April 27: White House says Trump reviewing latest Iran proposal on reopening Hormuz
Ukraine summons Israeli envoy over Russian vessel carrying alleged stolen cargo to Haifa * Putin tells visiting Iranian FM Moscow will do ‘everything’ to secure Mideast peace
US President Donald Trump gestures during a press conference after a shooting incident outside the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, April 25, 2026, as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI director Kash Patel listen. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov held talks in Kyrgyzstan on Monday with Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister Reza Talaei-Nik, state-run TASS news agency reports.
Belousov reiterated Russia’s longstanding position that the Iran war should be resolved exclusively through diplomatic means and said he was confident Moscow and Tehran would continue to support one another.
Talaei-Nik also traveled to Belarus, one of Russia’s closest allies, where Belarus’ Defense Ministry said he discussed the Middle East situation with Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.
The ministry, quoted by the state BelTA news agency, said both officials agreed that the sole way to resolve the conflict was “a return to the sphere of a political-diplomatic settlement and the intensification of the process of negotiations.”
The ministry statement said the meeting “confirmed the mutual interest of Minsk and Tehran for a further deepening of their joint interaction.”
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and praised the Iranian people for battling to stay independent in the face of US and Israeli pressure and said Moscow would do all it could to help Tehran.
A US official says that President Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal because it did not address Iran’s nuclear program.
“He doesn’t love the proposal,” the US official says, referring to Trump.
Earlier in the day, Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. The US-Iran conflict remains in a stalemate, with energy supplies from the region reduced.
Iranian sources earlier on Monday said the proposal would set aside discussion of Iran’s nuclear program until the war has ended and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are resolved. Washington has said nuclear issues must be dealt with from the outset.
Work to bridge gaps between the US and Iran has not halted, sources from mediator Pakistan have said.
But hopes of reviving peace efforts have receded since Trump announced this weekend he had scrapped a visit by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
A still from video footage appearing to show Israeli settlers aim weapons and fire towards Palestinians in the village of Sa'ir, near Hebron, March 13, 2026. (X / used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The former head of the Mossad spy agency Tamir Pardo brands the ongoing settler terror attacks against Palestinians an “existential threat” to the State of Israel.
Pardo makes the comments to Channel 13 while touring some of the Palestinian villages that have come under repeated settler attack in recent months.
“What I saw reminded me of the events that happened in the last century against Jews. I feel ashamed,” Pardo says.
He recalls the late Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who controversially warned that control over millions of Palestinians in the territories would ultimately corrupt Israeli society.
Pardo says he used to think that Leibowitz had gone off the rails, but after witnessing what settler extremists have been doing to Palestinians in recent months, now believes “there was a lot of truth” to what the Israeli philosopher had said.
Pardo warns that the settlers behind these attacks and the government that has failed to stop them are creating the conditions for the next October 7 attack to come from the West Bank.
Asked whether the issue can still be fixed, Pardo says that it can, but laments the high cost.
He says pushing back on the violent settlers — many of them armed by the state — could spark a civil war, given how well connected many of the extremists are in the halls of power.
File: US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Seoul, South Korea, June 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Wendy Sherman, who served as deputy secretary of state for much of former US president Joe Biden’s administration, accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the perpetration of a genocide in Gaza.
Speaking to Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show, Sherman says, “I think that it is critical that Israel remain an ally of the United States, and that we protect the right of a Jewish state.”
“But I also believe that the prime minister has led us down a road — and we have been part of it that has, in essence — created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East,” Sherman adds.
Sherman later appears to walk back the allegation.
“I can’t make the legal analysis about whether it is literally a genocide. But there is no doubt that Gaza was demolished. Palestinians deserve a home and dignity and peace. And Israel absolutely deserves security and peace.”
While most Biden officials have expressed significant frustration with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, they have refrained from lodging accusations of genocide.
The remarks by Sherman indicate an ongoing shift within the Democratic Party regarding where such rhetoric of Israel is becoming increasingly mainstream.
Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State under Joe Biden, Wendy Sherman:
I believe that Netanyahu has led us down a road, and we have been part of it.
That has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza, that has destabilized the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/GSeOTwXGwV
The European Union has “taken note” of reports that Israel allowed a Russian vessel carrying grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine to unload at the port of Haifa, condemning the alleged transactions and warning that those involved could face EU sanctions.
“We condemn all actions that help fund Russia’s illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions, and remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary,” an EU spokesperson tells The Times of Israel in a statement, confirming earlier reports.
“In a joint démarche with Ukraine, we are requesting additional information from the Israeli authorities on this subject,” the spokesperson adds, after Ukraine summoned Israel’s envoy to Kyiv today to protest the alleged incident and prevent Israel from accepting an additional vessel.
Iran needs guarantees against another US-Israeli attack before it can ensure security in the oil-rich Gulf, says Tehran’s envoy to the United Nations.
“Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the wider region can only be achieved through a durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence and full respect for the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Iran,” Amir Saeid Iravani tells a UN Security Council session.
Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli strikes on the country’s south today killed four people, including a woman, and wounded 51 others, three of them children, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The IDF said earlier that its strikes on Lebanon today, a response to Hezbollah’s ceasefire violations, targeted several weapon depots and buildings used by Hezbollah to fire rockets at Israel.
Police have arrested two minors suspected of participating in the beating of a 12-year-old girl on a sidewalk in south Tel Aviv two months ago, after footage of the incident began circulating on social media in recent days.
The pair, both 14-year-old girls, were detained for questioning this evening as part of an ongoing investigation into the incident.
The adolescents seen assaulting the girl are reportedly part of SSQ, a criminal gang made up of youths active in Shapira, a neighborhood of south Tel Aviv, Channel 12 News reports.
אלימות, לא פוסקת תיעוד מת״א:
כנופיית SSQ מת״א תקפה באכזריות ילדה בת 12, שברה את שיניה ושדדה ממנה את מכשיר הטלפון שלה.
הרקע: מספר ימים קודם לכן הכנופייה תקפה את אחי הילדה ושדדה אותם, ואלו הגישו תלונה במשטרה, ובתגובה לכך על פי החשד האחות קיבלה מכות ונשדדה. אחת מהתוקפות נעצרה. pic.twitter.com/07WsDDQkLN
The family of the girl has claimed she was targeted by the group in an act of revenge against her brother, who filed a police complaint against some of the gang’s members after they robbed him earlier this year.
She had been on her way home from school when the group ambushed her, pulling her hair, breaking a tooth and stealing her cell phone. She was lightly injured in the beating and required medical treatment after the fact, police say.
An additional suspect, a 15-year-old girl, was arrested earlier in the investigation, but has since been released under restrictive conditions, police add in their statement.
Taken from a position in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, this picture shows smoke rising during Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, on April 27, 2026. (Jalaa MAREY/ AFP)
The IDF says it struck some 20 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley today, following repeated attacks by the terror group during the ceasefire.
In southern Lebanon, several weapon depots and buildings used by Hezbollah to fire rockets at Israel were targeted, according to the military.
In the Beqaa Valley, the IDF says it struck a site used by Hezbollah to manufacture and store weapons. The IDF also says it recently identified efforts by Hezbollah to restore the site following previous strikes.
Several other weapon depots in the Beqaa Valley were also targeted, the IDF adds.
US President Donald Trump arriving at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, after a shooting incident outside the ballroom at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, April 25, 2026. (Tom Brenner/AP)
The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives is charged with the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump and will remain at least temporarily behind bars as the case moves forward.
Cole Tomas Allen appears in court to face federal charges in a chaotic encounter that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being rushed off the stage, and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. Allen was taken into custody after the shooting on Saturday night and sat beside his lawyers in a brief appearance today in Washington’s federal court.
In addition to being charged with attempting to assassinate the Republican president, Allen also faces two firearms charges. He did not enter a plea.
A judge granted a prosecutor’s request today to keep Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, detained, pending additional hearings. One of Allen’s lawyers, Tezira Abe, asked for a detention hearing and noted that Allen has no criminal record.
“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she says.
Iraq’s main Shia alliance, which holds a parliamentary majority, says it will back businessman Ali al-Zaidi to become the next prime minister, after powerbroker Nouri al-Maliki withdrew his nomination.
The Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shia factions with varying links to Iran that had initially nominated Maliki, says in a statement it “chose Ali al-Zaidi” to be its candidate for the largest parliamentary bloc.
