Pentagon says none of the aid unloaded from US pier has reached broader Palestinian population
From CNN's Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand and Oren Liebermann
None of the aid that has been unloaded from the temporary floating pier the US constructed off the coast of Gaza has been delivered to the broader Palestinian population,as the USworks with the United Nations and Israel to identifysafedelivery routes inside the enclave, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Several desperate Gazans intercepted trucks delivering aid from the pier over the weekend, leading the UN to suspend the delivery operations until the logistical challenges are resolved.CNN reported the group did not trust that the aid was actually meant for the Palestinian people.
“I have doubts,” Mounir Ayad, a Gaza resident, told CNN near the pier. “I don’t understand this floating pier or what it indicates and what its purpose is. They say it’s for aid, but people are apprehensive. Is this aid or something else? We know that the US has never supported the Palestinian cause, so it’s implausible that it’s giving us aid without something in return.”
The US is working with Israel and the United Nations to establish “alternative routes” for the safe delivery of the 569 tons of aid transported to Gaza since last week, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.
Asked if any of the more than 569 tons of aid has been delivered to the people of Gaza, Ryder said “as of today, I do not believe so.” He added that aid had been held in an assembly area on shore, but as of Tuesday had begun getting moved to warehouses for distribution throughout Gaza as alternative routes have been established.
A US official told CNN that the Defense Department and UN are still working to determine the capacity of the staging area inside Gaza, and how much aid can be held there at any given time.
The amount of aid getting to the Gaza shoreline from its initial staging area in Cyprus has also fallen short of initial Pentagon estimates.
The last humanitarian air drop announced by US Central Command was conducted on May 9.
Israel's Netanyahu tells CNN that ICC charges are "beyond outrageous"
From CNN's Jonny Hallam
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blasted the charges brought by the International Criminal Court against himself and his defense minister as "beyond outrageous" in an interview Tuesday with CNN's Jake Tapper.
The Israeli leader's comments come after the chief prosecutor of the ICC on Monday announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”
Netanyahu described Khan as a " rogue prosecutor that has put false charges, that are both dangerous and false."
By applying for the arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same action, Khan received a ferocious reaction from Israel and sharp criticism from the US, a close ally. Rights groups have hailed the decision, however.
A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC.
Correction: This post has been edited to reflect that Khan's request was filed in the International Criminal Court
Sources say they were duped by Egypt changing ceasefire terms for Hamas
From CNN's Alex Marquardt and Jeremy Diamond
Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefireproposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
Theceasefire agreementthat Hamasended upannouncingon May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas fora potential final review, the sources said.
The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave ofanger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.
“We were all duped,”one of those sourcestold CNN.
CIA Director BillBurns,whohas spearheaded the American efforts to brokeraceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. He was angry and embarrassed,the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasn’t in the loop or hadn’t informed the Israelis of the changes.
The soft-spoken and mild-mannered Burns “almost blew a gasket,”said the source.
A CIA spokesperson declined to comment.
The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel,who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.
Onesourcefamiliar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted intothe original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said.
But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.
“All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the same document” that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the US and Qatar, were aware of,the person said.
The Egyptian government did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel’s reversal on the AP's live feed followed US request, White House says
From CNN's Oliver Darcy and Hadas Gold
The Israeli government’s decision to return broadcasting equipment to the Associated Press on Tuesday came after the White House expressed concerns to the Netanyahu-led government, a White House official told CNN.
"As soon as we learned about the reports, the White House and the State Department immediately engaged with the government of Israel at high levels to express our serious concern and ask them to reverse this action, which they have publicly committed to do,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN.
“The free press is an essential pillar of democracy and members of the media, including AP, do vital work that must be respected.”
The Associated Press applauded the Israeli Ministry of Communications' decisionto return its equipment but said it remained concerned about the law at the center of the action.
Netanyahu to be interviewed on CNN at 4 p.m. ET
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Please check back for more details.
