Aug. 20: Netanyahu, in UK podcast interview, says Israel has ‘work’ to do to win over Gen Z

IDF strikes Hezbollah arms depot, rocket launcher in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon a short while ago.

The targets included weapon depots and a rocket launcher, according to the military.

The presence of the Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon was a violation of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, the IDF adds.

צה״ל תקף לפני זמן קצר תשתית טרור, מחסני אמצעי לחימה ומשגר של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון.

הימצאותם של מחסני אמצעי לחימה, תשתית הטרור והמשגר שהותקפו היוו הפרה של ההבנות בין ישראל ללבנון.

צה״ל ימשיך לפעול על מנת להסיר כל איום על מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/MlMOqwwT32

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 20, 2025

Likud MK Gotliv stands by calling court guard an ‘animal’ and a ‘Judenrat’

Likud MK Tally Gotliv (back to camera) resists a court security guard (left) who has been ordered to ask her to leave the Lod District courtroom, August 19, 2025 (X screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Likud MK Tally Gotliv fully stands by her conduct yesterday, when she berated a court guard who was ejecting her from a courtroom at the instruction of a judge as an “animal” and a “Judenrat,” referring to Nazi-installed Jewish administrations tasked with implementing Nazi policies during World War II.

Despite being roundly condemned by Likud ministers, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and by many other politicians and officials, the firebrand lawmaker posts a video of the incident, claiming the guard was “blatantly violent” toward her and that the order to eject her was “given without authority.”

After it became clear that the guard has served hundreds of days in reserve duty since the current war began, Gotliv accuses him of “whining in the press.”

“I heard you’re very offended because I called you an ‘animal.’ Such a poor guy, after you treated me and my body like an animal. What you did isn’t at all different from average gaslighting,” she claims.

Texas can’t put Ten Commandments in certain school districts’ classrooms, judge says

Rembrandt's Moses with the Ten Commandments,1659, Germaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin (photo credit: Google Art Poject / Wikipedia Commons)

Texas cannot require public schools in Houston, Austin and other select districts to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge says Wednesday in a temporary ruling against the state’s new requirement.

Texas is the third state where courts have blocked recent laws about putting the Ten Commandments in schools.

A group of families from the school districts sought a preliminary injunction against the law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1. They say the requirement violates the First Amendment’s protections for the separation of church and state and the right to free religious exercise.

The ruling prohibits the 11 districts and their affiliates from posting the displays required under state law. The law is being challenged by a group of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious families, including clergy, who have children in the public schools.

Texas is the largest state to attempt such a requirement, and US District Judge Fred Biery’s ruling from San Antonio is the latest in a widening legal fight that’s expected to eventually go before the US Supreme Court.

“Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions, which teachers would feel compelled to answer. That is what they do,” Biery, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, writes in the ruling that begins by quoting the First Amendment and ends with “Amen.”

Biery’s ruling includes extensive historical references, quotes that range from the Founding Fathers to evangelist Billy Graham, and even a Rembrandt painting of Moses holding the stone tablets alongside an image of actor Charlton Heston in the film “The Ten Commandments.”

A broader lawsuit that names three Dallas-area districts as well as the state education agency and commissioner is pending in federal court. And although Friday’s ruling marks a major win for civil liberties groups, the legal battle is likely far from over.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he plans to appeal the ruling, calling it “flawed.”

“The Ten Commandments are a cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage, and their presence in classrooms serves as a reminder of the values that guide responsible citizenship,” the Republican says in a statement, echoing sentiments from religious groups and conservatives who support the law.

Texas has a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds and won a 2005 Supreme Court case that upheld the monument.

Small Gazan group claims it got humanitarian aid from Al-Qaeda in Yemen

A video released from Gaza City on Monday — and circulating on social media in the past few hours — by a group in Gaza calling itself “Ahrar Bayt al-Maqdis” claims it has received humanitarian aid in the form of food through donations from Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

The group is not known, but its name suggests it may be a Muslim Salafi group operating in Gaza.

It isn’t clear if the claim is true and how the Yemeni goods would have been snuck into the Strip.

#غزة | مجموعة أحرار بيت المقدس عبّرت عن تقديرها البالغ وشكرها العميق لجماعة أنصار الشريعة في #اليمن (#AQAP) (#القاعدة في شبه الجزيرة العربية) على المساعدات التي قدّمتها إلى مدينة غزة، كما ترحّمت في الوقت ذاته على مؤسس #تنظيم_القاعدة #أسامة_بن_لادن.#غزه_تموت_جوعاً #حميد_القوسي pic.twitter.com/aIurAnEFL0

— حميد القوسي (@Hamid_alqawsi) August 19, 2025

Satmar donors in US to reportedly give $7m to Israeli Haredi institutions that boycott government

Haredi boy holds sign that reads: "Our answer to the High court and the rest of the haters of religion: Even if you stand us in front of a firing squad, we will choose death, and not enlist to the army," at a protest against the draft in Jerusalem on August 7, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Wealthy American members of the Satmar Hasidic movement are donating $7 million to Haredi institutions in Israel that pledge not to receive funds from the government, Channel 13 reports.

The Satmar, a large Hasidic movement based in New York, is anti-Zionist. The donations come as Haredi leaders are closing ranks against IDF arrests of ultra-Orthodox men who are evading the draft.

Earlier today, Haredi protesters blocked major highways in central Israel in protest of the draft actions.

Health care executive Joel Landau, also known as Yoeli, is one of some 20 Hasidic donors who has pledged the funds, Channel 13 reports. The outlet also notes that he supports the protest movement and has reportedly urged Haredi institutions in the past to stop taking Israeli government money.

Channel 13 reports that the donors have already donated $5 million to such institutions and were due to donate $2 million more tonight.

Detainee found dead in his cell at Herzliya police station

A man detained at a Tel Aviv-area police station was found dead in his cell earlier today.

Hebrew media reports indicate the man took his own life and was later found by officers at the Glilot station in Herzliya.

Tel Aviv District police chief Haim Sargarof has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the detainee’s death, police announce. His body was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for further examination.

Police arrest 36-year-old Jerusalem resident over suspected threat to kill AG

Police have arrested a 36-year-old man suspected of making threats on the life of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, after he allegedly asked former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef for halachic approval to kill her.

According to Hebrew media reports, Yosef told Religious Affairs Ministry director-general Yehuda Avidan that a man had approached him with a request to issue a din rodef against Baharav-Miara — a religious decree applied to grave offenders giving people an okay to stop them, even if this requires killing them.

Avidan contacted the Jerusalem District police regarding the incident.

Earlier today, police launched an investigation after being made aware of a letter “containing an explicit threat to harm a public figure.”

Within hours, investigators located the suspect at his home in southern Jerusalem and arrested him on the spot, police say.

Officers plan to bring him tomorrow to court to request an extension on his remand, allowing them to continue their investigation into the letter.

Someone branded as a “rodef” is thought to be plotting to or in the process of murdering someone, which in traditional Jewish law gives bystanders the go-ahead to kill them.

The label became infamous in Israeli political history after Yigal Amir, the assassin of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, cited it as a religious justification for his actions.

Baharav-Miara has come under fire from the current government, which voted earlier this month to dismiss her from her post, though the High Court immediately froze the move.

The legal official has also infuriated ultra-Orthodox leaders by ordering an end to subsidized daycare funding for families of draft dodgers, requiring the military to send thousands of enlistment orders to yeshiva students and pushing for the arrests of those who don’t comply.

UN forces and Lebanese army find 50-meter Hezbollah tunnel, unexploded bombs

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol the southern Lebanese city of Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, on November 29, 2024. (AFP)

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says its observers and Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers located a Hezbollah tunnel near the southern Lebanese town of Qoussair.

UNIFIL says in a statement that the tunnel was “approximately 50 meters” (164 feet) long, and that “several unexploded ordnances” were also found in the area.

“In line with resolution 1701, the findings were handed over to the LAF,” the observer force says, referring to a UN-backed ceasefire resolution between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.

“UNIFIL continues to patrol, monitor and work with the LAF to help bring back stability and security to the area of operations,” it adds.

Gantz said weighing return to government to pass ceasefire and hostage-release deal

MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Benny Gantz, chair of the centrist Blue and White-National Unity party, is considering rejoining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to shore up votes for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Gantz’s party joined Netanyahu’s right-wing government following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and he was one of three voting members of a newly formed war cabinet. But his party left the government in mid-2024 due to differences with the prime minister.

Now, National Unity may rejoin as Netanyahu decides whether to accept a 60-day truce that would reportedly free 10 living hostages. Hamas has agreed to the deal but Netanyahu’s cabinet has yet to meet to discuss it.

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, vehemently oppose a ceasefire and support the government’s decision earlier this month to conquer Gaza City.

Ben Gvir resigned when Israel agreed to a ceasefire in January, later returning to the government when it resumed the war. Smotrich recently told relatives of hostages that he would resign if Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire, Channel 12 reports.

Gantz’s faction has undergone a string of defections and now controls seven seats in the Knesset while still coordinating with an eighth member who recently left the party.

The party’s numbers would not replace the 13 MKs controlled by Smotrich and Ben Gvir, and would not give Netanyahu a majority in the 120-member body.

A poll by Kan found that 54 percent of Israelis support a deal to free the hostages, see the IDF retreat, end the war and free Palestinian prisoners, while 28% support the conquest of Gaza City.

Netanyahu, in UK podcast interview, says Israel has ‘work’ to do to win over Gen Z

Israel has “work” to do in winning over young people in the West as polls show collapsing support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits to a UK-based podcast in an interview.

Asking Benjamin Netanyahu The Tough Questions

Watch the full episode with @netanyahu, right here on X. pic.twitter.com/R4J13j0uny

— TRIGGERnometry (@triggerpod) August 20, 2025

Protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have become increasingly common in capitals across the West, attracting large numbers of young people.

A recent Gallup poll has also shown that only 6% of Americans aged 18-34 have a favorable opinion of Netanyahu and just 9% approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza.

On the “Triggernometry” podcast, Netanyahu is asked whether Israel could lose the backing of Western governments once “Gen Z” — those born between around 1997 and 2012 — assumes power.

“If you’re telling me that there’s work to be done on Gen Z and across the West, yes,” he responds.

But he says opposition to Israel among Gen Z stems from a wider campaign against the West and claims there is an orchestrated plot against Israel and the West, without saying who is behind it.

Netanyahu tells the podcast, which bills itself as promoting free speech with “open, fact-based discussion of important and controversial issues,” that US President Donald Trump, who has offered Israel ironclad support since returning to the White House in January, “has proven an exceptional, exceptional friend of Israel, an exceptional leader.”

“I think we’ve been very fortunate to have a leader in the United States who doesn’t act like the European leaders, who doesn’t succumb to this stuff,” he adds, referring to countries including France and the UK that have vowed to recognize a Palestinian state.

ICC blasts new US sanctions as ‘flagrant attack’ on its independence

The International Criminal Court denounces new US sanctions against two more of its judges and two prosecutors, calling them a “flagrant attack” on its independence.

The four include Judge Nicolas Guillou of France, who is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost and deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal were also hit. Prost was involved in a case that authorized an investigation into alleged crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan, including by US forces.

“These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution,” the court says in a statement.

The ICC says it stands “firmly behind its personnel and victims of unimaginable atrocities.”

It says it will “continue fulfilling its mandates, undeterred” and “without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat.”

Four other judges and the court’s prosecutor had already been placed under sanctions.

France slams new US sanctions on ICC judges, prosecutors

France expresses dismay at a US decision to impose sanctions on four more International Criminal Court judges or prosecutors, including one from France, over actions against Israeli leaders and US citizens.

