The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday events as they unfold.
Austin and Gallant discuss Gaza aid, Rafah, hostages in latest call
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant just held another phone call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon says.
The pair “discuss[ed] the ongoing hostage negotiations, humanitarian assistance efforts and Rafah,” according to the US readout.
“Austin reaffirmed his commitment to the unconditional return of all hostages and conveyed the importance of increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza to flood the zone, while ensuring the safety of civilians and aid workers.”
“He also stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid.”
“Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to supporting Israel’s defense,” adds the US readout, which is entirely made up of long-held talking points regarding the war.
At least 17 arrested as police take down anti-Israel encampment at UT Dallas; similar protest at Fordham U
At least 17 far-left protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing after police were called to the University of Texas at Dallas to take down an anti-Israel encampment that was established on campus in violation of the school’s code of conduct.
“Individuals may peacefully assemble in the common outdoor areas of campus to exercise their right to free speech, but they may not construct an encampment or block pathways,” university spokeswoman Kim Horner says.
At Fordham University in New York City, custodial workers are currently taking down a similar encampment as police in riot gear and several hundred screaming far-left protesters look on.
NOW: Fordham University students hold up the letters they just received informing them they are now suspended
Protesters wrote “free Palestine” on the letters pic.twitter.com/jksCtZ2bjD
— katie smith (@probablyreadit) May 1, 2024
HAPPENING NOW: Officers in riot gear are taking down parts of the encampment set up at UT Dallas. Some people are being taken away by police. https://t.co/jpJU7IWP8m pic.twitter.com/ZTCczuPIRm
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) May 1, 2024
After the dispersal of the UT Dallas pro-Palestinian liberated zone, the crowd has regrouped outside the student center. pic.twitter.com/CcfmxkXTnC
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) May 1, 2024
PA security forces reportedly shoot dead PIJ fighter in West Bank clash
Palestinian security forces operating in the central West Bank city of Tulkarem reportedly shot dead a Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighter earlier tonight.
A spokesperson for the PA security forces says officers responded after coming under fire.
The PIJ military wing identified Ahmad Abu Foul as the suspect struck and killed but claimed he had not opened fire on the PA security forces. Abu Foul was reportedly wanted by Israel for terror-related offenses.
This is the second time in roughly one month that PA security forces have killed a PIJ fighter.
الله يرحمك ويتقبلك يا سيد الزلام
ابن عمتي المطارد من قوات الاحتلال احد قادة كتيبة نور شمس احمد ابو الفول (كريس) شهيداً برصاص السلطة "الفلسطينية"
لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله pic.twitter.com/obhg0x7tdO
— أحمَدْ (@Qassam127) May 1, 2024
Trump says police raid on Columbia anti-Israel protesters ‘beautiful to watch’
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump says it “was a beautiful thing to watch” New York police officers raiding a Columbia University building occupied by anti-Israel students, calling the protesters “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers.”
“New York was under siege last night,” Trump tells supporters at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. He praises the police officers for arresting about 300 protesters.
“Your towns and villages will now be accepting people from Gaza and various other places,” Trump says, referring to media reports of plans by the administration of US President Joe Biden to accept some Gaza refugees. The crowd boos in response.
CBS News said it had obtained internal government documents showing that US officials have been discussing different options to resettle Palestinians who have been displaced by the fighting in Gaza after they pass a battery of screening tests.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier today that the Biden administration was looking into a plan to relocate some Palestinian refugees who are related to Americans.
57 House Democrats urge Biden to prevent Israeli offensive in Rafah
US President Joe Biden’s administration is facing renewed pressure from his fellow Democrats to influence Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the city where almost half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people have taken refuge.
Fifty-seven of the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a letter calling on the administration to take every possible measure to dissuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government from an all-out assault on the city near the Egyptian border.
“We urge you to invoke existing law and policy to immediately withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government, including aid sourced from legislation already signed into law, in order to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah,” says the letter.
The White House has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the letter, which was led by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Madeleine Dean.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier today that he had still not seen a plan for Israel’s promised offensive on Rafah that would protect civilians, repeating that Washington could not support such an assault without such a plan.
Hamas official expresses opposition to latest hostage deal offer, but terror group says talks continue
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Lebanon, tells the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, “Our position on the current negotiating paper is negative.”
Hamas’s press office subsequently clarifies, “The negative position does not mean negotiations have stopped. There is a back-and-forth issue.”
The terror group is reportedly slated to submit an amended response to the latest proposal in the coming hours.
Hamdan warns that Hamas will walk away from the negotiations if Israel launches its pledged invasion to dismantle the terror group’s remaining battalions in Rafah.
Blinken pans ‘unacceptable’ attacks on Gaza aid convoys by far-right protesters, notes their arrest by Israel
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemns the “unacceptable” attack on a Jordanian aid convoy by Israeli protesters trying to prevent its transfer to Gaza earlier today.
“My understanding is that the people who attacked this convoy were arrested today by the Israeli authorities. That sends a very strong message,” he notes during an NBC Nightly News interview.
The Israeli government must “continue to send a strong message that this aid cannot be, must not be interfered with as it goes through Israel… Israel is better than this,” he adds, while noting that the atrocities committed against Israel on October 7 and Hamas’s continued holding of hostages since.
The people who so desperately need this aid and who are now getting more of it because of the important steps that [Israel has] taken in recent weeks — including right here at Ashdod port — have nothing to do with October 7, nothing to do with the hostages.”
“They’ve been caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making, and it’s imperative that they get the food that they need, the water they need, the medical supplies they need, access to the hospitals, to health care — all of that.”
Why are right-wing extremists destroying flour shipments headed into the Gaza Strip & being allowed to do so by the @IDF near the borders? This is sick and shameful behavior that's wasteful, wrong & undermines claims of unhindered international humanitarian aid being allowed in. pic.twitter.com/Gt4LVvkvFd
— Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (@afalkhatib) May 1, 2024
Biden administration weighing measures to help Palestinians bring family from region
The Biden administration is weighing measures to help Palestinians living in the United States who want to bring family from the war-torn region.
“We are constantly evaluating policy proposals to further support Palestinians who are family members of American citizens and may want to come to the United States,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says during a press briefing.
Jean-Pierre says discussions are underway but has no further details on how procedures might work. The new measures would help those who are legal permanent residents or US citizens and who have family in the region.
If the US were to move forward with some sort of measure to help the families of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, it would likely require coordination with Egypt. Early in the war, hundreds of Americans — as well as other foreign nationals trapped in Gaza — were able to escape via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which opened the crossing with some trepidation.
Egypt as well as other Arab nations worry that an Israeli offensive could lead to a displacement of Palestinians into Sinai, a scenario it views as unacceptable.
For Palestinians already in the US, the Biden administration has already agreed to what’s known as “deferred enforced departure,” an authority used at a president’s discretion.
The directive signed by Biden last month effectively allows Palestinian immigrants who would otherwise have to leave the United States to stay without the threat of deportation for at least 18 months.