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The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they unfolded.
Bereaved parents, former hostages demand state commission of inquiry at Tel Aviv protest
People attend a protest demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, attacks, at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, February 7, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Some 1,500 people gathered in Habima Square in Tel Aviv this evening to demand a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Among those in attendance were former hostages Louis Har and Clara Marman, as well as Michel Illouz, the father of slain hostage Guy Illouz.
Illouz, in a speech at the demonstration, addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly, telling him that he is owed a state commission of inquiry.
Guy, 26, was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Nova music festival on October 7, and later succumbed to his wounds in Gaza.
“You owe me! You owe it to my son! And to his friends who were murdered next to him, and to those who blocked the door to their bomb shelters until they couldn’t any more, to those who hugged their children one last time before they were murdered, to the soldiers who rushed into battle, to those who went into the reserves, to the families who were left behind, to the residents who still don’t have homes, to those who lost an arm or a leg or their soul,” Illouz implored.
A state commission is owed, he said, “to this country, which was deathly afraid that this would be its end.”
Shir Mathias, whose parents, Shlomi and Debora,h were murdered in their home in Kibbutz Holit on October 7, also attended and spoke at the protest, organized by the October Council.
“I am an orphan because the Israeli government abandoned my parents,” Mathias said at the demonstration. “I am an orphan because the country failed, and I am an orphan because the person who leads it lies to all of us.”
Netanyahu “lies to our faces. Lies to the bereaved families,” she said. “I hear him talk about victory, and I only see graves.”
Identity of soldier who died in jail while facing security charges in 2021 cleared for publication
Senior Academic Officer Tomer Eiges who died in jail on May 16, 2021. (Courtesy)
The name of an IDF intelligence officer who died under mysterious circumstances while in jail facing security charges in 2021 is now permitted for publication.
Senior Academic Officer (the equivalent of captain) Tomer Eiges was jailed under accusations of grave security offenses. He was found dead in his cell in May 2021, but there was no clear sign of the cause of his death.
An autopsy in Israel, as well as a blood test at a specialized forensic laboratory in the United States, were inconclusive.
The entire case, including Eiges’s identity, had been subjected to both military censorship and court-issued gag orders, despite the fact that the information — including his full name and picture — was widely available online since the incident.
Eiges was facing expected charges for nearly two dozen offenses, as well as a likely 10-year-or-longer prison sentence.
Then-IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi said the officer had nearly caused damage to a state secret, but the damage was prevented at the last minute, following his arrest.
He was being held in a military prison while his attorneys and military prosecutors were negotiating a potential plea deal.
On the night of May 16, 2021, he was found in serious condition in his cell and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.
Though no official cause of death has been determined according to the IDF, military officials indicated off the record that it appeared to be a suicide.
Netanyahu expected to depart Tuesday for Trump meeting in DC, return Thursday
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to depart from Israel and arrive in Washington on Tuesday for his meeting with US President Donald Trump this week, a source with knowledge tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Channel 12 report.
He will meet with the president Wednesday morning US time, and depart Thursday before landing in Israel Friday morning local time, the source says.
The premier’s office does not immediately confirm the schedule.
Incoming Israeli Air Force chief slated to join Netanyahu’s visit to DC
This handout photo shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C), Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) and Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler, the IAF’s chief of staff, observing strikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on May 6, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Incoming Israeli Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler is expected to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his trip to Washington DC on Wednesday, The Times of Israel has learned.
Normally, only the prime minister’s military secretary and defense attaché would join the premier for high-level visits in the US.
However, since Israel no longer has a permanent defense attaché to the US — due to a clash between IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz — Tischler was recently appointed as a sort of military envoy to the Pentagon, until he assumes the role of IAF chief in April.
Tischler, in an unusual move, also joined Zamir during a visit to the US earlier this month, where they met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, and other American officials at the Pentagon.
Netanyahu is set to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, “where he will discuss with him the negotiations with Iran,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
IDF says terrorist killed after crossing Gaza ceasefire line on Thursday participated in Oct. 7
A Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed after crossing the Gaza ceasefire line in the Strip’s north on Thursday, the military says.
