Fdd's overnight brief

Israel

The Israeli military on Sunday said that it plans to capture 75% of the Gaza Strip within two months and push Palestinian civilians into just a quarter of the Strip’s territory as part of a new effort to rid Gaza of Hamas. – Wall Street Journal

Fifteen World Food Program trucks carrying aid were looted overnight in Gaza, the U.N. agency said Friday, underscoring the insecurity and desperation more than two months into Israel’s blockade on food, water and aid to the shattered enclave. – Washington Post

Several of Israel’s top allies and trading partners said this week that they would reconsider trade arrangements with the country over humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, amid an acute humanitarian crisis. – Washington Post

Israel has launched more than 700 attacks on Syria in the months since Islamist rebels toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad, one of them a recent airstrike that landed just feet from the presidential palace in Damascus. – New York Times

A Palestinian official said on Monday that Hamas has agreed to a proposal by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, only for an Israeli official to deny that the proposal was Washington’s and add that no Israeli government could accept it – Reuters

A U.S.-backed foundation tasked with supplying aid to Gaza said it began operations on Monday, delivering truckloads of food to designated distribution sites following uncertainty about whether any assistance had reached civilians. – Reuters

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it intercepted a missile and a projectile in separate launches from Yemen toward Israel. – Reuters

The Palestinian delegation won the right to fly their flag at the World Health Organization after a symbolic victory in a vote on Monday that its envoy hopes will lead to greater recognition within the United Nations and beyond. – Reuters

Hamas has executed four men for looting some of the aid trucks that have begun entering Gaza, sources familiar with the incident said on Monday, as a clan leader in southern Gaza issued a challenge to the militant group over guarding the convoys. – Reuters

Global airlines have again halted flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels towards Israel on May 4 landed near the country’s main international airport, and as Israel continues to carry out strikes across the Gaza Strip. – Reuters

The head of a U.S.-backed private humanitarian organization tasked with distributing aid in Gaza through an Israeli-initiated plan resigned on Sunday, saying he could not abandon principles of humanity, impartiality and independence. – Reuters

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel in an attack by Yemen’s Houthis. – Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the leaders of France, Britain and Canada of wanting to help the Palestinian militant group Hamas after they threatened to take “concrete action” if Israel did not stop its latest offensive in Gaza. – Reuters

Prime Minister Netanyahu is indicating Monday that a deal for a Gaza cease-fire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages could be close at hand. President Trump a day earlier also hinted at progress in talks to end a war that on Wednesday will mark its 600th day. – New York Sun

One of Hamas’ top three sources of funding is the U.K., where it is a banned terrorist organization, an investigation from Israel’s Channel 12 found. That funding includes 25% of Hamas’ donors from non-state actors, as well as tens of millions of dollars from the government of the U.K. to a UNICEF program whose beneficiaries are determined by Hamas. – Jewish Insider

Intensive negotiations are reportedly ongoing regarding an agreement for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to Arab sources in discussions with an Egyptian television channel. – Arutz Sheva

The IDF on Monday afternoon issued a widescale evacuation order in Arabic, ordering residents of the Khan Yunis District, Bani Suheila, Abasan, and Al-Qarara in southern Gaza, calling on them to immediately evacuate westward to the Al-Mawasi area. – Arutz Sheva

The Haifa District Attorney’s Office has filed a significant indictment against three Arab residents of Arara, accusing them of planning a terrorist attack in Israel as part of the ISIS terror organization. – Arutz Sheva

Brigadier General Yitzhak Brik writes: While Egypt has not formally renounced the Camp David Accords, Cairo is effectively distancing itself from the treaty. The IDF is woefully unprepared to confront that possibility should Cairo pivot to open hostilities. A major part of the threat lies in Israel’s poor intelligence coverage of developments in Egypt, with most of Israel’s top intelligence officers focused elsewhere, leaving Egypt and Sinai largely unmonitored. – Jerusalem Post

