Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they happened.
Lebanese media report Israeli strikes in Nabatieh, Beqaa Valley; No immediate comment from IDF
Lebanese media report that Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes in the Nabatieh area and the Beqaa Valley.
Both areas are north of the Litani River, which Hezbollah is required to withdraw to under a ceasefire agreement.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the reported strikes.
In meeting with Sa’ar, top Italian diplomat says Rome will no longer work with UNRWA
Meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Ashdod Port, Italy’s top diplomat Antonio Tajani says his country will not work with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
“We don’t want to work with UNRWA and we condemn the use of UNRWA offices as a prison for Israeli hostages,” says Tajani.
The mother of freed hostage Emily Damari said last week that her daughter had been held at UNRWA facilities in Gaza.
Sa’ar says at the joint press conference that the UN Human Rights Council “acted in the most outrageous way possible.”
“They were biased, they were obsessive, you can say they were antisemites because they used double standards with regards to our state.”
Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani:
“We don’t want to work with UNRWA and we condemn the use of UNRWA offices as a prison for Israeli hostages”
Thank you @Antonio_Tajani for this decisive message! pic.twitter.com/EpUjIa3iBr
— Oren Marmorstein (@OrenMarmorstein) February 6, 2025
Sa’ar announced this week that Israel would no longer participate in the UNHRC, following the US’s withdrawal.
Sa’ar hints that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the Gaza Strip should be taken seriously.
“Today, it is important to listen carefully to new ideas that have been proposed and to think outside the box,” he says.
“Gaza is a failed experiment. It failed under Egyptian sovereignty. It failed when handed to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords. Ever since we saw terrorism rise. It has certainly failed under Hamas,” he argues. “Gaza, in its current state, has no future.”
“We must try to find a different solution,” Sa’ar says. “We must take a new approach.”
Rubio says Gaza currently ‘not habitable,’ declines to say if Palestinians will be able to return if they leave
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Gaza currently is “not habitable” due to dangers, such as unexploded weapons, and that people will have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt.
Rubio, answering a reporter’s question during a visit to the Dominican Republic, encourages other countries to step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza, but does not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over and develop the Gaza Strip.
“I think that’s just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim,” Rubio says.
He says Trump’s controversial remarks were aimed in part to encourage other countries that “have both the economic and technological capacity” to help as well with rebuilding.
“President Trump has offered to go in and be a part of that solution. If some other countries are willing to step forward and do it themselves, that would be great, but no one seems to be rushing forward to do that,” he says.
He adds that “countries in the region who express a lot of concern about the Palestinian people” should “find a solution and answer to their problem.”
PM meets with House of Representatives speaker, minority leader
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has started.
Netanyahu and Johnson are expected to give statements after the meeting.
PM’s office says US senate leadership expressed ‘unqualified support’ for Netanyahu, Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) meets with bipartisan senate leadership in Washington DC, February 6, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
The Prime Minister’s Office says that during a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and bipartisan senate leadership, the US lawmakers expressed “unqualified support for the Prime Minister and Israel, and praised Israel’s achievements in the war.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the senators that “Iran must be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons and that Hamas in Gaza must be eliminated.”
The senators promised to pass a law punishing the International Criminal Court, says the PMO.
Among those in attendance were Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has fiercely criticized the Israeli premier in the past.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hitting back at PM, Gallant says Hezbollah pager attack plan was ready to go by October 2023
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant pushes back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that attacking Hezbollah in October 2023, as Gallant had proposed, would have been “a horrible mistake.”
In a post on X, Gallant also dismisses Netanyahu’s claim that there were only around 150 booby-trapped beepers in Hezbollah hands in October 2023 “as opposed to thousands that we accumulated” in the months leading up to the September 2024 pager attack.
“The pager operation was prepared years before the war and was ready for activation on October 11,” he writes. “Contrary to what was said, thousands of pagers were in the hands of the terrorists by the time I suggested attacking Hezbollah.”
He asserts that had the plan been activated back in October 2023, the damage caused by the pagers would have been secondary to the damage caused by the walkie-talkie devices, which were also rigged with explosives.
While dozens of Hezbollah operatives were killed and thousands more were wounded in the September 16-17 pager and walkie-talkie attacks, far more were put out of commission by the pager blasts than by the walkie-talkies.
The reason for this, Gallant writes on X, was because by September 2024, “the vast majority of walkie-talkies were in warehouses, and their explosion caused no damage.”
בפינת העובדות:
1. מבצע הביפרים הוכן שנים לפני המלחמה, וב-11.10 היה מוכן להפעלה.
2. בניגוד לנאמר, כבר ביום בו הצעתי לתקוף את חיזבאללה היו אלפי ביפרים בידי המחבלים.
3. אם היינו מפעילים את המבצע ב-11.10, פיצוץ הביפרים היה משני לפיצוץ מכשירי הקשר שהיה מחסל אלפי מחבלי חיזבאללה.… https://t.co/FeuRoUSXsc— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) February 6, 2025
PM: Would have been ‘horrible mistake’ to escalate against Hezbollah in Oct. 2023, as Gallant had proposed
Speaking to the friendly Channel 14 network, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that there were only around 150 booby-trapped beepers in Hezbollah hands in October 2023 “as opposed to thousands that we accumulated” in the ensuing months.
Netanyahu explains that he blocked then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s October 11 proposal to take out Hezbollah’s rockets and leadership because it would be “a horrible mistake” to open a two-front war so soon after the Hamas attacks of October 7.
Five toddlers diagnosed with tuberculosis in Rehovot
The Health Ministry says that five toddlers in Rehovot have been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, likely contracted from an employee at their nursery.
The children and the employee are in good condition. An epidemiological investigation shows that the infected employee was the source of transmission.
The ministry says that it immediately took steps to inform parents about necessary precautions and medical protocols.
Health officials emphasize that the risk of tuberculosis transmission from toddlers is relatively low because the coughing mechanism in young children is not sufficiently developed to spread the bacteria.
Health authorities are closely monitoring the situation and will keep parents informed.
