Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
Australia confirms Hezbollah claim of national killed in Israeli strike in Lebanon
Australia on Thursday confirmed two of its citizens were killed in an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon on Tuesday, and said it was looking at Hezbollah’s claims that one of the Australian citizens killed had links to the Lebanese terror group.
“We will continue to make inquiries about this particular person, with whom Hezbollah has claimed links,” Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus said during a media briefing.
“Hezbollah has claimed this Australian as one of its fighters. Our inquiries are continuing.”
Hezbollah is a “listed terrorist organization” in Australia and it is an offense for any Australian to provide it with financial support or fight in its ranks, Dreyfus said.
A Lebanese-Australian man, his wife, and his brother, who was a member of Hezbollah, were killed in the attack, attributed to Israel, on a home in the southern city of Bint Jbeil, Lebanese security and local sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, the bodies of Ibrahim Bazzi, his wife Shorouk Hammoud, and Ibrahim’s brother, Ali Bazzi, were pulled from the rubble of their destroyed home.
Ibrahim Bazzi was identified by one of his relatives as a Lebanese-Australian dual citizen. Although family members in the village alleged that Ali Bazzi was a civilian, Hezbollah put out a statement announcing his death as a “martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” as it typically does when one of its fighters is killed.
Ibrahim Bazzi was said to have lived in Sydney and was only in Lebanon to visit his wife, who just recently received a travel visa for Australia and so was not yet living with her husband.
Dreyfus said the Australian government had reached out to Israel about the attacks but declined to disclose what was discussed.
He urged Australians in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial flight options remained available.
Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah stronghold and large parts of it were destroyed during the 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.
Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said one of its jets had struck a Hezbollah military site overnight in Lebanon.
Emmanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Police arrest suspect for desecrating Jerusalem Muslim cemetery with donkey head
Israeli police on Wednesday said they had arrested an Israeli suspected of having desecrated a Muslim cemetery in annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City by hanging a donkey’s head.
Describing the 35-year-old as “unbalanced,” police said he was arrested after they were alerted that a man had “broken the law and disrupted public order by hanging the head of a donkey” at the cemetery.
Israeli settlers storm the Bab al-Rahma cemetery in occupied Jerusalem and hang a "donkey's head" on a grave. pic.twitter.com/dmwf2LnBge
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 27, 2023
Photographs circulating on social media showed the head of a donkey hanging from a fence of the cemetery.
Police said the man was carrying an axe at the time of his arrest, adding that another suspect who allegedly had helped in taking him there was also in custody.
“A Jewish extremist slit the throat of a donkey today at the Golden Gate cemetery before hanging it over the Muslim graves there,” the Waqf Islamic affairs council said in a statement. “It was a serious desecration of one of the main historic Muslim cemeteries in Jerusalem.”
Jordan’s Abdullah, Egypt’s Sissi meet in Cairo to discuss Gaza war
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi during a meeting in Cairo on December 27, 2023. (Photo by Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties as well as the war in Gaza against Hamas, their offices say.
A press statement from Sissi’s office said the two leaders reject any potential move that would create an influx of Palestinian refugees and called on the international community to push for a ceasefire, increase more aid into Gaza, and work toward “a political track for a just and comprehensive settlement leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state” on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
Egypt has made clear throughout this latest war that it does not want to take in a wave of Palestinian refugees.
Sissi previously warned that a mass influx of refugees from Gaza would eliminate the Palestinian nationalist cause, risk bringing terrorists into Sinai, where they might launch attacks on Israel, and endanger the Israel-Egypt 1979 peace treaty.
Gaza population in ‘grave peril,’ says WHO
GENEVA, Switzerland — The population of Gaza is in “grave peril”, warns the head of the World Health Organization, citing acute hunger and desperation throughout the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The WHO said it delivered supplies to two hospitals on Tuesday, with only 15 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip functioning with any capacity at all.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the international community to take “urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril facing the population of Gaza and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian workers to help people with terrible injuries, acute hunger, and at severe risk of disease.”
In a statement, the WHO says its staff reported that “hungry people again stopped our convoys today in the hope of finding food”.
“WHO’s ability to supply medicines, medical supplies, and fuel to hospitals is being increasingly constrained by the hunger and desperation of people en route to, and within, hospitals we reach.”
The bloodiest-ever Gaza war erupted when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes including entire families, and people at an outdoors music festival, amid widespread brutalities.
Terrorists also took about 240 hostages, of whom 129 remain inside Gaza, according to Israel, in the worst mass terror attack in the country’s history.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias claim responsibility for launching drone that crashed in Golan
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-backed paramilitary groups, claims responsibility for launching the drone that crashed near the moshav of Eliad in the southern Golan Heights.
A statement from the militias says they carried out the attack using “appropriate weapons,” without elaborating.
Woman with stab wounds found dead in Haifa apartment; husband arrested as murder suspect
Police launch a murder investigation after a woman is found dead with stab wounds at an apartment in Haifa.
Officers arrest the woman’s husband as a suspect in the case.
Macron tells Netanyahu that ‘durable ceasefire’ needed in Gaza
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call this evening of the need to work toward a durable ceasefire “with the help of all regional and international partners,” the French Presidency says in a statement.
France will also work with Jordan in days ahead on humanitarian operations in Gaza, it adds.
Suspected explosive-laden drone crashes in Golan — local authorities
An apparent explosive-laden drone crashed in the southern Golan Heights, local authorities say.
In a statement to residents of the Golan, authorities say the “hostile unmanned aircraft” was located by IDF troops.
It says there are no injuries in the incident.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
The drone is believed to have been launched from Syria.
Anti-Israel demonstrators block airport access roads in New York and Los Angeles
NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly block entrance roads to airports in New York and Los Angeles while demonstrating against Israel, forcing some travelers to set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway.
As US airlines contend with a rush of holiday travel, the demonstrations snarl traffic on the outskirts of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
In New York, activists lock arms and hold banners with slogans such as “divest from genocide” and “right to return,” bringing traffic to a standstill on the expressway leading up to the airport for about 20 minutes.
The demonstrators chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will free,” a slogan used by Hamas and others calling for Israel’s destruction.
Video posted to social media shows passengers, some carrying suitcases, leaving vehicles behind and stepping over barriers onto the highway median. One woman can be heard saying that she was “sorry for what’s going on in another country,” but she had to get to work, using an obscenity.
#NYC 26 Protesters are Arrested after blocking the road to JFK demanding to "Free Palestine" and "Permanent Ceasefire"
People were seen going through the banners and around the group with their luggage as they left their ride and rushed to make their flight.
THREAD 🧵 /1 pic.twitter.com/ORyFmgEy91
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) December 27, 2023
Twenty-six people were arrested on the roadway, says Steve Burns, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The agency also dispatched two buses “offering rides to travelers involved in the backup to allow them to reach the airport safely,” Burns says.
Around the same time as the New York protest, a major thoroughfare leading to the Los Angeles airport is shut down by another group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who drag traffic cones, trash bins, scooters and debris into the lanes, according to news helicopter footage.
The group appears to flee when police arrive, though the Los Angeles Police Department says traffic around the airport remains impacted roughly two hours after the demonstration was declared unlawful.
