Aug. 28: Israel said to have approved temporary truces in Gaza to vaccinate against polio

PMO denies report Netanyahu badmouthed Regev, says he appreciates her work

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denies a Kan report that said the premier is unhappy with Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s refusal to compromise regarding the state October 7 anniversary memorial, which has become a source of division, as Gaza border residents and families of hostages and victims plan alternative events.

“I have no control over her,” the unsourced report quoted Netanyahu as saying in a recent closed meeting. “I also think she is making a mistake regarding this whole issue. But there is no one to talk to; she does what she wants.”

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office says Netanyahu “didn’t say the words attributed to him” on the matter.

“The prime minister appreciates the work of the minister, who has been leading the state ceremonies for a decade.

Report: Netanyahu looked into holding cabinet meeting at Gaza-Egypt border, was rebuffed

A view of the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area in Rafah, on June 18, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in recent days looked into the option of holding a security cabinet meeting at the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt, but was rebuffed, a report says.

In negotiations for a hostage and truce deal, Netanyahu has been insisting on his new demand that Israel retain control of the corridor.

According to Channel 12, which cites unnamed Netanyahu associates, the premier asked Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar whether ministers could travel to the meeting in armed personnel carriers, with the goal of showing them the place, persuading them to back his demand, and reiterating that the demand is serious.

Bar refused the request due to the magnitude of security that would be needed for such an event in an active war zone, the report says.

‘What could be more important?’ ask hostage relatives after convoy to Gaza border

Participants in the August 28, 2024, hostage families convoy from Tel Aviv to Kibbutz Be'eri. (Courtesy Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

More than 300 vehicles in a convoy adorned with yellow flags and Israeli flags, along with thousands of participants, arrive at Kibbutz Be’eri as part of a hostage families convoy, calling for the government to “seal the deal.”

Seated in an outdoor amphitheater at the kibbutz, holding posters of hostages and flags, many wearing t-shirts featuring the faces of the hostages, the audience listens to three speakers whose loved ones were taken captive to Gaza on October 7.

Ella Ben-Ami, whose father, Ohad Ben-Ami, is still held hostage and whose mother, Raz Ben-Ami, was kidnapped and released in the November deal, calls on the prime minister to “gather courage” and bring the hostages home.

“There’s a very clear choice on the table: Take the deal today and save lives, including my father’s, or let them die and only retrieve tortured bodies,” says Ben-Ami.

The speakers reiterate the importance of redeeming hostages as more vital than retaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, referring to the shifting sticking points over the last several months of negotiations.

“What could be more important than the hostages returning to walk on the soil they grew up on?” asks Daniel Lifshitz, grandson of Oded Lifshitz, 83, also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. “The Philadelphi Corridor? Or the value of our lives as Jewish people? The corridor or 108 hostages? The corridor or the redemption of captives?”

Lifshitz’s wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, 84, was also taken hostage on October 7, but released on October 23, along with another hostage, Nurit Cooper, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Oded Lifschitz is a lifelong journalist known as a passionate advocate for human rights.

Some of the speakers are mourning their loved ones, like Eliya Dancyg, granddaughter of hostage Alex Dancyg, 75, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity.

Dancyg’s body was found on August 19 and returned to Israel for burial by IDF troops, along with the bodies of Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Nadav Popplewell, 51, Avraham Munder, 78, Chaim Peri, 79 and Yoram Metzger, 80.

Dancyg, along with Munder, Peri and Metzger, were all abducted alive by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

Dancyg was buried on August 25 at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“He was kidnapped from his home, abandoned by the government, suffered in the tunnels, and was murdered by Hamas terrorists following IDF bombings,” says his granddaughter, Eliya Dancyg. “He could have returned alive in a deal, even in the first one. Do you understand? I could have hugged him again, but that will never happen now.”

The hostage families will go to the Gaza border tomorrow morning, from Kibbutz Nirim, to use giant loudspeakers to call out to their loved ones, in the hopes that they will be heard.

Top Hamas official urges resumption of suicide terror attacks against Israel

Khaled Mashaal speaks in Doha, Qatar, August 28, 2014. (AP/Osama Faisal/File)

Top Hamas official Khaled Mashaal calls for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank, according to reports in Arabic media, including Sky News Arabia.

In a video address to a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Mashaal says: “We want to return to [suicide] operations. This is a situation that can only be addressed by open conflict. They are fighting us with open conflict, and we are confronting them with open conflict.”

“I repeat my call to everyone to participate on multiple fronts in the actual resistance against the Zionist entity,” he adds.

Report: Israel okayed temporary truces in Gaza to vaccinate population against polio

Israel has reportedly okayed temporary humanitarian truces in the Gaza Strip in order to facilitate polio vaccinations for the local population.

According to Channel 13, the decision was made at US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s demand when he visited last week, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security chiefs approving it without updating the security cabinet ministers.

The Prime Minister’s Office denies authorizing a truce, but confirms it okayed “designating certain areas in the Strip.” It claims the move was presented in the security cabinet and got their support.

IDF raids, reportedly razes terrorist command room inside West Bank mosque

As part of an ongoing IDF operation in the West Bank’s Far’a camp, near Tubas, troops located what the military describes as a command room used by local terror operatives embedded within a mosque.

The site had numerous surveillance cameras hooked up to television screens, which, according to the IDF, was used by terror operatives to track Israeli forces.

A video from an IDF drone shows the entrance to the mosque, the walls of which are plastered with “martyr posters.” The video also shows equipment that the IDF says is used to build explosive devices.

Further inside the mosque, several primed explosive devices were found, according to the IDF.

This evening, Palestinian media report that the mosque was blown up.

France synagogue attacker long harbored antisemitism, researched Shabbat to commit attack — prosecutors

A terror suspect (left) caught on a surveillance camera outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the French seaside resort of La Grande Motte; flames outside the synagogue (right) on August 24, 2024. (X screenshots, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

A 33-year-old man faces terrorism charges over an arson attack on a French synagogue last weekend, with prosecutors saying he long held antisemitic views and looked up Jewish practices in order to commit his attack.

A police officer was injured after the suspect set multiple fires around the Beth Yaacov synagogue on Saturday in the Mediterranean resort town of La Grande Motte. The suspect, identified by prosecutors only by his initials, EHK, fled the scene, but was later arrested.

EHK, an Algerian with French residency, was presented to a judge today.

Prosecutors say they are seeking preliminary terrorism charges against him, including attempted murder and arson committed for reasons of race or religion, as well as armed violence against police. Two other people suspected of providing him help are also facing potential charges.

Under questioning, the suspect admitted staging the attack, and told investigators he acted to support the Palestinian cause and make Israeli authorities react, the statement says. He claimed he did not have any homicidal intent, but wanted to scare people.

Based on questioning by police and his social media posts, EHK appears to have become more radical in his religious beliefs in recent months, and told acquaintances that he wanted to go fight in Gaza, prosecutors say.

He “has for a long time nursed a hatred toward Jews, specifically focused on the situation in Palestine,” the statement adds.

In recent weeks, he purchased a firearm and conducted internet searches about synagogues in the region, Jewish holidays, and Sabbath practices, according to the statement.

He went alone to the Beth Yaacov synagogue with a handgun, several plastic bottles full of fuel, and an axe upon which he had written statements about Palestine, Gaza, and Muslim blood, prosecutors say.

They ask for him to be jailed, pending further investigation.

“Once again, French Jews have been targeted and attacked because of their beliefs,” caretaker Prime Minister Gabriel Attal says, after visiting La Grand Motte. “We are outraged and repulsed.”

Houthis agree to allow towing of targeted oil tanker to avert environmental damage

This photo released by the European Union's Operation Aspides shows fires burning aboard the oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea on August 25, 2024. (European Union's Operation Aspides via AP)

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels agree to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach the damaged Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York claims the group has agreed to a temporary truce.

“Several countries have reached out to ask Ansar Allah [the Houthis], requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area,” Iran’s UN mission says. “In consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns, Ansar Allah has consented to this request.”

But Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam tells Reuters that there is no temporary truce and the group only agreed after several international parties contacted the group to allow the towing of the tanker to avoid marine environmental damage.

World Food Programme suspends Gaza movement after vehicle hit by bullets near IDF post

A bullet-ridden World Food Programme vehicle in Gaza on August 27, 2024. (WFP)

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) temporarily suspends movements across the Gaza Strip after it claimed one of its clearly marked vehicles was struck by at least 10 bullets while approaching an Israeli military checkpoint.

WFP said in a statement that the convoy of two armored vehicles had received “multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach” the checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza bridge last night. No one in the vehicle struck was hurt.

Israel’s Paralympic delegation marches in opening ceremony; competitions start tomorrow

Israel's Paralympic delegation prepares to march in the Games' opening ceremony in Paris, France, on August 28, 2024. (Courtesy Israel Paralympic Committee)

Israel’s Paralympic delegation marches in the Games’ opening ceremony at Place de la Concorde in central Paris.

The country is being represented this year by 27 athletes competing in 10 different sports.

The Games officially kick off tomorrow, when taekwondo athlete Asaf Yasur, boccia competitor Nadav Levi, badminton player Nina Gorodetzky, and swimmer Ami Dadaon will all be competing.

Israel’s delegation was originally slated to contain 28 athletes, but swimmer Iyad Shalabi — who won two gold medals in Tokyo — pulled out at the last minute due to his father’s deteriorating health.

Families of Oct. 7 rave victims said planning their own anniversary memorial

Bereaved families, friends and soldiers at the site of the Supernova music festival massacre, in Re'im, near the Israel-Gaza border, May 13, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Families of victims slain at the Supernova music festival by Hamas terrorists on October 7 are planning their own memorial, Channel 13 reports, amid a continued fracas over how the anniversary of the onslaught should be marked and to what extent the government should be involved.

The network says the Supernova ceremony will kick off at the rave site near Re’im at 6:29 a.m. on October 7, exactly a year after the beginning of the largest terror attack in the state’s history.

Some 1,200 were murdered that day, including 364 at the dance party, and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.

The ceremony “will honor the memory of the victims, without politics and politicking,” says the organizer, who is the father of rave victim Ron Yehudai, according to Channel 13, which adds that several unnamed artists have confirmed their participation.

Spokesman claims UN aid vehicle struck by IDF gunfire in Gaza

The United Nations claims a UN humanitarian vehicle has been struck by IDF gunfire as it was taking part in a convoy in Gaza that was coordinated with the military.

“A clearly marked UN humanitarian vehicle, part of a convoy that had been fully coordinated with the IDF, was struck 10 times by IDF gunfire, including with bullets targeting front windows,” UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric says, adding that the two occupants were unharmed.

The IDF does not immediately comment on the accusation. It has previously said that all its strikes are “based on intelligence indications of terror infrastructure or the presence of terrorists in the area of ​​the attack,” accusing Hamas of making use of civilian assets.

Report: Netanyahu unhappy with Regev’s unwavering stance on state Oct. 7 memorial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Transportation Minister Miri Regev at the Knesset on February 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly privately bashing Transportation Minister Miri Regev of his Likud party over her conduct surrounding the embattled state memorial planned for the anniversary of the October 7 onslaught, which she is organizing.

Regev has refused to back down from the plans, even faced with overwhelming refusal to cooperate by Gaza border towns and hostage families, who are organizing their own event.

“I have no control over her,” Netanyahu claimed in a recent closed meeting, according to an unsourced report by the Kan public broadcaster. “I also think she is making a mistake regarding this whole issue. But there is no one to talk to; she does what she wants.”

Netanyahu has avoided commenting publicly on the matter, even as the split memorials have reignited intense divisions within Israeli society. His office declines to respond to the Kan report.

The report says some Netanyahu associates believe the premier should intervene and change at least some parts of the planned ceremony.

PM, Gallant, thank security forces for recovering body of soldier in Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses condolences to the family of a soldier slain on October 7, whose body was recovered from southern Gaza in an  IDF operation overnight.

Netanyahu thanks security forces who took part in the operation to bring the body back to Israel.

“Israel will continue to do all it can to return hostages home, those who are alive and those who have fallen,” Netanyahu says.

In a post on X, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also commends security forces for the operation.

“The soldier fell in combat during the Hamas attack on October 7th. This operation reflects our commitment to bringing all the hostages home,” he writes

I commend the IDF and ISA forces who conducted a bold operation to retrieve the body of a fallen soldier from Gaza, and brought him home for burial in Israel. The soldier fell in combat during the Hamas attack on October 7th.

This operation reflects our commitment to bringing…

— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) August 28, 2024

PM’s office says it views US sanctions against settler group ‘with utmost severity’

The Prime Minister’s Office releases a short statement slamming US sanctions against a settler outpost support organization that receives ministerial funding.

The office says it views the issue “with utmost severity.”

“The issue is under intense discussion with the United States,” the office adds.

Body of Israeli solder slain on Oct. 7 recovered from southern Gaza

The body of an Israeli soldier who was killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7, was recovered by the military from the southern Gaza Strip overnight, the IDF announces.

At the request of the family, the soldier’s name is not yet permitted for publication.

Following the overnight operation, 103 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 31 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Over 300 vehicles taking part in convoy demanding hostage deal, families say

Hostage families drive in a convoy to Kibbutz Be'eri to urge the government to sign a deal to free their loved ones from captivity in Gaza, August 28, 2024. (Noam Amir/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Over 300 vehicles are taking part in a convoy urging the government to reach a deal to free hostages held in Gaza, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum say in a statement.

The vehicles fly yellow flags and display pictures of hostages taken from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, driving from Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to the southern community, with the aim of bringing an “end to the abandonment” of the hostages, the statement reads.

At several points along the road, supporters of the hostage families rally to show their support, the forum says.

Netanyahu declares return of northern residents a ‘national goal’; Gantz: That’s a lie

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with IDF soldiers on Israel's northern border, August 28, 2024. (GPO/Maayan Toaf)

Visiting the Lebanese border following a briefing with the IDF’s Northern Command, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that the return of Israel’s displaced residents is a “national goal.”

“A few days ago, we thwarted a surprise attack by Hezbollah on the State of Israel. We destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, which were aimed at the Galilee and the Golan,” Netanyahu says in the wake of Sunday morning’s massive Hezbollah attack in which the terror group fired 230 rockets and 20 into Israel.

“We stopped all the drones aimed at the State of Israel, the Galilee, and the center,” he continues, touting the preemptive strike ahead of an anticipated attack on Tel Aviv as “a great success.”

However, “I am not telling you that it is enough,” he continues, adding that “this is not the end of the story.”

“When will it be the end of the story? Only when we can return the security and the residents to their homes safely. It’s not a statement, it’s not a slogan — it’s a national goal first and foremost. We are committed to achieving it — and we will achieve it, with your help and God’s help,” he says.

Nearly 70,000 residents of the north remain displaced following the outbreak of hostilities with Hezbollah in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Responding to Netanyahu, former war cabinet minister and National Unity chairman Benny Gantz asserts that the prime minister’s claim of prioritizing the return of the displaced “is a lie.”

“You did not agree to include it in the goals of the war, prevented a discussion on the diversion of resources to the north for many months, and above all — wasted time,” he tweets.

“Even now, you continue to be cut off from the residents, repeatedly coming to the north and not meeting them or the heads of their [local] authorities.”

Rocket sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona, Manara

Incoming rocket sirens are activated in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and the neighboring community of Manara.

Rocket Alert [19:16:51] (2):

• Confrontation Line — Manara, Kiryat Shmona
Population: 45,000 pic.twitter.com/ENkVPEbPFk

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) August 28, 2024

Religious services minister appears to begin process of selecting rabbis, indicating Shas has yielded on ‘Rabbis Law’

Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli attends a session ain the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli requests a list of representatives to serve on selection committees for municipal rabbis from the Chief Rabbinate, apparently indicating that his ultra-Orthodox Shas party has given up on passing a controversial “Rabbis Law,” which would have increased his influence over the appointment process.

