Feb. 11: Security chiefs said to urge government not to jeopardize phase one hostage releases

Lebanon’s PM says state must control all Lebanese territory, as deadline for IDF withdrawal nears

Lebanon’s prime minister says the state must be in control of all Lebanese territory, in a televised interview days before a deadline to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement.

Nawaf Salam’s government, which was officially formed on Saturday after more than two years of caretaker leadership, faces the daunting task of overseeing the fragile ceasefire and rebuilding a war-scarred country, after a year of conflict, including two months of escalated fighting, between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“When it comes to the areas south of the Litani and north of the Litani, across the entire area of Lebanon… what should be implemented is…. the Lebanese state must extend its authority through its own forces across the (Lebanese) territory,” Salam tells journalists in the interview aired on state television.

“We want the Israeli withdrawal to happen… and we will continue to mobilize all diplomatic and political efforts until this withdrawal is achieved,” he adds.

Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which has been extended until February 18.

Hezbollah is also required to withdraw north of the Litani over that same period.

Salam says that World Bank estimates had put the cost of reconstruction of war-hit areas of Lebanon “at between $8 and $9 billion, but today it has risen to between $10 and $11 billion.”

FM Sa’ar tells EU ambassadors Israel will resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t release hostages

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar meets with ambassadors from European Union countries, February 11, 2025. (Yuval Yosef/GPO)

Israel will “return to military operations and fighting” if Hamas doesn’t release hostages, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in a briefing with ambassadors from European Union countries.

“A decision by Hamas to not release the hostages is a decision to return to the war,” he says, adding that “we have not done anything unilaterally so far.”

Sa’ar also says the country is prepared “for the fact that Hamas may attack Israel.”

King Abdullah says he reiterated to Trump his opposition to displacing Palestinians

After meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House, Jordan’s King Abdullah says that he “reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”

“This is the unified Arab position,” he writes on X. “Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all.”

Trump continues to call for Gazans to be relocated and for the US to assume control of the Strip.

Concluded a constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today. Grateful for the President’s warm welcome. We discussed Jordan’s longstanding partnership with the United States. It continues to be a partnership for stability, peace, and mutual security.

— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) February 11, 2025

Abdullah also calls Trump “a man of peace,” praising him to for ushering in the Gaza ceasefire. ” We look to US and all stakeholders in ensuring it holds.”

Abdullah says he emphasized to Trump the importance of working toward de-escalation in the West Bank.

The king calls the meeting with Trump “constructive,” and says the US-Jordan relationship is “a partnership for stability, peace, and mutual security.”

Senior Hamas operatives in Gaza told to stop using cell phones for fear of being tracked if fighting resumes – report

Senior Hamas operatives in Gaza have been instructed by the terror group’s senior leaders to once again cease using their cell phones for fear of being tracked by Israeli forces, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet reports.

The directive comes after Israel warned the terror group that it would return to “intense fighting” in the Strip if Hamas does not release a number of hostages by Saturday — although the exact number Israel expects released is unclear.

Citing Hamas sources, the order for Hamas officials to stop using their cell phones inside the Gaza Strip was already drafted before the terror group said it was postponing the release of the hostages this coming weekend, but was only expected to go out to operatives at the end of the first phase of the ceasefire.

The directive was brought forward, however, amid preparations by both Israel and Hamas for the possibility that the deal might collapse sooner than expected.

According to the report, the primary reason that Hamas doesn’t want its senior operatives using their cell phones is that it fears Israel will track down senior commanders and assassinate them.

Trump doubts Hamas ‘bullies’ will meet his Saturday deadline to free all hostages

US President Donald Trump says he doesn’t think Hamas will meet his noon Saturday deadline to release all of the hostages.

“They want to play tough guy, but we’ll see how tough they are,” Trump says.

“Hamas is bullies. The weakest people are bullies,” he adds.

Trump insists his Gaza plan doesn’t amount to ethnic cleansing, says population will be ‘very happy’ elsewhere

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump repeatedly dismisses claims that his plan to take over Gaza and relocate all of its residents amounts to ethnic cleansing, insisting that Palestinians want to leave.

“We’re moving them to a beautiful location where they’ll have new homes, where they can live safely, where they have doctors and medical and all of those things. It’s going to be great,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Pressed how he can simply relocate 2 million people, Trump responds, “It’s a very small number of people relative to other things that have taken place over the decades and centuries.”

Asked if he’ll force Palestinians out if they don’t want to leave Gaza, Trump responds, “They’re going to be very happy.”

“No place in the world is as dangerous as the Gaza Strip. They don’t want to be there. They have no alternative,” the US president says.

Despite claiming that the US will own the Strip, Trump asserts that he won’t have to pay for it. “We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it. We’re going to keep it, and we’re going to make sure that there’s going to be peace, and there’s not going to be any problems, and nobody’s going to question it, and we’re going to run it very properly.”

Asked where he wants Palestinians to live, Trump responds, “It’s not about where I want them to live. It’s going to be where we ultimately choose as a group.”

Trump walks back yesterday’s threat to withhold aid from Egypt and Jordan if they don’t agree to take in Palestinians.

“I don’t want to [threaten] that because we’ve had such a good relationship and we’re doing so well just in the short time that we’ve been talking,” he says.

“The king just made a statement — I didn’t ask him to do that — about literally saving 2,000 young children from the Gaza Strip,” Trump notes. “We do contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt… But I don’t have to threaten that. We’re above that.”

Asked if he’d consider other countries for housing Gazans, Trump says he would, claiming that lots of countries “want to get involved.”

King Abdullah dodges questions on Trump’s Gaza plan, says Arab leaders will soon present their own

Jordan's King Abdullah II looks on during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 11, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

WASHINGTON — Jordan’s King Abdullah dodges repeated questions from reporters in the Oval Office about US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and relocate its Palestinians to neighboring countries.

In one of his responses, Trump claims there will likely be a “parcel of land” in Jordan and Egypt where the Palestinians will be housed.

Asked whether he approves of this idea, an uncomfortable-looking Abdullah responds, “I have to look at the best interests of my country.”

He notes that Trump is already satisfied with Jordan’s offer to take in 2,000 sick Gazans — though this only amounts to .1% of all the Palestinians who Trump is looking to relocate.

The king adds that the Jordanian initiative will require cooperation from COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“The best way to get [2,000 children out of Gaza] is by helicopters to get them straight to our institutions,” he says. “Quite a few countries will also probably like to take some of those kids and have them treated in their hospitals.”

Pressed again on how he feels about the US plan to own Gaza, Abdullah says that Arab leaders will be coming to the US in the near future with a plan for Gaza.

Trump then claims to largely know what the Arab plan will be. “It’s going to be… magnificent for the Palestinians. They’re going to be in love with it. I did very well with real estate. I can tell you about real estate.”

“The president is looking forward to getting a group of us Arabs here to discuss the overall plan,” Abdullah says.

He adds that Egypt is putting together a plan for Gaza on behalf of Arab countries and that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also invited Arab counterparts to discuss the matter in Riyadh.

In his opening remarks, the Jordanian king seeks to curry favor in Trump’s eyes.

“With all the challenges that we have in the Middle East, I finally see somebody [who] can take us across the finish line to bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” Abdullah says.

Hamas insists it is committed to ceasefire deal, blames Israel for ‘complications, delays’

The Hamas terror group insists that it is committed to the ceasefire and hostage release deal, after saying yesterday that it would postpone the upcoming release of hostages until further notice over alleged Israeli violations of the deal.

It reiterates in a statement that it holds Israel accountable for any “complications or delays” to the deal’s execution.

Regev asks IDF chief to promise end to all terror attacks; Halevi: That’s like expecting you to prevent ‘all car accidents’

Transportation Minister Miri Regev asked the IDF chief of staff during the four-hour-long security cabinet meeting earlier today to promise that the military will do “everything possible to prevent terrorists from infiltrating” Israel in the future, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

While reiterating that the IDF would certainly do its best to ensure that no terrorists manage to infiltrate into Israeli territory, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told Regev that asking him to promise that it will never happen is like asking her, as transportation minister, to vow to prevent “all future car accidents.”