Government to discuss establishment of state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7 on Sunday, but won’t make any decisions
The government on Sunday will discuss the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror assault, but will not make any decisions one way or another, Hebrew media outlets report.
The meeting is being convened only due to a December 2024 ruling from the High Court of Justice, which ordered the government to hold a hearing on the establishment of a state commission of inquiry within 60 days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of establishing any inquiry before the end of the war, and critics have alleged he seeks to establish a panel with fewer powers than a state commission, fearing it would implicate him in the disaster.
Last month, the coalition defeated an opposition bill calling for the establishment of a state commission by a vote of 45-53.
Report: PM gave US officials plan to end Gaza war, exile top Hamas officials; spokesman: Never happened
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for meetings at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on February 6, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
While in Washington this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan to end the war in Gaza and release senior Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the exile of senior Hamas leaders from Gaza, according to the Walla news outlet, citing senior US officials.
The plan would allow the sides to move to the second phase of the hostage release deal, the oulet reports, adding that Hamas would also give up civil control of the Strip.
Netanyahu told US officials that he wants to extend the first stage of the deal, says the report, adding that Israeli officials believe that this could lead to the release of only 2 or 3 additional hostages.
Netanyahu’s spokesman denies the report, saying on X, “It never happened. The Prime Minister did not present any plan for the second stage.”
Report: Israel might not dispatch delegation to Doha hostage deal talks tomorrow
Israel will not necessarily send a delegation to negotiations on the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal in Doha tomorrow, the Israel Hayom newspaper reports, citing a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage.
The delegation, if it flies to Qatar, will be a working-level team, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu’s office said earlier this week that the delegation would depart Friday, following the premier’s meetings with senior members of US President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington.
Knesset Speaker Ohana says he will boycott new Supreme Court chief’s swearing-in ceremony
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana attends a plenum session on the appointment of Israel Katz as defense minister and Gideon Sa'ar as foreign minister at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces he will boycott newly elected Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s swearing-in ceremony at the President’s Residence next week.
In a letter to President Isaac Herzog, Ohana complains about the court’s January 2024 ruling striking down a quasi-constitutional Basic Law that constituted a key component of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.
This ruling meant that the judiciary had “expropriated from the Knesset the sovereignty that was entrusted to it” by the citizens of Israel, he writes.
In addition, Ohana slams what he claims was the “fundamentally crooked selection process” that led to Amit’s appointment.
“As Knesset Speaker, I cannot accept these dangerous and anti-democratic processes. Therefore, at this stage, I will not accept the invitation, and I will not participate in events of the judicial authority, including the upcoming inauguration ceremony,” Ohana writes.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin had previously announced that he would also not attend the ceremony, after boycotting the vote in which Amit was chosen. Hebrew media has reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will also not attend the event.
In a statement, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid insists that Levin and Ohana’s boycott of the event “only humiliates them and their government.”
“Judge Amit was legally elected, the members of the Judicial Selection Committee were legally elected. There is no legal significance to the absence of Levin and Ohana; it is simply a basic lack of respect for the state, its laws, its institutions and the tradition of Israel,” he says, adding that he plans on attending the ceremony.
Katz meets with defense officials to discuss plans for Palestinians to ‘voluntarily’ leave Gaza
Defense Minister Israel Katz holds an assessment with defense officials on plans to enable Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, in line with a plan presented by US President Donald Trump, February 6, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Israel Katz held an assessment this evening with defense officials regarding plans to allow Palestinians to “voluntarily” leave the Gaza Strip, as per recent statements by US President Donald Trump.
Katz met with outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, director general of the ministry and incoming chief of staff Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, and several other top officers.
“I instructed the IDF to prepare a plan that would allow any resident in Gaza that would be interested, to leave for anywhere in the world that would agree to absorb them,” he says in a video statement.
“The plan will include options to leave through the land crossings and special arrangements for exit through the sea and the air,” Katz adds.
A small number of Palestinians are currently able to leave the Strip via the Rafah Crossing with Egypt amid the ongoing ceasefire. During the fighting, Israel facilitated the exit of dozens of sick Palestinians via the Kerem Shalom Crossing and enabled them to reach the United Arab Emirates for treatment.
Trump to sign order sanctioning International Criminal Court for targeting US, Israel
US President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on February 6, 2025. (Ting Shen/AFP)
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order later today sanctioning the International Criminal Court for targeting the US and its allies, including Israel, a White House official says.
The official says the order will put financial and visa-related sanctions on individuals and families who assist the ICC in its investigations of US citizens or allies.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza, amid the war against the Hamas terror group.
Israel has strongly rejected the accusations.
On his first day back in the White House last month, Trump signed an executive order reinstating an earlier order that could serve as a legal basis for future sanctions against the ICC and its personnel.
The US House of Representatives also voted last month to impose sanctions on the ICC, although the legislation has yet to be okayed in the Senate.
PM backs up Trump’s assertion that US troops won’t be needed in Gaza to implement his plan
Posing with Senate leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asked whether “US troops are needed in Gaza to make President Trump’s plan feasible?”
“No,” he answers.
PM’s office confirms Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager during White House meeting
A golden pager gifted to US President Donald Trump by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the White House on February 4, 2025. (Courtesy, PMO)
The Prime Minister’s Office acknowledges that Benjamin Netanyahu gave a golden pager as a gift to US President Donald Trump during their meeting on Tuesday.
The gift “symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war and the starting point for breaking the will of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” says Netanyahu’s office.
The operation “expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of Israel against its enemies,” according to the PMO.
Netanyahu meets with senior Republican, Democrat senators on Capitol Hill
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Republican, Democrat senators on Capitol Hill, Washington, February 6, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
On Capitol Hill in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
He then meets with GOP Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump praises former hostage Noa Argamani’s ‘unwavering strength, courage and faith’; says he won’t rest until all hostges home
In remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, US President Donald Trump praises former hostage Noa Argamani — who is in attendance — for the “unwavering strength, and courage and faith” that kept her going throughout her captivity in Gaza.
