Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
IDF issues ‘all clear’ after Gaza border alert
After extensive searches near the Gaza border communities of Sufa, Nir Yitzhak, and Holit, the IDF says it has ruled out a suspected security incident.
Trump says he will have first Putin meeting in Saudi Arabia
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) looks toward US President Donald Trump, as Trump speaks during a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
US President Donald Trump says he will hold a first meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia as he pushes for an end to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We’ll meet in Saudi Arabia,” Trump tells reporters at the White House, hours after he said the two leaders had spoken by telephone and agreed to immediately start Ukraine peace talks — an extraordinary thaw in relations that could leave Kyiv out in the cold.
Report: Talks between Egypt and Hamas over Gaza ceasefire ‘headed toward a breakthrough’
A Palestinian man walks in front of tents set up in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A meeting between Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad and a Hamas delegation in Cairo wraps up after several hours, with “things headed toward a breakthrough,” says Al-Araby Al Jadeed, citing Egyptian sources.
The Hamas delegation is headed by deputy politburo chief Khalil al-Hayya.
Efforts by Qatar and Egypt, as well as US special envoy Steve Witkoff, have resolved some of the outstanding issues, says the Qatari-owned outlet. The sources say that a list of international organizations have been approved to bring in fuel and medical equipment, but Israel has yet to give the green light to bringing in caravans and more tents.
If Israel gives its approval for the caravans tomorrow, say the sources, there is time for Hamas to announce on Friday the names of the 3 hostages to be released the next day.
IDF says Iran smuggling cash to Hezbollah on civilian planes through Beirut airport
Footage shows an Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of Beirut’s international airport, as a passenger plane is seen taxiing in the background on November 14, 2024 (Screencapture: X used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Iran’s IRGC Quds Force has been smuggling cash to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon via the Beirut international airport in recent weeks, the Israeli military says.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, says the cash has been smuggled to Hezbollah by the Quds Force using civilian flights. The money is being used by the terror group to rebuild itself, according to the IDF.
Adraee says the IDF is in contact with a US-led committee supervising the ceasefire and is regularly updating it with “relevant information in order to foil these transfers.”
“Despite the efforts made, we estimate that some of the money transfers were carried out successfully,” he says.
“The IDF will not allow the organization to strengthen and will use all the tools at its disposal to enforce the understandings in the ceasefire agreement, for the security of the citizens of the State of Israel,” Adraee adds.
Jordan’s king discusses ‘dangerous developments’ in Gaza with France’s Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, greets Jordan's King Abdullah II following their statement Friday, February 16, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Yoan Valat, Pool via AP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah discusses “dangerous developments” in Gaza and the West Bank during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a post on X by the Jordanian royal court.
The phone call comes one day after the Jordanian king met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, where he reiterated his country’s “steadfast position” against Trump’s controversial Gaza resettlement plan.
Iran detains two British ‘security suspects’ — state media
Iranian authorities have placed in custody two British nationals accused of unspecified security offenses, state media reports.
Official news agency IRNA says the two were being held in the central Kerman province, without sharing details of their identities or the circumstances of their arrest.
There was no immediate comment from London, but IRNA says British Ambassador Hugo Shorter “met with the two security suspects” at the Kerman prosecutor’s office.
Several other Europeans are held in custody in Iran, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years.
In January 2023, Iran announced the execution of British-Iranian dual citizen Alireza Akbari, prompting outrage among Western governments, including Britain, which called it “barbaric”.
Akbari had been convicted of spying for Britain.
IDF carrying out searches on Gaza border amid suspected ‘security incident’
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army tank stationed on a hill overlooking northern Gaza on February 12, 2025 (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
IDF troops are carrying out scans near the Gaza border communities of Sufa, Nir Yitzhak, and Holit due to a suspected “security incident.”
The IDF says further details are under investigation, and there are no special instructions for civilians as of now.
Israel said to tell Hamas hostage-ceasefire deal can continue if three captives freed on Saturday
Hamas gunmen surround(L-R) Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy on a stage before handing them over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Israel sends a message to Hamas through mediators Egypt and Qatar that the hostage release-ceasefire deal will continue if the terror group releases three more hostages on Saturday, Axios reports, citing a senior Israeli official.
Yesterday, a series of conflicting statements by officials and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas must release “our hostages,” “9 hostages,” and “all of them” for the ceasefire to continue.
Earlier this week, Hamas said it was freezing hostage releases until further notice over alleged Israeli violations of the deal.
Amid tension over Gaza plan, Trump releases video praising ‘fantastic’ Jordanian people, ‘tremendous’ king
Amid widespread anger in Jordan over his plan to resettle Gazans, US President Donald Trump releases a video statement effusively praising the Jordanian people and their monarch, King Abdullah II.
“You are very, very fantastic people with tremendous brilliance and energy,” Trump says.
He also praises Abdullah, whom he met yesterday.
“You have a King who is a tremendous man,” Trump says, calling him “one of the true great leaders of the world.”
“You are very, very lucky to have him,” Trump says.
President Trump’s Message to the People of Jordan:
“You are very, very fantastic people with tremendous brilliance and energy… you have a King who is a tremendous man… @KingAbdullahII is one of the true great leaders of the world.” ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/eKjTU4sqTw
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 12, 2025
Sa’ar speaks to New Zealand FM, thanks him for designating Hamas a terror group
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, January 21, 2025. Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks by phone with his New Zealander counterpart Winston Peters to discuss Gaza, according to Sa’ar.
“I thanked him for New Zealand designating Hamas and the Houthis as terrorist organizations,” he writes on X, adding that he emphasized Israel’s commitment to releasing the hostages, “who face torture and starvation.”
Sa’ar invites Peters to visit Israel.
Herzog’s wife meets released hostages, families
Michal Herzog (L) meets with Aviva Siegel on February 12,2025 (Office of the President)
Michal Herzog, the wife of President Isaac Herzog, meets with several released hostages and their family members.
She meets with released hostages Keith Siegel and Doron Steinbrecher, and the Families of Romi Gonen, Agam Berger and Emily Damari.
Herzog tells them that Israel is obligated to bring back all the hostages.
Aviva Siegel, Keith’s wife, who was also taken hostage and returned in an earlier hostage deal, tells Herzog there is an urgency to bring back all the captives.
“Hearing from Keith about what he went through, knowing that I was there too, and realizing that others are still being held—it’s unbearable, simply unbearable. We must bring them all home,” she says.
Qatar says sending Gaza additional 15 million liters of fuel
A fuel truck crosses into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing on January 19, 2025. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)
Qatar announces it would send an additional 15 million liters of fuel to the war-battered Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire has halted the Israel-Hamas war.
The small energy-rich Gulf country would be “supplying the Gaza Strip with 15 million liters of fuel, bringing total Qatari fuel support to 30 million liters,” the official Qatar News Agency says.
