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The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
UK anti-Israel Labour MPs barred from entering Israel after airport interrogations
Two British parliament members who support anti-Israel policies were denied entry to Israel today, according to the population authority.
The Labour Party MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, were barred entry after questioning revealed that the purpose of their visit was “to document Israeli security forces and spread hateful rhetoric against Israel,” the population authority writes in a statement.
Mohamed and Yang landed in Israel at 2:30 p.m. on a flight from Luton, England, along with two of their aides.
While being interrogated, the two MPs — who both call for boycotting Israel — claimed to arrive as part of an official delegation on behalf of the UK parliament, but the claim was found to be false as no Israeli entity verified the arrival of such a delegation.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, therefore, decided to deny entry to all four individuals “in accordance with the law and ordered their removal from Israel,” says the population authority.
Levin calls for government to boycott Shin Bet chief if High Court invalidates firing
Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, on January 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Justice Minister Yariv Levin calls for the government “to stop cooperating” with Shin Bet head Ronen Bar if the High Court of Justice invalidates the cabinet’s decision to fire the spy chief.
“I think we need to do exactly what we did with [Supreme Court President Isaac] Amit: Don’t cooperate with him, don’t work with him,” Levin tells Channel 14.
Settlers raid Palestinian village in southern West Bank, leave before cops arrive
Around a dozen armed settlers raid the Palestinian village of Tuba in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills.
Police were dispatched to the scene but only arrived after the settlers left, according to locals.
The goal of the raid was to try to provoke Palestinian locals into providing a “pretext” to attack them, says the Israeli Beyond the Herd activist group, which works in solidarity with Palestinians in the southern West Bank who face regular attacks from settler extremists.
One of the settlers involved in today’s raid is Issachar Manne, a US citizen who was sanctioned by the Biden administration due to his involvement in attacks on Palestinians. Manne and another US citizen filed a lawsuit against the sanctions that was pending when the Trump administration scrapped them altogether upon taking office.
Tuba is one of a group of Palestinian villages located in Masafer Yatta, which was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary on settler violence and IDF demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. Since the movie gained notoriety, villagers have faced an uptick in settler attacks.
Locals say the attacks are designed to intimidate Palestinians into fleeing their land and that they are backed by the state, which rarely prosecutes such incidents.
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כעשרה מתנחלים, בניהם יששכר מן הבעלים של המאחז משק מן, פלשו היום לכפר טובא כשחלקם חמושים, ונכנסו לחצרות הבתים. המשטרה דאגה להופיע ברגע שהמתנחלים עזבו את המקום. https://t.co/Bop7BdzLNJ pic.twitter.com/IE3OwcxUXg— מחוץ לעדר (@masafering) April 5, 2025
Thanking Trump for invite, PM says Israel-Turkey ties to also be discussed at White House meeting
US President Donald Trump listens as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will discuss the trade tariffs Washington imposed on Israel during their meeting on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
They will also discuss efforts to reach a hostage deal, Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat, and confronting the International Criminal Court, says the PMO in a statement.
“The prime minister appreciates the personal and warm relationship with President Trump,” the statement continues, “and thanks him for inviting him to be the first leader to meet with him after the imposition of global tariffs, just as he was also the first leader to meet with him after entering the White House.”
Netanyahu will likely fly back to Israel from Washington on Tuesday morning.
Court agrees to cancel Monday hearing in Netanyahu’s graft trial so he can visit US
Lawyer Amit Hadad speaks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the courtroom of Tel Aviv District Court, March 31, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
The Jerusalem District Court agrees to cancel Monday’s scheduled hearing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his criminal trial due to his upcoming trip to the US but refuses to cancel Wednesday’s hearing.
Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad told the court on Saturday night that US President Donald Trump has invited the prime minister to the White House, where they would discuss efforts to secure a hostage release agreement, the tariffs Trump imposed on Israeli goods and the current combat operations in Gaza.
Hadad told the court that the meeting with Trump will take place on Monday but that Netanyahu will meet with other administration officials — possibly Tuesday morning, and therefore requested that both the Monday and Wednesday hearings be canceled.
The court agrees to cancel Monday’s hearing, but says it sees no reason to cancel the session on Wednesday. It also orders Netanyahu to testify three times in the week beginning April 20 instead of twice to make up for the canceled hearing.
The State Attorney’s Office issues an angry letter to the court following the decision, accusing Hadad of lying over the arrangements of the visit.
The State Attorney’s Office says that Hadad had told it that Netanyahu would only be able to return from the US on Wednesday and therefore would not be able to testify in either hearing.
