Aug. 12: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claim attempted drone attack on Israel

US indicates it will boost Gaza Humanitarian Foundation after first saying it would establish new aid plan

Illustrative: Palestinians leave a food distribution point run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with bags and boxes, near the Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip, on August 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

After the White House announced last month that it would establish a new plan to distribute aid to Gazans due to the mounting hunger crisis in the Strip, the State Department indicates that the administration has ultimately decided to suffice with expanding the existing Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s delivery system.

“President Trump wants to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza at the hands of Hamas. He has committed to remaining involved and helping facilitate the aid situation — to build upon GHF’s work, and to help Gazans attain the critical access to food aid that they need,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says during a briefing.

While US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that his administration has given $60 million to GHF, Bruce confirms that the real number pledged by Washington is $30 million and that half of it has been distributed.

Yemen’s Houthis claim attempted drone attack on Israel today

The Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for an attempted drone attack on Israel today.

In a statement, the Iran-backed terror group says it launched six drones at Israel, targeting “vital targets” in Haifa, the Negev Desert, Eilat, and Beersheba.

“The operations successfully achieved their objectives, thanks to Allah,” the Houthis claim.

The IDF reported earlier shooting down one drone off the coast of Eilat, which did not set off sirens in Israel’s southernmost city because it posed no threat.

The other five drones likely fell short before reaching the country’s borders, as many Houthi projectiles have previously.

Haredi rabbi who declared it permissible to desecrate Shabbat to avoid draft praised Haredi soldiers just days before

Just days before Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, a prominent leader of the Haredi Lithuanian community, declared that it is permissible to desecrate Shabbat to flee Israel in order to avoid enlisting in the army, he hosted the commander of the IDF’s Haredi Hasmonean Brigade and praised his work, the army radio reports.

In a video shared on X by the Army Radio correspondent for ultra-Orthodox affairs, Daniel Grovais, Zilberstein meets an unnamed officer and says: “Lucky are the people of Israel who have such officers.”

The rabbi also praises the officer for his ability to answer questions of Jewish law and blesses him and other participants in the meeting.

“I was also a soldier,” Zilberstein says.

The first company of troops of the Hasmonean Brigade, a Haredi combat brigade that aims to guarantee an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle during army service, finished its basic training last week.

According to Grovais, the meeting between the officers and Zilberstein happened just two days before the Haredi rabbinic leadership gathered at the central Israeli kibbutz of Ma’ale Hahamisha to affirm their rejection of any compromise regarding the enlistment of Haredi young men.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted, although a year ago, the High Court ruled that the decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to the Haredi community were illegal.

During the gathering, Zilberstein, an influential posek, or decisor of Jewish law, could be heard saying that it is preferable to leave Israel rather than serve in the army.

“Listen, I am telling you to desecrate Shabbat on Shabbat eve and to flee the country,” he stated.

US State Department softens criticism of Israel in overhauled human rights report

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce speaks during a press briefing in Washington on March 6, 2025. (Youtube screenshot used in accordance with Article 27a of the Copyright Law)

US President Donald Trump’s administration has significantly changed the State Department’s annual report on human rights worldwide, dramatically reducing any claims of abuses in allied countries such as Israel.

Instead, the US State Department in its widely anticipated 2024 Human Rights Report sounded an alarm about the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe and ramped up criticism of Brazil and South Africa, both of which Washington has clashed with over a host of issues.

Any criticism of governments over their treatment of LGBTQI rights, which appeared in Biden administration editions of the report, appeared to have been largely omitted. Washington referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine mainly as the “Russia-Ukraine war.”

The report’s section on Israel is much shorter than last year’s edition compiled under the Biden administration and contained no mention of the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The report was delayed for months as Trump appointees altered an earlier State Department draft dramatically to bring it in line with “America First” values, according to government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Explaining the restructuring, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says during a briefing that the country reports focusing on the year 2024 “removes redundancy, increases readability, and is responsive to the legislative mandates that underpin the report, rather than an expansive list of politically biased demands and assertions.”

In the case of the report on Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whereas in previous versions — including ones compiled during Trump’s first term — claims and figures from UN organizations and rights groups regarding alleged abuses were incorporated, they were almost completely removed in the 2024 report.

Any concerns of rights abuses by Israel were kept general, and there was no mention at all of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has gone largely unchecked and even taken the lives of several US citizens. Palestinian attacks against Israelis — beyond those related to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught — also went unmentioned.

On the brief section about press freedom, the report states, “NGOs and journalists reported authorities restricted press coverage and limited certain forms of expression, especially in the context of criticism against the war or sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza.”

“Israel occasionally ordered the closing of Palestinian radio stations in the West Bank for ‘inciting behavior that could harm public safety or public order,’ including support for terrorism,” it adds.

In the section on torture, the report highlights the abuse that Israeli hostages testified to having endured during their captivity in Gaza.

As for the alleged torture of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, the report says that Jerusalem “acknowledged [that the] Shin Bet and police used violent interrogation methods that it referred to as ‘exceptional measures,’ but the Ministry of Justice did not provide information regarding the frequency of interrogations or the specific interrogation methods used.”

Israel said to be in talks with war-torn South Sudan about taking in Palestinians from Gaza

Israel is in discussions with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country, sources familiar with the matter say.

Six people familiar with the matter confirm the talks to The Associated Press.

It’s unclear how far the talks have advanced, but if implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another, and raise human rights concerns.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have spoken repeatedly about wanting to relocate much of Gaza’s population — which Netanyahu refers to as “voluntary migration.”

Palestinians, rights groups, and much of the international community have rejected the proposals as a blueprint for forcible expulsion in violation of international law.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry declines to comment and South Sudan’s foreign minister does not respond to questions about the talks. A US State Department spokesperson says it doesn’t comment on private diplomatic conversations.

Joe Szlavik, the founder of a US lobbying firm working with South Sudan, says he was briefed by South Sudanese officials on the talks and that an Israeli delegation plans to visit the country to look into the possibility of setting up makeshift camps for Palestinians, which Israel would likely pay for.

Edmund Yakani, who heads a South Sudanese civil society group, says he has also spoken to South Sudanese officials about the talks.

Four additional officials with knowledge of the discussions confirm talks were taking place on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Two of the officials, both from Egypt, told AP they’ve known for months about Israel’s efforts to find a country to accept Palestinians, including its contact with South Sudan. They say they’ve been lobbying South Sudan against taking the Palestinians.

While many Palestinians have rejected permanent resettlement outside of Gaza, even those who want to leave are unlikely to take their chances in South Sudan, among the world’s most unstable and conflict-ridden countries.

South Sudan has struggled to recover from a civil war that broke out after independence, and which killed nearly 400,000 people and plunged pockets of the country into famine. The oil-rich country is plagued by corruption and relies on international aid to help feed its 11 million people – a challenge that has only grown since the Trump administration made sweeping cuts to foreign assistance.

A peace deal reached seven years ago has been fragile and incomplete, and the threat of war returned when the main opposition leader was placed under house arrest this year.

“South Sudan should not become a dumping ground for people,” says Yakani. “And it should not accept to take people as negotiating chips to improve relations.”

World Central Kitchen confirms armed operatives were posing as its members in central Gaza

World Central Kitchen confirms an earlier IDF announcement that terror operatives in the Gaza Strip had been caught posing as members of the humanitarian organization.

The IDF had said that “five armed terrorists” were spotted near a vehicle marked with the logo of WCK in central Gaza “despite having no affiliation with the organization, while posing a threat to our forces.”

In a statement on X, WCK says it confirmed to COGAT, the defense ministry body responsible for activities in Gaza and the West Bank, that “the vehicle and persons of interest were not affiliated with WCK.”

“We strongly condemn anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers. The safety and security of our teams are our top priority,” it adds.

Report: Katz refused to meet with Zamir to discuss candidates for senior military positions

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, June 20, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir was barred from meeting with Defense Minister Israel Katz earlier this week to present his candidates for a number of senior military appointments, Hebrew media reports.

According to Channel 12, Zamir contacted Katz on Friday and Saturday to schedule a meeting but the defense minister told him that his schedule was full and so he wouldn’t have time to meet on the matter.

However, after one of Katz’s meetings was canceled on Monday, Zamir walked over to his office to meet with him, only for the defense minister’s secretary to tell him that he was unavailable, the Kan public broadcaster says.

The outlet says that Katz’s office denies this version of events and claims that Katz informed Zamir that he would not be available.

The reports come amid a fresh spat between the defense minister and his military chief, in which Katz publicly accused Zamir of failing to coordinate on the round of senior appointments, which he claimed went against established protocol. The military has countered that the normal course of events is the army holding internal discussions, with the defense minister later approving or rejecting them.

Rubio: Recognition of Palestinian state by West is ‘largely meaningless’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington, July 16, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Western countries planning to recognize the State of Palestine next month are primarily motivated by the domestic politics in their respective countries.

In an interview with the conservative radio show” Sid & Friends In The Morning,” Rubio characterizes plans to recognize a Palestinian state as “largely meaningless.”

“It’s symbolic, and they’re doing it primarily for one reason, and that is their internal politics, their domestic politics,” Rubio says. “In the UK, in France, in many parts of Europe and Ireland, for a long time their domestic politics have turned anti-Israel or whatever it may be, and they’re getting a lot of domestic pressure to do something.”

“The truth of the matter is that the future of that region is not going to be decided by some UN resolution [or]… some press release by a prime minister or a president from some country…. It’s going to be decided… when Palestinian areas are not governed by terrorist organizations. Because that’s truly what this comes down to, and that is the security of Israel,” Rubio argues.

Rubio speaks of Palestinian areas in plural, appearing to lump Hamas with the Palestinian Authority, which has semi-autonomous control over parts of the West Bank.

Earlier this year, the PA announced a reform of its welfare system under which it would cease payments to the families of slain terrorists and security prisoners based on the length of their sentence. Ramallah invited Washington in June to send a delegation to certify that the reform is in place, but the US has yet to take up the offer.

Last week, Rubio argued that France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state is what led the hostage talks to collapse.

Hamas submitted its response to the latest hostage deal proposal roughly 24 hours before French President Emmanuel Macron announced his decision to recognize a Palestinian state. The US announced its decision to recall its negotiators from Doha several hours before Macron’s announcement as well.

Retired and reserve Air Force pilots rally outside IDF headquarters in protest of Gaza war

Retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rally outside of the Kirya military headquarters in protest of the security cabinet decision to occupy Gaza, August 12, 2025. (Danor Aharon/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Some 200 retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv this evening to protest the cabinet’s recent decision to capture Gaza City, urging an immediate hostage deal.

Protesters read aloud a letter from Tami Arad, the wife of long-missing Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad.

“Thirty-nine years ago I tried to explain that Ron’s time was running out… Today decision-makers already know what can happen — and yet the members of Israel’s government have decided to occupy Gaza,” the letter reads.

Arad warned in the letter that the move “ignores the urgency to save the hostages,” and calls the plan to conquer Gaza City “a death trap” — a reference to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s comments in last week’s 10-hour security cabinet meeting in which the plan to occupy the Strip was approved.

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz tells the crowd: “Enough! Stop this unnecessary war of folly.”

Addressing Zamir, Halutz adds, “Do not let the messianics lead us into darkness… Any action to achieve an impossible goal could lead to the deaths… of the hostages.”

