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The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.
China warns countries against striking trade deals with US at its expense
China warns countries against striking a broader economic deal with the United States at its expense, ratcheting up its rhetoric in a spiraling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
China respects all parties resolving economic and trade differences with the United States through consultation on an equal footing, but it will firmly oppose any party striking a deal at China’s expense, its Commerce Ministry says.
Beijing “will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner” if any country seeks such deals, a ministry spokesperson says, addressing a news report that the Trump administration is preparing to pressure other countries to limit trade with China in exchange for tariff exemptions from the United States.
The “United States has abused tariffs on all trading partners under the banner of so-called ‘equivalence,’ while also forcing all parties to start so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ negotiations with them,” the spokesperson says.
China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests, and is willing to strengthen solidarity with all parties, the ministry says.
The Trump administration is preparing to pressure nations seeking tariff reductions or exemptions from the US to curb trade with China, including imposing monetary sanctions, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Trump threatens to cut another $1 billion in Harvard funding, WSJ reports
FILE - Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
US President Donald Trump is threatening to cut another $1 billion in funding for Harvard University, this time targeting health research, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the administration’s row with elite schools escalates.
The Trump administration has withheld government funding from Harvard, Columbia and other universities in response to their tolerance of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in what the administration has labeled a failure to control antisemitism on campus.
Harvard pushed back last week, rejecting demands for control of its student body, faculty and curriculum, saying that would cede control of the university to the government.
Within hours of Harvard taking its stand, the administration announced it was freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding to the school and the next day threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports the plans to pull an additional $1 billion in research funds arose after administration officials thought a long list of demands they sent Harvard on April 11 was a confidential starting point for negotiations, and officials were surprised when Harvard released the letter to the public.
Trump officials had been planning to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia but now want to increase the pressure on Harvard, the Journal reports.
US airstrikes kill 12 people in Yemen’s capital, Houthi rebels say
US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s capital killed 12 people and wounded 30 others, the Houthi rebels say.
The deaths mark the latest in America’s intensified campaign of strikes targeting the rebels. The US military’s Central Command declines to answer questions about the strike or discuss civilian casualties from its campaign.
The Houthis describe the strike as hitting the Farwa neighborhood market in Sanaa’s Shuub district. That area has been targeted before by the Americans.
Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel shows damage to vehicles and buildings in the area, with screaming onlookers holding what appeared to be a dead child. Others wail on stretchers heading into a hospital
Strikes overnight into Monday also hit other areas of the country, including Yemen’s Amran, Hodeida, Marib and Saada governorates.
The strikes come after US airstrikes hit the Ras Isa fuel port in Yemen last week, killing at least 74 people and wounding 171 others.
The strikes follow the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the US and Iran over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Washington has linked to its attacks in Yemen.
In first, PM said seeking to attend Western Wall ceremony at start of Memorial Day
IDF soldiers stand to attention as the memorial siren sounds during the ceremony marking Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, on May 12, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
For the first time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to attend this year’s ceremony marking the start of Memorial Day at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Channel 12 reports.
The ceremony, set to take place this year on the evening of April 29, is traditionally attended by the president, the IDF chief of staff and the defense minister, but not the prime minister. It is not immediately clear why Netanyahu wants to attend this year.
The network says work is being carried out to finalize the complex security arrangements needed to enable Netanyahu to take part in the event.
Israel cancels entry visas for 27 left-wing French lawmakers
Illustrative: View of the passport control machines at Ben Gurion Airport, May 20, 2015. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/File)
Israel canceled visas for 27 French left-wing lawmakers and local officials two days before they were to start a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the group says.
The action came only days after Israel stopped two British members of parliament from the governing Labour party from entering the country.
Israel’s interior ministry says visas for the 27 were canceled under a law that allows authorities to ban people who could act against the State of Israel.
Seventeen members of the group, from France’s Ecologist and Communist parties, say they have been victims of “collective punishment” by Israel and call on French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene.
They say in a statement that they had been invited on a five-day trip by the French consulate in Jerusalem. They had intended to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories, as part of their mission to “strengthen international cooperation and the culture of peace,” they add.
“For the first time, two days before our departure, the Israeli authorities canceled our entry visas that had been approved one month ago,” they say. “We want to understand what led to this sudden decision, which resembles collective punishment.”
The delegation included National Assembly deputies Francois Ruffin, Alexis Corbiere and Julie Ozenne from the Ecologist party, Communist deputy Soumya Bourouaha, and Communist senator Marianne Margate. The other members were left-wing town mayors and local lawmakers.
Trump says he hopes Russia and Ukraine will strike a ‘deal this week’
US President Donald Trump says he hopes for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal “this week,” promising “big business with the United States” for both combatants if a truce is signed.
“Hopefully Russia amd (sic) Ukraine will make a deal this week,” Trump posts to his Truth Social network, without giving details of any progress in the peace talks. Washington has sought to push forward since Trump took over from former US president Joe Biden in January.
IDF rules out security incident after gunfire heard near Egyptian border
The IDF says it has ruled out a possible security incident after gunfire was heard on the Egyptian border near Kadesh Barnea.
Troops searched the area to rule out the possibility of a security incident, the military said.
Palestine Red Crescent says IDF probe into killing of 15 rescue workers is ‘full of lies’
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers and released by the Palestine Red Crescent Society on April 5, 2025, shows ambulances with their emergency lights flashing and a rescuer near one of the vehicles in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the PRCS. (Palestinian Red Crescent/AFP)
The Palestine Red Crescent rejects the findings of an IDF investigation that blamed operational failures for the killing of 15 Gaza emergency service workers, denouncing the report as “full of lies.”
“The report is full of lies. It is invalid and unacceptable, as it justifies the killing and shifts responsibility to a personal error in the field command, when the truth is quite different,” Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Red Crescent, tells AFP.
