Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
IDF takes responsibility for error in announcing Bibas names
The IDF takes responsibility for this evening’s announcement that Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, are on Hamas’s list of slain hostages set to be handed over to Israel tomorrow.
“The IDF is responsible for communicating with the families of the hostages. The IDF investigated the matter and spoke with the families. We regret the mistake that was made in good faith vis-a-vis the families, as well as the emotional distress caused,” the military says in a statement.
The names of the four slain hostages set to be handed over by Hamas tomorrow were first issued by the terror group and confirmed to reporters by top officials.
The Bibas family says they did not approve the names to be published, and the Prime Minister’s Office blamed the IDF for the error.
PM’s office blames IDF for ‘grave mistake’ after Bibas family named as slain hostages
After the Bibas family blasts the Prime Minister’s Office for confirming to journalists that their loved ones are on the Hamas list of hostages’ bodies to be returned tomorrow, an official in the PMO blames the army for the “grave mistake.”
“This was a grave mistake on the part of the IDF liaison officers communicating with the Bibas family, which resulted from an unfortunate human error,” says the official.
The PMO source says the officers gave the green light for the names to be given to the press, even though it is now apparent that the Bibas family had not approved it. The official says the officers had been required to confirm that every family approves the publication of the names.
Family of Oded Lifshitz: Until we get absolute certainty, our journey will not be over
The family of Oded Lifshitz, named as a slain hostage set for return tomorrow, says in a statement: “These hours are not easy for us, after being informed that our beloved Oded is on the list of the fallen hostages who will be returned to Israel tomorrow, after being kidnapped alive from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“For 502 days, we hoped and prayed for a different outcome, but until we get absolute certainty, our journey will not be over, and even after that, we will continue to fight until the last hostage is brought home.”
‘Shameful’: Bibas family says did not approve naming Shiri and kids as slain
Ofri Bibas Levy, sister of hostage Yarden Bibas, marks her captive nephew Kfir's second birthday at a rally in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, on January 18, 2025. Kfir's purple elephant toy sits on the podium beside her. (Paulina Patimer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
The sister-in-law of Shiri Bibas denies the family agreed to the Prime Minister’s Office confirming her loved ones as being on Hamas’s list of slain hostages to be returned tomorrow.
“The list that has already declared Ariel and Kfir as fallen, which was published by the Prime Minister’s Office, supposedly with the families’ approval, was never approved by us,” Ofri Bibas, sister of Shiri’s husband Yarden, writes on Facebook.
In its earlier statement the PMO said the families had approved the names being published.
“For 16 months, we have been waiting for certainty that they couldn’t provide us, and now it’s being decided before they’re even here?? Before they’ve undergone identification?? Before we’ve been officially informed?”
“The entire country has turned into casualty officers, knocking on our door,” she says. “Shameful.”
IDF chief cuts short US trip ahead of hostage return
Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is cutting his official trip to the United States short and will return tonight.
Initially, Halevi was scheduled to return tomorrow. The IDF says he “expedited his return due to progress in the agreement for the return of the hostages and the expected return of the deceased hostages tomorrow.”
During the visit, Halevi held a series of meetings with senior US defense officials. He was also awarded the Legion of Merit. Last night, he met with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, and they discussed “current strategic and operational issues,” the IDF says.
Today, Halevi will meet with CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla for an assessment on “challenges in the Middle East, with a focus on Lebanon and Iran, as well as on ways to strengthen cooperation between the militaries.”
The IDF chief also met with members of the Jewish community in Washington DC, briefing them on the war, and delivered a lecture to officers at the National Defense University, the military adds.
It is Halevi’s final trip to the US as chief of staff, as he is set to step down on March 5.
Israel says 3 Palestinian terror operatives killed by forces in West Bank
Three Palestinian terror operatives were killed by undercover Border Police officers in the Far’a camp in the northern West Bank this evening, Israeli defense officials say.
The three operatives were involved in smuggling arms, the IDF, Shin Bet, and police say in a joint statement.
Two other wanted Palestinians were detained in the operation.
After the three were shot dead, troops scanned the area and located a dismantled M16 assault rifle buried in the ground and other weapons. A handgun was also found on the body of one of the three operatives, police say.
Palestinians report several dead and wounded in Israeli drone strike in Gaza’s Rafah
Palestinian media reports several dead and wounded in an Israeli drone strike in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF has not yet commented.
Bibas family: Refrain from eulogizing our loved ones until there is confirmation
In a statement, the Bibas family says: “Should we receive devastating news, it must come through the proper official channels after all identification procedures are completed.
“We ask to refrain from eulogizing our loved ones until there is confirmation following final identification.”
Politicians voice pain and rage over news Bibas family no longer alive
Yisrael Beytenu party chair Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 16, 2024 )Chaim Goldberg/Flash90(
Politicians react to the news that the Bibas family are among the dead to be returned tomorrow.
“Such vengeance for blood of babe and maiden hath yet to be wrought by Satan,” tweets Avigdor Liberman, quoting from a poem that Israel’s national poet, Hayim Nahman Bialik, wrote after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi says the news is received “with endless pain and tears.”
“A whole nation prayed and hoped for the return of our dear Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel alive,” he says. He adds that Hamas “has only one fate — to be wiped off the face of the earth.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid writes on X: “The heart is broken… We hoped so much. Words are at an end.”
National Unity leader Benny Gantz says: “Tomorrow, we will all hold our breath — together. We will mourn –- together. We will stop the quarrels –- nothing will happen, they can wait. And we will embrace the dear families as a strong and united nation. They deserve it, we deserve it.”
Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir, meanwhile, tweets the following, dedicated to Hamas: “Annihilate, demolish, obliterate, wipe out, crush, smash, incinerate, brutalize, punish, devastate, eradicate. Destroy!”
Katz appoints outgoing IDF deputy chief as Defense Ministry’s next director-general
IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, August 1, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Defense Minister Israel Katz has appointed outgoing IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram as the next director general of the Defense Ministry.
Baram will enter the role in the coming weeks, upon concluding his tenure as deputy chief of staff at the end of this month, Katz’s office says.
His appointment still needs to be approved by the cabinet.
