The Israeli Army claimed today that it had eliminated hundreds of alleged Palestinian militiamen in its operations in recent weeks throughout the Gaza Strip.

The armed forces placed at least 200 of these deaths in the city of Yabalia and its refugee camp (in the north of the enclave) in Division 98 operations, on the ground since May 11, according to a military statement.

On the other hand, another 130 alleged fighters died east of Rafah (south) from the entrance of Division 162, on May 7.

“So far, soldiers have eliminated more than 200 terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructures and underground tunnels from both land and air,” the Army said about the operations in Yabalia.

In Rafah they also reported the discovery of “significant tunnel routes” that are being explored and destroyed.

In addition, today it was learned that the bodies of the four Israelis recovered during the weekend in Gaza (Ron Benjamin, Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila and Shani Louk) were found in a tunnel in the Yabalia camp.

The Israeli armed forces attacked the north of the Gaza Strip again shortly after starting a criticized offensive against the southern town of Rafah on May 6.

Thus, while Israel maintains military pressure from north to south in the devastated Palestinian territory, the armed forces propose that the offensive will last at least another six months with the aim of preventing Hamas from operating as a governing body in the Strip, the Israeli media Haaretz says today.

The Israeli Army estimates that about 950,000 people have fled Rafah since the offensive began in the south, while between 300,000 and 400,000 civilians still remain in the town, where 1.4 million displaced people were overcrowded before the military entered.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) placed the number of evacuees from Rafah at 810,000 on Monday.

The Government of Hamas in Gaza, for its part, today accused the Israeli authorities of aggravating the food and health crisis in the enclave by keeping closed the crossing of Rafah to Egypt, which was taken by the armed forces shortly af starting its operation.

The closure of the border crossing for two weeks “threats to exacerbate the food security crisis, particularly in northern Gaza, and prevents the departure of thousands of injured individuals who need to be evacuated to receive treatment abroad,” Gaza authorities said in a statement.

More than 35,500 people have been killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip since October 7, and about 80,000 have been injured. In addition, it is estimated that about 10,000 bodies continue under the rubble without ambulances or rescue teams being able to access them, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Strip.

The former lawyer and right-hand man of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), Michael Cohen, acknowledged on Monday in the criminal trial against the former president who stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization.

Today was the third day that Trump’s chief lawyer, Todd Blanche, interrogated Cohen and then the Prosecutor’s Office also interrogated him again.

Cohen admitted to the prosecutor’s questions that he felt underpaid by the payment received for those services: “I got angry about the reduction of my bonus, so I felt that it was almost like self-help,” he justified himself from the stage, in statements that could contribute to undermining his credibility.

Last week, Cohen testified that Trump ordered him to pay $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels during the campaign, a porn star who claims to have had relations with Trump in 2006, and detailed how he later reimbursed him for his expenses.

Blanche tried to ‘break’ Cohen on several occasions by questioning his version and trying to cloud the schedule of the payment of the cover-up of the extramarital relationship.

That’s why he repeatedly questioned Cohen about the dates and calls of the key days on which the payments were made to the porn actress.

Cohen, Trump’s right-hand man, told how, with the tycoon’s permission, he made a payment to RedFinch, a company that was hired to manipulate an online survey on the most outstanding businessmen of the century, in order for Trump to appear in the ‘Top 10’.

The Trump Organization owed the company $50,000, but Cohen only paid $20,000 – he also did it using cash “in a brown paper bag” – and kept the rest, he explained first to the defense.

And later asked for his reasons, in this case by the prosecutor, he apologized like this from the stand: “I got angry about the reduction of my bonus, so I felt that it was almost like self-help.”

On Monday, the United States expressed its “official condolences” for the “very unfortunate” accident that killed former president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisí, and said it had no information about the causes of the accident.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller expressed his “official condolences” for the death of Raisí and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hosein Amir Abdolahian, in a helicopter crash that U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin considered “very unfortunate” in another statement.

“While Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Miller said in a statement.

In a subsequent press conference, the same spokesman defined Raisí as one of those responsible for “the brutal repression of the Iranian people for almost four decades,” including the executions of thousands of political dissidents in 1988.

“We regret any loss of life. We don’t want to see anyone die in a helicopter accident, but that doesn’t change their history,” Miller said.

The spokesman also revealed that Iran asked the United States for assistance in the search and recovery of the damaged helicopter, but did not give more details about it.

Meanwhile, at a press conference, Austin said that the United States “had nothing to do” with that accident and, when asked if Israel could be involved, he said that it will be the investigation being carried out by the Iranian authorities that sheds light on what happened.

“Regarding the death of the Iranian president in the very unfortunate helicopter accident, we continue to monitor the situation, but at this time we do not have details about the origin of the accident,” he emphasized.

Faced with the question of whether the United States would modify the deployment of its troops in the region in the face of the uncertainty generated by the death of Raisí, the head of the Pentagon ruled out changes in this regard and stated that, for the moment, they do not expect there to be an impact on the security of the region.

Raisí lost his life on Sunday in a helicopter accident, after the aircraft made a forced landing in the Varzaghan area, in northwestern Iran.

The Foreign Minister, the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, the leader of the Friday prayers of the city of Tabriz, Mohammad-Ali Ale-Hashem, also traveled on the aircraft, in addition to two pilots of the aircraft, a flight attendant, the presidential head of security and a guard.

Everyone died in the accident.

After the announcement of Raisí’s death, the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, approved on Monday that the first vice president, Mohamad Mojber, assume as interim president of the country and declared five days of national mourning for the death of Raisí and his companions.