Dec. 8: Katz said to push Army Radio closure toward cabinet vote as station head slams review panel

Ramla business owner seriously injured in suspected robbery attempt, police say

A business owner in Ramla was seriously wounded earlier this evening in an apparent criminally motivated shooting, police say.

According to police, officers were dispatched after receiving reports of gunfire at the entrance to a store in the city, with initial indications suggesting the incident occurred during a robbery.

The victim, a resident in his 50s, was evacuated in serious condition to a nearby medical center, medical officials say.

Ramla station officers have launched searches in the area and cordoned off the scene. Police say evidence is being collected and the circumstances are under investigation, with early findings pointing to a criminal background.

Lapid tears into Netanyahu in Knesset clash, vows to stop ‘draft-dodging law’

Opposition leader Yair Lapid at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid delivers a fiery address in the Knesset during a so-called 40-signature debate, sharply criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the government’s ultra-Orthodox conscription plan, the handling of the October 7 failures and his recent pardon request.

Speaking minutes after Netanyahu, Lapid is repeatedly interrupted by coalition lawmakers, but presses on, branding the conscription proposal a “draft-dodging law” and accusing the prime minister and his allies of deliberately avoiding committee discussions to distance themselves from the legislation.

Lapid vows the bill will not pass in any form, saying the opposition will fight it by every means.

He mocks the coalition’s push to establish its own commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks, calling it a farce that amounts to “investigating yourselves,” and demands answers on “who was prime minister on October 7, 2023.”

Lapid also issues a blistering personal attack on Netanyahu over his request for a presidential pardon, urging the prime minister to “admit guilt, accept [that the crime is one of] moral turpitude, and go home,” warning that any alternative would “tear the country apart.” Crimes that are designated as moral turpitude normally require the offender to withdraw from public office.

“Without an admission [of guilt] and without [accepting that the crime constituted] moral turpitude, it’s not a pardon — it’s a prize. It means that for those with power, the laws simply don’t apply,” he says.

US official dismisses ‘misleading’ report suggesting Blair sidelined from Board of Peace

Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin on June 24, 2025. (Jade Gao/AFP)

A US official flatly dismisses a “misleading” Financial Times report suggesting that former UK prime minister Tony Blair has been sidelined from the Board of Peace that the US is establishing to oversee the management of Gaza.

While the 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war that US President Donald Trump unveiled in September stated Blair would sit on the board, Washington has since shifted to a different model where the panel will be filled by current heads of state, who will play more symbolic roles while an intermediate level “executive committee” will be more closely involved in overseeing the management of Gaza.

Blair is poised to sit on that committee, along with top Trump aides Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, as well as former UN envoy for Mideast peace Nikolay Mladenov, the US official says.

Two said killed in separate IDF drone strikes on Hamas-controlled side of Gaza

Displaced Palestinians stand on a road after heavy rain in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on November 25, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

A woman was killed by an Israeli drone strike on the Halawa area of the Jabalia refugee camp, on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line, Al Jazeera reports, citing a source in the emergency services.

The same source says six people were wounded in a strike on a tent belonging to displaced people on the Hamas-controlled side of Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.

The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA also reports a man killed in a drone strike on western Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. The area is also on the Hamas side of the so-called Yellow Line.

The IDF confirms carrying out the strike in Deir al-Balah but offers no immediate comment on the reported strike in Jabalia.

Israel and Bolivia to restore diplomatic ties tomorrow after rupture over Gaza war, Sa’ar announces

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, September 15, 2025. (Olivier Fitoussi/POOL)

Israel and Bolivia are restoring diplomatic relations, two years after the South American country severed ties with Jerusalem over the war in Gaza, the Foreign Ministry announces in a statement.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and his Bolivian counterpart, Fernando Aramayo, will meet tomorrow in Washington DC, where they are expected to sign an agreement to renew relations, the statement reads. Bolivia’s Finance Minister, José Gabriel Espinoza, will also participate in the event.

According to the statement, Sa’ar held a phone call with Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz a day after his election this past October, conveying Israel’s desire “to open a new chapter” and fully renew diplomatic relations. In turn, Paz stated his intention “to lead Bolivia toward a reopening to the world and reestablishing ties with Israel.”

In November, the Foreign Ministry’s director-general, Eden Bar-Tal, represented Israel at Paz’s inauguration in Bolivia, the statement adds.

Earlier this month, Bolivia announced the cancellation of its visa requirement for Israeli travelers, and over recent weeks of intensive contacts, the countries finalized the agreement to restore ties, the statement continues.

In 2009, under then-president Evo Morales, Bolivia cut ties with Israel in protest of the 2008-2009 Gaza conflicts. Relations were briefly restored in 2019 after Morales’s resignation, but were severed again on October 31, 2023, by President Luis Arce, over Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza following the Hamas-led invasion and massacre that same month.

Paz, a center-right candidate, took office this year following years of left-wing governments in Bolivia, heralding a shift in policy toward Jerusalem.

Katz said to push Army Radio closure toward cabinet vote as station head slams review panel

View of the IDF's Army Radio headquarters in Jaffa, November 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz has informed the attorney general that he intends to bring the proposal to shut down Army Radio for government approval within the next two weeks, Hebrew media reports.

Katz is reportedly awaiting the attorney general’s legal opinion and has made clear that he expects to receive it without delay, no later than mid-month, due to what he reportedly describes as a tight schedule.

The development comes as Army Radio head Tal Lev Ram reportedly sent a sharply worded letter to the attorney general criticizing the committee examining the station’s future, alleging significant “flaws” in its work.

According to Hebrew media reports, Lev Ram says the committee concluded — without solid evidence — that the station is politically biased, relying on an employee’s claim that “35 percent of staff identify with right-wing positions and 65% with left-wing positions” — a figure Lev Ram calls “ridiculous” and impossible to verify.

Lev Ram also accuses the committee of pre-determining its conclusions, including claims that current affairs broadcasts “harm soldiers,” and of offering no practical solutions or consideration of the implications of its recommendations.

Last month, Katz announced that he intends to close Army Radio by March 1, 2026, preserving its apolitical sister station Galgalatz for continued operation and establishing a professional team to oversee the closure.

Katz’s plan, which follows years of similar proposals from past defense ministers, is expected to face legal challenges. Lev Ram has vowed to oppose the closure.

Herzog to meet activists over Netanyahu pardon request amid political tensions – report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and President Isaac Herzog at an event for outstanding soldiers during Israel's 75th Independence Day celebrations, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on April 26, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)

President Isaac Herzog is expected to meet this week with several prominent activists opposing Israel’s governmental overhaul, in discussions that will also address Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent pardon request, Haaretz reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the report, Herzog is expected to try to ease the activists’ opposition to Netanyahu’s request, which he submitted without admitting guilt or expressing remorse.

The meeting, originally planned to focus on the governmental overhaul, will include retired judges, former Knesset members, and other senior figures. Some activists, including Former National Security Council deputy director Eran Etzion, have said they will not attend due to the inclusion of the pardon issue.

Haaretz adds that Herzog, currently in the United States, is expected to return to Israel tonight and hold additional meetings related to the request. Sources say Herzog may seek concessions from Netanyahu, such as a state inquiry or halting parts of the judicial reform, linking any potential pardon to broader political conditions.

Trump-brokered truce under threat as Thailand-Cambodia fighting reignites

Thai residents who fled homes as Thailand and Cambodia clash over border, rest at an evacuation center in Buriram province, Thailand, December 8, 2025. (AP Photo/ Sopa Saelee)

BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH — Thailand says its fighter jets struck Cambodia in an attempt to cripple its military capability, as a re-eruption of border hostilities derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.

Each side blames the other for starting clashes that broke out overnight and intensified before dawn and spread to several locations, with one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians killed, according to officials.

Cambodia accuses Thailand of “inhumane and brutal acts” of aggression, stressing it has not retaliated, while Bangkok said it carried out air strikes on military targets after its neighbor mobilized heavy weaponry and repositioned combat units.

“The objective of the army is to cripple Cambodia’s military capability for a long time to come, for the safety of our children and grandchildren,” Thai army chief of staff General Chaipruak Doungprapat says, according to the military.

The fighting was the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July that marked their heaviest clashes in recent history, when at least 48 people were killed and 300,000 displaced, before Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.

Report: Trump wants Gaza plan announcement before Christmas, eyes meeting with Egypt’s Sissi

US President Donald Trump listens during a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room of the White House, September 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to the United States — where he is set to meet US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on December 29 — is expected to include a series of additional high-level meetings, as the American administration pushes for movement on the emerging Gaza framework, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, the White House is working to bring Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to the Mar-a-Lago meeting as part of efforts to secure Israeli approval for a strategic Gaza-related arrangement with Cairo.

Netanyahu is slated to remain in Florida for eight days and hold two meetings with Trump, as well as sit-downs with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Channel 12 adds that US officials conveyed to Jerusalem that Trump aims to announce the transition to the second phase of the Gaza plan before Christmas, including an initial civil administration model for Rafah.

