April 18: Hostage’s mom says PM’s vague promise of ‘special statement’ is agony for families

Houthis say 80 killed in deadliest US attack on Yemen

This grab taken from footage released by al-Masirah TV station of Yemen's Houthis shows fire and destruction at the site of US strikes on the Ras Issa fuel port in western Yemen on April 18, 2025 (Al-Masirah TV/AFP)

US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port Thursday killed at least 80 people, Houthi rebels say, updating the toll of the deadliest attack of Washington’s 15-month campaign against the Iran-backed group.

The strikes on Ras Issa aimed to cut off supplies and funds for the rebels that control large swaths of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, the US military said.

Houthi-run television showed large blazes lighting up the night sky following the latest in an intensified barrage of attacks under US President Donald Trump.

Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi says rescuers are still searching for bodies at the fuel terminal on the Red Sea, suggesting the number of dead could rise.

The rebels’ Al-Masirah TV, citing local officials, says the toll from the strike has “risen to 80 dead and 150 wounded.”

Protesters chanting “Death to America! Death to Israel!” gathered in rebel-held cities around the country, including at a major demonstration in the capital, Sanaa.

“The American military buildup and continued aggression against our country will only lead to more counterattack and attack operations, clashes and confrontations,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree told the crowd in Sanaa.

Doctors forced to amputate leg of Palestinian shot by invading settler, locals say

Doctors at Israel’s Soroka Medical Center were forced to amputate the leg of a Palestinian who was shot yesterday by settlers who invaded Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley, residents say.

While the residents of Khirbet al-Rakiz say they’ve spotted the settler behind the shooting continuing to roam free since the shooting. The Beyond the Herd solidarity group of Israeli activists identified him as Benjamin Bodenheimer, the security coordinator of the nearby Avigayil outpost.

Meanwhile, the victim, Sa’eed al-Amour, has been placed under arrest in his hospital room, which is being guarded by police. Amour’s 15-year-old son Elias was detained yesterday at the scene but has not been released.

The IDF has yet to respond to a request for comment on the incident, which took place in Masafer Yatta, an area of the Jordan Valley that was the subject of a 2025 Oscar-winning documentary about Israeli demolitions in the West Bank.

Residents say the shooting took place after settlers began work to put up a fence on land owned by Amour.

Hezbollah leader says group ‘will not let anyone disarm it’

Hezbollah “will not let anyone disarm” it, the Lebanese group’s leader Naim Qassem says, as the United States presses Beirut to compel the Iran-backed terror group to hand over its weapons.

“We will not let anyone disarm Hezbollah or disarm the resistance” against Israel, Qassem says in remarks on a Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel. “We must cut this idea of disarmament from the dictionary.”

⭕️ LIVE | Speech by Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem.https://t.co/yL4jRUqXO5

— وهاج كرار؟. 🇵🇸𝕎𝕒𝕙𝕒𝕛 𝕂𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕣 🇾🇪 (@mjhdfysbylllh1) April 18, 2025

Trump to reporters: Your life will be in great danger if Iran gets nuclear weapon

US President Donald Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that their lives “will be in great danger” if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, before someone standing near the press pool collapses, leading to an abrupt end of the public event.

“With Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. And if they have a nuclear weapon, you’ll all be very unhappy. You’ll all be very unhappy because your life will be in great danger,” Trump says before an individual experienced a medical episode.

Trump tells reporters their lives will be in great danger if Iran gets a nuke and then someone has a medical event and collapses, bringing the event to an abrupt close pic.twitter.com/B0YQtDvwdx

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 18, 2025

IDF says it killed Hezbollah operative in drone strike in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it killed a Hezbollah operative in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab earlier today.

The operative was involved in “terror activity,” according to the military.

Rubio: All nations should respect Christians’ right to declare Christ is king

In a statement marking Easter, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls on “all nations to respect the right of Christians to declare Christ is King.”

“Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the king of kings and lord of all nations,” Rubio tweets.

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the king of kings and lord of all nations. This Holy Week and Easter, I call upon all nations to respect the right of Christians to declare Christ is King.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 18, 2025

Settlers filmed establishing new illegal outpost under IDF protection

Israeli settlers have been establishing a new illegal outpost near the central West Bank Palestinian village of Turmusaya, footage from the Yesh Din rights group shows.

