The IDF Spokesperson said on Monday night that the military conducted precise, targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in Eastern Rafah.

The Prime Minister’s Office said earlier on Monday night that the War Cabinet had agreed to continue with Israel’s planned Rafah operation.

“The War Cabinet unanimously decided that Israel continues the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” the statement read.

The PMO also noted that in parallel and despite the fact that the “proposal is far from Israel’s necessary requirements, Israel will send a delegation of mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel.”

This comes despite Hamas’s earlier agreement with the Qatari and Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

‘Deal doesn’t exist’

A former Senior Israeli security source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the proposed “deal” Hamas said they agreed upon doesn’t actually exist.

“This so-called ‘deal’ is proof that we’ve just started to apply pressure [on Hamas] by promoting a ground entrance to Rafah, and we suddenly received a green light from Hamas for a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire.”

The source added that the reported ceasefire deal “is a proposal that no one in the Israeli administration recognizes. It’s a proposal Hamas invented. They are playing with us. They are telling the world – ‘we agreed to a ceasefire,’ to try to prevent Israel from a ground incursion.”

Gantz: ‘We face a cruel enemy’

Chairman of the National Unity Party Benny Gantz stated on Monday: “I want to address the citizens of Israel and especially the families of the hostages. We face a cruel enemy. We will never give up on the effort to bring our hostages home. We will continue to work for their return as a matter of duty. The negotiation team is working around the clock to examine the proposal presented by Hamas, which does not align with the dialogue held so far with the mediators and contains significant differences. Nevertheless, we continue to turn every stone and dispatch delegations to Cairo.”

“Every decision will be brought to the security cabinet – there will be no political considerations,” he added.

“Even the military operation in Rafah is an integral part of our ongoing efforts and commitment to bring back our abductees and change the security reality in the south. We will continue all efforts until we bring them home.”

Judge Juan Merchan found former President Donald Trump violated his gag order for the 10th time, warning next time he would consider imposing a jail sentence.

Merchan previously held Trump in contempt for nine violations of the order, fining him $9,000 and warning future violations could result in jail time.

Prosecutors argued during a hearing last week that Trump should be held in contempt for an additional four violations since the start of the trial.

“Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said.

Merchan said the “magnitude” of the decision was not lost on him. “But at the end of the day, I have a job to do,” he said.

Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanceh argued last week that Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, has been “inviting and almost daring” Trump to respond through his continued attacks.

The gag order prevents Trump from making statements about witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court staff and jurors, as well as family members of the staff, district attorney or judge.

Blanche also argued that the gag order prevented Trump from responding to remarks President Joe Biden made about the trial.

A U.S. soldier was detained in Russia last week, a U.S. Army spokesperson said in a statement.

The soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, had been stationed in South Korea and traveled to Russia on his own and not on official business, according to four U.S. officials.

He had finished his deployment and was heading back to the U.S. when he made a side trip to Vladivostok, Russia, to visit a woman he was romantically involved with, officials said. They added that he had traveled there without permission from his superiors and is now being held in pre-trial confinement.

The soldier is accused of stealing from a woman, the officials said. It was not immediately clear if it was the same woman he was visiting.

The soldier was detained Thursday, U.S. Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement.

Smith said the soldier was apprehended in Vladivostok “on charges of criminal misconduct.”

“The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Smith said. “The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the Soldier in Russia. Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.”

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he is “deeply concerned” by reports that a soldier was detained in Russia.

“Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage,” McCaul said in a post shared on X. “A warning to all Americans—as the State Department has said, it is not safe to travel to Russia.”

Current travel guidance from the U.S. State Department restricts travel for citizens to Russia. “Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions,” according to the State Department advisory. The Pentagon also restricts travel for Defense Department personnel.

Black is one of a number of Americans detained in Russia, including several civilians.

Arrests of Americans in Russia have increased as the relationship between the two countries has sunk to Cold War lows, The Associated Press reported. The U.S. has accused Russia of targeting Americans and using them as bargaining chips, according to the AP.

Among the most prominent U.S. citizens to be detained are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed last March, and former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018. The U.S. government has said that both Gershkovich and Whelan are wrongfully detained.

WNBA star Brittney Griner spent 10 months in Russian penal colonies for drug-related charges but was released in a rare prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in 2022.

This MAGA-loving bikini model is suiting up to support Donald Trump — trading the pool for the podium as she lends her ample assets to the Republican National Committee as a new spokeswoman.

Elizabeth Pipko, a 28-year-old born-and-bred Manhattanite, told The Post she’s happy to trade her signature “New York uniform of dark black” for red, white and blue as she helps the rebranded RNC try to re-elect the former president in November.

“The things he’s been through have been unreal. A lot of people look at what he’s up against every day and see his real character,” the Sports Illustrated beauty gushed about Trump, 77.

The RNC, which said it acts as “one unified operation” with the Trump campaign, underwent a major overhaul in March after the ouster of longtime chair Ronna McDaniel.