Prominent NY rabbi says Mamdani ‘understood the fissures of our community’ better than Jews did

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove speaks at an American Zionist Movement event in New York City, December 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/ Times of Israel)

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, a prominent Jewish leader in New York City, says he is unsurprised by Jewish support for the anti-Zionist Zohran Mamdani, while calling for a different, more expansive “new chapter” of Zionism in the Jewish community.

Cosgrove, the rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue, is a leading voice in the US Conservative community and a firm supporter of Israel.

Cosgrove, speaking at the biennial national assembly of the American Zionist Movement, says that Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, the rightward drift of the Israeli government, and intolerance in the American Jewish community toward differing political views have contributed to disaffection among young Jews.

“I may be constitutionally incapable of walking away from Israel, but others have and will continue to do so, before October 7th and all the more since. There’s a limit to the self-flagellating exercise of supporting a state that neither recognizes you nor represents your values,” Cosgrove says.

For Jews who grew up after the Holocaust, Israel’s claim to the land in the interest of survival was obvious, and Arab attacks on Israel sidelined concerns about Palestinian rights. That has changed due to settlements and the West Bank occupation, sometimes coupled with ignorance about the history of the conflict, Cosgrove says.

“For a progressive American Jew, if the project of Israel is to provide a homeland and security to a historically vulnerable Jewish minority, then how can the state not respond to the needs of the vulnerable minority in its midst?” he says.

“You may not like the fact that 30 percent of New York Jews voted for Mamdani, but you shouldn’t be surprised by it. For a liberal Zionist disillusioned by the Israeli government, Mamdani’s anti-Zionism is a difference of degree, not of kind. He understood the fissures of our community better than we ourselves did,” says Cosgrove, who is a harsh critic of Mamdani.

Cosgrove calls on the American Jewish community to engage in “heshbon ha-nefesh,” or a spiritual soul-searching.

“The argument that it’s somehow treasonous to criticize this or that Israeli policy simply doesn’t hold, as long as that criticism comes from a place of love, loyalty, and investment in the well-being of the State of Israel,” he says.

Cosgrove calls for “a new chapter of American Zionism, infused with a sense of our internal pluralism, whereby we avoid the reductive and destructive tactic of labeling people with whom we disagree either as self-hating Jews or colonialist oppressors.”

He calls for humility from American Jews who are removed from the realities of the Middle Eastern battlefield, and advocates for both holding up the security of Israel and empathy for Palestinian suffering.

“Against those who stand outside our tent, we need to hold the line. For those who seek to dwell in our tent, we must expand it. We need to do both,” he says.

UN chief Guterres condemns Israeli raid on UNRWA compound

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at United Nations headquarters, September 9, 2025. (AP Photo/ Seth Wenig)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemns an Israeli raid on the East Jerusalem compound of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA earlier today.

“This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” Guterres says in a statement.

“I urge Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to restore, preserve, and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and to refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.”

GOP’s Taylor Greene says Trump no longer ‘America First,’ accuses him of serving Israeli interests

Marjorie Taylor Greene in an interview with CBS's '60 Minutes,' December 8, 2025. (Screenshot: YouTube; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

In a “60 Minutes” interview, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene casts her dramatic break with US President Donald Trump as a clash over the meaning of “America First,” accusing the president of drifting toward establishment priorities and foreign entanglements — including, she says, placing Israel’s interests ahead of US domestic needs.

“For an America First president, the number one focus should have been domestic policy, and it wasn’t,” Greene tells CBS journalist Lesley Stahl. “Once we fix everything here, then, fine, we’ll talk to the rest of the world.”

She argues that Trump “has served Israel’s interest, even attacking Iran,” lumping that together with what she called his service to “Big Pharma,” and “crypto donors.”

Her criticism of Trump’s alignment with pro-Israel groups was blunt, too. Asked why she opposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which directs the Department of Education to use the IHRA working definition of antisemitism when investigating discrimination cases on college campuses, Greene says that she has condemned antisemitism in the past.

“Since I’ve been a member of Congress, we’ve had several resolutions that constantly denounce antisemitism. I’ve already voted denouncing antisemitism many times before,” she explains. “It becomes an exercise that they force on Congress, and I simply got tired of it,” a remark that appears to nod toward pro-Israel lobbying pressure.

“Most members of Congress take donations from AIPAC, and I don’t,” she adds, referring to the prominent American pro-Israel lobbying group.

Visiting Israel, US envoy to UN meets parents of last hostage in Gaza

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, second from right, meets with the parents of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining deceased hostage in Gaza, December 8, 2025. (Foreign Ministry)

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz met a short time ago with the parents of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining deceased hostage in Gaza, during the envoy’s visit to Israel this week.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Waltz met with Talik and Itzik Gvili in Jerusalem together with Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch.

Waltz “expressed the United States’ commitment – and his own – to completing the mission of returning the hostages and bringing Rani, of blessed memory, to a burial in Israel,” the statement reads.

The PMO adds that Hirsch updated Waltz on Israel’s efforts to return Gvili’s body.

Two drivers arrested after allegedly attempting to ram Haredi anti-draft protesters in Bnei Brak

Illustrative. Police carry out searches in Jaffa for the suspected perpetrator of a deadly shooting in the area on November 8, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police arrest two drivers on suspicion of ramming into a crowd of Haredi anti-draft protesters in Bnei Brak this evening.

One of the cars that was stuck in traffic caused by the demonstration on Route 4 drives at a high speed into the crowd, moderately injuring a 16-year-old, police say.

Officers at the scene chase after the driver, a 24-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, and arrest him.

Police add that they managed to stop a motorcyclist from driving into the crowd later on. They detain the driver, a 37-year-old resident of Herzliya.

Both are transferred for questioning at a nearby police station.

IDF finds fallen officer Daniel Perez’s assault rifle in booby-trapped site in northern Gaza

An assault rifle that belonged to Cpt. Daniel Perez, which was located in northern Gaza, in a handout photo published on December 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip located an assault rifle that belonged to Cpt. Daniel Perez, who was killed and abducted during the October 7, 2023, onslaught; his body was returned to Israel some two months ago.

The M-16 was found by reservists of the Carmeli Brigade at a booby-trapped site in the Strip’s north, following intelligence indicating that the weapon was stored there, the military says.

Perez was stationed near the Gaza border on the morning of October 7, and he and his tank crew fought for hours against the Hamas invasion, until he was killed, alongside Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and Staff Sgt. Itay Chen.

The bodies of Perez and Chen were taken captive to Gaza, while their comrade Matan Angrest was abducted alive.

PM says draft law will ease burden on reservists, significantly increase Haredi conscription

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that his government’s proposed draft law will ease the burden on reservists and increase conscription from the Haredi public, in his first remarks regarding Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Boaz Bismuth’s new law to regulate conscription of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

“This is the beginning of a historic process to integrate Haredim into the IDF,” he says, speaking before the Knesset in this evening’s 40-signature Knesset debate.

His government’s proposed law would ease the burden on reservists, Netanyahu says, claiming that “for every additional regular battalion from the Haredi public, 10 reserve battalions will be released,” which, en masse, he says would lead to the release of hundreds of reserve battalions.

Directly addressing the opposition, Netanyahu says that “the draft evasion law is the law you brought forward, not ours,” and that his government’s proposal would achieve conscription targets “three to four times higher” than those proposed by the short-lived government led by then-prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

“The law regulates the status of yeshiva students. The world of Torah has protected us for thousands of years and will continue to protect us while conscripting the Haredi public,” he adds.

Dozens of abducted Nigerian children handed over to state officials

Nigerian school children who had been kidnapped by armed men arrive at the government headquarters in Minna, the capital of Niger State in central-northern Nigeria, December 8, 2025. (Light Oriye Tamunotonye/AFP)

Around 100 schoolchildren who had been kidnapped from a Catholic school in Nigeria last month are handed over to state officials, a day after authorities secured their release.

The children — many wearing football jerseys — were driven into the Niger State Government House in white buses escorted by a dozen military vans and armoured vehicles.

Dozens of the 315 students and staff abducted from the school in north-central Niger state are still missing.

Car speeds into crowd at Haredi anti-draft rally; one teen injured, driver flees

Medics are responding to a suspected car ramming at a Haredi anti-enlistment protest near the entrance to Bnei Brak.

In footage of the incident, a black car is seen hurtling into a crowd of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators and then driving away on Route 4.

The ramming left a 16-year-old moderately injured, with trauma to his head and limbs, Magen David Adom says. He is being taken to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.

Police are reportedly pursuing the vehicle and its driver in a chase along the highway.

רגע לפני דריסה: רכב האיץ לעבר מפגינים חרדים בכביש 4 | @aronkalman1 pic.twitter.com/gi38A87cuU

— i24NEWS (@i24NEWS_HE) December 8, 2025

US envoy thanks PM for reopening Allenby Crossing for Gaza aid in Jerusalem meeting

US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz (L) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on December 8, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier today with US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz to discuss the advancement of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan to its second phase.

During the Jerusalem meeting, “Waltz welcomed Israel’s cooperation on expanding border crossings, including the Allenby-King Hussein Bridge crossing, for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and emphasized the importance of continued collaboration to address regional stability,” says a US readout.

Israel stopped allowing Gaza aid in through the Jordan-West Bank crossing in September after a driver ferrying assistance to the Strip opened fire at Israeli soldiers at the gate, killing two of them.

