Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
London High Court rejects petition to suspend British arms exports to Israel
The London High Court rejected a petition to suspend British arms exports to Israel, the lawyers for the plaintiffs say.
A coalition of legal advocacy groups had asked the High Court in January to expedite a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to keep selling military parts and arms to Israel.
Britain’s strategic licensing criteria state that weapons should not be exported when there is a clear risk they could be used in international humanitarian law violations.
The court claimants, led by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq and including the Global Legal Action Network, argued that the government was ignoring its own rules in the Gaza conflict.
But the court ruled against the measure, the lawyers say in a statement to AFP, adding that they would appeal the decision.
IDF constructing new east-west road in Gaza Strip as part of plan for day after war – WSJ
Israeli army humvees and vehicles move along a dirt road in the Gaza Strip near a position along the border with southern Israel on January 4, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
The IDF is constructing a new road across central Gaza as part of its plan to maintain security control over the Palestinian enclave at the end of the war against Hamas, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the report, the new gravel road is being expanded upon some five miles from the Israeli border and stretches from east to west, as the army already has control over the Strip’s north-south roads.
The road will allow the military to move securely through the strip and its construction as Israel prepares for the day after the war, when the ruling Hamas terror group will no longer be in power and the majority of IDF troops will have withdrawn, the report says.
Speaking to the WSJ, retired IDF colonel Miri Eisin says the road is intended to be “long-term temporary” and will be in use at least until the end of 2024.
War with Hezbollah could cause frequent, extended power outages across most of Israel, Health Ministry report warns
Firefighters try to put out an electricity pole at the scene where a rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area in central Israel, October 26, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah along the country’s northern borders, Israel’s health system could collapse and extended power outages could become the norm, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Citing a report it obtained after it was presented to the relevant authorities by Health Minister Uriel Busso and Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, Kan reports that a war with Lebanon’s Iran-backed terror group could result in frequent power outages across 60 percent of Israel, each one lasting two hours, multiple times a day.
As a result, Israel’s health system could be placed under immense strain, as ventilators and respiratory support systems would no longer be able to rely on the current energy infrastructure and will instead require a huge number of generators, the report warns.
As a result, Kan reports, the Health Ministry is seeking to establish energy and oxygen centers across the country, each of which could provide enough electricity for 50 rechargeable ventilators and other medical equipment that would be used on a rolling basis, removing the burden from the hospitals themselves.
“The goal of this is to prevent the health system from collapsing while it is already under heavy strain,” the report cites Siman-Tov as saying.
Palestinian media reports three killed in clashes between gunmen, IDF in Jenin refugee camp
Palestinian media outlets report three killed in clashes between gunmen and the IDF in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.
According to the reports, at least three others were injured to varying degrees in the clashes.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the raid.
An Israeli air strike targets a site in Jenin refugee camp. pic.twitter.com/gTmm68n0RE
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) February 20, 2024
US official: Highly unlikely that IDF will launch Rafah offensive before Ramadan begins
Kites are flown over Rafah as smoke billows following Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 20, 2024. (Said Khatib/AFP)
It is highly unlikely that Israel will launch its major planned military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10, a senior US official tells The Times of Israel.
The IDF is still finishing up major operations in Khan Younis, north of Rafah, and has not finalized its plan to ensure that the million-plus Palestinians currently sheltering in the latter city will be protected once the Israeli operation against Hamas’s remaining battalions there begins, the US official says.
Any plan requiring the evacuation of that many Palestinian civilians and the establishment of new humanitarian mechanisms to support them will take weeks to implement, the US official speculates.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz appeared to confirm that timeline earlier this week, saying that Israel will operate in Rafah if the hostages aren’t returned by Ramadan.
US President Joe Biden has stressed that such a plan is necessary before Israel launches any major offensive in Rafah and indicated Friday that the operation should not commence while hostage negotiations are ongoing.
An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that the IDF plans to evacuate the civilians in Rafah to an area between Khan Younis and Wadi Gaza, which bisects the Strip.
The US official indicates that failure to start the Rafah operation before Ramadan may force Israel to wait until after the holy month is over to begin the offensive.
The Biden administration is working to secure a hostage deal before Ramadan begins, a second US official told The Times of Israel earlier this month, adding that Washington wants to use the humanitarian pause secured by the hostage deal to negotiate a more permanent ceasefire.
US: Calling for a ceasefire that Hamas hasn’t agreed to won’t do anything
Asked whether the US draft Security Council resolution calling for a “temporary ceasefire” as opposed to a “humanitarian pause” represents a shift in Washington’s stance, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller indicates that it doesn’t.
“We want to see a temporary stop in the fighting. You can call it a ceasefire, you can call it a pause. Ultimately, we want to see the fight and stop so hostages can get out and humanitarian assistance can get it,” he says during a press briefing.
“The only kind of temporary ceasefire that is going to achieve a release of hostages is one that’s negotiated.”
“Just calling for a temporary ceasefire that Hamas has not agreed to is not going to do anything to get the hostages out, which is why we can continue to pursue diplomacy with Israel and with the governments of Egypt and Qatar to try and achieve a temporary ceasefire that would secure the release of the hostages.”
“We think that is by far the most productive way forward. It’s what achieved the release of more than 100 hostages last year, and what we think should be the productive path for moving forward now,” Miller adds.
Prime Minister’s Office: Israel examining report that Hamas is distributing medication to hostages
The Prime Minister’s Office says Qatar’s statement about the medication for the hostages having been received by Hamas is a “direct result of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence on receiving proof of the arrival of the drugs for our hostages.”
His office adds that “Israel will examine the credibility of the report and will continue to work for the peace of our hostages.”
El Al to gift free plane tickets for European destinations to IDF soldiers
File: El Al airplanes on the tarmac at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, October 4, 2022. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
El Al, Israel’s flag carrier airline, announces it will be gifting free plane tickets to various locations in Europe to IDF soldiers in a show of appreciation for their service amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
“As a company that enlisted in the national effort at the very beginning of the war, we feel it is our obligation to give back to those who contributed to the country and our defense during this period,” the airline company says in a statement.
Soldiers in both regular and reserve service will be eligible for a free plane ticket if they have served 30 days or more in active service since October 7, El Al adds.
Soldiers who meet the criteria must also be members of the free-to-join “Matmid” frequent flyer club, but can join at any time if they are not prior members, the airline adds.
The tickets will include a pre-selected seat and luggage, and they will be able to be used on a flight departing Israel any time between May 5, 2024 and February 17, 2025.
Eligible soldiers will be able to select one of the following locations as their destination:
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Vienna, Austria
- Thessaloniki or Athens, Greece
- Paphos or Larnaca, Cyprus
- Budapest, Hungary
- Bucharest, Romania
Palestinian media reports clashes between IDF and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin refugee camp
Palestinian media outlets report clashes between IDF troops and gunmen in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.
The reports also say an airstrike was carried out against a building in the area.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the raid.
اشتباكات عنيفة بين مقاومين وقوات الاحتلال في مخيم جنين بعد اكتشاف قوات خاصة تسللت للمخيم pic.twitter.com/URYh6Ujpa2
— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) February 20, 2024
IDF opens polling stations for soldiers inside Gaza Strip to vote in municipal elections
This handout photo published on February 20, 2024, shows IDF soldiers operating a military polling station. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip have started voting in Israel’s municipal elections after polling stations opened up earlier today, the IDF says.
Twelve polling stations have opened in various parts of the Gaza Strip, the IDF says, for soldiers to be able to exercise their right to vote despite being inside enemy territory.
The polling stations will remain open until February 27, when the rest of the country will cast votes in Israel’s delayed municipal elections, which were originally scheduled to be held on October 31.
