Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Fire breaks out at nuclear plant after Russia downs Ukrainian drone
A fire broke out Sunday at a Russian nuclear power plant after the country’s military downed a Ukrainian drone, the facility says after the blaze was put out.
The “device detonated” upon impact at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia, sparking a blaze which the facility says “was extinguished by fire crews.”
There were no casualties from the drone smashing down at the site, where capacity was reduced.
“The radiation background at the industrial site of the Kursk NPP and the surrounding area has not changed and corresponds to natural levels,” the plant writes on Telegram.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants following Russia launching its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
The plant is near the Russia-Ukraine border and sits to the west of Kursk city, the region’s capital with a population of around 440,000.
Russia now controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed cities and villages across the east and south of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls by Kyiv and the West for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire.
Ex-defense min. Ya’alon says Katz admitting to war crimes by threatening to destroy Gaza City
Moshe Ya'alon attends a protest for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and for early elections, near the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Former defense minister and chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon charges that Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted to “committing a war crime” in the Gaza Strip when he threatened on Friday to turn Gaza City into “Rafah and Beit Hanoun” — two cities that have been largely turned to rubble by Israeli military activity — during the IDF’s planned takeover of the city.
Katz said on Friday that “the gates of hell will soon open over Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza — unless they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.”
Now, Ya’alon asserts that these comments are “an admission to committing a war crime — the evacuation of the residents and the destruction of their homes.”
“The intention to carry this out in Gaza City is clearly an illegal order,” says the ex-defense official, calling for Israel’s legal authorities to intervene and prevent the Gaza City operation from going ahead, saying that only they will be able to prevent soldiers from having to obey “a clearly illegal order.”
“It is in your power to stop the moral and ethical deterioration of our country, which pledged ‘never again!'” implores Ya’alon.
“It is already clear to anyone with eyes in their heads that the Messianic, evasive and corrupt government does not serve the country, but rather its grip on power, while neglecting the hostages, sacrificing soldiers, and destroying the country and its future,” he adds.
Ya’alon, a former member of the ruling Likud party, has been a fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since he was replaced as defense minister in 2016.
In November last year, he warned that Israel was heading down a path of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
Anti-war protester arrested in Tel Aviv for chanting ‘with our soul and blood, we will redeem Gaza’
Police arrest a 61-year-old demonstrator for suspected incitement at a Tel Aviv protest against the Gaza war.
The protester was detained at Habima Square after she was heard leading a group in chanting: “With our soul and blood, we will redeem you, Gaza.”
Police say she expressed “inflammatory remarks, contrary to the law.”
The officers shut down the demonstration soon after the protesters started to thin out.
Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for release of captives: ‘May be the last chance to save lives’
Joined by thousands of supporters, the families of Israelis held in Gaza are rallying at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to call for a deal to free the captives while warning that the planned conquest of Gaza City puts their loved ones’ lives at risk.
Liran Berman, whose brothers Gali and Ziv Berman were abducted by Palestinian terrorists during the October 2023 attack, notes the six captives who were executed by Hamas last year when Israeli forces unknowingly neared their location.
“Expanding the fighting only puts them and all the hostages at even greater risk,” he says. “There is a deal on the table. But deals do not last forever; their windows close fast and hard, as we have seen too many times before. This may be the last chance to save lives and to bring the fallen back.”
Roni Adar, whose brother Tamir Adar was killed fighting Hamas-led terrorists before they captured his remains, says she has been waiting for close to 690 days to bury him.
“In what world should a younger sister spend almost two years begging for the chance to stand at the grave of her older brother?” says Adar.
She adds, “Tamir must come home. Not because he was a hero, not because he was the first to fight, and not because they fought alone against the whole world. Simply because he is, above all, a human being. A man who loved life and loved living. Who loved Israel — both its land and its people.”
Father of hostage Eitan Horn warns against Gaza City op, says gov’t ‘only cares about political survival’
Protesters gather for a demonstration organized by the families of hostages held by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip calling for action to secure the captives' release, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, on August 23, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
At a Tel Aviv protest calling for a hostage-ceasefire deal, the father of Hamas hostage Eitan Horn decries the IDF’s pending operation to take over Gaza City.