A foreign ministry spokesman says the sanctions, including against French judge Nicolas Guillou, are “in contradiction to the principle of an independent judiciary.”

UK warns Israeli settlement plan would mark ‘flagrant’ breach of international law

British foreign minister David Lammy says a widely condemned Israeli settlement plan would, if implemented, constitute a breach of international law and risk dividing a future Palestinian state.

The E1 project, which would bisect the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received the final go-ahead today from a defense ministry planning commission.

“If implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution,” Lammy says in a post on X, calling on the Israeli government to reverse the decision.

Police said to weigh summoning senior politicians for testimony on Qatargate

Police are considering summoning senior politicians to give testimony in the so-called Qatargate probe that has ensnared several advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Channel 13 news reports.

The report, which doesn’t cite sources, says the unnamed politicians spoke to people involved in the affair and gave them information about Qatar and the war, without knowing their words were being used for allegedly illicit purposes.

Summoning the politicians would require the approval of the State Prosecutor’s Office and the attorney general.

Additionally, the report says police are preparing for the option of no questioning ever being conducted of pro-Qatari American lobbyist Jay Footlik, who is suspected of directly financing Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich’s alleged activities.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, allegedly spearheaded a pro-Qatari public relations campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, and reportedly continued his PR work for Qatar well after the October 7 attack sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, despite the Gulf nation’s strong ties to the terror group.

Urich, Feldstein and a third adviser to Netanyahu, Yisrael Einhorn, are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged pro-Qatar lobbying, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister.

German court rules Buchenwald Holocaust memorial can bar people wearing keffiyehs

Wreaths of flowers lay in front of a placard on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp prior a commemoration ceremony in Buchenwald, Germany on April 6, 2025. (JENS SCHLUETER / AFP)

A German court says that a Nazi concentration camp memorial has the right to refuse entry to those wearing keffiyehs.

The higher administrative court in the eastern state of Thuringia rejected a request from a woman to be allowed entry to the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial while wearing the scarf.

According to local media reports, the woman was turned away when she attempted to attend a commemorative event marking the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation in April while wearing a keffiyeh.

She then petitioned the courts to allow her to return to the memorial for another commemorative event this week while wearing a keffiyeh.

The court found that the memorial was within its rights to deny her entry, pointing to the woman’s declared aim of “sending a political message against what she saw as the (memorial’s) one-sided support for the policies of the Israeli government.”

“It is unquestionable that this would endanger the sense of security of many Jews, especially at this site,” the court said.

The court said the woman’s right to freedom of expression was outweighed in this case by the memorial’s “interest in upholding the purpose of the institution.”

The Buchenwald memorial faced criticism last month when an internal document was leaked, which described the keffiyeh as “closely associated with efforts to destroy the state of Israel.”

The director of the memorial, Jens-Christian Wagner, said subsequently that the document contained “mistakes” and would have to be reworked.

On the question of the keffiyeh, he told the NDR broadcaster last month that it was not per se “a forbidden symbol” at the memorial.

“However, when it is used together with other symbols… to relativize Nazi crimes, then we would ask people to remove those symbols,” he said.

Around 340,000 inmates, including Jews, Roma, homosexuals and Soviet prisoners of war, passed through Buchenwald and its annex, Mittelbau-Dora, both located near the German city of Weimar.

Around 56,000 people were killed at Buchenwald — some executed, others starved or worked to death — and a further 20,000 killed in Mittelbau-Dora, where inmates worked on the Nazis’ V1 and V2 rockets.

Smotrich: If Netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire, I will resign from the government

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on August 6, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told families of Israeli hostages that he would resign from the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Channel 12 reports.

“If the Prime Minister goes through with the deal, I will make difficult decisions and resign from the government. I told the prime minister that,” the far-right leader reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Channel 12 reports that a senior member of Israel’s negotiation team told the families that officials are seeking to leverage Hamas’s weakened position to reach a more comprehensive agreement, without giving up the possibility of securing the narrower deal Hamas has already accepted.

Pressed by a relative on whether such an outcome is realistic, the official replied that it “also depends on Hamas.”

When asked about the danger to the hostages amid Israel’s military operations in Gaza, the negotiator acknowledged the risks: “We are careful, but there is a risk to the hostages — [their safety] is not guaranteed.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has expressed frustration that Netanyahu has yet to convene the security cabinet to discuss the matter, after Hamas agreed earlier this week to a partial hostage release deal. Channel 12 reports that for now, the prime minister has decided not to respond to Hamas’s agreement to the deal.

Footage shows clashes during road-blocking by extremist Haredi protesters

Ultra-Orthodox protesters against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, outside the military prison in Beit Lid, near Kfar Yona, August 20, 2025. (Gili Yaari /Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators affiliated with the so-called Jerusalem Faction clashed earlier with motorists while blocking several highway intersections in central Israel.

Footage posted on social media shows protesters and commuters throwing water at each other. In an incident near the military prison at Beit Lid, Haredim yell “shiksa” (a derogatory Yiddish moniker for a non-Jewish woman) and pour water on a woman who kicks a protester.

תיעוד מבית ליד: המפגינים החרדים קראו לעברה של נהגת "שיקסע" ושפכו עליה מים, היא יצאה מרכבה ובעטה באחד מהם @daniel_elazar pic.twitter.com/i4defREWpa

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 20, 2025

Earlier this week, the group called on its adherents to take to the streets today as part of a “day of rage” in protest of the increasingly frequent arrests of Haredi draft evaders.

A hardline ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members, the Jerusalem Faction is considered among the most conservative of Haredi factions and regularly demonstrates raucously against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Another video from the scene shows Haredim surrounding a car trying to get through their blockade. It manages to pass, but one protester climbs onto the roof and rides the car down the highway.

תיעוד די מטורף של צלמנו עידו ארז: מפגין עולה על גג רכב שחוצה את המפגינים, ומתיישב עליו תוך כדי נסיעה. pic.twitter.com/GRA3u16ROV

— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) August 20, 2025

The mainstream ultra-Orthodox leadership has called for an international day of prayer against conscription tomorrow. Prayer rallies are expected across Israel, with mass gatherings in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem slated to take place.

However, according to Hebrew-language press reports, mainstream leaders of the so-called Lithuanian branch of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodoxy have backed away from issuing a public call for protest, going back on commitments to their Hasidic counterparts.

The Bnei Brak religious council, a taxpayer-funded government body, has been listed as one of the backers of an anti-enlistment event tomorrow morning.

The event, set to take place at the central city’s Yeshua L’yehuda yeshiva, will consist of ideological encouragement for “the holy and mighty yeshiva and kollel students in the face of the conscription decrees,” a promotion for the event states, using Biblical language to reference soldiers and other fighting men.

Dermer meets Qataris as Israel reportedly decides not to respond for now to proposed deal

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met yesterday in Paris with a delegation of senior Qatari officials to discuss the ongoing hostage-release and ceasefire negotiations, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

During the meeting, Dermer reiterated the Israeli stance that it is only interested in a comprehensive deal in which Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Jerusalem’s terms for its surrender from power, the Arab diplomat says, confirming a Channel 12 report.

The network also says that Israel for the time being has decided to avoid responding at all to the phased hostage release deal proposal approved on Monday by Hamas.

No security cabinet meeting has been scheduled to even discuss the proposal, which is nearly identical to the one crafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and approved by Israel last month.

Instead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the IDF to speed up plans to take over Gaza City.

Netanyahu says he ordered shortened timelines for conquering Gaza City

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement, says he has instructed the army to “shorten the timelines for seizing the last terror strongholds and for the defeat of Hamas,” referring to the IDF’s upcoming offensive in Gaza City.

“The prime minister expresses his deep appreciation to the reserve fighters who were mobilized and to their families, and to all IDF soldiers,” his office adds.

The IDF’s plans for the capture of Gaza City are set to be presented to Netanyahu tomorrow, according to military officials.

Egypt urges Israel to respond to Hamas-accepted Gaza truce outline

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stresses the importance of Israel responding to the Arab mediators’ ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas on Monday, during a phone call with US special envoy Steve Witkoff earlier today, according to an Egyptian readout.

Israel has yet to respond to the phased hostage release proposal, which is nearly identical to the one crafted by Witkoff in May, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t even announced the convening of a security cabinet meeting to discuss it as Jerusalem appears intent on advancing plan to take over Gaza, asserting that it will only agree to end the war if Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Israel’s surrender terms.

In his call with Witkoff, Abdelatty updated the US envoy on the latest developments in the ceasefire talks, stressing the need to “seize the current opportunity” to bring about an end to the war, the Egyptian readout says.

Major highways reopen after Haredi anti-enlistment protests

Ultra-Orthodox protesters against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, outside the military prison in Beit Lid, near Kfar Yona, August 20, 2025. (Gili Yaari /Flash90)

Police say routes 2, 4, 6 and 57 have reopened to traffic after hardline Haredi anti-draft protesters blocked major central Israel highways.

There is still heavy traffic in the areas, police say, advising drivers against nearing them.

IDF spokesperson: Hamas is ‘battered and bruised guerrilla organization’

IDF troops operate in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, in a handout photo issued on August 15, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas is a “battered and bruised guerrilla organization” following the IDF’s latest offensive in the Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference.

The remarks come as the IDF calls up tens of thousands of reservists for a planned major offensive in Gaza City,

“We will deepen the blows to Hamas in Gaza City, a terror stronghold… We will deepen the blows to the terror infrastructure above and below ground, and disconnect the reliance of the population on Hamas,” he says.

Defrin says the IDF “is not waiting” and has already begun preliminary operations in Gaza City, ahead of the offensive aimed at capturing the city.

“IDF troops are already taking control of the outskirts of Gaza City,” he says.

IDF says it has killed over 2,100 terror operatives since resuming Gaza fighting in March

This picture taken from a position at Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli troops deployed in the area on August 19, 2025 (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Since resuming fighting in the Gaza Strip in March, the IDF says it has eliminated over 2,100 terror operatives, including many senior Hamas commanders and other leaders in the terror group.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 10,576 Palestinians have been killed in that time, without differentiating between combatants and civilians. Neither figure can be independently verified.

Over 10,000 terror targets were struck by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, helicopters and drones, as well as Navy vessels, since March 18, the military says.

The IDF says it has “operational control” over 75% of the Strip’s territory, which was achieved during the army’s latest offensive.

“The operational control in the area enabled the IDF to significantly expand its activity, thereby causing blows to the capabilities and terror infrastructure of the Hamas terror organization and disrupting its chain of command,” the military says.

The most significant strike carried out since March was the elimination of Mohammed Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and brother of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whom Israel killed last year; Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade; and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.

The three, along with other operatives, were killed on May 13 while hiding in a tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Younis.

The IDF says it has also killed several Hamas government leaders, internal security officers, six top commanders in the terror group’s naval commando forces, and dozens of terrorists who invaded Israel during its October 7, 2023, onslaught.

According to the IDF, its offensive against Hamas in recent months “led to a blow to the combat and command capabilities of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip” and “created favorable operational conditions for intensifying the pressure on the Hamas terror organization and causing blows to its remaining capabilities.”

“These achievements constitute the basis for the next moves of the IDF in the Gaza Strip,” the military says, referring to the upcoming offensive in Gaza City.

New footage shows large Hamas attack on IDF encampment in southern Gaza

A dead Hamas gunman is seen following an attack by the terror group's operatives on an army encampment in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, August 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF releases new footage showing Hamas’s attack on an army encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis earlier today.

“The troops identified more than 15 terrorists who emerged from a tunnel and opened fire, including RPG fire, at the forces,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference.