Health Ministry warns that individual in Tel Aviv has been diagnosed with measles
The Health Ministry warns that a person has been diagnosed with the measles in Tel Aviv.
The person in question arrived on an El Al flight Friday morning from London, took the train to the Tel Aviv University stop and spent time on Saturday at an escape room and a restaurant in Herzliya, the ministry says.
The ministry warns anyone who may have come in contact with the individual to ensure that they are fully vaccinated for measles.
High Court grants Ronen Bar’s request for delay in filing statement
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at a state ceremony marking the Hebrew anniversary of the Hamas October 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ FLASH90)
The High Court of Justice grants Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s request for an extension in filing a formal statement detailing his allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but gives him only until midday tomorrow to do so.
The court expresses frustration with Bar, however, for having filed his request for an extension on Sunday, the deadline for submission, and without detailing his reasons.
It says it is only partially agreeing to his request due to “reasons of a practical nature alone.”
Police backtrack on demand that anti-war demonstrators not hold posters of hostages or children in Gaza
A protester holds up a sign reading 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' at an anti-war rally in Haifa on January 20, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/ Times of Israel)
Police attempted to forbid protesters from displaying “hostages signs” or “pictures of children or babies from Gaza” as a condition for their approval of an anti-war demonstration this Thursday in Tel Aviv.
In a letter sent to organizers first obtained by Haaretz, police further prohibited anti-war demonstrators from displaying signs with the word “genocide” on them.
After Haaretz reportedly reached out to law enforcement about the letter, police stated they had sent organizers updated instructions.
Protest organizer Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the joint Jewish-Arab “Standing Together” movement, tells The Times of Israel that it seems as if police have since backtracked from their initial demands.
“We’ll take them to the High Court if they persist, and win,” he adds.
Protest organizers tell Haaretz that the initial letter is an attempt to censor messages in protest of the war and government, and that the “police’s actions show that it is a political organization.”
The letter marks the first time in recent months that law enforcement has formally hinged approval for a demonstration on the condition protesters refrain from displaying what police describe as “incendiary” slogans, according to the Hebrew daily. But police who are on the ground at anti-war protests regularly seize what they deem provocative signs, often carrying out widespread arrests.
Police earlier this month arrested 23 protesters at a small anti-war demonstration in Haifa, tearing away protesters signs that read “Stop bombing aid convoys” and “Stop the genocide.”
Officers sought to extend the detention of three protesters the next day, however their request was rejected by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court.
PM’s office said to pressure Ronen Bar not to file formal statement to High Court
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
The Prime Minister’s Office has put pressure on Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar not to file a formal statement to the High Court of Justice detailing his claims against the government and the prime minister as to why he was fired, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the unsourced report, messages were passed to Bar from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau saying if he would not file a formal statement to the court he could resign on a mutually agreed upon date and could even be involved in choosing his successor.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment and the Shin Bet declined to comment on the report.
Bar was fired by the cabinet on March 21 on the grounds that he had lost the trust of the government to do his job, but the High Court froze the decision while it considered petitions requesting it overturn the move due to conflict of interest and procedural concerns.
Bar sent a letter to the High Court at the beginning of April as part of the attorney general’s response to the petitions, alleging that Netanyahu repeatedly demanded he inform the judges in the premier’s criminal trial that the prime minister could not regularly testify in court due to security concerns.
The letter lacked legal standing and the court subsequently asked Bar to file a formal statement with precise details about his allegations, to which Netanyahu would be able to respond with his own statement.
Bar was supposed to have filed his statement today but asked the court for an extra day to do so. Kan reported that Bar’s delay was not connected to the alleged pressure exerted against him by the PMO not to file the declaration.
Likud hits back at Lapid: ‘The greater the drop in the polls, the greater the incitement’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has failed to condemn incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “even takes an active part in it,” Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party declares in a statement.
Responding to Lapid’s allegation that Netanyahu’s “incitement” against Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will lead to “political murder,” the Likud argues that “when the prime minister is called a traitor and countless threats of murder are made — [Lapid] fills his mouth with water.”
“The greater the drop in the polls, the greater the incitement by Lapid,” the party alleges.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch also shoots back at Lapid, saying that the incitement against Netanyahu “crosses all boundaries.”
“As the chairman of the opposition, you are responsible for this and you cannot ignore it. We have already seen attempts to harm the prime minister. Lapid, it’s in your hands, stop it. You can’t say: ‘I didn’t know,'” he tweets.
Moroccans protest ship said to be carrying US fighter jet parts to Israel
Moroccans protest the docking of a Maersk cargo ship carrying airplane parts they suspect are headed to Israel, outside Tangier Med Port, April 20, 2025. Banner in Arabic reads 'Stop shipping weapons to the terrorist Zionist entity.' (AP/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
More than 1,000 people protest in the Moroccan port city of Tangier against the planned docking of a ship said to be carrying fighter jet parts to Israel.
Dockworkers and organizations supporting Palestinians in Gaza say in separate statements that the Maersk vessel is transporting spare parts for F-35 warplanes from the United States to Israel, and was due to dock in Tangier today.
A crowd of around 1,500 people chant, “The people want the ship banned,” and “No genocidal weapons in Moroccan waters” as they march down a road alongside the Tangier Med container port, according to AFP correspondents at the scene.
The protesters in Tangier also call for the severing of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel, which were normalized in 2020 as part of the US-led Abraham Accords.
The North African kingdom has officially called for “the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza,” but has not publicly discussed reversing normalization.
Lebanon army says 3 troops killed in munitions blast in south of country
Lebanese army soldiers inspect a burnt-out vehicle in Braiqaa in south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh district, April 20, 2025. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Lebanon’s military says a munitions blast in the country’s war-torn south killed an officer and two soldiers today, days after an explosion killed another soldier.
Under a November truce deal that ended a war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, the army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the terror group’s infrastructure there.