Regev, in response, is said to have told Halevi that he made an unfair comparison, as preventing traffic accidents also requires effort “from the Justice Ministry and other bodies.”

The report adds that Justice Minister Yariv Levin appeared offended by Regev’s comments and chimed in: “What does that have to do with me? You blame everything on me and the Justice Ministry.”

Asked if he’ll back West Bank annexation, Trump says issue will ‘work out very well’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

WASHINGTON — Asked whether he’ll back Israeli annexation of the West Bank, US President Donald Trump responds, “That’s going to work out very well… work out automatically.”

“That’s not really what we’re talking about today,” he says while taking questions from reporters alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah before their teams meet in the Oval Office.

Last week, Trump said he’d be making an announcement regarding Israeli annexation of the West Bank in about four weeks.

“That’s something that’s going to work out automatically, and it’s in good shape,” Trump says.

“We discussed it, other people have discussed it with us and with me,” he continues. “The West Bank is going to work out very well.”

Trump, Witkoff secure release of US citizen Marc Fogel, detained by Russia since 2021

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump and his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff have secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher who has been detained in Russia since 2021, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz announces in a statement.

Waltz says Witkoff and Fogel are currently leaving Russian airspace after Witkoff and several other Trump aides traveled to Moscow in order to negotiate an exchange.

Fogel’s release “serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” Waltz says.

“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz continues. “By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership.”

Witkoff holds the Middle East file, but Trump appears to be tasking him with a wide-ranging scope of responsibilities, akin to the way he utilized his son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner during his first term.

Security chiefs said to urge government not to jeopardize phase one hostage releases

Israeli security chiefs have told the political echelon that Israel needs to try to see phase one of the Gaza deal through to its end, and get out as many hostages as possible, Channel 12 reports.

It says that at today’s security cabinet meeting, far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich urged the full endorsement of President Trump’s ultimatum that all the hostages be released by Hamas by Saturday noon.

As of this writing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not explicitly demanded that all hostages be freed by that deadline, although an unnamed political source has done so.

“We need to show restraint right now, to completely finish phase one,” the TV report quotes an unnamed security source saying. “We must not cut off the dynamic of the hostage releases. The framework is working. The mediators are guaranteeing the agreement and there’s no real reason to stop the sequence right now.”

Seventeen more hostages are supposed to be freed in the current phase one of the deal, nine of whom are believed to be alive.

The TV report also quotes an unnamed military source, adding: “We have very significant offensive tools, and are giving [the political leadership] all the options. One has to understand how things develop and take President Trump’s ultimatum and leverage it effectively to secure the release of as many hostages as possible.

“If there is no progress that gets the deal back on track, decisions must be made,” this source adds. “Hamas is being faced with the massive scale of destruction [in Gaza], is counting the dead and publishing the list of its dead commanders.”

“As regards the big young men in the crisply ironed uniforms at the hostage release ceremonies,” the military source sneers, “it’s likely that these are operatives who were too scared to get entangled with IDF troops, and hid out in humanitarian zones until the ceasefire started. And we will know how to go back and hit them.”

In latest conflicting message about hostages, senior official says Israel wants ‘all of them’ by Sat.

Israel continues to send conflicting messages about the number of hostages it demands to be released by Saturday.

A senior Israeli official now says that Israel is demanding that “all of them” be released by Hamas.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and the cabinet are sticking to US President Trump’s message about the release of hostages,” says the official.

“That is, that all of them will go out on Shabbat.”

At the same time, the senior official does not say “all the hostages,” perhaps leaving room for all the hostages slated to be released on Saturday, or all the living hostages to be released in the first phase.

Trump called yesterday for the release of all hostages by midday Saturday, but earlier Israeli statements — including by Netanyahu — this evening after the security cabinet meeting did not call for all hostages to be released. Netanyahu called for “our hostages” to be released, while an Israeli official said nine hostages had to be released “in the coming days.”

IDF approving battle plans for renewed Gaza fighting in event that ceasefire collapses

Israeli soldiers work on their tank in southern Israel, with a view of he Gaza Strip in the background, February 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The IDF Southern Command is approving battle plans for the Gaza Strip in the event that the ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas collapses, according to the military.

Currently, two IDF divisions are responsible for defenses along the Gaza border and the Philadelphi Corridor: the 162nd Division and Gaza Division.

Since last night, several brigades and special forces units were deployed to the Southern Command to bolster the existing forces.

Several more brigades are on standby and will be deployed to the Southern Command if necessary.

Additional divisions are currently in the process of preparing for possible deployment to Gaza, depending on the developments.

The IDF says there are no changes to guidelines for civilians at this stage, and it is prepared for “a variety of scenarios.”

Far-right lawmakers call to ‘open the gates of hell’ on Hamas if it doesn’t free all hostages by Saturday

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “open the gates of hell” on Hamas if the terror group does not acquiesce to Trump’s demand for all hostages to be released by Saturday.

In a statement, the far-right minister urges Netanyahu to “inform Hamas unequivocally: Either all the hostages are released by Saturday — no more phases, no more games — or we open the gates of hell on them.”

Meanwhile, Otzma Yehudit chair Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned from the government in protest over the hostage deal, calls Israel’s lack of commitment to Trump’s demand “a disgrace.”

“President Trump is giving the government the green light to rain fire and hell on Gaza if all our hostages are not released, and the government prefers to continue down the reckless path,” he writes on X.

WATCH: At the White House, King Abdullah says Jordan will take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza

WASHINGTON — King Abdullah tells reporters Jordan will take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump, who suggested yesterday that he might withhold aid to Amman and Cairo if they don’t take in Palestinians, as he seeks to “clean out” the Strip in order for the US to take it over.

King Abdullah notes that the question regional leaders are dealing with in responding to Trump’s Gaza takeover proposal is how to make it work in a way “that is best for everybody.”

While 2,000 is a small fraction of the nearly 2 million Trump is looking to permanently relocate, the president calls Abdullah’s proposal a “beautiful gesture,” as they take questions from reporters before starting their meeting in the Oval Office.

Asked about Trump’s Gaza takeover proposal, Abdullah responds, “Let’s wait until the Egyptians” present their own ideas.

Egypt has been tasked with leading much of the Arab world’s response to Trump’s Gaza initiative.

Trump says he’s “99%” sure something can be worked out with Egypt.

Trump demurs when asked about withholding aid to Egypt and Jordan, noting that the US gives both countries a lot of money.

However, he appears to suggest that he need not threaten either country. “I do think we’re above that.”

Asked about the situation in Gaza and Trump’s threat to “rain hell” on Hamas if all remaining hostages aren’t released by Saturday at noon, the US president responds, “I think it’s going to work out.”

“We’re going to run it very properly,” Trump says of his plan to take over Gaza, noting that hotels and other buildings could be built there.

“You’re going to eventually have peace in the Middle East,” Trump says, adding that Gaza has been a “death trap” to date.

Dutch parliament pulls invite to UN investigator for the Palestinians

The Dutch parliament withdraws an invitation to the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese.

Albanese has a history of antisemitic remarks and has caused repeated controversy for her anti-Israel vitriol.

The Dutch political party SGP says Albanese’s invitation to address lawmakers has been withdrawn. Albanese was scheduled to speak with members of parliament on Thursday.

Hillel Neuer, the director of UN Watch, a pro-Israel group that campaigned against Albanese’s visit, says the decision is made by the Dutch government’s foreign affairs committee.

Albanese, an Italian, is on a tour of northern Europe for a series of talks on international law and the Palestinians, she said last week.

IDF bolstering Southern Command troops, calling up reservists, as PM warns ceasefire will end if hostages not freed Saturday

Following a fresh assessment, the IDF says it is further bolstering forces in the Southern Command after Hamas said it would postpone the release of hostages.