Defrin says that during the battle at the encampment, “the troops repelled the terrorists” and killed at least nine of them. “We estimate that more were hit,” he says.

“In the same incident, several terrorists entered a building where our forces were residing, and the terrorists were eliminated. We are investigating how this occurred, and will draw the necessary conclusions,” Defrin says.

Three soldiers were wounded in the attack, including one in serious condition.

IDF troops repel a Hamas attack on an army encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, August 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Police probing after ex-chief rabbi says a man asked him for approval to kill AG

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police say they have opened a probe after former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said a man asked him for a halachic approval to kill Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Religious Affairs Ministry director general Yehuda Avidan contacted police after Rabbi Yosef reported to him that someone had approached him with a request to issue a Din Rodef against Baharav-Miara — a Jewish religious decree issued against grave offenders, which gives people an okay to stop them even if this requires killing them.

Avidan, in a letter to Police Commissioner Daniel Levy cited by Hebrew media, cautions that Yosef’s office “warned about a threat that seems concrete and could endanger the attorney general’s life.”

Police say their Jerusalem District has opened the probe after finding a letter near a home in the city containing an “explicit threat to harm a public official.”

Baharav-Miara has clashed repeatedly with the current government and infuriated ultra-Orthodox leaders by ending subsidized daycare funding for families of draft dodgers, requiring the military to send thousands of enlistment orders to yeshiva students, and pushing for the arrests of those who don’t comply.

State comptroller accuses IDF of not cooperating with Oct. 7 investigation

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman attends a Knesset Finance Committee meeting in Jerusalem, January 6, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman sent a letter to IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir yesterday to complain about what he said was the army’s failure to cooperate with his investigation into the failures leading up to and on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists perpetrated a massacre in southern Israel, Englman’s spokesperson confirms.

Englman has long complained that the IDF has failed to cooperate with his investigation, and the army has indeed resisted the probe, claiming it would interfere with its prosecution of the war.

In his letter to Zamir, Englman objected to what he said was the IDF’s failure to cooperate with his investigation, including difficulties his office has had obtaining relevant documentation from the army, and senior military officers who have not made themselves available for meetings with State Comptroller officials.

Englman said the IDF’s actions are in violation of an agreement reached with the State Comptroller’s Office under the auspices of the High Court of Justice in November 2024.

Earlier this week, the director general of the State Comptroller’s Office, Yishai Vaknin, made similar comments, saying that the investigation was not proceeding at the pace and in the manner agreed via the High Court.

Critics of the government, including members of the opposition and several government watchdog groups, have expressed concern that the probe by Englman, who has no legal background and was appointed to his position under a Netanyahu-led government, could seek to minimize political responsibility for the October 7 onslaught.

Iran says Europe has no right to impose snapback sanctions or extend their deadline

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says European powers have no right to trigger snapback sanctions under a moribund 2015 nuclear deal or extend the October deadline to trigger them.

“When we believe that they do not have the right to implement snapback, it is natural that they do not have the right to extend its deadline either,” Araghchi tells state news agency IRNA.

Netanyahu praises new US sanctions on ICC: ‘A firm step against the false smear campaign’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a Newsmax event in Jerusalem, on August 13, 2025. (Shalev Shalom/POOL)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails the new round of US sanctions on International Criminal Court officials, calling it a decisive stand in defense of Israel.

“I congratulate Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, for deciding to impose sanctions on the judges of the International Court in The Hague,” Netanyahu says in a statement. “This is a firm step against the false smear campaign targeting the State of Israel and the IDF, and in favor of truth and justice.”

Washington announced a short time ago that it was sanctioning four ICC figures, including Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, who signed off last year on arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Two deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, were targeted for upholding those warrants, while Canadian Judge Kimberly Prost was designated for authorizing the ICC’s investigation into US personnel in Afghanistan.

The move comes after four ICC officials were sanctioned by the US in June, bringing the total to eight.

Both Jerusalem and Washington argue the court has no jurisdiction over Israel, since it never joined the Rome Statute, and refuse to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state with the right to request such action.

IDF says 7 countries, including Indonesia, airdropped 154 pallets of aid into Gaza today

This picture taken from the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip shows parcels of humanitarian aid being airdropped over the territory on August 17, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Aircraft from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Singapore and Indonesia airdropped 154 pallets of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip today, the IDF says.

Each pallet contains several hundred kilograms of food, according to the military.

Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, does not have relations with Israel.

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 come into Gaza by land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by the packages from above.

Since then, over 415 tons of aid have been airdropped in Gaza, according to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

Haredi anti-draft protesters misdirect police, block several major roads in central Israel

Ultra-Orthodox protesters against the drafting of yeshiva students to the military block Route 4, near Bnei Brak, August 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Haredi anti-draft protesters are blocking several highway intersections in central Israel, police say.

The demonstrators have blocked traffic in both directions on Route 2, near Netanya Junction, and Route 4, near Sharon Junction, according to law enforcement officials. No arrests have yet been made.

Reports say Highway 6 is also being blocked, adding that the demonstrators surprised police by declaring they would rally near the Beit Lid military prison but then showing up simultaneously at several other spots.

The protesters are affiliated with the Jerusalem Faction, a radical ultra-Orthodox group stringently opposed to IDF conscription.

Earlier this week, the Jerusalem Faction called on its adherents to take to the streets today as part of a “day of rage” in protest of the increasingly frequent arrests of Haredi draft evaders.

Smotrich: Attempted Hamas raid shows danger of ‘deals that surrender to terror’

Finance Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference announcing his plans to approve more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, August 14, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that Israel should reject ceasefire deals with Hamas following an attempted raid by the terror group on an IDF encampment in the southern Gaza Strip earlier today.

“Deals that surrender to kidnapping terror invite the next hostage-takings and endanger us all,” the far-right minister says in a post on X.

He adds that the attack in Khan Younis was “the result of our conduct that incentivizes Hamas to kidnap soldiers and civilians and highlights the great dangers of continuing to give in to Hamas’s extortion, and the critical importance of destroying it completely.”

Earlier in the day, the IDF said a cell of at least 18 Hamas operatives attempted to raid an outpost in Khan Younis, wounding three soldiers, one seriously. Military officials assessed that the gunmen sought to kidnap troops.

The finance minister’s remarks come as Israel is reportedly reviewing Hamas’s response to a phased ceasefire-hostage deal, which the terror group said earlier this week it agreed to. Smotrich has expressed fierce opposition to a ceasefire-hostage deal, arguing that Hamas has only eased its demands because it fears the planned Israeli conquest of Gaza City would destroy the group.

He supports annexing the Gaza Strip and establishing Israeli settlements there.

Rape probe against prominent hardline Rabbi Tau said expected to be closed

Rabbi Zvi Tau attends a protest of Jewish activists against a conference of Christians outside the Davidson Center in Jerusalem Old City, on May 28, 2023. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

State prosecutors are expected to close an investigation into Rabbi Zvi Tau, a spiritual leader to many Orthodox Israeli nationalists, who is suspected of rape and sexual assault, due to a lack of evidence, Haaretz reports.

The octogenarian rabbi has been accused by multiple women of sexual abuse and rape dating back decades, with two having gone public with the allegations. He heads the influential Har Hamor Yeshiva in Jerusalem and is the spiritual leader of the anti-LGBTQ Noam political party.

Tau, 87, was questioned by police once in March 2023, then released on bail. He has denied the allegations against him.

Police transferred the case against the rabbi to the State Attorney’s Office in July 2023. It was soon turned back over to law enforcement for further investigation, following new information pointing to his guilt.

However, investigators struggled to collect testimony. Police sources tell Haaretz that investigators were met with “barriers of silence” from Tau’s associates and those in his yeshiva. A final decision on the matter is expected to be made soon, the outlet reports.

Sources say Dermer raised ‘humanitarian corridor’ to Sweida during talk with Syrian FM, talks to continue

This combination of pictures created on July 25, 2025, shows Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (L) and Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. (AFP)

Syria’s foreign minister met Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris yesterday to discuss security arrangements in southern Syria, two Syrian sources familiar with the meeting say.

Syrian and Israeli officials have been conducting US-mediated talks on de-escalating the conflict in southern Syria. A previous round of these talks was held in Paris in late July but ended without a final accord.

In a rare acknowledgement, Syrian state news agency SANA said last night that Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met with an Israeli delegation, but did not mention Dermer. Hebrew media outlets reported yesterday that Dermer was to attend the meeting.

The agency said the discussions focused on de-escalation, non-interference in Syrian domestic affairs, and reactivating a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that created a UN buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

There has been no public comment by the Israeli government on the meeting.

A Syrian security source familiar with the meeting says Shaibani and Dermer met for several hours, along with their respective teams.

The source says Shaibani emphasized that Israel’s ongoing interventions in southern Syria, including incursions into the provinces of Quneitra and Daraa, risk further destabilizing the region.

The two sides agreed to continue talks focused on security coordination in southern Syria, the source says.

Another Syrian source familiar with the meeting says Israel has again raised establishing a “humanitarian corridor” to send aid directly into Sweida, a Druze-majority province in Syria’s south that saw days of sectarian violence last month.

Syria has previously rejected this idea, but Israel raised it again, the source says.

Hundreds of people were reported killed in the clashes in Sweida province between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and government forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said were mass killings of Druze by government forces.

The clashes last month underlined the challenges interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa faces in stabilizing Syria and maintaining centralized rule, despite warming ties with the US and his administration’s evolving security contacts with Israel.

Rubio announces sanctions against 4 more ICC officials over cases against Israel, US

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as President Donald Trump meets with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office of the White House, February 13, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions against four more members of the International Criminal Court over their efforts to prosecute Israeli and American officials.

The US has designated Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou of France for signing off last year on arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza, along with deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal for upholding those warrants.

Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada has also been designated for a ruling authorizing the ICC’s investigation into US personnel in Afghanistan.

The four ICC officials join four others who were sanctioned by the Trump administration in June, two of whom were also involved in the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

Today’s sanctions freeze the US assets of the designated officials and block their entry to the country.

Israel and the US view the ICC’s efforts to prosecute Israeli officials as illegitimate, as Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that created the court and because the US doesn’t recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state with the right to request such action.

Israel also denies the charges brought against Netanyahu and Gallant.

“The United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in a statement announcing the latest batch of sanctions.

“The court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel,” he adds.

“It remains the policy of the United States government to take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions,” Rubio continues. “I urge countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution.”

Police say probe underway after cop seen stomping on Haredi protester’s head

The Israel Police say a cop “likely” acted out of line when she stomped on the head of a Haredi protester yesterday.

The incident occurred during an ultra-Orthodox protest against drafting community members to the military, in which some blocked Highway 4 in central Israel.

A border policewoman is seen kicking a demonstrator who lies down on the floor in front of her, before she walks on.

לוחמת מג״ב תועדה היום כשהיא דורכת על ראשו של מפגין חרדי. איך זה קורה שוב? הרי רק לפני שלושה שבועות בירושלים שוטרים דרכו על מפגינים והפכו אותם לשטיח אנושי, ובמח״ש עדיין לא טרחו לזמן את המעורבים לחקירה – למרות שחקירה נפתחה כמה שעות לאחר הפרסום pic.twitter.com/iKTSIKCGXI

— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) August 19, 2025

“The video shows a border cop during a protest in Bnei Brak that was declared illegal and against which a dispersal order had been issued,” police say, according to Channel 12 news. “Her action, as seen in the clip, likely deviates from the values and protocols of the organization. Accordingly, the incident has been handed to the authorized officials for examination.”

