Feb. 18: Hamas said offering to release all remaining captives in one big phase two exchange

In apparent first, Israeli minister indicates removal of Gazans will be forced, rather than voluntary

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, October 30, 2024. (Dani Shem-Tov/Knesset)

In an apparent first, an Israeli minister indicates that Israel’s effort to remove Palestinians from Gaza will be forced rather than voluntary.

Far-right Likud Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls the effort a “deportation plan” in a tweet in which he castigates Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for allegedly asking that she be consulted in order to determine the initiative’s legality.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even far-right Otzma Yehudit chief Itamar Ben Gvir have characterized the initiative to date as “voluntary migration.”

IDF says it carried out strikes against several weapons sites that belonged to fallen Syrian regime

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes against several weapon sites belonging to the former Syrian regime in southern Syria a short while ago.

The military releases footage of the strikes, which took place some 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Israel’s border.

The strikes had targeted Syrian tanks used to store weapons, according to military sources. In the footage, armored vehicles can be seen targeted in the strikes.

Israel has vowed to destroy weapons belonging to the former Assad regime to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.

כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקפו לפני זמן קצר, בהכוונת אוגדה 210 אמצעי לחימה של המשטר הסורי הישן במרחב סעסע שבדרום סוריה.

צה״ל ימשיך לפעול על מנת להסיר כל איום על מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/sA0Dl8DpfV

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 18, 2025

France’s Macron expresses support for Bibas family

French President Emmanuel Macron tweets his support for the Bibas family, which is clinging to hope regarding the fate of their loved ones after Hamas announced it would be returning their bodies on Thursday.

“Shiri, Kfir, Ariel. Faces of innocence and love. Faces of an eternal humanity that the barbarity of Hamas will never destroy,” Macron writes.

“France mobilized for the release of all hostages and stands alongside Yarden and the Bibas family. In universal brotherhood,” he adds.

Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor who warned of the danger of indifference, dies at 98

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, right, talks with Marian Turski, a Jewish journalist and Holocaust survivor, after laying a wreath at the Monument to the Fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

Marian Turski, a Holocaust survivor who became a journalist and historian in postwar Poland and co-founded Warsaw’s landmark Jewish history museum, has died. He was 98.

The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews announces his death, describing him as a person of exceptional moral and intellectual qualities who always stood on the side “of minorities, the excluded, the wronged.”

“An authority of global importance, an advocate of Polish-Jewish understanding, a publicist, a historian. A Polish Jew. A person without whom our museum would not exist,” the museum director, Zygmunt Stępiński, writes in a statement.

Turski survived the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were forced to live, two death marches and imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was in German-occupied Poland. In all, he lost 39 relatives in the Holocaust.

Unlike many Jewish survivors who left postwar Poland, Turski chose to remain. He was on the political left his entire life, and was a member of the communist party. While on a scholarship to the United States in 1956, he marched from Selma to Montgomery with Martin Luther King Jr. in support of civil rights for Black Americans.

Turski was among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors and spoke during observances last month marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

Macron says Trump ‘can restart useful dialogue’ with Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron says he will host a new meeting on Ukraine after the talks between the new US administration and Russia, adding that Donald Trump “can restart a useful dialogue” with Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with French regional newspapers, Macron says Paris was not “preparing to send ground troops, which are belligerent to the conflict, to the front” in Ukraine but was considering, with its ally Britain, sending “experts or even troops in limited terms, outside any conflict zone.”

He says the new talks will take place on Wednesday “with several European and non-European states,” after an emergency meeting on Monday in Paris which brought together a small number of key European countries.

Rubio briefs European ministers on his Russia talks

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed key European ministers on Tuesday on his talks in Riyadh with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the Ukraine war, the French foreign ministry says.

With European governments worried about being excluded from talks on the Ukraine conflict, Rubio spoke with foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy, and the European Union foreign affairs chief, the ministry says, without giving details of the discussions.

Judge sets hearing to discuss dropping charges against NYC mayor

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs Emancipation Hall during the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025 in Washington. (Angelina Katsanis/Pool/Getty Images/AFP)

A US federal judge has ordered the Trump Justice Department to appear in court Wednesday to explain its extraordinary decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a move that triggered a wave of protest resignations.

US District Judge Dale Ho, who is presiding over the case, has ordered the embattled mayor of the largest US city and Justice Department prosecutors to attend a 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) hearing in Manhattan to discuss the reasons for dismissing the charges.

In asking last week for the case against Adams to be dropped, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove says the prosecution was restricting the Democratic mayor’s “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.”

The unusual request prompted allegations that it was a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams agreeing to enforce Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — a claim denied by the mayor.

“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case,” he says.

Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has been under growing pressure to resign.

On Monday, the head of New York’s city council called on the mayor, who is facing reelection in November, to step down and four deputy mayors announced that they were resigning.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, was meeting with “key leaders” on Tuesday to discuss what she called a “path forward with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.”

UK ‘deeply concerned’ for couple held in Iran on spy charges

The UK foreign office on Tuesday says it is “deeply concerned” after Iranian authorities announced they had charged a British couple detained in Iran with espionage.

Husband and wife Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested in the southeast of Iran earlier this year.

“We are deeply concerned by reports that two British nationals have been charged with espionage in Iran. We continue to raise this case directly with the Iranian authorities,” the UK foreign office says in a statement.

Lebanon civil defense retrieves 23 bodies from border towns after Israeli pullout

Lebanon’s civil defense has recovered 23 bodies from several border towns on Tuesday after Israeli troops withdrew under a ceasefire deadline, according to a statement carried by official media.

“Specialized teams today… managed to remove 14 bodies from Mais al-Jabal, three from Markaba and three from Kfar Kila, in addition to three from Odaisseh,” says the civil defense statement published by the state-run National News Agency.

Hamas said offering to release all remaining hostages in one big phase two exchange

The Kan public broadcaster reports that Hamas has submitted an offer to Israel to release all hostages at once in phase two, rather than spreading out the releases as the sides agreed to do during phase one.

The offer is made as Hamas is seeking to prevent an Israeli return to the war and is prioritizing its own survival over the issue of security prisoners who would also be released in phase two, Kan says.

Fifty-nine Israelis will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one of the deal, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. The other 35 have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.

UK said reconsidering UNRWA funding after released British-Israeli hostage told Starmer she was held in agency facilities

Emily (right) and Mandy Damari on the phone to UK PM Keir Starmer, January 31, 2025. (Courtesy)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirms to Channel 12 that it has formally decided to again reconsider its over $16 million in annual funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

The decision comes after Starmer’s phone call with recently released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari who told the premier that she was held during parts of her captivity in UNRWA facilities and that she did not receive necessary medical treatment.

Jewish Florida man charged with attempted murder after shooting 2 Israelis he thought were ‘Palestinians’

Mugshot of Mordechai Brafman, who is accused of opening fire on two people he thought were Palestinians in February 2025 (Miami-Dade County Corrections)

A Florida man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after opening fire on two men in Miami Beach who he thought were Palestinians.

According to an arrest report, Mordechai Brafman shot at the men 17 times in the “unprovoked” attack, telling officers that while driving his truck, he “saw two Palestinians” and opened fire on their car, thinking he had killed the pair. But the men survived, one suffering a shot to the shoulder and the other grazed by a bullet.

