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With help from Clea Caulcutt

The White House insists a top aide’s comment tying the release of hostages to increased humanitarian aid for Gaza was taken out of context, even though he explicitly and repeatedly made references to a direct trade.

On Friday, BRETT McGURK, the Middle East coordinator in the National Security Council, attracted attention for his suggestion that an Israel-Hamas hostage agreement could come together as part of a multi-day halt in the war.

“Such a release of [a] large number of hostages would result in a significant pause in fighting, a significant pause in fighting and a massive surge of humanitarian relief,” he said during the Manama Dialogue hosted by the IISS think tank in Bahrain. He added: “Hamas from the earliest days has said if you want the hostages returned, we need fuel, more humanitarian supplies. That’s the bargain they set.”

Critics, including former Biden administration officials, said McGurk’s statement meant the U.S. admitted to withholding much more assistance until Hamas lets many of the 200-plus hostages go.

But the White House insists that’s not the point McGurk was making. He was noting how a halt in bombings made it easier to deliver greater amounts of aid and for Palestinians in Gaza to reach packages, echoing concerns other officials have made for weeks. Throughout his address, McGurk detailed the millions in support delivered to Gaza and President JOE BIDEN’s own efforts to ensure 100 trucks enter the enclave daily.

“The United States does not support conditions on the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. We never have, and never will. Insinuating that McGurk implied this during this panel in Manama falsely characterizes what he said,” said NSC spokesperson ADRIENNE WATSON. “We have made a sustained effort to generate humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” she proceeded, “and will continue to work hard to ensure more and more aid gets in.”

Yet McGurk used different moments in his remarks to directly connect the hostage-aid issue. “The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause in fighting will come when hostages are released,” he said. Later, he added “we aim to double that amount as soon as possible and see it grow exponentially from there. But I want to just stress: the hostages are released, you will see a significant, significant change.”

Still, at no point during McGurk’s remarks or the question-and-answer portion afterward did McGurk clearly state a temporary pause in fighting would make delivering aid a less dangerous endeavor.

Human Rights Watch’s Washington Director SARAH YAGER told us the administration should clear up “what people heard [as] a deeply alarming statement.”

“Yes, a pause in fighting would clearly allow more aid, but the aid itself cannot be dependent on the release of hostages, which was the link made in his speech,” she said.

McGurk’s comments come as the U.S. works furiously to finalize the pause in fighting and hostage deal. When reporters asked Biden today if he thought an agreement was close, he said “I believe so.”

ISRAEL’S TUNNEL TRIP: Israel led a small group of journalists over the weekend to an exposed tunnel shaft in Gaza they say is crucial evidence of Hamas’ alleged operation center under the Shifa hospital.

Initial Israeli claims that weapons and ammunition found in the hospital belonged to the militant group wasn’t convincing, CNN’s OREN LIEBERMANN reports, but the shaft “was more compelling, showing an entrance to something underground. But even then, it was unclear what it was or how far down it went.”

It doesn’t quite prove there’s a massive tunnel system underneath the ground, but it shows that there could be, Liebermann writes. Hamas and health officials have denied there’s a military operation underneath the hospital.

Another hospital in the territory became a flashpoint in Israel’s ground invasion today. At least a dozen people were killed when a shell hit the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, which houses thousands of displaced people and patients, The Associated Press reports.

WORLD TOUR FOR GAZA: China welcomed the Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Indonesian and the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministers to Beijing today to discuss how to end the war as soon as possible, the AP’s KEN MORITSUGU reports.

The goal is to seek a cease-fire, work toward lasting peace, and “hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the blatant violations and crimes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank,” the Saudi foreign ministry tweeted. After China, the group will visit France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, per the AP.

Read: Biden orders top aides to prepare reprimands for violent Israeli settlers in West Bank by Alex

UKRAINE FATIGUE? France is “not worried” about America’s commitment to supporting Ukraine, despite the Israel-Hamas war and the difficulties in getting aid packages through Congress, a senior French diplomat told our own CLEA CAULCUTT.

