April 7: As Netanyahu ends US visit, Trump noncommittal on reducing new tariffs for Israel
US president says military campaign against Houthis ‘very successful,’ believes he can mediate between Israel and Turkey in Syria
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
Microsoft workers say they’ve been fired after protest over Israel contract
Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.
Microsoft accused one of the workers in a termination letter Monday of misconduct “designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.” Microsoft says the other worker had already announced her resignation, but on Monday it ordered her to leave five days early.
The protests began Friday when Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad walked up toward a stage where an executive was announcing new product features and a long-term vision for Microsoft’s AI ambitions.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” Aboussad shouted at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
The protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk while it was being livestreamed from Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants at the 50th anniversary of Microsoft’s founding were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Netanyahu to depart US for Israel Tuesday after disappointing visit
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to take off from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC for Israel tomorrow at 12 p.m., his office says.
He will be returning after what is seen as a disappointing visit to the White House, during which US President Donald Trump refused to commit to removing tariffs on Israeli imports, and announced direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
Iran denies Trump’s claim sides to hold direct nuclear talks, says Oman will mediate
After US President Trump made a surprise announcement that the United States and Iran are poised to begin direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, a senior Iranian official says any negotiations will be indirect, with Oman acting as intermediary.
In a further sign of the difficult path ahead to any deal between the two geopolitical foes, Trump issued a stark warning that if the talks are unsuccessful, “Iran is going to be in great danger.”
Iran had pushed back against Trump’s demands in recent weeks that it directly negotiate over its nuclear program or be bombed, and it appears to be sticking to that position, saying it agreed only to mediated talks, likely to be held in Oman.
Trump said today that the sides would hold direct talks Saturday “at almost the highest level.”
A senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, tells Reuters: “The talks will not be direct … It will be with Oman’s mediation.” Oman, which maintains good relations with both the US and Iran, has been a longtime channel for messages between the rival states.
Iran’s Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, describes Trump’s statement about a planned direct meeting as part of a “psychological operation aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion.”
Netanyahu meets with US Vice President JD Vance
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting US Vice President JD Vance at Blair House, Netanyahu’s office says.
The meeting comes after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would be talking with Iran this weekend directly.
Trump noncommittal on reducing newly announced tariffs for Israel
In response to a question about whether he plans to reduce the 17% tariffs he imposed on Israel, US President Donald Trump declined to commit to removing them.
“Well, we’re talking about a whole new trade — maybe not,” he said. “Maybe not.”
“Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot,” Trump said, as Netanyahu listened beside him to the implied criticism. “We give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot.”
“We give Israel billions of dollars a year. Billions. It’s one of the highest of anyone. We give a lot of countries money, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“We take good care of our friends, and we don’t take care of our enemies,” he said.
Trump: Campaign against Houthis ‘very successful’; Hegseth: It’s about to get worse for them
More from US President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu:
Trump said the United States military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen has been “very successful militarily.”
“We’ve really damaged them,” he said, adding that “it’s every night, night after night, and we’ve gotten many of their leaders and their experts.”
“It’s been a bad three weeks for the Houthis,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added, “and it’s about to get worse.”
He said the US has destroyed underground facilities, weapons manufacturing sites, bunkers, troops and air defense assets.
“We are not going to relent,” said Hegseth, “and it’s only going to be more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships.”
He added that the US has been “very clear” to the Iranians that they must stop providing support for the Houthis.
First conference held in Israel on helping Arab communities adapt to climate change
Around 100 people from the Environmental Protection Ministry, local authorities, academia, and civil society took part in the first conference of its kind on adaptation to climate change in Israel’s Arab sector.
The confab, held in the northern city of Shfaram, was organized by the Open University’s Environment and Sustainability Research Center.
The center presented research carried out in three authorities with different characteristics and challenges — Shfaram and Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel and the Bedouin city of Rahat in the south.
The studies find that the coronavirus pandemic ushered in local volunteer networks and community initiatives and resulted in tools for better communication between authorities and residents.
They state that local officials are aware of fires, floods, and other consequences of climate change and have prepared plans to deal with them.
But they reveal gaps between planning and implementation, community involvement that is still far too low, and insufficient budgets to implement necessary changes.
The studies’ recommendations include translating climate crisis management plans into operational ones, clarifying the division of powers between local and central government, especially regarding emergency events, educating and empowering the community, creating neighborhood committees and skilled neighborhood rescue and rescue teams, and increasing budgets to train employees and volunteers in emergency management.
Umm al-Fahm Mayor Samir Subhu Mahamid says climate awareness is too low in Arab society, adding, “Everything starts with education.”
Israel has 85 Arab local authorities, of which 90% belong to the lowest four socioeconomic categories. They face planning, financial, political and social problems, and high levels of violence and crime.
2 Microsoft workers say they’ve been fired after protest over Israel contract
Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The protests began Friday when Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad walked up to a stage where an executive was announcing new product features and a long-term vision for Microsoft’s AI ambitions.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” Aboussad shouted at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
The protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk, which was livestreamed from Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants at the 50th anniversary of Microsoft’s founding were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
“Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” Suleyman said. Aboussad continued, shouting that Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands. She also threw onto the stage a keffiyeh scarf before being escorted out of the event.
A second protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted a later part of the event.
Aboussad was invited today to a video call with a human resources representative at which she was told she was being terminated immediately. Agrawal was notified over email, according to the advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid, which has protested the sale of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to Israel.
Trump says he can mediate between Israel and Turkey, has a great relationship with Erdogan
US President Donald Trump says he can mediate between Israel and Turkey, who appear poised to clash over influence in Syria.
Trump says he has a great relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he likes very much and calls “very smart.”
Trump says he congratulated Erdogan on doing “what nobody has done in 2,000 years, taking over Syria” referring to the successful overthrow of the Assad regime by Islamic rebels, whom Trump called a Turkish proxy.
Trump tells Netanyahu, who has a bitter relationship with Erdogan, that he can mediate.
“Any problem that you have with Turkey, I think we can solve, as long as you are reasonable, you have to be reasonable,” he tells Netanyahu.
Israel has carried out a campaign to destroy Syrian military capabilities so that they cannot threaten Israel, and fears that if Turkey establishes a military presence in Syria it could hamper the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action in the region.
Netanyahu says other countries want to take Gazans in; Trump calls Gaza ‘a death trap’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again lauds US President Donald Trump’s plan to evacuate Gazans while the enclave is reconstructed.
Netanyahu says Gazans are being “locked” in the Strip and not allowed to leave, while it is a conflict zone. “We didn’t lock them in.”
“We are not holding them in,” he says.
He compares it to other conflicts like Ukraine and Syria, where people were allowed to flee the fighting.
Netanyahu says there are positive talks with other countries that want to take in Gazans. He declines to name them.
Trump says it’s so important that Gaza is a “safe field” for Palestinian residents.
People like the vision he set out in his Gaza plan, Trump says, but “there are other concepts too.”
“Gaza should never have been given away by Israel, I don’t know why they did it,” Trump says referring to Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the Strip.
“I do know, because they were promised peace, but that did not work out,” Trump says. “Gaza is a dangerous death trap.”
Netanyahu says Israel working on new Gaza hostage deal; Trump praises his efforts, says Israelis want the hostages out ‘more than anything’
Speaking to reporters after meeting with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel is working on a new deal for a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza “that we hope will succeed.”
Netanyahu says that they’re committed to getting all of the hostages released and eliminating Hamas from Gaza.
“We’re working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we’re committed to getting all the hostages out,” Netanyahu tells reporters in the Oval Office.
Netanyahu adds that “the hostages are in agony, and we want to get them all out.”
He says he also spoke to Trump about the US president’s plan to move displaced Palestinians from Gaza while it’s redeveloped, which Netanyahu calls a “bold” vision.
Trump says the Gaza war will stop in the not-too-distant future. “I’d like to see the war stop, and I think the war will stop at some point that won’t be in the too distant future. Right now, we have a problem with hostages. We’re trying to get the hostages out…. It’s a long process. It shouldn’t be that long.”
Trump says Netanyahu is working very hard to release the hostages, and he hopes Israelis appreciate his efforts.
