🧵 “The Court considers that, in conformity with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, & any other action in the Rafah Governorate,
which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” “In its Orders of 26 January 2024 and 28 March 2024, the Court expressed its grave concern over the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since
then by Hamas & other armed groups, & called for their immediate & unconditional release.

🧵Excerpts of US State Dept report to Congress concerning Israel’s compliance with NSM-20. (I typed these quickly, apologies for typoes in advance.):

“Israel has, upon request, shared some information on specific incidents implicating IHL, some details of its targeting choices, and some battle damage assessments. Although we have gained insight into Israel’s procedures and rules, we do not have complete information on how these processes are implemented. Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether U.S. defense articles covered under NSM-20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of this report. “Limited information has been shared to date in response to USG inquiries under review to determine whether U.S. munitions were used in incidents involving civilian harm. However, certain Israel-operated systems are entirely U.S.-origin (e.g., crewed attack aircraft) and are likely to have been involved in incidents that raise concerns about Israel’s IHL compliance.

🧵State Dept spox Matt Miller: “We actually think that a Rafah operation would weaken Israel's position both in these talks and writ large. …a major military operation in Rafah would further weaken Israel’s standing in the world, would further create distance from its partners in the region, who actually share Israel's goal of seeing Hamas defeated and want to see a Hamas replaced with a different governance structure in Gaza.” And then also, if you look, just look at Hamas’ track record. They've never cared about Palestinian civilian lives. If they did, they would not have launched these attacks in the first place, which they knew would produce a response. They wouldn't hide behind civilians, and they would have agreed to a ceasefire long ago so I just don't think that that that the argument holds any water with respect to the talks itself.

🧵NSC’s John Kirby: The President and his team have been clear for several weeks that we do not support a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere safe to go. The President has said that publicly, and he has communicated that repeatedly and straightforwardly to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

State Dept. Spox Matt Miller on US holding back 2000 and 500 pound bombs from Israel: We have paused one shipment of near term assistance, and we are reviewing others. Miller on Rafah: We do not believe Israel has presented a credible humanitarian plan that would account for both the potential harm to civilian life…of an operation in such a crowded area, or for properly evacuating and caring for the over million people who were there.

State spox: Hamas has issued a response. We are reviewing that response now. discussing with partners. CIA Director Burns in the region. State’s Miller: We have only received response in last hour/90 minutes.
still reviewing response that came in.

WSJ: “Israel has given Hamas a week to agree to a cease-fire deal or it will begin a military operation in Rafah, Egyptian officials said Friday…

Egypt worked with Israel on a revised cease-fire proposal that it presented to Hamas last weekend, according to Egyptian officials. …But Yahya Sinwar…hasn’t responded, the officials said. 

Egyptian officials say Hamas is seeking a long-term truce and guarantees from the U.S. that a cease-fire will be respected by Israel. Hamas officials have expressed concerns that the latest proposal is still too vague and gives Israel room to restart the fighting.  

Egyptian officials say Hamas is seeking a long-term truce and guarantees from the U.S. that a cease-fire will be respected by Israel.

Hamas officials have expressed concerns that the latest proposal is still too vague and gives Israel room to restart the fighting.  

wsj.com/world/middle-e… “Egyptian officials said they have invited senior Hamas officials to return to Cairo in the coming days to continue the negotiations. Hamas in a statement Thursday said that its negotiating team will go to Egypt soon to discuss the terms.

🧵President Biden: The first is the right to free speech, for people to peacefully assemble & make their voices heard. The second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld. We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people are squash dissent. The American people are heard. In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.

“The document for the first time provides official confirmation and codification of what many in the Moscow elite say has become a hybrid war against the West. Russia is seeking to subvert Western support for Ukraine and disrupt the domestic politics of the United States and European countries, through propaganda campaigns supporting isolationist and extremist policies, according to Kremlin documents previously reported on by The Post. It is also seeking to refashion geopolitics, drawing closer to China, Iran and North Korea in an attempt to shift the current balance of power.”
gift link wapo.st/3vMlQ39 “The academic, Vladimir Zharikhin, called for Russia to ‘continue to facilitate the coming to power of isolationist right-wing forces in America,’” …

🧵British Foreign Secretary Cameron, with Blinken: Perhaps nothing is more important than the supplemental that the Congress is looking at at the moment. & I come here with no intention to lecture anybody, or tell anybody what to do, or get in the way of the process of politics and other things in the United States. I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country, and a believer that it's profoundly in your interest and your security. ..And I'm looking forward to meetings I'm going to be having in Congress later today. And above all, we know it’s right for us. We know that it is right to stop Putin's aggression. We know it's right for our own militaries and our own production bases to ramp up production, not just for Ukraine, but for our own stocks. And as Tony said, so many of the jobs created will be jobs created here in the United States.