Zamir is widely reported to have opposed the plans for Gaza during security cabinet meetings and told cabinet members they might as well formally remove the goal of returning the hostages from Israel’s official war aims.

Three women detained at anti-government protest on Saturday were strip-searched — report

An anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest in front of the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, August 9, 2025. (Yael Gadot/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Three women were strip-searched after being detained for blocking the road during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv Saturday night, Channel 12 reports.

Another man who was arrested for the same reason was asked only to lift his shirt but was not strip-searched, the network says, noting that officers are entitled to perform strip searches only where they have a reasonable suspicion that justifies it.

Police tells the network that “the search was done in accordance with statute and the authorities granted to soldiers.”

Report: IDF chief’s assistant has been briefing journalists, contrary to regulations

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (right) and his assistant Col. Alon Laniado, are seen during an assessment on June 24, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Contrary to regulations, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s assistant has been in close contact with journalists, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

According to Kan, Assistant to the Chief of Staff, Col. Alon Laniado, has been increasingly briefing reporters and other media figures recently.

The chief of staff has a spokesperson who would normally answer journalists’ queries via the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

Israel may send negotiators to Doha for talks this week on a comprehensive deal for all hostages, end-of-war deal – report

Protesters march from Begin Street to the US Embassy Branch in Tel Aviv during a demonstration in favor of a hostage release and ceasefire deal, on July 26, 2025. (Gil Beeri/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Israel is weighing whether to send negotiators to Doha this week for meetings on the possibility of a comprehensive Gaza deal, to include the release of all hostages, an end to the war, a full IDF withdrawal from the Strip, and arrangements for Gaza’s post-war governance, Channel 12 says, citing two sources aware of the matter.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas officials are meeting with top Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss a comprehensive deal, the network says, following other similar reports over the last two days.

According to Channel 12, the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are invested in achieving a comprehensive deal, amid an international scramble to prevent Israel from carrying out its recently announced plan to take over Gaza City.

The meetings come after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met over the weekend with the Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Ibiza, and they reportedly discussed the possibility of a comprehensive deal, including the release of all remaining 50 hostages in one go.

Levin ‘belongs behind bars’: Opposition, legal officials fume after Levin locks AG out of her office, violating High Court ruling

Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s decision to change the lock on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s office provokes an outpouring of condemnation and mockery from his political opponents, including National Unity-Blue and White chair Benny Gantz, who quips: “Who said kindergartens weren’t open in August?”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid strikes a more serious tone, noting that “while the hostages are dying in Gaza and the IDF is fighting for our lives, the justice minister is acting like the last of the criminals and violating clear court rulings.”

“In Israel’s most difficult hour, we have a government of evaders, the corrupt, and lawbreakers,” the Yesh Atid leader says.

The Democrats chair, Yair Golan, goes one step further, asserting that Israel isn’t run by a government, but rather by “a criminal gang seizing power through force.”

Israel Bar Association head Amit Becher also speaks out against Levin, calling him a “criminal who endangers Israel’s existence.”

“He is not locking the door in the attorney general’s face, but is locking the door in the face of the rule of law in its entirety,” he fumes. “This is the latest move in a mad campaign to completely crush the judicial system, while blatantly trampling on the rulings of the Supreme Court.”

He declares that Levin, an “existential threat” to Israel, must be arrested by the end of tonight.

“He belongs behind bars, not at the table of the government,” Becher says. “He must be removed immediately.”

Huckabee: Israel’s Gaza City takeover may ‘go sideways,’ but Hamas wasn’t interested in negotiating

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee delivers remarks as US President Donald Trump hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images via AFP)

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City “could go sideways,” but indicates that Jerusalem has no choice but to pursue the military route after Hamas rejected repeated proposals for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“You mentioned the plan to take Gaza City. We don’t know how that’s going to go. It could go sideways. I think everybody understands there’s no guarantee that it will go well,” Huckabee says during an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored.

However, the ambassador insists that Israel put repeated offers on the table and that Hamas was “not interested in that,” leading the US and Israel to pull out of negotiations.

Arab diplomats from mediating countries have told The Times of Israel that while Hamas did raise new demands in the proposal that led the US and Israel to recall their negotiating teams, Jerusalem had done the same thing at earlier stages in the negotiation process and that the gaps between the sides were still bridgeable.

Huckabee says that since Israel began moving toward expanding its military operations, Hamas has expressed interest in restarting negotiations. “One has to wonder, [is Hamas] really serious about ending this?”

IDF chief Zamir said to suspect Netanyahu and his family are trying to oust him

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has told senior officers and officials outside the military that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s family and associates seek to dismiss him, Haaretz reports.

The report says that Zamir made the remarks during recent consultations with the General Staff Forum and figures outside the military, including former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

Zamir told the officials that “the prime minister’s family marked him” after he opposed Netanyahu’s plan to conquer Gaza, the report claims.

The report says that “Zamir’s associates” believe that Defense Minister Israel Katz’s attack last night against the chief of staff for announcing a recent round of senior appointments was actually dictated by Netanyahu, because “the chief of staff was perceived as too independent in the prime minister’s eyes.”

“The chief of staff understands exactly what’s happening and does not intend to hand over the military to Netanyahu and Katz,” a source involved in the recent consultations is cited by Haaretz as saying.

The source says that Netanyahu treated the previous chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, the same way when the latter opposed his moves.

“This is exactly what they did to Herzi to turn him into a lame duck in the military,” Haaretz cites the source as saying.

Netanyahu says he’s on a ‘historic and spiritual mission,’ also feels a connection to vision of Greater Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks at an amulet showing "a map of the Promised Land," given to him by his interviewer, August 12, 2025. (Screenshot i24 news) 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells i24 TV news that he feels he is on a “historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very” attached to the vision of the Promised Land and Greater Israel.

The interviewer Sharon Gal, who was briefly a right-wing member of Knesset, gifts to Netanyahu near the end of their interview what he says is an amulet of “a map of the Promised Land.”

“This is my vision,” says Gal. He jokes that he does not want to further “entangle” Netanyahu in the case against the premier for allegedly receiving jewelry and other luxury goods from several businessmen for him and his wife Sara, but also says he would like Netanyahu to give the amulet to Sara. “Thank you,” says Netanyahu.

“Do you connect to the vision?” Gal asks Netanyahu.

“Very much,” the prime minister replies.

“Really?” asks Gal.

“Very much,” Netanyahu repeats.

“It is Greater Israel,” Gal stresses.

“If you ask me, we are here,” responds Netanyahu, then pauses, then continues, “You know I often mention my father. My parents’ generation had to establish the state. And our generation, my generation, has to guarantee its continued existence. And I see that as a great mission.” He then moves on to discuss the sense of mission among Israelis today, highlighting that sense of purpose among soldiers, including reservists and their wives.

The amulet itself does not appear on the screen.

The exchange is cut from the video of the interview posted by i24 on its Youtube site in Hebrew, and does not appear, either, in a shorter version of the interview on i24’s English Youtube site. It appears on i24’s own Hebrew website (beginning at 31:14).

The term Greater Israel was used after the Six Day War of June 1967 to refer to Israel and the areas it had just conquered — East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.

The phrase was also used by some early Zionists, including Ze’ev Jabotinsky, forerunner of Netanyahu’s Likud party, to refer to present-day Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, and present-day Jordan.

Gal’s question about his connection to the “vision” of the Promised Land and Greater Israel comes after he asks the premier if he feels he is on a mission on behalf of the Jewish people. Netanyahu answers that he is “on a mission of generations — there are generations of Jews that dreamt of coming here and generations of Jews who will come after us.”

“So if you’re asking if I have a sense of mission, historically and spiritually, the answer is yes,” he says.

Netanyahu appears to threaten to cut off Israeli arms sales to Germany in response to Berlin’s partial suspension

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to threaten to cut off Israeli arms exports to Germany in response to Berlin’s decision to suspend sales of weapons to Israel that could be used in Gaza.

The drastic decision by Israel’s second-largest arms supplier and one of its staunchest allies came after Israel announced plans to take over Gaza City last week.

Netanyahu tells i24 TV that European leaders were “surrendering to Islamic minorities” and were being pressured by what he described as a false propaganda campaign about Israel’s actions.

“I think we have a relationship of mutual supply with Germany, and I don’t think they’ve forgotten that. So let this pass… they’re under pressure, you can’t stop the pictures, the lies,” says Netanyahu.

Germany last year signed a deal with Israel to purchase over 4 billion euros ($4.67 billion) worth of Israeli-made anti-missile Arrow projectiles, the largest-ever Israeli defense sale.

Justice Minister Levin changes lock on office also used by AG, says she’s no longer allowed to use it

Left: Justice Minister Yariv Levin speaks during a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 11, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Right: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a conference at the University of Haifa, December 15, 2022. (Shir Torem/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin instructed his driver earlier today to change the locks on an office used by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Channel 13 reports. Channel 12 says it is an office in the government complex in Tel Aviv that has been used by both the justice minister and the attorney general for the past decade.

The move comes after the High Court of Justice issued an interim order freezing the government’s dismissal of the attorney general until further notice and noting that her status must not be undermined.

Levin, who is one of Baharav-Miara’s most vocal opponents, confirms that his driver changed the locks on the office, but claims that he did so because the attorney general was using it without permission after she was fired, the two TV reports say.

Calling the reports “nothing short of delusional,” Levin says “the office is the minister’s office, and not attorney Baharav-Miara’s.”

“Her attempt to make unauthorized use of the minister’s office is another example of puzzling behavior on the part of someone who has already been removed from her position.”

Notably, Levin refers to Baharav-Miara as just “attorney,” rather than by her title of attorney general, as he now claims she no longer holds the post.

Despite Levin’s claims, Baharav-Miara has not been removed from her position, and the High Court has stressed that her duties and authorities remain unchanged for as long as its interim order against her dismissal is in place.

PM: Former security chiefs who criticize government are bitter leftists, their rhetoric is ‘illegitimate’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assails former security chiefs who are critical of him as bitter leftists.

The comments come in response to an i24 correspondent’s question about the veracity of reports that there are tensions between Netanyahu’s government and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who has reportedly criticized the government’s plan to take over Gaza City.

The premier says he welcomes disagreements within the cabinet but that the final word is his. “I don’t think I need to elaborate and take it outside,” he says.

Turning to the “propaganda” of former security chiefs, Netanyahu says: “They’re all from the left, they all joined Kaplan,” referring to the Tel Aviv road that was the focus of anti-government protests throughout 2023.

“They’re all completely political, and a lot of them are very bitter.”

Many of the former security officials who have spoken out against him, including former IDF chief and defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, were appointed by and served under Netanyahu himself.

The premier tells i24 that the comments from these security officials are later cited by European leaders who use them to criticize Israel.

“So it’s certainly illegitimate and does a lot of damage to the State of Israel,” he says.

Netanyahu: Negotiations for a partial hostage-ceasefire deal are ‘behind us’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as seen during an interview with the i24 television channel, aired on August 12, 2025. (Screenshot, i24)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he thinks the possibility of a partial ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas “is behind us.”

In an interview with the i24 television channel, he cites US President Donald Trump’s comment yesterday that Hamas is not ready for a deal.

“You heard President Trump,” says Netanyahu when asked if the possibility of forging a partial ceasefire and hostage release deal is still open. “I think it’s behind us.”

“We’ve made all kinds of attempts,” he says, without elaborating. “We went a long way. It became clear to us that they’re just leading us astray.”