A truce agreement brokered by Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators came into force on January 19, pausing fighting in the 15-month war that has devastated the Palestinian territory.
Most US Jews say anti-Zionism and campus protests are antisemitic — poll
Joseph Fisher chants during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest during the University of Michigan's spring commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images/AFP)
The majority of US Jews believe that anti-Zionist movements and anti-Israel university protests are antisemitic, according to a poll released today.
The survey by the Jewish Majority, a newly-formed research and advocacy group, found that 70% of American Jews believe anti-Zionism is antisemitic by definition.
Three-quarters say last year’s anti-Israel campus protests were antisemitic. A majority oppose protest tactics, including blocking traffic, protesting the homes of government officials, and wearing masks to conceal identity.
The polling company frames the results as a rejection of policies and tactics by the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace.
The survey also finds widespread support for, or membership in, mainstream US Jewish groups. For the Anti-Defamation League, 79% are supportive or members; 79% also back the Jewish National Fund; 74% for the American Jewish Committee; and 73% for the Jewish Federations of North America.
A majority — 71% — say that, for an organization to speak for American Jews, it must be almost entirely made up of Jews.
The poll is conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a research firm in Virginia, on behalf of the Jewish Majority.
The researchers say they polled 800 Jewish adults in December and that the margin of error is 3.95%.
Italy denies it spied on journalists and migrant activists using Israeli-made Paragon spyware
The Italian government denies that it had spied on journalists and migrant activists using spyware but said it would cooperate with an investigation into “vulnerabilities” after at least seven Italian cell phones were apparently hacked with military-grade surveillance technology.
Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service informed dozens of people across the European Union on Jan. 31 that they had been targeted in a spyware attack using technology from Israeli cyber firm Paragon Solutions.
In a statement provided by Meta’s Italy press office, WhatsApp said it had disrupted what it called “a spyware campaign by Paragon that targeted several users, including journalists and members of civil society.”
After The Guardian newspaper broke the story, the Italian government confirmed on Feb. 5 that at least seven Italian cell phones were involved and that it had activated the National Cybersecurity Agency, which reports to the premier’s office, to investigate.
It said other targeted phones had numbers from Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Speaking to parliament’s lower chamber today, Cabinet Minister Luca Ciriani confirms that the Italian government, for many years, has had a contract with Paragon Solutions to provide intelligence-gathering capabilities to fight terrorism and other threats to national security.
But he insists that the law was “rigorously respected” and denied the government had used the technology to spy on journalists illegally. He threatens legal action against any claims to the contrary.
“Regardless, it’s up to judicial authorities to ascertain the source of the vulnerabilities that have been claimed,” he said, adding that Italian intelligence services “are ready to provide full support.”
Hamas calls for ‘solidarity marches’ worldwide against plans to displace Gazans
A woman waves a Palestinian flag, during a protest against US President Donald Trump's proposal for the Gaza Strip, at the Peace Garden, in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Hamas calls for worldwide “solidarity marches” over the weekend to protest a US plan endorsed by Israel to resettle Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
“We… call on the masses of our people, our Arab and Islamic nation, and the free people of the world to go out in massive solidarity marches” from Friday through Sunday to denounce “the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land,” Hamas said in a statement.
After meeting Abdullah, Trump acknowledges Jordan would prefer Gazans not displaced
President Donald Trump greets Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Jordan’s King Abdullah, during his Oval Office meeting yesterday, said that he prefers having Palestinians remain in Gaza, while US President Donald Trump maintained that it would be best to move those Palestinians to safer areas, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
Leavitt makes the comments at the end of her press briefing, saying Trump asked that his summary of the “wonderful” meeting be conveyed to reporters.
“The king would much prefer that the Palestinians stay in place, with the additional land to be used for new development, which would greatly create jobs at levels never seen before. But the president feels it would be much better and more majestic if these Palestinians could be moved to safer areas,” Leavitt says, reading out the statement from Trump.
“Our Arab partners in the region have been tasked with coming up with a peace plan to present to the president that is ongoing,” she adds. “The administration continues to work with our Arab partners in the region, we stand closely with our ally Israel.”
Family of hostage Eitan Mor say they have received sign of life
Eitan Mor, was serving as an unarmed security guard at the Supernova desert rave on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked (Courtesy)
The family of hostage Eitan Mor says that they have received a sign of life from him.
In a statement, they write that “we pray for the return of all the hostages including our son Eitan.”
It is believed that released hostages have brought with them information and signs of life of at least 11 other hostages in recent days.
Eitan Mor, 23, was a security guard at the Nova rave music festival when he was captured.
His parents are members of the Tikva Forum of hostage families, a more hawkish group who have said that Israel should not reach a deal at any cost. However, they have softened their stance in recent days, particularly following the return of three hostages on Saturday in a severely emaciated state.
Netanyahu said to tell cabinet that no point discussing phase 2 of hostage deal at the moment
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on February 9, 2025. (GPO/Screenshot)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told yesterday’s cabinet meeting that there was no point in discussing the second phase of the hostage deal at the moment, while the fate of the first phase was still up in the air.
“There is no point in discussing the second phase because it is just a hypothetical issue at the moment,” Channel 13 quoted Netanyahu as saying in leaked remarks from the closed-door meeting.
The report says the meeting did indeed not discuss the second phase, which is expected to see Hamas release all the remaining living hostages in return for an end of hostilities.
Also, during the meeting, ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Struk from the far-right Religious Zionism party demanded that if Hamas fails to release the three hostages scheduled to go free on Saturday, Israel should round up and re-arrest the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners it has freed so far under the deal, Channel 12 reports.
The report says security officials balked at the demand, saying such a move was hasty and could endanger the lives of the hostages.
The proposal was rejected by the cabinet, the report says.
‘A big win for the Trump administration’: US welcomes PA prisoner payment reform
Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison amid a hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
The Trump administration welcomes the decree signed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday ending Ramallah’s prisoner payment program, a State Department spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.
The statement represents the first response from Washington to the PA announcement after two days of silence.
“This appears to be a positive step and a big win for the administration,” the spokesperson says. “We welcome any and all steps to end this abhorrent practice.”
“We will monitor how the law is implemented over the coming weeks and months, and will verify that the practice has ended,” the statement to The Times of Israel continues. “We look forward to consulting with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government on this development.”
The decree signed by Abbas canceled legislation 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 states that families of prisoners and slain attackers who require welfare assistance will be eligible for stipends based solely on their financial needs, as is the case with other Palestinians.
Successive US administrations sought to coax the PA into reforming the policy but were met with pushback from Ramallah, which lionizes the thousands of Palestinians currently in Israeli jails, arguing that many of them are there unjustly.
The Biden administration managed to make significant progress on the effort, and the reform was largely finalized late last year. However, Ramallah chose to hold off on announcing the initiative until after US President Donald Trump’s election as a gesture of goodwill to the new administration.