The military describes the bolstering of troops as “extensive” and says it includes calling up reservists.

“The reinforcements of troops and mobilization of reservists are being carried out in preparation for various scenarios,” the IDF says.

It makes the announcement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will resume “intensive fighting” against Hamas if hostages are not released by noon on Saturday.

The military raised its level of alert yesterday in the Southern Command, anticipating a possible return to fighting in the Gaza Strip if the ceasefire-hostage deal falls apart.

Israeli official says security cabinet ‘partially adopted’ Trump’s demand for all hostages to be freed by Sat.

The security cabinet “partially adopted” US President Donald Trump’s demand that all hostages in Gaza be released by Hamas by Saturday, an Israeli official tells Ynet.

“We are relying on the US president’s ultimatum and we want to see how Hamas reacts,” says the official. “Since we didn’t violate the agreement, rather Hamas did, there is justification for our side violating the agreement. Israel is saying, ‘Hold me back.’ We want to see how Hamas responds to this.”

“There’s a reason Netanyahu didn’t give a number” of hostages to be released by Saturday in his recent statement, says the official.

Greeting Jordan’s Abdullah at the White House, Trump says he thinks Hamas will listen to his threats

WASHINGTON — Jordan’s King Abdullah has arrived at the White House for his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Trump greets him at the entrance as reporters try to shout questions at him from several yards away.

Asked if Saturday is still his deadline for when Hamas must release all remaining hostages, Trump responds, “Yes.”

Asked whether he thinks Hamas will listen, Trump replies, “I do.”

He is then pressed on his comments yesterday, threatening to hold off US aid to Jordan if Amman doesn’t take in Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump avoids responding directly, pointing to Abdullah and saying, “He’s a great man.”

He then escorts the king and his son, Crown Prince Hussein, inside.

טראמפ ומלך ירדן עבדאללה השני בבית הלבן pic.twitter.com/DHTBe6ksNT

— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) February 11, 2025

Netanyahu says ‘intense fighting’ will resume in Gaza if hostages not released by Saturday

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a video statement regarding Israel's response to Hamas's suspension of hostage releases, February 11, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

Israel will resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t release hostages by midday Saturday, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement after a four-hour security cabinet meeting, noting that Hamas “breached the deal” yesterday by announcing its decision “not to release our hostages.”

“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon,” he says, “the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.”

He does not specify how many hostages must be freed on Saturday. Three Israeli hostages are scheduled to be freed on Saturday under the terms of the deal. Accusing Israel of breaching the deal, Hamas announced yesterday it was suspending hostage releases until further notice.

US President Donald Trump yesterday called for all hostages to be released by Hamas by Saturday at noon.

Israeli statements today have taken care not to call for all 76 remaining hostages to be released by the weekend. An Israeli official said earlier that Hamas must release nine more hostages in the coming days.

The security cabinet, says Netanyahu “welcomed President Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by Saturday noon, and we all also welcomed the president’s revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza.”

אם חמאס לא יחזיר את חטופינו עד שבת בצהריים – הפסקת האש תיפסק, וצה"ל יחזור ללחימה עצימה עד להכרעה סופית של החמאס pic.twitter.com/4Cx30kHGvN

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 11, 2025

With Netanyahu by his side, Trump last week called for all Palestinians to be relocated from Gaza and for the US to take control of the rebuilding of the war-torn Strip after the fighting is over.

“We all expressed outrage at the shocking situation of our three hostages who were released last Saturday,” Netanyahu says, adding that he ordered IDF forces to deploy in greater numbers inside Gaza and on the border after Hamas announced that it was freezing future hostage releases.

US envoy Witkoff expected to visit Israel, Qatar later this week, Arab official says

US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to travel to the Mideast later this week in a trip that will include stops in Israel and Qatar, an Arab official tells The Times of Israel.

The trip has not yet been finalized, though, the official clarifies.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be in Israel this week on what will be his first trip to the region as Washington’s top diplomat.

Israeli official: Ceasefire deal, talks on second phase will not progress unless 9 hostages are freed in coming days

Israel will not move forward with the hostage release/ceasefire deal unless Hamas releases nine more hostages in the coming days, says an Israeli official.

There are currently 17 hostages, living and dead, set to return in the ongoing first stage of the deal, nine of whom are believed to be alive.

“Hamas violated the agreement,” says the official, “and therefore there will not be progress in continuing carrying out the agreement or in negotiations on the second stage without the return of our hostages.”

“The cabinet expects the release of all nine hostages of the first phase within days,” the official demands.

After sign of life from hostage Eliya Cohen, fiancé Ziv Aboud says she wants him back ‘soon and alive’

Ziv Aboud, the fiancé of hostage Eliya Cohen, attends a special committee for public inquiries at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 3, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Ziv Aboud, fiancé of hostage Eliya Cohen, talks about the signs of life received by Cohen’s family from recently released hostage Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, who were held with Eliya and hostage Alon Ohel until about four days before they were released on Saturday.

Based on what the released hostages told her, Aboud says Eliya appears to fear that she was killed on October 7, 2023. The two had run into a roadside shelter as they attempted to escape from the attack on the Nova rave festival.

Eliya had already been pulled out of the shelter and onto the Hamas terrorists’ pickup truck when they fired into the shelter, where Aboud had fallen unconscious, hidden under a pile of dead bodies.

“If Eliya saw that happening, I’ve tried to tell myself that maybe he saw me on TV or heard me on the radio or something,” says Aboud.

But Aboud and Cohen’s family have learned from returning hostages that Eliya and the other captives have had no connection with the outside world throughout the last 15 months, and know nothing about what’s going on in Israel.

They also know now that Eliya was shot in the foot in the shelter, something he told Aboud before he was taken hostage.

The last sign of life that Aboud and Cohen’s family had of Eliya was from a screenshot of a Hamas photo taken of him on October 7, showing him in a kind of hospital setting, his eyes full of terror, said Aboud.

Aboud says she now knows that Eliya has been tortured, is chained on his leg, fed maybe one pita each day and has lost more than 20 kilos. He has had no access to sunlight and no connection to what’s been going on in Israel.

Seeing the released hostages Sharabi and Levy in their depleted, skeletal state has been hard to process, says Aboud.

“I can’t believe how they came back,” she says. “They don’t talk that much yet, they haven’t been able to share the small details.”

“I just want Eliya to come back soon and alive,” says Aboud. “I hope this Saturday they will release more hostages like they’re supposed to do. I [just have] faith and hope.”

Eliya is on the list of hostages slated for release in the first phase of the deal.

IDF demolishes Jenin home of terrorist involved in killing of Cpt. Alon Sacgiu

During operations in the West Bank city of Jenin today, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terror operative involved in the killing of a soldier in the summer.

Nidal Amer was part of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell that set off two explosive devices against army vehicles in Jenin on June 27, killing Cpt. Alon Sacgiu and wounding 16 other soldiers.

Amer was killed by Border Police officers in July.

IDF troops demolished Amer’s home in Jenin today. As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.

כחלק מהמבצע לסיכול טרור בצפון השומרון, כוחות צה"ל, שב״כ ומג״ב פעלו במהלך היום בג׳נין שבחטיבת מנשה, והרסו את ביתו של המחבל נדאל עמאר.

המחבל, יחד עם מחבל נוסף, הרג את סרן אלון סקאג'יו ז"ל במהלך פעילות מבצעית בג׳נין, ביום 27 ביוני 2024, בה נפצעו 16 לוחמים נוספים pic.twitter.com/EPxbAE2uFx

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 11, 2025

Report: Israel will adhere to ceasefire if Hamas releases sixth group of hostages Saturday

Protesters lift placards and flags during a rally calling to complete the hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining captives back, in front of the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on February 11, 2025. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Israel will continue adhering to the hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas if the terror group releases the sixth group of hostages on Saturday in accordance with the terms of the deal, according to Channel 12.