He will be replacing acting Defense Ministry Director-General Itamar Graf, who took up the position just weeks ago because the former director, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, was tapped as the next IDF chief of staff.
Baram, Zamir, and a third general, Tamir Yadai, were all considered by Katz as potential successors to outgoing IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi. Zamir was chosen, and Yadai was selected as his deputy, leaving Baram without a role.
“Amir Baram is experienced in managing large defense systems, while effectively interfacing with the relevant civilian systems,” Katz’s office says.
Baram began his service in the Paratroopers Brigade. He rose through the ranks and went on to command the brigade in 2011, and the 98th Division — an elite formation of paratroopers and commando units — in 2013. Between 2019 and 2022, Baram served as head of the IDF Northern Command, before being appointed as deputy chief of staff under former chief of staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Aviv Kohavi and later Halevi. Last month, Baram asked to end his role at the end of February as initially scheduled.
Slain hostages set for return tomorrow are Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, Oded Lifshitz
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms Israel has received the list of slain hostages who are set to be returned tomorrow.
The four are Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfri Bibas and Oded Lifshitz.
Their families have been notified.
“In this difficult time, our hearts are with the grieving families,” the PMO says. “We will continue to provide reliable updates as needed and ask to refrain from spreading rumors or unofficial information.”
Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)
Oded Lifshitz. (Courtesy)
Parents of Sgt. Itay Chen say they cannot grieve until they are sure their son is dead
Itay Chen, 19, from Netanya, declared killed in action and his body seized by Hamas on October 7, 2023, while on duty near Gaza border (Courtesy)
Speaking during a Zoom press conference, Hagit and Ruby Chen, the parents of Sgt. Itay Chen, 19, say they cannot grieve until they are sure their son, a tank crew member, was killed by Hamas on October 7.
“One day, you wake up, and your child disappears,” says Ruby. “It isn’t something that you can process.”
Chen was originally listed as one of the 253 hostages abducted by the terror group on October 7. Based on findings and intelligence information, the army’s chief rabbi declared Chen’s death in March 2024.
“We cannot sit Shiva, and we cannot start to mourn,” says Hagit. “We were told there is information that Itay is not alive, and as far as Israel is concerned, Itay is not alive. But they didn’t bring me anything physical to see that he is not alive, so I cannot acknowledge that. I still pray that they are wrong and it’s a mistake.”
At the conference, Dr. Einat Yehene, Senior Rehabilitation Psychologist at the Hostages Families Forum and Prof. Hagai Levine, Head of the Health Team at the Hostages Families Forum, present some of their findings from their research paper, “Bereavement in Uncertainty: The Health of Families of Deceased Hostages – Challenges, Needs, and Recommendations.”
Yehene speaks about “disordered bereavement.”
“The death of the hostages” is occurring under “traumatic and violent and sudden circumstances, which is known in the psychology of bereavement to really extract a toll,” she says.
“Not knowing what happened to loved ones also causes disordered bereavement,” says Yehene. “Not having a chance to say goodbye or see people also impedes the way of grieving properly.”
“Tomorrow will be “very painful,” says Yehene. “But we will not be able to start the grieving process as family members and as a nation until the last hostages, dead or alive, come back.”
Netanyahu: Tomorrow will be day of grief; we will ensure Oct. 7 never happens again
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video statement on February 19, 2025. (Video screenshot)
Ahead of the return of four hostages’ bodies tomorrow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a video statement, “Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel — a shocking day, a day of grief. We are bringing home four of our beloved abductees, who have fallen.
“We embrace the families, and the heart of an entire nation is torn apart. My heart is torn. Yours is too. And the heart of the whole world should be torn as well, because here we see who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with — monsters.
“We mourn, we hurt, but we are also determined to ensure that such a thing never happens again.”
Red Cross calls for private, dignified handover of hostages’ bodies
The Red Cross calls for privacy and dignity ahead of the expected release of hostages’ bodies from Gaza tomorrow.
“We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable,” the International Committee of the Red Cross says in a statement.
Trump calls Ukraine’s Zelensky ‘a dictator’ as relations deteriorate
This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky (L) arrives to give a press conference on the sideline of a EU summit in Brussels, on October 17, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak during a campaign rally at the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 4, 2024 (Ludovic MARIN and Ryan M. Kelly / AFP)
US President Donald Trump calls Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” stepping up his attacks as tensions soar between Kyiv and Washington.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump writes on his Truth Social platform of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year. Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.
( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
( Donald J. Trump – Feb 19, 2025, 10:47 AM ET )Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never… pic.twitter.com/MIHpjNZWqe
— Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) February 19, 2025
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle,” Trump writes.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…”
Earlier, Zelensky said Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation” bubble, responding to scathing comments by the US president about Zelensky’s popularity rating.
The Ukrainian leader also accused Washington of helping end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international isolation, and said he wanted security guarantees from Kyiv’s allies that could enable the war to end this year.
“Unfortunately, President Trump, for whom we have great respect as leader of the American people… lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv, accusing Moscow of misleading Trump.
PIJ says it will hand over body of hostage tomorrow
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group says it will be handing over the body of one of the hostages it has been holding since October 7, 2023, in tomorrow’s release of four slain captives.
Israeli officials have requested that media outlets not publish the name until his family has been notified.
Hamas has already announced that it will be handing over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir.
All four bodies will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification, and only after that will the details be released to the public.
On Saturday, Hamas will be releasing six living hostages: Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed.
According to Hamas’s past statements, the six are the last of those to be returned under the first phase who are alive.
The remaining hostages on the list of 33 captives in the first phase of the ceasefire deal are Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Itzik Elgarat, Shlomo Mantzur, Ohad Yahalomi, Oded Lifshitz, and Tsahi Idan.
The only name on the list whose death Israel has officially confirmed is Mantzur. Israel has said it has concerns for the other seven.
Egypt unveils first ancient royal tomb found since Tutankhamun
These handout pictures released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities on February 19, 2025 show the entrance to the tomb of King Thutmose II in Luxor in southern Egypt (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities / AFP)
Egypt’s antiquities authority says it has found the ancient tomb of King Thutmose II, the first royal burial to be found since the famed discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
The tomb, discovered near the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in southern Egypt, belonged to King Thutmose II of the 18th dynasty, who lived nearly 3,500 years ago. Thutmose II was an ancestor to Tutankhamun himself, and his half-sister and queen consort was Pharaoh Hatshepsut.