Haifa’s Carmelit subway to close for 3 weeks, adding to transit shutdowns

Haifa’s Carmelit subway announces that it will close for three weeks for infrastructure work, the latest transit shutdown across Israel.

The stoppage is due to begin on August 31 and last until September 21.

The announcement comes as Israel Railways has shut down most Tel Aviv service for about a week after a freight train recently damaged several hundred meters of electric cable infrastructure.

A segment of Jerusalem’s light rail is also currently shut down as that network is being expanded.

Footage from large-scale Hamas attack shows IDF tank ramming fighter with RPG

Footage from this morning’s Hamas attack on an IDF encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis shows a tank of the 74th Armored Battalion ramming into an RPG-wielding operative.

The operative was killed before managing to fire, according to an army probe.

At least 10 Hamas gunmen were killed by troops and in airstrikes during the attempt by the terror group to raid the army encampment and potentially abduct soldiers.

Footage from the Hamas attack on an IDF encampment in southern Gaza's Khan Younis this morning shows a tank of the 74th Armored Battalion ramming into a RPG-wielding operative. pic.twitter.com/eDbd8C5pVt

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) August 20, 2025

Smotrich to temporarily slash customs duties on milk in bid to stem shortage

Tnuva milk products at the Shufersal Deal Katzrin branch, in the Golan Heights, on May 2, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he will sign an order next week to slash customs duties on imported milk for six months to address a shortage of the staple in retail stores and supermarket chains, and to help lower prices.

The order will remove the customs tax currently levied on imported milk, which can rise to 40 percent, and will be effective until February 28, 2026, to ensure a continuous supply during the High Holidays next month and boost competition, the ministry says.

“This is another milestone in our ongoing fight against the cost of living,” says Smotrich in a statement. “We are removing barriers and tariffs to increase competition – this way we will ensure that there is enough milk at a fair price.”

The Finance Ministry adds that the move comes in a year when the fall Jewish holidays — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah — all fall or begin in the middle of the week. That timing reduces working and production days at local dairies and, as a result, along with growing demand, is expected to exacerbate shortages.

Palestinian Authority condemns Israel’s approval of key West Bank settlement project

The Palestinian Authority slams Israel’s approval of a key settlement project in the West Bank, saying it undermines the chances of a two-state solution.

The approval of the project in the area known as E1 “fragments… geographic and demographic unity, entrenching the division of the occupied West Bank into isolated areas and cantons that are disconnected from one another, turning them into something akin to real prisons,” the PA’s foreign ministry says in a statement.

Italian soccer coaches: Israel should be suspended by UEFA and FIFA over Gaza war

Italy's Alessandro Buongiorno, left, challenges for the ball with Israel's Manor Solomon during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Israel and Italy, at Bozsik Arena, in Budapest, Hungary, September 9, 2024. (AP/Denes Erdos)

The Italian Soccer Coaches’ Association is pushing for Israel to be suspended from international competition over the war in Gaza.

Ahead of Italy’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Israel in the next two months, the AIAC says, “Israel must stop. Soccer must also take action.”

The AIAC has written a formal letter to the Italian soccer federation, to be forwarded to European and world soccer’s governing bodies, calling for Israel to be suspended.

“The AIAC Board of Directors unanimously believes that, given the daily massacres, which have also resulted in hundreds of deaths among managers, coaches, and athletes … it is legitimate, necessary, indeed a duty, to place at the center of federation talks the request, to be submitted to UEFA and FIFA, for the temporary exclusion of Israel from sporting competitions,” the letter concludes.

“Because the pain of the past cannot cloud anyone’s conscience and humanity.”

FIFA, which oversees world soccer competition, has repeatedly deferred a decision on a Palestinian request to suspend Israel from international play.

Italy is set to play Israel on neutral turf in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sept. 8, before hosting the return match in northeastern Italy’s Udine on Oct. 14.

Italy, which has won the World Cup four times, has not qualified for the tournament since 2014. Israel has not qualified since its sole appearance in 1970.

“We could just focus on playing, looking the other way. But we believe that is not right,” AIAC vice president Giancarlo Camolese said.

Italy played Israel in Udine last October in a Nations League match that saw protests before and during the game and intense security measures, including snipers on the roof of the stadium. It also played in Hungary the previous month. Italy won both matches.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Israel to purchase 2 more American KC-46 refueling planes for its Air Force

A US Air Force Boeing KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling plane connects to a F-35 fighter jet over California, January 22, 2019. (US Air Force photo by Ethan Wagner)

Israel’s Defense Ministry says it will procure two more KC-46 refueling planes from American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, in addition to four that are currently on order.

Defense Ministry director Amir Baram has instructed the ministry’s mission to the US to sign a contract with the US government to procure the fifth and sixth refueling aircraft for the Israeli Air Force, “once approval of the Israel Defense Procurement Ministerial Committee is obtained,” a statement reads.

The ministry says the deal will cost Israel approximately half a billion dollars, with the money coming from the $3.8 billion that Israel receives annually from Washington as part of the 10-year memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

In a statement, Baram said the aircraft “will strengthen the IAF, the IDF’s long-range strategic arm, enabling it to reach distant theaters with greater force and scope.”

Ido Nehushtan, president of Boeing Israel, said in the statement that the company “takes pride in its longstanding partnership with Israel, a relationship that dates back to the nation’s establishment.”

The sale of the initial four KC-46 was signed in 2022, though the aircraft have not yet been delivered. The deal allowed for Israel to purchase four more planes in the future.

The multi-role aircraft makes mid-air refueling possible for fighter jets, but can also be used for military transport.

The KC-46 aircraft are to replace the Israeli Air Force’s current fleet of aging refueling planes, which includes KC-130 Hercules and converted Boeing 707s, the latter of which played a key role in Israel’s war against Iran in June.

Macron: Israel’s new Gaza offensive will ‘lead to disaster,’ risks ‘permanent war’

France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a joint press conference with Brazil's President following a meeting at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on June 5, 2025. (Photo by Christophe PETIT TESSON / POOL / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron says that the planned Israeli military offensive in Gaza “can only lead to disaster for both peoples” and calls instead for a permanent ceasefire, a hostage release deal, disarmament of Hamas and an “international stabilization mission” for the Strip.

In a post on X, Macron says he has spoken with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and the three leaders share the conviction that expanded Israeli action in Gaza, which is due to begin with the conquest of Gaza City, “risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war.”

Outlining a roadmap, Macron says the only credible path forward includes disarming Hamas, strengthening the Palestinian Authority’s role in Gaza, and delivering “large-scale” humanitarian aid. He adds that France, alongside Egypt, Jordan, and “all our regional and international partners,” supports deploying an “international stabilization mission” in Gaza and advancing a political solution that meets “the aspirations of both peoples, Israeli and Palestinian.”

I have just spoken with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt.

We share the same conviction:

The military offensive in Gaza that Israel is preparing can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region…

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 20, 2025

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his conviction that Israel cannot hand control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority after the war, a position at odds with Macron’s call to strengthen the PA’s role in the Strip.

Macron notes that France will co-chair a conference on the two-state solution with Saudi Arabia in New York next month, calling it “the only credible way forward — for the families of the hostages, for Israelis, and for Palestinians alike.”

The remarks come amid sharp tensions between Paris and Jerusalem, and between their two leaders. Yesterday, Netanyahu accused Macron of fueling antisemitism by announcing France’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state in September, an announcement that was followed by several other countries saying they would do the same.

In a letter to the French premier, Netanyahu charged that the move “rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews, and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.”

Macron had already faced pushback late last month after unveiling the recognition plan, which would place France among a growing list of nations that have recognized Palestinian statehood since the outbreak of the Gaza war nearly two years ago.

Report shows Urich may have pushed PM’s adviser to praise Qatar while getting paid by Doha

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi at a press conference after the US allowed Israel into its visa-waiver program, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on September 28, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A tweet by a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voicing rare Israeli praise for Qatar that was posted weeks after the current war began came minutes after a meeting with Netanyahu and his top adviser, Jonatan Urich, a suspect in the Qatargate case, the Walla news site reports.

The report says that cross-checking the X page of National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi with a timetable of Netanyahu’s meetings — which was recently released to reporters by a court — reveals that Netanyahu, Urich and Hanegbi met in Tel Aviv at 11:45 a.m. on October 25, 2023.

Ten minutes later, at 11:55 a.m., Hanegbi published his post, which grabbed headlines and drew criticism since favorable Israeli mentions of Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders and is considered hostile to the Jewish state even while mediating Gaza ceasefire talks, were a rare occurrence.

I’m pleased to say that Qatar is becoming an essential party and stakeholder in the facilitation of humanitarian solutions.

Qatar’s diplomatic efforts are crucial at this time.

— Tzachi Hanegbi • צחי הנגבי (@Tzachi_Hanegbi) October 25, 2023

At noon that day, Netanyahu began a different meeting.

While circumstantial, this suggests Urich may have been connected to the decision to publish the post, which could add to the evidence that he was running a pro-Doha campaign within the Prime Minister’s Office while getting paid by Qatari officials.

Walla cites unnamed sources familiar with the Qatargate investigation as saying they don’t know if the issue has been probed, with one source saying such a probe should take place.

It notes that Urich’s participation in what appears to be a policy-setting meeting contradicts the version voiced in court in April by Urich’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, who argued Urich was a private man, cannot be considered a public service employee and therefore had no conflict of interest with his dealings with Qatar.

Jonatan Urich, who was arrested as part of the Qatargate investigation, arrives at a court hearing in Lod on August 19, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

Urich met with Hanegbi another time that month, on October 17, along with Netanyahu’s military secretary Avi Gil, further indicating Urich took a central part in the PMO’s decision-making in the weeks after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

Commenting on the report, Urich’s lawyers Hadad and Noa Milstein say Urich never spoke about Qatar with Hanegbi or any other diplomatic or governmental official, and never lobbied for Qatar in Israel.

The Prime Minister’s Office makes a similar claim, saying Hanegbi tweeted of his own accord and that Netanyahu has criticized Qatar repeatedly during the war.

Hanegbi’s office declines to comment.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, allegedly spearheaded a pro-Qatari public relations campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, and reportedly continued his PR work for Qatar well after the October 7 attack sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, despite the Gulf nation’s strong ties to the terror group.

Urich, Feldstein and a third adviser to Netanyahu, Yisrael Einhorn, are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged pro-Qatar lobbying, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister.

Netanyahu taps Justice Minister Levin to helm Jerusalem Affairs Ministry

Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoints Justice Minister Yariv Levin to head the Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Ministry, while Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi will be responsible for the annual Lag B’Omer holiday celebration at Mount Meron, which falls under the Jerusalem Ministry’s authority.

The event each spring sees masses of Haredi pilgrims in attendance. Due to security measures established after a deadly crowd crush at the site in 2021, it is accompanied by widespread disruptions to public transportation.

The Jerusalem Affairs portfolio was previously held by United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush, who resigned in July when the ultra-Orthodox party bolted the coalition over delays in advancing a draft exemption law for Haredi men.

The ministry is one of 10 government ministries that the Finance Ministry reportedly recommended closing down in late 2023. It handles, among other things, Hasidic pilgrimages to Uman, Ukraine, in addition to the Meron event.

Bank of Israel again declines to lower interest rates, citing war uncertainty, Iran fallout

The Bank of Israel decides to leave interest rates steady at 4.5%, amid a “high level of geopolitical uncertainty,” and after the war with Iran took a toll on the economy.

“Geopolitical uncertainty is high, and there is a wide variety of possible security developments,” the central bank says. “Economic activity is recovering following a marked decline during the military operation against Iran.”