“In any case, a lot of hostages, both living and dead, will remain in their hands,” he says, appearing to refer to a past proposal for a partial deal, which would have secured the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 more. “I want everyone — both the living and the fallen,” says Netanyahu.

Netanyahu’s comments are aired shortly after Egypt announced that it was working to revive plans for a 60-day hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Egypt says working to revive plans for 60-day ceasefire in Gaza

Egypt says it is working with fellow mediators Qatar and the United States to broker a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal as part of a renewed push to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have played a key role in mediating talks between Israel and Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack triggered the ongoing war.

“We are working very hard now in full cooperation with the Qataris and Americans,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty tells reporters during a press conference in Cairo.

“The main objective is to go back to the original proposal — to have a ceasefire for 60 days, with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees, and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions, without conditions.”

“We are talking with Hamas, with the Israelis and pushing for a deal” based on a recent US plan, Abdelatty says.

A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations earlier told AFP that “mediators are working to formulate a new comprehensive ceasefire agreement proposal” that would include the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza “in one batch.”

Last month, more than two weeks of negotiations in Doha failed to secure a breakthrough in talks for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, after Israel and the US pulled their delegations following what they said were unacceptable demands from Hamas.

A senior Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, two Palestinian sources told AFP earlier today.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF says it caught terror operatives posing as World Central Kitchen staff in central Gaza

Terror operatives in the central Gaza Strip posed as members of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian organization, the military says, attaching footage of the incident from earlier this week.

According to the IDF, “five armed terrorists” who were spotted near a vehicle marked with the logo of WCK, “despite having no affiliation with the organization, while posing a threat to our forces,” were eliminated in an airstrike.

“The terrorists deliberately attached the [WCK] emblem and wore yellow vests in an attempt to disguise their activities and avoid being targeted, cynically exploiting the status and trust given to aid organizations,” the IDF says.

The military says COGAT representatives “verified the information with the WCK, which confirmed that the vehicle seen in Gaza with the organization’s emblem had no connection to its activities.”

The fake WCK vehicle had been spotted in the Deir al-Balah area “with several armed terrorists nearby who posed a threat to forces,” the military says. A short while later, an Israeli Air Force drone struck the operatives.

This video released by the IDF on August 12, 2025, shows alleged terror operatives posing as members of the WCK humanitarian aid organization in the central Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

Police launch internal probe into its actions during Oct. 7 assault, nearly two years later

Police near the southern towns of Or HaNer and Sderot, October 7, 2023. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Police have quietly launched an internal probe assessing law enforcement’s response to the October 7, 2023, assault, some 22 months after it occurred, the Walla news outlet reports.

The report cites an internal letter sent last month by Israel Police chief Danny Levy to officers and retirees in the force, announcing the probe and requesting their participation.

The letter stresses that the probes will not place blame on individual officers and will draw only “operational and organizational conclusions,” signaling a similar approach to that of the IDF, whose probes also skirt questions of personal responsibility.

“There will be no personal conclusions. All findings and conclusions that are formulated will be translated solely into operational and organizational conclusions, which will be used for effective organizational learning and strengthening emergency preparedness,” reads Levy’s letter obtained yesterday by Walla.

After Levy announced the formation of a special team to investigate law enforcement’s conduct on October 7 earlier this year, police have kept most details of the investigation under wraps.

According to several Hebrew reports, the current probe is being overseen by former Deputy Commissioner David Bitan, who served for a period as the commander in the force’s Southern District and retired before October 7.

A previous investigation carried out under former police chief Kobi Shabtai largely heaped blame on the IDF for failing to update police with intelligence or signs indicating an impending attack. But the lack of coordination within law enforcement also seemed to have hampered security forces’ response that morning.

The Haaretz newspaper reported in March that senior officers in the Southern District had been unaware that members of the police’s elite counterterrorism unit were deployed to the Gaza border overnight ahead of the attack, after receiving warnings from the Shin Bet.

Under Levy’s leadership, police have already conducted one probe into the fighting that took place in Kibbutz Be’eri the morning of Hamas’s invasion. The main findings were presented to the bereaved families of the eight officers slain that day.

US Justice Dept. finds George Washington University ‘deliberately indifferent’ to antisemitism

Protesters speak to the press as they gather at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel encampment during a rally at George Washington University in Washington, DC, May 6, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

The US Department of Justice says George Washington University ignored campus antisemitism in violation of federal civil rights protections.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, informs the university of the department’s findings in a letter to the university president, Ellen M. Granberg.

The letter says that the university in Washington, DC, was informed of discrimination against Jewish, Israeli American and Israeli students and was “was deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received, the misconduct that occurred, and the harms that were suffered by its students and faculty.”

It says that the university’s handling of the harassment violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination in entities that receive federal funding, such as universities, including GWU.

In one example cited in the letter, students at GWU set up an anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protest encampment on campus in the spring of 2024.

The department’s investigation found that Jewish students were harassed, intimidated, and assaulted by protesters, making them afraid to attend class.

One Jewish student said he was surrounded by protesters, threatened, and told to leave the area. An assistant dean told him to leave because he was “antagonizing and provoking the crowd,” the letter says.

Protesters also shouted antisemitic slurs at other Jewish students while they were walking on campus, forcing them from the area. A Jewish counter-protester who held up an Israeli flag was surrounded by demonstrators to prevent him from moving, while a campus police officer told the Jewish student to leave for his safety, the letter says.

Protesters shouted “Zionist go die,” Zionists go to hell,” and “Hamas are freedom fighters” at another Jewish student, the letter says.

The Department of Justice says it intends to enforce the civil rights law against GWU, without providing specifics on the enforcement. The department offers to negotiate with the university to reach a “voluntary resolution,” setting an August 22 deadline for starting a dialogue.

Spain says it evacuated 44 sick children and their relatives from Gaza in recent months

Spain has evacuated 44 wounded or ill children from war-torn Gaza along with about 100 of their relatives over the past several months, the Spanish government says.

Four separate evacuation missions were carried out in coordination with international organizations and allied nations, Spain’s migration ministry, which led the operations, says in a statement.

The children and their families have been relocated across Spain to receive medical treatment, it adds.

Those brought to Spain will be eligible to apply for asylum.

Migration Minister Elma Saiz said the operations demonstrated that “solidarity and international cooperation save lives.”

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government has been among the most vocal critics in the European Union of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Hamas-led massacre inside Israel on October 7, 2023.

IDF says 97 tons of food airdropped into Gaza today by five countries

Supplies are airdropped into the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, August 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, France, and Italy airdropped 97 pallets of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip today, the IDF says.

Each pallet contains around one ton of food.

Israel re-adopted a policy of allowing aid airdrops on July 26, amid mounting international criticism over the hunger crisis in Gaza.

But airdrops are only able to deliver a small fraction of what can enter into Gaza by land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by the packages from above.

24 countries call for urgent action in Gaza, saying humanitarian crisis reaching ‘unimaginable levels’

Palestinians line up to collect water from a distribution point in Gaza City during a heatwave, August 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached “unimaginable levels,” Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and 20 of their European allies say, calling on Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the foreign ministers of 24 countries say in a joint statement.

“We call on the government of Israel to provide authorization for all international NGO (non-governmental organizations) aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating,” the statement demands.

“All crossings and routes must be used to allow a flood of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment.”

Israel has denied responsibility for hunger spreading in Gaza, accusing Hamas of stealing aid shipments and the UN of failing to deliver supplies in a timely manner.  However, in response to a rising international uproar, Israel late last month announced steps to let more aid into the enclave, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, announcing protected routes for aid convoys, and allowing supplies to be airdropped into the Strip.

Western capitals, however, say much more aid is needed.

The statement is signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and two other members of the European Commission also signed the statement.

Some EU member countries, including Germany and Hungary, did not sign it.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Ultra-Orthodox youth steal IDF conscription orders from postal worker in Jerusalem

An ultra-Orthodox youth tears up IDF draft letters after he allegedly stole them from a mailman in Jerusalem on August 11, 2025. (Israel Police)

A gang of Haredi youths stole and tore up IDF draft letters from a postal worker delivering mail in Jerusalem yesterday, police say.

Jerusalem District officers are investigating the incident after the mailman filed a police complaint, claiming the group stalked him as he delivered mail in the city’s Bukharan Quarter, a Haredi-majority neighborhood.

The young men rifled through his mail cart, stole several of the conscription orders and proceeded to deface them, according to the complaint. The group continued to follow him as he went about his route by foot.

At the end of the route, the mailman returned to his car to find that the vehicle’s window had been cracked. He claimed that one of the young men was responsible for the damage.

Police attach a photo, presumably taken by the complainant, depicting one of the youths tearing up several draft letters. Another image depicts the damage done to the postal worker’s vehicle.

The window of a car belonging to a postal worker, which was allegedly damaged by a gang of ultra-Orthodox youths in Jerusalem on August 11, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police say that investigators from the Lev Habira police station in central Jerusalem have begun collecting evidence and searching for the individuals involved.

Ultra-Orthodox leaders have grown increasingly militant in their rhetoric against the conscription of yeshiva students over recent months, as police started arresting Haredi draft evaders.

Last week, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party said that the State of Israel has “declared war on yeshiva students” following the arrest of two draft dodgers, vowing that “Haredi Judaism will embark on a global struggle like never before.”

French source: Visas for El Al security staff suspended due to ‘difficulties’ for French diplomats at airport screenings

A French diplomatic source confirms that France has “temporarily suspended” the renewal of work visas for El Al security staff members, following reports on the matter.

The move, which prevents staff members from working legally in the country, aims to address “difficulties” faced by French diplomatic personnel during routine security screenings by El Al staff members at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, according to the source.

“For many months, members of France’s diplomatic corps in Israel and in Jerusalem have been subjected to systematic screening by El Al security personnel at Charles de Gaulle Airport prior to the airline’s flights,” the source says in a statement.

“Talks have been opened with the Israeli embassy in France to resolve these difficulties; in the meantime, several administrative measures related to this arrangement have been temporarily suspended,” the source continues, before clarifying that this includes the temporary suspension of visas.

“Discussions are ongoing in an effort to quickly reach a solution that meets the needs of both sides,” the source adds.

Some reports suggested that the move is related to rising tensions between Paris and Jerusalem over Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, though the source did not note a connection, saying the development began “some time ago.”

The Foreign Ministry says it is investigating the issue.

‘Likud works for draft dodgers’: Yesh Atid fumes as gov’t approves funds for Haredi education system, discusses draft exemptions

MK Boaz Bismuth, chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, leads a committee meeting at the Knesset, Jerusalem, on August 12, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yesh Atid slams the government for holding Knesset hearings today regarding the advancement of a draft exemption bill for yeshiva students while allocating additional budget funding to the ultra-Orthodox sector.

“The Likud-led coalition decided to convene two ’emergency hearings’ today during the Knesset recess,” the statement says. “One to push forward their mass ultra-Orthodox draft evasion bill, and another to transfer 177 million NIS ($51 million) to ultra-Orthodox education systems.”

The Knesset Finance Committee voted today to allocate funding mainly to the ultra-Orthodox community to implement agreements made with Haredi Knesset parties.

At the same time, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is convening to advance a draft exemption law for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, led by newly appointed chair MK Boaz Bismuth, who replaced MK Yuli Edelstein, who was ousted due to his failure to advance the law.