The IDF says that in total, it will open 925 military polling stations, of which some 150 will be fully mobile to allow for soldiers — conscripts and reserves alike — who are stationed in remote locations to vote.
Father of hostage Liri Albag to Smotrich: Let them kidnap your children and then you can talk
Eli Albag, father of hostage Liri Albeg, speaks to protesters outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv, soon after Finance Minster Bezalel Smotrich said returning the hostages was 'not the most important thing'. February 20, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The father of 18-year-old Liri Albag, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, decries Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for suggesting that the efforts to return the hostages to Israel are less important than destroying Hamas.
“Let them kidnap your children!” Eli Albag declares at a protest outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv against the government’s decision not to send an Israeli delegation to the hostage talks in Cairo. “Let them kidnap your children and I will shout in the street, ‘It’s not the most important thing!'”
“I’m talking to all citizens of Israel — whoever thinks that the citizens, the hostages are unimportant, let them kidnap your children and then you can speak!” he continues.
“We have suffered for 137 days, day after day, minute by minute, we don’t sleep at night,” he adds of his family and the families of the 134 other hostages held by Hamas, not all of them alive.
Calling for people to take to the streets in protest, Albag says his daughter was attacked while protecting the State of Israel, but that the State did not protect her in return.
“It will not protect you,” Albag declares to the crowd of protesters. “They are abandoning us above. They are laughing at us, dragging their feet, they are not going to negotiate. I say to you citizens, take to the streets because today it is us and tomorrow it will be you.”
Houthis shot down a US military drone near Yemen, officials confirm
A US military MQ-9 drone was shot down near Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, two US officials say, the second time such a shootdown has taken place in recent months during a near daily tit-for-tat between the group and US forces.
The Houthis, who have controlled most of Yemen for nearly a decade, have carried out repeated drone and missile strikes since November in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait against commercial and military ships. US and British forces have responded with multiple strikes on Houthi facilities but have so far failed to halt the attacks.
One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said initial information showed that the US drone, made by General Atomics, was hit near Hodeida on Monday. The official said information could change and did not say if the drone was in international airspace.
The second official said the drone was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile fired from near Hodeida.
The comments by the officials confirm a claim by the Houthis that they had shot down a drone near the port city.
In November, another MQ-9 was shot down by the Houthis, and two drones were brought down by the group in 2019.
Meeting with elite Artillery Corps soldiers, Netanyahu vows ‘no pressure’ can stop Israel from achieving goals
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with The IDF Artillery Corps’ elite Sky Riders Unit, also known by its Hebrew acronym Rochash in Zikim, February 20, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the IDF Artillery Corps’ elite Sky Riders Unit, also known by its Hebrew acronym Rochash during a visit to the Zikim military base, his office says.
During his visit, Netanyahu watched a display showcasing the unit’s capabilities and tested out the surveillance tools over the Gaza Strip, his office says.
He also received a summary of the unit’s operations and achievements since the start of the war against Hamas.
Speaking to the soldiers of the mixed-gender elite unit, the prime minister vowed that Israel will continue to war against Hamas in Gaza until all its goals are achieved, including the destruction of the terror group and the release of the hostages.
“There is a lot of pressure on Israel, at home and abroad, to end the war before we achieve all of its goals, including [agreeing to] a deal to release the hostages at any cost,” Netanyahu’s office quotes him as saying.
“We really want to achieve an additional release, and we are also willing to go a long way, but we are not ready to pay any price, and certainly not to pay the delusional price that Hamas demands from us, which would mean defeat for the state of Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with the IDF Artillery Corps’ elite Sky Riders Unit, also known by its Hebrew acronym Rochash in Zikim, February 20, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
He told the soldiers that Israel is “committed to continuing the war until we achieve all of the goals, meaning the elimination of Hamas, the release of all the hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
“There is no pressure, no pressure that can change that,” the prime minister added.
Qatar: Hamas confirmed it received meds for hostages, has started delivering them
Workers and staff unload medical aid delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 9, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Qatar has received confirmation from Hamas that the terror group has received the medications for the hostages in Gaza and that it has begun delivering them to the Israeli abductees, Doha’s foreign ministry spokesman says in a statement.
In mid-January, Qatar announced that it had successfully brokered an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see medications delivered to specific hostages in need, as well as medical supplies for Gazan civilians.
Since the announcement, though, there has been no confirmation that the hostages received the medications.
The announcement by Qatar appears to be the closest thing yet to such a confirmation, but it doesn’t include any proof that the medications were actually received.
A diplomat familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel earlier this month that the presentation of such proof wasn’t part of the agreement and is unlikely to come. However, they noted that Hamas wants to keep the hostages alive, as they are worth more to the terror group than if they were not. Accordingly, it has an interest in ensuring that the hostages receive the medicine, the diplomat said.
Moreover, they noted that claims from the families of specific hostages that their loved ones had not received the medications may have been because they were not on the list of the several dozen hostages earmarked to receive meds.
Earlier this week, Channel 12 reported on an independent initiative from several hostage families who succeeded in funneling medications into Gaza for their loved ones in November, but then too, it was unclear whether the meds reached their destination.
Palestinian envoy to UN slams US veto of ceasefire resolution as ‘reckless and dangerous’
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour calls Washington’s veto of a Security Council push for a ceasefire “absolutely reckless and dangerous.”
“The message given today to Israel with this veto is that it can continue to get away with murder,” Mansour says in an emotional statement to the Security Council.
Gallant: Nasrallah’s plans for Hezbollah are ‘collapsing’ thanks to Air Force and IDF
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets IAF soldiers at a base in northern Israel housing a giant missile-detecting balloon, February 20, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Visiting the Israeli Air Force’s new giant missile-detecting balloon in northern Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s “equations” are collapsing, as the IAF operates over all areas in Lebanon.
“The equations that Hezbollah thought it had created collapse when the Air Force and the IDF decide to attack, in Damascus, in Beirut, in Sidon, in Nabatieh, everywhere, they do this work and no equation stands in the way,” Gallant says at the base housing the detection system, dubbed “Elevated Sensor,” or “Sky Dew” in Israel.
“Every day the IDF wins and Hezbollah loses, I hope there won’t be more difficult days, but if there are, you are ready,” he adds to the IAF soldiers.
IDF publishes footage of weapons cache uncovered in Khan Younis next to UN-operated school
The IDF releases footage showing a cache of weapons found by the Paratroopers Brigade in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, in a building adjacent to a United Nations school.
According to the IDF, Hamas operatives would hide in the UN school, which was used as a shelter for Palestinian civilians, and sneak into the nearby building via a hole in the wall to grab weapons to attack Israeli troops.
In another nearby building, the IDF says troops found a further cache of firearms, ammunition and military equipment.
The Paratroopers Brigade also raided the home of a senior Hamas commander, the head of the Khan Younis Brigade’s anti-tank unit, and seized weapons and intelligence materials, the IDF says.
The brigade also worked to facilitate the evacuation of Palestinian civilians from their areas of operations in Khan Younis.
The IDF says that during one operation, the paratroopers detained some 60 operatives who hid at a school alongside Palestinian civilians.
IDF: Drone launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah crashed in backyard of home near Acre
A Hezbollah drone is seen near Acre in northern Israel, February 20, 2024.(Screenshot: X)
A drone launched by the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon crashed into the yard of a home in a community near Acre a short while ago, the IDF says.
The IDF says the incident is under investigation, and that military and police forces are at the scene.
There are no damage or injuries in the incident.
No warning sirens had sounded.
Yesterday, an explosive-laden Hezbollah drone slammed into an open field near the town of Arbel in the Galilee, causing no injuries.
After Smotrich’s comments, Gantz stresses return of hostages is ‘most urgent thing,’ a ‘moral imperative’
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz slams Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich after the ultranationalist politician said that the return of the hostages held in captivity in Gaza is not Israel’s priority, but that destroying Hamas is.