US President Donald Trump in January threatened to stop all support for Iraq if two-time ex-premier Maliki, who has close ties to Iran, returned to power.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha speaks at the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, November 12, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/ Pool via AP)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha says Kyiv has summoned Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine to “request appropriate action” over a vessel carrying grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine seeking to dock at the port of Haifa, in light of reports that similar shipments of grain had already been unloaded in Israel this year.
“Friendly Ukrainian-Israeli relations have the potential to benefit both countries, and Russia’s illegal trade with stolen Ukrainian grain should not undermine them,” Sybiha writes on X.
“It is difficult to understand Israel’s lack of appropriate response to Ukraine’s legitimate request regarding the previous vessel that delivered stolen goods to Haifa,” Sybiha writes, referring to a similar incident last week.
“Now that another such vessel has arrived in Haifa, we once again warn Israel against accepting the stolen grain and harming our relations. In this context, we have already officially summoned the Israeli ambassador to [the Foreign Ministry] tomorrow morning to present our protest note and request appropriate action,” Sybiha concludes.
Responding on X, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stresses that “evidence substantiating the allegations has yet to be provided” and says “the matter will be examined.”
“Israel is a state that abides by the rule of law with independent law enforcement authorities. All Israeli authorities will act in accordance with the law,” Sa’ar adds.
Mossad chief David Barnea at a Memorial Day ceremony at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, April 20, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea said in recent meetings that connections between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office staff and Qatar did not harm national security or hostage deal negotiations, Haaretz reports — putting him at odds with former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who has called the affair a serious security threat.
While Barnea declined to address the corruption investigations against the Prime Minister’s Office staffers, Barnea told journalists and other figures that he did not identify any harm done to the hostage talks or any other security damage as a result of the affair, according to the report.
In the so-called Qatargate affair, Netanyahu’s adviser, Yonatan Urich, along with former Netanyahu spokesman Eli Feldstein and ex-campaign adviser Yisrael Einhorn, are accused of taking money to spearhead a public relations campaign for Qatar in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, despite the Gulf state’s strong ties to the terror group, and doing so while working in the PMO.
Barnea’s assessment contradicts that of Bar, during whose tenure the Qatargate affair was exposed.
In an affidavit submitted to the High Court of Justice last year regarding his dismissal by Netanyahu, Bar said concerns in the Shin Bet’s ongoing investigation into Qatargate “center on damage to the negotiations for the release of hostages, the strengthening of Hamas, and the deterioration of Israel’s relations with Egypt,” another mediator in the talks.
Critics, including Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, have charged that Netanyahu removed Bar from office last year over a conflict of interest surrounding the Shin Bet’s probe into Qatargate.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett (left) and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speak during a press conference announcing their joint slate named 'Together' ahead of upcoming elections, in Herzliya, April 26, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s combined electoral list, dubbed “Together,” would receive a total of 26 seats if elections were held today, placing them ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud as the Knesset’s largest party, according to a new poll by Channel 12.
In the poll, the network’s first since last night’s announcement of the union, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc only garnered 50 out of 120 Knesset seats while the Zionist opposition parties received 60 and the Arab factions 10 — an identical showing to last Thursday’s Channel 12 survey.
The combined Bennett-Lapid platform’s showing of 26 seats is one less than the two received separately in that previous poll, in which Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid garnered 21 and 7 seats, respectively.
Together is followed by Likud with 25 seats; Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar at 15; The Democrats at 10; Shas, Yisrael Beytenu and Otzma Yehudit at 9 each; United Torah Judaism at 7; and Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each with 5.
Balad, The Reservists, Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White all fall below the electoral threshold.
According to the poll, in the event that Eisenkot would join Bennett and Lapid in a single list, their united party would garner 41 seats, but the overall balance of the blocs would remain unaffected. Thus far, Eisenkot has declined to join Together, despite reportedly having proposed a merger with Bennett and Lapid in January.
Meanwhile, the poll also finds that, should several right-wing critics of Netanyahu establish an alternative party on the right, dubbed Likud B by the press, it would siphon away support from both the coalition and opposition, and would ultimately weaken the opposition bloc’s overall standing.
The poll, carried out by Mano Geva, surveyed 501 Israelis via internet and phone, with a margin of error of +-4.4%.
According to a Channel 13 poll also released this evening, the coalition would receive 57 seats, up three from the network’s last poll, while the opposition gets 52 and the Arab parties 11 mandates. And a Walla poll released earlier today showed Together garnering 27 seats, with Likud rising to 28. With Eisenkot, Together would receive 41 seats — with the opposition standing at 59 mandates and the coalition 51.
Blue and White Party chief MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel is “burning,” requiring Israelis to establish “a broad Zionist government” representing both blocs, declares Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, in an interview with Channel 12.
“And it almost doesn’t matter who the prime minister is. It matters what this government looks like,” he says. “I am here for the State of Israel, to establish a broad unity government, to deal with the real problems of the country. And it doesn’t really matter what happens to me in this story.”
Gantz is currently polling under the electoral threshold and is the only member of the Zionist opposition not invited to a meeting of most anti-Netanyahu party leaders proposed by Yashar chairman and his former political ally Gadi Eisenkot.
Gantz has broken with other opposition leaders by suggesting he could join a Netanyahu-led government and has resisted attempts to be categorized as part of the opposition bloc.
Police have arrested two additional individuals suspected of partaking in a settler attack last month on Khirbet Humsa, a Palestinian village in the West Bank.
The pair, Jerusalem residents aged 18 and 22, were caught while on the run, police say. They are suspected of having committed serious violent crimes, robbery, and indecent acts against village residents.
They are two of 15 suspects who have been arrested so far in connection to the attack, which took place in the northern Jordan Valley.
According to police, the attackers entered the village before dawn, restrained the residents, and beat them violently.
One of those attacked, 29-year-old Qusai Abu al-Kebash, told The New York Times that assailants stripped him, zip-tied his genitals, and paraded him around the village.
Police said in a March statement that rioters also damaged and stole villagers’ property, including a large number of sheep used as livestock. Several residents sustained injuries, including four who required medical treatment.
Officials from the United States and Iran clash over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions at the opening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review, a dispute almost certain to continue during the four-week meeting.
At issue is the election of Iran as one of 34 vice-presidents of the conference. Iran was a candidate of the Nonaligned Movement, including 121 mainly developing countries.
The United States was backed by Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. France and Germany also expressed “concern.” Russia objected to singling out Iran.
The US representative says the Trump administration is “deeply shocked” that a country that has demonstrated “contempt” for the treaty is now a vice president.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Reza Najafi, categorically rejects the US statement, calling the allegations “baseless and politically motivated.”
US President Donald Trump has discussed a new Iranian proposal on resolving the war with Tehran with his top national security aides today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tells reporters.
“The meeting may be ongoing, maybe not, but the proposal was being discussed,” she says. “The president’s red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear.”
“I wouldn’t say they were considering it,” Leavitt adds, regarding an Iranian suggestion to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending the US blockade. “I would say there’s a discussion.”
“The unethical incidents we have seen are the product of a long and complex period, but that does not justify them. We must not compromise on our values. The erosion of norms could be no less dangerous than operational threats,” he says, while speaking at a conference of the IDF’s senior command staff today.
During the conference, Zamir displayed a picture of a soldier wearing a patch that read “Stop the hatred, it is time for violence,” and asked the participants, “Is this how you want our army? This is a rebellion against IDF values.”
A soldier photographed wearing velcro patches saying “Stop the hatred, it is time for violence,” and “Hamas hunters,” unknown date. (X/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Zamir says that the “phenomenon of looting, if it exists, is disgraceful and could stain the entire IDF,” after Haaretz reported last week that there has been widespread looting by Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
“If such incidents occurred, we will investigate them,” he says.
The IDF recently punished soldiers who took part in smashing a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, and said it was investigating a video of soldiers damaging solar panels. Zamir showed the participants of the conference the picture of the crucifix being smashed.
An IDF soldier smashes a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, in an image uploaded to social media on April 19, 2026. (X/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Zamir also says that soldiers, both in the standing army and reserves, “must not use social media as a tool to spread controversial messages or for self-promotion.”
“This is a red line that must not be crossed, and those who do so will be dealt with disciplinarily,” he says, though soldiers are rarely punished for posting content online.
On women in the IDF, Zamir says that they are “an inseparable part of the IDF and its operational strength.”