Three hostages are scheduled to be freed on Saturday if Hamas withdraws its threat to suspend further releases.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Omer Dostri asks cabinet ministers not to conduct any interviews on Gaza, according to multiple media reports.

Architect of US law against PA ‘pay-to-slay’ skeptical about Ramallah effort to end it

Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

WASHINGTON — The main architect behind Congressional legislation that suspended US aid to the Palestinian Authority over its payments to Palestinian security prisoners and the families of slain attackers says he is “cautiously optimistic” about Ramallah’s Monday decision to reform the payment system that critics argued incentivized terrorism.

Sander Gerber notes that the decree signed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas is a “step in the right direction,” as it moves the families of prisoners and slain attackers into the same welfare system as the rest of Palestinian society, which receives stipends strictly based on economic need.

However, he tells The Times of Israel that the decree makes no mention of ending the PA’s Prisoners Club and Martyrs Fund, which support the families of those in Israeli jails and of those killed or injured carrying out attacks.

“They’re actively glorifying the prisoners and martyrs and encouraging the children of these families to do the same,” says Gerber, a chief executive of a New York-based hedge fund and a former AIPAC board member.

Prisoners Club chief Qadura Fares came out fervently against Abbas’s decree earlier today, calling on the PA president to immediately reverse it.

The PA, in its announcement of the reform, said it was moving its database containing information on the families of prisoners and slain attackers from the Social Welfare Ministry to a new independent body called the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment, which will be allocating all social welfare payments moving forward.

Sander Gerber speaks at the 2017 CPAC conference. (Screen capture/YouTube via JTA)

Gerber questioned why this move was being taken if all families would be required to re-apply for welfare payments. “It’s because they’re still going to be designated as prisoners or martyrs.”

US government legal experts reviewed the PA’s reform plan during the Biden administration and said it would place Ramallah in compliance with the 2018 Taylor Force Act that Gerber helped write if implemented as stated.

Those same legal experts continue to serve under the Trump administration, which will be responsible for reviewing the PA’s implementation of the reform. Asked if he trusts those experts’ judgment, Gerber responds, “I trust that they’re all well-meaning.”

“It’s too early to tell [whether the reform is real]. The decree is ambiguous about whether the terrorists will get the same [amount of money],”  he says.

The shift to a welfare system will mean 40,000 recipients of the prisoner and martyr stipends will begin receiving far less than what they had been allocated to date, Gerber claimed. “If you don’t see protests on the street of these 40,000 people who are newly impoverished, you know that it’s all a shell game.”

The correlation between cuts to income and protests is not always clear, though. Nearly 200,000 PA public sector employees were receiving half of their salary for months last year due to the Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues. Over 100,000 have had their work permits for jobs in Israel and its settlements terminated since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. And yet, there have been no massive Palestinian protests in the West Bank.

State Comptroller: 580,000 Israelis suffering from severe PTSD in wake of October 7

A report published by the State Comptroller’s Office finds that approximately 3 million Israeli adults may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or anxiety following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.

State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman says that “the mental health system, which had difficulty functioning even before October 7, collapsed in the first days of the war.”

According to the findings of the report, an estimated 580,000 Israelis suffer from at least one symptom of PTSD at a severe level as a direct consequence of the events of October 7 and their aftermath.

The report states that the main recommended treatment for these conditions is psychotherapy but the average waiting time for mental health treatment in the public healthcare sector can be as long as six months.

In response, Health Minister Uriel Buso says the report is “fundamentally flawed.”

However, Buso says that the ministry has set a goal to double the scope of mental health services available to address the needs arising from the October 7 events and the war.

Official says security cabinet backs Trump’s call for hostages to be released by Saturday, and his vision for post-war Gaza

US President Donald Trump (left) welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on February 4, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

The security cabinet unanimously backs US President Donald Trump’s call for Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza by Saturday, an Israeli official says.

Ministers also back Trump’s “revolutionary vision” for the future of Gaza, that would see Palestinians resettled and the US assume control of the rebuilding effort in the enclave post-war.

The carefully worded Hebrew comments from the Israeli official seem to stop short of a complete endorsement of all of Trump’s positions, and notably does not refer to “all” hostages.

“All cabinet members expressed support for US President Donald Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by noon on Shabbat, and for his revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza,” the key sentence specifies.

The security cabinet meeting, called to discuss Israel’s response to the Hamas announcement that it would freeze future hostage releases until further notice, stretched for four hours. The official describes the Hamas announcement as “the decision by the Hamas terror group to breach the deal.”

The meeting was “thorough and in-depth,” according to the Israeli official.

Last night, Netanyahu ordered the IDF to reinforce positions in the Gaza Strip and on its borders, and to prepare for “all scenarios” if Hamas fails to release hostages on Saturday.

Before the cabinet meeting, says the official, Netanyahu held smaller discussions with his advisers.

Cost of rebuilding Gaza will be at least $53 billion, UN estimates

More than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the “humanitarian catastrophe” that has gripped the territory after some 15 months of war between Israel and the Hamas terror group, including $20 billion in the first three years, according to a United Nations estimate released today.

“While it has not been possible in the current environment to fully assess the totality of needs that will be required in Gaza, the interim assessment offers an early indication of the enormous scale of recovery and reconstruction needs in the Gaza Strip,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says in a report.

Palestinian officials decry Abbas’s decision to end ‘pay-to-slay’ policies

Several Palestinian officials denounce Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s decree ending the controversial “pay-to-slay” policy that conditioned welfare payments to Palestinian security prisoners on the length of their sentences in Israeli jails, in addition to providing stipends to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks.

The decree, issued yesterday and expected to affect tens of thousands of people, states that families of prisoners and slain attackers who require welfare assistance will be eligible for stipends based solely on financial need, as is the case with other Palestinians.

Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority’s committee overseeing prisoner affairs, calls for the decree’s immediate withdrawal, warning that it will impact “approximately 35,000 to 40,000” families.

He adds that such a significant decision should have been discussed at all levels of the Palestinian political leadership, arguing that “allowances for prisoners have always been a point of consensus” among Palestinian factions.

Also present at the press conference is Hilmi al-Araj, head of the Center for the Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, who calls for the decree to be “rescinded as though it never existed,” condemning both “its timing and its content, as the prisoners are on the verge of freedom.”

Araj is referring to the ongoing ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, under which almost 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The Hamas terror group has condemned Abbas’s decision and called for its “immediate reversal.”

Labor Ministry told to halt daycare subsidies for Haredi draft dodgers by end of month

The Attorney General’s Office informs the Labor and Welfare Ministry that it must halt daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox men who did not serve in the military by the end of the month in line with a November ruling by the High Court of Justice.

In a letter to the ministry’s director general, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon writes that the subsidies must end by February 28, following a three-month extension granted by the court.

Last summer, the court ruled that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students were obligated to perform military service after the law for blanket military exemptions expired. In the same ruling, the court determined that the state cannot fund such students if they don’t enlist. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said this meant that ultra-Orthodox families could not receive child daycare subsidies if the father had not served.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies demanded the passage of a law to circumvent the ruling but it was ultimately removed from the Knesset agenda after it became clear it did not have majority support.

Addressing the issue, Labor and Welfare Committee chairman Yisrael Eichler (UTJ) accuses the High Court of launching an attack on the Haredi community “for political reasons” and insists that the subsidy must not be halted.

The court “ruled that not all Israeli children are equal in receiving daycare subsidies,” he says.

“I submitted a bill to enshrine the mother’s rights to subsidies so that she can earn a living and work, regardless of what the husband does. If a husband is in prison, no one will deny the wife’s right to daycare subsidies for her child.”

Report: PM met with Jared Kushner, said to be behind Trump’s Gaza plan, during US visit last week

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference with US Presidential Adviser Jared Kushner in Jerusalem on December 21, 2020. (RONEN ZVULUN / X90084 / AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner during his visit to Washington last week, Axios reports.

The pair discussed a number of issues including US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan for the takeover of the Gaza Strip, the report says, citing senior officials familiar with the meeting.

Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, was reportedly a driving force behind Trump’s plan and was involved in crafting the announcement on the matter, which the president made alongside Netanyahu at a White House press briefing.

Kushner had appeared to hint at the plan —  which involves emptying the Strip of its residents and turning it into “the Riviera of the Middle East” — in a speech he gave last year.

“Gaza’s waterfront property — it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner said during an event at Harvard.

“It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” he had added. “But I don’t think that Israel has stated that they don’t want the people to move back there afterward.”

Security cabinet meeting on Hamas’s delay of next hostage release ends after 4.5 hours

A security cabinet meeting that began earlier today to discuss Israel’s response to Hamas’s postponement of the release of hostages has ended after four and a half hours.

There is no immediate comment from the Prime Minister’s Office on any decisions that may have been made during the meeting.

Abdullah’s White House visit coincides with payment deadline for Amman’s F-16 fighter jet purchase

WASHINGTON — This week’s visit of Jordan’s King Abdullah to Washington coincides with a deadline Amman is facing on its latest payment for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the US, a US official reveals to The Times of Israel.

The deadline for the $110 million payment is on Wednesday, and failure to meet the deadline would require Jordan to pay a fine of that same amount.

Jordan is likely struggling to make the payment due to the Trump administration’s freeze on almost all foreign aid, the US official says, speculating that Abdullah would likely raise the issue during his meetings in Washington in order to request an extension.

Jordan’s Embassy in Washington and the Pentagon both decline requests to comment.

Houthis say they will resume attacks on Israel if Gaza ceasefire fails

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of western Yemen including the capital, are ready to launch attacks on Israel if it resumes attacks on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi says in a televised speech.

The Houthis had fired missiles at Israel, and attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians during the war with Hamas.

The group paused its attacks at the start of the ceasefire and hostage release deal last month.

Israel asked to extend IDF deployment in Lebanon but US plans to stick to Feb. 18 deadline, official says

IDF troops with the 769th 'Hiram' Regional Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on December 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

WASHINGTON — Israel asked the Trump administration on Monday for another extension to the deadline for the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

The response from Washington is that for now it plans to stick to the February 18 deadline, says the US official.

US deputy Mideast envoy Morgan Ortagus traveled to Lebanon to survey the progress of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and told reporters that the Trump administration views February 18 as a “firm date” for the completion of Israel’s withdrawal.

The ceasefire inked by the previous Biden administration in late November was originally supposed to see an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon by late January. Hours before that deadline was set to expire, the US announced an extension until February 18, maintaining that the southern Lebanese army had yet to sufficiently deploy in lieu of the IDF in order to ensure that Hezbollah cannot regain a foothold along Israel’s northern border.

Family of hostage Omri Miran says it has received sign of life

Omri Miran (center) from Kibbutz Nir Oz, with his wife Lishay (left) and daughter Roni; Omri was taken captive by Hamas terrorists to Gaza on October 7, 2023 (Noa Sharvit/Courtesy)

The family of Hamas hostage Omri Miran, 46, says it received a sign of life from him, via a hostage recently released from Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Brothers Boaz and Nadav Miran say that the returned hostage told them he had been held with Omri until July 2024, and at that time he seemed to be physically fine. The two note, however, that his situation may have since deteriorated in the seven months that have passed.

Miran was taken captive on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, by terrorists who drove him across the border in his own car. His wife Lishay Miran was left behind with their two daughters, Roni, 2, and Alma, 6 months.

Jordan’s Abdullah faces tense White House meeting with Trump today

Jordan’s King Abdullah II faces a tense meeting with Donald Trump at the White House today as he leads opposition from Arab nations to the US president’s controversial Gaza takeover plan.

The talks come a day after Trump said he could “conceivably” halt billions of dollars in US aid to both Jordan and Egypt if they refuse to take in Palestinians that he says should be moved out of the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

The meeting also comes as the Gaza ceasefire appears increasingly fragile, with Trump warning that “all hell” could break out if Hamas fails to release all remaining hostages by Saturday, after the terror group said that it would delay the hostage release scheduled for Saturday.

Abdullah and Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein will meet Trump in the Oval Office before having lunch, the White House says. Both meetings will be behind closed doors.

The pair also met Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz earlier in the day, the Jordanian royal court says on X.

UN says staff member has died in custody of Yemen’s Houthi rebels

This photo released by the International Committee of the Red Cross shows its officials helping prisoners prepare to be freed by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Sanaa, Yemen, January 25, 2025. (International Committee of the Red Cross via AP)

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says that a staff member held captive by Houthi rebels in Yemen has died.

“WFP is grief-stricken and outraged about the death of a staff member while in detention in northern Yemen,” the agency says in a statement on X.

He was identified as a Yemeni staff member “arbitrarily detained by local authorities since 23 January,” though the circumstances of his death were not specified.

The employee, who WFP said had worked for the UN since 2017, left behind a wife and two children.

The United Nations announced the suspension Monday of its activities in Yemen’s Saada region, a Huthi stronghold, after the rebels detained multiple personnel there this year.

The Iran-backed Houthi have arrested dozens of staffers from the UN and other humanitarian organizations, most of them since the middle of 2024, as Yemen’s decade-long civil war grinds on.

In January alone, the rebels detained eight UN workers, including six in Saada, which adds to the dozens of NGO and UN personnel detained since June.

The Houthi claimed the June arrests included “an American-Israeli spy network” operating under the cover of humanitarian organizations — allegations emphatically rejected by the UN Human Rights Office.

Woman protesting ultra-Orthodox draft evasion ejected from Knesset committee

A protester is physically ejected from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a discussion on ultra-Orthodox conscription.

The woman, representing an organization of soldiers’ mothers, is dragged from the chamber screaming accusations of “hypocrisy” at lawmakers as they discuss a contentious enlistment bill that will allow most Haredi men to avoid military service, as demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition allies.

A woman representing an organization of soldiers’ mothers is ejected from a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She accuses the members, who are debating a Haredi conscription bill, of hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/hW2vcQQmBM

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) February 11, 2025

UN says despite Hamas claims, aid flow into Gaza up significantly since ceasefire

UN vehicles wait to cross a checkpoint manned by Egyptian and US security on Salah a-Din road in al-Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip, on February 10, 2025, during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

UN humanitarian officials say that aid flows into Gaza have increased significantly since a ceasefire deal took effect on January 19, including for items such as tents that had previously faced Israeli restrictions.

Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what the group called Israeli violations of the truce accord, raising the risk of reigniting the 15-month conflict.

It said that such alleged violations included stopping humanitarian aid from entering Gaza as stipulated in the deal, such as 60,000 mobile houses and 200,000 tents as well as heavy machinery to remove rubble and fuel.

When asked about current aid deliveries into Gaza, U. humanitarian office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke tells a Geneva press briefing: “We have been able to scale up humanitarian operations significantly with food, medical and shelter supplies and other aid during the ceasefire period.”

Family of slain hostage Shlomo Mantzur eulogizes ‘a man with a heart of gold’

Visitors walk past a poster of slain hostage Shlomo Mantzur at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. February 11, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

The family of hostage Shlomo Mansour, 85, says that it received the news from the IDF today that he was killed on October 7, 2023, with “deep sorrow and heavy hearts.”

The family hail him as “the pillar of strength for our entire family. A man of high morals and values, a lover of humanity, who always helped others wholeheartedly.”

“A man with a heart of gold, golden hands, and a smile worth gold,” the family statement says.

“We call upon decision-makers to make a brave and ethical decision to bring all hostages home immediately – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial in their homeland,” the statement says, adding thanks to the IDF soldiers who fought in Gaza to try and bring him back and the Hostage Family Forum for its  support.

“Continue to support and cry out the cry of the hostages until they are all returned home,” the statement says.

Court releases two East Jerusalem booksellers to house arrest

A court releases two prominent Palestinian booksellers to house arrest for five days, after police detained them for two nights.

Officers raided the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem on Saturday and arrested its owners Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, nephew and uncle, on allegations they sold books containing “incitement and support for terrorism.”

