Aug. 5: US State Dept. says freeing hostages is top priority as PM eyes Gaza occupation

Brother of hostage Evyatar David tells UN that silence in face of Hamas cruelty ‘is complicity’

The brother of Hamas hostage Evyatar David tells the United Nations Security Council that it is responsible for the hostages’ suffering in Gaza.

“Every moment of delay is a step closer to a final, tragic outcome. We all have a responsibility. To the leaders of the world, to every member of this council, and to the global community: your silence in the face of this monstrous cruelty is complicity,” Ilay David says.

David speaks via video to a Security Council hearing focused on the Gaza war and the hostages.

Over the weekend, Hamas released a video showing an emaciated Evyatar David digging his own grave.

In his speech to the Security Council, David describes his close relationship with his brother, his brother’s love of music, and the family’s anguish in his absence.

Since the release of the video over the weekend, “My father cannot sleep and my mother has not stopped crying,” David says. He adds that, according to the testimony of released hostages, Hamas is deliberately starving the hostages as a form of torture, despite the terror group’s members having an ample supply of food.

David calls on the international community to demand and take action for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, call for humanitarian aid for the hostages, and “recognize that this is a matter of life and death requiring urgent medical intervention.”

“The very soul of humanity is being scarred by Hamas’s barbaric actions. We, the family of Evyatar, refuse to give up hope. We are weeping and suffering, but we are also fighting,” David says.

At Tel Aviv sit-in, mother of Nimrod Cohen says occupying Gaza will be ‘death sentence’ for hostages

Families of the hostages march through Tel Aviv at a Shift 101 protest on August 5, 2025. (Shani Tamim/Shift 101)

Hundreds of people gather for a sit-in on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters, led by Shift 101, the mostly silent, white-clad activist group.

The protesters, led by Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen and Maccabit Meir, aunt of hostages Ziv and Gali Berman, along with others, marched to Kaplan Street from Dizengoff Square.

“This government is ruining all of our values,” says Cohen. “We’re hearing talk about conquering Gaza, that will be a death sentence for our hostages, it will turn them into Ron Arads,” she says, referring to the Air Force navigator captured in Lebanon in 1986 and never released. “We can’t allow that to happen, and that’s why we’re here to continue fighting, to say, ‘Enough, stop.'”

Vicky Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, speaking to protesters sitting-in in front of the Kirya IDF Military Headquarters, August 5, 2025. (Tanya Zion-Waldoks / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Cohen tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the time has come to stop with his desire for revenge, to listen to the people and stop the war, and return all the hostages so that Israeli society can begin rebuilding itself and burying its dead.

Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, says she doesn’t have a lot to say, except that she misses her son immensely.

“I so miss him that sometimes I forget how it is to be the mother of Alon,” says Ohel. “It’s hard to speak, it’s hard to stand, it’s hard to walk. The hardest is to breathe, knowing your son is in that place. I don’t wish this upon anyone.”

At the end of the shift, the protesters sing a song to mark what would have been the sixth birthday of Ariel Bibas, taken captive with his mother and younger brother on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity. His body was returned for burial in February.

US asked Israel to probe death of Palestinian-American in Silwad, State Dept. says

The US has asked Israel to investigate the death of a Palestinian-American who reportedly succumbed to complications from smoke inhalation after trying to put out a fire set by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Silwad, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says.

“We’ve called upon Israel to investigate each of these instances… We wait to see what those investigations will be, and that’s the case here,” Bruce says in response to a question from The Times of Israel on the matter during a State Department briefing.

Bruce is subsequently asked what the Trump administration’s position is on the status of the West Bank after US House Speaker Mike Johnson declared on a visit to the territory on Monday that “the mountains of Judea and Samaria” belong to the Jewish people.

“I’m not going to speak about the opinion of the government. And if there’s a policy regarding the status in any region of the world — certainly in the Middle East — I would wait to hear from Secretary Rubio and President Trump,” the State Department spokesperson responds.

Sa’ar at the UN: International plans to recognize Palestinian state ‘assassinated the hostage deal’

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar speaks to journalists as Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon looks on, ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting on the hostages and the Gaza war, at the UN headquarters, on August 5, 2025 in New York. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says countries that announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in recent weeks sabotaged a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

“There are countries that acted, also in this building, to pressure Israel instead of Hamas during sensitive days in the negotiations by attacking Israel, campaigning against Israel, and the announcement of a recognition of a virtual Palestinian state. They gave Hamas free gifts and incentives to continue this war,” Sa’ar says during a press briefing at the United Nations in New York.

“They directly assassinated the hostage deal and ceasefire. Let me be clear: these countries prolonged the war. Hamas is responsible for beginning this war by invading Israel and committing the October 7 atrocities. Hamas is also responsible for the continuation of this war by still refusing to release our hostages and lay down its arms. The international pressure must be on Hamas. Anything else only prolongs the war,” he says.

Sa’ar spoke at the UN ahead of a Security Council session focused on the Palestinians.

The UK, France, Canada, and several other countries have recently said they will recognize a Palestinian state in the fall, some of them unconditionally and some depending on Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Sa’ar also highlights the plight of the hostages still held in Gaza.

“This past weekend, the world witnessed the cruel starvation of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, tortured deliberately by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The world saw their terrible condition, bones standing out in their skin, like living skeletons,” Sa’ar says.

“Evyatar was forced to dig his own grave. This is satanic. Hamas and Islamic Jihad used starvation and torture as part of a deliberate and well-planned propaganda campaign, but the truth must be told. Israel is facilitating huge amounts of aid into Gaza. No other country acts this way in war.”

US State Dept. declines to comment on reports that Israel plans to occupy Gaza, says freeing hostages is main priority

WASHINGTON — US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declines to comment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported plan to direct the IDF to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.

“We remain focused on freeing the hostages, including the remains of two Americans, and ensuring that Hamas never rules Gaza again,” Bruce says during a State Department briefing, highlighting the recent videos of emaciated Israeli hostages released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“What we saw was an astoundingly evil reminder of who they are… For them to feel comfortable putting on full display their barbarity and their inhumanity, tells you that they seem to feel pretty comfortable at the moment,” she adds.

Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in call to pursue hostage deal over occupying Gaza

Protesters block Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv as they demonstrate against a reported plan to occupy Gaza despite risk to hostages, on August 5, 2025. (Tanya Zion-Waldoks/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Dozens of protesters are blocking traffic on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway during a demonstration against the government’s widely-reported plan to forgo negotiating a hostage deal in favor of occupying the Gaza Strip.

The protesters made their way to the highway after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a limited security meeting earlier today, in which it was reportedly decided to occupy the parts of Gaza that are not yet controlled by the IDF.

עשרות מפגינים למען שחרור החטופים חוסמים את איילון דרום ליד מחלף השלום והציתו צמיגים. במקביל מאות מפגינים נמצאים באזור הקריה במסגרת משמרת 101 של משפחות החטופים pic.twitter.com/YOjjmL11jv

— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) August 5, 2025

Elsewhere in Tel Aviv, activists from the Shift 101 protest group rally outside the IDF military headquarters to demand the release of the hostages, where they are joined by relatives of the hostages, including Viki Cohen, the mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen.

Lebanese PM instructs army to prepare plan for disarming Hezbollah by year’s end

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, centre, and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, left background, lead a Cabinet meeting to discuss the disarmament of Hezbollah, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, August 5, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announces that the government has instructed the Lebanese Armed Forces to prepare a plan for consolidating arms under state control by the end of the year, meaning that Hezbollah and other armed groups will be required to disarm.

According to reports from Lebanon, tonight’s cabinet meeting was expected to deal with announcing the disarmament of Hezbollah in line with a proposal submitted by the US to Lebanon on the matter.

However, Salam says that the issue has been postponed and will be discussed in the cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday.

Gantz says Netanyahu to blame for minister telling employees to ignore attorney general despite High Court order

Blue and White-National Unity chairman Benny Gantz slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for declining to call on his cabinet to obey the High Court after Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi instructs employees in his ministry to ignore legal position papers issued by the Attorney General’s Office.

“The fact that the prime minister remains silent and is unwilling to commit to respecting any High Court ruling speaks volumes about him, no less than about his irresponsible ministers,” Gantz declares, stating that Netanyahu “bears responsibility” for Karhi’s refusal to obey the court.

Karhi’s instructions follow yesterday’s government decision to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and directly contradict an order issued by the High Court of Justice, which froze implementation of the dismissal and instructed the government not to change its working relationship with her.

