PrairiePundit

 NY Post: Jubilant locals in both Gaza and Israel took to the streets early Thursday to celebrate President Trump for his role in the historic cease-fire deal — with many calling for him to get the Nobel Peace Prize . Footage from both the streets of Tel Aviv and war-torn Gaza showed crowds of revelers celebrating what they hope will be the end of the two-year war as they hailed Trump for helping secure the deal. “Donald Trump! Donald Trump!,” residents in Gaza could be heard cheering after the news broke Wednesday night. “Nobel Prize to Trump,” those in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square cheered as they waved American flags and danced. Trump’s plan calls for an immediate cease-fire, an exchange of all the 48 hostages, a staged withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, and the creation of a transitional government spearheaded by an international body. ... The conflict in Gaza began with the mass murder of Jewish civilians.  Israel responded with a dominant a...

 Newsmax: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Donald Trump, and both congratulated each other on "the historic achievement" of signing the Gaza ceasefire agreement that includes the release of all hostages, Netanyahu's office said on Thursday. The two leaders agreed to continue their close cooperation, and Netanyahu invited Trump to address the Knesset, it added in a statement. "This is a great day for the world. This is a wonderful day, a wonderful day for everybody," Trump told Reuters in a brief interview. ... It is important to remember that this war started because the Gaza Palestinians engaged in the mass murder of over a thousand Israelis.  The Palestinians also took Israeli hostages, who are now being released. See also: Trump announces Israel and Hamas signed off on phase one of Gaza peace deal: ‘Hostages will be released very soon’

 AP: Hundreds of Israeli police officers were deployed Thursday to the southern port of Ashdod to process some 450 international activists detained by Israeli naval forces hours earlier in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli authorities said. The activists, including European lawmakers, were taking part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza when their vessels were intercepted, drawing widespread condemnation and sparking protests around the world. The Global Sumud Flotilla was the largest yet to try to break the blockade, and it comes at a time of growing criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza , where its offensive has laid waste to wide swaths of territory and killed tens of thousands of people. Activists had said they hoped that the sheer number of boats would make it more difficult for Israeli authorities to intercept them all, but Israel’s Foreign Ministry declared the operation over on Thursday afternoon. ... Thousands of people supporting the flotilla took ...

  Vivid. @VividProwess · 11h This is Gaza. Starting a war and then losing does not make you the victim. I stand with the IDF. It is hard to find a building in Gaza that has not been destroyed.  The attempt to murder Israeli civilians had consequences.   Vivid. @VividProwess · 11h This is Gaza. Starting a war and then losing does not make you the victim. I stand with the IDF.

 Wall Street Journal: Israel Launches New Ground Offensive Seeking to Force End to Gaza War Operation comes as a U.N. commission concludes that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the enclave Israel launched a long-anticipated ground offensive into Gaza City early Tuesday morning, Israel’s military said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to end the war against Hamas with military force instead of diplomacy. The assault began with a heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip’s most populous area, where hundreds of thousands are believed to still be sheltering following almost two years of war that has flattened much of the rest of the seaside enclave. Netanyahu has called the city “the last important stronghold” of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and he has argued that conquering it would deal a decisive blow. ... The Palestinian residents of Gaza made the mistake in engaging in the mass murder of Israelis.  They are now paying the price for this ...

 NPR: Israel's military says it has taken control of almost half of Gaza City as it prepares for a large-scale ground offensive to fully occupy its densely populated urban center. Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press briefing the military now has "operational control" of 40% of Gaza City and will continue to expand and intensify the offensive in the coming days. The military called around 60,000 reservists back to war to support the expansive operation, which Israel says is aimed at returning hostages and dismantling Hamas rule. Last week, the military declared all of Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone" and is striking at high-rise buildings in the city's central and western neighborhoods. These areas, including its western shoreline, have been crowded for months with displaced people and tents. Already, entire neighborhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City have been leveled by Israeli strikes and thousands of Palestinian famil...

