Aug. 8: Hostage David Cunio’s wife says she saw clip of him looking ‘desperate and hungry’ in captivity

Judge weighs Trump administration’s request to end protections for immigrant children

A judge is considering a Trump administration request to end a decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody that the government says is inhibiting its immigration crackdown.

The administration asked US District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles during a hearing to dissolve the policy, which limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions.

Gee, who oversees what is known as the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism at the government’s request but did not immediately issue a ruling. It is not clear how soon she will rule.

The judge pressed government attorney Joshua McCroskey on why President Donald Trump’s administration was holding children at the border for longer than the 72 hours laid out in the agreement when border arrests have reached record lows. She said it seems like conditions should be improving but they “are deteriorating.”

“It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it’s willful,” said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama.

McCroskey said some children are being held for longer because Trump as part of his crackdown ended the Biden administration’s policy that allowed expedited releases of immigrants. McCroskey also pointed to logistical challenges that resulted from the closure of temporary facilities that were set up under President Joe Biden to handle an influx of immigrants.

Trump says he’ll meet Putin on August 15 in Alaska

US President Donald Trump says he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska.

He also suggests that a deal between Moscow and Kyiv could involve swapping territory held by the two sides.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin held consultations toay with the leaders of China and India to seek support ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.

“I’ll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make,” Trump says at the White House.

The US president also says “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia and that the issue will be discussed soon, without providing further details.

Qatar says Israeli planned takeover of Gaza City undermines efforts to secure a ceasefire

Qatar condemns the Israeli decision to take over Gaza City, where one million Palestinians are currently sheltering in the north of the war-torn Strip.

A statement from the Qatari foreign ministry says that Doha views the decision as “a dangerous development that threatens to exacerbate the humanitarian suffering resulting from the ongoing war in the Strip, exacerbates its disastrous repercussions and undermines efforts aimed at achieving a permanent ceasefire.”

Doha calls on the international community to “take urgent action to prevent the Israeli occupation authorities from implementing this decision.”

‘We’re looking into that’: Trump dodges question about reported Somaliland offer to take in Gazans

US President Donald Trump is asked about reports that Somaliland has expressed interest in taking in Gazans if he recognizes their independence.

“We’re looking into that right now. Good question, actually, and another complex one, but we’re working on that right now,” Trump responds, avoiding a direct answer.

Trump: Armenia, Azerbaijan committing to stop fighting ‘forever’

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Armenia and Azerbaijan were committed to a permanent peace as he hosted a White House summit with the leaders of the two South Caucasus nations, which have fought for decades.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Trump says.

The US president also says he was lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan.

He reiterates his desire to quickly expand the Abraham Accords amid reports that Azerbaijan may be the next country to join, even though it already has ties with Israel.

UAE calls on international community to end Israeli violations of international law after cabinet vote

The United Arab Emirates “condemns in the strongest terms” Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City where some 1 million Palestinians are sheltering in the northern Strip.

The Emirati foreign ministry warns in a statement “that this decision will lead to catastrophic consequences, including further loss of innocent life and a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

The UAE “calls on the international community, the United Nations, and the UN Security Council to fulfill their responsibilities and put an end to such illegal practices in contravention of international law,” the statement adds.

UAE Condemns and Denounces in the Strongest Terms Israeli Government’s Decision to Occupy Gaza Striphttps://t.co/Hw15hpEVUr pic.twitter.com/VnflZNnL51

— MoFA وزارة الخارجية (@mofauae) August 8, 2025

University of California reviews US government’s $1 billion UCLA settlement offer over handling of anti-Israel protests

Protesters gather with a sign reading 'UAW Rank & File Workers For Palestine' after police cleared an encampment of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by US President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over anti-Israel protests.

UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in federal funding.

Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over pro-Palestinian student protests against US ally Israel’s war in Gaza. The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests, while some faculty groups have sued, saying the cuts have chilled free speech.

Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates their criticism of Israel’s military assault in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.

“The University of California just received a document from the Department of Justice and is reviewing it,” University of California President James Milliken said in a statement, adding the institution offered to have talks earlier this week with the government.

Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.

Last month, the government settled its probes with Columbia University, which agreed to pay over $220 million, and Brown University, which said it will pay $50 million. Both institutions accepted certain government demands. Talks to settle with Harvard University are ongoing.

The $1 billion settlement offer for UCLA marks an unusually high amount. The White House had no immediate comment.

Experts have raised concerns about the government’s federal funding threats to universities, saying they amount to an assault on free speech and academic freedom. The government has also attempted to deport some international students, over which civil rights groups have raised due process concerns.

Rights advocates note a rise in antisemitism, anti-Arab bias and Islamophobia due to the conflict in the Middle East. The Trump administration has not announced equivalent probes into Islamophobia.

US astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander, dead at 97

FILE - In a July 13, 2009 file photo, Astronaut Jim Lovell arrives for an event sponsored by Louis Vuitton celebrating the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing at the Museum of Natural History, in New York. In an interview Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission that limped back to Earth after an explosion crippled its flight to the moon in 1970, said compartmentalizing is a way of thinking that helps you survive: "You focus on what has to be done immediately... One by one you overcome each crisis as they come along." (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announces.

“NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades,” the US space agency says in a statement, adding that the astronaut died on Thursday in a Chicago suburb.

IDF carries out drone strike on pickup truck with mounted machine gun in southern Syria

This image released by the military on August 8, 2025, shows an armed pickup truck in southern Syria that was targeted in a drone strike. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it carried out a drone strike on a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted to it in southern Syria a short while ago.

The military releases an image showing the vehicle.

Fire destroys New Jersey synagogue; mayor says arson not suspected

A fire destroyed the Congregation Beth El synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, early Friday morning, US media reports.

Rutherford Mayor Frank Nunziato states that there are no indications that the blaze was intentionally set.

The community’s rabbi, Yitzhok Lerman, along with his family, were asleep in the synagogue’s apartment but managed to flee before the building collapsed, the rabbi tells The New York Times.

“We saw orange flames outside our window so we quickly grabbed our children and ran out,” he says. “I turned around to save our Torah scrolls, but the flames had already engulfed the entire building. It was that quick.”

The rabbi adds that Friday’s evening service was canceled, but its Saturday morning service will be held in tents on the property at 10 a.m.

