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☆ Israeli and Hamas Negotiators Are in Cairo Under Pressure for Cease-Fire
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

The Israeli ground-and-air operation in the eastern part of Rafah on Tuesday further hampered the area’s struggling medical system. Fearing a raid by Israeli forces, like those that have been carried out at hospitals across Gaza, the medical staff at al-Najjar rushed to relocate more than 200 patients. But even during the scramble to evacuate the hospital, Israeli airstrikes on Rafah continued. The Israeli military’s actions also immediately limited access to more basic health services across Rafah. That delegation was also supposed to deliver the salaries of the aid group’s medical workers in Rafah — cash they desperately needed to secure housing and transportation during the chaotic evacuation.

Persons: Abu Yousef al, ” Dr, Marwan al, Najjar, Khan Younis, Hams, ”, Israel, —, Chessa Latifi, Hatem Khaled, Kamal Adwan, “ We’ve, ” Ms, Latifi, Dr, John Kahler, MedGlobal, Kahler Organizations: Najjar, Hams, European Hospital, International Medical Corps, HOPE, ., Project HOPE, Kamal Adwan Hospital, Health, Awda Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israeli, Israel, Khan, al, U.S, Gaza City, Cairo

International humanitarian officials said the military operation had halted the flow of aid from Egypt into Gaza, exacerbating extreme hunger and privation in the besieged territory. “The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” said Dr. Suhaib Hems, the head of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, adding that 27 bodies and 150 wounded people had been brought to his facility since Israeli tanks entered the city. The Israeli military said it had killed about 20 people in Rafah, describing the dead as Hamas militants. Hamas said it had fired on Israeli soldiers on Tuesday at another vital aid crossing, near Kerem Shalom, along Gaza’s southern border with Israel. The Israeli military said that four mortar shells and two rockets had been launched toward Kerem Shalom from Rafah but that no injuries or damage were reported.

Persons: ”, Suhaib Hems Organizations: International, Kuwait Hospital Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Kerem Shalom, Israel, Shalom

☆ Live Updates: Israeli Tanks Enter Rafah and Take Control of Border Crossing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The officials said that the changes were made by Arab mediators in consultation with William J. Burns, the C.I.A. Qatari and Egyptian mediators spoke with him on Monday about the changes that Hamas was ready to accept, the two officials said. Hamas said that Arab mediators had put forward the changes, but one official said that Hamas had suggested them. Mr. Netanyahu said last week that he would carry out an offensive in Rafah “with or without” an agreement. More than one million Palestinians have sought shelter in Rafah as they fled other parts of Gaza under attack by Israel.

Persons: William J, Burns, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Adam Rasgon Organizations: Hamas, U.S, Qatar’s, Ministry, Qatari Locations: Israel, United States, Gaza, Cairo, Rafah, Jerusalem

☆ What to Know About the Gaps Between Israel and Hamas on the Cease-Fire Proposal
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israeli officials said on Tuesday that major gaps remained with Hamas over the latest proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, as delegations from both sides arrived in Cairo to resume talks. Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted the terms of a cease-fire proposed by Arab mediators, and U.S. officials said it had minor wording changes from a proposal that Israel and the United States had recently presented to the group. But Israeli officials disputed that characterization, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying on Tuesday that his war cabinet unanimously believed the proposal Hamas had agreed to was “very far from Israel’s core demands.”The text of the revised proposal was circulating in Israeli news media on Tuesday and was confirmed as authentic by a senior Hamas official. A person briefed on the negotiations also described the differences in the two sides’ positions. That proposal left those two words open to interpretation.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Cairo, Israel, United States, Egypt

has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.