“An army officer and two soldiers were killed and a number of citizens were injured due to an explosion of ammunition as it was being transported inside an army vehicle” in Braiqaa, in south Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh district, an army statement says.
Specialized army units are investigating the circumstances of the incident, the statement adds.
An AFP correspondent in Braiqaa, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border, saw several charred and burnt vehicles on the road, with some damage to nearby shops and flats. The army had cordoned off the area.
2 IDF officers selected as Independence Day torchlighters
Lt. Col. Fayez Fares (left) and Lt. Col. (res.) Hagit Alon Elharar (right), with her son, the late Sgt. Amitay Alon. (Composite image; Israel Defense Forces)
Two IDF officers have been selected to serve as torchlighters at Israel’s 77th Independence Day official state ceremony.
Lt. Col. Fayez Fares and Lt. Col. (res.) Hagit Alon Elharar will light a torch during the ceremony on the evening of April 30, one of the annual highlights of the national holiday.
They were selected by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, after the recommendation of a panel that selects the torchbearers, and following the approval of Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
Fares, from the Druze town of Hurfeish, most recently served as the commander of the Kfir Brigade’s training base. He is soon set to take over as the commander of the Ephraim Regional Brigade.
On the morning of October 7, Fares arrived with his troops independently at Kibbutz Re’im, where they fought against dozens of terrorists and rescued civilians.
Alon Elharar, a mother of three from Ramot Naftali, is a senior logistics officer in the Northern Command. She was evacuated from her home in the north amid Hezbollah’s attacks at the start of the war, and has been serving in the reserves since October 7, 2023.
Her son, Sgt. Amitay Alon, 19, was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on the Golani Brigade’s training base on October 13, 2024.
Despite the death of her son and still being displaced from her home, Alon Elharar has continued to serve in the reserves, the army says.
The two are among a number of people who will light torches at the annual ceremony next week.
Israeli fighter jets carry out airstrikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in south Lebanon
Smoke rises from the site of an airstrike on a southern Lebanese village, March 28, 2025. (Rabih Daher / AFP)
Israeli fighter jets carried out a wave of airstrikes in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon this afternoon, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and other infrastructure used by the terror group, the IDF says.
Additionally, the IDF says it killed a Hezbollah engineering expert in a strike in southern Lebanon’s Houla earlier today. The operative was responsible for Hezbollah’s engineering activities in Odaisseh, according to the military.
Bennett says he will remain in hospital for several more days after cardiac catheterization
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett donates blood in memory of Sgt. First Class Yona Brief, March 27, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/ FLASH90)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says that he will stay in the hospital for several more days after undergoing a cardiac catheterization procedure overnight.
In a statement posted to social media, Bennett, 53, thanks the public for their well wishes and says that after a few further days of medical observation, he will “return to activity as soon as possible so that everything will be good here, for all of us.”
After taking a break from political life following his brief term as prime minister, Bennett has indicated that he intends to run in the next national election.
Right-wing American pundit Ben Shapiro to light torch at Independence Day ceremony
Ben Shapiro is seen on the set of 'Candace,' on April 28, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Kempin/ Getty Images)
Ben Shapiro, a right-wing American Jewish pundit who is an outspoken supporter of Israel, has also been selected to light a torch at the official state Independence Day ceremony next week.
Shapiro, who identifies as an Orthodox Jew, is the founder of The Daily Wire, and hosts his own popular radio show and podcast, “The Ben Shapiro Show.”
Earlier today, freed hostage Emily Damari and bereaved father Oren Smadga were also tapped to also light torches at the ceremony.
Palestinian gunman opens fire at troops in West Bank, says IDF
The IDF says a Palestinian gunman opened fire on troops at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement outpost of Homesh a short while ago.
The troops returned fire, “neutralizing” the attacker, the army says. No soldiers were hurt.
Lapid warns that incitement against Ronen Bar could lead to ‘political murder’
Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, March 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
Warning that a red line has been crossed, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt incitement against Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar before it leads to “political murder.”
Addressing reporters during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Lapid cites multiple social media posts by Israelis calling for Bar’s execution — as well as posts by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Netanyahu’s son Yair accusing Bar of attempting to mount a “coup.”
Lapid also quotes a statement by Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party accusing Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of turning the security service into a “private militia of the deep state that undermines the rule of law and the foundations of democracy.”
“Ministers and senior figures in the coalition” have engaged in similar rhetoric regarding Baharav-Miara and both she and Bar have been subjected to increasing threats on social media, Lapid continues, warning that Israel is headed to “a dark and dangerous place” and that while Hamas was behind the October 7, 2023, onslaught, “the next disaster will be brought about by this crazy incitement.”
Incitement against Netanyahu must also end, even “if this is a false symmetry,” Lapid adds, saying the prime minister is responsible for reining in his allies and followers’ rhetoric.
“I now want to issue a warning based on unequivocal intelligence information: We are on the way to another disaster. This time it will come from within. The levels of incitement and madness are unprecedented. There will be political murder here. Jews will kill Jews,” Lapid says, arguing that “the terrorists… could not have received a greater gift” than a rupture between the Shin Bet and the government.
“I call out to the prime minister: Stop this. It’s on you. You can stop this. Silence your ministers, your son in Miami, the mouthpieces you employ in the media. Instead of backing incitement, back the Shin Bet, the security forces, the systems that keep this country alive,” Lapid urges.
“If you don’t do it now, decisively, you won’t be able to say later, ‘I didn’t know,'” Lapid adds. “This time it won’t work for you. You do know. You’re part of it. You need to stop it.”
IDF: Several Israeli citizens tried to enter Gaza, were stopped and detained
The border fence with the Gaza Strip, outside the Netzarim Corridor of central Gaza, December 26, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/ Times of Israel)
Several Israeli civilians attempted to enter the Gaza Strip a short while ago, the military says.
The civilians entered a buffer zone on the border, but did not enter Gaza territory, according to the IDF.