BREAKING: Large fire completely destroys Congregation Beth El synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, on Friday, August 8, 2025. Early Friday morning a large fire destroyed the congregation at 185 Montross Avenue in Rutherford, New Jersey. Firefighters are battling the blaze with… pic.twitter.com/x9SkGaYp7k

— Kyle Mazza (@KyleMazzaWUNF) August 8, 2025

Iran accuses Israel of aiming to ‘ethnically cleanse’ Gaza after approval of fresh war plans

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemns Israel’s updated war plan that includes taking control of Gaza City, accusing Israel of seeking to “ethnically cleanse” the Palestinian territory.

The plan announced by Israel “is another clear sign of the Zionist regime’s specific intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza and commit genocide against the Palestinians,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says in a statement.

Canadian PM calls Israel’s Gaza City takeover plan ‘wrong,’ says it will risk hostages’ lives

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney leaves after speaking during a press conference after a cabinet meeting to discuss both trade negotiations with the US and the situation in the Middle East, at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on July 30, 2025. (Dave Chan / AFP)

OTTAWA, Canada — Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City is “wrong” and will put the lives of the remaining hostages at greater risk, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney tells reporters.

Wife of hostage David Cunio says she has seen footage of him in captivity: ‘He looks very desperate, and hungry’

David Cunio was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

Sharon Cunio, whose husband David is held hostage in Gaza, tells Channel 12 news she has seen footage of him in captivity.

While unable to go into details of the unpublished footage, she says the footage showed David Cunio “from a certain period in his captivity, and he doesn’t look very good. He looks very desperate, and hungry, and misses me and his family.”

“Broken and disappointed aren’t even words” to describe her feelings over last night’s security cabinet decision to advance plans to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, she says, adding that her “heart is crushed.”

She describes the decision as a “death sentence on David” and the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

Ex-Tel Aviv top cop says he was dismissed for failing to carry out Ben Gvir’s agenda

Tel Aviv District Commander of the Police Amichai Eshed holds a press conference in Tel Aviv, announcing his resgination, on July 5, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The former Tel Aviv District commander, Amichai Eshed, says he was removed from his position amid 2023 protests against the government’s controversial judicial overhaul proposals because he did not carry out National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s agenda.

“I am no longer in the police because I didn’t succeed in carrying out the agenda, not the political, or the operational, of the national security minister,” he tells Channel 12 news.

He says that he felt compelled to be very aggressive against the protesters, as if to show that “someone was taking control of those Tel Avivians.”

He describes the departure from his role as a “dismissal.”

French FM says Gaza takeover would ‘worsen an already catastrophic situation’

France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot looks on during a joint press briefing with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kharkiv on July 22, 2025. (Ivan SAMOILOV / AFP)

PARIS, France — France strongly condemns the government’s plan to prepare for the full occupation of Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says.

“Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic situation, without enabling the release of Hamas’ hostages, or Hamas’ disarmament and surrender,” he says in a statement on X.

UN Security Council to meet Saturday on Israel’s plans to take control of Gaza City

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council will meet in a rare weekend session on Saturday to discuss Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, three diplomatic sources tell AFP.

The meeting at 1900 GMT had been requested by several members of the Security Council, a member of the Council tells AFP, as global concern mounts over Israel’s plan.

Hanegbi reportedly told ministers he’s ‘not ready to give up on saving the hostages,’ opposed Gaza City takeover

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi arrives for a court hearing in the trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Jerusalem District Court, March 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi voiced opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to take over Gaza City last night, telling the security cabinet that he was “not ready to give up on saving the hostages,” according to quotes reported by Channel 12 news.

“I don’t understand how someone who saw the videos of [hostages] Evyatar [David] and Rom [Braslavski] and also all the others that were published before them can say: ‘everything or nothing.’ The significance of this is giving up on the chance to immediately save 10 hostages, because Hamas won’t adhere to this diktat,” he reportedly said.

“A ceasefire will allow us to try and reach an agreement on the remaining 10. I agree completely with the IDF chief of staff that controlling Gaza City will endanger the lives of the hostages; therefore, I oppose the prime minister’s proposal,” the report quotes Hanegbi as saying.

The report states that, along with Hanegbi, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Mossad Chief David Barnea opposed the prime minister’s proposal.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister supported Netanyahu’s idea, Channel 12 says.

Netanyahu: ‘We are not going to occupy Gaza — we are going to free Gaza from Hamas’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu writes on X that Israel aims to “free Gaza from Hamas,” and is not going to occupy it, a day after the security cabinet approved plans to fully take over the Gaza Strip.

“We are not going to occupy Gaza — we are going to free Gaza from Hamas. Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future,” he writes.

The decision by the cabinet last night did not use the word “occupy,” and instead referred to “taking over,” due to legal reasons pertaining to Israel’s responsibility for civilian matters in Gaza, according to the Ynet news site. The outlet added, however, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, that this distinction was superficial, and the decision in fact relates to full military rule. The conquest would stop if a hostage deal is clinched, according to the report.

Moreover, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly argued that the operation risks placing Israel under responsibility for providing services for the entire Palestinian population in Gaza. To date, Israel has argued that the UN and aid organizations are responsible for providing services, as it does not have effective control over Gaza’s territory, but this could change once Israel adds Gaza City to the territory it has conquered in the Strip.

We are not going to occupy Gaza – we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.

Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization.

This will help free…

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) August 8, 2025

UN chief says Israeli plans to take control of Gaza City ‘dangerous escalation’

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (L) arrives for a second day of a United Nations conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, at UN headquarters on July 29, 2025, in New York City. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that Israel’s Gaza control plan was a “dangerous escalation” that risked worsening conditions for ordinary Palestinians, his spokesperson says.

“The Secretary-General is gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli Government to ‘take control of Gaza City’. This decision marks a dangerous escalation and risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians,” Guterres’s spokesperson says in a statement.

Former hostages, families hold protest Shabbat service outside of Katz’s home

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, speaks outside the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz, in Kfar Ahim, August 8, 2025. (Uriel Even Sapir/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Relatives of hostages and former captives hold a Kabbalat Shabbat service outside the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz in Kfar Ahim to protest yesterday’s security cabinet decision to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.

Former hostage Yair Horn notes that his brother Eitan remains held captive in Gaza, as well as several friends.

“Until they don’t all return, it is impossible to call this Kabbalat Shabbat. I was forced to leave behind my little brother and my friend,” he says, adding that he won’t be able to have a real Shabbat dinner until the hostages return.

Ohad Ben Ami, who was also formerly held captive, recounts performing Shabbat blessings on pita and water while he was in Gaza.

“Hamas told us that the government gave up on us, but we saw with our own eyes that the people did not give up on us,” he says, recalling watching Saturday night hostage rallies on TV while held captive.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held captive, asserts that most Israeli citizens want a comprehensive deal to free all the hostages.