“The government doesn’t care about the nation, the hostages… it only cares about its own political survival,” Itzik Horn tells a crowd of thousands gathered under a bridge on Begin Road.
“If, God forbid, the hostages die as a result of this operation, you will not be able to run away from this,” he says, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “You will be to blame for the death of my Eitan.”
“I don’t want to receive Eitan in a nylon bag,” he continues.
He calls on protesters to take to the streets, saying “only the people, through public pressure, can save them [the hostages].”
‘Won’t take part in any spin,’ says Liberman’s party after Gantz urges temporary gov’t
Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party responds to Blue and White-National Unity chief Benny Gantz’s call to form a government together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
“Yisrael Beytenu calls for all the hostages to be returned now, without conditions,” the party says in a statement. “The only government that we will be part of is a wall-to-wall Zionist government, and we won’t take part in any spin.”
Infantry officer killed in Gaza by IDF explosive that detonated in apparent accident
Lt. Ori Gerlic (IDF spokesperson)
An IDF officer was killed in an apparent accident in the southern Gaza Strip today, the military announces.
He is named as Lt. Ori Gerlic, 20, a platoon commander in the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion, from Meitar.
According to an initial IDF probe, the officer was killed by an Israeli explosive that detonated for as-of-yet unclear reasons, during operations in Khan Younis. The military says it is investigating the cause of the blast.
Gantz urges Netanyahu, Lapid, Liberman to form temporary ‘hostage-redemption government’
MK Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White-National Unity party, speaks during a press conference on August 23, 2025. (Facebook screenshot)
Blue and White–National Unity chair Benny Gantz calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Yisrael Betyenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to form what he terms a “government of redeeming the captives and equality in the burden,” with a clear six-month mandate before new elections.
“The hostages are in mortal danger and our brothers are collapsing under the burden,” Gantz says at a press conference.
The proposal would see Gantz’s party join the coalition on a temporary basis to focus on securing the release of hostages held in Gaza and advancing legislation to address ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the military.
“Unlike the poison machine, I don’t want to save Netanyahu, but to save the hostages,” he says.
On the topic of whether he intends to withdraw from politics, Gantz responds: “I will continue my political journey.”
Gantz has twice previously entered unity governments under Netanyahu: Once during the COVID-19 pandemic after the third indecisive general elections in a year; and again after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, before leaving the coalition over frustrations with Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
Anyone in Gaza City who doesn’t evacuate ‘can die of hunger or surrender,’ Smotrich said to tell IDF chief
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pictured outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on August 18, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top adviser, Ron Dermer said during a recent meeting that Israel has US President Donald Trump’s full support, but has a limited period of time to carry out its planned military offensive in Gaza City, according to Channel 12 news.
The network quotes the two as saying that Trump wants a quick and decisive operation, and doesn’t want the war against Hamas to further drag out.
The report also says that during the same meeting, military chief Eyal Zamir clashed with far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, saying the Israel Defense Forces isn’t sure how long it will take to evacuate Gaza City’s civilian population.
“We ordered you [to carry out] a quick operation. In my opinion, you can besiege them. Whoever doesn’t evacuate, don’t let them. No water, no electricity, they can die of hunger or surrender. This is what we want and your capable [of doing it],” Smotrich reportedly said.
Channel 12 says Ben Gvir then asked Zamir whether “you’re scared of the military advocate general,” with the latter responding that “we are operating in other areas, in Khan Younis and Rafah.”
“This isn’t what the political leadership ordered. You don’t want to defeat [Hamas],” Smotrich is quoted as telling Zamir, who reportedly shouted back, “You don’t understand anything. You don’t know what a brigade or battalion is. This takes time.”
IDF tanks reportedly advance into another Gaza City neighborhood
Israeli tanks have reportedly advanced into the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.
Al Jazeera airs footage purportedly showing IDF tanks in the Sabra neighborhood, which is located in the central part of Gaza City, close to the Zeitoun neighborhood, where the military has been operating for over a week.