“The return of the hostages is not only a prime goal of ours in the war, it is our moral imperative as a country and as a people,” Gantz writes on X, formerly Twitter. “It is the most urgent thing. We will not miss any opportunity to bring them home.”
Smotrich: Release of Gaza hostages is ‘not the most important thing’ right now
Finance Minister and head of the Religious Zionist party Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 12, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza are “not the most important thing” for Israel to worry about, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tells Kan radio in an interview about ongoing negotiations to secure the release of the 134 captives, not all of whom are alive.
Asked whether he considers the return of the hostages to be the most important aim of Israel’s war against Hamas — which began after the deadly October 7 terror onslaught — the far-right minister answers in the negative, saying that what matters most is to destroy Hamas.
“Why make it a competition?” he asks. “What is important now? We need to destroy Hamas.”
“It is extremely important,” he adds of the efforts to release the hostages, “but you need to understand that the saying ‘at any cost’ is problematic. We need to release the hostages, we need to put pressure on Hamas.”
White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk to hold meetings in Egypt, Israel in coming days, US official confirms
A senior Biden administration official confirms that White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk will hold meetings in Egypt tomorrow and in Israel on Thursday aimed at advancing ongoing negotiations to secure the release of the remaining 134 hostages in Gaza.
US vetoes UN Security Council ceasefire resolution for third time since start of Israel-Hamas war
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield (L) and Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama (R) attend a UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 20, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
The United States again vetoes a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, blocking a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Thirteen council members voted in favor of the Algerian-drafted text, while Britain abstained. It is the third such US veto since the Hamas terror onslaught on October 7 and the start of the war against the terror group in Gaza.
“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is support to the Palestinians’ right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them,” Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council before the vote.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield signaled on Saturday that the US would veto the draft resolution over concerns it could jeopardize talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Any action this council takes right now should help, not hinder these sensitive and ongoing negotiations. And we believe that the resolution on the table right now would, in fact, negatively impact those negotiations,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council ahead of the vote.
“Demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace. Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel,” she added.
After extended rainfall, Sea of Galilee climbs to 209.85 meters below sea level
View of the Sea of Galilee, northern Israel, on February 19, 2024. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
The Sea of Galilee reaches a surface level of 209.85 meters (688.5 feet) below sea level after an extended period of rainfall, according to the Kinneret Authority for Drainage and Rivers.
Kinneret is the Hebrew name for the lake, one of the lowest-lying bodies of water on Earth, and Israel’s biggest body of freshwater.
On February 21 last year, the lake was 210.25 meters (689.8 feet) below sea level.
Breaching of the so-called upper red line, at minus 208.80 meters (-685 feet) below sea level, indicates that the lake could flood. In such a rare situation, water experts must consider opening the Degania dam, just to the south of the lake, to allow excess water to flow into southern stretch of the Jordan River. That last happened in the early 1990s.
The lower red line is at -213 meters (-699 feet) below sea level. Pumping beyond this risks damaging the ecosystem.
Below the black line, which stands at minus 215 meters (-705 feet) below sea level, irreversible damage begins and no water can be pumped at all.
Located in the Jordan Valley, part of the Syrian African Rift Valley, the lake has experienced major fluctuations in its water levels over the years.
Today, most of Israel’s drinking water is supplied from desalination, with the lake serving as an emergency store.
International sports climbing federation grants membership to Palestinian climbing club
The Palestine Social Sport Climbing Club Association (PCA) is to become a member of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), officials say, providing recognition to the body in the fast-growing Olympic sport.
The executive board of the IFSC voted to include the Palestinian organization, along with federations representing Bolivia, Guam and Nigeria, in a decision that will be ratified at the IFSC General Assembly in Chile on March 22 and 23.
“The PCA is the 26th IFSC member federation on the Asian continent, and is led by president Hiba Shaheen, vice president Tawfiq Alnejada and secretary general Taher Sharaf,” the IFSC says in a statement.
IFSC has 98 members, including Israel. Russia and Belarus are currently suspended due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Netanyahu, Lapid to meet Wednesday for security briefing
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a plenum session in the Israeli parliament, October 16, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tomorrow to provide a security briefing amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and the clashes with Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border, Hebrew media reports.
The two previously met on February 5 and discussed negotiations for the release of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
IDF says it hit terror operatives in additional strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The IDF says it carried out further strikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
Sites hit by fighter jets in Blida and Ayta ash-Shab included several buildings and other infrastructure used by the terror group.
Another building where Hezbollah operatives were gathered in Kafr Kila was also struck, the IDF adds.
The strikes come after Hezbollah rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel today, which caused no injuries.
מטוסי קרב תקפו תשתית טרור במרחב בליידא ומספר מבנים צבאיים במרחבים עייתא א-שעב בשימוש ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
לפני זמן קצר הותקף מבנה צבאי נוסף במרחב כפר כילא, בו זוהו מספר פעילים. כוחות צה״ל תקפו מרחבים נוספים בשטח לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/IgHnjRfwgb— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 20, 2024
After last-minute changes, National Unity Party threatens to veto legislation on censoring foreign media
Then-Minister of Housing and Construction Zeev Elkin speaks at a conference of the Israeli Construction Center in Tel Aviv on October 20, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/ Flash90/ File)
The National Unity Party is threatening to veto the advancement of pending legislation allowing the government to censor foreign media after the last-minute change by Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel, head of the National Security Committee, moved the authority needed to close a foreign channel to the National Security Ministry, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, National Unity Party chair Ze’ev Elkin has informed coalition whip Ofir Katz that the party will no longer support the bill unless the decision is reversed and the authority is returned to the Defense Ministry.
In response, Katz told Elkin that the wording of the bill is not finalized, and will be voted on by all coalition members prior to its implementation, the report adds.
Security forces post warnings in East Jerusalem against violence on Temple Mount during Ramadan
Palestinians gather for a protest against Israel after midday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli security forces have posted signs in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber warning residents against participating in violence or other disturbances around the Al-Aqsa compound atop Temple Mount during the upcoming month of Ramadan, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the report, the notices, in Arabic, recall that “Last Ramadan, many people from this neighborhood took part in incitement and violent activities at Al-Haram al-Sharif [Temple Mount].”
“The incitement unfortunately had a negative effect on the sacred place and the sanctity of the worship service, and caused harm to those who worship there,” the warning adds. “We’re informing you that participating in violence will lead to consequences for the person who commits it, for his family and for society. We will act firmly against those who try to damage the peace and order in Al-Haram al-Sharif.”
The notice ends with a request for parents to keep watch on their children and ensure that they do not “participate in terrorist activities and violence.”
Ramadan is expected to begin on March 11 and Israeli officials have expressed worries that the sensitive period could amplify tensions stemming from Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has sparked worldwide Muslim anger toward the Jewish state.
Tel Aviv signs agreement with Reut Rehabilitation Center to build largest rehab facility in Israel
Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and Tel Aviv Foundation sign an agreement with Reut Rehabilitation Center to build Israel's largest rehabilitation center, February 20, 2024. (MYS Architects)
The Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and Tel Aviv Foundation sign an agreement with Reut Rehabilitation Center to build the largest rehabilitation facility in Israel.
The campus will be built on the Sde Dov site in northwest Tel Aviv. It will house 12 in-patient departments and 450 beds and provide outpatient services.
The project is budgeted at NIS 850 million ($232 million) and will take seven years to complete. Fundraising is underway, with the municipality contributing NIS 200 million and the government NIS 250 million. The rest will be raised from corporate and individual donors.
The need for long-term rehabilitation services has increased sharply since October 7 and the beginning of the war.
Thousands of Israelis have been injured thus far, and hundreds will require ongoing rehabilitation. The new facility will increase Reut’s capacity by around 100 beds and will also serve patients requiring rehabilitation for medical reasons unrelated to the war.