Later on, Zangauker blocks the Ayalon Highway with a Shabbat dinner table, along with her captive son’s girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was also formerly held hostage.

“Conquering the Strip will kill the hostages. How are the decision makers able to sit with their relatives around a table when the hostages are being tortured and abandoned,” she says, as quoted by Hebrew media.

עינב צנגאוקר הקימה שולחן שבת בנתיבי איילון וחסמה את הכביש למשך דקות: "כיבוש הרצועה יהרוג את החטופים. איך מקבלי ההחלטות מסוגלים לשבת עם בני משפחותיהם סביב השולחן כשהחטופים מעונים ומופקרים?" @YoavBorowitz pic.twitter.com/0hKwNzCQPF

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 8, 2025

Several countries request urgent UN Security Council session on Israeli plans to occupy Gaza

An overall view shows the United Nations Security Council during a meeting concerning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at UN headquarters in New York City on January 28, 2025 (Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)

UNITED NATIONS — Several countries have requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over Israeli plans to “take control” of Gaza City, two diplomatic sources tell AFP Friday.

“As we speak, there will be a number of countries on our behalf and on their own behalf (that) will be requesting a meeting of the Security Council,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told reporters earlier.

Netanyahu tells Merz Germany ‘rewarding Hamas’ by placing arms embargo on Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets Germany's then-opposition leader, now Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, February 12, 2024. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a phone call that he is disappointed with his decision to place an effective arms embargo on Israel, after he announced Berlin would no longer export weapons that could be used in the war in Gaza, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.

It adds “that Israel’s goal is not to take over Gaza, but to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there.”

Katz says decision to occupy Gaza shows Israel determined to achieve war’s goals

Defense Minister Israel Katz says in a statement that Hamas remains a “threat to the security of Israel.”

The security cabinet’s decision to move forward with the military occupation of the Strip yesterday “gives a message that Israel is determined to achieve all the goals of the war: the complete defeat of Hamas, the creation of conditions to return the hostages, and securing peace for Israeli communities through a broad and strong security buffer zone in Gaza.”

Katz slams countries that condemn Israel and threaten sanctions, saying that such measures won’t stop the plan.

IDF says Hezbollah’s Radwan force intel chief killed in southern Lebanon strike

A Hezbollah intelligence commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier today, the IDF says.

The strike in Aadloun killed Mohammad Hamza  Shehadeh, who the military says was the chief of intelligence in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.

The IDF says his activities were a violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

Israel will carry out government’s plan to conquer Gaza City ‘in the best possible way,’ Zamir says

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left) and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor are seen during an assessment at an army base in southern Israel, August 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

After the Israeli security cabinet last night instructed the IDF to seize Gaza City, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military will carry out the plan “in the best possible way.”

“We will continue to lead from the national responsibility placed on the IDF and its commanders. We are responsible for the army’s readiness, the security of the state and its citizens, the return of the hostages, and the defeat of Hamas, and so we shall do,” Zamir is quoted by the IDF as saying to division commanders and top generals during an assessment earlier today.

“My responsibility is to provide you and the soldiers in particular with as much certainty as possible, to create pauses and a proper endurance. It is in light of this responsibility that we operate,” he says.

Zamir says the IDF is “working on the new plan. We will deepen the planning, prepare at the highest level in all its aspects, and as always, we will carry out the mission in the best possible way.”

According to the military, Zamir also stressed in the meeting that “as the war develops, the IDF will act to safeguard the lives of the hostages, allow the forces to refresh in order to strengthen endurance, and operate according to the values and spirit of the IDF.”

Government set to lower cap on number of reservists IDF can draft to 430,000

The Israeli government is set to lower the number of reservists the IDF is authorized to call up in case of need from 450,000 to 430,000, the Defense Ministry says.

The authorization of the IDF to draft reservists with emergency call-up orders has been brought for government approval every few months since the beginning of the war in October 2023.

The last order was approved in May, and it allowed the IDF to draft up to 450,000 reservists. That order is set to expire, and therefore a new order — allowing 430,000 reservists — is being brought for approval on Sunday.

The number does not constitute the actual number of reservists that the IDF is calling up. The record total for that remains at 287,000 — the number of reservists who were called up immediately in the wake of the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Aside from the slightly lower cap, “there is nothing new about the extension being brought [for approval] on Sunday,” the Defense Ministry says.

EU Council president says Israel-EU relations will be impacted by decision to take over Gaza City

Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City “must have consequences for EU-Israel relations,” EU Council President Antonio Costa says, adding that this will be assessed by the Council and that he urges the Israeli government to reconsider.

“Not only (does the decision) violate the agreement with the EU announced by the High Representative on July 19, but also undermines fundamental principles of international law and universal values,” Costa, who heads the European Council that represents EU member states, adds in his statement on X.

IDF says some 72 tons of humanitarian aid airdropped into Gaza today by six countries

Members of the French Air Force load the C-130 plane with humanitarian aid containers which will be airdropped to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, August 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium, France and — for the first time — the Netherlands airdropped 72 pallets of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip today, the IDF says.

Each pallet contains around one ton of food.

Since July 26, over 1,000 humanitarian aid packages have been airdropped in the Gaza Strip by ten countries, including Israel, according to the military. The packages the IDF airdropped were supplied by international aid groups.

המאמץ ההומניטרי נמשך: יותר מ-1,000 חבילות סיוע הוצנחו מתחילת המבצע על ידי תשע מדינות שונות

בהתאם להנחיית הדרג המדיני ובמסגרת שיתוף הפעולה בין ישראל לבין מדינות איחוד האמירויות, ירדן, גרמניה, בלגיה, צרפת והולנד, צה״ל באמצעות המתפ״ש ממשיך היום בסדרת פעולות לשיפור המענה ההומניטרי… pic.twitter.com/Wg9eX5RRY1

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 8, 2025

IDF says it killed deputy commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion, who participated in Oct. 7 onslaught

The IDF says it has confirmed that it killed the deputy commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion during operations in the town in the northern Gaza Strip this past month.

The deputy commander, Murad Abu Jarad, served as the de facto commander of the Beit Hanoun Battalion during most of 2024, the military says, adding that he was involved in numerous attacks on troops and that he participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

In a separate operation, the military says it killed the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s anti-tank missile unit in the terror group’s Gaza City brigade, Mohammed Dardawasi, who also participated in the October 7 onslaught.

In another strike, the IDF says it killed several Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives who were involved in rocket fire and sniper attacks.

