“The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Monday that it has received 50,000 expired Covid-19 vaccine doses sent by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. It blamed Israel for the fact that the vaccine’s effectiveness had expired.”

More Gaza news:

• Israeli goodwill gestures fail to hook Palestinian fishermen (Al Monitor)
• Report: Israel preparing for another round of fighting (Arutz Sheva)

“A Palestinian military court on Tuesday held the first session for the trial of suspected murderers of Palestinian activist and critic Nizar Banat in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In attendance were a team of Banat’s lawyers, representatives of human rights organizations, and media people, who were instructed not to film the court proceedings.”

Also see:

• Nizar Banat’s family says won’t attend ‘incomplete’ trial (Middle East Monitor)
• First hearing into trial of 14 security personnel charged with killing Nizar Banat postponed (WAFA)

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today that it expects to be able to visit the four recaptured Palestinian prisoners who broke out of jail last week and currently held in Israeli custody.” Also see: Palestinian prisoners to begin hunger strike to protest Israeli collective punishment (The New Arab)

“After years of resisting the ‘bitter reality’ of Israel’s occupation, last week’s prison break offered some hope to Palestinians in Jenin, says Freedom Theater’s artistic director.”

“A top political ally of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reiterated Tuesday that the premier opposes meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, despite a number of high-level contacts between Israel’s new government and the PA. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, the No. 2 in Bennett’s right-wing Yamina party, cited the PA’s pursuit of war crimes charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court and continued payment of monthly stipends to security prisoners, including those convicted of killing Israelis. ‘Abu Mazen pays money to terrorists who murder Jews,’ Shaked told the annual conference of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy at Reichman University, using Abbas’s nom de guerre. ‘He sues IDF soldiers and commanders at The Hague and therefore is not a partner. The prime minister won’t meet with him and doesn’t intend to meet with him,’ she added.” Also see: Palestinian peace hopes rise after Egypt talks (Arab News)

“United Nations ambassadors from the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain gathered at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan in New York City on Monday for an event commemorating the first anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords. The event is one of several this week marking the signing of the normalization agreements by Israel, Bahrain and the UAE in September 2020, and the most prominent in New York. In the months following the Accords’ signing last fall, Morocco and Sudan also reached normalization agreements with Israel.”

Also see:

• UAE’s al-Otaiba claims Israel normalisation deal ‘salvaged two state solution’ (Middle East Eye)
• UAE wants $1tn in business with Israel in 10 years (Arab News)
• Who do they think they are? Israel tells US to ease off Saudi, Egypt human rights (Responsible Statecraft)

“An official in the Biden administration has announced that the US is holding back some of the military aid it sends to Egypt over human rights concerns. Of the $1.3 billion of military aid the US gives to Egypt every year, $300 million is conditioned on progress being made over human rights violations. Politico reports that of this conditional $300 million, $130 million will be held back until Egypt stops prosecuting rights and civil society organisations in Case 173 and releases and drops charges against 16 people the US has asked it to since June. The $170 million portion will be sent for counterterrorism, border security, and non-proliferation. It is a step further than previous administrations where the secretary of state has overruled these conditions on the pretext of national security and sent the $300 million portion anyway. However, rights advocates were hoping the US would send a bigger rebuke to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and have described the move as inadequate.”

“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s bureau issued a statement following the prime minister’s meeting with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh stating that the two leaders discussed a long list of subjects, among them ways of deepening and strengthening cooperation between the two countries, with an emphasis on boosting trade.”

Also see:

• Israel-Egypt relations, not Palestinians, at the center of Bennett-Sisi meeting – source (Jerusalem Post)
• Sisi calls for international support to Egypt’s mediation between Israel, Palestinians (Middle East Monitor)
• Israel, Egypt leaders meet to de-escalate Gaza tensions (Al Jazeera)
• After Sissi summit, Bennett meets family of Israeli held by Hamas in Gaza (Times of Israel)
• Official: Bennett-Sissi summit paves way to bolstered bilateral ties (Israel Hayom)

“An Israeli court on Monday ordered Hamas to pay millions in compensation to the families of three teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered by members of the Palestinian terror group in 2014…The families had sought over half a billion shekels in compensation. Shurat HaDin, which filed the suit last year on their behalf, slammed the NIS 38 million awarded by the court as insufficient and vowed to appeal. ‘This is not how to deter a terror organization that has a budget of a billion dollars and continues to murder Jews and fire toward Israeli citizens,’ the legal group said in response, referring to rocket fire from Gaza at civilians in southern Israel.”

“Users of Apple products, including mobile telephones, tablets, and watches, have been urged to update their devices to protect them from Israel’s “mercenary” spyware company, the notorious NSO Group. The warning was issued yesterday by CitizenLab a day before Apple is expected to release its latest phone model…’We discovered a zero-day zero-click exploit against iMessage,’ said CitizenLab in its report. ‘The exploit, which we call FORCEDENTRY, targets Apple’s image rendering library, and was effective against Apple iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices.’ In effect, this means that all Apple devices are vulnerable to hacking by the Israeli firm.”

“The Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah, today condemned the decision of Facebook to close its Al-Awda TV channel page, saying it goes in line with the Israeli occupation efforts to silence the Palestinian media and goes in parallel with the Israeli financial, political and economic blockade policy against the Palestinian people. It warned Facebook against siding with the occupation and standing against the will of the people’s right to freedom and independence.”