Feb 23: Hamas says Netanyahu’s post-war Gaza plan ‘will never succeed’

ISIS bride stuck in Syria loses her appeal over removal of her UK citizenship

In this file photo taken on February 22, 2015, Renu Begum, eldest sister of British Islamic State member Shamima Begum, holds a picture of her sister while being interviewed by the media in central London. (Laura Lean/Pool/AFP)

A woman who traveled to Syria as a teenager to join the Islamic State group lost her appeal today against the British government’s decision to revoke her UK citizenship, with judges saying that it wasn’t for them to rule on whether it was “harsh” to do so.

Shamima Begum, who is now 24, was 15 when she and two other girls fled from London in February 2015 to marry ISIS fighters in Syria at a time when the group’s online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate. Begum married a Dutch man fighting for ISIS and had three children, who all died.

Authorities withdrew her British citizenship soon after she surfaced in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019, where she has been ever since. Last year, Begum lost her appeal against the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a tribunal that hears challenges to decisions to remove British citizenship on national security grounds.

Her lawyers brought a further bid to overturn that decision at the Court of Appeal, with Britain’s Home Office opposing the challenge.

All three judges dismiss her case and argue she made a “calculated” decision to join ISIS even though she may have been “influenced and manipulated by others.”

In relaying the ruling, Chief Justice Sue Carr says it isn’t the court’s job to decide whether the decision to strip Begum of her British citizenship was “harsh” or whether she was the “author of her own misfortune.”

White House accuses House speaker of helping Iran in latest Ukraine aid push

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., stands outside his office during a meeting with the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Amir Ohana, at the Capitol in Washington, February 6, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The White House escalates its criticism of Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson, accusing him of benefitting Iran and Russia by not putting a national security bill that gives aid to Ukraine up for a vote. Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, six sources told Reuters this week, deepening the military cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries.

Iran is “actively enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine and its attacks against Ukrainian cities,” deputy press secretary and senior communications adviser Andrew Bates says in a memo viewed by Reuters that will be distributed publicly today.

“President Biden is standing up to Iran. But where is Speaker Johnson’s supposed commitment not to ‘appease Iran’ in all this? Nowhere. Instead, his inaction is benefiting Putin and the Ayatollah,” the memo says.

The Senate last week approved a $95 billion bill providing assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan by an overwhelming 70-30 vote, with 22 Republicans joining most Democrats in voting in favor.

But Johnson sent the House home for a two-week recess without bringing the measure up for a vote, saying “we’re not going to be forced into action by the Senate.”

Trump hit with $454m judgment in New York fraud case

Donald Trump is formally ordered by a New York judge to pay more than $454 million after being found liable for manipulating his net worth, in a civil fraud case brought by New York state’s attorney general.

The payment includes the $354.9 million penalty that Justice Arthur Engoron of the state court in Manhattan ordered on February 16, plus interest, following a non-jury trial that stretched over three months.

Father of policewoman killed in Jerusalem attack runs for Georgia state senate

Sgt. Rose Lubin, speaking at an FIDF dinner in April 2023, in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. (Courtesy)

The American father of an Israeli-American killed in a November stabbing attack in Jerusalem while serving as a policewoman has said he will challenge a Democrat in the Georgia state senate over her failure to support a measure against antisemitism.

Speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, David Lubin says he will run against Sen. Sally Harrell.

Harrell did not support a bill, which eventually passed in January, to enshrine antisemitism in the state’s hate crime laws. She said at the time that broader legislation was needed to offer other minorities clearer protections as well.

“She showed who she was that day by not voting for the bill. She’s not representing her constituents,” Lubin tells the Atlanta paper. “It’s hard to go to bed at night and think that our senator didn’t support tougher hate crime laws.”

Sergeant Rose Ida Lubin, 20, was killed in a stabbing attack outside Jerusalem’s Old City while on duty as a Border Police officer. The 16-year-old assailant, a resident of East Jerusalem’s Issawiya neighborhood, was shot dead at the scene.

Lubin had immigrated to Israel from Atlanta in August 2021. She was drafted to the police as a so-called lone soldier in March 2022.

Hamas: More than 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza over 24 hours

People check the destruction caused by overnight Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 23, 2024, as battles between Israel and Hamas continue. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over a 24-hour period, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

It does not offer details on those killed, and does not as a rule differentiate between combatants and civilians in reporting deaths.

Israel says it only targets terror operatives, while acknowledging that civilian casualties are unavoidable as Hamas and other terror groups operate from within densely populated areas.

Hezbollah commander dies days after being injured in an Israeli strike

A poster released by Hezbollah announces the death of Muhammad Alawiyah, reported to be a commander in the Maroun al-Ras area, after an Israeli strike. (Hezbollah)

The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a member who succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.

The IDF said on February 12 it had targeted a vehicle with Hezbollah operatives in it, in the village of Maroun al-Ras.

Muhammad Alawiyah, reported to be a Hezbollah commander in the Maroun al-Ras area, was seriously wounded in the strike, and has now died 11 days later.

Alawiyah’s death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 212.

Hamas says Netanyahu’s post-war Gaza plan ‘will never succeed’

A senior Hamas official lambastes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for post-war Gaza during a press conference in Beirut.

“When it comes to the day after in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu is presenting ideas which he knows fully well will never succeed,” Osama Hamdan tells reporters.

TV reports: War cabinet gives Israel’s team in Paris some leeway on hostage terms, but deal is not close

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 15, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Hours after fresh talks on a framework for a new hostage-for-truce deal got underway in Paris, two Israeli TV stations report that Israel’s delegation has been given a mandate by the war coalition to show limited flexibility in certain respects, and that there is cautious optimism surrounding the negotiations but no breakthrough.

On February 13, when Israel sent delegates to talks in Cairo, they were told to listen to what was being proposed in the talks involving the US, Egypt and Qatar, but not to offer any proposals of their own. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not allow them to return to Cairo later that week because, he said, Hamas had not shifted from its “delusional” demands.