The office states, however, that after it sent a response to Netanyahu’s request, Hadad told the court that the premier would have his last meeting at the latest on Tuesday morning, something it omitted to tell the prosecutors.
“The behavior of the attorney for defendant number one is unacceptable,” the State Attorney’s Office says, requesting that it be able to file its responses to future such requests directly to the court.
Hostages and Iranian nuclear threat said to be high on the agenda for PM’s sudden DC trip
US President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive for a news conference in the East Room of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hurriedly arranged trip to see President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday was scheduled in part amid concerns regarding the war against Hamas in Gaza and the collapse of the hostage-ceasefire deal, and for consultations regarding Iran, Channel 12 reports.
It says Netanyahu will indeed discuss Trump’s new trade tariffs, and attempt to reverse the 17% tariff imposed on Israeli goods, but also reports that Israel fears that the US is “losing interest” in the hostage issue. Channel 12 also says Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Washington, and the Israeli hope is that negotiations can be revived.
Backed by Witkoff, Israel has sought to secure an extended first phase of the deal signed in January under which more living hostages would be released, rather than entering the second phase of the deal, under which Israel would be obligated to end the war.
In Budapest on Friday, a “senior official” on Netanyahu’s visit said it would be impossible to restart the war once Israel committed to ending it since Hamas would seek irrevocable guarantees, including a UN Security Council resolution.
As regards Iran, the report said Israel is anxious that, with Trump declaring a readiness to negotiate a new deal designed to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, Israel’s essential interests would be taken into account. If there is no new negotiation, and with the US sending forces to the region, then Israel needs to coordinate with the US on a potential attack, the report says.
PM, coalition bash Shin Bet over tape of officer saying settler ‘shmucks’ held without evidence
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of his hard-right coalition lash out at the Shin Bet after the Kan public broadcaster publishes a recording of the chief of the security agency’s Jewish Division saying that radical settlers youths were arrested and held without evidence.
In the tape, Cdr. Avishai Mualem — a senior officer in the police’s West Bank division who is suspected of ignoring Jewish nationalist attacks to curry favor with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — speaks with the Shin Bet official, who can only be identified by the Hebrew initial “Aleph.”
The broadcaster does not specify when the recording was made. In November, Defense Minister Israel Katz declared the end of the use of administrative detention against West Bank settlers, and in January released those being held without charges.
The recording aired by Kan begins with Mualem and the Shin Bet officer discussing where to hold some Jewish detainees as they wait for the defense minister to sign off on the administrative detention orders.
“Right,” Aleph says in response to Mualem’s suggestion that they be put in holding cells. “We always want to arrest them for interrogation, as much as possible.”
“You see how they deal with Shin Bet investigations. We arrest these shmucks without evidence for a few days,” adds the Shin Bet officer.
In response to the recording, the Shin Bet says the conversion “solely addressed lawbreakers suspected of violence, who took the law into their hands.”
The statement nevertheless says the “the content and style of the remarks that were said do not suit the values and professional conduct of the agency,” and that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will examine the matter.
“Arrests of Israeli citizens who are suspected of terror activities are done after professional considerations are exercised and a careful examination of the intelligence material… and is again examined with outside and independent judicial criticism by the court,” the statement adds.
A statement from the prime minister’s office calls “the shocking recording… a substantive threat to democracy.”
“Only in dark regimes does the secret police act in this dangerous way,” adds the statement from the premier, who is currently working to oust Bar amid the so-called Qatarqate probe into Netanyahu’s aides’ allegedly illicit ties with Qatar.
Mom, sister of slain captives slam PM over renewed fighting: No more hostages ‘should pay’ with their lives
Merav Svirsky, sister of slain hostage Itay Svirsky, tells some 1,000 anti-government protesters at the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters that it’s “insane and insufferable, and painful to the spirit and soul and body, that I paid the dearest price because of this government of destruction and its head,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“He’ll do anything to preserve his rule,” she says. “And if that’s not enough, today we also know that ‘diplomatic source'” — reportedly Netanyahu’s pseudonym in press statements from his office — “is sometimes Qatari public relations posing as a diplomatic source,” adds Svirsky, alluding to recent revelations from the criminal investigation of alleged criminal ties between Hamas-backer Qatar and top aides to Netanyahu.
“Not another hostage should pay with their life for the criminal conduct of the government and its head,” she says. “Enough of all this unnecessary death. Instead of destructive revenge, we must go back to sanctifying life.”