The number of arrests in Los Angeles is not immediately known. An estimated 215,000 passengers and 87,000 vehicles are expected to pass through the Los Angeles airport today, according to a holiday travel forecast.
Netanyahu speaks with Macron about Red Sea, Israel-Lebanon border and war in Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron (L) as they hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem on October 24, 2023. (Christophe Ena/Pool/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he spoke by phone this evening with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the repeated attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, cross-border skirmishes between Israeli forces and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah and the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Macron for France’s involvement in defending freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, and its willingness to assist in restoring security to Israel’s border with Lebanon,” says a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The statement says Netanyahu also updated Macron about “the war to destroy Hamas” and Israel’s efforts to return the hostages kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists during the October 7 massacres.
UN says fighting between IDF and Gaza terror groups impeding aid shipments
A displaced Palestinian woman lights a cooking fire outside a tent in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 27, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
UNITED NATIONS — The UN humanitarian office says the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian terror groups in most areas of Gaza and their devastating impact is impeding aid deliveries.
“Operational challenges due to insecurity, blocked roads and a scarcity of fuel are also hampering the humanitarian response,” the office, known as OCHA, says in a statement.
OCHA warns that telecommunications blackouts are making communications and internet service unreliable and also impacting humanitarian deliveries.
Yesterday and overnight, it says the primary telecommunications provider in the Gaza Strip reported another halt to those services, citing damage to its infrastructure.
Despite these challenges, OCHA says that between December 23 and December 26 the UN World Food Program reached about half a million people internally displaced in UN shelters south of Wadi Gaza with food parcels, wheat flour, high-energy biscuits and nutrition supplements.
WFP through its partners is also helping thousands of people outside UN shelters at distribution points and community kitchens, OCHA says.
The UN humanitarian agency says it is also working to deliver 50 tons of wheat flour to more than a dozen bakeries in Gaza.
Touring border, FM Eli Cohen says Hezbollah chief ‘must understand that he’s next’
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks from Lebanon, November 3, 2023 (Screenshot used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen says the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group could be Israel’s next target.
Touring Israel’s border with foreign ambassadors, Cohen says Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “must understand that he’s next.”
He says Hezbollah must respect a 2006 UN ceasefire that calls on the group to withdraw from the border area.
“We will operate to make the most of the diplomatic option,” Cohen says. “If it doesn’t work, all options are on the table.”
נסראללה צריך להבין שהוא הבא בתור.
אם הוא לא רוצה להיות הבא בתור, שיבצע לאלתר את החלטת מועצת הביטחון של האו״ם וירחיק את חיזבאללה מצפון לליטאני.
אנחנו נפעל למצות את האופציה המדינית, ואם היא לא תעבוד, כל האופציות על השולחן על מנת להבטיח את ביטחון מדינת ישראל ולהחזיר את תושבי הצפון… pic.twitter.com/JvkLVgAX5b— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) December 27, 2023
Shin Bet received intel on timing of major Hamas attack but cast it as unimportant — TV
FILE - Hamas terrorists are seen crossing the Israel-Gaza border fence on October 7, 2023 (Kan TV screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Months before Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the Shin Bet security service received intelligence that the Palestinian terror group was planning to carry out “a big move,” giving the specific time in which the massive invasion was indeed carried out — but the information was cast as insignificant, according to a television report this evening.
The Shin Bet got the tip from a human source in the Gaza Strip who warned Hamas was planning to attack during the week after the Jewish fast day of Yom Kippur, Channel 12 news reports.
Yom Kippur was marked this year on September 25, a Monday. The October 7 invasion, in which thousands of Hamas terrorists massacred some 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped over 240 hostages, occurred 12 days later — on the Saturday of the week after Yom Kippur.
The report says the Shin Bet source in Gaza had reported the information to the agency after hearing it from another person who had told him the details.
The source’s operator conveyed the raw information to Shin Bet colleagues, but they marked it as insignificant, concluding that “if this really nears implementation, we’ll receive additional intelligence” corroborating it, the report says.
The information was reportedly not brought to the attention of senior Shin Bet officials, and the agency chief Ronen Bar never heard about it.
It was eventually noticed after October 7, as part of efforts to understand how the service had known nothing about the planned attack.
The network cites unnamed Shin Bet sources saying that at the time, no other pieces of intelligence were found to support the information, and the reliability of the human source — who had started giving intel to the Shin Bet a relatively short while before that — had been deemed unclear, though they have since admitted that he is highly reliable.
Even though Bar, the agency’s chief, hadn’t heard about the information, Channel 12 cites multiple sources as saying the Shin Bet won’t blame lower-ranking officers, and admitting the service failed to prevent the assault.
In its official response to the report, the Shin Bet says it’s currently focusing on the ongoing war against Hamas, and is preparing to thoroughly investigate after the war how the intelligence failure had happened, including checking what information had been available.
“In any case, focusing on a specific piece of intelligence cannot reflect the full intelligence picture of that time.”
High Court said to rule 8-7 in favor of striking down judicial overhaul law
The 15 justices on the High Court attend a hearing on petitions against the government's reasonableness law, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)
The High Court of Justice is reportedly set to strike down the controversial reasonableness limitation law passed by the government earlier this year as part of its judicial overhaul program.
In what would be a momentous and highly contentious decision, Channel 12 news reports that the unprecedented bench of 15 justices split down the line, with the eight liberals voting in favor of annulling the law and the seven conservatives voting against.
Such a decision would be incredibly controversial since the law was passed as an amendment to one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws which the court has never before struck down, and which the government and legal conservatives have strenuously argued are not subject to judicial review.
The reasonableness law bans all courts, including the High Court, from deliberating on and ruling against government and ministerial decisions on the basis of the judicial standard of reasonableness, which the top court has used to reverse government and ministerial decisions in certain circumstances.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv, a fervent opponent of the reasonableness law and the judicial overhaul more broadly, condemns the leak of the ruling, calling it “a disgrace” that does “mortal harm to the Supreme Court and to Israeli democracy.”
He argues that swift condemnation of the apparent decision by the Movement for Governability and Democracy, a strongly conservative think tank founded by judicial overhaul architect MK Simcha Rothman, indicates the source of the leak.
“What they have done disrupts the operations of the Supreme Court in an unprecedented way and is clear evidence of their willingness to harm its status and its judges,” says Kariv.
The Judicial Authority spokesperson’s department issues a statement in response to the report saying the writing of the ruling has not yet been completed.
“We view unauthorized leaks with great severity and will not comment on it. The ruling will be published after [the process of] writing it has been completed,” the statement says.
After budget hike, Finance Minstry seeks another NIS 200 million for settlements ministry
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) and National Missions Minister Orit Strock at a Religious Zionism faction meeting in the West Bank settlement of Givat Harel, February 14, 2023. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)
The Finance Ministry requests an additional NIS 200 million in funding for the controversial Settlements and National Projects Ministry from the Knesset Finance Committee, after it already received over NIS 300 million in additional funds as part of the 2023 supplementary budget that was approved earlier this month.
