In his first remarks outside of 10 Downing Street after becoming the next British prime minister, Labour leader Keir Starmer invited all of the United Kingdom — those who voted for him and “especially” those who did not — to join “this government of service in the mission of national renewal.”
“Our work is urgent and we begin it today,” Starmer told a crowd of his supporters hours after his Labour party rode to a landslide victory in Thursday’s elections, snapping a 14 years of Conservative leadership.
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Keir Starmer became the next prime minister of the United Kingdom on Friday after his center-left Labour party won a decisive victory in Thursday’s elections
Starmer replaces Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party ruled for 14 years until the Labour landslide
With the results nearly finalized, Starmer’s center-left Labour party won at least 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, more than enough for an outright majority; the Conservatives lost roughly 250 seats in Parliament
With the results nearly finalized, Starmer’s center-left Labour party won at least 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, more than enough for an outright majority. The Conservatives, led by Rishi Sunak since 2022 after a tumultous period that saw five prime ministers in just six years, had around 120, a loss of roughly 250 seats in Parliament.
In his farewell address ahead of offering his resignation to King Charles III, Sunak, who said he will step down as his party’s leader, acknowledged the anger of the voting public.
“To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss,” he said. “To all the Conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly but without success, I’m sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved.”
“This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honored to have been prime minister of the best country in the world,” Sunak said.
Britain’s outgoing Conservative Party Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks down as he makes a short speech outside 10 Downing Street before going to see King Charles III to tender his resignation in London, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Starmer honored Sunak in his speech outside of No. 10, acknowledging not only his status as the country’s first British Asian Prime Minister, but also “the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership.”
“But now our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal, and return of politics to public service,” Starmer continued. “When the gap between the sacrifices made by people and the service they receive from politicians grows this big, it leads to awareness in the heart of a nation, a draining away of the hope, the spirit, the belief in a better future that we need to move forward together.”
“Now, this wound, this lack of trust, can only be by actions, not words,” he said. “I know that, but we can make a start today with the simple acknowledgement that public service is a privilege, and that your government should treat every single person in this country with respect.”
“If you voted Labour yesterday, we will carry the responsibility of your trust as we rebuild our country,” Starmer declared. “But whether you voted Labour or not — in fact, especially if you did not — I say to you directly: My government will serve you.”
Britain’s King Charles III, right, shakes hands with Keir Starmer where he invited the Labour Party leader to become prime minister and to form a new government, following the landslide general election victory for the Labour Party, in London, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Yui Mok, Pool Photo via AP)
Britain has experienced a run of turbulent years — some of it of the Conservatives’ own making and some of it not — that has left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. The U.K. divorce from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy, while lockdown-breaching parties held by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff caused widespread anger.
Rising poverty, crumbling infrastructure and overstretched National Health Service have led to gripes about “Broken Britain.”
Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy further with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. Truss, who lost her seat to Labour, was one of a slew of senior Tories kicked out in a stark electoral reckoning.
The result is a catastrophe for the Conservatives as voters punished them for 14 years of presiding over austerity, Brexit, a pandemic, political scandals and internecine conflict.
The historic defeat — the smallest number of seats in the party’s two-century history — leaves it depleted and in disarray and will spark an immediate contest to replace Sunak.
The Liberal Democrats, another center-left party in the U.K., saw a big gain, winning about 70 seats. Reform UK, a far-right party led by Nigel Farage, an ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, won four seats, including one for Farage after his eighth attempt. Aside from the Conservatives, one of the biggest losers was the Scottish National Party, which saw a near wipeout amid Labour gains.
When it comes to celebrated Czech writer Franz Kafka, filmmakers the world over have long been inspired to either adapt his work outright or make movies that are decidedly “Kafkaesque,” filled with the kind of angst, alienation and absurdity the made the novelist one of the most prominent and distinctive figures in 20th century literature.
Now, a century after his death, Prague-born Kafka will be the subject of a film retrospective at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which will include titles from Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini and Steven Soderbergh. “It’s amazing the way this writer [Kafka] has been able to influence not only literature, but cinema for so many years,” Lorenzo Esposito, co-curator of the retrospective along with Karlovy Vary artistic director Karel Och, tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), which cast Anthony Perkins as the bewildered office bureaucrat Josef K.Martin; Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985); Fellini’s Intervista (Interview); Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations like Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie.
For Esposito, what set Kafka apart was a unique understanding of the human condition and how challenging — and absurd — living in the modern world can be. “In the end, what is truly disturbing about Kafka, and what brings him so close to all of us, is not only that he clearly understood the political and economic structure of the world we live in, but he understood also our powerlessness to change it,” he argues.
Karel Och talked about the Kafka retrospective from his office in Prague within footsteps of where the great Czech writer lived and worked: “I’m sitting here 200 meters from where Kafka was born and 400 meters from where he wrote his most famous books. So the festival is so much connected to where Kafka was living, walking around, writing, spending time with his family, with his friends. So, if we don’t do it, who else?” Och explains.
The KVIFF retrospective, entitled The Wish to Be a Red Indian: Kafka and Cinema, is divided into film adaptations and movies influenced by Kafka’s literary works. The line between adapting a Kafka work by making a movie out of it, and taking elements from a story to craft your own movie, is thinner than the Karlovy Vary audiences might expect.
Esposito points to one of the KVIFF sidebar picks, Fellini’s Intervista, which has often been interpreted as an adaptation of Kafka’s Amerika novel, published in 1927. Not so, he adds, as the Italian auteur had in fact been at Rome’s Cinecitta Studios preparing to adapt Kafka’s literary work, only to turn the film into a surreal mix of documentary, autobiography and a film within a film after becoming the subject of a film where a Japanese TV crew interviewed Fellini about his life and movies while on set.
Another retrospective title, L’Udienza (The Audience), a 1971 film by director Marco Ferreri, had originated as an adaptation of Kafka’s 1926 novel The Castle, about a man battling against soul-crushing bureaucracy. That’s until the Italian director realized he would have to pay to adapt the classic novel. “He [Ferreri] believed there weren’t any rights holders,” Esposito recounts, which led to the plot of the movie being changed to become the story of a young man with the crazy idea to go to Rome to meet the Pope.
In another instance of “based on” becoming “inspired by,” Esposito recalled David Lynch once turning Kafka’s touchstone novella The Metamorphosis — the story of a man who wakes up to find himself turned into a giant cockroach – into a screenplay, only to decide to not make the film “because he said the book was too good to make a film.”
But Lynch’s respect for Kafka’s literary work extended to the iconic TV series Twin Peaks, including an episodic scene set in the office of FBI director Gordon Cole, played by series co-creator Lynch, where a portrait of Kafka is clearly seen framed and placed on the wall.
The Karlovy Vary retrospective is timed for the 100th anniversary of Kafka’s death in June 1924. Soderbergh will be in Karlovy Vary to introduce his two versions of Kafka, says Och: “Two different edits of the same material shot in Prague in the early 1990s.”
It’s only owing to his friend Max Brod, who defied Kafka’s deathbed request to burn his literary works, that the world has known great writing like The Trial, The Castle and the short story The Metamorphosis, as source material for movies. Ochs argues Kafka’s literary works and the movies they inspired between 1954 and 2017 speak volumes about our own turbulent times.