Police pointed to a children’s coloring book they found in the shop titled “From the River to the Sea.”

Ahmad Muna tells The Times of Israel upon his release that it was a “brutal, hard arrest” with an unclear basis. He and his uncle are barred from setting foot in the Educational Bookshop for another 20 days.

Educational Bookshop owner Ahmad Muna released to five-day house arrest after two nights in detention

He says he and his uncle Mahmoud were held in separate locations pic.twitter.com/Pj7wvUJiLv

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) February 11, 2025

The two relatives were held separately, with Ahmad detained in a police station and Mahmoud in the Russian Compound detention center.

The arrests sparked outcry from diplomats, including the British and German ambassadors to Israel, as well as a protest outside the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court during yesterday’s hearing on extending the booksellers’ detention.

The Educational Bookstore is a key part of cultural life in East Jerusalem.

Raids on Bookstore branches and the arrest of owners Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna are a disproportionate response to the concerns raised yesterday in court.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right.

— Simon Walters (@simonwaltersuk) February 11, 2025

Law enforcement requested that the two be held in custody for a further eight days, but the court on Monday granted an extension of only one day. No charges have yet been filed.

Several demonstrators forcibly removed after blocking entrance to Netanyahu’s office

Several demonstrators are forcibly removed by police and security guards after they try to barricade themselves at the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office, where the security cabinet is meeting.

The demonstrators are part of a larger protest calling on the government to reach a deal to release all the hostages held in Gaza.

פינויים של אחרוני המפגינים שנכנסו לכניסה הקדמית של משרד ראש הממשלה https://t.co/uDwMmlzshE pic.twitter.com/fxgpJ2dr89

— משנים כיוון ↩️ (@change_dir_il) February 11, 2025

Smotrich urges cutting off Gaza water and electricity, annexing land for every hostage harmed

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls for giving Hamas an ultimatum after the terror group says it will postpone the upcoming release of hostages.

“We have to give Hamas an ultimatum. Cut off their electricity and water and end humanitarian aid. Open the gates of hell,” the far-right minister says, speaking at a conference ahead of the security cabinet meeting to discuss a response to Hamas.

“We need to tell Hamas at the moment we return to war that after we arrest all the terrorists, for any hostage that is God forbid harmed, we will on that very day annex five percent of the Strip’s territory,” he says.

Previous threats by Israeli leaders to cut off water and aid to the Strip were cited as proof of genocidal intent in a case at The Hague.

Sweden says one arrested over foiled Islamist terror attack

Illustrative: Police officers stand near the scene of a shooting on the outskirts of Orebro, Sweden, February 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Swedish police say they have apprehended one person in the Stockholm area on suspicion of preparing terrorist crimes in a case concerning violent Islamist extremism.

The person was suspected of preparation for a terrorist offense, aggravated participation in a terrorist organization, preparation for attempted murder and preparing to violate legislation on the use of explosives, police say.

The investigation was not linked to any previously ongoing cases, police say in a statement.

Police conducted the operation in the capital area in the morning and the arrest unfolded calmly, they add, without identifying the suspect or giving detail on the potential target.

Sweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after public burnings of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.

Government asks High Court for 90 more days to decide on Oct. 7 state commission of inquiry

Homes damaged in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks await renovation in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on February 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The government requests that the High Court of Justice allow it another 90-day period before it has to give a fresh update on its position on establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures leading up to, during, and after the October 7 Hamas invasion and atrocities.

Michael Rabello, who is representing the government in the petition instead of the attorney general, tells the court that the cabinet held a hearing on the issue on Sunday, in accordance with a ruling by the High Court in December last year ordering the government to hold such a hearing within 60 days.

“The overwhelming majority of cabinet members believed that the time was not yet ripe to establish a commission of inquiry of any kind due to the state of war we still find ourselves in,” writes Rabello.

“In a comprehensive hearing, different suggestions were raised for how to investigate the events of October 7 after the war is finished,” he adds.

Rabello says Netanyahu gave instructions to hold another hearing on the matter within 90 days, and therefore requests that the court allow the government to update it on its position on the matter after that hearing.

The government has fiercely opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 catastrophe, originally on the grounds that such an inquiry could not be conducted while Israel was at war, but increasingly due to accusations of several cabinet ministers that the Supreme Court president cannot be trusted to appoint a fair-minded judge or retired judge to head the panel.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners to the High Court demanding a state commission of inquiry, described the cabinet meeting on Sunday as “a new pinnacle in shirking responsibility and contempt for the public.”

Egypt’s Sissi urges Gaza reconstruction without ‘displacing Palestinians’

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi attends a ceremony at the Presidential palace in Ankara, September 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi urges the reconstruction of Gaza take place “without displacing Palestinians,” after US President Donald Trump said he could “conceivably” halt aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to take in Gazans.

During a phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sissi “stressed the necessity of starting the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip… without displacing Palestinians and in a way that ensures the preservation of their rights… to live on their land.”

The Egyptian president also says that the establishment of a Palestinian state is “the only guarantee for achieving lasting peace” in the region, according to a statement from his office.

Syria’s Sharaa calls Trump Gaza plan ‘serious crime,’ bound to fail

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa holds a joint press conference following a meeting with the Turkish president, at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, February 4, 2025. (OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, says he believes US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza and take over the Strip “is a serious crime that will ultimately fail.”

Trump had said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. He said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his proposal.

In an interview with a UK podcast, Sharaa, an Islamist whose group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was once an affiliate of al Qaeda, says Trump’s proposal would not succeed.

“I believe no power can drive people from their land. Many countries have tried to do it and they have all failed, especially during the recent war in Gaza over the past year and a half,” he says.

Sharaa stressed that it would be neither “wise nor morally or politically right” for Trump to lead an effort to force Palestinians out of their land.

“Over 80 years of this conflict, all attempts to displace them have failed; those who left have regretted their decision. The Palestinian lesson that every generation has learned is the importance of holding on to their land,” he adds.

Security cabinet meets to discuss Hamas threat to delay hostage release

Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and activists protest for the release of all the hostages in Gaza, outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The security cabinet is now convening at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to discuss Israel’s response to Hamas’s postponement of the release of hostages, officials say.

Before the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an assessment with security officials on the matter.

Hundreds of protestors stand in the street outside Netanyahu’s office, calling for every hostage to be brought home.

Banging on drums, holding hostage placards, yellow ribbons and flags, some with their hands dipped in red paint to demonstrate that the blood of those killed on October 7, 2023 and in Gazan captivity is on the hands of the present government, protestors call out, “We will not abandon them.”

Rothman tells hostages’ families he hopes for end of deal as soon as possible, with return to war

Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman tells family members of hostages held in Gaza that he hopes the current deal with Hamas, in which captives have been returned a few at a time, is halted as soon as possible.

“I hope that God will send the courage to the decision makers in Israel to stop this terrible deal as soon as possible, to return to combat and to open the gates of hell on Hamas,” Rothman, of the far-right Religious Zionism party, tells the committee meeting.

Merav Svirsky, the sister of hostage Itay Svirsky who was killed in captivity, tells Rothman, “At this moment, you are sacrificing the lives of people. It’s insane. My brother was killed due to military pressure.”

יו"ר ועדת החוקה שמחה רוטמן: "מקווה שהשם ישלח את האומץ לכל מקבלי ההחלטות של מדינת ישראל בדרג הזה, לעצור את העסקה הרעה הזאת כמה שיותר מהר, לחזור ללחימה ולפתוח את שערי הגיהינום על החמאס"
מרב סבירסקי, אחות של איתי ז"ל: "ברגע זה אתה מקריב חיי אדם, זה מטורף. אח שלי נרצח בעקבות הלחץ… pic.twitter.com/zUJEIVCxBN

— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) February 11, 2025

3 Netanyahu aides indicted for intimidating witness in PM’s corruption trial

Yisrael Einhorn (l) seen with Jonatan Urich (c) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019. (Courtesy)

Two current and one former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are indicted on charges of witness intimidation for sending a car with a megaphone to the home of a key witness in Netanyahu’s criminal trial in order to harass him in 2019.

The three are Ofer Golan, a spokesman for the Netanyahu family and the director of the Likud election campaign in 2019; Jonatan Urich, a strategic adviser and a senior official in Likud’s election campaign staff; and Yisrael Einhorn, who served as a Likud spokesman.

Witness intimidation carries a three-year prison sentence, although that can be increased depending on the circumstances.

In 2019 when Netanyahu was being investigated on corruption charges, Golan, Urich, and Einhorn jointly came up with a plan to harass Shlomo (Momo) Filber, a former director-general of the Communications Ministry who turned state witness in the investigation against Netanyahu, the indictment says.

Ofer Golan, Likud campaign manager and Netanyahu family spokesman, arrives at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on March 20, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

They arranged for a vehicle with a megaphone to be sent to Filber’s home in Petah Tikva, and played recorded messages outside his house including “Momo, be a man, go and tell the truth Momo Filber, [about] what they did to you for you to lie against the prime minister, what they promised you.”

Another message said, “The left is using you to topple Likud, Momo, hear what you yourself said before the police pressured you.” The loudspeaker also played a media interview Filber gave in which he was heard saying that decisions Netanyahu made while serving as communications minister, with Filber serving as director-general of the ministry, were “professional.”

Shlomo Filber, former director general of the Communications Ministry, at a court hearing in the trial against Benjamin Netanyahu, at the District Court in Jerusalem on June 1, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Filber recently said he would be filing a lawsuit against the police and the Israel Prison Service for sexual assault he says he was subjected to by prison officers while in detention in connection with alleged wrongdoing at the Communications Ministry, for which Netanyahu was indicted.

Golan and Urich say in response to the indictment: “After years of drawn-out legal proceedings, after the senior state attorney lawyer on the case Dr. Haim Wismonsky decided to close the case, after Filber himself told the State Attorney’s Office he was not intimidated and wasn’t interested in the process, and after the Supreme Court ruled that the police, together with the State Attorney’s Office, carried out illegal action and that the evidence was illegitimate — [State Attorney] Amit Aisman has the audacity to file a tattered indictment of two paragraphs.”

“If they want a war they’ll get a war. We’ll meet in court.”

Kremlin says it has ‘no information’ on reports that Trump’s Middle East envoy is in Moscow

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that he had no information about unconfirmed reports on Telegram that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff may have flown into Moscow and adds that no meetings with him were on the agenda.

Peskov repeated a statement that contacts between the administration of US President Donald Trump and Russia had begun at different levels and had intensified. But he said there was nothing new to report on discussions around Ukraine.

A Gulfstream G650ER Business Jet which departed yesterday from Washington D.C. and is claimed to be owned by Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East and Close-Aide to U.S. President Trump, has entered Russian Airspace and is approaching Moscow. pic.twitter.com/yfAalcQ1YL

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 11, 2025

Tel Aviv police arrest 28 people connected to pedophile sex trafficking ring

Israeli Police headquarters in South Tel Aviv, June 5, 2024. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)

Tel Aviv District police arrested 28 people suspected of involvement in a pedophile sex trafficking ring, a spokesman says.

Law enforcement conducted a months-long undercover investigation, in which two officers posed as 13-year-old girls via social media.

Police say the suspects solicited sexual content from the undercover officers posing as minors and suggested meeting with them.

This morning, over 200 officers raided and searched the suspects’ homes, confiscating their phones and computers.

UN chief urges Hamas to proceed with hostage release; says return to war would be ‘immense tragedy’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the Elysee Palace, during the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, February 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages, a day after the Palestinian terror group announced its intention to halt the exchange.

“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” he says in a statement.

Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it called Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict.

Netanyahu mourns slain hostage Shlomo Mantzur, vows to bring all captives home

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset, February 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publishes a message mourning the death of hostage Shlomo Mantzur after the IDF revealed he was killed on October 7, 2023, and his body taken to Gaza.

Netanyahu sends his condolences to the family and says Mantzur, 85, was “a builder of the country and a founder of Kibbutz Kissufim” and notes that as a child he was a survivor of the Farhud pogrom carried out against the Jews of Baghdad, Iraq.

“We share the deep mourning of the family. We will not rest and we will not be silent until he is brought back for burial in Israel. We will continue to act with determination until we return all the hostages, the living and the dead,” he says.

IDF says Shlomo Mantzur was killed on Oct. 7; his body is held in Gaza

Shlomo Mantzur (Courtesy)

IDF representatives this morning updated the family of hostage Shlomo Mantzur, 85, that he was killed during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.

The military says Mantzur was murdered during the October 7 onslaught and his body taken by Hamas terrorists to Gaza, where it remains held. It is unclear if he was murdered in Kibbutz Kissufim, en route to Gaza, or in the Strip itself that day.

His death was declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following intelligence the IDF says it obtained in recent months.

Of the 76 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 36.

Hamas tells Trump ‘threats have no value,’ respecting ceasefire deal only way to bring hostages home

Hamas gunmen stand in formation ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

US President Donald Trump must remember that the only way to bring home Israeli hostages is to respect the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri tells Reuters.

“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the [hostages]. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters,” he says.

Trump has warned Palestinians that “hell will break loose” if Israeli hostages were not released on Saturday as scheduled under the ceasefire. Hamas has postponed the hostage release, claiming Israel has violated the ceasefire’s terms.

Kibbutz says hostage Shlomo Mantzur killed in Hamas captivity

Shlomo Mantzur (Courtesy)

Kibutz Kissufim announces that hostage Shlomo Mantzur was killed while in Hamas captivity.

“With a heavy heart, we kibbutz members received the news this morning of the murder in Hamas captivity of our dear friend, Shlomo Mantzur, 86, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023,” the statement says.

The statement does not indicate when or how Mantzur was killed or how his death has been confirmed.

(Update: It has since been confirmed that Mantzur was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. He was 85 at the time; he would have turned 87 next month.)

“This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz. Shlomo was much more than a community member to us – he was a father, a grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart of Kissufim,” they say.

“His smile, modesty and human warmth were an inspiration to us all. Our hearts are broken that we were unable to bring him back to us alive. The entire community grieves his loss and is united in grief and pain,” the kibbutz says.

Mantzur was due to be released among the first phase of the hostage release deal. Hamas has said that eight of the 33 hostages included in the first phase were not alive, but has not identified them.

IDF testing warning sirens in northern border communities

The IDF says it will conduct tests of the warning siren system in three communities near the northern border.

Sirens will sound in Arab al-Aramshe at 10:05 a.m., in Goren at 11:05 a.m., and in Zarit at 12:05 p.m.

In the event of an actual incident, a second siren will sound, the military says.

Hostages’ families block Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, demand PM not jeopardize release deal

Families of the hostages and their supporters are blocking the Route 1 highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not jeopardize the hostage release deal.

Dozens of people hold up a sign reading “Abandoning the hostages is a war crime” and set off yellow flares as they block the road near the Hemed intersection.

In a statement ahead of the cabinet meeting set for this evening, they demand that Netanyahu “stop undermining the agreement and send a [negotiating] team to Doha that has a full mandate to negotiate the second phase, that will lead to the release of all the remaining hostages in one go.”

לקראת כינוס הקבינט: מפגינים ומשפחות חטופים חוסמים את כביש 1 לכיוון ירושלים בקריאה למימוש שלב ב' בעסקה@yaelsharet_ pic.twitter.com/UpEkcuzwGk

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) February 11, 2025

Family of twins held hostage in Gaza, Gali and Ziv Berman, says it has received signs of life

Ziv and Gali Berman were taken captive by Hamas terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

The family of twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27, who are hostages in Gaza, says it has have received signs of life from the brothers.

“We take a deep breath, but we know whose hands they are in and how much danger their lives are in,” the family says in a message to the residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, from where they were taken hostage on October 7, 2023.

