Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to CNN: “Israel’s statement that it will negotiate without ending the war sends a message of disinterest”. And he also declared: “The cause of the conflict between Israel and the countries of the region is the occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories. The UN should be able to provide aid. The United States’ humanitarian plan for Gaza is useless. The attacks launched this week by Israel against Gaza confirm its lack of interest in negotiations for a truce”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Netanyahu’s arrest warrant: “the Israeli Prime Minister should be able to visit Germany, we will inform you how this will be possible”.
Spain has a different opinion: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, referring to Israel, says: “We do not trade with a genocidal state”. In response, Israel has summoned the Spanish ambassador.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses French President Macron of supporting terrorism after criticizing the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Minister Ben Gvir, in response to the operation in the West Bank, said: “I call on Netanyahu to permanently restore all checkpoints in the West Bank”. According to Israeli media, dozens of Haredi Jews from the Neturei Karta (anti-Israel and anti-Zionist) movement attacked Itamar Ben Gvir and expelled him from Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, during a field inspection he conducted in the area.
The Israeli Cabinet for Security and Politics will meet next Sunday on the issue of prisoners. Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, said after his first meeting with Netanyahu since the start of the war: “I just came out of a security briefing with Netanyahu and what I can say is that a prisoner exchange is possible. We are just one government decision away from concluding the deal. I reminded the Prime Minister that he has no political problems and I will offer him a full political safety net for the prisoner deal.”
According to Israel’s Channel 12: “The Israeli government’s prisoner file coordinator, Gal Hersh, has been fired due to social media plots inciting families of Israeli prisoners to demonstrate and take action for the release of hostages.” Finally, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Nevtali Bennett: “Israel” is losing its qualitative military edge and the government is paralyzed.
On the afternoon of May 15, Hamas Leader Basem Naim also spoke: “Trump’s positive vision for de-escalation around the world will not achieve the desired goal as long as the war and genocide in Gaza continue. The movement is ready to work with everyone, including the US administration, to stop the war and start a political process to resolve the conflict and achieve an independent Palestinian state. Gaza is the exclusive property of the Palestinians and is not a building for sale. We are devoted to our land and our homeland and are willing to sacrifice everything we own for it. Only the Palestinian people have the exclusive right to choose their own path and leadership. Hamas has repeatedly stressed that it demands free and fair elections so that our people can determine their own choices, and we will respect those choices.”
Hamas wrote in a statement in Hebrew: “While the mediators are making great efforts to get the negotiations back on track, Israel is responding to these efforts with military pressure, in a desperate attempt to impose its conditions by fire. The government’s insistence on negotiating without stopping the fighting shows that it sees the truce as a means of buying time and renewing the war.”
And now an update from the military scenarios at 15:30 on May 15. Three Israeli drone and helicopter strikes targeted prefabricated homes in the border town of Hula on the night of May 15.
In Israel, Sergeant Major Igor Pivnev, an Israeli policeman who gave interviews about the clashes with Palestinian factions on October 7, 2023, was declared dead: suicide. An Algerian newspaper also reported that Israeli forces killed 12-year-old Mohammad Bardawil, one of four surviving witnesses to the IDF killing of 15 Red Crescent paramedics in Rafah on March 23.
Medical sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera: “103 people have died in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the early hours of the morning.” Home targeted in Jabalia Al-Balad, northern Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes bombed the Awda family home in Tal al-Zaatar, in Jabalia camp, northern Gaza Strip. 8 Israeli airstrikes hit the Al-Sanati area east of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Tents of displaced persons were set on fire after being bombed by Israeli warplanes in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis. A large wave of Israeli airstrikes again in the late morning of May 15 on Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza. An entire block of a residential building was targeted, along with another residential building and a supermarket.
Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s armed wing) posted online a third series of operations in Gaza, dubbed “Lions of al-Muntar.” The attacks occurred in the Shujaiyya district, in eastern Gaza City, and Al-Tuffah district. In the first operation, they fired what was likely an anti-tank projectile at an Israeli armored jeep and engaged in light-weapons clashes with Israeli forces. In the second and third operations, they targeted two Israeli tanks with anti-tank projectiles. In the fourth operation, they engaged another cell that opened fire on a building occupied by Israeli forces, with light weapons and machine guns.
The name “Lions of al-Muntar” refers to “al-Muntar Hill,” currently under Israeli control and overlooking part of the Shujaiyya district. The “Lions” part may refer to the largely dormant militant group. Group based in the West Bank city of Nablus, “The Lions’ Den”.
The IDF announced that the 16th “Jerusalem” Infantry Brigade has “completed its activity” and will be withdrawn from the Gaza Strip after a two-month deployment. They fought in the Shujaiyya and Tuffah districts in eastern Gaza City, and reportedly destroyed over 600 “infrastructures” used by Hamas. They will likely be replaced by new units being formed to strengthen and expand Israel’s clearance operations.
An Israeli airstrike targeted agricultural land east of the Al-Shakush area in the Rafah area, southern Gaza Strip.
Violence has erupted again in the small West Bank town of Tamoun, which continues to become the hub of Palestinian armed resistance in the West Bank.
A large Israeli force, including special forces, stormed the town on May 15 and attacked two separate points. The first was in a residential building, where a cell of at least 3 militants from the Tamoun Company of the Tubas Battalion (part of the Saraya al-Quds Brigades) was surrounded. Clashes broke out and the militants managed to hold out for two hours, during which several shoulder-fired “Energa” projectiles were fired at the building, setting it ablaze. Israeli forces eventually stormed the building and killed everyone inside.
The second point attacked was a cafe near the Al-Quds Open University in the center of the city. Israeli forces encountered resistance from Palestinian militants, also from Tamoun Company, who were sent to a nearby area. One arrest was reportedly made (this is unconfirmed), but the rest of the cell likely fled. In an official statement, the Saraya al-Quds Brigades said several Israeli soldiers were injured in the firefight. Israeli media reported that the bar had been turned into an improvised explosive device (IED) production and storage facility. The building was later filled with explosives that were detonated.
Reports of an attack on the Meitar checkpoint, south of Hebron. And another shooting operation by Palestinian factions in Salfit, in the West Bank. An Israeli settler was killed and two others were injured. The Israeli army has cordoned off the area and is conducting search operations to locate the perpetrator.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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