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The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
Border Police pressing Givat Ze’ev to tighten security regarding Palestinian workers — report
Illustration: A view of construction work in the Jewish settlement of Givat Ze'ev, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, in the West Bank on May 10, 2022. (Ahmad Gharabali/AFP)
Border Police are reportedly pressing the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze’ev to tighten its security provisions regarding Palestinian workers, two weeks after police nabbed seven guards suspected of helping smuggle laborers into the town.
In a letter obtained by the Ynet news outlet, Chief Supt. Eliyahu Touboul informs the chairman of the local council that law enforcement has received a flurry of complaints reporting violations of the security arrangements meant to monitor Palestinians in the town’s employ.
The senior policeman notes that since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, the government has barred Palestinian laborers from entering Israeli towns with the exception of a select few workers, who must first clear a round of background checks and remain under constant surveillance by armed guards while on the clock.
But Givat Ze’ev, a settlement just north of Jerusalem that contracts a private security firm to perform these duties, has been excessively lax regarding the matter, Touboul claims.
According to his letter, one of the entrances to the settlement was ordered closed by the Zion Region police commander due to technical issues with the gate.
Jewish residents also filed police complaints about Palestinian workers resting near schools and synagogues, as well as riding buses in the settlement, acts that go against the police’s restrictions, the letter adds.
In a statement to Ynet, the local council insists that the “claims raised in the letter stand in complete contradiction to the understandings and work procedures that were approved and coordinated directly with the regional [police] commander.”
The council adds that it “does not compromise on the issue,” noting that its chairman, Yossi Assaraf, transferred information to the police that led to the arrest of the seven security guards who facilitated the illegal entry of Palestinian workers in exchange for bribes.
In the wake of October 7, Israel all but shut its doors to Palestinians seeking work in Israel, severely limiting work permits for West Bank residents and categorically barring Gazans from the Israeli labor market.
As of this past summer, the number of Palestinian workers in Israel stood at just 11% of the pre-October 7 figure.
In Xmas greeting, Netanyahu says Israel is only Mideast country where Christians are ‘thriving’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a Christmas greeting via video on December 24, 2025. (Screenshot/PMO)
In his Christmas Eve greeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that Israel is “the only country in the Middle East where the Christian community is thriving.”
“Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians can practice their faith with full rights and in total freedom,” he continues in a video released by his office, “where Christian pilgrims are embraced with open arms and so deeply appreciated.”
Netanyahu stresses that the Jerusalem municipality distributes Christian trees, whereas “in the Palestinian town of Jenin, Palestinians burnt a Christmas tree in the Holy Redeemer Church.”
Palestinian Authority police said today that officers arrested three suspects in the arson attack that targeted a Christmas tree and a nativity scene in the church early Monday.
“Israel stands up for Christians across the region, wherever they face widespread intimidation and persecution,” says Netanyahu. He notes that Israel’s Christian population is growing, while those of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority are shrinking.
Netanyahu also condemns attacks against Christians in Nigeria, something US President Donald Trump has also highlighted.
“Know that Israel will always stand with you,” Netanyahu says to Christians around the world.
Sa’ar: Israel ‘strongly rejects’ international condemnation of settlement expansion
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a meeting of the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee at the Knesset, December 2, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in a statement that Israel rejects the criticism levelled at it by 14 countries earlier today over a major expansion of West Bank settlements.
“Israel strongly rejects the statement issued by foreign countries regarding the Cabinet decision on settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Sa’ar says, using the government’s preferred term for the West Bank. “Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews.”
On Sunday, the government formally announced that 11 new settlements would be established in the West Bank, along with the legalization or recognition of eight illegal outposts and neighborhoods of existing settlements as new official settlements.
The statement by the group of countries earlier today, including the UK, Germany, France, Japan and Canada, stated their “clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies.” Most countries consider the settlements a violation of international law, a stance Israel rejects.
Sa’ar says the expansion “is intended, among other things, to help address the security threats Israel is facing,” and that it accords with international law.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
Ex-aide to PM claims Netanyahu’s office has compromising video of former defense minister
Eli Feldstein arrives for a court hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court on March 11, 2025. (Yehoshua Yosef/Flash90)
In the latest segment of his interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Eli Feldstein, the indicted former spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says that the premier’s office possesses a video of former defense minister Yoav Gallant acting violently, which he suggests has prevented Gallant from divulging information.
Feldstein said, “Footage is held in the Prime Minister’s Office of the [former] defense minister [Yoav Gallant] acting violently toward security guards when he was refused entry to the Prime Minister’s Office at the beginning of the war.”
Feldstein did not say whether the prime minister himself knew that compromising material about Gallant was being collected, the network reports.
But he adds, “I estimate that Gallant knows they’re collecting material on him. He understands that there’s footage of the event in question and other events.”
Feldstein adds that because of that, Gallant “won’t open his mouth.”
Gallant, whom Netanyahu fired in November 2024, has publicly criticized the prime minister a number of times since then.
Feldstein is a suspect in two cases: One in which he is accused of leaking classified information to a German tabloid, and another, known as Qatargate, in which he and another suspect are accused of simultaneously working for Qatar and for the Prime Minister’s Office.
Feldstein has sat this week for a multi-part interview with the network, in which he has alleged that Netanyahu knew of and supported his efforts to make use of classified intelligence to sway public opinion against a hostage deal.
IDF confirms strike targeting Hezbollah operative in Lebanon
The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in the southern Lebanon town of Jannata, saying it targeted a Hezbollah operative.
No further details are given by the military at this stage.
غارة من مسيرة اسرائيلية استهدفت إحدى السيارات في محيط بلدة #جناتا قضاء صور pic.twitter.com/wXdH3O2JLO
— nbnlebanon (@nbntweets) December 24, 2025
PA police: 3 suspects detained over Christmas tree arson attack at Jenin church
Palestinian Authority police say officers arrested three suspects in the arson attack that targeted a Christmas tree and nativity scene in Jenin’s Holy Redeemer Church early Monday.
Jenin police and PA intelligence succeeded in catching the suspects less than 48 hours after the attack, and also seized equipment allegedly used in the attack, police say.
“Any attempt to harm a place of worship or disturb the peace will be persecuted to the full extent of the law,” the statement says. “The long arm of justice will reach whoever tries to threaten the unity of Palestinian society.”
The Christmas tree at the Holy Redeemer Church in Jenin was set on fire and destroyed. pic.twitter.com/9rf6s0ll79
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) December 22, 2025
Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrike in southern town
Lebanese media reports an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Jannata.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
🚨المعلومات الأولية تفيد بأنّ الغارة استهدفت جناتا pic.twitter.com/GJBRUf9HUH
— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) December 24, 2025
Jordanian army reportedly attacks drug and arms smugglers in southern Syria
The Jordanian army launched airstrikes targeting drug smuggling networks in southern Syria on Wednesday, Syrian state media says.
State broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya reports on Telegram that the Jordanian army targeted “drug smuggling networks and storage farms in the southern and eastern countryside” of Sweida.
In a statement, the Jordanian army confirms it had “targeted a number of factories and workshops used by arms and drug dealers,” without specifying where.
US Justice Dept. says it may need a ‘few more weeks’ to finish releasing Epstein files
This undated photo released by the US Department of Justice shows Jeffrey Epstein. (US Department of Justice via AP)
The US Justice Department says it may need a “few more weeks” to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying compliance with last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline.
The Eve announcement comes hours after a dozen US senators called on the Justice Department’s watchdog to examine its failure to meet the deadline. The group, 11 Democrats and a Republican, told Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume in a letter that victims “deserve full disclosure” and the “peace of mind” of an independent audit.
The Justice Department says in a social media post that US federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI “have uncovered over a million more documents” that could be related to the Epstein case — a stunning 11th-hour development after department officials suggested months ago that they had undertaken a comprehensive review that accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.
The post did not say when the Justice Department was informed of the newly uncovered files. In a letter last week, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors already had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, though many were copies of material already turned over by the FBI.
The Justice Department says its lawyers are “working around the clock” to review the documents and remove victims’ names and other identifying information as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.
“We will release the documents as soon as possible,” the department says. “Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”
Nigeria mosque bombing kills at least seven
An explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri and killed at least seven worshippers, witnesses and security sources tell AFP.
No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility for what anti-jihadist militia leader Babakura Kolo says was a suspected bombing.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by jihadist groups Boko Haram and an offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, though the city itself has not seen a major attack in years.
The bomb went off inside a crowded mosque in the city’s Gamboru market, as Muslim faithful gathered for evening prayers, according to witnesses.
One of the leaders of the mosque, Malam Abuna Yusuf, puts the toll at eight dead, though officials have not yet released a casualty count. Kolo says that seven were killed.