“There will be no exclusion of women in the IDF,” he says.
“We will continue to enable service for diverse populations, without harming others or at their expense. We will do this while preserving the identity and values of the IDF,” Zamir says, referring to efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox troops.
On operational matters, Zamir said that the IDF will likely remain fighting on multiple fronts throughout 2026, an assessment he has previously made.
“Since October 7, [2023], the IDF has been engaged in combat, in an ongoing multi-front campaign. We continue to be prepared and on alert for a return to intense fighting in all sectors. 2026 may continue to be a year of combat on each of the fronts,” he said.
He also said the IDF urgently needs more troops: “In light of the growing burden of missions on the IDF in the coming years, the urgent need facing the State of Israel is to increase the number of those serving and fighting, and we will insist on this.”
The Knesset passes a law mandating the agricultural sector to report on supplies to boost information about emergency stock in case of supply chain interruptions.
The law will apply from September 1 to all entities in the sector, including flour mills, feed mills, food centers, grain trading corporations, cowsheds, chicken coops, and livestock pens. It will also include geographical location and details of the stock owner.
Dedicated inspectors will be authorized for control and monitoring purposes.
The stocks to be monitored will include corn and barley grains, soybean and sunflower meal, rapeseed, corn gluten, palm fat, and vitamin and mineral supplements for cattle, sheep, and poultry.
The Agriculture Ministry currently manages emergency stocks in line with the scenarios drawn up by the National Emergency Authority. The new law expands monitoring capabilities to operational stocks as well, providing the state with a management tool for data-driven decision-making.
The IDF and Israel Police say that an Israeli civilian has been arrested after carrying out a settler attack in Jalud in the northern West Bank earlier today that injured a Palestinian teenager.
The military says that “forces were dispatched following a report that several Israeli civilians had set fire to a structure, and that dozens of additional civilians had gathered in the area. As a result, a Palestinian was injured and evacuated for medical treatment.”
It adds that troops “acted to disperse the gathering using crowd control measures, questioned the civilians at the scene, and detained an Israeli civilian who will be transferred for further handling by Israel Police.”
Police confirm, in response to a query by The Times of Israel, that an Israeli civilian was indeed transferred into their custody and arrested.
Police add that investigators are preparing to enter the scene accompanied by IDF forces to collect testimonies, evidence, and findings, and that the investigation is ongoing.
Palestinian media earlier reported that settlers had arrived on the outskirts of the village of Jalud in the Nablus area, set fire to a structure, and assaulted and injured a 14-year-old Palestinian boy.
Footage from the scene appears to show mutual stone-throwing between Palestinians and settlers after the settlers arrived, as well as settlers throwing stones near a home on the edge of the village.
HORRIFIC: Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian child in the village of Jalud — pepper-spraying him and beating him, breaking his hand. pic.twitter.com/BLxTtLmNml
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the IDF senior command on April 27, 2026. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts Israel’s freedom to strike Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon and argues that military action against the terror group will help advance ongoing diplomatic talks with Beirut, while speaking at a conference of the IDF’s senior command.
The premier touts “tremendous achievements” against Hezbollah, including the “elimination” of their rocket array, as well as the recent reestablishment of a “security zone” in southern Lebanon, which, he says, “prevents the possibility of an invasion into northern Israel, and now also prevents direct anti-tank missile fire, while allowing us to change the situation in Lebanon.” His Hebrew-language remarks are shared by his office.
Israel is striking “both in the security zone, north of the security zone, and north of the Litani [River],” Netanyahu continues, touting Israel’s “freedom of action to thwart [both] immediate and emerging threats,” as “part of the agreement we reached with the United States and the Lebanese government.”
Under the terms of the current ceasefire, which was extended last week, Israel reserves the right to respond to threats from the Iran-backed terror group.
Netanyahu says that only about 10 percent of Hezbollah’s missile stock remains from when the recent bout of fighting began last month, but that “there are still two central threats” posed by the group, namely its 122mm rockets and use of drones and UAVs.
If Israel succeeds in countering these threats “through a combination of operational and technological means… we are essentially on the path to disarming Hezbollah — because this is their primary weaponry,” Netanyahu says.
The premier suggests that doing so will assist the US-brokered talks with Beirut, telling the senior IDF officers in the audience that he expects them “to solve these two problems — because on the diplomatic side, I believe we will be able to resolve things, if we have resolved this.”
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court of Justice that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s ongoing refusal to make appointments to magistrate and district courts is causing ongoing harm to the justice system and is unlawful.
In response to petitions to the court asking it to order Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee to make these appointments, the attorney general points out that there are currently 51 vacancies on courts around the country, and that this figure will rise to 66 by the end of the year.
Baharav-Miara says therefore that not only can she not support Levin’s recent request that the court reject the petitions, but that the justice minister’s “arbitrary” conduct on the issue requires intervention by the court.
“In practice, the harm to the judicial system and litigants continues [due to the situation in which] the minister acts to staff the courts arbitrarily and not in accordance with the needs of the judicial system,” writes the attorney general.
Earlier this month, Levin announced his intention to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, but only to make appointments to youth, family, and traffic courts, not the key positions in the magistrate and district courts, where the absences have caused delays in legal proceedings.
The three High Court justices on the committee subsequently wrote to Levin and accused him of abusing his power as chairman of the panel and ignoring the real needs of the courts.
“Convening the committee in this manner does not repair the harm to all the various courts that has resulted from the severe shortage of judges,” Baharav-Miara continues in her submission to the court.
“This course of conduct, which amounts to a violation of the minister’s duty to act to convene the Judicial Selection Committee with due speed for [appointments to] all courts given the objectively urgent need… which has only become more acute… harms the judiciary and litigants, and contravenes the provisions of the law.”
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a meeting of France's defense and security council at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 8, 2026. (Tom Nicholson/ Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron says he will talk to Iranian authorities after his two-day trip to Andorra and will insist on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have established a coalition whose purpose is precisely to ensure security, to secure and stabilize, to demonstrate that the international community supports an opening [of the Strait of Hormuz], and so I hope that we will be able to convince the stakeholders in the coming days,” he tells reporters in Andorra.
Meanwhile France’s top diplomat says Iran must be ready to make “major concessions” in talks to end the ongoing crisis.
“There can be no lasting solution to this crisis unless the Iranian regime agrees to major concessions and a radical shift in its stance,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot tells a UN Security Council session.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa addresses a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, April 20, 2026. (AP/ Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa says that Israel has not transferred tax revenues it collects for the PA for the past year, leaving it cash-strapped and unable to pay employees.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday marking the conclusion of the local elections, Mustafa says “the occupation has been cutting our funds for years, but the intensity of the cuts has increased over the past 12 months. In the past year, not a single shekel of tax revenues has been transferred to us. We are living without tax income in an attempt to destroy the institutions of the State of Palestine. All residents are suffering, particularly PA employees.”
The funds in question are tax revenues on goods entering Israel that are destined for the Palestinian Authority. Israel collects these funds and is supposed to transfer them to the PA under the terms of the Oslo Accords. The revenues account for roughly 60 percent of the PA’s income.
On April 19, the Palestinian Finance Ministry announced in an unusual statement that, in light of what it described as Israel “stealing tax revenues” for the past year, all public sector employees would receive only NIS 2,000 for their January salaries, which were paid with significant delay.
Since 2019, Israel has deducted from tax revenues amounts equivalent to the Palestinian Authority’s payments to prisoners and the families of attackers. Since November 2023, following the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Israel has transferred only partial funds, deducting the sums the PA had allocated to Gaza (including salaries for former PA employees and services such as electricity and water). The PA said at the time that it would refuse to accept partial transfers.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich confirms that he has withheld this month’s clearance revenues, totaling NIS 740 million, continuing the policy that has been in place for about a year.
According to a statement from the Finance Ministry, the remaining funds — beyond those allocated to Gaza — “have been frozen for about a year due to the minister’s policy not to transfer funds to the Palestinian Authority in light of its actions against the State of Israel in the international arena and its support for incitement to terrorism.”
Stephen Doughty, minister of state for Europe and North America, says that the UK does not support the US blockade of Iranian ports amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.
Doughty says that while the UK doesn’t support the US blockade, it supports working with the United States and others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — where he says Iran is holding “the rest of the world to ransom.”