Pictures and videos from the scene show IDF soldiers securing the movement of mobile homes into the area over the past two days. No settlement has been formally authorized by the government for construction in the area.

While unauthorized outposts are illegal under Israeli law, it is common for them to receive support and funding from state bodies tied to the settler movement.

“In an operation that appears to have been planned in advance, the army is once again collaborating with settlers to establish illegal farm outposts, which are used to violently expel Palestinians under the auspices of the state,” Yesh Din says in a statement.

Yesterday, settlers established a new farm outpost near the village of #Turmusaya in what appears to be a coordinated operation. Over the past two days, all the farm outposts in the Shiloh Valley area received caravans and prefabricated homes. Once again, the army is cooperating… pic.twitter.com/Yex6wvGplr

— Yesh Din English (@Yesh_Din) April 18, 2025

Hostage’s mother says PM’s vague promise of ‘special statement’ is agony for families

Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, stands in front of the Shift 101 protest taking place alongside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on February 9, 2025. (Credit Oded Engel)

The mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his cryptic announcement earlier about a mysterious “special statement” he will make tomorrow evening, saying such a vague pronouncement, seemingly designed to keep the country in suspense, is hell for the families of hostages, who hope for a deal to free their loved ones from Gaza captivity.

“Such a statement right before the holiday throws us into a whirlwind of emotions and indescribable suffering,” Viki Cohen writes on social media.

She says the single statement she hopes to hear from the premier is that he was stopping the war and bringing back all hostages.

“Any other statement will break my heart,” she says. “I ask that you consider during the holiday what we are going through as we anxiously await your announcement.”

Netanyahu is highly unlikely to announce a breakthrough in talks for a hostage deal, with no progress reported in recent days.

21-year-old indicted for alleged part in triple homicide in northern Arab town

The State Attorney’s Office has indicted a 21-year-old resident of Jadeidi-Makr in northern Israel on suspicion that helped carry out a triple homicide that rattled the northern Arab town of Abu Snan in February.

Salim Hamud is accused of partaking in the shooting of three young men — Wajdi Kheir, Haitem Zainati and Natan Mashlab — at a convenience store just after midnight on February 3. Two others were injured in the incident.

According to the indictment obtained by Ynet, Hamud planned the shooting with several accomplices to avenge the murder of his cousin a year prior. He believed a convenience store they targeted was linked to the Abu Latif crime family, who he blamed for his cousin’s killing.

In March, police investigators in the Lahav 433 major crimes unit arrested seven suspects in connection with the triple homicide.

Gaza photojournalist, family killed in Gaza strike; IDF says it targeted Hamas operative

The Guardian reports on a young Gazan photojournalist, Fatima Hassouna, who it says was killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza this week.

Hassouna, 25, was killed along with 10 members of her family, including her pregnant sister, the report says.

Hassouna was the subject of a documentary set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The IDF says the strike targeted a Hamas operative involved in attacks on soldiers and civilians.

????Heartbreaking: Fatima Hassouna was a gifted artist, photographer, and journalist — a brave voice from Gaza known for her powerful images and storytelling. Today, Israel killed Fatima and ten of her family members, silencing a lens that showed the world Gaza’s truth. pic.twitter.com/wRfYKiZDAY

— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) April 16, 2025

“Prior to the strike, measures were taken to minimize the risk to civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” it says.

10,000 pages of records about Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination released

File: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaks to campaign workers, June 5, 1968, as his wife Ethel, left, and California campaign manager and speaker of the California Assembly, Jesse Unruh, look on, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

Approximately 10,000 pages of records related to the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy have been released, continuing the disclosure of national secrets ordered by US President Donald Trump.

Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving his victory speech for winning California’s Democratic presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.

The US National Archives and Records Administration has posted 229 files containing the pages to its public website. Many files related to the senator’s assassination had been previously released, but others had not been digitized and sat for decades in storage facilities maintained by the federal government.

“Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of President Trump,” Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, says in a statement.

Gabbard also says the releases “shine a long-overdue light on the truth.”

The release of the RFK files comes a month after unredacted files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were disclosed. Those documents gave curious readers more details about Cold War-era covert US operations in other nations but didn’t initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK.

