The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
US President Donald Trump says, “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait.”
“They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” he writes on Truth Social.
Sirens sound in a number of northern communities near the Lebanon border amid an apparent Hezbollah rocket and drone attack.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau summons the Iraqi ambassador after a drone struck a major US diplomatic facility in Baghdad, the State Department says in a statement.
The US Embassy in Baghdad said earlier that an Iraqi “terrorist militia” group, which it accused of being aligned with Iran, had conducted multiple drone attacks near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport.
The State Department says Landau acknowledged the Iraqi security forces’ efforts to respond while emphasizing “the Iraqi government’s failure to prevent these attacks.”
US President Donald Trump posts a lengthy diatribe against former ally-turned-critics Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones who have come out against him over the Iran war.
“They think it is wonderful for Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror, to have a nuclear weapon — because they have one thing in common, low IQs,” Trump writes.
He also calls out Owens for falsely claiming that French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte is a man.
“Actually, to me, the first lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close!” Trump says.
Canada “strongly” condemns Israel’s bombing campaign against targets in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Anita Anand says in a statement.
Anand also condemns what she called Hezbollah’s indiscriminate attacks against Israel.
“We thus call on Israel to respect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and for Hezbollah to immediately disarm and implement decisions issued by the Government of Lebanon,” the statement reads. “Furthermore, we call on Israel and Hezbollah to implement and adhere to a permanent ceasefire.”
A small number of rockets were launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the Haifa area, according to the IDF.
The military says some of the rockets were intercepted and others were allowed to hit open areas.
There are no reports of injuries.
Sirens sound in Haifa amid a Hezbollah rocket attack from Lebanon.
The alerts are also activated in Acre and other towns in the Western Galilee.
The Board of Peace does not expect to receive a final approval from Hamas to its disarmament proposal by the Saturday deadline set by the international body overseeing the postwar management of Gaza, three sources familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.
While the deadline is unlikely to be met, intensive talks with Hamas are ongoing in Cairo with the participation of the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov as well as representatives from mediating countries Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, two of the sources say.
One of the sources stresses that progress is still being made in advancing key elements of US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war and expressed hope that Hamas will give its final approval to the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal in the coming days, even if it may come shortly after the Saturday deadline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a ceasefire with Ukraine for the duration of the Orthodox Easter holidays, the Kremlin says, after Kyiv also proposed a pause in hostilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that he had passed a holiday truce proposal via the US, as talks to end the four-year conflict were derailed by the Middle East war.
“A ceasefire is declared from 16:00 (13:00 GMT) on 11 April until the end of the day on 12 April 2026” by Putin, “in connection with the approaching Orthodox feast of Easter,” the Kremlin says in a statement.
The General Staff “have been instructed to cease combat operations in all directions for this period,” the Kremlin says, adding that troops are ready to “counter any possible provocations by the enemy.”
Kuwait’s army says its air defenses are working to intercept drones fired toward its territory, the first reported in the Gulf today, as the ceasefire between Iran and the United States entered its second day.
“The air defenses of the Armed Forces are currently facing hostile drone attacks that have penetrated the country’s airspace, targeting several vital installations,” the army posts on X, citing the defense ministry spokesperson.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon are “wrong” as he travels to discuss the shaky Middle East ceasefire with Gulf leaders.
“Let’s be really clear about it, they’re wrong,” Starmer tells Britain’s ITV News when asked about Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon.
“That shouldn’t be happening, that should stop, that’s my strong view,” the prime minister adds, calling this a “matter of principles,” while acknowledging he did not have full details of the ceasefire deal.
Starmer speaks while visiting Bahrain on a tour of the region, after meeting leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
He rejects a suggestion from Iran that it could charge for letting ships through the vital Gulf waterway, telling ITV: “Our position is ‘open’ means open for safe navigation.”
“That means toll-free navigation and vessels can get through,” he adds.
In comments to regional broadcasters, Starmer says the mood among Britain’s allies in the Gulf is that the ceasefire is “fragile, that there’s work to do in relation to it.”
The talks in Pakistan between Iran and the United States should be used to achieve lasting peace, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call today, his office says.
Both Washington and Tehran have confirmed their participation in peace talks brokered by Pakistan, although the schedule is still to be confirmed.
Erdogan told Pezeshkian that “the upcoming negotiations in the coming days should be utilized to the fullest extent for lasting peace and stability,” his office says.
Operational activities have been halted at several energy facilities in Saudi Arabia due to recent attacks, Saudi state news agency SPA reports, citing an official source at the ministry of energy.
The attacks resulted in the death of one Saudi national from the industrial security personnel of the Saudi energy company, SPA adds.
Iran will move the management of the strategic Strait of Hormuz into a new phase, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei purportedly says in a statement read out on state TV.
“Iran is not seeking war but will not forfeit its rights and considers all resistance fronts as a unified entity,” the statement attributed to Khamenei adds, asserting that Tehran is the “definite victor” of the war.
The supreme leader also ostensibly says that people should not leave the streets of Iran despite “negotiations with the enemy,” and that Tehran is resolute in seeking to “avenge the blood” of its late supreme leader and the country’s “martyrs.”
Khamenei, who took over the role of supreme leader after his father was killed at the start of the war in February, has not been seen or heard in public amid the conflict, leading to speculation he has been seriously wounded.
The statement attributed to him also calls on Iran’s Arab neighbors to “stand in the right place” so that Iran can “show you our brotherhood.”
The IDF announces that it has launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah rocket-launching sites in Lebanon.
The strikes are intended to thwart planned rocket fire by Hezbollah on Israel.
Earlier, the military warned that Hezbollah may fire rockets beyond northern Israel in the coming hours.
US President Donald Trump confirms that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call yesterday to scale back Israel’s bombing of Lebanon in order to preserve the fragile ceasefire with Iran.
“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump tells NBC News in a phone interview.
US Vice President JD Vance similarly claimed yesterday that Israel had agreed to “check itself” in Lebanon, even though yesterday saw the most intense day of IDF bombing in Lebanon since the beginning of the war.
Israel has claimed the majority of the over 200 killed — according to Lebanese authorities — were Hezbollah operatives, but footage shows that innocent civilians, including women and children, were among the casualties as well.
Trump tells NBC News he is still “very optimistic” about the chances for a longterm deal with Iran, as the sides to prepare to meet in Pakistan over the weekend — talks that Tehran has threatened to abandon, if Israel keeps bombing Lebanon.
Trump insists that Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable.”
“They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military,” Trump claims, even though Iran has continued firing at its neighbors since the ceasefire.
“If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful,” Trump adds.
Lebanese media reports several Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon a short while ago.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
The strikes come shortly after the military warned that Hezbollah may fire rockets beyond northern Israel in the coming hours.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the decision to accept a ceasefire with the US was made unanimously by top officials and approved by the supreme leader.
In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, he says the ceasefire “is not a sign of weakness but a way to solidify Iran’s proud victories,” adding that the pause in fighting followed more than a month of Iranian public resilience and support.
New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public or in any photos or videos since he took up the role following the killing of his father, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war in February.
Israel is continuing to attack Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a video message to residents of northern Israel after his office announced that Israel would be holding direct talks with Lebanon soon.
“There is no ceasefire in Lebanon,” says Netanyahu. “We continue to strike Hezbollah with great force, and we will not stop until we restore your security.”
“Our significant achievements both in Iran and against the axis of evil have brought about a historic change in Israel’s standing in the region,” he continues. “They have also led to changes in our relations with countries we did not have relations with before.”
He says that direct talks with Lebanon will have two goals — the disarming of Hezbollah, and a “historic and sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir toured the outskirts of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon earlier today, where the military has been battling Hezbollah operatives.