Lapid warns of disaster for Israel if IDF reoccupies Gaza, hostages tortured and killed

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip will endanger the remaining Israeli hostages and saddle Israeli citizens with the long-term costs of ruling over millions of Palestinians.

“The direction in which the cabinet and government are heading will lead to all the hostages dying – of hunger, beatings and torture – or being killed during IDF operations,” Lapid says in a sharply worded statement.

His remarks come after reports that Netanyahu is leaning toward ordering the IDF to take full control of Gaza – despite opposition from within the military and defense establishment.

According to sources cited by Kan and Channel 12, such a move would place the roughly 20 surviving hostages at heightened risk of being executed or dying during combat operations, as troops close in on areas where they may be held.

“In exchange, we’ll be ruling over two million Palestinians—paying for their electricity and water, building them schools and hospitals with Israeli taxpayers’ money,” Lapid continues.”You annex — you pay. From that moment, everything is on us.”

“Reservists will continue paying the price of draft dodging,” he continues. “Taxpayers will pay the price of annexation.”

He warns that such a move would isolate Israel internationally and erase any hope of regional support for postwar reconstruction.

Women of Umm al-Khair continue hunger strike for sixth day as Israel refuses to hand over Awdah Hathaleen’s body

Sara Hathaleen and Myassar Hathaleen, two of dozens of Bedouin women on a hunger strike demanding that Israel return the body of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who was killed during a clash with an Israeli settler, are seen in Umm al-Khair, West Bank, August 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Frankel)

Around 60 women in the village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank have been on a hunger strike for six days to protest the fact that the Israeli military has not yet returned the body of Awdah Hathaleen to his family for burial. Hathaleen was fatally shot last Monday in a confrontation with settlers outside of the village.

According to the family, the army conditioned the return of his body on holding a small funeral with restricted attendance in the evening hours. It also demanded that he be buried outside the village, claiming the local cemetery is illegal.

The IDF has not responded to a request from The Times of Israel for comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Yinon Levi, a settler from the area who was arrested by police on suspicion of reckless manslaughter after being seen in a video firing toward Palestinians in the incident, was released from house arrest yesterday and resumed the construction work near the village that sparked the confrontation in which Hathaleen was killed.

On Friday, a court rejected a police request to extend Levi’s house arrest.

During the hearing, the judge stated that the reasonable suspicion against Levi had weakened and that the claim of no causal link between his gunfire and Hathaleen’s death was supported by evidence gathered from the Palestinian side, as well as his claim of self-defense.

German hospital faces criticism after name ‘Yahya Sinwar’ appears on display of newborn names

The Leipzig University Hospital announces the birth of a baby named for Hamas's slain leader, Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and massacre in Israel. (Via Instagram)

The Leipzig University Hospital in Germany is facing public backlash after the name of Hamas’s slain leader, Yahya Sinwar, architect of the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacre in Israel, was featured in a display of names of babies born in the hospital.

The hospital shared an image of the board on its Instagram page, which showed that on August 3, the name Yahya Sinwar had been written at the top of the list of newborn names, with hearts next to it.

Welcome to the world, Yahya Sinwar! 🎉 A hospital in Leipzig is celebrating newborns by posting their names on a board AND sharing it on Instagram. Such a heartwarming way to welcome new life! 🌍👶 #HospitalCelebration #NewBorn #Leipzig #Welcome to the World pic.twitter.com/kapUv68vvI

— ceanpolitics (@ceanglobal) August 5, 2025

Following criticism, the hospital apologized for sharing the image and for writing the name on the board in the first place, saying that the person who wrote it had been unaware of the notorious Hamas leader that a newborn baby had apparently been named for.

“The person who posted the image was not aware that the name is currently associated with a well-known political figure involved in a highly sensitive geopolitical context,” a hospital spokesperson tells German newspaper Bild.

Senior minister tells employees to ignore attorney general’s legal positions, contradicting High Court order

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at a committee meeting at the Knesset, June 24, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi instructs employees in his ministry to ignore legal position papers issued by the Attorney General’s Office, following the government’s decision to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara yesterday.

His comments directly contradict an order issued by the High Court of Justice, which froze implementation of the attorney general’s dismissal, instructed the government not to change its working relationship with Baharav-Miara, and stated explicitly that her legal position papers remain valid.

Karhi’s letter is immediately denounced by the opposition, with Democrats MK Gilad Kariv saying it could lead to a constitutional crisis where employees of the ministry will not know whether to obey the minister or the court.

“The office of the dismissed attorney general is no longer authorized to issue legal position papers, and if it does so, they have no validity,” writes Karhi in a letter to ministry employees.

“You are hereby required not to fulfill legal position papers from the Attorney General’s Office without approval from my office, and to consult with my office in any instance of doubt,” he continues.

Kariv says in response that Karhi’s letter calls for ministry employees “to knowingly violate the High Court ruling,” and “forces them to choose between the law and the state, and the primaries campaign of an extremist minister.”

Adds Kariv, “We are a step away from the void of a constitutional crisis.”

Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid also denounces Karhi, calls him a “criminal minister” and says Yesh Atid will file a criminal complaint of “incitement and sedition” against Karhi to the police.

And the Israel Democracy Guard organization files a request to the High Court for a contempt of court order against Karhi, and asks the court to summon government representatives to clarify the minister’s instructions.

Red Cross: Videos of emaciated hostages are ‘appalling’ but no way to access the hostages without guarantees from Hamas, Israel

Still images of hostages Ram Braslavski (left) and Evyatar David from Hamas propaganda videos, cleared for publication by their families in August 2025. (Composite screenshot)

The sight of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski appearing severely emaciated in videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in recent days was “appalling,” says International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Gilad Grossman, who adds, however, that accessing hostages remains out of reach for the agency.

“Since we do not have access to the hostages, we did not have first-hand knowledge of their situation — seeing the videos was appalling,” Grossman tells The Times of Israel in a phone interview.

Following the release of the footage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog spoke directly with ICRC officials, urging them to do whatever is necessary to reach and treat the hostages. The ICRC has been repeatedly criticized by Israel for failing to assist any hostages throughout the war, except during handovers under hostage-release deals.

Despite these appeals, Grossman says that “To actually reach the hostages, we need to be granted access and there needs to be a process that ensures the hostages’ safety and our staff’s safety…In Gaza, most of the area is an active combat zone. We need to be able to move around safely, and that is not possible without all the necessary coordination and guarantees.”

Earlier this week, after the ICRC reiterated its call for access in response to the videos, Hamas publicly signaled willingness, for the first time, to allow humanitarian access to hostages—but only under conditions that require Israel’s approval, including halting all military activity during visits and opening additional humanitarian aid convoys.

“We remain in regular contact with Hamas and the Israeli authorities. If Israel and Hamas come to an agreement, we’re ready to operate,” Grossman says.

While Hamas and aid agencies blame Israel for the lack of food distribution in Gaza, Israel denies allegations of and responsibility for widespread starvation, and accuses Hamas of actively diverting supplies and disrupting humanitarian efforts.

Grossman declined to assess Hamas’s claim that there is insufficient food to feed the hostages or claims of starvation, but notes that “The situation in Gaza is catastrophic.”

“Even our staff are affected. Food is harder to get, the nutritional quality is lower, the portions are smaller. The little food that is available is very expensive… we feel the shortage,” he adds.

“We know Gazans are hungry and we know there is malnutrition. We see it in our field hospital, we see it in our other programs, and we hear about it from our colleagues,” he says.

FBI data shows anti-Jewish hate crimes hit record high in 2024

A man affixes a bouquet of flowers to a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colo., courthouse Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Hate crimes against Jews accounted for 16% of all reported hate crimes in the United States in 2024, and nearly 70% of religion-based hate crimes, FBI data shows.

While the total number of hate crimes in the US throughout the year was virtually the same as in 2023, with 11,679 recorded instances, anti-Jewish hate crimes rose 5.8% to a record 1,938 incidents, the report shows.

The total includes 178 instances of assault.

The rise “is consistent with ADL’s reporting and, more importantly, with the Jewish community’s current lived experience,” said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in a statement about the report. “Our government and leaders must take these numbers seriously and enact adequate measures to protect all Americans from the scourge of hate crimes.”

Antisemitic attacks have skyrocketed in the US and around the world since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Earlier this year, the ADL counted a record 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, including a 21% increase in assaults.