“Likud works for draft dodgers,” the statement continues.

Linking the two issues, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid says: “The Finance Committee just transferred NIS 177 million of our money to ultra-Orthodox summer camps, where they [teach] children that they are under no circumstances to serve in the army.”

Paris air traffic controller radioed ‘Free Palestine’ to El Al pilots moments after takeoff, airline says

An air traffic controller at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris went on the radio and broadcast “free Palestine” to the pilots of an El Al flight moments after takeoff yesterday, Israel’s flag carrier says.

El Al says it has been in contact with Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority over the “unprofessional and inappropriate” incident, as it says that any deviation from standard procedures could lead to disaster during takeoff.

The Civil Aviation Authority is in contact with its French counterparts, El Al says.

“El Al will continue to fly around the world with the Israeli flag proudly on the aircraft’s tail, while ensuring professionalism and the safety and security of passengers and crew,” it adds.

Council of Europe urges member states to stop delivering arms to Israel for use in Gaza

The Council of Europe urges its member states to halt deliveries of weapons to Israel if they could be used for human rights violations.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council’s commissioner for human rights, says member states should do “their utmost to prevent and address violations of international human rights” in the conflict.

“This includes applying existing legal standards to ensure that arms transfers are not authorized where there is a risk that they may be used to commit human rights violations,” he says, in a statement.

It is also “essential to intensify efforts to provide relief to those affected by the conflict, by supporting efforts to ensure unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and by pressing for the immediate release of hostages,” O’Flaherty says.

The call by the Council — a human rights organization representing 46 states — comes shortly after Germany said it would halt delivery to Israel of some weapons that could be used in Gaza after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to take control of Gaza City.

O’Flaherty says the Council had taken note of this and other government initiatives, and also of contributions by some national human rights structures in raising awareness.

“However, more needs to be done, and quickly,” he says.

IDF: Only 2,940 ultra-Orthodox men enlisted in 2024, falling far short of goal

Ultra-Orthodox soldiers enlist in the IDF's new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, January 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Only 2,940 ultra-Orthodox men were drafted to the military in 2024, far off from the IDF’s goal of 4,800, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, tells lawmakers.

Testifying before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Tayeb says the number “is much higher” than the previous annual average of 1,800 Haredi soldiers, but is still “far from our target of 4,800, and even farther from the army’s needs.”

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.

Tayeb also tells the committee that most of the ultra-Orthodox men who enlisted last year did not enlist in special tracks for Haredi soldiers.

According to Tayeb, some 1,300 of the soldiers joined units specifically for Haredi men, while the other 1,600 enlisted to “general” service tracks.

Of the nearly 3,000 Haredi soldiers, just over 1,000 are combat troops, including 400 in the ultra-Orthodox units — including the new Hasmonean Brigade — and 650 in general combat units, he says.

Tayeb also tells the lawmakers that all 80,000 Haredi men eligible for conscription are in the process of being called up. “Unfortunately, the rate of non-cooperation among the [Haredi] population is very high, and we have built a process that allows the [conscription] process to be carried out at a faster pace,” he says.

Three arrested after Israeli embassy in The Hague vandalized, doors smashed

A photo of the Israeli Embassy in The Hague after it was vandalized with red paint and its front door smashed, on August 12, 2025. (Israeli embassy in the Netherlands)

Three individuals vandalized the Israeli Embassy in The Hague this morning, the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

Photos released by the ministry show the embassy’s entrance splattered with red paint and its front door smashed.

A photo of the Israeli Embassy in The Hague after it was vandalized with red paint and its front door smashed, on August 12, 2025. (Israeli embassy in the Netherlands)

Local security authorities responded to the incident, and the three suspects were arrested by Dutch police, according to the ministry.

While the statement does not address the motive of today’s incident, the case comes a week after a similar act of vandalism at El Al’s Paris offices, when red paint was sprayed on the building along with the words “Free Palestine” and “El Al genocide airline.”

There have been numerous cases of vandalism on Jewish and Israeli sites abroad amid a surge of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activities protesting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Iran says it arrested 21,000 ‘suspects’ during 12-day war with Israel

A member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard stands guard at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square in downtown Tehran, Iran, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iranian police arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the country’s 12-day war with Israel in June, a law enforcement spokesperson said, according to state media.

Following Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities that began on June 13, Iranian security forces began a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based on checkpoints and “public reports” whereby citizens were called upon to report on any individuals they thought were acting suspiciously.

“There was a 41% increase in calls by the public, which led to the arrest of 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war,” police spokesperson Saeid Montazerolmahdi says. He does not say what those arrested were suspected of, but Tehran has spoken before of people passing on information that may have helped direct the Israeli attacks.

The Israel-Iran conflict has also led to an accelerated rate of deportation of Afghan migrants believed to be illegally in Iran, with aid agencies reporting that local authorities had also accused some Afghan nationals of spying for Israel.

“Law enforcement rounded up 2,774 illegal migrants and discovered 30 special security cases by examining their phones. 261 suspects of espionage and 172 people accused of unauthorized filming were also arrested,” the spokesperson says.

Montazerolmahdi does not specify how many of those arrested have since been released.

He adds that Iran’s police handled more than 5,700 cases of cyber crimes such as online fraud and unauthorized withdrawals during the war, which he says had turned “cyberspace into an important battlefront.”

Drone launched from Yemen intercepted off the coast of Eilat, IDF says

A drone launched from Yemen at Israel was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force off the coast of Eilat a short while ago, the military says.

No sirens sounded “according to protocol,” the IDF says, as the drone did not pose a threat to civilians.

Border Police say terror suspect arrested near Bethlehem, in the West Bank, overnight

Border Police officers arrested a terror suspect in the West Bank last night, law enforcement officials announce.

The suspect was arrested by undercover forces working off intelligence from the Shin Bet security agency regarding his whereabouts.

He was tracked down to a multi-story building in al-Khader, a Palestinian town near Bethlehem. Police say the suspect had been involved in terror activity against security forces in the West Bank city.

After carrying out the arrest, Border Police officers transferred him to the Shin Bet for interrogation.

Sex abuse, dehumanization: Health Ministry report to Red Cross details accounts of freed hostages

Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza, former hostages and supporters hold a press conference in Tel Aviv, on August 9, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

A report published by the Health Ministry that will be forwarded to the president of the Red Cross reveals the physical and mental damage suffered by 12 of the hostages who were freed at the beginning of this year, including accounts of ongoing sexual harassment, dehumanization and life-altering injuries.

The report (Hebrew link) paints a harrowing picture of severe patterns of abuse, medical neglect and subhuman conditions that constitute torture and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The ministry calls for the immediate provision of food, water and medical treatment to the abductees who are still in captivity.

An analysis of the medical condition of the hostages still being held captive shows that they are “in immediate danger, and every additional day there increases the risk of irreversible damage to their physical and mental health.”

Denmark says it will airdrop aid to Gaza

Denmark will send a Hercules military plane to airdrop aid to Gaza, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tells reporters.

Knesset committee approves tens of millions toward Haredi schools, education programs

The Knesset Finance Committee approves a package of budget transfers totaling tens of millions of shekels for ultra-Orthodox schools and educational programs, including summer activities in “exempt” institutions, salary increases for kindergarten teachers, and additional funds for the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party’s Chinuch Atzma’i (independent education) and the Shas party’s Ma’ayan Hachinuch Hatorani school systems.

The so-called “exempt” institutions, or private schools in Hebrew, receive about 55% of the amount of funding allocated to state schools, provided they teach 55% of the core curriculum that public schools are required to teach.

“Even in difficult times, with God’s help, we have now approved the essential budgets to ensure the continued operation of the educational institutions, for the benefit of the kindergarten teachers, the teachers, and the students,” says UTJ MK Moshe Gafni, a former chair of the Finance Committee who stepped down in July when his party left the coalition.

The committee has voted to implement these previously agreed-upon budget allocations to the ultra-Orthodox sector despite UTJ bolting the coalition and Shas leaving the government.

Amid heated debate on Haredi draft bill, Likud MK urges sides to talk substance, not slogans

Following multiple screaming matches between lawmakers and attendees, Likud MK Dan Illouz calls on members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to hold a discussion on ultra-Orthodox enlistment focused on the subject matter, rather than using slogans.

“People are just speaking in slogans,” the Likud MK declares, calling on the opposition and the Haredi parties “to say what they want” to come out of a conscription bill rather than to engage in rhetoric aimed at garnering views on social media.

‘We have to reconsider our tools’: Terror chief Zubeidi laments that all Palestinian strategies have failed

Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, a Palestinian prisoner and former a top commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who was released by Israel, waves a Palestinian flag as he is cheered by people after arriving in Ramallah aboard buses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on January 30, 2025. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

In an interview with The New York Times, Zakaria Zubeidi – a well-known Palestinian terrorist freed by Israel this year after being arrested for organizing dozens of attacks during the Second Intifada while heading the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Jenin – laments the futility of Palestinian attempts to achieve a sovereign state.

“We [the Palestinians] have to reconsider our tools,” Zubeidi, who was released in exchange for hostages kidnapped by Hamas in a January ceasefire deal with the terror group, tells the newspaper in his first major interview since his release.

“We founded a theater, and we tried cultural resistance — what did that do?” he continues, referring to a theater program he recently co-founded in Jenin. “We tried the rifle, we tried shooting. There’s no solution,” he says. According to the paper, Zubeidi feels that “none of it had helped forge a Palestinian state [and] it may never do so.”

He emphasizes that his involvement with the theater was not a transition from or denunciation of armed Palestinian activity, saying: “It’s not about being one thing or another… How did I open the theater door? I broke it with my rifle.”

During the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Zubeidi “joined a militia in Jenin in the belief that it was the best way of achieving Palestinian sovereignty,” according to the interview, eventually becoming the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Zubeidi denies involvement in any murder, according to the newspaper, though Israel held him responsible for ordering several attacks that resulted in multiple deaths, including of civilians, and for 24 offenses, mostly related to violence. Zubeidi was also among six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison in 2021, before being recaptured days later.

Zubeidi also says that he lost his teeth and was repeatedly beaten by Israeli guards during his imprisonment, though the Israel Prison Service denies this and similar claims from other releasees in a statement to The New York Times, saying it is “not aware of the claims [described], and as far as we know, no such events have occurred.”

Upon witnessing, after his release, Israel’s strikes on Gaza during the current war, as well as the aftermath of Israeli raids in the West Bank, Zubeidi assesses that “on every front, Palestinian strategies seem to be failing,” according to the paper. Zubeidi’s son was also among five Palestinian gunmen killed in an Israeli strike on the West Bank last year.

Zubeidi claims that “there is no peaceful solution and there is no military solution” for Palestinians, “because the Israelis don’t want to give us anything.”

“It’s impossible to uproot us from here,” he continues, “and we don’t have any tools to uproot them.”

Katz won’t discuss IDF chief’s proposed round of appointments in next 2 weeks — statement

Defense Minister Israel Katz in the Knesset, Jerusalem, June 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz does not intend to discuss and approve the senior appointments in the military announced by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir last night in the next two weeks, according to a statement attributed to “sources close to the defense minister” that was sent out to reporters.

“He will study the material and formulate the policy principles on the matter,” the statement says.

“After that, as is customary, the process will begin anew, with all potential candidates for each position presented to the defense minister, as has been the case until now,” the “sources” add.

