April 19: US official: ‘Very good progress’ made in Iran talks; we’ll meet again next week

US official: ‘Very good progress’ made in Iran talks; we’ll meet again next week

A Trump administration official reports “very good progress” in today’s nuclear negotiations with Iran in Rome.

“Today, in Rome, over four hours in our second round of talks, we made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” the official tells The Times of Israel.

“We agreed to meet again next week and are grateful to our Omani partners for facilitating these talks and to our Italian partners for hosting us today,” the official adds.

Houthis report fresh US airstrikes in rebel-held cities Sanaa, Hodeida

CAIRO, Egypt — Yemen’s Houthi rebels say the US military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after a US strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.

The Houthis’ media office says 13 US airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeida, on the Red Sea. The office also reports US strikes in the capital, Sanaa.

There are no immediate reports of casualties.

The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hostage Families Forum: Netanyahu’s slogans can’t hide simple fact he has no plan

Protesters demand the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, at a rally at Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, April 19, 2025. (Lior Rotstein/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum responds to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address this evening, stating that the premier did not articulate any plan for the release of their loved ones.

In response to the recorded statement, the forum says, “Many words and slogans will not be able to hide the simple fact — Netanyahu has no plan.”

“We heard this evening without end what can’t be done, we would appreciate hearing what can be done. It is no wonder the prime minister didn’t make time for questions, otherwise, he would have to answer the basic question: What is the State of Israel doing exactly to return all 59 hostages immediately?” the forum says.

The forum says it is “absurd” of Netanyahu to call the ongoing war, “the war of rebirth.”

“What kind of rebirth can happen without the return of the hostages kidnapped under his watch, and under his management of the war, are still held captive for over a year and a half,” the forum says, adding that the only solution is an end to the war in exchange for the release of all the hostages.

Netanyahu dismisses ‘delusional’ call to ‘trick’ Hamas by gaining hostages’ freedom with false promise to end the war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that there can be no end to the war against Hamas in Gaza without removing Hamas from power first. And he dismisses what he calls the “delusional” suggestion that he “trick” Hamas by agreeing to end the conflict now in order to secure the release of the hostages, but then order a return to military operations afterward.

Speaking in a recorded video address, Netanyahu says Hamas is demanding a full Israeli retreat from Gaza, including from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border and the buffer zone Israel has established, and states that Hamas is demanding “binding international guarantees” to ensure that Israel does not go back to war after the release of the hostages.

“We will not end the ‘war of rebirth’ before we destroy Hamas in Gaza, return all our hostages and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” says Netanyahu.

He sneers at so-called Israeli experts “who are calling to accept the Hamas dictates, and are telling us: ‘Capitulate now, leave Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor, trick Hamas by promising that you won’t resume the war, and after Hamas returns all the hostages, do resume the war’.”

“Most ridiculous of all,” he goes on, these experts are openly urging this course of action, “in TV studies, with Hamas watching them.”

“Hamas are a group of despicable murderers but they’re not stupid,” says Netanyahu. “They are demanding binding international guarantees that will not enable the delusional ruse that the self-styled experts are presenting to us in the studios.”

These TV pundits “have no idea how the international system operates,” he says. “Nobody, certainly including the United States, and not China, Russia or the other members of the UN Security Council, will cooperate with this ruse, something which will make returning to war impossible. We won’t have any legitimacy to do this.”

“So I want to clarify: There is no ‘fake obligation’. If we obligate not to fight, we can’t go back to fighting in Gaza.”

Netanyahu goes on to say that were Israel to leave the Gaza security zone it has established, “Hamas would soon reconstitute its terror army, and could then again carry out mass kidnappings and additional slaughter of Israeli citizens. My obligation as prime minister is to prevent this. And I will indeed prevent this.

I believe that we can return our hostages without capitulating to the dictates of Hamas,” he says.

He says that in a security cabinet meeting early in the war, possibly the first, “a very senior security official said we’d need to get used to the idea that we might not manage to return even a single hostage.”

He, however, always “believed that the combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure would lead to the release of our hostages. Many did not believe this. But to date we have returned 196 hostages — 147 of them alive. There are still 24 living hostages held in Gaza and 35 slain hostages. The mission is not yet complete. I intend to complete it without surrendering to Hamas.”

“We will step up the pressure on Hamas until we achieve all the goals of the war, he vows.

Feldstein’s lawyers decry ‘false’ claim Qatargate suspect did not work for PM’s office in lead-up to arrest

Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre. (IDF)

Defense attorneys representing Eli Feldstein, one of the main suspects in the Qatargate affair, say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman’s claim earlier this evening that Feldstein did not work for the Prime Minister’s Office in the six months before his arrest is a lie.

Feldstein was arrested and charged last year in a separate case for harming state security by leaking stolen classified intelligence information that was then published in the foreign press.

The Qatargate affair involves suspicions that Netanyahu aides, among them Feldstein, committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption allegations involving lobbyists and businessmen. They are suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters in order to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, all while in the prime minister’s employ, a judge said earlier this month.

Omer Dostri, a spokesman for the prime minister, told Channel 12’s Meet the Press earlier that Feldstein did not earn money from Qatar while he was an employee in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Dostri said Feldstein only worked for a few months in the office, but left when he failed a security check.

“Even if Feldstein continued to brief journalists after that, that was at his own initiative and not in an official capacity,” he says.