Maayan Sherman, whose soldier son Ron Sherman was killed in an Israeli airstrike while in Hamas captivity, says that “along with Ron, 40 hostages have been murdered or killed because of this abandonment, while the government of Israel is busy with the insanity of the judicial overhaul.”
“Despite all the pain, I refuse to give up hope,” she says. “We’re here to remind everyone what responsibility is, what guilt is, what compassion is and what moral duty is.”
The Begin Road protest is bolstered by participants from an earlier anti-government demonstration at Habima Square.
As they marched up Kaplan Street toward Begin, the demonstrators passed dozens of left-wing activists standing in silence on the side of the road, clutching pictures of Palestinian children slain in Gaza.
One of the marchers yells at the activists, “Put up a picture of Bibas,” referring to young brothers Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were killed in Hamas captivity along with their mother Shiri.
Second businessman questioned in Qatargate probe identified as David Saig
The second businessman questioned under caution in the Qatargate investigation is revealed to be David Saig, after a court gag order on publishing his name was lifted this evening.
Saig is an Israeli citizen involved in consultancy work including in Gulf states, and previously worked in one of Israel’s security agencies, according to Haaretz.
An attorney for Saig says after he was released following his interrogation that the businessman is “a law abiding citizen” who “has no connection to the suspicions being investigated in the affair.”
Gil Birger, another Israeli businessman, was also investigated last week over his role in having transferred money to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military spokesperson Eli Feldstein for work Feldstein did for pro-Qatar lobbyist Jay Footlik to improve Doha’s image in Israel.
Feldstein was released to house arrest on Friday after being arrested on March 31 for his alleged involvement in the affair, while an appeals court ruled that Jonatan Urich, another aide to Netanyahu and key suspect in the scandal who was arrested at the same time as Feldstein, be kept in detention until Monday.
Ex-captives slam renewed fighting in Gaza, demand return to hostage-ceasefire deal
Freed hostage Gadi Mozes addresses a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, April 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Liri Albag and Gadi Mozes, who were released from Gaza captivity as part of the now-defunct ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, slam the resumption of hostilities in the enclave during speeches at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
Albag, a surveillance soldier abducted from the Nahal Oz base during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, says that “every return to fighting endangers the hostages.”
“Whenever the air force strikes, they’re the first ones to pay the price,” she says.
After the collapse of the first truce-hostage deal in November 2023, “I also collapsed,” says Albag. “I remember that moment — one moment where everything that kept us going shattered.”
“We are a nation that sanctifies life, not death. We’re a nation that builds, not a nation that destroys. We’re a nation that fights only to rescue and protect!” she says.
“This week is Passover — the festival of freedom. But what kind of freedom is it when 59 people are still in Hamas hell?” adds Albag.
“I remember Passover there — a sad holiday,” she says. “We were depressed. We were enslaved.”
Mozes, an 80-year-old farmer abducted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Kibbutz Nir Oz, demands the government “end the war, withdraw the military from the Strip, and carry out the second stage of the deal that Israel signed” but refused to negotiate during the 42-day first phase that expired on March 2.
“We have no time. The earth is burning under our feet,” says Mozes.
“The assumption that killing people will make Hamas understand that they need to release hostages is fundamentally wrong,” continues Mozes. “They aren’t interested in human life or property. They have a bargaining chip in their hands and want to get the most out of it.”
“The war drums are echoing in my ears again,” he adds. “I was there and heard those voices from the other side of the border.”
“Our brothers in captivity lose all hope when the sounds of rockets can be heard from every direction,” Mozes says, referring to the 24 hostages still thought to be alive, who are all young men. “Those rockets have killed and can kill our defenseless brothers.”
Cops arrest 6 over gangland shootout in Afula that some residents mistook for a terror assault
A screenshot from video footage of a gunfight that took place in the northern city of Afula on April 4, 2025. (Ynet screenshot)
Police say they arrested six people suspected of involvement in a gang-related shootout yesterday evening in Afula.
The gunfight left no one injured but thoroughly rattled residents of the northern city, some of whom tell Hebrew outlets that they initially assumed the shooting was a large-scale terror attack.
“We sat in a shelter for almost an hour until we realized [the shooting] was criminal,” says an anonymous Afula resident to Ynet.
In reality, the shooting took place as part of an ongoing gang dispute, with some of those arrested hailing from nearby Sulam, according to Hebrew media.
Police received reports of the incident at around 7 p.m. and managed to arrest one suspect soon after opening their investigation that evening. The other five were detained earlier today, a spokesman says. A car thought to have been used in the shootout was also seized by law enforcement.
Based on their findings, police say they will request this evening to extend the suspects’ detentions before the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court.