Trump, a Republican, has championed in the name of transparency the release of documents related to high-profile assassinations and investigations. But he’s also been deeply suspicious for years of the government’s intelligence agencies, and his administration’s release of once-hidden files opens the door for additional public scrutiny and questioning about the conclusions and operations of institutions such as the CIA and the FBI.

PM’s office says he will make ‘special statement’ Saturday on diplomatic matter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a Passover address, April 11, 2025. (PMO)

In a laconic, cryptic statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he “will deliver a special statement when Shabbat ends [Saturday] on a diplomatic matter.”

No further details are available.

Iran will never agree to dismantle uranium centrifuges, eliminate stockpile — official

Iran's domestically built centrifuges are displayed in an exhibition of the country's nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, February 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

More from the Iranian official speaking to Reuters:

Tehran’s red lines “mandated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei” can not be compromised in the talks, the official says.

He says those red lines mean Iran will never agree to dismantle its centrifuges for enriching uranium, halt enrichment altogether, or reduce the amount of enriched uranium it stores to a level below the level it agreed to in the 2015 deal that Trump abandoned.

It will also not negotiate over its missile program, which Tehran views as outside the scope of any nuclear deal.

“Iran understood in indirect talks in Oman that Washington doesn’t want Iran to stop all nuclear activities, and this can be a common ground for Iran and the US to start a fair negotiation,” the source says.

Iran said today reaching a deal with the United States was possible if “they demonstrate seriousness of intent and do not make unrealistic demands.”

Top US negotiator Steve Witkoff, in a post on X on Tuesday, said Iran must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to reach a deal with Washington.

Iran wants guarantees Trump will not quit a new nuclear pact, official says

US President Donald Trump smiles as he meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House April 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (WIN MCNAMEE / Getty Images via AFP)

Iran told the United States in talks last week it was ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment but needed watertight guarantees that US President Donald Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact, a senior Iranian official says.

Iran and the United States are set to hold a second round of talks on Saturday in Rome, a week after a first round of negotiations in Oman, which both sides described as positive.

Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. In the intervening years, Tehran has steadily overstepped the 2015 agreement’s limits on its nuclear program, designed to make it harder to develop an atomic bomb.

Prosecutors say Israeli, Palestinian minors swore fealty to ISIS, plotted synagogue attack

Prosecutors in the State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment today against two minors, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who are said to have sworn allegiance to ISIS and planned an elaborate terror attack on a Lod synagogue.

The Arab Israeli minor is accused of making contact with members and supporters of ISIS on social media since around August 2024 and swearing allegiance to the terror group soon after.

According to prosecutors, the minor’s contact in ISIS suggested he carry out an attack in Israel, to which he agreed, and settled on a synagogue in Lod as his target for a shooting attack. After the two defendants met in Hebron, the Israeli minor convinced his Palestinian accomplice to swear allegiance to ISIS as well and enlisted him in his plot.

Prosecutors say the pair sought to carry out their attack during Shabbat morning prayers, when the synagogue would be full of worshipers. One of them was to distract the security guard at the entrance while the other would attack him with a poisoned knife, steal his gun and open fire on the congregation.

After the minors’ main contact in ISIS was arrested in Jordan, their plan was abandoned.

The State Attorney’s Office nevertheless notes that “even after that, the Israeli minor maintained his contact with ISIS-supporting actors… and expressed a desire to carry out terrorist acts.”

It is unclear whether the Palestinian minor remained active in ISIS circles.

PA leader Abbas visits Syria, meets new leader Sharaa

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) receiving Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus on April 18, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived this afternoon in Syria for his first visit since the fall of the Assad regime.

He met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

No details have been released from the meeting as of yet.

Hezbollah official rules out talk of arms handover until Israel withdraws

This file photo taken on April 12, 2018 shows senior Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa at his office in the Lebanese capital Beirut. (AFP)

A Hezbollah official says the Iran-backed terror group categorically refuses to discuss handing over its weapons to Lebanon’s army unless Israel withdraws completely from the south and stops its “aggression.”

A ceasefire agreement in November ended more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, sparked by the group’s incessant attacks on Israel amid the Gaza war, including two months of open warfare that decimated the group’s leadership.