Channel 13 says that this time, the Israeli team, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, has been given leeway by the war coalition with respect to humanitarian assistance and other matters that it is barred by the military censor from specifying. It also says the Israeli team will head back home later tonight.

Channel 12 reports that the Israeli team has been empowered to ease its stance a little regarding the ratio of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for each hostage, after, it says, Hamas also eased its stance. There could also be Israeli flexibility on the length of a truce during which the deal would be implemented, and on matters relating to the post-war rehabilitation of Gaza and the return of northern Gazans to their homes.

There is no flexibility, Channel 12 stresses, regarding Israel’s rejection of the Hamas demand for a permanent ceasefire and the end of the war — a demand that Hamas continues to insist upon as a condition for a new hostage deal.

“There is optimism, but we are only at the initial stage,” Channel 12 quotes an unnamed senior Israeli source saying. “The effort is to create a basic framework with clear criteria regarding what we are discussing and what we are not. There is still no deal close at hand. The goal is to deliver one before the start of the month of Ramadan.”

It also quotes an Israeli security source saying that Israel “will step up the military pressure until the last moment, because only negotiation amid fire will bring results.”

Blinken reaffirms opposition to Israeli ‘reoccupation’ of Gaza, reduction of territory

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirms Washington’s opposition to any reoccupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel, as well as any reduction of its size.

Blinken’s remarks are in response to a plan for post-war Gaza put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the Israeli army would have “indefinite freedom” to operate throughout Gaza.

“Gaza… cannot be a platform for terrorism. There should be no Israeli reoccupation of Gaza. The size of Gaza territory should not be reduced,” Blinken says in Buenos Aires.

Russia threatening to bury Navalny on prison grounds, team says

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)

Russian authorities are threatening to bury Alexei Navalny on the grounds of the Arctic prison colony where he died unless his family agrees to a closed funeral, the opposition leader’s team says.

The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died last week after spending more than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters.

Several leading Russian cultural figures and activists have called on authorities to release the body to his mother, who arrived at the prison colony in northern Siberia last Saturday.

“An hour ago, an investigator called Alexei’s mother and gave her an ultimatum,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh writes in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“She has three hours to agree to a secret funeral without a public farewell, or Alexei will be buried in the colony.”

An investigator called Alexey’s mother an hour ago and gave her an ultimatum. Either she agrees to a secret funeral without a public farewell within 3 hours, or Alexey will be buried in the colony. She refused to negotiate with the IC, as they are not authorised to decide how and…

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 23, 2024

His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, “refused to negotiate… because they have no authority to decide how and where to bury her son,” Yarmysh adds.

She has now filed a lawsuit alleging the “desecration” of his body, says Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally of the late leader.

Police nab 7 suspects related to deadly Rahat shooting

Police say they arrested seven suspects connected to the deadly shooting of a 15-year-old boy in the southern town of Rahat earlier today.

Some of the suspects resisted and tried to flee, according to the statement.

The suspects will be interrogated and appear before the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court tomorrow for a hearing to extend police custody, police say.

Hostage deal talks begin in Paris amid optimism for breakthrough

Gaza truce talks are underway in Paris on Friday, in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting in the battered Palestinian enclave and see Israeli and foreign hostages released.

A source briefed on the ceasefire talks, who could not be identified by name or nationality, says talks had begun with Israel’s head of Mossad intelligence service meeting separately with each party — Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

“There are budding signs of optimism about being able to move forward toward the start of a serious negotiation,” the source says. Egypt’s Al Qahera TV News also reports that the talks had begun.

An official from Hamas says the terror group has wrapped up ceasefire talks in Cairo and is now waiting to see what mediators bring back from the weekend talks with Israel.

Mediators have ramped up efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, in the hope of heading off an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah where more than a million displaced people are sheltering at the southern edge of the enclave.

Israel says it will attack the city if no truce agreement is reached soon. Washington has called on its close ally not to do so, warning of vast civilian casualties if an assault on the city goes ahead.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Blinken overturns Trump policy, says settlements ‘inconsistent with international law’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference after meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei at Casa Rosada Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires on February 23, 2024 (JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken overturns policy set by the previous administration, saying Washington views settlements as “inconsistent with international law,” following an Israeli announcement that it plans to build 3,000 new housing units in settlements in the West Bank.

Blinken thus effectively revokes the so-called Pompeo Doctrine, which deemed settlements “not per se inconsistent with international law.” The 2019 policy implemented by then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo overturned a 1978 memo by State Department legal adviser Herbert Hansell, which characterized settlements as illegal.

The Biden administration had so far avoided contradicting that position.

“New settlements are counterproductive to reaching an enduring peace,” Blinken says during a news conference in Buenos Aires.

“They’re also inconsistent with international law. Our administration maintains a firm opposition to settlement expansion. In our judgement this only weakens, it doesn’t strengthen, Israel’s security.”

Announcing the plans for new settlement building Thursday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the decision “an appropriate Zionist response” to a shooting attack in the West Bank that day.

Settlements are viewed by much of the international community as illegal under international law and a major impediment to an eventual two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

שר החוץ האמריקני בלינקן: ארה"ב מאוכזבת מהחלטת ישראל לאשר בנייה בהתנחלויות – בניגוד לחוק הבינלאומי@itamargalit pic.twitter.com/jvstnlWIC7

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 23, 2024

UK says four suspicious vessels spotted near Omani gas terminal

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency says that a vessel reported a “suspicious” sighting of three small craft and another large one approximately 175 nautical miles east of Oman’s Qalhat LNG terminal.

The notice comes after the US said it struck two Houthi UAVs and four anti-ship cruise missiles that posed a threat to vessels in the Red Sea.

UKMTO ADVISORY – INCIDENT 038

SIGHTING

2024 (https://t.co/5An1YH0JyE)#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/FwBUctBIHR

— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) February 23, 2024

Navalny team says Russia threatening to bury Putin critic at prison if family doesn’t agree to private funeral

A person holds a picture of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a vigil in front of the Russian embassy in Lisbon, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

WARSAW, Poland — Russian authorities are threatening to bury Alexei Navalny at the Arctic prison colony where he died if his family does not agree to a closed funeral, the opposition leader’s team says.