IDF says its investigating strike that reportedly killed Doctors Without Borders member
The IDF says it is investigating the reported death of a Doctors Without Borders worker in an airstrike in the central Gaza Strip last week.
MSF said that Hussam Al Loulou was killed on Tuesday, along with his wife and 28-year-old daughter, in a strike southwest of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
In response to a query, the IDF says the incident is being investigated by the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war.
“The IDF is sorry for the harm caused to civilians and will continue to act in accordance with international law while using precautionary measures,” it says.
“The Hamas terror organization continues to exploit civilian buildings for terror purposes and uses civilians as human shields,” the military adds.
Freed hostage Omer Wenkert urges cabinet to invite him to meeting: ‘Look at us. See the tears in our eyes’
A handout photo shows freed captive Omer Wenkert addressing a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, April 5, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Omer Wenkert, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, calls on the government to invite him to a cabinet meeting “and look at my testimony in the eyes.”
“In captivity, I was held in a tunnel under extreme conditions. Next to me was a pit” that served as a toilet, says Wenkert in a speech before thousands of people at the weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. “For 505 days, I was starved, humiliated, beaten. Out of these, I was held alone for 197 days and almost lost my mind.”
“I’m not really here. Only half of me is standing here,” continues Wenkert. “Part of us, part of all of us, is still captive in Gaza.”
“Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s on you to get them back,” says Wenkert.
“I turn to you, leaders of the country, and reiterate: don’t look away. Look at us. See the tears in our eyes,” he adds.
He pays tribute to the soldiers who have been killed in the war; to the 28 young people, including his good friend Kim Damati, who were killed in the bomb shelter they fled to from the Reim-area Nova music festival during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023; and to his friends Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, who were also snatched from the rave and are still in captivity.
Speaking a week before the freedom-themed holiday of Passover, Wenkert says: “the word ‘freedom’ sounds big, sublime, but it’s simple — being with family. Waking up in the morning with a peaceful heart. Knowing you’re free to dream, hug, love, laugh, cry without fear.”
Official says PM’s hostage envoy speaking with families of captives in latest Hamas video
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “updated” on the video Hamas released showing signs of life from hostages Bar Kupershtein and Maxim Herkin, says an Israeli official.
Netanyahu is in Budapest, from where he will fly tomorrow to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu spoke with the Kupershtein family about a week and a half ago, says the official, and right before flying to Hungary he spoke with the Herkin.
Government hostage point man Gal Hirsch is speaking with both families, says the official.
IDF acknowledges incorrectly claiming that Gaza ambulances didn’t have emergency lights on
Emergency vehicles can be seen marked and with activated emergency lights in a video published by the Palestinian Red Crescent on April 5, 2025, and reportedly recorded by a Gazan medic minutes before he and 14 colleagues were allegedly killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza on March 23, 2025. (Screen capture/Palestinian Red Crescent)
The IDF details the initial findings from its investigation into the killing of 14 rescue workers in southern Gaza’s Rafah some two weeks ago, when soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances after mistakenly identifying it as a threat and buried their bodies.
The incident in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood is being re-investigated by the chief of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, and will be presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tomorrow.
According to what is currently known to the IDF, the incident began on March 23 amid the resumption of fighting in Gaza and a new offensive in the Tel Sultan neighborhood.
Golani soldiers, who were operating under the 14th Armored Brigade, had set up an ambush on a road in Tel Sultan at around 4 a.m. At that time, several ambulances and civilians passed by without incident.
At around 4:30 a.m., a Hamas police vehicle drove through the area and the Golani soldiers exchanged fire with the operatives, killing one and capturing two others. The Hamas vehicle remained on the side of the road.
At around 6 a.m., the convoy of ambulances arrived in the area, and the soldiers opened fire, thinking they were a threat. Drone operators flying a UAV overhead had reported to the Golani soldiers that the vehicles were moving toward them in a suspicious manner.
The initial investigation claims that the soldiers were surprised by the convoy stopping on the road, next to the abandoned Hamas vehicle, and several suspects getting out quickly and running. The soldiers were unaware that the suspects were, in fact, unarmed medics.
The IDF acknowledges that its statement claiming that the ambulances had their lights off, was incorrect, and was based on the testimony from the soldiers in the incident. Video footage published by The New York Times today showed that the ambulances were clearly identifiable and had their lights on.
The investigation is looking into this discrepancy.
The IDF has also found that at least six of the 14 slain medics were immediately identified by intelligence officials as Hamas operatives.
According to the initial probe, the shooting did not take place at a close range, and the troops did not carry out any executions.