Dostri also claims, “As someone who was present in security and cabinet discussions — I never worked with him, never saw him in a security discussion. This matter is being investigated — and we will see what comes out of it.”

Later, Feldstein’s lawyer Oded Saburai and Sion Hausman tell Channel 12 the claim that Feldstein did not act as a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office in the six months before his arrest “is false and contradicted by mountains of objective evidence.”

The lawyers assert their client acted in an official capacity on behalf of the Prime Minister’s office as a spokesperson on diplomatic and security matters.

PM says those critiquing failure to strike Iran opposed past actions that delayed nuclear program

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows President Masoud Pezeshkian (2nd R) and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) chief Mohammad Eslami (R) during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology", in Tehran, on April 9, 2025 (Iranian Presidency / AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he remains committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and attacks critics who have slammed the premier of late for failing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, who, Netanyahu claims, opposed actions he took against Iran in the past.

“I am committed to preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. I won’t give up on this, I won’t let up on this, and I won’t withdraw from this — not a millimeter.”

“It is amusing to listen to the criticism of those who opposed the actions I took to harm and delay Iran’s nuclear program in the past, actions without which Iran would have had a nuclear weapon 10 years ago,” asserts Netanyahu in a video statement.

Last week, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of scuttling opportunities to hit Iran, while former prime minister Naftali Bennett said Netanyahu has failed to follow through on threats against Tehran.

Their comments came against the background of a report that US President Donald Trump recently blocked an Israeli-proposed strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump later said he was in no rush to greenlight strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the US is now conducting negotiations with Iran on a new deal aimed at thwarting its nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu: Hamas rejected deal to return half of living hostages; I won’t capitulate to demand to end war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a recorded statement, April 19, 2025. (Prime Minister's Office/screenshot)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas rejected over the weekend a proposal for the return of half of the remaining living hostages and many of the slain hostages it is holding in Gaza, because it is demanding the end of the war and an Israeli military retreat from Gaza.

“If we capitulate to the dictates of Hamas now, all the great achievements of the war, which we achieved with the merit of our soldiers and our fallen and our heroic injured, all these achievements will disappear,” says Netanyahu in a recorded message.

“As your prime minister, I will not capitulate to the murderers who committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Capitulation like this will endanger the country and endanger you,” he adds.

“Hamas demands an end to the war and that it stays in power,” he says. “It also demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the rehabilitation of Gaza, with an influx of vast sums of money that would enable it to rearm and again prepare attacks on us.

“Ending the war on those terms would send the message to all of Israel’s enemies that by kidnapping Israelis, the State of Israel can be brought to its knees, that it can be defeated,” he says. “It is also a devastating message that terrorism pays, something that would harm the security of the entire free world.

“Obviously, with those conditions, President Trump’s important vision could not be realized — the vision that would change the face of Gaza once and for all, and enable our state to live in security.”

“Therefore,” says Netanyahu, “I clarify: We will not end the ‘war of rebirth’ until we destroy Hamas in Gaza, until we return all of our hostages, and until we ensure that the Gaza Strip will not again constitute a threat to Israel.”

“Those in Israel who so irresponsibly call for an end to the war with a surrender to Hamas’s demands,” he charges,” are echoing Hamas propaganda… and fueling the cruel psychological war” that Hamas is fighting. “And they are putting off — not advancing — the release of the hostages.”

Hamas’s “surrender terms” are not new, he says. “But what Israeli leader could accept them after October 7? I certainly won’t. And I’m sure you wouldn’t either.”

He denounces what he terms calls to “surrender” to Hamas’s terms, which he says have grown of late — an apparent reference to a stream of letters urging that he prioritize the return of all the hostages even at the price of ending the war.

If he had heeded those calls, he says, Israel would not have entered Rafah, taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor, carried out the exploding pager attack on Hezbollah, killed Hamas’s leaders, created the conditions for the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, or dealt “the harsh blow” it has delivered to Iran. Instead, he says, Israel would have continued “to live under existential threat.”

The prime minister also rejects claims that Israel can trick Hamas into returning all the hostages and then return to war, and says the international community would not allow it and those advocating for such a tactic do not understand how international relations work.

Ex-captive Omer Shem Tov calls on PM to bring back all the hostages at once, even if it means ending war

Released hostage Omer Shem Tov speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, April 19, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Omer Shem Tov, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the Gaza truce that Israel ended last month, calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a protest in Tel Aviv to “make the brave, Zionist, Jewish, human step” and bring back the remaining 59 captives from Gaza in a single release even at the price of a halt to the fighting in the Strip.

“Now. In a single release,” says Shem Tov. “And if that means ending the war, then end the war,” he adds, noting that opinion polls show a large majority of the public would support the move.

“When I was there, in captivity, I experienced psychological terrorism,” says Shem Tov. “They told me Israel was falling apart, that our society was disintegrating, that the enmity, schisms and division were empowering Hamas.”

Shem Tov says he didn’t believe his captors, and that when he returned, he saw “we have a strong, united nation.” He thanks the Hostages Square crowd, saying he saw their rallies while in captivity.

Shem Tov says that a week ago, when singing at the Passover seder about how the ancient Israelites broke free of slavery in Egypt, he understood “the significance of this holiday. The significance of this nation. The significance of this state. And that significance is freedom: mine, my family’s, my friends’.”

“But that freedom won’t be whole without freedom for my brothers who remain in Gaza,” he says.