Navalny, the most vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died on February 16 after three years in prison on charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning against the Kremlin.

Authorities have since refused to hand his body over to his mother, who arrived at the prison colony in northern Siberia last Saturday.

“An hour ago, an investigator called Alexei’s mother and gave her an ultimatum. She has three hours to agree to a secret funeral without a public farewell, or Alexei will be buried in the colony,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh writes in a post on X.

His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, “refused to negotiate… because they have no authority to decide how and where to bury her son,” Yarmysh says.

Navalny’s team says that Russian officials are “scared” of the opposition leader even after his death and are refusing to allow a public funeral that could become a show of support for his opposition to Putin.

The associates have also called Putin a “killer” who is trying to cover his tracks by not allowing independent forensic analysis of Navalny’s body.

France believes Russia behind wave of Star of David graffiti in Paris after Oct. 7

A woman walks along a building whose facade is covered with Stars of David painted during the night, in the Alesia district of Paris, on October 31, 2023. (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/AFP)

PARIS, France — France believes that Russia’s security service FSB was behind a campaign in which Star of David graffiti were daubed on buildings in and around Paris last autumn, a French source says.

French prosecutors reported in November that 60 such stars had been found in the capital and surrounding suburbs weeks into the war between Israel and Hamas, with the graffiti being interpreted as a threat to Jews.

A Moldovan couple was arrested in the case, and their alleged handler, a pro-Russian Moldovan businessman, was identified, according to the source who has knowledge of the investigation and who declined to be named.

Moldova was a Soviet republic before its independence in 1991.

France’s international security service DGSI believes the operation was run by the FSB’s fifth division that undertakes international operations, the source said, quoting from a secret internal note that was first revealed by the Le Monde newspaper.

The FSB is the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said during last year’s investigation that the daubings had been made at the “express demand” of an individual residing abroad.

The graffiti, which for some brought back memories of the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War II and the deportation of its Jews to death camps, were condemned across the political spectrum.

Elisabeth Borne, prime minister at the time, condemned what she called “despicable acts.”

The Union of Jewish Students of France said they were designed to mirror the way Jews were forced to wear the stars by the Nazi regime.

In the suburb of Saint-Ouen, the stars were accompanied by inscriptions such as “Palestine will overcome.”

Le Monde said the alleged FSB operation was part of a wider disinformation campaign that also targeted Poland, Spain, Germany, Romania and Austria.

US launches preemptive strike on four Houthi drones, two cruise missiles

The US military says it carried out “self-defense strikes” against Houthi targets preparing to launch attacks.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) writes on X that four UAVs and two anti-ship cruise missiles that posed a threat were struck in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.

“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM says.

Red Sea Update

On Feb. 22, at approximately 5 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted self-defense strikes against four Iranian-backed Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and two mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) that were prepared to launch… pic.twitter.com/CzEHK29Ita

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 23, 2024

Police say Ayalon Highway reopens after hostages’ families protest

In a photo provided by activists, hostages' families set up a Shabbat dinner table and urge an immediate deal to release their loved ones from captivity, blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, February 23, 2024. (Amir Terkel)

Police say they have reopened Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway after hostages’ families blocked the northbound route for around half an hour.

Families set up a table with empty chairs representing the 134 hostages that remain in the Gaza Strip, light smoke bombs and fires while calling for the release of their loved ones.

UK slams plans to advance thousands of West Bank settler homes after terror shooting

This photo shows a construction site of new housing projects in the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze'ev, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

British Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters condemns plans by the government to advance the construction of more than 3,000 settlement homes in response to a deadly terror shooting in the West Bank.

“The announcement of plans to build over 3000 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank is deeply concerning. UK policy is clear,” Ambassador Simon Walters writes in a post on X.

“Settlements are illegal under international law and make it harder still to progress towards a solution of this conflict,” he says.

Announcing the decision Thursday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the decision “an appropriate Zionist response” to the attack.

Settlements are viewed by much of the international community as illegal under international law and a major impediment to an eventual two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

The announcement of plans to build over 3000 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank is deeply concerning. UK policy is clear. Settlements are illegal under international law and make it harder still to progress towards a solution of this conflict.

— Simon Walters (@simonwaltersuk) February 23, 2024

IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it carried out strikes with fighter jets against several Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.

The targets included Hezbollah infrastructure in Labbouneh and a building used by the terror group in Kafr Kila, where operatives were gathered, according to the IDF.

The IDF says tanks also shelled an area near Ayta ash-Shab to “remove a threat.”

The IDF also announced that last night it struck a Hezbollah building in Blida, among other targets in south Lebanon.

לפני זמן קצר מטוסי קרב תקפו מספר תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב לבונה ומבנה צבאי במרחב כפר כילא, בו פעלו מחבלי הארגון. בנוסף, כוח צה"ל תקף בירי טנק להסרת איום במרחב עייתא א-שעב >> pic.twitter.com/WMLRkqZk7u

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 23, 2024

Hostages’ families block Ayalon Highway with Shabbat dinner table

Relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway with a Shabbat dinner table, urging a deal to release their loved ones.

Family members hold Shabbat prayers and set up empty chairs representing the 134 hostages that remain inside the Strip.

בצל פסגת פריז: משפחות החטופים חסמו את איילון – והקימו "שולחן שבת" על הכביש pic.twitter.com/arDKHy9xFK

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) February 23, 2024

Gantz: Up to border residents to decide when to return, state will provide help

Minister Benny Gantz at a press conference at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, February 21, 2024. (Contact Productions)

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says the decision of Gaza border community residents and northern border community residents to return to their homes rests with them and vows the state will assist them.

The statement comes a day after the army declared it essentially safe to return to all communities located between four and seven kilometers (2.5-4.3 miles) from the border with Gaza, along with 18 communities even closer to the Strip, including some practically abutting the war-ravaged enclave.

“The fighting will continue also in the future deep within the enemy’s territory, and not along the border. We will protect the communities with increased forces and we will reach every place where Hamas terrorists are,” he says in a video message, adding that the military will eventually launch its much-anticipated offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.

“The decision to return is in your hands. The state will assist all families or communities to make the right decision for them. We will provide you with all the civil services,” he states, adding that their security is the government’s responsibility.

The National Unity party leader vows the war will not end until northern residents can return, saying the government was acting “diplomatically and militarily” to ensure Iran-backed Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.

“Hezbollah has already been pushed from the border, and we are preparing for the day the order is given when we need to expand our activities,” he says, adding it is his intention to advance plans for strengthening security in the north.

גנץ מתחייב: נהיה ברפיח בעומק השטח. לא נעצור עד שנסיר את האיום – ונשיב את החטופים pic.twitter.com/PTfUKDhBRz

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) February 23, 2024

COGAT: Over 13,000 trucks carrying more than 250,000 tons of aid have entered Gaza since start of war

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known by its acronym COGAT, issues an update on the amount of aid that has entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war.

According to COGAT, 13,834 trucks carrying 254,210 tons of supplies have been transferred. Out of those, 8,021 trucks included 167,080 tons of food.

United Nations agencies and aid groups say the ongoing war, the Israeli military’s refusal to facilitate deliveries and the breakdown of order inside Hamas-run Gaza make it increasingly difficult to bring vital aid to much of the coastal enclave.

Israel denies it is restricting the entry of aid and has shifted the blame to humanitarian organizations operating inside Gaza, saying hundreds of trucks filled with aid sit idle on the Palestinian side of the main crossing. The UN says it can’t always reach the trucks at the crossing because it is at times too dangerous.

Over 13,000 trucks carrying over 250,000 tons of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.

There is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza. pic.twitter.com/4pKjPOhOtE

— COGAT (@cogatonline) February 23, 2024

Annual UN rights report points to violations on ‘all sides’ of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

GENEVA, Switzerland — An annual United Nations report published Friday identified gross human rights violations committed by all parties in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and demanded accountability and justice to foster peace.

“The entrenched impunity… cannot be permitted to continue. There must be accountability on all sides for violations seen over 56 years of occupation and the 16 years of blockade of Gaza, and up to today,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in an accompanying statement.

15-year-old killed, woman seriously injured in criminal shooting, ramming in Rahat

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in the southern Israel town of Rahat and a 26-year-old woman was seriously injured, Hebrew media reports.

The woman was with the boy at the time of the incident and is suffering multisystem injuries after being run over by a car, the reports say.

According to an initial police investigation, the incident is criminal in nature.

Hamas still insisting Israel withdraw from Gaza in exchange for hostages – report

Hamas has not changed its stance on a potential hostage deal from previous negotiation attempts, Hebrew media outlet Ynet reports, citing senior Palestinian officials.

According to the report, Hamas is still insisting that it will not agree to release the hostages from captivity unless Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip.

IDF releases footage of Maglan commando unit locating, taking down Hamas gunman in Khan Younis

Troops of the Maglan unit operate in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout image released by the IDF on February 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF releases footage showing a drone operated by the Maglan commando unit locating a Hamas gunman before he was killed by the troops in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

The commandos had sent the drone into a building where they had suspected Hamas operatives were hiding. Using the aircraft, the soldiers identified a gunman, who then opened fire at the drone, knocking it down.

The IDF says the Maglan troops then hurled a grenade at the gunman, killing him.

Maglan has been operating in western Khan Younis recently. The IDF says the commandos have called in airstrikes against Hamas targets, ambushed operatives with sniper fire, engaged in close-quarters combat and captured weapons.

Golda director Guy Nattiv and actor Helen Mirren receive Dove Award for joint work on 2023 biopic

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in a scene from the film "Golda." (Bleecker Street via AP)

JTA — Israeli director Guy Nattiv and British actor Helen Mirren received a Dove Award from the Cinema for Peace Foundation for their joint work in the 2023 biopic “Golda,” in which Mirren stars as Golda Meir, the fourth prime minister of Israel.

The film focuses on Meir’s role during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Nattiv and Mirren attended the awards ceremony in Berlin this week, where their prize was presented by 102-year-old Margot Friedlander, one of the oldest remaining Holocaust survivors. The ceremony took place contemporaneously with the Berlinale International Film Festival, where “Golda” premiered last year.

After receiving the award, Nattiv said on Instagram that he remained hopeful that the current Israel-Hamas war would end with the kind of rapprochement that resulted from Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War.

“In 1973, after the horrific Yom Kippur war, leaders took responsibility and accountability and resigned. Menachem Begin and Anwar Saadat made a historic peace agreement that saved millions of lives,” he wrote. “Today, we need to see new courageous leaders from Israel and Palestine with vision empathy and hope for a better future for the two nations.”

The ceremony took place at the Cinema for Peace gala, attended by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the gala, Clinton’s talk was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, according to a video posted to YouTube. The Israeli clarinetist Giora Feidman also led the crowd in a rendition of the Hebrew folk song “Shalom Chaverim.”

UK lawmaker accuses police of failing to act against antisemitism after ‘From the River to the Sea’ projected onto Big Ben

Andrew Percy MP (Courtesy)

British Conservative politician Andrew Percy accused the UK of “failing to deal with” antisemitic hate after the phrase “From the river to the sea” was projected onto Big Ben at an anti-Israel protest earlier this week, local media outlets report.

The MP alleged that while the protesters beamed the slogan onto the side of the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, police forces stood by and didn’t attempt to stop them.

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, the Jewish MP declared that people on the streets have been “demanding ‘death to Jews,’ demanding Jihad, demanding intifadas as the police stand by and allow that to happen.”

“Last night, a genocidal call of ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ was projected onto this building,” he added.

“That message says no Jew is welcome in the State of Israel or in that land. This is going to continue happening because we’re not dealing with it.”

Last night was a wake-up call for Britain.

• Genocidal language projected onto Big Ben
• The Speaker of the House of Commons reportedly altering Parliamentary procedure due to threats against MPs
• MPs apparently deciding how to vote based on external intimidation,… pic.twitter.com/bnHPsfUJyn

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) February 22, 2024

As Ukraine marks two years of war, US to issue over 500 new sanctions targeting Russia

US President Joe Biden announces Washington will issue more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia as the United States seeks to increase pressure on Moscow to mark the second anniversary of its war in Ukraine.

The US will also impose new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing support to Russia and take action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues, Biden says in a statement.

The measures seek to hold Russia to account over the war and the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Biden says, as Washington looks to continue to support Ukraine even as it faces acute shortages of ammunition and US military aid has been delayed for months in Congress.

“They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” Biden says of the sanctions.

The new measures will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment, as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents, he said.

The sanctions are the latest of thousands of targets announced by the US and its allies following Russia’s February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands and destroyed cities.

“Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea,” Biden says.

“That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.”

Israeli delegation departs for Paris hostage talks, officials are cautiously optimistic – report

Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, left, with Mossad chief David Barnea at the annual IDF memorial ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War at Yad La-Shiryon, September 27, 2023. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

The Israeli delegation headed to Paris for the high-level hostage talks departed for France a short while ago, Hebrew media reports ahead of the meetings set to take place later today.

According to the reports, the delegation is headed by Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

Speaking to Channel 12, an unnamed Israeli official said that there is “reason for optimism” ahead of the talks, but that the negotiations will be “arduous.”

Foreign Minister Katz warns UN Security Council that if it doesn’t act against Hezbollah, Israel will

Foreign Minister Israel Katz sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council regarding the situation on Israel’s border with Lebanon in which he specified that Iran has been transferring weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization in violation of Resolution 1701, Channel 12 reports.

In the letter, Katz alleges that Iran is transferring weapons via land, air and sea, and details the exact components that are being transferred, when and how, and what they are being used for.

According to Katz, many of the weapons consignments are moved from Iran to Iraq and from there they are smuggled into Syria. At that point, they are transferred across the border to Lebanon. To back up his evidence, Katz provides the UN with the exact dates of recent transfers.

“The Security Council must also call on the Lebanese government to fully implement its decisions, take responsibility and prevent attacks from its territory against Israel, and ensure that the area up to the Litani River is free of military presence, assets or weapons,” Katz writes.

“Israel reaffirms its fundamental right to do whatever it needs within international law to protect its citizens from these heinous violations.”

British-born woman who joined ISIS as a teen loses appeal against removal of citizenship

Screen capture from video of an interview with Shamima Begum, right, a British teen who joined the Islamic State. Her newborn baby is held by a woman, left, during the interview from Syria, February 2019. (YouTube)

British-born Shamima Begum, who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State, loses her latest appeal over the removal of her British citizenship.

The British government took away Begum’s citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.

Begum, now 24, argued the decision was unlawful, in part because British officials failed to properly consider whether she was a victim of trafficking, an argument that was rejected by a lower court in February 2023.

The Court of Appeal in London rejected her appeal on Friday following an appeal in October.

Israeli Navy carried out ‘extensive’ drills over past week in preparation for potential war in north

Israeli Navy missile boats carry out a drill in northern Israel, in a handout image released by the IDF on February 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli Navy’s fleet of missile boats carried out “extensive” exercises over the past week, the IDF says, as the military prepares for potential war in the north.

The IDF says the Navy drills simulated fighting in the northern maritime theater, and some exercises were carried out alongside the Israeli Air Force, including the 193rd Squadron which operates the AS565 Panther helicopters, primarily used for missions at sea.

Among the scenarios that were drilled included foiling drone attacks, aerial rescue operations from vessels, and refueling the missile boats at sea, the IDF says.

The drill comes amid daily attacks by the Hezbollah terror group on northern Israel amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.

Putin: 95% of Russia’s nuclear forces have been modernized

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with officials in the town of Tsivilsk, Republic of Chuvash, Russia, Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that 95 percent of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces have been modernized and that the Air Force has just taken delivery of four new supersonic nuclear-capable bombers.

Putin’s comments are made in a recorded speech to mark Russia’s annual Defender of the Fatherland Day, which celebrates the armed forces, a day after he flew on a modernized Tu-160M nuclear-capable strategic bomber.

He devotes much of his speech to what he says are the achievements of the military-industrial complex.

“Incorporating our real combat experience, we will continue to strengthen the Armed Forces in every possible way, including ongoing re-equipping and modernization efforts,” Putin says.

“Today, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the strategic nuclear forces has already reached 95%, while the naval component of the ‘nuclear triad’ is at almost 100%,” he adds.

Putin says that Russia has started serial production of its new Zircon hypersonic missiles and that new strike systems, which he does not specify, are being tested.

New strategic submarines have been added to the navy, and four Tu-160M nuclear-capable bomber planes, the same type he flew in yesterday, have just been delivered to the armed forces.

“Next in line is the development and serial production of promising models, the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies in the military sphere,” he says.

Hamas-run health ministry says Gaza death toll surpasses 29,500

At least 29,514 Palestinians have been killed and 69,616 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

These figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of the terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

The IDF says it has killed some 12,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Palestinian Authority rejects Netanyahu’s post-war plan as attempt to ‘prolong the genocide’

The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry condemns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for post-war Gaza, saying it considers them to be “an official reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the imposition of Israeli control over it.”

In a statement published online, the PA foreign ministry slams the document of principles presented to the security cabinet by Netanyahu last night regarding the management of Gaza after the war.

The plans include installing “local officials” unaffiliated with terrorism to administer services in the Strip instead of Hamas and indefinite freedom for the IDF to operate throughout the Strip.

Rejecting the plans, the PA foreign ministry slams them as “a plan to prolong the genocide against our people and an attempt to gain more time to implement the displacement plans.”

Additionally, the ministry says, the plans constitute “a blatant maneuver to intercept and thwart American and international efforts made to link stopping the war and releasing prisoners and hostages to resolving the conflict and embodying the Palestinian state on the ground.”

The PA foreign ministry urges the US and other Western countries to recognize Palestine as an independent state, allow it to become a UN member state and hold an international peace conference in order to “end the occupation and enable our people to exercise their right to self-determination freely and with dignity.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates//Netanyahu's principles mean reoccupying the Gaza strip and obstructing American and international efforts to establish the Palestinian State.

Netanyahu's plan serves his interest in prolonging the war to stay in power.… pic.twitter.com/v9DwtXFr6a

— State of Palestine – MFA ???????????????? (@pmofa) February 23, 2024

Hezbollah claims to have targeted Upper Galilee Regional Council with drones

The Hezbollah terror group claims to have targeted the headquarters of the Upper Galilee Regional Council in Kiryat Shmona with two drones earlier today.

The IDF said it intercepted one aerial target over northern Israel, and there are no reports that the council’s headquarters was hit.

Hezbollah says the attack is a response to recent Israeli strikes on “southern villages and civilian homes” including yesterday’s strike on what it says is a civil defense center in Blida.

The IDF said the strike on Blida targeted a building where Hezbollah operatives were gathered. The three slain Hezbollah members announced by the terror group this morning are believed to have been killed in that strike.

Hezbollah announces deaths of three operatives in Israeli strikes

The Hezbollah terror group announces the deaths of three members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

They are named as Hassan Tarraf, Hussein Khalil, and Muhammad Ismail.

Khalil and Ismail are identified by Hezbollah as paramedics in the terror group’s Islamic Health Authority.

Their deaths bring the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 211.

The announcement comes following several recent IDF strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, in response to attacks on northern Israel.

Hezbollah announces the deaths of three members killed "on the road to Jerusalem," its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

They are named as Hassan Tarraf, Hussein Khalil, and Muhammad Ismail.

Khalil and Ismail are identified by Hezbollah as paramedics in the terror… pic.twitter.com/7Amo9bWavf

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 23, 2024

IDF: Air defenses intercepted ‘suspicious aerial target’ that entered from Lebanon

A “suspicious aerial target” that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon was successfully intercepted by air defenses, according to the IDF.

Suspected drone infiltration alarms had sounded in several communities in the Galilee Panhandle.

Rockets sirens also sounded in Kiryat Shmona due to fears of falling shrapnel following the interception.

Decision to send Israeli delegation to Paris hostage talks made after reliable evidence that hostages received medication

The decision to send an Israeli delegation to Paris for hostage talks was made in the middle of the night after the war cabinet received sufficiently reliable evidence that a shipment of medicine last month had indeed reached the hostages in Gaza, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

The delegation will leave later today.

Hostile aircraft sirens activated in northern Israel

Hostile aircraft alert sirens are activated in northern Israel, close to the border of Lebanon.

The sirens can be heard in multiple locations including in Kiryat Shmona, Metulla and Kfar Yuval.

Hamas leader Haniyeh concludes ceasefire, hostage deal talks in Cairo

Illustrative: this handout picture provided by the Iranian foreign ministry on February 13, 2024, shows Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh preparing to welcome the Iranian Foreign Minister in Doha. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Hamas says its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officials about a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the Israeli hostages held captive by the terrorist group.

The statement released by Hamas does not say whether Haniyeh’s talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel about ways of ending the war, a hostage deal and the flow of aid to Gaza were successful or led to a breakthrough.

The talks in Cairo come ahead of a high-level meeting expected over the weekend in Paris, where international mediators will present a new proposal for a hostage deal.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been struggling for weeks to find a formula that could halt the devastating war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but now face an unofficial deadline as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.

Israel has been seeking a deal including a temporary pause in fighting in exchange for the release of the 134 hostages — not all of them alive — still held by Hamas since the brutal October 7 terror onslaught on southern Israel. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is crushed and its rule of the Palestinian enclave is a thing of the past.

Hamas initially demanded an end to the war, now in its fifth month, before hostages could be released. Hamas has said that it would release the Israeli hostages in return for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, many of whom are serving life sentences for murder and other serious acts of terror. Israel rejected the demand, and mediators have been working on a new deal.

IDF says troops in Khan Younis took out dozens of Hamas operatives over last day, uncovered weapons cache

IDF soldiers operate inside the Gaza Strip in this undated image published on February 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Fighting between the IDF and Hamas operatives continues in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, while simultaneously the Israeli army presses on with a large-scale operation in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

In a morning update of activity in Gaza over the past day, the IDF says the 7th Armored Brigade killed more than 10 Hamas gunmen in western Khan Younis with sniper fire and by calling in drone strikes.

Amid troops’ operations in Khan Younis, an RPG was fired at a military engineering vehicle, causing no injuries. The IDF says the 7th Brigade called in an airstrike after troops spotted three Hamas operatives who carried out the attack and who were also armed with an explosive device.

The Commando Brigade has also been operating in western Khan Younis, raiding Hamas sites. The IDF says the Maglan commando unit found a cache of dozens of rockets, mortars, and explosives.

The Givati Brigade, meanwhile, carried out an offensive in Khan Younis to destroy Hamas sites and kill gunmen in the area, the IDF says.

Ahead of the offensive, the Israeli Air Force struck a series of buildings the IDF says were used by Hamas as command rooms, staging grounds, sniper positions, and storage for weapons.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City’s Zeitoun, the IDF says the 401st Armored Brigade killed more than 10 Hamas gunmen with sniper fire and by calling in drone and helicopter strikes.

Amid operations in Zeitoun, the IDF says troops also located Hamas weapons and tunnel shafts.

In central Gaza, the Nahal Infantry Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen over the past day, the IDF says, including by calling in airstrikes.

Egypt tightens security measures along border with Israel to prevent attacks – report

View of Highway 10, on the southern Israeli border with Egypt. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

Egypt has taken steps to tighten measures along its shared border with Israel to prevent its military recruits stationed there from attempting to launch attacks on Israeli forces, the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news outlet reports.

According to the report, recruits in the Egyptian border forces have undergone a more thorough training period since the outbreak of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, in which they are educated on the history of the Israel-Egypt border, which spans some 240 kilometers in length, and on the security agreements between the two countries.

As part of the effort to mitigate any attempted attacks on Israeli troops, Egyptian security forces stationed at the border are not allowed to use smartphones for the duration of their deployment, the report states, ensuring that they do not follow news about the ongoing war in Gaza for fear it could incite them into planning an attack.

In addition, at the Nitzana Border Crossing, where Israeli and Egyptian forces are stationed on their respective sides, the Egyptian security guards are not armed, and plainclothes officials are present to ensure that no disturbances occur, the report adds.

US defense chief: Israel needs a ‘credible plan’ to ensure civilian safety before entering Rafah

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant yesterday evening about Israel’s operation against Hamas in Khan Younis, the Pentagon says in a readout of the call.

Austin stressed the need to Gallant for a “credible plan to ensure the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah before any military operations proceed there,” the Pentagon says.

The two also discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of the hostages still held captive by Hamas, as well as the need to improve access to humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, as looting and violence are hindering access to the convoys inside the Strip.

IDF, Shin Bet confirm drone strike in Jenin that killed Islamic Jihad terrorist

The IDF and Shin Bet security agency confirm carrying out a drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin last night, which they say targeted and killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who was on his way to carrying out a terror attack.

The target is identified by the IDF and Shin Bet as Yasser Hanoun, a resident of Jenin, and previously jailed by Israel for his involvement in Islamic Jihad activities.

The joint statement says Hanoun was involved in a large number of shooting attacks in recent months — against IDF troops, army posts, Israeli settlements, and towns over the Green Line.

Recent attacks allegedly carried out by Hanoun included gunfire at the northern kibbutz of Meirav, the settlement of Mevo Dotan, as well as the Salem and Jalamah checkpoints.

“The terrorist was eliminated while en route to carrying out an additional attack,” the IDF says.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said another 15 people were wounded in the strike on Hanoun’s vehicle in Jenin, including two in critical condition.

כלי-טיס מאויש מרחוק של חיל-האוויר חיסל אמש בפעילות משותפת של צה"ל ושב"כ, את המחבל יאסר חנון. תושב ג'נין, מחבל הג׳יהאד האסלאמי וכלוא לשעבר על רקע מעורבותו בפעילות צבאית מטעם הארגון. pic.twitter.com/ymZPVKvCyQ

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) February 23, 2024

Biden: Overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, they also suffer from group’s terror

US President Joe Biden posts a tweet saying that the “overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas” and that “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.”

“In fact, they’re also suffering as a result of Hamas’ terrorism. We need to be clear-eyed about that reality,” he writes.

I won't mince words.

The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. And Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.

In fact, they're also suffering as a result of Hamas' terrorism. We need to be clear-eyed about that reality.

— President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2024

The US has been pressing for an agreement that would bring about a pause in fighting in the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and a release of the remaining hostages held by the terror group in Gaza.

The US this week vetoed a third UN Security Council Resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that it could interfere with efforts to work on a deal.

4 charged in transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons. 2 SEALs died intercepting ship

This image released by the U.S. Department of Justice in an FBI affidavit filed in US District Court, Alexandria, Va., shows what is described as an Iranian-made warhead bound for Yemen's Houthi, seized off a vessel in the Arabian Sea. Four foreign nationals were charged Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by US naval forces in the Arabian Sea the previous month. Two Navy SEALs died during the mission. (US Department of Justice via AP, File)

RICHMOND, Va. — Four foreign nationals were arrested and charged today with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by US naval forces in the Arabian Sea last month. Two Navy SEALs died during the mission.

The criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in the US District Court in Richmond alleges that the four defendants — who were all carrying Pakistani identification cards — were transporting suspected Iranian-made missile components for the type of weapons used by Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks.

“The flow of missiles and other advanced weaponry from Iran to Houthi rebel forces in Yemen threatens the people and interests of America and our partners in the region,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a news release.

US officials said that Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers was boarding the boat on January 11 and slipped into the gap created by high waves between the vessel and the SEALs’ combatant craft. As Chambers fell, Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped in to try to save him, according to US officials familiar with what happened.

This combo of file images provided by the Department of Defense shows Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, left, and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram. (Department of Defense via AP, File)

“Two Navy SEALs tragically lost their lives in the operation that thwarted the defendants charged today from allegedly smuggling Iranian-made weapons that the Houthis could have used to target American forces and threaten freedom of navigation and a vital artery for commerce,” Monaco said.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland pledged that the Justice Department “will use every legal authority to hold accountable those who facilitate the flow of weapons from Iran to Houthi rebel forces, Hamas, and other groups that endanger the security of the United States and our allies.”

Muhammad Pahlawan is charged with attempting to smuggle advanced missile components, including a warhead he is accused of knowing would be used by the Houthi rebels against commercial and naval vessels in the Red Sea and surrounding waters. He is also charged with providing false information to US Coast Guard officers during the boarding of the vessel.

Pahlawan’s co-defendants — Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad — were also charged with providing false information.

US-Israeli ex-FBI informant indicted for lying about Bidens returned to US custody

Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, center, leaves the courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

A former FBI informant who claims to have links to Russian intelligence and is charged with lying about a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family was again taken into custody Thursday in Las Vegas, two days after a judge released him.

Alexander Smirnov, 43, was arrested this morning while meeting with his lawyers at their offices in downtown Las Vegas.

It came after prosecutors asked a judge in California, where the case was originally filed, to reconsider Smirnov’s custody status while he awaits trial. No hearing was held before he was arrested.

His attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said in a statement they want an immediate hearing on his detention and will again push for his release. A judge in Las Vegas gave prosecutors until Friday afternoon to respond to Smirnov’s motion for a new hearing.

A copy of the arrest warrant that Smirnov’s lawyers included as an exhibit in their request for the new hearing shows he was arrested on the same charges — making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.

Prosecutors have accused Smirnov of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.

Smirnov has not entered a plea to the charges, but his lawyers have said their client is presumed innocent and they look forward to defending him at trial.

A spokesman for Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who charged Smirnov, confirmed Thursday that Smirnov had been arrested again, but did not have additional comment. Smirnov is in the custody of US Marshals in Nevada, says Gary Schofield, the chief marshal in Las Vegas.

Smirnov, who has dual US-Israeli citizenship and lived in Israel for a decade, was first arrested last week in Las Vegas, where he now lives, on his return from overseas.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

US achieves first moon landing in half century with private spacecraft

This image provided by Intuitive Machines shows its Odysseus lunar lander over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Intuitive Machines via AP)

A spacecraft built and flown by Texas-based company Intuitive Machines LUNR.O has landed near the south pole of the moon, the first US touchdown on the lunar surface in more than half a century and the first ever achieved entirely by the private sector.

The six-legged robot lander, dubbed Odysseus, touched down at about 6:23 p.m. EST (2323 GMT), the company and NASA commentators said in a joint webcast of the landing from Intuitive Machines’ mission operations center in Houston.

As planned, the spacecraft was believed to have come to rest at a crater named Malapert A near the moon’s south pole, according to the webcast.

The landing, one day after the spacecraft reached lunar orbit and a week after its launch from Florida, was confirmed by signals beamed back some 239,000 miles (384,000 km) to mission control.

This image provided by Intuitive Machines shows its Odysseus lunar lander with the Earth in the background on Feb. 16, 2024. (Intuitive Machines via AP)

But communication with the vehicle took several minutes to re-establish, and the initial signal was faint, leaving mission control uncertain as to the precise condition and position of the lander, according to flight controllers heard in the webcast.

The spacecraft was not designed to provide live video of the event.

Touchdown came after an 11th-hour glitch with the spacecraft’s autonomous navigation system that required engineers on the ground to employ a work-around solution.

The vehicle is carrying a suite of scientific instruments and technology demonstrations for NASA and several commercial customers designed to operate for seven days on solar energy before the sun sets over the polar landing site.

Your order was delivered… to the Moon! ????@Int_Machines' uncrewed lunar lander landed at 6:23pm ET (2323 UTC), bringing NASA science to the Moon's surface. These instruments will prepare us for future human exploration of the Moon under #Artemis. pic.twitter.com/sS0poiWxrU

— NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2024

The NASA payload will focus on collecting data on space weather interactions with the moon’s surface, radio astronomy and other aspects of the lunar environment for future landers and NASA’s planned return of astronauts later in the decade.

The uncrewed IM-1 mission was sent on its way to the moon on Wednesday atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Today’s landing represented the first controlled descent to the lunar surface by a U.S. spacecraft since Apollo 17 in 1972, when NASA’s last crewed moon mission landed there with astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.

To date, spacecraft from just four other countries have ever landed on the moon – the former Soviet Union, China, India and, mostly recently, just last month, Japan. The United States is the only one ever to have sent humans to the lunar surface.

Netanyahu presents security cabinet with his plan for post-war management of Gaza

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Al Daalese family building after an Israeli airstrike in Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented the security cabinet with his plan for the management of Gaza after the war.

It is largely a collection of principles he has been vocalizing since the beginning of the war, but it is the first time they have formally been presented to the cabinet.

For over four months, Netanyahu has held off on holding security cabinet discussions regarding the so-called “day after,” fearing this could lead to fractures in his coalition. Some of his far-right ministers aim to use such meetings to push the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza and the permanent occupation of the Strip — policies the premier says he opposes and would surely lead to the dissipation of Israel’s remaining support in the West.

Netanyahu has sufficed with saying that he will not allow the Palestinian Authority to return to govern Gaza. He has sometimes qualified this assertion by saying that Israel won’t allow the PA in its current form to return to Gaza while other times he has given a more blanket rejection of “Fatahstan” — referring to the political party headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Notably, the paper of principles presented to security cabinet ministers at tonight’s meeting doesn’t specifically name the PA or rule out its participation in the post-war governance of Gaza.

Instead, it says that civil affairs in Gaza will be run by “local officials” who have “administrative experience” and who aren’t tied to “countries or entities that support terrorism.”

The language is vague but this could cover groups that receive funding from Qatar — as Hamas does — or possibly the PA, whose welfare program includes payments to terrorists.

Israel agrees to release US flour shipment for Gaza after blocking its delivery for one month — official

Volunteers distribute rations of soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024 (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)

Israel has agreed to a new arrangement that will allow for a massive American shipment of flour for Gazan civilians to move forward after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blocked its transfer for over a month, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

Under the new arrangement, the flour capable of feeding 1.5 million Gazans for five months will be ferried into Gaza by the World Food Program, rather than the UNRWA relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the official says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately informed the Biden administration that Israel approved the shipment in early January. The White House announced the development on January 19, as it came under increasing pressure to do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

But more than one month later, the flour has yet to enter Gaza.

Palestinian crowds struggle to buy bread from a bakery in Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 18, 2024. (AP/Fatima Shbair)

The shipment arrived at Israel’s Ashdod Port, but Smotrich blocked its transfer to UNRWA, which came under fire last month over allegations that 12 of its staffers participated in the October 7 terror onslaught.

The delay has angered the Biden administration, which has repeatedly noted in recent weeks that Israel the commitments it made to the president.

With the new arrangement finalized, the shipment can move forward immediately, the US official says.

However, even if the flour does make it to Gaza, it is unclear whether it will be distributed to civilians.

Recent days have seen the distribution of humanitarian aid largely ground to a halt due to Hamas police’s refusal to secure the trucks delivering the assistance through Gaza because they have repeatedly come under Israeli fire.