After the deadly gunfire, a deputy battalion commander in Golani, with his troops collected the bodies into one spot, covered them with sand, and marked the burial spot.
The military says burying bodies is an approved and regular practice during the fighting in Gaza to prevent wild dogs and other animals from eating the corpses.
The IDF then notified the UN of the burial spot for them to come collect them. The following day, the UN was unable to find the location, and the forces were meanwhile busy with another task.
The UN was then called to return several days later to collect the bodies and eventually, they were recovered in coordination with the IDF.
MK at anti-government rally in Tel Aviv accuses PM of seeking to turn Israel into Hungary
People take part in an anti-government rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, April 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Some 1,000 people gather for a demonstration at Habima Square in Tel Aviv before marching to join the anti-government hostage families’ protest outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters.
Yesh Atid lawmaker Yoav Segalovitz tells the crowd at Habima that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is lying about Qatar amid the probe into the allegedly illicit ties between the premier’s top aides and the Hamas-backing Gulf emirate.
Quoting a video statement Netanyahu put out this week, Segalovitz says that “all of a sudden, Qatar has become a ‘complex country.’ A country that deals with terrorism, where Hamas people reside permanently, is suddenly a ‘complex country.'”
He says Netanyahu has a “mark of Cain mark on his forehead” for failing to prevent the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, “whitewashing” far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and introducing “conspiratorial terms such as ‘deep state’ into public discourse.”
“I’m proud to have been part of the deep state,” says Segalovitz, a former commander of the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, which is investigating the so-called Qatargate affair.
Segalovitz says that Netanyahu, who is on a state visit to Budapest, wants to make Israel like Hungary, where “the justice system has been suppressed, the constitution changed, the press isn’t free, academia is trampled.”
“Netanyahu gets his picture taken by the Danube,” he says, referring to a photo of the premier at a Holocaust memorial in Budapest this week. “He has yet to come to Nir Oz” Segalovitz adds, referring to the southern Kibbutz that was ravaged in the Hamas-led October 2023 attack.
The demonstration also features a speech from former foreign minister Tzipi Livni.
The crowd cheers as she reads a litany of grievances against Netanyahu. The applause is especially strong when she accuses the government of enabling “violent rampages of killing and destruction by Jews against Arabs in Judea and Samaria,” a rare reference to the West Bank at the Habima demonstration.
Hamas releases propaganda video showing hostages Bar Kupershtein and Maxim Herkin
Hostages Maxim Herkin (left) and Bar Kupershtein. (Courtesy)
Hamas has released a propaganda video that shows hostages Bar Kupershtein and Maxim Herkin, in the first sign of life from both of them since they were abducted by terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Herkin’s relatives earlier said they recognized his voice after Hamas published a blurred clip from the video, which the families have asked Israeli media not to publish.
Hostage soldier’s mom says captives ‘undergoing Holocaust while Netanyahu is on a luxury vacation’
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza hold a press conference in Tel Aviv on April 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Hostage families urge US President Donald Trump for help in freeing the Israelis held captive by Hamas terrorists and Gaza while hitting out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for spending the weekend in Budapest.
“While the hostages are undergoing a Holocaust and drinking water from toilets in captivity, Netanyahu is on a luxury vacation in Europe,” says Vicki Cohen, mother of hostage soldier Nimrod Cohen. “A year ago we stood here and declared that Netanyahu is the obstacle to a deal. We were right!”
Appealing to Trump, the cousin of freed hostage Ofer Calderon says the pressure he applied led to the release of the hostages during the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal that has since lapsed.
“You are the only one who can bring a stop to the war and bring everyone home at once. All the other threats can be dealt with after all the hostages are returned,” says Yifat Calderon.
Army releases video of Israeli forces entering corridor between Rafah and Khan Younis
An IDF M109 howitzer is seen firing into the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published by the military on April 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF releases footage from the entry of the 36th Division into the so-called Morag Corridor, located between southern Gaza’s Rafah and Khan Younis, last week.
It marks the first time since the beginning of the war that ground troops are operating in the area.
The division entered the corridor area on Wednesday, following a night of intensive airstrikes and evacuation warnings.
The military says it is operating in the Morag Corridor and in Rafah to demolish the remaining Hamas infrastructure.
IDF troops are seen operating in the southern Gaza Strip, in a video published by the military on April 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
In first sign of life, family of Maxim Herkin identifies his voice in Hamas hostage video
Maxim Herkin is presumed taken captive from the Supernova desert rave on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)
The family of hostage Maxim Herkin says they identified his voice in a propaganda video released by the Hamas terror group earlier today.