Brafman, 27, is being held without bond on second-degree murder charges at a county jail in Miami, records show. He’s also been ordered to stay away from the victims, an Israeli father and son who were vacationing in South Florida, according to the Miami Herald.

Brafman’s attorney Dustin Tischler has said his client was experiencing a “severe mental health crisis” at the time of the shooting, which caused him to “fear for his life.”

“It is believed that his ability to make sound judgments was significantly compromised,” Tischler says in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that Brafman is seeking “necessary treatment” while cooperating with law enforcement.

The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has called for federal hate crime charges against Brafman, saying his alleged bias against Palestinians should warrant the charges regardless of the victims’ ethnicity.

2 IDF soldiers vacationing in Amsterdam rushed back to Israel amid arrest warrant concerns

Channel 12 reports that two IDF conscripts vacationing in Amsterdam were rushed back to Israel after pro-Palestinian groups got wind of their trip and were mobilizing to have arrest warrants submitted against the pair.

The network says this is the first time that conscripts have been faced with such a situation, with previous instances involving IDF reservists.

The two soldiers had posted photos on their social media accounts from their service in northern Gaza during the war, with some of the photos showing blindfolded Palestinian suspects — apparently illicit conduct.

The two soldiers also posted that they were heading to Amsterdam along with pictures from their trip while they were there.

Pro-Palestinian groups posted the soldiers’ information online and the pair were instructed by Israeli authorities to remain in their hotel room amid the unlikely event that arrest warrants would be submitted against them and the more likely concern that their safety was at risk, Channel 12 reports.

They were whisked back to Israel and have arrived safely.

Some hostage families reportedly worried about Dermer heading negotiating team

Channel 12 reports that some of the hostage families are concerned about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to place Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer at the head of Israel’s hostage negotiating team.

The families point to remarks Dermer has made in recent meetings with them during which he said he would not support any hostage deal that brings about an end to the war before Hamas has been fully dismantled.

Progressive NY Jewish groups rally against Trump deportations

Jewish community leaders and other community members hold rally calling on New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul to protect immigrants against US President Donald Trump's deportation plans, on the steps of City Hall in New York City on February 18, 2025. (KENA BETANCUR / AFP)

Progressive Jewish groups in New York demand that local leaders oppose US President Donald Trump’s plans to deport undocumented immigrants.

More than 50 rabbis and 10 advocacy groups sign a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams urging them “to do everything within your power to oppose all aspects of President Trump’s mass deportation agenda and to protect immigrant communities across New York.”

“Our children will show up to school to find their classmates missing; the care workers who take care of New York’s older adults won’t show up to work; and our neighbors will disappear in ICE sweeps,” the letter says.

The activists announce the effort at a press conference at City Hall in Manhattan.

The signatories tie the effort to historical Jewish migration to the US and the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.

“We read in the Book of Exodus of how a new Pharaoh arose over Egypt who scapegoated and marginalized the Israelites, spinning a narrative that they were a threat and needed to be suppressed and ultimately enslaved,” the letter says. “We will not stand by while history repeats itself. You, our state and local leaders, must not either.”

The letter urges New York leaders to tell law enforcement to restrict crackdowns on migrants in sensitive locations such as schools, stop law enforcement from collaborating with ICE, not use jails to detain migrants, and provide immigrants in New York with resources such as legal representation.

Groups endorsing the letter include HIAS, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, the New York Jewish Agenda, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and the Workers Circle.

Netanyahu: Israeli conditions for phase two are Hamas disarmament and removal from Gaza, no PA rule

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers during a recent meeting that Israel’s conditions in upcoming negotiations on the terms of the hostage deal’s second phase are for Hamas to disarm, for the terror group to have no presence in Gaza and for the Palestinian Authority to be barred from the the post-war management of Gaza, Channel 12 reports.

It’s unclear whether those demands can coalesce with the effort to release all remaining Israeli hostages, with some analysts speculating that the only way to accomplish the latter goal will be to end the war with Hamas still in Gaza in some form.

Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that there would be a separate meeting held regarding the phase two negotiations before the Israeli delegation departs for Doha.

The delegation will be headed by Netanyahu confidant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer after the premier pushed aside the heads of the Shin Bet, Mossad and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon with whom he sparred throughout the negotiations. The security chiefs have long felt that a deal could and should have been reached earlier but that political considerations in Israel hampered those efforts.

Netanyahu asked ministers not to leak what was being discussed in the meeting, explaining that doing so risks the lives of the hostages.

Fifty-nine Israelis remain will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one. Twenty-four of them are believed to be alive, while 35 of them have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.

As Israel readies for negotiations regarding phase two, it is also preparing for the potential resumption of the war, with large amounts of troops and equipment being amassed along the Gaza border, Channel 12 says, acknowledging that a return to fighting will be substantial but complex, given that roughly two dozen hostages are still being held throughout Gaza.

EU lawmakers warn Europe cannot ‘rely on’ US

EU lawmakers are demanding Europe “double down” on bolstering its defenses and supporting Ukraine after the United States launched efforts with Russia to stop the war.

“Europe can no longer fully rely on the United States to defend our shared values and interests, including continued support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” says a statement from the European People’s Party, Socialists and Democrats, Renew and Greens.

“We must face this new reality and double down on our joint European effort in defense of Ukraine and European security as a whole by establishing a credible and strong deterrence against any aggression.”

The call for action came after top US officials met Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia to lay the ground for talks on ending Moscow’s three-year war on Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump has sidelined Washington’s allies and upended Western efforts by reaching out to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Lawmakers say the EU must “ensure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible military position” and should enact legislation allowing it to seize over 200 billion euros ($210 billion) of Russian assets frozen in the bloc.

“There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine and the European Union at the table. There can be no negotiation about European security without the European Union,” they say.

The head-spinning moves from Washington have been coupled with suggestions from US officials that American troops could be redeployed out of Europe.

“The European Union and its Member States have no choice but to take immediate action, with NATO and like-minded non-EU allies, to invest in a more efficient and integrated European security and defense architecture,” the lawmakers say.

“Our Groups recognize the sense of urgency and the need to act swiftly to secure the necessary funding for our defense policy.”

European nations have ramped up defense spending since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in 2022 but admit they must move much faster to face the threat from Putin.

The EU fears that if Trump cuts a bad deal behind their backs with the Kremlin then it will leave them facing an emboldened and heavily armed Russia.

Beirut airport to close Sunday during funeral of slain Hezbollah leader

Beirut airport will close for four hours on Sunday during the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s civil aviation authority has announced.

“The airport will be closed, and takeoffs and landings… will halt on February 23, 2025, from 12:00 pm (1000 GMT) until 4:00 pm,” the authority says in a statement carried by official media on Tuesday.

Nasrallah was killed in a huge Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, as Israel scaled up its campaign against the Iran-backed terror group following almost a year of cross-border hostilities initiated by Hezbollah.

Sunday’s funeral will also be for Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure who had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah, before he too was killed in an Israeli raid in October.

The funeral is to begin at 1:00 pm at a sports stadium in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

It will include a speech by current Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, and is to be followed by a procession to Nasrallah’s burial site.