Hostages’ son appears to accuse some in right-wing forums of willingness to ‘sacrifice their sons to conquer land in Gaza’

Anti-government protesters rallying outside the Defense Minister headquarters, in Tel Aviv, April 19, 2025. (Avishai Reisner/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Omri Lifshitz, son of captivity survivor Yocheved Lifshitz and slain hostage Oded Lifshitz, appears to accuse some right-wing bereaved and hostage families of being “willing to sacrifice their sons to conquer Gaza’s land.”

Speaking to hundreds of anti-government protesters on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street, he says such a willingness exists in parts of “the government and the extremist forums” — apparently a reference to the Gvura Forum of families of forum who were killed fighting in Gaza, and the Tikva Forum of hostage families who support the release of their loved ones through military pressure.

“Those who sanctify land will never measure up to those who sanctify life,” he says.

He expresses fear that Israel’s renewed Gaza will kill the remaining living hostages and quash any hope of returning the dead ones’ bodies.

“It’s clear to everyone that withdrawing from Gaza and ending the horrible war would have brought back the bodies many months ago,” he says, calling for “retreat from Gaza forever.”

Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies will see “no quarter for these deeds.”

“We will remember forever. We’ll remind the next generations that at a time of war a government of horrors, haters of Israel, worked to sacrifice citizens and soldiers.”

Referring to Netanyahu’s spokesman Omer Dostri, who said this evening that Israel can’t bring back all the hostages because that would require an end to the war, Cohen says he sees the statement as a “direct admission of the incompetence of the government and its leader.”

“Netanyahu is incompetent and incapable of being the prime minister of Israel,” he says.

Police clash with anti-Netanyahu protesters outside moshav where PM is expected to celebrate Mimouna

Police clash with protesters at Moshav Mazor, April 19, 2025 (Screenshot: Ofri Eitan / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Police are clashing with anti-government protesters outside Moshav Mazor, in central Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family are expected to celebrate Mimouna, the festival marking the end of Passover this evening.

Among the protesters is Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023. Yoram sought to meet with Netanyahu, but was blocked by police, Ynet reports.

Ex-captive at Hostages Square: How can a state founded in the wake of the Holocaust forget its sons and daughters?

Released hostage Ilana Gritzewsky speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, April 19, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Released hostage Ilana Gritzewsky tells a crowd of hundreds at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that her Hamas captors “hurt me — physically, emotionally, psychologically, sexually — until I reached the depth of fear and humiliation.”

“But Hamas didn’t win,” she says. “Nobody took [my] spirit of faith and hope, and nobody will.”

Gritzewsky was abducted with her partner Matan Zangauker from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. She was released during the weeklong Gaza truce that November. Zangauker remains in captivity.

“They took him from my life, stole my humanity, beat me, humiliated me, left me without food, without water, without dignity,” says Gritzewsky.

“Instead of stopping everything and bringing them home, this government chooses to turn its back, chooses to abandon,” she says. “And I ask you: How can this be? How can a state founded in the wake of the Holocaust forget its sons and daughters who are being held in Holocaust conditions?”

“The government has given up, but we’ll fight,” she says. “Because it’s not a political issue. It’s a matter of life and death.”

Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, 35, killed in Hamas attack in Gaza

Warrant Officer G'haleb Sliman Alnasasra, who was killed in the northern Gaza Strip on April 19, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

An Israeli soldier was killed and five others were wounded, including three seriously, in a Hamas attack in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The slain soldier is named as Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, 35, a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, from Rahat.

He is the first soldier to be killed in Gaza since the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Strip on March 18.

The incident took place during operations of the 252nd Division near northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun. The division is working to clear the area close to the border of Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels, as part of efforts to expand Israel’s buffer zone.

According to an initial IDF probe, at 12:58 p.m., a group of soldiers driving along an IDF logistics road, close to an army encampment inside Gaza, came under fire by Hamas operatives. The operatives, who had come out of a tunnel shaft, launched an RPG at the army vehicle.

Three servicewomen of the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit were wounded in the attack. Two of them, an officer and a combat medic, are listed in serious condition.

A short while later, rescue forces led by the commander of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, Col. Omri Mashiah, reached the scene, along with trackers from the brigade.

At 1:25 p.m., according to the probe, the Hamas operatives set off an explosive device on the side of a road, near the rescue forces, killing Alnasasra and wounding two other trackers, including one seriously.

The IDF carried out a wave of strikes in the area, in an attempt to eliminate the operatives behind the attack, the military says.

Lapid: Netanyahu should make clear if he thinks hostages can’t be returned with single deal

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid hits back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, who said earlier this evening that the idea of all hostages held in Gaza returning in a single deal is a “spin.”

Lapid writes on X that the comments show that “the Israeli government has given up on attempting to return the hostages.”

“Netanyahu should make clear if his spokesman speaks from his heart or officially,” Lapid writes. “If this is the official position of the prime minister, he should show up and say this, and if not, he should apologize on behalf of his spokesman.”

“My heart is with the families, whose worlds are rocked by every sentence like this. And with Elkana [Bohbot’s] family, whose sign of life emphasizes more than anything else that a hostage deal must be reached immediately,” he writes, referencing a video published by Hamas of the hostage this evening.