“Our main combat arena is here in Lebanon. The objective defined for you is the removal of the direct threat to the residents of the north, which you are carrying out with determination,” Zamir says to troops, according to remarks published by the army.
On Iran, Zamir says the “IDF’s achievements in the war against Iran are unprecedented and historic.”
“Iran before this war is not the same Iran; it is much weaker. We are prepared to return to combat with full force if required at any given moment,” he says.
The IDF says Zamir was joined by the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, Technological and Logistics Directorate chief, Maj. Gen. Rami Abudraham, and 98th Division commander Brig. Gen. Guy Levy.
Following the visit to Bint Jbeil, the IDF says Zamir approved new battle plans for the fighting against Hezbollah.
Pakistan succeeded in brokering a ceasefire between the US and Iran on Tuesday by crafting a bridging proposal that softened the language of a 10-point Iranian proposal that had been swiftly rejected by Washington a day earlier, two government officials familiar with the negotiations tell The Times of Israel.
Pakistan feared that the talks were on the verge of collapse on Monday after the US notified Islamabad of its complete rejection of the Iranian proposal, the two government officials say. At that point, only one day was left before US President Donald Trump’s deadline to blow up Iranian energy sites if Tehran didn’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan subsequently rushed to put together a bridging proposal that kept many of Iran’s positions intact, while using language that Islamabad believed would be easier for the US to swallow, the two officials say.
After receiving the bridging proposal from Pakistan on Tuesday, the US quickly accepted it as sufficient enough to serve as the basis for negotiations on a longterm deal, the government officials say.
One of the officials tells The Times of Israel that they were surprised at how quickly Washington got on board with the bridging proposal and says it points to how badly the US wanted a ceasefire, despite Trump’s fiery rhetoric about his readiness to bomb Iran into the “stone age.”
Hours after the US approval came in, Iran’s authorization of the bridging proposal followed, allowing for the two-week ceasefire to be announced by Trump less than two hours before his deadline expired.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, though, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council published what it claimed were the contents of the 10-point proposal that the US had accepted.
The two government officials familiar with the negotiations confirm to The Times of Israel that the 10-point plan published by the Supreme National Security Council was not the bridging proposal crafted by Pakistan and was instead much more similar to the original Iranian offer that was swiftly rejected by the US on Monday.
One of the government officials says that Iran published the older version of the 10-point proposal for domestic political reasons, aiming to convince its public that it had coaxed the US into accepting Tehran’s original terms for a deal.
A Hezbollah lawmaker reiterates his group’s rejection of any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his cabinet to begin talks with Beirut.
“We reiterate our rejection of any direct negotiations between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, and the necessity of upholding national principles, foremost among them the Israeli withdrawal, the cessation of hostilities, and the return of residents to their villages and towns,” Ali Fayyad says in a statement shared by the Iran-backed terror group’s media channels.
Fayyad adds that the group calls “on the Lebanese government to adhere to the ceasefire as a precondition before proceeding with any further steps.”
A Lebanese government official told AFP today that Beirut wants a ceasefire before initiating talks with Israel, although an Israeli official said any negotiations would be conducted under fire.
The IDF warns that there may be rocket fire from Lebanon to “additional areas” in Israel, following barrages by Hezbollah on the north this morning.
Following a fresh assessment, “and in light of the fire from Lebanese territory since this morning, there may be fire toward additional areas in the State of Israel in the coming hours,” the military says in a statement.
“The IDF emphasizes that at this stage, vigilance should be maintained, responsibility should be exercised, and the instructions of the Home Front Command should be followed,” the statement says.
“The IDF is prepared for defense and offense,” the military says.
The military adds that it will update the public if there are any changes to the Home Front Command’s guidelines.
US officials are reportedly stunned by the scale of Israel’s strikes in Lebanon yesterday, which reportedly hit hospitals and caused heavy civilian casualties, with senior American officials saying the outcome was not what US President Donald Trump had in mind when he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Lebanon was not included in the two-week ceasefire deal with Iran, according to Channel 12.
The report says US special envoy Steve Witkoff called Netanyahu yesterday to urge him to scale down operations in Lebanon, before asking Trump to reinforce the message in a follow-up call. The pressure is said to have helped push Israel to agree to diplomatic talks with Lebanon next week in Washington.
According to Channel 12, the American push is driven by concern that continued fighting in Lebanon could torpedo ongoing negotiations with Iran, with Tehran already threatening to skip planned talks in Pakistan on Saturday in light of yesterday’s strikes.
Despite agreeing to talks with the Lebanese government, Israel has indicated it will not halt military operations, as dozens of rockets continued to be fired at northern communities in the past two days.
European nations, including Germany, Austria, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, also slammed Israel over its strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, adding to mounting international pressure.
According to the report, there is a growing belief that Washington will ultimately steer Israel toward confronting Hezbollah through economic and diplomatic means, rather than sustained military escalation.
The ceasefire could collapse rapidly if Israel continues striking Lebanon, warns an adviser to Iran’s parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Mahdi Mohammadi writes in a post to X that there will not be a ceasefire if Israel continues striking Lebanon.
“Only limited hours remain,” Mohammadi says.
Without “fully restraining” Israel in Lebanon, “there will be no ceasefire or negotiations, and the missiles are ready to launch,” he adds.
Lebanon’s health ministry says that the toll from Israel’s strikes yesterday across Lebanon has risen to 303 killed. It says the toll is not final and is expected to rise further as rescue teams are still removing bodies from under the rubble.
The ministry adds that the total toll since March 2 is 1,888 dead and more than 6,000 wounded.
Lebanon’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Defense Minister Israel Katz asserted today that more than 200 Hezbollah operatives were killed in the strikes yesterday, and more than 1,400 in the ongoing campaign.
Amid the fragile ceasefire between Iran and the US, and a pause in Iranian missile strikes that sent Israelis into safe rooms and shelters, museums are planning to reopen for the first time in six weeks, moving artworks and valuables back into galleries and exhibits.
The Israel Museum will reopen on Monday, April 13, although the recently opened exhibit displaying the complete Isaiah Scroll, one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls, will remain closed for now.
The Haifa Museums are reopening tomorrow, according to a spokesperson, while the Haifa City Museum, housed in a former Templar structure, may not open for another few days, given the lack of a formal safe space.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art isn’t opening to the general public just yet, says a spokesperson, although it is expanding activities for groups, kindergartens and schools, and will gradually reopen to the public following a situational assessment.
The Tel Aviv Museum’s Eyal Ofer Pavilion, featuring the exhibition of Ram Karmi, has been open to the public since the beginning of the war.
The first non-Iranian oil tanker passed through the Strait of Hormuz today since a fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States was announced, MarineTraffic data shows.
The MSG, a Gabon-flagged oil tanker went through the strategic waterway today loaded with around 7,000 tons of Emirati fuel oil, and is headed to Aegis Pipavav, India, according to the maritime monitor.
Traffic through the crucial shipping lane signals it has not meaningfully reopened since the two-week truce took effect yesterday.
Just two other tankers — both Iran-flagged — and six bulk carriers have been through the strait since yesterday, according to MarineTraffic owner Kpler.
The Home Front Command says its wartime guidelines, which were significantly eased yesterday, remain unchanged until Friday.
By Friday at 5 p.m., a new assessment will be held by the Home Front Command.
As part of the changes announced yesterday, communities on the Lebanon border, in most of the Golan Heights, Upper Galilee and Haifa Bay area, will be allowed to hold educational activities only inside bomb shelters.