Jordan’s King Abdullah leaves hospital after minor surgery, palace says

Jordan’s King Abdullah left hospital on Tuesday after undergoing minor surgery, the royal palace says.

The 63-year-old monarch was admitted earlier in the day for an incisional hernia at the country’s King Hussein Medical City.

He is set to resume his working schedule on Wednesday, according to the royal palace.

Iran supreme leader hosts PIJ chief, congratulates him on ‘victory in Gaza’

Iran’s supreme leader met with Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ziad Nakhaleh and a small accompanying delegation earlier today in Tehran.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei scorned US President Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza during the meeting, calling his repeated calls to displace Palestinians from the enclave en masse “foolish plans” that “will lead nowhere.”

He also congratulated Nakhaleh on his group’s purported “victory in Gaza” and claimed that as global public opinion tilts to favor the Palestinian cause, no plan for the Strip will succeed without the “consent of the Resistance and the people of Gaza.”

Per a statement from Khamenei’s office, Nakhaleh thanked the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese proxy, for lending support to the Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups over the course of the Gaza war.

מזכ"ל הג'האד האסלאמי זיאד נח'אלה נפגש עם המנהיג העליון של איראן עלי ח'אמנאי בטהראן pic.twitter.com/6ciy6hUaKs

— ספיר ליפקין | Sapir Lipkin | سابير ليبكين (@sapirlipkin) February 18, 2025

IDF says it fired warning shots at Palestinian suspects who approached troops in Gaza

The IDF says it fired warning shots at Palestinian suspects who approached troops and “posed a threat” in several areas in the Gaza Strip today.

In one incident in southern Gaza, the IDF says forces opened fire directly on a suspect who did not withdraw after warning shots.

Additionally, a drone strike was carried out as a warning in central Gaza today to prevent a vehicle from driving to the Strip’s north via an unapproved route, the military says.

Vehicular traffic is only permitted on the Salah a-Din road, where a private company is inspecting Palestinian cars heading north.

“The IDF calls the residents of Gaza to follow its instructions and avoid approaching the troops deployed in the area,” the military adds.

Lebanese search for dead in devastated villages as Israel withdraws

Residents walk amid the rubble of destroyed buldings as they return to the southern Lebanese village of Meis al-Jabal on February 18, 2025. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Residents of south Lebanon have returned to devastated villages, searching for the bodies of relatives killed in last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of the territory.

In the frontline village of Kfar Kila, barely a building was left standing. “I reached my neighborhood and I couldn’t tell where my house had been,” says one resident, Noha Hammoud.

“The entire neighborhood is destroyed.”

Rescue workers had pulled several bodies from the rubble, and had even found two people still alive, she says. Local sources say those found dead and alive were fighters from Hezbollah, thousands of whom were killed in the war.

Senior Lebanese politician Ali Hassan Khalil, who hails from the south, says hundreds of residents have gone to inspect more than a half dozen villages that became accessible, adding that the Lebanese army was still working to clear roads.

However, Israel’s continued presence in five south Lebanon posts left “an open wound,” he adds.

The conflict, which began when Hezbollah opened fire on October 8, 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel and more than a million people in Lebanon.

At the Israeli Kibbutz Misgav Am, next to the border with Lebanon, some residents visited and planted trees.

“Although we had to evacuate, our hearts stayed here,” says one of the kibbutz members, Daniel Malik. “We really want to come back but there is big uncertainty because we don’t know when it will be safe.”

In Yaroun, another frontline village in Lebanon, a woman holds a bouquet of spring flowers in one hand and Hezbollah’s yellow flag in another as she surveyed the destruction.

Rescue workers pulled at least one body from the rubble.

“Our feeling is a mix of joy and sadness because there are still martyrs we have yet to find,” says returning resident Suhaila Daher. “All the destruction can be replaced, thank God, but the martyrs will not return.”

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, speaking to Reuters in Yaroun, says: “The Israeli enemy is still occupying Lebanese land and this Lebanese land must be liberated and now the primary responsibility falls on the Lebanese state.”

More than $50 billion needed to rebuild Gaza, World Bank joint assessment says

More than $50 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank after the 15-month Israel-Hamas conflict, according to an assessment released by the United Nations, European Union and World Bank.

The Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment says that $53.2 billion is needed for recovery and reconstruction over the next ten years, with $20 billion needed in the first three.

Ukrainian official: Trump ‘feeding Putin’s appetite’

A senior Ukrainian official criticizes US President Donald Trump for launching talks with Russia without Ukraine after officials from Washington and Moscow held their first meeting since the invasion of Ukraine.

“Both [former US president Barack] Obama before 2014 and [Joe] Biden before this war talked to Putin about everyone without everyone, about Europe without Europe, and someone in Trump’s team led him in the same footsteps. This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” the senior official requesting anonymity tells AFP.

Released hostage Iair Horn struggling to walk and see, but he’s completely focused on freeing his brother, relative says

Iair Horn gives a video statement on February 17, 2025. (Screen capture/ Channel 12)

Released hostage Iair Horn is struggling with walking and with vision problems after being kept in tunnels for 498 days, but all he cares about right now is getting his younger brother Eitan Horn home, says Dalia Cusnir, the sister-in-law of the Horn brothers, in a meeting with journalists.

As Horn was meeting with doctors about his care, says Cusnir, “he stood up and stopped everyone. ‘You asked what I need,’ said Iair Horn. ‘The only thing I need is for you to bring me my brother.'”

Cusnir says Horn was initially held with his brother Eitan and then separated but they don’t know how long ago they were separated. Eitan Horn was visiting Iair on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 when they were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists.

“Being with Eitan was very significant,” says Cusnir of Iair’s captivity. “It gave him a reason, a purpose to fight and struggle and to wake up and stand up every morning. He had to keep going because of Eitan.”

Dalia Cusnir, sister-in-law of freed hostage Iair Horn, during a meeting with journalists on February 18, 2025 (Screen capture)

Eitan Cusnir has a severe skin disease that requires medication and has led to infections in the past, and the lack of hygiene in the tunnels is highly problematic with his disease and frightening to his family.

As the eldest son in the family of three brothers, who used to sleep in the same bedroom growing up in Argentina and followed one another to Israel as teens, Iair Horn feels tremendous responsibility for his brothers, who Cusnir says are like triplets.

Eitan Horn is not on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first stage of the current hostage deal.

Iair Horn hasn’t shared many details about his captivity, says his sister-in-law. He has mentioned a little bit about physical and psychological torture and that the worst day was October 7, when they were abducted with severe violence.

Amos Horn, left, Dalia Cusnir, right, and their children hugging released hostage Iair Horn, their brother, uncle and brother-in-law on February 15, 2025 (GPO)

“They are counting the minutes and the seconds,” says Cusnir, “knowing that if they arrive at the end of the day and are still alive, that’s a miracle, and who knows what’s next.”

Iair Horn was unaware of what was happening with the other hostages, and thought that all the women and children were released in November 2023. He also didn’t know what happened to Nir Oz, where one in four people were killed or taken hostage, nor of the vast destruction in the community that day.

“He asked to see a list of all the hostages from the other kibbutz and the Nova festival,” says Cusnir. “He said that’s his task, and he wanted to go to the [hostage] rally yesterday [marking 500 days of captivity.] He said, ‘I’m going to be on the stage to talk to everyone,’ and we had to tell him the doctors wouldn’t allow it yet.”