After limited security meeting, sources say PM set on full occupation of Gaza, despite knowing it will endanger hostages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with the IDF General Staff Forum on June 30, 2025. At left is IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. At right is Defense Minister Israel Katz. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Following a limited security meeting to discuss military plans for Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heavily leaning toward occupying the Palestinian enclave, an unnamed source familiar with the details tells the Kan Public Broadcaster.

Other Hebrew-language news outlets, including Ynet and i24 News, carry similar reports, all quoting anonymous sources.

Today’s meeting was attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz, along with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

The IDF currently holds control over approximately 75 percent of the Gaza Strip, but under the new plan, the military would be expected to occupy the remaining territory as well, bringing the entire enclave under Israeli control.

One source tells Kan that the government is aware that the military campaign to gain full control over Gaza will likely endanger the remaining hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

The report says that the IDF and the defense establishment remain opposed to the plan, in part because it puts the hostages in danger of being executed by their captors should troops approach where they are being held.

According to Channel 12, the plan will be submitted to the full security cabinet for approval on Thursday.

The Prime Minister’s Office says in a brief statement that Netanyahu “held a limited security discussion today that lasted about 3 hours, in which the chief of staff presented the options for continuing the campaign in Gaza.”

“The IDF is prepared to implement any decision made by the security cabinet,” the statement adds.

AG’s office to High Court: State isn’t doing enough to crack down on Haredi draft dodgers, hindering IDF’s efforts

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators clash with police during a protest against the drafting of Haredi youth near Bnei Brak, June 5, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

In a filing to the High Court of Justice, the Attorney General’s Office says that while the IDF has significantly increased efforts to enlist members of the ultra-Orthodox community, including by sending out 54,000 conscription orders over the last month and substantially increasing enforcement against draft dodgers, it is “essential” that the state do more to increase sanctions and deny more benefits to evaders.

“This issue, which is the responsibility of the government, has not yet been addressed,” the Attorney General’s Office states.

Responding to a petition calling on the state to comply with a 2024 court ruling and recruit members of the previously exempt Haredi community, the state’s filing says that “the authorities must act, using the tools at their disposal…as well as adding additional enforcement tools.”

According to the Attorney General’s Office, it is critical to “expand personal enforcement measures” and deny economic benefits to draft evaders because the powers available to the army are currently “insufficient” to fill its ranks “in accordance with current security needs.”

Such measures, which have been suggested to the defense establishment by the Attorney General’s Office and other government ministries over the past several months, “are within the authority of various government bodies” and “can be promoted immediately, without the need for legislation,” the filing adds — noting that Defense Minister Israel Katz “and the government have not yet held a discussion to examine the possibilities for expanding the basket of enforcement tools.”

Last month, the Attorney General’s Office released a letter detailing the military’s new plan to increase enforcement against draft evaders.

It stated that the increased enforcement is slated to begin on July 25. Under the new guidelines, recipients of an initial draft order will have two and a half months to report to an enlistment center before receiving a so-called tzav 12, barring them from leaving the country and subjecting them to arrest during any encounter with the police.

There would also be greater enforcement at border crossings and checkpoints throughout the country, with increased coordination between the military and Israel Police, it added.

Since then, while arrests have been made, mass evasion has continued.

In its filing today, the Attorney General’s Office said that despite increased enforcement, the sheer number of Haredim who refuse to enlist means that “significant resources” will be required in the push to change this.

It notes that the “widespread public opposition” to conscription within the Haredi community — which manifests in frequent demonstrations outside recruitment offices — is posing a “very significant challenge” to recruiting its eligible members.

“Due to this opposition, the absolute majority of the population is not cooperating with the recruitment authorities,” the Attorney General’s Office says.

It adds that certain “elements within the Haredi population” have been organizing in a “systematic and institutionalized manner to encourage the non-reporting of any Haredi” called up by the army, which “undermines the success of recruitment efforts.”

Senior Khamenei advisor Ali Larijani appointed head of Iran’s National Security Council

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the semi-official Fars news agency reports.

The appointment takes place amid institutional changes following a 12-day air war with Israel in June, the Islamic Republic’s most severe security challenge since a war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the 1980s.

A former member of the Revolutionary Guards, Larijani held the same top security position from 2005 to 2007 and was parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020. He now replaces Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who had become SNSC secretary in 2023.

On Sunday, Iran revived an Iraq war-era Defence Council to review defense plans and enhance the capabilities of its armed forces in a centralized manner.

Iran’s president heads both the Defense Council and the SNSC.

110 pallets of humanitarian aid airdropped to Gaza today by six countries, IDF says

A plane airdrops humanitarian aid loaded with food supplies in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, Belgium, and France airdropped 110 pallets of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip today, the IDF says.

Each pallet contains around one ton of food.

Since July 26, a total of 785 humanitarian aid packages have been airdropped in the Gaza Strip by nine countries, including Israel, according to the military. The packages the IDF airdropped were supplied by international aid groups.

In Latvia, Herzog calls on international community to work for release of Gaza hostages

President Isaac Herzog holds up a photo of hostage Rom Braslavski during a joint press conference with Latvia's President Edgars Rinkevics (not pictured), in Riga, Latvia, on August 5, 2025. (Haim Tzach/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog calls on the international community to unite in securing the release of 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas under “horrific, inhumane conditions” during his state visit to Latvia.

“Just three days ago, Hamas released a video of hostage Evyatar David. You see the fat, heavy hand of [his] captor, and Evyatar David’s bones protruding from starvation,” Herzog says, standing next to Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics, in Riga.

David and hostage Rom Braslavski, of whom footage was also released, can be seen, the president says, “begging for their lives…enduring unspeakable hell, deliberate starvation.”

Herzog is in Latvia as part of a diplomatic visit to the Baltic states, meeting with his Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian counterparts as well as other senior officials, to rally global support for freeing the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, assist Israel’s diplomatic efforts, strengthen bilateral economic and security ties, and increase international pressure on Iran, according to his office.

“I call on the international community and the entire world to take a clear and decisive stance to bring all the hostages home,” he says, noting that he spoke with the president of the International Red Cross yesterday about getting food and medicine to the hostages.

Amid international outrage over the lack of humanitarian aid in Gaza, Herzog says that 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid have entered the strip in the last ten days, along with 120 airdrops from various countries. He invites “the Baltic states — especially Latvia — to join in these efforts.”

Herzog also warns of the “Iranian threat, which continues to destabilize… not only our region, but the entire world,” calling Tehran “a global threat and supplier of global terror.”

NYPD says 41 arrested at Jewish-led protest against Gaza war

Leftist Jews protest the war in Gaza, in New York City, August 4, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The NYPD says 41 people were taken into custody at a Jewish-led protest against the war in Gaza last night.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, across from the Trump International Hotel.

The demonstrators demanded that the administration of US President Donald Trump apply pressure on Israel to halt the war and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Groups backing the protest included T’ruah, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, IfNotNow, and Israelis for Peace. Speakers included New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the city government’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official.

At the end of the planned demonstration, dozens of the protesters gathered on the steps of the Trump International Hotel, chanting, beating drums, and reciting a prayer for Palestinians killed in the conflict.

Police handcuffed and detained the demonstrators to clear them from the hotel entrance and sidewalk.

The NYPD tells The Times of Israel that all 41 individuals taken into custody were issued summonses, which are used to inform members of the public that they have been charged with violating a city regulation.

Former Deri adviser appointed to head Interior Ministry despite Shas’ resignation from government

The government approves the appointment of Israel Uzan, a former adviser to Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri, as director general of the Interior Ministry in a move widely seen as cementing Shas’ continued control over the ministry even after its exit from the government.

Shas quit the government in June over its failure to advance legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service but remained a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. According to Kan public broadcaster, the party has been attempting to maintain de facto control over the ministries it headed until recently.

In a report last month, the outlet cited coalition sources as saying that the Shas ministers’ resignations were a sham and that in practice, “everything will stay the same” in the party’s former ministries as they are staffed by Shas-appointed advisers and directors general.

After the rest of his party’s ministers resigned, then-Interior Minister Moshe Arbel temporarily withdrew his own resignation letter so that he could appoint Uzan, who then served as director general of the Labor Ministry.

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox journalist Avraham Friend at the time, a source in United Torah Judaism’s Degel Hatorah faction slammed Shas, accusing it of engaging in “odious maneuvers.”

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri “coordinated a joint withdrawal [from the government] with [our rabbis] and in the end, he secured a place for himself in the cabinet, in committees, and in coalition partnerships,” the source charged.