Says Trump: “We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We are looking at another ceasefire; we’ll see what happens. We want to get the hostages out.”
He says “the Israeli people want the hostages out. More than anything, they want the hostages out. This man is working very hard with us to do that. I don’t know, I hope he’s being appreciated because he’s been a great leader. He’s working very, very hard on the hostages and many other things… It’s a tough place in the world.”
Netanyahu interjects: “I have a good partner.”
Says Trump: “You do have a good partner, and so do we.”
Netanyahu: If Iran nukes can be fully stopped diplomatically, ‘that would be a good thing’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking moments before Trump revealed that the US is holding direct talks with Iran on its rogue nuclear program, indicated his wary support for the move.
“We’re both united in the goal that Iran does not get nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said, sitting alongside the president in the Oval Office. “If it can be done diplomatically, in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”
“But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu stressed.
Trump says US is holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program, ‘at almost the highest level’
US President Donald Trump reveals that the US is holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump says the talks have started and will continue on Saturday.
“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump tells reporters, with Netanyahu at his side.
הרגע בו הנשיא טראמפ בישר על המו"מ הישיר לדבריו עם איראן. pic.twitter.com/E2hxiNrf9V
— נדב איל Nadav Eyal (@Nadav_Eyal) April 8, 2025
Trump says he hopes to reach a deal because the alternative is not something he wants to be involved in.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. The obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” he says, evidently referring to military intervention to tackle the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. “So we’ll see if we can avoid it… It’s getting to be very dangerous territory.”
He says he hopes the talks will be successful, and that it is in “Iran’s best interest” that they are.
“Maybe a deal’s going to be made; that would be great. It would be really great for Iran… We are meeting very importantly on Saturday, at almost the highest level,” he says.
Asked how a deal he negotiates with Iran would be different from the 2015 JCPOA from which he withdrew in his first term, Trump says: “It’ll be different and maybe a lot stronger.”
Trump says he cannot disclose where the Iran talks are being held, and he acknowledges that the talks might not be successful.
Asked whether the US would take military action to destroy the Iranian nuclear program if the talks are not successful, Trump says that “Iran will be in great danger” if the talks fail. “I hate to say it. Great danger… It’s not a complicated formula… Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon…. If the talks aren’t successful…, it’ll be a very bad day for Iran.”
Ex-Shin Bet chief files declaration to High Court on illegitimate Netanyahu efforts to use security agency
Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen files a declaration to the High Court of Justice detailing what he said were two attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have him use his powers within the domestic security agency for illegitimate purposes.
The filing is submitted to the High Court by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, as supporting evidence for its petition against the controversial decision by Netanyahu and the government to fire current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
Cohen, who served as head of the Shin Bet from 2011 to 2016, says that, in 2013, Netanyahu asked him to use intelligence tools to monitor anyone who was party to knowledge of an impending Israeli operation in a hostile country until the operation was completed.
Cohen says he declined, telling Netanyahu it was inappropriate for the Shin Bet to use tools designed for spying missions and to prevent terror attacks against “hundreds” of members of Israel’s intelligence agencies, including their heads.
In a separate incident in 2014, Cohen says that Netanyahu asked him to remove the security clearance for then-cabinet minister Naftali Bennett, due to what he said was an unspecified “loyalty problem” while Bennett was serving in the army.
Cohen says in his declaration that he told the prime minister he would not comply, upon which Netanyahu told him to drop the issue. Cohen says the allegation against Bennett was anyway unfounded.
Meeting Trump, Netanyahu vows to ‘eliminate’ US-Israel trade deficit
Meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will eliminate all trade barriers with the US.
“We will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States,” Netanyahu says also vowing to remove “all trade barriers.”
“Israel can serve as a model for other countries that strive to do the same,” Netanyahu says.
Netanyahu says he sympathizes with Trump’s position on tariffs and says he is a free trade advocate, but “free trade has to be fair trade.”
Later in their Oval Office press briefing, Trump says countries would not have been willing to negotiate on tariffs with the US if he hadn’t taken the steps he took in recent days.
Even Netanyahu, Trump says, “started off our conversation today” by saying that “he’s cutting off all of the tariffs, everything. He’s going to get down to a free base.”
Netanyahu and Trump hold private meeting ahead of joint statements
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are currently in a private meeting currently, Netanyahu’s office says.
The joint statements are expected to begin shortly.
Footage earlier showed Netanyahu meeting top US officials in the White House, including US Vice President JD Vance, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Netanyahu was accompanied by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
Netanyahu said lobbying US against selling F-35 to Turkey
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been lobbying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against selling F-35 multirole fighter jets to Turkey, the UK-based Middle East Eye reports, citing two senior Western officials and a third official.
Netanyahu raised the issue in calls with Rubio over the last two months, reports the left-wing outlet.
In March, Fox News reported that US President Donald Trump was open to including Turkey in the F-35 program if the two sides could come to agreement on rendering Turkey’s Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft batteries inoperable.
Lebanon state media says two killed in Israeli strike on south
Lebanese state media says an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s south killed two people, hours after the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah leader in an earlier strike.
“Two Syrians were killed on a motorcycle and one citizen was injured in an enemy strike on the Dardara road,” in Lebanon’s southern Marjayoun district, the official National News Agency says.
High Court hearing on firing Shin Bet chief to be broadcast live
The High Court of Justice will hear petitions against the government’s controversial decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Tuesday morning, with the proceedings set to be broadcast live from the courtroom.
The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and will be broadcast on the Supreme Court’s website and the Judicial Authority’s YouTube channel.
Four opposition parties and four government watchdog groups filed petitions against Bar’s dismissal, arguing that since the Shin Bet is one of the agencies investigating the Qatargate affair involving alleged wrongdoing by Netanyahu’s aides, the decision to fire Bar was tainted by a conflict of interest and by ulterior, political motives.
The government argues that since Netanyahu is not a suspect in the case, there is no conflict of interest, and that the court cannot force the government to work with a security chief in whom it has no faith.
Attorneys for each petitioner will get a maximum of 15 minutes each to plead their case, and the attorney general, who opposed Bar’s dismissal, will get 45 minutes.
The government’s attorney will then get 75 minutes to rebut those arguments, after which the petitioners’ attorneys will get another five minutes each to respond.
French, Egyptian, Jordanian leaders urge Trump to urgently secure Gaza ceasefire
In their joint phone call with US President Donald Trump, the leaders of Egypt France, and Jordan discuss “ways to urgently secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” and stress the need to resume full delivery of humanitarian aid and “the release of all the hostages and detainees,” according to the French readout.
From their summit in Cairo, French President Emmanuel Macron, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah “emphasize the need to create conducive conditions for a genuine political horizon and mobilize international efforts to end the suffering of the Palestinian people, restore security and peace for all, and implement the two-state solution.”
The three also express their “willingness to accelerate peace for Ukraine, consistent with international law, and the common need for international security and stability,” says France.
Thousands protest in Tel Aviv for hostage deal, against government
Thousands of people are protesting in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump in Washington.
The demonstrators are calling on the government to reach a deal to bring home all the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“How can you sleep at night when you are abandoning them?” asks former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky.
“The State of Israel has to put forward an initiative on the table to return all the hostages in one go, not in stages, not in groups,” she says. “We want everybody now.”
Protesters are also demonstrating against Netanyahu and his government.
Settlers said to attack Palestinians in southern Hebron hills, 5 injured
Palestinians say that settlers attacked Palestinians in the village of Umm al-Khair in the southern West Bank.
A Palestinian source living in the area tells The Times of Israel that after settlers set up a caravan near the village and attempted to breach a fence attached to the village, a confrontation broke out between the settlers and Palestinians.
Subsequently, dozens of masked individuals arrived and attacked Palestinians with clubs. According to the source, five Palestinians were injured, including a 14-year-old boy. They were all transferred to a hospital.
Videos on social media showing police and military forces at the scene, though it is unclear whether they were present during or after the attack.
Police said that there was friction between Palestinians and settlers regarding an illegal fence in the area.
The IDF and Border Police arrived at the scene and separated the forces, police said, adding that one Palestinian was evacuated by the Red Crescent.
There are no arrests in the incident.
