Big Gaps Remain Between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Deal Talks, Axios
A second senior Israeli official familiar with the details of the negotiations said that the optimistic statements from made by government ministers such as Defense Minister Israel Katz in recent days were exaggerated. “It doesn’t help the negotiations. It misleads the public and creates false illusions,” the Israeli official said. Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that the talks in Doha are “serious and positive” and stressed that “reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops imposing new conditions.”
Netanyahu Says Israeli Troops Will Occupy a Buffer Zone Inside Syria for the Foreseeable Future, AP
Israel’s capture of the buffer zone, a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized area in Syrian territory, has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating a 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria in the wake of Assad’s ouster to make a land grab.
CIA Director Arrives for Talks Amid Rising Hopes for Gaza Cease-Fire, The New York Times
Another official briefed on the matter cautioned that major hurdles remained in the talks, and noted that Mr. Burns was expected to meet this time only with officials from Qatar, not those from Egypt or Israel, the other major players in the discussions.
Israeli Military Orders Another Gaza Evacuation Ahead of an Offensive, ABC News
“This is an advance warning ahead of an offensive,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. The order included four residential block areas in the urban refugee camp of Bureij, where Adraee claimed that Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Israel.
Lawsuit Accuses State Department of Creating Loopholes for Israel on Military Aid and Human Rights, AP
The lawsuit details the barriers that it accuses the State Department of creating on Israel’s behalf to skirt enforcement and asks courts to intervene. That is after campus protests and moves by some lawmakers failed in their goal of limiting U.S. military support to Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza during the war with Hamas.
Israel Concerned ‘Wild Card’ Musk Could Share Sensitive Data With Others, The Times of Israel
Israel is reportedly among a number of United States allies that have expressed concerns Elon Musk could share sensitive information with others, as the billionaire and his companies face at least three federal security reviews over national security compliance.
How Facebook Restricted News in Palestinian Territories, BBC
Ahmed Nour, Joe Tidy and Yara Farag report, “One person, who spoke anonymously, shared leaked internal documents about a change made to Instagram’s algorithm, which toughened the moderation of Palestinians commenting on Instagram posts. ‘Within a week of the Hamas attack, the code was changed essentially making it more aggressive towards Palestinian people,’ he said. Internal messages show that an engineer raised concerns about the order, worried that it could be ‘introducing a new bias into the system against Palestinian users.’”
Israel’s Borders Have Shifted Throughout Its History. Action in Syria May Reshape Them Again, AP
Josef Federman writes, “The new Syrian government has already lodged a complaint with the U.N. Security Council about Israeli advances into Syrian territory. The leader of the largest insurgent group, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has publicly condemned Israel’s operations but said Syria is not seeking a military conflict with Israel.”