5 vital stories to know this week [6/2]
Palestinians continue to be brutally murdered by the Israeli military and U.S.-made bombs as the international community condemns their actions. Here are five stories to know this week.
White House says Israel's Rafah strike and ground assault don't cross Biden's 'red line'
In the past few weeks, fire blazed from Israel’s 2,000-pound bombs, destroyed multiple Palestinian displacement camps in Rafah, and killed more than 100 innocent civilians, which were mainly women and children. The Rafah attacks, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mistake” supposedly killed two Hamas militants, and drew international criticism from leaders worldwide. The Biden administration said the attacks on the Rafah-based camps were “devastating” but did not cross the redline the president had established before Israel invaded Rafah.
Burned bodies and decapitated children were seen in videos posted by Palestinian journalists after the attacks.
TBT: White House walks back Biden’s claim he saw children beheaded by Hamas
Trump is now a felon. He can still run for President.
Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Despite Trump now being a felon, he can still run for president. But he cannot vote for himself in Florida as the state doesn’t permit felons to vote.
Biden Calls for End to Gaza War, Endorsing Israeli Cease-Fire Proposal
The Biden administration and Israel proposed a three-phase ceasefire deal, which would implement a permanent ceasefire, slowly release the hostages captured by Hamas, increase humanitarian aid, and implement a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.
Critics of Israel were quick to point out that Hamas and Qatari leaders had proposed a similar ceasefire deal a few months into the war, with a major difference being that Hamas asked for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
Experts say Israel used U.S.-made bomb in deadly Rafah strike
According to munition experts who spoke with The New York Times and CBS News, the Israeli airstrike that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah was a U.S.-made GBU-39 bomb.
"I instantly knew the housing was a GBU," Trevor Ball, who worked as an ordnance disposal tech - or bomb diffuser - for the U.S. Army for five years, told CBS News. "I've seen a lot of them in this conflict, and I've even gone back and looked at past conflicts just to get an idea of what ordinance Israel has used in the past when I started looking into this, and it's a very distinct object, the GBU. It's a very unique round."
How do we help Palestinians in need?
A social media campaign lists families seeking food or evacuation needs.