According to the IDF, the operative was identified crossing the Yellow Line and approaching troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
The troops then “eliminated the terrorist to remove the threat.”
The military says that its intelligence shows that the operative is Muhammad Salah a-Din Khaled Abu Rakba, “a terrorist from the Hamas terror organization who infiltrated the territory of the State of Israel during the murderous massacre on October 7.”
Lapid accuses PM of manipulating secret documents, engaging in deception regarding Oct. 7
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a meeting of his Yesh Atid faction at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ignoring intelligence warnings ahead of October 7, and claims the premier attempted to eliminate any signs of his own culpability for the attack from the documents he submitted as part of the state comptroller’s now-frozen inquiry into the attack.
Netanyahu on Thursday attempted to distance himself from the failures of October 7 by releasing the full 55-page document of his answers, including selective citations that appeared aimed at pinning the failure to prevent the onslaught on political rivals and security chiefs.
In his own 12-page response released this evening, which he frames as the perspective of a senior politician who receives regular security updates, Lapid says he attended a briefing with Netanyahu on August 21, 2023, in which intelligence materials “clearly indicated a risk of flare-ups at levels completely different from anything we’ve known in years.”
This led him to issue a warning the following month at a press conference, during which he stated that “we are approaching a violent, multi-front confrontation” without predicting a full-on invasion from Gaza.
“If the opposition leader knew, how can the prime minister claim he didn’t know?” Lapid asks.
He accuses Netanyahu of following a destructive policy of strengthening Hamas as an opposing force to the Palestinian Authority, a course of action which he says led to October 7 and which Netanyahu tried to obfuscate in his submission to the state comptroller while “relying on a series of manipulations of secret documents, deliberate deceptions, false versions and a consistent attempt to place the blame on his subordinates.”
Netanyahu’s policies led him to ignore or miss opportunities to eliminate Hamas leaders, channel Qatari funds to Gaza and ignore intelligence warnings that the cash was funding Hamas’ military wing, he claims.
Lapid also asks where Netanyahu was between hearing of the attack at 6:29 a.m. and holding an initial assessment three-and-a-half hours later, stating that while the prime minister claimed to have arrived at IDF headquarters at 8:00 a.m., his own bureau stated he had only left his home at that time.
Lapid further accuses Netanyahu of omitting security recommendations by the Shin Bet and IDF leadership to prepare for flare-up scenarios in Gaza from documents submitted to the state comptroller.
Gallant: Netanyahu is a liar, he’s built a false narrative surrounding Oct. 7, and he undermined our security chiefs
Assaf Shmuelevitz (2nd from left) is seen during a security assessment held by then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior officers at the IDF Southern Command on October 9, 2023. (Defense Ministry)
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar” and accuses him of stitching together a false narrative surrounding the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in order to evade responsibility. He also accuses Netanyahu of stirring up his government ministers against Israel’s security chiefs even as they led their troops on the front lines against Hamas.
“I did not think I would have to come here to the studio and say, We have a liar for prime minister. The prime minister is a liar,” Gallant says in a coruscating Channel 12 interview in which he repeatedly castigates his former boss.
“After the huge failure on Oct 7., when the IDF and Shin Bet, led by the chief of staff and the Shin Bet chief, were courageously fighting back, when they were at the front, Netanyahu stabbed them in the back and stirred up all the government ministers against them and presented it all to the public,” Gallant charges.
The former Likud MK, who was fired as defense minister in late 2024, accuses Netanyahu of claiming that a delay in the IDF entering the southern Gaza city of Rafah in early 2024 was due to the supposed fear of the IDF leadership, when in reality, as the prime minister knew well, it was because ammunition had been allocated for a potential conflict in the north, and the IDF was replenishing its supplies.
Says Gallant: “Netanyahu’s first priority is himself, then his government, and then the country.”
“Netanyahu takes credit for actions after they are completed, if they succeed,” claims Gallant. “If they don’t succeed, it’s someone else’s responsibility.”
Gallant’s criticism of Netanyahu comes two days after the prime minister attempted to distance himself from the failures of October 7 by releasing the full 55-page document of his answers given to the state comptroller as part of the ombudsman’s investigation into the attack.