“If you think about the style of Franz Kafka’s writing, and the way he depicts the relationship between people and the way he perceived reality around him and through his writing, it’s timeless,” he says. “But it feels very accurate compared to our times because of the confusion and the fact that times seem to be a bit more aggressive than they used to be. Kafka was very sensitive, and if you are sensitive nowadays, your sensitivity gets attacked from so many places and elements. So it is kind of violent, and the fact that he dealt with it through his words is fascinating and very, very modern.”
Adds Esposito: “[Kafka] simply speaks about something that affects us everyday, about happiness and unhappiness and we can all understand this, especially nowadays, during these very violent and tragic days we are living through, with wars and a lot of death.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the influential War Cabinet tasked with steering the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said Monday, a move that comes days after a key member of the body bolted the government over frustrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s handling of the war.
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Israeli officials said Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the influential War Cabinet that was tasked with steering the war in Gaza
The War Cabinet was dissolved following the departure from the government of Benny Gantz, an opposition lawmaker who had joined the coalition in the early days of the war
He had demanded that a small Cabinet be formed as a way to sideline far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu’s government
Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were its members and made key decisions together throughout the war
The move was widely expected following the departure of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, earlier this month. Gantz’s absence from the government makes Netanyahu more dependent on his ultranationalist allies to govern and the dissolution of the War Cabinet underlines that shift as the eight-month-long war in Gaza drags on.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change with the media, said that going forward Netanyahu would hold smaller forums with some of his government members for sensitive issues surrounding the war. That includes his security Cabinet, where far-right governing partners who oppose cease-fire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza, are members.
The War Cabinet was formed in the early days of the war, when Gantz, then an opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, joined the coalition in a show of unity following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. He had demanded that a small decision-making body steer the war, in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s government.
It was made up of three members — Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — and together they made important decisions throughout the course of the war.
The move to scrap the War Cabinet comes as Israel faces more pivotal decisions.
Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal for a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its attack. Israeli troops are still bogged down in the Gaza Strip, fighting in the southern city of Rafah and against pockets of Hamas resurgence elsewhere. And violence continues unabated between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group — with a Biden administration envoy in the region in a bid to avert a wider war on a second front.
Netanyahu has played a balancing act throughout the war between pressures from Israel’s top ally, the U.S., and the growing global opposition to the war and from his government partners, chief among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Both have threatened to topple the government should Israel move ahead on a cease-fire deal. The latest proposal being considered is part of the Biden administration’s most concentrated push to help wind down the war. For now, progress on a deal appears to remain elusive.
Critics say Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making has been influenced by the ultranationalists in his government and by his desire to remain in power. Netanyahu denies the accusations and says he has the country’s best interests in mind.
Gantz’s departure, while not posing a direct threat to Netanyahu’s rule, rocked Israeli politics at a sensitive time. The popular former military chief was seen as a statesman who boosted Israel’s credibility with its international partners at a time when Israel finds itself at its most isolated. Gantz is now an opposition party leader in parliament.
Netanyahu’s government is Israel’s most religious and nationalist ever. In Israel’s fractious parliamentary system, Netanyahu relies on a group of small parties to help keep his government afloat and without the support of Gantz’s party, Netanyahu is expected to be more beholden to the far-right allies.
Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters marched in central Kyiv Sunday to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia.
The servicemembers — many wearing rainbow and unicorn patches on their uniforms — called on the government to grant them official partnership rights. They described the event as a pride march but it did not have the celebratory atmosphere of peacetime events and took place in the rain and under a heavy police guard amid threats from counterprotesters.
What You Need To Know
Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters have marched in central Kyiv to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia
They had encountered difficulties in being granted a venue and threats from counterprotests
The servicemembers — many wearing rainbow and unicorn patches on their uniforms — called on the government to grant them official partnership rights
They described the event as a pride march but it did not have the celebratory atmosphere of peacetime events
The role of LGBT members in the military has been credited with shifting public attitudes toward same-sex partnerships in the socially conservative country
The role of LGBTQ members in the military has been credited with shifting public attitudes toward same-sex partnerships in the socially conservative country.
“We are ordinary people who are fighting on an equal footing with everyone else, but deprived of the rights that other people have,” Dmitriy Pavlov, an army soldier who used a cane to walk, told The Associated Press.
Campaigners are seeking legal reforms to allow people in same-sex partnerships to take medical decisions for wounded soldiers and bury victims of the war that extended across Ukraine more than two years ago.
They argue that an improvement in gay rights would create a further distinction between Ukraine and Russia, where LGBTQ rights are severely restricted.
Staff from the U.S. Embassy and several European embassies attended the pride rally.
Organizers had faced difficulties in organizing the rally. City authorities turned down a petition to allow it to be held at a metro station, and it was condemned by one of the main branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“This action is part of a left-wing radical political movement and is aimed at imposing a political ideology, and also aimed at destroying the institution of the family and weakening Ukrainian society in the conditions of war and repelling Russian aggression,” the church said in a statement.
Police set up cordons in central Kyiv to keep the marchers clear of a counterdemonstration, ushering protesters into a central metro station at the end of the event.
Protesters in the counterdemonstration, some wearing face masks and carrying anti-gay signs, marched to a memorial for fallen soldiers in the center of the city.
An injured soldier, in Kyiv for physical therapy, said he attended the counter rally out of concern that divisive societal issues should not be raised during the war.
“I came because I think its not the right time for LGBT (activism),” said the soldier, who asked to be identified by his call sign “Archy.”
“We need to strengthen our country.”
Both those on the LGBTQ rally and the counterprotest took the opportunity to demand that foreign countries come to Ukraine’s aid in its war with Russia, chanting “Arm Ukraine now!” ___ Dmytro Zhyhinas in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the war in Gaza would go on after Hamas proposed “numerous” changes to a U.S.-backed cease-fire plan, some that he said were “workable” and some not.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the war in Gaza will go on after Hamas proposed “numerous” changes to a U.S.-backed cease-fire plan, some that he said were “workable” and some not
Speaking to reporters in Qatar on Wednesday, Blinken said the U.S. and other mediators will keep trying to “close this deal”
Blinken is in the region to push a cease-fire proposal with global support that has not been fully embraced by Israel or Hamas
His comments came as Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a top commander, further escalating regional tensions
“A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6, a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted,” Blinken said. Hamas could have answered with a single word. ‘Yes.’ Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that had previously taken and accepted.”
He did not spell out what the changes were. Speaking to reporters in Qatar, Blinken said the U.S. and other mediators will keep trying to “close this deal.”
Blinken is in the region to push a cease-fire proposal with global support that has not been fully embraced by Israel or Hamas. The militant group submitted its first official response late Tuesday, requesting “amendments” to the deal.
“In the coming weeks, we will put forward proposals for the key elements of a ‘day after plan,’ including concrete ideas for how to manage governance, security, reconstruction,” Blinken said. “That plan is key to turning a cease-fire into an enduring end to the conflict, but also turning an end of a war into a just and durable peace, and using that peace as a foundation for building a more integrated, a more stable, a more prosperous region.”
“I can’t speak for Hamas or answer for Hamas, and ultimately it may not be the path that Hamas wants to pursue, but Hamas cannot and will not be allowed to decide the future for this region and its people,” he added.