Netanyahu’s office posts AI-generated video of PM, Trump flying fighter jet
In an Instagram post apparently marking six months since Israel’s war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s press office shares an AI-generated video of the premier and US President Donald Trump flying a fighter jet over a grid of buildings in unidentified desert terrain.
The Prime Minister's Office published this video of Netanyahu and Trump in a B2 bomber pic.twitter.com/UbtURccTUx
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) December 24, 2025
In the artificial video, which is a few seconds long, the prime minister and president are wearing aviator sunglasses and briefly glance at each other.
“On our victory lap. #sixmonths,” the caption reads.
Israel said its sweeping assault in June on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 32 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
Near the end of the war, the US joined the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Ex-aide to PM told Shin Bet he wouldn’t reveal official’s name out of fears for safety — report
Eli Feldstein, a former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the suspects in the so-called Qatargate investigation, and a defendant in the Bild leak scandal, speaks to the Kan public broadcaster in an interview aired December 22, 2025. (Screenshot: Kan)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s beleaguered former spokesman Eli Feldstein told the Shin Bet during an investigation into leaks of classified intelligence that he resisted revealing the name of a senior official out of fear for his and his family’s safety, Channel 12 reports.
He recently revealed that Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, was the senior official who asked to meet him in the underground parking lot of the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters. There, Braverman disclosed that the IDF’s information security department had launched a probe into the leak of the classified intelligence and that the list of suspects went as high as the Prime Minister’s Office.
However, while being investigated by the Shin Bet, Feldstein said that “there are only two people who know the content of this conversation, I have to think about the future,” according to Channel 12.
“If the Pandora’s Box is opened, if I open my mouth,” Feldstein allegedly said of the conversation with Braverman, “I will have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”
“Neither the Shin Bet nor any other body will be able to protect my family or me from being harmed,” he said, according to Channel 12.
Feldstein begged the investigators not to try to figure out who the senior figure is, says the network.
Feldstein told investigators that the parking garage cameras would not have picked up the conversation since it was held in an area without cameras, according to the report. He also changed his story about the type of car he was driving, and said there was no electronic record of his entering the Kirya since he only showed his card to a guard.
Feldstein also told investigators that 2-3 others were also present for the conversation, but were not close enough to hear. He also refused to say if they were senior officials as well, the report said.
Majority of Russians expect Ukraine war to end in 2026, state pollster says
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives for an awards ceremony marking the National Unity Day at the Kremlin in Moscow on November 4, 2025 (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool/ AFP)
A majority of Russians expect the war in Ukraine to end in 2026, state pollster VTsIOM says, in a sign that the Kremlin could be testing public reaction to a possible peace settlement as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensify.
During the pollster’s year-end presentation, VTsIOM Deputy Head Mikhail Mamonov says 70 percent of the 1,600 respondents saw 2026 as a more “successful” year for Russia than this year, while for 55% that hope was linked to a possible end to what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, which it invaded in 2022.
“The main reason for optimism is the possible completion of the special military operation and the achievement of the stated objectives, in line with the national interests outlined by the president,” Mamonov says at the presentation.
In its previous year-end polls, VTsIOM emphasized the consolidation of Russian society around President Vladimir Putin and his military goals in Ukraine but gave no figures for the share of the population expecting the war to end.
14 countries condemn Israel’s approval of new West Bank settlements
A view of Esh Kodesh, an Israeli outpost in the West Bank, on December 14, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Fourteen countries, including France, Britain, Canada and Japan, condemn Israel’s recent approval of new settlements in the West Bank.
“We, States of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank,” according to a joint statement released by the French foreign ministry.
“We recall our clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies,” the statement said.
On Sunday, the government formally announced that 11 new settlements would be established in the West Bank, along with the legalization or recognition of eight illegal outposts and neighborhoods of existing settlements as new official settlements.
10 detained after brawl ahead of Haifa basketball game, police say
Police officers detained 10 basketball fans involved in a mass brawl ahead of a match in Haifa this evening, police say.
The fight broke out in a parking lot before a game between the coastal city’s Maccabi and Hapoel basketball teams. Fans threw stones at one another, according to police.
In footage from earlier this evening, Border Police officers are seen chasing down a crowd of young men, most dressed in black.
Officers “intervened immediately, arrested 10 suspects involved in the incident and restored order to the place,” police say of the incident. Officers have not yet decided whether to bring the suspects to court for a remand hearing.
*דוברות המשטרה:*
*משחק הכדורסל בין מכבי חיפה להפועל חיפה המתקיים היום בהיכל רוממה בחיפה*
טרם תחילת המשחק בשטח החנייה של היכל הכדורסל רוממה בעיר חיפה, זיהו השוטרים קטטה בין אוהדים אשר לוותה ביידוי אבנים.
השוטרים התערבו באופן מיידי, עצרו 10 חשודים המעורבים באירוע. pic.twitter.com/xc1yYp2rIp
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) December 24, 2025
Army Radio staff claims consultant contracts frozen; Defense Ministry issues denial
View of the IDF's Army Radio headquarters in Jaffa, November 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Army Radio employees said that dozens of presenters at the IDF-run broadcaster and its sister music station Galgalatz were informed their employment would be frozen “as early as next week,” prompting a denial of the directive from the Defense Ministry.
The dispute comes two days after the cabinet unanimously approved Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to shut down Army Radio, with broadcasts set to end by March 1.
In a statement circulated by staff, the presenters – who are employed as contractors – said the freezing of the employment amounted to the station’s de facto dismantling in the coming days.
The Defense Ministry, however, denies the reports, saying it has issued no instruction to terminate the employment of civilian workers at Army Radio. In a statement, the ministry says it is currently engaged in its routine annual process of extending contracts that expire at the end of December.
According to the ministry, the contracts will be extended through February 28, 2026 – the date set for the station’s closure.
Following the vote earlier this week, Katz ordered the IDF to immediately begin winding down the station’s operations, including halting recruitment and selection processes, stopping the assignment of conscripted and reserve soldiers to the unit and beginning preparations to reassign soldiers currently serving there to other IDF roles.
Katz also instructed Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram to assist civilian employees at the station and terminate their employment in accordance with the law, while canceling contracts with civilian journalists and ending the station’s use of its facilities.
Man convicted of murder with indifference for 2023 killing of Arab teen, sparking anger from family
The Nazareth District Court convicts Dennis Mokin of murder with indifference for shooting and killing an Arab Israeli teen during a roadside brawl over two years ago, in a verdict that sparks anger from the victim’s family.
The 2023 killing of 19-year-old Diar Umari, from the northern town of Sandala, caused an uproar in Arab society after the incident was caught on video by onlookers.
Mokin, who lives in neighboring Gan Ner, is seen in the footage scuffling with Umari in the middle of the highway and shooting him twice, before Umari runs back to his car.
Mokin then cocks his handgun while the young man’s back is turned and fires at him three times. Umari collapses to the ground next to his vehicle, and Mokin flees the scene without calling police or emergency services.
Two judges on a panel of three found Mokin guilty of murder with indifference, rather than with intent, because he fired the fatal shot while brawling with Umari as Umari tried to pry the weapon from his hands.
The three subsequent shots he took at Umari’s back all missed their mark. According to the indictment, Mokin opened fire until he ran out of bullets.
צעיר בן 19 נורה למוות בצפון אחרי קטטה בין נהגים | תיעוד@Eliashkenazi12 pic.twitter.com/sRa6yUnSlL
— וואלה (@WallaNews) May 6, 2023
The victim’s parents, Zuhur and Ahmad Umari, decry the verdict after it is handed down, insisting that the convict killed their son in “cold blood, intentionally.”
“You [the judges] have harmed the justice system, police and prosecution. Anyone can commit murder and in the end they will say it was done with indifference,” say the parents, according to Ynet.
The fight erupted after Mokin tried to overtake Umari on the road, prompting the younger man to slow down and pull over. Mokin fired twice in the air before pulling the Arab teen from his car, and the two began exchanging blows.
Mokin, who had recently finished a reserve stint in the army, had been driving under the influence of alcohol and on a suspended driver’s license. He had a permit for the handgun he used to kill Umari, but was forbidden from carrying the weapon while drunk.
PA outlet says its VP was let into Bethlehem for Xmas celebration only after US intervention
The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA says Israeli forces initially prevented the convoy of PA Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh from entering Bethlehem this afternoon for the Christmas celebrations there.
Al-Sheikh was let in following US intervention, WAFA says. It does not say how long he was held up.
The IDF does not respond to a request for comment on the report.