Maritime traffic must flow safely and unimpeded through the strait, he says, “and that includes no tolls, no security risk and, of course, adherence to the international laws on freedom of navigation.”
Diplomacy is crucial, Doughty tells a small group of UN reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting today on the safety of navigation in the critical waterway, through which around 20 percent of the world’s crude oil normally passes.
He says deescalation and a ceasefire are also crucial, stressing that Iran can’t be allowed to block the strait, attack its Gulf neighbors and civilian infrastructure, and develop nuclear weapons.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or others.
Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Rubio says Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.
“What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,” Rubio says.
“That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use them.”
Five people appeared in court in Stuttgart today on charges of causing about 1 million euros ($1.17 million) of damage at the German site of an Israeli defense company, the court says.
Prosecutors say the defendants, aged 25 to 40, trespassed and shouted pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel statements as they smashed office equipment, measuring devices and windows at the business in the southern city of Ulm, the court adds.
According to the charges, the defendants acted as members of the “Palestine Action Germany” organization, which later published videos claiming responsibility for the attack. The defendants, who are not named, are Irish, British, Spanish and German, prosecutors have said.
News outlets including Stuttgarter Zeitung and broadcaster SWR said the vandalized office belonged to Israeli defense electronics firm Elbit Systems.
Elbit, which has an office in Ulm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The court did not identify Elbit as the target of the Ulm attack but said the company had been the target of attacks by “Palestine Action” groups in 2024.
View of the Haifa port, March 15, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Israel risks a diplomatic and legal response from Kyiv if it allows a vessel carrying grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine to dock at the port of Haifa, a Ukrainian diplomatic source tells Reuters.
The Haaretz newspaper reported that the vessel Panormitis, which it said was carrying grain from occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv regards as stolen, was waiting for permission to berth in Haifa.
“If this ship and its cargo isn’t rejected, we reserve the right to deploy a full suite of diplomatic and international legal responses,” the Ukrainian source says on condition of anonymity.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Haaretz reported yesterday that four shipments of grain from occupied Ukraine had already been unloaded in Israel this year.
“The practice of laundering stolen goods is unacceptable, and Israel has essentially shrugged off our demands regarding the previous vessel,” the source says.
The source adds that Kyiv is tracking the vessel, warning that allowing it to dock will have consequences for bilateral relations between Ukraine and Israel.
Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with visiting UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, April 27, 2026. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, telling her that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is “playing with fire.”
“Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and [President Joseph] Aoun is gambling with Lebanon’s future. There will be no reality of a ceasefire in Lebanon alongside fire on our forces and on the communities of the Galilee,” Katz tells Hennis-Plasschaert, according to remarks issued by the minister’s office.
Katz says that “if the Lebanese government continues to shelter under the shadow of the Hezbollah terror organization, fire will burn the cedars of Lebanon.”
“The fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon,” he says.
“The Lebanese government must ensure that Hezbollah is disarmed, first of all south of the Litani [River]… and afterward throughout all of Lebanon,” Katz adds.
President Isaac Herzog (left) meets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana on April 27, 2026. (Haim Zach/GPO)
President Isaac Herzog tells Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that he hopes to “triple” trade between Israel and Kazakhstan and that direct flights will soon be approved between the countries, during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Astana.
The two presidents met privately after Herzog arrived for an official visit this morning, then held an expanded meeting with senior Kazakh government officials, during which they discussed “deepening relations and advancing strategic cooperation,” according to a readout from Herzog’s office.
“I would like to focus on how we can double, triple, and more the volume of business and trade between our nations. We are close to approving direct flights, and I think that this can have a huge impact on business and trade, especially as part of the Abraham Accords family,” Herzog says in the readout.
In November, Kazakhstan joined the Abraham Accords normalization agreements brokered by the US Trump administration, though Astana has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, making the move largely symbolic.
Tokayev tells Herzog that “the Abraham Accords have fundamentally reconfigured the Middle East’s geopolitical architecture, creating a strategic framework for regional stability, shared prosperity and collaborative efforts to address common challenges.”
“With pride, we emphasize that there is no antisemitism in Kazakhstan,” Tokayev adds, noting that “Judaism is one of four official major religions in Kazakhstan,” alongside Sunni Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives to attend talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026. (AP/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Tehran is looking into US President Donald Trump’s request for negotiations, according to a post on the minister’s Telegram account.
He tells reporters in Russia that Trump requested negotiations because the US has not achieved any of its objectives.
Araghchi says the Islamic Republic is “stable, solid” during a meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state TV.
The Iranian foreign minister says due to the war with the United States and Israel, “the world has now realized Iran’s true power” and “it has become clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a stable, solid and powerful system,” he says in the meeting in Saint Petersburg.
He adds that Russia has stood by Iran and the two countries will continue their “strategic partnership.”
Police have arrested a woman from northern Israel on suspicion of making death threats against Mohammad Magadli, a prominent Arab-Israeli journalist.
The suspect, a 40-year-old doctor, was apprehended at the medical clinic where she works in Taybeh, an Arab city in central Israel, after a weekslong police investigation.
The suspect allegedly called Magadli several times from an unknown number and made threats on his life. “Within a week I’ll get to you and eliminate you,” she said in one of the phone conversations, according to police.
Earlier today, officers with a court-issued warrant raided the suspect’s workplace, arrested her and seized evidence related to the alleged offenses, police say. Footage shared by law enforcement shows officers confiscating the woman’s cell phone.
Responding to the new development, Magadli tells the Ynet news outlet that he hopes his “suffering of several years will finally come to an end” with the suspect’s arrest.
Police are still weighing whether to bring the suspect to court tomorrow with a request to extend her remand.
A cache of Hezbollah weapons and drones found by IDF troops in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published by the military on April 27, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF troops captured a cache of Hezbollah weapons in southern Lebanon, including first-person view (FPV) drones.
The military says the weapons included anti-tank explosive devices and remote detonation systems, explosive-laden drones, RPGs, firearms and other weapons.
Hezbollah has made frequent use of small FPV drones in its attacks on Israeli troops in recent weeks, including in a deadly attack yesterday.
Justices hear petitions demanding the formation of a state commission of inquiry into security failures surrounding the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, at the High Court in Jerusalem on April 23, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
The High Court of Justice declines to order the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities for the moment and says it is giving the government another two months to establish a framework for a state-backed investigation.
The decision follows a tempestuous court hearing last week when pro-government activists tried to forcibly enter the courtroom in protest of the hearing itself, and during which the justices were highly critical of the government’s failure to establish an investigative commission into the catastrophe.
The court says in today’s decision that “the time has long since come to begin investigating the events of October 7,” but adds that the government nevertheless “has broad discretion” as to how to implement “the obligations incumbent upon it” to conduct investigations.
“We have deemed it appropriate at this stage to allow the government an additional period of some two months, in the hope that it will soon find a suitable framework for investigating the events [of October 7], which will gain broad public backing,” the court says in its decision.
The justices also explicitly assert that the court does have the authority to review and deliberate on government decisions as to whether or not to establish a state commission of inquiry, based on previous court rulings which were themselves based on Basic Law: The Judiciary.
Its comments are a pointed rejection of arguments advanced by the government and its supporters, including the protesters who tried to break into the courtroom, that the court has no power of judicial review over the establishment of a state commissions of inquiry.
Smoke rises following an Israeli explosion in southern Lebanon near the border as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on April 27, 2026. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A Lebanese member of parliament argues that the country’s military chief should be removed from his position if he is unable to disarm Hezbollah.
Appearing on the “Decision Points” podcast of Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow David Makovsky, Fouad Makhzoumi is asked if Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Rodolphe Haykal should be removed from his post if he doesn’t fulfill the government’s directive to disarm Hezbollah.
Makhzoumi says Haykal reports to the Lebanese president and the cabinet: “At the end of the day, we are asking them to deliver. If he doesn’t, yes, he has to be removed.”
Makhzoumi represents a one-man secular party in the Lebanese parliament, so it’s unclear how widespread his views are, but calls for Haykal’s ouster — in the event that he fails to deliver — are rare.
Haykal presented a five-phase roadmap for disarming Hezbollah last year, but he has faced criticism for the plan’s lack of clear timeline. Moreover, he announced earlier this year that the LAF had succeeded in disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River, 20 to 30 kilometers from the border with Israel.
That declaration proved to be wildly overstated in recent months, given Hezbollah’s repeated firing at Israel from the south of the country during the Iran war.