Organizations: East Locations: Ukraine, Russia, London, Central Europe, Warsaw, Iraq, Africa

Nearing the end of a whirlwind Middle East trip this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken finished meetings with the Israeli president and relatives of American hostages held by Hamas, left his beachside hotel in Tel Aviv and shook hands with protesters gathered outside. He looked them in the eye and said there was a new hostages-for-cease-fire deal on the table that Hamas should take. “Bringing your loved ones home is at the heart of everything we’re trying to do, and we will not rest until everyone — man, woman, soldier, civilian, young, old — is back home,” he said. That public show of empathy with frustrated protesters is something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided since the war began in October. And, lately, he has focused his recent public comments on an imminent ground offensive — an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza “with or without” a cease-fire deal, as the Israeli leader put it on Tuesday.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Hamas Locations: Tel Aviv, Rafah, Gaza

On Today’s Episode:With Israel Poised to Invade Rafah, Negotiators Try Again for Cease-Fire Deal, by Isabel Kershner and Edward WongCrackdowns at 4 College Protests Lead to More Than 200 Arrests, by Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie and Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsTrump and DeSantis Meet for First Time Since Bruising Primary, by Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Nehamas

Persons: Isabel Kershner, Edward Wong Crackdowns, Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie, Nicholas Bogel, Burroughs Trump, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Nehamas Locations: Rafah

☆ With Israel Poised to Invade Rafah, Negotiators Try Again for Cease-Fire Deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Isabel Kershner | Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As international diplomats converged in the Middle East on Sunday seeking a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel wrestled with whether to go forward with a ground invasion of Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion in the enclave, according to Israeli officials and analysts. Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they plan to move into Rafah, but over the weekend, they made clear they were open to holding off if it meant they could secure the release of Israeli hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, said Sunday that while “entering Rafah is important for the long battle against Hamas,” freeing the remaining hostages, whose number is estimated at about 100, “is urgent and much more important.”As Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken headed for Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet with officials from a half-dozen Arab nations, an American official said Mr. Blinken’s top priority was a cease-fire deal that would include the release of all hostages.

Persons: Benny Gantz, Antony J, Blinken Locations: Gaza, Israel, Rafah, Hamas’s, Saudi Arabia

Under intense international scrutiny, Israel has expedited the flow of aid into Gaza this month, but humanitarian groups say that more is needed as severe hunger grips the enclave, particularly in the devastated north. Israel’s efforts — which include opening new aid routes — have been acknowledged in the last week by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks appear to be reaching Gaza, especially the north, where experts have warned for weeks that famine is imminent. The increased levels of aid are a good sign, but it is too early to say that looming famine is no longer a risk, said Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program. “If we can do this, then we can ease the pain, we can avert famine.”

Persons: Biden, Arif Husain, ” Mr, Husain, ” Organizations: United Nations, Food Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Israelis Prepare to Mark Passover, a Festival of Freedom, With Hostages Still in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Many Israelis were in a somber mood on Monday as they prepared to usher in Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom, saying they would mark the holiday rather than celebrate it, with more than 130 hostages remaining in Gaza. The number of hostages believed to be alive is unclear, and with negotiations with Hamas captors at an impasse, there is little prospect of their imminent release. Israelis are still jittery after an exchange of fire with Iran this month, the first time Tehran had directly attacked Israel from Iranian territory. More than 250 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s ground invasion in late October, the military says. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza health officials.

Locations: Gaza, Egypt, Iran, Tehran, Israel

The United States is considering imposing sanctions on one or more Israeli battalions accused of human rights violations during operations in the occupied West Bank, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. Mr. Netanyahu said in a social media post that his government would “act by all means” against any such move. The news about the possible sanctions, reported earlier by Axios, came only a day after the House approved $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza. The sanctions, if imposed, would not hold up the military aid that was just approved in Congress. On Sunday, Palestinians in the West Bank went on a general strike to protest a deadly Israeli military raid at a refugee camp.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu, Axios Organizations: West Bank, Biden, Sunday Locations: States, Gaza, Israel

☆ Palestinians Go on Strike in West Bank to Protest Deadly Raid
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Vivek Shankar | Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Image Palestinians in front of closed shops on Sunday during a strike in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Sunday’s strike “paralyzed all aspects of life” in the West Bank, according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, with shops, schools, universities and banks shuttered. And violence in the West Bank has sharply escalated in recent months. Deadly violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has also reached record levels since Oct. 7. Later on Sunday morning, an Israeli man was slightly injured in an explosion in the West Bank, according to the Israeli emergency services.