Her giant mortuary temple stands on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor a few kilometers from where the tomb of Thutmose II was found.
Although preliminary studies suggest its contents were moved in ancient times — leaving the tomb without the iconic mummy or gilded splendor of the Tutankhamun find — the antiquities ministry calls the discovery “one of the most significant archaeological breakthroughs in recent years.”
IDF says it fired warning shots at suspects near border in southern Lebanon
The IDF says it fired warning shots in the Kafr Kila area in southern Lebanon after a group of suspects gathered close to the Israeli border.
The suspects withdrew after the shots were fired, the military adds.
IDF to hold small ceremony in Gaza when it receives 4 bodies of slain hostages Thursday
View of the northern Gaza Strip as it seen from the Israeli side of the border, on February 9, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
The Israel Defense Forces is readying for tomorrow’s transfer by Hamas of four slain Israeli hostages, including preparations for a brief military ceremony upon receiving the bodies.
The bodies will be handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross, which will bring them to Israeli forces inside the Gaza Strip.
The IDF plans to hold a respectful ceremony in Gaza upon receiving the slain hostages, with a rabbi present. The bodies will be placed in coffins draped in Israeli flags and carried by Israeli troops into IDF vehicles.
From there, the bodies will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification.
The identification process could take up to 48 hours, officials say, depending on the condition of the remains. Within a few hours, officials are expected to update the families of the slain hostages on how much longer it will take to confirm the identity of their loved ones.
The IDF says that it will also investigate the causes of the deaths of the hostages, and that at this stage, claims made by Hamas are unverified.
The military does not know for certain at what time Hamas will hand over the four bodies, though it expects it to occur at a similar time to the recent releases of the living hostages, which have taken place in the morning.
The IDF also does not know how Hamas will hand over the bodies. During the release of living hostages, Hamas paraded the captives on a stage in front of crowds of Palestinians.
Officials have asked Israeli media to refrain from broadcasting any such events for the bodies.
Hamas has announced that tomorrow it will be handing over the bodies of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir, along with another slain hostage who has not been named.
On Saturday, Hamas will be releasing six living hostages: Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed.
Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been captive in Gaza for over a decade, after entering the Strip of their own accord. The others were abducted on October 7, 2023.
IDF says drone strike in south Lebanon killed Hezbollah operative handling weapons
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab earlier today, killing a Hezbollah operative.
The operative was targeted after he was identified handling weapons, the military says.
Egypt’s Sissi says it is important to reconstruct Gaza without displacing Palestinians
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi (L) gestures next to Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during joint statements following their meeting at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, on February 19, 2025. (JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi calls on the international community during a press conference with Spain’s prime minister in Madrid to adopt a plan to reconstruct war-torn Gaza without displacing Palestinians.
Sissi calls for the “international community’s support and adoption of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without displacing the Palestinian people — I repeat, without displacing the Palestinian people — from their land, which they cling to, and their homeland, which they do not agree to relinquish.”
Sanchez, one of the staunchest defenders of the Palestinian cause within the European Union, agrees, saying “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part of the future Palestinian state.”
“Their expulsion would not only be immoral and contrary to international law and United Nations resolutions, but would also have a destabilizing effect,” he adds.
Israel-Hamas war fuels record level of anti-Muslim hatred in UK, monitoring group says
The number of anti-Muslim incidents in Britain rose to a new high in 2024, according to data compiled by monitoring organization Tell MAMA, which says the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza “super-fueled” online hate.
The surge in hate incidents against Muslims due to Islamophobia has also been linked to the killing of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport last summer, Tell MAMA says.
Tell MAMA says it verified 5,837 anti-Muslim hate cases — a mix of both online and in-person incidents — last year, compared with 3,767 cases the year before and 2,201 in 2022.
The organization’s data goes back to 2012 and is compiled using data-sharing agreements with police forces in England and Wales.
“The Middle East conflict super-fueled online anti-Muslim hate,” the group says in a statement, adding that “the Israel and Gaza War, the Southport murders and riots… created a surge in anti-Muslim hate cases reported to Tell MAMA from 2023-2024.”
Its director Iman Atta describes the surge as unacceptable and deeply concerning for the future.
Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) describes itself as an independent, nongovernmental organization that works on tackling anti-Muslim hatred.
Separate data last week showed that hatred toward Jews across Britain also rocketed to record levels in the wake of the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
After Israeli pullout, Hezbollah flags seen near the border in Lebanon
Lebanese wave a Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on February 18, 2025 (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
A day after IDF forces pulled out of most of their positions in southern Lebanon, flags of the Hezbollah terror group have been hoisted near the border by supporters of the group in several villages.
David Azoulay, mayor of the town of Metula, just by the border, tells Channel 12: “The government of abandonment is continuing on its path in the north. Dozens of Hezbollah men [arrived] under the guise of civilians — and there is zero response. Once again we are containing and containing it.
‘He’s alright. Don’t worry. He loves you’: Father of hostage soldier gets message from son
Nimrod Cohen was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
The father of hostage soldier Nimrod Cohen tells Channel 12 he received a message from his son through freed captives.
“We got signs of life from him in the past week. From two [freed] hostages who were with him for eight months, in reasonable conditions in tunnels. He’s there. He’s alive,” Yehuda Cohen says.
“He sent us a message of a few words: ‘He’s alright. Don’t worry. He loves you.’ That’s the message we got.”
Cohen was taken hostage to Gaza on October 7, 2023, from the Nahal Oz base.
“There is no question: He’ll come back. He’ll come back safe and sound,” his father said.
Senior Hamas official: Terror group prepared to free all hostages in single swap in phase 2 of deal
Demonstrators protest for the release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, February 18, 2025.(Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the Palestinian terror group is prepared to release all remaining hostages in a single swap during the second phase of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
“We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages, as in the current first phase,” says Taher al-Nunu.
Nunu does not clarify if the terror group will also release the bodies of dead hostages, currently slated to be transferred in the third phase, in that potential single release.
The second phase of the agreement provides for the end of the war and the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza.