But if the ongoing multifront war “becomes more intense and more drawn out, there are risks that the supply restrictions may continue to weigh upon the recovery of economic activity, growth may be more moderate, and the budget deficit and inflation may be higher,” the Bank of Israel cautions.

Ahead of the interest rate decision, the majority of economists were in consensus that the central bank would take a wait-and-see approach about consumer prices continuing to moderate before lowering the base lending rate. Israeli inflation in July retreated to 3.1%, down from 3.3% in June. However, it is still above the government’s annual target range of between 1% and 3%.

“Inflation in recent months has been characterized by high volatility,” the Bank of Israel notes. “There are several risks for a possible acceleration of inflation or for it not converging to the target range: geopolitical developments and their impact on economic activity, an increase in demand alongside supply constraints, and worsening global terms of trade.”

The 22-month war has taken a toll on the economy. In the April to June quarter the economy contracted, with gross domestic product shrinking 3.5% as the 12-day war with Iran in June led to a shutdown of many businesses and hurt consumer spending, exports and investment.

The central bank last lowered interest rates in January 2024, the first cut in almost four years, to support households and businesses as the economy was getting battered by the war with the Hamas terror group.

Israeli defense firms barred from major Dutch arms fair amid Gaza war – report

Israeli defense technology company Elbit Systems' booth at the Eurosatory trade fair, in Villepinte, a northern suburb of Paris, June 13, 2022. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)

Israeli defense companies will not be permitted to participate in the Netherlands’ largest military exhibition, Globes reports, citing Israeli sources.

The NEDS exhibition, held annually in Rotterdam and focused largely on the naval sector, has in recent years hosted Israel’s biggest defense contractors, including Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems, and Rafael. But the event’s organizers wrote in a recent letter that this year’s event, scheduled for November 20, will bar Israeli firms, the report says.

Israeli sources confirmed to Globes that they will not attend. Organizers cited “security and organizational” reasons and did not respond to Globes’ requests for comment.

According to the report, the decision appears to be linked to the Gaza war and follows a broader Dutch policy shift relating to Israel.

The Netherlands has been pushing within the European Union to impose economic and trade sanctions on Israel. In May, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp backed a legal review of the EU Association Agreement with Israel — the framework governing bilateral ties — which later found “indications” that Israel had violated the human rights requirements of the agreement. Since then, the Netherlands has sought to suspend Israel’s participation in the EU’s Horizon research funding program and reduce trade links.

The Netherlands already halted direct arms exports to Israel several months after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre that launched the war in Gaza. It continues, however, to supply Israel indirectly with F-35 fighter jet parts via third countries, according to Globes.

The Dutch ban follows other recent European restrictions on Israeli defense firms. In June, several Israeli companies were barred from displaying at the Paris Air Show.

Report: Pentagon to spend $3.5 billion replacing interceptors used to defend Israel

Air defense fire interceptors during a drone and missile attack by Iran as seen over Jerusalem, April 14, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

The US Defense Department will spend more than $3.5 billion to replace missile interceptors and other equipment used to defend Israel during its fighting with Iran, Bloomberg reports.

The Pentagon budget documents from May cite “the situation in Israel” in addition to US military actions “executed at the request of or in coordination with Israel for the defense of Israeli territory, personnel or assets during attacks by Iran,” Bloomberg reports.

A large part of the request covers missile interceptors used to repel Iran’s April 2024 attack on Israel, when the Islamic Republic shot more than 300 missiles and drones at the country that were largely shot down by Israel and its allies, including the United States.

The request appears to predate the 12-day June war between Israel and Iran, in which the US also struck Iranian nuclear sites. However, it also asks for reimbursement for “the movement of new production SM-3 IB rounds” that replaced earlier spent rounds. Bloomberg reports that SM-3 missiles were fired by the US in the June war.

The $3.5 billion is separate from $4.2 billion in weapons and equipment the US sent Israel starting with the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war in Gaza, until May. The $3.5 billion request stems from $14 billion in US military assistance for Israel that was passed last year, Bloomberg reports.

Approximately $1 billion of the request is for a type of missile interceptor fired during the April 2024 attack.

Iran says moment for ‘effective’ nuclear talks with US has not been reached yet

Iran and the United States have not reached the point where “effective” nuclear talks can take place, Iran’s top diplomat says in remarks carried by state media.

“Negotiations with the US must be held at their own time. Every negotiation has a specific time called ‘negotiation maturity,’ and it must reach that maturity in order to be held,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says.

“In my opinion, we have not yet reached the point of maturity where effective negotiations with the US can take place,” he adds.

Jordan accuses Israel of Gaza ‘massacres,’ says policies ‘killing all prospects’ for regional peace

Jordan’s foreign minister says Israel’s policies in the war against Hamas in Gaza have caused “massacres and starvation” and that its wider actions are “killing all prospects” for peace in the Middle East.

Addressing Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at a meeting in Moscow, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says he hopes to discuss “efforts to end the aggression on Gaza, and the massacres and starvation that it is creating.”

This is in addition to the “illegal measures that continue to undermine the two-state solution and kill all prospects for peace in the region,” he adds.

“We value your clear position against the war and your demand for reaching a permanent ceasefire,” he tells Lavrov.

Israel denies its military targets civilians and says that there is no “policy of starvation” in Gaza.

The comments come after Jerusalem approved a plan to evacuate and conquer Gaza City, an urban area home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Strip. Most of the territory’s population has been displaced since the war began, many repeatedly, according to the United Nations.

Israel is also advancing the construction of settlement housing units in the sensitive E1 area, with the stated goal of thwarting the future creation of a Palestinian state.

Iran says it ‘cannot completely’ break with UN nuclear watchdog

A worker rides a bicycle in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran, Oct. 26, 2010. (Majid Asgaripour/Mehr News Agency via AP)

Iran “cannot completely cut cooperation” with the UN nuclear watchdog but the return of its inspectors is up to the country’s security chiefs, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says.

The remarks come nearly two months after Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency following its 12-day war with Israel in June.

Iran has cited the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities as the reason for its decision, which saw the watchdog’s inspectors leave the country following the passing of new legislation by parliament.

“We cannot completely cut cooperation with the agency,” Araghchi says, noting that new fuel rods need to be installed at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in the coming weeks which will require the presence of IAEA inspectors.

“Under the law passed by parliament, the return of inspectors will be possible through a decision of the Supreme National Security Council,” he told the official IRNA news agency in an interview published Wednesday, referring to Iran’s top security body.

Four soldiers lightly wounded by old munitions blast in southern Syria

Four soldiers were lightly injured by a blast, apparently caused by an old Syrian grenade, during operations in southern Syria today, the IDF says.

The military says the troops were taken to a hospital for treatment.

According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers had located weapons during an overnight operation in the Mount Hermon area. Among the weapons was an old grenade that exploded for unclear reasons.

The IDF says the operation in the area has been wrapped up, and the blast is being investigated.

Man shot dead near Nazareth

A man in his 20s was shot dead in Yafia, an Arab town west of Nazareth, medics say, in the second violent killing to occur in and around the major city this week.

Magen David Adom paramedics say they found the young man unconscious and pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident and are searching for suspects, law enforcement officials say.

Ahmad Haj Odeh, 21, was shot dead in Nazareth yesterday evening. Hours later, police arrested a suspect in connection to the shooting, a 19-year-old resident of the city.

Sa’ar opens new embassy in Zambia

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says it’s an “honor” to open Israel’s embassy in Zambia, during a diplomatic visit to the southern African country.

“It’s an honor to be in Lusaka for the opening of Israel’s embassy. I thank my friend Zambia’s [Foreign Minister] Mulambo Haimbe for his gracious hospitality,” writes Sa’ar on X.

Sa’ar adds that he and his counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding “on Bilateral Consultations” and are enhancing their “partnership in agriculture, health and much more.”

Israel and Zambia first established diplomatic ties in 1966, two years after Zambia gained independence from the United Kingdom. But relations were severed at the behest of the Organization of African Unity in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and several Arab countries, and Israel’s diplomatic presence across Africa became greatly reduced.

The two countries re-established ties in 1991, but it wasn’t until 2015 that Zambia opened an embassy in Tel Aviv.

It's an honor to be in Lusaka for the opening of Israel's embassy.
I thank my friend Zambia's FM Mulambo Haimbe for his gracious hospitality.
We signed an MOU on Bilateral Consultations and we are enhancing our partnership in agriculture, health and much more.
We are… pic.twitter.com/KXJHhn3d76

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) August 20, 2025

Footage shows Fatah summer camp in West Bank urging kids to be martyrs and prisoners

A Fatah summer camp in Nablus calls on children “to follow the path of the martyrs and prisoners.”

The Nablus branch of Fatah in the West Bank organized a three-day camp in the beginning of August for 200 Palestinian children under the slogan “Fatah Army.”

Fatah is the movement headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose members currently hold most of the key positions in the Palestinian Authority and the PLO.

According to footage circulated online, members of the Palestinian security forces took part in the camp. In a statement issued by Fatah’s Nablus branch at the conclusion of the camp on August 4, it was said that the event was intended “to prepare a new generation that will carry the message and continue the path of the martyrs and prisoners.”

IDF to buy millions of dollars worth of first-person view drones from XTEND

The Defense Ministry says it will procure millions of dollars’ worth of first-person view (FPV) drones for the IDF Ground Forces from Israeli firm XTEND.

The drones will be delivered in the coming months “alongside comprehensive training and instruction programs provided by the company,” the ministry says.

A source tells the Globes newspaper that XTEND will supply some 5,000 FPV drones, at an estimated cost of NIS 3,500 per unit, making the cost of the company’s tender-winning bid around NIS 20 million.

The ministry says the drones “are expected to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of the Ground Forces while delivering optimal solutions to modern warfare challenges.”

Pope Leo to visit Lebanon, cardinal says, in likely first trip abroad

A nun kisses the hand of Pope Leo XIV during his weekly general audience, at The Vatican, Wednesday, Aug.20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo plans to visit Lebanon, the country’s senior Catholic official announces, in what could be the first visit outside Italy by the new leader of the global Church.

The pope will travel to Lebanon “by December,” Cardinal Bechara Rai tells the al-Arabiya television channel.

Rai, leader of the 3.5-million-member Maronite Catholic Church, did not give a specific date for the visit but said “preparations are already underway.”

A Lebanese official familiar with the matter confirmed that discussions were being held about a visit towards the end of the year, though a date had not yet been finalized.

Leo, the first US pope, was elected by the world’s Catholic cardinals on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, who had planned to visit Lebanon but was unable to go because of health issues.

Lebanon is home to more than two million Catholics, according to Vatican statistics.

A Vatican spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Rai’s remarks.

A Vatican official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that a trip was being planned and said it could be part of a tour that would also include Turkey.

Witkoff says Trump wants to see all the hostages returned, end of Gaza war

US special envoy Steve Witkoff attends a trilateral signing with US President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025 (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff says that US President Donald Trump wants to see “all the hostages back” from Gaza and urges that the war “end immediately,” in an interview aired yesterday on Fox News.

Addressing Hamas’s acceptance this week of a partial ceasefire and hostage-release deal, Witkoff reiterates Trump’s commitment to seeing all the hostages freed.

“Now, [Trump] has been very decisive and straightforward in his Truth. He wants all the hostages back. That is the position that we have,” Witkoff says, referencing a recent post by Trump on Truth Social saying that the hostages will only be freed once Hamas is confronted and destroyed.

Witkoff suggests that Hamas came back to the table after “slow-play[ing] us” last month thanks to Trump’s firm position on the matter.

Trump appeared to align with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is pressing ahead with an expanded military campaign against Hamas and has vowed that Israel remains committed to a comprehensive deal to free all hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. Still, Netanyahu has not explicitly rejected the proposal approved by Hamas this week, suggesting Jerusalem is keeping its options open.

Witkoff adds, “That conflict should end immediately, 20 hostages should be returned to their families, a commensurate amount of Palestinian prisoners to be released as well, and just let’s end that thing – bring peace and solitude to the Gazan people, and rebuild Gaza as it should be rebuilt as the president has set forth.”

Witkoff does not address the remaining 30 hostages in Gaza, 28 of whom are confirmed dead. Earlier this year, Trump endorsed a policy of mass emigration in Gaza and a complete rebuilding of the Strip, though he has appeared to distance himself from the idea in recent months.

In Indonesia, German FM backs Israel and Palestinian two-state solution

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, left, is greeted by his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono during their meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

The foreign minister of Germany calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas after a meeting with his counterpart in Indonesia.

Johann Wadephul and Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono say the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is unbearable and a two-state solution is the sole means of ending the conflict.

“The goal for all of us is clear: a two-state solution, which must be negotiated,” Wadephul says.

Sugiono, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, told a joint news conference with Wadephul in the capital Jakarta that they also discussed how to overcome geopolitical challenges and rising trade barriers during the productive and constructive meeting.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, is a longtime supporter of the Palestinians and does not recognize Israel.

“Germany, as a special friend and partner of Israel, also has a responsibility, and I believe we will have responsible discussions about this in the future,” Wadephul says.

“There is now a very acute opportunity for a conflict resolution in which many neighboring countries have contributed to this,” Wadephul says. “It would be in all of our interests if this political conflict could be resolved through a peaceful process.”

Germany slams Israel’s Gaza military plans, ‘difficult to understand’ how this frees hostages

The German government says it “rejects the escalation” of Israel’s campaign in Gaza after Israel approved a plan to conquer Gaza City and authorized calling up around 60,000 reservists.

Germany finds it “increasingly difficult to understand how these actions will lead to the freeing of all the hostages, or to a ceasefire,” government spokesman Steffen Meyer tells reporters.

Tel Aviv U announces full scholarships for 180 undergrads who served more than 200 days in reserves

View of the Tel Aviv University campus. May 15, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Tel Aviv University announces that it will award full scholarships to 180 undergraduate students who served over 200 days in the reserves in the past year.

New students who will begin their studies and students who are already studying for an undergraduate degree at the university will be eligible.

Over 8,000 male and female TAU students, in all faculties, have been recruited for reserve duty, the largest number among academic institutions in Israel.

The academic scholarships are intended to facilitate the transition of reserve soldiers from the battlefield to the classroom and to free up the students’ time for studies.

“Since the outbreak of the war, the university has distributed thousands of scholarships to reserve soldiers for a total of over 40 million shekels, for assistance with dormitory rent, remedial classes, psychological services, and more,” the university says.

IDF releases footage of drone strikes on terror cell that attacked Gaza military camp

The IDF releases footage showing its drone strikes on a group of at least 18 gunmen that attacked an army encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis this morning.

During the incident, the terror operatives emerged from a tunnel and opened fire with machine guns and RPGs while approaching the encampment. Some of the gunmen managed to breach the encampment, where they exchanged fire with troops of the Kfir Brigade.

At least 10 of the operatives were killed by the troops and in airstrikes directed by the forces, while eight managed to flee back into the tunnel, according to an army probe.

Three soldiers were injured in the incident, including one in serious condition.

בקרבות פנים אל פנים: לוחמי חטיבת כפיר חיסלו כעשרה מחבלים לאחר שביצעו ירי לעברם

מוקדם יותר היום, יותר מ-15 מחבלים ביצעו התקפה משולבת של ירי מקלעים ונ״ט, ומספר מחבלים חדרו למגנן של כוחות מגדוד נחשון של חטיבת כפיר במרחב ח׳אן יונס.
במהלך האירוע, לוחמי החטיבה הצליחו לחסל כ-10 מחבלים… pic.twitter.com/ROGLPWMavY

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 20, 2025

Poll: Most Americans believe Israel’s response in Gaza is excessive, countries should recognize Palestinian state

A Palestinian young woman rushes away from the site of Israeli airstrikes in the Saftawi neighborhood west of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on August 19, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

A 58% majority of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 33% of respondents did not agree that UN members should recognize a Palestinian state and 9% did not answer.

The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, was taken within weeks of three countries, close US allies Canada, Britain and France, announcing they intend to recognize the State of Palestine.

The survey was taken amid hopes that Israel and Hamas would agree on a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war in Gaza that started after the Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza.

Britain, Canada, Australia and several of their European allies said last week that the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave has reached “unimaginable levels,” as aid groups warned that Gazans are on the verge of famine.

A larger majority of the Reuters/Ipsos poll respondents, 65%, said the US should take action in Gaza to help people facing starvation, with 28% disagreeing. The number disagreeing included 41% of US President Donald Trump’s Republicans.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that 59% of Americans believe that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive. Thirty-three percent of respondents disagreed.

In a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in February 2024, 53% of respondents agreed that Israel’s response had been excessive, and 42% disagreed.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,446 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.

IDF probe finds at least 18 terror operatives took part in assault on IDF camp, some breached walls

At least 18 terror operatives attacked the army encampment in Khan Younis this morning, according to an updated IDF probe of the incident.

The operatives emerged from a tunnel and opened fire with machine guns and RPGs while approaching the encampment.

Some of the gunmen managed to breach into the encampment, where they exchanged fire with troops of the Kfir Brigade, according to the probe.

At least 10 of the operatives were killed by the troops and in airstrikes directed by the forces, while eight managed to flee back into the tunnel, the probe states.

Three soldiers were injured in the incident, including one in serious condition.

The IDF says it is working to track down the remaining gunmen involved in the attack.

Katz visits IDF Southern Command to go over Gaza battle plans

Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF officers at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheba, August 20, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheba this morning to go over the military’s operational plans “to take control of Gaza City and to create the conditions for ending the war.”

“We are now calling up our heroic soldiers in the reserves, in career service, and in compulsory service to bring about the release of the hostages, the defeat of Hamas, and the end of the war under the conditions set by Israel,” Katz says during the meeting, according to remarks provided by his office.

German prosecutors charge Russian with planning attack on Israeli embassy in Berlin

The Israeli Embassy building in Berlin, Germany (Screen capture Google Street View)

German prosecutors have charged a Russian national they suspect of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and of trying to join the Islamic State terror organization, they say.

Prosecutors believe the accused, identified only as Akhmad E. in line with German privacy rules, obtained instructions from the internet on how to make explosives but the plan failed as he could not get the components he needed.

“From the beginning of February, he planned to carry out an attack in Germany, for example on the Israeli embassy in Berlin,” say federal prosecutors in a statement.

He has been detained since his arrest at Berlin airport in February. Prosecutors suspect he was on the way to Pakistan for military training with IS and that he funded the trip by selling expensive smartphones that he obtained via signing up for mobile phone plans.

He is also accused of translating propaganda into Russian and Chechen for IS, said the statement.

Prosecutors charged him on August 7 with preparing and incitement to commit a serious act of violence endangering the state and, as a minor, of trying to join a terrorist group abroad.

IDF says 3 soldiers wounded, one seriously, in southern Gaza attack

Three IDF soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in the attack by terror operatives on an army encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis this morning, the military says.

The troops served with the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion. One was seriously injured and the other two are listed in good condition, according to the military.

According to an IDF probe of the attack, at least 14 gunmen emerged from a tunnel near the encampment and opened fire on troops with machine guns and RPGs. The troops returned fire, killing at least eight.

Planning body gives final approval to controversial E1 West Bank settlement project

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference announcing his plans to approve more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim on August 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The highly controversial E1 settlement project to build some 3,400 housing units between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank is given final approval by the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry department.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich , who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry, calls the decision “historic,” and says it is “a significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion and consolidates the Jewish people’s hold on the heart of the Land of Israel.”

Adds the far-right minister, “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not by slogans but by deeds. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”

Smotrich gave his go-ahead for the plan last week.

The Peace Now organization, which campaigns against the settlement movement, concurs with Smotrich that the project severely threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state, adding that implementing the plans would take Israel toward becoming a binational state.

“Under the cover of war, Smotrich and his minority of messianic friends are establishing a delusional settlement that we will have to evacuate in any agreement,” says the organization, adding that billions of shekels may be spent, and wasted, on the development.

“The entire purpose of the settlement in E1 is to sabotage a political solution and rush towards a binational apartheid state.”

The E1 project is viewed by opponents of Israel’s West Bank settlements as a severe threat to Palestinian territorial contiguity and by extension the viability of a Palestinian state, since it would effectively divide the north of the West Bank from the south, as well as the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

Ben Gvir puts up poster of destroyed Gaza for Palestinian security inmates to view

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir unveils a large photo of destruction in Gaza that was hung for Palestinian security prisoners to see, August 20, 2025. (Screencapture/ Courtesy Office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits an Israeli prison where a large photo of destruction in Gaza was hung for Palestinian security prisoners to see.

In a video released from the visit, Ben Gvir is seen pointing to the image, saying that prisoners are forced to look at the scene on their way to their daily courtyard time, and even claims that one recognized his own home.

“This is how it’s supposed to look,” he adds.

The footage, posted to Telegram, is captioned: “The Israel Prison Service placed photos of destroyed Gaza in the terrorists’ wings — so they understand that you don’t mess with the people of Israel!”

The visit comes just days after Ben Gvir was filmed entering the cell of prominent Palestinian terror convict Marwan Barghouti and appearing to taunt him.

In the footage, published Thursday, Ben Gvir told Barghouti, “You won’t win. Whoever messes with the Nation of Israel, whoever murders our children and women — we will wipe them out. You should know this, [this happened] throughout history.”

Hostages’ families to march to Gaza border, calling for deal to free captives

People attend a demonstration organized by families and friends of those held hostage in the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv on August 17, 2025. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

Family members of the hostages held in Gaza call on the public to join them this evening in a march to the Gaza Strip border to call for a deal to bring the captives home and end the war.

“With reports of a potential deal emerging, hostage families will lead a march today along Route 232 in the Gaza border area, continuing their fight to bring home all hostages and end the war,” the Hostage Families Forum says in a statement.

“The hostage families are calling on the Israeli public to join them in this march and show once again through action that the people stand with the hostages.”

The march will depart from Kibbutz Be’eri at 5:30 p.m.

Pope Leo calls for day of fasting, prayers for peace in ‘Holy Land,’ Ukraine on Friday

Pope Leo XIV gestures during his weekly audience at the Paul VI hall in the Vatican on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Pope Leo has asked Catholics and other religious faithful to observe a day of fasting and prayers for peace in the Holy Land, Ukraine and other war-torn countries on Friday, August 22.

“As our Earth continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, and in many other regions… I invite all the faithful to live the day of August 22 in fasting and prayer,” the pontiff says during his weekly audience at the Vatican.

Leo suggests the faithful could ask God to “grant us peace and justice and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of the ongoing armed conflicts.”

IDF says troops repelled rare large-scale attack in southern Gaza, at least 8 terror operatives killed

Illustrative: IDF troops of the Kfir Brigade seen operating in southern Gaza's Khan Younis in a handout photo published July 15, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

A cell of at least 14 terror operatives attempted to raid an IDF encampment in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis this morning, according to a military probe of the rare incident.

The attack began at around 9 a.m., as the operatives emerged from a tunnel near the IDF post and began to fire RPGs and machine guns at troops of the Kfir Brigade, and approached the encampment.