The IDF says troops dispatched to the scene detained them and handed them over to police.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar requests delay in submitting statement to High Court
Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, attends a ceremony on May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar requests that the High Court allow him another day to submit a formal statement regarding his dismissal by the government, Hebrew media reports.
Bar was expected to file the statement today, which will likely include precise details of claims he has made against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the reasons for his removal from office.
Karhi seeks to punish Bitan for thwarting his efforts to shut down Kan
Likud members (L-R) Shlomo Karhi, David Bitan and David Amsalem attend a committee meeting at the Knesset on November 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls on coalition whip Ofir Katz to “exercise coalition discipline” against Likud MK David Bitan for stymying the government’s effort to shut down the Kan public broadcaster.
Bitan, as chairman of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, has blocked legislation that would shutter the broadcaster, stating that he “can’t advance this bill for a simple reason — public broadcasting is necessary.”
The proposed legislation, part of a larger media overhaul package advocated by Karhi, stipulates that if a private buyer for Kan cannot be found within two years, the broadcaster will be shuttered completely and its intellectual property will revert to the government. The bill passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum last November before becoming stuck in committee.
In response to Bitan’s opposition, Karhi has proposed establishing a new “media committee” to bypass Bitan’s opposition, an idea rejected by Bitan but reportedly supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The time has come to establish a communications committee or to oust Bitan,” Karhi tweets, arguing that it should not be possible “for one person” to block the coalition from advancing its media overhaul agenda.
Freed hostage Emily Damari and bereaved father Oren Smadga to light Independence Day torches
Freed hostage Emily Damari being prepped for surgery at Sheba Medical Center on March 2, 2025, on her left hand, after being shot on October 7, 2023, and not given proper medical care during 15 months of Hamas captivity in Gaza. (Credit Pomi Ofi Tal)
Transportation Minister Miri Regev announces the first two Israelis to be granted the honor of lighting a torch during the official state Independence Day ceremony next week.
Oren Smadga, an Olympic medalist whose son, Omer, was killed fighting in Gaza last year, has been selected for the honor.
Oren won a bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics for Israel, and serves currently as head coach of the men’s national judo team. His son, Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Smadga, 25, was killed in June 2024 in a Hamas mortar attack in the central Gaza Strip.
Oren Smadga (center) attends the funeral of his son, Omer Smadga, who was killed fighting in Gaza, in Netanya on June 21, 2024. (Flash90)
Emily Damari, a freed hostage who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza and returned as part of a ceasefire deal earlier this year, will also light a torch during the ceremony.
An image of Damari holding up her hand, missing two fingers from a gunshot wound she sustained while being kidnapped, quickly became a symbol of Israeli defiance and resilience after she was freed.
The pair are the first of a number of Israelis expected to be selected for the honor.
Visiting Syria, IDF chief says troop presence there is to ‘best protect ourselves’
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center) meets with the chief of the Northern Command, Maj, Gen. Ori Gordin and other officers in southern Syria, April 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited southern Syria earlier today, where troops are deployed to nine army posts.
“We are holding key points and are at the frontier to best protect ourselves,” Zamir says during an assessment with the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and the commander of the 210th Bashan Regional Division, Brig. Gen. Yair Peli, according to the military.
Gantz slams Likud MKs who used Bennett’s hospitalization for political attacks
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett (left) and National Unity Party MK Benny Gantz in a composite image. (Flash90)
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz condemns politicians who launched political attacks against former prime minister Naftali Bennett, after he was hospitalized overnight.
“Have we gone crazy? How did we get to the point where even a person’s health condition becomes an arena for political conflict,” tweets Gantz, in an apparent response to tweets by some coalition lawmakers who mixed wishes for Bennett’s health with attacks on his politics in social media posts.
“You can wish [him] a speedy recovery, or you can say nothing, but you shouldn’t use a person’s medical condition for a fourth-rate political attack,” Gantz continues, insisting that this is as true for Bennett as it was for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he underwent prostate removal surgery last December.
Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman also condemned efforts to politicize Bennett’s condition, tweeting that he should not take the insults to heart.
Following the announcement of Bennett’s hospitalization, during which he underwent cardiac catheterization, Osher Shekalim, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party, posted that he wondered “how someone who collapses at age 53 from working out would be able to manage seven arenas of conflict.”
Shekalim went on to “request that his medical records be disclosed immediately, as is required by law.” As Bennett does not hold public office, he is not required to disclose his medical record.
Likud MK Tally Gotliv also wished Bennett a speedy recovery, expressing hope that his medical issues would spark self-examination and remind him “that every day, God forbid, a person may be called to account before the creator of the world.”
She tweeted that she hoped he would “abandon your style of false promises and remember that you used the votes of the right-wing religious public and allied yourself with the Muslim Brotherhood,” adding: “We haven’t forgotten.”
Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon, says IDF
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in Ghazieh, near Sidon, on April 18, 2025. (Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP)
A Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad, located between Sidon and Tyre, earlier today, the IDF says.
The IDF says it targeted Hussein Ali Nasr, the deputy chief of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is responsible for smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
As part of his role, the IDF says Nasr worked, alongside Iran, to smuggle weapons and funds into Lebanon to restore Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Some of the weapons and cash were smuggled via the Beirut airport, the military claims.
“Nasr was in contact with workers at the airport who were secretly operating for Hezbollah and assisting with smuggling operations. In addition, he advanced and led weapons procurement deals with smugglers along the Syria-Lebanon border. Moreover, as part of his role, he oversaw the organization’s force build-up process,” the IDF says.
The military says the strikes come as part of efforts against Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to Lebanon, via Syria and Iraq.
The strikes against Unit 4400 amid the war have included the assassinations of the head of the unit, Muhammad Ja’far Qassir, in Beirut in early October 2024, and his replacement, Ali Hassan Gharib, in Damascus several weeks later, alongside other top commanders.