Fifty-nine Israelis will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one of the deal — which was set to end March 2 — of whom 35 have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
PM’s office spokesman boots reporters from WhatsApp group; journalist decries ‘bullying’
The Prime Minister’s Office kicks two reporters out of its WhatsApp group for members of Israel’s diplomatic reporters’ pool.
“The Prime Minister’s spokesman Omer Dostri acts as if the office of Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson is his personal resource,” writes Kan diplomatic reporter Suleiman Maswadeh on X, “and decides to punish me and [Kan political reporter] Michael Shemesh after our series of publications, and in a vengeful manner removes us from the prime minister’s general circulation. This is bullying by Dostri.”
Yesterday, the two reported that Dostri had been reprimanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to stem public criticism of Netanyahu’s extended stay in Washington while hostages were being released, and for a recent statement that was retracted after it implied that Israel has approved a list of hostages published by Hamas.
“More fake news as part of a personal campaign that two bitter reporters, Michael Shemesh and Suleiman Maswadeh, are managing against the prime minister’s spokesman,” wrote Dostri on Facebook yesterday. “Prime Minister Netanyahu gives his full backing to his spokesman Dr. Omer Dostri.”
The PMO claims the two revealed that a statement given by an “Israeli official” was sent by Dostri.
“Like everyone, the Prime Minister’s Office is also entitled to protection under the rules of basic journalistic ethics, including confidentiality of sources,” says the PMO in a statement. “As we have made clear several times in the past: Anyone who chooses to violate the basic accepted rules will not receive cooperation from the prime minister’s spokesperson’s office.”
Last year, Dostri removed Channel 13’s Moriah Asraf from the PMO’s communication lists after she revealed that he was the “Israeli official” behind a statement.
Created in 2014, the diplomatic correspondents’ pool is a small association of reporters from Israel’s leading publications who cover the Prime Minister’s Office and Israel’s relations with other countries, and travel with Israel’s leaders abroad. The Times of Israel’s Lazar Berman and Tal Schneider are members of the pool.
Security official after attack from ‘senior source’: Netanyahu himself set mandate for hostage talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for his trial at the Tel Aviv Disgrict Court on February 19, 2025 (Tamar Matsafi/POOL)
After a “senior source” attacked security chiefs previously involved in the negotiations for the hostage-ceasefire deal, an unnamed security official says the agenda for those talks was in fact set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The one who set the mandate all along was the prime minister himself. The summaries and outline agreed upon in phase one were approved by the prime minister, who approved and was involved in each of the stages of the process,” the unnamed official tells Hebrew-language media.
Earlier today, a “senior source” said any delays in the implementation of the agreement were due to the actions of Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, with whom Netanyahu has sparred throughout the negotiations. Talks will now be led by Netanyahu confidant Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said the statement “from the Prime Minister’s Office” citing the “senior source” was “cowardly.”
CEOs and owners of Victory, Yochananof, Super Bareket supermarkets indicted for price fixing
For illustration: Victory supermarket in Tel Aviv, November 19, 2019. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
The national competition watchdog files first indictments against CEOs, senior executives, and owners of several supermarket chains for engaging in cartel behavior and in attempts to coordinate prices.
Lawyers at the Israel Competition Authority issue indictments against Victory owner and CEO Eyal Ravid, Yochananof owner and CEO Eitan Yochananof, and Super Bareket CEO Ephraim Tshuva, along with other managers of the chains. Lawyers at the watchdog are prosecutors on behalf of the attorney general, and therefore permitted to file indictments.
The indictments follow a complex investigation that goes back to 2021, on suspicions that the managers of the supermarket chains were engaged in cartel behavior and price fixing in violation of the Competition Law, as well as in breach of the Food Law.
Since the start of the investigation, Ravid has been probed a number of times by the competition watchdog for making public statements about prices to signal to major food retailers that the chain was considering raising prices in an attempt to reach a restrictive arrangement with them on price hikes.
PM’s office: ‘Peak of absurdity’ to claim Hamas sped up hostage release to get Palestinian prisoners out before deal collapses
Signs at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. February 19, 2025 (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
Responding to reports by Israeli media yesterday, including Channel 12, that Hamas initiated the accelerated release of Israeli hostages to ensure it would get key Palestinian security inmates out of Israeli prisons before talks fall apart, the Prime Minister’s Office calls the claims “a new peak of absurdity and echo of Hamas propaganda.”
“About two weeks ago, the prime minister defined the goal of releasing the remaining living hostages of Phase A in one tranche instead of two,” says the PMO, adding that the expected release of all six remaining living hostages in the first stage on Saturday was the result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “firm stance,” the increase of IDF forces around Gaza, and US President Donald Trump’s demand that all the hostages go free.
“Let’s recall that Hamas announced its refusal to release our hostages and thereby violate the deal – and only Israel’s resolute stance led to Hamas’s collapse,” says the PMO.
WHO says campaign to vaccinate Gazan children against polio set to resume Saturday
A child receives a vaccination for polio at a make-shift camp for people displaced by conflict in a school run by the UNRWA in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 5, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
The World Health Organization says a mass campaign to vaccinate children against polio in Gaza will resume on Saturday, with over half a million children targeted.
“The current environment in Gaza, including overcrowding in shelters and severely damaged water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, which facilitates fecal-oral transmission, create ideal conditions for further spread of poliovirus,” the WHO statement says.
“Extensive population movement consequent to the current ceasefire is likely to exacerbate the spread of poliovirus infection,” it adds.
‘Politically motivated’: Australian Muslim groups slam outrage over nurses who said they would kill Israeli patients
Screen capture from an undated video of Israeli influencer Max Veifer (left) during a conversation with two nurses from a hospital in Sydney, Australia. (X: Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
After two Australian nurses were suspended from work last week for threatening to kill Israeli patients and saying they would refuse to treat them, some Muslim leaders are claiming that public outrage over the incident was unjustified.
A statement signed by dozens of Australian Muslim organizations and leaders says the uproar over the video interview that spanned the country’s political echelons was “calculated and politically motivated outrage.” It charges that the labeling of the incident as antisemitism “weaponized” the term to silence dissent.