New co-chairs Michael Whatley and Trump daughter-in-law, Lara Trump have since overseen a significant staffing shake-up that reportedly included some 60 axed employees.

The committee’s current laser focus is on fundraising, beefing up what Trump calls “election integrity” and mounting the “most aggressive early voter turnout campaign ever” in the critical months leading up to the expected nail-biter election Nov. 5 as Trump leads President Biden in key battleground states in new polls.

Pipko, the daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants who fled religious persecution, said she considers herself the embodiment of the American dream — and can’t wait to make “a difference.

“This is one of the biggest elections in this country’s history,” said the self-described “proud religious Jew,” whose resume includes nabbing Ivy League degrees from Harvard and Penn universities and publishing three books.

“Only in this country can a daughter of immigrants who arrived here with nothing get a chance to make some kind of a difference like this. So when you get that chance, you take it.”

Pipko recalled her first trip to the nation’s capital as a young girl and “staring at the White House for six hours,” a reflection of her “obsession with America.”

She said she has been modeling since she was 17, when she signed with the powerhouse agency Wilhelmina, leading to racy features in Maxim, Esquire and Sports Illustrated.

She is also a model of moxie – proudly baring it all and coming out of the fashion closet as a Trump supporter in 2019, eventually damaging her career in a left-leaning industry.

“I lost everything – all of my connections,” including agents, bookers, photographers and friends, Pipko said.

She said that after finding her way back into the industry, she can’t decide which is more cutthroat: modeling or politics.

“I tell people my modeling career prepared me for politics, as they’re both equally brutal,” Pipko said, noting that those with sharp cheekbones and even sharper elbows in modeling groomed her for the political swamp. “Every world I’ve been in is cutthroat.”

She worked her way up from being a Trump campaign volunteer to paid aide during his successful 2016 run, then moved on to political activism as a founder of Exodus Movement, a PAC fighting antisemitism.

The model got married at Mar-a-Lago in December 2018 to Darren Centinello, who she met on the 2016 Trump campaign. Centinello currently works for the Trump campaign.

Pipko said haters who discount and underestimate her because of her looks only fuel her.

“I’ve always been the kind of person who wanted to prove people wrong,” she said.

Asked the burning question that every political observer wants the answer to – who will be Trump’s running mate — Pipko only said, “He’s very big on people earning their way into things.”

She said Trump himself has earned the respect of a widespread demographic, charming starstruck hardhats at construction sites, Bronx bodega workers and Big Apple Bravest while in town for his hush-money trial.

“New Yorkers are real people – they see through everything that’s going on,” she said.

Pipko said she has faith that the American people will cut through what she called Soviet-style tactics to snuff out a political rival.

“But I think it’s less about him and what they’re doing to him and how this has happened in the greatest country in the world,” Pipko said of Trump critics including prosecutors targeting him in four criminal cases. “I think back to everything my parents told me about the former Soviet Union. It’s insane to think that this is basically what we’ve become in front of my eyes.

“I grew up listening to their stories thinking it could never happen in the US, and yet here we are,” she said.

Pipko said that even though swampy DC is her “least favorite place,” she’d be more than happy to return to celebrate a victorious Trump return to the White House.

“I don’t think there’s a day when I haven’t loved America,” Pipko said.

She added that she is more than happy to bust tedious personal stereotypes along the way.

“Any time you accomplish anything, there will always be people who will say to your face, ‘You probably only got that because of your looks,’ ” Pipko said.

But she said she doesn’t lose beauty sleep over it.

“I’m true to myself. I know I’m a lot more than what people think about me.”

Lara Trump said in a statement to The Post, “At a time when patriotism among young Americans sits at record lows, we are lucky to have great Americans like Elizabeth Pipko on our team — she will help to inspire the next generation, rebuild the grand old party, and bring our country back.”

The FAA has opened a new investigation into Boeing after the company voluntarily informed the organization that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplane.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to FOX Business in a statement that they are investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees falsified aircraft records.

“As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public,” the FAA said.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the new investigation.

The FAA added that at the same time, Boeing is also reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet.

The investigation comes after several mishaps involving Boeing aircrafts over the past few months.

Fox News has tracked at least four incidents with Boeing aircraft in January, two in February and as many as 10 as of mid-March.

Since then, a wave of issues has continued to plague Boeing.

In late April, Southwest Airlines announced that the carrier is pulling out of several airports as it contends with financial fallout from Boeing delays.

Southwest is the latest carrier to face setbacks due to Boeing. In early March, United Airlines announced it was temporarily pausing pilot hiring due to new aircraft certification and manufacturing delays at Boeing. It also recently asked pilots to take unpaid time off as delays persist.

The FAA ramped up oversight of Boeing and its supplier Spirit AeroSystems in recent months, which included halting production expansion of the Max after a door plug blew out mid-flight on one of Alaska Airlines’ Max 9 jets in early January.

United Airlines also released its first quarter earnings, which indicated that it lost about $200 million due to the temporary grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 9 earlier this year.

United is one of two U.S. carriers that operate the Boeing 737 Max 9, with the other being Alaska Airlines.