The IDF has said it is operating on the outskirts of Gaza City ahead of a major offensive that would see the military capture the entire city.
Tens of thousands of reservists are due to show up for duty on September 2 for the offensive, which is likely to begin in the following weeks.
صور خاصة للجزيرة تظهر توغل عدد من الآليات العسكرية الإسرائيلية في محيط حي الصبرة جنوبي مدينة #غزة، وأصوات إطلاق نار كثيف في المنطقة#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/RmPivNQbfT
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) August 23, 2025
Iran claims to kill 6 Israel-linked militants in restive province
Iranian forces have killed six militants in a raid in the restive southeast, state media reports, saying they were members of a “terrorist” group linked to arch enemy Israel.
“During an intense exchange of fire with terrorists in Sistan-Baluchistan province, six assailants were killed and two others arrested,” official news agency IRNA says, citing a statement from the intelligence services.
The report doesn’t provide an exact location or say when the raid took place.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a flashpoint for clashes between security forces and armed groups, including drug traffickers and separatists.
IRNA says there are “documents” indicating “the Zionist nature” of the group targeted in the latest raid, adding that its members had planned to attack a “vital” facility in Iran’s east, without elaborating.
The report says that “the main operation team” was composed of “seven non-Iranian terrorists,” but doesn’t specify their nationality.
Two intelligence agents and a police officer were wounded in the gunfight, IRNA says.
Iran regularly reports deadly ambushes in the province targeting police or members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Mother of hostage urges Netanyahu to sign phased ceasefire deal that Hamas accepted
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, stands with protesters demanding a hostage deal, Tel Aviv, July 5, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
The mother of hostage Matan Zangauker calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back the phased ceasefire and hostage release deal that Hamas agreed to early this week.
“If Netanyahu signs the deal, on Sunday he can already begin negotiating for the return of the rest of the hostages in exchange for ending the war,” Einav Zangauker says in remarks to the press outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“If the conquest of Gaza [City] begins, there will not be a deal,” she adds, while accusing Netanyahu of “placing obstacles [before a deal] and blaming Hamas” while moving forward with plans to capture the Strip’s largest urban center.
Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage soldier Nimrod Cohen, appeals to US President Donald Trump to press Netanyahu to sign a deal to end the war and free all the captives.
“The time is now,” Cohen says, “warning additional lives will be lost, our loved ones will die” if the Gaza City offensive goes ahead.
Syria postpones selection of lawmakers from Druze and Kurdish-held areas
A Syrian official says that the selection process planned for a transitional parliament next month will be postponed in Druze-majority Sweida and two Kurdish-held provinces.
After toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria’s new authorities, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, dissolved the Assad-era parliament and adopted a temporary constitution for a five-year transition.
The interim charter has been criticized for concentrating power in Sharaa’s hands after decades of autocracy under Assad and for failing to reflect Syria’s ethnic and religious diversity.
The selection of the transitional parliament is planned for September 15-20. Appointed local bodies will pick two-thirds of the 210 lawmakers and Sharaa will name the rest.
But the process will be postponed in Druze-majority Sweida province in the south, and in Raqqa and Hasakeh in the north and northeast “until the appropriate conditions and a safe environment are available,” the official SANA news agency quotes organizing committee member Nawar Najmeh as saying.
Sweida province saw deadly sectarian clashes last month, with access to the province still difficult and the security situation tense.
A Kurdish administration largely controls Raqqa and Hasakeh provinces.
Implementation of a March 10 deal on integrating Kurdish institutions into those of the central government has been held up by differences between the two sides.
The postponement is due to “the security challenges these provinces are witnessing” and is “to ensure fair representation” in those areas, Najmeh says.
Seats will be “reserved” in the transitional legislative body for the three provinces to fill at a later date, he says, adding that the selection process can only go ahead in “territories controlled by the state.”
The new body will have a renewable mandate of 30 months.