Israel says the five points it continues to hold in south Lebanon are critical to ensuring northern residents’ safety. It also continues to carry out airstrikes in Lebanon in response to what it says are violations of the ceasefire.

“It is not a question of disarming,” Wafiq Safa says in an interview with Hezbollah’s Al-Nur radio station. “What the president (Joseph Aoun) said in his inauguration speech is a defensive strategy.”

Safa, said by experts to belong to the movement’s most radical faction, says Hezbollah has conveyed its position to Aoun, who on Tuesday said he sought “to make 2025 the year of restricting arms to the state” alone.

In his interview, Safa asks: “Wouldn’t it be logical for Israel to first withdraw, then release the prisoners, then cease its aggression… and then we discuss a defensive strategy?”

“The defensive strategy is about thinking about how to protect Lebanon, not preparing for the party to hand over its weapons.”

IDF says Hezbollah communications official killed in Sidon drone strike this morning

A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the coastal Lebanese city of Sidon this morning, the military says.

The IDF says the strike targeted Muhammad Abdullah, a member of the Lebanese terror group who was responsible for the deployment of Hezbollah’s communication systems across Lebanon, especially in areas south of the Litani River.

“The activities of the terrorists in the recent period constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and posed a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the IDF adds.

بالفيديو: غارة على سيارة في صيداhttps://t.co/PSWpT55uU2 pic.twitter.com/dCDeKkW8Hl

— MTV Lebanon News (@MTVLebanonNews) April 18, 2025

Houthis claim responsibility for missile fired at central Israel this morning

The Houthi rebels in Yemen claim responsibility for a missile launch toward the center of the country this morning.

In a statement released by the Houthi military spokesperson, they claim to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel.

The missile was successfully intercepted by Israeli air defenses.

Sirens had sounded across central Israel, in the Jerusalem area, and in some West Bank settlements.

Iran FM says has ‘serious doubts’ over US intentions ahead of talks

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi casts doubt over the intentions of the United States a day before a second round of nuclear talks with Washington.

The new round will come a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level negotiations since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear deal in 2018.

“Although we have serious doubts about the intentions and motivations of the American side, in any case we will participate in tomorrow’s negotiations,” Araghchi says during a press conference in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Araghchi will set off on Saturday for Rome for a fresh round of Omani-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

“We are fully prepared to pursue a peaceful resolution for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” Araghchi says.

Army general visits Gaza to check troop complaints of lack of food

Chief of the Technological and Logistics Directorate Maj. Gen. Mishel Yanko speaks with troops in the Gaza Strip, April 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

After troops of the Golani Brigade operating in Gaza complained they were not receiving enough food due to kosher-for-Passover restrictions, the chief of the Technological and Logistics Directorate, Maj. Gen. Mishel Yanko, entered the Strip this morning to inspect the matter personally, the military says.

Yanko met with several units in Gaza “in order to ensure that the troops are receiving the necessary food and logistics response.”

The IDF says it has a 24/7 hotline running throughout Passover where soldiers can issue complaints regarding food.

Yesterday, reports emerged that Golani soldiers who are fighting in Rafah complained to their parents that they were only eating matza with chocolate spread and had not had a single hot meal in several days.

IDF troops capture and destroy tunnels and weapons depot in Gaza City

During recent operations in Gaza City’s eastern neighborhood of Shejaiya, the IDF says reservists of the Jerusalem Brigade, now in their fourth round of reserve duty in Gaza, located several tunnels and a weapons depot.

The military says the operations in Shejaiya are intended to expand a buffer zone along the Gaza border. The area is relatively elevated and overlooks the Israeli border communities of Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza and Sa’ad.

This past week, the IDF says the reserve brigade eliminated a cell of operatives that was planning a sniper attack on the forces.

The tunnels and weapon depot located by the reservists were demolished by the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, the army adds.

A Hamas tunnel in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood is demolished in a video published by the IDF on April 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel will do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop Iran gaining nuclear weapons, Katz vows

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he is committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a day after The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump quashed Israeli proposals for joint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“When I was appointed defense minister, I pledged to lead two central goals: Preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and winning the war,” he says. “The IDF is currently working toward a decisive victory in all arenas.”

He adds: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are committed, together with all parties, to leading a clear line that will prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. We will not allow threats of annihilation against the State of Israel.”