Cusnir adds, “He said that as long as there are hostages in Gaza, he is still a hostage.”

Israeli official claims reports of caravans entering Gaza ‘exaggerated’

Scores of trucks carrying mobile homes line up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in preparation for entering Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing, Egypt, February 18, 2025. (Mayar Mokhtar/AP)

A senior Israeli official says that reports about allowing caravans into the Gaza Strip are “overly and unnecessarily exaggerated.”

“Anyone who sees the devastation in the Gaza Strip today and the extent of the destruction of buildings and terrorist infrastructure there can only imagine what will happen to the temporary caravans if the IDF’s intense fighting resumes,” says the official.

A second Israeli official told Israel Hayom earlier today that it would allow caravans and heavy equipment into Gaza in a staged manner, as long as Hamas fulfills its obligations.

The deal reportedly stipulates that Israel allow several hundred mobile homes into Gaza during the first phase.

US says it’s committed to Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, will continue assisting Lebanese army

The US State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau tweets, “The United States is committed to supporting the implementation of the cessation of hostilities and will continue to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces, Lebanon’s sole security guarantor.”

Netanyahu confidant Dermer to replace Mossad chief as head of Israeli hostage negotiating team

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer walks into the Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, DC on December 26, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will lead talks on phase 2 of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas, according to Channel 12.

Mossad chief David Barnea has led previous rounds.

An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that there has not yet been approval for an Israeli negotiating team to head to Qatar for the talks.

Lebanese government policy statement seeks new IMF program, drops language legitimizing Hezbollah

Lebanon’s new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new program and will work to deal with the country’s financial default and public debt, according to a policy statement approved by the cabinet.

The statement, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, says the government would work for an economical revival that could only be achieved through restructuring the banking sector.

Lebanon has been in deep economic crisis since 2019, when its financial system collapsed under the weight of massive state debts, prompting a sovereign default in 2020 and freezing ordinary depositors out of their savings in the banking system.

Beirut reached a draft funding deal with IMF in 2022 – contingent on reforms that authorities failed to deliver.

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who took office as part of a new government agreed earlier this month, told Reuters an IMF mission is expected to visit Lebanon in March.

Jaber said he had met the IMF’s resident representative in Lebanon, Frederico Lima, and confirmed that the government plans to move ahead with reforms.

Lebanon’s political landscape has been turned on its head since the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummeled in last year’s war with Israel.

Reflecting the shift in the power balance, the government policy statement did not include language used in previous years that was seen to legitimize a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon, saying instead “we want a state that has the decision of war and peace.”

The statement says it is required to adopt a national security strategy and a foreign policy that works to “neutralize” Lebanon from conflicts.

Families of Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed say they’ll be released Saturday

Row 1 (L-R): Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham; Row 2: Omer Shem-Tov, Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed. (All photos courtesy)

The families of Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed announce that they have been informed by Israeli authorities that their loved ones are slated to be released by Hamas on Saturday.

Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been captive in Gaza for over a decade, after entering the Strip of their own accord. All the others were abducted on October 7, 2023.

Bibas family ‘in turmoil’ over Hamas announcement loved ones’ bodies to be returned; has not had Israeli confirmation

Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)

The Bibas family says it is “in turmoil” after Hamas’s announcement that the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir will be returned to Israel on Thursday.

However, the family stresses that it has not yet received an official update from Israeli authorities confirming that their loved ones are no longer alive.

“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family says.

“We ask the media and the public to respect our privacy and refrain from contacting us about this matter,” the family adds.

Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were killed in an IDF strike. Israel called the claim cruel propaganda and did not confirm it. It said last month, however, that it has “grave concerns” for their fate. Husband and father Yarden Bibas was freed from Gaza on February 1.

Hamas’s Khalil al Hayya said earlier today that the Bibas family would be among four bodies to be handed over on Thursday.

Police open probe into ex-Ashkenazi chief rabbi on suspicion he molested 16-year-old

Former chief rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger arrives to the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla, to serve a 3.5 year sentence on May 1, 2017. (Roy Alima/Flash90)

After receiving a police complaint, officers opened an investigation earlier today into former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger on suspicion he molested a 16-year-old boy.

Metzger was called in for questioning and then released on bail a few hours later, a police spokesman says.

In 2017, Metzger was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for corruption offenses, but served only 22 months after a parole board accepted his appeal for early release. He was freed in March 2019.

IMF mission expected to visit Lebanon in March, finance minister says

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to visit Beirut in March, Finance Minister Yassine Jaber tells Reuters.

Jaber says he met the IMF’s resident representative in Beirut today and confirmed that the government plans to move ahead with reforms.

Zelensky calls for ‘fair’ Ukraine talks involving Europe, Turkey

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that any talks aimed at ending the war should be “fair” and involve European countries, including Turkey.

“Ukraine, Europe in a broad sense — and this includes the European Union, Turkey, and the UK — should be involved in conversations and the development of the necessary security guarantees with America regarding the fate of our part of the world,” Zelensky says at a press conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a visit to Ankara.

Zelensky postpones his visit to Saudi Arabia, says no talks behind Kyiv’s back

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that he is postponing his visit to Saudi Arabia planned for Wednesday until March 10, adding that no talks could be held behind Ukraine’s back on how to end the war.

Zelensky says that to ensure a just peace, the United States, Ukraine, and Europe should participate in the talks on security guarantees for Kyiv.

IDF says it launched missile interceptor over Mount Hermon to take down malfunctioning IAF drone

An interceptor missile launched a short while ago over the Mount Hermon area was to take down an Israeli Air Force drone that was malfunctioning.

The drone was shot down to prevent it from crashing in Lebanon, according to the IDF.

There is no fear of a security incident, the military adds.

Gaza Arab plan may involve up to $20 billion regional contribution, sources say

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, two Egyptian security sources say, where he is due to discuss an Arab plan for Gaza that may include up to $20 billion from the region for reconstruction.

The Arab proposal, mostly based on an Egyptian plan, involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement and international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad.

A $20 billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states towards the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah says.

“Trump is transactional so $20 billion would resonate well with him,” Abdullah says. “This would benefit a lot of US and Israeli companies.”

Egyptian sources tell Reuters discussions are still under way as to the size of the financial contribution by the region.

The plan sees reconstruction taking place over a three-year timeframe, sources say.

“My conversations with Arab leaders, most recently King Abdullah, have convinced me they have a really realistic appraisal of what their role should be,” Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters in Tel Aviv during a visit to Israel on Monday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel was waiting to evaluate the plan as it comes together but warned that any plan in which Hamas continued to have a presence in Gaza was not acceptable.

“When we hear it we will know how to address it,” he said.

Zelensky slams US-Russia meeting as talks about Ukraine ‘without Ukraine’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday criticizes talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia as talks about the war in Ukraine without Ukrainian participation.

Talks “are taking place between representatives of Russia and representatives of the United States of America. About Ukraine — about Ukraine again — and without Ukraine,” Zelensky says during an official visit to Turkey.