بحراسة قوات الاحتلال.. مستوطنون يعتدون على الفلسطينيين في خربة أم الخير بمسافر يطا، جنوب الخليل. pic.twitter.com/ROAtHSGzM1
— وكالة سند للأنباء – Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) April 7, 2025
Netanyahu and Trump in lunch meeting ahead of statements to press
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are at lunch currently.
They are slated to give statements to the press at 2:30 p.m., local time.
In Cairo, Macron organized call to Trump with Egypt, Jordan leaders: France
French President Emmanuel Macron, on a visit to Cairo, set up a call about Gaza with US President Donald Trump, his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the French presidency says.
“On the initiative of the president of the Republic, a call was organized today with President Trump” and the other leaders “to discuss the situation in Gaza,” the Elysee palace says.
The call came hours before Trump was due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
Netanyahu arrives at White House, is greeted by Trump
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House for his meeting with US President Donald Trump.
The president welcomes him with a firm handshake.
They are expected to give statements to the press shortly from the Oval Office.
Trump ignores shouted questions from reporters about the tumbling global markets and whether he would lift tariffs on Israel.
President @realDonaldTrump greets Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House 🇺🇸🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/q4uIxyHScG
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) April 7, 2025
White House says Trump-Netanyahu press conference has been canceled
The scheduled press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump has been cancelled, according to a White House official.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms this to The Times of Israel.
The press conference was set to take place after their meeting. Joint statements are still expected in the Oval Office.
The White House did not offer any immediate explanation for why the news conference was canceled.
Netanyahu-Trump meeting delayed by 30 minutes
The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump is delayed a half-hour, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
A military honor guard holding flags of America’s 50 states awaits Netanyahu’s arrival outside in a cold drizzle.
IDF says troops opened fire on Gaza medics out of ‘sense of threat,’ 6 identified as Hamas operatives
The military’s probe into the killing of 15 rescue workers in southern Gaza’s Rafah on March 23 was presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir today by the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor.
In a statement, the IDF says that Zamir ordered the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents during the war, to “deepen and complete” the probe in the coming days and present it to him.
“The IDF is investigating the incident, which took place in a combat zone, in order to reach the truth,” the military says.
“The initial investigation revealed that the force opened fire due to a sense of threat following a previous exchange of fire in the area. Also, six Hamas terrorists were identified among those killed in the incident,” the IDF says.
“All of the claims relating to the incident will be examined through the mechanism and will be presented in a detailed and thorough manner, for the purpose of deciding on how this incident is handled,” the military adds.
Houthis claim drone attack on Israel
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for launching a drone at Israel this evening, claiming to have had their sights on a “military target” in the Tel Aviv area.
According to the IDF, the drone was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force before crossing the border into Israel.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched at least 10 ballistic missiles and two drones at Israel.
The Houthis also claim to have targeted two US destroyers in the Red Sea with several missiles and drones.
Netanyahu said planning to focus on Iran in Trump meet, will present his version of ‘what a good Iran deal should look like’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will focus on Iran during his imminent meeting with US Prime Minister Donald Trump, senior Israeli officials traveling with the Israeli leader tell Hebrew media.
Netanyahu will present to Trump his version of “what a good Iran deal should look like,” an official tells Walla, adding that “Netanyahu supports a deal that would lead to the complete dismantlement of the Iranian nuclear program, like what happened in Libya.”
Officials tell Channel 12 that Netanyahu wants to focus on Iran in the talks and not necessarily on Trump’s tariffs, which were presented as the main reason for the meeting.
The official also downplays reports of progress on a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Air Force intercepts drone likely launched by Houthis in Yemen
A drone launched at Israel “from the east” was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force earlier this evening, the military says.
According to the IDF, the drone was shot down before crossing into Israel, and therefore no sirens sounded, “according to protocol.”
The drone was likely launched from Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Mother of hostage soldier Matan Angrest says he will be disabled for life
Anat Angrest, mother of Matan Angrest, 22, a soldier who was taken captive by Hamas from a burning IDF tank at the Nahal Oz military base during the battle on October 7, 2023, speaks at The Hostages Families Forum press conference on World Health Day.
“Matan’s face is not symmetric anymore,” she says. “His hand that was badly injured wasn’t treated, and we know it doesn’t function anymore.”
“He will be disabled his whole life,” she says.
She says that some of the hostages who were released in the past few months saw Matan in Gaza and said that “he is starving and being held in a little cage in the dark. He doesn’t see the daylight. He is exposed to torture and violence and never sees the Red Cross.”
She says she has a “special connection” with Matan, the oldest of her four children. “I felt him on October,” she says. “At 6:30 in the morning, I woke up and wrote him, and he said ‘Don’t worry, Mother, everything is okay.'”
“His life is in danger,” Angrest says. “If he doesn’t come out now, we might not be able to get him out alive.”
Leading Palestinian-American businessman aided Hamas with development projects, Oct. 7 victims’ lawsuit claims
A US lawsuit filed by victims of the October 7 attacks claims a prominent Palestinian-American businessman, Bashar Masri, aided Hamas through business projects in the Gaza Strip.
The lawsuit argues that Hamas deceived Israel ahead of the October 7 invasion by feigning an interest in developing Gaza, and that Masri and his companies were “an integral part of that grand deception.”
“They owned and operated flagship properties in Gaza that they knowingly and deliberately integrated into Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure and that were crucial elements in Hamas’s attack plan on October 7,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs are around 200 American victims of the October 7 attack and their family members, including the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US.
The lawsuit does not say that Masri knew about the attack, but that he knew Hamas used his properties for military purposes.
The case claims that Masri held longtime animosity toward Israel, but sought to remake himself as a businessperson after moving to the US and investing in development projects in Palestinian areas. He continued “conspiring with Hamas” to build infrastructure used in the October 7 attack and provided cover for Hamas’s “true violent aims,” the lawsuit says.
Some of Masri’s development projects appeared to be legitimate, but were also used to build and hide Hamas tunnels, store rockets, host Hamas leaders, train Hamas operatives, and produce electricity for Hamas tunnels, the case says.
The lawsuit focuses on the Gaza Industrial Estate, a 480,000 square meter industrial park across the border from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities in the October 7 attack. The park was financed by USAID, the UN, the EU, and others. Masri coordinated the park’s development with Hamas, and the terror group built tunnels under the park, used the facility to probe the border fence, and siphoned its electricity for tunnels, the lawsuit alleges.
Masri also oversaw two luxury hotels in Gaza that Hamas, including its late terror chief Yahya Sinwar, used to host Hamas events. Hamas tunnels ran underneath the hotels, and were connected to them. The terror group used the hotels as a base of operations and to ambush IDF troops, the lawsuit says.
Masri used his image to solicit investments from US institutions, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union.
Masri’s office denied the allegations in a statement.
“Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy,” the statement said.
“Bashar Masri has been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades. His continued efforts to promote regional peace and stability have been widely recognized by the United States and all concerned parties in the region. He unequivocally opposes violence of any kind,” the statement said, adding that “He will seek the dismissal of these false allegations in court.”
Masri is on the dean’s council at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, served on the advisory council for the US Development Finance Corporation from 2020-2023, and has been linked to the Trump administration. He heads Rawabi, a planned city in the West Bank and a major development project.
The lawsuit seeks damages under the Anti-Terrorism Act and a trial by jury. It was filed in the federal district court of Washington, DC, where Masri has a residence. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, a prominent law firm, is representing the plaintiffs.
Leading doctor warns hostages face risk of imminent death
Speaking at a press conference of the Hostages Families Forum on World Health Day, Prof. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians and a leading member of the Hostages Families Forum says that the remaining living hostages are “in grave danger of dying at any time.”
It is believed that 24 of the 59 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza are still alive.
The doctor says that he is releasing a report based on testimonies from other hostages who were released that confirms that “one-third of the hostages are suffering from untreated injuries, as well as illnesses and diseases.”
“The hostages are held in cages, in tunnels, in the darkness, chained by their hands and legs,” Levine says. “They suffer from malnutrition and must beg for food, doing all kinds of humiliating things.”
“They are being held for 18 months in hell,” Levine says. “Any day can be their last day.”
Israel has not yet received new Egyptian hostage-ceasefire proposal
Israel has not received any updated Egyptian proposal for a hostage release deal with Hamas, an Israel official tells The Times of Israel.