Katz publicly attacked Zamir last night over a round of senior appointments the latter has announced, saying this wasn’t coordinated with him and goes against established protocol. The military has countered that the normal course of events is the army holding internal discussions, with the defense minister later approving or rejecting them.

Arkia to launch first-ever direct Israel-Vietnam flights, compete with El Al on route to Bangkok

An Arkia plane lands at Ben Gurion International Airport, on November 3, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90/File)

Israeli airline Arkia plans to launch direct flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to Vietnam’s capital Hanoi early next year and resume the operation of its route to Thailand’s capital Bangkok in November.

Starting on January 5, Arkia will operate one weekly flight from Ben Gurion Airport to Hanoi and increase the frequency to two weekly flights from March 2026. The launch marks the first direct flight service between Tel Aviv and Hanoi.

One-way tickets from Tel Aviv to Hanoi with Arkia start at $699, including baggage and two meals.

Starting on November 25, Arkia plans to operate two weekly flights from Tel Aviv to Bangkok in direct competition with Israel’s flagship carrier El Al, which until now has been the exclusive local carrier on the direct route. Prices for one-way tickets to Bangkok will sell for $499, including baggage and two meals.

In 2024, more than 400,000 Israelis visited Thailand – a record number that makes it the most popular destination for long-haul flights after the US, according to Thai Ambassador to Israel Boonyarit Vichienpuntu.

The announcement comes after Arkia launched direct round-trip flights from Tel Aviv to New York in early February, marking the airline’s first time flying to the US.

Firefighters battle forest fire in Jerusalem area

A fire engine arrives at the scene of a fire in the Judean Hills around Jerusalem, on August 12, 2025. (Courtesy/Fire and Rescue Service)

Police close a section of Route 44 to traffic as firefighters combat blazes spreading through a forest in the greater Jerusalem region, after a car fire broke out on the road and spread to nearby flora.

Firefighters say they received a report around noon regarding a burning vehicle near Eshtaol Forest, in the Judean Hills surrounding the capital, which was badly damaged by fires earlier this summer.

“Firefighting crews from the Beit Shemesh region were dispatched to the scene, but before they arrived, the flames had already spread from the roadside to the nearby forest area,” says a fire service official. Several firefighting planes have also been deployed to assist forces on the ground.

The extreme heat, coupled with stronger-than-usual winds, has accelerated the fire’s spread, the official notes.

This week has seen a massive heatwave sweep the country, with temperatures in the Jerusalem region reaching 39°C (102.2°F) today. Tomorrow and Thursday are expected to be even warmer, with a high of 41°C (105.8°F).

Border Police officers are operating in the area of the fire to direct traffic and ensure public safety, law enforcement says. As of now, police have not begun evacuating residents in nearby communities.

‘Shut up, draft-dodger!’: Knesset panel holds heated meeting on Haredi draft law, as new chair urges unity

MK Elazar Stern attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, June 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern launches a heated attack on newly appointed Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, accusing him of failing to attend the majority of committee meetings on ultra-Orthodox enlistment held before he became chair.

In response, Shas MK Yinon Azoulay accuses Stern of arrogance, prompting the former head of the IDF’s manpower directorate to yell, “Shut up, draft-dodger!” at the ultra-Orthodox lawmaker.

Stern also insists that military police should not be used to arrest Haredi draft evaders and that only civilian law enforcement should be used for such operations.

Opening the discussion, the first to deal with the topic of Haredi enlistment since he replaced former chairman Yuli Edelstein, Bismuth tells lawmakers that he has held “dozens of meetings” since being appointed to head the committee last week in “an effort to hear all the voices in Israeli society and to conduct the discussions here in cooperation, together.”

“Until now, I have mainly heard, in the discussions here and in general in the discourse, what is not agreed upon. It is time for us to talk a little about what is, because there are also agreements in Israeli society. I want, in this committee, for us to talk about what is [agreed upon], and that way we will move forward and build the right atmosphere,” he says, adding that “we are all in favor of a draft law because the army needs soldiers.”

“We will look for what unites us,” he continues, insisting that “this is a democracy, and everyone can say whatever they want, up to a certain limit — when it harms the army or my ultra-Orthodox brothers.”

ח״כ שטרן צועק על ח״כ אזולאי מש״ס: ״תשתוק משתמט״ pic.twitter.com/Ao0kLrUWlC

— עמיאל ירחי (@amiel_y) August 12, 2025

Despite intense heatwaves, traditional harbinger of fall is blooming on time in Israel

A sea squill blooming in Israel in August 2025. (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel)

Despite the intense heatwaves that have hit the country this summer, including one expected to break records this week, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel reports that the sea squill, the traditional harbinger of fall, has begun to bloom on time across the country.

The sea squill is perfectly adapted to the hot, dry Mediterranean climate.

It grows from a large subterranean bulb which ‘digs’ into the rock and is protected by cool temperatures — its Hebrew name hatzav shares a linguistic root with the words to dig or quarry.

In the spring, the bulb produces long green leaves, which photosynthesize and produce energy for the bulb. When temperatures rise, the leaves die off, giving way to tall, narrow stems topped by clusters of tiny white flowers.

Israel denies entry to Italian Catholic priest who has accused country of genocide

An undated image of Father Nandino Capovilla, an Italian priest from Marghera, near Venice, who was denied entry to Israel on August 11, 2025. (Screenshot/Missione Oggi via YouTube)

An Italian Catholic priest who has been harshly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza has been denied entry to the country and placed on a flight from Tel Aviv to Greece, according to Italian media reports and the priest’s own Facebook page.

Father Nandino Capovilla, 63, a priest in Marghera, near Venice, landed at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday to take part in a “Pilgrimage of Justice” organized by the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, at border control, Capovilla was stopped and eventually given a form to sign, which read that he could not enter Israel for reasons related to security or public order.

On his Facebook account, the priest regularly posts materials about the plight of the Palestinian people. In his posts, Capovilla has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide.

“I AM FREE! They let me out now,” Capovilla wrote on Facebook last night. “My cell phone and suitcase have been returned. All good.”

Capovilla encouraged any journalist who would cover his case to “demand sanctions” for a state that “among its ‘mistakes’ bombs mosques and churches.”

“I will not allow any journalist to interview me about my seven hours in detention if they don’t write about a people who has been prisoner in their land for 70 years,” he adds.

The rest of the Pax Christi group has been able to continue with their pilgrimage.

Government source optimistic Haredi enlistment law can be reached, as Knesset panel discusses matter

Speaking with The Times of Israel, a senior government official expresses optimism regarding the possibility of passing an ultra-Orthodox enlistment law, stating that a compromise agreed to by the Haredi parties and then-Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein in June could serve as the basis for legislation acceptable to the parties.

Even United Torah Judaism’s Agudat Yisrael faction, which has expressed extreme skepticism regarding the possibility of passing a bill both sides can support, will fall in line, the source asserts, arguing that the Haredi parties will come back to the table as the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, under new chairman Boaz Bismuth, formulates a new draft of the legislation based on Edelstein’s compromise.

According to the source, the Haredim will eventually acquiesce to a bill containing strong sanctions, although possibly not as strong as those advanced by Edelstein — whom he accuses of having gone back on his word because he feared that adhering to his compromise would make him look like he folded on the issue.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently meeting to discuss the issue of Haredi enlistment, its first hearing under Bismuth’s leadership. Addressing the committee, the Likud MK says that people keep calling a conscription bill “unrealistic” but that it is time to discuss what is possible and that his committee is the right environment because “everybody here is in favor of a conscription law.”

The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), have been pushing hard for the passage of a bill enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service.

Last month, UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by Edelstein (Likud), which, it argued, had violated the terms of a compromise reached in June. They were quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, remained part of the coalition.

Edelstein’s bill would have imposed harsh sanctions on draft evaders, including the revocation of drivers’ licenses, a ban on flying abroad, a prohibition on applying for civil service jobs, an end to government subsidies for purchasing an apartment, and cancellation of discounts on public transportation, National Insurance payments, and electricity bills.

To mollify the Haredim, the coalition replaced Edelstein with Bismuth last week.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, ahead of today’s committee meeting, Haredi representatives presented Bismuth with a list of demands, including the cancellation of tens of thousands of conscription orders sent to ultra-Orthodox men over the past year and limits on institutional sanctions against yeshivas that fail to meet enlistment targets.

Knesset panel meets to discuss major budget transfers, mainly toward Haredi needs

The Knesset Finance Committee is convening to vote on a series of significant budget transfers, many earmarked for the ultra-Orthodox sector, as part of longstanding coalition agreements, even though the Haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party left the coalition recently, and Shas is no longer part of the government.

Central to today’s agenda are Education Ministry transfers amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels to the Haredi school system. According to Hebrew media reports, about NIS 177 million ($52 million) are mapped for the operation of Haredi schools, including staff training and salaries, summer programs and transportation.

The ultra-Orthodox school system operates with limited state curriculum oversight, and schools vary in how much of that curriculum is taught, with only a small fraction of those that fail to teach core curriculum subjects as required by law facing any sanctions, according to a recent report by the Israel Democracy Institute.

The education transfers are part of a larger package of funds totalling roughly NIS 346 million ($101 million) requested by the Finance Ministry, mostly benefiting the Haredi and religious-Zionist sectors.

Opposition lawmakers argue these transfers prioritize political deals over urgent national needs amid wartime pressures and strained public services.

National Unity party MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen, who sits on the Finance Committee, sharply criticizes the committee for considering such transfers “in the middle of [Knesset] recess, on the eve of the [proposed] occupation of Gaza.”

The vote comes as the government announces plans to call up more reservists following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration of an impending takeover of Gaza City.

It also unfolds amid widespread outrage over the ousting of MK Yuli Edelstein from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee — a move tied directly to his refusal to advance legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from the military draft.

Ex-hostage at Knesset: Netanyahu made promises at Nir Oz visit, then ‘forgot about us’

Former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz at the Knesset in Jerusalem, August 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, the widow of murdered hostage Oded Lifshitz, says that her home of Kibbutz Nir Oz was “completely abandoned by the government and the army” during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

“We were left for hours in the hands of Hamas [terrorists] who abused, slaughtered, and ate the breakfast left by the kibbutz residents,” she says.

“I ask this government, until when? You know that I lost a kilo every two days in captivity — now think about those who are still there. You are discussing everything other than bringing them home. Today, when I travel to Nir Oz, one of the hardest things for me is seeing that 85% of the kibbutz is burned, that one in four has either been kidnapped or murdered, and Bibi remembered to come visit [only] after a year and seven months,” she says, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.

Netanyahu made significant promises during that visit, “and the moment he crossed the fence, he forgot about us,” she continues.

Holocaust survivors advocate for the release of the Gaza hostages at the Knesset in Jerusalem, August 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The committee is also addressed by several Holocaust survivors who call on the government to return the hostages.

Survivor Michael Adam recalls being detained by the Nazis in northern France during World War II and held in a camp for nearly a year. He says he was nothing but skin and bones when he was released and that the trauma “has plagued us for our entire lives” and continued for generations.

“Wake up, bring everybody home,” another survivor yells.

Ben Gvir urges demolition of Haifa-area grave of Izzedine al-Qassam, namesake of Hamas military wing

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

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Nesher Mayor Roy Levi to “issue a demolition order tomorrow morning” for the grave of notorious Muslim extremist Izzedine al-Qassam, the namesake of Hamas’s military wing, who is buried in the Haifa-area town.