Erdogan says Turkey ‘ideal host’ for talks on ending Ukraine war

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey would be the “ideal host” for any talks to end the nearly three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Turkey will be an ideal host for the possible talks between Russia, Ukraine and America in the near future,” he says at a joint press conference in Ankara with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Hamas raised idea of expedited swap, fearing Israel would torpedo deal before Shalit prisoners released — report

Hamas was the party that first raised the idea of expediting the release of the remaining living hostages, two Israeli officials tell Axios.

Hamas will in turn be securing the early release of 47 Hamas members who were released in the 2011 exchange for former IDF soldier Gilad Shalit but later rearrested by Israel. The original deal had stipulated that those 47 prisoners were slated for release by the 42nd and final day of phase one.

“Hamas feared that the agreement will not last until day 42 when these 47 prisoners were supposed to be released, because Israel will blow it up,” an Israeli official tells Axios.

The decision to expedite the swap indicates that both sides think that the hostage deal might collapse before the 42nd day of phase one, Axios speculates.

For his part, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya says in a statement that Hamas is prepared to immediately begin negotiations regarding phase two of the deal — something that Israel has refrained from doing to date.

Graham says Arab plan for Gaza would give those who want to leave ability to do so

Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham says Arab states are working to come up with a Gaza rehabilitation plan that would allow Palestinians in Gaza to leave the enclave if they’d like, while those who want to stay can remain.

The Arab proposal he reports would be somewhat of a compromise between US President Donald Trump’s Gaza takeover plan that envisions Palestinians being permanently relocated and comments from certain Arab leaders rejecting the idea of removing a single Palestinian from Gaza.

Graham tells reporters in a press conference in Israel yesterday that Arab allies are working “to come up with a plan that would allow Palestinians to leave if they would like, but if they don’t, [to] stay in place while there’s reconstruction.”

“I’m quite optimistic that the Arab world will come up with a plan to show President Trump how to deal with the Palestinian issue without driving them all out,” he says.

It’s unclear though how Palestinians will be allowed to leave, given that Hamas operatives have long sought to prevent Gazans from doing so.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Smoke billows after an explosion during an Israeli raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2025. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli counter-terror offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities say.

Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on January 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.

The IDF says it carries out these demolitions because many of the roads and homes in these northern West Bank refugee camps are laced with IEDs set up by terror groups in order to deter Israeli operations.

“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” says Mohammed al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed terror groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarem refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated.

The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, have long been major centers for armed terror groups.

They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale.

According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two-thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarem camp.

“The ones who are left are trapped,” says Nihad al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.”

The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.

“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” IDF Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani tells reporters.

PM’s office urges public not to spread rumors regarding names of slain hostages slated for return to Israel

The Hostages Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office asks the public and Israeli media not to spread rumors relating to names of the dead hostages to be returned to Israel on Thursday.

It says that the request was made “in order to protect the privacy of the families in their difficult hour.”

Hamas has announced some of the names of bodies it says will be released on Thursday, but Israeli authorities are expected to wait until their own forensics teams can confirm the identities of the remains. Israeli media is also largely abstaining from publishing the names released by Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office confirms Israel to receive 4 hostages’ bodies Thursday, 6 living hostages Saturday; families of living hostages updated

A rally marking 500 days since hostages were kidnapped by Hamas-led terrorists to the Gaza Strip, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 17, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Israel confirms in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office that the remaining six living hostages slated to be released in phase one of the deal with Hamas will go free on Saturday.

According to the statement, the release of six hostages is the result of ongoing talks in Cairo.

“If the agreement in Cairo is carried out, it will be an important achievement for Israel,” says an Israeli official.

The PMO also says that four slain hostages will be released on Thursday, but does not name them.

The families of the living hostages have been updated, The Times of Israel has learned.

Hamas is required by the agreement with Israel to release four more bodies of hostages next week, says Netanyahu’s office.

Interceptor missile launched by Israeli Air Force over Mount Hermon

An interceptor missile was launched by the Israeli Air Force over the Mount Hermon area a short while ago.

The IDF has not yet commented on the incident.

ראשוני: מיירט שוגר באזור החרמון, הנסיבות בבדיקהhttps://t.co/IB0hS8eDBP@OrHeller | @ali_mograbi pic.twitter.com/r93m5geq8h

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) February 18, 2025

Officials say deal reached for Hamas to free six living hostages on Saturday, hand over four bodies on Thursday

Hostages' family members marching to the Knesset on Jerusalem‘s Azza Street, February 17, 2025. (Jessica Steinberg/The Times of Israel)

Israeli and Hamas officials say that a deal has been reached for the terror group to free six living hostages on Saturday.

In addition, four bodies will be transferred to Israel on Thursday.

Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al Hayya says that the six living hostages will include two Israelis, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held for over a decade.

Al Hayya says the release will be conditioned on Israel living up to its part of the first phase of the deal.

Initially three living hostages had been set to go free on Saturday.

The six are believed to be the final living hostages on the list of those to be released in the first phase of the deal. Fourteen of the 33 hostages on the original phase 1 list have yet to be freed; Hamas has said eight of them are dead, and Israel has said that this matches its own information. The only name on the list whose death Israel has confirmed is Shlomo Mantzur. Israel has said it has “grave concerns” for the fate of Shiri Bibas and her young sons Ariel and Kfir.

It is believed that another 24 living hostages would be released under phase 2 of the deal.

A senior Israeli official confirms the details to the Walla news site.

Israel has said it will confirm the identity of the bodies released once they have been definitively identified.

Fourteen Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and scheduled for release in phase one of the ongoing ceasefire deal, as of February 15, 2025: Top row from left: Tsahi Idan, Oded Lifshitz, Ohad Yahalomi, Shlomo Mantzur, Itzik Elgarat. Middle row from left: Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed. Bottom row from left: Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Omer Shem-Tov (Courtesy)

Abbas fires top official who pushed back on decree ending ‘pay-to-slay’ system

PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 24, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has fired an official who criticized his decision to end a system that paid stipends to the families of prisoners, including those convicted of deadly terror attacks against Israelis.

Abbas has announced the replacement of Qadura Fares as head of a prisoner affairs body, without providing an explanation.

Last week, Abbas put an end to what was known as the “martyrs’ fund,” acquiescing to longstanding demands by the United States and Israel. Many Palestinians viewed the payments as compensation for people harmed in the course of their struggle against Israel.

The United States and Israel had long criticized the practice, saying it incentivized violence.

Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, many of whom view his Palestinian Authority as corrupt and autocratic.

An undated photo of Qadura Fares, with a picture of jailed Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in the background. (Flash90)

The Hamas terror group, which drove Abbas’s forces from Gaza in 2007, criticized Fares’s firing, saying it reflects the “oppression and exclusion” practiced by the authority and its “submission to Zionist and American dictates.”

Last week, Fares gave a press conference urging the president to immediately withdraw his decree ending the conditioning of welfare payments to Palestinian security prisoners on the length of their sentences in Israeli jails.

While the government will likely continue to provide stipends to many families of prisoners and slain terrorists, it will do so based only on financial need.

Fares criticized Abbas’s decision to transfer the database of 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.

The Abbas decree went into effect today, and will see Raed Abu al-Humus take Fares’s place as minister.