Iran Guards seize foreign-crewed oil tanker in Gulf — state media
Tankers are seen at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in the Sharjah Emirate, along the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes, on June 23, 2025. (Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seize an oil tanker in the Gulf carrying more than a dozen foreign crew members, state media report.
The vessel “was carrying 4 million liters of smuggled fuel with 16 non-Iranian crew members on board,” state television quotes navy commander General Abbas Gholamshahi as saying.
Forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “boarded the ship … as it was leaving Iranian territorial waters,” he adds.
It was not immediately clear which flag the ship was flying.
Iranian forces regularly announce the interception of ships it says are illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.
They regularly target tankers that Tehran accuses of being part of illicit trade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Wednesday’s seizure is the latest in a series of similar incidents in recent weeks.
Earlier in December, authorities seized a tanker in the Gulf of Oman with 18 crew members from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on board.
Retail fuel prices in Iran are among the lowest in the world, making smuggling fuel to other countries particularly profitable.
Last month, Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters “for carrying an unauthorized cargo.
Also in November, the IRGC confirmed it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf.
Sa’ar again accuses PA of lying about reforms to ‘pay-for-slay’ policy for terrorists
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a meeting of the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee at the Knesset, December 2, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar again accuses Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of lying about internal reforms regarding payments to terrorists and their families.
“Instead of ending all payments, he’s disguising many of them as payments to pensioners and salaries of the PA Security Services,” he writes on X, pointing to a statement by Abbas today that “loyalty to the sacrifices of our righteous martyrs, our steadfast prisoners, our wounded, and their resilient families is a deeply rooted national and moral obligation.”
He has accused the PA of lying about the policy in the past.
Last week, the Palestinian Authority’s new welfare agency reiterated that Ramallah would pay stipends to prisoners in Israeli jails based on economic need rather than time served, sparking protests across the West Bank.
Israel says that the reforms are superficial and that the “pay-for-slay” policy continues.
Phones of 2 Likud MKs undergoing security checks after apparent hack
Likud MK Tally Gotliv arrives to a court hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 10, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The private phones of Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Moshe Saada have been hacked, according to Hebrew media reports. The two lawmakers reportedly contacted the Knesset security officer today regarding the incident.
Both confirm to the Times of Israel that their phones were undergoing security checks.
“My condolences to whoever tried — and succeeded — in hacking into my phone,” Tally Gotliv says to The Times of Israel.
She adds that she is unconcerned about what the hackers might have found.
“There is nothing interesting on my phone,” she says. Only a mentally unstable person would leave valuable information on their phone, so I’m not worried about it.”
At the same time, Gotliv says that she’s strengthened her password protection to prevent future breaches.
Saada likewise confirms that his phone is undergoing a security check. He says he does not know whether it was hacked.
The reports come a week after an Iran-linked hacker group claimed that it had hacked the phone of former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Bennett’s office acknowledged that while his cellphone itself was not hacked, unauthorized access was gained to his Telegram account.
Images, contacts and other information claimed by the group to have been obtained from Bennett’s phone were published on a website alleged to be run by the Handala hacker group, and a link to download what it claimed was his list of phone contacts was shared by the account @Handala_Red on X.
IDF denies Hamas official’s claim that soldier was wounded by unexploded Israeli ordnance
The IDF denies a Hamas official’s claim that the explosion in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier today, which wounded an officer, was caused by an undetonated ordnance left behind by the Israeli military.
The army had said earlier that the blast was caused by an explosive device. The IDF was investigating whether the bomb was recently planted in the area by terror operatives or if it was an old explosive device from before the ceasefire.
Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi claimed on X that the blast was caused by an Israeli unexploded ordnance, without providing any evidence.
Military officials deny this and say that the blast was not caused by an Israeli bomb, but rather an explosive device planted there by terror operatives.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will respond, saying the explosion was a Hamas violation of the ceasefire.
3 former Assad officials killed in clashes with state forces in Alawite area of Syria — report
Illustration: Syrian security forces deploy in the outskirts of Latakia, Syria, March 7, 2025. (Omar Albam/AP)
Syrian state media says three people were killed today in clashes with security forces in the coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country’s Alawite minority community.
“Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces” outside the city of Jableh, state television says.
State news agency SANA had earlier reported “clashes with a group of wanted outlaws” in the area, and said an unspecified number of security personnel were wounded.
Since last December’s ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, Syria’s new authorities have frequently reported security operations against what they describe as remnants of his government.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest of fresh attacks targeting their community.
Government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch heads delegation to Cairo for talks
Gal Hirsch, Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing in the Prime Minister's Office, attends a National Security Committee meeting at the Knesset on November 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Government hostage pointman Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch flew to Cairo this morning with IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad officials to meet with senior officials from the mediating countries, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The mediators generally include Egypt, Qatar and the US, though Turkey — a leading rival of Israel in the region — has become a central mediator as well this year.
The PMO says the talks “focused on the efforts and the specific operational details aimed at securing the return” of police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the final slain hostage held in Gaza.
Police arrest brothers accused of extortion, threatening to release nude photos of dozens of men
Police arrested a pair of brothers from Ramle today on suspicion of blackmailing dozens of men by threatening to release their nude photos online, police say.
The two men, both in their 20s, were nabbed this morning in the mixed Arab-Jewish city. The arrests came after a covert probe by detectives in law enforcement’s Fraud and Cybercrime Unit into the months-long sexual extortion scheme.
A loaded handgun, alongside commercial quantities of hard drugs hidden in a tallit bag, was also found in the suspects’ possession.
The brothers allegedly posed as women online and convinced their victims to send sexually explicit photos of themselves. They then threatened to expose the material to their families and friends unless the victims sent “hush money” to keep the photos from going up on the internet.
The two are due in court tomorrow, where police will request to extend their remand.
Man indicted for assaulting Jerusalem bus driver during argument
Police prosecutors indict a man accused of assaulting a bus driver in Jerusalem some two months ago, in one of dozens of violent attacks against transit workers in recent months.
The defendant is a 39-year-old man from Maale Adumim, a West Bank settlement just east of the capital. He is accused of throwing two bottles — one plastic, one glass — at a driver in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood shortly after boarding his bus.
Police say the defendant, gripping a plastic soda bottle, approached the driver and started to argue with him for unclear reasons.
After throwing the plastic bottle at the driver, he took a bottle made of glass and hurled it at the driver’s head, injuring him and shattering the bus window.
A man throws a plastic bottle at a bus driver in Jerusalem, in footage shared by police when announcing his indictment on December 24, 2025. (Israel Police)
The assailant fled the scene after attacking the driver, but police located him and detained him for questioning.
He is charged in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court with assaulting a public employee and causing intentional damage to property.
Transit workers, particularly Arab bus drivers in Jerusalem, have faced spiking violence from passengers in recent months, with many having been hospitalized as a result of the attacks.
Knesset Speaker Ohana votes for civil marriage bill, enraging ultra-Orthodox parties
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana speaks during a plenum session at the parliament in Jerusalem, February 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana votes in favor of a civil marriage bill proposed by the opposition, infuriating the ultra-Orthodox parties, which fiercely oppose civil marriage and have been part of the governing coalition for much of its term.
The bill failed to pass.
Jews who seek to get married in Israel may officially do so only via the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. Israel has no civil marriage due to the objections of religious political parties, but recognizes weddings performed abroad, an option chosen by a growing number of people including LGBTQ Israelis, who cannot get married under the rabbinate’s auspices.
Ohana is the first openly gay person to hold the key role of Knesset speaker.
Yitzhak Goldknopf, chair of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, accuses Ohana of “blatantly trampling upon our sacred Torah, contrary to the understandings that had existed until now and to the historic alliance between Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties, which was based on preserving the values of Jewish tradition.”
“The Government of Israel, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, continues to violate all the agreements and understandings with the ultra-Orthodox sector. Today, [Ohana] went even further,” he continues.
The party’s Degel HaTorah faction says that Ohana’s support for the bill amounts to a “violation of the agreement between Likud and United Torah Judaism to preserve the status quo.”
“The mistake we made in agreeing to Likud’s request and supporting him as speaker of the Knesset will not happen again,” the statement continues.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party says that Ohana’s support for the bill proves “that he is unfit for his role as speaker of the Knesset of the religious camp.”
Ohana receives support from fellow Likud MK Dan Illouz, who posts on X, “A reminder for those who are confused: Likud is a nationalist, liberal, Zionist and traditional party, not a branch of Degel HaTorah. Ohana faithfully represents our DNA.”
Slain hostage Ran Gvili’s mother will accompany Netanyahu on trip to meet Trump
Talik Gvili, mother of deceased hostage Ran Gvili, speaks on December 24, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages Forum)
Talik Gvili, mother of the sole remaining deceased hostage Ran Gvili, says in a public statement that she is joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his flight to the US for his December 28 meeting with US President Donald Trump.
