The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Top US diplomat Rubio talks to Saudi counterpart about Gaza, Syria
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud held talks on the situation in Gaza and “stabilization in Syria,” the State Department says.
The two also discussed talks between Ukraine and Russia, according to a statement.
There is no immediate comment from Riyadh.
Video appears to show Jewish man detained after performing ‘two breads’ offering on Temple Mount
A video shared online purports to show a Jewish man performing an ancient sacrificial offering on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Monday, supposedly a first in millenia, before being detained by police.
According to activists quoted by the Srugim religious news website, a man seen in the video in a white robe was carrying out the “Two Breads” offering detailed in the Torah for the Shavuot holiday, in which two loaves of leavened bread are waved by a kohen, or priest, before the altar and then consumed.
“The two breads offering was offered in the place of the [Temple] court, and was waved as prescribed in halacha by a kohen in priestly garb,” the site quotes activists saying, adding that the act was sanctioned by the rabbi of the Temple Institute. The Jewish organization advocates for the creation of a third Jewish temple on the flashpoint site, which is also considered holy to Muslims and houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine.
כהן בבגדי כהונה כשרים מניף את קרבן שתי הלחם על מקומה של עזרת המקדש. תראו את תבהלת הערבים ואת האלימות המשטרתית ותבינו כמה זה חשוב והיסטורי.
סרטון מהרשת הערבית. שימוש עפ"י סעיף 27א pic.twitter.com/kIToyIEPbA— ארנון סגל (@arnonsegal1) June 2, 2025
In the video, the man is seen clutching something in his hands as he tries to evade police amid a loud commotion, before it is grabbed away and he is detained by a police officer and a man dressed in Muslim religious garb.
Others are also seen being led away by police as a group of men and boys off to the side sing a traditional religious song about the rebuilding of the Temple, which Jews say stood on the site in two separate iterations in ancient times.
There is no comment on the incident from police.
Religious hardliners have made several attempts to bring sacrifices onto the site in recent years, including trying to smuggle goats in shopping bags, but have always been stopped by police in the past.
MK Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party writes on X that “for the first time in 2,000 years a kosher sacrifice has been brought on the mount of the house of God. There is still a long way to go until there is full religious freedom for Jews at the holiest place for the Jewish people. But there is no reason in the world to stop someone just because they are carrying out a mitzvah and surely without hurting anyone.”
A fragile status quo governing the site forbids Jewish prayer, though National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has attempted to chip away at the rule, repeatedly declaring that Jewish prayer is allowed.
Sukkot was filmed last week walking across the holy site with an Israeli flag and declaring “The Temple Mount is in our hands,” as other politicians made a show of prostrating at the site.
In an apparent reaction to the video, Jordan issues a statement condemning “the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Noble sanctuary by extremist settlers and the accompanying provocative and unacceptable practices aimed at desecrating it.”
6.2-magnitude quake jolts Greece near Turkey border
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the Dodecanese Islands of Greece on Tuesday, near its border with Turkey, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre says.
The quake occured at a depth of 68 km (42 miles), according to EMSC.
There are no immediate reports in Israel of shaking from the overnight temblor.
Israel punches back at UN chief for demanding probe into Gaza aid site shooting
Israel calls a demand from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an investigation into reported violence at a Gaza aid site a “disgrace.”
“Even if you look very hard, there’s one word you won’t find in the Secretary-General’s statement: Hamas,” writes Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein on X.
“Not a word about the fact that Hamas is the one shooting civilians and trying to prevent them from collecting aid packages.”
“Not a word about the fact that Hamas — as stated by U.S. Special Envoy Witkoff — rejected yet another ceasefire proposal and the release of the hostages.”
Guterres said on Monday he was “appalled” by reports that Palestinians were killed the previous day on their way to a Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution site for aid, that the UN must be allowed to provide aid to Gazans, and said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza.
Multiple witnesses and Hamas authorities in the Strip said at least 31 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded early Sunday by Israeli fire as they were on their way to a Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces said it didn’t shoot Gazans at or near the distribution site, but an Israeli military official acknowledged that troops did fire warning shots overnight around a kilometer away from the aid site.
Israel and the United States say they helped establish the new aid system to circumvent Hamas, which they accuse of siphoning off assistance.
UN agencies have refused to work with the system, which they say violates humanitarian principles.
Marmorstein says that “the real investigation that needs to be opened is why the UN continues to resist any attempt to provide aid directly to the people of Gaza.”
Colorado firebombing suspect appears in court with head bandaged
Mohammed Sabry Soliman, suspected of firebombing a pro-Israel rally in Colorado Sunday, appears in a Boulder County jail court for the first time since his arrest a day ago.
Soliman wears an orange jumpsuit and what appears to be a bandage wrapped around his head.
He does not make any statements, except affirming that he understands a protection order that bars him from contacting the victims of the attack.
The court schedules a June 5 hearing for the filing of formal charges against him.
Colorado suspect to be charged with attempted murder, hate crime; number of injured up to 12
Mohammed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in a firebombing of a hostages march in Colorado yesterday, will be charged with state and federal charges and facing life in prison if convicted, officials say.
Acting US Attorney J. Bishop Grewell says at a press conference that Soliman, 45, is being charged with the commission of a hate crime, a federal crime which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison when coupled with attempted murder charges he will face from Colorado.
According to Grewell, Soliman attempted to buy a firearm to carry out the attack, but resorted to homemade incendiary devices when he could not acquire a firearm because he is not a US citizen.
Boulder county district attorney Michael Dougherty says the state will charge Soliman with 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree — eight for attempted murder with intent, and eight for attempted murder with extreme indifference. If convicted, and the sentences run consecutively, the maximum sentence is 384 years in state prison.
Soliman will also be charged with two counts of use of an incendiary device, carrying a maximum sentence of 48 years, and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device, with a maximum sentence of 192 years. Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators, and investigators recovered 16 unused Molotov cocktails from the scene of the attack.
Other charges may be forthcoming, Grewell says.
Dougherty says police have identified four more victims of the attack, bringing the total to 12. The four additional victims suffered minor injuries and came forward to investigators after the initial incident.
The authorities say Soliman was not “on our radar” before the attack. Investigators are working to put together a timeline of the attack using surveillance footage and license plate readers.