The American’s comments came as Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a top commander, further escalating regional tensions.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed ally of Hamas, has traded fire with Israel nearly every day since the 8-month-long Israel-Hamas war began and says it will only stop if there is a truce in Gaza. That has raised fears of an even more devastating regional conflagration.
Air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel, and the military said that about 160 projectiles were fired from southern Lebanon, making it one of the largest attacks since the fighting began. There were no immediate reports of casualties as some were intercepted while others ignited brush fires.
Hamas asks for ‘amendments’
Hamas has expressed support for the broad outline of the deal but wariness over whether Israel would implement its terms.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha told the Lebanese news outlet ElNashra that the “amendments” requested by the group include guarantees of a permanent cease-fire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Hamas’s official reply to the proposal, which it conveyed to mediators on Tuesday, appeared to be short of outright acceptance but kept negotiations alive. Qatar and Egypt, which have been key mediators alongside the United States, said they were studying it.
Blinken is on his eighth visit to the region since the start of the war.
The proposal has raised hopes of ending a conflict in which Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed over 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, and driven some 80% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Israeli restrictions and ongoing fighting have hindered efforts to bring humanitarian aid to the isolated coastal enclave, fueling widespread hunger.
Israel launched its campaign after Hamas and other militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire last year in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Hamas is still holding around 120 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
The proposal announced by Biden calls for a three-phase plan that would begin with a six-week cease-fire and the release of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces would withdraw from populated areas and Palestinian civilians would be allowed to return to their homes.
Phase one also requires the safe distribution of humanitarian assistance “at scale throughout the Gaza Strip,” which Biden said would lead to 600 trucks of aid entering Gaza every day.
At the same time, negotiations would be launched over the second phase, which is to bring “a permanent end to hostilities, in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”
Phase three would launch “a major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of any deceased hostages still in Gaza to their families.”
The militant group accepted a similar proposal last month that was rejected by Israel.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies have rejected the latest proposal and have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war leaving Hamas intact. But Netanyahu is also under mounting pressure to accept a deal to bring the hostages back. Thousands of Israelis, including families of the hostages, have demonstrated in favor of the U.S.-backed plan.
Revenge for slain commander
Hezbollah said it fired missiles and rockets at two military bases in retaliation for the killing of Taleb Sami Abdullah, 55. Known within Hezbollah as Hajj Abu Taleb, he is the most senior commander killed since the fighting began eight months ago. The Israeli strike destroyed a house where Abdullah and three other officials were meeting, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, late Tuesday.
A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that Abdullah was in charge of a large part of the Lebanon-Israel front, including the area facing the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which Hezbollah has repeatedly attacked in recent days, causing fires in the area.
The official, who was not authorized to speak to media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abdullah had joined Hezbollah decades ago and took part in attacks against Israeli forces during their 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in May 2000.
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 400 people, most of them Hezbollah members, but the dead also include more than 70 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed since the war in Gaza began.
Other groups allied with Iran, including powerful militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have also attacked Israeli, U.S. and other targets since the start of the war, often drawing Western retaliation. In April, Israel and Iran traded fire directly for the first time.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said the best way to calm regional tensions is for Hamas to accept a proposal for a phased cease-fire that it says would end of the war in Gaza and bring about the release of the remaining hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war. The U.N. Security Council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plan on Monday.
Biden says it is an Israeli proposal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent conflicting signals, saying Israel remains committed to destroying Hamas. It’s unclear how it would do that if the U.S.-backed proposal, which includes an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, is fully implemented.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned Monday to the Middle East as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance after the rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a military raid and following the latest turmoil in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday as the proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance
Blinken met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, a key mediator with the militant Hamas group, and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Blinken once again called on Hamas to accept the plan, which he said has wide international support
With no firm public response yet from Hamas or Israel to the proposal they received 10 days ago, Blinken started his eighth visit to the region since the conflict began in October by meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, a key mediator with the militant Hamas group, and then talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Blinken once again called on Hamas to accept the plan, which he said has wide international support.
“If you want a cease-fire, press Hamas to say ‘yes,’” he told reporters before leaving Cairo on the trip that will take him to Israel, Jordan and Qatar. Blinken said Israel has accepted the proposal, though Netanyahu has not said so directly.
“I know that there are those who are pessimistic about the prospects,” Blinken said, putting the onus squarely on Hamas. “That’s understandable. Hamas continues to show extraordinary cynicism in its actions, a disinterest not only in the well-being and security of Israelis but also Palestinians.”
Blinken said the plan on the table is the “single best way” to get to a cease-fire, release the remaining hostages and improve regional security.
While President Joe Biden, Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the hostage rescue, the operation resulted in the deaths of a large number of Palestinian civilians and may complicate the cease-fire push by emboldening Israel and hardening Hamas’ resolve to carry on fighting in the war it started with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
“It’s hard to say how Hamas will process this particular operation and what it will do to its determination about whether it will say yes or not,” Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday. “We are hopeful that with enough of a chorus, the international community all speaking with one voice, Hamas will get to the right answer,” Sullivan told ABC’s “This Week.”
In his talks with el-Sissi, Blinken also discussed plans for post-conflict governance and reconstruction in Gaza, following massive destruction there.
“It’s imperative that there be a plan, and that has to involve security, it has to involve governance, it has to involve reconstruction,” Blinken said.
Netanyahu and his government have resisted calls for any ‘day after’ plan that would bar Israel from having some form of security presence in the territory. Blinken said he would urge Israel to come up with alternatives that would be acceptable.
“It would be very good if Israel put forward its own ideas on this, and I’ll be talking to the government about that,” he said. “But one way or another, we’ve got to have these plans, we’ve got to have them in place, we’ve got to be ready to go if we want to take advantage of a cease-fire.”
The three-phase cease-fire plan calls for the release of more hostages and a temporary pause in hostilities that will last as long as it takes to negotiate the second phase, which aims to bring the release of all hostages, a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza” and “a permanent end to hostilities,” according to an American-drafted resolution put before the U.N. Security Council. The third phase calls for reconstruction in Gaza.
The Security Council is to vote Monday afternoon on the resolution, which welcomes the proposal and urges Hamas to accept it.
But Hamas may not be the only obstacle.
Although the deal has been described as an Israeli initiative and thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of it, Netanyahu has expressed skepticism, saying what has been presented publicly is not accurate and that Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas.
Netanyahu’s far-right allies have threatened to collapse his government if he implements the plan. Benny Gantz, a popular centrist, resigned on Sunday from the three-member War Cabinet after saying he would do so if the prime minister did not formulate a new plan for postwar Gaza. In the aftermath of the hostage rescue, Netanyahu had urged him not to step down.
Blinken has met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Gantz and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on nearly all his previous trips to Israel. Officials said Blinken is expected to meet with Gantz on Tuesday.
Despite Blinken’s roughly once-a-month visits to the region since the war began, the conflict has ground on with more than 37,120 Palestinians killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its counts. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage.
The war has severely hindered the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing widespread hunger. U.N. agencies say more than 1 million people in the territory could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.
In Jordan, Blinken will take part in an emergency international conference on improving the flow of aid to Gaza.
Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, in the largest hostage recovery operation since the war with Hamas began in Gaza.