“I am flying in order to strengthen the prime minister’s resolve — to assist him and to ensure that there will be no move to implement the next stage [of the Gaza ceasefire agreement] until Hamas fulfills its part and its commitments in this stage of the agreement, and above all its obligation to return Rani home,” says Gvili.
Gvili says she supports the prime minister in his decision not to proceed to the second phase of the agreement before all commitments to Israel are fulfilled. The second phase aims to establish longer-term governance and security structures for Gaza.
She notes that the original agreement referred to 48 hostages, and only 47 were received.
“My Rani is the 48th hostage,” says Gvili. “It is inconceivable that the other side violates agreements and we continue as if nothing happened. There is an agreement. The agreement received the backing of the president of the United States. If we do not insist on the full implementation of the agreement, we may lose Rani forever.”
Ran Gvili, a member of the Yamam police unit, was awaiting scheduled surgery on his shoulder when he fought Hamas terrorists in their October 7, 2023, attack and was killed. His body was then taken hostage to Gaza, where it is reportedly held by Islamic Jihad.
Gvili says in her statement that Hamas knows where his body is held, and she will not accept a situation “in which towers are built and Gaza is rehabilitated while my Rani is abandoned in the field.”
During her statement, Gvili is backed by relatives of former hostages including Iair and Eitan Horn, Ofir Engel, Edan Alexander, and Omer Neutra.
Dalia Cusnir-Horn, sister-in-law of Iair and Eitan Horn, says that her family owes a debt of gratitude to President Trump.
“We saw your vision for a brighter Middle East realized when Eitan and Iair walked free. But the work is not yet complete,” says Cusnir-Horn. “As families gather to celebrate Christmas, Talik is still waiting for her son. Please use all your leverage to ensure that Hamas honors every word of this agreement.”
Hamas official claims Rafah blast that hurt IDF officer caused by unexploded Israeli ordnance
Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi claims on X that the explosive device that lightly wounded an IDF officer earlier today in Rafah was caused by undetonated ordnance left over by the Israeli military itself.
“We have informed the mediators of this,” says Mardawi, who does not provide evidence for his claim.
The IDF officer was wounded when an explosive device hit a Namer armored personnel carrier that was involved in efforts to clear Hamas infrastructure in Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood, located on the Israeli side of the Gaza ceasefire line, according to the IDF.
The officer, who serves in the Golani Brigade, was taken to a hospital and his family was notified, the army said.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Palestinian home in West Bank burned, vandalized in apparent settler attack
Settlers set fire to a home in the Palestinian town of al-Mazraa al-Sharqiya and left a threatening message on it, the Ramallah-area municipality says. It does not report any injuries.
Footage published by the municipality shows a charred garage, with an adjacent stairwell also badly burned and what appears to be bits of peeled-off paint from the wall strewn across the floor.
A Hebrew message written in black graffiti on an outer wall reads: “Price tag,” “revenge,” and “regards from the ‘peripheral youth.'”
דיווח ערבי: יהודים הציתו בית בכפר מזרעה אל- שרקייה מזרחית לרמאללה. במקום רוסס גרפיטי ד"ש מהנוער שוליים. pic.twitter.com/RdTEshsbDW
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) December 24, 2025
Settler extremists often refer to violence against Palestinians as a “price tag” for Palestinian attacks and the dismantling of settler outposts by Israeli forces. Perpetrators of such attacks are sometimes referred to as “peripheral youth” — a common Hebrew euphemism for at-risk youth — by people who seek to downplay settler violence.
In a statement, the municipality accuses Israel of enabling “organized terrorism” as a means of driving Palestinians from their land, and calls for international action to stop the attacks.
Netanyahu: Israel investing more than $100 billion in bid for independent arms industry
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not seen) in Jerusalem, December 7, 2025. (GPO screenshot)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that because of lessons learned during its fighting over the past two years, Israel is working to gain as much independence as possible in its weapons production.
“I approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of NIS 350 billion [$108 billion] over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry,” Netanyahu says in a speech at a graduation ceremony for Israel Air Force pilots.
“We want to reduce our dependence on all players, including friends,” he says, after allies including the US, UK, and Germany all imposed various restrictions on weapons sales to Israel since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack . Still, many countries around the world, including Germany, “want to buy from us more and more systems,” he says.
And in a thinly veiled reference to Turkey’s quest to receive the F-35 fighter jet from the US, Netanyahu promises that Israel will “prevent whoever must be prevented from receiving these instruments.”
Netanyahu stresses that Israel’s “aerial superiority in the Middle East is a cornerstone of our national security,” and that it rests on Israel’s skilled pilots and “the best aircraft in the world.”
During US President Donald Trump’s first term, the US removed Turkey, a NATO ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program, after Ankara purchased the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia. Anxious to bolster its air power, Turkey has proposed to European partners and the US ways it could swiftly obtain the fighter jets as it seeks to make up ground versus regional rivals such as Israel.
Turkey is one of the world’s most outspoken critics of Israel, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often accusing Israel of genocide over the past two years, and praising Hamas.
Netanyahu promises that Israel “will respond accordingly” to Hamas violations of the Gaza ceasefire, including the wounding of an IDF officer in Rafah today.
He says that neither Hamas nor Hezbollah have any intention of disarming. “We are taking care of that as well,” says Netanyahu about the Lebanese terror group, adding that Israel still has scores to settle with Yemen’s Houthis and with Iran.
After his tough talk, Netanyahu notes that “expanding the circle of peace remains at the top of our agenda.”
He promises to bring the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining slain hostage in Gaza, home to Israel.
In speech in front of PM, Zamir says IDF is ‘bravely examining’ October 7 failures
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks at a pilots' graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Airbase, December 24, 2025. (Screenshot: Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military is learning from its investigations into its failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, and will not “sink” into it.
“Out of the great fracture, the [Air Force] and the IDF as a whole are conducting investigations, bravely examining ourselves,” Zamir says at a pilots’ graduation ceremony, which is also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
“Systemic lessons learned and their implementation on the ground are a fundamental, existential matter, and we have no other choice,” he says.
Zamir says the IDF “will learn from the failure, but we will not sink into it. We are moving in one direction, forward.”
As Zamir speaks, lawmakers vote to advance a controversial bill to establish a politically appointed probe into the October 7 failures, in place of a state commission of inquiry.
Despite polls consistently showing a substantial majority of Israelis want a state commission of inquiry to be established, Netanyahu and his coalition have rejected attempts to establish one.
Contentious law for politically appointed Oct. 7 probe passes preliminary Knesset reading, amid protests in plenum
Bereaved families protest at the Knesset ahead of a vote on a politically-appointed probe of the October 7, 2023, attack, December 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Lawmakers vote 53-48 in favor of a preliminary reading of the controversial bill to establish a politically appointed probe into the October 7 failures in place of a state commission of inquiry.
The bill will now be sent to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for preparation ahead of the subsequent readings necessary for it to become law.
Several coalition members remained outside the chamber and did not vote, including Likud MK Yuli Edelstein and New Hope’s Zeev Elkin.
The bill was supported by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and Degel Hatorah faction of UTJ, while members of Agudat Yisrael either remained away from the vote or, in one case, abstained.
Opposition lawmakers repeatedly interrupted the proceedings, with ushers removing MKs including Yesh Atid’s Meirav Ben Ari, Hadash-Ta’al’s Ahmad Tibi and The Democrats’ Naama Lazimi. While successive polls have found that the majority of the public favors a state commission of inquiry, Likud MK Ariel Kallner, the lawmaker behind the bill, insisted ahead of the vote that “only part of the public will trust” a state commission.
“The current president of the Supreme Court is not an objective actor and therefore cannot determine the composition of the commission. This is not ideal, but reality cannot be ignored,” claimed Kallner, adding that the investigation must probe “the impact of threats of refusal [to serve in the military] on the erosion of Israeli deterrence in the year preceding the massacre; the conduct of the military echelon vis-à-vis the political echelon; and the impact of Supreme Court intervention in security matters in recent years.”
Speaking out against the bill, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “running away” from responsibility for the failures of October 7.
“He is evading responsibility for the suitcases of dollars from Qatar. He is fleeing from responsibility for the fact that the head of the Shin Bet warned him that Hamas was using the money to buy weapons, and he is fleeing from responsibility for the fact that the [army] chief of staff warned him weeks before the disaster that disaster was on the way, that the intelligence agencies warned him that a disaster was coming,” Lapid said.
The bill calls for a majority of 80 out of 120 MKs to appoint a six-member committee and its chairman. If there is no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition would be allowed to select three committee members each, who would be joined by four supervisory members representing bereaved families.
