ISRAELI forces moving into Gaza earlier in the war (Wikipedia/IDF).

Hours after Hamas agreed to a cease-fire deal, Israeli forces started its promised offense in Rafah, in Gaza.

The agreement proposed by Qatar and Egypt calls for a “phased release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a “gradual withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.

In addition, Israel would have to agree to release 30 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for each Israeli hostage and 50 in exchange for each female soldier.

At the same time, Israeli tanks have entered the south Gazan town of Rafah, closing to within 200 yards of the border with Egypt.

Demonstrations and protests have been held in Israel in recent days urging a deal for the exchange of prisoners.

Trump fined again; finance deals told

DONALD TRUMP (NBC Photo).

Former president Donald Trump was again fined for contempt of court on Monday for violating a “gag order” in the “hush money trail” in New York City.

Judge Juan M. Merchan warned Trump – who had criticized the prosecution and jurors – that his behavior could land him in jail. For the time being, Trump was fined $1,000, on top of an earlier $9,000 fine.

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,” said the judge. “Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.”

Testimony on Monday included a former Trump organization controller speaking of how the company reimbursed payments made allegedly to cover up embarrassing stories in the 2016 election and recording them as legal expenses.

Halos fall to Pirates; Dodgers slam Marlins

The ice-cold Los Angeles Angels are in Pittsburgh for the first of three games against the Pirates and stayed chilly with a 4-1 loss on Monday.  It was the team’s third straight loss and their ninth defeat in 11 games to see their record fall to 12-23, good for fifth place in the American League West.

Zach Neto hit his third home run of the season for the Halos’ only run. Tyler Anderson (2-4) took the loss. He worked 6.1 innings, yielding six hits and four earned runs. He struck out five and walked three.

The red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers hit four home runs in defeating  the Florida Marlins 6-3 on Monday in the first game of series. Round-trippers were hit by Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, James Outman and Teo Hernandez. It was the Dodgers’ 12th win in 14 games and improved their record to 24-13. They lead the National League West by 5.5 games over the San Diego Padres.

Weather: Here’s the warm-up

Get ready to break out the shorts and T-shirts; warmer weather is coming to our West Orange County area. Partly cloudy skies will persist through Thursday, but sunny conditions will arrive in time for the weekend. Tuesday is expected to have a daytime high of 73, with an overnight low of 56. Wednesday should warm to 76 (57), dip slightly to 75 (56) on Thursday, then rise to 77 (57) on Friday.