Responding to opposition, Netanyahu defends pardon request, says working on Oct. 7 inquiry

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses his request for a pardon in his corruption trial from President Isaac Herzog and efforts to establish a commission of inquiry on the October 7 massacre during his remarks in this evening’s 40-signature Knesset debate.

Referencing his pardon request, Netanyahu reiterates his claim that the good of the country requires his trial be halted, saying: “There is a real dilemma here between the desire to continue exposing the injustice, the persecution, and the national needs — only some of which you know — security challenges as well as major opportunities I am working on.”

He adds, however, that “If it comes, it comes, and if it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come.”

On establishing a commission of inquiry into the events of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the war in Gaza, Netanyahu says: “We are advancing a national commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 and what led up to them.”

“The establishment of the commission and its makeup will be done equally between the coalition and the opposition. Who could oppose this? Only someone who does not want to reveal the truth,” he says, adding that it will be “an independent commission of inquiry that will enjoy broad public trust,” and that “it will be a challenging one. Everyone will be challenged.”

Netanyahu also addresses efforts to return the final remaining hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, saying, “We will not let go of this sacred mission to bring Rani home.” He adds that “We are on the verge of completing the first stage” of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, adding that “now we are focusing on the next mission – dismantling Hamas of its weapons and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.”

Shortly before the debate, Netanyahu’s office announced that the premier would meet with Trump in the US on December 29.

Anti-draft protest halts traffic on Route 4 as Haredi crowd rallies in Bnei Brak

Over a hundred Haredi protesters are blocking Route 4 near the entrance to Bnei Brak during a demonstration against the conscription of ultra-Orthodox into the IDF this evening.

Police have declared the demonstration illegal but have not yet dispersed its participants. They are instead directing traffic on the thoroughfare, which is blocked in both directions, to alternate routes.

The protest is organized by the extremist Jerusalem Faction, a Haredi group known for staging fiery demonstrations against the draft, in response to the Friday arrest of an 18-year-old yeshiva student, Maor Vazana, who ignored his IDF conscription order.

Demonstrators sit on the asphalt, blocking cars from passing by, as others dance and sing on the street. Some are seen arguing with drivers who have since exited their vehicles.

כביש 4 נחסם לשני הכיוונים סמוך למחלף גהה בשל הפגנה של חרדים קיצונים מהפלג הירושלמי@AnnaPines_ (צילום: דוד קשת) pic.twitter.com/kO3VzE6PIH

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 8, 2025

After missile strike leveled her lab, Israeli scientist named in prestigious Nature’s 10

Prof. Yifat Merbl of Weizmann Institute of Science. (Courtesy/Weizmann)

Prof. Yifat Merbl of Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Systems Immunology has been selected, together with nine other world-renowned researchers, for Nature’s 10, a prestigious list of scientists who had a role in some of 2025’s most significant moments in science. The magazine is one of the most respected scientific journals in the world.

Merbl’s lab was destroyed in the June Iranian ballistic missile attack on Weizmann. While nobody was killed, the attack destroyed two buildings and 45 labs.

Merbl, a systems biologist, has found a new facet of the human immune system by studying proteasomes that normally break down old or damaged cells. Merbl found that under some circumstances, proteasomes cut up proteins to create antimicrobial peptides that help to fight infections.

In Knesset debate, Netanyahu says he regularly talks to Putin to safeguard Israel’s ‘vital interests’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40-signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “on a regular basis” to serve Jerusalem’s “vital interests,” in a speech defending Israel’s international standing during a 40-signature Knesset debate.

“We maintain continuous contacts with another global power — Russia,” Netanyahu says in the Knesset plenum. “I speak with President Putin on a regular basis, and this personal relationship of many years serves our vital interests,” he says.

“Including now, including attempts to prevent us from defending our northern border,” Netanyahu adds, asserting that, “of course, that will not happen.”

Herzog refuses question on Netanyahu pardon as shouts of ‘shame’ ring out at NY event

An audience member demands President Isaac Herzog pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu at an American Zionist Movement event in New York City, December 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

President Isaac Herzog refuses to take a question about pardoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an event in New York City.

An audience member demands that Herzog deliver an “immediate, unconditional pardon” for Netanyahu at the American Zionist Movement biennial national assembly in downtown Manhattan.

Another member of the audience stands up and brandishes a pink banner that reads, “Please, pardon Netanyahu!”

Members of the crowd shout “shame” in Hebrew at the pair.

“Let’s stop right there,” Herzog says, as the moderator, journalist Abigail Pogrebin, calls for “some semblance of order.”

“We made it very clear that we should focus on the challenges of the Zionist movement in America,” Herzog says, before moving on to the next question.

Netanyahu hits back at opposition in Knesset debate: ‘Israel is stronger than ever’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

After opposition members accused him of causing a collapse of Israel’s global standing during the war in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends Israel’s status, stating that the country is “the strongest power in the Middle East,” during a so-called 40-signature debate in the Knesset.

Netanyahu begins by mocking the subject of the debate, “the collapse of Israel’s international standing,” saying, “What supposed collapse? What a detachment from reality. What a recycling of hollow slogans that are the complete opposite of what is actually happening.”

“Israel today is stronger than ever. It is the strongest power in the Middle East, and in certain fields, it is a global power,” the premier asserts.

“This is a direct result of the way we have led The War of Revival,” Netanyahu says, using the controversial name for the war in Gaza that the government approved in October.

“It is also the result of proper management of Israel’s economy – an economy that is breaking records,” he continues, pointing to the strength of the shekel and foreign investment. “Israel’s debt-to-GDP ratio is lower than most European countries, lower than the United States…and this is after two years of war,” he says.

He says that “many states around the world and very many world leaders are seeking us out,” while acknowledging that “there are challenges.”

“Waves of antisemitism are sweeping the West as a result of two things: radical Muslim minorities that have entered almost every country – first and foremost in Europe – and, alongside that, antisemitic incitement on social media, incitement amplified by anti-Zionist governments and organizations,” he says.

“We are fighting this antisemitism around the world,” he continues, noting the government’s allocation of “more than two billion shekels to the Foreign Ministry to combat this propaganda.”

“I believe we must fight it with new methods,” he says, while insisting “we must look at our tremendous achievements,” pointing to the visit of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this week, a visit Netanyahu says Merz requested, which followed a landmark defense deal between the two allies.

Deri says Shas to oppose budget over delayed food stamps transfer

Shas faction meeting in the Israeli parliament on December 8, 2025.(Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shas leader Aryeh Deri says that his ultra-Orthodox party will not support Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s budget for 2026, over the delayed transfer of NIS 277 million ($86 million) earmarked for food stamps for low-income families as part of the 2025 budget, as part of a coalition agreement promised to Shas.

“Shas will not support the budget as a protest against the deliberate exclusion of Haredi children from the food stamp program,” the party says in a statement.

“It is unacceptable that a poor Haredi child would not receive the minimum support as a poor Arab child does, as demanded by the Finance Ministry,” Deri says.

“Last year, the food stamp program helped 400,000 eligible families across all sectors: immigrants, the elderly, Arabs, the periphery, and Haredim – all according to eligibility criteria set by government ministries,” he continues.

He accuses the finance ministry of altering the criteria to exclude ultra-Orthodox families.

“As long as this issue is not resolved, Shas will not support the budget,” he says.

According to Hebrew media reports, Shas and the Degel HaTorah faction of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party have also told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will not support the budget until a draft exemption law for yeshiva students is passed.

The 2026 budget, which the cabinet approved on Friday, must advance through the Knesset by March. If the ultra-Orthodox parties refuse to vote in favor of the budget, and the government is unable to pass it, the Knesset will dissolve automatically, triggering early elections that would take place in June 2026, instead of October.

Netanyahu to speak soon in Knesset 40-signature debate

A view of the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon deliver remarks during a so-called 40-signature debate in the Knesset.

The opposition can call such a Knesset discussion once a month by submitting a request with 40 Knesset members’ signatures, legally obligating the premier to attend. It is usually called to discuss criticism of the government, its policies, and legislative agenda.

Knesset members are currently delivering three-minute speeches in the Knesset plenum, after which Netanyahu is expected to speak, followed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Today’s debate on “the collapse of Israel’s international standing” comes shortly after the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in the US on December 29.

Hamas and Red Cross fail to find last hostage’s body in eastern Zeitoun — report

Hamas operatives and Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) head to Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City to search for the remains of deceased hostages, December 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Hamas and the Red Cross have failed to find the remains of the last hostage, Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, in the eastern part of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, Al Jazeera reports.

Al Jazeera reported earlier today that Red Cross and Hamas teams resumed their search in the area. The teams have now wrapped up the search without finding Gvili’s body, the outlet says.

Kibbutz Be’eri approves demolition of ruined buildings, preserving one home as Oct. 7 memorial

New housing is built on the site of slain member Pessi Cohen's home at Kibbutz Be'eri, which was shelled by an IDF tank on October 7, 2023, as the army battled Hamas terrorists who had taken 15 hostages and barricaded themselves inside. (Kibbutz Be'eri spokesperson's office)

Kibbutz Be’eri announces that the community has voted to demolish all buildings in two neighborhoods destroyed on October 7, 2023, except for one, which will be preserved as a house of testimony, initially for five years.