Vance: US has ‘some disagreement’ about Israel’s war strategy, but is aligned on objectives

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a meeting with Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy (not pictured) at Chevening House in Kent, England, August 8, 2025. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool via AP)

US Vice President JD Vance says the Trump administration has “some disagreement” with Israel regarding the latter’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, even though Washington shares Jerusalem’s objectives.

Asked by reporters during a visit to the UK about the Israeli cabinet’s decision to expand its military operations into Gaza City, where roughly 1 million Palestinians are currently sheltering, Vance begins by saying that the administration’s two main goals are ensuring that Hamas cannot continue to attack innocent people and solving the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“There are a lot of common objectives here. There is some disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives,” Vance says.

“We’re not going to know exactly how to solve a very complicated problem… If it was easy to bring peace to that region of the world, it would have been done already,” the US vice president adds.

Pressed on whether the US agrees with the UK plan to recognize a Palestinian state, Vance indicates that the UK has the right to make its own decision on the matter. However, he reiterates that the US will not be following suit.

“I don’t know what it would mean to recognize a Palestinian state given the lack of a functional government there,” he says.

US aware of ‘threats’ towards Jewish, Israeli communities in the UAE

The United States mission to the United Arab Emirates says it is aware of information indicating threats toward the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE.

It urges US citizens to “avoid places in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of worship.”

On July 31, Israel’s National Security Council upgraded its travel warning for Israelis in the Gulf country, saying: “terrorist organizations are operating with increased intensity these days in efforts to harm Israel.”

The U.S. Mission to the United Arab Emirates is aware of information indicating threats toward the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE.  The Mission urges U.S. citizens to avoid locations in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of…

— US Mission to UAE (@USAinUAE) August 8, 2025

Huckabee demands ‘accountability’ from UN after research paper finds aid diversion common problem across conflict zones

Palestinians ride on a truck loaded with food and humanitarian aid as it moves along the Morag corridor near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (AP/ Mariam Dagga)

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee demands “accountability” for the United Nations and its “massive funding,” which he declares is “either incompetent or corrupt,” after a new research paper finds that aid diversion is a recurring problem in war zones across the world.

The paper, titled “Aiding Who? Humanitarian Aid and the Continuation of War by Other Means,” by Netta Barak Corren and Jonathan Boxman, was published on August 5 on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).

Barak Corren is the Haim H. Cohn Chair in Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Law, and Boxman is a health sciences and quantitative science independent researcher.

The paper examines records and documents kept by humanitarian groups across eight different prolonged conflicts — Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Gaza Strip — to examine the impact of the “humanity-first” aid model, which the authors argue leads to aid diversion not as a “deviation from normative humanitarian practices,” but as an issue “deeply embedded” in all stages of the process.

The humanitarian groups examined by the authors include UNRWA, USAID and Human Rights Watch, among others.

The report highlights what it says are issues in the aid distribution practices across all eight conflict zones.

There needs to be accountability for the UN & its massive funding that is either incompetent or corrupt. pic.twitter.com/u7KK8IpJyS

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 8, 2025

In Somalia, it says the World Food Programme entrusted aid transport, storage and security to three clans, which use the proceeds from their tenders to fund armed militias and which have previously been estimated to divert some 30% of aid away from its intended recipients.

In Afghanistan, the authors write that the Taliban imposes a 10-15% tax rate on humanitarian groups and also regularly physically diverts aid through a variety of tactics, including by securing jobs for its own people within various aid groups.

The researchers find that during the 2011-2024 Syrian civil war, aid would regularly be diverted to then-president Bashar al-Assad’s loyalist strongholds and withheld from rebel-controlled areas, as the aid groups allowed the Syrian regime to determine which areas were safe to deliver to and which were not. The paper reports on similar practices, which it describes as “denial of aid through bureaucratization” during the ongoing Sudanese civil war.

Finally, in the Gaza Strip, the paper’s authors say that in all its years of operations, from 1949 until now, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has never acknowledged any aid diversion in Gaza, nor any preventative methods to prevent aid diversion.

However, the paper says there is “an abundance of evidence” pointing to frequent aid diversion.

It cites an old internal Hamas document calling to appropriate 25% of all aid delivered to the Strip for redistribution and sale, as well as a failure to exempt humanitarian aid from a 20% tax that, as of 2016, was imposed on all goods entering the Gaza Strip.

The authors point to other instances, including the participation of some UNRWA employees in the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault in southern Israel, as proof that the agency “has been intertwined with Hamas to a degree that allowed Hamas to use its resources as it pleases.”

The paper concludes that the current prevailing method of aid distribution is no longer effective, and that, as such, a new model “which seeks to truly alleviate human suffering” must be introduced, with strong anti-diversion safeguards in place.

Notably, the authors chose to focus their research on the Middle East and Africa, and did not examine past or present wars in other areas of the world, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine or any other conflicts in Europe in the late 20th and early 21st century.

Saudi Arabia slams Israel’s plan for Gaza City takeover, ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians

Saudi Arabia rejects Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City, lambasting it for the “starvation” and “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in the blockaded territory.

Riyadh said it “condemns in the strongest and most forceful terms the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to occupy the Gaza Strip,” in a foreign ministry statement on X.

It added that it “categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people.”

Israel denies creating starvation conditions in the Gaza Strip and blames the UN and Hamas for preventing civilians from reaching aid.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF chief holds assessment with senior commanders following decision to take Gaza City

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held an assessment with senior officers at the Southern Command this morning, after last night’s security cabinet decision to capture Gaza City.

As part of the assessment, the officers discussed “the current fighting situation and the formulation of plans and preparations for the continuation of the fighting in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF says.

“The chief of staff noted that in the coming days the IDF will deepen operational planning with professionalism… with the aim of creating conditions for the return of the hostages and the collapse of the Hamas regime,” the military adds.

Israel says senior PFLP commander killed in strike at Syria-Lebanon border crossing

A senior commander in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group was killed in an Israeli airstrike at a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria yesterday, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.

According to the IDF, the strike in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley killed Mohammed Wishah, a Syrian senior terror operative in the PFLP, who served as the head of the group’s Military-Security Department in Syria.

He assumed the role after his predecessor, Shantal al-Al, was killed in a strike in Beirut in September 2024.

Wishah was responsible for “coordinating with other Palestinian terror organizations, strengthening ties and coordination with the Shiite axis, and recently operated to advance military operations against Israeli targets,” the IDF adds.

The IDF releases footage of the strike.

