What happened
Hamas claimed responsibility for an explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to promote a U.S.-backed cease-fire deal in Gaza. Israeli authorities said the man carrying the explosive died in the attack, near the Shimon Bar Yochai synagogue, while one bystander was injured. Hamas said it carried out the "martyrdom operation" with Islamic Jihad.
Who said what
"This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a cease-fire" in Gaza, Blinken said Monday between meetings with Israeli leaders. "Israel accepts the bridging proposal" from last week's international talks in Doha, designed to close the distance between Israel and Hamas, and "it's now incumbent upon Hamas to do the same."
There is an "increased urgency to reach a cease-fire deal amid fears of an escalation across the wider region," Reuters said. Israel accuses Hamas of "coordinating" Sunday's attack to "disrupt cease-fire negotiations," The Washington Post said. It was the first suicide bombing inside Israel since 2016, and Hamas said such operations "will resume prominently" as long as the war in Gaza continues.
What next?
Blinken is on his ninth trip to the Middle East since war broke out in Gaza following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He left Israel for Egypt later Monday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘This isn’t just semantics’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
‘People may use the same tactics for very different reasons’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The Liberal Democrats: on the march?Talking Point After winning their highest number of seats in 2024, can the Lib Dems marry ‘stunts’ with a ‘more focused electoral strategy’?
-
Should Tony Blair run Gaza?Today's Big Question Former PM is a key figure in plans for a post-war Palestine and could take up a formal leadership position
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
How Benjamin Netanyahu shaped Israel in his own imageThe Explainer He has seldom been personally popular, but ‘King Bibi’ is an exceptionally shrewd operator
-
Nadine Menendez gets 4.5 years in bribery caseSpeed Read Menendez's husband was previously sentenced to 11 years in prison
