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Key updates, 20 August 2026:
Netanyahu expelling initiator of today’s wildcat airport strike from Likud party
Airport union chief and Likud party member Pinchas Idan arrives to the Elections Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 5, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
The ruling Likud party says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the termination of the party membership of the Ben Gurion Airport workers’ union chief, Pinchas Idan, over the hours-long wildcat strike he ordered today that caused chaos during peak travel season.
The statement says that the decision has been made “due to the wild and illegal strike at the airport that harmed citizens and damaged the economy.”
Idan also ordered an airport strike in March 2023, when the national Histadrut labor federation called a nationwide strike to protest the government’s judicial overhaul and the firing of defense minister Yoav Gallant.
He wasn’t expelled from the party back then despite calls for such a move, and he claimed at the time that the strike had been coordinated with Netanyahu.
Key Update
Progress made in talks with Israeli banks on reversing decision that could collapse PA economy — sources
Significant progress has been made in talks with a pair of Israeli banks to push off imminent plans to cease providing correspondent banking services to Palestinian counterparts, which could collapse the West Bank economy, two sources familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.
Last month, Israeli banks Discount and Hapoalim informed their Palestinian counterparts that they would cease providing the service necessary for West Bank commerce on September 1 and October 1, respectively.
The banks faulted the Israeli government for the decision, explaining that they had been assured roughly a decade ago that a new bank would be set up to replace them in providing correspondent banking services to Palestinian banks. However, successive governments dragged their feet in advancing the issue.
Instead, finance ministers signed indemnity waivers, meant to shield Discount and Hapoalim from legal liability over any potential Palestinian money laundering or terror financing.
But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich began toying with that policy as part of a host of steps aimed at weakening the Palestinian Authority. Over the past year, he signed waivers that only lasted for two weeks at a time.
Following pressure from the United States, Smotrich agreed late last month to sign indemnity waivers that extended until the end of 2026 — past the October 27 elections, after which a government slightly more sympathetic to the Palestinians could potentially take charge.
But by then, the Israeli banks had already lost their patience and informed their Palestinian counterparts that they would still cease providing correspondent banking services in the coming weeks.
The notification sparked panic in Ramallah, and officials from the US and European Union intervened on the PA’s behalf, an Israeli official said.
Israeli authorities have subsequently held talks with Discount and Hapoalim to resolve the issue and are nearing a solution that would see the banks put off their plan in exchange for improvements to the indemnity waiver terms, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
A source from each of the two Israeli banks in question confirms the progress in those talks, while clarifying that a final decision to delay their respective deadlines has not yet been reached.
Palestinian doctor arrested on suspicion of incitement said to have suffered cardiac event in custody
The B’Tselem rights group says that Dr. Dima Amin, a 55-year-old Palestinian doctor from Ramallah, who was arrested by the IDF on Tuesday, suffered a cardiac event while in custody and was hospitalized.
According to the transcript of a court hearing held today, Amin is suspected of incitement, supporting a hostile organization and harming security over Facebook posts she published around three months ago.
During the hearing, a police representative confirmed that Amin underwent a cardiac catheterization and was hospitalized following her arrest. She was subsequently returned to custody at Jerusalem’s Russian Compound detention facility.
A military court today extended her detention by five days.
באישון לילה פרצו חיילי כיבוש לביתה של ד״ר דימה ברכאת ברמאללה ועצרו אותה.
בת 54, רופאה שעוסקת בגידולים גינקולוגים , שמקדישה את חייה לרפא נשים ולהציל חיים.
כמעט 100 אנשי צוות רפואי נמצאים במעצר.
כך נראה כיבוש pic.twitter.com/S3MfVSJlBq— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) August 19, 2026
EU said gearing up to label all Israeli products, halt collaborations if E1 settlement construction begins
This picture taken from the E1 area northeast of Jerusalem shows vehicles moving along a highway near the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim on February 4, 2026. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP)
The European Union is preparing a package of sanctions against Israel if it goes through with its plan for a major settlement construction in the particularly controversial E1 area of the West Bank, Channel 13 news reports.
The government on Tuesday issued a tender for the construction of seven residential compounds housing 1,234 housing units in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, where Israeli settlement activists seek to divide the West Bank.
The network reports, citing two Western diplomats, that the EU has devised a list of initial sanctions if the construction begins, which the United States doesn’t oppose.
It is said to include labeling products from Israel — not only from West Bank settlements — as well as scaling down academic collaborations and halting certain security and diplomatic collaborations.
The E1 expansion connects the Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim areas, while seemingly scuttling the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian presence between the population centers of Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah — long considered the basis for a Palestinian state.
The project was frozen for long years amid fierce opposition from the international community, including past US administrations, which feared that building a new settlement neighborhood on the mostly empty tract of land would rule out the establishment of a contiguous, viable Palestinian state.
The housing units in the tender are some of the roughly 3,400 E1 housing units that were greenlit in August 2025. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lauded the E1 expansion plan at the time, saying it “practically erases the two-state delusion” by splitting up the territory that would be slated for a Palestinian state.
The project was slammed yesterday by UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ed Miliband, who called it “unacceptable and destructive” and threatened action.
Today, far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir hit back, with the latter tweeting in English that “someone should update Ed that the British Mandate for the Land of Israel ended in 1948 and that Israel is an independent state.”
He added: “Perhaps instead of playing make-believe about the Mandate era, he ought to look out of the window at his London, which is rapidly turning into an Islamic Caliphate.”
Smotrich similarly said the British Mandate “is over” and that he wouldn’t accept “dictates from foreign countries” or change course due to “threats and sanctions,” casting the project as a national security necessity to prevent danger to the state and “realize our historic and biblical right to our ancestors’ land.”
Key Update
Report: Airport strike was originally meant for yesterday to disrupt Regev’s flight; was delayed because PM visited airport with her
Airport union chief and Likud party member Pinchas Idan arrives to the Elections Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 5, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Today’s hourslong strike by Ben Gurion Airport workers had originally been planned for yesterday in order to disrupt Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s flight to a private vacation in Morocco, but was delayed to today because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the airport with her, Channel 12 news reports.
The report, which cites unnamed senior officials in the Israel Airports Authority, says the local workers’ union and its head, Pinchas Idan — a member of the Likud party — decided it would be “too much” to disrupt the premier’s visit.
Netanyahu and Regev filmed clips with workers, with Regev praising them for the hard work they do.
The report claims workers were eventually ordered to disrupt the baggage transfer to Regev’s flight, but that this only resulted in a minor delay.
The IAA officials are said to claim that Idan, who normally has a good relationship with Netanyahu and Regev but today drew outraged comments from them, decided to blow up talks on potentially extending his tenure in exchange for re-organization of employees’ working conditions, which he opposes.
Idan denies the report.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry says the strike caused estimated damage totaling NIS 25-30 million ($8.3-10 million).
Key Update
US set to target Hezbollah with fresh sanctions, emphasizing ties to Iranian government
The United States will today issue fresh sanctions targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah, including re-designating it under a terrorism authority, according to a statement seen by Reuters, in a move aimed at emphasizing its links to the Iranian government.
While Hezbollah is not being designated under any new authority, the Treasury Department is re-designating it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist “for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force,” according to the statement.
A US official said that the re-designation is intended to show that Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government and update the public record to link the designation to Hezbollah’s actions on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
Hezbollah was first designated under the authority in 2001 and is also sanctioned by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The United States is also designating a group of 10 people that it accuses of smuggling cash for Hezbollah.
The US official says that the measures to be taken today are separate from further action the US plans to take against Iran, as Washington looks to resolve a war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.