Malkieli initiated the process following delays caused by Shas’s desire to hold off on choosing new rabbis prior to the bill’s passage, the Ynet news site reports, stating that the party no longer saw an opportunity for the bill’s passage in the Knesset plenum.

A copy of a letter sent to Malkieli by the Chief Rabbinate, seen by The Times of Israel, shows representatives being appointed to selection committees in 48 separate municipalities, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa.

Contacted by The Times of Israel, a spokesman for the minister says that the minister is merely making sure that the law is being followed, stating that his “initiative is to uphold the law.”

Asked if this means that Shas has given up on the law, the spokesman replies that he does not believe so, “but there is an understanding that it is not certain that it would pass.”

Advanced by Shas in June, the first version of the law would have created hundreds of publicly funded jobs for Orthodox rabbis, while giving the Chief Rabbinate of Israel considerable say in the appointment of all new municipal rabbis, reversing changes instituted in 2022 by the previous government.

After being blocked by two Likud lawmakers, Shas advanced a more limited version of the bill, which aimed at granting Malkieli the power to allocate additional funds to local religious councils around the country.

However, that legislation was repeatedly blocked as part of an ongoing dispute with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who stated that he would hold it up until given greater influence over the course of the war by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Spokespeople for Shas and MK Erez Malul, the bill’s sponsor, did not respond to requests for comment regarding the implications of Malkieli’s decision to advance the process of choosing municipal rabbis.

“We are gratified that the law has been tabled — at least for now. However, we remain concerned that the Shas minister will use his influence to manipulate municipalities to appoint rabbis to lifetime positions,” says Rabbi Seth Farber, the director of the ITIM advocacy group, which opposed the legislation.

UN warns IDF’s West Bank op risks making ‘catastrophic situation’ worse

Israeli soldiers arrest two Palestinian men during a raid in the Nur Shams camp near the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank on August 28, 2024. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

GENEVA, Switzerland — Israel’s large-scale counterterrorism operation in the West Bank “risks seriously deepening the already catastrophic situation” in the territory, the United Nations says.

The Israeli military launched a series of coordinated raids across four cities — Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Tulkarem — with the army saying it killed nine Palestinian terrorists.

Israel’s operations in the cities “and the killing of at least nine Palestinians, two of them reportedly children, take the overall death toll in the West Bank since October 7 to 637,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says in a statement.

During the same period, 27 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

“This represents the highest number of fatalities over a period of eight months since the UN first started recording casualties in the West Bank two decades ago.”

Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacre in Israel.

“Many children have been killed while throwing stones at highly protected Israeli security forces, as have other Palestinians posing no imminent threat to life or serious injury,” Shamdasani says.

“Such unnecessary or disproportionate use of force and the increase in apparent targeted and other summary killings are alarming.”

She says thousands of Palestinians had been arbitrarily arrested and tortured, subjected to unrelenting settler violence, severe restrictions on movement and expression, their homes and property destroyed or seized, and forcibly displaced.

“Israel, as the occupying power, must abide by its obligations under international law,” she says.

“The Israeli security forces’ use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics violates human rights norms and standards applicable to law enforcement operations.”

Shamdasani says alleged unlawful killings needed to be thoroughly and independently investigated, and those responsible held to account.

IDF jets strikes Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in southern Lebanon

Earlier today, Israeli fighter jets carried out an airstrike against a building in southern Lebanon’s Odaisseh, where a group of Hezbollah operatives were spotted, the IDF says.

The military says additional airstrikes were carried out against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Ain al-Tineh area, located about 20 kilometers (nearly 12.5 miles) from the Israeli border.

Hezbollah observation posts in Odaisseh and Kafr Kila were also struck today, the IDF adds.

מוקדם יותר היום, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מספר תשתיות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב עין א-תינה שבשטח לבנון.

כוח צה״ל מאוגדה 91 זיהה מוקדם יותר היום מחבלים פועלים במבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב אל-עדייסא שבדרום לבנון >> pic.twitter.com/50IzYuVA91

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 28, 2024

Fate of Gaza ceasefire deal in Hamas leader’s hands, CIA deputy chief says

The fate of a potential ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “largely a question that is going to be answered” by the leader of the Palestinian terror group, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen says.

The US official does not refer to Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, by name. The Israelis are showing seriousness in the negotiations, Cohen tells an intelligence and national security summit in Washington.

Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been working to strike a deal between the sides and prevent a broader regional war.

On those efforts, Cohen says: “There may be episodes where people would step back from the brink, but I don’t think anybody can be confident that that effort to control escalation is something that… any party in that region” can control.

‘We failed’: IDF probe finds troops didn’t act sufficiently to prevent deadly settler rampage

People check a burnt car a day after an attack by extremist settlers on the village of Jit in the West Bank, on August 16, 2024. (Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

An IDF investigation into a deadly terror attack carried out by some 100 Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Jit earlier this month has found that troops who arrived first at the scene did not act as expected to stop the assailants.

The IDF has also dismissed two members of a nearby settlement’s local security force for acting “outside the scope of their authority” during the incident.

According to the military’s probe, the IDF received an alert from the Shin Bet in the evening of August 15 about a group of Israelis in vehicles heading to carry out a “nationalistic crime” in the Yitzhar area.

A large number of troops and Border Police officers were dispatched to the area, in an attempt to prevent an attack from happening, the probe finds.

At around 8 p.m., a group of 100 masked Israeli settlers entered Jit and set fire to three cars and two buildings, as well as hurling Molotov cocktails and stones.

At 8:06 p.m., the commander of the regional brigade declared that an incident had begun, and troops were dispatched to the village. Within six more minutes, the troops arrived at Jit.

“The investigation revealed that the first force was unable to fully understand the situation. It tried to disperse the rioters and prevent harm to the Palestinians, but it should have acted with greater determination,” the IDF says.

Minutes later, according to the probe, additional troops and Border Police officers arrived at the scene, and they “acted assertively while risking their lives, blocking the rioters and pushing them out of the village, while using riot dispersal means and live fire in the air.”

Half an hour after the incident began, all of the Israeli settlers were taken out of the village, the probe found.

The IDF says that troops rescued and aided Palestinian families, including women and children, during the incident. Troops helped Palestinians escape from burning homes and provided them with first aid.

The probe has also found that Border Police officers stationed in the area prevented additional assailants from joining in the attack.

One Palestinian man was killed and another was wounded by gunfire in the incident. The Shin Bet and police have indicated that the shooting was carried out by the settlers.

Additionally, the IDF says that several members of a civilian local security team for a nearby settlement, who are not in active reserve duty, arrived at Jit at the start of the incident in military uniform. The probe found that the security officers “acted outside the scope of authority defined for” the local security team, without elaborating further on what they did.

Two were dismissed from their role, and their weapons were confiscated.

No suspects were detained amid the incident, but last week the police and Shin Bet arrested four, including a minor.

The three adult suspects were sent to administrative detention — which enables Israel to hold suspects indefinitely without bringing charges against them — amid the investigation. They are suspected of terrorism, police have said.

Additional arrests are planned, the IDF says.

The head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, says: “This is a very serious terror incident by Israelis who deliberately set out to harm the residents of the village of Jit, and we failed by not being able to arrive sooner to protect them.”

“The responsibility is first of all mine as the head of the system and I will do everything to improve it,” Bluth says in remarks published by the IDF. He also hails the troops who later arrived at the village and rescued Palestinians who were trapped inside burning homes. “This event is still in progress and it will not be closed until we have brought the rioters to justice,” Bluth adds.

IDF says soldier killed in Gaza today, raising ground op toll to 342

Master Sgt. (res.) Yohay Hay Glam. (Israel Defense Forces)

An IDF reserve soldier was killed during fighting in the central Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The slain soldier is named as Master Sgt. (res.) Yohay Hay Glam, 32, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 6310th Battalion, from Netanya.

