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    Over 20 Killed Near Aid Distribution Site in Gaza, Palestinian Health Officials Say

    It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. The Israeli military denied any of its fire had harmed people within the site.At least 20 people were killed on Sunday in southern Gaza near an aid distribution site, according to local health officials, as hungry Palestinians gathered en masse hoping to receive some food from the facility.It was not immediately clear who had opened fire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its paramedics had evacuated at least 23 killed and 23 wounded from the area, all with gunshot wounds. In a statement, Gaza’s health ministry gave a higher toll of 31. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any injuries caused by Israeli fire “within the humanitarian aid site,” but did not immediately rule out shooting nearby. Hamas accused Israeli forces of attacking people who had gathered to seek food. The New York Times could not verify the circumstances of the attack.Over the past week, Israel has launched a contentious plan to overhaul aid distribution in Gaza. Israeli officials say the new system — run mainly by American contractors — of four sites in southern Gaza would prevent Hamas from seizing the food, fuel and other goods, but aid agencies have criticized the initiative.Huge crowds of Gazans have headed for the new aid sites, hoping to receive a box of food supplies. While some days have gone relatively smoothly, there have also been chaotic scenes, including one instance in which Israeli forces fired what they described as warning shots.The United Nations and other major humanitarian relief groups have boycotted the sites, accusing Israel of wielding aid as part of its military strategy. U.N. officials said there was little evidence that Hamas systematically diverted relief. Critics in Israel have warned the effort could be the first step toward establishing formal Israeli rule over Gaza.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Muhammad Sinwar, a Top Military Leader of Hamas, Is Dead, Israel Says

    He was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader killed by Israel last year. Hamas did not immediately respond to the claim of his death.The Israeli military announced on Saturday night that it had killed Muhammad Sinwar, one of Hamas’s top military commanders in Gaza, during airstrikes this month that targeted the vicinity of a hospital in southern Gaza.Hamas did not immediately respond to the claim of Mr. Sinwar’s death. During the war in Gaza, the Palestinian armed group has largely not confirmed the killing of its commanders in the moment, only announcing their demise weeks or even months later, if at all.Mr. Sinwar’s death would leave the hierarchy of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza unclear. Another senior Hamas militant, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, is believed to command the group’s remaining fighters in northern Gaza. Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, threatened Mr. Haddad on Saturday night as well as Khalil al-Hayya, one of Hamas’s leaders in exile, saying they would share a similar fate to Mr. Sinwar.“You are next in line,” Mr. Katz said in a statement, addressing the two militant leaders by name.But Mr. Sinwar’s death may not immediately change Hamas’s strategy or operations, analysts said. Since the war began more than a year and a half ago, Israel has targeted and killed a number of Hamas’s top leaders, only to see the group continue its guerrilla war against Israel in Gaza.This month, Israeli aircraft struck an underground compound near the European Hospital, close to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where Mr. Sinwar had recently been present, according to the Israeli military. At the time, Israeli officials said privately that they had been targeting Mr. Sinwar, but they did not mention him in their announcement of the strikes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Israel Bars Arab Foreign Ministers From High-Level West Bank Visit

    The trip had been planned for Sunday ahead of a June conference, backed by France and Saudi Arabia, to urge the creation of a Palestinian state.The Israeli government has barred foreign ministers from a number of Arab states, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, from visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders, the Jordanian government said on Saturday.A Jordanian foreign ministry statement said the delegation had planned to meet in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the territory. A visit by such high-ranking Arab officials to the West Bank would have been very unusual.The Israeli government refused to comment.Among those slated to attend was Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister. He would have been the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank in recent memory, according to Palestinian officials. Officials from Bahrain and Egypt had also been expected.The visiting officials had planned to confer with Mr. Abbas ahead of a June conference led by France and Saudi Arabia, expected to take place in New York, to discuss the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is strongly opposed to the idea.But Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has already prompted a few European countries — including Spain, Norway and Ireland — to formally recognize a state of Palestine in the hopes of jump-starting the long-dormant Middle East peace process. Since the war began almost 20 months ago, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, a second Palestinian territory, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.The war began after Hamas led the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israel.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Conflicting Claims Over Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Talks Sow Confusion

    Israel, Hamas and the Trump administration have issued different messages about where efforts to reach a truce stand.Israel, the United States and Hamas have sent conflicting messages in recent days about progress in cease-fire talks that would free hostages still held in Gaza, amid mounting pressure from President Trump to end the war.As they press a renewed offensive, Israeli forces have continued to launch strikes across the enclave. More than 70 people were killed on Monday, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.The deadly strikes came amid a series of contradictory comments about negotiations.On Monday, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel said that the group had accepted a cease-fire proposal from Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy.Mr. Witkoff, however, quickly rejected that claim. “What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable,” he told the Axios news site.Later that evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he was hoping to announce progress in the talks “if not today, then tomorrow.” But he later suggested that he had been speaking figuratively, and blamed Hamas for the impasse.On Tuesday, Basem Naim, a Hamas official, doubled down on the group’s claim. “Yes, the movement has accepted Mr. Witkoff’s proposal,” he wrote on social media, adding that Hamas was awaiting Israel’s response.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Noem Visits Israel Amid Tensions Between Trump and Netanyahu

    Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, expressed continued U.S. support for Israel despite recent disagreements.Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, met with officials in Israel on Sunday and Monday as she underscored American support for Israel amid policy disagreements between the two countries.Ms. Noem met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and attended a ceremony on Monday that commemorated two Israeli embassy aides who were killed last week in a shooting in Washington.Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Noem said President Trump “extends his greetings and his grief to all of you, and he stands with you as we fight this hatred in the world.” She also spoke of “a unity among us that will help us defeat our enemies.”Israeli leaders presented her visit as proof of strong United States-Israel relations, following disagreements between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu over how best to approach Iran and its proxies in Yemen, and Mr. Trump’s growing frustration with the continuation of the war in Gaza. Mr. Trump did not visit Israel during a recent tour of the Middle East, an omission interpreted as a sign of tension with Mr. Netanyahu.According to Mr. Netanyahu’s office, Ms. Noem spoke in a meeting on Sunday of her “unwavering support for the prime minister and the state of Israel.” She also expressed “great appreciation” for Mr. Netanyahu’s conduct of the war, his office said.Ms. Noem also met on Sunday with her Israeli counterpart, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister for national security. Mr. Ben-Gvir’s office said he “thanked his counterpart for American support for Israel and for President Trump’s immigration plan,” referring to the president’s proposal in February to displace Gaza’s residents while the United States leads the rebuilding of the territory. More

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    Seeing a Tide of Fascism: Flee or Fight?

    More from our inbox:West Point Book BanCooperation on the Environment To the Editor:Re “We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the U.S.” (Opinion video, nytimes.com, May 14):As a British historian and the author of a book on totalitarian Russia and the fall of Communism, I am worried that there have been too few coherent warnings of the isolationism and the threats to American democracy posed by the Trump administration — until I saw this eloquent video.Here in France there is talk of demanding that the Statue of Liberty — that beacon of freedom given to the United States by this country — be returned to Europe. As a child of a diplomatic family living in Communist Bulgaria in the 1960s, I witnessed directly the fear that a totalitarian state can induce in a population.I worry for America, and I desperately hope that it can reverse the tide of fascism threatening the independence of its universities, courts and admirable media. This video clearly lays out the challenges posed to the United States, which we Europeans have for so long respected and admired.Myles SandersonParisThe writer is the author of the book “Secret Service in the Cold War.”To the Editor:What Profs. Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley say is undeniably true: The United States is rapidly descending into fascism.Why, then, are they leaving the country? Why aren’t they staying and resisting along with the millions of people who are marching on the streets and refusing to submit?Why aren’t they staying here in solidarity with those who have been unjustly imprisoned and deported, those who have lost their jobs and those who are at risk of losing health care and basic services? Do they think that appearing in a video from The New York Times is sufficient?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Israeli Connections to a New Gaza Aid Plan Promoted as Independent

    Foreign contractors are set to carry out a contentious new food aid system in Gaza, displacing experienced aid agencies like the United Nations. It was conceived and largely developed by Israelis as a way to undermine Hamas.Throughout the war in Gaza, U.N. agencies and experienced aid groups have overseen the distribution of food aid in the territory. Now, Israel is set to transfer that responsibility to a handful of newly formed private organizations with obscure histories and unknown financial backers.Supporters of the project describe it as an independent and neutral initiative run mainly by American contractors. The main group providing security is run by Philip F. Reilly, a former senior C.I.A. officer, and a fund-raising group is headed by Jake Wood, a former U.S. Marine, who said in an interview that the system would be phased in soon.Announcing the arrangement in early May, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said it was “wholly inaccurate” to call it “an Israeli plan.”But the project is an Israeli brainchild, first proposed by Israeli officials in the earliest weeks of the war, according to Israeli officials, people involved in the initiative and others familiar with its conception, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely of the initiative.The New York Times found that the broad contours of the plan were first discussed in late 2023, at private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government.The group called itself the Mikveh Yisrael Forum, after a college where members convened in December 2023. Its leading figures gradually settled on the idea of hiring private contractors to distribute food in Gaza, circumventing the United Nations. Throughout 2024, they then fostered support among Israel’s political leaders and some military commanders, and began to develop it with foreign contractors, principally Mr. Reilly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Suspect charged with murder in shooting of Israeli embassy staffers