The legislation states that if either the coalition or opposition does not cooperate in the process or cannot settle on a candidate, the Knesset speaker will choose instead — giving the coalition effective control in the event of an expected opposition boycott.
Netanyahu and his supporters have long rejected a state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority, because its make-up would be determined by the judiciary, which his government does not trust and seeks to weaken through a judicial overhaul.
Katz says Israel ‘closely monitoring’ Iran, amid reports of expanded missile production
Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks at a pilots' graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Airbase, December 24, 2025. (Screenshot: Israel Defense Forces)
Defense Minister Israel Katz says the defense establishment is “closely monitoring” the developments in Iran, amid reports that Israel is increasingly concerned that Tehran is rebuilding and expanding its ballistic missile production.
“I read the reports about Iran, which we struck heavily, together with our American partners, during Operation Rising Lion,” Katz says at a pilots’ graduation ceremony, referring to June’s 12-day war.
“The defense establishment is closely monitoring developments, and naturally, I cannot elaborate beyond that. But on one principle there is no dispute: what was before October 7 will not be again. We will not allow threats of annihilation against the State of Israel,” Katz adds.
Mohammad Bakri, actor and director of controversial ‘Jenin, Jenin,’ dies at 72
Palestinian director Mohammad Bakri at an event for the film 'Boy From Heaven' at the Cannes 75th international film festival, May 21, 2022. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Mohammad Bakri, the actor and director of the controversial “Jenin, Jenin” film, has died aged 72, Hebrew-language media reports.
Bakri’s family says that he died in a hospital in Nahariya after a battle with heart disease. He is survived by six children — five sons and a daughter.
He was born in 1953 in Bi’ina in northern Israel. After studying at Tel Aviv University, he performed at Habima, the Haifa Theater and the Khan Theater, with his big break coming when he played the lead in the multi-award-winning 1984 movie “Beyond the Walls.”
Bakri ran into controversy over his 2002 film “Jenin, Jenin.” The 53-minute film drew sharp criticism for what many — including the High Court — saw as egregious breaches of documentary and journalistic ethics.
Notably, Bakri, was found to have used misleading cuts in the film to imply deliberate civilian deaths that never happened, specifically in a scene in which an armored personnel carrier — inaccurately referred to as a tank in the movie — is made to look as though it ran over a number of Palestinian prisoners lying on the ground, though it did not, as the director later admitted in court.
The filmmaker also mistranslated Arabic for the subtitles to include words like “genocide” and “massacre,” which were never actually said during interviews. In addition, no Israeli officials were interviewed for the movie to provide an opposing viewpoint.
4 ultra-Orthodox MKs to vote against politically appointed Oct. 7 probe – report
The ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael faction’s four MKs will vote against the coalition’s bill to establish a politically appointed probe into October 7 in place of a state commission of inquiry, the Ynet news site reports.
Asked if the decision to vote against the bill was intended to put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speed up the advance of legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service, a senior party source tells The Times of Israel that “we are doing everything that should be done to regulate the status” of yeshiva students.
According to Ynet, coalition whip Ofir Katz is holding talks with Agudat Yisrael, one of two factions comprising the United Torah Judaism party.
Earlier today, Minister Ze’ev Elkin of the coalition New Hope party announced that he would not support the bill but did not state that he would actively vote against it. Unofficial tallies appear to show that the coalition has enough votes to see the legislation pass its preliminary reading.
In English-language threat, Israel says it will respond to Hamas ceasefire violations
Israel “will respond accordingly” to an incident in southern Gaza’s Rafah today in which an Israeli officer was lightly wounded after his APC ran over an explosive device, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“The Hamas terror organization continues to violate the ceasefire and President Trump’s 20 point plan,” says the PMO in an announcement published only in English.
“Their ongoing and continuing public refusal to disarm is an ongoing flagrant violation and again today their violent intentions and violations were confirmed by their detonation of an IED that wounded an IDF officer,” the PMO continues.
It is unclear whether the bomb was recently planted in the area by terror operatives or if it was an old explosive device.
The English-language statement comes days before Netanyahu is set to fly to Florida to meet with US President Donald Trump to discuss the next steps in the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
“Hamas must be held to the agreement that they signed on [sic] which includes removal from governance, demilitarization and de-radicalization,” concludes the PMO.
Bethlehem kicks off first full Christmas festivities since start of Gaza war
Members of the scouting movement march during Christmas Eve celebrations at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, on December 24, 2025. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
Christmas festivities return to Bethlehem after they were replaced by somber marches over the past two years due to the was against Hamas in Gaza.
Footage shows youth scout marching bands, complete with bagpipes, parading through the city’s Manger Square, site of the Church of the Nativity, which stands over the grotto where Jesus was born, according to the Christian Bible.
In the center of the Square stands a large Christmas tree, also absent for the past two years.
بعد عامين.. عرض لفرق الكشافة في ساحة المهد بمدينة #بيت_لحم إيذانا ببدء الاحتفالات بعيد الميلاد وفقا للتقويم الغربي #الجزيرة_مباشر pic.twitter.com/MuEqCCsTRk
— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) December 24, 2025
Celebrations in Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank, are traditionally led by Palestinian Christian scout groups. This year, according to Palestinian media, the city will host nearly two dozen troops — about 4,500 people.
The parade is set to be followed by Christmas carol performances and a visit to the Nativity Church by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who also paid a visit to Gaza’s tiny Catholic community on Monday.
“From Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, where peace is born in defiance of cruelty, we renew our promise this Christmas,” the Bethlehem municipality says on Facebook. “Hope, resilience and justice, so that peace will become a reality.”
IDF: Officer lightly hurt by explosive device in southern Gaza’s Rafah
An IDF officer was lightly injured when an armored vehicle was hit by an explosive device in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier today, the military says.
The Namer armored personnel carrier had been involved in efforts to clear Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood — located on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — of Hamas infrastructure, according to the IDF.
The officer, who serves in the Golani Brigade, was taken to a hospital and his family was notified, the army adds.
It is unclear whether the bomb was recently planted in the area by terror operatives or if it was an old explosive device.
Dozens of Hamas operatives were believed to have been holed up in tunnels in Jenina, though the army has reported killing or capturing many of them.
Bereaved families turn their backs on MKs ahead of vote on politically appointed Oct. 7 probe
Bereaved families turn their backs ahead of a vote in the Knesset on a politically-appointed probe of the October 7, 2023, attack, December 24, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Bereaved families turn their backs on lawmakers in the Knesset ahead of a vote on a contentious bill to establish a politically appointed probe into October 7.
According to Channel 12 news, relatives of dozens of those killed on October 7, 2023, and in the subsequent war, are present in the plenum ahead of the vote.
They stand up and turn their backs on the MKs, while holding images of their loved ones alongside questions they want answered including “Why was permission given for a party to be held near the border?” a reference to the Nova festival, and “Who ignored the warnings of the surveillance soldiers?”
Likud denies report Netanyahu is preparing for early elections
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not seen) in Jerusalem, December 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, Pool)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party denies that it is preparing for early elections, after the Ynet news site reports, citing an anonymous senior government official, that the premier instructed his party “to prepare for the dissolution of the Knesset.”
“The news about the intention to bring the election date forward is complete fake news. We will pass the state budget and the conscription law, the government will serve its term, and the elections will be held on time” in October 2026, a Likud spokesman says in a statement.
Ynet cites the senior government official as saying that “in practice, Likud is already preparing for a situation in which the Knesset will be forced to dissolve soon,” adding that Netanyahu has asked to form a team to lead the party’s upcoming campaign.
Netanyahu is reportedly concerned regarding both the 2026 state budget, whose failure to pass would automatically bring down the government, and his ability to pass a Haredi draft exemption bill demanded by the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties.
Both Haredi parties recently denied a recent report by national broadcaster Kan that they threatened to dissolve the Knesset unless progress on the bill was speeded up.
Turkey, Hamas discussed 2nd phase of Gaza ceasefire deal, Ankara source says
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Hamas political bureau officials in Ankara today to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and advancing the agreement to its second phase, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source says.
The source says the Hamas officials claimed to Fidan that they had fulfilled their requirements under the ceasefire deal, but that Israel’s continued strikes in Gaza aimed to prevent the agreement from moving to the next phase.
The members of the Palestinian terror group also said humanitarian aid entering Gaza was not sufficient, and that goods like medication, equipment for housing, and fuel were needed, the source adds.
Today, COGAT said that 4,200 aid trucks enter Gaza weekly and that “food shipments are coordinated according to the priorities set by [humanitarian aid agencies].”