Ofer Gitai, Be’eri’s community director, says, “Between the desire to move forward and the obligation to leave testimony for future generations, we have chosen a path that allows for both.”

The decision follows months of discussion, consultation, and deep community dialogue.

Gitai says the move will help “preserve the memory of the October events, in a way that respects the narrative that the community chooses for itself — and will leave it in full control of the story.”

The preserved building will form a part of the community’s testimony, along with documents, visual materials, and objects. The latter have been selected as part of a special visual history program at the Yad Ben Zvi research institute.

Hamas terrorists murdered 102 people during their October 7 attack on the community — around one in ten Be’eri residents — and kidnapped 30 to the Gaza Strip. All the latter, both alive and murdered, have been returned.

As it decides on commemoration, the kibbutz is also undergoing restoration and renewal.

New neighborhoods are being built in the east of the kibbutz to house members who are currently living in various other buildings.

Four IDF commandos jailed after soldier accidentally left behind in West Bank operation

Illustrative: IDF troops carry out a drill in the West Bank, November 10, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

A team commander, a squad commander, and two soldiers in the Maglan commando unit have been jailed after one of their comrades was mistakenly briefly abandoned in a building in the West Bank town of Qabatiya last week, in what the army describes as a “grave incident.”

According to the IDF, troops had left one building in the town and headed to another, while leaving behind a soldier who was asleep. After some 40 minutes, the soldier joined up with his team at the nearby site.

“The incident was immediately reported to commanders, and an in-depth investigation was conducted by the unit commander and the commander of the Commando Brigade,” the military says, adding that the findings were presented to the commanders of the 98th Division and the Judea and Samaria Division.

The military says the investigation found that the soldier had been forgotten at the site after an “incorrect report” was received stating that all troops were accounted for after they had left the building.

“The investigation determined that this was a grave incident that does not meet the standards expected of IDF soldiers and commanders, particularly in a special operations unit,” the army says.

Following the investigation, the IDF says a team commander, a squad commander, and two soldiers were sent to military prison, and a platoon commander will be summoned for a hearing with the commander of the 98th Division.

Yair Golan condemns gold noose pins worn by far-right lawmakers

Democrats chair Yair Golan criticizes the gold-colored pins in the shape of a noose worn by far-right Otzma Yehudit MKs earlier today during a committee meeting on a controversial bill to legislate the death penalty for terrorists.

“A noose on a minister’s lapel is not a policy statement – it’s a declaration of intent,” says the left-wing party chief in a post on X.

“When a government uses the imagery of death to project strength, it is no longer fighting terrorism; it’s rehearsing dictatorship,” he continues.

חבל תלייה על דש של שר זו לא הצהרת מדיניות – זו הצהרת כוונות.
כששלטון משתמש בסימבוליקה של מוות כדי לשווק ״כוח״, הוא כבר לא נלחם בטרור, הוא מתחיל להתאמן על דיקטטורה.

ועל זה בדיוק הבחירות האלה.
ואנחנו הדמוקרטים שנילחם בנחישות ולא נוותר על המדינה. pic.twitter.com/VvSCRpo5mZ

— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) December 8, 2025

The pins are reminiscent of the yellow ribbon badges worn to raise awareness of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir’s office said the noose pins are meant to symbolize the lawmakers’ “commitment to the demand for the death penalty for terrorists” and send “a clear message that terrorists are deserving of death.”

IDF targets Hamas operative in central Gaza, citing ‘imminent’ threat to troops

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah a short while ago, targeting a Hamas operative who was planning an “imminent” attack against troops.

“The terrorist was struck in order to remove the threat to IDF troops deployed in the central Gaza Strip in accordance with the [ceasefire] agreement,” the military says.

Palestinian media reports several casualties in the strike.

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah a short while ago, targeting a Hamas operative who was planning an "imminent" attack against troops.

"The terrorist was struck in order to remove the threat to IDF troops deployed in the central Gaza Strip… pic.twitter.com/BmtVOQ1LwQ

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 8, 2025

UNRWA chief denounces Israeli police seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets

The chief of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees denounces the Israeli authorities’ seizure of assets from its East Jerusalem compound earlier today, which police told news agencies was part of a debt-collection operation.

“Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem,” Philippe Lazzarini says on X.

With trucks and forklifts, the authorities took “furniture, IT equipment and other property,” and the compound’s United Nations flag was replaced with an Israeli one, Lazzarini adds.

Lazzarini has been declared persona non grata by Israeli authorities, who banned his agency from operating inside the country early this year.

Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the @UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem. Police motorcycles, as well as trucks & forklifts, were brought in & all communications were cut. Furniture, IT equipment & other property was…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 8, 2025

Israeli police told AFP in a statement that the seizures were “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure.”

Jerusalem police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told AFP that the debt collection was related to the arnona, an Israeli residence tax that covers municipal services.

But Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the West Bank and East Jerusalem, disputes that assessment.

“There is no debt because the United Nations — and UNRWA is part of the United Nations and is a UN agency — is not required to pay any kind of taxes of that kind under international law and under the law that Israel itself has adopted,” he says.

Under a 1946 convention, the UN and its assets must not be taxed by host countries.

“Whatever action [is] taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference,” Lazzarini says.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Knesset panel chair opens session on coalition media bill with attack on press

MK Galit Distel Atbaryan leads the Special Committee for the Communications Law at the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan opens the first session of the special Knesset panel formed to advance Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media bill with a blistering attack on the media, despite assurances from the coalition that the legislation is intended to increase freedom of the press.

Distel Atbaryan, who chairs the committee, says that this is “a historic law intended to change the face of communications from end to end.”

She attacks “the media,” which she accuses of being “centralized, monopolistic, and frighteningly oppressive.”

“The media does not reflect reality, not even superficially. The media has created a caricature and erased complexity from public discourse in favor of a single, hollow, stupid agenda that is simply ‘anyone but Bibi,'” she continues.

Karhi’s proposal is part of a broader effort by the government to reshape Israel’s legacy media, which coalition leaders frequently accuse of left-wing bias. The bill would grant the government sweeping new powers over broadcasters, news sites, and other media outlets.

The proposed legislation has received widespread criticism from opposition figures, good governance organizations, and the attorney general, who have called it a sweeping assault on press freedom.

“The entire process of establishing this committee — including your selection as chair — represents the height of dictatorship, aimed solely at seizing control of the free communications market,” says Yesh Atid MK Shelly Tal Marom, directly addressing Distel Atbaryan, a vocal opponent of Israeli media who is seen as a loyalist to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The special committee is meant to bypass Likud MK David Bitan, chairman of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, which usually deals with media-related legislation. Bitan has expressed opposition to the bill in its current form.

Karhi, who is spearheading the legislation, says that it will lead to a “free and competitive market, less regulation and fewer barriers, less state intervention and more freedom for the public.”

While he says that he invites discussion in the legislative process, he is adamant that it will not be stopped, “not by unions, monopolies, or by those who fear the free expression of parts of the public.”

In response, Labor MK Efrat Rayten says, “This entire Knesset has been commandeered for one supposedly sacred purpose: tearing down state institutions as part of an attack on democracy and silencing opposition.”

Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar adds that, “the role of the media is to criticize those in power – and that is what you dislike.”

In response to criticism from opposition MKs that the legislation is an attempt by the government to suppress media it dislikes, similar to legislative advances in Hungary and Poland, Karhi says that the new authority created by the legislation would not interfere in content.

He adds that fines will only apply to issues of competition, not content: “For example, a certain channel that discriminates by selling at one price to one provider and at four times that price to others would receive a fine, but only after being allowed to correct it and refusing to do so.”

Netanyahu to meet Trump on December 29, plans weeklong US visit

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shake hands at the end of a press conference at which Trump set out a plan to end the war in Gaza, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump in the US on December 29, a source in the prime minister’s office tells The Times of Israel.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to another Israeli official.

Netanyahu is currently looking at a weeklong visit from December 28 to January 4, says the second official, though government offices in the US are shuttered on January 1.

Doctors Without Borders says conditions for Gaza medics hard as ever despite truce

A Palestinian boy, who was injured by gunfire while waiting for aid trucks entering the northern Gaza Strip through Zikim crossing, is taken out of an ambulance after arriving for medical care at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 27, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)

Conditions for medics and patients in Gaza remain as severe as ever despite a nearly two-month truce in the territory, the president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says in an AFP interview.

“It’s as hard as it’s ever been,” Javid Abdelmoneim says of conditions for medical staff operating in Gaza’s hospitals. He adds that patients were being given “substandard care” and that insufficient aid was entering the Palestinian territory.

US envoy Mike Waltz raises ‘need for stability in West Bank’ in talks with Jordan’s king

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaks during a UN Security Council meeting to vote on a US resolution on the Gaza peace plan at the UN Headquarters in New York City, November 17, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP)

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz discussed “the need for stability in the West Bank” during a meeting yesterday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, according to an American readout.