Neville Teller writes: The half-formalized FTA aimed to modernize and expand the bilateral trade framework to cover areas such as digital trade, cybersecurity, med-tech, green energy, artificial intelligence, intellectual property rights, fintech, optics and lasers, aerospace and defense, sustainability, and government procurement. Without the developmental boost that the FTA was calculated to provide, growth in these hi-tech areas, in which Israel is a world leader, will certainly slow down. The UK, no less than Israel, will lose out. And so will the world at large. – Jerusalem Post

Barak Sella writes: The Israel-US relationship has always rested on two pillars: effective political organizing by American Jews and smart Israeli strategies that align with core American interests. Today, those systems are out of sync, creating a dangerous vulnerability. But if both can recalibrate and recommit to the shared project of alignment with American interests, they won’t need to beg for a seat at the table. They will help design it. – Jerusalem Post

Russia and Ukraine

Russia launched its largest-ever drone-and-missile assault on Ukraine overnight into Monday, according to Ukrainian officials, defying President Trump’s calls for an end to the bombardment. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump issued a strong rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin after Moscow stepped up missile-and-drone assaults on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other regions in attacks that killed at least 12 people. – Wall Street Journal

Kyrylo Horbenko was 16 years old in the summer of 2023 when he and two dozen of his male friends walked into an army recruitment office in east Ukraine and announced they wanted to fight Russian troops on the front lines. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump is eyeing sanctions against Moscow this week as he grows frustrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued attacks on Ukraine and the slow pace of peace talks, according to people familiar with Trump’s thinking. – Wall Street Journal

Large-scale Ukrainian drone attacks have rattled multiple Russian regions for the third consecutive day, grounding flights, disrupting internet access and stretching the country’s air defense systems thin. – Washington Post

Andrii was one of 390 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians released from Russian captivity Friday who returned home as part of the largest prisoner swap of the war so far — 1,000 prisoners are expected to be released on each side. – Washington Post

Ukraine has confirmed information that China is supplying a range of important products to Russian military plants, the chief of Ukrainian foreign intelligence was quoted on Monday as saying. – Reuters

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said any decision by European countries that might give Ukraine enhanced long-range missile capabilities would be a dangerous move, Kremlin correspondent Alexander Yunashev reported. – Reuters

Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member, three senior Russian sources told Reuters. – Reuters

The Kremlin on Monday rejected claims of Russian involvement in arson attacks on houses and a car linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and said that London repeatedly saw the hand of Moscow behind anything bad that happened in Britain. – Reuters

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia needs to strengthen its position in the global arms market by increasing exports of weapons. – Reuters

Hryhoriev is one of more than 200 Ukrainian POWs who have died while imprisoned since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago. Abuse inside Russian prisons was likely a contributing factor in many of these deaths, according to officials from human rights groups, the U.N., the Ukrainian government and a Ukrainian medical examiner who has performed dozens of POW autopsies. – Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to travel to Berlin Wednesday for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to a person familiar with his plans. – Bloomberg

The Kremlin Monday brushed aside President Donald Trump’s criticism of Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as an “emotional reaction” and defended the deadly campaign of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine. – Bloomberg

David Ignatius writes: Sometimes diplomatic history is ambiguous. But the results of the Ukraine negotiations are crystal clear. Russia, the aggressor, has refused to stop fighting until it gets what it wants. And Trump, the attempted peacemaker, has so far let Putin get away with it. Unless Trump finally delivers on his threats, he has folded his hand on what could be the most damaging failure of his presidency. – Washington Post

Turkey

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul on Sunday and said the two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defence, energy and transportation, Erdogan’s office said. – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. – Reuters

President Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during talks in Istanbul on Saturday that Turkey welcomed the U.S. and EU decisions to lift sanctions on Syria, the Turkish leader’s office said. – Reuters

Gulf States

A Saudi official denied on Monday media reports saying the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, would lift its 73-year-old ban on alcohol, which is prohibited for Muslims. – Reuters