Mother of released female hostage: Hamas filmed her as if she was dead
Released hostage Daniella Gilboa is seen with her parents after being freed from Hamas captivity on January 25, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Orly Gilboa, the mother of released female soldier hostage Daniella Gilboa, says that Hamas filmed her daughter as if she was dead during her time in captivity.
“One of the captors simply came to her with a camera and said to her, ‘today we are filming you dead,” the mother says in an interview with Channel 12.
“She pleaded for her life and asked they don’t do it,” she says, describing how they covered her in powder and debris to make it look like she had been hit in an IDF airstrike.
She says that Daniella apologized for any part she could have played in her parents thinking she was dead.
“When she saw me and my husband for the first time, she apologized for how she caused us to feel this whole time,” she says.
At the time, a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing claimed that “one of the enemy’s female prisoners was killed in an area that is under Zionist aggression in the northern Gaza Strip.” Alongside the statement, Hamas published a blurred picture of a body it claimed belonged to the slain hostage. While it did not identify the woman, the image quickly led to speculation that it could be Daniella Gilboa since it featured a tattoo identical to one she had.
Lebanese president says Israel must withdraw from Lebanon by next week’s deadline
Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun says that Israel must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by next week’s deadline.
In a statement, Aoun denies media reports of another extension to the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. The US- and French-brokered truce, reached in late November, gave Israel 60 days to withdraw while Hezbollah repositioned north of the Litani River.
The deadline was later extended to Feb 18.
Israeli and Lebanese media, citing anonymous local and Western sources, reported that the withdrawal deadline had been pushed to Feb. 28.
Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier at low altitude over Beirut and other areas on Wednesday — the first such incident since the ceasefire.
Red Cross urges Israel, Hamas to ‘maintain the ceasefire’ in Gaza
Red Cross vehicles make their way through crowd ahead of a hostage handover in Gaza's Deir al-Balah on February 8, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is partially facilitating hostage-prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas under a fragile Gaza truce, called on the parties Wednesday to “maintain the ceasefire.”
“All of the remaining hostages need to be released. People in Gaza need respite from violence and access to lifesaving humanitarian aid. This all depends on the continuation of the ceasefire agreement,” the ICRC says in a statement.
IDF confirms Zamir to take over as chief of staff on March 5
Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir in an undated photo. (Israel Defense Forces)
Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir will take over as IDF chief of staff, replacing Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, on March 5, the military says.
Zamir, currently director general of the defense ministry, was chosen after Halevi announced he was resigning in light of the responsibility he bears for the failures of October 7, 2023.
Hamas says ‘positive signals’ that hostages will be released 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)
Mediators say they are hopeful they could resolve the dispute by Saturday and get the Israel-Hamas ceasefire back on track, while the terror group says there are positive signs.
An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks says the two sides were close to an agreement.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, says Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza.
An official with Hamas, Mahmoud Merdawi, cites “positive signals” that the hostages would be released on Saturday.
But he cautions that the group had yet to receive the guarantees it seeks from Israel regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Trump, Putin discuss Middle East, Ukraine in 90-minute phone call
Then-US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
US President Donald Trump says he had a “lengthy and highly productive” call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, where they agreed to “immediately” start negotiations to end the Ukraine war and discussed the Middle East.
Trump says on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of “visiting each other’s nations” while the US leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “right now” to inform him about the call.
Russia’s TASS, quoting the Kremlin says the two spoke for nearly an hour and a half and agreed to meet, Putin’s first known direct contact with a US president since February 2022.
It also says they discussed the situation in the Middle East but gave no details.
Senate confirms Gabbard as Trump’s director of national intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard, US President Donald Trump's choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, arrives to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
The US Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.
Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.
Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only “no’ vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
IDF rejects report accusing it of being responsible for 70% of journalist deaths in 2024, says many were terrorists
Al Jazeera journalists named by the IDF as members of terror groups based on documentation found in Gaza, in an image released October 23, 2024. (IDF)
Responding to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), claiming that Israel was responsible for nearly 70 percent of the 124 journalists killed in the past year, the IDF says that it does not intentionally target journalists in the Gaza Strip, while noting that many on the list are members of terror groups.
“The IDF takes all possible measures to minimize harm to civilians, including journalists. The IDF has never, and never will, intentionally target journalists,” the military says in response to a query by The Times of Israel.
“In light of the ongoing exchange of fire, being in an active combat zone carries risks. The IDF will continue to combat threats while making an ongoing effort to minimize harm to civilians. The IDF only directs its attacks toward military targets and militants and does not attack civilian sites or civilians, including media and journalists,” the statement continues.
“Under international humanitarian law, a member of an organized armed group [such as the military wing of Hamas], or a person directly participating in hostilities, is considered a lawful target. As it seems, many on the published list include members of the military wing of Hamas and are therefore lawful targets under international law,” the IDF adds.
According to the report, last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history.
The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.
A total of 85 journalists died in the Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ says, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.
Egypt’s Sissi, Jordan king stress ‘unity’ of positions on Gaza, opposition to Trump relocation plan
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi during a meeting in Cairo on December 27, 2023. (Photo by Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II stress the “unity” of their countries’ positions on Gaza, a day after US President Donald Trump held talks with the Jordanian monarch in Washington.
“The two leaders affirmed the unity of the Egyptian and Jordanian positions, including the necessity of the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, the continued release of hostages and prisoners and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid,” a statement from the Egyptian presidency says.
It stresses the need for the “immediate start of the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, without displacing the Palestinian people from their land.”
Trump has called on Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from Gaza.
Report: US agrees to allow IDF to stay in certain areas of southern Lebanon beyond Feb. 18 deadline
IDF troops with the 769th "Hiram" Regional Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on December 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The US has agreed to an Israeli request that the IDF be allowed to stay in certain points in southern Lebanon beyond a February 18 deadline, the Kan public broadcaster reports, citing an official in the security cabinet.
The report says Israel made its request during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week. However, it notes that these are just preliminary understandings.
Earlier today, the Lebanese news channel LBCI reported that the Israeli military has requested to remain in some areas of southern Lebanon until February 28.
According to LBCI, the Lebanese side has rejected the request.
The reports come a day after a US official told The Times of Israel that Washington had rejected the Israeli request for another extension to the deadline for the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Katz again warns of renewed war in Gaza if hostages not freed
Defense Minister Israel Katz (right) meets with IDF Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and Operations Division head Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer, at the unit's underground command center, February 12, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens Hamas that if the terror group does not release Israeli hostages by Saturday, “the gates of hell will open, just as the US president promised.”
“If Hamas stops the release of the hostages, then there is no agreement, and there is a war,” he says during a visit to the IDF Operations Directorate’s command center.
Katz vows that renewed fighting in Gaza “will be different in its intensity compared to before the ceasefire, and will not end without the defeat of Hamas and release all the hostages, and will also allow the realization of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza.”