Sephardic Haredi leader Rabbi Meir Mazuz dies at 80

Rabbi Meir Mazuz speaks at a press conference the Yachad political party in Bnei Brak, March 27, 2019. (Yehuda Haim/Flash90)

Rabbi Meir Mazuz, one of the leaders of Israel’s Sephardic ultra-Orthodox community, dies aged 80.

Mazuz, a Tunisian Jew, headed the Kisse Rahamim Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will resign mid-May, TV report says

Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, attends a ceremony on May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shin Bet security service head Ronen Bar will resign in mid-May, either on the 16th, 17th or 18th of the month, Channel 12 reports.

The report says it does not know if Bar will announce his resignation tomorrow, when he is scheduled to present an affidavit to the High Court of Justice, which earlier this month froze the government’s firing of him.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted in March to fire Bar, citing a breakdown in trust. The unprecedented ouster — which came amid a high-profile, ongoing Shin Bet investigation into several of Netanyahu’s close aides — was immediately challenged. The court ruled two weeks ago that, while a compromise is being sought on the procedure used to fire Bar, he cannot in the meantime be removed from his position.

In hostage video, Elkana Bohbot holds mock phone call with family, urging them to keep working for his release

Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot in a Hamas propaganda video published on April 19, 2025.

Shortly after the video was published by the terror group, Elkana Bohbot’s family approves its publication in Israeli media, which does not share propaganda videos of hostages without family permission.

In the video, a distraught and gaunt-looking Bohbot addresses his family in a mock phone call — evidently on his captors’ orders — and tells his wife and son that he dreams about returning home to them.

He urges them not to stop working for his release from Hamas captivity. “Keep doing everything for me!” he cries, saying he has “appealed to the state, appealed to the government, appealed to everyone.”

“I have appealed to the IDF, also. I have heard that they are signing petitions to stop the war and release us,” he says, referring to the recent wave of petitions signed by IDF reservists and veterans calling for a hostage deal and an end to the war.

“That’s good, keep going,” he said, “they care more about their citizens than the government.”

Hamas hostage Elkana Bohbot, held captive in Gaza, appears in a video published by Hamas, April 19, 2025.

Bohbot asks his brother Uriel to go to the White House and ask President Donald Trump to urgently get him out. His health is not good, and he’s afraid that he will die, he says.

Iranian FM: We agreed with US that experts will ‘start drafting framework’ for nuclear deal on Wednesday

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (L) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome before nuclear talks, on April 19, 2025. (Handout / ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)

Speaking on state TV after the talks, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says nuclear talks with experts scheduled for Wednesday will be an opportunity to start forging a “framework” for a deal.

“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he says.

“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”

Netanyahu’s spokesman says impossible to return all hostages with one deal: ‘This is a spin’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman says the idea that all the hostages can be returned under one agreement is “spin,” during an interview with Channel 12’s “Meet the Press.”

“It is impossible to return everyone with one deal. This is a spin,” Dr. Omer Dostri says.

“There isn’t anyone who doesn’t want to return our hostages. We are doing everything to return the hostages, and the moment we return everyone, we will eliminate Hamas. It is impossible to do a deal for everyone. Hamas is demanding an end to the war,” he says.

Hamas has said they are ready to return all the hostages for an end to the war and the withdrawal of IDF troops from Gaza. Some hostage families have urged the government to agree to the demands. In recent weeks, petitions signed by current and retired military reservists, as well as various sectors of Israeli society, have also urged a deal to return all the hostages, even if it risks ending the war.

Turkey’s spy chief meets with Hamas leaders on how to supply aid to Gaza

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin meets with Hamas leaders for talks about how to deliver aid to war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel resumed its military offensive last month.

Kalin holds talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the political council of Hamas, which rules Gaza, and his delegation, Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency reports, without saying where the meeting took place. Media reports say it was in Turkey.

As well as discussing ways to deliver humanitarian aid, they also speak of initiatives to secure a permanent ceasefire along with ways to counter Israeli plans to forcibly displace Gaza’s population, Anadolu says, citing security sources.

Kalin reassures them of Turkey’s ongoing support and said Ankara would firmly oppose any new efforts to occupy or annex further Palestinian territory.

Anti-government protesters rally at moshav where Netanyahu is set to mark end of Passover

A banner reading "until the last hostage" is placed by anti-government protesters outside Moshav Mazor, April 19, 2025. (Yair Palti/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Anti-government protesters place a banner reading “until the last hostage” on a field outside Moshav Mazor, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family are expected to celebrate Mimouna, the festival marking the end of Passover this evening.

Protesters demanding a hostage deal are arriving at the community to hold a demonstration during the event.

Anti-government protesters rally at Moshav Mazor, where the Netanyahu family is expected for Mimouna celebrations at the end of Passover, April 19, 2025. Placard reads: “Save the country from yourself” (Ilan Faigenbaum / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

IDF says 150 targets struck, 40 terror operatives killed during weekend operations in Gaza

An IDF M109 howitzer of the 282nd Artillery Regiment is seen firing into the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published by the military on April 19, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Over the weekend, the military says the Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes on over 150 targets in the Gaza Strip, including cells of terror operatives and Hamas infrastructure.

Since March 18, when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, the IDF says it has struck over 1,400 targets in Gaza.

The 282nd Artillery Regiment also struck dozens of targets in recent weeks, in the Morag Corridor area between Rafah and Khan Younis. The IDF says the targets include weapon depots, rocket launching sites, and operatives.

