💡 SPOTLIGHT
Rafah bloodbath or sudden truce? The last temptation of Benjamin Netanyahu
The Israeli prime minister has foreign and domestic pressure to accept a ceasefire deal, but he may be set to make the bloodiest decision of the war to date in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
It’s a race against time between the logic of a war and the possibility of a truce — between a potentially disastrous escalation and the release of hostages and desperately needed aid to civilians in distress.
Monday was an emotional rollercoaster for all those following events in the Middle East. Early in the day, Israel revealed the first signs of its dreaded offensive on the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah — an evacuation order for some of the one million civilians gathered in the south, and a new round of bombardments described as intense.
Then on Monday evening, Hamas announced that it was accepting the terms of a ceasefire that had been painstakingly negotiated over the last few days. This raised hopes of an end to the fighting, but Israel is still studying the proposal it says do not fulfill the terms that had been agreed to earlier.
Under these conditions, can Israel afford to launch its full-fledged offensive on Rafah, which the whole world has warned against? The voices of the U.S., French and UN Secretary General were joined by those of the Arab countries that until a few days ago were defending Israel against Iran: Jordan and Saudi Arabia. So far, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to listen. [...]
— Read the full article by Pierre Haski for France Inter, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Brazilian daily Correio Braziliense dedicates its front page to the mass flood that hit several cities in the Rio Grande do Sul state due to record rains and storms. At least 85 people have died, and an estimated 122,000 people have been displaced. President Lula has asked for a state of emergency to be declared.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• The Israeli military seized control of the Rafah border, as truce talks recommence. The Israeli offensive at the crossing between Gaza and Egypt took place as mediators struggled to secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Late Monday, the Palestinian militant group said it had agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal but Israel said the terms had been changed. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the Israel-Palestine war here.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a new six-year term. The Kremlin ceremony was boycotted by the United States and a number of other Western countries due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, begins his new mandate more than two years after he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For more, read this recent article by Yuri Fedorov for independent Russian-language media Vazhnyye Istorii: Beyond Putin: The National Psyche That Fuels Russian Aggression.
• Britain’s Ministry of Defense has been the target of a large-scale cyberattack. On Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News that the attack targeted a third-party payroll system used by the Defense Ministry and included the names and bank details of current and former service personnel of the armed forces.
• Narendra Modi voted as India held the third phase of its massive general election. The country began voting on April 19 in a seven-phase election in which nearly one billion people are eligible to vote, with ballots set to be counted on June 4. Modi is seeking a rare, third straight term as prime minister in a vote which pits his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against an alliance of more than two dozen opposition parties. Surveys suggest he will win a comfortable majority. More about Modi’s reelection campaign here.
• South African rescuers were searching for survivors after a five-story apartment under construction collapsed. Officials in the city of George, Western Cape province, say at least five people were killed and 26 people have been pulled from the wreckage and taken to hospital but there were dozens more workers on the site when the building collapsed.
• The Federal Aviation Administration said it has opened an investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This comes after the planemaker said some employees had committed "misconduct" by claiming some tests had been completed. The FAA said it is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections to confirm adequate bonding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes "and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records."
• Katy Perry and Rihanna were not at the Met Gala. Though neither singer was present at the mega New York fashion event, AI-generated images were circulating widely on social media. One bogus image of Perry in a floral gown with a moss trim has been viewed over 13 million times on X
...