“The new hospital is planned to respond to the growing rehabilitation needs in Israel. This flagship project will allow us to provide advanced services for patients’ welfare, and further improve our professionalism,” says Reut Rehabilitation Center director Dr. Orit Stein Reisner.
The new center will house state-of-the-art equipment and is designed to make long-term stays comfortable. The plans include a commercial center on the ground floor, many green and public spaces, and an adjacent public housing residential building for those eligible for housing assistance.
In last-minute bill change, power to shutter foreign media handed to National Security Ministry
National Security Committee head MK Zvika Fogel has made a last-minute change to pending legislation allowing the government to censor foreign media, moving the authority needed to close a foreign channel from the purview of the Defense Ministry and cabinet to the National Security Ministry and Communications Ministry, along with the National Security Committee, Channel 12’s Daphna Liel reports on X, formerly Twitter.
The decision to move the oversight to the ministries headed by Communications Minister Shlomo Khari and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will not be subject to judicial review, Liel reports, but it can be appealed by parties opposed to the change.
According to the report, the law allowing foreign media to be banned will not be limited to wartime alone.
The law was originally drafted to allow the communications minister to shutter foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcasts pose “an actual harm to the state’s security.”
The law is expected to pave the way for Karhi to follow through on his threat to shut down Qatari news channel Al Jazeera, which he has said is working against Israel’s defense interests and fueling anti-Israel sentiment.
A temporary measure allowing the government to censor foreign media passed its first reading in the Knesset yesterday in a 25-4 vote.
ברגע האחרון – יו״ר הוועדה לבטחון לאומי, ח״כ צביקה פוגל, הכניס שינויים דרמטיים בחוק לסגירת ערוץ תקשורת זר (חוק אל-ג׳זירה). במקום ששר הבטחון והקבינט יחליטו על סגירה,מי שיקבלו את ההחלטה הם השר לבטחון לאומי ושר התקשורת יחד עם הועדה לבטחון לאומי שבראשה פוגל. ההחלטה לא תובא לביקורת… pic.twitter.com/MAkzpWLcSI
— דפנה ליאל (@DaphnaLiel) February 20, 2024
Finland confirms it won’t back out of Eurovision over Israel’s participation
Finland’s public broadcaster, Yle, confirms that it will not pull out of competing at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest despite threatening to do so over Israel’s participation.
In a statement, Yle says that it “decided to respect the European Broadcasting Union EBU’s judgment on the TV companies participating in the contest. We understand that there are various justified perspectives related to this issue…. we hope that the situation in the Middle East will resolve as soon as possible.”
Last month, 1,400 Finnish musicians and industry professionals signed a petition calling for Israel to be banned from the contest over the ongoing war in Gaza and suggesting Yle should boycott the show if it is not.
The Finnish entry this year, a duo known as Windows95man, said earlier this month that “we hope that Israel will not participate. This is a bad situation. There is still time until spring. We hope that the EBU will make the right decisions,” and suggested that they would decide whether to still go. But today the duo says in a statement that “we do not feel that withdrawing ourselves would make an impact,” although they intend to still try to apply pressure on the EBU.
Similar demands have echoed from groups in Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Ireland, although the EBU has repeatedly maintained that Israel will be allowed to participate. So far no countries have backed out of the contest over Israel’s inclusion.
Judicial Selection Committee makes permanent appointments to courts after almost two years
The Judicial Selection Committee meets for the first time in over 18 months in Jerusalem, on November 16, 2023. (GPO)
For the first time in almost two years, the Judicial Selection Committee makes permanent judicial appointments.
Three judges and two acting judges are appointed to the Nazareth District Court in northern Israel, and seven judges and four acting judges are appointed to the Haifa District Court.
In addition, one new judge is appointed to the Eilat Magistrate’s Court.
The Judicial Selection Committee says in its announcement that the panel will consider candidates for magistrate’s courts in the same districts in its next meeting on February 29.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin refused to convene the Judicial Selection Committee for some 10 months after the coalition came into power, intending to change its composition to exert greater government control over the crucial panel.
Legal pressure stemming from petitions to the High Court of Justice against this stance forced him to convene the panel in November, however, leading to today’s appointments.
Until today there were over 50 unfilled judicial vacancies on the various courts. The last time appointments were made was in April 2022 under the previous government.
There are still two vacancies on the Supreme Court, and Levin has declined to appoint a new Supreme Court president.
France says its Red Sea warships intercepted, destroyed drones launched from Yemen
French warships in the Red Sea intercepted and destroyed two drones in attacks coming from Yemen, the French defense ministry says.
“During the night of February 19th to 20th, French Multi-Mission Frigates detected multiple drone attacks originating from Yemen in their respective patrol zones in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Red Sea. Two drones were engaged and destroyed,” it says.
X reinstates account of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the Russian opposition leader
The social media site X, formerly Twitter, reactivates the account of Yulia Navalnay a short while after suspending it without explanation.
She created the account following the death of her husband, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The @Yulia_Navalnaya account page is accessible again, around 50 minutes after it was suspended without explanation.
If war in Gaza ended today, thousands more would still die due to public health crisis, report finds
Displaced Palestinians gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
Even if the fighting in Gaza were to stop now, about 8,000 more people could still die there over the next six months due to the public health crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war, according to a report by independent researchers in the US and Britain.
Hospitals in Gaza have been devastated by the fighting and more than 85% of the Strip’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been left homeless, with rising cases of diseases like diarrhea as well as malnutrition in overcrowded shelters.
The figures come from a report by academics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health in the United States, and are part of wider projections of the excess deaths the war may cause in Gaza over the next six months. The report says it does not include excess casualties that could be suffered in Israel because its public health system is intact.
If the fighting continues or escalates, traumatic injuries will make up the majority of excess deaths in Gaza, the researchers project. But deaths from malnutrition, infectious diseases like cholera and a lack of access to care for conditions like diabetes will also kill thousands.
In a worst-case scenario, where the fighting escalates and there are significant disease outbreaks, roughly 85,570 people may die by early August, with 68,650 deaths related to traumatic injuries, the report says.
Even with a ceasefire, about 11,580 people could still die in the same period if a disease outbreak compounds the challenges of rebuilding the sanitation and health system in Gaza. Roughly 3,250 of these deaths would be due to long-term complications from trauma injuries, and 8,330 from other causes, the report estimates.
X suspends the account of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the Russian opposition leader
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, at the European Council building in Brussels, Feb. 19, 2024. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)
The X (formerly Twitter) account of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, appears to be suspended.
“Account suspended,” a notice says on her account.
It includes a link to the site’s rules of use but does not provide a specific reason for the account being suspended.
The account is suspended just one day after Navalnaya created it and four days after the death of her husband.
UN food agency halts north Gaza deliveries amid gunfire, looting: ‘Unprecedented levels of desperation’
Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli strikes on Gaza City, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
The UN’s food agency says it has paused deliveries of aid to north Gaza after convoys of trucks faced gunfire and looting.
The World Food Programme (WFP) resumed deliveries on Sunday after a three-week suspension but its convoy “faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order” and its teams reported witnessing “unprecedented levels of desperation,” it says.
“WFP is pausing the delivery of lifesaving food assistance to Northern Gaza until safe conditions are in place for our staff and the people we are trying to reach,” the organization says.
“Our decision to pause deliveries to the north has not been taken lightly. The safety and security to deliver critical food aid – and for the people receiving it – must be ensured,” it says.
The agency says that on Sunday, a convoy “was surrounded by crowds of hungry people,” and the teams had to fend off crowds trying to climb on the trucks, as well as gunfire when they entered Gaza City.
The next day, a convoy “faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order,” the agency says.
