Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 277?

"If you release Abdullah Barghouti, who is serving 66 life sentences, you are releasing the next Yahya Sinwar," former senior Shin Bet official Yossi Amrosi said during a Tuesday interview where he discussed the complications of achieving a hostage deal.

Explosions were heard in Latakia, northwestern Syria, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leading to local reports of Israeli airstrikes targeting the city's port, according to Saudi network al-Hadath.

Al-Hadath also reported that the Israeli raids on Latakia coincided with the arrival of two Iranian ships to the port of Latakia, and alleged that an air defense system belonging to Iranian militias was targeted on the coast of Baniyas.

Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than decade, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.

"The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbors," Brazil's foreign ministry said on Monday in a statement.

It said Brazil, which recognizes a Palestinian state and allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010, ratified the agreement on Friday between the Mercosur trade bloc of South America and the Palestinian Authority that had been signed in 2011.

The United Kingdom’s new Labour government is expected to drop its bid to delay the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, the Guardian reported on Monday. 

The ICC has pursued warrants against Israeli leadership after allegations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza as it continues to pursue the release of hostages abducted on Oct.7 and the destruction of the Hamas terrorist group. 

State Attorney Amit Eisman wrote a letter on Monday evening about the investigation against the three suspects in the killing of the Nukhba terrorists. In the letter, Eisman wrote that correspondence was found with clear statements and descriptions regarding the manner of the killing, the reaction of the terrorists when they were beaten and before being killed, and the soldier's feeling of satisfaction upon their death.

In addition, Eisman harshly criticized those who attacked the public prosecutor's office for investigating the case, and said that "any attempt to present the public prosecutor's office as pursuing IDF soldiers - who brought this upon themselves - is shameful."

The IDF carried out precise attacks against terrorists hiding in a school in the Nuseirat area of Gaza on Monday night, the IDF announced.

Based on intelligence, the IAF struck several terrorists who were using the school as cover for terrorist activities and who were using civilians as human shields, according to the IDF.

The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) confirmed on Monday the Palau-flagged cargo vessel Verbena that was attacked by Yemen's Houthis on June 13 has been towed away from its threat area and is en route to its next port of call.

The Verbena was targeted by three missiles while it was transiting the Gulf of Aden, 98 nautical miles east of Yemen's Aden, JMIC said. Yemen's Houthi's later claimed responsibility for the attack.

As a result, the cargo vessel caught fire and the crew was unable to contain it. The vessel had taken on water after the crew was rescued and transported to safety, the US Central Command said, adding one crew member was injured as a result of the attack.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has already been fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2023, before being unfired, and has been under threat of being fired several times since then.

Still, the Jerusalem Post understands that the break between Gallant and Netanyahu over the hostages deal is different to anything prior.

Previous disagreements between the two most powerful leaders in Israel today and which broke out in public in a chaotic way involved the judicial overhaul, how much or little to crackdown on IDF reservists threatening to quit over the overhaul, how much or little to draft haredim into the IDF, and whether to use some version of the Palestinian Authority to replace Hamas in Gaza.

Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah slammed Israel in a statement on Sunday. “Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah Resistance Movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says that horrendous and unprecedented crimes committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza have awakened the conscience of people in the West,” the Iranian state media IRNA reported.

The statement came at an important time for Iranian-backed groups. Iran has a new president and these groups will be under some scrutiny now for whether they escalate tensions. This is because these groups are linked to the IRGC in Iran. The IRGC wants to show that the new president won’t affect its policies, as shown by reports already indicating Iran is moving forward with missile production facilities.