Qatar says Palestinians must decide future of Gaza and Hamas, not Israel or US

Hamas gunmen secure an area before handing over Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 15, 2025 (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza conflict, says that Palestinians — not outsiders — must decide the territory’s future after the Israel-Hamas war.

Foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari tells a Doha news conference that the issue was “a Palestinian question,” after Israel insisted on removing Hamas and the United States proposed taking over the territory.

“From our perspective, this is a Palestinian question on what happens post this conflict,” says Ansari when asked about Israel’s stated objective to eliminate Hamas.

“It is a Palestinian question on who represents the Palestinians in an official capacity and also the political groups and parties in the political sphere,” he says.

Iran says jailed British couple charged with espionage

Iranian authorities say that a British couple recently arrested in the country’s southeast had been charged with espionage and accused of links to Western intelligence services.

Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir says that “the two British nationals were arrested… over espionage charges,” adding that the couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who had been taken into custody in Kerman province, were found to be “cooperating with covert institutions linked to the intelligence services of hostile and Western countries.”

MK says any ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill will include sanctions against draft dodgers

Yuli Edelstein chairing a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, February 18, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Any ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill ultimately passed by the Knesset will contain individual sanctions on Haredi draft dodgers, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein declares during a debate on the controversial legislation.

“There is a demand by the budget department for personal sanctions. They even issued a letter on the subject. So I am announcing [that] there will be personal and institutional sanctions. We want to bring soldiers to the IDF, and therefore, the law that comes out of this committee will include a comprehensive and inclusive answer,” he says.

In a position paper sent to the committee last week, the head of the Finance Ministry’s budget department insisted that conscripting large numbers of ultra-Orthodox Israelis for military service depends on the implementation of hard-hitting, long-term sanctions on draft dodgers.

In his letter, Yogev Gardos wrote that sanctions would only be effective if they have a significant impact on household income, continue “over a long period of time,” and cannot be bypassed through alternative funding channels.

According to Gardos, benefits that could be cut under a sanctions regime for draft dodgers include daycare subsidies, yeshiva stipends, discounts on National Insurance Institute payments, housing subsidies, and property tax discounts.

UNRWA says Israel ordered it to shut 4 schools in East Jerusalem amid ban

Israelis protest against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outside the organization's offices in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in East Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and barred it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be deeply infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and other places and has documented several instances of UNRWA personnel taking part in terror.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It says 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It says police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in East Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the West Bank and East Jerusalem, says the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”

Top Iran Guards general says Tehran will carry out 3rd wave of strikes against Israel ‘in appropriate time’

Israelis look at the remains of an Iranian missile, in the Negev desert near Arad on October 3, 2024. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general says that Iran will carry out a third wave of missile strikes against Israel at the “appropriate time.”

“The True Promise 3 will be carried out in appropriate time,” Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, IRGC number two, says in remarks carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency.

Amid Israel’s wars with Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran twice fired massive missile and drone barrages at Israel, which were largely thwarted by air defenses in cooperation with the US and its regional allies.

Israel responded with two rounds of strikes on Iran, the second of which, in October, destroyed much of the Islamic Republic’s air defense systems as well as some key military facilities and demonstrated Israel’s ability to operate uninhibited over Iranian airspace.

Sissi to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks on Arab plan for Gaza, summit postponed until March 4

In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, is greeted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, after their talks at the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, June 21, 2022. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday for discussions on an Arab plan for Gaza, two Egyptian security sources say.

Arab states are expected to discuss a postwar plan for Gaza reconstruction, possibly to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop the Strip under US control.

The summit, however, has been postponed until March 4, Egypt’s foreign ministry says.

Fiji to open embassy in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with visiting Fiji Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, in Jerusalem, November 7, 2016. (Ohad Zwigenberg)

Fiji has decided to open an embassy in Jerusalem, says Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Currently, six countries have embassies in Jerusalem — the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.

Last week in Munich, Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitinevi Rabuka told Sa’ar that he will bring to his government this week his proposal to move the Fijian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, according to Sa’ar’s office.

In 2023, Rabuka told Israel’s Ambassador Roi Rosenblit: “My personal feeling is that Jerusalem should be the location of our new Fiji embassy, but I will have to sell this to our coalition partners.”

Rabuka came to power in 2022, heading a three-party government that includes the right-wing Christian Sodelpa party. One of party leader Viliame Gavoka’s demands was that Fiji open an embassy in Jerusalem.

Sa’ar: Israel to begin talks on phase 2 of hostage deal this week, demanding complete demilitarization of Gaza

Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa'ar leads a faction meeting of his New Hope party in the Knesset, February 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel will begin negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, including an exchange of the remaining Israeli hostages for Palestinian security prisoners, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says, adding that Israel demands a complete demilitarization of the enclave.

Sa’ar says the talks will begin “this week.”

“We had a security cabinet meeting last night. We decided to open negotiations on the second phase. It will happen this week,” Saar says of the talks, which were originally supposed to start on February 3.

Sa’ar also says Israel will not accept any scenario in which Gaza terror groups maintain weapons.

A “Hezbollah model” in Gaza would not be acceptable to Israel “and therefore we need a total demilitarization of Gaza and no presence of the Palestinian Authority,” Saar says in a press conference.

He adds that Israel was aware of an alternative plan by Arab states for Gaza made to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop the Strip under US control, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said is worthy of exploration.

Israel will not support a plan that would see civilian control of Gaza transferred from Hamas to the Palestinian Authority, Sa’ar adds.

Lawmakers vote to regulate Lag B’Omer pilgrimage in wake of deadly 2021 crush

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate during a Lag B'Omer gathering on Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)

Lawmakers vote 11-0 to approve, in its first reading, a temporary measure regulating the celebration of the annual Lag B’Omer pilgrimage at Mount Meron, which is traditionally marked with multiple large bonfires that massive crowds dance around.

If passed into law, the bill would only allow one central lighting event consisting of two bonfires to be held at the northern Israel site. Additional bonfires will only be allowed with the permission of Jerusalem Minister Meir Porush after it has been determined that certain conditions have been met. The bill would also require the issuance of permits to enter the site during the pilgrimage and establish fines for those engaged in unsanctioned bonfires.

In 2021, 45 Israelis were trampled to death during the Mount Meron festivities. A state commission of inquiry later determined that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the officials personally responsible for the disaster. Porush, who is tasked with ensuring the safety of the pilgrimage, last year said that he would implement the inquiry commission’s findings.

Lawmakers approve bill to revoke national insurance benefits from terror convicts

MK Ofir Katz, chairman of the Knesset House Committee, leads a hearing, March 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In its first reading, lawmakers vote 21-5 in favor of a bill revoking national insurance benefits from people convicted of a “serious terrorist offense” or imprisoned for murder or attempted murder for terrorist purposes.

Upon the deaths of those subject to the law, their dependents would be ineligible for survivor benefits. However, exceptions for child benefits would be made for children receiving child allowances under certain circumstances.

By engaging in terrorism, people “sever their connection with the state,” says the bill’s sponsor, Likud MK Ofir Katz. “What other country grants benefits and pensions to people who murder its citizens? This is absurd and a moral failure…and we are ending it now.”