His death brings Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 342.

US sanctions settler outpost support organization that gets ministerial funding

The settlement of Yitzhar, in the West Bank on October 31, 2019. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration issues its sixth batch of sanctions over settler violence in the West Bank, targeting a group that violently secures illegal outposts and a civilian security guard for a flashpoint settlement who engaged in attacks against Palestinians.

The US sanctions against Hashomer Yosh (Guardians of Judea and Samaria) and Yitzhak Levi Filant comes days after two violent settler rampages through Palestinian towns in the West Bank that left a pair of Palestinians dead.

No arrests were made in the most recent attack near Bethlehem. Indictments in such cases are highly rare and convictions even more so.

The head of the Shin Bet security service has been quoted lamenting in private meetings that the Israel Police overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is refusing to crack down on the phenomenon.

The lack of Israeli enforcement has led a handful of Western countries — led by the US — to begin issuing their own sanctions against Israeli extremists. US President Joe Biden issued an executive order giving him authority to levy such sanctions in February, and 11 individuals and 11 entities have been designated since.

The Hashomer Yosh organization arranges for volunteers to provide help and support for at least 26 illegal farming outposts in the West Bank, among other activities.

At least two of the illegal outposts that the organization supports, Meitarim Farm and Moshe’s Farm, are run by US-designated individuals. The group has also provided support for Yinon Levi, Neriya Ben Pazi and Zvi Bar Yosef, who have all been designated by the US for their involvement in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta in the West Bank were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent thems from returning. The volunteers also provided support by grazing the herds and guarding the outposts of US-designated individuals, the State Department says.

Hashomer Yosh has received over NIS 8 million ($2.2 million) from the Agriculture Ministry and the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Ministry since 2018 for its activities.

Filant is the chief security officer of the Yitzhar settlement. Although his role is akin to a security or law enforcement officer, he has engaged in malign activities outside the scope of his authority, the State Department says.

“In February 2024, he led a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands,” its announcement adds.

“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” the State Department sanctions announcement asserts.

“It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank.”

Amid Oct. 7 anniversary memorial fracas, pair of coalition members back compromise proposal

Two coalition members back a proposal for the government to take a “unifying” step and make sure the its October 7 anniversary memorial doesn’t clash with an alternative ceremony organized by hostage families and set to be attended by tens of thousands of people.

The issue has emerged as highly divisive, with most Gaza border towns and hostage families refusing to cooperate with the ceremony organized by a government they accuse of significant failures before, on and since the Hamas onslaught. That ceremony will be pre-recorded and feature no audience.

Prominent columnist and author Hanoch Daum, who will emcee the families’ memorial, lays out his “proposal for calming the spirits” on his popular Facebook page. He says the two events should not come at one another’s expense, and that the government should therefore agree to broadcast its ceremony at a time that don’t coincide with the second one.

Shortly after Daum’s post, Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot tweets that he supports that proposal out of a need to lower the flames and avoid scrapping either event.

Likud MK Dan Illouz echoes that sentiment, tweeting that while the government must not be stripped of the right to organize the state event, it has a duty to display sensitivity, especially toward bereaved families.

Rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona; no injuries or damage reported

Two rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Kiryat Shmona area a short while ago, the IDF says.

The rocket fire set off sirens in the northern city and nearby communities.

There are no reports of injuries or damage in the attack.

IDF says it mistakenly damaged water line during West Bank op; is allowing, but not ordering, locals to leave

Amid an ongoing operation in the Nur Shams camp near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the military says it accidentally damaged a water line.

“During the IDF’s activity to uncover explosive devices buried under roads in Nur Shams, a water pipe was inadvertently damaged,” the IDF says.

The IDF says other water sources are still available to the residents of Nur Shams.

Additionally, the IDF denies that it has ordered residents of the area to evacuate.

“IDF troops are allowing residents who wish to distance themselves from the combat zones to leave the area safely,” the military says.

Troops are securing routes for civilians who wish to evacuate, but none are being forced to do so, an IDF source adds.

Bank of Israel leaves interest rate at 4.5%, amid wartime uncertainty

The Bank of Israel opts to leave borrowing costs unchanged for a fifth straight time, citing heightened geopolitical and fiscal uncertainty amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group that has been raging for more than 10 months.

“Since the outbreak of the war, and in recent months in particular, geopolitical uncertainty and its economic ramifications have increased,” the central bank says in a statement. “The uncertainty surrounding the state budget for 2025, and the implementation of adjustments required to reduce the deficit on an ongoing basis, contributes to an increase in the risk premium and is liable to weigh on the return of inflation to its target.”

The central bank decides to hold interest rates at 4.5% in line with forecasts by most economists. Ahead of the decision, economists were split not about whether policymakers would make a change to the interest rate level, but rather over the timing of the move, with some expecting either only one rate reduction at the very end of the year or none amid uncertainty over the extent of the war and the risk of an escalation of the fighting to an all-out-war with Hezbollah and Iran. In the US, meanwhile, expectations are increasing for multiple interest rate cuts by the end of the year, and the European Central Bank is also expected to lower borrowing costs further.

In January, the Bank of Israel cut the base lending rate for the first time in almost four years by 25 basis points from 4.75% to 4.5% to support households and businesses as the economy was getting battered by the war with Hamas and with the inflation environment easing. Since then, inflation has been on an upward trend. In July, Israel’s annual inflation rate accelerated above the 1-3% target range to 3.2%, from 2.9% a month earlier.

Netanyahu toured northern border area today, his office says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the northern border area earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Office says in a terse statement that doesn’t add any details.

Rescued hostage al-Qadi: I urged PM to bring rest of captives home, I don’t wish upon anyone to be where I was

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi speaks to reporters from a tent set up near his home near the Bedouin town of Rahat to celebrate his return, August 28, 2024. (Screenshot: N12)

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi says he hopes and prays that the issue of the captives held in Gaza for over 10 months will be resolved soon, adding he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they spoke yesterday soon after his rescue to “put an end to it.”

Speaking to reporters at a tent set up by his relatives near his home near Rahat, al-Qadi says he is “feeling 100%,” and “I’m enjoying every minute I have in the light. I was in the dark for so long… I’m enjoying every minute of family.”

But he adds: “I don’t feel it’s right for me to be happy. I don’t feel it’s right for my family and for me to be happy. There are people held, here and there. Every one of them — no matter if they are Arabs or Jews — has a family that is waiting for him. They also want to celebrate.”

He adds: “So I hope, I pray, that there’ll be an end to this thing. I also said this to Bibi Netanyahu yesterday: Put an end to it. It’s very hard for all of them. Whether it’s an Arab, a Jew, or I don’t know what…

“The place I was in, I don’t wish upon anyone. So do everything — demonstrations, everything — to get the people home.”

Gallant, Smotrich add NIS 400 million in additional funding for IDF reservists

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, center left, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, center right, meet with reserve IDF commanders near the Gaza border, August 28, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announce the allocation of hundreds of millions of shekels in additional funding for IDF reservists.

During a meeting with reserve commanders in the south, the ministers announce that an additional NIS 400 million ($109 million) will be allocated to an assistance fund for reservists “so that the benefits given at the beginning of the war will continue until the end of 2024,” according to a joint statement released by Smotrich’s office.

“You know that the finance minister and I don’t always agree on everything, but we do agree on the reserve issue,” Gallant says, adding that reservists “need three things: clear tasks, resources to carry them out, and fair treatment and compensation. We are here today on a mission of fair treatment and compensation.”

Smotrich and Gallant’s announcement follows the cabinet’s approval of a proposed increase to the 2024 state budget pushed by Smotrich that will provide NIS 200 million ($54 million) to help fund reserve military service.

Recalling that he and Smotrich earlier this year jointly advanced a NIS 9 billion ($2.5 billion) wartime assistance program for reservists, Gallant says that the “coming days” will see an addition of two tranches of NIS 400 and 200 million for those called to duty after October 7.

It appears from Gallant’s comments that the 400 million shekel budget announced today is in addition to the 200 million announced yesterday but spokespeople for Smotrich and Gallant did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.

“I think both [Gallant] and I understood at the very beginning of the war that this war will be fought by the reservists and this war will be fought by the families of the reservists,” Smotrich says, adding that as the government enters into discussions regarding the 2025 budget, it is understood that “we are heading toward years in which the reserve system will look completely different from the way it looked before the war.”

Earlier this month, a public committee to examine defense spending demanded by Smotrich met for the first time, following an extended fight with the defense establishment.

Smotrich and Gallant had engaged in a public battle over the defense budget, with the finance minister previously threatening that he would not approve any “strategic and long-term future force build-up” until after the committee published its recommendations, claiming that “doing the same thing over and over again without learning from past mistakes will bring us a disaster.”

IDF takes rare responsibility for Syria strike, says it killed senior Islamic Jihad member

In a rare admission, the IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in Syria earlier today, killing a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative.

According to the IDF, the airstrike on the Syrian side of the Beirut-Damascus highway, near the border between Lebanon and Syria, killed Firas Qasem.

The military says Qasem is a prominent member of Islamic Jihad’s operations unit.

“Qasem was tasked with building operational plans for the PIJ terror organization in Syria and Lebanon, and took a central part in the recruitment of Palestinian terrorists to the Hezbollah terror organization, for the purpose of carrying out terror operations from Lebanon against the State of Israel,” the IDF says.

The IDF says that in recent years, Hezbollah, with Iranian funding, has been recruiting Palestinians to the terror organization to attack Israel.

Two more PIJ operatives were killed in the strike, along with Hezbollah operative Muhammad Taha. The IDF says the four were driving from Syria to Lebanon to carry out operations on behalf of Hezbollah.

The IDF rarely takes responsibility for strikes in Syria.

Hezbollah announces death of member, after reports of Israeli drone strike in Syria

The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a member killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

He is named as Muhammad Taha, from Baalbek.

His death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to at least 431.

The announcement comes following reports of an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle on the Beirut-Damascus highway, on the Syrian side of the border.

Two security sources told Reuters that four people were killed in the strike — a member of Hezbollah and three Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi returns home to joyous crowds

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi speaks to reporters from a tent set up near his home near the Bedouin town of Rahat to celebrate his return, August 28, 2024. (Screenshot: N12)

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi is back at his home near the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, surrounded by relatives, well-wishers, media and others.

After riding into town in a convoy of happily honking cars, Farhan meets with crowds gathered to greet him in a tent.

פרחאן אל-קאדי מגיע הביתה בשיירה@shapira_nitzan pic.twitter.com/gk2HEmR2eT

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) August 28, 2024

Looking hale and taking in the spotlight, the 52-year-old tells the gathered press that he feels “100 percent.” He calls for the return of the remaining hostages in brief remarks as a crowd jostles behind him.

Farhan was released earlier today from Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, meeting with staffers who lined the halls to cheer him as he left.

תיעוד: פרחאן אלקאדי שחולץ משבי חמאס יוצא מביה"ח בדרך לביתו@ShaIsrael2
(צילום: דוברות סורוקה) https://t.co/qFq9NcXoaI pic.twitter.com/CqufPxzYEy

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) August 28, 2024

Slovakia okays purchase of six air defense batteries from Israel

Illustrative: The Israel Navy launches its new 'Barak 8' missile defense system on November 26, 2015. (screen capture: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Slovakia’s government has approved plans to buy six mobile air defense systems from Israel for 554.3 million euros ($616.88 million), it says on its website, as the NATO member state strengthens protection of its airspace.

The government also approves the purchase of more than 1,300 6×6 and 8×8 heavy terrain vehicles in a joint acquisition with the Czech Republic, at an expected cost of 708.3 million euros, which will replace ageing trucks.

The government does not name the defense system to be bought from Israel in a government-to-government deal. In October, it said it would enter negotiations to purchase a single BARAK MX mobile medium-range surface-to-air missile system from Israel.

Slovakia operates the medium-range 2K12 KUB system, which was at the end of its life cycle, the defense ministry says in a document.

Under a previous government, Slovakia donated its ageing S-300 air defense system to Ukraine, a decision criticized by the current administration for lowering the country’s air defense capabilities.

Slovakia had also expressed interest in acquiring Patriot air defense systems. Israel recently announced it would be mothballing its Patriots.

Slovakia, whose neighbor Ukraine has fought against a Russian invasion since 2022, has been part of NATO efforts to bolster the military alliance’s eastern flank. Defense Minister Robert Kalinak has said priorities should be on defense capabilities, especially air defense.

Large tunnel in central Gaza razed by troops, IDF says

IDF troops stand at the entrance to a tunnel in the central Gaza Strip, in a handout image released by the military on August 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

A three-kilometer-long Hamas tunnel located in the Netzarim Corridor area of the central Gaza Strip was recently demolished by combat engineers, the IDF says.

The tunnel had been located and later demolished by the Yahalom combat engineering unit, along with reservists of the Jerusalem Brigade, which is currently stationed in the corridor.

According to the IDF, which releases footage of the tunnel being blown up, part of the tunnel was destroyed during the 2014 Gaza war, but over the years Hamas worked to rebuild it.

The tunnel did not cross into Israeli territory, the military says.

Hostage relatives depart for Gaza border in hopes of calling out to loved ones

A convoy of cars leaving Tel Aviv's Hostages Square for the Gaza border on August 28, 2024 (Courtesy Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

A convoy of hostage families is departing Tel Aviv and heading to the Gaza border, planning to call out to their loved ones early tomorrow morning using loudspeakers mounted on a crane.

The convoy will include trailers carrying cars that were burned and destroyed on October 7, and will arrive at Kibbutz Be’eri late this afternoon.

Before departing, hostage family members speak at Hostages Square, including Shira Albag, mother of Liri Albag, a surveillance soldier taken hostage on October 7.

“Where are you, government members? Where are you, elected officials?” says Albag. “What will be recorded in the history books of this cursed war is not whether we conquered the Philadelphi Corridor or how many terrorists we killed, but whether we cared for and brought our hostages home.”

Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen, whose body is being held captive, thanks the US administration for all its help, and asks it to put pressure on all parties — Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Hamas — to reach a hostage deal.

“One time the obstacle was called Rafah, now it’s called Philadelphi Corridor and the families understand that a ceasefire is needed in order to bring their loved ones home,” says Chen, referring to shifting sticking points over the last several months of negotiations.

Ziv Abud, who is engaged to hostage Eliya Cohen, and escaped being taken captive as she and Cohen ran to a field shelter from the Supernova desert rave, says she is traveling “to be as close to you as possible.”

Israeli airstrikes said to hit Lebanese town

Lebanese media reports a series of alleged Israeli airstrikes near the town of Ain al-Tineh, in the Western Beqaa District.

Footage posted to social media shows several plumes of smoke rising from a mountain near the town.

#عاجل

غارات إسرائيلية تستهدف مرتفعات بلدة عين التينة في #البقاع_الغربي.

▪️▪️▪️▪️#موقع_البهاء #لبنان #الواتساب #جنوب_لبنان #خبر_عاجل #صيدا #بيروت #بعلبك #البقاع #مطار_بيروت pic.twitter.com/HcelGOqVET

— موقع البهاء – albahaasite (@albahaasite) August 28, 2024

Ain al-Tineh is around 22 kilometers (14 miles) from the Israeli border, north of the Litani River and somewhat deeper into Lebanon than most strikes the IDF carries out.

Rescued hostage released from hospital — reports

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi speaks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Beersheba's Soroka Hospital on August 27, 2024. (Yossi Ifergan/GPO)

Farhan al-Qadi is being released from Soroka Hospital to go home, according to reports in Hebrew-language media, just one day after being found in a Gaza tunnel by Israeli troops.

Al-Qadi, who was kidnapped from a kibbutz near the Gaza border on October 7, was brought to Soroka Hospital yesterday for checkups after his rescue. The hospital initially reported that he appeared healthy, though relatives noted the 52-year-old had slimmed considerably while in captivity.

Men who burned Qurans a year ago charged with hate crimes in Sweden

Salwan Momika protests outside a mosque in Stockholm on June 28, 2023. (Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)

Swedish prosecutors have charged two men with inciting ethnic hatred over several protests involving the burning of Qurans in 2023, which sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests, and co-protester Salwan Najem are charged with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023.

“Both men are prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Quoran in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio says in a statement.

According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Quran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims — in one case outside a Stockholm mosque.

“In my opinion, the men’s statements and actions fall under the provisions on agitation against an ethnic or national group and it is important that this matter is tried in court,” Hankkio adds.

Prosecutors have previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of a Quran can be seen as a critique of the book and the religion, and thus be protected under free speech.

However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be considered “agitation against an ethnic group.”

Union head says teachers will strike to start school year

View of an empty classroom at a school in Tel Aviv, during a strike of the National Student and Youth Council, on September 12, 2023. (Flash90)

Ran Erez, long-time chairman of the Teachers Union, says he is calling a strike for September 1, the first day of the 2024-2025 school year, after negotiations over teachers’ salaries and contracts failed to see results.

“On September 1, the teachers’ organization will not open the school year. We are on strike,” Erez says in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster.

Erez says that he is still open to negotiations with the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry, but stresses that the government must “bring us an offer that we can accept. There is currently no date for another meeting. They are stalling. The government does not want to pay and they want a strike.”

Erez does not offer details about the length of the planned strike. Salary negotiations leading to threats to delay the start of the school year — often actualized — are commonplace in Israel.

Illustrative: Secondary School Teachers’ Association chair Ran Erez speaks during a State Control Committee meeting at the Knesset, August 15, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Last year, with mere hours to go before the start of the academic year, high school teachers and government officials reached a deal to bump up salaries, avoiding a threatened strike that would have delayed classes.

This year, the Teachers Union has been in ongoing but deadlocked negotiations with the Education and Finance ministries for months, with instructors demanding increased wages and a collective salary agreement, and the government pushing for individual salary contracts for teachers amid a budgetary shortfall.

The 2024 budget slashed millions of shekels in funding from the Education, Finance, National Security, Health and Welfare ministries to direct them toward displaced residents of the south and north amid the ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Abbas cuts short Saudi trip as PA warns of ‘dangerous consequences’ from West Bank raid

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech during an extraordinary Parliamentary Meeting on Palestinians, at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP/Ali Unal)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is cutting short his state visit to Saudi Arabia following the launch of a large-scale IDF operation in the West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh warns that the anti-terror operation in Tulkarem and other areas in the northern West Bank will have “dangerous consequences.”

“Everyone will pay the price” for the escalation, he says in a statement, calling the raid “the continuation of an all-out war on our people, our land and our holy sites” that “will not bring security nor stability to any side.”

He slams the US for its support for Israel and calls it to pressure Jerusalem to stop the fighting. At least nine Palestinian gunmen have been killed in the ongoing operation, according to the IDF.

Abbas arrived in Riyadh on Monday and met Tuesday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He had been scheduled to fly to Egypt next.

Likud minister says West Bank Palestinians should be temporarily moved to protect troops

Former Shin Bet security service head Avi Dichter is backing Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s call for Israel to evacuate Palestinian civilians from areas of the West Bank in order to intensify military activities in the territories.

“If we need to evacuate people, we’ll evacuate them,” in order to protect IDF troops, Dichter, a Likud minister, tells Army Radio.

He is quick to note that Palestinians would not be sent outside the West Bank, and that they would be able to return once it’s safe.

“If we don’t take the fight there, we’ll end up having to wage it here,” he says.

The station reports that the army says it is not asking Palestinians in the Nur Shams camp near Tulkarem or elsewhere to leave, as had been reported in some Arabic media.

According to the outlet, Israel did broadcast messages to Palestinians letting them know that those who did wish to evacuate could do so by moving into “safe zones.”

Syria-Lebanon border strike said to kill Hezbollah operative, three from Islamic Jihad

Syrian media and an official with a Lebanese group say four people were killed in an alleged Israeli strike that hit a car in Syria near the border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese official says the strike killed one member of the Hezbollah terror group and three members of the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

There is no immediate comment from Israeli or Syrian officials on the strike.

????#BreakingNews:
4 people were killed when their vehicle was targeted on the Damascus-Beirut ! road#Lebanon pic.twitter.com/58X0Q8kqbM

— . (@siyasikhichri) August 28, 2024

Islamic Jihad has sent a stream of fighters from Syria to join Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon who have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border since October 8, a day after the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Both groups are supported by Iran.

Israel also frequently targets Iran-backed fighters in Syria, although it rarely acknowledges the strikes.

Terror groups accuse Israel of trying to bring Gaza war to West Bank

Israeli soldiers operate during a raid in the Nur Shams camp near the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank on August 28, 2024. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

The Hamas terror group is calling on security forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to rise up against Israel and “join the sacred battle of our people,” praising Palestinians confronting Israeli forces conducting a major anti-terror raid in the northern West Bank

The group says in a statement that the operation is part of a larger plan to expand the war in Gaza.

A statement from the armed wing of Fatah, the Palestinian faction headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, says it is taking part in the fighting, including detonating bombs against troops.

The Islamic Jihad terror group, which like Hamas is thought to have bolstered a foothold in the northern West Bank in recent years, also puts out a statement denouncing an “open war” by Israel.

“With this aggression, which aims to transfer the weight of the conflict to the occupied West Bank, the occupier wants to impose a new state of affairs on the ground to annex the West Bank,” the statement says.

IDF confirms it killed 9 Palestinians, publishes video of drone strike

An Israeli military bulldozer drives down a road during a raid in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm on August 28, 2024.(Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

The IDF says it killed nine Palestinians in West Bank raids this morning, releasing footage of a drone strike in the West Bank’s Far’a camp near Tubas that it says killed four Palestinian gunmen who “endangered forces” carrying out a raid.

כוחות צה"ל, שב"כ ומג"ב החלו הלילה במבצע לסיכול טרור בג׳נין ובטול-כרם.
במהלך הלילה כלי טיס תקפו וחיסלו מהאוויר בג׳נין שלושה מחבלים חמושים אשר היוו איום על הלוחמים בשטח.

במקביל, פתחו הכוחות במבצע מוסק במרחב פרעה שבחטיבת הבקעה והעמקים במהלכו כלי-טיס תקף וחיסל מהאוויר ארבעה מחבלים… pic.twitter.com/Y8hQoh4cl0

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) August 28, 2024

Meanwhile, in Jenin, another drone strike killed three gunmen, and two other armed Palestinians were killed while clashing with Border Police officers, the army says.

IDF troops and Border Police officers have also been operating since last night in the Tulkarem area.

So far amid the operation in Tulkarem, Jenin, and Far’a, the IDF says many explosive devices planted underneath roads were neutralized and weapons were seized.

The IDF does not say if there were any injuries among Israeli troops.

Ex-hostages and relatives demand government keep their names and faces out of Oct. 7 memorial

Demonstrators protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, August 26, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Dozens of former hostages and relatives of hostages and other October 7 victims have penned a letter demanding the government not use their name or likeness or that of their loved ones for a government ceremony being planned to mark one year since the October 7 massacre.

Families of hostages and other victims of October 7 have fumed at the government’s plans for the event, including the decision to charge Transportation Minister Miri Regev with organizing it. Critics say Regev, a Likud apparatchik, will use the ceremony to whitewash the government’s failures surrounding the attack and its continued inability to bring home all those kidnapped nearly 11 months ago.

“We won’t cooperate with the cynical use of the names of the hostages, which the state has abandoned for nearly a year, or the names of relatives murdered in the October 7 massacre,” the approximately 100 signatories say in the missive.