Last week, the coalition appointed Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) to take over Shas’ interior, religious affairs and labor ministries in an acting capacity. The welfare and health ministries were transferred to Tourism Minister Haim Katz (Likud).

In a statement, Levin praised Uzan, stating that he “brings with him extensive experience in public service.”

PM said to convene limited security meeting to discuss military plans for Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening a limited security meeting to discuss military plans for Gaza, Channel 12 reports.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer are in attendance, according to Channel 12.

The meeting comes following yesterday’s cabinet meeting, during which Netanyahu told ministers he intends to seek cabinet approval for a full re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, despite opposition from some in the military.

German soccer club ends pursuit of Israeli player after fans protest post-Oct. 7 social media posts

Israel's forward Shon Weissman reacts at the end of the UEFA Nations League - League B Group 2 - soccer match between Israel and Iceland at the Samy Ofer stadium in Haifa, June 2, 2022. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

A German soccer club has decided not to move ahead with its planned signing of Israeli striker Shon Weissman, reportedly after fans protested against the move in light of social media posts published by Weissman in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught that recently drew public attention.

The German second-division club Fortuna Düsseldorf had been close to bringing Weissman onto the team, according to Hebrew media reports, but said earlier today that it had concluded these efforts.

“We’ve looked into signing Shon Weissman intensively, but have ultimately decided against signing him,” the soccer club’s X account stated, without offering further details.

The announcement came hours after the club appeared to defend Weissman, telling one fan who opposed signing him that it would not make a decision “based on a Wikipedia article.”

The Haaretz newspaper reports, however, that fans had pressured the club to drop its pursuit of Weissman and signed an online petition against the move after unearthing his old social media posts, which it says had been featured in his English-language Wikipedia page.

The Wikipedia page has since been edited by someone whom Wikipedia says appears to have a “close connection” with Weissman, and the social media posts removed.

According to Haaretz, a controversial post in question, published just days after October 7, had asked: “What’s the logical reason that 200-ton bombs haven’t been dropped on Gaza yet?”

The Israeli soccer player had also shared posts calling to “wipe Gaza off the map” and claiming there were “no innocents” in the Strip, Haaretz reports.

Weissman responds to Fortuna Düsseldorf’s decision in a post on Instagram, in which he asserts that the fans had been lacking “the full context” of his posts.

“I am a son of a nation still grieving from the horrors of October 7th,” he writes. “That black day, when entire families were murdered, kidnapped, and brutalized, remains an open wound for me as a person, as a member of an Israeli family, and as an athlete representing my country.”

“It’s both possible and necessary to oppose harm to innocent people on both sides but I won’t allow myself to be painted as someone who promoted hate,” he writes, adding that those who suggest otherwise “should take another look at what happened on October 7th.”

“While I accept all criticism, it pains me that the full context was not considered,” Weissman adds, vowing that he will “continue to proudly carry the Israeli flag wherever I play.”

Deri caught on record telling yeshiva students not to enlist in the IDF ‘in a moment of weakness’

Shas party chief Aryeh Deri at the scene of suspected arson at a Jerusalem synagogue on June 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri is filmed telling yeshiva students that they should not even think about abandoning their studies to enlist in the army in order to contribute militarily to the current war in Gaza.

In remarks made last week at the Shaar HaMelech yeshiva in Jerusalem and aired by the i24 news network, Deri can be heard discouraging the students from enlisting, stating “God forbid it should occur to anyone here in a moment of weakness that maybe at a time like this when the people of Israel are in a state of war…that anybody should, God forbid, perhaps think…maybe we really need to do something different, maybe we need to contribute. God forbid.”

Deri then clarifies that he is referring to yeshiva students rather than the general Haredi community.

“Gentleman, the people carrying the burden [of the defense of Israel] are the Torah students.”

While not a minister, Deri is a regular observer in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet and is closely involved in security issues.

The Haredim have been pushing hard for the passage of legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service, in the wake of last year’s High Court decision that such exemptions are illegal on equality grounds.

The government’s failure to advance such legislation led to Shas quitting the government last month, although it has remained part of the coalition.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently eligible for IDF service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, due to the strain on standing and reservist forces in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges. Currently, only around 1,800 Haredim enlist annually. About 2,700 enlisted over the past year, far short of the IDF’s goal of 4,800.

IDF says troops demolished 2-kilometer-long Hamas tunnel under Khan Younis, in southern Gaza

A two-kilometer (1.25-mile)-long Hamas tunnel was demolished by combat engineers in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, during recent operations of the Kfir Brigade in the area, the IDF says.

The IDF releases footage of the demolition.

PM met with US House Speaker Johnson for dinner in Shiloh settlement Monday, PM’s office says

L-R: US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet Huckabee; Sara Netanyahu and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Kerry Larry, the wife of US House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Johnson, during Johnson's visit to Israel, on August 4, 2025. (PMO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara met Monday evening with US House Speaker Mike Johnson in the settlement of Shiloh in the West Bank, the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.

The meeting, held over dinner, was also attended by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, Republican members of Congress Michael McCaul, Claudia Tenney, Michael Cloud, and Nathaniel Moran, as well as Yesha Council Chairman and Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Gantz.

Johnson is one of the most senior US officials to ever visit a West Bank settlement.

According to Axios, the Republican lawmakers are in Israel on a private, previously unannounced trip, organized by Heather Johnston, the founder of a group called the US Israel Education Association, which describes its core value as “the Judeo-Christian heritage and the historical and biblical significance of Israel.”

The event was also attended by Ditsa Or, mother of Avinatan Or, who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attacks and remains in captivity. She met with the prime minister and his wife during the event.

State attorney suggests ‘highly irregular’ dismissal of attorney general was against the law

State Attorney Amit Aisman speaks during a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 21, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

State Attorney Amit Aisman describes the government’s dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara yesterday as “highly irregular,” and says the decision to fire her “challenges the principles” of the rule of law in Israel.

In a letter to the employees of the State Attorney’s Office, Aisman says he believes Baharav-Miara’s termination “contravened the law,” and states that the agency he heads will continue to fully cooperate with the attorney general, in accordance with the High Court of Justice ruling yesterday freezing her dismissal until it can rule on petitions against the move.

“The government’s decision to terminate the term of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is a highly irregular event and the first of its kind, challenging the fundamental principles of the independence of the prosecutor’s office and the Attorney General’s Office, as well as the rule of law in the State of Israel,” writes Aisman.

Although an attorney general, Yitzhak Zamir, had been fired on one previous occasion by the government, Zamir was dismissed in 1986 before the current process of appointing and firing the attorney general was adopted in 2000.

“The State Attorney’s Office under my leadership will continue to serve the State of Israel and operate as usual and in full cooperation with the attorney general, in accordance with her status and powers under the law, out of a full commitment to maintaining the rule of law, the independence of the prosecutorial system, and the public interest,” says Aisman.

Report: Iranian nuclear scientists paid secretive visit to Russian scientific facilities last year

Iranian nuclear scientists visited Russia last year on a secretive trip to view Russian facilities working on technologies relevant to nuclear weapons production, the Financial Times reports.

According to the report, which is based on various official letters, travel documents and corporate records, Iranian nuclear scientist Ali Kalvand and four of his employees traveled to Moscow on August 4, 2024, claiming to be employees of a Tehran-based consulting firm. However, the report says, they all entered Russia on diplomatic passports, issued just weeks before the trip.

During their time in Moscow, the Financial Times says the nuclear scientists visited a Russian scientific institution that produces dual-use technologies, which both have civilian applications and are related to nuclear weapons research.

The outlet notes that it was unable to identify the specific technologies that Iran was seeking from the Russian facilities, but says that one of the Iranian scientists, Soroush Mohtashami, is an expert on neutron generators — a component that can trigger detonation in some nuclear weapons.

Along with Kalvand and Mohtashami, the other members of the Iranian delegation are identified by the Financial Times as Javad Ghasemi, the former CEO of a US-sanctioned nuclear weapons-related company in Iran, and Rouhollah Azimirad, a senior scientist at Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which is widely viewed as the successor to Iran’s official nuclear weapons program.

In a letter Kalvand sent to Russian scientist Oleg Maslennikov ahead of the visit, he said that the purpose of the trip would be “to discuss and agree on technical and production aspects of electronic device development,” the Financial Times said, and “to consider general potential paths for expanding scientific co-operation.”