🧵Went back and reread Turkish section of WaPo Grenell piece a few times, because something puzzling me. It seems to suggest, without saying explicitly, that Grenell was being paid by someone to try to broker the Erdogan Trump meeting, which Trump ultimately declined. Implication is-by someone on the Turkey side? note the graf on his increasingly pro Erdogan statements. but he has not registered. washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/…

some insights in Haaretz from Israeli security sources on the Doha negotiations.
Israel PM said today sending Mossad director back to Doha in coming dayshaaretz.com/israel-news/20… “According to the IDF, a total of 134 hostages and bodies are being held in Gaza. 36 of the people were confirmed by the army as killed – some on Oct. 7, when their bodies were taken into the Strip. Of the 98 living hostages, 10 are foreigners (8 Thais, 1 Nepalese, 1 mex/French

🧵Schumer: Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel has a moral obligation to do better. The United States has an obligation to do better. I believe the United States must…pressure the Israelis to let more of it get through Schumer criticizes Israel for causing so much civilian suffering but continues: Israel is by no means the only one responsible for the immense civilian toll.

🧵Jake Sullivan: Today, on behalf of President Biden, I'm announcing an emergency package of security assistance of $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine's pressing needs. This is possible because of unanticipated cost savings in contracts that DOD negotiated to replace equipment we've already sent to Ukraine through previous drawdowns.

CIA chief Bill Burns says just came back from 10th trip to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 full invasion. Without supplemental assistance in 2024, you’re going to see more Adiivkas. And that, it seems to me, would be a massive and historic mistake for the United States. Burns: The truth is that the Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity. They’re running out of ammunition. And we’re running out of time to help them.

🧵State spox on Gaza aid: We have seen some modest improvements in the humanitarian situation and the distribution of aid.
Over the past few days, we've seen trucks able to move around the southern part of Gaza with more freedom than they were able to do say a week or 10 days ago Miller: We've seen additional trucks move to the north of Gaza from the south.
We saw for the first time flour released from Ashdod and make its way into Gaza—something we've been supported for some time. And we saw the Government of Israel agreed to open additional crossings.

“No,” John Kirby says, to question if POTUS plans to meet with Benny Gantz. Kirby responded obliquely to subsequent question, why not:

Mr. Gantz asked to come to Washington and asked for a series of meetings with administration officials and he's getting those. He met with Jake Sullivan yesterday. He met with the Vice President yesterday.

🧵Blinken with Qatar PM: “We have an opportunity for an immediate ceasefire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting in to Palestinians who so desperately need it, & can set the conditions for an enduring resolution. “And it is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire. … It is also urgent, irrespective of a ceasefire, to dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance getting into people inside of Gaza. The situation for children, for women,

🧵US Senior Administration Officials held backgrounder on Gaza situation. One described a situation of increasing lawlessness in Gaza, and said the solution is to flood Gaza with aid, to deincentivize criminal gangs from looting it. SAO 2 said the problem has not been getting 250, 300 trucks physically into Gaza, but distributing it:

Lawlessness, which has always been a problem in the background, has now moved to a very different level.

🧵Masha Gessen to @WNYC: Putin obsessively talked about Poland in his interview with Carlson. He mentioned Poland more than 30 times. He blamed Poland for starting WWII, for…inciting Hitler’s aggression against Poland, using the exact same words as he uses when he talks about how Ukraine incited Russia’s war against Ukraine. So, yes, I think he is putting things in place propagandistically for an invasion of Poland. Poland which not coincidentally has just unseated an authoritarian government and is rebuilding its democracy. It is very much in the

🧵U.S. Senior Admin official, speaking after POTUS/Netanyahu call, on Rafah: As of right now, you have 1.3 million people in Rafah and they have nowhere to go. SAO: But I will say we have heard from Israeli leaders and security officials that there's a clear precondition for anything in Rafah that the population would have..to be moved safely and…again, how that's done, everything else that is a huge question.