Persons: Mussa Qawasma, ”, Nur Shams, Fatah Organizations: West Bank . Credit, West Bank, Sunday, West Bank —, Palestinian Ministry of Health, Palestinian Health Ministry, Palestinian, Palestinian Ministry, Palestinian Authority, United Locations: Hebron, Israel, Gaza, Nur, United States

Iran’s attack on Israel, an immense barrage that included hundreds of ballistic missiles and exploding drones, changed the unspoken rules in the archrivals’ long-running shadow war. In that conflict, major airstrikes from one country’s territory directly against the other had been avoided. Given that change in precedent, the calculus by which Israel decides its next move has also changed, said the Israeli officials who requested anonymity to discuss Iran. “We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the spokesman for Israel’s military said on Tuesday. Iran, he added, would not get off “scot-free with this aggression.”

Persons: Israel, Daniel Hagari, “ scot, ” Locations: Israel, Iran

☆ Israel’s Choices on Response to Iran’s Attack All Come With Risks
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As Israel’s leaders continued on Monday to mull a possible response to the massive Iranian aerial attack over the weekend, they faced several choices, all of which carry their own risks. In the past, Israel has hit back hard when its enemies attacked, hoping to discourage further hostilities. But this time Israel is juggling a host of conflicting interests, as well as some new factors. Some Israelis see an opportunity to use military strikes to fulfill the longstanding Israeli goal of degrading Iran’s nuclear program. Analysts say the success of Israel and its allies, led by the United States, in blocking most of the Iranian attack has given Israel the leeway to choose how and when to respond, if at all.

Persons: —, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, ” Organizations: Iranian Embassy Locations: mull, Israel, Iranian, Gaza, Syria, — Israel, United States

Israel’s war cabinet on Monday met to weigh possible responses to Iran’s missile and drone attack over the weekend, as the United States, Britain and other allies strongly urged Israel to show restraint and sought to de-escalate tensions between the two regional powers. Some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for a swift and forceful retaliation in response to Iran. There was no immediate public statement by the ministers, or by the Israeli prime minister. “We are weighing our steps,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, told Israeli soldiers on Monday in televised remarks during a visit to an Israeli air base. While the United States, Britain and France strongly condemned Iran’s assault and stepped in to help thwart it on Saturday, their calls for restraint highlighted the pressure Israel was facing to avoid a more direct confrontation with Iran.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Herzi Halevi, ” Mr, Netanyahu, Biden Locations: United States, Britain, Israel, Iran, Gaza, France

☆ Live Updates: Israel Says Confrontation With Iran ‘Is Not Over’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Mike Ives | Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

The Iranian armed forces are among the biggest in the Middle East, with 580,000 soldiers and officers and also 200,000 reservists. The start of a direct military confrontation between Iran and Israel has brought renewed attention to Iran’s armed forces. Instead, Israel and Iran have been engaged in a long shadow war via air, sea, land and cyberattacks, and Israel has covertly targeted military and nuclear facilities inside Iran and killed commanders and scientists. It’s that they realize any war against Iran is a very serious war.”What sort of military threat does Iran pose? The commander in chief of Iran’s armed forces is the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all major decisions.