Gatherings in those areas are permitted up to 50 people outdoors and 200 indoors, and workplaces are allowed to operate if an adequate shelter can be reached in time.
In the rest of the country, nearly all restrictions were lifted, allowing schools and workplaces to operate as usual. However, gatherings are limited to 1,000 in many areas.
Dozens of states issue a joint statement at the United Nations condemning “unacceptable aggressive behavior” toward UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and calling for increased protection after the deaths there of three Indonesian soldiers.
The 63 countries and the European Union also express “deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, especially the significant civilian casualties, the extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the mass displacement of more than one million people.”
The statement is read by Indonesia’s UN Ambassador Umar Hadi, accompanied by dozens of envoys from countries that endorsed it. It notes that attacks on peacekeepers could constitute war crimes under international law and those responsible must be held accountable.
While reaffirming their full support for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the countries urge the UN and its Security Council “to strengthen the protection of UN peacekeepers in an increasingly dangerous environment.”
The UN said Tuesday that preliminary findings from its probe into the deaths of the three Indonesian peacekeepers in separate incidents on March 29 and 30 showed that one was killed by an Israeli tank projectile and two by an improvised explosive device most likely placed by Hezbollah.
Israel’s UN envoy said all three deaths are attributable to Hezbollah, while an IDF probe said two of the peacekeepers were hit by Hezbollah bombs and the third death is under review.
Six in 10 Americans say they have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Israel, up 20 points since 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released this week.
About half of them say they have a “very unfavorable” view of Israel, a proportion that has tripled in the last four years.
The survey of 3,500 US adults conducted late last month, weeks into the US-Israeli war on Iran, offers the latest signal that anti-Israel sentiment is surging among Americans. Multiple previous polls have shown that Americans newly sympathize more often with the Palestinians over the Israelis.
The latest poll replicated the partisan divide widely detected in polling, with about 80% of Democrats saying they have an unfavorable view of Israel, compared to 40% of Republicans. Nearly half of Democrats under age 50 said they have a “very unfavorable” view of Israel.
The Lebanese presidency publishes remarks made earlier today by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in which he says that “the only solution to the situation Lebanon is facing is a ceasefire with Israel that would lead to direct negotiations between the two countries.”
At a meeting held today with representatives of Lebanon’s Maronite community, Aoun says the Lebanese proposal for a ceasefire and negotiations is beginning to receive positive responses in international circles.
He adds that Lebanon continues to hold international talks on the matter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that he has instructed diplomats to launch direct talks with Beirut as soon as possible, though an Israeli official told The Times of Israel the talks would be conducted under fire, without an initial ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump’s Republicans block an attempt by the opposition Democrats to curb his authority to wage war in Iran, amid mounting frustration in Congress over his handling of the Middle East conflict.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sought to pass a war powers resolution by “unanimous consent” — a procedure that bypasses the need to hold a recorded vote, provided no one objects — but was stopped, as expected, by the Republican majority’s presiding officer.
The maneuver, staged during a short procedural session while lawmakers remain out of Washington, was largely symbolic but underscored growing Democratic anger over a conflict that has not been formally authorized by lawmakers.
There will be no ceasefire with Hezbollah ahead of talks with Lebanon, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The talks will begin “in the coming days,” says the official, without giving any more specifics. According to Axios, the first meeting will take place next week in Washington, DC, at the State Department.
According to the outlet, US President Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa will lead the American delegation, while Lebanon’s Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh-Moawad will lead the Lebanese side.
Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter will lead the Israeli delegation, a second Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
According to the Ma’ariv newspaper, former minister Ron Dermer — who was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred envoy for high-stakes talks before stepping down in November — will not be leading talks because of fundamental disagreements with top officials. Dermer had returned to handle some files for Netanyahu in recent weeks, including Lebanon, but had advocated for including the fight against Hezbollah in the ceasefire with Iran, which Netanyahu firmly opposed.
Lebanon has spent the last 24 hours advocating for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, a senior Lebanese official tells Reuters, saying it would be a “separate track but the same model” as a fragile truce brokered by Pakistan between the US and Iran.
The official says no date or location has been set yet but Lebanon needs the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement.
The official speaks to Reuters after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had instructed the start of direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible.”
Hezbollah fired several rockets at the border city of Nahariya a short while ago.
According to the IDF, the rockets launched from Lebanon struck open areas.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
In total, Hezbollah has fired some 70 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel today, according to the military.
NATO chief Mark Rutte says member countries are doing everything US President Donald Trump had requested to strengthen the military alliance, even if some were initially “a bit slow” to provide support to the United States amid its war with Iran.
“When it came time to provide the logistical and other support the United States needed in Iran, some allies were a bit slow, to say the least. In fairness, they were also a bit surprised. To maintain the element of surprise for the initial strikes, President Trump opted not to inform allies ahead of time,” Rutte says during a speech in Washington.
“But what I see, when I look across Europe today, is allies providing a massive amount of support,” he adds. “Nearly without exception, allies are doing everything the United States is asking. They have heard and are responding to President Trump’s requests.”
Rutte’s comments come after meeting Trump yesterday. He has briefed some capitals that Trump wants concrete commitments within the next few days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats have told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump reportedly asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back Israeli strikes on Lebanon to prevent the collapse of the fragile ceasefire with Iran.
The request came during a phone call yesterday, shortly after Netanyahu publicly vowed to continue striking Lebanon, NBC News says, citing a senior Trump official.
US Vice President JD Vance claimed yesterday that Israel had agreed to “check itself” with regard to Lebanon in order to help the negotiations with Iran.
But yesterday saw the single largest Israeli bombing campaign in Lebanon since the start of the Iran war, offering no indication that Jerusalem had agreed to show restraint.
As for Thursday — the day after Trump made his request — the Israeli Air Force has continued bombing Lebanon, albeit at a slightly lower intensity than the day prior. In an update this morning, the IDF said it struck weapon depots, rocket launchers and Hezbollah headquarters in south Lebanon.
Israel and the US have claimed that Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire with Iran, while Tehran and Pakistani mediators have insisted otherwise.
Sirens warning of incoming rockets are sounding in the city of Nahariya and a number of towns near the Lebanon border, just after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would hold direct peace talks with Lebanon.
Israel will begin negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
“In light of Lebanon’s repeated appeals to open direct negotiations with Israel,” says Netanyahu, “I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible.”
The talks “will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”
Netanyahu says that Israel “appreciates the call made today by Lebanon’s prime minister to demilitarize Beirut.”
Turkey’s top diplomat says the Middle East ceasefire should include Lebanon, which is facing heavy Israeli attacks.
“We hope that the ceasefire will be fully implemented on the ground, including in Lebanon, and that the process will lead to lasting peace,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tells a news conference alongside his Syrian counterpart in Ankara.
Fidan also calls on warring parties to adopt a “conciliatory” approach in Pakistan-brokered talks between Iran and the United States.
“It is also of great importance that the parties adopt a conciliatory, flexible, patient, and constructive attitude in the talks that will begin in Pakistan,” Fidan says.
IDF representatives tell the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Iran’s new leadership is more extreme than its predecessor during a closed-door intelligence briefing, less than a day after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter confirm Hebrew media reporting that lawmakers were told that much of the new leadership is drawn from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who are considered to be far more ideologically rigid than the previous political leadership.
However, another source denies that the remarks were made at all.
Committee chair Boaz Bismuth says in a post on X following the meeting that, “There is a possibility that the campaign will resume in the coming days,” and adds that “we are only at an interim stage.”
Following the discussion, the panel also announces that it approves the extension of the call-up of up to 400,000 reservists until May 14, approved by the government two weeks ago.