 NPR: In late February of 2024, Jordanian cargo planes flew over northern Gaza, dropping large pallets of food attached to giant parachutes down to crowds of scrambling Palestinians. The area had been without consistent aid for weeks. The Israeli military was focusing much of its operations there, cutting off available delivery routes for international organizations. Out of desperation, Palestinians had resorted to eating animal feed and weeds . Since the war began five months earlier, senior U.S. officials had been in intense discussions with the Israelis to open land routes to get more truckloads of aid into northern Gaza. Now they watched the Jordanian airdrops on TV. "The mockery of this complete bull**** PR stunt was universal," remembered a former U.S. official with direct knowledge of what happened. "Everybody knew that it wasn't going to make any meaningful dent." But only a few days later, the U.S. decided it would be carrying out its own airdrops into ...

 Politico: ... Still, rooting out Hamas and helping bring the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s hostages home remain key goals for the White House. So too is getting aid flowing to starving Gazans in the war-torn exclave, he told Bartiromo. “That’s what we’re working towards, and we’re going to keep working with our allies in the region to make that happen,” Vance said. Anger at the humanitarian situation in Gaza has surged amid Netanyahu’s plans for a full-scale occupation and the increasingly dire reports of starvation throughout Gaza, which is approximately the size of the city of Philadelphia. Several key MAGA influencers who have long supported Trump are ramping up their attacks on Israel. Even the president has acknowledged “real starvation” in Gaza, while singling out Hamas for stalling an end to the humanitarian crisis by refusing to surrender. Also on Sunday, Netanyahu panned plans by the United Kingdom and France to recognize the state of Palestine, calling the discus...

 Headline USA: Israel Preparing To Escalate Military Offensive in Gaza The Israeli military is drawing up plans to escalate its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip that will soon be presented to Israeli political leadership, Haaretz reported on Sunday. There is no evidence that the Israelis are acting in a genocidal manner any more than the US and allies were engaged in genocide in Germany in WWII.  What Israel is doing is destroying the forces that murdered over a thousand Israeli civilians.  That is a legitimate goal. Hamas makes a bogus claim against all of Israel. Eyal Yakoby Hamas: “We will repeat the October 7 massacre time and again, 1M times if we need to, until we end the occupation.” Journalist: “Occupation of Gaza?” Hamas: “No, all of Israel.” Hamas is made up of Islamic bigots who think they on a mission from God.

  DC Daily Journal: ... The White House has firmly opposed an initiative by Vermont’s independent Senator Bernie Sanders to prevent the Trump administration from proceeding with specific weapons sales to Israel. According to a policy statement, President Donald Trump would veto two resolutions introduced by Sanders aimed at blocking these arms transfers. The administration contends that the proposed sales are vital for bolstering Israel’s capacity to counter and neutralize regional threats, aligning with U.S. national interests. “The Administration strongly opposes passage of S.J. Res. 34 and S.J. Res. 41, joint resolutions that would block the proposed sales of munitions and small arms to our ally Israel,” the White House document states. “If S.J. Res. 34 or S.J. Res. 41 were presented to the President, his advisors would recommend he veto the joint resolutions.” Sanders, a long-standing critic of Israel’s policies, is set to push the Senate to vote on resolutions that would halt ...

  Breitbart: Palestinians at an American-backed aid site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) cheered for the U.S. and President Donald Trump on Thursday, as millions of meals were distributed without incident. “America, very good!” one man shouted. Other Palestinians chanted, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”, in unison. Thursday marked the first day that the GHF aid sites were reopened after closing for one day on Wednesday to build up additional security measures. The sites are secured by soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who also secure the corridors that Palestinians use to access the sites. On Sunday, Hamas fired upon Palestinians trying to reach the first GHF site, and falsely claimed that Israel had killed dozens of people. (The story was duly repeated in the Western media, and later retracted by some outlets.) On Tuesday, IDF soldiers half a kilometer from an aid site fired upon a small group of Palestinians who left the corridor and moved toward the soldiers,...

  Ihab Hassan @IhabHassane INCREDIBLE: For the second day in a row, massive anti-Hamas protests continue in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Preparations are underway in Gaza for what is expected to be the largest anti-Hamas protest across the entire Strip. DOWN WITH HAMAS! 1:47 PM · May 20, 2025 · 111.6K Views