Far-Right Israeli Minister Ignites Protests Outside of Shabtai, Yale Daily News
“Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited New Haven to speak at Shabtai, a Jewish intellectual discussion society founded by Yale affiliates. The ‘totally off-the-record’ event, hosted at Shabtai’s Anderson Mansion on Orange Street, […] Yale’s chapter of J Street, a nonprofit liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group, wrote in an email to its members that ‘Ben-Gvir seeks to undermine Israeli democracy, continue forcing Palestinians from their land, and sabotage potential ceasefire in Gaza.’”
Israeli Strikes Kill 23 in Gaza Strip; IDF Says It Targeted a Terrorist Command Center, Haaretz
“The IDF and Shin Bet security service reported that they struck terrorists who were operating in a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command center in Jabalya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that 23 people were killed on Thursday, including 16 in Gaza City and other areas in northern Gaza.”
Judge Says Trump Administration Can’t Move Detained Palestinian Student out of Vermont, NBC News
“U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford extended a previous temporary restraining order that keeps the student, Mohsen Mahdawi, in the state, where he is a resident. Mahdawi is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Vermont. Lawyers for Mahdawi, a pro-Palestinian activist, had filed a motion for his release, arguing that he is not a flight risk. […] However, Crawford declined to rule whether the federal government can continue to detain Mahdawi, or whether the court has jurisdiction over his habeas petition challenging his detention. The judge set a hearing for next week, at which he could decide to release him.”
Palestinians Might Appoint a Vice President To Serve Under the Aging Abbas. Here’s Why It Matters, AP
“The council is expected to vote on creating the role of vice chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, who would also be referred to as the vice president of the State of Palestine — which the Palestinians hope will one day receive full international recognition. The expectation is that whoever holds that role would be the front-runner to succeed Abbas — though it’s unclear when or exactly how it would be filled.”
Dialysis Patients Struggle To Get Treatment in Blockaded Gaza. Officials Say Hundreds Have Died, AP
“Many others like him have not made it. They are some of Gaza’s quieter deaths from the war, with no explosion, no debris. But the toll is striking: Over 400 patients, representing around 40% of all dialysis cases in the territory, have died during the 18-month conflict because of lack of proper treatment, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. That includes 11 patients who have died since the beginning of March, when Israel sealed the territory’s 2 million Palestinians off from all imports, including food, medical supplies and fuel. Israeli officials say the aim is to pressure Hamas to release more hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire.”
Bombing Plants, Severing Pipelines: Israel Pushes Gaza Water Crisis to the Brink, +972 Magazine
“Gazans are forced to walk for miles and queue for hours to fill up a single container at a well. But even these are in increasingly short supply, having either been bombed or rendered inaccessible by Israeli evacuation orders. UNICEF has warned that the water crisis in the Strip has reached ‘critical levels,’ noting that only one in 10 people currently have access to clean drinking water. This crisis is not a side effect of Israel’s onslaught, but rather a deliberate aspect of it. According to data from Gaza’s Government Media Office, the Israeli army has destroyed 719 water wells since October 7.”
Freed Israeli Hostage Feared the ‘Many Ways To Die’ in Gaza but Kept Hope Alive, AP
“Shoham was one of dozens of hostages released from Gaza in February as part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that has since been broken. His wife, two children and three other family members were also kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, and were freed a month later. […] Shoham worries they’re running out of time and is urging the government and the international community not to tie the hostages’ fate to a ceasefire or a peace agreement. ‘I really fear that if they won’t be released soon, they probably will die there,’ he said.”
‘Insulting’: Hamas Condemns Abbas’s Remarks on Gaza Captives, Al Jazeera
“Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Thursday that Abbas’s remarks made a day earlier were ‘insulting’. ‘Abbas repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression on our people,’ he said. […] Abbas on Wednesday urged Hamas to free all captives, saying keeping them provided Israel with ‘excuses’ to attack Gaza. ‘Hamas has given the criminal occupation excuses to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent being the holding of hostages,’ Abbas said at a meeting in Ramallah, the PA’s seat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”
Spain Scraps €6.6M Arms Order From Israeli Company After Outcry, The Guardian
“Spain has scrapped a €6.6m (£5.7m) order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company after the junior partners in its coalition government denounced it as a ‘flagrant breach’ of the alliance agreement that jeopardised the country’s sustained efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza.”
A New Medical Discipline in Israel: How to Receive Hostages, The New York Times
“For over a year, a team from Israel’s medical, military and social welfare systems has been updating a manual based on what it has learned about helping hostages readjust. There were few precedents to learn from, officials said, especially as the captives ranged in age from infants to octogenarians. ‘We are now writing the theory,’ said Eti Kisos, a deputy director general at the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.”
Gaza’s Malnourished Children Cannot Wait. They Need Food Now, Haaretz
Haaretz editorial staff writes: “Two weeks ago, the United Nations World Food Program was forced to close the subsidized bakeries it operated in Gaza due to a lack of flour and fuel. Since then, residents have mainly relied on the 175 community kitchens. The world sees the difficult images of the lines for those kitchens. Did our cabinet ministers even bother to take a look at those hungry girls with tears in their eyes holding filthy pots and waiting for someone to give them a spoonful of rice and lentils before the security cabinet convened Wednesday to discuss starving the girls? Even if they think these girls’ distress is what will bring down Hamas rule, this is a criminal choice.”