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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
BREAKING | For the first time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms, while addressing the Knesset, the assassination of Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammad Sinwar, brother of the late Yahya Sinwar.
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❗️Gaza humanitarian coordinator disputes US claims about aid delivery to the Gaza Strip
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While the US State Department announced that 8,000 food boxes, equal to 462,000 meals, were distributed on Tuesday through the US-Israeli Gaza 'Humanitarian' Foundation, Gaza humanitarian coordinator Eyad Amawi told Drop Site News that only 7 trucks arrived—barely enough for a single camp.
“Eight thousand food boxes would require more than 7 trucks to deliver,” he said.
Amawi called the effort “symbolic and superficial,” adding that Gaza needs at least 600 aid trucks daily to meet the needs of over 2 million people.
❗️President Boric ordered the withdrawal of Chilean military attachés from Israel
In a new milestone that marks the complex relationship of the government of President Gabriel Boric with Israel, the President ordered the Heads of the Armed Forces to withdraw the three military attachés of Chile in that country. The order was given last Friday and, as El Libero was able to corroborate, the military representatives already have tickets purchased to return to Chile this Friday with their families.
❗️“The hague doesn’t scare me”: Ben-Gvir vows to expand Israeli settlements despite possible ICC arrest warrant
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has doubled down on his plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, openly defying reports that the ICC is preparing to issue an arrest warrant against him. “No arrest warrant of any kind will stop me from continuing to work for the people of Israel and the land of Israel,” he declared on X. “The prosecutor in The Hague doesn’t scare me… I’ll do everything I can to protect my people, even if it costs me an arrest warrant.”
“When The Hague is against me, I know I’m on the right path,” Ben-Gvir concluded.
❗️Israel's Channel 12:
At the end of a closed session held this morning in the Knesset, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Coalition Chairman Ofir Katz, and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel announced that Israel has, for the first time, begun procedures to deport Palestinians with Israeli citizenship under a law that allows the revocation of citizenship from prisoners receiving stipends from the Palestinian Authority.
According to the statement, four detainees are currently in advanced stages of deportation, and preparations have begun to initiate similar proceedings against hundreds more.
❗️Gaza Health ministry: Only 17 hospitals partially operational
The director-general of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Bursh, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the healthcare situation in the war-ravaged coastal enclave:
– “There are only 17 hospitals in Gaza that are partially functioning today.”
– “Twenty percent of hospitals in Gaza are unable to provide ambulance services.”
– “The occupation arrested more than 360 of our medical personnel in Gaza.”
⭕️ A Minnesota couple has brought their grandchildren back to the US after discovering they were trapped for years in a Syrian prison camp in northeast Syria. The children were born to their son, who had joined US-backed ISIS and later died.
The grandparents spent years pressuring US authorities to repatriate the children, who had been held in dire conditions alongside thousands of others linked to suspected US-funded ISIS members.
❗️Italy's FM rejects expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani reaffirmed his rejection of Israeli ministers' calls to expel Palestinians from Gaza, stating that such a move is “not and will never be an acceptable option.”
Addressing parliament, Tajani also condemned Israel's brutal war on Gaza, describing it as "absolutely tragic and unacceptable."
“The bombings must stop, humanitarian assistance must resume immediately, and respect for international humanitarian law must be restored,” he said.
Tajani voiced support for Egypt’s initiative for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction, emphasizing: "The expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is not and will never be an acceptable option."
❗️According to The Wall Street Journal, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan was preparing arrest warrants against Israel’s ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir atop Natanyahu’s before stepping aside due to a “misconduct probe.”
With Khan on leave, the decision now lies with his deputies, though it remains unclear whether they will proceed. Some legal experts suggest the court may hesitate without a sitting chief prosecutor, citing the political fallout of targeting senior Israeli officials amid growing scrutiny of Israeli apartheid and war crimes.
⭕️ A student representative on the UK’s Board of Deputies of British Jews has resigned, denouncing the body’s complicity in what he called Israel’s “ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza.” Daniel Grossman, speaking at a board meeting on Sunday, condemned its leadership for refusing to explicitly criticize Israel’s massacre of Palestinians and for legitimizing war criminals through meetings with Israeli ministers like Gideon Saar.
Grossman, a deputy for the Union of Jewish Students, said the board had abandoned both its ethical responsibilities and any pretense of representing the growing number of Jews outraged by Israeli atrocities.
❗️A well-informed Palestinian source tells Al-Araby al-Jadeed that preparations are underway to facilitate a visit by a delegation of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries to Ramallah in June.
The delegation, expected to include representatives from six Arab and Islamic states, is anticipated to meet in Ramallah as a step to announce their political support for the Palestinian Authority (PA).
❗️The Israeli army has said it “confiscated” more than 7 million shekels ($2 million) during raids on money exchange shops in the West Bank yesterday, which killed at least one Palestinian and wounded more than 30.
It added that 30 individuals had been arrested during the military operation.
❗️Footage shows the aftermath of the recent Israeli attack on Sanaa International Airport in Yemen’s capital, which reportedly destroyed the last functioning aircraft at the facility.
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⭕️ While the Trump administration seeks to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues threatening to derail the talks by launching an attack on Iran’s primary nuclear enrichment sites.
(NYT)
❗️Two separate clashes broke out on Wednesday between residents of the southern Lebanese towns of Yater and Froun and UNIFIL soldiers, after peacekeepers attempted to enter the towns without a Lebanese Army escort.
The situation escalated to the point where UNIFIL personnel brandished their weapons, prompting the Lebanese Army to intervene, request reinforcements, and eventually restore calm.
Local media reported rising public resentment toward UNIFIL, fueled by a BBC report showing peacekeepers escorting a journalist to a former Hezbollah site.