A whistleblower with more than 40 years of engineering experience told members of the Senate that Boeing is putting out defective airplanes in testimony during a hearing in late April.

Sam Salehpour, an engineer at Boeing, told lawmakers that the company is cutting corners in assembling its 787 and 777 jets and claimed his supervisors have retaliated against him for blowing the whistle.

Salehpour has claimed that Boeing failed to adequately shim, or use a thin piece of material to fill tiny gaps in a manufactured product, an omission that could cause premature fatigue failure over time in some areas of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

In his testimony, Salehpour also stated that he raised safety concerns with Boeing over the course of three years but had been ignored. He described retaliation by his supervisors, including being transferred out of the 787 program into the 777 program and even alleged physical threats made against him.

Boeing previously told FOX Business that the “claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate” and that the “issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under the FAA oversight.”

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces to rehearse deploying tactical nuclear weapons, as part of military drills to respond to what he called “threats” by the West.

Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Putin has repeatedly made veiled threats to use tactical nuclear weapons against the West, but Monday marked the first time Russia has publicly announced drills.

“During the exercises, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” Russia’s defense ministry said.

Non-strategic, or “tactical,” nuclear weapons can be used in battlefield situations, carrying less power than strategic nuclear weapons, which have the potential to level entire cities.

Russia’s defense ministry said the drills were ordered after “provocative statements and threats” by Western officials against Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said had reached “unprecedented levels.”

French President Emmanuel Macron last week reaffirmed that he would not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, as he warned of the risks Russia poses to European security and other countries near its borders.

“I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,” Macron told The Economist magazine. “I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine. If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia will stop there?”

And during a visit to Ukraine last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine could use British-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

“In terms of what the Ukrainians do, in our view it is their decision about how to use these weapons. They are defending their country. They were illegally invaded by Putin and they must take those steps,” Cameron told reporters after the United Kingdom pledged continued financial and military support for Ukraine.

The drills announcement also comes shortly after the United States last month passed a long-delayed aid package for Kyiv, which will allow desperately needed military equipment and ammunition to flow to Ukraine as it tries to shore up its frontlines in the face of a renewed Russian onslaughts.

Russian forces last month made further gains in at least three locations along Ukraine’s eastern front, as Moscow tries to press home its manpower and ammunition advantage before the bulk of the US aid arrives in Ukraine.

Russia has tended to raise the nuclear specter when its invasion of Ukraine has hit obstacles or when other countries make new pledges of support for Ukraine. After Ukraine liberated large swathes of its territory in late 2022, Putin conceded that the war is “going to take a while” and warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war.

In February last year, Putin announced that Russia would suspend participation in the New START treaty, a key nuclear arms reduction agreement with the United States, the last remaining pact that regulates the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. Putin said Russia would not be the first to test nuclear weapons, but would do so in the event of a US test.

After Macron said in February that sending Western troops to Ukraine could not be ruled out, Putin warned “this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.”

US President Joe Biden and State Department officials have previously downplayed concerns that Putin could deploy a nuclear weapon, but continue to take the threats seriously.

In response to Russia’s latest announcement, the US said it had seen no change in Russia’s “strategic force posture” following Moscow’s announcement that it would begin tactical nuclear weapons drills, according to Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder.

Ryder said Russia’s announcement is “completely inappropriate,” and “an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that we’ve seen from Russia in the past.”

In late 2022, the US began “preparing rigorously” for Russia potentially striking Ukraine with a tactical nuclear weapon, in what would have been the first nuclear attack in war since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly 80 years before, two senior administration officials previously told CNN.

In Monday’s announcement, Russia’s defense ministry said the military’s General Staff had begun preparations for conducting “exercises in the near future with missile formations of the Southern Military District involving aviation as well as naval forces.”

Jack Dorsey resigned from the board of his social networking startup, Bluesky — even as he gave an impromptu endorsement Elon Musk’s X, calling it “freedom technology”.

Dorsey revealed his resignation from Bluesky — which he had championed in the wake of selling the other social network he co-founded, Twitter, to Elon Musk — in an X post, where he responded to a question about whether he was on the board of Bluesky with a simple “no.”

Dorsey went on to share a cryptic message about the necessity of “open protocols,” a term that refers to open-source software coding that allows anyone to view it and suggest changes to the system, similar to how blockchains operates.

“Don’t depend on corporations to grant you rights,” Dorsey posted to the site on Saturday. “Defend them yourself using freedom technology. (you’re on one)”.

The X post, earlier reported on by Bloomberg, suggested that Dorsey is mending his relationship with Musk after claiming last year that the billionaire Tesla chief hadn’t proven himself to be the best possible owner of the social media site.

When asked about it, Dorsey said: “No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad. Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale,” referring to Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of then-Twitter, according to Bloomberg.

He had also posted on Bluesky a year ago that “it all went south,” after Musk’s radical transformation of Twitter — which is now set to expand into an app “identical” to YouTube’s TV offering for smart televisions as part of Musk’s quest to create “the everything app.”

no

— jack (@jack) May 4, 2024

Musk is now just one of three people Dorsey follows on X — which touts roughly 550 million monthly active users.

