Israel-Hamas War day 290: What is happening in Israel and Gaza?

The IDF can temporarily withdraw from Gaza to allow for the first phase of a hostage deal to move forward, top defense sources have told The Jerusalem Post, as mediating countries Egypt and Hamas have sought to finalize an agreement with the help of the United States. 

The IAF struck a Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure site in the area of Ayta ash Shab in southern Lebanon, after alerts in the Upper Galilee on Monday evening.

The Israel Defense Forces have begun operations in the area of Khan Yunis, as Division 98 attacked above and below ground Monday morning.

New footage of armed Hamas terrorists trying to take over a humanitarian aid truck delivering aid to residents of Gaza was published by the IDF on Monday. See the footage in this report.

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The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry stated on Monday that the death toll in Gaza has reached 39,006 since the war started on October 7 of last year.

A further 89,818 have thus far been wounded in the conflict, the Gazan ministry added.

The number has not been independently verified, and the ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its toll.

The Hamas-run ministry has also been repeatedly criticized for distorting casualty figures.

In May, departing from Hamas’s reported figures, the UN halved the number of women and children it had previously reported had been killed thus far in the war.

Three bills intended to cut ties between Israel and UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, are expected to pass their first reading in the Knesset plenum on Monday.

The bills are a response to claims that some members of UNWRA were also members of Hamas's armed wing, with some even participating in the October 7 Hamas massacre, and that some of the agency's infrastructure in Gaza is being used by Hamas.

The first bill, proposed by five MKs from the Likud and one from Shas, says simply that UNWRA may not "operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly," in Israel.

IDF tanks and military vehicles rolled into eastern Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon, Israeli media reported, citing Palestinian news outlets. 

The reports follow the IDF's Monday morning warning that the civilian population in the area should evacuate to an adjusted humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area. 

The IDF announced Monday the death of 76-year-old  Alexander Dancyg in Hamas captivity.

Dancyg, taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Nir-Oz, was an educator and historian who worked at Yad Vashem for nearly 30 years. He was also an advocate of Polish-Jewish dialogue, led many groups to Poland, and facilitated dialogue between Polish and Israeli youth.

Dancyg's friend and former student, Coordinator in the International Institute for Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem Naama Egozi, said he gave his students an appetite for the Polish narrative and for understanding their experience of the Holocaust, calling it one of his most unique contributions.

The IDF announced Monday the death of 35-year-old Yagev Buchshtab in Hamas captivity.

Buchshtab was taken from Nirim, a Kibbutz in the Gaza border communities, along with his wife Rimon Kirsht Buchshtab. She was released in the November hostage deal, while he remained behind in captivity. Both Buchtav and his wife worked in alternative medicine.

'A devoted husband and best friend'

Buchshtab was a "devoted husband, dog-lover, and best friend," the Hostage Families Forum said. Yagev and Rimon built their home on the Kibbutz "with love, filling it with flowers, plants, and music. It was a place filled with positive energy and good memories," they added.