The official adds that Israel is aware of Egyptian efforts to come up with a new proposal.
Palestinians say IDF building positions in newly captured areas of Gaza
Israeli troops could be seen clearing ground and building watch towers in parts of Gaza they have seized in recent days in a renewed offensive that the United Nations says has already captured or depopulated two-thirds of the enclave.
The army has issued repeated evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in southern, central and northern areas since it resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, forcing them into a diminishing space limited by the sea.
Zakia Sami, 60, a mother of six from Gaza City, says she could see tanks occupying the high ground as she fled her home after the army ordered the family out of the eastern suburb of Shejaiya.
Israel announced plans last week to seize a “security zone” around the edges of the Gaza Strip, a month after a ceasefire expired. It has not said what its long-term plan is for the recaptured territory.
Residents said there were increasing signs the military was digging in for an extended stay, building watchtowers in Shejaiya in the north and around the former Israeli settlement of Morag, between the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.
Footage circulating on social media showed a large crane protected by machine guns and security cameras near Morag as well as earthmoving equipment at work near Shejaiya.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel was establishing a corridor bisecting Gaza in the Morag area.
Report: New Egyptian proposal suggests release of 8 hostages for 40–70 day ceasefire
The London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing an informed Egyptian source, that a new Egyptian proposal has been put forward to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
According to the report, the proposal provides for the release of eight living hostages and eight bodies of hostages in exchange for a truce lasting between 40 and 70 days and a large number of Palestinian terrorist and prisoner releases.
The source says that the proposal represents a compromise between a Hamas offer to release five hostages in return for a 50-day truce and an Israeli demand for the release of 11 hostages alive.
The report also notes that, according to the proposal, the eight living hostages would not be released all at once but in stages. As of now, neither side has issued a final response to the proposal.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Netanyahu meets US envoy Witkoff ahead of Trump meet
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Blair House in Washington, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
He is slated to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House at 1 p.m., local time.
Israel signs deal to bring in foreign workers from Malawi
During a visit to Malawi, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel signs a bilateral framework agreement for Israel to bring in laborers from the southeast African country.
“The agreement signed today reflects the strong ties between our countries and will bring mutual benefit to both sides,” says Haskel.
“Malawi is a true friend of Israel, and our relationship is built on shared goals and values. Since the beginning of the war, Malawi has stood by Israel and even opened an embassy in Tel Aviv, in the midst of the war,” Haskel continues.
The agreement is expected to facilitate the organized absorption of workers in sectors such as caregiving and agriculture.
Israel faces a major lack of workers for these sectors, as well as construction, since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel.
Israel barred Palestinian workers from Gaza and the West Bank from entering Israel amid security concerns.
Several foreign workers were also killed and taken hostage in the assault, leading to many countries pulling their workers out.
During my visit to Malawi, I met with Foreign Minister Nancy Tembo, whom I recently met in Ethiopia.
I highlighted Israel’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Malawi and advancing projects that benefit both nations. Israel sees Malawi as a strategic partner, and we… pic.twitter.com/BoOhZruNjh
— Sharren Haskel השכל שרן (@SharrenHaskel) April 7, 2025
Israel wants to double population living next to Gaza border in next decade
Ze’ev Elkin, the minister in charge of rehabilitating the northern and southern borders, says the Tekuma Directorate wants to double the population of the Gaza border area to 120,000 people by October 7, 2033.
The date will mark a decade since Hamas’s deadly invasion of the region, during which 1,200 mainly civilians were slaughtered and 251 abducted to the Gaza Strip.
But such an increase should still reflect the character of the area today, with a similar balance between urban and rural, and the choice of the character of each community left to the community itself to decide, he adds.
Aviad Friedman, the new head of the Tekuma Directorate and the first person to hold the job full-time, said there could only be one top priority, and that was growth. “Victory will only be meaningful if the people on the other side of the border look at us and say ‘I fought in order to destroy them and look, they’ve doubled [in size].'”
The two men speak to the media following a day of consultations in the southern city of Sderot with around 450 representatives of government, local government, kibbutzim, moshavim and civil society organizations on a new draft work plan for the directorate, which they say they hope will be finalized by Independence Day on May 1.
The directorate will lose NIS 1 billion ($267 million) out of NIS 5 billion ($1.3 billion) originally pledged by the government to develop the region.
The final work plan will have to reflect the cut, which Friedman says will be decided in full consultation with the local stakeholders.
Wall Street jumps after White House adviser says Trump considering 90-day pause in tariffs
Wall Street’s main indexes reverse course and move sharply higher after White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett says in an interview that US President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause on all countries except China.
At 10:20 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 333.50 points, or 0.87%, to 38,614.49, the S&P 500 gained 79.99 points, or 1.69%, to 5,154.07 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 362.69 points, or 2.33%, to 15,950.47.
Indian army completes final tests for Israeli-made Barak 8 missile defense system, ready to be operational
The Indian military recently conducted successful tests with an Israeli-made missile defense system, the manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, announces.
The tests with the Medium Range Surface to Air Defense Missile (MRSAM) system, known in Israel as the Barak 8, pave the way for the system to be declared operational by India’s army, IAI says.
MRSAM, which includes mobile launchers that can be deployed on land or on navy vessels, and missiles capable of intercepting targets up to ranges of 70 kilometers, was developed jointly by IAI with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
In a statement, IAI says that the tests involved the interceptions of four “air targets at various speeds, with challenging interception altitudes and ranges.”
“The missiles intercepted the aerial targets, scoring direct hits and destroying them, demonstrating the system’s operational capability,” the company adds.
The sale of the missile system to India was made in 2017 and has been undergoing numerous trials since. It has already been enrolled in the Indian Navy and Air Force, and the latest tests were part of acceptance trials for the Army.
“The success of this series of tests strengthens the relationship between our countries and expresses the technological cooperation with our partners in the Indian Ministry of Defence as well as with several industries in both Israel and India,” says IAI’s president and CEO, Boaz Levy.
Yair Golan says opposition will move ‘from protest to struggle’ if government disobeys High Court on Shin Bet chief
Yair Golan declares that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not obey the High Court of Justice when it rules on the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, “we must move from protest to struggle,” Ynet reports.
Addressing a conference organized by the Yediot Aharonot daily, Golan, the chairman of The Democrats party, says that until the so-called Qatargate scandal centered on Qatari influence in the Prime Minister’s Office is resolved, he does not understand how Israel can continue its military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
“I have difficulty seeing how it is possible to continue this action, and how it is possible to carry out a security operation that calls for the deployment of reservists and risking lives without having security at the center of Israel’s decision-making,” Golan says.
Two reservists arrested for stealing grenades from IDF base
Police detectives arrested two reserve soldiers last night on suspicion they stole dozens of grenades from a military base in Israel’s south to sell to criminals.
The suspects, who sold the looted explosives for thousands of shekels, were initially detained for questioning around two weeks ago during a joint investigation by the police and IDF Military Police, spokespeople for the agencies say.
Last night, police investigators in the Southern District’s investigations and intelligence unit arrested the two in concurrent house raids.
In recent years, theft of bullets, grenades, and other army-grade equipment from IDF bases in the Negev has prompted Israel to increase the presence of Border Police officers in the region.
US markets tumble for 3rd day over fears Trump tariffs will torpedo global economy
Wall Street is sinking again, following other global markets lower, as worries deepen about whether US President Donald Trump’s trade war will torpedo the global economy.
The S&P 500 was down 3.8% in early trading, coming off its worst week since COVID began crashing the global economy in March 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,200 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 4% lower.
Stocks in Hong Kong plunged 13.2% for their worst day since 1997. A barrel of benchmark US crude oil briefly dropped below $60 for the first time since 2021.
Trump says ‘don’t be stupid’ as markets tumble
US President Donald Trump calls for Americans to “be strong, courageous, and patient,” minutes before the New York stock market opens with further sharp declines forecast.
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” Trump says in reference to his tariff reforms that have upended the global economy.
“Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!… Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”
Bank of Israel holds interest rates steady, sees slower growth with resumption of war
The Bank of Israel holds interest rates steady as it sees slower growth for this year and next, as it expects the resumption of war with the Hamas terror group to continue to take a toll on the country’s finances and the economy and newly imposed US tariffs to have an impact on Israeli exports.