Iraqi politicians oppose new Syrian leader’s possible visit to Baghdad
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, left, is received by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, on April 15, 2025. (Syrian Presidency / AFP)
Several powerful pro-Iran Iraqi politicians have in recent days voiced opposition to a potential visit by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Iraq for the upcoming Arab League summit.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said earlier this week that Baghdad has invited Sharaa to attend the Arab League summit, scheduled to take place in the capital on May 17. If Sharaa attends, it would be his first official visit as Syria’s leader to Iraq, where he was imprisoned for years on charges of belonging to al-Qaeda following the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Shiite Dawa party, led by former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, says that it rejects Baghdad hosting someone who has committed “crimes” against Iraqis.
“It is essential that the judicial record… of anyone participating in the Arab summit at any level is free of charges and crimes,” Maliki’s party adds, without naming Sharaa.
Several Iraqi security sources tell AFP that an old arrest warrant for Sharaa remains in place from his time as a member of al-Qaeda. However, authorities may choose not to enforce it, prioritizing stable relations with Syria’s new leadership to help maintain regional stability.
IDF ousts officer responsible for incident in which 15 rescue workers were killed in Gaza
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers and released by the Palestine Red Crescent Society on April 5, 2025, shows ambulances with their emergency lights flashing and a rescuer near one of the vehicles in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the PRCS. (Palestinian Red Crescent/AFP)
The IDF has dismissed the deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit for his responsibility for an incident on March 23 in which his forces opened fire on a convoy of ambulances and emergency vehicles in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing 15 rescue workers.
The commander is also being removed from his role for his “partial and inaccurate” report of the incident during an initial investigation, the military says.
Additionally, the IDF says the commander of the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade — the unit leading the operation in Rafah when the killing of the medics took place — is being formally censured for his “overall responsibility for the incident,” including the management of the scene afterward.
The moves, decided on by the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, come following an investigation into the incident led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har-Even, head of the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents during the war.
Har-Even’s investigation found that there were no violations of the IDF’s code of ethics in the incident, but there were several “professional errors” and acts by troops that breached military protocol, alongside a failure to fully report the incident.
The IDF says it “expresses regret for harming uninvolved [civilians],” and says the investigation was intended to prevent such incidents from recurring.
“The existing guidelines on the special caution required with regard to rescue forces and medical workers, even in areas of intense combat, were sharpened and clarified,” the military adds.
Reports say security cabinet to meet Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The security cabinet will meet at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Hebrew media reports say.
It is unclear from the reports what topic will be the main point of discussion.
Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says 25 killed in airstrikes since dawn
Gaza’s civil defense agency reports that Israeli airstrikes since dawn on Sunday have killed at least 25 people across the Gaza Strip, including women and children.
“Since dawn today, the occupation’s airstrikes have killed 20 people and injured dozens more, including children and women across the Gaza Strip,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, tells AFP.
In a separate statement later, the agency reports that five people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a group of civilians in eastern Rafah.
The figures cannot be independently verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Lebanon’s Aoun says Hezbollah’s disarmament a ‘delicate’ matter key to ‘civil peace’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says that disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group is a “delicate” matter whose implementation required the right circumstances, warning that forcing the issue could lead the country to ruin.
His remarks came as Lebanon’s Health Ministry said two people were killed in Israeli strikes in the country’s south, the latest such raids despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese terror group.
Restricting the bearing of arms to the state is “a sensitive, delicate issue that is fundamental to preserving civil peace” and requires due “consideration and responsibility,” Aoun tells reporters.
“We will implement” a state monopoly on bearing arms “but we have to wait for the circumstances” to allow this, he says, adding that “nobody is speaking to me about timing or pressure.”
“Any controversial domestic issue in Lebanon can only be approached through conciliatory, nonconfrontational dialogue and communication. If not, we will lead Lebanon to ruin,” he adds.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group “will not let anyone disarm” it, as Washington presses Beirut to compel the terror group to hand over its weapons.
Qassem said his group was ready for dialogue on a “defense strategy,” “but not under the pressure of occupation” by Israel.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Palestinian nabbed for illegally entering Israel, posing as carer for elderly woman
A West Bank Palestinian, 30, illegally entered Israel and pretended to be a carer for an elderly woman in northern Israel, Israel Police says in a statement.
Police raided the northern village of Deir al-Asad on Tuesday, where they found and arrested the Ramallah resident, who was caring for the 90-year-old woman, police state. The woman presented herself as a Jerusalem resident.
Police discovered that the woman’s family also works in the village, the statement reads.
An indictment was filed against the woman for illegally residing in Israel as well as a request to extend her custody until the end of legal proceedings at the Acre Magistrate’s Court, police say.
Pope Francis: ‘Growing climate of antisemitism around the world is worrisome’
Pope Francis sips water with a straw on the main balcony of St. Peter's basilica during the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing to the city and the world as part of Easter celebrations, at St Peter's square in the Vatican on April 20, 2025. (Tiziana FABI / AFP)
VATICAN CITY, Holy See — Pope Francis says a “growing climate of antisemitism around the world is worrisome,” while also condemning the Gaza situation and reiterating his call for a ceasefire.
“I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” reads the pope’s traditional Easter address, delivered by a collaborator as Francis sits in his wheelchair at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on vehicle between Sidon and Tyre
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says one person was killed in an Israeli strike in the country’s south, the latest such raid despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.
An “Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle in Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad,” located inland between the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre, killed “one person and wounded another,” the minister says in a statement.
תקיפה ישראלית לעבר רכב באזור כות'רייה א-סיאד בדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/5XfM20jj9B
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) April 20, 2025
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Report: Hamas recruited 30,000 Gaza youths into its military wing
The Saudi Al Arabiya channel reports that the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, recruited 30,000 young people from Gaza.
