According to him, "Honestly, this is a strange and thoughtless decision. If Netanyahu had agreed at the beginning to open the crossing according to the agreement, he would have achieved the following things – respect from the international community, embarrassment for Egypt, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would have left, only a few hundred would have entered, and the US would have received this as a gift. This is a diplomatic failure."

Nevertheless, Israel views this as an appropriate sanction for the ongoing delay in delivering all deceased hostages.

That is, first a Palestinian police force would be deployed, then a technocratic government would be established, and the PA would return to managing the Strip, and only at the end would the disarmament process begin. According to this proposal, the weapons would pass to the custody of the Palestinian Authority, which would oversee their storage, and its role would be to prevent terrorists from accessing them. It has also been reported that Doha and Ankara are proposing an alternative to the PA: "international supervision."

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The departure of residents through the Rafah crossing will be possible via coordination with Egypt, pending approval by Israeli security officials and under the supervision of the European Union delegation, similar to a mechanism that was used in January 2025.

The political echelon's instruction comes even though not all the hostages have been recovered from the Gaza Strip under the Trump deal. Sergeant First Class Ran Gvili and Sudthisak Rinthalak are the last two deceased hostages remaining in captivity. Concurrently, the Red Cross is conducting search and excavation operations in the Jabalia area for deceased hostages.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an urgent meeting Tuesday afternoon after his testimony in court was cut short due to security developments.

Video: IDF forces delineating Yellow Line / Credit: IDF

Israel is examining a series of punishment measures against Hamas for repeated agreement violations. Some of the sanctions under consideration include moving the yellow line westward, meaning expanding Israeli-controlled territory; re-entering the Netzarim Corridor to restrict Palestinian movement; reducing aid convoys and limiting entry of goods; and continuing the closure of the Rafah crossing.

A first penalty step was already decided when Hamas operatives were banned from working with the Red Cross in Israeli-controlled areas. The move was approved earlier this week to locate fallen hostages.

Netanyahu already faces pressure from cabinet members, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to "let all hell break loose." Smotrich sent a letter to the prime minister stating, "I intend to demand that the prime minister order the IDF to immediately rearrest all the terrorists released to the West Bank in the hostage deal in response to Hamas's repeated violations."

Ben-Gvir wrote on X, "The fact that Hamas continues playing games and not immediately transferring all our fallen soldiers' bodies proves the terror organization still stands on its feet. The time has come to break those legs once and for all. Now we don't need to 'extract a price from Hamas' for the violations. We need to extract its very existence from it and destroy it completely – in accordance with the central objective defined for the war of revival. Mr. Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!"

Another person who called on Netanyahu to respond forcefully was his main electoral rival and former prime minister, Naftali Bennett. "Not 'we'll settle accounts' and not 'painful response.' Hamas is cancer. Hamas must be destroyed," Bennett wrote.

"Not Learning from Mistakes"

The family of fallen hostage Hadar Goldin responded, "Hamas continues the psychological terror as in all 4,107 days they have held him, except this time Hamas made a mistake from which there will be no way back – this is an act of terror that Hamas is now doing personally and deliberately against US President Donald Trump. We are confident President Trump will respond uncompromisingly, especially in light of the ultimatum he set for the terror organization Hamas. Not only did Hamas not meet its commitment but also in its attempt to humiliate the most powerful man in the world."

"We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to act according to his commitments, which were guaranteed by all the mediators, including Emir of Qatar Mohammed bin Thani, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Once again, the State of Israel, as has been its pattern for the past 11 years, does not learn from systematic past mistakes, 'pays in advance' to the terror organization Hamas for all its demands despite Hamas violating the agreement already in the first stage – to transfer all information on the location of the fallen soldiers, with all necessary efforts to find and return all the fallen."

"The family and the entire public will continue the uncompromising struggle to return to Israel's soil the heroic soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin. We call on the people of Israel to take to the streets and not give up until the return of the last fallen soldier immediately!"

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Video: The footage showing the Hamas deception

The report said the drone identified suspicious activity when a Hamas tractor started digging a pit in the area. Terrorists then took the body of an Israeli fallen soldier from a nearby structure, put it in the freshly dug pit, and started covering it with dirt. The organization then called the Red Cross to the site and showed them the "retrieval" of the body from the fresh grave.

The footage streamed live to the joint command center in Kiryat Gat and was sent to the Americans. The immediate response was stopping Hamas operatives from entering Israeli-controlled territory. They had entered unarmed and "searched" with the Red Cross and Egyptian officials.

The footage exists but hasn't been released. Soldiers confirmed the entire sequence was fully documented by the IDF drone. The military has not released the material.

Despite Israel's documentary evidence, international pressure on the organization stays limited. Right now, the main sanction is closing the Rafah crossing. Israel has more tools available to increase pressure but doesn't use them at this stage.

The hope is that the field documentation, if and when released, will show the world Hamas' manipulative methods and attempts to distort reality before international actors.