What You Need To Know
The army said the hostages were rescued in two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat
The rescue comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday
Saturday’s operation is the largest recovery of alive hostages since the war erupted, bringing the total of rescued captives to seven
Hamas kidnapped some 250 hostages during its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which triggered the Israel-Hamas war. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November
The army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in a complex special daytime operation in Nuseirat. The hostages were rescued in two separate locations in the heart of Nuseirat, it said.
Hamas kidnapped some 250 hostages during its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which triggered the Israel-Hamas war. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home.
The rescue comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday. Seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures.
Saturday’s operation is the largest recovery of alive hostages since the war erupted, bringing the total of rescued captives to seven.
Two men were rescued in February when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment in a densely packed town and another hostage, a woman, was rescued in the aftermath of October’s attack. Israeli troops have so far recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages from Gaza, according to the government.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing pressure to end the fighting in Gaza, with many Israelis urging him to embrace a deal announced last month by U.S. President Joe Biden, but far-right allies are threatening to collapse his government if he does.
One of those rescued on Saturday, Argamani, has been one of the most widely recognized hostages since she was abducted from a music festival.
The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, images of her horrified face widely shared — Argamani detained between two men on a motorcycle, one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden to end the war in Gaza, but Israel’s government said that conditions for a cease-fire still must be met.
What You Need To Know
The families of Israeli hostages are supporting a proposal by President Joe Biden urging Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to release about 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, for an extended cease-fire in Gaza
Cease-fire talks halted last month after a push by the U.S. and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is key to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack
Many families of hostages accuse the government of a lack of will to secure a deal
Hamas said in a statement Friday that it viewed the proposal “positively” and called on Israel to declare explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent cease-fire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a prisoner exchange and other conditions
Biden outlined a three-phase deal Friday that he said was proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out a large-scale attack on Israel like the one in October that started the fighting. He urged Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to release about 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, for an extended cease-fire in Gaza.
Cease-fire talks halted last month after a push by the U.S. and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is key to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel on Friday confirmed its troops were operating in central parts of the city. The ground assault has led around 1 million Palestinians to leave Rafah and has thrown humanitarian operations into turmoil.
Following Biden’s speech, hostage families said time was running out.
“This might be the last chance to save lives,” Gili Roman told The Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and freed during a weeklong cease-fire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, is still held. Roman added: “There is no other way towards a better situation for all. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But mostly, all eyes should be on Hamas.”
The proposal came after what hostage families called an aggressive meeting Thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government wasn’t ready to sign a deal to bring all hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Hanegbi said this week he expects the war to continue another seven months to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
Netanyahu has promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return the hostages. On Saturday, the government said that its conditions for ending the war hadn’t changed and that putting a permanent cease-fire in place before the conditions are fulfilled is a “nonstarter.”
Many families of hostages accuse the government of a lack of will to secure a deal.
“We know that the government of Israel has done an awful lot to delay reaching a deal, and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months,” Sharone Lifschitz said. Her mother, Yocheved, was freed in the November cease-fire, and her father, Oded, is still held.
The first phase of the deal announced by Biden would would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete cease-fire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older people and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from the war’s devastation.
Biden acknowledged that keeping the proposal on track would be difficult, with a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. Biden said that if Hamas fails to fulfil its commitment under the deal, Israel can resume military operations.
Hamas said in a statement Friday that it viewed the proposal “positively” and called on Israel to declare explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent cease-fire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a prisoner exchange and other conditions.
In Deir al-Balah, where many Palestinians have fled following Israel’s ground assault on Rafah, there was some hope.
“This proposal came late, but better late than never,” said Akram Abu Al-Hasan. “Therefore, we hope from God, the American administration, and the European community in general to continue to put pressure on Israel for a cease-fire.”
The main difference from previous proposals is the readiness to stop the war for an undefined period, according to analysts. It leaves Israel the option to renew the war and diminish Hamas’ ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum in Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Experts said that Biden’s speech was one of the few times that gave hope the war might end.
“It was a very good speech … it seems that Biden is trying to force it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization.
Also on Saturday, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News said that officials from Egypt, the United States and Israel would meet in Cairo over the weekend for talks about the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since Israel took over the Palestinian side in early May.
The crossing is one of the main ways for aid to enter Gaza. Egypt has refused to open its side, fearing the Israeli hold will remain permanent. Egypt has demanded that Palestinians be put back in charge of the facility. The White House has been pressing Egypt to resume the flow of trucks.
Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 killed around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. More than 36,370 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s campaign of bombardment and offensives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pummeled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a large-scale drone and missile attack Saturday, injuring at least 19 people, local officials said.
What You Need To Know
The Ukrainian military reported that it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on June 1
Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region
The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s power grid, which has been ongoing since March
Elsewhere, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, said the area’s Moscow-installed leader Denis Pushilin
The Ukrainian military reported that it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on June 1, as well as 46 out of 47 attack drones.
Injuries were reported by officials across the country, including in Ukraine’s western Lviv region and the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.
The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s power grid, which has been ongoing since March.
Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK said that two of its power plants had been seriously damaged in what it said was the sixth attack on the company’s plants in two and a half months.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said in a statement on social media that energy infrastructure in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Ivano-Frankivsk regions had also been targeted.
Damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks has forced leaders of the war-ravaged country to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Without adequate air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late summer and the bitter-cold winter.
In response to the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated Kyiv’s need for additional air defense systems from its Western allies.
“Civilians, infrastructure and energy facilities. This is what Russia is constantly at war with,” he said in a post Saturday on X, formerly Twitter. “Our partners know exactly what is needed for this. Additional Patriot and other modern air defense systems for Ukraine. Accelerating and expanding the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine. Providing our warriors with all the necessary capabilities.”
Elsewhere, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, said the area’s Moscow-installed leader Denis Pushilin. Another three people were injured, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said that it had shot down two Ukrainian drones on Saturday morning over Russia’s Belgorod region. No casualties were reported.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die has received clearance to roll into China. The Sony Pictures film will hit Chinese cinemas June 22, according to both the studio and local press reports in Beijing. The film opens theatrically in North America on June 7.
The new film is the fourth installment in the long-running Bad Boys franchise, following Bad Boys for Life (2020), which revived the movie series after a 17-year hiatus and was a worldwide hit with $426 million in total ticket revenue. Bad Boys for Life earned just $3 million in China, but it was released there amid the challenges of the pandemic.
Bad Boys 4is helmed by Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Belgian duo who infamously had their $90 million Batgirl feature for Max shelved for a tax break by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022.
The plot to Bad Boys 4 is driven by corruption within the Miami PD, with Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) accused of working with the drug cartels for years. Detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) put together a team to clear Howard’s name but become outlaws in the process.
The cast also includes Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane and Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd. Franchise regulars Pantoliano as Captain Conrad Howard and John Salley as Fletcher also return.
Full critical reviews for Bad Boys 4 won’t drop till closer to the film’s release, but first reactions began to emerge from fans after a series of early screenings were held across the U.S. two weeks ago.
Other upcoming U.S. releases in China include A24’s Civil War and Warner Bros‘ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on June 7 and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 on June 21.