Navalny’s mother appeals to Putin to hand over her son’s body: ‘They don’t even tell me where he is’
In this grab taken from video, Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, right, leaves the building of the Investigative Committee, regional department in Yamal-Nenets region in Salekhard, 1937 km (1211 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, Feb. 19, 2024 (AP Photo)
Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of dead Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, demands that President Vladimir Putin hand over her son’s body so she could bury him.
Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony above the Arctic Circle where he was serving a three-decade sentence, the prison service said.
Speaking in a video filmed front of the prison as small snowflakes swirled in the air, his mother – dressed in black – says she does not even know where her son’s corpse was and demands Putin give the order to release it.
“For a fifth day I cannot see him, they aren’t giving me his body and don’t even tell me where he is,” Navalnaya says in the message broadcast on the Navalny LIVE YouTube channel.
“I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin. Resolving this issue depends on you alone. Let me finally see my son.
“I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him humanely.”
A protest following the death in jail of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, outside the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv, on February 16, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
She also sent an official letter to Putin with the same demand.
Navalny’s allies have cited a Russian investigator as saying that the authorities need at least 14 days to conduct various chemical tests on his body and cannot therefore hand his corpse over yet.
The West and Navalny’s supporters say Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. The Kremlin has denied involvement and said that Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.
Putin has made no public comment on Navalny’s death but it has further deepened a gaping schism in relations between Moscow and the West caused by the nearly two-year Ukraine war.
UK’s Prince William: It’s critical that aid gets into Gaza and the hostages are released
Britain's Prince William visits the Millennium Powerhouse in Manchester, Nov. 16, 2023. (Oli Scarff/Pool via AP)
In a rare statement on the Middle East, the UK’s Prince William calls for the hostages held in Gaza to be freed and for more aid to enter the Strip, as he laments the death toll since the war began with the Hamas onslaught on October 7.
“I remain deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October,” the prince says in a statement. “Too many have been killed.”
“I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released,” the British royal says.
“Sometimes it is only when faced with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home,” says the prince of Wales. “Even in the darkest hour, we must not succumb to the counsel of despair. I continue to cling to the hope that a brighter future can be found and I refuse to give up on that.”
IDF chief in message to troops: ‘Unlike our enemy, we maintain our humanity’
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi gives a statement to the media at an army base in southern Israel, December 26, 2023. (Flash90)
In a missive to troops, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the army is “not on a killing spree,” acting out of revenge nor carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip, as the war against Hamas is well into its fifth month.
“We have been fighting for four months, and we still have a long way to go,” Halevi writes.
He says the fighting is “a long and just war. Every move is very important, every local achievement is part of achieving the goals of the war. Do it with determination and professionalism.”
“We act like human beings and, unlike our enemy, maintain our humanity. We must be careful not to use force where it is not required, to distinguish between a terrorist and those who are not, not to take anything that is not ours — a souvenir or weapons — and not to film revenge videos,” Halevi says.
“We are not on a killing spree, revenge, or genocide. We have come to win and defeat a cruel enemy, who deserves a bitter loss,” he says.
On the IDF’s probes of its failures in the lead-up to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Halevi says, “We will carry out the investigations with five leading values: truth, relevance, transparency, responsibility, and togetherness.”
Owner of Lebanon warehouse burning 24 hours after strike denies site was Hezbollah arms depot
People gather at a destroyed warehouse that Israel says is a Hezbollah arms depot, still burning after it was hit a day earlier in Israeli airstrikes, at an industrial district in the southern coastal town of Ghazieh, Lebanon, Feb. 20, 2024 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The owner of a Lebanese warehouse struck by Israeli jets yesterday and still burning some 24 hours later denies the claim that it is a Hezbollah weapons depot.
“This is a company registered for 11 years that works with electricity generators, open from morning until night, receiving customers all day,” Mohamad Khalifa tells The Associated Press. “There is nothing hidden here. The claim that this has weapons is a lie.”
The airstrike reduced the warehouse to scraps, with fires still burning some 24 hours later.
Strikes on two warehouses were carried out after a drone attack hit northern Israel earlier yesterday, causing no injuries or damage.
Hezbollah-led forces began launching daily attacks on Israeli communities and military posts along the border on October 8. The terror group says it is doing so to support Gaza amid Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group, triggered by its October 7 massacre.
Yesterday’s strikes on two alleged weapons depots near Ghaziyeh wounded 14 people, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.
Transport company CMA CGM says container ship transited Red Sea under French naval escort
File: In this Oct. 18, 2021, photo the container ship CMA CGM Jules Verne, left, and other vessels are seen in queues from the Port of Los Angeles (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
French shipping and transport company CMA CGM says that its Jules Verne container ship transited the Red Sea under French naval escort, after suspending crossings for security risks earlier this month.
“In coordination with French naval forces, the CMA CGM Jules Verne transited the Red Sea without incident, escorted by the frigate Alsace,” CMA CGM says in a statement.
The decision to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea was made after attacks on vessels by Houthi terrorists in Yemen, including the targeting of a convoy containing CMA CGM-operated ships, a source had said.
Other major shipping firms have also suspended voyages via the Red Sea, disrupting the main route for trade between Asia and Europe.
The Houthis say they are attacking Israeli-linked vessels in a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza. However, many of the ships targeted have no connection to Israel.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Conservative Sohlberg to replace liberal Amit on Judicial Selection Committee
Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg attends a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on May 8, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Supreme Court Justice Isaac Amit’s three-year term on the Judicial Selection Committee will end at the end of the month and he will be replaced by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman informs Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
Sohlberg will serve on the committee from March 1 until December 20, 2026, two months shy of a three-year term since he served on the influential panel for two months after Vogelman’s term ended in August 2023.
Supreme Court justices are appointed to the committee on the basis of their seniority on the court, although at least one of the three justices on the panel must be a woman.
Sohlberg had to step down from the committee in October 2023 in favor of Justice Daphne Barak Erez, since Supreme Court President Esther Hayut, who was also a committee member, retired from the court at that time.
Amit is firmly within the liberal camp of the Supreme Court while Sohlberg is strongly conservative.
The Judicial Selection Committee selects judges for all courts, including the Supreme Court, and therefore has critical influence over the makeup of the judiciary.
The committee has met several times since legal pressure on Levin forced him to convene the panel in November, but has yet to appoint any judges in that time.
Aunt of Bibas kids held hostage in Gaza: ‘You can see the inhumanity. Kidnapping children is a war crime’
Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas seen in a video in Khan Younis on October 7, after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, in a video released by the IDF on February 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Ofri Bibas-Levy, sister of hostage Yarden Bibas, aunt to his sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 1, and sister-in-law to Shiri Bibas, says that when they saw the video from Gaza, it “tore our hearts out.”
The IDF relaesed footage yesterday showing mother Shiri Bibas and her two young children surrounded by gunmen in the Gaza Strip hours after they were abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7.
“It was really difficult to witness Shiri, Ariel and Kfir being ripped from their home in Nir Oz into this hell,” says Bibas-Levy. “You can see the inhumanity of those actions. Kidnapping children is a war crime.”
Ofri Bibas-Levy, sister of Yarden Bibas, speaks on February 20, 2024 (Screen grab)
“When it happened on October 7, we didn’t think it would take so long,” says Shiri’s cousin Aylon Keshet. “We were shocked and it was heartbreaking but it’s such an unimaginable evil and crime against humanity that we were naively sure the world wouldn’t let it happen.”
Keshet says Hamas is solely responsible for what has happened.
“We’ve all been taught that there are international organizations that need to take care of a problem like this and we’ve been handled with disrespect and accusations when we’re just trying to get a baby and his brother and his parents back,” says Keshet. “There is no justification for this kind of behavior.”
Keshet says the Middle East conflict has nothing to do with the issue of the hostages.