The soldiers exchanged fire, killing at least eight of the gunmen just outside the army post, while others likely managed to flee back to the tunnel, the probe finds.

The troops also dispatched a drone to strike the operatives, though it is unclear how many were killed from the air.

The IDF is continuing to scan the area for the gunmen, who the military assesses had sought to kidnap troops.

The IDF has not officially commented on the incident, including possible casualties.

The incident marks a rare case of a relatively large cell of operatives attempting to attack an IDF post. Last month, a cell of at least 12 gunmen tried to attack an IDF logistics road in Khan Younis.

Member of Irish rap group Kneecap appears in UK court on terrorism charge for Hezbollah support

Supporters of the band Kneecap, and its singer Liam O'Hanna who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, hold placards as they gather outside Westminster Magistrates' Courts in London on August 20, 2025, where he is set to appear charged with a terror offence of supporting Hezbollah. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

A member of Irish rap group Kneecap is welcomed by hundreds of supporters as he arrives at a London court, charged with a terrorism offense for displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who was initially charged under the Anglicized name Liam O’Hanna and whose stage name is Mo Chara, is alleged to have waved the flag of the banned militant group Hezbollah during a Kneecap gig in London in November 2024.

The 27-year-old was charged in May under the Terrorism Act, under which it is a criminal offense to display an article in a way which arouses reasonable suspicion that someone is a supporter of a proscribed organization.

Today’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court is expected to deal with Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s argument that the charge was brought too late and should be thrown out, failing which he is likely to formally enter a plea.

Belfast-based Kneecap, who rap in Irish and English and regularly display pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel messages during their gigs, previously said the flag had been thrown on stage and described the charge as an attempt to silence them.

The group – who rap about Irish identity and support the republican cause of uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland – have been increasingly vocal about the war in Gaza since Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged.

Kneecap led a 30,000-strong crowd at Glastonbury Festival in June in chants against Prime Minister Keir Starmer and accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies.

5 ex-hostage observation soldiers complete hospital rehabilitation program

Released hostages, from left to right, Naama Levy, Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Karina Ariev and Daniella Gilboa complete their rehabilitation program at the Rabin Medical Center on August 20, 2025 (Rabin Medical Center Spokesperson)

The five IDF female surveillance soldiers who were taken hostage on October 7, 2023 and released from captivity in January have completed the intensive stage of their rehabilitation, Rabin Medical Center says.

Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy will now have ongoing long-term monitoring, alongside community-based treatment, the hospital says.

The former hostages underwent a physician’s examination, blood tests, and comprehensive evaluations in the fields of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and nutritional assessment. Based on the test results, a personalized long-term treatment plan will be created.

Egypt warns displacing Gazans a ‘red line,’ would be the end of the ‘Palestinian cause’

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa (L) listens as Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (C) speaks at a press conference on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing in Rafah on August 18, 2025 (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty warns that the displacement of Gazans from the wartorn Gaza Strip would be a “red line” for Cairo, saying it would amount to the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

“Displacement is a red line. We will not accept it, we will not participate in it. And we will not allow it to be happen,” Abdelatty says in a CNN interview aired Monday.

“There is no moral, ethical, legal, or political reason for [displacement],” he continues. “Those people are attached to their homeland. Why we should displace them from their homeland? This is one issue,” he says.

“Second issue, the displacement is a one-way ticket. I can assure you — those who will leave Gaza, they will never be allowed to go back to Gaza — and that [means] to have one objective, liquidation of the Palestinian cause. That will be the end of the Palestinian goal,” says Abdelatty.

The minister warns that “any kind of displacement would be a big risk and we will not allow any single party to risk our national security and our sovereignty… in our border.”

He also blames Israel for being “the main country which is blocking and putting restrictions on the flow of humanitarian and medical aid” into the Strip through the Rafah border crossing, and for having “a lack of political will” to reach a deal with Hamas that would end the war.

Egypt closed its border with Gaza after Israel captured the Rafah crossing.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s office declined to respond to Abdelatty’s remarks. The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the large-scale emigration of Gazans — a policy endorsed by US President Donald Trump in February, though the American leader has since appeared to distance himself from it.

Netanyahu said Israel is in contact with “several countries” about taking in displaced civilians from the territory. Those countries are said to include Indonesia, Somaliland, Uganda, South Sudan and Libya, though no concrete decisions have reportedly been made.

Iran says it has developed missiles with new capabilities, will use them if Israel attacks again

Members of the Iranian Basij paramilitary force march as a domestically built missile is displayed during a parade in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January 10, 2025. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iran says it is prepared for any new Israeli attack, announcing it has developed missiles with greater capabilities than those used during their recent 12-day war.

“The missiles used in the 12-day war were manufactured… a few years ago,” Defense Minister Aziz Nassirzadeh says, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

“Today, we have manufactured and possess missiles with far greater capabilities than previous missiles, and if the Zionist enemy embarks on the adventure again, we will undoubtedly use them,” he says without elaborating on the new capabilities.

The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran began on June 13 with a surprise Israeli attack.

Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.

The attacks killed 31 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.

In all, there were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.

Musician Paul Weller sues accounting firm that stopped working with him over anti-Israel views

Paul Weller performs on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury music festival on Worthy Farm, Glastonbury, England, Sunday, June 28, 2015. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

British musician Paul Weller is suing his former accounting firm, which cut ties with him after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, UK media reports.

According to a pre-action letter seen by the PA news agency, the firm Harris and Trotter sent Weller a WhatsApp message saying that “It’s well known what your political views are in relation to Israel, the Palestinians and Gaza, but we as a firm are offended at the assertions that Israel is committing any type of genocide.

“Everyone is entitled to their own views, but you are alleging such anti-Israel views that we as a firm with Jewish roots and many Jewish partners are not prepared to work with someone who holds these views,” the message said.

Founding partner Ronnie Harris is a senior member of the UK Jewish Leadership Council.

In the legal letter, Weller, who rose to fame as the front man of  the Jam, claims that he is being discriminated against for his beliefs.

“Silencing those who speak this truth is not just censorship – it’s complicity,” Weller says.

“I’m taking legal action not just for myself, but to help ensure that others are not similarly punished for expressing their beliefs about the rights of the Palestinian people,” he says, adding that he will donate any funds he receives as damages to humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.

Israel strenuously denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza where it has waged a grueling campaign to root out the Hamas terror group in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror assault on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Top rabbi meets released ultra-Orthodox draft dodger, offers support of entire Haredi community

Rabbi Dov Lando (R) meets with yeshiva student Nuriel Mirzakandov after he was released frm prison for evading the military draft (Shmulik Kurlansky)

Rabbi Dov Lando, one of the most prominent rabbinic leaders of the so-called “Lithuanian” stream of ultra-Orthodoxy, meets with yeshiva student Nuriel Mirzakandov to encourage him following his release from military prison, where he had been held on charges of draft evasion.

In remarks shared by his spokesman, the spiritual leader of the Degel Hatorah party states that the entire Haredi community “stands behind you and behind all those who are taken to prison. We pray to heaven and do what is humanly possible, all the time,” he states ahead of an international day of prayer against military conscription of the Haredim scheduled for Thursday.

Golan calls for probe of Netanyahu’s bank accounts amid Qatargate scandal

Leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan at a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan calls for checking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bank accounts to ensure that he has not been accepting Qatari money in light of senior aides’ financial ties to the Arab state.

“I ask myself a very, very simple thing. The security establishment has warned — and there is plenty of evidence for this — that Qatari money is being used to build Hamas’s power,” Golan tells the Kan public broadcaster.

“As I understand it, based on media reports, these Shin Bet reports were passed on to the prime minister, and despite that he continued to transfer the Qatari money. And I ask, in light of his willingness to be very generous to the Qataris and in light of the generosity he feels towards his closest aides and their ties to Qatar… whether it would be unreasonable to check if the prime minister himself, his bank account hasn’t been padded with Qatari money.”

Under Netanyahu, Israel allowed suitcases with millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through Israeli crossings between 2018 and 2023, to maintain its fragile ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of the Strip.

Hebrew media reported in March that Netanyahu was warned at least twice before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, that the terror group’s military chief Muhammad Deif was appropriating funds provided by Qatar to Gaza.

According to near-identical reports by Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu was warned in 2019 by then-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman and again in 2020 by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

Several of Netanyahu’s top aides are currently under investigation over alleged financial ties with Qatar. Netanyahu is not a suspect.

Netanyahu filed a defamation suit against Golan in April over messages he sent to supporters accusing the premier of peddling the country’s security for money in the so-called Qatargate scandal.

IDF says tens of thousands of troops to take part in Gaza City conquest, medical facilities to be expanded in south Gaza

This picture taken from a position at Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli troops deployed in the area on August 19, 2025 (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Five IDF divisions, made up of tens of thousands of troops, are set to participate in the military’s planned offensive against Hamas in Gaza City, according to the army.

The forces include 12 brigade-level teams, each of which has infantry, armored, artillery, and combat engineering forces, along with combat support. In addition, the Gaza Division’s northern and southern brigades — normally tasked with the border — are set to participate in the offensive, bringing the total number of brigade-level teams to 14.

The military says the preparation phases for the offensive, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots B,” have already begun, with an ongoing offensive on the outskirts of Gaza City. The Nahal Infantry Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade have been operating in the Zeitoun neighborhood, and the Givati Infantry Brigade began a new offensive in the Kafr Jabalia area, north of the city.

In addition, the IDF says efforts to set up humanitarian infrastructure in the Strip’s south for the estimated one million Palestinian civilians who are set to be displaced from Gaza City have also started.

The military says more aid distribution sites and at least two more field hospitals are set to be established. The European Hospital in Khan Younis, which was closed after the IDF raided a Hamas tunnel running underneath it, is also slated to resume operations.

“As part of the preparations to move the population from Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip, talks have begun with international organizations to recruit them to establish additional field hospitals in the south, and there is a positive response to this,” a security official says.

The official says “there are also plans to expand the existing medical infrastructure in the south in cooperation with the organizations, and in addition, options are being examined to open access routes to additional medical facilities.”

“The UN and the organizations have begun formulating a plan to restart the European Hospital as an additional medical response,” the official adds.

The IDF’s offensive in Gaza City is set to be carried out in several stages, beginning with an evacuation warning for the civilians in the area. The IDF will then encircle Gaza City before pushing in deeper into the city, including reaching areas that were previously not completely cleared of Hamas infrastructure.

The plans, approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz last night, are set to be presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow.

In terms of reservists, a total of 60,000 reserve soldiers are being called up, in several waves. The majority — around 40,000-50,000 — will be ordered to show up for duty on September 2. Another wave will take place in November-December, and a third wave in February-March 2026.

The IDF is also extending reserve duty for many reservists who are currently on duty by 30-40 days. This will bring the total number of reservists at a given time during the offensive to around 130,000.

The reservists include three brigades and several more battalions, and many combat support soldiers, including in intelligence and logistics.

Not all of the reservists are expected to participate in the operation to capture Gaza City, as some will instead be replacing standing army troops on other fronts.

Defense Ministry approves $1.5 billion procurement of new Israeli-made armored vehicles, tanks

An IDF tank drives near Israel's border fence with the Gaza Strip on August 19, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The Defense Ministry approves a $1.5 billion plan to step up the production of dozens more locally made armored personnel carriers and tanks over the next five years.

The plan “will increase the armored vehicle inventory while boosting production rates of the Merkava Mk. 4 Barak tanks, Namer APCs, and Eitan wheeled APCs, including those equipped with a turreted 30mm cannon,” the ministry says in a statement.