Also over the weekend, the IDF says the 188th Armored Brigade, which is currently operating in the Morag Corridor, killed more than 40 terror operatives and destroyed numerous weapons, as well as a Hamas pickup truck.

Strikes are carried out in the Morag Corridor area of southern Gaza’s Rafah, in a video published on April 19, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

In Rafah’s Shaboura camp, the military says troops of the Givati Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit located and demolished a booby-trapped tunnel. The tunnel was hundreds of meters long, according to the IDF.

A Hamas tunnel in the Shaboura camp of southern Gaza’s Rafah is destroyed, in a video published by the IDF on April 19, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Givati troops located numerous other weapons in the area, the IDF adds.

Oman says nuclear talks aiming for nuke-free Iran, lifting of sanctions

MUSCAT, Oman — The Foreign Ministry of Oman, which is mediating the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, says the two sides were seeking an agreement that guarantees the Islamic Republic does not possess nuclear weapons.

The two sides “have agreed to enter into the next phase of their discussions that aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy,” Oman’s Foreign Minister says on X.

Zelensky says Putin’s Easter truce proposal is bid to ‘play with human lives’

People take shelter in an underpass in Kyiv on April 21, 2025, during an alert warning of a drone attack that started shorty after an announcement of an Easter truce by Russian President Vladimir Putin,amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Ania TSOUKANOVA / AFP)

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a social media post responds sceptically to an Easter truce proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of trying to “play with human lives.”

“As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives — at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,” Zelensky writes on X. “Shahed (attack) drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life,” the president adds, without saying whether Ukraine would observe the proposed truce.

Group of hostage families appeal to Trump to pressure Netanyahu to ink deal bringing all captives back

A group of hostage families holds their weekly press conference in Tel Aviv, pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal to release their loved ones and end the war in Gaza.

“Netanyahu, the families demand answers. If there is another selective deal,  will my Matan be released together with the American soldier who is held with him in a tunnel, or will he be left to die alone and waste away?” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, says.

Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage, addresses US President Donald Trump, saying he is the only one “who can force Netanyahu to stop the war and bring everyone back.”

Omri Lifshitz, whose father was taken hostage and murdered in captivity, says that hostages who have been freed, including his mother, “can’t rehabilitate themselves until everyone is returned.”

“Only a deal will bring everyone back alive — the fate of the hostages who are still surviving cannot be the same fate as my father’s, who paid the price of abandonment.”

Iranian FM says third round of nuclear talks with US to be held on April 26 in Oman

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (L) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome before nuclear talks, on April 19, 2025. (Handout / ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)

ROME, Italy — The Iranian foreign minister says that the next round of talks with the United States over Iran’s advancing nuclear program will be in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff on April 26. But experts will meet there in the days before.

The comments by Abbas Araghchi suggest movement in the second round of talks between the two countries, held today in Rome.

There was no immediate readout from the US side after several hours of meetings at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood.

“The talks were held in a constructive environment and I can say that are moving forward,” Araghchi tells Iranian state television. “I hope that we will be in a better position after the technical talks.”

Putin announces truce in Ukraine over Easter weekend

MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin announces an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine starting this evening and lasting till midnight on Sunday.

“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin says in televised comments, while speaking to Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov.

Hamas releases third video of hostage Elkana Bohbot

Elkana Bohbot, missing since October 7, 2023 when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova desert rave. (Courtesy)

Hamas releases a video of hostage Elkana Bohbot — the third time it has published footage of the captive held in Gaza.

Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.

The Hostage Families Forum has asked that Israeli media not publish the video or stills from the clip until the family approves them.

Hamas says fate of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander still unknown

Hostage soldier Edan Alexander is seen in a propaganda video released by the Hamas terror group on April 12, 2025. (Courtesy)

CAIRO, Egypt — Hamas’s armed wing says the fate of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was still unknown after the group found the guard who was holding the hostage killed.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it had lost contact with a group of operatives holding Alexander in Gaza.

Alexander, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, was stationed near the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7, 2023, when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Second round of US-Iran nuclear talks end in Rome, third round to be held in coming days

Vehicles of the US delegation leave the Omani embassy in Rome after a second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States on April 19, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

ROME, Italy — The second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States ended Saturday in Rome after about four hours of discussion, Iranian state media reports.

A third round will take place in a few days, the report says.

It describes today’s talks as “constructive.”

The mediated talks between the Iranian and US delegations began at around 0930 GMT in the Italian capital, a week after a first round was held in Oman, state television says.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier that the two delegations were in “two different rooms” at the Omani ambassador’s residence, with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi passing messages between them.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Some 160 arrested over attacks on KFC branches in Pakistan amid anger over supposed links to Israel

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

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Around 160 people have been arrested after mobs carried out 20 separate attacks on KFC restaurants, with one employee shot dead, the Pakistani government says.

The American-founded fast food chain has become a target of protest and boycott calls by Islamist parties since the start of the war in Gaza, linking the brand to US support for Israel.

Crowds have protested outside KFC repeatedly this month, breaking windows, setting fires, and threatening staff.

“A total of 20 incidents occurred across Pakistan, with one fatality reported. The man was a staff member at KFC,” Pakistan’s Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry tells a news conference, describing KFC as “under attack.”

The KFC employee was shot dead at a branch on the outskirts of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, on Sunday.

A police official tells AFP that it was unclear what the motive for the shooting was or whether it was linked to the recent protests.