Haykal’s defenders note that he has been given a highly difficult task, given the degree to which Hezbollah has embedded itself in the fabric of Lebanese society. They argue that a rushed disarmament process could spark another civil war in Lebanon.
Diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates president Anwar Gargash arrives at the opening ceremony of the summit on peace in Ukraine, at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne, on June 15, 2024. (Denis Balibouse / POOL / AFP)
A senior United Arab Emirates official criticizes the country’s Gulf allies over their response to Iranian retaliatory attacks in the region following the Israeli-US strikes that launched the Middle East war.
Presidential adviser Anwar Gargash says the Gulf states supported each other logistically in the crisis, but he lambasts their political and military response.
“The GCC’s stance was the weakest historically, considering the nature of the attack and the threat it posed to everyone,” Gargash says, referring to the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
Gargash says he “expected such a weak stance from the Arab League,” the 22-member organization of Middle East and North African nations based in Cairo. “But I don’t expect it from the GCC, and I am surprised by it,” he tells a conference in Dubai.
Gulf monarchies have always had “difficult relations” with Iran, Gargash says.
In recent years he says they pursued a “containment policy” through mediation, energy partnerships, strategic agreements and, in the case of the UAE, trade ties. But “these policies have failed miserably, and we are now facing a major reassessment.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, talks with Britain's then-ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence in Washington, on February 26, 2025. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain’s parliament will vote tomorrow over a possible inquiry into Prime Minister Keir Starmer, looking at whether he misled the House of Commons over the appointment of former ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, according to House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
Any such inquiry could have serious implications for Starmer’s future. He has so far resisted pressure to quit over his decision to hire Mandelson, but if found to have knowingly misled parliament, his position would likely become untenable.
Mandelson was fired by Starmer last September after his relationship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found to be deeper than previously known.
That has raised doubts about Starmer’s judgment in hiring him, exacerbated by the revelation that a security vetting body had described the appointment as a borderline case and that it was leaning against granting clearance — a decision foreign ministry officials overruled without telling the prime minister.
Starmer’s office says in response that the opposition Conservatives’ push for a vote on whether he misled the House of Commons over the appointment of Mandelson is a “desperate political stunt.”
“Their claims have no substance,” a Downing Street spokesperson says in a statement.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, left, and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid formally announce the formation of their new political union titled Together, in Herzliya, April 26, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, the head of the Together slate, slams the government over the continuation of drone attacks against northern Israel despite the ongoing ceasefire with Lebanon.
“Hezbollah’s explosive drones are being launched incessantly at our soldiers, our sons, while in Beirut, they are now drinking coffee in peace,” Bennett says, accusing the “October 7 government” of “returning to the policy of containment.”
“The lives of our soldiers are not cheap. The lives and the routine of the residents of the North, who are under fire, are not cheap. Soon, we will replace [the government] at the ballot box and restore security to Israel,” Bennett adds.
The former premier’s statement comes after Israel reimposed some restrictions in the north yesterday, including canceling a planned mass pilgrimage, amid continued Hezbollah attacks and ongoing Israeli strikes despite the truce. Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
Toronto Police officers work around the scene of a shooting at the US Consulate in Toronto, Canada, on March 10, 2026. (Cole BURSTON / AFP)
Antisemitic incidents in Canada reached a record high in 2025, with 6,800 acts of hate reported nationwide, according to a new report released by B’nai Brith Canada.
That was 9.3 percent higher than the previous record set in 2024, the organization says in its annual audit, which it has published since 1982. The figures translate to an average of 18.6 incidents per day targeting the Jewish community.
“Antisemitism is a national crisis and must be treated as such,” the report says. “[It] has become so normalized in our society that its incidence can no longer be tied directly to the war in Israel.”
The vast majority (92%) of recorded incidents occurred in digital spaces, with 6,248 cases of online harassment. The survey recorded 10 incidents of violence, 299 cases of vandalism and 243 incidents of real-world harassment.
Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in southern Lebanon, April 26, 2026 (Courtesy)
The girlfriend of Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, watched his killing unfold in real time while on duty as a surveillance soldier, as he was struck by an explosive drone in southern Lebanon yesterday, according to his uncle, Shlomi Arah.
Arah tells the Ynet news site that Fooks’s girlfriend saw the strike as it happened and immediately feared he was among those hit.
“She saw the wounded and asked if Idan was there. They told her no, but she had a feeling he was,” he says, adding that “in hindsight, it turns out she saw her boyfriend, whom she loved so much and who loved her, being killed in Lebanon.”
Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster, Arah similarly describes the moment that she realized what had happened: “She was on duty yesterday. She saw the incident and said, ‘Idan is there.’ Her friends told her, ‘No, that’s not his sector,’ but she saw everything happening live… she immediately made the connection.”
He adds that she was later brought to Fooks’s family home, where “we’re embracing her too.”
Fooks’s grandfather, Kaduri Arah, criticizes the incident amid the ongoing ceasefire, adding: “If there’s a ceasefire, then it must be a ceasefire. If not — fight with full force,” he tells Kan.
The Red Crescent says a 14-year-old Palestinian has been wounded by a stone thrown during a settler attack near the village of Jalud, south of Nablus, in the West Bank.
No further details about the incident are known at this time and there is no immediate comment from the IDF.
After a four-hour delay, three women registered to take a rabbinical exam administered by the Chief Rabbinate have been allowed to start taking the test, the religious rights group ITIM says.
Earlier in the day, ITIM filed an emergency motion at the High Court of Justice asking the court to intervene when the women were told their exam was delayed due to “technical problems,” while the male candidates had already started.
A spokesperson for the Chief Rabbinate confirms to The Times of Israel that there are “technical problems,” but declines to elaborate further.
The court gave the Chief Rabbinate until 3 p.m. to respond, and at 2:45 p.m. the candidates were allowed to sit and start the exams.
This is the first time in Israel’s history that women have been able to take rabbinical tests given by the Chief Rabbinate. The development came after a landmark decision by the High Court in July.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during their meeting at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026. (AP/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin tells Iran’s top diplomat that Moscow will do everything it can to help secure peace in the Middle East, during a meeting in Saint Petersburg.
“For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests, the interests of all the people of the region, so that peace can be achieved as soon as possible,” Russian state media quotes Putin as telling Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Putin says Russia hopes the Iranian people will weather what he describes as a “difficult period” and that peace will prevail, the state-run RIA news agency reports.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar meets UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, April 27, 2026. (Shlomi Amsalem/GPO)
Hezbollah continues to violate the US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon and is exploiting the presence of UN peacekeeping forces, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who is visiting Israel in efforts to facilitate the truce.
These violations “undermine” Beirut’s interests, Sa’ar says in a readout from his office, adding that since the start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran last month, the Iran-backed terror group has launched approximately 10,000 missiles, rockets and drones at Israel.
He adds that many of these attacks were carried out near outposts of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, saying “Hezbollah systematically places its operatives and military assets in close proximity to UNIFIL positions and exploits UNIFIL’s presence for hostile activity.”
Sa’ar urges “action against these patterns of behavior,” including for the Lebanese government to target Hezbollah through economic measures.
A prominent Moroccan political figure has called a recent incident in which Jewish tourists were seen praying publicly outside a national landmark a “provocation.”
Last week, a video circulated of a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews praying outside Bab Doukkala, the main northwestern gate of the historic walled city of Marrakesh, Morocco. The scene, which went viral, shows several dozen Jews in black coats praying in the typical Jewish style in front of the wall, which has no known Jewish significance.
The group had a religious obligation to pray at that time, as the deadline for the prayers — which according to Jewish law must be conducted within a certain timeframe each day — was fast approaching, Jackie Kadouch, a representative of the local Jewish community, explained to reporters.
A day after the incident, dozens of protesters gathered at the site denouncing the prayers, including some carrying Palestinian flags and anti-Israel messages. The protest ended peacefully, with no immediate signs of clashes, local media said.
Yesterday, the country’s former prime minister and current secretary-general of the Justice and Development Party, Abdelilah Benkirane, said the public Jewish prayers were an affront to the feelings of Moroccans.
“The prayer itself is not the issue; the issue lies in the provocation, and we are against this provocation,” Benkirane charged in a video statement, saying it brought to mind prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, adjacent to the Temple Mount.
“It should not have been allowed, and the state should have made it clear that if they wished to pray, they were welcome to do so, but within their own places of worship,” he added.