Russia is in advanced talks with Bahrain over a three-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) agreement under which Moscow would supply the Gulf kingdom with 1.5 million metric tons of the fuel, according to three sources close to the matter. – Reuters

Human Rights Watch on Sunday accused Qatar of discriminating against the Baha’i religious minority, citing arbitrary detentions and warning of a threat to the community’s survival in the Gulf state. – Agence France Presse

Eran Lerman writes: Other issues that are vital to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the US, such as maritime security in the Red Sea and economic and technological collaboration, would greatly benefit from strategic cooperation, even without full normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. What’s at stake here is the entire regional balance of power. Saudi-Israeli collaboration is critical, not only for Israel’s long-term security but also for a Middle East strategy that will harness military strength to diplomatic goals and increase stability across the Middle East. – Jerusalem Post

Korean Peninsula

Three senior North Korean officials were detained over the failed launch of the country’s newest warship, an accident that has drawn the wrath of leader Kim Jong Un and been called an unpardonable crime. – Wall Street Journal

The North Korean navy’s botched launch of a brand-new destroyer this week revealed a key vulnerability for leader Kim Jong Un: His massive military is woefully equipped. – Wall Street Journal

South Korea’s liberal frontrunner for president Lee Jae-myung was leading his main conservative rival Kim Moon-soo by more than 10 percentage points in an opinion poll issued on Tuesday, though the race had tightened a week ahead of the election. – Reuters

North Korea’s foreign ministry has criticised the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense shield project as a “very dangerous threatening initiative”, state media said on Tuesday. – Reuters

South Korea’s liberal presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said on Monday he would pursue the restoration of communication between Seoul and North Korea, including via a military hotline if elected. – Reuters

South Korea’s political crisis has ignited bipartisan calls for constitutional amendments to reshape the power of the president, an issue hotly debated ahead of the June 3 snap election. – Reuters

South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung said on Sunday the deadline to reach a deal with the U.S. on President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs needs to be reconsidered to find a mutually beneficial agreement between the two allies. – Reuters

South Korea has expressed concern to China over its establishment of a no-sail zone in a provisional maritime area, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. – Reuters

South Asia

The Indian and Pakistani militaries have deployed high-end fighter jets, conventional missiles and artillery during decades of clashes, but the four days of fighting in May marked the first time New Delhi and Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles at scale against each other. – Reuters

Primary school teachers in Bangladesh joined public sector workers in protests against the interim government on Monday amid growing discontent and political uncertainty in the South Asian country. – Reuters

The Taliban administration is in advanced talks with Russia for banks from both sanctions-hit economies to settle trade transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars in their local currencies, Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister said. – Reuters

Pakistan and India have extended airspace restrictions for each other’s aircraft in tit-for-tat moves, both countries said on Friday, amid continuing diplomatic tensions between the neighbours after a brief military conflict this month. – Reuters

India will discuss with security agencies IndiGo’s codeshare and leasing pacts with Turkish Airlines and decide on further action, its civil aviation minister said on Friday. – Reuters

Dire humanitarian conditions in Myanmar and Bangladesh are driving more Rohingya to risk dangerous boat journeys to safety, such as one this month that ended in a sinking and estimates of 427 deaths, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday. – Reuters

Foreign ministers of Canada and India held a phone conversation on Sunday in their highest-level contact since Prime Minister Mark Carney took office, as both nations seek to repair strained ties. – Bloomberg

Two weeks after pulling back from the brink of all-out war, India and Pakistan are now racing to win over global opinion. – Bloomberg

Europe

At the crack of dawn, a dozen U.S. Marines recently took position in a field on this sleepy Swedish island about 200 miles from the Russian city of Kaliningrad and fired their mobile rocket system. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump’s surprise tariff threat against the European Union came in the midst of deepening frustration on his economic team over the 27-nation bloc’s approach to taxes, regulations and China. – Wall Street Journal