“For 245 harrowing days, Noa showed unwavering strength and courage and faith as she endured the unendurable,” Trump says. “But by the grace of God, she was rescued by the Israel Defense Forces and now she’s come back to pray with us this morning.”
“You’re really an inspiration, Noa, to all of us,” Trump says, adding that it is “such an honor” to have her join the event.
🇺🇸🇮🇱President Trump to Noa Argamani:
“Noa was saved by the grace of God by the Israel Defense Forces."
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) February 6, 2025
“As president, I will not rest until every remaining hostage has been returned to their families,” Trump says.
US Reform Judaism leaders condemn Trump’s Gaza proposals
Leaders of the US Reform movement condemn US President Donald Trump’s proposals for the Gaza Strip.
“Whether this was an unfiltered, spontaneous utterance or the first seed of a serious plan, it is unrealistic and dangerous,” says a statement led by the Union for Reform Judaism.
The statement says the proposals will contribute to regional instability, pose security risks to Israel, undermine Palestinian self-determination, jeopardize the ceasefire and hostage deal, and harm efforts toward a two-state solution.
“This moment requires bold thinking to bring safety and autonomy to Israel and the Palestinians. What was proposed [Tuesday] will not build that future; it will undermine it. Forcibly removing either populace will only perpetuate the conflict,” the statement says.
Other signatories to the statement include the American Conference of Cantors; the Association of Reform Jewish Educators; and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
PA foreign ministry says planned displacement of Gazans proves there’s no ‘partner for peace’ on Israeli side
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry says that Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments on the IDF’s preparations for the exit of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip is further proof that there is no “partner for peace” on the Israeli side.
Earlier today, Katz’s office said that the defense minister had ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to enable Gazans to leave the Strip voluntarily, after US President Donald Trump presented his vision for the relocation of the approximately 2 million residents of the war-torn Palestinian enclave.
Katz was quoted as welcoming Trump’s “courageous plan,” and speculated that Spain, Ireland, and Norway would be willing to host Gazans, due to the “false accusations” they have leveled against Israel throughout the war in the Palestinian enclave.
In its response, the PA foreign ministry says that it considers Katz’s comments to be “an extension of the war of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by the occupying state [Israel] against our people.”
The planned displacement of Palestinians from Gaza highlights “the absence of an Israeli partner for peace,” the statement continues, “and the persistence in prolonging the occupation and conflict, and denying the just and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
It calls for the international community to “reject the crimes of displacement and annexation” and urges the advancement of a two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Court orders NCO charged in PM’s office leak released to house arrest with electronic tagging
The Tel Aviv District Court orders that Ari Rosenfeld, a noncommissioned IDF officer at the center of the Prime Minister’s Office security documents scandal, to be released to house arrest with electronic tagging.
Rosenfeld has been held in prison for four months after being arrested in late October and indicted on charges of illegally transferring classified documents from IDF Military Intelligence to Eli Feldstein, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who then leaked one of the documents to the Bild newspaper in Germany.
The court orders Rosenfeld to deposit a NIS 100,000 guarantee and bans him from contacting anyone involved in the criminal investigation surrounding the affair, and from using any device with internet connectivity.
The court also issues a permit to the security services to tap and track communications by Rosenfeld should they believe he is violating the court order.
Hamas calls for emergency Arab summit after Trump says US will take control of Gaza
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warns that US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and displace its people was a “declaration of intent to occupy” the Palestinian territory.
Dismissing Trump’s comments as “absolutely unacceptable,” Qassem says the terror group is calling for “the convening of an emergency Arab summit to confront the displacement project.”
“Gaza is for its people and they will not leave,” he says.
“Trump’s remarks about Washington taking control of Gaza amount to an open declaration of intent to occupy the territory,” Qassem adds. “We do not need any country to run the Gaza Strip and we do not accept replacing one occupation with another.
“We call on the Arab peoples and international organizations to take strong action to reject the Trump project.”
Egypt again says it will not play role in plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza
Egypt rejects and will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians from Gaza, its foreign ministry says, following US President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take over the war-torn Strip and his call for Egypt to take in resettled Palestinians.
Yair Netanyahu ordered to pay NIS 75,000 to PM’s ex-aide turned state witness Nir Hefetz
Nir Hefetz arrives for a court hearing in the trial against former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Jerusalem District Court, December 29, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Yair Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, has been ordered by the Netanya Magistrate’s Court to pay NIS 75,000 in damages and legal fees to his father’s former aide Nir Hefetz over privacy violations and violating a gag order.
Hefetz, who is a key state witness in a bribery, fraud and breach of trust case against the premier, sued the younger Netanyahu over a series of social media posts from 2020 in which he shared details about the police investigation into Hefetz, in violation of a gag order.
The court, in its ruling, asserts that the social media posts had “gotten to the root of the plaintiff’s private life in a way that was likely to harm him, endanger him as a state witness, and harm his family.”
It orders Netanyahu to pay him NIS 60,000 in damages and a further NIS 15,000 to cover legal fees.
The court’s decision comes after Netanyahu was ordered by a Tel Aviv District Court last month to pay ex-MK Stav Shaffir an additional NIS 7,500 in court fees for a libel case that had already required him to pay her NIS 70,000 in damages.
Deputy FM Haskel meets with Trump’s Middle East adviser in Washington
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel meets in Washington with Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump’s senior Middle East and Arab affairs adviser.
“We spoke about the possibility of building bridges between the nations in the Middle East and to connect the moderate forces in the region against the threat of Iran and radical Islam,” she writes on X.
Haskel is not in the US capital as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage.
נפגשתי בוושינגטון עם מסעד בולוס, מנויו של טראמפ ליועץ בכיר לענייני ערבים והמזרח התיכון.
דברנו על האפשרות לבנות גשרים בין העמים במזרח התיכון ולחבר את הכוחות המתונים באזור אל מול האיום האיראני והאיסלאם הקיצוני. pic.twitter.com/7dp8YEX4Iv— Sharren Haskel השכל שרן (@SharrenHaskel) February 6, 2025
Former Saudi intelligence chief derides Trump’s ‘mad ethnic cleansing plan’ for Gaza
Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal talks to The Associated Press in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, 2018 file photo)
Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal slams Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans en masse, calling it a “mad ethnic cleansing plan” in lockstep with the agenda of Israel’s far right.
“It is a fantasy to think that ethnic cleansing in the 21st century can be condoned… There’s no way that I can explain it,” he says, warning that the plan will cause “more conflict and more bloodshed.”
He calls on the international community to take the matter up in the United Nations, but notes that “with the American veto, I cannot expect that there will be much success in passing any resolution.”
He echoes the Saudi foreign ministry’s statement made yesterday, which doubled down on Riyadh’s stance against normalizing relations with Israel before a two-state solution has been reached.
President Trump's proposal will only mean "more conflict and more bloodshed," warns former Saudi intel chief Prince Turki al Faisal. "It is a fantasy to think that ethnic cleansing in the 21st century can be condoned… There's no way that I can explain it." pic.twitter.com/nxRgtuE9Ja
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) February 5, 2025
The Saudi press this morning also flatly rejected Trump’s comments, with front-page headlines calling for an independent Palestinian state and asserting the Saudi position is “fixed and unwavering.”
המדד הטוב ביותר כדי להבין מה ההנהגה הסעודית רוצה להעביר החוצה אלה כותרות העיתונים וזה מה שקורה שם הבוקר:
– העיתון עוכאז: אין מו"מ וסיסמאות מופרזות בעניין עמדתנו ביחס לפלסטין. סעודיה – נחישות שלא נתונה להתגמשות
– העיתון אל-יום: אין מו"מ ואין סיסמאות מופרזות. מדינה פלסטינית… pic.twitter.com/jEcxmN8HiV
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) February 6, 2025
Prince Turki is known to remain in close contact with the current Saudi leadership and is often used as a funnel for Riyadh’s positions.
IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld, charged in PM’s office leak, will be released to house arrest
Aaron 'Ari' Rosenfeld, one of the suspects in the Prime Minister's Office classified documents leak case arrives to the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court on January 7, 2025. (Koko/Flash90)
The State Attorney’s Office agrees to allow Ari Rosenfeld, a noncommissioned IDF officer at the center of the Prime Minister’s Office security documents scandal, to be released to house arrest with electronic tagging.
Prosecutors tell the Tel Aviv District Court that their agreement to release Rosenfeld from detention in prison was due to a change in the security services’ evaluation of the danger he poses.
The State Attorney’s Office has until now said that Rosenfeld was exposed to a large amount of classified information during the war as a result of his service in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate and that releasing him to house arrest could enable him to leak more material. The office notes that the Supreme Court rejected an earlier appeal by Rosenfeld against his ongoing incarceration on those grounds.
“As part of the request for a review [of the ruling], an updated position from the Shin Bet was received, which indicates that, unlike the position presented previously, the danger posed by the NCO can be ignored,” the State Attorney’s Office now tells the court.
Rosenfeld has been in detention for some four months, after he was arrested in late October and charged in November with transferring classified information, an offense that is punishable by up to seven years in prison, as well as theft by an authorized person and obstruction of justice. He was charged together with Eli Feldstein, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who allegedly leaked a document given to him by Rosenfeld to the Bild German newspaper.
Outrage from Jewish advocacy groups after anti-Israel NYC subway protester gets ‘slap on wrist’
Jewish advocacy groups have expressed outrage after a man who boarded a New York City subway train last summer and demanded that “Zionists” identify themselves and get off the train was sentenced to just four hours of community service at a Jewish organization and ordered to attend an anti-bias course.
“There are no words to describe our disgust with this pathetic slap on the wrist,” the StopAntisemitism advocacy group says on X.
In June, Anas Saleh, 24, led protesters in a packed New York subway car in chanting, “Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist.” A video of the incident drew widespread condemnation from public officials, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Saleh was arrested and charged with coercion and attempted coercion. However, these charges, which could have landed Saleh a year in prison, had been dismissed previously by a judge because of “facial insufficiency,” according to the New York Post.
Following the sentencing, Community Security Initiative, which protects Jewish communities and institutions around New York City, calls on the city to strengthen its laws about hate speech.
“We are deeply concerned that New York’s current hate crime laws do not classify Mr. Saleh’s actions as a hate crime,” the organization says in a statement. “We view with concern the penalty of community service.”
Anti-Zionism is a modern manifestation of antisemitism.
Example:
An Anti-Zionist declaring on a NYC subway car: “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist. This is your chance to get out.”Anyone threatening to purge “Zionists” (i.e. most Jews) from public places is an… pic.twitter.com/e3Wh6Ztp32
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) June 12, 2024
NY congressman Ritchie Torres says the weak sentence will encourage similar acts.
“If you attempt to purge Jews from public places like subways, then the worst you can fear in NY is community service,” Torres writes on X. “The State of New York is sending a dangerous message that emboldens antisemitism.”
Hamas claims Israel breaching deal by limiting aid, despite UN figures showing surge
A Hamas spokesman accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement by preventing the entry of humanitarian aid and shelter materials into the Gaza Strip.
He calls on the deal’s international mediators to pressure Israel to implement its humanitarian protocol, which stipulates that at least 600 trucks of aid will enter the enclave daily.
The UN said this morning that over 10,000 trucks full of humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began on January 19, which is over 550 per day, a surge from before the truce.
The Hamas spokesman cites harsh winter conditions in Gaza, following a night of heavy rain and strong winds that flooded makeshift tents housing displaced families.
“We are following up with the mediators on ways to compel Israel to implement all the clauses of the ceasefire agreement,” the spokesman says.
Popular pro-Israel media firm Nas Daily announces new social media agency in Israel
Arab Israeli Facebook star Nuseir Yassin in his Nas Daily video blasting Kuwait for boycotting Israel on October 1, 2017. (Screen capture: Facebook)
Nuseir Yassin, a self-described Israeli-Palestinian who has built the major pro-Israel media brand Nas Daily, is establishing a new media company in Israel.