Gantz to hold press conference this evening as his party weighs rejoining government
MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Benny Gantz will hold a press conference at 8:30 p.m., his spokesperson announces, as his Blue and White-National Unity considers rejoining the government to help approve a potential hostage release-ceasefire deal opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.
Erdogan’s wife calls on Melania Trump to press Netanyahu over Gaza
Turkish President and leader of Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) with his wife Emine Erdogan (R) wave to supporters as he speaks the Turkish local Municipal elections, at AK Party Headquarters in Ankara on April 1, 2024. (Adem Altan/AFP)
Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan has written to US President Donald Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, urging her to contact Israel’s prime minister and raise the plight of children in Gaza, authorities in Ankara say.
Emine Erdogan, whose husband is a leading supporter of the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group, writes that she was inspired by the letter Melania Trump sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month about children in Ukraine and Russia.
“I have faith that the important sensitivity you have shown for the 648 Ukrainian children … will be extended to Gaza as well,” Emine Erdogan writes in the letter dated Friday that was published by the Turkish presidency.
The White House doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“These days, when the world is experiencing a collective awakening and the recognition of Palestine has become a global will. I believe that your call on behalf of Gaza would fulfill a historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people,” Emine Erdogan’s letter adds.
Hostage’s dad voices support for partial deal: ‘Anyone who can be saved must be saved’
Kobi Ohel, father of Hamas hostage Alon Ohel, at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on February 25, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The father of hostage Alon Ohel expresses support for a ceasefire deal that would not return all those held by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza at once, saying that “anyone who can be saved must be saved.”
Speaking at a cultural event in the south, Kobi Ohel says the hostages who are still alive “don’t have time and therefore we must do everything possible to reach a deal like this that frees everyone, even if it’s in stages.”
Ohel adds that he backs the current 60-day truce proposal agreed to by Hamas that would see the release of 10 living hostages.
Firefighting planes called in to help extinguish blaze near Netanya
Several firefighting squads are battling a brushfire near the central coastal city of Netanya, with firefighting planes called in to help extinguish the blaze.
שריפה פרצה בשטח פתוח סמוך ליישוב זמר. ארבעה מטוסי כיבוי הוזנקו למקום, שבעה צוותי כיבוי מתחנת נתניה פועלים לכיבוי מספר מוקדים ביער מרג'ה@hadasgrinberg
צילום: דוברות כבאות והצלה pic.twitter.com/m7bJRgSquI— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 23, 2025
Palestinian reports say 34 killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn
Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, August 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian media reports citing medical officials say 34 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
The toll is not independently verified and does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
According to the reports, six of the people were killed while waiting for aid in the northern Gaza Strip, two were killed in a drone strike on a tent in Khan Younis, and one was killed in a drone strike on a house in al-Sabra, south of Gaza City.
The IDF has yet to comment on reported strikes today.
Police ask public to help find 17-year-old girl missing since August 7
Israel Police are asking for the public’s help to find Shali Turgeman, 17, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron, who was last seen on August 7 in Jerusalem.
Turgeman is 1.60 meters tall, with black hair, and a medium body build.
♦️ ענבר טויזר
המשטרה מבקשת את עזרת הציבור באיתור הנעדרת שאלי תורג’מן, בת 17 מהיישוב קרני שומרון, שנראתה לאחרונה לפני כשבועיים בירושלים. תיאורה: גובה 1.60 מ', מבנה גוף בינוני, שיער שחור. כל היודע דבר על מקום הימצאה מתבקש לפנות למשטרה pic.twitter.com/dhxhMIzDAl— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) August 23, 2025
Ukrainian intelligence says Iran seeks Belarus’s help to fix defenses damaged in war with Israel
Iran is seeking Belarus’s assistance to restore its defense capabilities damaged during the 12-day war with Israel in June, the Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said in a statement, cited by Ukrainian media yesterday.
Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko met in Minsk with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the week, and while their talks officially discussed economic ties, Ukrainian intelligence said Tehran sought help with repairing its air defense and electronic warfare systems.