“This is a humanitarian global crisis — whatever people think about political complexities, it’s a baby in a freaking jail, all right? How can people be so silent about it?” he exclaims.
“We don’t want to bury three generations of a family,” says Keshet, noting that Shiri’s parents were brutally murdered on October 7 in their Nir Oz home.
Fires still raging at alleged Hezbollah weapon depot in Lebanon day after IDF strike
Firefighters working to extinguish a fire at a destroyed warehouse that Israel says is a Hezbollah arms depot, still burning after it was hit a day earlier in Israeli airstrikes, at an industrial district in the southern coastal town of Ghazieh, Lebanon, Feb. 20, 2024 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Photos distributed by news agencies appear to show that a fire at an alleged Hezbollah weapon depot hit by the Israel Defense Forces yesterday afternoon is still burning after almost 24 hours.
The strikes on two warehouses were carried out after a drone attack hit northern Israel earlier that day, causing no injuries or damage.
Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes in the town of Ghaziyeh, on the southern outskirts of Sidon, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the northern border.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) claimed that the strikes targeted a warehouse where tires and electricity generators were manufactured.
People gather at a destroyed warehouse that Israel says is a Hezbollah arms depot, still burning after it was hit a day earlier in Israeli airstrikes, at an industrial district in the southern coastal town of Ghazieh, Lebanon, Feb. 20, 2024 (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
At ICJ hearing, Pretoria claims Israel ‘apartheid’ against Palestinians worse than in South Africa
Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags as they protest outside the United Nations' highest court during hearings, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Israel is applying an even more extreme version of apartheid against Palestinians in the West Bank than South Africa had against Blacks before 1994, Pretoria claims to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against Black people in my country,” says Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, where the world’s top court is based.
An unprecedented 52 countries are taking the stand at the ICJ, which has been asked to provide a non-binding “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences” of Israel’s 56-year rule in the territories. Israel has long rejected all claims that it is perpetrating any form of apartheid.
“It is clear that Israel’s illegal occupation is also being administered in breach of the crime of apartheid… It is indistinguishable from settler colonialism. Israel’s apartheid must end,” says Madonsela.
He says South Africa has a “special obligation” to call out apartheid wherever it occurs and ensure it is “brought to an immediate end.”
The case is separate from the high-profile case brought by Pretoria against Israel for alleged “genocide” during its current offensive in Gaza sparked by the October 7 onslaught by the Hamas terror group.
Israel is not participating in the oral hearings but sent a written contribution in which it described the questions the court had been asked as “prejudicial” and “tendentious.”
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry denounced the day’s hearing after it concluded, alleging the Palestinian Authority was “trying to turn a conflict that should be resolved through direct negotiations and without external impositions into a one-sided and improper legal process.”
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
WHO says it transferred 32 critical patients from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
IDF troops operate at Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout image published by the IDF on February 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The World Health Organization says it has completed a second evacuation mission from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, transferring a total of 32 critical patients including children from the site amid fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas operatives.
WHO staff say the destruction around the hospital is “indescribable” and voice concerns for an estimated 130 sick and injured patients and 15 medics who remain inside.
“WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to lifesaving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths,” the WHO says on the social media site X.
Efforts to transfer the remaining patients are continuing, it says.
The site has no electricity or running water and medical waste and garbage are “creating a breeding ground for disease,” it says.
Troops entered the hospital building on Thursday after surrounding it for a week, saying they had information that hostages had been held there and that some bodies of dead hostages may still be at the site.
At least one released hostage has said that she and over two dozen other captives had been held inside the hospital.
Soldiers found mortars, grenades, and other weaponry belonging to Hamas inside the medical facility, along with the medications with the names of hostages on them.
Hamas-run health ministry says Gaza death toll passed 29,100
Members of the Palestinian civil defense extinguish a fire in a building following Israeli strikes east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024 (SAID KHATIB / AFP)
At least 29,195 Palestinians have been killed and 69,170 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says.
The terror group’s figures are unverified, don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, and list all the fatalities as caused by Israel — even those believed to have been caused by hundreds of misfired rockets or otherwise by Palestinian fire.
Israel said yesterday it has killed some 12,000 Hamas members in Gaza fighting, in addition to some 1,000 killed in Israel in the aftermath of the terror group’s October 7 invasion and onslaught.
The announcement came after a Qatar-based official for the terror group claimed it had lost half that number — some 6,000 fighters — during the four-month-old conflict.
IDF says it hit Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon including rocket launchers
The IDF says it carried out airstrikes against several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon this morning.
The targets included two rocket launchers in Yaroun and Marwahin, two sites belonging to the terror group in Dhayra and Yaroun, and two buildings used by Hezbollah in Houla and Blida, the IDF says.
The strikes come amid repeated Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel, including today.
משעות הבוקר מטוסי קרב תקפו מספר מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון.
הכוחות תקפו שתי עמדות שיגור במרחבים יארון ומרווחין, לצד שתי תשתיות טרור במרחבים א-דהירה ויארון.
במרחבים חולא ובליידא הותקפו שני מבנים צבאיים pic.twitter.com/QxErPe1IFX
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 20, 2024
Star of David on Amy Winehouse statue covered with Palestinian flag, London police open probe
A statue of the late singer, Amy Winehouse in the Camden Market, London, December, 2020. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
London police have opened an investigation after a sticker of the Palestinian flag was used on a statue of late British singer Amy Winehouse to cover up the Star of David on her necklace.
The sticker was found yesterday in north London’s Camden Market, where the statue was erected in 2014, according to the BBC.
The BBC quotes a Met Police spokesperson as saying that authorities understand the incident “will have caused upset to many people.”
Winehouse, who was Jewish, was a six-time Grammy Award winner. She died from alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27.
Defacing a statue of the late Amy Winehouse because she wore a Jewish star necklace is truly disgusting.
If you can’t stand to look at a symbol of Judaism on a memorial for a Jewish singer because of your dislike for the Israeli government, perhaps the antisemitism and Israel… pic.twitter.com/rTJcfQsH4A
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) February 19, 2024
IDF has withdrawn last reserve brigade from Gaza as military nears end of Khan Younis offensive
Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout image published February 20, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF last week withdrew its last reserve brigade from the Gaza Strip, the 646th Brigade, as the military nears the end of its offensive in Khan Younis.
Troops of the reserve paratroopers brigade first operated in central Gaza and then in Khan Younis in the south in the past months, killing numerous Hamas operatives, locating weapons, and destroying tunnels, the IDF says.
The IDF has been withdrawing much of its reservist forces from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, leaving the standing army to continue the fighting against Hamas.
Military officials say the IDF aims to release reservists to help bounce back Israel’s economy and give them a break before they are likely called up again, as the fighting in Gaza is expected to last all year, and there are fears of an escalation in the north amid daily attacks by Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, the IDF’s main offensive in Khan Younis is close to being wrapped up, although no exact date for its end has been decided, according to military officials.
The Hamas battalions in the area have been dismantled, but the IDF is expected to continue to operate in the area to reach several smaller objectives.
IDF says no information indicating Hamas’s Sinwar fled to Egypt via tunnels
The Israel Defense forces says it has no information indicating that Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 onslaught, has fled to Egypt via tunnels from the Strip.
The comment comes after Israeli officials also pushed back against a report on the matter by the Saudi news site Elaph.
Culture minister: Troops going into Rafah will endanger the hostages
Culture and Sports Miki Zohar arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on December 10, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Culture Minister Miki Zohar says that sending troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah will endanger the hostages held by terrorists.
The minister, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, is asked at a Knesset committee meeting whether the potential entrance of troops into the city would put the hostages in danger.
“The answer is yes,” Zohar says. “It’s clear that we don’t want to put anyone in danger, not a single hostage. But the answer is yes, going into Gaza will endanger the hostages.”