“This is our responsibility and historic task, and we will do whatever it takes to realize them,” the defense minister adds.

Janan Suliman, 25, identified as Israeli victim of Italy cable car crash

The Israeli victim of a cable car crash in Italy yesterday has been identified in the media as 25-year-old Janan Suliman from Mashhad in northern Israel.

Suliman and three other people were killed in the crash, which occurred south of Naples.

Two of the other victims were British, with one of them identified by British press as Margaret Elaine Winn, 58. The second has yet to be identified.

The fourth victim of the crash was 59-year-old cable car operator Carmine Parlato.

A second Israeli was rescued from the crash site and remains in critical condition. The identity of the wounded Israeli is not confirmed, although Hebrew media reports that he is Suliman’s brother.

ג'נאן סלימאן, בת 25 ממשהד שבגליל התחתון, היא הישראלית שנהרגה בתאונת הרכבל באיטליהhttps://t.co/d7ocBtYYGM pic.twitter.com/21KuQpXnR9

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) April 18, 2025

Iran believes it can reach nuclear agreement with US, wants Russia to play role

Iran believes that reaching an agreement on the country’s nuclear program is possible and hopes that Russia will play a role in the deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says after meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

Araghchi adds that Iran noted the United States’ seriousness during the first round of talks on the deal, which took place in Oman last week.

Lavrov says that Russia is ready to play a role in the talks.

Italian official confirms Israeli tourist among those killed in Naples cable car accident

An Italian official confirms that an Israeli woman and a British woman were among four people who died yesterday when a cable car crashed south of Naples.

Only two of the three foreign victims have been identified since the accident, says Marco De Rosa, the spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense.

According to Italian media, the third foreign victim is also British.

According to initial information, a traction cable snapped, bringing both an upward and a downward-going cable car to a halt as they traversed Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia.

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into multiple manslaughter and culpable disaster.

A fifth person, who is also believed to be a foreign tourist, was seriously injured and hospitalized in Naples, officials say.

The Foreign Ministry says that the Israeli embassy in Rome is checking reports that the injured tourist is also Israeli, and is working on the matter with Italian authorities.

Houthis say 58 killed in US strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port overnight

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say in an updated toll that US strikes on a fuel port killed 58 people and wounded more than 100, making it the deadliest attack of Washington’s intensified month-long air campaign against the Iran-backed group.

“The death toll from the American enemy’s targeting of the Ras Isa facility has risen to 58 martyrs and 126 wounded,” the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV says, quoting health authorities in rebel-held Hodeida.

Military says Air Force hit some 40 targets in Gaza over the past day

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published on April 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli Air Force struck some 40 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says.

The IDF says the targets included terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, and weapons depots.

The strikes come as troops continue to operate on the ground across the Strip.

In the Tel Sultan and Shaboura areas of southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military says troops of the Gaza Division destroyed Hamas infrastructure and killed several operatives during an ambush.

In northern Gaza, the 252nd Division destroyed a weapons depot and directed drone strikes on operatives, the army says.

Jerusalem hills blaze sparked by fragments of interceptor missile, police say

Smoke billows from a fire in the Jerusalem Hills, near the city of Beit Shemesh, apparently as a result of interceptor shrapnel following a missile attack by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, April 18, 2025. (Israel Police)

A fire that broke out earlier this morning in the Jerusalem hills was caused by shrapnel from an interceptor missile that downed a ballistic missile from Yemen, the Israel Police says.

The fire broke out near the Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve, close to Bet Shemesh, prompting the Nature and Parks Authority to evacuate the site.

Police sappers were called to the scene once it was determined that the blaze had been caused by shrapnel, the statement says, adding that the cause was only determined once the fire was extinguished.

The Stalactite Cave has since reopened to visitors.

‘Full-fledged war crime’: Hamas slams US strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen overnight

Palestinian terror group Hamas denounces overnight US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port, said to have killed dozens, as Washington renewed its campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“This blatant aggression represents a gross violation of Yemeni sovereignty, a full-fledged war crime, and reaffirms the continuation of hostile American policies targeting the free peoples who reject Zionist and American hegemony in the region,” Hamas says in a statement.

Earlier today, Houthi-controlled media reported that 38 people had been killed in the strikes and more than 100 had been injured.