Chaudhry says that 145 people were arrested in Punjab province and 15 in the national capital Islamabad over the spate of attacks.

“These restaurants source everything locally and employ Pakistani staff, and their earnings remain within the country,” he says.

KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands have not responded to requests for comment.

A KFC restaurant in the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir was set on fire in March last year as protesters chanted “Free Palestine.”

WHO official urges new US envoy Huckabee to push Israel to allow aid into Gaza

Charitable organizations distribute hot meals to Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on April 18, 2025 (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean office, urges the new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to allow medicines and other aid into the Strip.

“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she says.

Yesterday, the head of 12 major aid organizations warned that the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is “facing total collapse” because of Israel’s blockade on aid supplies since the ceasefire and hostage deal collapsed.

Israel stresses there is enough food in Gaza for now, and has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 59 hostages still held there.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel has no intention of allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip until a “civilian” mechanism is established to bypass Hamas’s control of supplies.

The minister was forced to clarify his position after his initial statement on the matter sparked uproar in the coalition for asserting that Israel would resume aid to the enclave through private firms, without clarifying that there was no immediate plan to do this.

US VP Vance meets pope’s right-hand man at Vatican

This photo taken and handout on April 19, 2025 by The Vatican Media shows The Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin welcoming US Vice-President JD Vance at the Vatican (Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP)

US Vice President JD Vance arrives at the Vatican ahead of a meeting with the Holy See’s second-highest official, just two months after Pope Francis lambasted the new US administration.

Catholic convert Vance and his delegation arrived at the pope’s official residence, the Apostolic Palace and were due to hold a meeting with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states.

The meeting comes just a day after Vance held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni where US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs were discussed.

Vance is also hoping to meet with the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, who is recuperating after battling life-threatening pneumonia and spending nearly 40 days in the hospital.

The 40-year-old US vice president, his wife and three children attended a Good Friday liturgy at Saint Peter’s Basilica, following his meeting with Meloni.

There has been no official confirmation whether Vance, who converted to Catholicism in his mid-30s, will attend Easter mass on Sunday, where the pope is expected to make an appearance to the thousands of faithful who will descend on the Vatican for the occasion.

Any meeting between Vance and the pope could be a tense affair.

In February, Francis incurred the wrath of the White House after writing a letter to US bishops in which he condemned Trump’s plan to deport migrants en masse, which he described as a “major crisis.”

The US responded by telling Francis to “stick to” religion.

Second round of Iran-US nuclear talks have started in Rome, Iranian state television says

Vehicles of the Iranian delegation are escorted by Italian police at one of the entrance of the Omani embassy in Rome where a second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will be held on April 19, 2025 (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

A second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States has started in Rome, Iranian state television reports.

The mediated talks between the Iranian and US delegations began “a few minutes ago” in the Italian capital, a week after a first round was held in Oman, state media reports.

The talks are being held under the shadow of US President Donald Trump’s threat to potentially unleash military action if diplomacy fails.

White House envoy @SteveWitkoff arrives at the Omani embassy in Rome for the nuclear talks with Iran pic.twitter.com/9u45Sbz4Tx

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) April 19, 2025

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will negotiate indirectly through an Omani official who will shuttle messages between the two sides, Iranian officials say, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.

???? US Iran talks at the Embassy of Oman in Rome :

* Talks already behind schedule : Supossed to start at 11:00 AM local time . It is 11:26

* Iranian delegation made it here (2sd video). The US delegation not yet . pic.twitter.com/GbUSjCyMIs

— Hiba Nasr (@HibaNasr) April 19, 2025

Araqchi and Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under former US President Barack Obama.

Araqchi said in Moscow yesterday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear program with the US is possible as long as Washington is realistic.

Report: US submitted request to mediators for direct meeting with Hamas on American hostages

Illustrative: US President Donald Trump listens as Adam Boehler, CEO of US International Development Finance Corporation, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon/File)

Arab diplomatic sources tell Emirati outlet Erem News that the US has submitted a request to mediators for direct discussions with Hamas on the issue of hostages, with the aim of securing the release of US-Israeli Edan Alexander and the bodies of four other dual nationals.

Unnamed sources tell Erem News that the US request for a direct meeting with an official from the Palestinian terror group was submitted to a mediator last week and could take place within the next few days.

The sources told the outlet that they did not know what the US could offer the terror group in return for the release of Alexander and the bodies of Judih Weinstein and her husband Gadi Haggai, Omer Neutra and Itay Chen.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler said “it is possible” that his direct talks with Hamas could resume.

The interview was Boehler’s first on the Israel-Hamas conflict in several weeks, following uproar in Jerusalem over unprecedented direct negotiations he held with Hamas officials to try to secure the release of Alexander and the bodies of the hostages.

Israel found out about those talks after the fact, leading Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to hold an angry call with Boehler, knocking him for negotiating on Israel’s behalf without keeping Jerusalem in the loop, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel last week.

But Boehler said in the Wednesday interview that the offer he made in early March for the five American hostages was “coordinated with Israel.”

Hamas released a propaganda video on Sunday in which a gaunt and emotional Alexander pleaded with the Israeli and US governments to secure his release, after over a year and a half in captivity.

On Monday, Hamas claimed to have lost contact with the operatives holding Alexander in Gaza following an Israeli strike. It has not provided further updates on the matter.