US okays $4.5 billion plan to sell refueling planes to Qatar
The United States has approved a potential $4.5 billion sale of refueling aircraft to Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in Washington’s war with Iran, the State Department announces.
Qatar has asked to purchase up to four KC-46A aircraft, equipped with missile warning sensors, the department says in a statement.
The sale, which has been sent to Congress for its approval, will help support US national security by “helping to improve the security of a strategic regional partner,” it says.
The deal will “increase Qatar’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing its defense capabilities and interoperability with US and allied forces,” it adds.
Qatar is one of the mediators seeking to help Washington and Tehran reach a deal to end months of fighting, though talks are currently at a standstill. It is also working on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar is home to Al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the Middle East. The base has been targeted several times by Iran during the conflict that began in late February.
The Gulf state gave US President Donald Trump a luxury airliner that is now a new Air Force One.
Settler charged with assaulting Palestinian shepherd after running state-provided ATV over his sheep
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office charges a settler with assaulting a Palestinian shepherd after driving a state-provided ATV over the shepherd’s sheep in the area of Khirbet al-Tawil, near Nablus, on May 17.
The settler, 21-year-old Yedidia Kaufman, is also charged with breaking into a private compound in the nearby town of Qabalan with other stick-wielding individuals to intimidate residents on May 2; and assaulting left-wing activists who tried to prevent him and other individuals from breaking into the grounds of a Tawil home on May 3.
He is indicted at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on multiple counts, including trespassing, animal cruelty and racially motivated assault.
Kaufman is a resident of the large Haredi settlement of Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem, but allegedly committed the crimes while living and working on the state-backed Jackson Farm, near Tawil, over April and May.
Looking the Occupation in the Eyes, a left-wing Israeli group that volunteers with Palestinians in the area, has long accused settlers from the farm of harassing surrounding Palestinian communities.
So-called protective presence activists have also long said ATVs provided by the state serve settlers to intimidate Palestinians and encroach on the shepherding communities’ grazing areas.
According to the indictment, the Polaris ATV with which Kaufman ran over the sheep near Tawil belonged to the owner of the settler farm, Noam Jackson, who received it from the Settlements Ministry.
Kaufman, who never received a driver’s license, allegedly drove the vehicle with two other unidentified individuals in tow, and stayed in place on top of the sheep despite the Palestinian shepherd’s protests.
The ramming killed a pregnant sheep and its embryo, and seriously wounded another pregnant sheep, which had a miscarriage, the indictment says.
Ministers fume at High Court ruling, vow to keep trying to shut Army Radio
Responding to the High Court of Justice ruling striking down the government decision to shutter Army Radio, Defense Minister Israel Katz slams the court for “placing its own judgment above that of the elected government ministers, who unanimously believed that there is no place for a civilian radio station with political content within the military.”
The defense minister vows that the government will tackle the issue of closing down the station once again “when we win” following the upcoming national election.
Other coalition figures — in particular those who have led efforts to curb the High Court’s powers to overturn government decisions — also react with outrage to the decision.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls on the government to simply ignore the ruling and instead “instruct the defense minister to implement its decision immediately” to shut down Army Radio.
And National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses the High Court of “carrying out a coup against democracy and stripping a democratically elected government of its lawful powers.”
Ben Gvir says that his Otzma Yehudit party’s condition for joining the next coalition is “the passage of a full judicial reform” that would establish a “constitutional court” above the High Court.
France, Germany, UK and Italy condemn Israel’s E1 West Bank settlement plan
France, Germany, Britain and Italy condemn plans by Israel to open up construction tenders for a residential property project in the E1 area in the central West Bank.
“The decision by the Israeli government to publish bid offers for construction projects within the framework of the E1 settlers’ project is unacceptable,” says a joint statement by the leaders of those four countries.
ToI poll shows Bennett gaining ground at Eisenkot’s expense, but deadlock persists
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, right, and B'Yachad party chief Naftali Bennett meet at the Herzliya Conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, July 1, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
A new opinion poll ahead of the October 27 election by Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, shows a bump in support for Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party at the expense of Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, but features no change in the deadlock between the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs.
Yashar remains the biggest party but loses two seats to get 23 seats, while the ruling Likud stays at 21, and B’Yachad gets 15, gaining two seats after consistently losing ground over the past few months, though it is too early to say if this is a consistent trend.
Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu gets 11 seats, Shas gets 9, United Torah Judaism and The Democrats 8 each, Hadash-Ta’al-Balad and Otzma Yehudit 7 each, Religious Zionism 6, and Ra’am 5.
Yoaz Hendel’s centrist Zionist Home falls below the 3.25% electoral threshold with 3.00%, Benny Gantz’s fellow centrist Blue and White gets 2.40%, and Gilad Erdan’s new right-wing party gets just 0.80%. All three are parties not aligned with either bloc.
The pro-Netanyahu bloc stays at 51 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the Zionist anti-Netanyahu parties get 57, both short of a majority. The Islamist Ra’am and the mostly Arab Hadash-Ta’al-Balad are not included in either bloc, but the anti-Netanyahu bloc may end up teaming up with Ra’am.
The poll included 500 respondents and was conducted on August 19-20, with a 4.4% margin of error.
High Court annuls government decision to close Army Radio
An IDF soldier serving at Army Radio holds a microphone in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The High Court of Justice overturns the government’s decision to close the Army Radio station, with judges ruling unanimously that the government was guided by an “improper motive” to interfere in editorial content.
The three-judge panel rules to accept petitions against the move that the cabinet approved in December. The ruling makes permanent the court’s February provisional order against the closure.
In separate opinions, judges Daphne Barak-Erez, Alex Stein and Yechiel Kasher say closing Army Radio is not itself illegitimate, but that the evidence shows the government sought to penalize the station for coverage perceived as critical.
Kasher writes in the main ruling that “it’s unconscionable that someone with governing authority will decide that, since they don’t like a broadcaster’s words, the broadcaster’s microphone must be shut off. A government that operates in this manner is distinctly undemocratic.”
Stein, in a concurrence, criticizes petitioners’ argument that closing Army Radio is an assault on freedom of expression. He says petitioners’ description of a theoretically legitimate way to shut down the 76-year-old station is summed up by the Eagles lyric “you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.”
Nonetheless, the judge says it is clear the government acted out of an improper motive to interfere in coverage, given a memo about the closure that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi sent Defense Minister Israel Katz railing against Army Radio for subjecting soldiers to content that “not only doesn’t support them, but sometimes harshly criticizes their actions.”
Barak-Erez, in her own concurrence, adds that the government’s decision to shutter Army Radio was also procedurally flawed, given the “lack of evidentiary basis” for the allegation that Army Radio is biased, as well as the “bias” of the relevant ministers and some committee members they appointed to study closing the station.
“Indeed, it’s not forbidden for an official, even an elected official, to have a prior opinion or background on a topic entrusted to them. But they may not have a ‘locked’ prejudice… in a manner that turns the decision-making process into an empty sham,” she says.
Key Update
US Treasury Secretary Bessent to hold press conference on planned Iran sanctions on Monday
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells CNBC that he will hold a press conference on Monday “to talk about exactly what we’re going to do” on Iran.
US President Donald Trump yesterday warned of economic consequences against any country that provides “any type of lifeline to Iran” as the United States looks to resolve a war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.
Iran condemns planned US sanctions as ‘economic terrorism’
Iran’s foreign ministry condemns newly floated US economic and trade sanctions, claiming they would target ordinary Iranians and amount to “economic terrorism” and crimes against humanity.
US President Donald Trump warned yesterday of sweeping economic consequences for any country that provides what he called “any type of lifeline to Iran,” threatening economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.
The Iranian foreign ministry says the measures will not weaken Tehran’s resolve to defend its independence, national sovereignty and interests.
Ahead of party launch, ex-general Winter assails lack of decisiveness in war, urges mass emigration from Gaza
Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter arrives for the funeral of Asher Hayon, a former chief of staff and adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a cemetery in Modiin, February 17, 2026. (Tal Gal/Flash90)
Hawkish former IDF general Ofer Winter, who is gearing up to launch a new party next week aimed at right-wingers disappointed with the current government, airs a video statement slamming the current war as indecisive and urging a change in Israel’s security policy.
“For three years, there has been a war here that, alongside big achievements, hasn’t yielded a decisive result on any front,” he says, urging a change from “reactiveness and rounds [of conflict] to initiative, decisiveness and victory.”
“You can’t send soldiers to a three-year war without ending it with victory,” he argues, decrying the endless reserve duty many have been called up for.
“There won’t be a decisive result without massive emigration by the Gazans. I will do everything in my power to insist on this. This is a historic opportunity that will maybe never repeat itself,” he contends.
He argues that the strategic and security conception that enabled Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught “is still here, and we must stop this way of thinking right now.”
“So I believe we can achieve a decisive result — not over one another, but over the enemy,” he concludes.
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted Saudi airport, Aramco facility
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels say they have targeted an airport and a facility belonging to state-owned oil giant Aramco in Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran region, near the Yemeni border.
The group “successfully carried out two military operations using drones: the first targeted a sensitive Saudi enemy site at Najran Airport, while the second targeted the Aramco facility in Najran,” military spokesman Yahya Saree says in a statement on Telegram.
Beit Shemesh man found dead in Tiberias forest, over a week after he went missing
A dead body located in the Switzerland Forest near Tiberias this afternoon has been identified as belonging to 24-year-old Katriel Nachman Keinan, who went missing early last week, his Chabad Hasidic community says.
Police say a body was located in the forest alongside items and personal effects linked to Keinan, following a large-scale search by officers, rescue forces and volunteers.
בצער רב
אותה גופתו של כתריאל נחמן קינן מבית שמש בטבריה. pic.twitter.com/7fmRDnd54X— יוסי שחבר (@yosishahbar) August 20, 2026
The body has been transferred to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Abu Kabir for formal identification, according to police.
The statement does not specify a cause of death.
Keinan was last seen in security camera footage exiting the tomb of Rabbi Meir Ba’al HaNess, close to where the body was found today.
Keinan, a resident of Beit Shemesh, was on his way to Safed and spoke over the phone with his brother on Sunday night last week, the brother, Daniel, has told the Ynet news site.
Their mother had also received a message from Keinan on Monday saying his phone was low on battery and telling her not to worry, according to the brother.
New US carrier strike group arrives in Middle East
A new US aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, the US military announces, after conditions aboard a long-deployed carrier provoked fresh criticism of US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran.
“The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in Middle East during a scheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday,” Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, says in a post on X.
U.S. Sailors work on the flight deck of USS George Washington (CVN 73), Aug. 20, as the aircraft carrier transits the Arabian Sea. The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in Middle East during a scheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday. pic.twitter.com/DEkHHukHeI
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) August 20, 2026
Air Force relocates chopper squadron to north to protect border, in lesson from Oct. 7
The Israeli Air Force's 190th Squadron's AH-64A Apache helicopters land at Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel, August 19, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israel Air Force has completed relocating a helicopter squadron from Ramon Airbase in the south to Ramat David Airbase in the north, as part of efforts to better defend the northern border and following lessons learned from the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.
The 190th Squadron operates a fleet of AH-64A Apache choppers, known in the IAF as Peten (Cobra).
Yesterday, a ceremony was held at Ramat David Airbase to welcome the squadron.
“The transfer of the squadron to Ramat David Airbase is intended to improve the availability of the combat helicopter fleet for defending the country’s borders by dispersing combat helicopter squadrons in the north and south,” the military says.
Shas chief Deri and spiritual leader Yosef mend fences after reported major rift
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, right, and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, left, on September 19, 2016. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and the party’s senior spiritual leader, former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, ironed out their differences during a meeting today, several days after the Haaretz daily reported that Yosef had privately urged associates and students not to vote for the ultra-Orthodox party in the upcoming election.
According to the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabbat, Yosef came with a letter from Rabbi Moshe Maya, a senior member of the party’s ruling Council of Torah sages, calling for Yosef to take over implementing the legacy of his father, Shas founder Ovadia Yosef.
The pair agreed to meet every Friday to discuss leadership issues, indicating a shared control over the party’s direction, while Yosef explicitly called on the public to support Shas, the Haredi news site reports.
Last week, Haaretz cited an unnamed student who said that Yosef had demanded he promise he wouldn’t vote for Shas and ask his family and the public not to vote for the party.
According to the report, Yosef has lost faith in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing religious bloc after it failed to pass a law codifying longstanding exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service.
Yosef denied the report.
During his discussion with Deri, Yosef also praises Israel’s soldiers, blessing them and calling them divine messengers in a video released by a party spokesman.
“We love the soldiers, we love the entire Jewish nation. But it must be known that the Torah goes hand in hand with the soldiers. It is impossible without the Torah. People sometimes do not understand this,” Yosef states. “On this occasion, I bless all the soldiers: May the Holy One, Blessed be He, guard their comings and goings, may no harm befall them, and may they all return to their homes safe and healthy and continue to protect the people of Israel. They are messengers of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to protect the people of Israel.”
“We take care of the soldiers by having Torah, because the Torah protects the soldiers and protects the entire Jewish people” and, as such, “both the Torah and the soldiers” are necessary, the rabbi says.
Yosef’s comments follow years of harsh anti-conscription rhetoric, including calling on yeshiva students to flush draft orders down the toilet and threatening a mass exodus of Haredi Jews from the country should the government arrest yeshiva students for evasion.
He has also blamed the deaths of IDF troops in Gaza on Haredi yeshiva students’ insufficient Torah study, called a fellow rabbi and bereaved father of a slain soldier a heretic for advocating Haredi conscription, and called June’s US-Iran deal a divine punishment for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s efforts to crack down on draft dodgers.
‘Thou shalt not steal’: US envoy tells settlers, in fresh condemnation of West Bank home siege
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaks during a meeting between the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon in the Oval Office at the White House, April 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warns extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank not to steal property owned by Palestinian Americans, describing such behavior as “a violation of God’s law,” and warning that settlers found to have taken part in a siege of homes in the West Bank village of Qusra, including one belonging to Palestinian American Loui Ridi, could be punished with US sanctions.
Asked what message US President Donald Trump’s administration has for settlers considering seizing homes or land in the West Bank owned by Palestinian Americans, Huckabee, who last week denounced the perpetrators as “Israeli terrorists,” refers to Jewish and Christian scripture.
“I think the message is bigger than just even the Trump administration. It’s a message of basic civility and civilized behavior,” Huckabee says in Jerusalem. “You don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Citing the Ten Commandments, Huckabee says “Thou shalt not steal” and that people should neither take nor “covet” what belongs to others.
“If someone owns the land and they own their house, then having someone come and take it over and scare the family away from it, that’s a violation, not just of man’s law. That’s a violation of God’s law,” says Huckabee, a supporter of Israel’s settlements.
Offering a defense of settlements in general, he says he believes violent settlers are a minority who do not represent the wider settlement community, which he says “just want to raise their families in Judea and Samaria peacefully and with a level of security,” using the biblical name for the territory.
The ambassador says the US is “appalled” by what happened in Qusra. The Palestinian families targeted by Israeli settlers are victims of “inexcusable and repugnant” criminal activity and those settlers found to have taken part should face significant consequences in Israel, he says.
Huckabee also says that anyone found to be involved could also face US sanctions, such as a ban on entering the US, although he says he is not aware that any such measures are under consideration.
Israeli authorities have not announced any arrests or charges against any settler allegedly involved in besieging the Palestinian homes, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the incident. A senior settler leader has, however, condemned the actions of the settlers.
Key Update
Report: 5 Palestinians injured in settler attack that caused car to overturn
The official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reports that five Palestinians have been injured in a settler attack in the area of the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah.
In footage circulated online, two of the injured are seen receiving treatment at a Palestinian clinic, suffering from minor facial injuries.
According to the WAFA report, settlers attacked the car, causing it to overturn. Earlier, footage was circulated showing an overturned car on the side of the road in the same area.
https://x.com/i/status/2090398359664341326
#فيديو| إصابات عقب اعتداء مستوطنين على المواطنين في سهل مرج سيع بين قريتي المغير أبو فلاح برام الله. pic.twitter.com/VNjzWnqqx6
— شبكة فلسطين للحوار (@paldf) August 20, 2026
🟨انقلاب مركبة فلسطينية عقب هجوم مستوطنين عليها أثناء مرورها على طريق "مرج سيع" بين بلدتي أبو فلاح والمغير شمال شرقي رام الله. pic.twitter.com/XIjRrTwf7n
— شبكة يافا الإخبارية (@yaffa_ps) August 20, 2026
Airport employees fully return to work, ending wildcat strike; flights gradually resuming, but bottleneck will take time to clear
Travelers wait in the departures hall of Ben Gurion Airport during a wildcat strike, August 20, 2026. (X screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Workers at Ben Gurion Airport have fully resumed their work after talks held by the workers’ union and the Israel Airports Authority chiefs, the IAA says in a statement.
The statement says that, additionally, “significant efforts” will be made to expand the workforce in order to meet the operational challenges faced by the employees.
Flight activity at the airport is renewing gradually, though the IAA acknowledges that it will take time to clear the bottleneck created by hours of delays and chaos, which has included some flights getting canceled altogether.
The IAA asks travelers to maintain contact with the airlines to get further updates about their flights.
“We are sorry and apologize for the harm to travelers,” it adds.
Key Update
Turkey says it ‘will not fall into trap’ set by Netanyahu in Syria
Turkey “will not fall into the trap” set by Israel, the Turkish presidency states, after Israel struck an airbase in northern Syria and said a Turkish military delegation had recently visited the site.
“We are experienced enough not to fall into the trap of figures like [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who aim to undermine peace and stability in our region,” says Burhanettin Duran, the Turkish presidency’s director of communications.
Turkey has denied a military visit to the site.
But Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani acknowledged yesterday that Turkish military officers had recently visited the airbase in question, though he denied any plans for a Turkish military deployment.
Turkey, Egypt, Qatar condemn recent Israeli strikes on Gaza, claim they violate ceasefire obligations
Turkey, Egypt and Qatar strongly condemn recent Israeli strikes in Gaza, claiming in a joint statement that they violate Israel’s obligations under a ceasefire agreement and urging the Jewish state to refrain from steps that could escalate tensions.
“The mediating countries underline that the intensification of Israeli attacks undermines regional and international efforts at a critical juncture, as intensive efforts are under way to implement the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, including the meeting between the Board of Peace and Israeli officials, and constructive steps are being taken in the negotiation process,” they say.
The international community and Board of Peace must take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the ceasefire and prevent further escalation, they add.
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip yesterday killed at least 10 people and wounded 15, according to Palestinian media, with the IDF saying the airstrikes targeted Hamas operatives and commanders.
Overturning order barring left-wing activist from Palestinian village, court questions authorities’ inability to detain settlers
In an unusual decision, the Central District Court accepts an appeal by IDF reservist Col. Doron Meinert, who was arrested Tuesday in the West Bank’s Khirbet al-Tawil, south of Nablus, on suspicion of entering a closed military zone.
Meinert, an activist with the left-wing “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” organization, was arrested after arriving at the site of a Palestinian water cistern reportedly taken over by settlers.
Footage he filmed at the time shows soldiers standing alongside settlers who had arrived at the site of the cistern used by local Palestinian residents, which is not located within the closed military zone declared by the military.
Despite the footage, the IDF told The Times of Israel that it was unaware of any soldiers who had been present at the site.
Meinert told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that the soldiers called the police, who told him he was inside a closed military zone. When he refused to leave the area, he was arrested. He maintained at the time that he was not within the area covered by the order, while settlers who were inside the closed military zone were neither removed nor arrested.
At a hearing in a magistrate’s court yesterday, a judge accepted the police’s position and barred Meinert from Khirbet al-Tawil for 10 days.
However, on appeal to the district court today, the judge accepts Meinert’s argument that he had been outside the area covered by the order and questions why the settlers who were at the scene were not detained.
“It is appropriate to express puzzlement at the law enforcement authorities’ decision to detain only the appellant, who did not leave the area, when it can be seen that numerous settlers were present at the scene… none of whom were detained or arrested,” the ruling says.
Arrivals, check-ins at Ben Gurion gradually resuming, but departure and arrival delays set to last for hours
Arrivals and check-ins are gradually resuming at Ben Gurion Airport after workers at the airport staged a surprise work stoppage, wreaking havoc at the height of the travel season. Many workers have yet to return to work.
The Israel Airports Authority is reportedly bringing in extra workers to help deal with the chaos, but delays to arrivals and departures are expected to last for hours.
According to reports, staff and management reached an agreement to resume work, with the Israel Airports Authority saying that normal traffic and check-ins would gradually resume from 3 p.m., an hour after the initial stoppage halted operations.
Some 650 flights were supposed to take off and land at the airport today, with about 107,000 passengers — the highest number for a year.
PM says Ben Gurion Airport to ‘remain open and operate as usual’ after surprise work stoppage halted arrivals, check-ins
Prime Mister Benjamin Netanyahu says Ben Gurion Airport will “continue to remain open and operate as usual” after workers at Israel’s main international airport staged a surprise work stoppage on the busiest travel day of the year so far.
In a post on X, the premier says “Ben Gurion Airport will continue to remain open and operate as usual. Anyone who stands in the way – will fly home.”
נתב״ג ימשיך להיות פתוח ולעבוד כרגיל. מי שיעמוד בדרך – יעוף הביתה.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) August 20, 2026
IDF, Shin Bet say Hamas has been using Gaza hospital for ‘torture and interrogations’ of Palestinians
Hamas has been using Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis for “torture and interrogations” of Palestinians, the military and the Shin Bet security agency say.
In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet say that Hamas has been “increasing the activity of its security apparatuses and attempting to impose its rule through intimidation, interrogations, and torture of residents,” following an “erosion in support” for the terror group by Gazans.
The military and Shin Bet say they can now reveal intelligence information “showing that the Hamas terror organization exploits Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and carries out torture and interrogations at the hospital.”
צה"ל ושב"כ חושפים: ארגון הטרור חמאס מבצע חקירות ביטחוניות ועינויים בבית החולים ׳נאצר׳ בח'אן יונס
לכל הפרטים👇https://t.co/cWBMH4aUpo pic.twitter.com/5TzkEb6w2H
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 20, 2026
“According to the information in our possession, in the Yassin building, on the second floor of the hospital’s outpatient clinics, interrogations by Hamas’s internal security and military intelligence are taking place. Beyond this, Hamas exploits the hospital as a center of governance unrelated to its medical function, for the purposes of interrogations, torture, and collecting money,” the statement says.
“Additional interrogations are currently being carried out in a building that was formerly used as offices at the hospital, then as a cafeteria, later converted into a house of worship, and today serves as a Hamas interrogation center,” the military and Shin Bet say.
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Nasser Hospital continues to serve Hamas as a “major military infrastructure,” and “patients and hospital staff witness the permanent presence of Hamas operatives, some of them masked, in various areas of the hospital compound.”
The IDF says that “Hamas’s use of the hospital creates fear and harms patients, service providers, and medical staff.”
Israel has repeatedly offered evidence of medical facilities’ regular use by Palestinian terror groups as bases of operations due to their protected status. Israeli hostages have also said they were held at Nasser Hospital.
Earlier this year, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it has suspended noncritical medical activities at Nasser Hospital due to the presence of armed men at the medical facility.
And last year, a doctor who also serves as a spokesperson for Nasser Hospital hinted that he had been threatened by Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to his refusal to let the terror group’s operatives enter and use the hospital.
“The exploitation of civilian infrastructure for interrogations and torture is a widespread phenomenon within the Hamas terror organization. These actions by the Hamas terror organization constitute a violation of international law, which prohibits the military use of hospitals,” the IDF and Shin Bet statement reads.
The IDF says it warns Gazans that Hamas “is afraid of losing control of the Strip, and therefore uses hospitals, schools, and other civilian facilities for its needs.”
ADL says one 45-minute lesson can reduce antisemitic beliefs in teens
A single 45-minute classroom lesson on contemporary antisemitism can significantly reduce teenagers’ endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories, according to new research released by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Antisemitism Research.
A randomized evaluation of 372 middle and high school students in nine schools found that students who received the lesson were 14.4 percentage points more likely than those in a control group to reject the claim that Jews have too much power in the United States, the report says.
The lesson also produced a 15.5-point reduction in endorsement of the antisemitic trope that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States. Students were also less likely to endorse tropes involving Jewish control and media influence and were 13.6 percentage points less likely to minimize antisemitism as an issue.
A separate online experiment involving 5,005 high school students nationwide also showed that the single class reduced trope endorsement, including among students whose attitudes are typically considered more difficult to change.
“We now have data showing that a single, well-designed lesson, taught by educators with no special training, can measurably shift how teens think about antisemitism. That’s a solvable problem for schools,” says Matt Williams, vice president of the center. “Districts don’t need a semester-long unit or a major new investment to make progress, they need the right 45 minutes, and now we’re closer to knowing what that looks like.”
IAA says Ben Gurion Airport arrivals and departure check-ins to resume at 3 p.m., reportedly after agreement with workers
The Israel Airports Authority announces arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport will gradually start up again at 3 p.m. “in accordance with the rearrangement of the flight schedule,” after a surprise work stoppage wreaked havoc at the airport at the height of the travel season. Check-in for departures will also resume.
According to Channel 12, the IAA announcement follows an agreement reached a short while ago between management and workers.
🚨🇮🇱 CHAOS AT BEN GURION AIRPORT
Long lines and unusually heavy congestion at Ben Gurion Airport after the workers’ union launched a surprise strike on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
(Amit Segal) pic.twitter.com/hVz0oo2lDB— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) August 20, 2026
Israel to send more medical aid to quake-stricken Colombia, Foreign Ministry says
Israel will send an additional five-ton aid shipment of medical supplies to assist quake-stricken Colombia this Saturday night, one week after Israel’s aid delegation arrived in the country, the Foreign Ministry announces.
“After the arrival in the country of the joint Foreign Ministry–Home Front Command rescue and humanitarian aid delegation… an additional five-ton aid shipment will depart for Colombia on Saturday night, containing medical equipment for initial emergency response,” the ministry says.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar adds, “Israel will continue to stand by its friend Colombia and the Colombian people, and will assist them to the best of its ability.”
The 80-strong aid team is currently the largest operating in Colombia following devastating earthquakes in the country, assisting with search-and-rescue efforts as well as helping local authorities with engineering assessments of damaged buildings, according to Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Pinto, commander of the IDF National Search and Rescue Unit and leader of the delegation.
Arrivals at Ben Gurion halt amid work stoppage; check-in suspended; labor union denies ordering strike
Travelers wait in the departures hall of Ben Gurion Airport during a wildcat strike, August 20, 2026. (Screenshots/Yifat Reuven via X)
The Israel Airports Authority confirms halting arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport as of 2 p.m. and says departures “will leave gradually according to an updated schedule,” after a surprise work stoppage on the biggest travel day of the year. Check-in is also temporarily halted.
Passengers are requested to stay abreast of the changing schedule, the IAA says, adding: “We regret the conduct of the workers’ union and apologize to the passengers.”
Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who traveled to Morocco yesterday for a seven-day trip with top ministry officials, says in a statement that she has instructed the IAA to immediately petition the Labor Court against the workers’ union “to force them to stop the illegal, bullying strike.”
“Anyone who decides to take tens of thousands of Israeli citizens hostage will pay a heavy price,” she says.
Meanwhile, the transportation division of the Histadrut, the umbrella labor federation, denies issuing a directive for a work stoppage at Ben Gurion.
“The attempt to present the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport as the result of a ‘surprise strike’ misses the truth and diverts attention from the real failure: the grave personnel crisis and lack of sufficient preparation for the summer,” the transportation division says in a statement via the Histadrut.
“The writing was on the wall, warnings went unheeded and now the public is paying the price,” the statement says. “Ben Gurion Airport workers are doing their utmost to keep the system running, but you can’t make a national airport run on the unending burnout of its workers.”
Elections committee orders Smotrich’s party to remove AI campaign video featuring young children
The Central Elections Committee issues a temporary injunction ordering the Religious Zionism party to take down an AI-generated campaign video posted on social media featuring young children discussing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s plan to minimize the amount of time IDF reservists are called up.
In a statement, the CEC says that its chairman, Justice Noam Sohlberg, determined that the video, which features a girl claiming that her father had not been called up for reserve duty in a year due to Smotrich’s policies, should be taken down until a petition against the use of children under the age of 15 in campaign material can be adjudicated.
https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/2090119271485444585?s=20
Earlier in the day, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party sent a legal letter to Smotrich, demanding that he remove the video over its use of children. The letter asserted that the clip should have been labeled as AI since it “portrays Smotrich as someone working on behalf of reservists” while he actually “acted to pass ultra-Orthodox draft-evasion legislation.”
The CEC’s decision comes a day after it ordered B’Yachad party chairman Naftali Bennett to remove video clips of soldiers engaged in operational activity from a campaign video in which he slammed the ultra-Orthodox for evading the draft.
Ben Gurion Airport expected to close as workers stage surprise stoppage on biggest travel day of year
Staff at Ben Gurion Airport have left posts unmanned at the height of the travel season, in an apparent surprise strike amid workers’ complaints of insufficient personnel to handle the passengers.
Pilots and airlines have been notified that the airport would close at 2 p.m. because of the work stoppage, according to Hebrew media. At least one flight has already had to make a U-turn midair and dozens more are expected to, according to the reports.
In a statement, the Israel Airports Authority demands employees return to work and threatens legal action against the airport workers union. Transportation Ministry officials quoted by the Ynet news site say that “heads will roll and workers will go home” if the work stoppage is indeed a strike.
A record 107,000 travelers aboard 600 flights are expected to use the airport today — the highest number in the past year. The departure hall is packed with passengers waiting to go through security and check-in, footage shows.
"אירוע משבר" בנתב"ג – עמדות הצ'ק אין נסגרו, המזוודות תקועות, תורי ענק באולם הנוסעים והשדה מושבת למעשה.
ברשות שדות התעופה מאשימים בהשבתה את ועד העובדים שלא מגיב.במקביל, שרת התחבורה מירי רגב ובכירים מהמשרד נמצאים בחופשה פרטית במרוקו.https://t.co/5Dvi7ivkXA pic.twitter.com/UZsErw5MNc
— כלכליסט | Calcalist (@calcalist) August 20, 2026
The work stoppage comes a day after Transportation Minister Miri Regev, top ministry officials and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the airport to meet with workers and travelers, according to a statement from the IAA yesterday.
Regev and top Transportation Ministry officials left Israel yesterday on a seven-day trip to Morocco, which her spokesman Dudu Sassi described to market daily TheMarker as “private.” Ministry sources cited by the newspaper said Regev and her entourage would visit rabbis’ tombs.
Cops bust gang that brought women from abroad for prostitution, arrest 3 suspects
Police say they uncovered an international network that trafficked women for prostitution, after a months-long undercover “investigation across continents.”
A Beersheba couple in their 30s and an Eilat man in his 40s were arrested yesterday on suspicion of involvement in the trafficking gang, and the Haifa Magistrate’s Court ordered them held in custody today, police say.
As part of the investigation, officers tracked women from abroad “who came to the country in order to engage in prostitution, with persuasion and guidance by the suspects,” police say.
Netanyahu said to weigh giving reserved Likud spots to MKs who fared badly in party primary
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara vote in Jerusalem in the Likud primary, August 17, 2026, as Likud members help determine the party’s Knesset slate ahead of Israel's October 27 general elections. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be weighing placing several Likud MKs who fared poorly in Monday’s party primary in some of the slots the Likud Central Committee agreed to reserve for his personal choices.
There are three such slots remaining in the first 25 places on Likud’s Knesset slate — 3rd, 7th and 11th. Likud is currently polling at around 22-23 seats ahead of the October 27 election.
Reserved slots have already been allocated to Defense Minister Israel Katz (4th on the slate), Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (5th), and Likud Central Committee chair Haim Katz (18th). Netanyahu last week named businessman Oren Dobronsky to the 9th slot.
Among those Netanyahu may choose to elevate to more realistic slots on the slate are MKs Tsega Melaku, Keti Shitrit, Ze’ev Elkin and Hanoch Milwidsky, the Kan broadcaster says.
Elkin, who told Kan that he has not pushed for a reserved slot, is a former Likud lawmaker who rejoined the party as part of the recent merger with Sa’ar’s New Hope faction. Milwidsky, the chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, enjoys the support of ultra-Orthodox voters. He is currently being investigated for rape.
Earlier this week, Kan reported that Netanyahu was considering appointing Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter to one of the reserved spots after Dichter failed to secure a realistic spot in the primary.
Netanyahu has also reportedly been seeking to save realistic slots to be used if necessary to bolster the chances of his current coalition bloc. He may need to encourage Itamar Ben Gvir, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit, to agree to a technical merger with fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, which is in danger of falling below the minimum threshold to enter Knesset, and could try to sweeten the deal by giving a representative of one of those parties a Likud slot. Similarly, he may want to encourage one or more members of the numerous small right-leaning parties that are running to abandon their Knesset bids if they risk falling below the threshold, by giving them a Likud slot.
Although it is unlikely, there has also been speculation that Netanyahu will place his son Yair — who has mostly lived abroad in Miami, Florida, since March 2023 — in one of the reserved slots. The younger Netanyahu is known for his provocative social media presence and association with far-right European and American politicians and public figures.
Asked about the possibility during an interview with the Knesset Channel, former MK Michael Kleiner, the current president of the Likud’s internal Supreme Court, said yesterday that appointing Yair Netanyahu to the Likud slate would be legal according to the party constitution.
Given that Netanyahu’s Likud party has consistently been polling in the low 20s, and given that roughly one-third of the first 30 slots on the Likud slate are reserved for candidates handpicked by the premier, almost all of those who did not finish in the primary’s top 16 in the primary are not expected to make it into the next Knesset.
Turkey denies military delegation visited Syrian base ahead of Israeli strike
Turkey’s defense ministry asserts that no Turkish military delegation had visited Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase ahead of Israel’s strikes on the site Tuesday, rejecting Israeli claims surrounding Ankara’s activity there.
“We state that there was no Turkish military delegation at the [Abu al-Duhur] airbase in Syria before or during Israel’s attack on the base,” Turkey’s defense ministry spokesperson says at a Turkish-language press briefing.
“For the peace and stability of both Syria and the region, it is essential that Israel ceases these reckless attacks and complies with the requirements of international law,” the spokesperson adds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Syria late Tuesday of being on the verge of violating a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the airbase, adding that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security, and Netanyahu later said Israel had also warned Turkey against any military activity in Syria ahead of the strike.
Turkey’s presidency condemned Israel over the “untenable allegations,” without explicitly referring to any potential deployment plans.
Syrian officials, however, have admitted that Turkish officials had visited the base in question a day before the Israeli strikes, but denied that there were plans for a Turkish military deployment.
Key Update
IDF disputes reports of Palestinian women injured by shrapnel during West Bank raid, says they were treated for anxiety
Responding to a query from The Times of Israel, the IDF denies Palestinian reports that a 70-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl were wounded by shrapnel overnight during IDF activity in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus.
The IDF says that “during a patrol by IDF troops in the village, they encountered several Palestinians who hurled stones at them. The troops responded by firing into the air only, in order to drive away the stone-throwers.”
“The two females were not wounded by gunfire or shrapnel, and according to the report received by the IDF, they were apparently evacuated after suffering from anxiety,” the army adds.
4-year-old victim of Beit Shemesh stabbing released from hospital
The 4-year-old who was stabbed along with another young child in Beit Shemesh on Monday was sent home this morning, Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital says.
Prof. Dan Arbel, director of the hospital’s pediatric surgery department, and Prof. Nir Hirschhorn, director of the hospital’s complex head and neck surgery unit, say that the 4-year-old underwent surgery on the evening of his arrival at the hospital, and that there has been significant improvement in his condition after several days of treatment.
He will continue to be monitored until he fully recovers, the hospital says.
The boys were stabbed in an apartment in the central Israeli city. The other child, 7, was pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.
The incident is not being treated as an act of terror. A suspect, reportedly a neighbor, has been arrested and is thought to be mentally unstable.
PM’s office stresses Israel has not approved entry of international Gaza force; ‘no reconstruction before Hamas disarms’
A view of the the US-led International Stabilization Force base near Kerem Shalom on the border with the Gaza Strip, August 12, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/FLASH90)
The Prime Minister’s Office stresses that Israel has not yet approved the deployment of the nascent International Stabilization Force to Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s postwar plan for the Strip, following Hebrew media reports suggesting otherwise.
“Contrary to media reports, the political echelon has not approved the entry of the international force to the Gaza Strip,” the statement reads, adding that “Israel has made it clear that there will not be any reconstruction in the Strip before Hamas is fully disarmed.”
The statement appears to refer to footage circulated by Hebrew media earlier this week showing foreign military officers touring the Rafah area alongside IDF personnel, which some outlets described as an initial deployment of ISF troops.
An official with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that the footage came from a “pre-deployment site survey” by senior military officers from Burundi and Uganda – the latter of which announced earlier this month that it approved the deployment of troops to Gaza as part of the ISF – amid preliminary discussions with Israel about joining the force.
Israeli officials said last month that the Israeli security cabinet had voted to approve certain legal measures allowing the limited entry of the ISF under the Board of Peace-led plan for Gaza, which would include 200 troops from “friendly countries.”
The plan would see the peacekeeping force deploy to Gaza to secure areas after Israeli forces withdraw, as well as assist with other security and humanitarian efforts. While Hamas agreed to the Board’s July disarmament plan, the effort has stalled as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists there will be no Israeli withdrawals until the terror group is fully disarmed.
The Board is nonetheless advancing progress on the ISF, with Trump’s administration recently telling Congress it is sending more than $206 million for the force.
Key Update
FM Sa’ar rejects ‘patronizing’ UK condemnation of E1 settlement tender
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hits back at British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband after the UK diplomat condemned Israel’s launch of a tender for the E1 settlement project and summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires.
In a lengthy post on X, Sa’ar says he “reject[s] outright” Miliband’s “patronizing” statement, asserting that “the Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom.”
I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronising tone of his words.
The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century… https://t.co/eCazg1CU7A
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) August 20, 2026
“The UK Government’s systematic policy of blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism has already contributed to a massive wave of antisemitic hatred and attacks against the British Jewish community,” Sa’ar charges, saying London’s “decision to damage the relationship between our countries is deeply unfortunate.”
The E1 settlement project, which first received formal structural approval last August, is a widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state.
Miliband said in his statement that he made clear to Sa’ar that “the Israeli government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion.”
The Israeli Government’s launch of tenders for the E1 settlement project is unacceptable and destructive. Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two state solution. My statement: pic.twitter.com/j2bEmk13pl
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) August 19, 2026
IDF holds exercises in West Bank to simulate defense of settlements, other scenarios
IDF troops conduct a drill in the West Bank in a handout photo published by the army on August 20, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it conducted pre-planned military drills in the northern and southern West Bank this week, simulating the defense of settlements and other scenarios.
The exercises were carried out by the Menashe and Judea regional brigades, responsible for the Jenin and Hebron areas, respectively.
The troops in their respective areas “practiced a variety of complex extreme scenarios,” the army says, including “scenarios involving the defense of communities… to examine the forces’ readiness and their ability to provide a rapid and effective response to multiple incidents simultaneously.”
The drill also involved cooperating with local civilian authorities, the police, Magen David Adom, fire service, and other rescue organizations, according to the army.
12 killed, dozens injured in Kyiv amid massive Russian missile barrage
A local resident looks inside a destroyed car next to heavily damaged residential buildings after an overnight Russian attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine, August 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A Russian missile barrage overnight killed at least 12 people in Kyiv as explosions echoed across Ukraine’s capital throughout the night, local authorities say.
At least 33 people are wounded, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.
Ukraine’s air force says that Russia had launched dozens of ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, as well as 168 drones. It adds that air defense units downed 145 drones and most of the cruise missiles but did not down any ballistic missiles.
Police say fire at West Bank home was due to electrical failure, contradicting Palestinian reports of settler arson attack
Arson investigators from Israel Police and the Fire and Rescue Service inspect the site of a reported settler arson attack on a Palestinian home in the southern West Bank village of Khillet al-Farra, August 20, 2026, which Israeli authorities say was caused by an electrical failure. (Israel Police)
Responding to reports that a home was set ablaze by settlers in the southern West Bank overnight, Israel Police says forensic investigators determined that the fire broke out due to an electrical failure, not deliberate arson.
Palestinian media outlets had reported that Israeli settlers set fire to a home in Khillet al-Farra, in the South Hebron Hills. A video obtained by The Times of Israel shows the homeowner claiming that settlers told her personally to leave the area before throwing an incendiary device through her window and setting fire to the house.
In a statement, police say that arson investigators visited the site this morning and determined that a short circuit was to blame for the fire.
It adds that “no remains of a fire-accelerating substance were found at the scene,” which it says is in contradiction to the reports that the fire was started deliberately by Israeli settlers.
Israel Police are regularly accused of not cracking down on settler violence, and the force’s former West Bank regional chief is currently under criminal investigation for ignoring settler violence in order to curry favor in the eyes of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
مستوطنون يضرمون النيران في منزل مواطن بخربة الفخيت غرب يطا جنوب الخليل pic.twitter.com/P2cQewTMR9
— وكالة سند للأنباء – Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) August 20, 2026
Settlers clash with Israeli forces during evacuation of illegal West Bank outpost; 4 suspects detained
Settlers clashed with Israeli security forces during the evacuation of an illegal outpost in Area B of the West Bank, which is under Palestinian civil control, according to security sources.
The outpost was established near the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, south of Nablus.
In an attempt to stop the evacuation, the settlers blocked a road and hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, the sources say.
Four suspects were detained and transferred to the police for further questioning, and the troops also confiscated a tractor and sheep at the outpost.
The evacuation of the outpost was carried out following an order signed by IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth.
הלילה כוחות המנהל האזרחי ומגב
פינו את המאחז כפר רועים בשומרון בין הכפר דיר איסתיא לעמנואל בשטח B.במהלך הפינוי המתנגדים חסמו את הציר והשליכו אבנים לעבר הכוחות שהגיבו בירי אמצעים לפיזור הפגנות. הכוחות החרימו טרקטור וצאן שהיו בנקודה. ארבעה ישראלים עוכבו והועברו לחקירה במשטרה pic.twitter.com/hofmUyR8Ja
— Haim Goldich | חיים גולדיטש (@HGoldich) August 20, 2026
There is no immediate comment from the IDF, Civil Administration, or Israel Police on the evacuation.
Key Update
Iran executes man over involvement in January protests, state media says
Iran this morning executed a man over charges related to January’s nationwide protests, state media reports.
State media identifies the person as Qaem Hosseini, a foreign national, who, it says, took part in events that led to the killing of security force members during the protests.
Iran has executed dozens of people since the beginning of its war with the US and Israel, with large number of the executions being linked to the protest movement that engulfed the country at the beginning of the year.
According to Amnesty International, Iran conducts the second most executions of any country, after China.
Iran’s FM says Trump’s announced ‘economic D-Day’ is a ‘diversion’ from America’s own economic crisis
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that the newly announced US “economic D-Day” against Iran is a “diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs.”
“Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat—and enmity of Iranians,” Araghchi says in a post on X. “US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide”
The so-called “Economic D-Day” is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs.
Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat—and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide pic.twitter.com/Qj5SzVBjvX
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 20, 2026
The post comes after US President Donald Trump announced what he called the “most crushing economic operation” ever taken against any country, which will target Iran with economic warfare.
Report: Settlers set fire to home in southern West Bank overnight; no injuries
Palestinian media outlets report that settlers set fire to a home in Khillet al-Farra, in the South Hebron Hills in the southern West Bank, overnight.
Update: Israel Police later said forensic investigators determined that the fire broke out due to an electrical failure, not arson.
In a video obtained by The Times of Israel, the homeowner, Ila Nuwaja’a, says settlers arrived in the middle of the night, opened a window of the house, identified her by name and told her, “Go to Susiya” — another community in the South Hebron Hills — before throwing something through the window that rapidly set the house ablaze.
The family subsequently fled the home. No injuries are reported as a result of the fire.
A fire reportedly started by settlers engulfs a Palestinian home in Khillet al-Farra, southern West Bank, August 20, 2026. (Courtesy)
Katz says Erdogan ‘dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria’
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria,” after the IDF bombed a Syrian air base this week due to what it says was a Turkish military buildup at the site, a claim both Damascus and Ankara have denied.
“Israel will not allow any entity to threaten its security,” Katz says in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“It is preferable for Erdogan to continue delivering empty, delusional speeches against Israel in the Turkish parliament rather than testing Israel’s resolve to defend itself,” he says.
Key Update
Australian FM ‘outraged’ at IDF decision to close probe on 2024 killing of Gaza aid workers, including Australian citizen
Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024. (Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP)
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong expresses “outrage” at Israel’s decision to close an IDF probe into an April 2024 attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian woman Zomi Frankcom.
Wong says her government was informed of the decision not to pursue a criminal investigation into the incident moments before it was announced yesterday, leaving officials no time to inform Frankcom’s family before it became public.
“There are still many unanswered questions,” Wong says.
Questions include why the convoy was struck three times in a designated humanitarian zone and why a senior brigade officer involved in the strikes was a signatory to a letter urging the restriction of aid to Gaza, Wong adds. Australia had yet to receive drone recordings from the attack, despite seeking them multiple times, she says.
“The Australian government does not believe that the removal of two officers from their positions and three officers being reprimanded is sufficient accountability for the deaths of seven people, including an Australian citizen,” Wong says.
The minister hours earlier summoned Israel’s envoy to Canberra Hillel Newman for a meeting. However, she won’t expel the ambassador, Wong says, citing a need to continue engaging diplomatically with Israel.
Newman tells reporters after the meeting that he is “very sorry” for Frankcom’s family, but did not apologize for her killing.
“One cannot attack findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda,” Israel’s envoy says, adding that the finding of no criminal liability came “after two years of independent research.”
Report: Elderly Palestinian woman, young girl wounded by shrapnel, three beaten during IDF operations in Nablus area
The Palestinian Red Crescent says that a 70-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl were wounded last night by shrapnel from IDF gunfire in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus.
No further details about the incident are immediately available. The military has maintained a presence in the village since last week due to an outpost established by settlers that blocked access to homes on the outskirts of the village.
Later, the Red Crescent says three people were injured after being beaten by IDF troops, according to the report, during a military operation in Nablus’s Rafidia neighborhood. No further details are immediately available.
The IDF has yet to respond.
Syrian FM says Turkish officers visited base hit by Israel but denies planned military deployment
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani addresses a media conference following the meeting of the Syria Partnership Coordination Forum in Brussels, May 11, 2026. (AP/Marius Brugelman)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani denies to Axios that there are plans for Turkish forces to deploy at an air base in Syria that Israel bombed this week, which he says Damascus told Jerusalem before the attack.
“There was no Turkish military build-up at the base in any sense that would justify such an interpretation,” he tells the news site. “The base was, in fact, largely empty. It had not yet been fully rehabilitated or become fully operational, and the work there was still at the rehabilitation stage.”
“Therefore, linking the strike to a Turkish military presence at the base is not supported by the situation on the ground as it stood at the time,” Al-Shaibani adds, while acknowledging officers from Turkey’s military visited the Abu Duhur base days before the strikes as part of what he describes as “ongoing military cooperation in the areas of training and the exchange of expertise.”
“Syria is currently working to rebuild its military and civilian institutions and develop their capabilities. It therefore benefits from cooperation and training programs with a number of countries, not Turkey alone. Similar cooperation has taken place and continues with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Russia,” he continues. “Syria is a sovereign state, and it has the right to establish relations of cooperation and alliance with any country, including Turkey.”
Al-Shaibani also tells Axios that his government has informed the Trump administration “that we do not trust Israel’s intentions towards Syria, and that we believe current Israeli policy, including its military escalation and actions on the ground, does not contribute to stability in Syria or the region.”
“Security cannot be one-sided. Just as we take Israeli security concerns into account, Israel must also take Syrian security concerns into account and seriously address our concerns regarding its expansionist policy and military operations inside Syrian territory,” he says.
Key Update
Declaring ‘economic d-day,’ Trump says any country trading with Iran will be sanctioned
US President Donald Trump listens as Gemini co-founder and president Cameron Winklevoss, left, and Gemini co-founder and CEO Tyler Winklevoss, right, watch, during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, August 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
US President Donald Trump declares “ECONOMIC D-DAY” against Iran warning that any country doing business with the Islamic Republic will face “TREMENDOUS economic consequences.”
“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are,” Trump writes in his latest Truth Social Post.
Trump doesn’t elaborate on what he will do to countries that continue doing business with Iran.
“No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it,” he writes.
On Tuesday, Trump declared that he wasn’t interested in talks with Iran, but by Wednesday, he said he’d be open to resuming them.
“Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” Trump says.
The US president has made countless threats of devastating force and economic sanctions against Iran, only to walk those back, while claiming progress in negotiations toward a diplomatic agreement.
This time, Trump insists, it “will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
“Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS economic consequences,” he writes. “This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate and defeat the Iran threat.”
“These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide,” he writes, without describing what the measures actually are. “IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”
Iran has shown little indication that it is prepared to back down from its insistence on some degree of control over the Strait of Hormuz, despite Trump’s repeated threats.
Key Update
Australia summons Israeli envoy after IDF declines to open criminal probe into 2024 strike that killed aid workers
Australia summons Israel’s ambassador over the Israeli military’s decision not to pursue criminal proceedings in connection with the death of an Australian aid worker in a 2024 airstrike in Gaza.
The IDF said on Wednesday it had found no basis to open criminal investigations into the killings of seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.
“This decision falls far short of the accountability we expect,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong says in a statement, adding Australia is “outraged” by the decision.
Britain denounces Israel’s launch of tender for E1 settlement project, summons envoy
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband speaks during a press conference with Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares at the Palacio de Viana in Madrid, Spain, July 29, 2026. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband condemns Israel’s move this week to launch a tender for the E1 settlement project and summons the country’s chargé d’affaires.
The E1 settlement project is a widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state.
Miliband says he also made clear to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that “the Israeli government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion.”
Figures show Haredim far more likely than other Jews to receive government subsidies
Ultra-Orthodox men clash with police during a protest against military enlistment, Bnei Brak, August 8, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Channel 12 reports that Finance Ministry officials recently presented Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara with figures showing that existing government regulations substantially benefit ultra-Orthodox Israelis, who are far more likely to qualify for government subsidies than other Jewish citizens.
The figures were included in a document presented to various government offices as part of the attorney general’s demand to resume enforcement against ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.
They showed that an ultra-Orthodox family has a 72% chance to qualify for reductions to their municipal property taxes, while other Jewish households only have a 17% chance of receiving such government subsidies.
Twenty-four percent of ultra-Orthodox homeowners receive improved mortgage terms, compared to just 2% of all other Jewish homeowners, the figures showed.
Twenty-one percent of Haredim receive subsidies off of their rent, compared to just 1% of other Jewish renters.
Twenty-eight percent of Haredim receive daycare subsidies, compared to 4% of the rest of the Jewish public.
Sixty-four percent of Haredim receive subsidies for afternoon childcare, compared to 9% of the rest of the Jewish public.
Ninety-five percent of Haredim are eligible for reductions to public transportation fees, compared to 23% of the rest of the Jewish public.
It is unclear why non-Jews were not included in the figures presented by Baharav-Miara’s office.
The network argues that the existing terms for government subsidies are so massively skewed in favor of ultra-Orthodox Israelis that barring Haredim from receiving those subsidies due to refusal to serve in the army should not be considered a sanction, but rather to even the playing field.
Key Update
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