In a statement sent out by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the family asks media outlets to refrain from publishing the blurred clip released by Hamas of two captives.
The video marks the first sign of life from Herkin since he was abducted during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Gazan medic says he saw Israeli troops firing on emergency vehicles near Rafah
A Palestinian paramedic who was present at an incident in which 15 of his colleagues were killed in southern Gaza last month says he saw Israeli troops firing at emergency vehicles that he later saw stained with blood.
Munther Abed, a volunteer for the Palestinian Red Crescent, says he was responding to a call with two colleagues near Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on March 23 when he was detained by the Israeli soldiers shortly before they opened fire on other emergency vehicles.
He says he had not been able to see exactly what happened when the soldiers opened fire.
Abed says he and colleagues had received a call to go out to help wounded people at around dawn following an airstrike in the Al-Hashasheen area in Rafah, close to the border with Egypt.
“We moved right away, it was me and two other colleagues. As soon as we arrived there, we came under fire and they detained us,” he tells Reuters by phone from his house in Khan Younis, referring to shooting by Israeli soldiers.
After he was detained, he says he lost sight of his two colleagues.
As he was standing near the soldiers, he says he saw other emergency vehicles approaching the Israeli soldiers’ position.
“I could see the vehicle of the Civil Emergency. The soldiers began shooting at the vehicles, they fired heavily,” he says. “It was dark and I couldn’t see what happened to the people there, but they [the soldiers] fired heavily. They asked me to duck down and they were firing heavily. I felt as if the bullets were hitting me personally.”
Iran enlisted drug trafficker in failed plot to kill Azerbaijan rabbi — report
Rabbi Shneor Segal speaks at a conference on Jewish heritage at the Azerbaijan University of Languages, August 30, 2023. (Screenshot/Dahan Center via YouTube/Peleg Levy)
Iran enlisted a Georgian drug trafficker to assassinate Azerbaijan Rabbi Shneor Segal as part of a plot that was foiled in January, according to the Washington Post.
The Quds Force, the overseas arms of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reportedly promised the would-be hitman $200,000 for killing Rabbi Shneor Segal and attacking an education center. The Georgian suspect and a local accomplice were arrested in January.
“We live here peacefully. I walk on the streets here, and there is no fear,” Segal tells the Washington Post, saying he learned about the attack plot and the arrests from local news.
White House official confirms Netanyahu set to meet with Trump on Monday
US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A White House official confirms to The Times of Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday.
Trump calls to ‘hang tough,’ warns trade war ‘won’t be easy’
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump doubles down on the sweeping tariffs he unleashed on countries around the world, vowing that his “economic revolution” will yield historic results for Americans.
“HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic,” Trump says in a post on his Truth Social platform, vowing that his economic policies are “bringing back jobs and businesses like never before.”
Pezeshkian says Iran open to ‘dialogue on equal footing’ with US
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian during the annual address to the nation for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Tehran on March 20, 2025. (Iranian Presidency / AFP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the United States as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.
It came after US President Donald Trump, who has called on Tehran to hold direct negotiations on its nuclear program, threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.
Iran says it is ready to engage in dialogue but refuses direct talks under threats and pressure.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran wants dialogue on equal footing,” Pezeshkian says during a meeting, according to the presidency’s website.
On Thursday, Trump said he would prefer to hold “direct talks” with Iran.
“I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries,” the US president argued.
But Pezeshkian asks: “If you want negotiations, then what is the point of threatening?”
“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” Pezeshkian adds, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods.
Western countries, led by the United States, have for decades accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran rejects these allegations and maintains that its nuclear activities exist solely for civilian purposes.
Talks between Trump aide, Lebanese president described as ‘positive’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with US deputy special envoy for Middle East peace Morgan Ortagus, center, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson at the presidential palace in Baabda, in east of Beirut, Lebanon, April 5, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Senior Lebanese officials say talks with visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus were positive, focusing on south Lebanon amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
President Joseph Aoun and Ortagus discussed “south Lebanon, the work of the international monitoring committee and the Israeli withdrawal” from Lebanese territory, a statement from the presidency says, characterizing the talks as constructive.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s office, in a statement, also says the discussions with the envoy were “positive.”
IDF says it will ‘thoroughly’ probe killing of 15 rescue workers in Rafah
The IDF vows to “thoroughly” investigate the incident in southern Gaza’s Rafah on March 23, during which troops opened fire on Palestinian ambulances and a fire truck. The bodies of 15 rescue workers were later said to have been found in a mass grave.