Daisy Ridley is back on the big screen with one of her finest works to date in Young Woman and the Sea. Directed by Joachim Rønning, the biographical drama about legendary swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle is the highest testing film of Jerry Bruckheimer’s storied producorial career that includes the likes of Top Gun: Maverick, Beverly Hills Cop and Flashdance. Originally slated for a Disney+ exclusive release, Ridley and co. were rewarded with a limited theatrical run that begins on May 31. Such upgrades don’t come easy given the costs associated with theatrical exhibition, but as Rønning put it, Bruckheimer was “relentless” in his successful pursuit.
The film’s road to theatrical, in a way, parallels the underdog story that Young Woman and the Sea is telling involving Trudy, and Ridley considers this hard-earned achievement to be as rewarding as anything she’s done to date.
“It certainly felt like we set out to make a film that was wonderful and cinematic. So, for that to be appreciated is wonderful, and I hope that people go and see [Young Woman and the Sea] on the big screen,” Ridley tells The Hollywood Reporter.
To play an Olympic gold medalist in the 1920s and the first woman to swim across the English Channel, Ridley went to the same great lengths that she became known for while playing a Jedi in the Star Wars franchise. She was trained by an Olympic silver medalist named Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, and by the end of production, she was confidently swimming in the Black Sea and fighting off currents.
At the recent L.A. premiere of Young Woman, Ridley was tidying up in the bathroom when she received an unexpected endorsement from another one of history’s most fabled long-distance swimmers, Diana Nyad. Based on the latter’s attendance at the Young Woman premiere and her subsequent praise of Ridley, it’s evident that Nyad’s own biopic, Nyad (2023), and Young Woman can coexist without being pit against each other, as often happens when two films cover similar territory within a year of each other.
“I was washing my hands in the bathroom … and she came in. It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, ‘This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing,’” Ridley says. “But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. I really wanted to do justice by swimmers … So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool.”
Ridley recently produced and starred in her own indie film, Magpie, and after its recent premiere at South by Southwest, the Sam Yates-directed thriller — penned by Ridley’s husband, Tom Bateman — has already lined up distribution in the U.K. and Ireland. And Ridley is now revealing that U.S. distribution is already a done deal: “We also have distribution in the U.S. We just haven’t quite announced it yet,” Ridley shares.
While Ridley was shooting Magpie, Lucasfilm boss Katlheen Kennedy invited her to breakfast in order to pitch her what is currently regarded as Star Wars: New Jedi Order. Together with director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Ridley’s beloved Jedi Master, Rey, will reestablish the Jedi Order, and she expects to read screenwriter Steven Knight’s script imminently: “I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming,” Ridley says.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Ridley also discusses how Young Woman, after a decade-plus of work, finally allowed her the proper chance to perform opposite sister and mother characters.
I spoke to you while you were shooting Magpie in January 2023, and you had just watched Young Woman and the Sea for the first time and said how great it was. Well, the test screenings proved you correct, resulting in a theatrical bump. Has this turn of events been as rewarding as anything you’ve been a part of so far?
Yes. I read somewhere that a streamer going theatrical hasn’t happened this way, and while maybe that’s wrong, it certainly felt like we set out to make a film that was wonderful and cinematic. So, for that to be appreciated is wonderful, and I hope that people go and see [Young Woman and the Sea] on the big screen. I’ve seen the finished film twice, and last night’s [L.A. premiere] screening was just beyond compare. Watching it on a screen of that size, there’s so much scope. The story is so intimate, but the space is so great that it’s served so beautifully on a cinema screen.
Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Vladisav Lepoev
You shot this about six or seven months before you went on to produce and star in Magpie. Did you ever get a chance to discuss your producorial ambition with Young Womanand the Sea producer Jerry Bruckheimer?
Was it only six or seven months before?
Yes, the summer of 2022.
Oh my God, you’re right! Wow. In my head, it was longer than that. Did I talk to him about [Magpie]? Yes, Jerry and [producer] Chad [Oman] and [writer-producer] Jeff [Nathanson] and [director] Joachim [Rønning] knew I was doing it. It was wonderful because I got to be on a film with Jerry Bruckheimer, and then I got to go and make my own thing. Of course, they are two very different projects, but over the last few years, I’ve been very blessed to make a lot of very different projects with a lot of very different filmmakers, who I respect and whose work and genres are different. So they’re very different projects, but beyond just being an actor, there’s a lot of joy in being a part of a team that’s bringing a story to life.
Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Disney
You and Trudy both made your names a century apart, but as I was watching Young Womanand the Sea, I found myself drawing parallels to your own career. Could you relate to Trudy’s experience on some level?
In terms of her doing something that broke down boundaries, I don’t know that I could compare to that, but I certainly feel a dogged determination. It’s funny, I saw my sister’s friend recently, and she knew me as a teenager. I hadn’t seen her for ages, and she went, “I always just remember you being super determined as a teenager.” And I was like, “That’s interesting.” So I feel like I was determined, and I was able to do something even though I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t know how to do that. I just figured my way through. So, in a spiritual way, that determination and that love of doing what you want to do, I suppose there would be some comparison there.
Kim Bodnia as Henry Ederle, Jeanette Hain as Gertrud Ederle, Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Meg Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Elena Nenkova
I’m glad you mentioned one of your sisters, because Young Woman is the first time you’ve had a prominent sisterly relationship in a film. Did you welcome that familiar yet new dynamic on screen?
I very much encouraged it. I’ve never had a sister on screen, and I’ve never actually had a mom on screen. So when I read the script, it was so beautiful already, but I had a conversation with Jeff Nathanson and Jerry and Chad and Joachim, where I said, “For me, this relationship is the absolute heart of the story. I want this to be a love story about these two sisters who are totally representative of totally different moments in their lives.” Trudy is overcoming a lot of obstacles, and she actually has a lot of freedom in that, strangely. But Meg doesn’t. Meg is representative of basically every other woman of that time, and I wanted it to feel real when sisters bicker. My sisters and I bicker, but we love each other so fiercely that there’s just no denying that sisterly bond.
When I was testing with people for Meg, I tested with amazing actors, but it just didn’t feel right for me, sister-wise. And then, when Tilda [Cobham-Hervey] and I spoke, there was just alchemy. There was that chemistry thing, and it just really worked. So I was very encouraging of that relationship, and I love Tilda. I’m glad that the relationship we have together as people, hopefully, translated onto the screen. And Jeanette [Hain], who is this gorgeous performer, plays our mother, and she is unbelievable as the rock of this family. So I was so thrilled to work with both of them.
Jeanette Hain as Gertrud Ederle and Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Vladisav Lepoev
Did Trudy really eat fried chicken while simming in the middle of the English Channel?
(Laughs.) I don’t know if she ate fried chicken. She must have, because there was a lot of research done, but [as a vegan], I was eating some fried tofu [in that scene].
We did a day of underwater work in a tank. We had done all of the open water stuff in the Black Sea at nighttime, which obviously had to be more controlled because it was more dangerous. But then we did a day of underwater work, and it was more comfortable to stay in the pool. So I had my little floating [lunch] tray, and I ate my lunch. It was enjoyable. But it’s that funny thing where you don’t want to eat too much. You’re starving because you’ve done so much work, but you don’t want to eat too much in case you vom, basically.
You worked with one of the Nyad producers on The Marsh King’s Daughter. I know you shot this after MarshKing, but was there ever any playful joshing between long-distance swimming films?