The ministry highlights the successful use of these vehicles in the fighting that followed Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel, noting that “these platforms have accumulated more than one million kilometers in [the] current operation.”

The plan still needs budgetary approval from the Knesset.

Vienna chosen to host Eurovision 2026

Austrian singer Johannes Pietsch aka JJ, winner of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, poses with his trophy after a press conference at the Chancellery in Vienna, Austria on May 19, 2025. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP)

Vienna has been chosen to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, the world’s biggest live televised music event, Austria’s public broadcaster ORF announces.

Vienna, which previously hosted the glitzy TV extravaganza in 1967 and 2015, edged out its competitor Innsbruck, the capital of western Tyrol province, to stage next year’s contest.

Australia’s Albanese downplays Netanyahu’s criticism: ‘I don’t take these things personally’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference in Canberra on August 11, 2025. (Hilary Wardhaugh / AFP)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says that he treats leaders of other countries with respect after his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu attacked him over his decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

“I don’t take these things personally. I engage with people diplomatically. He has had similar things to say about other leaders,” Albanese says during a media briefing.

Netanyahu’s personal attack on Albanese has further strained relations between the two countries. Ties soured after Australia decided last week to conditionally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

“History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” Netanyahu said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Albanese told reporters that he had informed Netanyahu about Australia’s decision to support a Palestinian state before his center-left government formally announced the plan.

“At that time, I gave Prime Minister Netanyahu a clear indication of my view and Australia’s view going forward but also a clear indication of the direction in which we were headed,” Albanese says.

“I gave him the opportunity to outline what political solution there was and gave him that opportunity.”

Israel this week revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority after Albanese’s Labor government cancelled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker over remarks the Australian government considered controversial and inflammatory.

Israel has been facing increasing international pressure over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed thousands and plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, displacing most of its population.

The offensive began nearly two years ago after Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

IDF says some 400 trucks of aid entered Gaza along with fuel tankers yesterday

A Palestinian collects humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates, airdropped by parachutes into Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Nearly 400 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip yesterday through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities (COGAT) says.

According to COGAT, over 350 trucks’ worth of aid were also collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza sides of the crossings yesterday to be distributed.

“The contents of hundreds of trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gazan side of the crossings,” COGAT says.

Another 185 pallets of aid — about 6-9 trucks’ worth — were airdropped by Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Indonesia in Gaza yesterday, according to the IDF. Each pallet has about one ton of food.

Similar amounts of aid deliveries have been reported daily for approximately the past week.

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 amid the war.

COGAT also says that “tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems” yesterday.

Katz approves military plans for Gaza City offensive

Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other military and defense officials meet at Katz's office in Tel Aviv, August 14, 2025. (Shira Keinan/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the military’s Gaza City offensive plans, which were presented to him last night by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior officers.

The offensive is dubbed ” Gideon’s Chariots B,” following a previous operation of the same name, which saw the IDF take over 75% of the Strip’s territory in an attempt to pressure Hamas into a hostage deal.

A security source says Katz praised the IDF’s plan and preparations during the meeting, which came after the government instructed the military to capture Gaza City.

Some 60,000 reservist call-up orders are being issued by the IDF for the offensive, which was approved by Katz. The defense minister also approved “humanitarian preparations” for the estimated one million Palestinian civilians who are set to be displaced from Gaza City to the Strip’s south.

First Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah flight since Oct. 7 lands in Israel with 225 new immigrants

New immigrants arrive in Israel on a Nefesh B'Nefesh charter flight, August 20, 2025 (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)

There is celebration, music and tears of emotion as 225 new immigrants land at Ben Gurion Airport this morning on the first Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah flight since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023.

“I have so many emotions now. We’re living a dream,” says David Tauber, who is moving with his family from Philadelphia to the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem. “We’re here to be part of the rebuilding of our land.”

“I never thought we would get here, and it’s been an overwhelming process,” an overwhelmed mother, Atara Werterntheil says. “But it feels right, and this is very special. We are very lucky.”

The flight from New York’s JFK Airport included 45 families with 125 children. The youngest new immigrant was nine months old, and the oldest was 72 years old. Many families wore matching t-shirts that they had created specifically for the flight.

More than 1,000 North American immigrants are set to arrive in Israel in August, the highest monthly total ever since NBN was founded in 2002 to promote Aliyah, the organization says.

While overall immigration numbers dropped by 30% in 2024, most of that decline is due to a drop from Russia and Ukraine, where more than half of all new immigrants come from, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer tells The Times of Israel. Immigration from the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and other western countries is on the rise, he notes.

Overall, NBN is expecting about 4,000 new immigrants in 2025, which would be one of its best years in history. NBN saw an 80% spike in aliyah inquiries immediately following the October 7 attacks, vice president of communications Yael Katsman says. As the full process for families typically takes 18 months or longer, that uptick in interest is only this summer converting to new olim, she explains.

Trump says Netanyahu is a war hero ‘and I am too’

US President Donald Trump (left) welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in Washington on April 7, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

US President Donald Trump says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a “war hero,” and says he is also one, for sending US bombers to hit Iran’s nuclear sites.

In an interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin, Trump says he is working with Netanyahu to free the hostages, adding that Netanyahu is “a good man, he’s in there fighting.”

“He’s a war hero, cause we worked together. He’s a war hero. I guess I am too.”

“Nobody cares. I am too. I sent those planes,” Trump says, referring to his order to bomb heavily fortified Iranian nuclear facilities during Israel’s 12 day conflict with Iran.

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1957958309287456787

IDF says it killed elite Hamas Nukhba member who took part in Oct. 7 assault

A member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught and participated in an attempted assault on an IDF post was killed in the Gaza Strip last week, the military announces.

Muhammad Naif Abu Shamala served as a Nukhba company commander, according to the military.

On October 7, 2023, the IDF says Shamala and other Hamas terrorists tried to capture the army’s so-called Mars post next to the border community of Kissufim.

He was killed last Wednesday, August 13, by troops of the Kfir Brigade in the Khan Younis area, the army says.

Throughout the war, he advanced numerous attacks against IDF troops operating in Gaza and against srael, the military adds.

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1958021345079365997

Australia fires back at Netanyahu: ‘Strength not measured by how many people you can blow up’

Australian government lawmaker Sarah Witty, center left, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, center, and Jewish government lawmaker Mark Dreyfus, center right, address the media outside the East Melbourne Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP/Rod McGuirk)

Australia lashes Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu after he said the country’s prime minister was weak, with a top minister saying strength is more than “how many people you can blow up.”

For decades Australia has considered itself a close friend of Israel, but the relationship has swiftly unravelled since Canberra announced last week it would recognize a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu drastically escalated a war of words on Tuesday night, calling his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese a “weak politician who betrayed Israel.”

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says Wednesday it’s the sign of a frustrated leader “lashing out.”

“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry,” Burke tells national broadcaster ABC.

Minor scuffles but no major incidents at NY protest seeking to dredge up 1991 anti-Jewish riots

Protesters shove a Jewish man at a protest in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, August 19, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Minor scuffles break out at a Brooklyn protest that sought to open racial divisions in Crown Heights, but the event largely passes without incident.

An extremist activist group had organized the rally as a “vigil” for Gavin Cato, a Black boy who died after he was hit by a car driven by Jewish driver in 1991. The car accident set off the Crown Heights riots targeting Jews in the area.

The group organizing the protest, Crown Heights Bites Back, said ahead of the rally that “Jewish supremacists” had “murdered” Cato. In the past the group has used explicitly racial language to stir tensions between the neighborhood’s Black and Jewish communities, which largely coexist peacefully.

Crown Heights is the home base of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement and home to a large Caribbean diaspora community.

Tuesday’s rally is held at the site of the accident that killed Cato on the anniversary of his death. Around 20 activists, mostly dressed in black and wearing face masks and sunglasses, form a perimeter on the sidewalk around a table with an image of Cato.

The activists hand out fliers to passersby that say “Zionist white supremacists from Chabad-Lubavitch brutally killed” Cato and injured his cousin.

“We are yet to receive justice for these children,” the flyers say.

“They will come for our children, our elders, and abused brothers and sisters. They will try to kill us, exploit us, raise our rents and evict us,” they say. “Remember 1991! We cannot liberate ourselves from white supremacy until we rise up to tear it all down.”

The protesters block Jews from approaching the table. The activists shove one Jewish man from the sidewalk until police separate the two sides.

https://twitter.com/luketress/status/1957971846797709804

Reactions from passersby are mixed. Some take flyers, saying they are unfamiliar with the accident and the riots.

“When are y’all Jews gonna leave?” one man shouts. “Put that kid’s name on that fucking street sign. I’ll make a part two riot right now.”

Another man calls the protesters a “bunch of hypocrites.”

“Why was there no vigil until now?” he says to the protesters.

Others criticize the activists for hiding their identities with masks and for stirring tensions between the Black and Jewish communities, even though they are mostly white, and point out that none of Cato’s family is there.

“It’s Israel and Gaza fighting. It’s not America fighting. We must try to unite,” a neighborhood resident from Jamaica says on the sidelines.

“They are protesting against the Jews,” she says. “They live in the community, they’re allowed to come.”

Ahead of the protest, Mayor Eric Adams and three Black lawmakers from the area condemned the rally as antisemitic and for its attempt to stoke racial tensions.

Despite the charged atmosphere, the rally remains small and there are no major incidents. Unlike most protests in the city, the activists do not chant or make speeches.

El Al to resume flights between Tel Aviv and Eilat after more than a decade

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

El Al Airlines says it will resume flight services this winter from Tel Aviv to the southern resort city of Eilat after more than a decade.

Starting October 21, Israel’s flag carrier will operate two daily flights – one in the morning and one in the evening – on the Tel Aviv-Eilat route “despite complex operational challenges.”

Fares start at NIS 139 ($41) for a one-way ticket, including a trolley and a backpack. Eilat residents will be sold subsidized tickets for NIS 99 each way.

Resumption of the flight service to and from Eilat comes in response to a request by the Transportation Ministry, and as part of an effort to increase the frequency of flights on the domestic route that connects the residents of the Red Sea resort to the center of the country.

Syrian state media: US-mediated talks with Israel focused on deescalation, non-interference in Syria’s affairs

This combination of pictures created on July 25, 2025, shows Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (L) and Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. (AFP)

Syria’s foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, met an Israeli delegation in Paris on Tuesday to discuss bolstering stability in the region and southern Syria, Syria’s state news agency SANA reports.

Syrian and Israeli officials have been conducting US-mediated talks on deescalating the conflict in southern Syria.

The discussions between the Israeli and Syrian sides focused on deescalation and non-interference in Syrian domestic affairs.

60K reservists set to receive call-up orders in coming days ahead of Gaza City takeover

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

Some 60,000 Israeli reservists are set to receive call-up orders that the IDF will issue starting tomorrow for the planned offensive in Gaza City, provided Defense Minister Israel Katz approves the move, according to security sources.

The orders are not immediate, and the reservists will be given at least two weeks before needing to report for duty.

The number of reservists being called up is in addition to tens of thousands of reservists who are currently serving in the reserves.

Not all of the reservists being called up are expected to participate in the operation to capture Gaza City, as some will instead be replacing standing army troops on other fronts.

Lebanese PM says government won’t walk back decision directing army to disarm Hezbollah

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam tells the Jordanian channel Al-Mamlaka that the government will not walk back its decision directing the country’s army to confiscate all of Hezbollah’s weapons by the end of 2025.

Hezbollah announced after the decision that it would act as if it did not exist, with the terror group’s leader Naim Qassem pledging to defy the ruling.