According to documents reviewed by the Financial Times, the visit by the Iranian scientists also had a secondary purpose — acquiring radioactive materials.

In May 2024, the report says, Kalvand sent a letter to a Russian supplier of nuclear isotopes, in which he requested three radioactive isotopes, for research purposes, in unspecified quantities: Tritium, Stronium-90, and Nickel-63.

The three isotopes all play different roles in the production and testing of nuclear weapons. However, the Financial Times says it found no evidence that Kalvand ever received the isotopes he was seeking.

In June of this year, Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, triggering a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic, after Jerusalem determined that it had taken unprecedented steps toward building a nuclear weapon.

37 deaths since start of 2024: Knesset subcommittee holds special session on suicide rates among IDF soldiers, reservists

The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Human Resources Subcommittee held a special session earlier today to address the growing number of suicides among IDF soldiers, and particularly among reservists serving since the war’s outbreak on October 7, 2023.

The discussion featured emotional testimony from Neta Dagan, whose twin brother, Air Force Maj. Asaf Dagan, died by suicide last year.

“Assaf asked to see a mental health officer several times. A month before he took his own life, my mother warned a senior commander in the Air Force that he was going to commit suicide,” she said. “Suicide is not fate — it’s in our hands to change it.”

During the meeting, Brig. Gen. Amir Vadmani, chief of staff of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, said 16 suicides have been recorded so far in 2025, and 21 were recorded throughout 2024.

While rates among compulsory service members have remained stable, there has been a significant rise among reservists — a population that has expanded dramatically since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

In response, the IDF has increased its number of mental health officers, opened 24/7 support hotlines, and expanded combat stress units and PTSD care — including within active combat zones.

Still, Likud MK Keti Shitrit warned that the country is “facing a tsunami” and demanded full transparency from the army, saying, “Our best sons and daughters carry a heavy burden even after leaving the battlefield. We don’t have the privilege or time to wait. I am demanding that the army establish a committee with authority and clear objectives, with full transparency.”

Last week, the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, ordered the establishment of a panel of experts to “examine the response provided to discharged soldiers and reservists who are not on active duty and who ended their lives following their military service.”

The military said the committee will be headed by former Personnel Directorate chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Moti Almoz, and will include IDF medical and mental health professionals, legal advisors, casualty officers, and Defense Ministry representatives.

Committee chair Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern concluded the session by praising the IDF’s efforts but urging further improvement: “We can’t prevent trauma, but we can promise that no one will be left to face it alone. Mental health support is a moral obligation that saves lives in the most literal sense of the word.

Foreign Ministry summons Polish envoy after Tusk accuses Israel of causing Gaza starvation

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on March 28, 2024 (Wojtek Radwanski / AFP)

Following remarks from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accusing Israeli politicians of causing starvation in Gaza, the Foreign Ministry summoned Polish ambassador to Israel Maciej Hunia for a dressing down today, the ministry says in a statement.

Hunia was summoned “for an official demarche by the head of the Political-Strategic Division, following unacceptable statements made by the prime minister of Poland,” says the ministry in a statement.

“Israel firmly rejects these accusations and expects Poland to refrain from using language that distorts history and dishonors the memory of Holocaust victims. The head of the Division emphasized that Israel is fighting a terrorist organization that openly seeks the murder of Jews and Israelis, and the destruction of Israel,” the statement reads.

“Israel acts under international humanitarian law and has significantly expanded its humanitarian aid efforts — including the entry of additional aid convoys into the Gaza Strip, humanitarian pauses, the opening of safe passage routes for aid delivery, infrastructure repairs, and airdrops of humanitarian supplies — including coordination with the European Union,” adds the ministry.

On Sunday, in a Polish-language post on X that sparked strong criticism from the Foreign Ministry, Tusk stated: “Poland was, is, and will be on Israel’s side in its confrontation with Islamic terrorism, but never on the side of politicians whose actions lead to hunger and the death of mothers and children. This must be obvious to nations that together went through the hell of World War II.”

In response, the Foreign Ministry yesterday accused the Polish premier of “linking his timely condemnation of Hamas with an unacceptable reference to politicians, accompanied by a reminder of the horrible days of World War II,” and encouraged the premier to “remember the lesson of ‘Never Again,'” referencing the slogan associated with remembrance of the Holocaust, the systemic genocide of six million Jews which was largely carried out in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

“Never Again…applies to our era’s new Nazis and their collaborators, Hamas. Israel acts within international law. When Poland is threatened, you don’t take risks either,” wrote the ministry.

Suspect tried for attempted attack on Baku synagogue

A youth in Azerbaijan is being tried for planning to attack a synagogue in the capital city of Baku, Ynet reports.

According to the indictment, the 18-year-old was inspired by the Islamic State terror organization and had planned to carry out further attacks, Ynet says.

A witness at the hearing said the suspect praised ISIS, claimed to have connections with an ISIS operative, and asked for help securing a knife, an axe, Molotov cocktails, and other improvised weapons.

The suspect told the witness, “I intend to carry out the attack at any cost. I want to die as a martyr,” according to the report.

Three of Azerbaijan’s eight synagogues are in Baku. Estimates of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan vary between 6,000 and 30,000, with the majority living in Baku.

Speaking to IDF recruits, Netanyahu touts victories, vows not to give up on Gaza war goals

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to soldiers at the Bakum, the massive military induction base in central Israel, August 5, 2025. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

During a visit to the Bakum, the massive military induction base in central Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with young recruits enlisting in the IDF’s Armored Corps and Combat Engineering Corps and reiterates the need to complete Israel’s war aims in Gaza.

In a video shared by his office, Netanyahu is seen greeting and sending off the new troops, after which he commends the two corps for having “performed outstandingly in this war.”

“These two forces are what brought us the great victories we’ve achieved so far,” says the premier, pointing to strikes against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime in Syria, and Iran.

“But there is still a need to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, to release all our hostages, and to ensure that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel,” he continues, reiterating his three stated aims for the war.

“We are not giving up on any of these missions. We will accomplish them together through the great sacrifice of our male and female combat soldiers,” he says. Netanyahu notes that this is the sixth recruitment cycle during the war, and says “more troops than ever” are being drafted, and “there has also been a tremendous increase in the number of women volunteering for combat roles.”

Egypt’s Sissi: War in Gaza has turned into a war of starvation and annihilation

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks during a press conference after his meeting with the French president at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, on April 7, 2025. (Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi says that “the war in Gaza is no longer a war to achieve diplomatic objectives or to free hostages — it has become a war of starvation, annihilation, and the elimination of the Palestinian cause.”

At a press conference in Cairo with Vietnamese President Lương Cường, Sissi adds that “history will hold many countries accountable for their stance on the war in Gaza, and the global human conscience will not remain silent for long.”

Knesset panel to discuss moving Haifa-area grave of ‘father of terrorism’ Qassam

The grave of Izzedine al-Qassam near Haifa (Photo credit: CC-BY-SA Tiamut/Wikimedia Commons)

The Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee will hold a hearing next week to discuss the possibility of moving the grave of notorious Muslim extremist Izzedine al-Qassam, the namesake of Hamas’ military wing, who is buried in the town of Nesher, north of Haifa.

According to the Walla news site, newly appointed chairman Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) has stated that “we must remove the disgrace and moral stain that the father of terrorism, Izzedine al-Qassam, is buried on state land, and therefore I will hold the first hearing in the Interior Committee on the removal of the grave of the arch-terrorist.”

“Our demand is to move his grave, or use it as a bargaining chip in negotiations to return the hostages. Or he will be buried in a cemetery for terrorists,” he said.

Born in Syria, Qassam was a Muslim extremist who fought against French colonialism in Syria and later against the British rulers of Mandatory Palestine as well as Zionist settlers. He orchestrated many murders of Jews in Palestine during the 1930s. Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is named after him, as are the crude Qassam rockets that have been fired from Gaza into Israeli population centers in the south of the country.

Kroizer was appointed as chairman of the committee yesterday, replacing United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher, whose party recently left the coalition over a dispute regarding the conscription of yeshiva students.

After accepting his position, Kroizer said that he will serve until Asher’s return.

IDF officer moderately hurt by explosive in southern Gaza

An IDF officer was moderately wounded by an explosive device during operations in the southern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military says.

He was taken to a hospital for treatment, and his family was notified, the IDF adds.