I met Diana Nyad last night [at the L.A. premiere]! It was so surreal. I was washing my hands in the bathroom, waiting for my people, and she came in. It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, “This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You are real. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing.” But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. And that’s wonderful [to hear], particularly from the sports people that were there last night. I really wanted to do justice by swimmers, and in a physical way, I wanted to try and do as much as I could to look able and to sell the story. So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool.
So much time, money and energy is put into teaching actors skills for a movie, and some of them have told me that they feel a bit of regret when they don’t keep up with a particular skill. So, whether it’s twirling your laser sword or swimming laps, do you ever wish you had more time to maintain it all?
I feel like I work really hard for what I have to do. I work really hard for the training and I work really hard for the filming, and then afterwards, I go to sleep. But I’ve also maintained a lot of the skills I have already learned. I did a [Martin Campbell] action movie before Christmas called Cleaner, and I had done kickboxing for the last Star Wars film, so I did kickboxing again. I wasn’t starting from scratch there. I was relearning, and I already had a foundation. Swimming is the big one that I hadn’t really done before and I haven’t really done since, but watching the film again last night, I thought, “Yes, I did do a lot of swimming and my body deserves a rest.”
Before we return to Magpie, I have to do that obligatory thing where we ask about that other upcoming Disney movie [Star Wars: New Jedi Order]. Have you seen words on paper yet?
(Laughs.) I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming.
Daisy Ridley in Magpie
Courtesy of SXSW/Rob Baker Ashton
Magpie premiered at South by Southwest, and it recently landed distribution in your own backyard [U.K. and Ireland].
We also have distribution in the U.S. We just haven’t quite announced it yet.
Overall, what’s been the biggest eye-opener about birthing your own film?
Honestly, making films is really hard, and I knew they were, but the making of the film was actually not difficult. It’s just the after stuff that’s such a maze. Being independent and then finding distribution, we have amazing partners, which is wonderful, but I just didn’t realize how long everything took. So that was surprising. But I love our movie. We wanted to do something that we felt we hadn’t seen in a while, and I’m very happy that we are able to share Magpie with audiences this year.
*** Young Woman and the Sea opens in select theaters on May 31.
The two A-listers and their respective companies have teamed up with a coterie of production banners to produce both a docuseries and a feature film centered on the famous and dangerous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle races.
Tatum’s Free Association, Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, screenwriter Jason Keller, Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady and Box to Box Films are behind the ventures, which are looking to capture the growing global interest in a wide swath of the sports world worldwide. It also comes as more streamers, media companies and nations pour money into sports at the highest corporate levels.
The production banners will take these projects out as a package later this year, according to Tuesday’s announcement by the companies. Mediawan, the European media company and majority stakeholder of Plan B, will be the studio of the docuseries and handle international sales.
Isle of Man TT began in 1907 on the island nation that sits between Ireland and the UK, and minus two world wars, has run almost continuously since. A single lap of the course is made up of 37.7 miles across the island’s public road systems as the bikes tackle country lanes and city streets at speeds up to 200mph, according to the producers.
The docuseries began production this week. Titled The Greatest Race On Earth, it will focus on the Isle of Man TT race, which some have called one of the most dangerous competitions on the planet and is being held in June this year. Box to Box Films, behind racing doc shows Drive to Survive and Tour de France: Unchained, is producing along with Plan B, Free Association, Entertainment 360 and Keller.
That same group will also develop a feature film package to take to market later this year. It is unclear whether Keller, who co-wrote the script for the Oscar-nominated 2019 racing movie Ford v Ferrari, will pen the script for the Isle of Man project.
Isle of Man racing
Courtesy of Isle of Man TT Races
“We dare anyone to find more awe-inspiring people, or a more breathtakingly vibrant world than The Isle of Man TT,” said Free Association principles Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan in a statement. “We’ve always been drawn to characters who push the edge of what’s possible, and this race is their Shangri-La. We’re deeply honored to be part of the creative dream team telling the story of this legendary event, and can’t wait to finally share this mythical sport we love with audiences all across the globe.”
The other producers were equally enthused in their statements.
Pitt is already in the racing movie business, as he is currently shooting an untitled F1 feature that Joseph Kosinski is directing. Pitt stars in the movie, and he and Plan B are producers on it. Free Association has Blink Twice, Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut, hitting theaters Aug. 23 from Amazon MGM. Casady was most recently a producer on the well-regarded and well-reviewed romantic adventure movie The Fall Guy.
The LGBTQ-focused Inside Out Film Festival is kicking off in Toronto, where the world premiere of the comedy Sisters is acting as the festival’s gala screening.
Sisters follows two best friends Lou (Susie Yankou) and Esther (Sarah Khasrovi) who have long thought of each other as family. Their co-dependency is tested when Lou makes the discovery of a an impossibly chic long-lost half sister, Priya (Kausar Mohammed).
The first look at Sisters sees Lou and Priya at a trendy restaurant, where Lou is struggling to fit in with Priya’s impossibly cool friends.
Sisters was a recipient of Inside Out’s Re:Focus grant that is meant to provide direct financial support to LGBTQ women and nonbinary filmmakers. Yankou makes her feature directorial debut on the film, which she also wrote.
Filming in Hungary offers everything from a massive amount of production space and a 20-year strong tax rebate to eight symphony orchestras and thermal baths.
On a panel during the Cannes Film Festival at the Marche du Film, film commissionaire Csaba Kael, and producers Ildikó Kemeny, Robert Lantos, and Mike Goodridge spoke about the experiences of filming in Hungary.
Kael noted that commercial film production began in the country in the early 1900s. “It is built into our DNA,” said Kael of filmmaking. Only the U.K. has more film production than Hungary, he said. This year, Hungary is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its offered tax rebate program, which offers films produced in Hungary a 30 percent rebate based on their expenditure.
Lantos, who has been filming in the country since the 1990s prior to the tax credits, said, “Whenever I have a project that needs a European-looking city, my direct path is to Budapest.” He added: “I can say that of all the places in the world where I have made films where the rebate is most guaranteed to function smoothly is in Hungary.”
According to NFI, the total spending on production hit a record high in 2023 in Hungary, reaching $910 million, almost 4 times more than in 2018’s $183 million. As for production capabilities, the National Film Institute is undergoing an expansion at their studio complex, adding four new 2500 sq. meters soundstages, increasing total studio capacity to 12,670 sq meters.
Kemeny served as a producer on Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Thingsthat shot in Hungary, building out everything from a fantastical Lisbon town to a luxury cruise liner. “We had hundreds of Hungarians working on that film. There was a big competition amongst many countries of where they would be filming [Poor Things] and we won out because of the economics.” Said Kemeny of the pace of production in the country: “Now, we are up to four or five production this year, just our company.”
And the Hungarian film industry has been building up its local talent. Big-budgeted international productions would often fly in talent but that has changed. Now, more than 80 percent of the production crews on large international features are formed by Hungarian talent. Notably, Hungarian production designer Zsuzsa Mihalek took home the production design Oscar at this year’s Academy Award for Poor Things.
The Nation Film Institute is currently hosting a below-the-line training program so that pool of local talent can continue to expand. The series includes practice-oriented workshops and free open lectures for junior industry professionals, as well as internship opportunities. NFI is also working with film schools, to help train students on the latest in LED wall technology, which was used in the Poor Things.