This appears to be a reference to Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, which the Trump administration has gradually and gingerly begun weighing in on, as the phenomenon has continued on a near-daily basis with almost complete impunity.

Waltz was in Jordan for meetings with senior officials in the Hashemite kingdom, primarily to discuss the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, along with the humanitarian situation in the Strip.

Waltz, whose wife is Jordanian, “thanked the king for all of Jordan’s efforts to bring humanitarian relief to Palestinians,” the US readout on yesterday’s meeting says.

Waltz crossed the Allenby Crossing into the West Bank this morning and is in Israel for meetings with top officials today.

Lapid calls coalition’s contentious media bill attempt to ‘silence dissent’

Opposition Leader and head of the Yesh Atid party MK Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 1, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says the special Knesset panel established to advance Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media bill is nothing less than “a committee for silencing dissent.”

The committee, led by Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan, began discussing the bill earlier today.

Speaking to the press before a Yesh Atid faction meeting, he argues the government is pushing legislation designed to create a media landscape that is “submissive, fearful, and controlled.”

Lapid pointedly addresses reporters, telling them, “You’re annoying. No politician in the world is satisfied with you, but that’s how it should be. That’s your job.”

He warns that this is precisely why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Karhi “want to ensure [that independent media] won’t exist.”

He vows to fight the bill in the Knesset but stresses that the press must defend itself as well. “If the Israeli press doesn’t protect freedom of expression, there won’t be freedom of expression,” he says. “If it doesn’t defend its independence, you won’t be independent, and then, you won’t be at all.”

Karhi’s proposal is part of a broader effort by the government to reshape Israel’s legacy media, which coalition leaders frequently accuse of left-wing bias. The bill would grant the government sweeping new powers over broadcasters, news sites, and other media outlets.

Police raid East Jerusalem UNRWA offices, apparently over unpaid debts, raise Israeli flag over compound

Israeli police and officials hang an Israeli flag on the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, December 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Police raided the offices of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, in East Jerusalem this morning, says the organization’s chief.

Officers pulled down the UN flag atop the compound and replaced it with an Israeli flag, according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

He accuses Israel of “blatant disregard” for its obligation as a UN member state to respect the inviolability of UN premises.

Speaking to Haaretz, police say that the officers raided the premises to carry out a seizure over the agency’s outstanding debts. According to Israel Hayom, the agency had failed to pay its property tax, which had accrued to NIS 11.5 million (approximately $3.5 million).

The raid comes after the Knesset passed a pair of laws in late October 2024 banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory, however the law only came into effect at the start of the year. Despite the ban, UNRWA services including schools, healthcare and other social services, were still hobbling along in East Jerusalem.

The compound “retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference” regardless of the ban on the agency, the UN says in a statement decrying today’s raid, claiming that it contravenes the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN, which Israel is party to.

Mother of final hostage Ran Gvili: ‘Someone has to be last, he always wanted to make sure everyone else was OK first’

A man holds a photo of Ran Gvili, who was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and whose body has been held in Gaza since, during a rally calling for his return in Tel Aviv, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP/Oded Balilty)

The mother of the last hostage in Gaza says Israel will not heal until he or his remains are brought home, and that the next phase of a peace plan should not proceed until he is back.

Police officer Ran Gvili was one of 251 hostages seized and taken to Gaza by terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Israeli authorities say they believe he is dead, but his body has not been recovered and his family is clinging to the faint hope that he is still alive.

“We’re at the last stretch and we have to be strong, for Rani, for us, and for Israel. Without Rani, our country can’t heal,” his mother, Talik Gvili, tells Reuters.

Posters of Ran Gvili, known by family and friends as Rani, line the streets of Meitar, his hometown in southern Israel.

When Hamas attacked, he was recovering at home from a broken collarbone. He quickly put on his uniform and joined the fight against the Hamas gunmen around Kibbutz Alumim near Gaza.

Gvili, who was 24 at the time, was badly wounded and Israeli authorities said he did not survive for long after being taken to Gaza, his mother says.

“We want to feel him, we want to feel some tiny doubt [that he died],” his mother says, before adding: “It might just be wishful thinking.”

“We’re not alone,” she says, adding that she felt support and solidarity from across the political spectrum.

She describes her son as a strong and kind-hearted person who would look out for those weaker than him.

“We’re happy everyone has returned, except for Rani. We have become one big family so every hostage who returned brought relief, closure. But somebody had to be last, and it looks like that was our fate,” she says.

“But that was his thing, to make sure everyone else was OK first.”

Storm Byron heading to Israel after battering Greece and Cyprus

Illustrative: View of the sea in Tel Aviv during a storm on February 6, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Storm Byron, which has battered Greece and Cyprus, is heading for Israel in the coming days, the Israel Meteorological Service says.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, citing the IMS, the weather system will sweep in as early as Wednesday and will peak on Thursday, with stormy weather expected until the end of the week.

Residents are warned to prepare for difficult weather conditions and potential flooding. High levels of precipitation are expected in coastal and central areas, with rainfall and strong winds throughout the country.

Israel, Greece and Cyprus began jointly naming storms in 2021 as part of increased regional cooperation.

Mobileye laying off 5% of global workforce, mostly in Israel

The Mobileye building in Jerusalem, pictured on on October 30, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Mobileye, the Jerusalem-based developer of advanced vision and self-driving technologies, is laying off about 200 employees, or about 5 percent of its global workforce.

The developer of technology for autonomous car systems has a global workforce of over 4,000 employees, of which more than 3,000 are based in Israel. Most of the layoffs are expected to affect employees in Israel.

“As part of an ongoing response to changing needs, adjustments are being made to the workforce,” Mobileye says in a statement. “The company will support affected employees while continuing to recruit for positions required to realize its long-term plans.”

Family of hostage slain in Gaza to Knesset panel: Set up Oct. 7 probe instead of advancing ‘irrelevant’ media bill

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at the special panel on a contentious communications bill at the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Esther Buchstav, whose son Yagev Buchshtav, 35, was kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, assails the special panel established to advance Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media regulation bill in its opening discussion for spending their time advancing an “irrelevant” bill instead of establishing a state commission of inquiry.

“I see you dealing with a law that isn’t at all relevant to our lives. What’s relevant is to think about how we can heal from October 7, to understand what happened during that day and what has happened since,” she says, speaking before the committee.

“Why were decisions made to abandon hostages in the tunnels? And it’s a fact that this decision was made: My son was abandoned,” Buchstav continues.

In July 2024, the IDF confirmed that Yagev was slain in captivity. His body was recovered on August 19, 2024, and returned to Israel for burial. Master Sgt. Ran Gvili remains the last deceased hostage held in Gaza.

Addressing Karhi directly, Buchstav says, “I want you to look me in the eyes. MK Shlomo Karhi, you spoke with me and promised me that you would do everything [to help], and you haven’t.”

“We don’t know what happened on October 7. There still hasn’t been a state commission of inquiry,” she adds. “This is what you should be dealing with as members of the Knesset, as members of the government.”

The government decided last month to establish its own probe into the failures surrounding the Hamas invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023, rather than set up the state commission of inquiry that is traditionally formed to investigate significant disasters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the onslaught – the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and the worst disaster in modern Israeli history – despite polls which have consistently indicated a clear majority of Israelis support it, including the families of hostages and those murdered during the attacks.

2 seriously injured in knife fight outside Beersheba courthouse

Two men have been seriously injured in downtown Beersheba, paramedics say, in a reported knife fight outside the city’s courthouse.

The men, aged 24 and 30, were involved in a brawl between rival Bedouin families, Hebrew outlets report. One other person was lightly injured in the incident.

Paramedics say they arrived to find the two men laying in the street, both conscious and suffering from “severe penetrative injuries.”

Channel 13 reports that police have arrested five people involved, including the three wounded. Paramedics are first taking those injured to Soroka Medical Center for treatment.

Netanyahu meets Waltz in Jerusalem amid US push for Gaza plan

US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz (L) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on December 8, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz in his Jerusalem office, after Waltz arrived in Israel this morning to help advance Washington’s peace plan for Gaza.

Taking part in the meeting are, among others, Acting National Security Council Director Gil Reich, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Netanyahu’s office says in a statement.

Waltz is set to meet later today with the family of Ran Gvili, the last remaining deceased hostage in Gaza.

US said to complain of Israeli surveillance at Gaza coordination hub; IDF says claim ‘absurd’

Officers and civilians from the US, Israel and around 20 other countries work at the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, Israel, November 19, 2025 (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)

American and international staff at the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat have raised concerns over Israeli representatives allegedly covertly and overtly conducting surveillance at the center, according to a report by The Guardian, citing anonymous sources briefed on the issue.

According to the sources, Israeli intelligence gathering at the center – which is tasked with monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and hosts representatives from dozens of countries and organizations – led the US commander of the base, Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank, to meet with an Israeli counterpart, warning him that “recording has to stop here.”

The IDF declined to comment to The Guardian on Frank’s alleged demand to halt recording, noting that conversations within the CMCC are unclassified.

“The IDF documents and summarizes meetings in which it is present through protocols, as any professional organization of this nature does in a transparent and agreed-upon manner,” the Israeli military tells the British newspaper in a statement.