Turkish panel tasked with advancing peace with PKK holds first meeting

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) commanders and fighters stand in front of a picture of jailed PKK leader and founder Abdullah Ocalan during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025. (Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP)

ANKARA, Turkey — A newly formed Turkish parliamentary committee tasked with overseeing a peace initiative with a Kurdish militant group holds its inaugural meeting, marking a further significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency.

The 51-member committee, comprised of legislators from most major parties, has been charged with proposing and supervising legal and political reforms aimed at advancing the peace process, following the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK’s, decision to disband and lay down arms.

Fighters from the group began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq last month, the first concrete step toward disarmament.

In his opening remarks, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus calls the committee’s launch a “historic turning point.”

“The commission gathered here is no ordinary delegation; it is a historic one, demonstrating the courage to repair our future and the will to strengthen social integration,” he says.

“In this hall, we are witnessing the beginning of a new era, representing the will of the nation,” he says, before the proceedings were closed to journalists.

The committee is expected to decide on how to proceed and to select an official name.

Gantz slams ‘unrestrained attacks’ on IDF chief over opposition to potential occupation of Gaza

MK Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White-National Unity party, leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Blue and White-National Unity chairman Benny Gantz condemns cabinet ministers’ “unrestrained attacks” against IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir over his reported opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to occupy Gaza.

“In the state of Israel, the chief of staff is subordinate to the political echelon, as it has always been and will be, but he is not a puppet on a string or a rubber stamp,” Gantz tweets. “Instead of threatening and whining, perhaps it’s worth internalizing: The problem lies with the political echelon, not the military one.”

This morning, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared that the military chief must obey the political echelon’s orders even if he disagrees with them, amid reported tensions within the security cabinet over whether to escalate military operations in Gaza or allow more time for a hostage deal.

“The chief of staff is required to state clearly that he will fully comply with the directives of the political echelon, even if a decision is made for conquest and decisive action,” wrote Ben Gvir, who is pushing for the full occupation of Gaza, in a Hebrew-language post on X.

Zamir was defended by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who posted that he was “required to express his professional opinion clearly and unequivocally to the political echelon.”

During a visit to an IDF post in the Gaza buffer zone, Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that “once the political leadership makes the necessary decisions, the military echelon, as it has done in all fronts of war so far, will professionally implement the determined policy.”

“My role as the defense minister in charge of the IDF is to ensure that this will be the case, and that is what I will do,” he said.

Zamir is expected to present updated military options during a limited security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today.

Iberia says it opened probe after ‘Free Palestine’ written on kosher meal packaging

MADRID, Spain — Spanish airline Iberia says that it has opened an investigation after a passenger who requested a kosher meal received his food tray with the words “Free Palestine” written on the packaging.

Several other Jewish passengers on the flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid received meal trays marked with the initials “FP” for “Free Palestine,” according to DAIA, the umbrella organisation of Argentina’s Jewish community, calling it a “serious act of antisemitism.”

“We strongly condemn this discriminatory act and have contacted the airline authorities to demand explanations and immediate action,” the group says in a message posted on X.

The post included a photo showing a meal tray with a handwritten white label marked “Free Palestine” in black letters.

Kosher refers to food prepared according to Jewish dietary laws.

In a statement, Iberia confirms that some passengers on the flight that landed early Tuesday reported “handwritten pro-Palestinian messages” on their meal packaging.

“The Iberia crew documented the incident and took action to assist those affected. The captain personally approached them to apologise on behalf of the airline,” the statement says.

The airline says it was conducting an internal investigation and working with its catering providers to determine how the labels were added.

Iberia also says it “categorically rejects any form of discrimination, incitement to hatred, or behavior that undermines the dignity of individuals.”

UN: Around 88% of aid trucks collected in Gaza since mid-May did not reach destinations due to looting or theft

Palestinians ride on a truck loaded with food and humanitarian aid as it moves along the Morag corridor near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (AP/ Mariam Dagga)

The United Nations Office for Project Services has published data showing that since the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19 and up until August 5, a total of 2,604 aid trucks were collected by the UN after entering the Strip. Of those, 2,309 did not reach their intended destinations inside the enclave.

According to the organization, this was due to the trucks being “intercepted either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors during transit in Gaza.” This accounts for 88% of all trucks.

In recent months, the percentages were even higher. According to UNOPS, in June, 1,155 trucks were collected by the UN and its partner organizations, and 1,048 of them — 90.7% — were intercepted before reaching their destinations. In July, the figure rose to 94%, with 1,161 trucks collected and 1,093 intercepted.

Olga Cherevko from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs clarifies to The Times of Israel that the vast majority of looting is being carried out by hungry Gazans, not by armed gangs.

“The long-standing restrictions on the entry of aid have created an unpredictable environment where there is a lack of confidence by the communities that aid will reach them,” she says.

“This has resulted in many of our convoys offloaded directly by starving, desperate people as they continue to face deep levels of hunger and are struggling to feed their families,” the UN staffer continues.

“As we have said before, the only way to reach a level of confidence is by having a sustained flow of aid over a period of time. This was clearly evident during the weeks of the last ceasefire when such incidents did not occur,” she adds.

Brother of hostage Evyatar David to brief UN Security Council special session

Ilay David, the elder brother of hostage Evyatar David, is set to brief the United Nations Security Council at a special session on the situation of Gaza hostages in New York this evening, according to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s office.

Ilay will address the council remotely, while Sa’ar — who requested an urgent meeting of the Council after Evyatar and hostage Rom Braslavski appeared severely emaciated in videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in recent days — will speak in person at the New York meeting.

On Saturday, after the video of his brother was released by Hamas, Ilay accused the terror group of using hostages as “live hunger experiments” and called on the government of Israel and world leaders to bring about the hostages’ release “by any means necessary.”

The UNSC session will take place at 3 p.m. New York time (10 p.m. Israel time). Shortly ahead of the discussion, at 2:45 p.m. New York time, Sa’ar is set to hold a press conference outside the UNSC.

Katz says IDF will ‘professionally implement’ ministers’ decisions on achieving war’s goals, after Zamir said to oppose Gaza occupation

Defense Minister Israel Katz visits an IDF post in the Gaza Strip buffer zone, August 5, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

During a visit to an IDF post in the Gaza buffer zone, Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has “formulated his position regarding the security and political steps Israel must take to ensure the achievement of the war’s objectives,” which he will present later today to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cabinet ministers.

“The defeat of Hamas in Gaza, while creating the conditions for the return of the hostages, are the main objectives of the war in Gaza, and we must take all necessary actions to achieve them,” Katz says in remarks issued by his office.

“At the same time, we must ensure the safety and security of Israeli communities by maintaining a permanent IDF presence in a peripheral security zone at strategic points in Gaza, from which attacks on communities and the smuggling of weapons into Gaza can be prevented,” he says from the so-called “Ridge 70” post.

“Once the political leadership makes the necessary decisions, the military echelon, as it has done in all fronts of war so far, will professionally implement the determined policy,” he says, adding that “My role as the defense minister in charge of the IDF is to ensure that this will be the case, and that is what I will do.”

The remarks come amid reports that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir opposes the government’s proposed occupation of Gaza.

76% of Jewish Israelis say antisemitic, anti-Israel incidents overseas impacted travel plans, survey says

Travelers at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, June 25, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Over three-quarters of Jewish Israelis say their travel plans have been impacted by reports of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents overseas, according to the Israel Democracy Institute.

Asked if the incidents have influenced plans to travel, 38 percent of all respondents say they have impacted their choice of destination, while 18% say they will not fly overseas in the near future.

But when the results are altered to only include respondents with booked travel plans, 76% of Jewish Israelis surveyed say the incidents impacted their plans, including 54.5% who have changed their destination, and 21.% who say they won’t travel at all.

In addition, 65% of Arab Israeli respondents are affected, including 26.5% who say they have changed their destination, while 38.5% say they won’t travel at all.

Former PM Bennett says Israel’s standing in US ‘has never been so bad,’ Netanyahu turned it into ‘leper state’

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett visits at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, May 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s status in the United States “has never been so bad,” former premier Naftali Bennett warns, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for turning it into “a leper state.”

In a lengthy tweet following a tour of the US, Bennett argues that Israel has lost Democratic support and that “the Republican Party, whose support for Israel could once be counted on, is also being lost.”

“Although some of the Trump administration still sympathizes with Israel, primarily thanks to President Trump himself, many on the right wing in the US, including the MAGA movement, are distancing themselves from Israel,” Bennett writes, insisting that even Israel’s friends “are having a hard time defending” it.

