The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 7th, 2024: Israeli Tanks Take Rafah Crossing & Kremlin Agents Inside Ukraine Plot To Kill Zelensky

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    Israeli tanks have officially entered the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as Israel takes control of the Gazan side of the vital crossing to Egypt. We'll provide an update on their operations, along with ongoing ceasefire negotiations taking place in Cairo. As the war rages on against Russia, Ukrainian intelligence agents have foiled another assassination plot against President Volodymyr Zelensky, this time by two high ranking rogue colonels who were allegedly working on behalf of the Kremlin. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, we'll bring you the latest from the Israel-Khamas conflict, as Israel moves to take the Rafa border crossing, and we begin to learn more about the ceasefire agreement announced Monday by Hamas. Also, as the war rages on against Russia, Ukrainian intelligence agents have foiled another assassination plot against President Zelensky, this time by two high-ranking rogue colonels who were allegedly working on behalf of the Kremlin. But first, our afternoon spotlight.

Israeli tanks have officially entered the southern Gaza city of Rafa, as Israel takes control of the Ghazan side of the Vidal Rafa crossing into Egypt. Now, the capture of the Rafa crossing followed a series of air strikes by Israel on Hamas-related targets in the eastern part of the city on Monday evening. As we discussed earlier today on the BDB, Israel began ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians to begin evacuating Eastern Rafa on Monday to a nearby Israel decrees. declared humanitarian zone along the Gaza coast. While the development represents Israel's furthest offensive action into Rafa, which serves as Hamas' last stronghold, the IDF appears to still be in the preparation phase regarding a full-scale ground operation inside the city. Officials with the IDF

said Monday's strikes were, quote, very precise and limited in space, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. They said the strikes were intended to degrade key infrastructure, used by the Hamas militants in light of the group's rocket and mortar attack at the Israeli-controlled Keremshalom border crossing on Sunday, and that attack killed four IDF soldiers and wounded several others. During Monday's operations, the IDF reportedly killed roughly 20,000 Hamas militants. They also discovered three tunnel shafts used by the terror group. It's still unclear how long Israel's targeted operations in Rafah will last, or when Israel may mobilize a full-scale scale.

assault in the city. Officials say the campaign is designed to disrupt Hamas's supply networks and increase political pressure on the group to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages. The strikes in Rafe were briefly thrown into question on Monday after Hamas announced, much to everybody's surprise, that they had agreed to a ceasefire. Now, a skeptical Israel saw that as a ploy by the militant group, as the deal that Hamas agreed to is described, as a watered-down version of what negotiators in Cairo had presented to Israel. Israel's War Cabinet later voted to proceed with operations in Rafah, but also agreed to dispatch a team of negotiators to Cairo to, quote, exhaust all options.

The Israeli delegation, the director of the CIA, officials for Hamas and mediators from Qatar, all arrived back in Cairo on Tuesday to resume the ceasefire negotiations. A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman described the talks as, quote, indirect negotiations between the two parties, as Israel's delegation will not meet face-to-face with Hamas. So what exactly did Hamas agree to on Monday? Well, according to officials, they were briefed on the talks, Hamas proposed an initial phase that includes a 42-day truce period,

the release of 33 Israeli hostages, in exchange for Israel's release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, and the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Their plan makes room for a second phase where the pause in fighting could become a permanent ceasefire along with the withdrawal of all Israeli troops and the release of the remaining hostages. A third phase would involve exchanging bodies

and a complete end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Now, a few things worth noting. Israel has been very clear that they will not accept an agreement that involves a permanent ceasefire as that would simply let Hamas reconstitute and continue to threaten and attack Israel in the future. Hamas's proposal also differs significantly in detail from the purported terms of a deal proposed last week by Israel, which the U.S. had called extremely generous. It's likely that Hamas knew their terms would be rejected and simply wanted to paint Israel as the aggressor

ahead of their anticipated operations in Rafah. The ploy appears to have worked to an extent as governments in the Middle East are now condemning Israel's latest operations in the city. Hamas, meanwhile, used the moment as an opportunity to accuse Israel of, quote, dangerous escalation and called on the U.S. and international partners to increase pressure on Israel. Coming up after the break, two rogue colonels in the Ukrainian military working on behalf of the Kremlin have been arrested for an assassination plot against President Zelensky. And I'll be right back. Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with ebbglis. A once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema.

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steroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Ebbglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Ebbglis. Before starting Ebbglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Ebbglis and visit ebbglis.com or call 1800 LiliRX or 100545-5979. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. As President Putin was being sworn in for his fifth term as Russia's president this morning, Ukrainian intelligence agents announced that they foiled yet another attempt to assassinate Ukrainian President Zelensky.

The Ukrainian State Security Service, or SBU, reported the capture of Russian agents within the Ukrainian State Guard service. That's a unit that's similar to the U.S. Secret Service. The agents, identified as colonels in the government protection unit, were allegedly recruited by Russia before the 22 invasion in order to carry out plans to kidnap and assassinate the president and other top military and political officials. In a telegram post detailing the plot, the SPU disclosed that the infiltrators were tasked with transmitting the locations of key officials, which would then be targeted by rocket and drone strikes. According to the SBU, the operation was directly managed by three members of the Russian Federal Security Service. The two officers involved in the plot were arrested on suspicion of treason and preparation for a terrorist act, both of which carry life sentences. In addition to targeting Zelensky, the plotters allegedly planned to eliminate the head of Ukraine's security service, their military intelligence chief, and other high-ranking officials. The SBU chief said of the plot, quote,

The terrorist attack was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, end quote. Russian officials haven't commented on the news yet, but attempts on the Ukrainian president's life are, frankly, nothing new. Back in November, President Zelensky revealed that he'd survived at least half a dozen assassination attempts since the start of Russia's invasion. As we reported just last month, Polish authorities detained a man accused of collaborating with Russian intelligence to orchestrate Zelensky's assassination. That man was collecting and transmitting information about the security at one of Poland's international airports, where Zelensky

frequently enters the country for diplomatic meetings. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday, 7 May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, be sure to check out our premium membership at PDB Premium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise.

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