Persons: ”, Afshon Ostovar, “ It’s, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Fabian Hinz, “, Atta Kenare, Ostovar, Ayatollah Khamenei, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Will Israel’s Organizations: Naval Postgraduate School, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Guards, General Staff of, Armed Forces, Quds Force, Agence France, Phantoms, Iranian Army, Associated Press Locations: Tehran, Iranian, Iran, Israel, Damascus, United States, Washington, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Jihad, Gaza, Berlin, speedboats, Persian, Hormuz, Russia, Ukraine, Sudan, North Korea

☆ In Hezbollah’s Sights, a Stretch of Northern Israel Becomes a No-Go Zone
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Isabel Kershner | Sergey Ponomarev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 60,000 Israelis who live far from Gaza but close to the front line of another spiraling conflict have in recent months been ordered from their homes along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon — the first mass evacuation of the area in Israeli history. In one Israeli border town, antitank missiles fired from Lebanon have damaged scores of homes. In another village, holdouts who refuse to evacuate said they avoided turning lights on at night to keep from becoming visible targets. The evacuations and an effort in Lebanon to move thousands of civilians away from the border are the result of an intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and political organization. The skirmish along Israel’s northern border is being fought in parallel with the more intense war in Gaza, which Israel launched after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

Persons: holdouts, Israel Organizations: Hezbollah, Lebanese Locations: Gaza, Lebanon, Israel

☆ Back From War, Reserve Soldiers Set Their Sights on Israel’s Politics as Usual
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Gathered this month around a campfire on the edge of a forest in central Israel, the soldiers planned their next mission: saving their deeply divided country from itself. Like many of the thousands of Israeli reservists called to fight in Gaza, the soldiers left for war amid a sudden surge of national unity after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel. But as the military has withdrawn soldiers from Gaza in recent weeks and the troops have returned home, they have found their country less like it was after Oct. 7 and more like it was before: torn by divisive politics and culture clashes. Now, as these bitter divisions re-emerge, disillusioned reservists are at the vanguard of movements demanding a political reset, seeking unity and repudiating what many view as extreme polarization.

Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ After 4 Months of War, Biden and Netanyahu Are on Different Timetables
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Peter Baker | Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel each addressed the future of the battle in Gaza this week, speaking just a day apart but worlds removed from one another in a way that captured the essential tension between the two men after more than four months of fighting. Mr. Netanyahu spoke of war and how it would continue even if there is a temporary cease-fire to secure the release of hostages, just “delayed somewhat.” Mr. Biden spoke of peace and how such a cease-fire deal could “change the dynamic,” leading to a broader realignment that would finally end the underlying conflict that has defined the Middle East for generations. Mr. Netanyahu has a compelling interest in prolonging the war against Hamas to postpone the day of reckoning when he will face accountability for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Mr. Biden conversely has a powerful incentive to end the war as soon as possible to tamp down anger in the left wing of his party before the fall re-election campaign when he will need all the support he can get. At the same time, each has reason to think he may yet get a better deal if the other loses his post.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu, Bibi, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Mr Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Israeli Forces Will Move Into Rafah, Cease-Fire Deal or Not, Netanyahu Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Thomas Fuller | Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli forces would push into the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah regardless of the outcome of talks to pause the fighting that appear to have been making some progress in recent days. “It has to be done,” the Israeli prime minister said. “Because total victory is our goal, and total victory is within reach.”Mr. Netanyahu did say that if a cease-fire deal was reached, the move into Rafah, which during 20 weeks of war has served as a last refuge for hundreds of thousands of Gazan families forced from their homes, would be “delayed somewhat.”The push toward Rafah has drawn warnings from Israel’s closest ally, the United States, because of the potential for mass civilian casualties beyond the nearly 30,000 Gazans who have already been reported killed in the war, more than half of whom are women and children.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu Organizations: Sunday Locations: Gaza, Rafah, United States

☆ Israeli Analysts Say Rafah Invasion Is Unlikely to Be Imminent
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Israeli leaders have framed an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah as an imperative to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas. The planning will likely take Israel’s military some time, Israeli officials and analysts said on Sunday. The Biden administration has also raised concern over fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according two Israeli officials with knowledge of the discussions. Israeli officials say the military is still working on its plans for invading Rafah and that they have not yet been presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The operation in Rafah will happen,” Avi Dichter, a minister from Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, told Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, on Sunday.

