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Television host Piers Morgan backed a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Monday morning, saying in a string of social media posts that a recent Israeli strike in a Rafah “safe zone” that killed more than 40 people was too far. “The scenes from Rafah overnight are horrific,” Morgan wrote on the social platform X. “I’ve defended Israel’s right to defend itself after Oct 7, but slaughtering so many innocent people as they cower in a refugee camp is indefensible.”

The court's orders The ICJ has made several orders including for Israel to: • halt military operation in Rafah • open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the entry of humanitarian aid at scale • ensure access to Gaza for investigators and fact-finding missions • report to the court within a month on its progress in applying these measures 13-2 judgement

Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released hostages and Palestinian Arab prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the discussions. The ceasefire agreement that Hamas said on May 6 it had agreed to was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources told the network. The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details...

President Biden applauded a call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Sunday while attending the commencement of Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday. Valedictorian Deangelo Fletcher, who spoke before Biden’s commencement address, stopped short of any direct rebuke of the president but called for an “immediate and a permanent ceasefire.” “It is only right for the class of 2024 to utilize any platform provided to stand in solidarity with peace and justice,” Fletcher said while evoking the activism of Morehouse alumnus Martin Luther King Jr.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States and European countries were not doing enough to pressure Israel to agree a ceasefire in Gaza, after Hamas' move to accept a truce proposal, Reuters reported. Speaking to Muslim scholars in Istanbul, Erdogan said Hamas had accepted a ceasefire proposal by Qatar and Egypt in a "step in the path toward a lasting ceasefire", but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government did not want the war to end. "The response of the Netanyahu government was to attack the innocent people in Rafah," he charged. "It has become clear who...

While speaking at a fundraiser in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, President Joe Biden said there could be a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas if the U.S.-designated Islamic terror group “would release” the remaining hostages. “There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages, the women and the elderly and the wounded,” Biden said. “As I’ve said, it’s up to Hamas–if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow.”

Hamas needs to be understood as a criminal organization with whom negotiations are absurd, and swift action against, is the only reasonable response. Reuters reports that “Hamas says it will not compromise further with Israel to win Gaza ceasefire.” It’s just another headline about the heirs of Yassir Arafat; we know better than to take the statement seriously. Hamas will keep talking as long as they can, for obvious reasons. The people engaged in negotiations, at least, if not their foot-soldiers, are safe while they’re at the negotiating table. But there’s a different question that ought to be inspired by...

The New York Times has confirmed that on Monday night, the Hamas terror group proposed a counteroffer for a ceasefire-prisoner swap deal, and did not "agree" to the deal approved by both Israel and the US. Nevertheless, the counteroffer - though not deemed acceptable - was seen by the US as a sign of progress. The New York Times stressed that Israel's strikes in Rafah were "retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks that killed four Israeli soldiers," and a way to pressure Hamas, but did not constitute the strike that US President Joe Biden was warning against. Biden is still insisting...

Hamas on Monday evening claimed to accept what it said was an Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire and hostage release proposal, but Israeli officials said the Hamas terms did not meet Israel’s essential demands. “After Hamas agreed to the mediators’ proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it,” a senior Hamas official told AFP, soon after the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had announced its acceptance. But soon after receiving the Hamas response, Israeli officials said the terms Hamas claimed to have accepted...

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns is heading to Doha, Qatar, in a last-ditch effort to save talks on a potential hostage deal between Israel and Hamas after the terror group balked at Israel continuing the war against it.

UPDATE: In typical fashion, Hamas is operating in bad faith and manipulating the terms of the agreement. BREAKING: Israeli official says Hamas approved a "softened" ceasefire proposal that is "not acceptable" to Israel - SKY— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 6, 2024BREAKING: Senior Israeli official to Ynet: This Hamas agreement to the deal is a deception. It is a one-sided deal without any Israeli involvement or agreement. This was meant to make Israel look bad when they refuse.— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) May 6, 2024BREAKING: Two Israeli officials confirm to me that Hamas has NOT accepted the deal that was on the table.—...