Lantos’ production Rise of the Raven, a massive middle ages-set epic 10-hour series, shot entirely in the country despite the story taking place everywhere from Serbia to Turkey. “Any production that needs castles or a fort in the 15th, 16th, and 17th century, it’s there now,” he said of the built sets. “The construction and carpentry in Hungary is unlike any place I’ve ever work. So, we made the decision to build and, boy, did we build.” Kael also noted that for any production in need of a castle, there is a larger country-wide initiative to restore and preserve old castles in the region.
Then, there is post-production. Kael shared that Francis Ford Coppola traveled to the country to record part of the score for Megalopolis (the country boasts eight symphony orchestras), while Lanthimos processed his 35mm celluloid locally at the Hungarian Film Lab/Magyar Film Labor in Budapest.
Goodridge, who will soon begin filming in the country on Son of Saul director Laszló Nemes’s next film, also noted the importance of the country’s easy access to the rest of Europe and larger hospitality industry. The panelists offered their favorite local attractions, including the food, wine and thermal baths.
Said Goodridge: “Look at the big stars and talent that have worked in Hungary. They are comfortable there and that is an important thing. You can have all the tax incentives you like but you also have to have a base of comfort for demanding foreigners.”
Gio Ventura was first introduced to acting via a poster in his high school, which was a call for auditions for a student short film. “I went to the casting and then I realized that the role was inspired by my ex-girlfriend. [The director] didn’t know I recognized her,” Ventura says with a laugh. “It was really easy to get into the character.”
Ventura would spend the next couple of years acting in a handful of short films before heading to Paris, where he began his professional career five years ago. He says of the city: “I got to meet more queer filmmakers that were making the movies that I actually go to see.”
One of those filmmakers was Alexis Langlois, who in 2021 directed the campy, queer horror comedy short The Demons of Dorothy, about a screenwriter who must focus on mainstream films instead of making campy, queer horror comedies. Dorothy is reminiscent of John Waters’ oeuvre, filled with hyperbole, subversion and lots of glitter.
“In France, Alexis is one of the only people who makes cinema that has a real visual presentation. I know it’s a thing in the U.S., but it’s not really in France, so it’s very special,” says Ventura. Langlois’ films sit in stark contrast to the more grounded fare that is synonymous with contemporary French cinema, Ventura adds: “In France, we have very realistic movies. He’s very interested in extreme femininity, but it’s beyond that — it’s like it almost touches something that is more monstrous. It’s queer, in the real sense of the word.”
Taken by his work, Ventura attempted to make contact. “I wrote him a message on Facebook a couple of years ago and he replied with something very polite, like, ‘Thank you.’ I replied: ‘You know, I’m an actor …’ He didn’t really react,” remembers Ventura, who later ran into the director at a film festival party. “I was drunk and I just went up to him: ‘Do you remember me? I wrote you a message. I want to act for you!’ ” With Langlois’ latest, Queens of Drama, Ventura got his wish, co-starring in the film that is set to screen in Cannes as part of the Critics’ Week, which is a sidebar to the Cannes Film Festival.
Queens of Drama tells the early aughts love story of pop icon Mimi Madamour (played by Louiza Aura) and punk rocker Billie Kohler (Ventura), whose tumultuous relationship inspired the music that helped each of them climb the charts but also inspired much heartache. Queens of Drama is told in flashbacks, with a fanatic YouTuber serving as the audience’s guide.
Unlike Ventura, Aura wasn’t looking for a career in performance, let alone a role in Langlois’ movie. “I actually got into acting totally by chance, it wasn’t something that I ever wanted to do,” says Aura, who was working as a model. “I had gone to a premiere screening for a film and someone saw me there. One thing led to another, and I had an agent.” Shortly after, she booked her first acting role in Queens of Drama.
Set in 2005, the movie is a fever dream of early aughts nostalgia, filled with music show parodies (à la American Idol) and low-rise pants. Langlois and his stars shared a Dropbox folder of inspiration and imagery from the time period, the zenith of the pop diva and the “girl power” groups, complete with images of Mariah Carey and Britney Spears.
Between casting and the start of production, there was a long delay, during which the stars rehearsed every week for nine months. “It would have been quite a different film had we not had all of this rehearsal time,” says Aura. They took the time to establish their onscreen relationship and practice their choreography. French artists Rebeka Warrior and Yelle helped produce the original music in the film.
Filming on Queens of Drama took place over five weeks in Brussels, Belgium. During that time, Ventura and Aura shot scenes of onscreen competition shows, grunge concerts, music videos, awards show speeches and talk show meltdowns. Interspersed throughout the fun, camp and, yes, drama, the duo shot a simple love story about losing your love and finding your way back to them.
Asked what she hopes audiences take away from the audacious movie, Aura says simply, “I hope they cry.”
Gravitas Ventures has picked up the documentary Stylebender, on the UFC Middleweight phenomenon and former world champion Israel Adesanya, for North America.
Zoë McIntosh followed Adesanya, known in the ring as “the last stylebender” for five years making the non-fiction feature, which premiered at the Tribeca film festival last year. Stylebender is less a classic sports doc than an exploration of Adesanya’s origins, family upbringing, and his struggles, as a shy Nigerian kid, growing up in rural New Zealand in the 2000s, to find his own way in the world. We see Adesanya working with his trainer and mentor, Eugene Bareman, as well as his therapist, as he discusses issues of masculinity, bullying, and mental health.
“After screening Stylebender in Tribeca, I could feel in my bones there was something supremely special about this film, and about Adesanya’s story,” said Gravitas’ Danielle Gasher. “There is a vulnerable and deeply human quality to the film, which I believe will be felt far and large by audiences across North America.”
Gravitas has a talent for spotting international breakout docs. In 2021 the company picked up the Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, which went on to secure an Oscar nomination for best documentary.
The deal for Stylebender was negotiated by Gravitas’ Danielle Gasher, VP Acquisitions & International Sales, with Mister Smith Entertainment’s VP International Sales & Distribution, Shane Kelly. Mister Smith Entertainment co-reps North American rights with WME for the film. Ahi Films is handling the release of Stylebender in Australia and New Zealand.
Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe shared their plans Monday for the annual animation fest held June 9-15 in Annecy, France.
Among the planned events include Andy Serkis hosting a filmmaker conversation and extended look at The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the anime feature that hails from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation. Director Kenji Kamiyama and producers Philippa Boyens, Joseph Chou and Jason DeMarco will take part in the discussion and present the first footage from the movie that Warner Bros. is set to release theatrically on Dec. 13.
The animation process is currently underway for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which centers on the fortress of Helm’s Deep and its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan. (Images from the project can be seen above and below.) Last week, Warner Bros. announced that a live-action Lord of the Rings film from director Serkis is in early development and eyeing a 2026 release.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Other programming highlights at Annecy from the studio include a making-of session for Creature Commandos, which marks the first DC Studios project from bosses Gunn and Peter Safran. Gunn serves as executive producer and writer for the Max animated series that hails from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation and does not yet have a premiere date.
At the Annecy presentation, Creature Commandos supervising producer Rick Morales and supervising director Balak Yves will share an in-depth look at the artistic process behind the series that focuses on Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) forming a military group comprised of monstrous villains.