Persons: Gazans, Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, ” Avi Dichter, Netanyahu’s, Kan, ” Organizations: Israel, Likud Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Egypt, Mecca

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, brushing aside a chorus of international condemnation, said Sunday that an invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah would move forward as soon as Israel completed plans for the more than a million people sheltering there to be allowed to move to safety. “Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying: ‘Lose the war,’” Mr. Netanyahu said on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”But given the complexity of an operation in Rafah, a ground invasion does not appear likely to happen any time soon, analysts said. More than half of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents fled there to avoid fighting farther north, packing the city with refugees with nowhere else to go. One Hamas official, Basem Naim, said Mr. Netanyahu was “deluding himself” if he thought that threatening to invade Rafah would increase the pressure on Palestinian negotiators to agree to Israel’s terms for a cease-fire. More than 28,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, have already been killed since the war began in October, Gazan health officials say.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, ’, Mr, Netanyahu, George Stephanopoulos, Basem Naim, “ deluding Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gazan, Rafah, Israel, Gaza

Among Israeli and Palestinian leaders, reactions to Biden administration sanctions against West Bank settlers fell predictably along ethnic and ideological lines, from far-right Jewish nationalists who denounced the penalties as unjust to Arabs who said they did not go far enough. The sanctions announced on Thursday came in response to violence by Jewish settler extremists, which has increased sharply in recent months. “4 settlers?! Pathetic,” Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, wrote on X. “The ‘settler violence’ campaign is an anti-Semitic lie spread by Israel’s enemies,” Mr. Smotrich wrote on X, though such violence has been amply documented.

Persons: Biden, ” Ahmad Tibi, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben, ” Mr, Smotrich, Yossi Dagan, “ Organizations: West Bank Locations: West

☆ Mix-Up Preceded Deadly Drone Strike in Jordan, U.S. Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Isabel Kershner | Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Air defenses failed to stop a deadly attack on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan on Sunday because the hostile drone homed in on its target at the same time an American drone was returning to the base, two U.S. officials said Monday. The attack on Sunday killed three U.S. service members, the first known American military fatalities from hostile fire in the turmoil spilling over from Israel’s war with Hamas. At least 34 others were injured in the strike, which Biden administration officials say used a drone launched by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. The one-way attack drone hit near the outpost’s living quarters, causing injuries that ranged from minor cuts to brain trauma, a U.S. military official said. It serves as a logistics and resupply hub for the Al Tanf garrison nearby in southeastern Syria, where American troops work with local Syrian partners to fight remnants of the Islamic State.

Persons: Biden, Lloyd J, Austin III, ” Mr, Austin, Jens Stoltenberg, “, Al Organizations: Sunday, Street, Hamas, Senior U.S, ., Defense, Pentagon, U.S, Army, Air Force Locations: Jordan, American, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Gaza, U.S, Germany, Al Tanf, Islamic State

☆ Israeli Women Fight on Front Line in Gaza, a First
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Isabel Kershner | Avishag Shaar-Yashuv | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amit Busi gets a chance to sleep, she does so with her boots on — and in a shared tent in an improvised Israeli military post in northern Gaza. There she commands a company of 83 soldiers, nearly half of them men. It is one of several mixed-gender units fighting in Gaza, where female combat soldiers and officers are serving on the front line for the first time since the war surrounding the establishment of Israel in 1948. She and her soldiers also help scour the area for fighters, weapons and rocket launchers and are responsible for guarding the camp. It can be easy to forget Captain Busi is only 23, given the respect she has clearly earned from her subordinates — among them Jews, Druze and Bedouin Muslim men.

Persons: Amit Busi, Busi, — Locations: Gaza, Israel

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