Has the Biden administration forgotten the injunction to never negotiate with terrorists? With the White House seeking to placate Hamas while censuring Israel for having the gall to defend itself, it seems the administration has embraced the exact opposite of that old wisdom. In her daily briefing on Monday, underqualified White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre only supported that impression with her words on a possible deal with Hamas. A reporter asked her about President Joe Biden’s Sunday call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The significant focus of that … call was obviously on securing the release of all...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, on Monday evening to discuss an Israeli “ceasefire” against the Hamas terrorist organization and “greater integration” in the Middle East. Multiple reports suggested that Blinken and bin Salman, widely considered the de facto ruler of the kingdom, discussed plans in which Saudi Arabia would normalize its diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for a major security agreement with the United States and forcing Israel to recognize a “Palestinian state,” presumably governed by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Hamas should accept an “extraordinarily generous” proposal to release Israeli hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a temporary cease-fire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hamas is expected to respond to the U.S.-led proposal Monday in discussions with Egyptian and Qatari officials in Cairo. “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Blinken said during a panel discussion at the WEF. “And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and...

A New York City leftist anti-Israel activist group — which calls itself “Jewish” despite not having anything to do with Judaism — hosted an event called “Tot Shabbat for Ceasefire” in March and plans to host similar “Kids Seder in the Streets” in April, after previously hosting an event honoring a registered sex offender, which also included childcare. “Jews for Racial and Economic Justice” (JFREJ) — which claims to somehow represent Jews, despite boasting that “some of our most active members aren’t Jewish” — has been vocal in opposing Israeli military operations in Gaza, following the slaughter of around 1,200...

For over six months, the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests have accelerated, and now are predictably incendiary and violent. Recently, they have jumped the shark with unapologetic chants of “Death to America”. Or so a cheering crowd in Michigan chanted in homage to the late king of all Western-hostage-takers, the murderous Ayatollah Khomeini. And the huckster speaker revved them up by quoting Malcolm X that America is “one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this Earth.” (Does such a condemnation of fellow Americans presage mass reverse migration of unhappy Middle Easterners back to the West Bank, Gaza, and Iran?)...

An Indian-American woman was arrested and charged for giving severe threats to a mayor and city council members at a Bakersfield City Council meeting in California on Wednesday. Riddhi Patel's outburst came during the public comment section of the meeting wherein she threatened to murder Republican Mayor Karen Goh and the council members for not backing a ceasefire resolution against Israel, besides installing increased security measures at the government building in the wake of the ongoing anti-Israel protests. Who is Riddhi Patel? The 28-year-old is a pro-Palestine protestor and is facing 16 felony counts. Of these, eight counts are for...

Hamas has told international mediators it can't identify 40 living hostages who meet the requirements for a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal as American and Israeli officials increasingly fear most of the people still held captive may already be dead. The proposal for a six-week ceasefire consisted of Hamas releasing 40 hostages, including women, children, elderly men and those in poor health, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The terrorist group, however, told international mediators that it does not have 40 living hostages who meet that criteria. Officials familiar with negotiations told The Wall Street Journal this week...

The Biden administration is increasing demands for a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza, but Hamas keeps rejecting ceasefire proposals. President Joe Biden relayed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a tense phone conversation on Thursday that an “immediate ceasefire” was “essential” in the Gaza Strip — a call shared by his administration and key voting blocs — and urged Netanyahu to reach a deal “without delay.” Israel has made several ceasefire proposals to Hamas and offered generous terms to reach a deal, but the terrorist group has repeatedly rejected the plans since the war began. Hamas most...

US President Joe Biden has urged “the Israelis to just call for” a six-to-eight-week ceasefire, remarks the White House adamantly insisted did not mark a major shift in policy even though he did not mention Hamas or a hostage deal in his appeal to Israel. “What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden told Univision, a US Spanish-language TV network, in an interview aired Tuesday. “I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians...