April 26: Aunt of ex-captive pans PM for silence as allies show ambivalence to hostages’ fate

Two criminals killed, policeman seriously hurt in shootout in north

Two criminals were killed and a policeman seriously injured in a shootout in the northern town of Iksal, police say in a statement.

Police, along with Border Police and National Guard personnel, were carrying out efforts to thwart criminal activities when they were hit with gunfire, the statement reads.

The law enforcers responded with gunfire, killing the two assailants, the statement says.

UAE foreign minister congratulates newly-elected deputy PLO chief in phone call

UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed calls Hussein al-Sheikh and congratulates him on his election as deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, bin Zayed emphasized during the phone call the historic relations between the Palestinians and the United Arab Emirates.

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, there has been tension between the UAE and the Palestinian Authority, and senior Emirati officials have previously expressed support for the need for comprehensive reforms within the PA.

Fire at Iranian port has intensified, may spread, state media reports

TEHRAN, Iran — A large fire sparked by a deadly explosion at Iran’s port of Shahid Rajaee has intensified and could spread, state media reports.

“The intensity of the fire in Shahid Rajaee Port has increased, and it is possible that the fire could spread to other areas and containers,” the broadcaster says of the blaze, which has been burning for around 10 hours.

????????⚡- Fire continues to rage at Shahid Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas, south Iran.

Even at this hour, Iranian emergency forces are fighting the flames and trying to control the fire. The Iranian agency is reporting 6 missing people in addition to the dead and injured.#Iran pic.twitter.com/AqAbixXE3a

— Abhimanyu Manjhi (@AbhimanyuManjh5) April 26, 2025

Schools and offices near the port have been closed, state television says.

Netanyahu sends condolences to families of soldier, police officer killed in Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releases a statement sending condolences to the families of the IDF soldier and police officer who were killed during fighting in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood on Friday afternoon.

“My wife Sara and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the [Border Police’s] Yamas [covert unit] fighter Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane and the IDF soldier, Cpt. Ido Voloch, who fell in battle in Gaza for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu states, adding: “We all pray for the well-being of the wounded fighters.”

“The entire nation of Israel mourns with the dear families, and we salute Neta and Ido…may their memory be a blessing and may they be forever in our hearts.”

Aunt of ex-captive assails PM after allies show ambivalence to hostages’ fate: ‘Silence is filth’

Protesters rally against the government and for a deal to release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 26, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Speaking before some 1,500 anti-government protesters in front of the IDF headquarters on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, Ruhama Albag, whose niece Liri was released from Hamas captivity in the now-scuttled Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal in January, slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for staying silent as his political allies express ambivalence to the fate of the 59 captives still in Gaza.

“Silence is filth,” says Albag, a literary scholar, paraphrasing a poem by the late Revisionist Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky.

She ticks off recent statements, which “the ear refuses to hear,” by Netanyahu’s political allies: Bezalel Smotrich, “the scoundrel known as finance minister,” who said this week that the hostages’ lives are not the top priority; lawmaker Zvi Sukkot, “the new Temple Mount carpet,” who prostrated himself at the holy site “to create another provocation,” and called on Netanyahu to refuse a potential court order to recuse himself; and lawmaker Simcha Rothman, who said “the correct way to free the hostages is to not meet with the families.”

And then there is “the worst statement of all,” she says: “The prime minister is silent.”

Albag accuses the elected officials of disregard for the “mothers and fathers who, powerless, continue to raise children in captivity.”

“Alon Ohel is going blind. Matan Angrest is getting electrocuted by a car battery. Nimrod Cohen’s mother says, with relief, that he is still standing on his feet. It’s doubtful if Matan Zangauker will be able to stand,” says Albag, referring to young men still in captivity.

She reads the names of the other captives still believed to be alive — 24 in all — noting with anger Netanyahu’s attempt to “console us” last year by saying the living captives are “suffering but not dying.”

“End this blood-soaked war,” says Albag. Referring to the national commemoration of the fallen this coming Wednesday, she adds: “If not, this Memorial Day will be your disgrace and infamy.”

Death toll in Iran port blast rises to 8, Iranian state media says

At least eight people were killed in a blast at the Shahid Rajaee section of Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas, earlier today, according to an updated poll reported by Iranian state media.

Moroccan politician: Authorities blocked Hamas representative from entering Morocco

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum pauses during an interview with The Associated Press in Gaza City, February 7, 2012. (AP/Hatem Mousa)

Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of Morocco’s Justice and Development Party, states that Moroccan authorities prevented Fawzi Barhoum, a senior Hamas official, from entering the country.

Benkirane makes the remarks during the party’s annual conference.

Recently, reports in Morocco indicated that Barhoum was expected to attend the conference as Hamas’s representative.

The Justice and Development Party is considered to advocate a moderate Islamic platform. However, in the end, Barhoum addressed the conference remotely and did not travel to Morocco. There was no official response from the authorities in Morocco to Benkirane’s remarks.

Freed hostage: I felt ‘terrible desperation’ when Ben Gvir said he wouldn’t back deal

Released hostage Meirav Tal speaks at a rally at Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, April 26, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Meirav Tal, a hostage released as part of a November 2023 truce, says the government’s sole duty is to return all the captives kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

“Not some of them, not when it’s comfortable, everyone,” she tells demonstrators at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.

Tal recounts how she felt “terrible desperation” while held hostage, when she heard the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir say he would not approve the deal that ended up freeing her.

“I didn’t understand how a Jew, a brother of my nation, was able to say he didn’t want us to return,” she says. “That place — dark, cold, scary — leaves you with a little hope. Then someone from home, from my people, comes and takes that away too.”

IDF weighing establishment of new humanitarian zone in south Gaza — report

Smoke after an explosion, as seen from a tent encampment in a humanitarian zone, southern Gaza Strip. December 17, 2024 (Abed Rahim Khatib/FLASH90)

Israel is considering setting up a new humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip, where Palestinians would be able to enter following a security screening, Hebrew-language media reports.

The new zone would be set up in the Rafah area, south of the IDF’s new Morag Corridor, which bisects Rafah from Khan Younis and the rest of the Strip. The area is currently depopulated.

According to the Kan public broadcaster and i24news, the plan includes setting up a tent city in the area and allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid there to Palestinians. Israel has halted the entry of aid to Gaza for over a month.

The delivery of the aid would likely be carried out by a private American security firm or other international bodies, as the IDF is against tasking troops with handing out aid to Palestinians.

Tel Aviv activists commemorate Gaza children killed since Israel renewed hostilities

Anti-government protesters march with a sign reading, "There is no independence without the gatekeepers," in Tel Aviv, April 26, 2025. (Gilad Furst/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

About 200 left-wing activists stand in silence on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, holding up pictures of children killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel renewed hostilities there on March 18.

On the ground are Neshama candles, long-burning candles traditionally lit by Jews to commemorate the dead.

The signs show each slain child’s name, date, place, and circumstances of death.

The children “were and are no longer,” and were caught up in the fighting against their will, the signs read.

The somber scene is upended as anti-government protesters march through, shouting slogans and beating drums, from a demonstration on Habima Square to another one with hostages’ families on Begin Road. The left-wing activists stay put.

IDF announces soldier and police officer were killed during fighting in Gaza City

IDF Cpt. Ido Voloch (left) and police Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane, who were killed during fighting in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood on April 25, 2025. (Courtesy)

An IDF soldier and a police officer were killed during fighting in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood on Friday afternoon, the military and police announce.

The slain soldier is named as Cpt. Ido Voloch, 21, a platoon commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, from Jerusalem, and the police officer is named as Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane, of the Border Police’s Yamas covert unit.

According to an initial IDF probe, during operations in Shejaiya, troops of the Jerusalem Reserve Infantry Brigade and members of the police’s Yamas unit set up an ambush in a building.

Terror operatives arrived at the ambush site, and the Israeli forces opened fire on them at around 4:40 p.m. During the exchange of fire, the Yamas officer was killed.

Rescue forces were then dispatched to the scene to extract the troops at the ambush site. Fifteen minutes later, an army Humvee that tried to reach the area was hit by RPG fire, and one soldier was moderately wounded.

Nearly an hour later, several IDF tanks, part of the rescue forces, came under RPG fire from the operatives in Shejaiya. One of the RPGs killed Voloch and lightly wounded another soldier.

An hour after that, two reservists of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 7007th Battalion were moderately wounded by RPG fire and light arms in the same area.

Ex-Shin Bet head tells protesters at Habima that Bar’s affidavit shows ‘black flag’ flying over PM’s directives

Anti-government protesters gather at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, April 26, 2025. (sha_b_p@/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Speaking to hundreds of anti-government protesters at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon calls the affidavit in which incumbent head Ronen Bar submitted to the High Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week a “pivotal event in our fight for the Jewish-democratic identity of Israel.”

If the premier uses the agency to “carry out surveillance of citizens who wish to protest — the black flag is flown before our eyes,” says Ayalon, referring to one of Bar’s accusations against the premier in the document.

In Israeli jurisprudence, a “black flag” is said to fly over orders whose sheer immorality makes them illegal to follow. The phrase was coined by the judge who, in 1957, handed down the prison sentences of the soldiers who killed 49 civilians in the Arab town of Kafr Qasim for missing a curfew.

“Take to the streets, stop the country,” says Ayalon. “Non-violent civilian revolt is the civic duty of every citizen.”

“We are fighting for Israel’s Jewish-democratic identity as formulated by the founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence,” he says.

Prominent activist Shikma Bressler, speaking later, tells the crowd that “a black flag flies over” all of Netanyahu’s decisions.

Former IDF chief Dan Halutz says Netanyahu is continuing the fighting in Gaza simply to keep the government intact.

The war is “unnecessary” and driven by Netanyahu’s coalition partners’ “religious, mystic, messianic delusions that have nothing to do with national security,” says Halutz.

He adds that “the defendant Benjamin Netanyahu,” who is on trial for corruption charges, poses a “clear, present and immediate danger to the state of Israel.”

The crowd at Habima is awash in Israeli flags. Ahead of the speeches, organizers play on a large screen a brief history of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who began his political life as a disciple of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, and an avowed fan of Kahane’s disciple Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patroarchs in Hebron in 1994.

The short film accused Netanyahu of normalizing the Kahanist movement four decades after the High Court blocked it from running for parliament.

After the speeches, the crowd is set to march to the anti-government hostage families’ protest outside the IDF headquarters on Begin Road.

Top Abbas aide al-Sheikh elected first-ever deputy head of the PLO

Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh at his office in Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/ Nasser Nasser)

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the organization’s senior and most limited body, announces the appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh, currently serving as the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee, as deputy head of the PLO.

This marks the first time there has been a deputy to the head of the organization, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Al-Sheikh, a top aide to Abbas, previously served as the civil affairs minister on behalf of the PA and is known for his ties with Israel and the United States.

His election as deputy may strengthen his position in the succession battle for control over the PA after Abbas’s death.

The Palestine Liberation Organization is the international representative body for the Palestinians. The PLO formed the Palestinian Authority during the Oslo Accords agreements with Israel in the 1990s, envisioning it as a transitional governing body for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza ahead of the establishment of a sovereign state alongside Israel.

The two bodies have become increasingly synonymous over the past two decades, since they are both headed by Mahmoud Abbas and dominated by his secular nationalist Fatah party.

Palestinian report says settlers open fire in West Bank village, ‘kidnap’ two residents

Palestinian media reports that settlers entered the West Bank village of Kaubar, opened fire, attacked homes, and “kidnapped” two young residents.

A security official tells the Ynet news site that the settlers conducted an arrest without authorization after Palestinians threw rocks at them when they entered the village.

The official confirms the settlers opened fire in the village.

An image shows the two young residents blindfolded, with at least one of them with their hands tied up.

♦️ מתנחלים עוצרים שני פלסטינים: עדנאן עאמריה ומוחמד עאמריה מהעיירה קובר צפונית לראמאללה. pic.twitter.com/zTwKDOycR6

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) April 26, 2025

IDF says it’s gearing up to expand offensive against Hamas if hostage talks don’t progress

Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The IDF says it is preparing to significantly expand its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip if the hostage negotiations with the terror group continue to stall.

The intensified offensive will see the military call up a large number of reservists and operate in new areas of Gaza, according to the IDF.

The military warns that as long as the hostage talks fail to advance, its offensive against Hamas will intensify.

Since March 18, when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, the IDF says it has struck over 1,800 targets in Gaza. Over the past 48 hours, 120 targets were hit.

The IDF also estimates that it has killed over 400 members of terror groups, including dozens of senior Hamas political officials and mid-level military wing commanders, during that time.

IDF probing Hamas video claiming to show rescue of hostage from tunnel targeted in strike

The IDF says it is looking into the veracity of a Hamas propaganda video published this afternoon, purporting to show terror operatives rescuing a hostage from a tunnel that was allegedly targeted in a strike.

Military representatives are also updating the relevant families on the clip.

Senior US official: ‘Much to do’ but ‘progress’ made on reaching nuclear deal with Iran

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iran's 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)

A senior Trump administration official tells The Times of Israel that today’s third round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran in Muscat. were “positive and productive.”

The talks lasted over four hours.

“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the official says, adding that the sides agreed to meet again soon in Europe.

Fresh IDF probe finds troops were hurt yesterday by explosives and gunfire, not RPG

The Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area, on April 21, 2025. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

The IDF soldiers wounded yesterday in the southern Gaza Strip were hit by explosive devices and light arms fire, and not RPG fire, according to an updated military probe of the incident.

One soldier was seriously wounded, one was listed in moderate condition, and another two were lightly hurt.

The incident took place in the Philadelphi Corridor area, next to the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah.

The IDF says the troops, some of whom were carrying out a logistics supply mission, returned fire.

Antisemitic posts by Gazan reporter appearing on BBC Arabic emerge: ‘We shall burn you as Hitler did’

Antisemitic social media posts of a Gazan reporter who has consistently appeared on BBC Arabic have been uncovered, The Telegraph reports.

Samer Elzaenen, 33, has made several antisemitic comments, including a 2011 Facebook post reading: “My message to the Zionist Jews: We are going to take our land back, we love death for Allah’s sake the same way you love life. We shall burn you as Hitler did, but this time we won’t have a single one of you left.”

In July 2022, he wrote: “When things go awry for us, shoot the Jews, it fixes everything.”

According to The Telegraph, Elzaenen has praised over 30 separate terror attacks against Israeli civilians, including a February 2023 car-ramming attack that killed two boys and a 20-year-old man in Jerusalem, saying the victims “will soon go to hell.”

He has described the October 7, 2023, massacre perpetrators as “resistance fighters.”

A BBC spokesperson tells The Telegraph that the news service uses “a range of eyewitness accounts from the Strip” since its journalists are not allowed to enter.

“These are not BBC members of staff or part of the BBC’s reporting team. We were not aware of the individuals’ social media activity prior to hearing from them on air. We are absolutely clear that there is no place for antisemitism on our services.”

A journalist prominently featured by BBC Arabic has openly called for Jews to be burned “as Hitler did.”

His name: Samer Elzaenen.

Here’s the horrifying reality the BBC doesn’t want to talk about…???? pic.twitter.com/hbN9by8Bnj

— Jonathan Sacerdoti (@jonsac) April 26, 2025

Five killed, over 700 hurt in Iran port blast — new toll

MUSCAT, Oman — Iran raises toll from explosion at southern port to 5 people killed and more than 700 others injured.