The central bank now expects the economy to grow by 3.5 percent in 2025, and 4% in 2026. That forecast was revised from a previous growth projection in January of 4% in 2025 and 4.5% in 2026, when the central bank assumed that intense fighting with Hamas would abide in the first three months of the year.
The trimmed growth forecasts assume that the “resumption of fighting in Gaza will not extend beyond the second quarter of 2025, and that during this period, there will be no serious restrictions on activity on the home front [in contrast with the situation at the beginning of the war],” the central bank says.
“The new tariff policy announced by the US government is expected to moderate the volume of world trade and of Israeli exports,” the central bank adds.
Alongside the revised growth forecasts, the central bank decides to hold the benchmark interest rate at 4.5% as “economic activity continues to recover moderately in view of geopolitical developments.”
Palestinian Red Crescent says autopsies show slain Gaza medics were shot ‘with intent to kill’
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says that an autopsy shows that 15 medics and rescuers killed by Israeli forces last month in Gaza were shot in the upper body with “intent to kill.”
The killings occurred in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory, and have since sparked international condemnation.
Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Red Crescent in the West Bank, tells journalists in Ramallah: “There has been an autopsy of the martyrs from the Red Crescent and civil defense teams. We cannot disclose everything we know, but I will say that all the martyrs were shot in the upper part of their bodies, with the intent to kill.”
Khatib called for an international probe into the killings, which the Israeli military has separately announced it was investigating.
The Israeli military has said its soldiers fired on “terrorists” approaching them in “suspicious vehicles.” The IDF denied that the Palestinians had been shot at close range or executed.
It asserted that at least six of those killed had been posthumously identified as Hamas operatives.
Dutch tighten controls on military and dual use exports to Israel
The Dutch government says it had tightened export controls for all military and “dual use” goods destined for Israel.
All direct exports and the transit of these goods to Israel will be checked to see if they comply with European regulations, and will no longer be covered by general export licenses, the government says in a letter to parliament.
“This is desirable considering the security situation in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the wider region,” foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp and trade minister Reinette Klever write.
“Exporters will still be able to request permits, that will then be checked against European regulations.”
The government says no military goods for Israel had been exported from the Netherlands under a general permit since the start of the war in Gaza that began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
It said that the general license for the export of “low risk information security goods,” such as routers for network security, was frequently used for export to Israel.
It estimated that between 50 and 100 permits for the export of those goods would now have to be requested on an individual basis.
A Dutch court last year ordered the government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used to violate international law during the war in Gaza. Israel denies violating international law.
Police arrest 9 Palestinians in Israel illegally; earlier said they were looking for armed man feared en route to carry out terror attack
Police arrested nine West Bank Palestinians who were in Israel illegally, after earlier saing they were looking for an armed man feared en route to carry out terror attack, Hebrew media reports.
After receiving a tip from the Shin Bet about a potential attack, police began an hour-long pursuit that ended near the Kafr Qasim interchange on Route 6.
Police had earlier blocked traffic on parts of Route 1, running from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Footage from the scene of the arrests showed police and Shin Bet agents, weapons drawn, stopping a van and proceeding to apprehend nine people, handcuffing them on the side of the road. The nine were reportedly in Israel illegally.
Netanyahu will meet Trump at White House at 1 p.m. local time
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be greeted by US President Donald Trump at The White House at 1 p.m. local time.
The two will give joint statements to the press in the Oval Office — a setting in which Trump often makes headlines — then hold a private meeting at 2 p.m.
According to the White House schedule, the two leaders will hold their press conference at 2:30 p.m. local time.
Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia expelled from conference on Rwandan genocide
Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia Avraham Neguise has been removed from an African Union conference held today in Addis Ababa commemorating the Rwandan genocide after member states refused to participate alongside him, the Foreign Ministry confirms to The Times of Israel.
The Foreign Ministry condemns Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahmoud Youssouf from Djibouti, saying, “It is outrageous that at an event commemorating the victims of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, to which the Israeli ambassador in Addis Ababa was invited, [Youssouf] chose to introduce anti-Israel political elements.”
“This unacceptable conduct first and foremost dishonors the memory of the victims, and reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the histories of both the Rwandan and Jewish peoples,” continues the Foreign Ministry.
Neguise, a former Likud lawmaker, has served as ambassador to Ethiopia since August 2024. He attended the annual conference, entitled “Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda,” at the Nelson Mandela Hall at the African Union Headquarters in the country’s capital.
Youssouf previously served as Djibouti’s Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, while also acting as a non-resident ambassador to Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. He has also chaired the Council of Ministers of both the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The Foreign Ministry added that they “will take the necessary diplomatic steps with the relevant parties to clarify the seriousness with which we view this incident.”
Israeli official confirms IDF readying for Gaza aid resumption; PMO insists it’s not
An Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel a report that the IDF is planning to begin facilitating the entry of aid into Gaza in the coming weeks as assistance to the Strip begins to dissipate.
Israel began barring all aid from entering Gaza after the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza concluded on March 1.
The IDF denied the Ynet report earlier this morning, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office now echoes the army assertion in its own statement insisting that the political echelon’s directive to the IDF is to intensify the military pressure on Hamas in order to coax the terror group into releasing the hostages.
An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that the IDF is working on a pilot program through which aid will be re-allowed into Gaza but in a manner in which Hamas won’t be able to divert it.
One of the ideas being workshopped is for aid to only be allowed into specific enclaves that are guarded by private security contractors.
The plans have not yet been finalized, the official says.
Dozens of protesters demand hostage deal in DC amid Netanyahu visit
Footage shows around 50 Israelis and American Jewish protesters in front of Blair House, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is staying during his trip to Washington, DC, demanding a hostage deal.
Demonstrators chant “bring them home” and appeal to US President Donald Trump not to allow Netanyahu to “deceive” him, and to force the premier to carry out the second stage of the January 19 ceasefire-hostage release deal.
כ-50 ישראלים ויהודים אמריקנים מפגינים מול ה"בלייר האוס" בוושינגטון עם הגעתו של נתניהו לשם. המפגינים קוראים קריאות "בושה" ודורשים מהנשיא טראמפ, שעמו ייפגש מחר נתניהו, "לא ליפול לפח שלו" – כלשונם, ולדרוש ממנו לחזור לקיום ההסכם להשבת החטופים@nathanguttman
צילום: אנקספטבל די-סי pic.twitter.com/iHU65lTZgm— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 6, 2025
PM’s office says ex-Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen spreading ‘fake news’
The Prime Minister’s Office calls former Shin Bet chief’s accusation that Benjamin Netanyahu asked him to remove Naftali Bennett from his cabinet as “fake news.”
The PMO claims Cohen has become a politician and “is trying to cover up the corruption within the Shin Bet under Ronen Bar, through ridiculous lies.”
IDF says drone strike killed Hezbollah rocket unit commander in southern Lebanon
A Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Taybeh earlier today, the military announces.
Muhammad Adnan Mansour, according to the IDF, headed Hezbollah’s rocket unit in the Taybeh area.
During the war he led numerous rocket attacks on the Upper Galilee, the military adds.
The IDF publishes footage of the strike.
מוקדם יותר היום, צה״ל תקף וחיסל באמצעות כלי טיס את המחבל מחמד עדנאן מנצור, מפקד הארטילריה של מרחב א-טייבה בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
במהלך המלחמה מחמד הוביל והוציא לפועל מתווי ירי רבים למרחב הגליל העליון.
צה״ל ימשיך לפעול על מנת להסיר כל איום על אזרחי מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/Mf7DvuvlA9
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 7, 2025
Russia, China, and Iran to hold talks on Tehran’s nuclear program Tuesday
MOSCOW, Russia — Russia, China, and Iran will hold consultations at an expert level on the Iranian nuclear program in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian state agency RIA reports, citing Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran unless it comes to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, and the Kremlin says that Russia was ready to do all it could to help resolve tensions between the United States and Iran.
Photojournalist who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 hurt in overnight Gaza strike
The IDF and Shin Bet confirm that overnight it carried out an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, targeting photojournalist Hassan Eslaiah, who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Eslaiah was wounded in the strike, along with several other journalists, according to an update from a Palestinian news agency that he heads.