Israel cancels order to cut AP live feed, will return camera equipment it seized
From CNN's Lauren Izso and Jonny Hallam
Israel has said it will return to the AP news agency camera equipment that it confiscated in Sderot earlier on Tuesday that showed live pictures of Israel's border with the Gaza Strip.
In a statement late Tuesday, Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that he has "now ordered to cancel the operation and return the equipment" to the AP news agency, because "Israel's Ministry of Defense wishes to examine the matter of the broadcasts from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces."
Earlier on Tuesday, Karhi had accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.
More than 569 tons of aid delivered via temporary pier to Gaza so far, Pentagon says
From CNN's Haley Britzky
As of Tuesday, more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered through the US military’s temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
“This humanitarian assistance has been donated by the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, European Union, and many other partners,” Ryder said, adding that more aid was on the way.
Ryder later clarified that the aid had so far been delivered to the shore for movement into Gaza. It still needs to be distributed by humanitarian partners.
He also said that the US, Israel, and UN had discussed “alternative routes” to ensure the safe transportation of the aid coming off the pier.
Ryder’s comments come just days after Gazans intercepted aid trucks from the floating pier, with some men expressing skepticism to CNN over whether the aid was actually going to the Palestinian people.
“[A]s we move forward on this, the safety and security of all the humanitarian assistance organizations is going to continue to be critical, and we'll continue to work closely with the international community on that front,” Ryder said.
“Ultimately, the goal of course is to get this humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people who need it most.”
Pro-Palestinian encampments in several Italian universities turn violent
From CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome and Antonia Mortensen in Milan
University students are staging pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses across Italy. Brawls between students protesting their universities' relations with Israeli universities and counter-protesters have broken out in several cities, according to Italian media reports and social media video.
At the State University of Milan, a group the university named as the Lotta Communista or Communist Struggles group sparred with pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up an encampment in front of the main university hall on May 10. It is the second time this week the protesters came under attack, according to the Young Palestinians group.
The university rector Elio Franzini called for calm in a statement to students, in which he condemned "the acts of vandalism and verbal aggression and the occupation of internal spaces of the university which is undermining the ordinary programming of institutional activities to the detriment of the entire university community.”
In Rome, pro-Palestinian groups set up encampments at both La Sapienza and Roma Tre campuses this week, according to both universities' public affairs offices. So far no violence or counter attacks have been reported in Rome.
In Turin, encampments at three universities are now in their second week. All three university encampments have come under attack. At the University of Tornio, the Young Palestinian Italia group published a list of demands, saying they will stay until the university administrators hear them out.
“We have drawn up a document, together with the academic body, which consists in the termination of any agreement [of] the Israeli university with our university,” the group said.
“The university must equip itself with the instrument of academic boycott in order not to be an accomplice to a genocide."
University of Tornio has several research projects with Israeli universities, the students said. “The agreements of the University of Turin are an integral part of the Palestinian genocide. The academic boycott is the only one tool to avoid being complicit in the war crimes of the state of Israel.”
At the Polytechnic of Turin, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a career fair on Tuesday, which included many companies the protesters said had Israeli ties.
The Turin universities have all responded by moving most of the academic programs online.
In Trento, protesters have interrupted classes. University of Trento rector Flavio Deflorian condemned the protests. “It is not a way to promote a serious debate. The occupation, although it is an understandable manifestation of dissent, also involves costs borne by the university and is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.
Protests and encampments are being held at universities in Genova, Florence and Naples.
WhiteHouseurges Israel to reverse decision shutting down Gaza feed from Associated Press
From CNN's Oliver Darcy
TheWhiteHouseon Tuesday urged Israel to reverse its decision to shut down and seize a live camera of Gaza belonging to the Associated Press, telling CNN that it had "concerns" over it.
"We’ve been engaging directly with the government of Israel to express our concerns over this action and to ask them to reverse it," aWhiteHouse spokesperson told CNN.
In a statement Tuesday, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.