Among the selective citations provided by Netanyahu were quotes that appeared aimed at pinning the failure to prevent the onslaught on political rivals and security chiefs, including then defense minister Gallant. It cited deliberations in the month before October 7, including a cabinet meeting on September 12, 2023, in which Gallant was quoted as saying the security situation in Gaza is “stable,” and that Israel should “hold back its forces” against Hamas.
Netanyahu’s response to the state comptroller, Gallant charges, “is a case of engineering the narrative — taking fragments of discussions, sentences, from across lengthy periods, putting them together, turning them into a news item.”
Rather than the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, “Netanyahu doesn’t tell the truth, certainly not the whole truth, and certainly not nothing but the truth,” his former defense minister says.
Gallant also rejects Netanyahu’s claim, at a January 27 press conference, that IDF soldiers were killed in the war against Hamas because of a Biden Administration “embargo” that left ground forces lacking essential ammunition. “That’s not correct,” says Gallant, “[though] the Americans made it difficult for us.”
Netanyahu and Gallant frequently clashed after the government took power at the end of 2022, with the prime minister firing him in March 2023 — after he had warned of the security dangers stemming from the national rift over the government’s judicial overhaul agenda — only to reverse the move amid intense public objection.
Gallant ultimately resigned from the Knesset in January 2025, several months after Netanyahu fired him from his cabinet for the second and final time in late 2024.
The Likud party has since launched proceedings to expel Gallant from its ranks.
Netanyahu to meet Trump in Washington on Wednesday, says US-Iran talks must deal with Iran’s missiles and proxies
US President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, December 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington this week to meet with US President Donald Trump on Iran, his office announces.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday, as the US and Iran appear set for a second round of nuclear talks.
“The Prime Minister believes that any negotiations must include restrictions on ballistic missiles and an end to support for the Iranian axis,” says the Prime Minister’s Office, indicating concerns about the progress of the US-Iran talks thus far.
The US and Iran held a first day of talks in Oman on Friday. The talks focused on Iran’s nuclear program, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said later it would not give up its right to enrich uranium. Iran’s ballistic missile production was not discussed, sources said.
Netanyahu was originally scheduled to be in Washington from February 18-22, but the meeting was moved a week earlier at the premier’s request, a White House Official tells Axios.
The Prime Minister’s Office does not immediately respond to a request for comment on that report.
Witkoff, Kushner pay visit to USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, accompanied by Kremlin economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, are seen prior to a meeting with Russia's President at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP)
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier this morning.
The aircraft carrier arrived in the region last week amid tensions between the US and Iran and is stationed in the Arabian Sea.
Witkoff and Kushner, who led the US delegation’s indirect talks with Iran in Oman on Friday, visited the aircraft carrier at the invitation of US Central Command chief, Adm. Brad Cooper, CNN reports.
Witkoff confirms the visit in a post on X following an initial CNN report, writing that he, along with Kushner and Cooper, “met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength.”
He says that while on board, they met with the pilot who “downed an Iranian drone that approached the carrier without clear intent” last week.
Today, Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Jared Kushner, and I met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace… pic.twitter.com/7Kc4XZuBY6
— Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (@SEPeaceMissions) February 7, 2026
Danish FM: Denmark better placed on Greenland with US but ‘crisis’ not yet over
Denmark’s foreign minister says his country is now in a much better position in regards to US President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — but stresses the crisis is not yet resolved.
“We are not out of the crisis, and we do not have a solution yet,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tells reporters in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, while adding: “We are in a much better position now, compared to a few weeks ago.”
The minister adds that “there are no threats on the table,” and “no trade war with Europe.”
Over 2,200 ISIS detainees transferred to Iraq from Syria: Iraqi official
US military vehicles move along a road in a convoy transporting Islamic State group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on February 7, 2026. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
Iraq has so far received 2,225 Islamic State group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official tells AFP.
They are among up to 7,000 ISIS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at “ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities.”
Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.
The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF’s role in confronting ISIS had come to an end.
Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister’s office, tells AFP that “Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition,” which Washington has led since 2014 to fight ISIS.
He says they are being held in “strict, regular detention centers.”
A Kurdish military source confirms to AFP the “continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition.”
