GIVE PEACE A CHANCE: Israeli tanks and troops overnight entered the southern Gaza area of Rafah only hours after Hamas said it agreed to terms of a cease fire. The Israelis took control of the Gaza side of the crossing into Egypt in what they said was a limited operation.

  Foreign Minister Israel Katz said, “The entry of the IDF into Rafah promotes two main goals of the war, the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the new Hamas proposal did not meet Israel’s demands, but he would send a delegation to talk about an acceptable deal. All sides are expected to meet again today. Hamas wants a permanent cease-fire.

  The Hamas offer came shortly after Israel advised more than 100,000 people to evacuate from some areas of Rafah in advance of a possible incursion. The Israeli military said it was carrying out “targeted strikes” on what it called “terror targets in eastern Rafah.”

  Netanyahu is still promising to eradicate Hamas. He said in a speech Sunday night, “I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now!”

THE TRIALS OF TRUMP: Donald Trump was again yesterday found in contempt of court for violating the gag order in his Stormy Daniels criminal trial and threatened with jail once more if he continues to ignore the order.

   Trump has been ordered to stop verbally attacking witnesses, the jury, court staff and their families. He was found to have committed a 10th act of contempt when he said the following in an interview: “That jury was picked so fast. Ninety-five percent Democrats. Uh … the area is mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a purely Democrat area, It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you.”

  In addition to speaking about the jury in violation of his order, Trump has no knowledge of the jurors’ political affiliation. They were never asked.

  Judge Juan Merchan said sending Trump to jail is “the last thing” he wants to do, but it was his responsibility to “protect the dignity of the justice system.”

  In damaging testimony for Trump, the prosecution produced checks written from Trump’s personal bank account to reimburse lawyer Michael Cohen for his hush money payment to porn actress Daniels. The checks were verified by Deborah Tarasoff, the Trump Organization’s supervisor of accounts payable.

  In a critical detail, Tarasoff said that after 2015 any invoice over $10,000 had to be approved by Trump or one of his sons. 

  Earlier, Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former corporate controller, said that he had been ordered by Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer, to reimburse Cohen, who was eventually paid $420,000. The larger figure was in part to pay income taxes on the reimbursement.

  At the end of the court day Trump complained to reporters that he thought the trial was finished “today,” but he was told it might be another two or three weeks. The primary witnesses, Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, have yet to testify. “They all wat to keep me off the campaign trail, that’s all this is about,” Trump complained. “That’s all this is about. This is about election interference, how do we stop it.”

TWISTER: A tornado reported to be up to two miles wide tore through Barnsdall, Oklahoma about 40 miles northwest of Tulsa, killing one person, local authorities said. A tornado watch for five million people from Oklahoma to Missouri was still in effect overnight. At least 15 tornadoes were reported to have touched down in the plains.

  Nearly 13 million people in parts of Indiana, northern Kentucky, and western Ohio are under severe weather alerts. A severe storm system moving east is expected to hit parts of the Midwest with wind, heavy rain, and possible tornadoes.

  Nearly 13 million people in parts of Indiana, northern Kentucky and western Ohio also were warned about an enhanced risk for severe thunderstorms early today, according to the National Weather service.

ON CAMPUS: Police removed a protest encampment at the University of Chicago overnight. The university had at first tolerated the pro-Palestinian encampment before some protesters vandalized buildings, blocked walkways, destroyed a nearby installation of Israeli flags, and flew a Palestinian flag from a university flagpole.

  In Providence, Rhode Island, Pro-Palestinian protesters have now barricaded themselves inside the main administrative building at the Rhode Island School of Design.

  Out west, another 100 protesters were arrested yesterday on California campuses, bringing the total of arrests across to country to about 2,500 on 50 campuses.

  Demonstrators at UCLA were arrested attempting another sit-in. Protesters were also arrested at UC San Diego.

  Columbia University, like USC, announced that it is cancelling its main graduation ceremony 

THE OBIT PAGE: Frank Stella, an artist who abandoned abstract expressionism in the 1950s for what is known as minimalism died on Saturday at home in the West Village of Manhattan. He was 87.

  Stella’s so-called “black paintings” were simply black stripes separated by lines of blank canvas. His NY Times obituary referred to the works as “austere, self-referential, opaque” and that “they cast a chilling spell.”

  His later works called the “Protractor Series” were overlapping half-circles of bright colors.

  Pushing back against critical attempts to interpret his work, Stella used to say, “what you see is what you see.”

THE SPIN RACK: The first manned launch of Boeing’s Starliner Capsule was scrubbed yesterday because of an issue with a valve on the Atlas V rocket. Something was making a worries buzzing noise. — Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA only in November, announced that she is resigning in the best interest of her mental health. She didn’t explain the issue. — An American soldier has been detained in Russia, accused of stealing from his girlfriend.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Bakers in Suresnes, France, just west of Paris on Sunday made a record 461-foot baguette. Try walking home with that under your arm. 

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