A protester holds up a cutout of Edan Alexander’s face at a rally calling for the release of the hostages, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Ahead of Rome talks, Iranian official says Tehran ‘aware that it is not a smooth path’

Italian police officers stand near the Omani embassy in Rome where a second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will be held on April 19, 2025 (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Ahead of talks in Rome between the US and Iran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says Tehran is “aware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on the past experiences.”

Iran and the United States are holding a second round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program today in Rome, a week after a first round of negotiations in Oman, which both sides described as positive.

Man found dead on breakwater south of Jaffa Port

Emergency vehicles near the Jaffa Port on April 19. 2025 (Magen David Adom)

A man aged around 40 apparently died when he became trapped in a breakwater south of the Jaffa Port, medics say.

Paramedics from the Magen David Adom emergency service say they declared the man’s death on the scene.

Israel said to still eye limited attack on Iran nuclear sites despite Trump waving off plan

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows President Masoud Pezeshkian (2nd R) and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) chief Mohammad Eslami (R) during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology", in Tehran, on April 9, 2025 (Iranian Presidency / AFP)

Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months despite US President Donald Trump telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.

Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program.

US and Iranian negotiators are set for a second round of preliminary nuclear talks in Rome today.

Over the past months, Israel has proposed to the Trump administration a series of options to attack Iran’s facilities, including some with late spring and summer timelines, the sources say.

The plans include a mix of airstrikes and commando operations that vary in severity and could set back Tehran’s ability to weaponize its nuclear program by just months or a year or more, the sources say.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump told Netanyahu in a White House meeting earlier this month that Washington wanted to prioritize diplomatic talks with Tehran and that he was unwilling to support a strike on the country’s nuclear facilities in the short term. Trump later denied that he “waved off” planned strikes.

But Israeli officials now believe that their military could instead launch a limited strike on Iran that would require less US support. Such an attack would be significantly smaller than those Israel initially proposed.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

US Supreme Court pauses deportation of Venezuelans under 1798 law

In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the US, alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)

The US Supreme Court pauses the Trump administration’s deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18th-century law.

US President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) last month to begin rounding up Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang before expelling them to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

The obscure law has only previously been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

“The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the Supreme Court’s brief order says.

The order came after rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal to halt the deportation of migrants currently held in a facility in the southern state of Texas.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in its emergency filing last night that the group of Venezuelans currently held in Texas had been told “they will be imminently removed under the AEA, as soon as tonight.”

Attorneys for several of the Venezuelans previously deported had said their clients were not members of Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.

Houthis prepping for potential ground operation by Yemeni forces in coordination with US – report

Demonstrators burn US and Israeli flags during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in condemnation of US strikes, in Yemen's Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa on April 18, 2025 (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

The Houthis are preparing for a potential ground operation by Yemeni government forces against the Iran-backed group, Asharq al-Awsat reports.

Government sources tell the London-based, Saudi-owned newspaper that Houthis have increased mine-planting operations in Hodeidah and other population centers ahead of the possible operation by the Yemeni government in coordination with the United States. The newspaper does not clarify which government the sources are from.

The US military has hit the Houthis with near-daily airstrikes over the past month in a bid to stamp out their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Claiming solidarity with Palestinians, the rebels began attacking the key maritime route and Israel after the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when their Palestinian ally Hamas launched a devastating terror onslaught in southern Israel.

They paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire and hostage release deal.

White House touts COVID-19 China ‘lab leak’ theory, targets Fauci on revamped website

A view of the P4 lab inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen after a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China's Hubei province on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The White House unveils a revamped COVID-19 website that promotes the contentious theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory, framing it as the pandemic’s “true origins.”

The Covid.gov website, previously focused on promoting vaccine and testing information, now includes a full-length image of US President Donald Trump and criticizes the pandemic policies implemented under former president Joe Biden.

The site also targets Anthony Fauci, Biden’s former chief medical advisor, for advancing what it calls the “preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally.”

It presents five bullet points aimed at bolstering the lab leak theory, noting that Wuhan, the site of the first known coronavirus case, is also home to China’s “foremost SARS research lab” and has a history of conducting research at “inadequate biosafety levels.”

“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t,” the website says.

The lab-leak theory, once dismissed as a conspiracy theory, has recently gained mainstream traction in the United States.

Even as the debate remains unresolved — scientifically and politically — US agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Energy have come out in support of the theory, albeit with varying levels of confidence.

Earlier this year, the Central Intelligence Agency shifted its official stance on the virus’s origin, saying that it was “more likely” leaked from a Chinese lab than transmission from animals.

The assessment drew criticism from China, which said it was “extremely unlikely” COVID-19 came from a laboratory.

Beijing also urged the United States to “stop politicizing and instrumentalizing the issue of origin-tracing.”

The United States and China are currently locked in a major trade war, with Washington announcing Thursday new port fees for Chinese-linked ships and increased tariffs for Chinese goods.

Trump officials believe ‘unauthorized’ letter sent in error set off Harvard clash – NYT

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally on April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AP Photo)

Officials from the Trump administration believe a letter that set off a clash with Harvard University may have been sent in error, The New York Times reports.

The “unauthorized” letter from acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sean Keveney, a member of the antisemitism task force, should not have been sent, two officials familiar with the matter tell the newspaper.

However, a senior White House official tells the Times that the administration stands by the letter and blames Harvard for not holding talks, but says there is a path back to talks on the matter.

