For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio, followed by an article from Punchline; others are accessible by clicking on the sources’ names and initials below. (The UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM
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Diplomacy to pause fighting and ease siege intensifies as Israeli ground troops advance on Gaza City, by Najib Jobain and Kareem Chehayeb | AP RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s ground troops advanced toward Gaza City today, as the U.S. and Arab countries intensified diplomatic efforts to ease the siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and bring about at least a brief stop to the fighting to help civilians. More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out, health officials said. President Joe Biden suggested . . . READ MORE . . .
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Israeli settler attacks fuel the fire as Gaza war rages, by John Davison | Reuters QUSRA, West Bank — Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, already at a more than 15-year high this year, has surged further after Israel hurtled into a new war in the separate enclave of Gaza in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER The ICRC aims to meet with the more than 200 hostages held captive by Hamas. A Martínez of NPR talks with Alyona Synenko of the International Committee of the Red Cross, about help for hostages in Gaza, and humanitarian aid amid Israel’s bombardment. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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NEWER What is Gaza’s Ministry of Health and how does it calculate the war’s death toll? by Isabel DeBre | AP JERUSALEM — How many Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war between Israel and Hamas started? With Israel besieging and bombing territory at a scale never seen before, arriving at a precise answer isn’t easy. The chaos has added to the likelihood of errors. Yet the Gaza-based Ministry of Health — an agency in the Hamas-controlled government — continues to . . . READ MORE . . .
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A look at the laws that govern urban warfare in Gaza and beyond. Reported by Linah Mohammad, Kathryn Fox and Mary Louise Kelly | NPR Tom Dannenbaum, who teaches international law at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, talks about the law of armed conflict in the Israel-Hamas war. Click HERE to listen and read.
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Young progressive Democrats are splitting from the party on Israel. Reported by Danielle Kurtzleben | NPR In March, Gallup found that for the first time in more than two decades of tracking, Democrats sympathized with Palestinians more than Israelis. About half of Democrats said their sympathies are more with Palestinians, compared to about 4 in 10 who said their sympathies are more with the Israelis. That divide is . . . Click HERE to listen and read.
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NEWER Book tells the story of a bus crash that embodies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reported by Leila Fadel, Majd Al-Waheidi and Barry Gordemer | NPR Nathan Thrall talks about his book — A Day in the Life of Abed Salama — which explores the Israeli-Palestinian relationship through the story of a tragic bus accident. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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Neocon regime change in Gaza will complicate ‘two-state solution’, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline In a powerful speech at a meeting on Monday with members of the Security Council and Government and the heads of security agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin called out the U.S. and its satellites as “the main beneficiaries of global instability . . . [who] are behind the tragedy of the Palestinians, the massacre in the Middle East in general, the conflict in Ukrain . . . channelling financial resources, including to Ukraine and the Middle East, and fuelling hatred in Ukraine and the Middle East.” READ MORE . . .