In a statement, the IDF and Shin Bet say that Eslaiah was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade and was operating “under the guise of a journalist and owner of a press company.”
On October 7, Eslaiah, who was freelancing for the Associated Press, took photos of a burning tank on the Gaza border which had been attacked by Hamas operatives. He also invaded Israel with the terrorists and photographed them entering Kibbutz Nir Oz, where dozens of civilians were massacred.
He was not wearing a press vest that would identify him as a member of the media.
“During the massacre, he documented and uploaded footage of looting, arson, and murder to social media,” the IDF says.
The military says it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike.
TV report: Security forces pursuing suspect intending to carry out terror attack
Security forces are chasing a 19-year-old man from the West Bank city of Nablus who is suspected of intending to carry out a terror attack, Channel 12 reports.
The chase is taking place on Route 1, the main highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Part of the road has been closed due to the pursuit.
Palestinians strike in East Jerusalem, West Bank, demanding end to war in Gaza
Shuttered storefronts line empty streets in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as Palestinians hold a general strike demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“I walked through the city today and couldn’t find a single place that was open,” Fadi Saadi, a shopkeeper in Bethlehem, tells AFP.
Shops, schools, and most public administrative offices are closed across the West Bank.
A coalition of Palestinian political movements — including rivals Fatah and Hamas — called the strike to protest what they described as “the genocide and the ongoing massacre of our people.”
It called for the strike “in all the occupied Palestinian territories, in the refugee camps… and among those who support our cause.”
“We close today because of our families in Gaza, our children in Gaza,” Imad Salman, 68, who owns a souvenir shop in Jerusalem’s Old City, says.
“In Jerusalem, in the West Bank, we can’t do anything more than we’re doing here now,” he tells AFP.
In East Jerusalem, the usually bustling commercial Salaheddin Street is empty.
“This strike is in solidarity with Gaza and what is happening there, and the war being waged against the Palestinian people, whether by (US President Donald) Trump, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, the Israeli government, or the American government,” Ahmed, who did not give his surname, says.
“This war must stop, the killing and destruction must stop, and only peace should prevail — peace, and nothing but peace.”
Interior minister: ‘No question’ government must respect High Court ruling
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel says he believes the government must respect a potential High Court ruling that strikes down its decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar
Arbel remains the only minister to explicitly say the government should follow such a ruling, while several other cabinet members and lawmakers have said otherwise.
“The decision that is made will be respected by the State of Israel and the government of Israel. There is no question,” he tells a Yedioth Aharanoth convention.
“There is great importance to the faith the public has in law enforcement officials. There is great importance to the system itself. We won’t crush these systems. Not the Shin Bet, not the Attorney General’s Office,” he says.
Asked if he believes that Israel has a “deep state,” Arbel says he believes that such a perspective is wrong.
“Smearing public officials with such a title is wrong. Along with this statement that there is no deep state in the State of Israel, there are times when representatives of these authorities are mistaken and must stand by their mistakes,” he adds.
Sissi says Egypt lost $7 billion in 2024 due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea amid the war in Gaza
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi states at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron that the “tension in the Red Sea has negatively impacted” Egypt’s revenues from the Suez Canal, resulting in a loss of $7 billion in 2024.
The Houthi rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea have led to a decline in maritime traffic through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which in turn caused a drop in Egypt’s income, as the country charges fees for passage through the canal.
Macron: Hamas can no longer play role in governing Gaza
CAIRO, Egypt — French President Emmanuel Macron says Hamas should have no part in governing Gaza, in remarks on Monday as he visited Egypt.
Macron said the Palestinian Islamist terrorists should “no longer constitute a threat to Israel” while reiterating his “full support for the reconstruction plan for Gaza” endorsed by the Arab League.
Macron also says he is strongly opposed to any displacement or annexation in Gaza and the West Bank.
“This would be a violation of international law and a serious threat to the security of the entire region, including Israel,” he says as he meets his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel-Fatteh el-Sissi.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Lapid: Netanyahu wants Shin Bet as ‘personal security organization’; Jewish terrorism must be probed
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid asserts the need to counter Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, while speaking at a Yedioth Aharonoth convention.
Lapid accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting the Shin Bet as a “personal security organization” instead of an organization that prevents terrorism and saves lives.
Commenting on recordings of the head of the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division bragging about arresting radical settler suspects without evidence, Lapid says, “There is a thing called Jewish terror. The comments were serious and the man was suspended.”
“In the State of Israel, terrorism should be investigated. It is not surprising to me that this government says there is no Jewish terrorism because the national security minister was convicted of supporting terror,” Lapid says.
Nova Tribe gives grants to bereaved families of Oct.7 rave
The Nova Tribe Community Association starts distributing more than NIS 1.2 million ($325,000) to 412 families who lost loved ones in the Hamas terror attack on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.
The one-time memorial grants of NIS 3,000 ($790) per family are conditional on family registration. They are to help families with memorial activities of their choosing and to express the community’s commitment to preserving their memory.
The Nova Tribe Community Association was established by the producers of the Nova festival to support the rehabilitation of survivors and the bereaved families, to commemorate the murdered, and to tell the world their story.
Thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed the Gaza border into Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering some 1,200 mainly civilians and abducting 251.
Discovering the Nova party by apparent mistake, gunmen showered revelers with bullets as missiles rained down on them from the Hamas-controlled strip.
They murdered 364 revelers at the main party site and abducted 40 more to the Palestinian enclave.
The additional 48 dead were at two related raves also close to Kibbutz Re’im, or were gunned down on the main road out of the Nova, trying to escape. They also include Shirel Golan, a survivor who took her own life in late 2024.
Gantz: Netanyahu has lost all restraints, is doing anything to remain in power
Opposition National Unity party chair Benny Gantz says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost all restraints that are possible to think of.”
Speaking at a Yedioth Aharonoth convention, Gantz says the prime minister is “doing anything to stay in government.”
“The delegitimization of the law enforcement system is intended to vindicate himself. He should take responsibility,” Gantz says.
“The Israeli public from the left to the right won’t allow a ruler of this sort to stay in power at the next elections,” he adds.
Labor MK said to ignore most questions during interrogation over classified protocols leak
Labor MK Gilad Kariv did not fully cooperate with investigators when questioned over allegations he leaked classified protocols from a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting two years ago, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to Kan, Kariv gave a statement to investigators and denied the allegations, but did not answer most of the questions asked during the session.
After report claims renewal of Gaza aid imminent, IDF says it ‘will not be providing any aid to Hamas’
The IDF responds to a report by the Ynet news site this morning claiming that the military is expected to resume the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip even amid the ongoing fighting and lack of a hostage deal.
“Following this morning’s report about the humanitarian aid, the IDF is acting in accordance with the directives of the political echelon. Israel is not and will not be providing any aid to Hamas,” the army says.
According to Ynet, Israel will begin to allow some aid into Gaza in the next few weeks to avoid international law violations and future legal problems for commanders who take part in the military operation.
The report said that the IDF “made it clear to the political echelon” that soon there will be no choice but to resume the supply of food, fuel, and medicine to Gaza.
Likud spokesman vows Haredi draft bill will pass, stresses it will preserve Torah learning
Likud party spokesman Guy Levy promises the passage of a long-delayed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment, stating that “the army needs more soldiers but we are not willing to give up on the Torah world and Torah learners.”
Speaking with Radio Kol Barama, Levy says that his party is advocating for the needs of the ultra-Orthodox to the degree that “there are complaints [among the Likud base] that we are fighting for the Haredi public more than for our own public.”
Despite this, Levy insists that Likud wants to pass “a real enlistment law” that will “bring about the enlistment of wide swathes of the Haredi public because the army really needs that.”
The Haredi community’s leadership is vehemently opposed to young Haredi men serving in the military, fearing they will be secularized and figures presented to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week showed that almost all ultra-Orthodox men called up for military service in recent months have declined to serve.
The IDF sent out 10,000 initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community in several waves between July 2024 and March 2025. According to Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, head of the Haredi branch of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, only 205 of those who have received orders have actually enlisted.