Trump asked Jordan’s King Abdullah to ensure Hamas understands ‘severity of the situation’ if hostages not freed
President Donald Trump greets Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon / AP)
US President Donald Trump asked Jordan’s King Abdullah to help ensure that Hamas understands “the severity of the situation” if the terror group does not release the hostages by Saturday, the White House says.
“The President reiterated that Hamas must release all hostages, including all Americans, by Saturday, and asked for the King’s assistance in ensuring that Hamas, as well as the leaders of the region, understand the severity of the situation,” a US readout says of yesterday’s meeting.
“The two leaders also discussed the President’s goal of ensuring that Gaza is rebuilt beautifully after the conflict ends, and providing options for the people of Gaza that allow them to live in security and dignity, and free of Hamas’s tyranny,” it says.
Education Ministry gearing up to reopen schools for northern residents from March
Preparations for the new school year at the Gamla elementary school in Katzrin, northern Israel, August 22, 2021. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
The Education Ministry says it will reopen schools and educational facilities for residents of northern Israel who were evacuated amid the conflict with Hezbollah.
The ministry says in a statement that schools will be open from March 2, in accordance with a government decision to let residents return from the start of the month.
“Every student who will return to the north will be integrated into an educational framework that is suitable to them,” the ministry says.
The return of residents come after the agreement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah in November. The IDF is slated to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by mid-February.
Vance to visit Dachau concentration camp
US Vice President JD Vance arrives during a plenary session at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
US Vice President J.D. Vance will visit the site of the Dachau concentration camp on Thursday, the latest in a string of senior US officials to travel to the former Nazi camp in Germany.
Vance will visit Dachau before heading to the nearby Munich Security Conference, an elite national security gathering, multiple outlets report.
Vance is the latest US vice president to visit Dachau, one of the first camps built by the Nazi regime. Joe Biden visited with his granddaughter in 2015, when he was serving as vice president, and has taken the trip with other children and grandchildren as well.
Vice president Mike Pence visited Dachau in 2017. In 2023, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, went on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland, including a visit to Auschwitz.
US Vice President Mike Pence, second from left, stands behind the gate with the infamous writing “Labor makes free” during a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau near Munich, southern Germany, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
‘Political persecution’: Netanyahu slams AG over indictment of aides
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the Tel Aviv District Court, on February 12, 2025. (Yair Sagi / POOL / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses the State Attorney’s Office of ongoing “political persecution” against him for having indicted two aides of his yesterday on charges of witness intimidation, as well as for the indictments against him personally.
Speaking in the Tel Aviv District Court on the ninth day of his testimony in his criminal trial, Netanyahu once again lambastes the Israeli media for what he argues is its left-wing bias, and says criminal investigations were opened against him for trying to bring “diversity” to the Israeli media landscape.
“I wanted to diversify the media, to balance it, not to take control of it, and then they opened investigations against me. We’re talking about political persecution that continues until today, including yesterday — they accuse two of my spokespeople who have done nothing wrong,” fumes Netanyahu.
Ofer Golan and Jonatan Urich who both currently serve as media advisers and strategists to Netanyahu, were indicted yesterday on charges of witness intimidation for having in 2019 sent a car with a loudspeaker to the home of state witness Shlomo Filber to play messages telling him to “tell the truth” and accusing him of lying.
A third man, a former Netanyahu aide, is also indicted.
Scarlett Johansson condemns AI video of Jewish celebs giving Kanye West the finger
Scarlett Johansson poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere for the film 'Transformers One' on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Scarlett Johansson condemns an AI video that shows a wide array of Jewish celebrities, including Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, wearing a T-shirt with a raised middle finger and the word “Kanye” — a rejection of the rapper Kanye West’s antisemitism.
Johansson, who is featured in the video, says she does not take issue with the message, but opposes the “the misuse of AI.”
“I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind. But I also firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by AI is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it.,” she says in a statement,
“We must call out the misuse of AI, no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality,” she says.
The video resembles any number of PSAs created by Jewish advocates, but was made with generative AI.
Released on Instagram by Ori Bejerano, an Israeli generative AI entrepreneur, the video spread rapidly on Tuesday, riding a wave of anger at West and frustration over his persistence as a presence in the public sphere despite a years-long record of antisemitism. Over the last week, West posted a string of antisemitic tweets, then paid for a Super Bowl ad directing viewers to a website that sold just one product: a $20 T-shirt with a swastika on it.
Love this kayne west is getting it with the finger ???????? pic.twitter.com/DpxBp7xKiw
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) February 11, 2025
Witkoff: ‘Going to be a big problem’ unless ‘something different occurring’ on hostages by noon Saturday
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff warns that there will be “a big problem” if Hamas does not free hostages as scheduled by noon on Saturday.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization. They should not be allowed to be part of the government in Gaza. This is an unhealthy situation, they need to go,” Witkoff tells CSPAN.
“The president said all that we all need to know, which is Saturday, 12 o’clock he expects there to be something different occurring, and if it’s not there’s going to be a big problem,” he says.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization. They can't be allowed to be a part of the government in Gaza. It's an unhealthy situation. They need to go. The President said all that we all need to know, which is: Saturday, 12 o'clock."
— Steve Witkoff pic.twitter.com/fZ87gKy1Vg
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) February 12, 2025
Austrian far-right leader’s efforts to form a new government collapse
The leader of Austria's Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, arrives at his party's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl says that his talks on forming a coalition government with a conservative party have collapsed.
Austria’s president gave Kickl a mandate to try to form a new government on Jan. 6 after other parties’ efforts to put together a governing alliance without his Freedom Party failed.
But his talks with the conservative Austrian People’s Party appeared increasingly troubled in recent days, with constant talk of policy differences and a clash over who would get which ministries.
Today, Kickl informs President Alexander Van der Bellen that he was giving up the mandate to form what would have been the first national government headed by the far right since World War II.
Putin holds first call with new Syrian leader after fall of ally Assad
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad watch troops at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, on December 11, 2017. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa held their first phone call since the fall of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad last year, the Kremlin says.
Moscow has been keen to secure its two military bases in the war-torn country, both of which were left vulnerable after Assad was ousted by rebels in a major setback for Russia’s foreign policy.
“Vladimir Putin wished success to Ahmed al-Sharaa in solving the tasks facing the new leadership of the country for the benefit of the Syrian people,” the Kremlin says in a readout of the call.
“The Russian side emphasized its principled position in support of the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state,” it adds.
Moscow helped keep Assad in power when it intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015, launching devastating aerial strikes on rebel-held areas.
When rebels swept into Damascus in a lightning offensive in December, Russia granted Assad asylum, angering many Syrians including the country’s new rulers.
Syria’s new leadership last month urged Moscow to “address past mistakes” during talks with Russian officials, which they said had touched on “the brutal war waged by the Assad regime.”