Liverpool police detained a man in connection with an incident in which a car was driven through a crowd as thousands celebrated Liverpool’s soccer championship Monday on the city’s streets, sending the celebration into chaos. – Washington Post

E.U. officials said they would speed up trade talks with the United States on Monday, just days after President Donald Trump claimed the nations were dragging their feet in negotiations. – Washington Post

Sweden’s foreign ministry will summon Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm to protest against a lack of humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday. – Reuters

Swiss authorities said on Sunday they were exploring whether to open a legal investigation into the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organisation that plans to oversee aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave. – Reuters

Germany’s Chief of Defence, Carsten Breuer, has ordered the German military to be fully equipped with weapons and other material by 2029, a document seen by Reuters on Sunday shows. – Reuters

Finland’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned Russia’s Helsinki ambassador over a suspected violation of Finnish airspace that took place last week. – Reuters

Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar walked across the border to Romania on Saturday after a week-long journey, in a attempt to win support of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania and appeal to conservative voters in the run-up to the 2026 elections. – Reuters

North Macedonia wants to discuss with Bulgaria matters that block its path to European Union membership during next month’s NATO summit and hopes top EU and NATO officials can also attend such a meeting, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Friday. – Reuters

Tens of thousands of Poles took part in dueling patriotic marches in Warsaw on Sunday, led by the two men vying for the presidency in a June 1 runoff election which is expected to be both close and consequential for the nation’s future. – Associated Press

French authorities believe arson may have played a role in a power outage Saturday in southeast France that threatened to jeopardize the Cannes Film Festival’s closing celebrations, including the much-anticipated Palme d’Or ceremony. – Associated Press

The international community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the Gaza war, Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday, as European and Arab nations gathered in Madrid to urge an end to the IDF’s offensive. – Agence France Presse

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed the alliance will seek to adopt a new defense spending target of 5% of GDP at a June summit, meeting a demand by US President Donald Trump that had originally seemed unrealistic. – Bloomberg

The EU wants to work more closely with the U.K. on defense. That doesn’t mean the bloc is going to make it easy for the Brits. –  Politico

The European Commission is set to approve Poland’s request to shift almost €6 billion in EU post-Covid funding from green projects to defense, one EU and one Polish government official told POLITICO. – Politico

Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip on Monday in unusually strong terms for a German leader. – Politico

Amid a surge in antisemitic incidents across Europe, anti-Israel demonstrators targeted synagogues in Poland and Switzerland over the weekend, heightening fears of further violence following last week’s antisemitic shooting in Washington, DC. – Algemeiner

Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela announced on Sunday that his country is set to officially recognize the “State of Palestine” next month, a move that would end over four decades of the island nation’s hesitation on the matter. – Arutz Sheva

Latin America

Venezuela’s autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, on Sunday staged regional elections across the country — and, controversially, to elect a governor and legislators to represent a disputed oil-rich region internationally recognized as a part of neighboring Guyana. – Washington Post

Suriname’s ruling party and its top opposition rival won almost the same number of parliamentary seats in an election on Sunday, setting the stage for complex coalition negotiations that will determine who becomes the country’s next president. – Reuters

Peru’s economy ministry said in a statement on Monday that the country will seek a high-level meeting with China and Brazil to advance a planned bi-oceanic railway project. – Reuters

The U.S. has more sanctions in store for Cuba, the U.S. top diplomat in Havana said on Friday, just days after the U.S. punished several Cuban judicial officials for their roles in jailing political dissidents on the island nation. – Reuters

Antonio Costa, head of the European Council that represents the 27 EU countries, will travel to Brazil from May 27-May 29 to strengthen partnerships and investment ties between the European Union and Brazil. – Reuters

Five Venezuelan opposition figures who had taken refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas for over a year appeared in public Saturday for the first time since leaving the diplomatic compound. Now in the United States, they described their flight from Venezuela as part of an “unprecedented” and ongoing rescue operation. – Associated Press