Weekly Jordanian anti-Israel protest said canceled by authorities for first time since Oct. 7

Jordanian authorities have banned a weekly anti-Israel protest from taking place today, for the first time since the Gaza war began following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

According to the report, the protest was canceled in part due to the recent discovery of a Muslim Brotherhood plot to launch a rocket and drone attack on the kingdom.

The Muslim Brotherhood and its close ally Hamas have been accused of fomenting the weekly anti-government street protests in Jordan amid the war in Gaza.

Citing unnamed sources close to Hamas, Kan reports that the decision by Jordanian authorities to cancel today’s protest was also taken in light of the “charged atmosphere” and increasing “incitement against activities in support of Gaza.”

US ambassador Mike Huckabee visits Western Wall, places note from Trump in the stones

US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, places a note on behalf of US President Donald Trump at the Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Newly-appointed US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visits the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, one day after arriving in the country to take up his post.

Footage from the visit shows Huckabee placing a note in a crevice of the wall, a long-standing tradition.

He says that the note is from US President Donald Trump.

“He wrote that with his own hand last Thursday and he sent me to place it here, so I do so with the best wishes of the president,” says Huckabee.

He is accompanied by the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch.

“I can think of nothing I’d rather do than represent a prayer from the President of the United States on behalf of the American people to pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” Huckabee adds in remarks to the press.

Join the GPO’s live broadcast of US Ambassador to Israel Huckabee’s statement at the Western Wall. https://t.co/3OEJCNfyeT

— Government Press Office 🇮🇱 (@GPOIsrael) April 18, 2025

US may soon abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, Rubio says

The United States will stop trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

Rubio, speaking in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders, says that US President Donald Trump is still interested in a deal but has many other priorities around the world and is willing to move on unless there are signs of progress.

Report: Mossad chief, Dermer to meet with US envoy Witkoff in Paris later today, ahead of Iran talks

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad head David Barnea will travel to Paris today for a meeting with US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, reports Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.

The meeting was scheduled in light of the second session of nuclear talks that Witkoff is set to hold in Rome on Saturday, the report adds, citing three Israeli sources.

More than 170 arrested for anti-Israel protests at KFC branches across Pakistan

Supporters of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), a student wing of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party stage a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protest outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant calling for boycott of Israeli products on the outskirts of Islamabad on May 7, 2024. (Farooq Naeem/AFP)

Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-US sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials say.

Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, have confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalised. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.

KFC and its parent company, Yum Brands, both US-based, have not responded to requests for comment.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official adds that there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.

In Lahore, police say they are ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.

“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” says Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, were arrested in the city. He adds that the protests were not officially organised by TLP.

TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan says the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”

“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” says Khan.

Two more arrested on suspicion of leaving gift-wrapped hand grenade at door of local politician

Police have arrested two additional suspects thought to be involved in the placing of a gift-wrapped hand grenade on the doorstep of a local politician in northern Israel, a spokesman says.

Earlier this week, prosecutors in the State Attorney’s Office indicted a young man and a minor who allegedly left the explosive, alongside a threatening note, outside the home of Merom HaGalil Regional Council chairman Amit Sofer.

Two others thought to be involved have been arrested since then, police say. One of the suspects, a 42-year-old resident from the northern moshav of Hazon, is said to have ordered the grenade to Sofer’s home in an effort to frighten the politician into changing the zoning of land owned by his family.

Sofer’s son found the explosive and note upon returning home from school on March 4, 2025, in the northern town of Bar Yohai. The note read: “Congratulations, we will visit your office as soon as possible.”

The other suspect, an older relative of one of the suspects arrested earlier, allegedly recruited the two to carry out the crime at the Hazon resident’s behest, then fled his home in Nazareth to the West Bank.

Police were granted an extension on the Nazareth resident’s custody and will bring the Hazon resident to the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court this morning in an attempt to also extend his detention.

Firefighters battling blaze in Jerusalem hills, close to Bet Shemesh

A fire burns in the Jerusalem Hills, close to the city of Bet Shemesh, on April 18, 2025. (Israel Fire and Rescue Service)

Firefighters are battling a large blaze that erupted earlier this morning in the Jerusalem hills, close to the city of Bet Shemesh.