The other two accounts belong to Edward Snowden, the American computer contractor who fled to Russia after leaking highly classified information, and Stella Assange, wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher facing criminal charges over espionage.

While still at the helm of Twitter in 2019, Dorsey began working on Bluesky as a side project using funding from Twitter.

The new app promises a future-thinking “social internet” that allows users more choices and frees people from platforms, according to its website.

It wasn’t until February 2023 that it was first rolled out to iOS users.

A version for Andriod launched in April that same year.

Many users have said Bluesky is similar to a pared-down copy of Twitter. One big difference, however, is that the app’s developers aim to give users “algorithmic choice,” which would allow them to choose how content is fed onto their screens, instead of a one-fits-all algorithm controlled by the app developers.

Bluesky is just one of several alternatives to Twitter that began popping up after Musk purchased the social media giant and began making changes to both the site and the company.

While it made a splash in its early days, when its beta version was available via invite-only, it has since been largely overshadowed by the launch of Meta’s Threads as the most viable X alternative, Bloomberg reported.

A Texas mom told her 3-year-old son to “say goodbye to Daddy” on camera just moments before she shot the boy in a ditch and then turned the gun on herself — a day before she was due in court for a custody hearing with her ex-husband, cops said.

Savannah Kriger, 32, and her son Kaiden were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads at a San Antonio park back on March 19, but authorities have spent weeks piecing together their harrowing final hours as they probed the murder-suicide.

In the hours before the slayings, authorities determined Kriger shot at her old wedding photos, trashed her ex-husband’s home and taunted him with a slew of FaceTime videos and texts warning him, “You won’t have anything at all by the end of the day.”

The grim ordeal started to unfold when Kriger left work the afternoon of March 18 and headed straight to her ex’s home while he was at work, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said.

After damaging the ex’s furniture and some personal items, the mother drove to her own home, where cops later found her wedding dress and portraits laid out on the bed.

“We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

Kriger subsequently picked her son up from daycare and then started inundating Kaiden’s father with the harrowing messages, authorities said.

“You don’t have anything to go home to now. You really don’t,” Kriger said on one FaceTime call. “You won’t have anything at all at the end of the day.”

The final text to her ex read, “Say goodbye to your son.”

A 21-second video recovered from her phone showed Kriger and her son sitting in the ditch in the park where their bodies would later be discovered.

In the clip, authorities said the mom told her son to “say goodbye to Daddy” before she apologized to the boy that his father wasn’t there and then kissed him.

Her phone records show she then looked up videos of children’s cartoons on her cell while they were still sitting in the ditch, according to authorities.

Although the video didn’t capture the fatal shootings, Kriger’s intentions were “pretty clear,” the sheriff said.

Their bodies were discovered some 19 hours later after an Amber Alert was issued and authorities scoured the area.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office quickly labeled the two deaths a murder-suicide.

Authorities at the time had also revealed the little boy was at the center of a custody battle.

Kriger had filed for a divorce and a temporary restraining order against her ex on March 7, MySA reported.

The former couple were due in court on March 19 — the day the bodies were discovered — for a custody hearing.

ABC News President Kim Godwin stepped down Sunday night, months after a corporate restructuring that effectively stripped away much of her management autonomy.

“I have decided to retire from broadcast journalism,” Godwin said in the email sent to staff Sunday night.

“Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision. But after considerable reflection, I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family.”

No successor has been named for Godwin, who was named president of the division in 2021.

Godwin’s retirement comes after a restructuring in February that gave her a new boss in Debra OConnell, who serves as president of parent Disney’s news group.

OConnell is a company veteran who is familiar with ABC News, having scrutinized operations across Disney’s networks as part of a corporate review.

When Godwin joined ABC News from CBS, she had her work cut out for her.

Though the news division was a ratings leader, many in the news division said it was suffering from a cutthroat and toxic culture.

She instead became a polarizing figure inside the network.

Detractors say she and her inner circle stifled discussion and dissent while failing to rise up to challenges facing the unit—including a decline in ratings at “Good Morning America.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley called for party unity as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) continues to threaten to force an ouster vote against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“We need to flip the Senate, and we need to expand our majority in the House. We’re not going to do that if we’re not unified,” Whatley told NBC News in an interview.

“We need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they do, and we need to make sure that we are on the same page as we’re moving forward,” he added in the interview.

Greene said she would force a vote this coming week on her looming motion to vacate resolution against Johnson, sparking concerns among some in the party who worry such a move would throw the chamber into chaos and make Republicans appear incapable of governing just months before an election.

Greene introduced her motion to remove Johnson from power more than a month ago, but her latest move is a sharp escalation of that effort, compelling the House to consider the measure within two legislative days after she activates her motion this coming week.

Greene has sharply criticized Johnson for cutting a number of deals with Democrats on critical legislation, including funding the government, approving billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine and reauthorizing the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers.

