President Joe Biden laid out the terms of a new Israeli ceasefire-for-hostages proposal on Friday that includes a permanent end to hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking in the State Dining Room at the White House, Biden said Israel proposed a three-phase ceasefire deal to Hamas through Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators.
“For the past several months, my negotiators, of the foreign policy, intelligence community and the like, have been relentlessly focused, not just on a ceasefire that would inevitably be fragile and temporary, but on a durable end of the war,” Biden said. “That’s been the focus—a durable end to this war.”

The United Kingdom, Canada, and other nations could potentially deny entry to former President Donald Trump if his felony conviction stands. Nearly 40 nations, including Canada and the UK, have strict policies regarding individuals with criminal records. Unless granted special accommodation, Trump would be subject to these standards. Canada’s tourist hub states that US citizens or permanent residents with felony convictions may be deemed inadmissible for immigration or even visiting. UK law allows felons to visit Ireland and Scotland with restrictions, but Britain can bar access. Other nations like Israel and Australia have laws regarding felons visiting, which may be interpreted differently if Trump wins the election.

Joint British-U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others, the rebels said Friday, the highest publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over the rebels’ attacks on shipping. Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a then-ongoing attack, described the strikes Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities. They called it a response to a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over the Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets involved in the strikes took off from the USS Dwight D.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both announced on Motzei Shabbos that that would not agree to US President Joe Biden’s proposal and threatened to leave the government if his plan was accepted.
Smotrich said in a post on X, “I just spoke with the prime minister and made it clear that I will not be part of a government that agrees to the proposed outline and ends the war without destroying Hamas and bringing back all the hostages.”

A fake news report that appeared on Poland’s national news agency saying that Prime Minister Donald Tusk was mobilizing 200,000 men starting on July 1 was probably the work of Russia-sponsored hackers and was designed to interfere with the upcoming European Parliament election, authorities said. “Everything indicates that we are dealing with a cyberattack directed from the Russian side,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy prime minister who also holds the digital affairs portfolio. “The goal is disinformation ahead of (European Parliament) elections and a paralysis of the society.” Tusk said on X that it was “Another very dangerous hacker attack which well illustrates Russia’s destabilization strategy on the eve of the European elections.

Germany joined the United States on Friday in authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying — a significant policy change that comes as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war. Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration over restrictions on the use of Western weapons — especially as the border region of Kharkiv has endured a Russian onslaught this month that has stretched Kyiv’s outgunned and outmanned forces. Both Germany and the U.S. specifically authorized the use of weapons to defend Kharkiv, whose capital city of the same name lies only 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Russia.