“Unlike Russia, Belarus is less restricted by sanctions in the military-technical sphere and could become a channel for restoring Iran’s defense capabilities,” the statement said.
Palestinians begin repairing European Hospital ahead of Gaza City evacuation
Palestinians have begun to clean up and renovate the European Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, as part of preparations for the evacuation of Gaza City.
Earlier this week, the IDF said that the European Hospital, which was closed after the military raided and sealed a Hamas tunnel running underneath it, was slated to resume operations.
A security official said the UN and international aid groups were formulating a plan to restart the hospital “as an additional medical response” for the estimated one million Palestinians who are set to be displaced from Gaza City when the IDF launches its offensive there. The military also warned medical officials in northern Gaza to prepare to move their equipment to hospitals in the Strip’s south.
Footage published by Palestinian media yesterday shows medical staff cleaning up the hospital, as well as an excavator at work in the compound, after the IDF allowed them to enter the area.
On May 13, Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, and other top commanders in the terror group were killed in an airstrike on a tunnel running underneath the hospital. The military raided the medical facility in June, capturing their bodies and sealing the tunnel underneath it with concrete.
مشاهد من داخل المستشفى الأوروبي بخان يونس بعد سماح جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي للفرق الفنية بإعادة تشغيله pic.twitter.com/N5zWE7nuMU
— وكالة سند للأنباء – Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) August 23, 2025
الطواقم الطبية تعمل بجد لتهيئة المستشفى الأوروبي جنوب شرق مدينة خانيونس للعمل مجددا pic.twitter.com/EW59PCq0nQ
— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) August 22, 2025
Jewish activists splashed with red paint while hanging hostage posters at Frankfurt park
German Jewish activist Sacha Stawski tells German tabloid Bild he and two others were splashed Friday evening with red paint while hanging up posters of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza at a park in Frankfurt.
“We attached posters with photos of the 50 hostages still in Hamas’s captivity to a fence in the Frankfurt Grüneburgpark,” he tells Bild.
Stawski says they had previously been pushed away by a mob of dozens of people. He says that posters of hostages are regularly torn down in the park.
While holding up photos, he says he suddenly heard “antisemitic calls.”
“We were insulted as child killers, and I constantly heard ‘Free Palestine,’ and ‘genocide’ calls,” he says, adding that he and two other men were suddenly attacked by a woman holding two tubes of red paint.
“The paint was also poured over my glasses, so I found it hard to see the perpetrator,” he says.
Police confirm the incident to Bild and say they have increased their presence in the area.
סשה סטבסקי @SachaStawski פעיל יהודי בפרנקפורט מדווח כי בשעה שתלה אתמול פוסטרים של חטופים על גדרות בעיר, הותקף בידי פעילים פרו פלסטינים שהתיזו עליו ועל חבריו צבע אדום. pic.twitter.com/boGGhgHJDD
— Dov Gil-Har (@DovGilHar) August 23, 2025
Hostage activists heckle Ben Gvir, appeal to his son: ‘If you were kidnapped, your father would leave you to die’
Protesters backing a deal for the release of hostages heckle National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his son, who are staying at Kfar Malal in the center of the country, with chants of “shame,” while holding up posters of captives still held in Gaza.
Ben Gvir, who was not allowed to serve in the army due to his extremist activities while he was a teenager, tells his son, Shoval, “These are draft dodgers,” while a protester replies by calling him a “draft dodger.”
One of the protesters appeals to Shoval, who tells him that he serves with a friend’s son in the army: “I know very well, he is with you in your unit, he is with you in your unit. You serve with him, and your father is leaving the hostages to die.”
“Look at their faces,” she continues. “If you were kidnapped, your father would leave you to die.”
Ben Gvir has opposed making deals with Hamas to free hostages and has bragged that he has repeatedly thwarted proposed agreements in the past.
He left the government for the duration of the January-March ceasefire-hostage release deal, only returning after the resumption of military operations against Hamas.
בן גביר שעושה שבת בכפר מל"ל מוקף במאבטחים לוקח את בנו לליווי (עם הנשק כמובן) לבית הכנסת, ומולו מפגינים עם תמונות חטופים: "תסתכל עליהם! אתה עבריין! רוצח חטופים!"