Addressing a discussion in the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee on the possibility of moving the grave, Ben Gvir declares that the police will secure and protect such efforts because Israel needs to send a “very clear message” that arch-terrorists, “even in death, will not be tolerated.”

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.

IDF says it targeted Islamic Jihad members in drone strike on Gaza’s Deir al-Balah yesterday

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip in an image released by the military on August 12, 2025. (IDF)

An Israeli drone strike on central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah yesterday targeted several Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, the military says.

No further details are given by the IDF on the strike. Palestinian media reported a strike in Deir al-Balah last night that killed five people.

Separately, troops of the 188th Armored Brigade came under mortar fire in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and directed an Israeli Air Force drone to hit a building from which the projectiles were launched, the IDF says.

The military publishes footage showing the latter strike.

כוחות צה"ל ממשיכים לפעול ברצועת עזה: כוחות צוות הקרב של חטיבה 188 השמידו מבנה ממנו שוגרו פצמ"רים לעבר כוחותינו

כוחות צה״ל בפיקוד הדרום ממשיכים לפעול בהכוונת אמ״ן ושב"כ נגד ארגוני הטרור ברחבי רצועת עזה.

כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקפו אתמול במרחב דיר אל-באלח, בהכוונה מודיעינית של… pic.twitter.com/cLaPuC8NDG

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 12, 2025

Jewish man, pregnant wife reportedly attacked in antisemitic incident in Venice

Gondoliers take tourists by the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), in Venice, Italy, on June 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A Jewish couple has reportedly been attacked in Venice by three men calling the husband a “dirty Jew,” according to Italian media.

The Venice newspaper Il Gazzettino reports that the man and the woman, American tourists in the Italian city for a brief vacation, belong to the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic group and were therefore very recognizable as Jewish, with the man sporting a kippa and a long beard. The woman is five months pregnant.

According to Il Gazzettino, which quotes anonymous witnesses, the tourists were taking a walk near the iconic Rialto Bridge in the city center late Saturday night, when three men began harassing them, unprovoked. The men threw water at the couple and spat on them, before one of the aggressors freed his large dog from the leash and set the dog on the husband. The dog tried to attack him, but bit into the cellphone in his pants’ pocket.

The couple then managed to flee and reached a kosher restaurant owned by a member of the local Chabad community, where they had eaten earlier. The couple did not report the attack to the authorities and left the city to fly back to America a few hours later, but according to Il Gazzettino, other people from the Jewish community alerted the police, which opened an investigation.

“It matters little whether the victims are from Chabad or not,” Sion Yehiel Banin Rahamim, the owner of the Gam Gam restaurant, tells the newspaper. “It’s unfortunate that such serious attacks happen in our city, which I have always considered, and still consider, tolerant and intelligent. The attack was in no way provoked, and passersby acted as if nothing had happened.”

COGAT says 300 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday via Israeli crossings

Trucks carrying aid wait to enter the Gaza Strip from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, on May 20, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Some 300 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip yesterday through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says.

According to COGAT, over 270 trucks worth of aid were collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza side of the crossings yesterday to be distributed.

“Additionally, tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems,” COGAT adds.

The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.

Likud MK suspected of rape urges police to halt ‘political investigation’

MK Hanoch Milwidsky chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 29, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, the newly appointed Knesset Finance Committee chairman who is suspected of rape and witness tampering, appeals to the head of the police’s investigations department, demanding that the case against him be closed.

He tells Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt that the probe is a “political investigation” intended to harm his reputation, Walla reports. “The timing of the opening of the investigation ahead of my appointment is no coincidence,” he claims, insisting that “the truth will soon be revealed.”

Milwidsky is under investigation for allegedly raping a woman while serving as a legal adviser to the head of a New Age religious association called “Bnei Baruch — Kabbalah La’am.” According to the allegations, he was coaching a woman who had been raped by the group’s head to testify falsely in support of his innocence, in exchange for pay.

The unnamed woman, who moved to Moscow and flew back to Israel to testify, told police last year that Milwidsky had raped her in a hotel room after she gave her false testimony.

Milwidsky was questioned under caution by police regarding the matter in July. The Likud lawmaker, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, continues to deny any wrongdoing. He and his party have cast the investigation against him as a witch hunt, as supposed retaliation against the coalition’s attempts to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Hundreds of retired pilots, Air Force reservists to rally today in Tel Aviv, calling for war’s end

Hundreds of Israel Air Force reserve and retired pilots are set to hold a rally this evening in front of IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv to demand an end to the war.

A statement on behalf of the reservists says the 7 p.m. demonstration will “call for an immediate end to the futile war and urgent action to bring the hostages home.”

“We support the [IDF] chief of staff’s opposition to the war’s expansion and support for an urgent deal to return the hostages,” they add, arguing the war is “exacting an unbearable toll from hostages who have languished in captivity for 676 days, is risking our soldiers’ lives in vain, is causing unnecessary harm to innumerable innocent civilians, and is degrading Israel’s standing in the world to an unprecedented low.”

Report: France stops giving visas to El Al security staff

An El Al flight takes off at the Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, June 19, 2025. ( Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

France has stopped renewing work visas for El Al security staff members, the Ynet news site reports, citing sources within El Al.

The decision would seem to be related to rising tensions in France over Israel’s military operation in Gaza. If they are denied work visas, staff members are forced to either leave the country or work illegally.

Until now, El Al security staff have been classified as ITAN workers (Israeli citizens supporting diplomatic missions) and were granted visas via the Israeli embassy. However, no employees have had their visas renewed in the last six months, a source told Ynet.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the issue is being checked.

“The matter is being handled by the embassy in coordination with the French Foreign Ministry,” the spokesperson says.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee responds to the report with surprise. “Say it ain’t so, France. Say it ain’t so! What happened to France?” he posts on X.

Say it ain't so, France. Say it ain't so! What happened to France?https://t.co/yYINISH1Gh

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 12, 2025

Last week, El Al’s Paris offices were smeared with red paint and anti-Israel graffiti.

Pictures posted online showed the doors of the offices covered in paint and the words “Free Palestine” daubed in several places in a number of languages, along with graffiti reading “El Al genocide airline.”

Health Ministry campaign urges public to dry up standing water sources to curb diseases

The Environmental Protection Ministry launches a publicity campaign via social media and digital platforms, calling on the public to dry up standing water sources in their homes and surroundings as an effective and safe method for preventing mosquito reproduction, reducing bites, and lowering the risk of human illness.

The ministry recommends that the public drain and dry standing water sources that could serve as mosquito breeding grounds, including containers that could accumulate water, such as old tires and buckets, and to prevent water accumulation at the bottoms of flower pots and planters.

It also recommends emptying or replacing water at least once a week in containers such as flower vases and pet drinking bowls, covering swimming pools and cleaning and emptying gutters.

“No standing water, no mosquitoes,” says Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman in a statement.

The Health Ministry has reported two cases of West Nile virus in Israel this year. In 2024, the number of cases in Israel surged to over 800 amid the biggest outbreak of the virus in more than two decades, with more than 60 people dying from the virus, according to Health Ministry data.

Female mayors join women’s protest urging end to war; march planned today near Nahal Oz

Several female mayors join the women’s and mothers’ protest in southern Israel, which began Sunday, which is calling for an end to the Gaza war and the return of all Israeli hostages.

They are Michal Uziyahu of the Eshkol Regional Authority near the Gaza border, Shlomit Shichor Reichman of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council in the north, and, from the center of the country, Rotem Yadlin of the Gezer Regional Authority, Galit Shaul of the Emek Hefer Regional Council, and Keren Green of the local council in Kadima-Zoran.

Later today, a march is planned to a site memorializing female soldiers killed at the Nahal Oz army base on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists overran the base. Among those who have said they will join are Eran Etzion, a former head of policy planning at the Foreign Ministry and former deputy head of the National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Office; former education minister Yuli Tamir; and a retired judge, Sarah Habib.

World’s largest wealth fund says it was too slow to divest from Israeli firms, expects to sell more stocks

Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, says it expects to divest from more Israeli companies as part of its ongoing review of investments in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

The fund announced yesterday that it was terminating contracts with external asset managers handling some of its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The review began last week following media reports that the fund had built a stake of just over 2% in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel’s armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.

The stake in the company, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL), has now been sold, the fund announces.

Bet Shemesh does not respond to requests for comment.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an arm of Norway’s central bank, which held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of June 30, in recent days divested stakes in 11 firms, including BSEL. It does not name the other companies.

“We expect to divest from more companies,” NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen tells a press conference.

The fund began investing in BSEL in November 2023, about one month after the war in Gaza began, via an external investment manager, Tangen says. The fund declines to name the external portfolio manager.

Since then, NBIM has held quarterly meetings with Bet Shemesh Holdings, but the war in Gaza was not raised as a theme.

“We had discussions about their business in the United States, not about the war in Gaza,” Tangen says, adding that the fund rated BSEL as a “medium risk” stock with regards to ethics concerns.

BSEL was later reviewed as a high-risk stock in May. That change should have been quicker, Tangen says, adding that NBIM should have had a tighter overview of these investments earlier.

“We should have been quicker in taking back control of the Israeli investments,” he says.

Citing need to speed up trial, court says Netanyahu to testify 3 times per week starting in November

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of his testimony in his criminal trial, May 27, 2025. (Reuven Kastro/POOL)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be required to testify three times a week in his corruption trial starting in November, the judges overseeing the case announce, citing the need to speed up the process.

The trial has been going on since 2020, and Netanyahu has been testifying twice a week since December, with countless of these hearings canceled or cut short due to various reasons related to the premier’s responsibilities and to fatigue and illnesses.

The Jerusalem District Court judges say that four hearings per week will be held starting in November, and Netanyahu will testify in three of them until the end of his cross-examination.

The court system is currently on recess, and the next hearings are scheduled for September.

The judges also order an examination of the idea of holding future hearings at a courthouse in Beit Shemesh, rather than at the Tel Aviv District Court, where they have been held until now. The hearings can’t be held at the Jerusalem District Court building during the war since it lacks an adequate bomb shelter.

Amid intense heatwave, Parks Authority imposes ban on entering hiking trails until Saturday

A helicopter rescues a man who suffered heatstroke at the El Al Nature Reserve in the Golan Heights on August 11, 2025. (Courtesy Golan Rescue Unit)

With the Israel Meteorological Service forecasting extreme, life-threatening temperatures this week, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority is imposing a ban on entering all hiking trails in open areas in nature reserves and national parks until Saturday, August 16.

An exception is made for “very short walks” at popular sites during the early morning hours, where the trail is shaded and there are places to drink water.

Over recent days, emergency services have had to rescue several people who went hiking despite bans and suffered heatstroke.

The authority advises the public to stay updated on the current heatwave via the meteorological service website and the media, and to call the Parks Authority information center with questions about hiking on *3639.

Israeli envoy says Australia’s Palestine recognition is a meaningless attempt to appease voters

Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon criticizes the government in Canberra after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he will recognize a Palestinian state next month.

“Internal political considerations prevailed over the understanding that this recognition is meaningless and merely performative,” Maimon tells the Ynet news site in an interview. “It won’t change the reality on the ground.”

He adds that “the war in Gaza is just a pretext” and that “the Australian government doesn’t know how to deal with the scourge of ugly antisemitism, and they are trying to appease their voter base.”