They note that the government has not gained the permission of hostages still in Gaza to use their names or pictures.

“Given the aforementioned, we ask to rethink the establishment of the ceremony and its organization by the government, which is required first and foremost to… bring the hostages home, whether back to their families or to a grave,” the letter reads.

Regev has dismissed the criticism as “noise” and compared plans for a large alternate ceremony to a contentious annual joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial, which is demonized by the Israeli right.

Israeli minister of Transportation Miri Regev holds a press conference ahead of the state ceremony commemorating the October 7 Hamas attack, at the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety in Jerusalem, August 22, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Last week, President Isaac Herzog offered to replace the government’s ceremony with one under his purview at the President’s Residence that would be devoid of politics and include uniting state symbols, but Regev accused him of “picking a side” and insisted that she would be the one to organize the ceremony.

IDF taps high-ranking officer for new humanitarian liaison role in Gaza

COGAT official Col. Elad Goren speaks in a video statement on October 18, 2023. (Screen capture: Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces says it is creating a new position within the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit to act as a liason for humanitarian activities in the Gaza Strip.

COGAT official Col. Elad Goren will be the first “head of the humanitarian-civil effort in the Gaza Strip,” and be promoted to the rank of brigadier general, the IDF said.

The IDF says that the new role will “deal with the integration and implementation of the humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip and the coordination with the international community, in a way that will allow the implementation of the humanitarian effort while upholding the security interests of the State of Israel.”

“The IDF sees great importance in the continuing humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip, in order to continue fighting the terrorist organization Hamas, and within the framework of achieving the goals of the war,” the military adds.

The IDF says Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was authorized by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to create the new role.

Sources confirm overnight strike blew up Hezbollah missile shipment

A Lebanese security source says an alleged Israeli airstrike hit a truck loaded with Hezbollah missiles deep inside Lebanon overnight.

“The Israeli air force targeted two Hezbollah” trucks some 10 kilometers (six miles) from Baalbek, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in eastern Lebanon, the Lebanese security source says. “One of the vehicles was hit and a series of explosions were heard in the area.”

One person was wounded in the strike, the health ministry in Lebanon said.

A source close to Hezbollah confirms the hit: “The munitions which were inside the truck caught fire.”

Alleged Israeli drone strike reported on car near Syria-Lebanon border

Lebanese and Arab media outlets report an alleged Israeli drone strike on a vehicle on the Beirut-Damascus highway near the Lebanon-Syria border.

The strike takes place on the Syrian side of the frontier, according to the reports.

Footage shows smoke and fire rising from the targeted car.

من مكان استهداف السيارة على #الحدود_السورية_اللبنانية#سوريا #لبنان #أخبار_اليوم #Lebanon #akhbaralyawm pic.twitter.com/77S8G6lWTo

— Akhbar Al Yawm (@akhbaralyawm) August 28, 2024

No further details are immediately available.

War toll in Gaza tops 40,500, Hamas-run health ministry says

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip says the death toll in the war there has risen to 40,534.

The toll includes 58 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed at least 17,000 Hamas-led operatives in the Strip, as well as another 1,000 killed inside Israel during the October 7 attack.

Large fire threatens buildings in Sderot, nearby kibbutz

Firefighters are battling a large blaze that has broken out near the Gaza border town of Sderot and neighboring Kibbutz Nir Am in hopes of keeping the flames from reaching buildings.

“Firefighters are concentrating their efforts on containing the fire on the ground, with a high potential for it to spread and threaten structures and property,” Ashkelon station crew chief Shai Kreesy says in a statement. “We still haven’t gained control.”

שריפת קוצים בסמוך לקיבוץ ניר עם, צוותי לוחמי האש פועלים במקום https://t.co/lQhCt0A6kq pic.twitter.com/GsUtQ51huD

— ???????????? MivzakLive News – חדשות מבזק לייב (@mivzaklive) August 28, 2024

Pictures show large balls of smoke rising up from next to a Sderot factory and near Nir Am.

The station has put out a call for more units to respond to the fire.

Foreign minister calls for Gaza-esque war in West Bank, including ordering civilians to flee

Foreign Minister Israel Katz says Israel should consider ordering West Bank Palestinians to move temporarily as it embarks on a major anti-terror raid in the northern West Bank.

“We need to deal with the [terror] threat exactly as we deal with terror infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians and any other step needed,” he says in a tweet. “This is a war in every sense.”

Katz says Israeli forces operating in Jenin, Tulkarem and other areas are working to dismantle an Iranian-backed terror network being built up in the West Bank.

“Iran is working to establish a terror front against Israel in [the West Bank], according to the model it used in Lebanon and Gaza, by funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan,” he says in the tweet.

Palestinians in Gaza ordered to flee Israeli military action have expressed worries that their forcible removal will become permanent as part of an plot to grab more territory. Israel says the moves are necessary to protect civilians who could be caught in the crossfire as it battles Hamas-led fighters in the Strip.

PA puts death toll in West Bank at 9 killed

The Palestinian Authority health ministry puts the death toll in Israeli raids in the northern West Bank at 9, paring back a tally of 10 killed reported earlier by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Seven people were killed early Wednesday in Tubas, and another two in Jenin, the ministry says, identifying the two killed in Jenin as Qassam Jabarin, 25, and Asem Balout, 39.

The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, says on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces have surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.

The army says it has embarked on a major anti-terror raid, following a failed bomb attack in Tel Aviv earlier this month.

Doctor hopes rescued hostage al-Qadi can go home later today

Rescued hostage Farhad al-Qadi (center) reunites with family members at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on August 27, 2024. (Yossi Ifergan/GPO)

The doctor of Farhan al-Qadi says he hopes the rescued hostage will be able to be released from the hospital later today, Army Radio reports.

“He’s super excited, barely slept last night,” the doctor is quoted saying. The doctor says al-Qadi told him “I’m enjoying every minute I have in the light with my family. I was in the dark for so long.”

The outlet also reports what it says are new details from al-Qadi’s rescue, saying that after being found, he repeatedly told troops “You don’t understand, there’s a Gaza above ground and a Gaza below ground.”

The army believes al-Qadi was last held with other hostages in December, and that he spent the last week before being found in a tunnel by himself, though he did have food, the radio station reports.

Troops raiding area where Tel Aviv bomb attack thought to have originated

Israeli police at the scene of a bomb explosion in Tel Aviv, August 18, 2024. Police later said the incident was an attempted suicide bombing in which the bomber blew himself up. (AP Photo/Moti Milrod)

Troops taking part in the IDF’s large-scale raid in the West Bank are operating in an area from which an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv was launched last week, military sources say.

The military believes that a terror network that planned and directed the intended attack is based in the Tulkarem area.

The bomber was named by Hamas as Jaafar Mona, from the West Bank city of Nablus. He was killed when a bomb in his backpack exploded prematurely as he walked down a Tel Aviv sidewalk. One passerby was injured.

The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups claimed responsibility for the attack on August 18, although did not offer any proof.

IDF expects major West Bank raid to last several days

Israeli soldiers and military vehicles deploy in Nur Shams camp near Tulkarem on August 22, 2024. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

The IDF has launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank that is expected to last several days, military sources say.

The operation is mostly focused on the Tulkarem area, but troops are also carrying out activities in Jenin and the Far’a camp near Tubas.

At least 10 Palestinians have been reported killed so far in clashes and IDF drone strikes.

Several wanted Palestinians have also been detained amid the operation, according to the military.

Biden ignored warnings Gaza aid pier would be boondoggle, comptroller charges

A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An internal report says US President Joe Biden ordered the construction of a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza over the objections of some staffers for the US Agency for International Development, who expressed concerns that the effort would be difficult to pull off and undercut efforts to persuade Israel to open land crossings to get food into the territory.

The $230 million military-run project known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system, or JLOTS, only operated for about 20 days, plagued by bad weather and security issues. Aid groups pulled out of the project last month.