UN says delay in Israel’s Lebanon withdrawal ‘violation’ of resolution on ending war

People line up behind barbed wire installed by the Lebanese army as they prepare to enter the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh on February 18, 2025, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)

The UN’s Lebanon envoy and peacekeeping force warns that Israel’s delayed withdrawal from five points in the country violated the UN resolution that ended the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war and formed the basis for a recent truce.

“Today marks the end of the period set for the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces… and the parallel Lebanese Armed Forces deployment to positions in southern Lebanon,” the joint statement says, adding: “Another delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen, not least because it continues a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).”

Israel, with approval from the US, which brokered the agreement, says it will remain in five key posts, to ensure security.

The UN statement also praises the progress made as Israel withdrew the rest of the forces.

“This should not, however, overshadow the tangible progress that has been made since the Understanding came into force in late November. The Israel Defense Forces have withdrawn from population centers in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces have deployed in challenging conditions, supporting the return of communities and working to restore critical services,” the statement says.

Israel to begin allowing heavy equipment, mobile homes into Gaza, wants 6 live hostages freed

Bulldozers and trucks carrying caravans wait to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

A senior Israeli official says Israel is to start allowing mobile homes and heavy construction equipment into Gaza in a controlled manner as it seeks to expedite the release of six living hostages.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making immense efforts to secure the release of the six living hostages that remain as part of phase one [of the hostage-ceasefire deal], and also four hostages who are not alive,” the official says.

“Under the agreement Israel agreed to allow mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza after stringent inspections. In accordance with the negotiations and on condition Hamas upholds the agreement, Israel will begin allowing this in a controlled and phased way.”

According to the agreement, Hamas is to release four bodies on Thursday and three live hostages on Saturday.

IDF carries out controlled explosion near Lebanese village before withdrawing – report

The IDF carried out a large controlled demolition near southern Lebanon’s Kfar Shouba a short while ago, before withdrawing from the area, Lebanese media reports.

The military has not yet commented on its withdrawal from south Lebanon.

مراسلة «الأخبار»: قوات الاحتلال تنسحب من كفرشوبا بعد تفجيرها لموقع في حرش الصوان pic.twitter.com/UITleEVedE

— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) February 18, 2025

Freed hostage Or Levy released from hospital

Freed hostage Or Levy visits Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, less than a week after he was released from Hamas captivity, February 14, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Freed hostage Or Levy was released from the hospital yesterday after completing medical checkups, his family says.

“This is a big moment for him and for us, but the recovery and rehabilitation process is still ahead of us,” the statement says.

Levy, 34, was freed on February 8 as part of the first phase of a hostage release-truce deal with Hamas. The emaciated appearance of Levy and the two other hostages released that day, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, shocked the country.

“”We would like to thank the people of Israel from the bottom of our hearts for the warm embrace, love and support you have showered upon us over the past week,” the statement says.

“Special thanks to Sheba’s medical team for their professional, sensitive and dedicated support throughout the journey. The return home is not complete as long as there are still hostages in captivity. Or is committed to taking part in the fight for their return and will do so as soon as he can,” it says.

Levy’s wife Eynav was killed on October 7, 2023, and his young son Almog, now 3, was raised by his grandparents while he was held hostage.

“At this time, we kindly request that the media and public respect our privacy, allowing us the quiet and time needed for recovery and healing,” the statement says.

Lebanon says it will consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation

An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank is deployed by the concrete border wall at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanon will consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation and has the right to use all means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal, a spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency says. Today is the deadline for the US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah.

Israel said it would meet the February 18 deadline to withdraw under a ceasefire but remain deployed in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon.

After a meeting between President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the three leaders say the Lebanese army was ready “to assume all its duties along the… borders,” presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine says.

She adds that Lebanon would also seek the UN Security Council’s help to “address Israeli violations and compel Israel to immediately withdraw.”

Senior Hamas official says ‘high chance’ six living hostages will be freed on Saturday

Hostages L to R: Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov are flanked onstage by Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen before being handed over to the Red Cross, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

A senior Hamas official tells the Ynet news site that there is a “high chance” that the terror group will free six living hostages on Saturday.

“There are negotiations and it depends on the price Israel will pay,” the unnamed official says.

“The demands at the moment are that Israel agrees to enter talks for the second phase [of the hostage deal] and give guarantees on the humanitarian issues, allowing in mobile homes and heavy [construction] equipment,” the official says.

Hamas is set to release four bodies on Thursday and three living hostages on Saturday under the agreement, but Israel has been pushing to get more live hostages released as soon as possible, especially given the poor physical condition of some of the hostages released in recent weeks.

Egyptian TV says heavy equipment has begun entering Gaza through Rafah

Heavy construction equipment is lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on February 13, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Egypt’s Al-Ghad TV reports that heavy equipment has begun crossing from Egypt into Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

The entry of mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza has been a sticking point, with Hamas last week threatening to halt the release of hostages unless it was allowed in.

Outrage after Montreal synagogue vandalized with swastika

Canadian political leaders are condemning the vandalism of a Montreal synagogue with a swastika over the weekend.

Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Westmount had a three-foot-wide swastika painted on the side of the building over Shabbat. The synagogue is the oldest Reform synagogue in Canada, incorporated in 1883.

“Antisemitism is rising in our city and beyond,” wrote the synagogue’s rabbi, Lisa Grushcow, in a post on Instagram following the attack. “The hate is painful, and so too is the silence of those around us.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante condemned the attack. “Such attacks are unacceptable in our metropolis and I can assure the rabbi, Lisa Grushcow, that the police are investigating,” she says in a statement. “We must all unite and denounce all forms of antisemitism.”

Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney, who is running to replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in next month’s elections, also responds, vowing to work to combat hate in the community.

Swastika painted on side of Montreal synagogue, police investigating https://t.co/suZbFkhEtJ pic.twitter.com/v8Kt5lTYs5

— National Post (@nationalpost) February 17, 2025

“It has to stop. As Canadian leaders, we need to say firmly and loudly that the Jewish community has the right to feel safe in Canada,” Carney writes on X.

“I continue to extend my full support to the Jewish community as we work to combat hate and ensure the perpetrators of these heinous acts are brought to justice.”

The Canadian Muslim Forum also denounces the incident, writing on X that “such acts of hate and intolerance targeting places of worship and communities are completely unacceptable.”

Russia says talks with US will have no impact on cooperation with Iran

The start of Russia-US talks will have no impact on Moscow’s cooperation with Tehran, the TASS news agency reports, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russia is ready to help Iran in solving problems related to its nuclear program, Peskov adds.

Lebanon army says it has deployed along the border after IDF withdrawal

Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the southern Lebanese village of Houla on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

After the IDF withdrawal, the Lebanese army says it deployed overnight to several villages and towns in southern Lebanon.

In a statement, the Lebanese Armed Forces says troops entered Aabbasiyyeh, Majidieh, Kafr Kila, Marjaayoun, Odaisseh, Markaba, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Mahbib, Maroun al-Ras, Yaron, Bint Jbeil, and several other locations near the Israeli border.

The LAF’s deployment is being carried out in coordination with a US-led committee supervising the ceasefire with Israel and the UN observer force UNIFIL, it says.

The LAF says engineering units are surveying the areas, opening roads, and safely removing unexploded ordnance left behind from the fighting.