Labor MK Naama Lazimi, a member of the Finance Committee, says that NIS 75 million of the additional funds would go to the acquisition of “security components” for illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, while another NIS 75 million would be dedicated to longer-term infrastructure projects in those outposts.
Lazimi’s fellow Finance Committee member MK Vladimir Beliak says the other NIS 50 million would be funneled to the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement’s Division for “all sorts of unknown projects.”
Lazimi argues that if there are security necessities then the money should be directed through the defense ministry and not “a fictitious and unnecessary ministry,” in reference to the settlements ministry which opposition parties have denounced as a conduit for channeling partisan funds for the pet projects of the Religious Zionism party.
“This is a waste of public funds, being passed in an ambush, in a cynical and ridiculous manner at a time of war,” Lazimi adds.
Approval of the funds is set to be brought for a vote in committee on Sunday.
A spokesperson for Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, who like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is a member of the far-right National Religious party, does not respond to a request for comment on the issue.
Israeli TV publishes purportedly recent photo of Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif
A picture purporting to show Muhammad Deif, the commander of the Hamas terror group's military wing, which was published by Channel 12 news on December 27, 2023. (Screenshot, Channel 12, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Channel 12 news publishes a purportedly recent photograph of Muhammad Deif, the leader of the Hamas terror group’s military wing.
The network says the photo was obtained by Israeli forces amid the ongoing war in Gaza but doesn’t specify when it was taken.
The authenticity of the photo cannot be verified independently.
The release of the photo comes a report last week said videos apparently found by troops in Gaza showed Deif walking under his own power with what appear to be his own legs, albeit with a slight limp.
Little is known of Deif, but oft-repeated reports in Israel for over a decade have described him as missing both his legs and an arm, the result of an Israeli airstrike, one of at least five failed Israeli attempts on his life.
In the photo published by Channel 12, the man purported to be Deif appears to be missing an eye, which reports have previously said the arch-terrorist lost in an assassination attempt. The TV report also asserts Deif is missing a leg and therefore limps, but doesn’t provide any evidence for this.
IDF says troops destroyed 3 shafts connecting to tunnel under Gaza hospital
This image from video shows a Hamas tunnel discovered by the IDF underneath Gaza City's Rantisi Hospital, in a handout video published December 27, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF announces that it has located and destroyed three tunnel shafts in the area of Gaza City’s Rantisi Children’s Hospital that connect to underground passages beneath the medical center used by the Hamas terror group.
In November, the IDF showed what it said was proof that the basement of Rantisi was used by Hamas to hide arms and possibly hold hostages kidnapped on October 7. It also revealed one of the tunnel shafts in the area at the time.
In recent weeks, the IDF’s 401st Brigade, Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit investigated and mapped out three tunnel shafts found in the area of Rantisi.
The IDF says the operations revealed that the three shafts “are connected by a wide underground network that runs under the hospital, is several kilometers long and leads to strategic points in the heart of Gaza City.”
It says the tunnel at Rantisi was used by Hamas as a command center to manage the fighting against Israel.
One of the shafts, found in a high school adjacent to Rantisi, has an elevator heading down some 20 meters, according to the IDF. Another shaft, found in the home of a… pic.twitter.com/4BJKkgmbs0
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 27, 2023
It says the tunnel at Rantisi was used by Hamas as a command center to manage the fighting against Israel.
One of the shafts, found in a high school adjacent to Rantisi, has an elevator heading down some 20 meters, according to the IDF. Another shaft, found in the home of a commander in Hamas’s naval forces, featured a blast door to prevent troops from entering, it says.
After being investigated, the tunnel network was demolished by combat engineers.
Gantz: ‘We are not in the government to stay, but rather so we will win’
Minister Benny Gantz arrives for a press conference at the Defense Ministry, in Tel Aviv, December 16, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Speaking during a televised press conference, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz stresses his commitment to returning the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 and says the war against the Gaza-ruling terror group is progressing in accordance with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi’s plans.
Gantz, who heads the National Unity party, says the military campaign in Gaza will continue and even expand to other areas as necessary.
Turning to Israel’s allies overseas, Gantz says, “the situation on the northern border requires change.”
“The hourglass for a diplomatic arrangement is running out,” he adds, vowing the IDF will move to distance Hezbollah from the border if Lebanon and the world don’t act.
Turning to Israel’s domestic divisions, Gantz says that after the Hamas atrocities on October 7, “it was clear to all of us that the rift among us is fuel for our enemies.”
“We united immediately… We proved to our enemies and the world that Israeli national power is strong and deep,” he says.
“Unfortunately, in recent days, there are those permitting themselves to go back to October 6,” Gantz adds.
Reiterating his opposition to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s decision not to extend Israel Prison Service Commissioner Katy Perry’s tenure, Gantz warns the move will harm Israeli security.
“The situation of the country is one of the most challenging we’ve known in our history and it will last for some time” Gantz says. “I hear people who believe that my friends and I need to quit the government, to which I wish to stress: We are not in the government to stay, but rather so we will win.”
After PM and Gantz meet, National Unity says no agreement on removal of prisons chief
Then-defense minister Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a consultation during Hamas rocket fire at Israel and IDF counterstrikes, May 11, 2021. (Amos Ben Gershom / GPO / File)
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity party denies any agreement has been reached with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s decision not to extend the tenure of Israel Prisons Service Commissioner Katy Perry.
In a statement issued after Gantz met with Netanyahu, National Unity says that replacing senior officials — particularly the heads of security services — “at this time harms the functioning of the state during war and is not right.”
“We expect the prime minister to prevent this harm to the country’s security and not allow decisions based on political considerations in the management of the [military] campaign,” the statement adds.
As Hezbollah escalates attacks, IDF chief says forces ‘at very high level of readiness’
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (right) walks with Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, at the northern command HQ in Safed, December 27, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi during a visit to the Northern Command says the military is “at a very high level of readiness,” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.
“Our first task is to return residents safely, and that will take time. Today we approved a variety of plans for the future, and we need to be ready for an offensive, if necessary,” Halevi says in remarks provided by the IDF.
“The IDF and within it the Northern Command are at a very high level of readiness. So far, the campaign here has been managed correctly and meticulously, and this is how it should continue. We will not return the residents without security and a sense of security,” he adds.
Tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel have been evacuated from their communities amid daily Hezbollah rocket, missile and drone attacks.
Ultranationalist MK makes solidarity visit to illegal outpost after demolition
This handout photo shows Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech visiting the wildcat Sde Yonatan outpost in the West Bank, December 27, 2023. (Office of MK Limor Son Har-Melech)
MK Limor Son Har-Melech visits Sde Yonatan to give her support and backing to the activists, after the illegal West Bank outpost was demolished yesterday by Israeli authorities.
“I came here to support the pioneering settlers in Sde Yonatan after the brutal demolition yesterday,” says Son Har-Melech, a member of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party and herself a settler.
Two rudimentary residential buildings and a goat pen were demolished by Border Police and Civil Administration forces during the operation, and at least one person was injured and three arrested by Border Police officers.
But the activists, a handful of settler youths, began rebuilding some of those structures almost as soon as the demolition was completed.
“I was happy to see that they have already rebuilt the structures, and the routine of study and herding continues,” says Son Har-Melech during her visit.