The fire began in the Har Ja’ala area, some 4 kilometers from Bet Shemesh, but does not currently pose a risk to residential areas, the Fire and Rescue Service says.

It adds that firefighting crews are working on “steep and complex terrain” to contain the fire and ensure it doesn’t spread to populated areas.

Some 1,000 relatives of fallen soldiers said to sign letter in support of Gaza fighting

Amid a recent wave of letters from former military personnel, IDF reservists and civilian professionals urging the government to sign a hostage deal even at the cost of ending the war, Hebrew media reports that some 1,000 people have signed onto a letter calling for the opposite.

The letter, drafted by the right-wing Gevurah (“Heroism”) Forum, asserts that the price of ending the war now would be “a grave danger to Israel’s security.”

The achievements [of the war] are many, but the mission is not yet complete,” the letter states, adding that should Israel lay down its weapons in Gaza, it would set off a “countdown to the next massacre.”

The letter is said to have been signed by some 1,000 relatives of soldiers killed amid the ongoing war in Gaza and in previous wars and operations on various fronts.

“The war must not be stopped before all its goals are fully achieved — the return of the hostages, the elimination of the enemy, and the assurance that Gaza will not pose a threat to the State of Israel,” the letter states. “Our loved ones went to war for victory, for security, and did not return, and we insist that their will be fulfilled and carried out.”

Houthis report at least 38 killed, over 100 wounded in US strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port

US strikes on a fuel port in Yemen yesterday have killed at least 38 people, Houthi-controlled media says, revising its earlier toll of 20 deaths, marking one of the deadliest days since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed rebel group.

The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah TV says 102 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the US military says aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthis.

Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command says it has none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks.

IDF says Houthi missile intercepted by air defenses

A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses, the military says.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the attack.

Sirens had sounded across central Israel, in the Jerusalem area, and in some West Bank settlements.

For the first time, the IDF Home Front Command used a new system to alert civilians of the missile attack several minutes before sirens sounded.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched more than 20 ballistic missiles and several drones at Israel. Only half of the missiles set off sirens in Israel, and were shot down, while the others fell short.

Ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen; IDF says working to down it

A ballistic missile has been launched from Yemen at Israel, the military says.

The IDF says air defenses are working to intercept the missile, and further details will be provided soon.

Sirens sound across central Israel and the Jerusalem area several minutes after the launch was identified.

US National Security Council restaffing with MAGA-aligned aides — CBS News

The White House is starting to rebuild the National Security Council with aides it believes are staunchly aligned with US President Donald Trump’s agenda after six people were ousted earlier this month, CBS News reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Retired US Army Colonel Derek Harvey is expected to be named senior director for intelligence, while Michael Jensen, a retired Air Force veteran, is also likely to join the NSC, the report adds.

Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says 10 killed in Israeli strike near Khan Younis

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says that 10 people were killed in an overnight Israeli strike near the southern city of Khan Younis.

“Our crews recovered the bodies of 10 martyrs and a large number of injuries from the house of the Baraka family and the neighboring houses targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in the Bani Suhaila area east of Khan Yunis,” spokesman Mahmoud Bassal says on Telegram.

Houthis report over 20 killed in US strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — US airstrikes targeting the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 20 people and wounded 50 others, the group says early Friday.

The strikes, confirmed by the US Military’s Central Command, represent one of the highest reported death tolls so far in the campaign launched under President Donald Trump that has involved hundreds of strikes since March 15.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel airs graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack, showing corpses strewn across the site. It says paramedic and civilians workers at the port had been killed in the attack, which sparked a massive explosion and fires.

In a statement, Central Command says that “US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years.”

“This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully,” it addd. It doesn’t acknowledge any casualties.

State Department to review online activity of US visa applicants who’ve been to Gaza

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has ordered a social media vetting for all US visa applicants who have been to the Gaza Strip on or after January 1, 2007, an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters shows, in the latest push to tighten screening of foreign travelers.

The order to conduct a social media vetting for all immigrant and non-immigrant visas should include non-governmental organization workers as well as individuals who have been in the Palestinian enclave for any length of time in an official or diplomatic capacity, the cable says.