“The shooting toward the ambulance convoy in Tel Sultan on March 23 is in the process of an in-depth inquiry,” the military says in response to a query.
“All of the claims, including the published documentation, will be thoroughly examined and in-depth, to understand the conduct [of the troops] in the incident,” the IDF adds.
The military’s response comes after The New York Times published a video showing that Palestinian ambulances and a fire truck were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on when the IDF opened fire on them, contradicting Israel’s initial account of the incident.
Columbia University bathroom vandalized with Hamas triangles, ‘free Palestine’ graffiti
A Columbia University bathroom has been vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti during a visit Thursday by the new campus president.
“Welcome Shitman,” referencing interim president Claire Shipman was scrawled on the wall, along with upside-down red triangles — a symbol used by Hamas to indicate Israeli targets, as well as FUCK the TRUSTEE COUP” and “free PALESTINE.”
Images of the vandalism were shared by CU Apartheid Divest, an anti-Israel group at the forefront of campus protests, which called Shipman an “AIPAC-backed university dictator.”
Flyers reading, “Shitman! Shitman! We know you. You arrest your students too!” were placed around the bathroom stalls, and bore the symbol of Columbia’s Students for a Democratic Society, another anti-Israel group on campus.
SUBMISSION: A group of anonymous actionists welcomed @Columbia’s new AIPAC-backed university dictator Claire Shipman with a redecoration of Columbia’s bathrooms during her campus visit.
Who is Columbia's latest President – the third in under two years????? pic.twitter.com/1Da3ImZFmE
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) April 3, 2025
Last spring, Columbia became the epicenter of an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian student protest movement, drawing criticism from both Democratic and Republican politicians, donors, and some students and faculty.
Last month, Columbia agreed to a series of changes demanded by the Trump Administration as a precondition for restoring $400 million in federal funding the government pulled this month over the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus amid pro-Palestinian protests against Israel.
The board of trustees appointed its co-chair, Shipman, as interim university president last week.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Iran’s rial drops to record low against US dollar
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s rial currency trades at a record low against the US dollar as the country returns to work after a long holiday.
The rial has plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market. But as traders resume work today, the rate fell even further to 1,043,000 to the dollar, signaling the new low appeared here to stay.
On Ferdowsi Street in Iran’s capital, Tehran, the heart of the country’s money exchanges, some traders even switch off their electronic signs showing the going rate as uncertainty loomed over how much further the rial could drop.
IDF says troops seized, destroyed weapons at former Syrian regime army post
A tank belonging to the former Syrian regime which was captured by the IDF in southern Syria, in a handout photo issued on April 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
This week, the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade raided an army post belonging to the former Syrian regime, where the soldiers located tanks, APCs, and artillery systems, the military says.
The troops also located dozens of mortars and rockets. The IDF says the weaponry was destroyed or seized.
The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.
Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”
Israeli officials have said that they seek to completely demilitarize the southern Syria area and not allow any armed groups to enter it and gain a foothold, including those of the new Syrian government.
Israeli official says Netanyahu will meet Trump in Washington this week
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and US President Donald Trump (R) speak during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House on February 4, 2025. (The White House, via Wikipedia)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump this week during his trip to Washington, an Israeli official tells the Kan public broadcaster, appearing to confirm an Axios report.
It will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the United States since the beginning of the war in Gaza. If the expected meeting goes ahead, he will be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump face-to-face to try to negotiate a deal to remove tariffs.
Trump aide meets Lebanese president in Beirut
US deputy Mideast envoy Morgan Ortagus meets with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.
The visit comes as Israel and Lebanon have agreed to hold talks on settling their land border dispute, following over a year of war between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.
The US has urged the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah to ensure calm can be maintained along the border.
צייצני חיזבאללה כמרקחה: שליחת ממשל טראמפ ללבנון, אורטגוס, שמבקרת היום בביירות נצפתה בפגישה עם נשיא לבנון, ג'וזף עון, עונדת שרשרת עם מגן דוד pic.twitter.com/tqaDDGfLd6
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) April 5, 2025
Myanmar earthquake death toll surpasses 3,300, state media says
Heavy construction equipment is used to clear rubble at the site of a collapsed building in Mandalay, Myanmar, on April 5, 2025, following the March 28 earthquake. (Zaw Htun / AFP)
YANGON, Myanmar — The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen above 3,300, state media says, as the United Nations aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation.
The March 28 quake flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, according to new figures published by state media.
More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses.