The previous cap was 280,000, approved in December. Since the outbreak of the war with Hamas in October 2023, the government has renewed emergency call-up authorizations every few months, enabling the IDF to mobilize reservists quickly and keep them in service longer than permitted in non-emergency times.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Russia says the Middle East war ceasefire declared by the United States and Iran must cover Lebanon, after Israel announced it would continue its attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah there.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hails the ceasefire in a phone call with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, with the ministry saying in a read-out that “Moscow firmly believes that these agreements… have a regional dimension and, in particular, apply to Lebanon.”
In a separate statement, the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemns Israeli strikes in Lebanon, saying that “such aggressive actions threaten to derail the emerging negotiation process.”
The United States condemns an April 7 attack on the Kuwaiti consulate in Basrah, Iraq, the State Department says in a post on X.
The US calls on the Iraqi government to “hold accountable and dismantle the Iraqi terrorist groups aligned with Iran that conducted this attack,” the department’s bureau for Near Eastern Affairs says.
The continued Israeli military campaign in Lebanon could jeopardize peace talks expected between the United States and Iran over the war in the Middle East, says German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“We view the situation in southern Lebanon with particular concern,” Merz says. “The severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the peace process as a whole to fail, and that must not be allowed to happen.”
Merz says Germany has resumed talks with Iran after a fragile truce was reached between Iran and the US that could lead to peace negotiations.
“After a long period [of] silence, which we had serious reasons for, we are now as a government restarting talks with Tehran,” Merz tells reporters, adding that this is being done “in coordination with the United States and our European partners.”
Merz also says that he does not want the US-Iran war to place any further strain on relations between the United States and its European NATO partners.
“We do not want – I do not want – NATO to split. NATO is a guarantor of our security, including and above all in Europe,” he says.
He adds that he has encouraged US President Donald Trump in a call to pursue negotiations with Iran with urgency.
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, describes the announced ceasefire between the US and Iran as a “big victory” for Tehran.
In a video statement on Telegram, he says Iran ultimately was able to “defeat the enemy.”
He also praises the Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying the terror group is leading one of their biggest battles in Lebanon.
Al-Houthi claims that his group was able to prevent Israel and the US from using the Red Sea to attack Iran, and confirms launching strikes at Israel.
He also says Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz was a major pressure tactic against the US and its allies.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that more than 200 Hezbollah operatives were killed in yesterday’s major wave of strikes across Lebanon, and that the terror group is “pleading for a ceasefire.”
“Operation Eternal Darkness was a very powerful blow to Hezbollah, leaving it stunned and confused by the depth of the penetration and the scale of the strike,” says Katz in a video statement.
“More than 200 terrorists were eliminated yesterday, bringing the number of those eliminated in this campaign to over 1,400. more than double the number in the Second Lebanon War,” he says.
Katz says Hezbollah is “pleading for a ceasefire, and its Iranian patrons are also applying pressure and issuing threats, out of serious concern that Israel will crush Hezbollah.”
“The IDF is prepared and ready to act with force if Iran fires at Israel,” he says.
Katz also details the IDF’s efforts to establish a new “security zone” in southern Lebanon, saying it includes “four lines.”
The first is the border line, where he says the IDF will raze Lebanese villages to prevent Hezbollah from using them to stage attacks on Israel.
The second is the “defensive line” in Lebanon, where the IDF currently holds five forward army posts. Katz says it will be expanded to 15 posts in southern Lebanon.
The third is the “anti-tank line” from which Hezbollah could launch anti-tank guided missiles directly at Israeli communities. The IDF said on Tuesday that it had completed its deployment along this line.
The fourth is the Litani River, where Katz says the IDF will “prevent further infiltration of terrorists and the return of residents southward.”
“At the same time, the IDF will strike from the air… with great force, the terrorists and [rocket] launchers in the Litani area and launch sites across Lebanon outside the Litani area,” he adds.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemns Israel’s “ongoing aggression against Lebanon,” ahead of expected US-Iran ceasefire talks in Islamabad on Saturday.
“The prime minister said that Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran and the US were being convened,” Sharif’s office adds in a statement.
A 26-year-old man from Rahat is charged with aggravated murder after allegedly gunning down a man in front of his mother and children as they drove home.
The defendant, 26-year-old Zahran Bakhiri, allegedly opened fire on 41-year-old Ahmad Abu Jaber as he, his mother and four children returned from grocery shopping in the city on March 2, ahead of their evening iftar meal.
At around noon that day, Bakhiri spotted Abu Jaber on the road when both stopped at an intersection near the latter’s home.
The younger man exited his car and fired his handgun point blank at the victim. Abu Jaber bolted from his vehicle and tried to take cover, but Bakhiri continued to shoot, even as the man’s family was close by.
Abu Jaber was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.
Bakhiri also injured Abu Jaber’s daughter during the assault. She suffered serious facial trauma while trying to shield her younger brothers from the gunfire, prosecutors write.
The defendant was allegedly spurred by a longstanding conflict between his family and that of the deceased.
Before he was killed, Abu Jaber relocated to another neighborhood in the city in an apparent bid to escape the cycle of violence, prosecutors write.
Bakhiri is charged today in the Beersheba District Court with aggravated murder, causing severe injury to a minor, shooting in a residential area in a life-threatening manner, and carrying a gun.
The Israeli military says Hezbollah has fired some 3,000 rockets and other projectiles from areas south of the Litani River amid the current fighting, which it says is proof that the Lebanese army “lied” about dismantling the terror group’s infrastructure in the area.
“On [January 8], the Lebanese army announced the completion of the first phase of the weapons confinement operation, claiming it had successfully disarmed the area south of the Litani River. However, we doubted the credibility of this announcement,” says army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee in a statement.
“Today, it is clear that this announcement was nothing but an outright lie,” he says.
According to Adraee, since the start of the current fighting on March 2, Hezbollah has fired “approximately 3,000 rockets and projectiles from the area south of the Litani River.”
“This data is considered the strongest evidence of the complete failure of the weapons confinement operation in disarming the Hezbollah terror organization and in clearing the area of its terrorist infrastructure,” he says.
Adraee says it also indicates the Lebanese army’s “severe failure” in preventing Hezbollah from crossing the Litani River and moving operatives and weapons into southern Lebanon.
Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief say they “appreciated the restraint demonstrated by all sides,” before Islamabad is expected to host talks between Iran and the United States.
“The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the de-escalation achieved so far and stressed upon the need for maintaining peace and ceasefire by all parties,” the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says, following his meeting with Field Marshal Asim Munir.
The Hezbollah terror group says its operatives are engaged in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
In recent days, the IDF has encircled Bint Jbeil as it works to clear the area of Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.
Hezbollah, in a statement, says it used light arms and RPG fire against Israeli soldiers who were advancing in the town, as well as rocket barrages on other troops in the area.
The IDF has not reported casualties among Israeli forces today.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asks his Pakistani counterpart to confirm Lebanon’s inclusion in the Iran war ceasefire, a day after Israeli strikes on the country are said to have killed more than 200 people.
In a statement, Salam’s office says he phoned Shehbaz Sharif, praising Islamabad’s efforts in securing the truce and asking him to “confirm that the ceasefire includes Lebanon to prevent a recurrence of the Israeli attacks witnessed yesterday.”
Israel and the US have said the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, with Israel announcing it will continue its attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the regional war on March 2.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned that Tehran sees Lebanon as an “inseparable part of the ceasefire” and threatened “strong responses,” coinciding with mounting international calls for Lebanon to be encompassed in the truce.
The Israeli military reiterates its evacuation warning for the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh, ahead of airstrikes.