Lapid urges government supporters to join Sunday’s general strike

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid is urging government supporters to join Sunday’s planned general strike in solidarity with the families of hostages, slain soldiers and victims of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.

“You can just stop for one day and say this is terrible, this is sad, that you’re not looking away and not telling people whose lives have been destroyed to ‘be quiet,’” Lapid says.

“Strike because the families asked, and that is reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on shared responsibility, on Jewish values,” he says, noting the 676 days of grief endured by many families.

“Strike so that, for at least one day, it will be clear we still have something good in common. That being Israeli, first and foremost, means having a heart,” Lapid adds.

The strike, set for August 17, is being organized by the October Council, a group representing families affected by Hamas’s attack.

They are protesting the continuation of the war and the government’s plan for a military takeover of Gaza City, which they warn could endanger hostages still held in Gaza and lead to further IDF casualties.

Police say 42 Gazans staying illegally in Israel arrested in Nazareth

Gazans who had been illegally residing in Israel, after they were detained by police in Nazareth on August 11, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police and Border Police officers last night arrested 42 Gazans who had been illegally residing in Israel, law enforcement officials say.

They were arrested in three separate hideout apartments in Nazareth by Northern District forces, as part of an operation aimed at “preventing illegal residency offenses.”

Officers first came upon an apartment with 28 illegal residents, which led them to two additional apartments–one with 11 residents and another with three. The Gazans were detained and transferred for questioning to the Nazareth police station.

Forces also confiscated a “commercial quantity” of goods whose ownership is unknown, police say, without specifying the nature of the seized property.

Lapid assails ‘crazy government’ over bickering with IDF on appointments

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams the government’s handling of the latest round of contested IDF promotions, stating that “this is not how you run a country, this is not how you lead an army.”

“In this crazy government, even a basic event like appointing officers in the IDF doesn’t go by without leaks, fights, slander and night-time announcements,” Lapid says in an overnight statement.

Katz has publicly attacked IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir over a round of senior appointments the latter has announced, saying this wasn’t coordinated with him and goes against established protocol. The military has countered that the normal course of events is the army holding internal discussions, with the defense minister later approving or rejecting them.

But unofficially, military sources cited by several Hebrew media outlets allege that Zamir has attempted for around a month to schedule a meeting with Katz regarding the round of appointments, without success.

A source cited by Ynet claims that in an act of “unprecedented blackmail,” the issue is being linked by Katz to the government’s demand that the military prepare for the takeover of Gaza City, as approved last week by the cabinet despite reported objections by Zamir and other top defense officials.

Sources are cited as estimating that while Katz is sending out the scathing messages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is actually behind them.

Israeli review argues Hamas inflating number of malnutrition deaths in ‘orchestrated campaign’

Abdulla Abu Zarka, left, a kid reported to be suffering from hunger in Gaza, with his mother and sibling in a photo circulating online in July 2025. (X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Hamas has been inflating the toll of Palestinians it says have died of malnutrition, and most of those verified to have died had preexisting medical conditions, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) claims.

COGAT says Israeli security officials and medical experts conducted a review of Hamas’s starvation claims in Gaza, saying it found that the terror group has conducted “an orchestrated campaign as part of a broader effort to discredit the State of Israel and achieve political gains.”

“The thorough review found a significant gap between the number of deaths attributed to malnutrition as reported by Hamas’s health ministry and the cases documented and published with full identifying details in the media and on social media,” COGAT says.

From the beginning of the war until June 2025, the Hamas-run health ministry reported 66 deaths due to alleged starvation. Then, in July 2025, over 133 such deaths were reported by the ministry.

“Despite the allegedly high death toll in July, Hamas’s health ministry did not release the identities of the deceased as it had done in the past,” COGAT charges.

The Defense Ministry body says that on July 19, Hamas announced 18 deaths from starvation, and on July 22, another 15. “However, an in-depth review of various platforms identified only a handful of actual cases. This discrepancy between the numerical reports and the individual publications raises doubts about their credibility,” it says.

“The case-by-case analysis of the published deaths shows that most of those allegedly dying from malnutrition had preexisting medical conditions that led to the deterioration of their health, unrelated to their nutritional status. It was also found that some had even received medical treatment in Israel before the war. This indicates that the documented cases do not represent the condition of the general population in the Gaza Strip but rather selectively present extreme cases involving preexisting illnesses,” COGAT claims.

COGAT notes that in recent weeks, images circulated online of an emaciated four-year-old, Abdullah Hani Muhammad Abu Zarqa, who was claimed to have been suffering from starvation. “A COGAT review found that he suffers from a genetic disease causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning, a hereditary illness that also affected other family members. It was further established that four months before the outbreak of the war, the child traveled with his mother, with Israeli approval, to receive medical treatment at Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem,” the statement says.

Another case noted by COGAT is of 27-year-old Karam Khaled Mustafa al-Jamal, who was reported to have died from starvation. “The defense establishment determined that Karam had suffered since childhood from muscular dystrophy and partial paralysis, which caused swallowing difficulties. This was a longstanding medical condition unrelated to the general nutritional situation in Gaza,” COGAT says.

COGAT says that the review, “including by analyzing broader photographic evidence and other available intelligence, concluded that there are no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza.”

“The Hamas terrorist organization cynically exploits tragic images and misuses them for a false and timed propaganda campaign aimed at generating pressure and creating negative public opinion against the State of Israel,” COGAT says, adding that it will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the international community, while rejecting allegations of famine in the Gaza Strip.”

COGAT does not release the full review to the public.

Hebrew U joins 3 other universities in announcing participation in Aug. 17 general strike

The Hebrew University says it will join a planned general strike on Sunday, called by hostages’ families to protest the government’s decision to widen the war in Gaza rather than sign a deal to return the abductees.

The Jerusalem university’s management, dean and school heads say they will strike, urging the government to “do whatever it takes, including ending the war, to return the hostages now.”

However, exams scheduled for that day will be held normally.

The Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University and Haifa University have previously said they will join the strike.

Montreal police arrest suspect in assault on Jewish man

Montreal police say they have arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of assaulting a Jewish man in front of his daughters last week.

The investigation “is still ongoing,” the suspect is being questioned, and a charge sheet will be filed to prosecutors, the police statement says, without identifying him.

A video circulating on social media showed part of the attack — which occurred in the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension — beginning with the assailant straddling the man and beating him.

Today in Montreal Jewish father with 3 kids beaten in an unprovoked attack, seemingly by a disturbed person, words have consequences. @Val_Plante @SPVM why did it take for the SPVM over an hour to respond? pic.twitter.com/MufsGoDMjW

— Mayer Feig (@mayerfeig) August 8, 2025

The assailant then picked up some groceries and threw what appeared to be a kippa into a nearby splash pad area.

The video did not show the moments leading up to the attack.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the man — who was dressed in typical ultra-Orthodox attire — suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Man killed, 2 women hurt in overnight home fire in Netanya

A man in his 50s was killed in a fire that broke out overnight in an apartment building in Netanya, firefighters announce.

The blaze also badly injured a woman in her 60s and lightly injured a woman in her 50s who inhaled smoke.

Firefighters and paramedics found two of the victims unconscious on the building’s eighth floor, where the fire had spread. All three were rescued from the fire and taken to the city’s Laniado Hospital for treatment.

The man, who had been in critical condition, was soon pronounced dead by medical staff at the hospital.

Fire officials say that the circumstances of the incident are under investigation.

IDF officials said to accuse Katz of ‘blackmail’ over reluctance to okay senior appointments

Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at the Defense Ministry, March 25, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

IDF sources are reportedly accusing Defense Minister Israel Katz of “blackmail” and of treating the army chief as if he were a junior soldier, escalating a public tiff between the heads of Israel’s defense establishment.

Katz has publicly attacked IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir over a round of senior appointments the latter has announced, saying this wasn’t coordinated with him and goes against established protocol. The military has countered that the normal course of events is the army holding internal discussions, with the defense minister later approving or rejecting them.

But unofficially, military sources cited by several Hebrew media outlets allege that Zamir has attempted for around a month to schedule a meeting with Katz regarding the round of appointments, without success.

According to the Ynet news site, the last such attempt was yesterday, and he was rejected “as if he were ranked corporal, and even though there was no surprise here.”

The Israel Hayom daily cites Katz’s office as claiming Zamir came “by surprise” and was rejected due to scheduling issues and because the army chief requested a 15-minute meeting to discuss the matter, while Katz wants a longer discussion to weigh the appointments. The office also claims Zamir only started asking for a meeting on Friday.

A source cited by Ynet claims that in an act of “unprecedented blackmail,” the issue is being linked by Katz to the government’s demand that the military prepare for the takeover of Gaza City, as approved last week by the cabinet despite reported objections by Zamir and other top defense officials.

Sources are cited as estimating that while Katz is sending out the scathing messages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one actually behind them.

Gaza airdrops contain weapons, member of Netanyahu’s party claims

Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

MK Moshe Saada of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party claims, without evidence, that aid airdrops by countries in Gaza contain weapons shipments.

“The humanitarian aid is arming and funding Hamas,” Saada tells the Kan public broadcaster in a radio interview. “Has anybody checked the airdrops? It’s clear to everyone that they contain ammunition.”

He adds that Israel must occupy the entire Strip because “only that way does one win a war.”

Since July 26, when Israel adopted a new policy to let more aid into the Strip, over 1,000 humanitarian aid packages have been airdropped in the Gaza Strip by at least 12 countries, including Israel, according to the military. The packages the IDF airdropped were supplied by international aid groups.

Israel re-adopted the policy amid mounting international criticism over the hunger crisis in Gaza. But airdrops are only able to deliver a small fraction of what can come into Gaza by land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by the packages from above.

For Trump administration, US airdrops of Gaza aid were never a serious option — sources

Palestinians rush to the site where parachuted aid packages are landing in the central Gaza Strip during an airdrop on August 6, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

During US President Joe Biden’s administration, the US military carried out waves of airdrops of food into Gaza, delivering some 1,220 tons of assistance.

But the option hasn’t been seriously considered by Donald Trump’s administration, US officials and other sources say, even as he voices concern over starvation in Gaza amid Israel’s nearly two-year-old military campaign against Hamas.

One source says it is seen as an unrealistic option because airdrops would not come close to meeting the needs of 2.1 million Palestinians.

This comes even as close US allies, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Britain, have carried out airdrops of assistance to Gaza.

Humanitarian aid groups have long been critical of airdrops of aid, calling them more symbolic than truly effective when the scale of the need in Gaza requires open land routes for large amounts of aid to enter the enclave.

The heavy packages could also present a danger to civilians on the ground rushing toward the parachuting aid.

“It just hasn’t been part of the discussions,” says one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Trump administration deliberations.

A source familiar with the issue says: “It hasn’t been a serious consideration because it’s not really a serious option at this moment.”

Some US officials war-gamed the option and found “it’s absolutely unrealistic,” says the source familiar with the matter. The source says it is unknown how “big a lift capacity” could be managed even if the Israelis approved US use of the airspace.

A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, says he is unaware of any US interest in participating in the airdrop effort.

Another official in a US-allied country which is taking part in the airdrops says there have been no conversations with the United States about Washington taking part in the effort.

The official adds that the United States is not providing logistical support for the airdrops being carried out by other countries.

Asked for comment, a White House official says the administration is open to “creative solutions” to the issue.