The popular pro-Israel content creator announces that the new social media agency, named 1000 Media, will offer Israeli companies a mentoring program for organizational content teams wanting to build a significant digital presence, an AI platform for producing content at reduced costs, and “unique original productions in the Nas Daily formula.”
“We’ve developed a unique method for creating viral content, and we
want to share this knowledge with the local industry,” Yassin says in a statement. “We believe in the content industry coming out of Israel and want to support it.”
Man stabbed to death in Netanya brawl, second man critically hurt
A 30-year-old man has been stabbed to death in an apparent altercation in Netanya, paramedics say. The incident left one other man critically injured.
Magen David Adom paramedics pronounce the victim dead at the scene and take the other injured man, in critical and unstable condition, to a nearby hospital.
Police say they have arrested a suspect.
Netanyahu: Trump has transformed long-sought day-after plan into ‘day after Hamas’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (out of frame) at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on February 5, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans and assume control of the Strip is being treated by Israel as a “day after” plan for the war-torn territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicates.
In preview footage from an interview to be aired tonight on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, Netanyahu says: “This is the way of the world. The president of the United States came — and they spoke to us all the time, what about the day after? — and you wanted a day after? Here he came with a new idea, totally different, the day after Hamas of course, because you can’t talk about anything else.”
Netanyahu has yet to schedule a briefing with the traveling Israeli press corps on this weeklong trip to Washington, but did sit down with the friendly network, which is the only Israeli outlet he has agreed to be interviewed by since 2021.
IDF says forces destroyed bomb-making lab in northern West Bank overnight
Israeli soldiers, cops and Shin Bet agents continued the large-scale counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank overnight, the IDF says in a statement.
The forces discovered and destroyed a bomb manufacturing lab along with several explosive devices.
כוחות צה"ל, שב"כ ומשטרה פעלו במהלך הלילה לסיכול טרור בעיר שכם ובכפרים במרחב חטיבת שומרון.
במהלך הפעילות הכוחות איתרו והשמידו מעבדת מטענים בה אותרו מטענים ששימשו לטרור במרחב.
בנוסף, הכוחות עצרו שני מבוקשים בפעילות טרור, איתרו והחרימו נשק וכספי טרור>> pic.twitter.com/HvD7pRgT33
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 6, 2025
They also arrested two terror suspects and took them for questioning, in addition to locating and seizing weapons and money used for terror activities, the statement says.
No Israeli forces were hurt.
Sa’ar tells UN Human Rights Council Israel is leaving, citing antisemitic rhetoric, emboldening of terror
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, January 21, 2025. Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel has informed the United Nations Human Rights Council that it will follow the United States in withdrawing its participation, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says.
“The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006,” he says in a letter to UNHRC President Jorg Lauber that he posts on the social media platform X.
Sa’ar accuses the council of protecting serial rights abusers while disproportionately and systematically singling out Israel for condemnation and scrutiny, adding that the body advances antisemitic rhetoric, denies Israel’s right to exist, and emboldens terrorism.
I informed the UNHRC that Israel will no longer participate in it. The "human rights" council has consistently enabled countries that abuse human rights to evade scrutiny, while obsessively pursuing Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. Joining @POTUS President Trump's… pic.twitter.com/wMYHte2dv0
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) February 6, 2025
Human Rights Watch: Trump’s Gaza plan could amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’
Human Rights Watch says US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate over a million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, if implemented, could amount to “ethnic cleansing.”
The euphemism, which came into wide use after the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, refers to the forcible displacement of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographic area.
Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, says it is unclear if Trump’s plan will be implemented, but that the statement of intent is “very concerning.”
“If it were to transform into state policy, it would potentially amount to ethnic cleansing. And if done with intent, it would be forced displacement. And if that forced displacement was done as part of a systematic and widespread attack against the civilian population as a matter of state policy, it would actually be a crime against humanity,” he argues.
Coogle says countries are obliged to consider individual applications for asylum, but “do not have an obligation to participate in the forced displacement of the entire population of the Gaza Strip.”
Iran’s president claims country ‘not seeking nuclear weapons’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrives at Kazan International Airport for the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, October 22, 2024. (Maxim Blinov/Photo host brics-russia2024.ru via AP)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claims his country is not seeking a nuclear weapon, a day after US President Donald Trump called for a new agreement to prevent it from obtaining one.
“We are not seeking nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian says in a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran, adding that “verifying this issue is an easy task.”
During the meeting, which is broadcast on television, Pezeshkian refers to a long-standing fatwa, or religious edict, by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prohibiting atomic weapons.
He notes that Iran is not pursuing such weapons because “massacring innocent people is not acceptable in the doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
However, the UN nuclear watchdog has said Iran is currently enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian use, and Iranian leaders have countless times threatened to destroy entire Israeli cities. Israel has in the past revealed what it said was a trove of documents retrieved from Iran that prove the Islamic Republic has been trying to obtain nuclear weapons.
Yesterday, Trump called for a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Iran, adding that it “cannot have a Nuclear Weapon.”
The US president on Tuesday reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran over allegations the country is seeking nuclear weapons capability.
Ireland says Israel’s suggestion it should accept Palestinians from Gaza ‘unhelpful’
Ireland’s Foreign Ministry rejects a suggestion by Defense Minister Israel Katz that the country should accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza.
“The objective must be a massive scale up of aid into Gaza, return of basic services and a clear framework under which those displaced can return,” the ministry says in an emailed statement.
“Any comments to the contrary are unhelpful and a source of distraction.”
Shin Bet says it foiled terror bus bombing in Jerusalem late last year
An explosive device manufactured by members of a West Bank terror cell that planned a bus bombing in Jerusalem, in an image released February 6, 2025. (Shin Bet)
The Shin Bet says in a statement that it foiled a planned Palestinian terror bombing of a bus in Jerusalem late last year.
During November and December 2024, Shin Bet agents and IDF soldiers arrested five operatives of a Ramallah-based terrorist cell, composed of Fatah and Hamas members, who planned to carry out the attack against the backdrop of the Gaza war.
During the operation, the Shin Bet confiscated an explosive device manufactured by the cell members which they planned to detonate remotely within Israel, as well as a Carlo submachine gun.
The five arrested are Ahmad Jassar Ali, Mundhir Sheikh Qassem, Bashir Awad, Omar Subah and Ali Shweiki.
The security agency says some members of the terrorist cell carried out a number of failed shooting attacks against IDF forces during the past year, all of which ended without casualties.
Indictments have recently been filed, charging the five men with membership in an illegal organization, shooting at a person, preparatory actions to kill, weapons possession, and attempting to manufacture weapons.
Trump: Israel would hand Gaza to US when war ends, reconstruction won’t require boots on the ground
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, February 4, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
US President Donald Trump attempts to clarify some details about his plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza and for the US to take over the territory’s rebuilding.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he says in a post on Truth Social.
Trump explains how his plan for the Gaza Strip would work pic.twitter.com/GoZi3gMTVk
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) February 6, 2025
Gazans “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” he contends — again appearing to suggest all of the Strip’s population would be displaced.
He says “no soldiers by the US would be needed” in Gaza, since “the US, working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.”
“Stability for the region would reign!!!”
Egypt privately warning Trump’s Gaza plan endangers peace treaty with Israel — sources
Left: US President Donald Trump at Trump National Doral Miami, January 27, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP); Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League joint extraordinary leaders summit in Riyadh, November 11, 2024. (SPA / AFP)
Egypt has launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic blitz to try and head off US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the mass relocation of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt has warned that such a plan could undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence in the Middle East for decades.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump’s stunning proposal that most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians be relocated and the United States take charge of rebuilding the territory.
But two Egyptian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, say Cairo has made clear to the Trump administration and Israel that it will resist any such proposal, and that the peace deal with Israel — which has stood for nearly half a century — is at risk.
They say the message has been delivered to the Pentagon, the State Department and members of the US Congress, as well as Israel’s Western European allies, including Britain, France and Germany.
A Western diplomat in Cairo, also speaking anonymously because the discussions have not been made public, confirms receiving the message from Egypt through multiple channels. The diplomat says Egypt views the plan as a threat to its national security.
The diplomat says Egypt rejected proposals from the Biden administration and European countries to take in some Gazan refugees early in the war, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel. The earlier proposals were broached privately, while Trump announced his plan Tuesday at a White House press conference alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
UK will oppose any effort to forcibly displace Palestinians, minister says
Britain will oppose any efforts to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring Arab states against their will, a foreign office minister says.
“There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip,” minister Anneliese Dodds tells parliament.
Dodds’s remarks come after US President Donald Trump proposed earlier this week resettling Palestinians and taking over Gaza to develop it. He said he envisioned building a resort where international communities could live in harmony.
Ex-hostage Gadi Mozes, 80, leaves hospital a week after returning from Hamas captivity
Former hostage Gadi Mozes, second from left, with his sons and daughter after being discharged from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, February 6, 2025. (Courtesy)
Former hostage Gadi Mozes, 80, leaves the hospital and heads home after completing his initial recovery and the necessary medical checkups, Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital says.
Mozes, who was released a week ago as part of a ceasefire deal after 482 days of Hamas captivity, thanks his family, IDF soldiers, security services, the hospital, and “everyone who helped me get released and the entire Israeli nation.”
He says that to achieve “national rehabilitation and redemption,” all hostages must be brought home.
Mozes asks the media and the public to “respect my need for privacy” as he returns to his life, adding he hopes to soon resume his normal agricultural lifestyle and “contribute to the rebuilding of Kibbutz Nir Oz.”
2 days after deadly West Bank attack, Israeli officials identify shooter as Muhammad Daraghmeh
The perpetrator of Tuesday’s deadly shooting attack at an IDF checkpoint near the northern West Bank village of Tayasir is identified by Israeli defense officials as Muhammad Daraghmeh.
Palestinian media reported yesterday that Daraghmeh was the shooter, though Israeli defense authorities could not confirm until now.
Muhammad is the brother of Ahmad Daraghmeh, the late commander of a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the area, known as the Tubas Battalion. Ahmad Daraghmeh was killed by the IDF in February 2024.
Settler charged with terror offenses over shooting attack on Palestinians in October
The State Attorney’s Office files an indictment against a 31-year-old Israeli settler for shooting at a Palestinian family in the northern West Bank, charging him with aggravated assault with a terrorist motive.
According to the indictment, Shmuel Za’afran fired 18 rounds from an assault rifle at the family members in late October 2024 as they attempted to harvest olives in a grove between the Palestinian village of Immatin and the Havat Gilad settlement, where Za’afran lives. The attack left two people wounded, one of whom required multiple surgeries after a bullet broke his left leg.
Prosecutors file the indictment with the Central District Court in Lod. Za’afran is charged with two counts of an act of terrorism of deliberately causing injury with aggravated intent, punishable by up to 40 years in prison.
Za’afran was released to house arrest during the investigation, but prosecutors request he be held in custody until the end of proceedings against him, Hebrew outlets report.
“There is a reasonable basis for the fear that he will endanger the security of the Arab public, wherever they may be, and the public in general,” says the State Attorney’s Office in a statement.
The indictment charges that Za’afran attacked the Palestinians with a group of his friends in order to expel the harvesters. Before setting out, he changed into his army uniform and took his assault rifle to the scene, despite not being on reserve duty.
IDF reservist gets 7 months behind bars for abusing Palestinian detainees
IDF reserve soldiers suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility attend a hearing at the Beit Lid military court, August 6, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
An IDF reservist who served as a guard at the Sde Teiman detention facility and was accused of abusing Palestinian detainees has been sentenced to seven months in jail in a plea deal.
The reservist was convicted of beating detainees with his fists and weapon, while they were blindfolded and handcuffed, on several occasions, according to the military.
