J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.

Here’s How the RNC and DNC Differed in Their Messaging on Israel and the Gaza Conflict, USA Today
“[The Democratic Party] platform shows that you can stand strongly for Israel’s security and at the same time stand up for the rights and dignity and self-determination of the Palestinian people,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of liberal pro-Israel political advocacy group J Street, during a JDCA panel to large applause. “These are not inconsistent values.”

Israel Agrees to Staggered Pauses in Fighting to Allow for Polio Vaccination, UN Says, The New York Times
The agreement calls for vaccinations to begin on Sunday in central Gaza and to continue for three days, said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s top representative in Gaza. Israel’s offensive will be temporarily suspended from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a designated area while the vaccines are being administered, he said. After that, children in southern Gaza will be vaccinated during another three-day pause, and later there will be a third three-day pause in northern Gaza, Mr. Peeperkorn told journalists.

Gaza Talks Focus on ‘Nitty Gritty’ in Hope of Getting Hostage-Ceasefire Deal, Axios
Talks are continuing this week in Cairo and Doha in an effort to get Israel and Hamas to agree on the details for implementing a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal, U.S. and Israeli officials said. The White House is hoping that having these details in place and presented as part of a comprehensive package will persuade Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to compromise on some of the big issues so the deal can go through.

Israel Strikes Aid Convoy Organized by U.S. Humanitarian Group, Killing 5, The Washington Post
The D.C.-based nonprofit, American Near East Refugee Aid, known as Anera, described it as a “shocking incident” in a statement on Friday and said that those killed were from a local transportation company. It was urgently seeking more details about the incident.

Borrell Asks EU to Consider Sanctions on 2 Israeli Ministers, Reuters
“I initiated the procedure to ask the member states if they consider (it) appropriate to include in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers (who) have been launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians, and proposing things that clearly go against international law,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Israeli Military Says It Killed Hamas Commander and Two Other Fighters in Occupied West Bank, CNN
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it killed Wissam Khazem, whom it described as the Hamas leader in the city of Jenin, in an exchange of gunfire. As of Friday, 19 Palestinians have been killed during an expansive Israeli military operation in the West Bank that includes the cities of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarem.

The US Urges Major Changes to Israel’s Evacuations in Gaza, a Leaked Memo Says, NPR
The U.S. is concerned the Israeli military’s increasing evacuation orders in Gaza in the past month have driven repeated displacement of Palestinians and decreased the size of the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” for civilians, according to the document.

UN Calls for De-escalation as Israeli West Bank Raids Continue, BBC
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately halt its operation, saying it was “fuelling an already explosive situation.” He urged Israeli forces to “exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable.”

Israeli Military Says Hamas Falsified Gaza War Poll Results to Exaggerate Public Support, Haaretz
According to the military, documents found in tunnels in Gaza indicated Hamas efforts to change results before returning them to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, headed by the political scientist Khalil Shikaki.

Israel Tells US Shots Fired at World Food Program Vehicle in Gaza After ‘Communication Error’, Reuters
“We have urged them to immediately rectify the issues within their system,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza. “Israel must not only take ownership for its mistakes, but also take concrete actions to ensure the IDF does not fire on UN personnel again.”

Israel to Top Court: IDF Will Slightly Improve Conditions at Sde Teiman Detention Center, Haaretz
In response to a petition against its operation of the notorious prison facility, the state claimed it would open a new wing next month in which there’d be no need to keep inmates cuffed around the clock, likening the new conditions to those at Ofer Prison.

Netanyahu Claims He Wasn’t Warned About the Concrete Danger Posed by Hamas. He Damn Well Was, Haaretz
The Haaretz Editorial Board writes, “Had the prime minister listened to all those warnings instead of appearing ‘bored and indifferent,’ in Lapid’s words, Israel would not have suffered the worst blow in its history. If Netanyahu had even a smidgen of integrity, he would have resigned, never to step foot outside his home out of guilt and shame.”

Israel’s Hostage Rescue Highlights Challenge of Hamas Tunnels in Gaza, The New York Times
Ephrat Livni reports, “Trying to destroy the subterranean system from above is also problematic, said Dan Byman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, because it takes big bombs that cause a lot of damage and potentially risk the lives of hostages hidden in the tunnels. He posited that many of the remaining living hostages were being held underground, perhaps alongside Hamas leaders, given that ‘they are a very valuable asset’ and ‘one of Hamas’s chief bargaining chips.’”

For a Bit of Air, the Palestinian Lawmaker Lies Down on the Floor, by the Crack Under the Cell Door, Haaretz
Gideon Levy shares, “Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar was arrested again after the war broke out and has been jailed ever since without charges – now in total isolation, in inhuman conditions. […] This week she told her lawyer that in order to breathe a bit, she lies down on the floor and tries to draw in a bit of air from the crack under the cell door. She doesn’t drink much, in order to avoid having to use the toilet, which emits a horrific stench. This is how Israel holds its political prisoners: without charges or trial, under inhuman conditions that are illegal even according to High Court of Justice rulings.”

West Bank, the Next Feared Flashpoint, Was There All Along, The Forward
Dan Perry writes, “Whatever happens on the ground in Jenin and Tulkarm now will not change the fundamental situation: The West Bank territory, which Israel captured in the 1967 War, has 3 million Palestinians. The area has strategic and historic value for Israel, and sites important to religious Jews. But if Israel does not find a way to ultimately disengage from its 3 million Palestinians, there will be no Jewish state.”

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