“Protecting the lands of our homeland is an important part of the struggle of everyone to stop the enemy and restore security,” she contends.
The site of Sde Yonatan is located on private Palestinian land, the Civil Administration has said. It was first established two years ago but has been demolished and rebuilt several times.
Supporters of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin rally at Ben Gurion Airport
Dozens of friends and relatives of a 23-year-old Israeli-American man held hostage by Hamas gather at Ben Gurion Airport to draw attention to his plight.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin had been scheduled to fly out today for a long-planned backpacking trip.
“Today, Dec. 27, Hersh has a one-way ticket to go traveling around the world. It’s a trip that he’s been planning for a long time. He’s been dreaming about it for a long time,” says his father, Jonathan Polin. “He’s unfortunately not going to be taking off on a trip today, but we are hoping and praying that he’s going to take off on this trip soon.”
Goldberg-Polin was attending a music party near the Gaza border that was targeted by Hamas in the October 7 cross-border terror attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Over 300 people at the rave were killed while several dozen were taken hostage.
About 50 people join the gathering at Ben Gurion Airport, many holding posters of Goldberg-Polin’s picture with the slogan “Bring Hersh Home.”
His father brought a backpack that he says he had bought as a present for his son’s trip.
“The bag was not supposed to be here today on my back. It’s supposed to be on Hersh’s back,” he says. “We hope it’s going to be, soon.”
Rejecting ‘indiscriminate’ claims, officer says IAF carrying out ‘precise, focused’ strikes in Gaza
Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler, the IAF's chief of staff issues a video statement December 27, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
A senior Israeli Air Force officer responds to claims that Israel’s airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have been indiscriminate, saying it conducts careful procedures before hitting each target.
“Since the October 7 massacre, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting a precise, focused and process-based campaign. I will walk you through the principles that we keep in mind, while planning operations and address misleading claims,” says Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler, the IAF’s chief of staff in a video statement.
“Our planning principles include: 1. Striking targets based on intel, and military necessity for close air support. 2. Evacuation efforts: They enable us to strike and maneuver in areas with minimal civilian presence. 3. Selecting the right munitions to minimize collateral damage: This allows us to accurately strike Hamas even though it operates within civilian areas. 4. Real-time monitoring: During the strike, we are monitoring the target area. If it does not comply with our Standard Operating Procedures, we will abort,” he says.
Tischler in his statement also addresses what he says are “issues that have been seen in the media.”
“To start, our use of so-called ‘dumb bombs.’ The term ‘dumb bombs” describes munitions that are not guided-based. These are standard munitions that are regularly used by militaries worldwide,” he says.
“The claim that such munitions are indiscriminate or cause uncontrollable damage is misleading. Even though these munitions are not GPS-guided, they are still used accurately. It is released in a specific release point calculated by the aircraft’s system to allow the pilot to strike a target accurately,” Tischler continues.
The officer also responds to questions on massive craters seen in the Gaza Strip from IAF strikes.
“Heavy munitions are detonated underground, preventing fragmentation and significantly reducing the blastwave and debris as a result. In these strikes, the resulting crater visible in satellite images indicates that the underground detonation has actually occurred on a military target, and directly minimized damage to the surrounding areas,” he says.
“Additionally, in many cases, we use small PGMs (precision-guided munitions) to strike targets near sensitive areas. Those targets include rocket launchers, commanders, tunnel shafts, and command and control centers, which are located throughout the Gaza Strip,” Tischler says.
“But let me be very clear. In war, mistakes can happen. While they are exceptional, they are still made. We study them, learn from them, and make changes to our process as a result,” he adds.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for rocket salvo at Kiryat Shmona
The Hezbollah terror group claims responsibility for firing a barrage of rockets at the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona.
In a statement, Hezbollah claims to have launched 30 rockets at Kiryat Shmona in response to an earlier IDF strike on a home in the Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil.
According to local authorities, at least 11 rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona, four of which impacted in the city, causing damage to homes and infrastructure.
Three rockets were also intercepted by the Iron Dome, with the remainder landing in open areas, local officials in Kiryat Shmona say.
Iranian Guards threaten ‘direct action’ against Israel after general killed in Syria
Honor guards carry the coffin of Razi Moussavi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria, during his funeral procession at the Imam Ali shrine in Iraq's holy city of Najaf, on December 27, 2023. (Qassem al-Kaabi/AFP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warns Israel that it or its allied groups will take “direct” action to avenge the killing of senior commander Razi Moussavi.
The general was killed Monday in an Israeli missile strike near the Syrian capital, according to state media, at a time of heightened regional tensions around the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza.
The Israeli army, which has launched hundreds of strikes on Iran-linked targets in war-torn Syria in recent years, said only that it does not comment on foreign media reports.
The body of Moussavi, a commander in the Guards’ foreign operations arm the Quds Force, was taken to Iraq for funeral rites in Shiite Muslim holy sites a day ahead of his burial in Iran planned for tomorrow.
IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif warns that “our response to Moussavi’s assassination will be a combination of direct action as well as (from) others led by the Axis of Resistance,” the local Mehr news agency reports.
Sharif charges that the Israeli killing of the general near Damascus “was likely due to its failures after the ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood'” — a reference to the devastating Hamas onslaught on October 7 in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages from southern Israeli communities.
Italy concerned by choice of settler leader as next Israeli ambassador to Rome
Ma'ale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel at a protest tent outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, February 4, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Italian government indicates to Israel that it is uncomfortable with Jerusalem’s choice of its next ambassador to Rome because of his close ties to the settlement movement.
Benny Kashriel, the long-time mayor of the large West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, was chosen by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to be Israel’s next ambassador to Rome back in July, but the Italians have still not approved the appointment.
The Times of Israel has learned that the Italians have sent informal messages to Jerusalem about their concerns over Kashriel’s appointment, although there has been no definitive decision yet.
Kashriel has served as mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, one of the largest West Bank settlements, for the last 31 years and was also the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella body for the settlement movement, from 1999 to 2001.
According to the Ynet news site, which first reported on the story, President Isaac Herzog has been asked by the Foreign Ministry to discreetly intervene over the issue.
Ministers again push off decision on further delaying local elections
After meeting today to discuss further delaying municipal elections scheduled for late January, as advocated by the coalition’s far-right Religious Zionism party, government ministers vote to again push off a decision on the matter and punt responsibility to the army.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says ministers unanimously backed his proposal to have the Israel Defense Forces notify the government which of the 2,189 candidates currently serving in the reserves “cannot be discharged, and a breakdown of the local authorities in which there are candidates who cannot be discharged.”
The Prime Minister’s Office says ministers will convene again next week to decide on a date, once they “have the complete data from the IDF.”
Elections were postponed from October 31 to January 30, due to the war.
Police report damage in Kiryat Shmona after rocket fire from Lebanon
Damage is caused by rocket strikes in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, police say.
A barrage of rockets was launched from Lebanon at the city, presumably by Hezbollah or an allied Palestinian terror group.
Police say officers are dealing with several sites of rocket impacts, which caused damage to property.
There are no reports of injuries.
