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The Latest

Updated May 6, 2024 at 11 AM

According to many media reports, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar are awaiting a final answer from Hamas on whether the terror group will accept the currently proposed deal that will see the release of some hostages. US Secretary of State Blinken has called the latest Israeli concessions “very generous,” and said that agreeing to the deal should be a “no-brainer” for Hamas. To date, the group has delayed issuing a response to the deal numerous times and appears to be trying to buy more time. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Israel has issued an ultimatum to Hamas that the IDF will begin its proposed attack on Rafah (see below) if the deal is not accepted by the end of this week.

  • Numerous sources suggest that the proposal now on the table involves the release of 33 out of the 132 hostages being held. In return, Israel would free 40 terrorists (including many who are serving sentences for murder) in exchange for each of the female soldiers to be released, as well as 10 terrorists in exchange for each Israeli civilian. The deal is also purported to involve a halt to all fighting for an extended period, opening Gaza’s north for evacuees to return, and other conditions.
  • The IDF, the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the Ministry of Health have notified the family of Elyakim Libman, who until now had been classified as a hostage, that he was murdered on October 7. DNA evidence showed that his badly-burned body was in fact inside the grave of another fallen soldier.
  • While the number of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel remains negligible on most days, a barrage of fourteen rockets and mortars was launched yesterday from Rafah towards the Kerem Shalom border station. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack, and at least seven others were injured. The crossing, used for humanitarian aid trucks, was shut down due to the attack and truck traffic was halted. 
  • In the north, Hezbollah continues to fire at Israeli targets, triggering significant Israeli retaliations. Yesterday, over 65 rockets and mortars were launched into the Kiryat Shmona and Upper Galilee areas, causing property damage. Today, two people were seriously wounded after a drone launched by Hezbollah hit the Metula area. Shortly after the attack, the IDF struck 15 targets belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force at a military camp in Al-Lwazia in southern Lebanon. Watch an Israeli retaliatory strike on a terror target in Markaba, southern Lebanon, here.
  • Earlier today, the IDF began evacuating civilians from eastern Rafah to a new expanded humanitarian zone which includes al-Mawasi and parts of Khan Yunis and central Gaza, reportedly ahead of planned IDF operations in the Rafah area. The new humanitarian zone includes field hospitals, tents, and increased provisions of food, water, medicine, and other supplies. The call to evacuate is being made through leaflets, text messages, phone calls, and statements in Arabic; approximately 100,000 people are sheltering in that area.
  • Yesterday, an Israel Air Force aircraft killed Hamas leader Saleh Jamil Muhammad Amad, who was responsible for combat support within the group’s Bureij Battalion. He was eliminated along with several other terrorist operatives. A similar attack eliminated three Hamas “Nukhba” terrorists, some of whom took part in the October 7th massacres.
    • Other targets hit yesterday included military installations, terrorist infrastructure, and weapons storage facilities.
  • At the end of last week, Hamas managed to seize a major shipment of humanitarian aid that was delivered to Gaza from Jordan, according to US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. The supplies were the first to be shipped to the enclave through a newly-reopened Israeli border crossing. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken viewed the shipment on Tuesday just before it departed from the headquarters of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman bound for the renovated crossing into the Gaza Strip at Erez, which was largely destroyed by Hamas on October 7.
  • Yesterday, Hamas fired 14 rockets at Kerem Shalom, destroying one of the major truck crossing points for humanitarian aid. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack.
  • The US military is nearing completion of a $320 million floating pier off Gaza, a complex project to allow seaborne humanitarian aid into the Strip. Hundreds of US troops have spent weeks building the structure, which is aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis in the area.
  • Some additional data (from the IDF’s Coordinator of Aid to Gaza):
    • 223 trucks containing aid were delivered to Gaza by UN aid agencies, 134 of them containing food aid, (May 4)
    • 94 pallets containing tens of thousands of packages of food aid were airdropped, in coordination with partner countries over northern Gaza yesterday (May. 4).
    • 63 aid trucks were coordinated to northern Gaza (50 from the private sector, 12 WFP, and 2 containing fuel) (May 4).
    • 26 bakeries are currently operational in Gaza, providing close to 5 million loaves of bread, rolls, and pita daily.
    • The northern water pipeline from Israel is now fully operational, providing an average of more than 13 gallons per person per day in Gaza.
  • See more on humanitarian aid here.

Since October 7:

  • 1,548 Israelis have been killed, including 608 soldiers.
  • 105 hostages have been freed, but 133 remain in captivity.
  • 11,500+ rockets have been fired at Israeli civilian targets.
  • Over 14,500 Israelis have been injured.

See here for a list of the names of those murdered that have been released so far, and here for a site in Hebrew with the names and photos of fallen soldiers.

Check the latest Times of Israel reports here.

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