She accused Johnson of “betraying” his conservative roots — and GOP voters more broadly — and warned that keeping him in power would discourage Republicans from going to the polls in November and ensure that Democrats will control the House next year.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, railed against Greene in an interview Sunday, saying, “She’s not acting in the best interests of President Trump. I don’t think this is a good move six months before an election. She’s always been about herself primarily.”

Israel is preparing to launch what is expected to be a massive ground operation inside Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where some 1.5 million Palestinians have taken shelter. The Israeli army has begun ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians living in the city to evacuate.

On Monday, Israel’s Defense Forces ordered an evacuation of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground operation could be imminent. The Israeli army has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said clearing Rafah is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Overnight, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel was left with no choice but to act in Rafah after Hamas terrorists carried out a deadly rocket attack from Rafah earlier in the day that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

A potential ground operation comes as last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the CIA, to broker a cease-fire have failed to produce a deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah. According to Israel’s army, forces are beginning with a “limited scope operation.”

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel published a map of the evacuation area.

These orders have been issued through air-dropped leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts so that Palestinians could get the information.

“Anyone found near (militant) organizations endangers themselves and their family members. For your safety, the (army) urges you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area,” one flyer read.

He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.

Israel’s army said on the social media platform X that it would act with “extreme force” against Hamas terrorists, and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

The move also comes as the Biden administration reportedly put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-manufactured ammunition to Israel for the first time since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

Two Israeli officials told Axios that the weapons shipment was stopped last week, leaving officials within the Israeli government scrambling to understand why.

About 1.5 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are sheltering in Rafah, as they have been forced to evacuate other areas in the Gaza Strip, amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.

Four IDF soldiers were killed and at least three others were seriously wounded after Hamas fired ten rockets toward the Kerem Shalom area along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday afternoon.

The four slain soldiers were identified as St.-Sgt. Ruben Marc Mordechai Assouline, 19, from Ra’anana; St.-Sgt. Ido Testa, 19, from Jerusalem; St.-Sgt. Tal Shavit, 21, from Kfar Giladi; and Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, from Rishon Lezion. Assouline and Testa served in the Shaked Battalion in the Givati Brigade. Shavit and Ruzal served in the 931st Battalion in the Nahal Brigade.

Soroka Medical Center stated that it received 10 people wounded in the attack, including three in serious condition, two in moderate condition, and five in light condition.

Shortly after the attack, the IDF closed the Kerem Shalom crossing located in the area, halting the entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the crossing which serves as the main entry point for aid.

Several people received medical treatment on the spot for injuries sustained from the rocket fire, and were evacuated to hospitals for immediate medical care.

The Eshkol Regional Council announced that one of the people wounded was a resident of the Eshkol Regional Council.

Hamas fired the rockets toward Kerem Shalom from right near the Rafah humanitarian crossing, with the IDF striking the launch site in response. Ten people have been reported wounded by the Hamas rocket fire. pic.twitter.com/tds3zXSheC

— Tzvi Joffre (@TzviJoffre) May 5, 2024

Additionally, a home in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom was hit and damaged, according to the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were reported in the impact in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom.

Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire, saying their Al-Qassam Brigades targeted the Kerem Shalom area with 114 mm short-range “Rajoum” rockets.

The rockets were fired from only a couple hundred meters from the Rafah humanitarian crossing, one of the few areas where IDF soldiers still have not entered since the October 27 invasion of Gaza. The IDF said it had some generic intelligence warnings about intent to launch such attacks on IDF soldiers and that there was some kind of rocket alert warning in real-time.

Responding to the rocket attacks, the air force increased its attacks on Hamas command centers and other sites in Rafah, as well as against the locations of the rocket attacks themselves, which it appears came from underground attack platforms.

IDF strikes Rafah area in response

Shortly after the attack, Palestinian media reported a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Rafah area.

.

Over the last few days, in separate incidents:

Hamas shot mortars at the corridor for humanitarian purposes
Hamas disrupted aid from…

— Dr. Arnold Clevs b2839 #HowArnoldSurvived (@Israel) May 5, 2024

“Hamas is intentionally preventing aid from reaching the people of Gaza,” wrote the Foreign Ministry on X, pointing to the rocket fire toward Kerem Shalom, disruptions of the movement of aid from southern to northern Gaza, and the firing of mortars at a corridor used for humanitarian purposes.

President Isaac Herzog responded to the Hamas attack on Sunday afternoon, posting on X: “Hamas attack humanitarian aid because they don’t care for humanity. The world must act to release the hostages and free the people of Gaza from Hamas’s vicious rule.”

Unclear what effects Hamas’s attack will have on Rafah plans

It was unclear what impact Hamas’s latest attack would have on Israeli plans to invade Rafah.

More specifically, whether Israel would move forward sooner to invade Rafah or would still give ongoing hostage negotiations a chance to resolve before taking broader action.

It was also unclear whether if no ceasefire is reached, how prepared IDF soldiers in Gaza, and especially near humanitarian aid centers, would be for additional similar Hamas rocket attacks.