“If the review of social media results uncovers potential derogatory information relating to security issues, then a SAO must be submitted,” the cable says, referring to a security advisory opinion, which is an interagency investigation to determine if a visa applicant poses a national security risk to the United States.

The cable was sent to all US diplomatic and consular posts.

The cable dated April 17 was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said in late March that he may have revoked more than 300 visas already.

A State Department spokesperson declines to comment on internal communications when asked about the cable, but says every prospective traveler to the US undergoes extensive interagency security vetting.

“The Trump Administration is focused on protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” the spokesperson says, adding that all visa applicants are continuously vetted.

“Security vetting runs from the time of each application, through adjudication of the visa, and afterwards during the validity period of every issued visa, to ensure the individual remains eligible to travel to the United States,” the spokesperson adds.

‘Angry, humiliated’ hostage parents fume at top negotiator: He offered no action plan

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a Knesset plenum session in Jerusalem on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The father of hostage Eitan Mor and mother of captive Avinatan Or send a letter to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a top confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks with Hamas, saying they feel “angry, humiliated, confused and exhausted” after meeting with him to discuss the efforts to return their loved ones from Gaza.

According to Tzvika Mor and Ditza Or, who are both affiliated with the hawkish Tikva Forum, Dermer did not ask why they sought the meeting, a request they say they made some time ago.

“You opened with an uncontrolled attack of talking, which none of us got nearly anything out of. The three of us are not stupid. The few words we managed to get in were by an impolite outburst, in your words. If we were not impolite, we would not have even gotten to express that little,” Mor and Or write to Dermer.

“The choice of this strategy (and you are not the first to take it) expresses deep disrespect toward us as people, as heartbroken parents.”

They continue: “For nearly two hours, you told us in great and irritating detail about the stages of the fighting and the agreements since the start of the war. Occasionally we asked you that we focus on the current time period and how we are dealing with the challenges before us now, but it did not help. You insisted on continuing the historical summary. Ultimately, after two irrelevant hours, there was little time left to discuss possible current courses of action, and we were already completely worn out.”

Mor and Or say that in the hours after the meeting, “we understood the enormity of the disaster.”

“Whoever does not come out [of Gaza] in the current small group is abandoned to their fate in the depths of hell. We did not understand from you any operative proposal that will succeed in returning [the hostages] home, or when. At our request, you gave an estimated time frame of 3-6 months, but without a plan of action.”

“Our loved ones are abandoned in hell and will patiently and politely wait until their bitter end. We again warn you not to dare discriminate between blood, to prioritize the lives of selected hostages at the price of others’ lives. You have no right to surrender or give up on our loved ones’ lives. Only everyone [all the captives] together.”

Israeli woman said among the 4 killed in southern Italy cable car accident

Rescuers on the site where a cable car carrying tourists south of Naples has crashed after the cable snapped, killing at least four people and injuring one in Castellamare di Stabia, near Naples, Italy, April 17, 2025. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

MILAN — A cable car carrying tourists south of Naples crashed to the ground after a cable snapped, killing at least four people and critically injuring one, officials say.

According to Italian newspaper la Repubblica, one of the four fatalities is an Israeli woman. The report says another Israeli tourist wounded in the incident is an intensive care.

The snapped cable brought both the upward and downward-going cable cars to a halt as they traversed Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia. The upward cable car eventually crashed, causing the fatalities and injury, while eight tourists and an operator were evacuated from the downward cable car, Naples Prefect Michele de Bari says.

“The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station,” says Castellammare Mayor Luigi Vicinanza.

Italy’s alpine rescue, along with firefighters, police and civil protection services responded to the accident.

The accident occurred just a week after the cable car, popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni expresses her condolences for the victims and their families and says she was in touch with rescuers. She is in Washington, where she met with US President Donald Trump.

US National Security Council: Hamas ‘not interested in peace but perpetual violence’

The White House comments on Hamas’s rejection of an Israeli proposal for an interim truce in Gaza.

“Hamas’s comments demonstrate they are not interested in peace but perpetual violence. The terms made by the Trump Administration have not changed: release the hostages or face hell,” says US National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt.

Trump accuses Harvard of abusing its tax-exempt status as an educational institution

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says that Harvard University is abusing its tax-exempt status as he escalates his fight with the institution.

“I think Harvard is a disgrace,” Trump tells reporters.