These incidents follow similar tensions in May, including confrontations in Jmaijmeh and Shebaa, where residents objected to UNIFIL patrols operating without Lebanese army coordination.
Separately, UNIFIL has accused the Israeli army of firing near its positions along the Blue Line and issued protests over these violations, calling on all parties to respect the safety of UN personnel and property.
❗️Palestine Red Crescent says Israel handed over body of man killed in West Bank raid
The Palestine Red Crescent has confirmed receiving the body of Jassem Ibrahim al-Sada, a Palestinian man shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank. The organization said Israeli occupation forces provided no explanation regarding the circumstances of his death.
Speaking to AFP, Sada’s cousin, Ahmad, said soldiers stormed the house at dawn and opened fire, despite the fact that Sada “wasn’t wanted and had no known affiliations.”
British NGO behind 'makeover' of Al-Qaeda leader turned Syrian president
Former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford publicly stated earlier this month that he was invited by a British NGO to help bring Ahmad al-Sharaa ‘out of terrorism and into politics’
❗️Yemeni plane bombed by Israel was headed for Hajj pilgrimage
Newly confirmed flight data reveals that the Yemeni Airlines aircraft destroyed in this morning’s Israeli airstrike on Sanaa International Airport was a civilian aircraft scheduled to fly pilgrims to Jeddah for Hajj. The Airbus A320-233 had arrived from Amman and was preparing to operate part of a planned series of twice-daily flights for Yemeni pilgrims over the next nine days.
The strike, which hit both the runway and the last operational aircraft in Yemen’s capital, now appears to have directly disrupted Hajj travel for dozens of civilians. Airport director Khaled al-Shaif called it a deliberate targeting of a humanitarian corridor.
❗️Iran hangs man accused of spying for Israel
Iran has executed Pedram Madani, a man convicted of espionage for Israel, according to a report by Iran’s IRNA news agency. Authorities say Madani traveled to Israel and passed on classified information, specifically about infrastructure sites, to Israeli intelligence officers. He was compensated with foreign currency and cryptocurrency and reportedly met with Mossad operatives at Israel’s embassy in Belgium.
This marks the second known execution this year linked to collaboration with Mossad. In April, Mohsen Langarneshin was also executed for espionage and for his reported involvement in the 2022 assassination of a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer in Tehran.
❗️The UN sharply criticized the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on Wednesday after 47 people were injured during a chaotic aid distribution in Gaza. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned the alternative system as wasteful and harmful, calling it a distraction from Israel’s ongoing atrocities and a threat to existing humanitarian efforts.
“We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose," Lazzarini said during a visit to Japan, warning that the GHF’s operations bypass the UN-led mechanism and deepen the crisis rather than address it.
❗️Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspected ongoing construction on the Kalbajar-Lachin highway, a key infrastructure project in the occupied Karabakh region. The 75.8-kilometer road, which includes 17 planned tunnels and multiple lanes, is intended to connect Kalbajar and Lachin while significantly reducing travel time to the newly built Lachin International Airport.
Azerbaijan says 44% of the highway is complete, with construction progressing on 16 tunnels. The project aims to tighten control over the formerly Armenian-populated areas and integrate them into Azerbaijan’s transport network, in coordination with Turkiye.
⭕️ Speaking before the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Saleh Hijazi, Policy Coordinator at the BDS National Committee (BNC), praised the growing global grassroots momentum for an arms embargo on Israel and called on states to uphold their legal responsibilities by enforcing one.
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⭕️ Oman and Iran signed 18 cooperation documents during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s official visit to Muscat, signaling a push to deepen bilateral ties.
The agreements, signed in the presence of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, cover legal, judicial, investment, customs, and trade cooperation.
❗️Israeli occupation forces displace another family and demolish their home in the al-Rifaiyya area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the West Bank.
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❗️The US-Israeli “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” announced that its aid distribution hubs will remain closed Wednesday morning after being overrun the day before by desperate, starving civilians. Many had walked over 15 kilometers to reach the site, only to be met with barbed wire enclosures resembling cages.
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⭕️ Pope Leo XIV appealed on Wednesday for a ceasefire in Gaza, and called for complete respect of international humanitarian law.
"In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven more and more from mothers and fathers who hold tightly to the bodies of their dead children," he said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– “28 martyrs (including 5 recovered martyr) and 179 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals over the past 24 hours.”
– “The death toll and injuries since March 18, 2025 has reached 3,924 martyrs and 11,267 injuries.”
❗️British surgeon Waseem Saeed voiced alarm over the severe lack of both medical resources and adequate nutrition in Gaza, stressing that recovery is impossible without proper food. “Nutrition is the most vital medical supply,” he said, explaining that surgical efforts become futile when patients are too malnourished to heal. “People have been surviving on extremely poor diets for over a year and a half now — there’s little nutritional value in what they’re eating.”
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⭕️ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Syria’s new Foreign Minister, Assad al-Shaibani, has a standing invitation to visit Russia. Lavrov noted the invitation follows a meeting in April in Antalya and reflects ongoing dialogue with Syria’s new leadership.
Lavrov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin previously spoke with Syrian President Ahmad Sharaa and sent a message outlining future bilateral cooperation. A Russian delegation also visited Damascus in January for talks with Sharaa.
(TASS)
❗️Heavy clashes erupted near Aleppo International Airport on Tuesday between Damascus-affiliated General Security forces and unidentified armed groups, coinciding with a visit by self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to the Aleppo Citadel.
The groups involved reportedly belong to factions that refused to dissolve or join the Syrian Defense Ministry, despite a 17 May ultimatum that expired on 27 May without any formal response. The incident follows growing security tensions in Aleppo, including earlier confrontations in Al-Jazmati neighborhood involving former members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
(ANHA)