Italy won’t join Board of Peace due to ‘insurmountable’ constitutional issues, FM says
Italy will not take part in US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says, citing “insurmountable” constitutional issues.
Trump launched his Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January and some 19 countries have signed its founding charter, but Italy’s constitution bars the country from joining an organization led by a single foreign leader.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, last month noted “constitutional problems” with joining, but suggested Trump could perhaps reopen the framework “to meet the needs not only of Italy, but also of other European countries.”
Tajani appears to have ruled that out.
“We cannot participate in the Board of Peace because there is a constitutional limit,” he tells the ANSA news agency.
“This is insurmountable from a legal standpoint,” he says a day after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance at the Olympics in Milan.
Although originally meant to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
Key US allies, including France and Britain, have expressed doubts about joining.
Iran’s FM says 2nd round of talks with US to take place ‘soon,’ insists enrichment is ‘inalienable right’
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha on February 7, 2026. (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)
Iran’s foreign minister says a fresh round of talks with Washington would take place “soon,” while insisting that enrichment was Tehran’s “inalienable right” and that building trust would take time.
Abbas Araghchi says the first round of talks in Oman yesterday had been a “good start.”
He adds that nuclear “enrichment is our inalienable right and must continue. Even with bombing, they could not destroy our capabilities,” according to excerpts of an interview with the Al Jazeera network, published in Persian on his official Telegram channel.
“We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment,” he adds during the interview, which was later released in parts by Al Jazeera with Arabic dubbing.
He says, however, that “Iran’s sovereign position is opposition to transferring uranium abroad.”
“The Iranian nuclear case will only be resolved through negotiations,” he adds.
Drone attack by RSF in Sudan kills 24, including 8 children, doctors’ group says
A drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan earlier today, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group says, a day after a World Food Program aid convoy was targeted.
Today’s attack by the RSF occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, says the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war. The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area, the group says in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants.
Several others were wounded and taken for treatment in Rahad, which suffers severe medical supplies shortages, like many areas in the Kordofan region, the statement says.
The doctors’ group urges the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”
There is no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.
Hungary’s Orban says he’ll attend Board of Peace meeting in DC later this month
FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, left, during a signing ceremony on his Board of Peace initiative at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he will be going to Washington “in two weeks” to attend the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Orban, speaking at a political campaign event, says: “I got an invitation: two weeks from now we will meet again (with the US president) in Washington, because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will have an inaugural meeting.”
Two Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel earlier today that the US plans to hold the first working meeting of the Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington.
Ukrainian says it hit oil depot in Russia’s Saratov region
Ukrainian troops struck an oil depot known as “Balashovo” in Russia’s Saratov region, the Ukrainian General Staff says.
Several drone control centers in territories occupied by Russia were also hit, it says in a statement on the Telegram app.
The strikes come after reports earlier today that Russia launched a large-scale drone and missile attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing power outages across the country.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF: Terror suspect attacks soldier after freeing himself from restraints at army base
IDF soldiers near the scene of a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, on August 2, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
A Palestinian terror suspect who was detained at an army base in the Jordan Valley managed to free himself from restraints and attack a soldier, the military says.
The IDF says the servicewoman was lightly injured, and another female soldier then opened fire on the suspect and “neutralized him.”
The wounded soldier was taken to a hospital for further treatment. The IDF does not detail the condition of the suspect.
Saudi Arabia to invest $2 billion to develop Aleppo’s airports in phases, minister says
This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, right, receiving Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus, May 31, 2025. (AFP PHOTO / HO / SANA)
Saudi Arabia will invest 7.5 billion Saudi riyals ($2 billion) to develop two airports in the Syrian city of Aleppo over several phases, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih says.
The planned aviation projects come as part of a broader Saudi push to expand economic ties with Damascus following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria in December, which had long constrained foreign investment and reconstruction efforts after more than a decade of civil war.
Earlier this week, the Syrian Investment Authority said Riyadh was preparing a multi-billion-dollar investment package that also includes backing for a new private Syrian airline and projects in sectors such as telecommunications and real estate.