Last week, a viral video from Israeli TikTok user Max Veifer showed two Australian medical professionals from a Sydney hospital threatening Israelis and claiming to have already killed some who had sought medical treatment.
“Eventually you’re going to get killed and go to [hell],” said a man identified as Ahmad Rashad Nadir before unleashing a torrent of obscenities. He said said he had already sent many “Israeli dog[s],” who visited the hospital, to “Jahannam,” the term for Islamic hell in Arabic.
Another, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, said in the video that she would not treat any Israeli patients and instead kill them.
Two NSW healthcare nurses from Bankstown Hospital were stood down and are under investigation by police after claiming on camera they killed Israeli patients. This horrific incident raises urgent concerns: How many individuals like this work in other Australian hospitals?… pic.twitter.com/F0ywNhQdtK
— Piazza Victoria (@Piazza_VIC) February 11, 2025
The two were suspended after the video was shared and banned from ever working in Australia’s medical profession. Authorities continue to investigate the incident.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, and Health Ministry officials were among many who expressed shock and repulsion at the video.
However, the statement by Australia’s Muslim community argues that the response was a “deliberate engineering of public morality.”
“This is more than hypocrisy. It is calculated, politically motivated outrage,” it says.
Albanese tells ABC Radio Perth the nurses do not deserve any sympathy for their widespread condemnation.
“What they deserve is the condemnation that they’ve gotten,” he says.
Ukraine’s Zelensky says Trump living in a Russian ‘disinformation space’
This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky (L) arrives to give a press conference on the sideline of a EU summit in Brussels, on October 17, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) arrives to speak during a campaign rally at the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 4, 2024 (Ludovic MARIN and Ryan M. Kelly / AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump is living in a Russian “disinformation space,” responding to the claim by the US president that Zelensky’s popularity rating is four percent.
“Unfortunately, President Trump, who we have great respect for as leader of the American people… lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky tells reporters in Kyiv, accusing Moscow of misleading Trump.
Calling for presidential elections in Ukraine, which are banned under martial law, Trump said yesterday of Zelensky: “He’s down at four percent approval rating.”
Zelensky says the figure “comes from Russia.”
A telephone poll of 1,000 people by the respected Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, published today, finds that 57 percent of respondents trusted Zelensky, while 37 percent said they did not and the rest were undecided.
Trump’s comments came after the US and Russian foreign ministers held talks in Saudi Arabia — their first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — on resetting relations and finding a way to end the conflict.
Kyiv and its European allies have become alarmed at being cut out of the process with Russia to end the conflict.
Aunt of 10-year-old girl who vanished a year ago: ‘She was kidnapped, police are hiding information from us’
Haymanut Kasau, 9, who went missing on February 25, 2024, from a Jewish Agency absorption center in Safed, northern Israel. (Courtesy)
The aunt of Haymanut Kasau, the then-9-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli girl who was last seen almost a year ago at an absorption center for new immigrants in the northern city of Safed, says the family believes police are hiding information from them.
“They say the police are doing something, but it’s not enough, there’s nothing new. We don’t know anything. We think the police are hiding information,” the girl’s aunt Eden tells the Kan public broadcaster.
Eden says that the child’s parents, new immigrants who do not speak Hebrew well, are dismissed when they go to the police station to ask if there is any new information on the case.
The woman says the family wants Haymanut, who has since turned 10, to be declared as kidnapped, rather than missing, so that the investigation’s focus and resources can shift.
“She didn’t disappear, she was kidnapped. As for who did it — the police should know,” says Eden, whose surname is not given. “Whoever kidnapped Haymanut probably knows all the police processes. I don’t trust anyone at the absorption center. I think the police are hiding information from us. They can’t find a clue about a little girl who disappeared in the middle of the city?”
Eden says that while the children who were with Haymanut around the time of her disappearance gave different versions of what they saw, the common denominator was that the girl was taken by a stranger.
Haymanut was last seen in security footage at 7:45 p.m. on February 25, 2024, handing out municipal election leaflets outside the Jewish Agency absorption center, where she had lived for three years since immigrating with her family from Ethiopia.
According to a description, Haymanut stands at 1.2 meters (3’11”) and is slim with dark hair and dark eyes. She was wearing pink pants, a black skirt and a white shirt at the time of her disappearance.
The family intends to hold a rally on February 25, marking one year since the child disappeared.
Dramatic year-on-year rise in number of Haredi men enrolled in yeshiva, biggest increase since 2015
Haredi men study at the Kamenitz Yeshiva, in Jerusalem on September 9, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
There was a dramatic increase in the number of students enrolled in yeshivas in January 2024 compared to January 2023, the biggest rise since 2015, according to figures published by the Israel Democracy Institute in its annual report on ultra-Orthodox society.
The institute says there was an 8.5 percent rise in the number of ultra-Orthodox men in full-time study, when comparing the two time periods.
The IDI says that over the last decade, the number of yeshiva and kollel students has risen by 83%, while the number of Haredi men drafting into the Israel Defense Forces has fallen by 36%.
The institute says that the data for 2024, which it stresses is not final, additionally indicates a drop in the employment rate among ultra-Orthodox men — 54%, compared to 55.5% in 2023.
The share of ultra-Orthodox women in employment remains almost unchanged, and is similar to rates seen in the non-Haredi community.
Meanwhile, 47% of Haredi children live below the poverty line compared to 28% in the general population, and Haredi households contribute far less to mandatory financial payments such as taxes and National Insurance payments.
Non-Haredi households spend some three times more on such monthly payments compared to ultra-Orthodox households on average due to their low levels of income — NIS 4,496 (approximately $1,270) versus just NIS 1,469 ($415), respectively.
In a landmark decision in June, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
Since then, thousands of orders have gone out but few Haredim have enlisted, with the overwhelming majority of those eligible for military service remaining out of the army.
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are trying to push through legislation that will extend conscription exemptions for their community’s yeshiva students.
Hezbollah member said killed in IDF drone strike on car in south Lebanon
One person was reportedly killed in the Israeli drone strike on a car in the south Lebanon town of Ayta ash-Shab.
The Saudi al-Hadath outlet reports that he was a Hezbollah member.
The IDF has not yet commented.