“The claim that the IDF is gathering intelligence on its partners in meetings in which the IDF is an active participant is absurd,” the statement adds.

Additional staff and foreign visitors at the CMCC have also “raised concerns about Israel recording” inside the center, the report continues, saying that some have been urged not to share sensitive information to avoid the risk it could be “collected and exploited.”

The US military declined to comment to The Guardian on the alleged Israeli surveillance activities.

Knesset panel again extends emergency reservist call-up order until January 1

Israeli reserve soldiers seen during military training in the Golan Heights, northern Israel, October 30, 2023. (David Cohen/ Flash90)

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee votes 8-7 to pass an extension of an emergency military call-up order until January 1, 2026. Under the order, up to 280,000 soldiers can be called up for reserve duty during this period.

According to the Knesset spokesperson’s unit, the extension was requested by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who is “convinced that the security of the state requires the continued service of reservists.”

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

In non-emergency times, the IDF can only call up reservists a long time in advance rather than at short notice, and cannot call them up for an extended period.

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

The repeated extensions of the military call-up have long drawn criticism from opposition members, who accuse the government of overburdening exhausted reservists while simultaneously seeking to legislate draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

Construction work begins on first two sections of upgraded security barrier along Jordan border

Work on the upgraded security barrier along the Israel-Jordan border, in an undated photo. (Defense Ministry)

Construction work has officially begun on the first two sections of an upgraded security barrier along the border with Jordan, the Defense Ministry announces.

The sections, some 80 kilometers total in length, are located in the northern portion of the border with Jordan.

Alongside the construction work, the ministry says it will continue work with the IDF in planning the next sections, “formulating the defensive concept for the border and the means required for it.”

In all, the project to upgrade Israel’s fence along the entire 425 kilometers (264 miles) of the border with Jordan — from the Samar Sands north of Eilat, through the West Bank, to the southern Golan Heights — will cost an estimated NIS 5.5 billion ($1.7 billion), the ministry says.

Lawyers for ex-Shin Bet official accuse State Comptroller of overreach, say client won’t appear before probe

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman attends a Knesset Finance Committee meeting in Jerusalem, January 6, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lawyers representing one of the two former senior Shin Bet officials summoned by the State Comptroller’s Office last night accuse the comptroller of acting without legal authority, charging in a sharply worded letter that the office is conducting an unlawful investigation into the events of October 7.

Attorneys Dov Gilad Cohen and Afi Bartal write that the summons “has no basis in law,” arguing that State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s investigative committee was never properly authorized and has no jurisdiction to demand documents or compel testimony from their client.

According to the attorneys, the State Comptroller failed to issue the required public notice mandated by law, opened its inquiry contrary to the legal provisions governing such probes, and is attempting to review sensitive classified material that only a military-appointed committee is legally empowered to examine.

They further state that on the date of the comptroller’s request, their client will be abroad on a trip that has been planned months in advance.

The lawyers also point to recent government decisions establishing a dedicated investigative committee under the authority of the Military Advocate General to handle all materials relating to the failures surrounding October 7. That body’s mandate – including classification authority – supersedes any parallel effort by the comptroller, they say.

The attorneys warn that the committee’s practice of attaching classified and sensitive materials to its correspondence, and making sweeping requests, effectively pressures recipients to “declassify” such materials on their own – something they say is both illegal and impossible for their client to do.

“For all the reasons detailed above, the time is not ripe to schedule a meeting between you and our client,” they conclude.

The pushback from the former Shin Bet officials marks the newest escalation in the ongoing confrontation between the State Comptroller and the defense establishment, following yesterday’s announcement that the office had invoked a clause allowing criminal sanctions – including up to two years’ imprisonment – for failure to comply with a summons.

Englman has for months accused the IDF and Shin Bet of obstructing his broad investigation into the systemic failures that enabled Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the only state-sanctioned comprehensive probe currently underway. Military officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, have maintained that the comptroller’s efforts interfere with ongoing war-related operational reviews.

Man arrested for allegedly threatening COGAT chief with calls for his death

Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), arrives to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem for a hearing on the provision of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, July 21, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police have arrested a Tiberias resident on suspicion of posting threats against Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who heads the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) office.

The suspect, a man in his 50s, was arrested last night after allegedly posting online threats against the high-ranking Druze officer, calling him a “Nazi Hamas terrorist in IDF uniform” and urging his followers to “pray for his death.”

He baselessly accuses the officer of arming Hamas and Fatah operatives with “hundreds of thousands of weapons and ammunition in order to destroy the State of Israel” and says he is a “ticking bomb.”

The suspect will be brought today before the Tiberias Magistrate’s Court for an extension on his remand.

Defense Minister Israel Katz welcomes the arrest and issues a statement condemning the incitement.

“I strongly condemn the severe threats directed at Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian and the incitement and defamation spread against him. Violence and threats against IDF officers and security personnel are criminal acts and a red line that must never be crossed,” he says.

Earlier this year, panelists for the right-wing Channel 14 news outlet insinuated in racially charged comments that not just Alian, but the Druze community as a whole, are more beholden to their community than the state. The panelists claimed that “dark things are happening at COGAT,” which coordinates activities in the West Bank and Gaza, and has many Druze officers within its ranks.

Meeting between Zamir and Katz had ‘good atmosphere,’ senior IDF officer says

Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at the Defense Ministry, March 25, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

A senior IDF officer says the conversation this morning between Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz was “businesslike” and had “a good atmosphere,” as tensions between the sides appear to cool.

“We continue forward, the security of the country above all else,” the officer says in a statement to reporters.

Israel Planning Administration approves construction permit for Ben Gurion Airport expansion

Travelers at Ben Gurion International Airport, September 15, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

The Israel Planning Administration approves the application for a construction permit for an expansion project at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport’s main Terminal 3, designed to meet an expected steady rise in passenger traffic and improve operational services in the coming years.

The permit is for the construction of a new building, which will house advanced baggage-handling systems, operational offices, passenger check-in counters, and dedicated unloading areas, at an estimated cost of NIS 1 billion ($311 million).

In addition, the planned building structure will serve as the foundation for a hotel, slated for construction on the eastern rooftop level, which will be accessible to travelers directly from the terminal.

“Advancement on the permit for the hold baggage screening (HBS) building is an important step in strengthening Ben Gurion Airport’s operational capabilities and preparing for increased passenger traffic,” says Ron Rekah, head of the Licensing and Construction Department at the Israel Planning Administration. “The structure is an excellent example of dual-use, as a hotel will be built above the building, directly adjacent to the terminal.”

The expanded structure at Terminal 3 is expected to improve operational efficiency and bring the airport in line with international standards. In 2025, about 19 million passengers are expected to pass through Ben Gurion Airport, and in 2026, a total of 22 million.

In apparent thawing of ties, Katz meets with Zamir and approves IDF promotions

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, June 2025. (Ariel Harmoni / Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir this morning and approved his list of promotions in the military.

Katz says that he approved the entire list aside from the promotion of Col. (res.) German Giltman, who already said he was withdrawing his candidacy.

Giltman, who retired from the IDF in 2022, was set to be promoted to brigadier general and return to the military to serve in a senior role in the Ground Forces. Katz said he wouldn’t approve the promotion, citing Giltman’s apparent involvement in the Brothers in Arms protest group.

The list announced by Zamir included another officer promoted to brigadier general and 28 promoted to colonel, as well as one brigadier general and nine colonels who are moving to new positions at the same rank.

The defense minister last month had said he was freezing senior IDF appointments, which he must approve, for 30 days until the defense establishment comptroller conducts an investigation of a review of the IDF’s internal October 7 probes.

Katz says that regarding the IDF’s investigations into the October 7 failures and other senior appointments, “the matters will be agreed upon in the coming days.”

Stone-throwing suspect shot by IDF in West Bank dies in Israeli custody, Palestinian Authority says

The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry announces the death in Israeli custody of a Palestinian wounded by IDF gunfire targeting three young men whom the military accused of hurling stones in the northern West Bank.

Baraa Bilal Issa Qablan, 21, was arrested last night east of Qalqilya after sustaining serious gunshot wounds, the PA says.

📌 الشهيد براء بلال قبلان (21 عاماً) الذي ارتقى متأثراً بجراحه التي أصيب بها برصاص الاحتلال بين بلدتي عزون وعزبة الطبيب قرب قلقيلية واحتجز الاحتلال جثمانه الليلة الماضية. pic.twitter.com/zCpKy3a5Du

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) December 8, 2025

According to the PA, he was detained along with the body of Arab Israeli Mumin Abu Riyash, 19, who was killed on the spot, and a third suspect who was not reported to have been injured.

The military said last night that troops from the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion fired at three people hurling stones at motorists near the Palestinian town of Azzun.

The PA’s official news agency WAFA reported at the time that the three suspects were traveling in a car along the Nablus-Qalqilya road.

Far-right lawmakers wear noose pins, similar to hostage badges, to support death penalty for terrorists bill

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a committee meeting on legislation mandating the death penalty for terrorists at the Knesset on December 8, 2025. He wears a pin shaped like a noose in his lapel.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lawmakers in the far-right Otzma Yehudit party wear golden lapel pins in the shape of a noose during a committee meeting on a controversial bill to legislate the death penalty for terrorists.