A short time afterwards, Zohar apparently tries to soften his comments, writing on X that a ground offensive in Rafah is necessary to apply pressure on Hamas.
“The only way to reach a deal is massive military pressure on Hamas, including ground entry into Rafah,” Zohar writes. “That’s the only way Hamas will pursue a deal. Despite the risk involved in military maneuvering, this is the way to bring all the hostages back home and ensure the complete elimination of Hamas.”
Rafah, which sits on the Gaza-Egypt border, is the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the enclave, but it is also where over a million displaced Palestinians have fled to seek shelter from fighting elsewhere.
Netanyahu pushed back Saturday on growing calls from world leaders to avoid a ground operation in Rafah, saying doing so would mean losing the war against Hamas.
Rocket sirens sound in Arab al-Aramshe near Lebanon border
Sirens sound in Arab al-Aramshe near the Lebanon border, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The towns close to the northern border have been largely evacuated of civilians since October 8, when Hezbollah-led forces began launching daily attacks on Israeli communities and military posts along the border.
The terror group says it is doing so to support Gaza amid Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group, triggered by its October 7 massacre.
Hamas chief Haniyeh heading to Cairo today – report
This handout picture provided by the Iranian foreign ministry on December 20, 2023, shows Qatar-based Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh speaking to journalists as he welcomes the Iranian foreign minister (not in the picture), in Doha. (Iranian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is set to arrive in Cairo today, a Lebanese news outlet affiliated with Hezbollah reports.
According to the Lebanese al Mayadeen satellite news station, Haniyeh will visit the Egyptian capital along with a Hamas delegation.
Haniyeh is the terror group’s Qatar-based political leader. The report says the delegation includes Khalil al-Hayya, a senior member of the terror group’s politburo in Doha.
The reported visit comes as negotiations for a potential temporary ceasefire and hostage deal mediated by American, Qatari and Egyptian officials have apparently stalled. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the terror group’s demands as “delusional.”
Anti-tank missiles fired at Israel from south Lebanon, striking near Margaliot
Several anti-tank guided missiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, striking an open area near the community of Margaliot.
There are no reports or damage or injuries, according to the IDF and local authorities.
The attack is believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah.
IDF chief decides military will start probe of operational failures prior to Oct. 7
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi issues a video statement, January 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has decided that the military will begin to investigate its operational failures in the lead-up to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
Commanders involved, including the head of the Operations Directorate, Southern Command, Gaza Division, and Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200, will begin a probe of their respective units by the end of the month.
The probes are expected to last several months, as they will be carried out amid the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip. Should there be major developments in the war, the probes will likely take even more time.
The investigations are internal and are not related to planned external probes of the army’s conduct in the lead-up to October 7, which are currently on hold.
The army’s probes are aimed at drawing operational conclusions for the military, and will not look into the policies of the political leadership.
In a separate move, Halevi has also ordered that appointments for senior commanders resume after they had been on pause since October 7.
In the coming weeks, the chief of staff will appoint new brigadier generals and colonels for roles such as division commanders, brigade commanders, and senior department heads. At a further date, discussions will be held for the appointments of lieutenant colonels and majors.
The IDF won’t be appointing new commanders to roles considered “sensitive” and related to the probes.
Report: Hamas terrorists planned to free prisoners from Ashkelon jail on Oct. 7 but got lost on the way
FILE - An armed Hamas terrorist walking around the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Re'im in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 7, where terrorists from Gaza massacred hundreds of people. (South First Responders / AFP)
Ashkelon’s Shikma Prison was one of the targets in Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, but the terror group’s plans to storm the prison and release Palestinian prisoners held there apparently failed when they got lost on the way, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
The report cites unnamed Palestinian sources as saying that one of the first groups of Hamas terrorists that crossed the Gaza border on October 7 was meant to reach the prison, where hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners are held, but failed due to a “technical error” with the navigation equipment.
The report adds that the cell headed for Ashkelon comprised 23 terrorists.
Shikma Prison is located some 13 kilometers north of the nearest border point in the northern Gaza Strip, southeast of Ashkelon.
Police find body of 80-year-old man who went missing in Saturday storms
Police say the body of an 80-year-old man who went missing in stormy weather on Saturday has been found.
It is thought the man, from Shfaram, exited his car in the rain and may have been carried away by the rushing waters of the Tzippori River.
‘Fauda’ actor Idan Amedi posts first photo of injuries he sustained in Gaza
Israeli singer-songwriter, actor and reserve soldier Idan Amedi who was seriously injured while fighting in the Gaza Strip speaks at a press conference upon his discharge from Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, January 25, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Israeli actor and singer-songwriter Idan Amedi, who was released from hospital last month after sustaining serious injuries while fighting in the Gaza Strip, posts a photo taken in the days after he was wounded.
“Every now and then I have some understanding of the miracle that happened to me, but honestly I don’t think I will ever grasp it,” he writes on Instagram. “That’s how miracles are, you have to accept them and above all, don’t forget what happened.”
Amedi says that when he was first treated, the injuries to his face were so severe that he was unrecognizable and was he admitted for care as “John Doe.”
Amedi, perhaps best known for his role on the hit TV show “Fauda,” was seriously injured by an explosion on January 8 as he served in the Combat Engineering Corps reserves in Gaza. Six soldiers were killed and several others, including Amedi, were injured in the incident, which was apparently accidentally caused by troops.
הזמר ולוחם המילואים עידן עמדי, שחגג אתמול יום הולדת, שיתף כעת באינסטגרם תמונה מראשית ימי האשפוז לאחר הפציעה: "מדי פעם נופלת לי איזושהי הבנה על הנס שקרה לי אבל בכנות לא חושב שאי פעם אתפוס את זה. ככה זה ניסים, צריך לקבל אותם ובעיקר לא לשכוח שקרו"@alon_fruchter pic.twitter.com/YPhFefuw6v
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 20, 2024
Sister after release of footage of Bibas family: ‘We need to shock both the world and the decision-makers’
Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas seen in a video in Khan Younis on October 7, after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, in a video released by the IDF on February 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Yarden Bibas and his family are held hostage in Gaza, explains why the family gave permission for the IDF to release what it said was recently discovered footage showing mother Shiri and her two young children surrounded by gunmen in Gaza hours after they were abducted by terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
“They explained the reason to us and we approved. We need to shock both the world and the decision-makers. Put the family and the hostages back on the agenda. That’s why we agreed to it,” she tells the Kan public broadcaster.
The clip from surveillance cameras in Khan Younis — showing mom Shiri Bibas holding 4-year-old Ariel and an unseen Kfir, 9 months old at the time and likely in a baby carrier on her chest — is the first proof of life of the three members of the family since they were dragged into Gaza. The boys’ father, Yarden, was kidnapped separately and is also still held in Gaza.
The military has expressed serious fears over the wellbeing of Shiri Bibas and the two boys.
IDF calls on residents of 2 Gaza City neighborhoods to evacuate ahead of new offensive
The IDF is calling on residents of two Gaza City neighborhoods to evacuate to the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” on the coast of southern Gaza, as the military appears to be launching a new offensive in the area.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, publishes a map of the zones that need to be evacuated alongside the announcement.
The zones include the Zeitoun and Turkmen neighborhoods of Gaza City.
Palestinian media outlets report casualties in Israeli strikes on Zeitoun in the last hour.
At the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive against the Hamas terror group, the IDF called on all Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate south, although some have remained there regardless.
#عاجل ???? نداء عاجل الى كل السكان المتواجدين في احياء الزيتون والتركمان في قطاع غزة:
حرصًا على سلامتكم ندعوكم للانتقال فورًا عبر شارع صلاح الدين إلى المنطقة الإنسانية في المواصي pic.twitter.com/4I9i9LGmKL
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) February 20, 2024
IDF: Troops killed dozens of Hamas operatives in Khan Younis over past day, hit weapons depot
Troops operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released February 20, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
Fighting continues in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with the IDF saying troops of the 7th Armored Brigade killed dozens of Hamas operatives over the past day.