The Biden administration has been sending “determined signals” on this issue to their French allies in recent days, said the diplomat, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.

But the French are aware of “the impact” on the approaching elections in the U.S. and believe they can “help the U.S. by showing they are taking their share of the effort” — a reference to former President DONALD TRUMP‘s attacks on U.S. funding for Ukraine, the diplomat said.

France is currently negotiating a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine, which will include long term commitments from Paris. The deal will be “ambitious” and it’s hoped it will be ready “before the end of the year,” he added.

In a sign that Washington is staying close to Kyiv, Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN made an unannounced visit to Ukraine today to push for money and weapons to continue flowing, The Associated Press’ TARA COPP and FELIPE DANA report.

Austin met with President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Defense Minister RUSTEM UMEROV and Chief of Staff Gen. VALERII ZALUZHNYI and reiterated that Kyiv defeating Moscow “matters to the rest of the world” and promised Washington would send aid “for the long haul.”

Read: Western air defenses turn Kyiv into a rare safe spot in war-torn Ukraine by our own VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA

DIGITAL INVASION HAS BEGUN: Here’s an item we left out of our Halifax Security Forum summary this weekend: a top Taiwanese official told us China’s digital invasion of the democratic island had already begun — noting a physical invasion was unlikely.

“Actual military conflict is quite unlikely, is our assessment based on different factors, but the invasion has actually already started in the digital world by China,” ROY CHUN LEE, Taiwan’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, told our own MAGGIE MILLER on the sidelines of the conference.

Integrating new AI technologies into Taiwanese defense is an essential part of Taipei’s plan to face down both physical and cyber attacks, Lee said. “Taiwan can never compete with China in terms of metal volumes of weapons, but we definitely can compete with China in terms of computing capacities.”

Lee said he is not sure Taiwan has the “upper hand” in the digital space at the moment, but added: “At least we can compete.”

Pros can read more.

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TWIN FLAMES: Rightwing libertarian JAVIER MILEI was elected as Argentina’s president on Sunday, and Trump — who he has been compared to on numerous occasions — was thrilled.

“The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “You will turn your Country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again!”

A self-described anarcho-capitalist and a former television pundit who has never held public office before, Milei campaigned on making radical changes to the country’s economy and government. That includes ditching the Argentine peso in favor of the U.S. dollar, getting rid of the central bank, shuttering government ministries and gutting public spending.

Milei was also known for waving a chainsaw above his head at political rallies, as a symbol of his promise to slash the size of the state.

Meanwhile, multiple former Trump officials are speaking out, in their view warning the public not to vote him president again, some invoking the danger to the U.S. military.

“What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he’s said the things he’s said and done the things he’s done?” former chief of staff JOHN KELLY told The Washington Post’s JOSH DAWSEY. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine and former U.S. Southern Command chief, sounded pessimistic about the chances of swaying Trump supporters. “I came out and told people the awful things he said about wounded soldiers, and it didn’t have half a day’s bounce.”

FIRED, NOW WHAT?: Officials are trying to determine the impact of seeing two prominent Ukrainian cyber defense officials fired, our own Maggie also reports (for Pros!).

Senior Ukrainian cabinet official TARAS MELNYCHUK announced Monday on Telegram that the government had fired YURII SHCHYHOL, head of Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection and VICTOR ZHORA, the agency’s deputy director for alleged embezzlement.

The officials had built up relationships with U.S. and other foreign officials over the years that now will be of little use. But if embezzlement charges against them prove true, it could be the latest sign that Ukraine’s government is making inroads in routing out corruption.

Both Shchyhol and Zhora have appeared extensively at international events, in particular Zhora, who has been a feature of global cyber conferences since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. He has often appeared at conferences alongside Western officials, including speaking on a panel at the major Black Hat conference in Las Vegas with Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

DMYTRO MAKOVSKYI, the first deputy of the agency, has been appointed to serve as the acting head of the SSSCIP, according to an agency statement. Little is known about Makovskyi, who has largely stayed in the background compared to Zhora in particular.