“Multiple USAID staff expressed concerns that the focus on using JLOTS would detract from the Agency’s advocacy for opening land crossings, which were seen as more efficient and proven methods of transporting aid into Gaza,” according to the report from USAID’s inspector general. “However, once the President issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use JLOTS as effectively as possible.”

The Biden administration set a goal of the US sea route and pier providing food to feed 1.5 million of Gaza’s people for 90 days. It fell short, bringing in enough to feed about 450,000 people for a month before shutting down.

A ship transporting international humanitarian aid is moored at the US-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group. (Photo by AFP)

US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett says the project “had a real impact” of getting food to hungry Palestinian civilians despite the obstacles.

The watchdog report also alleges the United States failed to honor a commitment it made with the World Food Program to place the pier in northern Gaza, as part of a deal to get the UN agency to agree to take part in distributing supplies from the pier into Palestinian hands.

WFP staffers told the USAID watchdog that it was their understanding the US military chose that location because it allowed better security for the pier and the military itself.

Red Crescent confirms 10 killed in West Bank raids

A spokesman for the Red Crescent confirms reports that 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids and strikes in several towns in the north of the West Bank.

Two Palestinians were killed in the city of Jenin, four others in a nearby village, and four more in a refugee camp near the town of Tubas, says Ahmed Jibril.

10 Palestinians said killed as Israeli forces raid West Bank camps

Palestinian reports say 10 people have been killed in fighting in refugee camps near Jenin and Tubas in the northern West Bank, as Israeli forces engage in large scale anti-terror raids across the territory.

The Palestinian health ministry claims that three people were killed in an Israeli drone strike near Jenin.

Reports indicate that Israeli forces are also operating elsewhere in the West Bank, including near Ramallah, Qalqilya and Tulkarem in the central West Bank.

Statements from branches of Hamas’s armed wing in Jenin and Tulkarem carried by Palestinian media claim they are engaging Israeli troops in heavy gunbattles.

Probably one of the biggest operations in Jenin since years on PIJ camp and probably related to increased public threats and latest confrontations, but this seem bigger sounds of bullets and vehicles from east west and north pic.twitter.com/HWBKHL1YRx

— Mo Ghaoui (@moghaoui) August 27, 2024

The Israeli army said earlier it was carrying out an “operation to thwart terrorism” in Jenin and Tulkarem.

IDF, Shin Bet say Monday strike killed 5 terror operatives in Nur Shams ‘operations room’

In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet say an airstrike two days ago targeted five terror operatives at an “operations room” in the West Bank’s Nur Shams camp.

According to the statement, the site was used to oversee “terror activities in the area and harm” Israeli forces.

The army confirms Palestinian reports that among those killed was Jibril Jibril, a Hamas member who was released by Israel in a November deal with the terror group.

The army says the strike also killed a bomb-maker named Adnan Jaber, as well as terrorists Mahand Qarawi and Mohammed Yousef.

IDF announces Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, killed fighting in southern Gaza

Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, of the Nahal Brigade's 932nd Battalion, who the IDF announced on August 28, 2024, was killed fighting in the southern Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces announces an infantry soldier was killed fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, raising the toll in the ground offensive against Hamas and in military operations along the border with Gaza to 341.

He is named as Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, of the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, from Or Yehuda.

Alleged IDF strike in northeast Lebanon said to target truck carrying military equipment

An Israeli airstrike late last night hit a pickup truck traveling in northeast Lebanon, two security sources tell Reuters, with one of the sources saying it carried military equipment.

The two sources say the strike hit a pickup near Chaat, a remote area of Lebanon near the Syrian border, but that the driver survived.

One of the sources says it was likely the military equipment being transported was a damaged rocket launcher on the way to be repaired.

At least 7 Palestinians said killed amid IDF counter-terror operation in West Bank

At least seven Palestinians have been reported killed during a Israeli counter-terror operation in the West Bank, five of them in drone strikes.

Citing the Palestinian Red Crescent, the PA’s official Wafa news agency says three Palestinians traveling in a car near Jenin were killed by a drone, after earlier reporting two were killed by Israeli gunfire in the northern West Bank city.

Wafa also says two Palestinians were killed in a drone strike in the al-Fara refugee camp in the Jordan Valley.

White House insists Israel-Saudi normalization still possible before US election

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, on July 31, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

WASHINGTON — The White House insists that it’s still possible to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the November US presidential election and says it’s working to complete the initiative, even as the Israel-Hamas war wages in Gaza.

“President Biden absolutely believes normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is possible, and he believes that it’s certainly possible to get it done before the end of his time as president,” says National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby in an interview with The Times of Israel.

“He recognizes that there’s a lot of spade work that needs to be done before you can get there, [but] that’s why we’re in Doha right now trying to get this ceasefire in place so that we can start to make some progress on larger regional issues,” Kirby explains.

Already in July, however, a lawmaker from each party told The Times of Israel that the window for the US to secure a normalization agreement before the presidential election had shut.

The two congressional sources maintained that there is not enough time left in the congressional calendar for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to a deal with Israel.

Last week, an Israeli diplomat speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention agreed that a normalization deal won’t be possible before November, but maintained that the window could re-open during the lame duck period.

The official argued that it will be too difficult before the election for both parties in Congress to authorize the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to normalization with Israel.

“After the election, it’ll be easier for both parties. There will be a better chance that Biden will bring the support of a Democratic majority, and the Republican side will also support the [US-Saudi bilateral security pact] because of the normalization component,” the Israeli diplomat maintained.

File: Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during a Likud party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 13, 2021; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 14, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90; Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Riyadh is conditioning normalization on Israel agreeing to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a framework Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected and which, if adopted, would likely cause his far-right coalition partners to bolt.

Kirby says the Palestinian component of the deal is critical. “We have said from the beginning that as part of the normalization process, there has to be something in it for the Palestinians. That means there has to be something in it for the Palestinian Authority.”

“The other thing that is baked into this process… is a reformed Palestinian Authority that can credibly look after the aspirations of all the Palestinian people,” he adds.

IDF announces counter-terror operation in northern West Bank’s Jenin and Tulkarem

The military says Israeli forces are carrying out a large counter-terror operation in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, following reports of deadly clashes in the former.

US official hints further sanctions in pipeline as Israel fails to check settler violence

Illustrative: Jewish settlers swing sling shots during clashes with Palestinian close to the northern West Bank village of Burin on July 26, 2010. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP)

WASHINGTON — A senior Biden administration official indicates that more sanctions are on the horizon against Israeli extremists over attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

“We have taken actions in terms of sanctioning entities and individuals. That remains a viable tool going forward,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says in an interview with The Times of Israel.

The past week has seen several settler attacks against Palestinians, including a pair of rampages that resulted in two deaths. No arrests were made in the most recent attack last night. Indictment in such cases are highly rare and convictions even more so.

The head of the Shin Bet security service has been quoted lamenting in private meetings that the Israel Police overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is refusing to crack down on the phenomenon.

The lack of Israeli enforcement has led a handful of Western countries — led by the US — to begin issuing their own sanctions against Israeli extremists.

Asked if these sanctions have been effective in curbing the problem, Kirby responds, “There’s still settler violence, so that’s deeply concerning. As President Biden has made clear, it is unacceptable and we’ve condemned it in every case.”

“We don’t look at any one tool in the toolbox as a panacea. It doesn’t mean that we want to ignore it, either, so we have issued sanctions,” the White House spokesperson says.

“What really needs to happen here is sound leadership decisions there in Israel to stop this violence,” he continues. “I can’t rule out sanctions in the future.”

Sanctions “remains a tool (at our disposal), as well as the intense diplomacy that Secretary Blinken has been conducting on the ground with leaders to try to get the violence to stop,” Kirby adds.

PA says 1 Palestinian killed, 3 wounded in Jenin amid reports of clashes with IDF

The Palestinian Authority health ministry says that one person was killed and three injured “as a result of the occupation’s aggression on Jenin,” as clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians were reported in the area.