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Netanyahu was testifying Tuesday morning in his trial at the Tel Aviv District Court, and the meeting was expected to occur after the testimony concluded. The prime minister was expected to meet with senior security officials to address Hamas' repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas has yet to return 13 deceased hostages still in its possession. Monday evening, Hamas transferred to the Red Cross, and from there to Israel, the coffin of someone the terror organization claimed was one of the 13 deceased hostages still held.

At the Institute of Forensic Medicine, officials could not identify the deceased, as DNA tests did not match any of those remaining in captivity in Gaza. In light of the developments, Netanyahu was expected to convene a security consultation later Tuesday to discuss how to respond to Hamas' actions.

According to Israeli assessments, Hamas could immediately transfer five deceased hostages to Israeli territory, with several additional deceased hostages recoverable with some effort.

All options under consideration

In recent days, Israel has been examining a series of punitive measures against Hamas for the delay and the delivery of a body that is not one of the 13 hostages, following President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Hamas.

Some of the sanctions include moving the "yellow line" westward – expanding the area of Israeli control, renewed entry to the Netzarim Corridor to restrict Palestinian movement, reducing aid convoys and limiting product entry, and continued closure of the Rafah Crossing.

The measures are being coordinated with the US, which has not ruled out the moves but requested additional time before they are implemented. In talks between Minister Ron Dermer and US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Dermer warned against erosion of the American threat's impact after Hamas violated President Trump's ultimatum.

"Don't let Hamas play cruelly with families of the deceased"

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves on the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, sent an urgent letter to Netanyahu calling for convening the cabinet to discuss response measures.

Smotrich wrote, "Against the backdrop of Hamas' repeated violations of the ceasefire conditions and the first stage of President Trump's plan and against the backdrop of the lack of progress in dismantling and demilitarizing Gaza, I ask you to urgently convene the cabinet today for discussion to formulate a package of strong and determined responses and to ensure our adherence to the central war objective of destroying Hamas and removing the threat emanating from Gaza toward Israeli citizens."

"We cannot allow Hamas to deceive Israeli citizens and play with cruel cynicism with the emotions of the families of the deceased hostages."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, "The fact that Hamas continues playing games and has not immediately transferred all the bodies of our deceased – this alone shows that the terror organization is still standing on its feet. The time has come to break those legs once and for all."

"Now we don't need to exact a price from Hamas for the violations. We need to exact from it its very existence, and destroy it completely, once and for all – according to the central objective defined for Operation Rising Lion. Mr. Prime Minister, enough hesitating – give the order!"

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According to the source who denied the reports, discussions on phase two are not currently taking place, but at this stage, the parties involved are occupied with completing the implementation of Phase 1 and returning all the hostages.

The Rafah crossing has not opened on Wednesday, despite being scheduled to do so according to the Sharm al-Sheikh agreement. Despite this, the European Union monitoring group deployed at the crossing is making preparations for its opening.

Simultaneously, the Palestinian Authority announced that it has appointed a senior officer to head its force, which will be responsible for the crossing. Israel has not agreed to the entry of Palestinian Authority forces.

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Four coffins were transferred to Israel on Tuesday night, including three deceased Israeli hostages – Tamir Nimrodi, Uriel Baruch, and Eitan Levi. The fourth one was supposed to be another Israeli hostage, but Hamas apparently used the body of a Palestinian resident of Gaza, although it is unclear if this was a mistake or deliberate.

The Prime Minister's Office released an official statement this morning, which read: "Following the completion of the identification procedure by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, in collaboration with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, IDF representatives notified the families of the hostages Uriel Baruch, Staff Sergeant Tamir Nimrodi, and Eitan Levi that their loved ones had been repatriated to Israel and their identification was finalized. The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Baruch, Nimrodi, and Levi families, as well as all families of the deceased hostages. The Government and the State of Israel's entire hostage and missing persons apparatus are determined, committed, and are operating relentlessly to return all of our fallen hostages for a respectful burial in their homeland. The Hamas terrorist organization is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the agreement's implementation; we will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all the deceased hostages, every last one. May their memories be blessed".

Aside from the statement, no operational decision has yet been made. The Rafah crossing was not scheduled to open this morning in any event, as the logistical deployment for its opening has not yet concluded. Furthermore, the political echelon has not yet issued a directive regarding the suspension or decrease of humanitarian aid.

A similar case happened when the body of Shiri Bibas was supposed to be handed over to Israel during the previous hostage deal. In the previous exchange on February 20 of this year, Hamas transferred a body to Israel, claiming it was that of Shiri Bibas, a resident of Nir Oz who was kidnapped and murdered in captivity with her two sons – Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas. After a protracted examination at the National Center of Forensic Medicine, the body was then discovered to belong to a Palestinian woman who lived in Gaza, and following fury and threats from Israel, Shiri Bibas's body was subsequently transferred and identified.

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, reacted in a post on the X network: "Enough of the disgrace. Right after the gates were opened for hundreds of trucks, Hamas very quickly reverted to its well-known tactics – to lie, deceive, and abuse families and bodies. The Nazi terror understands only force, and the sole path to resolving issues with it is to wipe it from the face of the earth."

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According to the report, the agreement on the crossing - the only crossing point between Egypt and and the Gaza Strip - was reached during a meeting between Mossad Director David Barnea, Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, and Egyptian intelligence head Hassan Rashad.