“The IDF continues to operate and attack the military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization throughout the Dahiyeh. The IDF does not intend to harm you, and therefore, for your safety, you must evacuate immediately,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
The Israeli Air Force has struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh in the past month, and the military has repeatedly called on Lebanese civilians to evacuate the area.
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى سكان الضاحية الجنوبية وخاصة في الأحياء:
????حارة حريك
????الغبيري
????الليلكي
????الحدث
????برج البراجنة
????تحويطة الغدير
????الشياح
????الجناح⭕️يواصل جيش الدفاع العمل ومهاجمة البنى التحتية العسكرية التابعة لحزب الله الإرهابي في مختلف أنحاء الضاحية الجنوبية
⭕️جيش… pic.twitter.com/UEv1ULB2XK
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) April 9, 2026
The Lebanese army says it has cleared the Qasmieh bridge after Israel hit it yesterday, and deployed a unit nearby.
The bridge is the last direct crossing for most traffic into the coastal city of Tyre over the Litani River, the strategic line separating southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.
Israel has struck several bridges in the area, accusing Hezbollah of moving fighters and equipment, though the crossings are also vital for civilians and humanitarian aid.
The strikes come as Israel seeks an extended “buffer zone” to protect its northern towns amid ongoing Hezbollah bombing of communities close to the border.
Iran will allow no more than 15 vessels a day to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under the ceasefire agreement it agreed with the United States, Russia’s state TASS news agency quotes an unnamed senior Iranian source as saying.
The Strait, a strip of water only 34 kilometers (21 miles) wide between Iran and Oman, provides passage from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilizers.
It has been largely shut by Iran since the start of the conflict at the end of February, leading to a surge in global oil prices.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has briefed some capitals that US President Donald Trump wants concrete commitments within the next few days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz, two European diplomats tell Reuters.
UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski calls for the British government to put “robust sanctions on Israel” and “end the genocide” in an address opening his faction’s local election campaign.
“What is it going to take for this government to actually put robust sanctions on Israel?” he asks the crowd, adding that “it is outrageous Israel is still enjoying diplomatic and trade privileges from the international community.”
Polanski calls on London to “withdraw the UK-Israel trade agreement and to end the genocide.”
Polanski, who is Jewish, has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, called for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a warrant from the International Criminal Court, and condemned Israel’s “horrendous and illegal” airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and ballistic missile program during the June 2025 war.
Polanski grew up in a home he described as “very Zionist,” but has said that Israel has since “changed,” and that he is now “certainly not a Zionist.”
???? WATCH: Zack Polanski launches the Green Party’s local election campaign
“We are calling on the Government to withdraw the UK-Israel trade agreement and end the genocide” pic.twitter.com/W7QdGCmire
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 9, 2026
The chief of the US Central Command says the American and Israeli militaries have “clearly accomplished” the task of degrading Iran’s military capabilities.
“We set out to dismantle the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its own borders, and we clearly accomplished this task. Iran has suffered a generational military defeat. The United States and Israel systematically destroyed Iran’s ability to conduct large-scale military operations for years to come,” says CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper in a video statement.
He says that “Iran’s conventional military capability, built over 40 years at the cost of billions of dollars, has been eliminated.”
“After successfully conducting more than 13,000 strikes on Iranian military targets and flying thousands upon thousands of combat flights, US forces have paused offensive operations in accordance with the ongoing ceasefire,” Cooper says.
“However, we remain present, we remain vigilant, and we remain ready if called,” he says, adding that the American military also continues “to stand shoulder to shoulder with our regional partners in maintaining the most sophisticated and largest active air defense umbrella in the world.”
Update from CENTCOM Commander on Operation Epic Fury: pic.twitter.com/CUzaSmbZM3
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 9, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial will resume on Sunday, the courts’ spokesperson says, hours after Israel lifted a state of emergency imposed during its war with Iran.
“With the lifting of the state of emergency and the return of the judicial system to work, hearings will resume as usual,” a statement from the courts says, adding that they would take place from Sundays to Wednesdays.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says that Israeli strikes on Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement and would render negotiations meaningless.
The ongoing strikes against Hezbollah “signal deception and non-compliance” and render negotiations “meaningless,” he writes in a post on X. “Our hands remain on the trigger. Iran will never forsake its Lebanese brothers and sisters.”
Iran’s parliament speaker also says Lebanon is a key part of the two-week ceasefire with the United States, warning that violations will bring severe consequences, following massive Israeli strikes on Lebanon yesterday.
“Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says in a post on X. “Ceasefire violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses.”
The IDF says it killed a top commander in a Hezbollah-allied militia in Lebanon, along with eight other operatives, in a strike in Sidon yesterday.
The strike in Sidon killed Maher Qassem Hamdan, who the IDF says was the commander of the Lebanese Resistance Companies in the Shebaa area, close to Israel’s border.
The militia, also known as the Lebanese Resistance Brigades, is funded, trained, armed, and was founded by Hezbollah.
The military says Hamdan was responsible for “recruiting terrorists, supplying weapons, and funding the Lebanese Companies” in Shebaa.
According to the IDF, Hamdan and seven other members of the militia fled from Shebaa to Sidon, where they were targeted and killed.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s cabinet instructs security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, a day after Israeli strikes across the country, including in the heart of the capital.
“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolize weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says at the end of a cabinet meeting.
The Lebanese government banned Hezbollah’s military activities at the beginning of March, shortly after the start of war with Israel, but the decision has not stopped the terror group from conducting military operations.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hezbollah has fired some 30 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel since this morning, according to the IDF.
There have been no reports of injuries or damage as the rockets were either intercepted or allowed to strike open areas.
Sirens have sounded several times in Kiryat Shmona and nearby towns in the Galilee Panhandle.
LONDON — Only one oil products tanker and five separate dry bulk carriers have sailed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours despite Iran and the United States reaching a two-week ceasefire deal, according to analysis of data from ship trackers.
Traffic through the critical strait has remained at a virtual standstill, with little movement since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28 and sailings averaging a few vessels daily, according to data from Kpler, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, and Signal Ocean.
This compares with an average of 140 vessels sailing daily through the strait before February 28, according to market estimates.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught and had been planning an attack on troops was killed in a strike this week, the IDF announces.
The military says Abd al-Rahman Ammar Hassan Khudari had been planning an attack on Israeli forces stationed in the northern Gaza Strip.
“The terrorist was eliminated to remove the threat to our forces,” the IDF says.
Khudari was targeted in a strike on Sunday, and alongside him, three Hamas operatives were killed, the IDF says.
According to the military, Khudari invaded Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 onslaught.
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The EU says that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be ensured with “no payment or toll whatsoever,” after Iran suggested it could charge for letting ships through the vital Gulf waterway.
“International law provides for the freedom of navigation, which means… basically no payment or toll whatsoever,” European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni tells a press conference in Brussels. “Freedom of navigation is a public good and needs to be ensured.”
The Strait of Hormuz is shut, and Iran must open it without conditions and be held accountable for damages after attacks on facilities, United Arab Emirates state oil giant ADNOC’s CEO says.
The narrow waterway that Iran has effectively shuttered since the US-Israeli war began on February 28 is not open, Sultan Al Jaber says in a LinkedIn post, adding that access is being restricted, conditioned, and controlled.
“Iran has made clear — through both its statements and actions — that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage. That is not freedom of navigation. That is coercion,” Jaber, also UAE minister of industry and advanced technology, writes.
“Energy producers must be able to swiftly and safely restore production at scale. At ADNOC, we have loaded cargoes and we will expand production within the constraints of the damage we have suffered.”
Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria District Council in the West Bank, have established a professional working group to advance the construction of water and electricity infrastructure for new settlements recently approved by the current government, Dagan’s office announces.
Both Cohen and Dagan state that the new development is part of a program initiated by Dagan in 2022 to bring a million Israelis to live in the Samaria district of the northern West Bank by 2025. There are just 49,000 Israeli residents of the Samaria district settlements at present.
In a recent meeting, Cohen and Dagan agreed that the new working group would be headed by the deputy director general of the Energy Ministry and the director of of the Samaria Regional Council, and include representatives of the Electricity Company, the Mekorot national water company, and the state Water Authority.
Dagan’s office declines to say exactly when the meeting took place, dating it to “just before Passover,” which began on the night of April 1.
Among the new settlements to be connected to water and electricity grids are Rehavam, Eibal, Homesh, and Sa Nur, all in the northern West Bank, among others. Those settlements were approved or retroactively legalized by the government in May 2025.
“This is a historic decision. We will ensure that the new homes that are built have lights and running water. We are applying sovereignty in law and in practice,” said Cohen, in reference to the government’s efforts to de facto annex large parts of the West Bank.
“[We have] before us the map of the ‘Plan for a Million’ in Samaria, from which we have decreed the new settlements… Based on this plan, we will fill the area together with roads, electricity, water and sewage [infrastructure], in order to bring the masses here — millions of citizens of the State of Israel to the heart of the land, to Samaria,” said Dagan.
The security cabinet approved the establishment of 34 new settlements in a meeting two weeks ago, The Times of Israel has learned.
This brings to 103 the total number of new settlements established or retroactively legalized by the government since it took office in 2022. Only six new settlements were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Security cabinet meetings and their decisions are classified, and there has been no official confirmation of the decision by the government.
The new settlements likely include not only brand-new settlements but also the retroactive legalization of formerly illegal outposts, and are spread across the entire West Bank, previous reports have indicated.
Ynet reports that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir expressed serious concern at the security cabinet meeting that the approval of the new settlements would further stretch the IDF’s already severely strained manpower resources.
The Yesh Din organization, which campaigns against violations of Palestinian rights, alleges that the approval of the new settlements is designed to advance the “ethnic cleansing” of the West Bank.
“While we were running to bomb shelters [during the war with Iran and Hezbollah], it was urgent for cabinet members to establish dozens more new settlements in the West Bank, thereby advancing the Smotrich plan for ethnic cleansing of the West Bank by pushing the Palestinians into small, densely populated enclaves in Area A,” the group charges, referring to Religious Zionism party head Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firm settlement advocate.
The Peace Now organization, which strongly opposes the settlement movement, accuses the government of trying to establish as many facts on the ground as possible before the next elections.
“Today, it is clear to everyone, and the IDF emphasizes this again and again, that establishing settlements is harmful to security, places an abnormal burden on the IDF, and harms the possibility of resolving the conflict and reaching some kind of future security and peace,” the group claims.
A man suspected of manufacturing explosives at the behest of an Iranian agent is believed to have tried to assassinate former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Channel 12 news reports.
While Haifa resident Ami Gaydarov, 22, did not name Bennett in his interrogation, police believe Bennett was a target due to the locations the suspect visited, according to the report.
A group of men suspected of manufacturing explosives at the behest of an Iranian agent will be indicted in the coming days, police say, after a prosecutor’s declaration was filed against the main suspect.
Haifa resident Ami Gaydarov, 22, had been in online contact with an Iranian intelligence agent since August, until police arrested him last month.
The young man “agreed to manufacture explosive material which was intended to harm a senior figure,” police say. He allegedly rented an apartment in the city as a makeshift laboratory to create and test the material.
Police say he was assisted by others, among them Haifa residents Sergey Leibman and Edward Shovtiuk, who are also expected to face charges in the coming days. According to Ynet, two others who have not yet been named were involved in the offenses.
Gaydarov was also instructed to take photos of the Haifa Port and missile impact sites in northern Israel during the war with Iran, which is currently on pause after a ceasefire was declared earlier this week.
He received NIS 70,000 ($23,000) in exchange for the tasks he carried out, most of it in the form of cryptocurrency, police say.
The alleged plot marks a relatively rare instance in which an Iranian agent managed to convince his Israeli recruit to go a step beyond spying or vandalism and begin plotting violence against public figures.
The case was investigated jointly by the Shin Bet security service and the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, and was previously subject to a gag order, parts of which were gradually lifted.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency says that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks with the United States.
Mohammad Eslami, who leads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, made the remarks to journalists, including one from The Associated Press in Tehran, Iran, during commemorations for the late supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“It is a part of the necessary (things) that nobody speaks about,” Eslami says, referring to the US refusal to acknowledge enrichment as one part of Iran’s 10-point plan for a permanent ceasefire.
The US and Iran are due to meet in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for talks this weekend.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel “will continue to strike Hezbollah wherever necessary” after the IDF announced it had assassinated Ali Yusuf Harshi, the secretary of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.
“Our message is clear: whoever acts against Israeli civilians will be targeted. We will continue to strike Hezbollah wherever necessary, until we restore full security to the residents of the north,” Netanyahu writes in a Hebrew-language post on X.
In addition to assassinating Harashi, “the IDF struck a series of terror infrastructures in southern Lebanon: crossing points used to transfer thousands of weapons, rockets and launchers, as well as weapons depots, launch sites, and Hezbollah command centers,” Netanyahu adds, sharing IDF footage of the attacks.
“We continue to strike Hezbollah with force, precision, and determination,” he says.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued since the US reached a two-week ceasefire agreement on Tuesday with Iran, the terror group’s patron. Washington, Tehran, Jerusalem, and mediating countries have presented conflicting claims on whether the ceasefire applies to fighting with the Hezbollah terror group.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for launching rockets overnight at northern Israel in its first attacks since the ceasefire began, saying it came in response to large Israeli strikes on Lebanon yesterday, which it described as violations of the truce.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — More than 3,000 people were killed throughout Iran during the war that began on February 28, Iran’s forensic chief tells state media, adding that 40 percent of the dead needed forensic work to be identified and returned to families.
The figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The IDF says troops killed a Hezbollah operative and captured a cache of weapons in a tunnel shaft in southern Lebanon.
Troops of the 401st Armored Brigade identified a shaft leading to an underground Hezbollah site, from which an operative emerged and was killed in “close quarters combat,” the military says.
The IDF says that inside the tunnel shaft, the troops found a cache of explosive devices, rockets, RPGs, and grenades.
The troops located and destroyed several more Hezbollah positions in the area, where additional weapons were found, the IDF says.
Additionally, the IDF says the Israeli Air Force struck a building in the area where two Hezbollah operatives were identified by the 215th Artillery Regiment.
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran should extend to Lebanon, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas says, adding that Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah must disarm.
“Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction,” she writes in a post on X.
“Israeli actions are putting the US-Iran ceasefire under severe strain. The Iran truce should extend to Lebanon,” Kallas says.
“Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence,” she also says.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction.
Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence.
Israeli actions are…
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) April 9, 2026
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, the Saudi foreign ministry says, in the first official contact between the countries since Tehran launched strikes against its Gulf neighbors in retaliation for Israeli-American attacks.
“The call focused on reviewing developments in the situation and ways to slow the pace of tensions so as to help restore security and stability in the region,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry says in a statement, which was issued the day after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States.
The Education Ministry will extend state-subsidized summer programming for kindergarten to third grade by three weeks and expand it to include students through sixth grade, as well as launch a summer academic catch-up program for middle-school students, following five weeks of school closures due to the war with Iran, according to a statement from Education Minister Yoav Kisch.