In total, 1,721 Haredim have joined the army since the beginning of the current recruitment cycle last year. Currently, approximately 66,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted.
The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties have long demanded a bill enshrining the exemption of the yeshiva students from military service — struck down by the High Court last summer — in law. It has been held up in the Knesset due to objections by both opposition MKs and members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
Following the passage of the 2025 state budget in late March, UTJ’s rabbinic leadership gave Netanyahu three months to pass the legislation.
Bennett: ‘I wanted to eliminate Hamas, Netanyahu wanted to eliminate me’
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to “eliminate me,” after former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen claimed in a radio interview the premier asked him to remove Bennett from cabinet during his time running the security service.
According to Cohen, Netanyahu cited Bennett’s apparent removal from his officer’s position in the military as cause to disqualify him from the cabinet — a request the then-Shin Bet chief said he refused.
In the comments cited by Hebrew media, Bennett denies that he was removed from his officer’s position.
“In 2014, as a member of the cabinet, I demanded that Netanyahu act offensively against Hamas in Gaza. Yoram Cohen revealed today Netanyahu’s lies and his paranoia about me,” Bennett is quoted as saying.
“I wanted to eliminate Hamas, Netanyahu wanted to eliminate me,” he adds.
Herzog: Qatargate scandal must be ‘deeply probed’ by authorities
President Isaac Herzog says the Qatargate scandal raises questions that must be investigated by authorities, speaking at a Yedioth Aharanoth convention.
“There’s no deep state and there’s no dictatorship here,” Herzog asserts, rejecting claims by Netanyahu’s government that a “deep state” of unelected bureaucrats is obstructing his right-wing government.
“A large silent majority in the country says — there will be no civil war, unequivocally obey the law and unequivocally obey the High Court rulings,” he says.
Several ministers have said the government should disobey the High Court if it rules its firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to be illegal.
Weighing in on Qatargate, Herzog adds: “There are questions that need to be deeply probed. I trust the police and law enforcement authorities. These are subjects that are critical to Israel’s security.”
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange dives for 2nd day amid concerns over Trump’s tariffs
Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange tumble for a second day as investor concern over a global trade war intensified following the Trump administration’s new tariff policy.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-125 index drops 3.1 percent after falling 3.8% on Sunday. The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies is down 2.8%. The TA-90 index, which tracks the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, declines 3.6%, and the TA-Insurance and Financial Services index dives 4.2%.
Tel Aviv shares fall sharply after stocks in Asia and Europe continue to drop. On Friday, the S&P index in the US lost almost 6%, the biggest drop since June 2020, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 5.5%
Beirut says one killed in Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s health ministry says an Israeli strike in the country’s south kills one person.
The “Israeli enemy” drone strike on the town of Taybeh near the border “led to the death of one citizen,” Lebanon’s health ministry says in a statement.
The military has yet to issue a comment on the strike.
مسيّرة إسرائيلية استهدفت محلًا لتصليح الدراجات النارية في بلدة الطيبة جنوب لبنان pic.twitter.com/bIwboi59cH
— nbnlebanon (@nbntweets) April 7, 2025
2 IDF soldiers hurt in military-related car crash near Beit Shemesh
Two soldiers were seriously wounded in a military-related car crash overnight in the Beit Shemesh area, the IDF says.
The two servicewomen, from the Israeli Air Force, were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The IDF says the incident is under further investigation.
Settler leaders demand government close Shin Bet’s Jewish Division
The Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing settlement municipal authorities in the West Bank, asks the government to close the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division, over remarks by the department’s head in which he bragged that agents detain radical settler youth “even without evidence.”
The letter, signed by West Bank municipal heads, says the division has operated for years, not against terror but against settlers, using “illegitimate measures.” The letter stresses that suspicions against Israeli citizens must be handled by the police as demanded by the law.
The leaked conversation was between Jewish Division head Aleph and Cdr. Avishai Muallem, a police officer, who is himself being probed and who recently led the West Bank police’s investigations and intelligence unit.
The phone call gave credence to claims of increasingly strained relations between West Bank police and the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division, which deals with Israeli settler violence. Sources in the agency have complained that Muallem’s unit effectively ceased collecting intelligence on or arresting settlers suspected of nationalist attacks.
At least 17 killed in overnight Gaza strikes, health officials say
Israel struck tents outside two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least two people, including a local reporter, and wounding another nine, including six reporters, medics say.
Fifteen others were killed in separate strikes across the territory, according to hospitals. The figures cannot be independently identified.
A strike on a media tent outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis at around 2 a.m. set the tent ablaze, killing Yousef al-Faqawi, a reporter for the Palestine Today TV station, and another man, according to the hospital. The six reporters were wounded in that strike.
The Israeli military says it struck a Hamas terrorist, without providing further information. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it is deeply embedded in residential areas.
Israel also struck tents on the edge of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, wounding three people, according to the hospital.
Nasser Hospital says it received another 13 bodies, including six women and four children, from separate strikes overnight. Al-Aqsa Hospital says two people were killed and three wounded in a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah.
Ex-Shin Bet chief: Netanyahu asked me to ‘disqualify’ Bennett from cabinet over ‘loyalty problem’ while he was IDF officer
Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked him to “disqualify” Naftali Bennett from his cabinet by revoking his security clearance, citing a case of an unspecified “loyalty problem” while he was serving in the army.
Cohen served as head of the Shin Bet from 2011 to 2016. It is unclear exactly when, during the successive Netanyahu cabinets at that time, the request was made.
“The prime minister called me privately and told me, ‘Listen, information came to be recently about Bennett. He was removed as an officer of the IDF General Staff due to a loyalty problem — so he can’t sit in cabinet,'” Cohen tells Army Radio, adding the prime minister did not even ask him to confirm the case.
“He asked me to disqualify him from the cabinet because of this, due to security clearance. I said to him, ‘Tell me, are you serious about this demand?’ Firstly, why is something from 30 years ago relevant to what we are talking about now? Secondly, I will not do anything like this,'” Cohen recounts.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says in response that the interview is “no less than an earthquake.”
“Netanyahu tried to use the Shin Bet in order to fabricate plots and eliminate a political opponent. This is not how a prime minister behaves, this is how the head of a criminal organization behaves,” Lapid writes on X.
Jonatan Urich to be sent to house arrest after today’s round of Qatargate questioning
Jonatan Urich, one of the main suspects of the Qatargate probe, will be released to house arrest following his interrogation today, after police decide not to request an extension of his remand.
Eli Feldstein, the second main suspect, was released to house arrest on Friday after several days in custody for his alleged involvement in the affair.
Prominent trainer suspected of raping client released to house arrest
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court releases a well-known personal trainer to house arrest until Thursday after he was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of having drugged and raped a client.
A sweeping gag order has been imposed on the case, and the trainer’s identity has not been permitted for publication.
The complainant filed a police report against the personal trainer over the weekend, in which she alleged that she had been drugged and raped in her own home.
While the trainer has maintained his innocence, Ynet reports that he was found to have lied on several questions during a polygraph test, including one about sexual assault.
Gaza war crimes dossier implicating 10 Britons serving in IDF to be submitted to London police — report
British human rights lawyers are set to file a war crimes complaint today against 10 British citizens serving in the Israel Defense Forces, The Guardian reports.
“British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law,” Michael Mansfield, one of the lawyers who will hand in the 240-page dossier, tells The Guardian.
“If one of our nationals is committing an offense, we ought to be doing something about it. Even if we can’t stop the government of foreign countries behaving badly, we can at least stop our nationals from behaving badly.”
The file will be handed to London’s Metropolitan Police war crimes unit, alleging the troops intentionally killed civilians and aid workers by sniper fire and were involved in indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals.
The suspects, who include dual-nationals as well as officers, remain unnamed due to legal reasons, The Guardian says.
The report covers a period from October 2023 to May 2024 and is being handed in on behalf of the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the British-based Public Interest Law Center.
Israel has denied targeting civilians throughout the war, alleging Hamas terrorists use civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, to plan and carry out attacks.
Labor MK said to arrive for questioning over leak of classified Knesset panel protocols
Labor MK Gilad Kariv has arrived for questioning at Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit over allegations that he leaked classified information from a closed-door hearing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Ynet news site reports.