صورة "الرابيد" المستهدف في #عيتا_الشعب منذ قليل pic.twitter.com/iw7gppiIrn
— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) February 19, 2025
UAE opposes displacement of Palestinians, Emirati president tells Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, on February 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP)
United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tells visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Abu Dhabi opposes the displacement of Palestinians, official media reports.
Sheikh Mohammed “affirmed the UAE’s firm position rejecting any attempts aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land,” the Gulf state’s WAM news agency says.
Rubio departed Abu Dhabi after a brief stop in the UAE, the final leg of his first Middle East tour, which included discussions on a proposal by US President Donald Trump to place Gaza under US control and relocate its inhabitants.
The UAE president “stressed the need for the reconstruction of Gaza to be linked to a path leading to comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution,” WAM reports.
Rubio’s visit to the UAE comes ahead of a Friday summit in Saudi Arabia of the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Egypt and Jordan, in order to respond to Trump’s Gaza plan.
The Trump administration, which rejects any future role for Hamas in the Palestinian territory, has called on the Arab countries, which are firmly opposed to any displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, to propose alternatives to the US president’s plan.
Lebanese media reports Israeli drone strike on car in Ayta ash-Shab
Lebanese media reports an Israeli drone strike on a car in the south Lebanon town of Ayta ash-Shab.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Lapid: Statement from PM’s office attacking Mossad, Shin Bet heads over hostage negotiations is cowardly
Opposition leader and head of the Yesh Atid party MK Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, February 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid attacks the “cowardly statement and complete and utter lie” in which a “senior official” today attacked the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security services who led the negotiations for the hostage-ceasefire deal.
“The announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office raises concerns about the stability of his judgment,” Lapid says in a statement.
“This is a cowardly statement and also a complete and utter lie. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu continues to blame others for his failures, and continues to abuse the families of the hostages for political purposes,” Lapid says.
“Everyone who works for [Netanyahu] should know that sooner or later they will be publicly sacrificed for half a headline,” Lapid charges.
“This is a matter of conscience and he’s looking for credit. He should stop hiding behind anonymous briefings and make sure to bring all the hostages home,” Lapid says.
‘Senior source’ lauds PM’s changes to hostage negotiating team in attack on Mossad, Shin Bet heads
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court for the 10th day of his testimony in his corruption trial, February 17, 2025. (Gideon Markowicz/ POOL)
A “senior source familiar with the details” releases a statement claiming that the release of four dead hostages tomorrow and six living hostages on Saturday is a direct result of changes to the negotiating team.
“The achievement of the agreement to release six of our living hostages in one fell swoop, alongside the return of four dead hostages tomorrow, is the result of the prime minister’s decision to change the composition of the negotiating team,” the “senior source” says.
“The new team changed the dynamic and led negotiations instead of concessions,” the statement says.
“It also stopped the practice of regular and biased briefings against the prime minister and the political echelon, which only caused Hamas to entrench its position and add demands,” the statement concludes.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will lead talks on phase two of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas, according to Hebrew media reports yesterday.
Mossad chief David Barnea has led previous rounds. Netanyahu pushed aside Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon, with whom he has 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.
Mossad chief David Barnea (R) and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
Authorities set up working group aimed at keeping wildlife from being killed by pesticides
The carcasses of 335 black kites at Moshav Patish in southern Israel, after a mass poisoning event apparently caused by an approved pesticide leaching into puddles caused by irrigation, near Moshav Patish, southern Israel, February 1, 2025. (Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
The Agriculture and Environmental Protection ministries and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority announce the establishment of a joint working team to reduce wildlife poisoning by pesticides.
The move follows the death by poisoning of over 1,000 black kites this month in the Negev, southern Israel. The birds had drunk from puddles contaminated with pesticides.
Discussions kick off at the offices of the Agriculture Ministry’s Plant Protection and Inspection Services.
Prof. Dror Hablana, Chief Scientist at the Nature and Parks Authority, says after the meeting, “Improper use of pesticides poses a major threat to wildlife populations and may undermine the structure of food webs and natural ecosystems in Israel. Conservation efforts that are not accompanied by improved regulation and oversight of pesticide use cannot provide an adequate response to the ongoing harm to wildlife populations. I welcome the establishment of an inter-ministerial working group to improve pesticide use policy, designed to enable prosperous agriculture while minimizing the existing threat to wildlife, ecosystems, and humans.”
5 IDF reservists indicted over abuse of Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman military detention facility
Far-right activists protest against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of abusing a Hamas terror suspect, at the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheba, July 29, 2024. (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90)
Five IDF reserve soldiers serving in the “Force 100” prison riot control unit of the Military Police are indicted on charges of causing severe injury and assault under aggravated circumstances for their role in the abuse of a Palestinian security prisoner at the Sde Teiman military detention facility.
According to the indictment filed by the Military Advocate General’s Office, the five soldiers severely beat and assaulted the prisoner after he was taken to Sde Teiman on July 5, 2024.
After conducting a search of the prisoner, the five soldiers, assisted by several other members of the riot control unit, beat him while he was blindfolded and his hands and feet were shackled.
“For 15 minutes, the accused kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him and pushed him all over his body, including with clubs, dragged his body along the ground, and used a taser gun on him, including on his head,” the indictment alleges.
During this assault, one of the soldiers “stabbed the detainee in his buttock with a sharp object” close to his anus which caused a tear in his rectal wall.
After an hour the detention facility officials noticed that he was bleeding heavily and he was taken to hospital.
The detainee suffered multiple traumatic wounds as a result of the beating, including seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, a tear in his rectum and injuries all over his body.
He required surgery to his large intestine and a stoma was fitted as a result of the intestinal injury, which was removed three months later.
The arrest of the suspects in 2024 at the Sde Teiman base caused outrage among coalition politicians and government ministers, some of whom entered the base in an effort to thwart the arrests.
Hostage families demand clarification from PM over ‘failure’ to hold phase 2 talks: ‘A clear danger to those held’
Demonstrators protest for the release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, February 18, 2025.(Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The families of hostages say that the lack of talks on a second stage of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal is a “clear and tangible” danger to their loved ones, as they demand “urgent clarifications” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the apparent lack of progress in negotiations.
“The failure to hold phase two [talks] represents a clear and tangible danger to the dozens of live abductees, and the ability to bury the dead on Israeli soil,” the forum says in a statement.