A source monitoring the Gaza ceasefire implementation confirmed the agreement, but noted that no timeline has been set for the transfer of control or the reopening of the crossing.

Regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border, the source said disputes are "technical and logistical" and are expected to be resolved. Israel has proposed partial withdrawals from the corridor, but Egypt has rejected this approach, demanding a complete withdrawal and a return to the pre-conflict situation.

The source also emphasized that during the meeting, the idea of revising the Agreement on Movement and Access at a later stage was discussed. He clarified that all agreements related to the ceasefire are temporary measures, tailored to the current phase.

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In the wake of the International Criminal Court's factually bogus, politically motivated, and morally bankrupt move Monday seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Associated Press fed the corrupt court's fallacious accusation that Israel is starving Gazan civilians. In a 1300-word article holding Israel responsible for the reported food shortage in Rafah, AP today concealed that it is Egypt – not Israel – that has forced the shutdown of the border crossing next to the southern Gaza Strip city, thereby stopping the flow of aid through that point.

In the article titled, "UN halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies in the southern Gaza City," it is clear that UN aid delivery stopped due to low supply. In the very first sentence of the article though, the robust team of three AP reporters, Samy Magdy, Lee Keath, and Tia Goldenberg, explained that Israel's military operation is at fault for the United Nations' cessation of food distribution in Rafah, saying, "The United Nations suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israel's expanding military operation."

AP egregiously covered up Egypt's closure of the Rafah crossing: "The humanitarian crisis deepened after Israeli forces pushed into Rafah on May 6. Tanks and troops seized the vital Rafah crossing into Egypt, and it's been closed ever since." The trio's omission of the fact that Egypt closed its side of the crossing – therefore preventing the entrance of food into the territory from that point – stinks to the high pyramids of Giza.

In reality, Egypt decided to halt the transfer of humanitarian aid in response to the launch of Israel's military operation earlier this month. At no point did AP clearly report that Egypt took this draconian step at the expense of Palestinian civilians. Even state-controlled Egyptian television reported that Egypt refused to coordinate with Israel on the transfer of aid, a fact that AP goes to great lengths to conceal.

In a May 16 item, AP danced around the fact that Egypt closed the border, casting the affair as a jumble of mutual Egyptian-Israeli recriminations of undetermined veracity. "Egypt slams Israel's top diplomat for blaming the closing of Gaza's Rafah crossing on Cairo," read the title.

"Egypt has expressed mounting frustration with Israel's seizure of the Palestinian side of the crossing last week, saying it threatens the two countries' decades-old peace treaty. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Israel 'is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. We reject the policy of distorting the facts,' Shoukry said in a statement on Tuesday, denouncing Israel's 'desperate attempts' to blame Egypt."

"He said Israel's incursion into Rafah was the main reason aid cannot enter through the crossing and called for Israel to allow more aid through its own crossings. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that there was a 'need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing to allow the continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza. The world places the responsibility for the humanitarian situation on Israel, but the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends.'"

Reuters, on the other hand, provided straightforward coverage of the Egyptian refusal to transfer aid – a policy that creates serious implications for the UN's food distribution program in the city. Reuters stated this clearly on May 11, in an article titled, "Egypt refuses to coordinate with Israel on entry of aid from Rafah crossing, Alqahera News reports." The article reported that "Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing due to Israel's 'unacceptable escalation,' Egypt's state-affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported on Saturday, citing a senior official."

CAMERA's Gilead Ini in a fascinating webinar last week entitled, "Tampered Evidence," said, "Misreporting happens in a context where anti-Israel extremists are trying, and sometimes succeeding, at hijacking the conversation, and the media's misinformation serves as fodder for these activists and their message."

In concealing the fact that Egypt – not Israel – is preventing aid from flowing through the Rafah crossing, the AP piled on to the tampered evidence upon which the ICC has built its whole rotten case.

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Senior officials in the Egyptian intelligence apparatus have begun preparing to ease conditions at the Rafah border crossing, which has been a key demand of the terrorist organizations based in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported Saturday.

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The Egyptian gesture is reportedly an attempt to pacify the Gaza-based terrorist groups and prevent an escalation of violence after Hamas and other organizations recently declared their displeasure with what they described as Israel "dragging out" talks and Egypt "delaying" the changes it promised to make in the wake of Operation Guardian of the Walls in May.

According to the sources, Egypt will put the company Hala in charge of operating the Rafah crossing. Hala will shuttle Gazan travelers to and from the crossing.

The sources also said that Hala would provide shuttle services on an exclusive basis. The company is part of a group owned by Sinai-based businessman Ibrahim al-Arjani, who is identified with the Egyptian intelligence establishment. The company also participated in rebuilding structures destroyed in Gaza during Guardian of the Walls.

The report also said that Egypt had emphasized to the Bennett-Lapid government that there was a need to take action on the issue of Palestinian security prisoners incarcerated in Israel, and asked that Israel increase the number of work permits for Palestinians, which currently stands at 10,000.

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