بتاريخَي ١٧و١٨ /٢ /٢٠٢٥، انتشرت وحدات عسكرية في البلدات التالية:
•    العباسية، المجيدية، كفركلا – مرجعيون في القطاع الشرقي.
•    العديسة، مركبا، حولا، ميس الجبل، بليدا، محيبيب – مرجعيون في القطاع الأوسط.
•    مارون الراس والجزء المتبقي من يارون – بنت جبيل في القطاع الأوسط.… pic.twitter.com/U8pX4Odhxg

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) February 18, 2025

Katz says IDF will enforce Lebanon ceasefire deal ‘forcefully’ against Hezbollah violations

IDF forces patrol in the village of Kfarshuba in southern Lebanon on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement says the IDF will “forcefully” enforce the ceasefire deal in Lebanon and act against any Hezbollah threat, as troops remain in five strategic posts.

“Starting today, the IDF will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon in five strategic outposts and will continue to enforce forcefully and without compromise against any violation by Hezbollah,” he says.

“Hezbollah must withdraw fully beyond the Litani River line and the Lebanese army must enforce and disarm it under the supervision of the mechanism established under the leadership of the US,” Katz says.

“We are determined to provide full security to all northern communities,” he adds.

Man killed by car bomb in Taybeh, another shot dead in Lod; police say incidents not terror

Damage caused by a car bombing that killed one and injured two others in Taybeh on February 18, 2025. (Screenshot/X)

A man in his 40s was killed in a car bombing this morning in Taybeh, paramedics and police say. The explosion moderately injured two others, who have since been taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.

After that, a man in his 20s was shot dead in Lod. Paramedics found him in critical condition and transported him to the hospital, but medical staff pronounced him dead upon arrival, according to a police statement.

Police have opened investigations into the incidents and assume both are criminal rather than terror-related. No suspects have yet been arrested.

Lod has been the site of two shootings in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, resident Ayoub al-Touri was killed in a shooting that police say was related to a dispute between two families in the city.

A violent crime wave has engulfed the Arab community in recent years. Authorities have blamed burgeoning organized crime and the proliferation of weaponry, while some have pointed to a failure by communities to cooperate with law enforcement to root out criminals.

Many community leaders blame the police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence. They also point to decades of neglect and discrimination by government offices as the root cause of the problem.

Lebanese sources say IDF completes withdrawal from southern Lebanon, except for 5 key posts

Israeli soldiers seen on the border with Lebanon, on February 17, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The IDF has pulled out of southern Lebanese villages but remains in five positions, a Lebanese security source says, as a deadline for the withdrawal expires under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.

“The Israeli army has withdrawn from all border villages except for five points, while the Lebanese army is gradually deploying due to the presence of explosives in some areas and damage to the roads,” the source, who speaks on condition of anonymity, tells AFP.

The Lebanese television channel LBCI reports that the Lebanese army had moved overnight into the key border towns and villages of Mais al-Jabal, Blida, Yaroun, Maroun and Mahbib as the IDF withdrew forces.

Several local authorities, including Mais al-Jabal’s municipality, have called on displaced residents to wait for the Lebanese army to deploy there before coming back, so as to guarantee their “safe” return.

Israel said it would meet the February 18 deadline to withdraw under a ceasefire, but remain deployed in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon.

The IDF declined to confirm the withdrawal has been completed.

Reports: Settlers set fire to Palestinian vehicles in West Bank village

Palestinian media reports that settler extremists set fire to several vehicles in the Susya in the southern West Bank, near Hebron.

There are no immediate reports of injuries, but a video posted on social media shows at least one vehicle going up in flames in the overnight attack.

♦️תיעוד חלק מהרכבים שנשרפו הלילה ע"י מתנחלים בכפר סוסיא שבמסאפר יטא, דרומית לחברון. pic.twitter.com/6RC7Hccw9f

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) February 18, 2025

Trump reposts video message from released hostage Agam Berger

US President Donald Trump reposts a video message from released hostage Agam Berger.

Berger was kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz military base on October 7, 2023, and released by the Hamas terror group last month in the first phase of an ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.

In her first message since being released, she thanked Trump “from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and all that you continue to do for the hostages.”

“Because of you, we came home,” she says, adding that there are still people who really depend on you and are waiting for you to save them from there.”

Berger tells Trump he “has the power to do it.”

“I beg you, don’t stop until all the hostages, the living and the dead, are brought home,” she says.

Trump shares the video on his Truth social media page without comment.

Breaking: Former hostage Agam Berger, who was just released from captivity, thanks @POTUS Trump for his efforts to free the hostages. "There are a lot of people whose lives depends on you, you're their only hope. I suffered a lot, others are still there suffering". @SteveWitkoff pic.twitter.com/ozQJCrsEcj

— Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) February 18, 2025

Egypt said to propose Gaza ‘secure areas’ where Palestinians will live as Strip rebuilt

Bulldozers with Egyptian and Qatar flags wait to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, February 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

CAIRO — Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza without forcing Palestinians out of the Strip in a counter to President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate the territory so the US can take it over.

Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper says the proposal calls for establishing “secure areas” within the Gaza Strip where Palestinians can live initially while Egyptian and international construction firms remove and rehabilitate the enclave’s infrastructure.

Egyptian officials have been discussing the plan with European diplomats as well as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to two Egyptian officials and Arab and Western diplomats. They are also discussing ways to fund the reconstruction, including an international conference on Gaza reconstruction, says one of the Egyptian officials and an Arab diplomat.

The officials and diplomats speak on condition of anonymity because the proposal is still being negotiated.

NYC mayor labels calls for him to resign a ‘modern-day Mein Kampf’

This image provided by Office of the New York Mayor shows New York Mayor Eric Adams as he speaks during an address from City Hall, February 11, 2025. (Ed Reed/Office of the New York Mayor via AP)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams rejects calls for his resignation after the US Justice Department moved to dismiss a corruption case against him, labeling them a “modern-day Mein Kampf.”

“If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe you,” he says at an event in Brooklyn.

Full quote of NYC Mayor Eric Adams at campaign event in Brooklyn, saying that the campaign for his ouster is the “modern day Mein Kampf.” ⬇️

He’s prob referring to Hitler’s “Big Lie” expression — “if you tell a life long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe you.” pic.twitter.com/Riox4PVBIZ

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) February 17, 2025

Agencies contributed to this report.

World Bank to release damage assessment for Gaza in coming days

The World Bank building in Washington, Monday, April 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The World Bank will release an assessment of damages to infrastructure in Gaza in coming days, along with an updated assessment of damages in Ukraine on February 25, Anna Bjerde, the bank’s managing director of operations says.

Bjerde says the Gaza report, prepared together with the United Nations and European Union, would provide a fuller overview of damage to the Palestinian enclave after an interim report in April showed it suffered $18.5 billion in damages to critical infrastructure in the first four months of the war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.

Lebanon security official says Israel begins to withdraw from some southern areas

A Lebanese security official says Israeli troops have started to pull out from some border villages, as Lebanon’s army moved in, hours before a deadline to implement a Hezbollah-Israel truce.

“Israeli forces are beginning to withdraw from border villages, including Mais al-Jabal and Blida, as the Lebanese army advances,” the official tells AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

While withdrawing from some areas, the IDF says it will remain in five key positions for the foreseeable future.