The pins are reminiscent of the yellow ribbon badges worn to raise awareness of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

A statement from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s office says the noose pins are meant to symbolize the lawmakers’ “commitment to the demand for the death penalty for terrorists” and send “a clear message that terrorists are deserving of death.”

The politicians are attending a meeting of the National Security Committee to deliberate on the legislation after it passed its first reading last month. Since then, the bill has undergone several changes and, in its current form, poses several constitutional difficulties, according to the committee’s legal adviser.

In the hearing on the bill, which has encountered firm opposition from Israeli rights groups across the board, Ben Gvir says that the noose is just “one of the options through which we will implement the death penalty law for terrorists.”

“Of course, there is the option of the gallows, the electric chair and also the option of euthanasia,” he says. He insists that despite the Israeli Medical Association’s stance against the bill, he has received “100 calls from doctors who said: ‘Itamar, just tell us when.'”

He once again declares that he is proud of the increasingly dire conditions for Palestinian security prisoners on his watch, in light of surging deaths among the population.

“This morning, I saw that it was published that under Itamar Ben Gvir, 110 terrorists have died. They said there has never been anything like this since the state’s founding,” he says.

He denies that the Prison Service had a hand in the deaths, claiming they “arrived sick or died from various injuries,” but says that he does not intend to apologize for ending the so-called “summer camp” that purportedly existed in Israeli detention facilities before his term.

US ambassador to UN arrives in Israel for talks on Gaza

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaks during a UN Security Council meeting to vote on a US resolution on the Gaza peace plan at the UN Headquarters in New York City, November 17, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP)

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz arrives in Israel for an official visit focused on advancing Washington’s peace plan for Gaza.

“US commitment to Israel’s security remains iron-clad — our cooperation has never been more vital,” Waltz writes on X, after crossing into Israel from Jordan, where he traveled over the weekend for meetings with senior officials on security and humanitarian cooperation.

Waltz is accompanied by Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, according to a statement from Danon’s office, which says the visit will focus on diplomatic meetings, security briefings in the north and south, and an examination of the security challenges Israel faces.

Waltz is slated to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and the family of Ran Gvili, the last deceased hostage held in Gaza, before his departure on Wednesday, the statement adds.

Danon says Waltz’s visit “sends a clear message” that “as Israel faces political and security threats, the United States stands by its side.”

Far-right researcher gives lecture to soldiers at IDF base, despite not being on approved list of speakers

Eliyahu Yosian attends the annual Jerusalem Conference of the 'Besheva' group in Jerusalem, on February 25, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right former intelligence analyst Eliyahu Yosian lectured to soldiers at an army base in the West Bank yesterday, although he is not included in the IDF’s list of approved lecturers.

The Times of Israel learned that Yosian was invited by commanders to speak to reservist soldiers at the Samaria Regional Brigade. During the lecture, Yosian made controversial and political remarks.

In response to a query from The Times of Israel, the IDF says, “The lecture was not approved through the accepted channels.”

“This was an error, and the relevant procedures have been clarified,” the military says.

The IDF says it has a list of approved lecturers, and “lectures are delivered by a variety of people from the public.” A military source confirms that Yosian is not on the list of approved lecturers.

Yosian, born in Iran, is known for his extreme views.

After the October 7, 2023, onslaught, Yosian said “there are no innocents, there are 2.5 million terrorists,” and that Israel should have killed “at least 50,000 Gazans” within the first hours of the Hamas attack.

He has, in the past, also called secularism and liberalism a “cancer in the body of the Jewish nation.” In June, Yosian said former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak’s body should be burned upon his death, and that he should not be buried in Israel.

Yosian has lectured on army bases several times in the past.

In November 2023, Yosian, while speaking to soldiers at a base in the Jordan Valley, was taken off stage by a brigade commander after he made extreme comments. In June, a lecture by Yosian before soldiers was nixed after Channel 13 news contacted the IDF. In both cases, the military said the lectures had not been approved through the proper channels.

Iran says dual national arrested during June war to face trial for allegedly spying for Israel

Iran’s judiciary says that a dual national who was arrested during the 12-day war with Israel has been referred to trial on charges of allegedly spying for the enemy.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency does not identify the defendant but reports he is a “dual national who lives in a European country” and was arrested in Iran during the war in June, adding that he stands accused of “intelligence cooperation and espionage in the interest of the Zionist regime.”

Iran frequently arrests foreign nationals and accuses them of spying, without evidence.

Oct. 7 footage shows designated Mossad chief in firefight with Hamas terrorists, without protective gear

This traffic camera footage from October 7, 2023, shows then-Brig. Gen. Roman Gofman exchanging fire with Hamas terrorists at the Shaar Hanegev Junction in southern Israel. (National Transport Infrastructure Company - Netivei Yisrael)

Footage from the October 7, 2023, onslaught, shows designated Mossad director Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman exchanging fire with Hamas terrorists and getting wounded near the Gaza border.

Gofman, at the time a brigadier general and the head of the Tzeelim training facility in southern Israel, rushed to his base from his home in Ashdod following the first reports of rocket fire.

Traffic camera footage shows Gofman arriving at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction, where dozens of Hamas terrorists had taken up positions and were firing on passing cars.

The senior officer, armed with just an assault rifle and no protective gear, is seen exchanging fire with the Hamas terrorists. After coming under fire from multiple terrorists, Gofman is seen retreating, during which he was shot in the leg.

He then joined up with a group of police officers nearby, who treated him, before he was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Gofman was the most senior IDF officer wounded during the October 7 onslaught. After recovering, he was appointed as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary, and last week the premier announced he would be the next Mossad director.

Speaking in NYC, Herzog says Mamdani ‘makes no effort to conceal his contempt for Israel’

President Isaac Herzog speaks at Yeshiva University in New York on December 7, 2025 (Haim Zach / GPO)

President Isaac Herzog criticizes New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, saying he doesn’t hide his “contempt” for Israel and made “outrageous” comments over a protest at a Manhattan synagogue.

“Recent developments in New York City have raised a red flag,” Herzog says at a gala event in New York City for Yeshiva University, according to a statement from his office.

“Here, we see the rise of a new mayor-elect who makes no effort to conceal his contempt for the Jewish democratic State of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people,” Herzog charges.

Herzog also refers to an anti-Israel protest outside an event encouraging immigration to Israel at a Manhattan synagogue last month, and Mamdani’s response to it.

“The incoming mayor’s response was to suggest that Jews who consider fulfilling the ultimate Zionist dream of making Aliyah are violating international law and the sanctity of the synagogue. This rhetoric is outrageous,” Herzog says.

“Delegitimizing the Jewish people’s right to their ancient homeland and their age-old dream of Jerusalem legitimizes violence and undermines freedom of religion,” the president says. “This is both anti-Jewish and anti-American.”

The president also addresses growing antisemitism and the need for action against it.

“Here in New York, and all across America, the turbulence is unnerving, and the challenges facing our people, the Jewish people, are growing,” Herzog says.

“Institutional antisemitism, Holocaust inversion, conspiracies left and right, Jew-hatred platformed on social media, and moral bankruptcy masquerading as social justice have all disturbingly increased,” he says. “Where Jews were once ‘Yids’ in America, Zionists are now called ‘Zios.’ Jews are always the first, but never the last, to be demonized, targeted, ‘other-ized.’”

“We must use any legal means at our disposal — advocacy, education, leadership, civic engagement, media, social networks — to combat this surge of hate and antisemitism,” Herzog says.

Syria marks one year since Assad toppled

Syrians line the streets awaiting a parade by the new Syrian army marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Syrians will mark the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his iron-fisted rule today, as the fractured nation struggles to find stability and recover after years of war.

Official celebrations are planned for the central Umayyad Square in Damascus, which has already been packed with jubilant gatherings, and elsewhere around the country.

Assad fled Syria for Russia a year ago as rebels commanded by Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, seized Damascus, toppling him more than 13 years into the war that spiraled out of an uprising against his rule.

Celebrations have been underway in some parts of Syria for several days: thousands of people filled the streets of Hama on Friday, waving Syria’s new flag as they marked the day insurgents led by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group captured the city during their rapid march to Damascus.

Defense Ministry: Over half the soldiers treated in rehab centers suffering mental health issues

Israeli rescue teams evacuate a wounded person near the southern city of Sderot on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on Israel. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

The Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department says it has treated some 22,000 wounded soldiers since October 7, 2023, more than half of whom are suffering from mental health conditions.

According to the Defense Ministry, some 58 percent of those treated by the rehab centers since the start of the war are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions.

Among the 22,000 soldiers, around 63 percent are reservists.

Including previous wars, the ministry says the rehab department is caring for a total of 82,400 wounded veterans.

It forecasts that by the end of 2026, the center will receive another 10,000 wounded veterans, most of whom will be suffering from PTSD or other mental health conditions.

The rehab department’s budget stands at NIS 8.3 billion, NIS 4.1 billion of which is dedicated to treating those with mental health conditions, the ministry says.