Also set for Annecy is a panel sharing an inside look at the return of the Cartoon Network series The Amazing World of Gumball, in addition to a world-premiere screening of the forthcoming animated feature The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.
Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped.
What You Need To Know
Israeli forces are battling Palestinian militants across Gaza, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it cleared months ago
Warnings continue against Israel’s growing offensive in the southern city of Rafah. It’s considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as Hamas’ last stronghold
Israel says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that sparked the war
Neighboring Egypt says it intends to formally join South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which alleges genocide in Gaza
Warnings continued against the growing offensive in Rafah, considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as Hamas’ last stronghold. Some 300,000 people have fled Rafah following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that sparked the war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, telling CBS that Israel would “be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.
The expanding Rafah operation has drawn warnings from neighboring Egypt, whose foreign ministry said it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel rejects. The statement cited “the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians.”
“A full-scale offensive on Rafah cannot take place,” United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, adding he cannot see how it can be reconciled with international humanitarian law.
Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas’ armed wing to reconstitute itself in even the hardest-hit areas. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the coastal enclave home to about 2.3 million Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech vowed to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war.
Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu’s government opposes.
The Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Militants still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30. Internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appear to be at a standstill.
Israel’s air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Heavy bombardment in the north
Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a “full-blown famine” there.
Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.
“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. “This is madness.”
First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. The two towns near Gaza’s northern border with Israel were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war.
“Hamas’ regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel’s Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war. “The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.”
Civilians flee in the south
The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a tent camp on the coast where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.
Rafah was sheltering some 1.3 million Palestinians before the Israeli operation began, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere.
Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as “targeted operations continued.” The United Nations has warned that a planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths.
Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid though the crossing because of “the unacceptable Israeli escalation,” the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported.
A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive has put its decades-old peace treaty with Israel — a cornerstone of regional stability — at high risk. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said he won’t provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, his administration said there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians — Washington’s strongest statement yet on the matter.
Israel rejects those allegations, saying it tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants fight in dense, residential areas. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
The U.N. General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
What You Need To Know
The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a wide margin to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and has called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations
The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian sponsored resolution on Friday by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent
The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions.
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear on Thursday that the Biden administration opposed the assembly resolution. The United States was among the nine countries voting against it, along with Israel.
“We’ve been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that,” Wood said Thursday. “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”
Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.
The resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership — dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”
The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the U.N. comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage. At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.
The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the U.S. but also by Russia and China, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.
The first draft would have conferred on Palestine “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation” in the assembly’s sessions and U.N. conferences “on equal footing with member states.” It also made no reference to whether Palestine could vote in the General Assembly.
According to the diplomats, Russia and China, which are strong supporters of Palestine’s U.N. membership, were concerned that granting the list of rights and privileges detailed in an annex to the resolution could set a precedent for other would-be U.N. members — with Russia concerned about Kosovo and China about Taiwan.
Under longstanding legislation by the U.S. Congress, the United States is required to cut off funding to U.N. agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state — which could mean a cutoff in dues and voluntary contributions to the U.N. from its largest contributor.
The final draft drops the language that would put Palestine “on equal footing with member states.” And to address Chinese and Russian concerns, it would decide “on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent” to adopt the rights and privileges in the annex.
The draft also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically: “The state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”
The final list of rights and privileges in the draft annex includes giving Palestine the right to speak on all issues not just those related to the Palestinians and Middle East, the right to propose agenda items and reply in debates, and the right to be elected as officers in the assembly’s main committees. It would give the Palestinians the right to participate in U.N. and international conferences convened by the United Nations — but it drops their “right to vote” which was in the original draft.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application for U.N. membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn’t get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.
They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a U.N. observer to a non-member observer state. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join U.N. and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.
In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians got much more support for full U.N. membership. The vote was 12 in favor, the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstaining, and the United States voting no and vetoing the resolution.
Heav(y fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday.
What You Need To Know
A United Nations official says heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north
Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah appear to be on hold for now
The United States is deeply opposed to that and is stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms
But even the more limited incursion launched earlier this week threatens to worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe
Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah appear to be on hold for now, with the United States deeply opposed and stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms. But even the more limited incursion launched earlier this week threatens to worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe.
Heavy fighting was also underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults.
Over a million Palestinians have fled to Rafah to escape fighting elsewhere, with many packed into U.N.-run shelters or squalid tent camps. The city on the border with Egypt is also a crucial hub for bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other goods.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, says about 110,000 people have fled Rafah and that food and fuel supplies in the city are critically low. Georgios Petropoulos, an OCHA official working in Rafah, said the two main crossings near the city remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff.
“Even if there were assurances to us being able to pass through a corridor, the proximity so close to a military involved in fighting is just not acceptable for something that has to be a humanitarian zone,” he said.
The U.N.’s World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives, Petropoulos said. He said about 30,000 people were leaving Rafah daily in search of safety, but that humanitarian workers had no supplies to help them set up camp in a new location.
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.
Israeli troops captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, forcing it to shut down. Rafah was the main point of entry for fuel needed to power vehicles, as well as the generators on which hospitals and water treatment plants rely.
Israel says the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing — Gaza’s main cargo terminal — is open on its side, but the U.N. says it remains inaccessible on the Gaza side because of ongoing fighting.
Israeli troops are battling Palestinian militants in eastern Rafah, not far from the crossings. An Associated Press reporter in the city heard heavy artillery and gunfire throughout the night into Friday.
The military said in a statement that it had located several tunnels and eliminated militants “during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike.”
Hamas’ military wing said it carried out a complex attack in which it struck a house where Israeli troops had taken up position, an armored personnel carrier and soldiers operating on foot. There was no comment from the Israeli military,
It is not possible to independently confirm battlefield accounts from either side.
Hamas also said it launched a number of mortar rounds at the Kerem Shalom crossing, close to where Israeli troops are operating. The military said it intercepted two launches. The crossing was initially closed after a Hamas rocket attack last weekend that killed four Israeli soldiers.
Israel says Rafah is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and key to its goal of dismantling the group’s military and governing capabilities and returning scores of hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
But Hamas has repeatedly regrouped, even in the hardest-hit parts of Gaza.
Heavy battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive, and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas there.
The north remains largely isolated by Israeli troops, and the U.N. says the estimated 300,000 people there are experiencing “full-blown famine.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to proceed with the offensive with or without U.S. arms, saying “we will fight with our fingernails” if needed in a defiant statement late Thursday. The Israeli military says it has what it needs for the missions it has planned, including in Rafah.
The war began with Hamas’ surprise attack into southern Israel last year, in which it killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. The militants are still holding some 100 captives and the remains of more than 30 after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.
The war has killed over 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel’s offensive, waged with U.S.-supplied munitions, has caused widespread devastation and forced some 80% of Gaza’s population to flee their homes.
Israel’s surprise incursion into Rafah complicated what had been months of efforts by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to broker a cease-fire and the release of hostages. Hamas this week said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel says the plan does not meet its “core” demands. Several days of follow-up talks appeared to end inconclusively on Thursday.
Hamas has demanded guarantees for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal — steps Israel has ruled out.