There were questions as well about whether Israeli civilians returning to the Kerem Shalom area in July as scheduled would be impacted and delayed by the current incident.

An attorney who represented the two Boeing whistleblowers who died in recent months said that the men were “heroes.”

Brian Knowles told The New York Post: “These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better. They didn’t speak out to be aggravating or for fame. They’re raising concerns because people’s lives are at stake.”

Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems turned whistleblower, died last week after contracting a sudden illness, his family said. His death came less than two months after a second Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead with a gunshot wound that authorities said appeared to be self-inflicted.

Suspicions were exacerbated when a self-described family friend of Barnett’s claimed in a media interview that he had said: “If anything happens to me it’s not suicide.”

Knowles, who was Barnett and Dean’s attorney, told The Post that he was unsure what to make of Barnett’s death.

“I knew John Barnett for seven years and never saw anything that would indicate he would take his own life,” Knowles said. “Then again, I’ve never dealt with someone who did (commit suicide.) So maybe you don’t see the signs. I don’t know.”

The Post noted that attorneys for the men hope that their deaths won’t scare away 10 other Boeing whistleblowers.

Knowles noted that the Charleston, South Carolina, police are still finishing the investigation into Barnett’s death and that testing will soon reveal more information about Dean’s death.

Company Under Pressure

Boeing has been under pressure following a series of safety incidents with its aircraft earlier this year. Its CEO, Dave Calhoun, announced in March that he will step down at the end of the year following the crisis.

The company came under increased scrutiny last month when several witnesses, including two whistleblowers, testified before the Senate about the company’s practices.

Boeing is today due to launch its long-awaited first crewed flight of its Starliner spacecraft, which will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida with two NASA astronauts on board.

Liftoff is scheduled to be at 10:34 p.m. local time and comes at a tense moment for the aviation company.

A church service in North Braddock, Pennsylvania was upended Sunday when a man pulled a gun on the pastor in the middle of his sermon.

Pennsylvania State Police have charged 26-year-old Bernard Polite of Braddock and say he entered and attempted to shoot pastor Glenn Germany while the pastor was delivering a sermon at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church on Sunday just after 1 p.m.

Video taken by the church’s deacon, and posted online by the Pastor Glenn Germany, shows the moment the pastor suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

“I was like, this is not happening,” Pastor Germany said.

Yet somehow, it was, but no shot was fired.

“I thank God because only God stopped and jammed this gun,” Germany said.

As the pastor ducked out of the way, church Deacon Clarence McCallister leaps in front of the camera, tackling the man with the gun to the ground.

McCallister told us it was just how his mind reacted.

“There’s something that needs to be done and I jumped up and handled my business,” McCallister said.

“He’s a hero,” Germany said of McCallister.

McCallister and Germany were able to keep Polite subdued until police arrived and then he was taken into custody.

While in police custody, Germany spoke to Polite.

“This guy was just dealing with spirits he said, and he came in and wanted to shoot somebody,” Germany said, adding Polite said their were voices in his mind.

It was apparent to Germany that Polite faces a form of mental illness, he said.

“He said you ducked a taco today, that’s what he told me, and I guess that’s slang for you ducked a bullet.

Polite apologized to Germany, he said. Germany forgave him, but says he hasn’t processed what happened.

“The thing that hurts me the most and brings tears to my eyes because I couldn’t watch my daughter break down.”

His 14-year-old daughter was sitting among the pews during the service.

“I still had to be strong, because I had to be strong for her, but I couldn’t take it, and just seeing her, that’s the part that’s hard for me to digest,” Germany said.

Before the attempted shooting, Germany said Polite smiled at him.

Germany is hoping to use the story and stress to his parishioners that mental illness is real. The man had walked in and out of the room several times, Germany said.

Polite now faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide.

Bail was denied for Polite and he is set to face a preliminary hearing on the charges next week.

Police investigating deadly shooting at home of suspect

Allegheny County Police are investigating after a man was found shot to death inside the home where Bernard Polite lives.

Police say that officers from the Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department were called about a shooting along Stokes Avenue around 8 p.m.

When police arrived at the scene, they found a man shot to death inside the home.

Detectives from the Allegheny County Police Department’s homicide unit were called and are now handling the investigation.

The victim inside the home has been identified as 56-year-old Derek Polite.

A neighbor told KDKA they heard a gunshot earlier in the day, but weren’t sure where it had come from.

The pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests on university campuses across the nation are funded by President Joe Biden’s own political donors — which could explain why he hesitates to condemn them and won’t investigate them.

Biden equivocated last month when asked to react to the protests, saying that he condemned the antisemitism but also condemned those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” which puzzled observers.

Research by NGO Monitor and others into the donors behind the protests has turned up familiar names from the Democratic Party bankroll — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and other liberal philanthropies.

Biden’s Department of Justice has notably refused to investigate the civil rights abuses being committed by the “encampments” — against Jews, journalists, and others — and has also refused to consider RICO conspiracy charges.