Local authority heads in northern Israel hold a press conference in Moshav Shtula near the Israeli border with Lebanon, in light of the strained security situation in the area despite a ceasefire, April 27, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Northern community leaders announce that they will halt classes and impose independent security restrictions, defying Home Front Command guidelines, as Hezbollah attacks persist despite a ceasefire agreement.
Speaking at a press conference in the northern border community of Shtula, the officials say that starting tomorrow, studies will be suspended across all border communities for at least 24 hours, after which the decision will be reassessed. They also declare that fence-adjacent communities will be classified as “orange,” while others would be designated “yellow,” mirroring the Home Front Command model – but implemented independently and without state backing.
Under the military’s color-coded system introduced during the war, “yellow” zones allow in-person schooling and limited gatherings if shelters are accessible, while “orange” zones prohibit educational activities and restrict gatherings, even when protected spaces are available.
The move comes after Israel reimposed some restrictions in the north yesterday, including canceling a planned mass pilgrimage, amid continued Hezbollah attacks and Israeli strikes despite the truce. Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.
“We will not wait for a disaster before making life-saving decisions,” says Moshe Davidovich, head of the Forum of Front-Line Communities. “We will not abandon our children or gamble with their lives.”
Davidovich blasts the government’s classification of the area as “green” – which allows normal schooling – calling it “neglect” in light of ongoing threats.
“When the area is burning and UAVs are circling overhead, defining the region as ‘green’ is not policy – it is neglect,” he says. “We are taking responsibility for our children’s lives and moving the area to an ‘orange’ designation.”
Shlomi council head Gabi Naaman calls for decisive government action against Hezbollah, saying, “We find ourselves in a ceasefire, but the fire continues to flow into the fence-adjacent communities. This cannot go on.”
Images circulating online show children in northern communities taking cover in shelters during a Hezbollah drone attack this morning, which set off sirens in more than a dozen towns, and during a drone attack Sunday.
"הפסקת אש" בצפון: האזעקות בצהריים בשל חדירת שלושה כטבמים לגליל המערבי, תפסו תלמידים בבתי ספר בעיצומם של הלימודים. נותר להם לשכב ולשים ידיים על הראש. זו השיגרה כאן מאז שהוכרזה הפסקת האש בלבנון: ירי רקטות וכטבמים, פיצוצים, מטוסי קרב וכל מה שלא נופל תחת ההגדרה של הפסקת אש. pic.twitter.com/OGXYlfOh0n
— Rubi Hammerschlag | רובי המרשלג (@rubih67) April 26, 2026
Haredi revelers light a bonfire marking the Lag B'Omer holiday at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron on May 15, 2025. (Charlie Summers)
The Fire and Rescue Service has forbidden the lighting of bonfires, save for in approved areas, ahead of the Lag B’Omer holiday.
The order signed by Fire and Rescue chief Eyal Caspi takes effect this Sunday, two days before the Jewish holiday, which is often celebrated with large bonfires and outdoor activities. It lasts until June 30.
The ban is put in place for fear of wildfires during the dry summer season, after devastating blazes ravaged the Jerusalem hills in late April and early May last year.
Bonfires will be permitted in areas that have been pre-approved by local government, the Nature and Parks Authority or the Jewish National Fund.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks to the media at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 13, 2026. (AP/Markus Schreiber)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Iran’s leadership is humiliating the United States and getting US officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict.
Merz also says he does not see what exit strategy the US is pursuing in the Iran war — comments that underline deep divisions between Washington and its European NATO allies, which had already been festering over Ukraine and other issues.
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he says during a talk to students in the town of Marsberg.
“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible,” he adds.
Merz reiterates that Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the US and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28, and that he conveyed his skepticism directly to US President Donald Trump afterwards.
“If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz says, comparing it to previous US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Merz says it is evident the Strait of Hormuz has been at least partially mined. “We have offered, also as Europeans, to send German minesweepers to clear the strait, which has obviously been mined in part,” he says.
The sun rising behind a tanker anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (Asghar Besharati/AP)
Iran’s armed forces would be the authority responsible for the Strait of Hormuz under the country’s proposed law for managing the waterway, a top official says.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran’s parliament, tells state television that the armed forces are already in control of the strait and are seeking to prohibit the passage of “hostile vessels.”
Azizi also says the proposed law states that financial gains from the strait should be paid in the local rial currency.
Hezbollah launched an explosive-laden drone at troops stationed in southern Lebanon a short while ago.
The IDF says the drone exploded near the forces, but did not cause any injuries.
In another incident today, the military says it intercepted a Hezbollah drone that was launched at troops in southern Lebanon.
“These are further violations of the ceasefire understandings by the Hezbollah terror organization,” the army adds.
The terror group has made frequent use of small first-person view (FPV) drones in its attacks on Israeli troops. Some of the drones are guided using a spool of fiber-optic cable, which makes them immune to efforts to electronically jam their signal.
Officials including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the cornerstone laying ceremony for a new area of the West Bank settlement of Ariel, April 27, 2026. (Courtesy)
The cornerstone for a new neighborhood in the settlement city of Ariel is laid in a celebratory ceremony attended by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other senior cabinet ministers.
The new neighborhood constitutes the first part of plans to build some 12,000 housing units west of the city in the northern West Bank, and the expansion of the city from its current population of approximately 22,000 residents to 80,000, according to a statement by Ariel Mayor Yair Chetboun’s office.
Only 730 units of the planned 12,000 have, however, received planning permission so far.
“There is no more joyful noise than the noise of the bulldozers that are building Israel and destroying the idea of the Palestinian state,” says Smotrich at the ceremony.
“We are doing everything to build the Land of Israel and destroy the terrible idea of those who are trying to take over the region in order to harm the State of Israel,” he continues.
Chetboun praises Smotrich and other cabinet ministers for their collaboration in advancing the project.
“The finance minister builds houses, Aliyah and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer brings immigrants to settle here, and all of this is happening with the full support of Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz, who backs and supports the development and upgrade for the capital of Samaria [the northern West Bank],” says Chetboun.
At least seven ships — mainly dry bulk vessels — have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, in line with muted activity in recent days, shipping data shows, while talks between Iran and the United States have stalled.
The vessels included ships leaving from Iraqi ports and one dry bulk cargo vessel from an Iranian port, according to ship tracking data from Kpler and separate satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.
Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.
The US Central Command has redirected 37 vessels since a blockade was imposed on Iran on April 13, the military said on April 25.
Six Iranian tankers returned to Iranian ports and sailed back through Hormuz in recent days with some 10.5 million barrels of oil, according to satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.
Around four million barrels of Iranian oil onboard tankers sailed through the US blockade on April 24, according to separate satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.
A planned art exhibition in southwest London has been canceled following concerns over alleged antisemitic content raised by UK Lawyers for Israel.
The exhibition, “Drawings Against Genocide” by artist Matthew Collings, had been scheduled to run from May 16 to 24 at Delta House Gallery in Wandsworth. Reviews in British media called its antisemitic themes and imagery “grotesque,” and said it “was dripping with Jew-hate,” UKLFI said.
In a letter to the gallery’s owners, UKLFI warned that the works appeared to feature antisemitic imagery and narratives, including depictions that demonized Jews and Israelis, invoked conspiracy theories, and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
Such material could potentially breach provisions of the Public Order Act 1986 and expose the gallery to legal and reputational risks, UKLFI said.
Following the letter, the gallery said the exhibition would not proceed, stating the event had been arranged without the owners’ consultation.
“There is a real danger in normalizing antisemitic imagery and narratives in cultural spaces,” UKLFI said in a statement welcoming the decision. “When material that demonizes Jews or recycles classic antisemitic tropes is presented as legitimate artistic expression, it risks lowering the threshold for what is considered acceptable in public discourse.”
In Margate. My cheeks are red. I am shaking. I popped into an exhibition that turned out to be the insane fever dream of an artist called Matthew Collins: ‘Drawings Against Genocide.’ The exhibition is described as ‘drawings… raising consciousness about hell…. Israel is the… pic.twitter.com/CO8Ee8eYLG
The IDF says it has demolished 14 kilometers worth of Hamas tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip in recent months.
The tunnels were located on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line, especially in the Beit Hanoun area, according to the military.