Saudi Arabia has moved closer to Syria’s interim government over the past year, announcing billions of dollars in investments and dozens of deals with Saudi companies, as Damascus seeks to rebuild damaged infrastructure and revive its economy.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Palestinian man said killed by IDF in Gaza City
A man walks along a street past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Zahra neighborhood, southwest of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on February 6, 2026. (Eyad Baba / AFP)
A Palestinian man was reportedly shot dead by the IDF earlier today on the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line in eastern Gaza City’s Shejaiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF has not commented on the reports, but regularly says such shootings come in response to ceasefire violations.
Palestinian media identified the man killed as Faraj Salem, 30, and said his body was taken to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
The Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry confirmed in a noon report that Gaza hospitals had received the bodies of two people killed by the IDF over the past 24 hours.
The report did not identify the dead or say where they were killed or in what circumstances.
However, the toll appeared to include Salem as well as a man whom the IDF yesterday said it killed in northern Gaza after he crossed the ceasefire line and approached troops “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
Palestinian media reported shortly past noon yesterday that Muhammad Abu Rukbah, 33, was killed by IDF gunfire close to the ceasefire line, on the Israeli-controlled side. His body was reportedly brought to Shifa Hospital.
The Hamas-run health ministry also said in its report that Gaza hospitals had received 25 people wounded by IDF gunfire over the past 24 hours.
The report did not identify the people, say where they were injured or specify the severity of the wounds.
Report: Former prime minister Ehud Barak stayed in Epstein apartment during multiple US visits
Former prime minister Ehud Barak speaks at an anti-government rally against at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, May 17, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Former prime minister Ehud Barak stayed on multiple occasions in a New York apartment owned by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Haaretz reports, citing correspondence published by the US Justice Department last week.
According to the Hebrew news report, the messages indicate that Barak and his wife, Nili Priel Barak, stayed in the apartment between 2015 and 2019, after Epstein’s conviction on charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor, which resulted in a 13-month prison sentence.
In internal correspondence, Epstein’s staff at times referred to the unit as “Ehud’s apartment,” Haaretz reports.
Emails also reportedly show that Priel Barak was in frequent contact with Epstein and his employees regarding visits, maintenance and security arrangements, and that the couple stayed in the apartment for extended periods on several occasions.
Haaretz notes that the building housed several guest apartments used by Epstein and others, with a portion of them referred to by staff as “the girls’ apartments.” A 2022 report by The Guardian alleged that the New York financier housed models in the building for years, some as young as 13.
However, the documents do not indicate any contact between the girls and the Baraks.
Barak’s office confirmed to Haaretz that the couple had stayed in an apartment owned by Epstein “from time to time” during visits to the United States as private citizens, adding that Barak regrets his association with the financier.
US wants Russia, Ukraine to end war by summer, Zelensky says
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference with US President Donald Trump following talks at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 28, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)
KYIV — The United States wants Russia and Ukraine to find a solution on how to end the war, the largest since World War II, before summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.
In remarks to reporters released by his office, Zelensky says that the United States has proposed a new round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow to take place in Miami next week and that Kyiv had agreed to that.
Ukraine and Russia concluded two days of US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi this week without a major breakthrough.
Iran FM says ready to reach ‘reassuring’ deal with US on nuclear enrichment
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during an interview with Al Jazeera in Tehran. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via ZUMA Press Wire, Reuters)
Iran’s foreign minister insists that nuclear enrichment was an “inalienable right” for Tehran, but he was ready to reach a “reassuring” deal with the United States over the issue.
“(Nuclear) enrichment is our inalienable right and must continue. Even with bombing, they could not destroy our capabilities. We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says, according to excerpts published on his official Telegram channel of an interview with the Al Jazeera network.
Araghchi’s statements come after holding two rounds of indirect talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Oman yesterday, negotiations that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Huckabee says Gaza truce ‘already working,’ Hamas disarmament still key issue
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in an interview with PBS news, February 6, 2025. (Screenshot/PBS via YouTube)
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says the Gaza ceasefire is already showing results, but warns that the disarmament of Hamas remains a key unresolved issue, in an interview with PBS news.
“It’s already working, in the sense that, for the past four months, we haven’t had to rush down to the shelter and dodge a ballistic missile,” Huckabee says.