Over 60 arrested in raids over weapons, drugs trafficking amid undercover operation

A suspect is arrested during an overnight raid on December 8, 2025. (Israel Police)

Over 60 people were arrested on suspicion of weapons and drugs trafficking in a wave of overnight arrests as the result of an undercover operation, police say.

The suspects were detained during nationwide raids.

Police say an undercover agent carried out 57 trafficking transactions involving weapons, drugs and forged documents in a number of policing districts across the country, incriminating the suspects.

They also collected “significant evidence” connected to a number of serious offenses of violence, including kidnapping and shootings, police say. Those detained include gang leaders from Hadera.

UN cuts 2026 aid appeal amid plunge in donor funding; largest chunk earmarked for Palestinians

Displaced Palestinians walk through muddy pathways as a man and children carry cooking equipment at a camp in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The United Nations appeals for an aid budget only half the size of what it had hoped for this year, acknowledging a plunge in donor funding at a time when humanitarian needs have never been greater.

By its own admission, the $23 billion UN appeal will shut out tens of millions of people in urgent need of help as falling support has forced it to prioritize only the most desperate.

The funding cuts come on top of other challenges for aid agencies that include security risks to staff in conflict zones and lack of access.

“It’s the cuts ultimately that are forcing us into these tough, tough, brutal choices that we’re having to make,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher tells reporters.

“We are overstretched, underfunded, and under attack,” he says. “And we drive the ambulance towards the fire. On your behalf. But we are also now being asked to put the fire out. And there is not enough water in the tank. And we’re being shot at.”

A year ago, the UN sought some $47 billion for 2025 – a figure that was later pared back as the scale of aid cuts by US President Donald Trump as well as other top Western donors such as Germany began to emerge.

November figures showed it had received only $12 billion so far, the lowest in 10 years, covering just over a quarter of needs.

Next year’s $23 billion plan identifies 87 million people deemed as priority cases whose lives are on the line. Yet it says around a quarter of a billion need urgent assistance, and that it will aim to help 135 million of them at a cost of $33 billion – if it has the means.

The biggest single appeal of $4 billion is for Palestinians. Most of that is for Gaza, devastated by the two-year Israel-Hamas conflict, which has left a majority of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced and dependent on aid.

Second is Sudan, followed by Syria.

Fletcher says humanitarian groups faced a bleak scenario of growing hunger, spreading disease and record violence.

“[The appeal] is laser-focused on saving lives where the shocks hit hardest: wars, climate disasters, earthquakes, epidemics, crop failures,” he says.

UN humanitarian agencies are overwhelmingly reliant on voluntary donations by Western donors, with the United States by far the top historical donor.

UN data showed it continued to hold the number one spot in 2025 despite Trump’s cuts but that its share had shrunk from over a third of the total to 15.6% this year.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

7 Givat Ze’ev security guards arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry into Israel

Police have arrested seven security guards employed by the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze’ev who are suspected of facilitating the illegal entry of workers into the town and beyond.

The arrests, announced by police and reported by Israeli media early Monday, took place over the course of the past week. The seven guards are accused of allowing illegal workers into the community in exchange for bribes.

Givat Ze’ev is just north of Jerusalem, and the suspects were employed by a private security agency that works for the settlement, Hebrew media report. The guards allegedly used their access to its security systems to allow people to enter illegally from elsewhere in the West Bank.

The arrests were prompted by a complaint from the Givat Ze’ev Local Council, whose chair, Yossi Asraf, said he viewed the allegations with the “utmost severity.”

“We have a basic faith in the security system, and any harm done to it is unforgivable,” he said in a statement.

Gender pay gap in Israel among the widest in the developed world, report finds

An image of a teacher in an Israeli classroom, from the Merchavim Institute website.

Israel’s gender pay gap has remained among the widest in the developed world, according to a new report.

The report, released this week by the Adva Center think tank and reported by the Kan public broadcaster, finds that as of 2022, the wage gap between men and women in Israel stood at 20.8 percent. That’s not much narrower than the figure from 2005, which was 21.9%, Kan reports.

The 2022 figure means Israel has the fourth-largest gender wage gap of any of the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of countries with developed economies. In that group, Israel’s wage gap is narrower than only those of South Korea, Japan and Estonia.

The report also found that higher education does not narrow the wage gap, as the figure is even higher for those with a college degree.

The report attributed the gap to women working so-called “pink collar” jobs such as teaching, while men predominate in higher-paying fields like finance or tech. Women also earn less because they are more likely to take on a greater share of responsibilities at home, such as childcare.

Health Ministry calls emergency meeting of epidemic team as flu infections spike

A woman gets her flu vaccine shot on September 5, 2023. (Clalit)

The Health Ministry’s Epidemic Control Team called an emergency meeting as flu infections have spiked and three children have died of the illness in recent weeks, Hebrew media report.

By contrast, four children died during all of last year’s flu season, the publications report.

The incidence of the flu in Israel this year is five times greater than during the same period last year, Channel 13 reports, citing figures from Maccabi Healthcare Services.

The Kan public broadcaster, meanwhile, reports that 30 children have been put in intensive care in recent weeks due to flu complications. Half of the children hospitalized across the country have tested positive for the flu, the network reports.

Over the past day, two babies were hospitalized in critical condition in Jerusalem, while another in serious condition in Haifa was put on life support, Kan says.

According to Channel 13, less than 15 percent of the Health Ministry’s target figure for vaccinations has been hit so far this season. Kan reports that those numbers include less than half of those over 65 and just 10% of children, populations considered particularly vulnerable to infection.

Two of the children who died of the flu over the past two weeks had not received flu vaccinations, while one had.

Kan reports that steps being weighed by the epidemic committee include further promotion of vaccines, encouraging masks in medical facilities and public spaces, and a public awareness campaign calling on adults to stay home from work and children to stay home from school if sick with the flu.

Return of Syrian refugees set to slow as donor support fades, UN agency says

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi talks to the Associated Press in Damascus, Syria, June, 20, 2025.(AP/Omar Sanadiki)

More than 3 million Syrians have returned home since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule a year ago but a decline in global funding could deter others, the UN’s refugee agency says.

Some 1.2 million refugees, in addition to 1.9 million internally displaced people, have gone back home following the civil war that began in 2011 and ended with Assad’s overthrow, but millions more are yet to return, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The agency says much more support is needed to ensure the trend continues.

“Syrians are ready to rebuild – the question is whether the world is ready to help them do it,” says UNHCR head Filippo Grandi. Over 5 million refugees remain outside Syria’s borders, mostly in neighboring countries like Jordan and Lebanon.

Grandi told donors in Geneva last week that there was a risk that those Syrians who are returning might even reverse their course and come back to host states.

“Returns continue in fairly large numbers but unless we step up broader efforts, the risk of [reversals] is very real,” he said.

Overall, Syria’s $3.19 billion humanitarian response is 29 percent funded this year, according to UN data, at a time when donors like the United States and others are making major cuts to foreign aid across the board.

The World Health Organization sees a gap emerging as aid money drops off before national systems can take over.

The slow pace of removing unexploded ordnance is also a major obstacle to recovery, says the aid group Humanity & Inclusion, which reported over 1,500 deaths and injuries in the last year. Such efforts are just 13 percent funded, it said.

IDF says Palestinian tried to run over soldiers with vehicle during West Bank raid

A Palestinian allegedly attempted to ram soldiers with a vehicle in the West Bank town of Burqin this evening, the IDF says.

The military says that the soldiers, who were carrying out a raid in the town, returned fire at the vehicle, which fled.

“Security forces are working to locate the terrorist,” the army adds.

Man indicted for setting ex-wife’s car on fire as she sat inside, killing her

Anan Jazmawi, a 46-year-old mother of three, who was critically injured by her ex-husband and succumbed to her wounds three weeks later, on November 29, 2025. (Facebook)

State prosecutors indict a 56-year-old man with aggravated murder and arson after he allegedly set his ex-wife’s car on fire with her in it last month, causing her life-threatening wounds to which she eventually succumbed.

Abdelhadi Mahamid, from Arara, is accused of waiting for his ex-wife Anan Jazmawi to finish her shift at the supermarket where she worked in Harish and ambushing her once she entered her car on November 10.

He doused both Jazmawi and the vehicle with gasoline and then set the car alight. She sustained severe burns covering about 98 percent of her body, and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, prosecutors say. She died on November 29 due to the burns and smoke inhalation.

The deceased and the defendant divorced after 14 years of marriage in October this year, after he spent nine months in prison for abusing and threatening her. He continued to threaten her while serving time via phone calls with their 9-year-old daughter, the youngest of three children.

According to prosecutors, the defendant told his daughter over a phone call to pass on a message to her mother: “Tell her that because she put me in jail, I’ll get out and kill her, and she’ll die because I sat in jail.”

Days after he was freed from prison the defendant came to Jazmawi’s home and asked to see their daughter. When his ex-wife refused to open her door and said the daughter was sleeping, he knocked loudly, yelled, cursed and threatened to mangle his ex-wife’s face. It was then that he decided to acquire gasoline and began plotting to kill Jazmawi by setting her on fire, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors charge Mahamid in the Haifa District Court with aggravated murder, arson and making threats, and request he remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him.