During the meeting in question, on June 13, 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a classified security briefing to the committee members. MKs were not permitted to bring their phones to the meeting but leaks from it were published in December.
Last year, a statement from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s office said he had contacted Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara after ordering his own internal Knesset probe that apparently pointed to Kariv as the culprit behind the leaks.
Israel soon to open aid crossings to Gaza to avoid international legal issues — report
Israel will begin to allow some humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in the next few weeks to avoid international law violations and future legal problems for commanders who take part in the military operation, the Ynet news site reports.
Israel halted the entrance of aid into Gaza last month after Hamas refused to extend the initial stage of the January 19 ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“There is no starvation or no beginning of diseases in Gaza, but we are about 40-50 days away from a situation where the food warehouses will be emptied. Last week there were incidents when Gazans broke into warehouses with flour we brought in and transferred them to Hamas control,” unnamed security sources tell Ynet.
Teen killed in West Bank while throwing stones was US citizen, Palestinian officials say
A Palestinian who the IDF said it killed in the West Bank yesterday when throwing stones at Israeli cars was a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, Palestinian officials say.
The mayor of Turmus Ayya, Adeeb Lafi, told Reuters earlier in the day that Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler at the entrance to Turmus Ayya and that the Israeli army pronounced him dead after detaining him.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry condemns the incident as an “extra-judicial killing” by Israeli forces during a raid in the town, saying it was the result of Israel’s “continued impunity.”
“During a counterterrorism activity in the area of Turmus Aya, IDF soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving,” the army says in a statement.
“The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists.”
The IDF published footage showing the stone-throwing.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Iranian proxies in Iraq willing to disarm to avoid conflict with US, commanders and Iraqi officials say
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials tell Reuters.
The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by US officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources, which include six local commanders of four major militias.
The officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with airstrikes, the people add.
Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite Muslim politician close to Iraq’s governing alliance, tells Reuters that discussions between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and several militia leaders are “very advanced,” and the groups are inclined to comply with US calls for disarmament.
“The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form,” he says, adding that the groups are “fully aware” they could be targeted by the US.
The six militia commanders interviewed in Baghdad and a southern province, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, are from the Kataib Hezbollah, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada, and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa groups.
“Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful Shi’ite militia, says, who speaks from behind a black face mask and sunglasses.
The commanders say their main ally and patron, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military force, had given them its blessing to take whatever decisions they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the United States and Israel.
The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions that collectively command about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor militias’ activities.
The Resistance group, a key pillar of Iran’s network of regional proxy forces, has claimed responsibility for dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war erupted about 18 months ago.
Grenade thrown at home of ex-soccer player Yossi Benayoun
A grenade was thrown at the home of former Israeli soccer player Yossi Benayoun in Ramat Hasharon overnight, Hebrew media reports.
The explosion caused minor damage to the entrance of Benayoun’s house, but no injuries were reported, reports say.
Police have opened an investigation into the incident.
Hostage families protest outside Netanyahu’s home, marking year and a half since Oct. 7
Hostage families and their supporters are protesting in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem to mark a year and a half since the October 7, 2023 massacre.
Activists carry photos of the 59 hostages that remain held captive in the Strip.
Erez Adar, whose uncle Tamir Adar was murdered on October 7, urges the prime minister to reach a deal freeing all the hostages in one go.
“It is the most important subject of the day. We need to return everyone, the living for rehabilitation and the dead for burial, in order for us to have a better future here,” he says.
Varda Ben Baruch, whose grandson Edan Alexander is held hostage, evokes the Passover holiday, which demands that “every generation, a person must see himself as if he had come out of Egypt.”
“We say this in the Passover Haggadah. Now is your moment of truth,” she says, addressing Netanyahu. “You are in the United States and you should sit there with President Trump and finish a deal for everyone to get home. We are expecting this.”
Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was murdered in captivity, warns remaining living hostages are in danger if action isn’t taken immediately for their release.
“President Trump — please. It’s been a year and a half. There’s only one word possible to yell right now — enough, enough of this nightmare,” he says.
Similar demonstrations are also occurring at the homes of several other cabinet ministers.
Two vehicles burn down in Ashdod parking lot
Two vehicles have been destroyed in a fire in a parking lot under a residential building in Ashdod, Fire and Rescue Services say.
Fire and Rescue services received a call alerting them to the sound of an explosion in the area, according to their statement. Firefighters who arrived at the scene extinguished the flame.
No injuries are reported in the incident.
PM meets with US commerce secretary, trade representative for ‘productive’ talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the Blair House in Washington.
Netanyahu and Lutnick greet each other with an embrace.
The meeting comes after the White House imposed new tariffs on Israel and a host of other allies.
According to Netanyahu’s office, the meeting was “warm and productive.”
Trump says foreign governments will have to pay ‘a lot of money’ to lift tariffs
US President Donald Trump says foreign governments will have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterizes as “medicine,” prompting further carnage in global financial markets.
Asian stocks posted steep losses in early trading on Monday and US stock market futures have opened sharply lower as investors registered concerns that Trump’s tariffs could lead to higher prices, weaker demand, lower confidence and potentially a global recession.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump indicates he is not concerned about losses that have already wiped out trillions of dollars in value from share markets around the world.
“I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he says as he returns from a weekend of golf in Florida.
Trump says he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50% due to take effect this week.
“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis,” Trump says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington yesterday to discuss, among other things, the 17 percent tariff that Trump has imposed on Israeli imports.
Israeli experts have warned that exports to the US will take a $2.3 billion hit from the tariffs, and 18,000-26,000 Israelis would likely lose their jobs.
Israel said worried as Abraham Accords partner Sudan growing closer to Iran amid civil war
Israel is concerned that Abraham Accords partner Sudan is growing close to Iran, as it looks for assistance amid the civil war that has roiled the country since 2023, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan renewed diplomatic ties with Iran in July 2024, after they were severed in 2016. Since then, Kan reports, al-Burhan has received military assistance from Tehran as his forces battle the Rapid Support Forces.
The report asserted that al-Burhan turned to Iran after growing disappointed in Israel’s failure to come to his aid with military support as he had envisioned.
While al-Burhan wasn’t looking specifically for assistance from Tehran, a source close to the Sudanese ruler tells Kan that “Sudan is forced to cooperate with any party interested in supplying it with weapons.
“There is currently a great opportunity for anyone who wants to help Sudan, publicly and secretly,” the source says, adding that the North African country would have expected to receive such assistance from Israel, as it could have led to “a real breakthrough in relations.”
But when the help from Jerusalem never materialised, the source says Sudan “was left without assistance and turned to Iran, which seized the opportunity after Sudan’s friends abandoned it.”
“For the sake of Sudan’s interests, we would even make a deal with the devil,” the source adds.
US stocks appear headed for new plunge Monday in wake of Trump’s tariffs
Wall Street’s battering in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of exorbitant import levies is set to continue Monday, futures indicate late Sunday.
Around 22:35 GMT (12:35 a.m. on Monday Israel time), futures — derivative products which allow investors to bet on market outcomes — point to a 3.56 percent fall in the Dow Jones index and a 3.85 percent drop in the wider S&P 500.
IDF says troops killed Palestinian who was throwing stones at Israeli cars in the West Bank
The IDF says troops killed a Palestinian hurling stones at Israeli motorists in the West Bank this evening.
Troops of the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit had staged an ambush near the town of Turmus Ayya, when they identified three Palestinians hurling stones at cars on the nearby highway.
The soldiers opened fire, killing one of the suspects and wounding the other two, the military says.
The IDF publishes footage showing the stone throwing.
במהלך פעילות מבצעית של לוחמים מיחידה 636 במרחב תורמוסעייא שבחטיבת שומרון, הכוח זיהה שלושה מחבלים אשר יידו סלעים לעבר כביש מהיר עם רכבים אזרחיים.
הלוחמים ירו לעבר המחבלים שהיוו סכנה על האזרחים, חיסלו אחד מהם ופגעו בשני המחבלים הנוספים.כוחות צה״ל ימשיכו לפעול בהגנה ובהתקפה… pic.twitter.com/gqeasTE2HC
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 6, 2025