Noboa, 37, who wore a presidential sash over his chest, was sworn in alongside his Vice President María José Pinto and their terms will run until May 2029. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa was officially sworn in on Saturday following his reelection for another four-year term early this year. – Associated Press

Argentina’s President Javier Milei is headed to Israel. Milei was awarded the $1 million Genesis Prize in January in recognition of his support of Israel. After he postponed a planned visit in March, he is now set to receive the prize in a ceremony at Israel’s Knesset on June 11 and deliver a speech to the Israeli parliament. – Associated Press

United States

More than 100 National Security Council officials have been removed from their roles or detailed back to their agencies, part of a broader restructuring process under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also serving as interim national security adviser. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump used every lever of power available to muscle a massive tax bill through the House, showing his iron grip on the Republican Party four months into his second term. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump aims to accelerate the slow-moving nuclear power industry through a series of executive orders signed Friday. – Wall Street Journal

For Rabbi Ruth Balinsky Friedman, who teaches Jewish text at a D.C.-area high school, the killings of two Israeli Embassy workers this week have deepened the isolation she’s felt as an American Jew in recent years. – Washington Post

The suspect in the killings of two Israeli Embassy workers in Washington on Wednesday shouted “Free, free Palestine” as he was arrested, chanting the same slogan, in the same cadence, that has rung out in pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses and on American streets for years. – New York Times

An American man was arrested Sunday after allegedly plotting to throw Molotov cocktails at a branch office of the US embassy in Israel, according to the US Justice Department. – CNN

Pro-Israel leaders in the United States on Thursday connected the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington to the anti-Israel advocacy seen on the political extremes throughout the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, characterizing it as a culmination of such rhetoric and, in some cases, the failure of some politicians to denounce it. – Jewish Insider

One of two Harvard students who assaulted a Jewish classmate during an anti-Israel protest in October 2023 has been appointed as class marshal by Harvard Divinity School at the upcoming graduation ceremony. – Jerusalem Post

Colbert I. King writes: That there has been a spike in antisemitism and Islamophobia since Oct. 7 goes without question. And vilifying rhetoric portraying the opposition as evil and rapacious hardly encourages an end to the anti-isms that plague this world of ours. But is the cold-blooded shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum the culmination of months of intense protests worldwide in support of both Israelis and Palestinians? Or the result of a sick and delusional mind at work? – Washington Post

Tuly Weisz writes: It’s time for us to recognize that the fight against antisemitism cannot be won by ourselves. The Jewish people are blessed to have an ally like the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther in our corner. They didn’t have to prioritize antisemitism, but they chose to. – Jerusalem Post

Defense

The Air Force C-130 transport plane dipped down on the sun-baked airfield of this remote island in the northern Philippines, delivering a weapon system designed to give the U.S. an edge in the intensifying superpower standoff in the Pacific. – Wall Street Journal

Pentagon leaders opted to boost the existing contract ceiling for Palantir Technologies’ Maven Smart System by $795 million to prepare for what they expect will be a significant influx in demand from military users for the AI-powered software capabilities over the next four years, officials familiar with the decision told DefenseScoop this week.  – Defense Scoop

The Pentagon is sending 1,115 additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border from over half a dozen units across the different services in support of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, the military announced Thursday. – Military.com

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken yet another step to curtail the work of the press inside the Pentagon by imposing harsh restrictions on where reporters can go without official escort in a memo released late Friday. – Military.com

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will travel to the Shangri-La Dialogue, the largest defense conference in Asia, where he will deliver a speech on the Pentagon’s approach to the region under the second Trump administration. – Defense News

Drew FitzGerald and Micah Maidenberg write: U.S. missile programs are prone to cost overruns. Building a smaller-scale missile defense shield in Guam has already topped $8 billion because of high construction costs and challenges integrating land- and sea-based systems that rely on separate command-and-control systems. – Wall Street Journal