The reason may be that he does not want to subject his own political donors to investigation or embarrasment.

Politico reported Sunday:

Two of the main organizers behind protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change.

Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.

The fact that Democratic Party mega-donors are behind the antisemitic protests may also spur Jewish voters — roughly 70% of whom vote Democratic — to consider changing their votes in 2024.

As Caroline Glick notes at the Jewish News Syndicate, Biden has been obsessing over losing Arab- and Muslim-American votes in Michigan — but there may be more Jewish votes to lose in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and others.

According to the statistics, the three big wins racked up in the women’s Division III track & field events by college transgender runner Sadie Schreiner would have placed Schreiner at the bottom of the heap in the men’s divisions.

Running for the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, Schreiner won the 400 meters with a 55.07 and the 200 meters at 24.14, Fox News reported.

Schreiner was also awarded a school record in the women’s category with the 200-meter time, now a Liberty League conference women’s record. It is also a record-beating Schreiner’s past 24.50 sent this season.

However, both finals would have left Schreiner in last place in the men’s categories during the weekend’s events, Fox added.

Schreiner was born Camden Schreiner in New Jersey and competed as a boy at Hillsborough High School. There, he earned the 20th-best 100-meter time (11.72) for boys. That time, though, would have made him the leader in the girls category.

Despite these results, Schreiner insists that he has no “automatic advantage” despite his biology.

“Out of all the hate that’s been shared of me, ‘cheater’ is the most common word used… In my eyes, the discussion of trans inclusion in athletics shouldn’t even be a debate…” Schreiner wrote on social media, Fox News reported. “As more research is done the more evident this becomes. There’s a reason I’m only as fast as I was in middle school, and the only variable that’s changed over my 9 years of running is my medication.”

“Even as Olympic studies prove the disadvantages of trans athletes, it’s not enough,” he insisted. “Policies are being changed before research is done, and the only way to stay educated in this process is to talk to the few trans athletes that are competing and hear their stories, bring them into the conversation. The only way to make an educated decision on a small handful of athletes is to hear their voice, not speak for them.”

His proclamations, though, do not take into account a growing number of studies that show that transgender therapies are not enough to take away advantages of a male body over a female body.

Most of the rules put in place by sports organizations govern testosterone levels, but testosterone alone is far from the only difference between men and women where it affects sports.

For instance, researchers Emma N. Hilton and Tommy R. Lundberg published a study in Sports Medicine that found “current evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.”

The authors of that study go on to say that transgender “women” have between a 10 and 50 percent advantage over women in sports, regardless of testosterone levels.

A similar study by Timothy A Roberts, Joshua Smalley, and Dale Ahrendt, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that men who transition to women maintain some of their physical advantages over women despite all the medical tomfoolery of their “transition.”

Yet another study finds that muscle strength, size, and composition are still stronger in transgender women for at least a year after gender-affirming treatment.

Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines blasted the NCAA for Schreiner’s success as a female track & field star.

“Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process,” Gaines wrote, adding, “He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds.”

Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process

He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds

This is exactly why we’re suing the @NCAA pic.twitter.com/1FIv1DMmib

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 4, 2024

The Biden administration last week halted a shipment of US-made ammo that was slated to go to Israel — a decision that reportedly sent members of the Israeli government into a tizzy as they tried to figure out why the delivery has been withheld.

The move marks the first time since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack that the United States has hit the brakes on a weapons shipment to its longtime Middle East ally, according to Axios, which learned of the decision from two Israeli officials.

When questioned, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News that the administration has supported Israel since Hamas’ assault, which left 1,200 Israelis dead.

“The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces,” the statement said.

Neither the Pentagon, the state department nor the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office immediately responded to questions from Axios, the outlet said.

The Biden administration’s choice comes as US officials are increasingly worried that Israel will invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that has absorbed more than 1.5 million Palestinian refugees since the war began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to move into the city, which has become one of Hamas’ last remaining strongholds, according to Fox.

Netanyahu has also said he plans to invade regardless of whether Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal, or Hamas agrees to release the remaining hostages the terrorist group seized during its October assault.

But Western officials – including Biden – worry that a ground assault would kill many civilians and send an already dreadful humanitarian crisis spiraling out of control, Fox added.

Last Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and had a “tough” conversation with Netanyahu regarding a possible Israeli operation in Rafah, two sources briefed on the meeting said.

Blinken told Netanyahu during their meeting that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to the U.S. publicly opposing it and would negatively impact U.S.-Israel relations.

A day later White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israeli leaders understand that President Biden “is sincere” when he talks about the possibility of changes to U.S. policy regarding the Gaza war “should they move ahead with some sort of ground operation in Rafah that doesn’t take into account the refugees.”

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a Financial Times conference in Washington on Saturday that the Biden administration made clear to Israel that the way it will conduct an operation in Rafah will influence U.S. policy towards the Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Biden has faced intense blowback from college students throughout the nation, many of whom have held sit-ins and established encampments to protest the United States’ role in the war.

