Israel at War day 594: What's happening in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon?

The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday that a paramedic who survived an attack that killed 15 aid workers was spared because he asked Israeli soldiers for mercy in Hebrew, adding that he hoped the man's testimony would help win justice.

Assad Al-Nassasrah, a Red Crescent paramedic, survived shootings that killed 15 emergency and aid workers on March 23 in southern Gaza in an incident that drew international condemnation. Their bodies were found buried in a shallow grave a week later by Red Crescent and UN officials who accused Israeli forces of killing them.

Al-Nassasrah went missing and then was freed from Israeli detention on April 29 and has not yet publicly commented. One other paramedic survived. Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, told reporters in Geneva that Al-Nassasrah was spared after he pleaded in Hebrew and said his mother was a Palestinian citizen of Israel.

IDF control of the Gaza Strip has jumped more than 50% in recent weeks. At that pace, the IDF is well on its way to controlling the vast majority of the enclave.

Whether IDF control of Gaza will stop at about 70% or reach 100%, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a major speech on Wednesday night, is a matter of debate and interpretation.

Even before Operation Gideon’s Chariots intensified earlier this week to further defeat Hamas and take over more Gazan territory, the IDF had taken control of about 50% of Gaza since it renewed hostilities when negotiations for releasing more hostages broke down in March.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Maj.-Gen. David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service), the Prime Minister's Office announced on Thursday. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir was notified of Zini’s appointment just minutes before it was announced publicly and did not take part in the decision-making process.

The office's announcement was made despite a High Court ruling that the dismissal of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar was unlawful due to Netanyahu's conflict of interest in the "Qatargate" affair, and despite the opposition of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Israel is bringing back the entire hostage delegation team from Qatar, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

According to the sources, Israel will conduct a complete reassessment of the negotiation process. The sources clarified that Hamas is unwilling to budge from its positions, and that Israel has deemed it impossible to move forward in the current state.

A senior member of the negotiation team told The Jerusalem Post: "We are awaiting Hamas's response and will send the delegation back to Qatar as needed."

Israel's Ambassador to the European Union, Haim Regev, warned on Wednesday that the support Israel had at the beginning of the war "is no longer there."

"There is no political tsunami, but there is certainly political drift that must be addressed," he said regarding the Israel-Hamas war. 

"Europe sees the sights of horror, and it is difficult for it to deal with them," he stated.

Israel will receive a "devastating and decisive response" if it attacks Iran, Tehran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday, days after CNN reported US intelligence suggesting Israel was making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

"They are trying to frighten us with war but are miscalculating as they are unaware of the powerful popular and military support the Islamic Republic can muster in war conditions," Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said, according to state media.

Tehran and Washington will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks on Friday in Rome amid strong disagreement over uranium enrichment in Iran, which the US says is a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Iran denies any such intent.

IDF Arabic Spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning for residents across the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon on X/Twitter.

The man who killed two Israeli embassy staff outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, DC on Wednesday night is an active member of a far-left Marxist, pro-Palestine group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Following the murder of two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, DC, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, global leaders expressed condolences and condemned the attack as antisemitic. The victims held multiple citizenships and received an outpouring of support from Israeli and international officials alike.

Israeli officials condemned the shooting at the Israeli Embassy in Washington in the early hours of Thursday morning as the country was waking up.