Hezbollah building elaborate shrine for slain leader Nasrallah
The Hezbollah terror group is constructing an elaborate shrine that it hopes to have ready for the planned funeral of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah set for February 23.
Video shows construction work under way at a site on the outskirts of Beirut that his successor Naim Qassem had said had been chosen as the site.
*Beirut:* The tomb and shrine to Hassan Nasrallah under construction ahead of his planned funeral. pic.twitter.com/zDQ1tkdwQg
— (((IsraelMatzav))) (@IsraelMatzav) February 11, 2025
Images of the plans show an elaborate plaza with a central dome where he will be interred. The site will be festooned with images of him and Hezbollah flags.
Earlier this month Qassem said that Nasrallah, would be laid to rest on Feb. 23, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on Sept. 27 as Israel ramped up its air attacks on Hezbollah targets and just days before Israeli troops began ground incursions into southern Lebanon.
The shrine for the slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safi al-Din is supposed to look like this. It is expected to be on built on the road leading to Beirut International Airport in Bourj el-Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut. pic.twitter.com/lJCbOWtCOD
— SAMRIBackup (@SamriBackup) January 17, 2025
Qassem said in a televised address that Nasrallah was killed “at a time when circumstances were difficult,” forcing the group to conduct a temporary burial for him according to religious tradition.
Qassem said the group had now decided to hold “a grand funeral procession with a large public presence” for both Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, another top Hezbollah official killed in an Israeli strike nearly a week after Nasrallah.
Family says it received signs of life from hostage Matan Angrest
Matan Angrest was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, from his tank unit at the Nahal Oz army base. (Courtesy)
Anat Angrest, mother of captive soldier Matan Angrest, says she has received a fresh sign of life from the hostage.
“We received information that he is alive and held under harsh conditions,” Anat tells Channel 12.
“He was kidnapped from a tank, covered in burns. He underwent severe interrogations there, we saw it on his face in the video that we decided not to publish yet,” she says referring to a Hamas propaganda video released in September.
“We heard that he is being held there in difficult conditions because he is a soldier, and we do not know what the long-term consequences of this injury are,” she says.
Anat Angrest, mother of captive soldier Matan Angrest, speaks at a rally against the government and for a hostage deal, September 14, 2024. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Hamas says ‘won’t accept language of American and Israeli threats’ over Gaza truce
Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Hamas says it will not accept threats from the US and Israel over an ongoing truce in Gaza, amid an impasse between the parties over the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas has said it will postpone the release of the hostages planned for Saturday.
“Our position is clear, and we will not accept the language of American and Israeli threats. Israel must commit to implementing the terms of the ceasefire agreement for the release” of the hostages, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem says in a statement.
Egypt, Qatar intensifying efforts to save Gaza ceasefire deal, Egypt TV reports
Hamas gunmen parade hostage Or Levy before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Egypt and Qatar are intensifying efforts to save the Gaza ceasefire deal after pressure from the United States and Israel as Hamas postponed the release of hostages, state-affiliated Egypt’s al Qahera news TV reports, citing an Egyptian source.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Palestinians that “hell will break loose” if Israeli hostages were not released on Saturday, as scheduled under the ceasefire. Israel has said it will resume military operations.
Hamas has said it would hold off on the release of hostages, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire’s terms.
UAE president tells US 2-state solution key for peace in region
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tells US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that peace efforts in the region should be on the basis of a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict, state news agency WAM reports.
It says the UAE, one of the few Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel, categorically rejected any attempt to displace the Palestinians and deny them “inalienable rights.”
Lawyers for detained Gaza hospital chief say he was abused in Israeli custody
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, in an undated screenshot taken from a Democracy Now video posted to YouTube on January 14, 2025 (Democracy Now screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Lawyers for Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya claim in a statement that he was subject to repeated abuse while in Israeli custody.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian rights group representing the detained doctor, says that his lawyer visited him yesterday in Ofer Prison for the first time since his December arrest. The group claims that the IDF held Abu Safiya at the Sde Teiman detention facility before transferring him to his current location in Ofer Prison on January 9, where he was reportedly placed in solitary confinement for 25 days.
While in Sde Teiman, Abu Safiya was subject to “severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest,” the rights group says.
The IDF has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding the claims.
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, outside the hospital in late December 2024. (Facebook screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Located near the Gaza border, the Sde Teiman military base has been the focus of several probes amid reports of widespread misconduct and abuse.
Israel detained Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, along with nearly 240 others during a raid on the medical facility in December 2024, alleging that Hamas was using it as a shelter from Israeli strikes.
The military said it suspects Abu Safiya of being a Hamas terrorist.
In January, the IDF confirmed Abu Safiya’s detention, but did not specify where he was being held. Two former Sde Teiman detainees told CNN that month that they had seen him arrive at the facility in “poor condition.”
According to Al Mezan’s statement, Abu Safiya was interrogated for 10 consecutive days regarding his alleged ties to Hamas and “firmly denied” the accusations, “stressing that he is a doctor whose sole duty is to provide medical care to patients and the wounded.”
Bill to deport Eritrean migrants who back regime passes preliminary Knesset reading
A bill that would deport Eritrean migrants who support their nation’s regime passes a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum 51-0.
The bill aims to grant the interior minister the authority to expel Eritrean migrants who express support for their home country’s ruling government, since they ostensibly have no reason to be seeking asylum in Israel.
Various Israeli governments have taken a series of measures — some of which were blocked by the courts — to encourage the migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum due to war and oppression in their home country, to leave. There are roughly 20,000 Eritreans living in Israel.
There have been repeated clashes between pro- and anti-regime migrants. Last August, two men were killed during a massive street brawl between the two sides in Tel Aviv. In September 2023, at least 170 people were hurt — including police officers — in major clashes between the groups in the city.
“I visited South Tel Aviv this week and was exposed to the chaos that is taking place there, and the main perpetrators of crime are the Eritrean regime-supporting infiltrators,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s sponsors, says in a statement. She calls the bill “the first step toward restoring security and peace to the residents of south Tel Aviv.”
Regime supporters “are here as asylum seekers but at the same time support the regime and therefore are not in danger in their country and can be returned to their homeland,” she asserts.
Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks
Hamas's Khalil al-Hayya during an interview in Istanbul, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)
Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya is currently with a delegation in Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials regarding the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the terror group says in a statement.
Hamas said on Monday it intended to delay the next release of Israeli hostages slated for Saturday “until further notice,” alleging Israeli violations of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.
Today’s announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if Hamas does not free the next hostages by midday Saturday.
IDF says troops killed Palestinian gunman near West Bank’s Tulkarem; soldier injured
An assault rifle captured by IDF troops from a Palestinian gunman in the Nur Shams camp near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, February 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops of the Maglan commando unit killed a Palestinian gunman in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the West Bank earlier today.
