| | An Israeli delegation will travel to Qatar following a new cease-fire proposal presented by Hamas to mediators. Some 50,000 Muslims participated in the prayer on the first Friday of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque without clashes with Israeli police. Netanyahu's office said he approved a plan for a military offensive in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah. Hamas and other Palestinian factions said they oppose the appointment of Mohammad Mustafa as the Palestinian Authority's new prime minister.
Here's what you need to know 161 days into the war | | |
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| | | | What happened today | | |  | | | ■ HOSTAGES/CEASE-FIRE: Hamas presented a Gaza cease-fire proposal to mediators which includes in its first stage the release of Israeli hostages - women, children, elderly, and the sick - in exchange for the release of 700-1000 Palestinian prisoners, according to Reuters.
- The releases would include 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and Israeli women soldiers held hostage. Hamas said it would agree on a date for a permanent cease-fire after the initial exchange of hostages and prisoners, the proposal said.
- An Israeli delegation will leave for Doha to continue negotiations, PM Netanyahu's office said, while calling Hamas' demands "unrealistic." Netanyahu is expected to chair a cabinet meeting Saturday evening to determine Israel's negotiating stance ahead of the trip.
- Hundreds of Israelis protested for the release of the hostages outside the Defense Ministry HQ in Tel Aviv while the war cabinet was meeting inside.
- Egypt is seeking to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, increase aid, and to allow displaced Gazans in the south move northwards, President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said.
- Leading U.S. senators from both parties lauded Qatar for facilitating hostage negotiations, but warned that it may need to expel Hamas' leadership, currently residing in Doha: "If Hamas refuses reasonable negotiations, there is no reason for Qatar to continue hosting Hamas' political office or any of its members."
"Schumer's remarks immediately solidified a trend that had been underway since Netanyahu's ascendance, ebbing and flowing in intensity over the years but constantly heading in the same direction: Netanyahu is now officially persona non grata with the Democratic Party's center, for supporters of Israel and critics alike" - Ben Samuels
■ UNITED STATES: After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that PM Netanyahu had "lost his way" and that his government "no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7," U.S. President Biden said Schumer "made a good speech and I think he expressed serious concerns shared not only by him but by many Americans."
■ GAZA: Hamas claimed that at least 21 Palestinians had been killed and more than 150 were wounded by IDF fire as they gathered to receive humanitarian aid in Gaza City on Friday night. The IDF refuted the report, and said that according to a preliminary investigation, the shooting was carried out by Palestinians while civilians were looting the trucks; some of them were run over.
- PM Netanyahu has approved the IDF's plan for an operation in Rafah, in southern Gaza, and the military is preparing to evacuate citizens from the city, the PM's office said.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office called on the Biden administration and the international community to block an Israeli military operation in Rafah, saying it would lead to another massacre and more displacement of Palestinians.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented at a war cabinet meeting four alternatives for Gaza's future. The "least worst" option, in his words, would be a local government that is not Hamas.
- A ship towing a barge loaded with food aid arrived off Gaza as a test run for a new maritime corridor from Cyprus. The ship is funded and operated by Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen in partnership with the UAE, Cyprus & Spanish NGO Open Arms.
- CENTCOM said it conducted another airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.
- Australia will resume funding to UNRWA, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, adding the government would apply "stringent conditions" on the new funding agreement.
- Israeli defense officials said in a security cabinet meeting that there's an increasing likelihood that senior Hamas official Marwan Issa, Mohammad Deif's second-in-command, was killed in Gaza, sources party to the cabinet discussion said.
- The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 31,490 Palestinians have been killed and 73,439 have been wounded since the start of the war.
"So potent are the customs of the cult that the followers of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have adopted, that its members are incapable of entertaining even a wink and a nod in the direction of taking responsibility" - Amos Harel
■ WEST BANK: Four Palestinian factions - Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Palestinian National Initiative - said that they object to the establishment of a new Palestinian government and to Palestinian Authority President Abbas' decision to appoint his associate Mahmoud Mustafa as PM.
- The U.S. National Security Council welcomed the appointment of Mohammad Mustafa as the PA's new prime minister and urged him to form "a reform cabinet as soon as possible."
■ ISRAEL: Israel Police estimated that 50,000 Muslim worshippers participated in the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a lower number compared to previous years. The Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed authority responsible for controlling and managing the mosque compound, reported 80,000 worshippers. The prayer passed without unusual confrontations between police and the participants.
- A Haifa Court released an Israeli woman after she was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating public order for waving a "Stop the Genocide" sign at a rally in the city.
- Eyal Eshel, father of military spotter Sgt. Roni Eshel, murdered on October 7 at an IDF base near the Gaza border, confronted her commander and blamed him for Roni's death during a commemorative ceremony. Video from the event showed him saying to the commander: "The girls burned because of you. I will haunt you till your dying day."
■ LEBANON: The IDF said fighter jets struck Hezbollah surveillance posts and military targets in southern Lebanon. Rockets fired from Lebanon fell in Israel's north.
■ HOUTHIS: A commercial ship reported it had been hit by a missile and sustained damage west of Yemen's Al-Hudaydah port, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.
- The U.S. military said that Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden and two missiles toward the Red Sea, causing no damage or casualties.
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