According to the report, most of the recruits were trained in secret military camps run by the wing. However, it is reported that they lack military skills beyond “guerrilla warfare,” rocket fire, and planting explosives.
The report does not mention an exact timeframe for when they were recruited, but likely refers to a recent period in the ongoing war.
In first since ceasefire, Lebanese Army says it foiled rocket attack against Israel, arrested those involved
The Lebanese Army announces that it foiled a planned rocket attack from Lebanon toward Israel for the first time since a November ceasefire ended over a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
According to the army’s statement, forces raided an apartment in the area of the city of Sidon, confiscated rockets and launch pads, and arrested several individuals involved.
Last week, the Lebanese Army reported that it had arrested Palestinians and Lebanese citizens who were involved in a rocket attack on northern Israel in March.
إلحاقًا بالبيان الصادر بتاريخ ١٦ / ٤ / ٢٠٢٥ والمتعلق بتوقيف عدد من أفراد المجموعة التي نفذت عمليتَي إطلاق صواريخ في جنوب لبنان، ونتيجة المتابعة والرصد والتحقيقات المستمرة، توافرت لدى مديرية المخابرات معلومات عن التحضير لعملية جديدة لإطلاق صواريخ باتجاه الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة.… pic.twitter.com/sICfmkBQwy
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) April 20, 2025
Families rally near Gaza border for immediate hostage deal, call out to captive loved ones
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza protest for their release near the border with Gaza, April 20, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Families rallying for a hostage deal near Kibbutz Nir Oz call out across the border with Gaza in the hopes their captive loved ones can hear their cries of support.
Menashe Harush, whose hostage nephew Elkana Bohbot appeared Saturday in another Hamas propaganda film, calls the video “obscene” during the demonstration on the Gaza border.
Harush, alongside several other families, urges the release of all hostages through a deal in one fell swoop, rather than separate stages.
“We don’t have time to wait; they need to get out of there,” he says. “We feel the situation isn’t good. We are worried. Every day there is a dangerous day.”
On a stage erected for the protest, Yehuda Cohen, father of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, heaps scathing criticism on the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We know there’s no chance you’ll hear us 40 meters underground,” he says to his captive son, “but I’m conveying these words directly to the one to blame for you being there, the criminally accused and funder of Hamas,” in reference to Netanyahu. “He continues to wage war at the expense of the hostages… of your blood, in order to survive. Netanyahu, resign! You’ve failed, and that’s to put it mildly.”
In English, Cohen calls on US President Donald Trump to “force Netanyahu to end this bloody war… so we can get our loved ones back home.”
Lapid wishes quick recovery to hospitalized former PM Bennett
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid wishes former prime minister Naftali Bennett a quick recovery following news of his overnight hospitalization.
“Naftali, brother, feel good, the people of Israel need you,” Bennett’s former political ally tweets.
Qatar’s chief negotiator says Doha ‘frustrated’ by slow pace of Gaza talks: ‘There are lives at stake’
People run for cover as a plume of smoke rises above tents at a camp for displaced Palestinians in northern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, during an Israeli strike on April 19, 2025. (AFP)
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s chief negotiator voices frustration over talks for a truce-hostage release agreement in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.
“We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day,” Mohammed Al-Khulaifi says.
“We’ve been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two sides,” the Qatari minister of state says.
“And we will remain committed to this, in spite of the difficulties,” he adds.
During the long mediation process, Qatar has been the target of direct criticism from Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At least two of Netanyahu’s aides are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government to promote Doha’s interests in Israel, prompting an Israeli criminal probe. Qatar has dismissed the attacks as a “smear campaign.”
Earlier in March, an investigation by the Shin Bet security service ascribed an increase in Hamas’s military strength before the October 7 attack to fund the terror group received from the Gulf state. Qatar has rebuffed the accusation as “false.”
“We’ve been receiving those types of criticism and negative comments since the early times of our involvement,” Al-Khulaifi says.
“Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise,” he adds.
Al-Khulaifi rejects recent remarks Netanyahu made to the US-based evangelical Christian channel Daystar saying that Qatar had promoted “anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism” on US college campuses.
“His claims about Qatar’s educational partnerships have been repeatedly disproven. Everything we do is transparent,” the Qatari official adds.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Shin Bet chief Bar set to file statement to High Court over sacking
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar attends a state ceremony marking the Hebrew anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Shin Bet security service chief Ronen Bar is expected to file a statement to the High Court of Justice about his dismissal by the government last month, in the framework of the legal motions filed against his firing.
At least some of the statement will not be made public.
According to several Hebrew media reports, Bar will tell the court he plans to step down from his post in the middle of May, a step which would avert further legal tensions between the government and the High Court over the unprecedented firing of a head of the Shin Bet.
Bar is also expected to further detail what he claims are the real reasons Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government fired him. Bar claimed in an initial letter to the court that Netanyahu had repeatedly demanded he tell the judges in the premier’s criminal trial that the prime minister could not regularly testify in court due to security concerns.
Bar said his refusal to heed Netanyahu’s request was the reason for what Netanyahu described as the breakdown in trust between the two.
Since the letter lacked legal standing, Bar was asked by the court to file a formal declaration including dates and other details of his allegations against Netanyahu.
Former PM Bennett hospitalized overnight, undergoes cardiac catheterization
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and former prime minister Naftali Bennett (right) attend the funeral of
Rabbi Haim Drukman, at Merkaz Shapira, near Kiryat Malachi, on December 26, 2022. (Gil Cohen-Magen/ AFP)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett was hospitalized overnight in Kfar Saba after feeling unwell, according to Meir Medical Center.
Per the central Israel hospital’s statement, Bennett underwent cardiac catheterization.
In a separate statement, a spokesperson for Bennett says that he was admitted following a workout and is in good condition. The statement adds that Bennett will remain at the medical center for continued monitoring and treatment.