A United Nations estimate suggests that more than three million people may have been affected by the 7.7-magnitude quake, compounding previous challenges caused by four years of civil war.
The UN’s top aid official has met with victims in the central Myanmar city of Mandalay — situated close to the epicenter and now grappling with severe damage across the city.
“The destruction is staggering,” Tom Fletcher writes in a post on X.
“The world must rally behind the people of Myanmar.”
Trump’s 10% tariffs take effect in dramatic US trade shift
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s broadest tariffs to date take effect, in a move that could trigger retaliation and escalate trade tensions that could upset the global economy.
Today, a 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada, as dozens of economies face even higher rates from April 9.
NYT releases video showing Gaza ambulances had emergency lights when IDF fired on them
The New York Times publishes video showing Palestinian ambulances and fire engines were marked and had their emergency lights on when they came under Israeli fire in Gaza late last month, after a military spokesman said the vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals.”
According to the report, the video was discovered on the cellphone of one of 15 Palestinian medics killed in the incident who the UN says were buried in a mass grave.
In the statement earlier this week, the IDF’s international media spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the military “did not randomly attack an ambulance on March 23” and that “following an initial assessment, it was determined that the forces had eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.”
Trump shares video purporting to show deadly strike on Houthi fighters
US President Donald Trump posts a video purportedly showing dozens of Houthi fighters being killed in an American strike on Yemen, adding the comment “oops.”
Resembling images shot from military drones or other loitering aircraft, the black-and-white footage Trump posted to his Truth Social network shows several dozen human figures from an almost vertical angle.
“These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,” Trump writes in an accompanying text.
American forces have carried out major raids on Yemen in recent weeks in response to the group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Gathered in a loose oval along a road, the people in the video are superimposed with a gun camera-style crosshair.
A few seconds in, a bright flash appears in the middle of the scene, followed by billowing smoke.
The footage cuts to a wider shot showing a column of smoke over the apparent impact site and several vehicles parked further up the road.
The camera then cuts closer again to show a broad crater at the point of impact. No bodies are readily identifiable.
These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!
They will never sink our ships again!
Donald Trump Truth Social 04/04/25 05:40 PM pic.twitter.com/zafEdKwKtM
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 4, 2025
“Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis,” Trump writes.
“They will never sink our ships again!”
US says Rubio discussed tariffs with Netanyahu after Israel hit with 17% import duty
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on February 16, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP)
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed tariffs with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the State Department says in readout of their conversation on Friday, in the aftermath of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by the United States.
Unspecified Israeli goods exports to the United States, Israel’s largest single trading partner, face a 17% tariff.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to underscore US support for Israel,” says the US readout. “The secretary discussed the situation in Gaza and the administration’s resolve to free the hostages in Gaza and recently announced tariffs.”
There is no statement on the call from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Report: Netanyahu planning to visit the White House on Monday
US President Donald Trump (right) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, February 4, 2025. (AP/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House on Monday, Axios reports, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.
The report adds that if the visit takes place as planned, the premier will be the first foreign leader to meet with US President Donald Trump in person to try to negotiate a deal to remove tariffs.
Trump in touch with Israel, India and Vietnam over trade deal talks — CNN
US President Donald Trump talks on the phone as he arrives at the Trump International Golf Club, April 4, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
US President Donald Trump is in touch with representatives from Vietnam, India and Israel to negotiate trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries in advance of a deadline next week, CNN reports, citing a source.
Anti-Israel protester interrupts Microsoft’s 50th anniversary party over AI contract
A pro-Palestinian protester against Israel is escorted away by security while interrupting Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman during a presentation of the company's AI assistant, Copilot, ahead of a 50th Anniversary presentation at Microsoft headquarters, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Washington. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
REDMOND, Washington — A pro-Palestinian protester interrupts the keynote event of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration, the latest backlash over the tech industry’s work to supply artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military.
The protest happens as Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman presents product updates and a long-term vision for the company’s AI assistant product, Copilot, to an audience that includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
“Mustafa, shame on you,” shouts a woman in the audience. “You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military.”
She says that 50,000 people in Gaza have died in the conflict sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, claiming the war is a genocide.
“Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” Suleyman says. The protester continues, shouting that he and “all of Microsoft” have blood on their hands.
Houthis claim responsibility for launching drone that was downed by IDF
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for launching a drone at Israel this evening, claiming to have targeted a “military target” in the Tel Aviv area.
According to the IDF, the drone was intercepted by air defenses, in the Dead Sea area.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched at least 10 ballistic missiles at Israel.
The Houthis also claim to have shot down an American reconnaissance drone over Yemen today.
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