INDO-PAY UP: House China Select Committee Chair MIKE GALLAGHER (R-Wisc.) and six panel Republicans are pushing congressional leaders to approve $12 billion for the Indo-Pacific beyond the $2 billion Biden asked for in his $106 billion emergency aid request, our friends at Morning Defense (for Pros!) report.

In a Sunday letter to the top four leaders of the House and Senate, Gallagher and his colleagues panned Biden’s request as “wholly inadequate” to confront China.

“The Indo-Pacific, our priority theater, must not be an afterthought,” the letter reads.

The call comes just days after Biden and Chinese paramount leader XI JINPING met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit, partially in an effort to calm fears of a military confrontation in the region. It also comes amid headlines out of Congress on aid debates for Israel, Ukraine and the border, while the Taiwan portion has received less attention.

TO CONDITION OR TO NOT CONDITION: Democratic lawmakers sparred over the weekend following Alex and ERIN BANCO’s report that Senate and House Dems are considering putting conditions on future military assistance to Israel.

Conditioning aid “would help Hamas in their goal of completely annihilating Israel and the Jewish people,” Rep. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-N.J.) wrote in a Saturday statement. “Any legislation that conditions security aid to our key democratic ally, Israel, is a nonstarter and will lose scores of votes.”

Shortly after the POLITICO report, Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) called for U.S. aid to Israel to be conditioned on a change in the “military and political positions” of its government, blaming Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU’s far-right government for waging “almost total warfare against the Palestinian people.”

In Sanders’ view, aid should be contingent on a commitment to peace talks for a two-state solution and the end of the Israeli blockade or occupation of Gaza. It’s a debate that will likely play out for some time on the Hill, and is unlikely to resolve soon as the White House vocally opposed such conditions.

STOP THE LAUNCH: South Korea threatened today to resume aerial surveillance and suspend an agreement with North Korea that reduces tensions if Pyongyang launches its planned spy satellite.

“Our military will come up with necessary measures to protect the lives and safety of the people, if North Korea pushes ahead with a military spy satellite launch despite our warning,” Kang Hopil, a senior South Korean military officer, said in a televised statement, per The AP’s HYUNG-JIN KIM.

North Korea has twice failed to launch its satellite, which South Korean officials chalk up to the neighboring country waiting for Russian tech assistance. A launch could come soon, they warn, despite a U.N. Security Council ban on the regime launching satellites. If it does happen, Kang strongly hinted that the inter-Korean military agreement on easing front-line tensions created five years ago could be voided.

ICYMI — Former Trump adviser O’Brien slams Biden for attacks on U.S. troops in Syria, Iraq by our own LARA SELIGMAN

— The Center for a New American Security brought on AKIRA IGATA and MICHELLE HOLKO as adjunct senior fellows for the Indo-Pacific security program and the technology and national security programs, respectively. Igata is director of the economic security research program at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, and Holko is a scientist and strategic innovator working on topics including biology, technology and security.

— Zelenskyy replaced Maj. Gen. TETIANA OSTASHCHENKO as commander of the Armed Forces Medical Forces, calling for a “fundamentally new level of medical support for our soldiers,” Reuters’ RON POPESKI and OLEKSANDR KOZHUKHAR reported Sunday.

— KATHY GILSINAN, POLITICO: ‘I’m not waiting around for them to do something’

— JILL GOLDENZIEL, Bloomberg: How a Gaza hospital became a military target

— ALI AWAD, The New York Times: Many West Bank Palestinians are being forced out of their villages. Is my family next?

— The Wilson Center, 10 a.m.: The world in wartimes

— The Middle East Institute, 11:30 a.m.: Escalating Israeli violence and extremism in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who never says what she means, and never means what she says.

We also thank our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, who delivers every syllable with virtuosic precision.