No further details were immediately available.

Far-right leaders embrace Trump call to return to war if hostages not freed

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Israeli far-right leaders embrace US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Israel end a ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages are not freed by the end of the week.

“Everybody, now,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posts on X.

Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir says “Trump is correct. Return to destroying now.”

“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump told reporters.

His comments came after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying the release of hostages slated for Saturday, placing fresh doubts on whether the fraught truce will hold.

US veep Vance to meet Ukrainian leader Zelensky on Munich confab sidelines

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy, September 7, 2024. (Luca Bruno/AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US Vice President JD Vance on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, the Ukrainian leader’s spokesman tells AFP, as Washington pushes for an end to the nearly three-year war with Russia.

US President Donald Trump also confirms that he will soon despatch his special envoy Keith Kellogg, who is tasked with drawing up a proposal to halt the fighting, to Ukraine.

Trump is pressing for a swift end to the conflict, while Zelensky is calling for tough security guarantees from Washington as part of any deal with Russia.

Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nikiforov tells AFP the meeting with Vance will take place Friday on the sidelines of the Munich conference.

A source in the Ukrainian president’s office says Kellogg would arrive in Ukraine on February 20, without detailing where in the country he would visit.

His trip would come just days before the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion on February 24.

Zelensky called Monday for “real peace and effective security guarantees” for Ukraine.

“Security of people, security of our state, security of economic relations and, of course, our resource sustainability: not only for Ukraine, but for the entire free world,” he said.

“All of this is being decided now,” he added in a video address published on social media.

Zelensky said Monday that a meeting with US President Donald Trump was also being arranged, but that a date had not yet been fixed.

Trump said last week that he would “probably” meet Zelensky in the coming days, but ruled out personally travelling to Kyiv.

Rubio presses Cairo for cooperation on Trump’s plan to move Gazans elsewhere

Amid deep disagreement over US President Donald Trump’s proposal to clear Gaza of its Palestinian residents and redevelop the Strip as a US possession, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterates to his Egyptian counterpart in their Washington meeting “the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza,” according to State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.

Egypt’s foreign ministry earlier said Abdelatty told Rubio that Arab countries reject Trump’s plan, in line with the official Palestinian position.

Rubio stresses to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty that “Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again,” says Bruce.

According to the US readout, both diplomats affirm the importance of the bilateral relationship, which “includes promoting regional peace, security, and stability.”

Rubio also thanks Abdelatty for Egypt’s mediation of the hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, and for accepting medical evacuations.

On Syria, the two discuss “the need for inclusive governance and the need to prevent the country from being used as a base for terrorism or from posing a threat to its neighbors.”

USAID cuts mean agency can’t ensure aid not going to terrorists, comptroller warns

In this June 4, 2008 photo, Palestinians unload bags of flour donated by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, at a depot in the West Bank village of Anin near Jenin. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas, File)

The US Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to ensure $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid does not end up in terrorist hands following the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warns.

The administration’s fast-moving dismantling of the agency has left oversight of the aid “largely nonoperational,” USAID’s inspector general’s office says in a report, specifically noting past concerns of aid money going to Hamas and other terror groups.

The cutoff of funds means that the monitors charged with making sure no US aid in the Middle East or Central Asia reaches the Islamic State group, Hezbollah, the Houthis or Hamas have been told not to come to work, the watchdog says.

“This gap leaves USAID susceptible to inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations,” reads the report.

The watchdog office notes that it had pushed USAID last year to boost its training of agency staff to make sure that those monitors were properly screening for any such diversion of aid.

Pointing to a July report from the ombudsman that warned of Hamas diverting humanitarian aid in Gaza, the Inspector General’s Office says that “over the past 2 weeks, staffing shortages and limitations on communications with aid organizations stemming from the cessation of U.S. foreign assistance have limited
USAID’s ability to receive, react to, and report allegations of diversion.”

Trump signed an executive order on January 20 freezing foreign assistance, forcing US-funded aid and development programs worldwide to shut down and lay off staff. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had sought to mitigate the damage by issuing a waiver to exempt emergency food aid and “life-saving” programs.

Warding off Israeli bombs, Trump says he thinks nuclear deal possible with ‘scared’ Iran

US President Donald Trump says he thinks his administration will reach a deal with Iran on halting its nuclear program, describing Tehran as “scared” and willing to negotiate.

“I think we’re gonna make a deal in Iran,” he says in a Fox News interview conducted a day earlier.

Trump says he prefers Israel not “bomb the hell out of them,” as many think it will do with US help or approval.

“I’d much rather see a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it and then blow it up or just make sure there’s no nuclear,” Trump says in the interview, which airs at the same time as the president speaks to reporters in the Oval Office. “I’d much rather do a deal that’s a deal that’s not going to hurt them, and I think they want it too.”

He does not offer specifics on how to improve on the 2015 nuclear pact he pulled out of in 2018, which he says had been “the dumbest deal,” and a “road to a nuclear weapon.”

But he says that the Iran’s air defenses are largely inoperable, leaving them in a more vulnerable state and more willing to come to the table.

“I think they are nervous, I think they are scared,” he says.

Trump also calls Israel’s covert operation to blow up thousands of Hezbollah pagers “a horrible thing,” but allows that it “knocked out a lot of leadership.”

Trump says he could halt aid to Jordan, Egypt if they don’t take Gazans

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump says he could “conceivably” withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees he envisions being relocated from Gaza.

The threat comes after Egypt rejected earlier Monday “any compromise” that would infringe on Palestinians’ rights, in a statement issued after Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with his US counterpart in Washington.

Jordan has similarly rejected the proposal.

A freeze on aid to either country could imperil US-brokered peace agreements with Israel.

Trump calls to cancel ceasefire if all hostages not released Saturday

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order, alongside US Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

US President Donald Trump says the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal should be canceled if all hostages are not released by 12 p.m. on Saturday.

“Let all hell break loose,” he tells reporters from the Oval Office, reiterating the threat he made several times before entering office.

The tough talk comes after Hamas said it was delaying the release of hostages, imperiling the ceasefire.

Trump notes that it is ultimately up to Israel, and adds “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”

הנה הוידאו של האיום המלא של הנשיא טראמפ הלילה, שגורם ללא מעט גורמים להתחיל לברר למה בדיוק הוא התכוון ומה המשמעות עכשיו להפסקת האש pic.twitter.com/zBznl3Oudq

— יונה לייבזון yuna leibzon (@YunaLeibzon) February 10, 2025

HIAS, other groups sue Trump administration over refugee freeze

Jewish refugee support non-profit HIAS has joined two other pro-refugee organizations in a federal lawsuit challenging US President Donald Trump’s indefinite suspension of the US resettlement program, saying refugees and their families face irreparable harm if it is allowed to remain in effect.

The legal challenge, filed in US District Court in Washington State, argues that Trump exceeded his executive authority by abruptly shutting down the program and freezing funding to aid refugees already in the United States.

The lawsuit is filed by HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, as well as nine refugees and US-based family members.

The complainants cite the possibility of serious harm to refugees and call on the court to “restore the important and historic American tradition of protecting and aiding people fleeing persecution.”

Trump, a Republican, immediately paused refugee resettlement after taking office on January 20, saying the program must ensure that refugees admitted to the US “appropriately assimilate” and that taxpayer resources are not wasted.

Days later, funds for US groups that assist refugees already in the country were frozen as part of a larger pause on foreign aid.

IDF cancels memorial tree-planting near Gaza border

A tree-planting event planned for Tuesday morning near the border with Gaza has been called off by the IDF following a fresh assessment of the security situation, the military says.

The event by the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) near Be’eri was to dedicate a new forest commemorating those killed during the October 7 onslaught and in the war. Hundreds of bereaved families were set to participate.

The announcement comes after the army upped its readiness level and canceled planned leave for troops following Hamas’s announcement that it would delay the release of hostages, endangering the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

The IDF says there are no other changes to guidelines for civilians.