Group of hostage families: Military pressure kills hostages, Netanyahu ‘criminal against his own people’

Demonstrators protest for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, on Route 92, Golan Heights, on April 25, 2025. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

In their weekly press conference, a group of hostage families pushes for an agreement to end the war and bring back all the captives, denouncing the ongoing fighting and partial deals proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage, says, “Soldiers are being sent to war without end, without purpose, and without concern for the day after.”

“It is possible to sign a deal tomorrow morning. An entire nation is being deceived. We are told that military pressure will return the kidnapped — it only kills them.”

She asserts that the “entire nation” wants an end to the war and return of the hostages, and accuses Netanyahu of “doing himself a favor, by agreeing, perhaps, to another selection deal.”

Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage, slams Netanyahu for characterizing the return of all hostages in exchange for an end to the war as “surrender.”

“A prime minister who sees the return of hostages captured under his watch as surrender is a criminal against his own people,” Cohen says. “His goal is to waste time and stay in his seat. He turned Nimrod and the hostages into pawns on his chessboard long ago.”

Iranian FM says ‘differences’ remain with US, but today’s talks ‘more serious than before’

MUSCAT, Oman — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that differences remained between the Iranian and US sides after a third round of nuclear talks concluded in Oman.

“There are differences in both the major issues and in the details,” Araghchi tells a state TV reporter in Muscat, adding that “the negotiations this time were much more serious than before.”

Fourth round of US-Iran nuclear talks set for May 3, Omani FM says

MUSCAT, Oman — Negotiations between the United States and Iran on a potential nuclear deal will continue with a fourth round next week, mediator Oman’s foreign minister says.

“Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3,” Badr Albusaidi posts on X, adding that “core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed” in today’s meetings in Muscat.

US Iran talks today identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments. Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high level meeting provisionally scheduled…

— Badr Albusaidi – بدر البوسعيدي (@badralbusaidi) April 26, 2025

In propaganda video, Hamas claims it rescued hostage from tunnel targeted in airstrike

Hamas claims to have rescued an Israeli hostage from a tunnel allegedly targeted in an Israeli airstrike several days ago.

In a highly-produced propaganda video, Hamas operatives are seen digging in sand inside a tunnel, and calling on someone trapped inside. The terror operatives are heard speaking in Hebrew as they recover the person, an apparent Israeli hostage.

The hostage is heard saying in Hebrew that he has difficulty breathing, as the Hamas operatives place an oxygen mask on him.

The terror group does not name the hostage, and says further details will be provided later.

The IDF has said that it does not carry out strikes in areas where it suspects hostages may be held by Hamas.

Military officials have repeatedly said that every strike and ground operation in Gaza is carefully planned out in order not to endanger Israeli hostages.

Russia says it’s ready to hold Ukraine peace talks ‘without preconditions’

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on April 26, 2025. (Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)

MOSCOW, Russia — Russia is ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine “without preconditions,” President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff at a meeting on Friday, the Kremlin says.

“During yesterday’s talks with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says, adding that Putin has repeated that several times in the past.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump criticizes Putin for attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine in recent days, and says, “Maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.”

In a post on Truth Social after his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, Trump also says maybe Putin “has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?'”

Third round of Iran-US nuclear talks end, source says

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

MUSCAT, Oman — The third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program has ended, a person with knowledge of the discussions tells The Associated Press.

The person close to US mediator Steve Witkoff speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

Iranian state television also acknowledged that they concluded, but it follows the pattern of the two earlier rounds of talks in Muscat and Rome.

Israeli windsurfer Tamar Steinberg wins gold at world championship

Israeli windsurfer Tamar Steinberg wins the gold medal at the World Cup in Hyeres, France.

It marks the second gold medal in a row for Steinberg, who won first place at a competition in Cadiz, Spain, last month.

Sharon Kantor, also an Israeli competitor, wins bronze at the competition.

Ex-senior diplomats denounce government for snubbing pope’s funeral

The absence of a senior government representative at Pope Francis’s funeral was a “serious diplomatic mistake,” a group of former Israeli ambassadors and senior diplomats says.

The Forum on Foreign Relations notes that heads of state, many of them not Catholic, attended the funeral to pay their last respects.

Israel’s absence gives the government a “poor rating” among the rest of the world, the forum says.

Iran’s Pezeshkian shares ‘regret and sympathy’ for port blast victims

President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a rally commemorating anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expresses sympathy for the victims of a port blast that killed four people and injured hundreds, dispatching the interior minister to supervise an investigation.

“While expressing deep regret and sympathy for the victims of the incident in Hormozgan Province, I issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes of the incident,” Pezeshkian says on X, adding that Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni will go to the area for the probe.

Pope Francis buried inside favorite Rome church

Pallbearers carry the coffin of late Pope Francis at the end of the funeral ceremony at St Peter's Square in the Vatican, on April 26, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

ROME, Italy — Pope Francis was buried inside his favorite Rome church after a funeral mass in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican says.

The Argentine pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, was laid to rest during a 30-minute burial ceremony which started at 1 p.m. (1100 GMT) at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in the Italian capital.

Iranian official blames port blast on poor storage of chemicals

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Iran’s crisis management organization, appears to blame the explosion at the country’s largest commercial port in Shahid Rajaee on poor storage of chemicals in containers.

“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he tells Iran’s ILNA news agency.

“Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari says.

An Iranian government spokesperson, however, says that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.

Israel not involved in Iran port blast, officials tell Channel 12

Black smoke rises behind abandoned trucks following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan on April 26, 2025. (MOHAMMAD RASOLE MORADI / IRNA / AFP)

Israel was not involved in the explosion at a major port in southern Iran, Israeli officials tell Channel 12 news.

At least four people were killed and over 500 injured in the blast in Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast.

Hamas official says terror group open to long-term truce, but won’t lay down its arms

CAIRO, Egypt — Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms, an official says, as leaders of the terror group meet mediators in Cairo for ceasefire talks.

Sources close to the talks tell Reuters Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the war, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel, and the release of all hostages.

“The idea of a truce or its duration is not rejected by us, and we are ready to discuss it within the framework of negotiations. We are open to any serious proposals to end the war,” Taher Al-Nono says, the media adviser for the Hamas leadership, in the first clear signal that the group was open to a longer-term truce.

However, Nono ruled out a core Israeli demand that Hamas lay down its arms. Israel wants to see Gaza demilitarised.

“The weapon of resistance is not negotiable and will remain in our hands as long as the occupation exists,” Nono says.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

At least 400,000 attended Vatican funeral for Pope Francis

Pallbearers carry the coffin during late Pope Francis' funeral ceremony at St Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 26, 2025. (Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

ROME, Italy — At least 400,000 people gathered at the Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral and lined the streets of Rome to see his coffin driven to the Santa Maria Maggiore church for burial, Italy’s interior minister says.

“We estimate not fewer than 400,000 people between those present in St Peter’s Square and those along the route,” Matteo Piantedosi tells the TG5 news program.

At least four killed in Iran port blast that injured more than 500 — state media

TEHRAN, Iran — At least four people were killed and more than 500 injured in a powerful explosion on Saturday that ripped through a vital port in southern Iran, state media says.

“Unfortunately, at least four deaths have been confirmed by rescuers,” the head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organization, Babak Mahmoudi, tells state TV.

Syrian Kurdish party officials meet to discuss unified vision for post-Assad future

Mazloum Abdi (3rd-R), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Hamid Darbandi (2nd-R), envoy of Iraqi Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani (leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party), attend the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

QAMISHLI, Syria — Syria’s Kurdish parties hold a conference aimed at presenting a unified vision for the country’s future following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, a high-ranking participant tells AFP.

Eldar Khalil, an official in the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, says that since Kurds were a major component of the country, they “must present a solution and a project proposal for the future of Syria.”

On the question of federalism, Khalil said it was “one of the proposals on the table.”

More than 400 people, including representatives from major Kurdish parties in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey, take part in the “Unity of the Kurdish Position and Ranks” conference in Qamishli, according to the Kurdish Anha news agency.

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which has controlled large swathes of Syria’s northeast since the early years of the country’s civil war, is represented at the gathering, as are groups opposed to it.

Last month, the Kurdish administration struck a deal to integrate into state institutions, with the new Islamist-led leadership seeking to unify the country following the December overthrow of Assad.

The agreement, however, has not prevented the Kurdish administration from criticizing the new authorities, including over the formation of a new government and a recent constitutional declaration that concentrated executive power in the hands of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa during the transition period.

Ukraine’s army says it is still fighting in Kursk

The Ukrainian army denies Moscow’s claim it has driven Kyiv’s forces out of Kursk, saying that fighting in the western Russian region bordering Ukraine is still ongoing.

“Statements by the enemy leadership about the ‘defeat’ of the Ukrainian troops are nothing more than propaganda tricks,” Ukraine’s Chief of Staff says, adding that “the operational situation is difficult, but our units continue to hold their positions.”

Number of injured in Iran blast rises to over 516 — report

The number of injured from the explosion at a port in southern Iran has risen higher to 516, Iranian state TV reports.

More than 400 injured in Iran port blast: new state media toll

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News on April 26, 2025 shows smoke billowing following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas (IRIBNEWS / AFP)

The toll in the Iranian port blast has risen to over 400, state media says.

Russian army says Kursk region ‘fully liberated’ from Ukraine

The Russian army has fully liberated the Kursk region from the control of Ukraine’s forces, Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov tells Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

“Today, the last settlement in the Kursk region, the village of Gornal, has been liberated from Ukrainian forces,” Gerasimov says during a video conference meeting with Putin.

Putin says in footage published by the Kremlin that Ukraine’s offensive completely failed. This, he says, will lay the ground for future successes for the Russian army.

Ukraine had held the region since a surprise offensive in August 2024.

Man killed by tree collapse named as Prof. Motti Golani, senior British Mandate historian

The victim of a tree collapse in a northern nature reserve yesterday has been identified as Prof. Motti Golani, a senior historian at Tel Aviv University who specialized in the British Mandate, and former head of TAU’s Chaim Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism and Israel.

Golani was critically injured when a tree collapsed on him and others during a family outing at HaShofet Stream. A woman and an infant were lightly hurt.

The three were rushed to hospital, where Golani died of his injuries.

"למדתי לאהוב את הספריה והארכיון, אך יותר מהם לאהוב בני אדם, את היכולת להלך בין שפת הלומדים והחוקרים. למדתי שאין שאלה שאסור לשאול, גם אם יש תשובות שאי אפשר לתת. למדתי ללכת רחוק כדי להביט קרוב. למדתי ללמוד. והטיפוס נמשך" (מוטי גולני, עם פרישתו, 2024. אתמול נהרג. צילום: מגד גוזני) pic.twitter.com/IC10viCni4

— Ofer Aderet עופר אדרת (@oferaderet) April 26, 2025

In a statement, Tel Aviv University expresses “deep sorrow and great pain” over Golani’s death.

“His rich and original work left a profound mark on the world of research and on public discourse in Israel. As a scholar, teacher, and academic leader, he was a central figure in our community,” it says.

“Beyond being a man of vast knowledge and a devoted academic in every sense, Professor Golani was a wonderful person, a beloved friend, and a revered figure in the university community, which now bows its head in deep mourning. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and all who loved him.”

More than 250,000 people at Pope Francis’s funeral — Vatican

More than 250,000 people assembled at St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican says.

“The competent authority informs us that, while the funeral of Pope Francis has ended, more than 250,000 people are present,” says the Vatican in a brief statement at the end of the ceremony.

At least 280 injured in Iran port blast — state media

This image grab taken from footage released by the state television Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News (IRIBNEWS) on April 26, 2025 shows thick black smoke billowing following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas (Photo by IRIBNEWS / AFP)

The toll from a massive blast on Saturday that ripped through a key port in southern Iran stands at 280 injured at least, state media says.

State television, citing local emergency services, reports that victims “have been transferred to medical centers” in the area of the southern port of Shahid Rajaee.

Social media videos show black billowing smoke after the blast. Others show glass blown out of buildings kilometers (miles) away from the epicenter of the explosion.

Authorities have offered no cause for the explosion yet. Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.

Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, tells Iranian state TV that first responders are trying to reach the area while others are attempting to evacuate the site.

???? Blast reported at Iran's Bandar Abbas port, cause unclear.

— Iran International pic.twitter.com/OOvdldRm4N

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) April 26, 2025

Hasanzadeh says the blast came from containers at Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reports there was a building collapse caused by the explosion, though no more details are immediately offered.

Houthis claim to have targeted southern airbase with early morning missile

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for the ballistic missile launch at Israel early this morning, claiming to have targeted the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel.

The IDF said the missile was successfully intercepted by air defenses. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Hamas official says group open to freeing hostages, five-year truce in Gaza

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the Gaza war that would include the one-time release of all remaining hostages and a five-year cessation of hostilities, an official from the Palestinian terror group says.

“Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years,” the official tells AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group is set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.

On April 17, Hamas, which opposes a “partial” ceasefire agreement, rejected an Israeli proposal that included a 45-day truce in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.

The group has consistently demanded that a truce agreement must lead to the end of the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the immediate and sufficient entry of humanitarian aid into the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Israel, for its part, demands the return of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza — the latter being a “red line” for the Islamist terror group.

Explosion reported at a port in Iran’s Bandar Abbas

A large explosion has rocked Shahid Rajaee port in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reports, citing a local official.

He says the cause of the incident is not yet known.

A huge explosion rocked the city of Bandar Abbas.

The cause of the explosion has not yet been identified.#Bandar_Abbas pic.twitter.com/4KcTbQK3cp

— Omar Baloch (@OmarBaloch___) April 26, 2025

Pope urged ‘reason and honest negotiation’ over conflicts — homily

Pope Francis urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re says in his funeral homily.

“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” he says.

Trump, Zelensky had ‘very productive’ meeting at pope’s funeral — White House

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on April 26, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) meets with US President Donald Trump (L) on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

The White House says US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had a “very productive” meeting ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.

“President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion,” says White House communications director Steven Cheung, adding more details will follow.

Crowds applaud pope’s coffin as Vatican funeral begins

Pallbearers carry the coffin of late Pope Francis during the funeral ceremony in St Peter's Square, at the Vatican, on April 26, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

At the packed St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, crowds have cheered and applauded as the pope’s coffin was brought out of St Peter’s Basilica.

Many of the more than 50 heads of state attending the funeral entered the Basilica beforehand to pay their respects at the coffin of the Argentine pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88.

Iran and the US begin expert talks in Oman over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program

In this photo released by Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, steps out from his plane as he arrives at Muscat, Oman, Friday, April 25, 2025, a day prior to negotiations with US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

A third round of talks between Iran and the United States has begun in Oman, with experts seeking in-depth discussions over how to reach a possible deal.

Iranian state television announces the start of the negotiations. American officials could not be immediately reached.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

WATCH: Huge crowds flock to Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral

Tens of thousands of mourners are flooding into St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis, the champion of the poor and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader.

Some people waited overnight to be first in the queue for the ceremony, attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky — who may meet on the sidelines.

The Argentine pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy.

Some 250,000 people paid their respects before his coffin during its three days of lying in state at St Peter’s Basilica, and huge numbers gathered from dawn on Friday to attend his final send-off.

The ceremony is due to begin at 11 a.m. (Israel time) and is expected to draw some 200,000 people.

Rabbi’s grave dug up at Damascus Jewish cemetery

Unidentified individuals broke into Damascus’s Jewish cemetery in recent days and dug a pit near the grave of Rabbi Chaim Vital, possibly searching for remains, Kan news reports.

The motive behind the desecration is unclear. The Union of Rabbis in Islamic Countries, which condemned the “shocking and repugnant” act, posited that it could be an attempt to relocate remains to Israel, though the basis for that assertion was unclear.

Syrian officials assured the small Jewish community in the city that they would seek to identify those responsible and pursue the matter seriously, the report says.

Grave of 17th century Rabbi Hayyim ben Joseph Vital in Damascus was vandalized on Wednesday by an unknown group who dug under his resting place to rob it for artefacts.

Syrian Jews living in the US visited it earlier this year. pic.twitter.com/r5GYLjW35u

— Hassan Ridha (@sayed_ridha) April 25, 2025

IDF shoots down drone launched at Israel ‘from the east’

A drone launched at Israel “from the east” was shot down by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the military says.

No sirens sounded “according to protocol,” the IDF adds.

The drone was apparently launched from Yemen.

Syria responds to US conditions for sanctions relief, vows not to be threat to Israel

Syrian interim President Ahmed Sharaa speaks in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. (Syrian Presidency/AFP)

Syria has responded in writing to a list of US conditions for possible partial sanctions relief, saying it has acted on most of them but that others require “mutual understandings” with Washington, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.

The United States last month handed Syria a list of eight conditions it wants Damascus to fulfill, including destroying any remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and ensuring foreigners are not given senior governing roles.

Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kickstart an economy collapsed by 14 years of war, during which the United States, Britain and Europe imposed tough sanctions in a bid to put pressure on former president Bashar al-Assad.

In January, the US issued a six-month exemption for some sanctions to encourage aid, but this has had limited effect.

In exchange for fulfilling all the US demands, Washington would extend that suspension for two years and possibly issue another exemption, sources told Reuters in March.

Gazans say 4 dead, 30 missing under rubble after Israeli strike

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says an Israeli strike on Gaza City killed at least four people and left “more than 30” feared buried under the rubble of a house.

“Our crews were able to recover four martyrs and five wounded following the attack,” which hit a family home in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood at dawn, spokesman Mahmud Bassal tells AFP.

There is no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which more than a month ago had resumed its offensive against Hamas across the Gaza Strip. The army generally says it targets terror operatives who are embedded within the population.

Virginia Giuffre, who accused UK’s Prince Andrew in Epstein sex trafficking scandal, dies by suicide

Virginia Roberts Giuffre holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court following the jailhouse death of Jeffrey Epstein, August 27, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Virginia Giuffre, who accused disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein and Britain’s Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has taken her own life at her home in Australia, her family says.

Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, was 41.

“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” the family said in statement provided to AFP by her agent.

“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.”

Giuffre had accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, and said she had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 — a minor under US law — after meeting him through the American billionaire.

In 2019, Epstein took his own life in a New York City jail cell, while awaiting his own trial for sex crimes.

Prince Andrew repeatedly denied her allegation of sexual assault and avoided trial by paying a multimillion-dollar settlement. As part of the deal, he reportedly gave money to a charity for sex-trafficking victims.

“There are no words that can express the grave loss we feel today with the passing of our sweet Virginia,” Giuffre’s family says, remembering her “incredible courage and loving spirit”.

“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels.”

Western Australia police, who do not confirm identities in such cases, say emergency services gave first aid after being alerted Friday night that a 41-year-woman had been found unresponsive at a home in Neergabby, north of Perth.

“Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” they say in a statement.

Israel using AI to help target Hamas leaders, locate hostages in tunnels — report

Palestinians inspect the damage of buildings destroyed after Israeli airstrikes on the Jabaliya refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, October 31, 2023. The IDF said the airstrikes were part of 'a wide-scale strike' on Hamas operatives and infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s Central Jabaliya Battalion and that the buildings collapsed when Hamas tunnels were targeted. (Abdul Qader Sabbah/AP)

Israel has used artificial intelligence tools to target Hamas leaders amid the war in Gaza, according to a report in the New York Times.

The report opens with a strike at the end of October 2023 that targeted Ibrahim Biari, the commander of Hamas’s Central Jabalia Battalion, who the newspaper says the Israeli military was able to locate by using an AI-infused audio tool to track where he was making phone calls from.

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike that killed Biari, in which dozens of civilians were said to have been killed, targeted a Hamas tunnel complex under the densely populated camp. The incident is being investigated by the military.

In addition to concerns over civilian casualties, Israeli and US officials quoted by the New York Times say there were also instances in which the AI technology resulted in mistaken identifications and arrested.

The report says that Israel employed AI to identify partly obscured or wounded faces using facial recognition, create lists of possible targets and make an Arabic chatbot to scan and analyze text messages and social media, with many of these technologies created in a partnership between Military Intelligence’s Unit 8200 and reservists employed at major leading tech firms known as “The Studio.”

Additionally, Israel reportedly also used the same audio tool that helped locate Biari as part of its efforts to find hostages held in tunnels beneath Gaza, with a pair of Israeli officers saying it has been sharpened over time to more accurately locate people.