The troops encountered a group of gunmen amid an ongoing counter-terrorism operation and exchanged fire with them. One of the gunmen was killed, and his weapon was seized, the military says.
One of the Maglan soldiers was moderately wounded in the incident, and he was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The major counter-terrorism offensive in the northern West Bank, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, was launched on January 21, and the military expects it to last several more weeks. Troops have been operating in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas areas.
‘Look me in the eyes’ — ‘I don’t want to’: Top coalition MK clashes with bereaved families
MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism entered into a confrontation earlier with bereaved families at the Knesset Finance Committee, which he chairs.
Families were demanding the formation of a state commission of inquiry to probe the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, attack. The government has so far refused to establish such a commission.
At one point, Gafni, apparently confusing the families with those of hostages, said: “If there is one thing that is not up for discussion at all for me, it is the return of the hostages. This is a matter of absolute pikuah nefesh (preservation of life). There was never any debate [for me] about this.”
Eyal Eshel, the father of a young surveillance soldier killed during the October 7 attack, was taken aback. “MK Gafni, we are bereaved parents. Good morning to you. What hostages are you talking about?” he said, raising his voice. “Do you see anyone here who is a hostage? The entire country is being held hostage. MK Gafni, we are bereaved families!”
“Alright,” Gafni said tersely.
“Alright? What’s alright?” Eshel demanded. “We’re at nearly 500 days into this Israeli Holocaust.”
לא ברור כלל למה @ESHEL2003 דורש וועדת חקירה ממלכתית כאשר לכולם ברור מה תיהיינה תוצאותיה מראש?
— ???????????????? Yogev Koren ???????????????? (@Koren_Yogev) February 12, 2025
“MK Gafni, I want to enlist your support for our one and only request, which is so basic: the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. So that we can understand what happened here, what the failures were. Look me in the eyes for a moment.”
To this, Gafni, who was looking down, responded: “I don’t want to.”
“You don’t want to look me in the eyes?” Eshel asked. “Why? Why? Even now [you’re exhibiting] such scorn?”
Qatar, Egypt ‘working intensively’ to resolve Gaza truce ‘crisis,’ Palestinian source says
Mediators Qatar and Egypt were “working intensively” to resolve the crisis surrounding the Gaza ceasefire deal, a Palestinian source tells AFP, after Hamas said it would not release hostages as scheduled on Saturday and Israel threatened in response to resume fighting.
“Mediators from Qatar and Egypt are in contact with the American side,” says the source on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak publicly on the Gaza ceasefire.
“They are working intensively to resolve the crisis and compel Israel to implement the humanitarian protocol in the ceasefire agreement and begin negotiations for the second phase,” the source adds.
The ongoing ceasefire deal has come under immense strain in recent days. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that fighting might resume if hostages are not released by Saturday. Hamas threatened not to free the hostages as it alleged Israel was not allowing in all the aid that was promised, a claim Jerusalem rejects.
Defense minister warns aid organizations against smuggling goods to Gaza
Defense Minister Israel Katz issues a warning to organizations and individuals involved in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip against smuggling prohibited goods.
“An attempt to smuggle goods or transfer merchandise/equipment that was not pre-approved into the Gaza Strip constitutes grounds for the seizure and confiscation of the property used in the smuggling attempt, grounds for the seizure and confiscation of the truck that transported the goods, as well as grounds for imposing sanctions on the drivers,” reads a message from the Defense Ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF).
The ministry says organizations or individuals found to be involved in smuggling attempts to Gaza may face financial sanctions.
“The State of Israel will continue to act with determination to prevent the financing of terror and to maintain strict oversight over the transfer of goods while ensuring the safe passage of humanitarian aid in accordance with security directives and international law,” the ministry adds.
Germany to send staff for EU’s Gaza-Egypt border mission
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Germany’s cabinet has decided in principle to deploy police forces for a European Union civilian mission to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah, a government source tells Reuters.
The exact timing as well as the size of Germany’s contribution to secure the key entry and exit point for the Palestinian territory has yet to be decided, the source adds.
The European Union last month restarted the civilian mission with personnel from Spain, Italy and France to secure the crossing, which is also the main passage for humanitarian aid.
Germany, which holds federal elections on February 23, has previously said some of its ministries had consulted on their role in the mission.
Egypt’s Sissi won’t visit White House if Gaza relocation plan on agenda, sources say
Left: US President Donald Trump at Trump National Doral Miami, January 27, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP); Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League joint extraordinary leaders summit in Riyadh, November 11, 2024. (SPA / AFP)
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will not travel to Washington for talks at the White House if the agenda includes US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza, two Egyptian security sources say.
In a call between Trump and Sissi on February 1, the US president extended an open invitation to his Egyptian counterpart to visit the White House, the Egyptian presidency previously said. No date has been set for a visit, a US official said.
The Egyptian presidency and foreign ministry do not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Report: IDF seeks to keep forces in some areas of south Lebanon till end of February
Israeli soldiers seen in Meiss El Jabal, in southern Lebanon, February 10, 2025. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)
The Israeli military has requested to remain in some areas of southern Lebanon until February 28, Lebanese news channel LBCI reports.
According to LBCI, the Lebanese side has rejected the request.
On Monday, a US official told The Times of Israel that Israel had asked the Trump administration for another extension to the deadline for the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but won’t get it.
Under the terms of the original deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as Israel withdrew over 60 days. Hezbollah was also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Hours before the initial 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 to ensure that Hezbollah could not regain a foothold along Israel’s northern border. Both Israel and Lebanon agreed to the new date.
Hamas lauds Jordan and Egypt for repeated rejections of Trump’s Gaza relocation plan
Hamas praises Jordan and Egypt for their repeated rejections of US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and displace its population to the two neighboring countries.
The terror group says in a statement that the Jordanian and Egyptian positions “confirm that there is an Arab plan to reconstruct Gaza without displacing its people.”
Earlier today, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced its plans for a “comprehensive vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that ensures Palestinians remain on their land.
The ministry’s statement came a day after Trump floated halting aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to cooperate with his proposal.
During a meeting with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II confirmed that Egypt would present a plan that Arab leaders would discuss at coming talks. He also said that his country would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza.
Egypt announced earlier this week it would hold an “emergency Arab summit” on February 27 addressing Trump’s plan.
Vetting committee approves candidacy of Eyal Zamir for next IDF chief
Then-deputy IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir in 2022. (IDF)
A vetting committee approves the candidacy of Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir for the position of IDF chief of staff, paving the way for him to step into the role on March 6.
The cabinet will need to hold a vote to approve Zamir as the 24th commander of the IDF.
The Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, led by former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, gives its approval to Zamir, who until recently was the director-general of the Defense Ministry, to take over for outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who announced his resignation over the military failures that enabled Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he will bring the appointment to the next cabinet meeting for approval.
