Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich declared on Monday that Israel would not withdraw its forces from Gaza—even if another deal to release hostages is reached. Smotrich urged the Israeli public to stop shying away from the term “occupation,” following the cabinet’s approval of expanded military operations that reportedly include seizing control of additional areas in Gaza.
The government’s decision and Smotrich’s comments drew swift backlash from both opposition leaders and hostage families, who accused officials of prioritizing military conquest over rescuing those still held captive in Gaza.

Harvard University will receive no new federal grants until it meets a series of demands from President Donald Trump’s administration, the Education Department announced Monday. The action was laid out in a letter to Harvard’s president and amounts to a major escalation of Trump’s battle with the Ivy League school. The administration previously froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, and Trump is pushing to strip the school of its tax-exempt status. Harvard has pushed back on the administration’s demands, setting up a closely watched clash in Trump’s attempt to force change at universities that he says have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, announced that the administration is intensifying its diplomatic outreach to Iran and focusing heavily on efforts to free Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. These moves are part of a broader strategy ahead of President Trump’s upcoming trip to the region.
Speaking with Barak Ravid of Axios while attending the Israeli Embassy’s Independence Day celebration, Witkoff disclosed that Washington is preparing to restart negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
“The US is trying to schedule the fourth round of nuclear talks with Iran for this weekend. If it doesn’t happen it’s only because of the president’s trip to the Middle East,” Witkoff said.

IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin delivered a public briefing Monday evening from the Gaza border, addressing the next stage of military operations underway in the Gaza Strip.
During his remarks, Defrin emphasized that the central aim of the ongoing campaign is the safe return of the hostages being held by Hamas, framing this goal as inseparable from dismantling the terrorist organization—an apparent contrast to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement asserting the destruction of Hamas as the primary mission.

President Donald Trump wants to convert Alcatraz back into a federal prison, decades after the California island fortress was converted into a U.S. tourist destination because it had become too costly to house America’s worst criminals. The prison off the coast of San Francisco is where the government sent notorious gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere. Circled by herons and gulls and often shrouded in fog, Alcatraz has been the setting for movies featuring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Clint Eastwood. Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, suddenly is needed to house America’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Two Giants from Grodno Both Rav Chaim L

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Youssef Qadi, a Hamas platoon commander who participated in the October 7 massacre and was responsible for holding several hostages [who have since been released], surrendered to IDF forces in Gaza, the IDF revealed on Tuesday. Additionally, Muhammad Za’arab, a commander in Hamas’ sniper unit, surrendered to IDF forces along with Qadi. The IDF said that several knives were found in the terrorists’ possession after their surrender. The two were arrested by forces of the 188th Armored Brigade several weeks ago in Rafah in southern Gaza. Their interrogation by the Shin Bet yielded intelligence information on the location of “significant terrorist infrastructure” in the area, the IDF said. The IDF completed the move to encircle Rafah several weeks ago and is continuing to operate there.

Senior Houthi official Hazam al-Assad threatened revenge on Israel in a poorly translated Hebrew post following Israel’s airstrikes on the Hodeidah port in Yemen and a concrete factory on Monday in response to the Houthis’ attack on Ben Gurion Airport a day earlier. Al-Assad wrote on X in broken Hebrew that “the Zionist-American attack on the port of Al-Hodeidah and the concrete factory in Bajil is a vile crime that will not go unanswered. The blood of the civilians and workers will be the fuel for a harsh and unequivocal Yemeni response. We will continue to support Gaza with faith and determination and strike deep into the enemy and disrupt its movements until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted.