Feb. 20: IDF to step up counterterror op in some West Bank areas after attempted bus bombings

IDF involved in probe of bus bombings, will step up counterterror op in some West Bank areas

The IDF says it is investigating this evening’s bus bombings in Bat Yam and Holon jointly with the Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police.

Following a fresh assessment, the military says its counterterrorism operation in the West Bank will continue and will be focused on specific areas per the findings of the investigation.

Additionally, the IDF says it has blocked several checkpoints leading into the West Bank in specific areas, and will ramp up activities in the so-called seam zone, the area between the Green Line and Israel’s West Bank barrier.

After attempted bus bombings, Gantz calls for reaction that terror groups ‘won’t forget’

National Unity party chief Benny Gantz calls for the series of attempted bus bombings in central Israel to “be treated as a mega terror attack.”

“We must not focus on the outcome but on the intent,” the opposition lawmaker says in a statement. “We cannot repeat the mistake made in the foiled attack in Megiddo,” he says, referring to a March 2023 car bombing in northern Israel perpetrated by a Hezbollah terrorist who crossed from Lebanon, which wasn’t followed by an Israeli escalation.

“An attempt to murder dozens of Israelis on this difficult day must be met not only with tactical actions, but also with direct targeting of the planners and funders of the attack, as well as the use of powerful measures against the terrorists’ strongholds,” Gantz says.

“A heavy price must be exacted — one that terrorist organizations will not forget.”

Israeli strikes reported in northern area of Lebanon-Syria border; no comment from IDF

The Lebanese al-Mayadeen outlet reports Israeli airstrikes near the Syrian city of Homs and in the Aakar District of northern Lebanon, close to the border with Syria.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Amid the ongoing ceasefire in Lebanon, the IDF has carried out several strikes to prevent weapons from being smuggled to Hezbollah.

Horrified Argentine officials mourn Bibas family, who were citizens

Officials in Argentina express grief and horror after the Hamas handover of what the terror group says were the bodies of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two small kids Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who all held Argentine citizenship.

“We are all in mourning, we are overcome with deep pain,” Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri says on X.

There is no immediate statement from libertarian President Javier Milei, who has reshaped his country’s foreign policy in line with Israel, expressed interest in converting to Judaism and designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in the wake of its October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Argentina’s main Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which was targeted in a notorious 1994 bombing that killed 85 people, says the return of the hostages’ bodies “confronts us, once again, with unimaginable cruelty and the darkest and most devastating facet of terrorism.”

Hamas West Bank branch appears to signal it’s behind attempted bus bombings

A Telegram channel claiming to represent Hamas’s so-called Tulkarem Battalion, based in the West Bank’s Tulkarem, puts out a statement that may signal the group’s responsibility for a combined bus bombing attack in Tel Aviv earlier tonight.

The statement reads: “The revenge of the martyrs will not be forgotten so long as the occupier is present on our land… This is a jihad of either victory or martyrdom.”

Bus drivers throughout country ordered to search vehicles; security boosted at airport

Bus drivers nationwide have been told to search their vehicles before setting off in light of tonight’s attempted major bombing attack, several Hebrew media outlets report.

Security has also been bolstered at Ben Gurion Airport, including with stringent checks of all buses entering and leaving the airport area.

Security has also been bolstered for Jerusalem’s light rail, Channel 12 news says.

Police believe several suspects were involved in planting the bombs on buses this evening, the report says.

Police search for more bombs, urge public to be on alert; minister cuts short Morocco visit

Police spokesperson Aryeh Doron says the “event is ongoing,” with officers still trying to locate more bombs in the Tel Aviv area in addition to three that went off on empty buses and two others that were found and disabled in Bat Yam and Holon.

“At this time, the event is ongoing, our forces are still scouring the area,” Doron tells Channel 12, adding that the public must be on alert for “every suspected bag or object,” which “could make the difference.

“We may be lucky if indeed the terrorists set these timers to the wrong hour. But it’s too early to determine,” he says.

Channel 12 also reports that one of the undetonated devices was found by a passenger who notified the driver about a suspicious bag.

The Kan public broadcaster reports that Transportation Minister Miri Regev has cut short her ongoing visit to Morocco and will return to Israel with her team sooner than planned.

Katz orders West Bank counterterror op stepped up in response to attempted bus bombings

Following the bus bombings in Bat Yam this evening, Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to ramp up its operations in the West Bank.

“In light of the severe terror attack attempts [in the Tel Aviv area] by Palestinian terror organizations against the civilian population in Israel, I instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of the counterterrorism activity in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria,” he says in a statement, using the West Bank’s biblical name.

“We will hunt down the terrorists to the bitter end and destroy the terror infrastructure in the camps used as frontline posts of the Iranian evil axis,” Katz says.

“Residents who give shelter to terror will pay a heavy price,” he adds.

The IDF has been carrying out a major offensive in the northern West Bank, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, since January 21.

Tel Aviv police chief: 5 identical bombs planted in buses, attack seemingly stems from West Bank

A bus goes up in flames after an explosion at a parking lot in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot)

Tel Aviv District police chief Haim Sargarof says that five identical explosive devices that either detonated or were disabled this evening had timers and that the attack “looks like something [that originated] in the West Bank.”

He says the bombs appear to be makeshift.

Sargarof tells reporters that police have concluded their searches of buses and trains. He adds that police are still trying to figure out how many suspects were involved in the presumed terror attack.

He adds that a suspect who has been identified in social media posts is, in fact, “an innocent man” who has nothing to do with the incident.

Sargarof dodges questions when asked how it could be that multiple devices were planted on buses without those responsible attracting any suspicion. He says that the IDF is responsible for the West Bank, and the Shin Bet is responsible for preventing terrorism.

Reports have said the devices were intended to detonate tomorrow when the buses were in service.

In attempted ‘strategic terrorist attack,’ 5 bus bombs said planned to detonate together tomorrow morning

A burnt bus after it went up in flames due to an explosion at a parking lot in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Fire and Rescue Service)

All five explosive devices that either detonated or were disabled this evening had timer devices, and all the blasts were intended to happen simultaneously tomorrow morning, according to several Hebrew media reports citing an unnamed security source.

Each of the devices contained 5 kilograms of explosives, the reports say.

This was intended to be a “strategic terrorist attack,” Channel 12 says.

Additionally, at least one of the undetonated devices — weighing five kilograms — reportedly carries a message saying, “Revenge from Tulkarem” — a reference to a West Bank city where the IDF has recently conducted a large-scale counterterror operation.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev tells the head of the Public Transit Authority that there is a need to stop and check “all buses, trains and light rail trains and act in accordance with the instructions of the Shin Bet and Police,” during a situation assessment on the combined bombing that police suspect is terror-related.

Third bus explodes in Bat Yam parking lot; 2 more explosive devices disabled

A bus goes up in flames after an explosion at a parking lot in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot)

A third bus explodes in a parking lot in Bat Yam, increasing suspicions that the series of blasts in the Tel Aviv suburb is a coordinated attempted attack.

Two more explosive devices have been disabled in other scenes.

No casualties have been reported.

Police Commissioner Danny Levy has arrived at the scene of one of the explosions.

Officers halt light rail traffic in the area on suspicion that a suspect entered one of the train cars.

Police have said the incident is a suspected terror attack, though all options are being looked into.

Terror suspected after 2 buses explode in parking lots in Tel Aviv suburb; nobody hurt

A bus goes up in flames after an explosion at a parking lot in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Fire and Rescue Service)

Two empty buses explode simultaneously in two parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, police say, adding that the incident is a suspected attempt at a combined terror bombing.

There are no casualties.

The Bat Yam Municipality reportedly says, “miraculously, the buses arrived at the parking lots a moment before the explosion.”

Reports say the Shin Bet is involved in the investigation and that all buses in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area have been told to conduct searches of the vehicles.

Results published for delayed elections in northern locales; Kiryat Shmona race goes to 2nd round

The Interior Ministry releases the results for Tuesday’s local elections in a number of northern locales that were unable to go to the polls with the rest of the country last year due to the war with Hezbollah in the north that displaced tens of thousands of residents.

Elections in the city of Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee Regional Council will go to the second round on March 4.

In the Merom HaGalil Regional Council, Amit Sofer is elected with 69.19% of the vote. In the Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council, Binyamin Ben Muvhar wins with 55.53% of the vote.

In the Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council, Shimon Gueta is elected with 42.45% of the vote. In the Shlomi local council, Gabi Naaman wins by default because nobody else ran.

According to the Interior Ministry, 58.08% of eligible voters — 36,312 people — voted in Tuesday’s elections.

Israel’s first nationwide local elections since 2018 had initially been scheduled for October 31, 2023, but were pushed off to January 31, 2024, in the wake of Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack on southern Israel. They were delayed a second time, due to the number of reservists still fighting, and were finally held across most of the country in February 2024.

Additional elections for select regions of southern Israel that had been unable to go to the polls at the same time as the rest of the country were held in November 2024.

Man arrested in northern Israel on suspicion of committing yesterday’s axe attack in Jerusalem

Border Police officers respond to an axe attack in Jerusalem's Old City on February 19, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police arrested a man on suspicion of attacking a woman with a hatchet in her home last night in Jerusalem’s Old City.

According to law enforcement, the suspect, who lives in central Israel, arrived at the victim’s apartment and lunged at her head with the hatchet, moderately injuring her.

He promptly fled the scene on foot and called a cab once he exited the Old City, police say. The woman was evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition by medics who were called to the scene.

The suspect was arrested in northern Israel and will be transferred back to Jerusalem for questioning.

Hostage’s mom calls for all captives, living and dead, to be returned by Memorial Day on April 29

Yael Adar, mother of slain captive soldier Tamir Adar, speaks at a memorial event at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Yael Adar, mother of Tamir Adar, whose body is held captive in Gaza, calls for the public to demand all hostages, living and dead, return by Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, marked this year on April 29-30.

“This is Tamir’s last will and testament,” she says.

Speaking at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, during a memorial for the four hostages whose bodies were returned this morning, Yael Adar says that on Memorial Day, there should be “no family in Israel without a grave, no casualty abandoned in foreign land, and the living will return to independence and freedom.”

She says every family of a slain captive is still “troubled by the hope that there’s been an error” and their loved one is alive.

“The only way to get certainty is to bring them back for burial.”

Tamir Adar, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s emergency response squad, was killed defending the kibbutz on October 7, 2023, and his body was snatched to Gaza.

“Tamir is a hero,” says his mother. “When Assaf, his son, misses his dad, we remind him that his dad was a hero — he saved people. But then Assaf asks: ‘What’s a hero worth if he’s dead?’ And I ask: What’s a dead hero worth if he hasn’t been returned for burial?”

Activists form the word ‘Sacrificed’ in memorial candles during an event mourning four returned hostages from Gaza, at Tel Aviv’s Begin road, February 20, 2025. (Yael Gadot/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Silberman Bibas, and Bibas’s young sons Ariel and Kfir, the four hostages Hamas says were returned today, were all members of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where roughly every fourth resident was murdered or kidnapped. Lifshitz’s body has been identified by Israel.

“They are another testament to the failure of October 7, 2023,” says Adar.

She says she used to live next door to Lifshitz, “a man of words and peace.” She also recalls Ariel Bibas, “a child of life,” playing at the entrance to the kibbutz when she would visit.

Rabbi Elhanan Danino, father of slain captive soldier Ori Danino, also eulogizes “the four wondrous ones.”

In a speech borrowing heavily from Jewish liturgy, Rabbi Danino, whose son’s body was retrieved last August, recites a prayer attributed to the Jewish High Priest on Yom Kippur: “Lead us upright to our land… prevent plague and pillage from befalling us and the entire House of Israel.”

A rally on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road calling for the release of the hostages from Gaza and mourning four dead hostages returned by Hamas, February 20, 2025. (Zohar Bar-Yehuda/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Referring to the Bibas boys’ shock of red hair, he says, “Today our heart was painted orange.”

Addressing the nation’s leaders, he adds: “If you fail to bring everyone home, you will bear the stain.”

Danino ends with Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer.

The ceremony also features a speech by Tzvika and Ruti Greenglick, whose son, 26-year-old Shauli Greenglick, was killed in December 2023 while fighting in Gaza.

Before the war, the younger Greenglick had been accepted to compete in Israel’s pre-Eurovision singing tournament.

His parents say he “fulfilled two dreams: to be a singer and to defend his country.”

Netanyahu said demanding Hamas leaders exiled, Gaza demilitarized, Israeli security control of Strip

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made several new demands in talks on the second phase of the current ceasefire and hostage deal, Channel 13 news reports.

The network says that as a precondition for the permanent end to the war, Netanyahu is demanding that the Hamas leadership be exiled abroad, that Gaza be demilitarized, and that Israel maintain security control over the Strip.

Hamas put propaganda material in hostages’ coffins, Israel fumes to mediators — report

Palestinian gunmen carry a coffin said to contain the body of an Israeli hostage, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, February 20, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

In addition to the gleeful ceremony ridden with propaganda in which Hamas this morning paraded the caskets of four Israeli civilian hostages, including two young kids, the terror group inserted additional propaganda material into the coffins it handed back to Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

After Israeli officials found the material inside, Jerusalem reportedly contacted the mediators of the current ceasefire and hostage deal — Egypt, Qatar and the United States — and demanded stern action against what it says was a desecration of the sanctity of the dead.

Witkoff claims Trump’s Gaza plan was misunderstood, is about better prospects, not eviction; ‘hard to square the circle’ on phase two

Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, arrives for a press conference with the US president and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, on February 4, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)

The United States envoy to the Middle East says that President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza is not about evicting Palestinians, claiming that his repeated remarks have been misrepresented.

Steve Witkoff tells the FII Institute conference in Miami that the conversation about Gaza’s future is being shifted toward how to create a better future for Palestinians.

“When the president talks about this, it means he wants to shake up everyone’s thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people,” Witkoff says.

“For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects,” he adds.

Witkoff also addresses the ongoing ceasefire-hostage deal: “I think phase two is more difficult,” he says. “But I think ultimately, if we work hard, that there’s a real chance of success… Everybody is buying into this notion that releasing hostages is just a good thing. It just is something that’s important and ought to happen.

“The issue with phase two,” he goes on, “is that there’s supposed to be an end to the war as part of phase two. And I think the Israelis have a redline, which is you can’t have Hamas in the government [of Gaza]. And so it’s hard to sort of square that circle.”

Somber Tel Aviv memorial kicks off with moment of silence for 4 slain hostages

People at a gathering mourning four slain hostages released by Hamas, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Some 1,500 people gather at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for a memorial, hours after Hamas returned what it said is the remains of hostages Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Silberman Bibas, and the latter’s young sons Ariel and Kfir. Lifshitz’s body has since been definitively identified.

Israeli flags dot the crowd, many featuring a Star of David interspersed with a yellow ribbon representing the hostages.

Pop star Omer Adam opens the ceremony with a rendition of Chava Alberstein’s 1988 song, “We Are All a Single Human Tissue.”

The ceremony’s title is a lyric from the song: “If one of us departs from us.”

The performance is followed by a moment of silence in memory of the four hostages.

People light memorial candles at a gathering mourning four slain hostages released by Hamas, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Oded Lifshitz was slain in captivity over a year ago, forensic institute chief says

Dr. Chen Kugel, director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) speaks to the media on February 20, 2025. (Screencapture/Channel 12)

Dr. Chen Kugel, the head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir), formally confirms that it has identified the body of returned hostage Oded Lifshitz, adding that he was slain in captivity more than a year ago.

The Lifshitz family and the Prime Minister’s Office have previously announced the development, with the latter saying Oded was murdered in captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In a brief video statement, Kugel says the institute is acting to give a definitive answer regarding the other three bodies released by Hamas today, believed to be those of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young boys, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were aged 4 years and 9 months, respectively, when they were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.

This is a “difficult moment” for all of Israel, Kugel says, sending condolences to the Lifshitz family.

Trump extremely committed to getting all hostages back, US VP tells captives’ relatives

US Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, February 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US Vice President JD Vance tells families of hostages held by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza that President Donald Trump is making supreme efforts to get all of their loved ones freed soon.

“Our message to the hostages is that President Trump loves you, he hasn’t forgotten your loved ones and he’s going to fight every single day to bring them home. That is exactly what he has been doing, and that’s what he’ll keep on doing,” Vance tells the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC, with several relatives of hostages in attendance.

“It’s just a question of leadership,” he continues. “You need a president who is able to pick up the phone and say: ‘You’ve got to bring these people home. No, no no no. We’re not focused on that crap right now. We’re focused on bringing hostages home.’

“And then, when negotiations hit a wall because they always do, you need a president who gets on the phone and says: ‘Cut this crap out. You’ve got to make progress. You’ve got to keep that pace going.’ It’s leadership. I saw it behind the scenes.

“What the president did was empower… his dear friend Steve Witkoff as an emissary of the United States. He said: ‘Steve, you speak for me. Get it done. And if there are problems, call me.’”

He adds: “Steve Witkoff, with the president’s leadership, got it done.”

He acknowledges, though, that “we’ve still got work to do. We’ve got to finish the process. The president is committed to this more than any leader in my lifetime. We’re going to keep on fighting for it.”

Head of forensic institute to deliver statement shortly, as it works to ID slain hostages

Chen Kugel, the head of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, is set to deliver a statement shortly, apparently about the identification process for the four bodies Hamas handed over this morning.

Israel has already announced that one of the bodies has been identified as hostage Oded Lifshitz, with the Prime Minister’s Office saying he was murdered in captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The remaining three bodies are believed to be those of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young boys, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were aged 4 years and 9 months, respectively, when they were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.

Red Cross: Handover of slain hostages ‘must be carried out respectfully and privately’

Coffins apparently containing the bodies of slain Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz, are displayed on a stage with a propaganda message before being handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appears to criticize Hamas for the terror group’s much-slammed parading this morning of bodies of hostages, including a child and a baby.

In a statement in Hebrew, the ICRC says the process of handing over slain captives “is meant to be held in privacy, out of respect to the dead and those mourning.

“We have unequivocally clarified that any release — of living hostages or ones that are no longer alive — must be carried out respectfully and privately,” it says.

The ICRC says the four abductees whose bodies were returned today “should have united with their loved ones while alive, not dead.”

The organization touts its role in today’s “vital humanitarian mission” to hand over the bodies, saying it is committed to its role laid out in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

PM’s office: Oded Lifshitz was murdered in captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Oded Lifshitz (Amiram Oren)

The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine has finished its identification of slain hostage Oded Lifshitz. It says that the IDF has told Lifshitz’s family that he was murdered in captivity by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

His family announced two hours ago that they had been notified.

Lifshitz, 83, a lifelong peace activist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was kidnapped from his home there on October 7, 2023. His wife Yocheved was abducted separately and released 16 days later.

In statement on Hamas’s parading of bodies, Irish FM accuses Israel of ‘bombing innocent civilians’

Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris awaits the arrival of Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Government Buildings, Tithe an Rialtais, in Dublin, on October 25, 2024. (Paul Faith / AFP)

Writing from South Africa, Ireland’s Tánaiste and Foreign Minister Simon Harris accuses Israel — without mentioning it by name — of “bombing innocent civilians” in his statement about the return of four slain Israeli hostages.

“The parading of caskets of young children by Hamas today was cruel, heartbreaking and utterly despicable,” writes Harris. “It is a stark reminder of the brutality of October 7.”

“We must see an enduring peace in the Middle East, where neither terrorism nor bombing of innocent civilians is tolerated,” he says.

Israel has vehemently and consistently denied targeting Gazan civilians throughout the war, saying its war is against Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, and accusing them of using the population as human shields while hiding in a vast network of underground tunnels built under the Strip’s cities.

Gaza ceasefire won’t have a 2nd phase, ‘senior official’ pledges to pro-Netanyahu outlet

For the second time this week, Channel 14 — a pro-Netanyahu network that is the only Israeli outlet to which the prime minister has granted interviews since 2021 — reports that there will be no second phase of the deal with Hamas.

On Sunday, Channel 14 cited a “senior Israeli official” saying there will not be a second phase, and Israel will instead try to extend the ongoing first phase. Today, it does not source its claim that the security establishment is looking into extending the ongoing first phase by two weeks, but quotes the senior official as certain that the second phase will not happen.

The outlet — which is seen as having regular access to Netanyahu and his inner circle — says that a final decision has been made with the Americans that the ceasefire will end and that Israel will “open the gates of hell” on Gaza.

This messaging comes as the government tells other outlets that it will hold negotiations on the second phase.

FM Sa’ar: ‘Monstrous’ hostage handover shows Gaza must be demilitarized, deradicalized

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

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that the “horrific and repulsive spectacle of twisted and monstrous minds” that Hamas put on during the transfer of slain hostages in Gaza this morning is evidence that all of Palestinian society must be deradicalized from “a deep sickness.”

“It is clear that the systematic poisoning of the younger generation in Palestinian society (in Gaza just as in Judea and Samaria) is eliminating any chance for peace,” he writes on X, using the West Bank’s biblical name. “A root canal treatment is required. The Palestinian terrorist armies must be eradicated and defeated. Gaza must be completely demilitarized.”

Backing US President Donald Trump’s proposal, Sa’ar writes that “those who want to emigrate from the hell of Gaza must be allowed a free choice.”

“Every person in the country or in the world who wants a better future for our region must support these principles,” Sa’ar insists.

Ex-hostage Iair Horn out of hospital, heads home 5 days after his release from Gaza

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

Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center says that freed hostage Iair Horn, who arrived at the hospital five days ago after 498 days of Hamas captivity, was released today after completing all his medical tests.

The hospital says it will continue to accompany him and his family and carry out medical monitoring and further tests if required.

‘Occupy, expel, settle’: Large ultranationalist rally next week to urge Israeli takeover of Gaza

A large right-wing, ultranationalist demonstration is being planned for next week in Jerusalem to call for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and for the construction of Jewish settlements in the territory.

A flier for a Jerusalem demonstration organized by the Nachala settlements group calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the territory, February 2025. (Courtesy Nachala)

Titled “Occupation, expulsion and settlement,” the February 27 demonstration is being organized by the Nachala settlement group and other right-wing organizations.

According to Nachala, an “operations room” has been established to coordinate organizational activities for the demonstration, including making large numbers of telephone calls to drum up support for the event.

Some 16,000 fliers have already been distributed, Nachala says, with teams of volunteers posting them around the country, while over 50 “transportation coordinators” are working on getting people to the demonstration, the group adds.

“Ahead of the end of the [hostage and ceasefire] deal and the renewal of fighting, the organizers are emphasizing: this time will be decisive — no to stopping the war, occupy, expel, settle.”

Ultranationalist groups began calling for rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza not long after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities and the subsequent war, with some cabinet ministers endorsing a policy of “encouraging voluntary emigration” at a Nachala conference in January last year.

But explicit calls for the “expulsion” of Gazans by such groups have only become a prominent feature of their agenda following US President Donald Trump’s insistence that the entire Palestinian population of the territory be permanently resettled outside of Gaza.

Islamic Jihad propaganda clip claims to show digging up of slain hostage Oded Lifshitz’s remains

A propaganda video issued by Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a terror operative supposedly digging up the remains of hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over to Israel today along with those of three other slain captives.

Throughout the ground offensive against Hamas, the IDF dug up several graves in Gaza, in an attempt to locate and recover the bodies of dead hostages.

The video also shows a casket in which Lifshitz’s body was placed by Islamic Jihad, which is different from the one seen at today’s ceremony staged by Hamas.

The casket is plastered with propaganda messages blaming Israel for Lifshitz’s death, and is topped with a map of the claimed borders of Palestine with text reading: “We will not give up a centimeter of Palestine.”

The Times of Israel has chosen not to show the footage out of respect for the dead.

New Israeli negotiations chief said set to meet Witkoff on ceasefire’s second phase

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is slated to meet US Mideast special envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington today to kick off talks on phase two of the hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas, the Walla news site reports, citing two officials.

According to reports, Dermer is now heading Israel’s negotiations after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sidelined the Shin Bet and Mossad chiefs.

Amnesty claims EU hosting Israeli FM brushes country’s alleged crimes ‘under the carpet’

Amnesty International Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, September 8, 2015. (chameleonseye/istock)

Amnesty International calls it “unconscionable” that the European Union is welcoming Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Brussels next week while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant have warrants out for their arrest.

“Discussions on the EU’s future relationship with Israel should above all be premised on an insistence that Netanyahu and former defence minister Gallant face justice at the ICC for the crimes they are alleged to have committed, as well as on Israel’s adherence to international law and an end to apartheid,” says Eve Geddie, Amnesty International’s Director at European Institutions Office.

She blames the EU for prioritizing ties “with a government implicated in the commission of genocide and war crimes, over support to an institution which is pursuing individual accountability for these crimes.”

“EU leaders should be deciding what measures to take to prevent the EU from aiding Israeli genocide, apartheid and unlawful occupation instead of brushing these under the carpet for a diplomatic handshake in Brussels,” she says.

Katz says entire nation is mourning, promises ‘Hamas will be destroyed’

After the handover by Hamas of the bodies of what it says are four slain Israeli hostages, Defense Minister Israel Katz vows to destroy the terror group.

“The heart of the entire nation is mourning today,” says Katz on X.

“Hamas abducted, Hamas murdered, Hamas will be destroyed,” he says.

“We will take revenge against our enemies, and secure our future,” Katz adds.

Netanyahu says Israel united in grief over slain hostages, vows vengeance against Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

After Hamas returns what it says are four slain hostages to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers a message of unity and victory over Hamas.

“On this day we are all united,” says Netanyahu in a video message. “We are all united in unbearable grief.”

“We all ache with pain that is mixed with rage. We are all furious at the monsters of Hamas,” he says, adding that Israel must “settle the score with the vile murderers — and we will settle the score.”

He then quotes Psalm 94: “O God of vengeance, O Lord; O God show vengeance.”

Netanyahu promises to achieve the longstanding goals of the war.

“We will bring back all our hostages, destroy the murderers, eliminate Hamas, and together — with God’s help — we will secure our future,” he pledges.

Israel slams Hamas as ‘a death cult that murders, tortures, parades dead bodies’

The Israeli government calls Hamas a “death cult” after it displayed coffins containing the bodies of four dead civilian hostages abducted by \Palestinian terrorists from their homes, including a baby and a small child, in a gleeful propaganda ceremony.

“Hamas is not a resistance movement. Hamas is a death cult that murders, that tortures and parades dead bodies,” government spokesman David Mencer tells journalists.

Family of hostage Oded Lifshitz says his body has been identified

Oded Lifshitz (Amiram Oren)

Shortly after the identification process begins for the four bodies handed over this morning by Hamas, the family of hostage Oded Lifshitz announces that their loved one has been confirmed as being one of them.

Lifshitz, 83, a lifelong peace activist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was kidnapped from his home there on October 7, 2023. His wife Yocheved was abducted separately and released 16 days later.

“We received with sorrow the official and bitter news about the identification of the body of our beloved Oded,” the Lifshitz family says in a statement carried by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

It says that “503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end,” adding: “We hoped and prayed so much for the ending to be different. Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather who we have been missing since October 7.

“Our family’s rehabilitation will start now and won’t end until the last hostage is returned.”

Identification process begins for 4 bodies handed over by Hamas

The Abu Kabir Forensic Institute has started the identification process for the four bodies handed over today by Hamas, Hebrew media outlets report. Hamas has claimed to have returned slain hostages Shiri Silberman Bibas, her small kids Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz.

Authorities have said the process could be lengthy and is aimed at determining their identities with certainty as well as identifying the cause of death.

The Health Ministry says forensic teams, including medical examiners and laboratory staff, are prepared to carry out the identification process as efficiently and respectfully as possible, with the “utmost compassion” toward the families.

The ministry urges the public to avoid spreading rumors and to seek updates only from official sources. It also reminds the public that these are sensitive times for the families and asks for their privacy to be respected.

The ministry also recommends not watching Hamas’s psychological warfare content, saying that repeated exposure to distressing footage can harm mental health.

It also suggests that instead of allowing children to watch Hamas-orchestrated events, adults should explain the situation in clear, age-appropriate language.

Finally, it urges the public to be sensitive to loved ones who are in distress, encouraging them to return to routine activities or engage in calming activities. If someone needs help, support them or encourage them to seek assistance.

Report: Arab states’ plan for Gaza calls for European, Egyptian supervision of terror groups’ demilitarization

A plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip being formulated by Arab countries will be split into two phases, with the first lasting 10 years, according to an Egyptian diplomat cited by the Walla news site.

The first phase will deal with reconstruction as well as the demilitarization of Gaza terror groups, according to the report.

The source is quoted as saying that weapons will be stored under European and Egyptian supervision.

Arab leaders are scheduled to gather in Saudi Arabia tomorrow to counter US President Donald Trump’s plan for American control of Gaza and the expulsion of its inhabitants.

IDF says it demolished West Bank home of Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis in 2024

During operations in the West Bank city of Salfit this morning, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis last summer.

The terrorist, Amar Odeh, went on a stabbing spree in the central city of Holon on August 4, 2024, killing Rina Daniv and Avraham Somechi and wounding two others.

Odeh was shot dead by a police officer at the scene.

IDF troops demolished Odeh’s home in Salfit this morning. As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.

כחלק מהמבצע לסיכול טרור בצפון השומרון, כוחות צה"ל, שב״כ ומג״ב פעלו מוקדם יותר היום בסלפית שבחטיבת אפרים והרסו את ביתו של המחבל עמאר עודה.

המחבל ביצע בתאריך 4 באוגוסט 2024 פיגוע טרור בעיר חולון בו נרצחו רינה דניב ז״ל, אברהם סומיכי ז״ל ונפצעו שניים נוספים pic.twitter.com/RFNJf1NCqa

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 20, 2025

‘Pure evil’: Likud minister decries coffins being ‘paraded like trophies before a cheering crowd’ in Gaza

Hamas terrorists carry the coffin apparently of a slain Israeli hostage as they hand over four such coffins to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, Gaza, February 20, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Following Hamas’s release of what it says are the bodies of four slain hostages, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli declares that “a society that cultivates a culture of murder and death has no right to exist.”

“One of the West’s greatest failures is its refusal to acknowledge the existence of pure evil. We have raised generations to believe that monsters exist only in fairy tales, that there is no true right or wrong, and that all cultures are equal,” the Likud minister tweets.

“And then comes this accursed day, a day of horror and shame, when an elderly man, a mother, and her two children: Oded Lipschitz, Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas — who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, paraded like trophies before a cheering, flag-waving crowd in Gaza. Pure evil. And against such evil, there can be no excuses, rationalizations, or compromises,” he writes in English.

“A society that cultivates a culture of murder and death has no right to exist. A society that tolerates Hamas sympathizers within it dooms its own elderly, its own mothers and children, to the same fate. Evil thrives in the shadow of cowardice. History will not forgive those who turned away.”

IDF says it fired warning shots at suspects who approached troops in Gaza; Palestinian media reports man killed

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

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

Palestinian media reports that the man, who was in the Gaza City’s eastern neighborhood of Shejaiya, was killed in the incident.

Education Ministry issues guidance on discussing the return of deceased hostages with children

The Education Ministry says that children who are exposed to the news of the four deceased hostages said to have been returned to Israel today may be preoccupied with the topic.

The ministry recommends approaching the subject according to the child’s age, developmental stage, and proximity to the event while minimizing exposure to news and distressing visuals as much as possible.

Educational staff members are recommended not to initiate discussions on the topic in kindergartens and elementary schools. However, in classrooms where the subject does arise, discussions will be conducted according to professional guidelines.

Parents are encouraged to reassure children that they can share any concerns or emotions, reminding them that adults, security forces, and others are working to ensure their safety. If children mention that the hostages are deceased, adults can explain that the hostages died in captivity. Finally, adults can convey a message of hope and resilience, mentioning how efforts continue to secure the release of all remaining hostages.

Parents are invited to contact school staff or the ministry’s hotline, *6312, for additional support and information.

German FM blasts ‘limitless terror of Hamas’ for staging ceremony with supposed remains of slain hostages

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blasts Hamas for staging a ceremony with the remains of the slain hostages before handing them over.

“Four coffins, paraded on a stage – images that are almost unbearable,” she writes on X. “The hostage families are exposed to the limitless terror of Hamas until the end.”

Baerbock adds that the coming days are “once again torturous for the families, until they know whether they can actually say goodbye. I think of Oded’s family. And of Yarden. The next few hours will decide their whole world.”

British embassy shares Israel’s heartbreak: ‘A stark reminder of the horrors Hamas inflicted’ on Oct. 7

Calling today a “dark day,” the British Embassy in Israel says it shares Israel’s heartbreak after coffins containing what Hamas says is the bodies of four slain hostages — Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz — are returned from Gaza.

Lifshitz’s daughter Sharone is a UK-Israeli citizen.

“It’s a stark reminder of the horrors Hamas inflicted on innocent people on 7/10,” the embassy writes on its X account. “For over 500 days we hoped for the safe return of all the hostages. This hope is broken, but we mustn’t give up on those still held hostage in Gaza.”

The coffins arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv a short while ago, where the remains will be identified.

UN rights chief: Hamas parading of coffins said to contain hostages’ bodies violates international law

Red Cross representatives receive from Hamas terrorists coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, February 20, 2025. (Reuters/Stringer)

The UN rights chief says the parading of bodies in Gaza is abhorrent and flies in the face of international law, after Hamas handed over what it says are the bodies of four Israeli civilians — a woman and her two young sons, and an elderly man — abducted from southern Israel during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

The remains were returned as part of an ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with the terror group.

“Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families,” Volker Turk says in a statement.

Convoy carrying coffins apparently containing bodies of slain hostages arrives at forensic institute in Tel Aviv

A convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, carrying coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, arrives at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot/Israel Police)

A convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, carrying coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv a short while ago.

Dozens of Israelis waving Israeli flags waited on the sides of a road outside the institute.

The identification process could take up to 48 hours.

A convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, carrying coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, arrives at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025. (Israel Police)

‘Together we will carry the pain’: Hostages Forum to hold ceremony in honor of slain captives said to have been returned by Hamas

An Israeli soldier holds his cellphone as he walks into "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, as Palestinian terror groups hand over the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, to the Red Cross in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum invites the public to attend a ceremony in Tel Aviv to honor four slain hostages whose remains are believed to have been returned by Hamas this morning.

Coffins said to contain the bodies of Shiri Bibas, her sons Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are being transported to the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv for identification.

Oded Lifshitz (left); Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas (Amiram Oren/Courtesy)

“Tonight at 19:00, following the devastating return of four hostages who were taken alive and returned to us deceased, we will gather at Hostages Square,” the forum says in a statement.

“Together we will carry the pain and memory, and declare in a clear voice: Time has run out for the hostages who remain behind! They must be returned immediately – the living for rehabilitation, and the fallen for proper burial.”

Yael Adar, whose son Tamir Adar was killed fighting Hamas invasion on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and body was abducted to Gaza, ⁠and Rabbi Elchanan Danino, whose son Ori Danino was kidnapped from the Nova rave that day and executed in captivity in August, will both speak at the ceremony.

Israeli singers Omer Adam and Ivri Lider will perform at the event. ​​​​​​​

Israelis gather in Tel Aviv to honor four Israeli hostages whose remains are said to have been returned by Hamas from Gaza, February 20, 2025. (Sharon Aronowicz/AFPTV/AFP)

IDF releases photos from military ceremony honoring four slain hostages returned by Hamas

The IDF holds a ceremony in the Gaza Strip honoring the four slain Israeli hostages whose bodies are apparently in coffins returned by Hamas, February 20, 2025. The coffins are seen draped in Israeli flags. (IDF)

Photos are released from the IDF’s ceremony in the Gaza Strip earlier this morning honoring the four slain Israeli hostages returned by Hamas.

The ceremony was led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, who read Psalm 83 as IDF troops saluted.

The coffins believed to contain the remains of the four hostages are seen draped in Israeli flags as they are carried by officers of the Nahal Brigade into military vehicles.

The bodies are now being brought to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in central Israel for identification.

The IDF ceremony in the Gaza Strip honoring the four slain Israeli hostages returned by Hamas on February 20, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)

Israelis pay respects, sing national anthem as convoy apparently bearing hostages’ remains drives through country

Israelis wave the national flag as a convoy transporting what is believed to be the bodies of the four Israeli hostages handed over by Hamas, passes near the southern city of Sderot on February 20, 2025. (John Wessels/AFP)

Israelis, somber and holding national flags, line the route of a convoy carrying what are believed to be the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages — Shiri Bibas, her sons Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz — who were abducted alive by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

The remains are being transported in IDF ambulances to the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv for identification.

Footage shows some groups holding moments of silence, while others sing the national anthem, Hatikva.

People wave yellow flags, representing solidarity with the hostages, and wear orange ribbons, for Shiri Bibas and her redheaded boys.

Caption: Israel Police officers salute and members of the public wave Israeli flags as a convoy carrying the bodies of four Israeli hostages slain in Gaza captivity makes its way from the border with the Gaza Strip to the Abu Kabir forensic institute, on February 20, 2025. (Israel Police)

Argentinian President Milei to declare national day of mourning for slain hostages

Argentinian President Javier Milei posts a photo of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and their remains apparently returned to Israel a short while ago.

He will also, according to Argentinian media, declare a national day of mourning for the slain family, whose bodies were returned by Hamas this morning along with that of Oded Lifshitz, who was also kidnapped alive from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

An Argentinian official tells The Times of Israel that Milei will wait until official information about the bodies is released before making any decision, as requested by the Bibas family.

The Bibas family has dual Israeli-Argentinian citizenship.

The coffins said to contain the remains are being transported to the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv for identification.

נשיא ארגנטינה חאבייר מיליי פרסם ב-X תמונה של שירי, אריאל וכפיר ביבס – וכתב: "ברוך דיין האמת" pic.twitter.com/MOzhO0ZwwO

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) February 20, 2025

Convoy with what are believed to be the bodies of four slain hostages crosses border into Israel, 503 days after they were abducted alive to Gaza

Officers salute a convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, carrying coffins apparently containing the remains of four hostages to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in central Israel, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot: Israel Police)

A convoy carrying what are believed to be the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, handed over by Hamas this morning, has crossed the border from the Gaza Strip back into Israel, 503 days after the four — Shiri Bibas and her son Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz — were abducted alive by Hamas-led terrorists.

The bodies are being taken by a convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in central Israel for identification.

Israelis, silent and holding national flags, line the route in honor of the four.

Lawmakers halt Knesset committee proceedings following return of caskets said to contain slain hostages

Lawmakers halt the proceedings of two committees following the return of four caskets said to contain the remains of hostages Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas as well as Oded Lifshitz.

“We are all facing a difficult day to digest as the people of Israel, as Jews and as human beings,” says Knesset Finance and Internal Affairs and Environment Committee chairman Yaakov Asher (UTJ), halting his committee’s discussion.

Following the cruel murder of the elderly and infants, “the only consolation is that they were returned to the Holy Land,” he says. “We share in the mourning of the families. We had hoped that they would survive, and to our great regret, that was not the case. Our father, our king, avenge the blood of your servants that was shed.”

Following calls from opposition lawmakers, United Torah Judaism MK Yitzhak Pindrus likewise halts a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, which he was chairing in place of Moshe Gafni.

“On this difficult day, we are all with the families and the hostages,” he says, postponing the discussion until Sunday.

Top US diplomat in Israel: Return of four slain hostages ‘a solemn reminder of Hamas’s unimaginable cruelty’

The return of the four slain Israeli hostages is “a solemn reminder of Hamas’s unimaginable cruelty,” says the top US diplomat in Israel.

“My heart is heavy knowing the remains of four deceased Israeli hostages — including sweet baby Kfir and darling Ariel — have finally returned home,” writes interim chargés d’affaires Stephanie Hallett. “May their memories be a blessing.”

“We won’t rest until all the hostages come home,” she pledges.

IDF chief rabbi leads military ceremony in Gaza to honor four slain Israeli hostages returned by Hamas

The IDF holds a ceremony in the Gaza Strip honoring the four slain Israeli hostages whose bodies are apparently in coffins returned by Hamas, February 20, 2025. The coffins are seen draped in Israeli flags as they are carried by officers of the Nahal Brigade. (IDF)

A military ceremony in the Gaza Strip led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, honoring the four slain Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, has begun.

Karim will read Psalm 83 as IDF troops salute.

The IDF holds a ceremony in the Gaza Strip honoring the four slain Israeli hostages whose bodies are apparently in coffins returned by Hamas, February 20, 2025. The coffins are seen draped in Israeli flags. (IDF)

The coffins of the four hostages are draped in Israeli flags, and will be carried by officers into military vehicles to be brought to Israel for identification.

Footage from the ceremony may be released later, should the families of the hostages approve it.

Right-wing lawmakers compare Hamas to animals, Nazis after return of four caskets apparently containing hostages’ remains

Multiple right-wing lawmakers compare Hamas and Palestinians to animals, Nazis and the Biblical Amalek following the apparent return of the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas and Oded Lifshitz.

Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir calls to bring Hamas to “the gates of hell” following the return of the four caskets.

“Remember these moments. The sadness over the shedding of innocent blood. The jubilation of the beasts of prey. The thirst for blood. The clear knowledge that these Nazis must not continue to live. Our historical duty to our children is not to give up,” Ben Gvir states.

“The Nazis deserve no humanitarian aid. No fuel. No electricity. No caravans. No bulldozers. No ceasefire, no withdrawal. Only the gates of hell!”

Former heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of Ben Gvir’s far-right party, tweets a Biblical verse calling on the Israelites to ” blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.”

Likud MK Avichay Buaron also compares those behind the murder of Israeli hostages to the Biblical Amalek, which the Bible commands the ancient Israelites to exterminate.

“Only a neo-Nazi-Shiite ideology of systematic murder of Jews, based on a brutal and sadistic culture, can give rise to such animalistic barbarity,” he tweets, charging that “if they could, they would murder us all and rape all our daughters.”

“This is the very nature of Amalek. His purpose. His whole essence, to hunt down the Jews and kill and destroy them,” he says.

Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal compares Gaza to the Biblical city of Sodom, stating that a mother and her two children were murdered “and no one there in Gaza protested, no one in this Sodom condemned, no one tried to save them.”

“A collective of murder, and there is no righteous person in Sodom,” he tweets, also citing the Biblical verse on destroying the enemies of the Jewish people.

Democrats chief accuses PM of prioritizing politics over Gaza hostages: ‘They die and he saves himself’

The Democrats chief Yair Golan accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of saving his political career at the expense of the hostages, following the return of four caskets apparently containing the bodies of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

“Again we see how vile and murderous Hamas is, when it turns babies murdered in captivity into a victory ceremony. We see it and are outraged that it could and should have looked different,” he declares.

“Netanyahu keeps Hamas in power and even, despite everything, continues to strengthen it. He is still abandoning, still leaving behind the hostages who are barely breathing. They die and he saves himself. Every moment that passes that they are not here is a crime. We must bring them all back – now! We will fight until the last of the hostages returns.”

IDF: Caskets handed over by Hamas cleared security check, can be unlocked; ceremony to begin shortly

The IDF says the four caskets handed over to them by the Red Cross, apparently containing the bodies of Israeli hostages, underwent a security screening.

Israeli troops also checked that the locks on the caskets can be opened, so there will be no delays at the Abu Kabir forensic institute when the bodies are brought there for identification.

The IDF says that all of the coffins can be opened, and a military ceremony in honor of the slain hostages has not yet begun.

In a short while, the ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, should start.

Karim will read Psalm 83 as the bodies of the four hostages are draped in Israeli flags.

IDF troops will salute, and the coffins will be carried into military vehicles to be brought to Israel for identification.

Footage from the ceremony may be released later, should the families of the hostages approve it.

People line road near Kibbutz Re’im where IDF ambulances expected to pass shortly with bodies of four hostages

People wave Israeli flags on a road near Kibbutz Re'im, southern Israel, Feb. 20, 2025, ahead of the return by Hamas of the bodies of four Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People line the road waving Israeli flags near Kibbutz Reim, in southern Israel, where IDF ambulances are shortly expected to pass carrying the bodies of four Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and returned this morning.

Footage shows dozens of people standing in the rain with umbrellas and yellow flags representing solidarity with the hostages.

בגשם שוטף: עשרות ישראלים ממתינים לארונות ארבעת החללים pic.twitter.com/ONDXjGGTf9

— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) February 20, 2025

Around the country, flags are lowered to half-staff in honor of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz, who were all kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Coffins apparently containing the four slain hostages’ bodies were handed over by the Red Cross to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip a short while ago. The remains will be transported to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Israel for identification after a short military ceremony.

????דגלים בחצי התורן בישראל כסימן לאבל. pic.twitter.com/Vva7iDoXzT

— ג'ארד סוקוחין (@jared_suku_khin) February 20, 2025

IDF sappers checking caskets apparently containing slain hostages aren’t booby-trapped — sources

Upon receiving four caskets apparently containing the bodies of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, IDF sappers are checking to ensure that they are not booby-trapped, according to Israeli sources.

Additionally, the Kan public broadcaster cites two Israeli sources as saying that the caskets are locked without a key that can open them.

The IDF will also be checking if any personal items belonging to the hostages were returned by Hamas with the bodies.

The bodies will then be transferred to new coffins draped in Israeli flags for a short military ceremony, before being taken to Israel for identification.

Health minister: ID process also aims to establish cause of the hostages’ death

Health Minister Uriel Busso says that the process of identifying the bodies later today at the Abu Kabir forensic institute will be conducted carefully and is likely to take some time, Channel 12 reports.

He explains that the process is intended not only to identify the hostages but also to establish the cause of death, if possible.

‘Agony. Pain. There are no words’: President Herzog asks for forgiveness from four slain Israeli hostages

President Isaac Herzog asks forgiveness from the four slain Israeli hostages for not protecting them or bringing them back to Israel alive.

“Agony. Pain. There are no words,” says Herzog on X. “Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters.”

“On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness,” he writes, immediately after Israel puts out a statement that it has received the four coffins from the Red Cross. “Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”

“May their memory be a blessing,” concludes the president.

PM’s office confirms Israeli troops have received coffins containing slain hostages, says families notified

Israel puts out an official statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that the IDF and Shin Bet have received the coffins containing the four slain Israeli hostages from the Red Cross.

After the hostages are identified at the Health Ministry’s Abu Kabir National Center of Forensic Medicine, an official notification will be given to their families, says the Prime Minister’s Office.

The families have been informed that the four bodies have been received, says the PMO, “and our hearts go out to them at this difficult time.”

The PMO asked the public to respect the privacy of the families and refrain from spreading rumors.

Bodies of four slain Israeli hostages handed over by Red Cross to IDF in Gaza; military to conduct a short ceremony

The bodies of four slain Israeli hostages have been handed over by the Red Cross to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip.

The military will conduct a short ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim.

The bodies will be placed in new coffins draped in Israeli flags, and Karim will read psalms.

The hostages will then be carried by Israeli troops into IDF vehicles and taken to Israel for identification.

Kibbutz Nir Oz residents line streets in the rain, stand for moment of silence to honor slain hostages

A man holds an Israeli flag featuring the yellow hostages ribbon, in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square ahead of the return of four slain Israeli hostages from Gaza, February 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Residents in Karmei Gat, where members of Kibbutz Nir Oz are living while their homes are being rebuilt, stand for a moment’s silence as Hamas hands over to the Red Cross coffins apparently containing four slain hostages from the devastated Gaza border community.

They stand in the rain, holding Israeli flags and wearing yellow clothes in solidarity with the hostages.

The four slain hostages being returned to Israel this morning have been named as Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz, all kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.

In Tel Aviv, Israelis gather alongside Israeli flags emblazoned with the yellow ribbon symbolizing the captives at Hostages Square.

קהילת ניר עוז בדקת דומייה pic.twitter.com/pvMWcjkvtg

— רוני גרין שאולוב – Roni Green Shaulov (@Ronigreensha) February 20, 2025

Israelis in Hostages Square watch footage of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz from before they were abducted

Israelis in Hostages Square watch footage on a big screen of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz from before they were abducted.

Just a few minutes ago, coffins apparently containing the bodies of the slain hostages were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza.

The square is filled with Israeli flags, blowing in the wintry winds.

IDF receives Red Cross confirmation that bodies of four slain hostages have been handed over by Hamas

Red Cross vehicles leave after receiving coffins apparently containing the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)

The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that the bodies of four slain hostages were handed over to them by Hamas.

The Red Cross is now bringing them to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza, where a short military ceremony will be held. The bodies will then be taken for identification in Israel.

Red Cross representatives receive from Hamas terrorists coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, February 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Coffins apparently containing bodies of four slain Israeli hostages being handed over by Hamas to Red Cross

A Red Cross vehicle arrives ahead of Hamas handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. In the background is a stage set up by Hamas with a propaganda message and four coffins. (Screen grab/YouTube)

Coffins apparently containing the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages are being handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross at a stage set up by the terror group in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, in front of a large crowd of Palestinians.

Hamas terrorists carry the coffin apparently of a slain Israeli hostage as they hand over four such coffins to the Red Cross inKhan Younis, Gaza, February 20, 2025 (Screenshot)

The coffins are carried by masked Hamas terrorists from the stage to the waiting Red Cross vehicles nearby.

Red Cross officials set up screens to partially obscure the process, as they load one coffin after the other into their vehicles.

Red Cross representatives receive coffins apparently containing the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. In the background is a stage set up by Hamas with a propaganda message. (Screen grab/YouTube)

They also cover the coffins in white fabric, though Hamas operatives are walking around in between them and taking pictures.

Live footage broadcast on Al Jazeera also shows the coffins being handed over.

The Times of Israel and other Israeli media outlets are not showing live footage of the Hamas propaganda event, out of respect for the dead. Neither is much of the international media.

Hamas has said it is handing over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz.

The Red Cross will bring the bodies to IDF troops in Gaza.

Upon receiving the bodies, the military will carry out a short military ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, before taking the slain hostages to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification. The identification process could take up to 48 hours.

Hamas displays four coffins apparently containing bodies of slain Israeli hostages on stage in Khan Younis

A Red Cross vehicle arrives ahead of Hamas handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. In the background is a stage set up by Hamas with a propaganda message and four coffins. (Screen grab/YouTube)

On a stage set up by Hamas in Khan Younis, terror operatives display four coffins apparently containing the bodies of slain Israeli hostages, which were behind a curtain.

Hamas has said it is handing over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz.

The coffins are labeled with a picture of each hostage. The Kfir and Ariel Bibas coffins have the names switched. The coffins of Oded Lifshitz and Shiri Bibas specify October 7, 2023, as their “Date of Arrest.” Tags given to living hostages at release ceremonies have carried the same message.

Coffins apparently containing the bodies of slain Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz, are displayed on a stage with a propaganda message before being handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

On the stage, a large propaganda poster, portraying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire above pictures of the four hostages, denounces Israel and blames Israel for killing the four. Hamas also displays munitions allegedly used by Israel.

Red Cross vehicles have arrived at the site to take the bodies and bring them to IDF troops in Gaza.

A Red Cross vehicle arrives ahead of Hamas handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)

Son of Oded Lifshitz: Slain hostages ‘suffered tragic, agonizing deaths, without their families by their sides’

Oded Lifshitz (Amiram Oren)

The son of Oded Lifshitz, whose body is expected to be returned by Hamas from Gaza this morning, says the four slain hostages being handed over today “suffered tragic, agonizing deaths, without their families by their sides.”

“This anger will stay with us forever,” Yitzhar Lifshitz tells Army Radio.

“It’s not over for anyone today, even when the end is tragic,” he adds. “We continue to pray for the hostages and the fallen who still need to be returned.”

Lifshitz, aged 83 at the time, was kidnapped from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz in Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, onslaught. His wife, Yocheved, was kidnapped separately that day and released by Hamas 16 days later.

As of this morning, 70 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — 14 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.

Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.

Red Cross convoy heads to stage set up by Hamas in southern Gaza for handover of slain hostages — official

A convoy of Red Cross vehicles is now heading to a stage set up by Hamas in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis for the handover of four slain hostages, an Israeli defense official says.

Hamas has said it is handing over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz.

The bodies will be handed over to the Red Cross, which will bring them to IDF troops in Gaza.

Upon receiving the bodies, the military will carry out a short military ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, before taking the slain hostages to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification.

The identification process could take up to 48 hours.

Masked Hamas gunmen, hundreds of Gazans including women and children, gather at handover site for hostages’ bodies

Hamas gunmen at the expected handover of the bodies of four hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two young children, in Khan Younis, south Gaza on February 20, 2025 (Saeed Mohammed/Flash90)

Masked Hamas gunmen stand in rows at the expected handover point of the bodies of four hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two young children, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Hundreds of Gazans are also seen gathering at the site, including women and young children, amid Palestinian and Hamas flags.

Weapons and ammunition are set up at tables, while masked operatives show them to children gathering around.

Most Israeli outlets, including The Times of Israel, have decided not to air the live footage out of respect for the dead. It is being streamed online elsewhere. (Warning: Graphic footage.)

Hamas gunmen at the expected handover of the bodies of four hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two young children, in Khan Younis, south Gaza on February 20, 2025 (Saeed Mohammed/Flash90)

Netanyahu said to have considered attending proceedings in Israel for return of hostages’ bodies, decided not to

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered participating in the proceedings on the Israeli side of the Gaza border as the bodies of the four slain hostages are returned this morning, and security arrangements were being put in place last night to enable this, Channel 12 reports.

Late last night, however, it was decided that he would not attend.

Hamas terrorist serving 48 life terms freed under ceasefire seen in Gaza’s Khan Younis at handover point

Arab media footage shows a Hamas operative who was released by Israel in the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza, at the location where the terror group is due to hand over the bodies of four slain hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Mohammed Abu Warda was serving 48 life sentences for masterminding multiple terror attacks, including a 1996 bombing on a bus in Jerusalem that killed 45 people.

He was one of some 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners who will be freed over the current first stage of the truce deal, including hundreds serving life sentences, in exchange for the release of 25 living hostages and eight bodies.

According to Hebrew media reports, Abu Warda was meant to be deported to Egypt under the ceasefire terms.

מוחמד אבו ורדה, המחבל שנידון לעשרות מאסרי עולם על פיגועי חמאס בשנות ה-90, שוחרר והיה אמור להיות מגורש לחו"ל אבל "נתקע" בעזה (יחד עם עוד 19 מחבלים אחרים) – משתתף באירוע של מסירת החטופים החללים pic.twitter.com/ogSqu3YMaX

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) February 20, 2025

Rows of Israeli flags with yellow ribbon fly at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, ahead of return of slain captives

Israeli flags are displayed at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025, ahead of the return by Hamas of the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two children (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Rows of Israeli flags emblazoned with the yellow ribbon symbolizing hostages are set up at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, ahead of the return of the bodies of four Israeli civilians who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum invites the public to gather at the square in solidarity this morning.

Activists also invited people to gather with Israeli flags and along the route that IDF ambulances will be transporting the bodies to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv for identification, to accompany “the fallen on their final journey.”

The Public is Invited to Join in Honoring the Fallen Hostages Along Their Final Route Home

The public is invited to come tomorrow with Israeli flags and stand along the route of the IDF convoy heading to Abu Kabir, accompanying the fallen on their final journey.

Route: From… pic.twitter.com/jeeGouOVVv

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) February 19, 2025

Hamas is expected to hand over the four slain hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza starting from around 9 a.m.

The terror group is set to be transferring slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, all of whom were taken alive from their homes on Kibbutz Nir Oz.

IDF expects Hamas to begin handover of four slain hostages to Red Cross around 9 a.m — defense official

The IDF expects Hamas to hand over the four slain hostages to the Red Cross starting from around 9 a.m., from one location in the southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli defense official says.

There could be delays, the official adds.

Hamas is set to transfer the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz.

The terror group set up a stage in Khan Younis for the handover, and crowds of Palestinians are currently gathering around it.

Hamas sets up stage, propaganda posters in Gaza’s Khan Younis for transfer of hostages’ bodies

The Hamas terror group has set up a stage in the Bani Suheila area of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis for the transfer of the bodies of four slain hostages today.

Hamas is set to be transferring slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz.

Images shared by Palestinian media show that the stage is covered with propaganda posters.

Most Israeli outlets, including Times of Israel, have decided not to air the live footage out of respect for the dead. It is being streamed online elsewhere. (Warning: Graphic footage.)

Families of 1st-phase hostages not included in upcoming releases say they’re left in the dark

A relative of one of the Gaza hostages who is neither on the list of slain captives slated for release Thursday nor among those expected to be freed alive on Saturday says authorities haven’t contacted them, leaving them in the dark and with grave concern about their loved ones’ fate.

Israel and Hamas have named the four dead hostages to be released Thursday as Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas, as well as Oded Lifshitz. Authorities have notified their families.

Both sides have also said that the six live captives slated for return on Saturday are Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu, Tal Shoham and Omer Shem-Tov. Their families have been notified as well.

According to the ceasefire and hostage deal, the final batch of abductees included in the ongoing first phase of the deal are to be returned on Thursday next week — consisting of four dead hostages.

The last four captives included in the first phase are Shlomo Mantzur, Itzik Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Tsahi Idan.

While the IDF has confirmed Mantzur’s death, Israeli authorities have not made any kind of declaration about the other three.

“Only from the media do we know that four hostages who aren’t alive are meant to return tomorrow,” Mor Elgarat, Itzik’s nephew, tells the Ynet news site.

“They said who the six living ones are, and we are forced to conclude things,” he says. “We are given scraps. What should we be preparing for and how? What will happen and when?

“Not speaking with your people is simply abandonment. What are they trying to do, make the fallen hostages disappear?” Mor Elgarat charges, adding that the uncertainty is “terrible and agonizing.”

Trump repeats debunked claim that Biden earmarked $100 million for condoms for Hamas

US President Donald Trump again falsely claims that the previous administration of Joe Biden had allocated $100 million in condoms for Hamas.

Trump highlights the figure while going through what he says is the wasteful spending exposed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency during a speech at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Florida.

Last week, Musk admitted that the funds for contraceptives were not earmarked for Hamas and not earmarked for the Gaza Strip either, rather for a province in Mozambique.

The White House first claimed that the figure was $50 million, but Trump has since twice claimed that it is $100 million.

Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani calls for the arrest of a group of leaders from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis who he says will attend Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut.

Nasrallah, who had served as the Lebanese terror group’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its attacks. His funeral is scheduled for February 23.

Eryani demands that the Lebanese government arrest the Houthi leaders and hand them over to the rival internationally recognized government in a post on X.

He does not name the Houthi officials.

Neither the Lebanese government nor Houthi leaders are immediately available for comment.

The Houthis have not officially announced a delegation will attend the funeral, but the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV has reported a delegation from Yemen will participate.

“We affirm that the movement of these terrorist leaders… in this timing is not a mere participation in the funeral, which is being used as a cover, to gather all the leaders of the Iranian axis and assess the situation after the blows they received,” he adds.

IDF says it struck southern Gaza to foil attempted smuggling-by-drone from Israel

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip several hours ago, targeting a group of suspects who took possession of a drone that was used in a smuggling attempt.

According to the military, the drone had been identified as crossing from Israel into Gaza, in an attempt to smuggle prohibited goods.

After the drone landed and several suspects took possession of it, the IDF carried out an airstrike against them.

Palestinian media reported several dead and wounded in the strike.

The IDF says it is trying to find those who operated the drone, “to bring them to justice.”

Several such smuggling attempts have been carried out in recent weeks, with the IDF saying suspects on the Israeli side load up drones with weapons or drugs and fly them over the border into Gaza. Some of the attempts have been successful, according to the military.

New York leaders express outrage over ‘antisemitic’ protest in Brooklyn Jewish neighborhood

Anti-Israel protesters in Boro Park, Brooklyn, February 18, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Political leaders in New York condemn an anti-Israel protest that took place last night in Boro Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Orthodox population.

“Mask-wearing protesters chanting antisemitic slogans in the middle of the most Orthodox Jewish community in the city is all about provocation and not about free speech,” says Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. “I applaud the NYPD for keeping order and condemn in strongest terms those who used antisemitic language and symbolism at this event.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul says: “We saw protesters in Boro Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants. This is unacceptable.”

The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, says: “The vile and antisemitic rhetoric directed at Jewish residents in Borough Park is unacceptable and unconscionable.”

“Antisemitism has no place in New York City, and bringing it to Borough Park is disgraceful,” says Mayor Eric Adams. “We will not tolerate attacks on Jewish New Yorkers or any other diverse community across our city.”

Also condemning the protest are Representative Daniel Goldman; Representative Elise Stefanik, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, progressive city comptroller Brad Lander, Jewish city council members Eric Dinowitz and Julie Menin, the New York Jewish Agenda liberal advocacy group, the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the American Jewish Committee.

Woman moderately injured by axe-wielding assailant in Jerusalem’s Old City

Police at the scene of an axe attack in Jerusalem's Old City that moderately injured a woman, February 19, 2025 (Israel Police)

Police say a woman in Jerusalem’s Old City was attacked by a man with an axe in her home.

The suspect then fled the scene.

The woman, in her seventies, was rushed to a hospital in moderate condition.

“Numerous police forces… were dispatched to the scene and are currently operating in the area to locate the suspect and investigate the circumstances of the incident,” police say.