צה"ל ושב"כ חיסלו בלבנון את ראש המחלקה הצבאית-ביטחונית של ארגון הטרור החזית העממית בסוריה

אתמול, צה"ל תקף וחיסל במרחב הבקאע שבלבנון בהכוונה מודיעינית של שב"כ את המחבל מחמד ושאח ״אבו ח'ליל״, מחבל סורי בכיר בארגון הטרור החזית העממית לשחרור פלסטין בסוריה.

המחבל היה אחראי על יצירת… pic.twitter.com/OTIyVkd2tx

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 8, 2025

Egypt, Qatar working on framework to release all hostages in exchange for Gaza ceasefire, officials say

Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, according to two Arab officials speaking to The Associated Press anonymously due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

One is involved directly in the deliberations and the second was briefed on the efforts.

The efforts have the backing of major Arab Gulf monarchies, the officials say, as they are concerned about further regional destabilization if Israel’s government proceeds with a full reoccupation of Gaza, two decades after its unilateral withdrawal from the strip.

The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the contentious issue of what to do with Hamas’s weapons, with Israel seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. The official directly involved in the efforts says discussions are underway about “freezing arms,” which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. It also calls for the group to relinquish power in the strip.

A Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a new police force, trained by two US allies in the Middle East, to take over the strip, he says. It is unclear what role the Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play.

The second official says that a powerful Gulf country is supporting the Egyptian-Qatari efforts.

A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media, says the group’s leadership has been aware of the Arab mediators’ efforts to revive the ceasefire talks, but has yet to receive details.

AP has reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel for comment.

Belgium’s foreign minister summons Israeli ambassador in response to Gaza City takeover plan

Belgium’s foreign minister has summoned Israeli ambassador Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, citing Israel’s announced plan to occupy Gaza City.

In a statement, the ministry says Belgium wants to “express (its) total disapproval of this decision, but also the continued colonization…and the desire to annex the West Bank,” adding that it will “vigorously advocate” for a reversal of this decision.

“Following the official confirmation by the Israeli government of its intention to encircle and then occupy Gaza City and take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has decided to summon the Israeli Ambassador,” it says.

Norway wealth fund to announce measures on Israeli investments next week, rules out blanket withdrawal

Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund will next week announce changes to the handling of its Israeli investments, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg says, ruling out any blanket withdrawal over the war in Gaza.

The government on Tuesday said it had launched an urgent review of the fund’s investments over ethics concerns linked to the war in Gaza and Israel’s actions in the West Bank.

“I see several measures over time, but what can be addressed quickly, must be done quickly,” Stoltenberg tells a press conference after holding his second meeting with fund officials in three days.

He does not say what these measures could be, but adds that there will not be a wholesale divestment from all Israeli companies. “If we did that, it would mean we are divesting from them because they are Israeli,” he says.

The review followed local news reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd, which provides services to Israel’s armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets, creating a political debate in the Nordic country ahead of elections on September 8.

On Wednesday, the fund’s ethics watchdog, which checks that the fund’s investments respect ethical guidelines set by parliament, acknowledged it should have considered Bet Shemesh Engines for possible divestment. Bet Shemesh did not reply to requests for comment.

The fund said it uses three Israeli external fund managers for some of its holdings in the country.

The fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95 billion, its records show.

It has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group in the last year, and its ethics watchdog has said it is reviewing whether to divest holdings in five banks.

Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel campaigners have said this is not enough and have called for a country-wide divestment by the fund. Norway’s parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the West Bank.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Hamas says Israel choosing to ‘sacrifice’ hostages with Gaza City takeover

Hamas says that Israel’s decision to approve a plan to take over Gaza City is proof that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are disregarding the lives of the hostages, as they know that expanding the military operation “will lead to their sacrifice.”

The statement claims that the decision explains why Israel abruptly withdrew from hostage deal negotiations, which the terror group claims were “on the verge of reaching a ceasefire agreement.”

Israel and the US pulled their negotiating teams from Doha late last month after Hamas requested amendments to a partial ceasefire and hostage release deal that they found unacceptable.

Hamas demands that the United States and international courts stop Israel from carrying out its planned takeover.

Smotrich unhappy with Netanyahu’s Gaza plan, believes it to be a ploy to bring Hamas back to negotiations

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is disappointed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take control of Gaza City, as he believes it does not go far enough, a spokesperson for the Religious Zionism chair says.

“The proposal spearheaded by Netanyahu and approved by the cabinet may sound good, but it’s actually more of the same,” the spokesperson says.

“This is not an operation to conquer the Strip, take full military control of the territory and push for a decisive outcome — the only way to ensure victory, lasting security and the return of the hostages — but a specific and dangerous operation whose sole purpose is to return Hamas to the negotiating room — a goal that isn’t a goal of the war,” the statement adds.

He predicts that once again, Netanyahu will promise that Israel is going “all the way,” only to then, “at the moment of truth, withdraw from the field after dozens of heroes have died and without any real operational achievements.”

According to the spokesperson, Smotrich believes the decision is “immoral, unethical and not Zionist.”

Offering more insight into Smotrich’s stance, the Israel Hayom newspaper reports that the far-right lawmaker, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, voted against Netanyahu’s proposal to take over Gaza City during last night’s security cabinet meeting.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper reports that Smotrich went so far as to agree with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, whom he is frequently reported to be at odds with, that the plan was not a good one, and would not bring Israel closer to its stated aims.

He is said to have told the security cabinet that if Netanyahu truly wants his plan to lead to “victory,” then the premier must “explicitly announce that he will no longer agree to a partial deal.”

“That way, Hamas will understand that it has two choices left: Surrendering in an agreement or destruction.”

“As long as there’s no such announcement from the prime minister, it is as though the goal of this big step is to again reach a partial deal,” he is quoted as having said. “So the content of the decision does not match its title, and that is not something I can agree to.”

Germany suspends arms exports to Israel for use in Gaza over Gaza City takeover plan

Friedrich Merz delivers his first speech as German chancellor in the parliament in Berlin, Germany, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The German government will not approve any exports to Israel of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, Chancellor Friedrich Merz says in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there.

The release of the Israeli hostages and negotiations for a ceasefire are Germany’s top priorities, Merz says in a statement, expressing deep concern over the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The decision marks a major change of course for the German government, which has been one of Israel’s staunchest international allies.

Merz says it is “increasingly difficult to understand” how the Israeli military plan will help achieve the legitimate aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the hostages.

“Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice,” he says in a statement.

Israeli musician Alon Cohen, of Nosei Hamigbaat, found dead in his New York home

Israeli musician Alon Cohen, a member of the 1980s band Nosei Hamigbaat (The Top Hat Carriers), has died, his former bandmate Tamir Albert says.

He was 55 years old.