“The ‘starvation’ campaign in Gaza has grown to enormous proportions, and in fact, for most of the American public and various influencers, it is almost a fact — Israel is seen more as a liability and a burden on the US and Americans,” he continues, adding that rising antisemitism has led many on both the radical left and right to blame Jews for America’s troubles.

In response, the Israeli government is doing “terrible damage” and “still does not understand the magnitude of the disaster,” he says, blaming the Prime Minister’s Office for failing at public diplomacy and noting that those responsible for such efforts had “received a salary from Qatar.”

Two of Netanyahu’s aides are suspected of having committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister.

Moreover, he says, government ministers like Amichai Eliyahu, Amichai Chikli, and Bezalel Smotrich “babble on and cause us unimaginable damage with devastating quotes that will haunt our soldiers in line for passports in countries around the world.”

“Do you really think that what you say in interviews in Israel isn’t being heard abroad?! Don’t you care that you will lead to the prosecution of our soldiers?” he asks. “If Netanyahu’s propaganda people were working against Israel’s external enemies with a tenth of the talent, speed, and dedication with which they operate the propaganda machine against their political opponents inside Israel, our situation would be incredible.”

Sa’ar backs IDF chief’s need to express professional view after Ben Gvir insists Zamir must obey ministers

Amid reported tensions within the security cabinet over whether to escalate military operations in Gaza or allow more time for a hostage deal, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar defends IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote that the military chief must obey the political echelon’s orders even if he disagrees with them.

“The chief of staff is required to state clearly that he will fully comply with the directives of the political echelon, even if a decision is made for conquest and decisive action,” wrote Ben Gvir, who is pushing for the full occupation of Gaza, in a Hebrew-language post on X.

Shortly after, Sa’ar wrote on his X account: “The chief of staff is required to express his professional opinion clearly and unequivocally to the political echelon. I am convinced that he will do so.”

“He is not required to clarify the subordination of the military echelon to the government’s decisions,” Sa’ar added.

The exchange comes as the security cabinet — where both Ben Gvir and Sa’ar serve — is expected to decide this week on the next phase of the Gaza operation. Both Zamir and Sa’ar are reportedly pursuing a hostage deal over expanding military action.

Zamir is expected to present updated military options during a limited security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today.

IDF says it hit dozens of terror targets, destroyed tunnels in past day’s Gaza operations

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in an image published on August 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF shelled dozens of terror targets in the Gaza Strip with artillery in the past day, the military says.

In southern Gaza, the IDF says the 282nd Artillery Regiment hit over 30 targets, including buildings and apartments used by Hamas to advance attacks on troops in the area.

In northern Gaza, the 990th Reserve Artillery Regiment killed several terror operatives and hit additional buildings used by terror groups, the army says.

Hamas authorities reported yesterday that over 90 people were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza over the previous 24 hours.

Also in southern Gaza, the 188th Armored Brigade destroyed a building where the IDF says it located a tunnel entrance and killed operatives who approached the forces.

Tunnels were also demolished during operations of the Givati Brigade in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, the IDF adds.

Netanyahu to huddle with security chiefs on Gaza plans today — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with the IDF General Staff Forum on June 30, 2025. At left is IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. At right is Defense Minister Israel Katz. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a limited security meeting today to discuss military plans for Gaza, Channel 12 reports.

Attending the meeting will be Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and IDF Operations Directorate head Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen, according to Channel 12.

During the session, Zamir is expected to present Netanyahu with several operational options for continuing the war in Gaza. The goal of the meeting is to finalize a plan to present later this week at a broader cabinet meeting that Netanyahu has announced, adds the network.

According to reports, following yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told ministers he intends to seek cabinet approval for a full re-occupation of the Gaza Strip — a move facing pushback from some in the military.

Iran says it detained members of sabotage cell linked to banned MEK opposition group

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has arrested three members of a suspected sabotage cell linked to the exiled opposition for attempting to disrupt public order, Iranian media reports.

The suspects, who are allegedly linked to the banned rebel group the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (MEK), were detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the county of Pakdasht, southeast of Tehran, the ISNA news agency says.

“Three members of MEK-linked sabotage cells who sought to disrupt public order and security were identified and arrested,” prosecutor Mohammad Hassanpour tells ISNA.

He accuses the MEK of using underground propaganda networks to recruit individuals to form “sabotage cells” aimed at disrupting public order.

Security forces dismantled the cell and arrested all its members, he adds.

Hassanpour says the suspects were undergoing “specialized interrogation” and the investigation was ongoing.

Netanyahu mediating between Trump, Putin, in bid to reduce tensions — report

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) with a bouquet of flowers and then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 30, 2020. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to help reduce tensions between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources close to Netanyahu tell the Kan public broadcaster.

Some of Netanyahu’s phone calls with Putin have been reported in the media, and some have remained secret, according to the report.

The report comes days after, in a warning to Russia, Trump ordered the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines “based on the highly provocative statements” of the country’s former president, Dmitry Medvedev, who has raised the prospect of war online.

Trump has said that special envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Russia this week to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. He cut his 50-day deadline for action to 10 days, with that window set to expire Friday.

‘Free Palestine’ written on Kosher meal on Iberia Airlines flight, Argentine Jewish group says

A Jewish passenger who flew from Buenos Aires to Madrid found the slogan, “Free Palestine,” scrawled on his Kosher meal, Argentina’s DAIA umbrella Jewish organization says in a post on X.

Other Jewish passengers on the Iberia Airlines flight IB0102 found the abbreviation “FP” written on their kosher meals, the organization says, without specifying the date of the flight.

DAIA says they have requested that Iberia Airlines provide an explanation and take action over the incident.

Grave acto de antisemitismo en vuelo de @Iberia denunciado en la DAIA

En el vuelo IB0102 Buenos Aires–Madrid, el pasajero Salvador Auday recibió su bandeja de comida kosher con la leyenda “Free Palestine”. Otros pasajeros judíos también recibieron bandejas con las iniciales… pic.twitter.com/2srkgOGIQU

— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) August 4, 2025

Iran orders government offices to close Wednesday as heatwave strains power grid

High voltage electrical transmission towers are pictured at sunset in western Tehran, Iran, on August 2, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian authorities order many government offices to close tomorrow in a bid to cut power consumption as a heatwave strains generating capacity, state media reported.

At least 15 of Iran’s 31 provinces will see public offices either shut or operating on reduced hours, the official IRNA news agency says.

Provinces affected include West Azerbaijan and Ardabil in the northwest, Hormozgan in the south, and Alborz in the north, as well as the capital Tehran.

Tehran governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian says the closures came at the request of the energy ministry and were intended to “manage energy consumption in the water and electricity sectors,” state television says.

Emergency and frontline services will remain open, the television report adds.

Elevated temperatures that began in mid-July have strained Iran’s power grid, prompting rolling blackouts nationwide as temperatures topped 50°C in the south.

Authorities in Tehran have also reduced the pressure in water mains to manage falling reservoir levels, as the country endures what Iranian media have described as the worst drought in a century.

For first time in nearly a year, Israel to gradually allow flow of goods to Gaza’s private sector

Israel will gradually permit the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip through the private commercial sector, under a new mechanism, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announces.

COGAT says the move aims to “increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the UN and international organizations.”

“As part of formulating this mechanism, a limited number of local merchants were approved by the defense establishment, subject to specific criteria and thorough security screening,” COGAT says.

It says the approved goods include basic food products, baby food, fruits and vegetables, and hygiene supplies and “payments for the purchase of these goods will be conducted via bank transfers only, under a monitoring and oversight mechanism.”

The goods will undergo an inspection by Israeli authorities at the border crossings with Gaza before entering the Strip.

In the past year, only aid supplied by the UN or other international humanitarian organizations has been permitted to enter Gaza.

“The IDF, through COGAT, and in cooperation with security agencies, will continue to operate monitoring and oversight mechanisms for the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, while taking all possible measures to prevent the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organization in the processes of bringing in and distributing the aid,” the statement adds.

Israel previously allowed goods into Gaza via the private sector between May and October 2024.

In a November 2024 response to a High Court appeal by human rights groups, COGAT said that “verified indications show that the Hamas terror organization is exploiting the entry of goods for economic and military buildup.” It was therefore decided on October 8, 2024, not to allow the continued entry of goods into the Strip via the private sector.