“In light of the gaps that accumulated during the war, I instructed the ministry to extend summer programming by three weeks, expand services to all elementary school students up to sixth grade, and launch the ‘Summer Preparatory Program’ for middle schools, which will help fill in the gaps and provide a stable and supportive framework for students,” says Kisch in a statement.
Kitsch says the expanded programming is intended to provide “educational, emotional, and social continuity for Israel’s students during the summer months” after the disruption to the schoolyear due to the war.
The IDF Home Front Command announced yesterday evening that wartime restrictions would be lifted across most of Israel starting Thursday, as a fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran took hold, allowing schools to reopen and resume functioning normally for the first time since February 28, when the war began.
The initiative is expected to cost approximately NIS 750 million ($242 million). However, according to Hebrew media reports, this figure has not been coordinated with the Finance Ministry, and it remains unclear whether the funding will be approved.
The subsidized elementary-school program, which functions much like a day camp, typically runs for about three weeks for kindergarten through third-grade students, but will now operate for twice as long and include older elementary grades.
The new middle-school program, by contrast, is designed as an academic catch-up framework to help students make up for lost learning time.
A hacker group linked to Iran claims to have breached devices belonging to former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi.
Handala posts on its website that it has collected “more than 19,000 confidential images and videos from the most secret meetings” of Halevi.
“All your top-secret facilities, crisis rooms, maps, and even the tiniest details of your command centers have long been like an open book to us,” the group claims.
The hacker group publishes several photos and videos showing Halevi touring military bases, holding briefings and meetings, and working out in his office.
Several photos of the former army chief’s family life are also published, along with the ID cards of Halevi and his wife.
???? pic.twitter.com/Ba0bz0VjsS
— H4ND4L4 (@HPRRed) April 9, 2026
It is not the first time that Handala has published the contents from the devices of Israeli officials.
Handala has claimed to have hacked the phones of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says that Israel “disrespected” the two-week ceasefire with Iran by attacking Lebanon yesterday.
She says restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a vital interest for her country and the whole of the European Union.
“We have come within a step of the point of no return, but we now face a fragile prospect of peace that must be pursued with determination,” Meloni tells parliament, adding that Italy condemns any violation of the ceasefire and is calling for a permanent halt to hostilities.
Also, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares accuses Israel of violating international law and the ceasefire.
Spain has emerged as one of the most vocal critics among Western nations of US and Israeli actions in Iran and Lebanon, closing its airspace to any aircraft involved in a conflict Madrid has called reckless and illegal.
“Yesterday we saw how Israel, flouting the ceasefire and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of bombs on Lebanon,” Albares tells lawmakers in the lower house.
Earlier today, Albares announced that Spain would reopen its embassy in Tehran in hopes of achieving peace in the region.
“I’ve instructed our ambassador in Tehran to return, to take up his post again and reopen our embassy, and for us to join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,” Albares told reporters.
Meanwhile, Beijing says that Lebanon’s sovereignty “should not be violated” after Israel said it had carried out strikes against Hezbollah military infrastructure.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and security should not be violated. The safety of civilian lives and property must be guaranteed,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning tells a regular press conference, adding Beijing urged restraint and “a cooling down of the regional situation.”
The secretary of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut yesterday, the military announces.
Ali Yusuf Harshi was targeted in a strike in Beirut’s Tallet Khayat neighborhood, outside of the Hezbollah Dahiyeh stronghold. Footage showed that the strike partially collapsed a multistory building.
The military says Harshi was Qassem’s nephew and personal secretary.
“Harshi was a close associate and personal advisor to Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, and played a central role in managing his office and his security,” the military says in a statement.
Meanwhile, the IDF says that overnight it struck two “central” Litani River crossings that were used by Hezbollah to transfer “thousands of weapons, rockets, and launchers” into southern Lebanon.
Additionally, some 10 weapon depots, rocket launchers, and Hezbollah headquarters were struck in southern Lebanon, the military adds.
Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange are on the rise amid cautious optimism about a ceasefire that halted the joint US-Israel military campaign against Iran.
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-125 index gains 1.8 percent in morning trading. The index is up almost 14% from the start of the year.
The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies rises 1.9%. The TA-90 index, which tracks the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, leaps 1.7%. The TA-Insurance index soars 3.5%, and the TA-Banks jumps 2%.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Jewish Passover holiday as a ceasefire was announced between the US, Israel and Iran.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, a member of the ruling Likud party, says it was a “mistake” to have a ceasefire with Iran and doubts the pause in fighting will last, in an interview with 103FM radio.
“I think it was a mistake to go to a ceasefire at this time. Countries like these, the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany, you need to bring them to their knees,” Chikli says.
He gives a “50% chance” of the ceasefire lasting.
However, he praises the achievements of the war and says the only people who are saying Israel lost are “left-wing commentators in the United States and Israel, and the remnants of the Revolutionary Guards.”
“Iran lost its status as a regional power,” Chikli insists, adding that its Axis of Resistance has “collapsed.”
“I look at whether we brought about massive achievements, whether we created a new reality in the north, on the border with Gaza, in the Middle East? The answer is yes, yes, and yes.”
No injuries are reported after several rockets were launched by Hezbollah at the northern border city of Kiryat Shmona a short while ago.
According to the IDF, most of the rockets launched from Lebanon were intercepted, while others were allowed to strike open areas.
The IDF says it killed a “key” Hamas operative who moonlighted as a journalist for Al Jazeera.
In February 2024, the IDF first revealed that Al Jazeera journalist Muhammad Washah was a member of Hamas’s military wing. The military says he was a “key terrorist in Hamas’s rocket and weapons production headquarters.”
The IDF says it struck and killed Washah yesterday in the central Gaza Strip, after he had been planning attacks against Israeli troops stationed in the area.
Washah was “actively involved in planning attacks against IDF troops, and posed a concrete threat to forces in the area,” the IDF says.
“Throughout the war, Washah was involved in the production of drones, rockets, and additional weaponry, and also took part in the transfer of weapons through the Gaza Strip,” the military says.
The IDF says Washah operated “under the guise of an Al Jazeera journalist, exploiting this identity in order to advance terrorist activities against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel’s allegations and accused it of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the Gaza Strip.
צה"ל חיסל מחבל של ארגון הטרור חמאס שהיווה איום לכוחות במרחב ופעל במסווה של עיתונאי
כוחות צה"ל בפיקוד הדרום תקפו וחיסלו אתמול את מחמד סמיר מחמד ושאח, מחבל מרכזי במטה ייצור הרקטות ואמצעי הלחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס, שתכנן לבצע מתווי טרור נגד כוחות צה"ל הפועלים במרכז רצועת עזה.… pic.twitter.com/dU8eg1j3UW
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 9, 2026
PARIS, France — France’s foreign minister condemns “unacceptable” Israeli strikes on Lebanon, warning they could undermine the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
“These attacks are all the more unacceptable as they undermine the temporary ceasefire reached yesterday between the United States and Iran,” Jean-Noel Barrot tells France Inter radio, a day after Lebanon reported Israeli strikes killed at least 182 people and wounded 890.
The figures provided by Lebanon do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel said its strikes yesterday had been planned for weeks and targeted Hezbollah sites and members.
The Energy Ministry announces that it has instructed the Energean company to restart operations at its Karish gas platform, off the northern Mediterranean coast.
The larger Leviathan field, also off the northern coast, returned to activity six days ago. Both were closed shortly after the start of the war against Iran. The third processing platform, Tamar, off Israel’s southern coast, remained active throughout.