Also in recent months, troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade — stationed in the Strip’s north — killed some 70 terror operatives who violated the ceasefire terms and posed a threat to the soldiers, the IDF adds.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun speaks during a press conference after the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun tells a delegation from villages in southern Lebanon that negotiating with Israel “is not betrayal,” as Beirut and Jerusalem continue talks aimed at reaching a settlement and potential peace deal.
“Betrayal is carried out by those who take their country to war to serve foreign interests,” he adds, in reference to Hezbollah.
His remarks are published shortly after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem issued a statement reiterating that the group would not give up its weapons and calling negotiations with Israel a “grave sin,” and asserting that some in Lebanon “reap gains at the expense of the destruction” of the country.
Aoun says: “How long will the people of the south continue to pay the price for the wars of others on our land? If the war were for Lebanon, we would support it — but when its purpose is to serve the interests of others, I reject the war entirely.”
The family of Yemanu Zelka speaks to the press outside the pizzeria where he worked, close to the site where numerous youths murdered him after his shift on Independence Day, in Petah Tikva, April 27, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)
Nearly a week after 21-year-old Yemanu Zelka was stabbed to death outside his workplace in Petah Tikva, the young man’s family speaks to reporters near the crime scene.
“On the day that all of the country was supposed rejoice, he went to work and didn’t come home,” says Geteso, the older brother of the deceased, in reference to the murder occurring on Independence Day.
“These criminals knew to wait for him outside, beat him… to carry out the stabbing at the right angle, leave him there bleeding to death and flee,” he continues.
Police so far have arrested eight minors, aged 12-17, on suspicion of involvement in the killing, which took place after Zelka asked a group of teens to stop spraying party foam in the pizzeria where he was working.
They left the restaurant, waited outside until Zelka finished his shift, and ambushed him once he left the building.
The attack was recorded by a security camera, which captured the gang of youths beating him, stabbing him and then running away as he lay bleeding.
“He was a truly good kid… you have no idea how much my brother helped the family, our mother, on a daily basis,” the older brother says in a shaky voice, adding that Zelka was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement and had served in the army.
Zelka’s sister, Yaros, tells the press that the youths who stabbed her younger brother are “extremely professional criminals,” adding that “their parents are also helping them.”
“This is something that should raise a lot of questions for us. God willing, we will bring them to justice — not just the kids but also the parents,” she continues.
Gadi Eisenkot attends a conference at the Academic College in Tel Aviv, January 6, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot calls on opposition leaders to convene, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who yesterday announced their joint “Together” slate. Bennett has publicly invited Eisenkot to join the alliance.
According to a statement from Yashar, Eisenkot is reaching out to all “Zionist” opposition parties, including Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan’s the Democrats, to hold a meeting aimed at securing what he describes as a “Zionist” majority in the next election.
Not included is Blue and White, led by Eisenkot’s former partner, Benny Gantz. Their deteriorating relationship led Eisenkot to exit as Gantz’s number two last year and form his Yashar party. Gantz has suggested he could join a Netanyahu-led government and has resisted attempts to categorize him as part of the opposition bloc.
Also excluded were the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am parties. Several opposition leaders have said they will not sit in a government with an Arab party after the October 7, 2023, attacks. Announcing their new slate yesterday, Bennett said “Together” would seek to form a coalition relying only on Zionist parties rather than partnering again with Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am, which joined the Bennett-Lapid government in 2021.
However, it remains unclear, even after the Bennett-Lapid merger, how the opposition can assemble a 61-seat majority without support from Arab parties.
Israel’s Energy and Infrastructure Ministry is advancing a plan to increase competition in the residential gas market and lower the cost for consumers by removing bureaucratic barriers and increasing transparency to expose large price gaps between suppliers.
The goal is to enable consumers to easily compare prices of suppliers of residential gas used for cooking and heating, strengthen consumer bargaining power, and reduce household costs, the Energy Ministry says.
The Energy Ministry found that the gap between the average bimonthly bill in the 12 largest cities exceeds 100 percent, with the highest average bill amounting to NIS 130 ($43.56) and the lowest around NIS 63 ($21).
As part of the regulatory steps advanced by the ministry, logistical barriers will be removed to make switching between suppliers easier and faster; a monthly index will be published to expose price gaps between companies from the cheapest to the most expensive ones across 12 major cities; and a public awareness campaign will be launched.
In addition, consumers will be able to use a residential gas price comparison calculator between cities and gas companies, available on the Energy Ministry’s website. Furthermore, the selection of a gas supplier for new residential buildings will be made subject to a competitive tender process among at least six suppliers. The Energy Ministry expects to advance the passage of the regulatory steps of the plan in the coming three months.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host representatives from the Bank of England tomorrow at a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee focused on the impact of the war in Iran.
“Tomorrow I’m chairing a meeting of Cobra on the impact [of the war], bringing in people from the Bank of England, so that you can be sure we will stand by working people in this crisis,” Starmer says in a speech to trade union members.
“I have to level with you about Iran, because the truth is, the economic consequences could still be with us for some time,” he adds, citing fuel as one example of where prices have risen already.
President Isaac Herzog has landed in Astana on an official visit at the invitation of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, touting the “longstanding partnership” between Israel and Kazakhstan.
In a statement posted on X, Herzog describes Kazakhstan as “a country of global importance” and emphasizes the “growing ties” between the two nations, pointing to expanding cooperation across economic, scientific and technological fields.
He also highlights Kazakhstan’s decision to join the Abraham Accords last year, saying it reflects “the spirit of cooperation between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.”
Kazakhstan has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, making the decision to join the accords a largely symbolic move.
During the visit, Herzog is set to meet Tokayev and other senior officials, as well as members of the local Jewish community, as part of efforts to deepen bilateral ties.
I have just arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan for an official visit at the invitation of my friend President @TokayevKZ.
Kazakhstan is a country of global importance whose exceptional landscapes, culture and beauty I have always admired.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the EU Summit in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says it is too early to drop sanctions imposed on Iran.
“We think the dropping of sanctions would be too early,” she says in Berlin at a meeting of the conservative CDU and its CSU Bavarian sister party, adding that the sanctions are in place due to Iran’s suppression of its own population.
“We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions,” von der Leyen adds.
Three women registered to take a rabbinical exam administered by the Chief Rabbinate today have so far not been able to start their test, while the male candidates have, according to the religious rights group ITIM, which announces it will soon file an emergency motion at the High Court of Justice to stop the men’s exams.
A spokesperson for the Chief Rabbinate confirms to The Times of Israel that there are “technical problems,” but declines to elaborate further at this stage.
The female candidates received last-minute instructions changing the location of their test, which was supposed to start at 10:30 this morning.
The men are taking the test at the Jerusalem Convention Center, the usual venue where the Rabbinate’s exams are administered, while the registered women were asked to be at the Religious Services Ministry, also in Jerusalem. By 11:50 a.m., the men had begun the test but the women had not.
This exam session marks the first time women have been allowed to register for the test, following a landmark High Court ruling last July. The three candidates are the first women ever to try for the exam.
“The rabbinate is showing immense disrespect to the women and to the court,” ITIM Director Rabbi Seth Farber says in a statement. “After being forced to allow women to take these tests, the Rabbinate is attempting to circumvent the High Court of Justice ruling through bureaucratic obstruction, demonstrating a clear attempt at unequal treatment.”
Three Hezbollah operatives who were identified near troops stationed in southern Lebanon yesterday were killed in airstrikes, the military says.
The IDF says forces of the 98th Division spotted the three operatives near the military’s “forward defense line.” A short while later, the Israeli Air Force “struck and eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat.”
Additionally, the military says it struck several buildings used by Hezbollah, including one that served as the terror group’s “headquarters in the Bint Jbeil sector.”
“Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of weapons in the structures,” the army says.
כוחות צה"ל ממשיכים להשמיד תשתיות טרור ולחסל מחבלי חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון
אתמול, כוחות אוגדה 98 זיהו שלושה מחבלים סמוך לקו ההגנה הקדמי במרחב בו פועלים כוחות צה"ל, באופן שהיווה איום ממשי. מיד לאחר הזיהוי ובסגירת מעגל מהירה, חיל האוויר תקף וחיסל את המחבלים להסרת האיום.
An explosive-laden drone was launched by Hezbollah at troops of the Golani Brigade who are stationed in southern Lebanon yesterday.
The IDF says the drone was successfully intercepted.
The terror group has made frequent use of small first-person view (FPV) drones in its attacks on Israeli troops. Some of the drones are guided using a spool of fiber optic cable, which mitigates efforts to electronically jam their signal.
Displaced residents wave a flag with the image of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem as they return to their villages following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, in Zefta, southern Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejects Lebanon’s planned direct talks with Israel, calling them a “grave sin” that will destabilize Lebanon.
“We categorically reject direct negotiations with Israel, and those in power should know that their actions will not benefit Lebanon or themselves,” Qassem says in a statement, calling on authorities to “back down from their grave sin that is putting Lebanon in a spiral of instability.
“These direct negotiations and their outcomes are as if they do not exist for us, and they do not concern us in the slightest,” he adds, saying “we will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people.”
He says: “There are those who advocate surrender. They reap gains at the expense of the destruction of their brothers and families in Lebanon and the occupation of parts of Lebanon.”
However, he cautions, “No matter how much the enemy threatens, we will not back down, we will not bow down, and we will not be defeated.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a state Memorial Day ceremony commemorating fallen soldiers, at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. (Ilia Yefimovich/Pool Photo via AP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a security meeting regarding alleged Hezbollah ceasefire violations in the north, and this is the reason his testimony in his criminal trial was canceled this morning, according to multiple reports.
Kan, Walla news and other outlets report consultations are taking place over Hezbollah’s repeated attacks on Israel’s troops and territory amid the truce.
Israel has carried out numerous attacks on the terror group since the ceasefire began, citing truce violations. Hezbollah has also cited violations in justifying its own attacks.
This morning, a suspected Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon triggered sirens in the Western Galilee, with the IDF saying it lost contact with the “suspicious aerial target,” indicating it likely crashed.
File: US President Donald Trump gestures next to Britain's King Charles III before leaving Windsor Castle, Windsor, England, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in the United States later today for a four-day trip, a tour which has taken on even greater prominence after the White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting and amid acrimony between the close allies.
The state visit, by far the most high-profile and consequential of Charles’s reign, marks the 250th anniversary of the US declaration of independence from British rule, and is the first to the country by a British monarch in two decades.
It begins with a private meeting with self-proclaimed royal fan President Donald Trump, and includes an address to Congress and a lavish dinner at the White House.
But the long-planned trip has become enmeshed in the political spat between the two countries over the US-Israeli war on Iran, which led Trump to voice deep displeasure with the British government for failing to support the offensive.
The shooting on Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, with the president and officials in his administration the likely targets according to the US acting attorney general, has cast a further pall over the visit.
Buckingham Palace said the trip would still go ahead as planned following discussions between British and US authorities.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blames the United States for the failure of peace talks in Pakistan, after arriving in Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
“The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands,” Araghchi is quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
He also says that “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is an important global issue,” as the US and Iran continue their rival blockades in the waterway.
British police say they have arrested a 37-year-old man in relation to a series of attacks on Jewish-linked premises in north west London.
Over the last month, counter terrorism officers have arrested a total of 26 people as part of investigations into arson and other attacks on Jewish-linked property.
“He was arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and has been taken to a London police station for questioning,” the police say in a statement.
The sun rising behind a tanker anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (Asghar Besharati/AP)
Oil prices are up more than 1% today as peace talks between the US and Iran stall while shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain limited, keeping global oil supplies tight.
Brent crude futures rose $1.35, or 1.3%, to $106.68 a barrel by 0453 GMT, retreating from early session gains of over $2 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate is at $95.35 a barrel, up 95 cents, or 1%.
Last week, Brent and WTI gained nearly 17% and 13%, respectively, the biggest weekly gains since the start of the war.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts receded during the weekend when US President Donald Trump scrapped a planned trip to Islamabad by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“President Trump’s recent post on Truth Social, urging to shoot and kill any Iranian boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, alongside his claims of having full control over Hormuz, has continued to fuel elevated war premiums,” says Priyanka Sachdeva, analyst at Phillip Nova.
A suspected Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon triggered sirens in the Western Galilee a short while ago.
The IDF says it lost contact with the “suspicious aerial target,” indicating it crashed somewhere.
A siren that sounded in the town of Arab al-Aramshe, warning of rocket fire, was activated due to fears of falling fragments following attempts to intercept the drone, according to he military.
Additional sirens warning of a drone attack in the Western Galilee that were activated several minutes later were false alarms, the IDF adds.
Shortly before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony was set to renew today in his criminal trial, after a two-month hiatus due to the Iran war, it has now been canceled, according to Hebrew media reports.
The reports cite security concerns submitted by Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad.
Discussions on bilateral ties and regional issues, including the Iran-US conflict, will be held with Russian officials during a visit to St Petersburg, Iran’s foreign minister says, marking the final leg of a regional tour that also took him to Pakistan and Oman, Iranian state media reports.
Abbas Araghchi says recent consultations in Pakistan reviewed conditions under which Iran-US talks could resume, stressing that Tehran will seek to secure its rights and national interests following weeks of conflict.
He also says Iran and Oman, as coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz, have agreed to continue expert-level consultations to ensure safe transit and protect shared interests in the waterway.
Four soldiers were injured, including one seriously, after a Humvee overturned at a military base in southern Israel yesterday, the military announces.
The IDF describes the incident is an “operational accident.”
One soldier was seriously wounded, one was moderately injured, and two more troops were lightly hurt.
The injured soldiers have been taken to hospital to receive treatment, and their families have been updated, the army says.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in Muscat, Oman, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Saint Petersburg, state media reports.
“He arrived early on Monday morning with the aim of meeting and holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Iranian state news agency IRNA posts on Telegram.
Moscow’s TASS news agency has confirmed that Putin plans to meet Araghchi, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Iran has proposed a deal with the United States to reach an agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war, while delaying negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program to a later stage, Axios reports, citing an unnamed US official and two sources with knowledge of the details.
The offer, reportedly conveyed via Pakistani mediators, comes amid deadlocked talks and as Iran’s leadership fails to present a united stance on the nuclear concessions it is willing to make.
Any deal over Hormuz would leave US President Donald Trump without much leverage to extract such concessions. The report says Trump will hold a situation room about the talks on Monday, citing three unnamed US officials.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather at the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mount Meron during the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer, which marks the anniversary of the death of the Talmudic sage in Meron, northern Israel on May 15, 2025. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the cancellation of this year’s main Lag B’Omer event on Mount Meron in northern Israel, typically attended by hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men, citing safety concerns amid the shaky ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A letter signed by Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and sent out by the premier’s office says the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai — honoring the 2nd-century Mishnaic sage — will be held this year with limited, symbolic attendance, with the exact details to be determined later.
The reason, the letter says, is “fear of a mass-casualty event due to the fragility of the ceasefire with Lebanon, the proximity of the site to the Lebanon border, the launching of rockets to the area, and difficulties in the timely large-scale evacuation of the participants.”
Lag B’Omer will be marked this year on the evening of Monday, May 4, and on the following day.
Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) goes for the ball as San Antonio Spurs center/forward Luke Kornet (7) looks on during the first half in Game 4 of a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series in Portland, Oregon, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Deni Avdija’s Portland Trail Blazers lose 93-114 to the San Antonio Spurs after losing a 19-point lead, with Victor Wembanyama’s side taking a 3-1 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series — just one victory away from winning the series.
Wembanyama had 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks in his return from a concussion. De’Aaron Fox added 28 points for the Spurs, who will return home for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 26 points. There was tense moment with 2:13 left when Avdija and Stephon Castle exchanged shoves. They were given offsetting technical fouls.
Portland went ahead 45-28 in the first half on an 18-3 run. Robert Williams III dunked before a pair of quick 3-pointers from Jerami Grant and Scoot Henderson. Avdija capped the run with a fadeaway jumper.
The Blazers led by as many as 19 in the half and were ahead 58-41 at the break.
The Spurs went on a 13-0 run to open the second half, and the game was knotted at 74 going into the fourth quarter. Fox and Keldon Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Spurs up 90-77 with 7:14 left.
Johnson’s dunk with 4:31 remaining made it 101-81 for San Antonio and all but sealed the win.
Former US president Barack Obama calls on Americans to reject violence following an attack at a press gala dinner attended by US President Donald Trump.
“Although we don’t yet have the details about the motives behind last night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, it’s incumbent upon all [of] us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy,” Obama writes on X, adding praise for law enforcement officers who scrambled to protect Trump.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
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