16-year-old killed, three hurt in car crash along Route 90

Paramedics arrive to the scene of a fatal car crash that killed a teenage boy and injured three others on Route 90, near Masada in southern Israel on August 5, 2025. (Magen David Adom)

A 16-year-old boy was killed in a car crash this morning after the vehicle he was traveling in veered off Route 90 near Masada, in southern Israel.

Paramedics say the teen sustained severe head trauma and had no pulse by the time they reached him and the totaled car, in an open area next to the highway.

Three other passengers were injured in the crash and have been taken to hospitals by helicopter.

A 17-year-old boy is in serious condition, sedated and put on a ventilator, while two men in their 20s are in moderate condition, the Magen David Adom emergency service says.

On 669th day of war, alumni of IDF’s Unit 669 sponsor banner over Ayalon calling for hostages’ release

A banner over the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv sponsored by former members of the IDF's search and rescue Unit 669 calls for the release of the hostages and bears the unit’s motto, a quote from Psalms: “In your distress you called and I delivered you," August 5, 2025. (Adar Eyal/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Alumni of the IDF’s search and rescue Unit 669 sponsor a banner over Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, 669 days into the war in Gaza, calling for the release of hostages.

The unit’s Psalms motto is written on the banner: “In your distress you called and I delivered you.”

Lapid says disputes between military chief, PM must ‘stay behind closed doors’

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says disputes between the prime minister and the IDF chief of staff must remain behind closed doors, after Hebrew media reported last night that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir opposes Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to occupy Gaza.

“I also had arguments with the IDF chief of staff, as foreign minister, and as prime minister. Some of them were not simple. Only one thing was clear to us: they need to stay behind closed doors,” Lapid writes on X.

“IDF soldiers don’t need to think that a divided and conflicted leadership is leading them, that the political echelon does not respect their commander, that they are selling them out for a headline,” he writes.

Lapid also says there is an “operational price” for the leaks of the arguments, charging that the IDF chief of staff will prevent himself from saying everything he thinks if he knows they will make it to the press.

Amid reported daylight between IDF chief and PM, Yair Netanyahu says Katz insisted Zamir head military

Yair Netanyahu attends an event after the release of first voting results in the Israeli general elections, at the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, on September 18, 2019. (Gili Yaari/Flash90/File)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair claims Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir was appointed as IDF chief of staff because Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on the choice.

After an X user questioned why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose Zamir, despite his base urging him not to pick someone who was part of the old “conceptzia” — Israel’s strategic thinking before October 7, 2023 — Yair Netanyahu answers: “Israel Katz was the one who insisted.”

Another user asks why there were only three nominees and if it was possible to add a fourth.

“He [Katz] determines the nominees,” Netanyahu replies.

Additionally, Yedioth Aharonoth military correspondent Yossi Yehoshua writes: “If Netanyahu really is interested in making the really dramatic and divisive decision among the Israeli public — the occupation of Gaza City and the central camps — he needs to stand before the nation, clarify the expected price to the lives of the hostages and soldiers who will fall, and declare that he takes full responsibility, despite the IDF’s opposition.”

Yair Netanyahu replies, “If whoever dictated to you that tweet is who we think, this is a rebellion and attempted military coup fit for a banana republic in Central America during the 70s. This is completely criminal,” apparently claiming Zamir dictated the journalist’s posts.

The latest controversial post from Netanyahu, who has been accused in the past of promoting conspiracy theories, was made amid a reported disagreement between Netanyahu and Zamir.

Netanyahu reportedly told ministers this week that he will seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, while Zamir is said to oppose the move.

Almost all of the defense ministers and military chiefs who previously served under Netanyahu have fallen out with the premier after their tenures, with the premier casting them as leftists and them becoming staunch critics of his leadership.

‘Never again is now’: Leftist Jews in NYC protest against Israel over Gaza war

Leftist Jews protest the war in Gaza, in New York City, August 4, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Several hundred protesters led by leftish Jewish groups gather in New York City to demand and end to the war in Gaza.

The protesters carry signs that say, “Stop ethnic cleansing,” “Never again is now,” and

“Stop starvation.”

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the city’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, leads the crowd in chants of “No more.”

“Yesterday on Tisha B’av we mourned a destruction that happened to the people of Israel, today we mourn a destruction being caused by the State of Israel, and we say no more,” Lander says.

NYC Comptroller Lander speaks against Gaza war at protest in Columbus Circle led by leftist Jewish groups pic.twitter.com/Sk5kdFB89R

— Luke Tress (@luketress) August 4, 2025

The protest, called “Jews Say: No More,” takes place at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, across from the Trump International Hotel.

The demonstrators are demanding the Trump administration apply pressure on Israel to halt the war and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Groups backing the protest include T’ruah, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, IfNotNow, and Israelis for Peace.

“We need to keep up the pressure and get more food and aid into Gaza NOW before more Palestinians die of starvation,” T’ruah says in a statement. “This event is a mass mobilization of American Jews who object to our government’s continued support for the policy of starvation and refusal to leverage its immense power to compel the admission of humanitarian aid.”

No reports of injuries or impacts following interception of Houthi missile

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it has received no reports of injuries or impacts following the launch of a ballistic missile by Yemen’s Houthis, which according to the military was intercepted.

The Home Front Command meanwhile tells residents of areas where sirens sounded that they can now leave their places of shelter.

Lawyers seeking Palestinian American businessman accused of aiding Hamas cannot find him

Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri in front of his residential project of Rawabi in the West Bank, on February 23, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash 90/File)

Lawyers who are suing Bashar Masri, a leading Palestinian American businessman accused of aiding Hamas, say they are unable to locate him.

Victims of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel sued Masri in April. The lawsuit argued that Hamas deceived Israel ahead of the invasion by feigning an interest in developing Gaza, and that Masri and his companies were “an integral part of that grand deception.”

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 said.

Masri served on the dean’s council at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and resigned after the lawsuit was filed.

Lawyers in the case, filed in the federal US District Court for the District of Columbia, say they are unable to locate Masri to serve him a legal summons.

They asked the court on Friday to allow “alternative means” to reach Masri, including by publishing the complaint and summons in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot. Masri gave the newspaper a statement about the lawsuit, indicating he is aware of the case and likely follows the outlet.

The lawyers say Masri is believed to be in Palestinian-controlled territory, but they are unable to find an address and their efforts to serve him in the US have been unsuccessful. Masri has a residence in Washington, DC.

Masri’s office has denied the allegations, saying he “unequivocally opposes violence of any kind.”

Two musicians backtrack after signing petition urging end to ‘Gaza horror’

Two Israeli musicians who signed a petition published yesterday accusing the country of starving Gazan kids and calling for an end to the “horrors in Gaza” say they no longer stand behind everything in the statement.

Assaf Amdursky writes on Instagram that while he supports ending the war, he does not back the idea that Israel’s military is carrying out war crimes in Gaza.

“I don’t support the claim that the IDF is creating famine or purposely harming civilians. I’d prefer to save terms like ‘war criminals’ for Hamas,” he writes. “The soldiers are dear to my heart, and they are the last thing I could criticize.”

He adds that Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski are the ones facing intentional starvation and “merciless war crimes.”

Hemi Rudner, another rock musician, indicates on Facebook that he finds it problematic that he was unable to draft the petition himself, meaning it contained things he did not agree with, posting an alternative petition instead. Unlike the petition published yesterday, which focused on Gazan suffering, his version places it alongside the need for Israelis to stop suffering as well.

“Stop the war in Gaza! It has no military or diplomatic justification and is infected with poisonous politics and is causing indescribable suffering on both sides of the border,” he writes.

Over 2,000 artists and others in the creative community were listed as signatories on the petition published Sunday, which urged Israel’s leadership to stop the war and called on those involved to not commit war crimes.

“Against our values and will, we find ourselves complicit in the horrific actions carried out by our government in Gaza: the killing of children and civilians, policies of starvation, mass displacement, and the senseless destruction of entire cities,” read the statement, which drew wide attention, some of it negative.

Canada says it dropped 21,000 pounds of aid into Gaza

The Canadian government says it delivered over 10 tons of humanitarian assistance to Gaza today as it joined an international effort to fly food into the enclave.

“The (Canadian Armed Forces) employed a CC-130J Hercules aircraft to conduct an airdrop of critical humanitarian aid in support of Global Affairs Canada into the Gaza Strip. The air drop consisted of 21,600 pounds of aid,” the Canadian government says in a statement.

At least five other countries took part in airdrops today, dropping some 120 tons of food into the Strip, according to the IDF.