The brigade, in addition to using tank shelling and sniper fire, called in several airstrikes on Hamas gunmen, the IDF says.
Also in Khan Younis, the IDF says, troops of the Givati Brigade killed several gunmen, some armed with RPGs, from a close range.
The IDF says an airstrike was also carried out on a Hamas weapon depot in Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed several more Hamas operatives over the past day, including with sniper fire.
Officials deny Saudi report that Israel believes Hamas leader Sinwar fled to Egypt via Rafah tunnels
Yahya Sinwar (C), Hamas's Gaza Strip chief, waves to supporters in Gaza City, on April 14, 2023. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
Israeli officials deny a report by the Saudi news site Elaph that Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 onslaught, has fled to Egypt via tunnels from the Strip.
“We do not know the information that was published,” the unnamed officials say.
The denial is issued to Channel 12 after a security source told Elaph that the Israeli defense establishment estimates that the leadership of the terror group, including Sinwar and his brother Muhammed, recently escaped to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula via tunnels from Rafah.
The source added that there is concern that the terrorists may have taken hostages with them to use as a shield.
The report only cites one source for the information.
Last week the IDF released footage of what it said was Yahya Sinwar walking through a Gaza tunnel with several of his family members on October 10.
“The hunt for Sinwar will not stop until we catch him, dead or alive,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press conference upon releasing the footage.
Security forces have yet to get their hands on Sinwar, or Hamas’s military commander Mohammad Deif and his deputy Marwan Issa.
National Security Ministry ends funding for security program for domestic abuse victims – report
File: Women take part in a rally against domestic violence in Tel Aviv on December 12, 2018. (Jack Guez/AFP)
The National Security Ministry has ended a partnership with the Michal Sela Forum that affords protections to domestic abuse victims without them needing to enter a shelter, reports investigative journalism organization Shomrim.
The Michal Sela Forum was founded by Lili Ben Ami after her sister Michal Sela was brutally murdered by her partner in 2019.
The “Michal Patrol” provides women with a number of security measures, and can also give trained guard dogs to women at risk, allowing them to stay in their homes.
Since the program was launched about a year and a half ago, some 270 women have entered the program, which offers a rare alternative to moving into a shelter.
Ben Ami tells Calcalist: “I am amazed to find out through the media that there is no intention to renew the agreement, especially during days of war when the demand for protection for women who are at risk of murder has increased by 20%.”
The National Security Ministry says in a statement to Shomrim that the program had become too expensive. Shomrim notes that the amount of money provided by the ministry to the forum is relatively negligible in terms of the government’s budget — somewhere between NIS 500,000-1,000,000 (approximately $138,000-276,000) per year so far.
“The National Security Ministry’s engagement with the Michal Sela Forum, as part of joint ventures, has led to the promotion of two important projects in the protection of women,” the ministry says. “The arrangement, which was defined as a pilot, has long since ended and it was decided not to extend it due to a high cost proposal that was forwarded to the ministry by the association, with ancillary costs that were not there in the past. The ministry therefore intends to examine other alternatives to promote important projects.”
The Michal Sela Forum has made statements against far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s policy of expediting the application process for gun licenses, warning against the potential risks that are posed by the influx of new gun owners.
Women’s groups also sparred with Ben Gvir when the coalition torpedoed a bill that would have mandated an electronic monitoring system to enforce restraining orders issued against domestic abusers. Ben Gvir promised to submit a more “balanced” version that addressed false accusations against men, and said that his aims were achieved in the version of the bill that eventually passed.
Twenty-two women were murdered in Israel in 2023, 19 of whom knew their killer, according to the Israel Observatory on Femicide, a Hebrew University monitor group.
One in six children in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished, UNICEF warns
People sort grain used to make flour in Gaza City on January 22, 2024, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. (Photo by AFP)
The scarcity of food and water in Gaza has left children and women across the Strip suffering a steep rise in malnutrition, the United Nations children’s fund warns.
One in six children in northern Gaza are now acutely malnourished, UNICEF says, a situation poised to “compound the already unbearable level of child deaths.”
The war broke out on October 7, when the Hamas terror group carried out a devastating attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 hostages amid acts of brutality including widespread sexual violence.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign with the aim of securing the release of the hostages and toppling Hamas from power in Gaza.
The war has caused a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, with most of the population displaced and at risk of starvation.
Italy to try Egyptian officials again for 2016 torture, death of Italian student Giulio Regeni
In this photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior on Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, a university identification card belonging to slain Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni is displayed (Egyptian Interior Ministry via AP)
Four high-level Egyptian security officials are going on trial in a Rome court, accused in the 2016 abduction, torture and slaying of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo.
The opening hearing marks the second time the four Egyptians went on trial in absentia: In 2021, a Rome judge halted the trial on the day it opened, arguing there was no certainty that the defendants had been officially informed that they were charged in the death of Giulio Regeni.
In September, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that the trial could go ahead even if the four hadn’t received official notification, because Egyptian authorities had refused to provide addresses for them.
Regeni’s body was found on a highway days after he disappeared in the Egyptian capital on Jan. 25, 2016. He was in Cairo to research union activities among street vendors as part of his doctoral thesis.
His mother has said his body was so mutilated by torture that she was only able to recognize the tip of his nose when she viewed it. Human rights activists have said the marks on his body resembled those resulting from widespread torture in Egyptian Security Agency facilities.
Soldier hurt in Khan Younis battle dies of wounds, bringing ground op toll to 236
Staff Sgt. Maoz Morell, 22, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Talmon, who was critically wounded on February 15 during a battle with Hamas operatives in Khan Younis, and whose death was announced on February 20, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF announces the death of a soldier who succumbed to wounds sustained during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip last week, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 236.
He is named as Staff Sgt. Maoz Morell, 22, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Talmon.
Morell was critically wounded on February 15 during a battle with Hamas operatives in Khan Younis.
Another soldier, Staff Sgt. Rotem Sahar Hadar, was killed and eight more troops were wounded in the same incident, including two seriously.
UK navy: Ship near Djibouti sustained ‘superficial damage’ in suspected Houthi drone attack
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations and private security firm Ambrey report a suspected Houthi drone attack targeting a ship off Djibouti in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. UKMTO describes the vessel as sustaining “superficial damage.”
Biden’s top Middle East adviser to visit Israel and Egypt this week –report
US National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk speaks during the IISS Manama Dialogue security conference, in Manama on November 18, 2023. (Mazen Mahdi / AFP)
US President Joe Biden’s top adviser for the Middle East is slated to visit Israel and Egypt this week to discuss a potential IDF operation in Gaza’s Rafah and the efforts to free the hostages held by Hamas, the Axios news site reports.
Citing Israeli and US officials, the report says Brett McGurk is expected to fly on Wednesday to Cairo to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, before traveling to Israel the next day for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other Israeli officials.
There is no immediate comment from the White House.
US official: Administration not planning ‘to rush’ vote on UN measure urging Gaza truce
This picture taken from a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army armored vehicle driving as smoke billows in the background, on February 19, 2024. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP)
A senior US official is quoted by Reuters as saying the Biden administration is not planning “to rush” passage of a UN Security Council resolution it introduced that urges a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and warns Israeli forces against entering Rafah.
“We do not plan to rush our text to a vote. We don’t believe a rush to a vote is necessary or constructive and intend on allowing time for negotiations,” says the administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A second senior US administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says the US draft does not suggest “anything about the dynamics of any particular relationship, whether that’s with the Israelis or any other partner we have.”
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