IDF says air defenses downed Houthi missile launched from Yemen

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

The IDF says the missile was shot down before crossing the country’s borders.

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

Sirens had sounded in Beersheba and the surrounding area in southern Israel. An early alert warning was issued to a much wider area.

Missile fired from Yemen triggers sirens in south as early alerts issued for wider area

Warning sirens sound in southern Israel as the military reports that a rocket was launched from Yemen, while also saying early alerts were issued across central Israel, the Jerusalem area and West Bank settlements.

Air defense systems are attempting to intercept the missile, the Israel Defense Forces adds.

Trump: Russia and Ukraine ‘very close’ to ceasefire deal, they need to ‘finish it off’

US President Donald Trump, right, and First Lady Melania Trump step off Air Force One upon arrival at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy, April 25, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

ROME — US President Donald Trump says that Russia and Ukraine are “very close” to a ceasefire deal, and urges the two sides to meet and finalize it.

“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,'” Trump posts on his Truth Social platform shortly after arriving in Rome, where he will attend Pope Francis’s funeral.

Former hostage Ron Krivoi: No one can truly understand what it’s like down in the tunnels

Freed hostage Ron Krivoi speaks with Channel 12 news in an interview aired on April 25, 2025. (Channel 12 screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Former hostage Ron Krivoi has spoken out for the first time about his time in captivity and about the abuse suffered by the young man he met in the tunnels, Matan Angrest. Angrest, a hostage soldier, is still held in Gaza,

Krivoi, an Israeli-Russian citizen, was taken hostage from the Nova music festival and was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire, in a Hamas nod to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“As a person, I’m a quiet man, I live my life. That’s why I didn’t give interviews, I just continued my life as it was before – that’s what I asked for, to return to my life,” he tells Channel 12.

Krivoi, a soundman, was working at Nova when terrorists struck, massacring hundreds, raping, abusing and taking dozens hostage to Gaza.

Krivoi was first held for some time in a Gaza apartment. At one point, the house was bombed by the Israeli military and Krivoi was able to escape his captors, trying to make his way through devastated Gaza for several days before being recaptured.

“Once someone saw me – it ended badly. The people who caught me beat me up. It wasn’t simple. I went through something there… When they caught me and brought me back, the people who beat me were ordinary Gazans who took out all their frustration on me,” he says.

Of the tunnel he was then taken to, Krivoi says, “These aren’t the tunnels you see in pictures. We were in something really small, deep underground. There wasn’t even a floor – we were on sand, and the mattresses were all moldy. We were inside a very, very small cage. Honestly, about a meter and a half by a meter and a half, and we had to lie down and rest in it – you couldn’t stand. No height, no toilets, no food. We were five people, we ate one small dish with some canned food and a pita that we divided among us. I was there for 51 days and lost nine kilograms of body weight.”

Krivoi says soldier Matan Angrest arrived a day after he did, and was “completely, completely terrified.” Angrest was in a tank that was attacked by terrorists on October 7. The rest of the crew were killed.

Hostage Matan Angrest is seen in a propaganda video published by Hamas on March 7, 2025. (Screenshot: Telegram)

“The interrogations he went through happened while still in Israeli territory – that’s where it started. They already connected him to a car battery on the way and tried to revive him. Using car batteries, they electrocuted him,” Krivoi says. “They weren’t able to interrogate him. He probably wasn’t even in a condition to speak because he was badly injured. His injuries were very severe.”

Krivoi says Angrest continued to be badly abused in captivity, suffering greatly at the hands of captors due to being a soldier.

Of his own time as a captive, he says, “This is something that even if a person tries to imagine – they’ll never be able to truly understand what it’s like down there.”

“I know that if I didn’t have Russian citizenship, I could still be in that tunnel with Matan to this day. I’m here because of a miracle – it was Putin who brought me home. If not for him, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Spain gave Israeli defense firms 46 contracts since Gaza war despite govt pledge – report

Spain has awarded 46 contracts worth more than one billion euros ($1.2 billion) to Israeli defense firms since the outbreak of the Gaza war, breaking the leftist government’s pledge not to trade arms with Israel, researchers say.

Their conclusions come after a now-cancelled deal with an Israeli company to supply bullets to the Spanish Civil Guard rocked the Socialist-led minority coalition government this week.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, halted weapons transactions with Israel after the start of the war following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

But according to Centre Delas, a Barcelona-based left-wing think tank specializing in security and defense, the government has granted 46 contracts worth 1,044,558,955 euros ($1.2 billion) to Israeli companies based on data published on a public tenders platform.

Of the 46 contracts, which include deals for rocket launchers and missiles, 10 have not been formalized, the think tank says in a statement that previews an upcoming report.

“It is clearly demonstrated that the government lied, there was no pledge, that was pure propaganda,” report co-author Eduardo Melero tells AFP.

Although some contracts were to maintain or modernize previously acquired products, others were new deals that “could increase the dependence… on an industry essential to perpetrate a genocide,” Centre Delas alleges.

Israel vehemently rejects accusations that its war against Hamas in Gaza constitutes genocide, saying it targets terror groups embedded in the civilian population and takes far-reaching steps to minimize harm to innocents.