Both sides accuse the other of violating the terms of the first phase: Hamas has yet to return the body of one hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, while Israel has refused to open the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza in both directions, agreeing only to allow movement out of the Strip.
Since the start of the ceasefire in October, the IDF has said it has killed dozens of terror operatives and other “suspects” who have crossed the Yellow Line — demarcating the part of the Strip it still holds — and approached troops. Such incidents have taken place on a near-daily basis. Three troops have been killed in attacks since the ceasefire went into effect.
MKs defeat bill requiring monopolies that are not publicly traded to post financial statements
Lawmakers vote 38-58 to defeat in a preliminary reading an opposition bill requiring monopolistic corporations not traded on the stock market to post financial statements on their websites.
The bill, sponsored by Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak, would have required companies defined as monopolies under the law to both publish financial statements and announce said publication through newspaper advertisements.
The bill’s explanatory notes state that Israel is “experiencing a wave of price increases across various sectors of the Israeli economy, such as food, fuel, housing, and others” while “companies that hold monopolistic power in Israel are using that power to charge excessive prices and to adopt improper business practices in order to increase their profits at the expense of Israeli consumers and at the expense of smaller competitors.”
It argues that Israel’s economy “is characterized by excessive cross-sectoral concentration compared to other markets around the world.”
It contends, “The very fact that a company is a monopoly controlling a market share justifies imposing an obligation to publish its financial statements to the public as part of safeguarding the public interest.”
The coalition opposed the measure despite Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent pledge to free Israelis from exploitation by monopolies. A spokesman for Smotrich does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Justice Minister Levin, who came to respond on behalf of the government, did not address the proposal at all, and instead reads some article by a Channel 14 commentator against the judicial system. This government is not interested in the cost of living and the fundamental problems of the Israeli middle class,” Beliak tells The Times of Israel.
Minister Elkin says he won’t vote for politically appointed Oct. 7 probe
New Hope MK Ze'ev Elkin attends a conference at Tel Aviv University on May 7, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Minister Ze’ev Elkin of the coalition New Hope party announces that he will not vote in favor of the bill to establish a politically appointed probe into the October 7 failures in place of a state commission of inquiry.
Speaking in the Knesset with bereaved father Rafi Ben Shitrit, whose son Staff Sgt. Shimon Alroy Ben Shitrit was killed battling terrorists at the Nahal Oz army base, the MK says, “My position is clear. I will not support Kallner’s law and I support a state commission of inquiry.”
Netanyahu and his supporters have long rejected a state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority, because its make-up would be determined by the judiciary, which his government does not trust and seeks to weaken through a judicial overhaul.
Netanyahu, who is heading the panel determining the scope of the politically appointed probe, said Monday that the commission must include an examination of the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, and the 2023 protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul.
Coalition MKs defeat bill that would grant tax breaks to IDF reservists
Reservists of the Jerusalem Brigade operate in the northern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo issued by the IDF on May 15, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Coalition lawmakers vote 37-58, in a preliminary reading, to defeat a bill to grant tax breaks to IDF reservists who have served since October 7, 2023.
The bill, advanced by the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, would have mandated municipal property tax discounts of 50 percent for reservists for the period they were deployed, with the Interior Ministry obligated to compensate local authorities for the lost revenue.
Arguing in favor of the bill, sponsor MK Sharon Nir framed the bill as a referendum on societal values within the context of efforts by the coalition to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service.
Representing the government, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli states that local authorities already have the power to grant discounts of 15% for reservists and 25% for reserve commanders. He also says the Interior Ministry “does not have the resources to compensate the authorities, and no budgets have been allocated in connection with the present bill.”
“Therefore, in accordance with the decision of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, it is proposed at this stage to postpone the bill and discuss it at a later time,” Chikli says.
Among those voting against the bill are Likud MKs Dan Illouz and Yuli Edelstein, both strong opponents of the government’s Haredi draft exemption bill, who were removed by the coalition from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Lapid calls for probe of Netanyahu chief of staff before he assumes UK ambassadorship
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) speaks with Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman (R) during a weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on April 30, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool/AFP)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls for an investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, before he becomes Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Speaking in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Lapid says: “Someone needs to make sure he is not involved in the affair as the reports suggest,” referring to allegations raised by the prime minister’s former aide Eli Feldstein, who has been indicted over the Bild leak affair.
Feldstein alleged during a lengthy interview with the Kan public broadcaster this week that Netanyahu was behind the leak of classified intelligence to the German daily Bild to sway Israeli public opinion regarding ongoing hostage negotiations last year.
He further alleged that Braverman got wind of the secret investigation into Feldstein’s leak to Bild months before it was publicized and assured Feldstein that he’d be able to quash the probe, as well as stop an investigation regarding IDF information security if Feldstein needed it.
Both the Prime Minister’s Office and Braverman have denied Feldstein’s allegations and accused him of lying.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the Qatargate affair, in which several top aides to the premier are accused of having done work on behalf of Qatar, where Hamas’s leadership is based, while they were in Netanyahu’s employ.
IDF demolishes home of Palestinian terrorist behind deadly July attack
IDF troops demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank village of Bazariya, December 24, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a deadly stabbing and shooting attack in the West Bank in July.
In the attack on July 10, Mahmoud Abed and Malik Salem fatally stabbed a security guard, Shalev Zvuluny, 22, outside a supermarket at the Gush Etzion Junction. The assailants then snatched the guard’s handgun and exchanged fire with a soldier and an armed civilian before being killed.
The army says it operated in the West Bank village of Bazariya this morning and demolished Salem’s home.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.
Katz approves next heads of air force, navy after months of delay amid spat with Zamir
Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler (left) in 2021, and Vice Adm. Eyal Harel (right) in 2023. (Nevo Levin/Israeli Air Force; Israel Defense Forces)
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has approved the appointment of Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler as the next chief of the Israeli Air Force and Vice Adm. Eyal Harel as the next commander of the Israeli Navy.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has sought for months to approve their appointments, though Katz delayed making a decision amid a spat with the military chief.
Katz says he approved the appointments after the Defense Establishment Comptroller, Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Volansky conducted “a comprehensive and thorough review” of Tischler, who had served as IAF chief of staff ahead of and on October 7, 2023.
“After reviewing all the findings, he recommended approving the appointment,” Katz says.
Katz adds that the military’s review of its internal October 7 probes found no issues regarding Harel, who until recently served as head of the Planning Directorate, that would affect his candidacy for the role of Navy chief.
Chikli calls for probe into ‘shocking’ Qatargate allegations, in 1st such demand from a minister
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli attends a conference organized by his ministry, March 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli says the Qatargate affair must be fully investigated, in what appears to be the first time a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has publicly called for a probe into allegations that the premier’s top aides were acting as paid lobbyists for Qatar, where Hamas’s leadership is based.
In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Chikli says, “There is no way to defend this – it’s shocking. These matters must be investigated to the very end.”
“It appears there was activity here intended to benefit the Qataris. I assume Einhorn also received money. I don’t know about Feldstein, but it looks very bad,” he adds, referring to Yisrael (Srulik) Einhorn, a close adviser to the prime minister, and former PM spokesperson Eli Feldstein.
Feldstein and Netanyahu’s top adviser Jonathan Urich are alleged to have worked on behalf of Qatar while they were in Netanyahu’s employ for the Perception PR firm headed by Einhorn, Netanyahu’s former campaign manager.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett on Monday called on Netanyahu to resign, accusing him of engaging in the cover-up of the Qatargate affair, which Bennett called “the most serious act of treason in Israeli history.”
Other opposition leaders have also called for a formal investigation into the affair.
The three former aides to the prime minister are also being investigated in connection with the leak of classified intelligence aimed at swaying the Israeli public’s opinion regarding ongoing hostage negotiations last year, in the so-called Bild case, which Feldstein alleged in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster yesterday that the prime minister was behind.
Bereaved father ahead of Knesset vote on probe: Government ‘desecrating the memory of the fallen’
Bereaved father Rafi Ben Shitrit slams the government over its advancement of a politically appointed probe of the October 7, 2023 , attack, on December 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
A bereaved father accuses the coalition of “spitting in the faces” of those who lost loved ones as the Knesset prepares for a preliminary vote on legislation to establish a politically appointed probe into the failures of October 7, 2023.
Rafi Ben Shitrit is the father of Staff Sgt. Shimon Alroy Ben Shitrit, who was killed battling terrorists on the Nahal Oz army base on October 7, 2023.
“The government is running away from responsibility and is doing all sorts of tricks and shenanigans. Likud MKs are going to support this delusional and disgusting proposal,” he says.
“You are spitting in the faces of the bereaved families, you are desecrating and disgracing the memory of the fallen,” he charges.