Since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, Sde Teiman has been primarily holding Gazans suspected of terror activities.
“These acts were committed in the presence of other soldiers, some of whom called on him to stop, and were even recorded on the defendant’s cellphone,” the IDF says.
The military says the reservist admitted to the acts in a plea deal, and was sentenced to seven months in jail, along with a suspended sentence. He will also be demoted to the rank of private, the lowest rank.
“The military court determined that the defendant’s actions were serious and grave, and that IDF soldiers have a duty to use the force entrusted to them in accordance with IDF values and orders, at all times, and in times of war in particular,” the military adds.
UN says more than 10,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since ceasefire began
Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, February 4, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
More than 10,000 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza since a fragile ceasefire took hold on January 19, the UN humanitarian chief says.
“We’ve moved over 10,000 trucks in the two weeks since the ceasefire, a massive surge,” Tom Fletcher says on X, adding that he himself is about to cross into northern Gaza with a fresh aid convoy.
Ex-MK arrives for questioning in probe of Ben Gvir associates over fake West Bank probes
Former MK Zvi Sukkot arrives to the Department of Internal Police Investigations, in Jerusalem, February 6, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Former Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot arrives for interrogation at the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) headquarters this morning, as part of an ongoing probe into a West Bank cop accused of faking investigations into settler violence, in a case with ties to then-national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“I have nothing to hide, I abide by the law,” says the far-right former lawmaker to reporters as he enters the building.
Earlier this week, close Ben Gvir associate Chanamel Dorfman was questioned under caution on suspicion he attempted to tamper with police investigations into Jewish settler violence, but he has since been since released with no restrictive conditions.
The DIPI also summoned the case’s main suspect, Commander Avishai Muallem, for questioning, as well as West Bank district police commander Moshe Pinchi to give open testimony.
As Defense Ministry director set to become IDF chief, Katz taps temporary replacement
Incoming Defense Ministry acting director-general Itamar Graf in an undated photo sent by the ministry on February 6, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)
Itamar Graf, the Defense Ministry deputy director and head of its planning division, has been appointed by Defense Minister Israel Katz as acting director-general.
Graf has been appointed because the current director general, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, is set to become IDF chief of staff on March 6.
Katz says he intends to appoint a permanent director general soon.
‘No other realistic solution’: Far-right leaders hail Katz’s order to prep Gaza voluntary migration
Left: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, January 16, 2025; Right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, January 13, 2025. (Both photos by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Far-right politicians enthusiastically welcome Defense Minister Israel Katz’s announcement that he has ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to enable Gazans to leave the Strip voluntarily.
“I congratulate the defense minister on his decision to instruct the IDF to prepare to fulfill our role in the migration plan to allow the departure of Gazans from Gaza to receiving countries,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“As we have been saying for many years, and even more so since the beginning of the war, there is no other realistic solution that will ensure peace and security for Israel and personal wellbeing for the residents of Gaza.”
Smotrich has previously called on Israel to occupy Gaza and encourage half of the Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinians to emigrate within two years. He has expressed strong enthusiasm for US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians, telling reporters last month that he was working on an “operational plan” to turn it into actionable policy.
Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir calls Katz’s preparations for “the voluntary departure of Gaza residents” an “important step, which recognizes that the real solution for Gaza is no longer dreams of ‘reconstruction’ and a return to the previous situation, but a fundamental change in reality.
“The possibility of voluntary departure is a necessary step to ensure the security of Israeli citizens and to strengthen Israeli deterrence. It is time for the world to understand: Gaza cannot continue to be a hotbed of terrorism, and the responsibility for this lies not with Israel but with those who chose terrorism,” Ben Gvir declares, calling on the government “to move forward with determination, remove every bureaucratic obstacle, and ensure that this option becomes a reality as soon as possible.”
Spain rejects Israel’s suggestion it should accept Palestinians from Gaza
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares rejects the suggestion by Defense Minister Israel Katz that Spain should accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza.
“Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state,” Albares says in an interview with Spanish radio station RNE.
In ordering the IDF this morning to prepare a plan to enable Gazans to voluntarily leave the enclave, Katz specifically mentioned potential destinations such as Spain, Ireland, Norway and other countries that have leveled “false accusations” regarding Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, arguing that if these nations refuse to accept Palestinians, “their hypocrisy will be exposed.”
IDF names second fatality in accidental Gaza crane collapse
Staff Sgt. Nachman Refael Ben Ami (IDF)
The second soldier killed in the crane collapse accident in the Gaza Strip is named by the IDF as Staff Sgt. Nachman Refael Ben Ami, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, from Eilat.
Responding to Trump’s plan, China says Gaza is not political bargaining chip
China’s foreign ministry says Beijing opposes the forced transfer of people in Gaza, after US President Donald Trump proposed taking over the territory.
“Gaza is the Gaza of Palestinians, not a political bargaining chip, let alone the target of a law of the jungle,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun tells a regular press briefing.
China firmly supports the “legitimate national rights” of the Palestinian people, he adds.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards transform ship into country’s first drone carrier
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have taken delivery of the country’s first ship capable of launching drones and helicopters at sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.
Amid military exercises lasting from early January to early March, Iran’s armed forces have unveiled new weaponry as Tehran braces for more friction with Israel and the United States under US President Donald Trump.
“The Revolutionary Guards took action to transform a commercial ship… into a mobile naval platform capable of carrying out drone and helicopter missions in the oceans,” says Navy Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Alireza Tangsiri.
The Shahid Beheshti, a former container ship, is equipped with a 180-meter (590-ft) runway and can operate without refueling for up to one year, Tasnim said.
The ship is different from previous Revolutionary Guards warships because it can launch and retrieve larger drones such as the Qaher and Mohajer-6.
“The addition of this ship into our fleet is an important step in increasing the defense and deterrence capability of Iran in distant waters and in maintaining our national security interests,” Tangsiri adds.
Last month, Iran’s navy received its first signals intelligence ship.
2 soldiers killed, 8 wounded as crane collapses on troops in Gaza due to strong winds
Sgt. First Class (res.) Nadav Cohen (IDF)
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded in an accident in the Gaza Strip late last night, the military announces.
One of the soldiers is named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Nadav Cohen, 21, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, from Beit Hanan.
The IDF says the name of the second soldier will be released later.
Of the eight wounded soldiers, one is listed in serious condition.
According to an initial IDF probe, a crane collapsed due to harsh winds, crashing down on the soldiers.
Katz orders IDF to prepare plan enabling Gazans to leave the Strip voluntarily
Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a discussion on the army conscription law at a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Inspired by US President Donald Trump’s relocation vision, Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to enable Gazans to leave the Strip voluntarily, Katz’s office says.
Katz is quoted as welcoming Trump’s “courageous plan, which could enable a wide swath of the population in Gaza to leave to various places around the world.”
Katz also says: “Hamas used Gaza residents as human shields and built terror infrastructure in the heart of the population, and is now holding them hostage, extorting money from them by use of humanitarian aid, and preventing them from leaving Gaza.”
He says he has ordered the military to ready a plan by which any resident who wants it can emigrate to any place that agrees to absorb them.
Katz specifically mentions potential destinations such as Spain, Ireland, Norway and other countries that have leveled “false accusations” regarding Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, arguing that if these nations refuse to accept Palestinians, “their hypocrisy will be exposed.”
He also mentions Canada, which has “an organized immigration program” and has “previously voiced a willingness to absorb Gazan residents.”
The plan would provide for exit through land crossings, as well as “special arrangements” for departure via maritime and aerial routes.
“Gaza’s residents should be allowed the freedom to exit and emigrate, as is the practice anywhere around the world,” Katz argues, adding that Trump’s plan could advance “rehabilitation plans in a demilitarized Gaza that poses no threat in the post-Hamas era, which will take many years.”
Iran: Trump’s Gaza plan is continuation of Israeli attempts to ‘annihilate the Palestinian nation’
Iran’s foreign ministry rejects what it calls a “shocking” plan laid out by US President Donald Trump to take over Gaza and “forcibly displace” Palestinians from the coastal territory.
“The plan to clear Gaza and forcibly displace the Palestinian people to neighboring countries is considered a continuation of the Zionist regime’s targeted plan to completely annihilate the Palestinian nation, and is categorically rejected and condemned,” says foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
Australia passes tough hate crime laws, with jail time for Nazi salutes, in bid to tackle antisemitism
Australia passes tough anti-hate crime laws, including mandatory minimum sentences for terror offenses and displaying hate symbols, in a bid to tackle a recent surge in antisemitism.
The laws will impose minimum jail sentences between 12 months for less serious hate crimes, such as giving a Nazi salute in public, and six years for those found guilty of terrorism offenses.
“I want people who are engaged in antisemitism to be held to account, to be charged, to be incarcerated,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who had initially opposed mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes, tells Sky News.
The government’s hate crimes bill was first introduced to parliament last year, creating new offenses for threatening force or violence against people based on their race, religion, nationality, national or ethnic origin, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status.
Recent months have seen an escalation of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars of Jewish community members across the country, including the discovery of a caravan laden with explosives with a list of Jewish targets in Sydney.
Albanese has been criticized by the center-right opposition party for being weak on crime and failing to address the rise in antisemitism.
The Liberal-National coalition began calling for mandatory minimum sentences to be added to the hate crimes bill last month.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who introduced the amendments enabling the provisions late on Wednesday, says the changes are the “toughest laws Australia has ever had against hate crimes.”
The state of New South Wales, where most of the antisemitic attacks have taken place, said on Wednesday it would also strengthen its hate speech laws to reflect those already in place in Western Australia and Victoria.
‘The first good idea I’ve heard’: Netanyahu endorses scaled-backed version of Trump’s Gaza plan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Fox News host Sean Hannity, on February 5, 2025. (Screenshot/Fox News)
A day after President Donald Trump called to “permanently” relocate all Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorses a scaled-back version of the proposal, calling it “remarkable.”
“This is the first good idea that I’ve heard,” Netanyahu says in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “It’s a remarkable idea. And I think it should be examined, pursued, and done because I think it will create a different future for everyone.”
Netanyahu seemed to be taken by surprise by Trump’s plan during a joint press conference, and he offered a rather non-committal response to the idea at first.
“I don’t think he talked about sending US troops to complete the job of destroying Hamas,” he tells Hannity. “I also don’t think he said he’s going to fund it. He said that neighboring states, wealthy states, would do it.”
“But the actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave,” Netanyahu continues.
“I mean, what’s wrong with that? They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back.”
Top US officials also sought to walk back some aspects of Trump’s proposal, saying the removal would only be temporary.
Trump had said he hoped Gazans “wouldn’t want to return” to Gaza.
Top US diplomat Rubio won’t attend upcoming G20 meeting in South Africa
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend the G20 meeting in South Africa, the top US diplomat says, days after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding to the African country.
South Africa will host a meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 from February 20-21 in Johannesburg.
Witkoff, Rubio appear to soften aspects of Trump’s plan for Gaza, insist it would be temporary
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff appear to join National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in walking back or softening some elements of Trump’s plan to take over Gaza that was unveiled yesterday.
Trump said yesterday that he wants all Palestinians “permanently” removed from Gaza, Rubio tells reporters that the move would only be temporary.
“What he very generously has offered is the ability of the United States to go in and help with debris removal, help with munitions removal, help with reconstruction, the rebuilding homes and businesses and things of this nature so that then people can move back in,” Rubio says in Guatemala City while on his first diplomatic trip abroad.
Trump also said the US might send troops to Gaza to advance his take-over plan.
But Witkoff told Republican senators in a closed-door lunch at the Capitol that Trump “doesn’t want to put any US troops on the ground, and he doesn’t want to spend any US dollars at all” on Gaza, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri tells reporters.
Witkoff also told lawmakers that the administration had been “gestating on this plan for some time,” according to Hawley.
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