The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they happen.
No reports of injuries or impacts following interception of Houthi missile
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it has received no reports of injuries or impacts following the launch of a ballistic missile by Yemen’s Houthis, which according to the military was intercepted.
The Home Front Command meanwhile tells residents of areas where sirens sounded that they can now leave their places of shelter.
Lawyers seeking Palestinian American businessman accused of aiding Hamas cannot find him
Lawyers who are suing Bashar Masri, a leading Palestinian American businessman accused of aiding Hamas, say they are unable to locate him.
Victims of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel sued Masri in April. The lawsuit argued that Hamas deceived Israel ahead of the invasion by feigning an interest in developing Gaza, and that Masri and his companies were “an integral part of that grand deception.”
Some of Masri’s development projects appeared to be legitimate, but were also used to build and hide Hamas tunnels, store rockets, host Hamas leaders, train Hamas operatives, and produce electricity for Hamas tunnels, the case said.
Masri served on the dean’s council at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and resigned after the lawsuit was filed.
Lawyers in the case, filed in the federal US District Court for the District of Columbia, say they are unable to locate Masri to serve him a legal summons.
They asked the court on Friday to allow “alternative means” to reach Masri, including by publishing the complaint and summons in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot. Masri gave the newspaper a statement about the lawsuit, indicating he is aware of the case and likely follows the outlet.
The lawyers say Masri is believed to be in Palestinian-controlled territory, but they are unable to find an address and their efforts to serve him in the US have been unsuccessful. Masri has a residence in Washington, DC.
Masri’s office has denied the allegations, saying he “unequivocally opposes violence of any kind.”
Two musicians backtrack after signing petition urging end to ‘Gaza horror’
Two Israeli musicians who signed a petition published yesterday accusing the country of starving Gazan kids and calling for an end to the “horrors in Gaza” say they no longer stand behind everything in the statement.
Assaf Amdursky writes on Instagram that while he supports ending the war, he does not back the idea that Israel’s military is carrying out war crimes in Gaza.
“I don’t support the claim that the IDF is creating famine or purposely harming civilians. I’d prefer to save terms like ‘war criminals’ for Hamas,” he writes. “The soldiers are dear to my heart, and they are the last thing I could criticize.”
He adds that Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski are the ones facing intentional starvation and “merciless war crimes.”
Hemi Rudner, another rock musician, indicates on Facebook that he finds it problematic that he was unable to draft the petition himself, meaning it contained things he did not agree with, posting an alternative petition instead. Unlike the petition published yesterday, which focused on Gazan suffering, his version places it alongside the need for Israelis to stop suffering as well.
“Stop the war in Gaza! It has no military or diplomatic justification and is infected with poisonous politics and is causing indescribable suffering on both sides of the border,” he writes.
Over 2,000 artists and others in the creative community were listed as signatories on the petition published Sunday, which urged Israel’s leadership to stop the war and called on those involved to not commit war crimes.
“Against our values and will, we find ourselves complicit in the horrific actions carried out by our government in Gaza: the killing of children and civilians, policies of starvation, mass displacement, and the senseless destruction of entire cities,” read the statement, which drew wide attention, some of it negative.
Canada says it dropped 21,000 pounds of aid into Gaza
The Canadian government says it delivered over 10 tons of humanitarian assistance to Gaza today as it joined an international effort to fly food into the enclave.
“The (Canadian Armed Forces) employed a CC-130J Hercules aircraft to conduct an airdrop of critical humanitarian aid in support of Global Affairs Canada into the Gaza Strip. The air drop consisted of 21,600 pounds of aid,” the Canadian government says in a statement.
At least five other countries took part in airdrops today, dropping some 120 tons of food into the Strip, according to the IDF.