Herzog: Israel insists all hostages come back as soon as possible
President Isaac Herzog (R) with Estonia's President Alar Karis at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, February 12, 2025 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Speaking of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, President Isaac Herzog says Israel insists that “all of them come back as soon as possible.”
Hosting Estonia’s President Alar Karis, Herzog says, “We are extremely anxious about our hostages who are in Gaza, in the worst of situations. We have terrible reports from hostages who came out.
“We are getting reports about our hostages being in duress, tortured, and in the worst of conditions that any human being can suffer, and we want to see all of them back as soon as possible, and we insist that all of them come back as soon as possible,” he says.
The bilateral meeting between the two heads of state, initiated by Karis, dealt with regional challenges, the release of the hostages, and bilateral cooperation, according to the President’s Residence. Karis invited Herzog to Estonia.
Police arrest 7 relatives of Bedouin woman murdered in Negev town
Police have arrested seven relatives of a woman murdered in the Negev this week on suspicion of involvement in her death, Arab outlets report.
Aisha Abu-Wadi, a widow in her 30s from Kuseife, was getting out of a taxi to visit her children at school in the Bedouin town on Monday when she was shot dead by a masked man who fled the scene.
Abu-Wadi was murdered amid a long-running custody dispute between her and the family of her late husband, who was killed in a traffic accident a few years ago.
Her children moved in with their paternal grandparents soon after her husband’s death, and the widow struggled to visit them.
עאישה נרצחה דקות לאחר השיחה עם בנה: "מתגעגעת אליך, תשמור על אחים שלך"https://t.co/W1Wee00qMH pic.twitter.com/zLnOZWId1e
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) February 11, 2025
Her death added to the spiraling homicide rate in the Arab community. In a 2024 report, the Israel Observatory on Femicide found that a disproportionate number of female murder victims are Arab, comprising half of the 20 women killed in Israel that year.
According to the anti-violence watchdog Abraham Initiatives, there have been 31 homicides in the Arab community since the beginning of 2025, compared to 17 during the same period last year.
Family of hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana says it has received ‘clear indication’ he’s alive
Yosef-Haim Ohana, taken captive by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova desert rave on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
Hana Mastronov, whose nephew Yosef-Haim Ohana is held hostage in Gaza, tells Ynet that the family has received a “clear indication” that he is alive.
“When we saw the people who returned this past Saturday, it broke us even more than we were already broken. That is why we chose to speak to the media,” Mastronov tells Ynet, in reference to the poor health of the latest freed hostages.
In recent days, several families of hostages have said they’ve received signs of life from their loved ones. It is thought that these have come from hostages released from Gaza under the current ceasefire deal.
Ohana, 24, was taken captive at the Supernova desert rave on October 7, 2023.
Laborer falls to his death in Eilat factory
A laborer has been killed in the southern city of Eilat after falling from a height of some 10 meters (30 feet) at his workplace in a factory.
Paramedics declared his death at the scene.
Report: Netanyahu, cabinet unsure what Trump meant in comments on hostage release
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on February 9, 2025. (GPO/Screenshot)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet were not sure exactly what US President Donald Trump meant by his statement that Hamas must free “all of the hostages” by Saturday at noon, and therefore sent out a series of vague messages after yesterday’s security cabinet meeting, Army Radio reports.
The forum couldn’t determine whether Trump meant all 76 remaining hostages in Gaza, or all of the hostages slated to be released in the first stage. Israeli statements after the meeting threatened a return to war if “our hostages” and “all of them” weren’t released. Another message said nine hostages had to be released “in the coming days” (of the 17 yet to be released under the current ceasefire phase, nine are known to be alive).
“We are in a situation where we can’t refuse to adopt [the positions of] Trump, and therefore the prime minister’s wording was convoluted,” one of the ministers tells Army Radio anonymously.
Zelensky: Strike on Kyiv shows that Putin is ‘not preparing for peace’
This handout photograph released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on February 12, 2025, shows Ukrainian rescuers working to extinguish a fire in a building following a missile attack at an undisclosed location in Kyiv region on February 12, 2025. (Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)
A fatal Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv early this morning shows that the Kremlin is not interested in pursuing peace in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.
AFP journalists in the capital heard a volley of explosions ring out over the city and saw the body of one person killed covered in a black plastic sheet on a street littered with debris.
Zelensky announced that one person was killed and at least four others were wounded — including a child — in the attack that he said damaged apartment blocks, office buildings, and civilian infrastructure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not preparing for peace — he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities,” Zelensky writes on social media after the attack.
“Only strong steps and pressure on Russia can stop this terror. Right now we need the unity and the support of all our partners in the fight for a just end to this war,” he adds.
Those comments come on the back of mounting rhetoric from Moscow, Washington, and Kyiv over the possibility of negotiations that could end the nearly three-year Russian invasion.
Israel sells $5 billion in bonds in international debt offering
Israel sells $5 billion in dollar-denominated government bonds in international markets to bring down its budget deficit and finance the costs of the war.
In the first debt sale of 2025, the Finance Ministry offered two new series of 5-year and 10-year government bonds. Demand for the debt issuance topped $23 billion, or 4.6 times the amount sold. The two notes were priced at a spread of 120 and 135 basis points, respectively, above the US government bond yield for a similar period.
“This is an important public issuance that is a testament to the financial stability of the State of Israel and the high confidence of global investors in the Israeli economy, even in a time the country faces global, security-related and local challenges,” says Finance Ministry Accountant General Yali Rothenberg. “The spreads in the debt issuance reflect the significant decrease in Israel’s risk premium.”
The sale attracted 300 investors from over 30 countries, including large institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds, financial investors and entities that hold long-term government bonds of the State of Israel. Israeli Finance Ministry officials met investors in the UK and US ahead of the bond sale, as the first stage of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza was sealed last month.
Bookrunners of the issuance were Bank of America, Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan.
Israel issues condemnation after top Jordanian lawyer seen trampling its flag
Israel issues a strong condemnation of the trampling of an Israeli flag by Walid Al-Adwan, deputy head of the Jordanian Bar Association.
It also lodges a formal protest with Jordan’s embassy in Israel.
The incident, which took place earlier this week at the entrance to Jordan’s Bar Association, was filmed and made the rounds on social media.
Walid Al-Adwan, Vice Chairman of the Jordanian Bar Association, at the entrance to the bar building.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. pic.twitter.com/0iuwTzFyeM
— ????????????️Ayelet (@Ayelet39725701) February 9, 2025
The Foreign Ministry calls the incident “an act of incitement that is inconsistent with the spirit of the peace agreement between the countries.”
Israel, says the Foreign Ministry, expects Jordan’s government to issue a condemnation and prevent such incidents in the future.
Arab League chief: Moving Palestinians ‘unacceptable for Arab world’
File: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit attends the closing press conference of the joint extraordinary leaders summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League in Riyadh on November 11, 2024. - (Fayez Nureldine / AFP)
Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit rejects any displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, calling it “unacceptable” for the region.