“President Trump has called for creative solutions ‘to help the Palestinians’ in Gaza. We welcome any effective effort that delivers food to Gazans and keeps it out of the hands of Hamas,” the White House official says.

Israel began allowing food airdrops in late July, as global concern mounted about the humanitarian toll in Gaza from the war.

Body of 18-year-old who drowned in Mediterranean found after overnight searches

Officials say they have found the body of an 18-year-old man from Netanya who drowned last night in the Mediterranean Sea, with Magen David Adom medics pronouncing him dead.

The announcement comes after police searches that lasted through the night following reports that the teenager went missing after swimming at Olga Beach in Hadera.

Katz insists round of senior IDF appointments violates protocol, he will ‘weigh’ approving it

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, June 20, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz continues to argue that a round of senior IDF appointments announced by army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir violates established protocol, saying he will “weigh” the list announced overnight.

“Since these are joint appointments by the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, there is an accepted procedure for appointments of ranks colonel and up in the IDF,” Katz says in a new statement from his office. “No discussion of IDF shakeups is held before the accepted procedure is carried out.”

Katz says he has “clarified to the chief of staff that he needs more time and the discussion must not be held at this time,” adding that he will “weigh whether to promote senior officers on the Gaza front who haven’t served the accepted timeframe for their roles to other roles before the task of defeating Hamas in Gaza has been completed.”

Katz also says he will examine whether to promote officers who served as commanders on the Gaza front during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, or whose names were linked to “irregular incidents in the past.”

“The military echelon is subordinate to the defense minister and will act in accordance with his orders and the policy he will set,” Katz adds.

Earlier, after Katz says he would not be approving the promotions because Zamir held a discussion on the matter “without prior coordination and agreement,” the military said in a statement that the “staffing discussion was scheduled in advance, in accordance with regulations,” adding: “The chief of staff decides on the appointments, after which the appointment goes to the [defense] minister for approval, who may approve or not approve the appointment.”

Blinken: Western countries morally right to recognize Palestine, but they’re doing so hastily

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, on January 14, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken argues that the growing number of Western countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state in September are well-intentioned, but are going about the effort in the wrong way.

“With the Gaza crisis still unfolding, this focus on recognition seems totally beside the more pressing realities. Amid the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages—and Israel’s announced plan to occupy all or part of the enclave—averting famine, recovering the hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza are the priorities. Talk of two states can wait,” he writes in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

“Unconditionally recognizing Palestine won’t produce a Palestinian state or end suffering in Gaza. Failing to require that Palestinians commit to steps to ensure Israel’s security in return for recognition would fortify proponents of terror on the Palestinian side and rejectionists of Palestinian statehood on the Israeli side,” he argues.

“There’s a better way forward. France, the UK, Canada and Australia should adopt, and the US should embrace, a time-bound, conditions-based path toward recognizing a Palestinian state. Start and end points are a must, because no one will accept an endless process. Palestinians need a clear and near horizon for political self-determination,” Blinken says.

“Recognition should also be conditions based. While Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility. No one should expect Israel to accept a Palestinian state that is led by Hamas or other terrorists, that is militarized or has independent armed militias, that aligns with Iran or others that reject Israel’s right to exist, that educates and preaches hatred of Jews or Israel, or that, unreformed, becomes a failed state,” he continues.

“Addressing these conditions over the next three years —a reasonable time frame— can show Israel and the world that an independent Palestine will be focused on building a state, not destroying Israel,” he adds.

Australia’s Albanese says Netanyahu ‘in denial’ over suffering in Gaza

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu is “in denial” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a day after announcing Australia would recognize a Palestinian state for the first time.

Albanese says the Netanyahu government’s reluctance to listen to its allies contributed to Australia’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

“He again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,” Albanese says in an interview with state broadcaster ABC, recounting a Thursday phone call with Netanyahu discussing the issue.

Australia’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state is conditional on commitments received from the Palestinian Authority, including that Hamas would have no involvement in any future state.

Albanese said last month he would not be drawn on a timeline for recognition of a Palestinian state, and has previously been wary of dividing public opinion in Australia, which has significant Jewish and Muslim minorities.

But the public mood has shifted sharply after Israel said it planned to take over Gaza City, amid increasing reports of hunger and malnutrition across the Strip.

Madonna urges Pope to visit Gaza ‘and bring your light to the children before it’s too late’

Madonna appears at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York, on May 4, 2019. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Madonna writes a message to Pope Leo XIV in a social media post, urging him to visit Gaza in order to help alleviate the suffering of children in the enclave.

“Most Holy Father, Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone,” she writes.

“You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry. We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children. There is no more time.”

“Please say you will go. Love, Madonna,” she adds.

Politics Cannot affect Change.
Only consciousness Can. Therefore I am Reaching out to a Man of God.

Today is my Son Rocco’s birthday.
I feel the best gift I can give to him as a Mother – is to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the… pic.twitter.com/y2B3BsXAMt

— Madonna (@Madonna) August 11, 2025

Madonna, who unofficially added “Esther” to her name in 2005, marks some Jewish festivals though she isn’t Jewish. The singer, 65, does not perform on Friday nights and Saturdays because of Shabbat and has declared Israel “the energy center of the world.”

Madonna owns a home in Tel Aviv. She has performed three concerts in the country.

Trump announces extending China tariff truce by 90 days

US President Donald Trump says he has ordered a 90-day tariff truce to delay reimposition of higher levies on Chinese goods, hours before a suspension between the two economies was set to expire.

“I have just signed an Executive Order that will extend the Tariff Suspension on China for another 90 days. All other elements of the Agreement will remain the same,” Trump posts on his Truth Social platform.

Hitting back at Katz, Zamir says military appointments were carried out according to protocol

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir hits back at Defense Minister Israel Katz for accusing the military chief of not coordinating a meeting on senior appointments with him earlier this evening.

The IDF says that contrary to Katz’s claims, the “staffing discussion was scheduled in advance, in accordance with regulations.”

“The chief of staff is the sole authority under regulations for appointing commanders at the rank of colonel and above in the IDF. The chief of staff holds an orderly staffing discussion with the participation of the General Staff forum,” the military says in a statement.

“The chief of staff decides on the appointments, after which the appointment goes to the [defense] minister for approval, who may approve or not approve the appointment,” the IDF adds.

Despite Katz saying that he would not be approving the promotions because Zamir held a discussion on the matter “without prior coordination and agreement,” the IDF announced the list of officers who are to be promoted.

Normally, senior appointments are brought to Katz for approval following internal IDF meetings on the matter.

Bucking Katz, IDF chief announces round of military appointments

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir announces a round of appointments in the military, promoting several officers to command divisions and other senior roles.

The list announced by Zamir includes 14 officers promoted to brigadier general, four promoted to colonel, as well as eight brigadier generals and two colonels who are moving to new positions at the same rank.

The appointments are conditioned on the approval of Defense Minister Israel Katz, the military says.

Katz earlier said he would not be approving the promotions because Zamir held a discussion on the matter “without prior coordination and agreement.”

Many of the promoted officers were commanders of brigades and divisions that took part in the fighting in the Gaza Strip and on other fronts.

Some of the notable appointments include:

Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, who will head the Operations Directorate’s Operations Division

Chief of staff at the Southern Command — including ahead of the October 7 onslaught — Brig. Gen. Manor Yanai, who will be chief of staff at the Ground Forces

36th Division chief during the war, Brig. Gen. Moran Omer, who will head the Planning Directorate’s Planning Division

Head of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Operational Operations Division, Brig. Gen. Manny Liberty, who will command the 98th Division

146th Division commander during the war, Brig. Gen. Yeftah Norkin, who will head the 36th Division

Tzeelim training base head, Brig. Gen. Eliad Moati, who will command the 210th Division

7th Armored Brigade commander during the war, Col. Elad Tzuri, who will head the 99th Division

401st Armored Brigade commander during the war, Col. Beni Aharon, who will command the 146th Division

Givati Brigade commander during the war, Col. Liron Betito, who will head the Gaza Division

Bahad 1 officers’ school commander, Col. Eliav Elbaz, who will command the 252nd Division

Nahal Brigade commander during the war, Col. Yair Zukerman, who will head the Company and Battalion Commanders Course

Kfir Brigade commander during the war, Col. Yaniv Barot, who will head the Tzeelim training base

188th Armored Brigade commander during the war, Col. Or Vollozinsky, who will head the Armored Corps

Yahalom combat engineering unit commander during the war, Col. Eli David, who will head the Combat Engineering Corps

Katz slams IDF chief for advancing senior appointments without approval

Defense Minister Israel Katz says a meeting on senior appointments in the military held by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir this evening was conducted “contrary to the defense minister’s directive and without prior coordination and agreement, in violation of established procedure.”

Katz says he has “no intention of discussing or approving any of the appointments or names” that were leaked in several media reports.

“The chief of staff will be required to coordinate in advance with the defense minister in order to discuss these or other appointments in the future,” he adds.

During the discussion this evening, Zamir decided to promote several officers to command divisions and other brigadier general roles.

Normally, the appointments are brought to Katz for approval following internal IDF meetings on the matter.

The IDF has not issued any official statement on the appointments.

IDF claims Al Jazeera reporter it killed, along with 5 other journalists, was receiving Hamas salary

Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif (center left), who was killed by the IDF in Gaza on August 10, 2025, shown together with the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an undated photographed posted by the IDF's Arabic language spokesman on August 11, 2025.

Following international outcry over the killing of prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif in an airstrike in Gaza City last night, the IDF doubles down on its claims that the reporter was an active member of Hamas’s military wing.

“Prior to the strike, we obtained current intelligence indicating that Sharif was an active Hamas military wing operative at the time of his elimination,” says the IDF’s international spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, on X.

“In addition, he received a salary from the Hamas terror group and terrorist supporters, Al-Jazeera, at the same time,” Shoshani claims.

The IDF spokesman says that the documents the army published in October, which it says prove he was an active Hamas member, are “only a small, declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif leading up to the strike.”

Important clarification on Anas al-Sharif ????

Prior to the strike, we obtained current intelligence indicating that Sharif was an active Hamas military wing operative at the time of his elimination. In addition, he received a salary from the Hamas terror group and terrorist…

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) August 11, 2025

In October, the IDF said the documents it found in Gaza proved that Sharif headed a rocket-launching squad and was a member of an elite Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion.

The IDF has not commented on the affiliation of the five other journalists killed alongside Sharif in the strike.

Qatar, Egypt and Turkey said to present Hamas with proposal for deal to end Gaza war, free hostages

Sky News in Arabic reports that Hamas negotiators are being presented with a new Gaza ceasefire proposal put together by Egypt and Qatar, with Turkish help, which would include an end to the war and the release of all hostages.

According to the report, the deal would see all hostages living and dead released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, while Israel would pull its military back “under Arab-American supervision” until an agreement is reached regarding disarming Hamas and its exit from governing Gaza.

During the interim phase, Turkey and other mediators would guarantee that Hamas freeze any military activities, allowing for talks on a permanent end to the war.

According to the report, if Hamas accepts the terms of the proposal, it will be sent to the American mediators to be passed to Israel.

Sky News presents the proposal as designed to “strip any excuse for occupying Gaza from [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The report comes as a Hamas delegation has returned to Cairo at a time of swirling reports of fresh efforts to reenergize stalled ceasefire talks.