Looking ahead to the next phase of the ceasefire agreement, Huckabee says, “it’s going to be a methodical process, but it is underway,” noting that “the one big piece that still has to happen is the disarmament of Hamas, but I think that’s on the way as well.”
Addressing the pace of medical evacuations from Gaza upon the recent reopening of the Rafah Crossing, Huckabee says the process requires strict screening, saying people “have to be properly vetted so that you don’t bring terrorists in or take terrorists out,” while arguing that Gazans have been “vastly displaced” because “Hamas extended this war long before it should have been extended.”
Huckabee also defends the newly formed Board of Peace, which critics claim effectively sidelines existing international organizations like the UN, saying it is meant to be “a different kind of board” made up of “people who want to actually do some heavy lifting and [make] Gaza livable again,” while criticizing past international aid efforts as ineffective.
On Iran, Huckabee says he hopes diplomacy will succeed but expresses skepticism, saying Tehran “is a real problem. And it’s not just a Middle East problem. It’s a problem globally.” He adds that Iran would have to accept conditions, including no uranium enrichment or nuclear weapons, as well as address its ballistic missile program.
Huckabee also warns that US President Donald Trump is prepared to act militarily if necessary, saying, “One thing I’m confident about this president, he makes a promise, and he keeps it.”
Lebanon PM visits country’s south, says daily attacks on border towns ‘harm our dignity’
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says during a visit to southern Lebanon that daily Israeli attacks on border towns are harming the country’s dignity, while stressing the need to strengthen state authority, according to Lebanese media reports.
“The challenges today are great, but they do not push us to retreat; rather, they increase our determination to overcome the obstacles,” he says about the security situation in the country’s south, without mentioning the Hezbollah terror group.
Under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was required to withdraw and disarm south of the Litani River, but Israel alleges that the group remains entrenched in the area, leading to near-daily IDF strikes.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam Begins Two-Day Visit to Southern Lebanon pic.twitter.com/oGY7lCkwG3
— ME24 – Middle East 24 (@MiddleEast_24) February 7, 2026
Salam adds that “border towns are being attacked on a daily basis, and this is a blow to our dignity,” saying the visit was meant to underscore the presence of the Lebanese state. Expanding state authority, he says, means not only deploying the army and restoring security but also restoring public services for residents.
Iran FM: No date set for next US talks; slams Israel’s ‘domination’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in a joint press briefing with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Iran, January 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Qatar’s flagship Al Jazeera TV cites Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that no new date has been set for the next round of nuclear talks with Washington, a day after the two sides held talks in Oman.
Araghchi says in an interview with the channel that Tehran and Washington think the new round should be held soon.
He also criticises what he says was a “doctrine of domination” that allows Israel to expand its military arsenal while pressuring other countries in the region to disarm.
“Israel’s expansionist project requires that neighboring countries be weakened: militarily, technologically, economically and socially,” Araghchi says.
“Under this project, Israel is free to expand its military arsenal without limits… Yet other countries are demanded to disarm. Others are pressured to reduce defensive capacity. Others are punished for scientific progress,” he adds.
“This is a doctrine of domination.”
Russia launched 400 drones, 40 missiles to hit Ukraine’s energy sector, Zelensky says
The Ukrainian air defence fires at Russian drones above Kyiv during night mass drone and missile strikes on Ukraine amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, September 10, 2025. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP)
KYIV — Russia launched more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles earlier today to attack Ukraine’s energy sector, targeting the power grid, generation facilities and distribution substations, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.
“Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,” Zelensky writes on X. “It is crucial that everyone who supports the trilateral negotiations respond to this. Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine.”
BBC Persian journalists say Iran threatens families to silence reporting
A person walks outside BBC headquarters in London, November 10, 2025. (AP/Kin Cheung)
Exiled Iranian journalists working for the BBC say they and their relatives are being subjected to intimidation and surveillance by Iranian authorities, according to The Guardian.
The newspaper reports that relatives of BBC Persian staff inside Iran have been interrogated, threatened with arrest, and warned that their assets could be seized unless the journalists stop reporting, particularly on recent unrest within the country.
