Hamas: “An IDF colonel is our hostage.” The resumption of negotiations in Cairo “in the next few hours”, Israel has given the green light to send a delegation. Gallant: “We are strengthening our commitment against Rafah. The operation will continue and increase with additional forces on the ground and from the air.” More raids on Gaza and the West Bank, Rafah also hit. CIA and Mossad leaders meeting soon. Biden: We do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. Sanchez: a Palestinian state will contribute to peace. A case in point is the imam’s anti-Israel prayer at the University of Turin. Waiting for the International Court of Justice’s decision on South Africa’s request to order Israel a ceasefire in Gaza.
11:30
Burns, head of the CIA, flies to Paris to relaunch talks between Israel and Hamas
CIA director William Burns is expected in Paris in an attempt to revive talks for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. This was reported by a Western source close to the dossier cited by AFP. According to the Times of Israel, Burns is expected to meet Mossad chief David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The high-level meeting will be the first since negotiations broke down two weeks ago after Hamas responded to a proposal put forward by American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators with proposals deemed unacceptable by both the United States and Israel. It is unclear whether Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will also attend the meeting as he has in the past, but Cairo will remain involved in the mediation process, a US official and an Israeli official said, confirming what the news site reported Axios.
11:01
Borrell: For Israel, any decision in favor of the Palestinian state is anti-Semitic
“Every time someone makes a decision to support the building of the Palestinian state, Israel’s reaction is to convert it into an anti-Semitic attack.” Thus the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, commented in an interview with the public television TVE on the Israeli government’s decision to prohibit the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing aid to the Palestinians. Borrell called it “bad news.” “It is a reaction to the decision taken by the government of Spain and other European governments to formally recognize the State of Palestine”, remarked the head of European diplomacy.
10.39am
One of the three hostage bodies recovered today was Shani Louk’s boyfriend
One of the 3 hostages, whose bodies were recovered today, the French-Mexican citizen Hernßndez Radoux was the boyfriend of Shani Louk, one of the hostages symbolic of the Hamas massacre of 7 October. Louk’s body along with 3 others was found in Jabalya last week. The Times of Israel reports it. Hernßndez Radoux and Hanan Yablonka, the other hostage whose body they recovered today, were at the Nova music festival near the border community of Reim when it was attacked by Hamas terrorists. They had fled to the Mefalsim area where they had been murdered and kidnapped. Michel Nisenbaum, from Sderot, was also killed together with the other hostages. He was going to the Gaza Division base near Reim to pick up his granddaughter who was staying with her non-commissioned officer son-in-law.
10:09
Madrid protests with Israel: “The government is not anti-Semitic”
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced that the government will protest to Tel Aviv over the decision to prevent the consulate general in Israel from assisting Palestinians in the West Bank and denied that there are “anti-Semites” in the Spanish executive. “We will give the appropriate response. The objective is to continue to provide assistance to the Palestinians, to whom we have tripled aid,” Albares said in a radio interview with Rac1
09:53
Israel: “The bodies of three hostages recovered in Jabalia”
The IDF has recovered the bodies of three Israeli hostages, Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum and Orion Hernandez, in Jabalia, northern Israel. The military spokesman said this, adding that the three were killed on October 7 and taken to Gaza
09:34
Israel cuts contacts between the Spanish Consulate and the Palestinians
The Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz decided to cut off contacts between the “Spanish mission in Israel and the Palestinians and to ban the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to the Palestinians of Judea and Samaria” (West Bank). The ministry made this known, adding that the move is in response to the words of the Spanish vice prime minister Yolanda Diaz – contained in a video of her on her social media – according to which Palestine “must be free from the river to the sea”
09:11
Katz against Vice Prime Minister Spain: “Anti-Semitic appeal”
“Following Spain’s recognition of a Palestinian State and the anti-Semitic call of the Vice President of the Spanish Government not only to recognize a Palestinian State but to ‘liberate Palestine from the river to the sea’, I have decided to sever the link between the diplomatic representation of Spain in Israel and the Palestinians and ban the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.” The Israeli Foreign Minister wrote it on social media, Israel Katzreferring to the words of the Spanish vice prime minister Yolanda Diaz. “If this ignorant and hateful person wants to understand what radical Islam is really after, he should study the 700 years of Islamic rule in Al-Andalus, today’s Spain,” adds the Israeli minister
08:27
Media: “The IDF advances towards the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza”
Israeli security forces are advancing towards the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. The Israeli media reported this, citing Hamas sources. Medical personnel and the injured still remain in hospital, according to reports
08:16
The IDF releases videos of the interrogations of father and son Hamas militiamen who confess to the October 7 rape
The Israel Defense Forces released two interrogation videos on Thursday showing father and son Palestinian Hamas members confessing to killing and kidnapping people and raping women in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. The video, released after being reported by Daily Mailshow Jamal Hussein Ahmad Radi47, and his son Abdallah, 18 – both captured by the IDF in March – in a Shin Bet interrogation room as they describe their actions during the terrorist organization’s unprecedented terror attack in Israel, which took targets many civilian families in their homes and attendees at a music festival
07:26
A new ruling from the International Court of Justice on Israel’s war in Gaza is expected today
The International Court of Justice is expected to issue a new ruling on Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza today, Friday, as the United States expressed concern about Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it. Amid speculation that the International Court of Justice may order a halt to Israel’s offensive, a second major world court – the International Criminal Court – has identified the three judges who will hear requests for arrest warrants against the leaders of Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant.
03:16
Gaza, media: 10 dead in an Israeli raid on the city
The Palestinian news agency Wafa says ten people have died and several others have been injured in an Israeli shelling that hit a residential building in Gaza city tonight.
03:11
US Chamber Speaker: “Netanyahu will soon speak to Congress”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon speak to the US Congress. This was stated by the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, underlining that this will signal “strong support for the Israeli government”.
01:09
Pro-Gaza protesters at Trump rally: tension
Tense moments in the Bronx, New York, before the start of Donald Trump’s rally. There were brief clashes between supporters of the tycoon and a group of pro-Gaza demonstrators, who showed up with hoods and faces covered by masks. Demonstrators chanted against Trump and Joe Biden. Some people wore a keffiyeh, in honor of the Palestinians. Protesters burned an American flag.
01:08
USA 2024, Trump in New York: “No wars with me”
“There would never have been a war in Ukraine with me as president, there would have been no war with Israel and October 7th.” Donald Trump said this, speaking at a rally in the Bronx, New York.
01:07
Biden: We do not recognize ICC jurisdiction over Israel
“The US does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court” over Israel. Joe Biden said this in a press conference at the White House with Kenyan President William Ruto.
01:06
IDF: killed in a tunnel responsible for Hamas rockets
The commander of Hamas’ Beit Hanoun battalion was killed by Israeli forces in a tunnel in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the Israeli military said, quoted by the Times of Israel. Hussien Fiad was responsible for “many anti-tank rocket attacks launched against Israel during the war, and also for firing many mortar shells at communities on Gaza’s northern border,” the IDF said in a statement.