Earlier this month, Bennett, who is widely believed to be preparing to run in the next national election, announced the registration of a new political party under the temporary name “Bennett 2026.”
Bennett, who led the now-defunct right-wing Yamina party, has been out of office since the 2022 collapse of his diverse coalition government, which in 2021 ousted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the premiership after 12 consecutive years during which Israel underwent unprecedented political turmoil, including four national elections in three years.
Polling has shown Bennett pulling ahead of Netanyahu, should he run.
Ben Gvir touts ‘change of course’ in law enforcement; police chief vows to end ‘monster’ Arab crime wave
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks during the Israel Police Independence Day ceremony at the at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, April 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Addressing officers at a police ceremony in Beit Shemesh, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir hails a so-called “change of course” taking place in law enforcement since he first took office.
At the city’s National Police Academy, he tells the crowd that, unlike his predecessors, he ensures “full backing” to cops who fatally shoot civilians in apparent acts of self-defense.
Referring to earlier this month when a policeman shot a reportedly armed civilian during a shootout in Ararat an-Naqab, Ben Gvir says the incident would have formerly raised “stammering” in the minister’s office. “Today there is no stammering, there is no tongue-clicking — there is full support [to the officer],” he says to applause from the audience.
Continuing with another example, Ben Gvir says that before he took office, “when a terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail, the fighter who eliminated him would encounter a minister who wants an investigation, wants explanations.”
“Today, I also ask for explanations, [namely] whether it is possible to review the promotion of someone who shot a terrorist!” he exclaims.
He also takes credit for leading a “historic reform” for civilians’ eligibility to bear arms, pointing to a sharp rise in gun permits granted on his watch. “Before I came [into the ministry] the average was 8,000 [gun] licenses per year, and today the average is 200,000 licenses per year,” he says with a smile.
Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy speaks during the Israel Police Independence Day ceremony at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, April 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
He touts the proliferation of volunteer security teams in the wake of the October 7 massacre, and several laws allowing police broad discretion when pursuing criminals.
“We’ve given you vast tools of administrative restrictions,” he tells the audience, referring to a recently passed law allowing police to drastically curb suspects’ freedom of movement and expression on the basis of secret evidence. He lauds another law which allows police to “search homes without an order.”
Also speaking at the event is Israel Police chief Daniel Levy, who announces that next month the police plan to launch a “long-term strategic plan” to combat crime in Arab society.
“We are conducting a determined and consistent fight against crime, with an emphasis on crime in Arab society. We will destroy this monster, and it is our commitment to the Arab sector,” Levy says.
There have been at least 76 homicides in the Arab community since the start of 2025 — a similar pace to 2024 and 2023, according to the Abraham Initiatives.
The coexistence group has recorded the unprecedented rise in violent crime in the Arab community in the first two years in office of Ben Gvir, whose portfolio includes the police.
Sa’ar: No recollection of decision being made to strike Iran, open to diplomatic path
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks at the Israeli embassy after his meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, April 3, 2025, in Paris. (AP/Nicolas Garriga)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says he is unaware of an Israeli decision to launch a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and would accept a diplomatic solution that effectively halts Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, in an interview for The Telegraph.
“I am a member of the security cabinet, and all the inner forums, and I don’t remember such a decision,” says Sa’ar, responding to a question about last week’s New York Times report that Israel had planned to attack Iran as early as May, before US President Donald Trump blocked the proposed strike to instead pursue nuclear talks with Iran.
“I don’t think that such a decision was made. But Israel is committed to the objective of preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. If that objective can be achieved by a diplomatic path, it is acceptable,” says the foreign minister.
Sa’ar also warns about offering Iran too much trust, saying, “Iran always mocked its international obligations. I’m not excluding the option that they will try to get some partial agreements, to avoid getting to the necessary solution.”
“We are speaking directly with the Americans. We’re also speaking with European friends. I think we all have the same objective. Iran is in a position of relative weakness, and this should be used to achieve the objective, and not to let Iran escape for the sake of convenience, to waste time until the circumstances change,” the foreign minister adds.
In response to the Times story on Thursday, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office touted his “countless” actions against Iran’s nuclear program, but did not deny that Trump had blocked a strike on the Islamic Republic.
For his part, Trump said Thursday he was in no rush to greenlight strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but that he hadn’t “waved off” a planned Israeli attack.
Despite Washington’s current reluctance, Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter told Reuters yesterday,
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 said.
Meanwhile, a Trump administration official told The Times of Israel that “very good progress” had been made during a second round of nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran in Rome yesterday.
Iran’s foreign minister said the two sides, which plan to continue talks next Saturday, agreed to begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
Sinkhole opens up on coast-hugging Tel Aviv street
A sinkhole has opened up along Herbert Samuel Street in Tel Aviv, next to the beach.
The right lane of the street has been closed by police.
בולען נפער ברחוב הרברט סמואל, סמוך לחוף הים בת"א
צילום: דוברות המשטרה pic.twitter.com/laCFEdBELL— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) April 20, 2025
Prosecutors have written up charges for 22 Hamas terrorists who assaulted Nir Oz — report
The destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, November 21, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Southern District prosecutors have drafted charges against 22 Hamas terrorists who took part in the massacre of Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, the Ynet news site reports.
According to the report, prosecutors have updated Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on the charges and are pushing for the passage of nine bills in the Knesset related to putting them on trial.
Prosecutors aim to submit a single indictment sheet for the hundreds of terrorists who participated in the massacre, the report says.
Police to close some roads in Bnei Brak at 10 a.m. ahead of prominent rabbi’s funeral
Commuters traveling in the Bnei Brak area can expect traffic disruptions from 10 a.m. as police close roads around the city ahead of a funeral procession for Rabbi Meir Mazuz.
Mazuz, a prominent ultra-Orthodox Sephardic religious leader who died yesterday, will be buried today at the Commissioners of the Ponevezh Yeshiva Cemetery in Bnei Brak.
The funeral procession will begin at the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in the city at 1 p.m.
Father of American-Israeli hostage urges US to engage in direct talks to free captives
Yael (R) and Adi Alexander, parents of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander who is held in Gaza by Palestinian terrorists, walk back into the West Wing of the White House after talking to reporters on December 13, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP)
The father of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander says he remains hopeful his 21-year-old son is still alive after Hamas said it could not account for his status.
Adi Alexander, whose son was serving in the IDF when he was kidnapped by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023, calls on the United States to engage in direct talks to free the remaining 59 hostages, of whom 24 are believed to be alive.
“I think we should engage back with them directly and see what can be done in regards to my son, four American dead hostages and everybody else,” the father says in an interview.
“It seems like the negotiations are stalled, everything is stuck and we are kind of back to a year ago,” he adds. “It’s really concerning.”
The armed wing of Hamas has said it does not know the fate of Alexander, after making the unverified claim that the guard holding him was killed.
Edan, who holds dual nationality, grew up in New Jersey. His father says his son was an “all-American kid, great athlete …, such a loving, loving boy” who found himself in “the wrong place, wrong time.”
Hamas recently released an undated video, purportedly of Edan. His father Adi says, “He looked very scary to us — just a horrible, horrible video.”
A hostage video is, by definition, made under duress and the statements in it are usually coerced, according to international law groups and human rights experts.
Adi says that if he could speak to his son now, he would tell him: “Just believe. You know, nobody forgot about you. Definitely not your parents, and everybody is fighting for your release on the highest level in the States and I believe also in Israel.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Zelensky: Fighting ongoing in Russian border regions despite Putin’s Easter ceasefire declaration
Fighting continues in Russia’s border regions of Kursk and Belgorod despite President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of an Easter ceasefire, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky charges.
“Kursk and Belgorod regions — Putin’s Easter statements did not spread to this territory,” Zelenskiy says in a social media post, referring to two Russian border regions where Ukrainian forces have made incursions. “Fighting continues, Russian strikes continue.”
Zelensky does not provide evidence and Reuters cannot independently verify the report.
Israel said asking US not to indict Oct. 7 terrorists before it, readying law changes to make mega-trial simpler
Elite Hamas Nukhba terrorists who were detained after participating in the October 7, 2023, massacre are seen in a jail cell in a prison in central Israel, where high risk Hamas and Hezbollah prisoners captured during the war are being held, March 4, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Israel’s law enforcement apparatus has asked its American counterpart not to file indictments against Palestinian terrorists who took part in the October 7, 2023, onslaught before Israel does, which would “embarrass” the Jewish state, the Ynet news site reports.
The US is said to be leading and nearing the completion of its own probe of the massacre that will enable filing charge sheets soon, which due to differences in the legal systems is far simpler in the US than in Israel.
The unsourced report also says prosecutors have told the Attorney General’s Office they have put together charge sheets against 22 terrorists who took part in the massacre that day in Kibbutz Nir Oz, although it adds that these will likely only be filed as part of a single mega-indictment against hundreds of suspects, in a case unprecedented in scale in Israel’s history.
Ynet says that despite this intention, no decision has been made yet as to whether the indictment will be split into several simultaneous court cases to make the judicial process easier.
The report puts at 300 the number of Palestinian detainees regarded by Israel as having taken part in the October 7 atrocities, despite previous estimates putting the number at over 1,000. It says they are not slated to be released in any future hostage deal.
They are said to include operatives who didn’t participate in the onslaught but were involved in holding hostages in Gaza, while noting that no final decision has been made on whether they are to be prosecuted as part of the same mega-indictment, or if they are eligible to be freed in a deal.
The case against the October 7 terrorists is complex and faces multiple legal difficulties. Ynet says a small team of prosecutors is working on the case, getting materials from the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 special crimes unit — which is said to have collected testimonies from 1,700 survivors of the assault and from 400 members of security forces — as well as from the Shin Bet and the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
The new information that reportedly led to the consolidation of evidence against the 22 Nir Oz terrorists is said to have come from the Shin Bet following the military’s advancement into new areas in Gaza, where teams find incriminating evidence.
The report also says prosecutors have drafted and asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to advance nine bills to alter Israel’s criminal law system in order to enable the historic mega-trial, which experts say would likely take decades under the current system.
These bills reportedly include enabling trial proceedings without the defendant’s physical presence — rather via video link — or even without their lawyer. Others bills are said to relate to the terrorists’ legal representation — the Public Defense has already said it isn’t interested in representing them — as well as to enabling victims to file written affidavits rather than be questioned in person in court, and to the extent prosecutors must hand investigation material to the defense, including when some of it is classified.
Amid protests and clashes, Netanyahu attends festive event in central Israel moshav
People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his visit to a celebration in Moshav Mazor, April 19, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara ended up visiting a festive family event in Moshav Mazor in central Israel, after hundreds of anti-government protesters attempted to impose a self-described “siege” on the small community in demand for a hostage deal with Hamas.
Video shows the Netanyahus visiting the henna pre-marriage party of their son Avner, hosted by the family of the latter’s fiancée Amit Yardeni.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office claims Netanyahu canceled his planned participation in a Mimouna party — marking the end of the weeklong festival of Passover — at Mazor, due to the incident in Gaza in which a soldier was killed and five were injured. However, the Mimouna and the henna appear to have been the same event, which the premier did attend.
ראש הממשלה נתניהו ורעייתו שרה באירוע החינה של בנם אבנר ובחירת ליבו.❤️❤️❤️שיהיה להם שמח כל חייהם ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/0AsvyUU8zw
— Shoula Romano-Horing???????????????????????? (@RomanoHoring) April 19, 2025
There was heavy police presence in Mazor throughout the evening, with cops closing its area and working to prevent protesters from blocking access into the small community, and sometimes clashing with them.
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