Images purportedly of the rocket impacts in Kiryat Shmona. pic.twitter.com/AF8as1Dm7e
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 27, 2023
Blinken reportedly to visit next week for further talks on Israel-Hamas war
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks at Israel's Ben Gurion airport for an unannounced visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on November 5, 2023 (JONATHAN ERNST / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel next week for further discussions on the war in Gaza against Hamas, Hebrew media outlets report, in what would be the American diplomat’s fifth trip to the Jewish state since October 7.
According to the Walla news site, Blinken is also expected to visit the West Bank, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Incoming rocket alerts sound in northern border communities
Incoming rocket alerts sound in the northern communities of Kiryat Shmona, Tel Hai and Margaliot, as cross-border fighting continues between Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and the Israel Defense Forces.
IDF strikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah launches explosive-laden drones across border
This picture taken from a position along the border in northern Israel on December 27, 2023, shows smoke billowing in the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin following Israeli bombardment amid ongoing clashes with the Hezbollah terror group. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Three Hezbollah explosive-laden drones launched from Lebanon hit the Mount Dov area on the border, where a number of IDF positions are located.
The IDF says it identified the drones, adding that the “incident is over.”
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the drone attack.
Several more projectiles were fired from Lebanon at several areas in northern Israel, landing in open areas, causing no damage, according to the IDF.
The IDF says it struck the launch sites.
The IDF says fighter jets also carried out a wave of strikes against targets in Lebanon, including military sites belonging to Hezbollah.
The strikes come in response to a barrage of rockets from Lebanon earlier today on Rosh Hanikra.
לפני זמן קצר מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר השלימו תקיפה ממוקדת של מטרות טרור בשטח לבנון.
במסגרת התקיפה, הושמדו מספר תשתיות טרור לצד אתרים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.כמו כן, במהלך השעות האחרונות זוהו מספר שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון לעבר מרחבים שונים בצפון הארץ ונפלו בשטח פתוח>> pic.twitter.com/d63LHnJyAg
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 27, 2023
PM hits back at Erdogan over Hitler comparison; Gantz slams ‘desecration of the Holocaust’s memory’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Ronen Zvulun and Ozan Kose/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claps back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for claiming Israel’s actions against Hamas terrorists in Gaza are “no different” from those of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler.
“Erdogan, who is carrying out a genocide of Kurds and holds a world record number of journalists opposed to his rule in jail, is the last to preach morality to us,” Netanyahu says in a statement, repeating a phrase he used in previous spats with Turkey’s leader.
“The IDF is the most moral army in the world, which is fighting and eliminating the most despicable and brutal terror organization in the world, Hamas-Daesh, which committed crimes against humanity and Erdogan praises it and hosts its senior officials,” the premier adds.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz also slams Erdogan, saying his remarks “are blatant distortions of reality and a desecration of the Holocaust’s memory.”
“Hamas was the organization that perpetrated a despicable massacre. Removing the threat of Hamas from the citizens of Israel is an existential necessity and an unparalleled moral imperative,” Gantz says in a statement issued in both Hebrew and English.
I condemn the statements made by Turkish President Erdogan.
Statements that are blatant distortions of reality and a desecration of the Holocaust’s memory.
Hamas was the organisation that perpetrated a despicable massacre. Removing the threat of Hamas from the citizens of…
— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) December 27, 2023
IDF launches ground op in Khan Younis outskirts named for kibbutz attacked on Oct. 7
Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released by the military on December 27, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF has launched ground operations against Hamas in southern Gaza’s Khuza’a, on the outskirts of Khan Younis.
In a missive to troops, the commander of the Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, dubs the operation “Oz and Nir” (Might and Furrow), after the community of Nir Oz that was attacked by Hamas on October 7.
“On the cursed Sabbath, October 7th, the horrible terrorists came from Khirbat Ikhzaa (Khuza’a), who committed the most horrible crimes imaginable,” the missive reads.
“The terrorist attack by the Gaza terrorists from Khirbat Ikhzaa was aimed at Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community of people of work and peace,” Rosenfeld says.
Hamas terrorists killed and kidnapped dozens in Nir Oz.
“The rage and shock at what happened to the people of Nir Oz and the frustration that we failed to protect them will always accompany us,” the commander says.
“We are committed to pursuing the terrorists who were there and those who aided them, to the last of them, and bring home from captivity in Gaza the people of Nir Oz, along with all the hostages and the missing,” he says.
“We will work with all our might to eliminate the terrorists hiding there above and below the ground, and to dismantle the infrastructures of terrorism and evil,” Rosenfeld adds.
Leader of Lebanon’s tiny Jewish community dies
A general view shows the Magen Abraham Synagogue, then undergoing restoration, in the Lebanese capital Beirut on October 19, 2010. (OSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images via JTA)
BEIRUT — The former president of Lebanon’s tiny Jewish community, who had pushed for the rehabilitation of Beirut’s abandoned synagogue, has died, his family and the community’s lawyer tell AFP.
Isaac Arazi, 80, who headed the Lebanese Jewish Community Council, “died on Tuesday and was buried the same day,” lawyer Bassem el-Hout says.
Jews have been living in Lebanon for 2,000 years but their numbers shrank from some 22,000 before the 1975-1990 civil war to around 30 today, according to Hout.
They left steadily for the United States, Brazil and Europe after the State of Israel was established in 1948, “but they are still attached to Lebanon and many come back regularly,” Hout adds.
Arazi’s family published an obituary in a Lebanese newspaper describing him as the driving force behind the reconstruction of the Magen Abraham Synagogue in central Beirut, one of the largest and most ornate in the Arab world.
The Jewish council that Arazi headed had helped fund the project through donations.
In 2009, Arazi told AFP he was “ecstatic” about renovating the synagogue, which opened to worshipers in 1926, and expressed hope that the endeavor would “ensure that the community grows once again.”
The synagogue’s last rabbi fled the country in 1977 as Lebanese Jews left in droves, particularly after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where the words “Jews” and “Israelis” are often synonymous.
A handful of buildings that were once synagogues still stand in Lebanon, including one in the northern city of Tripoli and another in the southern city of Sidon.
Rocket sirens sound in Nahal Oz
Sirens sound in Nahal Oz, a community close to the Gaza border, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Ben Gvir fumed after aide prevented from joining meeting in IDF command center – report
Otzma Yehudit party chief Itamar Ben Gvir (L) speaks with his chief of staff Chanamel Dorfman during a Knesset special committee to discuss his proposed Police Ordinance changes, December 18, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was reportedly angered when his chief of staff, Chanamel Dorfman, was among aides prevented from attending a meeting in the Israel Defense Force’s underground command center beneath the military headquarters.
Sources told Channel 12 news that Ben Gvir noticed that only the spokespeople and aides of the war cabinet members had been allowed to enter with ministers into the secure underground area of the Kirya, and that Dorfman was waiting outside.
The report says that Ben Gvir confronted security guards.
Channel 12 says the decision not to allow aides and spokespeople for all ministers into the classified area was made after an assistant to Transportation Minister Miri Regev was found to be carrying a cellphone in a meeting, in contravention of regulations.
Dorfman has a history of far-right settler activism that saw him slapped with restraining orders and led the Shin Bet security service to describe him in the past as a danger to society.
In October, Dorfman was filmed briefly handing over his state-issued pistol for examination by a stranger in public, an ostensibly illegal act. That incident occurred at a street kiosk operated by Dorfman to sell the Four Species, a collection of plants used ritually during the Sukkot holiday. According to Haaretz, which first published the video, the kiosk itself was problematic as workers did not issue receipts unless they were specifically asked to do so, and there may have been conflict of interest violations as he is a state employee. Dorfman himself was seen taking payments via credit card, but also cash that he simply slipped into his pocket.
Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘No difference between the actions of Netanyahu and Hitler’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Budapest, Hungary, on December 18, 2023. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions over Gaza are “no different” from those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, the official Anadolu Agency reports.
It is not the first time Erdogan has compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and in July 2014, the Turkish president accused Israel of “keeping Hitler’s spirit alive” during a war with Gaza.
Erdogan has massively stepped up his criticism of Israel during the current war. He has also asserted that Hamas is not a terrorist organization.
Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey in October after Erdogan accused Israel of committing war crimes. Turkey later also recalled its ambassador from Israel.
Israel was a long-time regional ally of Turkey before Erdogan came to power, but ties imploded after a 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship, part of a blockade-busting flotilla, that left dead 10 Turkish activists who attacked IDF soldiers aboard the ship.
Relations between the two nations have been up and down since then.
In late September, Erdogan met with Netanyahu in New York for their first known sit-down and the two enthusiastically discussed avenues of cooperation. At the same time, Turkey maintains deep ties with Hamas, the terror group that carried out the devastating October 7 assault in which some 1,200 people were massacred in southern Israel and around 240 kidnapped to Gaza and held hostage.
IDF says commando troops operating ‘deep within Khan Younis’
The IDF releases footage of the Commando Brigade’s Maglan, Egoz, and Duvdevan units operating in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas “deep within Khan Younis,” killing many operatives and destroying the terror group’s infrastructure in the process, including tunnel shafts.
It says the three units carried out dozens of strikes using guided munitions during their operations in Khan Younis.
The IDF releases footage of the Commando Brigade's Maglan, Egoz, and Duvdevan units operating in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.
According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas "deep within Khan Younis," killing many operatives and destroying the terror group's… pic.twitter.com/m0MtY8fvhs
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 27, 2023
Hamas-controlled health ministry says Gaza death toll at 21,110
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an overnight Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, December 25, 2023 (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health authorities says Israel’s bombing campaign and fighting on the ground have killed at least 21,110 people in the Strip, though the figures cannot be verified.
Hamas has been accused of inflating casualty figures and including those killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.
Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The IDF says it has killed some 8,000 Hamas operatives in Gaza and another 1,000 terrorists during and immediately after the October 7 attacks.
Israel launched its war against Hamas after the terror group led an unprecedented assault into southern Israel on October 7. Terrorists massacred some 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians. Another approximately 240 people were kidnapped.
Palestinian telecom company says internet, phone services being restored in Gaza
The Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel says that internet and telephone services are gradually being restored across Gaza.
“We would like to announce the gradual restoration of telecom services in the central and southern areas of Gaza Strip after a blackout caused by the ongoing aggression,” Paltel says.
Last night the company announced the fourth such breakdown since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
State comptroller: ‘No stone will be left unturned’ in examining failures before, during, after Oct. 7
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, undated. (State Comptroller's Office)
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman announces which facets of the “multi-system failures” on October 7 his office will examine in the coming months, saying “no stone will be left unturned” in examining “personal responsibility” for the “failures on all levels – policy, military and civilian.”
Englman says that among the issues to be examined by his office are the conduct of the government’s security cabinet; the conduct of policy makers and the military on October 7 itself; intelligence preparedness before October 7; the defense posture on the Gaza border before the Hamas invasion; the preparedness of the civilian security squads in the Gaza border region before the war; the funding of Hamas; and the lack of equipment for IDF soldiers.
His office will also review the government’s actions following the outbreak of war, including civilian evacuations from the south and north; evacuating the injured and collecting and identifying the bodies of the victims; access of those harmed in the attack to their rights; and the government’s public diplomacy activities.
Other fields to be examined are the economic and technological aspects of the government’s functioning in connection to the war.
Englman says the functioning of government in these fields will be examined in the period before the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas, on the day itself, and in the time since.
He also says that the majority of the State Comptroller’s activities in 2024 will be dedicated to examining the October 7 events and everything pertaining to them.
IDF says it targeted Lebanon source of rocket fire at Rosh Hanikra
Following the rocket barrage from Lebanon on Rosh Hanikra, the IDF says it targeted the source of the fire.
It says the Iron Dome intercepted some of the projectiles, while the others landed in open areas. Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.
The IDF also says a fighter jet hit a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon overnight, and troops struck areas near the border this morning, presumably to foil planned Hezbollah attacks.
בהמשך להתרעות בראש הנקרה, זוהו מספר שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון, לוחמי ההגנה האווירית יירטו בהצלחה מספר שיגורים.
השיגורים הנוספים לא יורטו על פי מדיניות.
כוחות צה"ל תקפו את מקורות הירי.כמו כן, במהלך הלילה מטוס קרב של חיל האוויר תקף אתר צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון >> pic.twitter.com/CViQoBqeb6
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 27, 2023
14-year-old to be charged for stabbing pregnant sister to death in front of her kids; father to also be indicted
Police say a pregnant woman killed last month in Lod was stabbed to death by her 14-year-old brother.
The teen is set to be indicted, police say.
Aya Hajaj’s father and cousin are also set to be charged. The suspects are all residents of Hura in the south.
The boy followed 25-year-old Hajaj as she walked along a street with her two young children on their way to a nearby kindergarten on November 30.
He pounced on her from behind and repeatedly stabbed her. The two young children fled, as did other passersby.
Hajaj tried to defend herself but was stabbed multiple times in her torso.
Medics were unable to save the woman or her unborn baby.
The attacker then ran to a waiting car, which then sped off. Police said the car was driven by a 15-year-old relative of the Hajajes.
איה אבו חג'אג' נרצחה לפני כחודש, ב-20 דקירות סכין מול עיני ילדיה ברחוב בלוד.
היום הותר לפרסום כי הרוצח היה אחיה, בן 14 בלבד. בן דודם, בן 15, נהג ברכב המילוט. מזמין הרצח – אביה של איה.
תיעוד הרצח קשה במיוחד, אז לא אעלה אותו. הפרטים היבשים מזוויעים מספיק pic.twitter.com/UlwWGAbhoj
— רן שמעוני Ran Shimoni (@ran_shimoni) December 27, 2023
Rocket sirens in Kissufim
Rocket sirens are sounding in Kissufim, near the border with Gaza.
The community is largely evacuated of civilians.
Literary event features orange balloons for redheaded Bibas children held hostage in Gaza
Ofri Levi Bibas attends a literary event in Tel Aviv featuring an appeal for the release of her relatives held hostage in Gaza, on December 27, 2023. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
Dozens of writers and journalists gather in Tel Aviv for a children’s literary event which is used as an opportunity to raise awareness to the plight of an Israeli family held hostage in Gaza for 82 days.