“I call on every citizen with a sane conscience in the State of Israel not to cooperate with this committee,” he says.
IDF says it targeted Hezbollah rocket launch sites, infrastructure in wave of strikes
The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon a short while ago, saying it targeted several Hezbollah rocket-launching sites.
Several buildings and other infrastructure recently used by the terror group’s operatives were also destroyed in the strikes, the military says.
The IDF says the presence of the rocket-launching sites is a violation of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.
Wave of Israeli airstrikes reported in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reports a wave of Israeli airstrikes near the southern towns of Tebna and Nmairiyeh.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
غارات إسرائيلية تستهدف بلدتَي تبنا والنميرية جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/YnOxXBeuAI
— Annahar النهار (@Annahar) December 24, 2025
PM’s trial briefly paused after his defense attorney shouts at judges
Lawyer Amit Hadad speaks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the courtroom of Tel Aviv District Court, March 31, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense attorney is threatened with a fine after shouting at judges during a hearing in the premier’s corruption trial, Hebrew-language media reports.
Amit Hadad objected when Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, the head of the panel of judges, asked for documents to review.
“How is that relevant?” Hadad asked, according to the Ynet news site.
“You’re asking me? I’m asking to review the document and you’re asking me how it’s relevant?” responded Friedman-Feldman.
“I’m done for today, I’ve reached my limit,” said Hadad.
“This is unacceptable to me. Take a break if you want,” Hadad shouted, according to Channel 13.
The judges then left the courtroom, returning after 25 minutes.
“It should be clarified that the parties’ attorneys have no right to object to the court’s questions, and if they continue, there could be personal fines,” Friedman-Feldman tells the court.
Hadad apologizes and the trial resumes.
Hamas money man killed alongside terror chief in strike earlier this month – IDF
An airstrike targeting top Hamas commander Raed Saad earlier this month also killed a prominent money man in the terror group, the military says.
Abd al-Hayy Zaqout, who served in Hamas’s finance division, was in the car with Saad and was killed alongside him on December 13, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee says.
“Over the past year, Zaqout was responsible for raising tens of millions of dollars and transferring them to Hamas’s military wing, with the aim of continuing the fight against the State of Israel,” Adraee adds.
🔻في نشاط مشترك لجيش الدفاع وجهاز الأمن العام (الشاباك)، قبل أسبوعين تم القضاء على المخرب عبد الحي زقوت من حماس من سكان مدينة غزة، والذي ينتمي إلى قسم الأموال في الذراع العسكرية للمنظمة. تم القضاء عليه أثناء تواجده في مركبته، إلى جانب المدعو رائد سعد.
⭕️خلال العام الأخير، كان… pic.twitter.com/PHX5LAP20e
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) December 24, 2025
2 police officers killed in Moscow blast when they tried to stop suspect, investigators say
Two police officers were killed an overnight explosion in Moscow that occurred when they tried to stop a suspicious person, Russia’s Investigative Committee says.
“An explosive device was triggered” as the officers approached the suspect who was near their service vehicle, the statement says.
The blast occurred close to the site where a Russian general was killed earlier this week.
Australia revokes visa of British man who displayed Nazi symbol, advocated for violence against Jews
Australia canceled the visa of a British national after he was charged with displaying a banned Nazi symbol, the immigration minister says, as the country cracks down on antisemitism in the wake of a terror attack targeting a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach.
The government revoked the visa of a 43-year-old man who was charged on December 8 with displaying a Nazi symbol and advocating for violence against the Jewish community on social media platform X, according to Australian Federal Police.
“If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke tells the Australian Broadcasting Corp, referring to the British citizen.
“If someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave,” he says.
Burke and the federal police do not name the British man but the federal police say he displayed the Nazi Hakenkreuz – a type of swastika – and espoused “pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community” from two X accounts from October to November.
After having his visa revoked, the man, who was living in the state of Queensland, was taken into immigration detention and will be deported unless he voluntarily leaves first, media reports say.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Israeli mother and child found wandering around Bethlehem overnight, are escorted out by security forces
An Israeli mother and her young daughter were extracted from the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank city of Bethlehem overnight, the Civil Administration says.
The Civil Administration, a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), says it received a report overnight of a Jewish woman wandering around Bethlehem with a young girl.
Like previous cases, the Civil Administration contacted the Palestinian Authority’s security services to locate and transfer the civilians to the Israeli army.
“Upon receiving the report, officers from the Bethlehem District Coordination and Liaison Office acted to provide immediate protection to the Israelis, while simultaneously transferring them to IDF troops,” the Civil Administration says.
The Defense Ministry body says the woman intentionally entered Bethlehem, and she is set to be questioned by the police.
By law, Israelis are barred from entering West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Protesters call for Oct. 7 state commission outside ministers’ homes: ‘You cannot bury the truth’
A protest outside the home of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv on December 24, 2025. The sign reads, 'We have buried enough -- you cannot bury the truth.' (Pro-democracy protest groups/Lior Segev)
Small groups of activists calling for a state commission of inquiry into October 7 are protesting outside the homes of a number of senior Likud officials.
Protests are held outside the homes of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Ness Ziona, Justice Minister Yariv Levin in Modiin, and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli in Kibbutz Hanaton.
The activists hold signs with slogans such as “We have buried enough — you cannot bury the truth.”
The demonstrations come after a parliamentary committee gave coalition backing to a contentious bill that would create a new type of commission of inquiry, whose members would be picked by the Knesset, instead of the Supreme Court president, as mandated under the current law for state commissions of inquiry.
The legislation for the politically appointed probe is expected to come to the Knesset plenum for a preliminary reading today.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the public would not trust a state commission because its members would be chosen by the judiciary, which his government has sought to weaken through a series of controversial laws. As recently as 2022, Netanyahu had backed a state commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous government.
Despite Netanyahu’s claims, opinion polls consistently show that a state commission of inquiry is backed by a majority of the public.
Republican former US senator Ben Sasse says he has terminal cancer
Then-US Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, walks the halls of the Capitol in Washington, January 19, 2022. (AP/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
Former Nebraska US Sen. Ben Sasse, a conservative who rebuked political tribalism and stood out as a longtime critic of US President Donald Trump, announces he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Sasse, 53, made the announcement on social media, saying he learned of the disease last week and is “now marching to the beat of a faster drummer.”
“This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase,” Sasse writes. “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”
Sasse was first elected to the Senate in 2014. He comfortably won reelection in 2020 after fending off a pro-Trump primary challenger. Sasse drew the ire of GOP activists for his vocal criticism of Trump’s character and policies, including questioning his moral values and saying he cozied up to adversarial foreign leaders.
Sasse was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict the former president of “incitement of insurrection ” after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. After threats of a public censure back home, he extended his critique to party loyalists who blindly worship one man and rejected him for his refusal to bend the knee.
He resigned from the Senate in 2023 to serve as the 13th president of the University of Florida after a contentious approval process. He left that post the following year after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sasse, who has degrees from Harvard, St. John’s College and Yale, worked as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services under US President George W. Bush. He served as president of Midland University, a small Christian university in eastern Nebraska, before he ran for the Senate.
Sasse and his wife have three children.
“I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more,” Sasse writes. “Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived.”
Israel blames PA for arson of Jenin Christmas tree; footage emerges of clash at Haifa church event
The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday posted a photo of a Christmas tree that was allegedly torched by Palestinian extremists a day earlier.
“Under the Palestinian Authority, there is growing hostility toward Christians,” the ministry wrote on X, in the latest in a long series of criticisms of the PA.
Holy Redeemer Church in Jenin’s Christmas tree destroyed in arson attack. Under the Palestinian Authority, there is growing hostility toward Christians.
Attacks on Christians, their sites & symbols are unacceptable at all times. Even more so, as we approach Christmas this week. pic.twitter.com/neiDCVA0Z4
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) December 23, 2025
“Attacks on Christians, their sites and symbols are unacceptable at all times. Even more so, as we approach Christmas this week,” the ministry added.
Hours after the tweet, Arabic media reported on an incident that took place earlier this month in Haifa’s Wadi Nisnas neighborhood, where police were filmed making arrests at a Christmas event.
الشرطة الإسرائيلية اقتحمت حي وادي النسناس في حيفا وفضّت احتفالات الميلاد بالقوة، مستخدمة الضرب والمصادرة والاعتقالات، التي طالت بابا نويل ودي جي وصاحب بسطة، وفق شهادات المحتفلين والمفرج عنهم.#حيفا #وادي_النسناس #عيد_الميلاد pic.twitter.com/CAfuRQDS6q
— القدس العربي AlqudsAlarabi (@alqudsalarabi) December 22, 2025
The footage shows cops apprehending a man wearing a Santa Claus outfit.
Arabic media says police told attendees at the event that they were operating to restore public order.
Police say in response to a query that the Haifa incident took place “during a noise-enforcement activity.” They say officers arrested several individuals who “attempted to obstruct their work, assaulted officers, verbally abused them, issued threats, and resisted arrest.”
Three suspects were arrested during the clash, police say.
The force adds that it “categorically rejects allegations of police violence and emphasizes that officers acted lawfully, professionally, and in accordance with procedures.”
US denies visas to EU ex-commissioner, four others over tech rules
The US State Department says it will deny visas to a former European Union commissioner and four others, accusing them of seeking to “coerce” American social media platforms into censoring viewpoints they oppose.
“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states — in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” the State Department says in a statement announcing the sanctions.
The measure targets Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, who often clashed with tech tycoons such as Elon Musk over their obligations to follow EU rules.
Breton is described by the State Department as the “mastermind” of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a major piece of legislation that imposes content moderation and other standards on major social media platforms.
The DSA has become a bitter rallying point for US conservatives who see it as a weapon of censorship against right-wing thought in Europe and beyond, an accusation the EU furiously denies.
The DSA stipulates that major platforms must explain content-moderation decisions, provide transparency for users and ensure researchers can carry out essential work, such as understanding how much children are exposed to dangerous content.
US Supreme Court blocks Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago
Win Without War billboards stating "No troops in Illinois" are seen in response to the federalized National Guard troop presence in Chicago on October 14, 2025. (Daniel Boczarski / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
The US Supreme Court deals a blow to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown by blocking his deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago.
The conservative-dominated court kept in place for now a lower court order barring the deployment of troops on the streets of the city in the midwestern state of Illinois.
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court says in an unsigned order.
Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — dissented.
The Republican president has sent National Guard troops to three Democratic-led cities this year — Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis — but his efforts to deploy soldiers in Portland and Chicago have been tied up in the courts.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, reacting to the court ruling, says the president “activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property.”
“Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda,” Jackson said.
It is not immediately clear how Tuesday’s decision would affect the other cases where Democratic-ruled states have challenged Trump’s National Guard deployment.
Some 300 National Guard troops remain activated in the Chicago area but are not engaged in operations.
Feldstein says he was ‘used’ for Qatari interests, without realizing it at the time
Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with imagery referring to the so-called Qatargate scandal and the investigation into his senior aides, outside the Tel Aviv District Court as the premier arrives to testify in his ongoing criminal trial, April 9, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein denies he had any knowledge that people in the Prime Minister’s Office were working side jobs on behalf of Qatar.
Feldstein and close Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich are suspects in an ongoing investigation into connections between senior officials and Qatar. Yisrael Einhorn, a former campaign adviser to Netanyahu, is also a person of interest in the investigation.
“I have very good reason to think they used me, took advantage of me,” the former spokesman says of Urich and Einhorn during an interview on the Kan public broadcaster.
Feldstein says that when, at Urich’s request, he helped Jerusalem Post editor Zvika Klein speak to Israeli media outlets about a meeting with the Qatari prime minister, it didn’t occur to him that this might be part of a foreign influence operation.
Likewise, he says, when he received pro-Qatari messaging from Urich, which he then passed along to journalists, he believed it was accurate.
The ex-spokesman says that while the convoluted process by which individuals in the US, whom he did not know, transferred money to his bank account — ostensibly his salary from the PMO, which he could not receive directly because he failed a background check — was strange, it didn’t raise alarm bells or cause him to connect the dots.
“Is it possible that things I put out served, aided, helped, after-the-fact, or as a side effect, or a consequence, some official in Qatar? It could be,” he acknowledges. However, he insists that he was not aware of it in real-time.
“They took me, with my motivation, my desire to belong, to feel a part of something, and they used me,” he says.
‘He knew everything’: Netanyahu’s ex-aide says PM was ‘behind’ leak of intel to Bild
Eli Feldstein, a former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the suspects in the so-called Qatargate investigation, and a defendant in the Bild leak scandal, speaks to the Kan public broadcaster in an interview aired December 22, 2025. (Screenshot: Kan)
Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleges that the premier was aware of and encouraged the leak of a classified document in September 2024 in order to sway public opinion about hostage negotiations.
“He knew everything,” Feldstein says in the second part of a two-part interview with the Kan public broadcaster. “He is the one who was ultimately behind the leak to Bild.”
Netanyahu’s assertions to the contrary are a “lie,” according to Feldstein.
The former spokesman also reports being in close contact with Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich throughout the process, from the time Feldstein first received the document from military intelligence reservist Ari Rosenfeld, until it was published by the German newspaper.
The document – an internal communiqué from the Hamas terror group – was prohibited for publication by Israel’s military censor, amid concern that an intelligence source in Gaza could be endangered by its release.
Feldstein, Urich, and a close adviser to the premier, Yisrael (Srulik) Einhorn, are all being criminally investigated in connection with the affair. Netanyahu himself is not a suspect in the probe.
Urich “knew everything that I knew,” Feldstein tells the Kan public broadcaster. “Where [the document] came from, why it wasn’t put out in Israel, all of it.”
“Read all my texts [with Urich]. I don’t conceal anything,” Feldstein says, telling the interviewer that if he does, he’ll surely conclude that “other than asking him if I can go pee, he knew everything. Everything. Everything, everything, including everything, including everything.”
The ex-spokesman says he is certain that, by the eve of the document’s publication, Urich had informed the premier of the plan to leak it.
He also cites messages between himself and Urich that appear to reference Netanyahu, including one from Urich that reads: “The boss is pleased.”
Feldstein says that after Bild published the story, he, Urich, and Netanyahu had a conference call to decide on their messaging about it. He says the conversation quickly turned to the question of what the premier knew.
They all agreed to insist – falsely – that the premier had been kept in the dark about the leak, he says, and to emphasize that the military was keeping vital information from the political echelon, he says.
Turkish official dismisses Netanyahu’s comments as ‘long-standing hysteria’
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hits back at remarks made yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alluding to Turkey dreaming of “reestablishing an empire.”
“It is ironic for Israeli leaders to speak about imperialistic ambitions of others in this region while they have just committed one of the worst genocides in history,” writes presidential spokesman Burhanettin Duran on X.
“Israel has been a destabilizing force and their long-standing hysteria about Türkiye’s power and influence is simply comical,” he adds. “Under President Erdoğan’s leadership, Türkiye has been a source of stability and peace. In contrast, the Netanyahu government brought blood and tears to the region.”
Duran accuses Israel of “trying to disguise its territorial ambitions as national security requirements, as they remain an occupying power in Palestine and Syria.”
He says that no “cheap shots and ridiculous statements like that of the Israeli Prime Minister will deter us from our support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters.”
With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Israel has expressed deep concern about Turkey gaining a stronger foothold in the country. Israel has also strongly pushed back against Turkey’s desire to play a role in the International Stabilization Force set to deploy inside Gaza next year.
US, Iran spar over nuclear talks at UN Security Council meeting
The United States and Iran trade barbs at the United Nations Security Council over conditions for reviving nuclear talks, with the US saying it remains ready for direct negotiations and Iran rejecting Washington’s terms.
The two countries held five rounds of nuclear talks prior to a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, which Washington joined by striking Iranian nuclear sites.
“The United States remains available for formal talks with Iran, but only if Tehran is prepared for direct and meaningful dialogue,” Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus tells the Security Council on Tuesday.
“We have been clear, however, about certain expectations for any arrangement. Foremost, there can be no enrichment inside of Iran, and that remains our principle,” Ortagus says.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani tells the meeting that the US was not pursuing fair negotiation by insisting on a zero enrichment policy.
“We appreciate any fair and meaningful negotiation, but insisting on zero enrichment policy, it is contrary to our rights as a member of the NPT, and it means that they are not pursuing the fair negotiation,” he says, referring to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
“They want to dictate their predetermined intention on Iran. Iran will not bow down to any pressure and intimidation,” he adds.
Georgetown University appears to drop partnership with UN’s Albanese
UN Special Rapporteur in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese speaks at a press conference in Geneva on September 15, 2025. (Fabrice Cofrini/AFP)
Georgetown University in Washington, DC, appears to have dropped its partnership with the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese.
Albanese has been removed from Georgetown’s list of affiliated scholars and her biography page has been dropped from the university website.
Archived web pages show that the changes were made in recent months.
The university does not respond to a request for comment.
Albanese has a history of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric toward Israel.
The US government imposed sanctions on Albanese earlier this year, cutting her off from all financial activity related to the US.
Her removal from Georgetown’s directory was first reported by UN Watch, a watchdog group that campaigns against Albanese.
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