“The news of the advance return of hostages on Saturday is clear proof that it is possible to expedite the timetables and return everyone in a much shorter period of time,” the statement to Netanyahu reads.
“The families of the hostages demand urgent clarifications regarding the continuity of the agreement and the clear path to returning our loved ones from captivity. The decisions you will make in the coming moments are fateful,” they say to the premier.
All six remaining living hostages slated to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal will be freed Saturday, Israeli and Hamas officials said yesterday, in a surprise move apparently linked to growing worries that the ceasefire and captive release deal in the Gaza Strip could collapse.
The terror group also said that it would also transfer the bodies of mother Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir to Israel tomorrow, as well as that of a fourth unnamed hostage. Israel has confirmed it is expecting to receive four bodies, without identifying them.
Israel has said it will begin negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal in the coming days.
Fifty-nine Israelis will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one of the deal, of whom 35 have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
Health minister: Identification of hostages’ bodies may take time, it’s important to establish cause of death
Health Minister Uriel Buso at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 10, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Health Minister Uriel Buso says that the identification of the bodies of four hostages to be returned by Hamas tomorrow could take some time, emphasizing the need to establish the causes of death if possible.
“I visited the Institute of Forensic Medicine to see the preparation for the return of the fallen,” the minister tells Walla. “The professionals here have been prepared to quickly receive them, so that identification can be carried out as promptly as possible.”
The minister emphasizes that the identification process may not be immediate, depending on the condition of the bodies.
“The process can take from between a short time to a very long time, as we do not have accurate information about the condition of those killed,” he says.
“Therefore, we need to be patient. The most important thing is that we receive a clear identification, that we can ascertain the cause of death as much as possible, and that we bring them for burial in the Israel,” Buso says.
Hamas said yesterday that it will transfer the bodies of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir to Israel tomorrow, along with the body of a fourth hostage. The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed that four dead hostages will be released, but did not name them.
Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)
Rubio arrives in UAE ahead of Saudi summit on Trump’s Gaza plan
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from an aircraft, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
US top diplomat Marco Rubio arrives in the United Arab Emirates for the final leg of his first Middle East tour, after breakthrough talks with Russian officials in Riyadh.
After arriving in Abu Dhabi, the US secretary of state is set to meet with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Yesterday, Rubio led a US delegation in rare talks with Russian officials headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Saudi capital. The discussions covered a range of issues, including efforts to end the Ukraine war.
Rubio’s visit to the UAE comes ahead of a Friday summit in Saudi Arabia of the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Egypt and Jordan, in order to respond to US President Donald Trump’s plan for postwar Gaza.
The Trump administration, which rejects any future role for Hamas in the devastated Palestinian territory, has called on the Arab countries, which are firmly opposed to any displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, to propose alternatives to the US president’s plan.
Trump has proposed placing the war-torn Gaza Strip under US control and moving its 2 million inhabitants, mainly to neighboring Jordan and Egypt.
For 2nd time in days, Israelis illegally cross border into Lebanon; 4 arrested for throwing rocks at IDF troops
Police say that several Israelis illegally crossed the border into Lebanon overnight, and some of them threw rocks at Israel Defense Forces troops who arrived on the scene.
Law enforcement officials say four were arrested for illegally crossing the border and public order offenses.
The remaining suspects were returned to Israel by IDF troops. It is unclear how many Israelis crossed the border and why they were not all arrested.
Police note that crossing the border illegally is punishable with up to four years in jail.
It is the second such incident this week. Overnight Saturday-Sunday a group of some 20 ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis illegally entered Lebanon overnight, before being detained by IDF troops and handed over to the police.
The group was apparently trying to reach the tomb of Rav Ashi, a fourth-century Babylonian scholar who is believed buried in the hills near Manara in the Galilee panhandle. The shrine marking his burial spot straddles the Blue Line and is situated within a militarized compound hemmed in between an IDF post and UNIFIL base.
Pope in ‘complex’ medical situation with pneumonia in both lungs, Vatican says
Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, December 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis has developed pneumonia in both lungs, the Vatican says, after new tests showed a further complication in the condition of the 88-year-old pontiff that raised concerns about his ability to fight off the infection.
The Vatican says Francis’ respiratory infection also involves asthmatic bronchitis, which requires the use of cortisone antibiotic treatment. “Laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture,” the Vatican says.
Nevertheless the pope, who had the upper lobe of his right lung removed as a young man, is in good spirits and is grateful for the prayers for his recovery, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni says in an update.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a “fair” condition on Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. On Monday, medical personnel determined that he was suffering from a polymicrobial respiratory tract infection, meaning a mix of viruses, bacteria and possibly other organisms had colonized in his respiratory tract.
“The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon … demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy,” Bruni says.
Bronchitis can lead to pneumonia, which is a deeper and far more serious infection of the lungs’ air sacs. Pneumonia can develop in part of one lung or an entire lung or both lungs. It tends to be more serious when both lungs are affected because there isn’t healthy lung tissue to compensate.
IDF testing sirens in Tzofit this morning
The Home Front Command says sirens will be tested in two communities in the central community Tzofit this morning.
The alert will be heard at 11:05 a.m.
In the case of an actual attack, the sirens will sound twice, according to the IDF.
BBC said to have used Hamas minister’s son to narrate documentary on ‘ordinary’ Gazans
Illustrative: Protesters holding placards and Israeli flags join a gathering outside the headquarters of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in London on October 16, 2023, to appeal to the corporation to call Hamas 'terrorists.' (Daniel Leal/AFP)
The BBC has been accused of airing a documentary ostensibly about the plight of “ordinary” Palestinians in Gaza without disclosing that the film focuses on the teen son of a senior Hamas minister, The Telegraph reports.
“Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone” is narrated by a 14-year-old boy named Abdullah Al-Yazouri, but the newspaper reports that the teen’s father is Ayman Alyazouri, deputy minister of agriculture in the Strip’s Hamas-run government.
The newspaper says the boy’s connection to Hamas is not revealed in the documentary and it is unclear if the production team knew.
The Telegraph reports that while the BBC has said it had full editorial control, it do not provide comment to the newspaper.