Attending the annual SASA Setton Prize for Children’s Literature award ceremony, Ofri Levi Bibas from Moshav Giv’at Yoav says she “would have come anywhere to remind anyone” of her brother, Yarden Bibas, and his wife Shiri and two children, Ariel and Kfir, aged 4 and 11 months respectively.
The mother and children from Kibbutz Nir Oz, known to many in Israel as “the redheads,” are a symbol of Hamas’s barbarity for countless Israelis.
Hamas has claimed that the Bibas family was killed in an Israeli strike, though Israel’s government has not confirmed what it has said is a “cruel” claim by the terror group.
“We have not heard anything since that report, and we are trying to stay optimistic,” says Ofri Levi Bibas, standing next to orange balloons, whose color is a reference to the redheaded children.
The Bibas family, father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz. (Courtesy)
Organizers plan to release the balloons at the end of the award ceremony, held at Microsoft’s Tel Aviv offices, to symbolize the intense hope of Israelis to see the Bibas family return.
The judging panel for the award, which includes author Lihi Lapid, wife of Opposition Leader Yair Laid, gives this year’s prize to Orit Bergman’s “Shoshana, the Bored Dung Beetle.”
It is believed that 129 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed the deaths of 22 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
Baby dies in fire in south
A building after a fire in which a baby was killed in an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev, December 27, 2023 (Israel Fire Services)
A baby was killed in a fire in an unrecognized village near the southern Bedouin town of Ar’ara BaNegev, Magen David Adom says.
The child was aged around six months.
A 3-year-old girl was in moderate to serious condition, the emergency service says. A number of other people receive treatment for smoke inhalation.
Rescuers tell the Ynet news site that the single-story building was completely on fire when they arrived.
It is unclear what sparked the blaze. Many of the homes in Bedouin communities, as well as in Arab Israeli cities, are not connected to the power grid and are instead reliant on dangerous, makeshift solutions.
On Sunday, a 2-year-old died in a fire in an apartment in the central city Kfar Qasim. Three other children were treated for light injuries.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for barrage of at least 18 rockets fired at Rosh Hanikra
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group claims responsibility for the barrage of at least 18 rockets on Rosh Hanikra.
Hezbollah claims it targeted an Israeli military position near a Navy base in the area.
At least six rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, and there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Several interceptions in rocket barrage on Rosh Hanikra near Lebanon border
There are a number of interceptions after a barrage of rockets is fired at the northern border town Rosh Hanikra.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Video circulating on social media shows several interceptions.
Barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon at Rosh HaNikra. Several Iron Dome interceptions seen. pic.twitter.com/BnNemxJupX
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 27, 2023
Videos show fallen soldier Shaul Greenglick being hugged tightly by mom, auditioning for TV talent show
A video from a few weeks ago circulating on social media shows a soldier whose death was announced yesterday being tightly hugged by his mother as his family sings around the piano.
The video was filmed when Cpt. (res.) Shaul Greenglick, 26, was home for a break from reserve duty.
Greenglick’s siblings are gathered round the piano singing Shlomo Artzi’s “Teta’aru Lachem,” a song of longing for a world without sadness or fear, as his mother holds him with her eyes closed.
סרטון שצולם לפני כחודש,שאול גרינגליק הי״ד יצא לאפטר. המשפחה שרה,האמא מחבקת אותו.כמו סצנה מפרק סוף עונה של דרמה משפחתית.
היום הזה באמת הציף אותי מכל הסיפורים של הגיבורים הנופלים אבל משהו בסיפור של שאול נגע בי כאילו אני מכיר אותו שנים. חיבוק למשפחה, הלוואי ותחזרו מהר לשיר ולחבק. pic.twitter.com/IqMXhAaRB9
— חי שמואל- hai shmuel (@HaiShmuel) December 26, 2023
Greenglick, from the central town Ra’anana, was a talented singer who appeared in uniform in an episode of the reality TV singing competition “The Next Star” some three weeks ago.
Judges told Greenglick he was “a natural talent with an amazing voice.”
רק לפני 3 שבועות: האודישן ב"הכוכב הבא" של סרן שאול גרינגליק ז"ל שנפל ברצועה – "יש לך כישרון טבעי"https://t.co/8mPDE1EdQ2 pic.twitter.com/jhhBGp8FwJ
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) December 26, 2023
Greenglick was killed in fighting in the northern Strip, along with Cpt. Shay Shamriz, 26, a relative of Alon Shamriz who was one of three Israeli hostages accidentally slain by IDF soldiers in Gaza.
Alon’s brother Ido Shamriz tweets: “Shay the hero and the brave rest in peace. Hug Alon and watch over us from above. This war took a heavy toll on our family. My spirit will not be broken I am prouder than ever. Be Shamriz, a family of heroes.”
Rocket sirens sound in Rosh Hanikra
Sirens sound in northen town Rosh Hanikra, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group has carried out daily rocket, missile and drone attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel in recent months, while the IDF has been battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the devastating assault on October 7.
IDF says troops still battling Hamas in northern Gaza
Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released by the military on December 27, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it carried out strikes from the air, ground, and sea against some 200 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, as fighting continues.
In Gaza City’s Shejaiya, where Hamas’s battalion is believed to be largely defeated, reservists of the Yiftah Brigade identified Hamas operatives running between buildings from which gunfire was previously directed at troops, the IDF says.
The reservists then called in an airstrike against the Hamas operatives, which the IDF says led to secondary blasts, indicating the area was booby-trapped.
Also in northern Gaza, the IDF says troops of the 261st Brigade (the Bahad 1 officers’ school in wartime) spotted two Hamas operatives entering a vehicle and driving to a building used as a weapons depot.
The troops then called in an airstrike against the operatives, and later a fighter jet struck the building, the IDF says.
In the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, the IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade identified a Hamas operative wielding a short-range anti-tank missile.
Tanks in the area shelled the operative before he could open fire, the IDF says.
Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah battalion is believed by the IDF to be the last standing battalion in northern Gaza, as the military shifts its focus to the southern and central parts of the Strip.
Iran dismisses report that it raised production rate of near-weapons-grade uranium
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami speaks during a press conference in Tehran on March 4, 2023. (Atta KENARE / AFP)
Tehran dismisses the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report that Iran has increased the rate at which it is producing near-weapons-grade uranium in recent weeks.
“We did not have any new work and our current activity is being carried out according to the framework and regulations,” says Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami, according to the official IRNA news agency.
The IAEA said yesterday that Iran had reversed a previous slowdown that started in the middle of this year.
Iran had previously slowed down the rate at which it was enriching uranium to 60 percent purity. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Rocket sirens sound in Nahal Oz near Gaza border
Sirens sound in the Gaza border community Nahal Oz, warning of incoming rocket fire from the Strip.
The sirens come after a lull of some 16 hours.
The towns close to the border with the enclave have been largely evacuated of civilians since October 7.
Lapid: Threats against IDF’s West Bank commander are ‘another disgraceful low’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset, December 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responds to reports of threats against the military’s top commander in the West Bank, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, saying they are “another disgraceful low.”
“Fox is a brave warrior, patriot, defender of Israel,” Lapid says in a statement. “The threats against his life are another disgraceful low of a messianic, violent and delusional group, which endangers Israel’s security while the IDF is fighting for our lives.”