    The US justice department on Thursday charged the lone suspect in a brazen attack that killed two young Israeli embassy staff members outside an event at the Jewish museum in downtown Washington DC with two counts of first degree murder.Jeanine Pirro, the interim US attorney for Washington, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that authorities were also investigating as a “hate crime and a crime of terrorism” the killings that left the US capital in shock as world leaders condemned the “horrible” and “antisemitic” shootings.Early on Thursday morning, federal agents in tactical gear descended on a Chicago apartment believed to be the alleged gunman’s home. According to a post on X from the FBI’s Washington field office, agents in Chicago were “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity” that it said was “in relation to yesterday’s tragic shooting in Washington, DC”.The FBI director, Kash Patel, described the slaying as an “act of terror” and “targeted anti-Semitic violence”. The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that US authorities believed the suspect acted alone. “We are doing everything we can to protect our entire community, and especially our Jewish community right now,” said Bondi, who was at the crime scene. “It was horrific,” she added.At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump was “saddened and outraged” by the deadly act and vowed that the US Department of Justice “will be prosecuting the perpetrator of this to the full extent of the law”. She said Trump spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.The killings occurred shortly after 9pm on Wednesday evening, outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where, according to officials, a gunman approached a group leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee and opened fire at close range.The victims, identified as Yaron Lischinsky, who grew up in Germany and Israel, and Sarah Milgrim, a US citizen from Kansas, were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US. Leiter told reporters Lischinsky had “purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem”.The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting, the Metropolitan police chief, Pamela Smith, said. After opening fire, he walked into the museum, was detained by event security and began to chant “Free, free Palestine,” she said.Officials have said the suspect was not on any security watchlists and there were no heightened security threats before the shooting. The firearm believed to be used in the killings was retrieved as well, officials said.The FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino, said the suspect was interviewed by authorities within hours of being taken into custody. Officials were aware of “certain writings” possibly authored by the suspect that have been circulated online, he wrote in a post on X, adding: “We hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon.”The flags at Israeli diplomatic missions around the world were lowered to half mast, and Netanyahu ordered security to be stepped up following what he called “the horrifying antisemitic murder”.The attack comes as Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza, and faces growing international pressure, including from the US, to end its nearly three-month long blockade of food, medicine and other supplies that humanitarian groups say has pushed the enclave to the brink of famine.The shooting occurred in an area of the US capital crowded with federal buildings and embassies. The Capital Jewish Museum is located steps from the FBI’s Washington field office.Leaders in the US and Israel have said the attack was part of what Netanyahu called “the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against Israel”.“When antisemitism is normalized, that’s where we start to see the real danger that results in the violence we saw last night,” Ted Deutch, a former Florida congressman and the chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, which had put on the reception for young diplomats on Wednesday night, said in an interview on MSNBC. “Everyone has a role to play in making sure that doesn’t happen.”In a social media post early on Thursday, Trump wrote: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, blamed critics of the Israeli government, including the “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe” for inciting violence and hatred against his country since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October 2023.France on Thursday denounced Sa’ar’s comments as “unjustified” and “outrageous”. “France has condemned, France condemns and France will continue to condemn, always and unequivocally, any act of antisemitism,” the foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said.International criticism of Israel over the Gaza war has risen in recent weeks. On Tuesday, in an unprecedented, joint statement with Canada and the UK, France condemned “the appalling language” of members of Netanyahu’s government, and the “outrageous actions” and the “intolerable level of suffering” of civilians.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the deadly attack as “completely unacceptable” and said that political violence “only undermines the pursuit of justice”.“While millions of Americans feel extreme frustration at the sight of the Israeli government slaughtering Palestinian men, women and children on a daily basis with weapons paid for with our taxpayer dollars, political violence is an unacceptable crime and is not the answer,” the group said in a statement.Tributes poured in for the slain victims of the attack from the US and overseas as those who knew Lischinsky and Milgrim described the couple as “bright” and “talented”.Lischinsky, 30, who worked as a research assistant in the political department of the Israeli embassy in Washington, was born in Nuremberg, according to the Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor. “He was a Christian, a true lover of Israel, served in the IDF, and chose to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and the Zionist cause,” he wrote on X, sharing that he came to know Lischinsky as his master’s student at Reichman University in Israel.Milgrim, 26, an American from Kansas, organized trips to Israel, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry, officials said. She was also a volunteer with Tech2Peace, an advocacy group training young Palestinians and Israelis and promoting dialogue between them, according to the organization.KU Hillel, a Jewish student organization at her alma mater, the University of Kansas, described Milgrim as a “bright spirit” whose “passion for the Jewish community touched everyone fortunate enough to know her”. Those who knew her best said she was “the definition of the best person”, the statement said.Lischinsky was preparing to propose to Milgrim when they traveled to Jerusalem next week to meet his family, according to officials. Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring, which Miligram’s family only learned of after the shooting.“The ironic part is that we were worried for our daughter’s safety in Israel,” her father, Robert Milgrim, told the New York Times in an interview. “But she was murdered three days before going.” More