“The focus today is on Gaza and tomorrow it will shift to the West Bank with the objective of emptying Palestine of its historical inhabitants,” he asserts at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
“It’s unacceptable for the Arab world, which has fought this idea for 100 years.”
Aboul Gheit is commenting on US President Donald Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza, which has been widely condemned in the Arab world.
“After resisting this for 100 years, we Arabs are not about to capitulate in any way now because we have not suffered a political, military or cultural defeat,” he says.
IDF says airstrike in southern Gaza targeted two suspects who picked up a drone
File: People walk past building rubble in a ruined neighborhood in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 21, 2025 (Eyad BABA / AFP)
The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah this morning, saying it targeted two suspects who had gone to pick up a drone.
The drone had been flown from Israel into the southern Gaza Strip, and was being tracked throughout its flight, the military says. In recent months, the IDF says, it has identified several attempts to smuggle weapons and drugs into Gaza using drones. The drone was apparently being controlled by smugglers on the Israeli side.
An Israeli strike targeted the drone and the two suspects who taken possession of it. One was killed and the second was wounded, according to Palestinian media.
Two nurses in Australia suspended for saying they would kill Israeli patients
Two nurses in a Sydney hospital have been suspended from work for threatening to kill Jewish patients and refusing to treat them in a video on TikTok, triggering an investigation by police, authorities say.
The video was shared by a TikTok user named Max Veifer and shows him talking to a man and woman wearing medical scrubs. They were identified in media reports as Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
“I’m so upset that you’re Israeli … eventually you’re going to get killed and go to (hell),” Nadir said after Veifer mentioned he is from Israel in their video chat.
When asked why he would be killed, Abu Lebdeh said: “It’s Palestine’s country, not your country” and used a torrent of obscenity. Abu Lebdeh said she would not treat any Jewish patients and instead kill them. Nadir, with a threatening gesture, said he had already sent many “Israeli dog[s],” who visited the hospital, to hell.
A MUST SHARE: An Australian doctor, and a medical professional by his side, claim they have kiIIed Israeli patients — and will continue to do so.
They gleefully confess to murder. Then wish death upon the Israeli talking to them.
Let's find them!
????TT Max Veifer pic.twitter.com/Tcqq1rt0eC
— dahlia kurtz ✡︎ דליה קורץ (@DahliaKurtz) February 11, 2025
New South Wales state Health Minister Ryan Park says the nurses have been “stood down immediately,” pending an investigation.
“Obviously, the investigative process now takes place. I do not want to leave a sliver of light to allow any of them to be able to think that they will ever work for New South Wales Health again,” Park tells reporters during a press conference with NSW Health Secretary, Susan Pearce.
Palestinians report one dead in Israeli drone strike in Rafah
Palestinian media reports one dead in an Israeli drone strike in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Israeli forces are still deployed at the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border, and the IDF has warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
Rubio: Israel can’t allow Hamas to use the ceasefire to rebuild itself
US President Donald Trump (L) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend 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 — Appearing to justify a potential IDF resumption of fighting in Gaza, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Israel cannot allow Hamas to use the ongoing ceasefire to reconstitute.
“Part of the challenge here is that Hamas continues to use networks to smuggle in weaponry and aid for themselves to reconstitute themselves,” Rubio says during an interview with NewsNation.
“Israel can’t allow that to happen. You can’t allow Hamas to use the ceasefire to rebuild itself and recover strength,” he continues. “It’s a ceasefire, but it’s not a stupid ceasefire.”
Hamas in recent days threatened not to release the next three hostages set to be freed Saturday, claiming Israel has violated the ceasefire by restricting the flow of aid, an assertion rejected by Jerusalem.
Asked about the Hamas claim, Rubio responds, “You can’t believe anything Hamas says.”
In a separate interview with Fox News, Rubio says Hamas is “breaking the deal,” without elaborating.
He says US President Donald Trump lost patience after seeing the emaciated condition of the hostages released by Hamas last weekend. “He’s tired of waiting for one, two, three people at a time. It’s time for all of them to come home,” Rubio maintains.
“If these guys don’t go through with their deal on Saturday, then I think we’re back to where we were a few months ago, where Hamas is going to be eliminated and the Israelis are going to go in and take care of that problem,” he says. It’s unclear how long that would take, though, given that Hamas has managed to repeatedly fill vacuums created by IDF operations.
Rubio says Washington is open to hearing alternative plans from Arab allies who oppose Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza.
“If people don’t like the Trump plan for Gaza — right now it’s the only plan. It’s now incumbent upon the Arab countries… if they think they’ve got a better plan, we need to hear it,” the secretary says, reiterating a point made by US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz last week.
IDF to test siren systems in parts of Tel Aviv at 11 a.m.
The IDF says a Home Front Command siren test will take place today in the Tel Aviv-Yarkon area and the Tel Aviv-South and Jaffa area, at 11:05 and 11:10 a.m.
It says if a true alert is activated, another siren will sound after the first, and notifications will be sent out on the Home Front Command app.
North Korea says ‘world now boiling like a porridge pot’ over Trump’s Gaza plan
North Korean state media denounces US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians as ludicrous and accuses Washington of extortion.
The slim hopes of Palestinians for safety and peace are being crushed by the proposal, a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says, without directly naming Trump.
“The world is now boiling like a porridge pot over the US’ bombshell declaration,” KCNA says.
Egypt to present ‘comprehensive’ plan for rebuilding Gaza while Palestinians stay there
Egypt plans to “present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that ensures Palestinians remain on their land, the Egyptian foreign ministry says in a statement.
Egypt “hopes to cooperate” with the administration of US President Donald Trump “to reach comprehensive and just peace in the region.”
The statement comes as Trump continues to press for his plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its population to neighboring Egypt and Jordan despite rejection from Arab states.
‘Some things I say will be incorrect’: Musk walks back administration’s Gaza condoms claim
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with his son X Æ A-Xii join US President Donald Trump as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, February 11, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
WASHINGTON — US Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk appears to walk back the Trump administration’s claim that the previous administration allocated $50 million in condoms for Gaza.
While the tech mogul carries his son on his shoulders and stands next to US President Donald Trump, who is signing executive orders in the Oval Office, a reporter points to recent reporting revealing that DOGE’s condom claim mistook the Gaza Strip for a province in Mozambique that received contraceptives from the US Agency for International Development in order to combat AIDS.
“Some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” Musk replies. “Nobody is going to bat 1.000. We will make mistakes, but we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”
“I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million dollars worth of condoms anywhere… I’m not sure that’s something Americans would be really excited about. That really is an enormous number of condoms,” he continues.
“If it were to Mozambique instead of Gaza, that’s not as bad, but still… why are we doing that?” Musk asks.
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