According to Channel 12 news, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar wrote a letter that was sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and all government ministers saying that criticism against Fox “may create a concrete threat to the general’s life and allow him to be harmed.”
“This is led by a small number of characters, but who are extremist and Kahanist,” Bar was quoted as writing, referring to followers of the late far-right extremist rabbi Meir Kahane.
Chief of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox speaks to reporters at the Salem checkpoint in the northern West Bank, July 3, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Lebanese media reports 3 killed in alleged Israeli strike on Bint Jbeil
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports three people were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on a building in Bint Jbeil in the south of the country.
There is no comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah stronghold and large parts of it were destroyed during the 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.
Security footage shows 2 suspects in blast near Israeli embassy in New Delhi – reports
Israel embassy personnel together with Indian conduct a search operation after an explosion occurred near the embassy in New Delhi on December 26, 2023. (Arun Sankar/AFP)
Two suspects have been spotted on security footage during the investigation into the blast yesterday near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, Indian media reports.
According to the reports, cited by the Ynet news site, investigators are analyzing the footage.
Yesterday’s explosion rattled the embassy building, but caused no injuries.
A letter threatening the ambassador was reportedly found nearby. Reports say the “abusive” letter was signed by “Sir Allah Resistance.”
Report: PA officials heading to Cairo to take part in talks on future of Gaza
Seen on a large screen, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is greeted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (right) prior to the start of the International 'Summit for Peace,' in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), east of Cairo, on October 21, 2023. (Khaled DESOUKI/ AFP)
According to a report in Haaretz, a delegation of Palestinian Authority officials is slated to head to Cairo in the coming days in order to discuss with Egypt its role in the future of the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper cites a senior PA official saying that the channel between Egypt and the PA was opened after Cairo proposed a three-stage plan for ending the war that would include an Egypt-sponsored “Palestinian national talk” aimed at ending the division between Fatah and Hamas.
According to the report, PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj has already departed for Cairo to discuss altering the terms of the Egyptian proposal.
3 more soldiers killed fighting in northern Gaza, raising ground operation toll to 164
L to R: Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz; Staff Sgt. Itay Buton; Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman (IDF)
The IDF announces the deaths of three additional soldiers killed fighting in northern Gaza, bringing the Israeli death toll in the ongoing ground operation in the Strip to 164.
They are:
Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz, 23, deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Ra’anana.
Staff Sgt. Itay Buton, 20, a soldier in the Shaked battalion in the Givati Brigade, from Petah Tikva.
Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, 21, a soldier in the Shaked battalion in the Givati Brigade, from Neve Daniel.
Palestinian health ministry says 6 killed during IDF raid in West Bank’s Tulkarem
Smoke rises during an Israeli military raid in Tulkarem, in the West Bank, December 17, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
An IDF operation near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank leaves six people dead and several others wounded early this morning, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.
“Six martyrs killed by the occupation [Israel] and some who were seriously wounded were transported to the Thabet Thabet government hospital in Tulkarem,” the ministry says in a short statement.
The Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency says they were killed in a drone strike.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF.
UN human rights official accuses Israel of working to push Gazans out of Strip
Smoke rises following Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, Dec. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A UN human rights official accuses Israel of working to push Gazans out of the Strip entirely as it expands its ground operation aimed at toppling Hamas.
Paula Gaviria Betancur, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, issues a statement claiming the IDF is attempting to deport Palestinians from Gaza “en masse.”
“As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse,” Gaviria Betancur writes.
Israel has denied reports that it sought to push Gazans into Egypt for the duration of the war, and has vowed it is not seeking any permanent population displacement.
Terminally ill mother of Hamas hostage issues renewed plea to Biden to free her daughter
Liora Argamani in a recorded video message for her daughter, Noa Argamani, held hostage by Hamas since October 7, 2023 (Courtesy Sarai Givaty and Keren Kozlova)
Liora Argamani, the mother of Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, issues a renewed plea to US President Joe Biden to see her daughter Noa Argamani again before she succumbs to terminal cancer.
“I am terminally ill with Stage 4 brain cancer. All that’s running through my mind before I part ways with my family forever is the chance to hug my daughter, my only child, one last time,” Liora Argamani wrote in a letter to Biden, according to CNN.
“It’s Christmas now, and I would like to request from you, Mr. President, as a present, to see my daughter again before I leave this world,” Argamani wrote, noting that she is aware “how important family is” for Biden personally, and what an “incredible bond” he has with his own children.
“My daughter Noa is a contagiously happy and resilient young woman. She loves to dance, loves music, loves being with her friends and family,” she wrote. “She deserves to be back where she belongs, pursuing her dreams, surrounded by love and care. She deserves to see her mother alive one last time.”
Dermer holds meetings in Washington to discuss ‘planning for the day after’
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer walks into the Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, DC on December 26, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer meets in Washington with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, discussing Israel-US cooperation on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
A spokesperson for the US National Security Council tells The Times of Israel that the meeting centered around a number of topics, including “the transition to a different phase of the war to maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets.”
The meeting also included talks on steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and minimize harm to civilians and efforts to bring home the remaining hostages, as well as “planning for the day after [the war], including governance and security in Gaza, a political horizon for the Palestinian people, and continued work on normalization and integration.”
Dermer, a close Netanyahu confidant who often serves as a quasi-foreign minister, was also slated to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his trip.
Report: Israel returns bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in Gaza after checking no hostages among them
Bodies of Palestinians killed in nothern Gaza, which were purportedly taken and later released by Israel, are buried in a mass grave in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on December 26, 2023. (Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
Israel reportedly returns the bodies of 80 Palestinians who were killed in Gaza after taking them from morgues and graves to check there were no hostages among them, according to sources in the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The bodies, which had been transported to Israel, were returned to Hamas authorities who buried them in a mass grave in Gaza, the sources claim.
Following inspection of the corpses, they were taken through the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. They were then transported in a truck to the mass grave, the sources say.
An AFP photographer saw a digger lowering the blue body bags into a trench in Rafah, on the south end of the territory.
The IDF did not immediately comment on the report.
Shin Bet chief said to warn of potential far-right threats against top general in West Bank
Head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox speaks to reporters from the Judea Regional Brigade base near the West Bank city of Hebron, August 21, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has reportedly warned that the military’s top commander in the West Bank could be at risk due to threats from the far-right.
According to Channel 12 news, Bar wrote a letter that was sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and all government ministers saying that criticism against Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox “may create a concrete threat to the general’s life and allow him to be harmed.”
“This is led by a few people, but who are extremist and Kahanist,” Bar is quoted as writing, referring to followers of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Bar attributed the intensified criticism of Fox to actions he has led since the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel on October 7 sparked the war in the Gaza Strip, such as the enforcement of administrative orders and collection of guns that were distributed to communal security squads without oversight.
“The steps that the Central Command chief has led have caused a real escalation in the criticism against him, which is presented as him having Jewish blood on his hands, to the point of deciding on a din rodef against him,” Bar reportedly added, referring to a Jewish religious principle allowing the extrajudicial killing of an individual who intends to kill or harm others.
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