בן גביר אוחז בבנו וצועק על קצין במילואים: "הוא שומר עליכם, משתמט!".
מיד אחרי שנכנס לבית הכנסת הבן, כך אומרים לי, הלך. pic.twitter.com/TI5s5seLIj— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) August 23, 2025
Poll: 62% of Israelis believe government has lost public’s confidence, majority back some form of hostage deal
Israelis hold a protest march in Tel Aviv calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a safe return of hostages held by Hamas, August 21, 2025. The banner reads: The people will return the hostages. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
A poll by the Maariv daily shows 62 percent of the public believes the current government has lost the confidence of the majority of the population.
The survey asked respondents, “Without regard to how you voted in the last election, do you believe the government has the confidence of the nation now?”
Only 27% respondents answer that the government has the confidence of the majority of the population, and 11% answer that they didn’t know.
Measuring support for a hostage deal, the survey finds that 26% of respondents believe that the government needs to sign a deal immediately, even if it only brings back some of the hostages, due to their deteriorating state in captivity.
Forty-six percent answer that the government should sign a comprehensive deal that ends the war in Gaza, while 18% oppose a deal, believing that the military should continue fighting Hamas even at the risk to the lives of the hostages.
Ten percent did not know what to answer.
The poll was carried out by Dr. Menachem Lazar and Panel4All between August 20 and 21, with 509 respondents, and has a 4.4% margin of error.
Iran claims it has built weapons plants in ‘several’ unnamed countries
Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh claims the Islamic Republic has established an infrastructure to manufacture weapons in “several countries,” in a television interview with the Iranian news agency Young Journalists Club.
He does not reveal the names of those countries.
Nasirzadeh says “missile development” has been a priority, “after the war with Israel, priorities may change.”
The factories “will likely be officially opened and announced in the near future.”
Texas adopts new electoral map aimed at keeping Trump’s grip on Congress
The Texas State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on January 26, 2023. (Daniel SLIM / AFP)
WASHINGTON — Texas legislators approve a new electoral map aimed at carving out five new Republican-leaning seats in the state to help the party retain control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
The senators vote along party lines to pass the map 18-11 shortly after midnight, following more than eight hours of debate.
Democratic Senator Carol Alvarado’s plans to filibuster the map as a final protest were thwarted when Republicans used a rare procedural motion to halt debate, end the filibuster, and proceed directly to the final vote.
It now heads to the governor’s office for final approval.
US President Donald Trump had pressured Republican-run Texas to create the new map to help prevent Democratic opponents from taking over the House of Representatives in 2026, halfway through his term.
Dutch lower house OKs motion saying Hamas must be ‘completely destroyed’
The Dutch House of Representatives approved a motion saying that the “Islamic terror organization Hamas should be completely destroyed” hours after Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to agree on sanctions against Israel.
The motion, submitted by the far-right Party for Freedom in the lower house of the Netherlands’ parliament, insists Hamas cannot “play a single role” in Gaza’s future.
Syria to drop two zeros from its currency in bid for stability
Stacks of Syrian pound banknotes are piled on top of each other at a currency trader's stall at a market in the city of Manbij, currently controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction, in Syria's northern Aleppo province on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria will issue new banknotes, removing two zeros from its currency in an attempt to restore public confidence in the severely devalued pound, according to seven sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by Reuters.
The step is intended to strengthen the Syrian pound after its purchasing power collapsed to record lows following a 14-year conflict that ended with then-president Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December.
Confirming the move, Syria’s Central Bank Governor Abdelkader Husrieh says the revaluation was a strategic pillar of fiscal and monetary reforms.
“We have formed committees with public and private banks and experts from the central bank to determine the requirements for changes” in the currency, he tells Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, describing the new currency as a “necessity.”
He says a time frame to introduce the new currency was still “under review.”
The Syrian pound has lost more than 99 percent of its value since war erupted in 2011, with the exchange rate now at around 10,000 pounds to the US dollar, compared to 50 before the war.