The UK public broadcaster has been criticized for its refusal to describe Hamas as terrorists, even though the group’s military wing is proscribed by the United Kingdom as such, and even after the widespread documentation of its systematic targeting of civilians on October 7, 2023.
The former director of the BBC, Danny Cohen, has accused the network of “egregious” anti-Israel bias.
Brazil prosecutor charges former president Bolsonaro over failed coup plot
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to members of the media after accompanying his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, to board a plane bound for the US to represent him in President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration after a Brazilian judge denied his request to travel at Brasilia airport on January 18, 2025 (EVARISTO SA / AFP)
Brazil’s attorney general formally charges far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others over an alleged coup attempt after his 2022 election loss.
Bolsonaro, 69, and his co-accused are hit with five charges over the alleged bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after a bitter election race.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco files the charges at the Supreme Court “based on manuscripts, digital files, spreadsheets and exchanges of messages that reveal the scheme to disrupt the democratic order,” his office says in a statement.
“They describe, in detail, the conspiratorial plot set up and executed against democratic institutions.”
One of the charges is for the crime of “armed criminal organization,” allegedly led by Bolsonaro and his vice-presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto.
“Allied with other individuals, including civilians and military personnel, they attempted to prevent, in a coordinated manner, the result of the 2022 presidential elections from being fulfilled,” reads the statement.
The prosecutor’s office based its decision on a federal police report of more than 800 pages, released last year after a two-year investigation which found Bolsonaro was “fully aware and actively participated” in the plot to cling to power.
Bolsonaro has denied the accusations and says he is the victim of “persecution.”
18-year-old man shot and killed in Hamaam, as violent crime continues to surge
Police say an 18-year-old man was shot and killed in the northern village of Hamaam overnight.
Law enforcement officials say that while the shooting was assumed to be criminal rather than terror, a motive has not yet been established.
Recent days have seen a number of murders, with violent killings surging.
Violent crime in the Arab community has soared in recent years, and data released by the Israel Police last month showed that homicide rates doubled in 2023, with a record 244 victims in the Arab community.
Last month, violent crime claimed 21 lives, more than double that of the corresponding month last year.
Acting National Security Minister Haim Katz holds a number of portfolios and is widely seen as only holding the position until the potential return of far-right Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir to the government.
Rescued hostage: Ceasefire must continue to ‘make sure all our loved ones return to us’
Rescued captive Noa Argamani addresses an event to mark over 500 days since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, DC. (Leigh Vogel)
Speaking at a Washington synagogue to mark 500 days since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, rescued captive Noa Argamani calls for the current hostage release and captive deal to continue to its second phase, during which all the hostages are expected to be freed in return for an end to the war in Gaza.
“This deal right now is so important. It brings our loved ones back to us. My partner Avinatan Or is part of the second stage of this deal. We have to continue to the second stage and make sure all our loved ones return to us,” Argamani says.
Also addressing the event is former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, who was freed during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Her boyfriend Matan Zangauker remains in Hamas captivity and is not slated to be released until the deal’s second phase.
“Despite everything I have been through, I am more Zionist today than I have ever been,” she said. “Israel is where I want to build my family, to raise my kids. But in order for me to see my future in Israel, all of the hostages must come back. There is nothing more aligned with being a Zionist than fighting for our people, it is at the core of our Jewish identity.”
“In order for me to heal, in order for all of the released hostages to heal and for the country to start recovering — we need to bring them all home. Now.”
Netanyahu family associate named as acting director-general of PM’s office
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announces the appointment of Drorit Steinmetz as its acting director-general.
Steinmetz, who will replace Yossi Shelley, is a longtime employee of the Prime Minister’s Office who is considered close to Netanyahu’s family, particular the premier’s wife Sara.
Captive surveillance troops were held in Gaza tunnel days before IDF bombed it — TV
The recently freed female surveillance soldiers were moved from a tunnel in Gaza days before it was bombed by the IDF amid the intensive aerial campaign that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught, according to Channel 12 news.
The network says around a month later, Hamas repaired the tunnel and moved the captives back there. The report doesn’t say why Hamas initially decided to move the women out of the tunnel to a site aboveground.
US Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as Trump’s commerce secretary
Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office of the White House after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order, February 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
WASHINGTON — The US Senate confirms wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s hardline trade polices.
At the Commerce Department, Lutnick, who was CEO at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will oversee 50,000 employees who do everything from collecting economic statistics to running the census to issuing weather reports. But he’s likely to spend a lot of time — along with Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee to be the top US trade negotiator — managing the president’s aggressive plans to impose import taxes on US trading partners, including allies and adversaries alike.
The Senate vote to confirm Lutnick was 51-45.
Lutnick was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald when its offices were hit in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The firm lost two-thirds of its employees — 658 people — that day, including Lutnick’s brother. Howard Lutnick led the firm’s recovery and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Lutnick, who is Jewish, has promised to sell off his business holdings. They’re complicated. His financial disclosure statement shows that he had positions in more than 800 businesses and other private organizations.
Anti-Israel protesters shout ‘settlers go back home’ at NYC Orthodox Jews
Anti-Israel protesters in Brooklyn, February 18, 2025. (Luke Tress/Tomes of Israel)
Anti-Israel protesters shout “settlers” and “Zionists” at residents of an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn.
The protest, led by the Pal-Awda activist group, takes place in Boro Park, an area with a large Orthodox population.
The crowd is separated into three parts. The anti-Israel protesters and a group of pro-Israel counterprotesters gather inside police opposing barricades on the street, and a crowd of Jewish residents watch from the opposite sidewalk. The anti-Israel protesters mostly shout at the neighborhood residents, who are closer.
They chant “settlers settlers go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” and “Zionists go to hell.”
“How many kids did you kill today?” they chant to the beat of a snare drum. Some flash their middle fingers at the Jewish pedestrians. Children on their way home from local yeshivas watch from their school bus windows.
The protesters say they are targeting an event in the area selling real estate in Israel.
“There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” a protest leader shouts through a megaphone.
Anti-Israel activists have held hundreds of protests on New York since the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, but protests in Jewish neighborhoods are rare.
Tuesday’s rally was widely condemned by New York political leaders.
read more: