egypt, raising the alarm about the humanitarian impact.
“There must be a red line ... the closure of the border (with Egypt) threatens millions of people with starvation. It's very clear that international law is no longer being respected in Gaza,” declared the Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation, Caroline Gennez.
Demonstrators gathered in front of the AUB entrance on Tuesday in Beirut. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
A new protest was organized this morning by several dozen students outside the gates of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in solidarity with the Palestinians and to demand an end to the massacres in Gaza and South Lebanon.
“We have three demands: An end to the Israeli aggression on the South [of Lebanon], an end to the genocide in Gaza and a boycott of all products from companies linked to the Zionist entity,” Razan, a student from LAU, another university in the capital whose students also joined the mobilization, told L'Orient Today's journalist.
The UN has been denied access by Israel to the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, said a spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“We currently have no physical presence at the Rafah crossing because COGAT (the Israeli body responsible for coordinating Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories, editor's note) has denied us access to this area,” which is the main crossing point for humanitarian aid, said Jens Laerke at a regular press briefing in Geneva.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced that they fired rockets “at a gathering of troops” around Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been closed since earlier attacks.
On Sunday, rockets fired by the Qassam brigades at Kerem Shalom killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded a dozen, leading Israel to close the crossing.
The Israeli army announced this morning that a one-way drone attack launched the previous day by Hezbollah on Metulla had killed two reservist soldiers.
The drone strike had been launched in retaliation for the Israeli bombardment of an area in the Jezzine region, in the Rihan Heights.
“China ... strongly calls on Israel to heed the many demands of the international community, stop attacking Rafah and do all it can to avert a more serious humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.
The Gaza Ministry of Health has announced a new death toll of 34,789 in the enclave since the start of the war.
Despite yesterday's announcement by Hamas that it had agreed to a cease-fire, at least 54 additional deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to a statement from the ministry, which also reports 78,204 wounded after seven months of war.
Map by Guilhem Dorandeu / L'Orient Today
This map shows the location of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. This morning, the Israeli army said it had taken control of the Gaza side of the crossing.
An update on the situation in southern Lebanon last night:
- Israeli aircraft again bombed an area between the hills of Rihan (Jezzine) and Iqlim al-Touffah, notably around the villages of Louaizeh, Mlikh (Jezzine), Jarjouaa, Nabeh al-Tasseh and Ain Aqmata (Nabatieh), according to information reported by L'Orient Today's correspondent in South Lebanon. Yesterday's strike in this region included damage to a water distribution station.
- The village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) came under machine-gun fire from the Israeli town of Metulla.
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) described as “illegal” the Israeli strike that killed seven rescue workers in Hebbarieh, southern Lebanon, in March. The organization also urged Washington to suspend its arms sales to Israel, claiming to have found, at the site of the strike in southern Lebanon, the remains of a “guidance kit produced by the US-based Boeing Company.”
According to Khalil al-Hayya, the second in command of Hamas's political wing in Gaza, the proposal comprises three phases, each lasting 42 days, and includes a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territory, the return of displaced persons and an exchange of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, with the aim of a “permanent cease-fire.”
Until now, Israel has opposed a complete withdrawal of its troops from Gaza and a permanent cease-fire, believing that it must first carry out an operation on Rafah to “defeat” Hamas and ensure that Oct. 7 does not happen again.
The Israeli War Cabinet decided “unanimously” to continue “the operation at Rafah in order to exert military pressure on Hamas with the aim of making progress towards the release of the hostages and the achievement of other war objectives,” said the Prime Minister's office.
“Although the Hamas proposal falls far short of Israel's main demands, Israel will send a high-ranking delegation to Egypt with the aim of maximizing the chances of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel,” they added.
Shortly after this statement, Qatar announced that it was sending a delegation to Cairo this morning “to relaunch the indirect negotiations between the two parties ... in the hope of reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent cease-fire” in “exchange for prisoners and hostages.”
Since last night, the Israeli army has been carrying out intense bombardments in Rafah. Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip reported “numerous deaths” overnight in the town, according to AFP. And the Kuwaiti Hospital said it had received “11 dead” and “dozens of wounded” in these strikes, raising the initial death toll from five.
Palestinian witnesses and security sources report airstrikes late last night and this morning, as well as intense artillery fire across the Gaza Strip, particularly in and around Rafah.
The violence comes after talks in Cairo failed to produce a truce agreement yesterday. Then, in the evening, Hamas said it had informed Egypt and Qatar, the countries mediating with the United States, that it had “approved their proposal for a cease-fire agreement” with Israel. But this proposal is “far from Israeli demands,” retorted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
Commenting on the takeover of the Rafah crossing, al-Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud said that the Israeli army had “strategically cut off access to the Gaza Strip and isolated it from the region,” recalling that the crossing had been used since the start of the war as a “major access point for the entry of humanitarian aid.”
Mahmoud further noted that the location of the border crossing, in the center of the city of Rafah, “indicates that we are very close to a total invasion” of this city, which is home to over a million displaced persons.
After calling for the evacuation of districts in the east of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and then bombing the area, the Israeli army took control of the “Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing” during the night, according to a statement it issued in the morning. According to the statement, quoted in Haaretz, the military operation “destroyed more than 150 Hamas targets” and enabled the army to “take full control of the Palestinian side of the crossing, 3.5 kilometers from Egypt.” According to the Israeli army, the fighting killed “20 Hamas members.” Tunnels were also destroyed. Military sources told Haaretz that these tunnels “do not cross the border into Egyptian territory.”
Make sure to read the Morning Brief so that you can catch up on what has been happening.
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