Albert shares a screenshot on Facebook of a text he received from Cohen’s sister this morning, confirming that he was found dead in his apartment in New York last night, apparently after suffering a heart attack.

“I don’t even know what to write. I’m in shock,” writes Albert. “Alon Cohen, the drummer of Nosei Hamigbaat whom I’ve known since I was 16, has passed away.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he adds.

According to Ynet, approximately three days passed between Cohen’s death and his body being discovered.

Nosei Hamigbaat, an Israeli new wave band, was formed in 1984 and disbanded in 1992.

Six said injured in Gaza City after airdropped aid package lands on balcony, collapsing it onto waiting crowd

Reports: Six injured, most of them children, after balcony collapses following airdropped aid.

Media outlets in Gaza report that six people, most of them children, were injured when an aid package was airdropped into Gaza City and landed on a balcony, collapsing it onto the crowd beneath it.

Earlier this week, Gaza medics said a man had died after an airdropped aid package hit him on the head.

المشهد أمامكم…
كارثة خلفتها مساعدات الإنزال الجوي في مدينة غزة قبل قليل pic.twitter.com/xM0tftCn3N

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) August 8, 2025

Gantz slams decision to take over Gaza City, lays out vision for alternative plan

MK Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White-National Unity party, leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Blue and White-National Unity chairman Benny Gantz slams the cabinet’s newly approved plans to conquer Gaza City, calling it a “political failure that wastes the tremendous achievements of the IDF.”

In a post on X, Gantz suggests an alternative plan to achieve the war’s stated goals of destroying Hamas and returning the hostages.

“It can be done differently: first, announce — in exchange for the return of the hostages, we will be willing to agree to a permanent ceasefire,” he writes.

“As long as this is not accepted,” Gantz suggests that Israel should “eliminate Hamas leaders anywhere in the world; raid every Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip as long as there is no danger to the hostages; reach an agreement with the US and Arab countries on the establishment of a ‘Gaza Administration’ — and inform Hamas that this is the body that will manage Gaza civilian affairs while Israel maintains security.”

He says Israel should also “announce the opening of crossings for Gazans to leave to Ashdod port, Jordan, or Egypt — start implementing the Trump plan. Whoever wants to leave — let them go.”

“In any case, if all the hostages are not returned or if Hamas resumes arming itself — Israel will have the right to act,” he adds.

“The problem with this government is that it is slow, not determined, does not seize opportunities when they arise, and is not creative,” Gantz writes.

“We already entered Khan Younis and Rafah despite Netanyahu delaying it,” he says. “We will know how to do it in the future as well. But the question is, what have we done since then?

“We talked all the time about the day after — and Netanyahu did not act. Israel deserves leadership that seizes opportunities, not leadership that does not make every effort to return the hostages and defeat Hamas.”

Beijing expresses ‘serious concern’ over Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City

China expresses “serious concerns” over Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, urging it to “immediately cease its dangerous actions.”

“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” a foreign ministry spokesperson tells AFP in a message.

“The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire,” they add.

“A complete resolution to the Gaza conflict hinges on a ceasefire; only then can a path to de-escalation be paved and regional security ensured,” the spokesperson says.

Beijing says it is “willing to work together with the international community to help end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible.”

IDF says it destroyed rocket launcher in northern Gaza that fired at Nir Am yesterday

IDF troops are seen operating in the Gaza Strip in an image published by the military on August 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF Artillery Corps’ elite Sky Riders Unit, together with troops of the 401st Armored Brigade, destroyed a primed rocket launcher in northern Gaza yesterday, after it was used to fire a rocket at Nir Am, the military says.

It says that the launcher had been primed to fire several more rockets at Israel before it was destroyed.

תיעוד: צה"ל משמיד מתחמי שיגור לשטח הארץ ומסתורי מחבלים ברצועת עזה

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

כוחות אוגדה 162 ממשיכים לפעול בצפון רצועת עזה. אתמול יחידת רוכב שמיים וצוות הקרב של חטיבה 401 תקפו והשמידו את מתחם השיגור… pic.twitter.com/rMLKv8G5y4

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 8, 2025

Elsewhere in Gaza, the IDF says troops of the 36th Division are continuing to operate in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, where they “destroyed underground infrastructure and eliminated terror cells that posed a threat to the forces.”

Additional forces in southern Gaza located and destroyed several tunnel shafts in the past 24 hours, the IDF adds.

At the same time, it says the 282nd Artillery Regiment destroyed a weapons depot, and the 990th Reserve Artillery Regiment hit buildings that posed a threat to troops in the Shejaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods of Gaza City.

‘Complete fake news’: PM’s office denies that Trump shouted at Netanyahu over his denial of Gaza hunger

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismisses as “complete fake news” an NBC report alleging that the premier fought with US President Donald Trump over the humanitarian situation in Gaza during a fiery phone call late last month.

“The claim that there was supposedly a ‘shouting match’ between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump is complete fake news,” writes the Prime Minister’s Office in a brief statement.

The report cited unnamed US officials and alleged that the two leaders clashed over reports of starvation in Gaza and the status of humanitarian aid.

The White House has not yet responded to the report.

Turkey demands UN intervention to prevent Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City

Turkey condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, the foreign ministry says, calling on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to act to prevent the plan’s implementation.

The ministry says Israel must immediately halt its war plans, agree on a ceasefire in Gaza, and start negotiations for a two-state solution, saying each step by Israel’s government to “forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land” deals a heavy blow to global security.

Smotrich: Israel will ‘erase the Palestinian state,’ rebuild long-gone West Bank settlements

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, second left, and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, left, stand in a structure in the area of the former settlement of Sa-Nur in the northern West Bank, August 7, 2025. The two-word phrase, written in blue on the column on the photo's right, reads 'Death to Arabs.' (Roei Hadi/Samaria Regional Council)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, says he is working to reestablish the former Israeli settlements of Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank, both of which were evacuated and dismantled as part of the 2005 disengagement.

The far-right minister tells the Religious Zionism party’s Ofek newspaper that he hopes to see this plan come to fruition “in the coming weeks,” to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal from Gaza and from four West Bank settlements.

“The people of Israel are correcting the sin of Gaza,” he says, referring to the push among settler activists to reestablish the Gush Katif settlement bloc, “and I hope we will also be able to fully correct the sin of northern Samaria.”

Earlier this year, Israel approved plans to rebuild the settlements of Sa-Nur and Homesh, which were dismantled along with Ganim and Kadim during the disengagement.

Smotrich tells his party’s newspaper that the plans for the West Bank are intended to “erase the Palestinian state,” and to prevent another event similar to the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault from occurring in the future.

“A large part of what we are doing today in Judea and Samaria is the product of insights from October 7,” he says, claiming that “an absolute majority” of Israelis know that the purpose of the West Bank settlements is to ensure “that Kfar Saba will not be Kfar Aza, Netanya will not be Be’eri, and Nitzanei Oz will not be Nahal Oz.”

Lebanese media reports one killed in Israeli strike on vehicle in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media reports that the IDF struck a vehicle in Ansariyeh, located between Tyre and Sidon in southern Lebanon.

According to the reports, one person was killed in the strike.

There is no immediate response to the reports from the IDF.

مراسل "ليبانون ديبايت": غارة من مسيرة إسرائيلية على طريق بلدة أنصارية pic.twitter.com/HAwQhvu68p

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) August 8, 2025

Israel’s Gaza takeover plan ‘must be immediately halted,’ says UN rights chief

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

UN human rights chief Volker Turk says that “the Israeli Government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted.”

“It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination,” he says in a statement.

Israel’s security cabinet approved a proposal overnight by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the densely populated Gaza City.

Although the proposal did not appear to go as far as what had earlier been characterized as a plan to occupy the entirety of the Strip, a statement from Netanyahu’s office described it as being aimed at “defeating Hamas,” indicating that there may be subsequent operations beyond the plans for Gaza City.

Hostages forum: Cabinet’s ‘foolish’ Gaza decision sentences captives to death, will cause ‘colossal disaster’

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issues a scathing reaction to the cabinet’s decision to conquer Gaza City, where some of the captives are believed to be held.

“Tonight, the Israeli government sentenced the living hostages to death and the fallen hostages to disappearance,” it alleges in a statement.

“The cabinet decision to launch the process of occupying the Strip is an official declaration of the abandonment of the hostages, while completely ignoring the repeated warnings by the military echelon and the clear desire of most of the public in Israel,” it continues.

The statement accuses the government of acting against the national interest with a “foolish” move of “deception and unforgivable moral and security neglect” that brings Israel closer to a “colossal disaster for the hostages and [IDF] fighters.”

The Forum adds, however, that it is not too late and that the step can be stopped by reaching a comprehensive deal to end the war and return all the captives.

Palestinian reports: 3 killed by IDF gunfire while waiting for aid distribution

Media outlets in Gaza report that three people have been killed and several others injured by IDF gunfire while waiting for aid distribution in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

It was not explicitly stated whether the incident occurred near a distribution center operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, though there is a center in the area.

The IDF has not yet issued a response.

UK PM Starmer says Israel’s decision on Gaza is wrong, will ‘only bring more bloodshed’

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with the media during a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses, in Turnberry south west Scotland on July 28, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City is wrong and urges the government in Jerusalem to reconsider.

“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately,” he says in a statement.

“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.”

The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.

Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions.

We need a ceasefire… pic.twitter.com/UoJhjss81e

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 8, 2025

Britain hopes Israel will reconsider Gaza City takeover decision, junior minister says

Britain hopes Israel will reconsider its decision to take control of Gaza City, a junior energy minister says.

“We think that decision is the wrong decision, and we hope that the Israeli government will reconsider it,” Miatta Fahnbulleh says on Times Radio. “It risks escalating an already intolerable and atrocious situation.”

Egypt said to warn that Gaza takeover plan would lead to execution of hostages

Egypt has warned, in a message sent to the United States, that the Israeli proposal to take over Gaza would lead to Hamas executing the Israeli hostages it is holding, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reports, citing an Egyptian diplomat.

According to the report, this would occur because Hamas and the other terror groups holding the hostages “have orders to ‘neutralize’ them if their captors come under siege and are unable to escape alive.”

The report also states that senior Egyptian officials have demanded an urgent return to the negotiating table between Israel and Hamas regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, and that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has requested to be in direct contact on the matter with US President Donald Trump.

‘A disaster for generations’: Opposition slams cabinet approval of Gaza City takeover

After the cabinet last night approved a plan for conquering Gaza City, opposition figures slam it as a “disaster” that will lead to the deaths of Israeli hostages and soldiers.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the move “a disaster that will lead to many more disasters,” in a post on X, adding that it was made in “complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “dragged” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “into a move that will take months, lead to the deaths of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse,” Lapid adds.

“This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading,” he says.

Yisrael Beytenu party chairman and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman says that the cabinet’s decision to push for the takeover of Gaza City over the objection of top defense officials “proves that life-and-death decisions are being made in opposition to security considerations and the war’s objectives.”

“The prime minister of October 7 is once again sacrificing the security of Israeli citizens for the sake of his seat,” he adds.

Yair Golan, head of The Democrats party, says the decision means that “more hostages will be abandoned to their deaths,” and that the move is typical of Netanyahu: “He is weak, easily pressured, lacking decision-making ability, and without the capacity to bridge between what the professional level presents and the group of messianists controlling the government.”

The decision is “a disaster for generations,” Golan tells Army Radio.

“Our sons and grandsons will still patrol the alleys of Gaza, we will pay hundreds of billions over the years, and all this for reasons of political survival and messianic visions,” he adds, asking how the government plans to demilitarize the Strip: “Are we going to crawl through tunnels and retrieve the last Kalashnikovs?”

Trump shouted at Netanyahu in phone call over PM’s denial of Gaza hunger — report

US President Donald Trump (L) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) at the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 7, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump recently had a phone call turn into shouting over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, NBC News reports, citing unnamed senior US officials.

According to the report, the fiery phone conversation took place on July 28, after Netanyahu said at an event that, despite widespread reports of hunger and starvation in the Strip, “there is no starvation in Gaza” — to which Trump publicly responded the next day that he was “not particularly convinced” by Netanyahu’s assurance, saying there was “real starvation” in the Strip and adding: “You can’t fake that.” 

The report says that after Trump’s comments, Netanyahu demanded a phone call with the president, and the two spoke hours later.

During the call, the premier told Trump that the reports of starvation in Gaza had been “fabricated” by Hamas and that hunger was not widespread in the enclave. Trump then interrupted Netanyahu, NBC says, and began yelling, saying that the president’s aides had shown him proof that children in Gaza were starving and that he didn’t want to hear it dismissed as “fake.”

The report describes the conversation as “a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid” in which the US president “was doing most of the talking,” according to a former US official who was briefed on the call.

According to the report, officials in both the White House and Israel have declined to comment on the phone call.

Australia urges Israel not to take military control of Gaza

Australia has urged Israel “not to go down this path,” after Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of Gaza and his cabinet threw its support behind the initial takeover of Gaza City.

“Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong says in a statement.

Wong says permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law, and repeats calls for a ceasefire, aid to flow unimpeded and for terror group Hamas to return the hostages taken in October 2023.

“A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace – a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally-recognized borders,” she adds.

Australia has not yet joined Western allies such as the UK, Canada and France in announcing it will recognize Palestinian statehood, but has said it will make a decision “at an appropriate time,” while escalating its criticism of Israel’s actions.

Netanyahu’s office confirms cabinet approval of his plan to conquer Gaza City

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches along Gaza City, August 3, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirms that the security cabinet has approved his plan for the IDF to take over Gaza City in the north of the enclave.

Israel will provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside of combat zones, the PMO says in a statement on what it says was the decision by the cabinet to back Netanyahu’s “proposal to defeat Hamas.”

A majority of cabinet members also backed a list of five principles that Israel will demand in exchange for ending the war with Hamas, the Prime Minister’s Office says, describing them as follows.

1. The disarmament of Hamas

2. The return of all 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive

3. The demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

4. Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip.

5. The existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

An overwhelming majority of ministers determined that the alternative plan presented to the security cabinet would not have secured the defeat of Hamas or the return of the hostages, the PMO says.

The statement doesn’t elaborate on the aforementioned alternative plan, but it appears to be referring to a proposal presented by IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who has expressed his opposition to occupying the Gaza Strip, fearing it will lead to a humanitarian disaster, while risking the lives of the hostages.

It’s unclear why the statement only refers to conquering Gaza City and not the occupation of the entirety of the Gaza Strip, as Netanyahu declared on Thursday was his plan.

Gaza City is part of the 25 percent of the Strip that the IDF has yet to conquer, along with several refugee camps in central Gaza.

It’s unclear whether those other unconquered areas outside of Gaza City will also be taken over, as part of the plan authorized by the security cabinet.

The decision to highlight Gaza City indicates that the military takeover will be gradual and at least start there.

The operation will likely require the evacuation of Gaza City where some 800,000 Gazans currently reside. The move will further shrink the amount of territory where Gaza’s population of roughly 2 million people is allowed to reside.

Security cabinet said to approve Netanyahu’s plan to conquer Gaza City

People inspect the damage at the Sheikh Radwan al-Taba UNRWA clinic, in Gaza City, August 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The security cabinet has voted to approve a proposal backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the IDF to conquer Gaza City, the Axios news site reports, citing an Israeli official.

The IDF has avoided entering much of the city since the outbreak of the war.

The operation will likely require the mass evacuation of the area where some 800,000 Gazans currently reside.

It is not immediately clear whether the takeover of Gaza City is part of a broader plan to occupy the entirety of the enclave, which Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday that Israel intends to do.

Gaza City is part of the 25 percent of the Strip that the IDF has yet to conquer, along with several refugee camps in central Gaza.

Those are areas where Israel believes the remaining hostages are being held, which is why IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has expressed his opposition to the operation pushed by Netanyahu, fearing it will put those captives at risk.

Far-right protesters block Allenby Crossing to prevent transport of Jordanian aid to Gaza

Right-wing activists from the Tzav 9 movement block the road to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip, April 25, 2024. (Tzav 9)

Far-right protesters have been blocking the Allenby Crossing between the West Bank and Jordan for over three and a half hours to prevent its use for transferring humanitarian aid from the Hashemite kingdom to the Gaza Strip.

The protesters have been preventing Israeli vehicles from entering Jordan in order to escort the humanitarian aid trucks.

Israeli authorities are working to clear the protesters off the road with limited success.

Such protests have continued unabated, despite the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The far-right activists behind them argue that the aid is going to Hamas.

2:30 חוסמים את כניסת משאיות סיוע לחמאס.
מפני שזה החמצן של החמאס בלחימה נגד חיילנו pic.twitter.com/CjGwm4VjZ2

— מירב חגאג (@meravhgag) August 7, 2025

US-brokered meeting aimed at urging UN, GHF collaboration said to end with no breakthrough

Senior UN aid officials met on Wednesday in New York with the chair of the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the first such engagement since GHF began operating in Gaza in late May, the Axios news site reports.

The meeting was brokered by the US, which is encouraging the organizations to collaborate in order to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The UN has thus far refused to work with GHF, saying that the latter group was established to advance the Israeli government’s war aims, rather than to serve those in need. It also claims that GHF puts Gazans in danger by having them walk long distances while crossing IDF lines in order to pick up boxes of food.

“We already have a plan that’s built on long-established humanitarian principles: neutrality, impartiality, independence and humanity. That means we go where the needs are greatest. We answer to civilians in need and not the warring parties. Inside Gaza, we have the people and networks and the trust to deliver, and we just need to be able to go about that,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said earlier Thursday.

Particapating in Wednesday’s meeting were senior US official Morgan Ortagus, GHF chair Johnnie Moore and representatives of the World Food Program, UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Red Cross.

The meeting did not lead to a breakthrough, but participants agreed to de-escalate public attacks in the media against each other, Axios reports.

GHF was still calling out the UN on X throughout Thursday, though.

For second time within an hour, IDF intercepts drone likely from Yemen

A drone launched at Israel “from the east” was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the IDF says for the second time in less than an hour.

No sirens were activated “according to protocol,” as no Israeli towns were under threat, the IDF says.

According to preliminary assessments in the IDF, this drone too was likely launched from Yemen.

IDF says it intercepted drone likely from Yemen

A drone launched at Israel “from the east” was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the IDF says.

No sirens were activated “according to protocol,” the military says.

According to preliminary assessments in the IDF, the drone was likely launched from Yemen.

Ministers meet to discuss full occupation of Gaza as protesters rally outside against proposal

Israel’s security cabinet meeting to vote on whether to move forward with a full-scale military occupation of the Gaza Strip has begun, according to Channel 12.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is reportedly in attendance, despite a unanimous government vote earlier this week to dismiss her from her position.

Outside the meeting, protesters rally against the proposed move to expand the military operation, which they say will risk the lives of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

The protesters call for a deal to end the war and the release of all the hostages.

הצטרפו אלינו עכשיו בירושלים ❗️❗️
שורדות שבי ומשפחות חטופים יחד עם אלפי מפגינים מחוץ לישיבת הקבינט בדרישה מהקבינט להציג יוזמה ריאלית לסיום המלחמה והשבת כל החטופים. pic.twitter.com/VTMas0b9O2

— כולנו חטופים (@Kulanu_Hatufim) August 7, 2025