“It was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers not to pick up the phone and call the members of the antisemitism task force who they had been talking to for weeks,” May Mailman, the White House senior policy strategist tells the Times. “Instead, Harvard went on a victimhood campaign.”

Harvard pushes back at the claim that it should have held discussions with government lawyers after receiving the letter.

The letter “was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the email inbox of a senior federal official and was sent on April 11 as promised,” Harvard tells the newspaper. “Recipients of such correspondence from the US government — even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach — do not question its authenticity or seriousness.”

Trump’s administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel campus protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the deadly October 2023 onslaught by the terror group that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.

Trump casts the protesters as foreign policy threats who are antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas. The Trump administration is also attempting to deport some foreign protesters and has revoked hundreds of visas across the country.

A swath of American Jewry is alarmed about the Trump administration’s crackdown due to perceived threats to due process and free speech while acknowledging that action is needed to combat rampant antisemitism.

Harvard has previously said it worked to fight antisemitism and other prejudice on its campus while preserving academic freedoms and the right to protest.

Iran’s FM arrives in Rome for second round of nuclear negotiations with US

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a news conference following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool Photo via AP)

Iran and the United States prepare for a second round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program in Rome

The talks in Italy over Easter weekend again will hinge on US billionaire Steve Witkoff, the US Mideast envoy of President Donald Trump, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Whether the two men find common ground in the high-stakes negotiations could mean success or failure in the talks.

Araghchi has arrived in Rome to attend the second round of the talks, according to a post on his Telegram account.

Pentagon confirms US to slash number of troops in Syria to below 1,000

US soldiers step into an armored personnel carrier as they patrol an area in the town of Tal Hamis, southeast of the city of Qameshli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh governorate, on January 24, 2024. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)

WASHINGTON — The US military will consolidate its presence in Syria over the coming weeks and months in a move that could reduce the number of troops it has in the country by half, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell says.

The US military has about 2,000 US troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. The troops are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.

“This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand US forces in the coming months,” Parnell says in a statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the consolidation under a Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve — to select locations in Syria.

Parnell says US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against what is left of ISIS in Syria and work with coalition partners to keep pressure on ISIS and respond to any other terrorist threats.

Arson attack probe at Pennsylvania governor’s mansion looking into suspect’s hatred of Shapiro

This image provided by Commonwealth Media Services shows damage after a fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside on April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, PA. (Commonwealth Media Services via AP)

Authorities investigating why a man set fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence are probing whether the suspect was motivated by the Democrat’s Jewish faith or positions on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Police have said that Cody Balmer of Harrisburg harbored hatred toward Shapiro. Several search warrants released Wednesday offer the first details about a potential motive for the arson attack early Sunday in a room where only hours earlier Shapiro and his family celebrated Passover with members of the Jewish community.

Balmer called 911 less than an hour after the fire erupted, promised a confession and talked about Palestinians being killed, police wrote in search warrants.

Exactly what the man was trying to say and who he was referencing isn’t clear from the partial quotations included in the search warrants. Police quoted Balmer as saying, “our people have been put through too much by that monster.” Balmer also “related that Governor Josh SHAPIRO needs to know that he ‘…will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,’” police wrote.

During a police interview after turning himself in, Balmer “admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro,” according to a police affidavit that did not expand on that point. Police obtained search warrants for Balmer’s electronic devices and a storage locker seeking any writings or notes that contain “the name of Josh Shapiro (or a) reference to Palestine, Gaza, Israel or the current conflict in Gaza.”

Shapiro declined to talk about a motive Wednesday, saying prosecutors will ultimately determine what prompted the attack. “It’s not for me to answer that,” he said.

Balmer, 38, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but did not believe the assessment, his brother, Dan Balmer, told The Associated Press. He said he twice helped Cody get treatment at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute.

Firefighters put out blaze at Tiberias hotel

Firefighters have put out a blaze that erupted in a Tiberias hotel after several hours.

Multiple teams worked together to douse the flames at the King Solomon Hotel. Eight people were evacuated to the hospital in good condition.

The cause of the fire is not immediately clear.

שריפה במלון המלך שלמה טבריה pic.twitter.com/TsfnacpeqB

— HolySmoke???? (@HolySmokexxxx) April 18, 2025

Top Trump aides rush to defend Witkoff after CNN profile on ‘lone ranger’ Mideast envoy

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks during the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2025. (Chandan Khanna / AFP)

Top Trump administration officials are rushing to defend US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff after CNN published a profile that characterized him as a “lone ranger.”

“Doing this shuttle diplomacy without a single expert is definitely unusual. I really can’t explain that. It’s odd and it’s not ideal,” CNN quotes a longtime US official as saying of Witkoff.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweets: “Steve Witkoff is an incredible leader in the America First movement. Americans are lucky to have him working on their behalf to bring our hostages home and negotiate peace around the world. When will these reporters and ‘anonymous sources’ stop trying to create drama where there is none?”

“DC ‘foreign policy experts’ who have spent their careers getting it wrong, while they perpetuate outdated talking points, attack Steve Witkoff because they are envious he has achieved more in 88 days than they have accomplished in their entire careers,” US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz adds.

“Once again @CNN finds so-called ‘veterans’ and long-time’ experts to smear a patriot who is using his great abilities to make the US and world safer,” US National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes tweets.