LONDON — British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says Israel’s strikes on Lebanon were “deeply damaging” and that the conflict must end to prevent the US-Iran ceasefire from being destabilized.
“We want to see Lebanon included in the ceasefire,” she tells Times Radio. “We want it extended to cover Lebanon, because otherwise that will destabilize the whole region.”
“That escalation that we saw from Israel yesterday was deeply damaging, and we want to see an end to hostilities.”
Israel said yesterday’s airstrikes were planned for weeks and targeted Hezbollah.
Among the targets, the IDF said, were Hezbollah command centers and other military infrastructure, including intelligence headquarters and offices used by Hezbollah to plan attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians; infrastructure of Hezbollah’s rocket and naval units; and assets of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force and aerial unit.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Health Ministry says that since the beginning of the war on February 28, 7,451 people have been admitted to hospitals.
Of them, 118 are currently hospitalized. Two are in critical condition, 13 are in serious condition, 25 are in moderate condition, and 74 are in good condition. The casualty figures include soldiers and civilians.
The ministry does not give a breakdown of the causes of injuries. Some were indirect, such as people injured while trying to reach shelters, rather than as a direct result of missile fire.
The lifeless body of an elderly man, which authorities believe belongs to a 90-year-old Palestinian who went missing months ago, was found decomposing in the northern West Bank, police say.
The corpse, located yesterday in a grove near the settlement of Avnei Hefetz, has been sent to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for further examination.
Police say they are “probing the suspicion that the corpse belongs to a 90-year-old Palestinian who has been missing since January 26, 2026.” The investigation is ongoing.
NEW DELHI, India — Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan announces that an Iranian delegation will arrive in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad tonight for talks to resolve the conflict with the US and Israel, then later deletes his post.
“Despite skepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated ceasefire violations by Israeli regime … Iranian delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks based on 10 points proposed by Iran,” Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam’s now-deleted post on X read.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Temple Mount holy site reopens for the first time since the Iran war began after a two-week ceasefire was declared yesterday.
Images show Jewish visitors and Muslim worshipers at the site.
וכעת – הר הבית נפתח שוב ליהודים אחרי 40 יום בהם היה סגור בעקבות המלחמה@GLZRadio https://t.co/4XWtnGXffg pic.twitter.com/95y8nNsWcC
— נועם נקש || Noam Nakash (@nakash_noam) April 9, 2026
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan has declared two days of local vacation in the capital at short notice from today, authorities say, ahead of talks between the United States and Iran due to take place in Islamabad.
No reason was given in the notification issued by the Islamabad district administration late yesterday, but authorities in the capital have often announced holidays or restrictions for security reasons ahead of high-profile diplomatic events.
Pakistan has been preparing for high-stakes talks involving US and Iranian representatives over the war in the Middle East, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance will be leading a team to the negotiations in Islamabad “this weekend.”
The holidays today and tomorrow apply only to the Islamabad Capital Territory, the notice posted by Islamabad’s district commissioner yesterday said.
The notification said offices providing essential services would remain open, including police, hospitals, and power and gas utilities.
“Essential services will remain operational,” the deputy commissioner’s office said in a statement posted on X, advising residents to “plan their activities accordingly.”
US President Donald Trump renews his threat to use unprecedented force against Iran if it doesn’t comply with the terms of the ceasefire.
“All US ships, aircraft and military personnel — with additional ammunition, weaponry and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded enemy, will remain in place in and around Iran until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump says in a Truth Social post shortly before midnight eastern time.
Just over a day earlier, he had announced a two-week ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran.
But the truce was contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz — something it has reportedly refused to do amid frustration with Israel’s massive bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US and Israel have claimed that Lebanon was not supposed to be part of the ceasefire, but Vice President JD Vance has admitted there was a “legitimate misunderstanding” on the issue, and Pakistan has insisted that Lebanon is in fact supposed to be part of the truce.
Meanwhile, the White House has denied or downplayed reports about Iran continuing to block ships in the strait, insisting that traffic has picked up since the ceasefire.
But Trump’s message indicates that his frustration with Iran is once again mounting.
Trump threatens to return to fighting if the agreement with Iran is not complied with: “If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘shooting starts’ bigger and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”
“It was agreed a long time ago and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.”
It’s not entirely clear what Trump is referring to, but he has taken particular issue with media reporting of statements from Iran’s supreme national council that have reportedly contradicted what Iran had privately accepted in the talks leading up to the ceasefire.
“In the meantime our great military is loading up and resting, looking forward, actually, to its next conquest,” Trump adds.
Rocket warning sirens are activated in the northern border community of Avivim, as Hezbollah appears to launch another attack from nearby Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah claims responsibility for the launch of rockets at northern Israel in its first attacks against the country since the United States reached a two-week ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese terror group’s patron Iran.
Hezbollah says in a statement that the attacks — including one that set off sirens overnight — came in response to what it described as Israeli ceasefire violations, after Israel launched its biggest attack on Lebanon in this war on Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy has posted a map showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help transiting ships avoid naval mines, the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA says.
Iran’s PressTV reports that the Strait of Hormuz has again been closed, after an oil tanker appears to have been turned away upon approaching the crossing.
According to the outlet, the oil tanker AUROURA made an abrupt 180-degree turn while approaching the strait’s exit and instead returned to the Persian Gulf.
The website MarineTraffic identifies the ship as being “at anchor” in the Persian Gulf, around two hours after PressTV claims it was turned back from the Strait of Hormuz.
BREAKING: An oil products tanker attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz has made a 180-degree turn and is heading back into the Persian Gulf, per AIS data from MarineTraffic.
The Panama-flagged tanker AUROURA is US Treasury sanctioned with a documented history of moving… pic.twitter.com/z6Zdoa1EtS
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) April 8, 2026
The tanker is sanctioned by the US Treasury, which alleges that it is used to transport Iranian oil in defiance of sanctions.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says it would be unacceptable for ships to have to pay a fee to cross the Strait of Hormuz as Iran has suggested, and such a move would set a dangerous precedent for freedom of navigation.
Greece controls one of the largest merchant fleets globally in terms of cargo-carrying capacity.
Amid ceasefire talks with the US, Tehran, which controls the chokepoint, has proposed fees or tolls on vessels to safely pass through the strait. US President Donald Trump suggested the US and Iran could collect tolls in a joint venture, although the White House later said the priority was reopening the strait without limitations.
Mitsotakis says the strait always had freedom of navigation and that needs to continue.
“I don’t think that the international community would be ready to accept Iran setting up a toll booth for every ship that crosses the strait,” Mitsotakis tells CNN. “That seems to me to be completely unacceptable.”
The center-right leader adds that a separate international agreement regarding the strait may be necessary.
“But this agreement cannot, I repeat, cannot include a sort of a fee that ships will have to pay every time they cross the strait. This was not the case before the war started and it cannot be the case after the war finishes,” he says.
“We would be setting a very, very dangerous precedent, if that were to happen, for the freedom of navigation.”
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told French President Emmanuel Macron that authorities have arrested perpetrators behind a drone attack in March that killed a French soldier in Erbil, according to a statement by the Iraqi prime minister’s office.
One French soldier was killed and six others were wounded after a drone attack in northern Iraq, where they were providing counter-terrorism training.
French President Emmanuel Macron says that he spoke with both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump, and told them their decision to accept a ceasefire was the best possible one.
“I expressed my hope that the ceasefire will be fully respected by each of the belligerents, across all areas of confrontation, including in Lebanon,” Macron says in a post on X.
Macron adds that any agreement between the countries must address the concerns raised by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its regional policy and its actions obstructing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