Some reporters said officials appeared to possess detailed information about their professional activities abroad, while others described receiving serious threats, including warnings of kidnapping or violence, despite living in the United Kingdom. The pressure has, in some cases, forced journalists to resign to shield relatives from financial or legal repercussions.
The Guardian says the intimidation campaign has continued in the wake of nationwide protests and a violent crackdown that reportedly left tens of thousands dead, with journalists warning that relatives in Iran are effectively being punished in retaliation for their reporting.
Iranian lawmaker calls Trump a ‘liar’ over claim of progress in talks
An Iranian lawmaker dismisses US President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington held “very good talks” on Iran following indirect dialogue in Oman that could help avert an escalation of tensions.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, calls Trump a “liar,” writing on X that the Islamic Republic “has not backed down from its red lines and will not do so.”
“It is these Americans who, after the failure of their other options (military, economic, terrorist and so on), now have no choice but to accept the frameworks and the rights of the Iranian nation,” Rezaei adds.
Freed hostage Nimrod Cohen says he plans to return to IDF service
Freed captive Nimrod Cohen addresses a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, November 8, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Former hostage and IDF Armored Corps soldier Nimrod Cohen, who was abducted to Gaza on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attacks and held captive for nearly two years, says he intends to return to military service in a preview of an interview with Channel 12 news.
In the interview, set to be broadcast in full this weekend, Cohen says he is currently undergoing a process to take on a new role in the army, explaining that returning to a structured framework and routine would aid his recovery.
“I didn’t really do my service, the way I see it,” Cohen says, noting that he served only about 10 months — out of the 32 that are required of men in compulsory service — before being kidnapped, including roughly two months in operational activity.
“The rest of the time I was in training or exercises and didn’t really do what I define as meaningful service,” Cohen explains.
Cohen was seized from his tank during the Hamas-led onslaught, in which the rest of his crew were killed. He was released in October 2025 as part of a deal that secured the current ceasefire agreement.
Russia hits Ukraine power grid with ‘massive attack,’ operator says
Pedestrians walk past power generators supplying electricity to restaurants during blackout hours in Kyiv on November 22, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Sergei GAPON / AFP)
A “massive attack” by Russian forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has caused power outages across the country, the state grid operator says.
“Due to the damage caused by the enemy, emergency outages have been applied in most regions,” Ukrenergo says in a statement on Telegram.
US plans Board of Peace meeting on Feb. 19 to fundraise for Gaza rebuild
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (3L), Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani (C-R), Argentina's President Javier Milei (R), applaud as US President Donald Trump (C) holds a signing founding charter at the 'Board of Peace' meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
The US plans to hold the first working meeting of the Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington, two Arab diplomats tell The Times of Israel.
The US sent out invitations to the 26 other countries represented on the panel on Friday afternoon, the diplomats say, confirming a report on the Axios news site.
The date will coincide with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, which may complicate Muslim leaders’ plans to attend.
The US held a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.
But while several dozen countries were invited, less than two dozen participated in the ceremony, amid discomfort with the Board of Peace’s charter envisioning the initiative as a means for usurping the UN, and against the backdrop of Washington’s spat with Western countries regarding Greenland.
US officials have sought to assure allies that the Board of Peace will first only be dealing with Gaza, in line with a UN Security Council resolution that granted the panel a mandate to oversee the postwar management of the Strip for the next two years.
The February 19 conference will be used to fundraise for the initiative, which will need at least several billion dollars to get off the ground.
It’s unclear how much buy-in there is, given that many countries are hesitant to get involved due to skepticism that Hamas will disarm and that Israel will agree to further withdraw from the Strip.
While Mideast mediators of the Gaza conflict — Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey — have been discussing potential disarmament plans with Hamas for months, no formal proposal has been presented to the terror group.
The Mideast mediators envision a gradual disarmament process that begins with heavier weapons and offers jobs or money to those who agree to give up their arms in addition to amnesty, in a process that will likely take several months. Israel is unlikely to back this more drawn-out process, one of the Arab diplomats says.
Moreover, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which is supposed to replace Hamas in governing the Strip, has yet to enter the enclave since being established last month.
The Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov has been working to put together a package of steps easing the humanitarian situation in Gaza that can give the NCAG the tools to be able to enter the Strip with a degree of legitimacy, the Arab diplomats say.