The sharp depreciation has made daily transactions and money transfers increasingly difficult.
Families usually pay for weekly grocery runs from black plastic bags holding at least half a kilogram of 5,000-pound notes, currently the highest denomination.
In an attempt to ease transactions and improve monetary stability, Syria’s central bank informed private banks in mid-August that it intended to issue new currency by “removing zeros,” according to a document seen by Reuters.
UAE denounces Israel for approving E1 settlement project
The United Arab Emirates condemns Israel for approving the controversial E1 settlement project outside Jerusalem.
An Emirati foreign ministry statement says the move “constitutes grave violations of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, severely undermining regional and international efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and establish an independent Palestinian state.”
It also warns of “catastrophic consequences of continued aggression, including the escalating humanitarian suffering and the threat posed to regional security and stability.”
US defense secretary fires general whose agency contradicted Trump on effectiveness of US strikes on Iran
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from US strikes angered US President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The firing, first reported by The Washington Post, is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, and comes a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media.
The assessment found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the bombings, contradicting assertions from Trump and from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel had on June 13 launched a bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, missile production and military leadership, saying the operation was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state. During the ensuing 12-day war, the US struck three key Iranian nuclear sites.
In a news conference following the US strikes, Hegseth slammed media reports indicating that the strikes were not as successful as Trump had said, and lambasted the press for what the defense secretary described as an anti-military bias. However, Hegseth did not offer any direct evidence of the destruction of Iranian nuclear production facilities.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the US Air Force’s top uniformed officer, Gen. David Allvin, planned to retire two years early. And the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — which is responsible for coordinating the work of 18 intelligence agencies, including DIA — announced that it would slash its staff and budget.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Houthis take responsibility for missile and drone attacks, claim they hit Ben Gurion Airport
An interceptor missile is fired at a ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen, as seen from Jerusalem, August 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for carrying out today’s ballistic missile and drone attacks on Israel.
In a statement, the Iran-backed terror group claims to have successfully hit Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, with a ballistic missile.
According to the IDF, the missile broke up in the air during its descent, and some of the fragments fell in central Israel, without causing significant damage.
The Houthis also claim to have launched two drones at Israel, targeting “Israeli enemy targets” in the Tel Aviv area and in Ashkelon.
The IDF reported intercepting one drone over southern Israel. The second likely fell short before reaching the country, as many Houthi drones have in recent months.
Hostages point man reassures families that 20 captives still alive after Trump suggests otherwise
Government hostages point man Gal Hirsch arrives at the funeral of late Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, in Poriya Ilit, January 20, 2025. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
Government hostages point man Gal Hirsch tells the families of captives in Gaza that there is no change in Israel’s information about the status of the hostages, after US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that “probably” fewer than 20 hostages were still alive.
“According to Israel’s information, there is no change in the information you have received from us: 20 of the hostages are alive, there are grave concerns for the lives of two and 28 are no longer alive and are considered slain hostages,” Hirsch says in a statement and to the families.
The statement comes after hostage families expressed dismay at Trump’s comments, both for suggesting there were fewer than 20 living hostages and for appearing to disregard the 30 other hostages.
“Mr. President, there are 50 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. For us, each and every one of them represents an entire world,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in an English-language statement.
The Forum also accused Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Israel’s lead hostage negotiator, of failing to talk with the families, and called on him to share any new information he might have.
“If Minister Dermer, who doesn’t bother to speak with or meet the hostage families, knows something different [from the official Israeli figures], he should have updated the families first,” the Forum said.
In Hebrew, the Forum also said the American-born Dermer “speaks only with the Americans.” The accusation was absent from the English statement.
Hezbollah weapons depot in south Lebanon targeted in Israeli strike, IDF says
A Hezbollah weapon depot in southern Lebanon’s Deir Kifa was targeted in an Israeli strike a short while ago, the IDF says. The military says the site was a violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
The strike comes several hours after the Israel Defense Forces said it killed a Hezbollah operative in a drone strike on Ayta ash-Shab.
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