Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia while Hamas has sent negotiators to Cairo as talks continue over a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of more hostages. On Sunday, President Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the U.S. to halt Israel’s planned attack on Rafah.

President Mahmoud Abbas: “We hope that Israel stops doing this attack. And we call on — we call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on this Rafah attack, because America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime.”

Over the weekend, Israel repeatedly bombed areas of Rafah. In one attack, Israel killed nine members of the same family, including a baby.

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed the daughter and grandson of the prominent Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December. Shaima Refaat Alareer died Friday along with her husband and 2-month-old son. Shaima had recently written a message on Facebook addressed to her late father, writing, “I have a beautiful news for you, I wish I could convey it to you while you are in front of me, I present to you your first grandchild. Do you know, my father, that you have become a grandfather? This is your grandson Abd al-Rahman whom I have long imagined you carrying, but I never imagined that I would lose you early even before you see him.” The website Electronic Intifada reports Shaima Refaat Alareer and her family were killed while sheltering in the building of Global Communities, an international relief charity.

Police across the United States made at least 275 arrests over the weekend as campus protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza continue to spread. In Boston, police detained about 100 people after students set up a Palestine solidarity encampment on the campus of Northeastern University. The school justified the raid, citing what it called “virulent antisemitic slurs” after someone chanted “Kill the Jews” at the encampment. But video and eyewitness testimony revealed the antisemitic chant was actually done by a counterprotester holding an Israeli flag. The group Huskies for a Free Palestine said, “The only people hurling antisemitic slurs last night were Zionist counter-protestors attempting to instigate our peaceful encampment. Despite this, the university exploited this moment to lie about our encampment and justify the brutal arrest of over 100 students.”

In St. Louis, police arrested more than 80 people at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Washington University. The arrested included Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

At Arizona State University, police made around 70 arrests on Friday as they broke up an encampment on Alumni Lawn.

At Indiana University, state police arrested 33 people Friday as they broke up an encampment on the Bloomington campus.

Despite the police crackdown, campus encampments continue to spread, including at CUNY, the City University of New York.

Shak Alsogdiy: “Today we’re having an encampment in City College, City University of New York, and we are demanding that CUNY divest and be transparent with the investment. And we are demanding that students, workers of CUNY cannot be harassed, cannot be doxxed for standing up for Palestine.”

On Saturday, protesters rallied outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C. Protesters staged a die-in to honor the more than 140 journalists killed in Gaza during Israel’s assault. Protesters screamed “Shame on you” as journalists dressed in black tie attire entered the Washington Hilton. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin was violently thrown out of the hotel as she attempted to hold up a sign reading “100 Members of the Press Killed in Gaza.”

Medea Benjamin: “I was standing here quietly with this sign and got so roughed up by the security and thrown out of the hotel. … It’s quite ironic, because tonight was all about press, press freedom, and it seems like standing here with the sign is something that’s a lot worse than a hundred journalists in Gaza being killed.”

During his remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, President Biden made no mention of Gaza, but he repeatedly criticized Donald Trump, whom he called “Sleepy Don” after the former president repeatedly fell asleep during his criminal trial in New York.

The U.S. State Department has decided against placing sanctions on the Israeli military despite a finding that three Israeli units had committed “gross human rights violations” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank prior to October 7. Last week, there were press reports that the Biden administration was preparing to impose sanctions on Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish battalion, but the administration has since reversed course.

In other State Department news, Reuters is reporting some senior officials within the department have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel is not using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international law. In a memo to Blinken, the officials cite the “unconscionably high levels of civilian harm” and Israel’s “killing humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate.”

The New York Times reports the Israeli government fears the International Criminal Court may soon issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war on Gaza and for Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid. Hamas officials could also face ICC arrest warrants over the attack on October 7.

Israeli authorities arrested seven people, including a number of rabbis and Jewish American peace activists, who tried to bring aid into Gaza on Friday. We will have more on this story later in the show.

Plans for a “Freedom Flotilla” to sail from Turkey to Gaza with 5,000 tons of lifesaving aid have stalled after Guinea-Bissau decided to remove its flag from two of the vessels on the flotilla following pressure from Israel. We will speak to an organizer of the flotilla later in the broadcast.

Ukrainian troops have begun retreating from several villages in eastern Ukraine as Russia intensifies its attacks while Ukraine waits for a new shipment of arms from the United States. Over the weekend, Russian forces reportedly captured two villages in the Donetsk region. Russia has also ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s railroad system in an effort to disrupt weapons supply routes.

In political news, Arizona Republicans have named an accused “fake elector” for Donald Trump as a national committee member for the Republican National Committee. Arizona state Senator Jake Hoffman was indicted last week with 17 others in the plot to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Arizona.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has launched a probe into the recent death of Frank Tyson, a 53-year-old Black man who died after police pinned him to the ground inside a bar. Bodycam video shows Tyson repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe,” but officers ignored his pleas as he lost consciousness. The bodycam video shows police waited five minutes to check for his pulse and then another three minutes before CPR was started. One officer is heard joking, “I’ve always wanted to be in a bar fight. I don’t know if this counts.” Frank Tyson died just 12 days after being released from 24 years in prison.

In Colorado, former paramedic Jeremy Cooper has been sentenced to four years of probation with 14 months of work-release after he was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was walking home from the store when he was tackled by police, placed in a carotid hold and later injected with ketamine. In March, another paramedic, Peter Cichuniec, was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in McClain’s death.

In Australia, thousands of people took to the streets in nationwide protests demanding an end to gender-based violence. The rallies come amid a wave of violent crimes against women, including a mass stabbing in Sydney earlier this month, where five out of the six fatal victims were women. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the crowd, calling the situation a “national crisis” and an “epidemic.” This is Natalie, one of the demonstrators.

Natalie: “I think the government needs to declare this devastating thing that’s happening to women as a national emergency. Enough women have died, 26, and it’s just — it’s really, really upsetting. I think it’s a human — we shouldn’t be getting killed.”