More than 100,000 illegal immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will soon become eligible to receive federal health care coverage for the first time since DACA was implemented over a decade ago.

The Biden administration will announce a new federal rule Friday allowing DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program.

An estimated 580,000 young adults who lack legal immigration status and have lived in the U.S. since they were children are currently working or studying without fear of deportation under DACA. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Even though the program has helped them access better-paying jobs and educational opportunities since it was first implemented in 2012, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes, pouring funds into the nation’s federal health insurance system for years.

While many DACA recipients get health insurance through their jobs, more than a quarter are estimated to currently be uninsured.

By implementing a federal rule expanding the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, they are “no longer excluded from receiving coverage from a quality health plan and financial assistance as well,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters in a press call Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 100,000 illegal immigrants who lack health insurance will now have a shot at accessing affordable health care.

“DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population, and individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings. They delay necessary medical care, and they incur higher costs and debts when they do finally see care,” Becerra said, adding the new expansion “will improve their health and will strengthen the health and well-being of our nation.”

The new federal rule does not make DACA recipients eligible for the Medicaid program, according to senior administration officials, but gives them coverage through the Affordable Care Act and its marketplaces and financial assistance programs.

The announced rule is expected to go into effect Nov. 1, which coincides with the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period for 2025 health insurance plans, allowing newly eligible DACA recipients to have access to federal health care as early as December, according to HHS.

Friday’s announcement comes about a year after President Joe Biden first announced his administration’s plan to expand health care coverage to DACA recipients. The administration’s original plan aimed to implement the federal rule by November 2023.

Senior administration officials declined to comment this week on why the implementation of the rule was delayed.

However, White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden stressed that “the president will continue to fight” for DACA recipients, adding that “only Congress can provide them permanent status and a pathway to citizenship.”

While the program has been around for a decade, it faced legal challenges during the Trump administration and from Republican-led states. DACA has been closed to new registrants since July 2021 as lawsuits challenging the program continue making their way through the courts.

Former President Donald Trump surrounded himself with potential running mates and other allies on Saturday during the Republican National Committee (RNC) spring retreat at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Among those who joined Trump on stage in the Grand Ballroom for a lunch event were Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Scott (R-SC), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, all former 2024 presidential rivals now considered to be in the running for vice president, according to a post to X from his campaign.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who have all been mentioned as part of the Veepstakes this election cycle, also attended.

Other Republicans who were present included House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), who is running for Senate; Michael Waltz (R-FL); Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick; and Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.

During the event, Trump recognized the RNC’s fundraising efforts and “enthusiasm” for his “Make America Great Again” movement, per his campaign.

He spoke for around 90 minutes about the presidential race, election integrity, the economy, the border, and protests taking place on university campuses. He also touted Johnson’s work as a speaker and advocated for party unity.

Trump recently suggested that he may select a running mate in the next couple of months before the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee in mid-July. “We’ll be making that decision I think closer to Wisconsin time,” Trump told FOX6 News Milwaukee last week. He added, “It’s very early right now.”

In the 2016 and 2020 elections, Trump ran with former Vice President Mike Pence, a former governor of Indiana.

Pence led his own presidential campaign in the 2024 election cycle but dropped out in late October before the start of the GOP primary contests.

Trump recently met with one of his other former 2024 Republican primary rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Both indicated they had a productive conversation and made plans to defeat President Joe Biden in the November election.

Only months after taking the job, Republican National Committee chief counsel Charlie Spies has resigned from the role.

“Working full time at the RNC wasn’t the right fit with my law firm-client commitments, but I will remain focused on getting President Trump and Republicans at all levels elected in November,” Spies said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez also cited “potential time commitment conflicts” as a reason for Spies’s departure in a statement to NBC News published earlier on Sunday.

“Charlie approached RNC Chief of Staff, Chris LaCivita, about potential time commitment conflicts and it was agreed that, while we appreciate and value Charlie’s expertise and professionalism, he cannot do this role full time and still maintain the obligations to his law firm that he has spent years successfully building,” Alvarez told the outlet in a statement.

However, according to the NBC News report, which cites an anonymous source, alleges Spies was “pushed out” of the job.

Spies was hired earlier this year while RNC leadership changed over to former President Donald Trump’s preferred picks of chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump.

He was part of a bevy of new hires made as the RNC was staffed for more Trump-aligned actions, including readying potential legal challenges in swing states. Reports suggested that Spies was skeptical of Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Alex Floyd bashed the move as an example of how Trump is allegedly purging the RNC of those who dissent from him.

“Donald Trump’s MAGA takeover of the RNC has already led to mass staff firings and an election denier litmus test for new hires — and now the committee’s top lawyer is the latest GOP official purged for disagreeing with Trump’s dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election,” Floyd said in a statement.

“Trump continues to push the Big Lie along with the rest of his extreme MAGA agenda while trying to bend the Republican Party to his will.”

“His own staff don’t believe his unhinged conspiracy theories, and neither do the American people, who are ready to reject Trump and his attacks on our democracy once again this November,” he added.