However, he has had a difficult time convincing the Israeli government to cooperate, with Jerusalem insisting that only life-saving aid be allowed into areas where Hamas is still located. Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2 million is living in those areas, though.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to be in Washington from February 18 to 22 on a trip that will overlap with the scheduled Board of Peace meeting.
He was unable to attend the signing ceremony in Davos due to the international arrest warrant he faces.
While Netanyahu expressed opposition over the Trump administration’s inclusion of Qatar and Turkey on the Board of Peace’s Gaza Executive Board, the Arab diplomats speculate that he will have little choice but to attend the Washington gathering, given that not doing so when he is already in town would be viewed as a snub of the US president.
Trump and Netanyahu are slated to meet at the White House a day before the Board of Peace meeting, says one of the Arab diplomats, who is familiar with the planning.
Pentagon cutting academic ties with Harvard amid Trump crackdown on US colleges
Anti-Israel demonstrators gather on Cambridge Common to protest Harvard's stance on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and show support for the Palestinian people, outside Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 25, 2025. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)
WASHINGTON — Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says his department was ending professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University, marking the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the school.
President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on top US universities, including Harvard, over a range of issues such as anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests, diversity programs, transgender policies, and climate initiatives.
“Starting now and beginning in the 2026-27 school year, I am discontinuing all graduate level Professional Military Education (PME), all fellowships and certificate programs between Harvard University and the War Department for active duty service members,” Hegseth, who himself holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, says on X.
The policy will apply to service members enrolling in future programs while those currently enrolled will be allowed to finish their courses, Hegseth says.
He also adds that the Pentagon will evaluate similar relationships with other universities in the coming weeks.
Rights advocates have raised free speech, academic freedom, and due process concerns over the government’s actions against universities.
A Harvard spokesperson directs Reuters to a page on the history of the university’s ties with the US military that says Harvard has played a “significant role” in America’s military traditions since the nation’s founding.
File this under: LONG OVERDUE
The @DeptWar is formally ending ALL Professional Military Education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University.
Harvard is woke; The War Department is not. pic.twitter.com/0kpsvivtsQ
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 6, 2026
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Trump says US had ‘very good’ talks with Iran, next round to be held early next week
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn before departing the White House, February 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says Washington had held “very good talks” on Iran, after the two sides held an indirect dialogue in Oman that could avert an escalation of tensions.
“We likewise had very good talks on Iran, Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly,” Trump says to reporters on board Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the weekend.
“We’re going to meet again early next week,” he adds.
Trump imposes secondary tariffs on countries that import from Iran
WASHINGTON, DC — US President Donald Trump signed an executive order today imposing secondary tariffs on any country that imports goods from Iran, the White House says.
The move comes after US and Iranian officials met to renew efforts for a deal on the latter’s nuclear program.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
French prosecutors to probe ex-minister Jack Lang over Epstein revelations
President of the Arab World Institute (IMA) Jack Lang arrives to attend a New Year wishes ceremony at the Elysee palace in Paris, France, on January 4, 2018. (LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP)
PARIS, France — France’s financial crimes prosecutors tell AFP Friday they had opened a preliminary investigation of influential former minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline after revelations in the Epstein files.
The pair will be investigated for “laundering of aggravated tax-fraud proceeds” over their suspected financial ties with late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the office says, confirming a report in newspaper Le Figaro.
Italy’s president declares opening of 2026 Winter Olympics
Italy's President Sergio Mattarella declares the Games open during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the San Siro stadium in Milan, northern Italy, on February 6, 2026. (WANG Zhao / AFP)
MILAN, Italy — Italian President Sergio Mattarella declares the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics open during a glittering ceremony at the San Siro stadium.
“I declare the Games open,” Mattarella tells a packed crowd at the famous arena, one of a number of venues across northern Italy marking the opening of the Games.
International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, overseeing her first Games, tells the athletes: “Through you, we see the very best of ourselves.
“You remind us that we can be brave. That we can be kind. That we can get back up, no matter how hard we fall.
“The spirit of the Olympic Games is about so much more than sport. It is about us – and what makes us human.”
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